Test Drive (Lords of the Fringe Dominion of Javin)

[Rusken Shaxx]

This was a fine moment of victory, yet not large enough for a Force user. A milestone for a squad of commandos, but nothing compared to the endeavors of what the Force could really accomplish in war. Zius looked upon the landscape of the midst of chaos and burning structures, detrimental to the lives that called this planet home, but a reaping for the ones who come to demolish. Hellfire was the way, and no heavenly peace would keep the dark clad man from killing in the name of fulfillment.

"This felt almost too easy, and by the looks of things, almost rather peculiar. What are your thoughts on all this?"

He looked to @Alen Na'Varro with his query, wishing to ascertain his honest opinion. This man was highly respectable already, regardless of lacking knowledge about who he was or what he's done. It felt good to fight alongside an ally, especially another of the Force. After his moment of questioning and wonder, he looked back down to @[member="Kitt Solo"] and gave a deep nod of acknowledgement. Watching the loyal commandos around her obey orders. In a way, it felt like the Empire and it's galactic conquest of vampirism; sucking planets dry of beneficiary assets and asserting dominance. But this was better, more interactive. He liked the Fringe, and not a moment went by where his mind was phased by the past or similarities.

 

[Lucianus Adair]

Right to business it was. He had not seen such breadth of action so soon after his arrival with the old empire… nearly nine-hundred years ago. That was still strange. The fact of his existence in this time and place was something that vexed him, but it was also something he knew he could do nothing about. Life was here, now, and so was he.

A move on territory was always a rush, and in fact, it had been the last thing he was involved in before he vanished. Before he reappeared in this time. The distinct way he had felt in the battle he left behind still dogged him, so to be here, in another dominion, was to great satisfaction. Not involving himself in the chatter of others, save for listening in on the communiqué between @[member="Ashin Varanin"] and @[member="Jak Sandrow"], he had made his own way, wrecking a small vessel on its last legs as he abandoned it in atmo when it began to burn up, plummeting to the surface, and breaking his fall with handily applied levitation.

Yet, the moment he hit the ground within a stone’s throw of the capital, he vanished. This time, however, there was no time-travel involved, as he moved swiftly, breaking the illusion of vanishing for a mere moment here, and there, to ignite the dark blade of his lightsaber into each adversary he encountered in his path… only to disengage the blade and vanish again until he reached the point where Jak Sandrow would arrive, proceeding to take out the personnel in the area, and making the assigned objective of the green individual a little less… treacherous. When the green-skinned knight arrived, the Sith knight would provide him escort and cover so he could focus.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Roger. Over and out."

He gave a salute as he passed the ships descending.

Turning to the ground, he aimed for the main superstructure. At the last second, he pulled his chute and gunned down the few guards on the platform he had landed on. Waiting a few seconds to determine if the alarm had been raised, he looked up to see @[member="Lucianus Adair"]. Jak didn't know him, of course, but the way he carried himself, Jak figured him for an ally.

"So. Hi. How are you?" he asked.

 

[Matreya]

@[member="Rave Merrill"] @[member="Kiyala Demont"]
With a smile the giant man nodded to the young Alchemist, "That I can do Ms. Merrill." Holding his hands about himself for a moment, he concentrated while drawing his arms in circular motions. Soon enough, to any onlookers the group would have vanished entirely, "You will all need to concentrate on staying within 7 feet of me, also, keep your Sigmatures suppressed. Sight and sound I have covered. Anything outside that circle will not be able to see nor hear anything from within."


"Let's do this."

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Penumbra"] @Lord Exedo @[member="Kiyala Demont"]

Under cover of Zaiden's illusions, Rave crept forward through the sentry line and past the guards at the front door. The palace complex stretched out for miles. According to their best intel, a ceremonial vestments room should have the Sceptre, and that room was in the east wing. There were, however, an awful lot of security systems in the way. Hopefully @[member="Jak Sandrow"] and @[member="Lucianus Adair"] could take care of that before Rave's strike team got into too much trouble.

 

[Matreya]

Zaiden moved slow but steadily, a pace easy to match despite his enormous size. Soon enough they entered the perimeter and we're moving for the front door. As they moved the behemoth dropped Lotus Fang and Rose Whip both to the ground, their commands given pre-drop. Watching for a moment, he smiled in satisfaction, for simultaneously the two nearest guards dropped.

What went better with stealth then deadly venom? Amphistaff and Tsaisi alike carried some of the poisons considered deadliest throughout the cosmos.

"I have heard many things about where to find the scepter, but mainly that it's along the east." Zaiden said as he began to head that way.

