The Alderaan Offensive [TSE vs. FWC]

[Xin Boa]

[member="Delila Castillon"]

A look of concentration belied the mental struggle that took place beneath the surface. When they had been on the Atrisian colony together he had put himself in danger to come back for her. He still wasn't certain he had helped matters by doing that. He was the reason Mirax had become caught up in a skirmish with local gangs in an urban wasteland. There, once again, he had made the decision to risk his own life to go back and try to help. That Skreech now lived with him was a testament to how well that had gone. It was still fresh. Just a single thought was like picking at the scab. It hurt . Skreech was a living reminder of that day.

The idea of dropping her off in a situation like this and then turning his back on it was equally hard to swallow. How many times had to universe let him just start to feel a sense of belonging before bringing everything crashing down.

"Aldera City isn't getting hit the hardest. It's Juranno," Xin said. The passive periscope was peeking through the cloaking field to intercept some basic comms and make sure their approach was accurate. When they hit the atmosphere the cloak couldn't do much about the trailing heat signatures if they went in quickly so it had to be precise.

"Let's see what de situation is on de ground," Xin replied. It did not looked good from the comms chatter they were picking up. "Ah can always hide de ship nuh so far away."

Just moments before he retracted the periscope came more messages for Dells. An attack on Hapes and Onderon too. Before they even closed on the rearguard of the Sith fleet they were coming about. Cloak dropped for a fraction of a second before they made the jump to lightsaber. Hopefully by the time the arrived Xin might have found some clarity, but right now he was a confused mess.

 

[Joycelyn Zambrano]

JURANNO
Friendly tags: [member="Matsu Xiangu"] [member="Six-O"] [member="Imogen Daniels"] [member="Vaylin"] [member="Enyo Typhos"] [member="Farah"] [member="Lok Munin"] [member="Idris Voahan"]
Less friendly tags: [member="Harper Kade"] [member="Alden Belmont"] [member="Aela Talith"] [member="Trextan Voidstalker"]

The AT-PAT's armour vibrated with the shock of its monstrous mechanical locomotion moving its mass through the fields of murder. The guns were armed. Legionaries fired their bolts of plasma at the enemy with as much ferver as any walker. Yet, there was an eerie energy around this walker, accentuated by the symbol painted on its sides: A wicked set of jaws, teeth sharp and black, bestial.

Dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun.
pew-pew, pew-pew, crash!

Joycelyn Zambrano turned and ducked out of the walker's cockpit, sealing the door behind her as she entered the flexible neck. She had to crouch and bend considerably in order to fit, but soon it would not matter. She opened a hatch and grabbed the ladder. Hand and foot climbed quick as she found herself on top of the walker's neck. The hatch sealed, she grabbed firmly on to the railing and crouched. Her spare hand rested on the hilt of Zaudraka at her hip.

A fireball engulfed one of the walkers off to the side, shrapnel pattered against the armour of the walker, and the armour encasing Joycelyn's form. Smoke rose into the skies along with the cries of those crushed beneath the steel foot of another walker. The vahlacanthix rose up to her full height on the back of the walker's neck. The short, red cape draped around the shoulders of her armour flapped violently in the wind as she drew the large, slightly curved blade, and glared down upon the battlefield from behind her visor.

Oh she knew she stood exposed, but she felt powerful.

"Let them fly"

As the AT-PAT crossed into the shelled south quarters of Juranno, the bottom doors opened up. Inside the doors were two very large creatures: Horde Mothers. They had been allowed to nest inside the carrying hull of the walker for weeks, infesting the storage that would otherwise be spent on troopers and vehicles with foul monsters to be unleashed upon the population and defence of Juranno and Alderaan.

As the bottom doors opened up, the wasps were kicked into gear: Eat, hunt, defend their Horde Mother! A veritable cloud of enormous insectoids bellowed out from the walker and scattered out into the cityscape. They were hungry, they were angry, and they were specially trained to protect the nest that was the walker. The jaws painted on its side now looked like a wicked grin, smiling between the fluttering, buzzing, angry wings of sithspawned wasps.

The Enemy is near.​

"They will burn."

Fire licked up along the blade of Zaudraka as she drew it from its sheath. The malicious presence of the trapped and warped soul within spread out to envelop Joycelyn, and she accepted his gifts with gusto.

 

[Jubei]

Location: Crevasse City, Alderaan
Objective: Help with Evecuation
Enemy: TSE and company, [member="Darth Voracitos"]
Allies: Everyone else

The force lighting struck Jubei before he could cleave the sith, launching him backwards with the tendrils of a electricity licking his skin. His skin felt as if a thousand sharp needles were piercing the surface. It was more than just a slight tingle that ran underneath his skin. No, it was as though someone had attached a live wire to each of his nerves, and his body convulsed as the violent electrical current pulsed through him. Severe pain tickled his insides while his muscles contracted relentlessly.

Jubei skidded and tumbled across the ground, his hand still gripping his saber either out of reflex or dead locked by the shock. 'Hare-raising' was the pun the sith used, his fur was standing on ends once the electricity ceased letting him bound to his feat. His pupils flared with adrenaline that had just been pumped through his body from the electrocution, energized like a freshly charged battery. Its funny how shock treatment works, hurts beyond belief the moment you are hit but it averts to just slight tingle of pain the moment it stops.

