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The Padawan had never actually seen a Karkodon before, the massive aquatic shark people that seemed to tower over everyone else. The alien was a bulk of lean muscle and killer instinct, something that was made distinctly clear when he immediately began to attack. Lightsaber went flicking forward, slashing and hacking at whatever was in front of him. Spark flew, durasteel hull was sliced and cut into, electronics began to spark and half the soldiers behind Cenric started to run away.
Fighting Sith was only for the brave.
The young Jedi pushed those who had not moved back, knowing that moving into the flurry of lightsabers would be more than foolish. The soldiers tried to move as quick as they could, but one man who wasn't fast enough was caught by the edge of Tehkyram's lightsaber. The blade went slicing through his sternum, cutting the man down in an instant.
Cenric scowled, hopping back and pulling a cryo grenade from the bandoleer of a man next to him. "RUN!"
He shouted at the soldiers as he primed the grenade and rolled it forward.
It fell on deaf ears. Amea wanted to look behind her and shout at the others to get moving but she wasn’t able to. She couldn’t afford to turn her back on the enemy. She couldn’t afford to inform those in the houses and caverns about the danger this man posed. It was evident to those that stood dumbstruck and watched as their only remaining guard battled the people who had tried to seize their find.
“What are you doing?!” Amea called over her shoulder. “Run! Get the others out of here!”
One of the man jumped to action at her words. His hand brushed against the others and he began to make way over towards the houses while the other half made way towards the ruined pathways of the ruins below their feet. It was beyond Amea what they planned on doing, but she had her hands full keeping this man away from them as it was.
She was doing her job, and they were about to return to theirs.
Her attention went back to the man and his extended arm. She readied herself for the attack, maybe a flamethrower, but what she got was something else. A sharp noise called out into the field. Amea’s sensitive ears began to pain with an excruciating sharpness unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her arm began to twitch. Her hands reached up to cover her ears but it didn’t help. Knees grew weak and she collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.
She needed to focus but it was hard. The sound assaulted her very senses, made it hard to see or even think clearly as her mind felt like it was about to slip out of a conscious reach. Her determination kicked in. She refused to let it end like this. Her job wasn’t done, she wasn’t doing her job.
She rolled over on her back and reached out with one final attempt at silence. With luck she could disable or even destroy the sonic emitter on the man’s arm. With luck she could move from there to his air support and shut it off and cause him to choke up.
Tears welled in her eyes as she pushed against the onslaught of fatigue.
OBJECTIVE: Secure Gree Technology Capture Miner ALLIES: The Sith Empire ADVERSARIES: The Rebel Alliance, [member="Amea Virou"]
Push the advantage.
Hard-Sound appeared to be incredibly effective against Amea, even more so than he previously anticipated. He had not known of her weakness, and thus may be very well be a stroke of luck. It was with each step forward the intensity of the weapon increased, bearing down upon her as Fett was certain that she wasn't to last much longer. Falling into what very well may be irreversible damage to her psyche. Yet, the Sith were able to root around within someone's brain to find what they needed. A dangerous assumption.
Then, of course, something went wrong. The weapons stopped firing, and Koda wasn't able to determine why. The vibration in his forearm ceased to exist, and his HUD - now restored- allowed this knowledge to become plainly available. The Mandalorian had to act fast to keep the pressure one, to prevent her from slipping from his grasp. His left hand joined his right, grasping at the Carbine and aiming at it forwards from a hip-fired stance. Stun rounds persisted, relentless in their pursuit of capture.
The oxygen system may have been disabled, and Fett didn't know. His HUD wasn't entirely restored, still recovering to some extent. Yet, even then, that was only a problem he may face in the confines of space. Otherwise oxygen flowed freely up the lip of his helmet and into his mouth. It didn't leave him entirely concealed, mind you.
Although, perhaps Amea was able to recover sooner than Koda could react to the cards he was dealt. Leaving him exposed as he reached for a greater hold on his Carbine.
A lead ran from the back of Faye's neck and uploaded the song to her memory bank. The unit beeped as the system processed every frequency. She strode onto the stage with the cord hanging from her neck, her bright blue, fluffy legwarmers pacing confidently before the crowd of hedonistic creatures of the night. The harsh frequency pulsated through the transparent dancefloor as she gripped the microphone and smiled to the crowd, the wiring in her cheeks stretching as she parted her metal lips.
Something seemed to disturb the crowd. A warning from the Technicolor Beat's communications beeped inside of her sensors. Making nothing of it, she tapped a button on her temple and shut off the comms. Swaying her hips along with the melody, Faye waved her hands and excited the crowd as the song arrived at the chorus.
"... and I wanna dance as I touch the sky, see the sun raving next to me.
I need to feel the bass in my chest, I wanna dance everyday from now!"
