The Dark Acolytes [Atrisian Empire Dominion of Korbin]

[Qhorin Solas]

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Dark Side Rising: The Dark Acolytes​

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In the Atrisian mining colony on Korbin, citizens are disappearing. Officials thought nothing of the matter at first, but as time passed more and more citizens began to disappear until entire sectors of people in the slums -- dozens, if not hundreds -- just up and vanish into the night. There are no living witnesses to the mass abductions, and no discernable culprits. ISB and IIB have no leads, and thus, the Emperor calls upon the Inquisition to unravel the mystery. Their task is simple: uncover the source of the abductions and eliminate the threat.

They have no clue as to the might the dark forces amassed against them.

Mission Directive:

• Navigate the sectors of Korbin and uncover the culprit(s) by any means necessary.
• Maintain the integrity of the Inquisition.

_______________________​

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-- Korbin; Sector 7 - Imperial Offices​

​

Hondor Kalel, the Major General in command of ISB affairs on Korbin, was having a horrid month. He'd been passed over for promotion, his wife had left him for a woman, and to top it all off, he had another hundred missing persons cases to go over. Of his multitude of problems, missing persons cases were the least important, in his eyes. Still, he couldn't just ignore them; especially not now that that damned Handler Rogar had sent word to the Emperor, of all people. Damn IIB agents didn't know the meaning of keeping in-house issues in house. Now he'd probably lose his job as well.

He didn't quite understand the concern -- they weren't even true Imperial citizens! Korbin had its own governing body -- Atrisia merely supplied the capital to fund deeper drilling in exchange for amazing rates on Korbin's exports. Most of the missing people were from the slums, and if not for the sheer number of them, nobody would even know they were gone! Even the Barons who governed the poorer sectors hadn't known. It had taken a number of concerned individuals; fellow workers and miners, foremen, and other such plebians to bring the matter to the attention of the government, and even then, the matter hadn't reached him until the toll of disappearances was nearing a hundred.

To save face, after the first few dozen had disappeared, he'd put his best men on the case, expecting it to be an underground slaving ring, or some sort of new drug -- after weeks of investigating though, they'd found nothing. Literally nothing -- no leads, no evidence, nothing. He'd been prepared to bury the whole thing, or blame it on offworlders, and then the IIB had stepped in and gone straight over his head.

Now the Emperor was dispatching his own agents to investigate the matter. No doubt they'd uncover evidence of his own corruption as well. He hadn't done anything bad -- just turned a blind eye to a few unauthorized, clandestine operations. Nothing to be executed over, but certainly enough for a demotion. That meant no more cushy office, no more self-appointed secretaries, no more vacations to Sakura...

Damn the IIB and damn the Emperor... damn them all to hell!

He moved to a cabinet against the far wall of his office and retrieved a bottle of Kryf -- it was an older vintage, a gift from the Baron of Sector 13 for turning a blind eye to his tax hikes. He popped the top and drank straight from the bottle, walking to gaze out his window. It afforded him a rather majestic view of Sector 7, no doubt one of the richest sectors on Korbin. It was his now, per terms of Korbin's partnership with Atrisia... but not for long.

He could feel it in his gut.

"Sir?"​

​

It was his newest secretary, Miss Lang. She was a brunette, unfortunately, but she was limber and adventurous, and she was good at her job. Maybe she'd still want to be with him if he was demoted to Colonel?

"What is it, Miss Lang?"

"I've just been told that the Emperor's agents will arrive within a few hours sir; two, to be exact."​

Well, Hondor thought to himself, they certainly move fast. The call just went out yesterday! "Thank you Miss Lang. When should I expect them?"

Her voice was hesitant over the comm.

"...You shouldn't expect them at all, sir. They're meeting with IIB officials. In fact sir, the Directorate Chief herself is coming."​

​

He almost choked. The Directorate Chief?! That was several levels above his pay-grade. Sithspit.

