Onslaught of the Empire

[Cale Darksun]

NPC
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Type: Imperial Soldiers
Number: 5/12
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"This one doesn't match our records of Sith on planet." Voiced the defacto leader, his gun aimed straight at Nova. "Furthermore, she attacked my men and interrfered with an Imperial Arrest. She needs to be taken in for questioning."  

[ElladanKenet]

Ilia too was puzzled. Disregarding the comm officer who relayed the message to her, more frustrated than she could remember being, the Sith Lady tried to focus on the events at hand, looking to the soldier who leveled his rifle at Nova. "Is what you say true? You make a serious accusation, even if she is not a full Sith."

Ilia did have to commend them though. They weren't backing down because of Nova's prestige, even if it wasn't as full as her own. They were loyal soldiers.

Ilia paused, looking at Nova. "You may not be fully trained, but you are certainly beyond being an acolyte. I can feel the Force with you. The soldier however is correct. You were not among those chosen for this mission." She frowned some. "Everyone involved was handpicked by the Dark Council, including these soldiers. Your presence here, however timely and helpful, threatens the carefully laid plans of our superiors."  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova turned her gaze towards Ilia and nodded. “I came here without permission from my superiors, this is true. And you can call me foolish, milady, and punish me as you see fit, but I’d do it again. I only wished to prove that I am worthy of being someones apprentice.”  

[Nelowulf]

Jian used the walls to help him travel through the hallways of the ship. The pilot was reckless enough, that was for sure, but he knew that there were things to get done. Heading his way past the protocol droid and up towards the bridge where he sensed the pilot's emotional presence, it was time for him to get to the communications relay. Sliding into the cockpit, he ignored the obvious rebuttals that a pilot would have for a passenger to assume command of anything, and sat down.

"I need to access the communications relays. If we're lucky, we can relieve the republic fleet from arriving here in time to prevent their forces getting demolished. I'll plug the coordinates into the navicomputer. I apologize in advance for being so rude," He shouted as he heard the beeping of the sensors indicating enemies closing in. Closing his eyes and breathing, his hands were guided to the computer as he punched in the correct codes.

"I suppose you designed this ship to bluntly force it's way through a blockade, Miss? Your shields take quite a bit of energy draw and your engines aren't the quickest in the universe. Interesting strategy for a smuggler, so many rely on speed," he noted as well. "When we break the planet's atmosphere, we should be able to send off a communication; they shouldn't have that much of a jamming signal already in place... then again, the Sith weren't supposed to be here at all."  

[lady_skuld]

Kira was about to say something to the Jedi next to her before she closed her mouth and looked forward. She extended an arm and pointed out what was what. "Communications, navigation, hyperdrive."

She was slightly impressed by the Jedi's perceptive abilities. He had already been capable of figuring out her ship's particular strengths. She pointed to a button on the far right. "Press that, it's a scrambler. It's not going to work on the big ships, but at least fightercraft will have problems targeting us for a bit. And call my ship whatever, but for it's size, it's plenty fast. We've got incoming fighters. I hope my friend doesn't mind testing out his programming at shooting interceptors out of the sky."  

[Nelowulf]

