The Crusade Has Come [Moross Dominion of Kinooine]

[Hazel Scheler]

Ivy made to stand the only place she knew to be safe from the Resu's infected blades: behind him. She hardly heard his query over the tumult of the firefight, and had to glance back at him as she picked off another three pirates storming out from a nearby doorway. Blind?

Really, this was not the ideal situation. As a Merc it was always of utmost importance to know the team you worked with. Know each member, their strengths, their weaknesses, and work to balance everything out. Put each member where their strengths were strongest and their weaknesses were covered by the others. This whole flying-by-the-seat-of-their-pants really was dampening her day.

"Team, regroup! Form cover around me!"

It took some time, but they managed their way to her position at the hind of @[member="Stone Hermes"]. Ivy turned to the Resu just in time to hear the dropship and the subsequent BOOM of the big cat falling in.

"Stone, the big guy is with us, focus your blades to your four o' clock!. .... sixty degrees to your right!"

 

[Steph Zenima]

Like a dog on wooden flooring Zenima skittered about, attempting to find the feet that she had seemingly lost the moment she had entered the dropship. Creatures like her were not meant to be cooped up on transports, they were meant to roam free in the fields! It's okay, don't worry I'm sure she'll be a touch more competent when they're on more solid ground.

Or maybe not, she is drugged up to the eyeballs, y'know?

Steph joined the big cat on the anticipation train as she clutched her sledgehammer in a two-handed white knuckle grip. Life was all about the smash, the crush, the blood and the gore, especially the gore. There's nothing quite like giblets sailing through the air at a hundred miles an hour. The small woman was practically salivating at the thought.

Little and Large leapt out of the dropship, neither with that much grace, Zenima almost landed in a run if it wasn't for the spectacular stumble that the weight of her hammer had caused. Hey, it's all good, at least she didn't land on her face, y'know? Every cloud. Every cloud.

Before she even knew what the enemy looked like she was charging across the courtyard like William Wallace in space.

“WAAAAAAARGHHHHH!!!”

 

[Sephoria Lasranae]

Meanwhile on top of the surrounding walls, Sephoria could no longer provide any covering fire. Enemies had come from the doorway of the nearby adjacent tower to flank her. She turned in time to make them into dead enemies, but now she was on the run as more bandits followed the first.

Blaster bolts were exchanged until she managed to route the next three. She only just barely sensed one that sneaked up behind her. The woman's rifle butt slammed into the man's temple and sent him tumbling off the wall into the courtyard below. Two more came at her and she lost her rifle in the scuffle.

Never bring a rifle to a close quarters engagement. That was one of the many 'rule number ones' that were learned the hard way. Sometimes those rules were learned the hard way multiple times.

Naturally Seph had tried to use the weapon as a bludgeon. It was the perfect bludgeon that could turn back into a gun after faces were bashed in. When it was grabbed it made more sense to let go and use her hands. A quick spin of her body sent her elbow into one man's throat before her foot found its way into the second man's chest. One went down choking while the other went down on the other side of the wall.

Her sith sword slid from it's sheath with that satisfying scraping sound that only swords could make. It seemed it was that time...

 

[Mercury Zealot]

Stone Hermes followed her directions with machine precision, charging through with a slow and heavy slash, followed by whatever else his body had to serrate the flesh of those he trampled over. The good thing about the explosion and the heat radiating off of it, is that it did not radiate so much that when the targets came close to him he could not see them. As his beastly form rumbled the ground as he rampage his way through the rubble and debris. The Pirates were scant and ran about, while few in number they had many guns, with a good portion of them aimed at him. He took may hits, but Jaws came around to further disperse the cross fire, while the others of the squad fired on the open pirates.

He hacked through a tiny swath of unfortunate pirates, before trampling over their bodies. Soon the infection would turn them into a mindless variety of the Techno-Virus. Their changes (not influenced by the force) would taken longer to procure, and their biological difference from Resu would render them without thought. They would not harm the Moross though, as their motivation held nothing for them. They may as well have turned into an inert mass of metallic substance. Once formed, they could be "reprogrammed" or "persuaded" into preforming a simple action by a very scant number of people, most usually those people would be Resu Infectors such as himself, or healers how might attempt to slow the spread of the virus and possibly save the minds of those afflicted. Obviously some of his victims would be too grievously wounded by the thick of his blade to amount to very much other than scrap metal, as sick as that may seem. The scavengers after the battle would scarcely tell the difference between a damaged droid and a Resu conversion too badly maimed to be of any use. Hermes of course, thought nothing of this, seeing it as only natural whenever the time may happen that he did think about it. This was war, atrocity would be committed, even in the name of the Holy.

