Dominion A Walk Through History | SJO DOM of Katarr

[Syd Celsius]

The fading flame that was Syd struggled to move through the building, desperate for a source of heat, desperate to escape the woman with a charric. The tuft of flame wafted low to the ground, going slowly into a vent, and not a second too soon, for the woman in the red armor followed into the building not a few seconds after. Syd had to keep moving, constantly in search of a heat source, feeling her intelligence fade ever so slightly with each passing meter. The living flame barely evaded a charric bolt through the vent. The woman was tracking her. The flame went deeper into the vent system.

It had been a long, long time, since it had been or felt this vulnerable.

It needed heat now, right now.

Another charric bolt erupted, barely missing, piercing the vent system and The flame incidentally found an exit through the hole made and fled through it, coming into open air. It sensed the flames in a burning building and streaked towards it in the air, barely evading another charric shot from the woman, who burst out of the ruins, continuously opening fire as it fled under cover to reach the burning building, the flame barely clearing a window to the welcome heat inside.

But it was not out of the woods yet, because the woman was sprinting to the building...

It needed time to rebuild its body, but the flames would keep it alive until then. The woman followed her in though, opening fire on every tuft of flame she saw, forcing it to head upwards, spreading heat and flames to cut off her access.

The woman snarled, loading a grenade into the launcher underneath the rifle and firing.

The blast greatly weakened the geist and collapsed part of the floor it was on, forced to hide behind a burning pillar as it was slowly, steadily chipped away at by the woman's charric. There was no room to evade. None.

The flame began to wonder if this was it. All it could do was raise the heat but she seemed immune...

Mythos took care of the problem unknowingly, when the particle blast hit the building, the laughing woman screamed as part of the pillar and ceiling came down on her head, collapsing it, spilling glowing blue innards and blue muscles. A biot. It had been a damn Android that was after her.

But who sent it?

Syd figured she could worry about that later, the totally destroyed building still burned and she had a body to rebuild...

 

[Kat Decoria]

Objective: 1
Peeps: Valkren Calderon Kyra Perl
Location: Jump ship

Grabbing her Lightsaber at the ready, Kat looked at Kyra with a raised eyebrow. "Since when did you want to be in the safest place? Every time we talk of adventure you want to be at the front leading it!" Kat stated in a surprised whisper to her friend as she was puzzled in this very sudden change in behaviour. Before she could enquire why Kyra was being so odd today, Kat sensed annoyance flickering from Valkren and looked over to see him staring at Kyra, or at least his helmet was in her direction and the burning sensation of annoyance poured from him. "So... what did you do to annoy him?" Kat asked as she whispered to her friend, clearly understanding something went down between the pair.

"Also, if we fight at the front, you can show him your skills and that you aren't a nuisance, cause right now his aura suggests that. Can tell by his stance not just through the Force." Kat whispered back, her Echani eyes seeing the Ranger was standing annoyed now. Before anything could be said to Valkren, he called out orders to attack. Jumping from the ship, she ignited her saber pike ready and twirled it in her hands as she flipped down to the ground and slashed into one of the droids, clearly not wanting to be in the back like Kyra suggested.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Objective 1


If Kyra could melt into the wall, she would have. Instead she grimaced, cringing back into her curtain of hair at both Valkren Calderon 's stare and Kat Decoria 's words.

"Fine. This is fine. All's fine," she breathed into the air, left alone to her seat as Kat ran headlong into the action. She could hear the hiss of a saber cutting into metal down below, urging her into joining.

See, the thing was... her saber skills sucked. At least, she thought they still did. She Kat promising her a chance to show Valkren otherwise? Ugh. Her cheeks flushed redder than her hair. ... ...Hey, could the pilot just take her back with him? No?

She stood up, sighing heavily as she called her saber into her hand. The yellow blade hissed to life, igniting her frame against the dark backdrop of the ship. She jumped out. At least she wasn't on a training saber anymore.

Those didn't even cut through droids.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Objective 1
Location: Planet surface.
Callsign: Raider 1-1
Allies: 10x Hades Platoon Rangers, 30x Devildog ranger attachment, 3x Gweld-class CAV Caelag Vass Kyra Perl Kat Decoria Syd Celsius
Enemies: Any droid resistance. Mythos
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"Move! Move!"

