Star Wars OPEN The Kingdom

IC: Flying Officer Rick Johnson & Captain Keth Dotch
TIE Pilot Ready Room, Darkest Night, hyperspace


The straight laced, polished answer from Turr made Johnson want to vomit. Silently, the flying officer wondered how many New Order loyalty videos Turr had done for the Empire? Probably all of them. Talk about blind loyalty! Turr would probably volunteer to throw himself down a reactor shaft if the Emperor commanded it.

Better him, than me! Johnson finished in thought.

Then there was Saraali. There always had to be the fanatical brown-noser. Don't worry, if Turr was willing to jump down that reactor shaft, Saraali would be the one doing it with her own orchestra playing the Imperial March (OOG: watch this! Its amazing!!!!!!!!!) in the background, loaded down with rocks so she could beat Turr to the bottom.

She would give cliff jumping a whole new meaning! Johnson thought.

Johnson came back to the table and sat down.

"We won't be going alone," Keth answered, "We'll be the lead ship of the 217th Naval Battle Group. Operation Dark Cloak. But you didn't hear any of that from me. Get some rest. Dismissed."


*******************

Sometime later...

Johnson moved uncomfortably in the TIE Fighter ejector seat, checking his watch.

Two more minutes.

I better hurry! Johnson thought as he quickly turned off his mini handheld gaming device and stuffed it away into his flight suit. He quickly put on his helmet, just as he heard footsteps along the catwalk above.

It had been their turn for the 2 hour tour into the TIE, looking at nothing with nothing to do, but be alert for everything. But Johnson always came prepared. He looked up towards the open hatch of the cockpit, seeing Rudy Ash with a big fat slab of beef jerky in his mouth.

"Time's up!" the mechanic blared between chewing.


***********************

Pilot Kitchen (TIE Pilot Ready Room)


Johnson stabbed at his food, taking bites every so often with his fork as he ate. He kept eying Keth down the table as the alien's food mostly sat there getting cold, while the Zabrak was entertained with a holopad projecting several blue tinted imagines of YT-series light freighters, many of which looked to be well worn. Under each imagine was a price in galactic credits, as well as a side bar to the left that showed the stats of each vessel. While Johnson wasn't close enough to get a solid look at the price or stats, he was close enough to see that some of those freighters were armed. Some clearly illegally armed.

But he didn't anything. It was none of his business.

However, Johnson had another question on his mind.

"So captain," Johnson floated out there, "I took a look-see about that Operation Dark Cloak. I couldn't find anything. Or the 217th. Just curious---"

Keth didn't let Johnson finish, but didn't look at the man either as his attention was solely on the holo imagines before him.

"---What part of you didn't hear any of that from me is hard to understanding, Flying Officer?"

Johnson grinded his teeth. Fine. The man had pulled rank. "Nothing, sir. Sorry, sir, for asking."

Keth just nodded, "Uh-huh."

Johnson went back to his food, finished a short time late, and then walked to the floor hatches leading to the Pods. Sliding down the ladder, he went back to his bunk to wait out the rest of this boring shift....


TAG @Sinrebirth , @Darth_Elu

 

IC: Pack & Sandy / Trooper Matth'set'peteravrevma (Peter Streets --- DW-418122; "Eyes")
Corridors, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin


Falen glanced between Eyes and Elena nervously. "I was going to return them, a-as well as turn in an official report on my findings, o-of course." He added quickly.

"Uh-huh," Eyes replied, crossing his arms over his chest, as the excuse was lacking in nothing but the one thing it needed: truth. He shook his head, glancing at the Lieutenant, "This is all you, Lieutenant," he flipped down his visor over his face, looking at the trio, "This should help block out the sound of the arse chewing you'll about to receive."

There was a tense moment of waiting, almost like a old forgotten frontier standoff, when suddenly Sandy stepped forward, lowering his tool boxes to the deck and holding up both hands and waving them, "Already, enough is enough---"

"---What are you doing, San---" Pack whispered in surprise, watching his co-worker walk forward.

"---the right thing." Sandy answered, glancing back as he spoke, then forward again.

"Those steaks were for my stomach!" Pack whispered back, his whisper more of a muted angry yell now.

"Have something to say, mechanic?" Eyes asked through the voice filter as Sandy stepped forward closer.

"Yeah," Sandy said, grabbing the steaks from Falen, "The lance corporal has nothing to do with this. We---I mean Pack back there," he nodded his head backwards to his co-worker, "And I set up the lance corporal. Its been the longest running prank since Jingle's first days here, to see if the new guys could get in and get out. No one ever has," he nodded towards the lance corporal, "Until now. Which should say something about the lance corporal's skills. The stormtrooper's rank cylinders were malfunctioning and he couldn't get anywhere secured, like the Trooper Barracks. So, we struck a dishonorable deal with him. We fix the rank cylinder, he isn't late to his first reporting on duty, on condition of these steaks. Don't blame the stormtrooper. We take the blame."

"We!!!???" barked Pack from behind, adding, "You mean you!" the ugnaught crossed his arms over his chest and looked away, "I had nothing to do with it!"

Sandy looked at the armored scout trooper and the lieutenant, "I do mean we. Let the lance corporal walk free. We'll take the blame for any loss or damages and fix it accordingly with whoever we need to."

Eyes flipped his vizor open again and looked at the LT, "Wasn't their SO chatter over the security feed saying something about Jingle's droid going on about stolen steaks earlier? I think we found our criminals, LT. Should we call it in?"


TAG @TheSilentInfluence , @Silvertough

 

IC: Commodore Valentino Mazzanti
Command Medical Bay, Darkest Night, high orbit over Javin


Morana reached for the decanter and poured Mazzanti another shot, neat. “Not at all, Commodore,” he said, placing it down lightly on the desk.

"Thank you," Valentino said with a nod and smile, sliding the glass closer to him, but holding off on a sip while they continued talking.

“Advanced Weapons Research, you say. That’s a prestigious posting. I understand a lot of hush-hush goes on with that sort of thing nowadays.” He touched his nose as if they were in cahoots over some shared secret. “But surely, you’ll find the Darkest Night to be not a waste of your talents, I wager,” he said smiling. “What do you intend to find out here, Commodore?”

