A New Breed

[J3C0]

Darth Nazari rushed through the halls of an underground cavern, his tight cloaked billowed slightly as he paced his way down the cave. Hard compacted earth stuck against his boots as he slid around a corner. Just as he did a silent alarm began to flash all over the hall. Bright red Lights blinked over and over, in panic, they had been discovered.

Umbara was a world that had long held allegiance to the darker side of nature. Sith had once spawned from here and during the Clone Wars the Umbarans had flocked to the side of the Seperatists. Because of this the natives had always ignored Sith that had chosen to make their homes here, and reporting activities to the Jedi had never been a large problem. This changed however when the Jedi had decided to build a fortress here.

The One Sith had long since held an underground facility here, mostly a rest spot for those traveling between the outer rim and core worlds. Usually not more than a dozen of them stayed here.

It had never before been a problem, but today a Jedi scout had found one of the more foolish Sith crawling into the secret base, and as such had quickly brought the wrath of his brethren.

Nazari had been the first to note the approaching Jedi Strike force and had personally raised the alarms. Of course there was no worry about the Jedi finding out who they truly were. The One Sith had purged all unique markings long ago and no terminals within the base held any significant data. To the Jedi they would appear as little more than another group of wayward Sith. That was not Nazari's concern however, his concern was their escape.

“Jedi.” Nazari hissed into the main room as he finally reached the core of the base. There he found his fellow Sith, each one readying themselves for the coming fight.

 

[Rasu Gan]

The planet Umbara had always felt so menacing to the Shi'ido Headmistress, it was one of the reasons the Jedi had decided to deny a proposal to construct an academy on the world. The dark side was so strong on it's dark surface that it surprised Rasu that so many Jedi could withstand it's seductive calling. It had only been just under an hour ago when she had been sitting with the Jedi commanding the Umbaran fortress, discussing the training of it's security forces, when a young Cerean burst into the chamber. He had seemed extremely alarmed, peaking Rasu's curiousity and sending prickles of danger down her spine.

The young scout informed them that he had witnessed Sith roaming the surface and that they had fled, escaping in what appeared to be some underground system of tunnels. Perhaps an old Sith facility, Rasu had thought. Umbara had history with the Sith also, housing a Sith academy on it's surface over a thousand years ago before the battle of Yavin. Rasu assumed that wherever the Sith had gone, it would have been to the remains of this Academy. It made sense that the Sith were using the facility or whatever remained of it, to retrieve information on the Jedi's newly erected fortress. Their Empire, it seemed, had gone to great lengths to gain any foot hold it could get over the Jedi so had resorted to using old ruins to retrieve information.

The Jedi had acted swiftly, preparing a strike force to eradicate the Sith before they could formulate any plan of attack or escape. Rasu had made sure to volunteer her services to the strike force, she had found that her position didn't allow for much fighting and the Shi'ido slightly missed the thrill and adrenaline rush when in battle. So here she found herself, on the back of a speeder bike, grasping the waist of the Jedi in front as they sped through the Umbaran wasteland towards what she assumed was the entrance of an ancient Sith training facility.

@[member="Darth Nazari"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen was resting in the quarters provided by the Umbaran Temple. As a jedi Shadow, his job was to eliminate darkness and this planet seemed to hold plenty of taint. As he lay on his bed, Vulpesen watched Ace scurry around, occasionally stopping to sniff at something interesting. The Ashlan Wolf eventually stopped to sniff at the comlink on Vulpesen's belt, just before the device went off. Vulpesen's hand shot down to pick up the comlink, bringing it up before accepting the message. "Well boy, seems there's some trouble on the home front." Vulpesen called the slightly spooked companion to his shoulder before getting up and flipping his hood over his head. He'd thought that the dark side taint was from some hidden artifact, and though this was a possibility, he didn't expect to be hearing of a sith on this planet. "Sith, why do they always try to crash our parties?" Within a moment, he was out the door and to the speeder area, taking one for himself before quickly darting off after @[member="Rasu Gan"].