As the song uploaded to her memory bank, Faye produced the synthesized lyrics and sang to Technicolor's crowd as they jumped up and down, high on spice or whatever kind of drugs organics were into now. She acted as a humanoid sound system, aggravating frequencies and producing artificial notes in an optimistic, electronic melody. Suddenly, a scream rang out from the back of the crowd, although Faye's sensors only picked up on the bare pitch.
The android continued to sing and the hull of the ship buckled with a huge force. The impact was strong enough to send the heavy droid stumbling to the side as she gripped the microphone, crushing the handle in the process. Wires and small shards of metal fell apart in her hands as she looked back in dismay, another show ruined.
"Aw kark!" Faye cursed as she brushed the parts of the microphone off her front. The crowd were now panicking and had not noticed that the show was over. Quickly tapping the button on the side of her head, Faye turned back on her comms and received several alerts from the Technicolor.
"John, what's going on?" Her communications system sent a message to The Slave. She pulled the lead out of the back of her neck with a loud pop, then darted behind a curtain to her dressing room. "Something hit the ship, should I gear up?" She sent another electronic message. Before he responded, the android determined the best thing to do was to prepare anyway. Pulling off her legwarmers, she grabbed her huge vibrosword and attached the weapon to the strap around her chest.
"Ima show those karkers who decided to ruin my show." Faye mused aloud to herself as she ran out of the dressing room. She made for the hangar bay, where the intruders would most likely show. Frightened civilians looked around for a way out, with some already running to escape pods. The robot brushed past them and made her way towards the hangar, scanning the area for any enemy presences.
Kamon said nothing further. His supposed crime was the elimination of a Sith. Sith code mandated the gaining of power through any and all means, and that peace was a lie. Murder was their modus operandi. Yet he was being accused of a crime against a government that was supposed to have stood against such darkness. How corrupt had they become that they would suffer the enemies of peace to live right under their noses. This was why he had kept himself apart from the NJO.
There was the matter of the fact that he did feel bad about having done what he did, but that was for personal reasons. Mostly he blamed the Hawk's.
Regardless, he also heard the animal cries in the distance. Sithspawn were not something he wasn't familiar with. He had been on Coruscant recently, hunting down the dregs of what the Sith had left behind on the world. They were always a nuisance. The art of combat seemed to be lost on some of the Sith. They used beasts to fight their battles. Either that or they were cowards. Both were equally likely.
"I can't hide many. My skills aren't thst extensive, but I will do what I can."
He reached into the current and pulled those nearest him into it. It wasn't perfect, but he figured it would do the trick for the moment. In the meantime, Varex would have to personally handle the rest of them. He didn't trust him. The very fact that this Jedi was agitated that he had killed a Sith, who actually hadn't died, was annoying at best. Really it was worse than annoying. Sympathies for Sith were weakness.
The Sith on Coruscant is still alive, for the record. She didn't die, he sent to Varex before he and his pair of troops moved out towards the large concentration of Sith. We are on the move.
Enemy: [member="Koda Fett"], of the Sith Empire
Location: Gree, Ground
Not like this.
It was not going to end like this.
The sound ended and a sigh of relief parted the woman’s lips as she collapsed down on the ground with a thud. She wanted to close her eyes and let the moment’s rest take her over, but she had to keep pushing. Her back rolled over until she was on her stomach. Her hands dug deep into the dust and grime to pull her forward along the ground towards a nearby rock for a measure of security.
The bolts began to fly again, narrowly missing her with soft hisses and promises of sleep. She wanted to heed it, she wanted to collapse and let it take her but common sense and determination prevailed. She was not going to be taken today, and she was not going to let this man get out of here before he had been taken down a notch. It was no longer about keeping the people safe, it was about coming out on top and was something that Amea had grown acutely aware of.
As the people began to scramble out of the paths beneath the ground and out into the open she put her back against the rock that offered her some small measure of protection from the man’s onslaught. Eyes set on the people as they rushed towards the ship with all the due haste she had expected of them.
They had lost friends, she felt their pain, but they knew they needed to move. A few devastated souls fell to their knees at the devastation and refused to move, but a greater part of the crowd seemed more than fine with leaving them behind.
Amea remained seated behind her rock in preparation for the hunter’s approach. She had a plan, but she needed to take a quick breather for it. That was it, just a quick breather as she gathered the force around her. Her chest rose and sunk in rapid succession at the gathering.
OBJECTIVE: Secure Gree Technology Capture Miner ALLIES: The Sith Empire ADVERSARIES: The Rebel Alliance, [member="Amea Virou"]
The Galaxy wasn't particularly fair and as a direct result neither was Fett. There were all too many in the realm he was familiar with that made their buck from backstabbing another, shooting them down in the street with their family (those stupid enough to have one in this business, that is), and even simple extortion. He didn't believe in the fair fight as many Mandalorians did, for he was a Bounty Hunter first. He was once described as nothing more than a killer, it's all he knew how, and all he ever would know. You could hardly blame him if he got bored of the face-to-face confrontations.
