Back to Belsavis (open; OP territory)

[Ashin Varanin]

Belsavis
Noteworthy Aspects: Prison World, Restricted World, Vine-coffee and vine-silk plantations, primary StarCaf production facility
Military Classification: C

Restricted World - A world with high security. Non-military populations are kept to a minimum and closely watched.
C - Unassuming systems with low to moderate strategic value, these worlds come with much the same as Class B worlds [They have a large, singular defense force on the ground, usually centered in the capital city, with dozens of fighters for support and a dozen defense stations in orbit], only with half as many defense stations. A single Task Force patrols these systems at all times.

The world of Belsavis, relatively close to the Neutral Zone and the nearest Fringe territory, suffered from a fundamental inconsistency in its security profile. Only half a dozen orbital defense stations, a few dozen fighters, and a single major ground force near Plett's Well were tasked with monitoring the entire world, especially its prison-y aspects. But Belsavis was close enough to higher-security systems that reinforcements could show up if those meagre defense forces picked up more trouble than they could handle. Thus, the first priority for Ashin Varanin was to enter and leave Belsavis quietly. She had no desire to drop the Chrysalide, the Chimaera and the rest on this system. One cloaked Fringe Confederation Sekairo-class transport -- that was the way forward, the ship and its crew hidden from the Force.

The transport's hatch cracked over an icy trail on a canyon wall. Ashin snugged her facewrap a little tighter under the fur-lined hood and hopped down into the blizzard. In shin-deep snow, she headed down the familiar trail. Winds permitting, the transport would stay airborne and cloaked, out here thousands of kilometres from what passed for civilization on Belsavis. The place where she, Anaya Fen, Darron Wraith and Spencer Jacobs had gone -- years ago, chasing Darth Apparatus -- was on few maps, and separate from the better-secured vaults beneath the Belsavian tundra. It was anyone's guess whether the Protectorate had discovered this particular cave, but based on its remoteness and the fact that Omni's forces had hidden it in ages gone by, she really doubted it.

Her primary guard for this particular excursion was [member="Dak Canton"], a longtime Fringe specops contractor and, entertainingly enough, the photogenic public face of Akure Executive Leatherworks. Not public face as in figurehead. Public face as in model. He also happened to be entertainingly lethal, so there was that. She didn't wait for him: he could keep up with a limping woman who'd abandoned youth.

The trail wound along the side of the canyon in near-whiteout conditions. A good two hours would get them to the tributary canyon that held the buried entrance.

Oh, and [member="Jared Ovmar"] was along for the ride, because of course he was.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Belsavis​

Planetary Garrison​

Some Hours Prior​

​

They moved in silence, like the night. One was a quiet, bulky figure garbed in a fabric so enigmatic it took the appearance of whatever was nearby. His partner was a short man in azure plates of armor forged specifically for his squat, broad dwarfish frame. A mop of black hair was hidden under his helmet, rebreather held in place on his face by only one strap so that it hung to one side like an afterthought.

It made the most annoying sound whenever it tapped his breastplate.

Sarge only had cause to come to Belsavis once before, and that had been to deliver Jak into custody here. So far as Sarge was aware, he was still here, somewhere. One did not simply escape Belsavis. Here, at the edge of the one of the tropical rift valleys, an oasis of jungle on an otherwise icy world, the Hydra and his Second Head made for a bunker set into the great cliffs that surrounded them.

Soldiers moving about their day paid little mind to the Second Head, having been around long enough to know some Protectorate units had different (and better) gear than they. It was a simple fact of military life; someone always had something newer and better than you. Sarge paused at the threshold of a thick, unmarked blast door covered in fake ice that mirrored its surroundings not unlike his cloak.

A hand rose, setting into five small depressions in the ice at about waist level. Scanners meshed in the ice took his fingerprints, a small blood sample, and then cycled the door open before them. Blinking at the dark before them, he furrowed his brow. A dull hum reached his ears as banks of lights began to snap on, starting at the end of a long corridor and travelling forward to reveal a passageway as large as a starship corridor if taller. One could easily fit a tank down this.

Interesting. Perhaps what he'd been told here was, in fact, here.

With a nod to the Second Head, they went down the corridor, cliff-opening sealing behind them.

-----------------

Nearly twenty minutes later, the cliff split once more as a stout walker thundered its first steps into the light of day. Painted hastily in the azure blue of the Inquisitions forces, its four-digit splayed feet locked into the duracrete of the base as it swiveled at its waist to scan the area. A thin visor set high on its brow seemed the only viewport to the outside and, judging by the size of the corridor it had just left, the thing was more massive than even the Lord Inquisitors armor. Nearly four and a half meters tall, one broad shoulder ended in the nasty many-barreled form of a rotary blaster cannon. Its left was a grasping arm, flamethrower sputtering and hissing underneath its crushing fist.

