Destruction on Fondor [Protectorate vs. One Sith]

[Marcus Faust]

Two of them, there were two, each strong, but one was injured, being taken away. The other, @[member="Darth Apparatus"] could handle, he trusted this. Vindica set his mind to tracking @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] and the man he and his men carried, @Jorus Merrill the true target of the assassin's game. As he quickly moved down the halls, the black robed figure hardly making a sound as he made his way towards the combatants.

The place he moved towards, was the Omega Pyre extraction point itself, a VERY hot zone. Things had just gotten exceedingly more complicated for the Darth. He could deal. With a exasperated sigh, he pressed the panel which opened the door to the hangar. Instantly weapons snapped upwards, leveling them with his head. The masked Sith reacted by beginning to raise his hands up, but as they passed his abdomen, they stopped, and he unleashed a burst of telekinetic energy. The squad of soldiers that'd been holding him at blaster point stumbled back.

That was all the opportunity he needed.

Surging forward, his saber ignited. In a flurry of crimson, he carved through the unit, criss-crossing their bodies with the blade. Limbs detached, flying in various directions as he moved between them without pause or hesitation. Reaching the end of the group, he stopped and deactivated the saber, and placed ith back upon his hip, the soldiers dropping to the floor as he turned around to await the arrival of Merrill.

 

[Miles Varden]

Miles and his men were caught off guard as the hooded man attacked. The other Sith hasn't been seen since the station shuddered a second time.

Lt. Val, Commander Merrill, we have a Sith at the extraction point. I will engage, but this one seems stronger than the last I saw.

All positions, open fire!!

The E-Web placements had been replaced and the heavy repeaters were on target, both spat out dozens of bolts at a time. The troopers attacked the Sith with everything they had. They remained on the line and would guard it with their life.

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Nyos Val"] @[member="Darth Vindica"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

@[member="Chloe Blake"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Nyos Val"] @[member="Tycho Shorn"] @[member="Darth Vindica"] @[member="Miles Varden"] @[member="HK-36"]

Unaware that Vindica waited, that Varden's men hoped to oppose the Dark Master, that Chloe had taken his riot gun to fight Apparatus, that all the ships at the extraction point had a Sith Lord between them and this intrepid crew, Jorus Q. Merrill opened his eyes. OP soldiers were carrying him, or dragging him, through the shipyard. Kaine's Dark Side tendrils had burned him right through his space suit, and the OP folks seemed to be bringing the kid who'd shredded the rest of that suit with that fething golden sword.

He knew grappling like some Jedi knew apotheosis, and muscle memory took over while his brain was still catching up. A subtle movement, a shift and twist of his arms at just the right angle, slid him free of Hannibal's grip. He fell to one knee, and rose with a grunt, still a tad dizzy. He hadn't been knocked out from anything like trauma, just a Force-Drain-induced exhaustion.

"I'm no casualty, boys. Where's Chloe Blake?" He took back his gun from a nearby OP trooper and levered himself upright, using nine kilos of beskar as a crutch.

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

@[member="Chloe Blake"] | @[member="Nyos Val"] | @[member="Tycho Shorn"] | @[member="Darth Vindica"] | @[member="Miles Varden"] | @[member="HK-36"] | @[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The Fondorian struggled along after the group, heaving Merrill along with him. For a guy who could launch himself into hyperspace with a sustained thought, he was pretty hefty. Before the intrepid group plus Hannibal could get to where they were going, a challenger appeared. Hannibal screeched to a halt, stopping a long way's off from a scary looking Darth who happened to be standing suspiciously close to a pile of dismembered Protectorate soldiers.

Craaaaaaaap.

Alright, it wasn't too bad. The droid doofus, the cyborg schmuck, and the other Omegans milling about could handle this guy while Hannibal slinked away with Merrill in tow. All was not lost. Hannibal just had to focus, keep his wits about him, and he just might make it out of this one million credits richer. He scanned around, looking for somewhere he could slip away from this confrontation. An alternative route to the extraction point. That's all he needed. Then suddenly Hannibal felt his weight shift and Jorus slid out of his protective custody like a greased up deaf guy.

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.

Jorus, now fully awake and in tune with his surroundings, took his scary-looking Beskar shotgun back.

Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap.

