Moross Crusade Dominion of Yuuzhan'tar

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael stood on the bridge of one of the massive Ithari Swarm Frigates.

His face as always was hidden by a mask, a slight piece of metal that kept his identity hidden. So much had changed in the passed few months, so much had shifted and become new. The Horde was gone, Amorella was gone, he had not seen Vascious in quite some time. Everything was changing, and only one thing remained the same.

The Devotion of his people.

The people of Moross were ever steadfast, ever devout. They stood by him no matter what, him and the other gods. He supposed that to them he was an unflinching constant. While other gods rose and faded, Neth the Keeper had been present since the beginning of the Gods return. He had remained at their head for quite some time. Of course he had been reclusive, but that was natural, the Keeper of Knowledge needed time to find knowledge after all.

Yet he was a calm to them, a guiding hand. Perhaps that was why he was here now, why he was leading the assault on one of the Hordes former most important worlds.

Or perhaps he was here for personal vendetta, these rambunctious Vong did wound him after all.

“Raze it to the ground.” The command sundered from his lips and echoed throughout his fleet. The word of a god instructing his people. Yuuzhan'Tar would burn.

 

[Sephoria Lasranae]

"Ma'am, the men are in their pods and dropships are prepared for departure."

Sephoria nodded to the man beside her as he gave his report. She listened, but her mind was elsewhere as she stood at one of the view ports on the frigate she was currently occupying. Her mind was on the upcoming battle. This time she brought a full division of her Reapers to lay siege to the fearsome Vong that inhabited their soon to be acquired planet. Normally the black cloaks wouldn't be fielded in such numbers, but it was made clear that this was a campaign of shock and awe. The Vong were not to be given any time to rest. Her forces would commence orbital drops and strategic insertions via dropship. While Kalee and Ithari's finest landed to hold the line against the fractured hordlings, her shadow soldiers would already be destroying the beast from within like a plague.

"Very well Cerberus. We will reap Erebos will soon," added the Garhoon softly as she crossed her hands behind her black cloak.

“Raze it to the ground."

A fang adorned smile soon followed upon the vampire's lips at Neth's words. It would be a while yet before she could put boots on the ground. Orbital defenses and naval forces had to be penetrated first. For now her forces were simply cargo. However, Neth was speaking her language. Erebos will would be done this day. The Vong would be devoured.

 

[Garza]

Adjusting the Zealot War armor on my body, I placed the helmet over my head while drawing my beskad. Checking the blade, I then activated my shield, then shut it off to just see if it worked. Smiling through my helm, I moved out from the small armory and along the halls of the frigate into the Hangar bay. Praying as I walked, To Kalee as well as Salee the two Goddess, one who took the form of a male in the mortal world, who I worshiped the most. Praying to keep my sword fast, my shield strong and my will and faith of the Moross Crusade unbreakable.

It has been a while since there was an almost complete invasion that was for the soul purpose to kill, and murder people in the name of our Aesir's. I breathed in as I wanted to prove myself once more. Last few times we attacked a place, I had narrowly escaped. Nicknamed as the Damsel twice over, I wanted to remove that name and keep the Blade of Kalee. I would prove that I was not a damsel.

I grinned from ear to ear when I heard the will of Neth. “Raze it to the ground."

No doubt was in my mind, or in my heart. I would serve my Lords and Ladies. Even unto my death.

 

[Vascious Relens]

Several more capital ships dropped out of hyperspace not long after Neth gave his five word address to the troops among his fleet. Radio chatter ensued for a couple minutes as the new fleet was identified as Kalee's Expeditionary Armada. It appeared that the Morossian God of War would not be late to this party after all. Then again the Horde had become something of a personal conquest to Vascious as well as it had been for Soliael.

The lead Ithari Swarm Frigate of Kalee's Armada moved to angle ships under it's command to approach from above the planet at a similar trajectory as Neth's forces. Upon that ship's bridge, Vascious stood and watched the bridge's many status screens. An enemy fleet was already starting to respond to their presence. Several Vong capital ships were causing long range scanners to trill out in alarm. The hordes continued aggression against other governments and their consistent tactical miscalculations had ravaged their forces. Their response fleet was statistically doomed to fail, but their technology and dedication was not to be taken likely. Like the Crusade, they too had their beliefs and would fight to the last man to see them through.


