Why Are There So Many Dominions? [CIS Dominion of Styx]

[Darth Metus]

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Styx - A "Simple" Gas Giant​

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What was seemingly nothing more than a Gas Giant in the literal middle of nowhere was actually much, much more. With the collapse of the Sith Empire came the flight of personnel, both loyal and subjugated, into the various regions of the Galaxy. Some of these individuals sought political asylum within the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and in an attempt to bribe their way into safety, they provided the government with coordinates to a world that was utilized as the location of a Sith research and development facility: known as Thanatos. To this end, the CIS dispatched a small unit of elite personnel, known as the Dread Guard, into this region of space in order to investigate this station; and to claim any and all spoils that they could get their hands on.

To this end, a quartet of vessels surged forth from the depths of Hyperspace. The first of which was the Blue Krait, a Scion-class Stealth Corvette whose cloaking device was active. It was flanked by a duo of San Hill-class Star Destroyers and a Sovereign-class Heavy Cruiser. The Mandalorian known as Isley Verd stood upon the bridge of the Blue Krait, awaiting the arrival of his comrades from the Dread Guard to join him. Here, he would brief them on their mission; whilst the three large vessels handled facing off against the planetary defenses placed upon the Gas Giant's moons. "Dread Guard, report to the Bridge. I repeat, Dread Guard, report to the Bridge."

 

[Revenchent]

The victory on Aduba III had been more than successful. The taste of victory was laced along Calico's tongue. The Dread Guard were going to make sure they were known to the CIS's enemies; and they would be.

The Commander's armor had been polished and cleaned. He had informed his comrades that they would be deployed for quite some time. The Dread Guard were the conquering force of the CIS, and they would be more than ready. He stood tall at Isley's side, helmet nestled safely under his arm. A wide grin was on the Commander's face.

"That last victory was flawless ner'vod. Let's make sure the galaxy knows not to screw with the CIS, or our freedom." He turned to flash his grin at the Colonel. "This will be the second world of many. The Republic won't beat us to the chase...also, mind the Strill. It smells like osik."

 

[Galaar Tal'Verda]

Galaar wandered up onto the bridge with the Strill behind him. He was tossing it minced and dried roba as he went to report to Isley on the bridge. He quickly did arrive too, wandering through the doors of the bridge and not even standing fully at attention. The strill looked toward Isley and then wandered over to Sith and rubbed against his leg and then against Calico's before returning to his master's side. He had a slag faced grin on his face and his helmet was at his side.

"I was called, vode, any caf?"

@[member="Darth Metus"] @[member="Commander Calico CC-247]

 

[Darth Metus]

The Mandalorian first nodded in agreement with his comrade in arms, but then tilted his head to the side in confusion when he mentioned the Strill. Then, he felt the damn thing brush up against his leg and damn near jumped out of his skin. "Holy kark!" he breathed, looking down, "Gah...We'll see victory here today, of this there is no doubt. According to the information we've received, the facility should be operational somewhat. It came under attack in recent history, but hopefully we'll find some functioning goodies there. That said, we've brought along some heavy firepower to keep the moons occupied whilst we infiltrate the station. I've no idea what we're going to find there, but I'm confident that we'll come out on top."

"So, we go in, get to the central mainframe, and poke around for anything valuable. Then we hit up the armory and get the kark out. Any questions?"

 

[Revenchent]

Calico did not like the Strill. In fact; he hated the ball of fur that smelled a bit too much like his unmentionables than he had to admit. The commander reached up to scratch his thin beard, which now matched the prickly hair on the top of his head. He looked like a very rough combat veteran. "Hey, Galaar, can we eat you strill?" He grunted; motioning toward the far side of the bridge.

A massive caf machine was flickering bright with multiple different lights. Two Dead Guard soldiers were having a nice little chat about Jedi and Jedi unmentionables. "Over there. Enjoy yourself. It's a little broken; feel free to have the strill lick it. I hear they have magic powers on their tongues. Very, very magic."

Calico rumbled with rare laughter at his CO's expense. "Afraid of fur sacks, Is'ika? We can gut the di'kut and have a party about it if it gets to you that much." The banter meant that Calico had accepted the Sith; and he understood his orders. "Get us some Ujj cake too, Galaar."

 

[Darth Metus]

Once more, the Archmaster had arrived from the North in order to lend a helping hand to his comrades in the South. This time, he was standing at the Bridge of one of the San Hill-class Star Destroyers and focused his attention upon the holographic map hovering before his eyes. The azure projection depicted the gas giant and its moons, and the three that were militarized. At this range, the CIS task force had the advantage, as there were long range turbolasers at their disposal. The plan of attack was to initiate fire once the Blue Krait began its move forward to infiltrate the facility. As such, there was little more that the Archmaster could do than play the waiting game...

