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Post by Court Baron Butters on Oct 9, 2015 16:52:34 GMT -5
With the covering now removed from the shell his broken blade, the Arcona relaxed himself. All the stress caused by the strike would need to be lifted if he was to properly fix his saber. The blade was on, and still as radiant as ever, Crii had never fixed an issue like this before, but he had faith in his tinkering abilities. As he sat cross legged on the moist soil below him, his saber began to lift off the ground.
As the saber spun above Crii it sliced at the fauna around him, he was lucky nothing had caught fire. Parts began to rise out of the housing, and orbit the blade, Crii methodically began stripping the saber until the blade eventually flickered off entirely. Troubleshooting was as easy as figuring out which component of the blade was last removed, and it was revealed that a relay within the blade for the mechanism which activates and deactivates the blade had been stuck on, this was of little surprise to Crii; however, the solution would be problematic.
He began piecing the saber back together, if Crii was correct the blade should now be incapable of activating, he was lucky his staff didn't require both heads to function. It would take the right components to be able to fix, perhaps one of the jedi's rumored to be lurking in these outposts would grace him with their presence, that he may "barter" with, in order to acquire the proper pieces.
After resembling the blade he allowed it to slowly rest on the ground in front of him, as he stood, he pulled out the other portion of the staff, and placed the broken head back on. He was indeed incapable of turning on the second head, however the staff would not be useless with the other side being easily usable. He removed himself from the jungle, and moved back to the clearing where the fight was commencing, he hoped he wasn't terribly needed, though it appeared as though Nek, and Mako had either been killed or had finally moved up, Crii positioned himself near the highest officer, and asked to be briefed.
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Post by Artemis on Oct 10, 2015 4:06:44 GMT -5
"Now, that's a tempting offer, but I just don't know if I can take you up on it. There are just... too many variables in play. I can't imagine the two of us would be able to defeat the dick with the weird teeth, as you so eloquently put it - and certainly not if Tayla happens to come back. So, unfortunately for you, I might just have to turn you down."
Falria shrugged, tightening her grip on her lightsaber as Kairon stepped back towards her. No surprises there. She hadn't exactly been the most engaging of opponents, and by this point she hoped they at least thought her the pathetic adversary she was pretending to be. Even if she hadn't actually planned on dropping her lightsaber, it served her purposes well enough. Falria continued to remind herself there was no saving this outpost, or the planet from what it sounded like. And then her concentration was interrupted by a disembodied voice, making her jump back slightly and relaxing her stance.
I can help from afar and in the Force to some degree. Coordinate to live.
Telepathy. Falria looked at Kairon quizzically, focusing in for a moment. “Did you. . . Uhh. . . Nevermind.” It was certainly unexpected to say the least, wherever the voice had come from, but she quickly discerned it wasn't Sith, whatever it was. Coordinate to live? There must be some other force user nearby and in as much trouble as the troopers but. . . . Well at least there was someone willing to help. Which posed another problem – If she accepted the person's help, there wasn't anyway to alert her about the speeder bikes. A problem in itself, how long was it going to take them?
So, Falria had a friend somewhere, but she wasn't sure exactly what good that was going to do her at the moment. Seemed ironic now that the master she'd wanted so desperately to be rid of wasn't anywhere to be found now in her moment of need. With a sigh, she focused back on Kairon, resuming her stance and awaiting his attack, before backing off and crossing her arms, lowering her guard slightly to see if he'd be bated in, lightsaber still extended in one hand and her other hand at a proper angle to pull her shoto with the force for use if he rushed her.
“You really don't have to do this Kairon. Weird teeth,” she said, not seeing any harm in insulting the Lord a bit more while she was at it. “You've got the planet from how it sounded on the shortwave comms and I'm just a Padawan,” she focused, growing more confident then she'd been for the rest of the fight. “War is War. You're always free to let the enemy retreat.” Yet another pointless bid for time, but Falria's ears picked up on the sound of a speeder bike starting up a distance behind her, and she gave her opponent a genuine smile. His answer really didn't matter.
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ThreeDawg
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Voice of the Wastes
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Post by ThreeDawg on Oct 16, 2015 12:45:56 GMT -5
Malrius gave the Padawan the benefit of responding to her nickname of 'weird teeth'. Admittedly he found it quite endearing, it was nice to see that his ritualistic self-mutilation actually had the intended effect on those around him. They made her feel uncomfortable, at least enough to note them as being 'weird'. He curled his lips up into a smirk, and spread an arm (the one without his lightsaber) out to the compound around them.
"You are right, baby Jedi. This world is mine. This world has always been mine. You stand upon Sith ground, have used this place for your own. Even led a rebellion from this place against the Empire of Two. You have trespassed on this land long enough, you have been given enough time to leave." He dropped his hand back to join his other at his lightsaber. A scowl formed on his face, and he gritted his pointed teeth together as he spat out his next words derisively. "So no. There is no retreat. You are all going to die here, your bones will feed our revival."