Jian pressed the button as he sat back watching the ship slowly made it's way into the atmosphere. He leaned back and thought about how this was going to work.

~~~

In hyperspace, the first of the fleet had already begun their plans to amass near Ruuria. unsuspecting of the deception (as no word had left planet due to the government's traitorious actions, and the slow word of the battlefleet baiting the republic had yet to really spread), the supply ships and their defending escort of several frigates and corvettes were prepared to leave hyperspace within the next minute.  

[lady_skuld]

Sythica looked around her group. She was among the first to lower her weapons at the troopers in front of her. "Let them take the apprentice in. We'll sort it all out at the base," she announced. She looked over at her commanding officer. His weapon was still raised, but he nodded and lowered it himself. Slowly others followed suit. "We let one get away. Let's cut our losses and keep some dignity by going home." One by one, the troopers of the platoon lowered their rifles as they let the other squad handle the investigation. Turning into the transport they began to prepare to head to base again.



The Tranquility was not the fastest blockade runner in the skies. But for a medium transport it had some speed that made it more than plenty quick in its own right. Within a minute the ship had already made it out of the atmosphere with its guns blazing. The droid had plugged itself into the targeting computer and had rotated the turrets back to fire upon the interceptors. Ship shielding took a pounding though as the interceptors got hit after hit on the large target. Kira gave a low groan as she noticed her shields being chipped away. The droid managed to get a hit on one of the interceptors by the time the atmosphere had vanished below them, but the last three were still evading the guns. A new signature popped up on the sensors.

"Oh sith," Kira grumbled. "We got a big fish in the sky." she said, wondering if it would give chase.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova allowed herself to be led away by the Imperial troopers. There was little else she could do otherwise. Resistance at this point wouldn’t do any good, so there was no point in putting up a fight. Everything would be cleared up soon…the only thing she didn’t want to have to deal with is going back to Kaas. Her punishment would no doubt be severe, and she wasn’t really looking forward to that.  

[stellarmagic]

Alyn scrambled through the cramped corridors of the ship and clambered up into a gun turret while Zaala ran toward the cockpit. As he settled behind the controls for the dorsal gun he growled as the sensor boards lit up with hostiles.

"This is Alyn to the captain, I'm in the dorsal turret... can you switch over to manual control for the guns. I've got some experience with..."

Alyn gaped as a new set of contact appeared on sensors and glared out into the depths of space. "New contacts, looks like a republic fleet..."

Zaala swore as she burst into the cockpit and dropped behind a sensor board and pulled on a headset. "Sithspit, they're going to be slaughtered... it looks like a damn convoy!"  

[Nelowulf]

lady_skuld

Meanwhile, the protocol droid scooted along to the gun turrets to activate the manual overrides, before heading to the cockpit.

(For stellar)

"Relax, former sith agent. If for no other reason, a cockpit is an enclosed space, and your yelling hurts my ears. We are only a meter away," Jian said calmly. He let out a deep breath and looked at the imposing cruiser not too far away. "Not a convoy, only the forward supply command. Your former officers did a good job of locking down communications for the planet. My job was to prepare the grounds for a strike back into the Aporo sector. However, I wasn't prepared for the Ruurian people to be so subjugated by this point."

Jian hadn't quite pieced together the fact he was betrayed, rather than simply trapped. However, that small fact hadn't made an impact on the current situation, as Jian attempted to hail the frigates in charge.

~~~
Onboard the frigate Aurora

"Sir, a freighter is attempting to hail us. Normally, I wouldn't bother you, but a Jedi claims to be onboard, and they're being chased by Sith interceptors," a comm officer said, turning around to look at the presiding captain.