His keen sense of smell was engulfed with burnt hair. His heart pumped as he once again took to the offensive. Aided by the force he flung himself at the grotesque blob. Again he was determine to have his saber taste the vile flesh of his opponent, saturate the blue hue with his death for that was how dire this situation was. Jubei was the only being standing between the beast and his prey. The only person that had a ounce of a chance to end this and he knew he was swinging above his weight class.

A silvery toned war cry escaped the lepi as he brought his blade down from an overhead strike, with all the power and strength he could muster. Sure, a light saber could cut through most matter like a hot knife to butter, but the rabbit figured there was going to be a need of extra muscle to pierce the skin and burn through the wales blubber to get at any organs of value.

 

[Darth Voracitos]

Location: Crevasse City, Alderaan
Objective: Secure crystal formations, and trap civilians in the city for imprisonment
Enemy: All of Alderaan, [member="Jubei"]
Allies: The Sith on a good day

Voracitos bellowed with a laughter so ferocious, he almost didn't see his target practically leap through the air in his overhead strike, just to hit him. It had been so long since the Dark Lord had laughed so hard, it almost got him killed. Luckily, his toasty little fuzzy friend had become a wellspring of fresh anger, just trying to peak its way out of all the righteousness of the Jedi. Righteous fury, he had heard it been called. Skittering like an over-bloated insect, the legs which planted him to the ground backpedaled almost instinctively without his beckoning. The strike was clearly meant to follow through, which meant the attack would be unbalanced if it were to ever miss.

Not one to practice the same trick twice, Voracitos refrained from parrying the edge of his combatants blade and allowing his dark side energies to lap at the Jedi's robes once more. Instead, he decided to go for a little parlor trick. With his insect like legs clacking away at the ground, the Sith Lord side-stepped with unnatural agility... in both directions. The Dark Lord had created a doppelganger, one to the left of where Jubei struck, the other to the right... and both were closing in with their lightsabers. One blade swung high at his ears, the other swung low for his feet, both swinging across each other like a pair of scissors. Would he risk believing one wouldn't hurt him, and block the other, or believe the sensible thing that both were liable to hurt him?

"Seeing double?" Voracitos cackled maniacally from both mouths as he swung his lightsaber...

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Alderaan Atmosphere - Just Outside Juranno
Allies: FWC | [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | [member="Ryan Korr"]
Enemies: [member=Six-O] | [member="Imogen Daniels"] | [member=Vaylin] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member=Farah] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"]

Some from their task force joined the local defence force at the walls. They weren't really walls. No one built a city with a wall. Trextan just imagined the outer layer of rubble as a a barrier. Those Sith troopers marching across open ground outside of the safety of a heavy walked seemed to suffer the greatest losses from the return fire. There was a crack from up above them. One of the alliance soldiers was a sniper and he set to his grim task. By the end of the day a lot of officers brave enough to wear rank pauldrons in the open were going to see his muzzle flash before every turned to absolute darkness.

His saber was no longer at his hip. With his back to a wall it was cradled against his chest. Finding his centre and immersing himself into the Force was more easy with this blade in his hand. The crystal came from Tatooine, just as his family had. The hilt had been constructed in a moment of perfect peace in the eye of a vicious storm. His old lightsaber and been forged in anger and seemed to carry a part of his old self from that process. The angry boy without direction, manipulated by the Sith.

It was not easy to focus. Not with the Force so agitated by destruction and death. Not with the sounds of walkers. The regular cadence of impending doom. Not with the cries that followed each shudder as an ordnance round landed within the perimeter of the city.

They stayed in place. Even as a walked forced its way through the skeletal remains of a once proud tower, they stayed in place. Hushed whispers were passed around the elite alliance teams as they waited for their moment.

Their moment arrived.

"Now!"

A flurry of blaster fire downed a squad of sith troopers in a flash. White armoured oppressors left lying in the dirt. Their identities had been stripped away long ago, as faceless as the masks they wore. As they stormed towards the buildings Trextan moved. There were three in the room, moving for the stairs to the upper levels of the building they had occupied and the gunmen up there.

With a snap-hiss his silver-white blade came to life. The closest trooper didn't even get off a shot. The second one did before the blade took his arm at the elbow. The blade danced and plucked two more bolts out of the air before the last soldier was taken down.

Trextan sensed movement and saw one more soldier. This one ran. Rather than following his path Trextan followed the Force and took a parallel path through the maze of the damaged building. He deactivated his saber, tucked into a roll as he leapt through a window. He didn't even look as he planted his feet and swung out towards his left, thumb flicking the emitter switch.

Both halves of the trooper tumbled down through the rubble. Trextan had to squint against the light, realising he had chased out of cover and into an alley.

"Jedi!" he heard the shout.

"Falling back," he murmured into his comm and he backed away and returned to cover. All lines in the battlespace were breaking down as it turned to gritty urban combat. Street by street, building by building. They would pay for every meter gained. They would never have the assurance that there were no enemies on the flank, or even behind them. A city was a dangerous place for a walker where a rocket launched could emerge at any time.

 

[Aela Talith]

Alderaan Atmosphere - Just Outside Juranno
Allies: FWC | [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | [member="Ryan Korr"]
Enemies: [member=Six-O] | [member="Imogen Daniels"] | [member=Vaylin] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member=Farah] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | TSE

Aela did what she had always done best, fought.

