"Knock Knock, Anyone Home?"

[Sovereign]

Pure unfiltered, uninhibited hatred and rage seeped from the pours of the apprentice known as Sovereign as he struck the final blow to his former master. He had fought the various adepts, agents, and assassination droids under the care of the Sith Lord known as Lord Havok and finally he had claimed his revenge. Revenge for the murder of his family, revenge for the molding of his personage into that of a worthy vessel, revenge for making him into a monster.

He had braced himself for the worst, and now it was over. The hatred did not subside however with the death of the Sith Lord, even as he plunged his red tinted blade into the stomach of the crumbling old man in stasis did he not feel one hint of rejoice or relief. He wanted more, he needed more out of this. His revenge would not be complete until every last person felt his wrath, his emotions a violent hailstorm ready to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting. He did not care who suffered, as long as it was not him, his pain would end along with the lives of many.

He was only an apprentice yet he had slain his former master Lord Havok in cold blood, the man was a shadow of his former self and was far unworthy of the title of Sith Lord. He remembered in great detail the words of his new master Darth Vidar, he had done him a great service by ridding the galaxy of this pretender. As he reveled in his anger his wrist mounted sensor picked up an unidentified vessel entering the atmosphere of the barren world. His thoughts ran wild, more mercenaries? Friends of Havok? Jedi scum? His paranoia rose only feeding his anger for letting himself be found on such a desolate place. "It does not matter. I will slay them like the others."

Sovereign's free hand clenched into a fist as he gazed into the image of the approaching vessel, "Welcome to Oricon friend, may you enjoy your burial here on this forsaken rock."

 

[Lord Gaius]

Gaius Vel was no ace, but he knew how to handle a starcraft just as well as any other Mandalorian. It was within their traditions, a culture that had been set in stone for countless eons. Though he still required help from his onboard computer, he still knew that any course laid through hyperspace had to avoid granitic anomalies, meaning that transit routes had to be plotted out with acute precision and, depending upon where bodies were in their orbits around a star, a system could be wide open, or only have a narrowly defined route through it. The advantages of flying through or near systems came if a starcraft suffered damage, since out in deep space the chance of being rescued was, well, astronomically slim. But Gaius knew, irregardless of the system he was about to enter, if his besu'liik suddenly had trouble, there was no rescue coming for him. Even if he dropped a beacon, this far out, and this isolated, any do-good smuggler or Mandalorian wouldn’t find him for weeks. He only had seven days supplies.

He emerged from a place in-between both space and time. He wasn't there one second, and the next he was carving through the void of space at forty-thousand kilometres per hour. A dark wedge working its way towards Sovereign, and within was the predator that hunted him. A Mandalorian, well known on Kesh as Lord Gaius after his infamous victories, but on Concord Dawn he was just Gaius Vel, and he lived a simple life, with little reputation, as a beskarsmith. That didn't make him any less formidable, he was Mandalorian. War was in his blood. An alert flashed across his screen warning him that he had been detected, and a message cackled over his intercoms. "Welcome to Oricon friend, may you enjoy your burial here on this forsaken rock." Gaius could only suspect it was Sovereign, and once the message had played through entirely, he activated his jammers. Sovereign wouldn't be able to contact him again, but Gaius wouldn't be able to transmit either.

Gaius pulled hard on the yoke, diving into the atmosphere. He was picking up heat, but the deflector shields were making diligent work on his re-entry. Orange flames licked and flickered across a transparent blue screen that encapsulated the dark wedge. He was coming in hot on a cloud, yanking on the steer and weaving him out of its way. He knew better than to fly through clouds after Aargonar. Sure, it had been a rare occurrence, but he didn't want to risk becoming trapped on a desolate wasteland again, least of all where help would be the last thing to find him. He glanced out his viewport as he soared across the skies, looking upon barren lands devoid of life. Volcanic ash rose from molten lakes. Boulders as jagged as vibroblades jutted forth from the landscape. It was a hellish place, and horribly suited to the connotation that followed the Sith. He came in for a landing, slowing his ion drives, they hissed and cooled. Landing gears protruded from the underbelly, and the bes'uliik settled down comfortably. He looked popped the hatch and scrambled out, in his personal beskar'gam with a nutrient frame on his back. Straps ran across his chest, two belonging to his sonic carbine and combat shotgun, with a holster that held his machine pistol. He was surprised to find no guards, for Sovereign had slain them during his rampage at his former Master.

