Mission Balmorra: Whole Block Pays

[Lysander von Ascania]

Acier Moonbound Varin Mortifer Darth Grimm Miasmær | Open to all Sith​

The freighter was dropped into Balmorra’s orbit, released from a carrier like a slug of ammunition with only one directive. The hull shuddered as it punched through the atmosphere. Vibrations ran up through Lysander’s boots. The planet’s surface was rising quickly to meet them. Even from afar, he saw the familiar industrial glow, staining the clouds.

Their reason for arriving had been simple enough, as disastrous situations tended to be. A high-value Covenant official was being held. Several other ranking overseers were already executed during an organized rebellion. Of course, Lysander tolerated no precedent. Many witnessed the younger Sith’s composed facade, but few saw the wrath unleashed when things went south.

The cargo bay doors opened. Acolytes already stood in formation, most unaware of what it meant to be used. Lysander stepped into the space, near some of the higher ranking Sith, feeling the weight of his obsidian armor. His helm was already sealed; every time he donned that mask, someone died. Today would be no different.

His voice slithered through the vocoder, stripped of anything resembling humanity. “Biosigns confirm the hostage still breathes.. for now.” A mechanical hiss bled into the air. “These rebels have soaked their hands in Covenant blood. Negotiation is a weakness they’ve forfeited the privilege to witness today.” On the tactical display, red blips marked targets across the factory zone. “Our drop zone is marked. Primary extraction point is compromised. You will secure a viable route once the district is pacified. Extract the asset. Exterminate all resistance. Your survival is irrelevant, only your purpose matters. Should you die, ensure your corpse hinders their path.” The voice lowered. “Leave no building standing, nor any rebel breathing. Desecrate what remains. Consider their ranks.. raw material for your creativity. Sobrik must learn the cost of noncompliance.”

Engines roared as the ship continued descending far too fast. Through the open side panels Lysander could see the city rushing beneath them even clearer now. The ramp began to lower mid‑flight. Some wouldn’t survive the landing.. but that detail did not alter the mission.

Lysander stepped to the edge of the ramp, and hangar lights flipped red; that was the only warning they would receive. The acolytes vanished in a shower of bodies. One struck a smokestack and burst into sparks. Another slammed into machinery and was immediately consumed by gears.

One final glance was cast at the only two men who truly understood him without words: Varin and Acier. The big steppers. A gauntleted hand was raised, thumb and pinky extended in a gesture more fitting for a cantina than a battlefield. But they would understand the meaning. What they wouldn’t see was the dangerous smirk that cut across his mouth.

He let the fall take him as the sign still hung in the air.

 

[Miasmær]

Miasmær sat. Maw's Hunger, her ship, hovered above the city cloaked and unbothered. Three women, dressed in little more than the rags she had found them in within the slave pits of Loovria, chanted quietly under their breath in the ancient tongue of the Sith. Before them their clasped hands bled, blood pooling in intricate patterns on the floor; libations at the alter of Miasmær's attention. As Miasmær meditated the words focused her mind on her purpose: death. Each breath shaped her emotions from a wild frenzy into a cold, calculated, intentional rage whose razor sharp edge could pierce steel. With the force she shaped her supplicants' blood into patterns, shapes, arcane sigils, and sith runes. A simple meditation practice, one meant to focus ones' mind and improve one's dominion over the force.

Slowly her eyes would open, shifting about the room to observe the three women deep in spiritual trance and unaware of their surroundings. Her lips would twitch into a smile for only a second, before she would begin to stand. From one pair of bloodied hands she took her saber, slick in ichor, and stepped to the ramp of her vessel. The ship's maw would open, a black space in the sky from which Miasmær's malevolent gaze judged the city below. Miasmær's arms would spread, her eyes close once more, and slowly she would lean forward; the blood behind her losing all shape and pooling unbothered on the ship's floor.

Soon the slowness of her meditation was met with the rushing of wind as she plummeted down towards the city. Through the air she would fall with arms held wide, before with a deep breath, she would tuck them into her body, open her eyes, and bend the force to cushion her fall. With a crash and burst of kinetic energy she would impact the city streets. Around her were screams, men and women backing away as the impromptu mob of would-be rebels she landed in front of froze in terror. Some raised their weapons, others looked for a means of escape, but none could drag their attention away from Miasmær. In that quiet moment after the crash nothing could have distracted them, except the streak of blood red crackling light Miasmær would activate at her side.

The brave would roar in challenge and charge.

The cowards would scream in horror and flee.

And Miasmær would begin her bloody work.

