Into Darkness (Firemane)

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Laira Darkhold"] [member="Ari Vox"] [member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

The progress to the inner system was steady. The reports kept coming in.
“Lady Alcori, Miss Darkhold and a wingman have launched. They are tracking them.”
“Good. Captain Vyron, order her to keep a safe distance, there is to be no firing without my express command. Keep shields up though, we don’t know what might happen. Send the probes ahead.”

The slow fighter, which looked like an ancient Z-95 Headhunter, was soon overtaken by small probe droids which would go ahead and map out Tephrike. The Headhunter, which had been outdated before the Galactic Civil War, now looked like a biplane beside the modern jet fighters of Firemane’s fleet.

“Ma’am, we’re picking up two moons around the planet. Life signs from the one designated ‘Bogomil’,” a sensor officer reported.
“Lady Alcori?” Admiral Karden asked.
“Continue scanning and broadcasting on all frequencies to establish contact. I think it’s time to do things a bit more directly. Ready a landing party and be set to launch when I give the word. Full suits and weapons, with support, but they are to hold fire even if attacked until we establish that no diplomatic situation is possible.” She looked at Vyron. “Get me Colonel Varkathras.”

Orders would go down the chain of command. Ari Vox would be called upon to be part of the landing party, mainly as a trial run to see her performance in pressure situation. Leonina Varkathras would be leading the little party, with Elpsis accompanying. It was certainly a small mission for a high ranked officer, but it was first contact and thus important.

Meanwhile, the Tephriki fighter had reached the 4th planet’s orbit. Soon it was joined by others. Six in total. They seemed to be forming up into an attack pattern.

“All ships, prepare for action. Hold fire until ordered, shields up. Form defensive formation around the Destiny,” Karden ordered. They might just see 6 old fighters, but who knew what else might be lurking nearby?

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Laira Darkhold"], [member="Ari Vox"]


While the crew of the Destiny grappled with the problem of communicating with natives flying hilariously outdated starfighters, Elpsis was teaching apprentices in one of the Scarlet Destiny's many training rooms. She'd been doing this a lot lately. Leonina had made it clear that it was one of her duties. Elsewise, she would not be taken seriously.


"Good, now focus," Elpsis was saying. She walked among the ranks while she spoke, checking on their progress. "Draw the power to you, channel the flame through your hand. Let the ball grow in your palm. Tara, don't pour too much energy into it, or you'll burn your hand. Now, throw!"


The group of trainees released their fireballs, hurling them towards their targets. Some missed, by and large they ended up eating their dummies. However, one ball of flame overshot its mark by far and spread towards the wall. The trainee winced when she saw the flames devour the metal. Elpsis suppressed a sigh. Approaching the crackling flames, she stretched out her hand towards them. As if compelled, they leapt into her grasp as she drew the heat into herself.


"I'm sorry, Miss Alcori!" the trainee exclaimed, looking a bit embarrassed. Some apprentices were snickering.


"Oh, don't feel too bad. The paint was getting old, and now we know for sure that you got enough juice to melt metal. You wouldn't believe how many things I burnt at random," Elpsis joked lamely. "Hey, girls and boys, no laughing," she added a bit sternly. "Y'all got a long way to go, but you got the gift. Messing up is part of learning. Better now than on a battlefield."


She would have gone on for a bit, but then she felt a familiar presence and turned. "Welcome, Colonel Varkathras." Among themselves the Force-users tended to use Order ranks. But Leonina had made it mandatory to use proper Firemane military ones.

"I see you're remodelling the training room," Leonina remarked.

Elpsis straightened. "A small, uh, misfire, ma'am. Nothing big."

"Make sure it stays that way. Class is over. We've reached our destination. Locals have been sighted in space, but they're not responding. Lady Alcori wants us to check out life signs on a moon. Grab your gear and get to the transport. Take two acolytes with you."

"Yes, boss. Uh, do we know if these guys speak Basic? I got some mental powers that could help them realise we haven't come here to, you know, kill and maim."

"We don't. But we'll try out a protocol droid first. Many people take offence to hearing voices in their head, Miss Alcori." Being an Officer Cadet and a Brevet Second Lieutenant, Elpsis was essentially an officer trainee. Military rank trumped Order one. Without a further word, Leonina turned and departed.


xxx


So the fiery Firemanes had finally found a planet with people on it. The locals were using primitive craft and not responding. Big deal. On the bright side, this meant she would not get something to do. Still, Nyssa could not help feel annoyed about playing messenger. Anyhow, she had been dispatched to find Ari.


The Mandalorian was not half-bad. Elpsis had vouched for her abilities in a fight, at any rate. And she was not a chatterbox. This was something antisocial Nyssa could appreciate. Some crewers or guards stared at the Sith Pureblood while she made her way across the impractically large ship. She ignored them or shot them cold glares.


"Ms Vox," she began when she finally found the warrior-woman. "We've reached the Sivas system. Alcori wants us to investigate life signs on a moon - and no doubt get shot at by primitives before we can even prattle on about coming in peace." Personally, Nyssa could do with some action, instead of this namby-pamby, feel-good peaceful explorer nonsense that Elpsis seemed to be so enamoured with.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira sat in her cockpit, a simple pilot droid integrated into the secondary seat behind her. It was set to reduce crew requirements, though using a simplistic droid did hamper the Tandem's efficiency in combat. Droids just weren't as good or as intuitive as living pilots, made it harder for them to track enemies with the rear cannon.

About thirty meters to her left and a few behind her Cix flew his own Tandem, listing slightly off to the side. "Fighters marked Sigma. Begin hailing, see if they respond. Might just be a welcoming committee."

