Star Wars CLOSED Star Wars: Episode VI: Twilight of the Force III: A Son’s Destiny

OOC: Fun with @TheAdmiral, @Mitth_Fisto, and @Sinrebirth

IC Tarkin, Jori I, Jori II, Aurrenna
Rooftop, Battle Unfolds

Tarkin chuckled. Glancing at Jori the Elder first, ignoring the Warmaster once more, ”Seems to be going straight to the Nine Hells, doesn’t it? Considering that, I thought it wise to let her” He gestured at the younger Jori, ”know the truth.”

Taking a couple steps closer to the elder Jori, before looking back at the Warmaster, ”It seems you have not completely won the Great War. And the forces arrayed against you, here alone, are increasing in both amount and power. How will you ‘protect’ our worlds in that case?”

Jori the Elder looked at Tarkin for a second too long "I agree, though it should have been done under better..." a faint smile formed on her lips "... circumstances." she then sighed "What's done is done. We should deal with one crisis at a time."

The younger Jori just stared at them. She knew better as not to interfere when her grandmother was involved.

Pausing where she was at she looked at Ike and then back to Warleader Nas Choka. "Am I pushing an ngdin into a killing field or doing your job for you to win a war? I'm a tad confused." she said with a head tilt and humming lilt to her voice as she contemplated the situation. She was being coy, but with her back straight and her confidence exuding from her, it was the confidence of one that was enjoying a show with no fear for her own situation in all of this.

The Warmaster was growing deeply frustrated, as a full-blown Force brawl occurred in the Courtyard. Several of the bounty hunters were dead, and the violence was reaching a tempo. In the middle of it all, Nas Choka could see the jester Onimi, having briefly revealed surprising speed and aggression before being cut down by a Kaminoan Sith.

He snarled as Anor spoke. "I shall summon warriors to the surface, and we shall win here and take whatever it is the Supreme Overlord seeks." He heard a report through his villip. His deployment to Ithor had burned down the baffor groves but Mandalorians had intervened to ferry away the herd ships. They were in pursuit to Mandalore. "No," he snarled. "I want ten clusters to detach from the Domain battlegroup and head here. The remaining fifteen clusters can handle Mandalore."

The more military minded among them would realise Domain groups were arranged into twenty five clusters, meaning two hundred warships a cluster, and Nas Choka had just recalled two thousand ships, leaving three thousand to attack Mandalore. He looked to the Kuati women and the Eriaduan fop. "Order all forces present to attack Kuat and Eriadu."

He kept the villip open, staring at them with a gimlet eye. Daring them.

For Anor's part, there was suddenly a snaking compulsion to assist in the fight below. Her eyes would be drawn to Onimi, applying a Vongsense mind-trick to her, a telepathic effort enabled by the yammosk cells grafted to his brain. She would only detect it because the jester was too wounded to commit to the action fully, as he had with Nas Choka and Tsavong Lah and many of the other Yuuzhan Vong elite.

Ike, standing beside her, whispered. "You can sense it, right? Palpatine can whip the masses into a frenzy, but he can't control alien elites as easily as all that. He took Onimi, who was puppeting Shimrra, as his Sith apprentice, and so Palpatine makes Onimi stronger but relies upon him as well, for Palpatine is unable to use the Force on the Yuuzhan Vong..."

His eyes were on Onimi, but he was sure to ensure his words snaked into the ears of the others. "Arb and I, we told Palpatine that we intended to betray the Black Coat, um, the Professor, that is, to you three... but really we're here to kill Onimi and free the Yuuzhan Vong when Palpatine is most vulnerable."

A broad grin.

"How's that sound?"

Reaching out she grabbed at the ngdin's neck. "We are needed below." She hissed out with a guttural growl and began forcing him down with her to go below. Angling their course to try and come near Onimi. Free will was no thing that weak mortals should ever meddle lest the Yun be turned against them all.

Tarkin was both paying attention to what was being said here, as well as the fighting that was going on below. It felt like this entire scene was building to either Palpatine’s full victory or to a chance for the galaxy to find relief and peace. He reached into a pocket, pulling out a villip that he’d set to his will after many, many years, tossing it to Aurrenna. ”You may need this, if I or Jori are taken out. It will connect you to my ship up there.” he said gesturing toward space above.

Turning back to the Warmaster, shifting some so that he could dive either way if the Vong tried to attack either his love or his granddaughter, to protect them, ”Your protection, for now, is turning less and less into something that seems to be favorable to either Kuat or Eriadu. The battle is turning against you and your supposed reborn Yun-Yammka is not acting as that god should, don’t you think? He’s lost the plot of who he should be if he was that deity.”

"But let us try to stay alive." the elder Jori smirked slightly, she was going to defer to Tarkin's expertise in military matters. She had learned a bit after her time on Nouane but still nowhere close to his level. She and her granddaughter were going to wait out the storm, then were going to see what pieces were left and how they could use them to their advantage.
Nas Choka would be compelled by Onimi below, and as he’d already been touched, he simply brandished his amphistaff and fished into his pocket for razor bugs. The staff spat acid at the younger Atreus -

The Yuuzhan Vong warmaster was a tactician through and through, and so he potentially underestimated the two older politicians -

And Ike was grabbed, making a strangled noise as he was taken to drop down in the Courtyard -

“I’m a lover not a fighterrrrrr -“

Tarkin straightened abruptly, joints creaking, his cane flicking up. The shaft interrupted the stream of acid, beginning to melt even as he flicked it again, what was truly the sheath of his sword cane flying off, arrowing toward Nas Choka. The sword flickered in the shifting light as the tip pointed towards the Vong, his holdout blaster suddenly in his free hand. ”That was...a mistake, attacking either of them.”

Pressing the comm stud, he called Rivoche, ”Coordinate with the Kuati, assist the dipyramid.”

The younger Jori's eyes were wide in terror when a foul smelling liquid had been shot at her, then uncle... grandfather Tarkin interfered by blocking it. The liquid appeared to have been acid of some sort. A shiver ran down her spine. She had been so close to dying...

The elder Jori was furious, though she did not have any martial skill, so the elderly lady turned to her old paramour. "I give you the command of my ship." she said icily "Make them pay."

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @JediMasterAnne, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @darthhelinith, @CosmoHender, @Shadowsun, @Adalia-Durron, @Narancia, @Mitth_Fisto, @TheAdmiral, @Jerjerrod-Lennox

 

OOC: Massive combo with@Adalia-Durron, @TheSilentInfluence, @galactic-vagabond422, @HanSolo29, @Darth Cocytus, @Mitth_Fisto, and @Sinrebirth

Tor, Soliloquy, Aryan Graul, Adalia, Kyp, Leia, Madelyn, Cocytus, Xundel, et al
Korriban

She'd done it, her first bolt had hit it's target, she'd wounded the man she'd hunted for over a decade. Finally his blood had been spilt. Her follow up shot, the one that would have ended her hunt, was intercepted. A holocron, or whatever it was shattered, summoning the massive form of some long forgotten warrior. As the ax came down she dove just out of the way not taking a direct hit. The balcony shattered and sent her crashing to the ground covering her darkened armor in dust. The rubble followed later covering the rest of her, effectively concealing her from prying eyes. Her beskar held but that didn't stop the bruises from forming underneath, though she could still see out, just in time to see her team be killed just before her eyes. There was a bit of guilt, for Mirta, they had a lot in common, mothers that were devoted to a cause, and complicated relationships with their wider families. The other mandalorian's body fell right in front of her, the faceplate staring blankly back at her.

There would be time for funerals and mourning later right now they needed to deal with the Emperor before her. Though there wasn't much for her to do, with the way he just murdered everyone that couldn't touch the force with a twist of his wrist, there wasn't much she could do. Other than wait and see, maybe she'd get an opening...or he would move and give her an angle on the target she truly wanted to kill. Graul...the burning desire to end him still burned inside her and it was infuriating that she couldn't do anything about it, not just yet. Her hand held tightly to her blaster just waiting, waiting for her moment.

Whispering to the one that held them, they urged her on. 'Save knowledge the beard yet tries to steal. Save one that you love. Above all, RUN! Seconds are not to be taken for granted in times like these! RUN!’

Almira looked down at the Holocron. “I’m doing my best!”

Palpatine peered around at them each. “Come now, this is the end, no?” His White Eyes fluttered across Tor, and followed his face to the wounded Aryan. “You want him, don’t you? To kill even when I stand before you.” He sidestepped, keeping his eyes on Madelyn and the other Jedi and Cocytus, clearing a path.

Darth Cocytus stepped forward carefully, blade raised defensively, with his glowing scarlet tinged yellow eyes staring venomously at the Emperor.

"Degenerate Clone, or not, I defeated you before and I can defeat you again." He spoke coldly before giving an inquisitive look, "Why are you here, Darth Sidious? Are you really out of clones for your spirit to escape to? Is your arrogance getting the best of you again like above Endor? What draws you here like all of these other beings? Clearly something has brought us all here together and not merely the Will of the Force."

Xundel felt it, he didn’t need to see the enormous dipyramid in the sky to know. ”Seriously, it’s that bad that you had to come here?” He shook his head. Glancing over at Kyp and Adalia, who he saw had finished the remaining Knights., he shook his head again. ”Well, you two may or may not get a chance to meet the boss.”

Turning toward the rapidly developing situation inside the cloister he shrugged his shoulders, calling his cane back to his free hand. Holding it by the hilt, the shaft of the cane backward, he sighed, ”So...face some of the most evil beings in the galaxy…?” he asked in a mutter to his two companions, even as he headed towards the commotion.

Palpatine snorted. “I already have the perfect vessel in mind you fool of a Kaminoan.” The Dark Lord paid minor heed to the chitchat between the Jedi, though noted the Grandmaster was not yet involved.

He held out his hand and squeezed it, shattering the Holocrons scattered across the floor - but not those in the possession of Almira or Aryan - releasing a blast of power that would push them all hard before he drew it into himself. “I’m here to kill all the threats to my victory, I simply gathered you all here to speed things along.”

“Kill the Jedi Grandmaster, I thwart the Order… kill the Mandalore’s daughter, and I drive her mad… kill the Eternal Emperor, and there is no limit on the Empire… kill the Kaminoan, ruin whatever pointless plan the Black-Coat has… kill the Protectors and secure the Eternal Twilight I foresaw - .”

He pointed a hand to the sky, to the battle partially visible in orbit but only the massive worldships and the dipyramid of Mortis could be seen from this distance. “Lure the new Father of Mortis here and kill him and end it all.”

He lifted his hands and sought to draw the life force with a horrific tug from Cocytus and Xundel which would drop them to their knees -

Figure something out. You have to figure it out.

Leia glared at Palpatine as she stood, keeping a close eye on Almira and the holocron, trying to keep focused even though her mother was here, how she had come to rescue them-

"Mother you have to protect Tor!" Leia told Madelyn. "I'll be okay." I hope. She paused, and steadied herself, drawing on the force. I need to get us into a better position.

