Star Wars New Sith Trials I *Voted Best RPG Summer 2016*

BATTLE OF MORTIS GM UPDATE 3 OF 3

IC: Darth Haretisch -- Skies above Mortis

When the white light faded, Darth Haretisch found himself standing again, in the same spot as before the vision began.



He had only a moment to reflect, as a looming specter in the viewport cast a shadow over the whole of the Chimaera, and a rare moment of panic rose within him like bile in his throat.

The Wrath of Vader.

The black void of space had become an endless storm-gray sky above and a blanket of clouds below when the ship entered the realm of Mortis. A view surreal and dreamlike by any account - save that most of the view was blocked by the frightening reality of a 13,000 meter Star Dreadnought.

And it wasn't alone. A score of gunships, shuttles, and fighter squadrons buzzed around it, dwarfing the Sith Empire's comparatively modest fleet, ready to swarm and devour.

Then Insipid's voice came over the intercom. "Abandon ship. Abandon ship now."

"We don't have long," Haretisch said, and made for the door. He didn't look back as he made haste to the hangar - Hell Squadron would keep up or find their own way.

When he arrived in the closest hangar, squadrons were already scrambling - launching by the moment in controlled chaos and forming up once airborne to engage. And the shuttle was gone.

Kriff. They would have to improvise. He located and quickly seized upon a D-Type Trifoil, scaling nimbly up the side and landing in the cockpit. Settling in as the engines hummed to life, the Night Herald wasted no time in launching, and within a few moments was doing something he had sworn he would never do again - piloting a starfighter. He hated piloting starfighters. But at least he wasn't alone - six fighter squadrons were now fully assembled, and two dozen gunships had pitched into the fray.

Pulling on the fighter's headset, he looked below to the cloud canopy and above to the towering figure of the Wrath, then to the Chimaera... which was rocketing toward it.

Because of course it was. Darth Insipid was known for a few signature card tricks. One, and perhaps the most well known, was the exploding lightsaber hilt which had been the Bane of Darth Sabith during Insipid's apprenticeship to Lord Verlein.

This was another.

A shockwave rippled through the atmosphere as The Chimaera collided with the Wrath, mid-point along its hull. The disadvantage of a larger ship was the structural fragility such scale can bring, and this was on full display as the far smaller Star Destroyer ripped into it with seemingly little effort, burying itself bridge-deep.

Then with a clap, The Chimaera exploded. Just as it was meant to do. It had been stuffed to the gills with high explosive for exactly this purpose - in the rare event that it was needed.

The Wrath was rent violently in twain by the blast, now reeling in two large pieces incapable of remaining suspended under their own power. In tandem they began to plummet, and as they parted the cloud canopy upon their dissent, a gaping view to the surface of the planet below would present itself. The citadel, the Monastery, the Well - all were briefly visible.

But it wasn't re-converging cloud cover which obscured them shortly afterward - the chasm in the clouds remained. Instead the ground below was hidden behind a swarm of TIEs pouring from the open wounds of the Wrath like gnats, coated with Mnngal-Mnggal from stem to stern, as the dreadnought plummeted towards the ground.

Haretisch pulled up on the controls to gain elevation as the innumerable flood of Mnggal-TIEs formed into groups of ten and began to cut away at the fleet. One Imperial squadron was immediately blown to ribbons and another was crippled within moments of the assault. The Battle of Mortis was progressing poorly.

"Hell Squadron, report in and form up," he called after opening a line to Manticore, Syren, and The Lorekeeer. He trusted that all had made it to a ship.

TAG: Mikaboshi, greyjedi125, QueenSabe7

OOC: Super combo!

 

IC: Darth Hesper
Chimaera, then the battle above Mortis

Curled on the floor of the Chimaera’s hangar, Hesper writhed in pain, left hand pressed firmly to her eye. A distorted, howling cry of pain escaped Hesper’s lips—her left eye felt as if it had been gouged out and replaced with a smoldering orb of fire. What in the universe just happened? Hesper wondered as she sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. Heaving for air, Hesper reached out for the crate she had fallen off of seconds before with her right hand, and gripped its edge with pale fingers. It felt as though she had aged a lifetime in the short amount of time that had passed. She pulled herself onto her knees, then pulled herself to standing, if not a little shakily.

Hesper knew she had had a… vision. But of what? Squeezing her good eye closed, she urged herself to remember, but all that was left were residual feelings, impressions of what had transpired in the dream-space, and the image of empty, unending space filled with stars. One by one, emotions swam to the forefront of Hesper’s mind; betrayal, love, happiness, and emptiness were among the most prevalent, accompanied by the strong notion that something about herself had changed.

Cautiously, Hesper pulled her hand away from her face, her palm coming away wet with red. She hissed in pain as the open air met her open flesh. “Damn it,” she swore in a biting voice. “How did this happen?” She had no recollection of hitting her face when she had fallen, before the vision. Had she been blinded during her vision? Was this some kind of residual wound? Opening both eyes as best she could—her left eye struggled to open, and her once silvery grey eye had become pale, bleached out and clouded over—Hesper looked around the hangar. Black blotted out the left side of her field of vision. Blinded. Angrily, Hesper had to twist her head farther than she would have liked to see to her left. Others were waking up from similar states, strewn about the hangar, visibly shaken. At that time she received a comforting wave from Lady Bellorum through the Force, followed by a warning to stay prepared.

She immediately understood why.

“Abandon ship. Abandon ship, now,” came Insipid’s voice over the intercom.

A pit of horror solidified in Hesper’s gut. Something terrible must have happened.

Not wasting a moment of time, Hesper threw her rucksack into the TIE Interceptor she was beside, then clamored into the cockpit herself. There was no time to tend to the nasty gash on her face. Hesper hastily fastened the safety belts and pulled the pilot’s helmet over her head—wincing as it drug painfully over the slice on her face with a hissing whimper.

Bellorum’s voice came over the comm channel for Shadow Squadron: “If you aren't in a ship you need to find something that will fly, lock in on my shuttle and we will form up when everyone's spaceborne.”

Hesper began to flip switches and turn knobs, kicking the fighter’s engines on and preparing to lift off from the hangar. She hailed the rest of Shadow Squadron over the channel Bellorum had opened. “This is Hesper,” she stated in a steeled, sharp voice. “I will be flying a TIE Interceptor; launching from the hangar of the Chimaera now.” Hesper held her breath as she scooted the Interceptor out of the hangar and into space—with her left eye now blind, she found herself nervous to fly into a battle. But nonetheless, she located Bellorum’s shuttle on her scanners and locked on. “I’m locked on your shuttle, Lady Bellorum. Awaiting your directions now,” Hesper said, not allowing the quiver in her voice to become apparent.

But as she made her way further away from the Chimaera, Hesper realized what was the matter—it was the Wrath of Vader. Back from the dead and writhing with the blackish ichor of… Mnggal-mnggal. Hesper’s blood stopped cold in her veins. They had failed. Mnggal-mnggal had not been destroyed. And as Hesper watched in horror out of the Interceptor’s cockpit, the Chimaera continued its suicidal path directly towards the Wrath.

The two collided. The Chimaera exploded. Hesper gawked, dumbfounded—and then the swarms of TIEs poured forth from what remained of the Mnggal-slicked Wrath. Hesper gulped.

This would not be an easy battle.

The TIEs swarmed, closing in on those who had launched from the Chimaera in great numbers. The Sith fighters immediately plunged into the fray, and Hesper had no choice but to follow-- it'd do her very little good to hesitate in a battle like this one. She was both grateful and extremely distraught to be flying a TIE of her own; grateful for the maneuverability, but dreading the notion of becoming lost in the sea of other Mnggal-TIEs, regardless of the differences in design. Hesper dove and zig-zagged as she dodged TIE after Mnggal-TIE, lasers a-blazing. Then, an unfamiliar voice griped over the Shadow Squadron comm channel: "This is Shadow Two; I could do with a hand here!"

Hesper set her jaw firmly; she decided not to wait for orders straight from Bellorum and that it would be better to be doing something for another Shadow member than flying around aimlessly and getting shot at. She pressed her comm. "Shadow Two, this is Hesper," she replied tensely, "What's your position? I've got a free hand I could lend you."

Then, from the right side of her viewport, she saw a group of twelve or so Mnggal-mnggal TIEs ganging up on a Sith fighter, a web of ichor stretched between them all and threatening to ensnare the fighter-- That must be Shadow Two, she thought. "Never mind that, Shadow Two, I've found you. Hang tight."

Hesper banked right, and locked her targeting computer on the first of the twelve TIEs. As she swooped in on the TIEs, she pulled the trigger once, twice-- a total of six times as her T/I screamed over the formation closing in on Shadow Two. Five of her six shots landed, and she spiraled and turned, coming around again for a second pass, this time from the underside of the formation. Oh, she did love flying. But the blindness in her eye was distracting, no matter how much she staved off the pain and used the Force as a crutch. Six more successful shots later and there was only one or two of the Mnggal-TIEs left pressing in on Shadow Two, their initial web of gunk shattered and destroyed.

"You owe me one, Shadow Two," Hesper chuckled into the comm channel as she flew a loop around Shadow Two and came to flank their left side. Which, she realized, would be a mistake. A shot she didn't see coming from her left side struck her left wing, and shook the T/I. The shields held, remaining at a respectable percentage, but she came to realize she couldn't leave her left side unprotected if she couldn't see it.

"Shadow Squadron," Hesper hissed through clenched teeth into her comm. "I should mention I've been blinded in my left eye. My port side is under fire--" she grunted as another hit shook the cockpit, "--and I'm going to need a little help."

TAG: Shadow Squadron, Sinrebirth, Lady Belligerent

 

IC: Kwea Acantha
Space, Battle above Mortis

Kwea was checking her belongings that were in her ship when Emperor Inspid’s voice came over the comm system.

“Abandon ship. Abandon ship, now.”

Kwea yawned and it took a few moments for the command to register. Oh frip.

She raced to get everything settled in her starfighter *, making some last adjustments.

This X-wing was her baby. She had spent all her spare time, well, at least the time that wasn’t spent in the kitchen eating, working on this ship. Kwea had painted it black and red, her signature colors, so that it wouldn’t look like a Rebel ship. She had tinkered with the controls and engines to get it just right as well.

She heard a little bleep and looked up to see that her little astromech droid was already plugged in and ready to go.

“Alright 4T, let’s blow this joint,” she said to her droid whose name was actually R2-4T. Yes, he was black and red too.

He gave a little affirmative whistle and she climbed into the cockpit. She grabbed her black onyx helmet and turned on the comm. She caught the tail end of Lady Hesper saying she’d be flying an Interceptor and that she was locked on Bellorum’s shuttle. Kwea figured she should do the same but she didn't know where the shuttle was and she didn't want to sound stupid. She hadn't been very awake at the briefing.

Her cockpit cover came down and she flipped a few switches. Kwea felt the adrenaline flow through her as the engines shuddered to life. She gave the control panel a final check over. Good to go.

