Star Wars CLOSED Star Wars: Episode V: Twilight of the Force II: A Father’s Fate

OOC: CS and Initial Post approved by our GM

Name: Renn Turon

Sex: Male
Age: 401 years awake, 4323 years in hibernation
Born: 4710 BTA
Species: Neti
Homeworld: Ryyk

Physical Attributes/Appearance:
Due to being a shapeshifter Renn has no need for garments as he can alter his form to appear to wear them if he so desires. As a shapeshifter, he can appear in any form he desires but most often appears humanoid with brown skin and hair, yellow-green eyes, and a rounded hump where his nose would be.

Clothing: None

Strengths and Abilities:
Shapeshifting, long term hibernation, photosynthesis so no need to eat, extreme life span, speed, strength, can harden his bark-like skin to be able to shrug off most blaster or saber strikes.

As unusual as it is for a Neti to be drawn to the Dark Side, Renn was, from an early age. However, he did not limit himself to the study of one side or the other, but studied both, in depth. For many decades he studied the Force and every ability that was known, on Ryyk, before the planet’s death, and has continued doing so since his awakening. Being what he is, he found himself studying sorcery, in depth, as his natural strengths already seemed in line with the skills many Sith Sorcerers and Jedi Sages use. As well, with his dark sense of humor, the ability to use the Force to create different things or force changes onto items or beings, warping them as he desired was something he could not ignore.

Weapons:

Renn can use a wide variety of weapons at the same time. Most often he tends to wield two yellow bladed lightsabers and a heavy blaster, with a fourth arm appendage to use force powers.

He also carries 2 vibroswords and several daggers sheathed in a flexible harness.
Equipment: Aside from what he has on his person, nothing.

Faction: Independant
The Force: Yes, Master

Personality:
Renn is laid back but quick to anger when startled, almost as though his fight or flight response is geared toward fight. He can be startled but will do everything he can to fight in a manner that allows him to see past the next 3 moves in each duel. He enjoys society and can be social but knows that many of his compatriots will grow old and die before he even passes out of the early stages of his life. With such knowledge he tends to be a trickster or play many practical jokes, possibly as a sort of defense mechanism against knowing most people he knows will be dead before he reaches middle age. As his kind is one of the most Force sensitive in the galaxy he feels everything that goes on around him, whether those around him desire it or not.

Biography:
Renn was born on the Neti homeworld of Ryyk. There he learned how to shapeshifting into almost any form, living appearance or not. He learned combat skills from single appendage fighting up to and including balanced on between two and four leg appendages while wielding upwards of six weapons with arm appendages.

At the same time, due to the the Neti's force sensitive nature, Renn began to learn some of the arts. He found himself naturally drawn toward the dark side of the force as he was a fast learner when it came to what was called Sith alchemy. He learned much of the basics of these arts before his life took a turn he did not expect.

Around his 400th year the astronomers made calculations that determined their sun would shortly enter a supernova phase. As with the remainder of his species, he fled the planet, seeking a new home. His ship developed a malfunction while searching worlds for one appropriate to him and seed pods he could spread over said world. As a result he crash landed on the world of Anoat. This world being an almost completely inhospitable one, he entered a state of hibernation to wait for another ship to land so that he could resume his journeys.

Little did he know that it would take over 4300 years before something would occur that would wake him from his hibernation. He’d slept that long and major galactic events had not rocked him, but chaos throughout the galaxy caused his senses to begin to stir when Palpatine was assassinated. Events rose and fell, coming close to waking him several times over the next couple decades, but the galaxy quieted down for a period.

And then a Core World, Metellos, was sucked dry of life, of energy, of the Force. What happened was not specific, he did not know of the world or why it occurred but the wave of loss that burst across the galaxy was the final straw in his awakening.

------

IC Renn
Where, When, Why

Renn’s eyes opened, he groaned, ‘Still on this gods forsaken planet?’ he thought. Scanning around him he saw that a section of his ship had survived and that an extraordinarily long period of time had passed as it had seemed to have regrown, to an extent. It was now a small, seemingly short ranged craft, possibly enough to enable him to reach a nearby, habitable world.

As he continued to wake his senses screamed, he was not alone. Looking around as he began to loosen himself from the soil of the world, how he’d survived, drawing just enough nutrients from the world to not allow himself to become one with the Force. His eyes lit on a bright presence drawing near.

It stopped a few paces away, “Renn Turon. You have been chosen. 33 years ago events occurred which caused the balance to sunder. My other half, the Dark Side, stayed put in the being we had inhabited, but I departed. And now I have come to you, chosen you to become my avatar.”

Renn took a step back, “Whoa, what? Wait, what the hell has happened, how long have I been asleep?”

The presence calmly responded, “You have slept for over 4300 years, alone on this world. In that time Empires and Republics had risen and fallen, the Sith have had their ups and downs as well. And why I didn’t choose a Jedi is that there were none who suited. That,” the presence radiated pain, “and almost every Jedi died when Order 66 was carried out, an order that was demanded by the Emperor for the destruction of the Jedi.”

“The Jedi are gone???” Renn could feel the pain, the sorrow, from the Light. “And the Dark Side is strong now, isn’t it, I don’t have a choice, do I?”

The presence stepped closer, “You always have a choice Renn, but I need you.”

Renn thought, of all he had lost, of the knowledge that he may be the last of his kind, “I accept.”

As soon as the words were spoken the presence surged forward, enveloping him. He felt warmth, love, peace, the desire for justice, for protecting all that was pure in the galaxy enter him. And then the light faded into him. He could still feel the Light keeping itself fractionally separate from himself but in all other ways it had become him and he it.

The new Renn, a bright, emerald green tint to his eyes now strode forward, the hatch to the small ship opening. He boarded, sliding behind the controls. Scanning the nearby systems, he lifted off. Looking at the power levels he knew he had one, maybe two hyper jumps available. ‘Hmmm, Hoth or Bespin? Bespin it is.’ he decided. Programming the course, he sat back trying to see if, when he was elevated, he gained any new knowledge of modern times.

TAG: @Sinrebirth, Anyone Interested

 

OOC: A very fun combo with @Sinrebirth, Thank you to @TheAdmiral for the image use

IC Bernael
Vitae and a Cousin

As the Fury descended the sense of tooth and claw, as it were, from the world grew stronger. Bernael let the tentacles guide his ship toward a series of caves. The sense of Her presence overlaid everything as the Fury came closer. The wildlife, the foliage, all withered and faded back from one of the larger caves, just enough for the ship to land in.

The skids touched down and Bernael looked up. The form before him was about as stylized as a female form could be. Beauty, desire, need all radiated from her. His night back eyes studied her, knowing this wasn’t truly her, but what she wanted to project, still trying to dominate, not having fully realized he wouldn’t be. As she turned to enter the cave he felt the wanton smile as she projected it at him.

He stood, ensuring the Eye was tucked beneath his armor, then took the Mask from his face, no need to hide his features from Her, besides it was a subtle rebuff to her attempting to use her power of desire on him. The Mask was clipped to his belt, as he checked his weapons. Satisfied, and having taken his time doing so, again a rebuff, he let the ramp drop and casually walked down it, aware that all around him desired to press back in and devour him and turn his ship into nothing more than a twisted hulk.

The ship could defend itself well enough, the world would soon discover. As would it’s ‘God’. He knew the artifacts would be intensely interested in and concerned what could or would happen between he and She. He strolled forward, a tiny curl to his lip the only evidence of his humor at the situation, for now.

He entered the cave, his eyes adjusting in less than a second and he moved out of the light streaming in from outside, into the closest shadow. “Greetings, cousin. It has been quite a few years since last we spoke.”

The woman turned to face her cousin with a smile, a twist of her lips which was both condescending and enticing, for only Abeloth could do that in one turn. Her eyes bore intensely into the Anzati's, but they were coloured, not pinpricks, her bold hair beautiful, the yellow sunspot dress she wore a subtle match to her tresses.



Oh yes, she knew how to play the game.

"I've not had a terribly good track record with family, I must confess," another haughty comment. "So you must forgive me if I do not draw you into an embrace... especially with your groupies to hand."

The Mask bristled, the Eye grew more silent than not.

Bernael’s eyes trailed over her, as he was sure she wanted, but it was more an assessment than him appreciating the form she wore. He felt the artifacts unease, dislike of her words and he began to laugh.

As he recovered, “Means to an end, that is all they are, no matter the power they believe they have, dear cousin. Family, well you know my roots and family more means a better meal in lean times than anything else. And now it has taken on different connotations, making me wonder how dear old Dad would react to me and you spending our days together, rolling the grave he doesn’t have most likely.”

He leaned against a handy stalagmite, looking over her again, “Nice choice of attire, clothing and otherwise, by the way. It makes me wonder how many poor saps you’ve enticed with that look, over the centuries. I do appreciate it, but, dear cousin, you’ll have to do better if you wish something from me.”

She smiled slightly. "You don't recognise her? I gather she made quite an impression on one or two of your colleagues back in the day."

"I think she'd be upset about what's happened to you, though I'm sure you could tell me if you'd ever met." Abeloth shuddered slightly, but she managed to retain her form - a slight hunch occurred, telling in the instant before she straightened.

Bernael paused, senses still minutely observing Abeloth and her apparent weakness, his jet black eyes going distant for a moment, attempting to remember back. From the time after the change there was no recognition so he went farther back. He could not remember all from before then as well as everything since but the face seemed familiar. His eyes cleared and refocused upon Abeloth, “Ahhhh, now I recall.”

He laughed again, “I doubt she would remember me if she even lives still. It has been almost a century after all and I was not the one she had interest in. That would fall on a more mortal being, one who has been dust for many years. But still, a pleasing form.”

"Yes," Abeloth said, peering at the hand. "She was sent to me some years ago, perhaps half a century ago? She fed me so many tales and secrets about her time with a young man or two."

Her tongue slid out. "A young Kuati, tasty."

She leaned forward, and slid off the wall. "But not a Force user..."

"I could tell you all the secrets the black-cloaked man told herrrr... or lead you to the font, so you can drink with me..." Abeloth was starting to slur, clearly struggling.

Bernael eyed her as she spoke, a small smile ticking the corner of his mouth. “Yes, Force users are the most delectable meals.”

He began putting together a variety of clues that had been adding up since he arrived in the cave. “The secrets she imparted would be something worth knowing but not at the price I’m sure you would ask. As to the Font, can you not feel it, dear cousin, have you not seen it, when you look into the font, do you not see my face staring back at you? Do you not know why? But,” he said, moving closer to her, “it seems you may be in need of it’s sustenance very soon.”