____________________​

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@[member="Akio Kahoshi"] @[member="Cody Weadge"] @[member="Mirien Valdier"] @[member="Bellalika"] @[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Somarae"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Black Dove"] @[member="Jyn Sol"]​

@[member="Tirdarius"] @[member="Thane Danson"]​

​

_____________________​

((OOC: While I have a loose plotline to follow, this RP is completely fluid. Anything you want to do or add to the story is acceptable and encouraged. Above all else, enjoy yourself and have fun.))​

 

[Darth Libertas]

Citizens disappearing en masse. Abducted seemingly at random in the slums of Korbin, vanishing without a trace. No living witnesses. Perhaps it was aliens! Or unsanctioned cultists, followers of a false religion. The local security services were clueless - perhaps they were in on it and had been corrupted and thus would have to be purged. So many opportunities for righteous smiting.

Naamah found this all terribly fascinating as she sat in the back of the shuttle, half-reading a datapad, half checking out a sketch she had made. It showed Mirien standing atop the broken body of a Klaxxi, with countless terribly mutilated Ozzlites bending to her, often lacking limbs. In the Background one could see that a tunnel had been torn down, piles of rubble everywhere. For some reason Mirien held a lightwhip and her outfit looked like someone had raided a leather and chrome shop and put on the result, which looked incredibly hot and badass but not particularly practical. There was also a tall blonde woman with a face that was half burnt and with a metal plate, eyes flashing crimson, as she impaled a Klaxxi with its own ripped out legs. She put the sketch aside and placed it in her backpack, focusing on the task at hand as she studied the datapad.

Soon the shuttle would land and they would begin their investigation. Silent and in the shadows as much as possible, brutal when necessary. She could not wait!

 

[Qhorin Solas]

(('Issues' have been resolved. The Dominion shall commence as promised!))​

 

[Qhorin Solas]

((I'll move things ahead shortly -- just wanna give everyone involved the chance to post.))​

__________________________​

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-- Transport to Korbin​

​

With intel severely lacking, I turned to the Force for guidance. The lack of information on the happenings of Korbin spoke of gross negligence, gross incompetence, or, even worse, both. IIB and ISB officials had no evidence, and no leads... were they traitors to the Empire, covering the tracks of a shadow organization? Or were the people perpetrating the abductions simply that good? Both possibilities were uncomfortable to consider. For that reason, the Emperor had called on us -- the Inquisition, its snarling hounds, borne of secrecy and shadow, unleashed to pounce and rend flesh from bone. If we couldn't discover the truth of the mystery on Korbin, no one could.

A voice sounding over the comm silenced my musings. It was our pilot.

"We will be arriving on Korbin in t-minus 27 minutes. Prepare for slight turbulence when we enter the atmosphere."​

I sat towards the front of the transport, head bowed as I navigated the infinite currents of the Force, trying, and failing, to discern the truth of our assignment. Something blocked my efforts, something tangible, yet beyond my touch. Was it a Sith? A Dark Jedi? Something else? I was certain of one thing, and one thing only --

A dark cloud hung over Korbin, thick and black, not unlike the one that had hung over Csilla... but it wasn't suffering or pain I sensed on Korbin.

It was fear.

​

​

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@Akio Kahoshi @Mirien Valdier @Bellalika @Naamah Aesham @Somarae @Rexus Drath @Black Dove @Jyn Sol​

@Tirdarius @Thane Danson @[member="Cody Weadge"]​

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Bellalika"], @[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Jyn Sol"], @[member="Cody Weadge"], @[member="Somarae"]

On the transport to Korbin

Sudden abductions in the slums of the mining colony of Korbin...the local security forces and the ISB had no leads - perhaps incompetence, perhaps an indication of treasonous activities, collusion with hostile forces, either way an example would have to be made to encourage the others - the Empire had dispatched its finest to handle the operation....and tighten Imperial control over the planet.

For Korbin was but a world colonised by Atrisian settlers, they spoke the Atrisian language, ate Atrisian food, waved Atrisian flags and toasted His Majesty the Emperor on Empire Day. But formally the planet was not yet a part of the Empire and maintained its own governing body. That would soon be changed, for truly such incompetence or treason showed that only direct control could safeguard the people of Korbin. Hunting down the perpetrators behind these abductions would be the public relations coup needed to convince the people. That would be the carrot...the stick would be separating the wheat from the chaff. Every empire either expanded or died...existence was perpetual struggle for survival and supremacy. Those who failed were evolution's losers.

