Faction The Hungry Shadows of Shu-Torun (UPSS)

[Dalvos Thrakan]

The Hungry Shadows of Shu-Torun


Following a failed bid for power within the Sith Covenant, the Sith Lord Eidan Ghul, known as Darth Faima, took his personal retinue and the tatters of his fleet and fled Covenant space, arriving at the mining clusters staged in the molten remains of Shu-Torun. Following the destruction of the immense power-generating Spike in 2 ABY, Shu-Torun was rendered uninhabitable for hundreds of years, the geological instability enough to destroy even the most resilient of Delving Citadels, the archaic but mighty devices far too large and the upheaval too sudden to rescue them from the surface of the planet before being consumed utterly by the Spike’s ravaging death.


The planet now little resembles the industrial force that it once was; rather than organized planet-wide drilling and refining operations utilizing archeotech Delvers, the mining operations are instead staged out of low orbital habitat platforms equipped with powerful sensors and guided by small surface installations fed by Geothermal energy and shrouded in highly sensitive geological sensors. The populace is held captive against their work, with Darth Faima controlling the import of food and export of mineral wealth, forcing the habitats to ‘bid’ their hauls against one another for necessary supplies, brutally enforced by collaborators amongst the populace, the so-called Hungry Shadows, who turned their backs on their fellows in exchange for a steady supply of food and protection from having to make the often-dangerous expeditions down to the surface for mining. Their families are kept as hostages against good behavior in a separate habitat, with a standing threat that any failure to defend his interests will result in the habitat being de-orbited, killing everyone inside. Loyalty is therefore violently enforced within the ranks of the Hungry Shadows, with any thought of less than total compliance often being met with savage beatings.

The Sith Lord himself remains cloistered planetside, within the burnt-out remains of the Spike itself, now converted into a sprawling palace of obsidian and jet, festooned with enormous spikes left behind from old volcanic flows; following its ruinous death, the area around the Spike itself became nearly geologically dead, kept in check by complex systems salvaged from the depths of the machine itself, still feasting on a mere trickle of the power it once created. While a pale shadow of its former might, the Spike is still a powerful fortress, equipped with mighty shield generators and immense turbolaser batteries, defenses bought using the mineral wealth extorted from its citizens.

While Darth Faima’s Hungry Shadows are safe from the many dangers of mining expeditions, they’re not safe from the predations of their Master. It is said that Darth Faima can feed on the heart’s desperation in its dying moments, and that he pits his Shadows against each other in contrived battles, fighting and dying for entertainment, with the loser being drained of their vital force by their ever-hungering Master.

The former Colony government has been reduced to operating one of the weaker habitats, former administrative personnel struggling to learn the intricacies of mining in a volatile and ever-changing environment; their learning curve has resulted in thousands of deaths by starvation in the handful of years since Darth Faima conquered the planet’s environs.

His predations had drawn little attention, as the mineral shipments continued to flow, and conditions around the planet were a tightly-kept secret, with few even knowing the leadership had changed hands, much less to whom it had gone.


Though it cost his life in the process, one of the miners smuggled himself out in a shipment of ore, managing to carry word to sympathetic ears, paying for them to carry word using a handful of extremely rare Fire-Gems extracted from a seam.

These gems - and information - fell into the hands of Dalvos Thrakan, and while the gems were delivered to the buyer, the information remained with him for a swift return to Veradune. Information, and an opportunity: Anyone who can end the reign of Darth Faima and restore the former Government will be ‘greatly rewarded’ by the mineral wealth of Shu-Torun, with the warning that they would sooner die than serve another such Master; freedom and trade, or nothing at all.

This serves as a rare opportunity for the Protectorate to draw in an ally and source of mineral wealth, including many rare and specialist ores which are hard to source throughout the galaxy, and necessary to the fabrication of advanced shields and powerful laser emitters. Their position just to Galactic South of the foothold world of Iridonia could also grant the Protectorate a useful barrier against the expanding Sith Covenant; a uniquely useful position for the growing Protectorate's sphere of influence.


The mission here is threefold:

OBJECTIVE I: THE HUNGRY SHADOWS
The reign of Darth Faima must be ended and his Hungry Shadows defeated or dispersed. Given their forced loyalties, the Shadows should be considered unwilling participants, no matter how fiercely they fight; if there is a path to spare them, it should be taken. Only the Darth himself and his own retinue unquestionably deserve death; while their positions amongst the Shadows has allowed some of them to indulge in their darker passions, not all who fight among them should be considered guilty, with those who committed truer crimes should be punished by their own authorities.


