Public Sun Over Shola

[Uriziel]

Outer Rim Territories | Shola
Dropzone Apollo

The contract was to track down and return a hostage as well recover an artifact stolen from Last Wall. The hostage was the daughter of a Duchess who had been taken to demand ransom while the artifact was a family heirloom, a circlet that was a Force imbued relic designating the heir to the family line. It was a very clear and simple mission the newly found Auric Champions had to do, yet it would not be without challenges.

From Last Wall the insurgents had taken the hostage and the prized item to the nearby world of Shola. The mercenary company was expected to be outnumbered, though that was less of an issue, the world itself was. A cataclysmic place of unbearable heat, they had to have either fully enclosed armour or a form of protective suits so they would survive, hindering their movement and flexibility. But the sellswords pushed forward and established Dropzone Apollo. A small, shortlived camp less than a kilometer from the enemy base. Luckily sensors were completely useless on the rampant world and so the mercenaries prepared for their assault.

Cold, professional and gold would be the summary of the figures of the Auric Champions, at least, some of them. It was a new mercenary unit that Uriziel was assembling, his own teachings and trainings hailing a legacy of the Sun Guard and Thyrsian culture. Even the volcanic world and its ash could barely hide his golden silhouette, pristine and splendid. He had arranged for equipment and weapons for his followers, uniform armours and suits to make them not merely weapons for hire, but a statement. The Golden Company, the Sun Guard, they were not merely inspiration, they were predecessors.

With his spear, Mythron, in hand, Uriziel looked over the preparations of the unit. Their first deployment. His gaze slowly moved towards the sky. "A storm is coming."

Shahar Aksum | Vatari Syndal | Ouan Nahundi
Open to those who wanna join the Auric Champions!
OOC Thread
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[Shahar Aksum]

Shahar Aksum had been on worlds that wanted her dead before, but Shola seemed unusually enthusiastic about it. Even through the protection of her sealed armor, the heat felt oppressive, surrounding Dropzone Apollo in shimmering waves beneath a sky choked with ash and volcanic haze. She had chosen the lightest protection available that could still keep the atmosphere from cooking her alive, and even that restricted her more than she liked. Every movement carried the additional awareness that damaging the suit could become considerably more dangerous than taking a blaster bolt somewhere less vital. Still, she supposed there were advantages to choosing a world so thoroughly hostile to life. Nobody came here accidentally.

She finished checking the seal around one gauntlet before looking toward the insurgent position less than a kilometer away. Somewhere inside was the Duchess's daughter, dragged away from her home so someone could put a price on her life. The circlet mattered too, especially if everything they had been told about the Force-imbued heirloom was true, but Shahar knew which part of the contract would remain with her if this went badly. She had spent too many years searching for missing people, recovering prisoners, and entering places frightened civilians desperately wanted to escape. Those instincts had not disappeared simply because she no longer called herself a Jedi.

Her gaze shifted toward Uriziel as he surveyed the newly assembled Auric Champions. Gold stood out spectacularly against the black and burning landscape, which Shahar suspected was entirely intentional. The imagery was impossible for a Thyrsian to miss. The Sun Guard, the Golden Company, and generations of martial tradition had been part of the stories surrounding her long before anyone placed a training saber in her hands. Seeing pieces of that inheritance resurrected here was strangely familiar, even if Shahar herself had never possessed quite the same enthusiasm for ceremony. She glanced down at her own considerably less spectacular armor before looking back toward all that gold. Apparently, subtlety had not survived the journey from Thyrsus.

A faint smile touched her lips beneath her helmet when Uriziel announced the approaching storm. Shahar tilted her head toward the sky, studying the gathering darkness before returning her attention to him. "I was going to say something profound about the dawn coming after the storm," she said, dry amusement carrying easily across the comm. "But considering where we are, I'm beginning to think the sun has already done quite enough." Her hand briefly checked the lightsaber secured at her side afterward, more habit than nervousness, before she settled in to wait for whatever orders followed.

Her attention returned to the distant base while preparations continued around her. Once the Auric Champions moved, the insurgents would eventually realize someone had come for what they had stolen, and Shahar knew how quickly captors could become unpredictable when control began slipping away. She could only hope the Duchess's daughter was being kept somewhere reasonably secure and far from whatever defenses awaited them. Shahar had left the Jedi because she no longer believed arriving after the violence was always enough, but she had never stopped believing in bringing people home. Whatever role Uriziel gave her when the assault began, if it brought her anywhere near that hostage, Shahar intended to make certain this one did.

