Dominion Awaken The Hive | AC Dominion of Empty Hex |

[Brimstone]

Brimstone's team finally fought there way to the junction. One of his men had taken a minor hit where a slug had found a chink in his armour but they were all otherwise doing well. He looked down the corridor to where Heinrich Faust should be, he saw nothing but teeth and claws running at him. They were getting more aggressive.

A gout of flame issued from his wrist, sending them reeling back, as his team continued with their barrage of blaster fire. "You should be clear to make your move now Faust"

One of the aliens rolled to the feet of Brimstone, still chittering away as it burned. This was the first time Brim had gotten a proper look at them. "Killick" he said to himself, remembering them from a long forgotten campaign. "They must have made these ships into a hive"

Heinrich Faust Cedric Grayson Modor Khos Elise Solsteel Jegy Sesara E Eric Vales

 

[Elise Solsteel]

Location: Hallway of an entomophobic's worst nightmare
Objective: Avoid pew-pews and insect guts.
Tags: Cedric Grayson Heinrich Faust Modor Khos Brimstone The Red of Sinner Jegy Sesara

Ahh, yes. The worst thing about shining the magical flashlight down the black abyss of doom was that you had to witness the horrors within. A necessary evil.

The initial blur of shadow receding from the light's reach was just the beginning. What followed was a hoard of carapace-infused hostility. Innumerable spindly limbs skittered down the hall towards them while crude weapons fired solid metal pieces, rather than the energy bolts they were so accustomed to deflecting. Trying to block these with a lightsaber might very well fling molten globs of metal all around them, if they weren't incinerated. Something this Jedi wasn't keen on testing, with so many in such close proximity.

Elise sank in her saber's blade into the floor at Cedric's command, helping him trace a wide enough hole through the floor so they could fall through to...well, hopefully safety. Something told her that would not be such an easy goal to accomplish.

The bullets had blasted backward with the initial wave, but it was a temporary setback. Each side of their hallway quickly filled with a small army of angry Killicks, who moved faster than the Jedi would have preferred.

While they worked on carving a hole through the floor, she paused long enough to lift both her hands and extend them out in opposite directions. Careful to ensure no allies were directly in the way, lest they get slingshot into a mosh-pit of flailing legs and chittering mandibles. Sending a concentrated blast of invisible force down the length of each hallway, the Killicks collided with one another and tumbled chaotically away from them.

Except for one straggler, who found a way to narrowly evade the concussive offense. It raised it's weapon at the group, and Elise jerked her hand in a beckoning motion. The gun flew from the alien toward them, and she caught it by the barrel in her grip, countering in a stern, motherly tone, "No."

The Killick screeched in surprise and rage, with subtle fluctuations in tone that probably translated into vulgar curses in whatever language they spoke.

 

[Cedric Grayson]

(Ye ol phone post)
Objective: 1

The comm silence was more than a little disconcerting. Cedric spat a handful of commands over the line anyway, hoping that some of it might transfer through, but the result was little more than garbled speech and incoherent crackling. Unable to do much else, Cedric focused wholly on his task, bobbing and weaving around the knight of the church as he continued to drive his lightsaber through the floor. The flooring began to bend inward as he completed half the circle, threatening to send them all sliding down into the abyss.

Not keen on getting all his people killed, Cedric halted behind the shields of two knights, doused his blade, and pressed his hands to the floor. With an expression of telekinetic will, he severed the last point of connection that held their piece of the floor to the rest. The metal groaned in protest, and finally buckled entirely, the midsection of the floor and all the people on it falling down into the abyss.

The descent happened in a near instant, but the distance was was not nearly so short. There was a loud splash as the metal slab they fell in on crashed into the ground below, bright blue coolant dribbling past them in the darkness. Cedric glanced down once he’d gathered his bearings. “We’re in the coolant tubes. Safe for the moment I think.” He mumbled, “No lightsabers, no blaster fire. This liquid is highly volatile. Too much heat and we all explode.”