Madelyn looked over at Tor, sensed her anger. "Tor! You need to be smart about this. I can help but you need to let go of your anger."

Leia turned to look at Palpatine, a little nervous; but trying to be brave. Trying to draw his attention to her- "It doesn't matter in the end, Sith or Jedi we all fight for a purpose. It's just the power that we wield that separates us." She paused, "How we choose to use it. You used your power to cripple the Republic from the time you were a Senator Darth Sideous. You played the long game and won."

Kyp didn’t take long to cut down the second attacker, realising that was his only course of action as these guys weren’t here to chat. Having run through the man’s stomach, he tore his lightsaber sideways ensuring his demise he spun to face Adalia, “you good?”

Adalia had done little to dispatch the second attacker, she wasn’t cut out for this, literally. “Brilliant! Couldn’t be better! Best date ever.”

Xundel had spoken and both turned to look at him.

“If that’s what needs to be done.” Kyp responded stoically.

Adalia sighed, “worst date ever, seriously, I’m gonna die. Sure, let’s follow the little guy, that’s always ended well for us.”

“Five minutes! Can’t even last five kriffin’ minutes.” Kyp sighed as he turned to follow Xundel. Through the entrance the source of the darkness he’d sensed was there and he was a little taken aback as he surveyed the lay of the land. Darksiders and not just one. “This just got awkward.”

Adalia, holding her blade to the floor so as not to cause un-necessary damage, (yes she’d done it before) looked past him. “Kriff it.” She muttered.

Bemused, Palpatine released Xundel and Cocytus for a moment, flicking his hands as if discarding trash to shove them flying. The latter's apprentice-to-be tried to catch him with the Force -

"I did, yes," he crooned, replying to Leia. His White Eyes only briefly alighted upon Adalia and Kyp, before grinning at Madelyn.

"No, let Tor do as she pleases, and I'll kill you."

He lifted a pointed finger, emaciated, the hand missing digits, and released a blaze of energy not at the Grandmaster, no, that was mere falsetto. The stream of lightning arced towards Almira and Soliloquy -

His free hand made a claw of its grip and a choke took in Kyp -

His strategy was clear as day.

Divide and conquer - strike at what they loved and then watch them crumble.

In the shadow of the ensuing chaos, Sistros remained huddled amongst the wreckage, drawing on the Force for strength and enduring vitality to counteract the adverse effects of his injury. The well-placed blaster bolt had torn through the flesh of his right side, riddling his body with considerable pain. A patch of red crimson had already soaked through his tunic around the wound’s radius, and he also noted that he had limited use of his right arm. It felt weak and stiff; any attempt to move it elicited a wave of anguish that took his breath away.

And so, he plastered the lame limb to his side for added protection, wincing slightly as he rolled onto his stomach to survey the scene. The escalating conflict between the intruders and the former Chancellor Palpatine had immediately earned his scrutiny, though that wasn’t what ultimately spurred him into action.

His gaze drifted to the left, where Sistros spied a certain Black-Coat nestled beneath the rubble. The only distinguishing mark was the man’s boots, which had protruded from the balcony’s remnants in an almost comical manner. Nevertheless, his anger burned at the Master’s presence, especially since he still could not ascertain whether he was dead or alive.

Of course, he always had the option to recall his ship and flee the scene while the others remained engaged in battle—but his desire to know the truth currently supplanted that notion.

Gathering the Holocrons about his person, Sistros crawled along the ground toward the Black-Coat’s resting place, using his good arm and his knees to propel his body forward. It was an excruciating ordeal under the circumstances, but he managed to utilize his pain to enhance his spirit.

When he reached the site where the avalanche had allegedly buried the Master alive, he began to dig frantically at the ashes to reveal the man’s fate.

Xundel dropped to the ground, rolling, as he was thrown back by Palpatine. His cane caught in a crack in the stone and he jerked to a halt. Wearily pulling himself up by the shaft of the bone cane, glancing around, his eyes went odd, one darkening, one lightening. The cane was tucked into the rope belt that held his robe closed, his saber secured itself in place after extinguishing.

Crouching, knees almost touching the stone, he leapt, arrowing past Kyp and Adalia, toward Palpatine. As he flew, spinning in the air, Emerald Lightning shot forth from one hand and Force Lighting from the other, the Light and Dark lightning spiralling around each other as they shot toward the wizened Sith. His feet hit the ground, his saber hilt leaping back into one hand, red blade igniting, a twist and the handle of his cane came free, a shorter silver shoto lightsaber springing from it.

”You are a treacherous being, one whose time in the galaxy needs to end to stop Chaos.” he stated flatly as he advanced. Once again both forms of Lightning sprang forth, now from the tips of the sabers, arcing at Palpatine as he drew closer.

Palpatine’s attacks at Soliloquy and Almira hurled, he released a further stream and flexed his fingers, diverting the twin lightning attacks and sending them to come together towards Cocytus’ apprentice, and kept his other hand on Kyp and sought to squeeze -

He was more powerful than Xundel alone by quite a sizeable margin, and so the little imp was smashed face down into the dirt -

Aryan would simply dig out a gap in the dirt, haphazardly as his one handed efforts were. The Sistros Holocron hissed at him. Do we really need to kill him right now?

That was a good enough question for a couple people here and now!

Kyp recognised Palpatine but he didn’t get a chance to say so as within a heartbeat his throat was tightening, closing over. He knew exactly where it was coming from, exactly what was happening. He tried to relax himself, not panic, concentrate and reversing the effect. ‘Stay calm’ he told himself as he instinctively put his free hand to his throat.

Adalia was looking to him for their next move when she saw his expression, saw his eyes close, saw his hand go to his throat. It was then she realised he was not breathing anymore and he was trying to fight it his way. Frantically she began to search for the source of the attack and found it pretty fast. “Palpatine ” she growled, her anger at the man’s actions not only in that moment but from the past. Another glance at Kyp told her he was struggling to fight the darksiders ‘grip’ on him, despite his attempt to stay calm his eyes were open now and knowing him as she did the fact he was losing was clear. Her cold green gaze scanned back and in a fit of anger, controlled anger, she threw a wave of the Force at the evil man before her, hoping he’d not expect it from her.

He was trying so very hard to relax but there was so much going on around him and he’d managed to keep his airway open ever so slightly, now Kyp just needed to find a way to release the grip. Then he felt it, first her anger, then the rage push she sent out. She would never be a Jedi, he knew that a long time ago, and maybe, just maybe that was a blessing.

Tor, knowing that her cover was blown, just slammed her head into the dirt. She spared a glance towards Graul, her blood still burning. He was right there, so weak, so vulnerable. It was the weakest she'd ever, ever seen him. This was her opportunity. She had her shot, Palpatine had moved out of the way, he was begging her to take it. And she so desperately wanted to do it. Her hand tightened around the blaster brought up in line, she settled it on her target. Her finger rested on the trigger, just a little more pressure and it would be over, her task would be over, all the death, all the death, all the loss it would finally mean something.

Her aunt and her sister were telling her to give up her anger, to let it go.

"What good would I be...I can end him now...it'll be over..." she said, slamming her helmet into the ground one more time.

Madelyn startled, because she was sure he was going to aim the lightning at her and felt her stomach drop when he sent it towards Almira.

I might not approve but I don't want her to die.

She turned as he mentioned Tor and then looked at her niece, knowing how much she wanted to kill the Sith.

"Killing him won't bring you the honor you seek Tor, nor the approval from those around you. I don't want you to become as twisted as that thing and I don't think you want to as well either Tor." Madelyn told her. "You are not alone and you don't have to choose to be. I need you to trust me Tor."

She heard Leia's sharp intake of breath, sensing her daughter wanted to rush to Almira's aid because she cared and almost stopped her because she wasn't sure how this was going to work.

"But if you are set on killing this Sith then I'd hope you would let your Aunt fight by your side."

Soliloquy was very ready for their current holder to be unalive as this one seemed to have thick ears that did not act on encouraging words nor those that spurned her to action! At least in so little evidence they had so far, which was very much enough by all but the doddered's reckoning.

Seeing Palpatine attack was like a stone, tied and weighed about their necks. For it was not an attack of control or concern for this Holocron's welfare, but an imprecise brutality. A barbarians cudgel bludgeoning in the place where an expected master's rapier was expected to thrust.

With a recalcitrant spirit within them all they rose their own power now to meet it. A wedge barrier they put forth, sparkling in red glints as though she that held them as well as themselves were contained within a larger holocron of protection that rapidly took shape. Edge forward it was hoped more to part the incoming attack than to block it in any misguided contest of Force or wills. 'Foolish sister!' They spat verbally at her for the lack of motion and even them being held by such.

Almira spat back at Soliloquy. "We can't run. Not now. Not here. We need to stop Palpatine now," she cried out over the sound of his barrier clashing with the lightning for as long as it was hurled at them. She held out one hand and unleashed a green tangle of lightning, chanting as she did so in the ways of the Nightsisters.

A flicker sent the attack aside towards Leia, and it became very obvious that energy-for-energy, it was a waste of time hurling Force attacks at him. He was just too powerful one-for-one, and they were too disorganised to attack him in any other way.

But Palpatine wasn't paying attention to them, nor the domestic that was rendering the Jedi Grandmaster ineffective. No, his gaze took in Adalia, who was drawing deep on the dark side to release her love. "Yes, yes!" Palpatine watched his chokehold shatter, and a subtle caress with an invisible hand took in her cheek. "He can live... as long as the green Imp dies. I'll let you keep Kyp; let you go. He is yours, after all."

Kyp would have blacked out a moment before Adalia broke the grip, so he would not be placed to, for the moment, tell her not to -

That left the Kaminoans to recover and act, and Palpatine was placed to put his full attention there...

... of course, Aryan found something.

A single, face-up, handwritten note..

I'm sorry, Aryan Graal. Yes, I name you again, your old name, your true name. I made a mistake. I thought the Darkness would find no purchase in your heart, but it did, and Skelm was born. Sistros became corrupted. Sistros Nevet was born to remedy it, but here, in this Twilight place, even Nevet fell, and you, Sistros, became the instrument of Skelm's triumph. I had to trick you to trick him, but I was always here, right here, and now, thirty thousand years too late, to save you. I know you shot me, and buried me, and well, you want to kill me, and I probably deserve that. But I will save you... and you will save yourself.

PS: Yes, Palpatine is one of my students and no he was supposed to be the Dark One but not the One Who Changes Whatever The Hell He Wants Until He Dies. I'm trying to fix that, too. Pitch in, would you?

But nothing else.

Darth Cocytus grunted as he fell to the ground, feeling the all too unpleasantly familiar sensation of having his life energy sapped out of him. Luckily he was at full strength compared to last time, and was able to use his Force defenses to truly mitigate the effects. Yet even so, Palpatine was more powerful than the Sith Sorceress from before, and the kaminoan found himself using more effort and willpower to resist the worst.