Rotary cannon cycling up on the right, flamethrower giving a test gout of flame on the left, the walker abruptly turned and headed into the snow; destination unknown.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

I saw snow, snow and more snow. So basically, a fethton of white. That gave me a bunch of things to grumble about. The way we'd be obviously outlined in the snow, the lack of adequate cover, the tracks we'd leave in the snow. That said, if the blizzard kept up it could erase everything. It could also bury our Sekairo.

Trying very hard not to think about the sheer number of ways the mission could go wrong, I trudged along in my insulated armor, snug and cozy. No wonder snow troopers fought under Vader. Freezing to death as a rebel would suck. Hell, I'd fight for Palpatine if I could stay this warm.

Just kidding.

Or am I?

Smugging it under my helmet, I breathed heavily as I followed after [member="Ashin Varanin"], who was black now. Oh the times they aaaare a chaaaangin'. Anyway, my boots smushed into the snow with mind numbing repetitiveness. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

I kept radio silence, because that seemed like a good idea when flanked by two masters of the Force, and kept walking.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

She'd hated Belsavis then, now she hated it even more. She hated it for the memories, for the events that had happened before and after this little road trip.She hated being here, tugged along by Jared and in the presence of Ashin. Anaya had remained silent for the whole journey, save for the occasional tittering laugh or angry mutter, avoiding Ashin's eye.

Now she stared at the back of the womans head. Oh how young and naive she had been. How devoted she had been to the woman who march ahead of her. She owed a great deal to [member="Ashin Varanin"]. She's idolized her, love her and hated her all at the same time. She remembered discovering the First Apprentice's identity. Remembered that this was where her hate for Spencer Jacobs really hit its peak.

She laughed, the wind whipped by and snatched the sound away from her. Bowing her head against it, she smirked.

"We should have brought tauntauns!" she called to Ashin.

[member="Dak Canton"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Jared Ovmar"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Anaya Fen"]

"If I'd known you wanted to break legs," she called back through the snow, "I'd have invited Shorn."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Belsavis​

Ice Wastes​

Fringe Arrival in 1 Hour​

​

Stalking through the white out blizzard ravaging the land, the ultramarine colored walk pounded its way through ankle deep snow. Every step took considerable effort as its massive weight caused it to sink, only for the whine of hydraulics to power it from the stubborn grasp of nature. Its shoulders swayed in the manner of a simian with too long arms, torso having to rotate considerable to get enough torque into each step to continue its forward momentum.

A lone Mluki wanderer, moving between small ice settlements, paused in his ventures to watch the great machine in its implacable march. It paid him no heed, as he paid it little heed. This far out, it was likely a mirage brought about by onsetting cold-numbness. Grasping its staff tighter in a hand, the wanderer continued his trek, determined that the mirage was a sign he need find shelter soon.

The walker kept going, pilot light stubbornly refusing to go out despite natures every attempt to the contrary.

[member="Dak Canton"]
[member="Ashin Varanin"]
[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

A laugh escaped her and she stumbled slightly in the snow.

"There's a family reunion we could sell tickets to. Desmius the Dark Lord of the Sith and her meat-shields."

Her eyes flashed slightly. "We just need Santuary, and we could have ourselves a ball."

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Marcus Tritum]

Oh stars, not the crazy lady. Not the crazy lady. I did my best to look unimportant. It wasn't hard.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Until she mentioned tauntauns. They are the actual worst. If their smell doesn't kill you their stupidity will.

Crunch, crunch, crunch. Ow, my thighs.

But man, I kinda hoped that lethan would show me her tauntauns. Wait what? Focus, Dak.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Dak Canton"] [member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

A response died on her lips, along with what felt like the last vestige of warmth. Some parts of Belsavis welcomed travellers. Most had other ideas. She held the hood and wrap a little tighter across her cheek, leaning back at an angle to the snow-flecked wind.

"Did either of you see that? A shape, nothing human -- up on top of the other wall." The wind bit her around the eyes. She gestured across the canyon. "Anaya -- you sense anything?"

 

[Uriel]

Where there was one, there was always another.

Behind his commanding officer came the paragon of the Inquisition, the perfect soldier... well, after the Lord Inquisitor himself. Thud after thud of heavy metallic footfalls, four square braces encircling a round plated foot, followed in the wake of the Colonel's own machine. A second one, geared for war - a missile rack upon its left arm and a twin heavy laser cannon upon its right - came behind [member="Sarge Potteiger"], as support.

"On your six, my Lord," echoed the voice of its pilot over secure comm. The voice went dead moments later. This was a test, after all. Security was paramount.

