Dominion Kickin Ast | SO Dominion of Ast Kikorie

[Helix]

Objective II: Douse The Lamp
Tags: Reina Daival ​

If Helix was disturbed by her allusion to a possible ex-Jedi allegiance, he didn't show it. Whether simply unconcerned with that revelation, or unsurprised, he didn't emote either way. After all, he wasn't exactly from a Sith-friendly background either.

"Ah, new blood then." He commented after a few moments. "You're a quick learner. Most don't figure out these unfortunate little truths until much later in their careers. Auspicious for your continued survival, I'd say." Unlike before, there was no heavy-handed sarcasm in the mechanoid's voice this time.

He swept his gaze over the small reconnaissance group, analyzing them quickly.

"If you're worried about the animal, then leave it and its master to me. You can hit the other two a moment later. Anything less, and we risk them being able to report our position. Shock and awe it is. With luck, we can drop them all before they can react." The mechanoid confirmed after a moment. "The instant the animal is neutralized, make your move." He left the exact specifics of that up to her. As long as none of them got the chance to talk, the method of execution mattered little enough.

Suiting the action to the word, his deceptively-humanoid appearance rippled and transformed in a disturbingly liquid fashion. Utilizing the many-legged, nearly 3-meter-long worm shape he'd taken before, he scurried forward almost invisibly across the forest floor.

He was confident he could kill all four by himself, but less confident he could do so quickly enough to prevent one of them from squawking across their little coms-devices. He had little choice but to trust that Reina would drop the other two at the same time.

Helix scuttled up silently behind the handler and his vornskr, tensed, and sprang.

His worm-form's tail extended into gleaming barbed stinger, spearing the soldier through the side at an angle with enough force to lift him off the ground. A good hit, piercing both lungs. No noise coming from this one. The vornskr turned at the slight sound of metal piercing flesh, but Helix bowled it over, coiling his body around it and constricting like an enormous serpent. Aside from a soft muffled series of pops that spoke of a collapsing ribcage, the animal didn't get time to make a sound either.

An ugly business, and a shame to kill an unwitting beast in this way, but Helix did make a point of extracting a sample. Reina had seemed to think the animal was an especial threat, so it might have traits worth utilizing later.

 

[Srina Talon]

TAG: Mercy
LOCATION: Ast Kikorie [Ancient Observatory in the Mountains]

____________________________________________________

The war sounded different from up here.

Distant. Muffled. Like thunder trapped beneath earth and stone.

The pale Empress stood beneath the skeletal curve of an ancient observatory dish with her head tilted slightly to the side. Fractured panels were angled eternally toward stars it could no longer see. Smoke from the lowlands smeared the horizon, but the mountain air remained cool and thin. Touched by the faint metallic sting of ion distortion, but oxygen levels were still optimal. Her armor dictated that there weren't any toxins in the air…But that didn't mean that the observatory wasn't dangerous.

Srina wasn't concerned about her younglings that ravaged this world for their purposes. They could more than handle what was required, and if, for some reason, they lost themselves…She would find them. It was her duty to aid them, whether they wanted it or not, but she would at least allow them to fly before maternal instincts took over and she clipped their wings.

A dark cloak shifted about in the wind while the nanites in her armor shifted with unease. It rippled…Giving a glimpse of skin before becoming solid again. She wasn't a scientist, but she could guess that it had something to do with the energy this place gave off. There was something in the atmosphere. An interference that was neither purely mechanical nor purely natural. The wintry woman did not expand her power, but remained curious, letting it drift. Careful and quiet…Letting it brush against the distortion rather than pushing through it.

It brushed back.

Curious.

"Do you feel that?"

Likely, not. Mercy was one of the strongest fighters she knew, but when it came to mysticism and the finer arts, she seemed to be at a complete loss. Still. She wondered if her Star Arm might be able to reveal something that she hadn't been able to yet. There were supposedly secrets in these ruins…But so far, they'd made a little base camp, and she'd discovered how horrible she was at poker. No secrets. It wasn't so much that she had a terrible "bluffing" face…But moreso that she kept showing Mercy her cards when she got confused. Apparently, that was wrong.

She scoffed…So many rules.

The Sith Order annexation pressed forward with lines being redrawn in their favor. Every step this world took backward was another twenty her people would take forward. But…Disruption sensors and communications had carved strange pockets of dead space into the world. Whole sectors fell beneath an information blackout with quiet zones, blind spots, where signals just died, and the Force felt out of alignment. It was just like Firefist.

Intentional? To keep the Sith from taking over Ast Kikorie?

Possibly.

It might have just been ancient remnants. She had ascended into the observatory's tower with Mercy not far behind. The doors resisted only briefly before parting, mostly because the Warlord was very convincing with her strength. If she wanted to open something like a tin can…She would. The facility remained partially powered with independent generators shielded from the ion surges. Data cores blinked in soft but constant rhythms. These structures were not built for war…But to study something.

Srina let her fingers rest lightly on one of the consoles while metaphysical fingers crawled through the space, searching for dormant archives. Fragments surfaced. Atmospheric charts, hyperspace fluctuation models, and containment models. The interference grid had been adapted into a defense network, yes, but it had begun as something else. Other.