"My Lord," the commanding officer of the Sith Troopers saluted stiffly. He seemed worried, and even glanced over at the battlefield his troopers were currently being massacred upon. "The Sith Twi'lek instructed us to fire upon the Republic in one volley. He wanted a... Distraction... He seems to want to storm the gates."
The officer inclined his head towards the battlefield through the leaf-cover he was stationed behind and Crii had joined him at. "If you will, my Lord, you can see if the Sith succeeds in his plan."
There was a hint of surprise, and gratitude, running through Nek's head when he noticed Mako had chosen to follow him. He half expected to get no help from his peer, or to receive a blaster bolt to the back. Instead he got a lightsaber on his flank. The two ran towards the front of the compound. Bolts reigned towards them, but the majority of the troopers were either taking cover from the Sith Trooper's own volley or firing back at their exposed targets.
Nek held his saber out before him, swinging it left and right at bolts that threatened to hit him. At his current speed, augmented by the force as it was, the bolts were poorly aimed anyway. Lucky for him, given his lack of experience in deflecting actual blaster bolts. Ahead of them lay the minefield, the small inconspicuous objects lay haphazardly over the field before the running pair. Behind the mines stood a lone figure, guarding the scorched gate that had seen his comrade's fate. The assault-cannon wielding trooper was already firing upon the Sith Troopers before he rounded the massive weapon towards the two Apprentices.
Nek raised his spare hand, calling upon the force around them to act upon his command. The grass shifted somewhat as small pebbles shot into the air, followed by spheres of metal. Wish a push of his body, his mind and the Force; Nek threw the combined debris towards the gate.
Tayla held her hand up, covering her head from the explosion that sent sparks and shards across the room. The communications officer was sprawled out on the floor. Coughing. Tayla rose from her prone position; she walked towards him. She held her pistol out, the officer turned his head to the side. His face blackened, he opened his mouth.
She didn't give him chance to talk, and walked passed his now-lifeless body towards the rear-central computer bank. Pulling a small satchel from around her back, she drew out a number of small brick-shaped metal objects. On each she flicked a small switch, before placing them down. One on the rear-central bank, one by the holoprojector at the centre of the room and the final third 'brick' by the entrance to this little room. She gave the room, it's two dead bodies, and the holoprojector a steely last glance.
Her sight lingered somewhat on the flashing red 'blips' on the rotating map of the moon. She didn't know what they meant, but clearly they either were outposts under attack... Or outposts completely gone.
The entrance to the outpost exploded in on itself. Sending the Assault Trooper flying backwards and debris following his body into the courtyard. Nek and Mako were hot on his... Flying heels, lightsabers at the ready. Malrius found himself distracted from the confrontation between Kairon and the Padawan, raising a single curious eyebrow at the pair of apprentices.
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Salvahkiin
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My Siren's name is Brick, and she is the prettiest.
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Post by Salvahkiin on Oct 16, 2015 20:13:15 GMT -5
Keppora had a rush of adrenaline running to the gates. It may have been detrimental to his health, he felt a great deal more powerful with it in his veins. Mako, like Nek, was deflecting all the poorly aimed blaster bolts that came his way. He had really doubted the training of these soldiers. They were not precise, not accurate. He had expected.....more. He doubted the entire republic was like this, this was only a backwater planet to them, a place to send their inexperienced soldiers. When the Sith got to Coruscant, it'd be a different matter.
Mako stood next to Nek as he destroyed the entrance. He nodded at him, and a slight smile was on his face. "Lovely work, Nek." Mako let Nek take the lead. He followed closely, and as they got through the gates, one of Mako's sabers was guided into Nekar's back. He would've loved to see his face, but such was the way of the Sith. Nek's saber dropped to the ground. He picked it up, and force jumped onto the wall.
Mako deflected a few whizzing blaster bolts that were aimed at him. The aim of these troopers was poor, and so he didn't have to deflect all that many. The closest trooper to Mako ran towards the young Sith, and attempted to engage in a fistfight. Mako swiftly moved to the side of his punch, and seared through the poor trooper's arm at the elbow. The pain didn't register at first, not until he examined his now stumped arm. His eyes began to go wide, and a horrendous scream bellowed out of him. Mako savoured the scream, for a small time, before he beheaded him, ending his suffering.
It was time to get the hell out of dodge, so Mako sent a stream of lightning at the first soldier he could see, and leaped off the wall. He landed with a thud, and broke immediately into a force-assisted sprint, making his way back to Lord Crii.
"My Lord, I hope we provided a decent distraction. Nekar did not make it."
Mako wasn't the most brilliant actor, but he did not have to act. There was a hint of sadness in his voice, and it was genuine. Nekar and Mako had never been friendly, but there was competition, competition that they both respected of each other. Now his sparring would not be matched. But hopefully he did not need to spar any more, now he could fight.
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Post by Zenios on Oct 20, 2015 12:25:24 GMT -5
Kairon's eyes narrowed as Falria seemed to jump slightly, then relax - something had startled her, and it certainly hadn't been one of the Sith. That glare morphed quickly into a curious look that mimicked Falria's own as she started to ask him something, then let the question die just as quickly. Between that, Falria's obvious attempts to stall and buy time, and the fact that a stim-shot was pretty much the only thing keeping him from succumbing to heat stroke, the Echani had a horrible feeling about this duel all of a sudden. He had to end it quickly before the situation could conspire against him more than it already had.
