Crystal Calamity; Iron Empire Incursion

[Alexandrite]

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I L U M , U N K N O W N R E G I O N S​

8 5 0 A B Y​

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An ancient Hardcell-class Interstellar Transport with no discernable IFF signal reverted into realspace near the ice planet of Ilum, approaching the world at a gentle sublight speed and piercing through the atmosphere within a matter of minutes of arriving. Landing legs extended from their dark compartments and sunk into the snow until finally reaching the stable ground of the ice shelf below. A droid with an even more antiquated chassis, that of an old Sith war droid with several modifications, came strolling down the landing ramp followed by what was thought to be an honor guard and a grouping of utility droids.

Alexandrite turned to face his colleagues "Send the exploration droids to survey for crystal caves and prepare the transport skiffs for departure." He commanded matter-of-factly, before pivoting towards a more distinguished droid of his guard detail "Activate one-sixth of our complement and put another two-sixths on stand-by. I estimate that we will reach fourteen point nine six zero zero one three of our cargo capacity before the authorities arrive after detecting our vessel."

Soon enough, convoys were sent to newly-surveyed caves to strip them of whatever assortment of kyber crystals could be found and then bring these precious crystals back to their carrier vessel to be put into its hold.

An insidious plan was in motion, but by who? More importantly:

Who would stand up to the task of stopping it?

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[member="Isamu Baelor"] | [member="Zeradias Mant"] | [member="Aster Rose Baelor"] | [member="Atheus"] | [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]​

 

[Garza]

Taking the bandages off of my head, Thalia was still careful of my wound. Having a lightsaber burn on the side of your face is never a good thing. It was healing, but not completely done. With how wide the injury was, Kolto was used to try and heal as much of it as possible. However, if it healed up too fast, then it could distort my forehead and face. More so leave a scar so nasty, even ladies who like scars wouldn't like it.

So the rest would have to heal naturally. Consistently every morning, and night, I would have to have Thalia take the bandages off, Clean the wound of the puss, and remove any crusting formations of scabbing around the edges, clean the wound again, apply salve and medicinal to the wound, then wrap it all back up in a fresh bandage. The entire process could take ten minutes, to a half an hour. And that entire time, touching it, even touching the skin around the wound hurt. I had dealt with pain before, so it was no problem. But it was still an annoyance to me.

As she was finishing up with applying the salve, She began to take out the bandage when a soldier rushed into the room. He was heavy of breathing as he walked over and handed me a datapad. I looked at it. Even here, I saw what I was. A report of an unidentified ship entering Ilum space, and was landing on the surface as we speak. I rolled my eyes.

"Inform everyone you can soldier. Do it however you can. Thalia, Do a full bandage. I'll be snagging one of the helmets in the armory to hold it. However, once you are done, head out with the rest of the soldiers. I'll catch up. Need to see if I can get other people. If you are out there and there are too many, then don't engage."
"I won't argue when I want to, but your mind is set. Yes sir."

The soldier saluted and still without his voice, left out through the door. Leaving it open in the process.

"Shut the damned door!"

A second later I could hear the door close.

[member="Alexandrite"],

 

[Ylva Heavenshield]

Illum, of the worlds in the sector of the Iron Empire that Ylva Solveig was coming to learn more and more about the longer she spent time in the north western corner of the galaxy, this world held something of financial value and something that she could exploit in her endeavor to eventually procure herself her own personal Starship. Frankly her attempts thus far to acquire true freedom in the Galaxy had all but failed her. First it had been [member="Théodred Heavenshield"]'s craft that she had sought to take; failing to do so had later lead her to stow herself away in the aft quarters of a merchant hauler to her great dissatisfaction as it had landed her smack bang in the center of the debacle that was the battlezone of Roxuli. Now it seemed where she was finally alone and left to the great open pale plains of the wilds, she might finally breath a sigh of relief and take to these rumored caverns for which Kyber Crystals, while highly sought after and illegal for civilians to simply up and take, gave her a new outlook on the immediate future as pitching off a number of them to whatever dirty little market could be found on the holonet these days might actually fetch a hefty price and offer her the credits worthy of a small vessel to roam and plunder as she so pleased.

Here, the air was chilled and easy to inhale. The Cold she admired as it kept her alert, always on the move in order to survive such temperatures while her Light attire gave plenty of heat for which kept her comfortable in such a frozen waste land. Strapped to the leather belt buckled tightly just shy of her hips, the pair of War Axe's swayed firmly with each step she took, her boots digging deep into the snow as she waded through the thick of it all, her left hand raised just infront of her brow in attempt to keep the fall from afflicting her gaze; against that very shoulder the Bow that she favored clung to her, the string-wire having been slung across her chest and keeping the ranged weapon on her at all times. Between the close and ranged combat, it was her preference and as such was appropriately titled in the memory of the father-figure she had only ever known and subsequently killed.

