Blades of Black

[Aela Talith]

Copero

Copero had once been one of Titan Industries greatest shipyards.

The company had once constructed all sorts of craft there, specifically ships that were now famous for spreading terror within the galaxy. Dark Blades, Wyyrloks, and even Immortals had been constructed there by Titan, until of course the corporation turned against the One Sith. In a fell swoop that some might have considered foolish, if not outright idiotic, the company betrayed the One Sith. Retribution was swift, and in a brutal slaughter Saeva Incorporated had been hired by the Sith to seize and neutralize all assets of Titan on Copero.

In only a day the shipyards had fallen and Copero was retaken by the One Sith.

Since then the shipyards above the formerly Chiss world had seen a steady stream of those fearsome starships produced, this time wholly under the banner of the One Sith. The trifecta of One Sith vessels, those most feared, still came from Copero.

That was why Aela sat within a freight container, hunched between four large boxes containing carbonite wrapped tightly in her cloak of Aatrox*. She was still, silent as a mouse as the freight contained shifted and moved about. The sounds of a crane could be heard above. She tried to keep herself steady, holding onto the box beside her as the freight container was jostled and tossed about, unloaded from the mass freighter that had carried it across the stars.

Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back against the cold crate behind her.

She had sensed something, weeks ago. It had been a dark cloud, a black hand reaching. She was sure that others had sensed it, she was sure that Master Rhen had seen it too. It was something that was waiting, waiting for a spark. She could not have said what that spark would be, could not have said when it would come, but she knew it would. Perhaps it would be what she and the others would do today, perhaps it would be something else, but she knew it would come.

A sudden crack of light shone down upon her as the container open, dust floated through the air, and Aela stood.

 

[Aela Talith]

The light cast down, brightly illuminating the inside of the contained and Aela herself.

Directly opposite her stood a man, a Chiss to be exact. Bright glowing red eyes stared at her. He carried no weapons, his uniform denoted him as a dock worker of sorts, a hard hat adorning his head and a slight grimace appearing on his face as the slow realization of what was in front of him dawned. The Jedi Master smiled, a light smile but a smile nonetheless. Her hand reached up, her fingers curling in a slight motion of a grip.

The Chiss found himself jerked from his feet, wrenched into the open container.

He made a slight, startled cry before Aela caught him, her palm gently crashing into his forehead. Half a second passed, and suddenly his eyes fell closed. The man's body went limp, and Aela's arms wrapped around him as the momentum of her force pull carried him all the way into the container. With an odd gentleness she placed the man onto the floor, tucking his legs in and putting his unconscious body exactly where she had been sitting just a few moments ago.

Aela let a moment pass before exiting the container, her eyes wandering around the area.

She found herself within a massive Hangar Bay filled to the brim with cargo containers and half a dozen cranes. She frowned slightly then touched her ear. "Everyone okay?"

Small chirping beeps began to pour into her comm-link, signals from the others that they were heading out. She gave herself a nod then quickly began to jog towards the exit of the hangar.

 

[Soeht]

"Darth Isolda can no longer wait for her shipment," claimed Soeht as he spoke to a supervisor at the shipyard's central command.

The Sith looked down on the Chiss supervisor. Soeht had his arms folded behind his back. The rest of central command was tensely quiet. Operators were hardly even paying attention to their stations - watching the scene from the corner of the eyes.

"She's threatened to come here and take charge if we can't solve it now," claimed Soeht, "Neither of us want that, right?"

"No, m'lord," replied the Chiss supervisor - known by his core name of Moua, "But we have a mandate to hold all non-military shipments until..."

Soeht jerked his head to the side and shot out his right arm. He held his hands as if grasping the air. Moua began to choke and levitate. Soeht then approached Moua and positioned his head next to the Chiss's.

"You never received the shipment, then," whispered Soeht, "And you never loaded it on the ship in Hangar B12. None of it is on record."

Then, Soeht stepped away from Moua and relaxed his hand. Moua dropped to the floor and clutched his own neck - gasping for breath.