Idly wondering about the stim-shot almost seemed to will the drug to flush itself out of his system more quickly - Kairon noticed his breath starting to come with less and less ease and he felt that lightheaded sensation return in no time at all, if not as bad as it had been. That wasn't good. Falria likely wouldn't allow him the time necessary to inject another one, and he wouldn't allow himself to look weak enough to need a second in front of her and Malrius anyway. He'd used stims infrequently enough that he couldn't tell if this sensation was the stimulant cocktail starting to wear off, if his body was under enough duress that he was pushing his limit with or without stims, or if this was just the initial rush wearing off. He dearly hoped it was the latter.
Deciding to use Malrius' little speech as some time to recompose himself, the apprentice went to throw back his hood, pull off his mask, and toss it to the side. It was a movement he somehow managed to keep smooth enough that it might not have looked like he'd done it out of desperation. The protection afforded by the thing, he decided, definitely wasn't worth the discomfort. It wasn't the best of armors anyway - it was more to keep an intimidating Sith appearance, or protection from blades and impacts - but it did an excellent job of trapping heat on a hot, humid jungle moon, and he'd had about enough of that. Kairon couldn't exactly shed the rest of it quite as easily while the threat of an enemy duelist remained, but exposing his face to the air seemed to help at least a little bit. He couldn't help but imagine he cut maybe even more stark a figure: a ghostly pale visage to go with the darkest of robes and armors.
"I hate to say it, but Malrius is right. It's a bit late for anything like that, I think." Kairon didn't bother saying any more as he refocused himself, flicking his head to the side to get the hair out of his eyes before his silvery gaze fixed on Falria once again. He ignored the whine of a speeder's engine starting up, the sound of an explosion echoing from the front gates - he tried to isolate this little patch of grass, himself, and the Jedi in front of him. He couldn't afford any more distractions if he wanted to come out of this quickly and victoriously.
He settled into a Makashi stance once more, slithering forward like a snake to press the attack. He met Falria's smile with a bit of a grimace; he couldn't quite keep a hint of something akin to regret from his visage, maybe disappointment that things had wound up this way. Kairon certainly wished ill upon this Jedi, but it wasn't anything personal - it was just an unfortunate coincidence of timing that she had been here, and an unfortunate coincidence of malice that he had wound up dueling her one-on-one. He would have much preferred to have taken her prisoner or perhaps disposed of her quickly alongside Tayla and Malrius, but it was, as he himself had said, a bit late to make that happen.
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Post by aardvarklord on Oct 20, 2015 16:55:24 GMT -5
[relocate me to after Artemis; Sirona's waiting for some sort of cue, either from Falria to assist or something that would be easier for her to utilize; she can't exactly tell that our favorite Echani is having problems from this range.]
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Post by Court Baron Butters on Oct 21, 2015 20:00:09 GMT -5
Crii smirked at the commanders retort, who seemed almost surprised Malrius had commanded a distraction. As the young Mako approached him he began putting the pieces together figuring he was to be the distraction and had only just returned. It became necessary every so often for Crii to prove his place in the Sith, he already had one strategical play in this battle, and he was determined to make another. Currently it seemed as though Mako, and Nek's distraction had done well in pushing the attention towards the main gate, and away from the business inside, or to the side of the main building, despite this Crii deemed it prudential to assault the front door now that the mines were displaced (hopefully).
Crii first looked to the officer, to begin laying out his plan. In his typicaly relaxed demeaner he began iterating the details "Commander, I recommend we begin moving our troops into the compound, as it stands we will lose more troops out here merely providing covering fire, than we would breaching the facility, shall we make the most utilitarian move by storming the facility now?"
Crii then looked to Mako, and his face took a more serious look, eyeing the apprentice up and down he happened to notice an extra lightsaber on the apprentices belt, which reminded him that Nek was nowhere to be seen. Disregarding that information for the mean time he looked back to the officer, and continued. "If you can cover the front gate, allow myself, Nek, and Mako to take care of the guards above the facility." Crii positioned himself next to Mako, clutching the boy on the shoulder, a gesture typically uncommon in the Sith world.
"Although I do not know where Nek is, I must have you, and I take care of the guards atop the facility. What I am going to do is project monsters of terrifying stature to the guards above, using a force illusion, this should lead the guards into a panic while you hack through their ranks, can you do that for me?" He let go of the young one, assuming his command was to be taken, and quickly stepped out from the brush, though just as he left he turned back to the commanding officer and warned the soldier "And one last thing sir... you must advance your troops before we begin, and you must advise them to fire at the base of the compound just in case their are anymore mines at the front of the facility."