"Roger that Temptress." The deep timber of the Death Troopers voice without a distortion matrix flowed through the comms. He was bad at nicknames though.

"Attention unidentified starfighters, this is the Scar-" The redhead began slowly, her muscles relaxing and trying to clear her mind of any unnecessary distractions most likely caused by day dreams. Suddenly her comms were cut off, static scratch across the channel. "What, are they trying to jam us? Tee One, cut through the static." The droid tapped on the controls for a moment before the static cleared and a voice could be heard.

"Unidentified vessel, you are ordered by the Authority of the Dominion of Light to surrender peacefully. Power down shields and lock weapons in passive position. Comply or be cleansed."

"Well Sigma, that didn't seem peaceful to me. Lock wings in attack position and stay on my six at about five hundred meters. Hit any that try to pursue." Double clicks acknowledged her command, text appeared on her screen and visuals began streaming across as Laira's X-Wing accelerated rapidly, S-Foils extending, the cockpit lights dimming to accommodate the flashes an attack run would surely bring. "Engines to full power. Let's get an easy one Tee."

Engine flares burst as the redhead's X-Wing boosted forward, the distance between her starfighter and the half-squadron of severely outdated Z-95's rapidly closing as the single X-Wing dropped into a head to head run against the lead Headhunter. Laira's blood began pumping and the exhilaration of flying started to creep back into her bones. It had been far too long since she'd been given the opportunity to fly against someone else. It wasn't about killing, at least she told herself that a lot, it was about proving she was better than anyone else who happened to end up on the otherside of her. The redhead's finger clicked on the arming switch for her magazine, green lights flickering above the controls on the dash indicating the first two munitions activating. The enemy vessel began firing on the X-Wing, flashes of laser energy flung against her forward shields and zipping past the X-Wing as multiple ships started lacing space with red plasma.

A suddenly double click of the top button and two torpedoes sliced out from the X-Wing detonating against the shields of the first and second Z-95's. Blue energy expanded, leaving the vessels intact but static electrical outbursts sputtering across their hulls as they suddenly lost power and zipped wide of the Tandem X-Wing, the redhead turning her starfighter on its axis and flying between the two disabled craft. Her rear guns fired a burst into each of their engine units after the initial pass, turning one of them into a crippled mess and the other into a firestorm when the lasers struck the fuel container.

The other Z-95's came around hard to fall behind the X-Wing, blue tails of their rockets giving chase to Laira while she started a wide turn to lead them away from the Scarlet Destiny. This was partly to protect the large exploration ship, and partly because if they followed and steered wide of the vessel, its point defense guns could line up shots on them without risking the two X-Wings more often. Another light on her dash blinked out when Sigma's laser cannons shredded through the shields and engines of a third fighter.

So far so good. Things were looking up, and just maybe news of her flying would impress a certain redhead still on the ship. Also maybe it would get Captain Ul off her back for once.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]
[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"] [member="Laira Darkhold"]

“Ma’am, we’re finally getting a message through.”
“Patch it, Captain.”
"Unidentified vessel, you are ordered by the Authority of the Dominion of Light to surrender peacefully. Power down shields and lock weapons in passive position. Comply or be cleansed."
“Prepare to answer and…” Tegaea began, but then things took their course.

Powerlessly she saw the action evolve. Did Laira fire first? It was hard to tell from this range on sensors. Regardless, the Princess showed she was a great pilot. Two, then a third fighter went down. She picked up the communicator.

“Hold on, Laira, we want to talk to these people, not exterminate them,” she said. A glance to Captain Vyron. “Launch two fighter squadrons, one to cover our descent to the moonbase, one to assist Ms Darkhold. And tractor in that disabled fighter, we want to talk with them.”

She looked back to the battlefield. If she had expected this ‘Dominion of Light’ to take the loss of half their ships and the presence of a vast fleet inbound as a good time to retreat she was disappointed. Instead, they seemed to speed forward.

One fighter aimed for Laira, guns blazing. The two others charged right at the Destiny, their puny laser cannons firing.

Tegaea sighed. So much for negotiations “Shoot them down, Laira, engage and destroy that last fighter, then begin a scout with Green Squadron to see if they have more ships.”

The two Z-95s howled in, but their laser cannons did as much as thrown pebbles at a castle wall. One was hit by a blast of flak, the other smashed like a bug on a windshield straight into the bridge’s shields and vanished in a flare of flame.

Tegaea sighed. “So it’s going to be like this, is it? Leonina, you have the go ahead. Be aware, this ‘Dominion of Light’ is behaving aggressively and unpredictably. If they attack, shoot to kill, but take prisoners if practical.”

“Admiral, let’s move in a bit closer. Deploy the fleet and scan for orbital defences and ships, continue to broadcast.”

Doubtless Laira would soon deal with the last fighter quickly.

XXX

Leonina received the orders. “Understood, ma’am, we’ll begin our descent now.” She looked to the squad, some of Firemane’s best and most elite troops, and with Elpsis there it would have even greater…firepower.

“We’re going in, squad. Orders from above, these people are called ‘Dominion of Light’. They’re armed and unpredictable. Try to negotiate, but if they attack, shoot to kill. Take prisoners if we can.”

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]


The dropship roared out of the bay of the Destiny, shuddering slightly as it did so. Well-paid and motivated, the soldiers were ready for action. Elpsis looked uncharacteristically thoughtful and quiet as they began their descent, steering towards the barren moon. Nyssa shook her out of her thoughts by elbowing her lightly. "Cheer up. We finally have something to do beyond taking samples. Even if the natives will not welcome us with flowers and give us their women," she said sarcastically. The prospect of violence tended to put her in a good mood.