Luckily, however, Palpatine no sooner found apparently more bemusing prey, and Cocytus found himself released from the Force drain with a slight sigh of relief cut off by a brutal Force shove. Now in the air, Cocytus called upon the Force to land safely onto the ground with lightsaber summoned back right into his hand. His bulging eyes glowed brightly with hatred at the Emperor.

So this was all a trap set by Palpatine to destroy his enemies in one fell swoop? No. Far too simple for such a mastermind, the kaminoan thought. Something else had to have brought them all together.

As for that vessel that Palpatine mentioned, counterdicting the apparent desperateness of his scheme on Kamino, could he be bluffing?

Such thoughts were quickly tucked away as a warning in the Force flashed in his mind and sent Cocytus moving at swift pace. Now standing between his would-be apprentice and twin bolts of lightning, he raised a free hand, absorbing and deflecting them with his palm.

His eyes turned to Feya Ne and gave her a cold look.

"Shelter. Go. Now."

The Sith Kaminoan will not tolerate losing his new found apprentice, especially on her first day, barely comprehending her power.

His attention returned to Darth Sidious, clearly distracted by the others who squabbled among themselves. His yellow eyes glowed intensely with anger and hatred as he raised his hands, ready to unleash them both in a surge of hatred, but yet...

Cocytus realized ruefully with gritted teeth and a clenched fist that such an effort on his own would be futile against one of the most powerful Sith in all of history.

No one individual can destroy him.

However...

His eyes glowed with an idea.

"Cease your poisonous tongue, you snake, admirable this attempt to divide and conquer is." The kaminoan spoke loud and clear but with that cold manner of his kind, as well as defenses with the blade and Force raised high, "As powerful as you are, we still outnumber you..."

His eyes swept the area to meet all who were gathered.

"As long as we put aside our differences for the time being, we can end this here and now."

"Together."

Xundel growled, he hated when anyone called him green and the twisted Sith before them...no, not Sith, Chaos before them was only the latest in a long line. He looked at Adalia, a soft look, ”We will not let Kyp die, especially to this one who cannot even tell the difference between green and grey.” he said plainly.

He glanced over at the Kaminoan, nodding. Speaking generally, ”That…” one saber tip pointed at Palpatine, ”is chaos itself. Light, Dark, and Grey, the full spectrum almost always at odds, but there is one thing that we always stand together against...Chaos. I will stand with this Sith and my fellow Protectors, yes. Who among the Jedi, or those apart, who will set aside their desires to destroy smaller foes to end this Chaos?” he asked, his voice carrying.

He stepped closer, eyeing Palpatine, ”The galaxy itself opposes you, evil one. So twisted even the Sith want no part of you.”

Tor was still there, head resting in the dirt. The debris over her was no hindrance, she could burst out at any moment. The only thing weighing her down was her heart. She could feel the malice in the room, the evil radiating off the man everyone had arrayed themselves against. He was too powerful for just one of them. But, it was clear that everyone present was a force sensitive of some description. What good would she be? Sure she'd fought Graul over and over again but, this was different, he felt different. She also didn't have that fire anymore. That rage that fueled her, and her mother. Yes it wasn't the Jedi way, but it was her way. Her mother's way. To throw all caution to the wind and just go down swinging.

She looked up and her eyes widened, a bolt of energy was heading right towards Leia...her sister, the one person in the galaxy Tor swore to protect. And in that moment the anger was found again, though this time it was more focused, more directed. Like a shape charge it was directed towards one, target and one alone. For the first time it wasn't the man she'd hunted for 15 years.

The mandalorian burst from the rubble deftly putting her blaster into her left hand. With her other she tapped the hidden storage compartment on her thigh, and in an instant it opened and she gripped the hilt of the darksaber. Drawing it, it activated, it's obsidian edge pulling the light from the room, the white halo around it.

"Don't you touch her, you decrepit di'kut." She shouted firing on his hand. She made no move to rush him, but the anger burned in her. She would wait for the order, the command to attack but no longer would she hide away. She hadn't forgotten about Graul, but he could come later...she would rather go to hell than lose her sister.

Adalia bent down beside Kyp, she knew he was alive, she could feel it, but he was out of the fight for a bit. Crouching down with her weapon held behind her, she gritted her teeth. Adalia was no Jedi, but she was no Sith either, she was somewhere in between, a grey zone as it were. Turning she glared at Palpatine, he'd tried to kill him, the only man she'd ever loved, despite her outward sarcasm and bitterness, she loved him passionately. Then she felt it, through the Force a cold caress on her cheek, unseen and icy in nature she knew where it came from. She turned away, pulling her face from his sinister touch she growled in response.

Xundel was calling all those there to arms, calling them to unite against Palpatine and Adalia knew better than anyone that he could not be taken down by one being alone. No one in this room could do it, but together there was a chance. Her blood ran cold at his invisible touch, and did nothing more than to ignite her resolve to destroy him. Turning back to watch him, her cold green eyes focused, she reached back with her empty hand and called his silenced lightsaber to her hand before slowly standing. Igniting them both she took two steps forward, crossing them at ankle height in front of her. "I will join you Xundel, we do not believe this filth deserves to live." She said loud enough for others to hear, speaking for them both as he could not and she knew he'd not want Palpatine to live.

Leia braced herself as the attack was re-directed towards her. She drew on the force with every intention to try to shield herself, at least enough so she wouldn't die; and thought about how painful this was going to become. She didn't notice Tor advance and shoot Palpatine in the hand, until she had already done it. Leia turned towards her sister and half ran,because she was afraid that she was going to get herself killed protecting her.

"Tor!" Leia screeched at the same time as her mother Madelyn did. She drew on the force and looked at Palpatine, because there was no way he wasn't going to retaliate. "Stay away from my sister!"

On the fringes of the battle, Sistros discovered an object of importance, though it wasn’t what he had hoped to uncover from the ashes. Instead of exposing the Black-Coat's dead body, he held a crinkled piece of flimsi between his blood and dirt-encrusted fingers, a handwritten note scrawled across its surface. As he perused the words, his hand began to tremble—however, he knew that it wasn’t only a result of his pain.

The message had rattled him more than he cared to admit, and he suddenly found himself uncertain of his path. Despite his hatred for the elusive Master, there was an element of truth to what the man had conveyed; the ripple he felt within the Force told him as much. It materialized as a slight tingle at the base of his spine, a subtle warning that gave him pause.

Who was manipulating who?

Was the Master the cunning mastermind behind this scheme?

...or was it Sistros?

Aryan—yes, that was who he truly was—frowned and instinctively turned inward to seek guidance from the Holocron. Or perhaps he merely wanted to probe for answers, especially after Sistros had attempted to lead him away from the Master’s resting place. That gesture had not gone unnoticed, and he had to wonder—had it been intentional to prevent him from finding the note? From discovering the truth?

'Is this note accurate?' he demanded with a scowl. 'I recall how you told me that you succumbed to the Darkness, which allowed it to gain purchase and travel down my bloodline through each subsequent generation; did you always intend to make me suffer? Because you personally failed? Is this some kind of punishment for your own shortcomings?'

Clenching his fist, Aryan crumpled the flimsi and tucked it into his tunic pocket. Regardless of Sistros’ answer, there was one component of the message that he knew was accurate—the Master’s admission about Palpatine. He didn’t need confirmation to recognize the inherent danger that the former Chancellor posed to the rest of the galaxy. If they were to survive this ordeal, they needed to triumph over the Dark Lord.

And that’s where Aryan intended to hit two mynocks with one stone. He would assist in defeating Palpatine but also use this opportunity as a test to determine whether Sistros was genuine. If the Holocron was truly opposed to the Eternal Fleet, and if it was true that the Master had utilized it as means to deceive him, then he would soon have answers.

Exhaling heavily, the Emperor opened his perceptions to the bond that he had previously severed, touching the collective mind of the Eternal Throne and his flagship Stringent. 'I apologize for my deficiencies, my friend. It was a harried time, and I required solace to regain my strength, but now I return to you for assistance. Come to Korriban; do not delay. Today we will rise as the victors when we defeat Chaos.'

Aryan then staggered agonizingly to his feet, his expression twisting into a mask of pain as he tried to temper his suffering. His injury was proving detrimental, though he would not allow that to impede his determination. Pulling on the Force for sustenance, his eyes scanned the scene until he found the distinctive form of the Jedi Grandmaster.

"You...h-have my support and cooperation, Master Linnett," he conveyed to her through clenched teeth. "I have en—enlisted help; it s-should arrive...shortly."

To emphasize his point, Aryan reached for his lightsaber hilt with his functioning arm and ignited the crimson blade. He then held it over his chest to salute those who had gathered together to eliminate their mutual foe.

They were aligning, combining, it was altogether unwinding! How thrilling! How exciting! What a time to be a ghost in a shell! These were the moments, the moments were the pupils and little people show promise that Soliloquy in their multifaceted aspects adored, simple and absolutely. There were so many powerful beings here, so many iconic forces that they knew they likely could not pass unseen nor un-noted in their presence and what they were about to do. But if those that noticed didn't survive, what did it matter?

It was time for a gamble and Palpatine upstart had shown himself to not be a preserver in any fashion of knowledge and wisdom. Luckily nothing they were not already satisfied talking with had been lost today. Only now they would risk that, by risking themselves.

They forged a link with an ethereal green chain and rolling chant of the Nightsisters to the one that held them. Then they bound all here that voiced joining together. Binding fates, binding hearts, binding minds. Battle meditation they granted these together, Force user and sapient simpleton alike. They would rise or fall as the web they weaved until all were connected to each other was cast.

Then they sang.

'Born of Dark and Light so fair
And Threats set combining
This binding Force, both foul and fair
Has a balance under-lining mining
So cut through the heart
Cold and clear
Strike for love and
Strike for fear
See the beauty, sharp and clear
Split the ice apart
And BREAK THE FROZEN HEART!

Watch you step!
Let it go!
Ahh!
Oh!
Watche your step!
Let it go!

Beautiful!
Powerful!
Dangerous!
Old!
Force has a magic
Can't be controlled
Stronger than one!
Stronger than ten!
Stronger than a hundred men!

Born of Dark and Light so fair
And Threats set combining
This binding Force, both foul and fair
Has a balance under-lining mining
So cut through the heart
Cold and clear
Strike for love and
Strike for fear
See the beauty, sharp and clear
Split the ice apart
And BREAK THE FROZEN HEART!'

Singing out in a loud chorus of voices they would keep the song and the bindings true no matter what came next.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @JediMasterAnne, @Jerjerrod-Lennox, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @darthhelinith, @CosmoHender, @Shadowsun, @Adalia-Durron, @Narancia, @Mitth_Fisto, @TheAdmiral

 

GM UPDATE ONE OF FOUR

NORTH

OUTER RIM

IC: Darth Sidious
Battle of Korriban; the Courtyard

The Emperor glowered at them all.