Moira looked impassive as she sat on the edge of the transport, looking rigid and stoic. No one could pass time better than an HRD and so she had spent most of the trip powered down, seemingly asleep, though at the same time ready to spring into action at any moment. She cared not for the lives of the organics that had disappeared, for organics kept being born anyway and often lived not particularly relevant lives. But she recognised opportunities, and this was an opportunity for the Empire. Opportunity was intermixed with threat...if the perpetrators were truly that capable. Crime networks working with the Klaxxi to provide them with food? Possible, given that is was a case of mass abductions. Dark force-users of some variety? Perhaps seeking organic material to experiment on...Bando Gora networks that had moved northward to escape Kerrigan's Purge...Velok's 'network of networks'...the list was seemingly endless. Personally Moira would be in favour of processing them.

Either way they would be identified, hunted down and terminated. Preferrably after being broken under interrogation. So would Major General Hondor Kalel to serve as an example for others. Mercy served them little.

She gazed across the agents assembled for this task, cold eyes scanning the transport ship as it entered the atmosphere. The damage to her face and body had been repaired after Csilla, outwardly she looked perfectly human, beautiful even, though there was a rigidness, a coldness to her that rebelled against the programming to blend in. Much blood would be shed today, but she had been designed to deal out death.

 

[Rexus Drath]

Time 0800 hours Place Transport to Korbin general attitude kind of disgruntled

"I hate my life." Rexus sat in the one of the seat looking at the more senior inquisitors, well he was probably older than all of them but in this particular line of work he was the rookie. He had dealt with agents back in the days of the galactic empire and those guys seemed like kittens compared to these folks. It was the same universe with different players and Rexus had to keep up with them no matter what it took. He smiled at his fellow passengers and chuckled softly. "You know I realized something recently. When I was a Knight this galaxy had a bit of class, now it just seems to be tearing itself apart at the seams." the giant of a man stood out of his seat at a staggering six eleven. As far as inquisition's agents he didn't really blend with his dark skin, height, and dreads. He'd look more like a Jedi if he wasn't dressed in civilian clothing.


The cabin of the shuttle rumbled as they entered the atmosphere of korbin it wasn't Rex's first rodeo and he was mostly just there for back up if things went south. He wasn't much of a detective really but even the mysterious vanishings even had him pondering. "Ive seen something like this on the wookie home world, a mad sith lord with a taste for live flesh was taking the children in the middle of the night and eating them." Rexus chuckled and sighed afterwards holding on to a rail the ship was sure to enter the atmosphere soon and land. "Long story short I killed the guy and the village thanked me." Rex was already starting to feel like an old man telling stories to people who probably didn't care. All that was important was finding who was taking these people and end them.

 

[Darth Libertas]

@[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Bellalika"], @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Cody Weadge"]

"Oh, we have lots of class. Best tea in the Galaxy, shiny new leather robes, big spiders to break. Nothing like a little bit of chaos and mayhem to lighten things up. If it was all shiny and happy peace, it would be tremendousy dull. Besides, our dear leader wants new subjects. To bring them the benefits of Atrisian tea!" she spoke fervently.

For her part Naamah was in a remarkably chipper mood. It might seem strange considering the grim work she was compelled to do and the fact that as an Inquisitor, recently promoted to the rank of Interrogator, she was a tool of the Empire, a valuable resource to be sure, but still a tool. However, she relished this sort of work, particularly the cloak and dagger nature. One might make a case for the theory that ever since she had almost been run over by a truck and wrecked it with a force explosion, the first manifestation of her force powers, she might be just a bit deranged. She briefly glanced over to the blonde woman, Skaldi or whatever her name, but she seemed rigid like a statue, but then she was a robot. Probably plotting to go all Clockwork on them because all organics must be processed.