Could it be that something in the planet's upper atmosphere reacted to saturation? To traffic?

To concentrated energy signatures…Like…That of powerful Sith Lords?

Her brow furrowed.

Where was Taeli Raaf when she needed her mind? Srina didn't fully comprehend what she was looking at and couldn't truly access the archives in their entirety. Slowly, Srina sighed. This technology was beyond her, and slaughtering the locals meant that it would be even further out of their grasp. If Ast Kikorie was meant to be a stepping stone to the Core—What would it mean if their very presence caused the ancient technology to react?

What exactly did it do?

"I'd say just break it…But that might make things worse."

It would have been the easy thing, but these arrays had lasted longer than she'd walked the galaxy. That was something worthy of caution. Her hands came up to rub her shoulders for a moment. Not cold exactly…But there was a chill she couldn't place. Not fear. Just something…

Other. Yes...Other.

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Helix
Objective:

"It's pretty much more of the same for me. Except with red, as opposed to blue. Also less grandstanding and attempts to justify yourself to the greater Galaxy as a whole. The Jedi and Alliance had to be seen as the greater good. The Sith? They don't seem to ultimately care, which is much better to me."

At the end of the day, it was all the same to her. Sith, Jedi. Empire, Alliance. Each side fighting against each other. Each side trying to get what they want, ultimately not caring what the other side wanted. Part of it made Reina wonder what even the point of it all was. But that was high above her paygrade if she was honest.

It was best for her to stay on task however, as she watched the humanoid droid turn into...a not-so-humanoid droid, causing Reina to blink to herself, wrinkling her nose ever so slightly. Not so much in disgust, yet confusion. She had no clue there were more...liquid-like droids out in the Galaxy, but it wasn't important to her as she prepared herself, pushing herself up to her knees, in preparation to break out into a sprint.

Once Reina was sure the Vornskr would be dealt with fast enough to prevent it from reacting, she kicked off from the ground, using Force Speed to clear the distance to the other two patrolmen. Tossing her dagger out towards the furthest one, letting the blade dig itself up to the hilt in the soldier's throat to prevent any sound from escaping their lips. Though before the second soldier could fully react, Reina slammed into him, taking the pair down sprawling atop the ground. As the soldier reached for his blaster, Reina took her lightsaber and pressed it against his throat, igniting the blade and taking yet another life.

With that said and done, Reina pushed herself back up to her feet, clipping her lightsaber back onto her belt before heading over towards the other corpse to get her dagger back, cleaning it against the soldier's armour and sheathing it into its sheathe once more. That hadn't went awful. The Siren made her way over towards Helix, to crouch next to the Vornskr's handler, taking the com-unit off his shoulder. At least there would be able to get some information now.




​

 

[Mercy]

Srina Talon

Mercy was watching Srina, quiet, calm, but couldn't help but smile lightly too.

She stepped up next to the Empress when the wind hit, their hips brushing, their shoulders touching. With their size difference Mercy could look up at the dish closely without having to snap her neck over it.

"Do you feel that?"

"You know better than that, sweetheart." Mercy said absently, even while breathing in, trying to get a sense of the air pressing against her flesh. Trying to hear the sounds in the distance. Both of battle across great planes, but the smaller ones up close too. "I was never good at the feeling stuff." Then a head tilt there.

"Or maybe it didn't interest me, so I didn't try, so I wasn't good at it." These were the kind of thoughts she never spoke out loud. They were thoughts that revealed weakness, something that Mercy didn't go in for.

But it was different now.

Battle-sisters.

She had offered it as a joke. As a way to bridge the distance, yes, but if she had been rebuffed be able to draw it right back again. Instead Srina had felt the same. It had changed nothing, it had changed everything. It was... complicated and Mercy wasn't quite sure how she felt about it all. Except that she felt more comfortable to say things she would never have allowed daylight before.

"I'd say just break it…But that might make things worse."

A smirk there as Mercy followed along to one of the consoles.

"Did the poker session not teach you anything, Srina?"

Extend the same lack of expression your face has to the cards you play, baby sister.

Her golden hand reached out and settled on top of the console. Either on Srina's hand, overlaying it, or against the dura-glass itself if she moved away... it didn't matter much to Mercy.

"I have an infinite amount of cards to play beyond brawn and muscle." Her golden arm began to heat up... as it started to sink its corruption into the console itself. All of the lights around them starting to flicker in response to the decay and parasitic nature of Thronegrasp.

"Do you feel it?" Mercy whispered into her ear, echoing Srina's words back to her.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Quinn Varanin

Noise came back to her first, the crack of electrics shorting and the groan of heated metal beginning to cool. Then came the shouts, survivors working to pull one another from the wreckage of shuttles and drop pods, those who were trapped calling out in pain.

The came awareness of her own body, the weight of something heavy on her chest making it harder to breath. She opened her eyes, sparks spitting from the roof of the shuttle that now lay open, swirling patterns of smoke obscuring the cloud layer that rested above them. She moved slowly, testing each limb before twisting beneath the sheet of metal, pain lancing up her side.