It was less of a battle and more of a dance between Miasmær and her saber. With each step of the waltz bodies would fall around her, cries of pain and anguish fueling her battle-rage as she pushed further into the crowd. Those who attempted to escape were dragged back choking and spluttering as invisible hands wrapped around their throats and pulled them back into Miasmær's dance. By the time Miasmær had finished, none remained. A crowd of bodies lay about her as if she were a child done playing with dolls. Sobrik knew her now, the city recoiling from her presence as she began to stride down the road. Bringing her wrist to her mouth she would speak, coldly broadcasting her voice over Covenant communications:

"I have landed. Carving a path to the hostage's location."

Acier Moonbound Varin Mortifer Darth Grimm Lysander von Ascania

 

[Tamsin Starfall]

​

Theme: Lunatics and Slaves
Tags: Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer | Darth Grimm | Lysander von Ascania | Miasmær

Balmorra, a world always at war with itself, rebelling against those that tried to control it. It was beautiful in a way; she couldn't help but admire the people that lived here. They tore their own world apart just so they could live the way they wanted. The downside is they could never decide what they wanted, then again maybe that was it they just wanted to fight. A microcosm of the Galaxy on a single world.

Still, it was beautiful, Tamsin thought to herself as she lifted her hand bring it up to the earpiece in her helmet and clicking it on. Chatter screamed across the comm in her ear as she shifted through channels between sith, rebels, and local authority. Until a single silent channel opened up.

"Are your teams in place?" Her calm innocent voice said to the other person listening at the end of the comm. Tamsin listened as to clicks came across the comm in confirmation. Tamsin then brought her hand down from her ear as it moved to the wrist computer on her on her armor.

She stared at it a moment. What were they doing here, the covenant were rebels in their own right. Yet here they were acting like an empire, a true sith rebel would kill the asset or let them be killed. If they were weak enough to be caught, then they deserved the consequences. They should have more in common with the rebels than the asset. She hit a button on her wrist pad and then moved to the exit of the craft.

As Lysander von Ascania lead the charge. The tiny figure in armor moved to the edge of the ramp and leapt off in a headfirst dive. She shot down like a bullet as the wind whipped by her, she could sense the opening warning signs of their coming as a wicked little smirk hidden behind her helmet cross her face.

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Anet Raine (maybe?)

Hostages. Rescue missions. The entire concept amused Nilira ever so slightly. To think that the Sith would enact a rescue mission for one of their own when the Jedi had never done so for Neriah. How little she must have meant to the Jedi. The Acolyte couldn't help the rare smirk that came to her face as she landed, brushing the dust and dirt off her body for a moment with a small lazy sigh escaping her lips. A few stray blaster bolts flew past her as she did so, yet she didn't seem to react to them, as she took in the sight of Balmorra. Trying to feel something for the state of this planet, yet she couldn't feel a single thing except a void.

Her hand flicked up as a blaster bolt came close to her, redirecting it into another direction as her gaze finally focused on the sight of one of the rebels, a young lad perhaps not even older than her, holding a rifle in her direction. The fear oozed off him like some kind of pungent order, causing Nilira to let out another rather empty sigh. Fear. Anger. Pain. All of them were utterly pointless in the end. What was bliss, except for the lack of emotion? She wafted her hand in the boy's direction, as if she was weaving various strands through the air, focused on the lad's heart, as she seemingly tugged on the strands, and that pungent sense of fear just seemed...to fade from the lad, alongside seemingly a small shudder of fear going down Nilira's spine until that also faded.

"...Shame. Your fear wasn't as exquisite as I expected it to be. At least you can feel a moment of bliss before your life comes to an end."

NIlira's hand snapped through the air, as the rebel fell down to the ground, a clean snap of their neck. The Acolyte wasn't a fan of senseless brutality. Yes, it could lead to more fear and anger that she could try to use to fill the growing emptiness inside of her, but the taste always left her wanting for more. It was better to find more..."nutritional" emotions for her to feed from, but that was neither here nor there, as she turned her gaze towards the sky, watching the others landing, as she stood, almost as if waiting.

​

 

[Darth Grimm]

Grimm was Covenant in name only, only because it was convenient to him to be so. As he walked the streets of the factory planet Balmorra, he did so as a surveyor. His strange mechanical eyes whirred and snapped as they switched between light frequencies, scanning the internals and externals of each. Grimm had not been awake during the Clone Wars, but he could see already that these factories were insufficient for his needs... even if what he wanted was to revive his once-powerful tsil-crystal powered droid army. He did not. He was not keen on repeating past mistakes.

The dark robed figure would have stood at 6'4" if he could reach his full height, but he stooped over like a very old man. In his hands he carried a staff that provided his support. Made from black stone and carved with ancient Runes, he sometimes wrapped his thinly-fleshed hands around it and used it to draw himself forward. His cloak hid his features, which were horrific in themselves. To an observer, Grimm seemed very weak, and to another Force Adept, he seemed very weak in the Force.