{ [member="Sovereign"] }

 

[Sovereign]

Sovereign's eyes fell onto his prey a final time before departing the Dread Throne, he had no words to describe the feeling he had, his success had only just opened a new road for him to journey and a new foe already here to challenge him. He did not know anything of the intruder other than he was no ally to Sovereign and that alone made him worthy of receiving the Sith's wrath.

The lone Sith moved through the large stone double doors into the desolate broken halls of the Dread Palace, the former inner sanctum of the Dread Masters. It was a dark place heavily influenced by the Dark Side of the Force at it's peak, and now it was merely an abandoned ruin emptied of it's treasures, it's secrets lost to the sands of time. Lord Havok was the only Sith to hold claim over Oricon in centuries, and now it was once again abandoned which was precisely how Sovereign intended to keep it.

Stepping under the massive stone behemoth of a statue depicting a man's face in terror with his jaw hanging low, the statue served as a doorway and monument to the glory of the Dread Masters. He kept his gaze forward ignoring the sights, he had seen enough of them during his struggle prior to the arrival of this interloper. He reached a hand behind him, with a quick gesture and flick of his wrist the large iron gate that resided within the mouth of the statue overhand dropped sealing off the way he came. Another gesture towards the right and left sealed off the other two stone gateways, he would funnel the enemy towards him and get a good idea of what he was fighting.

Sovereign stepped into the middle of the chamber and sat, slowly crossing his legs as he began to meditate and dwell on his anger. He attempted to channel his rage and keep it flowing, his body was tired and frail from his battles earlier yet he would not give this newfound foe the satisfaction of taking him down easily. Sovereign would have his vengeance on all who stood in his way, he would bring suffering on a large scale just to spread his misery to all he could.

He closed his eyes and waited for his opponent, he would be ready for whatever came for him. Whether a squad or lone warrior he would meet them head on. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

[member="Lord Gaius"]​

 

[Lord Gaius]

Gaius tucked the butt of his rifle into his shoulder and raised it, using his right hand thumb to flick the safety off. He had chosen his hardware originally with little regard for Jedi or Sith. He preferred the sonic carbine for its devastating effects. Highly-focused bursts of sonic energy that could shatter solid objects and break bones. The high impact concussive sonic energy was stabilized by a containment sphere within the carbine until impacted against a target, at which point it broke up to create an omnidirectional blast. Unlike blasters that required you to penetrate armour plating, a sonic carbine did just as much damage outside the armour of the victim as it did inside. He found it a comfort as he gripped the stock with his finger itching on the trigger. An attempt to block the sonic burst with a lightsaber would reveal that it simply passes around the plasma blade and continues on its path.

The emptiness of the fortress felt impressive as he began his search. Without warning, a large clamber echoed down the corridors. Suddenly the hairs on Gaius’ neck stood on end, and the feeling of icy terror swept over him, more horrible than before. He re-adjusted his footing, re-evaulating his posture and rifle position before he continued his march. He had a feeling he was being led into a trap, but he wouldn't back down so easily. He swept through the tunnels and corridors that Sovereign funnelled him down. Each turn or corner he leapt out, eyes peering downrange. He reached along the barrel of his carbine and brought down the power setting into stun. The stun setting released a high-pitched wail that caused disorientation and/or loss of consciousness in anyone affected by the blast. He stepped into the inner chamber and found Sovereign meditating. The nutrient frame on his back would make him a metaphorical black hole in the Force. There was no hesitation. Gaius collapsed to his right knee and fired. His finger slapped against the trigger three times, firing off bursts of sonic energy directed towards the Sith.

{ [member="Sovereign"] }