Her facade broke, and Abeloth’s current face appeared.



“Only those without the Force keep finding their way into my lair... ones mentally broken, ones ruined by diseases, ones on the edge of death.”

She faltered, dropping to her knees. “The font does not sustain these bodies; my power consumes them whole. For fifty years I have suffered, tormented.”

Abeloth reached for Bernael in the Force; she remained an incredibly powerful creature, but the gap between the two of them was much smaller than it would ever have been before.

“I’m being poisoned.”

She gasped. “Feed me, cousin.”

Bernael watched as her mask dropped, not truly surprised at the fact that she was deteriorating. Her power had felt weaker, even as she’d drawn him in. Seeing her in this state told him just how far she’d fallen, in her strength, in her ability to overcome others.

“I would be rather shocked if the Font did anything but consume them. There are very few beings, even within the Force, that could survive the waters of the Font, let alone be raised in their power by it.”

He felt her hunger, her need, her starvation due to the loss. But he would not give of his own power, rather he was sure his own would attempt to feed upon her should she try. She could be useful, once she was fed. “Dear cousin, there is a way out of the Maw, and then you may feed. I’d rather keep you alive until then and therefore recommend you not try what you seem desperate to try, feed upon me.”

Abeloth sagged even further, hissing, and then resumed the young form of Jori Atreus. “You think you can stop me?”

It didn’t last. If anything; it was worse when her mask slipped again

Spoiler

It slipped again, and she dropped to the floor with a thud. The Force told Bernael that she was dying, having been unsustained for so long...

The Eye watched.

The Mask hungered, leaning on the Anzati.

Looking inside, even as his senses focused on the crumpled form on the cavern floor, ”She is not worth the effort, in this state, to feed upon. Only when she’s recovered some strength will I do so.”

He could feel her power still, upon the air, surrounding her, so he didn’t reach out and touch her physically. Instead darkness filled the space around him, overwhelming the little power she had gathered, wrapping her in it’s tentacles. ”We will bring her to where she can feed. And then use her for my purpose.”

He turned, exiting the cavern, Abeloth’s crumpled form buoyed by the Force alone as it followed him back to the Fury.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, (@greyjedi125, @Mitth_Fisto, @TheAdmiral, @Imperial_Hammer tagged as to, well…, some relation to the past, prior to this timeline splitting)
And once again thank you to @TheAdmiral for the use of Jori's image

 

The following is a combo with our illustrious GM, Sinrebirth – thank you so much!

IC: Senator Aryan Graul and Gaeriel Captison
Bakuran Suite, then Corridor, Senate Tower, Coruscant

The moment, the vision – whatever it had been – ended when Gaeriel entered the suite and called to him from the main foyer. Her voice carried in such a way that advised Aryan that she expected his full attention. Considering what she had just endured at the hands of his former Master, he couldn’t blame her. Nevertheless, it still annoyed him that he could not dedicate this time to the Holocron, especially after it had begun to whisper to him:

I'm not supposed to be here. Why am I here? Did you think that you could casually borrow me from another timeline without issue?

Clenching his jaw, Aryan leaned forward and pressed the artifact against his chest, almost as if he intended to smother it. In truth, he only wanted to silence it. This was a delicate matter, and it was best if Gaeriel did not get involved--

"Did you say something?" Gaeriel asked as she swept into the room, her eyes roaming around the small space with suspicion.

Dammit. Too late.

As Aryan rose back to his feet, he hastily shoved the Holocron into his suit jacket for safe-keeping. He then made a point to meet her gaze in an effort to reassure her. But before he could part his lips and offer an explanation for the madness, a shrill alarm echoed throughout the chamber.

The evacuation alarm.

Coruscant was under attack.

Instead of relying on the HoloNet or other conventional means of surveillance, Aryan instinctively reached out with the Force to assess the threat level. What greeted him was formidable and unrelenting. It felt as if a dark shroud had enveloped the entire planet, its black tendrils reaching out to engulf them all in an icy embrace. If they did not act soon, there would be no escape and no restitution. Only suffering.

As if to echo these sentiments, he heard Gaeriel’s voice break into his thoughts from across the room, “We need to get on top of this, make a statement - something."

Aryan issued a soft scoff as he slowly stepped forward to join his lover in front of the holoprojector. The image displayed on the screen confirmed his worst fears and provided context to the threat he had recently felt through the Force – an Imperial fleet of unknown origin had surrounded the planet.

“Sounds like something the Chancellor should concern herself with,” he muttered quietly under his breath, his hand coming up to brush against his chin. “Issuing a statement now, when there’s so much adversity surrounding my past actions, that could--”

He trailed off and exhaled sharply through his nose, his blue-gray eyes shifting to regard Gaeriel carefully. He realized that she was already ahead of him in this instance; he couldn’t help but flash a wicked grin at her ingenuity. A statement out of his camp at this juncture could elevate him to his former glory, especially if he beat Organa to the punch.

“I love you,” Aryan murmured in a husky voice as he leaned down and planted a kiss upon her forehead. “What did you have in mind?”

"I love you, too," Gaeriel said, smiling, and turned her chin up to plant a kiss on his lips.

"There must be that gaggle of reporters somewhere - they're always hanging around in ordinary circumstances and yesterday was not ordinary." Gaeriel grinned a little. "Whoever let those guys all the way to the turbolifts is about to give us an advantage."

She quickly began to re-braid her hair and glanced at Aryan. "Did you need to change much? Should I summon the make-up team?" Gaeriel had already been out, she was about as presentable as she needed to be for a media announcement.

"This is your chance to show the people of the galaxy that you're not just repentant, but put words into action."

The smile on Aryan’s face grew so that it reached his eyes, the gesture casting a mischievous glint that exemplified his cunning nature. “I never expected this to happen during a planet-wide invasion, but I guess I shouldn’t oppose the opportunity. While it’ll require me to improvise, I don’t believe it will be too difficult to articulate the right message. Fear and panic are powerful incentives.” He raised his brow, watching her intently as she straightened her hair. “Plus, I’ll have you by my side. We make a formidable team in front of the media.”

In truth, he had his reservations about willfully engaging with the reporters who were still congregating outside. Things hadn’t exactly gone to plan earlier, and he didn’t want to provide them with any more content for the morning news cycle. And yet, he couldn’t ignore Gaeriel’s advice. She was right, of course; this was a critical step in his pursuit to clear his name. He would be foolish to forfeit this opportunity.

“You can forget about the make-up crews, though,” Aryan continued after a moment, looping back to her comment about their appearance. “I’ll just defer to your better judgment.” He was already moving toward the door, his fingers fumbling over the clasps of his jacket before he reached up to hastily adjust his hair with a simple brush of his hand. When he felt confident that he was ready to appear in front of the cameras, he turned and presented himself to Gaeriel.

“What do you think?” he beamed, spreading his hands in dramatic fashion. “Not bad, huh? I clean up easy enough.”

"Very easy, I'd say," Gaeriel kissed him on the cheek, and the other aides swiftly reported that they'd gathered the press by the turbolifts; Gaeriel thought a second broadcast there would erase any concerns about the prior one with Norin Graul.

"Don't worry, we'll jam the other lifts so nobody can interfere." She nodded their team to leave first on that basis, and then they had a turbolift to themselves, and Gaeriel was checking her own hair in the mirrored wall behind them. "We'll need to close the lift behind us so the cameras don't catch our reflections; it'll detract from our message."

Aryan raised a brow at her comment, his gaze shifting to study her surreptitiously out of the corner of his eye. The ethereal qualities generated by the reflective surface of the cabin gave her an almost angelic appearance in the artificial light. Needless to say, he was thoroughly enjoying the view.

“You really have thought of everything, haven’t you?” he muttered in a sensuous tone.

She was also multi-tasking, clicking through messages. "Admiral Drayson has been relieved of command and Piett is in-charge now... I think you may have spoken to him once or twice when you were Emperor?" Gaeriel didn't blanch when she mentioned his old title; it was part of him, and An'ya would have approved of him facing his mistakes head-on. "The Chancellor isn't on-world, though," Gaeriel said, snorting. "Ouch. Not a good afternoon to take a break; her aide Winter just confirmed as much as the military was leaking that she wasn't around... seem's Drayson is pissed off."

A wince. "We're going to shoot a giant hole in Chancellor Organa's political ship if we're not careful..." Gaeriel glanced at Aryan. "Unless we want that?"

The lift was mere moments from arriving, and then they were on - live, to the besieged populace of Coruscant.

The Senator offered a small nod to acknowledge that he had collaborated with Piett during his time as Emperor, though he was far too distracted by the report about the Chancellor’s absence to elaborate on it further. It was a curious notion – one that didn’t quite fit the commentary of what Aryan knew about Feyna Organa. He had his doubts that this was a premeditated plan to elude an invasion force, but he had to admit, it did sound a little too convenient. Gaeriel certainly raised a valid point about how they should proceed.

Brushing his hand across his chin in thought, Aryan exhaled softly and gave her a knowing look. “Collateral damage,” he stated evenly, his eyes glinting with a hint of cunning. He would be foolish to turn his back on such a perfect opportunity. “I won’t go out of my way to bury her after she stuck her neck out for me in the Senate, but we’re playing in the big leagues. Hopefully, she has learned enough in the intervening years to survive the fallout.”

He reaffirmed his stance by flashing a confident smile just as the lift doors opened. Without hesitation, Aryan stepped out into the adjoining corridor to meet with the plethora of reporters and holocams awaiting their arrival.

“Good evening, folks,” Aryan began as he spread his hands in a congenial manner. He also used the Force to augment his voice so that he could be heard over the constant din of the crowd. “In light of these harrowing times, I wanted to take a moment to issue a statement on behalf of Bakura and the Senate. I regret that Chancellor Organa cannot be here herself to address your concerns – she is currently off-world on personal business, but I assure you that the New Republic is doing everything in its power to mitigate this crisis.”

Clearing his throat, Aryan’s expression turned grim as he continued. “A few standard hours ago, Coruscant was suddenly besieged by a military force consisting of fleet elements, including specific ship classifications, that once occupied the ranks of the former Galactic Empire, which we now refer to as the Imperial Remnant. While these interlopers have yet to formally identify themselves or specify their purpose, we can only assume that they wish to do us harm and that they pose an immediate threat to our wellbeing.