Reasonably out of the vicinity of his comrades, he screamed a wide blast forward to detect and wound more pirate resisters. Their were a few fleeting impressions that he suspected as targets. He made sure his team was well.

"Orders?" He shouted over the fire fight.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

So they had decided to surrender, typical pirates. The God watched for a time, looking at the hazey map within his mind. A thought dawned on him of what he had done. He had used a power previously unknown to him, something akin to battle meditation. He frowned slightly as he looked at his palms, unsure of himself for a few moments.

It was true that Soliael was powerful, but using an ability he did not know beforehand? The thought of that made him uncomfortable, unconscious actions always did.

Like his father before him Soliael had always thought himself entirely in control, the thought that that may not be completely true...it scared him oddly enough....if a creature such as he could even feel fear. Before anyone on the bridge good notice his strange facial expression Soliael switched back to a stoic placid appearance, a slight smirk tugging at his lips.

“Bring me the prisoners, and secure that fleet.” Ships always came in handy.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

"Stone with me!" Ivy was at the heel of the Resu again, tapping on his nearest leg, "we need to take down their big guns at the main entrance!"

She plugged a nearby hall with flashbombs before signaling to the remainder of her team to take point. They'd leave @[member="Piraiba"] and @[member="Steph Zenima"] to manage the courtyard now that they had a clear path towards their main target.

"Seph....Seph?!" there came no reply on her comm link, which meant either her sister had broken it again or she was distracted. It really could be either where she was concerned. Ivy couldn't see for the smoke in the area, so she would have to trust in the woman's abilities to stay alive. Besides, there was a giant cat and a very small woman with a giant hammer. Clearly Seph was safe. Ivy pushed past Stone, signaling to the Resu to follow, and made way down the hall. Her team was picking off stragglers down the corridore, pushing on to take cover at the next set of side halls. There must be a fire somewhere in the building as more smoke seemed to be billowing in from further down.

"What can you see Stone?" Ivy called to him.

@[member="Stone Hermes"]

 

[Ereza]

Arriving in orbit of Kinooine aboard The Kingdom

As with any battle there was sure to be wounded to tend and that was where the Aesir Inari and her following of Healers and Medics came in. Word arrived from Priestess @[member="Loxa Visl"] that nearby Firerreo settlements had taken some damage after a small skirmish during her scouting mission. The woman couldn't be sure just how much damage had been dealt - she'd been tasked with maintaining her cover during the mission and so could do little to intervene. At the Priestess mention Inari afforded a vested interest in all parties concerned. Humanitarian efforts would be made to ensure the health of Kinooine's modest population.

The other half of her ship saw a contingent of Shields who would be sent to apprehend any Pirate that did not choose assimilation. There were plenty of bounties to fill in this little hive of villainy and the Crusade was more than happy to do the job.

"Deploy humanitarian drop ships," Inari spoke from her throne-like chair on the bridge of The Kingdom, "Priestess Loxa Visl will lead the efforts at the most recently affected settlement."

 

[Piraiba]

After several moments of mowing down pirates with his two heavy repeaters, Piraiba was finally forced to take cover behind a nearby garden wall. He could really dish out the firepower, but unfortunately he was also a huge target.

The feline took a moment to collect his thoughts and take a breath before lowering his blaster rifles to the ground where he propped them up against the wall he was taking cover against. Instead the Sith Knight reached to his sides and gripped his hands around the two hilts of his lightsabers. A white blade of pure energy erected out of both hilts as he thumbed them on. Each blade was much longer than standard light sabers to accommodate for his size difference.

Time seemed to slow in his mind as he moved out from cover. The pirates moved their weapons to train on him. Each bolt was deflected as the giant side stepped from one cover to the next. Behind the next cover the Sith Knight locked the ends of the two lightsaber hilts together to form a double bladed saber. He promptly placed that in his mouth before dropping onto all fours and running forward like a feral cat. With a white blade of energy extending from each side of his mouth, the Togorian ran and jumped from one surface to the next with surprising agility and speed until he was up onto an opposing wall walkway. There the pirates had been giving him hell from a vantage point.