The armies came together, there was a clashing surge of man against man, armored tank versus armored tank. It all came together in a hasteful crash of destruction. It was an oddity that she was so used to this, that she felt at home in this.

Part of her thought it was wrong, but her lightsaber blazed to life and for the first time in a long time Aela knew exactly what to do.

Her job in the midst of combat was a simple one, it was to take down those ahead of her, protect those to the side. It didn't matter if they were in the middle of a bashed down ruin, it didn't matter if they were in the midst of a field. Aela was there to fight. Her lightsaber slashed forward in a wide arch, slicing through the barrel of a blaster that a Sith trooper had pointed at her. The weapon fizzled and spark, then the man went flying as Aela sent a powerful wave of the force towards him and his allies.

"Trextan!" She called out to the young man, spotting him in the midst of everything.

Pitched battle was never the best place for a Jedi to be. Making an impact among dozens of soldiers and tanks was difficult. No, their path needed to take them elsewhere. She frowned for a moment, glancing at the horizon and spotting a row of Artillery tanks.

"There!" Aela pointed, her lightsaber flicking forward to slice through a troopers arm. "Follow me!"

She glanced around, searching for Ryan in order to tell him to do the same.

They would need to cut the head off the snake.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"You dilute yourself. The Force is fire, slake its hunger properly and it will become a roaring inferno, but overburden it with timber and it will suffocate. That is your destiny."

The Emperor believed that one who attempted to master every element of the Force would exhaust themselves, never achieving true strength. Carnifex dedicated himself fully to the Dark Side of the Force, and he was deeply steeped in its teachings. He had studied the Light Side of the Force, the methods, and histories of the Jedi as well. He adamantly believed that if one was to destroy their enemy, it was prudent to learn everything there was to know about them. Though ancient texts only offered a glimmer of insight into the modern Jedi, the Emperor had received much information and knowledge from [member="Taeli Raaf"] about the current Jedi Orders.

He dispelled the lightning, remnants of electricity sparking in the air now laden with the stench of ozone. Carnifex then reached out with the same hand, using it to ward off the wave of energy unleashed by his opponent against him. While the wings of the wave would continued onward, directed around and away from his body, the center of the wave would meet head on with his outstretched hand. That energy would be caught, brought to a screeching halt against the bulwark of flesh and Force that was the Sith Emperor, and then redirected back at its creator through an exertion of power on the Sith Lord's behalf.

That energy, now amplified by some of the Dark Lord's own, hurtled back towards the young Seren with the force to crack and shattered stone.

[member="Rai Seren"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Salara Zambrano"]​

 

[Rai Seren]

"No, you restrict yourself and I embrace the full power of the Force."

When he ended his onslaught she recalled her weapon and gripped it in one hand. This battle was just as she had expected. A war of attrition was inevitably going to end when the person with the least amount of energy showed a sign of weakness. While she was feeling the burn of dealing with his assault, she wasn't tired and she was ready to continue. At least until he grabbed the energy that she'd directed at him, which surprised her in itself, and redirected it back at her. This was something new.

When it hit her, she was already drawing the Force into the fibers of her muscles, strengthening them against impact. It still blasted her backwards off her feet. When she hit the ground she tucked so that she was rolling, and as the energy from the blast died down, she came to a stop on three limbs, her hand holding her pike out before her in warning, as she heaved in an effort to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her. Impressive, his strength was, but he relied on have armor with gadgets to get there. Her master would have laughed at him.

As she stood it became clear to see that her clothes had taken a beating. She was nearly exposed now, thanks to all the tips and tears. On top of that, she had numerous abrasions crisscrossing her body. She tasted iron in her mouth from a split lip, which she cleared with a swipe of her forearm while never taking her eyes from him. She looked like hell, but she only responded with a grin. It was just another beating. She'd been hit and even pummeled by Toru. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made her strong against injury. Some would call it abuse. For an Echani it was life. For her it was training.

"When you came over here you assumed me an insect you could squash quickly, didn't you?"

She was goading him now. Mostly she wasn't enjoying his half-hearted attempts at beating her. As strong as they were she could tell he wasn't trying as hard as he really should have been. The weakness of arrogance.

"I am not a fly on the wall of your empire, Kaine Zambrano. I am the predator you didn't think existed."

She settled herself back into a moderate stance and jerked her pike at him, egging him on. She was ready.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Salara Zambrano"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Oh no, my young Seren, you are mistaken. You do not yet live because of any mundane underestimation, had I wished to kill you outright I will have killed you as quickly as I did your mother. You only continue to stand because your struggle amuses me, and your suffering will be for my enjoyment. Once I have had my fill, I will end you with the cruelest stroke."

The Emperor had often found pleasure in prolonging his foe's misery, dragging out their agonizing demise until they practically begged for it. But this child's arrogance was so overpowering he doubted that she'd ever beg, not even when he peeled the flesh from her bones.

Then again, her screams may prevent her from doing so anyways.

Either way, the Emperor hadn't even expended an iota of his own energy yet. This whole encounter had been the equivalent of turning on a light switch for him, a meager menial task. She didn't know it yet, but the Emperor greatly desired to see her squirm at his feet, bleeding and broken.

Like the Serens that came before.

"Keep struggling, little Seren. Your flesh is not yet tender."

