Return of the Damned

[Tempest]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Doubtless the Grand Seraph would be unimpressed by the High Captain’s pompous blustering, so on that score at least, Kaida did not have to fear reprisal.

However, Tempest stood still, gritting her teeth. It seemed that all races had their own collection of total and utter bitches.
Fortunately neither Lieutenant or Captain lost control enough to give the High Captain the beating she probably deserved. Instead, they headed out into the sunlight.

“Well, we should still pass the message on. I’ll forward it to Siobhan. At least if the legions of doom appear, we can’t be blamed for not passing on the message.”

“So what do you want to do now? I’ve got to finish up inspecting the rotary cannons overlooking the path. Did you want to come along?”

Best friends forever! They were Team Natural Disaster!

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tempest"]


"I probably cannot blame her too much. I hear inbreeding's bad for your brain," Kaida said scathingly. No, she did not like blue-bloods at all. Except for the Queen. She had the feeling that if the legions of doom did attack the High Captain would claim she had known and prepared for it all along, but maybe one of the stone people would do everyone a favour and just smash the queen.


Anyhow, they were out in the sunlight and since no Lost Kar'zun Force Wizards had suddenly teleported into the base through the time and tested power of quantum tunnelling, she did not have much to do.


"Sounds good," Kaida said simply in response to the question about inspecting the rotary cannons. Her capacity for small talk was rather limited. The gun emplacements overlooking the path did not just consist of the conventional rotary blaster cannon. Recently the Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers had become a Firemane subsidiary, and so some of their shiny designs had been incorporated.


Thus Eldorai soldiers manned a couple examples of the High Velocity Kinetic Firearm - Rotary Cannon - 1 , more commonly known as the shattergun rotary cannon since that was far simpler to remember. It was a very effective anti-infantry and anti-heavy infantry weapon for fire support with some anti-vehicle capabilities, though very expensive. The cannon gunners were shielded by class ten mobile durasteel barricades that came equipped with built-in repulsorlifts for ease of deployment and density projectors for anchoring.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

So much stone, there was a power running through it, something Elayne could feel within the very fiber of her being. As she came up the path to the Citadel of Dusk, it couldn't helped but be noticed how she felt, almost joyous to be so close to her element. A happiness expressed in a small smile. Unlike her sister, Elayne actually showed emotion from time to time, aside from cold bitter scowls, though she had those too.

There was a strange feeling that hit her as she watched a Kar'zun heading away from the fortress and down the path. Unlike most of her kin, she felt for the stone people quite differently. Perhaps it was because she shared the earth, and stone with them that she felt greatly for them and wished a better life for them, even if the rest of the Eldorai did not share her mind. Though it was a view she never really spoke of. A very progressive thought, but a progressive woman, she was not, at least not openly.

It was as he passed her on the way down as she was coming to deliver a convoy of supplies to the fort, that she felt a shift a change in the very stone around her. It wasn't him, she knew it. But something different, greater, a sense of urgency, and perhaps danger but she couldn't be certain.

Something was changing and the stone around her seemed suddenly troublesome. Something in the stone seemed to vibrate in strangely with her to the point as she came near to the gates she stepped aside from the convoy and knelt down placing a hand upon the stone path.

Closing her eyes she reached into the force, giving herself over to it as she reached into the earth beneath her. The resulting feeling, pained her as she withdrew with a hiss. Discord, painful discord and chaos. Something terrible was coming, she was certain now. The earth all around her spoke of it. But the question was, what was it? What could she do about it from here? Was there someone she could tell, who would actually believe her. After all no one else seemed to sense the shift, the strangeness. And was it really something truly harmful or just a new sensation to the Geomancer being so close to so much of her element and raw power.

Looking most worried, burdened Elanil rushed to catch up with the convoy that was already entering the gates ahead. Someone surely would say something of her delay behind the convoy but it couldn't be helped. Some things were more important than a simple delivery. With a heavy frown, she signed over the supplies at the gates before being asked to survey the perimeter.

The discordant vibrations only seemed to grow in the earth and with it her concern, but honestly she'd never had a feeling like this before today. This wasn't something the Redhead had ever needed to voice to someone higher up before, so she took her orders with a sigh and headed off to check the perimeter as asked.