Valentino smiled, looking around the ship's interior, "Well," he said, bringing his attention back to the good doctor, "The Darkest Night is a one of her kind, a retrofitted Imperial I into a experimental Imperial Praetorian-class. The only ship of her class. The concept is to increase structural integrity, armor protection, combat durability, service life, and increase overall lethality. We replaced most of the ion cannons with Dual Light Gun Batteries to achieve the lethality goal, as well as fixing one of a ISD's most glaring weaknesses with starfighter assaults. The added anti-starfighter defense and ability to assault smaller capital ships in offensive engagement tactics has, so far, been useful over the last two years. The addition of increased structural integrity, armor protection, combat durability, and service life helps us to not only support and enforce our lethality objective, but also extend the service life of aging ISDs by another twenty or thirty years. This will reduce costs long-term and bring our ISD fleet into more combat effectiveness against the Empire's modern enemies, where the days are long gone of large ship-to-ship battles of the Clone Wars and instead our enemies rely on smaller and quicker gunships and starfighters that can avoid turbolasers easily, if under the right pilot. The Western Reaches Pacification Operations was thirteen years ago, the last time we've seen the need for large over-weaponized battleships in our galaxy. Its time the Imperial Navy changes with the times."

He smiled, saluting with his glass, then taking a sip of the Whyren’s Reserve. It still tasted just as good as it did moments ago, "I'm the one who designed and built the Imperial Praetorian-class. I'm here to see first-hand how my design is working, especially against---I would assume---more Clone Wars-sized threats in the Unknown Regions. A course this is just a guess," he winked, adding, "As for the Unknown Regions themselves," he shrugged, "That's classified under strict orders. As for what I want to find out there...." he smiled, "Myths and legends. The answers to those are worth more than gold."

He took another sip of the liquid in his glass, then asked after putting the glass down on the table gently, "What do you want to find? I saw your transfer come over the wire and I was, well, pleasantly surprised to see a man of your talents and resume wanting to come aboard a wild goose chase of a mission like this. I would envision someone such as yourself to be more interested in facts and data, not myths and legends."


TAG @Kalio_Dynkos

 

IC: Elena Shan
Corridors, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin

"You're an awful liar, did you know?" Elena said as Falen Duryn saluted her and explained where he had gotten those steaks from. Or tried to. She waited as more explanations started to come her way, and eventually had a hard time keeping a straight face. She nodded along at the explanation, and waited until Sandy stepped forward with the truth, when he was done Elena nodded in appreciation at the truth. "Thank you for telling me the truth. It takes a lot to own up to your mistakes." She paused with a smile, before she shook her head to keep her laughter in at the situation.

Elena eventually had to put a hand over her face, unable to contain it any longer and laughed. "I uh...I can't say I've ever faced a situation like this before." Elena let out a sharp sigh and straightened up, looking over at the men. "I would hope you can find better ways of pranking people then stealing from our kitchens." She told them, and then considered her options. "I'll tell you what; I think we can strike a deal so long as you promise never to pull something like that again." Elena looked at Eyes. "Call it in, but tell them that because these soldiers are under my jurisdiction, I will handle their punishments." She looked between them. "And that they are free to come and get the steaks to return to the uh...droid."

She turned to look back at the soldiers. "That kind of skill is resourceful, but I don't approve of you using it against your family here in he ship. Rebels? Sure. That's not an issue. But I have a feeling you would do well in situations where we had to requisition materials from Rebel Camps. Bandits. You understand what I'm saying don't you?" Elena smiled at them. "I'll get you out of this one, but were going to be discussing further training. I would hate to see a talent like that go to waste." She looked at Eyes again. "Not that you won't be punished for some manner with this situation, but it will be a lot better then going to jail." She smirked at them. "What do you say troopers?"

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: Winterkill
Main Corridor, Hunk of Junk, Realspace


"Fine," Winterkill breathed as he drew his vibrosword from his back sheath, swirling it around his wrist and activating the blade, it's deadly hum coming to life. He looked to Havah Jeth during that moment, "Remember that time on Tatooine that I distracted the Tusken Raiders long enough for you to get into a kill position atop the rocky outcropping? Same thing, but no rocky outcropping. And," he looked back to Jeth and showed a predator's set of teeth, "Don't kill him. I want him alive...for purposes."

The nagai looked across the way to the ninja, knowing in that moment that Havah had two likely options. Either he could follow-up Winterkill's attack with a delayed one of his own or he could circle around the main corridor through the hyperdrive access bay and snake his way through the gunwell access corridor and land practically right on-top of the ninja from where he stood now.

If it was up to Winterkill, he'd just open the boarding ramp and suck the black-suited Force user out into real space. But that was just his opinion. Once Winterkill had a chance to showcase what he had learned in that awful Tof concentration camp and gained the information he needed, that spacing idea with the boarding ramp was back on the table in his opinion.

Then he dared these so-called Jod to come after him and The Mercs. Winterkill would dine in their deaths and drink of their blood in glorious battle before he yielded one inch. They wanted to highjack the Hunk of Junk? Kidnap their captain, Rick Taller? Steal the Johnny Boy?

Fine.

The payment would be their lives.

Winterkill stared the ninja down with eyes of a deadly warrior, "Why don't you knock off the Force non-sense and fight like a true warrior?"

Winterkill took a few steps forward, swirling the sword in his hand once again, "Or are you too scared? Death and pain formed me," Winterkill started a cold stalk towards the waiting ninja, "I am home in its darkness. In its embrace. And you...you shall experience it like no mortal being should. I will dine in your pain, drink your blood, and bask in your death. There. Is. No. Escape." Winterkill stopped and channeled all the inner rage he had, his voice reflecting the pain that just hours ago he had sought he was free of in the gun turret and did not need to call upon its power once again---but no, pain was his ally, his purpose, his weapon here, in this moment. He finished, "FROM ME!!!!!"

He charged the ninja warrior with thunderous yell.....


TAG @Mitth_Fisto ( @greyjedi125 for reference)

 

IC: Pack & Sandy / Trooper Matth'set'peteravrevma (Peter Streets --- DW-418122; "Eyes")
Corridors, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin


"Call it in, but tell them that because these soldiers are under my jurisdiction, I will handle their punishments."

"Yes, ma'am," Eyes replied and turned away from the conversation, missing the rest of it as he flipped his visor back down over his face.

