Journey to a Vowelless World (Siobhan)

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Hyllyard City on Myrkr was a small community of settlers, the largest settlement on the planet. It featured the only large spaceport on the planet, and so most of the spacers and other freighters came in to land there.
On this one day, above all others, a young woman was standing by the entrance of the spaceport, watching a large transport descending. That transport was marked with the company logo of Firemane Industries.
"Right on time," she said, smiling. As the ship set down, she headed for the exit ramp.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

Myrkr, a world of vast forests, beasts, ysalimiri, on the edge of space. Those aforementioned ysalimiri were what made the planet worthy of interest, for it was sparsely populated by settlers and possessed nothing of economic value. Living on the large olbio trees, they had the unique ability to generate bubbles in which the use of the Force was negated, which made them of interest to many factions. Indeed the very fact of their existence had often made the planet a haven for criminals and smugglers, as Jedi had a habit of staying away from a world on which they would be turned into mere mortals.

Almost a millennia ago Grand Admiral Thrawn had come to the planet to acquire ysalimiri as part of his plan for galactic conquest. They had worked like a charm when it came to shielding him from the influence of the mad Joruus C'baoth, whose claim to be a Jedi Master might actually not seem so demented in this new age, but obviously done nothing to stop his own Noghri bodyguards from assassinating him at the very moment when triumph might have been his.

How would the Galaxy have developed if things had been otherwise? Would a totalitarian Empire been more efficient than the 'democratic' New Republic at repelling the Yuuzhan Vong? Or would typical fascist inefficiency, corruption, feuding between the overlords and so on made things worse? This was undoubtedly a fascinating question for those inclined towards what if scenarios. Siobhan Kerrigan was not one of them.


Issuing some instructions to the pilot and the contingent of Firemane guards accompanying her - trust was good, control was better, so some battle hardened troopers would stay behind to deter anyone from going on a joyride with their view by offering persuasive arguments in form of bolters and repeaters - she sauntered down the landing ramp of the ship, gazing across the unremarkable space port, guards following in her wake as she confidently barked out commands to them. It might be a good question to ask why she was here in the first place. By all rights this was a job she could have delegated - she did have minions after all!

Perhaps it was an assignment she should have delegated. Here on the planet, certainly once they moved into the forests where their quarry lay, she would be mortal, devoid of her powers. She was a trained soldier, had been so for almost two decades, but with the exception of a the quest she and Adril had gone on to regain their powers after losing their connection to the Force in the Fade, she had always been with the Force. In her grasp it became a battering ram, a hammer of power much like Mjoellnir, it made her feel like a goddess, almost invincible. But...that also meant she had become reliant on it, very much so.

If she were honest with herself her desire to come here had perhaps less been motivated by feelings of responsibility and more by the belief she needed to prove that she could still do it. Doubtless her wife was not keen on the idea, but Siobhan swallowed whatever apprehension she might be feeling deep down, projecting a stance of confidence. After all, what could go wrong? Everything undoubtedly, but no time to get wethennish.

She was kitted out in full combat gear, wearing ultrachrome armour. She carried an MK1 bolter, all the special ammo types, vibroknives, disruptor pistol on her hip, various grenades and one of those Gorgon web rifles she had stolen from Styx was slung over her shoulder. Force of habit and its utility dictacted that she brought her lightsabre along, though without the precognition and enhanced reflexes given to her by the Force she would be unable to deflect blaster bolts. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the raven-haired woman who was supposed to be her contact. "Tamara, isn't it? I'm Siobhan Kerrigan from Firemane Industries. Pleased to meet you. My company contacted you."