A scowl of contempt formed beneath his Mandalorian Helmet, only able to watch through the T-Visor as Amea scampered away and behind some stone that shielded her from the Stun Rounds. Perhaps he could admire her to some degree. She was a survivor, that much was clear. Tough, determined, skilled... everything he wanted Ailyn to be. In the briefest of moments, he cast a glance over his shoulder to see her laying still on the ground, but then back to the stone. Some lacked killer instinct, and Koda believed Ailyn most certainly did. In the eyes of the galaxies number one, you either had it in you, or you didn't. Ailyn, simply, did not.
Back to the action, however.
Pressing up on an enemy one could not see was surely a good way to get yourself killed. In any normal circumstance, the Mandalorian was sure to activate a scanning pulse and witness Amea in her entirety, even behind the stone. Although, some gadgets weren't exactly working as they should. They would have to be repaired once this was over. In an attempt to flush her out, Fett snatched at a Sonic Detonator, hurling it through the air after priming it. The throw was likely to place it right beside, and just beyond the rock itself. Sonic weaponry was effective before, and perhaps this could do him a favour once more.
The Sith approached, but Cedric did not waver. He remained serene as he cut down any Sith soldier stupid enough to charge the doors before the rest of their force could make a dedicated push. The soldiers most afflicted by the Sith's mentalism were already dead - the majority were safely within Cedric's umbrella of influence. The Dark Side could not pierce the blade's protective barrier in any form; for the moment, the line held.
"The party is all here now," Cedric mused as his blade carved an economical arc through the air that separated a soldier's head from his shoulders. "Close the bay doors."
Captain Kurze wasted little time in complying with Cedric's demands. The hanger doors that had previously been opened long enough for the Sith to arrive slammed closed, keeping everyone that had chosen to board the Acerbitas from leaving anytime soon.
Initially his attentions had shifted to the battle at hand, but they quickly moved to the Sith (Ren) that had evidently managed to carve through the rebels' line to one of the doors they were defending. The knight felt a bout of annoyance in the back of his skull, "The Vader guy is here. He's running off alone though - someone show him why that's a bad plan." He noted via comms.
That annoyance was unfortunately exacerbated by the handful of bolts that slammed into his right arm and made the mobility shield flicker under the stress. Enough so that he retreated from his minds eye to view the battle naturally.
He pulled his thoughts from the mentalist. She was more powerful than he was in the molding of minds. Cedric was a master of battle meditation, and had trained to become one since the age of four, but his training had branched down different paths. He had not practiced such things exclusively enough to match whomever this was.
That did not mean, however, that they were defenseless against the Sith's madness.
He picked up on the life force of the Sith immediately. They were dark splotches amidst a sea of gray and white - targets. He called upon the empyrean as he threw himself higher in that air than one had any natural right to, the force aiding in his arc. It built up around him lime a cocoon, enshrouding his entire form at his zenith. The imperials only had a second or so to react when he fell. He landed in the heart of the line that the Sith Soldiers had formed, a concussive blast of telekinetic energy surging out from him as he slammed into the durasteel floor. Boxes and nearby detritus were sent flying in every direction, even an A-Wing flipping onto its back from the force of the impact.
The knight wasted no time in rising to his feet, cyan blade hissing to life once more as he turned to kill and incapacitate those imperial soldiers unfortunate enough to have been close. The rebel soldiers that had been fighting them - men previously driven to evident bouts of insanity - found sobriety once more. The Dark Side was banished utterly from their minds as they stood near the nexus of the light that was Cedric's weapon.
It didn't matter if a Sith Lord or two managed to break through. Without the support of their soldiers, they would have little hope of doing any significant damage to the ship. Their army was their backbone, and with each soldier that fell to the knight's blade, Cedric drew closer to breaking it.
One could easily get lost, out here in the void between the stars. The emptiness was vast, inconceivably so, which made it all the more convenient that the Sith had known exactly where the Technicolor Beat had been heading. Smirking slightly, Adrian turned in his seat, eyes passing over the small group of Naval SpecOps operatives to fall on the pilot.
As the void was lit up by brilliant beams of light and innumerable projectiles and missiles, the young Sith spoke, tone calm. "Take us in, Lieutenant. Let's show these fethers how the Empire treats its enemies."
