Onslaught of the Empire

[stellarmagic]

Zaala swallowed down a lump in her throat. He doesn't care I have sith blood does he? Then she took a deep breath. "A... Ask your questions then..."

She looked up at the Jedi. "All positions of authority are either sith themselves or those that follow a similar philosophy... only without the lightsabers and force choking you for speaking up..." She bit the inside of her lip and an ancient buried rage began to rumble down in her gut. "I hate it... being made into stupid little servants for stupid force wielding power hungry maniacs that can't even lead."

"You jedi better not be like that." Zaala said, biting back a snarl.  

[Des Voh]

Caisar shook his head."Neither is the Republic... I can assure you that they consider you an asset, despite the hospitality Intelligence has offered." He noted, folding his hands back in his lap."This Sith, he is a warrior by nature I take it. The armor that you described and techniques utilized, very brutal and forward, similar to reports of others leading the assaults on our worlds in the Outer Rim, for we've heard little of advanced Force practitioners so far. Though typical that they have more patience and mindfulness." The Jedi seemed to be half discussing with himself as he ran along the information.

"I need you each to describe the feeling when this one was around... The presence he forced on those around him. Mind you, I'm not asking for your cognitive emotions when around him, but the instinctual reactions. The Dark Side is reckless and chaotic, most practitioners of its more forceful arts have trouble reining in its effects. Passion fuels them, and its makes their very environment vibrant with its energies. Force-sensitives can recognize this in its raw form, and easier with training, but there is a methodology that can be accounted to its recognition by nonsensitives. Sometimes this is a 'chill down the spine', or 'hair standing up on the back on your neck', or other such rumors to strange, unexplainable events. It is slight, but there unless the user is attempting to mask it. The more powerful the user, the harder to contain it and the more violent it will be" He asked, his expression studious to their replies.

"Zaala, please tell me how this one differs from the others you've encountered, if it is not trouble, and their relative command compared too. Reports from other Jedi agents on the planet state that there was not one, but possibly three or four Sith acting. Did you encounter them, or feel their passing's, perhaps an overwhelming sense of foreboding you can recall at a given moment?  

[Nelowulf]

Six Acolytes. The first had already fallen to the impact of a stun grenade. Jian moved from his spot and had begun to follow the group's slow pace through. Speed was the essence of war... to succeed in battle, one must first take advantage of what the enemy does not expect to happen. A simple mantra indeed, but deceptive. One must be quick to act when opportunity rises, but be patient and wait for the prime moment.

In the academy of the ancient sith had it's own traps, but only in the certain areas. Jian would have to figure out ways to get some of the acolytes to fall into the training rooms. As the first of the group tried to go up the stairs, the leading acolyte fell onto his back, as the group had stared at what was happening.

"Somebody put oil on the staircase!" one of the group had stated. The obvious had been seen, as the group easily solved the problem by picking a different place to go. Shaking their heads, the ones took a look at their companion on the ground as they headed up the opposing staircase. Giving a laugh, they had ascended to the top of the case when they looked back, and counted only four of them. The fifth, who had been assumed to have gotten up and followed, was nowhere to be found.

Jian hadn't have the time to set his traps up effectively. He had to risk his presence being known long before he had wished it, and this was now the result. Once was coincidence, twice was on purpose. The group of four now seemed alert, too smart to split up and fan out. Now came the harder part of actually defeating a group that outnumbered him. Even with more skill, Jian couldn't risk actually getting a slip-up, so now he secured the two unconscious acolytes into a holding cell, locking the door behind him as he waited. They knew someone was hunting them, so the best action to take was to let them stumble over themselves for a while, calm their nerves...  