"Would be nice if we don't mow them down before they have a to explain themselves," Elpsis said, sounding unnaturally annoyed. "You heard the Colonel's orders. Self-defence only."

"Yes, yes, I will remember not to follow the good example of my ancestors. Until I am proven right. The moment a group calls itself kingdom or dominion of light or anything similarly pretentious, I'd be wary."

"Much like people's republic, huh?"

"We're inbound, cut the chatter. Move out, squad," Leonina's harsh voice silenced any smalltalk as the dropship came in to land. Moving with military precision, the soldiers quickly arose and filed out of the ship, even the two acolytes that had joined the party. Rocks, and more rocks awaited them. "Watch your six. Our scanners have picked up on a base a few clicks away from here, so we shall head there first." Two recon droids were dispatched.


And so the squad proceeded. It did not take long for them to come under fire. They got some warning from a probe droid. Elpsis' empathy helped as well. The young Force Mistress had taken up point, and suddenly found herself being peppered with slugthrower rounds. Bullets splashed against her armour.


"Contact, enemy, behind those rocks, 9 o'clock," she called out, using distinctly military terminology for the most part. She did not go for her lightsabre. Firstly, because her injuries made it difficult for her to use it well and secondly, because it was weak against slugs. However, the projectiles just seemed to bounce off her armour.


Her comrades had also come under fire and sought cover. "Return fire, Sergeant Blade, flush them out," Leonina ordered grimly. The soldier in question was a tall, well-built Dahomian armed with a heavy bolter. Boom. A thunderous explosion blew away the shooters' cover. The other Firemane soldiers joined in, firing a mix of blaster, high-velocity slugthrower and bolter rounds. Even Elpsis joined in. While not warlike, she was no pacifist.


"There they come," Nyssa interjected happily, firing a salvoe with her bolter. Screaming war cries, the Dominion soldiers who had been firing ineffectual salvoes a moment ago emerged from their cover, charging. Bayonets had been affixed to their slugthrower rifles. Their charge was dramatic, brave and suicidal. Several were cut down the moment they left cover. At Leonina's signal, the grenadier of the unit lobbed in a sonic grenade. The loud boom spread confusion amongst the attackers.


Elpsis sensed great fear emanating from them. She also perceived that some seemed to be lagging behind. It was not honourable, it was slaughter. She had to do something. "Colonel, these people are no threat to us. We can end this without killing everyone. I can calm them." Without waiting for a response, she reached out with her power and tried to touch their mind. To make exhaustion overcome them, drain their willingness to fight and lull them into a deep slumber.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira double clicked her comms to acknowledge the requests coming from the Scarlet Destiny. In her defense, the little fighters had made threats and fired first, even if she had provoked them after their broadcasted threats. Regardless, there was one crippled ship ruined by ion torpedoes and a handful of dead pilots.

"Cix, you got a bead on the last Headhunter." Double clicks responded an affirmative. "Good, line up on him. Non-lethals only. I'll give you a shot." She brought spun her Tandem around with an alternation of the pedals and pulling the control stick hard to port, zipping around through space until Cix hammered the Headhunter with an Ion Torp. The rear of the X-Wing slung out behind her in the maneuver allowing her boosted engines to rapidly redirect as she pulled around to assist her wingman. Cix wasn't the best pilot, but he was doing okay sitting in the back with his shields to full for protection and taking snipe shots that she opened up for him, though he wasn't quite willing to risk anything yet. He hadn't fired at a few targets she presented him with because he didn't have a one hundred percent clear shot, which wasn't a terrible thing, but dogfights didn't leave openings like that often. Sometimes you had to just trust your wingman or squadmate to stay clear once the lasers started flying.

Laira pulled around behind his Tandem, the final Z-95 blarring lasers at the Scarlet Destiny angrily, shots bouncing against its shields harmlessly. Either these guys were crazy or seriously overestimated their capabilities. "Roll up on him and nail him with an Ion torp." Double clicks once again. Cix pulled his fighter up behind the enemy snubfighter, spraying a few laser bolts low of the craft to scare him up and away from the Destiny, and just as the enemy pulled away from the weak stream of rapidfire bolts, a blue tailed object burst from Cix's fighter chasing the headhunter down before erupting into a burst of static and blue energy, leaving a listing hulk in its wake. "Tee One, sensors to full. Check for any stragglers we may have missed."

"Nothing on sensors."

"Cix, pull around and lets head back to the hangar." She might be in some sort of trouble with the Firemane folks, and with Kira. For some reason she couldn't do anything right as far as the woman was concerned. The redhead had been fairly rebellious throughout the trip, such as refusal to wear a uniform or be as modest as a Jedi, while Ul had relented about most of those minor infractions she remained very condescending towards the redheaded teen.

Landing struts brushed the metal of the flight deck daintily as Laird brought her fighter down in the hangar bay. Already the Resistance personnel were milling about, loading up their U-Wing for departure and a few members of the flight crew scrambled to start rearming and refitting the X-Wings that had just returned. Laira pulled her helmet off, her red mane cascading down her shoulders as she dropped to the deck. Already waiting for her was Captain Kira, short hair tucked into a beret and body armor covering the torso of her uniform. "Good job. Get your gear, we are going to the local moon as soon as possible. Your girlfriend is already there."

Laira blinked for a moment, considering the icy woman's comments. "You sure about the good job part?" As much as she trusted Elpsis to take care of herself, she wouldn't mind being down on the ground to watch the blind witch's six in the least.