The giant metal coffin was different from anything the Sergeant had ever done. He had not once piloted a vehicle so, but its controls were mostly foolproof; simple enough to operate, easy enough to cause carnage. Traget lights and overlays in green danced across Uriel's eyes, guiding his attention to that which needed the most cleansing. He could have loosed a swarm of missiles upon his foes. He could have incinerated them beneath his lasers. However, they were all test targets. Trees, perhaps. HUD overlays guided him towards the form in front of him and, happy to keep his fingers off the trigger for now.

[member="Dak Canton"]
[member="Ashin Varanin"]
[member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya couldn't see anaything through the snow, she blew an irritated sigh out of her nose and looked again, but this time, not with her eyes. Being blind for a small portion of her life had had its benefits. Force sight allowed her to see past the snow, her senses picked up a familiar signature and her concentration shatted in an instance, panic flaring in her eyes.

She re read the note from him on her desk, the first stone that started this avalanche. "Inorganic." she managed finally "its a machine. Big." She shivered, a nervous laugh slipping from her lips. She was avoiding all of their eyes again. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she was just picking up an old trail of his. This was Omega territory after all.

i love it when you try to kid yourself.

"Whatever it is, its not seen us."

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Dak Canton"] @Sare Potteiger [member="Uriel"]

 

[Arage Bao]

The Sith Lord sniffed, his senses projected over their immediate area. But [member=Anaya Fen]’s feelings were becoming erratic once again, she was sensing something… something that was causing her a lot of distress. If Ovmar had been surprised he would probably have sighed. But these days he really didn’t become all that surprised anymore, it was getting out of fashion.

His mind touched hers, gently and showed her peace.

‘How are you holding up?’ the Ovmar asked in her mind, showing her his concern and love. It wasn’t a thing he liked to do, but sometimes the truth had to be revealed, rarely of course, but sometimes… it was time.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

There was an old habit he'd noticed many warriors had. Well, less of a habit and more of an instinct. It made sense when it came down to it, but he'd never had a rational explanation for it. That instinct boiled down to 'we're being watched.' Abruptly, the walker arrested its forward momentum, rocking unsteadily on its squat legs as it came to a halt. Inside the cockpit, face lit by a deep green tactical display, Sarge adjusted the information being fed into his retina.

Without warning, the rotary cannon that made up his right arm began to whir, head flushing up the skin of his arm in response. Frowning to himself, since he'd not told the walker to spool up the weapon, he made sure to turn it off before swinging the torso to the right. With the splayed feet of the walker following suit, it marches up the small escarpment on his right, coming to a stop near the edge.

Panning the viewport down to get a look at the area below him, he filters through various vision modes. Again, almost as if the machine was responding to his anxiety, the cannon began spooling up again. From below, the azure paint hastily applied to the walker was flaky, clearly dried in the freezing cold they now found themselves in.

"SHOW YOURSELVES." He says, the great bass rumble of the walkers speaker loud enough to even make his own body shake.

Sarge was not a Force-User who could really sense other people, at least not to any degree of anything beyond 'something is probably nearby.' But sometimes the Force lead him in curious ways and who was he to question it.

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Uriel"] [member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Dak Canton"] [member="Uriel"]

"Feth. Fat lot of good it is walking around with Force gods. If you lot spent half the time on Sense as you did on shiny tricks-" She grimaced against the biting snow on the wind. "Anaya, Ovmar, do me a favor and clear the snowstorm, or at least this little bit, so our new friend can see us."

She raised her voice above the wind. Like Sarge, she hadn't developed her Sense abilities, but her general feeling of what's over there mated nicely with the inhuman basso rumble that percolated down from the other side of the canyon. "As you wish," she called out.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

Thank stars for the Multi-Frequencing Targeting and Acquisition System, am I right? Oh, for you civilians out there it's called MFTAS, old old Imperial tech built into the helmets of stormtroopers, the armor of which I happened to be wearing. Anyway, snow sucked, but it wasn't as big an obstacle for me. The HUD did some fancy flashing things to the lenses and all of a sudden I was seeing something outlined in the distance that did nothing good for my soldierly composure.

"Uh, Ma'am, I wouldn't recommend that."

Dunno why I said that, Force Users don't like suggestions from us normal people. I hunkered down in the snow, drawing a bead on the big freakin' walker I could make out through the blizzard. I doubted my underslung grenade launcher would put a dent in the thing, but I'd sure as hell try. Thermal det might do it though.

The blinding white of stormtrooper armor actually served as good camouflage, for once. I doubted it would matter if the dude in the walker had thermal imaging. Then we'd all be screwed.

"He's got a BFW. Big Freaking Walker."

I cleared my throat.

"But, er, I'm uh... I'm sure you all can handle it."

Damn forcies.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Anaya Fen"]

 

[Uriel]

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Dak Canton"]

Without a second thought, Uriel switched his sensors to thermal. In the snow, it was a smart move, something probably important when it came to this kind of thing. Sarge did have the powers of the Force to back up his senses, but Uriel did not. As a soldier, he did what he knew - in snow, change sensors.