“Ideally, we would have liked to find a diplomatic solution to this problem, however, the actions of this fleet speak for themselves; the people of Coruscant have already formed their opinions and recognize the implications to the Republic. Of course, we will continue to seek a peaceful resolution, but it’s important for everyone to understand that all measures will be taken for our defense. I believe that I interpret the will of the Chancellor and of the people of this New Republic when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the best of our ability, but we will make certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. No matter how long it takes to overcome this threat, we will win through absolute victory.”

Aryan paused here for emphasis, holding one hand into a fist as he sought the eyes of his audience. “With confidence in our military, and with the boundless determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. We will prevail.”


Aryan working his 'magic' live on the HoloNet

TAG: @Sinrebirth; anyone with HoloNet access

**some portions of the speech inspired by FDR

 

IC: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Coruscant, in orbit

The Imperial fleet and the defences of Coruscant settled into a status quo of sorts, the Star Destroyers harassing the Golan NovaGun stations, and vice-versa. Thrawn threaded his hands, musing. Drayson wasn't in-charge anymore, clearly... it was a clearly Imperial mind... Piett? Interesting. The Chiss glanced to his communications officers.

There was a shake of the head.

Nothing from Stent, his commando.

"What of the team we inserted ahead of our arrival?"

"They would have made their way to the Armand Isard Facility by now."

"Good... what about Pedric Cuf?"

"There may have been a launch just before we arrived... flight plan was for the systems edge but apparently a ship didn't follow that and instead headed to Hesperidium..." Thrawn paused, eyeing the moon. One of several moons around Coruscant, if he deployed for it, the rest of the Coruscant orbital defences would shift after him.

"Admiral, we have Aryan Graul, the Senator of Bakura on the HoloNet..." Thrawn wasn't surprised; it was entirely within the mans psychological profile to take advantage of this, and his master had been An'ya Kuro... she wasn't adverse to doing the necessary. Aryan's selfish desires would simply be more accurate.

He watched.

As it was, most of our present cast was simply too busy to watch the HoloNet. With Madelyn and Ka'rta locked in a death struggle against the Monolith and the death of their homeworld... with Galen and Fortis fighting Darth Tempara to the death... with Mace beyond the Unknown Regions veil, and thus beyond the HoloNet. Even Han, Xaverri and Joren, or Owen, Tor and Leia and their mystery Jedi Knight... all too engaged... let alone Bernael and his family chat with Abeloth... and that was before we touched upon Feyna herself, fighting beside Isolder, or Ananke, trapped with the Holocron of Braata.

Amusing, Zorn might be free to see the HoloNet now.

Thrawn was not free, but he watched.

He sipped his brandy-caf slightly, notwithstanding that they were in the middle of a battle. Soon enough, the Coruscant Home Fleet would return, and he would have to retreat... but not yet.

Not with Stent still lost, with his team hunting Qwi Xux, and the infiltrator still at large...

Aryan artfully dropped Feyna in the proverbial muck by revealing she was not on-world, but it was this line which made Thrawn quirk an eyebrow. "I believe that I interpret the will of the Chancellor and of the people of this New Republic when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the best of our ability, but we will make certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. No matter how long it takes to overcome this threat, we will win through absolute victory.”

"I'm sure," Thrawn said to himself. "Divert the Chimaera and open the channel."

"Sir? Our overlapping defences will -"

"Advance on the Golan NovaGun stations and bring down their shields, and then pull back; use the Golan's to shield you from the planetary weapons."

"Yes sir," said the officer, and the Chimaera was underway.

Then the channel was open; live on the HoloNet. "This is Grand Admiral Thrawn, aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera. This task force is the vanguard of the Empire of the Hand; my Hand. I acknowledge the comments of... 'Acting-Chancellor Graul', " he said, smoothly, knowing how much damage that would cause Chancellor Feyna Organa and Prince Isolder. "I speak to you because the New Republic has failed. Even now, worlds fall to terrors, to Sith, to invaders... and the government here has missed it all, focused on 'war criminals' and 'neutral states' instead of the true calling of responsibility."

"This is not treachery, people of the New Republic, this was simply the only way I could launch the necessary missions to protect the galaxy at large from what is to come." He paused. "There is no absolute victory here, people of Coruscant. This is a war, and it has been waged for fourteen years against you. A Galactic Shadow War, and it comes to a head now - at Metellos, at Nouane, at Mandalore, and now here. I call on the defenders of Coruscant to lay down their arms and allow my captains, soldiers, and pilots to complete their missions for the good of the galaxy that you have failed to prepare."

He signed off, stood from his chair, and marched from the bridge. He kept his comlink to hand.

TAG: @HanSolo29, primarily, everyone else mentioned, @LordTroepfchen, @The Jedi in the Pumas (continue combo)
---
Hesperidium, moon of Coruscant

"Spot any quick getaways?" Isolder looked back as Nom Anor yelped, dropping the snake-spear, which went serpent-like and waggled off.

"Good shot, Feyna," he said, grinning. The Hapan took a breath. "Don't be mad." He charged the Yuuzhan Vong, squeezing his fist. It activated the shield on his wrist, leading with it as if leading a sports tackle.

Nom Anor's one eye widened, and Isolder's judgement was correct - he wasn't a warrior, he was merely playing the role. A snake, perhaps, if he was undercover. Lifting his arm, he aimed for the nonhuman's neck, and slammed into it, sending a burst of electricity into and throw his throat, setting his robe on fire and burns coruscating up his arm. He grit his teeth through the pain, pushing Nom over, slamming his head to the floor.

He stopped moving.

Isolder rolled over, breathing hard through the pain after he swotted out the flames.

The little snake curled around rearing his head at Isolder's neck -

An immense shadow also fell upon the moon - a dagger in the sky -

TAG: @JediMasterAnne
---
IC: Abeloth
The Deep Maw

She faltered, falling to the floor, but then, now a few steps from Bernael, she launched at him, and the Eye took the opportunity to slow down the Anzati. The Mask was confused, and the Eye requested a stay on intervention.

He needs to see.

The Eye released Bernael when he enmeshed in Abeloth's tentacles, ensnaring his arms and shoulders and throat, her true face bubbling through as she sought to force her tentacles into the Anzati's mouth, into his eye sockets, into his cheek sacs -



"Come to me, feed me, so I may enact my revenge against the one who keeps sending me poisoned bodies."

The Eye allowed the conclusion to roll over Bernael.

Someone was making a toy of an ancient Old One... a monster that consumed the entire galaxy every time the flow of the Force was changed... and she'd been poisoned for the last fifty years.

He waited for Bernael to work out the rest of the riddle.

Oh, and not die, too. She was going to try something at some point, so they may as well speed things along. Abeloth was like a kitten; she needed to have her nose bloodied to learn not to do it again.

TAG: @darthbernael
---
IC: Governor Adelhard
Cloud City, Bespin, Anoat Sector

This sector of space had a quietly different story than not, but regardless of the tale, it became a focal point of Imperial dissidence. However, this far from the Core, the Anoat Sector could join the New Republic and as long as it kept to guidance coming from the Senate, it was ill-bothered. Tibanna still flowed from Cloud City, and the neighbouring sectors were not bothered.

Of course, Renn would head to Cloud City as the first Tibanna gas mines had been here in the ancient Old Sith Wars era. This remained the case in the current era, though while Renn had slept, the mines had been abandoned and resumed time and time again, until a more stable setup prevailed.

But the planet Anoat itself would immediately be an issue for Renn when he awoke, and he would feel it in his bark. The world had been poisoned, for one, having been ruined in the dying days of the Empire, which had purposely polluted the world. But the Empire never left this sector, indeed, the governor, Adelhard, had the view that the Emperor had never died, and was simply in hiding.

Eight Imperial Star Destroyers enforced that view, though the Iron Blockade that had been erected in the distance past had only lasted a few years before economic realities settled in. However, inside the sector, things were noticed, and aboard the Dread Omen, the flagship Imperial II, Adelhard knew every ship in the sector as it travelled...

And Renn's launch had not been authorised.

In short order, he alerted the Cloud City defences, and the Dread Omen was en route. When he arrived, a trio of Cloud Car's were prepped on the arrival sector and launched in advance, already issuing an interrogative to the Neti ship. "You are travelling in restricted space; surrender your vessel. The Governor wishes to speak to you."

TAG: @darthbernael
---
IC: Jedi Master Ood Bnar
Yavin 4, Jedi Praxeum

It was another day, another set of lessons... but a Jedi lost. At Metellos, a Knight had died, and Master Ood Bnar had felt it. He suddenly realised a Knight stood by him. "The Force is rife with upset, Knight Delphinium, and I cannot reach the Chancellor or Coruscant... we must investigate the depths of the crisis, and I sense great tears in the Force, at Metellos, and elsewhere..."

He turned to her. "I must confide in you a discovery I made fourteen years ago, with the assistance of Master Mace Windu, who I have not seen since," he unfurled a branch; a Neti gesture for her to sit... and he felt his age while looking at the young woman. "The Force was changed, thirty-three years ago. We know not why, but we must quest for the reason; it is our Order's overriding goal, to find why the flow of nature was so interfered with. These threats; they represent incredible dangers, and draw us from our task of keeping the balance of the Force in the light."

This was a lot to present to a young mind.

He didn't want to go any further; to what the Force had shown him, while the others had met their alternate versions of themselves...

But it was why he had chosen her.

"Our comrades are going into the fray, but you are a crossroads. My contacts in the underworld have let me know that a bounty hunter contract has been put out on a Senator in the Core... but also that Han Solo, the war criminal, has resurfaced in Hutt Space. The Jedi must respond to both of these, and I will myself head to deal with the other if need be..."

"Speak to the Force, Knight, and decide what you wish to take."

TAG: @darthhelinith
---
IC: Darth Tempara
Above the Unknown Regions world

"Give in to that anger and try this again and I seriously hope you have the power to throw lightning from your eyes, as I won't leave you with any limbs." Galen had said and shook off her now loosening grip; Tempara was spent, the pain overwhelming her. "Your peers choose death over life and I tell you they all got their wish. I feel you are not a mindless slave are you? You want to be alive." Galen hurled his lightsaber around and twisted her lightsaber with the Force; she couldn't resist. "So tell me where Zorn is or this is over."