Though she wasn't at all a stranger to trouble, Ylva Solveig against all possibly belief didn't go out of her way to look for it in others. The fact was that most sentient companionship of any kind both good and bad were typically avoided on her part for lack of a positive reflection upon humanity and their alien neighbors sharing the galaxy. She had nothing against those outside of her own people, not held an opinion on any faction of government nor superpower in the galaxy, she simply distrusted everyone that crossed her path and therefore found it immensely difficult to like them, let alone bring herself to put an effort into trying to interact or relate with them without there being some immediate pay off for the woman huntress.

What business she might have had in the territory of the Iron Empire's worlds was a question she could not yet answer, so fresh to the wider picture of the galaxy where the single planet of Nirauan had once seemed so massive to her, whatever livelihood awaited her so far out of the homeland she had since known and come to rely on, was still too far amiss for her to comprehend.

It all came down to a matter of survival, though that in itself was a comfortable familiarity; her priorities had changed to adapt to the greater possibilities; owning her own starship and getting up to no good, drinking, eating and otherwise playing the galactic field however it suited her. Whatever her reasons they were her own and she had yet to see the need to think otherwise. ​

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Alas, far be it for her to have known what she was getting herself into when stepping foot on this frozen world...​

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[member="Atheus"] | [member="Alexandrite"]​

'Thought'
"Speech"

Inventory:

Spoiler

ARMOR:

Spoiler

Ylva Solveig's Light Armor

RANGED WEAPONS:
Ylva Solveig's Bow - "Akron's Teeth"

MELEE WEAPONS:
Ylva Solveig's War Axe's

 

[Krayzen Dratos]

Illum was an important world in the Iron Empire. It held important significance for the Jedi, and the Sith, and was a source for a large variety of lightsaber crystals. The Anzat had come to take advantage of the latter, needing a new crystal for his lightsaber, one that had better cutting power.

As he prepared to live, the Anzat received a signal that an unidentified signal had arrived.

"Sir, we."

"I know, I know." he said, cutting him off. "Follow the procedure, and alert any nearby soldiers, as well as upper command." Krayzen ordered.

The Anzat then left, in the direction of the cave that held lightsaber crystals. What was the possible objective of his potential enemy?

[member="Ylva Solveig"] / [member="Atheus"] / [member="Alexandrite"]

 

[Alexandrite]

[THEME]​

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Alexandrite watched patiently as numerous droids were put to work constructing a temporary defensive outpost around the transport that they had arrived in, quickly smelting large metal plates out of the minerals that had also been found along with the kyber crystals in Ilum's many caves. A tactical droid marched up to him in the 'bridge' of the vessel; "Commander, we have completed construction of the deflector shield generator as you requested. I predict that it will increase our combat effectiveness by a factor of ten." The droid stated mechanically, its white photoreceptors staring into the single red one that Alexandrite bore.

"Very well. Prepare the armor for rapid deployment. I fear that our infantry will not be enough to suppress any opposition to our efforts." Alexandrite blabbed, looking off into the snowy wasteland before him. After the tactical droid acknowledged him and left, a command console began blinking, informing him that a message had arrived. He shuffled over and pressed down on a switch, displaying the transmission:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE ESTIMATED TO BE COMPLETE, COMMENCE STAGE II; REINFORCEMENTS WILL ARRIVE SHORTLY​

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The droid read over the message several times, analyzing the single sentence repeatedly.

Stage II could only mean one thing.

Invasion.

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More unidentified signals would be detected shortly after, much larger than the Hardcell-class that had shown up sometime earlier. Anyone with half a brain could easily recognize the ships that appeared as Confederacy vessels from the Clone Wars, most likely still in use by a certain galactic power that had recently sprouted up in Wild Space. Around a dozen C-9979 Landing Crafts spouted out of the hangars of a massive Lucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship, each heading for the original landing site of the vanguard ship.

Commander Alexandrite patched into the fleet's communications frequency. "Jam foreign transmissions and prepare for possible fleeting action. My research has indicated that the Iron Empire will not surrender to the Contingency without a fight."

The droid did not care. If they resisted they would die all the same.

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[member="Atheus"] | [member="Ylva Solveig"] | [member="Krayzen Dratos"]​

 

[Aurren Ulgo]

Location: Ilum​

Status: Green​

Role: Reconaissance/Investigation​

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Pressing a few more of the instruments, Aurren finished the landing sequence of the Iron Wrath Scout. He watched the on-board cameras and scanners, curious to see if there was anything else detected on the surface. Scanners did detect faint life signs nearby, but that was nothing out of the ordinary; he was sure the Empire would have scouts operating nearby and patrolling the planet. Things changed as the scanner began to rapidly beep, catching his attention once again.