Commander Calderon barked out, his back turned to the line of debris that many of the rangers were already lining up at. The CAV's used their own mounted weaponry to thin out the groups of droids beyond the ranger's line. Bolts and slugs bounced off of the plating of the three vehicles as the droids that were cognitive enough to distinguish enemies from friendlies continued to approach the line. The ten rangers from Hades were close to Valkren, but they made sure they were at the line of cover and APC's as soon as the orders were given.

Two of these commandos hauled their rotary cannons up, letting loose their armaments as the barrels spun up to a perfect rotation. The remaining soldiers of the Devildog's armor attachment moved to support their relative armored units. Eventually, the three groups would have to push up and clear out the sort of 'no mans land' that was the destroyed colony beyond them. This push would hopefully continue to keep any droid patrols from pushing to their most important objective.

Valkren stopped his movement right before the line of rangers, activating his communication to begin his coordination with the others.

"Ferrum 1-1, Raider 1-1: We're in place and prepping to advance forward. Be aware- we lost our fourth dropship group on the way down as I'm sure you're aware of. Be on the lookout for any droid anti-air or artillery units. They'll destroy our position if they were to zero in-"

Suddenly, a burst of red flew above the line, slamming into a structural support nearby. Dust flowed forth as rubble began to come down towards their position.

What the kriff was that..These droids don't have any range like that- do they?

Valkren leaned over to pull a friendly soldier that had stumbled over during the shockwave of the weapon, getting him to his feet before looking over the line again. The APC's were stil rattling away, one or two soldiers from the devildog's unit were being tended to by their medics after receiving shrapnel from droid fire. Kyra and Kat were still present too, their team's two Jedi attachments doing what needed to be done.

Atleast he saw Kat doing so- Kyra seemed to have just disembarked, but he couldn't pay attention long enough to recognize her hesitation to join the fight. His eyes traveled to his rangers soon after again.

It seemed as if the strength of their strike team was still solid, so what was their enemy aiming for?..

The commander didn't have time to ponder, he had to get moving soon.

"Icarus 1-1, Raider 1-1. How copy? Whats your status on the objective?" After confirmation of their arrival, he'd be more than happy to go over the line with his comrades.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Objective 2: Diplomacy
Allies: SJ

"Other concerns that you wish to bring to our attention?"

"Terms regarding when the Silvers can intervene in internal affairs on Katarr"

"Simply put, it has to arise from at least a planet-wide emergency or a request from the local government"

Hopefully the Miraluka would know what would constitute a planet-wide emergency or larger, she thought, while it was clear what this implied for the Miralukans: the Silvers would not intervene in Miralukan internal affairs until absolutely necessary. Because, all too often, local populations may have come to resent outsider intervention, or the presence of an outside faction, if they didn't need it to begin with. Chandaar proved short-lived before the full extent of the provisions could be implemented, but it was because of the losses incurred in this ill-fated campaign.

 

[Sera Inkari]

Objective 1
@All | Kyra Perl | Kat Decoria | Valkren Calderon

Kyra Perl , Melt into the wall. Well the air was heating up...

Latent anger. Kintan’s priestess hadn’t been able to defend her home or her order. There was a day she would have seen it burned long before it happened, and there was a day she would have wept instead for it falling to darkness. Swearing off relying on farseeing religiously for the dangers it held, had meant she had not seen the destruction coming. Spinning to the side of Kyra Perl and Kat Decoria , Sera had not come for redemption for she did not know the word meant, all the former priestess, both of Kintan and then of the One Sith, wanted was to balance the scales, for herself and now once again for her home.

Dressed in veiled Jedi Jewel Robes given to her by her Master Syn . Sera’s choice had been to rebalance the scales for the lives she had taken with the One Sith, for the war of the seers that she had helped unleash upon the galaxy, though it may take the rest of her life to do so, there would be no let up in her task to undo her old Master's work which still infected the galaxy to this day.

As the lavish robes spiraled past the padawan’s side acrobatically, deep golden saber staff flashed and hissed in her hand. Was she a Jedi? She only knew that she could do the most good here and now. Extending her hand, the burns of the same heat in the air were visible across her flesh, scarring from ill use of her abilities in the past and her former Master's love for wounds as memories.

The air was still warming, threatening to ignite in front of Kintan’s seer, as it soon did.