The further around the base she got, the more she felt the need to tell someone, anyone that something was happening. Something was coming. Even if they didn't believe a word of it, she knew it in her heart when the stone around her spoke so loudly. But for the time being the young Angelii Talon was on her own, though that wouldn't last long as she came into sight of Kaida and Tempest, a pair she'd never met before. It'd be a moment or two more before she came into speaking distance with the Eldorai and dark skinned Human.

[member="Tempest"], [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Linna Beorht]

[member="Anya Venari"]

Linna's terms, all things considered, were fairly basic for this sort of arrangement. Benefits, reasonable expense account, direct access. The former two were de rigeur; the last was the only potential sticking point. Without direct access to Her Majesty and the right facts, she couldn't be of much use at all. On this point she was both direct and diplomatic, in a masterful sense that her sleep-deprived writer cannot hope to emulate.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Kaida Taldir"]

Tempest and Kaida took out their frustrations about stupid officers by ruthlessly inspecting the outside defences.
The pathway up to the gates was a necessary evil, but it was also the fortress’ weakest point. To counter this, very heavy defences had been devised to protect it. As enumerated before, shatterbolters behind ARGH barricades were mixed with Javelin and Ballista emplacements, and also supplemented with pop-up durasteel bollards which would impede vehicles, but still expose infantry to heavy fire.
The two BFFs closely examined each emplacement in turn, checking lines of sight as much as possible.
Finally satisfied, Tempest and Kaida headed down to the road.

There they saw a supply convoy coming up the slope. Its leader, though she didn’t emerge immediately, seemed to be a readhead Angelii.
“Sergeant Elayne Saedaris, I think,” Tempest said, consulting her manifest. She had not switched over to the Eldorai ranks yet, and so stubbornly referred to them by the human term.

Since nothing else was going on, Tempest walked over to meet the Eldorai woman and nodded a greeting.
“Anything to report, Sergeant?” she asked. Probably Kaida should have done that, but Tempest was bored and Kaida could get in her questions next.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Elayne Saedaris"]


The time would come when Eldorai ranks would become galactic standard. Even if it took several thousand years! Unlike her writer, Kaida cared a lot less about the technicalities and names, having spent several years in the ranks of Omega Pyre before returning to Kaeshana to rejoin the Angelii.


Anyhow, so far she had not found too many reasons to yell at grunts since they seemed to be doing their job. Shattergun rotary cannons and shatterbolters along with turrets provided a powerful defence, with soldiers shielded by durasteel barricades. One advantage of the position deep in the mountains was that it would make the passage of heavy vehicles more difficult. To be sure, this was detrimental when it came to delivering supplies via convoys over the road, but enemy armoured vehicles could drive up the road, it would be more difficult, especially since it was rather narrow. The solid durasteel slugs fired by a shatterbolter could pierce heavy vehicle armour, while the bolts were ideal for bombardment purposes against contingents of infantry. Likewise a few soldiers carried missile launchers because, hey, there was nothing wrong with even more explosive power!


The roar of engines and the clouds of dust billowing up into the sky heralded the arrival of the convoy of vehicles before it came in sight. It was nothing out of the ordinary, since the base was scheduled to receive new supplies. As the saying goes, tactics win battles, logistics wins wars. Or something like that. To function the troops in the base needed spare ammunition, spare parts for vehicles and fighters, whatever fuel this Galaxy used for the aforementioned vehicles and craft, power cells, spare comm devices, night vision googles, food, drink, toilet paper and Ashira's Angels magazines.


Well, the last item on the list was probably not essential, but whatever.


Anyhow, Kaida noticed Talon Elayne Saedaris leading the convoy, though Tempest had already addressed her, something the cryomancer was fine with. According to some she was antisocial, a claim she would dismiss since she simply did not like using more words than needed. Or attending those weird 'Literacy Modules' that seemed all the rage in Firemane. So instead she looked over the datapad that contained the checklist of items the convoy was delivering after it had been given to her by the commander of the truck that was leading the column. She gave the Eldorai NCO a nod to answer Tempest's question though.


It was quiet, too quiet. There was also a strong wind blowing their way, which gave her the moderately amusing idea that it would be fun to conjure up a tempest to grip the High Captain Lady Tahril tight and fling her into the abyss.

 

[Vaena Askari]

Their targets were only asteroids but the swarm of bombers, which scoured the stars like birds of prey out on a hunt, attacked the floating rocks as if they posed a threat to the very existence of holy Kaeshana itself. Products of the joint development of Firemane Industries & Technology and Eldorai State Arms, the craft were the fruit of what was popularly called the self-strengthening movements of Star Queen Tirathana the Seventh.