Regardless she had that perpetual, slightly irreverent smirk on her face as Rexus complained and then told a story about the good old days. "Really? Terribly low of him. Really demonstrates his superiority," she said with some contempt in her voice. "Did he give you a good fight at least? And did you keep a trophy? Take an eye for instance?" she asked conversationally, as if this were the most normal thing. "And did any Wookiee female want to show you her gratitude?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Cody Weadge"]

Moira looked, for anyone who knew her this was not surprising, impassively at the exchange, her expression. Neither an Inquisitor nor even an organic, but a construct of metal and bolts. Somehow she had the impression of having known Rexus at one point. Much like a certain Sergeant Hevana Martin seemed familiar to her...or a Jedi Master Coryth Elaris, though the impression was a lot less strong. Admittedly here and there her memory did experience gaps and she got odd flashes in her mind. However, since she was not the introspective or wethennish sort Moira gave these occasions little thought.

She could go on existing for centuries when all the organics she knew had long perished and one day she would find her Creators...and murder them. While Rexus seemed insufficiently ruthless to her, Naamah struck her as an overeager child, the overzealousness hinted at a deep-seated need for approval. Psychologically interesting surely, but baring very few exceptions one organic was like the other, useful only for processing.

"If you require mementos to prove your worth and show you have accomplished a kill," she said very dryly in her dull monotone. On occasion the HRD could be very snarky when the mood hit her. "Unrestrained conflict is the law of the universe. Without it organic life stagnates. If a civilisation is too weak and comes apart by the seams then it deserves it. Survival has no laws."

 

[Qhorin Solas]

I kept my silence as the voices of my comrades drifted to me, still trying to penetrate the cloud of fear hanging about the planet. The more I pressed and pushed, however. the thicker the cloud grew. This was not a problem that could be resolved from the outside, I realized. I would have to descend into the cloud to shed light upon its darkness.

My head rose at that revelation, mouth drawn in a tight line, eyes narrowed just so. I looked back to the others, thoughts racing. The Emperor was right to call upon us. Only we had the means to complete this particular job. I sighed, and with it, released my worries into the Force, felt them drift away bit by bit. Calm reigned.

I had no intention to join their conversation but still I spoke, lips moving almost of their own accord, "Survival does have a law, Miss Skaldi. One single, irrefutable truth." The ship, a standard corvette, shuddered as it entered Korbin's atmosphere. The quake was gentle, but steady, easing only after we'd broken cleanly through the atmosphere. "The burden of survival, of perseverance, falls squarely on the shoulders of the strong. More simply put," I folded my arms across my chest, "only the strong survive." I looked to Rexus, his immense height more comparable to a Wookiee than a human, then Naamah, her pretty face little more than a mask for the black, demented soul lurking behind her eyes. Moira, the 'cybernetic organism', a work of art if I'd ever seen one, had no soul to hide behind her eyes. Just cold metal and copper wires.

With a thousand of her, I could crush the Klaxxi menace still plaguing our boarders into a fine black dust to be scattered on solar winds.

The ship descended rapidly to the landing bay of Sector 8, a tall, multi-leveled structure of dull durasteel and duraplast. It towered above the other buildings in the sector, stretching into the clouds. "When we leave the confines of this ship," I began, voice calm, mellow even, "make no mention of the Sith, or Knights, or anything else to do with the Force. We haven't the freedom we enjoyed on Csilla; here, subtlety will serve us best."

I felt the repulsor lifts engage as the ship vibrated again. Our pilots voice sounded once more.

"Handler Rogar just reported that his superior, Operations Officer Ming has dispatched a convoy to pick you all up. He said to expect their arrival in 8 minutes."​

​

"Collect what items you might need from the Armory." I gestured to a small corridor at the rear of the transport that curved back into the ship. It was stocked with a full inventory of weapons and gadgets. "It's just down that hallway."

I personally already had everything I would need.

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Black Dove"] @[member="Cody Weadge"] @[member="Bellalika"]​

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@Rexus Death, @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Cody Weadge"], @[member="Bellalika"]

Moira tilted her head to the side in response, apparently a gesture common to HRDs. "A human who understands. In the struggle for survival the wheat is separated from the chaff. Anything is permitted. Either adapt and conquer or be evolution's loser," she said emotionlessly. Once Moira had been human...she could even mostly remember her time then...with the exception of a memory gap after Contruum...a gap that would be filled. But now she was beyond that, reborn and cleansed of organic weaknesses.

