Ryloth

[BLCKCLONE]

You should consider a change yourself Keiran. You know it has always been inside you, you don't know the power of the darkside. Get past your morals and emotions. Take the next step to becoming unstoppable!

 

Slowly standing BC looked deep into Keiran.

 

This predicament is one I hoped we'd never face, but I fear it is time for one of to make a decision. I will not fight you if you refuse to come with me, not here, not now...

[Keiran]

((Will, you realize my ship is a small starfighter ))

 

Keiran stood, zipping up his fully sealed flight suit.

"You know my morals BC, I will do what I must to attain a goal for the common good. If I must defeat you to bring you back... that is a goal I will fight for."

Keiran depressed a button on the control board, opening the canopy of the starfighter. Revealing the two warriors to the weightlessness of space. Keiran grinned at his deranged friend as he leapt to the side, landing on a passing rebel cruiser, so they could have some sort of support as they fought in space.

 

The rebel fleet was going to have a show on their hands... and apparently the imperial fleet would too.

[Lord Ar-Pharazon]

Hours had passed since the battle had cooled down. In the vicious wake of the aftermath, Lord Ar-Pharazon stood with Jidai Geki, surveying the damage.

 

Atop the remains of a steel fortress, the Deadly Alliance stands watch.

 

"I think our presence here is no longer required. We've sucessfully brought a new level of Hell upon this world. Many Jedi have been slain. Also, a number of Jedi and Rebel pilots are dead. Billions of citizens of this world are now among the dead Also, as you are about to witness, the Capital City of Ryloth is finished. Within the past few minutes, the explosives were reconnected."

 

Ar-Pharazon pressed a button on a remote device.

 

Several large structures including the Palace of Ryloth, the Parliament, the National Archives, and a dozen other buildings of significance exploded. Ryloth was finished.

 

"This world will never be the same. From that conclusion, I am quite certain our presence here is now unnecessary."

 

***

 

Meanwhile a Sanity's End Fighter Pilot swoops down and grabs Master Gantoris BLCKCLONE, former Jedi and now an evil agent of Sin.

[BLCKCLONE]

As BC was about to ingite his saber he felt the tug of a SEED hook grab him towards its ship.

 

It appears as though we will continue this at another time. Perhaps on my terms instead, thank you for the rescue!

 

Now safely within the SEED ship he ordered it to go back to the Ryloth surface. Find your leader and Ar-Pharazon. As it landed BC exited quickly and walked down the long dock towards his friends. The wind blew cold and hard around BC.

 

I cannot bring myself to kill that Jedi yet. In time I will harden enough to kill Keiran, but my feelings tell me I am not ready yet.

[Darth Grief]

As the sun set on Ryloth, the only light that could be seen on the dirt-caked face of the figure crawling through the vegetation was the reflection of overhead turbolaser fire, as Republic and Imperial ships traded volley after volley of gunshots, extinguishing thousands of unremarkable lives every minute.

 

Biologists on many planets, of which Ryloth was no exception, have made note of the peculiar behaviors of natural animal predators on battlefields after a large war has been fought. Oftentimes, when the wreckage of vehicles destroyed in the melee still burns, and fallen soldiers still cry out from mortal wounds, even the predators that have been wounded by stray weapons fire stagger onto the bloody plains, driven by the scent of blood and by the presence of stragglers, hoping to gorge themselves on living things.

 

The black-clad crawler was no exception. More animalistic than anything, he lashed out with his mind in furiously coarse strikes to clear his path of obstructions. Shocks of energy shot out from all parts of his body at odd intervals, blasting away tree limbs and setting fire to underbrush. He smelled a meal far more pungent than meat -- the savory soul of Force-users, and the tingle of residual energy in the air.

 

He became quiet, and the energy strikes ceased, as he drew nearer to his quarry. From the clearing where Camsie and Armiena dwelt, in a copse several dozen yards away, a pair of black, silent eyes watched.

 

The figure slowly began to assemble a large, stocky, complex rifle.

[Lord Ar-Pharazon]

"Ar-Pharazon looked towards the heavens above, spotting ships high in the air, far into orbit.

 

"It is alright, my good friend. Killing is something that requires a special mindset and I know that in great time, you will find such a tone. We have accomplished a great purpose today and considering the ever unrepairable evil we have brought to this world, a goal of mine has been reached."

 

Ar-Pharazon marched forth, among the ruins of the main city which had been a wonderous and joyous hub of art, music, and love. Now it was a shell of its past.

 

"Lord Geki, round the remnants of SEED. It is time to traverse beyond this realm. I'm going to open the gate, so prepare accordingly."

 

Walking forth, Ar-Pharazon paraded towards the city center, where once a grand park had been, but now, the empty cages of concentration camps. The floors were still covered in blood and the piles of burned bodies still reeked. It was an evil place, and it was perfect for the Dark One's plans.

