The Silver Lining [Empire's Dominion of the Lyran IV System]

[Adron Malvern]

​When the High Moff heard his Emperor's chuckle, it was cause for a slight bit of relaxation, though it would not be visible in his demeanor. "I will be more vigilant of such things in the future, your majesty." He responded, bowing his head in deference. Emperor Kardal had earned Adron's respect, which was not something one could earn easily.

​The ship they traveled in gave a soft ship as they were pulled from the slip of hyperspace. Not moments after they had been pulled from Hyperspace, Adron's commlink gave off a soft beep. It was protocol for the Captain of the Emperor's guard to receive such a call when entering each system. Knowing the Emperor would understand, Adron opened the comm channel, his attention shifting to the red image of the Imperial Officer that was in his palm. "Report."

​"All sectors are clear, my lord. There are no threats to the Emperor's safety." Adron nodded at the man before deactivating the comm device. When he looked back up the Emperor seemed to be taking a moment to marvel at his fleet's crown jewel. Were Adron in another's company he would have offered a smirk of amusement. "The first time I saw that ship, it was ripping through my own fleet's escort ships." He said, approaching the Emperor's flank.

​At the mention of Morcus, the young Moff arched a brow. "Morcus? The Grand Inquisitor is here as well?" It seemed the Empire had truly set its eyes on Lyran, which meant only one thing. They would have it.

[member="Imperial Storyteller"]

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

The Emperor nodded "Indeed, Tanomas gave him command of the Pellaeon for when he did not require it." Kardal informed, uncertain if Malvern was aware of the arrangement. The old man's datapad gave a small blip, causing his to bring it up and read the transmission he had received from [member="Aram Kalast"]. He quickly typed a response:

COMMENCE AT WILL, DIRECTOR.​

​

Reginald looked back up, watching while the ship descended through the clouds and towards the Imperial dreadnought. "I believe today could serve an apt test of your guardsmen, Captain Malvern. After all, I can only assume how dulled their skills are after so long without combat." He said, a tone of mischief among his words. Without any warning, he sent a message to the pilot to take them down to the forward command base.

The gunship lurched again and they flew past their previous destination, the terrain of Lyran IV coming into view below them. Massive formations of stormtroopers and support armour could be seen trudging along the surface, all centred around a modular garrison deployed by one of the many star destroyers in orbit.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​Adron gave a moment of pause, not having know of the arrangement before now. The Pellaeon was a ship of much renown, and while Adron had been a competent fleet commander in the past, he was sure he would never match that of Tanomas Graf. As the Imperial gunboat flowed through the upper atmosphere, Adron glanced back at the Imperial Guardsmen.

​They were men of singular mind, one that saw to the defense of the Emperor. They were impressive, and they were a force that had no equal. Yet, as the Emperor spoke. Adron stepped forward, arching a brow at the man. "You can't mean...."

​As his eyes were lifted once again the Captain of the Imperial Guard saw just where it was they were headed, the forefront of the conflict. As the gunship flew over the legions of the Empire, Adron turned his attention back to the Emperor. "Your Majesty, the front is not safe for you. As the head of your guard I must advise against this." He said, though he had learned much about his Emperor, and he was sure the advisement would fall on deaf ears.

[member="Reginald Kardal"]

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

The Emperor smiled cryptically at his captain "Safety is an illusion, captain. A stray concussion missile could just as easily pierce through the shielding of the Pellaeon's bridge and kill me." He offered, half-jokingly, "A man of my profession in this galaxy doesn't reach this age just by cowering behind his guards. Although I am emperor, I am still a general at heart, and I will see to my soldiers personally."

He turned and made his way out of the cabin as they set down before his poor high moff could respond, prompting his sovereign protectors to march after him without hesitation. The boarding ramp of the gunship descended with a hydraulic hiss, greeting Kardal and his guardsmen with the view of several stormtroopers rushing to line up in parade formation and a rather confused brigadier general, the latter of which quickly kneeling in respect.

"Y-Your Highness! This is an unexpected pleasure." She sputtered, standing as Reginald descended down the ramp, the monarch's booted feet meeting the tough durasteel of the modular garrison. "We thought you would be with the grand inquisitor aboard his command ship." General Drayen admitted, relaxing slightly at Kardal's amused smile.