@[member="Kiyala Demont"] @[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Aran Finn]

Alen nodded seriously at the queries of @[member="Kitt Solo"] and @[member="Zius Aurus"], as they began to link up with more allies. The Fringe had broken through Javin's front line. Some units of defenders still held firm, but for the most part, Fringe forces had broken through in multiple points and were converging, like a river, upon the thinner upcoming lines of defence. Fringe spacecraft held dominion over the skies, and now the bombs fell in earnest. Na'Varro looked up as the bombers lit up the horizon with explosions and grimaced. There would be a lot of dead. Not more than was necessary, but more than what have been hoped for. Useful government, industrial and military buildings were being isolated by the Fringe starfighters, and underneath the ground forces moved like a tidal wave over the meagre resistances that could be put in their way now.

"Strange, definitely, on both counts." He then grinned wryly at Solo and Zius. "But I say fighting first, questions later. We still have work to do. Come on."

They were now coming to a flat patch of ground without buildings or any cover whatsoever, hundreds of metres long. A park, so to speak. They now had to cross a hundred metre of heavy fire in order to reach their objective, and then deal with the multitude of troops who were entrenched at the end of that charge. Fringe forces were already surging through the firestorm, taking decent casualties, and Na'Varro ran to join them, lightsaber alight. Force surging through him, he began his charge through the storm of blasterfire, keeping his awareness about him in order to stay alive.

 

[Kiyala Demont`]

Kiyala had been relatively quiet through out the walk but only because she was paying attention that what was going on around her. Kiyala looked around admiring the skill of @[member="Penumbra"] concealment, it made her have to focus on merely keeping herself within his zone. In fact, she potentially had a lot to learn from the sith master but that was for another time and another place so she simply drew her mind back into the present. She looked around in mind surprise as @[member="Vazela"] the man who lead them to the Dark Order appeared nearby having seen him only because she activated her force sight

"East it is then. . ."

 

[Lucianus Adair]

When @[member="Jak Sandrow"] asked after his well-being, Lucianus stared mutedly at the half-vinthi male, then blinked, his face betraying nothing. The black-haired knight was nothing short of entirely nonplussed.

“This is not a social call, Mr. Sandrow.” He said, mildly chastising with his words, before turning away, and looking to their objective. “We have a job to do. While you disable the security systems, I will preserve your life.”

He half-turned, to look over his shoulder at Jak.

“Focus on the task at hand, and all will pass according to design.”

With that, he leapt off and dropped to the ground. He continued onward, not bothering to look if the green-skinned man had bothered to follow, or if he was still faffing about on the platform.

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"Can I not get to know the people I work with?" he murmured as he followed Lucianus off the building.

"Right, so, my cloak can disable electronics nearby long enough to get in without detection," he said, flicking on the cloak's power. "Which means we're going with radio silence till I can find a computer terminal. Once we're there, I can get into and bypass security. From there, we get the other people in. Sound like a plan?"

He waited for a Y/N from @[member="Lucianus Adair"].

 

[Lucianus Adair]

Lucianus offered a curt nod.

“It will suffice” He replied, as they moved forward. He remained alert, scanning with his eyes, ears, and senses for movement, approaching sounds, organic presences. If necessary, he would provide concealment by way of illusion, or stealth that would serve to aid them in hiding from living beings.

They could, in effect, vanish if it was called for.

A bolt hit the ground ahead of them, and his eyes shot from where it landed up to the rooftop from where it came, seeing no-one, yet sensing someone. His blue eyes narrowed, and when the would-be sniper poked his head up to the barest degree, tufts of hair emerging over the edge of the roof, Lucianus reached out and yanked the assailant from the rooftop, availed him of his weapon, discarding it well away, and sped up his descent to the ground… head first.

With the sickening crack as the body of assailant hit the ground, the eyes of the Sith knight flicked over to @[member="Jak Sandrow"].

“We must continue moving.” He said, stepping off once again, moving with controlled haste. “Our compatriots should not be far off, and we must be ready for them.”

 

[Jak Sandrow]

"No kidding," Jak said, giving the sniper a quick once-over. Patting down the pockets for anything useful - there wasn't - he continued forward, till they came to a large door. Obviously the roof entrance.

He found the door lock a little to the right. Pressing the release button, a query asked for a keycard.

Before the other man could raise a saber, Jak lifted his hand. "Wait. Better to let them think there's someone still patrolling here." Pulling out a little computer storage device, he popped out a faux keycard blade from the side. Swiping it three times, the door unlocked on the third try.

Clipping the card to his waist again, he explained, "The first pass deactivated the code. The second created a new code to accept. The third simply entered that code. So this card will work on the first try wherever we go now."

