Sweet Weather

[Jairus Starvald]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was a fortress world of the One Sith. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Their capital, the world from which they had plotted their domination over the Galaxy. And they had succeeded to a degree, had they not? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Primeval, the Techno Union and the One Sith were holding the Galaxy in an iron grip. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Yet there were entities that were trying to break that grip, constantly struggling and fighting against the established order. This was only made more clear when Titan had decided to break away from the Sith in an attempt to weaken them, it hadn’t worked out as they had planned of course.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It never did.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But there was still moping up to do, still locations to be taken over and assimilated into the collective of the state-run company that Carach was forming with the ‘help’ of one Darell Irani.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Carach stepped out of the shuttle that had brought him to the surface of Prakith, together with [member="Vrag"] and the armies of the Sith they would bring Titan to its heel here on the former capital of the Sith.[/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

She never much liked spaceships — which is why, ironically, she ended up living on one — and so the woman had spent most of the ride to Prakith busying herself with the daily duties of a Hand. Paperwork, always the fan favorite, had to be filed sometime, and it was moments like these that Vrag chose to do so. The boring briefings and reports were still a lesser evil compared to pacing along the bridge with Carach, watching that annoying inky blackness stretching as far as the eye could see. (Well, farther, really, but let's not get technical.)

With the towering workload one acquired after an accomplishment the likes of Telti, the firrerreo was more than occupied for the rest of their hyperjump to Prakith. That, and she was still somwhat irked with [member="Darth Carach"], which is why he'd been relegated to only one night a week a compared to the previous three. A harsh punishment, perhaps, but sometimes that was the only way to teach a lesson.

That of course didn't mean that their professional relationship was impacted in any way; the Voice and the Hand would still break skulls and backs alike with an eerie efficiency that come to be so typical of their cooperation. She suspected it had arisen out of necessity — that is to say, they wanted to get it over with as soon as possible so as to have their own, twisted brand of fun among the warm corpses — but it eventually just grew to become a habit, and a good one at that.

"Fan out," she spoke calmly, her lips barely moving against the oggzil. She then watched with no small amount of satisfaction as the order was relayed along the chain of command, the well-oiled war machine spreading out in all directions.

"Try not to lag behind, dear," she smiled behind her helmet, a slight nod of her head the only sign of recognition she gave the man on her right before she wrapped her armored fingers around the frame of the nearest transport.

Time to go.

 

[Lord Gaius]

[Theme]

"Rendezvous with the Hand."​

Awaiting the shuttle ferrying both Hand and Voice, Sabik labored with the amassed battalion. The holographic projector fizzled out into non-existence, and the appearance of his foreboding master, Darth Vidar, vanished. Sabik was nothing more than an officer in the ranks of the military, but his Masters lengthy history with the military afforded him a certain degree of authority. Yet he still did the bidding of any who outranked the Sith Lord, much to the displeasure of his master.

The shuttle landed, and his eyes followed Darth Carach for a moments glance. He was unnervingly tall, almost two feet taller than the short Sith acolyte. And where he was bald, Carach was well groomed. Their eyes in opposition, the hellish orange glow of a true Sith Lord, and the icy blue of Sabiks normality. The two of them were different in most many ways. Though this was not the being he was to report to, and so Sabik only gave a nod of recognition in this mans direction before he returned to his men.

[member="Vrag"]
[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vrag"] | [member="Sabik Dhami"] [member="Tsavong Kraal"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Prakith held three distinct facilities.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Desalination, Military and Terraform. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Quite the collection of goods that would have to be mopped up by the assortment of Sith currently collected here, there were only two that really mattered though in the grand scheme of things. With them being the military facilities and the terraforming ones.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Before the battle Carach and Vrag had already decided their destinations.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Voice would conquer the first and the Hand the later.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]There was a need for efficiency within the ranks. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Carach’s eyes briefly met that of one of the officers that were under Vrag’s command, the Sith Lord would simply nod back and continue pondering on the plans they had just made. There was no sense in being impolite to those under your ranks, such could breed the negatives in life and Prakith had such [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]lovely [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]weather right now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“I do so love the view though, darling.” the Sith Lord would quip back, before gesturing towards his own ranks that were slightly separated from hers. The Royal Guard, his own fist whenever he was tired of talking and just wished to break things.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Onwards to the target then.[/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

She rolled her eyes, letting out a small scoff that was stifled by the filter of the rebreather in her helmet. Unlike her talkative counterpart, the Hand rarely — if ever — appeared in her official capacity out of her armor for a multitude of reasons, most of which boiled down to sex and violence.