Irina inhaled a sharp breath, exhaling slowly before sliding her hand down, blood left her side warm and sticky, but most importantly, nothing was stuck in the wound. That was enough for her to make her next decision. The force swelled the heavy sheet of metal shot away from her, propelled by the burst of telekinetic energy it crashed into the dirt several meters away. She rolled onto her side, before slowly getting to her feet.

Picking her to the rear of the wrecked shuttle, she scanned the scene before her. Several Emberborne lay dead, others were moving, slowly getting to their feet or helping to free others. Irina looked down at her side, a hand pressing against the gash spilling ichor freely down her side. Leaning briefly on the hull and gritted her teeth, flames flashed beneath her fingers cauterising the open wound in a flash of heat and pain.

Irina exhaled slowly, before pushing off the hull and picking her way to the ground. She needed to find others, to regroup with what was left of her squad.

 

[Helix]

Objective II: Douse The Lamp
Tags: Reina Daival ​

Helix stood from the dead Vornskr, uncoiling himself and melting into his previous humanoid configuration.

Glancing around to appreciate the carnage, he nodded. "Well done. We might have a while yet until they discover something's wrong, whether by demanding a coms check-in or just finding the bodies directly. I can do something about the latter possibility."

Suiting the action to the word, he tossed the beast's body over his shoulder, doing the same with the handler after Reina had taken his com unit. He then strode over to the two she'd killed, giving them an appraising look. Quick, surgical kills with a minimum of fuss.

Not the work of an inexperienced murderer, by any stretch. Jedi life must have been a little busier than he'd anticipated, or maybe the woman was just a quick learner, as he'd commented before. Whatever the case, they were all evidence now. Tossing the two he was carrying atop the pile, he melted himself down again, flowing in an amorphous, liquid state over the whole mess.

Helix rapidly broke down armor, bone, and muscle, encoding every strand of anatomical data within himself. These forms might be useful, particularly if they wound up having to topple the tower alone and unaided.

When he was done, there was little left to show that any struggle had happened at all. Just a few disturbed leaves on the forest floor.

Helix stood back up, making a show of slapping his hands together, as if to shake off nonexistent dust. "There. Nothing left to find now. Still, these are supposed to be soldiers, and that means they will be in constant communication with one another in the field. I expect their superiors or compatriots will attempt to contact these fools in the near future. We might have to improvise if that happens, but for now, we have a way to listen to them, see what they're doing."

He turned. "If you're unhurt and ready, we should keep moving. The less time they have to discover they've got missing men, the better. With luck, they'll tell us something we can use across that thing." A slight incline of the head in the direction of the freshly-plundered communicator.

Helix hoped that there had been other survivors, other Order personnel who were also making their way to the tower, but at the moment, there was no way to know for sure. All they could do was remain on-mission, and cross that bridge when or if they got there.

 

[Darth Nefaron]

TAG: Aerik Lechner ​

Nefaron silently observed his fellow survivor once he roused, his dead eyes carefully inspecting every detail as if he were some physician. There was a familiarity; this young man reminded him of another in more ways than one, though the Corpse Lord said nothing of it as he rose and took a step back, watching as his companion got onto his feet and ignited a lightsaber, the blue blade carefully noted by Nefaron.

Aerik. Yes, that was his name. So chaotic was the initial drop that Nefaron hardly had time to learn just who shared a doomed dropship with him.

Despite all of his best efforts, Nefaron's agents had a great deal of trouble learning anything in the holy worlds of the Sith thanks to the efforts of the ever-contemptible Revna Marr , but he knew that this boy was the Apprentice to Darth Prazutis and therefore another slave of the Kaintie. Regardless of his allegiance, war had seemingly made them brothers in arms, and the Corpse Lord would never pass up the opportunity to see just what his fellow Sith were teaching these days, even if he was rather certain he would be disappointed.

"Not unexpected considering our current predicament. It appears Ast Kikorie shall be a challenge for the SIth after all."

There was a touch of amusement in Nefaron's voice. He, of course, yearned for slaughter and destruction just as much as his companion, but he was not foolish enough to charge well-entrenched defenders without some sort of distraction. Aerik might have served this role, but Nefaron was far more interested in seeing him live, at least long enough for the Apprentice to reveal just what he could do.

"The force is muted here; no doubt we have our hosts to thank for that, intended or otherwise. We should seek out other survivors amongst the ruins while we can; our enemy is certain to send out scavengers to pick off those who remain."

Even if the force was not as strong, a bit of tattered metal would not be enough to hold back a Sith Lord. Once more calling upon his saber, Nefaron finished the job he started and carved a hole just large enough for the pair to slip through. The Corpse Lord exited first, surveying the blasted scrapyard that was the initial wave of Sith dropships. The ground was littered with burning wreckage and the remains of countless troopers and their various equipment.

"Though we are cut off, young Aerik, the Dark Side shall provide what we need in due time. What I am interested in is seeing just what your Master has taught you. Lead the way, guide us to fresh allies or our foe."

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Helix
Objective:

"If I had heard one of their voices, I might have been able to attempt to imitate it..."