Crii excused himself from the area, and crouched behind cover between the brush and the facility, he began focusing, hoping that his force powers would not be needed again in the near future, as this technique was known to drain him. As he concentrated large creatures of unimaginable horror began emerging from the brush, and heading towards the top of the compound, these figures would be seen by all of those in the vicinity of the base, but could not attack nor be attack, however their audibility, stench, and most other sensory functions would be felt by those around them, Crii hoped this distraction would be enough for Mako to break through their lines with only a few injuries.
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Post by Artemis on Oct 27, 2015 9:47:07 GMT -5
Falria suppressed a laugh as the Sith Lord broke into a monologue. As far as buying time was concerned, the Lord was like putty in her hands, taking any attempt to let his ego shine. As he spoke, Falria moved back ever so slightly, putting herself just shy of behind a wall, being careful not to lose focus on Kairon for the time being. The revelation that he was Echani had her withdrawing her hand from its position to parry his next attack with a lightsaber. They'd undoubtedly try chasing her and the other troopers down, and since she'd survived this long, there was no reason to play all her cards just yet.
"I hate to say it, but Malrius is right. It's a bit late for anything like that, I think."
An explosion came from the gate, and she shrugged, readying herself as he pressed at her. A part of her worried for the troopers at the front, but they had survived this long, they would have to hold out a little longer. As Kairon's first attack came at her, she parried it with some difficulty, relishing in the sound of the speeder engines nearing her. Pulling on the force, she flipped backwards, putting away her saber while in the air and landing on the edge of the roof.
“I was only asking permission to be polite.” With a look over her shoulder, she hesitated a second before making another jump, grasping firmly onto the bottom of the speeding vehicle and swinging herself around to land neatly on it's seat, grabbing hold of the troopers back to steady herself. As she made her landing, the man whipped the front of the vehicle around, aiming it downwards and using the blaster cannons to unleash a swath of lasers to cover the street, hoping to quickly eliminate some of the Sith.
The pilot didn't stick around for long however, only firing the lasers for a few seconds before angling it back up and speeding off across the compound and dipping below the outer wall, taking shelter in the trees. “What took you so long?” Falria asked, almost playfully, as they retreated into the forest.
She was delighted to hear Dor's reply, glad her friend had managed to escape after all. “Decided to leave the bastard's a little present. Rigged the compounds power core to overload. In about five minutes, compounds gonna be a pile of ash and rubble.”
Falria gave him a little hug from her position on the speeder, and was about to reply when the voice from before cut through her mind again. Oi! Follow the blue bolts! I'm on the ground now! Come east!
“We'll celebrate later, we've got. . . someone to pick up. Bring us higher.”
The troopers on the wall were shaken after the lightsaber wielding menace had killed his own ally, then put an end to two of them. There were only three of them left, their evac still hadn't come, and judging by Falria's losing battle behind them, they were done for. Had that not been enough to break their morale, the monstrosity's that now assaulted them from behind the Sith lines was enough. Horrendous creatures that defied physics with impossible geometry now assaulted them as well, sending projectiles at them that seemed to tear at the very fabric of reality as they collided with the wall.
The three of them broke, and fast. Grabbing their weapons, they retreated from the wall. The last of them on the western wall made a break for the main structure, running straight into another Sith as he fled. Will broken, he stood no chance of even getting his weapon up in time.
The other two soldiers were not so unfortunate however, having the sense to at least retreat towards the storage bay, only to be met halfway by their rescue and a none to pleased sergeant. “You LEFT the WALL?” He yelled at them as they climbed on, ready to be away.
“A Sith cut down John, Sir. . . and the- the creatures.”
The Sergeant pulled up on the speeder, pointing it towards the creatures before taking off. “They aren't real idiot. Now, get ready, we're going to make one last push.” His words weren't enough to strengthen their resolve, but it was enough to make them follow orders. Raising the speeders into the air, the two pilots swept around, going straight for the Sith forces. The blaster cannons opened up, tearing up the ground and into the ranks as they passed overhead, while blue lasers began cutting through the trees from the other side. For a parting gift, as the speeders passed above the Sith forces, each trooper dropped a Thermal Detonator, the metal spheres landing with a metallic 'tink' and hesitating slightly before exploding in spectacular fashion.
“What? Who?” Dor asked, a bit confused, but complying with her instructions. Once they were high enough, Falria scanned the trees, looking for any flash of blue Back at the compound, the other two speeders were sweeping directly over the Sith forces, and – “There!” She said, pointing to the east as a bolt shot from the trees towards the Sith forces. Quickly, Dor brought the speeder bike in the proper direction, dipping back down towards the ground, following the trail as a second blue bolt of light streaked out of the forest. After that, it didn't take them too long to find her, and Dor swept down coming to a rest besides the sniper in black and red.
“Falria Artemii,” Falria said, introducing herself, as the other two speeders caught up to them, sweeping low into the trees. “These weren't meant for three, but climb on, we can talk on the way.”
“East first, then we'll head back southwest, hopefully lose them by the time we get to the temple,” the Sergeant instructed to the other speeder pilots, eyeing their new 'ally' warily as she climbed on Falria's speeder, before the trio of bikes began speeding off through the forest and away from their pursuers.