The Aesir waved to his comm officer to silence the channels before he started to speak into his commlink. His words echoed over the loud speakers of Morossian ships then as Neth's words had done so not long before.

"The Horde believed that their faith would prevail over your own. That their deities could strike down the Aesir. Today you will witness and be a part of the Pantheon's greatest teaching. The righteous prevail over the corrupt! The remnants of this pathetic culture will hold their lies close to their hearts and fight to the last man as you crush them under your heels. As an adversary, we shall give them this final mercy. Take no prisoners, Crusaders. Leave no blasphemous Horde technology intact. Erase the very memory of these sacrilegious creatures from this land. This I command of each of you. This is the will of the Aesir."

The mandalorian crossed his hands behind his back as he ended his transmission. He took one last glance at the status screens before making his way to the bridge's lift. The fleet was already forming into formations to seperately repel the enemy fleet and to start orbital insertion for landing parties. There was a dropship waiting for him. This time Kalee would be on the ground with his forces.

 

[Cat Van-Derveld]

“Raze it to the ground.”

"As you command, Keeper."

The bridge of the Ardent Class Fast Frigate, the Devourer's Herald, was not silent today. Orders were being barked and tactical information relayed as they formed up among the Moross fleet that hung threateningly over the surface of the infested planet below. Cat himself had nothing against the Vong in particular, he just viewed them as more victims to feed to his god.

"Raise shields. All turbolaser batteries, target areas of high population density. Send their souls to the Devourer."

The viewport was illuminated as the first bolts of violent light lanced toward the planet. The Sith Knight who issued the order simply grinned as he watched the destruction begin, glancing at his apprentice who stood beside him.
"Point defence batteries, target any enemy vessels that come into range. All fighters launch and form a defensive perimeter. Have the dropships standing by."

Turning away from the violence, his full attention fell upon Auswyn. Reaching into one of the pouches on his belt, he retrieved the hilt of a lightsaber, holding it out to her.

"A gift. A symbol of my faith in you and your devotion to both the Aesir and to me. Today is your trial by fire, today is when you truly become my Apprentice. Keep faith with the Darkness and it will reward you with triumph," He said, his face turning serious for a moment, "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall set me free. Long ago these words were taught to all Sith. Carry them in your heart today, Auswyn Nothrael. Let nothing stop you."

His gaze lingered on the young woman for a few moments. Did he know for certain that she would survive the trials to come? No, he did not. Did he have faith that she would? Absolutely.

"Helm, keep us in formation with the rest of the fleet. Shadow the Keeper's ship, follow their lead. Captain, you have command. Let the hangar know we're on our way. Auswyn, it's time."

He heard Kalee's words as they made their way to the hangar, grinning from ear to ear.

 

[Siara Vorru]

At the helm of her little freighter Siara had a small squad of Morrossian soldiers riding with her she brought the throttles back dropping them out of hyperspace to the scene of the surface of the planet being bombarded from orbit. She had only personally encountered the horde once in combat and it hadn’t been much of a fight to her memory but the leadership of the Crusade had an intense hatred for the organization or what was left of it anyway and since they paid the bills, at least partially she was here as well. She couldn’t wait to get her boots on the ground and do some hunting but the comm traffic suggested it would be best to remain in orbit for now while the fleet essentially glassed the surface.

More instructions came from the command ships, she checked her sensors for verification but apparently two of the Crusade’s gods had seen fit to join the campaign. She was pleased that Kalee was one of them she still didn’t know the man for what he truly was but she had fought alongside him and he had been one of the first to welcome her. Belonging to the whole didn’t matter to her as much as it did to the rest of the pod people but she did like to have her skills recognized and the big man in mandalorian armor had certainly done that right from the start. She passed all the audio she was receiving on her comm into the internal speakers of her ship knowing hearing those words would rile up the rest of her squad.

