[TSA] Ascendant

[Teynara Jeralyr]

| [member="Darth Carnifex"] | [member="Krest"] | [member="Ignus"] | [member="Satia"] | [member="Darth Venefica"] | [member="Etheriud Yvvera"] | [member="Darth Abyss"] | [member="Antherion"] | [member="Kith Verloren"] | [member="Otho Rendoro"] | [member="Damien Daemon"] | [member="Victor Mors"] | [member="Malok"] | [member="Darth Voracitos"] | [member="Selene"] | [member="Darth Doom"] | [member="Bjorg The Traitor "]| [member="Nick Imura"] | [member="Saverok"] | [member="Darth Pyrrhus"] | [member="Lyra Naerys"] | [member="Loxa Visl"] | [member="Stedar Kurdal"] | [member="Lark"] |​

Ravelin City, Bastion, Sartinaynian System

Standing within what was the palace of the now-former governor of the fortress world of Bastion, it was a truly wonderous sight to observe what now lay before them: the capital world of this distant planet, taken quickly and with the usual ruthless efficiency demanded of the Sith. Troop carriers continued to land in the Grand Plaza that lay before the palace, disgorging black-armoured troops in parade review, well-disciplined men and women marching from the bellies of their ships to set foot on Bastion for the first time. More still moved through the city, seeking to pacify any last remnants of hostile resistance.

The message on the comm frequencies were clear: Ravelin is ours. And with the capital, so too came the planet itself.

[member="Darth Carnifex"] had orchestrated their attack with his usual ruthless precision, reinforced by technologies provided by [member="Ignus"], designed to survey and gather intelligence needed for a clinical invasion. One moment, the skies of Bastion had been clear but for choked civilian traffic and a handful of defensive vessels arrayed in case of minor pirate incursion. The next, filled with foreboding Sith vessels, disgorging starfighters and troops that sought to take this world and claim it for their own. They had done this, with minimal fuss, minimal loss of life, but maximum effect.

Many had come now, flushed with the taste of victory, seeing the results of their combined efforts to take this place. Lords, Knights, Acolytes: all had played their part to the hilt, and all were present now to witness the results. There was something exultant that could be sensed through the Force here: though there was a heavy feeling of concern emanating from the citizenry, wondering at what lay before them, perhaps envisioning their own imminent demise, from the Sith, there was but a quiet euphoria at knowing they had done what was necessary, and had succeeded.

The population need not have worried: theirs was a true honour, a blessing to be accorded to them, though they knew it not. The Sith had not come to see them to their graves, but rather to raise them up to be something more than they were: rescued from dreary mediocre lives, these would be citizens of a new Empire, one that would see their efforts reap great rewards and give birth to something beautiful, if only they would give it a chance. We have come, then, to make Bastion a great world once more.

The Sith gathered now: a hastily-assembled feast awaited them in the hall behind the balcony: foods from many worlds, fresh and succulent, that they might sate their hunger after the exertions of the day. Not a party, not the formality of a ball or a conference, merely an opportunity to gather and make something of their work, now that they had seen what they might achieve together. And this is but the first step.

True, much was left undone: Ravelin was theirs, but Bastion as a whole still needed to be secured, and in the coming days, such would be their priority. The facilities would need to be taken and put to new use, serving the Sith. The ancient naval shipyards would need to be refurbished, given new life and deadly purpose. The citizenry would grow accustomed to their new masters, and any hints of resistance would be slowly squashed in a superb demonstration of Sith might. That was the way of things to come.

For now, it remained for the Sith to celebrate, enjoy the moment, then forge ahead to the next. They might stop to smell the roses, but there was still the taint of blood in the air, and they would ever go forward to seek it out.

 

[Poe]

​Atop a roof with a scenic view, I gripped the safety railing left over from a distraught building whose skeleton was struggling to recover from the smoldering fires set upon it's caustic skeleton. My eyes watched the Sith soldiers parade down Main Street, with pride in their unified steps and pride in their uptight posture. Those that had survived would be honored, while in their minds they honored their falling brethren with each step; knowing war was fought by the hearts of the brave. Each loss was felt deep within in their souls, yet they marched for the fallen. They were not brought to war on the wings of propaganda, they rode the wings of war because they believed in the cause of the Sith Ascendancy. And as they marched, they marched with pride.

