Invasion The Second Coming | TIC Invasion of TSO-Held Thandon Super Hex | Objective Two

[Velda Nar-Donna]

​

WEARING: Black Sith Robes with armor | WEAPONS:2x Lightsabers and The Dark Side
Tag: Xander Blackmoore
Enemies: Open​

They moved silently as they stalked through Shoengen like whispers of smoke from dancing flames.

Even though she had been here during the previous battle, the narrow streets and walkways felt alien to her. And yet familiar, surrounded by the Dark Side that so eloquently shrouded the city.

Psilofyr certainly had made itself known by it's roots that had snaked through the city. Roots that would be graced by the blood of warfare.

Xander led them forward, finding a service panel at a maintenance junction, implementing the blind spot they desired.

And the trap had been set...

Once that was finished, they disappeared once more into the shadows of Shoengen. Making their to a service lift, with Xander making some changes to the hololock.

And then the Imperial patrol came...

The two slipped into cover and were close, really close.

She wanted to say something, something that deserved more than a whisper, and so she wove her thoughts to softly caress and enter his mind.

[“...it is a delight watching you work, but try not to become too content there is still so much left to do...my King”]

Within a moment's heartbeat, he stole his kiss. One that was reciprocated with just as much passion. And she had to admit, it felt like a place with in that moment that she could have stayed far longer in, even as time seemed to slow in that brief moment.

Nevertheless, it was now time to act as they ambushed the Imperial patrol.

They acted quickly in a blinding flash of speed as she ignited one of her two sabers and began to cut through the patrol, and one by one they fell.

One trooper raised his weapon to shoot at her when she sliced off the barrel of his blaster with her lightsaber; the second strike cut in between his armor and beheaded him.

As Xander looked to be keeping a distraction with his lightsaber, Velda shut hers off and slipped herself into a corner of shadows, then within the bleak darkness and moment; she vanished out of sight.

Only for herself to manifest once more right behind the rear element.

She worked again quickly, igniting her saber and cutting the first stormtrooper down with his back turned; he never saw it coming.

A second stormtrooper turned and actually got a couple of shots off. But they were deflected by her saber. The first shot was returned to its sender, which hit the trooper square in the chest and he fell fast.

The second shot was redirected toward another target of chance, the commander of the Imperial patrol unit, mostly missing and lightly wounding his arm.

Her hooded face, hidden from any onlookers, slowly turned to look at the commander, who was scrambling for his communicator.

::zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzZZzzzZZzzZzzzZZZzzz::​

He was greeted with nothing but static and garbled communications in his desperate attempt to call for backup.

And that is when the commander felt it: a heavy weight swirled around his chest and back and began to constrict his very breathing.

Velda began crushing and imploding his chest with the Dark Side as the sounds of his very bones were being shattered.

Then, the commander dropped dead.

 

[Seraphina Pryde]

Location: Outside Treptel Spaceport - Brosi
Thread Objective: Off With Their Head
Mission Objective: Destroy the Rainmaker cannon battery.
Allies: TIC
Enemies: Irina Jesart Torvald

The lightsaber cast forth by Irina Jesart sliced the Dark Trooper’s jetpack mid-flight, sending the automaton into a careening descent as its now-malfunctioning pack sputtered and whined in protest. However, just moments before it would have crashed, the battle droid’s retractable foot-mounted rockets ignited to stabilize its fall. The Dark Trooper landed hard and fast, yet remained intact.

All the while, the two advancing sentry droids were hammered into the ground by Irina Jesart ’s violent telekinetic smash. A tree felled by Torvald ’s light axe crashed over one just before it could get up, disabling the droid and permanently removing it from the fight.

The other sentry droid however, managed to press on, and it did so with a vengeance. Just as much of the surrounding jungle terrain broke out in a blaze, the sentry focused its attention towards the source. Its two scatterguns opened fire on the female Sith from just under fifteen meters away, unleashing a trio of buckshot blasts and four metallic slugs all aimed to strike her in the chest. At nearly the same time, the jetpack-crippled Dark Trooper, having just recovered its footing, locked its targeting system onto her center mass and attacked from her right flank. Ten searing plasma lancets spat out from its blaster repeater in two bursts, streaking on a trajectory to strike her chest from thirteen meters away.