With a snort, she shrugged, leaning forward so the blade tip burned into her chest. The light cast shadows on her mad, mad face. "I don't fear death, Dark Jedi. I welcome it... for what the Son of Skywalker can do is far worse." Fear scrabbled at her heart, but she ignored it, and the blaster fire hopefully stitching the other - Fortis - apart.

"Zorn left to enact the plan," she said, grinning... "To lure Anakin Skywalker from hiding once and for all." She coughed. "The first target, it's probably already gone. But the others..." Her smile increased. "Our terror raids were feints, you silly boy. We merely sought to insert agents to find the technology we required."

She was fading in the Force, the pain overwhelming her. Once upon a time, Lord Zorn had snapped her spine, paralysing her until the repairs had taken place, back on Naboo, fourteen years ago. She was incomplete, and the metal keeping her upright had split, stabbing into organs she could sense.

Mara was dying.

Blood bubbled from her lips.

"Don't let him have him..."

TAG: @Lawbreaker, @Bodhran777
---
On the surface



As Mace was visited upon visions of a world similar to this one, of a world where a white-eyed Palpatine rallied a new armada, he found himself aboard the Millennium Falcon. The Force worked through him, and activated the ship, which almost poured delight into the Force. This ship - it was as he said; a shatterpoint in the Force itself.

He could see its time serving the Republic Group, it's chequered career until its ownership by Lando Calrissian, and then Han Solo... and when it was stolen by Maul... and by Ducane... and when it was tinkered with by a woman who appeared both Han and Leia, with the guns manned by boys which were an amalgamation of them as they faced alien ships made of coral... of another son, a fourth one in a mask, stalking the ship with Snowtroopers beside him... of a moment where turbolaser fire blew a hole through the core of the ship... of a time when its drive nearly came apart of its own momentum... of a time when a teenage girl blew apart the cockpit to try to kill a child...

Han, Leia, Jacen, Anakin, Jaina, Ben, Allana, Vestara...

Memories, but also potentialities, rather than reality...

The Millennium Falcon connected to the Sith network of agents, spies, and recent communiques, in a way which, if given the chance, Tempara's ship could yield. The Force warned; the three women knew where he was.

Forks of lightning suddenly overcame the ship, looking to crack the hull even as the ramp was closed, almost by malfunction of one of the YT-1300's droid brains, even before the first bolts struck -

TAG: @BobaMatt
---
IC: Jodo Kast
Nal Hutta, stand-off

The bounty hunter checked a HUD. "Credits deposited, Solo. Keep your Mando; we're boarding to take the beskar either way."

Sure enough, the Eravana was being boarded, and Joren was blowing parts of their ship. Xaverri was checking his progress. "We really need to deal with this guy, even if you don't want to shoot him." There was a flicker of power.

"How did he just short the ship...?"

Luck, is how - Joren had just cut through the pipe to some of the ships relays, and the ship had to compensate. To ensure the safety of the crew, all doors flickered open before the Eravana had done the necessary - releasing Joren into the confused path of Solo's crew.

Xaverri was about to pull out her blaster and join the hunt - it wouldn't be good if Joren marched out and started shooting Jabba's workers, midway into his ship, and any delay would mean the bounty hunters would catch up -

But the console beeped.

Someone had just reactivated the Millennium Falcon on a network the ship could monitor.

"HAN!" Xaverri shouted.

Grid-coordinates H-6? The Unknown Regions?

TAG: @Lawbreaker, @DarkLordoftheFins
---
In orbit, aboard Owen's ship

Tor was being Tor, so Owen charged in, and the Jedi - a bearded fellow, roughly his age - slammed into the bulkhead and dropped. Leia had his lightsaber, and Owen was grateful for that. They lurched into hyperspace, en route to Coruscant, and Owen sighed.

"Well done, Leia." He opted not to try and prise the weapon off a scared girl.

"Tor? Sleep off whatever is going on with you, would ya?" Owen produced stun-cuffs from a locker and tied them to the man, before stepping back. "Won't stop him for long - but it'll stop him from doing something without us knowing, yeah?"

"We'll be at Coruscant soon..." Owen shrugged. "Leia, can you do anything with the Force to keep this guy under?"

Owen suddenly realised he had a ship grafted to the top of his, and shifted some shields around to encompass it. "This will be a hard one to explain, don't ya think?"

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, please progress the Mandalore Monolith combo so I can move @LordTroepfchen along next TAG

 

IC: The Black Coat
Escaping

They'd lost the asteroid base and handy reservoir of Force power, but that was fine. It needed to be blown up at some point anyway.

The man was losing track of what was going to happen next. The Emperor was supposed to enact an all-but-perfect Order 66 and usher in an Empire for twenty-odd years. The Battle of Endor was supposed to cripple said regime, for give or take twenty years before the Yuuzhan Vong arrive. Ssi-Ruuvi, Nagai, Yevethan invasions in the meantime... then after the Yuuzhan Vong and Empire of the Hand were long gone, civil war, Apocalypse... Krayt, One Sith, and so forth.

But this hadn't been happening.

Not for some time.

The Black Coat pulled out his list.

Well, he said his list, but it was actually the list the last Dark Man had used; the one that Mas Amedda had created...

... the Black Coat accessed it because it had been updated, and dutifully updated him...

A new Dark Man?

The Man in Gold, who had taunted Zorn, at Vergere's behest?

He read the updated list with some concern.

Anakin Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Feyna Organa
Isolder
Mace Windu
Aryan Graul
Han Solo
Mara Jade
Qi'ra Ananke
Madelyn Linnett
Ka'rta
Galen Marek
Bernael
Thrawn
Vergere
Nom Anor
Onimi
Abeloth
Pascale Rouser

As the Black Coat watched, Vergere was scrubbed off, as was Pascale Rouser. The Black Coat cringed at the latter. That was not good.

Whoever was updating the list added (and Gil Fortis) to the list besides Galen Marek. Not a good time to be Gil Fortis, Black Coat wondered... let alone... oh, they added Joren Sole. Seemingly important.

The list added a name.

The Master

"Oh come on! He should even know about me - I'm the Narrator! - and why isn't he on the damn list!"

TAG: @JediMasterAnne, @HanSolo29, @TheSilentInfluence, @galactic-vagabond422, @LordTroepfchen, @BobaMatt, @QueenSabe7, @Lawbreaker, @darthbernael, special mention for @Bodhran777 and @DarkLordoftheFins for being noticed

 

OOC: A fun combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Renn
Bespin and a clearly crazy Governor

As the wooden ship traveled, Renn could feel it straining and creaking around him. He knew that even should the engine hold out until he reached Cloud City the ship itself wouldn’t. When he wasn’t worrying about the ship itself falling apart around him he was communing with the newest part of himself, learning, evolving, growing in strength and power. Soon the toxins of Anoat began washing out of his system and he began to feel even more of his strength returning.

He was approaching Bespin when he found himself bracketed by a trio of Cloud Cars. Soon enough his comm clicked to life, static and interference from the dying comm system giving some interference, but not enough that the message was not readable.

"You are travelling in restricted space; surrender your vessel. The Governor wishes to speak to you."

He chuckled to himself, as though he had any other choice. Keying the comm, ”Gladly. This craft was a one shot and I’m honestly surprised that it made it this far without falling apart.”

Checking his nav he slaved it to the cloud cars so that the ship should, hopefully, make the rest of the journey without issue. ”I am locked to your signal so please direct me to where I must land so that I can do so.”

"That's quite alright, sir, the Governor will come to you. We were merely directed to keep you in position until he was ready."

As if to emphasize the point, a powerful tractor beam gripped the ship, and from the cloud cover emerged a mile long warship; an Imperial Star Destroyer. Adelhard was here. "Unidentified ship. You have launched without permission within my Iron Sector. I shall enjoy educating you as to how the galaxy truly works."

Renn disabled the slave circuit as he was held in place by the tractor beam. And then a massive ship, of a design that only vaguely seemed familiar appeared out of the clouds. The attitude of the one who contacted him, however, he knew well.

He smiled beatifically as he spoke, ”I have slept for what my onboard computers say is approximately 4000 years, stuck on that hellworld of Anoat, so an education as to the state of the galaxy will be truly appreciated, Governor.”

The calm that descended over him as he waited for a response also allowed him to reign in the energy that would immediately tag him as what he had become. If this man knew of his kind he would know their predilections in the Force but unless he had a personal Force user he would not know how Renn himself was aligned. He just hoped that he could come out of this encounter with a ship and the ability to continue out of this sector and into the greater galaxy, as he could feel the darkness that was already threatening to overwhelm the galaxy.

Adelhard sounded confused. He could not so easily intimidate someone who did not follow the cue. He was used to fear; not curiosity. Renn's ship was taken aboard, a squad of four Stormtroopers evident, backed up by a menacing, larger trooper.



"Don't resist," communicated one of the white-clad troopers, raising a blaster rifle.

There was a wariness, but not an imminent danger; that curiosity and confusion permeated the hangar, which was otherwise empty save for a sleek-black shuttle.

In essence, the initiative was with the Neti.

Renn felt the ship start to fall apart around him, ’Ah well, knew it was only good for one trip.’ he thought as he stepped free from the debris.

He looked at the troopers and, even at the man’s height, down at the very large one. ”My you’re a big boy, parents must have fed you well. And of course I’m not going to resist, you’re the first people I’ve seen in a very, very long time. I’m guessing you’re here to escort me somewhere, so lead on, please.” came out calmly.

He fell in to the center of the formation, assuming that is where they wanted him and waited for them to take him where they wanted him to go.

The Stormtroopers led him, all six of them crammed into the turbolift. It was an awkward silence, and the larger trooper was staring at them all. The four smaller troopers - a woman and three men - crew worried, afraid of perceiving treachery enacting an immediate execution.

The moment was, arguably, excruciating, but shortly thereafter they made it to the bridge, revealing the typical Imperial design, which of course Renn was not familiar with. Governor Adelhard stood in the centre of it, arms folded across his chest.

"You flout my laws and claim to have no knowledge of the last four millennia..." He looked sceptical. "I have buyers for that kind of longevity that would gladly have your corpse for testing..." The man was a brute, and beside him stood a second over-sized Purge Trooper.

"Tell me what you last remember of galactic events, and perhaps I shall fill you in, Neti."

Renn crowded into the lift with the four normal sized troops and the hulking one. When it reached their destination level, he continued to calmly walk with them until they reached what had to be the bridge, where a man stood, centerstage, arms crossed.

