Jungle Boogie - The Dominion of Rakata Prime (One Sith and The Underground)

[Khallesh]

[member="Vrag"]

Each leap and tumble brought a new level of agony as her twists and turns pulled at the wounds. She silently cursed the raking claws of the apex predator, but carried on in her mad half-dash half-fall. She launched herself onto a tree that shot straight out from the mountainside, setting down lithely on both feet before sprinting up its length and launching herself after her quarry.

No one could describe Khallesh Val as a fence sitter. Once her mind was set on a task, very little would deter her from seeing it through. If circumstances were such that she did change her mind, there was no getting back up on the fence. She simply ploughed straight through.

A dark shape flitted through the air before Vrag's eyes. Feet first, she slammed into the chest of the beast before Vrag could make her strike. It seemed the human had survived and Khallesh had no intention of allowing her the killing blow. Her bone claw was brought down in one swift strike, using the momentum of her fall. The blade sank deep into its chest, with a loud crack as it snapped through what passed for its rib cage. Blood spurted from the beast's maw, but it refused to die. With one great heave of its whole body, the discombobulated creature threw her to one side. Her fingers barely found a branch before she could tumble over the precipice. Her feet scrambled wildly as she sought for purchase.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Obj: Harass people, define the word, and show people how its bad
Enemies; [member="Darth Vizios"] [member="Trin Gravois"]
Allies: [member="Rekha Kaarde"]

Post: IDK my BFF Jill, also 4

Work needed to be done, Sith needed to be repelled and delaying tactics needed to be put in place. That was everything Coren Starchaser knew. How to be fething loud, grab attention and let others do their thing, be it slip away or finish an enemy off. He was made for stunning and drawing on an engagement, but actually doing the fighting? That piece was a bit tricky for the man. But what was more tricky was not allowing the Sith to get anywhere.

The Underground was a strange group and sometimes there were many of them in one place, other times, not so much. They had pilots and agents, not so big on the soldiers and running whole ground engagements. That was the Rebel Alliance, he supposed. And the man was about to respond to Rekha that he was fine, but…

Then there was this…

Come? Him? He looked around. Part of Coren knew that this wasn’t his own thought. The other didn’t care…

 

[Trin Gravois]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison Coren Starchaser
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Darth Vizios"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 8/20

All thoughts of the Mind Palace had disappeared from Trin's current concerns. Right now, her singular focus was on him, this rebel Jedi or whatever the frell he was. She wanted the man for after-dinner entertainment. Like Lucas, Trin also had a sadistic streak. Although hers wasn't miles-wide like her sibling's, she enjoyed watching people squirm and wriggle underneath her, especially men.

Trin assumed that the element of surprise had allowed her to sink her hooks in, and it seemed to be so. She couldn't feel him charging up an attack, and he hadn't even noticed her lightsaber. She deactivated it and clipped the pommel to her belt. A few more words attempted to thread through his mind, wrapping his consciousness in velvet, flooding him with pleasure-inducing neurochemicals, and hopefully shutting down the part of his brain that controlled reason. It didn't hurt that she was breath-takingly gorgeous.

Not close enough, beautiful. Don't play so hard to get.

With outstretched arms, she stood before him. Maybe she could capture him and keep him around to play with. He would be a much more enjoyable prize than this stupid egg. The man was handsome, with thick dark brows and piercing blue eyes. Still not as handsome as Lucas, though.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Objective: Cause damage to the Sith
Location: Planetside
Post: 5?

One area, well, of the many, that Coren lacked sufficient Force skill in was that of mentalism. He wasn’t able to really block most things that came out at him, from the Force. The mind shard htat Sage Bane had thrown his way did help him learn a few new tricks, but still it was out of his reach.

The problem with an anzati is that it wasn’t quite the Force, it was something else, something deep, something primal, something predatory. Her looks assisted that. He knew about a variety of species, it was if he was able to fight it, that would be the trick. Coren had flown from one end of the galaxy to another, and seen a lot of strange stuff…

But these species? They were something he hadn’t encountered. The soldier in him was working hard to fight it, looking at her, gun still raised.

[member="Trin Gravois"]

 

[Vrag]

Before she got the chance to properly sink her blade into the obscenely bulging belly of the beast and finish it off for good, a motion blur of red and black zipped past her with a mad cry, stabbing the grounded creature straight between the ribs. It made the wet, ripping sound of pleura being punctured, and if the sudden wheezing was any indication, [member="Khallesh"]'s strike had punched a hole through the lung of the monster.