Subtlety suited her just fine. She had been designed for infiltration after all. It had served her well on Contruum - it was interesting how many ripples that small Terrorist insurgency had caused. As the vessel descended towards their assigned landing bay she remained calm and seated. She already had all the weapons she needed, blasters, knives, and perhaps the most infamous weapon ever developed by Omega Industries, a boltgun. A weapon with perfect killing credentials when it came to force-users, Reavers and as of Csilla Klaxxi. The heavy rifle, which she could easily wield with one hand due to superhuman strength, was in her backpack, but then she herself was a weapon as well.

 

[Rexus Drath]

Rexus chuckled at the banter between his new allies and walked over the weapons cache where the blonde kid had pointed. Trophies and talk of the strong how only they survived sickened him. It was up to them to protect those who couldn't save themselves not watch from an iron throne as everyone died around them. Rexus wasn't about that life anymore he had lost too many friends to live that life again. Rex laughed loudly keeping his saber from the knights order close by his side he grabbed a rifle from the back and slung on his back. If anything if would help him blend and not seem like strange giant from some uncivilized part of the galaxy.

Walking over to the front door now he looked back with a serious face "You're all wrong." he said in a flat tone. "Mementos of the dead are for the sick dogs of this galaxy and we are better than them, we're all on a slow boat to hell to meet our inevitable death. Doesn't matter if we are weak or strong or metaphorical wheat. You me the attractive people from the speeder commercials we're all going to die." Rex looked up at the grey ceiling of the ship and chuckled some more. "Only thing we can do is save who we can and stall that inevitable end for just another day." looking back down Rexus smiled at the people around him and waited "Now if you are all done with your knitting circle we have people to save" Rex wasn't much of an inquisitor really, he was in the gig for the helping people and saving lives part. Not some vendetta for finding who killed your parents or figuring out who you really were. Rex sat there eager to get this done with

 

[Qhorin Solas]

"The people are most likely already dead," I told Rexus. And if they weren't dead, they would be soon. No one ever kidnapped people for no discernable reason to keep them alive. "But if anyone can save them, we can, for that too is a burden of the strong." And Naamah could torture whomever was abducting them or helping to abduct them, knowingly or unknowingly, Major General Kalel included. I'd heard she was particularly adept at the art.

I hoped Rexus didn't make a habit of mouthing off. While I appreciated his ideals -- saving lives was a far more noble calling than taking them -- reality told a very different story. The weak perished by the billion while the strong soldiered on, carrying society forward on their backs like beasts of burden. There was no 'inevitable' end, not really; there were only new beginnings. For beings such as us, death did not exist: there was only the Force.

I considered what I knew of Rexus Drath, of the information I'd gleaned from the inquisitorial databanks when I learned he'd be accompanying us on our mission. He was, as described in the report, an Imperial Knight lost in time; a remnant of a fallen, archaic order who'd awakened to a new universe dominated by galactic regimes much like the ones of the past. The names were different, and perhaps, the messages were different...

But in all those years, nothing had really changed. My memories of Cronos Aegir's life were a testament to that fact. "Is everyone ready?" In Mirien's absence, I was the most 'senior' Inquisitor; it fell to me to uphold her wishes, and that meant keeping everyone alive and breathing. I didn't know when her shuttle would arrive.

Five minutes had passed -- the convoy would be arriving shortly.

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Black Dove"] @[member="Cody Weadge"] @[member="Bellalika"]​

 

[Darth Libertas]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Cody Weadge"], @[member="Bellalika"]

"And I'm afraid no one here can revive them. Even if, necromancy is terribly messy. There's already been so many zombie crises it's become a cliche," Naamah could not resist quipping. She could not know this, but their mechanical comrade had quite a bit of experience fighting flesh-eating, zombie-like monstrosities. As for getting to torture those behind the abductions or aiding and abetting them, that would surely make Naamah happy. All to further the glory of the Empire and serve the greater good of course. Breaking the traitors - if they were incompetent, then they counted as traitors as well - would surely make Mirien proud as well.

