Slicer

The wookiee seemed to have a narrow minded focus into brutally beating the Dark Lord down. It was just as well, as the boy dissipated from the battle field as quickly as he had come. The Dark Lord felt a warning in the Force, the swing of a lightsaber aimed at taking his head off. It was quick but the Dark Lord was quicker, he prided himself on his agility. It was a source of pride as he attempted to defy the common misconception that the wearing of armor made one a slow and lumbering target. Yet there was great pride before a fall, and the Dark Lord realized far too late the true intention of the great wookiee jedi. Like being slammed into by a truck, he was lifted off his feet and thrown back. He did his best to simply roll with the hit, yet the Grandmaster gave him no quarter. Instead a flurry of strikes, assaulted the Dark Lord in a way that would surely beat him into submission. Dazed, Darth Asperser hastily constructed a defense against the onslaught brought before him. His ideal fighting style with a saber left little room for a defense of this nature. Instead it adhered to the idea that the best defense is a strong offense. Something the wookiee was able to capitalize on due to his superior blade abilities. Coupled with the overwhelming physical strength of the Wookiee Jedi master and his armor took more of the Grandmaster’s punishment than his own defensive blade. Ordinarily such an onslaught by a Jedi would be met with a multitude of tricks and counter designed to throw such a being off balance. Yet the Grandmaster was a master of his craft. Not even the guardian angel which had both Jedi in its sights would have been of much use to Darth Asperser. The precarious position of the Dark Lord however, was alleviated almost as suddenly as it had been forced upon him. Barriers soon replaced with crimson blades came to his defense. As Ares move to intercept the attacks, the Dark Lord began to create himself breathing room. Battling back the Grandmaster as a unit both men turned the tide against the Grandmaster, negating the opening advantage he had gained. Allowing Ares to take on the role of blades, the Dark lord began to strike in ways to keep the wookiee off balance as he simultaneously removed himself from the situation. It was very similar to an elongated bait and switch tactic. He began to refocus his attention through the Force on the two Jedi. Normal trees began to bleed profusely, as the sounds of lightsabers reverberated through the surroundings. For the Grandmaster, his resolve seemed strong yet in the face of such power he should have begun to feel the overwhelming sensation that despair could bring. He was not fighting to stop evil but simply to hold out long enough for the wounded Jedi to be saved, and an evacuation to be performed. He should have felt the need to hold out, to fight as a means of sacrifice for the rest of his Jedi brethren. The wookiee was fully engaged in combat, the mental fortitude displayed by the wookiee previously seemed absent, and it was something that was noticed by the Dark Lord. If Darth Asperser were to have his way, the wookiee would have impaled himself on his own lightsaber. Such would be the suicidal tendencies that he would have driven the grandmaster to. Still he would be satisfied with the jedi losing the will to fight. That the Jedi should now understand what it meant to truly fight against the darkside. For the Darkside was….natural. It had existed before the light, came into existence and it would exist long after the light faded away into the nothingness. It was infinite it was expansive it was all consuming. Its dark tendrils touched everything, it’s influence was everywhere. There was far more energy used in producing light, then in creating darkness. Not even the brightest candle could light up the depths of a cave. It was impossible to extinguish. It was far too much energy to dispel. It simply was life, the galaxy, and the Force. A light caught the attention of the Dark Lord. There was a warning in the Force a swelling of a sudden burst of power. The movement was quick, far quicker than most beings would have had time to react to. Searing pain blossomed in his side, as metal dented and melted at the touch of the Jedi. His lightsaber shot forth two small disks, as his feet once again left the earth. His side was on fire, but his desire to end the lives of the Jedi had not been abated by this sudden and vicious attack. Still the need for wings was becoming apparent given how often it seemed he was flying through the air. The infectious touch of the Jedi had not fused metal to skin. For that he was lucky. Still like a wounded animal he clutched his side as he rose to his feet like a specter emerging from a shadow. Moving with a practiced grace he came to rise and there was only one thing evident in his posture. He…was….pissed! His side racked with pain, yet he had long ago learned to work with pain. He understood the pain, he knew what it was telling him, and to him it was a friend. The best kind of friend really because, it was the one that would just tell you when you was about to do something foolish. Yet like a friend it could help him. The pain reminded him that he was alive, that in his mastery of the Force he himself had not been swallowed up in one of the many worlds he had created for others. He could use it and would use it to focus him. Outstretching a hand he crushed the two disks that had been left where he had once stood. The same disks he had ejected from his lightsaber when he had been thrown back yet again this time by the flaming jedi. Like a cyrogrenade the two carbonite disks exploded attempting to cover both jedi in a frost. He had hunted Jedi a long time and this was a method that had always been tried and true. Yet he did not want them bound up and tussled to be given away to some employer. No he wanted them immobile for one reason only. He was going to break them! The Dark Lord multiple in the eyes of those who observed, he multiplied in those who sought him out in the Force. There soon came to be quite a number of him. There were so many that he was able to represent all of the colors of the rainbow, and had a lightsaber to match each color. For some reason that had always seemed to amused him. He was the master of the illusionary arts and he wanted the Jedi to know truly who they had decided to royally pissed off. He had been in the mind of the Grandmaster before. Darth Asperser had broken him on the wookiee’s homeworld. Had mentally caged him, and physically bound him up and tossed him to the empire like a stray dog that needed to be processed in the pound. He had seen the extent of this Wru'torr the grandmaster had developed. Had navigated past it once already, in short he understood the Force needed to violate the great wookiee’s mind. The Exorist was just a beacon of light, swirling with the Force; his focus on the physical gave the Dark Lord the opening he would need to assault the man on the mental level. In terms of illusions, people always believed that such things were strictly visual. They did not understand the depth and nature of an illusion. The need to invoke and involve all of the senses in order to be believable was essential in all illusions. The knowledge that the brain was a multitude of signals and reactions, each impulse having a specific location in the brain, like one giant networking machine of pure genesis. He was well versed in the minds of Wookiees, as he had spent much time on Kashyyyk learning to break them. Similar he was just as well versed if not more so with the minds of humans. The important lesson here was that illusions came in many different shapes and sizes and in all different forms. The Jedi would learn that their mantra about their eyes deceiving them was a half heart lesson. In reality their whole body could deceive them. It would begin with a dull roar. One that would develop into a high piercing, bone jarring, nail biting scream that pounding in their ears, even though there would be no obvious source. Instead it would seem as if there was a broken emitter somewhere in the surrounding area. Their muscles would be infused with the feelings of a warm massage, while their skin and fur would feel like barb wire that had been attached to their bones and was somehow magically draining the bone marrow form their bodies. He would create such a dichotomy that it would be difficult to discern the truth from the fiction. Their sensations would be at war, as Darth Asperser poured his concentration into the minds of the two jedi. Far past what he had used to conjured up the feeling of Sith warriors in the forest, the changes in temperature, the burning trees or the blackened air. This was the master of illusions, the supreme ruler of the mental domain focusing his administrations on the pliable tissue located within their skulls. To resist him would be akin to surfing in a hurricane. One could train to surf all of their lives, could have surfed waves that would leave most beings standing in awe. Yet at the end of the day, all of their skill in surfing, all of their practice, training and conditioning, would at best keep them afloat if they were trapped in the furry of a hurricane breaking land fall. This was his art, this was his, specialty, and this is what he was. He was the Supreme illusionist, the master of the dark arts of stealth and illusions. He was the Dark side incarnate; with his ability to control and willing indulge in its powers. He was Darth Asperser. The Master assassin, the Dark Lord of the Sith. They would not be deceived by their eyes. No, he would have them feel the worst despair of all. The feeling that your abilities were lost, that your own body was rebelling against you. They had been in his domain from the beginning. Now he would open their eyes, and they would see that they truly were lost. Ares would get them into position, as the guardian angel high above sat poised and ready to spill jedi blood on the war torn battleground. The Jedi would be broke, beaten and then killed. This was their fate and he would see to that. ((3))