 

[Caulder Dune]

"I don't understand why you're upset." Geiron finally answered to the flickering hologram of one of Umbara's upper-crust nobility; a councilman of the Rootai. He had called to lodge a complaint against the Republic.

Of course, Geiron knew exactly why the nobleman was upset. A small strike force of foreigners mobilizing from their fortress to strike at some unspecified point on Umbara was generally a great cause for concern, but these were Jedi. They had been invited here to protect the planet's populace, not terrorize it. Whatever they found was undoubtedly something detrimental to the Republic, and thusly Umbara's, cause.

"They never talked to us. Anyone, really. This can't stand. The only reason I know-"
"-Is because you pay attention. How very astute of you. How you find out these things is of little consequence. You help govern this planet, as do many others. You will know when these things happen."

The Senator of Umbara, such as Geiron was, wielded little political power. It did, however, help to be a secretive Dark Jedi Master and the figurehead that had ousted the decrepit 'Dominator' regime and re-instituted the Rootai Council. There had been doubts of the Council's loyalty to the Republic, but the establishment of the fort here on Umbara had served to stifle them. Umbara benefited greatly from its membership status with the Republic. There was no reason to mess it up.

"For now, I recommend alerting the other members of the Council to this mobilization. I will request a report of the event a few days from now and forward it to the Council. I trust it will be nothing of consequence. You should as well."

It was difficult to argue against a Force persuasion that traveled through the immense gulf of space, so the councilor mumbled agreement, farewell, and subsequently terminated the transmission.

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Marcello sat quietly in the back of the room as the briefing went on. The Jedi Master was only on the planet as part of a routine patrol by a portion of the Phoenix Battlegroup. In fact, Marcello had been spending time planetside to do some personal training and just take a break from drifting around space. His down time unfortunately had been disturbed by the development that had brought several Jedi to this ad hoc briefing.

As the briefing was drawing to a close, Marcello's name was uttered over the silence. "Commander Matteo. Any chance of air support?"

Marcello clicked his tongue as he gave the outpost commander an unsure look. "I can have the Air Wing spooled up, sure. Problem is, they're not going to benefit you for this operation in anything other than...a back-up. Maybe. Even if these Sith attempt to flee the planet by the air, it's much more beneficial for us to move quickly and retain as much of an advantage as we can." Pausing for a moment, the Jedi Master considered a handful of things. "Tactically speaking...they're going to sense us coming, so I suppose the surprise aspect is a moot point. If you just obliterate them from the air, we'll be hard-pressed to find any information on who they are. Recommend you keep your air assets on standby in orbit until we confirm an immediate need. Could have a focus scan of the area conducted to look for vessels, I suppose."

Once Marcello had fallen silent, the briefing continued for another few moments. The outpost commander dismissed them shortly thereafter. The plan was to get a strike team there via ground transport as quickly as possible. Marcello, however, had a plan to give them just a slight bit more chance of success. Exiting the command building, he made his way over to the flightline where two shuttles sat. Quickly, he located the pilots and called them over. "Boys. Need your assistance. We're going to take a little trip, cause some noise. Spool up and be ready to depart in five."

The pilots exchanged looks but otherwise swiftly set to work preparing the vessels for departure. Marcello's plan was a simple one. He'd take a couple loud transports over to the area, cause a lot of noise and attempt to flood the area with his presence. If nothing else, it would create the illusion, from a distance, of a much larger strike package. Further more, it would force anyone manning any form of early warning position to track movement from multiple directions, speederbikes, and two aircraft.

Placing an earpiece communicator in his ear as he stepped aboard the lead shuttle, Marcello dispatched the basic concept of his plan to the rest of the Jedi involved. "This is Commander Matteo. Advance on the target location but do not immediately enter. Establish a perimeter as best you can and keep an eye for any unusual activity." The last thing he needed were for well-intentioned Jedi to rush headfirst into a bad situation on ground the enemy already controlled. Seconds later, the transports lifted off and flew just over treetop level at opposing directions towards the target. The vector taken by both aircraft was different from each other as well as the speederbikes on the ground.