"Do we have an understanding?" hissed Soeht.

Moua could only nod his head.

"Goood," said Soeht as if smiling behind his helmet, "And also-"

Soeht suddenly stopped himself mid-sentence. He stood still for several seconds.

"Just make it happen," Soeht told Moua as he turned around and exited central command.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

Aaron was one of the people who had made it to the adventure.

He was new to the Galactic Alliance, but that barely mattered. He hadn't taken any time to fit into the faction or anything because there were other, more important things to be done.

He made it out of a container after having heard that others were doing the same. He didn't quite know what was going on, but he did like how things were progressing. No karking problems or useless whining, just pure action and work.

If this was going to be a fight against the One Sith, he loved it. Really, he had not been able to kick a Sith's arse for a while now, maybe he would get to do that now. If not, then he hoped it would still be a fun mission.

He believed in what they were doing. Even though he really did not know a lot about it besides the odd feeling inside that something's going to happen.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Soeht"] ]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Aaron Elkar"] | [member="Soeht"]​

​

As the alerts began to chirp in her ear Aela could only nod in recognition. One by one they all chimed in, one by one they began to move forward and out of the hangar bay. There was twelve of them in all. They were well trained, and though a few were untested, they were all trusted by the Alliance for this mission.

What was that mission?

Why, to steal a Dark Blade of course.

It might have seemed like an impossible task, might have been rather ambitious, but over the years of Fighting the One Sith and winning fleet after fleet engagement both the Republic and other entities had still come to recognize the power of the ships that the One Sith produced. Those ships were often misused, but they were still powerful. In the hands of someone who could actually direct them, push them into the right place, they would be unstoppable.

Or so the admirals back home thought.

So it was with that in mind that this strike force had been sent to Copero. They would take and seize a Dark Blade before it was fully constructed, steal the ship right out from under the noses of the One Sith.

 

[Soeht]

After exiting central command, Soeht looked out one viewport to see some of the ships being built. A couple Dark Blades sat half-made - unsafe for hyperspace travel. One near Hangar D14 that Soeht could see had the hull finished - and thus safe for hyperspace travel - yet was missing most of the armaments and the shield generator. Others beyond Soeht’s sight were likely to be somewhere in the shipyards.

The sound of a brief alarm blared on the speaker system throughout the shipyards. [member="Aaron Elkar"] and [member="Aela Talith"] would be able to hear this - assuming they had not yet slipped into an area of the shipyards no one was supposed to ever go.

“Effective now, Hangar F5 is in Lockdown,” began a female voice in Basic, “Repeat: Effective now, Hangar F5 is in Lockdown. All non-essential personnel must avoid the area. Traffic to reroute to Hangar E2.”

The alarm was not very unusual. Normally, it was a sign of something abnormal enough to warrant a cessation of operations to allow for an investigation. With the Chiss normally to abide by rules so stringently, this happened at least once a day on average. However, the thing that brought this alarm happened to be the discovery of an unconscious worker inside a container. The first thought was a potential gas leak from whatever the containers held. Time would prove that untrue, as Hangar F5 was the very hangar Aela was in.

“Huh,” sighed Soeht after hearing the announcement.

Then, Soeht headed to the shipyard transit system.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

Aaron made it to the rest of the group as they were headed out of the hangar bay, one by one. He had no idea who any of these people were, but he guessed they were the most talented or at least most trusted fighters. Did he belong to the group? Would the Galactic Alliance have enough trust in a recently joined person whose past was questionable, training uncertain and experience in teamwork lacking?

The alarm was something he hadn't expected, yet as he thought about it, it seemed so obvious.

As the man was by no means the most informed of the group, he didn't know how to act or what to do, so he tried to act as everybody else did, trying to figure out what plans and strategies others had.

It looked like they were trying to do something nobody else would -- and even though he didn't know anything for sure, he thought he started understanding what was going on. They were in the territory of One Sith shipyards, after all, and there was literally only one thing to do.