 

[Galaar Tal'Verda]

Galaar wandered over to the Caf machine and made himself some Caf rather quickly. The strill however, sat down on its haunches and stared up at Calico as if it understood what he was saying and actually gave a soft whining murr. "Look what you did Ca'ika! You hurt Lord Cabur's feelings, you're a cruel, heartless Monster." He wandered over and rubbed the Strill's head which growled happily like a purr in response. It still had the pungent, warm musk.

"Lor'ika is entirely copikla." Galaar called his strill cute and he obviously meant it. "Thinking of getting some Manka cats for my apartment too. I'll have the Kaminoians feed them or I'll turn them into tatshushi. Now onto questions... How many di'kutla chakaars do we have to go though to get to the mainframe."

@[member="Commander Calico CC-247"] @[member="Darth Metus"]

 

[Darth Metus]

The Mandalorian could not help but laugh in response to the banter, but he made no comment on the remark of Galaar's supposed Sith-hood. Having actually stood alongside Sith, though his brothers had no knowledge of this, Isley had no room to talk. Nonetheless, he chuckled along and shook his head, before clasping Calico on the shoulder. "You've got jokes, don't ya vod? Haven't laughed this much in a long time." he admitted, before allowing himself to chuckle once more. He then folded his arms over his chest and said simply. "If there are no questions, let's get this show on the road gentlemen."

 

[Darth Metus]

The Archmaster looked up from the holographic projection momentarily in order to speak with the navigational officer. He inquired about their heading and just how long their advantage of range would last. The answer was relatively pleasing, and caused Josiah to nod along understandibly. With this information in mind, he began to formulate a strategy. This was the first time he had such a large number of lives in his hands, and as such he was justifiably nervous. However, despite the butterflies raging in his stomach, the Archmaster was confident that he'd see the three ships through and back home to Confederate Space.

 

[Revenchent]

"Sometimes I can lighten up." He set his hands over Isley's and gave it a short pat, before turning toward the main walkway. "Alright lads, you heard the Colonel! Double time!" He roared; slamming a hand on his chestplate. The other clones issued the same sound in celebration. "I wasn't trained to deal with furry animals you chakaar. Don't deal with what you weren't taught."

He gave the Mando leader a crisp nod before setting his helmet upon his head. A massive grin crossed across his rough features. He gave a double check to make sure his armor and weapons were all in the right places. "Now, let's start boys, while we have benefit of surprise." He grumbled. His ears were instantly bombarded with messages from TacOps. The other clones were going about their duties, mobilizing squadrons, gathering up weapons.

"Are we putting boots on the ground Sir, or is this a strictly naval exercise?" He paused to swallow. "No more pets Galaar. None."

 

[Oddball]

"Walking down the ship with my pack on my back and a a uh a sack? Lack? Dammit I lost it!" Banging his head against a nearby gunship oddball fell to the ground and looked up at ceiling of the ship. "Is this real life? Or are all of you dead? Or were we ever alive to begin with?" Oddball questioned his existence as he lay on the floor of the hanger awaiting for his commanders to show up from their briefing. "Or am I not real? Is everything just a lie?!" oddball held his head before a group of clones walked by and sighed "You're alive dipstick now get up." a passing commander said to him before he snapped up at attention and saluted. As the small group of clones passed oddball murmered to himself "You're a dipstick mun nya Nya nyua." The private kept to himself and began pacing around the ship

 

[Darth Metus]

At long last, an air of seriousness washed over the vessel and the Mandalorian gave a knowing nod to his comrades. From there, he motioned for them to follow and calmly strode forth. His direction was out of the Bridge and into the lift located to the rear of the room, which would take them all down directly to the hangar. He tarried there, providing ample time for them to file in with him, and then the doors closed. The voyage down was quick, as the lift moved swiftly, and the Mandalorian was the first to disembark when the doors slid open. He then led the way down into the hangar, coming to a halt before one of the trusty LAAT dropships that he had became relatively fond of.

"Attention all CIS forces, we're about to commence the operation. Get ready to cover our entrance, over."

 

[Galaar Tal'Verda]

"Aww, come on. At least one miniaturized Manka. Just one, Ca'ika! Just one!"