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Post by aardvarklord on Oct 27, 2015 20:32:25 GMT -5
Hrmm... trying to get a shot at a distracted Sith in the middle of a duel was harder than it sounded. The big issue was the saber--as obvious of a statement that was. She would have thought that the saber wouldn't be in the way as often as it was, but between him twirling that thing around and trying to discern targets from this range there was no way she could get a shot off. She waited the whole time though, finger on the trigger as she waited for either the Jedi to slip up and nearly get killed or for the Sith to do something stupid like throw his saber. Neither happened. To her surprise, she saw a speeder bike come screaming up to the wall. Aaaaah... clever girl. What she would give to actually hear their conversation over the continued battle around them. The second that the girl jumped over the other side, Sirona unleashed a flurry of bolts at the Sith troops and vaguely towards the Sith she had been dueling. She wasn't trying to hit him; in fact she made a very specific effort to not aim at him so as to not draw reflected bolts back at her; rather she was hoping to suppress him and the troopers. Of course, she actually missed a rather crucial fact... while she was laying down fire, the Jedi's companion dropped a rather unpleasant surprise for the Imperials, one whose effectiveness said all it needed to about the discipline of these Sith. Pathetic really.
Of course, now that she had made herself known she couldn't stay up there, not and keep her skin, so instead she dropped the floor and rather bluntly sent a line to her rather impromptu ally. "Oi! Follow the blue bolts! I'm on the ground now! Come east!" As she dropped to the floor, she continued the to keep the fire up on the general area of the Sith troopers, hitting one or two, but again focusing more on keeping accurate fire close enough to keep their heads down, and also keep herself from taking bolts. Actually, a few return bolts came, but they were wildly inaccurate... that or they hit the bush that she was using to protect her. She continued firing rabidly, mostly just to protect her own hide as she waited until the speeder was close enough, before finally making a break for it towards the speeder, making sure to sling her rifle and try to disrupt her visual image as much as possible as she ran. She could already see that this wasn't going to be a comfortable ride even as the Jedi went about introducing herself, but she didn't complain as she hopped onto the back. "Lothas'iron'athren," she introduced herself tersely as she got herself situated, "Sirona if that's too much. I'm ready, punch it."
The ride was unpleasant to say the least, but it was better than walking through the forest with Sith on her heels, and right now the enemy of her enemy was her friend, at least as far as she was concerned. Though, she wasn't certain that the driver shared in her sentiments... let him worry all he wanted, wasn't her concern unless he decided to act on it. After a minute or so of shifting around, trying to find a position that wasn't going to let her get bucked off, the Chiss finally spoke up, "I'm going to assume you were as surprised as we were?"
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ThreeDawg
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Post by ThreeDawg on Dec 24, 2015 16:36:34 GMT -5
Malrius kept his smile as Kairon pressed his attack. From his position at the back wall he had the pleasure of witnessing the explosion at the front gate, his apprentices had finally broke the Republic. Coupled with the explosion that had shook the command centre - the outpost was theres. Only one thing stood in their way now, the Jed- a flash of a lightsaber broke Malrius' internal monologue. Red cut through one of his apprentices and for a moment he thought Crii had turned to assassinate the group in order to claim victory for himself. He threw his saber to the side and ignited it himself - if the alien would turn to killing other Sith then Malrius would give him a worthy opponent to face.
But his face, and his saber, dropped when from behind Nek's body came the form of Mako. He proceeded to jump to the walls and strike at the troopers. With Nek's blade. The little whelp strikes down his peer in cold blood in the middle of battle. Malrius was furious, he didn't know if he should kill the boy on the spot or show pride in his machinations. He had expected it to happen eventually, but in such a pivotal moment of the Sith's attack? No, Mako would need to pay for this at a later date.
His anger was only compounded when the sound of a speeder broke his thought, the Sith had not brought speeders to this assault. Which means the Republic had mobilised. The Jedi leapt up and out of the battle, and the speeder fired. Malrius held his hand out and threw one of the bolts aside with the force, the rest he attempted to deflect with his lightsaber. The ground around him erupted in a cloud of dust as the reflected bolts shattered the surface.
Tayla emerged from the outpost, a corner of her open robe held over her face. Smoke billowed around her. She watched, eyes wide, as her master and Kairon were engulfed in speeder fire. "Master!" she shouted out. Her hand left her face and reached out to a ruined metal sheet that had fallen from the walls, with all the focus she could muster she picked the piece up and launched it at the assaulting speeder. It missed, completely, but it seemed good enough to send the Republic running. The walls had also cleared, and within seconds the outpost was cleared of all but corpses and the Sith.
The cloud of dust in the middle of the compound shifted abruptly, and twirled out of existence. Malrius had survived the onslaught, although his chest heaved with the effort he had exerted in his effort to show no weakness.
The Sith deactivated his lightsaber. He forced himself to stand upright as if the assault hadn't phased him. Appearances were everything, a display of weakness was an opening. "My lord! You're okay!" He heard, as Tayla ran towards him.
