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

IC: Tobbi, Dutch, Rebecca, Phennir, and a literal terminator
-Combo with the GM

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Tobbi picked up an E-cig and took a puff, "Dutch, that dumb Heffer Rebecca got herself caught. Your recommendation isn't looking so good right about now; remind me why I should keep her on my cabinet? She's a loudmouth and she's reckless; I know that you assured me that she's a one-woman army, but I can't exactly have a member of my headhunters getting caught by my political opponents."

Tobbi eyed Dutch, expecting an answer and a damn convincing one at that. Aside from Zarya, Dutch was his most trusted member but by far his most mentally stable member. Zarya was a ruthless power addict but the most politically savvy, and Rock was just a smooth talker who knew to handle guns from time to time. But Dutch was all-around the most reliable, not the most skilled in one area, but someone Tobbi always kept close.

Dutch shrugged. “Even a one-woman army needs good intel, boss. I think we were all caught flat-footed by the Confederation happening. We all just looked at Corellia, and it’s a little moody and whiny following and laughed that they thought they were relevant.”

He began to steer the ship as the lead elements of the Eternal Fleet fired at the Confederate force. Dutch shook his head. “Neither side is big enough to win without big losses. Both of ‘em must be expecting reinforcements.”

Dutch peered over at Tobbi. “That means a small window for extraction.”

Tobbi nodded sagely at Dutch's words and blew out a ring of smoke in the meantime.

Professional all the way through; perhaps Tobbi was too hard on Rebecca, the Correllian army did appear out of nowhere after all. But at the same time, Rebecca was a damn super-soldier; something like this shouldn't have happened.

Oh well. Tobbi thought as he sighed and took another puff of the E-cig as he listened to Dutch analyzing the situation.

"Good, that eye of yours is why I pay you the big bucks."

Tobbi turned off his E-cig and blew out another puff of smoke, "What's the best breaching point?"

Violence was a thing Tobbi enjoyed massively when he was a mere peon in the Eternal Empire, but now that he was a fully actualized Sith, he didn't revel in it as much. The art of killing was now a chore like any other, but he still had that love for combat and crushing his opponent's spirits. However, Tobbi now found that politics and the responsibilities of running an empire was more of a thrill to him than killing ever was.

Tobbi pulled out the ancient lightsaber that he claimed on Korriban and held it firmly and fondly; Tobbi was still an enthusiast of combat, practicing and sparring his skills had not atrophied. But Tobbi did feel a spark of excitement that came from the hatred he held for the Supreme Commander of the Correillian army. Tobbi continued to put on his outfit for this engagement; no one could know that a senator did this, but it was okay if everyone knew Darth Impetuous committed it instead.

Tobbi looked down at the mask he was holding and slipped it over his face; his pet projects were far from being done, the metals he needed to create them were expensive, not to mention hard to get. For now, he would have to settle with this:



Dutch leaned forward and tapped a point on the display. "Here. The Master Stroke is holding to the rear, so it isn't targeted, using long-range weapons on the Eternal Fleet. But Phennir has the rest of his capital ships up-front because his escorts can't match the droid cruisers."

"That means his fighters are out protecting his capital ships, and it's a sea of frigates and corvettes to contend with..." He traced his finger to where they were. "We skirt atmo and then turn up ninety degrees; head straight up at Master Stroke, full speed, and do a missile dump to punch through the hangar shields."

"We could always test the missile-deployment system for your suit, and then we won't need to worry about defending my ship." He shrugged. He was essentially suggesting firing Tobbi at an Imperial Star Destroyer.

Tobbi once again nodded,

"So l essentially an orbital paratrooper deployment method. Read my suit's specs, have you?"

Tobbi's suit was, in fact, the prototype for the line of suit systems he had in mind. It had some heat resistance, seeing as the inside was lined up with Vanadium, a metal specifically made to handle arrays that had become overheated; it wasn't the best metal for the job, but it made up for that in terms of maneuverability, especially since there was a bit of Polyfibe mixed in as well, hardly ideal for combat. Still, Tobbi's skills could make up that difference.

"Alright, whenever you're ready, Dutch."

Tobbi said, approving of the deployment method.
Dutch cracked a grin. “That’s the best, but about you, boss, ur never phased by my ideas.”

He keyed power and boosted them forward. Transmitting the HUD and sensor data to Tobbi’s display, so he wasn’t completely bored while strapped into his coffin-with-engines, the man deftly sent them down towards the planet and the moment they hit atmo tugged up - hard.

The G’s were terrible, but Dutch ramped up the internal gravitics, and keyed the controls to the autopilot so he didn’t stop them by simple blacking out.

I mean, he did a bit, but that was half the fun.

By the time he came back, too, they were bearing down on the underside of the Star Destroyer at a rapid pace. He took back controls in time to dodge a turbolaser blast that would have given them a very bad day and keyed all the missiles he had - including Tobbi’s.

“Give ‘em hell, boss!”

He spun the ship and fired all the traditional missiles he could, as quickly as he could, and half a second later, released Tobbi -

With the spread, the missiles would create a circle of damage to the shields, and then when he straightened out, the last would punch through the weakened area -

And in theory, Tobbi would slide right in the gap -

Tobbi sat in the missile pod feeling cramped. It was a bumpy ride, not to mention the turbulence; just what in the blazes was happening on the outside?

Tobbi's communicator piece came alive, and Dutch gave him some last words of encouragement or maybe the last words Tobbi would ever hear. This depending Dutch's aim, of course.

"Alright, just remember if you miss, and I die, you can expect a severance package in the mail by next week."

Tobbi chuckled dryly; he was joking, of course, or was he?

Then the pod shot forward, the force sending Tobbi crashing against the walls of the pod.

This is going to be one hell of a deployment drop.

The make-shift delivery pod flew into the hangar! The moment it arrived, automated sensors triggered repulsorlifts to stop Tobbi from smashing into a bulkhead, and then another, and then another -

And then flipped over and dropped to the hangar floor with a CLANG.

Of course, there were a few causalities, mainly Commenori crewers, but an astromech was now in several million pieces too.

“Look alive!” Dutch quipped.

As the pod finally landed with a safe but weighty CLANG. Tobbi kicked open the door of the missile pod and stepped out of his former ride, setting foot on the hangar floor.

So much destruction, Tobbi's mind couldn't help but look at the damage he had caused with his dynamic entry and started calculating the amount of money it would cost the Correllian confederate to fix the damage.

"Structure points 1-3-4 damaged with a 6 x 8 hole. That's at least a couple million credits, not enough to put a dent in their pockets right now."

Tobbi observed the dead bodies around him, "Annuitant pay as well; however, it's unlikely that the Correllian confederate will be able to pay all of these once it collapses."

Tobbi smirked as he had a brilliant idea; he could propose that as punishment, all the worlds that became a part of this confederate will have to pay annuities to the families and provide free scholarships to universities for all the spouses and children once the confederate inevitably failed. Then, of course, the planetary governments would have to pay for their entire tenure at that college as well as pay the children of the soldiers (if there any) a governmental check until the child was, of course, 24 years old. As well as paying for all the damages caused by the war, this last idea Tobbi based on history as Nemodia and other CIS worlds had to pay reparations to be accepted into the Galactic Empire.

That should cause an immediate downturn in their economy, making all those planets go into recession, weakening their negotiation powers, and making prospective companies branch out; some might even be struggling badly and seek protection under a huger corporation, being bought out on purpose. And, who runs a conglomerate empire?

Tobbi smirked as he ignited his lightsaber in response to Dutch's warning; Tobbi had decided to cause substantial damage. Killing a few dozen shouldn't hurt, as well as more structural damage.

The techs and pilots in the hangar shouted out, and in short order, armoured men and women began advancing upon them. It wasn't especially subtle, but there was a battle on. The Master Stroke rumbled with turbolaser fire and rocked with counter-fire.

There wasn't any anti-Force user security aboard the Star Destroyer.

All Tobbi needed to do was follow the signal to his target and, of course, get her out.

But when the designs of the Imperial Star Destroyer were basically free knowledge to the likes of crime and espionage, he would have a map of the ship in his HUD anyway.

Four security officers became eight, then twelve, mind you, in the hangar itself.

As Tobbi counted the amount of security pouring into the hangar floor. Tobbi felt bad about their potential deaths, but the amount of shame it would bring their supreme commander overwrote these feelings.

I mean, what kind of supreme Commander doesn't know that an intruder snuck upon their ship, killed a dozen, and retrieved their asset?

Supreme Commander Phennir, that's who.

Tobbi ducked behind the missile pod and tried to use the force to roll it towards the growing security group.

It rolled over them, and it crushed them.

The way onwards was basically free, though when Tobbi reached the prison level, he’d be confronted with a choke point and a single entrance in and out of the area. This was decidedly non-standard.

Satisfied with his handiwork Tobbi sprinted as fast as he could, following the signal to the supposed holding area of the ship where Rebecca was likely to be.

Phennir better pray that Rebecca is alright.

Tobbi thought to himself as he continued following the signal; imperial destroyer plans were super easy to come by; any black market dealer and the buyer at least had a copy of these.

The holding area was empty - there wasn't even a guard. There was simply an open cell, and Rebecca was there, unconscious. The moment that Tobbi saw her, a large hologram appeared among the consoles that should have been manned. It was Phennir himself.

"Senator," he said wryly. "I did not expect to see you here, but I did expect you to try something."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Phenrir," Tobbi growled, giving himself plausible deniability. It was now official this man needed to die. The Correllian Supreme commander was a threat to everything that he and his father built up.

Tobbi looked over at Rebecca, and he could not help but let his discipline waver a bit. It was no longer Tobbi speaking; it was Impetuous the side of Tobbi that was locked up behind walls of discipline and training was

"What did you do to her?!"

Tobbi or Impetuous, whatever you want to call him at this point, always say his assets as things and not people; he weighed their pros and cons and determined their value as if they were livestock. But that didn't mean that Tobbi didn't care for them; he did. He always cared about his favorite toys.

"If you harmed her in any way, I'll make you beg for death, you piddling scum!"


"She switched herself off when we disabled her ship," Phennir said drily. "We've been unable to access her or the data contained therein. Half of our conversation was pure bluff, my friend. But I am sure the holocam footage of your noble effort to rescue her will be interesting enough."

He had guessed it was the Senator, but of course, Tobbi had not directly confirmed as much.

"Whatever your beef is with the Senator has nothing to do with my hatred for you. Rebecca is a part of the Exogeni, directly designed and commissioned by Seviper and she's family!"

Impetuous or Tobbi was, of course, lying; he was once again providing plausible deniability. However, Rebecca's audio sensors would recognize the speaking voice; it was her master, the de-facto leader, and CEO of Airskipper industries. With that, Rebecca's eyes lit up as she reactivated herself and sat up from her slumber on the cell bench.

"Things must've really gone to hell if you're here."

Rebecca had been listening in to the conversation the entire time and understood the context of everything that was happening. Tobbi nodded at this and calmed down, now back to his more matured self.

"Had me worried there, if you're done playing Damsel know that Seviper almost considered removing you." Tobbi chuckled

This revelation seriously angered Rebecca, who took the chance to nip at her master's ankle by continuously pretending that he was instead a cohort. But in typical Rebecca fashion, she punched the wall in reckless anger.

"Seriously!? How was I supposed to know Correllian space was going to become a warzone?! Anyway, you tell Seviper that I deserve a damn raise! And while you're at it, tell that douche that I'm the best damn courier in the business."

Rebecca smirked at Tobbi, and he chuckled back.

"Alright, I'm going to open the cell. Perform well, and maybe I'll tell Seviper about that raise."

Rebecca rolled her eyes and chuckled,

"My hero."

Tobbi summoned the force, intending to break open the cell door.

The door exploded.

Inward.

Through the gap emerged a new Tendra-arms YVH battle droid, a design pioneered by Trenda Risant, whose Sacorrian ties had led her to old abandoned Separatist droid factories in the Corellian Sector of all places. What their original use had been intended for was unknown, but she had been wise enough to see that the coming Yuuzhan Vong invasion was a good time to shift back to large-scale usage of droid armies.

Good for the galaxy; bad for Tobbi and Rebecca right now.




"What is that creepy thing!"

Rebecca said as she dived away from the robot, escaping its potential grasp and diving near Tobbi, in the process standing side beside him.

"It's a Tendra-arms YVH battle droid."

"So?"

"So it means we have to go! Come on!"

Tobbi took Rebecca's hand and yanked her using his force imbued strength to drag her along easily. Rebecca was at first taken aback by the sudden pace, but soon she managed to run independently, and Tobbi let go of her hand. And they made a break for the command center. Tobbi was determined to put the Supreme Commander down; he knew too much, he interrupted Tobbi's peace and conquest dor dominance. Not to mention taking one of his toys, his property! Such a thing wouldn't stand.

"Where are we even going?!"

"Anyway, that's not near that thing!"

The droid turned and actually sprinted after them. There were crewmembers milling or at battle stations, and they dove out of the way of the two fleeings, usually, because they could hear the stomp footfalls of the droid and then see it behind them -

“Surrender or die.”

That was the choices the automaton was giving them. In one smooth rising of its knee and lowering of its hand, it drew a blaster from a thigh holster -

Soon it would dawn on the pair that the droid wasn't stopping.

"Um, boss?"

"What?!"

"It has a gun!!"

"Sith spit!" Tobbi turned around and assumed a Djem-so stance.

"Stay behind me, Rebecca and find a gun; my life depends on your aim right now."

Rebecca frantically searched for a gun, observing the frightened staff they ran by, seeing if she could muscle a weapon from them while Tobbi charged forward at the droid.

The droid was lightning quick, taking a shot at Rebecca even as it reached Tobbi mid-stride, adapting to lift a droid foot slightly higher and crash it down -

Rebecca would manage to nab a blaster from an officer who accidentally took the shot meant for her -

Tobbi became enraged that he almost let Rebecca get injured instead of protecting her, but as he moved to swing his lightsaber, he saw that the the droid was planning on crushing him with its foot. Tobbi quickly dived to the side, arriving at its left flank, as he swung his sword in a horizontal position.

Meanwhile, Rebecca was pleasantly surprised that she narrowly avoided being shot, paying no heed to the guard that accidentally got caught in the crossfire. As she saw that Tobbi intended to cleave the droid half from its flank, Rebecca lined up the shot from her blaster and aimed at its head.

A two-pronged attack.

Even as its foot clanged to the floor and indented it, the droid turned its head to regard Tobbi as the greatest threat, and the bolts that hammered into his face didn’t really appear to bother it -

The lightsaber made an impact upon the metal, but the ingots were already powered up, surging and creating new metal to protect the frame, even as a hand reached out intending to crush Tobbi’s wrist -

These things were tough -

Oh, crud.

That was the thought Tobbi had at this moment when he realized that his lightsaber was holy ineffective against the machine.

Tobbi dashed backward, moving away from the machine's reach, seeing that it intended to immobilize him or disable his wrist; Tobbi couldn't tell which at this point, but he encountered a problem; he was now cornered. And judging from the shocking speed that it displayed earlier, Tobbi knew that if he tried to run away again, the machine would be successful in immobilizing him.

"Get away from my boss bolts for brains!!"

Rebecca shouted as she kept shooting her blaster at the mechanical menace despite the machine proving to be invulnerable to such attacks. However, Rebecca noticed an environmental advantage she could utilize, so Rebecca aimed her gun and fired at the ceiling as she spotted a minute but noticeable structural weakness with this section of the ceiling, as the robot stood under a huge cube-like structure while it was cornering Tobbi; it wasn't installed properly. So, in theory, if sufficient trauma was applied, it might fall.

The operative word here was might, as Rebecca wasn't sure if her plan would succeed at all.

The cube was, in fact, an inoperative light fitting, for these parts of the Master Stroke had been given non-standard additions to give it an edge in the secret diplomacy it had led. The fitting dropped, flattening the droid and spearing Tobbi -

Of course, the droid began to heave and push it off it -

Rebecca was shocked at the events that transpired; she didn't mean to put Tobbi in harm's way. It was a complete accident.