 

Ar-Pharazon looked about as a few SEED guards cleared some unwanted debris. The Dark Lord looked about and smiled. He screamed out some dark verses in a language no other living being understood or would dare attempt to transcribe. The arches of a structure that initially appeared to be for the gasing of the masses was actually for the gasing of the masses and a makeshift gateway to Hell. It was designed by various fallen angels long ago. Powerful white and red light, wreathed in flames opened up into a massive portal, hundreds of meters in size, spanning a large oval shape eminating from the arch.

 

"Behold, Gantoris. Behold the way to Hell."

 

Ar-Pharazon began to walk towards the portal, expecting all evil to follow.

 

He sent a comm to Geki just to make sure things were on track.

 

"Make sure you and Trith are near the end and activate what we discussed to make sure the gate is destroyed."

 

With that, Ar-Pharazon stood adjacent to the gateway, ushering SEED troopers and men of evil into the portal. It was large enough for small ships to pass through as well.

[Jidai Geki]

*Geki closes his eyes and calls to his minions through his nanites. The remainder of the SEED troops- about 400 from 3,000- abandon their murderous acts and return to Geki.

 

He turns to one man.*

 

'You will initiate project Pestilence when we have gone.'

 

*The trooper nods, and prepares his nanites for the task ahead.

 

Geki, Trith, and the rest of the SEED troops walk through the unholy portal and into Hell. Geki's wickedness emanates from him in waves- three warriors of virtue and justice had met their ends at his hands today.

 

The trooper that remains behind activates explosives to seal the portal, and then releases the nano-virus coursing through his veins. Instantly blotches and lesions cover his skin underneath the SEED uniform. He runs, screaming, at a nearby Twi'Leki male, and slams into him. The nano-virus, designed for maximum pain and vomiting of blood, begins to propagate.*

[Keiran]

Keiran stood with his lightsaber ignited, watching as BC flew off in the clutches of a SEED spaceship.

"Those damn SEED are like vultures..."

 

Keiran deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He stood on the surface of a Mon Cal Cruiser, looking down at the planet of Ryloth which had been innocently ravaged.

"I've lost much here today... SEED is becoming more of a problem than I thought they would be."

 

Keiran signalled the Strife Reborn to pick him up off the cruiser. Once settled in, Keiran allowed the ship to make circles around the system at full speed, untouchable to any imperial or rebel war ships. Keiran used his moment of high-speed isolation to enter into meditation, considering the tragedy that had occurred to BC.

[BLCKCLONE]

Side by side the new masters of evil walked through the gate. BC had chosen his fate, the question was, had his fate chosen him as well... The path to the darkside was mysterious and gave the former Jedi a control he has never felt before. Un-stoppable power.

[Onderin Starlisk]

OOC: Two deuces and two victories against six MC90s? Hardly in your odds.

 

IC: Onderin was shocked at what happened below, but needed to remain focused. He ordered the fleet to move into an offensive pattern and attempt to knock out the Imperials as quickly as possible. How the Empire had suddenly come up with Star Destroyers he didn't know, but regardless, here they were.

 

The Jedi Knight sent two cruisers along the left side of the Empire's defensive formation, two to the right, and the last two, including the ship he was on, headed straight down the gut. Ordering the scrambling of fighters, he watched as the TIEs were engaged by superior fighters such as E-wings and X-wings.

 

The Force was constantly speaking to him, not only about the battle before him, but the matters involving his old Master and Master Gantoris. There was much conflict, and he had to work to put his full conciousness on the battle before him.

 

With two Mon Cal Starcruisers targeting each Imperial-II Class Star Destroyer, already the larger ships' shields were beginning to weaken. The Victory Star Destroyers were posing a threat with their rows and rows of turbolasers, and Onderin knew they had to go.

 

"Captain?" he asked. "Have our guns focus on the structural weak points on the left-most Victory Star Destroyer. Even with only a few good hits, it will break apart."

 

Sure enough, with repeated pounding from the Rebel ship's turbolasers, the weak point was hit and the entire Star Destroyer tore itself in a half. It's remains began to sink down towards the ravaged Ryloth, showing stress in the atmosphere. Eventually what was left would crash into the ground and explode.

[Zero]

Dhan-Jaroe found a working bomber, it's pilot was dead, but it would still fly. He got in, started it up, and docked himself into the Interdictor, which had been forgotten in the turmoil. He reaches the bridge.

 

"Any surviving Jedi get to the Interdictor"

[Ary the Grey]

((The Interdictor was destroyed by LAP.))

 

"Don't you fools realize that you'll never be able to defeat me?"

 

Ar-Pharazon noted the presence of the Prince and Keiran.

 

"Observe, the powers of the Dark Side and take note."