Eyes showing an amber flame. The Droid nearest her caught fire and began to spark, her golden saber staff twirled to take its head clean off. “Keep your weapon up.” Sera’s voice was sharper than you might expect a Jedi’s to be and her movements more reckless, for she was not yet a Jedi again, and she had accepted she may never be. Perhaps she needed someone who understood what she was going through at the loss of Kintan? Syn

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra gapped. There was no point in denying it, no amount of pretty words to cover how she stopped mid strike to stare at the red-haired stranger spewing fire with her gaze.

Sera Inkari barked on order, startling Kyra back into her senses. The padawan brought her blade up, deflecting a glancing blow before it could do more than singe her shirt.

Whew.

“You can spew fire?!” Kat might of understood the panic in Kyra’s voice. She might have seen the connection— saw the comparison that Sera was not spared. The Sith Lord had spewed fire. And tons of it. But so could James. A battle field was no time to be tossing out these questions, but Kyra’s attention was hard to redirect, and currently, Sera had it.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Came the shrill pitch. Hours spent in the training room lent a sense of natural ease with her saber, but there was a distinct difference between being harass by Yuroic with a stick, and this.

Her heart slammed in her chest, no calm of mind achieved as she caught a shot last moment with a very improvised force shield shooting out the tips of her fingers.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Objective 2: Diplomacy
Allies: SJO

Now that the main terms were agreed upon, the smaller issues would then be addressed, knowing the scope of the agreement. With the Miraluka scribe typing a tentative agreement on a device that had two copies of the text, one in Braille and the other in Aurebesh script, and the situations in which the Jedi can intervene in Miraluka internal affairs being determined, it would be much easier to get done than if the Miraluka were effectively vassals to the Jedi. The resulting treaty was thus just a few pages long and yet, signing it just wasn't the same as ratifying it. Now, Jedi would likely ratify the treaty in short order, but the Miraluka may not be as willing to ratify the deal. That being said, the signing ceremonies will be held just hours after.

 

[Syd Celsius]

The flames in the burning building, twisted and coalesced into that of Syd's body over the span of five minutes. Only a short time before that she had been on the verge of death. Now, in this burning building, she was back to full strength.

She decided to investigate the biot that had nearly killed her...only for her shell to glitch and ripple and melt as an intense dark energy released from the quickly breaking down body. She stumbled back, drawing flames into herself.

She realized she had been wrong.

That wasn't a biot.

The breaking down tissue (of which even the armor seemed part of), rotted and spoiling and burning, bursting into purple flame. It was a Sithspawn.

Syd was very alert now, chanting a sword to summon a fiery rapier to her hand.

She heard a whistle from behind her.

Turning, she could only blink in surprise as a purple shoto went through her face, exiting the back of her head. Flame gushed out from both sides as she squealed unnaturally, writhing in pain from the blow. Even the constant fire she was surrounded by did little to ease the pain as she dodged a bolt of hatred cast by a tall athletic woman with very dark skin and hair tied in a bun, clad in a long white dress that allowed her legs to move freely.

Syd knew this face.

"Impossible!" She whispered as she righted herself, getting behind a pillar. "You're dead! I exterminated your entire, murderous gestalt consciousness!"

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated...unfortunately for you." The witch known as The Assembly sneered. "Payback time, Schutta."

Syd conjured multiple twisters of flame.

"You shall burn as you did before, fiend!"

Just as Syd was about to send the twisters however, the ceiling came crashing down, and Syd wasn't fast enough to avoid her head getting smacked, which violently deformed her shell as she was flung out of a window.

She crashed into the streets below, seperated from one of the most dangerous opponents she had ever faced. Her shell deformed even more violently on impact, and it took a moment for the shell to recover and reset. Syd was about to go right back after her when the whole building seemed to collapse from the damage the particle beam had done. She cursed, barely avoiding the collapse, and flew off to find her armor.

Fifteen minutes later...

Syd at last found it, glistening white in all the chaos and immediately slipped it on, shell bubbling as her organs and blood magically came back into existance. She picked up her lightsaber, again intent on resuming the hunt when she heard the comlink on a nearby dead soldier chattering the message sent by Valkren Calderon and realized the needs of the SJO at the moment were more important then her getting her arch-nemesis on.