"SO," Eyes said into his helmet comm, "Joker 2S."

"SO. Go ahead Joker 2S," came the woman's reply over the comm.

"SO, can you inform the situation with...ah...the kitchen and steakS that we've located the missing steaks."

There was a snicker on the other end of the comm, "Oh thank the Force! I was waiting for Kitch to report us all to the ISB for those missing steaks!"

"They do smell good," Eyes replied, "May be worth it."

"Tempting Joker 2S, but not my cup of tea to be sitting across ISB. I'll let the security team in the kitchen know. Who will be returning the stolen steaks?"

Eyes looked back to the gathering, then back to where he was, "Ah, two mechanics. ETA ten minutes."

"Copy Joker 2S. SO cleared."

Eyes rejoined the conversation with the others in time to hear the LT finishing up.

"...hate to see a talent like that go to waste." She looked at Eyes again. "Not that you won't be punished for some manner with this situation, but it will be a lot better then going to jail." She smirked at them. "What do you say troopers?"

Eyes nodded, "Win-win, I say. I think the Lance Corporal here will fit in just fine with Joker, Lieutenant," Eyes put his visor on the two mechanics, "The kitchen where those steaks have been acquired from will be taken back. You have ten minutes. Any later and you'll have a droid after you with ISB to boot it appears."

Sandy nodded, "Yes, sir," he looked back to Pack, "Lets go! And don't forget the tool boxes!"

Pack grumbled as he grabbed the tool boxes, "Don't worry Sandy, my stomach won't miss those steaks as much as doing the right thing," the alien shook his head as he shouldered past the stormtroopers, "Oppressed alien coming through!"

After the two mechanics had disappeared down the corridor, Eyes flipped his visor open again and looked at the sniper gathering, "Lance Corporal Duryn? Trooper Matth'set'peteravrevma. Although you can simply it to Peter Streets. Sniper, Joker Platoon. I hear you're our new sniper for the unit?" Eyes glanced to the Lieutenant and winked, "The new guy already outranks me," he turned back to the sniper, "Where you from, Duryn? Hobbies?"

The group naturally started walking, where they would---in time---end up at the Trooper Barracks.....


TAG @TheSilentInfluence , @Silvertough ( @Mitth_Fisto for reference)

 

OOC: Did not see the new post for Winterkill. Post under construction/redraft.

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Main Corridor, Hunk of Junk, Realspace


Watching the gymnastic routine there was no doubt that they were facing a Force User. Winterkill took the offered 'come at me' gesture to voice a plan of action. Verbal, open to being overheard.


Well, that meant the whole plan was a lie. It had merit, but also was likely to get him killed. He couldn't think on it, he had to mentally agree and nod before turning and running away whilst blasting stun bolts down the corridor, and one last one at the prone figure on the floor. He was circling around. Or so was as far as he would let himself think.

In reality he headed to the boarding ramp, and as he got a mask on triggered an emergency vent situation. The ship would reabsorb as much air as it could whilst the hatch prepared and opened. He would then do a controlled manual close to leave a gap to hopefully catch any non-secured bodies. Once they passed out he would drag them in and seal and repressurize. After filling them with stun shots of course.

TAG @Bravo ( @greyjedi125 for reference)

***************************************************************************************

IC: 'Jingle' Voss & KX-0N, aka Kitch-on
Gen Mess 1

Jingle simply sighed at the whole drama of it all, if it weren't for the fact that he had had to do this song and dance or some variant of it with every food theft attempt he might of been more upset. As was work was almost a welcome distraction, work was fun, work was hard, and work didn't leave time for his mind to wander like his physical therapy or the latest holo that couldn't seem to hold his attention.

"Yes, well programing has it's limits." he stated as he basically answered both their questions. "Just find out who did it, get me a scan crew so we can verify what was tampered or touched. Then let the lab, the medical labs, know I am going to have to have them process a batch of samples to make sure nothing was poisoned. Sadly at the moment safety measures are on high alert. No one has died from my cooking yet and I aim to keep it that way." he stated with overly dramatic raised finger, trying to muster as if this was a humorous situation. The smile never really settled into his tone of voice or smile, but luckily KX did not seem to realize that there was ever a joke in the matter to begin with.

"As it was my programming limitations can I be pardoned until you are able to upload a patch sir? Also, might I be allowed to assist in the making of the replacement dishes? It would be an honor sir." KX stated with some hope. If not for the high alert status that had required it to sit in a freezer in the first place it would have known everything was fine. Sadly that was not the case.

"Sure, as soon as the rest is done we will start figuring out a new menu." Jingle stated as he walked over to stand by the droid, waiting for the security officer to either see to what needed done or he needed to start working on submitting the proper forms himself.

TAG: @Bravo

 

IC: Winterkill & Tora Senshi
Main Corridor, Hunk of Junk, Realspace


The stun bolts were a distraction, a course, and Tora had easily dodged those. But the nagai had used the stun bolts to his advantage this time. Instead of relying on a choke point as with the net & thrown blades as in last time, this time the nagai and arkanian, known as Havah Jeth, must had trained and retrained on this particular attack or a variation of it.

As Tora flipped & twisted to the two stun bolts that flew his way, he came down and his sword and that of the nagai clashed.

"Darkness!" Winterkill barked through locked teeth. The two warriors wasted no time in separating a moment later, each twisting or spinning to a new stance.

Tora stayed silent. Focused. Intent on learning this enemy.

Winterkill was loud. Direct. Embraced in the struggle both here and elsewhere.

The nagai hissed before lunging, being the one to push attack. He came down overhead on the ninja, the their two blades locking in place. Winterkill slid gracefully off of Tora's blade to bring about a reserve thrust from his opposite dominant side, giving him the ability to easy move with any momentum or possible misstep and not present an opportunity for his defeat. As he thrusted, Tora parried as expected from dominant across his body with sword downward.

Winterkill was expecting the parry as he was telegraphing one move as to do another. He played the fool on purpose and as the ninja's sword overpowered his, he dropped it (knowing that any resistance with his own sword would allow Tora to easily reverse his block to an attack in a moment and impale him) and dropped to a crouch, kicking out the legs of the mighty ninja. Whether by design or by being an honorable man and closing himself off to the Force, the mysterious Jod warrior fell to the ground. The nagai wasted no time in jumping upon Tora like a crazed animal, going for his throat with hands that had seen blood before.