But it just wouldn't. karking. die.

Vrag let out a low growl of frustration as the animal bucked again and threw the bleeding Huntress off in an unflattering display of flailing limbs.

Must I do everything myself?

With gritting of teeth and some choice commentary in the most vulgar tongues of the Galaxy that Ygdris still recalled from her spacing days, the woman would navigate the slippery slope of uncertain ground and treacherous patches of soil, heedless of the Commander's struggle as she focused on the beast before her, intent on putting an end to this messy and entirely undesired adventure. For good.

She made to slash with her lightsaber and pop the thing open like an overly ripe seed pod, to watch it dehisce in a spray of blood and guts all over the mossy boulder upon which it lay.

Once again purpose and reality diverged as the monster kicked out with its back leg, avoiding the full brunt of the attack as it sent the firrerreo into the trees behind her, but not before the blade sliced through hide and muscle and bone, turning that same leg into a half-severed slab of meat. It hung awkwardly from the thick strip of red, weeping flesh below the thigh, bouncing and waggling with every shudder that ran down the body of the beast.

Vrag, meanwhile, had become stuck. Remember all those handy spikes? Well, handy when people were tackling you or grappling you, at least. Not so much when they sank nice and deep into the soft wood of a young tree.

"Karking kill it already!" she yelled at the other warrior, teeth bared as her arms strained against the two trunks she'd become lodged between

[12/20]​

 

[Sinistra]

Objective: 3 The Egg
Location: An abandoned dig site.
Allies: OS
Enemies: Underground
Post: 5/20

Half a second too late, the dark side alerted her to the presence of something in the bushes right before she was hit with a stun bolt, causing her to fall unconscious in mid-slide.

When she came to, she was tied to a tree with thick woven vine ropes. Fela was next to her, and both of them were being watched by a Rakata female, a blaster in one hand. Their weapons were laying on the ground near the woman, the lightsabers had been disassembled. Whoever she was, she was good.

Sinistra looked at her. Her clothes were not primitive, in fact she looked like she had recent contact off world or someone came to her here. She could be helping the Underground. Only one way to find out.

"Do you speak Basic?"

 

[Khallesh]

[member="Vrag"]

Khallesh had barely pulled herself to safety when she heard Vrag scream in her direction. Her arm shook violently as she pushed her torso up off the rocks she had pulled herself onto. A trail of slick black blood ran back across the ground to the precipice she had almost tumbled over. One knee came up and gouged a trail through the muddy ground before her, providing enough purchase.

Between short ragged breaths she whispered a quiet prayer to the Twin Gods for one last burst of strength. The beast was making an enormous ruckus as it tried to drag its body forwards, to finish off the Sith as she tried to disentangle herself from the trees.

A quiet buzz heralded the emergence of a Razor Bug from a crevice in her armour. It took two attempts for her to set her shoulder into the right position for the throw. With a guttural scream her arm snapped around. A metre from her hand and the bug started to power itself, accelerating hard as it cut a path through the air. The buzzing sound came to an abrupt halt as a crack echoed across the mountain. The spindly legs of the bug scratched across the face of the monster for a moment before they fell limp. Fully half of the bug was implanted in the forehead of the creature. Its head lolled back and with a terrific crash it fell backwards. A moment later and there was only a trail of gore to mark its presence. The sounds of its tumble down the rest of the mountainside continued for a short while.

As Khallesh permitted herself to flop onto the ground, a broad grin settled on her face. “What a glorious day,” she whispered as she watched Vrag try and break free, finding the sight quite amusing.

 

[Trin Gravois]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison Coren Starchaser
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Darth Vizios"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 9/20

The man was resistant. Sometimes they were. Perhaps he possessed a racial defense, as did the Epicanthix, but he didn’t look it. His beauty was more rugged, his eyes too wide-set. It was more likely that he was a powerful Force user. Still, her words were not repelled from his mind, so she assumed her spell was sinking in, penetrating his gray matter. His rifle was raised, but he was in limbo. Trin was so mesmerized by their standoff, she’d almost forgotten about Darth Vizios. Now would be an inopportune time to crash her party. She reached out with a flash of telepathy, phrasing it as a question, so the Sith felt a modicum of respect for her. Trin was insane, but she wasn’t stupid.

This one’s mine. No need for backup. Go for the Mind Palace instead?

