Homeward Bound in Twilight

[Thom Naudir]

Bakura was free. Sentus had longed for years to be able to say that, ever since he fled the world following the death of his wife at the hands of their First Order overlords. He had watched with growing interest as the First Order began to collapse in on itself, falling into chaos and disorder as it first fractured, then became nothing more than a lingering memory. They still caused problems on Zakuul, but they were manageable compared to what they once were. Sentus had not had the time to return home for roughly two years ever since he took his son and daughter back to Zakuul. However recent events demanded his attention.

Before the First Order had even took power over Bakura, a civil war had been waged across the planet and its neighboring worlds. The Olan family and its allies had made open moves to welcome the First Order peacefully to their world, preferring assimilation on their terms rather than forcible conquest. On the other side were the conservative families, Sentus's own blood family the Trion foremost among them. The civil war was brief but brutal, with the smaller conservative faction waging a guerrilla warfare campaign against the Olan bloc. Sentus had seen his first true combat operations in those days. The first man he ever personally killed had been one of his cousins within the Trion family, when the two of them met aboard a ship of split loyalties. In the end the conservatives had been defeated and Bakura eventually joined the First Order.

However, years of growing injustice and corrupt leadership quickly showed that the First Order were not the benevolent leaders the Olan's had hoped for. The conservative resistance steadily gained more support as their years of subservience to the First Order dragged on, until eventually they were free to at. The second Bakuran civil war lasted for nearly two years, the entirety of it Sentus spent away from the conflict. He had gotten his family out just before it started, having no interest in taking part in the deaths of more of his kin. Two years of fighting eventually came to an end with a truce signed between the two factions, and a joint government was established to keep the peace. However, recently members of both factions have begun to disappear. Fingers are pointed at both sides across the political divide, and the looming threat of a resumption of hostilities brought the Bakuran government to look for outside intervention. Sentus, being the closest Bakuran of notable position, and a member of the influential Olan family, and the former conservative Trion family was their first choice.

He had taken a brief leave of absence from Zakuul to attend to the Bakuran problem. While he had little love for his homeworld anymore, he felt he had an obligation to his father in law at least to try and smooth over the hostilities. That was his hope at least as the landing ramp of the shuttle slowly opened, casting the light of the setting sun across the gleaming glass spires of the Olan estates. To either side of the ramp stood several Olan family guards, armed with powerful laser pistols and wearing the ceremonial blue and orange uniforms of the family. Sentus walked past them without pause, coming to a halt only as he caught sight of the approaching group of individuals. His father in laws portly form leading the delegation. Sentus turned to the two Eternal Knights at his back, waving them off before taking a few more steps, extending his hand to clasp with his father in laws.

"Welcome back, son. It has been too long." The familiar baritone of Julios Olan brought a flood of memories to the forefront of Sentus's mind, chief among them the image of his wife's smiling face. He pushed them to the back of his mind however, focusing instead on the task at hand.

"Thank you, father. It is good to be home..."

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Bakura. Its cities were sprawling, its forest and fields lush and green. It's capitol was ornate and grand. But the scars were there, and yet they had reformed. Bakura was peaceful - and thusly they showed their weakness. Rather than fight with honour, for glory - they would set aside their differences, lie to one and other believing they could learn to be better than those who ripped each other apart.

​It made the Chieftain sick. In battle, one must be ready to do anything to ensure victory. The residents of Bakura were not, they were weak. But first, he would show them; that their peace was a lie.

​The Bryn'adûl had arrived on Bakura in secret, amassing a small force under Tathra's command on the planet surface. However he first wished to provide an education, he would cause them to break their truth and then he would break them. Slowly, Bryn'adûl Zealots used the shadows to pull away at the fragile flesh, taking one Senator after the other, one soldier, one child.

​Each were dead before they left the streets, their throats torn before they could think to scream.

​Today, this was to escalate. The pattern had been set, but today more would be taken. Six in total. All from the conversative side, they would be agitated into hostility. And then, the Bryn'adûl would arrive in force. Members of a delegation, an esteemed officer from the local police division, and three other members of a court proceeding overseeing a dispute regarding a piece of industrial estate contested by both sides.

​Tathra would not see to these assassins personally, he maintained operational control. Watching from the shadows within an abandoned storage complex a few miles outside of Salis D'aar.