He spun his lightsaber end over end in a flat circle in front of him as he advanced, the energy blade humming through the air before it suddenly struck out like a viper's bite towards the girl's weapon. Perhaps unbeknownst to the child, the Emperor's style had suddenly shifted. His attacks, while aggressive, had been more reactionary and reliant upon the younger girl's own attacks by following up each strike with a devastating counter. Now his attacks were more staccato, seemingly unconnected yet viciously bold and repetitive as the Emperor ferociously probed each of Seren's body target zones, searching for any sort of weakness in her defense and then exploiting with unparalleled brute force.

[member="Rai Seren"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Salara Zambrano"]​

 

[Rai Seren]

She laughed.

Not a small laugh, but an outright and whole-hearted laugh. She was amused by his antics. Truthfully he made Master Xevras seem incredibly boring by comparison. The entertainment value of facing this "master of the dark side" was exponentially increasing. His insecurity was consistently showing. The words he said about his power being so great, the fact that he wore massive armor designed to I still fear and make him invinicible, all of it was simply a crutch for his fears. He really was a cowardly man deep down.

It was small wonder her mother had been willing to face him. The fact he had apparently killed her brother was surely the reason if most important, but this man wasn't worthy of leading their people. His cowardice raged through his veins. It was evident everywhere she looked. Though she was certainly younger than he, and less experienced in the ways of the Galaxy, she felt superior because she was confident in herself. She felt no fear, even about dying. Why? Because she would go into the Force and be with her family. What was so bad about that?

"You amuse me. Even your choice to face me shows something of yourself. Each moment longer I learn more. Not very smart on your part."

He changed the way he was fighting, which was obvious by the spinning blade maneuver. She spun her own before her, allowing the blade to cut gouges in the ground as she did so. When he came with his strikes she married one, then another, and another, before one slipped through and cut her across the rib, though not deep enough to cause severe damage. She didn't grimace, she just smiled. She had learned to deal with pain in a way that didn't require her rage, and her rage at him for killing her family had even calmed to an extent because of how he amused her.

"That's more like it."

Those cuts she'd made in the ground allowed her to dance around and then grab it with the Force to throw at him, only she didn't relinquish her grip, she held onto it, intending to best him with it even as blood ran down her stomach. His precious armor and it's magnetic capabilities wouldn't defend him from a chunk of sod. And it amused her even more, the idea of beating him with dirt.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Darth Prazutis"] [member="Salara Zambrano"]

 

[Saeva]

Location: Alderaan - Jurrano
Allies: TSE: [member="Vaylin"] [member="Joycelyn Zambrano"] [member="Six-O"]
Enemies: TSE haterz: [member="Harper Kade"] [member="Alden Belmont"]

The fighting didn't get any less intense, but at least away from the frontlines the pressure was off him for now. He didn't take the time to process what had happen, but he did steel his mind and reinforce his resolve. The wounds were minor and he didn't anticipate any scars, yet he had just taken a beaten twice on short notice.

The lines crept closer. By now they would be clashing. He caught himself trying to envision what went on, but it didn't take long before he got a strong indicator. The swarm of sithspawned beasts rushed through the air like a living storm, the wasps following the will of the Horde Mother, bound to in turn to the will of the Sith. Things were gonna get nasty. The city offered weak protection against the swarm.

Orders were given, Idris and a group of soldiers broke off from the main line and headed off towards the flank. The screams from the city's outskirts as the swarm tore into the Alderaanian forces was no longer any of his concern.

Through the layer of smoke the soldiers dropped from them, they entered into the city. This area seemed clear. The defender's must not have had the resources to stretch out as wide as-"Open fire!" he heard the cry, and his blood went cold instantly. That voice was not on their side.

The heat of battle, in all its terror, broke out. After they got laid into hard, the Sith forces returned fire and scrambled for cover. Idris did his part, lightsaber back in full swing as the Force guided his step towards enemy lifeforms with speed.

The drawn out fighting saw them halt, gain ground, halt again, before they made some more ground. Suddenly it seemed they had the resistance on the run, only to crash into another ring of defence in a position hard to assail. Thankfully numbers were on their side, and thankfully none of the dead's health insurance was his to take care of.

Idris and two squads had driven deeper into the city. The squads had broken off from the main flanking force, and were now returning to link back up with them. Idris however was only driven further away, possibly the intent of the resistance as well, recognising what a threat a lightsaber-wielding, remorseless, soldier in possession of the Force was.

He either managed to shake them, or they too returned to their main force, while Idris was left chasing the bait, only now as a hunter stalking his prey rather than a wild animal led into a trap. Idris would much later catch up with his targets, close the distance and engage in close combat.

The first two went down rather quickly, but the last put up a surprising effort. In a turn of events, he managed to grip onto Idris trying to take him to the ground. Idris resisted, but wasn't able to completely halt the momentum of the much larger guy, and the two crashed together through a window into a certain hotel. Idris had the pleasant advantage of being on top, and before the man could reach for his weapons, the red blade pierced his chest. Silence...