A pathetic creature, though one who moved with purpose - even if that purpose was wasted here. All he had to show for his work was a bound group of blueprints, most of which were useless to his eidetic memory. Now that his work was complete, he was headed for the spaceport. Even as conspicuous as he was, he seemed to blend in with the crowd. A minor illusion which depended on the observers ignorance of him. It would hide him from anyone scanning across the crowd, but not from someone who recognized him, or had a very strong ability to focus. Otherwise, he was just an old man with a walking staff meandering through the streets.

He paused every few steps, his weakness apparent from the way his body heaved, and occasionally his illusion was broken as his body convulsed in wracking coughs. The crowd kept a wide berth at those times, fearful that he might carry some virulent disease. This was not the case. He was merely decrepit, a body wasted away by a millennia of stasis. Grimm mused over his last memory before locking himself away inside the Oubliette. A young Jedi Knight and his Master had disturbed his tomb, and because of centuries of planning, he had managed to inhabit the body of the Knight. When he faced against the Jedi Master, a miscalculation of her power had led to his defeat, and his new body was drained of it's vitality.

Though this body appeared ancient, physically it was no older than twenty-four. Grimm cackled in dry laughter at the thought, which sent the crowd scurrying away from him again. A hapless Jedi Master had foiled his plans made over thousands of years, and ruined his attempt to revive himself in the Age of the High Republic. Perhaps serendipitously. The High Republic had been an over-competitive period for Jedi and Sith. Much like now... although, Grimm did not have a high opinion of the Sith of today either. Not that he compared them to the Dark Jedi or the early Sith Lords, as he despised them too... but it seemed some weaknesses had not abated.

Of all things, ironically, Grimm despised weakness.

(Open to All)

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Balmorra - Sobrik

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Heat rolled in first, then light, as the ramp lowered. Sobrik stretched beneath them - smog-choked skylines, factory stacks bleeding fire into the clouds, the whole planet humming like something alive and dying at the same time. Ace stood near the edge but not at it, gaze moving once across the city without lingering.

Lysander's voice filled the bay, stripped of anything human. Orders were clean and absolute. No negotiation. No distinction. Just outcome.

Exterminate.
Desecrate.
Leave nothing.

Ace didn't react outwardly, he simply listened, and beneath the words... under the tone, the intent, the certainty... something didn't sit clean. Not wrong, just off.

His gaze flicked to the tactical display, then past it toward the city itself. They weren't breaking, they were organizing, and a thought surfaced. These weren't the enemies he was supposed to fight. It lingered for half a second. But... they were in his way.

And that was enough. His focus snapped back into place, clean and immediate. The feeling didn't disappear. It just… stopped mattering. Objective first.

Ace glanced at Varin, not for long, then to Lysander He saw there was no hesitation or doubt. Just the mission. He understood that. There was a small tilt of his head, a form of acknowledgement.

Bodies started moving. Some leapt without thinking, others hesitated just long enough for it to matter. And the drop? It wasn't forgiving.

Ace stepped forward as the space cleared, stopping just short of the edge. Wind howled up from below, and for a brief moment, he looked out over the city again. People holding lines. Falling back in patterns. Fighting. He paused for a fraction, then he stepped off.

He didn't fall straight, instead he cut through it. Ace adjusted mid-drop, threading past scaffolding and exhaust vents, angling away from the obvious landing zone. Blasterfire tore into the street below, where he would've been.

Ace landed off-angle on a raised platform, momentum rolling straight through into motion. A bolt came in, he deflected without looking. The second rebel adjusted faster, covered the angle, didn't hesitate.

Ace clocked it instantly. The spacing, the discipline, for a fraction of a second... he saw them clearly. Fighters.

His blade shifted. The exchange lasted less than a second. A redirected shot forced the guard high, his follow-up cut through the rebel before the next action could form.

::Stay on the objective.:: His voice cut across comms. ::Secure the route. Ignore anything not blocking it.::

Ahead, the street narrowed. Resistance was building. Ace adjusted his grip slightly and stepped forward, blade already in motion as the next volley came in. He needed to rendezvous with Lysander and Varin.

Lysander von Ascania | Varin Mortifer | Tamsin Starfall | Miasmær | Nilira Vornix | Darth Grimm​

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace


Varin stood with his helm at his side, his burning gaze traveling over the new bloods, remembering each face, because some would not be making it back.

Lysander's orders rang clear in the comms as the ramp opened, smog, smoke and tainted air filled the small room causing some to cough and quickly put on their masks before leaping to their possible final destination.

