Dominion The Ray of Hope | EE Dominion of Empty Hex

[Kalic Daws]

Location: Tacitus's ship

Kalic gave as close to a glare as he could to the Dark Jedi. He’d rather not lose his brain, but he was sure nothing would change getting tortured and interrogated. Still.... Maybe he could keep from being experimented on. He sighed. If he helped, he might learn something too. If he didn’t... he didn’t want to think about it.

“Fine! I’ll help, but with my leg you’ll have to stay close a Troig.” He looked around, seeing the swirling Force in the air. It was hard to tell exactly where it focused, but he looked around. Poodoo. How was he supposed to explain this.

“I... I can see roughly where it it. Toward that direction there. I don’t know how to get that way though.”

Salis Ingrid L'lerim Willow & Ivy TE-236 Vyktor Orrin Cara Dorniarn

 

[Vyktor Orrin]

The optics of the Colonels mask had only barely began to come back online when the Empress began to talk with him, though he was able to understand well enough. He wished he could tell her just what exactly he saw, but he could only describe it as a bright light that nearly destroyed the masks optics. After a moment of long, difficult breaths, Vyktor began to speak, though it was clear that whatever had washed over the bridge wasn't exactly kind to non-force users, especially those who already had some medical issues.

"I'm afraid there isn't much to say, my optics were completely overwhelmed by whatever just happened. By the time I could see again one of the twins was missing and my breathing apparatus stopped functioning for a moment"

While he understood that if the Emperor could be saved then all should be done to save him, the Colonel also understood that whatever they were dealing with may take more then a small team to deal with. The Regent was right about one thing though, this entity would serve the Empire or it would break, as all things would eventually. Honestly, the woman's dedication to saving the Emperor was commendable to a man who understood just what power did to individuals. If anyone else took the throne, the investigation into the Emperor's disappearance would have ended before it even began. Yet here they were, a small team of individuals attempting to battle some force entity that was stealing people away to another dimension.

At the suggestion that he check the ships telemetry data, the Colonel returned to the terminal he initially manned and began to carefully exam the ships previous jump points before discovering a definite irregularity.

"Empress, I'm afraid we have a problem. The ships computer has not recorded any data after a certain point, as if the ship itself simply ceased to exist for a moment before coming to this specific point in space."

Vyktor stepped away from the terminal before turning his head toward Cara Dorniarn while considering that the ships reccords might actually prove another theory of his.

"Lady Dorniarn, could you please detail the ships records for us? I'm starting to believe this entity didn't take everyone aboard at once, perhaps it only targeted specific individuals and the survivors left some sort of record of their experiences."

Ingrid L'lerim Kalic Daws Salis Willow & Ivy TE-236

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Willow didn't react as Ingrid L'lerim held onto her face. She was too focused on Ivy, even holding onto where her physical form once stood. Yet she heard the woman's words, however distant they seemed. Her ears were throbbing with the sound of her own heartbeat, drowning out almost everything else.

Except for Ivy. Ivy she could see. Ivy she could hear. And it was through Ivy's eyes and ears that she followed the conversation with Tacitus and others on board. Oh yes, there was more than just crew on board, more than just Tacitus and the Empress. There was another.

And he was armed with thermal detonators, C-4's and a dead man's switch. The clock was ticking.

"He knows...he knows what the Emperor was planning. He created the rip to draw him here, to bring him to where his followers couldn't go. It was a trap..."

Willow grew silent again as she relayed Ingrid's words to Ivy, giving forth the name for proof of her truthfulness. More sweat beaded on her forehead and she more or less leaned into Ingrid's hands as the strain was starting to weaken her physically.

And then suddenly her hands gripped onto Ingrid's wrists, holding them tight as her eyes snapped open. Only it wasn't her eyes reflecting back. It was those of Tacitus. And when she spoke her voice was his mixed with her own; "Leave now, Ingrid! Get off this ship! Continue what we started and what happens here will not be in vain! From the ashes we have grown and thrived!...Long live the Eternal Empire!"

Willow's body began to glow again as her eyes closed once more, her grip on Ingrid's wrists released as her arms fell to her sides. Another flash, this time stronger than the last as Ivy was once again at her sister's side, returned to this reality once more.

As the flash faded, Ivy looked to no one in particular while she spoke quietly. "Get off the ship....Aidus says there's five minutes left on the clock.....All on board will die...."

Spent on energy both physical and mental, the twins collapsed on the floor completely unconscious.