The machine was hit - it flew through several bulkheads, and an orderly screamed as the mass shredded them, but there was a sound of more movement, of the clatter of booted feet, of shouts and cries.

They're over here.

Come on!

Get the guns!

"Boss! Oh, God. What have I done?!"

Despite the severe impact that occurred, Tobbi was still conscious; his chest hurt, and he found it hard to breathe. Being speared by such an object caused Tobbi to cough up blood.

The droid was still moving; the threat was gone. Tobbi, with the last of his energy reserves, clasped his hands together and launched a force wave. He was seeking to blow away the machine with his desperate attack.

Rebecca to Tobbi's side, pushing the square inoperative light fighting off of him. Though when she did, Tobbi slumped over, and Rebecca caught him; while in the arms of Rebecca, she could tell something was wrong, Tobbi's breathing was clotted by gurgling. Something burst inside of Tobbi's body, Rebecca, was left with a choice. Rebecca either had to continue the mission independently while taking care of her boss or contact Dutch for immediate extraction.

The former option would put her boss's health at risk, while the other would abandon the mission entirely. Rebecca heard the sounds of movement and made a huge judgment call.

Rebecca carried Tobbi in a fireman's carry and ran; she decided that she would make up for her past mistakes and complete the mission.

The droid, damaged, sparking, but bubbling new metal to replace the missing armour, stepped out of the hole in the wall, and the security team cringed back, pointing the way Tobbi and Rebecca had fled, and the droid turned its head and began to pursue them.

Rebecca had made a decision, and it would have consequences - but her way was unimpeded. Seemingly Phennir had ordered the crew to stay out of the way of the YVH droid.

Rebecca kept moving unimpeded by her master's weight, but the droid didn't give up in its pursuit of her and Tobbi. However, the Master hands' crew stopped engaging with them. Rebecca noted this, considering the possibility that the crew was given orders to stand down to avoid casualties.

So to make sure that the machine would have trouble reaching her, Rebecca would intentionally be near to the ship's crew, rushing past them and making it hard for the machine not to be impeded as she continued down the path towards the command center.

The droid showed why the crew had been avoiding it. As it picked up speed, it slashed through a Bothan and crushed a human skull - someone who had tripped as she rushed past?

It was gaining on them.

Rebecca whistled in an impressed manner as the machine just tore through everyone, but it was fast, deceptively fast. The machine was quickly gaining on her and fast.

Panic set in Rebecca's mind as she looked around the facility for something.

Then Rebecca spotted it, AHA! (maybe.)

Rebecca didn't know exactly what she was looking at, but it looked heavy, maybe flammable, who knows. Rebecca tossed the object and prayed that she wouldn't get blown up to super soldier bits.

The item was a blaster gas cylinder, abandoned between locations and due to be added to a weapons battery that had sprung a leak. So it exploded; immensely.

The droid vanished down the corridor, laying there where it fell, its metal bubbling as intense flames melted it.

Of course, the backwash would send Rebecca tumbling into and through the next door before it could open, depositing her on the ground in front of her target, a tangle of herself and Tobbi and sliding painfully across the floor with a concussion and the Senator’s arm at a very not-natural angle -

Rebecca groggily stood up as she felt the friction burns all over her body. It stung constantly; it made Rebecca awkwardly hold her arm to ensure the least amount of air coming into contact with the friction-burned area. As when the burn came into contact with nothing but gushes of air, it reaggravates the injury,

"Wow, that stung."

Rebecca saw the droid's metal bubbling in flames and grinned,

"That's what you get when you mess with me metal for brains."

Then she turned towards her boss, and he was beyond damaged. Tobbi's right arm was mangled, bent in such an unnatural and awkward fashion. One look down at his legs, and Rebecca could also see that Tobbi's legs were positioned in a similarly awkward fashion as well.



Not to mention the liquid that kept pouring out of his oral orifice due to the blockage that he incurred earlier due to the blunt trauma he had taken directly to the chest.


"Oh god, boss!"

Rebecca cradled Tobbi in her arms and considered calling in the mission, but she looked at the door, and she looked on and decided to keep pushing forward; the goal was so close now, and she decided that she came too far to give up.

"Boss, In the short time I've known you, I've seen how much of a tough monster you are. You're so dedicated and mentally the strongest man I've ever known as well as the most passionate. Everyone who doesn't know you thinks you're sensitive, brittle and fragile even.

But I've never seen you complain unless it was 100% justified, you don't take disrespect and you don't bring up your problems when it's not relevant. Despite the hand, you're given, you always roll with the punches and always turn the situation into gold and come out the other side squeaky clean despite what everyone else thinks."

Rebecca wipes a tear from her eye,

"I wish more people understood you as I do; I wish more people saw the great flame of brilliance that you illuminate in my dark, devoid abyssal eyes. I've seen so much happen in the galaxy, so many screwed-up things, and I know you have too. So many people have betrayed you, and you're afraid to get close to anyone, especially after all of your siblings betrayed you.

But know that I will never leave; I will always see your will through, for you are one the most hard-working and competent people in this galaxy. So pull through! Stay alive! Fight for life while I accomplish this mission. I know this is exactly what you want. Other people wouldn't understand."

Rebecca picked up Tobbi somberly; she would never say these things to anyone even if they were unconscious, but Tobbi was different; he was always different, and that's what made him stick out and be so controversial; that's also what made him special, what made Tobbi himself.

Rebecca carried on with her mission for Tobbi.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Barriss

Bonadon

Barriss knew that she couldn't go see Nomi. Not right now. She would let Xundel and the others with him go first, since she would rather avoid them as much as possible. So until Nomi was finished, Barriss returned to her family.

"There are Jedi here on Bonadon," Barriss told Zara as he rejoined her wife. "First Jedi that I have encountered in decades." She sighed and shook her head in frustration. "And he was incredibly condescending toward me. Ugh."

Zara blinked. "Jedi? Here?"

"Aren't there like only a thousand Jedi now? That's really..." Luminara struggled for the word, and settled on, "unlucky."

Personally she would have loved to meet a Jedi.

"Did you tell them about the red-bladed nutters who chased us on Nadiem?" Zara said, smoothing shifting the conversation.

"Yeah, I told them," Barriss confirmed to her wife. "But they're not going to do anything about it. They claim to be doing... something. I still don't even know why it is that they're here, only that it doesn't involve me."

"Well, that's something," Zara said, carefully, noting the usage of me, but really it should ideally not include us, or the wider family.

Luminara nodded automatically. She knew her mom was quite bitter about the Jedi as an Order, but she personally thought of them as a positive influence in the galaxy, shamelessly sacrificing themselves to stop Imperials, Sith and superweapons. But the only Jedi she had ever known was her mom, so she did her best to agree.

"It doesn't involve you?" There was a new voice. "Then why come here at all?"

Zara and Luminara started - a diminutive woman had stepped up to join their discussion. She was old, clearly in her seventies, if not more, and her eyes sparkled with amusement. Trailing her was a small-rabbit-like sentient, it nodded to them and it's name appeared in their minds. Geb. It looked to the woman. Nomi Da-Boda, descendant of Sunrider.

"Hello Nomi," Barriss told the woman, smiling a little. "It's good to see you again. I'm here because my family needed somewhere safe to lay low and you're someone that I trust, especially since your family has helped me before. I did not come here to get involved in matters that I can't even understand with stuff like the Ones or Celestials. That doesn't mean anything to m-" She glanced at her wife and corrected herself. "-us. It doesn't involve us."

The Jedi had been speaking to her, trying to recruit her. But Barriss couldn't forget, it wouldn't just affect her. It would affect her whole family.

"Ah yes, the Chosen of the Ones." She nodded. "The latest did leave a bit of a mess. But no moreso than my family or the other Chosen Ones." She changed tack.

"Grandmother always worried for you, Barriss, but I can see you've landed in your feet." She drew Barriss into a hug, and then Zara, and then Luminara. They complied, if only out of politeness. Geb did not need a hug.

"So you lay low here, when I accept Jedi into my midst, sent by the new Father. Do you not wonder as to the hand of serendipity, Barriss?"

Zara looked a bit concerned. Was the Force working through her wife now? Luminara caught her worry, even buried on her mom's face. Nomi was polite and pretended she did not sense Zara's worry.

Barriss noticed Zara's worry and frowned a little before turning back to Nomi. "I assume they were here for their own reasons," she said, referring to the Jedi. "Just as we are here for our own. I don't intend to stay. We're just here for as long as it takes to plan our next move. Nadiem is..." She looked down. "...gone, unfortunately. And I had to reopen myself to the Force in order for us to escape. It may have influenced my decision to come here. But right now my priority is to keep us safe and away from the war if I can."

Nomi hesitated. "Did you not have a Mirror Vision? See your Origin, and see your original future?"

Zara scowled hard. "Her what?"

Luminara frowned too.

Barriss paused. "Yes... I did see her." She looked at Zara. "I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, since it was right before chaos broke out and I had to focus on getting us here safely. But I saw... me. A different version of myself. I think it was a vision of some kind, still not exactly sure what is was..."

Nomi nodded. "It was a sending. Force users across the galaxy have seen what they could have been, or should have been, before things were Changed. Twilight falls here, the Great War has begun within the Force. The final conflict."

Zara and Luminara looked at her, and then back at Barriss. Zara sounded pained. "Did you see me, at all?"

Barriss shook her head. "No," she told Zara. "This version of me... she was alone. And she wasn't happy. It looked like she had never moved on from her past, never accepted forgiveness for her actions. The other Barriss was... hurting." She took Zara's hand and squeezed it. "It reaffirmed the choices that had led me to Nadiem, to you."

Nomi did a noise. "Ah."

Luminara could see Nomi's mouth open to carry on and she shot her a look. Nobody wanted to know that their love wasn't destined to always happen, that it was a mere turn of chance or choice. Nomi nodded.

Geb however spoke within their minds. There is no such thing as the one, after all.

Zara pulled a face at that.

"It doesn't matter if that is what should have been," Barriss said, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter if that's what could have been. I learned a long time ago to not dwell on the what ifs. It doesn't change anything. The choices I made are still my choices. This is still our life..." She looked at Zara. "...and I intend to keep living it."

"Well said," Nomi agreed. She placed a hand on Zara's wrist. "The fact is that the Change did happen, and for some it happens to have been for the better."

Nomi looked at Barriss. "Which is what I wanted you to know. Because someone needs to understand that, and I suspect with Emperor Palpatine poised to succeed rather than the fail - as he likely did previously."

Her eyes took in the three woman. "We need some empathy to understand the Change as well."

Barriss shook her head. "Okay, it happened... but so what? I don't see what we could do about it, about Palpatine. What difference is understanding the Change going to make?"

Nomi pursed her lips. "If the Change doesn't happen, then this doesn't happen." She looked around the three of them. "So I know that you want to step back and defend what is yours… but Palpatine is not going to allow that - or, rather, inevitably the Jedi and the Heroes of the Galaxy will not allow it."

She paused. "Then what will you do?"

Barriss shrugged. "Once again, what can we do? I'm not a Jedi and I'm not a soldier. We're just civilians, refugees."

Nomi turned to Geb. "We can find anything in the galaxy for you, if you want it enough. We can connect you to the Unifying Force, with your help."

Zara scrunched up her face. "You're asking us what we want?"

"What else would I ask my old friend, who seems to be without a path, without a goal, without a task?"

"I have a goal," Barriss objected. "And I have a task. I'm protecting my family. That is important to me. Isn't that enough?"

Nomi nodded. "It's plenty." She placed her hands on Barriss's. When they left, a small map was drawn, a starchart. "And I hope you find somewhere you can be safe from even the Change."

At that, she turned and padded away. A slight wave. "May the Force be with you, Barriss Offee. I shall see you After."

And then a mutter, under her breath, unheard. 'If there is an After."

Barriss watched her leave, then picked up the small starchart that she had left behind. She looked it over, then showed it to her wife Zara.

Zara frowned. "Somewhere off the edge of the galactic map? Wild Space, at least, Unknown Regions, maybe."

Luminara peeked. "North of Bastion?" That was the Imperial Remnant capital, eight sectors dedicated to what was left of the Galactic Empire, ruled by the Moffs and headed by Ephin Sarretti, a man who spoke loudly and often about their commitment to their various treaties with the New Republic.

Barriss shook her head. "I don't know why Nomi is giving us this," she admitted. "Though honestly, she and her grandmother were never the best at completely explaining things. They sometimes preferred people to just figure out stuff on their own while only being given vague directions." She sighed. "Right now, I think it would be best if we spent the night in Bonadon. Get some rest, restock on supplies in the market, and all that."

Zara and Luminara nodded. "Sounds good," Luminara said. She headed off.

For her part, Zara paused, and then started after their daughter. "It's been a long day, Barriss. Let's go, I need a rest. Sounds like the Force has something in mind for us, so we may as well enjoy the quiet while we still can." Her voice sounded a little wry, but also sad.

She would not be pressed on why, however.

Barriss nodded, though she didn't follow her family right away. Instead, she looked down at her arm and remembered the artificial arm that she had seen her counterpart with. She squeezed her hand into a fist, wondering if the Force was trying to steer her down a certain path.

Did it anymore what she wanted or what mattered to her? Or did the Force have a destiny intended for her that was inevitable, that she could not avoid? Did she even have a choice?

Despite cutting herself off from it for so long, Barriss did not hate the Force. It was a part of her and she was a part of it, after all. But she wasn't comfortable with the idea that the Force had a will. Was her falling to the dark side during the Clone Wars a part of that will? Was Order 66 a part of that will? Was getting her involved in the current conflict a part of that will? What was the end goal? Balance?

Barriss sighed and followed her wife. Truthfully, she was starting to have a bad feeling about all of this...

TAGS: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @JediMasterAnne @Jerjerrod-Lennox @galactic-vagabond422 @TheSilentInfluence @galactic-vagabond422 @darthhelinith @darthbernael @Shadowsun @Adalia-Durron @Narancia @Mitth_Fisto @Kato Sai @TheAdmiral

 

OOC: Both of the below are combos with the GM

IC: Queen Mother Feyna Organa-Chume, Prince Isolder, Winter, and Jedi Master Cilghal
Aboard the Star Home, departing Hapes

Feyna studied the datapad, teeth gnashing behind pursed lips as she watched the footage.

How was there a dark-sider training facility inside the New Republic?

"I agree, Madelyn needs to know about this--" She frowned, remembering, "If we can get hold of her; Isolder and I tried when we first heard about Nadiem, but she didn't answer."

Perhaps it was just a moment of bad timing, but it was also possible that Madelyn was out on a mission.

Her eyes shifted back to the 'pad, looking to see if there was a time stamp on the footage. "Is this from fifteen years ago, or more recent than that?"

Depending on how long ago it was, would that academy even still be there now?

Winter looked down. "It's a few years ago now, I think five. Ship - that's what the sphere calls itself - was damaged and didn't make it to Kesh, where Qwi and Beaumont crashed, for a while. It had been on its way when the Orphan took it over. Apparently Emperor Bernael killed the creature, which, well, it was bad news."

She projected a image of the monstrosity.

"I do love it when the bad guys eat each other," Isolder said. He suddenly had an idea. "Jedi Master Cilghal was at the Council meeting by hologram - shall we try her?"

His comlink chimed in his hand before anyone could reply. "Ah. Astarta just reported in." He smiled fondly at his close friend's message. "She's locked down Nadiem and she has no evidence the Sith escaped. She did have to send a Nova to a location near Kashyyyk to find a HoloNet relay. Seems there is an issue around the Confederate territories."

Isolder shrugged.

Feyna didn't like the sound of that HoloNet issue--similar problems had preceded the incidents at Metellos and Mandalore fifteen years ago, but if Astarta had found a work-around, they ought to be all right. Isolder didn't seem especially concerned about it.

Back to their potential new Sith problem--Winter had suggested trying to comm Master Cilghal instead of waiting to see if Madelyn became available. "The sooner we get this information to the Jedi, the better, I think," Feyna seconded.

Isolder raised Cilghal, who responded surprisingly quick. The Mon Calamari rolled a bulbous eye and took in the three of them. "Queen Mother, Prince Isolder, Senator Celchu," the Jedi Master said, bowing deeply. "What can I do for you today?"