Varin did not put his helm on yet, his gaze falling on Lysander before he gave a simple handsign and diving out, next was the small but capable Tamsin, diving after him, finally Varin looked towards Acier, giving him a quiet nod.

He knew it had not been easy for Acier, and he had seen the change that had started to overcome him, but he kept it to himself. It was not entirely his business, but he would keep a close eye on the acolyte.

He then watched him dive.

Shortly after Acier had left the shuttle violently shifted knocking a couple other acolytes out of the drop door, their screams lost in the whipping winds around them, Varin looked down then slowly placed his helm over his head.

Another drop, another mission…more conquest.

His visor flared its menacing red as the armor responded to the heat of his body, the outlines of the plates flaring a burning orange as if the metal were heating up, the smoldering cloud rushed from his back as he stepped off, he dove, body straightening as he closed his eyes.

The pyroclastic flow from his body enveloped him like a living cloud, wings outstretched from the smoking figure, unfurling in a menacing silhouette.

His body twisted just before he landed, the force rushing through his body hardening bone strengthening muscle and coursing higher doses of oxygen into his blood. The ground cracked beneath him as the smoke slithered off his body.

A stray blaster bolt just barely missed his armor embedding itself into a pipe holding flammable gasses. An eruption of flames enveloped him in a loud explosion.

“HE'S DOWN HE'S DOWN!”

The rebel began to celebrate his small victory before his voice grew silent.

The flames around Varin started to stir and whirl, like a typhoon draining into the bottom of the ocean. Only the drain was Varin absorbing the flames.

He slowly looked towards the rebels, standing up from his landing the concrete beneath him began to melt before he let out a bellowing roar. Like a hellish storm, flames and heated smoke erupted from his body cradling and burying any rebels near him as a firestorm stirred around him.

He unsheathed his blade and surged into the fray, burning rebels that dared get too close before he cut them down.

The mouthpiece of his helm opened as a massive bolt of lightning shot forth from his jaws into the incoming fray, incinerating those who came in direct contact then burning and blinding those who were near them.

Finally he tapped his comms.

“I have made landfall.”

Lysander von Ascania | Acier Moonbound | Tamsin Starfall | Miasmær | Darth Grimm | Nilira Vornix​

 

[Anet Raine]

Nilira Vornix
Robes | Mask
​

Anet stepped slowly through the chaos wrought in Nilira's path. Her presence screamed in the Force; an effect of her corrupting mask.

She looked down at the fresh corpse in a line of victims, then over to the young woman she arrived with.

"You've cleared quite the path, Nilira." If her presence wasn't known already, it was now. "But there's been a slight change of plans. Lysander, Varin, and the others are more than capable of rescuing our dear colleague." Her tone made it clear that she didn't care whether this captured official lived or died, but she understood the point of this mission - Don't Fuck With the Covenant.

"An Ithorian slicer... Codenamed 'Verdant Nyx' runs with this cell. Some kind of anti-corporate activist. Don't really care, but he apparently hoarded useful data. Some decades worth of it, at least..." Her words trailed off when a group of rebels ran down the street ahead of them towards the other Sith.

They could, perhaps, make the other team's lives a little easier along the way.

Anet extended a hand and drew the Force towards her, sweeping the legs of a straggler. The others turned back to the cries of their tripped friend. Soon, their attention -- and the aim of their blasters -- turned towards them. Anet ignited her lightsaber.

 

[Seris Velmora]

Tag: Lysander von Ascania | Acier Moonbound | Varin Mortifer | Darth Grimm | Miasmær | Tamsin Starfall

The shuttle ride down should have meant something. It didn’t. Seris sat with one boot hooked against the deck plating, leaning back just enough to look like she might be relaxed. She wasn’t. The interior of the transport thrummed with engine vibration and anticipation, the rest of Lysander’s group shifting, checking weapons, settling into whatever passed for readiness.

She was bored. That was the problem. “Marry. Shag. Kill.” The words slipped out lazily, tossed into the cramped space without much weight behind them. Her gaze flicked between three of the others, assessing.

A few noticed her absent words and glanced over. One scoffed. Another ignored her entirely. Seris tilted her head slightly, considering. Marriage. The idea stalled there for a moment. Not because it mattered—but because it didn’t. It felt absurd. Binding. Slow. Something built for people who needed something to last. Seris didn’t.

Her attention shifted. Not to the others. To the thought beneath it. Shag. A flicker of interest, brief and sharp, but it didn’t hold. Not here. Not now. Not with the hum of descent vibrating through the hull, not with the anticipation building in the air like pressure before a break.