Her fighter lifted off slowly and she flew out of the hangar bay into the starry sky. Suddenly, her fighter rocked severely and the sky was filled with an orangey glow. The noise was deafening, even in her X-Wing. Then she saw what had caused the commotion. The Chimaera had just collided with another ship.

“That was close 4T,” she said, breathing heavily from shock.

“Beep, whoop, blurp,” the little droid trilled.

“Yeah buddy, I know. We’re okay though,” she assured him. For a Sith’s droid, he sure was a ‘fraidy cat.

Turning her head back to the front of her cockpit, she saw an astounding sight. There were swarms of TIE fighters shooting at the squadron. They looked like little laser firing gnats and she planned on swatting them.

Now speaking into her comm she said, “Shadow Squadron, this is Kwea, I’m out of the Chimaera.”

Immediately, she heard Lady Hesper come through. "Shadow Squadron, I should mention I've been blinded in my left eye. My port side is under fire and I'm going to need a little help.”

“I’m coming Hesper. I’ll be closing in on your port side,” she told her fellow Shadow member.

Kwea turned the fighter into a nose dive and then suddenly pulled up on the throttle. She came up behind a few TIE’s and took them out with a few pushes of the trigger. She continued weaving her way through the enemy, shooting them down as she went.

Kwea loved the feeling she got when she flew. It had been a while since she’d been in the cockpit but it felt like home to her.
She spiraled down again and flew under a group of TIE’s, flew upwards, flipped, and shot them. Kwea hollered a good natured yell as she watched them explode into tiny little bits.

She increased her speed and dodged a bunch of TIE fighter blasts then fired back at them.

Kwea was swiftly closing in on Hesper’s ship and she started focusing on getting rid of the TIE’s that were on Hesper’s left.

Maneuvering her X-wing to Hesper’s port side, she positioned herself so that she could fire at the TIE’s while Hesper took care of the ship damage and the TIE’s on the right.

Toggling the comm she said, “Lady Hesper, this is Kwea, I’ve got you covered.”

Kwea wasn’t really familiar with Lady Hesper but she knew she had some title or other like the Meat Slicer of Coruscant. Oh, maybe it was Butcher. Yup, definitely Butcher.
So anyway, Hesper was to be regarded with high respect not only as an elder but as a deli worker. *cough* Butcher.

“Beeeeeep,” 4T screeched abruptly.

Kwea was wrenched from her thoughts and fired off a few blasts at some approaching TIE’s.

“I got it, I got it, you little farkled piece of metal,” Kwea yelped. She was a bit flustered that she had been caught off guard.

“Whoooop,” the little droid moaned.

“I’m sorry, little guy,” Kwea said with a very unapologetic laugh in her tone. Droids could be so emotional sometimes. If it wasn’t a stuck up protocol droid who was getting offended or a nanny droid who was beeping about not being careful with a kid, it was an astromech droid whose feelings were hurt.

Using the Force to guide her hand, she shot down four more TIE’s.

The nape of her neck tingled and she jerked the X-Wing downwards. A TIE fighter whizzed right over her on a failed suicide mission.

Pulling the fighter back up, she came to hover near Hesper’s port side again and fired off a shot, watching as the culprit TIE exploded.

She grinned and heard 4T whistle a little cheer. Her now rosy cheeks were stretched into a triumphant smile and there was a joy that most people didn’t get to glimpse in her eyes. In fact, most people didn’t even know she was a pilot. No matter, they would after this.

*I had to change Kwea's ship to an X-Wing because the ARC-170 required 3 people to fly.

TAGS: corinthia Lady Belligerent and the rest of Shadow Squadron

 

The Lorekeeper
Above Mortis

The Lorekeeper awoke from his vision clear of mind, the only voice within was his own. He took a deep breathe in, a free breathe, and let it out slowly. He felt as if he was awakening from a long nightmare.

It was then he became aware of the chaos around him, it rushed in on him suddenly. He watched as Darth Syren ran out of the room, and he scrambled to follow but struggled to keep up. By the time he made it to the hangar Syren was dropping into the hatch of a TIE, he had no idea where the Night Herald or Battlelord were, but that was not his concern at the moment.

He needed a pilot.

Learning how to operate a variety of craft wasn't high on the Lorekeeper's "to-do" list. The Force provided however, a Sentinel-class shuttle was on the near side of the hangar readying to board a squad of soldiers. He wasted no time and secured his method of escape, as the soldiers moved to board he lashed out at them telekinetically. Their screams accompanied the sound of bones snapping, then a moment of silence before their bodies crashed to the floor.

The pilot and sensor officer were surprised to see him enter the cockpit, but all in the empire knew the face of a High Lord, they prepared to take off on his orders.

He gave the officer his comlink so that they could receive communications from the others, "Proceed pilot." He looked back to the still open ramp as the shuttle lifted off, as it began to retract his attention was drawn to the Night Herald's voice over the com. "Hell Squadron, report in and form up." The pilot looked to the High Lord and received a nod of approval.

The Lorekeeper sat in an empty officers chair and closed his eyes, he sensed that Syren and Haretisch were no longer near him but Manticore wasn't yet off the ship. As he wondered how the Battlelord would make his escape he heard the pilot calling over the com to Hell Squadron, "Hell Squadron this is Imperial Shuttle Khepri, we are transporting High Lord Lorekeeper and will fall in shortly."

Tag: Darth_wanderguard QueenSabe7 greyjedi125

 

IC: Darth Deathy
Location: Jwob’s Ship

From inside Jwob’s ship, little Deathy hid herself away in an empty storage closet. She giggled and poked her head out the door to look out. That “Nanny” droid would never find her in here! Hide and Seek was one of her favorite games to play. She looked one way, and couldn’t see anything coming. “I’m gonna win!” she giggled to herself.

Deathy turned the other way towards the cockpit and blinked. Light? It was so bright, she had to cover her eyes! It quickly covered the girl, and disappeared just as quickly.

“Huh?” Deathy opened her eyes and found herself sitting down again. “What happened?” Wasn’t she standing just now? And... where did all of these clothes come from?! She was buried in them! Deathy sputtered and waved her arms around to free herself before feeling something familiar. It was a soft and silky black dress, one of Deathy’s favorite things to touch before.

Before she picked her new name. Before the Sith Academy, and before the orphanage. If this dress was here, where was she?!

“Gasuad!” an angry Chiss voice scared Deathy half to death right there. That was Daddy’s voice! “I’ll find you, you can’t hide from me you wicked child!” he shouted, and several heavy things fell to the floor. Deathy scrambled to toss the clothes back on top of her and tried hard not to cry. She clung to the dress and kept still.

Daddy was angry again… she hated it when he was angry! She didn’t even do anything this time!

“Gasuad!” her father shouted again, “Where are you, you brat?!” Deathy held her breath. This kind of hide and seek was no fun when her father got like this. Suddenly, things went quiet. “Gasuaaad,” he asked like he was singing, “Are you in your mother’s closet? I’ve told you a thousand times not to go in there.”

Heavy footsteps came to Deathy’s hiding place and she shut her eyes. No! "Daddy NO!" She was quickly uncovered, and the girl screamed like a banshee. She fired a Force Scream without meaning to.

Deathy’s eyes were shut until she could hear metal. Her eyes flew open and she wildly looked around. She was back in the empty closet. Instead of her furious father, she was now looking at her Nanny droid. It looked like her screaming knocked the droid down into the wall. “Oops… I’m sorry,” she muttered, still shaking.

“Quite all right, Darth Deathy,” the fallen droid said as it slowly stood up. “Though I am certainly not your ‘Daddy’. I am-”

“Abandon ship. Abandon ship now.” the Emperor’s voice coming from somewhere stopped the droid from finishing.

Deathy was about to get lost in her own world and barely heard him. “Abandon?” Deathy repeated the word and her Nanny droid took her hand. She was led up to the front of the ship where Jwob waited. Deathy was weirdly quiet when she was put into a chair and began to fumble with the seat belt.

TAG: DarthIshyZ

 

IC: Darth Syren
Mortis

Peeling herself off of the floor and moving to her knees, Syren wiped the sheen of cold sweat from her forehead with the back of a hand. Had they arrived? She turned her head towards the viewport then, her eyes widening as the wave of danger crested through the Force. While it came crashing down, for a moment she thought she was still lost to the white light… it couldn’t be real. All she could see was the massive form of that star destroyer coated in the black writhing mass, the creature that the Sith had collectively destroyed only a few days before. She had witnessed it! How was it here, now?

A familiar voice broke through her shock, echoing out over the room’s comm: "Abandon ship. Abandon ship now."

Yes, this was very real. The Force was screaming at her that it was so.

Syren shot to her feet and immediately followed on Haretisch’s heels as they fled, focusing on herself. She was alert and functional, but exhausted. That… vision had made her feel as if her mind was precariously perched on the edge, one jolt away from coming undone. But she couldn’t worry about that right now, there was no time; the urgency surrounding them took precedence.

It was not long until they rushed through an entryway and into a hangar, her eyes darting about and taking in all manners of action. The Night Herald wasted no time and took off for a ship. So she did the same. Running at the nearest vessel, Syren chose the first in a line of what she knew to be TIE fighters. They looked simple enough. Nimbly leaping up to the cockpit and dropping down through the hatch, it closed and sealed behind her. She shoved the flight helmet over her head and hands swiftly began running over the controls. Sure, she had flown before but not too terribly often and that was ages ago. This was clearly not the time to be only partially capable at a required skill such as this.

“Blasted machine,” she growled through clenched teeth, pressing several blinking buttons on the center console and flipping a few switches. Only generally sure that these were things she should be triggering, an unexpected surge of hysteria bubbled to the surface. And she laughed, her sudden outburst ceasing as quickly as it set on with a frustrated punch down at random. “Go, damn it!” As if on her command, the fighter roared to life, picking up from the hangar deck. Syren took control and angled the ship towards the exit, accelerating out and away with haste.

Entering the atmosphere of Mortis, the full and terrifying scale of the Wrath was apparent. As her ship moved further away, so was the fact that the Chimaera was on a collision course with the larger vessel. When the inevitable took place, she shielded her eyes from the blinding flash that followed, the ship detonating soon after impact. The shock wave hit a moment later, rattling her fighter and setting off an alarm somewhere. As she moved to shut it off, keeping eyes on Haretisch’s starfighter ahead of her, beyond that she could see the growing swarm of TIE’s leaving the broken Wrath. They were coated in the same black ichor as their mother ship. She snarled as his voice chimed in through her helmet’s earpiece.

"Hell Squadron, report in and form up."

"Syren, standing by, my Lord," came her quick reply. She pulled in closer and angled her fighter just off and behind the Night Herald’s port side wing.

TAGS: Darth_wanderguard greyjedi125 Mikaboshi

 

IC: Darth Manticore
Mortis Necropolis

In the force, his senses blared a continuous warning of imminent and immediate danger.