With admittedly great reluctance, however, she flew off to try and handle what she could of the droid problem, soon having to dodge through heavy fire and being forced to land, conjuring her flames but reducing their glare to sneak up on the droids, who then realized the flames completely surrounded them only in the last few seconds before Syd forced the flames into their chassis, crying out as a droid bolt injured her, spilling green blood as it lanced through her side.

She coughed blood up, spotting a damaged but still functional droid close by and opened her mouth, drawing its electricity into her body, the wound warping as it and the suit closed up.

Syd decided to try and aggro as many as possible to give the others a chance to destroy them and move forward.

She belched fire from her mouth in a violent spray that drenched the building the shot had come from. Effortlessly, she ripped the fire away from the building after it had chewed through the droids inside, condensing it tightly into a large ball that she hurled at an emplacement filled with a dozen of them. Her sabers went active and she charged into a hoarde of them, violently slashing away with precise, efficient Makashi strikes, burying dark blue blades into a droid's skull before ripping it into six more, dodging their fire or deflecting it as she belched more flames upon them, taking out another three. She would normally have everything around her ablaze but the need to keep from accidentally hurting or killing nearby SJO, her mortality in this form as well as the need to not destroy vast swaths of priceless relics limited the damage she could do to just the droids. Otherwise, it'd be that song sung by The Trammps.

On loop.

The vast numbers of droids began to press down, and Syd was forced to fufall back as while her flames in this form could melt simple plastics and circuits, it often needed more time to do so. Her flames could burn papers. But not armor, hence, the need to keep forcing the flames through the weak points and gaps repeatedly, deflecting shots as she fell back through a street alley and happened to run right into Kyra Perl and Sera Inkari , each trying to survive their own share of problems.

Syd used telekinesis to move a piece of fallen building in place to block off the dozens of droids that had been bearing down on her.

Syd belched flames at one droid on her left that she had barely sensed, though she was delighted beyond words to run into a fellow pyrokinetic user. The Order had so few of them...

Syd called out to them, waving one of her blades, her white and gold suit reflecting them. "Room for one more? These droids are a pain in the ass!"

 

[Sera Inkari]

Objective 1, Barbecue Droids.

Kyra Perl

Sera’s hardened exterior turned to a more practiced routine answer. An answer she had given many times in her former life, usually when speaking to those she wished to convert. “I do not create the flame.” Although her new Master had given the former seer a firmer grip of her self identity in the ebb and flow of the force, in that she now saw herself not just an overwhelming tide. The priestess still only believed there was one answer to how or where , “faith.” Her dogmatic, masked face turned toward Kyra Perl “Many years of faith and practice.” The ebb and flow of fate and force created all things. The seer did not have time for a full lesson but she did have time to demonstrate once more, and a pressing need as the droids began diverting more attention their way.

“On Kintan.” Her voice said gravely. If you could see her expression behind her mask, it would be equally grave. With a flicker of anger beneath its surface.

The surrounding air heated in front of her and sped up. The potential discharge of energy as it did so was growing ahead of them, she poured her focus, the surrounding energy and her life into that space. Deepening her concentration on this moment. This one of the countless moments occurring to put singular attention on. Feeling the currents and strands in the force moving from one place to the next, and focusing on them at a single point as a seer might.

Syd Celsius

With a spark of ignition, the air ahead ignited again in a blaze of fire, consuming two droids within her flames. Their armor scorched, melted in places, but the damage internally from the heat inside of them and any exposed wiring sent one to its knees, slumping to the ground. The other droid began firing blindly at nothing, and she ended that one with a saber staff through its chest, pulling back her double-bladed weapon in a guard to deflect. Flames fed by the fuel of the force burned for a time across the droid’s surface, until Sera’s outstretched hand dipped and her breathing became heavier. Drawing on the force, replenishing herself slowly with every life-breath. The sweat on her brow was obvious, none of this was without personal exertion, and the extra canteens of water around her waist might now be more apparent.

Spotting another with a gift for fire, Syd Celsius , and wondering instinctively if she who approached was part of her order, for in decades she had met few others who worked with the force to create fire. The masked priestess dipped her body respectfully as if addressing someone from her past. There was something comforting about seeking her place, and at the same time meeting someone with a similar gift, she might enjoy learning from her further. The strangers technique seemed to come from within, while Sera’s teachings, dogma and entire world view came largely from without. A happy and fateful pairing of opposites, as was often the will of their force.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Object 1-- whoops
tags: Syd Celsius Sera Inkari Kat Decoria

Kyra's guard dropped altogether, the girl somewhat freezing in place at the mention of that fateful planet's name. The blood drained from her face, her breath leaving her in an instant as she felt herself lock up.