Kill. Her expression settled. That one stayed. She let out a quiet breath, almost amused at herself, before leaning forward slightly, elbows resting on her knees. Her fingers flexed once, then stilled. “Kill ‘em all,” she said simply, more to herself than anyone else. It was the only answer that felt right. Right now, it was the only one that felt like anything at all.

The shuttle lurched as it cut through the atmosphere, the distant glow of Balmorra’s industrial fires bleeding through the viewport. The world below was already tearing itself apart—factories burning, infrastructure collapsing, war eating its way through steel and smoke.

The ramp hadn’t even opened yet, and Seris could feel it. That edge. That moment right before everything started moving again. Her foot tapped once against the deck. Then again. Subtle. Quick. Controlled. Barely.

The doors split open with a mechanical snap. Heat flooded in first. Then sound. Then everything else. Seris twitched. Not visibly enough for most to catch—but it was there. A sharp, eager tension snapping through her posture as her head turned slightly toward Lysander, just enough to register him without fully looking. Waiting. Not patiently. Never patiently.

The release came. And she was already moving. Seris surged forward with the first break in the line, clearing the ramp in a single step and dropping into the chaos below without hesitation. The landing barely registered—impact redirected into momentum as she drove forward into the nearest cluster of resistance.

Her sabers ignited mid-stride. Red light cut through smoke. The first target turned too slowly. A clean strike would have ended it immediately. She didn’t choose clean. Her blade carved across the torso, held for a fraction longer than necessary before she moved past, already shifting toward the next. A second opponent raised a weapon—too late—her off-hand saber intercepting, deflecting, then returning in a short, brutal arc.

No pause.

No reset.

Blaster fire sparked against the ground near her feet as she pushed deeper into the opening, forcing space where there wasn’t any. Her movement was fast, but not efficient. Not restrained. Escalating. Another step in. Another body down. Closer. Better.

She exhaled through it, steady, controlled—but there was something under it now. Something building, threading through each movement as the fight began to take shape around her. Not enough yet. Behind her, the rest of the group would begin to deploy, structure forming, objectives aligning, command settling into place.

Seris didn’t look back. She pressed forward into the next cluster, already searching for the next break, the next push, the next moment where the line would give. And this time—this time—it might almost be enough.

​

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Anet Raine

If Nilira had reacted to the mask, she didn't let it be seen, as instead the Acolyte stood over one of the corpses, using her lightsaber to cut into their chest, before using the Force to rip out the heart from the corpse, before storing it into a satchel for research later. She had never planned on following the objective anyway, and she had done her own goals, as she turned her gaze over towards Anet.

"Whether they rescue him matters little to me. They will die, whether it be today or another day down the line, it means nothing."

As soon as the next group of rebels showed up, Nilira seemed to fade into the surroundings, leaving Anet as the sole Sith for a moment. With the troopers' blasters and focus aimed towards Anet, Nilira moved through the streets to emerge from behind the rebels, twirling her lightsaber out for a moment, before one of the rebels felt the cold metal of the emitter pressed against their neck.

"Do not be afraid. Death comes for us all."

The sudden spark of terror that the rebel had would swiftly be replaced with the cold emptiness of death, as Nilira ignited her lightsaber, before slashing the blade out towards the rest of the group to split their attention. An attack from two sides. One side practically screaming in the Force with anxiety and darkness, and the other side feeling as if it was a cold void.

​

​

 

[Darth Grimm]

(Open to All)

Grimm stopped to stare up at the skies. Blaster fire and dogfighting filled the air. Screams echoed up and down the streets as the crowds scattered to seek a safety that existed nowhere. "Idiots," he hissed under his breath, lamenting his connection with the other users of the Dark Side. Grimm himself had such a low presence in the Force that he may as well be undetectable, but he clutched a raw Sith Soul Gem beneath his robes - the source of the small amount of power that he actually could employ. Once he had been among the most powerful Dark Side Adepts in the Galaxy, but this was not some failure that he was as weakened as he is now. No, it was a calculated decision he had made after learning the story and fate of Darth Nihilus, perhaps the greatest and most powerful Sith that had ever existed. Nihilus had become a creature wholly of the Force, and that had still not saved him.

So Grimm had made plans. Long-term plans that would keep him alive and under the nose of the Living Force, and Grimm plotted against it. Indeed, he sought to undermine the very thing which gave him strength and kept him alive even now. The Force controlled the fates of the strongest in the Galaxy. Even the Sith. The more powerful one became, the more the Force controlled you, and the more likely you would die in some grand and painful display.