There was an art to hunting Jedi. It took a unique mind to understand how they operated. It took experience to get the intricacies of how they moved. It took cunning to bring one down. He was well aware of what was needed to take down a Jedi. He had thrown his cyan lightsaber at the Exorcist. The darts had followed soon after and while the massive wookiee had avoided their sharp sting, the Exorcist had not been so lucky. During his moment where he reached out to crush with the force the spinning cyan blade, a single dart had more than likely buried itself the man’s arm. The drug no doubt coursing through the jedi’s system. He had hidden it with in the smokescreen he had cast. The saber had been a flashy immediate threat, his thirst for blood a draw for attention and the blaster fire was the last key to the distraction. While the blaster fire had been at best annoying the darts had been fired with accuracy, accuracy assisted by the battle computer located in his helmet, which had been tracking the jedi from the start. The drug that was in the dart was especially meant for hunting. It was a paralytic and soporific drug. Years of hunting Jedi had taught him that simply knock out drugs were not the most reliable of ways to bring them down. For most beings this drug caused total muscle paralysis within three seconds followed by knocking them out five seconds later. This meant only one thing for Darth Asperser. He would allow Darth Ares to finish up that Jedi master as he would focus on the wookiee. A few blaster bolts whizzed past both the ones that struck his armor he was unconcerned about. Suddenly he felt the Force swirl up and around the wookiee Kirlcoaa. The Jedi Master was preparing something and just as it was released, there was an interception Or perhaps a disruption of what was to come. Still for a moment, it was like the world of Darth Asperser existed within a ship crashing into a planet. Sudden as it was, the sudden loss in equilibrium was not something he was unused. Ares had perhaps bought him a few seconds of precious time to brace for the attack. So he did what any doctor does during flu season. He braced himself using the lower potency blow that Ares had opened up for him. Instead of doubling over in pain, he clamped down on training and experience to weather the storm. There were plenty of times in his life where had he been spiraling out of control and had lost his concentration he would have caused his own death. From fighting in zero gravity to dogfighting throughout the galaxy, he was a man who had experienced his fair share. He opted to work with the pain, and felt the strong desire to distance himself. Darth Asperser focused his attention on the wookiee and all around the gentle trees of Gala seemed to slowly turn into wroshyr trees that the wookiee would be familiar with on his homeworld. Perhaps the wookiee would have even gone up to swing in them like the primitive animal he was had they not seemingly also been on fire. Large and towering the smell of burnt bark filled the air as the harsh crackle of a roaring inferno drowned out the shouts or grunts that the combatant could have let loose. The still smoldering tableaux of carnage on the battlefield seemed to pop out at the jedi. As if the death and misery was being highlight in their sense. The scene painted was real, as the Sith had simply left the Jedi and the dead allies dead where they fell. There was no time to pile up the bodies, as they had moved on to infiltrate deeper into the complex. Jedi gore and viscera surrounded the temple everywhere and there was not much of a trace of reciprocal Sith blood. A rank, coppery smell like an olfactory pastiche of human blood mingled with the acrid sent of burning plant material. As the scene unfolded Darth Asperser took a step toward Kirlcoaa. His body language suggested that he was preparing to punish the Jedi for what he had inflicted the Dark Lord with. The crimson blade was burning bright with in hand almost asking to steal the life from the Grandmaster. There was an almost tangible feeling to the desire to decapitate the wookiee. Yet all of that changed as the Dark Lord apparently became interested in something else. His visor gave the impression that he was looking past the jedi and into the blazing tree line. Then bursting through it screaming emerged a boy who looked some what like a Jedi youngling or perhaps a padawan. Still it was impossible to say given how the jedi claimed their attire was not a uniform but, was meant to blend it with the local populace. This child felt…good. This was perhaps the reason why there were three dark and gleeful presences trailing behind the child as if enjoying this mockery of a hunt. The boy reached out his hand outstretched toward master Kirlocca. The sense that this child had seen and interacted with the Jedi before was apparent. Perhaps the boy would seem familiar to the Wookiee Jedi. “Help me Mast—urk” The boy’s speech was cut short as he was suddenly yanked back out of eye sight towards the feeling of the dark ones who had been pursuing him. The snap hiss of a lightsaber reverberated outward as the desperate screams of the boy was heard over the crackle of the fire. The desperation and fear of death rolled off where the boy had disappeared to in waves. Darth Asperser suddenly seemed amused as to what Kirlcoaa would do. As Darth Asperser’s guardian angels or perhaps angels made themselves known to him, he felt secure in watching this drama play out. The Jedi could allow the child to be brutally murdered by obvious Sith forces. Or the Jedi could leave the boy to fend for himself and instead focus on the battle at hand. Though his visor displayed no emotion, one could tell that the Dark Lord felt bemused by the situation at hand. Will the wookiee run into the fire? ((2))

The air stank from the explosions and the dead. It was a smell that was familiar to those four trapped in the vicious cycle of death by association. Even air processed through his filters stank for the Dark Lord. His lightsaber still in hand, he watched as the Wookiee charged Ares. Like a brute it swung hard, just short of becoming a mad claw. The Wookiee seemed so familiar but he had killed so many Wookiees, that one rug was the same as any other for the most part. Still he had only ever run into one Jedi that was a Wookiee. Kirlocca”¦ His musings were interrupted as the second Jedi responded to the fray. His hands seemed to be burning and the Force was not subtle in demonstrating the potency of the Jedi's attack. A ring of fire spread out, in a color that Darth Asperser had never seen. His movements were instinctual, born from the mammal part of his brain to avoid the unknown and to avoid fire. He leaped as his lightsaber activated, the bright cyan blade burning through the smoke still twisting into the sky. A cold wind had picked up in the time since he had given the order to scorch the earth he now fought upon. Time seemed to slow as Darth Asperser moved his chest parallel with the ground. The pure white flames briefly licked at his chest, as if attempting to sample him. Immense pain blossomed where the tongues of flame brushed against the armor. Yet it was not enough to distract. He had long ago learned to work not through but, with pain. His lightsaber left his hand aimed at the Jedi causing him distress. Spinning through the air the cyan disk brought a low whine to the decimated battlefield. Boots crunching into the ground the Dark Lord pressed his attack. With liquid grace the Dark Lord's arms outstretched from his landing, each one pointing in the direction of a different Jedi. With cold unemotional detachment that came from his years of hunting Jedi, he brought to bear his weapons. Two darts fired from each wrist coated with the compound lecepanine meant to stop the Jedi cold. For him this move was second nature, he was far too practiced in hunting to betray his movements. After all he long since had discovered how a Jedi or a Sith detected danger. Darth Asperser had discovered that when evil intentions led actions the ability for Jedi to sense an incoming attack greatly increased. This was the reason why droids were able to snipe jedi without alerting them with a bit of set up. It was why the Sith assassins of old had been able to get close to their prey. Even order 66 was successful in part because the clones felt like children to the jedi and as such the desire to do their job was the sense Jedi got. Otherwise has the clones been of full mental maturity the jedi would have known in advance the harm about to befall them. However, Darth Asperser was not just practiced at suppressing his emotions. That was the way of the Jedi. No, he controlled them the way he controlled the Force. They were a tool for his use and he knew how best to grab the attention of the Jedi. The desire for Jedi blood grew in his breast and his malicious intentions permeated the battlefield. It predated his next attack. The darts would perhaps go unnoticed, small as they were and fired without the desire for harm to alert the jedi. The laser blasts from his wrist lasers would however, came forth as everything about him seemed to suddenly scream for Jedi blood. His arms crossed the movement potentially alerting the Jedi to what was coming. As each arm switched targets a stream of blaster fire erupted from his wrist. Each shot was attempting to take their target's head off, or place two smoking holes into their torsos. In some regards it was covering fire for Ares. After all the Jedi were of the caliber that simple blaster fire would merely be annoying. Yet he knew that the Jedi's focus would have to be in his direction. This would hold true if only for a little while. The stream of blaster fire erupted from his wrists attempting to bring death the same way water sprinklers brought life in a yard. While the Jedi faced that incoming wall of lethal blaster fire the Dark Lord of the Sith uttered only a word. A word that was audible to none save his highly advanced technological suit. ”œBlind.”

Eyes scanned the area filled with broken bodies. Effortlessly he moved through the battle field like an ancient specter invoking a primal fear in lesser beings. His cape flowed like liquid silk behind him catching on neither broken body nor stone. Instead as he moved there was a grace to his movements. One that allowed him to pick through the battle field effortlessly, as his men performed each task. He could see a gathering of forces arrayed against Darth Ares. While he was sure the man could handle it, Darth Asperser decided he could use a bit of fun. His men marched through the remains, killing what jedi remained and attempting to lock the place down. Darth Asperser simply moved closer to the confrontation. There was quite a bit of blustering being performed. Darth Asperser simply used the technology at his disposal to lock onto the Jedi in his battle computer. It would make it far easier to track them than just simply eye sight alone. Given the tendency for Jedi to run and hide, this was perhaps a good measure. The Force swirled around him as he began to bend it to his will. The ground seemed to darken under his influence. Every step he took seemingly poisoning the very ground, and killing the life he trampled upon. though such an effect would not last long. He would not insult area by jumping into his battle immediately. Instead he woudl let this man try out the waters before the Dark Lord of the Sith moved in for the kill. He unclipped a single lightsaber from his belt and prepared himself for battle. ((Allright we are all here. I believe this is a four post duel with wj being given the first post.))