Vyktor Orrin Salis Kalic Daws TE-236 Cara Dorniarn

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Tacitus’s ship, Neutral Space
Equipment: 2x Sigra vibroblade | 2x Striith vibrosword | 2x red blade lightsaber shoto | Heilagr MK. I Assassin Armour | G1 OmniLink || Shield talisman | Empyrean gland | Taozin amulet | Healing amulet
Tag(s): Willow & Ivy | Vyktor Orrin | Salis | Kalic Daws | Cara Dorniarn | TE-236 | Open

Unfortunately, she received no substantive response from Vyktor. So much is certain that something has happened, but what it is will not get an answer. From this she could not think of anything, only that there was indeed some influence between the two dimensions. The Overlord nodded at the man's words, luckily that not everything had stopped completely and no medical intervention was needed. However, the Colonel was able to sense something from the other dimension, which is why Ingrid spoke.

”Colonel, if you experience anything else, tell me. Any trifles can be helpful.”

True, Ingrid wasn't interested in power, she was the one who owned it, but at every moment she wished it wasn't like that and could give it back to Tacitus. The woman did not desire power, she was happy even as a simple agent, this rank was enough for her to serve the Eternal Empire and the Emperor. All that mattered to her was the Eternal Empire and military service for the Empire and the Emperor. That’s why she did everything she could to find the man and take him home. Even if Kainan Wolfe should have been held accountable for his actions before the law.

Her thought was broken when the Colonel spoke again, looking at the man. The data was pretty obvious. Ingrid had a feeling that weeks had passed between the interruption and the resumption. This was just an assumption for now, but she couldn’t rule out the possibility that it really was. She was pretty good at physics, so that seemed like the right statement for her.

”Do I think well, Colonel, that the last point is where the ship officially disappeared? That is, there is no data from when the ship was physically in the other dimension?”

She then turned her gaze back to the half of the twin left here. The Overlord could not know if they had heard what she had said, what she had asked them to tell the Emperor. She didn't know what was going on in the other dimension until she started saying there was another man there with them who shouldn't have been there and the man knew about the Emperor's plan. A traitor Warden? Others couldn’t know, they were the only ones who knew about it. Or maybe someone from Tacitus’ past?

Trap; yes, she already knew from that that it really was, not an accident. Yet how much easier it would have been if it had been just an accident. It wasn’t related to the Eternal Truth, if they had, they wouldn’t be waiting until the day of the announcement. There were more and more question marks. Instinctively, she would have stepped back when the girl's hand squeezed her wrist, though she could barely feel it because of the armour. However, when her eyes opened, Ingrid already knew that she was talking to her ruler at the present moment.

She shook her head, she didn't want to leave the man here, she wanted to do everything to save him. But the command was command, and the red-haired woman never contradicted the Emperor openly, only later when no one heard them.

<”Yes, my Lord!”> were the most difficult words of her life to pronounce. <”Long live the Eternal Empire!”> she whispered to herself.

Tacitus’ will; the final warning, the very last command, which essentially made her an Empress. Tacitus lifted her into a position she never wanted. Luckily, there was a helmet on Ingrid so no one could see the tears rolling down her face. After two flashes, the twins collapsed; five minutes, there was no time to think. The last command the Emperor gave her is the last command she must carry out for the Emperor who will die within minutes.

”This is the Overlord, everyone needs to leave the ship immediately. The ship will be destroyed within five minutes. This is the Emperor's command!”

The last order, she didn't add that. She signalled to two soldiers, who immediately hurried over and picked up the twins from the ground and headed out with them. Ingrid looked at the others who were here, she would be the last to leave, even if the order really told her that she had to survive. But she didn't leave her men behind.

”GO!” she shouted at the others in a cold voice.

If Vyktor and Cara set out because they were only here, she would follow them too, taking hurried steps, or just running back to the hangar to leave the ship, by the Emperor's command.

​

 

[Salis]

Location: Tacitus ship with Kalic Daws
Tags: Ingrid L'lerim Willow & Ivy Kalic Daws Vyktor Orrin
Objective: Discover truth

She could only be amused by the glare. The first people to train her were sith, she'd seen just as many death glares as smiles. She'd have to stay close, that was fine. If he needed aid that was perfectly acceptable. From what she could tell, her skills would be sufficient if he tried some kind of tricks. Though that didn't mean she let her guard down.

He said he saw where it was coming from, but didn't know how to get there, "Point me, and I'll make a path." she said simply. She had said she wouldn't cause too much damage, so she'd be careful what she destroyed on the way. But she didn't want to take too long either. She debated outright carrying him but...that just didn't seem like a viable option.