Manticore’s fiery eyes watched as Darth Haretisch glanced at the nearby viewport, then bolted out of the briefing room. Darth Syren did the same, not even a heartbeat later. Upon looking out the viewport himself, it all became clear.

The Wrath of Vader

Or more accurately, a Mnngal-infected abomination.

The zabrak High Lord actually doubted the full report of his eyes for a fraction of a second, if it were not for the Force. How could this be? They had destroyed their enemy, launched it into the sun and saw it consumed by its flames. How could it possibly be here? It was beyond reason.

The order to immediately abandon ship was given, and only a fool would even pause to consider what was being said. Manticore was at once on the move, assisted by the force. His obsidian robes flapped angrily as he too, bolted down corridors, rebounded off walls, and literally careened into the ship's hangar.

He vaguely took notice as Darth Haretisch and Darth Syren took off on ships. Everyone seemed to be leaving all at once. Manticore was confident that the Lorekeeper would make it out, as well as his own apprentice, Darth Invidius. It had taken him quite long to get a worthy apprentice, one who had already demonstrated exemplary talents and skills in matters of survival. He had naught to be concerned about, he surmised.

Out of his peripheral vision, he saw it! The paint-job was half finished. The black portions were done, but the would-be red portions were still glinting with exposed and unpainted naked metal. In a blink, Lord Manticore pounced on the ship, using the force to propel himself. He growled as he landed on the ship itself.

A Star Viper assault platform.

'Mine!'

This was the same model as his original ship, but clearly not the ship itself.

Manticore did not question his fortune as he quickly boarded the ship, commandeered it with his High Lord’s override codes and blasted off into space. The Star Viper responded with the speed he remembered and more. He’d have to check for modifications later.

Within seconds, the Chimaera was shrinking in size as he sped away; almost as soon as he had engaged the shields, a blinding flash washed over his field of vision.

The Chimaera had rammed the Wrath, with devastating results.

But if a burning star had proven insufficient in its potency to rid the galaxy of such abominations, then Manticore was not about to believe that the sacrificed Chimaera could have any lasting effects.

“Hell Squadron, report in and form up.” Manticore heard Triumvir Haretisch’s voice over his ship-to-ship channel.

“Manticore reporting in m’lord. Awaiting instructions.”

The responsiveness of the Star Viper was truly a delight, and Manticore circled the Yevettah D-type trifoil containing Lord Haretisch and the TIE fighter with Lady Syren aboard. As he did so, he made sure to mark them as ‘friendly’. Out of his cockpit, he did see a sight that made him frown, stoking his anger.

Mnggal-infected fighters were already tearing into Sith squadrons, and that initial contact was not in the sith’s favor.

There came another hail came through the ship's comm-system just then, causing him to focus on the immediate moment.

"Hell Squadron this is Imperial Shuttle Khepri, we are transporting High Lord Lorekeeper and will fall in shortly."

Good.

Hell Squadron was gathering in no-time, and soon, they would join the battle and put an end to all these abominations.

Tag: Darth_wanderguard, Mikaboshi, QueenSabe7

 

IC: Darth Haretisch - Battle of Mortis

"Syren, standing by, my lord," Syren came in first, and settled in on the Night Herald's wing in a stock TIE.

"Manticore reporting in m'lord. Awaiting instructions," the Stygian Executor called in next, and circled the pair in an agile Star Viper before falling into formation on Haretisch's opposite wing.

"Hell Squadron this is Imperial Shuttle Khepri, we are transporting High Lord Lorekeeper and will fall in shortly," another voice announced, and a combat shuttle - crewed by three and more heavily armed than any starfighter - formed up at the rear.

"Acknowledged," Haretisch responded. "Hell Squadron, stay in formation and don't engage the main group, our priority is the Well. Let the other squadrons do what they were sent here to do."

Up ahead, a group of Mnggal-TIEs blocked the way.

"New plan. A dozen hostiles at 12 o' clock," he called out, and flipped a switch to disengage his targeting computer. "Blasters will reflect off the sludge on those fighters - switch to proton torpedoes and buzz droids," he instructed, silently cursing the fact that his D-type didn't feature any heavy weapons. "Shuttle Khepri, concentrate forward deflector shields and break their formation - Syren cover his rear. Manticore, follow my lead."

And with that he fired a volley of blasterfire into the cluster of enemies before banking left. He rolled and cut upward into a full loop until he was almost in a nosedive, and his body nearly flattened with the G-forces. Yevethans were clearly more resilient pilots and they designed their ships with that in mind - not with consideration to amateurs who didn't know their own limits. The diversion worked, however; four Mnggal-TIEs gave chase and were closing rapidly.

That left eight to be dealt with by Syren and Shuttle Kephri.

TAG: greyjedi125, Mikaboshi, QueenSabe7

 

IC: Darth Manticore
Batte of Mortis

The Battle of Mortis was already engaged, as Blade and Shadow Squadrons fought a desperate battle from the onset. Lord Manticore became aware of certain subtleties since the Sith arrival on Mortis. Their minds had been tested, and now their resolve were taken to task.

Hell Squadron was ready to do its part.

Darth Haretisch wasted no time to relay instructions, which were quickly revised once the squadron came under attack by a group of a dozen Mnggal-TIEs. An opposing force three times their size.

Manticore was not at all perturbed by their numbers, but their appearance made him seethe. Perhaps it was not so much their appearance, their black ooze covered forms with a plethora of writhing flagella. No, it was the representation of one will dominating another, which filled him with vitriol. He took that affront personally.

The Battlelord silently nodded in agreement once he heard the Night Herald’s revised battle plan. It was sound and needed no revisions from him. Manticore quickly checked the Viper’s arsenal and noticed that it was fitted with extra proton torpedoes and the output of its Heavy Laser Cannons had been increased.

Manticore smirked, his fiery eyes blazing with focused intent as he activated the Viper’s S-foils. It was no accident that he was back on such a starfighter.

Darth Syren, who piloted a stock TIE fighter was instructed to cover the Lorekeeper’s shuttle. This was a good pairing of speed and resilience. Manticore juked on his ship's stick and had no problem following Darth Haretisch’s D-type, taking position as the Triumvir’s wingman.

“I’m on your wing, Night Herald.” The Sith High Lord rasped into the ship’s comm.

Within moments, it became clear that Haretisch’s ploy worked successfully, as one third of the infected Mnngal-TIEs followed after the Battlelord and the Night Herald, notably leaving two thirds of the enemy force engaged with Darth Syren and the Lorekeeper. Manticore took evasive maneuvers and allowed the enemy to get closer, but not too close. He extended his force senses, even as his proximity and targeting alarms began to blare.

Manticore couldn’t help but grin now, as it was all coming back to him. With a sudden motion, he commanded his ship to ‘flip’ around, strengthened his forward shields, and continue on his current vector. He was now facing the incoming enemy.

Immediately, he sprayed the cluster of Mnngal-TIEs with his ship's twin heavy cannons, painting them with laser fire. He knew that the ooze made them resistant, but that was just a distraction. Less than half a heartbeat after he’d opened up with his lasers, Manticore launched a proton torpedo in the midst of his barrage.

He was hoping to take out all the enemy fighters with the ensuing blast, but he’d be more than satisfied if at least half were destroyed. As it was, he did not flip back, but kept traveling backwards. In a moment's notice, depending on the results, the Battlelord would commit to another maneuver to help crush the enemy.

“Any sign of the Well…?” He asked aloud.

Hell Squadron could ill-afford to get caught-up in a pointless dogfight, much less take any losses. Manticore could not actively monitor the rest of the squadrons, but he included Syren and the Lorekeeper into his combat awareness.

Failure was NOT an option. Not for them. Not for the galaxy.

Tag: Darth_wanderguard, Mikaboshi, QueenSabe7

 

IC- Darth Arach
Battle of Mortis

Arach slipped into the pilot's seat as Zalen boarded. She quickly glanced around the cockpit and at the controls. "Just for laughs, Triumvir," she said a bit drily, while working the controls and getting the ship to take off, "I am so tempted to crack an inappropriate joke." She guided the ship out into space. "However, I'm pretty sure we don't... Have... The time...."

She trailed off when she saw the Wrath on a collision coarse with the Chimaera. "Great," she muttered as Shadow Squadron chimed in.

She put as much speed as she could into the thrusters just as the two ships collided. Then they were being swarmed.

Arach quickly glanced at Bellorum, then back out at the battle. "What is our ultimate plan, my lady?"

Tag: Lady Belligerent

 

OOC: Without further ado, we return to the Ravenous and Teafa show. Combine by Wookieerage and A Blind Prophet.

IC: Teafa and Ravenous/ Hangar Chimera/ Space Above Mortis

Teafa sat, unmoving for several moments, simply staring at the black hole in the Force that was outside. It was an oozing, tentacled ship that easily dwarfed the one that she was riding inside. She had thought that she had seen true darkness with her master Insipid, but this was on a very different scale. This was monstrous, and she finally understood the vision that had lead her to this juncture, maybe. And as she looked, she saw a black pulsing star in the heart of the oozing black mass, By Ashla, what can I hope to do to that? And while she was staring she saw something else, her far sight kicking in while she was overwhelmed. She saw a figure emerging from a tower that pulsated with the darkside in much the same way that the the star on the ship did, only even brighter.

It wasn't until she heard Emperor Insipid calling for everyone to abandon the ship that she returned to herself. Returned to the pandemonium that had been unleashed, of everyone rushing to whatever they had been assigned, or trying to figure out what exactly they needed to do. She fell into the latter category, but instead of running around she sat there, looking at the situation, trying to figure out what exactly she could do. She looked over the fighters, but having never actually flown one before, and especially not in combat, that seemed like a bit of a bad idea. There was also a blastboat, that she knew took more people than just herself to pilot, as well as a few other bits and pieces. Something else that she noticed was her master heading over to a shuttle and not giving her a second thought, seemingly. So much for watching your back. And Ike is going to blame me... She found herself sighing as things were obviously spinning out of control, the plan pretty much falling apart before even the first step could be enacted.

Rising to her feet, Teafa shut down her lightsaber to ensure that she didn't accidentally cut the hangar floor. Or herself. Reaching out to the Force, she used it to attempt to calm herself so she could actually think instead of simply react. Then she thought about her vision and began running towards the ships, deciding that maybe simply reacting was the smarter decision at the moment.

A familiar howl beckoned to the Miraluka, the clanking of the armored suit was pressuring within their doomed vessel,"You, girl... You're with me. Let's show this scum that blindness is an advantage and not an ailment."

Ravenous strode past Teafa and opened the cockpit to the chosen star fighter. He could pilot better than most of the allies within this battle and he would need a gunner that wouldn't be distracted by such meager surroundings. He once again defeated Hades' wrath, but now he needed to re-confront Abeloth and the forces of Mnggal-mnggal. His robotic exosuit turned back to the girl and beckoned her to follow, much as the time they spent within the temple. This time the Wookiee was sober and ready and willing for a fight, the darkside emanating from him, he hoped she could do the same. They would need it.

