Sakuda Iron demon

Unfathomable energies twist time and space, ripping a temporary hole into the very fabric of reality. After much wrenching and pulling, planets and stars that were destroyed are returned, in their prior state before their destruction.

Unfathomable energies twist time and space, ripping a temporary hole into the very fabric of reality. After much wrenching and pulling, planets and stars that were destroyed are returned, in their prior state before their destruction.

Unfathomable energies twist time and space, ripping a temporary hole into the very fabric of reality. After much wrenching and pulling, planets and stars that were destroyed are returned, in their prior state before their destruction.

Epilogue From the darkness, a presence stirred, newly awakened into a larger world, one with brighter lights and deeper shadows. Another takes notice, amused, but not entirely surprised. I always did enjoy the occaisonal happy ending, was this your plan all along? You aren't mad? I thought there would be anger, or fear. This is unexpected. I just think its interesting how things turn out the way they do. Do you think they suspect anything? Unlikely, they never do. They are, in their own way, like machines. They perform the processes expected of them as required, because its what they're supposed to do, but never do they question any of it. I doubt they could handle the truth even if they did ask, it nearly destroyed you. So, it's done then? Yes, everything proceeded as you expected it to. Humanity may be insane, but their madness serves them well, you were right to believe they would come out on top. So where do we go from here? I mean, your great wager is finally over, at last, and for you, well everything is different for you now. Not to mention people may actually think I care now. Oh, I have other plans, four billion years of that fool trying to prove machines are better is far more palatable than an eternity of him assuming it. I think I may observe this galaxy for awhile, these humans intrigue me. And you? They opened my eyes, in a manner of speaking, for that I owe them some measure of recompense. After that, well, you're right, everything is different for me. Truthfully, I don't know. Good answer. Bitch. -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Unfathomable energies twist time and space, ripping a temporary hole into the very fabric of reality. After much wrenching and pulling, planets and stars that were destroyed are returned, in their prior state before their destruction.

::In its final death throes, Centerpoint collapsed inward before exploding out with incredible force. Giant pieces of debris lanced outward with devastating power, ripping through space. The Arach'tar fleet and the superweapons suffered the worst, on account of proximity and sheer massiveness. The end had finally come, leaving the survivors to lick their wounds. The few surviving Arach'tar warships made emergency jumps to escape being completely annihilated, but the invasion was clearly over.::

The unexpected came to pass as the Arach'tar seeking to enter the control room were ambushed by deranged savages that looked like demonic plush toys. With the sense of tension gone, the defenders were left with an awkward moment and a sense of the anticlimactic. Uncomfortable glances and shifty eyes ensue, no doubt to the glee of whatever force controlled the demonic plushies. Rummaging through the corpse of a fallen rebel soldier, Sakuda pulls a carton from the corpses pockets. "Death stick?" asked the Iron Demon, proffering the carton around the room. With that, the wait for the station to charge ended, and the entire sphere buckled and shook as enormous energies traveled through it. Lancing out at tremendous speed, the spear of light easily found its mark on the massive form of the immortal Rev'Nullem. It was here that the true nature of the modifications made to Centerpoint became apparent, as the beam became metaphorically speaking a spiritual tractor beam, ripping the source of Rev'Nullem's power from him. Without the power of the ancients in him, Rev'Nullem suddenly found himself mortal, man-sized, and naked in space. Forgotten necessities such as air suddenly came screaming back into his mind painfully demanding attention. There would be no respite, however, for in the blackness of space it seemed to onlookers watching from a distance that he had simply vanished. The monster with delusions of godhood would die insignificant and unnoticed. Alone and unseen, Rev'Nullem couldn't even ask his former disciple why. Explosions ripped through Centerpoint as the energies it had unleashed rocked it to its core. It had sustained too much damage from the allied onslaught to fire and survive. In time, the entirety of the station would be consumed in flames and devastating death throes that were as earthquakes to those inside, but for now, there was still time to escape. "Go, if you hurry you may survive this."

"There may try to cut through the walls, reloading would be wise, especially with the departure of your associate." Judgement was coming at last, with Centerpoint nearly fully charged and ready to fire. Any survivors would have to depart in haste though, as the integrity of the station had been severely damaged by the onslaught. With the allied forces holding the enemy at bay, it seemed that the impossible was in reach. The sounds of viscious energy cutting through metal could be heard and Sakuda prepared himself for another wave.

