There can be only one! (Tund)

[Ashin Varanin]

"I'll always be protective of you, lover," said the Empress in her throne, as the cloaked little ship sped across the terrain of Tund. The land seemed to echo with the long-ago genocide of the Sorcerers by superweapon.

"Cavill is a theoretically useful new Knight. Anaya Fen is known to...associate with him. This will be one of his first major combat actions."

The suspected Sorcerer fortress was a low stone building, a squat castle nestled in the shadow of a cliff. "They can sense us," said Ashin. "How shall we proceed?"

 

[Jacen Cavill]

When the Empress called, you fething picked up.

"Yes Empress Desmius, I am getting in my ship now. I will be in route within the next few moments, any aerial opposition I run into to the temple I will remove."

He kept his comm short as he adjusted his body suit while jumping in the fighter, a few button presses later and he was blasting out of the hangar at high speed heading towards Tund.

 

[Allyson Locke]

"I hope he's one not contagious and two he's gotten his shots."

Poking fun at the twi'lek and her promiscuity was always a past time of the blonde's. She nodded agreeing with the Empress.

"We have two options... We could sneak in... Or we can drop in sabers ignited guns ho. Well three options I can try and mind control them... Personally I want to mix it up a bit."

Shrugging the girl looked towards Ashin with a devilish look on her face.

"I do enjoy seeing your Shii-Cho I action"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"I copy that, Cavill. My own approach will be cloaked, so the First Apprentice and I will already be on-site by the time you arrive." She said all this into the comm while staring Spencer straight in the face, with a grin.

The cloaked ship settled down some distance from the castle and remained cloaked. Ashin stripped off her formal clothes and replaced them with something more suitable for battle - just heavy trousers and a sleeveless shirt. She picked out a knife and a lightsabre, then headed off towards the castle on foot.

 

[Sirella Valkner]

A solitary tree in the vast waste of Tund. The tree branch twitched and bellowed as the acid air blew by. It was a sturdy tree, with deep roots having survived the horrors of the planet proper. No green sprouted from it, it was barely alive, incapable of bearing fruit even if it were the season. It was a dead end, except to those with knowledge. The bark on the outside cracked and split. A delecate hand escaping from inside to pull at the trees bark and pull the two halves apart. Emerging from inside the tree, covered in a wet sap-like liquid, emerged a woman. There were sorcerers on this planet, but they paled in comparison to the great plant witch of the Empire. Sirella Valkner had arrived just inside the old castle. "Good day," she said with a smile to the nearby sithlings. They were nothing. Sirella reached out her hand and lashed out with a bolt of pure hatred killing both of the guards. Her mission was just starting, she had to open the caslte gate to allow her Empress, her friend inside....

 

[Sal Katarn]

A shuttle landed some distance away from the castle. A figure approached swiftly on a speeder bike. Seth's crimson cape flapped behind him. He stared forward with adamantine eyes in his ever-intense expression. Royal Guards, when called to war, could wreak havoc on a battlefield. Not as much as a Sith, it was true, but quite deadly in their own right. The speeder bike passed a lone figure striding forward, Seth sensed her in the Force. The Empress? He had not seen her approach. Shorn slowed his speeder bike and dismounted, retrieving his glaive from the bike's side rack.

Shorn strode forward amidst the barren wasteland of Tund. What a sad, unfortunate history this planet had.

"Empress Desmius, I had not expected to see you."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Same to you, Praetor Shorn. Stick with the First Apprentice and I, and you'll have every bit of field training you could want. Ah, look, Sirella has opened the doors for us."

Ashin's stalk never wavered.

 

[Jacen Cavill]

Theoretically useful indeed....

There was no way for the man piloting the starfighter to have heard the words uttered from Lady Desmius. He was miles away, and an atmosphere separated them at the moment. The former noble of Serreno made haste as he pushed hard down on the throttle, the ship bucking from his insistence of flying at full speed. The air burned around his viewport as he broke the atmosphere, and the Sith Knight was careful to keep the nose up so as not to incinerate himself and his ship above Tund.

Finally within the atmosphere, Jacen began his descent to where the heads up display pointed him to go.

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer had to blink a few times to get her mind back on track with what they were doing. She quickly stripped off her tunic which was disgusting from the previous fights. She left herself in her skin tight undershirt which would be easier to pull off a bit more acrobatics which she learned from her father and his people. Grabbing the leg harness she strapped a small blaster and her lightsaber to it. The slender girl dusted herself off and ran after Ashin. They were stopped by someone that the woman knew and Spencer remained quiet.

Looking towards the gates she couldn't help but smile. It had been too long since she had seen anything from the Plant Witch.

