Star Wars OPEN Dark Reach: Episode II – THE STORM OF ONE

IC: Imperial Knight Arthur Donvoy
Interdictor - Transit

Arthur descended the boarding ramp cautiously, not quite believing that their foe had simply turned tail and run. No, clearly whatever was going on was part of a larger scheme. All that was left to do was find a way to sabotage it. His concerns were validated not a moment later as the telltale vibrations of an activated hyperdrive rumbled through the hangar deck. He clicked his tongue, before collapsing his telescoping force pike.

That was that then.

"Sam." He responded with a nod, offering her a small cordial smile as he approached. "Seems like the Galaxy wants us to stick together. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to endure another round of incarceration. Humor me, eh?"

From the corner of his eye, he could see Brokenborough begin to walk the perimeter of the deck. Good. Arthur turned to look at the shuttle he had arrived in. Tyrell still hadn't appeared. Perhaps his injuries were more extensive than his outward physical appearance had advertise. Or.. Maybe he had chosen to see how their duel with the Sith would play out..

For the moment, Arthur would banish the thought. If necessary, Tyrell could be dealt with later. Their current predicament demanded his full attention. Primarily, how to rip the Interdictor out of hyperspace. Following Brokenborough's example, he began to look about the hangar bay. From a cursory glance, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. A standard issue flight deck, by all rights. Filled with everything an enterprising sapper could ever want.

"Interessant.." He murmured, breaking away from Sam's side to move towards the far wall. He had spied a refueling station. Looking closer, he could see similar stations scattered across the deck. Along with, and he could scarcely believe his luck, no less than three resupply carts dotted with what appeared to be proton torpedoes. A rare, genuine chuckle escaped from the Imperial Knight as stood before the refueling station. Its tanks were full. Perfect.

"Knights!" He shouted as he began to wheel one of the resupply carts towards the door the Sith disappeared behind. "I think it's time we introduced ourselves to the crew!"

Was that glee in his voice?

With a final push, the cart came to a stop before the doors. A moment later, after some effort, Arthur returned with an extended hose from the refueling station. A lever was pulled, and fresh starship fuel began dousing the cart.

A tiny part of him questioned the fact that none of them had attempted to even see if the door was locked. But that voice was quickly squashed. Arthur Donvoy was not about to make getting captured a reoccurring event. If that required a few acts of galactic sabotage.. He was happy to oblige.

The lever was pulled again, cutting off the flow of fuel to the hose. He regarded his handiwork with a smirk. It wasn't his best work, not by a long shot. But then again, it didn't need to be. Ignite the fuel, and the ensuring fire would eventually overheat and detonate the torpedoes, blowing open the door. Simple as.

Arthur began to move to the far end of the hangar, gesturing to the other Knights to follow his example. A minimum safe distance was more of a suggestion in this line of work anyways. When everyone moved away, the fuel would be ignited. Simple as.

Tags: @Lady_Belligerent , @CosmoHender , @galactic-vagabond422 , @Ananta Chetan

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Barriss Offee

Grizmalt Orbit

Barriss just nodded. "Yeah, sure," she told Vima. "That sounds fine."

Truthfully, Barriss felt like she had gotten more than she had bargained for. Hadn't this started out as a hunt for a Dark Jedi? And now she was on a scavenger hunt involving wayfinders?

"You have thoughts, Offee?" Vima looked through the younger woman. "Another quest you have in mind?"

She was already reaching for the cockpit controls, however, keying in coordinates for a world in the distant Corporate Sector, on the other side of the Borderlands with the Imperial Remnant.

"I was just thinking of the mission I had before it got so massively derailed," Barriss admitted. "I wonder if it's even still relevant."

Vima thought about it. "Tavion and the Scepter of Ragnos. I doubt Master Skywalker has forgotten, but this here," she indicated the Wayfinder. "It's bait, and I don't want Master Skywalker to get caught up in it." She huffed. "We can't afford to lose him."

But I'm disposable, the old woman thought, drily.

"Tavion can wait."

Barriss nodded in agreement, though she only half-meant it. She didn't like the idea of putting off the pursuit of Tavion, who was still in possession of a dangerous artifact. But Vima was right in that the Wayfinder was bait and that they were more expendable than Skywalker was, which was a plain fact.

"Alright," she said. "Let's go to your granddaughter then."

"Yes, let us," Vima looked at the Wayfinder, another dangerous artefact. "I need to rest, can I leave you with that?"

Barriss glanced at the Wayfinder. "Don't worry, I have experience with dangerous artifacts. You get your rest. Where are we heading exactly?"

"Bonadon, in the Corporate Sector." At that, Vima turned in.

The Sith Wayfinder, for its part, began to eerily turn the moment the cockpit door slid shut.

Barriss gave a tired sigh when she noticed the Wayfinder turn.

"I am not doing this right now," she told the Wayfinder in an almost scolding tone, like you would to a young child or pet, as she made the jump for hyperspace.

The Wayfinder stilled, as if it had been caught out, and the ship began to prep, coordinates flowing before her fingertips and eyes, and then there was a chime.

The Wayfinder remained deathly still, but it was definitely watching her.

Barriss did her best to ignore the Wayfinder, though she mentally made a note.

The first chance she got, that thing was going out of her ship.

The hyperdrive chimed; it was ready to go.

The Wayfinder seemed to incline itself to regard the throttle, ready to pull back and go.

Barriss made the jump for lightspeed.

Bonadon. She had never been there, she couldn't even remember if she had heard of it before. Not that it mattered, since she doubted that she would be spending a lot of time there.

The Wayfinder turned away, regarding the stars as they elongated and streaked by.

The trip from the Core Worlds to the very Outer Rim would take some time, at very least until they joined the Hydian Way.

Which left her and the Wayfinder to stare into the deep blue sea of hyperspace.

Barriss stared into that deep blue sea, getting lost in it as she sometimes did.

She closed her eyes for a moment in order to dwell in her memories during the long trip to Bonadon...

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @Lady_Belligerent

 

IC: Darth Krayt the Immortal, Insipid, and Soliloquy
Aberations

The Young boy did what young boys would do. He railed. He struggled against the dying light. He even gave orders. "Oh, if he is not distracted yet. . .Krayt! You ravenous old letch! Did you forget about infectious materials one oh one? Air is easy, metal is easy. . .but when it has already taken root. How do you heal? With what? I'm dying to watch and learn old pupil, simply dying." he coughed again and shrugged phantasmal shoulders at the boy.

The boy of course asked a question. The question. "You? No. Senator. Yes." Holding out his hand he dropping a wriggling white ball in the boys hand. "Plant in wound. Should make a vegetable - need of soul. Don't swim, least an hour." he stated with a wry laughing grin as he set another half dozen bones.

"Krayt! You forgot the one rule. No one touches the holocron! I'm a living disaster just waiting to be unleashed on every layer of existance. Tap glass at own risk." With a grunt his body shimmered as he removed an umbrella from his leg. Standing he aimed it at Krayt as he became solid once more. Tapping the button it opened launching the Force-resistant and masked little spider demon at Krayts face where it would attempt to hug his face, fill his airway with webbing, bite his eyes out, and stab serated limbs through the mans skull. Soliloquy made no mention of the toxins again. Why draw the mans attention away from himself? Insipid was now an opening for hope, but the Force felt ill - what was he to do with that?

"Ha! An insect makes a weapon of an insect." Krayt coursed with electricity and he swatted aside the bug. "I mastered dark side healing many years ago, ego-ridden bug."

He was incredibly powerful, augmented by his Sith Trooper form, having mastered much of the ways of the dark during his time in the necropolis of Korriban, and as Emperor of the galaxy, able to reap whatever he wished.

It showed.

Insipid had to get ruthless now. His foot lashed out, with the intention of kicking Soliloquy out of the turbolift, as he used the Force to shut the doors -

He would escape, at Soliloquy's expense, and hoped fervently that he wouldn't cause a Change if Soliloquy died.

He knew what he had to do.

And nuke. Soliloquy mentally sighed as the swatted bug exploded like an over-ripened fruit in a spray of spores that would in a mammal induce wonderfully psychedelic trip and induce an emotional response of euphoria and blissful disinterest. Of course with that thought an expectant twinkle in his eye he felt the kick send him out of the turbolift, which promptly closed behind him, and now found himself alone.

"A little late." he muttered as he tugged his jacket more securely in place. "Alright, now that Insipid is gone you can stop with the grand gestures. I Mastered Many years ago - is like a kid saying he mastered his homework from yesterday. Very impressive, eat your porridge and try not to get killed crossing the street." another absent shrug, "So what's up really?" His guard was, as well every manner of internal and external shields and barriers.

Krayt coruscated with energy, relying upon dark side healing to keep the various bioweapons in the air at bay. It was magnificent, in many ways, and terrifying, in others.

"I wanted what I got," he glowered. "Insipid, fleeing." A gesture with the Force that was more invasive than not, seeking out any comlinks or even villips to crush; Darth Krayt had Vongsense, after all. "He will call to his friends and they will gather into one place to strike back at me... and I'll take the Tapani Fleet and crush them first - at Nubia, no doubt."