A good bounty hunter knew when to hold them, when to fold them, when to walk away, and when to run. This was definitely no longer a situation where Hannibal could hold anything. Folding right here and now would be pointless, not without an escape attempt first. It was time to back away slowly and then run like the dickens. He couldn't do that now, elsewise the mooks around him would catch wise to his actual business here. He would have to wait for a better opportunity. For now, he needed to keep playing pretend.

"Back the way we came. Fighting some Sith guy."

 

[HK-36]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Nyos Val"] @[member="Darth Apparatus"] @[member="Chloe Blake"]
While others have moved out HK stayed put behind Chloe, he couldn't exactly leave her alone right now, his right side turned towards Apparatus and Chloe's back in a slight fencing Makashi stance in case there would be more trouble coming their way.
His previous fight with a Sith left him with a cleave wound in his leg, but that was considerably minor damage, if he would have to help Chloe face the Sith he wouldn't be as worried.
HK only wished his cloak wasn't burned by the previous Sith, sure, he had more for back-up, but right now it would have been useful to hide him arming himself. Instead, his sword hand remained empty at his side, his free hand he folded back behind his back. Slowly, two barrels of his wrist-repeater extended silently, hidden from Apparatus' sight by the droid's torso.

Meanwhile, HK received the silent ping from Nyos in his head, he acknowledged it silently and motionlessly, he couldn't blow the cover about it. Besides, they had bigger fish to fry right now.

 

[Marcus Faust]

As the E-webs sprung to life, the crimson blade began to spin rapidly, deflecting the bolts, sending them flying back in every direction. The heavy blasts of the E-webs forced him to twist and turn, desperately avoiding death. Then an idea formed in Darth Vindica's mind. The crates which the first squad had been standing by we're hurled towards Varden and his men at an astounding speed. That would silence the guns for a bit.

Now he turned to his side, and stared down Hannibal and more importantly, Jorus Merrill. The Dark Lord wished for blood, and he would provide. Behind the mask, sickly yellow eyes narrowed, shining in sharp contrast to the pale white of his skin, spare the red, burned flesh of his face, not that anyone could see this. He held the hilt of his ignited saber in his right hand, holding the arm out a bit, then he raised his left hand, and let the true fight begin. Purple tendrils of dark side energy condensed into lightning sprung forward, towards Oryen and company.

@[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Miles Varden"]

 

[Nyos Val]

Nyos moved up to Jorus, vibrosaber in hand. He stepped in front of the woozy man, bringing his off-hand in front of the incoming lighting. Like a lightning rod, the arcs of electricity redirected to the most choice body. Even empowered with the Force, lightning was still lightning and a big metal man standing in the middle of the room was like a bright light to a moth.

His arm began to glow every color in the spectrum as the electricity absorbed into an internal matrix in Nyos' cybernetic arm. Nyos felt the strength of the Sith's power as the lightning slowly edged him backwards on the deck. Nyos dug in hard to prevent himself from being pushed into his allies.

Go, attack him now! he yelled to everyone else. His squad of troopers fired at the dark figure full-auto.

@[member="Darth Vindica"] @[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Chloe Blake"] @[member="HK-36"] @Anyone I forgot who is in this scene.

 

[Miles Varden]

Miles ducked as the crates flew towards him and his men. Taking cover the men took minimal damage as a few were glanced by the crates. Dings, dents, and bruises were all that were suffered. The sprung back up to fire but witnessed friendlies had engaged him as well.

Stay here and hold the line. Fire only on my say so.

Miles vaulted over a crate and crossed the distance from the line and the Sith in a very short time, thanks to his jump-pack. Coming down at the Sith's back, Miles had drawn his vibroaxe and made to sever the spine down the vertical axis of his back.

@[member="Darth Vindica"] @[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Hannibal Oryen"] @[member="Chloe Blake"] @[member="HK-36"] @Anyone I forgot who is in this scene.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Somewhere away from the action
Course Correction complete! Floating around

Space, the final frontier. Where no man has gone before. These are the adventures of starship...ahem, wrong plot! In space no one can hear you scream, though for some reason space battles are commonly depicted as featuring beautiful explosions. Someone should write a paper about this. Anyway, one with the plot, for this post sort of has one.

