Private I'm only Borrowing It!

[Lirka Ka]

Upstarts had proved aplenty in these chaotic days, from so called “Agents of Chaos” that had sent unintentionally sent Lirka spiraling deeper and deeper into sadistic depravity, from the New Imperials that had ravaged the Empire, and now these new “Elysium” rats that had popped up as the southern rebels waned.

Under normal circumstances, these whelps would’ve been entirely irrelevant to the Grand Moff, but as her shadowy tendrils slowly but surely crept deeper and deeper into the Galaxy seeking to burrow themselves into the Underworld: and unfortunately, a cadre of thieves and information brokers had found themselves in the cells of the Elysium’s Victory-Star Destroyer. Lirka knew the class of ship moderately well, an ancient relic of centuries before her birth: an impressive feat, the Sephi had noted as she plotted and schemed the escape of said prisoners. More and more of these sort of underworld dregs had been proving themselves vital, for better or worse.

And now, Lirka banked on hope, and the stupid morality of the mortals of the Galaxy: after hitching a “ride” from the nearest space port and giving it’s previous owners a direct passage to Chaos and the warm embrace of the Dark, the ship drifted near lifelessly in the space near bespin. A distress signal consistently sent out in repeated intervals, feigning the poor cries of a spacer lost and nearly dead.

It was no such thing.

Inside the dark interior of the derelict Freighter Lirka sat, clad in her dark and baroque armor of Duranium and plundered Beskar, surrounded by at least a dozen Sentry Droids defaced and graffitied to look as though they belonged to some gang of Space Pirates: of course, no such gang existed. Yet at least. And so, the vessel drifted, it’s murderous cargo waiting in hope of being picked up by one particular Star Destroyer with a particularly valuable cargo

Heath Valhoun

 

[Heath Valhoun]

The men had stolen some medical supplies sent by Veinstein Innovations. Why, Heath did not know. Maybe they were druggies looking for something to get high on, or maybe they thought there was value in the supplies, which of course, there was. Regardless, Heath himself had elected to speak to them. The Elysium Empire was growing, there were supporters above and below ground. Any day now they would be able to act and take over Bespin. The King intended to set these men straight. There had been surprisingly few incidents in the fleet that The Empire called home. He would speak to the group of thieves, and explain to them why they needed to obey the laws he had put in place.

As he approached the cell on the old Victory-Class Star Destroyer, a sudden alert sounded on his wrist comlink. He answered, and the voice of a female replied "My King, there's a Freighter approaching. Only one lifeform, what shall we do?" . Such an occurrence wasn't unusual, in fact, half of the fleet was freighters and small ships that The Elysium Empire's civilians lived on. The oddity was that there was only one lifeform. He would greet them personally. "Emit the tractor beam, and contact the freighter. Tell them I wish to speak with them, and I'll be there shortly." He ended the call, and began toward the deck.

 

[Lirka Ka]

The Freighter pulsed out it's acknowledgement, Lirka's voice coming back to their comms: completely and utterly masked, mimicking the voice of it's disposed owner with ease; it was a newer addition to the complex array of systems that were built throughout the Sephi's "second skin" and so did the brutal warrior simply wait for the lurch of the Tractor Beam to latch itself across her derelect.

Was there any sort of nervous? Any sort of restraint in regards to the coming slaughter? None. Lirka had grown beyond such weaknesses, the weaklings had what she wanted, and she took what she wanted.

Eventually, the Freighter made fall onto the metal floors of the VSD with a loud thud. No light came from it, albeit it's damage seemed minimal. The silence was deafening for a time, but eventually some life came from the craft to finally denote it's single passenger: poor sods. The landing bay opened with the hiss of depressurized air, though no one stepped from it's dark interior instead over a dozen red eyes began to glow from within and without word or warning repeating blasters blared from within at whatever unfortunate souls were closest. The sentry droid stomped out, trying to open a clearing for the great evil that had nestled within the Freighter. Two fiery eyes, glowing with emerald light watched the carnage with a grim amusement, and with that did Lirka enter the carnage.

She was an alien monstrosity of jagged edges and dark metal, a blade burning with elctro-plasma filament held weightlessly in one of her clawed gauntlets, following an ever-crude logic the woman and her droids pressed forward for the nearest door to begin their hunt.

Heath Valhoun

 

[Heath Valhoun]

What in the blazes?!

He heard gunfire, and the comlink lit up. He quickly answered, as he reached the armory. "King! It was a trap! I don't know what they want but there are a lot of them, we're retreating to the cargo bay tower and locking the freighter in the bay!"