Gracefully, the small boarding craft slid forward, its nightshadow-coated hull occasionally pirouetting as its pilot dodged out of the way of stray shots. With a shudder, it slid through the shields, quickly attaching itself to the hull a few corridors away from the gaping hangar door. Immediately, powerful boarding lasers shot forth, slowly tearing through the vessel's thick matrix armour hull. While they did their magic, the well-trained marines strapped themselves out, rifles at the ready as they prepared to move out the moment the vessel was breached.
With a crash, the hull segment fell inwards, immediately followed by a pair of Ion grenades, each heading towards one corridor. Moments after detonation, the small force surged outwards, rifles at the ready as they moved to secure the area surrounding the hangar. The maniac in charge of this vessel had struck out at the Emperor's own ship, and now he paid the price. Soon enough, his vessel would be swarming with Sith-Imperials. Many would no doubt perish, struck down by the pair of escort cruisers, but many more would make it across. Vengence was not, however, what featured most prominently in Adrian's mind.
"May the Force serve you well, Commander." With a final nod, he headed off on his own, crimson blade cutting down a trio of droids that rushed around the corner. No, he was not here for vengeance, but for the so-called Slave's secrets. The man was eccentric, probably insane, but no one came so close to stealing the pride of the Imperial fleet without intellect, power, connections, and knowledge. The latter two was why he was here today, reluctantly putting his life on the line. From secrets to share with the Saaraishash to corporate insider knowledge to be used for his personal gain, he was sure it was to be found on this ship. It was where he would have kept it, after all, if he had been the Slave.
Lyra was not normally one for well laid plans but this time was an exception, this plan was incredibly well laid. The area around Gree had several wonderful locations for any intelligent pirate or rebel to set up an ambush for any poor trader or invader to fall into and it appears Lyra's trap had been sprung. Within a nebula Lyra had hidden a gravity well generator in a debris field, and within that field were dozens of shuttles loaded with elite troops. They were not enough to take a ship of any significant size but that wasn't the point, the point was to blow it up.
The second the ship was ripped from hyperspace the shuttles descended from the asteroids, using the sensor jamming properties of nebulae in order to mask their presence. They then latched onto the massive vessel, and began to slice through. It would take a few minutes and there would almost certainly be hostile forces by the time they cut through, but these were good troops. Mostly. They would drop in at various points and try to strap a bomb to anything that looked explosive or otherwise critical to ship function, then they would get the feth out of there, hopefully alive.
It was an ingenious plan that could not in any way shape or form go wrong, so they got to work. The shuttles made their way over, and latched onto the ship, then, using a collar on the bottom, began to cut through the hull. By this point it was almost certain the enemy knew what was going on and was making their own preparations, but Lyra had a few tricks up her sleeve. For now however, all she could do was wait for the torches to cut through.
Enemy: [member="Koda Fett"], of the Sith Empire
Location: Gree, Ground
The galaxy wasn’t fair. Universal truth yet ignored by many. For each breath that passed Amea felt her strength come back to her. Not in any capacity to reach a full recovery, but enough to get back on her feet. Enough to release the pent up energy she had drawn to her and toss the sizable rock towards her foe along with the sonic grenade he had thrown in her direction.
She rose from her crouched position and positioned herself in a ready position. At first to give herself the chance to continue catching her breath, but as the glimmer of the grenade glistened in the air she proceeded to step back instead. She needed to see what it would do. She needed to see if it left her an opening, anything worthwhile to give her an edge on the battle.
Once it had detonated, once the chance might have been there she proceeded to dash for the man. Her fist remained at the ready to strike against his body if granted the chance. She didn’t want him dead and neither did she want him unconscious either. Bounty hunters gave up, that was what they did. Once something proved too challenging they bailed. At least that was the tip she had been given by a colleague once, and she had no reason to doubt him.
Then again, this man didn’t seem like the average hunter.
If the chance was granted she would try to hit him as many times as she could. Not with strength but with precision and agility. Which was to assume she had the chance to hit him in the first place. Maybe the rock worked, maybe the grenade did something. It was always hard to tell in the din of battle.
And brother, the drums were banging loud at this point.
"Do not worry worry. They will scurry," the green skinned monstrosity mumbled to itself as it eased its diminutive form through the crowds of the dance floor. His big spiky stick was waved forward to force the dancers blocking his path to move aside. The warmth of the spice thundered through his veins, and the dilation of eyes made everything look rather sparkly, but he still had his wits about him. He had come here for a something beyond the music and the drugs. When his eyes fell upon the corridor, he found himself cracking a toothy grin.
Two gnarled hands reached out to a young couple that really should have been wearing more clothing out in public like this. They didn't notice him reaching for them until he'd already managed to grab hold of their soft pink flesh. "Hello friends, can you sing?" The two tried to jerk away. A'lah dug his nails in tighter, drawing blood from each of them.