An encompassing bubble drew around Soliloquy; he was isolating the creature. "I can rely upon you to not tell Insipid, yes, that it is all a trap?"

He took a great step forward. "Are you double agent, or triple?"

His eyes burned yellow, and then White. "Or should I just destroy you now."

A com link and a villip of course were found, crushed, and allowed to simply fall away. Soliloquy sighed. Didn’t he realize how hard it was to grow those things in this universe?!? Ugh, whatever, it was not like they were his only methods of message, although they were the most convenient. Hmm, he would need to develop another, because honestly being reduced to two was embarrassing.

“If I had to tell Insipid then he deserves to perish. I’m not a Sith, but I respect your kinds…brutality approach to survival, and self weeding of the weak.” He smiled at Krayt, “Now do I honestly have to answer that question for you.” Power coursed and crackled of his own around himself as his twin scepters of power slithered out his sleeves into both waiting hands, hissing and jaws rattling with desire to be used. His power pushing back in a defiant pride even as he relished and enjoyed tasting and observing the power used as he studied its courses.

“Like I said, I can honor your ways.” His eyes took on a hard edge as he waited.

"Honour them, indeed," Krayt said after a moment, chuckling. "I have a Voice, a Hand, a Fist... perhaps I am in need of Eyes again. He reached for Soliloquy's true face, and power surged into his left ocular nerve. "Now I see what you see, my friend."

A lazy gesture. "Go. Recover. Make sure Insipid escapes, while I prepare the fleet for departure... and I summon my Lords, across the galaxy, to the final war."

Twitching with a mild ocular tremor he nodded as he felt the new connection be imprinted up him. This whole ship was likely doomed, but he had no qualms about going and enjoying a cup of broth as the whole thing started to slowly come apart at the seams while all the Sith gathered together once more. Turning he went on his way to do just that, after a final glance at the aura and mechanations Krayt was using for Force healing of course.

Krayt for his measure would see himself through a red tinted and shadowy lens, the view tracking up and down his body. Then as turning to leave he would see part of a screen displaying a dead languages encrypted data scroling up a holo page. Even with the Force to translate symbols the meanings would not be clear even if it was able to fill in the incomplete words that were nearly all abreviated. For they were also incoded, unless you truly believed 'icecream knows coffees melrune toe gem spectacles' and many more lines of text that continued in an unending parade before that left eyes screen, as a black metalic hook slowly rose and fell at the edge of that vision as the background of the ships passages slowly passed by.

TAG Sinre

 

(Combination with the glorious Lady B )

IC: Tia
Nubia Hotel

Tia followed her companion and kept an arched eyebrow on her at all times all the way to the room. She looks around, and exclaimed 'wows' and 'this is so wizard!' at the many facilities on offer. She finally turned to Talya "how did you afford this room? another mind trick?"

Talya laughed, “I have my resources, Tia.” They piled their shopping bags on the floor of Talya’s suite, a slave walked out from a side room and bowed low to Talya and waited to be acknowledged.

“Speak,” the woman demanded.

“You have messages —,” their voice halted and they glanced at Tia, unsure of what to call the mistress.

“Go,” Talya waved the servant off.

“I need to take care of something,” she told the child, “do not leave this suite, Tia.”

huh! we'll just see about that!...I don't like her Tia decided to herself. The girl had gone, leaving Tia in the luxurious suite,
She sat on the emperor-sized bed, testing the springs, She then turned on the holoprojector and ordered room service and the most expensive things she could, and looked in the mini-fridge, there her eyes lit like stars at all the beverages not suitable for her age..."oh wizard!" she grabbed a bottle of ale when something caught her eye, it was a parchment, with strange looking symbols on it that Tia had never seen before, the parchment itself was old, centuries or perhaps even older, her eyes scanned it looking for something, ANYTHING she could glean from it. She could not, She sighed putting the parchment down. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Room service had arrived. A Chiss in a white uniform stood in the door-way. "Your appetizers ma'am," he said with a bow.
"Excellent!" Tia grinned.
An hour passed, and Tia started to get a stomach ache, she had eaten loads of sweets and had called room service five times. The Chiss had begun to lose patience that he even neglected to call her ma'am on his last visitation. Nor was he happy he was not getting tipped for his efforts.
Tia began to think about Dalask, and where on Nubia, Talya was. She got up from the bed and went to the balcony, the sun was beginning to set.


Talon’s datapad had chimed, she opened the message and it was an update to her bill. Judging from the charges, Tia appeared to have been eating well.

She shrugged and tossed the pad aside. It wasn’t her credits paying the bills, her Master could afford it.

“Tia!” She shouted across the suite, “where are you child?” Talya walked out into the sitting room and saw Tia on the balcony. She’d told her Master to reconsider and kee this child, Tia had potential. They should keep her and train her.

Talon didn’t want a child, but Tia was old enough that a droid could easily watch her. She'd wait for final instructions before doing anything with the kid.


Tia darted in from the suite's kitchen, her mouth smeared in the chocolate sauce from all those sundaes.
"Don't feel so good, gotta get home, gotta get back to that old coot-uggh" she clutched her stomach then lays on the bed, vomiting all over it, wiping her mouth.

Talya wasn’t amused, she lifted her hand and the datapad lifted from the chair and moved to the woman’s outstretched hand. “I guess a droid, or two, will be necessary,” she grumbled and sent for housekeeping and medication for Tia.

“No holo’s tonight, it’s a bath and early to bed,” Talya informed the child.

Tia begrudgingly took the medication as the droids attended to the mess. She still felt slightly sick as she bathed, but it soon subsided as she washed her hair. On redressing she exited the ensuite and marched right to her "listen lady I don't know who you really are, but I demand you take me back to my guardian right this instant!"
Tia didn't know why but she felt increasingly more tired, she was so tired that she thought nothing would be more pleasing than sleeping in a nice soft bed at that moment.

“The droid will put you to bed,” Talya fluttered her fingers and ordered the droid that had shown up to assist the child. “She’s to stay in her room.”

The sedative had clearly worked well, and it also stopped her questions regarding Dalask.

Later

Talon slipped into the room and took a holo of the sleeping child.



She sent the holo to Aryan Graul along with a message: Missing anything?

TAG @Lady_Belligerent @HanSolo29 (for observation)

 

IC: Soliloqy Eye of the One Sith
Hanger of One Sith Vessel

Soliloquy arrived at the hangar in time to see the boy vanish along with his children.

Padding besides him would come a collection of Sith.

A cyborg of many arms.



Darth Inexor.



Darth Nihl.



The Sith Betrayers

They arrived from the shadows of the hangar.

Nihl spoke first, all disdain. "Where do you think our prey will flee, Emperor's Eye."

"Apart from away," giggled Inexor, as skittish as the insect he appeared to be modeled after.

"We are ready to kill," the two Betrayers spoke in unison.

"Oh, you remember me too well Inexor!" he chuckled back in reply and a slight side glance. Lifting the cup of broth he took a tender sip and enjoyed the sensation of rolling it around on his fake tongue, the flavor was very appealing. "He will go to the places between spaces and hang there. Make some calls, probably near a comm node towards Hapes or the core, but Krayt has already foreseen where he will go. Eventually. Nubia." he sighed the last.

Taking a final sip he produced a saucer and set the cup down delicately. "Out of curiosity, how good are you all at your self healing arts? And when was the last restock of this vessels decon capabilities? Just asking of course." he asked with a shrug as he turned and walked back into the vessel without a care for the answer. The question was not made for answers, but to stir the minds after all.

"This broth really is delightful." he sighed again as his eyes in a relaxed manner took in the hallways before him.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Iudex
Pelagia

In a flash, barely perceptible to the naked eye, Iudex appeared before Bernael with his lightsaber drawn, back turned to the interloping Knights. They were inconsequential in the battle that raged within his fellow Circle Lord, one he had borne witness far too many times prior to simply ignore the signs now. Iudex had been forced to witness the atrocities that occurred when that battle was lost, as made evident during the Battle of Hapes, as well as when he had managed to win, as during the Battle of the Akkadese Maelstrom. Either outcome often proved fatal to those who happened to be within the vicinity.

Back then, Iudex would have been destroyed outright, no questions asked. Now? Perhaps he held a sliver of a chance, if the worst came to be.

His, along with the everyone else's in the vicinities commlink chimed, a singular drawn out whine. A warning tone indicating that the highest levels of the Empire were in critical danger. Iudex's glare hardened upon his brother, equal parts sympathy and concern. The two instances were linked. While he himself was blissfully unaccustomed to the rigors of jumping timelines, Bernael, Insipid, and the the others were not. For them all to appear in danger simultaneously...

Grave times indeed.

Through gritted teeth, he remained in place, even as the Force whirlwind that raged outwards from Bernael tore at the exposed skin of his face. And then.. Something different happened. Iudex peered cautiously into Bernael's eyes, even as a lightsaber came bearing down upon the two of them from behind. Something had changed within Berneal, there was.. Focus, where there hadn't been before.

Had he truly wrenched himself free from the machinations of the Old Ones?

Curiously, Iudex pivoted to the side, just as the lightsaber crashed downwards through the area he had just been standing, into the waiting lightning infused palm of his fellow CIrcle lord.