Strictly speaking in official company Feyna took primacy, so Isolder and Winter looked at her.

"Master Jedi," Feyna greeted politely. "I know that the Order must already have their hands full with everything that's going on, so I must apologize in advance for having to be the bearer of more bad news, but we've just received a report of another new threat--a hidden Sith group on Nadiem, as well as a possible training site within New Republic territory."

Master Cilghal hesitated, but didn’t disbelieve her. Winter forwarded the collated data, and her summary. The Mon Calamari took one look at it and looked back. Isolder waited for a moment before commenting.

“We need a Jedi strike force.”

“Grandmaster Linnett is at the front with the rest of the Council… I lost touch with her when she passed Agamar.” The Jedi Master said, and Winter frowned and updated something on her datapad. “But I have a wing of Jedi prepped in X-wings in Yavin 4, and another on Ossus.” A New Republic wing was six squadrons, meaning 144 Jedi were to hand. Cilghal hesitated. “Should we send them to Anzat, or Nadiem… or split our forces?”

Isolder scrunched up his face. “Astarta has Nadiem bottled up for the moment…”

"I don't wish to spread you too thin," Feyna replied. "With the blockade in place, Nadiem can probably hold for a bit while Anzat is dealt with."

Cilghal said.

“Astarta has it in hand,” Isolder said, confidently. “So if the Jedi hit Anzat and bomb the academy out of existence that will work. We can always get ground troops there later, and the Jedi can move onto Nadiem after.”

The Jedi Master nodded. “So that will see both threats contained. We have other Jedi scattered across the New Republic, so I shall have another wing of fighters consolidated for whatever next threat arises.” Her voice was tight; there had been too many surprises so far.

Winter kept flicking through the data. “It seems as if Kesh was host to more Force users, ones that Qwi and Beaumont freed from the Sith. We should send diplomats, get them on-board. It’s far in the east though.”

“We can seen Jedi who are less war inclined, after all,” Cilghal said. Her eyes took in Feyna. “Is that agreeable? Unless you wished to take personal control of this initiative?”

Isolder wasn’t sure he liked the way Cilghal said that, but he supposed she was a Senator too - and knew that the Chancellor wasn’t acting entirely rationally. Was Cilghal asking something else?

Feyna likewise was unsure of whether Master Cilghal had an ulterior motive, but she wasn't interested in personally heading the operation. "No, I don't think so."

Cilghal smiled. “Apologies, Queen Mother, I was merely clarifying whether I should address you as Chancellor again.”

Isolder snorted, but the Mon Calamari pressed on before he could comment. “And on the basis of the Jedi Order being an independent ally of the New Republic, I shall accept the intelligence presented to me and make the necessary decisions. I don’t need the permission of the Chancellor to deploy Jedi, and in the absence of the Grandmaster I am acting leader of the Jedi Council. The Force tells me this is the right path, and I shall send two wings to Anzat.” She bowed deeply. “May the Force be with us all.”

“What was that about?” Isolder said.

Cilghal was gone before Feyna had a chance to bring up Aurra Sing, but that was not as urgent. And the Master's comment, though intended in jest, did raise an eyebrow or two.

"Doman probably won't like that I bypassed her," Feyna opined. But as Cilghal had said, the Jedi didn't need the Chancellor's say-so, and they had attempted to comm Doman earlier, with Nola and Del; she'd been busy, and they'd needed to act quickly.

"I'd hoped to ask her what to do with Sing, but as long as we can keep her contained back on the surface, that can hold for a while."

Winter pulled a face at that. “Isolder told me about that - I don’t like how close she got to you, or the kids. It’s really not good.”

Isolder flicked his ‘pad over to check on Aurra’s incarceration. “Um, well, whatever that was, it’s dead now - apparently Aurra’s body disintegrated and liquefied into nothing. The docs reckon she was a clone - and an unstable one at that.”

Winter frowned hard. “A clone of Aurra Sing? What the....?"

Feyna nodded in agreement with Winter's concern, but her expression became perplexed at Isolder's update. "Cloned by whom?"

They probably wouldn't get the answer to that any time soon, though. "They would have had to have access to Aurra to get any genetic material to clone, the real Aurra has been--supposedly--locked up for the past fifteen years, longer than that, really." Emphasis on supposedly.

Winter nodded. “I’ll have someone sent to check on her at Oovo IV prison, though last time I was there with Nola she was still there.”

“When Rax died,” Isolder said, carefully. “Killed by the Vong.”

“Do you think they took a sample?”

“I mean, Master’s Windu and Skywalker killed at least one Palpatine… so I’m guessing there is some kind of clone science involved. Didn’t Amedda use a clone to escape Qi’ra Ananke?”

Winter took the hint. “So you think Palpatine sent the Aurra clone to assassinate Feyna?”

He looked back at his wife, sounded grim. “I wouldn’t put it last him. You are a Hero of the Galaxy, after all.”

Her best friend stepped over and squeezed Feyna’s arm. “We’re going to have to be careful.”

Isolder nodded. “The sooner we get the Star Home on the move, the better.”

Feyna still had questions about the clone--what had made her unstable to the point of disintegration? What had she been using at the palace that had been interfering with the security systems?--but Isolder was right, they should be heading out.

She nodded as she gave Winter's hand a squeeze, then reached for her husband. "Let's get on our way, then."

TAG: @Sinrebirth

-------------------------------

IC: Del and Senator Nola Deidder
At home, New Nubia

Nola made a face at the HoloNet; that the Eternal Empire was managing to hold off the Confederation with only one-fifth as many ships was frustrating to watch, and she shook her head when her husband inquired if there was any news on the Corellian election--though she was hoping that Praxan's stunt might have done some last-second damage to Thracken's campaign.

"I'm just...irritated, mostly," she admitted when Del asked how she was.

Del nodded. "Well, that's fair." He stepped beside her and rubbed at his hair. "But I suppose I should ask at what specifically?"

Nola bit her lip. She'd already expressed her feelings about Kre'frey, and nothing she could say was going to change that situation now. No point venting about Beruss, either, until after they'd spoken to her again (Nola had gotten the impression that the Chancellor hadn't really wanted to bring the Senate to New Nubia, and the meeting had ended on a bad note). And there was the Corellia situation, the Nubia situation, Sal-Solo...

There were quite a few things she was annoyed about, but she also wondered to herself if she was being childish.

"It already feels like a lot of things aren't going our way," she finally said.

Del nodded, sitting besides her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's happening again, basically - fifteen years ago. With all the chaos and violence and mess. Last time we found out Norin was mad, Coruscant was wrecked and we had to move home, and then home was lost to a nutjob leading an ancient droid armada."

He shook his head. "What do you want to do? We know it's going to be bad, so what can we do?"

Nola didn't know how to answer, at first; perhaps she'd been looking more to vent, than to try to figure out a plan when it was still so early in the game.

There was one thing weighing on her, though. "We have a backup plan for the Senate, with Feyna and Isolder bringing Star Home, but if worse comes to worse, if there is an attack here...what about the other refugees?"

“We need to start working on the best place to take them. We’re in the Core so we should have time to plan, but the Vong have taken dozens of planets in a few hours and surprised us - even without Sal-Solo messing up here.” Del nodded. “Maybe we should be making our own plans…”

He did pull up the refugee directions. “Technically we’re supposed to withdraw to Ruan or Duro if New Nubia falls, but Duro is in the Corellian Sector so that isn’t happening.” Ruan had dozens of agricultural worlds under its control, the literal breadbasket of the Core. “But did you want to try and find somewhere else?”

Nola shook her head; she didn't want to spend too much time going back and forth with their options, she wanted plans in place as quickly as possible, so there would be as little confusion as possible if they had to act on them. "I think Ruan would be fine."

“Did you want to start moving the young and the elderly now?” Del said, carefully. “Not sure how we’ll manage it without starting a panic…”

"I don't think so..." Nola replied, though she sounded a little unsure. "This is just to be prepared if we're attacked"--yes, she was paranoid that it was going to happen eventually, but there was still room for if.

"We could issue a public statement, and let people decide for themselves if they want to leave, but that might also cause a panic..."

"A public statement is a way of giving them a choice. That they don't have to leave if they want to, but that's the plan if they do." Del nodded. "Press conference?"

She considered. "Should we wait 'til we've spoken with the Chancellor? Maybe comm Ruan as well, so they're prepared if we do have people who want to evacuate sooner?"

Del nodded. “Oh yeah, Ruan will want notice if we’re volunteering to start an early evacuation.” He rubbed at a wet patch. “But in the morning, right?"

Nola nodded back. "Definitely in the morning."

Del nodded, and slipped into bed. “It’ll be alright Nola - we got through the last war - we can get through this."

Nola didn't reply, simply nodding once more as she slid under the covers next to him, settling close and kissing him good-night.

Let's hope so.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

Ka'rta
Mandalore

She let go of the limp form of Da'Gara leaving him on the floor to rot. Looking around the rest of her team seemed a little worse for wear but alive. There were mandalorians, if they died to these foes she would be very disappointed. She continued her march of death, even as the halls became filled only with the sound of beskar. The ship might just be there's. The question was what to do with it.

News that the Vong were hitting hard at Garqi was less than welcomed news. If that fell, taking all the defenders with it, that would open the way into mandalorian space. Maybe these ones would have the courtesy to plow their way through the planets that formed the shield around Mandalore rather than just showing up on their doorstep.

That was the entire Mandalorian campaign strategy, force the enemy to move from planet to planet grind them down before they reach mandalore hopefully worn down and questioning their life choices before they reach the fortress that was the crown jewel of Mandalore the Vengeant.

"We'll be ready for them, let the Vong wear themselves down on the Republic, they'll be weaker when they come and face us. And we have learned much in our first engagement with them. New strategies to thwart their attempts to confuse us with their alien tech." She replied matter of factly with full confidence if not in her plan, then in the strength of her forces. "And after the war is done, we can rebuild, and come back yet stronger, with the Republic yet again weakened by a drawn out war. They can't stop us." Looking around she narrowed her eyes.

"I would like to have it. Yet another weapon in our arsenal. That is if we can take it over. Hell if we can take over all three it would be a boon to us. Waste not want not." She remarked trudging deeper into the ship. "And Tech, when you get the chance, send all this data to our friends in the Roche Asteroid Belt. See if they can make something to help us… I'll tell them we will be very appreciative if they can come up with something...and very very displeased if they cannot. Those besu'liik protecting them can just as easily be turned on them. Or simply recalled, with an enemy at their doorstep."

She snarled, hoping those bugs could give her something more than just throwing more and more beskar at the problem.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Jori II Atreus
Bakura, Salis Daar, Eternal Throne Room

Jori thought she had gotten free of her kidnapper, but when the place got lit up by the awe-inspiring attacks she understood that her reprieve was short-lived. She was being tugged by what appeared to be a blonde man in a Black Coat.

She did not know him and could not know his intentions. There were too many variables. The whole situation was a perfect lesson that even the best laid plans can get derailed and that she had to be able to improvise and make her way through the chaos.

Despite the fear that she was feeling her mind was working fast. It was frantic at first, but then as reason started to come back it became calmer and more methodical. Fear was useful of course, but she must not allow herself to be controlled by it.

Fear is the mind-killer…

The old mantra came to mind. There were two options before her, be allowed to be dragged, to find out more, or attack with the dagger and hope for the best. The former meant that she could get in a situation with no way out, the latter… well she could get killed.

“Which Emperor?” she asked indignantly. The answer could determine her next course of action.

TAG: @Sinrebirth @darthbernael @HanSolo29 @Shadowsun @Narancia

 

IC: Snerfu - combo with the GM
Guest starring: Din Djarin and Emperor Graal's kids

Tumbling down into the rubble below, Snerfu barely managed to stand. His ear had fully regrown itself, but his entire body was sore. A feeling Snerfu enjoyed, but his body was beginning to tell him that he was running out of juice despite him draining Aurra Sing.

Snerfu looked around for his foe and was impressed by his handiwork. The Assassin's face was that of pure pain and shock. Snerfu had a bag that he kept his other weapons in, so he scooped up the former Assassin's head and placed it in there as well as her twin crimson lightsabers.

Snerfu climbed up from the rubble, and what he saw was heresy at its finest there were more intruders, and they were attacking the children of Emperor Graal.

Snerfu didn't hesitate as he sprinted his way towards the bounty hunter and ducked low, aiming to tackle the Mandalorian intruder.

The Mandalorian gunned his jetpack and leaped away, inverting to open fire with a flamethrower upon Snerfu -

He was a skilled combatant, and with Arek and Jalynn wounded and unconscious, he was not going to be as easily put down as Aurra -

Snerfu was surprised by the Mandalorian's reflexes, but what surprised him, even more was the flame thrower. Snerfu picked up a large piece of rubble and used it as shielding to prevent the flames from touching him. Snerfu knows at this point that he couldn't take any more serious wounds as his body, though rejuvenated, couldn't keep doing this as regeneration taxed the midichlorians in his blood. If he constantly kept regenerating, he would be cut off from the force entirely until the cells also rejuvenated.

Snerfu could even feel that a lot of the abilities he was capable of were now unavailable. Snerfu could only manifest the basic powers, a severe handicap against a Mandalorian, but Snerfu embraced the challenge.

"I killed your friend Sing. What makes you think I won't do the same to you?"

Snerfu put away his scythe and activated one of Sing's crimson lightsabers.

Indeed, behind them, Aurra's body began to dissolve, an odd result of a decapitation.

He charged, not drawing a weapon but keeping his flamethrower ahead him -

Snerfu felt the extra pressure added to the flames by the Mandalorian's charge; the flames were going to overwhelm Snerfu and fast if he didn't do something and quickly. So Snerfu used the force to push the chunk of rubble at the Mandalorian while simultaneously rolling to the Mandalorian's flank, aiming to ambush him.

The Mandalorian gunned his jetpack to leap over the chunk, landed as Snerfu swung, and he caught the blade on both his arm bracers before kicking out and landing a solid booted foot to Snerfu’s stomach -
Snerfu doubled over as the beskar studded suit made impact with his body. Snerfu was at the point now where the pain was just that, pain. The force didn't supply him with strength, and his body had become exhausted.

Though Snerfu was nothing more than a fanatic, there were times he could use his mind (mostly when he had no other option). And this was one of those times.

Snerfu disengaged from the stalemate and made another rush for the Mandalorian, but he also was going to play a clever trick. This time Snerfu threw his lightsaber at the ceiling to cause the remnants of the roof to collapse.

This strategy was not for Snerfu's survival but the kids of Emperor Graal.

"Go now, while he's distracted. I'm not sure I can beat him like this."

Snerfu pulled out Aurra's other saber, effectively using a rudimentary form of the classical dueling style of Jarkai as he wielded his one-handed scythe in conjunction and awaited the results of his ploy.
The blade sliced apart the last of the roof, and the rubble buried Din. Jalynn and Arek, bloodied and bruised, one of which looked to go, but the younger glared daggers at Snerfu and squeezed a fist.

“How dare you suggest I need your help, Servant.” He lifted a hand before Jalynn could stop him.

A Force choke caught him; it was insanely powerful and completely misguided. The young teen - barely fourteen - was furious that he had been humiliated saving his sister, and he did not want it to be remembered. It was obvious that the youngest of the Eternal family had been bestowed the power of a Force God by his father and completely corrupted for it.

This was not anticipated.

Snerfu levitated off of the ground; the power of the force was strong within this child. Snerfu was in awe of the prince's power, but now wasn't the time. Snerfu struggled against the brace of the child's power, then again, Snerfu, at this point, was running at about a quarter of his power but still, the teen had amazing potential.

"P-prince," Snerfu gagged as the pressure was tightening his windpipe. "Think of your sister."

Snerfu was appealing to the boy's connection to his family.

The debris was being shoved aside as Arek’s eyes yellowed brightly. But when there was a noise of clattering rubble, he realised what he was doing and turned his hand to hurl Snerfu at the Mandalorian -

Not quite the respectful response to a servant, either!

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @darthbernael @TheAdmiral @Shadowsun

 

Darth Cocytus
A new timeline.