"You sure about the good job part, Captain. And yes. You and Lieutenant Stalgis are going with Doctor Geva and a Fire Team to support the Firemane forces already on the ground. I'll be following with the rest of the Science personnel once the area is secure if necessary." Couldn't afford to risk the entire Science team all at once, but Doctor Geva was not only a Xenoanthropologist with experience dealing with contacting newly discovered cultures, she was also a Falleen who could use her pheromones to help with any diplomacy she was forced to make. And being a Falleen she wasn't useless when it came to weaponry.

Black armored Deathtroopers made their way into the hangar, each carrying a backpack of equipment and supplies. A garbled and distorted voice called to her, holding out a pack. "One weeks worth of supplies, bedroll and tent. Carry enough ammunition for extended operation." She couldn't recognize any of them by appearance when they were armored up, but from their presence she felt as though it was Leo, her favorite of the troopers. Regardless, she dug through the pack to see what all the person had decided to bring along for them. They could have been playing a joke on her and packed her swimsuit after all, but other than a few different sets of street clothes all that was in it was a spare skinsuit and field gear. "Thanks Leo." She called, shouldering the bag.

"Ghostwave comms back to the ship only. No reason for the Firemane people to have logs of your progress. Understood?"

"Yes captain." <But I don't see the point of keeping secrets from them, its not like they aren't helping us.> The redhead strode aboard the U-Wing, placing her pack in the locker appointed to her and slipping into the pilot's chair alongside the Deathtrooper that felt like Mac. Behind her Lieutenant Stalgis was speaking with the other six passengers on the ship, giving them the rundown. "Stealth encryption active. Keep her quiet Mac."

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]
[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"] [member="Laira Darkhold"]

For any faults which Elpsis might have, she was very good at using the Force. The battle on the surface of the moon had quickly become a massacre. It was as if redcoats from the Napoleonic Wars had come up against modern marines. Within moments the lunar landscape was choked with dead and dying. The primitive suits of the defenders punctured easily, asphyxiating and freezing the wearers.

Leonina finally nodded. “Hold fire! Do what you can, Alcori.” She gestured and a half squad moved around to flank a crater. She could sense several people in there.

Blaze and her squad crested the lip of the crater.
“Don’t move! Hands where we can see them!” Blaze ordered. Either through terror or Elpsis’ soothing (or both), the three dropped their useless weapons. All of them were young and didn’t look like soldiers, more like maintenance or other crew.

“We have failed the Dominion, slay us swiftly so we might receive judgement for our cowardice,” one said.
Leonina strode over to examine with Elpsis. “What do you sense, Ms Alcori?”

Behind them the lights of Laira’s shuttles were coming in to land reinforcements. The additional troops would not be needed, but the crew could secure the moon base and start investigating.

XXX

The Destiny had a large detention area. In one of these cells a burly looking man was secured to a chair. As Tegaea approached she frowned.
“Is this necessary, Sergeant?”
“He would not stop attacking or struggling. He may have been trying to commit suicide,” Sergeant Solveig said flatly. The captive had some bruises to indicate that Freya had made him take notice.
“Very well. Let’s go in.”

As Tegaea entered the man looked up, spat. “Leave me be, foul harlot, or slay me so I might fulfil my oath to the Dominion.”
“There’s not going to be any slaying. I just want to talk to you. We mean you no harm.”
“Tell that to the noble warriors of the light you murdered, dark animal.”
“You fired on us first, ignoring orders to stand down.”
“It is our duty to defend the Dominion against all invaders. We are the last bastion of hope, all else is darkness.”
“That’s not true. We are from the outside galaxy, there is more to the galaxy than Tephrike. We’ve come out of an age of darkness, but there is light here.”
The prisoner became agitated, straining against his restraints. “Lies! Lies! All in the galaxy is dead. There is only the Dominion! There is only Tephrike! The Light shall overcome the Dark! The Light shall overcome the Dark! The Light…”
At that moment Freya stepped forward and injected him with a powerful sedative. In a few moments his ranting ceased and he slumped.
“This does not bode well,” Tegaea said with a sigh, nodding to Freya. “Let’s hope Leonina collects some less fanatical ones.”

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Laira Darkhold"]


The fighting had come to a close, almost as soon as it had begun. The primitive suits of the Tephriki soldiers had offered them little protection, especially once they'd been bombarded with blasters, explosive microgrenades and high-velocity bullets. Those who'd died right after being shot were among the lucky ones. Others had asphyxiated after their suits had been breached. Fortunately, some had been affected by her power, dropped their weapons and fallen unconscious. Those were secured by the Firemane troopers.

Nyssa did not look sympathetic when terrified Dominion minions raised their hands in surrender. "Oh, we have found the cowards. Wonderful, they are less likely to be fools," she declared flippantly. They plead for a quick death. That means they must expect worse from their masters, she thought cynically.

"No one asked you for your opinion, Sith," Blaze hissed.

"And I do not care whether you desire it or not," Nyssa retorted.


While those two traded barbs, Elpsis had gone ahead to examine the captives with the Cathar Force Mistress. "Fear. They're terrified. Their minds feel...strange. It's like staring into the aura of the same person," she said softly, looking a bit puzzled. Stepping forward, she approached the captives. A prisoner flinched, but she dropped down into a crouch. "I am sorry for the deaths among your comrades. We opened fire because we were attacked. There doesn't have to be any more killing. We will not hurt you."

"What are you?" one of them exclaimed. "You're not real. All life beyond Tephrike was wiped out by the Plague. There is only darkness outside the bastion of the light."