He was half-joking, half-not and slid his helmet on before turning and walking to the command bridge and suddenly placed his cup of Caf in the nearest officers hand. A Zabrak Captain. He smirked over and spoke over the loud-speaker. "Here you go mongrel. Clean this." He then saunteered off without even a thanks. Following right after Isley and hopped into the gunship, his strill right behind him. "Lor'ika is coming with, come on di'kuts lets shift it, I'm bored and I want to stab someone."

@[member="CC-953 Oddball"] @[member="Commander Calico CC-247"] @[member="Darth Metus"]

 

[Revenchent]

Calico followed right on his CO's heels. His heart began to pound rapidly as anticipation took over his senses. Adrenaline flooded his system just like the flow of information on his HUD. FIghter squadrons were beginning to fill up. His men were flowing to every point of the ship as it leveled for battle. "Kage is running repairs on Tart-Cart. He should be around soon." He grunted, eyeing over a rather unhappy private. @[member="CC-953 Oddball"] Calico snapped his fingers loudly.

"What's the issue ner'vod?" He called out as they neared Isley's special favorite. A squad of Commandos filed into the transport, armed in steel black and gray armor. They were all equipped with 'Deece's. "We're about ready to move."

He paused; glaring daggers at Galaar from behind the visor. "Hey, chakaar, no furry creatures."

 

[Darth Metus]

Once the transmission was received from the Blue Krait, it was played over the communication officer's speakers loud enough for the Archmaster to hear. Nodding along, Josiah stood tall and then began to bark orders that were immediately transmitted across the open channel. Weapons were primed, targets were locked, and the task force continued to slide along through the black of space. Once they entered into range, the Archmaster would give the order to fire, so that they might decimate the planetary defenses that were in place. Through this, the Blue Krait's dropship would be able to fly unopposed into Thanatos station.

 

[Darth Metus]

One by one, the Dread Guard personnel filed into the dropship. The Mandalorian was quick to join the crowd and made himself comfortable in the rearmost seat, as was his custom. He always selected this seat in particular for one reason: it had the most elbow room. Once he was situated, Isley gave a signal to the pilot and the takeoff procedures were initiated. They were not going to launch out of the hangar bay just yet, but the engines were getting ignited. To say the least, the time to dilly-dally about the hangar bay had come to an end and it was time to initiate the mission. "Alright Vod! Let's get this show on the road! We've got a station to plunder." proclaimed the Mandalorian with a bold voice.

 

[Oddball]

"But their so soft and fuzzy! And they have the little paws with the tiny little-" Oddball cut himself off then looked around with a shifty demeanor. He was just talking aloud now in front of his commanders. Oddball was nothing but a private an almost brand new clone who was still lacking in experience. "In the gunship Oddball then you don't have to worry about being awkward!" slowly oddball shuffled his feat and stepped into the LAAT grabbing his rifle and comm pack on the way in. Whatever their mission he was strapped and ready to go. "Looking around at the other clones he felt a bit out of place among them, maybe it was te armor. Or maybe it was the fact that he was nararating what he was doing. And getting awkward stares in the process." either way oddball might of spent a little too much time in the oven. So there he say waiting for them to move on out

 

[Revenchent]

Calico boarded alongside the Commandos. He took a place in the side within the vessel; reaching up to grip one of the handholds. He hid a look of disgust behind his visor as he stared down at the strill. That things was disgusting.

"Trooper." He called to the grumbling Private. "You're on field duty now. Get your shebs on this Laarty or you get the fresher duty adi'ke."

He paused, leaning on over to Isley. He made no move to lower his volume. "You...you sure all these clones were put together with the right parts ner'vod?"

 

[Galaar Tal'Verda]

Right as Calico looked down at the Strill. The creature looked up at the Commando and wagged its tail, drooling all over Calico's boots. "I think he likes you ner'vod." The Commando would utter and then make space to allow Oddball onto the gunship. He'd raise one brow under his helmet before speaking outloud to Oddball.

"Private, son, what ever you're smoking, share it with me and the strill now."

@[member="Commander Calico CC-247"] @[member="CC-953 Oddball"] @[member="Darth Metus"]

 

[Darth Metus]

"On my mark." said the Archmaster, striding over to the central console once more. At this time, the depiction had changed in order to reflect one the three moons which were characterized by automated defenses. Several circles of red danced upon their surface, generated by the projector, in order to denote each and every weapon which had locked on. There was nothing left to do aside from giving the order. However, Josiah had to make absolutely certain that the Dread Guard was on their way to the target before lighting up the moons like a fireworks display. "Verify that the Dread Guard is en route to the Station, will ya?"