[Cale Darksun]

A number of armored hovercraft sped across the desolate terrain of Thule, bearing Imperial Troopers, soldiers far above the caliber of the Guardsmen of Thule. In the foremost speeder there rode the grim Sith Warrior Darth Cinn, sitting in silence as he contemplated the inner darkness the seethed within him.
This expedition was enroute to the old academy where the Acolytes had been sent. Having heard nothing from them so far, Cinn expected them to be either all dead or just fine. Either or really didn't matter with the beast he sought involved. it would be another half hour before they arrived, however. Perhaps in that time he might recieve some message from them.
 

[Darkened Angel]

Danika opened herself up to the Force as she meditated, locating the Sith she fought. He seemed to be heading off somewhere specific, perhaps searching for something. " What could he be after? " she thought. " He doesn't seem to be bothering to hide his presence. Is he trying to weed out Jedi, or perhaps lure something else to him? " After a few moments of trying to figure things out, she began to wonder what he'd want from her. " It's not like I know anything of value that the Sith don't already know. "  

[Skyeborne]

Minos Cluster, Support Group Alpha: Present day...

The captured Sith transport dropped out of hyperspace near the small Republic fleet, broadcasting a friendly IFF that DEVRO had spent much of the trip installing. Almost immediately they were hailed by the fleet, and Khyber had to spend fifteen minutes trying to convince them not to blow them out of space and allow the transport to approach the fleet. It took a few testimonials from the Republic soldiers that he had rescued, but he finally managed to gain clearance to land on one of the larger intelligence vessels near the center of the fleet.

As they approached, the soldiers went back into the cargo section to gather their gear, leaving Khyber and DEVRO alone in the cockpit.

"May I make an inquiry, master?" asked the droid, floating just above the copilot's console.

"Go ahead, DEVRO. You know I value your opinion. Usually."

"Your last mission, on Ruuria. It hardly seemed like the course of action a Jedi should take. I doubt the headmaster would have approved of you stealing..."

"The credits I transferred out of that bank were just a side bonus, a resource gathered for use in further missions," explained Khyber patiently, locking the door to the cockpit so that the soldiers wouldn't overhear their conversation. The cockpit was completely sealed and separate from the rest of the ship, designed by the Sith to keep rebelling slaves from attacking the pilots should they somehow escape their bonds. "My true purpose was to put something into the bank's computer systems, not take something out."

"Whatever could that have been, master?"

"Do you remember the MAYHEM virus that you, Guile, and I developed a few months back?"

"Of course, master. But I thought that experiment was only theoretical," DEVRO said, before stopping for a moment. "You don't mean that you actually deployed it on Ruuria!?"

"I did, after making a few specific modifications to it. And if what I've been reading on the Net these last few days is accurate, then the virus is doing its job admirably."

"But that virus was designed to aggressively attack any networked system it was attached to!" DEVRO replied, with as much horror as an AI could emulate. "Placing it in the bank's secure network would wreak havoc on every account that bank had, not just the ones through that specific branch. You might've placed the economic state of the entire quadrant in jeopardy!"

"Don't be so dramatic, DEVRO," Khyber said, calmly. "I told you I modified it. I put strict parameters on the virus. It will only attack accounts native to the Ruurian system. It'll cause the Ruurian economy to go into freefall, without affecting the Republic-held systems nearby."

"But you have potentially bankrupted an entire civilization. Why?"

"It was common, in pre-spaceflight wars, for a retreating army to burn the farmland they passed. This ensured that advancing enemy forces wouldn't be able to adequately supply themselves from the land around them, stealing both momentum and vitality from their campaign. By crippling the Ruurian economy, we have done something similar. It turns the Sith's victory into a hollow one, and will give the Republic less incentive to waste forces trying to retake a strategically unimportant planet."

"But master, won't this action infuriate the Ruurian populace against the Republic?" asked the droid. "Have you eliminated one threat only to create another?"

"I considered that beforehand," Khyber said reassuringly. "Remember that we created the virus using Huttese software. I also left many markers and false trails to lead investigators to believe that the Hutts originated the attack to cover up the theft of several large sums of credits. Credits that now reside in Huttese accounts under the control of a contact of mine."