Something she should have thought about before she had jumped in the way she had. Oh well, no point crying over spilt blood. A lot more would be spilt before the end of the day. What she found curious however was how organic this droid seemed to be. It caught her off guard by a fair bit. It didn't help her dislike of synthetic beings, but it was still curious to see how different they were. One could say Helix was like his own separate species compared to the typical droid.

"If we're lucky, and I doubt it, their superiors will be having to deal with various patrols vanishing, from capable survivors. There's at least...a handful of fighters I've met who seem like they'd be able to survive a landing like this."

There was Varin Mortifer of course...Though if Reina truly thought about it, he was the only one Reina could imagine actually being on the field right now. If either Quinn or Carnifex were planet-side...or even near the planet, Reina liked to believe she'd be able to sense them through the Force. Of course, little did she know that she was also wrong in her belief that Varin would be planet side either.

"I'm all good. Shoulder is slowly starting to get some life back into it."

She rolled her shoulder back at that. The Siren might not be at her full strength, but if she could at least hold something in the other hand, then she'd be more combat ready. Not that it mattered either way. It was time for the pair to get moving, as Reina tinkered with the com system, so that it'd link to her own ear piece instead of speaking out loud. It would be her luck for it to give away their position when the were trying to hide somewhere.

"So. Presume we're gonna be blowin' the tower somehow? Not sure if we've got any explosives..."​

 

[Persephone Dashiell]

BEYOND THE LINE

Persephone was following along with Zee. This wasn't a chance many outside the Sith territory got and she was going to take advantage of the educational opportunity. It wasn't her usual ruins or quest to find hidden locations referenced by the Ashlan Crusade. She didn't agree with their philosophy and was driven by pure curiosity. Mainly attracted due to the origin legend, which she thought was a fancy romantic story to draw followers in.

Instead of talking, her and Zee communicated through text. Something told her Miss Raaf and the broody teenager didn't want her asking a million questions regarding the facility. Even though she had multiple questions.

[ Think they are going to kill the scholars? Mister Thundercloud has his hand on his weapon. Compensating for something? Trying to impress...I think thats his grandmother? ]

[ I do expect bloodshed Miss Persephone. Not to worry, my chassis is designed for some direct fire. ]

[ Why are they shooting at you? I guess friendly fire. Also killing the scholars in here is unwise. Generational knowledge lost. Much better to give an ultimatum. ]

[ Of course Miss Persephone but then the Sith might lose what the kids call 'street cred' among their peers. ]

Kaivaan Raaf | Taeli Raaf​

 

[Lirka Ka]

DOUSE THE LAMP
TAGS: Olyssandra

Lirka’s being was a thing of empty void. Under normal circumstances she could make up for the void of being all but entirely cut off from the living force by the endless stream of information that came pouring in from her powersuit.

But now? Nothing. She was encased in unpowered metal weighing her down with every moment. And the emptiness of it all began scratching at the back of her mind…thankfully, Lirka was not entirely foolhardy and at least a fair amount of the suit remained detachable even in its unpowered state. Metal claws reached out to wrench away what chunks of dark metal she could - perhaps it was unwise to disgorge in a war zone, but the Darkness Beyond Darkness was the only who would who judge her for death, not the yokels who dared to stand against Sith advance.

With the words of Olyssandra now reaching her ears from beyond the sealed bulkhead of the cockpit. Lirka gave the warrior a response: resounding thuds that echoed throughout the wreckage and unpowered metallic bulk slammed against the door again, and again, and again. Normally, forcing such a thing open would have been no issue. But with the ion storm raging Lirka myriad of gadgets and enhancing mechanisms were dead in the water.

She grumbled, frustration audible in her alien voice now that the distortion of her vocalizer had been cast away.

“Current assessment would lean negative.”

The raw frustration in her words emanated in an icy and murderous aura to every syllable. How utterly humiliating. Were they a more savage people, Lirka would have gladly flung slag from orbit into this planet till it was nothing but fiery, smoldering, craters that vaguely resembled a civilization.

She posited that it could be worse. But as she returned to forcing the powersuit to open…she realized this was reasonably about as worse as it would be till she was crushing skulls again.

​

​

 

[Helix]

Objective II: Douse The Lamp
Tags: Reina Daival ​

"If we're lucky, and I doubt it, their superiors will be having to deal with various patrols vanishing, from capable survivors. There's at least...a handful of fighters I've met who seem like they'd be able to survive a landing like this."

"I certainly hope you're correct, but 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst', as they say."

Helix's confidence in the capabilities of his "compatriots" was historically rather low. Some of that was simply his own arrogance, of course. At the end of the day, Helix thought of himself as a supreme yet underappreciated genius, beset on all sides by foolish underlings and incompetent superiors intent on stifling his vision.

He'd give a pass to exactly two individuals at this point: Lirka Ka and Darth Nefaron . They were the best and brightest of their kind, as evidenced by their alliance with himself. Two glimmering sparks of actual imagination and potential in a sea of dullards and lickspittles.