He allowed the calm expression to remain on his face as he listened to the man, one who he could tell expected to be obeyed and felt like he ruled with an iron fist, which made sense as he had called this sector the Iron Sector.

He smiled, no creases to it that would make it seem he was worried by the man’s threats.”Of course, Sir. I remember it being a mostly peaceful time. There had been war a couple centuries before but when Ryyk went supernova the only relatively big news I recall was a possible Sith Lord that the Jedi had investigated. But for me the destruction of Ryyk was what dominated my last memories of that time.”

His eyes went distant as he thought about that time, the racing to escape the blast wave, the ship rocking as the radiation hit first, then the winds and debris. He was actually surprised he’d made it as far as he had before that happened. ”I got caught in the blast wave from the supernova near Anoat and my ship was heavily damaged. I don’t remember the crash, simply waking in the wreckage of my ship. I managed to lurch a short distance away, in severe pain, before everything went black. I would guess I was in so bad a shape my body put itself in hibernation for so long.”

As he finished his eyes regained focus, looking at the man before him.

Adelhard seemed bemused. It was a feasible story, though he couldn't comment on precisely what the Ryyk Supernova was... though a tickle of a memory suggested that it had something to do with a legitimate trade hyperlane from Nal Hutta to the Core, and had resulted in the Hutts embracing a more shadowy trade rather than edging towards civility... But he could be misremembered his Academy days.

The Imperial Governor snorted. "The Sith returned, of course, the Jedi couldn't stop it, especially with how weak the Republic was, and how easy it is to recruit among the disaffected 'downtrodden' masses. Three millennia of hot and cold wars punctuated by a handful of decades or centuries of true peace when one side triumphed over the other for a time." Anyone who attended the Imperial Academy knew those stories; of the ineffectiveness of the Republic and Jedi, and how the fist of the Empire would end all cycles of violence.

"The Sith went into hiding for a millennium, working to expose the corruption at the core of democracy, and birth the antibody - the Galactic Empire. A Jedi plot to take back control of the galaxy triggered the Clone Wars, and the Empire was born as their treachery was revealed, and Chancellor Palpatine - a Sith who had no choice but to hide his religion from the galaxy he was trying to save - was killed in the Jedi Rebellion."

Adelhard scoffed. "His Vice Chancellor, Mas Amedda, took the reigns as Emperor and restored the peace in the face of the Jedi losing control of the Separatists at the end of the Clone Wars, and them leading an 'Alliance to Restore the Republic' to create more chaos in a galaxy desperate to see order restored." He was sermonising his men while telling Renn the tale.

A twisted version of the tale, of course.

"But our Emperor was deposed fourteen years ago after nearly twenty years of peace, a 'New Republic' rising from the ashes and reporting him dead." Adelhard laughed. "Emperor Amedda was a God, Neti. He would not be killed by rabble. He took secret control of the Separatists to have them and the Empire build superweapons to burn out rebellion - all he needed was an example to be made and the weapons would have ended all conflict, all violence. But after Alderaan was destroyed, the weapons were lost and the Empire and Separatists lost their nerve!"

"We remain - in my Iron Sector - pliant members of this 'New Republic' but waiting for the day that democracy stumbles again!"

Renn stood patiently as the Governor told him the history, or at least the version he believed, of the last 4000 years. He could feel the man’s belief in and will to restore that which he thought to be the rightful ruler in his place. ’Seems much has taken place since it slept, especially in recent days. But nothing that would explain my waking.’ he pondered.

Much of what the man said was obviously not for his benefit or something that those around the man had not heard, on multiple occasions, if their expressions were any gauge of it. He would have to tread as he had so far, and find a way where the man would allow him to depart.

Choosing his words so as not to excite what seemed to be the madness of the man, ”The galaxy has changed quite a bit in the time I was hibernating. I appreciate your lesson in the history that I have missed. I apologize for having caused you time out of your governing but I did not know of what you just explained. And the ship you found me in was only capable of making it to Bespin from Anoat so I would have to find another to continue my journey.”

He did not let any outward sign of becoming prepared should things turn negative but internally he allowed his Power to flow to his extremities, keeping it just below the surface. He would not attack these people but he would defend himself and not allow himself to be taken prisoner.

Adelhard guffawed. "Did I not say? Your longevity will be of interest to Grand Moff Gideon, of that I have little doubt."

He gestured to the Stormtroopers, and they lifted their weapons, as did the two Purge Troopers. "If you would kindly surrender, I shall not have you dissected alive if you cooperate."

The Governor's grin was broad; clearly he enjoyed his sport.

Renn sighed inside, letting his calm look remain on his face. ”I’m afraid I cannot allow either option, Governor. I must depart, and would regret having to do so in fire and flame but if I must I will.”

As he finished speaking, Light suffused him, his eyes shining with Power. The power he’d held just under his bark pushed outward until it was an invisible barrier surrounding him. His bark hardened to that of fire resistant wood, and his arms stayed relaxed, by his sides.

Adelhard paused. A Force user, it seemed. He thought about it for a long, long moment. The last time Moff Gideon had set them on a path to pursue a Force sensitive or two, it had ended in somewhat of a disaster. A long trail of destruction had occurred, and no small amount of their secreted strength had been wasted.

But this was his bridge. "Take him."

The bridge crew took cover, and Adelhard stepped back, as the six troopers opened fire with everything they had.

This time Renn did sigh, but he’d given them the chance. Even still he would do all he could to not kill the men who were just following orders, even if they’d been convinced of the work they were doing being right. He let the blaster bolts hit the shield around him, letting it angle with each shot to deflect them into the equipment or extremities of the men around him.

He moved toward the larger trooper in front of him, his limbs smoking slightly from blaster burns as he reached out and grabbed the man by a leg and arm, even as he continued to fire, at close range, at him.

Flinging the man in an arc, he directed the body toward two of the smaller troops, into their line of fire as he flew. If they refused to cease firing then his death would be on their consciousnesses rather than his. He spun in a fast, tight circle and moved quickly toward the second of the large troopers. His bark was scored in dozens of places as he moved closer. He could feel the burns, to a lesser degree but his will was smoothing the pain, not letting it control him.

The bridge was filling with smoke, sparks, and debris as the bolts continued to careen off of his shielding and himself. He had not used the Force in a while and his energy was not at full strength, even yet, but he had enough to stop these men from taking him, and perhaps enough to escape this craft.

He let his arm shoot out and grabbed the second of the large troopers by the helmet he wore. Dragging the man toward him, his other arm ripped the blaster rifle from the man's arms, flinging toward the three behind him, hoping to cause them to either duck or get hit by the fast flying weapon.

He flung the now disarmed man away, toward the far wall, in a tumbling arc, fast enough the impact should knock him out but not kill him. Striding toward the last two he towered over them, ”I can feel your fear, not just of me but of your leader. Throw down your arms, I do not wish to harm you.”

The two remaining troopers held up their hands, but Adelhard had disappeared from the fray. The crew was staying to the edges of the bridge, though many of them had sidearms drawn. A comlink click, and the governors voice came over the bridge. "Get off my ship, Neti. You're lucky I don't call in the rest of my forces. I don't need trouble with the Jedi Order though, so you can go to Yavin 4 and get out of my sector..."

"Before I report you to the other Neti."

Renn’s head cocked to the side, ’Other Neti????’ he thought, in surprise.

”I will depart, Governor. I wish you had not set your men on me, but all will heal.” To accelerate the healing process, he closed his eyes for a moment, allowing Power to flow and begin to knit together the wounds the men had received.

Bowing to the remainder of the bridge crew, he strode out of the bridge, heading for the lift that had brought him to that space. As he walked, the ship’s crew plastered themselves to walls, in fear of what he may do, which caused sadness to gather around him. They feared him yet it was their leader who had caused the chaos that had just occurred.

He reached the lift, examining the panel. Seeing the icon for the hangar he pressed it and closed his eyes as the lift descended, allowing calm to wash through him once more. He reached the hangar and saw the remains of his ship next to the black shuttle. Since his ship was in such shape that left only the shuttle to take. Speaking loudly, ”I will not take a craft without permission, but you demanded that I leave your ship. May I have use of the shuttle here and I will ensure it is returned to you once I reach a place where I can acquire my own craft?”

Adelhard sneered across the comms. “Just take it and go. Jedi scum, no need to be polite when stealing from me.”

With that he clicked off.

The Governor was done.

Renn sighed, he’d done all he could to satisfy propriety and still the man only saw things one way. But permission had been given. He strode across the hangar, the ramp to the shuttle descending when he pressed the panel.

Boarding the craft, he retracted the ramp before making his way to the bridge. The Governor had mentioned Yavin 4 which told him that was the probable headquarters of the Jedi Order in this time. With what had occurred when he woke heading there made the most sense. Programming a course into the navicomputer, he settled behind the controls.

The shuttle lifted from the deck, arrowing out of the hangar. Renn half expected a broadside from the large ship but none came and soon he was out of the atmosphere and into hyper, en route to his next destination.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: A deliciously devilish combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Bernael
Surprise Surprise, she's trying to feed on me

Bernael had felt his abilities slowed as Abeloth surged forth, felt that it was the Eye that had done so. It begged the question of what the Eye thought he needed to know, to see, with her attack upon him. Her words gave him a hint that needed to be worked out.

"Come to me, feed me, so I may enact my revenge against the one who keeps sending me poisoned bodies."

Even as she attempted to overwhelm him in her weakened state her words told him there was an agent behind her weakness, and that had to be what the Eye had meant for him to know. But, for now she needed to learn how weak she had truly become.

Her tentacles attempted to enter him, to suck him dry. He let them slip into himself, let them taste the edges of the Force energy inside himself And then the cave went completely dark, engulfed in the Darkness itself. Her tentacles met Power, everywhere they sunk into Bernael they began to feel the numbing cold of their own energy being drained away. He felt them recoil, attempting to flee and as his mouth cleared of them, ”I said that my Power is mine and not to share, cousin dear. And now you will be taught why, even at strength, you are no match anymore.”

The Dark tentacles he’d used to lift her tightened around her, engulfing each of her own tentacles in darkness even deeper than that of the cavern. They began a slow but inexorable pull, disengaging hers from around Bernael and pulling them outward until they were held straight out from her body.

He hissed ”You only respect Power, and that only poorly, but unless you wish to be left here to starve you will obey my rules.” The dark tentacles began contracting, crushing Abeloth’s in their grasp even as hunger washed over her, Bernael’s own, so deep and overwhelming that she’d know that only his will kept it from feeding deeply at what was left of her.