The Tof concentration camp had taught him about the necessity of "dirty fighting". Take out the eyes, rip the throat out, bite off an ear---

Just as Winterkill felt his fingers soak into the man's neck for the kill and his teeth outstretched for an ear---remembering little of his own order to Havah to keep Tora alive---suddenly the light freighter lurched to one side and Winterkill felt himself being sucked towards an opening, his body flying off of Tora's and towards the beautiful blackness and distant stars.

As his lungs starved for oxygen in those moments and the beautiful blackness and distant stars awaited him as he flew towards the opening, he closed his eyes and felt peace in certain death.

He embraced it.


******************


Winterkill snapped awake in the crew cabin. He stared up at the metal skeleton of the double bunk frame and the frame above his bottom bunk.

He sighed.

He had gone from feeling one with the Force and accepting all that he was for the future and his destiny to certain death before that ninja and embracing it like his old self had been conditioned for. Had been hoping for.

But here he lay, alive. Robbed of certain peace with the Force and whatever destiny the galaxy had for him to; robbed as well of the embrace of certain death and his flesh's wish of peace in the darkness.

"Why?" he mouthed, a great feeling of hopelessness now upon him. Both death through peace as an old man and death by the sword through violence had been taken from him and instead of an answer echoed through the winds of the galaxy, he had no such answer. Instead, he listened carefully and heard the familiar sounds of a starship in hyperspace.

Odd. Weren't they just in realspace moments ago?

He felt like he was being watched in that moment and didn't even need to look over to know who it was.

"Palso," he said with more annoyance then he meant.

"Nice to see you too," the mercenary-turning smuggler someday said from the far side of the crew cabin, sitting on the bottom bunk and facing his comrade.

Winterkill closed his eyes a long moment before opening them and getting up, twisting his body to dangle his legs off the side of the bed and then to meet the floor. "Why are we in hyperspace?"

"Monastery Moon."

"We just left that place. Why are we headed back? What about the mission? The Johnny Boy?"

"In time," Jim replied.

"We don't have time," Winterkill cited the Corellian.

"You've been out for two hours," Jim replied, adding with a knowing smile that drove Winterkill nuts, "In time."

"In time coming from a Corellian is quite alarming. When does the galaxy end?"


************************


Billy woke with a start. He blinked his eyes a few times---looked around---the surrounding Crew Lounge becoming less blurry.

"Stun bolt," Billy said matter-of-factly. He moved his arms and found them bound to the holo table. He smiled thinly at the realization of being restrained and looked across the table to where Havah Jeth stood, "Where's Tora?"



TAG @Mitth_Fisto ( @greyjedi125 for reference)

 

IC: Staff Sergeant George Ito
GenMess One, Entertainment Deck, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin


As Jingle & Kitch-on discussed things, George had turned away to answer a comm call from the Security Office.

"...thanks. I'll let him. This was, luckily, a quick one. Ito out."

George walked the few steps back to the counter with a relieved look on his face, "Well, SO just got hold of me. Your missing steaks were located. ETA about ten minutes by two mechanics. Because we're short staffed as it is, Jingle, we'll have you take it from here. If you want medical to get involved to scan those steaks, then you'll have to take them yourself. Personally," he glanced at the droid, than back to the master chef, "I'd give them to the droid. If his armor starts melting off, we know they were poisoned."


TAG @Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Lance Corporal Falen Duryn (DW-418177)
Corridors, Darkest Night, High orbit of Javin

Falen watched Pack and Sandy depart with a sheepish grin. Recent events certainly hadn't gone according to plan, but he couldn't deny how satisfying the results were. He was now free of the duo's influence, free from any further 'favors'. Even better, his antics had somehow endeared him in the eyes of his direct superior officer.

"Win-Win." He echoed, glancing between Eyes and Elena. "I'm flattered, Ma'am. I think I'll be a great boon to the team, ignoring this uh, minor, transgression." Falen cleared his throat, clasping his hands behind his back as they began to walk.

He turned his attention to Eyes. "Peter Streets it is then, not sure my tongue can handle your birth name." He said, chuckling. "But yes, I'm the new Sniper, recently transferred out from some barren rock in the Outer Rim, dreadful place, and boring as sin. Truthfully, in the year I was stationed there, this," Falen jerked a thumb towards the spider-webbed blast scaring covering the right side of his face. "Was the most exciting thing that happened."

Falen's sheepish grin faltered somewhat, noticing that he had been unconsciously massaging his scars. He dropped his hand, his boyish smile returning in an instant. "But uh, enough about me, huh?" He said, gazing at Eyes with open curiosity. "But what about you? I've never really worked with a.. Pantoran before. I bet you've seen things, eh?"

Tags: @Bravo , @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Aiden Gray
Turbolift
Darkest Night

Sergeant Aiden Gray rode out the turbolift ride. He'd listened to Business and Tech as the call came through to check out yet another problem. This was an awfully busy and active posting, Aiden thought, as he readied his weapon as the turbolift came to a slow halt.

He liked that both of them were individuals. Had minds of their own. That meant they could think independently if the need arose. After all, despite popular belief, stormtroopers weren't completely mindless goons.

"Business, clear left, Tech clear right, I'll take center," Aiden ordered as the turbolift doors opened, "this is where the fun begins."

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: Chief Medical Officer Agnar Morana
Command Medical Bay, Darkest Night, high orbit over Javin

"As for the Unknown Regions themselves," Commodore Valentino shrugged from across the table, "That's classified under strict orders. As for what I want to find out there, Myths and legends. The answers to those are worth more than gold."

He took another sip of the liquid in his glass, then asked after putting the glass down on the table gently, "What do you want to find? I saw your transfer come over the wire and I was, well, pleasantly surprised to see a man of your talents and resume wanting to come aboard a wild goose chase of a mission like this. I would envision someone such as yourself to be more interested in facts and data, not myths and legends."

Morana’s mouth widened into a mischievous grin.

“Ah, but Myths and Legends are often just lazy retellings of facts and data, Commodore,” he said wagging his finger. “That is exactly what I’m here for.”