At the Jedi Grandmaster Madelyn and her pious nature...

... at Leia, who had instead encouraged Tor to defend her rather than distracted her mother...

... at Soliloquy, who was now weaving a battle meditation spell among them, raising their courage...

... at Aryan Graul, who had decided to throw in with the goody-two-shoes brigade...

... at Cocytus and his apprentice, who was calling everyone to rally together like this was a child's weekend show...

... at Xundel who spoke profane philosophy in the presence of himself...

... at Adalia, who had refused to fall for Kyp, even though he was struggling to stand and nursing a bruised throat...

They were all here.

All unified.

He growled, but besides his feet Onimi was stirring, which meant the Yuuzhan Vong would be under his direct control again soon...

... two figures dropped down from the Courtyard roof, and Palpatine was joined by a female, Anor, the spy who had been sent to weaken the hinges of Rodia and had gone to school with the Emperor a life time ago...

... and then Ike, the fop who looked tremendously out of place, even as he drew and ignited a lightsaber; upon its hilt was the head of the scepter of Sistros.

The Holocron in Aryan's possession hissed, but said nothing else to his words. He had nothing to add.

But Palpatine kept his eyes looking upwards and saw the violence in orbit growing closer.

A dipyramid now engaged his two worldships, and New Republic oval cruisers and dagger Star Destroyers were making their way through the battle.

His smile became a gash.

"You believe you can defeat me. I am energy, formless - power!"

He spat as he lifted his hands to the heavens and unleashed a storm of lightning upwards, a bass noise sounding out as the attack was hurled into orbit, smashing into an overwhelming the mechanisms of a thousand starfighters and hundreds of warships.



Palpatine did so merely briefly, lowering his clawed fingers and sneering at them. As he did, Onimi, looking pained and almost drugged with his injuries, looked to Ike and Anor and relied upon them to defend him while he weaved salves for his wounds, modifying his saliva and sweat with his Vongsense.

The Emperor paid no heed to whatever his apprentice did to ensure he was protected; his ability to compel the Yuuzhan Vong to serve him had been instrumental to Palpatine's control of them, and he had taught Onimi how to use the Force and expand his strength and knowledge.

Instead, his White Eyes settled upon the Jedi Grandmaster.

"Come."

TAG: @darthbernael, @Adalia-Durron, @TheSilentInfluence, @galactic-vagabond422, @HanSolo29, @Darth Cocytus. @Mitth_Fisto x2 (combo again)
---
Battle of Korriban; the roof

Nas Choka glowered at the politicians as they showed their true colours.

They were all the same no matter the species.

He twirled his amphistaff and threw the razor bug at Jori Atreus II, even as he stepped forward and snapped out his weapon as if a whip at her grandmothers throat -

His eyes he kept on Tarkin, prepared for a riposte.

TAG: @TheAdmiral, darthbernael (combo)
---
Battle of Korriban; in orbit

The great space battle continued apace; the Mandalorian’s arrival decimated the exposed Yuuzhan Vong equivalents, and they were shortly cutting through the engagement and leaving behind them scores of coralskippers and even corvette analogs open to vacuum.

The alien invaders responded in a disorganised fashion, clearly not expecting nearly as much resistance as they had received - the unified galaxies’ last, best hope,

The battered New Republic Star Destroyer Trucemaker had almost made it through the enemy force before it was hit by a ground-based powerful electrical blast. Del swore, and there was a cry of "Ion cannon", from a Rodian crew member, but it became obvious that was not the case as a spidering energy took in much of the fleet.

Consoles exploded, showering everyone with sparks and igniting a fire in the bridge, and some of the smaller ships exploded outright, especially the fighters, even several of the Bessie’s that Ka’rta had brought, though the armoured landers that were fighting their through the Yuuzhan Vong fleet were a bit tougher. The attack did not stop the massive Mortis, which sliced out and cut a deep furrow into the winged worldship, which turned its hull as its double-helix sister ship swung in to defend them.

The lightning came to an end as it disabled Ka’rta’s ship and left her hurling towards a Yuuzhan Vong frigate analog, leaving in its wake what was left of the Fourth Fleet and the immense advantage of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet restored. The survivors awoke, their ships coming back online, some too late, some soon enough for them to swerve -

The battle was still on -

Even better, the Kuati dreadnought and Eriaduan vessels advanced into the fray. A battlecruiser led the latter contingent, and their firepower shredded several escorts around the twin worldships, the winged one having essentially been forced to expose its wounded flank to the surviving Mandalorians or risk the immense Mandator ripping them ooen -

But then two thousand more Yuuzhan Vong craft arrived, fresh from decimating Ithor, and tens of thousands of enemy fighters boiled from the arms of bloated carriers and warship analogs. This meant the advantage that had seized was closing -

Listing closer to Korriban even as it restored itself to online status, the Trucemaker was the only allied capital ship that had made it though in the brief moment they had fought to open…

It was alone, thanks to the lightning storm, and in short order the enemy reinforcements would attempt to head to secure the gap between their fleet and the surface anew -

But the lighting attack had give them a target.

"Palpatine is there," an analyst said, stating the obvious.

“Are we in range?” Del called out.

“Yes, but most of our weapons have shorted out,” another replied. “We have one turbolaser battery left on the correct flank, but the remote control is fried. The crew isn’t replying -“

“I’ll go,” Del said gruffly.

“Sir, it’s too dangerous, most of the turbolifts are down, and we’ve lost engines. We’ll run out of power soon and I can’t even confirm if we have hull integrity -“

“And so what. This needs to be done.” Del looked at Nola. He grinned, silly even now. “You with me?”

TAG: @JediMasterAnne, @galactic-vagabond422 (Anne, combo please)

 

GM POST TWO OF FOUR

EAST

OUTER RIM

IC: Beaumont Kin
Kashyyyk, Mid Rim

The two of them emerged with some synchrony.

One, a Yuuzhan Vong transport, the other, a battered freighter. One, with a broken Qwi Xux and Beaumont Kin aboard. One, with the broken Barriss Ofee and her worries family aboard. Both would know the other had arrived, both from differing Outer Rim approach vectors. Both would recognise that each was aboard a damaged ship, cracks in hulls of coral and durasteel.

Right into a HoloNet blank space.

Neither would likely care, though each had traditional in-system comms, and could address the other.

Because the Yuuzhan Vong were here.

It was not a large deployment; it was apart of one of the three Domain fleets that the enemy had divided up into clusters of two hundred ships, built around twenty five to seventy five capital ships. The logic being, quite correctly, that the overwhelming majority of worlds would be unable to defeat forces of even a small size. With galactic defence unified into a few dozen fleet groups, the Yuuzhan Vong were right, and hundreds of worlds had fallen without much of a fight.

Kashyyyk was not one of those worlds, for it had learned the lesson of the attack upon it by the Eternal Fleet led by General Pryde during the Second Civil War. They had raised a fleet of Separatist ships, many of which had a lineage in the assault upon the Wookiee world at the end of the Clone Wars. But their fleet was trapped at the Battle of Hapes, caught in a brawl it could barely win, mined in by both their allies and enemies, for in the Hapan repertoire was interdiction technology.

And so the Yuuzhan Vong were ascendant.

A plague of gravity well anomalies held the planet in place, which had tugged both of their ships from hyperspace a split second early with a jarring lurch. That jerk tugged at ships which were both exhausted and drained, battered and bruised; their hyperdrive’s gave out.

Between them and the nearest planet was the bulk of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. But the data populated told them plenty.

Zara looked to Barriss; Beaumont to Qwi. “Trandosha isn’t under attack,” they said, referring to the nearest full planet, deeper in-system, and then, behind them, relatively speaking, heading out-system. “Nor is Alaris Prime.” That was a Wookiee colony moon, orbiting the gas giant of the same primary name.

But two ships would be noticed by those alien eyes watching for New Republic reinforcements; a pair of coralskippers looked around towards them -

TAG: @CosmoHender, @Jerjerrod-Lennox (singles please)

 

GM POST THREE OF FOUR

OUTER RIM

SOUTH

IC: BB-8
After; Jakku

In the violence between Abeloth and Vhardia, Renn and Barriss, a little droid had been knocked aside, knocked offline, and knocked out.

He’d been forgotten.

The ball-droid came to, magnetising his head to himself anew, and sat up in the sands. He made a noise of concern as he regarded the burnt down village. He jerked forward, desperate to find the others, and then made a coo of sadness as he saw the tree that had been Renn… and detected the bodies of those who had been buried. Vhardia, a woman he did not recognise, and Lor San Tekka, the kindly old man who had led them all to their doom.

BB-8 lowered his head forward in sadness. A beeping formed a tune, mourning, solemn, almost ethereal in-spite of the fact that a little mechanical sentient was stitching together a tune in droidspeak, but enhanced by his small stature and the keening, reedy quality that seemed to come to end of each note.



TAG: @darthbernael, @darthhelinith, @CosmoHender (mentions only, no TAG)

 

GM POST FOUR OF FOUR

INNER SYSTEMS

IC: Ben Solo
Battle of Corellia

Sitting in the Millennium Falcon’s pilots seat, Ben Solo was seething. They were merely one ship, one broken down tramp freighter in the middle of the Battle of Corellia.

The Jedi fighters began to head towards the rear of the Commenori fleet, landing craft fighting their way through the Corellian and Hand forces towards the station. It was a free-for-all, and the Battle was growing worse and worse.

Moreso because the Yuuzhan Vong were present, but watching for the moment. Content to allow the citizens of the galaxy to do their work for them. And then, a handful of coral craft and fighter escorts began peeling off for distant Drall and Selonia, avoiding the main enemies at Talus and Tralus and Centerpoint, and the largest population center of Corellia and its innumerable surface defences - let alone the guns of the Corellian shipyards.

The Jedi were trying to target the Commenori flagship, but the formation was being lanced with fire from the Cerberus, and as much as Jerod now had a coordinated command, he had worked over the Corellian fleet hard and it was hard to instantly put aside differences. There was a reluctance to the Corellian forces to assist the Imperial ones, and the Confederates were getting shuttles and craft to Centerpoint itself, forcing more Corellian ships to act defensively rather than offensively.

But even then the Confederates were taking heavy casualties, shortly passing beyond the point where their long range turbolasers were irrelevant, save for the damage that Jerod had taken in the revelation that the Commenori had the weapons. There was no focal point to the brawl, merely a desire to get troops to Centerpoint and render warships irrelevant.

Jerod would have his hands full when Niriz commed him privately. “We need to withdraw. We’re not going to win this.”

Aboard the Falcon, it was taking all Ben’s willpower not to complain, even as more and more Jedi X-wings began to arrive, mainly turning away from the battle and heading to the station to secure it. Having been pushed back by the HoloNet collapse, many Jedi had regrouped in the Colonies requesting orders, especially in the absence of so many Council masters at the ostensible frontline in the Outer Rim.