[member="Sentus Olan"]​

 

[Thom Naudir]

"The most recent disappearance has been Senator Cornelius. He left the assembly hall shortly after the end of the last session, but his family reported he never made it home. Cornelius was a vocal supporter of the armistice agreement between the liberal and conservative factions, and was beginning the process of drafting legislature to disarm several thousand soldiers on both sides and roll them back into a centralized Defense Force. Liberal Senators have publicly condemned the conservatives for the action, which has led to further political backlash. There have been reports of more skirmishes in the outer sectors of the city..." Julios paused mid thought, glancing across the small waiting room at Sentus. He was seated in a plush chair with his right leg folded across his left, a cup in his hand. As Julios watched, Sentus tipped the glass back, drinking the entirety of its content in a single, drawn out draft. After several seconds of this, Sentus lowered the cup, sighing to himself as he set it on the table nearby and began to refill it.

"As I was saying, the conservatives are beginning to..." Julios stopped again as Sentus raised his hand. Pushing himself to his feet, Sentus walked across the room, the refilled cup in his hand. He stepped up to the window of the waiting room, looking out across the capital city as the sun began to rise in the distance. The situation was exactly as Sentus thought it would be before he got to the system. The conservatives at the liberals throats and vice versa. The recently ended civil war on the brink of erupting once more. Sentus did not think this an overly problematic outcome. From his overview of the situation on his way here from Zakuul, Sentus estimated the liberal forces outnumbered the conservatives nearly three to one across the planet in infantry alone. When air forces and heavy vehicles were added in, the conservatives would not last more than a single year. He had been wrong in the past before, but he was confident in the assessment this time.

Of more immediate concern were the disappearances. Their regularity concerned Sentus. As well as the fact both sides were being targeted, it would seem whoever was behind this was seeking to reignite the conflict. Sentus decided they were the more pressing problem for the time being. The political situation could be handled afterwards. Turning to Julios, Sentus pointed in the distance at the assembly hall.

"Call an emergency council session. I do not much care what you talk about, but get everyone there. Do not make it secret either. I will be taking command of Taskforce Dauntless. Once the meeting ends, we shall see if whoever is targeting our Senators makes a move again, and if we might be able to catch them." Turning away, Sentus did not wait for any confirmation from his father in law, instead already beginning to prepare for what was to come. His callous disregard for the lives of the Senators saddened Julios, but it did not shock him. Ever since the death of his daughter Madeline, Sentus had not been the same. He had hoped time would heal the wounds left in his heart. but it seemed nothing had changed. Nodding his head, Julios turned and departed the room, leaving Sentus alone once again.

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​​The plans were set, assassins lay in wait for their chosen targets - hiding in the swath of industrial jungle that lay in the shadows of the city. In every corner of the city, pipes and circuits filled every corner, embedded into the earth. The Zealots move amongst the steam and gas, their darker skins and heavy armour melding with what human eyes would consider the background details of their home.

​Tathra on the other hand, had another target entirely. He moved through the depths of the city; using an abandoned military tunnel system to move through the city unseen. It had been deactivated and disarmed following the peace treaty between Liberals and Conservatives - it was an implement of war, Tathra would make use of it to destroy the fragile peace between them.

​The beasts drew closer to their objectives, the clock was ticking for peace.

​Tathra arrived at his destination, observing a small ladder reaching upward to a grate. Tathra's right hand grasped a bar halfway up the ladder, his form jolting as the armour lifted momentarily with his momentum; shifting and dancing with the rhythm of the climb. The Zealots drew closer, waiting for their targets to reveal themselves. Few were liberal, the majority Conservative. Tathra continued to climb, his massive form bending the ladder as he reached the tunnel.

​Then, it imploded; the tunnel and grate exploded into chunks of concrete as Tathra leapt up to the ground. Landing on his knee with a thundering clap, the concrete shattering underfoot. Tathra immediately moved, entering the small military outpost. The General of this station was a Conservative, he would be defamed.

​The Zealots quickly moved, aiming to slaughter their victims on sight. A spike entered a Senators throat, a long range bolt of molten heated metal causing boiling blood to ooze from his neck and guzzling mouth. The chaos would ensue soon.

​| [member="Sentus Olan"] |​

 

[Thom Naudir]

Sentus was waiting silently in an air speeder parked a few blocks from the government building. Three members of Taskforce Dauntless sat in the speeder as well, one in the driver seat and the other two in the back while Sentus rode in the front passenger seat. He was monitoring the government session from a remote link of the hall, silently taking in everything that was happening in the room. Who was speaking, the reactions to the speaker, both verbal and nonverbal. He noted who sat where and and with whom, and every minor body change. Most of this information was largely just background information to Sentus, but sometimes it paid to understand the feel of the room, even if you were not in it.