"Can you sing?" He asked again, his voice carrying over the deafening music. The man parted his lips to speak, but could not find his voice. It seemed he was looking for it, as he reached up to his throat and made a gurgling noise. The woman did the same. "Evidently not," A'lah mused to himself as the couple collapsed to the floor, their bodies wracked with seizures. A'lah felt the rush of energy immediately - the shredding of a soul, the shattering of spirit, and the cold simplicity of a physical death. The head rush was both euphoric and intoxicating, headier than any spice high and more visceral than any opiate. It made his teeth grind.
"Not enough," A'lah grumbled beneath his breath as the crowd gave him a wide berth. He reached for one of the many metal nobs that had been sewn into his flesh, and turned it to its maximum setting. The speakers that were wired into his shoulders began to vibrate as the life energy of the deceased began to fuel them.
"CAN YOU SING?" A'lah's voice boomed over the loudspeakers and drowned out the music, drawing those nearest him to a halt. When none replied, A'lah turned up the speakers that had been sewn into his vocal cords. When he spoke this time, his voice was deafening enough to make those closest cover their ears in pain.
"YOU BEG FOR SOUND?" The master's energies flowed through A'lah let a toxin. When they reached the speakers, a song began to play, one amplified far beyond a healthy volume by the mutative force. The bass itself rumbled the deck of the dance floor, and the speakers playing music for the crowds exploded in sparks of electiricty. The droning music that followed played at such a volume that A'lah felt his entire body vibrating at the seams. Blood poured from the facial orifices of those all around him as they fell to their bodies writhing in pain, their eardrums shattered and their brains shaken in their bone cages to such a violent degree that death shortly followed.
A'lah drank in the death like a fine wine, savoring every loss of life as if it were the most important event to occur in the history of the stars. This was decadence of the highest order, and a decadence that A'lah lived for. Those farthest from the deranged creature ran from the room - those closest suffered an unnatural and agonizing death.
A'lah found himself giggling the entire time. Such music sounded as little more than a moderately loud noise to the monster's modified ear drums, his body having long since been reforged to fulfill this sole purpose. He needed the spirits of the dead to accomplish his task - their deaths served his purpose, and thus they were justified.
Snorting with manic mirth, the living loudspeaker made his way slowly toward a nearby corridor that he knew led to the bridge, his speakers playing a dirge of death as he went,
The darkness only intensified as they drew near to the defunct hypergate, which after all these years still radiated with azure light. Though the methods to utilizing Gree technology had been lost for millennia, even by the Gree themselves, there was still some potential to be utilized from the ruins notwithstanding the dark ritual they intended to conduct to harness the vile monstrosity the Dread Masters had failed to shackle during their efforts to spread fear throughout the galaxy. Carnifex glanced around at the intense hum of activity around the gate as soldiers, engineers, and sorcerers moved about with purpose to ensure that his will was carried out.
Carnifex listened silently as the Shadow Hand reiterated their purpose for being here, recounting the history of the Dread Masters and their failed ritual in perfect detail. For many months they had discussed those ancient Sith Lords in their private sanctums, pouring over what information they could get their hands on and analyze it for anything that could be made to serve the Empire. All of those sleepless nights had, at last, begin to pay off.
After Prazutis' quick speech, Taeli began to conduct her own small ritual to reveal the ancient inscriptions that had gone into summoning the monstrous Lotek'k. The blue glow of the hypergate and the crimson haze of the spellwork intermingled, bathing everyone in purple as the Dark Side swelled in anticipation.
But the Dark Side wasn't the only thing the Emperor could sense.
The faintest glimmer of the Light was nearing, though he could not discern where.
"The window of opportunity shrinks ever faster, my brethren. The slaves of the Light begin their approach." He turned to look out over the vast swamp and jungle that surrounded the ancient hypergate, "And they will be here soon. May their deaths nourish the ritual."
OBJECTIVE:Secure Gree Technology Capture Miner ALLIES: The Sith Empire ADVERSARIES: The Rebel Alliance, [member="Amea Virou"]
Perhaps if the Mandalorian truly knew what he was facing, then he could of avoided such an attack. If he knew he was against someone capable of wielding the Force, the kind of people he despised on the account of them reminding him all too much of the Jedi. His perception of the sects of the Force were cut and dry, and any of those who didn't align themselves with the Sith and performed some merit of 'good' must be Jedi. This, however, came from a man who considered the concept of morality to be foreign. Most words from his mouth, as rare as they are, should be taken with a grain of salt.
His figure stood adjacent to the rock, albeit at some distance. But it didn't seem to do him any favours. It was launched from it's position, thrust in his direction and colliding with his metallic body. The ceramic plates, power armour liner, and beskar didn't seem to do him any favours in keeping him standing just now. Knocking entirely off of his feet, interrupted by the detonation of a sonic detonator. That blast, though, was near nullified by the properties of the Mandalorian Armour. Causing a ringing in his ear that soon subsided, preserving though all.
