And a Star To Steer Her By [TSE Dom of Littora, AH-13 Hex]

[Lok Xiangu]

Location: Farshore, Littora IV
Objective: Two

The planet was beautiful he had to admit, but he wasn't here to sightsee, wander off on some adventure, or hunt aquatic beasts with Matsu and the others.

No, he wasn't here for any of that. He was solely here for one thing and one thing only: money. Ever since starting Underworld with the help and blessing of Matsu, he was out searching for ways to expand Underworld and Matsu's influence outside of Maena. Her ties with the Sith would help, but he had to focus outside of that range. Think beyond.

And Littora was an excellent stage for that.


"Ching ching, bling bling, cut the chatter," said Lok as he was singing to a favorite song of his as he waited for some representatives of Littora.

"Sir, please. It's not proper etiquette what you are doing," said Eyleo, a Kiffar woman that was an expert in business and negotiating who would be doing most of the talking as Lok only spoke with pistols popping.

"Kark off."

"Not unless you want to loose this deal, I suggest you shut it."

He hated taking orders of people he didn't consider above him, but she was right. He really didn't want to lose potential income that would serve him well and the somewhat discrete governing body of Maena.

"Ah, here they come," the business woman said as a Rodian and a human arrived. Pleasantries were exchanged before anything happened.

"Let's talk, gentlemen."

 

[Darth Athora]

Metal carcasses of decimated ships floated away into the black abyss of space as the caravan laid undefended and surrounded by the Imperial ships. The imperials pushed closer to the freighters until they were within close enough range to destroy the ships in a short barrage of turbolaser fire. The lead ship's holocomm quickly activated as Commander Mahrvi appeared.

"This is Commander Mahrvi of the Imperial Armada. You are carrying precious materials the Sith Empire has great need for. You will surrender to us immediately, relinquishing control of your ships to our operators, and come quietly or face immediate termination. Do you comply?"

There was a moment of silence as the captains of the freighters weighed their options, which, they didn't have much of, anyway. "We surrender. The Nykkalt is yours." said the captain of the lead freighter. The Imperial frigates moved to escort positions around the caravan and began guiding them towards the space station where Zahori awaited their arrival.

 

[Eye of Solomon]

Doviculous waited until they were well out of earshot before muttering, "Bloody schuttas," and turning back around disappearing through the same door he had gone through to collect their payment. By now it was pretty cleared out, with only the tables that the weapons had previously been displayed on remaining.

Now that business had been concluded, it was high time Doviculous and his cronies closed up shop and moved on out.

There was just one last thing to attend to.

You see, when Doviculous had come across this nice quiet and quaint dock it was already occupied. He'd tried to be amiable, as amiable as a red-skinned devil could with a large blaster and a fierce temper, but when the occupant wouldn't give up his little slice of Farshore...

Well, let's just say it wasn't pretty.

He and his fellows had been tied up and deposited in a cargo space that was situated one level beneath the dock's main floor, covered by a heavy metal door and guarded by two of the gangster's goons. Now Doviculous reached down and pulled open the hatch, light streaming in to illuminate the bound (but still living) captives. "Hi there, we done with your dock here. Normally I'd pay a pretty penny to make use of such a fancy establishment, but you done chose the hard way to go about this." At his signal a canister of starship fuel was tipped over, the foul-smelling liquid allowed to stream across the floor and pour down into the cargo hold.

Doviculous took one last drag of his cigarra, "I'd be lyin' if it said it pained me it had to come to this, but I'm sure you'll be feelin' a whole lot of pain real soon." He flicked the lit cigarra down into the hold, where it immediately caught the spilled fuel alight and began to burn with great intensity. As soon as the captives caught flame the hatch was closed, sealed, and locked, muffling their screams of agony as the fire continued to burn within.

"And that's all she wrote. Now then, I'm fethin' famished. Prepare my ship, I'm gonna go see what this chithole serves for food."