He reached up to click a button on his helmet, a thin ray of pale light spreading outward to better illuminate the tube. It stretched as far as the eye could see, the walls circular and only wide enough for two people to walk abreast. It seemed the killiks were not keen on following.
“If I’m recalling correctly, there should be an engineer’s terminal north of here. That’s our best bet.” Cedric continued, “Is everyone capable of walking?”

 

[Heinrich Faust]

As Heinrich reached the vent, he could hear the skittering of the Killiks down the hall. Not long after, a hail of blaster fire was unleashed upon the horde, drawing them past the vent. Heinrich waited for the stragglers to pass before making his move. With a quick shove of the Force, Heinrich launched the ventilation hatch across the hall, slamming it into the last of the stragglers. He jumped out of the vent, igniting his lightsaber and cutting down two more of the aliens.

Brimstone and his team were proving their worth in keeping the Killiks busy. Most of their fire continued down toward the team, allowing Heinrich to take down the bulk of the group. As they were about to finish off the last of the mob of Killiks, Heinrich began hearing more skittering from behind him. He turned, only to see a larger group approaching. There was no time to think... except for a small prayer.

The Blade of Ession closed his eyes, reaching out to the power of Ashla for guidance. The warmth of Ashla's light filled every inch of his being, coursing through him like a pulsating energy. Keeping his eyes closed, Heinrich raised his hand at the approaching horde. Then, in a flash of emerald light, Heinrich unleashed a torrent of green Force lightning from his hand, unleashing a wave of Electric Judgment upon the approaching Killiks.

They instantly fell dead, corpses convulsing on the floor. As the last of the first horde fell at the hands of Brimstone's team, Heinrich took a moment to search for the others through the Force. He could sense their companions, but only faintly. Wherever they were, they weren't close.

He turned his way back to Brimstone.

"Sure glad you showed up. The ship's crawling with these things. We need to find the others. My guess is that they're closer to the main landing bay, though I can't be sure. You have any ideas of how to take these things down?"

Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel Jegy Sesara E Eric Vales​

 

[Brimstone]

"Take them down you say?" He replied to Heinrich Faust while lifting his rotary cannon in to the air "this seems to work. But we could do with a more permanent solution." He looked at the dead bugs behind his ally. "What you did seems to have worked too?"

He switched his comm on "hey E Eric Vales , this really your mum? Sara, hold fire on that shock for now, we don't know enough of what is going on and our allies are split up. The last thing we want to do is stir the pot."

He thought for a moment, in his previous campaigns against these bugs there was always a central intelligence keeping them all linked, some king of queen, if we find that, then maybe they could stop the whole hive.

"If you have working scanners Sara, try and find some kind of centre to this hive? The density of life and activity should be greatest there."

He looked down at his rotary cannon, he had chewed through a lot of ammo but was still in good shape, his on board power supply supplementing his weapon.

" Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel , you out there somewhere?" He waited for a response but only got static.

"Apparently Erics mum is out there with some kind of hard reset for our comms, but it will just piss the bugs off. I say we make our way to engineering, its warm, there is energy there and its a large space. That is where I would be if I was an alien hive mind" he patched Heinrich in to the newcomers feed.

 

[Jegy Sesara]

The final slash of the staff lightsaber ripped through the top of the staircase as parts of the Killiks body fell down the stairs. Giving a loud groan of annoyance, he kept walking forward as the screech of more Killik started to fill into the hallway he walked down. A few flicks to the left, another one killed. A few flicks to the right, another one killed. It became...tiresome quite quickly as it was almost like childs play. The Sullustan was starting to get very deep into one of the main engine cavities, hearing them almost swarming around him in pure anger and malice. Yet at each moment, the Sullustan would give a simple Force Push into the wall, pull into a stab...many ways but it started to get so...boring.

Never had the Sullustan considered wanting to have a challenge when it came to having a fight but this was ridiculous. Outnumbered, outgunned and still he made these insects into nothing more than mince meat at each turn. Turning into a nearby corner, he came across a rather unusual Killik as it stood there in the middle of the hallway, staring down the Sullustan in the darkness with only the red hue of the Sullustans lightsaber lightning up. Turning his staff lightsaber for a moment, he threw it like a javelin forward as he hoped to pierce the prey quickly but instead, it was an illusion as it went right past it.