Spoiler: Equipment

Salis Lightsaber
Stun Pearls
-Salis's armor
-Sith_gloves
-Several phrik throwing knives
MK_II_Paladin_blaster_rifle
2 Model_Kylan-3
XAD_Omnisight
Wrist_link with up to date commlink and chrono that also connects to head piece.

 

[Cara Dorniarn]

Upon Colonel Vyktor Orrin 's request Cara gave a sharp nod and took a half-step back toward the console. Hand outstretched she had quickly begun to unlock more records kept in the ship's databanks, but no sooner had the operation began she heard the warning: Five minutes.

Five minutes.

The information here would take five hours to fully parse through, a fact which made the doctor curse through her teeth. But if there were to be more answers here she would claim it. Wrench it from the systems, all the standard procedures flushed right through the airlock. At the last call of Lady L'lerim Cara glared at the console.

"If you're to be trash anyway--" With harsh grating whines the servos of her arms followed a sharp pattern of motion. From a pocket in her mind she plucked a skeleton's key and jammed it into the lock which kept the system's chained together. She slammed her hands into the console to represent the connection, and all manner of electric hell sparked from the computer array and nearby systems.

There were no permissions to appease, firewalls to break; all that existed was the will of the engineer. She was an external conduit routing internal information to download on the datastick. After twenty seconds passed she wrenched red-hot hands from the dying equipment then ejected the stick. Feet pounded against the floor as she bolted down the halls in a full run. She had a ship, the Azure Star, in the hangar. Seeing the blue KR-TB "Doomtreader" she managed a flatly spoken joke,

"Hope this cruiser has an insurance plan."

Ingrid L'lerim | Vyktor Orrin | Willow & Ivy | Kalic Daws | Salis

 

[Willow & Ivy]

The twins weren't that easy to lift and carry. Two soldiers needed to do the job, for even though the twins were connected, they were still two people and as equally heavy as two people would be. It was made all the worse as they were unconscious, so their bodies were limp.

The soldiers called on two more to help them, two grabbing the legs, while two grabbed their upper bodies, shuffling as quickly as possible. The clock was ticking and the orders were given. It wasn't up to them to question it, nor what this all meant. The time for contemplation would come later. The time to process what this all meant would come later.

The Eternal Empire was going through a change. One chapter was over and another was beginning. That much was clear.

But the story was far from over.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Tacitus’s ship, Neutral Space
Equipment: 2x Sigra vibroblade | 2x Striith vibrosword | 2x red blade lightsaber shoto | Heilagr MK. I Assassin Armour | G1 OmniLink || Shield talisman | Empyrean gland | Taozin amulet | Healing amulet
Tag(s): Willow & Ivy | Vyktor Orrin | Salis | Kalic Daws | Cara Dorniarn | TE-236 | Open

The two soldiers carried the unconscious twins, Cara walking out of her way, leaving only the Colonel. Ingrid hoped the man didn't get a seizure again, like when one half of the twins disappeared. After all, returning had the same effect as leaving. In any case, two soldiers also grabbed Vyktor's arm and marched the Colonel out, supporting the scientist. However, Ingrid was unable to move for now. She could soon catch up with the others, no problem, she turned back to the bridge.

The Overlord reached into the Force, using the same Force ability as before the twins, except that due to her current being, she existed simultaneously in both worlds. She did not disappear from reality, she perceived it in the same way as the other dimension in which she appeared. Several shouted in surprise at the bridge, saying the name Overlord, or just the Emperor's hand. She saw everyone, sensed them, but at the same time she saw the completely empty bridge as well.

She saw that the two worlds were influencing each other at the same time and yet not. There were damages in this dimension that were not in reality, and vice versa. The error torn by Cara was not visible in the other dimension. That was a good sign, the elevators were where they were left at the time. They will not waste time with this. The Emperor stared at her, too, not visible on the man's face, but she could see in the man's eyes that the Emperor was surprised too, just like the officers.

<” A lot has happened to me since you disappeared, my Lord, and not just that I am already Lord Commander. I don’t want to leave you like this, I don’t want to go without telling you what I want. You will miss me, my friend, I hope one day you will return as you did last time. Farewell Aidus, my friend, my Lord, my Emperor!”>

The man just nodded measuredly, as was his custom, and then said only one sentence.

<”Farewell Ingrid, and now GO, before it’s to late!”>

The woman saluted one last time, then as she stepped back the other dimension dissipated. She turned and ran after the others, soon caught up with the company and luckily everything was exactly as it had been before. In a forced march, almost running, it took them about three minutes to get back to the hangars from which most of the dropships had already taken off, or had just done so. One was left there to wait for them, and whoever arrived by his/her own ship was still here.