Sabotage the Sith, benefit the Alliance.

Whatever they were going to do, that seemed to be the essential idea behind the attack.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Soeht"] ]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Aaron Elkar"] | [member="Soeht"]​

​

The alert went out, the announcement ringing within the hangar. She let out a slight curse, knowing that either she or someone else had gotten caught.

It was likely one of the dock workers. Her head shook, and she quickly spoke into her comm. "Hurry."

She rushed forward, watching as one of the three exits to the Hangar began to slowly slide closed. Blast Doors would be difficult to deactivate, and cutting through them would have alerted the entire station to the fact that they were here. No, they would have to make it through before they closed. Three other Jedi formed up on Aela, one woman and two men. She shifted and motioned for them to go. The blast doors sluggishly came together, Aela pressing herself with the force just in time to jump through the gap.

The three others would follow quickly behind, landing on the other side just as the doors closed.

The young Marshall once again clicked her comm-link, questioning if the others had made it through the other two doors in the Hangar Bay.

 

[Soeht]

“Now arriving at: Area F,” announced the same feminine voice that made the lockdown announcement earlier.

A door slid open before Soeht. He promptly stepped out of the shuttle that took him from Central Command to Area F. The doors closed behind him - allowing the shuttle to leave and continue with its rounds.

“Where are you?” muttered Soeht beneath his breath.

Soeht brushed one of his lightsabers with his right hand. His head jerked when [member="Aela Talith"] made a dash to exit. He began to make his way toward Hangar F5. Not in a rush, Soeht kept a slow pace.

Given a couple minutes, Soeht would reach one of the blast doors of the hangar. A one-in-three chance to cross paths with Aela, [member="Aaron Elkar"], or maybe other Jedi. Or maybe a chance to find no-one if the Jedi slip into the cracks of Area F.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

Aaron had pressed himself through the blast door nearly at the last moment. He, along with a few other Jedi, had made it out of the room, however they saw no signs of others anywhere around them, obviously resulting in general confusion as to what to do now and if they would all manage to group up again during the mission.

And of course, what if they got caught.

"We made it out," Aaron spoke into the comm as he saw nobody else of his group was doing that. He had no idea how one was meant to answer to that question, but he thought he'd still take the lead.

"What next?"

The man had no idea where they were, but a general look around didn't give them a lot of hope. He had never been to that building before, nor did others seem to have been there in their lives. They were all new, which was most likely a bad thing.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Soeht"] ]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Aaron Elkar"] | [member="Soeht"]​

​

"Team One and Two head towards the southern Drive Yards." Aela said quietly into her comm-link as she began to walk towards the direction of the main construction pits of Copero. "Team Three head towards the command center as planned."

She was team one of course, and would be taking on the guards that stood over the Dark Blade.

Team Three would be running interference, or rather, they would cause a distraction once the heist was beginning. Their job was to simply field a distraction while Aela and the others took control of the Dark Blade. It was harder to tell who had the more difficult job, though Team Three's objective would ultimately be the more dangerous one. She had wanted to lead that team, but at the behest of Master Rhen had instead taken the lead on seizing the Dark Blade.

"Begin to expect resistance soon." Luckily Copero no longer had a heavy Sith presence, or so their information told them.

She only hoped they could accomplish their mission.

 

[Soeht]

After a couple minutes of walking down the corridors toward Hangar F5, Soeht stopped atop an elevated walkway. Below the walkway was a couple story gap before reaching the bottom - which featured plenty of conduit and pipe stretching down the corridor. To Soeht’s left was a transparisteel viewport. To Soeht’s right was a handrail that should ideally protect people from falling off the walkway.

“You weren’t who I was looking for,” Soeht said aloud to the group in front of him.

With a brush of his hand, Soeht plucked one of his lightsaber hilts from his belt - yet he did not ignite it. A group of people were several meters in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” Soeht asked as he stared at [member="Aaron Elkar"] - with the rest of his Jedi team right behind him. The other two teams had gone their separate ways.