 

[Enyo Typhos]

LOCATION: Juran Region - Survive Ambush, Press Attack on the Juran Gate
OBJECTIVE: Support Sith Organics
ALLIES: [member="Matsu Xiangu"], [member="Imogen Daniels"], [member="Joycelyn Zambrano"], [member="Lok Munin"], [member="Idris Voahan"], [member="Six-O"], [member="Vaylin"]
ENEMIES: [member="Harper Kade"], [member="Alden Belmont"], [member="Aela Talith"], [member="Trextan Voidstalker"], [member="Ryan Korr"], House Panteer | Jurano
Gear: CF6 Concussion Rifle, Magnetic Revolver, Enyo's Lightsabre, 2nd Standard Lightsabre, Eisenmensch Armour Mk2, ACS-208 Wrist Charric, ACS-208 Wrist Ion Beamer, Meteoron Malleo, Forcebreaker Grenades.


And so battle was joined. Mayhem raged. It was like a collision of tidal waves. Man against man, tank against tank. Smoke and dust clogged the air, explosions shook the earth, and bodies piled up. Countless Sith troopers were cut down as the Alderaanians and their allies hammered the first wave. The whine of blasters, the staccato of slugthrowers, the roar of tank cannons, and the cries of the wounded produced a macabre orchestra of death and destruction.


Urban warfare was gritty, mean and merciless. Here a walker was felled by a rocket launcher, there a building was levelled after being blasted by tank cannons, entombing or outright crushing those who'd sought shelter in it. Rockets, lasers, repeater fire and cannon shells rippled through the ranks on both ends of the line. Sith stormtroopers and their mercenary allies charged over the bodies of their comrades.


The Armoured Personnel Carrier transporting Enyo and a small contingent of soldiers pressed forward, shrugging off laser fire as its auto-cannon and grenade launcher rained down destruction upon infantry.


Then a warhead, courtesy of an Alderaanian armed with a missile launcher, slammed into the side of the armoured vehicle, exploding against and breaching the outer layers. The driver tried to evade - too late. His head was smashed against the wheel, causing his skull to peel open. Almost at the same time, a second warhead struck.


Not only did it knock the armoured vehicle over, it shattered the plating. The APC went up in a plume of flame as the entire vehicle was ignited. Several soldiers were blasted off their feet by the detonation.


Being knocked around hard inside the vehicle by the impact caused Enyo's HUD to go white. For a moment or two. Then her red eyes flashed behind her human irises. Flames whipped around her, seeking purchase upon her armoured shell. Bloody corpses lay around her.


The Terminatrix crawled out of the wreckage. A vicious melee had broken out around her. The first enemy soldier who came into her sights got his skull smashed when she used her rifle like a club. His faceplate was stained with blood. Grabbing him, she hurled him towards one of his comrades. The dead body was riddled with blaster bolts as it flew.


Rifle in hand, the HRD began to plod into battle with robotic precision. Archangel had taught her to fight like a machine, and so she did. Dispassionate, almost serene, merciless. A deafening blast erupted from her concussion rifle, shattering the bones of enemy soldiers like dry wood and in some cases knocking them off their feet.


With her free hand, she grappled, punched or directed the Force to absorb blaster bolts or pull concealed enemies from their hideouts and hurls them to their meesy demise. No matter how many projectiles struck the sealed phrik armour that covered her from head to toe or hammered the endoskeleton beneath it. Dimly, she could sense that there were Force-users among the enemy ranks. The Force auras were potent, though she could not pinpoint them yet.


xxx


The mountain peak was theirs. Victory had come at a staggering cost, for the snow was littered with bodies and stained with blood. At long last, the guns had fallen silent. With the help of the Dustbringers and Sith Knight Vaylin, the resistance of the tenacious Alderaanians was finally broken.


Having suffered several injuries, Neda was not in a good shape. Stimulants helped. She gave her fellow Zabrak a curt nod. "Warlord Typhos sends her regards," she said sardonically. Here and there, one could still hear gun shots, as the Last Fathers or Iron Fist Cyborgs finished off wounded Alderaanians with a well-placed blaster bolt. Or simply cut their throats to save ammunition.


"Boys, set up emplacements and make sure the peak is secure. Take weapons and ammo from the dead," It was an ideal defensive position, after all. Taking the heights should give them an advantage in battle. Besides, now they could make use of the Alderaanians' heavy weapons, e-webs and so on that had given them such grief during the charge.


Meanwhile, the Sith Knight gave a speech to inspire her Dustbringer minions to motivate them. It involved fire and blood. Sadly, Neda was too cynical to appreciate oratory. "Save the poetry for the holocams," she muttered to herself. Even being reconditioned by Enyo had not made her any less irreverent.

 

[Marina DeVoe]

Location: Onderon to Alderaan
Objective: Keep food and essential med supplies flowing to FWC forces
Enemies: All offensive personell
Equipment: Mariner IV (unarmed)


The Mariner IV dropped out of hyperspace at an extremely long distance of 300,000 kilometers from her world Alderaan...

No, she weren't timid, nor would watch from afar in horror, as offensive strikes were hitting her beloved Alderaan.
Marina had come out of hyperspace at her pre-determined distance, for she was aiming to enter her system via the Southern Polar regions. Only, that she would be gunning her planet at 0.3 light speed with her sub-light drives the instant her hyperdrives went off line.

At that velocity of 90,000 k/s, she had only a 3.4 second shot at getting down planet side amidst all the ships from various factions, whether they were allies or enemy. She could ill afford chancing a chat with anyone, keeping her channel on receiving only, be they friend or foe. Marina had to get down planet side to her family home.