Swinging her little freighter up towards the nearest ship that was bombarding the surface she was waiting for dropships to start flooding from the other vessels. She intended to be one of the first on the ground but she didn’t want to get down their prematurely and get caught in their own bombardment. She closed the link between the external and internal comm and spoke into the internal comm. "You all heard the man, make your gods proud. We will be among the first on the ground as soon as the airspace has cleared I expect every one to be worth ten of the standard soldiers we will have fielded down there, I don't work with amateurs."

She hadn't hastily assembled this squad she had been working on this for awhile, at least since Subterral and though they were still absolutely loyal to their gods she could make that work for her with the right words. By her evaluation they were all the exact correct mix of intelligence and zealotry making them almost as dangerous as she was. Siara watched as the bombardment continued weaving her little freighter around the edges of the fleet waiting impatiently for the command to head for the surface.

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

On board an Ithari Swarm frigate belonging to Kalee’s fleet Ashra’syle’nuruodo was getting her first taste of command since leaving home. The landing bay of the large ship was filled with Crusaders loading onto dropships their imposing armor rubbing up against each other as they moved with purpose. She on the other hand stood back and just observed she was looking forward to this, she hadn’t had many opportunities to demonstrate her gifts since the gods had granted them to her. She was anxious to prove her worth and joining the ground assault seemed to her the best way to do that. She wasn’t anxious to climb back into a dropship, recent memory had her doing a lot of crashing into planets.

Hearing the words of both the living gods the Chiss woman felt invigorated, their words were law to her since they and those that served her saved her from what would have been certain death. She looked around at the other soldiers as she picked a dropship. She stepped up the ramp standing between two soldiers it would look almost humorous she was comparatively tiny and wearing nothing more than clothing and carrying her training lightsaber and a Charric blaster pistol she looked completely out of place but she didn’t figure she needed any more. She had the force even if those skills were still being trained she had been working hard to strengthen them. Intently focused on the task ahead Ashra’syle’nuruodo reached out to the others around her she felt their resolve and devotion to their gods. It mirrored her own feelings and gave her comfort as they waited to depart for the surface.

 

[Vascious Relens]

Vascious had made his way down to his shuttle. There he found himself surrounded by his advisers who began to prepare his weaponry for him. One man carefully un-clipped and removed his silver cloak while another handed him his swords. The Vong would be difficult enemies to deploy lightsabers against. It paid to be prepared.

The mandalorian proceeded to strap the sheathed weapons to his sides when suddenly a pang of desperation washed over his senses. It was not his own, but instead a short premonition to an incoming disaster. Jedi wallowed in these times while some Sith reveled in the suffering. Vascious merely used it as a tool.

"Atlas, the enemy has taken the first notch for their own rifle. We won't be able to recover your ship. Launch the first wave of ground forces. I want that cannon destroyed," spoke the Aesir to the fleet admiral at his side. The Atlas gave Relens a confused look and then suddenly the Swarm Frigate they were on lurched to the side at an angle in some kind of evasive maneuver.

Outside of their hanger bay they could see through the force field to another capital ship that suddenly got struck by some kind of large misshapen plasma round of enormous proportions. The flash of light from the blast made several of his advisers squint their eyes for a moment. The chatter on the comm frequencies exploded with reports coming in that the destruction had come from planet side. There must have been some kind of massive Vong plasma cannon on the ground.

Vascious looked back and saw the adjacent Ithari Swarm Frigate was missing a third of its mass. Wreckage littered space around it and the now dead ship lacked a way to keep the rest of it's bulk from the planet's gravitational pull. It was already starting to change trajectory downward.

"Crusaders, deploy now."

The Morrossian fleets could not disengage to have a ship killing cannon and an enemy fleet to their backs. The ground forces would have to traverse the Vong's planetary defenses. This mysterious cannon was now a top priority.

 

[Piraiba]

Many of the crusaders knew of Piraiba's fear of ships. He had been very vocal about it. To be fair it wasn't the ships themselves, but rather their ability to explode or crash with himself in them. Today the hope of course was that riding a capital ship would be much safer then that of a small shuttle or dropship. Still he wasn't going to leave anything to chance. As such he reached up to pat the armor on his chest. Underneath his plate rested a small pendant of Salee's symbol.