Well, not really, but it sounded more funny and entertaining that way. She would hum quietly to herself in the rhythm of the bumps on the road as their transport breezed across the harsh landscape of Prakith. It was another habit she'd picked up during the time she'd spent with Darell, both on and off of the battlefield, though she'd never admit it of course. Vrag simply wasn't the type to do things like that.

Besides, not like she was busy thinking about it. Present, more pressing matters were bearing on her mind, and briefly she wondered if [member="Hal Terrano"] was prancing somewhere about the planet, intimidating Acolytes who would previously ridicule the now anger-infested man. Or perhaps he was somewhere out there, terrorizing the Galaxy in corners unknown. In any case, that bird had flown, and Vrag was the happier for it — if she could be said to possess such an emotion, even — having imparted upon him all the knowledge she would.

There were things to take and people to break still, however, and it was one thing that she was dreadfully good at. Perhaps not the most appreciated of skills, but certainly useful when you had a job like hers.

"You."

The word fell from between her dark lips with no inflection whatsoever, the empty orange sockets of the skull turning to face one of the commanders riding along on the transport.

"What's the situation at the Terraforming facilities?"

[member="Darth Carach"] | [member="Sabik Dhami"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vrag"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Whilst Vragzykins was busy getting an answer from one of her officers, the Voice was leaning back into his seat, his eyes were closed and he was softly listening to the drone of words. It was a literal feed into the movements of the Royal Guards, the vanguard had already arrived - encircling the compound and establishing rapport with the remnants.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It seemed like a simple mission.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But missions weren’t ever as simple as they were made out to be in the beginning, things could go wrong, things could go [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]horribly[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] wrong and then they would all be left with the shet. Which is why the Royal Guards had been specifically trained not to expect the easy situations.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]To expect the worst and dish out the worst they had themselves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Vragzy, whatcha got planned for the terraform installation?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And Carach started to hum softly, unbeknownst to both of them? They were humming at the exact same frequency and tune. [/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

Example 2486 why one should wear a helmet: being called Vragzy.

Her right eye twitched slightly in the safe shadow of the skull mask, and the Hand of the Dark Lord imperceptibly ground her teeth, pausing in the jolly tune she'd been humming completely subconsciously.

"Darell, dear. Do us both a favor and shut that pretty mouth of yours. It has its uses, and talking isn't one of them," her lips twitched slightly at the corners, and then the woman swung around the rail she'd been holding onto, climbing behind the mounted turret to expand her horizons.

"…ironically enough," she added almost as an afterthought, staring intently at the silhouette that began forming against the uniform gray of the Prakith skies. Nothing about this planet seemed alive; not even the firmament. Were she somebody else, Vrag might have remarked upon the weight and morbid air of the atmosphere, but the woman noted the fact without any sentiment; it was merely another fact about her current situation.

She muted Carach's line for a few moments while she talked to the various commanders of her divisions, further elaborating on her orders and positioning her forces around the facilities for a tactical, quick assault that would catch any and all opposition unprepared and with their pants around their ankles.

As she opened their connection again, the low hum of his voice combined the two lines of thought into a mental image so amusing that the firrerreo couldn't help but snort aloud. "I think we'll be done fairly quickly," she uttered between hoarse chuckles, thumbing the comforting weight of the lightsaber at her side as they neared the installation.

"After that, though…" she trailed off, leaving the Voice of the Dark Lord to imagine whatever he would. The good thing about the years they'd spent working together was a certain sort of… synergy, where their thoughts could almost said to be aligned.