"No." Iudex replied gruffly, turning away from Bernael with a satisfied nod. "Insipid and the Empire are imperilled." He glanced up towards the shuttle carrying Wyyrlock being held in place with a sneer. "They will fulfil their obligations to their Emperor and Empress and join us willingly, or they will be left behind on this doomed world. I care not for which."

"The End Times are upon us once more Brother. How much longer need we continue this farce?" His implication was clear. He was ready to accept the consequences of Wyyrlock's death, if given the go ahead. Too much time had been wasted as is. Insipid had recalled them. Everything else was a secondary concern.

Tags: @Sinrebirth , @darthbernael , @ConservativeJedi321, @TheSilentInfluence, @TheAdmiral

 

IC: Serapis and Hekate (Movement of Hekate's character approved by Nehru_Amidala while she deals with DRL)
Hangar, heading out.

The ship stalled and the babies started to howl, what was going on? Frantically trying to maneuver the ship away, Hekate was trying to figure out what was going on, all the while El Muerte was in attack mode and pacing the area nearest the landing ramp, ready to devour what attack el familia.

"Shavit, it's a tractor beam! Hey Serapis, we have a problem here!"

The ramp to Serapis' ship had closed. She ran to the cockpit of the ship. The startup sequence had completed. For all intents and purposes, she was safe. The feeling she'd had, the warning about approaching Stormtroopers hadn't come to pass. Well, almost. When are you going to trust those feelings, Serapis? she chided herself as the troopers filed into the hangar bay. They were firing everywhere, and harming nothing, yet. Guys, these ships are made for handling much bigger weapons than you're holding, she thought. She shook her head and started the repulsorlifts.

As she was about to head out of the hangar, the troop transport blocked the path. Oh, it's you guys! Let's see if these weapons are as beefy as they seem. She punched a few buttons on the weapons console. She was about to fire when Hekate's message came through. "I'll take care of that. Hang on." The first shot took out the hangar's tractor beam. Second shot would take out the transport, if it had hit the right area. It didn't. The transport shifted with the shot, but stayed stubbornly in place.

A bleep from her console. Serapis noted a notification from an unknown source coming through.

The Empire is imperilled. Rendezvous immediately. Respond if alive.​

She commed Hekate. "Yo, momma! Got another assignment. I assume it's Insipid. Did you see it?"

Hekate had been about to launch El Muerte out the airlock when she felt a sudden lurch in the Force! Recalling the creature, she dashed into the cockpit…only to see her children had taken on their teen forms and her con link was going nuts.

“Serapis, I felt it!”

The only thing going through Serapis' mind was "plans change." Though he didn't need to tell Hekate that. She'd been part of the Sith long enough that she'd experienced it. Last time he'd seen her, she wasn't married, she didn't have kids and she didn't have that... spider??

In any case, they needed to get out of this area. Serapis took aim, again, at the transport blocking their way. He lined up what he thought would be a dead-on shot. Just as he shot the cannons, the transport moved. It had minor damage at best. "KRIFF KRIFF KRIFF!!!" Serapis raged.

He commed Hekate's ship. "Sorry, momma! I'll need your help here."

Nothing came back but static. One of the Stormtroopers must have hit her communications array. She must have had power, still, though since he saw a port on the side of her ship open. Out of it popped her spider creature. He thought she'd called it a centaurantula? Though it did make quick work of a good portion of the white-suited troopers. It was small enough that it could move around without getting shot, yet lethal enough that it felled trooper after trooper in seconds. The chaos that ensued was just delicious.

"Good job, momma," Serapis muttered under her breath. "Now I just need to take care of that troop transport." Firing up the ion cannon, she took two shots, just in case. Both shots landed, fore and aft, disabling the transport, sending it plummeting to the depths of Coruscant. So satisfying.

Looking down, she noted El Muerte was done with his task. White armored bodies were laying everywhere. Some already turning to puddles of goo. The centaurantula had gone back in the little hole he'd come out of. They appeared to be ready to get their butts out of here. "Hekate, I'm not sure if you're reading this, but let's go!"

Serapis engaged his engines, pulling out of the hold. As she set for orbit, she looked around for any evidence of shuttles following them. None appeared, though Hekate's ship was following. Hekate must have received the message, but can't send. That would need to be looked at. Serapis set course for the relative safety of orbit. Within minutes, they'd be setting hyperspace coordinates for the Emperor.

Tags: @Sinrebirth @Nehru_Amidala

 

IC: Knights Brokenborough, Donvoy, Hhat, and Tyrell, along with Darth Helinith

Sith Interdictor

Perhaps blowing up the hangar that they were currently in wasn't the smartest tactical decision, but it certainly sent a message even if Sam barely had enough time to seek cover before the explosion went off, Sam closing her eyes and covering her ears to protect herself from the blinding flash and concussion of the blast.

Before the dust and smoke had even cleared, Sam could tell that they had company. Fortunately, she was already behind the perfect place to shoot from. And while she didn't know whose side the armored troops were on, she had a feeling that they were definitely the bad guys. So she took shots at them, the Force guiding her aim.

Charles' legs were suddenly wobbly and the hangar began to spin. He noticed his chest felt warm and was sticky to the touch, his fingers confusingly painted with a red substance. Looking down he saw a large sliver of durasteel embedded between the plates in his armor.

Meanwhile, Helinith recognized the shudder of a tractor beam and swore, grabbing the blaster she had stolen earlier. Just another delay in her mission to find Tamus.
"I am going to kill every single last living thing on this ship, write curses with their blood and send it on a collision course with the nearest planet. I'm going to harvest their organs and sell them on the black market. I'm going to cut off their heads and feed them to a kryat dragon, no scratch that I'm going to feed them to the dragon and then cut off their heads and send their remains to the nearest spice mine, where Correlian sons of-" Thwack! A jolt knocked her forehead into the instrument panel and her swearing descended into incomprehensible rage noises.

Some day this was turning out to be. Will couldn't seem to keep his mind on the task at hand. His mind kept drifting in and out of attention. Home called to him, a simpler time, a simpler place. Part of him just wanted to leave this all behind, steal this ship and rush home. Though he didn't know the first thing about flying or hyperspace more than likely get himself killed. This also meant he wouldn't have a clue how to operate the weapons on the ship.

This left him standing on the deck not moving, just wishing he was home.

He hardly realized it until the shuttle pitched back sending him tumbling and crashing into the port side bulkhead. He head rung for the second time today and he could feel the sticky blood in his hair. Blinking a few times he thought he saw a figure. Dark brown hair cut short and a stern look on his face.

"Rise squire." The man growled. "The enemy will not show mercy…and neither will I." Knight Aramis, the man that trained Will, the harsh teacher he needed when he was still getting a handle on his powers. "I said stand." His teacher grabbed him by the collar, nearly throwing him to his feet. There was the sounds of battle starting to reach him.

The shuttle was pitched fully onto its side. His body was racked with pain but he fought through it. He had to do something. Sucking in a breath he activated his saber and his shield. The grey and blue lights shining through the dust and fire. Summoning his determination he marched forward shield raised blade ready to strike.

Arthur scrambled to take cover behind a column as blaster fire suddenly occupied the space he had just being standing. Troopers of an unknown allegiance poured through the hole his makeshift bomb had created into the kill zone created by Sam. His grin grew wider at that, always pleasantly surprised at the efficiency of the Stormtrooper Corp's training regimen.

If only he had his own blaster to join in.

A pained gasp from nearby ripped Arthur's attention away from the firefight, only for him to watch as Charles crumpled to the ground, a jagged shard of durasteel poking out from the front of his armor. Swearing, Arthur ducked low, just as another salvo of blaster fire impacted the column he was crouching behind.

"Brokenborough!" He shouted, his voice just barely able to overcome the din of battle. "Plug that hole and stay down! That's an order trooper!"

Before he could move, the Interdiction ship exited hyperspace with a solid thwump. A moment later, yet another ship was being ferried inside by the tractor beam. A moment later, they were back in hyperspace.

"Another ship comin' in!" He called out, before using the momentary drop in fire to move up from cover. He was useless here in the back. In the thick of it is where he belonged. Besides, he was not about to let these shuttas harm one of his Knights without a proper retaliation.

..his? Huh..

Using the Force to propel his legs, Arthur sprinted forward, ducking and weaving through the hail of blaster fire as he made his way to the front line. He slid into cover across from Sam and deployed his Force Pike with a quick flick of the wrist.

"So, Sam," He said, grunting as the crate he was hiding behind took some shots. "Think you can keep me alive long enough to get in there?"

Sam didn't look at Arthur, since taking her eyes off the battlefield would have been unwise. Instead, she talked to Arthur while continuing to take shots at their enemies. "I think so," she confirmed before ducking out of the way of some blaster fire. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I don't suppose you have any grenades on you?" Arthur responded, only now noticing that Tyrell had emerged from their shuttle, lightsaber in hand. He raised an eyebrow, still of the belief that the Knight was too injured to be of use. But then again, if he wanted to prove himself, who was Arthur to stop him?

"I just need a distraction. Anything you can think of. Once I close the gap, their blasters will be useless."