The 300,000 kilometers shrunk ultra fast as her planet seemed to grow exponentially on her in those harrowing seconds. Her eye, and it was confirmed by her ship's sensors caught the tail end of an SD on her port. It whizzed by so fast at less than a 100 meter distance, before she slammed the Mariner IV through the upper stratosphere that Marina didn't have time to even gasp.
But missed the SD she did, and was well into the lower spheres by the time anyone on whomever ship it belonged too had time to react.

"Holy fodder!..." She exclaimed getting a hold of her breath. What had just transpired had done so seconds past, but was just hitting her now.

"Focus, Marina...you still got a ways to go down here..." She coaxed herself to stay on track and with the plan.
The Mariner leveled out below cloud cover and Marina headed through the South Polar regions, using the immediate mountain range as cover, en route North. She'd get to her home come hell or high water.
Only that the Southern mountain range would open up to the midlands...Alderaan's fertile valleys. There she'd have to fly low and fast, hopefully not get anyone on her tail.

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Location: Juranno, Juran Region, Alderaan
Objective: Seriously? This again?
Allies: [member="Harper Kade"], FWC
Enemies: The mother-karking-sith-again, [member="Vaylin"], [member="Idris Voahan"]
Gear: Hope. Lightsaber. More hope. Really... just hope.

The silence of the moment continued only for a single pitched breath.

Then the walkers and the rest of the forces commanded by [member="Six-O"] and [member="Matsu Xiangu"] began to reverberate through the duracrete. Even deeper into the city, where they were ushering the civilians into the basement, Alden could hear their weight come down against the ground with thunderous force. It made him look up from what he was doing, glancing over to Harper who had heard the same thing. What could they do... against whatever was outside? It was an army, a hammer the Sith (because surely there was no one else that would have the strength and interest to hit Alderaan) was using to crush them in one fell swoop.

What could they do?

"House Panteer rules here," Alden shouted over the heads of the crowd. They were slowly thinning out as they trickled into the basement- this wasn't... Alden didn't feel happy about having to leave them here.

But did they really have another option?

"I am going to find out where they are massing and offer my lightsaber." At a younger age he might have said we, but Belmont was older now. Maybe not wiser but he wouldn't automatically assume that Harper would drop everything to come with him. She had her own ideas, thoughts, maybe she had a better way of helping this city, a way he hadn't even considered yet.

The doors closed shut behind the last small group and Harper's hand brushed across the panel.

"What will you do?" He stepped closer, studying her for a brief moment, before looking out of the shattered windows. It was deserted now but that wouldn't last. The assault had already begun at the outskirts of the city.

It would reach them here soon enough.

 

[Mariel Dawnrider]

Location: Juranno, Juran Region, Alderaan
Objective: Seriously? This again?
Allies, nearby: [member="Alden Belmont"], FWC
Enemies, nearby: The mother-karking-sith-again, [member="Vaylin"] [member="Idris Voahan"] [member="Joycelyn Zambrano"]
Gear: HA, Blaster Pistol, HAHAohgods

He wasn't looking at her when he said it, so he missed the way her hand came up for just a second, then dropped back to her side before she nodded.

"I....."

A pause and a deep breath.

"I'm not a soldier, Alden," she said finally.

She had spirit and grit and that unwillingness to give up, but beyond that? A blaster pistol and an attitude were about all the firepower she was going to seriously bring to anything. Offering that to the local militia? Yeah, Alden was a Jedi now. That made sense.

"But I can't just sit around. I can find people who are trapped or just hiding but maybe not in safe places, try to get them somewhere they are."

There was a nod, intent and serious.

"So, I'll head in the same direction you're going to start, yeah?"

She smiled, if a little tightly.

It didn't take long for them to hit the streets. Of course, the streets were perfectly ready to hit back. Everything was chaos, shouting. The sound of angry buzzing filled the air, and despite the fact that they were flying above the building, Harper ducked reflexively when the first of the wasps went zooming overhead.

"What the KARK are those??"

Things were bad. And they were about to get much, much worse.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"A futile gesture."

She could watch him for a hundred years and only learn a fraction of what she needed, though the Emperor did not intend for her to live that long. However, he could see through her like glass. She was young, inexperienced in the grand scheme of war. No amount of specialized masters and prodigal tutors could compensate for an utter lack of battle experience, something that the Emperor of the Sith had in multiple spades. He'd trudged across over hundreds of battlefields, thickly embroiled in the front lines of carnage as bodies piled up like mountains. Forty years of war, forty years of collective knowledge.

Togoria, Concord Dawn, Coruscant, Kashyyyk, and more than a hundred others.

He had helped spearhead the One Sith's devastating campaigns against the Galactic Republic, removing their influence system-by-system from the Core Worlds. Dozens of Jedi Masters had eventually fallen to his power, their ashes resting in a ritual basin in his private quarters aboard the Behemoth.

This girl's arrogance was astounding.

She was blind to her insignificance, not one thread of fate wound itself around her unlike the others who had stood against him. They all had destinies to fulfill, but her? Carnifex snorted in disgust, it seemed that her destiny was to die her.

An ignoble fate.