Truthfully the Togorian hadn't really aligned himself to any of the gods yet. He said Kalee's name when asked just to avoid confrontation. Yet honestly he had picked this one simply because he liked the picture engraved into it. The man who sold it to him also spoke of its good luck properties, which sealed the deal. He needed as much luck as possible with all these damned ships.

Now hopefully that luck held. The Togorian made his way down a corridor towards the hangar bay. It would soon be time to board a dropship towards the planet. Once his feet were on the ground he would be comfortable regardless of the Vong. Then the ship shuddered violently making the great beast stumble to grab a nearby wall. The lights flickered several times before failing. Backup emergency lights came to life just as shouts came over a nearby loud speaker.

The abandon ship order had been given. The feline was already running before the sentence was even complete. The loudspeaker continued about failing life systems and destroyed decks. He could already hear the nearby hull groaning under pressure. Now on all four legs the Togorian ran like the wind. He passed several other crusaders on the way towards the end of the corridor, which ended in a catwalk over a section of the hangar towards a lift.

No time for lifts given the situation. Instead the Sith Knight simply flung himself over the railing. Ironically this was also when the artificial gravity generator finally failed as well. It might have been comical to watch the ten foot tall beast trying to swim in thin air with little success. Fortunately his forward momentum was enough to grab onto the wing of a dropship that was trying to take off.

"HOLD THE RAMP," came the cat's roar as he climbed around the dropship's fin and managed to fling himself into its hold. One of the crusaders inside waved him in before slamming his hand onto the button to close its ramp. This was done just in time because the hanger bay's force field was starting to fail as well now. The force of the vacuum ripped out crusaders who hadn't already secured themselves into ships.

Slowly Piraiba regained his composure and pulled himself up and helped up others that he had knocked over when he entered the crowded ship so violently. Then his eyes glanced on a woman of blue hued skin. He studied her for a moment before concluding that it was [member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"].

"Piraiba will not fly with you anymore little sister. All of your ships crash!"

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Sensing danger from somewhere Ashra’syle’nuruodo didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t react at all because she didn’t know the source of the danger. It didn’t take long before it was apparent though the ship around their little shuttle started to explode the Chiss woman strapped herself into the jump seat as the gravity outside the shuttle failed and then pressurized air started to flow out of the little shuttle as the ship around them started to burst at its seems throwing multiple soldiers down the ramp and out through gaps In the hull of the capital ship. She saw a soldier reaching for the ramp controls to try and protect them but she sensed the approach of another trying to escape the demise of this ship.

“Wait, another approaches, leave the ramp.” Asylen ordered as she heard the big Cat calling for the same. They waited for the big cat to escape into their hold before the ramp was sealed finally giving them all fresh atmosphere again.

Looking up at [member="Piraiba"] as he stood up helping those that he had bowled over she did the same as she unstrapped herself from the jump seat and smirks at him. “It is quite the coincidence but if it is the will of the gods that we should enter every combat zone on a blazing charot then that is what we will do big brother.”

 

[Sephoria Lasranae]

All hell had broken out on her capital ship. In one roll of the dice she had gone from observing the planet through the view port of a capital ship to running for her life from total destruction. The horde's surface to space rock thrower had turned her fearsome ship into a falling pile of debris.

Explosions rang out all around her as the garhoon booked it down the corridor as fast as her legs could move. She had damned near fell on her ass from the skid that resulted. There was a blast door in front of her. Unfortunately it only would have sealed shut to block off a compromised section of the ship.

Dead End

Next to her were the doors to the last escape pod in the corridor she currently presided on. It was worth a try. Slowly the woman's hand reached over to open the doors. Nothing happened.

Sephoria chuckled to herself as she stepped over to look through the small view port on the escape pod's hatch. Outside she could see the red hue glow of the atmosphere starting to burn her ship up. There was no escape pod.

The woman's chuckle turned into a deep laugh. Feth it ... It just wasn't her day. Amazing how the dice could take a situation out of your hands.

A crack in the view port followed by a nearby explosion, and everything went black.