"But won't the Sith, or the Ruurians themselves for that matter, attempt to seek some recompense from the Hutts?"

"The Hutts, while always willing to stab each other in the back, will never turn over one of their own to outsiders. They will make a show of investigating the theft, but the money is in their hands and no Hutt will willingly part with so rich a prize. Besides, that theft was only a diversion. The attack itself was the real aim."

"I see, master," said the droid. "While I don't necessarily agree with your actions, I do understand the logic behind it."

"I am glad that you asked," Khyber replied. "Though sometimes I think that I may have made you too human..."

The pair continued with the rest of the trip in silence, and soon the transport touched down in the intelligence vessel's landing bay...  

[Nelowulf]

A simple taunt; that was all that was required. While the training room had been set up for the machines to run a training simulation, it was merely a fallback point. Rather, the library had just what Jian needed to thin the herd to it's final state. The acolytes, arrogant as they were stupid, believed in numbers. A small training blade, taken from the armory, thrown at their feet in challenge. Jian showed his back and entered the room of his home turf, giving them the idea he was not intelligent, but foolish; and as all warfare is based on deception, his was greater than theirs. Minions, idiots alike. They rushed the position in stride, slowing only to enter as they had believed. Whatever would taunt a sith would die.

Yet, as the leader stepped forward, the large rack of holodisks and data was pushed from a small bodied jedi, who had taken the time to get the trap begun, landing square upon one of the acolytes' bodies. A smirk crossed his face, as Jian stood atop the bookcase as if it was a pile of rubble, victorious of his battle. A hiss-snap came from the yellow saber, as he beckoned the remaining three to assault him.

Jian ignored the threat the resolute leader gave. Something about paying for this, cannot be as strong as that, he had grown accustomed to the insults and the petty weaknesses of the sith. The impatient "second in command", if she had deserved such a title, charged forth with her charged training saber, the rod attacking in an overhead swing. Jian sidestepped, a hint of a smile still remaining upon his face as the acolyte predictably made a horizontal slash. His target, the young jedi, bent over backwards instead of blocking, letting the blade cross over his afterimage as if it was merely air, before bringing his blade down in a vertical slash against the acolyte. The acolyte, trained in a bit of Shii-cho, would naturally try to block it; Jian anticipated this, as he pushed further down. The sith resisted, only to find his opponent was not trying to beat him down, but rather lift himself up. Jian pressed his blade down, flipping himself into the air into a twirling somersault, bringing his lightsaber across the back of his opponent, cutting through cloth and leaving a very distinguishable mark.

The Acolytes that remained watched slightly in amusement, then concern, then fear. They were clearly outmatched, but they couldn't very well claim that a single boy had bested four of them, now could they? Fear was the way of the sith, as Jian extended his hand in an arcane gesture, pushing the "third in command" out the door and down over the ledge, flat on his back a flight of stairs down from the battle in place, leaving but one acolyte in play.

"I will defeat you for my own glory," the remaining sith had said. His voice was solid, though hints of fear riddled his speech. He'd have made his master proud, drawing on the dark side to use his fear as a weapon. Still, he was outmatched, as Jian tossed the saber up, and caught the weapon behind his back in a bit of showboating. While talented, he was more than entitled to a rather flashy maneuver. He threw the blade up, into the air, as the acolyte couldn't quite understand the reasoning. By the time his gaze dropped back down, Jian had already begun to charge him, but instead of shooting off a force push at the center of mass, a strong blow went to the foot of the acolyte, making the student of the sith kneel. Jian jumped up, caught the flying hilt, and bore down on the student. As a properly trained sith, he raised his saber up, while Jian used it as a fulcrum to spin himself around using the blade of his saber, winding up behind the student and giving another force push to lay him flat, before cracking the hilt of the saber down and into the neck of the acolyte. Unconcious, the student wouldn't be up for hours; debatable was his status, as the kid could possibly be paralyzed for life.