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tamara, in contrast to the martial appearance of Siobhan, was dressed much more simply in civilian clothes and carrying a small bag. She did not appear to be armed, though she had a small blaster and some concussion grenades in her bag, along with other items.
"Welcome to Myrkr, Ms Kerrigan. A pleasure to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you, and wanted to see if the great heroine lived up to legend. Hmm, you're a bit taller than I thought."
She smiled. "Either way, I'm surprised you came, to be honest. After all, Myrkr is known first and foremost for the Ysalimari. Tends to put a bit of a crimp in even the best laid Force user plans."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

Siobhan flushed just a bit upon being called a 'heroine' because she was anything but. But then those only existed in fairy tales, where the bad guys were easily identifiable by wearing black and carrying red glowsticks, the heroes were so righteous they had halos and everything ended shiny and happy without collateral damage, without hard choices that needed to be made. Reality was a lot different and greyer.

"Yeah, gigantic force negation field. Takes flying force gods down from their lofty heights to the level of mere mortals, best place for the enterprising forcer hunter to score a kill. Makes the hunt more of a challenge I guess. Besides, that's what the firepower's there for," Siobhan responded evenly. "Anyway, I've been told you have some knowledge of the place and of how to detach the ysalamiri from the oblio trees."

Some sort of special method had to be carried out to safely remove the creatures, lest they die, or at least so Karrde had told Captain Pellaeon, who would go on to retreat a lot and lead the Imperial Remnant. Alas, it was never actually shown just what had to be done, but this writer is quite comfortable in assuming that Tamara would know because she is a time travelling and universe special snowflake. As for why Firemane would want ysalamiri? Why, dear reader, in order to further the Order of the Torch's plans for galactic domination, of course. Or, probably far less interestingly, they were useful for keeping hostile force-users captive.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
"The Force negation field is limited to the forests, getting slowly more and more intense as you approach. Once inside, all contact with the Force will be lost. From what I've been told, it can be rather disorientating."
Of course, Tamara made no comment about her own abilities at this point. She valued her privacy, and she was sure that Siobhan felt the same way.

"There is a complication though. A well organised group has taken up position inside one of the large forests, using an old base as cover. They are extracting the Ysalimari for unknown purposes, though they look better equipped than mere mercenaries. Any approach to the great forest will be monitored by them. So you have to be ready for this."

Morality and Tamara was an odd thing as well. She was certainly no Jedi or any other recognised group, and she had some fairly interesting views on morality in general. However, she was completely against cruelty and evil, so that made up for the occasional 'acquisition'...right?

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

Siobhan felt like making a lame quip about how her wife usually took the Force away from her at night via a collar, but then she thought better. This would be...very different on many levels and she had no intention of ending up locked in the force cage of a force hunter eager for a kill or some quick profit on a Nar Shaddaa slave market. "I see. Mandos perhaps; it is their corner of space and trying to get ysalamiri makes sense for them. Facing Sith remnants, they might decide to go back to the old Jedi hunting days. Or one of the Sith splinter groups that have been shooting out of the ground, chanting the Empire will rise again and return from the shadows as a 'Phantom Menace' to exact the 'Revenge of the Sith'. Well, both not to be taken lightly," Siobhan said.

Though she did not believe that Mandolarians were the finest warriors to have ever graced the Galaxy, what with them having lost most of the wars they were in, they were tough...and unlike her would be used to being tough without the Force. As for Sith remnants, from what she had heard from a contact in MICO they were seeking to rise up. Doubtless encouraged by the fact that it seemed the Jedi were being mopey and ineffectual again. Siobhan had really, really not liked what happened on Manaan, but that was one thing. Angsting about being 'warmongers' when the whole point of was to fight Sith was another.

"We'll be ready. Time's a wasting, lead the way then," she continued, making some gestures to her well-armed minions that they should form up. Tamara would take them to their entrance point in the forest. A few minituarised probe droids would scout ahead to provide some recon. They were designed to be more difficult to track on sensors, which might make them more difficult to detect by the unknown party that had set up shop in the forests.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tamara raised an eyebrow. "What an odd person you are sometimes," she said with a smile. "Yes, let's go. Time is, as they say, a-wasting."

The forest started to grow larger on the horizon as their speeder brought them closer. The probe droids showed nothing quite yet. When they were about a half-kilometre from the forest they stopped and dismounted. Some of the Firemane goons took the speeders back to the ship to wait, and they pressed on with the remaining 8 soldiers.
As they walked over the long grass Tamara started to feel it, and she knew that Siobhan would be too. The gentle muffling, as though someone was slowly placing a filter over the light, or her hearing was being lost. The Force was starting to slip away as they approached the trees....