Sam shook her head. "I only have this blaster on me," she told Arthur. "Though... I think they may have some."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Sith Interdictor, Helinith leapt out of the top hatch into a deserted hangar.
"Huh. Talk about a welcome party. Or lack of."
There was a low tremor that shivered through the durasteel floor momentarily that felt almost like the detonation of something, maybe asteroid had impacted the deflector shields.
She scratched her head, wondering what to do next. Swearing that you'd kill everyone on board a vessel was all very fine and good, but was only helpful in so much as there had to be people alive to kill. And there didn't seem to be anybody around.
Mind you, she was pretty sure that wherever she was, this ship was a sith design and so, likely, somewhere or another, there was a lightsaber she could 'aquire'.
IF there were any force sensitives aboard.
She reached out her senses and was pleased to find that, yes, there were indeed some force sensitives aboard, not particularly close, but she was confident she could find them out, and kill some dullards along the way.

She indicated the armored troopers that were filling the hangar. She spotted one of them with a thermal detonator and she got an idea. Sam took a deep breath and reached out with the Force... activating the thermal detonator similar to what Darth Vader had done during the Battle of Vrogas Vas.

"Boom," she whispered before the detonator went off.

Charles writhed in the rubble.

Reaching down with clenched teeth he attempted to remove the shrapnel from his chest, but stopped when another explosion abruptly shook the hangar bay. Covering his face with his hands tiny bits of debris rained down amid the smoke and dust.

Will braced himself behind his shield as another explosion rocked the hangar. Dust and steel reflected off the azure guard. His eyes swept the area clear of dust and debris. In the shadows he saw a body with a shard of metal jutting out from their chest. Given the location it wasn't likely to be the troopers that were steaming in. He rushed forward finding Charles laying on the ground. He changed his stance crouching down Will protected as much of his ally's body from incoming fire.

"That is quite the souvenir you've picked up my friend." He smiled, "Might I assist in excising it from your person?"

Brokenborough nodded gratefully squeezing handfuls of debris as he braced himself for the pain. His mind continued to swirl and fluctuate in and out of shock. What had caused such a horrific explosion? It made no sense that their captors had purposely damaged their own ship.

Will deactivated his saber focusing on the Force, gathering the thread to his hands. He pulled on the strands removing the shard of metal from the knight's chest.

"Sorry for the pain." He said giving a slight grimace. Having nothing to press into the wound he pressed his hand into the cut trying to apply pressure. "Need to stop the bleeding."

Charles whimpered apologetically. Feeling the razor barbed teeth of the steel splinter being extracted triggered a spasm of coughing and a spitting of blood.

"Thank you, brother."

Forcing himself to sit upright against the wall he watched in disbelief at the ongoing spectacle at what the other Knights were attempting in a flurry of commotion and chaos.

Arthur could only grin as he observed the results of Sam's handiwork. The Sith troopers had elected to cluster up in groups due to the lack of available cover inside the hangar. Sam's remote detonation of one the trooper's thermal detonators had exposed the folly in such a tactic. One squad was atomized outright, a small clump of dissipating ash the only hint of their prior existence. Two other troopers were grievously injured, having been just outside the kill radius. They fell where they stood, writhing and twitching in agony amongst their seemingly uncaring brethren. Still, the explosion had created a lull in the firefight. It would be enough.

"If you got any more of those in you, feel free!" Arthur exclaimed with a laugh, rapping Sam's left shoulder once with a closed fist. "I'm movin' up!"

In one smooth motion, Arthur vaulted over the crate he was crouched behind and charged the closest grouping of Sith troopers, Pike gripped tight in both hands. It was no lightsaber, but set to the highest power setting as it was, those unlucky enough to feel its bite wouldn't live long enough to tell the difference.

Sam provided cover for Arthur, taking more precise shots at the Sith troopers while keeping her eye out for anymore thermal detonators that she could set off to create an explosive surprise. It was actually nice to be fighting alongside Arthur again and she even felt a bit of pride for her earlier handiwork. She was definitely getting better at this whole Force thing.

Will was crouched down helping Charles stay sat up.

"Are there any apothecaries or physicians on this ship? A healer's satchel maybe?" He wasn't sure what to do, but he knew he couldn't leave Charles bleeding on the ground not just yet.

Charles thought he felt better. But then his eyelids begin to flutter and his hands went cold.

He began to shiver as he lost consciousness.

"My Lady...your grace," he spoke, reaching out through the Force.

"Please..."

Charles experienced his mind as being somewhere within a void, caught between worlds, of the living and those one with the Force

Bellorum gasped. Her loyal Knight was reaching out, and she felt his injuries. He wasn’t very far away, but not close enough that she could heal him. Instead she encouraged him to use his own powers to stop the hemorrhaging, he was strong and capable.

’I need you here, my Knight, I’m at the Graul Estate on Nubia. We are in great danger… hurry.’

Knight Tyrell could locate a medical kit inside the ship they’d arrived on, and inside that kit was what he needed to disinfect and staple the wounds closed.

The hangar had quieted, and even though one would’ve expected another wave of troops, none came.

Once the hangar had fallen quiet and Sam couldn't sense any immediate danger, she decided to speak up.

"Alright, everyone call out! Who's still alive?"

"Stay alive." Will said to Charles before leaping up into the tipped over shuttle to try and find a healer's kit. He found the broken cross plastered on a simple bag. It would have to do...maybe. The Knight had spent most of his time training to fight and use the force so healing was not something he had knowledge of.

"We could use some help over here..." He called out opening the pack his eyes widening with concern.

Sam heard Will and she went over to them. "Knight Tyrell, what's your status?" she asked.

"I am unharmed..." Will replied, "But Charles is gravely wounded."

Sam frowned. She knew that the necessary medical supplies wouldn't be kept in the hangar. There certainly weren't any in the ship she came in on (and she reminded herself that those passengers still needed to be taken care of). Since this was an Interdictor, that meant the medical supplies Knight Brokenborough needed would likely be kept in the medical bay. Fortunately, if the layout was identical to an Imperial Interdictor then one of them should be able to find the medical bay very easily.

"Then we may need to send someone into the ship on a supply run if we don't have what we need here," she suggested.

"No need," Will called out... "I think, I have acquired a healer's satchel from our vessel...though I am bereft of skill to use it."

"Let me see it," Sam told him. "I'm not a designated medic, but I do have some basic medical training." Plus some experience on the field tending to wounded or dying soldiers. This required her to learn in order to save someone's life when a medic wasn't around. Though she was still not a medic, she might be the closest to a medic out of the four of them.

For a moment every Force sensitive on the Sith Interdictor paused. It was something all of them felt, some felt it stronger than others, but all would know there had been a profound change. It was big.

The Force shuddered, and then quaked. Some might recognize the Force fighting back against a change.

Even the injured Knights would have felt the shift and begin to understand the urgency in staying together and finding their Emperor.

"Green." Arthur replied after a moment as he rose from a couch, collapsing his Force Pike in a single motion. A newly acquired blaster rifle swung tight from a sling draped over his shoulders, compliments from one of the many dead troopers dotting the hangar. As predicted, they had crumbled as soon as they lost the advantage of range. To their credit, none had attempted to flee. They fought to the last man, even if such a sacrifice hadn't amounted to much.

"Your assessment?" He asked Sam, tilting his chin towards the downed Charles. "Will he live?" Arthur held no ill will towards his fellow Knight, and there wasn't an ounce of malice heard in his voice, but if Charles' fate was sealed, they had to move on. Their position was compromised, the fact that reinforcements hadn't arrived yet was alarming to say the least.

His focus snapped back towards the hole the troopers had poured through. He couldn't see anything, but alarm klaxons had erupted within his skull. Something, somewhere was going horribly wrong. Arthur could feel it in his bones. "We can't stay here. I posit we storm the Bridge and capture the crew. Get some answers."

"Hard to say," Sam confessed as she tended to Brokenborough's wound. "I have seen men with injuries worse than this get up and continue fighting like it was nothing. But I have also seen men succumb to lesser injuries." She shook her head. "I'm doing what I can, but it will ultimately be up to Knight Brokenborough whether he pulls through or not. In any case, I don't think he is in any condition to move. If we are going to storm the bridge, I would suggest leaving Brokenborough here. As for your-"

She paused, feeling the shift in the Force. "Uh, what was that?"

Will stepped out of the way letting Sam do her work, and letting Arthur take his place as Knight Commander. That left Will watching their backs. He felt The shift in the aether, the Force to others. Something bad was happening and the Emperor was in danger...Though a voice in the back of his head told him that it wouldn't be so bad. Shaking his head he had to keep focused.

He stopped his tongue as he was about to ask why there was a bridge on a ship and why it was so important that they took it. They knew what they were doing and he just had to follow.

"I can take point, if someone wishes to direct me." He held up his shining shield. "I can form a bulwark between us and the enemy in front of us."

The confirmation that the other Knights had experienced that same wave of dread as him was enough of a sign for Arthur. He turned to offer Charles a final apologetic look. It was never easy leaving a man behind. But he, they were Imperial Knights first, Imperials second. The needs of the Empire had to come first.

