Location: City Outskirts
Allies: CIS & her Allies | 50 Dauntless Commandos (Thanks Luna Terrik)
Objective: 1 – Crusade
Fighting With: 50 Dauntless Commandos
Post: #1
Equipment: Obsidian-Type Strike Armour, Knight's Obsidian Ring, Blood of the Massassi, Romanus Shield, Obsidian Executor Sword, Obsidian Executor Boots, Dual DC-17 Pistols
Theme: Indestructible
Tags: [member=Alden Akaran] (Possibly?)
The Sith Lord, Taramaz Laurs, and his 50 or so Dauntless Commandos were advancing towards the city, shooting and destroying any SLaM droids they came across. There were many, yet nothing too challenging for the elite task force. One of the arguably more powerful Knights Obsidian leading the most elite, non force user group the Confederacy had to offer. It was a recipe for Liberation. Not just from his training, and raw skill, but from his weaponry aswell. His lightsabers could cut through Cortosis. They used two of the most powerful crystals he knew to exist. And dual wielding them? with black blades, a black cloak, and the Knight's Obsidian armour? He looked like something out of a nightmare, but nothing like his Master would have. He'd been shot from a distance a few times, stray bullets grazing him. Nothing to worry about, really, nothing his armour couldn't deal with.
Currently, they were pinned down behind some rocks and debris from buildings, being shot at by something like a legion of SLaM droids. They were returned fire, but they were outmatched by the droids, as any organic force would be. They weren't gods, and they definitely weren't wearing heavy duty suits made of beskar, and the Knight's Obsidian Armour was good, but not good enough to stop an onslaught of blaster fire from Mandalorian droids from killing, maiming, or mortally wounding you. And the droids were getting bolder, slowly advancing on their position, and as they got closer, so did their shots to his commandos. Then, an idea came to mind, he looked to a Commando, and held his hand open, as if you were asking for somebody to throw you the ball in a game of Space Rugby. And the Commando grabbed two thermal dets, and threw one to the Sith Lord, then, in sync, primed and threw them, hiding back behind the cover. His hands rested on his lightsabers, they held a better chance at saving him than the Romanus on his wrist, or the shield in his Executor Sword.
They waited for the-- boom! -- Sound of the dets going off, and then they heard the clanking of metal falling and hitting the ground. The Sith Commander of the force raised his right hand, holding his sabers, igniting the one in his left hand, two fingers pointed into the air, then at the enemy, then the air, then the enemy, as he signalled for the troops to leap over their cover, and start shooting. It reminded him briefly of stories he'd been told as a wee kiddy about how the Jedi of the Old Republic commanded and lead legions of Clones into battle during the devastating Clone Wars. Very much the same, except he was a Sith, leading clones of another man into battle for the Confederacy. Oh how the tables had turned.
They leapt over their cover, guns blazing, the Sith Lord's sabers activated, all four blades showing off. If the enemy droids knew emotion, the only one they would be capable of feeling right now would be fear, and they'd be leaking oil like a gutted Rancor leaks blood. The Sith walked forward calmly, deflecting blaster bolts, he then lunged forward, impaling a droid through the head, then followed through, slicing the saber out of the droid's head, and decapitated another, ducked under a droid trying to hit him with their blaster. Then, he spun around, slicing said droid in half, and kept slicing through them, then, when only four remained in the group opposing him directly, he deactivated his sabers, and grabbed them with the force, then made hand movements like one would when scrunching up a piece of paper, and the droids lifted up, scrunching up into a ball of droid parts. Their metal warped from the force exerted on them, and they grinded against, being crushed, emitting a god-awful sound.
He then let go, and the droids fell down, still in a ball, their systems crushed, and destroyed. He then turned back to face the way his force were marching, and saw the commandos finish off the grounds, knocking them down and shooting them. Then, out of nowhere, a droid leapt onto his back, holding a blade near his neck, trying to stab the tall Sith Lord. Thankfully, one of the commandos shot the droid, said commando happened to be the one that passed him a det earlier. While Taramaz knew the commando couldn't see any facial expression from the Sith Lord, he smiled, gratefully. Then, he signalled to keep marching. They would stop to rest at a friendly field camp they could see in the distance. Better to save the troops energy for now, and have them walk to their rest, than exhaust them running to salvation that would, in return, not repay their efforts.