In order to be able to maintain its autonomy and way of life, Kaeshana had to evolve with the times, for whilst the Eldorai had slept, the Galaxy had moved on without them and left them behind. Now they were playing catch-up and it behooved the elves to embrace the advancements of modern technology, even if it meant learning from outsiders. The bombers in question were the next generation of Quasar bombers, more powerful and better armed than their parent model. When the first bombers had left the factories, many Eldorai had complained about how unaeshtetic and 'ugly' they looked, as if the point of a tool of war was to look fancy and satisfy the Elves' infatuation with classic designs and flagrant extravagance. Tarissa was not one of them and so her focus was on the simple fact that the next generation was more powerful and better armed.


Joining them were two Kerrigan-Class Bombers, still very much in the prototype phase, but designed to embody all the 'virtues' of its namesake. Namely it was supposed to be tenacious, unrelenting and carry with it both high risk and high reward. Hopefully the pilots would not follow the woman's example too much and get distracted from their actual work because they were reading 'articles' of Ashira's Angels. Or experience sudden outbursts of heroism and death charge superior enemy formations. A bomber is not a battering ram and the Skybreaker Naval Torpedoes the bombers carried required pilots with nerves of steel, timing and precision, not berserkers. The torpedoes' design was said to be revolutionary and to set new standards in naval warfare, though Tarissa was rather sceptical about that. All of the bomber's ordinance was combined in a single weapon to mount it. Thus if a hit on an unshielded or poorly shielded target was scored, it would cause exceptional damage.


Adril-class starfighters blazed a trail across the stars as they flew escort for the bombers, carrying out time and tested manoeuvres, practiced again and again, to shield them against illusionary interceptors. Sleek and nimble, the white-coloured craft was highly manoeuvrable and far more in line with the Eldorai's strange obsession with art. The naming made Tarissa wonder whether Firemane had a Cult of Personality going on, since it was named after Adril Tythorin, Siobhan's Jedi teacher. Who, one might remember, had died a hero fighting an eldritch abomination. For some reason plenty of people that Tarissa was her spitting image. It tended to annoy the noblewoman a great deal.


The pilots were doing well, but then they had no active opposition. They were going through manoeuvres as they had been practiced again and again. Granted a number of squadrons had experience in fighting corsairs and raiders, but even those attacks had died down since the creation of the Tirathana Skyport. Engaging such foes was one thing, fighting an armada bent not on mere pillage, but on seizing Kaeshana and enslaving the Eldorai wholesale was another.


"We're expected to have two additional squadrons of Kerrigan-Class Bombers ready for flight within two months, pending the final performance report. According to the Ministry of War, the complete fleet overhaul will take a while because the Citadels are tearing a massive hole into our budget. Like a Jester left alone in a kitchen," Kumari commented as she stepped over to Tarissa, after having barked out some commands to the squadron leaders, delivering instructions and criticism here and there.


"I see. Well, Santaissa can sleep safely in the belief that hordes of evil will not teleport into the city centre without our cannons firing on them," Tarissa said sardonically. "I'll be pushing for accelerated fleet development at the next Council session. Bases for the outlying provinces on Kaeshana can wait until our fleet is up to spec. The haggling for where this or that base should be set up is turning into a political game between nobles anyway."


Outside the viewport, strafing runs by bombers were reducing asteroids to gravel and space dust. Laser fire lanced through space to scythe through floating pieces of debris to bring about brilliant explosions. The message from the Eldorai scouting ship Emerald 4 had not yet reached the fleet. It would so when the plot demanded it!


All looked well and orderly on paper. The citadels were about to come online, so far no accidents had happpend during the manoeuvres in space. It was enough to make Tarissa suspicious. She was not the sort to receive vision of the future and the like, but she could not help the nagging suspicion that something was going to happen.


"Ms. Kumari, do you intend to go on shore leave?" she asked in a neutral tone.


The XO apparently had an idea of what was about to happen but straightened up and tried to look neutral. "Yes, Lady. I had a vaction planned in Nadna. Why? There's been no accidents, no disturbances."


"Leave is cancelled," Tarissa interjected before the naval officer could say anything more.


"Run the crew through a renewed series of drills. I want this battleship to be combat ready if the situation calls for it and a shining exemplar to the fleet. The Ardarvian Festivals can wait."