"Hhat, stabilize him the best you can. Charles, we will come back for you. I expect you to walk out with us when we do, understood?" A wisp of a smile flashed across Arthur's lips. They all knew the likelihood of that happening. Still, it would have been cruel to twist the proverbial knife by telling Charles to his face that he didn't think he would make it.

Better to have hope, than nothing at all.

"Knight Tyrell," Arthur said, clapping the man shoulder, "I trust you to get us there in one piece. We're not going to find out what's going on until we detain the Command Staff, let's get there quickly, but safely, eh?"

One might have expected Helinith to march with a purpose, and she started out that way, but her mind quickly began to wander, and with it, her sense of direction. Without a map on a datapad to keep herself on track, she began to meander between corridors, opening doors and shooting without prejudice at anything that threatened to move.

Two engineers rounded the end of a corridor ahead and drew their weapons, comically slowly. She watched the draw even as she charged forward with an inhuman burst of speed, reached out with both hands and grabbed their throats, her nails drawing blood. There was another a shiver in the force and she was so startled by it she almost dropped the two opponents from her grasp, but her concentration slip was minor and they were far too focused on their constricting airways to take any sort of advantage of it.

As she watched them asphyxiating in her hands, she began to sing in a carefree manner;
"There was a little kryat-dragon sith,
she travelled here and there,
Others saw her wandering
And said she didn't care

She didn't care
She didn't care
Oh no she didn't care
Her mind was on the other things
Those careless farks beware

Her arms bore twisted hydras
Her head and feet were bare
She shot and tore the skugs apart,
While dancing through their lair

She didn't care
She didn't care
Oh no she didn't care
Her mind was on the other things
Piss her off if you dare..."

Sam shook off what she had just felt and focused on stabilizing Brokenborough. While she hated the idea of leaving him behind, there wasn't much else they could do in this situation. Of course, she wasn't completely sold on Donovoy's plan of taking the bridge, but it was best not to argue on the issue. They needed to be together on this.

Sam sighed and stood back up once she had stabilized Brokenborough to the best of her ability. "Shall we get moving then?" she asked, brandishing her blaster.

Charles grimaced and held his breath as he stood.

"Lead the way."

It brought some joy that Charles was standing on his own now. A small bit of hope in this place. With a sly smirk he took his place at the front of their formation. While he wasn't sure of where they were going he was good at following directions. Everything was chaos and all he could do was smile. All of this was ridiculous, there were star dragons patrolling the skies, an interdictor was perfectly placed to perfectly drag their team out of hypersapce to prevent them from 'saving' the emperor. Who might...just maybe be in danger. That was an impossibility. They are gods, they wield more power in their little finger than all the Grand Rangers living and dead through out history. They would not die even if his team failed.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to 'do his part' if only to prevent himself from getting bored, or having another vision. He'd had quite enough of those today.

"Keep behind me."

Tags: @Sinrebirth , @Lady_Belligerent , @HanSolo29 , @CosmoHender , @galactic-vagabond422 , @Ananta Chetan , @darthhelinith

 

(Another Combo with the wondrous Lady B )

IC: Dalask


Over near the spaceport, in a less posh hotel, Dalask came awake feeling discombobulated. He was sure that only a moment ago they’d been on the beach talking about sandwiches, and now he felt

like he’d been beaten with a dirty sock filled with rocks.

He rubbed his forehead, no something else had happened because this felt worse than when he'd been beaten with a rock filled dirty sock. There was something he was

forgetting… but what?

Dalask groaned with each step he took towards the refresher, his head throbbed.
Throwing up helped a little, but he was still sure something was amiss.

He glanced around the room, his luggage was still there, nothing appeared out of order. Dalask flipped back across the bed and closed his eyes, maybe he’d remember what was missing after a nap.

Moments later his eyes snapped open and he shouted, “TIA!”

*****

Across the city…

Talon had left a datapad, loaded with movies and games, to keep her busy. Her patience for keeping Tia entertained was now exhausted.

Tia awoke to see the datapad, she leaned up from the comfortable bed and rubbed her eyes, yawned and looked around. Then she remembered. "Where is that Talya girl?" she mumbled to herself. She climbed off the bed sluggishly and tried the door. It was locked. She went to the balcony, it was a long way down. Tia sat back down on the bed and pondered what to do. She could try to reach out to Dalask through the force. "Come on Tia" she encouraged herself and closed her eyes "come on Tia..." she focused hard, "Dalask...hear me"

Talon felt Tia stirring in her room. “The bloody child should be happy to be in a posh suite instead of the insect infested place Dalask picked,” Talon grumbled at the bills from last night's antics.

She keyed in Tia’s datapad to see what the child was doing, and all that kept coming up was ‘managing account details’.

“What the kriff is that child doing now?” The Sith asked herself, not expecting an answer.

across town —

Dalask’s eyes popped open, “Tia?” He whispered the missing child’s name, and he was positive he’d just heard her voice.

Tia breathed slowly and concentrated even more when she heard the voice of her guardian "where are you? I'm..." The girl was losing focus, a mental block of some kind. She tried harder, instead of trying to speak, she instead tried to picture the room she was in, and the locations surrounding the balcony to 'send' it to him. Her breathing was hard as the tiny girl tried to center.

Dalask shakily stood and wandered into Tia’s room, “Tia?” He kept calling out.

He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this hung over. Yes, he definitely felt like he’d consumed too much alcohol. Dalask went to the tiny caf bar his room featured, and pressed the dispenser. Watching his cup filling with dark liquid was almost as therapeutic as drinking it.

After the cup was filled, he took it into the bathroom, sat it on the counter, and turned on the sanistream.

He’d just stepped out of his clothing when he heard Tia call out again, “JEEZ!” He stumbled quickly into the sanistream exclaiming loudly, thinking the child had creeped up behind him. “What in the nine hells are you doing?”

He peeked around the plastifilm curtain, that claimed to have been sanitized for his safety, and Dalask had been positive Tia would be standing there laughing, but she wasn’t.

“Huh?” He grumbled and dispensed soap into his hand to wash up. While he was rinsing, Dalask started seeing images in his mind. It was a house, or building that he wasn’t familiar with.

“I don’t understand,” he murmured. “Where are you, child?”

Tia heard his question, though it was muffled and she sighed softly and slumped her shoulders how can anybody be this oafish? she thought to herself and tried again. Though this time it was like a thick fog had formed around the connection. She tried to focus but could not. Talya! she could try to contact her. She once again focused "Talya where are you? let me out of this room, this minute"

Dalask sat down and rubbed his face briskly, “okay, Tia… I don’t understand where you are. I need a name or address, child.”

Talon rolled her eyes over Tia’s shouting, “I’m busy and I need to go out for awhile. Why don’t you order more food that you probably won’t eat.”

A door slammed and the locks clicked. Tia was left alone with a few droids, but the exit to the corridor was locked.

Tia thought some very extreme things about Talya at that moment, words no seven-year-olds should know. And almost yelled them aloud.
She heard Dalask's voice again and closed her eyes "I don't know where I am you old krong! I have been abducted obviously!" she opened her eyes, rolled them, and sighed.

She looked around her and saw several droids, and grinned

“Stop your yelling, child!” He groaned and started looking for some clean clothes, “surely there’s a way for you to find coordinates, or a name even? Use your brain, get creative.”

Tia heard him again "well if you were a better Guardian this wouldn't have happened" * she snapped. "I am apparently with a girl named Talya, she is a real Hutt's lunch. One of those girls that people only like cuz she has a cool pad, you know, those types" *she put her hands on her hips and looked around "and why am I talking out loud? she gasped "oh no, I've been around you too long! you're contagious!" she goes to a table and looks at the data pad and taps a few keys "I appear to be in Rordis city..East"

Dalask was holding his head in his hands and groaning. “Stop the rambling!” He insisted.

“Tia, are you in a private resident? A hotel? A jail? Work with me.”

Tia looked around her exasperated. "Looks like a very luxurious hotel. There was a Chiss serviceman I know that, and some weird-looking droids in my room"

Tia continued to look around her, and let out another deep sigh and went to inspect the droids, they were various shapes, sizes and colours, and Tia did not know their technical names. They were usually just a bunch of random names and number strung together, and Tia did not care for anything mechanical, Droids could not give life to the force, and were insignificant to her. She switched on a silver and gold plated protocol droid "hallo, I am T8-" she switched it off "yeah no one cares" Tia said. and switched on what she could only think was a 'cleaning droid'

The Droid immediately started forward after a ping sound and rolled across the floor. Tia watched as it sprayed a blue-ish liquid on objects and cleaned them thoroughly, when it had finished each object it would confirm either "Item clean" or "Item half cleaned" and then repeat the cleaning process if it was the latter. Tia walked up to it and gave it a sharp kick "piece of junk" she exclaimed and it immediately beeped loudly and rolled around in circles cleaning everything again, drenching everything, including the bed in the blueish wash. Not wanting to be completely drenched herself, Tia opened the door to let it loose on the luxurious guests of the hotel. The rich and the sublime ran in all directions as the droid bumped into them declaring that they were all "half cleaned" and continued to soak them all over again.