Malrius turned his head towards her, cheerfully (as cheerful as a Sith can be) "Okay? I am better than okay, my apprentice. We have won, nothing stops the Sith from controlling this planet now. Our part in this invasion is over."
The Chiss pulled up quickly, a confused look on her face. "Over? But my lord, the invasion has only just begone. Shouldn't we be-"
"Enough!" Malrius shouted, although even that act had taken the breath from his already aching lungs. "Do not question me, apprentice. I have taken you this far, and I say out part in this is invasion is over." He held up his arm, and the image of the Imperial officer flickered into being. "The outpost is ours," Malrius triumphantly rumbled, "bring your men inside and hang the banners of the Sith from its walls." The officer nodded once, and Malrius cut the connection.
But he did not lower his hand, instead he opened up another line of communication. This time with The Phantom Pain, and his other 'apprentice' - his hound - "Bring the ship in for retrieval, we head for our primary objective."
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Salvahkiin
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My Siren's name is Brick, and she is the prettiest.
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Post by Salvahkiin on Jan 7, 2016 0:53:57 GMT -5
(I apologise for the long wait, but I'm tired of banging my head against a wall attempting to write this post. Sal used Skip, it was not very effective.)
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Post by Zenios on Jan 8, 2016 18:05:52 GMT -5
Kairon drove Falria back easily as he pressed the assault once again, only for her to suddenly flip up and backward. He lunged as she disengaged--but wasn't quite fast enough, didn't quite take the right angle on his swing, to do more than slice through air. Damn. So much for the quick and easy ending. She was going to outlast him without much trouble at this rate, and he'd look more the fool in front of his compatriots when he allowed a Jedi apprentice who was quite clearly outclassed as a duelist to defeat him.
He wasn't stupid enough to try and make the same jump to continue the duel - he certainly could have, but he was also fairly sure that doing so would have been an excellent way to lose a few limbs whether or not he was as exhausted as he was. Instead, the Echani quickly took stock of his options. He could launch some lightning at her as he leapt, he could throw his lightsaber… But neither of those seemed like the particularly measured, conservative options he would have preferred.
The Jedi's voice dragged Kairon out of his contemplation without much problem. Getting up to the roof wouldn't particularly matter, he supposed, if she was simply planning on fleeing--and the speeder she found herself clinging to a moment later certainly wasn't a vehicle he would be able to catch on foot. Hm. Looked like he'd have to chalk this fight up as a stalemate. The speeder, pilot, and Jedi passenger would have been long gone before a thrown weapon could catch up to them.
Kairon's eyes widened as he sensed danger, noted a flurry of blue blaster bolts came darting in his general direction. His hand and lightsaber came up in a defensive whirl, ready to intercept any bolts meant for him as he scanned for the assailant. There - a... moving, running shadow? Was that a stealth generator? Even stranger was the fact that the stream of fire seemed to be intended not to hit him, but to distract him - get him to keep his head down. He didn't bother counting just how many shots swept towards him and the Sith troopers behind, but he only had to deflect one or two errant ones.
He was just starting to give chase when he heard the pitch of the speeder's engines shift. That probably meant Falria was coming around to strafe--the high whine of a blaster cannon reaffirmed that--and he was just a hair too slow in turning and raising his weapon to to prevent the first bolt from slamming into his shoulder. That set him spinning more and staggering back. He fought to keep focus, keep his lightsaber up and moving to keep a swift death from taking him as he struggled not to fall down.
It probably wasn't more than a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity until the speeder's line of fire passed. He probably would have died if the pilot had concentrated his fire a little longer or if the groundbound assailant had been a little more aggressive, but he certainly wasn't going to stop to count his blessings. A moan that was equal parts frustration and anguish escaped his lips as he watched the speeder dart towards the shooter, dipping slightly as it picked them up before moving away just as quickly. He finally dropped to his knees as soon as the blaster fire stopped and the speeder made to move away, scanning briefly for more threats before turning his focus to the injury.
The apprentice was lucky enough that the bolt hadn't hit a few centimeters to either side: the chest piece had taken the full brunt of the blow just below his left collarbone, and without a pauldron or a neck protector he probably would have lost an arm or his head. He scanned briefly for any further threats - and then used the Force to rip the breastplate off. It was hardly the most durable of armors, he reflected as soon as he noted the upper right side had essentially shattered, but it had still probably saved his life - if not his shoulder.
Kairon doubted he would have too much time to tend to the injury, but--as a couple of quick experimental moves indicated--he still had full range of motion and there was no grinding when he lifted his arm. Just a nasty burn and some bruising, then. Nothing some painkillers and a bacta patch couldn't fix. He realized with a bit of relief that breathing was much easier without that metal hotbox strapped to his chest, too. At least that was something. He stood and turned, strolling towards Malrius just in time to witness Tayla run towards their Lord like the mindless little minion she was.