Giving her prey a hypnotic, slow blink Trin grabbed the folds of her robes and with one fluid gesture dropped it to the floor, Bond-girl style, flaunting off her perfect body, now only clad in a skin-tight, armorweave hunt suit. Yes, her gear belt lay on the floor with her garment, but she had a different weapon on display now. The half-Anzat carefully walked forward and lifted her hand to remove the rifle from her opponent's grip.

Let’s get out of here, baby.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Objective: Cause damage to the Sith, don’t get eaten
Location: Planet-Side
Post: 6

Mental fortitude. Unlike a lot of people, Coren didn’t change his species to something stronger with special traits to it. No sir, Coren Starchaser remained as the Galactic Empire of old intended, pure human. The divine race, really. Now, it wasn’t true that Coren was a specieist, but it wasn’t not untrue. He had his weapon at the ready, but there was not really blocking this.

It’d taken him by surprise. And guess what? That was called roleplaying, you couldn’t win at everything forever, and when Coren was not in a fighter, and not attacking an enemy coming head on, or in a way he may be able to predict? Well, the started to lose. Specialists did that, hell, even generalists did that. There were times even in the best of circumstances leaders of empires, galactic conquerors were felled by the inexperienced, the unpredictable, the random.

This wasn’t one of those times, as Coren was not a leader. He was not in charge of anything beyond helping the Underground and the Tiburons, but the man was also a teleporter, it would take a lot to bind him down. There wasn’t much the man was going to say, or could say in his state, he merely allowed his body language to agree.

His ship was here, his people were here, someone would notice.

Maybe.

 

[Judah Lesan]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Trin Gravois"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 6/20

Xander watched as Trin dispatched the men in the room. She was elegant and beautiful in her form. The way she handled herself was quite praiseworthy. The Assassin couldn't help but admire the ferocity in which she handled the guards. He sensed the presence in the room, and he could see Trin did as well. All of a sudden her goal was not the mind prison, but the Corellian. His eyes grew wide as she dropped her robes for the man.

"Lucky man," he mused to himself. "Not a bad way to die."

The telepathic message came through, and Xander nodded. He had to pry his eyes off the sultry figure in front of him. Xander was not without eyes after all, and they naturally wandered.

"Just don't play with your food, and don't let your food play with you. The man is strong. You had better be stronger."

Xander was not going to rescue the woman if Coren outsmarted her. If she wanted the mind prison, she had to earn it. Killing a master would more than prove her worth. A quick turn on his heel, and Xander went off for the egg.

 

[Trin Gravois]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison Coren Starchaser
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Darth Vizios"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 10/20

Careful not to break the enthrallment, Trin carefully took the man's rifle, unloaded the ammo, and lowered it to the floor with a clatter. As she returned to study him, a telepathic message came from Darth Vizios, a warning about the Forcer that he was not to be underestimated. She shot a few words back to the Sith.

He's all mine. Don't worry your pretty little head over it.

So much for being respectful to Sith Lords. Trin knew she could handle herself. She had survived all of Lucas' attacks on her, and this guy couldn't be worse than her sadist of a brother. She turned back lock onto his glazed eyes, using the Force to boost that feeling of euphoria that had glommed onto his brain's pleasure centers.

"I'm Trin," she told him sweetly, taking his hand. "The place is being overrun. I'll help you escape."

The half-Anzat grabbed her cloak off the floor and began to pull the man along. Hopefully he wasn't like some of the stubborn mules she'd tried to capture before. The ones who just ended up with throats slit instead. If the man stayed under her spell, she would take him outside, where the jungle waited for them. As did her shuttle.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Objective: Beat Sith?
Post: Something where no matter if I flood the rest of the thread I’ll not hit twenty
Allies: Underground
Enemies: [member="Trin Gravois"]

He knew what she was. She was a Sith, it was all he needed to know. It was all he did know at this moment. All he knew right now was that they had shown up, and he should be getting to his ship. But it wasn’t… he didn’t care. He didn’t know what he wanted.

“Its being overrun by the Sith. I can’t leave my people.” He looked over his shoulder at the base, then back to the Anzat. This was something he’d never dealt with before.

“Can’t… leave them.”

 

[Trin Gravois]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison Coren Starchaser
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Darth Vizios"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 11/20

Oh the stubborn mule was coming out, but Trin wasn't worried. She released his hand and turned, pressing her body against him with fluid, calculated movements. Pretty persuasion. If she had a beating heart, he might feel it thumping against his chest through his light armor plate, but her species had no pulse. The half-Anzat leaned in to whisper in his ear, letting her full, pillowy lips graze his earlobe.