That changed as soon as his feet landed onto the stone. Piraiba dropped his double bladed saber into his hand and separated it back into two weapons with a single fluid motion. Then just like that he was running through the pirates. He deflected their rounds and cut them down all without stopping. A human typically slashed an opponent, but the strength behind his cuts was rending bodies apart with no effort.

Hopefully Steph was holding her own with her hammer.

 

[Sephoria Lasranae]

Sephoria panted as she stumbled over the dead remains of a pirate. She almost tumbled off of the wall, but managed to catch her footing last second. So many of these bastards had come out of nowhere. Her blade was drenched crimson from having to cut her way through them. She could hear her sister over the radio again, but it still took her several more seconds for her mind to readjust back to reality. Finally she managed to return a response.

"I'm ok Ivy ... I just had to much fun. I lost my rifle so I can't guard you from up here. I'll be down there with you soon."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael waited for a time. Even the devoted of Moross took time to gather their enemies, even they needed time to do their jobs. Of course the Crusaders would work quickly and efficiently. He doubted that they would spare even a second to take a break. Of course the Pirates would be brought aboard the Swarm Frigates one by one, and there Soliael would “speak” with each of them. He had a thought in mind for the pirates who would not willingly convert, something different than @[member="Amorella Mae"].

Where as his aunt saw the good in most things and was willing to hand over these pirates for bounties and the like, Soliael saw only more soldiers. Albeit his variant of soldiers differed from the norm.

With a quick turn of his heel Soliael whirled about on the bridge. “Have them assembled in the cargo bay!”

He called out to no one in particular, but his purpose was obvious.

 

[Garza]

I nodded as the Pirates then decided to put their weapons down. Smiling I walked over to the command console that the Pirate leader was standing. I waved him away to move, "Gather all in this ship that have a position directly under your command, Take a shuttle to our flagship with no weapons. You will be frisked, and if one of my men find anything, even as small as a toothpick, There will be the wrath of the gods on your heads."

A few minutes later I had assembled a group of 40 men that were directly under the man's command. Each were frisked and put into the shuttle with weapons pointed at them, and cuffs on their hands. Somehow in the armory they had a surplus of them. Probably from breaking out so many convicts. Led into the shuttle, I joined them with my sword at the read and watching each of them with my eyes as we traveled to the flag ship. The fighting had stopped for the most part. Now it was time to find out a way to convert them.

Once in the hanger. They were led and lined up for Neth, as well as countless others that were also lined up. I moved to stand in front of the door watching everyone work and lining them up with weapons stolen, or their own.

 

[Blackthorne]

"I am Priestess Loxa Visl of the Moross Crusade. We have come to free your settlements of this pirate infestation. People of Kinooine have no need to fear us. Surrender the heretics in your villages and be delivered from this villainous disease."

The hooded figure of the Priestess relayed through the tapped holonet to all uplinked settlements of Kinooine. At least one village would recognize her from the incident several weeks ago, and with any luck they would have spread the word. She knew there to be pirates camping out amidst the Firrerreo colonies, and she also knew that the Firerreo people did not tend to like the pirates. With their courage driven by this massive display of power, it was only a matter of time before the criminals were ousted.

She would see to it that they were.

Dozens of drop ships broke through the atmosphere, each one destined for its own settlement. They brought healers, medics, provisions, and the tools and equipment necessary to establish communication strongholds at four specific locations. Kinooine was about to get a major face-lift and a shiny new tiara. It's people were about to be collected into the powerhouse that was Moross.

Soon.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael wandered through the halls of his ship, a slight frown was on his face. His use of Sith battle Meditation troubled him. Unlike most other force users he did not enjoy losing control of himself, he did not enjoy doing things without knowing what he was doing. That was how one burned themselves out, how they used too much of the force, how they killed themselves.

He would not follow in the path of others.

Slowly he rounded another corner, the black specs floating across his eyes as his thoughts deepened. He refused to follow in the path of his Father, he refused to have the force control him. His anger rose slightly as he neared the hangar, a dark air forming around him.

 

[Ereza]

"Neth," and suddenly, Inari was there on the Freya. My but those boarding parties were fast.