Darth Cocytus blinked slowly as he walked out of the other side of the - more tunnel than cave - and looked at his surroundings. Everything around him, including the Force itself, felt different, as if a great change had taken place, yet was always like that somehow. It immediately occurred to the kaminoan exactly what the black-coated man has done and where he has taken them to.

They have arrived at another timeline.

A loop-hole around the inability to mend his past mistakes, no doubt.

His eyes stared at the other Tor Valum with neutral expression before his attention shifted to finding his long lost Darth Styx.

A stir within him.

This all seemed too good to be true, which made him keep his guard up.

"Yes." Cocytus replied calmly, "Let's go find my young Lady Styx."

Tor clicked his joints as he moved to block his path. You cannot. Here, you should not be.

"Should is such a vagu word, wouldn't you say?" The Black-Coat shrugged.

It was not written.

"Oh boy," Cocytus' guide placed a hand on his forehead. "This reality has been Changed, oh big and great Sith who apparently didn't breach the so-called holy Rule of Two by existing... it's completely unwritten."

You must not leave; my future is still not undone. The boy, Ben Solo, he could still become Kylo Ren, still find Palpatine's Holocron, still come here to me.

"Is that sooooo?" crooned the Black-Coat. He looked at Cocytus, tone leading.

Cocytus starred in thought, the wheels and gears in his heading turning and twisting.

His train of thought only aborted for a split moment by the Black-Coat's finger on his forehead.

His eyes narrowed.

Time to be more assertive.

"I should not be here, and yet here I am." The kaminoan replied coldly, "I will still do what I must to establish my supremacy over the Galaxy, whether it be this timeline, or the other from which I came, if returning is possible. I shall kill either or both of these Kylo Rens and claim the title for myself: Darth Cocytus, Kylo Ren. As such, I will find Palpatine's Holocron and I will come to you."

"Let that be written..." Cocytus spoke, "Or let it not, written words do not control me."

Tor Valum shuddered back. It makes little difference to me. I will instruct whoever seeks me out. For seven millennia I have entreated; you will not change that I am both Sith, and above your pettiness.

The Black-Coat shrugged, turned to go. "Alrighty then, let's go and hunt Styx!" He stepped gallantly forward, and a stony pile of rubble toppled as a smaller dipyramid shrugged it's way free. With a black gloved gesture, he indicated. "It listens to your thoughts, think of it as the Kwoth version of the Sith Meditation Sphere."

The monstrosity regarded Cocytus and spoke to him only. You are being used. You should stay. Learn; prepare this galaxy for conquest.

Darth Cocytus stared at Tor Valum, standing his ground, before nodding. At least they seemed to have an understanding with each other.

The kaminoan began following the Black-Coat, eager, but cautious, to find his apprentice. Or rather this Timeline's version of his apprentice anyway. Would she be the apprentice of this Timeline's Darth Cocytus? Or apprentice to someone else entirely?

Such questions made him only notice the Dipyramid. He stared at it in thought as the Black-Coat explained what it was.

He blinked as he heard words and realized that Tor Valun was speaking to him once more, and regarded his warning.

Trust me. I trust this Black-Coat as far as I can throw him with my bare hands. I must ask, though, prepare this Galaxy for my conquest or another's?

It is always another’s, my Sith friend. The eternal war between Light and Dark shall never end, and so you must accept your place in the great game.

The dipyramid released a ramp and the Black-Coat swept up. He peered back at Cocytus. “Kinda surprised you’re not killing a Sith rival. He will choose the future of the Sith over the current Dark Lord each and every time. But so be it, my friend.” With his hands tucked behind his back, he stepped in. “Kamino calls.”

Darth Cocytus glared at Tor Valum after hearing his words, with burning cold yellow eyes, filled with resentment and hate.

"I am not a pawn." The kaminoan declared, "Too long have I ended up as such by means of tricks and false promises by my foes, but no more."

He glanced at the Black-Coat and glared at him too. "If you are referring to Darth Styx, she is my apprentice." Cocytus stated as he boarded the ship, "If I am to have it my way, she is the future of the Sith Order. My Sith Order."

His eyes glowed in thought.

"Which brings up another question entirely." The kaminoan went on thoughtfully, "How long will I end up giving up this scheme, assuming that my plans with the Five are lost to me, due to ending up in another? For too long, as well, have I been led from one scheme to another before they ended up hacked by my enemies and dragged along into another scheme by someone else."

"Sooner or later, I should stick with a plan and see it through to the bitter end."

He pointed at Tor Valum. “I was referring to him. He is content to create Sith and send them back into the galaxy and sit back and watch. He has no interest in any one Sith, merely the continued war. He is a piece of the First Darkness, after all.”

The Black-Coat shrugged. “I had intended to deliver you back to where you left with the Five after they’d finished their newest armada thingy.” He tapped his chin again. “With the issues the reborn First Order and the new Dark Lord of the Sith cause in the timeline we once left, it will be a while.”

"Ah. My second guess." Cocytus replied with a shrug before he glanced at Tor Valum, "I will wait and see what further usefulness I can find out of him. Then I will rid of the Galaxy of this creature as I see fit."

The kaminoan nodded at the assurance of his return. "Ah. Good. So things will go as I plan and then some." He spoke, "I still need to reclaim the First Order from that Kylo Ren, either by force or by guile and finish what I started on the other Kamino by destroying Darth Insipid once and for all."

@Sinrebirth


Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk

 

IC: Madelyn Linnett
In Battle

Madelyn was please that everything was going to plan so far. She was pleased with the team that had been assembled, pleased that now they might have a chance to go after Palplatine.

But the arrival of the Vong was not something she had anticipated. Not in the numbers they showed up with, not with the thing that was as big as the death star.

She paused, feeling the fear of everyone. Wondering if her battle meditation would be enough.

"Take evasive maneuvers." Madelyn ordered quickly.

Her husband swore, loudly, in multiple languages, and swerved the No Luck Required. Apparently, it was a poorly named ship. Uldir was in the co-pilot seat for the moment, and he tuned them into the battle-net. It was utter pandemonium, and there wasn't a single vantage point to work out what to do.

Some of the chaos resolved into a tactical feed.

The Yuuzhan Vong had apparently exited hyperspace at the systems edge and advanced at sublight, forcing the New Republic to attempt to hold them back and fighting a retreat. The outermost planet had been immolated, and the three fleets had not been able to keep the enemy back for a second - it had been a constant withdrawal to stop the Yuuzhan Vong from overtaking them, and every time an Alliance ship tried to break away it was blown apart by the eight kilometer behemoths that had been tagged as Grand Cruisers.

Moral was shot to pieces.

"Shut that off," snapped Corran.

"We need to abandon the plan," vouched Tresina.

"No," Madelyn's husband said, "the plan still works, we just can't expect to do much for the fleets here."

"The New Republic can't afford to lose three fleets," Corran bit back. "We need to do what we can."

"Which is die, in all likelihood," muttered Uldir.

Madelyn sighed, "I don't want to lose all our fleets." She pointed out. "But I could make them believe we can win. It might give us the advantage. But there are so many ships-"

She pursed her lips, looked at her husband. "It's going to be tight. The other alternative is that we have enough of a distraction that we go in ourselves, and most of the fleets advance to the rear."

Corran nodded. “If we go in ourselves, we’ll need to hijack a ship we can conceivably fly.” He drew up one of the milling ships of comparable size. An assault ship.



“We could take this one?” Corran said.

The fleets were becoming jumbled, their formations collapsing under the pressure of retreating, and her husband chimed up. “I think we need battle meditation now, hun, we’ll focus on capturing a Vong ship.”

They couldn’t raise the Core on the HoloNet, local space was too complex, and the gravitics of the Vong fleet were too immense to avoid without fleeing far away. They were committed - terribly so.

Madelyn nodded. "That would work." She moved to sit crossed legged on the ground. Focused. Madelyn shut her eyes and relaxed, letting the force flow from her to reach everyone in the battle, to encourage and discourage-

The New Republic forces’ worries and fears and doubts and anger poured into Madelyn - there was a tide she could push against, and reshape, if she could find her center -

And suddenly sensed her son aboard! He panicked as his mother sensed her, and tumbled out of the access he had been hiding in at the rear of the ship.

Of course, everyone else was busy with preparing the A-wings for launch and working out how to target the Yuuzhan Vong ship best.

Madelyn tried her best to help those around them, to use her battle meditation to help those most vanurable and reshape the battle-

But she startled visibly when she sensed Alfred, she had ordered him to stay at the Jedi Temple-

Alfred ran to the front of the ship. “I know I know I know -“

His father turned back at the sound of his voice. “What in the Force are you doing here -“

“You we’re leaving me behind!” Alfred spluttered. “If something goes wrong I’ll be orphaned and have no sister!”

There was a bang; they’d just been hit. Uldir grimaced. “Arthur, concentrate. We just lost a stabiliser.”

Corran shouted out from the rear of the ship. “We need to launch the A-wings and escape pods now!”

Uldir shouted back. “I’m taking the Luck in!” He looked to the Grandmaster’s family. “Belt up, we’re going to have to try and land aboard the ship and take it that way!”

The A-wings began to launch, taking Corran, Tresina, Zekk and Tahiri into the battle -

More plasma began to chew at their hull -

The fleets were being buoyed by Madelyn, but they needed more -

“Impact in twenty seconds!” Uldir declared as he gunned engines -

Alfred looked apologetic. “I didn’t mean to distract -“

“Just strap in, boy!” Arthur shouted -

Madelyn winched and tried to ignore what was happening, to focus on the fleets as her son and husband argued. They just needed a little more time-

I need to get them to fight back-

The New Republic fleets were fighting her; they wanted to run, to hide, to panic -

Images of monstrosities boarding ships and slaying the crews, of enemy vessels sprouting tentacles and drawing fighters into a toothy maw, of plasma hitting a ship and chewing through the hull, of corvettes emptying entire magazines of torpedoes at coral warships that simply created a void and consumed the explosions without harm -

Madelyn was fighting against that…

… but she was giving the commanders more courage, the fighter pilots more heart, the admirals they clarity of mind to make plans, if they could just get a breather -

A chance -

The Luck impacted with its target, shaking them all and lurching Madelyn out of her battle meditation -

“Ships incoming!”

“Hyperspace disturbances!”

“We hit the wrong ship!”

Corran came from his A-wing. “It’s New Republic reinforcements!” Even without her bond, Madelyn would feel relief flood the Force - she’d held the line, and now they had more ships!

Arthur shouted out. “Two dreadnoughts and three more fleets! One is a Hapan fleet!” Pennant codes flooded the sensors.

The Viscount, the three kilometre Mom Calamari Star Defender, the Guardian, the Kuati nineteen kilometre monster, all commanding the First, Sixth and Seventh Fleets. Admiral Kre’frey came across the comms, addressing half of the original forces that had defended Garqi.

“All ships; engage.”

They boiled into the Yuuzhan Vong lines -

Arthur left his seat to check on Alfred and Madelyn. Uldir was already looking unhappy; they’d crashed his ship. “We need to get going,” Arthur said. “The plan is still a go - we just have to take a bigger ship.”

“Bigger?” Alfred said, hesitatingly.

“Much bigger.”

Madelyn fell to the ground, and looked up dazed as her battle meditation was broken. She felt relief in the force as reinforcements arrived, and brought herself up to her knees.

She looked at Alfred. "You had better stick with you're father and I. You wanted to fight right?"

Tag: @Sinrebirth

IC: Leia Skirata-Linnett
Dathomir

Leia was vaguely aware something had gone right and wrong. I feel like I've been bathed in darkness.

She became aware of new knowledge that came to her. She winched as the darkness seemed to fade. Leia worked up slowly and became aware of a weight on her. She looked at Almira, slightly out of breath.

"You...saved my life? What...." Leia heard her comm. beep and tried to sit up, but quickly felt the world spin around her. "....what happened?"

"I had to resuscitate you," Almira repeated, moving off Leia. "The Holocron exploded, and you were caught up in the flash, and then you collapsed." She still looked flushed, sitting besides her, an arm to help steady Leia. "Are you alright?"

"Wait. You kissed me?" Leia seemed more alert now. She blushed and looked nervous. But Leia leaned against Almira. "I feel weird. I almost died and I saw things...."

Almira wished she’d not repeated herself so Leia hadn’t caught on and focused on the words after instead. “Holocron stuff?”

The cave, rather impossibly, was brighter now - in the chaos she had dropped her ball of light but without Ramage it was able to accept a stream of sunlight from the entrance. Almira tired to help Leia up as she listened.

"Yes. Holocron stuff. Things about the rule of two." Leia admitted. She wrapped an arm around Almira without thinking about it. Looked at her. "Things that might help? Maybe."

Almira found herself looking at Leia too. As she helped her stand, their proximity brought another flush to her cheeks. “Can I just kiss you properly already?”

She hastily amended. “If you’re up to it, of course.”

Leia gave Almira a serious look, and then stepped forward. "Yes. I think I'd be up for that." She replied quietly.

Almira leaned in, closed her eyes, nervous notwithstanding she had placed her lips on Leia's not a few moments ago -

Leia smiled and moved closer, responding to the kiss. She wrapped an arm around Almira-

And everything else faded away for her. It was the sweetest sensation that she had ever experienced, and Almira was positively giddy in the Force. The kiss seemed to last forever -

And then Leia's comlink tweetled again with the unread message!

Leia broke away, upset that their moment had been interrupted, to answer her com link. "Oh force, this had better be important. Hello?"

It was just a message from her father.

We're on our way to Garqi, catch up, your Mom is worried about the Vong.

Of course, her sister Tor had also commed her earlier.

Almira for her part laughed. "Don't worry, we can always kiss again." She grinned.

Leia frowned at the message from her father, and then thought about Tor. She had promised her first that she would come and help. "We should help my sister first."

She quickly sent a message back to her father.

Buir. Completed mission on Dathomir. I promised Tor to help her with something critical. Will update you soon. Almira is with me. Stay safe. Call you soon. May the force be with you. Leia.

She sent another one to Tor.

Tor. On my way. Stay safe. Almira is coming with me. I'll update you in person. Things are getting worse in the galaxy. Leia.

Her father didn't reply; the comms were busy with chatter, and he was at the front.

Almira otherwise squeezed her hand, and lead her out of the cave. Their rancor was there, and he was ready to carry them back. His intelligent eyes took them in, and their hands, and he seemed to soften to the Nightsister. Two hands were held out, and a soft noise of almost approval came out of him.

Leia squeezed Almira's hand. "I think he likes you know." She took one of the rancors hands. "Come on, we need to get moving." Leia said, feeling even better now that they were out in the open.

The rancor had them back to their ship swiftly, largely because the witches were carrying it towards them too. Mother Djo nodded at them as the ship was set down. "It's time for you to go. The galaxy needs you; I saw it's ruin in a vision, unless you leave now. A moon of white with a great eye... it is coming."

She drew Leia into a hug as the rancor placed them on the ground. "May the spirits look after you."

"And you, Sister," she said, even hugging Almira. "You must hurry - and bring honour to your homeworld."

Leia hugged mother Djo back, surprised that she had done so and took the warning to heart. Although she wondered what it really met.

She stepped back as mother Djo hugged Almira; gave them an amused look. She wondered what the night sister was thinking.

Almira was caught off guard but she did smile back, and even bowed to Mother Djo. “Thank you, Mother.”

“Take care of the Jai,” Djo said softly. “She needs you now more than ever.” At that, the rancor scooped her up and they trundled into the forest.

The Nightsister would have spent more time thinking about the Mother, if she wasn’t in awe of the ship, and still buzzing from the earlier moment. “Time to go, Leia.” A certain mischievous shyness appeared. “Can we kiss some more on the way?”

Leia looked at Almira, paused. Because she usually had a million things to do on her ship to make sure it ran the way she liked it. "I could spare some time." She replied seriously. "If you promise to be patient..."

Almira came from Dathomir, she was a free spirit. All she did in response to the idea of patience was to smile teasingly. "I hear you."

She didn't have much technical knowledge, but she wanted to help, and she would, reaching over to squeeze Leia's hand.