"We'll come back for them, but right now we need you to survive. You have to put the re-breather on yourself before you try and put it on your friends."

Looking into his eyes, Trin poured on the enthrallment, mixing it with a telepathic mind twist, a Force power she'd been honing on her own. She wasn't a master at the power yet. She'd tried it on Lucas once and he'd simply slapped her across the room, but her results on the slaves at the Temple of Pain had been favorable. If he succumbed, he would be consumed with a subliminal suggestion to obey her. She threaded her fingers through his again and tugged on his hand. They were outside, and could reach the shuttle in a few minutes if they hurried.

"Come on. We don't have much time."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Objective: Fight?
Location: Planet
Post: Less than 20
Tags: [member="Trin Gravois"]

He had been fighting the Sith for how long? Knowing they were coming to this world, that was in his mind, that was going to prevent him from going so easily. He knew what was happening, part of him was still remembering it. No, not the Alamo, but the Sith invasion. The Sith coming and scattering his people. Something needed to be done about these people, these beasts.

But that voice…

The succubus… Was that it? It wasn’t Spark, it wasn’t Audrey, it wasn’t Rekha… He didn’t know this person, but he wanted to. Shaking his head he looked at her, eyes narrowing. “Where to?” Was he still enthralled? Mostly. But feeling the Force being used, that he recognized for what it was.

 

[Vrag]

There was growling, and the sounds of flesh being dragged across stone and fallen leaves. Wet and flopping as rolls of fat traversed the uneven terrain, drawing ever closer to the Sith's unfortunate predicament. She'd always known that spikes would be the end of her, and it seemed like this cursed day might be the one when they'd finally fulfill their destiny.

Her teeth were bared behind the perennial grin of her skull helmet as she struggled with the sturdy plantlife, dead-set on not going out like this. In the heat of battle? Old and wrinkly in a bed? Shanked in some back alley, for kark's sake? But never like this.

And then the familiar loud buzz cut through the monotonous undulation of meat against rock, and with a loud cry and a crack, the monstrosity was sent crashing down the slope of the mountain like its two adversaries before. The only difference was that the beast was dead, and they were still alive.

Well, at least for now.

A quick glance over her stuck shoulder revealed that [member="Khallesh"] was sprawled out on the boulder that the giant creature had occupied mere moments before, leaking her black blood into the greedy soil in generous streams.

"Glorious." she parroted in a slightly strangled voice, uncertain whether or not the Commander had always been this mad, or if she'd just hit her head one too many times while tumbling downhill.

She decided it was the latter only because she respected the Huntress, but she would be damned if she watched her bleed out in some motkerkarking corner of the jungle, smirking at her… annoying situation.

Kark this.

The Hand of the Dark Lord grimaced and heaved and wrapped her arms around one of the trunks in a mockery of a hug, Vonduun and muscle flexing in practiced unison. The wood moaned and whined under the stress of torsion as the claws of Ygdris sank deep, piercing the bark with unsettling ease.

And then it snapped. An arm, a neck, a trunk; it was all the same to Vrag.

She watched with a quiet, self-satisfied fascination as the halved tree heeded the call of gravity and followed the beast's footsteps, careening downwards like a crude spear.

"You still alive?"

Blunt as one can be, the woman inquired as she scrambled to her feet in an unceremonious mess of limbs, tugging at leaves and needles stuck in her armor. Kark forests. Kark trekking. Kark this whole karking planet.

[13/20]​

 

[Sinistra]

Objective: 3 The Egg
Location: An abandoned dig site.
Allies: OS
Enemies: Underground
Post: 6/20

The Rakata did not answer immediately but as Sinistra did not move her gaze from the woman, she eventually answered the question.

"Yes."

She had not removed the helmets either of them wore, it was fairly common for those who could not breath Type 1 atmospheres to be so attired. She had not stripped her prisoners of their gear, only their weapons, which was still a foolish notion, but one Sinistra was curious about nonetheless.

"Why have you captured us? What do you intend to do?"

The Rakata looked at her a moment before she replied, carefully enunciating her words.

"I call the man who dig. He said get you, and keep you."

"What man?"

"The one who give me clothes and blasta. He give me things to make sure the dig go right."

"What do you mean right?"

"That it go right. That people come to dig. That they dig right and then when you come that you are stopped."

A setup? The Muun? Had Lan Porgata been manipulating pawns in a grander game.