Especially when she was purring into his ear about things that clearly had nothing to do with conquest. Well. Maybe.

[member="Darth Carach"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vrag"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The satisfied grin that would appear on the Sith Lord’s grin would be lost to her in translation, considering they weren’t exactly around each other right now and perhaps that was only for the best this time around. Sometimes getting violent and passionate was detrimental for the mission at hand, it was definitely detrimental this time around, didn’t need a genius to see that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]She muted the line a few moments after.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Didn’t give him any warnings either, so she was either pissed or they had hit some kind of battle, mighta been something else but Carach liked to entertain the first thought. Why the Voice of the Dark Lord insisted on making Vragzy pissed? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Anyone’s guess.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Though perhaps it had to do with what came after the violent outburst and [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]during[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Mmmm, looking forward to it, my dear.” Carach would reply with a purr.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It took a few more moments, moments that were extended into infinity because of the joy that would come right after they had arrived. But eventually they got there and the Sith was treated to a beautiful image in front of him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The facilities were surrounded, Royal Guards being assisted by the regulars of the Sith armies. This was the former capital and a fortress world of the Sith, they wouldn’t have an easy time getting out of here alive if they tried to destroy or otherwise undermined the efforts of reclamation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Put me through with their leader.”[/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

As far as military leaders go, Vrag was one of the more straightforward ones.That isn't to say she was oblivious to the beneficial and useful effects of employing tactics and strategy, but she also wasn't a cunning schemer. Her nature simply didn't lend itself to that sort of thing, and she didn't miss it in the least; there was something incomparably beautiful about standing knee-deep in amid the bodies of the fallen, armor coated with crusted and fresh blood alike, bits of gore and bone clinging to the rest with thin, adipose tethers.

With a soft sigh, the woman pushed premature fantasies out of her mind, drawn back to the current reality by the caress of Carach's bass.

Okay, so she did have ulterior motives in wanting to end this quickly. Vrag was here, first and foremost, as the Hand of the Dark Lord, and as such she had a few would-be rebels to bring to heel. The woman under the armor, however, had different plans, plans that hinged mghtily on how long exactly they spent quelling said uprising.

Unfortunately for those inside the terraforming facility, the woman was brutally efficient even on a normal day; motivated as she was, those inside who would stand against her would find themselves summarily executed without so much as a blink of an eye.

Praktih, the world of the Dark Lord and the world, to some extent, of those who would partake of the Escalation, would gorge on a new wave of blood today, the tainted, liquid life of traitors and deceivers.

And then she gave the order, and the primed soldiers of the Sith and the Yuuzhan Vong both poured forth, set to overrun ithe facility in but a few sparse minutes.

Such was her way.


[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vrag"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Hello, my name is Darth Carach.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]In the grand scheme of things there were two kinds of Sith - there were probably more, but in this regard only these two kinds matter for this specific situation. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]These two kinds were represented in Vrag and Carach.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]One was a fighter, a brawler, a butcher of untold magnitude. She send her armies in first and only after all that was done, would she ask any important questions and that was [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]alright[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]. They needed men and women like that, to act as a hammer.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]But Carach was a different beast entirely.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It was not that he did not enjoy a good fight, it was that he had long ago learned that his skills were in a different tier entirely. Which was why he was a Voice, whilst she was a Hand, the Dark Lord knew how to best put his warriors at use.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Yes, that Darth Carach.” the Sith Lord would acknowledge patiently.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A few more moments passed and Carach simply hold onto the feed. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]See, why it was a good thing that they had men and women like Vrag and Carach, was that it could be used to their advantage. They knew that Carach was with Vrag, the Voice and the Hand were almost always together on their missions.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And they also knew that [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Carach[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px] was the reasonable one.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Oh yes, I will hold.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]In such a way that only the threat of Vrag? Would be enough to get them to negotiate all the faster, because she wasn’t here [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]now[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], which meant that she was busy [/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px]slaughtering elsewhere[/SIZE][SIZE=10.6666666666667px], but bodies could only count for so much.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A little sigh escaped Carach’s lips.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Yes, unconditional surrender is a must, I am afraid.” [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]A scratch of the chin and a raisure of the eyebrow.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Oh that would definitely go a long way towards your case, of course.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The other side did not need to deliberate for a very long time after that, they really only had two options here, well three if you were stretching the loyalty they held for their dayjob. It was either slaughter definitely or a way to get out and maybe save their lives.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Darth Carach was the reasonable one, was he not?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“Your people will need to walk out of the facility one by one, any weapons left at the facility and no armor on. They will not be harmed, you have my word.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Sith Lord then watched on.[/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruK4nnSB2Qo​

