Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Private Overdue Reunion - Iron Covenant


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TEMPLE OF JAVARR | KESTRI
TAG: Siv Dragr Siv Dragr

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~2 Years Prior
It had begun with a clanging, almost imperceptible but gradually growing louder. Eventually, the sound reverberated through the tunnels deep below the Temple of Javarr. These tunnels were inaccessible from the outside, and certainly nobody had ever dared to try to breach them. Until that moment. Hordes of twisted, mutated Vong had gathered at the entrances of these caverns that were used for transporting finished Kyr'bes Buy'ce products. They tried to break in, only to be met with the security measures of ARTUS the Forgemind. Flames ripped through the tunnels, incinerating the Vong. However, the main entrances to the temple above for less fortunate.

The actual entrance to the temple itself was up a long, steep, and arduous mountain, buffered by the constant wind of Kestri's permanent winter. Still, for the past twenty-something years, the Vong had bided their time, slowly amassing strength and numbers, hiding deep below the surface. In a rush, they ascended upon the surface, hitting every settlement, major and minor alike. Though not actually a settlement, the Temple of Javarr was temporary home to many students who came to dedicate themselves to the art of smithing in various forms, learning from various Forgemasters, who were more artisans than warriors. As such, they were woefully unprepared for the oncoming onslaught.

Sahan had been absorbed in genetic research in his lab in the factory below and had not even noticed what was going on until ARTUS informed him of the destruction of rogue Vong in the tunnels. He dismissed it, since the problem had seemingly been dealt with. That is, until he took his secured private lift up to the temple to find his brethren completely slaughtered by Vong that had scaled the mountainside. In a fit of rage, Sahan saw red and blacked out, only coming to to find himself covered in Vong blood, endless corpses at his feet. He had single-handedly taken out the entire horde of Vong at the temple, but not a one of his comrades had survived...

All across Kestri, the slaughter was just as bad, from White Scar to Tor Valum. Many fought back and drove back the menace, but many more perished, leaving the Enclave in shambles.

Present Day
Sahan floated in a tank of synthetic bacta. This stuff was on the weaker side, but it was a lot easier to get hold of. Music played in his ears, soothing melodies meant to calm his emotions. He was still enraged. At a Verd for claiming the title of Mand'alor, at his brethren who chose to follow the man, at the Verd's missile that had destroyed his armor, at the Sith named Gath that he had had to hold down for said missile to hit and kill him, and at the Sith for even existing. But all that rage was illogical, he knew that in his mind, even if his soul screamed otherwise. He had to repair his armor. He had to find that cure. Anger and other pointless emotions were only a distraction. Maybe the Jedi were right in that regard. But only that one.

Sahan did not yet know that his father Siv had finally returned to Kestri. The Sahan that floated in the healing tank would probably be unrecognizable. He had had much of his flesh burned away by the Defoliator in severe third-degree burns on 100% of his body. It was nothing short of miraculous that he had survived at all, much less walked away from it. If he had not been wearing his armor, he would not have survived at all. His flesh was regenerating, the healing spurred by medical technology, skin grafts, and other things. He was actually healing surprisingly quickly, especially considering the artificial bacta was weaker than standard bacta. It looked as though he would not even have any scarring, with the only telltale sign of the burns being the complete lack of hair.

As he floated in the tank, he had no way of knowing someone important would be coming to visit him. The lift down to his lab only allowed access to him, plus anyone he told ARTUS to allow access. However, Siv Dragr Siv Dragr was someone ARTUS would allow immediate access, no questions asked.


 


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S I T H B A N E
Tag: Sahan Dragr Sahan Dragr

Siv had returned to a Kestri very much changed. Vren Rook Vren Rook spoke less with him, and he'd returned to find White Scar Post barely inhabited. The Vong outbreak had scarred the planet, physically and culturally. Across the world, survivors were still picking up the pieces, and with the Enclave no more, Siv felt like a stranger in his own home.