Jian drug the body out of the open doorway and kicked it down the staircase, it's thumping echoing. The student that had been pushed before had just regained consciousness, and in total fear, ran for his life. Clearly, what training had befit the young Jian had served him well, the force was his ally today. He let the kid live, having another agenda to pursue, as he headed outside the academy himself, and down into the canyon, to follow the clues given.


Several moments later, a scared acolyte, having the school in the distance of his sight, breathed in heavily, barely able to contain his anticipation. A single glance back at the school was the first in several minutes of terrified flight, as he knew that the academy wasn't haunted. Just inhabited. He picked up a circular disk, sending a message out to Darth Cinn, panic and exhaustion both in his voice....,  

[Cale Darksun]

Musing on the nature of the Dark Side, Darth Cinn seemed a terrifying figure, even when sitting and still. The troopers on the transport really had no desire to bother him, but news this important couldn't wait. They had just recieved a distress call from the Acolytes, and it wasn't the news that was expected at all.

"Lord Cinn." Spoke a Sergeant. "The Acolytes. They sent word."

Cinn tilted his head up and looked to the soldier, glaring at him through his visored helm.

"There is only one left." The Sergeant continued. "They were defeated. By a Jedi."

At first, the Sith Knight thought he heard wrong. That was impossible. Two Jedi on Thule at the same time? And one knowing where this ancient academy lay? Cinn's initial reaction was rage, rage at the slipshod nature of how Thule was run, rage at the blasphemy of a Jedi on Sith ground, and rage at the incompetence of the Acolytes in not reporting this immediately.

Unfortunately for Cinn, there was no immediate outlet for his rage. None of these soldiers had failed him. But if they did not get there quickly, and the Jedi escaped or succeeded in whatever mission he was attempting, then even more heads would roll.

"Driver!" He commanded, anger burning in his booming voice. "Get us to the Ruins immediately! Your life depends upon it!"
 

[stellarmagic]

Zaala scrunched up her face in concentration trying to remember the sith that had pursued them... clearly he'd been higher echelon, a class she normally never interacted with at all.

"I don't know really... it's not normal for someone that powerful to bother with a runaway soldier personally, that's what acolytes, followers, and apprentices are for." Zaala sighed. "He wore some pretty heavy armor, totally stopped the ACP gun that Alyn was using and... he survived a direct hit with a rifle grenade, a fall only the force knows how and still pursued us after we crashed, but... he left when he thought he'd killed us... didn't even bother to check us."  

[lady_skuld]

lady_skuld

"So you don't have any of that Force Magic to throw a tractor or hold this bale up as we push forward. Great," Sythica groaned. Rasczek ordered another round of suppressing fire to cover one of the soldiers tried to move up to where they were. Halfway through his run the trooper fell. Luckily he managed to crawl towards the bale for cover.

"Damn Reps shot me in my Leg!" the large man shouted. Sythica gave him a look over. A glancing shot. The armor soaked up the damage. "Z wants to inform you that Aurek company is stretched out trying to cover the other flank. Something's keeping them pinned and Besh is getting pummeled. We need to keep moving."

"Stay here," Sythica ordered. Rank wise, she couldn't tell him that. But she was not going to let this fail. She pointed at the sithlet. "You. On me. You hear?"

Squad objectives:
- Secure an LZ.
- Shut down comm transmitters
- Destroy air defenses
- Remove the main communication tower.
- Secure spaceport

 

[Des Voh]

Caisar nodded and listened as the former imperial operative spoke, understanding that clearly this one was more than your typical Sith. The force that had taken Ruuria had been a task force, not an invasion fleet, and that meant importance and specific goals. The Imperials had glassed an entire city, destroying the cultural and intellectual center of the natives, but only subjugated the remainder of the planet, shock and awe tactics, like with the Civil War, but towards slightly different methods and desired effects.

