Faction Checkpint on soullex

[Laphisto]

Laphisto remained in-system, overseeing the deployment of several LO-DIA Orbital Defense Platforms. In the wake of the attack on Vexis Station, whispers of a Mandalorian offensive carried weight, and he was determined that if they came, they would find no easy prey. The Diarchy would make them fight tooth and nail for every step into its territory.

For the moment, Laphisto was stationed aboard a modest checkpoint installation in orbit of the planet. It was not a fortress by design, but it served a purpose just as vital control of the border, control of the flow of people and ships. Every shuttle that docked was required to offload its passengers for inspection. Each traveler passed through security cordons, undergoing identity checks, registry verification, and testing before being cleared to proceed deeper into Diarchy space.

The traffic was constant, the atmosphere tense but orderly. Diarchy Security forces in LO-48B armor stood sentinel at choke points, their discipline and presence a reminder that this was not a station of commerce, but a line of defense. Automated scanners hummed and clicked, data flowing into central consoles where officers cross-referenced arrivals against government watchlists. From the command deck, Laphisto observed the rhythm of it all a machine of vigilance, patient and unyielding.

Deeper within the station, the flow of arriving passengers funneled into controlled corridors where Diarchy Security officers oversaw the offloading process. Travelers were herded into single-file lines, a slow, deliberate march forward beneath the unblinking gaze of armored sentries.

At the first station, they surrendered their belonging luggage, datapads, personal weapons, even the smallest bits of metalall dropped into scanning trays that disappeared along humming conveyor belts. From there, the travelers moved into a second chamber where the real scrutiny began.

Each passenger was instructed to stand beneath an archway scanner, arms raised high over their head. The device bathed them in a pale blue glow, humming as it swept for concealed weapons, contraband, or more elusive signatures. When the light pulsed green, the guards gave a curt nod, and the individual was allowed to continue on toward the secondary checkpoint deeper in the station.

But every so often, the scanner pulsed red. The alarm was not loud, only a sharp electronic tone, yet it froze the line in place. Without hesitation, two Lilaste troopers would peel from their posts, stepping forward to flank the individual. The passenger would be quietly but firmly pulled from the line, marched through a set of reinforced double doors that sealed shut behind them. Beyond those doors lay the secondary screening chambers, where inspections became far less routine.

The line always resumed a heartbeat later, the machine of order grinding forward without pause. The silence was deliberate no explanations offered, no questions answered. Those taken aside simply vanished from sight, leaving the rest to shuffle forward under the watchful eyes of soldiers and scanners.


Aknoby

 

[Aknoby]

Aknoby had no idea where he was, moving from planet to planet, he knew there was some kind of war going on but had no idea who was involved.

But this place was different, more controlled, the boy felt that this time he wasn't the only one who felt watched, the place made people feel that way.

He breathed to calm himself, trying to hide the Force, and doing so was difficult. The flow of the Force was the first thing he felt when he opened his eyes, before any fragment of his shattered mind appeared, the Force and the Dark Side.

As he approached the scanner, he noticed the soldiers were agitated, not only that, but everything screamed danger. The red-haired boy began to fight his instinct to run across. He was in the middle of a piece of metal in space. Maybe running and stealing a ship was feasible, but then where to? He would be hunted.

'Power'

One of his memory fragments hammered in his head, the ancient, powerful voice hammering the word in his head. He closed one eye, feeling the twinge inside his head, his anxiety increasing and the soldiers' movements becoming agitated.

Then, in a flash of red, a guard aggressively charged at him. He jumped, a flash of red, and when he looked, he was on the other side, people screaming, one of the soldiers wounded, his lightkatana in his hand.

The Dark Side had chosen for him: Power, Domination, Destruction. The powerful voice reminded him of the red desert where he had never been.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[Laphisto]

Laphisto was deep in the station's CIC when the first alarms began to shriek through the walls, red strobes cutting across the dim-lit command deck. The lights pulsed in rhythm with the rumble of distant bulkheads sealing shut, the whole transport hub shifting into lockdown mode. His ears pinned back instinctively against his skull, the old predator's response flaring before his voice followed, low and edged.

"What's going on?"

Across from him, the station commander nearly fumbled his stylus as he scrambled over the console. Fingers clattered against the datapad, streams of scrolling warnings flashing across the holo-display. A sheen of nervous sweat broke over the man's brow before he snapped his gaze up at Laphisto, voice clipped but straining to keep control.