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

She felt it as they pressed on deeper into the forests. The soldiers were moving in standard patrol formation, with Tamara as their navigator and a point man up front, providing front security and working as a tracker, holding a device of some sort that might alert them against traps, and a coverman armed with an MKII bolter to cover him, with one bolter-armed soldier on each flank providing flank security. Rear security was provided by an assistant team leader and a cover man armed with a light repeater, another soldier with the technical equipment had a direct feed to what the probe droids were picking up.

However, so far they had picked up nothing. Moving around the formation as needed to get a good view of things, Siobhan mainly hung up on the front along with Tamara. Standard patrol, forest full of beasties, potentially with Mandalorians, Sith stormtroopers or mercenaries as hostile elements. It should be nothing special, the sort of mission she had been done and done many times over. If it were not for the small detail that was the force-negating bubble into whose radius they had stepped in as they penetrated the forest.

She felt it just like Tamara, though she was unaware that their contact possessed the Force, just as she was unaware of the fact that in another reality they had met during a time travel excursion. It was a gentle muffling, much like someone had put a veil over her eyes. Gradually her hearing was being deafened, her reflexes and senses became ever slower as her power was leeched from her. She felt what to her seemed like the start of a headache as she felt herself weakening, though military discipline and training stopped her from taking her helmet off - usually she did not wear one in combat, let her enemies see the face of the Butcher when she crushed them, but such bravado and vanity had no place in the situation they found themselves now - but she could not stop the power drain.

Nonetheless she pressed on, trying to keep alert and suppressing what nervousness she might be feeling. Nothing so far from the probes, equally not from their point man. Nonetheless she gripped her boltgun, which suddenly felt bulkier to her than before - this time there would be no dual wielding - as she pressed on. Even as her Force enhanced senses were being leeched from her, she could tell that something - or someone - was out there.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tamara rubbed a hand over her eyes. The sensation was very uncomfortable, but she got used to it eventually. After all, her suite of Force powers were not fantastic aside from telekinesis.
However as they pressed into the trees she came to realise just how much she used the Force without thinking.
Stretching her arms, she found herself looking around anxiously, the normal confidence gone.

Just then, the probe droid sent a message back. Tamara looked back at Siobhan. "A dozen of the intruders in a clearing ahead. They're removing Ysalimari. Armour indicates previous Sith affiliation. What did you want to do? We can go around, but it'll take time."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

Doubtless if they tried to sneak around the Sith mercenaries would end up hitting them in the rear at an awkward moment and the Firemane mooks would all die. Doubtless if they attacked it would turn out that the Sith were better armed than expected and the mooks would all die. Of course, Siobhan excelled at getting mooks killed. At least for a change it would only be eight mooks as opposed to hundreds or even thousands like on Gehenna. Why did people keep putting her in command positions? Undoubtedly because she had slept her way to the top and married her boss, who had been far cooler before they got all lovey-dovey.

If Tamara was not that reliant on the Force, then Siobhan was extremely dependent on it. She had been using it for more than a decade, it was what made her the warrior she was. To the point where it was the only thing even remotely impressive about her. Doubtless without it she would, due to the lack of any other qualifications, never been more than a simple grunt who would probably have been dead by now, killed in some irrelevant skirmish long forgotten. There certainly would have been no reason for either Adril or Tegaea to notice her! Pulled down from her lofty heights down to the level of the everywoman - normal, mundane, weak - she felt a strong sense of apprehension creeping up on her, her confidence dissipating.

If she possessed her powers there would be no question about what they would do. They would attack hard and terminate the Sith, not giving them the chance to become a nuisance later. Frankly she would probably have been able to wipe them out on her own. Toss them across the clearing like ragdolls, seize their own weapons with her mind to turn them against them, or even if she really felt like expending energy and showing off drop a tree on them. However, now she could do nothing of the sort and she felt not just anxiousness, but fear...