Volo Dragr was dead. Siv learned that when he arrived at White Scar. There were a few seasoned Rangers, veterans of the outbreak, managing the Post, but Clan Dragr's quarters were deserted. What more, ARTUS was offline. He needed to find his son. A few droid frames had provided him with flight logs out of White Scar, and he'd tracked his son's ship to a place he knew all too well.

The Temple of Javarr.

Although Sahan had claimed the ancient site as his own, Siv had been one of the first Mandalorians to explore it, years before Sahan had even been born. Touching down in front of the lone, windswept peak in which the temple was built into, a feeling of deja vú came over Siv. He remembered setting down here decades ago as the spearhead of the Enclave's operations on Kestri.

As he made his way through the temple's entrance, he noticed the heaps of Vong carcasses, the battle scars, and offline defensive systems. Basic power was still running through the temple, but all of the security measures that he had watched Sahan put in place were down. The loss of ARTUS was perhaps the biggest blow to the Mandalorians, and they were just beginning to feel the effects of it.

Sahan's forge was empty, but for telltale signs of battle. The armory too was bereft of life. At long last Siv arrived at the infirmary, where he came face to face with what he had been dreading to see; his son, suspended in a bacta tank, floating in the ethereal blue fluid, scars covering his body. A lone screen nearby displayed vitals, faint but steady.

Siv clenched a fist. He did not shed a tear, but felt emotion well up beside him, and turned his head downwards in in shame. He was supposed to be Alor of his Clan, and where had that led him? Volo, dead. His son, dying.

Had he failed?
 


Sahan floated in the synthetic bacta, music still playing - the sound reverberating through the liquid yet muffled from the outside. His mind drifted out to the eternal winter outside. The red blood that had ran that day had long since frozen over, weathered by the icy wind, and blown away, to be covered by fresh snow. If it weren't for Vong bodies still scattered here and there - ones not yet collected by predators - there would be no evidence left of that day. He thought of things he could have done differently to save his brethren. To save his own family... Uncle Volo was dead, and Suvi likely was too. Her body had never been recovered, but MIA was almost as good as dead. Something deep within him cursed himself for not saving Volo. It whispered that he still could, that he had the means right there in his lab... Yet he knew that would not truly bring him back. Whatever was there would not be the same Uncle Volo...

Sahan's senses snapped alive. Someone was in his lab. Without even thinking, he reacted. The sensors and IV needles ripped from his body as he launched himself through the tank glass to grab whoever had trespassed, a long shard of glass held like a dagger to plunge into the person's throat.

But almost as quickly as he reacted, he stopped himself. He knew that armor. He blinked blood red eyes as recognition set in, his rage fading more from this sight than the music had done. "Dad!" The grapple turned into a full embrace as he dropped the glass shard. "You're still alive! It's about time you made it back. It's been Hell here." He stepped back. "I'm sure you've probably spoken to Vren and learned some of what's gone on while you were gone..." He turned to grab a tunic he had waiting nearby and hastily donned it. He glanced at the diagnostic screen and silenced the alarm that had sounded when he broke the tank. "Oops. Damn thing hasn't woked right in a while anyway. No medical diagnostics have registered my vitals correctly since I fell ill on Scarif. As you can see, I'm fine. More or less." His hair was completely gone, but his flesh was completely regenerated and healed. This was honestly quite surprising; it should have taken much longer to heal, but he did not say this aloud.

He grabbed a pair of his Rulariyi Mandalorian Sunglasses. His busted armor lay in charred pieces on a repair bench, so he used the HUD on the sunglasses instead of the visor on his helmet. It would take a long while to repair the armor, especially with ARTUS down. His shop down here was being run on a backup of some of the AI's auxiliary programming. It was better than nothing, but it was no substitute for the real ARTUS.

Sahan ran a hand over the gauntlets. They would be the easiest to repair first. And his glowing ironheart had survived completely intact. It was alloyed with Manda crystals that gave it a pale blue color, like that of superheated metal. It encased the reactor that ran his armor. He picked it up; it had a leather thong tied around it to make it a temporary medallion. Even without his armor, he could still wear his ironheart. He slipped it around his neck.