Jorus Merrill, Lord of the Hyperlanes, could most assuredly not complain about being unpopular. Truly, he was tremendously wanted, for a Sith Master, a Fondorian bounty-hunter and a Warden of the Sky all wanted to claim him in one way or another. While the Warden was awakening and about to unleash THE shotgun - it must be capitalised like that with deliberate emphasis at all times - Omegan soldiers were valiantly fighting a Sith and other fascinating things were occuring, the space station had finally righted itself. Today at least it would not plummet down out of space and impact upon the surface of Fondor, causing significant destruction. The tax-paying citizens of the industrial town could go about their business in peace, knowing that they were safe, until the next disaster hit them.

What was Siobhan doing, now that her task was complete, one might ask. Was she heroically charging through the corridors, eyes ablaze with righteous fire, dazzling lightsabre in hand, in order to fight the heinous Sith? Well, actually she was not. For one her lightsabre had floated into space when part of the hull was blown up and because in her section there was still zero-gravity she was floating around. Moreover, to put it bluntly, she was spent and exhausted. Grabbing an orbital shipyard station, give or take a few portions that had been ripped out by the explosion, and pulling it through space to its original position with only telekinesis was most fulfilling, but also tremendously exhausting.

So with all energy drained from her and her body utterly useless she was just...floating around, half oblivious to what else was going on. For some reason there was a grin on her face, as she dreamt. The mind of Siobhan Kerrigan was an interesting place, or perhaps not. At heart it was rather basic. Her dreams involved a great deal of poetry and learning, which went hand in hand with the enforcement of discipline. Her mind conjured up tight ropes, images of persons that looked remarkably close to @[member="Delila Castillon"] and @[member="Tegaea Alcori"], both dressed in amazonian leather outfits.

Unfortunately, at this very moment a black curtain descended upon the scene, just before Siobhan muttered, "Redheads Reign." One could hear the former and potentially slightly unstable Exarch giggling, along with various other sounds escaping her throat as she sunk into the dream. Assuredly the crisis at the hangar would soon be handled so she was left to just...float around and dream.

 

[Soeht]

As @[member="Darth Vindica"] ran off to attack other members of the Protectorate, Darth Apparatus turned his head toward the general direction within the shipyard that he was - despite being out of view. His comm was switched on momentarily.

With his voice reaching Darth Vindica through the device - provided that Darth Vindica had a comm device as well - Darth Apparatus said, “I saw them take one of our own alive. My master demands that you retrieve him.”

Darth Apparatus spoke about @[member="Tycho Shorn"] - who was unconscious and being taken by Protectorate troops to a shuttle. For the One Sith, the loss of a living agent to enemy forces could spell doom - even if it was an Apprentice.

When @[member="Chloe Blake"] spoke out to Darth Apparatus, the Sith Lord turned his head back to her and responded with a curt, “No.”

Then, Darth Apparatus pointed to his distinctive helmet and asked both Chloe and @[member="HK-36"], “Do you recognize who I am? If so, stand down - the fate of Fondor is in your hands right now.”

 

[Chloe Blake]

That mask upon further contemplation gave her an inkling she wasn't just dealing with the Corellian myth of Lord Nyax, who came in the middle of the night to steal boys and girls from their beds. She even said this, "Well.. you ain't no Lord Nyax." she told him, but stood her ground.

Chloe's right shoulder gave a small shrug at @[member="Darth Apparatus"]'s question, her gaze as well as that headbanger never wavering from the Force User. Or more aptly named: Sith Lord Darth Apparatus.

"However, considerin' you've a knack at explodin' worlds at your whim, who's to say if even standin' down is goin' to protect me and mine?" she asked bluntly.

"You and your kind are the ones who came here for blood and what have you, and I reckon now things ain't goin' quite as planned." she said with a firm and steady drawl. "So, since you haven't decided to start dancin' with that pretty red blade of yours, I'm guessin' there is somethin' you be wantin' still. Question is, what it is? "

It was like she was having a normal conversation over tea. Only the stakes were a bit higher than figuring out would get the last sugar cookie.

 

[Soeht]

Once @[member="Chloe Blake"] finished her last sentence, Darth Apparatus lowered his left hand and said, "You have one of our own - I saw a glimpse of him being carried away and I still sense him on this station."

Taking a single step forward, Darth Apparatus continued by saying, "Surrender him to us and allow the rest to leave. I will stay and Fondor will live."