Tia being in her room was oblivious to all this however and had begun, in her boredom, to rewire the protocol service droid, and even gave it a feather duster she had found in the closet and let it loose also. The protocol would fluctuate from being more friendly than patrons would want from a mechanical service droid and had begun tickling them in a flirtatious manner with the duster offering to 'dust away the cobwebs' to insulting them with EE-CHUUT-A and even said it twice to the Mayor of the city after tickling his throat with the duster, leaving the bemused man in a fury demanding to talk to the owner.

Tia heard the commotion and peered out from the door, patrons were running up and down the corridors in a frenzy. Tia shrugged to herself thinking it was the effects of too much wine in the main hall and closed the door and sat on the bed and crossed her arms in a huff.

The soft fuzzy gloves were off, Darth Talon, now in all her glory slammed the door open. She stood in the threshold of Tia’s room, blue liquid was dripping off her red skin to puddle around her feet on the floor. The facade of being the human Talya was gone.

She pointed at Tia and asked, “are you responsible for this mayhem?” A feather dropped from Talon’s wrist to settle on the floor.

“I found a friend of yours outside,” she said cooly and reached over to pull Dalask into the room. He was wise enough to keep his mouth shut and not antagonize Talon, he just hoped Tia was too.

Tia stared up at her and gulped. She was about to blurt out that she looked like she belonged as a dancer in one of the seedy nightclubs back on coruscant but kept her mouth shut. Tia gave Dalask a look as if to say 'wow what a hero...' before turning back to Talon. "The droid malfunctioned, it wasn't my fault!."

TAG: @Lady_Belligerent

 

IC: Cera Tan
The Palace Grounds, Pelagon

The call couldn’t have come at a worse moment. It was a distraction and in a lightsaber battle a mere second could be the line between life and death. Good thing that the Sith got one as well…

The whole situation changed in an instant. There was something going on that they did not fully understand. And given that involved Sith it could not be good. Her people were not listening to her, they could not coordinate a simple attack without anyone rushing trying to do their own thing. That was the surest way to disaster.

“You listen to me. Ignore the call, we will deal with that later.” she said to her companions “There is something more going on, no Sith would turn their back on us in the middle of a fight.” she cautioned, “We have to do this together.”

Hopefully this time they were going to listen…

TAG: @Sinrebirth @darthbernael @ConservativeJedi321 @TheSilentInfluence @Silvertough

 

IC: Walce Quia-Vis
Pelegan

The Imperial Knight Froze, his blade in mid swing and his head pounding at the difficult situation he was in.
"What in the Kark is going on!" He shouted. Looking at his companions, and the Sith who seemed content to ignore him. Even if they were all on the same side, why the attack? why the kidnapping? Why all of this? Why couldn't they just leave him to drink in peace.....

He had gone to all this effort to keep the peace for the Emperor and Empress, to figure out who sent the Assassin's and convince Paddox and Shey they meant no harm.
If the people on top just wanted to nuke the place, why not tell them ahead of time? Why all the ruses?
Maybe his father was right about the Sith all along, but Walce had no idea what to think.

Deactivating his blade, he turned to Cera in a huff. "We do this your way, but you're taking the lead cause I'm at my wits end with all of this right now."
He barely glanced at Shey and simply shrugged his shoulders, hoping to buy time for his companion to find the missing piece that Walce had given up on locating.

Tags: @Sinrebirth, @TheSilentInfluence, @TheAdmiral, @darthbernael, @Silvertough

 

(Another Combo with Lady_B )

Talon ordered the protocol droid to watch Tia and Dalask while she cleaned up. Something was off with the damned droid, so she locked them into the suite and rushed through her decontamination.

She was soon freshly dressed, her red skin shimmery just for the xenophobic child in the next room.

“Let’s go,” Talon ordered her two captives, “put on footwear for walking, we aren’t taking a transport.”

Dalask looked shocked. He had to go along because this woman could wreck his feeble self. He would clue Tia in, they’d watch for a possible escape and make a run for it. Tia was also a master at creating chaos, so there was that too.

“I only have the boots I’m wearing,” he sounded whiny, and Talon ignored him.

Tia was about to ask the Twi'lek if she wasn't a bit old to be wearing pigtails, but Dalask must have known the comment was coming because the glance from him was enough to keep her mouth shut. Tia strolled to her numerous shopping bags humming loudly as though Talon's demand was a request, she spent ages going through the bags trying on different shoes and modeled each pair in front of the mirror.

After a few minutes Talon growled, “those, you’ll wear those.” She’d waited until Tia had put on the footwear that appeared the most uncomfortable. It should slow her down if she tried any funny business.

“I will dampen any cries for help, and punish him,” Talon pointed at Dalask, “for anything you try. Got it? Good.”

She made Dalask and Tia walk in front of her down the corridor to the the lift, when it opened she grabbed the being inside and tossed him into the corridor without saying a word.

Once the lift started descending, Talon pointed at Tia, “don’t try me, I will not tolerate your antics.”
The lift stopped and the doors slid open, Talon shoved Dalask into Tia ordering them
both to move. “Let’s go.”

Tia stumbled forward, her feet were already hurting from the metallic high-heeled boots she was wearing when the heel got stuck, "uggh" she moaned as Dalask bumped into her "quit pushing!!" I'm stuck!" she tried hard to pull her leg free, "quit staring and help!" she demanded at Dalask

Dalask reached over and pulled Tia’s heel free, literally. The heel stayed wedged into the gap between the lift and floor. Talon shoved them to walk ahead of her as they walked through the vast lobby. Women in evening wear where yelling at the front desk clerks, their formal attire was dripping with the same blue liquid that Talon had soaked in earlier. She shook her head over the chaos, and hoped the droid wouldn’t ambush them as they crossed the lobby.

Tia hobbled along glumly, she looked ridiculous with just a one heeled shoe and she knew it.
T8 the Protocol droid came over and tickled Dalask under the chin. Ordinarily, Tia would have found this rather humorous, but today she was not in the mood. without thinking she kicked the droid where the goolies would be on a living creature, the contact made a loud clanging sound and Tia yelled out in pain almost breaking her toes.

The feather brushed entirely too close to Dalask’s nose which triggered a barrage of sneezes, Talon ignored him and kept pushing them forward towards the entrance.

The crowds were now behind them, some people were entering, and then leaving right away once they heard about the rogue droids spraying insecticide on everyone. Clearly the tale was getting bigger as it was passed from person to person.

T8 had somehow joined their party and was trying to figure out how to remedy Tia’s shoe situation, which was really just lecturing her on wearing more conservative footwear.

Tia hated to be lectured particularly by a droid. "you tell the manager that this is the worst service I have ever experienced in all my years of living (all seven of them) and that the elevators in this place are a death trap! I wouldn't rate this hotel 1 star let alone 5!" her toes were now throbbing with pain as she limped on behind Talon and Dalask "this is all your fault" she muttered to him.

Dalask ignored Tia’s whinging. He was intent on seeing what Talon was up to, this was all information he could give Aryan Graul as a show of good faith. He started daydreaming of all the credits he could get from turning over the evil Darth Talon.

Talon ordered the droid to carry the child, which also served to keep Tia from trying to escape. The Sith glared at the droid telling it to only speak when spoken to, or maybe she was saying that to Tia.

“We are going along the shore for awhile before we cross inland to the estate."

Tia's eyes glinted as she heard the word estate "what estate? what house of horrors are you taking us to now? my feet hurt, how long is this gonna take? this droid is uncomfortable" she moaned as she clambered onto the droid. They traveled along the shore and still, Tia peppered her companions with inane questions "is this droid approved by the health and safety droid Authority to carry me? what if it drops me? I will sue your Twi'lek lekku from here to Ryloth. Are all people of Ryloth as ugly as you?"


After an hour Talon led them to a sturdy fence, “this is your destination,” Talon told her two companions, “I’ll leave you the annoying droid.”

She glared at Dalask and said ominously, “don’t fail me.”

Talon levitated the droid over the fence, then dropped it and Tia to the ground. “I suspect you can get over on you own,” the Sith growled and stalked away to a speeder that had appeared and was waiting for her.

Tia landed with a thud, the droid on top of her and she mumbled loudly in extreme annoyance as she pushed him off her. "oh she's toast..." she huffed and pouted before lifting herself up, wiping her dusty hands on Dalask's tunic "what did she mean 'don't fail her? huh? she couldn't have been talking to herself, life has already failed her by all means possible" she looked around her, squinting into the distance "well I'm not waiting round here! let's go!"

TAG: @Lady_Belligerent

 

IC: Oorta and Anor
Going for a Ride

A voice called out from the doorway, deep and graveled enough to nearly make one feel the voice as well as hear it. "Would you like us to put that in a bio containment unit? We have equipment onboard." Oorta asked his gleaming armor clinking as he tapped a nail idly on it. Of course in the Force it might as well have been a voice from the void, even if you had Vongsense.

A more gentle feminine voice cut in then. "We can do more than that of course. If. . ." here Anor paused with a wrinkling of her oogliths snout as she reached up to rub the horn of Oorta, "You can explain to us why you left without our Shaper?"