Switching to the internal communications frequency used by the pilots, Marcello gave simple instructions. "I need us there fast, maintain an attack profile, give me good video on the area, and be ready for anything..." In that instance, the Jedi Master broadcast himself as a very clear target through the Force, propelling his presence forward.

As if fighting in a cavern wasn't going to be shitty enough...

@[member="Rasu Gan"] | @[member="Vulpesen"] | @[member="Darth Nazari"]

 

[Louise]

The silent alarm cast the sinister shadow of Darth Asmodea over the cavern walls, she looked fantastic in red.

Stepping over the freshly made corpse of a fool the woman sighed, this was a great inconvenience. They had preached caution, being discreet was of the utmost importance, all it took was one imbecile and their cover was blown. Of course, as we already know this was the case. Who did you think that corpse belonged to?

There was no room for such ineptitude among the ranks of the One Sith.

The devaronian shut her eyes tightly for a moment, her mind was an inferno. A blaze of power and torment. The price of being her Dark Lord's eyes. A lesser Sith would crumble, the sheer volume of the dark side that flowed through her mind would easily have reduced her less tempered peers into quivering masses of insanity. Of course by this stage in her life Karin Dorn was very accustomed to dealing with madness. So she pledged her mind, her vision:

For she was one of many.

Joining Darth Nazari, the woman folded her arms seeming unimpressed and uninterested, her standard pose. “Our priority is escape,” she spoke, her voice one of complete calm and control, “haste is of the utmost importance. I shall hold as many Jedi off as I can. Darth Nazari, I assume you'll be joining me?"

@[member="Darth Nazari"], @[member="Rasu Gan"], @[member="Vulpesen"], @[member="Marcello Matteo"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's speeder sped him towards the location though he was able to pick up the master's words over the com. He wasn't always the most conventional, but he at least knew how to follow orders when they were reasonable. Taking a sharp turn, Vulpesen drifted around to stop parallel to the side of the target zone. He clicked on his com. "Vulpesen Torrevaso, in position and waiting for orders sir." He had no idea who this master was but that didn't make him any less worthy of basic respect. There were some masters who had lost his respect, and hopefully this would not be one of them. @[member="Marcello Matteo"]

 

[J3C0]

“Of course, Lady Asmodea.” Nazari said with a slight nod of his head. The Togruta tensed slightly as he began to sense the light side of the force draw near. The Jedi had found the outer caverns and were now making their way towards the central chambers. All of the Sith had withdrawn, and most were now on their way out. Nazari frowned slightly as he did a light count in his head. The dozen or so Sith that remained here would escape through the caverns beneath the surface and make their way to a stored shuttle some miles off.

If Nazari, Asmodea, and perhaps one other could distract the Jedi long enough the others should be able to escape without much effort.

The Togruta moved forward slightly, tapping a command on the computer and finally shutting off the red blinking alarms. Everyone was already on the move and there was no need to keep it going. The Jedi would of course come to them, there was no need to seek them out. “I believe this will be rather fun.”

Nazari began to check his weaponry. He made sure that each blade was in its proper place, and that every weapon he had was ready. The Togruta did not like to fight fair, and he knew that more than a few Jedi would fall to is tricks and traps today.

 

[Soeht]

@[member="Darth Nazari"], @[member="Rasu Gan"], @[member="Vulpesen"], @[member="Marcello Matteo"], @[member="Darth Asmodea"]

Some time before the strike team mobilized, Daella received word of the discovery on Umbara through holocomm. She remained on the frontline since the Liberation of Ossus - with her base to return to simply being that very planet.

Having no immediate duties, Daella responded to the call for assistance. Umbara would be the closest planet to the core Daella had been for a long time.