And there they were.

Weapons cycled and locked as the whirr of servomotors became a cascading rhythm, arms tracking their weapons to lock on to distant targets. A gigantic missile bank along with the twin laser cannons found their foes at a distance, ready to shred them to pieces. Uriel was no-nonsense in this situation, knowing full well that whatever was out here should not have been out here.

"Dread two, in position. At least four, two hundred metres, zero six zero."

If they twitched wrong, or failed to identify, then Uriel wouldn't hesitate in burning them off the face of the Galaxy.

Ironically enough, the universe wrote half this post, took a break, came back, and saw something someone else wrote too that referenced thermal. Well, clearly, great minds think alike.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Jared's calming influence brought a rare smile to Anaya's lips and she glanced towards him. "Im ok." she replied to him mentally. Drawing a deep breath she closed her eyes and drew on the calm her gave her to settle her rattled nerves.

"It's Sarge." she said finally.

Didnt he say he wouldn't suffer a sith to live?

"Options are limited." she muttered. Ashin had given her a command, old habits die hard, she couldnt refuse her. She swept her hand towards them, a telekinetic wave, powerful enough to clear the snow, but not enough to cause any alarm to Sarge and his companion. She called on Jared mentally for support, drawing on both their strength to keep a continious force wind blowing a direct line of sight between them.

She reached out to the cold hearted soldier she knew. Hello old friend.

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Uriel"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

And there they stood, separated by a gulf of white. Two massive, squat walkers. The one in front, the one that had spoken and been identified as Sarge - that was the one with a rotary blaster cannon. Behind him, however, stood a compatriot. Its left arm was nonexistent, replaced instead by a bank of missiles. On the other side it had a pair of heavy laser cannons. There was a long pause as the blaster cannon spooled up, the whine carrying over the winds.

"You have violated Protectorate territory. You will return with us for processing."

Anaya reached out to touch his mind. A mind she truly did not want to touch. Sarge wasn't able to train his sense not from a lack of trying, but from a lack of not being able. While he was able to channel the Force, anything telepathic was well beyond him. This was a lingering effect from the artifact on Elrood; the same artifact that had refused his inability to connect with the Force.

She touched his mind, and in doing so would touch the mentally scalding brand of a complete and total mental block.

There was no mind to reach there.

He did not bother to identify; either himself to them, or them to his partner. It was a pointless endeavor.

Still, he could feel something clawing at the back of his mind. It was irritated and possessed with boundless urgency. An eye twitched, followed by the finger hovering near the trigger. The machine seemed to be responding to him on a very deep level and, in turn, the Force was giving him the will of the machine. He sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

But as he stood there in his walker, snow battering at his flanks - he could feel the scrape of it against his skin, even in here - he found himself staring into his past. Ashin. Anaya. Good souls, though they were so often lost. Just as he had been. Just as he was. A grimace passed over his scarred features even as tears threatened to stain his cheeks with the salty highways of remorse.

There had been a time where he would have allowed them safe passage on their journeys; even wished them luck.

He feared such a time was beyond him now.

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Dak Canton"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Uriel"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

​

 

[Marcus Tritum]

There's nothing quite like being caught out in the open, deep snow hampering your mobility and two walkers with missile banks and rotary cannons pointing right at you to turn the belly - and the pants - absafreakin-yellow.

I had two words to describe how I felt about this situation. I vocalized them, more out of shock than anything else.

"Kriff. Me."

I continued to point my rifle at them, fully aware of the ridiculousness of my armament. No worries, I've faced worse. Right guys? Dragons. Dragons and terentateks. Totally worse than armored machines with rotary cannons and a dozen anti-personnel rockets. Aren't they?

[member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Jared Ovmar"] [member="Uriel"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Arage Bao]

All the possibilities that had been there evaporated the moment Anaya combined their strengths and washed away the snowfall, making us dead-on visible to the two mooks. The Sith Lord sighed, there were multiple possibilities here, most of them ended in blood. But there was one clear thing here, nobody was giving up anything.

Jared could have locked their walkers up, make ‘em impossible to move or even fire their guns, but that would have meant directly influencing their stuff. They’d probably see that as a problem, and Ovmar didn’t really enjoy making too much problems.

Second option.

He briefly touched Varanin’s mind,an understanding passed between them and then [member=Anaya Fen], [member=Dak Canton] and Jared Ovmar disappeared. This wasn’t a simple mind trick, neither was it a light bending technique ala the Twilight Disciples, this was the Current.

Ovmar signaled both Canton as well as Fen to retreat to a safer position, Varanin would either handle this herself, or they’d be able to help her from a superior vantage point.

[member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Uriel"]