Oorta grinned at that, "Half-truths may satisfy a judge, but they rarely fill the stomach. Remember our Shaper and that he has taught us well, we can reason and compare the reasons - many are quiet acceptable."

---

While they pressed Insipid for attention, not far from Fondor, those One Sith present with Soliloquy seemed bemused.

The Sith present seemed bemused.

"A target, my friend," Darth Nihl said with a tone which spoke of no such thing. "We are reliant upon Insipid panicking and gathering his forces so we can destroy him. We only have a limited number of Sith Troopers left, and we have used the lesser among them to date."

That would potentially be concerning news; that the monstrous cyborgs that had thus far been deployed against them had been the weaker of the horde. That they had kept the most brutal and most powerful back for the final battle.

Terrifying.

Insipid's presence bleated in the Force to Soliloquy, though.

He was heading towards Imperial Space - their territory in the Core and Inner Rim. It was a straight line down the Rimma Trade Route and up the Corellian Trade Spine from Yag'Dhul. But he wasn't heading to the Empire; Soliloquy would feel that he had a plan, something before the Imperial territory proper to act from. Closer to the Core, even.

Nubia.

He was going to Nubia.

Lifting his cup Soliloquy took another sip of broth. "Indeed." he merely stated dryly.

---

Insipid hadn’t spoken to the others in the shuttle while he panicked - there was no professional colloquialism for that - but eventually he had nothing else to do but calm down and wait for the rest to come together.

He swung to the other two. “I’m paying attention now.” Insipid pressed his lips together firmly. “What?”

The two looked to each other in obvious bemusement. "He scampers like a rat in the ducts!"

"Yes, no head for questions or answers." Turning back Anor squatted down on her haunches and made sure she had the young man's eye. "We know you are Insipid, even though the Senators blood is on your arm. So the question remains. Would you like help preserving it? Do you want more help? Where is Soliloquy our Shaper?"

“Soliloquy has stayed behind, I know not his intentions,” Insipid said cuttingly. In his other hand was a lightsaber. “Does that make a difference to your assisting me, or not?”

He kept the blood-containing limb to the side. “I need to preserve this so I can clone Ormes. If he isn’t replaced, a Change will occur.” He hesitated. “My facilities are hidden on Nubia.”

Oorta growled deeply at that. "We are going to die, by idiots!" Throwing his hands up he turned away as he shook his head.

Anor raised a hand and pushed him to the rear of the vessel, "Trust in the Shaper, go get the small box." Turning an eye to Insipid she coldly looked him over, taking obvious note of his unencumbered arms nearness to a weapon, but no lingering on such petulant things. "He will be back in a minute with a device that will store, purify, and preserve the sample you have. You lie to us, be understood - Soliloquy as you know it said you would and we are not deceived. I can hear him even now. He says to let you know you are forgiven. - Also if you think Nubia is a secret. . ."

Here Oorta returned with the small crate that opened to reveal a genetic capture and filtration system with an end stage stasis chamber. "Then you as mentally defective as a vat grown that shouldn't be allowed to reproduce."

Insipid shrugged. "I'm a man of many obvious secrets."

And he regarded the flesh. "This body was reproduced the old fashioned way, it's a bit hardier than a clone, I assure you."

A smirk. "Soliloquy is playing both ends against the middle, as ever." A shrug, and he flexed the durasteel hand to bring the sample to the forefront, a sphere of blood held in the energy produced by the limb.

Tapping in the code the acceptance lid spiraled open with a audible hiss of displaced air pressure. "In here." Oorta grumbled with a reptilian scowl. He did not like hearing someone speak so disdainfully of their Maker. Especially not someone that seemed to revel so in their simplicity.

Anor on the other hand parted her snout in a soft grin. "Possibly. Can you blame Soliloquy if that is true? They are observing a school yard scuffle that threatens to destroy the school. All while his children and the secrets of the universes are threatened or trampled between." She sighed slightly, "Perhaps if you had not lost Hapes you would not have a reason to question him, but you lost the chance of security by losing the command of the mutual safety of his children."

Insipid snorted. "I didn't lose Hapes, I simply used it up and moved on. We'd shredded most of their fleets, after all, and the nobility wasn't going to just accept us replacing their monarchs regularly." A lazy gesture as he placed the sphere in the container.

"The school is already broken, we're just fighting over the land. The potential to rebuild. The future we're fighting over."

He glowered at them. "Nubia. Pilot us."

Oorta ran through the proper procedures for the containment and preservation unit, while Anor stepped forward and took control of the copilot seat to begin taking control of their flight.

Anor didn’t reply, neither did Oorta. They knew to do so would merely court death. This person they had deemed although the one to watch for quick political and power moves was at best demented, at worst cancerous from the Darkness as their Maker had told stories of that could not pace themselves at the Well of the Darkside.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Barriss Offee

Nubia

Barriss was woken up from her nap by their ship coming out of hyperspace... and she immediately knew that something was off, because they should have not have arrived at Bonadon so quickly.

She looked out the front of the ship at the planet they were approaching and then checked their coordinates.

No, they were not in the Corporate Sector in the Outer Rim Territories. Not even close. Instead, they were in the Corellian Sector in the Core.

How did this even happen?

Despite her own irritation, Barriss recognized the world that they had come out of hyperspace nearby. This was Nubia, the headquarters of Nubian Star Drives, Inc.

But why Nubia of all places?

This was the last thing that Barriss wanted, yet another puzzle and distraction. She called for Vima to come to the cockpit while giving a glare to the Sith Wayfinder. She suspected it was responsible for this and she was now seriously considering just ridding herself of it by dumping it into space.

Vima came to the front of the ship and glowered, initially at Barriss but before her eyes reached the woman noticed the wayfinder had changed shape. “Oh?”

I am a Holocron, not a wayfinder. The subterfuge was necessary to ensure I was passed to you by the Maker.

“The White Coat?”

Yes.

A blue image appeared.

A reptile like nonhuman, he sounded sad. “My name is A’ang. This is what both the Black and White Coats have been manipulating you away from; a great and devastating encounter is due here.”

Barriss regarded the reptilian with suspicion. "A great and devastating encounter?" she asked, crossing her arms. "How vague. Please explain."

"The Jedi rise, the Sith fall, but are they ever gone?"

Aang was blunt and to the point. "The White and the Black divert you with wider information, mysteries of the Force, when you are the connection between them and their current plans and schemes."

"Says you," Vima pouted. "Another one you seem to be offering us."

"I do, but the shadows belong to the Sith again, and drag they do into the light the Jedi," Aang looked from one to the other. "Have you not spent the last decades hidden away, and now, your secrecy is stripped?"

"The shadows belong not just to the Sith," Barriss pointed out. She would know, since she was quite familiar with them. "And our secrecy wasn't 'stripped'. The Jedi were literally outlawed and hunted down over the last few decades, so only now are we allowed to act more openly if we choose to."

"And stepped into that light you have already, no?" Aang sounded critical. "The pendulum will continue as long as the Jedi and Sith exchange places every time a war ends in their favor. There is no balance, only extremes of Light and Dark..."

He disapproved, clearly.

"So what do you propose then?" Barriss asked, her tone slightly annoyed.

"Commit to the war in the shadows, the one you are walking around and by. Hunt the Sith, do not merely allow them to percolate. Exorcise, genocide, whatever need be done."

Vima scowled.

"This is war, and war must be fought and won."

Barriss frowned. "You are starting to sound an awful lot like a Sith," she pointed out.

Not only that, but he was also starting to sound like her near the end of the Clone Wars, which clearly made her uncomfortable...

Vima agreed. "Our path, this is not. Peace, is what we expect. Order," she made a noise of pfeh, "that is the concern of Empire."

Aang flared his nostrils. "Do you not see the danger of allowing the dark to regroup?" The Holocron's image lamented. "I have had a vision - of a great shadow war that will be fought on a world in the Core, that will spell the death of all you hold dear."

"You want us to bring you to Master Skywalker."

It wasn't a question from Vima.

"No," Aang said. "I want you to see. To see that the dark places of the galaxy are still very full."

Barriss scoffed. "I think I hardly need your help yo see the obvious," she told him.

The dark places of the galaxy were still very full? Duh.

It was dangerous for the dark to regroup? Duh.

Neither was exactly a shocking revelation to Barriss.

Vima scowled. "We don't need your visions, or soothsaying. We are Jedi. We have the light, and the Force."

She reached over and switched off the Holocron.

The older woman promptly deflated. "Exhausting, that was. The frothing madness of a radical..."

Barriss nodded and turned her gaze toward the planet Nubia before them.

"So what do we do now?" she asked Vima.

Vima looked to her. "What do you think we should do? Investigate? Or tell Master Skywalker?"

A look crossed her expression. "A web is being spun, do we wish to ensnare more Jedi in it?"

There was, however, a dark current to Nubia.

Growing moreso.

It felt familiar; it felt trained.

Barriss thought about it.

She wanted to tell Master Skywalker, since he was probably more qualified to handle this sort of thing.

But Vima was right. This was a web and she didn't wish to ensnare anyone else in it. At least not right now.