The other Dark Trooper, still airborne, held its focus on Torvald . Capitalizing on the Sith being temporarily disarmed of his light-axe, the battle droid used its jetpack to break off, before fading off into the dense canopy of the surrounding jungle.

Then, with the sudden roar of thrusters, it returned.

It attacked from directly above, approaching in an aggressive attack pass. This time, its attack was explosive in nature. Launched from the twin grenade belts on its jetpack, the Dark Trooper dropped a pair of segmented Whistling Bird Grenades within the male Sith’s immediate vicinity. Should they go off, the grenades would unleash a veritable swarm of more than twenty whistling bird micro-munitions, which would quickly seek out the nearest heat signatures to strike and detonate in small explosions that might saturate the area with hypervelocity shrapnel!

Spoiler: NPC Information

• Glory-III Class Dark Trooper
  
  • Status
    
    • Shielding: 87%
    • Armor: 100%
    • Structure: 100%
  • Armament
    
    • ND40 Kase Blaster Repeater - Hands
    • Flamethrower - Wrist
    • Rail Submachine Gun - Wrist
    • Retractable Kamikiri Blades (2)
    • Crushgaunts
    • Electric Defense Grid
    • Electrical Filaments
    • Droid Neural Pacifiers
• Glory-III Class Dark Trooper
  
  • Status
    
    • Shielding: 78%
    • Armor: 100%
    • Structure: 100%
  • Armament
    
    • ND40 Kase Blaster Repeater - Hands
    • Flamethrower - Wrist
    • Rail Submachine Gun - Wrist
    • Retractable Kamikiri Blades (2)
    • Crushgaunts
    • Electric Defense Grid
    • Electrical Filaments
    • Droid Neural Pacifiers
• DT-series Sentry Droid
  
  • Status - Disabled
    
    • Armor: 74%
    • Structure: 19%
  • Armament
    
    • Electrohammer - Left Hand
    • AAF-8 Scattergun - Right Hand
• DT-series Sentry Droid
  
  • Status
    
    • Armor: 97%
    • Structure: 100%
  • Armament
    
    • AAF-8 Scattergun - Left Hand
    • AAF-8 Scattergun - Right Hand
• DT-series Sentry Droid
  
  • Status
    
    • Armor: 89%
    • Structure: 97%
  • Armament
    
    • Electrohammer - Left Hand
    • AAF-8 Scattergun - Right Hand
• DT-series Sentry Droid
  
  • Status
    
    • Armor: 91%
    • Structure: 99%
  • Armament
    
    • G-41 Imperial Heavy Rotary Blaster - Left Hand
    • G-41 Imperial Heavy Rotary Blaster - Right Hand
• DT-series Sentry Droid
  
  • Status
    
    • Armor: 82%
    • Structure: 98%
  • Armament
    
    • FAE/M-01 “Scherezade” Energized Vibroblade Mk. II - Left Hand
    • AAF-8 Scattergun - Right Hand
• Advanced Blastromech Droid
  
  • Status
    
    • Armor: 78%
    • Structure: 100%
  • Armament
    
    • Heavy Rotary Blaster - Head
    • Micro-Missile Launcher - Head
      
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Plasma Warhead (3)
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Baradium Warhead (3)
    • Flamethrower - Body

 

[Mal Crus]

[]

Dead Guy - Ministry

​

Location: The City of Rann
Objective: II - Capture City / Secure Any Possible Intel

Captain Crus raised a clenched fist as the Dread Wolves advanced through the shattered industrial quarter, the glow of the city's primary generators rising before them like captive suns caged in durasteel ribs. The complex was a fortress unto itself; tiered barricades, overlapping turret nests, and patrols of black-armored Sith soldiery moving with ritual precision. He studied the defense grid through his macrobinoculars, the crimson reflections of reactor light burning across his visor. Without lowering the lenses, he gestured two Wolves forward.

"Scouts, western perimeter. Find me a seam in that armor. Quiet as vacuum. Report fast." The pair vanished into smoke and shadow, slipping between wreckage as the rest of the squad settled into pre-assault positions.

They had scarcely entrenched when the enemy found them. A Sith sentry, posted high along a plasma conduit, snapped his helm toward the Wolves' position and unleashed a flare of scarlet signal fire. In the breath that followed, the generator yard erupted. Blaster cannons roared to life, red lances of energy slamming into ferrocrete and slagged vehicles around the Wolves' line.