Leia squeezed it back and smiled. She was happy Almira was here. "Great! Can you pass me those power converters?"

They worked on it, but it was slower than perhaps they would have achieved normally, because Almira kept nudging her for a kiss. By when they were done, and crossing the threshold of now-Confederate territory…

They had a way to go, and Almira seemed to want to move fast. Perhaps too fast for Leia? With her family in danger, Almira kissing her was a little bit of not quite ‘reading the room’ but perhaps Leia needed to switch off before they arrived at the Bakuran capital…

Perhaps.

Leia leaned back as Almira kissed her with what seemed to be more passion with every passing moment. She shifted and pushed Almira gently to break the kiss, not wanting to go too much further today.

"I don't know if we should move that fast..." Leia sounded worried, unsure.

Oh,” Almira said, a little crestfallen. “I am kinda used to just letting my emotions take me where they take me.” She recovered with a strong smile. “And we have this whole trip and ship to ourselves and all.”

“But it’s good, Leia. I promise.” A carnivorous grin. “Something to look forward to!”

Leia smiled gently, knowing Almira was disappointed. She put a hand on her cheek, kissed her on the forehead. "We do. I just need a little time. Thank you for understanding."

That understanding would have to take time to happen; they were en route to the Bakura system and if they weren’t canoodling, they had to get ready.

The Force began to show Leia the orbiting part of the Eternal Fleet above Bakura - and how to evade it. Something was changed within her since the Holocron incident - she could see forward, if matters were not too jangled…

… and that meant she, too, saw the oversized white-eye that was coming. But unlike Djo she could recognise what it was…

… because she’d been there fifteen years ago.

Leia kept close to Almira as they approached their destination. She felt something uneasy, and then dark. It felt like it had fifteen years earlier, when she was just a child.

Oh no.

Leia quickly flipped a few buttons on the control panel and turned to Almira. "You had better strap in."

Tag: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Barriss

Barriss stood there in silence for a long time, staring at Ahsoka Tano while trying to find her words. When had been the last time that she had seen her? The trial, when Barriss had confessed to being behind the bombing of the Jedi Temple and the framing of her friend? Decades later, she was still deeply ashamed of her actions and how they had hurt those who she cared about. Including her former master, Luminara Unduli, and poor, poor Ahsoka. They had deserved better.

There had been a time when Barriss actually had feelings for Ahsoka, feelings inappropriate for a Jedi. And honestly, a part of Barriss would probably always feel that way for Ahsoka even if she had since moved on and found happiness with Zara. Barriss knew that Ahsoka had died decades ago, somehow she knew even when she had been cut off from the Force. So seeing her now, standing there and limned in blue, made Barriss feel a bit emotional. Even if she was just projecting, tears fell down her face and her own body started crying in its sleep as well.

"I'm sorry," were the first words that came out of her mouth. For what else could she say. "Oh, Ahsoka. I am so, so sorry..."

She shook her head and looked down in shame, unable to look Ahsoka in the eyes.

Ahsoka smiled at her old friend. “As Master Yoda used to say, grieve not, those who pass into the Force.”

She stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, peering at Barriss and turning her face up. “I’m fine. It’s you we’re all worried about.”

Barriss looked at her, confused.

"We're?" she asked.

Ahsoka gestured to her wife and daughter. “Them and I.” She held in her other arm a white staff. “And someone else.”

“But you’d need an open mind, Barriss.” She smiled gently. “As opposed to that which you have hidden within…” Ahsoka looked at the two other women. “… though I understand why you did; envy you, even.”

Barriss sighed. "What is it that you are here to tell me?" she asked Ahsoka. She knew that this wasn't just her visiting an old friend. Ahsoka had a purpose, of course. A duty.

“Nomi was tasked to give you a map to a safe haven for you and your family,” Ahsoka said, her tone a bit more clipped as she knew Barriss had hidden away for a reason.

"What safe haven is that?" Barriss wanted to know. "And are you not here to tell that I'm being selfish, that I'm too focused on my own world while the rest of the galaxy is being plunged into war? Because I already know. I am selfish, I can't deny that." She looked down again. She wouldn't lie to Ahsoka. She couldn't. "And I'm a coward. That's why I framed you for the Jedi Temple bombing, that's why I fled after Order 66, and that's why I stayed hidden for so long. I was a terrible friend, Ahsoka. I would like to say that I've changed... but I'm still a selfish coward willing to let others die in my place just like how I was willing to let you die in my place. And I'm afraid that it's too late for me to change that."

Ahsoka waited for a long second to be sure she was finished.

Her expression was serene for a moment, and then she tilted her head forward and arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t say any of that. You’re the one beating yourself up for it. Not me, Barriss.”

"Of course you would never say that," Barriss told Ahsoka. "You were always so nice. Too nice. That's why you're here now, despite what I did to you. I know you've forgiven me, I know that Luminara forgave me... but I didn't deserve it. I got people killed, Ahsoka. Innocent people. And I nearly got you killed. So when I had the chance, I ran and I hid. I selfishly cut myself off from the Force and the rest of the galaxy, trying to isolate myself from everything. Decades spent only caring about myself, my life, and my family. So yeah, I have to be the one to best myself over it. Because everybody else is too nice to be honest!" She paused for a moment to catch her breath. She had been ranting, finally getting some stuff off her chest.

"But I know myself," she admitted. "I know that I'm scared and that I'm still hurting. Seeing you again hurts me, because you are a reminder of what I was and what I'll never be. You are a better Jedi... a better person than me."

More tears fell down her face. "Yet you're dead... and I'm somehow still alive. How is that fair?"

Ahsoka placed a hand on Barriss’s. “You did what you had to do to survive. But now it’s time to step into the light. Which is why Nomi gave you the map; certain safety for your family, and a chance to pay the galaxy back for what you have gained.”

“It’s time, Barriss. I can guarantee they’ll be protected. Where Nomi is sending you is probably the safest place in the universe right now.”

"But where?" Barriss asked again. "How do I know it's actually safe?" She still had her doubts about why the galaxy needed her of all people. She wasn't a hero. She wasn't a champion of the light. Did everyone but her forget who she was?

“Go to the coordinates you were given; choose for yourself. I am merely here to make sure you see how worried the people who care for you are,” Ahsoka said gently. “You will know, when you see… and when you meet with him.”

At that, the moment ended, and Barriss would wake as Zara settled into bed to sleep.

Barriss tried to call out to Ahsoka, not wanting her to go already. There were still things she wanted to tell her, to ask her, to apologize for. But it was too late. She was gone and Barriss was in bed with her wife, tears still falling down her face. She sighed sadly.

"Oh, Ahsoka. I didn't even get to say goodbye..."

I shall see you there…

Were the words she left behind.

Barriss looked at her wife, who was sound asleep. She still had no idea what part she was meant to play and wished that everyone would stop being so vague. She just wanted answers, clear answers about what was expected of her. But since she didn't have any, Barriss sighed again and tried to fall back asleep.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: A combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Han Solo
Location: Shramar

As Han came back into consciousness he felt his back being scraped along the floor, what was that...grass?

His mind was still foggy but he remembered now that he had been in a fight with Ben and Fin and that one of the Vong warriors had headbutted him twice.

A small worm of worry worked it's way through Han's mind. Was Ben alright? Had he managed to get that snake off him?

As he looked around and his vision became clearer he saw that he was being dragged by a Vong along in a field. His beloved DL44 was gone and he was all alone.

Now where could they be draggin' me to….

He arrived soon enough; in the fields, hidden away, was a Yuuzhan Vong outpost. Four immense warriors, huddled beneath some kind of fleshy-coral construct. They stood as Han was dragged in.

Rambling in their language, the Yuuzhan Vong threw the Corellian into the middle of them, and changed it to Basic. “He is worthy. He killed Tsalok in honourable combat.” He had not realised Han was conscious, but spoke for his benefit, to rouse him.

They stayed in Basic, practising the infidel tongue. “You wish to take him to the Warmaster?”

“I have been in this galaxy for longer than you each; this man is Han Solo, an infidel general and Hero of the Galaxy. He should be brought before the Supreme Overlord.”

The Yuuzhan Vong devolved into excited chatter in their own language again.

Well it seemed these guys thought he was important enough to take him to some Vong bigwigs. And his instincts were right there were infiltrators here.

Han couldn't wait to get his hands on Devry.

But these guys also seemed to beleive in honour, you kill a warrior you were looked upon a little more favourably. Well maybe in these guys' minds anyway.

Han pulled himself to his hands and knees and gave his captors a stare "I'm not goin' anywhere. If there is one thing I am sure of is that Han Solo does not like bein' caged up".

"So i'm important enough to see your Supreme Overlord eh? I tell ya what, i'd love to get up close and personal with him, so I can kill him for all the innocents he's killed so far. And to show you guys what this infidel can do".

The Yuuzhan Vong jumped, snake staffs appearing in their hands. The one who caught him halted them. “You speak arrogantly, infidel,” he said in Basic. “But though I offer you respect you will remember your place.”

A backhanded blow would club the Corellian to the ground.

Han caught the blow and he saw stars again, this time spitting out blood.

He looked up again with a snarl "I think you are the arrogant ones here pal. Look at you struttin' around thinkin' you rule the galaxy. Well let me tell you this son, the galaxy won't just lay down for you to enslave us at will, no matter what Palpatine says".

"We will fight back and soon you might become the infidels".

“I am not our Supreme Overlord,” the lead warrior snapped. “I am Vua Rapuung. We follow the True Way, and are imbued with the purpose of the Immortal Gods of the Sith.”

“What kind of Hero is this, if all he does is quip and snarl at us,” a warrior said, snarling.

“You challenge my judgment?” Vua growled.

“I do,” the other warrior replied, his coiled snake snapping to a staff-shape.

There was a shadow and a coral ship roughly the size of the Falcon arrived above them. Suddenly the skies were full of Yuuzhan Vong ships, as well - an invasion force.

Vua smirked at the challenger. “The warmaster comes to claim the food of our people, and the infidel slaves we have gathered.”

Now Han knew everything about Shramar.

And he hated it.

Devry had sold the refugees out, all so he could help these alien invaders. He'd chosen to enslave the planet and put out a welcome mat for the Vong.

The Moff Council would no doubt go ballistic but would they do anything? The New Republic was stretched as it was, and the current leadership was in his opinion not as good as when Feyna was in charge.

Han had hoped the warriors in front of him would have a fight so he could try and escape, unfortunatly the invasion force arriving put the mockers on that.

"Yeah well you may have won this battle but you will lose the war. The one thing I know about Sith is they become so arrogant they miss the little guy comin' up behind him" he smirked "And stabbing him in the back".

“That is leadership,” Vua said, snorting. “Politics and eugenics. Here we follow the cause - nothing else. The Great erasure of the infidel.”

He reached for Han and held him up as the coral ship made landfall. “Come, I shall show you the Embrace, while we take you to the Supreme Overlord.”

Han tried to struggle against Vua's grip but in his weakened state it was no good. And this Embrace sounded...bad.

I've got a bad feelin' about this. Ben I hope you come find me soon, because I think my luck might be runnin' out.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Rebecca and Tobbi

​

Everything about Phennir made Rebecca sick, his pompous aura, his privileged background that allowed him to think he was better than everyone; Rebecca's face darkened; she really wanted to end this man.

IT was people like Phennir that made the galaxy a sinkhole for the 99% of people in the galaxy; she should know once upon a time she had been that 99%.

It was always people like Phennir that made promises but never kept them and always profited from the suffering of others, but when the Airskipper mafia came into power, they actually made a change, they saved the people of Neimodia, and revolutionized its economy, and restarted its groundbreaking medical practices.

Tobbi was special, a gem to be protected; Phennir was not.

​

Rebecca only raised her blaster in response to Phennir's diatribe; she dedicated her entire existence to Tobbi; she understood him like no one else ever could; there was no way she would ever consider joining with someone that harmed her master. Tobbi's orders were law to Rebecca; there was no way she would ever consider contradicting them. Sure Rebecca and Tobbi may fight a lot or even call each other names behind each other back sometimes, but this was mainly because their bond was just so raw and passionate she'll do anything for him and go to the ends of the galaxy, and he the same for her, she...loved him.

Love?

Was it really?

No, it couldn't be.

Rebecca shook her head, her arm still suffering from the friction burn.

"You've made an enemy from every side of this war; the delusions you carry are grand. You will die, Corellia and its allies will suffer heavily, and all sycophants will be executed. This isn't a theory; it's just a plain fact."

Rebecca was looking around the room; she was literally outnumbered 9 to 1, but there had to be some advantage or leverage of some kind, but there was none; Rebecca would have to do this the old-fashioned way a good ole' shootout.

"I'm going to kill you for giving your people false hope; consider this me putting you out of your misery as dying here instead of facing the consequences of your failed movement would be a mercy."

Rebecca threw Tobbi into cover and lept into the air, spinning and twirling, unleashing a hail of bullets into the room, directly at Phennir and his eight guards.

​

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

OOC: Another combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Admiral Lennox Jerod, Soontir Fel, Thrawn, Ar'alani
Location: ISD Roadblock, Mobus, Xerton

Jerod felt some releif that Thrawn had not knocked his suggestion out of the window.

Anywhere they went and attacked carried risks and potentially rewards. Bakura of course would be a big prize. With Thrawn in charge though they could probbably have more success than just sending Lennox's fleet alone. With two large fleets they could give the Eternal Empire a wake up call.

That the Empire of the Hand meant business.

"Yes sir" he responded simply "Hopefully we shall be not far behind you and with our combined strength we can hopefully spring a rather nasty surprise and it will give us good insight as to how they fight".

He gave Thrawn a smart salute "Good hunting sir" he ended the call and turned to one of his comm officers "Alert the fleet at Xerton that we are returning, they are to prepare to head to Bakura at once".

Of course he had defeated Shai's forces here but at a cost. He had lost Sekot and ships he would definatly have needed to fight at Bakura. But he would make do with what he had and after a quick stop they would be off to war, this time not against the Vong but against the Sith.

It would be a whole different battle indeed.

Jerod sat down and settled into his command chair as Roadblock and the others jumped back to Xerton.

His forces at Xerton were amassed with those of Soontir Fel, and the Corellian opened the comms from the Fell Defender to the Roadblock. “Admiral Jerod, a word in private, if I may.”

Just shy of ten thousand ships listed in orbit, perched at the edge of the Unknowns for any further Yuuzhan Vong incursions.

Lennox was pleased to see that Fel's forces had joined his now but whether Fel would head to Bakura too. Probably not as Thrawn would maybe prefer to use him as a backstop.

Although Jerod did frown, what would Fel want to talk to him privately about?

"Transfer the call to my ready room" he said simply, getting up out of the chair and heading to the ready room.

As soon as Fel's image appeared Jerod moved his hands behind his back "Soontir" he greeted "So what would you like to talk to me about?"

“You may not know, but my wife volunteered to return to Known Space and spy on Thrackan Sal-Solo. Hand Intelligence managed to get her inserted again as an actor - Wynssa Starflare, which was her stage name when I met her.” He spoke swiftly, shortly.

“Because the war has begun, her extraction has been cancelled. But I intend to take a ship to retrieve her myself, and transfer command of my fleet to you - the Grand Admiral has tasked my forces with defending the northern flank.” He looked at Jerod. “Do you accept?”

Lennox raised an eyebrow, he did not know this at all. Of course there were Hand Intelligence agents everywhere gathering intel on new threats, maybe even allies. But what he was asking Jerod to do….

He shook his head "Has this been approved by Thrawn? Forgive me Soontir but running off after your wife might not be the best idea right now since as you say the war has begun".

"You might not know this either, maybe you have been told but Thrawn is heading to Bakura to try and take it from the Eternal Empire and to strike a blow to them. It will also help expand our territory".

"This was as per my advice to him. I am to grab my fleet and join him there. To not do so would put us at a tactical disadvantage against the Eternal Empire. So unfortunately you have three choices".

"You go and save your wife but your fleet will be without you. You stay here and act as backstop until you receive further orders. Or I take your fleet with me to Bakura again if you go. However this would leave our northern flank exposed."