"Respectfully, ma'am, we've been pushing the crew non-stop for weeks. At some point the need a couple days to blow off steam. Otherwise they just start slacking from sheer tedium. COAS has reported a marked decrease in pirate activity."


Tarissa dismissed these claims as if she were swatting insects away. "Objection noted and dismissed. If they slack, push them to work." Her point made she turned her eyes back to the stars.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Elayne shifted quickly to salute both as they got closer. "Lieutenant, Captain." She said quickly, acknowledging both, though their names completely escaped her. An audible sigh escaped her lips as she glanced between both. "Nothing in the normal sense .... but there is something." The redhead said with a frown.

She honestly wasn't sure how they'd both take what she was going to say next. "I'm not certain what it is exactly, but there is a change in the earth, the stone here. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but there is a sense of urgency, a sense of fear, of something terrible coming." A hand came up to rub at her forehead, a mighty headache starting to grow with the discordant vibrations in the stone surrounding them. "Whatever it is that is happening within my element, it's getting worse." Elayne still had her doubts, but even those were slowly melting away as feelings worsened.

For a moment, she glanced around her before sighing again, "No one else seems to sense anything at all. Maybe it's just the way we're surrounded by stone here, never felt so much raw power before." She said with a shrug, trying to ease her own worries. Surely she wasn't the only one to sense something, but yet no one else seemed to carry the same worried expression, or even sense of concern that she did. Perhaps it was just slight paranoia?

[member="Tempest"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Linna Beorht"]
After discussing matters with Linna a little while longer the Queen nodded her head.
"Thank you for your offer of support, Ms Beorht. I think you could be a great asset to Kaeshana. I accept your offer to be my foreign affairs advisor. I frequently have need to discuss matters with off-worlders and your input will be very useful. Thank you."
The interview was at an end and the Queen returned to work.

[member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]
Meanwhile, high in space scout ship Emerald 4 had finally managed to bring herself into range of the receivers.
"Alert! Alert! This is Scoutship Emerald 4. Large vessel of unknown origin spotted in outer system at coordinates 378-867-565. Repeat, large and unknown ship, possibly hostile is heading towards the homeworld!"
The message, now received, travelled up the chain of command to Tarissa herself, and soon the young pilot was docking and being shown up to see the Lady Cadalthor herself.

 

[Tempest]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Kaida Taldir"]

Tempest frowned, looking at the other Angelii. Her somewhat vague premonitions of doom seemed to be in keeping with the day so far. Tempest looked to Kaida, then back.
"You know...there was a Kar'zun before who also was getting jittery. They said there was a legend about a returning exiled legion of doom. Is that what you're sensing?"
In truth Tempest was starting to get a bit nervous. Silly and unlikely as it all sounded, all these portents were getting a bit too numerous to ignore. She reached for her datapad, intending to send a message to Siobhan and warn her....

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"]


The training drills were just winding down when suddenly the Valora's Blade finally received the transmission. By now a couple hours must have passed since Emerald 4 came across the intruder.


"Alert! Alert! This is Scoutship Emerald 4. Large vessel of unknown origin spotted in outer system at coordinates 378-867-565. Repeat, large and unknown ship, possibly hostile is heading towards the homeworld!"


Tarissa heard the transmission with a grim expression on her face as the comms officer aboard the bridge played it for her. A few moments later the pilot of the scout ship had boarded and was vigorously questioned. Given the amount of time that had passed, by now the intruder would soon be very close to the homeland.


But who could it be? Corsairs? That was unlikely. The Lords of the Fringe would probably not send one massive ship and in any case it seemed that a relative peace had developed between them and the Protectorate since Eriadu. The Sith were too far away...But there was no time for speculation and so her reaction was very quick.


"Pass on the message to the Ashira's Wrath and inform Her Majesty. I will direct this personally. Close up to General Quarters, gunners and pilots to the stations. Bombers are to rearm and prepare for deployment. Deploy a squadron of Adril fighters for find and recon this intruder," she snapped coldly.


"Yes, ma'am. At least now we may have the field test we wanted," her XO could not resist making a snarky comment, something which earned her a disapproving glare from the Eldorai aristocrat.


Tarissa got comfortable in her captain's chair. It might be noted that strictly speaking she was not a proper naval officer and it was quite accurate to say that she had partially gotten the job due to political connections. Hence why she was in command of a support heavy cruiser and not of the actual flagship that participated in slug fests up close and personal. Nonetheless she would expect her troops...minions to do their job. Otherwise they would be punished, even if 'cruel and unnecessary' punishments had been abolished by whiny liberals. Likewise she did not waste time with dramatic speeches.