Eventually, she reached the planet as speeders made their way to the caverns. With a droid piloting the her ship, it made a quick dust off as Daella jetted off a lowered ramp on a FC-20 speeder bike.

Racing across a vast plain, Daella eventually closed in on the position that Vulpesen and others in the strike team had taken. Even though they stood near the edge of a cliff, Daella maintained her speed. She drew her lightsaber with her right hand while she kept her left hand on the handle bar.

As she passed to the left of the strike team, Daella glanced to her right to see them. Her face remained expressionless as ever. She wore Jedi armor that covered her from the neck down. Her blonde hair flew back due to the wind around her face as she flew around on the speeder bike.

The strike team only had a moment to look at her like this as she continued to race off the side of her cliff. The repulsorlift on the bike worked hard to keep it from scrapping against the ground as she fell down the side of the cliff. Daella did not manage to crash as she reached the bottom.

The Jedi Councilor continued toward the cavern that the One Sith resided in. Her yellow blade shined through the dim Umbaran atmosphere - clearly visible from both the strike team’s position and that of the One Sith.

 

[Louise]

The woman's eyelids fluttered shut for a moment as she took a deep breath, the inhale was slow, deliberate, one that spoke volumes of calm. It was likely they would be outnumbered, that this skirmish was going to be one of vexation but if they could simply hold the Jedi off for long enough then ultimately their efforts would be worth the hassle. The more of their brethren that escaped the better.

In the end it was a united cause, for the greater good.

Tattooed eyelids snapped open, there was a familiar presence, an annoying presence, a presence that had disappointed her so. Almost out of nostalgia the Sith's hand snaked up to her own throat, a finger tracing across in what was almost a moment of sentimentality.

When they last met she had been afflicted, had been rash and had promptly been decapitated for her troubles. Thankfully the safety net of immortality had been there to catch her, but this time they were playing for keeps.

“Daella Apparine,” she mused upon the vision of that yellow glow, “do not converse with the blonde one, she has a mental defect.”

Darth Asmodea would not draw her blade just yet.

@[member="Darth Nazari"], @[member="Rasu Gan"], @[member="Vulpesen"], @[member="Marcello Matteo"], @[member="Daella Apparine"]

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Marcello heard the transmission from a man he...didn't know but offered no immediate response. Glancing out the forward viewport of the shuttle, he could see they were nearly over the drop site. Tapping the pilot of his vessel on the shoulder once more, the Jedi Master issued swift instructions. "Circle the area once I've deployed. I highly doubt there is only one entrance or exit being utilized. May take some time but...do what you can to coordinate with other assets regarding this. Any shuttles leaving within a ten mile radius of this location are probably going to be a fairly dead give away."

At that comment, Marcello considered something...unsure of whether or not the individual in charge of the Republic garrison on the planet had already done so. "Tell your superior to get in touch with the Umbaran Government if they haven't too. I'm sure they'd be intrigued to know the situation and perhaps assist by tracking any departures."

Without waiting for any type of response, Marcello retreated from the cockpit and made his way towards the massive cargo bay doors. Sliding them open with a motion of his hand, he issued one last communication via his earpiece transmitter. "All elements advance on the objective. Support units maintain security perimeter." The last thing they needed was to be flanked from the rear by an unseen force once they entered the cavern. Hell, going into the cavern with no intel was already bad enough, but they didn't have any other option. Ultimately, they would have to flush the Sith out and deal with the consequences as they came.

Flinging himself out the door, Marcello allowed gravity to pull his body towards the ground as his long strands of blonde hair whipped around his face. Daella's lightsaber provided quite an excellent ground target reference as soon as the spacer began managing his descent with the Force. Landing with one knee bent and his free hand touch the ground in a cloud of dirt and debris, the Jedi Master withdrew the worn cylindrical hilt of his lightsaber before activating the deep blue blade. His similarly colored eyes found Daella swiftly before affording her a subtle nod of the head.