Instead...it hit a tank of blue liquid. The Sullustans bored look would slowly turn into concern as he watched it crack and started to see it turn a different shade of color. His face then turned of just pure annoyance as he stared forward, as if knowing he screwed up.

"Ah kriff..."

Then the tank exploded, hitting the Sullustan rather hard with the force of the explosion as it launched him down the hallway, around the corner and through one of the nearby large air ducts. There was several loud BANGS and THUNKS, parts of the air ducts denting on each hit as there be lots of unsavory language going through the ducts. The ducts would start to get almost red hot in certain areas, steam rolling through the area until finally it roared flames right near E Eric Vales and Brimstone , the bottom exploding off as the Sullustan smashed directly into the floor as flames almost covered his whole body for a few seconds before it finally ended. The Sullustan laid there, his robes and body literally smoking from being cooked as he gave a very loud whining groan, trying to gently roll over. His entire body was almost a shade tanner now, almost a dark tan as he felt his skin burn a bit.

Giving a loud growl of annoyance, he slowly tries to sit up as he finally noticed the pair nearby, seeing one with a rather large rotary cannon and another whom he could not identify very well, he spoke with a bit of pain in his voice.

"Not joiners I hope?"

 

[Brimstone]

Brimstone looked down at the burst Sullustan. "I dont know what a joiner is, but that looked painful" one of his men kneeled down next to Jegy Sesara and grinned at him while unpacking his med kit. "Good morning sir, my name So Tam and I will be your nurse today" he laughed and tried to give medical assistance to check vitals and apply burn relief.

Brimstone looked up at Heinrich Faust "do you know this guy? If he's a pirate we stick him out an airlock but I would prefer not to do that if he is one of ours"

The killicks had been quiet for a few minutes now, he wondered what was up. His team had set up a temporary perimeter and a pair of them had started using emergency fire suppression equipment from the wall to start dealing with the flames.

Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel E Eric Vales

 

[Elise Solsteel]

The slab of metal hit the tunnel below in a loud clang against the sloping walls, sending splashes and ripples of coolant. The bodies that fell afterward - some more gracefully than others - added to the reverberating sound. Still better than the chittering of dozens of Killicks.

Elise slowed her fall with a bit of levitation just before she hit the bottom, and then sloshed out of the way so the rest could safely drop down after them. Thankfully, her saber was off the moment they fell, and she hitched it back to her belt. No sense in accidentally severing limbs on the way down. They were fortunate the Killicks seemed to be warded off by the coolant.

"Hm..." Peering up at the hole high above them, she watched a handful of the insectoids poke their heads into the hole, and then turn around and vanish from sight. "Let's hope they don't have a means of tracing our whereabouts."

As Cedric made a quick assessment of the group, making sure everyone was in good shape, she caught bits of static from the comm. A voice she guessed belonging to Brimstone, though she couldn't be sure, cut in and out erratically. Most of it was lost, leaving her with only fragments that pieced together nothing sensible.

'...mum.........reset......piss...bugs..........warm..................hive...'

She pressed it closer to her ear, an eyebrow raising slightly. Well, that wasn't very helpful at all.

"This is Elise, I can...sort of hear you. Brimstone? We're in a coolant pipe, trying to find a terminal." There was no way to know if he heard anything in return, but it was worth a shot.

Letting Cedric lead the way, she glanced up to him. "Did that make any sense to you? Something about a hive in a warm place? Maybe we should bring some of this coolant with us, and make them a little bit warmer." Well, just a suggestion. Not one she would normally make so easily, but she had a feeling what they encountered in the hallway was the tip of the iceberg. If the entire crew of the ship was hiding from them, or dead - she hoped for the former - then they needed to be exterminated.