They had been marching for only a few minutes, but that's when Taramaz saw it, a Star Destroyer falling, in line to hit the city, more specifically, a part of it's engine, falling faster, on course to land 20, maybe 30 metres ahead of them. And judging by the fact it was on on fire due to damage, and looked very unstable, it was going to land more than close enough to explode, and send debris, shrapnel, etc flying at the commandos. Then, Taramaz saw a small squadron, maybe six star fighters, all also on a crash course. About four friendlies, and two unidentified, possibly a third party.
Then, he was yelling out to his troopers.
"BRACE! GET TO COVER, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! ROCKS, ANYTHING SOLID, WE'VE GOT AN ENGINE COMING DOWN ON US!"
Yes, technically brace was a term used with ships, but it seemed fitting. Taramaz, as the leader, naturally stood, looking around. There was no cover, and one of the fighters had landed somewhere behind them. Taramaz, too concerned with checking on the pilot's status, almost missed the engine. About five seconds before it hit, he threw his hands forward, feet back, as if one was trying to stop a wall from crushing them. Then, the engine hit, and exploded. It sent shock waves rippling towards the commandos, shock waves that Taramaz took the blunt of. The ground shook, and bits of metal, both big, small and microscopic shrapnel, even an energy wave from the engine's stored power flew at them, looking to crush and kill them. but they didn't. Taramaz had used the force to form an invisible shield to protect the troops. They stood, and watched in wonder as bits of metal and debris, and other forces hit the invisible wall, and ricocheted off in another direction. The barrage of forces ended in about thirty seconds.
But the barrier stayed for thirty seconds after, for good measure against shrapnel that they could not see. Then, he collapsed, the same trooper who had helped him, and potentially saved his life lunged, and caught him, holding him up. He put his arm around the commando, and leaned on him, the Commando was tall too, 7'6, if Taramaz had to guess. not as tall as him, but enough to support the massive Sith Lord. He hadn't even noticed the countless millions of danger warnings that had been flashing on his HUD. They disappeared shortly after, then got replaced by reports on his physical status, he had over-exerted himself, every thing that had hit the shield was like it had hit him, just trading in physical damage for exhaustion.
He put one of his sabers back on his belt, holding the other in the hand that wasn't holding onto a Commando, one blade ignited to make up for the commandos new found weakness, he could only shoot with one hand due to holding his Commanding Officer up with the other, but a lightsaber blocking blaster bolts from hitting you equally made up for that. Then, Taramaz saw the entire Star Destroyer plunge into the city, his face dropped with grief. He ordered his suit to inject him with energy stims and healing stims immediately. And the suit complied.
Then, Taramaz, feeling newly energised, and healed. Raised his hands, and a few of the Commandos formed up behind him, holding him up, whether or not it actually helped him, nobody could care, it was the thought that counted. They didn't want their commander to sacrifice himself for them again. Taramaz put up that force barrier again, and everybody grouped up. The shock wave hit first, the ground shook like it was an earthquake. He saw atleast one building crumble. Then, everything flew at him, hitting the shield he'd put up, luckily, because of the distance, it was a lot less forceful, and easier to hold up against. Warnings flashed onto his HUD again, and every time his suit advised him to stop, he ordered it to put another stim into him. He couldn't tell whether it was dirt, metal from the ship, metal and concrete from the city, or wood and stones from the outskirts of the city that was hitting him. Probably all of it. But he couldn't distinguish between them, he was pushing himself to keep the barrier up. This barrage lasted for about a minute, and he held it for another thirty seconds, same as before, before he collapsed again, held up by his troopers. They then sat down behind a rock, facing away from the city.
Taramaz didn't spot it until the last minute, but one of the ship's from when the engine crashed was flying towards the ship that had landed behind them, and he raised his hand, stopping the ship right before it made contact with the one that had already taken it's place in the dirt behind the CIS Forces, then gently laid to to rest beside the other ship. He lowered his arm, breathing heavy, and his mask folded bask, as he breathed in fresh, unfiltered air. It was free of shrapnel, thank god. He just sat there, resting, waiting.