Point of clarification, Marcello had no idea who Daella was. He could tell, however, that she was a Jedi and prepared for what might come. It sufficed. Shifting his attention to the formerly well-disguised entrance, Marcello briefly sensed for anything that might put him in a bad state of health before darting forward an into the first area of the caverns. The dim glow of his lightsaber provided illumination, but it also silhouetted him pretty badly, so he was quick to deactivate the weapon once he was inside. His progress was swift but not careless.

@[member="Daella Apparine"] | @[member="Vulpesen"] | @[member="Darth Nazari"] | @[member="Darth Asmodea"] | @[member="Rasu Gan"]

 

[Rasu Gan]

It had taken no time at all for more Jedi to respond to the current situation. Starfighters and shuttles were circling the entrance of the caverns, while the humming of speeder engines alerted her to the arrival of more Jedi. A Jedi Knight dismounted his speeder, someone that Rasu knew at least, Vulpesen seemed to be speaking to someone via communicator so she decided to postpone her greeting. Her attention was suddenly drawn away from the human, when a shuttle came into their general area, it's repulsor engines causing the trees surrounding it to shake violently as the waves of air spread in every direction, ruffling the Shi'dos cloak. Bringing her hand up to cover her eyes, she could make out a tall figure in the open passenger compartment of the shuttle. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the figure leap out of the shuttle and free fall the remaining distance to the ground, where to Rasu's relief, landed safely with both feet planted firmly on the ground.

The man had landed next to another figure, a Jedi she assumed from the glow of their lightsabers, someone she hadn't noticed arrive. However before she could approach the new arrivals, they had set off at a run, already entering the Sith's lair. What happened to waiting for everyone? she thought, before breaking out into a run herself, trailing behind the pair of Jedi who had just entered.

Turning her head, she called out to the Jedi Shadow, hoping he could hear her, "Vulpesen it's time, follow me." Facing the entrance, she did not look back to see if the man had followed her command, instead focused on catching up to the first Jedi who had entered. As soon as she passed into the cavern, a wave of anxiety and fear washed over her. The dark side was definitely stronger here than anywhere else on Umbara. Stretching out with her senses, she locate the two Jedi in the lead, and set off at a brisk jog to catch up to them, making sure that she carried her steps lightly so they didn't echo throughout the cavern. Touching the pair of Jedi's minds, she made sure they were aware of her presence, informing them of their back-up, before slowing her pace down to a walk. Taking her twin lightsabers, she left them inactive at her side, preparing herself for the fight that was inevitably upon them.

@[member="Marcello Matteo"]@[member="Darth Asmodea"]@[member="Daella Apparine"]@[member="Darth Nazari"]@[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen looked up from his com then turned to fallow @[member="Rasu Gan"]n. "Great, I hate long waits." Falling into step behind her, Vulpesen kept his hand lingering by his saber yet off of the hilt. He would draw his weapon when he needed it, not a moment sooner. Beside's the light of Rasu's weapons was enough to see with. "Have you gotten any more intel on our unwanted guests?" He asked, staying close while Ace constantly sniffed and listened for any dangerous hints.

 

[J3C0]

Nazari turned around and faced Asmodea for a few seconds, he raised an eyebrow, though she would be unable to see it. Clearly she had some sort of past meeting with this Jedi creature, though he had no idea what or where. He frowned slightly as he faced the caverns entrance once again, allowing the lightsaber on the small of his back to fall into his hand.

The Hilt was far longer than a regular lightsaber hilt, about a hand and a half longer, but slightly shorter than a normal saber-staff. The hilt itself was of an odd design, and resembled a wooden branch, rather than a metal construct.

Aside from this Nazari carried a dozen other solid metal blades. Strapped to his wrists were 5 throwing knives each, all coated in deadly Synox poison, upon contact to blood or ingestion Synox proved to be extremely deadly, though it took a few hours to kill. On his hip he wore several more throwing knifes, these ones carefully coated with the venom of an amphistaff. Amphistaff venom was far more...amusing than synox poison. It could be absorbed through the pores in the skin and caused paralysis followed by eventual fever and death.