The dying roars of a completely successful reverberated through the tress still standing. The smoking remains of wolf spider droids brought forth smoke tendrils reaching for the sky. The blood of various guards seeped into the ground, straining it with their life force, their bodies shredded beyond recognition. Countless Jedi lay strewn about, broken, bleeding and dying. Their bodies twisted in various convoluted forms, as shrapnel had finished off those lucky enough to survive the various bombs and the subsequent falling debris. In short the once grand jedi temple lay in ruined, like a stinking blood coated cesspit. Yet it was not over. Not over by a long shot. The snipers in position failed to take a shot at the gigantic wookiee, or the Jedi behind the building. They didn't have to. Instead as they reintegrated into the command network the hum of speeders and the sound of footsteps distracted them It had taken a full minute. At first all was quiet, then the distant sound of a speeder could be heard. One minute later, Sith flew from the tress, jumping leaping, and flying into what remains of the Jedi temple, and its surrounding areas. Entering what remained of the hanger, they looked for survivors, and began to work on appropriating ships when given the chance. They crawled into the building itself, spreading out, slaughtering Jedi who were still gasping for breath, moving toward their commanded objectives. Yet at the head of this charge, briefly bloating out the sun, came a large foreboding figure. It was a flying beast with a wing span many meters in length. Glowing red eyes stared down at the hapless Jedi below bringing forth a terrifying image before they died of their various injuries. Swooping down it landed at what remained of the Jedi temple and slowly it rose to stare out amongst the battle field. This was Darth Asperser, Dark Lord of the Sith. His cape was caught in the wind, his body seemingly distorted by the heat of the burning buildings and the smoke that drifted into the sky. Like the very incarnation of death, his evil influence rolled out upon the battle field. High above, his ship gave him aerial support and updates. Sith quickly filed past him moving into what remained of the temple yet quietly he stood observing the proceedings. He was the God of death and the Jedi would be the lives given to appease his new found thirst for their blood.

Darth Asperse could feel the ground rumbling and shake as explosions began to detonate. Yet not even a slight breeze stirred his cape. This is what he prepared for. This was the moment before the charge. He felt a strange sensation he was excited. He a man who had killed for money was excited for a battle that had no monetary value. If anything it was costing him money. He who had trivialized and marginalized life was excited now that his life would soon be on the line. This man”¦ no this demi-God. He could feel the power, the absolute and total power that came with his new found title. He was eager to test his cunning and his might against the Jedi. This was his moment. He would spill the Jedi blood and let it fertilize the very earth he would later glass. He would mark this spot, as his rise, as his ascension to full God hood. Every reverberating roar from the bombing run was like a drum beating in his chest. Today he would become a God of Death. He would slay his enemies, all of them who dared to stand against him. Normally he would have found it strange having shut down his armor system to protect them from the emp. He was positive that he was well outside of the blast range, as the Sith attack force was 600 meters away from the center of the temple. He was even more sure the effects of the blast wouldn't reach him because of the grounded speeders. Anything that accidently exploded a little too close to comfort would be diverted into the metal speeder that rested before him. As the tree line explode and most likely the wolf spider droids along with them Darth Asperser began his count down. It would take less than a minute to breech the temple with a full on Force assisted sprint from this distance. It helped that he had scouted out the location from orbit. Had known where to set up, to give the sith the best running routes. He had known the defenses, and he had known the ordinance on the way. There was nothing he did not know. He was the God of Knowledge! It was unfortunate that the full specification of the Jedi defenses had eluded him before arriving. He had an idea of the history of that area and the counter measures they would most likely use. So he had planned for that. That was why the barrage had led with the diamond boron missiles. Granted they were his favorite type of missile, yet they had a far better reason for their appearance. He knew they would be nigh impossible to shoot down. Laser cannons had proven ineffective against such missiles in the past and with their ability to fly faster than a proton torpedo, they would strike hard and fast, never deviating from target and allowing all the guns to go silent. The Speeders had meant to be shot at by the temple's defenses. Strapped with bombs they were rigged to explode on impact and send shrapnel into the surrounding area. Still they were meant to delay the temple's defenses once the full extent of the defenses were known to him. Of course in failing to distract the temple, they would simply do considerable damage to the temple, so it was a winning scenario no matter how it went down. The hostages had been icing on the cake. Meant to take down Jedi, guards and the temple itself, they were outfitted in a way that would blow holes through walls and shred through people. Their use had been a way to make sure that the jedi were rocked by explosions that their turrets wouldn't dare fire upon. The best part were the emp bombs. Now those had been important. Those had been meant to shut down the defenses, security, and weapons of the Jedi. This was meant to turn the warrior monk group into nothing more than monks with broken toys. Combined all of these elements were meant to accomplish one thing. To allow the sith to personally carve into Jedi flesh. It was to soak the ground with the very essence of life for a Jedi. To spill their blood in physical combat and prove superior over the Jedi with the killing strokes of the Sith. Today the galaxy would understand one thing. After the Jedi fell, so to would the galaxy. The count down had begun, and soon the charge would commence. <> ((The first two posts in this thread by Slicer were set up posts preparing for protection against this bombing run. Not being able to see the temple, having the speeders in the way between his forces and the temple, Specifying being outside of the blast radius, and citing being behind the speeders for added protection. Since Aryian already cited how emp work, I don't feel the need to re-iterate that.))

It permeated the battlefield. As the great wookiee jedi began his assault on the sith one could feel its influence. As the hostages ran toward the landing pads, seeing the guards with their stun batons and the familiar sight of wolf spider droids, hope filling their breasts; they could feel it. The members of the Jedi order stood in the security room, oblivious to the stealth satellites that had been turned off, going silent permanently due to actions in space could feel it. The sith forces, crouched behind metal speeders that were shut off and grounded in order to protect them while blocking their lines of sight to the temple could feel it. All could feel the dark unsettling influence of Ares's battle meditation. Each side could feel it slip inside of them. Darth Asperser turned to look at what few sith remained and gave the order. With a quick roar speeders started up. These were not the speeders that the sith were crouched behind. Instead these were speeders that had the surplus of explosives strapped to them. Had dead men strapped in, doing one last final suicidal run on the temple of an ancient enemy. Quickly these speeders lurched forward, five in all. Three aimed at the left wall of the temple two at the back wall they were decoys meant to distract, and in succeeding, to blow parts of the temple and the jedi nearby to Hell. Simultaneously, as the speeders started up, the orders transmitted up to the stars. High above it climbed to the Black Sun forces, allowing for their part in this battle to be realized. The speeders had a bit of a head start, allowing temple defenses to begin to work on them first. Darth Asperser was somewhat disappointed he could not see the temple. He was positive that his forces were outside of the blast radius of what was to come. Furthermore they had their line of sight broken by various speeders, all grounded and giving them cover. Still as everything went dark, as his armored was forced into a shut down mode, as the stealth satellites that were the eyes of the jedi were turned into sparkling space debris one last signal fired off. This terminated the data link he had. Traveling at the speed of light this signal reached the former hostages who had been granted permission to find safety in the arms of the Jedi and their guards. This was moments before the holonet broadcast would come to an end. In a gruesome display of what could only amount to tragedy each and every single one of the hostages exploded. 20lb of C4 along with 15 lb of metal ball bearings exploded upon each and every single hostage. Their deaths were like a flare in the force, each one multiplying the chance of death and destruction exponentially, as the ball shot out, impacting guards, wolf spiders, and any unfortunate jedi. Not that the combined mass of 400 lbs of plastic explosives was in anyway a slouch to the destruction, of both men and property. As the strength of the explosives launched the metal balls in a 60° fan-shaped pattern they transformed from soft steel balls into a shape similar to a .22 rimfire projectile. These fragments blew through everything within 110 yd. Trees were shredded to pieces and the front of the temple, along with the guards, the jedi and the wolf spiders, were hit with one massive battering ram. Their hope which may have been positively felt by the jedi was suddenly extinguished, in a gut wrenching display of brutality. <> ((hostage capture and fitting of the bombs: http://forums.jedi.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17338&start=3975 Gonzo captured the hostages Lucifer fit the hostages Ares sent the hostages running toward temple and wj Bomb purchases: http://forums.jedi.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14208&start=900))

Darkness, swallowed up the ship of black and gold. Blending in as not as though it belonged there but instead as if it were apart of the back drop of space. It simply was stealth in its best of forms and it suddenly decided against that protocol. Instead every single ship allied with the sith or registered with the Sith was updated on everything the ship had collected so far. From special satellites that had lit up when something entered the system down to the number of weapon defenses the jedi temple had on the outside. The sith in the shuttle was now under order to update any new incoming ships, as the stealth ship was displeased about breaking its cover. Darth Asperser stood at the ready. He had his diversionary speeders set up, and he as well as his men and snipers were all crouching behind strategically placed speeders. These metal behemoths were not the kind imperials used with their single man scouts. No, these had been used to ferry troops and supplies to this point. As he had a lot less troops now, he had a surplus in supplies. So he was using these metal speeders a large and potentially mobile cover. However, at the moment they were ground. They were as dead as a car with a bad battery, and he had ordered them that way, as make shift barriers against any potential onslaught. With the large and opposing mech like contraptions that the Jedi had, he wasn't risking his or any other life to needless risk. Plus it would be useful for what was to come. Currently he was receiving all sorts of information. He hadn't ordered everything to go dark yet, so that he could still coordinate with forces as need be. Some of the data he received was surprising, and would need to be verified, but most of it was eagerness and small updates. The time was approaching he could feel it. Dark fire had drawn out the grandmaster, who Darth Asperser was shocked to see as a wookiee. A familiar looking wookiee at that. Still the hostages were on the run. He would let them go for now, let them feel safety. Though he doubted the jedi would welcome them with open arms. They had been rather oysterish so far, which was to be expected. All of his Forces were moving up to use the cover of the grounded speeders. Soon the diversionary speeders would begin their assault and everything would fall into place. He just needed to wait a little more. His eyes temporarily widened in surprises, as he felt some one sense him. That was.... impossible. His eyes narrowed, as his mind race and then verified what he thought. With but a mental thought a lone image came to the head of the one who was trained in how to sense his void. Twisted and broken bodies lay strewn about in an unfamiliar landscape. Lightsabers discarded and cracked, their owners nothing more than charred ash. The only thing alive and standing was a man in a cape with a fearsome helmet.