Cedric Grayson Brimstone Jegy Sesara Heinrich Faust

 

[Heinrich Faust]

Heinrich looked at Jegy Sesara with a slight bit of confusion as he appeared. He had seen the Sullustan before on Ruusan, but he had never spoken with him. He was unsure as to how he had ended up here, but that would be a discussion for another day.

"Yes, he's one of ours. A pleasant surprise, to be sure. We certainly needed the extra help."

Once the flames were out, and their new companion patched up, Heinrich took a moment to reach out once more, attempting to locate the rest of the boarding party.

"Still not much of a signal from the others. I believe you're right Brimstone , Engineering seems like a likely place to start our search. The sooner we find the source, the sooner we can get on with the rest of our mission. Hopefully we'll reestablish comms before then as well."

He gazed down one of the corridors for some time before speaking again.

"Anyone have any idea what could have happened to the crew? I know little of these creatures. I assume that their presence lowers the chance of us finding survivors, but until we can confirm, I'd like to think that isn't the case."

Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel E Eric Vales​

 

[Brimstone]

Some crackling came through the comms to Brimstone "...Elise, I.. ... you... stone? ...coolant pipe... find.... terminal"
Brimstone tried to make sense of the garbled message, at least Elise Solsteel must still be alive and hopefully Cedric Grayson and the others accompanying her. He went to a nearby terminal and brought up a map of the ship, trying to look at where they might be, he knew where they had joined the ship, but several coolant pipes ran near that area so it told him little. He could however tell the route to the engineering section, it was a climb down the elevators in the structure that supported the bridge then maybe 200 metres aft. Easily manageable as long as the Killicks didn't interrupt their progress, he chuckled at the idea of them politely standing aside. " Heinrich Faust , you are a ranked member, can you stick an all terminal announcement on here? I think the others are looking for a terminal, if they find our message we can at least let them know where we are headed"

Brimstone headed towards the elevator after ordering one of his commandos to get it open and ready for their descent. He looked at Heinrich and Jegy Sesara "me and my men will drop down first, we will establish a perimeter at the base and you two can follow, If I get stuck in their teeth, then I would appreciate you showing the Killicks how to use a laser sword as a toothpick"

He disappeared down the elevator shaft, followed by a loud bang as the weight of the Gen'dai in his battle armour found the base of the elevator shaft, moments later his grapple automatically detached himself and 3 other members of his Hades team followed him down the shaft.

 

[Cedric Grayson]

Location: Coolant Tubes
Tags: Brimstone , Jegy Sesara , Heinrich Faust , Elise Solsteel


"Not much more than you," Cedric mumbled as he helped one of the men up off the floor. It seemed that everyone had survived the fall, though there were several wounds among them. None of the knights of the church verbalized such. They were anything if not stoic. though that that quiet resolve might not serve them wholly if they actually needed help. They were soldiers beyond Cedric's reach, for lack of a better term. Their lord was the goddess herself, he was only an intermediary, despite whatever respect they bid him.

"Whatever their situation, we need to find our way out of these tubes. If the Killiks find reason to actually fire this ship up, we're all dead." He doubted the insects would have the forethought to burn through the coolant tubes simply to do away with their force. This hive seemed archaic in its knowledge, utilizing slugthrowers that conventional armor blocked easily enough when alternatives were certainly available.

Even still, better not to leave anything to chance.

The walk through the tubes were an uncomfortable one. The blue coolant liquid stung lightly against the flesh, though it caused no great harm. The air was damp and came to be near freezing the further along they traveled. Vapor fogged up the edges of Cedric's visor as he went along, though his armor regulated the change in temperature well enough.

"If you want to carry some of the coolant Elise, be my guest. Maybe we'll get lucky and the Killiks will just breathe too much of it in." He quipped as they came to a pair of sealed that blocked off the rest of the tubes.

Cedric pressed his hands onto the crease where the doors met, willed the energies of the empyrean to flow into his muscles, and tore the doors open with a deafening shriek of metal.