"Kaeshana expects every Eldorai to do her duty," she solemnly. Before her eyes lay the small fleet of the Eldorai and Firemane. Well, it was more accurate to call it a small flotilla. Likewise there was the Tirathana Skyport, which could provide a powerful barrier with its heavy guns. Time for whoever was behind this intrusion, no matter who or what, to realise that Kaeshana would not be pushed around. Anyone who dared trespass would be crushed under an iron heel! "And someone call Doctor [member="Elanil Saedaris"]. We may have use for her device."

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

Another sigh came as Elayne glanced back to the path up to the fortress where she'd last seen the Kar'zun. "I saw him on the way up here. Though, I did not stop him as I passed. Perhaps, I should have." A part of her wondered about what exactly the creature had said, and what their fears were.

Her frown deepened, "I hold a bond with the Kar'zun because with them I share the element." She rubbed at her forehead once more, "It's the only thing that can explain the feelings of some impending danger, the fears, and urgency that I can sense right now." All of it made her uncomfortable but now things were making more sense. If the Kar'zun were worried about this, then it explained some of the discordant sensations through the earth. "For the amount of discord I feel, the threat has to be real, and coming soon. Very soon."

[member="Tempest"] [member="Kaida Taldir"]

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Elayne Saedaris"], [member="Tempest"]


Apparently today was the day of ominous portents of doom. It was all very dramatic and vaguely like Galaxy of Fantasy. The only thing missing was the High Captain making air quotes while dismissing claims.


Kaida handed the datapad with the inventory list back to the driver of the lead truck of the convoy. "It's in order. Get the convoy off the road," she said crisply, motioning for the guards to let them pass so that the supplies could be offloaded. Her attention was turned back to the pair, as she had heard Elayne speak about the discord she had felt through the bond she shared with the stone people, which meant that she was a geomancer.


"Trouble'll be here soon. Arm yourself accordingly. Your powers will be useful in this terrain," Kaida said, you might have guessed it by now, laconically. Needless to say having someone who could manipulate rocks and the earth would be useful considering the base had been built deep into the mountains. The Citadel of Dusk was built a good deal away from Santaissa, the main centre of Eldorai civilisation, and comparatively isolated, but in the case of invasion Dawn was close enough to deliver support.


Her eyes travelled over the forces arrayed to defend the road to the base and the firepower at their disposal. During the original war sonic and pulse weapons had proved efficient against Kar'zun. Being made with the toughness of stone, they were extremely resistant to both heat and cold, but vulnerable to lightning and electricity. Thus sonic weapons and ion blasters would be of use, and now the new model army had bolters and shattercannons.


The fact that the base had been built into the mountains would severely limit the support from armoured vehicles the Eldorai could get, though the same held true for any invaders. Air power would be available to give them a good pounding though. Kaida would wonder how the legions of doom would get a modern fleet, but apparently the One Sith had been able to spit out top-notch warships shortly after taking Coruscant despite the fact that the city-planet had not even possessed a shipyard before.

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

Elanil was startled from her sleep by the buzzing of her comlink. Groggily she flopped her hand around upon the nightstand seeking to find the source of her irritation. Before she found the source, her hand stumbled upon something taking over her nightstand. A package of some sort. With a.... ribbon? Now that seemed odd to her, as she didn't remember placing anything of that nature at her nightstand when she laid down for her nap.

That got her attention more than the comlink as she sat up quickly from where she'd been sleeping. Reaching over she flipped on the light and glanced over as she finally grabbed her comlink and shut it off. Rubbing her eyes slowly she had to check twice that she was seeing correctly. But she was, sitting there was a gift box, ribbon and all right there on her nightstand. It made little sense to her, but she put the idea aside long enough to check the message on her com. It seems she was needed on the bridge. This is starting to become a pattern.... Yes, yes it was.

Knowing it was about to be a very long day, she took the time to remove the card from the gift and read it, the note spoke of both her beauty and her genius, and alas was from the Countess Kerrigan. In truth, she could get used to hearing more about both those subjects in regards to her. Not used to receiving gifts of any kind, she tore open the box, surprised to find a box from the Lady's Haven beneath the wrapping. Inside, a rather gorgeous pair of heels sat waiting for her.