A single highly encrypted communication came in for black sun and was routed to Delta. It was a follow up to the first asking for preparations to be made, as the time drew near.

Sudden activity at the base piqued Darth Asperser interest. When that activity resolved into being launching fights he moved into action. He had a pretty strong hunch about where they were going and what they were going to do when they got there. After all there had been very few attempts at stealth by his men on landing on this world. This was a response to that no doubt, and one he would nip in the bud. "Neutralize that squadron." It was his only order, and as his AI quickly began to respond to the command, he began a remote slice of the navigation of the fighters just to verify the target. The Jedi temple was left behind with haste in order to intercept that squadron.

As detectable as a small fish in the ocean under a moonless sky the Hashasheen emissary II entered the Gala system. Upon arrival deft hands took the controls, gently piloting the ship with momentum toward the target destination. He was only relying on his passive stealth systems to enter this space undetected, and had made sure he had dropped far out, away from the normal emergence points, in order to decreases the chances of his entry into gala space being noted. After all there never seemed to be much traffic at Gala. There was remarkably a lot of information on the Jedi temple on Gala with in the Sith knowledge banks. Darth Nieghne Eleviin committed a kamikaze run on the temple about three years ago. NYFE MERDIR had attempted something similar shortly after but had revised it to a bombing run. Yet all of his knowledge didn't come from old holos and archives. He had been on the temple grounds before. Darth Asperser had been in the temple and had explored its walls, after an attack and during the time where Piccolo had been knee deep in Jedi blood. That had been when he had successful completed the bounty on Serena. Still he was accustomed to performing recon of his target so he established a geosynchronous orbit above the jedi temple, far from prying eyes. He of course operated the same way he did on hunts, which had him hide his force sensitivity the moment the warning that he was about to leave hyperspace began to appear. Yes his sensors were indeed capable of scanning the temple from a far greater distance but, he wasn't planning to stay in orbit long. Just long enough to get an accurate read on the designs of the place in order to better assault this system. If Gala fell, he would make sure the Sith took control of surrounding systems as well, increase the sith sphere of influence in the galaxy. With his scanning equipment activated, he made sure his ship could scan with out being detected. It was a trait of his stealth ship that he enjoyed to a degree. Making sure the two AI were up and about Darth Asperser stared down on the world and watched as the data and pictures began to come in.

Looming out the darkness in a system with no sun sat the destination of a delivery ship. Geryon was the name and the large world seemed to almost to gush with evil. Every soul aboard that ship felt a chill run down their spine as their viewport filled with the lost souls that had gathered and created a world. The darkness of space settle perpetual on the planet leaving it in everlasting night. A fact that took their breath away as their made their way to the northern region, by passing numerous examples of life that should not have come to pass. Settling in a a crystalline marvel the team pilled out and left the package in front of what looked like a palace carved out of the natural formation of the region. With due haste they quickly left and departed, thankful to escape with their lives, and unaware of why they were so grateful. As the ship departed from the sky, a lone figure stepped out from the shadows. This man was formerly known as the bounty hunter Slicer. He was now the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Asperser. He knew it would be to his benefit to keep the two separate and so, the man whose face was a mystery began to take on a new appearance. Feelings from the years that came with battling in the same armor were pushed aside. Instead with care he removed from him his second skin. Then with practiced skill he assembled his new ensemble. With a fastening of his cape, he wad complete and the Dark Lord found himself in awe of his new style. Yet he was not here for a simple wardrobe change. This was perhaps one of the most dangerous worlds in the galaxy. He would stay here for a time, while his force built up in preparation for the Gala attack. He had to stay here after all the system was new, the weight distribution different and he could not afford to be clumsy in battle. With a single minded focus, he began.

Dark Lord Armor: A tight-fitting bodysuit fashioned entirely out of spider silk armor. The top half of the armor is an extremely segmented group of ultra chrome plates of various sizes to allow for maximum torso movement while giving a comfortable resistance to lightsaber strikes. His outer thighs and shoulders have similar protection. Custom wrist gauntlets, sleek in design and designed to fire the Dur-24 wrist laser as well as his dart launcher. Each wrist can fire both and the capacity of the darts have been reduced down to seven darts per launcher. Both gauntlets are made of ultrachrome. He had a jagged edge cape created with a shape memory polymer/fiber. It can on command do with one of two things. The first being to retract upward on itself until it becomes like a tiny backpack in order to allow for greater mobility in a fight. Or it can aligned into a semi-rigid form resembling terrifying wings, allowing him to glide over the streets and rooftops. There are razor blade weights attached to the bottom the cape allowing him to use it as a weapon. It is also fire resistant. At shoulder level where the cape can connect to the body there are two connectors. These connectors are generally black or grey and can glow red for intimidation purposes on command or release a blinding flash meant to disorient opponents at close ranges. The helmet records video and plays it back on command, dispenses water, compensates automatically for low or high light conditions, picks up on minute sounds and amplifies them and can connect with the onboard computer of his ship. It has the capability of sealing to compensate for pressure changes, and holding 10 minutes of air helmet also contained a retractable straw, allowing him to drink without removing his helmet. The helmet also can control weapons, sensors, and his slicing materials with verbal commands. His helmet's HUD (heads-up-display) features information on the surrounding environment as well as a 360-degree field of vision. The HUD's data streams can be controlled by eye movements and blinking. In addition, an advanced penetrating radar allows his HUD to provide information on nearby rooms, and can be used to scan the HoloNet and connect with databases, allowing him to perform tasks which would normally require a computer terminal, such as searching databases for individuals or even trading on the stock market and buying real estate, from anywhere that was accessible through the HoloNet. The macrobinocular viewplate can be magnified to allow him to see great distances, and is equipped with, among other things, an infrared scanner that could be magnified up to 50 times. The infrared scanner magnified light up to 100 times or displayed heat gradations. The other things include thermal and night vision capabilities. A third view mode highlighting electromagnetic radiation emitted from nearby power lines, generators, and electrical equipment. A forth and some what more useless mode is its fluorescent mode. Which just allows him to see dust and if anything has been moved. A small port and cable allows him to connect to a computer system, providing him with a heads-up display that displayed relevant data laid over his normal vision by translating complex computer algorithms into easy-to-understand symbols and words. The helmet's broad band antenna at the top of the antenna is a rangefinder capable of tracking up to 30 targets from a distance of 100 meters. The rangefinder feeds data to a display overlay inside the helmet showing range and movement for targets in a 360 degree radius. The overlay also linked to his weapons systems to display fire vector and range data. The rangefinder can be deployed horizontally or vertically. The antenna is disguised as one of two demonic looking horns meant to give this helmet a fearsome appearance. The environmental filter system could filter out poisons and contaminants. Weapons: listed above

A single highly encrypted communication came in for black sun and was routed to Delta. It spoke of hiring a flight of men and the ordinance required as well as a payment for the use of these troops.

A lone man entered the shop. With him he carried credits and orders from the Dark Lord of the Sith. Placing both credits and the order down, he left and construction began on a new attire. --edit 12/12/2011-- The armor was completed and shipped of to be delivered.