The aging telosian gave a small look to his left. Despite his distaste for smugglers, along with the cruiser in front of him, arrogance and nobility took a side while common sense and a bad feeling presided. "Put it up. And boost the signal, their ships will more than likely be trying to punch through a jammer."

~~~

"I repeat, this is Jian Yamamura of the Jedi order. Repeat, Ruuria is compromised. Fall back to the rendezvous point besh and warn the rest of the fleet..." Jian said into the transmitter. He bit his lower lip as he shook his head. "We have to get closer. I can't get a clear signal through..."
"This is Jian  

[ElladanKenet]

"I know what I saw, My Lord. She attacked us, and took a weapon," the soldier insisted.

Ilia turned to Nova. It seemed that was indeed the case, and she wasn't denying it. She was impressed. Nova had followed the Jedi -multiple Jedi- all the way here, and had done what she could to stop them. Out of all of them, she had done her best, which Ilia wasn't sure she could say the same for herself.

She made her descision. This girl would be hers. She turned to the soldier. "Very well. Take her back to base and set her up in one of the holding rooms. As a force user, I'll take responsibility over her. No harming or interrogation unless I'm there. When I know everything I want to know, then we'll decide what to do with her. As for you five, you're to be commended for holding out as long as you did. I'll see to it personally that you're rewarded. Carry on."

Dismissing the soldiers to take Nova into custody, Ilia walked back over to her own men. She spotted Sythica, meeting her eyes. Interesting that she was here. She nodded once, then turned to the officer in charge. "Thank you for the assisstance. Pack up and return to base."

She then led the way back to the transport so they could all leave. She wanted to get there in a timely manner, for she had all kinds of legwork to do in order to secure Nova's protection. The last thing she wanted was Lord Bathalzar to find out, and send one of his Inquisitors to her. If that happened, then the poor girl would be a mess.  

[Cale Darksun]

NPC
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Type: Battlecruiser Command Crew
In Service to: Droma Cinn
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"Captain!" Called out the sensor operator. "Republic ships arriving on approach vector 2-8-3!"
The captain of the Executor smirked confidently and clasped his hands behind his back.
"Good. Our first catch of the day." He declared. "Launch all fighters and increase com jamming. Bow guns, open fire. Alert Lord Cinn that the Republic has arrived."
The mighty Battlecruiser shifted slightly on her axis and immediately started blazing away with bright green bolts of energy, attempting to use her superior range to beat the Frigate into submission.
 

[lady_skuld]

The droid in back got another lucky shot on an interceptor. She didn't have time to watch it spiral out in flames as she pushed her way towards the Republic fleet that had just arrived. For now, it seemed that the cruiser was more focused on the Sith Empire's traditional enemies than her. And Kira was not going to complain if they spent their turbolasers and tractor beams on a bigger, better armed target. And for once, she wasn't carrying illegal cargo. At least, non-living illegal cargo. Kira began to think of all the different bounties that this new fleet was bound to put on her head. At least they didn't have a large foothold yet.

"You want me to fly closer to the republic? Sure, I can do that. Just as long as you say nothing about that battlecruiser we'll be fine."




Sythica took her helmet off as the transport lumbered away. Today had been promising, suggesting a fight with something that could match her skills. However, as she probably should have expected, a mere private in the military didn't have a chance at fighting something really important. At least she was selected for the special platoon, that was something to be noted on the promotion boards.

Several minutes would pass as the transport finally passed the gate security. Sythica checked her chrono, it was time to go off duty. Time to hit up the range and practice her target shooting. Unlike most troopers, she wasn't about to be made fun of for wildly firing from the hip and missing.  

[Nelowulf]

Jian gave a grimace as the ship rocked from several more blasts from the fightercraft. Everyone was nervous; you didn't need a jedi's extrasensory abilities to know that. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as when he was a child. No, Jian had learned how to accept the will of the Force by now, making him probably one of the calmest (aside maybe from Danika) on the entire ship... maybe within the entire republic presence on Ruuria.

~~~

Ten years earlier..
Jedi enclave, Caamas

After a long bout of meditation, Jian’s rest was uneasy. As the morning sun crept up and laid its rays upon the temple grounds, the young Humbarine found himself without much rest and a head full of questions. Still, the presence of three new people to the temple itself had gotten him rather exited. All through breakfast, the rumors buzzed that several knights had come, but none more exalted than that of the great Sandel Thul. A guardian by nature, Jian respected the knight for being quite a prodigy with a lightsaber, one of the few in the region who had mastered Soresu. Jian’s own desire to learn the form was based out of his respect for such a style, to him more elegant than even makashi. In this day and age, while fighting others with swords might be great, Jian knew that the future probably would lend more and more blasters to the people, and to be proactive in learning a great defense would only assist in this way.

All morning long, Jian tried to keep himself calm. If the rumors were true, and with the testing today, it would mean the time for padawan-ship was close at hand. He, much like other initiates, would be ready to participate and move on to the next stage in their training. His suspicions were proven right just before noon, when they gathered at the cave’s entrances. Master Li stood, with three other knights, and broke down the rules of the test. It wasn’t anything much, Jian noted. Don’t interfere with the others, stay on the first level, and don’t destroy the barricades. The masters would know if a person succeeded or not based on what they found. Those that succeeded were to be chosen, otherwise, one would be returned to the alcove and trained further. Jian was not one to lead to disappointment, and as the initiates each stepped into an entrance, he only hoped that the Force would not fail him now, so close to the next step on his journey.