Earthen sod and bits of loose rock was hurtled like a projectile towards him, but to such a primitive weapon it only took the most basic defensive applications of the Force to render the attack utterly moot. It did surprise him, however, that the girl would debase herself so lowly as to rely on such a pathetic tactic to try and assail him with. But if she wanted to sling dirt, then the Dark Lord of the Sith would show her what true mastery could achieve.

There was a deep rumble beneath the earth, a vibration as the bedrock beneath their feet was dislodged and wrenched free from its resting place and forced upward. The ground splintered and cracked, a thick column of dirt and stone breaching the surface of the ground with such intensity it was as if an explosion had misshapen the land. Manipulated by his will, it would just so happen that the ground directly beneath the young Seren was affected by his machinations. Then, as quickly as it was wrenched free, the eruption of thick stone and dirt shattered even further into over two dozen different chunks of varying size debris. They'd hone in on the young Seren's body like heat-seeking missiles, coming in in pairs or in triples to batter and to brutalize.

[member="Rai Seren"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"] | [member="Salara Zambrano"]​

 

[Jubei]

Location: Crevasse City, Alderaan
Objective: Help with Evecuation
Enemy: TSE and company, [member="Darth Voracitos"]
Allies: Everyone else

The lepi's sabre scorched the ground where the gargantuan human had once stood. "How the fek?" Jubei was momentary stunned at Darth Voracitos unnatural prowess and agility, able to side step at such velocity with such girth and size was hard to comprehend. But that was the tip of the iceberg, he had not just side stepped left or right, he had done both. It was if Jubei had split the creature in two perfect forms though he knew his blade did not even touch the Sith. And now the two forms were on either side of his flanks and closing in fast with hungry blades of their own.

Jubei had only a split second to respond, his training taking over and giving into muscle reflex. He hurled himself into a horizontal barrel roll off to his left side, his body barely escaping fatal injury as he gracefully flew between the blades. The lepi expertly landed in a handless cartwheel springing further off to the side and getting out of the range of flanking maneuver. He skidded to a stop, igniting his shorter sabre, the shento of the lightsabre family while position himself in line so that either fake or real form would continuously be in front of each other. When fighting multiple enemies, always have two blades and keep moving to making sure that your opponents are always in line and never flanking.

That was one of the general theory of swordsmanship. Problem was that theory never took into aspect of space wizardry and the illusion that was before him caused some serious problems. The magician was not just able to make copies of himself, he was also able to attack from range which Jubei had already experienced full on. He had to move, he had to make his defense and offense the best he could. So instead of waiting for the two forms to strike, he would pounce upon them himself. Both of his own blades poised to attack and defend, to prod to see what was real and what was not. The illusion was hard to break with his senses alone, even with his animalistic sense of smell, the area was saturated with Darth Voracitos aroma that he could not differentiate between the two in such close proximity of each other.

It was blade work now that was the key, his pounce was more of a jolted charge forward at the closest Darth. His shento was at the ready to parry while his longblade lashed out with upward diagonal slash from his right side. This was either the real Voracitos, or this attack will fade into to the illusion with confirmation of truth.

 

[Fen]

Alderaan Atmosphere - Just Outside Juranno
Allies: FWC | [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | [member="Aela Talith"]
Enemies: [member="Six-O"] | [member="Matsu Xiangu"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="Vaylin"] | [member="Farah"]

Target: Kronos' AT-HAW

They poured out from the rubble like a sea of ants. Before them rose moving, megalithic, machines. A dozen Walkers, or more, each equipped with enough firepower to decimate a platoon.

Korr sprinted alongside the rest, springing lightly through the chunks of pulverized permacrete. He looked over at Aela, whose hair whipped around her face like gold pennants. Their eyes met and Korr gave her a nod, then increased his speed and shot ahead of the rest of the force, straight for the row of artillery tanks.

Blaster bolts skipped around him, heating the air with their passage and filling the air with the smell of ozone. Korr's heart pounded in his chest with a quickening tattoo. The walkers loomed ahead, Korr craned his neck up, then felt his belly rise into his throat, tasted bile. The roar of adrenaline swiftly subsumed the cacophony of war.

Familiar doubt seeped in through the cracks in his mind and gnawed at his foundations.

What if I fail?

The soldiers behind him might die.

What if I die?

The worlds will spin on.

For the briefest of moments, Ryan closed his eyes, sucked in a breath, then let it rush out from his lungs along with all his doubts and fears. Death and failure are part of life. I cannot control them anymore than I can the wind and rain. Korr let go of conscious thought. The Force flowed through him.

His shoto snapped to life in his left hand, his saber in his right, two bars of purest blue.

With a burst of supernatural speed, Korr ran straight for the nearest AT-HAW.

 

[Salara Zambrano]

ALDERAAN​

---

​

---

​

"Knight-Commander Ixard, status on our brothers?"

"They live, I've given them your point as the rally, they'll head there once they've crushed the Alderaani spirit here." He reported and then gave a new order. "Stay with our Empress, Sergeant Venthus."

The Sergeant turned his gaze and watched from a safe distance as Salara spoke with her husband's uncle, while her daughters looked on.

She nodded in response to Prazutis, "it is always good to see you." From there the noble Epicanthix listened as the Shadow Hand spoke to her. Resilience was always a good quality to have, perhaps these Alderaani could be of use to her yet. "Indeed, would be such a shame to waste the lot of them." Salara considered dispatching her 'mechanics' to take those still breathing Alderaani and spare them their fate of death. To turn them into servants for their new Emperor, her husband. When she heard the name Seren. Salara's only response was, "then my sons have only but to walk their father back to me."