Fel’s eyes widened. “We’re attacking Bakura? As the Yuuzhan Vong arrive? Is that not putting us at an overstretch at the very moment we have prepared for?”

He shook his head. “I shall stay, and contact the Grand Admiral. Convince him that this is the incorrect course of action.” He turned aside and the Chiss was immediately looped in. Well, one says immediately, but there were several relays involved as the Unknown Regions were so fraught with cartographical issues.

Thrawn had his hands tucked behind his back, expression cool. “Admirals, is all acceptable at Xerton? Have the Yuuzhan Vong acted?”

Lennox raised an eyebrow at the last comment, were the Vong supposed to have acted? Or was this all as it usually seemed to be with Thrawn part of the grand scheme of things.

Fel definitely was not happy at the plan to attack Bakura. He hated to drop his fellow Admiral in it but…

"Not quite sir" Jerod said focusing on Thrawn's image "Admiral Fel beleives our plan to attack Bakura is not a good plan. That it may leave us overstretched at a time when the Yuuzhan Vong are attacking. He wishes to convince you it is not a worthy choice".

He raised his chin "I stand by what I said in our earlier conversation. The Eternal Empire have been weakened by the Confederation and if we wish to expand our territory then this planet would hold strategic value".

He nodded at Fel's image "I beleive he also wishes to undertake a mission of his own…."

Fel shot Jerod a glare. “I was just concerned for my wife.”

Thrawn eyed him. “Understandably, but she is a capable agent in her own right and I have confidence that she will complete her mission without endangering any further Hand assets.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

His gaze roved to Jerod. “As for Bakura, the Eternal Empire’s capital seems to be embroiled in an engagement of some kind. This only confirms that this is the best time to strike. But I would like to limit this to a raid designed to disrupt the operations of the Eternal Empire. We need to keep the Fleet free too respond to Yuuzhan Vong attacks.” His tone hardened. “This is not about territorial acquisition. There will be plenty of time for that.”

There was an incoming call that included them each. “It’s Admiral Ara’lani.”

She appeared to them all. “I have news of movement across the Chaos,” the woman was referencing the Chiss name for the Unknowns. “Many of our garrisons are reporting increased activity on Lwhekk, New Vagaar, Grysk Prime, and other subjugated worlds.”

Thrawn narrowed his eyes.

Jerod and Fel had been suitably chastised and Lennox took his from his mentor with a nod.

A raid would be sufficient he supposed, to a full blown battle. Thrawn though must have seen something to change his mind though.

But the news that was coming out of the Chaos was concerning.

He looked to the female Chiss Admiral "Do we have any idea of what's happening there? Are they being attacked? And who seems to be on the move?"

Lennox tapped his chin "Could this be more Vong arriving? Or perhaps making moves into the Unknown? Or is it a new threat that has decided to show itself?"

"The Yuuzhan Vong arrival will encourage our subjugated enemies to become restless. So we simply have to project power to ensure they understand our resolve.” Thrawn said carefully. “I did anticipate this, but not so soon.”

His eyes took in Jerod. “Thus the raid, not occupation. Which is why I attacked Coruscant in that manner I did fifteen years ago.” The Chiss glanced at Soontir. “And why no further assets will be sent apart from those under my direct command. I lost an operative during the Battle of Coruscant while attempting to multitask.”

“Admiral Jerod, bring your fleet to Bakura. The preliminaries will be completed by the time you arrive, and I will ensure you have an opportunity to strike at the Eternal Family.” The Grand Admiral spoke carefully. “I have faith you will arrive in good time.”

"Yes sir" Lennox responded simply "We will need to do a quick check on what resources we have and will join you as soon as we can. I anticipate it will not be long before we join you".

Thrawn would no doubt be relishing a chance like Jerod to see how the Eternal Empire fought especially since it was thier capital they were raiding. Of course Jerod had fought them already in skirmishes but that was just appetizers.

It was time to move on to the main course.

"I'm sure Admiral's Fel and Ar'alani will keep us up to date should anything happen whilst we complete this raid".

The Grand Admiral nodded. "Then I shall see you there, Admiral." He nodded to him, and then Fel. "Admiral."

He cut the line, and Soontir paused. He wasn't happy with how the conversation had gone, but he respected Thrawn's view of it. "So the Grand Admiral intended a territorial grab first, and has now swapped for a raid?"

"Indeed he did" Jerod responded simply his bright green eyes flicking now to Fel's image "Ha agreed with my suggestion that now would be a good time to expand our territory and with Bakura being so close to our territory we have now it would be a good way to protect our flank"

He shook his head "For the Grand Admiral to change his mind something must have arisen. Maybe some new piece of information he has discovered which he does not wish to share".

"A raid does not do much except maybe give us clues to the Eternal Empire. Bakura would still remain a threat if it remained under their control. To capture it would strike a hard blow and it means that we would have a broader position in which to protect the galaxy from invaders".

Lennox nodded "I will still take my fleet to Bakura and perhaps the Grand Admiral will reveal more".

Soontir nodded slowly. "I can transfer additional Stormtrooper Legions to your fleet, if you think you can take the time. I know the Roadblock needs a resupply so it shouldn't delay you much more."

"I won't be sending ground troops to fight the Yuuzhan Vong; I'll burn their advances from the sky. I won't risk good men and women against those monsters." Soontir was firm on this. But he was a pilot at heart, and didn't think always in terms of ground battles.

Lennox nodded "That would be satisfactory. If you can transfer them over whilst the supplies are coming over it should speed up our departure. No doubt we will need troops if it changes back to an occupation".

Jerod the focused his full gaze on Soontir "My friend this war will not just be fought in the skies but on the ground as well. My experience of course is in naval battles but I know that in this war that the more warriors they lose the more disheartened they become".

"Sadly I know what it is like to lose ships in combat, it is of course the reality of war. But this war will be fought everywhere, we will lose people but we will never forget those who served us, fought for us".

"They will be a part of a victory against those who seek to eradicate us all".

Fel nodded. "May the Force be with you, Admiral Jerod. I shall have the arrangements completed before you depart."

At that, he signed off. By the end of the redistribution, Jerod would have more boots than Soontir did, but the Corellian suspected that Jerod would need them more than he did.

Jerod had a battle to fight, and received a data stream from the scouts by Bakura. The Eternal Palace was down, and eyewitnesses named various bounty hunters and criminals on the ground - Boba Fett, Tor, Aurra Sing, Fennec Shand, Dengar, Kenix Kil, Arb Skynxnex, Ike Sera, Din Djiarin - an A-grade team that had taken a crack at the Eternal Family of its own volition.

Eternal Fleet cruisers were plentiful, with reports of a sizeable amount at the new frontline with the Confederation - but not anywhere near a majority. It was a good shot, but not perfect - which is why Thrawn was taking his time.

But Jerod had to work with what he had - which was going to be the brilliant Chiss and two fleets in total.

Ten thousand ships for a glorified raid.

Which is why Soontir had offered more Stormtroopers; inevitably it was going to be more complicated than anyone could plan for.

Even Thrawn?

Who knows.

Jerod's captain gave him the traditional reply in an hour or so.

"The Roadblock is fully at your command, Admiral."

"And with you Admiral Fel" Lennox responded.

He returned to the bridge and by then reports were coming in. A posse of bounty hunters were making waves, the Eternal Palace attacked, but there was still a sizable force there.

Well with Thrawn and himself there it should be good enough but ten thousand ships for a raid? It was overkill, they all knew it. So why had Thrawn changed his mind?

He needed answers from his mentor. Especially if this all went wrong.

After sitting down in his chair and officially writing up a report about what had happened at Xerton and Mobus, the supplies had been delivered as had Fel's troopers.

He nodded at the Captain "All ships, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark".

Now or never…

"3, 2, 1, mark".

And on to a raid that Jerod was sure would be an interesting one.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

(Combo post between @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 and myself)

IC Tor, Fett, Aden Kya, Darth Sistros
Things going South

Tor was in position, everything was kicking off and she took a few breaths to steady herself. This was the moment, the moment she had been planning for so long. Then the building began to shake, cracks appearing.

"That's not…" Was all she could get out before the world pitched and turned and was up heaved. Stones and masonry battered her form, her armor just protecting her against the maelstrom around her. Luckily she landed on the edge of a pile of rubble, she could feel bruises forming underneath but she could power through. Nothing would stop her. Fett pulled on her arm causing her to wince a little but it was nothing. They moved low to the ground avoiding loose stones, and glass anything that would give them away. They'd come this far they wouldn't give up. There was a pain in her heart at the loss of the Slave I, it had become her home for a while but, she would sacrifice all if it meant the death of this one man. A whirlwind of destruction appeared, she didn't need the force to tell her that this was her target. She drew her pistol, the one Fett had given her all those years ago. They got to the fallen remnants of the landing pad following the path the cyclone took. They found their target bent over another, that blue haired sycophant. There wasn't enough metal to activate her mag boots to try and weather the storm so they waited. Thankfully not too long as the storm died and gave them an opening. As Fett lept into the air Tor took off running. Her legs hurt but the pain was nothing to her. Her mother had trained her to block out pain, to focus on the task.

Turning hard around a pile of rubble she came in, not from behind Graul or Sister, or Mr. Sinister, whatever the frack he was calling himself, but from the side opening fire with her blaser in one hand and rolling out a glop grenade she had on the back of her belt. Looking to pin the man in place to make him easy pickings for the season bounty hunters.

The Force radiated danger from all directions, creating a confluence of possibilities that clouded Sistros’ perceptions. His efforts to save Aden Kya notwithstanding, it became difficult to pinpoint where he should focus his attention. If his senses hadn’t been so muddled by the ensuing chaos, he almost certainly would’ve retreated to deal with the imminent threat—but under the circumstances, he merely continued to work over Kya’s unconscious form.

That was a mistake.

He was so consumed by his current task that he failed to detect Fett from the shadows as the bounty hunter lined up his shot. The blaster bolt sprang forth and burned the flesh of his hand, successfully knocking the Scepter of Ragnos from his grip.

With his concentration now broken, Sistros spun on his heel and audibly cursed at this latest development. However, it was nothing more than a slight inconvenience. Fett’s shout for his partner to attack inadvertently alerted the Emperor to their location, allowing him to hone in on their presence.

Stepping to the side, even as another Mandalorian emerged from the rubble, Sistros inclined his chin to reveal a wicked grin beneath the cowl of his Black-Coat. He then raised his hands and discharged a powerful Force blast from his fingertips to counter the warrior’s assault. The virulent wave quickly swept over the remnants of the landing platform, crumpling steel girders and causing a rolling tremor that was perceptible beneath their feet.

The hope was for the energy surge to dissipate any blaster bolts before they reached his position, while the tide’s forward momentum would hurl the grenade back to its point of origin.

All the while, Sistros began to backpedal to retrieve the fallen scepter, extending his arm to recall it to his hand...

But a stray blaster bolt found purchase on his shoulder. It was a glancing blow that elicited a growl of pain from his lips.

Boba watched the blaster fire vanish against the wavefront and acted quickly before it impacted the grenade and sent it back there way -

He shot it.

The grenade exploded, shattering Aryan’s wavefront, the glop emerging and splattering to the ground, more in-front of Sistros than above him, but his boot vanished in the hardening material, catching him -

His outstretched hand called for the Scepter but it would take a moment to reach him -

Boba and Tor would seemingly have an open moment, just before Boba rode a lightning bolt backwards -

Aden Kya, Darth Insipid, his hand over a not-even-healed gut wound, was sitting up, hand electrified, as he swung it almost drunkenly towards Tor -

A series of wounds jolted through Sistros - Gaeriel had just been hurt, and Jalynn was being peppered with pain, and Arek had vanished into his rage -

His concentration would be hammered at -

Tor took the hit from the force lowering and widening her stance. Leia had used force push on her before, she'd learned how to take the hit. Once the wave past her she activated her jetpack closing the distance at terrifying speed. Sistros had his hand extended calling his scepter back to him. If he did that it would all be over. They couldn't let that happen. In the moment she had she fired off as many shots as she could as her jetpack accelerated her towards the sith lord. The air crackled with power as lightning lept from the hand of the injured blue hair man.

Fett took the hit square in the chest being sent back. The bright arc of power made it's way over to her slowly, uncoordinatedly. She saw the wound in his abdomen. Sparing only a moment she sent two blaster shots in his direction before, turning her attention back to the sith trying to get his toy back. The bolt stuck her sending arcs through her and into the ground. While her armor's systems were shielded, she wasn't. She crashed into the ground her chest hurting and armor sizzling. That didn't stop her the scepter was moving getting closer to it's master.

She could not allow him to get it back. Her body hurt, her chest felt burned, and her heart was still beating fast. That was good she was still alive, she could still kill him. This one thought was keeping her going, keeping her fighting through the pain. Opening up with her blaster, she pulled a flash grenade from her belt, all sound and flash that should disorient her target. And if it got thrown back at her, her helmet would protect her.

Sistros lost the flash grenade’s trajectory in the growing confusion—or maybe he had never noticed it at all. He was far too distracted, but not by the hail of blaster fire or the strange lichen-like substance that had affixed his foot to the permacrete surface. Both were relatively minuscule, a mere nuisance.

However, the mental onslaught that slammed into his psyche was another matter entirely.

Gaeriel’s anguish, Jalynn’s evolving pain, and Arek’s unmitigated rage; he could feel it all. It swept over him in successive waves, each one increasing in intensity as it gripped at his chest and ripped his breath away. This was his family—his legacy. They were floundering, succumbing to their vulnerabilities.

Failing.

It was enough to debilitate him and bring him to his knees…

And yet, Sistros knew that such an outcome was an impossibility. They were the Eternal Family; omnipotent and infinite. They were stronger than that—he was stronger than that. A paltry assault by a scrappy group of Mandalorians was child’s play compared to the unlimited power at his fingertips. They were insignificant, and he was through wasting his time.

Drawing on the very pain that he felt through their bond, Sistros used that as a means to augment his power. He devoured it with an insatiable hunger, concurrently touching the minds of his family as the resulting energy coursed through every facet of his being. He bared his teeth at the mounting pressure within himself and unleashed a feral scream, his eyes burning a monstrous yellow.

But the pressure only continued to build.

And build.

And build.

Finally, there was a release.

A brilliant flash of scintillating energy erupted from his being. It was dark incarnate, thundering from above as the shockwave radiated out from its source in a whirling lightning storm. It encompassed all of Sistros’ torment; all of his despair and pain.

But most importantly, it embodied his vehement desire for revenge.

In his fury, if the blast also happened to unwittingly repel—or destroy—the grenade and dissolve the substance from his boot, all the better.

The wave of power hit Aden first and foremost, sending him tumbling forward towards Tor even as the flash grenade went off. The flash wouldn’t do anything to Tor and Boba, when he finally stopped his muscles from seizing up, but Aden was basically between Tor and Sistros, and blinded -

But he projected confidence, calling upon the Force so he could see as he righted himself, but even though he didn’t have the fine control to achieve that, he still snarled as if the situation was not completely beyond his ability to handle. “I am Darth Insipid,” he howled in the general direction of Tor. “You are nothing!”

Sistros would be blinded too, but had obtained enough space with his Force wave of grief to push at the others and enable the Scepter to slap into his hand -

"Shab." Tor exclaimed being battered by the wave of energy just getting her form low enough to the take the brunt of it. Her hand scraped across the furrocrete or what remained of it. A small pile of rubble built up behind her back foot. She felt the wave of emotions wash over her, not effecting her one bit. The bright flash, the heat and electricity all it did was make her want him dead even more. In the distance she saw the scepter reach his hand. Damn that was something she didn't want to happen. But she was this close, she wasn't going to give up now. Sure he had fantastic godly powers but even a Mythrosaur bowed to the might of the Mandalorians. The blood of Mandalore the Vengeant burned in her veins. This battle wasn't over, it wouldn't be over until Graul was dead. I didn't matter his power, or his rage. Tor's was greater and she knew it.

"Fett," she said over the private comms. "I'm going to get his attention on me..." Her hand closed around some loose bits of gravel holding on to them as she stood. The blue hair boy was trying to act tough but he was still blinded, she wasn't. He was looking in her general direction but not at her. She could work with that.