Seeing the hulking Ravenous in his suit, Teafa followed him, not needing any more encouragement. She supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised, she just wasn't used to anyone other than Talwar taking a particular interest in her except for when they needed her help researching something. Clamoring into the gunner's seat she said, "Just as long as you can fly this thing, Wuulf." She began strapping herself in, and using field detection to check the power levels in the ship she could tell that there was a fluctuation in the port-side shield. It would be weaker than the others, which was going to make things... interesting. She was immensely thankful for Talwar teaching her about being a gunner, field detection, and forcing her to practice shooting with something other than her blaster. It was nice to be in a familiar situation even if it wasn't a familiar ship.

"Be careful of port, the shield emitter there isn't as strong as the others." And hopefully she could help warn him of any attacks coming from that side ahead of time, given how she saw things, slightly into the future. Sometimes even a second could save a life in this kind of situation.

Looking out at the massive star destroyer that was spewing ships into space she shuddered. "Don't look at that ship with your sight. Just trust me." There was no way she could guarantee he wouldn't, but hopefully this wouldn't be one of those don't look down situations. "It's bad." She actually wasn't able to keep her voice from shaking, and she forced her focus elsewhere, to her more immediate surroundings. Ravenous for instance. She could feel the darkside emanating from him, it was the exact opposite of the presence of the Force surrounding her.

Ravenous pressed the regulator on his chest that activated the release of his helm. He exposed his head and threw the helm within the cockpit of the fighter.

"Don't worry, I'm not focused on the destroyer. We must thin the ranks of those TIE's. We will do it. It will be glorious. If you die, I die... I will not let that happen girl."

He hopped into the cockpit, pushing the helm to the side and strapping himself into the seat, he fired up the engines and flipped the starter switches. The Wookiee smirked as he initiated the flight stabilizers. The two rose within the fighter and after receiving motions from the flight crew on the deck, flew out of the hanger and into the unknown.

"Keep them off us."

With the lack of response concerning the shields Teafa could only hope he'd heard her, as they were accelerating out of the hangar before she could say anything else. She felt as though she had literally been plastered to the seat as they were still being effected by the gravity of the Chimera as well as that of the fighter itself. Absently she wondered if the inertial compensator were setup wrong. Looking over her controls as best she could at the same time wasn't easy, but she hadn't exactly had time to familiarize herself with them. Why can't these things be standardized? Though the answer was obvious, different ships, different specs. It did make her wonder what a miraluka designed weapons panel would actually look like.

As they entered space she was able to breath again, and she began focusing on the TIE fighters that were screaming towards them. Lining up, she took a long range shot just to test the reactions of the ships, fully expecting to miss. What she hadn't expected was for the TIE she had aimed at to fly straight into it, and then completely ignore the shot as it was... absorbed? What? TIEs don't have shields. She actually focused on one of the TIEs and her stomach fell. Frantically she began looking for the comms panel, the others had to know.

It took her a few precious seconds and when she got her attention back on her surroundings she screamed to Ravenous, "Down! Down now!" There was a missile headed their way, and from what she had seen down was the only way not to get hit.

Ravenous heard the lock on warning wailing but it didn't alert the pilot to how close the missile was. The Wookiee was stunned by the intensity of the command from Taefa, he quickly jerked forward on the controls nosediving the ship downwards; If there was such a thing in deep space. He looked out of the top of the ship's viewport and not only saw, but felt the missile miss by a meter. He howled to Teafa,

"That was too close! Keep that up, girl. We will need every advantage we can get.."

The Wookiee continued his vector before opening up the engine full-bore and pulling back on the controls bringing them up behind the squadron that fired upon them. He howled to Teafa looking for guidance.

If the Force is with me. It was a terse thought, and she had finally found a way to get a wide band comm message sent out." Attention everyone, the TIEs are covered in the same goop as the big ship. It seems to absorb laser fire." Whether anyone would actually pay attention to her was up in the air, or if it was even heard by anyone. But she needed to focus on herself and Ravenous right now, or they were very much going to end up as an expanding ball of gas.

"Left and up!" She'd had a glimpse of what was coming, and there were four paired fighters coming at them with some kind of... web of black goop between them. But the ships themselves didn't have whatever that essence of the darkside was on them anymore. Maybe I can blow one or two of them up now. She'd had to ignore most of the first squadron to get the message sent, but these...

Drawing on the Force, she decided that if ever there was a good time to start using her emotions this was it. There was plenty of fear to go around after all. Lining up the first shot, and aiming where the Force told her they were going to be, the way Talwar had taught her, she pulled the trigger once and then switched her aim to another ship and repeated the process. She did that for all four ships, missing two of them as the bolts went between the struts and those solar panels, but the other two were lit up. She did notice that it was easier pulling off of her emotions as well, which surprised her a little.

Calling out to Ravenous she asked, "What's our plan here? We aren't trying to kill all of these things are we?" She certainly hoped not, she doubted very strongly that he was that good of a pilot, and she knew she wasn't that good of a shot.

His bloodthirst carried over to the apparatus that was their starfighter. He followed Taefa's command once more and tugged the controls, spiraling them upwards. Ravenous smirked as two of the enemy fighters were vaporized. This was the opening he was looking for. He twisted the controls and preformed an immelmann as they passed the wounded squadron, lining up his forward cannons to the remaining Mnngal-TIEs. He could feel Taefa's fear permeating after her question, he had to howl the realization,

"We will do the Emperor's bidding! We will kill as many as needed."

He flipped the switch to the missile lock and released an ion torpedo at one of the remaining TIEs. It connected and obliterated the ship. The Wookiee then targeted the remaining ship and laid down on the cannons, but the black ichor overtook the TIE and the lasers were absorbed. Ravenous gritted his teeth and broke away, searching for another squadron that was vulnerable. He silently wondered why there hadn't been further orders. Had the Emperor perished?

Shooting what might as well have been a soft mist at a few other fighters, Teafa considered what to do. The plan in general had been get to the planet and the Son's tower, so spending a lot of time up here in what was surely going to turn into a meat grinder sooner than later made no sense, nor did it further the Emperor's plans. Deciding to check the comm logs, she looked for any standing orders or anything that might have been sent to everyone. A flash of light, and a jarring of the ship jerked her attention away from that, and she saw that they needed to be going somewhere else entirely. "They're leading us to a trap, go left as hard as you can." Hoping Ravenous could figure things out from there for a moment, she turned her attention back to the computer screen.

She'd found what she was looking for, where they and everyone else should be headed. The question was how many would make it there alive. Or was the galaxy about to fall to... well, black sludge? Was that Typhojem? It seemed improbable, but then whatever that stuff was seemed equally improbable. It's a really big galaxy out here "Wuulf, we need to head to the planet. There's a set of coordinates that was sent broad spectrum from Insipid. This..." She looked out again and nearly swore. "Down! Down!" Again there were more missiles. Ashla, can't even think in these circumstances. But wasn't that what the vision had been about, acting more than thinking? She quickly fired a few pointless shots, as the ooze was sticking to the ships pretty tightly now. At least those that she could see.

Ravenous pushed down on the controls to start the evasion. He zoomed through wreckage of the Mnnagal TIEs, the black sludge reaching out as the fighter passed.

The planet... fast. That's no planet, it feels like the afterlife...

Ravenous considered his thoughts. The afterlife was not a part of his culture, never mentioned in either the Sith records, nor his species.

The missiles closed fast upon their fighter; three total. Quickly, Ravenous twirled their ship through some more wreckage debris and coaxed one missile to its destruction, its' blast sending a shock wave into a parallel missile, which guided it into some more debris; that was two down.

One more followed their blazing fighter. Ravenous gritted as he howled to Teafa,

"Trust me!"

The Wookiee hit the switch to release the reserve tanks, the remaining missile collided with it and exploded, it was quickly relinquished by the dead space. Ravenous tilted the fighter onward, this time in the direction of Mortis. He would wait for further commands. He howled to the Miraluka,

"How you doing back there?"

It was all that Teafa could do to hold on, much less aim at anything. Maybe if she were closer to the Force she could have got a few good shots off, but odds were that none of them would have actually done anything against the goop on the ships. But as things stood in reality, there was nothing useful that she could do. I almost wish I could close my eyes! As they passed far closer to debris than she would have chosen she fought against screaming. Especially with the explosions. The third one left her shaking. The shock waves jarred the ship something fierce as close as it was. At least it wasn't the port shields.

She heard Ravenous call back to her, and she swallowed, trying to keep her voice steady. "I'll... live." Perhaps not what he wanted to hear, but it was what she had to offer. "Do you actually enjoy this madness?" It was something she would be more than happy to avoid in the future if she could. Keep her feet on solid ground.

He laughed and shook his head, opting not to respond to the question and instead focused on finding another allied squadron. They still had enough fuel to keep fighting for a while but if things turned worse than they already were, he would have no choice but to penetrate Mortis alone.

He saw a Star-Viper assault platform roar past him and took the opposite direction, the Wookiee blasted his cannons into a duo of Mnngal-TIEs and followed it up with an Ion Torpedo. The missile connected and disintegrated the targeted fighter. The debris strewn across the central battlefield, Ravenous stretched his senses outward into space, he inadvertently felt Teafa and attempted a Dark Side Meld with her; now relying on their joined efforts, maybe contacting another squadron would be more helpful, but the Wookiee wasn't as good with comms as he was at piloting.

As things calmed down for a moment, she began scanning the area for friendlies, seeing if anyone needed any help. While doing so she felt Ravenous reaching out to her through the Force, almost like he was looking to merge their essences in some fashion. It was a new experience for her and she wasn't entirely sure what to do. Trying to simply let it happen, she began feeling everything that Ravenous was, the thrill of battle as it flooded through him, the joy in the adrenaline rush that it was. Will I ever be like that? She really had no clue.

Teafa could also sense that he also wanted to find some of their allies. Activating the comms again, she asked if anyone needed help."This is Blade four, anyone we can give a hand?" Somehow she got the feeling that the best thing that they could do was just get to the planet ASAP, this whole mess above Mortis was nothing but a distraction from the main goal. "We're looking to make a run groundside, be safer in a group." She hoped Ravenous wasn't going to be against that, given how much fun he seemed to be having. Absently she fired a shot that she knew wasn't going to do any good. The goop was just too strong.

Ravenous heeded the Miraluka's melded desires and quickly turned towards Mortis. He put the fighter into a cruise trajectory toward the mass, waiting to hear further orders from any of Blade squadron, if they needed to fight in space, Teafa was a good gunner, hopefully she would be a good ally in hand to hand as well... or at least enough to gouge some eyes out, Ravenous smirked at the thought and continued on.