​Having my feel of sentimental values, I turned from the parade. Bastion was ours, but it wasn't completely ours. There were pockets of resistance flowing on the air of defiance led by those Force Hunters. Until they laid silent, there would be no peace for the citizens of the new Sith Bastion. Our citizens would never sleep comfortably while that inbred family run amok and unchecked. So while the joyous event took place below me, I had work to contend with.

​Reaching the underbelly of the building, I sent for my landspeeder. The city was secure, the planet was not.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

​

RAVELIN CITY
BASTION

Hundreds of soldiers had poured into the streets of Ravelin, bringing order and martial law wherever their boots tread. Wherever the threat of Mandalorian reprisal reared its ugly head the proud soldiers of the nascent Ascendancy were there to stem their anarchy with sword and blaster, their broken corpses hung from the parapets of the Imperial Palace alongside the banners of the Ascendancy as a symbol to all that still lived that this world no longer belonged to the Mandalorians.

It belonged to the Sith once more.

The Crestfallen thundered over the Ravelin skyline, encircling the Imperial Palace before coming to a rest on the massive courtyard leading up to its eastern walls. Before it was arrayed many ranks of Blackblade soldiers who had been dispatched during the battle in orbit to pacify the world below, and now they stood triumphant and resplendent with the spoils of their hard won victory. Among them were lesser Sith and Imperial officers, their chests swelling with pride as Carnifex and his entourage emerged from the shadowed confines of the shuttle to walk along the thoroughfare which separated the armored throngs.

Undoubtedly they had no destroyed the Mandalorian infestation on Bastion for good. Reports of survivors of the initial thrust fleeing into the mountainous wildlands bore ill omens of a protracted guerrilla campaign against the insurgents. But they would find no sympathy offworld, for the Mandalorians clans had been broken alongside their precious homeworld and the acting Mand'alor was embroiled in his own campaigns near distant Onderon. It would only be a matter of time before they were all rooted out from their hidey holes and executed as enemies of the new state.

Carnifex passed beyond the raised gates of the Palace's eastern wall and made his way towards the citadel proper where he was greeted with exorbitant fanfare and heaps of praise from those loyalists who had always remained true to the Sith despite Bastion's shifting loyalties throughout the decades. He bade them all away and hurried to the true purpose of this gala, to witness the Sith finally uniting as one beneath the banner of the Ascendancy.

It would be momentous.

 

[Kamon Vondiranach]

Ravelin City
Construction Site - Palace of Shadows

"Construction is on schedule, sir. We've had reports of late night vandalism, but it's been minimal."

Leos frowned at this. He was more than aware that they had yet to take the full extent of the planet into their grasp. Remnants of both the Primeval and the Mandalorians still resided in various sectors, hiding away and waiting for the moment they could strike back at the Sith and their forces. A foolish notion to say the least. Yet they continued to be a thorn in his side, stealing bits and pieces from the construction site. Undoubtedly they were working on building something, or fortifying their position. It only made sense for them to do so. Still it was an annoyance that had to be dealt with even if he didn't wish to.

"Post extra guards. Kill all intruders."

"Yes, sir," the foreman said before he turned away to get back to work.

A check of his chrono told him that it was time to go meet with the others once again. He wished that Kith hadn't left as she had. It would have been nice to bring her along with him. He'd felt more secure when she was by his side than he did when he was alone. Even having Paa'lee with him would be good. He did miss her greatly, but she hadn't called for him so he would not go to her out of respect for her wishes. The young Togruta woman had earned that respect when they'd faced the Akul together. But instead he had no one for the time being. Elensa was engrossed in her studies, though he had made sure to tell her about the meeting should she wish to come, and that one was more than a handful. Hapan women were so detestable.

Cleaning himself of debris, he entered his speeder and made his way across the city towards the governor's palace. Upon reaching the gate, he exited the vehicle and entered, completely ignoring the masses of those praising them and showering them with affection. He had no time for them. In the future that would change, but for now he was focused on the business at hand, which was to finally formalize their alliance of Sith into something that could actually conquer the galaxy. That was what he needed. And so he entered the palace proper, making his way to where he could feel the others, prepared to face them as equals.

| [member="Tirdarius"] | [member="Satia"] | [member="Darth Carnifex"] |​

 

[Poe]

​A lone cloud, drifting like a ghostly apparition passing the blood moon, proclaimed the omen of change had indeed swept over Bastion's starry night. The Mothers and Fathers in the neighborhoods on the upper tier of Ravelin city where the financially secured slept in a dead-like quietness, void of disruptions in their dream states, snuggled tight in their known lover's embrace; as their plump children drooled and dreamt of future visions of adulthood in warm, cozy beds. These citizens, the loyal breed, had accepted their new Masters with joyous and delightful applauses. Their world would scarcely remain unmolested.