With a smirk threw the gravel to the side waiting just a moment for them to clatter to the ground to draw his attention before firing two shots from her hip aimed right at his knees. Just as the bolts left her pistol she rushed forward ready to try and capture him. His highness dained to aid this man when he should have been on his guard, clearly this man meant something to the emperor. Maybe she could use that against him.

Both kneecaps blew out in a bloody explosion, and Insipid crashed to the ground, crying out. Boba clicked in response, gunning his jetpack over the blue-haired idiot and landing between him and Sistros, unleashing a double gout of flame -

Over their private comms, he spoke up. “Take him, now. If we can bait Sistros away from his palace and droids we can take him later -“

The conditions for their current mission weren’t going supremely well - they’d gotten close but most of the team was dead. “It’s just us left -“

“Speak for yourself,” came a woman over the comms; Fennec Shand, their sniper, wasn’t dead yet!

Tor wrapped her arm around the chest of the boy heaving him up and putting her blaster to his head. "No, we have him right where we want him." She growled back over the comms, "This is our chance we just have to keep the pressure on him." She tried to hit her jetpack only for it to sputter. "Stupid Shabala lightning." she cursed dragging the still blinded man to the side hoping to keep the Emperor's attention on her.

"Like your new boot licker your highness." she shouted pressing her blaster into the side of Insulting's head or whatever his name was. Her finger rested on the trigger ready to pull it at a moment's notice.

The flash grenade may have physically blinded Sistros, but that did not prevent him from perceiving his surroundings. He simply relied on the Force to serve as his eyes and to track the meddlesome Mandos as they continued to cause havoc. They had acquired a greasy luster that set them apart from the panicked masses around them. That was how he had sensed Fett approaching from his right, prompting him to leap before the plume of flames could consume him in a fiery grave.

In that instant, he also discovered that he had broken free of the lichen that had previously anchored his foot to the ground. However, it was only a passing thought. He was anticipating his next move, his mind constantly evaluating the scene, even as he landed on the opposite end of the platform from Tor.

Sistros could hear her taunting, but more importantly, he could sense Aden Kya’s pain. He pulled on that for strength, adding to the rage he already felt from his family’s suffering. "You foolish child," he growled in a deep baritone, pulling back the hood of his Black-Coat to reveal a wicked grin. "His affliction only makes me stronger."

Through the Force, he called to Lord Insipid, providing a sharp warning: "Brace."

Without waiting for the young man to acknowledge the command, Sistros extended a hand and released another potent Force wave with the intention of sending both Tor and Aden airborne.

He knew that he was taking an awfully big risk, particularly when he regarded Kya’s underlying importance, but he had needed a distraction. If the Mandalorian warrior ended up shooting the young man, or if he lost consciousness, maybe the Emperor would even consider that a kindness—at least, until he could utilize the scepter’s full potential.

As if on cue, Sistros clenched the staff in his right hand and summoned its power, the darkness surging forth in long, scintillating tendrils. The Force stirred and coalesced with the mounting energy as he angled the scepter toward Boba Fett and began to siphon the man’s life force.

He then channeled that power back into Aden Kya to rejuvenate the young Sith.

"Thanks for telling me your secret..." Tor taunted before getting rocked off her feet and sent up into the air her grip tightened on the blue haired bootlicker. She'd worked hard to get to her prize she wasn't about to just let it go. The weight of her armor and her training with a jetpack let her mostly keep control of her body as it tumbled through the air. Though it did make it hard to keep ahold of the young man. She kept her finger well away from the trigger though she was working on a plan, if this kid's anguish fueled him then they needed to take the kid out of the situation. Thankfully the bounty hunter had something of a plan. Seeing the ground coming up fast she rotated landing hard on her back. The air was knocked from her lungs and her head rung with the impact.

Shaking her head she staggered to her feet still holding the kid in her grasp. She had a plan...she hoped it would work.

"Night night kid." She said into her helmet as she holstered her blaster, which lacked a stun setting and pulled a small electrified 'Stun Gun' from her belt and applied it to the back of the lad sending a hopefully debilitating shock to his system.

"How we doing Fett?" she asked just seeing the fight going on between the two. "Fennc think you can take a shot at him, we need as much distraction as we can get."

TAG: @Sinrebirth @HanSolo29 @Shadowsun @TheAdmiral @Narancia @darthbernael

Ka'rta
Mandalore

The reports came in and now out of battle Ka'rta had time to take them all in. One world ship was destroyed by a concerted effort of the Mandalorians, and another self-destructed before it could be taken over. This made the Vengeant snarl under her mask, how dare they take away her prize. At the very least no warriors were lost in the destruction, thanks to the fast thinking of Tech. He was being a lifesaver now, she was glad to have him, and the rest of the former clones. They might have been on their last few years but she would be sad to see them go.

The desperate screams of the mandalorians that got too close to the heart of the ship rang in her ears. Well, now they knew not to go there. For now.

"Tech send a team over here, seems there's some countermeasures near the heart of the ship. I want you to work double time on getting this ship fully under our control. Don't want it suddenly switching sides on us in a fight." More reports from the Mandalorian Frontier Planets going dark on the holonet. That wasn't good. "And while you're working on that, give me an estimate on how fast we can take over the Holonet receivers in Mandalorian space and cut them off from the wider network. Or set up our own internal holo net, I don't want to be blind and deaf in my own Empire. Send word to the Frontier Fleets that they are cleared to fall back to the Second Line, leave nothing of use behind, scorched ground authorized, allow the civilians to relocate if necessary but no Mandalorian should remain there and no military material should remain either. I don't want our weapons to fall into enemy hands."

"Ordo, kill them and space them into the sun, they aren't party to the Galactic accords from what I can remember, and the aggressors, so I'd much rather not spend resources on keeping them alive if I don't have to. Though if any offer to join our cause, I'm sure we can find a nice little moon base to put them on and test various different agents on them. Surely there's some bio-agent we can use to kill them, some pesticide or the like." Was it heartless, yes, was it cruel beyond belief, yes, did Ka'rta care, not one bit. They had come to her home, attacked her house, they would learn that Mandalore the Vengeat lived up to the name.

A slight chuckle left her hearing news that the New Republic and the Eternal Empire was already in uproar. As she had always expected, the moment the pressure was put on, they would turn on each other. There were no such divisions in the Iron Empire. It was held together by the strongest force in the galaxy, her Beskar Fist. She had prepared for this day, had removed every block to her unquestioned power by any means necessary. She was not just The Mandalore, she was Mandalore.

Reports that the Republic navy had withdrawn from the Permilian was tempting news but, she had other problems to deal with. Now wasn't the time to be taking and holding planets. Now was a time to consolidate and protect what was important. Mandalore.

Taking new planets would happen after the war, when the Republic and the Empire were too depleted to stop the Iron Tide.

News from her Verpine associates did bring a smile to her face, they were good for something in this war. They would give her the edge she needed to keep the Vong at bay, to make sure that everyone else could fall around it but she and her people would remain undaunted. Mandalorians were nothing if not stubborn.

They were prepared to fight to the last.

The call for a celebration was made one she would allow, within reason. They had won the day but, she would not allow them to be complacent. The war was still raging but, all victories needed to be recognized. And it wouldn't due for the leader to be absent from the revalery. Would make her seem above the others. She wasn't above them, she just lead them.

"Clear the ship and do whatever is necessary to get this beast under our control." Her order went out to those working to fully turn the ship to the side of the Mandalorians. "I'll have rations of tihaar and uj'alayi sent up, you've earned it." A little something for those that are going to miss the celebrations at the Oyu'baat.

She made her way calmly back to her ship and headed out. There wasn't only going to be a party, they also needed to plan their next move.

That should prove to be interesting.

 

OOC: Combo with the GM

IC: Senator Nola Deidder, Queen Mother Feyna Organa-Chume, and Chancellor Doman Beruss
New Nubia

Nola'd had only a few hours' sleep, but she was up, dressed, and had already made a few checks on the preparations for the Senate's arrival, which should be any time now. Presently she was sitting by the comm station with a cup of caff, waiting for--

The comm chimed. Nola cast a wary glance toward Del before she answered; that was probably the Chancellor. Here we go...

The Star Home had exited hyperspace just a few moments ago itself, and Feyna spotted the arrival of the Senate's ships out the viewport, and she was shortly afterward alerted to the comm call.

As could be expected, it was Doman, and Feyna noted that Nola was also looped in.

"Chancellor, Senator," Feyna acknowledged.

Nola gave Feyna a nod, then looked to Beruss, not sure if she should just go for it, or let the Chancellor start; if they allowed Doman to speak first, they could gauge just how upset she was about to be...

“Being as the Star Home is here and the Eighth is not, presumably you know where it is, Queen Mother. Do you also, Senator?”

Her eyes cast over a stream of data on the screens to the left and right and tightened noticeably but the Chancellor kept her voice even. Doman had just read that the First and Sixth had left their station by the Corellian border, and the Lusankya and Viscount had headed to the frontline too.

She also had reports of Jedi X-wings departing Yavin 4 and Ossus; of Hapan ships leaving the Consortium; of Corellian ships apparently heading to Nubia; of Yuuzhan Vong forces at Shramar, snaking down the territory between the Remnant and New Republic to Generis, and advancing into the borderlands between the Hydian and Perlemian.

But she wanted to listen to what had happened while she had been in hyperspace.

"Kre'frey has taken the Eighth to the front, with both dreadnoughts, and the First and Sixth fleets," Nola explained, calmly. "The Yuuzhan Vong brought in fifty thousand ships, he needed the reinforcements."

Doman nodded, shutting down her feeds and focusing. “There’s several enemy dreadnoughts there too, I see.” She looked from Nola to Feyna and back again. “That explains why Kre’frey isn’t here, but it doesn’t explain why the Star Home is.”

She held her tongue. Small statements, or she might fly off the handle with one of her oldest friends.

Okay, she took that part all right, Nola thought, as Feyna spoke up.

"Star Home is both a mobile palace and a battle station in itself. We're offering it to the Senate as an alternative base, or as a backup plan, and as a line of defense."

"New Nubia is still prepared for the Senate's arrival," Nola put in.

If Doman still wished it.

“So Kre’frey… notified you both that he was absconding with a sizeable amount of our military?” Doman managed to keep her tone even.

“Or did he ask permission?”

Now that didn’t sound quite so even.

Nola mentally winced, but she took a breath and pressed on. "He contacted me right after the meeting. Technically he asked, but he was becoming more stressed as reports came in and the Vong numbers went up so sharply, I didn't think I had a choice. I believe he would have eventually taken them either way."

Feyna stepped in quickly, hoping to smooth it over before Doman blew her stack. "Senator Deidder commed us immediately after; Prince Isolder and I were already planning on bringing Star Home anyway. I can recall the Eighth, but opted not to, considering the numbers we're up against. Without reinforcements, the three fleets we already had there wouldn't have much chance."

Doman nodded. Slowly. “Well, I appreciate your initiative, I think. Kre’frey has inherited your ‘needs to be done, need to do it’ approach.” She managed a smile at Feyna. “When he’s like that it is very difficult to manage him.”

“He wants to be a Hero of the Galaxy, like we all.” Doman was being fairly charitable all in all. “But without your input, we would have had no defences for the Senate.”

She looked to Nola. “I take it you’re concerned the Vong or the Eternals will come for New Nubia without the Fleet defending it, but this deep into the Core and with the defences of Kuat, Balmorra and Hapes nearby, I consider Feyna’s contribution to be perfect.”

The Chancellor was handling it relatively well, but she also knew that other things had happened in her transit around the Core. “Was there anything else?”

Feyna took over. So far, Doman was handling things fairly well, but there was more bad news to come.

"I had to send some of the Hapan Home Fleet to blockade Nadiem; we received evidence of a new Sith group there, as well as a Dark-side training facility on Anzat. Master Linnett is at the front, but I spoke with Master Cilghal, and she has sent Jedi to deal with the academy on Anzat, after which they'll move on to Nadiem.

"Also, it appears that Palpatine may be utilizing clones again. We apprehended who we thought to be Aurra Sing, breaking into the Fountain Palace."

Nola frowned and glanced over to Del; this was news to them, as well.

"She...disintegrated, shortly after being taken into custody, leading to the realization that she was an unstable clone. I don't think there'd been a chance to question her, so while we suspect she was sent by Palpatine...that is just a theory, at this point."

Feyna had deliberately not waited for Doman to react to the news about Nadiem, moving directly on to 'Aurra' as a buffer.

Doman was still blinking about the Nadiem and Anzat adventures, before Feyna slid into the assassination attempt by a disintegrating clone. She glanced to an aide, who interpreted her expression to mean show me where Nadiem is, which the Ortolan did. “Well, it’s of course terrible you were subject to that attempt, and the cloning is a concern that I will raise with the Khommite, Kaminoan and Arkanian delegates, but…”

She put the locations of Nadiem and Anzat up between them, grateful her face wasn’t showing while she did - and she couldn’t see their faces. Her voice continued over it. “Nadiem is proximate to the new Confederate territories, and Anzat is inside our territory but near that too.”

“I am pretty concerned you opted to act on this Intel immediately without my input. Antagonising the Confederates and Eternal Empire at this critical juncture - where we should be focusing on the Yuuzhan Vong…” Doman took a deep breath.

"My intention was not to deliberately subvert your authority," Feyna replied, apologetic. "You were unavailable when we attempted to contact you, and it seemed prudent to contain these new threats as quickly as possible, while we still could. The last thing we need right now is more Sith running around.

"Our forces at Nadiem were instructed to blockade only, not to engage, and I requested that they skirt around the Confederation systems en route. Astarta is our most trusted commander, and has already sent word back that the blockade is in place."

Doman Beruss nodded; if only Feyna wasn't so damn reasonable. "And at Anzat? Are the Jedi taking half-measures?" She was reaching here; with the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor in transit to the new capital, Doman had arguably dropped the ball. But who could have expected a Confederation to secede and form a territory that isolated Hosnian Prime?

But she wasn't letting it go; she was sure Feyna had done something that she could conceivably call her out on.

Somehow.

It was not noticed by Doman that she was staring at Feyna and Nola was being treated as an accessory to a crime than the Senator whose homeworld just painted a massive target on its back.

"Having diverted a whole wing of X-wings from both Yavin 4 and Ossus?" Again her tone grew sharper.

Nola raised a brow at the Chancellor's tone--half-measures? On a Sith academy?

"I don't command the Jedi," Feyna answered, evenly, but perhaps a little firm. "And they do not require permission from the Senate or from the Chancellor's Office to deploy. I presented the information to Master Cilghal, and we discussed strategies, but ultimately she has the final say as to how to deal with that facility."

"I'm sure your recommendations were taken into consideration," Doman managed icily. "Queen Mother, I would remind you that you are no longer Chancellor, and also you have reminded me that the Advisory Council is just that - advisory." She marshalled her pride. "On that basis I intend to order our forces at Kuat and Balmorra to advance on the Corellian Sector and take Nubia from the Eternal Empire and Confederation."

"The Confederation has two fleets there," Nola advised. "There are only two thousand Eternal ships, but they have thus far held up against the Confederate numbers. We've had no updates from Garqi, but we've lost contact with at least a dozen systems along the invasion corridor.

"Are you sure you want to send the last of our Core fleets into battle?"

Nola exchanged a look with Feyna; she felt as if Doman was making a hasty decision out of a wounded ego, trying to prove a point without thinking it through. The Chancellor worried about Feyna's actions at Nadiem and Anzat provoking the Confederation and the Eternals, but was perfectly ready to send ships up against them at Nubia.

Not to mention, the Seventh fleet, at Kuat, was also a Hapan fleet. Feyna could override Doman's order if she should choose to.

Nola’s reasonableness didn’t help; Doman’s tone grew sharper. “So it’s acceptable for us to throw assets at Nadiem and Anzat, for our Supreme Commander to commandeer assets, but if the Chancellor intends to liberate a key Core sector, we’re all of a sudden worried about the Yuuzhan Vong?”