Uriziel

 

[Vatari Syndal]

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Location: Drop Zone Apollo
Objective: Find the Hostage, Recover the Circlet
Status: Preparing
Tags: Ouan Nahundi

"The Goddess of the Sun reaches everywhere, even in the most ravaged of all places." ~Vatari Syndal~

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The searing heat of Shola had caused more issues than it was worth. The credits that would come from the current job better have been enough to pay for the things she would need in the coming months. The twin suns of Thyrsus had demanded her, no; chose her to bring truth to the galaxy. Even now, as she stood in her metallic obsidian battle suit with a fire resistant cloak draped over it, she could feel the Goddess of the Sun.

To the other Thyrsian, from what she had experienced, they refused to believe. This didn't make Vatari mad, but rather, made her strive to show them the truth. She was serious about her faith in the Sun goddess. The only thing more serious than her time with prayer, was the job. She looked over the ridge of the Apollo camp. Her HUD beamed to life, the yellow tint of her sleek helmet brightening for a brief moment.

A plethora of information sprung to life before her emerald eyes. A few indications of far off eruptions were the first of it. Then, the triangulation of the cliff-side base. The daughter of a Duchess was roughly a kilometer out. The terrain assessment seemed rough and the clouds above began to heavily shift to a menacing grey. She listened as the rest in her company bantered. The telltale signs of a storm being the point of contention.

Vatari heard a slight whisper, as if something in a deep well tried to reach her.

Use It

"The sun does only what it intends to do, never more Shahar Aksum ." Vatari looked her over, it was nice to see another Thyrsian in this line of duty. Plus, she seemed more than capable by the looks of her armor. Vatari pushed off the ridge-line with her onyx claw-like gauntlets, golden intricacies entwined throughout and looked at Uriziel .

"Should probably consider using that storm to our advantage." Her voice was stern, but held a robotic tinge through her ventilator. "We could take the base from the east, using the thunder that is to come as our way in." She stopped tilting her head up, the grey clouds roiling with a festering hue of black. "Chances are we have about another 15-20 minutes before this stretch of land is all rising steam from the rain. Perfect for, I don't know..." She paused, turning away from both of them as if something grabbed her attention.

She reached her hand outward, as if touching something gentle with her fingers as they played with the empty space of air around her. Then it left her and she spun back around, ignoring the awkward notion. Then she finished what she was saying.

"Infiltration."

 

[Uriziel]

Outer Rim Territories | Shola
Dropzone Apollo

"And that we shall." He responded Vatari, looking towards her with an approving nod. Her fervor was inspiring and welcome, he may not be religious but the symbolism of the Sun should not be neglected, it was ingrained in their souls and spirits, it needed to be fostered and catered for. Vatari Syndal might just be able to do that and make the heart of the Auric Champions a star in itself.

"Company, form up!" Uriziel spoke, it was difficult to not hear him, even through the suits and armours, it was almost as if he spoke into every individual ear, encouraging, commanding, supporting, leading, all at the same time. "Our mission today is simple. Recover the hostage alive under all circumstances, retrieve the lost heirloom and show the terrorists the justice of the sun itself. A storm is coming, we will advance Eastwards and hit them swift and hit them hard. Taking out their sentries and then moving in on the ruins they have claimed."

Roughly three dozen warriors had gathered, all of different statures and origins, several were Thyrsians, many were not. All bore the golden sun of the Auric Champions, even if they were dressed in a variety of hazmat suits and power armours. Uriziel would have to spend some resources on that after the mission - a uniform appearance was necessary. There were no ranks yet, no structure beyond rough squads, the Nephilim managing the battle ahead as tightly as possible to see who would come forth as capable leader.

"Trust in your comrades, trust in your spirit and trust in the Twin Suns of Thyrsus as your beacon. No darkness will prevent our advance, no darkness can enter your hearts!"

"Solar Invicta!" He raised his spear with every time he repeated the battle-cry.

"Aksum, Syndal, you will take point. I have uploaded a potential path to our battle-net. And I want you to secure the daughter at all costs. Can I entrust that mission to you?" Uriziel nodded at their light-footed Aksum and the spirited Syndal, a mere blink it seemed like eyes of pure light offered them as sense of spiritual reinforcement and encouragement.

Shahar Aksum | Vatari Syndal

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[Shahar Aksum]

Shahar listened as Vatari spoke of the sun with considerably more conviction than she had ever possessed herself. The other Thyrsian's faith did not bother her, even if Shahar had grown up regarding the Twin Suns more as part of their people's heritage than divine beings with intentions of their own. She glanced toward Vatari when the woman corrected her earlier joke, a faint smile hidden behind her helmet. "I'll try not to take it personally, then." There was warmth rather than mockery behind the answer. Whatever Vatari believed, Shahar had no interest in ridiculing something that clearly mattered to her.