He had performed spaces tests on all of his new armor suits. Now he was back in his old and yet still very fashionable armor. At first he had thought it to be all purpose, but it seemed to be more of a recon suit than anything. With all of his scanners, and cameras, why he was also recording, and always seeing past the nearest wall. He smiled, it was comforting to know that his gear was still working. He set a course then began to work as his ship took him to his new location. He was rebuilding an invention of his. Slicer diligently hummed as he worked. A welding torch in one hand, his hand drawn schematics in the other. It was time for him to get back to his roots of inventing and he felt inspired to recreate. All currently available network intrusion detection (ID) systems rely upon a mechanism of data collection---passive protocol analysis---which is fundamentally flawed. In passive protocol analysis, the intrusion detection system (IDS) unobtrusively watches all traffic on the network, and scrutinizes it for patterns of suspicious activity. Intrusion detection is a security technology that attempts to identify and isolate "intrusions" against computer systems. Different ID systems have differing classifications of "intrusion"; a system attempting to detect attacks against web servers might consider only malicious Holonet requests, while a system intended to monitor dynamic routing protocols might only consider RIP spoofing. Regardless, all ID systems share a general definition of "intrusion" as an unauthorized usage of or misuse of a computer system. Intrusion detection is an important component of a security system, and it complements other security technologies. By providing information to site administration, ID allows not only for the detection of attacks explicitly addressed by other security components (such as firewalls and service wrappers), but also attempts to provide notification of new attacks unforeseen by other components. Intrusion detection systems also provide forensic information that potentially allow organizations to discover the origins of an attack. In this manner, ID systems attempt to make attackers more accountable for their actions, and, to some extent, act as a deterrent to future attacks. There are many different ID systems deployed world-wide, and almost as many different designs for them. Because there are so many different ID systems, it helps to have a model within which to consider all of them. The Common Intrusion Detection Framework (CIDF)[1] defines a set of components that together define an intrusion detection system. These components include event generators ("E-boxes"), analysis engines ("A-boxes"), storage mechanisms ("D-boxes"), and even countermeasures ("C-boxes"). A CIDF component can be a software package in and of itself, or part of a larger system. The purpose of an E-box is to provide information about events to the rest of the system. An "event" can be complex, or it can be a low-level network protocol occurrence. It need not be evidence of an intrusion in and of itself. E-boxes are the sensory organs of a complete IDS--- without E-box inputs, an intrusion detection system has no information from which to make conclusions about security events. A-boxes analyze input from event generators. A large portion of intrusion detection research goes into creating new ways to analyze event streams to extract relevant information, and a number of different approaches have been studied. Event analysis techniques based on statistical anomaly detection[2], graph analysis[3], and even biological immune system models[4] have been proposed. E-boxes and A-boxes can produce large quantities of data. This information must be made available to the system's operators if it is to be of any use. The D-box component of an IDS defines the means used to store security information and make it available at a later time. Many ID systems are designed only as alarms. However, most commercially available ID systems are equipped with some form of countermeasure (C-box) capability, ranging from shutting down TCP connections to modifying router filter lists. This allows an IDS to try to prevent further attacks from occurring after initial attacks are detected. Even systems that don't provide C-box capabilities can be hooked into home-brewed response programs to achieve a similar effect. Each component identified by the CIDF model has unique security implications, and can be attacked for different reasons. As the only inputs of raw data into the system, E-boxes act as the eyes and ears of an IDS. An attack against the event generation capabilities of an IDS blinds it to what's actually happening in the system it's monitoring. For example, an attack against the E-box of a network IDS could prevent it from obtaining Spikes which will now be referred to as spikes off the network, or from appropriately decoding these Spikes. Some intrusion detection systems rely on sophisticated analyses to provide security information. In such systems, the reliability of the A-box components used is important because an attacker that knows how to fool them can evade detection --- and complicated analytical techniques may provide many avenues of attack. On the other hand, overly simplistic systems may fail to detect attackers that intentionally mask their attacks with complex, coordinated system interactions from multiple hosts[6]. The need for reliable data storage is obvious. An attacker that can subvert the D-box components of an IDS can prevent it from recording the details of her attack; poorly implemented data storage techniques can even allow sophisticated attackers to alter recorded information after an attack has been detected, eliminating its forensic value. The C-box capability can also be attacked. If a network relies on these countermeasures for protection, an attacker who knows how to thwart the C-box can continue attacking the network, immune to the safety measures employed by the system. More importantly, countermeasure capabilities can be fooled into reacting against legitimate usage of the network --- in this case, the IDS can actually be turned against the network using it (often un-detectably). It is apparent that there are many different points at which an intrusion detection system can be attacked. A comprehensive treatment of all potential vulnerabilities is far outside the scope of this paper. Rather than attempting to document general problems common to all ID systems, we focus on a specific class of attacks against certain types of intrusion detection systems. There exist several serious problems with the use of passive protocol analysis as an event-generation source for signature-analysis intrusion detection systems. This paper documents these problems, presents several attacks that exploit them to allow an attacker to evade detection by ID systems, and verifies their applicability to the most popular commercial ID systems on the market. A network IDS is typically on an entirely different machine from the systems it's watching. Often, the IDS is at a completely different point on the network. The basic problem facing a network IDS is that these differences cause inconsistencies between the ID system and the machines it watches. Some of these discrepancies are the results of basic physical differences, others stem from different network driver implementations. For example, consider an IDS and an end-system located at different places on a network. The two systems will receive any given Spike at different points in time. This difference in time is important; during the lag, something can happen on the end-system that might prevent it from accepting the Spike. The IDS, however, has already processed the Spike---thinking that it will be dealt with normally at the end-system. A "denial of service" (DOS) attack is one that is intended to compromise the availability of a computing resource. Common DOS attacks include ping floods and mail bombs --- both intended to consume disproportionate amounts of resources, starving legitimate processes. Other attacks are targeted at bugs in software, and are intended to crash the system. The infamous "ping of death" and "teardrop" attacks are examples of these. Denial of service attacks can be leveraged to subvert systems (thus compromising more than availability) as well as to disable them. When discussing the relevance of DOS attacks to a security system, the question of whether the system is "fail-open" arises. A "fail-open" system ceases to provide protection when it is disabled by a DOS attack. A "fail-closed" system, on the other hand, leaves the network protected when it is forcibly disabled. The terms "fail-open" and "fail-closed" are most often heard within the context of firewalls, which are access-control devices for networks. A fail-open firewall stops controlling access to the network when it crashes, but leaves the network available. An attacker that can crash a fail-open firewall can bypass it entirely. Good firewalls are designed to "fail-closed", leaving the network completely inaccessible (and thus protected) if they crash. Network ID systems are passive. They do not control the network or maintain its connectivity in any way. As such, a network IDS is inherently fail-open. If an attacker can crash the IDS or starve it of resources, she can attack the rest of the network as if the IDS wasn't even there. Because of the obvious susceptibility to DOS attacks that network ID systems have, it's important that they be fortified against them. Unfortunately, denial of service attacks are extremely difficult to defend against. The resource starvation problem is not easily solvable, and there are many different points at which the resources of an IDS can be consumed. Attacks that crash the IDS itself are easily fixed, but finding all such vulnerabilities is not easily done. An IDS can accept a Spike that an end-system rejects. An IDS that does this makes the mistake of believing that the end-system has accepted and processed the Spike when it actually hasn't. An attacker can exploit this condition by sending Spikes to an end-system that it will reject, but that the IDS will think are valid. In doing this, the attacker is "inserting" data into the IDS --- no other system on the network cares about the bad Spikes. This should in effect allow me to slip past any system I so desire. An end-system can accept a Spike that an IDS rejects. An IDS that mistakenly rejects such a Spike misses its contents entirely. This condition can also be exploited, this time by slipping crucial information past the IDS in Spikes that the IDS is too strict about processing. These Spikes are "evading" the scrutiny of the IDS. We call these "evasion" attacks, and they are the easiest to exploit and most devastating to the accuracy of an IDS. Entire sessions can be carried forth in Spikes that evade an IDS, and blatantly obvious attacks couched in such sessions will happen right under the nose of even the most sophisticated analysis engine. Evasion attacks foil pattern matching in a manner quite similar to insertion attacks. Again, the attacker causes the IDS to see a different stream of data than the end-system --- this time, however, the end-system sees more than the IDS, and the information that the IDS misses is critical to the detection of an attack. By combining this ability along with the first ability I should be able to access any info I desire while throwing off any possible chance of being detected while in the system. In reality, insertion and evasion attacks are not this easy to exploit. An attacker usually does not have the luxury of injecting arbitrary characters into a stream. However, these attacks can come into play well before pattern matching becomes a consideration. One example of a place in which insertion attacks can be leveraged at a very low level is stream reassembly. However, if my theory holds true, then by taking the same droid processors that are present inside of slicer droids, which should already be state of the art, and adding this elusion protocol in triplicate to the droid processors, and attach them to something the size of 2 inch cover that cover's datapad ports for all computer systems. And I should be able to devise a way that by merely attaching this to any computer system in any network, that it automatically tears through the system one way or another. Upon reaching inside, it would then open up the entire network, even if it was a closed system, mainly by connecting the system to a holonet line. By doing so, it would allow me, or anyone who knew what to look for and had acess to the transponder that I will be building next, to enter any infected system from Planets away. He sighed and stood up, in front of him were five seemingly innocent strops, that had undersides that look as if they connected to a datapad port found on computers. This was a tried and true method he had used in the past. In short it turned an closed system into an open one for him. As well as allowed an encryption system armed with anti hacking methods to be bypassed for him. Letting him link up with any system he put this piece of hardware on from anywhere in the galaxy. Of course it was designed to look like it was part of the ports that it would be covering. As to not arouse suspicion and simply be removed. He began to work on a software equivalent, to finish out his remaining hours on his way to coruscant.