The woman waited at a crossing in the hall for her fellow Aesir to reach her, and as usual she was surrounded by an air of calm. Inari made no effort to touch this serenity upon her divine brother, but he would feel it regardless, and the sensation would grow stronger the closer he came. Her hands folded at her front, she absently touched at the red gemstone ring on her hand, feeling it warm in her fingers.

"You mean to change these men as you did to the Aing-Tii," the woman's voice was a gentle question as her blue eyes stared up at him from behind her mask.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“Yes.” It was a simply one word answer. There was no need to say more.

The Aing-Tii had been forcefully made to believe. Neth the keeper had corrupted them with knowledge, with pure divine might. Of course Soliael the man behind Neth had simply warped their minds through the use of Sith Magic. He had used a powerful web of compulsion upon their minds, a mind trick in the force so strong that they had been nothing but squabbling admirers to the gods.

Truthfully it was a horrid way to live, but it had been necessary at the time.

With determined footsteps Neth walked past his sister, not stopping or even slowing for her. While she radiated calm he radiated forceful determination backed by anger.

 

[Ereza]

Inari watched after him, undeterred by his wrath though curious as to its cause. He wasn't normally so inundated by anger.

"There are three men with large bounties placed on their names in the assembly," she persisted gently, having to press her stride to keep up with him. The Aesir's robes swept in a gentle motion along with her.

"Bounties placed by the Republic," her words were strong and even, implicating the importance of these diplomatic ties with the much larger, much more powerful nation of the Republic.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael considered Amorella's words for a few seconds as they walked, for a moment it seemed as though he would relent, then he spoke.

“Above all. They will be made to believe.” He walked, his footsteps a fury. His own Aura seemed to fight that of Amorella's. Cold Serenity fighting the heat of Anger and displeasure, it was an unconscious act, with neither side really trying to win.

Soliael at the moment did not care much for diplomacy. He was like a petulant child, he wanted what he wanted, and he would get it. The consequences did not matter. These men would bend knee to him and the other gods, or they would be destroyed.

 

[Ereza]

Inari was willing to press the issue, but it was Amore who relented. Behind the facade of the false God, the young Kuatian heiress held back. She had no wish to test his anger nor witness his dark sorcery. Once had been enough.

"And we will know the wrath of other Gods," the words left her lips but were not really meant to be heard. She knew the consequences and she was willing to face them for her kin. She stopped following and watched him stalk out of sight. With a sigh she turned and began a slow, methodical march towards the bridge where her High Priest, Emri Larue, was waiting for her.

"Bright One," Larue greeted her with a deep bow, "have we secured the prisoners?"

"We have a need to secure others. Inform Priestess Visl the importance of life over death," Inari took a seat within her brother's command chair, frowning slightly at the residual darkness that lingered there, she sat stiffly.

"As you command, Eminence."

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Soliael had heard Amorella's words. With the force already flowing through him it had been a simple thing, yet the words barely registered. He was focused like a spear jabbing towards someone by now. His eyes were fixed straight ahead and his feet carried him straight to the hangar bay. It was there that he found the men who refused to convert gathered.

He did not hesitate. He did not give a pretty speech.

The God of Knowledge simply moved. He crossed the room in the blink of an eye and found himself touching one of the men on the forehead. In an instant black lines of corruption spread across his head, disappearing at the beginning of Soliael touch just as fast as they had appeared.

The man that Soliael had touched closed his eyes for a second, then opened them changing his face entirely.

The pirate had gone from a look of defiance to absolute and pure admiration, his expression showing nothing but pure love and devotion. Again Soliael did not wait or respond. He simply looked to the next man, and then began his work.

 

[Garza]

I watched as Neth walked out into the hangar and walked straight up to a man, "Aesir I have rou-"

I was stopped by watching him come up to a soldier and in the blink of an eye, black tendrils left his hands and into the man's head, and the man instantly changed to be that of compliance rather than of anger at the man.

I walked up behind the Lord of Knowledge. "Sir, are you sure you want to do this? Forcing them will bring absolute compliance, but gives them no free will. No Agency. I thought that was what you were all about?"

As a man of knowledge. I would have thought that he of all people, had the understanding of Agency and of Free will. Seeing him now take that from a person. I felt as though the man may have done that to me a while back.