Dazed.
Fett shook his head from left to right, almost as if that was to snap him back into it. By the time he did, however, he witnessed the feminine form of Amea charging him head-on. Each punch that collided with his figure was stronger than the last. The armoured individual, however, only rolled with the punches until he came right to. Both arms hands snatching outwards, reaching for her arms in an attempt to squeeze down with the crushgaunts, capable of crushing bone. Followed by an attempt at ripping her forward whilst raising his own head, moving to force a headbutt upon her.
All the while, it seemed that Ailyn wasn't as dead as they were led to believe.
Aboard the Solvognen; Attached to Assault Fleet Cinder. Contracted to serve the Sith Empire, Once again.
In the Operational Theatre: [member="Thyne"], [member="Kor Vexen"], [member="Darth Voracitos"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Vestille Thumahra"], [member="Djorn Bline"], [member="Khaji Ri'Had"], [member="Wyatt Morga"], [member="Veiere Arenais"]. (Apologies for any missed tags.)
Khonsu let out a heavy sigh of frustration. Ever since this insurrection had begun, He was denied his glorious dues and forced to endure his Praetor’s mocking smile. It preyed upon his patience, and his shame alike. There was nothing that he desired more than to wipe that leering grin off that brass-hole’s face with the golden-shod plating of his boot. One day, perhaps. One day when that man was offering a pretentious sneer, Khonsu would offer something of his own in return. There were many ways he could do it. He had the sword of the Sith Emperor and a plethora of weapons at his disposal.
All he needed was a chance to make his move, and he would no longer have to call himself a Twisuns Legate.
However, that moment would have to wait. It would be… inappropriate for him to make his attempt whilst on the job. One that never truly ended, with several notable worlds coming under insurrectionist attack within quick succession. Therefore, Khonsu’s hands were tied until there was a lull between contracts - or if some misfortune were to befall his direct superior during the midst of battle. Then, and only then, could he ever advance towards that distant position his drive and ambition aspired to attain.
As the heavy sigh slipped through his thinly pressed lips, the Sun Guard crowned himself with his crested helm. He refrained from standing atop the Command Deck like his comrade, and fellow Legate; Lanius. There was little need for him to be amongst the company of his Praetor and endure yet another mocking sneer. Thus, the man had elected to dwell within the deployment hangar and spent the long hours of their transit training with his Legion’s. He needed them to be ready for what was to come, as it was unlikely to end quickly, and they couldn’t lose their edge.
Not when the clarion call to war had sounded.
The warning klaxons sounded, as the Solvognen had joined the battle. It was contracted to serve as escort to Assault Fleet Cinder and support them however they were needed. While the might of the Legion was considerable and vast, their might was beneficially augmented by the exotic weapons that the Sun Guard’s deployed. Something Khonsu could wait to see, as the Solvognen had received a new shipment of war material from the Thyrsian Forges, secluded in the depths of space. Should these miscreants and insurrectionists defy the coming of the Sith Empire; they would rue the coming of the rising dawn.
When the Dogged Hand had spearheaded towards the surface of Gree; along with several other troop barges - the Solvognen had laid in a pursuit course and followed them closely. The Corvette’s weapons sang beautifully, as they joined the percussive - but - an utterly soundless chorus that resonated throughout the stars. Their warship was admittedly faster than their contracted cousins and ran interference on any fighters that sought to launch a sortie against the collective vessels of the assault fleet. Fiery blossoms of molten slag and ash flickered in their burnished wake.
Unworthy souls consigned to an unkind fate; to be mocked by the ashes and annals of history alike.
With the flotilla of Assault Ships given their approach vector they needed to make planetfall, it wouldn’t be long now until the Sith Empire had deployed its boots on the ground en masse.
Objective: Ensure the success of the ritual Allies: The Sith Empire and allies - [member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Fiolette Yvarro"] | [member="Taeli Raaf"] | [member="Luca Thorne"] | [member="Darth Caecus"] | [member="Preliat Mantis"] Enemies: The Rebel Alliance and allies - [member="Varex"] | [member="Avoim Oeymo"] | [member="Kamon Vondiranach"] | [member="Jyoti Nooran"] | [member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Kahne Porte"] | [member="Valkren Calderon"] | [member="Yuroic Xeraic"] Equipment: Armor | Lightsabers As the group trekked through the swamp eventually the hypergate would reveal itself through the wildspread vegetation, notifying them they had arrived at their destination. Despite having seen many an impressive structure of old the fact power still resonated from it after all this time was awe-inspiring, but Darth Avacyn would not let that distract her. There was important work to be done and she too had a role, even if it was not directly involved with the ritual that was going to be taking place itself. She was a last line of defense to ensure they would remain interrupted and with such an environment as this, her shaping abilities were even more of a force to be reckoned with. Layers of water and treacherous soil surrounded all, almost begging the woman to use them to neutralize any who would attempt to stand in her way.