He had performed spaces tests on all of his new armor suits. Now he was back in his old and yet still very fashionable armor. At first he had thought it to be all purpose, but it seemed to be more of a recon suit than anything. With all of his scanners, and cameras, why he was also recording, and always seeing past the nearest wall. He smiled, it was comforting to know that his gear was still working. He set a course then began to work as his ship took him to his new location. He was rebuilding an invention of his. Slicer diligently hummed as he worked. A welding torch in one hand, his hand drawn schematics in the other. It was time for him to get back to his roots of inventing and he felt inspired to recreate. All currently available network intrusion detection (ID) systems rely upon a mechanism of data collection---passive protocol analysis---which is fundamentally flawed. In passive protocol analysis, the intrusion detection system (IDS) unobtrusively watches all traffic on the network, and scrutinizes it for patterns of suspicious activity. Intrusion detection is a security technology that attempts to identify and isolate "intrusions" against computer systems. Different ID systems have differing classifications of "intrusion"; a system attempting to detect attacks against web servers might consider only malicious Holonet requests, while a system intended to monitor dynamic routing protocols might only consider RIP spoofing. Regardless, all ID systems share a general definition of "intrusion" as an unauthorized usage of or misuse of a computer system. Intrusion detection is an important component of a security system, and it complements other security technologies. By providing information to site administration, ID allows not only for the detection of attacks explicitly addressed by other security components (such as firewalls and service wrappers), but also attempts to provide notification of new attacks unforeseen by other components. Intrusion detection systems also provide forensic information that potentially allow organizations to discover the origins of an attack. In this manner, ID systems attempt to make attackers more accountable for their actions, and, to some extent, act as a deterrent to future attacks. There are many different ID systems deployed world-wide, and almost as many different designs for them. Because there are so many different ID systems, it helps to have a model within which to consider all of them. The Common Intrusion Detection Framework (CIDF)[1] defines a set of components that together define an intrusion detection system. These components include event generators ("E-boxes"), analysis engines ("A-boxes"), storage mechanisms ("D-boxes"), and even countermeasures ("C-boxes"). A CIDF component can be a software package in and of itself, or part of a larger system. The purpose of an E-box is to provide information about events to the rest of the system. An "event" can be complex, or it can be a low-level network protocol occurrence. It need not be evidence of an intrusion in and of itself. E-boxes are the sensory organs of a complete IDS--- without E-box inputs, an intrusion detection system has no information from which to make conclusions about security events. A-boxes analyze input from event generators. A large portion of intrusion detection research goes into creating new ways to analyze event streams to extract relevant information, and a number of different approaches have been studied. Event analysis techniques based on statistical anomaly detection[2], graph analysis[3], and even biological immune system models[4] have been proposed. E-boxes and A-boxes can produce large quantities of data. This information must be made available to the system's operators if it is to be of any use. The D-box component of an IDS defines the means used to store security information and make it available at a later time. Many ID systems are designed only as alarms. However, most commercially available ID systems are equipped with some form of countermeasure (C-box) capability, ranging from shutting down TCP connections to modifying router filter lists. This allows an IDS to try to prevent further attacks from occurring after initial attacks are detected. Even systems that don't provide C-box capabilities can be hooked into home-brewed response programs to achieve a similar effect. Each component identified by the CIDF model has unique security implications, and can be attacked for different reasons. As the only inputs of raw data into the system, E-boxes act as the eyes and ears of an IDS. An attack against the event generation capabilities of an IDS blinds it to what's actually happening in the system it's monitoring. For example, an attack against the E-box of a network IDS could prevent it from obtaining Spikes which will now be referred to as spikes off the network, or from appropriately decoding these Spikes. Some intrusion detection systems rely on sophisticated analyses to provide security information. In such systems, the reliability of the A-box components used is important because an attacker that knows how to fool them can evade detection --- and complicated analytical techniques may provide many avenues of attack. On the other hand, overly simplistic systems may fail to detect attackers that intentionally mask their attacks with complex, coordinated system interactions from multiple hosts[6]. The need for reliable data storage is obvious. An attacker that can subvert the D-box components of an IDS can prevent it from recording the details of her attack; poorly implemented data storage techniques can even allow sophisticated attackers to alter recorded information after an attack has been detected, eliminating its forensic value. The C-box capability can also be attacked. If a network relies on these countermeasures for protection, an attacker who knows how to thwart the C-box can continue attacking the network, immune to the safety measures employed by the system. More importantly, countermeasure capabilities can be fooled into reacting against legitimate usage of the network --- in this case, the IDS can actually be turned against the network using it (often un-detectably). It is apparent that there are many different points at which an intrusion detection system can be attacked. A comprehensive treatment of all potential vulnerabilities is far outside the scope of this paper. Rather than attempting to document general problems common to all ID systems, we focus on a specific class of attacks against certain types of intrusion detection systems. There exist several serious problems with the use of passive protocol analysis as an event-generation source for signature-analysis intrusion detection systems. This paper documents these problems, presents several attacks that exploit them to allow an attacker to evade detection by ID systems, and verifies their applicability to the most popular commercial ID systems on the market. A network IDS is typically on an entirely different machine from the systems it's watching. Often, the IDS is at a completely different point on the network. The basic problem facing a network IDS is that these differences cause inconsistencies between the ID system and the machines it watches. Some of these discrepancies are the results of basic physical differences, others stem from different network driver implementations. For example, consider an IDS and an end-system located at different places on a network. The two systems will receive any given Spike at different points in time. This difference in time is important; during the lag, something can happen on the end-system that might prevent it from accepting the Spike. The IDS, however, has already processed the Spike---thinking that it will be dealt with normally at the end-system. A "denial of service" (DOS) attack is one that is intended to compromise the availability of a computing resource. Common DOS attacks include ping floods and mail bombs --- both intended to consume disproportionate amounts of resources, starving legitimate processes. Other attacks are targeted at bugs in software, and are intended to crash the system. The infamous "ping of death" and "teardrop" attacks are examples of these. Denial of service attacks can be leveraged to subvert systems (thus compromising more than availability) as well as to disable them. When discussing the relevance of DOS attacks to a security system, the question of whether the system is "fail-open" arises. A "fail-open" system ceases to provide protection when it is disabled by a DOS attack. A "fail-closed" system, on the other hand, leaves the network protected when it is forcibly disabled. The terms "fail-open" and "fail-closed" are most often heard within the context of firewalls, which are access-control devices for networks. A fail-open firewall stops controlling access to the network when it crashes, but leaves the network available. An attacker that can crash a fail-open firewall can bypass it entirely. Good firewalls are designed to "fail-closed", leaving the network completely inaccessible (and thus protected) if they crash. Network ID systems are passive. They do not control the network or maintain its connectivity in any way. As such, a network IDS is inherently fail-open. If an attacker can crash the IDS or starve it of resources, she can attack the rest of the network as if the IDS wasn't even there. Because of the obvious susceptibility to DOS attacks that network ID systems have, it's important that they be fortified against them. Unfortunately, denial of service attacks are extremely difficult to defend against. The resource starvation problem is not easily solvable, and there are many different points at which the resources of an IDS can be consumed. Attacks that crash the IDS itself are easily fixed, but finding all such vulnerabilities is not easily done. An IDS can accept a Spike that an end-system rejects. An IDS that does this makes the mistake of believing that the end-system has accepted and processed the Spike when it actually hasn't. An attacker can exploit this condition by sending Spikes to an end-system that it will reject, but that the IDS will think are valid. In doing this, the attacker is "inserting" data into the IDS --- no other system on the network cares about the bad Spikes. This should in effect allow me to slip past any system I so desire. An end-system can accept a Spike that an IDS rejects. An IDS that mistakenly rejects such a Spike misses its contents entirely. This condition can also be exploited, this time by slipping crucial information past the IDS in Spikes that the IDS is too strict about processing. These Spikes are "evading" the scrutiny of the IDS. We call these "evasion" attacks, and they are the easiest to exploit and most devastating to the accuracy of an IDS. Entire sessions can be carried forth in Spikes that evade an IDS, and blatantly obvious attacks couched in such sessions will happen right under the nose of even the most sophisticated analysis engine. Evasion attacks foil pattern matching in a manner quite similar to insertion attacks. Again, the attacker causes the IDS to see a different stream of data than the end-system --- this time, however, the end-system sees more than the IDS, and the information that the IDS misses is critical to the detection of an attack. By combining this ability along with the first ability I should be able to access any info I desire while throwing off any possible chance of being detected while in the system. In reality, insertion and evasion attacks are not this easy to exploit. An attacker usually does not have the luxury of injecting arbitrary characters into a stream. However, these attacks can come into play well before pattern matching becomes a consideration. One example of a place in which insertion attacks can be leveraged at a very low level is stream reassembly. However, if my theory holds true, then by taking the same droid processors that are present inside of slicer droids, which should already be state of the art, and adding this elusion protocol in triplicate to the droid processors, and attach them to something the size of 2 inch cover that cover's datapad ports for all computer systems. And I should be able to devise a way that by merely attaching this to any computer system in any network, that it automatically tears through the system one way or another. Upon reaching inside, it would then open up the entire network, even if it was a closed system, mainly by connecting the system to a holonet line. By doing so, it would allow me, or anyone who knew what to look for and had acess to the transponder that I will be building next, to enter any infected system from Planets away. He sighed and stood up, in front of him were five seemingly innocent strops, that had undersides that look as if they connected to a datapad port found on computers. This was a tried and true method he had used in the past. In short it turned an closed system into an open one for him. As well as allowed an encryption system armed with anti hacking methods to be bypassed for him. Letting him link up with any system he put this piece of hardware on from anywhere in the galaxy. Of course it was designed to look like it was part of the ports that it would be covering. As to not arouse suspicion and simply be removed. He began to work on a software equivalent, to finish out his remaining hours on his way to coruscant.