TAG: ANYONE and EVERYONE, oh and Sinrebirth

 

The Lorekeeper
Battle of Mortis

The Lorekeeper watched as the pilot reacted nervously to his orders, he was not accustomed to battle situations, he would require motivation. He rose and moved to stand behind the officer then calmly placed his hand on the back of the man's neck.

"Shield generators to full power, chart course to punch through their formation. Ready to fire concussion torpedoes!" His hand squeezed slightly on the pilots neck.
He doubted that the concussion torpedoes were powerful enough to damage the Mnggal-TIEs, but they should be enough to break cause some chaos in their formation.

He reached his free hand to the com panel and opened a channel to Darth Syren. "Syren this is the Shuttle Khepri, we are preparing our advance now. Our shields can help cover your advance." He left the channel open and looked again to the pilot. "Advance on your course captain." As the shuttle sped toward the oncoming Mnggal-TIEs he reached outward with his senses and felt the energy of the deflector field around the ship, he concentrated and wove the fabric of the Force into a supporting barrier that added to the strength of the shielding.

One clawed hand remained resting on the back of the pilot's neck, "Do not deviate from the course captain, fire on my command." The Lorekeeper stared forward calmly, almost uncaring that certain doom stood directly before them. The pilot was starting to sweat, and the sensor officer looked on the verge panic.

"Fire."

The gunners unleashed the entire payload and in only seconds massive explosions erupted directly before them, the target was concentrated in one location in hopes of opening a pocket that they could drive into. The Lorekeeper's hand squeezed reassuringly on the pilot's neck, "Steady." Their shields were being hit hard now, the attack from the shuttle drew fire from the Mnggal-TIEs nearby forcing the sorcerer to place more of his focus on the barrier.

He hoped Syren's ship was well covered from his shields, if they were to survive they would need her to give as much support as possible.

Tag: QueenSabe7 Darth_wanderguard greyjedi125

 

IC: Soliloquy and the other. . .others?
Mortis Vision Scene Two, Final Act

The piles of crystal should have sparkled, and they should have been humming and twinkling. One would even hope to hear murmurs of occupants from the past. But, these were all dead holocrons and there was only silence and dull empty vessels.

The head on his lap on the table sighed, "don't be sad, I bet you'll find your crystal. If not then maybe you will pick a new one," he continued in a soft voice. "I used to want the body I lost, but it really wasn't that great. I miss being able to pick my nose, or slap at a fly," the foolish head was rambling now, as if it was his strange way of trying to comfort Soliloquy.

Ignoring the words Soliloquy noticed in a far corner of the room an edging of white light, breaking in as though it was shredding its way in from beyond the walls. He had seen a possible holocron that may yet be his own in shape although color and more was hard to tell this far away, but at the sight of the white light things began to click within his mind. No his memories were not back, a dozen curses to that. Which he currently tallied as a couple thousand years worth of knowledge to be holed out his mind, but what was still there was more than enough for this to finally make sense. He had Kwea's memories still after all, and those memories included those he had put there.

Lifting the head from his lap he stood as he wiped away tears with his free arm and approached the closest pile of holocrons. "Thank you. You have given me the flavors of life I have so missed out on. You have made me yearn to have form and zest once more within my bones. No matter what they are made of. Drain Bramage or not. There is still one thing I yet yearn to experience before this is over. One last gift I wish to try." Looking down into those shiny eyes he muttered a simple request with his shiny eyes moist from tears, his red skin inflamed from the tears he had already shed as his chin tendrils quivered with heart felt emotion and desire.

"Yer so kind, Mr. Soloquay," the head grinned, "I think we're gonna be pals, me an' you." The head was starting to shed a few tears of joy, he hadn't had a friend, besides his rancor, in many years. "We will do everythin together! You can just carry me and I don't have to sit on rancor's tongue any more, do you know how awful stinky his breath can get?"

"Oh I can imagine. I was swallowed once, cannot remember much more of that at the moment. I remember that." he simply muttered as he looked left and right at the holocron dead and broken about him before turning away, shielding his charge from what he had seen with his body. With his flesh.

With a gesture and knowledge incomplete he spun and impaled the head upside down upon a broken pyramid, it was an old Sith holocron that likely had once tried it's ways at treachery only to succeed in its broken death. He did not wait to see what happened as his free hands fingers dug into the closest eye of the head, removing it in a swift and determined notion as the white light encroached ever more into the room. The feeling of it tearing the optic nerve as he forced his pinkies nail to saw and slice to free his prize. He thought he could hear a roaring but it did not matter as he pushed with the Force and not his bowels this time. "How clumsy we are when we first attempt to deceive." he simply whispered as the spore from his clothes took root in the eye in his hand and the head upon the pyramid and then he pushed in earnest. Rot surge. As mushrooms grew like tiered shelves out of the plucked eye he tossed it in his mouth. Savoring the burst as his tongue squeezed it against the roof of his mouth, the flavor as the white of teeth closed in and spread the succulent orb apart. Then he pushed it sideways wholly to the edge of his mouth, the oft mistake of the beginner was the boon to one who was willing to take as well as create, as every cell tried to grow, destroying each other and then themselves as they burst into death and fluid slurry in his mouth. He moaned at the pleasure of eating, delighting in the simple pleasures as the white continued to close in on him in turn.

As he swallowed he nodded to the head impaled as it burst and with a gentle caress as thanks, and filled the hollow pyramid to overflowing. "Thank you." he whispered as the light once more overtook him. "I will always remember your taste."

---

Finding itself being carried by Kwea, flown with Kwea, and fighting the god of rot in Kwea's pocket Soliloquy simply had it's old face refracting off the crystals, smiling and hummed a simple jolly tune from the days of Vitiate. Such was its mood. Such was his bliss.

TAG: Halle Dray, Lady Belligerent, GMs

 

Jwob Sebb
Battle of Mortis

Aboard the Brehe, Jwob was starting engines, just finishing his checklist when an announcement came over the intercom:

'Abandon ship. Abandon ship now.'​

"Now? Abandon ship? OK, then." He turned around to see Deathy was behind him. "Welcome, Darth Deathy! Have a seat in the navigators seat. Let me know if you need help fastening the belt."

The ship lifted off and headed out the hangar door. A new message came in. This time from her commander and Master, Dark Lady Bellorum:

"If you aren't in a ship you need to find something that will fly, lock in on my shuttle and we will form up when everyone's space born."​

Jwob thought, "Way ahead of you Master." He instructed his droids to follow those instructions and had a lock on her ship.

When he got outside, it was pandemonium. The main thing he saw, though, was a ship. A big ship. It looked... alive... heading straight for the Chimaera. He took a minute to message the Shadow Squadron, "Jwob Sebb... er Darth Serapis, copy. I'm already out the door and have a lock on you, Master!"

He also saw three of his fellow Shadow Squadron. Ike was battling away but was rescued by Hesper. Hesper, in turn, was rescued by Kwea. "Look like they're doing well," Jwob thought. He fired a few rounds from his laser cannons at the TIEs that were swarming the battlefield. They seemed to do nothing to them. That black goo was... shielding them? TIEs don't have shields, though. Mnggal-Mnggal is a strange substance, but he gathered useful.

Fortunately the Emperor had seen fit to have the slaves convert one of his cargo bays to carry more concussion missiles. He flipped on his internal comm. "You slaves had better be on your toes back there. I'm going to start firing at these things."

He fired, one, two concussion missiles at the Mnggal-TIEs. Hit one of them and a satisfying explosion swallowed up by the vacuum of space.

Jwob kept firing, taking out a few of the Mnggal-TIEs while more of his squadron mates came out into the melee that was around their ruined ship.

Any non skinned TIE he could target and shoot with the laser cannons. Easy shooting there. Although, he had to keep checking his targeting scope and his Force sense to make sure they weren't Sith fighters.

The Brehe was a larger ship. No fighter by any stretch, so he didn't try any fancy flying. The ship made up for it in armament, armor and sheilding. One, two, one, two. The slaves were doing a good job keeping up. Jwob was targeting and hitting as many as he could.

Deathy was sitting silent. When he dared look back once she seemed to be transfixed under the wide transparisteel cockpit.

One, two, one, two. Took out three more. 75% ratio was pretty good for not having a whole lot of aiming time.

Looking back at the mass that was the Chimaera and the Wrath, it appeared that the black skin that was Mnggal-Mnggal was starting to cover the rest. Jwob hoped the rest of his fellow Sith were off that thing.

Meanwhile he waited for the signal to form up and kept a lock on Dark Lady Bellorum's shuttle.

Tag: Lady Belligerent, Dark_Lady_Rae, rest of Shadow Squadron

 

Abeloth and Darth Hades
Mortis

A body was on the move.She had lost track of Darth Hades for a time, and so she expected that he had wandered off to join a vision. Perhaps to have one. Mortis being what it was. She thrice cursed her late husband.
Abeloth had planned to crush Hades when she had her strength back up - resisting a burning sun long enough for Typhojem to save her with his shadow hand had drained a lot from her Mnngal-Mnngal form.

Though she had managed to pick up a few other avatars along the way, she was not without pain, and a need to recover.The Wrath body was the largest and most potent, and the ichor coated Super Star Destroyer was in essence a thirteen kilometre form. It gave her a base to seize from, and she absently wondered why she had not thought of it earlier - but of course the Unknown Regions had been created to separate her from the Killiks and Mnngal-Mnngal, so perhaps the Celestials had anticipated her millennia in advance.
Annoying. But, also, irrelevant.
Suddenly, Hades was back, and emotion clung to him; a confrontation. In their shared mind space, she gave him a smile. He had not the power to influence her form - yet - so until she was suitably recovered she would need to keep him close.

'Back again, my love?'
He reacted to her voice, startled by it, actually.
He had confronted Ravenous, but much of what had transpired had not been him...or had it been how he truly felt? He was so confused.
What was that? I wanted to kill him.....
He looked at Abeloth and a flash came through. How angry he was she had taken something from him. Then it was gone.
What is this place?
'It's me. You're inside me.'

A smile, and a tentacle reached to brush his face. 'Don't you remember, my love?''You're dead.'
As her grin grew all the more monstrous the Chimaera, explosive laden, hit the Wrath, and Abeloth screamed.
She had a body aboard that ship, and Abeloth had just lost it - her massive, most powerful, body.

A hundred voices screamed in unison, and for a brief moment Hades was cut loose in the sea of the soul that was Abeloth. But now, instead of nothing surrounding them, there were shadows, as if the gap between here and there - unreality and reality - was considerably thinner.
The walls began to sprout voices and scream and wail.
He felt revulsion in hearing her, in understanding what she was saying, and then everything went into chaos.
He felt the small moment of freedom and now he couldn't see past the shadows but was immersed in them, and the voices as they became like thunder.​

​

For a moment, he could see much more than just himself. He had a pair of eyes, and was thrust into them.
There were two more of them, screaming and holding their heads in pain, tentacles bursting from their bodies in fits where Abeloth lost control.
A throng of Koroo cultists, armed with black lightsabers, vibroblades, blasters, even a few portable missile launchers, were standing off to the edges of the room; a few bodies were apparent on the floor, in states of mutilation or having been ripped apart. They were all in some kind of keep to a castle, and Hades would realise that he was in the Son's Tower.
He would also realise that he was inside one of Abeloth's bodies; he had tentacles for hands.