That was an amusing enough sight to take his mind off the pain for a moment; the bacta patch he pulled from a belt pocket and--peeling back the bodysuit's collar just enough to slip a hand under it--covered over the wound stung at first, and then further alleviated it. Injury so treated, he looked around for the other Sith as he came to a stop a few meters from Malrius and Tayla. There was Mako, but he didn't see Crii or Nek'arado. "And what's happened with our comrades? I suppose it would be too much to ask for some of them to have been torn apart by that hail of blasterfire." he asked of no one in particular, spreading his Force senses to try and discern their locations--and to make sure the Jedi wasn't going to try and double back. Keeping any trace of stress out of his voice was almost as difficult as having kept himself alive just a few moments ago, but it was something he had to do. Showing weakness was probably less forgivable than actively possessing it.
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Post by Court Baron Butters on Jan 21, 2016 22:56:35 GMT -5
Hopefully Crii's concentration, and use of the force in this tactic would not be used in vein, the energy required to perform as major a task as the creation of illusionary monsters, was truly no small mission. Crii had to estimate when exactly he should stop the figments from spreading their fear, as he needed full concentration with his eyes closed to control so many abominations of grim, he listened to the sounds of the battlefield and obtained a certain level of battlefield perception.
The background noises were hard to tune out; the blasts of infantry rifles, and boots rattling on the ground were constant, but special noises could be picked out from the background, he couldn't tell if Mako had eliminated those troops above the compound like he had asked him. Perhaps at least if the young apprentice did not take care of them, then advancing soldiers would clear them out as the horrendous monsters distracted them. Whatever the case, it wasn't long until Crii heard the great clash of an explosion emanating from the compound, that certainly wasn't Mako, Crii thought to himself, perhaps the soldiers had set off a mine at the front gates? or maybe Malrius' team had penetrated the back end of the compound, and detonated their charges.
It wasn't long after this that Crii heard yet another splash of sound entering his ears, this time it was heavy blaster fire, not simple generic rifle fire, but instead loud booming concentrated blasts perhaps from a considerably larger sniper, but soon after those concentrated blasts, more sporadic ballistics crashed into the soundscape, the sounds of blaster fire quickly diminished, and faded, Crii assumed this must have been the ending of the soldiers on the balcony. He ceased his concentration on the monsters and they quickly vanished.
He felt spent, but he could go on, this wasn't the first time he had to operate on low an 'empty tank' he had conditioned himself quite intently for moments like this, and utilized the training well. Crii positioned himself near the closest officer, and noticed as the sounds of the battlefield grew damper, and damper - this fight was soon to be over -
"Commander" Crii motioned to the officer, "What is next?" He looked to the compound not far away, and waited for the next course of action to take place.
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Post by Artemis on Jan 24, 2016 0:03:45 GMT -5
Falria kept quiet while the three speeders swept through the trees, quickly zooming away from the compound and the Sith. There were so many thoughts running through her head now that the immediate danger of death, (she hoped,) was gone. The revelation of the return of the Sith settled on her again, and she shifted uncomfortably. Sandwiched between Dor and the newcomer Sirona, there wasn't exactly much room to maneuver. Not if she wanted to risk knocking her new 'friend' off anyway.
And there was another oddity, at that. Lothas'iron'athren, a Chiss of unknown origins with unknown intentions. Whoever she was, she definitely wasn't with the Reedemers. Her use of the force ruled out that possibility. Based on her attire, Falria wouldn't have been surprised if the woman was a Sith herself, but then there had been no doubt she was firing on the soldiers attacking the compound. Either way, with the whole planet being under attack, allying herself with Falria and the Republic troopers couldn't have been the most reasonable course of action. Not when the Sith seemed to have invaded the whole place at once.
“I'm going to assume you were as surprised as we were?”
The words nearly startled Falria off the speeder. She cursed herself silently for a fool, having nearly forgotten that the one she was worrying about was sitting right behind her. It was lapses in concentration like this that gave her master excuse to keep her as a padawan. With a deep breath, she focused, gathering herself together. It was important to stay calm at this moment, being so close to Sirona that it was likely she could feel Falria's unease. Definitely, not befitting of a Jedi, that was.
“Yes, quite,” she finally replied in a level voice as best she could manage, while still being loud enough to be heard as the speeders flew across the landscape. “An entire fleet's worth of an ambush, from what I heard over the comms before our departure. The entire moon sounds as if overrun. They are not the Imperials, that much at least I am certain of. Their use of the dark side perished with Palpatine and Vader. And had they been training such a force, we'd have undoubtedly known it.”
Falria hoped at least that much was true. There was no way to be certain, but from what her studies had told her, the Imperials did not sound as though they would be fine with relinquishing control back to an entire regime of the dark side.
“From what I can gather,” she started, remembering the numbers she had seen, “There were at least four Sith involved in the ambush. At a relatively minor outpost at that. If even a fourth of the monitoring stations had Sith with the soldiers that attacked, then it says whoever this new army belongs to has more then enough to spare.”
She filed that tidbit of information away for the moment, making a note to return to it later. Her theories were well and good, but there was concrete information to be had if Sirona would part with it. “When you mentioned surprise, you mentioned 'we.',” Falria began, though that part was not a question. “Who exactly is 'we.' You are not Jedi, yet you know the force. Where do you come from, and why are you here?”