He stood hands clasped behind his back staring out in the vast endlessness of space. This man was a business man of many different sorts but above all he was a killer. A paid killer but a killer and it had been some time since he had killed. He turned slowly to look back into the interior of his ship. It still had that new ship smell. That was annoying. It was annoying so much had to be replaced. Yet it had allowed him to evolve. What he needed now was a field test of sorts. The Sith master waited in the vastness of space. He waited, he watched and he planned.

Deep with in the populated forgery, a special request came in. This request would bring about a change for some in the galaxy. For most it would be business as usual. Still four special crafted sets of armor began to be forged. When they were finished they would be ship away with out a second thought to coordinates provided by the requester. Still it would take some time for all the materials to be assembled and the products finished. ((Not normal way, but I asked and so)

He stood looking at his reflection. Moments before he had emerged from the very tube he was staring at. His body was still wet from the liquid that coated his new form. It had been a long time. His eyes slid over to a table, where a neat pair of simply robes awaited him. Droids milled about, the purpose to bring him comfort in this harsh reality. Calmly he walked to the table and cloaked himself in those robes. There was much to be done. He picked up a datapd. Soon he had ordered the customization of a new ship. He also placed orders for new sets of armor. It was time to move on in the armor game. His set had been powerful, but outdated. It was time to stay fresh and current. A contact at the sith temple alerted him to something interesting. It seemed a human had been going with out food nor water, standing at the temple gates for months. That or if food or water were consumed it was hidden in ways no one had observed. Regardless it was clear that this being was some what Force sensitive. This intrigued the bounty hunter. Yet he would not be leaving this world for some time. Not until he was up to combat status. He sent out a message. Then with a long stretch he left to go prepare.

Time itself stood still. One moment he was aware of what he was facing. The next dread began to fill his animal body. Dread forced into him by the Force of evil. Yet he reveled in this automatically, for it was nothing compared to him. Bastards and villains each had, had a mission in life they sought to fulfill. Each had a justifiable reason for their evil. The murders were kindred spirits to him brothers in arms that showed him the gravity of the situation he would be facing. Beyond that was pain, the pain of needles. It was that which triggered the danger in his mind. He could feel the murderous intention, and in his mind's eye he saw needles coming for him, attempting to drill holes into him. So he began to move, began to dive toward the only cover he could see in his eyes. Flames came onto him and he knew the needles were to bring more pain. Then everything simply turned to dread, as life forms struggled to survive and in gaining control of their ultimate power, losing it, and becoming a cancer of the system. No matter what there was always a new cancer, each one different yet all serving the same purpose. He saw Sith in his mind, that he attributed to the cancer than now filled him with dread. Yet even that faded away and was replaced by horror. Then there was normalcy and he was in motion, in the air diving toward his target, lightsaber in hand. Again his mind was”¦ under assault, this time his parents. They were getting something that was perhaps long overdue for them. A smile crossed his lips from behind his helmet in that instant. It flashed in that brief moment of time, the span of a mere blink. Then his eye sight was stripped of him as bugs swarmed his vision. Yet they were nothing to him, how could they be, they were just trying to survive. They had the same goal as anything else in this God forsaken universe. Then everything went red. He could feel his war with himself slipping. The bounty hunter known as Slicer felt fear overcome him. His fear born from a true dread that so far these”¦visions had perhaps only hinted at. On some level he knew, or he thought he knew that his life time of knowledge gathered, had been destroyed. Nadus thought that his ship had left and felt another part of himself slipping. The pain in his chest began to ebb away, as a new far darker pain began to blossom from within. Then it happened. As storms covered worlds, as water turned to blood, it all paled before him. Anger began to fill him, and then at last so did his will, his grasp over himself. His signature in the Force was lost to the Force, instead encompassing the whole tunnel. A feeling of a dark specter, as evil as time existed settled upon those present. It permeated the area to even the furthers corners. It did not feel like death, for that was only the end function of life. Instead it felt as if the world was collapsing. As though those caught in the room were unexpectedly beset by perplexing but purposeful, deliberate, and hateful attacks on their lives. It was a vile feeling that could take the breath of some yet, oddly imbue others with purpose. It was justifiable”¦ The cave walls in the Dagobah Sith installation turned into fetid muscle tissue before his eyes. The sith who had been attacking him, now an obsidian dragon, devoured the world. His tail knocked each star from the dark skies to the ground, destroying wretched cities of iron and gold. Both sinners and saints were cast into a hole. All religions were proven false in a theoretical proof he had never seen before. Philosophy stopped as did his hold on his own evil. In despair, he felt as though he pulled out his arms before losing every drop of blood imaginable. His now broken body was slit endlessly with frozen, dry ribbons and flown like a banner in the red skies. At least to die, was to be free. He was reborn immediately, but in an energy-comprised cage of indestructible wasps. It was over, and the bounty hunter known as Slicer was gone. In his stead was something else. Something that defined the evil that made the man function. It was his base nature. The very thing he struggled to keep under control and keep hidden. His own nature had locked his rational free thinking mind into an energy cage. It had allowed him to die and once reborn, it had taken control. All hope was lost for the monster inside was revealed. For evil was truly intelligence in the service of entropy. By his nature he was quite clever in biding his time, observing, and waiting until the opportune moment to destroy that which needed destruction. His way was insidious as his targets were struck down, often without known who or why. They never put the pieces together until long after he had already slit their throat, like taking a lamb to slaughter. Yet much like entropy, evil has a purpose and so did his. His was an evil that seemed to settle upon those around him. Truly the evil that now permeated the place felt wonderful to those well versed in such feelings. Yet at the same time horrifying to those who had never experienced such an evil. Under its influence one felt almost regal and noble. As if they were the supreme ruler of a land. At the same time it felt as an intense as a love that a dedicated father had for one's children or a beloved monarch had for one's people. This feeling was all encompassing, like the mother devoted to her family, yet restrictive in the same way. It was to feel these ways and more. Like the man who clutched at the one heirloom he had left of his deceased father, all others having been lost or destroyed. Like the affection of two soulmates beginning to start the journey of life together, inseparable and hopelessly and deeply in love. Yet there was an edge to it all. A sense that was fine tuned and yet barely noticeable. Still it slipped past those under its influence, like a knife peeling the skin of an apple. This fine edge was like blood on the tongue. One did not notice the blood but tasted the iron or copper flavor from the wound. It colored the feelings of before. Colored them such that the feeling of two soul mates became how far one would go to save the other. It became the rage that a father would feel upon finding out his daughter was raped. The desperation the monarch would feel upon seeing his/her beloved people oppressed by a neighboring nation. It felt like the lengths people in these situations would go to protect that what they loved. The edge became the lives taken and the willingness to sacrifice anything and everything, including their closest allies and friends, to ensure that their one desire was protected beyond all else. It was the motive of doing good brought to an extreme. It was the kind that allowed nations to strip the rights of individuals under the clause of security. Still there was a thrill to this feeling. This thrill was akin to a father gazing upon his baby daughter for the first time. Also it was of the pride and excitement of being a monarch first bearing of the crown. As well as the feel of a blade parting flesh and causing the life blood of a rapist to be spilled from his own throat, as you save your daughter. Of watching the bullet shatter the face of your enemy who had raped your land, oppressed your people and, destroyed their lively hood. Even still an odd sense of detachment from it all is what really made it all the more horrifying. Almost as if despite who lived or died, none of it mattered, especially if you were still breathing. Trapped in his own body, his own personal hell continued, as the clatter of armor slammed against the wall. He was no longer in control as Slicer the bounty hunter. Crouched behind the female, metal either whizzed pass him harmlessly or into the female he was using as cover. The shots were fast, yet he had moved before they had left the barrel. The death of the female was no longer on his mind. No his mind was locked away. It was suffering innumerable tortures, as the horrors continued to pound away at his psyche. He had learned long ago that Sith were for the most part slaves. They are those who kill or perverse life and the environment for their own gain and pleasure. They are lured by greed, or by the temptation to use their power to do as they please. They believe their power belongs to them, and in this it controls them, as they focus solely on the power itself, and how to better try and manipulate it. In that they are not evil by choice per say but, instead evil by coincidence or necessity. They become evil by necessity in order to harness the power, they must be evil, yet in being evil they wish only to harness the power. The young sith who kills a defenseless beggar, has only exercised practice and control of the power he wields. The moment the so called sith kills any being of obvious lesser might, they are simply demonstrating their power. They are allowing it to make their decisions, by tempting them to show it off. The power controls them and, they yield to small baser passions. Assuming that might makes right and that they should take what they want. They are below even the animals in the jungle for they only kill for food. These beings are evil yes, but not because they choose to be. They simply can not help themselves. They are like an addict to spice. They fail to dominate, to move past learning some special power they believe to be the ultimate game changer. They rely on that power for subsistence, be it ego boost or otherwise and are slaves to it. Even he had thought he was controlled by greed. It was a greed to know and gain knowledge, not the greed of money. Yet it was the money that had perhaps allowed him to transcend the evil of the sith. He was an evil born of an enemy of God. He was one who took something as priceless and as worthless as money, and used it to measure a life. He took the greatest of gifts God or some force had placed upon the universe and had added an arbitrary value to it simply for his own pleasure. He took life, not for the thrill, but as a war against the very nature of life. Yet he did it willingly. He eagerly took these jobs, assigning money and trinkets to the wonder that was life. The issue was that in doing so, he was perverting the one thing that made a civilized galaxy. Religion held no meaning to him, power held no meaning to him. All that held meaning was his instruments of death and his knowledge of how to kill. Was his body in pain? Perhaps, the hunter cared little for such distractions. All the hunter wanted was to watch prey die. All beings were prey for the right price. These had the unfortunate price of being free. It was rare that their lives were below the scale of worth imposed by the weak in the civilized galaxy. Money after all was the true source of power, and yet it was utterly worthless. It was the reason he had horded money, for all it was, was the score for him. He was an equalizer. He gave those who have the power of money and, transforms that power into power unrestrained. He put a price on life due to his abhorrence of nature. He takes the credits and in return, he takes a life. He gives value to money and he gives lives a monetary value. There was a being who hated man. This being spent his time whispering in the ears of man. It whispered and convinced man to do horrible and terrible things. Some say it was because this being resided in a place called hell. That this hell was the destination for those that were wicked, and in his loneliness and hatred, sought to bring man there with him. That being however, was currently facing down two men. One with the powers of a God, the other still a fledging seeking the same power. Yet he had killed and corrupted demi-gods before. He would kill these two and then the female. He would savor the death as only a predator devouring his prey could. He was an entity that gave life to twisted values. He was the being that turned other men into monsters by putting a price on life. He was a force that made men lie awake at night knowing he is completing their will, not to show he is the best, but to take from them something that they worked in some way to get. He brought understanding to men that they are mortal, and that their lives are cheap, as for the right price they can be killed by him. His actions change the morals of men, not by using the Force and bending them to his will, but instead by allowing them to use their more baser natures. He took lives not for his pleasure but for the pleasure and desire of someone else. He would take these lives for that reason. He was hired to kill the female. The predator knew this. Yet the more dead the merrier, as it would all lay on the head of who had hired him. The one who had unleashed him upon the unsuspecting would be to blame. Those before him were prey; their response was that of prey. He was the predator. He would devour them. He knew of the gadgets he had. They were his ”˜talons'. His prey had talons too. One was powerful with that dreadful Force. Yet so was he. The other had long sharp ”˜talons' their reach was incredible. He moved. As his armor collided against the wall, as he hid behind the wounded female for cover, as his mind was subdued by the horrors unleashed upon it, the predator moved. One moment he was rolling, having landed next to the female. The next moment he was between the two men attempting to kill him. He was in pain. This he knew. Yet the pain fueled his desire for their blood. They had wounded him, he wanted them dead. He had used the jetpack to fly over the shots of the armored one. The shots were fast, some racked him, none incapacitated him. Instead razor-flechettes tore into his arm. The hunter had known that the arm was more dead than alive. He had sacrificed it further during his rampage in order to protect the body. Nothing would be allowed to stop him. Arms outstretched the monster Slicer had become dropped the cyan lightsaber dropped by reflex during the flight to escape the needles. The razor-flechettes stole from him briefly the ability to grasp it. Delta faced the familiar red glow of the flame thrower being activated to douse him in flames. Yet the Sith who had ripped his mind asunder, would soon take a dirt nap as four darts one right after the other, all launched from the hidden launcher in his other hand. His feet had barely touched the ground before each attack was launched simultaneously. A primal scream erupted from him, not out of hunger, but of pain. He was in pain, so much pain. Yet the torment of the bounty hunter had finished. Detached as it was from his current actions, the last waves of horror at last ebbed from him. It seemed the assault was finished, or perhaps it was interrupted. Yet could he regain control? That he did not know. Yet Slicer knew he had to reign in the monster, as who knew what destruction it would unleash? The dark side was all about survival. It's was about unleashing your inner power. It glorified the strength of the individual. He had at long last surrendered to it. No longer did he bend it to his will and this more than anything terrified him. <>

