Faction Hunting Grounds | Diarchy

[Viari Banu]

Hunting Grounds​

Feeling the force break his fall Viari let out a surprised caw, he had no idea as to it's source but silently thanked Eostre for her protection. Friend-Iandre's updraft was welcomed with an almost playful trill as he rode the warm winds into a stabilised flight. His eyes tracked the devastation left in her wake, metal frames thrown into the dirt their awkward mechanical limbs struggling to correct themselves. Easy prey, but tempted as he was the last attack didn't quite go in his favour.​

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Capitalising on the opening Iandre had created, friend-Diarch descended like lighting. The technique, was, in a sense, comforting. He had seen his father make similiar use of the weapon in hunts, only this was much more powerful and far more explosive. He felt the change in air pressure beneath him. It manifested as push followed by a sudden drop again as displaced air filled back in, he responded in kind first by streching his feathers wider to carry him upwards then back in again to prevent a sudden and uncontrolled descent as it was pulled back towards the earth.​

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The pair worked seemlessly together, one defending the other attacking and back again. He had seen hunters work in sequence, carefully laid out plans or countless drills executed to perfection but this was different. Movements were fluid they adapted to the ebb and flow instead of trying to control it, it came as naturally to them as flying and he wondered if this was a power that all Eostre's blessed possessed or was it some unique bond they shared.​

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Zinayn added his own unique wind to the battle, moving with speed and grace he weaved between machines formations, cutting down his prey in elegant and targetted strikes. His weapon wasn't like the others, it wasn't a lightsaber nor a spear that emuluated lightning but a blade. Cold steel that beyond all reason cut through the machines like butter. Such a weapon would do wonders for his people, but that was a question for later and right now he had a job to do.​

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"I- Yes!" Viari hooted loud and clean, if friend-Iandre was going to lead their hunt he would fall in line. As much as it frustrated him, he had to recognise these machines for the dangers they posed to him and his talons. A broken leg could very well be a death sentance without his father's healing.​

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A quick scan across the plains and he spotted Zinayn, now focused on what looked to him like a metal tree. The surrounding grass moved oddly, not with the sweeping wind but against it moving closer and closer. He recognised the pattern, like a pack of animals closing in on their prey. Focusing his gaze he caught glimpse of the serpentine machines toiling through the soil towards him. Diving low enough to ensure his voice carried, Viari crowed, "Friend-Zinayn. Danger, behind."​

Div created by Makeb​

Iandre Athlea Diarch Rellik Zinayn

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Viari's warning reached Iandre like a tight pluck in the Force, a sharp thread of urgency cutting across the battlefield.

"Friend-Zinayn. Danger, behind."

This time, the danger wasn't something worming under the soil — it was something rolling toward him.

As Iandre swept her awareness across the plains, she felt the vibration, rhythmic and metallic: two autonomous threshers and a multi-limbed irrigation unit shifting direction at once, their systems corrupted enough to behave like predatory animals despite being nothing more than repurposed agricultural rigs.

The threshers rumbled forward with heavy rotary teeth spinning at dangerous speed. At the same time, the irrigation rig — an eight-meter mechanical boom with jointed sprayer arms — swung its limbs in stiff, insect-like arcs as it closed in behind Zinayn. They weren't fast, but their momentum and mass made them lethal hazards.

Iandre reacted immediately.

"Zinayn — up. Now."

Her voice carried like a steady command across the grasslands, and even before he fully registered it, she pressed her hand into the earth.

There was no eruption — just control.

She stiffened the soil beneath Zinayn, flattening uneven ground and giving him a perfectly stable platform. When he pushed off, the Force lifted under his feet, turning his jump into a clean, easy ascent as the threshers roared past the spot he had just vacated.

A heartbeat later, the irrigation boom unit overshot its turn, its long sprayer arms getting tangled in tall grasses as its corrupted logic tried to compensate.

Iandre lifted her eyes to Viari, voice clear and authoritative without losing its warmth.

"Stay above their pivot radius — they can't elevate past fifteen degrees."

To Rellik, she didn't need theatrics—only precision.

She pointed toward the stalled machines, her cloak snapping behind her as the wind shifted around her.

"Three units—two threshers, one irrigation boom. Stabilizers overloaded. Hit the joints while they're locked from the turn."

Her tone sharpened with a confidence born of absolute synergy.

"Your angle's clean. Take them."

She kept her palm low, not to manipulate the soil violently but to ensure the terrain stayed predictable — no dips, no soft patches, nothing that would cause Zinayn to lose footing when he landed or Viari to misread wind flow from ground disturbance.

Around her, the plains thrummed with the movement of machinery and the coordinated rhythm of her allies.
And through it all, Iandre remained the axis — calm, grounded, steady — letting the others strike while she ensured the battlefield itself stayed on their side.