His career spanned nearly half a century at this point - starting when he was 18 years old. His education and later research took him throughout the Core and Outer systems. Starting with Corulag, then an internship on Alderaan, which sprung into a research grant that took him throughout the depths of Kashyyyk, the ruins of Telos, the failed restoration of Taris, the worlds of Dathomir and Esseles, and many more. One thing that had never failed to impress Morana was that what one culture might discuss in hush tones or steeped in mystical rites was often no more than one voice that told their version of a story louder.

Take the Jedi, for example. Once the paragons of peace on countless worlds, once under keen observation of a ruling power through the Clone Wars their treachery was revealed for all to see. Now, they are all but forgotten but not the wounds they left on many worlds.

Morana smiled again at the Commodore.

“It is, I suspect,” he said in his gravely voice, “more than idle curiosity for most of us. The Unknown Regions will not so Unknown to us, I wager.”

He raised his glass in a salute.

“To the voyage, Commodore.”



TAG: @Bravo

 

IC: Lance Zachary Yates (DW-418128, aka "Business") & Boss William Con (DW-418123, aka "Tech")
Level 15, Darkest Night (high orbit over Javin)


"Business, clear left, Tech clear right, I'll take center," Aiden ordered as the turbolift doors opened, "this is where the fun begins."

Through years of training and real combat experience, Business kept his heart rate at a steady low of 72 beats per minute in the full sprint it took him to get from the holo seating to here in full armor. And even when the blaster bolts started flying, it barely inched beyond that. While some gave that to a well trained athletic body, Business would like it to a combination of constant training, Imperial military lifestyle, and his calm under pressure.

"SO," Tech advised over the tactical comlink channel, "Cut power to the security chief's office. Doors only, all lights off."

"Copy Second Squad, Team A," came the stern female voice over their helmet communications.

And as they reached the door and breached through on the Sergeant's orders, Business' helmet lenses immediately adjusted to the darkened enviornment within moments, giving him a grayed out view of the Naval Conference Room (Unit). As he moved to clear his zone-left, his legs moved him swiftly and effortlessly as he perfectly scanned the conference room with his E-22 Blaster Rifle. His scan took the last quarter of the conference table and curtain wall leading to the Unit Command Office.

His words: clear-left, were barely out his mouth as he worked his way around the circular end of the table and to the end of the curtain wall. He stopped at the edge of the wall as Tech had cleared the viewport---only star light from distant stars giving any faint illumination into the room (which also highlighted the lazily floating dust particles that the life support system hadn't cleaned yet from the star destroyer's recycled air)---and was now circling around the far end of the squared off table and took a kneeling position, covering the opening through the curtain wall from afar with his E-11 Blaster Rifle's barrel.

Business peaked around the wall and saw no-one. But his helmet's enhanced audio pick-ups could sure hear something echoing down that short corridor from inside the office.

"No contact," Business said, the stormtroopers operating their comlinks internally as to avoid giving any enemy units a heads-up on their tactics with external speakers, "But I hear something down towards the UCO."


TAG @Vehn ( @galactic-vagabond422 for reference)

 

IC: Pack & Sandy / Trooper Matth'set'peteravrevma (Peter Streets --- DW-418122; "Eyes")
Corridors, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin


"But uh, enough about me, huh?" He said, gazing at Eyes with open curiosity. "But what about you? I've never really worked with a.. Pantoran before. I bet you've seen things, eh?"

Eyes studied the man a long moment, his stare threatening to rip out his beating heart and crush his soul. But the Chiss didn't respond. Instead he turned his attention back to the way they were walking and closed his visor.

"The Trooper Barracks are up ahead," he simply stated.

Maybe the good LT could help clarify to the new guy the difference between a Pantoran and a Chiss? This is why Eyes tried to never talk to anyone, unless he needed to. Because. Of. Questions. Like. That.


TAG @Silvertough , @TheSilentInfluence

 

Flying Officer Saraali Deatar IC:
~TIE Pilot Ready Room & TIE Fighter Cockpit, Darkest Night~

There wasn’t much more to the meeting being between pilots. Just a brief look on Johnson’s face that Saraali only partially caught. There was detest for some reason there, though she wasn’t quite sure on what.

Probably regarding the mission itself again. He needs to grow up.

From there, the Captain finished it off as a superior officer should.

“We won’t be going alone. We’ll be the lead ship of the 217th Naval Battle Group. Operation Dark Cloak. But you didn’t hear any of that from me. Get some rest. Dismissed.”

Interesting information. Not that it stated too much, but the fact that they would be the lead ship in a Battle Group said the most. An important position to be sure. She pursed her lips, but then stood from her chair and did as she was ordered.

*****
Sometime later…

Officer Deatar sat as still as a statue in the cockpit of her TIE Fighter. She wished she could consider it her ship in some sense, but she knew the regulations. Ships were rotated out so that no pilot could become attached. Standard Imperial protocol.

Nevertheless, she was at home in it. More than anywhere else. If there was truly one place that Saraali Deatar could relax, it was here. In a fighter cockpit. The one place in the galaxy she was likely to smile genuinely and easily.

And it was a cockpit that only seated one so none else would ever see it. This suited her just fine.

As it was, they had been on standby for some time now and so the smile had long since eased, but she was cool and collected. Her arms were folded, her eyes closed underneath the helmet, and she was ‘there’. In her space within her mind.

Meditating as she waited for a potential deployment or the end of the shift. The usual mental simulation of heading out the hangar and flying occupying her. Regardless of whether or not anything happened, she would have felt deployed. True, it was nowhere near as fulfilling as the real thing…

But it was something she had trained for herself anyway.

Eventually her meditation came to an end, interrupted by the mechanic she had managed to hear was called Rudy Ash not long before.

“Time’s up!”

Her eyes opened, arms unfolded, and she let out a sigh of disappointment as she took off her helmet and began to unhook herself from the crash webbing.

It was what it was.

From here she returned to the Ready Room as most of them did, had only a light meal, and promptly made her way back to the Pods for some rest. They were heading to Bakura and then the mysterious UR.

Something was going to happen sooner or later. This was simply too big of a mission for something not to, in her mind. The best course of action was to be well rested and ready at all times. Plus she still had only settled into the Darkest Night less than 24 hours ago!