One of the High Mages, black blade out, was impeaching his lady from as close as he dare stand.'Goddess; the Sith are breaching our lines - we must have direction. Are we to swot them from the sky or continue into the Well!'

The Koroo had been poised to move on the Well of the Dark Side before the Sith arrived, having secured the Son's Tower, but Abeloth being injured had thrown her avatars into a frenzy; thus Hades emerging from one.
The High Mage turned to Hades-Abeloth.

'My lady, what is wrong with your eyes? They have gone yellow?'
Hades seized on the opportunity and took control of the avatar. This was beyond anything he could hope, and he would not lose himself in Abeloth once more.
It took him a few seconds to assert his dominance in the new body, but here, in this place, the Force was so strong, he felt as if he could tear the whole world apart with a thought.​

​

He looked at the High-Mage and smiled.
Everything is quite well.
He then focused on the cultists and lashed out with the dark side, firing Force Lightning with such power he could feel the heat scorching around his tentacled hands.
Most of the black lightsabers took the barrage of lightning and it burst right through them. A single one survived the explosion of power, and panic ensued for them all.

However, Hades' unsubtle act gave the other two avatars pause, they came to, and promptly a web of tentacles ensnared their rogue body.Abeloth faces crowded in on his.

'Bad Hades. Naughty Hades. Dead Hades. Maybe, soon, forgotten Hades.'
The panic that Hades had elicited from the Koroo throngs was a wave of sustenance for Abeloth. Fanaticism was useful but it was not fear, and fear is what she wanted, and fear is what she got.
'Thank you,' Abeloth soothed, even in a voice emerging from the lips of his avatar.

'My love.'
Hades was driven back into his mental space and a hand placed on his shoulder. A hand. Not a tentacle.
Admiral Natasi Daala's worn face greeted him.

'Back you come, young one. She's recovering. Don't interfere. We need the Left Handed Lord to make us whole again. Abeloth assured me that he would make her powerful enough to allow all of her absorbed minds to be free again. She would have no need for avatars ever again.'

In her hand was a gun, pointed at his chest.
In Abeloth's minds eye she rearranged her cultists. With nearly two dozen dead High Mages she did not have the overwhelming force of darksiders to hand to crush Blade Squadron when they arrived. Just one, and a hundred-odd cultists. She would simply have to heal quickly.
Hades looked at the gun, then up at her face. He crushed the gun in her hand and broke all the bones in her hand as well. Her scream was loud and booming in this empty space.
I've seen that she is weak. The Sith will prevail, and even if I die, they continue on. Abeloth will be no more.
Hades then grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her to her feet, as she had fallen when he broke her bones.

He had lost some of his savagery over the years, but he was beginning to see that perhaps it was a necessary thing. To be savage.
He punched her in the face. Hard. Blood spilled from her mouth and nose as she began to babble. He heard none of it. Next, he began breaking bones within her, slowly.
He was angry for being shifted back into this bleak and empty space.​

​

TAG: NONE

 

IC: Darth Kronos and Esmerelda (also someone else, too. Can you guess who?)

-Combo with Sinrebirth.​

​

His vision was over, and he found himself back on the ship.

But not all was well. Unsurprisingly.

There was a look of shock and terror on everyone's face, even Insipid's, who might have looked the most terrified out of all of them. If something he saw was terrible enough to give him that look of shock, then there was an ample reason to be worried. Kronos didn't know what he saw, and he was sure he didn't want to know.

The worst was definitely to come.

"Abandon ship. Abandon ship now."

Those words did nothing but confirm his thoughts. He frantically scrambled up, grabbing anything he needed, which only amounted to his lightsaber. He needed a weapon for his private mission.

And then he saw her, running away towards the blastboats, and gving him a glance of... disbelief? Curious. He began to follow her, his right hand hovering over his lightsaber.

His walk transformed into a brisk pace so he could keep up with her.

Or it.

Or perhaps Him.

Esmerelda looked back from the hatch to check she wasn't being followed. A whisper in the Force set the blastboat through a rushed preflight, and as she saw Kronos proceeding towards her a look of frustration crossed her features and she began to close the hatch.

A voice echoed in Kronos' mind. A female one. Esme's. Hurry.

As it was, Insipid's command, almost bleating, hammered at them as everyone rushed to escape the hangar.

The pressure was already starting to get to him. From the sudden rush of excitement to escape the hangar, to the little important side mission he had going on there, it was all too much. And vision Esme egging him on, telling him to "Hurry" wasn't helping matters, either.

He had noticed her look of frustration has he walked into her line of sight. Immediately, she moved quicker to close the hatch to the blastboat.

His brisk pace turned into a light jog - his hand now tightly gripping his lightsaber.

He was barely able to slip in, only just slipping through the locking door.

'Esmerelda' was desperately tapping at the controls, glancing back at Kronos as he made it into the ship. In time; of course. She stepped out of the cockpit to the blastboat as she finished, and it slammed close behind her. 'So.' Esmerelda began, leaning on the door as it shut, and folding her arms. 'I know that look. You've decided that you don't need me. But at least I've locked the ship on the Well. You can stand beside Lord Haretisch and be the saviour of the Sith, not beside Insipid as the sidekick.'

Tears began to gather in her eyes. 'Did you plan to kill me all along? Or did you see our future and realise I was not good enough for you?' She sniffed the tears away. 'Please tell me that I will make you to much of a domesticated beast, and you have to kill me to grow into a true Sith Lord. I could accept that, just about.'

The blastboat lurched into the void and began firing on automatic at targets; the ship shuddered as the cannons chuffed.

He was making as much eye contact as possible with her. He wanted to see if there was anything unusual, something out of place. He wanted some kind of damn sign, something that signaled that she wasn't who she led herself to be. He had thought it would be somewhat simple. That all he would have to do is get up to her and slice her down. Make it quick, at least. But now that he was there, actually in the middle of the act....

It was easier said than done.

He replied back to "her," in a tone that was obviously shaky and not confident in himself. "You have it all wrong. It's not that I planned to kill you all this time, or realized you aren't good enough for me, or that I don't need you.... I know who you really are. All this time, and it took me until now to figure it out."

He unhooked his lightsaber from his belt, hand shaking as he did so. And, on top of that, the blastboat lurched and shuddered, causing Kronos to stumble, mainly because he was distracted.

He ignited his lightsaber, the crimson red blade lighting the scene in a decidedly perfect color for the situation.

There was a brief moment when it felt as if there was a hand on his shoulder; if he glanced, he would see a white silhouette of a woman, who vanished when she broke the connection, having moved towards the hull

Kronos felt the mysterious hand on his shoulder, but was only able to catch a small glimpse of the woman in white. He had no idea who that was, had no true idea, but he suspected it was the vision form of Esmerelda.

Esmerelda, herself, seemed not to notice and when he stumbled she took a half-step to help him, but thought better of it when his lightsaber ignited. Hurt crossed her features, bathed in red

He noticed the hurt that she was feeling, both in her features and in her voice. And a feeling of guilt began to rush over him. A feeling as if he just did something terrible, and he felt bad for it.

It wasn't something felt a lot in his Sith days.

'Who I really am?' Esmerelda's voice pinched, but she didn't flinch from his gaze. 'I'm Esmerelda Thanas. I know exactly who I am.' She stood up, no longer leaning, and the ship didn't sway any longer.

The comm chirped over the internal speakers. 'Kronos, where do you think you're going?' It was Ike. 'Firing at nothing and going straight for the Well?' Little did Kronos know that the blastboat was being ignored by the Mnngal-TIEs, not quite ushered towards the Well, but not interfered with either

Esmerelda reached over and cut the line

When Ike's voice suddenly broke through the intercom, accusing him of flying too close to the Well, and firing at it too, or whatever, Kronos only got more frustrated. Honestly, Ike was just making a terrible situation for him even worse, and Kronos wanted to Force Choke him through the com. It was lucky that "Esme" cut off the transmission when she did, or Kronos might have actually gone through with it. Insipid would not have been happy if Kronos tried to kill his paramour, that is for sure.

'If you're going to try and kill me, I want it to mean something.' There was almost no edge, but that turn of phrase.

For a moment the ship's internal lights seemed to flare, and the blastboat appeared to manoeuvre, no longer on a straight-line course.

Esmerelda kept her eyes on Kronos. Her expression did not change, whatsoever. She simply stood there, with her arms away from her body, exuding not an ounce of danger to him. Not a micron. Not a whisper.

When she spoke to him, it was easy to see and hear that she perceived no threat to him. Not at all. She seemed to be the same, innocent-like woman as before.

He still needed confirmation. He had absolutely no damn idea who was playing him - the vision Esmerelda, or the one in front of him. And it was frustrating him to no end.

He shut off his lightsaber, clipping it back to his belt. 'Try to test her,' he was thinking. 'If she, or He, tries anything, then I'll know...'

"Sorry. It's just this place. It feeds off of your emotions, uses anything it can against you. Visions told me that... told me that you were secretly Typho-"

He had to stop himself. A small little detail had jumped into the front of his mind, and a worrying thought, too. It could just be nothing, but right then, he wasn't willing to completely trust anything.

"How did Ike know I was here, with you?

"Esmerelda pouted. 'You're thinking about Insipid's paramour here and now?' She paused slightly. 'I broadcast that you were with me, of course. So that they knew not to worry when we took our course.' It was so simple an explanation.

The ship's angle turned more drastically. 'She's controlling the ship...' Esmerelda murmured, eyes averting. But the woman looked back, intending to brush past that comment before it was noticed too much. 'Secretly who, Kronos? Typhojem himself? The God of the kriffing Sith?'

He could see and sense the anger within her voice. Not much of it, in fact, it still seemed subdued, but it was still there.

He glanced down at the floor, then back, and sighed. "Can you really blame me for having trust issues? After Abeloth? After my second god damn vision here on Mortis? The people I truly trust is running very slim right now. Not that it was large to begin with."

But, he had almost forgotten about that drama, as there was something that she said that worried him. Someone, a female, was controlling the ship. And, by the tone in Esme's voice, it didn't sound good. She then decided to completely change the subject back to their relationship, only furthering his concerns.

He would not make any immediate mention of it. Not yet, anyway. Best to patch out what they were going through then before getting into more "official" business.

Then she yelled.

Esmerelda took a step forward; she screamed. 'Look at me, Kronos! I'm me! Nobody else!'

Her screaming at him caused Kronos to wince. Whether or not she perceived it remained to be seen. "Alright. I'm sorry. It's just, with all of this weird stuff happening, I don't know what to believe. As if everything everyone says to me is some kind of lie. I trust that you're telling the truth.... Right?"