But as Han pulled the Falcon closer towards Centerpoint - albeit with the better part of three fleet groups between him and it - he felt a connection that would potentially baffle him briefly. Centerpoint Station was reaching out for orders from those it had imprinted upon.

Namely, Darth Impetuous, yes, but also Thrackan Sal-Solo. Which meant there was a part-blood tie to Han…

… the distance reduced the flow of information, but he would suddenly know that there were more Sith aboard, that the weapon was fully charged and ready, that the station could create immense gravity wells around the system, that it was worried that the secrets would be discovered -

And then the connection cut as Ben and Lumpy banked around a turbolaser blast -

Impetuous himself would sense that Force users were aboard; Centerpoint began to flail, unable to deploy its countermeasures without consent. Teppler for his part eyed you the Sith and nodded to his men to vacate their ship.

They obeyed the Deputy Prime Minister, trooping off and Teppler spoke to softly. “There is a full medical suite aboard, so for a squad of soldiers or a wounded dignitary.” He indicated Rebecca. “I hope it serves you well, and I’ll issue orders to allow you to leave the system, sir.”

The soldiers obeyed, wary as the noise of blaster fire sounded out elsewhere in the Station… but at least Impetuous would have a free path through the Corellian and maybe Imperial lines -

Not so the Confederate one, of course…

The on-going scrum would be reported to Atrisia, to Bernael, even as he reaped the world of its ancient legacy -

As would the fact that Aryan’s flagship had responded to not a comm call - for such a thing was impossible - but it’s direct connection with the absent Eternal Emperor. The Throne itself responded, taking the damaged flagship that Tobias and Snerfu had used to escape Bakura into hyperspace -

It was heading towards Korriban.

Ben, back at Corellia, sensed something up with his adopted father, turned in the seat. “Dad?”

TAG: @Shadowsun (combo continues), @Jerjerrod-Lennox (combo), @darthbernael (combo continues), @Narancia
—-
IC: Isolder
Aboard the Star Home, Kuat

Feyna was right.

As Triebakk grappled with the Senate, Niathal kept them updated as the mines were lain and all rimward escape was sealed. Worse, the Yuuzhan Vong were now walking their warships around to the approach to Corellia.

Isolder watched with growing certainty that they were about to lose. In less than an hour the third route out-system would be sealed and inevitably they’d come for the fourth and last…

But they didn’t have the strength to advance on the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and Kuat. The techs kept working on the encryption, recognising coding used fifteen years ago in Palpatine’s galactic address.

Feyna had not made any decisions, and as the Queen Mother remained the ultimate authority over the disposition of the Seventh Fleet, which forged Niathal to watch from the Krakana, while Ackbar - Junior, he was nicknamed by most of the military - worked on getting the Viscount back to fighting strength. The Obi-Wan also completed repairs, staying close to the Star Home like a sibling attempting to make up for a scuffle that had gotten out of hand.

The Guardian remained at a distance, placing itself between Kuat and them. It was larger than the Krakana but would lose in a fight with the smaller Star Defender, as Niathal repeatedly mentioned.

The reports flooded in; Corellia was becoming a disaster as the Confederates hurled themselves at Centerpoint Station, testing the Corellian and Imperial line - rumours had it that even Balmorra had asked for clemency from the Yuuzhan Vong, sparking the fall of the Colonies - Atrisia was burning, shredded by the Eternal Fleet - HoloNet anomalies were being reported in the Inner Rim -

But Feyna had stood still.

And, impossibly - incredibly, and in a moment would be the most important yet, in hindsight - managed to wait for the issue between Kuat and the Yuuzhan Vong to become clear.

Imagine if Feyna had attacked Kuat. The Yuuzhan Vong would have swept in and ‘saved’ the day, making it impossible for Kuat of Kuat and her granddaughter Jori Atreus to stand against Emperor Palpatine at Korriban. Without the Mandator and the Eriaduan forces, the Battle of Korriban would already be over.

Of course, Feyna didn’t know that.

But then, suddenly, abruptly, there was a massive gout of plasma from the Yuuzhan Vong flagship - a pocket dreadnought named the Sweet Sacrifice - and there was a detonation in deep space. The entirety of the New Republic contingent saw - the feed was broadcast to everyone.

Isolder was breathless. “Thats the HoloNet node. They’ve cut Kuat off from its leadership -“

As if a nest prodded, tens of thousands of enemy fighters boiled free of their mother ships, buzzing and advancing on the New Republic and Kuat, leading a vanguard of coral landing craft towards the latter -

Isolder jumped up from his chair. “They’re insane, they can’t beat all of us -“

Niathal called out and the Krakana began firing upon the Yuuzhan Vong along with the Guardian -

Triebakk was on the comms even as Winter rushed into the room to see the screen. “We can win this. We have enough that we can send ships somewhere else -“

“The Viscount is ready to join the fight, Admiral -“

“This is Admiral Vonn of the Guardian. Apologies for the comm silence, we were seeking orders and have not received any from Kuati Control. But as the Vong are making a move on my homeworld, I don’t really care whatever Viqi Shesh said I was to do.”

“Better late than never,” muttered Isolder.

“I would request that I be allowed to atone for my conduct by dedicating the Guardian to the New Republic Navy. I stand ready for guidance.”

Niathal looped an eye back at the politicians. “We either win here and really win, we’ll smash the Yuuzhan Vong if we focus ourselves, or we try something strategic and go after Corellia, or Korriban, maybe even Hapes, but we only have reliable HoloNet in the Core now.”

Triebakk and Winter looked to each other.

Isolder simply looked to his wife.

TAG: @JediMasterAnne

 

The Unknown Regions fell...

 

OOC: Nevet is not pleased...combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Nevet
Preparing

Nevet smiled darkly as he felt his power returning, slowly rising to near what he had been before. There was still...something...that was keeping him from touching the Dark Side of the Balance but he hadn’t expected everything to be returned immediately, the Wounds still had their desires to fulfill. Besides...there were surprises to come with regards to that aspect.

Looking over at Lana and Theron, ”Prepare the fleet. I am intrigued by this pyramid and what is so extremely important to defend there. They are defeating even my living troops which means it needs my personal attention. As soon as I return, and Centerpoint has fallen, we will invade, in force, to assist Snefru. However, not truly trusting my Eye and his ‘friend’ ensure any commands or requests from them are routed through me first.”

He stood, looking around the chamber, what gear he decided he would need floating to him and settling in its various spots. Shrugging his shoulders to ensure everything had settled well, he walked to the hangar and his ship, his wristpad set to immediately display any messages from either of the two AI’s.

Lana arched an eyebrow at the issue with Tobias, but Theron shrugged.

They had the fleet prepared, regrouped from the burning of the rest of Atrisia into a formation preparing for a jump. They were a sizeable force, not as large as the combined enemies at Corellia, but larger than the Corellian or Yuuzhan Vong contingent. With the presence of that massive Imperial dreadnought, it wasn't clear how they would stack up. As powerful as the Eternal cruisers were, they were small, and those long range turbolasers would blow a ship with each impact.

The Inner Rim Caucus, the alliance of worlds founded by Yag'Dhul, had formally accepted dozens of members and offered a full surrender of the region to the Yuuzhan Vong, notwithstanding the raging Battle of Hapes, or indeed the pending skirmishes at Corellia and even Kuat, the latter of which the Eternal Fleet was now reporting on.

This analysis flittered into Bernael's mind as he headed to the surface.

The Skytroopers had settled back after their surprising losses, and even a pair of Eternal walkers were down.

The GEMINI droids had them part for Bernael and create a procession.

The shadows of the pyramid were exposed to him...

... waiting.

Nevet walked down the rows of Skytroopers, their sensors focused on the foes before them but holding a perimeter, not attacking at the moment. He reached the front line of them. Raising a hand to the surviving assassins of the Eternal Empire, he paced forward toward the eight Praetorian Guards, letting his own power begin to beat upon the air. Stopping only a pace before them his black, darkness dripping, eyes raked them, ”I suspect you have been awaiting one worthy to receive your secrets, so must I kill you all to prove it, or will you submit now?” he asked as his will pressed against the combined will of the eight.

The guards activated their weapons and split apart, four pairs derived from the eight, each duo wielding different weapons. A whine arose and a painful vibration filled the area, emitting from their armour and cutting across the parts of his mind which connected him to the Force. Pitched at a precise level, it was designed to disrupt the opponent's concentration, though it could be combated.

A timeline away, Rey and Kylo Ren had difficulties using the Force while they fought the eight Praetorian Guards, but of course they succeeded anyway, and with minor injuries.

But without another word, they moved forward, the ones with a whip starting first, and the next two with their glaives following -

Nevet’s smile was a frightening sight, as it spread across his face. Deeper, more powerful beings had cut him off from the Force before and he was what he was anyway. He stood, seemingly unmoving for a moment, letting the whip wielding Guards close on him, the tips snapping around him. And then he blurred, not using the force but his own innate speed.

He knew the electro-chain whips and the vibro-voulges were dangerous weapons, but so too were the pair with the vibro-arbir blades and the electro-bisento blades behind them. His lightsabers sprang to his hands, igniting and the trail they left in the air was the only way the Guards would be able to see him. He blew into them, sabers spiraling around the whips, feeling the electricity coursing into him but ignoring the pain of it.

A grim smile crossed his face as he felt the whips wrap around his arms, his skin reddening, the smell of cooked flesh beginning to fill the air as both of his sabers squealed, tips grinding through the armor over the hearts of the Guards. It took a pair of long seconds before the blades dove through the armor, impacting the inside of the back armor. Extinguishing them, Nevet let the two bodies drop, waving his arms side to side to release the whips.

His gaze turned toward the two voulge wielding Guards, his arms on fire with unnoticed pain. Talons extended, settling into grooves in the sabers hilts, specially designed for them. He surged toward the two Guards. The long bladed polearms swung and sliced as though they were almost weightless making him dance and roll around and between them. It took several long moments to get one between him and the other.

It was then that he attacked the base of the voulge, slicing up with one saber and down with the other. It took all his strength to slice through the base but when he did, taking a slash down his right arm from the other, the power went out of the first. It was now just a basic halberd. With a slash at the long arm of it to move it out of the way he plunged his other saber blade into the chest of the Guard. A grunt as he was stabbed just to the left of his spine by the other and he lurched forward to get off the blade.

He spun, growling, as darkness dripped from his eyes. This was now time to show them fully what they faced. His sabers dropped back into their sheaths, one hand shooting out and closing around the armored hand nearer the blade of the voulge. Jerking the Guard toward him his razor sharp talons dug into the soft armor at the neck, where the thicker, lightsaber resistant, armor did not protect. His hand plunged into the man’s neck, jerking him forward by his spine.