​Elsewhere, in the rebellious neighborhoods, the omen of change flew upon the wings of brutality. Here the loyalists of the Force Hunters stood stout and proud, until the first screams shattered the glass of a silent night. ​"Your defiance holds no sway with me," ​I said holding a small female child in my arms. Her parents, shivering with fear and indifference to their beliefs, begged for their solo child's life. ​"You have been associated with harboring the enemy. And despite the opportunities I have given you to spill your guts, you continue to lie to me."

​"And since you refuse to loosen your lips, I shall remove your daughters." ​Brandishing my favorite flesh peeling blade, I held the girl tight while her parents, forced to their knees by the soldiers accompanying me, watched in horror as I cut that innocent pink flesh from her face; plopping the bits into my mouth. ​"Innocence has never tasted sweeter. Now, the names of those that support our enemy." The Mother tried to speak, but the Father shook her into silence. ​"You've exhausted my patience." ​Growing stronger in the Force, I began to experience a change that bordered me on eccentric. Snapping the girl's neck in one breath, I gripped the Mother's throat through the Force in another.

​"I would never begin to understand the loss a parent feels watching the death of their child," ​I said directly to the Father. "Or the loss one feels when their entire world is brought down all around them," ​I added crushing the trachea of the Mother. "You know, some legends foretell that certain species have more than one life to give. You, prey, only have one. Answer my question," ​I spoke whilst dragging the blade across the dead child's porcelain skin conjuring up droplets of blood. ​"Or I will force you to endure a horror far worse than death."



[member="Tirdarius"] [member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Ignus"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

The violent hordes of the Tainted Legion that rained down on Bastion under the command of Abyss had set up camp on the edges of the city, outside of the public eye and far enough away to keep their rather chaotic and unprofessional behaviour isolated from the sith forces as a whole. They were his own private army, and as such didn't had to take part in the ceremony and gala, instead spending their time with gambling, drinking and general debauchery in their makeshift camp. After making his last round through his men to assure himself that everything was in order, or at least as much as possible, Abyss made his way into the city's core to join the members of the Ascendency.

Cloaked and therefore invisible to the naked eye made his way to the gala and his sith allies inside the palace, ignoring the adoring fans that the sith had on this world. War glory and fame had their use when rallying and motivating soldiers, but he took little to no personal pleasure in this kind of praise. For the most part he preferred his solitude in the shadows, waiting and observing for thr right time to act instead of marching at the top of an army. But different times and places required different solutions and so he would follow the lead of the others on this one.

Abyss entered the gala, suddenly appearing out of nothing inside the room, cutting straight to the outer edge where he could continue this day in relative solitude.

[member="Satia"] [member="Ignus"] [member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Tirdarius"]

 

[Bjorg The Traitor]

The Battle of Bastion was quick, brutal and bloody. Although few had died on either side and we had won a decisive victory, it would not be the last battle, there were many more to come. I was sent in first, with the rest of my squad into the pits of hell, a spearhead against the hordes of the Mandos, the urban warfare was short lived, overwhelmed they quickly surrendered and the stubborn died to a man. Yet instead of remaining in the city, me and my squad deiced to chase them down, in the large rural plains. Bastion is mostly a hilly world, where a great many forts are built. Although this planet has seen a era of decay, the forts look old and underused, most have been abandoned, those few that hadn't were reportedly under manned.


Yet I my thoughts were some where else. I was cloaked in a fine cloth, I was masked with a light brown robe head to toe, it provided little to no protection, but it made me almost invisible in the windy almost-desert like hilly regions of the planet, outside the cities, this planet is a very different place. The ground is dry to a bone, cracks going on for miles, little to no water to be seen. The wind blows, almost like they are ghosts from Bastions past, endlessly whaling. Around me the corpses of various Mandos lay , dismembered and beheaded, burning shots in their flesh, they deiced to ambush me and my team, didn't end well for them. This planet was quite diverse but it had one constant feature, hills. This land was anything but flat, and on every hill there was ruins of forts, their walls crumbling and forts decaying but still intact enough for you to see them.