Saraali inwardly confessed to still not feeling at peak energy due to all the travel for post transfer and then everything that had come after. So there was still a little catching up to do…

Tag: Fellow TIE Pilots! @Bravo @Sinrebirth

 

IC: Elena Shan
Corridors, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin

Elena nearly fell over in shock. She didn't really understand how anyone could figure Chiss and Pantoran looked the same. She watched as Eyes closed his visor and felt his anger in the force.

"He's a Chiss actually." Elena explained. "Chiss and Pantoran are two different kinds of people." She paused and added, "With different cultures and traditions." Elena looked over at Eyes for a moment before she turned her gaze back to Falen. "I think I just figured out your punishment. You can write a report for me on the differences between the Chiss and the Pantoran people. Explain to me their cultures and traditions." She explained as they approached the Trooper Barracks. "I want it on my desk by tomorrow evening at 2400 hours by the latest."

Tag: @Bravo @Silvertough

 

IC: Natalia Markova
Darkest Night

Natalia just got out of the office making her way through the conference room. In the absolute silence she heard the number pad on the other side of the door being activated. Caught by surprise she dove for the table sliding under it just as the door opened. With her eyes open she could hear the footsteps of the security officer as he moved around the space. She was now thankful for her slim frame as she moved carefully down the length of the table, lucky to have hidden herself on the far side from the officer. The navigator didn't even breathe as the man made his sweep, her heart was racing pounding in her chest, so loud she thought the man could hear it. As he moved to the door for Richter's office Natalia moved closer to the door out to the hall. She moved slowly and carefully avoiding the chairs trying not to disturb them and draw attention to herself.

She dared not make her move as she tensed her body underneath the conference table. Her legs were under her ready to dash the few centimeters that separated her from her exit. It felt like she was back in training preparing for another physical exam that she would inevitably fail. But this time everything was riding on it, her whole career, possibly her life. Again she held her breath waiting for the other door to open, then close, giving her the window she needed to exit.

Her ears picked up the sound of a code being input, it was longer than any code she had to put in to open doors. That fact didn't matter when the door to the office opened. Again Natalia held her breath hoping that she wouldn't blow her cover so close to freedom.

Just as she heard the other door close she broke for the door leading out into the hall. It opened and she quickly moved towards the turbo lifts until she saw the lights on one of them coming closer. She couldn't be seen on this floor, not so close to the scene of the crime. She quickly turned her back and walked the other direction. The doors to the turbolift opened and she quickly darted around a corner pressing her back against the wall, hoping against hope she wasn't seen.

As the troopers made their entry she moved quickly away from the area, her hard boots thumbing against the metal deck...

TAG: @Bravo @Vehn

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Main Corridor, Hunk of Junk, Realspace

Billy woke with a start. He blinked his eyes a few times---looked around---the surrounding Crew Lounge. The man was getting his bearings back. "Stun bolt," Billy said matter-of-factly. He moved his arms and found them bound to the holo table. He smiled thinly at the realization of being restrained and looked across the table to where Havah Jeth stood, "Where's Tora?"

"A little under the weather still." Havah stated with a side glance as he polished his flute. Adjusting his grip on the soiled rag as he rubbed at a spot real or imagined that needed a little extra polishing.

"Congratulations. I upheld my end of the bargon and threw in Tora as a bonus. How about that?" he stated with a slight grin. Soon it would be time to drug and stun shoot the Tora again. Never could trust a spoon-bender.


TAG @Bravo , ( @greyjedi125 for reference)

IC: 'Jingle' & KX-0N
GenMess One, Entertainment Deck, Darkest Night, High Orbit over planet of Javin


As Jingle & Kitch-on discussed things, George had turned away to answer a comm call. "...thanks. I'll let him. This was, luckily, a quick one. Ito out."

George walked the few steps back to the counter with a relieved look on his face, "Well, SO just got hold of me. Your missing steaks were located. ETA about ten minutes by two mechanics. Because we're short staffed as it is, Jingle, we'll have you take it from here. If you want medical to get involved to scan those steaks, then you'll have to take them yourself. Personally," he glanced at the droid, than back to the master chef, "I'd give them to the droid. If his armor starts melting off, we know they were poisoned."

"I do not understand, how would the acidity of the steaks infer poisoning?" KX stated after his photoreceptors blinked several times.

"He's joking. Security and levity rolled into one." Jingle stated with a weary eye-roll and sigh. "Thank you. I'll see what I can discover before involving medical. Perhaps this was nothing more than a discipline issue." he stated with a quirked eyebrow as he smiled in a somewhat evil way looking at the droid set of knives nearby. "Thank you for putting this in my purview."


TAG @Bravo

 

IC: Aiden Gray
Level 15, Darkest Night

"I heard it too," Aiden said as he brought his weapon to bear having cleared straight ahead, "Weapons set for stun. We're not alone down here."

Aiden knew Star Destroyers, especially certain areas, were notoriously quiet places. It was easy to figure out if a sound belonged or did not belong in any given space. He cast his light down the corridor as he made his way to the UCO. His breathing quickened but he attempted to keep his thoughts under control. Something wasn't right here. Something was off.

He brought up a hand as his slick boots skidded on the pristine floors. A signal for the others to halt. He brought up a schematic of the floor they were patrolling on his HUD. The UCO was tight quarters. The kind of place for a potential problem. Now he wanted to listen. Tilting his head to the side he allowed his helmet to do the dirty work.

He waited.

And waited.

And listened.

And listened some more.

"Not one sound," Aiden ordered to the other two, "make your way slowly to the UCO and clear it."

Tag: @Bravo; @galactic-vagabond422

 

STAR WARS
The Kingdom
Chapter 1
(Diplomatic Logistics)


The Darkest Night is the pride of Dark Saber Command in the Javin Oversector, the 17 year-old warship's name echoed in the breath as Lord Vader's personal flagship, the Devastator. The experimental one-of-a-kind (refit) Imperial Praetorian-class Star Destroyer now stands off in high orbit over the planet of Bakura in Wild Space.