It was about then that her comlink buzzed again. "I'm coming, I'm coming...." She snapped, as she answered it coldly. Her mind didn't think much to the present, aside from them being some very lovely shoes. There was no thought in her mind, to what Siobhan might really be seeking. To her, it really had all to do with her brains and nothing more than that. After all, who couldn't appreciate a good brain, especially one as fine as hers.

With a sigh, she rose from the bed, straightened out her clothing, and took a quick look in the mirror to make sure all was in order. A second spent with a brush and Elanil was happy enough. It wasn't like Elayne was around to see her looks or anything of that nature. Up here, she didn't have as much of a need to show up her sister. Not with so much firepower behind her. With that done she headed off at a brisk pace for the bridge, with a single datapad in hand. After all, she only needed one to watch and control the functions of her MD device.

Finally she stepped upon the bridge and looked to Tarissa. "I'm told I was needed." She said curtly.

[member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]

 

[Anya Venari]

[member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]
The Queen had returned to her work when the news came.
There was a commotion outside the doors, and Anya's hand dropped to her concealed switch which would bring up an energy shield around her desk. The royalty of Kaeshana were learning to be safe rather than sorry!
In the event though it was only her aide, Tamai.
"Majesty, grave news from Lady Cadalthor!" she said, hurrying forward with a datapad.
What, she's decided it'd be a good idea to burn half her crew for heresy? Anya said to herself.
Instead she took the datapad and read it. Her eyes widened. "Is this confirmed?"
"Yes, Majesty. The fleet has detected the object now on long range scans. It's coming right for us."
"Red alert. Send a message at once to the Crown and the Citadels to prepare for combat. Summon the Angelii to their posts. Send a message to the Protectorate informing them of this. They won't be here in time, but they should be informed. Summon Prince Malas, have him take my daughter with a strong escort to safety, I will remain here. And finally...prepare the Crown's shield over Kaeshana. It's likely we're ready only just in time."
She paused. "And get me a line to Siobhan Kerrigan. I don't care where she is. After that I will make a public broadcast."

 

[Vaena Askari]

[member="Anya Venari"], [member="Elanil Saedaris"]


"Is the MD deployable? We may have a target for it," Tarissa responded just as curtly when Elanil entered the bridge. "A massive object has been detected on long range scans. We assume a hostile ship. It is coming right for Kaeshana."


Her tone was as grim as the expression upon her face as she gazed through the viewport. The Valora's Blade had gone into full combat readiness, with all gunners manning their stations and marines being deployed to fend off possible boarding parties. Swarms of fighters were being scrambled and shooting out of the hangar of the big warship into the cold vacuum of space, whilst bombers were being armed and prepared for deployment. This included even the new Kerrigan-Class Bombers armed with the prototype torpedoes that had just been tested.


The Ashira's Wrath had been notified and through the viewport could be seen leaving its docking space in the berth of the Tirathana Skyport. Shark-shaped Illyria-class frigates were prowling through space and taking up position as the fleet moved into formation, joined by corvettes and othe smaller ships. Whatever threat came to assail the homeland, they would stand, fight and annihilate it. Hope was irrelevant, casualties did not matter. For the Goddess would not abide failure.


"Lady Cadalthor, we're receiving a transmission from the scout patrol. Patching it through now...," the comms offier spoke before pressing the button, for a patrol of starfighters had been sent out to locate and analyse the massive object that was heading straight for Kaeshana...

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

At the Citadel of Dawn the inspection had been continuing without much interruption. The Grand Seraph Aeda Shaytari was a bit further ahead, since presumably the general officers at the base wanted to chat with her. One imagined that Siobhan and Tegaea had gotten a look of the place and could see how much appreciated the weapons' designs of Firemane and the ARGH were. Construction of both bases had cost a fortune and for a long period of Kaeshana would not be able to create more bases of this magnitude.


That said, it would perhaps be advisable to construct some smaller fortifications and spread them across the planet at key points. They would probably have to forego heavier armaments such as Tempest cannons, but could serve as forts for small, mobile units of the Eldorai army to intercept landing forces that somehow evaded the Citadels and Ashira's Crown. This could tie in with the idea of creating a fully mechanised, armoured corps for the army.


However, such musings were now abruptly interrupted. For her part Siobhan's enjoyment of the view was limited by the fact that by now she was in considerable pain, to an extent where could not ignore it, and so much to her annoyance she had been forced to sit down since her organic leg protested too much.