Nearly a dozen bug eyed faces greeted them through the gloom, and just as many humanoids right behind them. The Crusade did not have an official uniform, but they were vaguely Ashlan garments, utterly human were it not for their jet black pupiless eyes.

"Hello," the humans said as one. "We mean no harm, nor do our bond brothers. You are not of the decadent hive?" They continued in unison.

Cedric blinked beneath his helm.

"Erm, no, not particularly." He mumbled, making a concious effort to keep his hands away from his lightsaber. "We've come to reclaim the fleet. What's happened to you? To the rest of the crew?"

The group continued to speak with one voice. "We are a newly birthed hive. The children offered us a choice, and we chose them. The decadent forbearers sought our extermination, but the children gave us union. Now, we are one. We believe you have already met the forbearers up above."

Cedric gave Elise Solsteel a look that would have been quiet disgust, were it not for his mask. "Joiners." His gaze shifted back to the humans, and the Killiks behind them. "You're all joiners?"

"It was our choice."

"The rest of the crew?"

"We are all one in the hive."

"And these forbearers?"

"Our mother hive, one that thrives on violence and conquest. We are not like our mother."

"Then what are you?"

"We do not yet know, but we want to live. The forbearers did this to your people. The survivors chose union with our hive."

"Okay, do you know why our comms are down?"

"The forbearers. We can clear it for you for a moment, if you like. Only a few seconds however."

Cedric turned to Elise. "Alright," he breathed an audible sigh. "When they clear the signal, let the others know what we've learned. We can try to rendezvous."

 

[Kasia Celestyne]

://Empty Hex
://Objective 2: Direct the friendly ships of the Crusade as they traverse through the void

Not all operations within the Crusade brought instant glory, nor tales worth singing songs, yet all operations within the Crusade helped reach the goal. It all helped reach the dream of a galaxy led by the light.

"We've reached Waypoint Besh." The fleet navigation officer reported from his console in the command and control center. "Fleet new bearing is three hundred twenty-three degrees by negative ten degrees relative." He called out the words as he input the command into his console, sending word to the rest of the fleet.

Kasia turned to the large holo-table near where she stood. It only took a moment, then the ships of the fleet shifted slightly to the left and down of their original path. The course they had chosen would let them scan much of the system as they transmitted from one side to the other. Any items on interest could be marked and followed up on, which had happened when they found the remains of the Damocles and her strike group.

"Contact to port, extreme range. We are seeing a spike in heat in the asteroid field near the edge of the system. Getting reads on power signatures..." A sensor tech to her right reported. Kasia moved to look over the young woman's shoulder. "Power signatures look like older ore haulers, maybe an old mining station."

"Mark it on the system map, task the port side assets to get refined data. They are permitted to leave fleet formation to long-range." The soft, somewhat scratchy voice that came from the flag officer in the middle of the room gave the order without even looking up.

"Aye, marking it on the map." The sensor tech responded.

"Tasking two port side corvettes to get refined data." A different officer reported.

Silently, Kasia went back to where she had been standing by the holo-table. She was there partially as security, and partially to react to situations she was needed in. Currently, that meant she stood there and observed, but there was an undercurrent jolting through her that told her she would soon be seeing more action.

 

[Heinrich Faust]

Heinrich took a look at the terminal as Brimstone developed a plan to reestablish some sort of communications. The trip to engineering would be quick, as long as they didn't meet resistance. The ship was filled with plenty of shafts and corridors, making it difficult to tell where the Killiks would show up next. Despite this, they didn't have many options. With comms down and the rest of the boarding party in some unknown part of the ship, Heinrich knew that the only way out, was through.

"If you can get me patched in, I can get the message out. Hopefully someone will pick up the transmission."

As the Hades team began their descent into the elevator shaft, Heinrich could sense movement from the beyond the shadowy corridor of the Damocles. Turning to Jegy Sesara , he motioned toward the elevator shaft.

"Time to go."

With that, he jumped.

Upon landing, he could hear the skittering of the Killiks above. Turning to the Hades unit, Heinrich ignited his lightsaber once again.

"We might need that toothpick sooner than we thought."

Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel Kasia Celestyne​

[/img]

 

[Elise Solsteel]

"Ahh, you'll have to forgive me, Lord Grayson... I seem to have misplaced my buckets." The sad tone and the quiet sigh that followed was almost convincing, but she wasn't actually serious. It seemed his newly acquired sage had a knack for lighthearted humor even in less ideal circumstances.

While they trudged along, the stoic and dutiful knights filing after them weren't ignored. None of them appeared seriously injured, but Elise took the time to assess them quietly all the same, at least with her eyes. Anyone with a noticeable injury or limp would have been stopped and made to endure a more thorough exam, and healed enough to restore functionality. Luckily, no one needed such intervention, and so she let them be.

When they came upon the next swarm of Killicks that greeted them beyond the door, she observed the group of joined crew members gathered behind them. All with inky black eyes that appeared like lifeless voids. But they weren't lifeless at all. They had simply changed. Killicks weren't exactly a species she had studied extensively, but she was familiar enough to understand the implication in what they were seeing.

A hive different than the one they had encountered. Related, but separated by choice. The lesser evil.

"Kind of them to offer you a choice." She murmured after listening to the exchange. Already her mind was working in the direction of how she could liberate the crew members from hive-mind of their gracious hosts, but that would be a hurdle she could hopefully overcome later. She glanced to Cedric and gave him a nod.

"Yes, if you could please disrupt their signal as long as you can..."

The rows of black eyes blinked calmly as they stared like passive zombies. In unison, they responded, "Of course. We don't know exactly how long you will have, but you may go ahead."

Her voice would ring clearly through the comms at their signal, concise and quick. "Brimstone, there are two hives. One is passive and has assimilated the crew into one hive mind. We are with them now in the coolant system. The other hive is hostile and can't be reasoned with. Tell me where you're headed, we will meet you there. This link won't last long."

Brimstone Cedric Grayson Heinrich Faust Jegy Sesara Kasia Celestyne

 

[Brimstone]

Brimstone continued down the corridor toward the engineering section as Elise pinged in his ear, so some of the Killicks want to negotiate? That complicated matter somewhat, Brimstone always preferred to know who his enemy was so he could shoot first. "Message received Elise Solsteel , its good to know you guys are still out there. We are not far from the engine room now" He stopped to hear the crackle of Heinrich Faust light saber igniting behind him. Those Jedi knew when trouble was coming, his own natural senses were fantastic, but in a noisy three dimensional environment it was sometimes hard to rely on them "we are about to be engaged Elise, will try to differentiate the different killicks"

There was a massive crash as one of the side doors was thrown off its hinges by the weight of behind it, they threw themselves toward Brimstone first, one of thw Killicks tried biting at him, but his armoured arm was too large and smooth for it to get a purchase. Brimstone back handed it away and with a clench of his fist, unloaded some blaster bolts from his wrist into its face. "Nice try bug" he retorted as he grabbed his axe from his back and in one motion before it had even heated up, he cleaved another oncoming killick in half. He was going to assume that these guys weren't here to negotiate and waded forward, swinging his axe and firing his wrist blaster as he went. Pieces of creature spilled across the corridor as they continued. He felt one of them chamber onto his back and start trying to rip into the workings of his backpack unit, this was quickly followed by a shower of sparks as one of his commandos opened fire and blew the unwanted passenger off his back. "Nice shooting, watching the paintwork next time, we must be getting close to somewhere important, these things are seeming increasingly desperate."

Cedric Grayson Kasia Celestyne Jegy Sesara

 

[Cedric Grayson]

The mother was displeased.

She listened quietly as the flesh-things chittered in their ape language. Their words travelled over holobands that might as well have been physical extensions of her own body for how in tune she was with them. The rebellious hive had revealed itself too, it seemed. For so long they had hidden within the dark places of the ship, utilizing the knowledge of their fleshling joiners to skirt the majority of her brood. For every child they murdered, another two would take their place. It would only be a matter of time before she crushed the rebels, and now these new fleshlings as well.