The Cruelest weapon Nazari carried however was a single blade on the small of his back directly where his lightsaber sat, a Deveronian Edge. The blade was made with Deveronian Blood Poison, and the pain it caused even on skin contact was enough to drive most grown men to suicide. It was no coincidence that this was Nazari's favorite blade.

“That's alright.” Nazari finally said in reply to Asmodea “I'm not much of a conversationalist.”

With that Nazari flipped his lightsaber hilt forward, thumbing the activation switch and allowing the ruby red blade to spring to life on one side of the hilt.

 

[Dhasias Vunumera]

"Jedi Forces are establishing a perimeter around the cavern." Commander Jeran said as he peered through his high-powered monoculars. "It appears that there are four Jedi, all of them are leading troops into the cavern while their ground and aerial forces are acting as a rearguard."
Vinyata remained stoic, her black purple streaked hair softly fluttering in the cold breeze as fog and nighttime started to descend across the dark harsh Umbaran landscape. Vinyata nodded, and replied, "Assessment of their rearguard forces?"

"Hard to count, several fighters and shuttles, many speeders and infantry, most appear to be basic troopers. They are forming a semi-circle around the entrance to the cavern. This is going to be one hell of a fight Vinyata thought.

"Are the troops in position Commander?" Vinyata inquired. Jeran looked down at a holographic display on his wrist.

"All set General."

"Good, tell our fighter squadrons to engage the enemy, I want those fighters down, our tanks need to be able to operate without constant harassment from the air." Jeran complied by sending the orders via a button on his comlink. Vinyata reached toward her belt and grabbed her saberstaff, twirling it fiinetically in her hand.

"Engage. Attack the thinnest part in their perimeter." Vinyata commanded as she kept from the cliff she was standing on, Jeran and his fellow commandos in their combat armor were close behind.

Abruptly hundreds of streaking missiles light up the night sky as they honed in on their targets and red lasers cut through the air. The fog now settling on the land was illuminated with numerous shades of red as explosions dotted the landscape and laser fire was exchanged. Several Republic speeders blew up into thousands of deadly shrapnel shreds and troopers were sent flying into the air. Vinyata saw out of the corner of her eye a Republic shuttle get hit in the engines with a rocket and spiral out of control to the ground.

Vinyata activated her saberstaff as she uncloaked, her luminous purple blade humming to life as she twirled it to deflect laser fire. Although this had been one of the hundreds of ambushes Vinyata had been apart of, she felt apprehensive. It was the first command she had since her days before her stasis and the Cold War, and then she had been much more attuned to the force. Even though the forces engaging appeared to be evenly matched, Vinyata hoped her experience and element of surprise would be enough to pull through.

 

[Louise]

Asmodea simply nodded at her brethren as he readied his weapon, she would need no blade however. She was a sorceress, meaning that she was her own weapon, who really needed a blade when you could crush the hearts and minds of your foe with sheer power of will? Not that she couldn't appreciate the art of close combat but it just was not her style, and style, was everything.

“Let me be your font, Nazari,” she spoke, in the beginnings of channelling those refined talents, “draw upon me.”

But first, a change of mood. Set the scene.

Every good assassin needs his shroud, no? She felt the very air sift through her fingers, stirring, swirling, she began to alter the environment. A thick fog emanated from the woman, slowly creeping throughout the base and into the caves. It was a gloom that came with a sense of apprehension, just a hint of fear at the back of your mind. You're a touch weary. Perhaps you heard a sound, to the left, the right, was it behind you?

It was an unforgiving, unnatural thick smog, hopefully having a stranglehold upon their visibility even more so than the natural darkness of Umbara.

@[member="Darth Nazari"], @[member="Rasu Gan"], @[member="Vulpesen"], @[member="Marcello Matteo"], @[member="Daella Apparine"]