His lightsaber stopped short of gutting his target. Still she was grievously wounded and that amounted to something. Yet there was no joy in failing to complete a job for the bounty hunter. Since the tunnels had not collapsed as he had wished, he could feel his own anger rising. It was unprofessional at best, yet sometimes you just had to ride out the emotion when faced with a life or death situation. As his target collapsed, Slicer was seized mid strike on a follow up finishing blow. What would have been a rather punishing blow delivered straight below his belt, ended up with a slight wince as the area became too hot for comfort. It was the flash of light and searing pain his chest that caused true worry. He felt a searing pain as a flash of light connected with his chest, and then it felt as though it was on fire. Still he was able to draw breath, so it wasn't as though he had a collapsed lung. It was as if some one had taken a hammer and swung it into his left pectoral. If he had been standing on his own power, he would have been knocked to his feet with out a doubt. It seemed his chest piece had taken the lethality out of the shot, which was what it was there for. Still he was a Sith master who was no stranger to pain. He understood it was a warning sign but, instead he used it to focus his mind. His stretched out in the Force and could feel another attack coming on. Yet he was pinned in place. For many beings in the galaxy this would signify a very gruesome ending. However when one was faced with a life or death situation, they were willing to do anything and everything to escape it. Slicer had been in many life and death situations. He had faced down more angry people than he cared to count, and had dealt with his fare share of Force users. What he had found was that nobody ever seemed to be able to grab a missile. So that is what he became. His jet pack activated and quickly he shot up over head, as both a disintegrating bolt of death and a jet of flame pass by under neither him. Yet he had over estimated the amount of thrust needed, and ended up banging his head pretty good on the tunnel's ceiling. Clearly he needed to get out of here, and by now his ship would be on the way for a pick up. The question was could he escape or would he have to fight? He belly flopped onto the ground moments later after banging his head. He was dizzy and the wind was knocked out of him pretty good but he only had one word on his mind. Missile ”œFire”¦Missile, target three.”

His lightsaber stopped short of gutting his target. Still she was grievously wounded and that amounted to something. Yet there was no joy in failing to complete a job for the bounty hunter. Since the tunnels had not collapsed as he had wished, he could feel his own anger rising. It was unprofessional at best, yet sometimes you just had to ride out the emotion when faced with a life or death situation. As his target collapsed, Slicer was seized mid strike on a follow up finishing blow. What would have been a rather punishing blow delivered straight below his belt, ended up with a slight wince as the area became too hot for comfort. It was the flash of light and searing pain his chest that caused true worry. As he struggled to draw breath, he was already moving, his objective to break being pinned in place with the Force. A tongue flick activated the sonic scream in his helmet while a missile from his Kelvarex Consolidated Arms MM9 mini concussion rocket system exploded upon the being hold him in place. He would have thrown his lightsaber but couldn't find the strength to throw it. NO Bounty Is Worth Dying For! It was time to pull out and as he fell to his knees, a few shots from the disruptor came dangerously close to putting more holes in him. He was familiar enough with disruptors to know how they operated. He knew they were pretty short-ranged had enough ammunition for a few shots, and were incapable of firing rapidly or being set to stun. A brief though flickered of using the target as a human shield, yet he felt far too weak to lift and position the poor sliced up woman. Instead he moved while he spoke, the sonic scream having died. ”œ2 High ordinances on target one and two's coordinates. Time ten seconds!”

There were multiple people in the area. One of the most powerful and dangerous sith were nearby. He didn't have a bead on the man he was talking to nor the other armored being who was hanging back waiting to talk as if this was a school yard. Well he didn't know their combat abilities. Still it didn't matter, as he didn't need info he needed to leave. He was covered in mud, vines and leaves, and looked like a swamp creature instead of a well trained and highly paid bounty hunter and or assassin. ”œTC 15 meters left, PD 25 meters AT. Time 5 seconds. Follow with twin laser blasts 15m left TC”

He had marked every single living sentient being in this little encampment. Marked as in fed to his battle computer so that he could track their movements at all times. He had clearly stumbled into a Sith nest, as evident of where he was currently standing. Where was he? Why he was right near a lady cover from head to toe in armor, while facing down Lap and some chap in armor. truth be told it was an armor party he hadn't been invited to but had seemingly crashed. All the same he stayed with in the shadows, using the shadows and murkiness of the swamp to disguise himself and his movements. He still gave nothing away via the Force of course. It would take a manual spotting of him to give him away, and he had a plan for that. It is never wise to enter a sith camp uninvited, I need a bit more information before I either attempt to slip out or walk out. So he waited.