The gun fire around them did little to help.

Kyra didn't have words. She didn't understand what came about her, only that she was overwhelmed and needing to take a moment... away from the women, and the droids ... Away from the threat of death baring down on her. But she'd couldn't just pause a mission. She couldn't halt a battle for a breath of fresh air.

Air. She really needed air. While the droid numbers were starting to thin, the direction Syd Celsius came from noticeably bare of threats, they were still under fire. She gasped for a breath through her tightening throat, a wash of moisture hitting her eyes.

Fire. So much fire. Flames or otherwise. The world roared in hear ears, the faint echo of a crumbling fort pulling up from her memories.

Falling rocks. Darkness. Flames.

A shot went spiraling towards the unwitting padawan, the girl's saber remaining pointed... down.

 

[Syd Celsius]

Syd bowed as Sera Inkari did. "A pleasure to meet a fellow fire user. They're so rare in the Order. The name is Celsius. Syd Celsius."

(Clip of Bond Theme plays for a few seconds)

Syd's white and gold chrome suit reflected the droid wreckage around them as she knealt to examine one of the damaged battle droids.

"Effective models...twitch aim protocols. I can see why they're chewing through our own.

She noticed a power source in it was active. She opened her mouth and the electricity still in the power plant leapt into her mouth, causing the flesh on her bones to wriggle, getting the boost to her connection to The Force. And not a moment too soon.

The girl, Kyra Perl , seemed to freeze and Syd sensed the danger heading for her just as ger flesh stopped writhing. Without thinking, her blades intercepted the shot aimed for Kyra's head, deflecting it back to the battle droid that had fired.

More shots, these from arm mounted blaster cannons peppered her position, and Syd was forced to whip her dark blue blades around repeatedly to fend off the shots aimed in their direction, deflecting each back at their source. But as the fire in their direction increased, Syd realized she had to get closer. More were coming into the area. This was getting dangerous. Kyra needed time to snap out of it and they could not afford to be overwhelmed.

Syd decided to do something risky, something she had learned on Geonosis. The more they were focused on her, the less focused they were on Sera and the rest.

She focused, joining her blades into a staff as she used her telekinesis to hurl debris at the droids, having found it slightly easier to do due to feeding on the electricity. Her body spun like a top with her staff, using Force Flight to execute attacks at unnatural angles, more and more of the droids focused on her, but less and less on the others, leaving the droids more open to attack from them. When it came to the point she had maybe seconds before they broke her saber defense, she triggered an ability she had learned on Geonosis.

Her flesh violently writhed on the skeleton as she finally let the blasters start tearing through her as she came within striking range, bright green blood and muscle being ripped out of her as blaster fire tore through her body, loose tissue bursting into green flame. Even when most of her head was violently blasted off at certain points she did not stop fighting, her head and face regrowing back often in seconds as she slashed and stabbed through the droids.

But now she had a problem. She could not use any other Force powers and there were still a lot of droids ambushing their position. Most focused on her, to the point she was being constantly shredded with blaster fire even as she cut down five to eight at a times. She would only be able to do this for another minute and a half, parts of her skeleton visibly being blasted apart as she slashed at multiple droids, most of them now focused on her.

But she had used up two of three minutes this power could be active and there was only a minute left...Syd was starting to think now would be an excellent time for the others to strike...

 

[Sera Inkari]

Objective 1. Burn Heresy. Politely
Kyra Perl | Syd Celsius

Not understanding why someone would fear the emotions she embodied and used. Fire, rubble, burning which she had too experienced if the scars were anything to go by, temple collapses fighting Jedi until the One Sith fell. Kyra freezing confused the seer, lacking her farsight was crippling to her understanding of events or people for that matter.

Sera also didn’t have the natural desire to protect others. The former One Sith commander didn’t go to protection as an instinct. Only after Syd Celsius saved Kyra Perl might Kyra feel the non too subtle force push at her back to give her distance from any stray shots.

“Hordes of forceless creatures. Almost heretical”, inside joke, she smiled an outline forming under the veil, “shall we?”