The skeletal creature had seen it for himself. Twice, the Living Force had sent assassins to slay him, and twice he had escaped death to live again. Once when his Dark Jedi brethren saw his philosophies as a threat to their power, and once again when a Jedi Master had been sent to foil his plans to live again. Now, alive again in this Era, the Dark Lord of Machinations, the Sith Lord Grimm prepared himself again. Gathering resources from the Galaxy so he could strike again at the core of the Force, perhaps once again return the fate of the Galaxy to the creatures within it.

As always, the Living Force seemed to send it's pawns to foil Grimm's plans. If he had lips he would smile. The explosions around him, the Sith appearing in the skies and on the ground, fighting and killing and making his life more difficult was merely a sign that he was still on the right path. That he was still on to something big.

"You have sshown your hand," he muttered, his voice harsh and bitter, "Thiss meanss it iss my move." He hurried forward, doubling his efforts to reach his shuttle at the spaceport. Soon he would leave this rock, collect his prize, and return to his plans... and someday soon, he would destroy the Living Force.

​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Seris Velmora Acier Moonbound Varin Mortifer Darth Grimm Tamsin Starfall Miasmær Anet Raine Nilira Vornix​

The impact of Lysander's landing defied physics, throwing dust up around him. His breath cycled through the vocoder with a three-count inhale, and a two-count exhale. Rising from the crouch, the city's screams echoed all around. But tracking those of the civilians were irrelevant. The only priority was acquiring visual confirmations of rebel positions.

As the Sith scanned the street, he was quick to note they weren't fleeing. No, they regrouped and covered every approach. A more disciplined line fell back into some makeshift barricade. Another squad leapfrogged from cover to cover. That meant someone was directing them.. they were trained. Textbook urban warfare.

A blaster bolt hissed past his shoulder. He raised one hand, palm outward, deflecting the next into a distant wall. Ahead, a tower stood, registering as a vantage point and command node. Just after, a pulse flickered across his visor as the HUD began to recalibrate.

::Resistance patterns indicate organized command. Tactical analysis suggests a communications hub is within a five-hundred meter radius. Find it and destroy it.::

He advanced, boots crunching over shattered transparisteel. Three insurgents broke cover on his left flank. Lysander observed their formation. Novices compared to someone of the Knight's caliber. With a flick of his wrist, a concussive wave of Force energy slammed them violently into the pavement in bloody smears.

::Seal all district exits. Collapse the northern overpass to block their primary evacuation route. Establish kill zones at secondary exits. Herd remaining hostiles southward.::

A thermal signature of a coolant pipeline registered on the HUD, running beneath the district. His mind flashed through a few different scenarios. The thought of civilians caught in the blast radius touched his consciousness.. then vanished just as quickly. The explosion would most likely consume three, maybe four blocks. Acceptable collateral damage. The Covenant had taught him well.

::Target the coolant infrastructure. We'll flush them out. When they break cover, I want concentrated fire on every moving target. No exceptions.::

Two fingers lifted, signaling the next push and death to come.

 

[Anet Raine]

Nilira Vornix​

She looked at Nilira, expression hidden behind the mask. "Well, you're lively," she teased.

This was probably the first time they actually interacted directly. Aside from when Nilira cauterized her wound. Otherwise, they had always been part of a group, but never worked closely. Anet wondered if the acolyte was always so... dreary.

Still, now wasn't the time nor place as blaster bolts flew their way.

Her attention shot to where Nilira seemingly disappeared.

"Dark creature," she muttered under her breath and threw into the fray.

Together, they cut down the rebels in what would become a slaughter. The soldiers were not prepared to fight Sith. Their minds could not handle the sheer terror of corrupting darkness, and their training did not account for lightsabers or the Force.

Anet reached out to a pair of them, one distracted as Nilira cut down their friend; she crushed the air around them both, a prison of invisible Force that locked their muscles and joints. Then, from her other she threw her lightsaber in a spin and sliced through them with ease.

A final survivor threw down his blaster and dove behind a speeder. For a moment, it seemed Nilira and Anet had the field thoroughly in hand, until a large, armored repulsor tank slugged around the corner and turned its main gun towards them.

"Shit!" Anet threw herself behind the same speeder (opposite side) as the cowering rebel.

She looked over at Nilira. "We need a plan."

 

[Nilira Vornix]

Tag: Anet Raine

"And you're a bleeder."

That was the only comment she made in response to the teasing before she leapt into action. And as the battle went on, Nilira's strikes were refined. Somewhat elegant, like a surgeon working with a scalpel. There was little need for large slicing moments or swishing swipes through the air. Those were wasted movements, wasted energy...

Then came to the final survivor. Their fear was palpable. A small smirk playing on Nilira's face, yet then came the tank. There wasn't much they could do from a distance, and it seemed like Anet had the same idea as she had, as the pair threw themselves down for cover. Thoughts and ideas rushing through Nilira's mind, until she came to a small idea.