She rolled her eyes when Rexus delivered his speech, looking amused. It all sounded noble, but Inquisitors did not get sent on mercy missions. They were the hounds of the Empire, sicced on anyone the Emperor wanted torn to shreds. Distrusted and feared due to their powers by the inferior mundanes, hellhounds on a leash, but still power. So it seemed to a woman who had spent a good part of her adolescence in the criminal underworld...more than one Imperial official was in bed with the criminals that supposedly were a cancer in the Imperial body. She idly twirled her knife for a few moments before holstering it. "I'm ready, sir," she responded, placing an emphasis on the 'sir' part that seemed inappropriate. "The truth is out there," she spoke, for apparently she liked making corny one liners.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Black Dove"], @[member="Cody Weadge"], @[member="Bellalika"]

Moira watched the exchange between Rexus and Cronos impassively, making no comment, though her bland look indicated that she did not care much about morality, or whether those abducted were dead or not. With some very few exceptions, one organic was the same as the other. Crude, illogical, short-lived; useful for processing. A couple thousand less was like a drop of salt in a vast ocean, for they reproduced worse then rabbits. Likewise she did not believe the strong had some grand purpose to shoulder the burden of the weak.

In the end organics always liked to find reasons to justify themselves and thus feel better, hence categorisations in good and evil. That said...the abducters had been remarkably efficient...no clues, no leads. Ergo hunting them might prove a challenge...in other words it would be interesting. A good hunt could always be appreciated, gathering information, purging the unworthy, coming close to the target and then tightening the noose until it was strangled. That was the real reason to come along. "I am ready," she said blandly with a tone that indicated she always was, walking out as the ramp of the ship lowered, cold eyes taking in the scenery, scanning the area with a probing look, for their convoy should be here soon. To bring them to their IIB...helpers...to help them, perhaps also to keep the truth and their possible incompetence buried...if it was one of the later options they would die as well.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

For the moment, I ignored Naamah; the convoy had arrived.

It turned out to be a single, silver plated transport flanked by a pair of Stormtroopers on sleek speeder-bikes. A nervous looking man exited the bulky speeder, a Chiss by his blue skin and red eyes, his greeting smile a pained grimace of discomfort. He didn't know what sort of people worked directly under the Emperor, and he didn't want to know -- he wished he'd never had to call on the Emperor at all.

"Umm, hello. Welcome to Sector 8." Handler Rogar, born Cor'oga'rheen, stood awkwardly, eyes jumping nervously from person to person. Even Rexus's height gave him pause.

"Handler Rogar I presume?" I stepped up from behind Moira, extending a hand. "Special Officer Terran," I announced by way of introduction. It was my standard cover identity.

"Uh, yes, Officer Terran, if you and your team could just follow me." He returned to the transport with jerky steps, seeming as if a man teetering on the edge of a vast chasm. He was a bundle of anxious energy. Why was he so nervous? What did he know?

_________________________​

​

"There is something very strange going on," Rogar began once we'd all loaded into the transport. He'd just finished explaining how he'd assumed lead over the investigation after the fourth mass abduction, taking control from his immediate junior, Agent Garet, handpicked to the task by Case Officer Ming himself. "The abductors ignore the very old, the very young, and the terminally ill, but since the abductions began there's been a number of older individuals reported missing by concerned citizens."

He passed over the corresponding datapad. "I dug deeper, and discovered that they weren't just missing -- they were dead. Their bodies had been admitted to the morgue during the chaos of the abductions and fast tracked through the recycling process with none the wiser. When I began my investigation, there were four such cases; now, there are six, and coincidentally, there have been six mass abductions, the most recent only a day ago. Each person died from a crushed windpipe."

