Korriban

[Darth Calypso]

On 3/11/2023 at 3:16 PM, Talyn Orin said:

Firing around the door, he let off a few pop shots hoping to at least reduce the opposition while they discussed the next steps.

 

A pair of soldiers on the firing line dropped, one dead and the other knocked down as his armor took the brunt of the blast.

 

"Steady..." called out the Commander

 

On 3/22/2023 at 9:51 AM, MSA said:

All it took was a little strength in the Force, and a little suggestion, and mind's became subjugated. Rifles turned inward toward the Heavy Weapons Placements and chaos ensued as friendlies became foes. This presented the trio a moment of respite and opportunity. One Sanguis took full advantage of.

 

Emerald blade ignited, he spun it as he crossed the threshold, stray Blaster bolts being redirected amongst their opposition with precision while Sanguis let loose his own volleys of pushes and pulls through the Force. His intent was to completely disorient these villains in the chaos they sought to sow, and provide a subtle victory this day. He only hoped the other two could keep up.

 

The Commander felt the Jedi's influence. Like the other Home Guard, his mind had been broken and reforged by their Sith masters, repeatedly. He knew the touch of the Force.

 

Unfortunately for his soldiers, a few succumbed to the mind trick, if briefly.

 

The commander picked out those breaking formation, and his rifle chattered as he began dropping the weak minded squad members with precise blaster fire.

 

Weakness would not be tolerated. 

 

Unfortunately, the distraction proved successful, and the Jedi launched his assault in the momentary lapse brought about by his trick.

 

On 3/25/2023 at 9:31 PM, TerrorBot said:

“Rip and Tear!“ Ruin declared as he charged, stopping only to grab the Hammer he had dropped earlier. 

 

In the chaos of blaster fire, Ruin moved like the terror droid he was. His model was built for causing terror in the battle lines. To destroy morale and to cause chaos to the best well laid plans the enemies created. Here, Ruin metaphorically shined like he had just come off the assembly line.

 

Five steps forward, a leap over a pile of sandbags, and a swing. A soldier went flying into a wall with 7 broken ribs and a pair of crushed lungs. Three steps over. Ruin swung wildly, hammer colliding with another soldier’s head. One step forward. Ruin swung and let go of the hammer, the impromptu ballistic missile hitting a soldier on a turret on an upper level, sending him flying to his death. Another soldier turned to the droid. A step forward, a grip on the throat and leg, and a throw sent the man flying. Several steps, and Ruin was at the steps, behind several soldiers. Ruin raced upwards. The man at the top received a knee to the groin and two fists to the head, crushing the skull entirely. 

 

Ruin was at the turret now. The chaos created by the Jedi and the agent’s grenades was proving effective. The Sith hadn’t even mounted a proper reaction to him yet. While the original user of the turret was behind ruin, crushed by his thrown hammer, a new user was manning it. Ruin simply grabbed him and kicked him head first off the edge. 

 

The turret was heavy duty to say the least. A modified repeater blaster connected directly into a power bank nearby. The gun easily weighed 50 lbs and had to be mounted on a tripod in order to be used effectively, and the power bank another 20 lbs.

 

Ruin, who never cared about the weight of certain objects unless he was using them as a blunt weapon, picked the think up. With a slice from his vibro blade in his wrist, he disconnected the gun from  the tripod and hoisted the thing up. One hand at the trigger, one hand near the barrel, Ruin turned the gun towards the enemy troops. 

 

“Violence! Fear! The great communicators!” Ruin shouted as he opened fire. Ruin did not stop holding the tigger at any point, letting shot after shot ring out. So many shots fired that the gun had started to heat up. Had Ruin been a human, he would’ve burned his hands, but being made of wires and metal, he felt nothing. Instead he only laughed from his perch. 

 

Into that lapse came the droid. The Commander watched as he tore through his troops, first with his hammer and fists, then with one of their own guns.

 

But he would not surrender, or flee. He couldn't. He was the Commander. There was nothing else. The Sith had left nothing else.

 

"Concentrate fire on the Jedi. Prioritize attacks from multiple angles." He reasoned that if the Jedi went down, the attackers would lose heart and fall back.

 

"The droid is my priority."

 

The remaining Home Guard were the elite of Korriban. Minds broken and wills reforged by Sith alchemy and mental conditioning, they followed orders and held discipline as well as any droid. In near complete disregard for their well-being, the soldiers redirected their fire towards the Jedi, simultaneous volleys opening up on the intruder.