"Contact front!" came the shout over comms. He dropped hard behind a ruptured power relay as bolts screamed overhead. "Take cover! Return fire in controlled bursts!" he ordered, voice iron-flat amid the chaos. Counterfire answered, disciplined and surgical, the Wolves firing from braced positions while holding their ground. "Hold the line," Captain Crus added. "We wait for the scouts. No advance."

Crouched behind cover, he keyed a secured channel to the artillery brigade who were situated on the edge of the city's property line. "Imperial Command, this is Crus. Grid reference Aurek-Nine. Request immediate artillery saturation; heavy turbo-laser batteries. Danger close. Mark hostile fortifications surrounding generator core." A pause, then confirmation bled through static. Around him, the Wolves maintained suppressive fire, forcing Sith troops back behind barricades as heat and smoke thickened the air.

Moments later, the two scouts reappeared through the haze, armor scorched but movement unbroken. They dropped beside him. "Western side's thin, Captain," one reported. "Structural damage along the coolant towers, minimal troop presence. Breach point confirmed. It's a go." Captain Crus gave a single nod and rose just enough to signal the squad.

"All Wolves, prepare to redeploy west. On my mark..." He stopped mid-order, one gauntlet raised. From the heavens came a rising thunder, deep and world-shaking. The first volley of Imperial turbo-laser artillery began to fall, lances of incandescent devastation spearing down into the generator defenses. His voice cut through the roaring bombardment, "Hold! Hold positions, let the guns speak first. Then we move west."

 

[Darth Strosius]

Objective: Hold Rann, Guard the Cannon
Equipment: Lightsaber - Sword - Dagger - Robes
Tags: The Lord of Hunger
--------------------------------------------

Reports were still flooding in from the various fronts and conflicts scattered across and above Brosi, flurries of data that made the Sith Lord idly wish that He had some model of tactical droid to aid in Him in sorting through it all and figuring out where intervention might be needed. Among the more recent reports though there were some commonalities starting to emerge centering around the battlefront at the great tree. Decidedly concerning reports of heavy artillery fire starting to rain down from deep within the Imperial lines.

Darth Strosius clicked His tongue as He glared at the holomap projection, showing a very rough and flickering image of the bulk of the Imperial invasion force that was starting to descend upon Shoengen and the tree. How they'd managed to get any significant ordinance planetside was a mystery but it seemed to be the reality at hand now. He ground His fangs together before starting to isolate reports of the arcs and sightings of where the artillery fire had originated from.

It was difficult and in the end it wouldn't be a perfect set of coordinates but it would provide more than enough of a target. Once He had as best of a triangulation on the position as He could manage for the moment, He tapped the side of His helmet and sent the data through to the "Rainmaker"'s crew. :"Prepare for rapid firing mode and begin targeting the grids in this area. The Imperials are packing some heavy artillery and we need it gone before they turn it our way. Glass the whole area if need be.":

Hopefully A'Mia wouldn't be too upset by that, but necessity and practicality had to triumph over the sanctity of the planet at times. Besides she could just grow whatever was destroyed back, she'd done once before already. The "Rainmaker" Hypervelocity Cannon rotated, its might barrel swinging down from the battle in orbit to instead arc far across and away from Rann to aim for wherever the last volley of grand Imperial artillery had come from. Its massive heating vents opened wide as the first shell ripped from its barrel and cut the sky with a deafening boom, soon followed by another round and then another as minor corrections of its trajectory were made between firing.

 

[Skadi Lightbane]

Objective Two
Location: Protecting the Guns
Gear: Armor, Skeggox, Lightsaber
SO Allies: Aerik Lechner // Irina Jesart // Torvald
TIC Enemy(s): Seraphina Pryde
​

Things moved quickly, once combat was truly initiated. Just like with a hunt when the time came to make the chase and pursue the kill, so too did the heat of combat rise up around the Valkyri. Time moved fast, but also seemed to slow down in her perception. Her ice hammer had successfully knocked the one circular lightsaber off course, sparing the barrel of the Gun behind her - and in that exact moment, Aerik and their opponent clashed.