@[member="Lucianus Adair"]

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"] @[member="Zius Aurus"]

Well, feth.

Taking out her second blaster she dipped into the fray, guns a'blazin.' Most of her focus remained on Zius and Alen, working defensive rather than offensive force strategies. A shimmering pale-green filled the air around the pair as they advanced, encasing them in a protective force-bubble. The bubble flickered, the further they went, her attention challenged between their safety and of their forces and her own.

A sharp sting bit through her neck and the protective force bubble vanished around them. The good news: a good chunk of the enemies were cut down. The bad news: a dart full of sith poison stuck out of her flesh. Yanking the dart away, she cringed and wavered on her feet.

Well, feth.

 

[Aran Finn]

Well, feth.

The Force pinged Alen's mind, and he whirled to see Kitt take a Sith poison dart to the neck. His reaction was instantaneous.

"Move!" He roared, signalling for the commandos to continue on, and without taking a breath he summoned a sturdy shield of Force energy and powered into action. The Force fueling his strides, he made it back to Solo within a few seconds, his Shield covering the both of them as he went to work. Sith poison wasn't one of his stronger areas of knowledge, but he'd been around long enough to know a bit about the subject. He'd do what he could for Solo, either to heal her of the affliction or to ease her passing. She was a good soldier; brave, capable and a team player. As a man who found it difficult to work with others, he saw the intrinsic value in that. Besides, in the tiny time that they had watched each others backs, Alen had started to grow fond of her. She had saved his life twice, after all.

"You've got a hell of a lot uglier since I saw you last." A bit of banter to keep her mind off things. A former mentalist, Alen knew that sort of thing worked. What he didn't know was Force Healing or any other kind of power like that. What he did have was a quick mind, and a unique understanding of the Force. It worked for him in a way that was different to most Force users, and he used that to draw on. Sitting @[member="Kitt Solo"] down and then lying her on her back to slow the flow of poison, he removed the dart before it could give her a full dose of the toxin. Inspecting the toxin, which was mixed with a small amount of Solo's blood, Alen decided that he had no idea what it was. Thankfully, it didn't matter if he did.

Sitting cross-legged in the mayhem now, with a flickering Force Shield between them and death, Na'Varro began to meditate, seizing the power that rage brought and combining it with the deepest level of concentration, something he had learned with time and practice. It was the concentration of a savant; a mathematician or a musician so engrossed in his work that he cannot be disturbed. Blasterfire and darts flew around them, and the Shield flickered on, dying but trying desperately to hold onto life. Alen could not sustain two powerful works of the Force, only one. The Shield would die, and soon they would be in the Force's hands. But the Dark Side flowed through him now with so much intent that he became supremely at one with it, in a state of mind where what he was going to try might, might just work.

Alen contextualised the situation, separating the toxin molecules from the blood molecules in Solo's veins, and slowly, methodically, began pulling the poison from her blood. The Dark Jedi had no idea what Force Healing was, but he had a feeling that this was very different indeed.

 

[Rusken Shaxx]

Zius watched @[member="Kitt Solo"] stagger after she was hit, he observed the offense they all faced with blaster rounds whizzing past their heads and slamming into the ever-weakening Force shield. He looked to @[member="Alen Na'Varro"] and gave a quick decisive nod, letting him know that he could stay and defend the lady as he would go on to slaughter those who dared hinder their progress. Cursed defenders he thought, but all the while very strange as to why these people would have a hold of Sith weaponry.

"Dammit all! I'll go, you stay and tend to her! They think the darts will be enough, they have another thing coming!"

Zius focused on his internal modifications, bursting into an inhumane sprint coupled with Force speed made it almost like watching a rocket blast off at a considerable velocity. He leaped into the air going for an Ataru offense, slamming down on top of the cowards that decided they'd throw darts instead of showing courage; although, this was a more intelligent position to hold rather than die without leaving a mark. One of the darts managed to hit Zius, but didn't penetrate his armour. Instead, one of the shooters would come to find out that failure had overwhelmed them with little time to react to the lightsaber splitting them from the head to the torso, causing them to collapse instantaneously like a heavy bag of stones. The defenders tried and tried again, rushing him in pairs trying to take the Dark Jedi down but only to be dealt the same hand of death. From a distance it would appear like a dance of a red light, cutting and slicing through soldier after soldier until they all lay around him in a circle. He then looked back to Alen and Kitt before returning to the fight, dashing into another defender with a swipe to his throat.