He concentrated on her being with the Force, subtle enough so that she would probably, hopefully not notice, looking at her for any noticeable features, both physical and ones that emanate from the Force, that could tell him whether or not she was truly lying. His hands were at his sides, ready to grab his lightsaber at a moments notice.

But, who even knew if he was powerful enough to do so.

'Excellent.' Rather than rush into an embrace to solidify their reunion, she flipped open the lock on the cockpit and behold the controls alive, redirecting the ship. 'Oh no you don't.' She launched for the seat, and began to redirect the ship towards the Well. 'This is the big moment.'

For a moment though, an incongruity would be apparent. She'd finally made a mistake, in her rush to make sure she was at the Well for the finale, before Hell Squadron. The lock for the cockpit was internal. It could only be unlocked from this side.

'Kronos, can you get over here and help me? There's something in the controls, fighting me. It must be Abeloth. I read that she put herself in the Jedi Temple computer once, so it must be that here too!' Her words had the right edge of panic, and the ship began to turn against Esmerelda, back towards the Son's Tower

'She just completely ignored my question.' Slightly worrying, but that wasn't the biggest of their problems. Someone else was there, with them, controlling the ship. She believed it to be Abeloth. That was doubtful.

"Didn't Abeloth die during the Battle of Moraband?" he asked as he took steps closer to her and the controls. "Am I getting something wrong here?"

But there was something amiss. He had known how the blastboats worked. Who wouldn't, when you're tasked with an important mission such as this? He knew how the cockpit locking mechanism worked. He knew that it could only be unlocked internally - not from where Esme was standing. It would seem impossible for her to do so. And she wasn't Force Sensitive, not that he knew of.

Yet, he could feel the Force being used - not by him, but by her.

She had unlocked the cockpit.

In a rash decision, Kronos grabbed and reignited his lightsaber, this time pointing it right at her face.

Her hand came up off the controls and a hand grabbed at his throat. Usually a Force choke would have resulted in an invisible grip, but this one was a shadow hand from hers to his neck.

Kronos was promptly lifted from the deck and began to be throttled. 'You just had to notice,' she pouted. 'You couldn't stop being your helpful needy yourself.' She stared at him, eyes blacking over. 'I would have made you a piece of the Key. You could have been part of the Grand Design.'

'A full blood sacrifice. Who knows? You could have died in ecstasy. Unlike everyone else.' Her voice began deeper. Darker.

His.

He felt the shadowy hand grip his throat and lift him off the ground, taunting him as He did so, his lightsaber dropping to the floor.

It was confirmed.

She was right.

He struggled and squirmed to get out of His grip, searching for some form of a weak point. He was very doubtful he could find one, but he would try.

Then his attention turned to his fallen lightsaber. If he could time it right, he might be able to impale Him and get out of the choke hold.

He concentrated on the weapon, igniting it and picking it up with the Force. He thrusted it at Him in a straight point, aiming directly for His throat.

Would it kill Him? Definitely not. But Kronos wanted to use it as more of a distraction than a true weapon. If He destroyed his lightsaber, he could escape and create a new one.

The weapon was expendable anyway, compared to the Force.

The lightsaber reached her throat, and bounced off. Literally, it did not pierce the skin; it rebounded, and then bounced to the ground. He squeezed more tightly, punishing Kronos although he was so powerful no harm was done.

'That wasn't an act of love, Kronos. Love for Esmerelda, of course, not for me. But love nonetheless.'

The hold tightened as he spoke, and the other hand forced the ship's controls so the blastboat veered away from the Tower. 'I was only a small piece - such a small impotent piece of my greatness - but there was a chance that the Emperor could remove me from this form and then I'd have lost another pawn. I have a few on the field. But of course I need three. Abeloth is willing, Esmerelda is mine, and then I had a smattering of other keys by design or by fate - but of course the Keys can be used to seal me away. Your annoying Manticore, wily Arach, the poorly named Lorekeeper, and then Syren - all seized by your Emperor. So annoying. I thought Arach's disappearance would slow you down - that Sith intrigue would give me another chance, but no. However... with you, and Esme as a vessel, and Abeloth, I have everyone I need, once I force myself upon you.'

He loosened the grip slightly so Kronos could breath. As he spoke, a slight glow began to travel up his hand upon the controls. It was white, and slowly creeping up.

But He was focused on Kronos.

'I can always kill you now, I suppose, and find another third. Did you have anything else to say about that, my dear Kronos?'

Well, that was an utter failure. Didn't even dent Him.

Breathing suddenly became much harder. Not impossible, but harder.

As Typhojem spoke through Esme's body, he both listened, and was repulsed. He listened to Him because Typhojem was revealing major, or what sounded like major, parts of His plan to who He probably thought was so insignificant. It would be useful to know if he survived this. And repulsion because such a terrible and revolting voice was emanating out of such a beautiful body.

Then he saw the white sliver creeping up his hand, and slowly making its way to the control panel. And, luckily, He was too focused on the moment with Kronos to notice.

Darth Kronos spoke in a more monotone voice, hiding any emotion that he could. "Do you think I'm afraid of dying? Because I'm not. Not anymore. Not after Esmerelda's death. I have nothing else to live for...."

Perhaps that would continue to distract Him. At least until the controls were overrided.

'Oh look,' He crooned. 'A spine.'

He crooked a finger up, and Kronos would feel as if his spine was being pulled up through the back of his neck. 'It feels good.'

And then the finger was lowered, and the spine felt like it was being pulled out of his back. His entire nervous system would scream a pain, but Typhojem had no need for noise. He closed his hand and tightened, crunching bones with the force of his grip.

Not enough to snap it, but enough to completely choke him.

For the first time in years, Kronos had felt pain. True pain, both emotional and physical. As Typhojem crunched his bones and spine, he let out a blood-curtailing scream before being choked out, scrunching his eyes shut as it happened, clenching his fists tightly too.

The White crept more and more up his other arm.

'Death is the least of your fears, my Kronos. She didn't even love you. Don't you realise that? Even if she returned tomorrow, she would not, could not, reciprocate your love.'

'So tell me,' he lifted his other hand from the controls and stood, drawing out of the display a spectral white figure with half of her arm replacing his; a white mirror image of Esmerelda, surprised but resolute as he stepped back, keeping his eyes on Kronos. 'Do you want her back that much? Knowing that she does not love you? That she never loved you. But I... Typhojem, God of the Sith, I can be everything, and anything, you want.'

He was turning the screws on Kronos, talking through his inevitable and inexorable choking; as he spoke, the shadow hand began to sink under Kronos skin, and they became slowly interwoven. With every passing moment their ship closed on the Well. And then Typhojem would have everything he needed to escape.

'I must say that I appreciate Insipid's perspective. It is always worth it to have another plan to hand. But he does not have the longevity to pull this off.'

Typhojem did not even give Kronos leave to speak. Esmerelda, tangled with her own body, stated at Kronos, impeaching him with her eyes, but there was also an edge of sadness there. As if, for once in his hundred millennia of existence, the Left Handed God had told the truth.

She did not love him.

As soon as Typhojem was finished with His little speech, Kronos glared up at Him, seeing the mirror image of Esmerelda. He look Kronos gave would give Typhojem an answer. It was full of anger, hatred, fury, rage; yet also a hint of sadness and despair. But, his look had said that, even if the feeling was not mutual between them, even if, in reality, Esmerelda did no live Kronos as he did her, he'd still want her back, alive. She was the only one keeping him sane, just below the line of insanity and breaking into a mental fit. Without her, he'd just be someone who lacked empathy for anyone, only fueled by a single-minded goal to keep the Sith Empire alive through recruitment, killing, and anything the Triumvirate needed.

That was no reason to live.

He did not expect to make it through this alive, not after Typhojem started some ritual with him, sending His black shadow hand through and into his skin. He could feel Him inside his body, as if violating every cell in his body, making it worse by taunting him as He did so. A trait all too common within villainous characters.

Although, perhaps that is what he is, too.

The look of the tangled Esmerelda, within her own body, no less, only furthered His claims. It was the slight edge of sadness that sold it. A look sad about the truth, and that he finally knew it.

Worse was that he could not even speak back to Him. There was not enough air in his lungs - it was being squeezed out of him with every second that passed.

At this moment in time, all Kronos could do was take it.

Esmerelda spoke, through the link that he had with her via Typhojem. Can you love me one more time, Kronos?

Kronos hid his slight shock as Esmerelda spoke to him telepathically. He let a slight pause pass before responding, thinking of the perfect words to reply with to her.

He could only think of one.

'Always.'

There was a burst of light from him to her. But it flowed through Typhojem as the conduit, and just as suddenly He was a shadow standing apart from Esmerelda's body, which dropped to the floor. Typhojem looked down in astonishment, and suddenly He sought to sever His link between the two of them, the one that Kronos had forged.

The pain was gone for Kronos, and Typhojem looked from Esme's white form and back to the Sith. With a snarl, he shook a hand free from Esmerelda, readying his hand into a dagger shape to drive it into and through Kronos and kill the connection at the source.

Esme flopped to the floor, near her body, and began to fade out. In her last moment she kicked his hilt towards him.

'Krono-' She cut out of existence for an eye-blink as she fell through the deck, through her body.

Everything went by fast for him, and he was only able to catch a glimpse of what happened. All he saw was a burst of white light travel through Typhojem, catching Him off guard, and releasing His grip off of Kronos, causing him to collapse to the floor, still weak, but the pain subsided.

Esme had kicked his blade towards him, body fading out, and in her last moments, she was just about to say his Sith name - but in a blink of an eye, she was gone.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kronos could see Typhojem transform his arm into a sharp dagger, and in a split moment, he called his lightsaber to him, and ignited it, swinging it blindly at where he thought Typhojem would land, rolling out of the way of the projected area of attack.

Kronos would need to cut his way out of the blastboat, sometime later - if that were even possible at that point.

The blade cut through Typhojem and he snarled in frustration. And then, with a growl, added. 'You think you have won, boy. But you have won nothing!'

At that, his shadow dispelled, fleeing through the viewpoint and all of a sudden the lights of the ship became normal, as if nothing had happened.

Apart from the blastboat heading towards the Well and not the Tower, of course. However, an autopilot clicked back into place, and the ship turned and sped towards the Son's Tower again, clipping a Mnngal-TIE that had settled in to escort its Lord. Confused, the honour guard which had gathered spun out, unsure whether they should fire or flee.

So nothing had really changed.

Apart from Esmerelda being on the floor, a still form.

In another instant, Typhojem had disappearing, leaving no trace of Himself, leaving everything as it was beforehand.

Then he saw Esmerelda on the floor, as a still form, and not as some white vision.

He immediately rushed over to her, although more cautious this time, and worried that this was yet another trick by Typhojem of Abeloth.

He shut off his lightsaber and placed it on the ground, near him, within arm's length.