Her eyes gaze deepened as she looked toward Syd Celsius , ocean eyes beneath the veil drinking in the possible outcomes and futures. She could see that her companion was powerful indeed but there were just too many. Was that a flicker concern or was it anger that caused her to move again? The priestess took a swig from the water at her waist, and cartwheeled into the nearest droids, the golden glow of her saberstaff kept in rotating circular motions, as she moved tight into the nearest group, flanking them.

Sweat, heat, dim golden light and blaster fire were visible when they turned to face her. A quick swap of her feet allowed her to rotate then jab the staff up in alternate directions, cutting back downward the double-beam split the third droid in two, a fourth caught the priestess with its arm, which it lost to her blade, and she went stumbling forward leaving two behind her, one armless but one raising its weapon…

...Which was pushed upward to shoot its own head off as it fired. Forceless machines she sighed. Dusting herself down and raising herself slowly to her feet, the ground under her began to warmup…. Material force-pulled from around her that might stoke the coming flame. They needed a distraction or natural barrier. Hopefully the others could see what she was putting together. She wasn't used to working with others, because words to them might have helped.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Tags: Syd Celsius Sera Inkari
Objectives: not die

It was chaos.

The two around her burned, their fire fueling the assault that kept the droids back and them alive. Twin sabers lashed out, catching the shots that she had not seen. The girl visibly startled, taking a step back from the two as maneuvers were preformed that the padawan had never thought possible.

Not even Kitan had so felt this dire, for at least there had been countless friends to stand up to the singular threat that had reigned down its fiery onto them.

For the first time Kyra wondered what the hell she was even doing here. She wasn't cut out for this. She hadn't- she wasn't-

How could the training room ever prepare her for this?

Shots tore through the two protectors, and it was their pain, unspoken or otherwise, that reached the empath frozen there. She cried out for them. As their flesh tore and sizzled, their pain fell from her lips. An explosion of light echoed out from her, the force rippling through the air and solidifying into a shield around them.

"Enough!" She exclaimed, and while the statement came without explanation, the padawan gained strength from it. She raised her hand, her fingers spreading. The shield grew with it, her saber dropped forgotten to the ground as the other had was raised too.

Yuroic had taught her how to protect herself with a sword-- how to deflect, protect, survive... but that all felt stupid now. She could do so much more like this. In a display of control never achieved before, Kyra grew the shield. It wrapped around them like a bubble, her gaze fierce as it absorbed shot after shot.

"Don't let them through!" She cried out, trying to buy the two some time.

What would happen if they both stayed down.

Or died.

What then?

 

[Caelag Vass]

• Objective 1
• Location: Dropship En route to ruined city
• Callsign: Ferrum 1-1
• Allies: Valkren Calderon :|: Kyra Perl :|: Kat Decoria :|: Syd Celsius :|: Mythos :|: Sera Inkari :|: Captain Qyerg Atlan :|: 11 113th division members
• rifle :|: sword :|: lightsaber :|: personal armor

The shot that went through Caelag's nest drew her immediate attention, interrupting both her contemplative state picking off the droids and listening to her Commander speak. The sudden sensation of falling, the building coming down atop her and her troops below breaking her concentration, she found herself reaching out instinctively with the Force to try desperately to hold the place together. It didn't work, of course, except to keep debris from falling atop her as she felt herself hit the ground, the wind being forced from her lungs.

There was a long silence as she tried to focus on what had just happened, and finally she found her voice as she noticed Atlan kneeling over one of the soldiers. "R.. Report." She coughed, trying to force herself to her knees as she listened. The Gand's language was something she had only barely picked up, just enough for what was necessary. Even without that she could've easily told how frantic the Captain was. When she was able to stumble over, she slowly ran her hand over the soldier he was assessing, immediately being able to tell that the boy was not fit for combat anymore.

Broken leg, liability. She nodded and eased him down, before looking back at the rubble. She could feel a faint signature under the rubble, likely one of her own, likely dead or dying. The others had already moved on, hers was the last group, so they were lucky to only lose two soldiers for now. She shook her head and began to concentrate, the shot had come from... yes there. She focused her Force Sight, until finally picking out an even darker spot against the dark ground. She hadn't noticed before, but he'd made a great mistake. He didn't aim for the sniper.