Great, an all-out attack, by an unknown force. He searched the armory, finding an E-11 blaster and a thermal detonator. He had never appreciated how scarce the armory truly was. There were only a few explosives, and even fewer guns. In other words, soldiers of The Elysium Empire only had the weapons currently with them. He'd need to talk to Dr. Veinstein about weapon production.

"Alright, I'll be there shortly, keep them contained as you're able. What are we fighting exactly?"

"Not sure, looks like droids, but they're too accurate and efficient to be cheap battle-droids..."

"Okay. Hang in there. Heath, out."

Once equipped, he sprinted to the cargo tower to take charge of the situation. Who would attack them? They weren't generally seen as a threat by other factions, which, of course, was foolish by those factions. Finally he arrived. It was truly madness, several bodies littered the floor between the small ship and the tower that over-watched all traffic in and out of the cargo hanger. All were Imperial soldiers. Heath ran up to the top of the tower, observing the few Elysium troops left in their defensive positions. Eventually he reached the top, where he was greeted by an extremely nervous-looking female. It was the same girl that had contacted him earlier, he recognized her...her name was Elisa, the captain of the Victory-Star Destroyer.

Around her, there were several wounded soldiers, and one man with some long-range rifle. Out the glass he saw the foe, well covered, and numerous. They appeared to be droids, as Elisa had said, though he didn't recognize their markings. It looked like some sort of gang graffiti. Regardless of how well they had done up to this point, The Elysium Empire had the numbers and the high ground. He was in the position to make demands.

"Well done, Captain. Call on the rest of the fleet to block the escape of these gangsters, and call the rest of the military personnel on the ship to prepare. It holds up to 2,000 troops, as you know. Obviously we don't have a military that large but the gangsters won't know that, and a hundred men vs thirty or less droids is absolutely a win for us. You did well, stay calm."

He had reassured her. Now to offer the gangsters one chance to escape with their lives, and droids. He powered on the speaker, and offered:

"You have one chance. Surrender, and your lives will be spared. We are not the Imperials of old, we show mercy. You are surrounded both inside and out, there is no escape unless you meet the demands. A victory Star Destroyer, like the one you currently stand on, can hold 2,000 troops. You have absolutely no chance to survive. You have five minutes before I order my men to slaughter you. I will wait."

Lirka Ka

 

[Lirka Ka]

Oh slaughter, Lirka loved delicious slaughter. Death seeped through the air like incense, it was as intoxicating as the strongest of spices: it was the Dark at work, claiming their souls within it's eternal shadowy embrace, consuming the weak eternally. These men were weak, they were not but boys trying to play as an Empire.

And Lirka would give the children a lesson today.

It was a proper spray of blaster fire splashing out in all directions, no one was safe from the onslaughter: it was little more than indiscriminate murder, but Lirka was an ocean of calm within the massacre, heavy footfalls thumping against the metal flooring. These droids had proven themselves admirable, it was a shame they would all die today, be it by blaster, or the explosives they had been stuffed with to provide "alternate doorways" during her tour of the star destroyer. A blaster bolt firing out from one of the soldier's defended positon, pinging against the monster's breastplate and leaving a scorch mark. It seemed to do little more than give it a slight stagger.

He lasted all of 30 seconds.

Blasters turned as hot plasma burned away his cover in a rain of crimson fire, but as the voice crackled out from the comms: Lirka's emerald lenses stared up as he spoke, a wicked smile forming on her face. She liked the sound of those odds. Would make for a nice story when this was all finished up. Taking another step forward, she cleared her throat and had her own "voice" thunder out in response, a mixture of heavy distortion and a huttese accent to mask her true nature.

"We are the Kings of the Crimson Gulf! And unfortunately for you, lad, we weren't taught the meaning of mercy in the Gulf! But hey, if you wanna live a lil' longer why don't ya' drop yer guns and allow us to permanently borrow everyone in the detention block!"

She didn't wait for an answer back. Instead twirling her hand some, issuing a command to two slow moving droids behind her that stomped forward, raising rocket launchers and firing two screaming missiles out towards the tower, in truth, probably the more "fitting" answer to the demands. At least for a broken lunatic like Lirka.

Heath Valhoun

 

[Heath Valhoun]

Lunatic!