Her gaze cut across to Feyna. “You would deny me the Eighth, but allow Kre’frey the Seventh? What would you do if I requested you recall the Hapans at Garqi?”

"I did not divert federal forces to address Nadiem and Anzat.

"But if you do in fact wish me to order the Eighth to withdraw from the battle, I can make it so," Feyna added, placating. Assuming they could still contact them.

But I will make sure Kre'frey knows why.

Nola pursed her lips, wondering if Doman was bluffing, or if she really would make Feyna pull her fleet from the front. Personally, she thought that Doman needed to take a few minutes to calm down before giving any orders, but she wasn't about to say that out loud.

“Then I so request.”

At that, Doman cut the channel, leaving Nola and Feyna on the channel.

Nola scowled at the empty space that had been Doman's hologram; that was the second time the Chancellor had cut off transmission in a huff like that.

Feyna was still on the line, though. "Well, we knew she wasn't going to be happy."

"Actually, that was still better than I expected," Nola admitted. "Are you really going to recall the Eighth?"

Feyna frowned, but nodded. "Kre'frey won't like it, but he can take it up with her. He still gets the dreadnoughts, the First, and the Sixth. And if we're both honest, neither you nor I wanted the Eighth at the front in the first place." Nola gave a conceding nod.

So kind of a lose-win.

TAG: @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Madelyn Linnett
Fighting

Everything was happening too fast. She barely had time to try and figure out the best course of action, if there was one at all when Corran interrupted her.

"Yes well, that sounds easier said then done." Madelyn told him. She looked around again when she heard something off both in the force and outside.

"The Vong are attacking!" Madelyn shouted. "Everyone stand ready-"

Tag: @Sinrebirth

IC: Leia Skirata-Linnett
In orbit

"They haven't spotted us yet." Leia told Almira quietly. And she didn't want them to. It was going to be enough to keep a low profile. Until things started to go sideways.

She sensed Tor first, then the Sith. And Leia glanced nervously at Almira as they were contacted. I guess a ship that size is a lot harder to avoid.

"I'm a smuggler. I was ordered to bring vital supplies for repairs to this location. No questions. Do you need my clearance code?" Leia lied smoothly, reaching over to take Almira's hand.

Tag: @Sinrebirth @galactic-vagabond422 @darthbernael @Shadowsun @HanSolo29

 

OOC: Final combo with @Sinrebirth

IC: Qwi Xux, Beaumont Kin, Ship, Palpatine, Onimi, Pascale Rouser (spirit)
Location: Aboard Ship, then Palpatine's lair

As Qwi awoke she felt groggy and rather hacked off.

Someone had decided they had wanted to take control of Ship and somehow had managed to command it to jump away from Hapes. Which meant said person was pretty powerful.

She had kept her arms around Beaumont after they had collapsed and she blinked several times to clear her vision. Beaumont of course had not answered her previous responses, they hadn't had the time.

No doubt Feyna and Isolder would wonder what had happened too.

Soon enough they dropped out of hyperspace where a fleet of organic looking ships awaited them. And a large ship with wings. They were in Vong territory now. What on earth-

Suddenly her mind and the bond was assaulted by pure darkness. The powerful person who had control of Ship….it was Palpatine himself. And Qwi felt sick again her fear slicing into the bond.

Palpatine wanted them but what for? Their bond, Qwi's knowledge of superweapons, or maybe Beaumont's historical knowledge.

But she knew what Beaumont had gone through on Kesh at the hands of the Sith. Was it her turn now? Would Beaumont be tortured again? Would her's and Beaumont's minds be wiped and lose each other once Palpatine had gotten what he wanted?

She waited for Beaumont to say anything if he wanted to. But Qwi's expression of fear said it all.

Beaumont was groggy, but he remembered and realised quickly enough. He looked at Qwi, eyes widening, and he grabbed her hand, squeezed it; he’d thought he’d lost her.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Qwi simply nodded in affirmation, her fear still permeating the bond.

"He's got control of Ship, and not even we can wrest control back. So he wants us for something, I have no clue what it is".

She squeezed his hand back before leaning forward and kissing him deeply. It might be the last time they would ever do it.

"I'm not going to surrender to him, nor become a disciple of his or whatever. If we fall we undo all the hard work of fighting for the light".

"Let's see what diabolical scheme he has in mind. And be warned" her expression turned sad "We may get tortured...or even worse".

Ship landed and an opening appeared in the hull. A pair of burly Yuuzhan Vong were evident, massive warriors smeared in ceremonial blood. A much smaller Yuuzhan Vong was at the foot of the ramp, almost hunchbacked, attired in the rags of Imperial officers, completely with epaulets.

Blue and feathered, morals untethered, designer of death, venerated guest

Beaumont snorted. “Death and guest don’t rhyme.”

The jester rumbled a hand and Beaumont was grabbed by the throat and yanked down the ramp, tumbling.

The Yuuzhan Vong chuckled darkly amongst themselves.

Qwi strode down the ramp, one hand on her lightsaber blade and snarled at the creature.

"Touch him, and you will never touch anything again".

"And my partner is right, it does not rhyme. So let's get this over with and take us to your Master. Or would you like your head chopped off first for assaulting my partner?"

With a giggle, the hunched Yuuzhan Vong twirled away, gesturing for them to follow. The warriors glowered at Qwi, but it was Ship that spoke.

The Dark One’s apprentice is not to be trifled with; his comic appearance is a ruse; he is the most dangerous person in this room.

Beaumont rubbed his throat. “You don’t say. Ship,” he looked at her weapon. “They’re not disarming us because they’re either arrogant, or supremely confident. In their own lair, I can guess which.”

Go forward, or die. Ship turned and almost flapped his wings as if a bird, before heading away.

Oh great, so Palpatine has an apprentice now, and it turns out it's a Vong…

To ship she sent farewell…..traitor

She reached out a hand to Beaumont before trying to help him up "Well we have no other choice, we face whatever is coming or as Ship just said we die. We have to take each moment as it comes".

She continued to hold his hand "There are two Force users now, a Master and an apprentice. We have never faced such a test as this, we've only battled Lords in single combat. Now comes the true test of our bond…"

She squeezed his hand "And our relationship too".

Beaumont squeezed back. “I had your back against a Tribe of Sith - I can handle two.”

They were escorted through fleshy corridors lit by crystals and glowing lichen. Soon enough, they were led to a room of technology, and the jester crowed.

“Supreme Overlord, I bring you the two you claimed; one of them judges me for being Shamed; another wishes for my demise; but both watch for your lies."

The first thing that they would notice was the smell; the fetid stench of death and decay. Having from the ceiling, wrapped in a cage - something Beaumont actually recognised from writings about Onderon and the Sith King there - was Palpatine.

He spoke with many voices.

“Leave us.”

The warriors turned aside and closed the iris that sealed the room. They were just Palpatine and the misshapen Yuuzhan Vong.

“I see you have met my new apprentice; Daritha Onimi”

The jester turned around and bowed over his hand, dancing at the foot of the lifted stage.

The smell of death and decay was making Qwi nauseous but she kept a firm grip on Beaumont's hand and was trying not to show the disgust on her face.

"Indeed I have" she said simply her other hand resting on her hip with her blade "Although his rhyming technique needs improvement."

"What puzzles me is why you want us, and since you are using technology you have not been reviled by the Vong for they see any use of technology as sacrilege to their religion".

"And also how you brought yourself back to life as you were dead".

“The Yuuzhan Vong Shapers do not know the mysteries of life and death; they are unlocking them slowly, and cloning is a new science to them…” his smile stretched across the thin skin of his skull. “With my apprentices… influence we can dominate the Yuuzhan Vong, and whip them up to a religious fervour. They want direction, and I completed their prophecies and religion…” he chuckled darkly.

“Especially as I am their great Creator God reincarnated… for I surpassed death.” His grin was ghoulish behind his White Eyes. “That is what to be a Sith is, is it not, Beaumont?”

Any other time, Beaumont would have enjoyed discussing the word Darth and it’s origins, but Sidious was a hideous creation.

“I live as energy, simply enough - sentient energy. Shed of my skin I can leap beyond myself and take a new shell. The cloning process is incomplete, but I can acquire new vessels without issue...” he glowered at Qwi. “Perhaps I’ll even be reborn as you, and take your knowledge for myself. Starkiller Base remains incomplete; when I take it, I want to finish it and crush my enemies at long last.”

And there it was, the answer to all of her questions.

She wrapped her hand around the hilt of the lightsaber, her other hand still tightly holding Beaumont's. She was ready to use the bond to defend herself and Beaumont against these monstrous creatures.

"And you know I would rather die and send my spirit into Hell before you take anything from me. I do not wish to unleash another superweapon upon this galaxy and yet again be responsible for killing innocents. Never again".

She stared straight at Palpatine with a glare "And besides Beaumont would have something to say about you taking my mind and body".

"Hopefully someone will do us all a favour and finish you off, wipe your stain from this galaxy."

Palpatine arched a finger - well, half-a-finger, for he had a stunted limb. The lightsaber exploded in her hand, a flash that burned at her and bit her with fragments, but would do no lasting damage save for to stun and pain her.

"Someone might."

His hand lifted and he leered, leaning forward.

"But not you."

There was a blast of electricity -

Qwi yelped as the lightsaber exploded, fragments burning her through her jumpsuit as the lightsaber exploded at her hip and also burned her hand.

The fight was on now, Beaumont still had his blade and they still had the bond.

As the blast of electricity came she sent one word to Beaumont.

Together.

And with that she dug deep and pushed outward with all her strength.

Beaumont reached back, pushing at the smog the coma gas had left within them.

With one hand, Palpatine kept them occupied, his power so incredible, so great, that it pressed upon them as if a pressure upon their very soul.

For his part, Onimi flounced around the edge of the room, twirling absently and lazily, not remotely concerned for his Master's efforts.

Qwi could feel the pressure on them both as she was now fully linked with Beaumont. And she was not sure which would first break her body or mind.

Keep going she sent to Beaumont, it wouldn't be long before they started to drain with the energy.

She knew this could mean them both dying so she flooded the bond with her love for him and memories of their years together.

I love you she simply sent. Qwi focused her attention back on Palpatine trying to keep the electricity at bay.

Palpatine remained amused, but also sneered at his apprentice.

Onimi did a little cartwheel around them, Beaumont watching the little Yuuzhan Vong but also struggling.

He was so much stronger than the Tribe Sith.

They were, as Qwi had warned, nothing in comparison to a true Dark Lord of the Sith.

There was a whisper.

A voice they'd not heard for many, many years.

Qwi.

It was Pascale.

No response to her thoughts from Beaumont which saddened her slightly but she guessed he was too busy concentrating.

And then a familiar Commenori accent spoke up. Pascale?

What was he doing here? She had thought his spirit had finally passed on to be at peace. But maybe he had sensed something…

Pascale she sent back we are in trouble and am wondering if that has woken you up…

He can't be beaten. Not like this.

He contains within him the Seventh Part of Darkness.

The First Evil.

The Origin.

I did not know this until now.

You need to escape.

Or wipe yourself of your knowledge.

Because he will extract it, and he will complete Starkiller Base.

All the threads are coming together with him victorious.

Beaumont hissed. "Well that's cheery."

Onimi took a skipping, jaunty step forward, now behind them.

Palpatine continued to leer, the lightning throwing up shadows upon his face that elongated his malevolent grin to the point that it touched the corners of his ears.

He was truly monstrous.

I thought you were here to help not give us bad news she thought at her former lover. You might have wanted to pop that titbit in BEFORE we bloody faced him.

The Daughter had said about her having her memories wiped. But she had refused before and would refuse again. It would leave her broken, leave her with nothing left. And she would rather die with Beaumont by her side than die with nothing.

Escape it was.

Deflect she thought to Beaumont, hopefully the portal behind would open with the right amount of energy sent into it. It was a living thing after all.

Onimi leapt at Beaumont, and he turned around to deflect him, but Onimi plowed through and gripped Beaumont's wrists -

He twisted, trying to break free as Onimi exposed a massive, singular tooth and bit him -

Beaumont hissed and elbowed the Yuuzhan Vong in the misshapen head, sending him tumbling away -

Pascale's ghost-like form appeared between Qwi and Palpatine, a hand held up, catching the lightning. He threw a wolfish grin at her. "My abilities are rather limited in this form, dear." He turned around as Palpatine lifted a second hand and blasted at him, and Pascale called out. "Go."

The portal iris had been blown open by Qwi's exertion, but Palpatine twirled his wrist and a black-like mist seemed to emerge from the side of head, pain stabbing at her but not in a debilitating manner -

The shock of Beaumont being bitten reverberated through the bond and Qwi gasped. She hoped he was alright and not too badly injured.

Another gasp came from her lips as she saw Pascale appear in Force ghost form. He seemed to have come back from where he had rested to help them out.

Thank you she sent mentally to him before the mist that Palpatine had sent their way began to fog her mind and send needles of pain all over her body.

"We...need...to..go...now" she managed to say to Beaumont trying to turn him around to head out towards the hole she had managed to blast through.

Her energy was being sapped but she would get them both through this.

There was no way she was losing another lover. Not on her watch.

They would tumble out of the room, catching a glance of Omini cackling, rolling around on the floor, as Palpatine ceased his attack with one hand, catching the swirling cloud he had extracted from Qwi.

A burst of energy erupted into Pascale, and he could only look back. Cheri, and at that, he was gone, an explosion causing the entrance to cave in with fallen coral and taking out the pair of warriors that were wheeling to attack them -

Beaumont was sweating, and he looked pained. He pointed - “Hangar is that way.”

Pascale had yet again sacrificed himself to save her and she felt a pang of pain and regret. He kept putting himself on the line to save them.

She guessed he had never stopped loving her, even though she had moved on.

Beaumont meanwhile was not looking good and her scientific brain went to work as she helped him towards the hangar. Some sort of toxin? Paralytic agent? Whatever it was she would have to flush it out. And fast.

"Just...hold..on.." her breathing was getting laboured "Got...to..get..out..and..safe...not..losing..you"

He held on to her, and they hobbled to the hangar, which was, miraculously, empty. There was a single coral ship on the deck, a transport of some kind.

Beaumont worked with her to get them to it, and up the ramp. No alarms, no more warriors. No Ship, of course. “Setup… but we have… no choice.”

He was fading, but he buoyed himself with the Force - with their bond, and their respective ailments - his poison, her pain - they were held at bay, and they could think clearly for a moment -

He had been poisoned. And Qwi's heart sank.

They were drawing off each other but soon they would probably both collapse...would they both make it?

Qwi resolved one thing. If he went she would join him. She couldn't continue on alone. Nobody trusted her. And she didn't want to go anywhere without him.

"Agreed" she said now she thought how the bloody hell do we fly this thing…

She managed to spot a hood, did she have to use that to fly it? There were no controls she could see.

She looked at him "If...we make...it..out..of..this..alive..we..are..going..to..the..safe ..space. And...well..let's..just say..we..might..be..getting..up to..a..bit..of..mischief" she winked at him "Good..excuse for..you..not..to..die..on..me".

She hobbled over and placed the hood on her head and tried to gather her thoughts so she could think clearly. First she commanded it to close the ramp. And then told it to go forward.

I hope this works...

It went - it left the hangar, rushing forward much like Ship would with its instructions. It was a ‘yorik-trees’, and had dovin basals that propelled it by manipulating gravity.

It was eager to serve, and to go into darkspace at her request. Beaumont was languid, breathing heavily, but he held her hand from the other chair and pushed at the poison in his body with the Force.

They could go anywhere -

They had a hyperdrive -

Woah she was fast!

And unlike Ship hopefully could not be manipulated by other Force users.

Her main concern was Beaumont. He had said nothing in regards to well...anything she had said. His hand in hers was reassuring though.

But she had to help him, she could not sit there and let him suffer. Whether they would get a quiet moment together was another matter.

And where could they go? The galaxy was a pretty unsafe place at the moment, war was everywhere And all she wanted was some peace and quiet. Some alone time before no doubt someone tried to come and kill them again.

Just jump us anywhere she thought.

It would do for starters.

TAG: @Sinrebirth