She coughed again as she activated her comms, knowing that Valkren Calderon needed to know. "Ferrum 1-11 and 1-12 down. Enemy sniper on the field. His force signature is strong, be prepared for the worst."

And with that, she had to proceed. She had a lock on that force signature, as long as he didn't nullify himself she should be able to keep a tab on him for the time being. Next time he stopped moving she was going to burn that man to the ground, slowly. She growled to herself a bit, as she finally found herself standing steady. She hefted up her rifle, and considered the situation. That sniper had pinpointed their location, which meant they were a threat. She had to shut down that threat, swiftly. Normally, she would be calm, and patient, and look for an opportunity to find the smallest of openings to put a blast right into his skull.

But if they were a Sith Lord, maybe she ought to try and play to their tendency of arrogance. Bruise their ego.

She nodded to herself and gave her orders to the troops, to continue advancing, however they were to try and meander their way towards the Jedi. If that was a Sith they'd need some form of protection from them. She herself decided to evoke a challenge to the Sith, stepping out from cover and taking aim towards the closest possible enemy to his position that she could sense. Locked and loaded, she squeezed the trigger, and sent a blast spiraling into enemy territory. She was fuming that they would dare to hurt her family, and the anger bubbling in her expressed itself by starting to ignite the air around her, slowly, steadily. Each step she was taking leaving behind a small burn print of her boot.

She was unaware of it, naturally, but even if she had been it would only serve to punctuate what she was doing. Poking the beast.

 

[Syd Celsius]

Syd carved through vast numbers of droids, blades dancing through armored carapaces, even though she had at some points been shredded so thoroughly that she was little more than shredded white and gold clothing covering bright green muscle, glowing green blood, and bones, but Syd kept fighting, mentally keeping track of each second as it ticked down, Forty seconds left. She kept carving through robots, not feeling wounds that would have killed any normal person. But the droids kept blasting her constantly healing body apart. Twenty seconds.

Syd made the most of it, blades moving as fast as possible in this state, aiming at weak points and weapons.

Ten seconds...

The Force Shield provided by Kyra Perl at last provided some relief, allowing her flesh and armor to finish rapidly repairing in the few remaining seconds this power was active.

When the power cut, all of the lethal wounds had sealed in time. Parts of her face and side were still torn, causing considerable pain that distracted her, but Kyra's shield allowed her to back of, relying on the effects of the near fully repaired armor to slowly close the wounds. She felt weak. She tried to drain the energy from a nearby blaster cannon, but only a faint wisp of electricity leapt into her mouth. The wounds started to seal a little faster, but not by much.

Syd had been greatly weakened by such a use of the Light Side, and while she chanted a spell to try and bolster Kyra's shield strength, she knew she was so weakened at the moment it would have only a minor nudge in effects.

Sera Inkari had a magnificent fire barrier up. Many of the droids Syd had hacked apart were providing obstacles for the droids to climb over.

"Not bad!" Syd exclaimed to both of them. "I think those droids are at least forty experience points each!"

 

[Sera Inkari]

Objective 1. Walls of Old Traditions. Admissions of Responsibility to the flame.
Kyra Perl | Syd Celsius | Caelag Vass

Fire stoking high to provide barrier, now burning of its own accord on wood and other flammable objects. There was a dark-humored laugh from Sera about experience points, somewhere some old jokes about daves were no doubt being made, but for our priestess there was only flame waved higher and higher. The wall of fire burning natural flame made the alteration of the air all the easier. Syd’s bladework and Kyra’s discovery of force shielding had given her time to weave this inferno ahead of herself, she’d done a good job undisturbed.

Removing the veil from her head. She was not some sheep that needed hiding. Sera’s pride in her heritage and desert flame reaffirmed itself. Her fiery locks of hair and deep blue eyes watched the possible outcomes of the flames which were endless and unknowable, farseeing on the tip of her tongue to draw from but she didn’t taste it, passing her test of control. Syn . There were burns of the past on her cheek but they didn’t hold her back, there was a sense of relief and letting go of this symbolic opportunity to fall off the farseeing wagon.

Instead the inferno ahead was manipulated if needs to be scorch any droid stupid enough to set foot in the path, for small burning debris to just crash into them, throw them aside, and confuse or hold them back. Between the three of them they had turned this small battle’s tide for now at least, and given themselves a beachhead. Bodies of droids lay surrounding the flames from Syd and Kyra's work providing cover from stay droid shots, the fire giving the metal heap an amber glow.