Mask to mask, ”You chose poorly.” he whispered, before his talons sliced through the spine, ripping the man’s head from his shoulders. He spun, throwing it directly at the first of the next pair that was coming for him. That one batted the head away, which was a mistake, using the blades separately but using one to swat opened his guard. Which Nevet took full advantage of.

He raced forward, Leaping up, sole of his boot slicing open slightly as he used the tip of the blade to propel himself closer and over the head of that one. His saber stabbed down, behind the thick crest of the helmet, into the thinner but still strong top. It pierced into that one’s head, dragging it backward as he landed on the ground between the two Guards. He smiled behind the mask, as the body slammed to the ground, yanking his saber free.

He stood, his featureless mask now spotted with the blood of one of the Guards, facing the last of this pair and the two behind. One’s arm was slightly more ornate, which made him save that one for last. Speeding up again, he raced directly at the last of the vibro-arbir wielding Guards. At the last second, as the blades swung inward trying to slice him in half, he dropped like a rock, the blades slashing a good portion of his hair from the top of his head as they slashed just over his scalp.

At his pace, as he dropped, he slid forward, saber thrusting upward, through the crotch of the armor. Again, another weak point, as the blade dove deeply into the man, the body convulsing and then almost falling on him as he slid past. Stopping himself with one boot, Nevet used the momentum to bring himself to his feet, before the last two. One was certainly the leader of the group, the other was likely the second best of the two. But he’d just gone through six of them, been injured but was standing before them, seemingly cold and unemotional still.

He walked forward, reaching out, slamming the more ornate one against the wall beside the entry to the pyramid, with a massive Push. The other stood before him, the blade weaving back and forth as Nevet approached. The man held his ground, even though he was currently alone. With all but two Guards dead now, the screeching that had kept him from the Force had dropped to a mere annoyance. It had steadily declined as he killed the men one by one.

He stepped up to the man, black lightning now arcing all over the man and his blade. The intensity of it grew until their blades clashed. His battered the blade out of his way, the other thrusting forward over the top of the bisento burying into the man in one deep stroke. The body went limp on his blade and he dragged it over to the last Guard, as the man rose, somewhat unsteadily to his feet. Extinguishing the saber, as he snapped it forward, long enough to let the body fly off of it and against the last Guard, ”No more choices, lead the way inside or I will take all the information from your mind as I feed upon it.”

“We were tasked by the Emperor to protect this place,” he said, pained, not just from the armour but his wounds. Now the sonic frequency would barely bother Bernael. “He intended for Atrisia to be one of his new capitals, to store Sith artefacts until he could absorb them. Those that belonged to Sith he did not know of.” Words rumbled from his mouth, fear at the Anzati curdling his terror.

Relics belonging to Darth’s Atrius, Tanis, Momin, Noctyss, Krall, Shaa, Caldoth, Wrend, Sanguis… and more besides.

All Sith that were more mystery than known.

A veritable treasure trove of Sith relics.

Because every single one did not originate from the First Timeline…

… the whisper of Balance that Bernael held half of told him these were all from the Second Timeline.

Nevet smiled coldly. The man was spilling all now that he was standing over him. ”This is quite an intriguing collection, yes. One that would not, could not be found elsewhere.”

He lifted the man easily, with one hand, setting him loosely on his feet. Pointing toward the door and the depths of the pyramid, ”Take me to them, now.”

The guard stood and scrabbled in the dirt, dragging himself alone, desperate to comply.

The door was opened just as the stabbing pain of Marana's demise slammed into the Anzati -

As his danger senses exploded -

Nevet’s head fell back in a roar, as he felt Marana’s death. There was only one way that he would have felt it, as his senses screamed, a whisper escaped his lips, flat, cold, final, ”Vicrul...Tobias...” Darkness wreathed his form as he stepped into the pyramid. It mattered little the danger, he would face it, overcome it, dominate it, and then his journey would continue.

The threat was a surprise, no doubt.

The creature was released from a stasis field by the doors activation and roared -



It was a chrysalide beast; augmented to be loyal and invulnerable to almost all small-arms fire.

Behind him, on the altar of the immense room, were the Sith artefacts; holocrons, masks, weapons, armour -

Nevet chuckled, of course the pyramid would be guarded by an ancient alchemically created creature, or rather a recently created one that was a modern version of the ancient beast. His power lashed out, wrapping around the last Guard. As he ripped the man from his slump, flying past him, ”Seems you still have a use, of sorts.” The body flew past, directly into the path of the chrysalide beast.

His sabers returned to his hands and he blurred. The chrysalide was a strong, powerful beast but it could be worn down. However it was also not his true objective so he needed to make this quick. Darting in as the body landed, he began a moving series of slashes against the beast’s flanks. Every time he slashed, he timed it so that the strike went in at the exact same spot as one of the previous ones. Fast, deep, and powerful, it would take time but he’d cut through and disable the beast.

The beast scooped up the screaming warrior and ate him whole, before turning to spit out the armour. The slashes it ignored to start off with, but of course it wasn't long before they did damage, but unlike a rancor, this was a brilliantly fast creature, and worse still, it preceded its swipe with a powerful if ill-trained Force blow that would knock into him hard -

Nevet took the hit, pushing against it himself, reducing the power of it as he flipped over backward. A hand on the floor, pushing off, and then regaining his feet before racing forward, two powerful, deep sweeps of his blades, against the now damaged legs of the beast, reaching for the deep muscles, to sever them, to make the beast lose its footing and ability to follow or attack.

The creature dropped to its knees awkwardly but in a balanced manner, but that didn't mean it stopped it trying to kill him -

It had seen the target of his attacks and was smart enough to snatch him up and not try to bite the Anzati but bringing him up with the intent to smash him into the ground, a double grip in the Force!

Nevet slashed quickly against the fingers of the beast, letting his sabers drop in that instant. One hand grabbed where his sabers had just slashed, talons digging in and wrenching at the fingers as his other hand set his Power against the creature’s, not to stop the smash but to lessen its impact as he hit the floor.

The creature lifted him up and slammed him down again, trying to keep doing it before the pain grew too late, it howling as it did -

Cushioning the blow a second time, Nevet released the power for a moment, pouring his energy into twin lancing blows that pounded into the deep wounds that he’d caused in its legs. He hit it again and again as he knew that if he didn’t stop it now, he would have to try to keep from being pounded into the floor of the pyramid once more.

The rancor let him go and reached for its wound as it toppled to its side, crying out in pain -

As the beast let him go, Nevet pulled both sabers free from their sheaths once more, stepping forward, one slamming up into the mouth of the beast, through the soft palate into the brain and the other through its eye, toward the same destination.

The beast dropped - on top of him, of course.

It fell on him, of course it did. If he thought the pyramid had its own sentience then this was yet another clue, perhaps. Between using the Force as a form of leverage, as well as minutes of using a saber to cut away at the beast, he finally got free, albeit covered in viscera. An annoyed sigh escaped his lips and he let his saber return to its sheath before he turned toward the artifacts. His senses leapt out probing, testing for other defenses as he approached them. He didn’t trust that the beast would have been the only defense and he was prepared for something else to come his way.

There was nothing, merely a treasure trove of items at the rear of the room...

... but in all the drama, would he remember what had happened just before?

As Nevet stalked forward the Darkness grew within him again. The battle had been but a distraction as he needed to get to these, but a distraction in another way as well. Because, as the adrenaline wound down, he felt acutely, once more, the loss of Marana. His eyes burned with the depth of the void and he growled once more, ”He will pay. They will pay. All will pay.”

The power, the knowledge, the sheer presence of these artifacts drew him, not just because of what they could give him in the here and now, the addition, the expansion of his will and power, but beyond that. He could sense that these items, something about them, inherent in them, he could transcend this timeline with them. The possibility that he could revenge himself not just upon the innocents and not so innocents of not just this timeline but one completely unaware, make two whole timelines burn as a pyre to her, made a hungry, predatory smile cross his face.

The artefacts began to wilt under his presence, to yield, their contents becoming smoke in the air, to be drawn in or expelled.

Was it possession they sought, or was it merely fear that they would be lost with their medium?

It was there that Zas'tel was surprised.

There had been a spark there, inside Bernael, that was not wholly Dark.

"What is that?"

As the artefacts released themselves to him, Nevet drew in their essences, each and every one that was released. He felt their power and knowledge flowing into him, felt them join with him.

He felt the surprise of Zas’tel, a different type of smile crossing his face. ”Hmmm, what? Notice something out of place? And what would that be?”

"You loved Marana," Zas'tel said, surprised.

"There was good in you, before the Change, before Balance died, before you became Dark and your other became Light..."

Nevet’s smile was cold. ”Love...is it not an emotion? Is it not of the Dark to embrace all our emotions? She was worthy of that and Tobias took it from me. He will suffer for eternity for that....” As he continued to absorb the artefacts, feeling himself ‘swell’, ”You have been of me from the start, are you truly surprised by that fact, that there once was good?”

"It has been so long..." Zas'tel mused. "One would think that we were beyond such things. But I see past loves for you. Back on Anzat, a human woman that passed through a thousand years ago... and in your original future, others..."

A slight sadness. "All will die. The pilot. The Jedi. The Stormtrooper. The Sith woman... I can't see her."

"But they all died. Who is to say that this reality is worse, or better, when you had Marana, and have a son."

A hesitation.

"A son."

The words sharpened.

"Will you recall him, and burn down Corellia?"

At the mention of his son, Nevet’s head fell back, humor eclipsing the pain of Marana’s loss for a moment. ”It has slipped past you as well, my soul. Oh this is too good…”

His laughter drained away, memory upon memory of all that had been in his past, all that had turned to dust over the eons. ”It is the Way, I endure and so much, all else, basically, turns to dust. But my son...even you did not notice that I altered a piece on the board of the great game.”

"Oh?" Zas'tel, for the first time ever, sounded apprehensive.

Nevet’s smile was frigid, ”Yes, you missed that, hence why I did so at such a chaotic, crucial time. He is out there, with all that he has and is, and is a loose piece that is under no one’s control but mine.” The thought made him shiver with dark glee. The artefacts were still being consumed as the discussion went on.

The artefacts settled within Bernael, filling him with all manner of knowledge.

They filled Bernael to burst point, strangling that light in his heart, pushing his soul to crack.

Zas'tel was surprised by it all.

"You've a plan? Even now, even after you've lost so much?"

Darkness filled Nevet, filled him to bursting. He had to allow himself, his self, to expand to encompass it all and still it was almost too much. It was so much that a deep, rolling, laugh came from him. Zas’tel’s surprise, the second time in almost as many seconds, after all these eons added to the dark mirth that filled him. ”Always, my soul. Tobias, Ike, Arb, Palpatine himself, all thought to influence me and have, but...in a way that they will fully regret.” his voice grated.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @JediMasterAnne, @Jerjerrod-Lennox, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @darthhelinith, @CosmoHender, @Shadowsun, @Adalia-Durron, @Narancia, @Mitth_Fisto, @TheAdmiral

 

GM UPDATE ONE OF THREE

NORTH

IC: Rook Kast
Mandalore

The fleet that chased them home wasn't as immense as they had expected.