"Such armor was probably reinforced with sorcery or Force attuned, perhaps it was an artifact, which means whoever it was had power beyond your usual Sith, I would believe, such items are rare though. Unless the Sith has stronger technology than we've seen thus far, all are probable, but unsure. This one is clearly a powerful warrior, but I doubt he knows much about subtly, they rarely do. I suspect you were just in the wrong place when he came to you... The Sith swarmed the planet from what I understand, so you were lucky to have escaped with the Jedi that you met, and there was-" Just as he was beginning to ask another question, Caisar stopped and turned as there was a knock on the door of the rec room, a moment later one of the Marines that had escorted them stepped in and saluted.

"Master Jedi, there is a situation that you are being requested to advise with in the hanger bay, sir." The man reported,

Tilting his head to side for a brief moment to look at the two, he turned back to the Marine."Understood, trooper. I will be down presently."

The Marine nodded, but still remained."Agent Issian asks that I see you there immediately, with or without the two... guests."

The Jedi narrowed his eyes and his mouth turning into a dour frown for a moment. Shaking his head, he stood up and looked to Alyn and Zaala."You are welcome to attend." He offered, extending his hand in a gesture towards the door where the Marine stood.  

[Miss-Pandemica]

Nova wasn’t going to argue about the fact that her Force abilities were limited in comparison to those with more skill like the Lady Nightwind. Let the soldier assume what she wants, she thought to herself. Gathering her staff up she gave a nod to Sythica that she understood.  

[Sayla-girl]

Thessa Reytal Vandreen, Daughter of Senator Thorvald Borus Vandreen of Brentaal and Ambassador to the Galactic Republic, sat across the table from Govenor Galban Doros of the Sectoral seat of the Minos Cluster, Travnin. She was dressed in regal fasion, befitting her station, and at her shoulder stood her dependable Protocol Droid C2-N23, the droid's bronze finish gleaming in the light of the room.

With considerable poise, she sipped at a cup of tea and set it back upon the saucer before her before she looked up at the Governor and nodded.
"I appreciate your confidence, Governor, but I feel you may not be correctly gauging the situation."

"About these Renegade cultists? These so called Sith?" Doros Snorted. "They have no interest in our sector. This is a Republic matter. Not a matter for the Minos Cluster."

"But," Thessa insisted. "It would not be a long term situation. We are only requesting we establish a temporary Republic presence in the sector to deter Sith Ambitions. The resources of Minos could be a tempting target."

"We are fully capable of protecting ourselves, Ambassador." Doros replied, twirling his mustache. "We have held off pirates and Hutt Cartel brigands alike. And as I said before, we really have nothing these renegades could possibly want. Any further Republic involvement would only invite them here. More bases, more ships, that would just drag us further into the Republic's problems. While we support Coruscant, Ambassador, we have no interest in becoming just another client state in servitude to your government."

This was how the talks with the Minos Cluster had gone for the better part of the day. The Govenor willing to take Republic money and services but refusing any true military presence on the grounds it might be provocative to the Sith. It was asinine for Minos to claim they were independent when their prosperity was entirely dependent upon the Republic. Thessa was as aware as anyone that people wanted stuff for free, but it irked her all the same.  

[ElladanKenet]

The timetable wound ever closer to the moment when the Sith force would begin their invasion of Travnin. Colonel Theron was idly surveying his crews as they made final preparations, when a holotransmission came in. "Sir," the officer on duty called. "Incoming call from Fleet Command. Patching it through."

Expecting this to be the formal declaration of battle, Theron stepped up to the holoreceiver and activated it, where he was greeted with the visage of another Imperial officer. He bore a certain resemblance to Captain Phaelan, save he was older, with multiple scars on his face, and yellow eyes. "Greetings, Admiral Sartol. We're ready to begin the attack on Travnin at your command."

"Glad to hear it," the Admiral admitted, his voice hoarse and gruff. He had received a fragmentation grenade injury in his youth, damaging his throat and face, but not his keen intellect, nor his pride. "We have a change of plans."