Then the red armored female seemed to…slip through Aerik…? Skadi had never seen anyone do that before and it momentarily caught her off guard. What sort of sorcery was that?!

Her attention was pulled back to the present in an instant however, as she was suddenly faced with not one but two tossed lightsaber chakrams - though they were being manipulated through the Force telekinetically. The one she had knocked off course had arced upwards and was now cutting a path down towards her skull in a lethal arc, and the second was cutting a fast path towards one of her knees.

If she moved, the one aimed for her knee would more than likely slice right into the men manning the Guns behind her and she couldn’t risk that. If she did nothing, she would be outright killed.

In the same moment, the space of the blink of an eye, that she felt Aerik’s mind brush against her own. An image of what he was about to do was made clear to her, and the silent suggestion that she should do the same. She didn’t hesitate - her own ancile shield was launched with aggression straight towards her charging opponent's face, though she barely had enough time left to account for the other two chakrams.

Instinct compelled her to form an ice shield above her head as her lightsaber hilt came into her other hand and ignited just in time to deflect the incoming white blur aimed for her knee, the impact sending a jar up her arm that made her grit her teeth. Above her head, the temporary ice shield did its job - it blocked the other chakram long enough for her to move aside and avoid a killing blow to her skull.

 

[Seraphina Pryde]

Location: Outside Treptel Spaceport - Brosi
Thread Objective: Off With Their Head
Mission Objective: Destroy the Rainmaker cannon battery.
Allies: TIC
Enemies: Aerik Lechner Skadi Lightbane

Seraphina kicked her legs forward mid-stride, throwing her body down into a low slide as the energy shields cast forth by both Sith sailed overhead. In that, the Hapan gasped upon realizing that one had been delivered from behind, thrown by the male Sith. She had evaded it by sheer coincidence, since the female Sith had thrown hers at roughly the same time as he had. She had not anticipated his recovery from her previous attack to be so swift.

It was a misjudgment which had nearly gotten her killed.

Nevertheless, Seraphina gracefully kipped back up onto her feet, before catching one of her lightsaber chakrams as it bounced off of the female Sith’s ice shield while the other one spun off into the surrounding jungle. Her eyes narrowed as she calculated the vectors of threat with the male Sith and the female Sith now both in front of her, blocking her path to the cannon battery. She could continue with her original plan of pressing the attack against one and committing to taking them down, but Seraphina was already realizing that these two were too formidable to be defeated by such a simplistic strategy.

Victory here would demand more from her.

The Rainmaker cannon fired, shaking the earth with its thunderous recoil. With a sharp exhalation, Seraphina lunged at the female Sith. Her body coiled, her weight shifting forward as her right arm drew back for a vibroblade thrust aimed for the female Sith’s center mass. The Hapan anticipated that the woman would react instantly, but regardless of what she did...

She was not the true target of her attack.

At the absolute zenith of her lunge, Seraphina fractured causality. Time, for her alone, stuttered as she drifted a half-second forward along her personal timeline, producing a temporal displacement which transpired over a tenth of a second in objective time.

To the Sith, it might appear as a jarring visual glitch. Her form flickered, splitting into a phantom afterimage lunging toward the female Sith, while her true body snapped sideways in the manner of a broken holorecording skipping frames.

Seraphina did not complete the thrust.

Instead, she re-emerged into the timeline already pivoting on her lead foot, her momentum seamlessly repurposed to a new vector. The vibroblade in her right hand, which had been aimed dead-center at the female Sith, whipped in a redirected crosswise arc. Her attack had become a horizontal slash aimed for the male Sith’s ribs, initiated from her own right side before terminating at her left in a maneuver as lethal in its intent as it was jarring in its execution!