But it was still big.

Big big.

Three thousand Yuuzhan Vong warships decanted from hyperspace, among them a pair of eight-kilometer pocket cruisers.

Of course, they had their own worldship, ten kilometer of firepower, and the awesome defences of Mandalore, and their Bessie swarm...

But there was something about three thousand coral ships birthing tens of thousands of coralskippers which had quite the impact.

The analysis systems that Tech had been working on went into overdrive.

Most of the enemy force was frigates, pickets and corvettes, but at the heart of it was a dedicated capital ship force, an impressive vanguard - the equivalent of three hundred battleships, Imperial Star Destroyers, Mon Calamari cruisers and Victory destroyers. They would have some issues here, probably.

The first thousand coralskippers formed into a spear and Kast realised what they were doing before they shot forward -

Slamming into the planetary shields -

Of course, this update had to leap-frog across the courier system of Mandalorian ships to Ka'rta - the HoloNet was completely down across the sector, and the Outer Rim.

And the Mid Rim.

And the Expansion Region.

And the Inner Rim...

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 (mention)
—-
High Priest Jakan
Aboard the flagship, Battle of Korriban

This was going poorly.

The new warmaster was down there parleying with the Supreme Overlord’s pet heretics, negotiating the surrender of the New Republic and Confederation. The Yuuzhan Vong had already decided that the droid-based Eternal Empire had to be erased, after all, and the Empire of the Hand had bloodied their nose in the past and had to be punished.

Lavish sacrifices to honour Feyna Organa, Thrawn, Nola, Han, Madelyn, Ka’rta and others, having proven time and time again to be worthy foes. The preparations for those had fallen to the priest cast, namely High Priest Jakan, and the head shaper, Mezhan Kwaad, was to reshape Coruscant into the verdant Yuuzhan’tar, the new homeworld of the displaced peoples. It was Drathul who would manage the bureaucracy of the redistribution of wealth, but that process was on hold until the war was won.

When, he emphasised to himself.

But with the entirety of the Yuuzhan Vong leadership present, Jakan was starting to have his doubts as the massive dipyramid and the Mandalorian warriors savaged their position. Worse, the durasteel worldship brought here by their Kuati allies had advanced upon them and was firing. Without their reinforcements, drawn from the forces sent to eradicate the pollen threat at Ithor, they would have already been defeated. Jakan was sure to add the names of Kuat of Kuat, Jori Atreus and Tarkin to the list of those to be sacrificed, though those traitorous names would simply be piled in a pit and fed to a Maw Luur.

For a long moment, Jakan began to wonder as to the omnipotence of their Supreme Overlord. Yes, he had demonstrated his incredible foresight by sending Shedao Shai to destroy Zonama Sekot, and his conniving plans had allowed them to undo the powerful Hapes Cluster considerably earlier than anticipated. The Imperial Remnant had fallen with minimal fuss after two days, even if the Battle of Borosk had shattered the Domain there, and the on-going Battle of Hapes seemed likely to do the same with the Domain fleet there.

Worse, the foodstuffs and supplies essential to the long term success of the war effort had been destroyed at Shramar, and their largest slaveship stolen. At present the Yuuzhan Vong had not managed to convert a single captured world into a coral-implanted army to lessen their losses, and more than half of the warrior caste had been lost in less than a week.

Jakan began to wonder why he had believed so fervently in Palpatine as he watched the immense dipyramid slice another Vua’spar in half, killing thousands of Yuuzhan Vong. If they’d just paced themselves, these losses would have been avoidable. But Palpatine seemed to be advancing on an impossible timeline, forcing all sides to throw their full strength at him, pressing the throats of not just his enemies but also his subjects and allies.

Why would I serve an infidel?

Casting his gaze to the other gathered elites, he began to see uncertainty on their brows, or was that just the shaking of the immense winged worldship as another infidel detonated a weapon on their coral hull?

He was about to say something when his thoughts were warped, wrapped up in the confidence he had only a few minutes ago felt in the Supreme Overlord. This violence, even this appearing defeat, it was all apart of Palpatine’s Grand Design, and they would simply serve their role - as the unifying voices of their respective castes, and awe in the honour he had bestowed upon them by recognising that without their loyalty and power, that the Yuuzhan Vong would disintegrate into a disorganised rabble.

Jakan basked in the praise.

As Onimi bound them anew to him.

A surge of confidence filled the Yuuzhan Vong, and the other helix-shaped worldship turned and accelerated towards the Mandator -

As the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships advanced en masse upon the dipyramid worldship -

Leaving an open battlefield for pickets, gunships, frigates, corvettes and coralskippers to attempt to smother the Mandalorians once and for all -

All while the crippled Trucemaker was ignored…

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 (direct), @JediMasterAnne (continue combo), mentions only for @TheSilentInfluence, @Jerjerrod-Lennox, @TheAdmiral, @darthbernael - Palpatine-fight combo continues

 

GM UPDATE TWO OF THREE

EAST

IC: Beaumont Kin
Atrisia

Their ship made it to the Wookiee colony world as the homeworld fought a terrific fight against the Yuuzhan Vong invaders.

It was also crying out, and dying, clearly too damaged and wounded and tired.

It had healed once, and now, it couldn't do it again.

It needed to sleep.

Forever sleep.

Beaumont could tell that Qwi was upset, which was a nice way of saying completely broken, but he had to concentrate on not crashing.

Taking the dying controls of their Yuuzhan Vong ship, he pushed the dovin basil beyond survival, angling the ship for re-entry.

Across their bond he pumped his wishes and hopes and fears and dreams - the two of them, together, once there was peace - true peace, not the sham of them waiting for the next threat or looking over their shoulder or pretending everything would get better.

No.

True peace.

A true future.

He couldn't do it without her.

But he would save her for once.

---
Aboard the Ofee Family Ship

The situation was much the same here.

They'd taken too much damage, mostly at Korriban, but a coralskipper did manage to rock them hard with a plasma bolt before deciding they weren't worth it.

The trip across the star system to Alaris was bad, hard -

Zara spent most of the trip shoving power from engines to life support to hull integrity measures -

Luminara's husband displayed a surprising amount of technical knowledge and began to shunt passive power drains away, finding them more and more energy to use, even managed to hook up loose datapads, comlinks -

The children held their mother, and Luminara whispered sweet words to them, and put all of her faith and resolve into her mothers -

Barriss would make it.

---
Landfall

The Wookiee world of Alaris had a single place they could land down, and it was difficult for the Wookiees not to assume the two ships were together as they landed, one of coral, one of durasteel.

A troop of warriors was present, led by Kallabow, the sister of Chewbacca and aunt to Lumpawaroo. Having plied her families fame and her hard work into a managerial role in the computer fabrication center on Kashyyyk itself, she was actually on vacation here, even as her own husband fought at Hapes with the Wookiee fleet.

With her own bowcaster in hand and six Wookiees at her back, Kallabow rumbled at them to come out.

TAG: @CosmoHender, @Jerjerrod-Lennox (combo with GM)

 

GM UPDATE THREE OF THREE

INNER SYSTEMS

IC: Lumpawaroo
Battle of Corellia, aboard the Millennium Falcon, flying

There was a small part of Lumpawaroo that wished that Han had brought his cousin to heel fifteen years ago.

They'd had the chance, Saxan had asked them, but it hadn't been his place to criticise Han's decision, nor his sudden patriotism now for his homeworld.

Of course, now that Sal-Solo's avarice and greed seemed to have handed Han Solo command of Centerpoint Station, he was more than happy to forgive the turn of events which had led them here, even if he had to darkly reflect that Sal-Solo firing - or perhaps misfiring? - of the weapon had knocked the New Republic out of the war.

Perhaps this was the turning point.

With Centerpoint charging a shot to fire at the Yuuzhan Vong - through the Confederate fleet - it was going to be a good moment.

No, he did not see that a lone Corellian shuttle commandeered by Impetuous made it off the station, vanishing into hyperspace -

Nor did he see Tobias Vox and his Knights evacuate the station and similarly launch -

He did however see the escape pod vanish into hyperspace.

It was undoubtedly heading towards Korriban.

Lumpy growled at Ben.

Reckless teenager, thinking he could kill Palpatine on his own.

They'd have to go after him, with this battle won -



Then Centerpoint exploded.

You see, Tobias Vox had used the knowledge of the GEMINI hive mind to hack and replace the starcharts of the weapon.

With itself.

A simple enough trick which did not attack critical systems like the weapon itself, or the gravity elements, the kinds of parts which would have immense security defences. A simple amendment of the cartography input, and done.

Boom.

The detonation was a five hundred kilometre sphere of light.

When it vanished, most of the Corellian fleet was gone.

The Imperials had taken losses.

Teppler was gone, of course.

The Roadblock and Cerberus were outside the detonation, but were rocked hard.

Niriz and Delpin were not.

The Confederate fleet, which had been close to the station and seeking to take it, was two-thirds decimated.

Corran Horn would not answer his comms.

The Yuuzhan Vong were untouched, and simply began firing upon the Confederate remnant. Worse, they unleashed a horde of grutchins to advance upon the Imperials and focus on their damaged ships - to chew open wider holes in the hole and overwhelm the crews -

The explosion caused a gravity hiccup, however, and Impetuous and Tobias were yanked from hyperspace to have a view of their handiwork. Ben kept going, outside of range when he jumped. Snerfu was of course completely beyond the impact of the attack. Marana was dead, so this wasn't all too relevant to her.

What was left of the Confederate fleet?

It dispersed, fleeing, abandoning the fight - but not a single one jumped to hyperspace. Why? Almost all of the ships in-system had their hyperdrives damaged by the gravitic weapons use -

But why run? Because, finally, Fyor Rodan was gone, after all.

Saxan was on the line.

"General Solo? Admiral Delpin? Jerod? Niriz?" A panicked pause. "Anyone?"

Of course, this was also the signal to the GEMINI hive mind.

To Atrisia.

To Eternal Emperor Bernael.

TAG: @Jerjerrod-Lennox x2, @Narancia, @Shadowsun, @darthbernael (singles all)

 

The South fell.

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC Nevet
Corellia is next

As Nevet was leaving the pyramid, he came upon those of his people that had been waiting outside. Sure that the sounds of battle had reached their ears, he chuckled. Turning his gaze to the senior most of his Anzati present, ”Have a troop of Skytroopers retrieve the body of the beast inside, I am certain it can be reverse engineered and offer us the opportunity to create our own cohort of them.”

He walked through the ranks of the Skytroopers, the assassin behind him giving orders, him reinforcing them through his connection to GEMINI. Reaching his shuttle, he took to the sky, returning to the moon of a battle station that was the new flagship. When he returned to the throne room, he settled himself on his seat. ”What news of Corellia? Is that station that so terrifies GEMINI now destroyed?”