"Indeed, but there has been a slight change of plans. I wish to assist my men from the front." The Emperor divulged "Though I can assure you that you are most definitely in command of your army, general, I will be handing out advice on certain matters if I feel needed." The general bowed, most likely feeling honoured to have Kardal there, letting out a relieved acknowledgement; "Of course, Your Majesty. Right this way." She offered, gesturing for the man to follow her to the command centre.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

[SIZE=11pt]In the eyes of the Empire, the views of the Emperor were to be commended. In the eyes of the Imperial Guard, they were potentially dangerous. It was not that the Guard could not protect the Emperor, far from it. The goal was to keep Emperor Kardal as far from danger as he could, and that meant a battlefield was no place for the man. Adron offered no debate to the Emperor’s reasoning, partially because he respected the man’s views, but mostly because he did not believe it would be worth the wasted efforts.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The soft shift as the shuttle set down, caused Adron’s eyes to shift to the elite of the Emperor’s guard. Two of the Sovereign Protector’s moved to flank the Emperor, their stoic figures becoming the shadow of the Emperor himself. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The rest of the guard followed behind Adron, as he moved to catch up with the Emperor and his protectors. The moment the Emperor was opened into a new area, it was the Imperial Guard’s duty to be sure it was safe. Although Adron could be seen, his eyes scanning the open, most would not expect the wandering eyes of the Imperial Guard were just as caught in their search. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Finally catching up with the Emperor, Adron clasped his arms behind his back, watching as the current Field Officer took to a knee in respect. Her groveling was of no concern to Adron, whose eyes were on the forming Company of Stormtroopers. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]As the General escorted the Emperor to the Command Center Adron was silent, however it was quickly broken. “My Emperor.” He said, hoping to gain Kardal’s attention. “Would it not motivate the soldiers to hear your voice? Why not offer a few words over a comm channel?” He urged. [/SIZE]

[member="Reginald Kardal"]

 

[DT-2319]

Nineteen didn't even have a moment to contemplate the drop facing him before he felt himself being veritably thrown out of the open front end of the ship by Corric. All he could do was grumble into his helmet and try to keep his legs from getting tangled up in the barrel of his DLT-29. Lacking the time to shift into arch position and try to steer to a nearby safe landing spot, he did the first thing he could come up with; he activated the miniature repulsors in his armour, applying a significant brake to his speed. There was no way that they'd let him float down comfortably, but they were strong enough to keep a fully-armoured Death Trooper from sinking in water and move them around as well - they were his only real option to survive this drop. He was just hoping it would be enough.

A few seconds later the ground was upon him; he bent his knees slightly just before impact, throwing up his left arm and rolling off to the side. The moment he touched ground his HUD started blasting information and alarms at him, while he struggled to remain concentrated on carefully breaking out of his roll and standing back up. After another moment he was lying flat on the ground, with more notifications coming through from his HUD. Ruptured Liver detected. Common injury, can happen from a simple punch. Armour integrity compromised; heavy damage to lower legs. Repulsors non-functional. Left ankle fracture detected. More immediately annoying, but still livable. Internal bleeding detected. No clue on where, but his vital signs weren't bad enough for the automatic bacta administer to run through. Best not to waste it.

Nineteen stood slowly, thankful for both the armour he wore and the enhancements he'd been given upon induction into the Death Trooper program. He did his best to adjust his crumpled shin armour so that it wasn't digging into him too much, relying on adrenaline and clone programming both to ignore the screaming pain in both his torso and his left leg. In a practiced movement he pulled his rifle off from his back, checking it for any damage; thankfully, the weapon was a bit more durable than the user. "G-3 sounding off," he called over their encrypted comm frequency, as soon as he was able to clear out all the alerts from his HUD and reactivate the comms. "Standing-by to render aid if necessary." He doubted he was the only one getting hurt in the landing, and he wouldn't be surprised if any of the others were hurt more than him; especially '24, after getting slammed by cargo right before the drop.

A drop that Forty-three was damned lucky that any of them had managed to make.