Spoiler: Loadout

• Seraphina Pryde’s Battle Suit
• Seraphina Pryde’s Lightsabers
• FAE/M-01 “Scherezade” Energized Vibroblade Mk. II
• G-2 Imperial Standard Blaster
  
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
  • Ammunition
    
    • Power Cell (4)
• NZ All-Purpose Viral Suppressant Type II
• Supernal Infusion Vials
• Infrared Smoke Grenade (2)
• FAE/MDE-01-S1 Semiautonomous Seeker Thermal Explosive (4)

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: on site
OBJECTIVE: Act as a support to TIC main army
IMPORTANT LINKS: The Enforcer - Mr Pollux
TAG: Madrona A’Mia | Darth Carnifex | Ronhar Tane | Gerwald Lechner | Darth Prazutis | Srina Talon | Revna Marr | Mercy | Naamino Zuukamano | Seraphina Pryde | Torvald | Aerik Lechner | Irina Jesart | Karl Von Strauss | Rieva "Killshot" Alonn | Darth Strosius | Haro Aven | Reina Daival | Rorsch | Spencer Varanin | Taeli Raaf | Eira Dyn | T'zarna Khab | Sophia of House Marr | Nerralyn Raaf | Lirka Ka | Ella Nova | FN-999 (restored) | Joseph Torson | Lysander von Ascania | Amni Kazda | "Templar" | and any others in obj 1 and 2 that may be impacted by this post

WE ARE THE SCOURGE!!

Even with all the resistance, even with the forest roiling and heaving to protect what was its domain, it was clear that some of the warp stars had done their job, to shatter the belief that the sith were untouchable. Even if some of the warpstars had been prematurely detonated or disengaged, this was the pride of the Imperial Confederation, this was the power they had, this was the inevitability the Sith Empire had to face.

The loud roar of the NZ HKAC/800 canons on the NZ MAW-1, Mobile Artillery Walkers was deafening, a true display of not just the might of the Imperial Confederation, but that of the Lord of Hunger as well, who had been so graceous to supply the TIC with such marvelous machines. From his position at the makeshift command center, Pollux oversaw the advance of the legion of droids, which sadly was meeting some heavy resistance from the forest and all which lived within its domain. Reports on Ronhar Tane and FN-999 (restored) flooded into the command post, while the reports on Seraphina Pryde were scattered in between. Observations had given more precise positions for attack, more additional support was necessary for all the skirmishes and battlefields upon the planet. Brosi was a sinkhole, where the Imperial Confederation had to end up with a make or break attitude.

"Sir, what's that?" One of the Gluttoneria troopers exclaimed while something seemed to streak through the air.

"What is what?" Pollux looked up at the sky where the trooper was pointing, before he could say something, an explosion erupted near the furthest positioned MAW, sand, debris and soil being whipped up all around, leaving a deep crater. It was only then that Pollux noticed the streaks in the air, the whistling that inevitably encompassed a fiery rain being poured down from the heavens. "These damn Sith... they've locked on our position, pull back the MAWs, we need to reposition our lines!!"

More explosions could be heard, while the MAWs slowly began to pull back, as Pollux tried to use the sensory equipment to locate the origin of the incoming fire. it didn't take long for the incoming fire to make its first true succesful hit, when the Maw furthest back was hit dead center, the canon atop it collapsing before the internal pressure sought an escape and the whole massive mobile artillery walker detonated into shrapnel, damaging a second MAW in the process which was hindered in its movement, only to follow the same fate as the other MAW, exploding violently when it attempted to turn.

"Fall back, fall back!" The Massive mass of muscle paced angrily towards the command post, reaching for the radio, signaling the droid legions to press for the attack, bring the ZMDII-AWs into action in order to break their enemy at all cost. The first legion which had already sustained severe losses, acted upon this order and brought the ZMDII-AWs forward, firing off their NZ AGG-25 Grenade, attempting to spread the heavy, toxic and extremely flammable gas into the forest, which they'd obviously try to ignite by using thermal detonators and their heavy blasterfire.

In the meantime, two more of the MAWs fell to the heavy surpressing counterfire, one having its front legs torn off by a nearby explosion, the other utterly turned to scraps by another center mass hit. A fifth MAW was loading a warpstar during its retreat, attempting to fire upon the received coordinates from the command post, but as they had yet to take up the new positions, this MAW suddenly saw itself get hit by one of the Rainmaker's rapid fire volleys, first cramping up and collapsing, before a few shots managed to detonate the warstar prematurely, sending a shockwave across the battlefield and toppling two more of the MAWs, which now had to scramble just to get to their new position, all the while clearly having sustained some damage.

"How much did we lose, how many MAWs?!" Pollux was fuming when it became clear a fourth of his artillery had been wiped out, but in the meantime, he did get his hands on the coordinations from which the counterfire had come. "set up on the new positions, use these coordinates...have five of our MAW's return fire upon these coordinates with standard heavy explosive shells, these are easier to load than the warpstars...keep the fire rolling, I do not want to hear those canons stop until we've confirmed destruction of the enemy positions."