The question was out, though she had no idea if Sirona would answer it outright. Falria might've had no reason to lie about anything, but she was a Jedi after all, even if only still a padawan. The speeders turned, sweeping around back towards the southwest and towards her master. A thought came back to her then, unbidden, and it sent a shiver down her spine. She was certain it had not been the first time she'd had the thought today, and it would certainly not be the last, but the fear was there nonetheless. The phantom army did not use the Sith, but rather the other way round. It was the Sith. The Sith had returned.
The Sith had returned, and she was trapped on a moon with a master gone mad and an entire army pledged to the dark side.
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Post by aardvarklord on Jan 24, 2016 17:27:08 GMT -5
It was an awkward ride, and Sirona certainly didn't like hanging off the back end of a speeder bike with the exhaust practically toasting her rear, but at least she was being dragged along for a ride. Some small part of her was curious about being able to see the workings of the Republic military, even if it was in an emergency, but a far larger part of her was happier to have an enemy of the enemy to escape with. Besides, while her own people might not have been eager to get involved, she was well-aware that the Republic was important to the coreward political ecosystem and needed to be warned of this new threat. As she asked her question though, she quickly became aware of how uncomfortable and... disquieted the Jedi was. Heck, she didn't even need the Force to tell that one--the girl's body language just screamed 'uncomfortable.' Now, she wasn't judgmental about it, she could tell that this girl was probably a fair bit younger and had seen very little combat, but it was interesting to notice that not all Jedi had fully internalized that 'first there is peace' ideology.
It was alarming to hear just how thorough the planet's invasion had been, and how specific the choice of Yavin 4 had been. Honestly, as the girl talked about what she'd noticed, Sirona knew what the answer to the mystery was: this was a Sith Empire, whether it be an extension of the old one or some new incarnation that had cropped up, it didn't matter. This was a successor to the old ways. "I think I saw a fifth one," she commented in agreement with the numbers, "If I remember my history lessons, this was more or less similar to the ancient technique of having Sith serve as captains for combat teams. Of course, if I recall the Jedi did much the same thing in the Clone Wars." On thinking of how that might have sounded, she was quick to add, "That said, I don't think I've heard of Jedi using red sabers." Hrmm... she wished she could have gotten her hands on one of those--would have been nice to actually have a proper saber to reverse engineer.
Then the Jedi finally got around to asking the questions involving Sirona herself. While she had been hoping to avoid them for the time being, it was unsurprising to say the least; it wasn't like the Chiss military got out much and a non-Jedi non-Sith Force user probably would be a bit peculiar. It was entirely possible that Sirona put a target on her back by revealing herself as such, but there was no retracting that (potentially stupid) decision now. "'We' are myself and my team, though I doubt the Expansionary Fleet would have sent us out here if they knew of those... Sith," she explained, chewing on her lip as she debated how much to tell her ride. Though, now that she thought about it, if her people knew of the Sith, they would have immediately just bunkered down and kept quiet. "I'm a soldier from the Chiss Ascendancy, self-trained in the Force after discovering my sensitivity at a ruin just outside our territory," she told her, not technically lying, but certainly not telling her the whole story. "A short while ago I began having... let's call them 'visions' of some darkness. The CEDF might not be the Jedi Order, but the Force is something to be heeded so they sent me, as well as some other scout ships, out to see if I could find the source. I've been training for a while now, I thought I could trace it down. Here my thought was that something in the temples had been awakened." She sighed and shook her head, still remaining perched on the back of the bike without too much difficulty. "Well, seems I found the source, though not by any skill of my own."
If Falria was any good at listening, she might have noticed how self-depreciating Sirona's thoughts were. She was kicking herself for not being able to sense a WHOLE DAMN SITH FLEET. Granted, properly trained Jedi hadn't done it either, but she strove for perfection, and perfection her work here was not. Plus, she still had a bit of that lingering dark-side taint that she was trying to shake off. It was slowly fading, but she still had to be conscious of herself. As they continued moving, she started receiving communications from her people, albeit in the Chiss tongue, "Commander, we haven't heard from you in a while and we've been picking up explosions from the area you were headed towards. Are you alright?"
Scoffing, she said in her home tongue, "I'm fine. Make sure the ship is ready to leave when I return, we may need to leave in a hurry. And if you see dark-armoured troops approaching, don't wait, just go."
There was some reluctance in the man's voice, but he confirmed and killed the comm.
Turning back to the Jedi, she thought about all that needed to be done, and what she was going to have to tell her people... and what Falria would be telling her own people. The more she thought about this, the more serious she considered the situation. "I hope you realize who these people are, that this a Sith Empire," she told her quietly, hoping that the driver didn't hear them so that he wouldn't panic and sail into a tree, "Whether this is the old one or someone mimicking them, they were able to wantonly field nearly a half dozen Force users on one fort." With that in mind, she then looked around herself, for the first time having a bit of difficulty staying on the bike as she tried to get her bearings. "Actually, where are we going?"
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