The humor disappeared when Uriziel called the company together. Shahar straightened and listened as the route appeared on her HUD, her attention moving along the path leading eastward toward the ruins. Vatari's suggestion had been accepted, and the approaching storm offered them a chance to close the distance with considerably less exposure than a straightforward advance. More importantly, Uriziel made the priority unmistakable. The Duchess's daughter came out alive. Hearing that settled something in Shahar that had been quietly uneasy since they landed on Shola. The heirloom mattered, and the people responsible for the kidnapping would have to be dealt with, but none of it meant much if they returned to Last Wall carrying a circlet and a body.

When Uriziel singled her and Vatari out, Shahar turned toward him and gave a firm nod. Being placed at the front suited her considerably better than standing around discussing what they might encounter once they reached the ruins. "You can." Her answer was simple and certain. She glanced toward Vatari before adding, "We'll bring her back." It was not a promise Shahar made lightly. She knew too well that missions rarely cared about intentions, but if Uriziel was entrusting the hostage to them, then Shahar would do everything within her power to justify that trust.

The first distant rumble of thunder rolled across the volcanic landscape as Shahar checked the route on her HUD one final time. Her hand rested briefly against her lightsaber before she started toward the eastern approach alongside Vatari, keeping her movements measured over the uneven ground. Whatever reservations she might have possessed about the Auric Champions, this part was familiar. Somewhere ahead was someone who had been taken from her home and was waiting, whether she knew it or not, for strangers to come through the violence surrounding her and give her a way out.

Shahar looked toward Vatari as they moved, then toward the increasingly dark sky overhead. "Looks like you were right about the storm." Another low rumble followed, closer this time, and Shahar's smile returned beneath her helmet. "Let's see how much help your Goddess intends to give us." With that, she continued along the route Uriziel had given them, leaving the timing and direction of the larger assault in his hands while she focused on the task he had entrusted to her: reaching the Duchess's daughter and bringing her home alive.

Vatari Syndal Uriziel

 

[Vatari Syndal]

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Location: En-route From Drop Zone Apollo to Terrorist Ruins
Objective: Find the Hostage, Keep the Daughter Alive!
Status: Traversing Shola, En-route to Ruins.
Tags: Ouan Nahundi

Uriziel agreed with Vatari's tactics.

This was new for her, having individuals that actually responded when she spoke was a change she would have to get used to. She looked back to Shahar Aksum . A tiny grin surfaced on Vatari's face as she listened. It was ironic to think that something completely out of one's control could be used as a personal excuse to speak against it.

Vatari went stiff as Uriziel ordered the company to form up. Other golden hues layered shoulder to shoulder as they patiently obeyed. For Vatari, it was more difficult than anything else the job asked of her. Her life as a slave made her squirmish and even as she stood in silence part of her felt a burning desire to break free from the formation. It was a part of her that likely would never change, but in order to survive, Vatari found the Auric Champions. Their deep seated ideals were engrained to the very cause that broke her free from her own shackles and that was the most appealing to her. Only because of this, out of respect for what this group stood for, did she stay still and listened like the rest of them.

The speech was pretty good. The only problem with speeches... they didn't tend to survive the situations they were given in. The woman of the sun hoped that wouldn't be true today. Not when Uriziel was depending on both her and Shahar to retrieve, extract, and keep the Duchess's daughter alive.

She wouldn't stand for failure and as the formation began to settle, Vatari could feel a tightness in her stomach. Normal pre-battle jitters. She had gotten them ever since she escaped Thyrsus. Ever since...she was free. She took a breath and responded to her command. Only, Shahar beat her to it. Instead, Vatari reinforced her new partner's words with her own.

"Find, Retrieve, Extract." She paused and looked at Shahar. "We will bring the girl home alive."

Then they moved, the lurching clouds above turning a deep black, stretches of crimson bouncing off them from below. Soon, they would be swallowed by rain and steam. Each step was tactfully careful as they moved. Given the slow moving funnels of lava and stretched spacing between them they had to pay close attention. Shahar took the lead, following the command of Uriziel with swift precise intention. Vatari was glad competence was among her.

Vatari shifted her viridian eyes to Shahar as she addressed her.

"It was not me that was right, child of the sun." Vatari's voice would have been gentle if not for the ventilator once more.

Vatari looked up, the sky was ready. The first droplet of rain slamming into her golden faceplate.

"She already has."