Viari Banu Zinayn Diarch Rellik

 

[Redmond]

Viari Banu Iandre Athlea Diarch Rellik Zinayn

The winds drifted listlesly around the quiet plains as Norman laid on the hood of his speeder, lost in thought and smoking a spice stick. The clouds seemed to move in tempo with the wind, drifting in unordered patterns with the breeze, reflecting what seemed like hundreds of shades of brilliant light. That may have just been the spice though. The com link on his hip began beeping wildly and Trent sighed, if he was getting beeped, the babysitting mission was about to be more interesting than he originally believed. He flicked the spice stick away and replaced it with a tobacco cigarello as he leapt into the driver's seat and flew off towards his charge. The compact RPS-6 bounced slightly in his back seat as he went.

He'd been positioned a ways away in case anyone tried to interfer with the Diarch and came from the eastern flank, since they were pulling him aerial drones would now be on that section. The grass beneath flattened as Norman skidded to a stop a few hundred meters from the commotion between the clankers and his fellows, on a small hill. There was a large eagle, a Jedi, the Diarch, another Agent, and a near sea of droids and animals. He giggled. He loved his work.

"Good Lord" he murmured to himself as he snatched the rps from it's resting place in the back seat, sighting in the thresher furthest from his allies and quickly firing, sending a rocket flying into the large machine, shrapnelling some of the other bots but not sending any far enough to hit a friendly. A brilliant explosion overtook the robot as the warhead slammed into it's frame, destroying it's corrupted cpu and most of it's shell. The robot burned brilliantly as it shutdown.

Trent put on his combat suit's helmet and grabbed his heavy blaster rifle from the passenger seat and began moving down the hill towards the Diarch and company, firing occasionally as he did, taking out a droid here and there.

Norman had no love for machines. Not after Rhen Var. They were a rare hatred of his. Generally when he "shut off" beings there was no personal animosity, at least from him to them. His age and years working in the underworld and the wars before that had gave him an appreciation for all life, even if he had to take it.

 

[Diarch Rellik]

Rellik came down light on his feet amid scorched grass and cooling metal, the spear settling into his grip as the last tremor of lightning bled away.

The near-sentient cloak hovered overhead. Rellik glanced up once, then toward Viari as the young Rishii circled back into view.

"This is getting messy," he said, chirping loudly, voice carrying without effort. He lifted his chin a fraction toward the cloak. "If you want, Viari, take my cloak. Just for a bit. It'll keep you from getting shot or hurt to bad, friend."

The cloak stirred at the offer, drifting lower in a slow, curious arc, as if listening for Viari's answer on its own. A strangely living thing.

A rocket's echo rolled across the plains.


Rellik's head turned sharply, recognition landing at the same instant as instinct. Eastern flank. Heavy ordnance.

When his recognition of the guard "Norman" hit him, a wave of relief washed over him. This was already getting out of hand quickly. It was nice knowing that a rocket came from an ally.

Good

He shifted his stance, planting his feet as the spear angled forward, attention snapping back to the churn of corrupted machines still grinding through the reserve. The fight wasn't over yet, but it was thinning.

Rellik shifted away from the wreckage and started up the low rise, boots parting the tall grass as the ground rolled gently beneath him. From the crest, the battlefield fell away and the wider plains opened up.

He could see the nearest estate from there. Certainly a person who needed a talking to. Whether this was their fault or someone was trying to harm the reserve, and their reputation.
His gaze continued past it, scanning the horizon, he noticed the shapes standing thin and vertical against the sky. Towers. More than one. But not unnatural as droid control stations. A call in with the local DISF - (Diarchy Internal Security Force) would let them know if this problem is happening in other places.

He didn't linger or call it out. He simply stood there for a moment, spear resting easy at his side.

Then he turned back toward the others, already moving again, the thought settled and patient in his mind. Hoping to reach his fellows and aid however necessary.

Viari Banu Zinayn Iandre Athlea Redmond

 

[Zinayn]

At Iandre's warning, Zinayn reacted quickly before he had a moment to think or even look for what was threatening him. The soil beneath him packed tighter, giving him a firm foundation to boost off of. The wind roared in his ears as he leapt up, eyes scanning the grasses. A spinning razor cleaved through the air he was occupying just a second ago, and three droids emerged from their hiding place, searching for him, bewildered that he was no longer there. A whoosh sounded from his left, and a fast-moving rocket impacted the droids, rocking the earth and sending chunks of dirt into the air.

When the Chiss landed, he was standing in a small crater littered with metal scrap. He waved a thanks to the one who had fired the rocket, although he was unfamiliar with the soldier, and worked on finishing the deactivation sequence on the relay. Around him and his allies, the droids would begin to power down, their red photoreceptors dimming to rest. He stepped back from the keys and moved with haste to check on his allies. Looking into the sky and squinting slightly against the sun, he saw the silhouette of their new flying friend and held up a hand in acknowledgement of his well-timed warning.