"Are you okay?"

She did not answer.

For a long, long moment.

There was no answer at all.

Worried, Kronos felt for a pulse, hoping to feel something.

Anything at all, really. Even if it was small and barely there.

In that moment, there was something.

A breath escaped lungs that had not been here for days now. Esmerelda sat up, almost in tears, and looked at Kronos. She reached for him, and began to cry.

He breathed a sigh of relief at that, but only embraced her with one arm - the other close to his lightsaber.

After the weird crap that had just happened, who could blame him?

He was almost afraid to ask. "What's wrong?"

'I'm happy, you big lug.' She laughed, and broke the embrace, awkwardly. They'd never hugged before. Not her, anyway. She was suddenly an unseasoned teenager and she didn't even blush; Esmerelda was simply unsure of herself.

He could feel how awkward she felt at that moment. It was something he'd have to work on. That is if she was indeed the real one, and would survive the Battle of Mortis.

And he would believe she was real - not because it was the most logical, but because he just needed to. Even if she didn't love him like he did her.

'Um,' Esmerelda said, standing, and reaching for the cockpit chair to steady herself, not Kronos. 'What do we do now?' In her mind, she said. What are we now?

She couldn't help him with his concerns about who she was now.

All she could be was Esmerelda.

He stood up along with her. "We... get to the Son's Tower."

The HUD beeped to indicate that they were nearing the Son's Tower

She couldn't help him with his concerns about who she was now.

All she could be was Esmerelda.

He would stand there, and wait for the autopilot to carry the two to their destination.

They weren't out of the woods yet.

TAG: Sinrebirth

 

IC: Darth Syren
The Skies of Mortis

As she heard the responses from both High Lords, checking in as commanded, Syren was already familiarizing herself with her TIE’s weapons and activating the targeting system. Since taking flight, she had been relieved to find that her initial assumptions had been correct; this craft was of a simple and straightforward design. While she may not be an ace pilot, she did feel confident she would not die due to lack of skill. However, as she watched Lord Manticore’s peculiar and lethal-looking vessel circle around in front of her, she swore to herself that flight training would be made top priority if she made it out of this mess alive.

Continuing through the motions, Syren ran fingers down over a certain set of controls and quickly studied a view screen that revealed what weapons her fighter offered. Twin laser cannons and a proton torpedo launcher. This is promising, she thought while scanning further for the shields. She couldn’t find them and that could only mean one thing.

There were none.

“Kriffing excellent,” she muttered sarcastically. Forgetting she was on an open line with her squadron, she bit her lip to keep from saying anything else. If anyone listening had heard her, either they didn’t acknowledge or would not have been able. Lord Haretisch began speaking then, changing his initial instructions when they were suddenly faced with a problem.

"New plan. A dozen hostiles at 12 o' clock."

Syren’s eyes squinted, looking ahead. A cluster of the black goo-coated TIEs were indeed converging on them. She could make out the tendrils of sludge that were crawling all over the line of fighters as if they were alive themselves. It made her skin crawl.

"Shuttle Khepri, concentrate forward deflector shields and break their formation - Syren cover his rear. Manticore, follow my lead."

Just then, the Night Herald’s fighter cut across in front of her cockpit viewport and broke away. Not responding to her orders verbally but through action, she immediately pulled back and decelerated. Syren saw the shuttle fly by on her starboard side and she punched forward to follow the larger ship. As she was about to hail the Lorekeeper, he beat her to it.

"Syren this is the Shuttle Khepri, we are preparing our advance now. Our shields can help cover your advance," he informed her. She responded immediately. “Thank you, High Lord. I’m in position, ready to engage.” Switching her primary weapons to the more effective proton torpedoes, she then brought her TIE upwards enough to see their approach unimpeded. She stared down the enemy and swallowed hard once, clearing her mind. They might be strong and powered by an ancient entity, but that did not matter. They were in Hell Squadron’s way and must be destroyed.

The Lorekeeper had left the comm channel open, so she was aware of when she would be needed. And then she had an idea. Drafting her TIE to the right a bit Syren locked her targeting system onto an enemy fighter that flanked the main group. As she heard the High Lord instruct his pilot to fire, so did she. Off and away a torpedo went just as the shuttle’s weapons launched, but she did not have a moment to see if her shot landed. Massive explosions detonated dead ahead and they in turn became the target.

Her craft rocked violently as they rode into the blast radius, unwillingly loosing an anxious shout from her throat. Immediately refocusing, she locked onto another enemy craft as it began attacking the Shuttle Khepri and fired again without hesitation. Syren ducked, dodged, and spun to avoid any collisions as the seemingly suicidal TIEs did not alter course. As startling as this whole scene was, she continued on the Lorekeeper's tail, offering what protection she could.

Then she heard Manticore's inquiry through her helmet earpieces, “Any sign of the Well…?"

Syren had not glanced the surface of Mortis yet, but there was no chance she would now.


TAGS: Mikaboshi Darth_wanderguard greyjedi125

 

IC: Darth Haretisch -- Mortis

A shower of glowing splinters would burst in Manticore's viewport as his proton torpedo found its mark, screened by the concussion missiles he had fired moments before to destroy all four TIEs in one fell swoop. Streaks of orange and yellow would quickly fall away as he careened backwards just above the clouds with the Night Herald on his wing.

In the same moment, Shuttle Kephri would barrel into the remaining cluster of Mnggal-TIEs eight strong, firing concussion missiles with abandon, and the shuttle's shields would groan against the assault as it drew fire at its front. If not for the Lorekeeper's force barrier, it might have been torn asunder.

But it held fast, and the formation broke. Concussion missiles struck, and five of the eight TIEs were destroyed outright. Likewise Syren's aim was true, and two more were blown to shrapnel as a pair of proton torpedoes struck center mass, guided by the force.

Only one was left, and hadn't come close to veering off course. Unceremoniously, it careened into Shuttle Kephri, glancing off of its top end and buckling against the combined might of deflector shields and force barrier. It tumbled end over end away, clipping the top of the shuttle once more before losing its engines and plummeting down through the clouds below.

Now there was just the Well. And a brief opening before the enemy realized where exactly Hell Squadron was going.

"Down and away, quickly!" The Night Herald's voice commanded as soon as the last TIE had fallen, and he abruptly angled away from the thick of the battle before descending through the clouds. Below, he was greeted by what might as well have been all of Mortis visible in his viewport.

Near on one side, the Son's Tower stood imposing, bathed in darkness.



On the other, the Monastery, though a bit farther away, basking in light.



Between them the remains of the Wrath of Vader had embedded into the ground with a resounding quake.

And at the foot of the tower, like a festering wound, caught between day and night, the Well of the Dark Side waited for them.



Throttling his engines, Haretisch spoke again. "Hit it slow and straight. It looks like we've got a clean break, and we don't know exactly the landing surface inside. Steady."

The D-type entered the Well straight on, and he felt the heat increase even within the cockpit as the tunnel enveloped the ship. It was a tight fit, but a fit nonetheless. Shuttle Kephri would find its breadth less forgiving but still passable.



At last the Night Herald emerged from the passage, and a cavernous smoky expanse stretched out before him, composed mostly of a sea of magma save for a smattering of small rocky surfaces surrounding one large island in the fiery lake. Centermost within it was the rune of power.

He pulled sharply up and slowed almost to a stop before releasing the landing gear. Then the ship came to rest on the large surface, not as gently as he would've liked, but gently enough that it remained intact. And there was blessedly ample room for a TIE, a Star Viper, and a shuttle. Wasting no time, he threw a switch to open the cockpit and disentangled himself from the ship.

It was time.

TAG: greyjedi125, Mikaboshi, QueenSabe7

 

IC: Darth Cocytus: Skies above Mortis

Darth Cocytus blinked upon hearing the announcement to abandon ship. He began to quicken his pace urgently towards the hanger. The sith kaminoan looked out the viewport and his big sith eyes widened upon seeing the most impossible sight. The Wrath of Vader? he thought, What the blazes is that doing here? We sent it flying to the sun?

Darth Cocytus shook his head. No time for further questions. Obviously the Force is just simply full of surprises no matter how sick and twisted they were. Ether that or Typhojem just played some sort of sick joke on them.

Cocytus ran into the hanger and got into his Yevethan D fighter. Cocytus quickly got all the systems ready and took off into space, joining Blade Squadren as The Chimera exploded in collision with The Wrath behind him. He flew towards Son's Tower with hateful intent towards everything that stood against him, shooting down any enemy vessel that got in his way with all his experience as a pilot.

Darth Cocytus growled as a near-lethal skirmish with enemy fighters drew him off course. "Blade Squadron, this is Darth Cocytus!" spoke the kaminoan coldly as he flew his ship to rejoin his squad, flying by the looming fortress of Son's Tower, "Lost my course thanks to enemy filth. Rejoiningg now."

 

IC: Darth Syren
The Skies & the Depths of Mortis

Syren saw the final enemy TIE stay on a course aimed at the Lorekeeper’s vessel and by extension, herself. She gritted her teeth and pulled hard to port. The craft clipped and broke over the shuttle’s shields, fatally damaging itself. It shot by her in pieces and narrowly missed passing on the same damage to her ship… or worse.

"Down and away, quickly!"

Heeding the Dark Lord’s command, Syren immediately cut towards the surface of Mortis and descended. She pushed her TIE as hard as the fighter allowed, the ground rapidly rising up before her.

Her eyes were drawn to a dark and foreboding structure, the green glow radiating from its peak was a beacon. Then, closing in still further, their ultimate destination came into clear view. There was no question what it was and it was all she focused on as Hell Squadron made directly for its glowing entrance.

The Well of the Dark Side.

"Hit it slow and straight. It looks like we've got a clean break, and we don't know exactly the landing surface inside. Steady," Lord Haretisch advised. Syren obeyed, her hands beginning to cramp as they squeezed tighter on the controls, the skin over her knuckles stretched to white. Here we go…

Easing back on her speed and angling for the dead center of the tunnel entry, the TIE slipped in without issue. She glared at the fiery red-orange of the Well below, in her mind the rock walls surrounding them were closing in and preparing to trap them in its depths. She was not claustrophobic, but here… she felt strangled.

Finally reaching the cavern, she burst into a vast space of flowing magma and scattered rock formations. Syren brought her ship around once to circle the island the Night Herald had set down upon, her gaze sweeping around nervously as she went. Landing with ease, the TIE powered down as she peeled her hands free, briefly flexing her fingers several times. Removing her helmet and hastily wiping away several damp strands of hair from her face, it felt as if her heart would tear out of her chest. Its beats hadn’t slowed since… since… she could not even remember when at this point. Everything was starting to blend together.

Climbing free of the top hatch and jumping down to the rocky surface, Syren began to walk towards the others. The heat was stifling but somehow she simultaneously felt the cold chill of dread.

This was it. This was the end.


TAGS: Darth_wanderguard greyjedi125 Mikaboshi