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[Uriziel]

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Outer Rim Territories | Shola
Shola Wasteland | Post 3
Vatari Syndal | Shahar Aksum

Uriziel was satisfied. It was the first time he was working in the known Galaxy with volunteers of any background and the response was more than sufficient in his mind. They were eager, they were ready to prove themselves against this backdrop of ash and tremors. A first step on a scorching ground, lighted up by Suns that followed them wherever they went.

He was not religious, quite the opposite, but symbolism and spirits had a very large influence and impact on him and he would make sure to honour the ones that he had chosen to carry into battle. The Sun Guard had been an exemplary military formation, its abuse under the Sith a perfect foundation and the symbology of it all was not merely fitting, he actually felt it.

The thoughts centered on the mission as the company moved out. His two selected vanguards were already on the move and lead the way towards the target area. Their differences were a perfect balance between the pragmatism he wanted at every turn of any decision made and the spirit of Thyrsus which would drive every decision made to success, no - to victory.

Red lightning ripped across the sky, hot and acidic rain started falling, leaving small puddles of a yellowish liquid that only after thorough decontamination could be called water again. But where it hit the open rivers and streams of lava, it evaporated into poisonous gases, leaving a vapor hanging over the wasteland that was difficult to pierce with normal eyes. He hoped that the first set of equipment was sufficient for this task.

He himself could see perfectly fine. Uriziel was not bound by common organic eyes as he marched at the head of the column, his spear held low as his feet stepped where they should with subconscious ease. But the speed of the advance had to be reduced after only a few meters though, the environment was extreme and some of the company required more time to settle in the suits with limited mobility and vision.

"Vatari, Shahar, slow down. Navigate an easier path if possible. Arriving without losses will have to have priority over stealth."

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[Shahar Aksum]

The first drops struck Shahar's armor with enough force to make her glance upward, and for a moment Vatari's answer remained with her. She already has. There had been no uncertainty in the other woman's words, no suggestion that she was speaking metaphorically or invoking the Sun Goddess merely because tradition expected it of her. Shahar knew what it was to believe in something completely. Once, the Force and the Jedi teachings surrounding it had provided the framework through which she understood her place in the galaxy. She had not lost the Force when she walked away from the Order, but she had turned away from something she had once trusted to tell her what was right. That made her reluctant to judge what another person found sacred. "Then I hope she keeps watching over us." It was not an expression of Shahar's own faith, but neither was it empty courtesy.

Rain rapidly followed the first scattered impacts, spattering against her visor and hissing wherever it touched the scorched ground. Ahead, the already difficult landscape began disappearing beneath curtains of steam as the acidic downpour struck exposed rivers of lava. Her helmet compensated as much as it could, but the changing conditions made the route on her HUD considerably less useful than it had appeared when they left Dropzone Apollo. Shahar could still see where Uriziel wanted them to go. Getting three dozen people there intact was becoming the more important question.

His order came through the comm a moment later. Shahar immediately shortened her stride and slowed, turning enough to check the column behind them before looking toward the terrain ahead. "Understood." There was no frustration in the response. Uriziel was right. She and Vatari might have been comfortable maintaining their pace, but taking point meant finding a route the rest of the company could actually follow. Shahar had spent enough time escorting civilians through disaster zones to know that the safest path was determined by the people least able to cross it, not by the person fortunate enough to be standing at the front.

She studied the ground rather than relying entirely upon the route projected across her HUD. The direct approach narrowed ahead between a sluggish lava flow and broken volcanic terrain, while the rain was already turning depressions in the rock into steaming pools of yellowish runoff. Shahar altered her course toward a broader stretch of higher ground that looked less treacherous, moving several meters along it before committing herself farther. She tested each section beneath her boots and kept an eye on the vapor rolling across it, searching for something that would not force the heavier members of the company into single file beside molten rock. "There's a wider approach to our right," she reported over the comm. "It should give the company more room and keep us farther from the runoff."

Another flash of red lightning tore across the clouds, briefly illuminating the poisonous haze ahead. Shahar waited for Uriziel's direction before committing them fully to the altered route, her attention moving between the terrain and the column behind her. The hostage waiting somewhere beyond the wasteland remained firmly in her thoughts, and every additional minute gave the kidnappers another minute with the Duchess's daughter. Yet rushing the approach and losing people before they reached the base would accomplish nothing. Patience had never been Shahar's objection to the Jedi. Inaction had been. There was a considerable difference between the two, and she was perfectly willing to take the time necessary to ensure the Auric Champions reached the place where action actually mattered.