"Good, let their blood flow run from the Palace, may it stain their streets." She welcomed the news of the conquest, "I've dispatched war barges of Talonguard. I can have my Knight-Commander coordinate with your Major Tiamat."

Princess Mavrianna and Ephraazel gave their great uncle a small nod of acknowledgment before the twins moved to reach out with the force. Together they searched Alderaan for their father's presence and once it was found they urged him to finish with the whelp. Meanwhile, his sons, Alvarex and Sarlow raced for his position even now their own auras would be felt by that of their father.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Rai Seren"] | [member="Darth Prazutis"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

LOCATION: Juran Region - Juranno - Entering City
OBJECTIVE: Overwhelm.
ALLIES: [member="Six-O"] | [member="Enyo Typhos"] | [member="Imogen Daniels"] | [member="Vaylin"] | [member="Idris Voahan"] | [member="Joycelyn Zambrano"] | [member="Farah"] | [member="Lok Munin"]
ENEMIES: [member="Harper Kade"] | [member="Alden Belmont"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Trextan Voidstalker"] | [member="Ryan Korr"]

She was nobody.

Nestled in her place among the coordinated mass of Sith Infantry, Matsu Xiangu ceased to exist. No fanfare, no histrionics. No great wave of dread upon her arrival. One woman who’d played in this scene a few dozen times. Chasing experience and some credits. Wisps of hair were flattened against a sweat-sheened, porcelain face - one among thousands. And that was all.

Seventy-five kilometers away, Battery Snow Owl bid farewall to its walkers and watched them descend on the city. The armory was not the cornerstone of the assault but rather a helpful asset, pushing back Alderaani forces while the Sith approached across the Juran fields and then providing ground and aerial support once the Sith managed to breach the city. Misguided opinions aside, urban warfare would always be messy.

And messy it was. That moment Matsu had warned Imogen about, when she’d have to stop sharing her vision, had come as soon as the first line of the Infantry’s Advance had been slammed back by rifle fire from the Alderaan resistance. They’d laid in the streets, some dead, those dying watching the Infantry behind them stepping over and around their bodies as the assault pressed harder. Matsu’s vision dissolved slowly from Imogen’s view, gently as possible so she wouldn’t feel any more disoriented than she had to. And then Matsu was off.

Still no frightening rage. Just purpose.

Enyo Typhos fought with grace and calculation. Wasps from the Hive Mother created a buzzing cacophony overhead as they zipped along streets and alleyways. Infantrymen watched their brothers and sisters die or narrowly escape to fight another minute. The main force was now finding their footing, pressing further in to the city. Alderaan was a city known for its willingness to throw everything they had in to a fight. No matter the delusions of some among the Sith, this would be no easy fight. But the fights you were guaranteed to win brought no satisfaction when the day was done.

Members of the resistance wasted no time, sprinting forward to engage with any open Sith or infantryman. Matsu - small, delicate Matsu - was a prime target despite her horrifying appearance. Little. Easily overpowered.

She drew Tianzun as the first reached her, stepping in to the motion as the blade split the attacker from groin to sternum. He was not, of course, alone, and his friend charged in from the left. This sword had been hers since she was 18, and thus she knew it like the back of her hand. Without thought, she rounded out towards him, rolling the hilt to bring the blade around above and behind her head to chop down from her right shoulder. With her height this led her to cleave across the front of the second oncomer as well.

A third from the right, and Matsu couldn’t swing in time. One hand unwrapping from the hilt, a telekinetic blast erupted from her palm to send the assailant flying backwards. She didn’t particularly care where he landed as long as he was out of the way, but was pleasantly surprised to see Six-O’s fist ball in to the passing human projectile’s vest to catch him...lift the Alderaan soldier high...and smash him head-first in to the pavement without ceremony. There was a moment, pitched battle screaming all around, that the droid seemed to spend looking down at the corpse like a child disappointed in a half-inflated gravball.

Another Alderaani ran forward, firing a blaster at Six-O’s chassis and hoping to fry something vital. Plasma flung off the metal in bright sparks and the droid caught this one too, about ready to enact some hideous act of violence when a dark tendril of sorcery curled around the female rebel’s neck. Matsu tightened her grip, working in tandem with the droid as it pulled downward and she pulled up and backwards. There was a pop, a wet smack, and then the head parted ways with the body. Both were left on the street as the partners moved on.

There was a rhythm to the first few minutes of combat - preservation of energy, ease of movement while one was fresh. But time would seek to unravel that. Exhaustion would set in to even the most trained of limbs. The Alderaan people seemed to dispatch a Sith for every one of their own. Her breath was like fire, but that sensation stopped at her lungs and somehow that was maddening. Her arms started to feel like lead. Her teeth were clenched so tightly together in concentration that her jaw ached.

Slamming herself against the wall of an alley in the one moment she had, Matsu opened her comms to Xerrzyk.

“Engage all our assets. You know what’s off-limits - the rest, do as you see fit.”

It was all the time she had before she was back in the fray, blood misted on her too-porcelain skin and settling in her scars as the Alderaani forces kept coming.