Location: Aboard the DLS Retribution, en-route to Kol Huro
Objective: Participate in Battlegroup Spear
Post Count: 1/20
The fires of industry ever enrage the inferno of war, Tirdarius mused, watching the swirling blue-white lights of the Hyperspace conduit through which the Sith fleet flung itself forward into territory as yet untouched by their wrath. And yet there are moments when you can just stop to enjoy a moment of peace before the tumult of the conflict ahead. Now was just such a moment: it was the deep breath before the plunge, that moment where you could almost feel free and at peace, a half-second before the Dark gripped your heart once more, and dragged you back into the flames, to burn along with a Galaxy.
The battle fleet was headed to Kol Huro, to once more grasp at the fires that would consume them all, thus to spread the will of the Dark Lord and advance the newly-minted Empire towards their ultimate goal: the moment where their shadows might eclipse the Light, and teach a lesson decades in the making. The peoples living in the system ahead had nothing to do with their war: they cared for neither Jedi nor Sith, but focused their toil upon acquisition and industry. They would create with one hand, and reap the fruits of their labours with the other. But war leaves none untouched: it taints all, whether they wish it or not. Neutrality was a joke. Staying out of it was a joke. Sooner or later, the wars comes, and you may either join it, or be destroyed by it.
Those were the options that now faced the planets of Kol Huro.
Seeing the Ascendancy give way to the new Empire had been a blow, it was true - and within a silent heartbeat, there were moments where Tirdarius knew he might yet regret it - but they were forging forward with an energy that had long been needed among the Sith. A quiet enterprise in the far reaches of space could not quell the desire to see the Galaxy kneel before them, to see order and discipline once more restored, and to see the Light quelled, that all might know the lies of the Jedi, and recognise that the chaos of the Galaxy was the only real truth, and that only standing behind the Sith might offer any measure of safety from that storm. All we demand in return is everything. It was, he felt, a small price to pay.
A warning from the navigation officer standing within the command pit to his left alerted Tirdarius that they were reaching their destination: the whirling lights of hyperspace and the peaceful meditation they offered would soon be eclipsed by the military machine demanding that they move ever forward. The tension on the bridge was a soft whisper in the back of his mind, the anxiety of not knowing what waited on the other side, pushed back by the discipline of military training, and the rigid adherence to command structure that so defined the lives of everyone aboard. These are brave men and women who ride with us into the fire, knowing they may not survive the conflagration, but believing it better than running from it. Many of them could die this day, and Tirdarius knew well that their sacrifice could not be allowed to go unnoticed.
The sounding of an alarm: a short, sharp shrill tone announced a change in the hyperspace engines, shutting down and reverting to the simpler sublight ion engines. The vibrantly-swirling blue-white light vanished, contracting to a pinprick of light against a background of eternal darkness, punctuated only by other small dots, and their target: a world hanging there in space, serene, rotating slowly, unaware of what was coming towards it. Other pinpricks appeared beside the ship, each another mighty vessel of war: amalgamations of men and machinery, all coming forth under singular purpose to commandeer that which was needed to drive the Empire forward.
And so it begins.
"All stations to battle readiness," he said softly, stormy-grey eyes locking with those of the ship's captain, a man that had served under him through Empire and Ascendancy, and now once more under an Imperial flag. The order was unnecessary, the crew alert and prepared, but the routine was comfortable, for all concerned. "Launch our fighter screen, and have troop transports loaded for disembarkation. And my shuttle prepared." The Sith Lord nodded in acknowledgement of the unspoken question: rare was it that he left the ship during times of battle, working alongside a crew long familiar with his presence. But the wetwork would be down on the planet, and that was where he must be. "The ship is yours, Captain. Keep it in one piece, so I may return to it."
Turning with a short sharp motion, his long dark robes flowing around him, the Sith Lord headed away from the Bridge, for where the shuttles would await. The tension was palpable now: the officers keen to impress and be seen to do their work smoothly; below decks, the troopers finishing their equipment checks, buckling on armour and tightening the fastenings; checking their weapons and loading them with appropriate ammunition, knowing that soon they would be called to action. Only a fool feels no fear in the face of the unknown. They knew their jobs, but that was not sufficient to quell the misgivings that started in their gut and would only be diminished once the work was done. As well it should: soldiers who fear death will live longer than those who ignore their instincts.
All that would remain was for the Dark Lord himself to give the orders: on his go, the transports would deploy, the fighters would follow to screen them from any defenses, and the vast destroyers would rain fire down upon static emplacements to ensure the lives of their people. Ships would descend like a metal storm upon the surface of the world before them, and all that stood before them would be swept away, if Carnifex so desired it.
What remained to be seen was whether they would bend with the wind, or be swept aside by it. Only time would tell, but the outcome would be the same, in any case: the Empire would plant their flag over this world. It was the sole certainty of this little adventure.