Vatari Syndal Uriziel

 

[Vatari Syndal]

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Location: En-route From Drop Zone Apollo to Terrorist Ruins
Objective: Find the Hostage, Keep the Daughter Alive!
Status: Traversing Shola, En-route to Ruins.
Cuurent Threat: Mynocks
Tags:

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"Then I hope she keeps watching over us."

Her words held firmly in her mind. The tinge of sincerity was there, but part of Vartari could sense the absence of faith in them. It mattered not. People were free to believe in anything they wanted. However, Vatari was confident in her faith. So sure of the goddess, so connected to it that Vatari claimed to see her. A divine being, giving her a way out of a dark past. She owed her life to the Twin Sun Goddess and more. It was what led her here in this very situation, in the company of others from her homeworld Thyrsus.

It wasn't rare, but since the fall of the Golden Company, many had scattered among the stars forced to survive any way they could. This wasn't the Golden Company, this was a new band of capable, vigilant and deadly champions...

Auric Champions.

She couldn't think about all of this now though. Not as the acidic torrent of rain displaced their every step and at a dangerous pace. Still, like a magnet, she shouldered Shahar Aksum . The warrior's movement was precise and fluid, making the terrain almost a part of her advance on purpose. Although Vatari admired her for it, she looked back when she heard the command from Uriziel . Mere meters and a thick wall of smog and steam encompassed the area. Assessing everything, the command was the right move. Separation before this even started and slip ups would cause the advance to be worthless.

The synergy was there when Shahar adhered. The patience lasted mere minutes, before a wide area opened itself up. Vatari nudged Shahar in close proximity, her black and gold talon like gauntlets stretching into the thick steam a little further to the left. A thick chasm sloped downward into the scorched earth, one wrong tremor from the planet and they would all be in for a whole new problem.

Shahar's words confirmed it, getting further from such a runoff was wise and despite the lengthier time it would take to reach the ruins and the daughter, the men behind them were depending on making it there alive. Even if death waited for them.

The heat from the open wide pathway dissolved some of the layers of fog and as it did, Vatari found herself looking up to the crackling crimson of lightning above. Only this time...something new flashed into her purview, her hud frantically scanning the massive beast flying overhead. Vatari's emerald eyes shifted and widened.

"Mynocks?" She said what she thought outloud, relaying her quizzical tone to the rest.

Vatari watched the battery of Mynocks swerve over head and their bat-like wings fluttered through the gentle ash mixing in with the rain. Maybe the absence of the sun was as many have said before,

a bad omen.

Vatari stopped all movement, careful not to make any noise as her head stayed fixated on the threat above. Mynocks were known for leeching energy sources and anyone in powered suits among them would be served an ill fate.

As dull of a whisper she could muster, she lifted her arm with a closed fist hoping the rest could see it. If not, her words should have made them all stop their advance.

"No one moves, until the sky is clear of those bats." Vatari's words were heavy with worry, not just for herself but those that depended on her. After a life of slavery, seeing her own kind killed amongst the mining tunnels it was her duty to keep them alive. Not for her own selfish reasons, but because the Goddess of the Sun expected her to.​

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[Uriziel]

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Outer Rim Territories | Shola
Shola Wasteland | Post 4
Vatari Syndal | Shahar Aksum

Uriziel repeated the gesture, his golden fist coming into the air with inhuman swiftness and precision. Everyone behind him halted, even in the thick mist and with the eyes firmly placed on the ground the basic drills had set root in the muscle memory of the new company. A satisfactory reaction. They could work with that. Discipline was the foundation of all skill in martial matters.

"Weapons down." He whispered or shouted, it was difficult to tell as it reached everyone's ears but only just. The urge to target them was there, he felt it, but it would be like lighting a bonfire for the enemy to see where they are.

Seconds passed. The creatures moved, their slow flight almost denying physics their due it seemed. And straining the nerves of everyone involved.

His fist opened and he gestured forward. "Take the path, Shahar. We follow."

The Auric Champions moved further onwards, slowly but steadily through the hellscape that was Shola's surface. The rain continued to deliver on the acid and evaporations, while red lightning forked across the pitch-black clouds, thunder roaring like they were in the inside of a giant beast's maw.

Uriziel wondered if the insurgents had chosen this place out of desperation or dedication. What had made them come here instead of hiding in the bowls of a ship in the endless void? Did they have some connection or was this a mere case of inhospitable equaled unassailable? Whatever it was, even through mist and vapor, in the distance they could now see the hideout of their targets when lightning struck.

Illuminated by red light, the base seemed less like a building or ruin and more like rocks piled with not enough randomness to make them look natural. Carved in and out of rock, reinforced with prefab parts and what seemed like spaceship sections, they could see ever more details as they drew closer.

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