 

[Sorvae Sunfell]

Opposition.

Aaron hadn't thought they would get caught that fast. The person in front of the group seemed to be a Sith of some kind, at least judging by the lightsaber he had. Wearing an armour Aaron had never seen anybody else wearing, the Sith's body was completely covered up, which was definitely not an advantage for the Jedi.

"We're tourists. Sightseeing the local shipyards," the man said as he himself slid his hand on his belt to grab the lightsaber hilt in case things would get messy. He didn't know what the rest of the group was doing -- would he have looked back, the Sith could have easily attacked him.

He had to be ready for anything and everything.

"You know, the usual," he continued his foolish joke. He was not a person who would want to dive into a duel right away. Most of the time, he tried his best to confuse or at least play with his enemies before actually starting to fight them. He guessed it was both a way to have fun and to win time.

[ [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Soeht"] ]​

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Aaron Elkar"]

Aela didn't know of the interruption yet, didn't know that Aaron had been held back.

That was why there were two teams anyway, in case one of them encountered resistance. If Aela had known she very likely would have turned herself around and headed back towards the other group. She didn't like the thought of anyone fighting Sith alone, specifically on a mission like this. Of course, she didn't know about the fight, so that point was rather moot.

As her own group pressed forward, the view outside the windows slowly began to change.

In the distance they could see their target, the massive Dark Blade constructs holding firm in the shipyards. Aela's eyes widened for a moment, her lips thinning. There were four Dark Blades within the Shipyard, each one in various state of construction. Their target, the one most along in construction, sat at the very back of the driveyards. The ship had yet to receive it's coat of paint and was still rather decrepit, looking like it still needed more than a few parts.

"Ship in sight. Pressing ahead." She whispered into her comm-link then picked up speed.

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

How very interesting, she thought, watching the feed from her probe droids of an Alliance strike team and ... Jedi. The three small black droids were dispersed around the orbital yard, sending data back to her visor. She had decided to take a tour of the Copero yards, simply to get a feel for them ... but her day had definitely improved some.

"Ahem, our security teams will deal with the interlopers, uh ..." the Sith security officer stuttered out, unsure what to call the black clad female in the command center. She was clearly Sith, the intricate lightsaber and black armor giving that away, but there was something about her that was unnerving.

"I highly doubt that, but you may certainly try Commander," she said, her voice altered by her visor as was always the case. "They seem to be led by two Jedi ... Masters by their look. Their goal ... sabotage or theft ... do not allow them to gain control of one of the Dark Blades. Blow them up in their docking stations if need be, understood?"

"Yes, right away, we will stop them before that though."

At that alarms started to go off and Sith security forces began to mobilize. Now, she thought, now it is time to see just how the Galactic Alliance went about things ... and the Jedi ... she could always use more data.

Allies: [member="Soeht"]
Enemies: [member="Aela Talith"] [member="Aaron Elkar"]

 

[Soeht]

Only [member="Aaron Elkar"] answered out of the small group of Jedi before Soeht. Some of the other Jedi brandished their lightsabers just as Aaron.

“Heh,” hissed Soeht. A small burst of air escaped his mask when he said that.

Soeht shifted his body weight as he told Aaron, “At least you’re willing to talk.”

The voice coming from Soeht was mechanized as it came from the mask. Soeht’s left arm began to slowly rise. The dark side of the Force seemed to beckon at his command.

“For now, I only need one of you alive,” Soeht said.

Then, Soeht’s left arm shot up to the point that his hand was about head level. He curled his fingers as if clutching something. Using the Force, he telekinetically grasped the listless Jedi’s necks - all of the save for Aaron. Rather than an attempt to slowly choke them all to death, the strength behind Soeht’s Force Choke could crush their throats and necks entirely if Aaron acted too hesitantly.