That wasn't to say he wasn't warming up a bit towards his fellow shipwreckee. Part of Helix had been worried he'd wind up with a pack of the faceless imbeciles the state relied on as rank-and-file, or worse, someone who he'd actually have to pretend to listen to for appearances' sake. That was a short list, however, and no such persons would usually be dirtying their hands with an operation like this.

The young woman he'd been stuck with instead was civil, reasonably professional, and neither helpless nor stupid. As far as allies of circumstance went, that was more than one could usually hope for. As such, Helix remained sure that they could turn this mess around, scrape up the survivors, and head home afterwards to a well-earned commendation.

He nodded when she confirmed she was still combat-capable. "Excellent. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've been lucky, but sometimes it's best to make your own luck. Keep an ear out on that thing. While we're hoping for miracles, I'd hope that any other survivors had the good sense to secure coms as we did."

"As for the tower, well, I've a few ideas. Most of them depend on how heavily guarded it is, and whether we're doing it alone or with backup. No way to be sure unless you can reach the other squads, or we get there and find out directly. If we've got to murder our way through the entire garrison with just two pairs of hands, then command shouldn't expect the thing to come down anytime in the immediate future."

Helix was confident enough that they could do this latter, of course, but the need to stick to a reasonable timetable made the idea distasteful. In an ideal world, they'd just carve through the opposition after toppling the structure, but he doubted the rebellious locals would just sit back and allow it.

"In either instance, we're making superb pace, given the circumstances. Barring any more patrols, we'll be there in no time at all. I hope your appetite for bloodshed isn't entirely sated just yet."

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Drystan Creed​

Lysander was still a bit shaken. Not even minutes later, he couldn’t quite remember when he hit his head.. only that the world of Ast Kikorie was tilting. An awful feeling, really, as if reality itself was nudged a few degrees off center. Similar to the Galactic Kaggath; it would definitely take some time for things to set back to normal.

Blood running into his eye made everything blur, but he could still make out the figure unfolding from the dirt with the grace of someone who had no business surviving a fall like that. Neither of them, actually.

The blonde blinked hard, half a step behind perception.

“You’re pretty confident for someone who just got punted out of the sky,” came dryly. The words came out a fraction late, as if his mouth had to wait for his brain to catch up. He wiped at his brow with the back of his wrist, smearing the blood instead of clearing it. Great..

The sound reached him next. Above all the details, it told him it was people that knew how to move together. Too many of them. He squinted through the smoke, trying to force the horizon into focus.. it didn’t cooperate.

“Those aren’t small fry,” he added, pointing out the obvious. A spike of pain lanced behind the temple; he grit his teeth. “They’re coming straight for the wreck.”

As the figure walked away, he went ahead and followed. He caught up enough to match pace. Or force the other to adjust to his. Either worked..

“Walk slower. You look ridiculous,” he said, swaying like a drunk aristocrat.

Another step, then a crack split the air. Sparks rained off the wreck behind them; it was bright against all the smoke. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw silhouettes in the haze. Whoever was out there decided to stop watching. This little luxury of pretending was coming near an end..

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Helix
Objective:

"Well, the worst would be their entire Force bearing down on us. And unlike most Sith, I am not that arrogant enough to believe I am powerful enough to deal with an entire battalion."

Reina knew she was strong, to an extent of course. But she wasn't one to believe that she was an unstoppable force of nature. She was incredibly stoppable. Fleshy. Mortal. Her shoulder was evident to that, even if it was slowly making its way back. If she had perhaps been more skilled in regenerative abilities, she'd be more of a menace

"If any other survivors did get the sense to get some comms, how many do you think would be foolish enough to try and openly speak on them without changing channels? I can imagine a fair few would make that mistake, only to end up getting hunted down. It's why I've made no attempt to contact anyone. Not until we're sure someone else has comms."

Now leaning towards Helix's ideas on how they'd deal with the tower, Reina wasn't the most eager to slaughter everyone within the garrison. That sounds like a good way to get exhausted. It would also place her in more danger than necessary. To be fair, this entire thing was more danger than necessary. All because she wanted to prove herself. No-one would be able to say that she'd at least made a good showing of it all at least. Proven that she could handle herself. Perhaps not alone, and she was sure most of the credit would go towards Helix, but as long as she had some recognition thrown her way? She could accept that.

"Hm? My appetite is fine. Anyone in my path with a weapon is a fair meal to me. Those two were barely an appetiser."

Of course, she was specific in her choice of wording. Those with weapons. Because for as much as she did enjoy to fight as the next person, Reina still had pesky little morals. Of course, those morals had shifted throughout time. At first she didn't want to kill anyone innocent. Then it was anyone who was a threat to her or the people she cared for. Now? It was simply anyone with a weapon in their hands. The moment you took a weapon in your hands, you were no longer a civilian in her eyes. You were a combatant and those were fair game to be taken out.

"...Hopefully there's some good dessert for the meal at the end of the line."​

 

[Aerik Lechner]

Wearing: This | Weapons: Lightsaber | Knife
TAG: Darth Nefaron​

The wreckage still burned when Aerik stepped out of the torn hull.