He slowed to a halt before Iandre and one of the deactivated droids and said, "With these droids off, we can get whatever information we need from their memory banks and programs to determine who's behind this." His crimson eyes gave a sidelong look to one of the idle machines by his side for a moment before he stepped behind it and began examining the back of its torso and head for its core. He unsheathed a small utility knife from his belt and pried a cover plate off, revealing the insides of the droid's head. He was no technician, but he guessed that the warm sphere connecting all the wires was some sort of central databank, and he carefully removed it from the droid. Zinayn offered the object to Iandre. "Is this what we need?"

Iandre Athlea Diarch Rellik Viari Banu Redmond

 

[Viari Banu]

Hunting Grounds​

Iandre Athlea Diarch Rellik Redmond

Perishing in droves the droids fell, whether they were sliced by Iandre's trained blade, pierced by the arcing bolts of Rallik's divine weapon, or overwhelmed by Zinayn's remarkable agility they fell. It was a remarkable sight to behold, so many strategies and hunting techniques all for him to behold, and then the streaks of energy, not from the machines but someone else, a warrior whose precise bolts almost seemed to hone in on their targets. He didn't relish the violence of it all, but the metalmen never really felt alive and he could appreciate the skill and teamwork on display. Particularly Iandre, who kept them informed and anchored through the chaos as it unfolded.​

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Then suddenly, like a cleansing wind had sliced through them all everything was calm. The droids hestitated, stumbled, and collapsed hitting the dry earth with thuds and clangs. The sight of such vulunerability triggered his instincts again and Viari descended like a small meteorite colliding with one of the fallen bodies, wings still partially unfurled he pecked at it's neck without much success, managing only a few stray wires for his trouble before he even realised what he was doing.​

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He stopped with his ear-tufts lowering a little sheepishly, although his eyes were filled with pride as though he'd made a fresh kill. "Viari help, good? Friends amazing!" He chirped, head cocking to one side as if to indicate his curiousity. "Wooosh! pzzt! Skrrrrrt! PEW!" He continued, mimicking the sound of Iandre's lightsaber, the flash of Rallik's lightning, dicing of Zinayn's sword, and finally the blaster bolts.​

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He could see them all begin to gather around Iandre, Zinayn carrying what looked to him to be a simple block of metal, but to them it seemed important. "Core?" He asked quizzically in Iandre's own voice. Then just as quickly his attention shifted to the newcomer, "Hello friend!" He announced once more.​

Div created by Makeb​

 

[Iandre Athlea]

Iandre stood still as the last of the machines collapsed, not in triumph, not in tension, but in quiet assessment. The sudden absence of motion was striking. No staggered retreats. No secondary surges. No attempt at self-preservation. Just failure, cascading, and complete.

She deactivated her lightsaber and let it settle back at her side, the hum vanishing into the wind that rolled gently through the plains once more. Grass bent and straightened. Smoke thinned. Whatever urgency had driven the moment bled away, leaving onlythe aftermath.

She accepted the databank from Zinayn without ceremony, turning it once in her hands, then twice, letting the Force brush against it lightly. There was no resistance. No hidden hooks. No external command thread pulling at it anymore.

Nothing watching.

"It is a core, yes," she said calmly, her voice level and certain. "And it confirms what we were already seeing."

She looked up, meeting Zinayn's eyes first, then letting her gaze move across the others as they gathered in the quiet that followed violence.

"There is no external signal," she continued. "No active command architecture. No remote oversight. Whatever corruption occurred originated internally and propagated through linked systems until it overwhelmed their safeguards."

She paused, allowing the implication to land.

"A cascading malfunction. The old code was interacting badly with newer behavioral routines. The kind of failure you get when machines are allowed too much autonomy without proper constraint."

Her attention shifted briefly toward Viari, who was still puffed with pride over his contribution. She gave him a small nod of approval, quiet reassurance without indulgence, before returning to the matter at hand.

"No one planned this," Iandre said, firm now. "No hostile intent. No covert actor. Just a system that failed in the worst possible way, in the worst possible place."

She handed the core back to Zinayn, already losing interest in it now that its purpose was served.

"We will turn this over to the appropriate technical division for deconstruction and disposal. The reserve remains secure. There is no further threat."

Only then did she allow herself to exhale, the last thread of tension leaving her posture. The Force around them had settled completely, no longer taut, no longer warning.

"This is finished," she concluded, her tone gentle but absolute. "Clean up what remains, check for injuries, and then we go home."

The wind carried her words across the grass, and for the first time since the droids had fallen, the plains felt like plains again.

Redmond Diarch Rellik Zinayn Viari Banu