"Good ol Sirella."

 

[Sal Katarn]

"As you wish, Empress."

Seth's face remained impassive. Field training... yes of course. As if his Royal Guard training was not enough. Had that been a joke? He could not tell. Or perhaps she meant training in the Force. He tried not to think to hard on the Sith Empress' words. Regardless, the gates were indeed open.

A glance to the side showed the First Apprentice. There were many... rumors. Rumors best left unspoken. The Empress' business was her own. Until it was not.

 

[Sirella Valkner]

Sirella made her way through the courtyard, throwing her precious seeds as she skipped along. She'd see a sorcerer and zap them with a spell, or make them forget. These weren't the acolytes preparing for an assault, these were the neophytes who had barely any understanding of the arts. They fell quickly beneath her dark powers, their corpses dissolving into nothing, or being devoured by the plants that grew in her wake. She approached a group in a control room and blew a pheromone laden kiss into the room. She reached out and touched the little sithlings minds whispering the words of power to summon list into them. She walked in and watched as the pair of males lay prostate before her as she commanded them. One crawled forward to kiss her foot and received a kick to the face for his efforts. Control room neutralized, but it appeared that the gate controls weren't here. At least they would have no forewarning. "Where is the gate controls?" Sirella asked the man.

"At the gatehouse..." Of course protected by their competnent sorcerers. "I... I love you."

"Yes yes... now take me there..."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

With Praetor Shorn and Spencer beside her, Ashin walked up, through the door Sirella had opened. She came to the ancient gates and raised her hands. Stone creaked, dust fluttered, hinges wailed, rust pattered to the ground. The main gates ripped themselves out and fell. The Empress took a slow breath and let it out.

"Hello, Sirella," she called, blasting the nearest Sorcerer with lightning. Her lightsabre ignited in her hand. "Find what you were after?"

 

[Jacen Cavill]

As he descended, his radar found a few stray fighters heading towards the temple. "Well we can't have that now can we?"

The Sith Knight quickly changed his course to allow him to get behind the ships, while using the clouds as cover. As soon as they got into his target reticules, Jacen Cavill opened fire.

Who ever said the Sith played fair?

 

[Sirella Valkner]

Sirella laughed as two groveling meat men walked behind her. "There are few challenges here." With a flick of her finger one of the men sprouted strange strange growths which took over his body. From out of his mouth several flowers grew and then his eyes puffed out as roots took hold. "Their masters must be busy elsewhere. But if these.... things... are their neophytes I doubt it till be much trouble taking this fortress."

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer started to push the force out; the girl was a classic supporting fighter. Her power relied in the mental and in the healing arts, in other words she was defensive. As the force pushed out from her she surrounded the small group, though most of the protection was around Ashin – the woman was her top priority. Seeing Ashin address Sirella, she wondered what the plant had been looking for. Deciding to keep her mouth shut for now, she focused on keeping the group safe with the barrier.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The sound of distant heavy weapons fire drew Ashin's attention up and away, toward Jacen Cavill's faraway starfighter.

"I doubt they would have taken their great treasures with them, and I doubt they would have left those treasures unguarded. There will be guardians farther in, perhaps even elders."

A wide spiral staircase descended into the earth at the heart of the temple. Lightsabre in hand, Ashin headed down.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Shorn's eyes widened. Such power. How could any who did not wield the Force stand against that might? His fingers tightened their grip on the glaive. The woman who revealed herself on the other side of the gates was... poisonous. He watched with silent horror as she caused a man to turn into a plant. Shorn's jaw muscles clenched tight as he ground his teeth. Nobody deserved that kind of death. It was sadistic and cruel. Shorn tried not to glare at the woman as he descended into the depths of the castle with Ashin.

 

[Sirella Valkner]

Sirella followed her friend into the temple proper. It was perhaps not the wisest move. "Wasn't one of the firs things I taught you, not to fight a sorcerer in their place of power? Eh Ashin-dearest?"

 

[Allyson Locke]

Spencer kept her eye out for a little niche she could crawl into and play support. A little mind boggling here and there would help make things easier on the group. She quickly followed down behind Ashin. She didn't stop, but she picked up a hint of what was going to be waiting for them.

"I think they're centralizing all their forces...they're waiting for us my Master."

Looking over at Sirella she waved like a goofy teenager and had a dopey smile to match it.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Come now, Sirella, that was a long time ago. I find that the best results come when I show sorcerers that I absolutely don't hesitate to step into said places of power. Of course, I think it all through beforehand, as best I can. I'm not about to sit up here and starve them out, or try and taunt them into coming out on their own, like an Apprentice learning Dun Moch."

She descended farther.