"The Plague...you mean the Gulag Virus," Elpsis muttered, frowning. "It killed many people, yeah. Trillions. But the Galaxy recovered a long time ago. You're not alone."

"Do not listen to them. They are spawned by the Dark Side," another captive growled. "We must repent for our sins. Demons, slay us quickly."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The U-Wing handled like a brick by comparison to the sleek Tandem X-Wing, but it had tough armor and shields. Laira much preferred something she could sling around through space compared to the blocky shuttle. "Alright Macky, how to the sensors look?" She asked, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth anxiously. The small group behind her in the passenger compartment were doing a quick final weapons check, but it was more or less guard duty for the Falleen Xenoanthropologists. The good Doctor Geva could be very convincing with her pheromones once they got a captive into the shuttle for questioning, plus she could begin analyzing their culture which could prove useful during further meetings.

"Looks like the Firemane folks have it locked down, pretty sure they pacified the threat. Looking for enemy comm signals on the board, nothing yet. They may be using an old transmission style given their tech though." The Deathtrooper's voice was garbled and distorted, leading Laira to silently question why they wore the helmets in private when it was unnecessary. Probably a little bit of habit she supposed.

"Helms on." The audible click and hiss of helmets pressurizing behind her reminded the young redhead that she needed to put on her own helmet before they opened the doors. A little choker clicked into place around her neck, "Look away Mac," Laira said, reaching into her shirt and adjusting her undersuit by simply pulling it upwards until it fitted around her throat, locking around the choker. Then she had to do the same for the sleeves until it covered her body, the seal good enough for extravehicular duty on a space ship even if it wasn't very good for environmental protection. With the press of a button an invisible barrier erected around Laira's head creating an unnoticeable vacuum seal around her body in conjunction with the undersuit. Vanity and functionality all in one, but it was useful and quick to put on.

"Landing zone approaching. Touch down in ten." She muttered over the unit comm.

"Shield up on VIP."

"Scanning auspex. No threats detected."

"Eyes out." The lieutenant commanded as the doors to the shuttle opened, the redhead pilot and her co-pilot going through the cooldown proceedure and pre-start up so they could lift off as quickly as possible if need be on the return trip. "Area secure." Six black armored troopers walked from the shuttle, followed by the Falleen scientist wearing a simple EV suit. She was wearing a portable military mobility shield on her belt and the trooper alongside her had an extendable gauntlet shield, meanwhile all the other troopers simply filed out around the lieutenant and started making their way towards where the Firemane forces were interrogating the Dominion of Light soldiers that had surrendered or been subdued. It wasn't but a minute before Laira and Mac were following them, the redhead still in her flight suit.

"We could perform advanced interrogation on a subject. Inject them with Loquasin and Xebonica." The Unit channel was already discussing interrogation techniques. "Combine that with Geva using her pheromones, we could extract the officer's life story. Dump some Mnemiotic in his system and he could recall every access code he's ever seen."

"That many drugs in his system would cause irreparable damage. He'd be lucky to be able to feed himself after twenty four hours." Stalgis responded matter of factly, no so much sympathy for the supposed individual they'd be interrogating, just that they wouldn't have a lot of time to gather info.

"So?"

"You make a good point DT Three."

"Pleaz-mo would work better with Geva's pheromones. I mean, she might have to flirt with him, but it wouldn't react poorly with Mnemiotic like Loquasin." Mac remarked as he walked up alongside Laira.

"Alright, but find me a cute one if I'm going to have to do it. Also no torture if we can avoid it."

"Chemical Torture combined with advanced interrogation will be Plan B. Laira, take point on procuring us a subject." Lieutenant Stalgis waved Laira forward, his casual gait implying that such talk was everyday discussions between the squad. As though it was just another Tuesday for the Deathtroopers. It was at that point she realized the entire fire team on the barren moon were all ex-Imperials, all the GAG and Republican Guard had remained on the ship. Even Doctor Geva was an Imperial Ex-Patriot. Of course that must have been by design, but it simply hadn't occurred to Laira until that point. How many people had they treated like this? How often had they all sat down and casually discussed interrogating Rebels before they betrayed their Empire?

Nevertheless, Laira had a job to do and so she plastered a smile on her face and pushed the thoughts of betrayal and intrigue off to one side for the time being. She walked towards Elpsis's presence, "Hiya, everyone pull through okay?" Laira asked, hoping to ease into the 'can I have one of your prisoners' conversation until after she'd been brought to speed. Behind her the six Deathtroopers and the Falleen continued to discuss interrogation techniques on their unit comms. They'd seemed to settle on the 'nice' style, even going so far as to suggest that Laira and Geva coerce the subject while the squad watched.

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]
[member="Tegaea Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"] [member="Laira Darkhold"]

Leonina was in the process of gathering together the prisoners. A Firemane dropship had landed nearby and the prisoners were being herded on board, guarded by Sergeant Blaze.
“Ms Darkhold, secure the perimeter of the base, ensure none of their forces remain out here,” the Cathar ordered without answering the question. It was pretty clear that the request to commandeer a prisoner was not going to go well.
She glanced at the group of Death Troopers with a frown, then nodded and turned.

“Ms Alcori, with me,” the Colonel ordered. The rest of the squad fell in as they approached the entrance to the base.

The airlock was easily overcome and they headed inside. “Alcori, scan for life-signs. Briggs, secure any data terminals you see and do a full download. This tech looks ancient so you shouldn’t have much problem. Lazari, see if you can do something about the communications, get them working and get info on their frequencies.”

The Colonel glanced back at Laira’s squad. She went to one to the Sith. “Nyssa, watch them, keep your distance.”