As the session came to an end, Sentus sent word to Taskforce Dauntless to move to their assigned positions Sentus had designated before hand. Barely ten minutes after the government session ended, Sentus got the response he had been waiting for. The first death happened before more than a dozen witnesses. A conservative senator died with a munition round protruding from his neck. Other senators began to vanish shortly after, either in similarly gruesome ways, or never arriving back home. Sentus listened carefully to the police channels as the calls came in.

"Dispatch First Squad to the site of the shooting. Have them go into the high rise complex across the street and ascend thirty floors. Send Second through Sixth Squads into the backstreets in a five kilometer grid with the government building at its center. Detain all witnesses and secure each corner. Have Seventh through Tenth squad set up positions around the perimeter of the lockdown area." As his orders were relayed to the other soldiers across the city, Sentus turned his attention to another feed of information coming through a secure military channel. An isolated conservative military base, the only one in the city had been hit. The loss of this base, and the other deaths of conservative senators would send a clear message that the liberals were planning to make a move against the conservatives, and soon. If Sentus did not act soon, the civil war would erupt again.

Whoever was behind this knew exactly what they were doing.

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​Whilst the Bryn'adûl under Tathra's command continued to follow their leaders Command, dealing with their assigned targets in a quick and efficient manner - the Chieftain had other business to attend to.

​The military outposts mess hall was the closest building to the explosion, the men inside were a mixture of military police and marines; off-duty and on, half in their uniforms and others in civilian clothing. A mixture of which came rushing toward the entrance, intent on accessing the damage and cause of the explosion.

​On the other end of the compound, the base was put into lockdown; the gates of the base closing as three small transports loaded with Base Security headed toward the explosion as the rest of the Base was alerted. Most assuming it was an attack perpetrated by the liberal movement, readied themselves for combat as quickly as they could. However they could never be ready for their foe.

​The mess hall doors, six infantrymen ran outside - cautiously moving towards the column of smoke that engulfed the area of the explosion. Two had rifles, the others were unarmed and remained on the edge of the explosion radius. Within the smoke, the infantrymen could hear something; something massive lurching over them as it crushed rubble underfoot. They could not see him, but instead found two glowering orbs.

Centres of amber burning with life a few feet above them. The two men turned, fear escaping them in the form of half-hearted words and indiscernible shouts. The closest was crushed between crimson palms, the other hurled into debris by the blunt force of an outstretched arm. One dead, the other badly wounded.

​Then, Tathra bolted out from the smoke with Shield extended; soaking up the blaster bolts that came from their rifles as he quickly closed the distance, the Axe spun above his head with little effort, cutting down droves of men and woman with little effort. Their blaster rifles made no mark, their combat skills proved futile. Soon the mess hall was a trove of dismembered and savagely beaten corpses, man, woman and child were cut-down. The stench of blood and flesh filled the air as the transports arrived, managing to report the sight of strange creatures leaving the area of the explosion.

​Over the course of the hour, the Bryn'adûl moved as a swath through the base; leaving few survivors.

Tathra moved next to the barracks, finding brave opposition as every hall was decorated with corpses and torn flesh. Drones prowled, hunting those on the airfield and scattered throughout the Base. The Drones would serve as a distraction, cutting through the small force that remained at the base. Tathra just had to find the General in time before help arrived.

​​| [member="Sentus Olan"] |​

 

[Thom Naudir]

Sentus stepped out of the speeder, ducking his head at the low overhang of the civilian craft. He had wanted to be discreet when he set up his mobile command post near the government building. He had wanted to respond quickly to the situation that was most likely to erupt there. However, he quickly came to realize he was needed somewhere else. A conservative military outpost had come under attack. The implications for the fallout there were immense if it began to spiral out of control. If the conservatives thought the liberal military were making a preemptive attack on a military compound, it would be all out war once again.

Leaving command of the containment force around the government building to a captain, Sentus gathered a quick reaction force and made his way to the compound. Two other speeder cars pulled up alongside Sentus's own, and a full squad of Taskforce Dauntless soldiers, twenty in total, quickly formed up and began to advance on the compound. The two conservative soldiers standing guard outside were panicking before Sentus even arrived, and they did not react in time before two stun shots took them down. The entrance to the complex was then opened from the nearby command panel, and the squad began to spread out, stunning anyone they came across. Sentus followed them in after the main entry was cleared, two more Dauntless standing beside him.

He had given the men orders to move through the compound and incapacitate everyone. Once they had taken the complex, they could sort out who belonged here and who had launched the attack. He had already prepared a speech to be given to his father in law saying this way a law enforcement operation, independent of any faction. It did not matter if it held up in court. Sentus did not plan to stick around for much longer afterwards. Till then, he would oversee the completion of the operation here and get an update from the other troops back in the capital proper.