Abeloth drew with her a dollop of his essence, dripping from her tentacle tips, but that was more spectral than physical. His use of the dark side to conjure physical tentacles was a technique that through sorcery Darth Zannah had obtained and used to defeat Darth Bane; she knew that...

But it didn't help her.

Burying what little life she had stolen from Bernael in her mouth greedily, she turned and fled deeper into her cave, giggling endlessly and leaving a splatter of blood behind her. The Eye shrugged, mentally. The Mask leaned on Bernael; he had not been fed in hours, and they had their fight with the Other Bernael behind them.

She has another play at work here. The Eye surmised.

I don't care. The Mask replied.

But someone has been forewarned about her Truth... fifty years ago was before the Change; before Darth Sidious was killed by Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu. Her poisoning began in advance of that…

Bernael let Abeloth scamper away, it was obvious she was attempting to draw him deeper into her lair. Her hunger was such that she would be forced to return soon enough, he had not given her more than a taste and that would not sustain her for long.

Keeping his senses on high alert should she attempt to sneak back in while he pondered he reached out to the two artifacts.

To the Mask, ”Yes I will feed again soon, but the Eye is correct, someone, playing a long game, has put a wide variety of us on their list, whether for good or bad, and is manipulating events.”

To the Eye, ”I have been pondering but the suspect I would have believed possible of this is surely dead, Sidious. So, unless another cousin is manipulating events, or his agents, who among the major players could be considered suspects.”

The Mask's irritation increased, but the Eye responded. "It is a mystery. No other Anzati has risen to your levels. Typhojem's servants reside on N'Zoth, his second homeworld, and belong to us... Abeloth has no influence outside this prison, it now seems... Tilotny, Cold Danda... they are dead... Ap betrayed the family... Gorog, Ooru... they both died in the Twilight Wars... but what of Mnggal-Mnggal? Could his reach exceed Mugg's Fallow?"

There was a chittering cackle, and a rumble, deeper in the cave.

"We must not tarry; it may be that she can use the Font to rejuvenate her while she holds that part of your essence."

The Eye was clearly pushing himself to work the riddle.

As Bernael boosted and flashed forward through the cave, senses questing for any trap or danger on the way, he chuckled darkly. ”Typhojem’s servants may belong to us now but the instant I do not appear to be following their God’s plans they will not hesitate to split from me, I am of no doubt as to that, so the niggling doubt remains. As to Mnggal-Mnggal not much has been heard from that dark one for some time so he could be plotting. Something to consider.”

He slowed his progress but kept his body at top speed so as to be ready to move the moment his cousin reappeared, attempted again to take him. He knew her and knew she’d had a taste and would want more, even should he continue to show her how such was a losing proposition.

The Eye mused. "The Yevetha will be happy as long as they have blood to spill. They are a distraction, in any case, from the Force." Caution entered his voice. "You are not a match for a One, Chosen or otherwise. They are near-infinite vessels of power, after all. We are fortunate Abeloth has been poisoned to this extent."

It didn't feel like Mnggal-Mnggal's style, either. It was too long-term, and he was ill-placed to take advantage from the depths of the Unknown Regions. But they would have to check, no doubt of that.

Abeloth was deeper in the cave, and a splash of water echoed off the walls.

"Not the Font... the Pool?"

Indeed, there she stood, bathing in the lamentously named Pool of Balance.

"Come, Bernael, cousin," she said, wearing Jori's skin anew. "Let us frolic together, and you can see your future on the water, if you so wish." She withdrew under the waves, her clothes floating to the surface, and away.

Bernael laughed, a harsh, discordant sound. ”That Pool, no thank you, cousin dearest. I much prefer my own form and not allowing you to steal my essence. If you are only of a mind to do so, or seduce me laughable as that is, then enjoy your poisoning, I have other deeds to do, a galaxy to consume.”

He turned, moving back up the tunnel from the Pool, ”I will find our tormentor but meet as equals now or suffer until it is only you and I left, in the galaxy.” With that he continued out of the cavern of the Pool and back toward the exit of the caverns.

As he stepped back, he would have a glimpse of the water, which his eyes seemed to take in even if he did not want them too. Hunger had made that so, tweaking his face.

He would see... himself, but that irritating, lesser version of himself, first standing with an officer of blue hair and a woman in an orange pilot suit, both glaring at the each other and him watching the woman knock the man out with a thrown fist... and then, him again, slightly older, but paired with a woman and a Neti, a comradeship between them that flowed easily and neatly.

There was no evidence of the Mask and the Eye in that moment.

Abeloth crooned. "Your future, as it was, before it was Changed... and you know what that means, Cousin. It means I should be free to right the cosmos!"

Bernael laughed again, as he moved back, almost the same laughter as before, this time with a mocking edge to it. ”Cousin, you do not know all. I have met that disabled me and your idea is flawed by your lack of knowledge. Ironic as what you are swimming in is the Pool of Knowledge.”

He paused in his movements for a moment, ”So allow me to enlighten you. In my meeting with him I brought to life something I have not used as of yet, the seed of Father that exists within me as well. He may not become what he is meant to be today, but soon enough he will be Father’s true child, to rival even a One. And one such as that, should he choose that path, will not be one to fall for your devices, even as I do not. So, farewell, starving cousin who is incapable of reason.”

He turned and made his way further from the cavern, knowing she could attack and almost desiring so, as a reason to reduce her further and show her the error of her ways. As an afterthought he touched the seed of his Father inside himself, ”Let us merge and become more of what is needed to accomplish the great task before us.”

Abeloth floated to the edge of the Pool, placing her chin on her hands. "You have a task? What is that, to which you call upon the Seed of your Father... my Uncle? He is dead, what more can you achieve where he cannot?"

"Or do you refer to how my husband is gone, and my children, too? How now the galaxy is ours for the taking?"

She stepped from the water, it dripping from her outstretched arms.

"The time for grand designs is moot, cousin." Her smile widened slightly. "The Ones may be dead, but they died after I was poisoned the first time with Jori Atreus..." Abeloth leered. "Who could have prepared for the deaths of Gods, by ruining me? The Goddess of Chaos is released whenever the Force is turned from its path..."

A slow chuckle. "That is my Truth." She stepped forward, sultry. "And if I merge with you as I am now, I shall be lesser... subservient, even." Abeloth's voice acquired a cadence in time with her steps.

"What is in it for me? Marriage? Children? Such a union would be deliciously unholy."

”Father is not dead, not entirely. Do you believe such a being as he would not have enacted a contingency, in case of his potential destruction. Can you not feel him in me? He has been aching to join with me and enact his will upon the galaxy.”

He watched as she approached, wary still, knowing she could as easily attempt to feed upon him as join with him. ”The time has come to take the galaxy, to reduce it, shape it by my, or..” his eyes crinkled, filled with chaos, hunger, and darkness, ”our wills. And yes, such a union would make the very galaxy itself shudder in terror. So, yes, cease attempting to feed upon me and I will take you out of here where we can feed upon the entire galaxy, and perhaps our children as well.”

He stood, defenses at the ready, hunger held back by only the merest of tripwires, awaiting what response she gave.

Abeloth seemed to grow luminous at the thought. "Let us make it so, cousin. Love me, and I shall love you, and be unto you what our parents always wished." A pause, and her smile broadened. "Family.”

With that, she stepped forward, her hands intending to interlock with his, her face, to enmesh with his, and their shadows become one. The madness had truly began.

Bernael took her hands, defenses still on high alert. He felt her face against his, the electricity of their lips touching then merging for a moment, they remained separate but at the same time were one. He was Abeloth and she Bernael just as he remained himself and she herself. The oncoming storm of madness, chaos, and destruction grew to epic proportions.

The galaxy was, as yet, completely unaware of what had just been birthed. Or what their union would birth in forthcoming days.

He threw back his head and let out a crazed, exultant laugh before he and she turned and headed to his Fury to return to normal space.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @TheAdmiral (Mentioned)

 

IC: Senator Aryan Graul
Corridor, Senate Tower, Coruscant

Aryan had not expected a direct response, much less from such an unlikely source. Grand Admiral Thrawn was essentially a ghost; the man had disappeared years ago after his Star Destroyer shot unexpectedly into hyperspace during the Battle of Lothal. Many analysts believed that he had perished that day, but apparently someone had failed to do their homework. While it was possible that this could be the work of an impersonator, he quickly dismissed that notion – only a military mastermind would be bold enough to blockade Coruscant. Thrawn was back on the galactic stage, and he was already making a point to complicate matters.

For one, his admission that the Republic had fallen victim to an unseen opponent, thrusting them into another galactic war – a shadow war, as he described it, would certainly send shockwaves through the populous. Aryan was hesitant to believe such a wild claim, but a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him otherwise. He knew it was more than just simple intuition; it was the Force.

In the aftermath of the Senate meeting and the confrontation with his father, the Senator had nearly forgotten about the strange disturbance he had felt upon arriving on the capital. It was as if something had shifted to upset the delicate balance that the galaxy relied on to maintain stability. Was this all related to what Thrawn was referring to? The Shadow War?

He needed to find out.

Brushing a hand across his lip, Aryan turned back toward the holocams. He inwardly winced when the Admiral addressed him as the Acting-Chancellor, though he could not back down. That would be construed as a weakness in front of someone like Thrawn. He had to respond to keep up appearances.

“Grand Admiral,” he acknowledged with a thin smile. “While I understand that you have been far removed from galactic events for the past decade, and that the harrowing journey you undoubtedly endured navigating back to the land of the living must have been quite intensive, may I remind you that we still do have protocols and expectations in place when it comes to relaying information across official channels. You failed to follow those procedures, sir, and as a result, we have no choice but to view your actions as hostile. We must act to protect our sovereignty.

“Nevertheless, we also have an obligation to our people to keep them safe. As such, we take all threats seriously. We will consult with the proper agencies to investigate the nature of your claims and will take appropriate action only if they are deemed necessary. Until then…”

Aryan waved his hand casually, signaling both the end of his statement and indicating to the reporters that he will not field any questions at this time. He had done more than his fair share in this situation already; it was time to get down to real business.

Turning on his heel, he started back toward the turbolift at a clipped pace, gesturing for Gaeriel to follow along beside him. Once they were safely inside with the doors closed, he started to relay his instructions.