While her milder, far more courteous counterpart was busy listening to the endless loop of elevator music as he held the call — to the rebels! Unthinkable! — Vrag's forces were already halfway through raiding the facility. Like a swarm of black and… well black, the soldiers and Vong had entered the complex from the front and backdoor, hitting hard and fast like their Mistress ordered them to.

Pouring into the building through every orifice, they had the upstarts surrounded and corraled into the main room soon, unrelenting in their assault. Any who resisted were butchered on the spot, no questions asked, and the sheen of red forming slippery pools on the metal floor soon had them reconsidering their options.

It was, perhaps, that their leaders were keeping in contact with their rebel allies at the military facility, realizing that any hope they had for salvation was diminishing by the second. With each ragged, frightened breath they sucked in, their doom drew ever nearer, the sound of her boots hitting the alloy of the stairs perfectly in time with their thrumming hearts.

She stopped, then, and looked around with a serenely impassive expression on her skull. One horn of the Vonduun twitched slightly, but that was all the inflection that was given forth, and even then it wasn't her own.

"I don't usually care for you kind," she finally spoke, her lilting alto dragged through the rails of the rebreather with a metallic, inhuman tone. "But you're disrupting the war machine."

"My war machine."

The Skerr Ygdris reeled slightly, its many sharp legs scratching at the armorweave with a tinny, blood-curdling sound.

"Kill them."


[member="Darth Carach"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Vrag"]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]And so it was that the military facility gave in to the reasonable demands of the Voice of the Dark Lord, with it they were saved from the fate that Vrag had instilled upon her own target. But Carach would keep his word, the prisoners wouldn’t be harmed and after suitable screening progress they would be allowed to leave or return to their homes again.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Because their fight wasn’t with them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]It wasn’t their fault what the CEO had done - or tried to do, at the least. So Carach would allow them their freedom after it was decided that they hadn’t done any damage to Sith property, if they hadn’t committed any felonies they would be allowed to go free.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Carach sat back in his transport, humming quietly to himself at a good day’s work done. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Sometimes it was good being persuasively inclined.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]“All good at your place, Vrag?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]The Sith Lord was definitely not concerned or anything like that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]No.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.6666666666667px]Not at all.[/SIZE]

 

[Vrag]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtaEKzY21mQ​

She stood still as a statue, her hands crossed behind her back as she gazed solemnly at the picture in front of her, her cold blue eyes taking every last detail of the masterpiece painted by the skillful hands of the Vong and the Sith. Truly a beautiful example of seamless cooperation between two entities perfectly united in their goal, working together towards a common goal like any good cog in the machine would.

It would've brought tears to her eyes, really, were she still possessed of tear ducts.

Alas, those get removed upon being promoted to Hand — the fine print, you understand — so that the Dark Lord may not be accidentally embarrassed by the actions of one of his appendages in public. Too much of aPR fiasco to be worthy of the risk.

"All under control," she answered simply, the corners of her mouth twitching ever so slightly upwards as se eyed the display in front of her for one last time. "The good folk here won't trouble us… no… more."

Vrag trailed off into a satisfied hum barely at the edge of hearing, tilting her head to the side before turning on her heel and walking out. Her gait was relaxed, her strides long and confident. The horns upon her helmet swayed with the rhythm of her step as she exited the terraforming facilities, pausing momentarily to take in the glaring lack of panorama.

"I could use a drink, though. You free?"


[member="Darth Carach"]