The air carried the sharp smell of fuel and scorched alloy as wind moved through the field of debris and stirred ash and drifting smoke across the broken shapes of dropships that had fallen from the sky alongside their own. Bodies lay scattered among twisted plating and shattered equipment, the invasion reduced to ruin before it had truly begun.

For a moment Aerik said nothing.

His gaze moved across the wreckage with slow precision as he studied the slope of the terrain, the direction of the smoke columns, and the distant shimmer of structures that had survived the ion surge. Somewhere beyond the scrapyard the defenders of Ast Kikorie still held their ground, their preparations proving far more effective than Sith intelligence had predicted.

The Force pressed against him again when he reached for it.

It answered, though not cleanly. The connection felt muted and distorted, like a signal buried beneath heavy interference. The currents of the Dark Side were still present, but they moved unevenly through the atmosphere as if the planet itself resisted them. Whatever weapon their hosts had unleashed had done more than cripple the descent of the invasion fleet.

Aerik accepted the reality without complaint.

His hand lifted absently toward his jaw as he studied the distant skyline, and his fingers brushed the uneven line of the scar there before he seemed to notice the motion and lowered his hand again without comment.

Nefaron’s words lingered in the air behind him.

What your Master has taught you.

Aerik had heard the sentiment before, though rarely spoken so plainly. Apprentices were measured by their masters and judged by the strength of the one who trained them. Every victory reflected on the teacher who shaped you, and every failure carried the same weight.

The thought settled quietly in the back of his mind with a faint edge. He did not challenge it and he did not acknowledge it aloud.

The name Lechner had existed long before he ever knelt before Darth Prazutis.

And it would exist long after.

Aerik stepped forward through the wreckage as his boots ground against shattered durasteel and carried him toward a rise in the broken terrain. From there the scrapyard stretched outward in a wide scar of burning hulls and scattered debris where dozens of transports had fallen across the industrial outskirts of what had once been a functioning facility.

He slowed slightly as he reached for the Force again and allowed his senses to extend outward through the interference.

There was movement.

The presence was faint and distorted by the lingering effects of the ion surge, but it was unmistakably touched by the Dark Side. Somewhere deeper within the wreckage another survivor moved through the ruins, not strong enough to be a Lord but still alive.

Aerik ignited his lightsaber and the magma-orange blade cut through the smoke, its glow reflecting off shattered metal while its low hum carried across the debris field.

He lifted the blade slightly and angled it toward a cluster of collapsed transports several hundred meters ahead.

“Someone else crawled out,” he said calmly.

The presence shifted again at the edge of his senses, weak but moving.

“Alive.”

Aerik began moving toward the wreckage without hesitation as he picked a path through the broken metal with the confidence of someone already reading the battlefield.

“If the defenders send scavengers,” he said as the wind pushed smoke across the field, “they will start here.”

His gaze lifted briefly toward the distant structures that still shimmered beneath shield cover.

“Which means we should not be the only ones hunting.”

 

[Helix]

Objective II: Douse The Lamp
Equipment: Himself
Tags: Reina Daival ​

"On its face, I agree with your caution." He replied, pointing a finger at the visible apparition of the tower, looming ever closer as they approached.

"However, I'd also posit that it is only arrogance if you can't back it up with action." For his part, Helix could, would, and frequently did rip apart scores of individual soldiers, dependent on their armaments. Some weapons hurt a little more than others.

"Still, you've a point. We still don't have any idea what we're looking at, aside from the fact that the tower does indeed exist. Thank goodness for small miracles." It had gradually begun to occur to Helix that the same bad intel that lead to this whole debacle might also have been mistaken about the position of the structure. Thankfully, that appeared to not be the case.

If any other survivors did get the sense to get some comms, how many do you think would be foolish enough to try and openly speak on them without changing channels?

"Hopefully none. I don't want to imagine sharing an Empire with that kind of carelessness." The droid-thing did his best approximation of a horrified shudder. "But then, well..." he gestured around as if to say 'But this happened, so who knows?'

The mechanical horror stopped as they got closer, taking the chance to actually get a good look at the tower complex. Predictably, it was enormous, walled off on all sides, and profusely well-guarded. Sentries scanned the perimeter from atop the walls, and laser-gated entryways were watched by pairs of armed guards. He noted that the occasional blaster cannon emplacement dotted the barricade here and there, spaced evenly across it to cover the maximum possible field of fire.

Helix was now feeling a little less confident that they could just walk in.

"Well, this could prove a bit of a speed bump." He admitted, careful to stay well inside the treeline and not be exposed for too long. "We're not dealing with complete fools after all. From this angle, I'm not seeing any obvious weaknesses in the defense. Under ideal circumstances, this sort of thing would be hit by air elements before we ever set foot in it."

He shook his head, causing the seamless fluid metal of his neck to ripple slightly, like the surface of a pond. "Still, I have a few ideas. The absolute safest carries an approximately 26% chance of one or both of us being messily killed."