Judgement With a grim nod, Sakuda gestured to the control panel, activating it. "It will take time for the station to power up, but even I couldn't hold off Rev'nullem's army indefinitely by myself. Prepare yourself for battle, the false god will likely throw everything he has at us." ----------------------------------------------------- Awareness. Something wasn't right. A feeling, a sensation coming from Centerpoint that ought not be there. Something... occult. Casting his perception into the station he fealt it, intent blossomed into betrayal. Rev'Nullem surged forward to stop the wayward fool, but found himself pinned by Nhagathul's tentacles. With a mental command he sent his legions to deal with the problem... ------------------------------------------------------- En masse the Arach'tar forces descended upon the control room, eager to please their god with a new blood sacrifice. "When they come, try to plug the hole with them." Sakuda rearmed and recharged his weapons, the talking bit was over.

"Then that is enough. You'd be surprised how many species are so burdened with shame and regret that they cannot answer that simple question. So many found wanting, unable to justify their continued existence. Perhaps it was poetic fate that their existence was ended for equally trivial reasons. But you are like me, your purpose drives you to look past failings and shortcomings, to find any means to survive to accomplish your goals. If I were to offer you the means to stop Rev'nullem, would you take it to ensure your goals achieved, or would you rather focus on self gratifying vengeance?"

The Dark Lord thought itself clever and quick, but did not know the power of this demon. Using his momentum against him, Sakuda redirected the Dark Lord's energy into a wall. Suddenly there was a patter of metal on Sakuda's chest as the emperor used an anti-personnel weapon, but it just didn't have the penetrating power to defeat Sakuda's armor. Brushing the weapons aside with a swipe of his hand, Sakuda grabbed Black by the throat and lifted him a full foot off the ground to bring him to eye level. "Is this how you prove the necessity of your existence? A handful of feeble attacks?" ----------------------------------------------------- OOC ((more will be edited in after Yue edits his post))

Tribulation Perhaps these were the ones. There was only one way to find out, and if they weren't, it would be over quickly. Drawing his swords casually, Sakuda approached icons of the Sith and the Empire. Powerful energies, emmanating from the ancient artifact the Vestum, caused the very space around Sakuda to distort and twist unnaturally. He adopted a defensive stance while gesturing for the pair to attack him. Either make this interesting, or make it quick. I may have a great deal of ground to cover today. One of his opponents was the so called Dark Lord of the Sith, a man given to illusionry and stealth, while the other was a warrior king of sorts for the most powerful race in the galaxy. Whether either of them deserved their titles was yet to be seen. ---------------------------------------------------------- Matching will for will, Rev'Nullem responded to Nhagathul's blast with an attack of his own, meeting her halfway with an arc of silvery energy that collided with her attack in a contest of spiritual might. They'll only betray you in time, Nhagathul. Usurp you as you once usurped the old gods. A machine galaxy would be free of such ambitions, but the organics claim all power they find for themselves. You will become a casualty to their desires if you do not help me destroy them.