 

[Piraiba]

Piraiba looked over at [member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"] as she spoke of their predicament. Riding in on a blazing chariot? That did make the situation sound so much better. Or at least it did as long as a chariot was what he thought it was. The Togorian put on a smile from ear to ear for a fraction of a moment before the shuttle shuddered again. This immediately brought the ten foot tall beast back to panic. She did inspire him for a fraction of a moment though.

There were no seats or harnesses available for the feline to use. It was a common problem for him actually. If they crashed, several soldiers would die from an 800 pound cat ricocheting around the hold. Ashra was actually pretty lucky to have survived this phenomenon from the last invasion.

He did his best to strap himself in with shipping crate straps used to hold down a pallet when the ship was used for transport between engagements.

The turbulence the dropship took could only mean one thing. They were starting to enter the atmosphere.

 

[Coci Heavenshield]

She had waited in the background. Watching all the other of the Crusade ready and depart one by one. Only a few familiar faces known to her and only one that meant anything to her. Her Master, [member="Soliael Devin Talith"]. [member="Ashra'syle'nuruodo"] she had met before this day and held a respect for the woman's abilities, even though they are dripping with uncontrolled energy, which made her dangerous, even to her fellow members.

Once she was given the chance to approach her Master, only then would she speak. He had asked for total destruction, but not one of them questioned this, which surprised her greatly. Aerin is loyal there is no questioning that, but she must need to know why she is asked to do such things. Never will she just simply kill.

Her head turned to make sure they are alone, "Why Master?", she asked quietly. "Are we here to simply conquer or have they wronged you", she looked up into the mask of the man, his face and features she knew well enough to see behind the fascade. "If they be your enemy .. then you will have my sword". To her oath she would adhere.

 

[Siara Vorru]

Ships were exploding all around as the last gasp of the planetary defense put up more of a fight then one would normally expect. Siara threw her own ship into a roll as one of the larger vessels started to spew fire escape pods firing out in all directions as larger dropships escaped from the belly of this downed beast. It made piloting that much more hazardous to anyone in the area with a smaller vessel such as her own. Everything was headed for the surface it was exactly where she wanted to be but no doubt it wouldn’t be any safer down there, if they were putting up this much of a fight for the space above the planet the Vong would likely fight that much harder for the planet below it was their home after all.

“Buckle up back there, we are going in hot.” Siara instructed of those in the back though if they hadn’t been up to this point they would know to do so by now as they had likely been thrown around quite a bit as she maneuvered around the debris.

Bringing her small freighter down into the atmosphere at a steep angle beside the falling wreck of one of the Crusade ships she used its mass to cover her approach. Siara knew that even the Vong wouldn’t waste ordinance on an already disabled vessel and wouldn’t be all that likely to detect her little freighter alongside the tumbling mass of wreckage. As she dove with the burning wreckage her own vessel started to be licked by flames across the nose and viewport as friction of the atmosphere tried to slow them down. Anticipation built as she saw the ground approaching fast the mercenary pulled back hard on the stick arcing away from the trajectory of the wreck, it was going to make quite a mess when it hit the ground anything below it was about to be vaporized.

As her own little ship came closer to the ground she diverted power from the weapons she had yet to use to the repulsor systems giving them a bit more of a cushion as the ground came up fast. Half the repulsors burnt out immediately the rest of them gave just enough power to set down roughly but without a tow her little freighter wasn’t going anywhere. She unstrapped quickly as she flicked her hands over the controls powering the freighter down. The Vong were already reacting to their presence in the landing zone that was quickly filling with other Morossian dropships they were trying to keep them contained in their vessels until they could bring something heavy enough to mop up but the zealous crusaders were flowing out of their respective dropships into the newly formed battlefield.

Pulling her helmet on Siara marched down the ramp of her own vessel followed by a squad of some of the best soldiers Moross had to offer. She quickly found cover drawing her rifle off her back she began firing, the heavy armor of the Vong resisting the first few shots. This was going to be a slugging match these were not the mercenaries and pirates they were used to fighting in other parts of the galaxy or even what had once been Horde space. These were the highly skilled warriors devoted to the protection of their homeworld and they would fight for it tooth and nail, or whatever the Vong equivalent was.