OBJECTIVE II: PROTECT THE HABITATS
The habitats themselves must be protected. While Darth Faima possesses only a pair of mid-sized cruisers, it is enough to destroy any Habitat utterly. These ships must be struck and destroyed before they can rain devastation upon the orbital habitats and bring death to those trapped inside.


OBJECTIVE III: REMOVING LEVERAGE
The families of the Hungry Shadows are being held aboard a separate, lower-orbiting Habitat; any overt move against the Darth himself would likely result in the Habitat’s thrusters being destroyed, sending it crashing swiftly out of orbit. They must either be rescued before the thrusters can be cut, or else a way found to keep the Habitat in a stable orbit. Succeed or fail, as soon as their families are gone, Darth Faima no longer has leverage over them; the removal of that leverage, whether by rescue or negligence, is likely to create immense discord amongst the Shadows and destroy their ability to fight as a cohesive force.

As always, the option remains to BRING YOUR OWN OBJECTIVE!
Whether you want to render aid to those suffering under the Darth's yoke, have a more personal tie-in to the Mining Colony, or have your own idea to enrich the thread, bring it and be welcome!

 

[Dalvos Thrakan]

OBJECTIVE I: THE HUNGRY SHADOWS
In an Ore Hauler, en route to the Spike, Fortress of Darth Faima
TAG: OPEN​

Dalvos looked around the darkened crew compartment hidden within the ore transport. It chugged along at a slow and steady twenty kph, just high enough over the scarred volcanic surface that they didn't strike any errant surface formations, but not quite high enough to make the space comfortable. It was swelteringly hot despite the limited air conditioning capabilities built into the disguised transport, but there was only so much that could be done to make a bulk ore hauler comfortable.

"Alright," he spoke softly, even though there was no way they could be overheard by anyone outside, assuming anyone outside even knew where to look. "We're just waiting on word from above that they're ready to move. Everything has got to go at once, or else the bastard will have a chance to kill a lot of people before we get close enough to stop him." His gaze swept the compartment. Despite the sparse comforts, it was a voluminous space, and easily held the nearly sixty people inside without resorting to standing room only; many did still stand, holding onto hand loops while they performed last-minute gear checks on one another. The largest piece of equipment was the comm array tucked up against the back wall, connected to a long antenna held aloft by repulsors in the ore carriers' wake; the low frequencies it could pick up were the only way to sneak transmissions past the Spike's immense array of defenses and electronic snoopers. It would look like normal chatter from the ship's autopilot, and it would take long investigation to realize it was anything else; he didn't intend to still be around by then.

"Once more: The access point we're taking is going to be at the base of the Spike. We're going to quickly offload as the transport arrives at the cargo entrance. We're confident there are no cameras or defenses present, because it's still close enough to volcanic activity that any such devices would have been destroyed long ago. This does also mean we're going to be briefly exposed to volcanic conditions once we set foot outside, and that makes it imperative that the breaching team close on the access hatch and slice our way in as quickly as possible. If we get stuck outside when there's a magma burst, we're in a whole Hutt of trouble."

A deep breath, then he continued, "It's going to be hard to determine until we're inside what is or is not intact, in terms of passages within the Spike itself. The overload that wrecked the planet did a lot of damage to its foundations. That's our opportunity, but it's also a potential roadblock: Make sure to keep aware of collapsed tunnels and try to find alternate routes. We'll be splitting up once we're inside to try and strike from multiple directions."

Near the rear of the chamber, the Duros technician operating the comms array lifted one finger, followed by a thumbs up. A moment later, two fingers, followed by a thumbs up.

"Alright everyone, the other elements are in place... That means we give the 'go' as soon as we're close enough to disembark. Any questions, now is the time. We've still got..." He glanced at his chrono. "About twelve minutes before we reach the gates, so eleven and a half until we give the 'go' signal."

He glanced around, as if still having trouble believing that, of all people, he'd gotten the opportunity to 'lead' the charge; not that he'd actually be leading once inside, that was a job for proper troops, not a smuggler with a lucky streak. But the planning, coordination, scraping up the bodies to make it work, and the opportunity to briefly seize and convert an ore hauler... He had somehow been part of the whole process. It was a lot.

"So, uh. If anyone's got any questions or bright ideas, please feel free to speak up."