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Laira Darkhold"]


The Firemane dropship touched down upon the ground. All of the Tephriki prisoners were herded by Blaze's squad and led to the ship, where the crew took possession of them. The captives were loaded into the transport ship and without further ado it took off into space. It would land on the Scarlet Destiny, whereupon the captives would be conveyed to the detention cells and put under heavy guard.


Meanwhile, Firemane soldiers had noticed the arrival of the Death Troopers. Behind their faceplates, the expressions of some of the Firemane mercenaries conveyed suspicion. After all, many had spent a lot of time fighting Imperials. They were not the only ones who felt suspicious. Elpsis could not hear their thoughts or listen in on their conversation. But she could feel their twisted emotions. Viscerally. Being an empath she was very attuned to others' emotions, both good and bad. What she sensed from them was not good. They were cruel and twisted. Their auras were sickening. Her eyes narrowed.


"Yeah, just peachey," she responded to Laira, tone strangely laconic and not warm. The company you kept reflected on you and Laira had specifically asked for this crew. These are bad men, she mentally brushed against Leonina's mind. Elpsis was not a model soldier, but she had some discipline, so she would not cause drama. Unless needed.


Without a further word, she followed her superior officer. The airlock was quickly overcome. "Yes, ma'am." Meanwhile. Briggs and Lazari set to work. To call the technology in the base old was an understatement. It was positively ancient. Perhaps it had been state-of-the art once upon a time. But that day would have been almost a millennia ago. Nyssa said nothing in response to the Colonel's order. However, she kept her yellow eyes on Laira's friends and the perimeter. Unmoving, like a statue. Her rifle was aimed at the ground. Maybe she hoped new hostiles would arrive.


The Firemane soldiers would come across various inspirational posters hanging on the walls. Images depicting Dark Side monstrosities and Sith in Vader style armour being slain by righteous Jedi and what looked like soldiers in clone trooper armour. One poster contained the words "If you see something, say something - the Dark Side is always watching!" Another depicted a heroic Jedi Master, pointing a finger direct at the viewer. The poster declared: "Prevent Dark Side corruption with Dominion War Bonds and drive the Sith back!"


Elpsis could not see any of this due to being blind. In the background the technicians were arguing about the primitive hardware. She blotted it out. The Force pulled her elsewhere. Though deprived of physical sight, in some ways she saw more clearly than those who had not been maimed in such a manner. Thus her path took her in slow strides towards a table, where she perceived a being was hiding beneath.


"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you," Elpsis said gently. There was a crack when a slugthrower bullet suddenly leapt towards her. The shot went wide, hitting a monitor. The next just bounced off her armour.

"Stay away from me," a female voice shrieked, sounding fearful and panicked.

A Firemane soldier raised a rifle, but Elpsis reacted quickly and forced it down with the Force. Now was not the time to get trigger-happy. "Leave this to me," Elpsis spoke in an unusually commanding voice. "What's your name? My name's Elpsis?" she asked the girl in a soft tone.

Feeling cornered, the girl had backed herself up against a wall, still holding her pistol. Her palms were sweating. "What do you want?! Are you with the Sith?"

"No, we're no Sith," Elpsis reached out with her power, trying to soothe the woman's mind. This girl was no hostile, she was simply scared. "We're from...another world. Put down the gun and we can talk. Just you and me, alone."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

She hadn't gotten the chance to mention procuring a prisoner for interrogation by the time the Dominion forces had been ferried away rather swiftly. Standard procedure to move captured hostile combatants away from the combat zone as swiftly as could be allowed, but it did throw a wrench in the Squad's plans. If there were going to be interrogations, Firemane would likely want to conduct it themselves, but maybe they wouldn't mind having some people with experience helping out. Until then there wasn't much point in arguing or debating about it though.

Laira's brow furrowed at Elpsis's unusually sharp retort, but she pushed the thoughts down and focused on the mission at hand. "DT One, secure the area with the team. I'll watch the VIP." Stalgis snapped his fingers and made some hand motions to the troops who stalked off to comply with the orders handed down from the Firemane officer. They were quiet and efficient, methodical in their actions. Everything the Empire would have wanted them to be if they hadn't defected to the Resistance.

Geva in her EV suit sauntered up alongside of Laira. The falleen was smiling behind the clear EV faceplate she was wearing, Laira nodded to the Falleen, "Yeah, we really should get you looking into this stuff." Geva was a Xenoanthropologist, so studying and understanding other cultures was literally her specialty, perhaps she could offer some insights into why these people were acting like they were. The redhead and the Falleen followed some of the Firemane people into the compound, stopping to inspect the propoganda where they found it. "I'd love to interview one of these people, see how indoctrinated they are." Geva said quietly as she looked at the artwork. It would certainly be a benefit to know what kind of people they were up against on this planet.

The resounding crack of a slugthrower echoed down the corridor, Laira instinctively reaching out with the Force to feel what was happening. Geva ducked behind something, she was an intellectual, not a fighter. Fear was what she felt, Elpsis was confident and calm though, taking charge of the situation. Her instincts told her to let the other redhead handle the situation even if in her heart she wanted to run to her friend's aid, bursting in Lightsaber blazing wasn't going to help a situation. "Let Firemane handle it." The redhead muttered quietly as she slowly moved towards the origin of the shot. It was still down a corridor and in a room with Elpsis, so she wasn't rapidly advancing in eyesight of a scared person, just making her way towards the stand off so if it broke into a fight she'd be in a position to respond.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"] [member="Laira Darkhold"]

Leonina was watching the situation develop, holding up her hand to hold her troops back. She wanted to see how Elpsis handled this situation. After all, if the girl refused to back down it’d be easy enough to deal with her.