[member="Zef Halo"] | [member="Jackson Singh"]​

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Objective: 4
Post: 2

The scientific team went through the rituals of setting up the tents and equipment, ensuring every facet of their leader's orders where fulfilled productively. Leaving her team to their work, Darth Venefica walked along the coastline's water feeling the jagged rocks underfoot pinch and bite at the exposed flesh of her feet; a reminder of the love and comfort her lover, Pain, had sought to entwine into her dark mind. The small droplets of blood left from the wounds of open scars had not gone unnoticed, and it was as such that the Sith Lady had attracted something stirring among the shallow waters. She knew how to attract predators, and what made better bait than herself?​

​

Even as the unseen force was watching her, she too was 'watching' it.​

​

Crouching down, the Sith from Dagobah gently caressed the cold waters with blackened-tipped fingertips; feeling the cold-like death of the water soothe the scars on said fingertips. Her mind had always been fractured, but the years of the calling upon the Darkside had not been kind to her physical body. The corruption was apparent and running rampant on her visible flesh, but it was the scars of battle that failed to heal properly; turning a festering colour of green that looked sickly. She wasn't dying or plagued with disease or rot from the wounds, they just appeared as so. The Sith was once beautiful, but now she almost looked the part of those undead she commanded without pause. If she lied with the dead on a battlefield, she would undoubtedly be counted among the corpses. And this, as her fate had long since decreed it, was acceptable to her. The ability to command such power was not without it's drawbacks.​

​

The waters rippled.​

​

Standing up, she observed with delight the slime looking mud cascaded through her fingertips. Another reminder of home.​

​

"Lady Venefica," a voice bellowed from behind. "We are ready to begin." With a sideways glance, she spied the ripples fade into bubbles that faded into calm waters. "So close," she sighed under her breath. Storming out of the water, feeling robbed of the chance to meet one of these creatures alone, she gripped the team member by his throat; digging dirty, broken, jagged nails into his flesh. Drawing him closer to her body, she whispered into his ear, "Fool" and shoved him away from her. Slightly slamming her shoulder against his as she passed by him, she headed toward the makeshift camp wondering if this man would make better bait than herself. ​

 

[Onrai]

The vibromines embedded in the hull of the Invictus first analyzed the material and determined the proper frequency at which to resonate through the entirety of the ship hull. For about thirty seconds they irregularly pulsed, crackling on the surface of the enemy ship's hull. Structural integrity began to decrease, lights flickered, and some visible cracks started to appear in the external plating of the ship. After a few minutes, the cracks grew horribly massive before the ship sheared in approximately four different places, crumbling like a loaf of soda bread.

"Well... it looks to me like things work. We'll have to make this more easily produced. I hope Task Force Maw is not having issues."

-

The ​Scylla, Gorgon, Hydra, Basilisk, and ​Manticore​ entered the immediate area of the ship wreckage, soon followed by the Endeavour​ and the ​Dorn​. Their initial scans of the area revealed a large amount of wreckage from the freighter group. A quick cross-reference of the destroyed ships with local records indicated that there were more ships in the caravan - ships that were missing. That said, numerous ion trails exited away from the wreckage site, and scout wings of Vornskr-class Interceptors were launched from the Endeavour​ to follow them, taking a lead. If the Task Force could identify precisely who it was that was responsible for raiding this convoy during peacetime negotiations with Littora, then perhaps it would be useful intel.

The Vornskrs followed the ion trail, making considerable distance between the bigger ships that followed the trail at their own slower pace and gaining on the convoy. They were within sensor range now, as were their escorts. The data regarding the Imperial ships was being sent to the ​Ablution​, though Vanessa would not receive it for a while. Currently the Vornskrs were trailing some distance from the warships - enough to escape if their guns were trained on the vessels.

Friendly fire would not be a good thing.

[member="Zahori Denko"]

 

[Six-O]

OBJECTIVE 4: Hunt, capture, sell, survive.
ALLIES: [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Vaylin"] | Xoorurm | "Vinto" Zyyc Vonux | Buutog "Grouch" Kipavii
POST: 3

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS-gbqbVd8c[/youtube]​

It was a melancholy sort of sound, those sonorous moans. It was anxiety of the end, dread of the pain, instinctive fear. Louder than the winds, more hysterical than the sea, the lament of that frightful chorus could be heard for miles in every direction, without exception.