He handed over more slim datapads. "Except for this last one. That's where I'm taking you." The nervousness was back. "You were meant to meet with Mr. Ming, but I fear that..." he leaned forward as if Ming would be able to hear him otherwise, "I fear that Mr. Ming has been compromised. Him, and Agent Garet, and maybe even Major General Kalel's people as well. That's why I went over his and Ming's head to the Emperor. Evidence was hidden, covered up, and what I've managed to uncover... I can't make any sense of it. And this last body..." He shook his head. "You'll understand when you see."

The driver announced that we'd be arriving at the scene soon. Rogar seemed no less nervous after debriefing us, and a thin sheen of sweat shown on his forehead. I passed all that datapads on to the others, focusing instead on what the Force deigned to reveal..

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Cody Weadge"] @[member="Thane Danson"] @[member="Somarae"]​

 

[Rexus Drath]

Rexus' heart almost dropped when he had heard that the bodies had been discovered, he was hoping they could be saved. "I'm sorry we couldn't save you all." he said to himself silently. Rex lamented losing people even if they were the smallest of people. It was part of his oath to protect the empire and every citizen of the empire. "These people were choked to death?" Rexus sighed taking the data pad skimming through the nitty gritty things of the investigation and all the possible corruption in the government. "Ming, corruption, other dude. Yeah don't care" Rexus threw the data pad over his shoulder and onto the ground chuckling slightly.

"All I need to know is who do I need to capture and bring to justice." Rex looked at the tiny official he was walking next to and smiled "They all look like ants from up here." after he made his little comment he stepped inside the transport and awaited the others to join. "Let's all take a group picture when this is done. Then go out for Ice cream and fun, now put some pep in your step and let's over with"

 

[Darth Libertas]

@[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Cronos Aegir"]

Naamah listened, showing not much of a reaction when it was divulged that the dead bodies had been discovered. It was the way things were and she was not a lifesaver or on a mercy mission. "Don't think they have that info yet. Otherwise we would, you see, not be here," she said tartly when Rexus dismissed the importance about corruption in the security forces and announced he only needed to know about who he needed to capture and bring to justice. Naamah did not care much for justice either. It was such a nice word people liked to use and she picked up the datapad, looking through the details.

"If our shiny secret police friends are bent and bought, any info we give them's bound to leak out. Might even have a hand in the abductions....making sure there aren't any living witnesses. So direct intervention is necessary to assume direct control. I suggest we start investigating Kalel and his merry men. Spy on and surveil them, then pounce and make arrests...make them talk. Got no witnesses right now, so they're our best leads. Besides, nothing like a Purge to put the fear of the Gods into any traitors and make them bend to...Imperial justice," she said. If one were to assume that Naamah was feeling rather gleeful at the prospect of meting out violence, then that was true, but there was a certain logic to her thought patterns, however twisted and deranged her character might be. Moreover, as a Clawdite she had certain abilities when it came to deep infiltration.

 

[Qhorin Solas]

"We will pay both Ming and Kalel a visit. One of them undoubtedly knows something."

I looked over the datapads while we traveled, searching for a pattern in the abductions. Each sector of Korbin was separated into zones. Sector 8 itself was sectioned off into 34 zones; sector 7, twenty-nine. The 'slums' occupied zones 9-16 in sector 8, and 21-29 in sector 7, each grouping of zones housing some million individuals. According to the data, zone 23 in sector 7 had been hit first; then 9 in sector 8, 13 in sector 8, 25 in sector 7, 27 in sector 7, and the last, zone 14, in sector 8. It was very possible that the abductors would strike again in sector 8, following that pattern. There were five different zones to hit; I had to narrow that choice down to one.

It was just as likely, however, that they would strike in sector 7. I needed more information. "Set around-the-clock patrols for zones 10, 11, 12, 15, and 16 in sector 8, and zones 21, 22, 24, 26, and 28 in sector 7," I told Rogar. "Use droids and humans. Choose the men you trust -- I have faith in your judgement." It went unsaid what would happen if my faith proved unfounded.