Into the dank caves he dove, a brisk pace and walk, looking around at the roots and catacombs. The sound of dripping water echoed throughout the cave as it turned into a larger cavern, the ceiling at least thirty feet high. Jian marveled at how large the underground really was, as much as this planet was a marshland such a creation still existed. The wind picked up from the outside, giving a howling nature that did not roar nor whisper through the tunnels. It almost resembled a moaning, giving Jian the feeling of nervousness as he descended. He looked around, the small pebbles on the ground the only sound crunching under his feet. He could have sworn he saw them spin around in a circle. No, his eyes played tricks on him. There was no need to be worried. Even if he had considered it to be a ghost, he couldn’t believe it, nor must he get scared. Jian’s attention shifted around with a deep, calming breath, as he spotted what must have been a test. A cube sat upon a pedestal, a series of colors arranged around the edges on all sides. The Rubix cube seemed to be surrounded by a small glowing field, however. Jian dare not touch it, for even he could recognize it wasn’t there to be so easily taken by the hand. Instead, he reached out with the force, and with a small tug only managed to bump the cube into the field.

“That’s not going to work,” he muttered. A moaning came from behind him, as his eyes darted back, seeing nothing again. The noises of this place were starting to get at him, as his focus returned to the cube. Manipulating the sides, he started to line up side after side, the various colors to each face on the cube. In the distance, he could hear a lightsaber ignite and swing, retracting a bit later. “Must be someone else’s trial,” he reasoned, looking off to the side only for a moment while he returned to the cube. That feeling of danger crept up his spine again, as the wind from before blew a chilling gust across his neck, like a silk finger drawn against him. Refusing to be left completely unfocused, he concentrated on keeping the cube up in the air and looked back, seeing nothing. However, the sounds of skittering echoed in the cavernous maw, as Jian searched for the noise. The air stilled itself again, as he glanced around, taking his eyes from the cavern back to the cube, as he felt the touch across his hand. A clicking noise could be heard from his hand, as he looked down, noting an insect with far too many legs to make a nine-year-old comfortable sat there. Jian gave a yelp, flinging his hand and the bug off of it, nearly dropping the crystalline cube in the process, as in a last minute save levitated it back up. The boy gave a sigh of relief, as he turned the final piece and a click from the cube made all sides the same color, deactivating the field. He pulled the small device towards him, and pocketed it, as the chattering of the various insects echoed in the cavern. Jian gave a smile, no longer scared of the noises. His ears perked up at the sound of a yelp elsewhere in the cavern. While he was not to interfere with other’s tests, he silently wondered about the safety of such a place. Deciding it was better to help a friend than to follow the orders, he could check up on the others, as long as he didn’t try to change the outcome of their test. Safety first, yet only interfering if they needed it. Jian reasoned that the noise came from the right corridor, and entered the long passage as the fog along the ground picked up and swirled. In front, he now realized the truth of what had happened with the lightsaber. A barricade had been cut. Even though weapons weren’t forbidden, why they needed to be used up here was a bit of a mystery. Self defense a bit, but each person had their own way of dealing with the trials. Still, defying the rules was an entirely different matter.

There it was again, that moaning noise of wind. Jian looked down at the fog, but nothing had stirred that didn’t come from him. Jian swore to himself he really needed to be less jumpy. Going forward, Jian headed down the hallway, into the lower levels. Here, it wasn’t bright. Here it wasn’t nearly as homey as the level above it. This one had a chill unlike the other level, a feeling of doom, of dark and dread. Jian stepped forward, as the room opened up wide around him. In the middle a strange tree grew, a sign written in aurabesh which in age had nearly faded away. The sign seemed reflective as Jian stepped forward, he could feel the air swirl around him a bit more. Turning around, the young lad looked behind him, the way he had came.

“By the Force,” he muttered. He didn’t understand why he felt so jumpy, why he felt as such. The Force wasn’t trying to tell him something, right? The skittering noise returned as he gently let out a breath of relief and turned around. The insects from before skittered around on the walls, as Jian looked back towards the tee and saw the unconscious form of Crale lying on the ground to the right of the sign. He looked all around, wondering why he hadn’t seen it before, but didn’t question the logic as he moved forth, testing the pulse of the apprentice. His vitals seemed fine, but something buzzed in the back of his neck. That annoying feeling again, as the wind moaned a little. Jian gave a groan, giving his own annoyance voice and commenting, “I swear this trial is just designed to incite fear into everyone.”