"Unidentified Force-user on station, sir. Broke out of processing. Already attacked one of my guards cut him with some kind of blade. Reinforcements are en route, but…" The commander's throat bobbed as the alarms pulsed louder, the red glow painting his face in uneasy shadows. "He's moving fast. Patrols can't pin him."

A low rumble escaped Laphisto's chest, more growl than breath, as his eyes narrowed to slits. He let his senses drift outward, uncoiling his awareness like a tide through the station's corridors. The currents of the Force brushed against countless flickers of life technicians hunched over terminals, soldiers tense at their posts, civilians huddled in sealed-off processing bays. Each mind was a pinprick of light, easily touched, easily dismissed.

Until he found the storm. Aknoby The boy's presence was jagged, seething, an open wound bleeding with the Dark Side. Laphisto pressed in further, his own will encircling the fractured consciousness like a tightening loop of iron. For a heartbeat, he felt the boy's fear tangled with raw instinct, the pulse of something older and harsher whispering within him.

Laphisto's voice slid into the youth's thoughts, not loud but heavy as stone, a command that allowed no argument."Don't." The word struck like a hammer, echoing across the fragile barriers of Aknoby's mind. Laphisto pulled back slowly, the tether of his presence withdrawing before it risked crushing the boy entirely. He blinked once, the glow of the red alarms strobing across his armor, then shook his head with a restrained exhale.

"Have your men stand down, Commander," he ordered, his tone clipped but ironclad. "Keep eyes on him, but do not engage. Cornered prey lashes out and you don't need to lose more soldiers to panic." The commander hesitated, eyes darting to the holo-feed of the transport hub, where the boy's silhouette stood with a blood-red blade in hand. He swallowed hard but nodded, already relaying the command to the squads waiting on edge.

Laphisto made his way through the station's steel corridors with deliberate weight, each step a heavy stomp that echoed off the durasteel bulkheads. His arms clasped neatly behind his back, posture rigid with authority, but the scrape of his taloned feet against the deck betrayed the predator beneath the calm façade. A low rumble thrummed in his throat, steady as a warning drumbeat, rolling ahead of him as if to announce his approach.

He kept his thoughts focused on the boy Aknoby's fractured aura burned in the Force like a wildfire, unstable and lashing against the minds around it. Laphisto only hoped his earlier command had seeded hesitation, or at the very least confusion, enough to blunt the boy's reflexes. One panicked move in a hall full of soldiers could set the entire station ablaze in blood.

And the truth was, the boy was lucky. If this had been the Lilaste Order, the encounter would already be over. Their security teams favored slugthrowers, weapons built for brutal efficiency, the kind that shredded bodies and left little to chance. and had the training and prowess to take on both jedi and sith forces alike. A Diarchy garrison, by contrast, held blasters, lethal still, but cleaner, quicker, less savage. Perhaps mercy in the wrong kind of way.

He let that thought simmer as he approached the checkpoint, the crimson lights washing over rows of soldiers struggling to hold formation. Their eyes kept flicking to the figure in the hub, the red-haired youth clutching his unnatural blade, fear and anticipation tightening the air like a coiled spring. Laphisto exhaled slowly, a rumble softening into silence as he drew nearer. The boy would see him soon, feel him in the Force before the first word was even spoken. And when that moment came, it would decide everything whether this ended in restraint or carnage.

 

[Aknoby]

Aknoby was agitated. The voice in his mind wanted him to destroy everything, but the boy was not stupid. Destroying everything would mean dying in the vacuum of space or being thrown into an entrance on the planet.

He moved quickly, swinging his lightkatana to deflect the shots, but in his desperation to escape, he didn't aim, so the deflected shots only grazed the guards' armour.

Then another different voice, he stopped, one hand on his head, confused, his body trembling as the conflict in his head raged.

He starts moving again, and then it happens: a small group of soldiers disobeys Laphisto's orders and tries to play the heroes, shouting 'Death to the Sith' or something like that.

The boy reacts, reflecting shots, jumping and slashing. To Laphisto, it is obvious that he is combining Forms 4 and 5 with some erratic movements from some other form.

The small group of guards who thought they were heroes are now dead. Aknoby's breathing quickens and becomes heavier, his eyes now yellow and fear once again taking over, causing him to move around looking for a way out.

"I need to findo teh red sand."

He says ina low tone,images of the red desert with red skies flashing on his head again as his keep moving lookign for a way to scape teh station