I was in silence, me and my team we were simply resting, I hadn't gotten their names and I didn't want to know, they meant nothing to me and I nothing to them, we just stood in a collective silence, watching the time go by, resting for our advance. I was sitting down, on a lump of rock made a reddish brown by the dust, I was cleaning my sword with a cloth, it was a boring task but a peaceful one. I wanted to feel some what calm before another moment of fighting came. While most of the soldiers and Sith would be enjoying parades, loud enough to make you go deaf, we would be fighting the real war out here, let them have their fun, how the Sith will set the fires of industry and the soldiers brutalized the innocent, I will be here, in the hills.

[member="Darth Abyss"]

[member="Satia"]

[member="Ignus"]

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

[member="Tirdarius"]

 

[Progflaw99]

Ravelin City, Bastion, Sartinaynian System​

​

Weeks. Months. Only a handful of the latter and yet she had already begun to feel more comfortable in the shoes she sought to fill. From her humble beginnings on Telos IV, her arrival on Oricon, the Assault on Midvinter... she was no longer just a scared street child, but a budding Sith Acolyte. Lyra had much yet to learn but she had come far in what time she'd been under the tutelage of her master, Lord Tirdarius. Following the footsteps of her mentor, she had been a recluse, preferring the company of books and reading over the company of other acolytes, but she knew that if they hoped to form a more cohesive presence in the galaxy, she would need these relationships. For having come from a poor educational background, she'd picked it up with the mind of a child, eager to learn and absorbing information almost faster than she could read. Despite this, her studies came second to her training. For weeks she'd resigned herself to the practice room she'd first been initiated in, the droids constantly providing a challenge for the girl. Devoid of the Force themselves, they were not easy to read and only by recognizing the patterns in their movements was she able to take a more aggressive role - otherwise it was purely the Force guiding her towards self preservation. Now however, she found herself on the surface of Bastion.

There had been a battle here, one that no doubt would be spoken of for years to come - the beginning of something new, something that would bring the Sith together like nothing before. Plenty had tried, in fact there were rumors of other Sith in the galaxy moving forward and trying to do the same, though their angle was incorrect - at least from what she'd gathered. Lyra exhaled slowly, her eyes slowly opening. The girl had taken up a perch along the edge of the forest, just above Ravelin city. She'd spent the better part of the morning walking through the wood - simply relaxing, enjoying the sounds of nature, the silence in her mind. While it was enjoyable, she knew she had an obligation to socialize, and so with slow but purposeful steps, she began walking towards the city.

 

[Darth Ferus]

"M'lord, agents have begun to report in. Traitors within the city have mostly been routed. [member="Satia"] is currently following another lead, as are several others. One agent reported of a rebel cell just outside the city ready to attack." Within a rundown building on the outskirts of Ravelin city an outpost had been established by Ascendancy Intelligence to begin routing out any underground rebellion in the city. So far, it had been a success. Krest had been monitoring the success of his agents from the outpost as a silent watcher, letting his Keepers do their job uninterrupted. He was only here to ensure they kept to the Sith agenda.

"Keep them monitored. Any reports of soldiers out of the city?"

"One squad, so far. Want me to put you through?"

The Zabrak nodded once and the connection to [member="Bjorg The Traitor "]was brought up. His holocom would go off and an image of the Sith Lord would show up once answer. "Bjorg, yes? You and the rest of your squad are closest to deal with a problem I've found outside the city. A meeting of some of the rebels are plotting to attack the city soon, and you are to intercept and eliminate. Information is already being transmitted. Any questions?"

 

[Bjorg The Traitor]

Direct orders, well it was some thing to do, we was hunting now we we're given directions. I responded with simple words, "No questions my lord, it will be done." I did not care for questions, we was expected to do some thing, and we was expected to succeed, if we didn't we'd be dead and if we did, we would win. I got off from the rocky stump, looking out into the distance, as I checked my holomap, it had a clear red marker, a few miles ahead. They were holding up in some ruined fort, it's name lost to time, hundreds of years old most likely, guns either rotted away or no longer working. It didn't matter how many were there, as long as we can get the jump on them, they'd be good as dead.

So we walked though the empty plains, towards that broken fort, hopefully we would come back with at least some blood in us

@Krest