"Option one, I could assume the voice and visage of one of those lackeys back there, pretend to have captured you, and try to lie our way in. Said lackey's neural data did include a layout of part of the area after the entryway, but also confirms they use electronic IFF tags for entry, coupled with physical identification checks. That will be a little harder to fake, but I can try." As if to illustrate the point, a small metallic shape rippled into existence between his fingers, seemingly formed of the same substance that made the rest of him. It was a passable imitation of a military ID. "Dependent on your own confidence in technology manipulation abilities..." He angled his head slightly towards the repaired lightsaber. "You might be able to fudge a green-light response in the system."

"Option two, we hop the barricade, or fly over, and hope nobody sees it that we can't kill in time. We then sabotage the tower and exfiltrate in the confusion. Quicker, simpler, riskier, but so far, these fellows have not responded very adroitly to simple shock-and-awe tricks."

"Option three, we sit here and wait for other survivors. Probably the safest thing to do, and the sanest, but there's no guarantee there's any backup arriving, and waiting just gives them more time to find us or kill the rest. We have no way to know unless they attempt contact on our channels. Still, the tower certainly isn't going anywhere. Might give us time to come up with something else."

"Option four, we turn around, head back to the general crash site, and hunt for survivors ourselves. Mostly carries the same risks as option three, but with the added bonus of potentially running into more patrols that might be a little more practiced at situational awareness."

"I'm seeing no solution that doesn't involve gambling, but I'm open to suggestions if you're seeing anything I'm not." Surprisingly, Helix wasn't being patronizing here. It was a reality that nobody could think of everything, not even him, and a second perspective might make things clearer. "Preferably something involving less risk than any of my ideas."

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Irina Jesart //:

"That's a stupid idea."

A voice, full of arrogance and disappointment, echoed near Irina. Quinn had watched the girl attempt to stop the bleeding. The flames would burn away the infection, but they also trapped it beneath the wounded flesh.

"You're just making it worse for yourself, it's fine — help me find the living." She stepped away from Irina; it was probably harsher than she should have been with the Acolyte. A part of her felt bad, but the words she spoke, the line she had drawn — Quinn respected that boundary.

Irina was a subordinate. It was the station she chose, anything higher that was offered — she spat on. Quinn would treat her as such, despite her personal feelings. Aerik would probably hear about this encounter and prepare to deal with the turbulent pup when the time came.

Shaking her head, she tried to relax her form; others — her people needed assistance. Carefully, she used the force to push and pull the wreckage off those beneath it. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen, and to make it worse, she was stuck with Irina.

Groaning echoed under the durasteel plate, and Quinn knelt down and brushed back the hair of a younger soldier. Frowning, she could see why he was groaning; he was missing his legs and another limb. Her features softened as she watched him. He looked up — an air of recognition washed over his face.

His lips moved, but no sound came out. Quinn smiled softly and cupped his bloodied face. She hushed him, and he listened. Gentle warmth seeped from her hand, ribbons of gold moved over his body. The man smiled as he felt the gentle force wrap around him.

His eyes closed, and his life was hers. Quinn stood, fingers closing his eyes. She hated it. Standing, her eyes wandered towards Irina.

"Get moving, we need to move faster, we have people dying."

Turning away from the girl, she began to continue her way through the wreckage. A sleeve wiped across her eyes, the man's life lingering on the cusp of her lips.

She tasted his death, and she mourned him.

 

[Drystan Creed]

AST KIKORIE

"Does a pink tree look ridiculous in a forest if nobody's around to see it? C'mon. Stealth is the name of the game." His movements became more ephasized as they neared the edge of the clearing.

The only onlookers worth accounting for was the search party currently looking for any members of the invading party, and it was an all or nothing affair. Either they don't see them, or they shoot.

Once at an obscured angle, Drystan peaked from behind a shrub adorned tree, watching the figures inspect the wreck and the lifeless corpses of its passengers. The defense force of the planet, clad in typical trooper garb with armored plating and helmets that matched.

"See, small fry. We can take 'em if we really wanted to." He focused in closely, his visor zooming in for a clearer picture, watching them tap and activate their communication equipment.

"Seems like they kept the ionic storms in mind when they designed their comms. How much you wanna bet that theres a relay station nearby, could help get that warning off."

He shrugged, before his glance bounced between the other figures in the scouting party.

"Though how to get there...that's a whole different discussion."

Lysander von Ascania

 

[Reina Daival]

Tag: Helix
Objective:

"I could maybe back it up, if I was in top condition. I am not. Perhaps I am being modest, but I don't quite think my mastery of the Force is at the level where I could easily tear apart squads of people."

That was a lie. If she hadn't been too...morally opposed to the idea, Reina could drain the moisture out of people. Drain them of most of the water that made up their cells. But that was a specific technique that Reina refused to touch upon. Draining water out of anything felt wrong to her. Life. Water. Energy. It made up what a person was. And so did your choices. So as much as Reina knew that what she was doing, helping the Sith, working under a Sith Lord was not the heroic thing to do, nor a "good" thing to do, that there were still lines she refused to cross. Even if it would be for the betterment of her own survival.

Yet as they came closer towards the tower to the point that Reina could see it, her mind started to wander for a moment. She wasn't only just living for herself anymore. There was her family she had found again, even if she still hadn't been that close to them to this day. In a way, there was Carnifex himself. She doubted very much that her new-found Master would care if she perished, but still...but more importantly, there was Quinn.
​

"I'll always be safe. I've sworn everything to you. Everything I have and everything I am, is yours. And I won't let anyone take me away from you."