The froth of sea that misted from between hull and prey wet Matsu and her crew with a lather of bloody foam. The Reef Back Frog had finally succumb, it's energy spent, moaning in agony as it's multiple eyes gazing on helplessly as Buutog launched another Harpoon from the rig. Their prize replied with a guttural croak, the soft meat of it's side breached gravely, a fountain of crimson rushing in to the sea.

With meticulous attention, Zyyc navigated Matsu's Tug in carefully, allowing YVHa-60 and Xoorurm to deploy on to the Amphibian. With imposing, two-handed hooks in their hands and angled-spike cleats strapped to feet, the two departed promptly. Taking advantage of the lance on the Hooks, they clung to the side of the Reef Backs, cutting in with cleats for footing, digging trench like wounds through the flesh of the creature as they scaled towards more even ground.

Hook, Cleat.

Cleat, Hook.

Hook, Cleat. . .

The ascension took but a few tense moments as the animal rocked and swayed in the waves - the will to fight already bled out of it.

Another Harpoon pierced it's side.

With this immoral, obscene, work concluded. YVHa-60 and Xoorurm departed to opposite sides of the Reef Back, finally arriving back in to view of [member="Matsu Xiangu"] and [member="Vaylin"]'s Tugs respectively. The Hook's were set strong in to the skull, channeled through the hard skerry-like top flesh, it was a gory job and both Machine and Grigoran were blood-soaked. Both, in kind, raised their arms above their heads and clutched left hand to right wrist. Signaling for Matsu and Vaylin to hop aboard the Frog with their Scaling Axes and Climbing Spurs to bring up the Phrik-Threaded Tow Cables. It was time to flip these Floating Credit Boons and drown the rest of the life out of them.

Also, from up here, the spectacle of ruin was breathtaking. The Sanguine Sea convulsed against a hundred Reef Backs. Dozens upon dozens of crews from the F.S. Witch of the Waves engaged in the carnage, teams setting Hooks, driving Spears, scaling the mammoth creatures. Some losing footing, they'd be forever gone beneath the waves. Others fell on the razor-sharp Coral growths that jutted up as high as small mountains, pierced, cut, they'd die before they were rescued. All of it unfolding here at this very moment under this Forever Twilight Sky.

It was a beauty so resplendent, something YVHa-60 could share with it's Matsu and the Vaylin.

Back on the Factory Ship. . . another nightmarish tale was being told. Lives ending on the point of knives. Navigation Systems dismantled, Tracking Beacons destroyed. The Rodians were making quick work of things while time was on their side. The Rutter Controls would be next, and then the entire annihilation of the Engine Room.

All they needed was an hour longer!

 

[Zef Halo]

While the Devaronian barbecued people unbeknownst to the two smugglers, they casually followed the file of carrying droids before they disappeared from their sights with their little legs pacing towards the Corellian Bolt.

"Eh, a good ol' merc, huh? Not hard to figure out by the air you walk with, kid." Zef had met hundreds of them, just like Jack but the boy had something different about him. Most likely the fact Zeltron blood ran through his veins. "Served myself, that's for sure." He replied. There was much more to that answer but it was knowledge Zef preferred to not disclose. Heck, he hoped to bury it. Being a Mandalorian, true to the idea for a point in his life, remained an experience he looked back at with mixed feelings. His father had fled from his mother when he was but a child to keep him away from that culture. He had broken his oath to his father, once to save his own life and another time as a man following his friend and commemorating the mother he never knew. It all tore him almost as much as abandoning his child to grow without a father.

Almost.

Jack might have asked why the grave silence suddenly but much greater problems arose at the sight of the Corellian Bolt dusting off with all the cargo and the cash suitcases within it. The smuggler turned pale with a gaping mouth staring at his beloved ship take off into the stars dotting Farshore's gorgeous skyline.

"Kark."

[member="Jackson Singh"] | [member="Eye of Solomon"]

 

[Darth Athora]

With the freshly acquired convoy in tow, the Imperial ships' mission was complete. With that, Commander Mahrvi contacted Vice Admiral Denko as ordered. "Vice Admiral, the operation was a success we are headed for your location with the haul."