No. Landing craft, maybe a dozen. And even more signatures appearing above the planet. He'd been sent in response to the mysterious signature, and hoped to survey it from the surface undetected; that wouldn't be an option now. Trying to escape right now would only get him shot down. He tried accessing long-range communications, what there might have been on the planet, but he couldn't pick up a thing. He could tell he was being jammed, and then he knew how serious he was. He had just been caught in an invasion.

Aurren knew he had to think fast. He quickly took off again, flying a distance towards where the landing craft's signatures appeared to be heading; but far away enough to try and avoid detection. Anyone already on the surface inbetween could've easily spotted the scout fighter zipping by, though. Finding a cavern mouth in the side of a cliff face maybe a dozen feet off the ground, he slowly slipped in, turning his fighter around as he landed once again.

He leaned back in his seat, sighing. He had to mentally prepare himself. Having donned his armour, he stepped out of his seat and to the back of the fighter, what small space there was; he grabbed the warm cloak he'd brought and wrapped it around himself, grabbing his helmet and taking it on his lap as he sat down again, accessing short-range communications, maybe reaching someone on the planet. "This is Lieutenant Aurren Ulgo. We have unknown ships approaching the planet. Find cover, or a hiding place." He couldn't pretend everyone on this planet was a soldier. With communications being jammed, maybe at most they would receive a garbled message that kept cutting out, but that may be just enough. He had to hope so.

Opening up the ship, Aurren slipped his helmet over his head, covering his face. He brought with him the IE-1 Grand that had served him well already, along with a DL-22. An OP-BHP and a Vibroknife were stored away on his person as well, smaller backup weapons that could be hidden away if needed. With electrobinoculars and other recon equipment on him, he set off. Inching his way down the ridge once he left the cavern, he was exposed to the cold air and biting winds of the icy planet.

He couldn't let the weather stop him. He tried to stay low and keep to places where he'd be hard to spot, approaching where the landing craft were going. They were old Confederacy tech, so he had his suspicions, but that wouldn't matter much. He approached a ridge high above where the ships seemed to be landing, getting down to a prone position as he approached the edge, electrobinoculars in hand as he lifted them to his eyes to get a better view of the scene.

[member="Alexandrite"] | [member="Krayzen Dratos"] | [member="Ylva Solveig"] | [member="Atheus"]

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[Darth Athora]

FSGT Reed was performing a routine military exercise with his squadron over the skies above Ilum when a sudden alert on his display came to him. "What's this?" he asked. Suddenly, several blips popped up before him. "We've got unidentified vessels inbound. Battle stations!" Reed ordered to his squadron. The 12 man squadron consisting of the Iron Empire's fighters and interceptors formed up and flew towards the area where the activity was the greatest. "This is FSGT Reed to all Imperial forces in the area, I am in the area and moving to intercept the incoming threat." Reed messaged, but there was no response. "I'm only getting static, FSGT." one of the spacemen in Reed's flight replied. "They're jamming us. We're on our own for now." The squadron continued it's bearing towards the caves currently being plundered. They were a mere 10 minutes out, but with Flight Sgt Reed leading them, they'd get there in 6.

[member="Aurren Ulgo"] | [member="Krayzen Dratos"] | [member="Ylva Solveig"] | [member="Atheus"] | [member="Alexandrite"]

 

[Théodred Heavenshield]

Ilum
Location – Holenesh Canyon
Hours before the first arrival of the Incursion

“Lord Praetor, the read outs suggest there has been more seismic activity ... more frequent and stronger in magnitude. At this point the strength of them will not have caused damage the crystal caves but ..”. The man looked up from the data information, “if history is to be taken into account, it will only be a matter of time”.

The first signs of the anomly had been detected when on routine patrol with [member="Kiran Arlos"] a few weeks back. Theo had ordered a full investigation in the anomaly and further observation of the activity. The Holenesh Canyon has a strong history of ground quakes and in the past had killed Jedi and destroyed structures when the force anomly ‘awoke’. It had been ages since the last event and by all accounts and reports .. it was overdue.

Already there had been evidence that the surrounding area had been effected, walls of ice within the canyon detached from rock and crumbled to the valley bellow, scanners had detected fractures in the planet’s surface and newly formed crevasses which alone would hold danger to them all, as the nightly snow storms would cover them, hiding them from physical sight. It was a good thing they had the technology to map them and give their vehicles a surer path.