Getting on her comm Siara evaluated the HUD on her helmet she used the pad on her arm to issue instructions to those already on the surface. “Establish a front and push the Vong back, this is our patch of ground and anyone who gives the Vong and inch can expect to spend eternity suffering for it, we need to keep them away from the rest of our landing forces.”

As the Crusaders around her scrambled from their ships and started to follow her orders they pushed the enemy back step by step, inch by inch opening a proper landing zone for the next wave. Siara switched her comm to the fleet frequency. “LZ is open, send the second wave.”

 

[Ashra'syle'nuruodo]

Strapping back into her jumpseat just in time as the turbulence of the entry into the atmosphere bucked the little dropship about Ashra’syle’nuruodo felt the fear of the soldiers around her, it was the fear of the unknown whether or not they would survive this landing let alone the fight below echoed from their thoughts. It was all very healthy but she had no use for weakness these were soldiers of the Crusade, they needed to be fearless in the face of incredible odds Ithari would certainly not approve. She was not their commander but as her companions for at least this ride she would have to bolster their spirits to extract the best from each and every one of them.

“Push your fears aside, if the gods wished us dead we would not have the opportunity to serve them in this glorious campaign we are about to embark on. We are here to cleanse the unclean, and enlighten those that followed false gods. Each of us shall play our part today and if it means we must give our lives for the glory of our gods we will be rewarded in the afterlife for our strength.” As the dropship settled down into the landing zone and fire from the enemy started to hit the hull Asylen unbuckled again. The ship’s landing ramp opened and she gave one final instruction. “Glory to the gods.”

As the ramp slammed to the ground she leaped from inside ahead of all the rest, there were already other dropships unloading but the lines were not yet established. She found the nearest Vong and engaged her lightsaber extending as she drew her blaster in the other hand. Asylen swung down on the neck of the Vong his heavy armor easily shrugging off the assault of her training blade. It was rather unnerving facing off against a being she couldn’t sense but she trusted in the powers of her gods and let the force flow through her drawing on the emotions of the battlefield around her to bolster her. She found a small gap in the armor of the Vong, drove her blaster into it and pulled the trigger sending him to the ground dead before he hit it. She could see the lines were already forming someone had taken command of this mess already and they were pushing the Vong back. She grinned as she looked for another victim.

 

[Vanir]

“Raze it to the ground.”

"Oh, there's gotta be a nicer term than 'raze', m'lord... Maybe 'obliterate', 'blast', 'burn into nothing'..."

I moved in on a corvette that I had temporarily commandeered for this mission.

"Or my personal favorite.... 'Consume'."

I hit the thrusters, and the ship burned into the atmosphere. I reveled in the emotions of the flying beings around me, and my mind stretched, looking for feathered friends outside the ship... I felt nothing, and it angered me.

"Do these Vong not have birds on their planet? It's an aberration!"

 

[Blackthorne]

"Vong life is quite a different thing," the ranking Morossian Crusader of said Corvette upon which Acolyte [member="Morrigan"] had been assigned to ride in remarked from her stance beside the Captain on the bridge.

"And so are you," Loxa added curiously. Balefull saffron eyes landing upon Morrigan, the faintest outline of a smile within the shadow of her hood showed. Her gaze trailed to the woman's brilliant raven plumage and the remarkable bulk of wings at her back. The Priestess had seen nothing like it before, but as she had the day she joined Moross those many years ago - acceptance of the new, unusual, and unique was something she'd come to grips with.

"Welcome aboard my ship, Acolyte Morrigan, I am Loxa Visl, Steward of the Aesirs. Is this your first outting with the Crusade?"

((OOC - Acolytes do not have the allowance to commandeer ships nor Captain them for the Crusade. That comes with rise in rank and hard work! However I'm happy to make this work and to RP with you. ))

 

[Vanir]

"Yeah... I mean, I usually fly solo, but my own ship was sort of wrecked. So, here I am, formally under your command. I and all my friends."

I raised my arms to the sides, and all the fifty or so birds I'd brought with me landed on or around me. I nodded to the large falcon on my hand.

"Say 'hi', Aurus."

Scree!