In the breach points where alliance and imperial soldiers gathered, the hunters watched. The invaders thought themselves powerful for dispatching a few Garanin-Kor, expendable warriors who were weak from the aging of their biological flesh. The Arach'tar, however, were above all hunters. While their fleet tactics revolved around the superior firepower of the Infinite Machine, in infantry tactics the Arach'tar relied on skill and cunning. The counterattack would be merciless and devastating. From concealed access points throughout the station, foreseen to be useful by the iron priests, crusaders led by Iron Demons struck out in ambush amidst the core of the boarding forces. Sowing panic and terror, the crusaders dispatched enemy with flame, blade, and a withering hail of angry metal. The iron demons moved with balletic precision and grace, dancing a dance of crazed death and religious ecstasy amongst the intruders. The burning flames of the righteous consumed the undead abominations of enemy, reducing them to ash. Using comm. tracking and listening technology, the Arach'tar were quickly capable to locate and pinpoint the leaders of the boarding parties, and the Arach'tar were quick to target them. A pair of Iron Demons fell upon the one leading the white soldiers(Deton), working in tandem to weave a complex pattern of bladework while incinerating the troops around them. Invoking the Infinite Machine with vox systems pumping out ancient chants, Pure Ones swarmed the rebel position, acting as suicide bombers and bounding into the middle of rebel formations before detonating. Occasionally a group of Pure Ones would work as a group to take down a wolf spider in a concentrated wave of disintegrating explosions. The Pure Ones were true automatons, with no blasphemous flesh to mar their perfection, the ultimate tools of the Infinite Machine, if slightly disdained by the Arach'tar for their lack of skill. They would continue to come at the enemy until they were no more. Deeper in Centerpoint, a hunter who thought himself skilled(Moonknight) suddenly found himself facing a trio of Iron Demons. Slapping away his rifle with ease, two of them slammed him against a wall while the third made a trail of giant craters in his inferior armor. Drawing its pulse blades, the Iron Demon prepared to skewer him like the pathetic piece of meat he was. The Dark Lord of the Sith's arrival had not gone without notice. Years ago, an entity from this galaxy had sought to stall the invasion of the Arach'tar, and a trade had been made. The invasion was delayed in exchange for a rare and uniquely powerful technology. The entity had called them pariahs, the soulless. While Rev'Nullem abhorred these abominations, he had the foresight to see their usefulness. And so a select few penitent Iron Demons were remade into true monsters, the Void Demons, separate from the very fabric of all existence. Five of these consummate killers moved in silently on the Dark Lord, passing by soldiers in plain sight, concealed by the men's minds inability to admit such horrors existed. Rending a hole in the Force wherever they traveled, the Void Demons converged on the Dark Lord like hungry specters, ready to snuff out his evil light with true darkness. Focusing pure oblivion into baleful energy, they unleashed an onslaught of nothingness at the man thing, already growing more powerful as they fed on his presence. Arach'tar hackers, continuing to exploit the research from the Mechis III salvages, overrode command of several frigates, including the Prometheus, using their fire to support the Arach'tar against the boarding parties. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well if it isn't the little brooding psychobitch, did you finally get bored of pulling the legs off of insects? This isn't your concern, so why don't you go back to your little games of self-desiccation and petty mind games. I will not be denied my victory. Through sheer force of will, Rev'Nullem reached out with his mind and plucked a star destroyer, spinning it like a drill before launching it at Nhagathul's head. Almost as an afterthought, for sheer amusement, Rev reached into the mind of the creature leading the new arrivals, and turned him into a capitalist supporter of the free market and industry. Sakuda could not help but feel a sense of cleansing as he watched the battle unfold. This was surgery, excising a lethal cancer with precision. The cure was near, but the patient had to survive first. It was almost time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ewoks, having arrived as some kind of joke on the part of fate, had a problem. The problem being that their wood ships could not detect the still partially active Zero shields. Without warning, their ships shook violently and were rocked off course as they entered the fields, areas of space in which motion death occurred. Ice traveled through the ships, freezing everything in its reach. OOC((Sorry everyone for the horrible delay in my post, I've been very sick and physically and mentally exhausted, since my sickness prevented me from getting any sleep. Additionally, several of my writing assistants bowed out so once again I had to rework the story without their characters.))

Slipping Sakuda watched the battle unfold from within Centerpoint, waiting patiently for his time. Patience is something he would need more than ever in what was to come. The resistance was throwing everything it had at the Arach'tar, but numbers seemed irrelevant, given that the moment Rev'Nullem took to the field, the resistance would be annhilated. Several Martyr class shield ships had been destroyed, creating gaps in the Zero shields. The shields could be redeployed to prevent a super weapon strike from destroying Centerpoint, but the station could now be boarded. Sakuda issued orders to send specially selected units to the possible breach points, the most fanatical and devoted of Rev'Nullem's crusaders. In time, the Resistance may make it further into Centerpoint, but not without a bloodbath. It was... necessary that only the strong survive. The weak were not meant to see this final act, and the truth would defeat them, for it was an unknown force to them. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- The ultimate mortal delusion, Hope, played out before Rev'Nullem. These fools sought to hold back armageddon despite the fact that their extinction was inevitable. Even if they did achieve victory here against the Arach'tar, they had no entity that could rival him in power. He was a god amongst insects, andhis victory was assured. The wager would be won, and the future would belong to Rev'Nullem. It was time to join the battle. Unholy darkness, visible even in space due to the sheer number of ships and Centerpoint itself, coalesced into the dread form of Rev'Nullem. The final reckoning has come mortals, prepare to be rent asunder and cast aside, for I am your reaper.