Still, this all did not mean Avacyn did not care for the ritual and its technicalities or even the story behind the hypergate. Inside its chamber Darth Prazutis spoke of the Dread Masters and their goals, a piece of history the woman listened to with great interest all the while the blue glow bathed the surroundings in color. Taeli followed up, contrasting the blue with thin lines of red as her spell took effect to reveal the ritual the ones before them had created. Now it was their to do what they could not.
Then the Dark Lord warned of the approaching Light, something Avacyn herself could feel in the faintest of waves within the Force. They were coming and so she would have to meet them in time. "I will ensure they do not set a single foot into this chamber," she exclaimed as she began to move towards the entrance of the structure. "May the ritual go well."
While the sight of the swampland that directly surrounded the hypergate drew closer, the woman grasped a rune that was worn like a necklace, taking it off and channeling the Force into it. It began to glow faintly as it was imbued with and with a spell of her own she unlocked its power.
"Zo dvasia maskuoti nu sekleti aveti."
The faint glow of the rune intensified and the Sith Lady's appearance began to shift into a form that was much more to be feared. Her skin turned a pale white, the corrupted red in her eyes became luminescent and her red locks of hair became spectral-looking; she became a ghostly being and although it was no more that a mere illusion, it still always achieved its desired effect of inducing fear into the minds of the enemy and demoralizing them, even if it was just slightly. Stepping into the swamp once more, she stood guard. None would be let in until the ritual had been completed.
Location: Satikan, Capital of Asation Objective: Draw attention Allies: TSE, [member="Darth Caecus"] Enemies: TRA, Open to Interaction
None of this was easy.
They had to draw attention without drawing attention to themselves. Not even from the Rebel Alliance, but from the very same people they were trying to help. The presence of the Dark Lord, [member="Darth Carnifex"], might once have been seen as a boon for any agents on site (big target that drew all focus on himself), but right now he was a reminder.
That they had abandoned the Sith Empire.
If the Sith Emperor found out that they were alive, would he find it amusing? Or would he try and rip their heads off? "I know what you are thinking." The subdermal communicator between the two engaged as they crept from corridor to corridor.
"-or maybe I know what I am thinking and hoping you think the same."
Luca allowed that one, because in truth he couldn't know what her considerations were in the moment.
They paused at the threshold, his fist rising up as two guards passed them by. Human. Humanoid anyway. Ansation was far more diverse than Gree was, more aliens of any stripe. It didn't surprise him that there were humans here too. One breath, two, then they passed by and it allowed Kith and Luca to skid across the hall and into the security room.
Three there-
All three focused on the terminal now.
"I take the left one-"
No bluster here. She was the Forcer, the Lord of the Sith and would have an easier time taking down two without making noise.
Cerbera had been counting on the arrival of [member="Darth Imperia"].
A herald of a larger fleet once Imperia's flotilla broke caused enough chaos for a beachhead to be established. Instead all they received was silence, silence and the slow creep of the Rebel fleet approaching their position. While Yammka had been able to escape notice because of its organic nature... once those active sensors started sweeping the asteroid field it would be the e-
The Force shifted and Cerbera could feel it in her core.
Something had changed.
Eyes met between the Pale and the Alchemist. They both knew. "We stay put, we die." Cerbera spoke the truth that all of them on the bridge had been mulling for a moment or two.
"We can no longer expect for Imperia and the Dark Lord to come to our aid."
Truth number two. Cerbera had not felt fear for decades now, yet... something cold was flooding through her veins. As the passive sensors constructed the outlines of the rebel ships slowly approaching... as their options dwindled, she couldn't help but think of all the experiments she hadn't been able to run yet. Of the projects left unattended, of progress still waiting for her.
Jaw set.
That would not happen.
"We break through- everything we have, we will lose some... but if we manage to outpace them we can escape to hyperspace, before they can react."
With the Errant Venture situation dealt with, the Ablution could turn its attention to the larger threat at hand - the Mephirium-class Battlecruiser called the Technicolor Beat. The aged warship was a smaller battlecruiser, but had significant firepower and defenses - moreso than even the Ablution itself. Currently it was being engaged - and as it stood, the Ablution would be hard-pressed to get within engagement distance in a quick span of time. Unless...
"How long until we can safely microjump towards the Technicolor Beat?" Asked the ship's captain.
"Too long." The first officer said. "We in theory could jump now - we'd just be at risk of damaging our hyperdrive. And if that happens, we'll be stranded in front of that warship's guns with nowhere to go."