“I think we have our opening,” he began evenly, his eyes narrowed with thought. “I want you to contact the Admiralty and request an update. Make sure they know that I have the Admiral’s attention. If they want to talk, I will speak to Piett directly. And only Piett. He won’t turn me down – from one former Imperial to another.”

He then angled his chin down and pursed his lips, his voice dipping dangerously low. “And see if you can set up a private audience with Thrawn. I have a few matters I wish to discuss with him.”

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Arb Skynxnex
Armand Isard Correctional Facility, Coruscant

The wall blew in with a satisfying boom, and Arb stepped through, two blasters to hand and a hankering to shoot them. He didn't quite expect to see Aurra Sing, notorious gunwoman, murderer and all round Dark Jedi problem, standing over Qwi, but he was grateful to have found her so easily. Without any other words, he began firing, a rapid fire staccato that sent Aurra diving away from the Omwati.

His shots, expertly fired, were close to Qwi but never dangerously so as Aurra abandoned her, but the Dark Jedi fired her lifted-blaster - and Arb shot her bolts out the sky. It was quite impressive. Behind Arb was Beaumont Kin, the completely-out-of-place scholarly type gesturing to Qwi through the hole. "Come on!"

Behind him - was Pascale's ship.

TAG: @Jerjerrod-Lennox (combo)
---
Bakuran Embassy, Senate Tower

“I think we have our opening,” Aryan began evenly, his eyes narrowed with thought as he and Gaerial took the turbolift back. “I want you to contact the Admiralty and request an update. Make sure they know that I have the Admiral’s attention. If they want to talk, I will speak to Piett directly. And only Piett. He won’t turn me down – from one former Imperial to another.”

He then angled his chin down and pursed his lips, his voice dipping dangerously low. “And see if you can set up a private audience with Thrawn. I have a few matters I wish to discuss with him.”

She blinked a few times at that, but nodded as she made notes, opening her comlink and issuing instructions. "Hang on -" She winced, and held her hand over the comlink microphone. "I have Piett on the line; he was calling you the moment your message went live, apparently. He's threatened to arrest the secretaries, and you, for interference in military affairs."

"Want the call?"

TAG: @HanSolo29
---
Nubian Embassy, Senate Tower

"Oh, Senator Graul is not going to like that," said the other aide in the Nubian Embassy, Jaka, a Mon Calamari. He shook his oversized head, referring to the speech just given by Aryan Graul to the New Republic, to which Grand Admiral Thrawn had replied. It should have been their Senator, Norin Graul, who made the first commentary. The press was now trying to reach Norin, but he had left for Nubia immediately after the first Senate hearing - and that disastrous turbolift encounter.

Ostensibly he was checking on his wife, but Jaka knew better, and when his datapad pinged, and he jumped, almost guiltily. He looked to the rooms only other living occupant - for the rest of the staff were secretarial and protocol droids otherwise - Nola Deidder. Her husband, the head of the security for the Senator, Delan Deidder, had abruptly left with the Senator. What Jaka didn't know was that Nola was aware that Norin had received an anonymous tip about Aryan and left for the Outer Rim... Delan had made sure she knew.

What Nola didn't know was what Jaka had to deal with in the absence of the Senator.

The Imperial Fleet arriving had set them all on edge, notwithstanding that almost all of them knew that the double-shields could hold off a fleet much larger than the one Thrawn had brought with him suddenly to Coruscant. The sense of security that had pervaded for fourteen years in the galaxy was gone... and Coruscant's sense of security had already been especially fragile, what with the inferno that Darth Ananke had unleashed on the planet.

By the end of today, that fragility would be shattered.

A droid looked up from a comlink. "Sir, Madam, I have a reporter from Tri Nebulon News requesting a statement from the Senator. What should I do?"

Jaka was busy trying to be surreptitious with his datapad, which gave Nola a chance to respond, indeed, the initiative to respond.

TAG: @JediMasterAnne
---
Coruscant orbit, en route and then arriving

Owen turned to deal with Tor while Leia attended to the Jedi.

The Knight slowly came to a good hour or so later, grumbling. "That's a headache I didn't need. Good fight, though."

He opened an eye. "Kyle Katarn, Jedi Knight. I recognise you; Leia Skirata Linnett, right? I doubt your parents will be very happy about you causing a galactic incident... I might be willing to turn my eye if you help me escape, of course... Master Ood Bnar knows when to keep things from the Senate, after all... but I assume you're following up the beskar hunters?"

"And I can handle myself."

About that time, Owen sat outside Tor's room.

"Look, kid, I appreciate what you're sayin' but you're messing up. There's a lot going on, sure, I get that, but the sooner you focus, the better. We're going after a war criminal. They're sneaky, and smart - they wouldn't have a bounty on them after fourteen years if not." Owen thought of the other names on the list - Qi'ra Ananke, Pascale Rouser, Qwi Xux, Luke Skywalker - and winced. "Aryan Graul managed to ride a tide of chaos to the top job in the entire galaxy."

"We need to be smart - "

The ship shuddered and they lurched out of hyperspace. Owen rushed to his feet, heading to the cockpit.

Kyle sat up, his eyes full of urgency. "Stay, Leia. There's a battle on-going, a fleet -"

Owen called out. "Tor, get up here I need a co-pilot!"

Slightly to the left of them was an Imperial Interdictor-class cruiser, six hundred meters of batteries and four gravity well projectors; it had pulled them out of hyperspace a few minutes earlier than expected. Beside it hung a Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser, the same size as the Interdictor, but covered with turbolaser blisters. Further back, there were five Imperial Star Destroyers, and another seven two-cruiser formations holding at various points above the planet, the Destroyers exchanging an incredible back and forth with two Golan NovaGun stations -

But four TIEs were en-route, blasters spitting green lances of fire -

"Tor take the guns!" Owen tried to turn, and remembered he had a ship attached to his upper hull, and he was officially flying a ship with the turning circle of a bath tub at this point -

Kyle leaned forward, stun-cuffs tied to the wall bar. "I need to get out there, to get us through this. Help me, Leia."

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence (combo)
---
Hesperidium, Coruscant system

“You answer him; don’t identify yourself, just ask him what he knows about Pedric Cuf.”

As Nom Anor's ship pushed to escape the gravity envelope of the moon, Isolder nodded to Feyna. "How do you know about him, Grand Admiral?"

"Pedric Cuf is one of several Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators that had riddled the galaxy in anticipation of their armada arriving. The New Republic, in its ineffectiveness, has missed all of the signs of the coming tide... focused on political treaties to narrow down the hiding spaces of war criminals whose schemes pale in comparison to what is coming," Thrawn spoke, certainty touching his voice. "I launched my strike now to complete my preparations, and block a species from the Unknown Regions advancing on Coruscant anyway."

"Well thank you for that," Isolder bit back, "but you could have just let us know by comm."

"Could I?" Thrawn said, softly. "Would your Chancellor have handed over Qwi Xux if I asked nicely? Or would my communique have been intercepted by the agents in the Coruscant Sector HoloNet relay? Perhaps the Imperial ambassador, Yarmond, could have passed on the message... if he wasn't a masqued Yuuzhan Vong."

Isolder felt a tightening of his chest. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Why, Prince Isolder?" Thrawn said, tightly. Isolder winced. "Because the New Republic Chancellor may lead a regime which is already too divided to be of use in the years to come, but she is the woman who survived the destruction of Alderaan and led a revolution with the other 'Heroes of the Galaxy'. You, her, and them, are the greatest impediments to my sweeping aside this chaotic order and replacing it with something which can prepare for the invasion... and not be dragged into the childish religious debates of the Jedi and Sith."

Scoffing, Isolder went to reply further, after all, they were nearly to the edge of the gravity well, and more than five minutes ahead of the Chimaera's tractor range -

"Are there any small, almost circular, stones in the freighter, perchance? With a fleshy exterior?"

Isolder paused, thinking of the only pieces of alien tech he could possibly find aboard, and the ship suddenly shook; impossibly, the gravity well of the Coruscanti moon had increased in size, meaning they had four more minutes before they could jump. Thrawn continued to speak. "I have directed one of my Interdictors to use its projectors on Hesperidium. I am sure you understand that there are merely seconds between you escaping the moon now, and my tractor beam operators snatching you up." A pause. "Maybe less."

The Hapan Prince looked at Feyna. Help.

TAG: @JediMasterAnne (combo)
---
Prison Cell, Done, very done

The Chiss, Stent, collapsed, breathing in and out.

"Thrawn is here to save us from an invasion... the Chiss met them, years ago... Thrawn... he was working with Palpatine to prepare the galaxy for what is to come... to build an Empire which could defeat them. Your New Republic... its been so busy reunifying the galaxy into a messy political union - it's left us vulnerable."

"He's here for the superweapon designer... so we can... finish it..."

Stent was fading out of consciousness, utterly and completely beaten by Suials.

TAG: @The Jedi in the Pumas
---
IC: Darth Tempara
Death, embraced, in the face of fear

While the woman formerly known as Mara Jade died, leaving Galen to his victory, the full lighting switched on, and Huyang chimed in. "Master, while you have been... exerting yourself, I have repaired the ships damage, though we have some external damage to the bow, of course." Indeed, there was an unpleasant crumple to the Rogue Shadow, and Huyang explained the rest. "The cloaking device will be inoperable until the ships shape complies with that of the prior specs of the stealth system, Master."

Meanwhile, Gil had sucked a great deal of data from the system. The planet they orbited was named Durace, and was relatively deep in the Unknown Regions. The One Sith had set up shop here while searching the depths for Rakatan and Eternal technology, and there were various entries about mindspears, Eternal Thrones, and Mother Machines. Ancient, complicated, technology. There was also a big tranche of data about the Empire of the Hand, which would require a longer update.

But all that remained was the bedroom door, slightly ajar, and the oubliette on the bed.

Surrounding it was a variety of small clothes, food pouches and the like...

TAG: @Lawbreaker, @Bodhran777, @BobaMatt
---
IC: Jerod
Aboard the Hettyc Osik, more often than not the Osik, the death of Mandalore



As soon as her partner, Owen, had opted to go joyriding with their grandchildren - for Madelyn was basically a daughter to her and Jerod - she had been making her own plans. While that meant she had no idea what had happened to the rest of the family, she had been making her way to New Keldabe to find Ka'rta and set off after Owen...