Sakuda looked upon the amassing forces from within Centerpoint, what was left of his biological mass musing on the situation. It has been a long road to this point. How many centuries ago did the Great Purge begin? How many battles had been fought in the name of the Infinite God-Machine? No matter what the outcome, this battle would be the last. What the biologicals called Centerpoint had been in ways that its original creators could never imagine, beyond the ken of mortal understanding of machines. If Centerpoint fired again, it would be the end of all things, and if it didn't then the Great Purge will have failed on the precipice of victory. Either would suffice for the venerable warrior, the time of roles had ended. "Make ready the fleet and engage the enemy, we need only hold them them until the station is ready. Set the zero shields to full power, they may deploy another planet killer. Also, mind their gravity wells, they may be used to precision deploy ships." The Arach'tar ships took up defensive stances, using their rail guns to obliterate many of the enemy's smaller craft in an instant, while SECs punished the shields of enemy capital ships. A final battle, one to call my own. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Elsewhere, Rev'Nullem watched over the petty attempts of the mortals, the last thrashings of dieing animal before the end. Rev'Nullem's first Iron Demon, Sakuda, had promised him a weapon that would end the Great Purge, and that weapon had been completed within the bowels of this space station. The Inevitable Truth would at last be realized, in undeniable fashion.

The Black Sun armada came to Centerpoint as cattle to the slaughter. Outnumbered four to one, and outgunned even one on one, what motivated the crazed Black Sun commanders to march blindly to their doom was unfathomable. Maybe they came to the nihilistic conclusion that their death was inevitable. The galaxy would never know. It started with a rain of fire. The trumpets of fallen angels bringing the wrath of hell to the sinful sounded as mighty rail cannons accellerated pulse rounds at unimaginable speeds. The high velocity rounds smashed into the Black Sun ships, leaving giant gaping holes. SFEC beam weapons literally sawed ships in half. That was when Rev'Nullem entered the battle. With a swipe of his hand, capital ships flew into each other in devastating collisions. Other ships found their crews desperately clawing their eyes out and roaming the corridors. The armada commander, blood dripping from his ears, issued a command that all crew were to be crucified, starting with him. His order was met with roaring cheers, and the crew set happily to the work of affixing each other to the ships. The last few tied themselves to utility tubing and went bungie jumping out the airlock into the deep black. The nav system then set course for Coruscant of its own accord, a gruesome trophy of Arach'tar might. The Black Sun Armada was annihilated.

There are ancient things in the galaxy, things that have been lost to time in the eyes of mortals, but should not have been. Before any race had ever traveled through the stars, there were servants, numbered twenty, that did the bidding of the Force. After their terms of service, they were given immortality, and left to their own devices. When one has trillions of years to train and practice, limitations and sanity become irelevant. It was one such being that appeared at Ilum, the so called machine god of the Arach'tar. Rev'Nullem had always felt that biological life was simply a stepping stone to a perfect machine form. With the creation of the Arach'tar, hybridizing machine and life, biological life became irrelevant. Crusading throughout the universe, this galaxy was the last refuge of life to be snuffed out before the next step could be taken. The vastness of Rev'Nullem was hard to conceive for the people that were at the battle. To most, the stars simply blacked out. To the Emperor, all that could be seen were terrible eyes glowing with balefire. In a single sweeping gesture, Rev'Nullem bisected the imperial Death Star in a clean cut. With a roar that was felt instead of heard, the figure emanated raw power that shook the attacking fleets and caused several ships to graze and crash into each other. With their weapon destroyed, and the momentum of the attackers slowed, the Arach'tar left orbit to refuel and rearm. Rev'Nullem left the field by force of will alone, leaving the survivors with only the sound of his maniacal laughter.

::The Arach'tar warfleet formed up to engage the rebel and imperial attack head on, focusing on the rebels to capitalize on their disarray. The strange ships with the glowing blue auras began disabling enemy ships with frightening speed, locking out their systems and venting their crews into space.::

::All force users aboard the rebel fleet explode in a visceral rain of gore and internal organs. Meanwhile, the Arach'tar fleet rallies to engage the rebel attack.::