She sighed. "I suppose we should investigate while we're here," she admitted.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @Lady_Belligerent

 

OOC: Combo with @Ananta Chetan @darthhelinith @galactic-vagabond422 @Silvertough & @Lady_Belligerent

IC: Knights Brokenborough, Donovoy, Hhat, & Tyrell + Helinith

Inderdictor

Will took point leading the others with his shield up defecting bolts that were sent their way, leaving the retort to his fellows behind him. He had no clue which way to go and was relying on Arthur to guide him, a tap on the right shoulder, go right, left, go left, no tap keeping charging. While he could see just how big the ship was his senses told him it was massive, packed with crew, they were just a few knights taking on a castle, with the element of surprise gone. While they were clearly better trained numbers could still overwhelm them. For now he just kept moving, if they stayed still they would die.

"This Inderdictor isn't fully staffed," Sam noticed as they made their way through the ship. "That should make taking the ship easier at the very least."

Of course, a short staffed ship wasn't exactly a rare sight. Sam remembered that in the days following Endor, Imperial ships were forced to rely on smaller crews and less experienced officers as the New Republic gained the advantage. And this practice hadn't gone away either, especially in the Outer Rim where Imperials who didn't recognize the Galactic Concordance continued to make due with what little resources they had.

Sam had heard plenty of rumors about these rogue warlords and wondered if that was perhaps who this Inderdictor belonged to.

The group was making decent progress, and with Tyrell and his shield up front, Arthur was confidant they would reach the bridge without much further delay. Occasionally he would return fire at the scant defenders that dotted the corridors they progressed through, but often here was almost no need. The few that attempted any real defense fell without fanfare, while the rest seemingly retreated farther into the ship.

"Skeleton crew, must be.." Arthur affirmed while nudging Tyrell to take the next left turn. If he was remembering correctly, these Interdictor-class SDs were bisected by a centralized turbolift. That would be the fastest route to the bridge, but one that would presumably be the most well defended.

And yet.., No one. Odd.

"Most, if not all of the secondary and tertiary subsystems will be automated then.." He continued, casting a weary look to Sam, "But then.. I'm seeing a distinct lack of droids.. Perhaps they've slave-rigged the bridge?"

-

Above them, separated by approximately 4 feet of durasteel and exactly three airlocks, Helinith hummed to herself merrily as she admired her work.
Two down, two thousand, seven hundred and ninety eight to go, give or take a few.

She could feel the force sensitives she had detected earlier quite close, perhaps a deck below, but irritatingly, she was now certain it was no one she recognized. Which posed another problem; there was no guarantee they were friendly. And she'd rather not take down a small group of force sensitives without at least a lightsaber.

Perhaps it would be easier if she could get to the bridge, she could isolate the command centre and sabotage life support.

Her ears pricked at the sound of the heavy clatter of feet- a patrol. Without her datapad to guide her, she wasn't exactly sure where the turbolift was so she picked a direction headed away from the clattering noise and ran, hoping it was the right way.

-

Charles did his best not to slow down the group. Keeping pace he used the brief moments in between their movement to concentrate his attention to internally heal his wounds. But a feeling of uncertainty loomed over the group, under the surface, regardless of their outer confidence in dispelling the attacking troopers. Surely they all felt it, that despite outward appearances, the ship was buzzing with other beings tapped into the Force.

Sam felt it too. The buzzing of other Force sensitives. It made her feel... concerned.

After all, she was only barely trained and experienced in the Force. She recognized her own weaknesses and in a ship that was full of Force sensitives... well, she was worried that she would end up letting her fellow Knights down.

Arthur found himself unconsciously clenching his jaw as they move forward, every fiber of his being screaming that they were walking headfirst into a trap. Yet he soldiered on, keeping his blaster rifle pointed downrange. Judging from the muted reactions of his comrades, they had begun to feel somewhat similar.

"No organized resistance, few crew to speak of, yet those that remain are touched by the Force. Clearly we're not dealing with standard Remnant forces..." He murmured with a grimace. No, he didn't like this one bit. "Double time people. If we're springing a trap, might as well get it over with."

-

There was a shudder, and the passengers would’ve recognized the feeling. They were no longer in hyperspace, perhaps now the Knights and Helinith would figure out where they’d been taken to.

On the bridge, a Sith shouted out his orders to the minimal crew. They would be maintaining a high orbit and await orders.

He also had the lifts activated just in case his guests wanted to chat. Darth Kroan rubbed his hands together, he looked forward to some verbal sparring with the lovely Sam again. Tyrell had been Maladi's pet… briefly. They would get another chance to join the One Sith, or be specimens in the crazy Sith's lab.

-

Sam recognized the shudder that they now felt, realizing that they had left hyperspace.

Sam then recognized something else... a familiar presence. At first she wasn't able to identify it, but now she did.

Kroan.

On one hand, Sam wanted to kill him. On the other, she didn't know if she would be able to and she did not want that creep near her.

She was starting to have second thoughts. Perhaps escape should be their priority. Because the last time she and Arthur had tried to take on Kroan, it hadn't gone well. What was stopping him from trying to gas them again?

Though perhaps escape was just as hopeless as fighting Kroan. After all, her attempt to escape Kroan and Maladi had only led her back to Kroan. And he had to know that they were coming for him.

"This is a trap," she told her fellow Knights. "We are walking into a trap."

Charles had a fairly sound intuitive sense when someone was speaking from a source of wisdom. Turning his head abruptly he caught Sam’s eye and nodded.

That would be no escape, for now. His nerves told him so and his heart began to prepare for the worst.

Will grinned like a madman holding his shield in front of him. A trap, how quant certainly would explain the lack of guardsmen as the team of knights bull rushed their way through. This did not bother him it was merely a consequence of the greater machinations swirling around them. And the shock and awe this team had committed upon the vessel when they first landed. It was a apparent that the rank and file were easily dispatched by this concentration of power. When one didn't have strength of arms, strength in numbers was a good stop gap.

The familiar twinge of Force power tickled at the back of his mind. Ah yes of course, their enemies were Force sensitive. It was something he hadn't noticed while his head was still ringing. Why send those that can't touch the aether to face those that can? One doesn't send a peasant to face a noble, despite the fact the peasantry far outnumber the nobility. The only thing that kept the numerous lower classes at bay was power, power they couldn't touch, money, influence, land, and the force. It was unfair how this war was being fought by those with force powers but it was the people without that were going to pay a steeper price, Fondor had shown that.

Though what did these things matter to him, he would die in this trap...and it would all be the greatest joke...dying for gods would could care less about his existence.

"Then let's spring the trap...tis a fine day to die."

Arthur shared a look with Sam, the flash of trepidation on her face confirming the aura of who he was sensing. Kroan. But unlike his compatriot, Arthur found himself quite eager to come face to face with the man again. If only to put his boot through his skull. And from such an image, he smiled.

Kroan would die, and that was good.

His smile widened upon hearing Tyrell's statement. "Tis a fine day for them to die, Knight. I don't know about you, but I've still got some living to do. Speaking of which, we're about to meet a user of the Dark Side, aligned with the so-called One Sith. Kroan will attempt to recruit us to his side. I say we cut him down before he has a chance. Be mindful of gas, that's how he took Sam and I down last time. If you have a rebreather, I would suggest preparing it now. The rest of us will have to make do."

He offered Sam a slight nod of reassurance. Arthur remembered the disgusting fetishistic intentions Kroan had with his fellow Knight. It went without saying that he wasn't about to allow such intentions to be made real.

"Watch each other's backs," he murmured, grip tightening around the hilt of his Force Pike. "And if any of you die, I'll kick your ass."

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 @darthhelinith @Ananta Chetan @Silvertough @HanSolo29 @Lady_Belligerent @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Iudex
Pelagon

The Falleen Circle Lord watched Wyyrlock's shuttle disappear into the upper atmosphere, a simple furrowing of his brow the only indication of the fury that burned within at having let his prey escape again. Such failures demanded recompense. His pride required it. Only the thought of extinguishing the flame of these One Sith pretenders held his tongue.

If only temporarily.

To Bernael, he merely shook his head, keeping his gaze locked upon the horizon. "Far less.." He agreed solemnly. A fresh pulse of darkness washed over his mind, eliciting another annoyed grunt from Iudex. Insipid was calling for them once more, and yet here they still stood, squabbling with the worms in the dirt. Why bother with pleasantries?

"By right, I am apparently the new Patriarch of House Mecetti.." He intoned, waiting for Bernael to finish speaking. "As such their resources now belong to us. The wealth of Sennex as well. The latter will take time to send a shuttle for us, especially if the New Republic blockade around the Consortium is still active.."

Iudex crossed his arms across his chest, finally swiveling his head to look at his fellow Circle-Lord. "My stance on them remain the same. Their whims are irrelevant. If they wish to fulfil their duty then they shall be rewarded. If not, leave them. We have our own to fulfill. I'll make the call to my people on Sennex, see what you can scrounge up here.."

He made no effort to grace Shey and the others with his attention. They would join or they wouldn't. Enough time had been wasted already debating which.

Tags: @Sinrebirth , @darthbernael , @TheSilentInfluence , @TheAdmiral , @ConservativeJedi321