[member="Corric Tassadar"] [member="Mark Hawkins"] [member="Isaac Stover"]

 

[Isaac Stover]

​"Frakking AA! Why in hell did they have to send us straight at an airbase in a standard fragging dropship?!" The demolitions expert maintained a white knuckle grip on his seat's harness as the ship was rocked by another near miss, trying to keep his breathing even and not let on to the fact he was getting dangerously close to flooding his helmet with puke. When a burst of cannon fire splashed against the rear of the ship and slammed Isaac's head into the bulkhead, anger finally overrode fear as he tore off his restraints and made for the heavy repeater mounted near the rear ramp. "TUAYBOAIGKNKSRSTDALSREFTPTXAXRAIHLGR-" A series of high-pitched metallic pops from behind him caught his attention, and he turned around just in time for the squad's mortar to collide with his faceplate and torso armor. There was a distinctive crack as he was knocked his feet and slid down the ramp, letting out an groan of pain as he did so.

Blinking the stars from his vision, Isaac frantically reached out and slapped his right hand flat against the ramp, the magnetic adhesion pad in his glove's palm stciking fast and jerking him to a stop. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, however, the weapons impact that tore open the dropship's side whipped him sideways with enough force to overload the magpad, and launched him out into open air. An inhuman wail left his helmet's vocoder as he plummeted towards the planet's surface, and it took a second for him to calm himself enough to think through how he was going to survive impact. Extending his arms and legs, Isaac spred out full eagle to let air resistance slow him as much as possible. Seeing that the ground was still approaching at an alarmingly rate, Isaac waited until the last moment to curl into a ball with his legs facing downwards, and maxed out the power to the repulsors in his calf armor. Even with these measures, the impact hit him like a brick wall as he slammed into a rocky slope and began tumbling down it, pain flaring in his right leg as he felt something pop in his knee.

Rolling to a stop near Mark, Isaac let out a pained wheeze and attempted to speak, only to have his helmet produce indecipherable nonsense. Isaac waited for his vision to clear to see what his HUD could tell him about his status, only to realize that wasn't his vision, the mortar tube's impact had cracked his visor, rendering it useless. Groaning in irritation, he reached up and popped the seals on his helmet, pulling it off and tossing it aside. Hissing in pain as the sudden flare of sunlight caused his head to pound, Isaacslowly sat up. "Uggh, fuggin' hell, that was unpleasant. G-4 is up and mostly ok..."

[member="Corric Tassadar"] , [member="DT-2319"] , [member="Mark Hawkins"]

 

[Seto Du Couteau]

Location: En Route to Command HQ
Actions: Captured Two Antarian Rangers

A groan and a sigh Seto slowly walked back outside, his eyes struggled to adjust to the light as he huffed. A pair of bodies landed with a thud on either side of Seto, finally allowed to take a breather and give him a chance to call in for some support. Seto mused about the chances of smoking out the rest of the underground cells, no doubt with a heavy Imperial presence the Ranger's only option to scatter into smaller sects to make even rooting out the largest of them difficult.

"But nothing like some little persuasion to loosen those lips and sing us a beautiful song," Seto spoke his thoughts out loud, the groans of his prisoners were their only response. With any luck Seto hoped he caught something valuable. Honestly Seto wasn't too keen into interrogations that involved a heavy handed tactic. Too brutish and savage for my liking Seto thought wearily as he heard the engines of a LAAT Gunship, the Imperial vehicle landed close by, a dozen of Stormtroopers quickly marched out.

"Grab these prisoners here and I'll be taking us back to Command," Seto told one of the Officers that approached him, "There's an underground cell that formerly belonged to the Rangers, get some of our Engineers to wire some explosives," With that order Seto walked into the Gunship, his two prisoners carried by a pair of Stormtroopers.

"ETA Ten minutes Inquisitor," the Pilot voiced over the comms as Seto nodded in acknowledgement.

Seto's eyes scanned over his own ruined robs and burnt plasteel plating from botched deflections or momentary loss of focus during the firefight. He inwardly groaned as he knew this was not acceptable and hoped that his return to their Forward Command base would be free of complications. Come on Galaxy, don't be cruel today Seto mused.