__________________________________________​

​

The transport slowed to a stop beside an alley sandwiched between two towering housing centers of brown-tinted duraplast. Stormtroopers in blue-striped armor guarded the scene, the walking traffic flowing around them like a river. The streets were thick with zone fourteen's denizens, a mixture of humans, chiss, and the red-furred natives, the Necresh. The crowds were spattered with the odd Besalisk or three and other such aliens of considerable physical stature, no doubt having immigrated to the planet to work the mines, which had yet to fully employ labor droids instead of living sentients.

"If you'll follow me," Rogar said as he stepped from the transport, leading us into the alley. We walked for several long moments, past small mountains of trash, and more Necresh burrowing into the garbage, doing what they did best -- scavenging.

A body lay up ahead. It's head was absent, but there was no blood. No, not absent, I thought, seeing the head propped up against the wall a few feet away from the body. It was a lungless Gand, I realized, taking in the bulbous eyes and lack of breathing apparatus. It had been beheaded because it had no 'wind-pipe' to crush -- no lungs with which it needed to draw breath.

The wound was cauterized, and there on the wall behind the body, at just about neck height, was a horizontal groove that could've only been made by one thing.

A lightsaber.

@[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Black Dove"] @[member="Zalderic Drayke"]​

 

[Cody Weadge]

A figure stood in the darkness watching the individuals approaching the body. He seemed to blend into the background, not invisible in the traditional sense but in that he generally seemed to unimportant to notice. A homeless man in an alley, a face in a crowd, just another piece of scenery the human mind so often erased before it could be remembered.

But that figure saw everything, including the individuals studying the body now. He did not recognize all of them, but he recognized enough to know the truth. Inquisitors, every one of them. It seemed the Emperor was taking this seriously. Which, given his own involvement, had been obvious from the start.

"As I'm sure you've already guessed, there is no murder weapon anywhere in the area," Cody spoke up. Then he moved forward and approached the group. His clothes were no different than the locals, but his accent was currently a perfect match for an Atrisian native. "Special Agent Weadge. I was assigned to the case by His Majesty himself, happened to be nearby. Judging from the records Major General Kalel released to me, somewhat reluctantly, this shall be an interesting hunt."

@[member="Naamah Aesham"] @[member="Rexus Drath"] @[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Black Dove"] @[member="Zalderic Drayke"] @[member="Cronos Aegir"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Cody Weadge"], @[member="Cronos Aegir"], @[member="Rexus Drath"]

Moira Skaldi looked upon the dead body of the beheaded Gand, eyes scanning it intently, falling upon the cauterised wound. It had been artistically done, but the victim was trivial...one of many aliens that populated this district. Of course one organic was much like the other, useful as cannon fodder and for processing. Lack of further mutilations and markings ruled out a ritualistic murder. Moira cared not for the victims but the case had just become interesting from her perspective. Hunting down a rogue force-user was worth her time.

The 'Force' was something Moira did not understand. She could observe its effects and calculate countermeasures, but oftentimes not assess the dangers. That said she had slaughtered more than her share of Reaver lords and Bando Gora sorcerers. A seemingly random killing, but coincidences did not exist. Possibly the victim had seen something and been killed for that or, if rogue forcers were involved, perhaps experiments and the victim had been rejected as superfluous.

She tilted her head to the side as Agent Weadge stepped in. The man the Emperor's hounds had been supposed to rescue on Csilla, though the two had not really interacted. "General Kalel shall be convinced to be less reluctant soon, so will his entire command," she said flatly, no trace of emotion. Rogue Bando Gora killer? The Purge on Gehenna might not have slain them all. Otherwise dark Jedi, some cult, maybe even a holdover from the old Imperial days. If the Bando Gora had endured after almost being wiped out during the Clone Wars, so could the old Inquisitors or Prophets of the Dark Side.

Of course...non-force users could be trained to use a lightsabre, but balance of probabilities suggested a forcer. Her eyes had been described as piercing and this was what they were as they scanned the Gand, just one of the many alien laboruers on the planet. "Victim unremarkable. Cauterised wound, groove burnt into the wall...lightsabre most likely. Uncontrolled force-user. Our hunt has become interesting. Undesirable elements must be terminated. If Kalel is not implicated in the disappearances, then he is guilty for inability to contain undesirables and ergo must be eliminated to encourage others."