Her cohort scrambled about her nest. According to the knowledge of those they had subsumed, this room had once been called a hyperdrive chamber. Now it was home. The walls had been covered in organic material, the massive generators converted for the purpose of feeding the brood. Several of her children specially bred for the task of converting the energy into organic matters twitched in front of her, their mandibles clamped to the power cables so that they could feed freely.

All had gone so well. This ship and its sisters belonged to her hive now, but then the child had deemed her tyrant. No matter. She would burn soon enough.

The queen's voice would crackle over the comm, simultaneously frying circuits in every unit as he ethereal voice could not be contained by such archaic devices.

"We will all be one." Those aboard the ship would hear before their comm units died entirely.

The fleets ships would toward the Ashlan relief ships now. All power went to their engines, and they began to soar through the void toward Kasia Celestyne's ships. At first the intentions of those aboard would be difficult to comprehend, but it would become increasingly clear the closer they came. The Killik infested ships intended to ram the rest of the Ashlan fleet.

Meanwhile, Cedric looked to Elise Solsteel with concern. "Well, they were right. That didn't last long at all." He mumbled, "Brimstone said something about the engine room. That isn't particularly far from here. It's probably our best bet - maybe we'll find some buckets along the way." The exile snickered.

He turned toward the Joiners. "What will you do?"

Once again, they spoke as one. "You intend to face the mother?"

"If that is what's required to save my people, then yes."

"Then we shall join you." They turned in unison toward a ladder that led toward the upper levels. "The engineering chamber is above. Your friends await us -- the mother is further away."

Pleased enough with that, Cedric was the first up the ladder. The only way they could deal with this new threat was if they were all able to work together.

Heinrich Faust , Brimstone , Jegy Sesara

 

[Kasia Celestyne]

://Empty Hex
://Objective 2

Kasia's eye was drawn to the sensor tech as her back straightened in surprise. The sense of oncoming peril tightened in her gut, and she pushed off of the bulkhead and walked over to the sensor tech's station once more. Kasia took a glance at the readings, but not being a naval officer meant that it all looked fairly arcane to her.

"What is it?" Kasia spoke softly, not wanting to disturb anyone else if it turned out to be nothing but sensor shadows and intuition.

"The derelict strike group has begun moving..." She replied as she typed, refining the data she was getting. "...based on the plot, they are on a least time intercept course for us."

"Report it. Now." Kasia ordered.

"S-sir. The derelict strike group has begun moving, the plot has just resolved, they are aiming to intercept us in the next twenty minutes." The sensor tech reported, glancing briefly at Kasia as the Crusader moved back towards the holo-table, leaning onto it to see the visualization of the data.

"Comms, raise our teams on the Damocles." The Admiral ordered, his durasteel eyes turning towards the sensor tech and her display.

"Damocles is not responding." The comms officer reported, then cleared his throat. "Uh, sir."

The Flag Officer turned his eyes to Kasia. The man was not a coward, she assumed his spine was made out of the same material that colored his eyes, but he also didn't go against orders easily. "Thoughts? Crusader Celestyne."

"Kasia, Admiral. We're going to be in battle together, no need to stand on ceremony." She spoke softly, though knew the Admiral would hear her. Her eyes were locked on the approaching ships. The formation wasn't one that their ships would use, even her untrained eyes could see that. Their people weren't in control of those ships. Her eyes then alighted on the mining operation on the map, and her lips firmed into a line. "We have an obligation to the people in this system. We must defend them even as we must render what aid we can to our people on the Damocles." She was very careful to not phrase it as an order.

"Those miners aren't part of the Crusade, they may not even be here legally." His tone was neutral, she knew he was testing her.

"No, they aren't yet, and yes they may be." She replied, turning to look at him directly. Her hands slipped behind her back, standing at an approximation of parade rest. "Neither of which diminishes our responsibility in the eyes of Ashla." There was always a right and a wrong, even if some situations didn't seem like it. This one was fairly easy to her mind.