 

[Aram Kalast]

“We have reports that the Ranger presence that Intelligence caught wind of are indeed active within the settlement sir.” The words of another, backed up with documents of letters. It all meant little in their world. “It would seem that the Lyrian’s assurances that they were not harbouring terrorists have been excused.”

Aram would look down upon the city with a sense of disgust. He would have bombarded them to dust by now if he still had the means. Like he did with Eriadu, he would have pointed every canon at his disposal towards that wretched city and pressed the button, watching as it burnt. However that was not his call to make, not yet.

“You can commence, Director.” The words of the Emperor filled the star destroyers bridge and suddenly a new light seemed to shine across the eyes of all within. Even if their was a slight tinge of frustration at the mention of the title Director.

“Launch bombers and transports.” He ordered. “Deploy outside the city limits, have the air turn anything resembling a military installation to dust and then move within the city.”

“Prisoners sir? The terrorists?”

“Leave nothing alive.” A glare of evil stained blue cast across the viewport. “Kill everything.”

 

[Corric Tassadar]

The officer quickly followed after his squad, leaving the burning husk behind to its final gravity-induced death. The air whipped around him, filling his blood with an adrenaline rush unmatched by any other activity in the galaxy. Life-and-death was always the one drug that nobody could have enough fill on- even as he considered the rocky death that would hit him in the face, a small part of him admired the scenery; the birds eye view that filled his lungs with the urge to scream and shout!

And then reality hit in as he tucked into a ball, smashing into the rocky cliff sending a wave of red-text warnings in his suit- the alarms blared their horrible pitched screams as he bounced around, up and down, left and right until finally the trooper was flung to solid ground, battered and bruised. He heard the scuffling of bodies against stone as some of his unit struggled to get up, but he remained as he was, staring up at the sky as his eyes trailed the smoke of their dropship.

"Gorgon 1-1, what is your status, over?" Tartarus's robotic voice materialized. It was even more robotic when the helmet tried to relay the message through broken speakers- the hiss and spitting of white noise stabbed his cranium when Tartarus hailed them again.

He groaned and got off from his back and onto his knees, nearly screaming in pain when his left arm touched the ground. Corric quickly stood up, wavering slightly from the pain in his ankles. "Gorgon 1-1 copie- ngh!" He quickly popped his dislocated arm back into its socket, squeezing his fingers. ". . .Gorgon is operational sir." he lied, looking at the condition of his men. '24 seemed to take the worst of it- his helmet was dented in every place and the visor had shattered. Somehow he didn't think G-4 would be able to see a mortar tube without feeling the urge to strangle it.

"Affirmative." came the reply, although he had a faint suspicion that their handler didn't really care about them. "Proceed to your target and eliminate the shield generators first: Safari is on station and ready to bombard the base once those generators fall."

"Any word on back up sir?" he gave the unit another quick glance, wincing when something sharp dug into his back. He pulled his rifle and was dismayed at the shattered piece of technology. "Safari has already deployed a small section of stormtroopers, along with Gorgon 5-"

"Sir, it sounded like you just said Gorgon-5?" he quickly turned around to face his unit, tossing the scrapped rifle away. Corric gave the signal to move out, chopping the air towards the airbase: it wasn't very hard to notice, streams of light turbolasers from their AAA was churning the skies an ugly shade of orange and neon-green.

"I did. There is a small issue however- patching you in now." A panicked voice suddenly yelled in his ear, scratchy and pitched from his damaged speakers. "-een hit, gotta land her somewhere safe; Brace brace bra-"

Corric cursed loudly and followed after his unit, standing over the edge of a small bluff. He could spot another blazing streak in the distance, this time actually making a landing- or at least, he couldn't spot any white dots jumping out the back. "I advise you assist their unit, Gorgon 1-1. Tartarus out."

"Gorgon!" he spoke up, pointing at the crashed drop ship almost 3 klicks away from their spot. "New secondary objective, let's meet our new member!"