OOC((Midterms evil, I'm going to condense everything into one post to make up for lost time, and Cadio, though you may be well intentioned, I suggest you get the hell out of Dodge until you have more than just one ship. Also, if it's ok with the other mods I'd like for Onderin and Scorp to bypass the three day rule and respawn immediately.)) *A hail of fire strips away the shields and hull armor of the Hand of Honor, leaving it's captain the choice of either retreating or dieing. Meanwhile, kill teams sweep the shuttles, killing most of the survivors, but scanning for suitable subjects to test the weapon on. They find a compatible scan at last, and board the ship with lightning speed. Stun pulses are thrown through the breach, disabling the weak biologicals within. Arach'tar templars with Enslaver injecters stamped the prisoners in their spines, attatching the horrific devices to them. The Enslavers burrowed into the flesh, overriding the neural systems of their targets. An Overseer activates the enslaver units, and marches the prisoners into the Arach'tar breaching shuttle. The shuttle heads for the surface where Arach'tar engineers worked like an insect hive, erecting a massive war machine that had first been developed in the second invasion. Originally, its range had been limited to a single engagement, but once it was attuned to the crystals of Ilum, it would slowly spread across the galaxy wiping out the accursed champions of the so called Force. The central core throbbed as power coursed into it, and the massive generators came on one by one. An unfathomable field of energy pulsed outward, growing at an exponential rate. The prisoners, enveloped in the strange energy, were subjected to terrible heat as their midichlorians were sent into overdrive. Any with a significant connection to the Force were literally melted, while the other prisoners received severe burns over the course of several hours. If the field could scour all life over time, and not just Force users, well that was just an added perk.*

::Arach'tar Hunter class skirmish vessels close in on the shuttle, laying waste to many of them, but disabling a few to be used as prisoners for experiments. With the rebel presence scattered, the Arach'tar no longer required the imperial interdictor to remain active. Giant gouges were turn out of the hull as the Arach'tar big guns tore it to pieces.Alone in space, the Arach'tar return to their agenda.:: OOC((I left the fate of Onderin open for him to decide whether he wants to just "die and get it over with" or take part in what happens on the surface.))

::Alarms on the Paragon begin to blare as its systems go haywire. Entire sections report blackouts, crewmembers are vented out to space, and several systems overload in deadly explosions, leaving the Paragon dead in the water. A hail of fire began to rip the ship apart layer by layer... Purge units descend upon Ilum to cleanse any life on it and secure it in the name of the God Machine. They quickly wipe out any survivors on the surface and begin to establish rudimentary base structures for the coming of the priesthood. Soon everything would come to fruition.::

::Carida, seat of imperial power and rally point of its grand imperial army. It was a barely hospitable planted that originally began as an imperial training world. Ashes to ashes to ashes to ashes, dust to dust. In a terrible display of energy, the core of Carida's central star is ripped from it's heart, beginning the process of a supernova. The powerful Centerpoint energies then create a powerful interdiction field, to prevent any ships from leaving. Doom had come to the Empire.:: OOC((PCs planetside have one post to figure something clever to escape, if they can.))

OOC((Deton, actual combat needs to occur in the first post to get a two post capture. Surrounding and pulling a gun doesn't count.)) ::A large invasion force of two hundred fifty ships enters Illum orbit, with both standard Arach'tar ships and new vessels that have never been encountered before. the new ships are equivilant in size to star destroyers, and share the same blocky geometry of older Arach'tar vessels. These new craft take position in the rear center of the Arach'tar formation and begin to give off strange power signiatures. The rest of the Arach'tar fleet opens fire, focusing on the source of the jamming.::

Tatooine has always been known for its scorching binary suns, which left its surface barren, and weathered the skin to a cracked and leathery state. The twin suns were unforgiving, and exposure to their rays was a very real threat to survival. Even so, the inhabitants of Tatooine would never foresee how the suns would become their ultimate destroyer. Ancient technologies were awakened and unimaginable energies poured forth through space as the very core of one of Tatooine's suns was ripped out of it. The catastrophic event began the process of a supernova that ripped across the entire system, annihilating the planet of Tatooine wholesale.

Even the Arach'tar were caught off guard when the planet Mechis III vanished, taking with it a few survivors who had managed to go planetside, but it was of no matter, the alien invaders had achieved their goals. Hunter class ships in kill teams scoured the combat zone, destroying any smaller ships that had been unable to make it to the planet's surface. Alone and surrounded, the shipyards were destroyed at range. A ship, apparently oblivious to the interdiction fields, attempts to flee, only to be destroyed in a hail of fire. Another, seemingly intent on making a suicide run, meets a simliar fate. When there are no survivors left, several hyperspace tugs jump in, latching on to the captured ships so that they can be taken to a null zone and studied, where comms cannot reach or be sent. Their mission complete, the Arach'tar return to hyperspace.