"Negative. You will immediately take the caravan to the Imperial shipyards at Yaga Minor for processing. I want to capitalize on this immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. I will see to it that the shipyards receive the cargo myself." At that moment, Commander Mahrvi tuned out of the private channel with VADM Denko and returned to the Shadow Fist channel. "We are to immediately jump to hyperspeed and take the caravan to Yaga Minor for processing. Everyone prepare to jump to hyperspace." Each ship followed their orders and activated their hyperdrives. In a few minutes, the caravan was ready to jump. "Jump to hyperspace in 3..2..1..Now!" And like that, the ships entered hyperspace, disappearing from the system in an instant.

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Zef Halo"] | [member="Eye of Solomon"]

A less experienced soldier might have started into a run to try an' catch it.

Maybe shoot at it a bit.

But Jack only looked impassively as their ride (with their pay and the goods they were supposed to smuggle out) flew off into the sky. "I take it that wasn't the planetary taxi service going ahead and cleaning up the hull of the ship, while we go for some grub." Singh remarked dryly, while squinting his eyes to catch another glimpse from the ship. Oh, Jack was very aware how serious this situation was. Something told him that Devaronian would be less understanding about their predicament.

He didn't need to be aware of those people burning alive to know they were in for a world of hurt if they didn't watch their step.

Singh sighed, before shaking his head.

"Alright, let's go get some coffee while we try an' figure this thing out." There was little point in panicking about this. What was done was done- they couldn't go to the authorities, so this fell to them to solve, which meant coffee was the next step.

That would ease 'em out a bit.

 

[Cassandra Paige]

Location: Farshore
Objective: Enjoy the Festival and do some business I guess?
[member="Itash Mecetti"]

They stood there, watching at the aurora strengthened and grew. It was interesting, knowing that even with the glasses, there were colours in the spectrum above that neither of them could truly see- the limits of a human form. The lights danced across the sky as the city wound to a halt all around them, everyone else with heads upturned and awed expressions on their faces.

Cass..... didn't understand.

Oh sure, it was beautiful. But the reactions from the people nearby were nearly visceral, and she contemplated the fact that she was clearly missing something. It didn't bother her in the strictest sense, but she was aware of it as she looked up at the colours and felt nothing in particular other than a basic appreciation of something aesthetically pleasing.

She and Tash parted ways, a deep kiss and plans to meet up again later, as the lights died down. Oh, the show would go on for hours, but the peak was past and Cass had work to do.

The meeting went smoothly. Cass readily agreed to the limitations, the business interests of Littora were happy for GenPal's money. It helped that the gentleman she was meeting with had a TinyTaun and adored it. So the idea of seeing some of Littora's wildlife on the galactic stage was a simple appeal.

"You will send me the first of whatever you make, yes?" He asked with a smile- half joking, half serious.

Cass's own smile came with an inclination of the head.

"Absolutely," she murmured, "It has, after all, been a pleasure doing business with you."

 

[Adriana Fortemps]

The suit was admittedly very well designed, the lightweight aspect of it as well as the appearance and overall protection was far more preferable to the clunky old suits that most teams were equipped with. Jorryn wasn't the most knowledgeable when it came to engineering a suit but it was clear by the passion [member="Farah"] spoke with that it was a personal project of the Zeltron.

"Well your suit is very impressive." She said, continuing to stroke the doctor's ego as a proud grin grew on her face. "You must be very proud."

Farah's explanation of why she brought the suit along almost made Jorryn question her decision to forego one herself, though the Echani preferred to lean on the abilities of the force instead of a clunky suit.

Then again if she had an enviro-suit available as lithe as the one the doctor wore then perhaps she could have compromised between the two.

"Well when the Empire decides to produce more of them be sure to let me know." She grinned, paying another complement in the assuredness of the designs success.

Jorryn followed quickly behind as the doctor strayed into the dense fog that covered the Intertidal zone, immediately pulling the lightsaber that laid against her hip into her palm. She had assumed that they would simply drag some fish back with them, along with any other flora that would prove interesting. But the doctors comments of acid and dangerous fauna left Jorryn thinking it would be smarter to stay on guard, especially with the caverns that should normally lay underwater revealed to the air.