"Keep its attention. I need to focus. Which also means our little friend..."

Nilira pressed her hand against the speeder for a moment, reaching out through the Force, to focus on the survivor's fear. Feeling it coursing through his veins...and she enhanced that fear. Letting it surge through him, as his heart rate increased more and more. There was only so much pressure a heart could take, even as more fear was being poured into its host, the sensation of a phantom hand slowly wrapping itself around his heart, squeezing and squeezing until eventually it would just "pop!"...which is the fate that awaited the sole survivor, as he collapsed down to the ground.

"Needs to be disposed of. Now, let me focus."

With that, the Acolyte sat herself down, closing her eyes as if she was about to meditate. Whereas in reality, she was following trails in the Force. Nearly everyone had some form of emotion that could be traced. Joy. Happiness. Anger. Fear. And just like a predator hunting it's prey, that's exactly what Nilira was doing. Emotions were stored in the heart, perhaps not literally, but in NIlira's mind, that was how it worked. So she'd use the Force to track back to the driver of the tank...and deal with them. She just needed time.

​

 

[Acier Moonbound]

Location: Balmorra - Sobrik

Equipment:
Apprentice Attire | Lightsaber | Shoto | Cybernetic Arm

Ace continued forward as the district constricted around him. The blasterfire ahead had shifted from scattered bursts into deliberate lines, angles layered to hold ground rather than simply push back. He tracked it as he advanced, not lingering on any one point, just enough to understand how it was being held together. There was a center to it. Not a position, but a pattern.

A bolt came in along that line. His blade met it without his gaze breaking from the street ahead, redirecting it wide. The follow-up came tighter, better timed. He shifted instead of intercepting, letting it pass as he closed the distance.

Three figures ahead. One drawing attention, another moving to cover, the third holding slightly back. The third mattered. Ace moved through the first two without breaking stride. The exchange was brief, controlled, resolved before it had time to escalate. The last reacted a fraction too late. There was a short engagement, more measured than the others, but it ended the same way.

Lysander's voice carried across comms, outlining containment, pressure points, controlled collapse. Ace listened, taking in the structure of it, then let his focus return to the street in front of him. His path shifted slightly, not in opposition, but in interpretation.

Movement to his left caught his attention. Workers being pushed into a corridor that was about to close. He passed them, his hand lifting just enough for the Force to respond. A length of unstable piping above them tore free and dropped behind their path, cutting off the direction they had been moving toward. It forced them to turn, redirecting them away from the tightening space without breaking his forward momentum.

The street ahead narrowed further. Resistance strengthened there, not in number, but in discipline. Another volley came in, controlled and measured. Ace stepped into it, blade moving in small, efficient motions, not returning fire, only disrupting the rhythm long enough to create an opening.

One overextended and he closed the gap and removed the threat before the formation could recover. Another broke away, but he didn't pursue. No need.

Behind him, the pressure of heat and distortion marked Varin Mortifer 's position. Further ahead, the shifting red light and widening gaps in resistance marked Seris Velmora . Their presence registered, then passed.

He remained where the structure held. Where it needed to be broken.

::I've made ground.:: He said over comms, his tone even.

He adjusted his grip slightly and continued forward, angling deeper into the district as resistance began to consolidate ahead.

Lysander von Ascania | Varin Mortifer | Tamsin Starfall | Seris Velmora | Darth Grimm | Miasmær​

 

[Darth Grimm]

A blast exploded a building which collapsed into the path Grimm was taking to the Space Port, and crowds of passing people screamed and began crowding the area. Grimm felt the bodies close around him and began jostling and forcing his way with a strength that belied his crippled body. With mild frustration, he turned his eyes to the sky where a ship hovered out of reach of the planetary turbolasers.

Grimm pushed himself to the front of the crowd and reached into his robe, pulling free a crimson glowing gem. Recognizing the power of a Sith, the crowd began to move away from him, giving him much more space. Grimm held the gem aloft which glowed brighter and brighter, seeming to react to each person who died beneath the rubble, gaining strength and power. Soon it blazed like a Mandalorian Beskar forge, and Grimm raised his staff which now glowed with the same eerie crimson light. Rubble began to float away, thrown to the sides where it piled up, finally piling up on the sides against the upright buildings. The crowd gasped in awe, many of them having never seen a demonstration of the Force, but others began to cheer him on. Grimm ignored them all.

When his task was completed, the gem dimmed, and the crowd began running and pushing and jostling their way through. Grimm took a moment to gather his strength and press forward. Beyond the collapsed building where moans and cries for help still emanated, Grimm pushed forward. Braving the sparse laser-fire and the occasional explosion. It was still a long way to the space port, but people continued to stream past him, searching for the safety of escape. Grimm moved slowly, an elderly man untouched and unphased by the deadly storm around him.