Shouting through the commlines, Pollux ordered the other ten MAW's which had not been used yet, to set up on the new position and prepare another volley of Warpstars towards the forest, but rather than awaiting any return fire, they should simply follow up with the NZ RP-3GMIM Guided Mass Incendiary Missile which were much easier to load and prime. "we've lost some of our artillery, but we can't let up just yet... return fire, let this planet quake from it's mantle to its core if need be."

​

Spoiler: Army Comp & actions

• Droid Legions x4 roughly 200,000 droids and equipment​
• Urban Enforcement Cohort x20 Roughly 10,000 droid and equipment
• Gluttoneria Troopers divisions x4 Roughly 4,000 human Troopers and equipment.

• 5 out of the 20 MAWs have been destroyed due to returning fire by Darth Strosius​
• 10 out of the 15 remaining NZ MAW-1, Mobile Artillery Walker are preparing a new volley NZ Warp Star - Type RED Warhead towards the forest, mainly focusing on the newly errupted tentacles and the military presence within said forest, before switching over to NZ RP-3GMIM Guided Mass Incendiary Missile keep up the pressure. [basically this will be the case in the next post]​
• The remaining 5 NZ MAW-1, Mobile Artillery Walker of the artillery group decimated by Darth Strosius 's return fire are now themselves returning fire with standard heavy explosive shells with the intent to both keep those canons occupied while the other ten launch a new warpstar volley, but also to try and damage the weaponry responsible for the loss of five MAWs.​
• The droid legion attacking the forest is supported by a second legion, applying a new gassing and fire strategy upon the forest they are attempting to cross. Madrona A’Mia​

​

 

[Mal Crus]

[]

Dead Guy - Ministry

​

Location: The City of Rann
Objective: II - Capture City / Secure Any Possible Intel

Captain Crus shifted the Dread Wolves to the western approach under the cover of a smoke-choked air, their armored boots struck the broken ferrocrete in disciplined cadence, rifles high, optics sweeping windows and rooftops with predatory patience.

When they reached the shattered transit causeway that marked their staging line, he raised a clenched fist. The formation halted as one organism. He turned, helm lenses scanning the ranks, and began his headcount; quiet, methodical, ritualistic. Two voices failed to answer his call. Two Wolves lost somewhere in the western crawl. He logged the deficit without ceremony, but the weight of it settled behind his sternum like cold iron.

Static crackled across his helmet's comm-link, breaking the tense quiet. Fragmented voices bled through overlapping channels, panic clipped by discipline. Reports spoke of an aerial assault, and raking Imperial ground forces across multiple strategic sectors. Armor columns crippled. Artillery nests silenced. Casualty projections rising.

He listened without interrupting, jaw tight beneath the helm seal. Then a final transmission cut through the noise, Raan's western theater, his theater, had been spared the worst of the bombardment. By chance or design, their corridor remained viable. He exhaled once, slow and controlled, and switched to command frequency.

"As soon as we breach this side," he voxed, his tone sharp enough to cut alloy, "demo team makes your way to your targets. The rest of us lay suppression fire, then advance to our rally point and prep secondary objectives."

A chorus of affirmatives answered him, disciplined and immediate. The Wolves moved again, descending into the generator's yard where enemies clung to every defensible spot available.

Contact came fast, sporadic but vicious. They attacked with disciplined bursts, bolt flashes stuttering against the night as they forced passage block by block, never breaking momentum.

By the time they reached the rally point, a bombed-out power relay station overlooking Raan's central grid where the position was more than appreciative for its defensive posturing, they were one Wolf fewer. Captain Crus did not ask how. He did not need to. He gathered the survivors into defensive arcs while the demolition team armed the charges along the relay's fractured core.

When the final signal was given by a member of the demo team, he gave a single, decisive order. Detonators ignited in a chain of thunder beneath the city's skin. Power conduits ruptured. Transformer towers collapsed in showers of sparks.

In a rolling wave of darkness, every light in Raan died, plunging the city into a black silence broken only by the steady, advancing march of the Dread Wolves and the cries of the wounded and dazed enemy soldiers in their wake. Raan was one step closer to switching allegiances.