Now, however, she was commanding Ka'rta's ship, moving it towards the hulking, dying Monolith creature. She could see Madelyn and Ka'rta, had opened the ramp. Seismics were such that the Osik was shaking, and the she saw Ka'rta break Madelyn free of the arm and swept down. In a moment, she had slammed the two of them into the hold of the ship, gunning for orbit with all the power the ship had.

"Hold on!" Jerod shouted into the comms, and they joined a flood of smaller ships fleeing Mandalore, and when they glanced back, through the viewports, they would see a wave of energy consume their homeworld, the people, the cities, the entirety of it.

The Void in the Force sung out, and their world ended.

It tried to take Madelyn with it, to draw her mind into the emptiness it created in the Force as it ended everything on the planet's surface.

Their home, ended.

And all that death, that power, that life, it surged into Darth Zorn, filling him with a world's potential, a populations Force sensitivity, the very fabric of reality itself flooding through the man who had been Luke Skywalker...

Chosen One.



TAG: @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @LordTroepfchen (updated TAG, but also last weeks)
---
IC: Abeloth
Leaving the Maw, Kessel system

They lay together, creating, destroying, incarnating, birthing, dying...

These were accurate words to discuss the mating of an Old One brought low, and an Anzati elevated by madness, by the Mask, by the Eye...

Abeloth was enriched by the interaction, sustained, resurrected, acquiring shape and form, though much of it was at Bernael's expense... but indeed he would be invigorated and given strength by the flowing of power between the two of them.

As they travelled out the Maw Cluster, Abeloth lay with Bernael, a tentacle playing lazily with his chest.

"The wreckage of the weapon - the prototype, they called it - it has been visited often, stripped of parts, the broken installation raided for technology and secrets..." she wondered, absently. "The other way, it yields a colony world, which has been frequented in the years gone by. They have not policed the ways into and out of the Maw, for fear of discovery by nearby Kessel - by Moruth Doole, the Rybet Warlord, and the Pykes, who have long been crippled by their misadventure at Mimban..."

Abeloth knew a lot more than one have expected, but she was coy. "I ate a few wretched smugglers, what can I say?"

That grin, and glittering eyes.

There was a communique reaching for Bernael's Fury, though they had yet to leave the Maw.

It was Nil Spaar, with an update; that his forces were prepared to advance on Fresia, but their spies on Coruscant were aware of a great assault taking place - six Imperial Star Destroyers and nearly two dozen cruisers, besieging the world. There was other news -

Though as they reached the halfway point to departing the black hole cluster, able to cut either way to investigate the Maw Colony or the ruined Maw Installation, they were able to reach the Force all the moreso, and Bernael and Abeloth would both sense that a wrongness pervaded it; the aftershocks of what had happened from Mandalore.

"Vitiate..." Abeloth said, blinking her eyes. "I felt this before... millennia ago, my love... the Void has been courted by someone.."

There was also something else... someone, approaching, but it would be impossible to ascertain who it was, at this distance, merely that she, no he, was powerful... the gender of the person seemed to shift every few moments, as if wrestling. They were far off, for now, but in the near future they would be here...

Days, or hours, perhaps.

They had many, many things to deal with in the interim.

TAG: @darthbernael (combo)
---
IC: Ood Bnar
Yavin 4, perplexed, worried, and concerned

The Force sung with death, with a terrible event of Alderaan level consequences.

It had done so a mere day ago, when Metellos died, but Ood Bnar had no idea where from whence the death had sprung.

Now, another world - but, if at all possible - in a more complete and monstrous manner. While Metellos had been consumed, absorbed into another creature, Mandalore had been the same, but everything about that world was gone. If the Death Star blew up Mandalore now, it would simply be another empty rock, and the Force would not have noticed.

He staggered, and felt something dark, darker than dark, resonating... it may even have been more than one, because the dark side was retaking an ascendance that it hadn't held in fourteen years.

What had they done wrong? What had he missed?

For a moment, Ood knew how Yoda had felt when he missed the signed that Chancellor Palpatine was in-fact Darth Sidious, grand orchestrator of the Clone Wars and the corruption of the Galactic Republic. Helpless, is what he felt.

Ood's despair resonated in the Force as Renn arrived, fresh from his encounter in the Anoat Sector.

A shuttle with Imperial markings caused a stir at ground control, and Ood straightened up, even as his lament impacted his fellow Neti. He made his way to the docking bay, though Vhardia Delphinium and her new co-droid were already present, and Renn would land and encounter them and Kes Dameron first, who listened to her comlink and drew her blaster.

"Get behind cover! An Imp shuttle is coming!"

Kes tried not to think of her son, Poe, and hoped his father would keep him safe. The Imperial Remnant? It wasn't all that far away from Yavin 4, and nor was Korriban or indeed Mandalore, which was one reason why the Jedi had settled here to police the northern Outer Rim. Ossus had held the same allure, though that was too far from the Remnant to be useful nowadays... and full of the memories of the six children that Zorn had kidnapped from there.

TAG: @darthhelinith (please post up our combo so far as a response to this TAG and continue), @darthbernael
---
IC: Xaverri
Aboard the Eravana, Nal Hutta

"Set a course and get us there the second Kast is off the ship. The second." He took out his blaster and sighed. "I take care of Sole. The boy makes more trouble than I thought."

"Yeah," Xav smiled. "He reminds me of someone." Han gave her a smile that showed he had the same thought and went to the MedBay. Chances were good the guy would go for his Mandalorian.

Indeed, the beskar was off the ship quickly enough - it seemed neither Kast nor Jabba wanted to get involved in a bounty hunter shoot-out, and Xav managed to peg the rust-bucket Bossk was using; they had plenty of time.

As Han and Joren played out their game of cat-and-mouse, the Eravana lifted off, and headed into orbit. In short order it would hit hyperspace; its target was in the Unknown Regions, but Xav knew that wouldn't stop Han from getting back his precious ship.

TAG: @DarkLordoftheFins, @Lawbreaker (I shall generally leave you to do a back and forth on this, but you will enter hyperspace during this weeks TAG)

TAG: @QueenSabe7 (combo to continue)

 

OOC: Another fun combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Bernael and Abeloth
Travelling the Maw

Bernael lay on the bed, Abeloth pulled close. However one could describe it they had truly consummated their union. Both had become more, both had become less, and in the process both had become more, in total, than what they had already been. He could feel that Abeloth had more energy, vitality, as the tips of his talons ran along the tentacle draped over his chest.

”Vitiate, a name I know well, and yes that felt as though someone reproduced his elevation on Nathema. Whoever had, and my list of suspects is extremely short, has moved out of the shadows to counter my destruction of Metellos, on a grander scale. Not necessarily as a response to mine but perhaps taking advantage of it.”

"Vitiate was possessed not by an Old One but something older than, my love, so if we have one replicating his feats, we must be cautious." She teased his talons, pulling them close to cut her skin.

He scrolled through Spaar’s message, ”You are well versed in things going on in and around the Maw, which begs the question what here would be useful and what you know of greater machinations in the galaxy. Seems my little band of happy murderers has seen chaos around Coruscant, that Thrawn, who came for us as Metellos fell, is besieging Coruscant, so it feels like he thinks that’s an opportunity to take that world. A little trigger happy for my taste, his fleet was torn up from the last encounter with Thrawn..”

Abeloth craned her neck to read the datapad. "Well, well, well. The servants of uncle Typhojem, poised to invade worlds at your command." She softly snorted. "I presume you know that they serve merely you out of convenience. If any remnant of Him survives, they will turn on you swiftly enough."

He was distracted for a moment as her tentacle slid across his skin, ”But I believe the most worrisome thing, besides the death of a world I didn’t destroy is whoever, whatever, seems to be coming here. Do you have any sense of who it is, my love?”

She settled back onto his chest, musing. "Their gender swaps, which makes it suitably difficult to master who they are... almost as if they struggle with themselves. But they are not here yet, and we are not free of the Maw yet." Abeloth smacked her lips. "The Maw Colony has Force users, cousin. Might I imbibe on one?"

Bernael smiled, enjoying the feeling as she moved, ”The one who I suspect is behind the wave of death and destruction, he is a foe worthy of attention, one to study and perceive his weakness, before using such information to bring him to his destruction, or use agents to turn him more toward our purpose.”

He chuckled as he thought about the Yevethans, ”Oh yes, I am quite certain they will turn on me given the first opportunity, and they will find I am not the foe to do so with. Our cousin would be amused, even, to have them removed from the board, unworthy of even his attention. As to the one who approaches, yes we have time. And Force Users, delicious, yes let us travel there, so you and I, if you leave any, may feed.”

Abeloth leaned over and placed a kiss on Bernael's cheek, nibbling with her razor sharp teeth. "Perhaps you should send them on a suicide mission, to draw the attention of this one that consumes worlds and creates Voids."

She reached over with a tentacle and redirected the ship towards the Colony.

The Eye and Mask quietly seethed at Bernael.

The ship swung on its new heading. Bernael heard the squawk from the pilot AI at the unexpected change and he tapped a short message to it on his wristpad, to follow the new course but to be prepared to depart immediately without their new guest, should any treachery rear it's head.

Bernael felt her razor teeth on his cheek, a dark smile as she did so. A pair of talons extended and drew fine, shallow tracks up and down her tentacle, ”They have their purpose for now, including being sure that a certain, delectable, Goddess doesn’t decide to remove me from the equation. However your idea does have partial merit, once the next world is taken and the undead legions are raised a portion can be split off to do just that.”

"If we take the Maw Colony as our own..." Abeloth said with a grin. "We could simply raise a new army and fleet here... then we can sow chaos to the cosmos, from the Rim, and the Core... not raise an empire, but devastate, and cripple..."

"Burn, not build." Abeloth grinned. "After all, the Ones are dead... and nobody is left to stop us. I won't be returned to the Maw for another fifteen millennia, will I?"

She chuckled, her multiple voices resonating.

He chuckled in return, ”No you won’t. And that is the Grand Plan, my love, burn the galaxy, fire and ruin to all that lives. Death on the grandest of scales and plenty of feeding for us both.”

Eyes focusing into the distance, black flames could almost be seen in their even darker depths, ”But a second army, a second fleet, coming from here, unknown, unexpected, and with many a world unprepared, does make my dark little lack of a soul very pleased.”

"I am pleased that it does, my love." A glint entered her eyes. "We have some time before we reach the Colony... shall we?" Mischievous entered her smirk.

Bernael grinned back at her as he pulled her closely and Darkness rose to surround and drift through them both.

TAG: @Sinrebirth