"A change of plans?" Theron asked, his voice rising slightly.

"Yes. New intelligence of system defenses. We will not be invading Travnin."

Not invading Travnin? What the sithspit was the Admiral talking about. "We won't?" the man asked carefully. Though technically he was Imperial Army, and not Navy, Sartol still outranked him as a superior officer, and the one in charge of their fleet.

"No, we won't," the Admiral repeated. "The Minister of War has decided that there are other targets in the Minos Cluster that are better taken early, than the capital." The Minister of War was the highest ranking Imperial in the military. He was in charge of all military operations, and answered only to the Dark Council.

Theron did not like the idea of changing battle strategy at the last minute. If they were attacking another target, he'd have to change his battleplan, create and study new models, assess the defenses and resources of a new enemy. Weeks of logistics, out the window, and without any concern for his own sacrifice! Bah! "Sir, to put off the attack on Travnin-"

"We're not putting it off," the Admiral assured him, though his voice was guarded. "Merely not committing to the battle. The fleet is committing it's attack onto the world of Karideph. Your battle line will focus on Travnin."

While Theron did not immediately recognize the significance of Karideph, he understood the tactic at use. "We're a diversion."

The admiral nodded, glad to know he was being understood. "Correct. Make what changes to your plan you need to. Your new objective is to assault the planet and cause as much chaos as possible. Draw in the local defense forces and hold them for a while. Your goal is to occupy them, and I daresay, a Sith battlecruiser will be enough to keep their attention."

The colonel couldn't argue there. Last he checked, Travnin had only a single Thranta-class warship and four squadrons worth of fightercraft, plus whatever freighters and shuttles were on hand. A Sith battlecruiser alone would be enough to subdue the planet, not counting the ground troops, vehicles, and fighters at her disposal. "Very well. Lady Nightwind won't like the change of plans, but I'll see to it. Permission to set the time of attack back?"

The man nodded. "You have an hour, before you have permisison to attack. Inform us when you do. We will begin our assault half an hour into your own."

Satisfied, the colonel nodded, before cutting the transmission. Now with more work to do, he sighed and called for Captain Phaelan to appraise him of the situation. The two decided that ground forces would be of little use for the new battle, and so decided to focus on an orbital attack of the city, using their own ship, the frigates in support, and their fighters. Theron had the task of informing the ground forces of the change of plans, while Phaelan took it upon himself to appraise Ilia of the changes.

Seeking out Ilia in her room, Phaelan waited for the door to open, before standing to attention. "Admiral Sartol has given us new objectives. The assault on Travnin is not being committed to."

Ilia scowled a bit, looking at the Captain. "Admiral Sartol? Did he say why we are postponing our victory?" She clearly wasn't pleased.

"The order came from the Minister of War. That's all I know."

Bah. Ilia didn't need to know the rest. the Minister of War answered to the Dark Council, specifically to Darth Vengean. Vengean was a rival of her mother, and the leader of the war effort. Already she knew what she had to do next. "Very well, Captain. Do not disturb me again, until we are in battle." The captain nodded, before turning to leave as Ilia closed the door. Now she had to call her mother.  

[ElladanKenet]

As ordered, Aurriana had her squad rest up and equipment for their new mission. If you could call it that. More like busy work. Whatever one wanted to call it, Aurriana and her squad were soon on speederbike, zooming away from the base, out to the far edge of the field. They soon passed the grassy edge of the plain they were on, and ventured out into the desert. The speederbike didn't much like the sand and wind, nor did any of her squad, but there was no real danger of issue, as there was no sandstorm brewing. Once out about thirty kilometers, the squad took a moment to plot their route around the perimeter around the area. The trip itself would take a little under an hour at the speed they were going. The speederbikes were capable of going up to near the speed of sound (at least according to the manual), but seeing as they weren't in a hurry, they were traveling considerably slower.

So, once their route was plotted, the squad took off, beginning their patrol, unaware that in the near future, the planet would be invaded.