A neutral planet, Bakura desires to join the Galactic Empire. To show good order & favor to the soon-to-be new world within the Empire, the Imperial Diplomatic Corps desires the Darkest Night to show their best side to Bakura, including orbiting the star destroyer deeper off a safe support range (as to not "worry" the new allies) to any potential landing operations or escort assignments, if they were needed. Because of Diplo-Serv's countless efforts to impress and gain favor with Bakura over the last several months, the planet's government had agreed to house several highly sensitive Imperial cargo containers on the outskirts of Salis D'aar at an abandoned starport----that is due to be attached to the Darkest Night before it's journey to the Unknown Regions. Local Bakura security forces and an advanced security detachment of Imperial Stormtroopers have had the containers & barges secure for nearly a day now.

The Darkest Night launches 12 TIE Fighters from Bad Love Squadron for a pick-up and escort back of 3 Eta-class Supply Barges (the "highly sensitive cargo containers"). An additional 52 crew members & pilots and 29 droids are attached to the new experimental Scimitar Assault Bomber squadron known as Tick-Tock Squadron contained within the supply barges (although this is unknown to the Imperials from the Darkest Night). At the last possible minute, Second Squad of Joker Platoon is being attached for extra physical ground security as four Lambda-class T-4a Shuttles of the 714th Special Operations Shuttle Group is being tasked with transporting up the extra personnel. Third Flight of Bad Love Squadron has the specific mission objective of protecting the supply barges themselves, while the other TIEs provide escort to the Lambda's and screening duties.

Just beyond the Bakura System lies the deadly barrier to the Unknown Regions. And it is here where the star destroyer will venture very shortly on a top-secret mission.....​

 

OOG: One big post this time around for all the Imperials. I'll go back to my normal breaking up of posts for tags afterward.

@Mitth_Fisto , I'll get tags to you (for Billy, Tora, and Palso) tomorrow brother! I'm falling sleep here at the keyboard.

@galactic-vagabond422 , you may assume your character got away free & clear from the office. Good writing!


********************************************************************************************


IC: Commodore Valentino Mazzanti
Bridge, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura



Mazzanti looked out over at the planet of Bakura. Here, at the furthest point of high orbit at 22,236 miles away, it was a decent sized globe that blazed its green, blue, brown, and white light out into the darkness of space. While the naked eye would have a hard time seeing those physical features, the sensors on the mighty star destroyer was getting a full read-out and then some.

Turning from the viewport which where he stood to glance down into the crew pit and ordered, "All stop."

The star destroyer was at an angle facing the distant planet, presenting herself as to easily adjust course once underway to any threat facing her, to either side, or behind her.

"Captain Markova, calculate the three quickest exit routes out of the star system, while also projecting the three quickest ways into the system for any starship. Include spatial anomalies and shipping lanes that could redirect or alter routes of travel."

Mazzanti brought his attention back up to the command walkway and turned behind him to Captain Duke Totter, his Executive Officer, and Commander Enoch Steadfast, his Second Officer, standing behind him. He first spoke to the commander, a Duros. "You may alert our TIEs and shuttles they are free are deploy."

"Yes, sir," Enoch replied crisply, nodding and walking away briskly to complete his orders, the Duros' cane echoing down the command walkway.

He next turned to the Executive Officer, "Alert Bakura to our presence. I would hate for errant hostile weaponry discharges to our new allies."

Captain Duke Totter nodded, "As ordered, Commodore," and then he walked away briskly to complete his orders.

Mazzanti turned back to the large viewports and scanned the black space around there. A healthy supply of starships of many sizes and types were flying to and from the planet, the star destroyer sitting right in the middle area of the V that saw both incoming and outgoing traffic fall into expected approach and departure space lanes for safety. His eyes scanned everything. Out here, in Wild Space, the threat of a pirate attack or some other rogue state was almost a weekly occurrence. He wanted to know the 3 entries and exits into the star system for both the likely attack vectors of an enemy entering the system, as well as their quickest ways to leave the system once the cargo was secured from the planet.

As he continued to scan the area, he heard the distance bridge doors open and close. In the reflection of the viewports, he saw Chief Medical Officer Agnar Morana approach. He waited for the good doctor to come alongside him before he spoke, glancing at him as he spoke (but otherwise keeping his attention on the on-goings out in space), "I hope you slept well, doctor?" he paused a moment, before adding, "Wild space, Doctor Morana. Bakura is the orbit ahead of us. Has your experience ever lead you to this planet? And if so, what can you tell me of its people? Of the region of space around it? I will admit, I never even knew of the planet until a few hours ago."



TAG @galactic-vagabond422 , @Kalio_Dynkos



***************************************


IC: Master Sergeant Craig Anthony Stewart (DW-418121; "Animal")
Forward Auxiliary Hanger, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura



Animal held his helmet in between his forearm and his torso, standing off to the side of the landing ramp of the Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle, as a lazy stream of Second Squad and 9 Imperial Navy Troopers boarded the shuttle. Overhead announcements came through large speakers in the hangers, announcing this and that, but was always fighting with the constant sound of personnel and moving equipment in the large hanger.

Animal tried to give his best reassuring smile to Elena, but he could see that she didn't fall for it. Although she played the part well for the superiors. Imperial officer uniform or stormtrooper armor, the Lieutenant would fulfill her job. But he could tell that she felt...awkward not being suited up with the others in the squad. But the combat wound across her arm hadn't healed fully yet and was still wrapped and put up across her body in a sling. Someone had complained up the ladder about her wearing stormtrooper armor and patrolling several hours ago, while she was wounded and should have been resting. Instead of backing his troopers and saying they were pulled for emergency security detail work, Major Hardneck took the PR approach to save face and ordered Elena out of armor until her wounds could be fully healed. Captain Stein ensured that she could at least do something with the squad, instead of staying behind on the star destroyer and someone else taking her spot.

"I mean, you do look all official in that officer's uniform," Animal tried to put a positive spin on the situation, "And official Imperial Liaison to the Bakura delegation meeting us down there does sound---"

Elena was giving him a look.

"Okay, okay," Animal said with his hands raised in defense, dropping the show, "I'd call it glorified door greeter too, but that's besides the point," the Master Sergeant put his helmet on over his head, the audio speakers picking up his voice as he spoke and producing it in that standard stormtrooper audio, and grabbed his T-21B Heavy Blaster that was leaning up against the landing ramp, "But you're going to do great. I'd probably sell the capital world or something and mess everything up."


TAG @TheSilentInfluence


***************************************


IC: Staff Sergeant Rusty Oak, Trooper Jet Chan (TK-1245; "JC")
Forward Auxiliary Hanger, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura



Introductions were short and polite as 9 stormtroopers of Second Squad and 9 Imperial Navy Troopers settled down into the Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle.