"We can afford the risk. Those other Sith vessels continue to suffer damage every moment we tarry here. Disengage the safeguards on the hyperdrive and prepare to micro-jump. Communicate with the Massassis and get an appropriate single-use hyperspace vector ready. Also, have them transmit data about the Technicolor Beat's position to the rest of the fleet. We need to be ready to have them shock-jump if need be."
"Very well… Disengaging hyperspace safeguards. We're ready to jump. On your mark."
"Mark!"
With that, the Ablution jumped for a second before reappearing in front of the Technicolor Beat some few kilometers away, at a vector where it would not accidentally be hit by the missile and turbolaser fire of the other Sith warships. The 4 super-heavy beam weapons who could fire at the Technicolor Beat charged up as quickly as they could, firing at near-point blank range towards the Mephirium's bridge.
"This is the Sith battleship Ablution. All guns, fire for effect. To any allied vessels engaging the Technicolor Beat - we have more backup in transit."
"Sir, report from engineering - the hyperdrive's drastically overheated. We're venting coolant down there just to keep it from melting down. If we do anything like that again, our chief engineers expects the hyperdrive will blow and take our engines with it. He expects it'll take somewhere between thirty minutes to an hour just to get it to a point where it can recharge."
"Signal Heavy Attack Line Daala to come in on a vector similar to ours. The more firepower we can offload on this bastard, the better."
Meanwhile, the Errant Venture was jumped out of the system with the skeleton crew of Dark Troopers aboard. The Traya was still gathering the boarding shuttles, but would likely finish soon.
Void Irregular Fleet
Class | Name | Length | Shields | Hull | Weapons | Subsystems
Capital Ships Pluton-class Battleship | Ablution | 2000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Engaging the Technicolor Beat at close range) Attrition IIL-class Light Star Destroyer | Traya | 1200m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Out of engagement range, picking up the captured crew of the Errant Venture)
Heavy Attack Line Daala Conqueror-class Heavy Cruiser | Scylla | 1000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Preparing to jump in)
Conqueror-class Heavy Cruiser | Gorgon | 1000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Preparing to jump in)
Conqueror-class Heavy Cruiser | Hydra | 1000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Preparing to jump in)
Conqueror-class Heavy Cruiser | Basilisk | 1000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Preparing to jump in)
Conqueror-class Heavy Cruiser | Manticore | 1000m | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 (Preparing to jump in)
Objective:Survive & Conquer | Disable Core | Find Allies Location: Unknown Allies: [member="Garen Kalkat"] | [member="Atlas Kane"] Enemies:[member="The Slave"] | [member="Judas Foster"] | [member="Julian Valentine"] | @A'lah The Green One | [member="Faye"] Music
Stuck behind cover once again, blaster bolts zipping passed Iprotis' peripheral vision. His comlink hadn't received any incoming transmissions - that could only mean the signal was being blocked. Practically alone, he needed to be quick on his feet, there was no telling what was onboard the ship itself; however, if the droids were any example, then things might prove to be moderately challenging.
But then a thought crossed the agent's mind.
Not able to feel a blaster bolt to his torso - yet still able to die from it. What use was it to have dead nerves if they didn't stop the threat of mortality itself? A bolt nearly grazed the side of Iprotis' helmet, he grimaced and extended his arm outward from his cover, squeezing his blaster's trigger and feeling the recoil as three rounds were fired. He could hear the whine of electronics as one of the two assailants pursuing him hit the floor - dead.
A steady burst from an ACR struck Iprotis in his left shoulder, his armor managing to stave off any critical injury, yet there would still be some severe burns to the flesh. "Huh. Damn." He needed to move again, preferably without getting damaged anymore. Cracking his neck, he dived from out of cover, almost instantaneously locking his gaze upon the remaining droid. It let loose another three round burst - missed.
Twice the trigger was pulled, Iprotis' arm kicked back with the force of his particle beam pistol as he watched his target get torn apart. A minor explosion occurred, a plume of black smoke obscuring his vision as warped and scorched electronics fell to the floor. Iprotis' regained composure, exhaling with a heavy sigh. Things could have gone much more smoothly had he better prepared.
Had he actually known this ship was to become his new primary directive. Observing his surroundings, he walked with extreme caution, now that he wasn't directly engaged in combat, this offered him some reprieve from the constant rush. The machines were persistent - resillient even, Iprotis would give them that much credit.
But none would dare to silence his mission. Whomever had activated the droids to defend the hangar did not understand what they dealt with, but would soon find enlightenment through a display of aggression. A blaster to their head would suffice, but due to his ill nature, Iprotis much rather preferred a more agonizing method. Any who thought themselves superior to the miracle of the Dark Side of the Force were misguided.