Meanwhile, back on board the ship the transport was just landing. Sergeant Blaze led the prisoners down the gangplank where they were taken into custody. These ones at least did not resist.

On the bridge Tegaea was reviewing the logs from the ground mission and the vision of the hanger.
Captain Vyron entered, finding Tegaea unusually thoughtful.
“Ma’am?”
“These survivors are clearly less indoctrinated. Judging by the reports from the moonbase these were the most loyal of their people, but regular human emotions and self-preservation took charge. Hopefully we can learn more.”
“Yes, ma’am. Orders?”
“Deep scan of the planet’s inhabitants and settlements. I want to know what we’re stepping into. Keep trying to establish connections. We’ll send down droids first for a first contact. If that works well we can send a party down.” She paused. “And ensure that these ‘guests’ of ours are well monitored somewhere.”

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Laira Darkhold"]


The girl looked shocked. "That's...that's not possible! There is no life outside of Tephrike. All was consumed by the Darkness. There are only monsters," her hands were shaking.

"A lotta people died, yeah. Trillions. We rebuilt," Elpsis said calmly. She raised her hand. In response the girl tightened her grip on her pistol. "I'm not reaching for a weapon. Look, I'm gonna take my helmet off, ok?"

There was a pause. Conflicting emotions stirred inside the girl. "Alright," she finally said, almost in a whisper.

Slowly Elpsis unsealed her armour and removed her helmet. "There, no darkside demon. They're all ugly, with red eyes, veiny skin, tentacles and stuff."

There was an audible gasp. "You're human! What happened...to your eyes?"

"Reactor explosion. Long story," she took another step forward. "Now we talk?"

"Yes...t-talk. You're not going to hurt me? The Inquisition will punish me for...heresy."

"No, no one will hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you." She could feel Laira approaching down a corridor, along with a companion. That one produced more pleasant vibes than the Death Troopers though.

Finally, the girl lowered the gun. "My name is Mara. Mara Technician."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

There were a handful of rules for dealing with interrogations or interviewing hostile operatives, you never interrupted the person conducting it unless you needed to feed them information the perp had just lied about. With Elpsis being a Telepath with empathic abilities it made the situation simple, Elpsis could judge if the girl was lying on her own, and if the girl was strong enough willed to hide information from her nothing Laira was capable of doing was going to make it any easier.

Better just to sit and wait for the time being, Doctor Geva had already distracted herself by looking on a monitor bank and skimming it for information. The anthropologist was looking for cultural data, what they revered, why, who was the leadership caste and why they held control. What did the culture seem to fear. "Not the first regime like this I'd suppose." She muttered, continuing to scroll through the data terminal.

Laira was pacing, shifting from foot to foot impatiently as she waited outside the room where Elpsis was confronting the girl, anxious about her friend's safety but also a little bored. After getting to go two against six in space she had been hoping for a little action on the ground. Did that make her bloodthirsty or was she still just a thrill seeker? Did the Imperial in that research facility mean anything more than adrenaline, fear, and rage? Her father had spent years teaching her and her brother about the Force, he'd warned them about the Dark Side and the Light, but he'd left the pair vulnerable. In order to combat the Darkness one needed to understand it better than she did. Perhaps that one man, as justified as she had been in killing him had been a warning of what was to come. Maybe she did enjoy killing more than she allowed herself to believe.

Outside the Deathtroopers more or less complied with their mandate, scanning for enemy forces and patrolling the area just in case anything got missed by their Auspex. Lieutenant Stalgis was watching his auspex, sending messages back to the ship where Captain Ul was waiting.

"No reason to drag everyone else dirtside. Focus on trying to get Geva some people to interview. She, Laira, and the Firemane folks would be most useful unless they are going to approve chemical torture on subjects."

"Why Laira?"

"She's part Zeltron right? With Force Powers, how could she not be useful there."

"Denied. Her Force presence isn't related to interrogation and she's too rash to keep her cool. I'll see about Geva assisting Firemane though, that could be mutually beneficial."

With that the Captain clicked her comm unit off leaving the Deathtrooper sitting alone with his thoughts.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"] [member="Laira Darkhold"]

Leonina watched as Elpsis efficiently talked the girl down. She gave a grudging nod of agreement. She did not interfere, instead she turned back to her team.
“Status?”
Briggs looked up from the terminals. “These people are really living in the past, ma’am. They’re still using Code Alpha, they stopped using that before Virus!”
“We know they’ve been isolated, so it’s not unexpected. Get it done, Specialist.”
“Already done, ma’am,” Briggs said, showing off a data card.
She took the card. “Lazari?”
“Communications are old and it’s hard to get our tech on these old frequencies, but I’ve set up a relay booster which-,” he began.
“I want a status, not a lecture, Corporal.”
“It’s ready, I’ve got a line to the Destiny, ma’am,” he said just a little huffily.
“Good. They can send in a science team and do a more thorough treatment of this place.”

She next looked to Laira and the Doctor. “What do you make of them, Doctor? Ms Darkhold, anything you’d like to add at this point?” the Cathar asked in a nearly polite way. The perspective of the guests should not be discounted, they were there to observe after all!

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Laira Darkhold"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


"Mara Technician," Elpsis repeated. "Technician is...your job, right? You got to have family."

An expression of puzzlement crossed Mara's features. "I am not sure what you mean. Technician is who and what I am. The Dominion is my family."

"But you have parents, right? Siblings?" Elpsis pressed gently.