She seemed uncertain, clearly wavering, though fortunately with the visored helmet no one would be able to see her facial expression, which was good because Siobhan was vain that way and liked to think she was not that much of a wet hen. Certainly not on a mission, and yet...finally she made her choice. "We'll take them out. Better that then have them hit us in the rear later if their comrades alert them, and I'm not letting Sith get their hands on ysalamiri if I can help it," she spoke quietly. The former was probably close to a somewhat sound tactical argument, though one wondered how much of Siobhan's decision was influenced by the desire to show that she could do it without the Force as her hammer. After all, she was inherently selfish, arrogant and it would not be the first time she charged in and risked the lives of soldiers because her pride got the better of her.

So she quickly passed out commands to the soldiers, using hand signals. Their stealth specialist, who had a knife and a silenced Verpine Shatter Gun in addition to the usual equipment would try to take out the sentry while covered, whereupon the more heavily equipped first fireteam would lay down a base of fire upon the intruders to pin them down. Secondary fireteam would move up through the trees and bushes to envelope them, hopefully cutting off any retreat and preventing them from alerting other intruders. With bolters, repeaters, plenty of grenades they were able to bring quite a bit of firepower to the attack. Concussion grenades might knock some opponents out, flashbangs would disorientate.

Of course, it is only bravery if it works. Otherwise it is stupidity. "You know how to use a gun?" she asked Tamara after that had been settled, having checked her equipment once more.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Tamara shrugged. “I don’t use weapons, as a general rule. I have a blaster, and I know how to use it, but I usually don’t.”
She thought for a moment. “Look, there’s probably another way around this. That clearing is a good fifty metres across, they’ve felled the trees and cleared them for access to the forest. I reckon that if you got your troops into the trees you could overcome them pretty quickly. We can then take the shuttle and infiltrate their base directly. Get into there with their gear on, take them out. Better than going overland. That is, if you want to shut their operation down....”

Admittedly Tamara was no general, and was certainly no soldier. However, she was rather more of a humanitarian than Siobhan and didn’t want excessive casualties…or any at all if it could be helped.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

It said much about Siobhan's lack of anything approaching tactical planning skills that even a civilian who never used a gun was better than her. If this writer were charitable they might think Sio's plan was not that bad, but this writer is neither charitable nor do they like her much. At all.

If Siobhan had been paying attention - or, since she seldom paid attention to anyone that was not her, had her shiny Force senses - she might have also noticed the one Firemane trooper who for a moment was staring quite intently at her before switching back to looking professional and securing the flanks. His name was Corporal Parkes, another grunt who had lost friends to Siobhan's madness at Gehenna, for which she naturally had not been sacked due to nepotism. Today he would get justice through the instruments of the bolter and the thermal detonator.

After all, the Butcher was conveniently vulnerable without her shiny powers that made her think she was some sort of goddess...

Naturally Siobhan did not notice that and instead focused on trying to pretend she knew anything about commanding people. At least she did not have a tantrum for a change about being upstaged, though this writer will not count that as character development. "Makes sense. We'll head through the trees and try to surprise them. Lay down a hail of flash and concussion, then bombard them with bolters and repeaters before closing in. I'll contact the backup team with our speeders to get ready. Incoming speeders can cut off Sithies who make a run for it. Once we know where the main group is and land there, the transport can drop them and they can attack as a pincer,," a gesture was made to their stealth trooper, he would take out the trooper operating the comms equipment before the main base could be alerted, the Verpine Shatter Gun was silenced and ideal for sniping with its scope. Some other orders were passed on, perhaps some of them were relevant. Base of fire would be laid down from the trees after the initial hail.