 

["Templar"]

//: Allies: Darth Strosius Aerik Lechner Xander Blackmoore Irina Jesart Torvald Velda Nar-Donna Skadi Lightbane Naamino Zuukamano | TSO //:
//: Enemies: The Lord of Hunger | TIC //:
//: Brosi //:
//: Attire //:
//: OBJECTIVE II - OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!! //:

High above the outskirts of the Treptel spaceport, the sky tore open. Screaming wind swirled as violent spirals of shadow and light ripped into existence, folding itself inward. Something fell out of it.

Templar emerged first. Flung forward and downward, her cloak snapping violently behind her as she tumbled through the open sky. Two guided missiles tore free a couple heartbeat later, following the ancient Relic.

“Yuuuhh—gaahh—tuu–Bb—Chhii—ingg– meehh—”

The sound ripped from her helmet’s vocoder, broken and jagged as she stabilized mid-fall. Her eyes snapped below her. A spaceport sprawled outward in a fractured geometry. Durasteel platforms, half-consumed by green. Towers laced with climbing vines as landing pads were split by roots. Nature and city existed together in uneasy harmony. Neither fully dominant.

She felt it. Force signatures scattered. Smoke plumes marked distant engagements. Rising in dark pillars that stained into the sky. Too many to count. Her helmet tilted upward as she continued mid-fall. Looking past the spaceport and the city, into the dense living jungle forest beyond. A loud roar echoed, reaching her. It was not organic, but sounded mechanical and massive. ‘There.’, Templar caught a glimpse of it. Canopies torn apart where colossal machinery forced its way through. Metal shapes retreating. Repositioning and pulling beneath the trees.

The moment Templar’s touched the ground, it cratered as she struck. Earth collapsing inward beneath her boots. She didn’t pause, launching herself forward. Away from the spaceport and toward the forest, each step she took became a violent release of stored momentum. Exploding upward, vaulting high above the canopy, she looked over her shoulders to see the missiles follow. The trees rushed beneath the Relic in blurs of green and shadow. She would land and push off again, vanishing skyward once more.

As she began to draw closer, battle droids from a distance came into view. Retreating between the trunks. Massive war machines lumbered backwards. Tearing through vegetation as they withdrew. Jumping again, mid-arc, Templar’s eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. Pushing off up into the air. Mist. A slow-rising haze crept above the treetops, rolling outward unnaturally. It was familiar… too familiar. The scene mirrored the first moment the Imperial Confederation’s initial arrival at the World Tree.

Her trajectory shifted.

With the missiles still hunting her, Templar rerouted. Sweeping wide to the right— away from the Imperial firefight and away from the suspicious creeping gas. Surging past the repositioning base, boots striking bark as she rebounded, snapping the arc closed. Unexpectedly reappearing ahead of the retreating Imperial line. Then, without warning, she stopped. A sudden pivot. Her eyes locked onto the missiles as they closed the distance.

Templar gathered herself. Compressed and crouched. In a breath, she launched into them. Passing between the missiles in a blink, her movements were so abrupt the missiles’ guidance systems overcorrected. Their nose snapped downward, thrusters screaming as they failed to compensate.

BOOM. The first detonated in the canopy. BOOM. The second followed an instant later.

Trees vanished in a concussive light as the forest erupted. The ground crumpled inward, forming a massive crater that swallowed roots, rocks, and metal alike. Fire surged outward, climbing debris and igniting everything in its path.

The retreat route vanished. Flames and destruction sealed, if not would make retreat increasingly difficult for the Imperials.

Heat slammed into Templar from behind as the shockwave ripped her footing out from under her. Snapping the branch apart as she was hurled forward through smoke and embers. She struck the ground hard at the outskirts of the retreating base. Momentum carrying her into a rough tumble across the ground. The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. Templar laid there for a moment. Winded and unmoving. Her vision came into focus as it was focused on something impossibly small. A flower. The same kind as by the World Tree. Singed at the edges, half-buried in ash, yet still alive.

She reached outward, not with words but with resonance. Letting her presence and intention brush against it. <Are you… willing to sacrifice?> The plant trembled.