 

The Commander sprang across the battlefield, taloned trandoshan hands and feet propelling him forward like a beast, dodging back and forth through the hail of laser fire. Snarling, he leapt at the terror droid, intent on ripping out the mechanical soldiers facial bits, even if it cost him his life.

 

He was the Commander. There was nothing else.

[Talyn Orin]

Talyn Orin gave a smile and a smirk as chaos took hold of the enemy battle lines when R.U.I.N descended upon them like some kind of metallic war god, carving a path of destruction upon those who had inflicted so much pain upon the galaxy. Now it was their turn to suffer and torment, even if only in this battle. The pain of the innocent would be brought upon them all and the Sith that lead them. 

 

He left the Jedi Knight, Sanguis to continue to accomplish what he could until he noted the volley being brought upon him. And so he threw the last of his grenades, a single frag. Throwing it as far as he could, hoping to tear a hole in the enemy firing upon his comrade. Once he was done, he turned to see the Commander, a trandoshan he noted, spring across the battlefield towards R.U.I.N.  He knew by the movements and the way he acted...this was a Sith. One of many he had seen during his time here.

 

No he would not allow that Sith to end the droid. 

 

And so he switched tactics, placing his sonic rifle across his side by it's strap. In its place he pulled out the Accelerated Charged Particle Array Gun (ACP) slung across his back, momentarily securing it while he used his right arm to extend the Electrified Wrist grappling hook from it's placement and hopefully grip the Sith Commander's leg, dragging him to the ground.

 

Once there Talyn would show him what it was to feel the pain of the innocent and those he had broken, he would fill the trandoshan scum with cartridges from the powerful shotgun. As he would send him to hell or whenever it was these sort went. At these close ranges it was a killing machine, and worked very well he had found from many such battles, in using it's extreme blast force to eviscerate any in it's path that were organic. He just hoped he was quick enough to catch the Sith. Even despite his advantage of speed and the Force.

[TerrorBot]

“Blood and guts!” Ruin shouted over the fire of the weapon he had unceremoniously tore from the ornaments. “Death to Sith!”

 

>Warning!< Fera buzzed in alarm, radioing directly to the comm system built into the Terror Droid. >Incoming threat detected!< 

 

Ruin turned his head slightly. In the corner of his sensors he spotted the threat. The large lizard on all fours at times was decorated like some ranking commander, but the lust for battle in its eyes rivaled that of many beasts. 

 

“Blood and fire! Bigger bodies make bigger falls, hahaha!!” Ruin laughed as he turned to face the commander. Barrel facing the threat, Ruin pulled the trigger, only to get three more shots  off before it clicked uselessly

 

“Fight me!!” Ruin challenged anyway, despite the weapon's drained battery. 

 

Then the commander went down momentarily as shots rang out. Ruin glanced over, and saw the Agent aiming his weapon towards the Commander. Buckshot after buckshot rang out, and even with the hail of gunfire all around, Ruin could hear each individual blast. 

 

“Hahaha! Yes!” Ruin shouted proudly, raising a fist to the man. After the battle, Fera would recognise this moment as one of rare bonding between the two. At least, in Ruin's eyes.

 

“Guns and guts! Guts and guns! Blood and bullets!” 

 

With the opportunity presented itself, Ruin let go of the handle of the large weapon and grabbed it by the red-hot barrel. As a titan from another era, Ruin charged the commander, gun-turned-club over his head. Bringing it down, the last thing the roaring, bleeding commander saw was the empty repeater blaster descending. 

 

Ruin let go of the weapon, letting it stick where the commander’s skill used to be. The weapon remained upright, the remains barely holding the metal from falling over itself.

 

“Bash and brains!” Ruin announced. With that, he came to notice the rest of the Sith forces focusing on the Jedi.  In his droid mind, even the magic of the Jedi could not prevent the onslaught Sanguis faced

 

“Separate! Slice and dice!” Ruin shouted. Fera nodded, understanding her ward’s idea. Even as Ruin brought his hand back, she crawled along her arm and rested in his palm. Ruin threw the Buzz droid with all his mechanical might. Fera crashed into a soldier, and before he could fully react, she had crawled to his face and sliced through both eyes. With that, she leapt from the screaming man and attacked the next being. 