"Navigation, bring us about for a least time arrival to the mining facility on our extreme port flank. Set us up in a defensive formation centered on those miners. Dispatch those port side ships to get there faster and see about organizing an evacuation." The Admirals face never changed, though she could swear a crinkle at the edge of his eyes showed his approval. She had passed his test, it would seem. "Comms, continue to try to reach Damocles."

For her part, Kasia let her eyes close part way. She took deep, steady breaths as she felt for where the Light of the Force intersected her body and spirit. She drew upon it slowly, spooling the power up in her mind before directing it out in an aura around her. The officers and crew around her would start to feel their fatigue draining away, their senses sharpening slightly. Her hand slipped to the hilt of her blade, using its power to help her focus, help her push the aura out to her extreme limit.

Cedric Grayson | Brimstone | Elise Solsteel | Heinrich Faust | Jegy Sesara​

 

[Jegy Sesara]

The Sullustan would groan, standing up very slowly as his body gave a few cracking noises. Surrounded and was being sprayed with a medical mist as he winced a little but started to feel much better over time. Giving a loud sigh, he spoke out loud as he waved his hand at the pair near him.

"Jegy Sesara, Doctor. Be glad you are not a Joiner...wretched things that are mind controlled into the hive. I was on a lead...one of the more accursed hives apparently got out, a midnight black like Killik. Powerful in the Force, can do enough damage by itself with its own battle meditation. I came to kill it before it-Ah crap."

Walking with them, he could hear the Killiks starting to gather as blaster fire started to open up. The Sullustan decided a lightsaber was not currently necessary, moving his hands upwards as he focused on a nearby blast door. Pulling apart one section of the destroyed blast door, he decided it was of better use as a massive fly swatter. Throwing it down the hallway as it clanged rather loudly, he would then shift his hands to the left as it smashed into another set and started to severely deform part of the hallway on every hit. Giving a slight cough, he felt the pain slowly return as he still had control of this large strip of metal.

"I am about to just suggest lighting a match in here with pure oxygen, blow the kriffers out!"

Kasia Celestyne Cedric Grayson Brimstone Heinrich Faust Elise Solsteel

 

[Heinrich Faust]

Seeing the Killiks attacking Brimstone , Heinrich quickly swung into action. He ran straight for the remaining bugs, sliding between the commandos to get a clear shot. As he slid down the hall, Heinrich took the legs off of a pair of the Killiks, sending them to the ground. He jumped to his feet, he threw the saber down the hall, taking out the bulk of the remaining Killiks. Things seemed to be going smoothly...

Until the ship began to move.

Heinrich turned to the commandos as he finished off the first two Killiks he had attacked.

"I know that isn't us... someone is moving the ship. Considering that we haven't cleared these bugs out..."

He took a moment to think, feeling through the Force to find the source of the movement. Reaching beyond the walls of the ship, he realized that they were on a crash course.

"We need to get to engineering... now."

He shouted back to Jegy Sesara as he pushed further into the tunnel.

"We won't need the explosion if they crash us into the fleet. Once we secure the engines, you just might get the chance to blow them all away."

It was a solid plan, but Heinrich had to make sure that the Damocles didn't stay the course...

They had to act fast in order to prevent disaster.

Cedric Grayson Elise Solsteel Kasia Celestyne​

 

[Brimstone]

Brimstone continued down the corridor, swinging his energy axe, his massive strength allowing him to cleave through the unarmoured killik with ease, his commandos had also mostly switched to vibroblades and had lit up their energy shields, every so often a burst of pistol fire or gout of flame would punctuate the brutal melee combat.

Eventually, after killing unknown numbers of aliens they finally reached the engineering section, it was warm here, much warmer than it should be, and the whole room looked more like the inside of a creature than a starship, this felt like the nest, if anyone was controlling theses beasts, they would be here.

"Men, split up" he pointed at 4 of his commandos "you lot head for the main reactor" he pointed to another team, "you two environmental systems, me and Heinrich Faust will head to the hyperdrive reactor."

They all divided up and began heading to their respective sections, fighting killick along the way.