Slowly, Templar pushed herself upright. Her helmet lifted, taking in the destruction. The same devastation once delivered near the World Tree now turned upon the Imperials. Eyes returned to the flower. <To Exchange.>

Pain radiated through the land. Rage… Fear… Hunger.

The Forest answered. Templar turned her head toward the vast vegetation behind the flower. She inhaled deeply. A gloved hand emerging from her cloak, extending in a slow sweep. Life collapsed. The foliage behind the flower withered instantly. Leaves shriveling as vines blacked. Roots turned brittle as all of its vitality was ripped away. The forest-like jungle died in a massive widening arc. Consumed and devoured.

Energy surged into the Relic. Hot, violent, and satiating. <Nothing endures without cost.> Templar stood amid the ruin. Her full attention now on the retreating Imperials nearby.

<Everything has a Price.>

Spoiler: Tags on OBJ 1

Spencer Varanin Madrona A’Mia Darth Carnifex Gerwald Lechner Darth Prazutis Srina Talon Revna Marr Lirka Ka Lunaria Talon Nerralyn Raaf Taeli Raaf Matteo Guo-Yian Eira Dyn

Spoiler: Edits

- Grammar and including hyperlinks

 

[Aerik Lechner]

Wearing: Roka Varg | Weapons: Lightsaber | Knife
Allies: Skadi Lightbane | Irina Jesart | Torvald
Enemies: Seraphina Pryde​

Aerik felt the shield leave his hand and tracked its path without turning to follow it. The throw was clean and committed, sent along the line Seraphina had opened when she turned her attention forward. Smoke and heat swallowed it almost at once, and the violence of the platform made precision uncertain. Whatever came of it was no longer his concern.

Skadi Lightbane was still there behind him. He felt her presence holding the line near the guns, steady in the chaos that churned around them. She was engaged now, dealing with what had been thrown at her, and that knowledge anchored him. He did not look back.

Seraphina moved again.

Her motion broke in a way that did not belong to the flow of the fight. For a fraction of a second her advance doubled, one image continuing forward while another snapped sideways, like a skipped frame that never fully corrected. Aerik did not try to understand it. He adjusted as the angle changed.

The vibroblade came in low and fast, redirected from its original line and cutting toward his ribs as she committed to the lunge.

The Rainmaker fired and missiles exploded at the same instant.

The platform jolted under the recoil, a brutal shudder that tore at balance and footing alike. Aerik’s weight shifted with it, pulled off line even as he turned to meet the strike. The adjustment spared his center mass.

It did not spare his face.

The vibroblade crossed his cheek and jaw in a searing arc. Heat tore through flesh in an instant. Pain flooded his senses so hard it stole the air from his lungs. Blood ran hot along his skin, and the sting of it followed the blade’s path like fire.

He lost a step.

His boot scraped for purchase on the shaking platform, and his shoulder hit the edge of the railing before he caught himself. His vision narrowed. The sound of the cannon and the battle around it fell into a dull roar behind the pulse of his own heartbeat.

The pain did not stay contained.

It spilled outward through the Force with no discipline to it. It surged across the forming bond like a lash. Irina Jesart was there on the far end of it, close enough that he felt the connection tighten as the pain struck through.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
<< "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" >>​

Aerik’s hand tightened until the joints ached. Anger rose with the taste of blood. It did not arrive cleanly. It came in waves, thick and ugly, fed by the cut and by the certainty that Seraphina had reached him.

He stayed where he was and forced himself upright. He drew in a breath that hurt and set his feet again as the platform shook under another discharge.

Only then did his lightsaber ignite.

Blue burned to life between them, steady for a heartbeat. His anger closed around the crystal before he could temper it. The blade shuddered. The color deepened and broke. Blue collapsed into something molten, and the light that followed looked more like lava than plasma.

Aerik held it there, not yet moving forward, close enough that Seraphina could see the blood on his face and the change she had forced. The heat of the bled blade rolled off him in waves, and his expression had gone flat in the way that meant the anger was no longer rising. It had settled.

The Rainmaker thundered again behind them. The platform continued to shake beneath their feet. Aerik remained in place and kept his guard up, taking the moment he needed to steady his breathing while the fight tightened around him.

That’s when Aerik felt it. Bones cracked and popped. The sound of it was loud. Aerik’s face and body began to contort.

The beast began to free itself.