"You confuse me. I do not know what you mean. I was created in Nursery Complex Thirteen. I was eigth in my birthing pod."

Something clicked inside Elpsis' head. "The other people in your birthing pod...they're all called Technician?"

"Yes, we were all raised from birth in the same créche. I take it things are...different where you come from."

"Yeah, you could say that. It's...a lot to explain. But we can take things slow."

"You must have travelled from far and wide. Why have you come to Tephrike? After so much time has passed."

"Many planets were forgotten during the Darkness. I'm, uh, part of a group that tries to reconnect lost worlds that were cut off. Help people get on their feet if they need it."

Mara frowned slightly, trying to wrap her head around this obscure concept. "How large is the Galaxy? Are there many worlds like Tephrike out there?"

"It's...huge. Too many planets to count. Most can't support life, but there's thousands that can. Some are covered by huge cities, others are pure nature or in between."

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira turned to look at the Firemane Officer, Leonia, a cathar. "Me? Oh no I don't have anything to add. I'm just a pilot slash security." The redhead grinned, she might mean more to specific people aboard the Scarlet Destiny, and she might be a Lieutenant, but officially she wasn't much of a specialist or mission operative. Unlike Elpsis, Laira wasn't an empath, she didn't have much technical acumen. What she did have was minor pheromones, good looks, and a give 'em hell attitude.

Doctor Geva looked up from the terminal at the cathar with a bit more useful information. "These people are in an oppressive theocracy based around a piss poor interpretation of Jedi. No family, no wealth, only service to the Force as instructed by the Dominion of Light. Any talk against the regime is called Heresy, any sign of Dark Side corruption is abhorred, and the regime can equate anything they want to as corruption. Fear keeps the populace in line, both of the Dark Side and of the Dominion itself." The Falleen tapped a few keys on the terminal, "Its actually pretty impressive. Takes generations for this level of despotism and devotion from the masses. I've seen stuff like this, but its rare. None of these terminals will have anything close to unbiased historical records, and anything the people tell us will be heavily influenced by propaganda."

Laira leaned against the data terminal as she regarded the Cathar, "Anything we can use though?"

"I'm pretty sure if we faked some government ID's related to law enforcement we could get inside and get talking to people." Doctor Geva turned the terminal off, "But that's a job for someone else. Colonel, I know Firemane pulled a ton of prisoners out of this place, I think two options are the most likely to yield positive results. Look for the less indoctrinated and offer them asylum, give them the taste of the good life, booze, good food, nice clothes, holovideos and they'll be compliant. Put them with a few Firemane folks to play the part of 'buddy' and they might turn to butter. Alternatively, find one of the most indoctrinated and get them to break the local ethics laws. Then convince we can get them absolved of their corruption in exchange for compliance. If you can sell the part, its an option."

Laira wasn't going to bring up option three, which is what the Death Troopers outside had been suggesting pretty casually. To them, these were enemies, and enemies didn't have any rights or liberties. To Laira these were still people, poor misinformed people. They just needed someone to lift the veil their leaders had covered them with. "Elpsis is working on the girl in there, maybe she and I can schmooze her up back on the ship, you know? Get her to see the Firemane side of life."

[member="Tegaea Alcori"]
[member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Laira Darkhold"] [member="Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori"]

Leonina had listened with half an ear to Elpsis’ discussion. The pieces were starting to come together. It sounded like a combination of several different situations she had known of, ranging from Dahomey, to Kaeshana to Korriban. It seemed though to be taking the worst part of them all though.

Looking back to the Doctor, she frowned. “The first option sounds the most doable, honestly. This one Alcori has picked up looks more reasonable than the others. We need to be careful though, we can’t just assault her with progress. Introduce her slowly, gain her trust, I think both Alcori and you, Ms Darkhold would be best for this if you can control your…enthusiasm. Doctor, your observations will be very welcome.”

Back on the Destiny, these words and ideas were fed back to Tegaea.
“So as far as I can tell, we have come upon a world isolated by the Gulag Plague. This world believes the rest of the galaxy is dead or somehow turned into Sith. They are fanatical, led by Jedi following the model of the Galactic Republic of older times. As far as we can tell, they also seem to use some method of reproduction different to usual, be it cloning or test-tubing.”
“That sounds like it, ma’am,” Captain Vyron replied.
“This may make them unpredictable. However, now we have their frequencies, intensify our efforts to communicate.”
It was at that moment that a hurried aide entered. “Ma’am…we’ve gotten through…”

 

[Elpsis Kerrigan]

[member="Laira Darkhold"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


"Thousands of worlds," Mara muttered.

"If you come with me, I can show you them," Elpsis said a bit too eagerly, then frowned. "Well...not all of them, I guess. But a few."

"You'd...take me with you?"

"Sure, why not? Would you like to?"

"I do not know. Traversing the stars. It sounds...terrifying." Yet there was some eagerness in her eyes. "But I may have nowhere else to go."

"You don't have to decide now. Just know that I won't let anyone hurt you, ok?" the girl nodded and Elpsis patted her hand. "Want to come meet my friends?"

After a moment's hesitation, the girl nodded.


xxx


It took a bit for them to establish a connection. The quality of the hologram was poor. However, finally the holographic projection of a Dominion representative manifested. She was a purple Twi'lek of average height, dressed in conservative Jedi robes. Her eyes were stern and judgemental. "This is Jedi Master Airla of the Dominion of Light. You have entered our sovereign space and broken the Dominion's peace. But the Lord of Light, praise be to him, in his unending mercy wishes no further bloodshed and has instructed me to parlay. State your intent."