It was then that she suddenly received a message from Tempest. She looked at the display on the datapad and shook her head upon having read it. For a moment she wondered whether it was Corellian Fool's Day, but then dismissed that claim. Her Sexy Minion...err, apprentice...would not send a message about an impending Lost Kar'zun invasion if it was a joke. She was about to say something to Tegaea when all of a sudden the entire base was thrown into hectic activity, with soldiers rushing to man the defences, grab weapons from the armoury and starfighters were scrambled.


So she hit a button on her comm, sending a quick transmission to Chesna to get Galina to safety. A total troll the Eldorai might be, but she could be trusted in this regard. Then her comm beeped again and she answered, seeing that it was the special frequency [member="Anya Venari"] used to contact her. "Tegs, we should go to the bunker," she spoke before accepting the call.


"Anya, what the blazes is going on? I'm at Dawn and just got a strange message from Tempest. Says a Kar'zun rep showed up at Dawn and yammered something about how his people wanted to warn the Elves that a legion of lost Kar'zun's coming back to conquer the planet." It sounded ridiculous, but Siobhan had little trouble believing it simply because by now she had encountered body-hopping Sith Lords, a balrog, star brat, energy vampires,the Lost Sith, Cthulhu and the One Sith.


On the bright side, @Linna Beohrt should have lots of things to spin! What with the lost legions returning to conquer Kaeshana and avenge the genocide the Eldorai committed against their people a thousand years ago.

 

[Elayne Saedaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"] [member="Tempest"]

Honestly, confirmation that trouble really was coming was possibly the last thing Elayne wanted to hear. None the less the signs and portents were here, and could not be denied. In truth, she'd not expected to be believed, only dismissed. It was somewhat a relief to not be brushed off though she didn't let it show as there were far too many other distractions and things to worry upon.

"Yes ma'am." She said quickly, unsure of what exactly to grab at first. Her powers seemed like the obvious weapon here, with the threat in mind as well as the area surrounding them. Aside from that truly, she felt she couldn't go wrong with a bolter, as well as the more traditional Sarix, and traditional armor of the Angelii.

Her thoughts drifted to her sister for a moment, a little worried. For Elanil was supposed to be in space today, that she knew, testing a new device. But her thoughts came back rapidly to the area around her as the tension in the stone beneath her feet intensified. "Whatever it is, is close now." Her unease was steadily growing, still.

 

[Elanil Saedaris]

[member="Tarissa Cadalthor"]

Elanil paused, and glanced to her datapad, "Yes, however there is one small problem." She said with a frown, "We have yet to install any true shielding." At that point in testing, they still weren't certain shielding was safe to use at all. But given what it could do, even without being protected by shielding, it was a beautiful weapon capable of vaporizing entire vessels.

"It's still on the asteroid, on remote control." She said as she lifted her datapad, indicating she held the remote for it.

Then the redhead had a question of her own, as she felt a twinge of anxiety coming from the surface. "How massive, exactly, are we talking?" Almost curious as to how large this threat truly was. Right now, all she knew was it was enough to make Elayne nervous, worried even and that left her more than a little concerned. Anytime she's felt her sister this anxious, it had not ended well. So now, she was feeling far more nervous than she ever should have been on such a mission. It was after all, a simple mission or it was. She was just here with the remote.

Now things were starting to get complicated, and she did worry, if it was invaders, true invaders, she couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag.... The idea of being boarded, terrified her though she tried her best to not let that show at this point. All she had was the shared bond between her, and her twin telling her something was wrong. She would be better off if she didn't let it ruffle her feathers this early on.

 

[Darth Libertas]

Far away from the hurly-burly, the military citadels built deep into the mountains of the Kaeshana and the sites that would soon become a battlefield, life was going on as normal. Well, the location in question happened to be the euphemistically named Visitors' Quarter of the Eldorai capital of Santaissa. By and large foreigners were encouraged to reside in the aforementioned quarter. Racial and cultural barriers were breaking down as Kaeshana opened itself to the outside world, but xenophobic notions still persisted. Recently the Quarter had been expanded as more and more merchants, mercenaries, technicians and general low-life flocked from the stars to reside here, some with more illicit pursuits in mind than others.