“This may hold them for now.” Another might have asked for what to do next, or for a plan, but Sera still wasn’t used to working with others. “My name is Sera Inkari, former Burning Globe Priestess, Former Army of Light Admiral, Former One Sith Commander.” The relief at admitting all of it at once, as Syn had taught her was a weight off her shoulder.

“I am responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent lives, I set in motion events which to this day twist and turn to horrible outcomes.” Indirectly but definitely responsible. She didn’t do some grand gesture asking for forgiveness or offering herself, she just told them who she was and then turned back to adjust the natural flames ahead if it was needed. It was almost relaxing to be free of the mask. Sera Inkari Jedi priestess would not hide her face or what she had done, they would know and judge her as they wished.

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Objective 3
Location: Sith Research Base
Ranger Attachment
Callsign: Icarus-1-1
Allies: 4 x Rangers (Icarus Platoon), Ilwynog Cysgod Lex Del'Fino
Enemies: Sith Droids (potentially), Sith booby-traps (potentially)
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Armor: Katarn Mk. II Combat Armor
Primary Weapon: OS-109 Variable Strength Assault Rifle (chest rig)
Secondary Weapons:

• OS-105 Stalwart Light Blaster Pistol (drop holster, right hip)
• OS-102 Wrist Mounted Hold Out Blaster (right wrist)
• OS-101 Retractable Vibrosword (on utility belt)
• Krath Itak Sword (back scabbard) Note to Force Users/Force Sensitives - this blade emanates a strong Dark Side aura
• 4 x stun grenades (chest rig)

Misc Gear:

• OS-112 "Valkyrie" Jump Jet System (mounted to Katarn armor)
• OS-107 "Hermes" Sensor Drones

The two Jedi settled into their roles, support Beltran and the group of Rangers as they approached the Sith Research base. Using the telemetry from his drones, Beltran was able to get a decent overhead view of the base. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to be abandoned. Some rubble and blown out walls of the buildings seemed to suggest that there had been a battle here at some point in the past, but for the moment Beltran's drones detected no movement or lifesigns.

It took approximately fifteen minutes for the team to make it from the landing site to the base. In that time, they encountered no resistance. Over his coms, he heard Valkren Calderon call out for a status update, but he held off on replying until the team was stacked up against the door of the main building.

"Icarus-1-1 to Raider-1-1," He called back over coms. "We're just about to breach the main door into the facility. So far there's been no resistance, but that may change once we enter the building. I will keep you posted, Icarus-1-1 out."

Nodding to Specialist Paxton Reece, Icarus platoon's premier breaching expert, he gave the okay to blow the door. The criminal turned Commando nodded and quietly placed a directional thermal charge on the doors locking mechanism. To the Jedi, Beltran said. "Close your eyes and cover your ears, this will be loud."

A second later, a loud BANG! sounded and the large blast door blew inward, it's durasteel plating buckling enough to allow a humanoid sized being to fit in. Beltran and the rest of his Rangers tensed for an attack, but when after a few seconds nothing came, they entered the building. Despite his armor, a cold feeling settled into Beltran's stomach as he entered the facility. It was more of a feeling, an emotion, rather than a sensation. Idly, he wondered if this was what the dark side of the Force felt like.

Despite having two Jedi Knights on his team, he knew that now was not the time to ask such questions. Perhaps when when the mission was over the opportunity would present itself. Speaking quietly into his comlink, he called to Valkren Calderon again. "Icarus-1-1 to Raider-1-1, status update, we've breached the facility and are proceeding inside. No resistance yet encountered. Icarus-1-1, out."

By this point, the team had pushed into a large cavernous area that seemed to form some kind of foyer, each soldier keeping their rifles raised to cover a different sector of fire. It was still quiet.

And then....

A blaster shot rang out, sizzling just passed Beltran's head and embedding itself in the Ranger next to him, a Sergeant named Jonas. He went down and Beltran could see from his armor's telemetry that he was dead. "Everyone down!" He called, dropping to a knee and firing off a spray of blaster bolts back in the direction that the attack came from.

"Icarus-1-1 to Raider-1-1, status update, we've been attacked by an unknown force, one man down, moving to engage now. Icarus-1-1 out."