Now, as before, she waited for everyone to board the dropship so that they could finally take off from Tacitus' ship and set off for the other ships. She just hoped they could get far enough from here. She watched the time.

It was 1.5 minutes until the explosion.


// I'll leave the description of the explosion to Willow & Ivy , but in the meantime, let's write, we need 3 more posts, before the end of the month. But it would be good to finish as soon as possible //

​

 

[Kalic Daws]

Kalic looked Salis, clearly worried about everything.

“It’s that way, but.... I looks worse now.” Kalic stopped, looking around at everything that was there. This didn’t seem good. The pilot knew trouble when he saw it, and that was trouble.

“Maybe we should get off the bucket before something goes wrong.”

Salis Ingrid L'lerim Willow & Ivy TE-236 Vyktor Orrin Cara Dorniarn

 

[Willow & Ivy]

Although Ingrid L'lerim , the twins, Vyktor Orrin , Cara Dorniarn , Kalic Daws , Salis and others in reality were able to make their escape in the nick of time, those on the Destroyer trapped in the other dimension were not so lucky.

The announcement had been made; all on board would die. And that included the very man that had brought them there in the first place; Torrik Janessi. His mission had failed. Stopping the Emperor was not enough. The Emperor's Hand had shown her face, somehow able to appear in this dimension like the strange girl had. That had meant only one thing; the Emperor's plan was still achievable. With or without him, it was still a possibility. Torrik had managed to cut off the head of the snake, only to discover that it was a hydra.

The last ten seconds of their lives were counted down in loud ticks. It seemed as though everyone had gone silent and for a moment time stood still.

And then came the fire. Torrik stood watch on the bridge and met his demise with a sullen frown.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim-Ragal
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch; Director of Blackwatch; Baroness of Vengard, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Location: Tacitus’s ship, Neutral Space
Equipment: 2x Sigra vibroblade | 2x Striith vibrosword | 2x red blade lightsaber shoto | Heilagr MK. I Assassin Armour | G1 OmniLink || Shield talisman | Empyrean gland | Taozin amulet | Healing amulet
Tag(s): Willow & Ivy | Vyktor Orrin | Salis | Kalic Daws | Cara Dorniarn | TE-236 | Open

Ingrid even saw the desperate man realizing that he had accomplished nothing with his plan. The Emperor made sure his plan was carried forward by someone. And Ingrid wasn't the only one who knew the plan, there were countless other Lord Commander among the members of the Wardens. The man there was wrong to think of the woman as a simple assassin like most. This happens when someone hides from everyone what she is capable of and does not disguise her talents. Ingrid was far from what the most of the Empire thought from her.

The dropship and the rest of the ship flew out of the hangar while they got far enough in time. The explosion of the star destroyer still hit them, but it no longer damaged the ship. However, something remained. When the explosion went out in a vacuum, a large, ever-expanding rift remained. What caused Torrik to lure the Emperor there began to expand as a result of the explosion.

As soon as the dropship reached the lead ship and the company landed, they were greeted with bad news. The rift is constantly widening, if they cannot close somehow, over time (very quickly) it will not only devour this neighbourhood, but in months, years it will devour the entire Eternal Empire and the Unknown Region and everyone will act like the Emperor and your ship. The only solution was to close it, but those on this ship had no idea how.

Ingrid had to do what she liked least, revealing what she was capable of. She ordered the ship closer to the rift and then successfully closed it with the help of a long ritual lasting nearly an hour. If anyone survived the explosion on Tacitus' ship, it was now stuck there in the other dimension maybe forever. Luckily, she read quite a bit about this from the books she received from AMCO , or was able to fetch enough crumbs of information from Night Spirit’s or her lieutenant’s memories.

After a long process, she was tired, exhausted to the extreme, which she wasn’t happy about, because she still didn’t accept the fact that she now had to feed on emotions or life force outside of normal food. The Emperor's death meant what she saw on everyone's faces. She is the Empress. She went back to her own accommodation from the bridge as quickly as possible. She has held herself until now, a strong, brittle woman who never shows emotion and may not even feel that way.

As soon as she got to her accommodation, she threw her helmet on her bed, her eyes red. But not because of the Dark Side, but because of the restrained crying. As the door closed behind her, the red-haired woman leaned against the door and slid to the floor next to the wall. She hugged her legs and sobbed loudly about the Emperor and the death of her friend. After all, she, too, was a being who could feel emotions, even if she didn’t show them to others.

The Emperor was dead, and the time had come for the Empire to enter a new era.

The end.​

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