His emaciated hand placed the dimly glowing gem back in his robes as he trekked forth.

(Open To All)

 

[Varin Mortifer]

VARIN MORTIFER

Equipment: Durum Mantle | Black Blade of Chandrila | Eye of The Dragon | Heavy Sith Mace | Cross Guard Broadsaber


Varin's comms came to life with Lysander's voice first. Search and destroy, choke and hold then bleed out the enemy. Straight forward and easy to follow.

Acier was next to sound off that he had landed. His end of comms sounded as if he had heavy resistance. Varin concentrated with the force to feel for his location, then a slight rumble near him.

The rubble that had collapsed near him after he had landed had suddenly begun to move. His head tilted to the side as he drew his blade.

“Ace, I will meet with you momentarily. I may have trouble brewing on my end. Won't be far behind.”

After he shut his comms off the rubble had shifted and moved revealing a decrepit old man barely holding together with a bright crimson crystal. Around him people were waiting in anticipation before charging into the new opening, where Varin waited.

His hand dropped and drew the hilt of his broadcaster, twisting its handle the blade roared to life like a roaring lion before it graduated to a hum. A maroon blade surrounded in orange plasma fire waited for the incoming people.

Varin said nothing, instead he surged forward towards the crowd, blade and saber in hand carving bodies that tried to rush past him. Blaster fire rained towards him deflecting from his armor, flames erupted from his back with enough force to envelope some of the bodies that had run past him.

On this mission, he did not know who were rebels and who were innocents.

Anything was fair game.

After striking down another individual his saber lifted to the old man.

“You do not strike me as a rebel old man. Explain yourself.”

Darth Grimm | Lysander von Ascania | Acier Moonbound | Tamsin Starfall | Seris Velmora | Miasmær

(Directly interacting with Darth Grimm )​

 

[Darth Grimm]

Grimm stopped his hobbling gait, halting completely as he leaned on his Impervium staff. A moment of anger trembled through him but was quickly washed away. He hadn't the strength in him to maintain it. From within his cowl, his eyes glowed crimson - but this was not the glow of Sith eyes. Instead they were the eyes of an ancient droid, which had replaced his own long ago in his youth. With each death, his gem glowed brighter. Each time Varin slew another, it gained in furvor, and soon blazed again as strong as before. "Out of the way, upsstart. I do not explain myself, and I haven't the time to deal with thee."

If his voice hadn't been throaty and harsh, Grimm's accent would have been implacable, a throwback to a time long forgotten. An accent that predated Zim the Despot, that predated even the Sith themselves and the oldest of the Republics. Bodies lay, some writhing but most already dead, but Grimm had no concern for them. Their fires had already been extinguished and added to the Soul Gem which sustained him.

As if in a warning, he lifted his staff and thudded his staff down, cracking the stone beneath it as the pike ignited with the blazing crimson fire of a short lightsaber. It blazed like some foul version of a Jedi Temple Guard's, only sickly and crimson. "If thouest impede mine path further, thine life thou sshalt forfeit." He grew more upright. Whatever he was, he was tall for a human. All at once his eyes blazed, and from them exuded a blast of steam that hissed and rose, fluttering the peak of his cowl.

His free hand drew back his cowl, and beneath was a skeletal face, like Death itself, hideous and grinning. Lips so thin they could barely be seen, flesh so transparent, the bone beneath was completely visible. "Thou hast wasted enough of mine time," he condescended, spittle coursing down his chin, "Move asside."

Grimm once again illustrated by waving his staff, the blade casting a red path as it arced outward. Already the faint glow began to climb from the base, up along the carved runes on the haft of the staff. Grimm threw out his other hand, slender bony hand raised, two fingers curled down, the two remaining held up.

He whispered, and the power of the Gem coursed through him, entering the staff. One rune began to glow fiercely. If Varin knew what it was, he would know the Sith Rune of Necromancy, and that Grimm might be trying to raise the dead... but that was not his trick. Instead the bodies around them began to bloat and turn a sickly purple. The decomposition had been hastened by the spell, and soon white worms could be seen wriggling in the skin of some of them. The sickly sweet aroma of rot filled the air... What exactly he intended to do with this was yet to be revealed... and still he poured power into this spell, and from the first of the bodies burst a single black plague fly, followed by another, and then soon enough, followed by a swarm of buzzing insects, each carrying the disease of rot within.

It was a cursed demonstration of power, of his ability to mutate the living and create horrible Sith-Spawn, but it was an effective demonstration.

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Varin Mortifer (Open to All)