The fog's thickness prevented the Sith from seeing more than a couple metres, though Jorryn managed to lengthen this visible by forcing the vapour aside as she held her hand in the air.

"So," She casually muttered as she steered herself to the doctor's side. "Are we hunting anything in specific?"

 

[Onrai]

The Massassi-class Corvette Blitzer entered the area, joining the Conquerors and the Endeavour​, though it was heading towards the fighters whose sensor data was being relayed to the Blitzer​, and as well, to the rest of Task Force Maw. It sat some distance away from the rogue Imperial ships, their identifications determined from the data that the Vornskrs had acquired over their sensors, and was about to hail them when the entire fleet jumped to hyperspace.

"Is the hyperspace tracker functioning?"

"Yes." A bridge officer responded. "We've tracked the route the fleet is taking. Their destination appears to be the Yaga system - Yaga Minor is their most likely destination given its shipyards."

The commander of the corvette opened up secure comms with the leading Conqueror. "Scylla​, we have their destination. Should we pursue?"

"Negative, Blitzer​. We'll pass the information back to Lady Vantai and let her make a decision as to what our next move is. These rogue Imperials likely have a full battlegroup waiting for us on the other side of that jump, and we wouldn't be able to recharge our drives fast enough to escape before being either tractor beamed or destroyed."

-

"So let me get this straight..." Vanessa said. "You're telling me that Imperial​ ships, which were not supposed to attack anything in the system lest we disrupt the negotiations, committed an act of piracy and seized a freighter convoy? And they took the captured ships to Yaga Minor?"

"Correct, Lady Vantai." The captain of the Scylla​ responded.

"Once the fleet has moved on, I'll have to do a bit more digging around, it would seem." Vanessa sighed. Rooting out traitors was a job for the Saaraishash, not a Sith Lord probably being watched by them. Still, if it meant proving her loyalty to the Empire, she would further examine this enigmatic occurrence and get to the bottom of what had happened here. "We've done what we need to - the wreck of the Invictus will be disposed of soon enough. All ships, meet at rallying point Theta for new orders. Prepare to jump to hyperspace."

With that, the fleet disappeared, on its way to another system.

 

[Farah]

“It is and I am.” It would be hard to miss the pride in her voice. The suit was one of her first projects in the scope of the public eye. Consequently, approval for materials, production and testing had been relatively easy compared to her behind the scenes work. Apparently forced organ donation wasn’t ‘very ethical’.

Ugh.

Still, thoughts of her own project hurdles didn’t bother her as much when there were complements to be had. “I will.” She answered simply, briskly and without irritation.

It was all well and good doing evil science, but Farah genuinely like producing items that could be of use.

As they journeyed through the intertidal zone, Farah gave Jorryn a grunt in thanks for shifting the fog from their path. Her gaze lingered on the woman’s raised hand for a few moments before shifting back to their widened field of vison.

“Anything that we come across. The tidal pools are home to some dangerous creatures.” Information that Jorryn likely already knew, but it was her way of saying that she was just about as informed. “We need to catalog them and examine any possible—“

As soon as her boot hit the ground, a star shaped menagerie of short tentacles burst from the mud and wrapped around her right leg. It was a Floodflower Worm, a creature that could burrow beneath the ground and wait for the right time to strike at unsuspecting prey up above. Farah reacted accordingly.

“Oh son of a bith!” She hissed in panic, drawing a pistol from her side and shooting the creature haphazardly. “Shoot it! Kill it dead!”

[member="Jorryn Fordyce"]

 

[Jantar Keltainen]

Post 1:

“We take what we desire because we can. We can because we have power. We have power because we are Sith.”
―Sith Proverb

Jantar cared little for politics, or the affairs of politicians. But she was dutiful when it came to the Sith Empire and obedient when it came to the whims and wishes of her Master.

Jantar had already discovered that her Master sought to test her and so, when the Empire decided to visit the Littora system, Jantar was sent to the planet to see out and kill a specific creature — a non monster, that apparently frequented the grottos there.

Initially native to Utapau, this carnivorous reptile’s wide eyes were accustomed to the dark of underground caverns. Fiercely protective of its young, the nos would attack any threat it perceived — and Jantar was sent during birthing season.