“Thank you Commander. Send all information to the other patrols, including the results of the mapping. All patrols are to rendezvous in two hours at the crystal caves we can gather all information and .. “. They all stopped in their tracks as the ground beneath them groaned and first tremor began. The first sign of things to come ..

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Two kilometres from the Caves

It had been a slow and tedious trip, their route taking them across the surface in many direction in order for safe passage, the snow vehicles slow at the best of times but designed with the purpose of the rough terrain and harsh conditions. The members of the Iron Legion patrol fully equipped with protective suits and top of the range scanners and communication devices a necessity when out in the unforgiving elements of Ilum.

Up ahead Theo could see the first patrol cutting across the valley to their meeting point, another to the rear of them and the fourth, a good hour away still. Each patrol was made up of ten members, each with personal weapons and sabers, always armed as one never knows what one will meet out here in the wilds.

“Lord Praetor, sensors have located a ship on ground up ahead. Unidentified and by the look of it .. that can’t be right. Sorry Sir but the ship appears to be a very old transport, nothing I have seen the likes of before”.

[member="Douglas Reed"] | [member="Aurren Ulgo"] | [member="Alexandrite"] | [member="Krayzen Dratos"] | [member="Ylva Solveig"] | [member="Atheus"] | [member="Isamu Baelor"] | [member="Zeradias Mant"]​

 

[Makai Dashiell]

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Icy cold hands adjusted the controls of his Iron Wrath bomber. Despite the cold weather gear issued to him - and the extra he brought - Makai had remained cold. The bomber offered little in the way of warmth and it seemed the people of the Iron Empire enjoyed the cold or had become immune to it. Makai wasn't sure if he would ever get used to it.


Screens showed the icy desert below, Makai leaning forward in his crash harness to take a look at the landscape. It was different than anything he had seen before. Beautiful in a way, but desolate.


Bomber screamed across the sky, out with his squadron for practice. Flying wasn't exactly new to him but fighters were. Makai had manned freighters and luxury yachts. They were different beasts, less responsive and more like a true vehicle. It seemed the bomber was more raw, required more effort and skill to actually keep from crashing down to the ice.


"Looks like a patrol off to starboard."


Voice crackled in his ear as he leaned to look, checked the multiple screens in the bomber. Makai thought those on the desolate patrols were both crazed and honorable at the same time. More than half seemed to enjoy the icy grip that awaited such work.


"We're getting reports of a possible disturbance from a squadron ([member="Douglas Reed"] ). Stand-by for updates."

 

[Kiran Arlos]

Ilum

"At ease for now men." A voice called out to those few around several members of the Iron Legion that were in company as well as other groups across the frigid landscape. The area that was explored in those weeks before had been something puzzling and perhaps troubling indeed. Kiran was by no means a geologist however something far greater was happening then they all new.

Kiran stared through the protective gear that he wore as he glanced around and he moved forward just a little bit as they were at the edge of a small cliff. He knelt down slightly as the snow began to fall a little more heavily now. The had disembarked from their vehicle for a few moments to get a small survey of the landscape around them that was until the Praetor provided them with updated mapping and they had a course again.

"We are to rendezvous at the caves in two hours. Let's load up and get a move on!" The lead Legion member called out to them as Kiran began to stand up and he was unbalanced for just a moment as he felt a tremor through the landscape. "That's not good." Kiran whispered as he glanced over the edge before turning back around.

"Kiran! Load up, we've got two hours!"

"Yes sir." Kiran said as he simply nodded his head and made his way back towards the vehicle, riding shotgun with another Legion member. Thus they were on the move again and time passed easily enough as they were soon in sight of the other groups. Kiran tapped his comlink slightly as he heard some jumbled speech and what sounded like static interference.

"What is that...?" Kiran whispered as he held still for a moment and tried to take a better listen. Something wasn't right.... "Do you hear that?" Kiran glanced over to the other Legion members.

Something was happening...


[member="Théodred Heavenshield"] [member="Alexandrite"]

 

[Aster Rose Baelor]

Quickly ushered back into the safety of the Iron Pantheon by Everly, Aster waited for an explanation from the woman.

"Suspicious activities have been detected around Ilum," Everly, understanding Aster's expression explained the situation. "And combined with the freezing temperature outside, this could make for a dangerous situation."

"I see," Aster said making no attempts to hide her disappointment. She had been looking forward to visiting the famous crystal caves of Ilum.

"Until the cause of the suspicious activities have been determined, we will need to remain in the Pantheon and away from the ground floor."

"I understand," Aster acknowledged with a small nod of her head. "In that case, let's visit the infirmary until the cause of suspicion has been found."

[member="Alexandrite"]​