​

[member="Mark Hawkins"] | [member="DT-2319"] | [member="Isaac Stover"] | [member="Ishale Rokahn"]​

 

[DT-2319]

"Recommend you ask them to assign new members when we're not in live combat, Gorgon lead," came Nineteen's detached voice. He quickly rushed up to where '43 was standing, lifting his rifle and looking through the scope at the ship. "Doesn't look like their ship got hit as badly as ours. Crash landing, but at least theirs can still be called a landing." There was the slightest hint of displeasure present in his voice at the end, a mixture of annoyance for what had happened and contempt for the enemies they were now fully engaged with.

Nothing outside of normal operating range.

He looked up from the scope, observing the surrounding topography. Unfortunately, his helmet had suffered some minor damage of its own - it couldn't patch into the overall Imperial comm network anymore, leaving him limited to close range sensors and squad comms. Between the four of them, '43 was probably the only one that might still have a working map. Still, Nineteen had a keen eye for positioning, and could pick out exactly where he wanted to go. "There'll be hostiles swarming that position pretty quickly," he told his commanding officer, stating the obvious. "I'll stick with you all for the first click, but after that I'm going to follow along the ridgeline to the North of the crash site - " and he lifted a hand, gesturing at the specific ridge he was referring to, covered in all sorts of scrub. It wasn't much for cover or hiding, but it would have to do. " - And I'll provide you covering fire and updates on what you can't see while you continue your approach. I would appreciate it if you put in a bit more effort not to get killed than usual." The last statement was delivered in Nineteen's usual matter-of-fact tone, while he unholstered his pistol and held it out to '43.

"Take this with you. You might not have the power of your rifle right now, but you can make up for it a bit with two pistols rather than just one. Fett style."

[member="Corric Tassadar"] [member="Isaac Stover"] [member="Mark Hawkins"]

 

[Aram Kalast]

The first signs within the city that the Imperial’s were not here for talks was the burst of flame following bright green lances erupting with the ground. The Star Destroyer, a beast within the sky began to empty energy blast upon energy blast into the city as if it was nothing more then the hull of an enemy ship.

Buildings in their entirety exploded outward, showering the ground with broken columns of duracrete and metal. Great fires burnt unchecked as fuel supplies and flammable equipment all caught alight from the barrage and then as quickly as it began…it stopped.

Those who could dared a peak, glancing at the smoke that covered the entire city in plumes of dust and death. The silence alone was enough to cause one heartache, but it would not be silent for long enough to mourn those already lost. The roar of TIE-Bombers, an almost buzz that preceded their arrival filled the air, dull thuds thumping beneath them as proton bomb after pronto bomb was dropped upon the already savaged settlement. More fire, more death.

Aram watched with disgust.
Beneath them his legion would be starting to advance into the city to mop up what was left. Surely now these people would realise the error in harbouring the Empire’s enemies. Surely now they would realise it wasn’t in the Empire’s interest to keep cities intact if they crossed them. After all, a city didn’t grow food…it only consumed what was already the Empire’s by right.

 

[Seto Du Couteau]

On board the LAAT Gunship Seto enjoyed the view offered to him, it was a sight to see the vast amounts of the farmlands but the real sight to behold was the Imperial Navy. Looks like they're coming in with full force, interesting Seto thought as saw the distant barrage coming from the Imperial Star Destroyer. City fires and collapsing buildings only served to remind Seto that there were no such things as peaceful occupations or takeovers.

One of the prisoners managed to brave some words to his captor, "Imperial Tyranny, this will only serve to strengthen our resolve, you won't break us." The man spat out as he turned his head to face the young Inquisitor.

Seto offered the man a shrug, before answering "The Imperial Navy isn't here to break you, it's here to completely destroy you," Seto wondered how soon the people of Lyran would surrender and off the Rangers up to the Empire. Hopefully before their last city becomes a pile of rubble Seto mused as he heard a pair of the TIE Fighters running escort for another pair of TIE Bombers screech overhead.

The Command Center soon emerged and the Gunship landed softly, a pair of Stormtroopers already grabbed the prisoners and escorted them off to a holding cell to be later questioned. Seto briskly walked towards one of the communications hub to gather some more information of the on goings of their offensive and take over. He noticed a rather strange feeling across many of the troops, a sense of urgency and sharpness.

Much of the power of the Force revolved around being sensitive to the emotions of others and one's self, for Seto it gave him much a better hand when dealing with insurgents but now Seto wondered why he felt such an emotion from the Imperial forces here.