 

[Kitt Solo]

@[member="Alen Na'Varro"] @[member="Zius Aurus"]

"I knew you were...a charmer," lopsided grin was weak and she looked up at Alen and offered a quip to his earlier statement. She heard Zius and it barely registered. She felt very detached.

But also very angry.

The poison in the dart acted to increase darkside emotions in the victim. She didn't have much darkside training. As the fire burned in her veins she also felt Alen pulling it out. A scream erupted from her throat. Hand reached up and squeezed his whether for support or sanity. She couldn't lose her humanity now. "Is this what it feels like to be a sith all the time," she gasped, a bite and harshness to her tone as a flicker of the rage remained. Eyes squeezed close as her emotions took over, fueled by what the dart ignited in her system.

Rocks, weapons, remains, the dirt itself, and anything left on the ground around the pair began to shake and levitate off the ground. Hand squeezed even more tightly against Alen's digits as a snarl erupted from her throat. Back arched and with one final yell, the hovering objects lashed out as deadly projectiles in a circular wave of destruction, the epicenter emanating from the Fringe members in the middle.

Hopefully Zius would have enough sense to get down. Or, perhaps he was far enough away.

 

[Aran Finn]

@[member="Kitt Solo"]

Na'Varro lost track of @[member="Zius Aurus"] in his realm of concentration, so immersed he was in his work. Solo's query fell on deaf ears. Alen could not hear her; it was just him, the Force, and the mix of blood and poison that he aimed to separate. So immersed he was, that it did not ever occur to him the pain that the Rogue Knight would be in would be excruciating, or that she even existed at all. His was not to care, his was to do, and his was to save Kitt's life before the toxins took her into a deeper darkness, where the bearded man heard that you were surrounded by love. That would not be such a bad fate. Death ... from what he had heard about death, it was a lot better than life. But Kitt still had life left in her, and things still to achieve before she could pass into the nether. But Na'Varro wasn't thinking about that. He was merely a vessel for the Force and his own will, which had for now become detached from his psyche and represented itself in his mind without his influence.

He did not stop, not even as blasterfire and darts fell around him, until the deed was done. The toxin had formed above Kitt as he drew it out of her bloodstream in a miniscule orb, and now with one last bit of concentration he cast it aside and it fell into the dirt. Exhausted, Na'Varro fell from a seated position to his back, gasping for air. He needed to rest before he could move again, with purpose. The man looked across with brown eyes at Solo, who despite surviving looked a lot worse for wear. He guessed she'd need a breather too.

"I guess ... we're even?" Alen grinned, panting.

 

[Sargon Vynea]

@[member="Ashin Varanin"] wanted to know if there was something wrong, and yet Sargon could find no way of simply explaining it all out, but there was another method. Sargon had never melded before with another force user's mind, he'd nearly done so with both Ashin and Spencer before, but never actually initiated it. Flowing like water around the Grand Admiral's mind he did not force his mind but moved it slowly allowing her to permit it, and adjust to it as he melded with it.

As he felt her mind touching his he closed his eyes shutting off all other sensations as he breathed out all emotions, his mind free of emotional constraints the Zabrak moved outwards with the Force towards the planetary surface. Moving his awareness though the planetary forces as their lights extinguish, their voices vibrating in his head as their death screams echoed endlessly. It was like a planet of light slowly bleeding into darkness, and yet in his awareness Sargon saw something else as well. Like the ebbing of the ocean tides, almost invisible cracks in the defense of the enemy, in their formations and even their moral. For brief moments they moved in and out, waiting to be acted on before the present moved the waves washed away the weakness.

Taking Ashin's hand in his own the Zabrak's eyes remained closed as his mind melded in with hers reaching his hand out he touched a point that seemed so weak as if to break he took her hand and rubbed it over that point on the map, "Fire"

 

[Lucianus Adair]

Lucianus watched in silence as @[member="Jak Sandrow"] used the card, and went on to explain the point of the small exercise. It made sense, and the reasoning was entirely practical - a thing he could appreciate.

“Useful,” He admitted.

The sith looked away, scanning for any interlopers into their forays. He could hear conflict off in the distance, and closer but still not close enough, the contingent that he and the slicer were preparing the way for.

“Let us continue on, and find the insertion point you need to disable their security.”

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Lady Exedō"] @[member="Penumbra"] @[member="Kiyala Demont"]

With a hiss of frustration, the youngest of High Councilors led them to better cover in a side room. She pulled out a mapping datapad and brought up the best blueprints they'd been able to find.

"Looks like we have to cross a major service corridor to get there. I'm betting there's guards everywhere, plus the security hasn't gone down -- even your stealth may not be enough, Master Penumbra. Does anyone else have any thoughts?"