The exact location in the Visitors' Quarter that interests us for this post is your typical slightly sordid bar that seemed designed to attract all sorts of low-life, cuttthroats, smugglers and pilots who like to boast about how fast their tramp freighter is. Of course, most of their claims are bogus since none of them is Han Solo. And most certainly none of them are [member="Jorus Merrill"], Lord of the Hyperlanes and pilot of the most powerful tramp freighter ever. In any case, a mixed band of Bith, Twi'lek, Trandoshan and blonde human female were entertaining the guests with what probably could be called hard rock, a sound most offensive to the ears of conservatives Eldorai who rebelled at the notion that this could be considered proper music. Despite this social stigma, a small but noticeable number of the Space Elves had been attracted to the bar like moths to a flame, either being low-class Eldorai who did not care much for what the bigwigs thought or the children of the wealthy who thought being here was 'edgy'.


A scantily clad Zeltron girl acrobatically gyrated on one of the dancing poles, displaying feats of impressive reach and flexibility as she bent and twisted her attractive body in ways that were bound to result in credit chits being stuffed into her bra by the leecherous patrons who surrounded her. In a shadowy booth in the corner a few tough-looking Eldorai were meeting with Scutarii thugs. In all likelihood they were Dark Eldorai, though they kept their tattoos well-hidden, and the point of the contact was the acquisition of arms to support their insurgency.


Naamah Aesham had briefly looked them over and found it very ironic that they were dealing with the sort of criminal scum that had so often plagued their planet, coming down from the stars to rape, murder and enslave. Then again, she was used to a heavy dose of irony in life by now. Something was about to happen, this she knew. She could feel it in the Force, for though wthout the gift of foresight she was attuned to the energies of Chaos. She sensed the discord in the air, the simmering undercurrent of anger, hatred and violence that was just bubbling beneath the surface, much like a volcano that was about to erupt. She even picked it up from the large Kar'zun who was one of her companions seated at the her rather stained table, a partner in the game of poker she and the rest of the group were playing.


You see, even Naamah needed downtime sometimes and spending it in a piss-hole like this counted. Perhaps later she could kill someone with credits and steal their identity. Like that naive Eldorai girl who was sitting in a booth further away. She clearly had more credits than she needed. She took a sip from her glass of whiskey, savouring the taste, as she looked upon her cards. So much hatred and anger in the air, so much resentment, it was beautiful.


For a moment she was distracted, as she felt something...she really did not want to feel. [member="Mirien Valdier"] was suffering, though not in the sense of physical pain. She was suffering because she could not accept her past and her destiny. It made Naamah want to reach out and try to mend what was broken, but there was no telling about how that might end....


"Hey, girl, it's your turn? You gonna play or fold? If you don't have the creds, I'm fine with renegotiating terms. Blood's as good a currency as any," one of her companions, a Garhoon who for some reason had thought he looked cool with bleached-blonde air and wore a leather duster, shook her out of her musings.


"Always thinking with your fangs, Will. If there's a tussle between you and the human female, I'm betting on her," a Kar'zun declared. Naamah had decided within the span of a few moments that she liked him and would not mind to see the stone people rising up and giving the 'perfect' Eldorai a beating. Seeing the White Palace in flames would make her day. Doubtless the Eldorai and the Protectorate would yammer about terrorism and war crimes, when it was the Elves who had driven the stone people to the brink of extinction.


"Ey, you want to see just what I can do...Ari...," the vampire very quickly ended that train of thought and shut his mouth when he saw the look the Kar'zun was shooting him. Well, as a matter of fact it was a bit difficult to discern the expression of a stone guy but it was a bit more obvious when he was pissed and about to rip your head off.


"Men, always thinking with that thing between their legs," A Twi'lek smuggler girl dressed in spacer clothes snarked, being the fourth person in their group. "If you want to compare, we could just get a measuring tape out."


"Come to think of it, vampy, I like bloodplay. But you're just not good enough...unless you like being the one who's cut up," Naamah said sweetly. This produced good-natured and slightly morbid laughter. Apparently no one had realised just how serious she was, but then her extracurricular activities were her own business.


"Anyway, without further ado, here's my hand," and so she displayed it and put her cards on the table.


"You cheatin' queen!" the vamp exclaimed angrily, slamming his fist on the table with such force that it shook and it his glass of beer dropped down and was smashed on the floor.


"Now you're just sweettalking me. I'd keep good watch of that tongue if I were you." She might have cheated just a little bit. But that was what space magic was for! Oh, and Naamah looked like this. Mirien had always liked her in leather. Shame her former slave owner was not taking the whole former Bando Gora thing well.