Yes. She wouldn't let anyone take her away. If it came down to it...Reina stared down at her hand for a moment, flexing it out at the thought. If it came down to it, she would cross the lines she wouldn't dare think of otherwise. She snapped out her thoughts however, as Helix seemed to give his ideas on how they could go after the tower and get past the guards, as she did her best to try and give each objective a period of contemplation.

"Option three and four are out of the question in my opinion. The more time we waste, the more meaningless waste of life there'll be. Option two is simple enough. I can't fly, but I'm pretty sure I could enhance myself enough to jump over the barricade. Even so, they're likely to be on high alert for anyone sneaking around, and there's possibly cameras we can't prepare for."

She didn't quite have any ideas to give of her own. Yet there was only one that Helix said that Reina's mind seemed to latch on as she contemplated it for a moment. A more upfront and social way of deception would perhaps be the way. Reina wasn't entirely used to a plan that didn't involve just constant forward momentum but this could work...

"Option one might be our best. Even if your attempts at lying don't work, I am...quite talented in using the Force to say the right things, in the right ears. I've also got enough experience to probably fudge the green-light response. Not sure how fast I'll be able to do it, but it should be possible."

It was amusing to her in a way. Both experiences that had left scars on her were so useful, but in drastically different ways. She had originally been taught Mechu-deru to deal with a prosthesis that she no longer had. And then being turned from a human into an Ersansyr...Now she was using both experiences to prepare to get past security barricades. Life had a funny way of working the way it did, did it not?

"And whilst we're in there, there's every chance that some survivors do show up, and grab their attention away from us, giving us more time to set up a way to destroy the tower...There should be some kind of power source for it..."​

 

[Irina Jesart]

Quinn Varanin

"That's a stupid idea."

Irina’s head snapped up. Of all the places and all the people. The retort that danced across her tongue would have earned one of those quiet stares that Gerwald gave her when she was out of line, she swallowed it. Folding her irritation behind a carefully crafted mask of impassiveness.

“Councillor.” she replied, the greeting severely lacking in warmth. She noted that Quinn did not offer to heal her, despite the fact that Rin knew she could. She understood that message loud and clear. Irina had drawn a line on Kaas and now she would suffer the consequences.

So be it.

She did not argue, falling in step behind the Heir Apparent as they picked their way through the wreckage, Quinn began to shift debris, freeing those trapped beneath. Irina stopped beside a dead man, whose eyes were wide and staring at nothing. She crouched down, passing a hand over his eyes to close them. He was one of hers.

Her Emberborne.

Anger burned hot in her chest, contained with effort as she rose, moving to catch up with Quinn as she cupped another soldiers face. Irina went still, watching with curiosity as golden ribbons of energy curled around the soldier, his last breath leaving him in a gentle sigh of relief. It was a rare kindness, something that did not often exist among their ilk.

She opened her mouth to comment as such when Quinn looked at her again, her instructions sharper than they needed to be. Rin closed her mouth with a snap, whatever softness that had appeared vanishing in an instant.

“Is there a particular reason you are angry with me, Councillor, or should I simply file this under a ‘bad day’?”

The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it. This was hardly the time or place to air their grievances but Rin very much doubted that she would get another chance. She moved without waiting for the answer, lifting a chunk of debris that had pinned a man's legs, allowing others to pull him free before she let it settle.

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Drystan Creed​

The forest grew dense as they neared the clearing's rim. Lysander eased his pace, senses sharpening at the fringe where the underbrush thickened into shrubs. His gaze flickered to the troopers. One was crouched over a body, another standing guard with a rifle.

A quiet breath stirred through his nostrils, and a wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. An image formed in his mind, hovering somewhere between utterly ridiculous and truth. “A rather daring approach to camouflage,” he murmured. “I reckon the galaxy has survived longer by not flaunting its peculiarities instead of advertising them.."

One soldier crouched beside the wreck, tapping at a device on his wrist.

A hm escaped him next. “That would be sensible. Ion storms make centralized networks.. unreliable. Relay nodes would bypass that.”

Emerald orbs shifting toward the distant hills as if the answer might already be sitting there waiting.

“Probably positioned somewhere elevated.” At least that felt like a logical answer. “There’s a clever little antenna somewhere up in there.”

A trace of amusement touched his youthful visage from the figure’s comment. Lysander’s tone might’ve sounded more eager than thoughtful. “Yeah.. we could.”

The sequence was mapped in his head automatically.

“Five seconds tops, maybe six if they react quickly.”

Unfortunately.. that also required considering the rest of the equation. “The aftermath would be.. considerably less elegant. More noticeable corposes.. and something tells me artillery would be involved afterwards.”

Information, however.. was always useful.

His gaze drifted toward the edge of the wreck where one began checking the surrounding brush. They were looking for survivors.

“We could give them what they’re looking for. Draw one out.. And see what he knows about that relay station.”

With that, Lysander snapped a twig beneath his boot to draw the attention of one closest to them.