"Tell me, Dad. Did you find what you were looking for? Please tell me it was worth it. Could really use some good news right now."

TAGS: Siv Dragr Siv Dragr
 


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S I T H B A N E
Tag: Sahan Dragr Sahan Dragr

Siv shielded his face as the tank suddenly shattered, raising his arms to protect his bare head from the glass shards. Doing so blocked his vision, so he was taken by surprise when his son tackled him to the floor.

One hand was around Siv's neck, another held a glass shard as a dagger, bacta fluid dripping from his son's near-naked frame. Siv was ready to defend himself, but resisted the instinct to fight back. Instead, he braced, reading to block the strike. But Sahan's breathing steadied, and a look came over his eyes as if he recognized who he was about to kill.

"Dad!" The grapple turned into a full embrace as he dropped the glass shard. "You're still alive! It's about time you made it back. It's been Hell here."

Siv returned the embrace, still slightly out of breath and off-guard. Awkwardly, he patted his son's back, wet from the bacta. "Glad to see you, too," he grunted, out of breath. As his son continued to speak, he got himself to his feet, wiping the bacta residue off of his armor to the best of his ability.

"Tell me, Dad. Did you find what you were looking for? Please tell me it was worth it. Could really use some good news right now."

He paused, Sahan's probing question breaking his train of thought. Siv looked at his son, jaw set squarely, his face hard. "No," he said, shortly. Truth was that his mission had been a failure, if nothing else, because now the Enclave was no more. And Kestri was barely recognizable.

He looked around the medical room, now covered with bacta and shards of glass. "Looks like you've been at work," he grunted to change the conversation. "Vren explained to me what happened with the Vong." He ran a finger over his gauntlets, absentmindedly. "If I am being honest, Sahan..." his voice caught with emotion. Volo was gone. He hadn't really stopped to let that sink in. In a way that he hadn't felt since he was his son's age, he felt alone. "I don't know where to go from here."
 
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"I don't know where to go from here."

"We don't need to know where to go from here, only how. It's the same as always. We are Mandalorian. We fight, we die, we rise again. You're the one who taught me that. You've lived through worse. And you're not alone this time. There's still three of us left in Clan Dragr." Sahan motioned for his buir to follow as he made his way to a different room. "Come see some things I've been working on."

It was a large biological research lab with organic specimens floating in various tanks. There were massive, caged animal pins with three species of sleeping creatures inside. There were a handful of fully grown Ji'yr Rekr, three Dire Snow Bears, and two completely new creatures Siv would have never seen before. They were obviously reptilian, yet they also had white fur covering them. (It would also be difficult to miss a machine in the corner that looked like it had exploded at one point. Any shrapnel had been cleaned up, but there were still char marks and blood stains on the floor and wall around the machine.)

"I've been using cloning and other bioengineering methods to rebuild our fauna populations. Also to create more predators to hunt down what Vong remain. And these guys," he motioned to the reptiles, "are a new subspecies of the Murdertooth, the Kuryida Edee, that I created. I call it the Gaht'yc Kuryida'edee. They'd make great mounts, as well. Like the Kestri version of the Mythosaur." He paused a moment. "Which I also helped increase in numbers on Mandalore, before the new 'Empire' took over with its Sithfriend on the throne..." There was a palpable aura of anger that radiated from him for a moment. "Verd." His voice was full of venom as he said the name.

"That's one thing we need to do, in my opinion. We need to take down that false Mand'alor. But others don't seem to care as much as I do about that. Far as I'm concerned, you're the only Mando'ad left alive that is worthy of that title. Regardless, we should meet with the others, see what we can decide on. And we need to eventually cut through to ARTUS's servers, so I can repair them and reactivate him. I'm only running on an emergency backup right now. The rest of Kestri doesn't even have that."

Sahan hugged his father once more. "We'll get through this. And you just being here is enough to give me hope for the future."

TAGS: Siv Dragr Siv Dragr
 

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