 

Ruin on the other hand went the opposite direction. By dividing and conquering, they could cause more chaos to the enemy forces, and give the Jedi a better chance of survival. Vibro blade extended, Ruin got to work. 

 

“Rip and tear!” Ruin shouted as he slashed and literally ripped off a soldier's arm. Another makeshift club to be quickly used. Another corpse. Another day in the life of killing Sith. 

[MSA]

Fear trickled across the backside of Æquitas neck as his gaze shifted across the hazed battleground and crimson bolts of compressed and heated gas focused upon his form. He knew that his trick would not persist long, but the enemy's lapse of focus didn't last as long as he had hoped. Grasping at a nearby fallen form, he pulled it across the line of fire he first saw, but felt the sting of burnt flesh upon his backside as he turned and slung the body in its direction before falling to a knee amidst the ensuing chaos.

 

Had the corrupted cancer of the Darkside infected the Force so deeply upon Korriban that it sought to claim him in it's name? This thought crossed his mind briefly as he knelt within the confines of the rising dust as crimson bolts meant for him whizzed overhead just before an explosion erupted to his side. And as he processed this thought, time seemed to nearly halt to a brief stand still. For death had never been a concept for Æquitas. He aged nearly half that of his human counterparts, and had always been able to sustain himself where most could not. This had always been his reality and death had never been a possibility until now. Even now, as he shifted his gaze downward to the wounds he collected earlier in the battle, blood drizzling from beneath their bandaged confines, he had never really considered that he could die. He simply pushed himself forward, the Force always his ally. 

 

But here, on Korriban, the diseased Force he felt amongst the Light was a of a darker nature, and it called to end Life. And though he aged slower than that of Agent Orin, he was still mortal.

 

Only now did his mortality come to the forefront of his mind and in this brief moment, he questioned whether he feared it or not. For he had never done so before. He was an outcast as a child for as long as he could remember, an orphan whom was feared and shunned by those who grew up and left his child like reality behind while he remained just that. He had even been locked out in what some would consider the harshest of colds. And yet, he survived where others would not. The Force loved him so, and because of that, it had always spared him. But the Darkside of Korriban did not. He could feel its loathing for him even as he approached the planet. And now it sought his demise. Would he welcome it if he did perish this day? Or would he face it in fear like so many others? Almost immediately, he felt a response cross his mind as if something reached out and responded for it.

 

He was a Jedi. A scholar and protectorate. It was his duty to give his life for others and the pursuit of peace, to proceed the knowledge that would rid the Galaxy of the cancer these Sith had placed upon it millennia ago and pave the path toward that very goal. Death was simply a part of that path, and so many had paved the way for him to be here upon their homeworld in a fight to cleanse them from it. Their duty was his duty. Their path was his path. And it spanned the length of time its self, passed down across countless generations. This was the way. Like his Master before him, wherever he walked now, Sanguis would stand whether it be his final hour or just the beginning. And as his inhale became an exhale, time returned and reality flashed.

 

Ruin and Fera appeared to his aid, the localized screams of horror and onslaught erupting from the dust of war as their forms shifted in its foreground. Gathering his strength, his Emerald blade reignited and twirled a humming melody of righteousness as his hand guided the Force before him and became his shield. Whether Korriban became his tomb, or any planet in the unseeable future, he would ensure it resounded in the Light. If the Force truly loved him so, he would give that love ten fold in return. Side stepping a soldier, he slung the emerald hue across the Sith's form, cleaving the being's form in two as his focus shifted to the next. Korriban would be won.

 

***********************************************

 

Deep beneath the Sith Temple where the unholy one began to prepare his tomb for the re-emergence of their kind one day, a spector began to haunt it's tunnels. Tendrils hung from its chin and across it's brow, it's blue form reflecting a red hue to its skin. Upon its hip sat a double hilted lightsaber, remnant of a Temple Guard of Coruscant. But this Tsis didn't radiate the temptations of a Sith or of the Darkside. No. This was a being of Light despite his appearance of the ancient lineage that fostered the Darkside. This specter was a Jedi. A Jedi named Mjan Sadow iv Adias.

[Darth Calypso]

In the moments before the Commander died, he had a moment to think. This moment was a unique instance, since for first time since the Sith had broken him to their will, there was nothing he could do. There was no way to escape and fight another day. There was no act of service or sacrifice that would help his masters. He had done his work to the best of his ability, and could only wait for the death that was coming for him to arrive.