What happened? Did someone arrive to inspect our progress? The Grand Inquisitor himself? Seto thought as he looked through several communications logs to brief himself of their current situation. Oh.

"This is rather unexpected," Seto had to admit to himself even he felt unsure of what exactly to do next.

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

Reginald spared a glance at Captain Malvern, taking in the words of one of his most trusted advisors. "Yes, yes, of course. But it will wait until I reach the command centre and have a grasp of the situation. I will not waste my voice on empty promises of victory and trivial gestures." He stated firmly, the clacking of stormtrooper boots marring his words slightly. An abrupt roar in the distance diverted his attention away from entering the garrison, the monarch stopping to observe as star destroyers began pelting the city with their turbolasers, a light green hue flickering over his wrinkled face.

"I believe Director Kalast has begun the assault; or Vice Admiral as that conceited man wishes to call himself. Brilliant, nonetheless." The Emperor offered passively, continuing on his way past the open blast doors. The command centre was found easily, with his indomitable sovereign protectors taking their stations at every entrance to the room, Malvern likely staying with his charge. "It seems that Aram decided to commit more aspects of intrigue than of war, a given considering his current position. While death troopers are fierce on the frontline, they are always better suited for special operations and behind-the-lines trickery." Kardal observed, pacing around a complex holomap, before looking up at a nearby [member="Seto Du Couteau"], "And it's no wonder Morcus is here himself, if there is one thing he enjoys other than the Pellaeon, it is watching his students' success."

He clasped his hands behind his back, continuing his pace in silence until he broke it once more. "I will address my soldiers shortly, I just need to ensure that an asset of my own is concurrent to it..." He gave cryptically.

[member="Adron Malvern"]

 

[Adron Malvern]

​The Emperor's cryptic explanation to his plans was met with an exacting silence from the High Moff.

​Clasping his arms behind his back, he turned to the Emperor, lowering his voice a bit. "Your Majesty. I would still recommend after your speech we move you to a more secure location." He enthused, his eyes falling down to the legions of Stormtroopers that prepared to march into battle.

​"It will not be long before the enemy knows of your presence here. However, if any attack is to come, the Imperial Guard are prepared to defend you to the last." Adron promised the Emperor.

[member="Reginald Kardal"]

 

[Seto Du Couteau]

Seto moved along out of his current spot, he had little to do for the moment and now the Emperor had landed on surface to personally oversee the domination of Lyran. When he had first joined the Empire at first as a Medic for the army, and now taking up the role of Inquisitor, there was an abstract notion of never being able to meet the Emperor. Fascinating notion Seto thought to himself as he continued to walk towards the armory.

Frozen still, Seto felt a pair of eyes land on him as he realized the Emperor himself was walking in front of him. His body dropped to one knee and head bowed down out of pure instinct, Seto had dealt with nobility but the Emperor himself was something else entirely. As the Emperor continued his path, Seto slowly stood back up watching carefully as the Imperial Royal Guard continued their march. A slow breath relaxed his tensed body and Seto allowed himself to calm his senses.

Moving away from his spot and walking towards the forward operating building set up, with the orbital bombardment it was doubtful that Seto would be needed to engage in inner city combat. But now Seto figured that many of the Rangers witnessing the utter destruction of the cities it would prompt them further to dig underground and use and vast expanse of fields to hide from Imperial might. While Seto believed himself a competent Inquisitor, despite his own unique attitude, he felt comfortable hunting down insurgents through street alleys and buildings. Scouring the vastness of nature and underground caverns the young Du Couteau heir had very little experience with in his short career.

"Utterly annoying," Seto murmured to himself as he moved around to inspect the maps and communication logs between the fleet and the army on the surface. While this wouldn't be a long war, not even a long battle, trying to find every needle in this conquered haystack was the most enjoyable job Seto ever had accomplish.

I wonder if our prisoners will reveal some rather fascinating information. . .

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

The Emperor waved dismissively at [member=" Adron Malvern"] "Do not fret, captain. The Antarian Rangers are nothing more than glorified scouts." He stated, "If this modular garrison isn't safe, then I don't know where is."