"You know, you're really not supposed to divulge the plans to your prisoners. That's setting yourself up to fail."

The Force helped make easy work of the vines, and between Sinistra and Fela, they were able to overpower the Rakata quickly. She did not resist but Sinistra had her stunned anyway.

"Call the twins, evac her off. I have more questions for this one."

 

[Khallesh]

[member="Vrag"]

Khallesh kept her head against the cool flat of the stone, butbut lifted one arm and waved at Vrag. "Just resting my eyes," she said slowly.

Khallesh has just taken her body to the edge of exhaustion and nearly been killed by an apex predator she never knew existed. She was in a good mood. Perhaps she had been spending too much time amongst the infidels, if she was actually making an attempt at humour when not in an ooglith masquer.

Whilst she stayed prone, one hand reached for a salve. It burned white hot as she pressed it into the gaps where those raking claws had pierced her flesh. The pain was a good sign. Yuuzhan Vong medicine didn't include analgesics. It sealed the wound before starting to pull the flesh back together.

Khallesh managed to get one elbow underneath her body. Whilst her species had no particularly handy racial traits to give her an extra dice roll on the regeneration, Yuuzhan Vong were exceptionally hardy creatures.

“Well fought,” she coughed. “You have always been Vrag, with no domain. But does you kind not have family names?” she enquired, not feeling quite steady enough to get to her feet yet.

 

[Vrag]

Vrag only snorted in reply, took another step, then promptly slammed her back against the other tree — the one still standing — and slid to the leaf-covered soil with little ceremony. She still had no idea what the kark had happened, and truth be told, she didn't care to analyze the situation further.

The whole day had gone to chit far as she was concerned, she still couldn't hail anybody on her oggzil, and they had no karking idea where they were. There was jungle to the left, right, and forward, and they had their backs to a massive mountain range that she had no wish to traverse in any shape or form.

Kark. this.

"Mm," she hummed, closing her eyes as she leaned her head against the tree. Just a quick nap, maybe. It wasn't like they had anywhere to go, right?

But for whatever reason, [member="Khallesh"] was apparently feeling exceptionally talkative on this day of all days. Go figure.

So with a tired sigh, the Hand of the Dark Lord cracked one eye open and peered at the keeled form of the Huntress some meters away. She was kneeling in a pool of her own blood, half-doubled over as the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a battlefield medic with a rusty scalpel closed up her wounds.

"Some do," she spoke up at length and opened the other eye as well, propping herself up higher. "I used to have one, but I don't have that family anymore." The firrerreo didn't bother mentioning that Vrag was far from the first alias she'd used in place of her birth name, and wasn't likely to be the last either.

More silence, and then the distant roar of the warmachine. She smiled.

"Val."

"My family name used to be Val, Commander."

[13/20]​

 

[Trin Gravois]

Objective: 3, Fight the Underground, steal the Mind Prison Coren Starchaser
Location: Underground Base
Allies: [member="Darth Vizios"]
Enemies: [member="Coren Starchaser"]
Post: 12/20

Trin's eyes locked on the jungle ahead, and she picked up the pace. The pony had done the tricks, but she could feel the enthrallment waxing and waning as he resisted. He wasn't an easy catch and the amount of mental energy she was expending was starting to annoy her. She clutched his hand tighter and let out a grunt of frustration. Perhaps, she should simply overpower him while he least expected it and sink her alchemized blade into his belly. Another glance at his face told her that he'd be more fun alive.

"The shuttle, darling. We're almost there."

The small vessel was ahead of them, with One Sith guards flanking the landing ramp. Kark it. She'd fly it herself. With a mental nudge, she shooed the two soldiers away. Wouldn't want the pony getting spooked by the big bad men in black. Trin practically punched the terminal to release the landing ramp. She needed something to knock him out, but what?

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Objective: Survive
Post: The Closer
Enemies: [member="Trin Gravois"]

Shuttle. He could do that. Coren bit his lip as he looked at the Anzati. He wasn’t sure what to do here. The Underground was getting out, and he was going to need to move the Sith from this world. He was going to need to push them back. If he could stall them? He could make it work. What if he got away? Once he was on the ship?

He could turn it around, he could do anything what he needed when he was in a ship. It was his turf, it was forte. That would be the downfall of this enthrallment, he assumed. Possibly, he knew he could get what he needed. And that was the Sith away from this world, the Underground to be free.

And get back to the rest of the galaxy where he could put a stop to these. To the Sith.