 

So, in this last instance, he could finally think for himself.

 

What...what was my name?

 

Then the Commander was no more.

 

________________________________________

 

The remaining Sith elite fought with the unerring purpose of living weapons, but no amount of focus would stop the weight of the new galaxy crashing down on them. In only a minute, they elite Home Guard of Korriban lay dead on the floor.

 

 

On 4/21/2023 at 10:19 AM, MSA said:

Deep beneath the Sith Temple where the unholy one began to prepare his tomb for the re-emergence of their kind one day, a spector began to haunt it's tunnels. Tendrils hung from its chin and across it's brow, it's blue form reflecting a red hue to its skin. Upon its hip sat a double hilted lightsaber, remnant of a Temple Guard of Coruscant. But this Tsis didn't radiate the temptations of a Sith or of the Darkside. No. This was a being of Light despite his appearance of the ancient lineage that fostered the Darkside. This specter was a Jedi. A Jedi named Mjan Sadow iv Adias.

 

Xervatus sensed something, even as he keyed in the sequence that would activate the carbonite freezing process. Something foreign, and unwelcome on this world. It was not a Jedi, not exactly. And no one from above could have made it down here so fast.

 

[PRIMING SEQUENCE COMPLETE]

 

[INITIATE{?}----Y//N]

 

Xervatus' finger hovered over the confirm key. One press...

 

He sighed, and for all the universe he looked like the old, husk of a man he was.

 

"If you're here for me..." he said, his voice echoing out into the silent tunnels, "...than I ask that you not take up too much of my time. I have a deadline to meet, you see."

[MSA]

"Spare a moment for a moment for a Tsis, will you?" Mjan's otherworldly voice echoed amongst the tunnels and the natural crevasse they had cut through as he stepped from the across the veil, a humbled smile across his face. "Surely you can offer me this much."

 

His gaze eyed the lingering finger Xervatus held above the pad, his form almost holographic against the backdrop they had found themselves within save for his presence in the Force. Korriban's liberation, his people's liberation from the confines of the Darkside, had always been a lifelong goal, one he never held the chance to achieve, and one that Xervatus now was upon the precipice of destroying. And yet, Mjan could do nothing, his corporeal form unable to interact with the Galaxy outside his appearance. He was naught but a lingering consciousness within the collective of the Force.

 

"You know why I am here." He nodded toward the pad he held in his grasp. "And yet, you know there's nothing that I can do. I am but a spirit of the Force, one with that which I sought to serve with my life, and now in death. Much like you intend to do for those who bear the name of my species once the world is reclaimed as the ever turning cycle of light versus dark flips yet again."

 

Mjan takes a seat upon a nearby rock, spreading the robes he adorned and placing hands upon knees as he let the Sith contemplate his words, an attempt to stroke the ego without faltering from the obvious truth.

 

"But I poise a question for you to ask yourself." Mjan concludes as the battle ends above, something he is sure the Sith himself has felt. "Are you sure it's what you wish? Or is it what you think you wish? A gest of the Darkside to continue it's cycle should the others inevitably fall, if you will. For you it will be but a moment of respite. And yet, for the rest of the Galaxy, an era or two, everything and everyone you might know and cherish gone."

 

A stern yet compassionate look falters upon his face, his smile sinking away as he speaks and his clawed hand reaches up to stroke his tendrils with thought.

 

"Perhaps you wish to prolong your life a few more years, or decades even. Your intentions are clouded and undiscerning. But I'm wondering if, just perhaps, you've come to see in your time as I have in my death, the futility of our actions. That in light or dark, our names are lost to time and our memories become ghosts as those who come after us take our places within the turning of time. That everything we do, is simply erased."

 

Mjan's hand falls from his face and points at the pad.

 

"Even this moment."

 

Mjan's moment, although intent to buy time for those above to find and seek out this trap, was his own attempt to persuade and perhaps prevent another soul from following the ever delving cycle that both sides knew all too well. If he could reach this Sith, Xervatus, his soul could rest in peace. But if not, perhaps the others could prevent Korriban from housing another secret of the Darkside. 

[TerrorBot]

Ruin stood still at the center of the entrance chamber, looking around at the carnage that had occurred. With the combined forces, each and every Sith soldier had been shot, dismembered, smashed or torn asunder. While the Jedi’s lightsaber cauterized the wounds instantly, and the laser blasts were thankfully goreless, Ruin had seen to it that the room was bloody enough. 