Two of the speeders would weave its way through the forest and come in to mow down retreatees. Ideally they would get one of the Sith alive...alive enough to tell them where the main group was located, in case they did not conveniently have a holomap lying around. But that was what the web rifle was for - the mist-net like solution contained an electrical charge strong enough to stun the average human or animal, having ironically enough been designed as a creative way to capture Jedi.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Tamara for her part climbed a tree. Incidentally it was quite close to where Corporal Parkes was stationed. Of course, she had no idea that this would be of any importance.
Instead, she watched as the mercenaries were hard at work and unsuspecting an attack. At Siobhan's signal he opened fire. Suddenly the forest was filled with the crack of bolters and the whine of blaster bolts. Explosives tore into the stranded mercenaries and several went down.
Tamara watched it all, blaster out, but not firing. She'd switched it to stun anyway. It wasn't really her thing to kill people, after all. Not unless there was no choice.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

The air was filled with red laser fire, as bolts whizzed towards the mercenaries, and explosive bolts, the ground shaking as they impacted. The ex Sith were caught by surprise as the attack was initiated with a hail of grenades, some being knocked to the ground by concussion, then momentarily blinded as flashbangs hit home and the camp was cast in a bright light. Once the initial confusion was over some of the mercenaries rallied to the defence, manning the e-webs they had set up, the whine of the blasters and the detonations of explosives along with the cries of the wounded providing a perverse symphony.

Others, made of less bold stuff or perhaps more sensible, took flight and retreated, jumping onto the scout speeders they had taken with them, but found themselves suddenly coming under intense blaster fire when two of the Firemane speeders swooped down.

Counterfire from the e-webs and a mercenary with a grenade launcher forced them to pursue evasion, but effectively the Sith were trapped. Siobhan was there in the trees, directing the attack, barking out commands. Now in the midst of battle all nervousness was gone. A mercenary took aim at them with a missile launcher but was taken out by a well-placed sniper shot before he could fire, then she gave the signal to attack, Firemane troopers moving to assault the remnant of mercenaries that was trying to flee the camp.

Little did she know, in the heat of battle, that the gallant Corporal Parkes was taking aim at her, ostensibly while providing covering fire, just when she knocked down a mercenary with her bolter and then blasted him with a load of buckshot, the vibroblade of another cutting into her armour before he likewise went down. In the thick of combat, when the two opposing forces were so up close, a stray shot could easily hit a friendly. So he squeezed the trigger and fired, explosive bolts of pure justice being pumped out.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

Tamara watched the battle blankly. Whilst the Firemane and mercenary troops battled to the death she seemed oddly detached from the scene. Perhaps it was the lack of the Force, perhaps it was her usual reflexive personality, but she made no effort to take part. Once she sighted along her stun blaster, but did not fire.

Rather, her attention was drawn to Corporal Parkes. She didn’t have the Force, but there was something off about the man. He too was not doing much but staring down at @[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]. When he raised his bolter she was in line enough to see his target…Siobhan herself!

Had she been able to use the Force she could have reached out to sense his motive…or failing that wrenched the weapon from his hands. Instead all she had was a hunch and milliseconds to do something about it. Offering a silent prayer to whichever deity might be watching, Tamara shot Parkes in the back with her stun blaster, making his shot go wide factionally and hit the soft ground rather than Siobhan’s head….

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

The erupting sounds of blaster fire and deafening blasts had filled the air. The detonation of several grenades left a billowing inferno in their wake as the Firemane troopers advanced. Siobhan had strafed to the right then to the left to avoid the incoming hail of blaster fire that came flying her way.

Without the Force her reaction time was...off, her movements still felt sluggish and less graceful to her, but perhaps she made up for it in ferocity. A mercenary came at her, letting loose a yell as another joined him. Slamming the butt of her gun to the face took the first one temporarily out of the game, a yowl of pain echoing in the visor of her helmet as she as she turned to squeeze the trigger, sending a quick salvoe of bolts into the second before he could get up close. The scent of blood, burnt and seared flesh was high in the air but it was familiar to her. She did not feel invincible like she usually did in battle, but perhaps the very human emotion of fear gave her fuel. A fleeing mercenary speeder was set alight when an incendiary grenade popped out of a Firemane grenade launcher, blowing up the fuel tank so that the unlucky occupants were ignited like a Roman candle, the fires spreading beyond the burning vehicle.