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​The Bryn'adûl moved in a small cohesive force, moving from compound to compound as a trail of brutal violence lead towards the fiercest point of resistance, a surrounded Surveillance office building. Sandbags and various other defences had been set up impromptu, their set up wasn't even fully complete as a wave of Savage Drones clambered over the building, swarming into every window and causing those outside to turn their backs momentarily - opening fire on the creatures as they tunnelled deeper inward. Some fell, but soon Tathra came upon them; using their momentary distraction to seize superiority.

​With his Axe in hand, Tathra splintered their forces; driving through the middle as his Axe cut through one after the other, its blade and shaft used to break bone. The weapon's range granted him easy access to multitudes of foes, the Axe gracefully dancing, carried like a feather by the massive being as he butchered near twenty soldiers. Their rifles proved useless, their weaponry ineffectual against the mass of the Bryn'adûl Leader, cascading upon them.

​As Tathra finished off those that remained, spinning his Axe over his right shoulder and cleaving the last man in half, blood pouring outward from his frail corpse like a fountain. Moments later, an alert lit up the Battlenet; Dauntless forces were pushing through the compound in search of the attackers.

​Those that survived were likely wounded or unaware of exactly who was attacking. Soon, it would not matter. Tathra moved with haste, the building beginning to crumble as his Drones tore down wall after wall, searching for the General.

​| [member="Sentus Olan"] |​

 

[Thom Naudir]

Sentus watched as the distant sections of the compound began to crumble, and reports came from his troops within of odd sounds in the distance. Every corpse the soldiers came across were dead by wounds that neither conservative or liberal weapons would cause. Sentus was beginning to think something else was at hand here, but he could not let himself get consumed by doubt. He had to focus on the task at hand to ensure everything went smoothly. Still, he sent word for the Dauntless Taskforce to switch from stun weaponry to lethal shots. They could always apologize to the soldiers families later.

Sentus himself entered the compound, making his way towards the primary communications center of the military post, the door wide open and waiting as he and his escort arrived. Much of the equipment was still functioning, and Sentus was able to bring up an overlay of the compound, with glowing lights indicating the locations of everyone still alive there. Alarmingly, lights were going out faster than Sentus would have expected for a simple military assault on the complex. Sentus send word to all his teams to hold their advance, instead pulling back slightly to establish a combat defense line across several hallways. Every location they secured had long hallways in either direction, where the weaponry of the Taskforce would give them a considerable edge over the evident melee weaponry their unseen foes possessed.

[member="Tathra Khaeus"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​As the remaining defenders observed the Bryn'adûl assailants, they arrived to the conclusion that they were coming for General Artyet. Tathra quickened his pace, barging into the office; the doors caved under his weight and bent inward as they flung to the side, one falling from its hinges as Tathra's raised his Axe ever so slightly. General Artyet was not there, but his scent remained. Tathra's mutant eyes converted to a pheromone based vision, allowing him to identify and isolate Artyet. The Chieftain course-corrected, heading for the large garden back entrance of the facility, it was the only logical option.

​Of course, Tathra would arrive their quicker. The hallways were filled with his beasts and warriors, they would have to move slowly. That was not the case for him however, his eyes followed the pheromone laden footsteps tracking the General through the concrete jungle. Soon, he would have his prize.

​To Tathra's surprise, the reinforcements had arrived sooner than expected. They had locked down the entrances, and were holding the hallways. Tathra ordered the Savage Drones to divide into two groups, the Brutes would move to intercept the largest group of troops and await his Command.

He took little pleasure in skulking halls in search of an insignificant creature, but it had to be done. Whatever was the most efficient manner to complete his goal was the morally just action. He knew that, it didn't matter what they thought. When Tathra finally found the General, he was holding the gut of a fallen officer, attempting to stop the bleeding.

​Tathra's eyes devolved into what would be considered human sight, observing the two humans as both's eyes could not comprehend what was before them. The younger officer's eyes were wild with fear, perhaps he believed his eyes were fostering a mirage of their Devil. The General was stern, but confused.

"Don't bother." ​Tathra's baritone was bemused and condescending, catching the General as he tried to reach for a weapon.

​"Your life has been a lie, now I will give you meaning; child." ​Tathra's eyes fell on the bleeding Officer with some semblance of pity in his face, but that sympathy was quick set aside by revulsion and then neutrality as he cleaved through both with his Axe.

​"Take his body."

​| [member="Sentus Olan"] |​