 

[HK-36]

@[member="Chloe Blake"] @[member="Darth Apparatus"]
HK calculated slightly about Apparatus' first question whether they knew him from before
"Were you maybe present during the Siege of Mandalore when the Sith where defeated? Maybe I am mixing Sith up, you know how it is when the Sith hit the proverbial turbo-fan."
Well the thing is HK did saw Apparatus there that day, shortly before he made his exit when surrounded by Mandalorians, but the writer does not remember if Apparatus wore the same mask, so it may be mistake on droid's part as much as a lucky guess.
"Either way, what guarantee we will have you will not try to attack us as soon as your friend is turned or you will try to escape? Lying is a second nature to Sith, after all."

As for his part, HK still stood there unarmed but ready

 

[Soeht]

When @[member="HK-36"] asked his question, Darth Apparatus replied by saying, “Don't speak in front of your betters."

Then, he lifted his right hand up and deactivated his lightsaber. He held the lightsaber hilt parallel to the ground with the top of his hand facing upward. He could easily drop it just by relaxing his grip.

Looking at @[member="Chloe Blake"], Darth Apparatus said, “Though if you have the same concern, make the order now and I will be unarmed.”

 

[Marcus Faust]

Vindica nodded, achieving the message of @[member="Darth Apparatus"]. He would save this apprentice. As he deflected the bolts of @[member="Nyos Val"], precognition warned him of @[member="Miles Varden"] coming towards him. Reaching out with a free hand he grabbed the jump-pack utilizing trooper with a telekinetic hand, and pulled him in front of the wall of blaster fire. He'd be shredded by friendly fire. Turning on his heel, he darted to cover, searching for a trace of @[member="Tycho Shorn"] in the force. When he found him, the Darth's eyes fixated themselves of the shuttle. Crouching into a sprinters position he inhaled deeply, then bolted forwards toward the shuttle.

 

[Chloe Blake]

At @[member="Darth Apparatus"] 's rather rude comment about the Assassin droid to her left.

"Hmm... what do you think Baron Hache-Kay? Should we parlay?" came Chloe's contemplative question to @[member="HK-36"], the Czerka Headbanger still pointed at the Sith, her blue eyes boring down on him.

 

[HK-36]

@[member="Chloe Blake"] @[member="Darth Apparatus"]
"Yes, I do not give orders to have prisoners executed, miss Blake."
Meanwhile, he gave a silent ping to @[member="Ayden Cater"] allowing him to access live feed from HK's vision from closest electronic terminal so that he may witness the events as well, and be informed about them, of course.
"Our friends are already on their way."
He kept looking at Apparatus passively, it wasn't first time Sith insulted him, and not the worst, at one point, things just started to repeat and lost their edge.

 

[Chloe Blake]

"Sounds like we have a parlay, Lord Nyax," Chloe then shot back, nodding at @[member="Darth Apparatus"] "And yes, we'd be mighty grateful if you went on about handin' over all of your weapons.. slow and steady. I reckon you can't fault us for bein' a bit on the cautious side."

It was like a slap comic, as HK and Chloe quickly discussed the exchange quickly and calmly --- well as calmly as one could while facing down Jorus's headbanger.

"I'd suggest no more foul play after this -- if any more of your kind be keen on harmin' me or mine, this parlay won't do. Call off your kathhounds still in this station, get them off... then we'll conduct your trade."

 

[Nyos Val]

Nyos chased the Sith, and with his augmented legs, Nyos caught him no problem. Coming to rest in front of the shuttle, vibrosaber pointed out at the Sith.

No more running coward. Fight like the man you think you are.

Nyos primed his rotors to react against anything the Sith could do.

@[member="Darth Vindica"]

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

With all of these mooks all kinds of distracted, Hannibal saw his opening. While he had missed his opportunity to bag Jorus, he wouldn't be missing his opportunity to escape. Val, Varden, and the rest of the Omegan gang were preoccupied with the Sith dude. There was no way Hannibal was going to miss this chance. He didn't even care to make his exit the couth kind. He simply turned tail and fled down the hallway while everyone's eyes were off him. Hannibal would find another route to his ship by alternative means.

Hannibal had no intention of sticking his neck out for a bunch of Protectorate personnel he didn't even like.