The other mercenary came back at her, blaster pistol raised, but a swift sweep of her leg clipped him behind the knee, though he reflexively fired his blaster as he fell, an ill-aimed hail of red bolts spewing out, though she recoiled as one grazed her helmet, burning into it, though thankfully it held. As she lunged to stab him with the bayonet and yelled out orders for the soldiers to advance the explosive bolts fired by Parkes reached her. If Siobhan had been in possession of the Force she would have sensed the incoming danger, she would have probably been able to dodge with superhuman speed or summon a force shield, though the latter would have still resulted in the warheads detonating on impact, thus causing damage from blast and shrapnel.

However, the forest-wide force negation bubble prevented this. Thanks to Tamara's intervention his shots went wide fractionally and struck the ground behind her. The force of the blast shook her and sent her tumbling a bit so that she hit the ground hard, her visored face getting smashed into the leg of an unlucky mercenary, shards of shrapnel striking at dents in her armour, though the blast did not penetratet the heavy suit of armour, her vision going hazy for a moment as it went dark around her eyes...

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Tamara’s inactivity before was mirrored now by her frantic action. As Parkes slumped to the ground in a heap Tamara jumped down and ran to Siobhan. The other woman was heavier than she expected, and without the Force to help her she could only drag her into the ley of a fallen tree.

Once there she knelt by Siobhan and accessed her injuries until the other woman finally came to.
“You’re alright. One of your men took a pot shot at you, but I stunned him first so he missed. Easy now….”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

The force of the blast had knocked Siobhan unconscious but gradually she came to as she became dimly aware of being dragged away from the battlefield. The mercenaries were trying to retreat but were being mercilessly cut down, though one Firemane trooper had been injured and was being pulled behind debris by a comrade while covering fire was provide. "The Colonel is down! Get a medic!"

Her ears were still ringing from the explosion as Siobhan's eyes opened, pain shooting through her as she tried at first futilely to get up. Shrapnel had struck her bionic hand, tearing through glove and flesh to reveal solid durasteel. But the heavy armour and more importantly Tamara's intervention had kept her alive. "What...I'll frakking gut him," she swore as she registered what Tamara was saying, anger and rage coursing through her. It was probably of the good that presently she did not have access to the Force.

"You...saved my life...thanks," she spoke haltingly as she gazed at Tamara, evidently still under shock. "Get them, boys. Don't let any escape," she called out to the Firemane troopers as the last of the Sith ran, before being intercepted by the speeders and taken down in a hail of laser fire when they turned to run again. Her visored gaze flickered over to the tree where she recognised a prone trooper lying unconscious. "Parkes..."

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
@[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tamara patted her on the shoulder. “Think nothing of it. Ysalimari makes all a little more mortal, so we need to watch each other’s backs.” It was a coded admission of her own Force abilities, if Siobhan was recovered enough to notice.

“So, what next? We can harvest the Ysalimari right now and then leave using their ship. Or we can pursue them to their base and attack. Doubtless that won’t be an easy run….”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

@[member="Tamara"]

"Nonetheless, thanks." Siobhan was generally a bit slow on the uptake, though perhaps her brush with morality had made her a bit more attentive at the moment. She seemed at least conscious enough that Tamara's coded words made something click in her brain as she looked at her in a new light.

She had not sensed anything from her before at the landing pad, back when she still had access to the Force, but she did know of techniques to mask one's presence. Cira had actually taught her the basics of it, though Siobhan did not have the patience to develop that further, as useful as broadening her horizons would undoubtedly be.

But there were more immediate matters that concerned her now as she caught her breath and forced herself up, refusing to show weakness. The unconscious Parkes was dragged down by one of the soldiers, her eyes landing hatefully on him. Doubtless things would get...unpleasant for him. "Nothing's ever easy. Not taking out a scouting party and letting them continue harvesting. We'll take their ship and gear, let them believe we're bringing the goods for them, then attack. I'll call the transport that brought us here to provide support. Not made for heavy engagements, but should provide some firepower."