(I didn't know that... I'll go sub myself a personal ship later, if that's okay )

[member="Loxa Visl"]

 

[Cameron Centurion]

Silver-green eyes turned from the forward viewport of his own massive Ithari Swarm Frigate as the Aesir prepared to hasten his departure from the vessel's bridge. A handful of heads turned in the large Sith Lord's direction as the folds of his cloak rustled lightly over the floor. He uttered but a brief command to those of his ilk near the rear of the bridge as well as the vessel's command staff. "I am taking a walk."

While the Captain of the vessel had no idea what that meant, the two followers of Aatrox that quickly followed Cameron...knew all too well. To their credit and training, they did not so much as exchange a knowing glance at each other. Theirs was not to reason why.

Minutes had passed before Cameron had boarded a troop transport destined for the landing zone recently established by the forces of [member="Siara Vorru"]. The mercenary-hued soldier was proving to be more and more effective in the Crusade's expansionist needs. The time would soon come where she would have to make a definitive decision as to her future amongst the followers of Moross. Perhaps Cameron would commission [member="Crystal"] to effect the transition. The Priestess of Hali needed to...elevate her responsibility as well. The Aesir appreciated each and every loyal follower that proved their worth, but he demanded more, always. He demanded perfection.

The shuttle buffeted as the pilot lifted off from the deck and made haste for the battle that [member="Soliael Devin Talith"] had committed the Crusade to. There would be no prophetic words of support to the men on the vessel with Cameron...nor would there be any exclamations of expectation. Quite simply, Aatrox cared not for the motivations and objective-driven needs of the rank and file. They would succeed, or they would die. Simple. In fact...their lives were so forfeit to him, that he did issue one command. "Pilot us directly to the center of enemy concentration."

Silence.

Shifting eyes.

"My Lord..."

Silver-green eyes focused on the ranking soldier that had spoken. The movement was not accompanied by the movement of Cameron's mouth.

No more speech was uttered until the vessel arrived at the ordered location.

"Gentlemen." Pushing off the bulkhead, Cameron walked to the cargo bay door and palmed it open. The two men that followed had acquired personal repulsorlift devices that...basically prevented death but not necessarily injury. The alternative was not to follow The Deceiver into madness. However, they, like all followers of Aatrox, knew that was not a choice they had. The sound of howling wind and furious blaster fire reaching out for the shuttle were the only sounds that remained in the wake of the sudden departure of the cloaked individuals.

Allowing gravity to take hold of his body, Cameron straightened his hands down to his sides and accelerated his body through the atmosphere with the aid of the Force. As he rocketed through the sound barrier, a visible and audible shockwave echoed throughout the area, temporarily drowning out the sound of struggle below. As the ground raced towards him, Cameron drastically slowed his descent with the Force and used it to reorient his body. Withdrawing the crimson-blade of his Sith Sword, Cameron planted it straight down into the earth as his body arrived with a loud thud. The impact, however, was cushioned suddenly at the last moment to keep from breaking his legs. A strong ripple of energy immediately erected from his core, causing three hundred and sixty degrees of destruction within a hundred meter radius of his location.

As he withdrew his weapon from the ground and stood to full height, his associates arrived with a grace that could only be acquried through continued practice of following their Aesir into battle. A smile touched his lips before the Sith Lord pulled the nearest living enemy soldier towards his location and advanced upon the soon-to-be-dead individual simultaneously. Without stopping, he grasped the man's throat and pulled his entire spinal chord from his body whilst it was still attached to his head.

After throwing the head and spinal chord harshly at the next nearest soldier, Cameron ducked and rolled his body to the right to stab another through the heart. This planet had the attention of the Aesirs.

How lucky.

 

[Blackthorne]

"Hmm," Loxa did smile at this, eyes following the movement of wings and feathers, pausing over Aurus. They reminded her greatly of her tailring who likely was rummaging her way around the ship, keeping it clear of destructive space parasites.

"Lovely," she said quietly, golden eyes settling upon the young woman, "you will find that like your flock, your brethren amongst the Crusade is also family. The followers of Thral will eagerly welcome someone of your talent."

[member="Morrigan"]