He called out, his voice echoing from the walls. Looking around, he shouted again, as he heard something thudding along. Excited, he turned to look at where the noise came from. “Thank the force, a Master wa-“ he began, but as he turned his head, a gaping maw stared right back in him, hungry.


~~~

The ship had reached the frigate as Jian attempted to patch through a second time. Relaying his message, he was fairly sure that at such a close proximity, if they couldn't hear him over the radio, then he could easily just poke his head out the window and shout at them. Defensive fire came from the corvette to help rid them of any fighter cover behind the freighter, as the supply ships slowly stopped heading forward.

"Repeat message, Republic forces, Please retreat. Rurria's been compromised as staging ground. Reform at point Besh. Repeat, the planet is compromised, by my word as a Jedi."

Jian put the com down. "Well, if that doesn't get the fleet to retreat..." he began, watching the frigates push forward to engage the Cruiser. Jian let out a groan. "How long until the jump to hyperspace?"  

[ElladanKenet]

Once docked, the transport unloaded its contents, including the Sith Lady, her platoon of troopers, the five survivors from the spaceport, and Nova. Ilia knew that by now, the crackdown would have made it's way to the spaceport and locked it down. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the five soldiers from before lead Nova away, heading inside and to the left where the brig was. The platoon of soldiers she watched head off to the barracks where they could relax.

She, in the meanwhile, headed straight for the command center. Inside, she found the staff at work, with Colonel Nemrick overseeing. Beside him was a sith acolyte, Sebastian, the youngest of the registered Sith on planet, and Nemrick's liason to Lord Bathalzar. Seeing the Lady approach, both turned and nodded. "Colonel, I return from my mission. How goes the lockdown?"

The colonel salute once, then beckenoned to the main table, where a holographic image of the city lay before them. At various points there were red dots and lines, representing the Imperial military and their positions. Judging on what she saw, Ilia estimated that nearly 75% of the city was fully contained. "It goes well, my Lord. A few mercenaries and disgruntled citizens didn't appreciate our forces moving into their cantinas. Nothing we can't handle."

"Good to hear. The Jedi escaped on a freighter. I trust your received my message?"

"We did. We had a squadron on patrol, and we scrambled another to pursue. The Executor was also on an intercept course for it, until the Republic fleet began to arrive."

Ilia stared at him a bit, before grinning. "Oh?"

"It wasn't more than a few minutes ago. A handful of corvettes and frigates. Their escort forces, I suspect. The fleet proper should arrive soon, by which point our own forces shall encircle them."

The woman nodded. "Very well. While I was out and about, I discovered a young woman at the spaceport. A sith acolyte named Nova. She was arrested and brought back to base."

"I'd heard about that," the man nodded, frowning. Sebastian, beside him, was glowering. "No clue what that was about, but she's to be put in holding until I can contact Lord Bathalzar."

"There's no need for that," Ilia assured the man. "I was there when the arrest took place. As ranking sith, I'll take her under my custody. She's my responsibility."

"Are you sure, My Lord?" The colonel asked. "She's a stowaway."

"And I intend to find out why."

"If you say so." The Colonel didn't seem like he wanted to argue."I'll have to fill out the paperwork to make the move official. It'll take a few minutes. I was overseeing the lockdown..."

"There will be no need for you to do it. Just give me a datapad and I'll type the order myself." Once she did that, she knew that Nova would be in her hands, so long as Imperial law was upheld. At that point, only a direct overide would be able to bypass her, which Bathalzar was unlikely to do.

Nodding, the Colonel called for a datapad form a nearby aide. Ilia took it and quickly pulled up an order form, typing out the command and signing it, just to make it official. Once done, she handed it back, knowing the acolyte was glaring at her all the while. She ignored him. "That will do. Now I'm off."

And without waiting, she left the command center and headed for the holding cells.

~~~~~~~~

Nova was led to the back of the security wing where the holding cells were located. They passed a few occupied cells, held with a handful of captured criminals, most of them non-human. The two soldiers that had escorted the girl shoved her into a cell and left her, leaving the ray-shielding to turn on, trapping her. "We'll come back for you later, sithling."

And then they left, leaving Nova alone.