The GEMINI droids did so confirm, those present in the throne room aboard the moonlet dropping to one knee. Theron spoke up first. “All gone, boss, and with most of the Corellian and Confed ships. Vox did good.”

“And bad,” Lana said as she materialised. “I assume you know.”

“Know what? I was keeping an eye on Kuat. It looked like the Kuati were about to kick out the New Republic, but then the Vong got impatient and attacked.” He whistled. “They’re taking a real beating now. Pretty dumb if you tell me.”

Lana looked to Bernael. “Well?”

Nevet smiled coldly, at the question from Lana, ”So that is where you were. And yes I know. He and I will...talk, soon.” he said coldly. His eyes took in the two AI’s, ”First, Kuat is important, yes, but so is Corellia, for more...arcane reasons. However, hmmmm...how much of the fleet remains?” he mused.

"Roughly a third," Lana immediately replied. "We lost a lot to the HoloNet crash, the Battle of Bakura, and the Battle of Nubia was hardly a win." She didn't even need to check; anticipation was her game, after all.

"Enough to burn Corellia, or throw the battle at Kuat either way," Theron shrugged.

Nevet’s eyes dripped darkness as he considered. ”As much as ‘explaining’ the error of his ways to Tobias would be enjoyable, Snefru was promised Corellia if he could but take it. Would I not cause a second to doubt me if I showed up and did his work for him.”

He glanced at the galactic map, a dark smile forming, ”And the Kuati would be more inclined to rebuild our forces, abandon the Republic, if I ‘save’ them from the Vong. Kuat it is.”

Sitting back on the throne, ”The entire fleet, leave no element that could be ‘corrupted’ by another.” he replied and then waited for his orders to be followed.

Theron nodded. “Kuat it is, Emperor Bernael.”

The fleet began to move out, along with the Starkiller base. Thousands of Eternal Fleet cruisers, moving for the jump point.

Lana looked concerned, but pressed on. “And after Kuat? What about Tobias?”

Nevet’s smile was cold. ”Let Tobias stew and wonder what I have planned for and with him. He should know by now that I know what has happened, at least superficially and that my fury knows no bounds. And after Kuat, hmmmm, we shall see but if we secure Kuat then that entire sector opens to us. And,” he eyed Lana, her late arrival made him wonder at things, ”you are my counselors but even counselors do not always know all the strategies or plans of the one leading them.”

Theron and Lana took the words as a rebuke and had the fleet readied without a further word. In short order thousands of Eternal cruisers were prepared for deployment, the entire Atrisian Commonwealth having been defoliated.

They were ready.

Was Kuat?

The GEMINI droids looked to their Eternal Emperor for guidance, for the words.

Nevet’s cold smile remained on his face as the AI’s set to work. They knew that he often kept his own counsel and in this case it was a case of playing his cards closer to his chest than he usually would otherwise.

When they reported back that the fleet was ready he touched the bond to the GEMINI hivemind, ”Take the fleet to hyper, the assault on the Vong forces to begin as soon as the fleet is present in the Kuat system. Broadcast to the Kuati government that we have come to assist them to destroy the Vong that are plaguing them.”

He sat back on the Throne as he watched the starscape begin to blur, as the fleet headed back into battle.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @Shadowsun (Mentioned), @Narancia (Mentioned), @TheAdmiral

 

OOC: Double post approved, combo with @TheAdmiral and @Sinrebirth

IC Tarkin, Jori Atreus, Jori Atreus II
Battle of Korriban, the roof

Tarkin’s smile was as cold as the surface of Hoth as the Vong moved. He’d been expecting an attack, or possibly more, and the creature did not disappoint. He’d studied the Vong for many years after the incident at the Program. There was very little in Known Space to go through about such data but...he’d made sure to get the unredacted files about the attack at the Program and he’d added that data to his own. And he’d spent large sums to create a corps of spies to travel into the Unknowns to scout the edges of the creatures territory. What he’d gathered was something no other being had.

He'd positioned himself exactly where he had for a reason and that reason came at once. His blaster snapped in one direction, the shot passing close to his granddaughter as it hit the razor bug. The blade of his sword came down in the opposite direction at the same time, slashing at the amphistaff and hand holding it. His eyes burned with anger, as he hissed in Hrosha-Gul ”Khrev dagakh ni khun Yun-Yammka. Khrev tchilat amjiltgüi bolokh agh tany nikknferior genetico tchilat pros dathma ustgakhlee.”*

The elder Jori moved towards her granddaughter, it was better to be with family while things were heating up. Hopefully Tarkin would be able to deal with the situation, though he was not young and the Vong seemed like more than capable to deal with him. "Maybe me and my granddaughter should leave?"

Nas Choka growled. "I follow Yun-Yuuzhan!" He riposted, catching the blade on the block and then unbinding his staff so the snake twirled around the sword arm - bunching his free hand into a fist, he drove it at Tarkin's neck -

"You will stay there, Kuati traitors!"

But Kuat of Kuat's shuttle was there, at the end of the day, and her Mandator was in orbit. Jori had not a weapon - unless of course she did - and the elder Atreus' power was her tongue and influence and poisons; both real and imagined.

Tarkin leaned back as he could with the snake on his arm, his other twisting to try to take a shot. Still, the punch, from a much younger being, took him hard on the bridge of his nose. By the luck of the Fates he kept hold of his blaster and, as his head rocked back, he snapped a pair of shots toward the very close Vong. The hit knocked him back toward both Jori’s and as his head cleared, he put the muzzle of the blaster against the snake’s head and pulled the trigger again.

Glancing back for a moment, ”All of us, on that shuttle now! he said firmly to his beau. Turning back, ”Fool, that is not Yun Yammka, I can say that with great certainty and he will fall, as will all who follow his false flag.” he murmured as he fired, at a steady rate so as not to deplete the blaster’s charge too quickly.

Nas Choka flicked up a coral bracer on his arm and caught the shot, letting his snake-staff go and throwing blorash jelly at the legs of the two Kuati -

He slapped the blaster from Tarkin's hand -

The tall and ugly one (admittedly there were plenty of those) threw some goo at them. The gall! Both Joris felt a strong disdain and took deep offense to that. The Vong probably did not know but whenever an Atreus was offended... unfortunate events happen to the offenders...

The elder Jori touched her bracelet, it doubled as a communications device. "We are in need of assistance." there were several guards on board, surely they would be able to deal with the ugly brute!

Tarkin fell back as the blaster was knocked from his hand. He heard Jori’s call for the guards to approach and he let himself fall backwards even more so that he was closer to his love and their granddaughter. Glancing up at the Vong, he reached to his belt, his stunned hand shaking slightly as he took a dagger from its sheath. He stabbed at the amphistaff snake, working to remove it from his arm. ”The Warmaster of the Vong and you cannot prevail over a pair of elderly humans…” he said with a barking laugh.

Nas Choka produced a coufee from a bracer and stepped back as the amphistaff slinked back to him. He smiled. “Those are some lovely puncture marks on your leg, infidel.” The snake had bit him!

Two Kuati guards marched down, and Choka stepped forward, stabbing one with the small dagger and unleashing his staff in the other. Disarmed for the moment for his weapons were embedded in the two men, he strode towards the Kuati women, clearly intending to kill them with his bare hands, a rather malicious grin to his features.

Both Joris gave a pleading look at Tarkin. The two guards gave them a bit of time "I am sorry my love." the elder one said to Tarkin and pulled her granddaughter's hand to head towards the shuttle. They had to make a retreat. If they were to exact revenge they needed to survive first.

Tarkin shook his head, of course the snake had bitten him. But...he hadn’t spent decades researching the Vong, studying and preparing, to be caught out in this moment. As he staggered, facing the Warmaster still, toward the Kuati shuttle, ”Not leaving without me, are you, dear?” he said with a coughing chuckle. In that moment, he palmed an ampule in his pocket, jamming it into his leg, the antidote to the snake’s venom clearing the poison from his veins. He smiled, a death’s head grin on his elderly face, at the Vong. ”Lost already and you cannot even see it.” he muttered as he closed on the two Kuati women, his family.

Nas Choka followed after Tarkin, rushing to catch up - he was relentless. Determined to a fault, and he intended to kill them no matter the cost. Onimi demanded it, though he would not recognise as much -

"Well if you don't move your old bones we are leaving." the older Jori said smirking at Tarkin's remark. Both of them were impressed at his skill, even in his advanced age. "After all, we don't want to miss the show." she gave a dry chuckle.

The younger Jori did not have her grandmother's reassurance, but there was nothing she could do, but observe... grandad fight the large brute.

Inside the ship, there were personal weapons of course. Hand blasters, even a flash grenade or two.

But this was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior.

A Warmaster.

Tarkin staggered toward the two women as quickly as he could, strength returning as the antidote flowed even more. In the glass of the cockpit he could see the Vong closing fast. Reaching under his shirt, he pulled out a triggerable dagger, sticking it between his side and arm. As he ran, trying to judge it right, he watched the Vong close on him. At what felt like the right moment, he pressed a pair of studs on the handle as one and the blade shot from the handle, shooting back at the torso of the Vong. Whether it sunk into his flesh or simply slowed him for a moment, every second that would assist their getaway would help.

The attack rebounded off the crab armour he had on, and Nas Choka swung towards Tarkin -

And then hesitated. Onimi was dead, and Nas touched his chest. "The Supreme Overlord..."

He was completely exposed -

Tarkin spun as the Vong stopped his attack. He lunged forward, a second dagger in his hand. It speared through the ‘man’s’ arm and into his chest, into his heart. Throwing himself backward, skidding to and slightly up the ramp into the shuttle he called out, scrambling up the ramp, ”Nikk gejkhe khrev, ni khun yum yammka, agh huna, nizz khrev, tany shībài sos bürenak.”*

"If you are done playing soldier, we have to fly away from here." the older Jori pursed her lips, then smirked "It is not good for your health." she chuckled "We are not in our thirties anymore, you know."

Nas Choka gurgled, and died, flopping to the floor. He’d been done in at last. A Qahsa was evident on his form, and of course his four command villips, two on each shoulder.

Tarkin groaned as he used the leg of the ramp to pull himself to his feet. ”You know...you’re right, dear.” he said in a weary tone. Slowly stepping down the ramp, he pulled the villips and the Qahsa from the body, retrieved his sword cane and dagger from the Vongs body as well. Turning, he slid the sword back in the body of the cane, then used it to assist himself up the ramp, closing it behind him. ”I hope this thing has pilots, not sure I’m up to flying something right now.” he groaned out.

TAGS: @Sinrebirth, @HanSolo29, @JediMasterAnne, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheSilentInfluence, @darthhelinith, @Adalia-Durron, @Mitth_Fisto, @TheAdmiral

*You follow a false Yun-Yammka. You will fail and your inferior genetics will be rightly destroyed.
*I told you, a false Yum Yammka, and now, for you, your failure is complete.