"Burned to the bone, you said?" Oak asked for clarification, the navy trooper shaking his head as his helmet was in his lap, "Like nothing left?"

JC nodded, forking a thumb over to Sergeant First Class Stark and sharing a glance with him before turning back to Oak, "Ask the sergeant here! The smell---oh a baby Hutt smells better---was terrible! And we looked all around in there---nothing! No foul play, no nothing. Just the maintenance room and that poor tech. Looked like he and just he alone burned alive. Strangest thing I've ever seen."

"Huh," Oak said, nodding across the shuttle's bay area to Sergeant Gray, "When I was up checking a security code on Level 15, I ran into Sergeant Gray and a few troopers. After we cleared everything up there, we got talking and the troopers had mentioned something like that happening on Level 17 in a Crew Holo Theater. Like nothing else was burned away, just the body."

JC shook his head, "If the rumor mill holds true and we are going to the Unknown Regions, this gives a bad feeling to the start of that journey."


TAG @TheAdmiral ( @Vehn for reference)



***************************************


IC: Lance Zachary Yates (DW-418128, aka "Business") & Boss William Con (DW-418123, aka "Tech")
Forward Auxiliary Hanger, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura



Introductions were short and polite as 9 stormtroopers of Second Squad and 9 Imperial Navy Troopers settled down into the Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle.

"Like new-new?" Business asked for clarification.

Tech nodded, pointing at Duryn across from them, "New. Lance Corporal."

"Oh, that's not new-new! That's kind of-new!" Business said.

Tech rolled his eyes under his helmet, "New to the platoon, laser brains."

Business shook his head, "Sergeant Gray is new. And he's not new-new. He's rusted-new."

Tech shook his helmeted head, "Force save us."

"Focus here Tech," Business said, "Back on track. Now, what did the kind of-new guy say?"

"Eyes said he called him a Pantoran," Tech clarified.

Business chuckled and turned to Gray who was besides him. He asked the question just loud enough to where the new guy would hear it, "Hey Sarge," Business said, "What's the difference between a Chiss and a Pantoran?"

Tech put his head in his hands, while Eyes closed his visor.


TAG @Silvertough , @Vehn



*******************************************


IC: Flying Officer Rick Johnson, Major Héctor Pérez
Rear Primary Hanger, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura


Johnson gave a thumps up to the tech up above who returned a thumbs up and closed & sealed his TIE Fighter ball cockpit hatch up above. He immediately went into his preflight checks, listening to the background chatter of his fellow pilots as they readied their TIEs too. What had started off as a simple escort mission had now grown to 4 Lambda-class shuttles, as someone forgot to tell command---or command were space cadets---and somehow someone missed knowing that there were 52 crew members & pilots and 29 droids to pickup as well. The 714th Special Operations Shuttle Group had been tapped for the last minute change to plans, while Bad Love Squadron as a whole was being deployed to escort the shuttles and provide a screening force. But Third Flight's mission remained the same: keep those barges safe.

As systems came online and went from red to yellow to green (or yellow to green in some cases), he felt the engines warm up. Major Héctor Pérez's voice came over the channel.

"Third Flight, check in," came in the Major's voice.

Johnson answered, "Bad 9 all green."


TAG @Darth_Elu , @Sinrebirth

 

~~~Game Master Announcement~~~


Posting may resume. Thanks for the patience everyone!​

 

IC: Elena Shan
Forward Auxiliary Hanger, Darkest Night, high orbit over Bakura

Elena gave a sharp sigh. "Yeah, well I can't say I'm looking forward to playing nice with all the politicians. I'm a soldier." She turned to look at him with a wry smile. "I'm probably going to end up terrifying them more then impressing them." Elena shifted her arm in the sling to make her point. At least the bruising on her face was almost gone. "And I feel really bad I can't be in uniform with everyone else." She admitted with a sad smile. "It just reminds me that I have a higher rank and I'm...I think I'm still trying to figure out my place here Animal." Elena looked away for a moment, thoughtful.

She was lucky she hadn't gotten into more trouble for wearing her storm-trooper armour and being injured, but she supposed it provided a good cover too. People were sympathetic to injured soldiers. She might be able to get information out of the population that way. Elena frowned a little and looked at Animal again, a little more relaxed. "I hope that the Imperial Liaison has good information for us. I've heard on some planets they have little control of what goes on. And I've never been this far out, let alone heard of Bakura before." She sighed sharply. Force help me, what am I getting myself into.

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: Major Darius Walker
GenMess 1, Entertainment Deck, Darkest Night; high orbit over Bakura


Walker had his legs crossed and feet up on the table. He looked disheveled, his pilot's jumpsuit open and parted around the neck and showing parts of his supper torso and shirt underneath, while his flight harness, gloves, and helmet were piled to his right. A datapad was to his left on the corner of the table and a cup of warm coffee was in one hand. His attention was focused on the holoscreen along the far wall.

Aside from a very small handful of odds-and-ends crewmembers, the entire GenMess 1 was empty aside from the cook staff and a wondering droid or two. Even the movement of the magnetic gripped (to the floor) chairs would echo throughout the giant place like fingernails against a chalkboard. As for Walker, he looked terribly out of place for the entire star destroyer's crew, guards, soldiers, and pilots were to be at stations or---at the very least---quarters if not on shift. There were always a handful that had a commanding officer's favor within a given unit or department aboard the star destroyer and were able to skip the tougher regulations. Or---more than likely---the ones that did skip were the very maintenance crewmembers whose job was to be out of their quarters and working during even battle stations. And Walker aside, the handful of crew members spread throughout the mess hall fell into one of those two groupings.

The holoscreen was showing the local news outlet on Bakura reporting the news. It was quite amusing that the headline for the news report was STAR DESTROYER! Friend or Foe? What you need to know! The news ticker under it, aside from showing a few local news reports and weather, had hotlines for stress related symptoms when seeing an star destroyer and what to do and not do when seeing Imperials. He almost had to chuckle to himself, but settled for a smirk, as he took a sip of his coffee and continued watching. An entire planet was held captive in time by a single warship.

Quite amazing.


TAG @Mitth_Fisto