 

“Kill…all Sith!” Ruin shouted, pausing as if he needed to pant, his programming selling the imagery that he was more barbaric than logic.

 

>odd…< Fera beeped as she crawled over to Ruin’s leg, her attennea flicking every which way. >I am detecting a power increase compared to when we first entered the building. It is coming directly below us<

 

Ruin glanced at the Buzz droid. “Bombs and bombings?”

 

Fera crawled up Ruin to his shoulder, beeping into his sensors. >Unlikely. Opportune moment to cause maximum damage to invading forces has passed. It must have something to do with the forces stalling for time< 

 

Ruin glanced towards the floor. Then, without a word, he retrieved the Soulbraker hammer and positioned himself and slammed it into the ground. The unpowered weapon left a crack in the floor but did no further damage. 

 

>Wait, Ruin, halt, your arm is not properly fixed to…< Fera started to buzz, but Ruin ignored the small droid. Instead, with a twist of the hammer’s hilt, the weapon came to life. Red energy coursed through its insides as the powerpack began to resonate with the kyber crystal connected to the unique Sith alchemized shockwave/repulsorlift generators in the hammer’s head. 

 

Ruin raised the hammer and brought it down again. The Shockwave sent from the hammer made a deafening boom in the room as small pieces of debris and bodes next to Ruin went flying. Only Ruin, and Fera who clutched tightly to the Terror Droid, stayed in place. 

 

The effects were immediate. The building itself shook slightly as it absorbed most of the Hammer’s energy, but the floor was beginning to crumble. However, Ruin’s arm became noticeably disjointed, its outer plates literally shorn off  as the backlash from the hammer affected the droid. 

 

>Ruin, halt!< Fera demanded. >This action is both illogical and detrimental. You will damage…<

 

Ruin brought down the hammer again. Again, the building shook. The Floor cracked greater. It was obvious there was something was underneath, and Ruin, who’s arm barely hung on by a messjob of welding, would find it

 

“Break and bash. Seek and smash!” 

 

Fera  pled with her ward.  >Ruin, I calculate a 99% chance of your arm not able to function at all with another attack. If you do so, you will be literally disarmed until…<

 

Ruin didn’t listen. 

 

“Smash and kill all Sith!” He shouted as he brought the hammer down again, with all the force his chassis could bring down. 

 

The final smash shook the building again. Ruin’s arm, damaged before, shattered apart from the backlash. However, the floor broke through, and the two, Ruin still clutching the hammer with his good arm, Fera clutching to Ruin’s bad shoulder, as well as whoever decided to follow, fell downwards into the bowels of the building’s underground. 

[Karys Narat iv-Adas]

Tayln observed as R.U.I.N appeared to be trying to smash his way to the level below with some urgency. This caught his interest as did the fact Fera, his companion spoke of a power surge...a fact which did not bode well. Pulling up a scanner, he confirmed the readings before placing it back in his pack, it didn't look good at all. A power surge only meant a few things.

 

And by the sounds of it, if the enemy had been stalling as he had suspected himself, then it probably meant they were preparing to evacuate or set off some kind of defence mechanism and bury the building with them inside. He had a strong feeling it was the latter, especially with how vehemently the defence had been stalling. As such he used a rope provided by one of the other troopers and dangled it down the hole before descending after the chaotic war droid who was on a rampage.

 

He ran as fast as he could, trying to catch him up and motioned the Jedi Knight with them to follow, just in case. Besides they might have need of his advanced speed, especially when time was against them. Several other troops followed into the hole behind him, lighting up the area inside the hole and where they had entered before they followed the intelligence operative. Using his old knowledge of the place, Talyn knew there shouldn't be any reason for such a power surge down here. And so it pretty much confirmed his suspicions. 

 

He called out to Sanguis.

 

 "Go ahead of us. Don't wait up! Use your advanced speed if you must. I have a very bad feeling about that power surge and the stalling tactics. See if you can find the source and stop it, if my suspicions are correct I don't think it bodes well for us. There shouldn't be any reason for such a surge down here. It's like a build up to something...something bad. R.U.I.N is onto something."

 

 With that he sped after the droid and ran as fast as his legs would allow, pushing his cybernetic enhancements to the limit.

Edited May 24 by Karys Narat iv-Adas