[member="First Daughter"] [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Veino Garn]

Team Three
[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Aaron Elkar"]
[member="First Daughter"] @Soeht
----------------

One did not run with the Underground for several years without learning to get in and out of places undetected, especially since that had been his life for years before that. So, some weeks prior, Veino had arrived on Copero with a shuttle full of immigrants hopeful for a job working in the shipyards. He'd gotten a job and been making credits ever since as a maintenance technician. He'd repaired stuff, cleaned floors, fixed ventilators, gotten familiar with the layout of the facilities and security codes. All at the expense of the One Sith, since the Jensaarai didn't actually pay anything. So, in extreme cases, work for the enemy, with his Force signature boxed away and invisible to any who might detect it.

But now the time had come for things to get interesting and a new job. He was on the clock, making his way around the corridors with his tool-cart, nodding at the people he'd gotten to know over the past few weeks. Solid people, for the most part, but utterly brainwashed by their own propaganda. How unfortunate, he had to admit. But no matter. The rest of his team were in their positions and heading for the command center through various means. His own was simple. He had to take care of the malfunctioning alarm system. Hidden among his tools and the like were his lightsaber and his bloodstripe hand-cannon, with its ammunition. In this case, mainly being anti-blaster, EMP, and just in case, cortosis dust. No Jensaarai or other armor this time. Just him in is maintenance uniform and the tools he brought with him.

He paused at the security checkpoint outside the command center and nodded to the guards.

"Howdy, Fryd, Jorge," Veino said, tipping his hat to them. "I got called in for some terminal repairs."

The two guards nodded at him and opened the door.

"Got any more of that jerky?" Jorge asked, glancing inside. "My kids love it."

Veino considered for a moment and then nodded, pulling out some of the jerky.

"Here you go! Hope they keep liking it." He grinned as he past the checkpoint, "I sure don't."

 

[Soeht]

After some time, Soeht was once more wandering the halls. Eventually, he boarded the shipyard transit shuttle.

It was now clear to the shipyard’s security that it had been infiltrated. Guards scrambled and attempted to confront the teams. Yet, such forces might not have been enough against competent Jedi.

For [member="Aela Talith"] and her group though, rather than guards it seemed that a cold sensation pursued them.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Soeht"] | [member="Veino Garn"] | [member="Soeht"]​

​

Aela rushed forward as fast as she could.

Alarms began to blare, though no guards or drones came after her. A hand tightened on her lightsaber, her eyes flicking from left to right. She felt...a presence. It was dark, foreboding, but not overwhelming. her lips thinned, her eyes fluttering over to one of the Knights that ran with her. There was temptation for half a second, to send him back and stop whatever was hunting them. She knew it would be effective, that they could take the Dark Blade and stop whatever was coming after them, but it would also mean ealving someone else behind.

"Let's keep moving." Aela said, not wanting to split the group. "The ship is up ahead."

The docking bay was beginning to be locked down, the heavy blast doors falling closed. Her speed picked up even more and with a lithe leap she jumped through the closing blast doors. The two other Jedi quickly followed behind her, lightsabers igniting. "Cut through the door, it should be the last."

No guards still, her eyes fluttered to the Dark Blade that hung just outside the viewport now.

 

[Soeht]

The cold drew nearer.

It took some time before Soeht reached the first set of bulkhead doors. No Jedi was there to greet him. Soeht punched in a code into a keypad - opening the bulkhead door in front of him. This repeated several times.

In the meantime, there truly was one last bulkhead door before Aela would be able to enter the Dark Blade. Just a few guards and a group of workers adding finishing touches would be on board.

Eventually, Soeht opened a bulkhead door to see a group of Jedi attempting to cut through. No Jedi Marshall, though. This was the part of [member="Aela Talith"]’s team that could not rush through the blast door with her. The Jedi immediately turned around and pointed their lightsabers at Soeht.

It took only a minute before their presence in the Force would vanish. Soeht, unscathed, opened the penultimate blast door - possibly to greet Aela if she had not finished cutting through the last bulkhead door.