Kardal brought a wrinkled hand up to his ear, receiving a transmission from one of his many contacts. "A-ha. I believe I am ready to commence with my address to the soldiers." Reginald informed excitedly, throwing a quick glance to the high moff, "And then we may depart to somewhere more 'secure'."

He walked upwards onto the command podium, overlooking the somewhat distant city, a holoprojector mounted beside him that sprung to life and began capturing his visage. This image was streamed live to almost every non-essential Imperial device on the planet, with audio being transmitted non-intrusively into the audio-receptors of the stormtroopers.

 

[Travis Caalgen]

"Reverting over Lyran IV now, depowering hyperdrive and activating sublight engines."

The Silencer leapt into the high orbit of the world, the system's star glaring against the experimental warship's battle-worn quadanium-lined durasteel hull. "Entering accelerated geosynchronous orbit, estimated time to firing range: Two minutes and closing." Announced the chief gunnery officer over the shipwide intercoms.

A blast door opened into the bridge with a hydraulic hiss, prompting heads to turn as the flutter of a white duster signalled the arrival of the ship's captain, Weapons Director Travis Caalgen. For both him and his crew, it had been quite a while since the Silencer was commanded into a battle, with the former ever so busy with scheduling the designing, construction, and testing of new advanced weapons and testbeds.

"Keep the Emperor actively informed of our time to firing range, I do not want to ruin this chance." Caalgen growled, directing his command over to the communications officer, who gave a swift nod and got to his duties. The director seated himself on the throne, using the built-in console to bring up several displays for him to peruse.

"One minute to firing range."

 

[Adron Malvern]

​A sigh of relief errupted from the High Moff when the Emperor agreed to move to a safer location. To an extent, his majesty was correct. The Imperial Modular Command Center was, in theory, one of the most defendable locations on the battlefield. Yet, that was not enough for Adron to sit easy. Theories existed because of the chance of error with them.

​As the Emperor turned his attention to the holoemitter, Adron could not help but draw his lips into a thin smile. The Emperor, was a paced man, yet to see how he conducted himself in the theatre of war. Admirable.

​Clasping his hands behind his back, he awaited in silence to receive the Emperor's speech.

[member="Reginald Kardal"]

 

[Seto Du Couteau]

The brig felt eerily quite as Seto heard his boots echo down the hall, this was by no means evidence of a lack of prisoners but more so a lack of spirit or vigor from these prisoners. Their eyes were like windows into their minds, and all it showed the young Du Couteau heir was a broken spirit and devoid of a soul. A soft sigh escaped his lips, brutal interrogations always left a sour taste. Though distasteful it was never enough for Seto to actually commit himself to change anything of how the interrogators conducted themselves with prisoners.

"Why they couldn't just tell me what I needed to know from the start?" Seto mumbled as he kept walking down the hall, each prisoner appeared worse and worse the further down he walked. Reaching the end of the hallway, he found one of the officers stationed here to collect and properly handle all information gained.

"Tell me some good news," Seto spoke to the officer in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back.

"It's all the same really, some names we already have and vague descriptions of "Bases" scattered through out some cities," The Officer responded, a datapad displaying several key information of importance for Seto.

"Honestly, we're already glassing these areas, but what I'm more concerned about are the farmlands, do we have a good idea of what's out there?" Seto asked.

"There has been certainly, but it's being taken care of with our patrols and scouts, it is difficult to hide anything out there in such vast open space. With our ships controlling the skies we'll be able to root out any surviving hidden cells out there in the farmlands in a matter of days," The Officer answered Seto, displaying a large map pointing out several scouting parties and patrol routes.

"Hm," Seto only wondered how long before the Rangers would try and disrupt these farms and start burning them to deny any resources to aid the Imperial cause. Likely, very likely Seto mused as he thanked the officer and walked back outside to consider his next action. Should I just let the patrols sweep up whatever is left out there outside the city? Seto continued to ask himself.

Seto walked over towards one of the vehicle bays, a Gunship sat ready and Seto made his decision. He no longer wanted to spend more time on this planet than what was absolutely necessary. I'll finish off these remaining Ranger Cells personally.