The rockets hit the tower, as it buckled. By some miracle, it didn't collapse, but Heath knew it would not survive another hit like that. Thinking quickly, he devised a plan to stop the lunatic woman and her droids from the so called "Kings of the Crimson Gulf". He had heard of the Crimson Exchange, but that surely wasn't the source of this woman.

What in the prison could she possibly want? There were only the few thieves down there. Perhaps she was wrong? Heath would negotiate, but she had no intention of truly negotiating. If she had, she wouldn't have continued the suicidal assault. She was simply crazy. Furthermore, the thieves were under the protection of The Elysium Empire. Even if they were criminals, the Elysium Empire would not allow harm to befall them. This Empire believed in justice. They would be tried by Elysium Judges, not some maniac with a few droids.

"Elisa, evacuate this tower, I will remain. I am going to open the bay doors, and the vortex will suck the droids and the woman out. If it fails, hold your ground. Do not worry about me. I will be fine. Should I fall, let the council decide the next king. Understood?"

Elisa looked to be in shock, tears falling down her eyes. She nodded, then turned, gathering the few men in the tower as Heath had ordered.

He didn't know that he'd be fine, but he needed her to be calm. The plan should work...not many things could withstand being sucked out, into space. The droids were getting in some position below, some were too close for the King to see, while others appeared to be readying another salvo of rockets. The maniac was among them. Heath took just one second, praying for success. Then, without any further hesitation, he pressed the key to open the bay door, and then pulled the lever, lowering the shield.

Everything would be pulled by the vortex...including the maniac and her droids. They had to be!


Lirka Ka

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka didn't look to see the damage she had done, her mind had become all but entirely set on the two constants that dominated her life: slaughter and success, she pressed on with her metal boots still thumping against the floor, masked by the sounds of murder still surrounding her. Of course, it did not last long.

For while she had decided to let herself descend into tunnel vision, she had not expected the shield of the hangar to deactivate with a pop; her tunnel vision all but immediately broke once this place was left to the vaccum, Lirka flew some, her blades stabbing desperately at the floor as burning rents were slashed through it, ever desperately did the Sephi try and gain some sort of footing. She lost quite some distance before she did, her body flying upwards as her mag-boots activated, clinging her to the floor.

Glowing eyes trained onto the nearest door, and the two thermal imploders that clung to her belt. And so, with moronic stubbornness, did the monster advance once again. A soundless stomp, another, and another, while her droids and anything loose in the room flew to the void and a frozen death: seems this had become a solo mission.

Good.

The door neared closer and closer, taking one of the thermal imploders and thumbing it as she neared, a wicked smile crept across her face beneath the helm. And silence fell across the battlefield, for that ever so brief moment. Nothing came to the door, seconds past, and then hell was unleashed.

An explosion all-but-soundlessly thundered from inside the hangar: the door all but vaporizied by the blast while new debris were sent flying back into the void: one thing persisted, the genderless abomination of dark metal and jagged edges that stomped forward with a growing speed: Lirka always had been a fast learner. And as she breached the rest of the vessel, the thundering stomp of her mag-boots could began to be heard through the halls once again.

The Dark had come to reap it's bloody tally.

Heath Valhoun

 

[Heath Valhoun]

Almost everything had been sucked into the void, but before Heath could confirm that the woman had been as well, the tower began to collapse. The sounds of twisting, warped metal colliding with more metal filled the area. It was in this chaos that the explosion resulting in the destruction of the door occured. Heath didn't hear it through the sounds of the tower falling. Even if he had, he would've assumed it was the tower.

Falling to the ground, he looked up, through the glass as it quickly approached the ground. If it wasn't connected, he could be sucked into the darkness just as the droids, and thousands of credits of cargo had been. Desperately he climbed on what was the glass, but was now the ground. Finally he found the kill-all button. If pressed, the power in the hangar would completely shut off, and the emergency doors would close. It would end the violent pull of space.

With seconds before the tower hit the ground, Heath slammed the button. Then he collided with the ceiling/floor, which collided with the ground. 400 pounds of metal that made up the top of the tower collapsed, some landing on Heath, some staying intact, and some collapsing near the trapped king. He had pressed the button.

Everything went dark. There was silence, as the King sat, buried under several dozen pounds of debris.

He didn't know where the woman was, nor did he know if he would be able to escape. Perhaps the tower had snapped in half, and he could crawl to the steps, finding the end of the top half, and escape. Maybe he could fit through the side window that was half covered with metal. Maybe his people would cut through the ceiling. Truly, he didn't know where he was. He would wait.

Lirka Ka