 

A number of Keiren's fighter pilots suddenly had breathing problems. It was almost as if some evil force were preventing their bodies from functioning properly. Actually, that's exactly what it was. Within seconds, the necks of good natured pilots were snapped and their bodies went limp.

 

Ar-Pharazon, waving his hands through the air like an musican conductiong a symphony, directed the ships. With a force hold, the grand Ar-Pharazon flung several of the ships into the Interdictor craft high above the planet. Adding insult to injury, a mighty hand of spectral craft reached to the ship from the surface and began pulling doors open on the ship. Members of Armiena's crew were being sucked into space, dying about as their corpses littered space near the ship among the shrapnel of pilot bodies and broken ship.

Edited February 4, 2005 by Guest

[ObliviousKnight]

This planet seemed to hold nothing but suffering for those on its surface. Countless civilians died as the result of a massacre, even though Armiena managed to end it... only to gain the attention of some powerful sithspawn on the ground. She lost her beloved ship, and fellow Jedi in the battle. So much death... The hatch to the escape pod opened. She turned blearily to face it, knowing that she was in no condition to fight, with her broken arm.

 

She simply blinked, and wiped a sweat-slicked hand across an even more sweat-slicked face. For a second, she thought that perhaps she wasn't drinking enough water, and that dehydration was getting the better of her, or that the painkiller was muddying her thoughts.

 

Arm... snap out of it, you want to live through this, right? She took a long swig from her canteen, and splashed some of the water into her face. Her weariness quickly evaporated; with Ryloth's relentless heat, even tepid water felt freezing cold on her skin. She managed a pained smile. For quite a while, she thought that she was going to die alone in this wasteland.

 

"Good to see you, Master... though I'd prefer different circumstances." She thought about a possible escape plan. "It depends... mostly on how badly SEED ravaged this planet."

 

Ryloth, she remembered, had a proud warrior tradition. The warrior caste survived and thrived in the present day, despite the fact that Twi'leks were better known as merchants, crimelords, and cowards, much to the anger of the warriors. Twi'lek warriors excelled, to put it simply, in any environment imaginable: piloting, dueling, brawling....

 

One of the most common homegrown Twi'lek designs was the Chir'daki, the "Deathseed" snubfighter. A strange (though unlike most Uglies) but very capable hybrid of the TIE Fighter and X-Wings. It had shields, hyperdrive, strong sublight engines, and decent weaponry. Obviously, anything with a hyperdrive would satisfy their purposes.

 

Of course, that was if they could find a pair of working ships. Twi'leks tended to use Ryloth's caverns as makeshift hangars. It was their best chance, with the Rebellion and Empire dueling in orbit.

 

"Master, did you encounter any caverns while you were heading here?" From the way the Caamasi's eyes glittered, she assumed that he realized what her plan was.

 

Armiena felt a strange twinge in the back of her mind. Something was out there, hiding in Ryloth's endless desert. A sniper? She couldn't tell... but all her instincts were screaming at her to get out of the area, quickly.

 

"We... ah... should leave. Now." She glanced at Dine. "If you could handle the droid, I'm not exactly capable of carrying much." When Camsie had the quietly protesting droid under control, Master and Padawan sprinted across the desert, their figures mere blurs against the ground. Tracking them with a sniper rifle was all but impossible.

[Zero]

OOC: Sorry, I forgot that you are allowed to destroy capital ships in one post.

[Capt. Phillep]

The Imperial gamble had been played off, their purpose was simple, to release the dropships, a few thousand Dark Troopers and the on-ship remnants of Shadow Division had been left to enter the ground warfare on Ryloth.

 

The small flotilla, with it's scattered and battered fighters, attempted to draw fire away from the remaining Imperial IIs and the second, yet unscathed Victory. Releasing their turbolaser batteries into the void between the MC90s and the Imperial Capital ships, the conservative Commander ordered them on their way.

 

With battered shields and scorched durasteel plating, the three ships limped out of the combat into the sanctity of hyperspace. Taking a number of small jumps to make them quite difficult to track.

 

The TIEs and formerly-Rebel X-wings confiscated by the Empire distracted the superior fighters long enough in skirmishes with the indepently-minded Rebel pilots, to allow for the three vessels to escape and the dropships to land.

 

"Sometimes, Lieutenant, discretion is the better part of valor."

[Avararda Dinn]

As the Canine quickly descended, Avararda prepared himself. Get Armiena, get out. The plan was simple, yet dangerous.

Avararda attempted to use the Force to "see" Armiena. He sent out a pulse wave, like sonar. It picked up an astronomical amount of people, but a few special groups of them. Most were Jedi, some were Sith, and others were just soldiers with training, but one stood out: Armiena.

Avararda had his droid, 77, pilot the ship near her position. Blaster fire pinged off the hull, but 77 held it steady. Good boy, Avararda thought. All around him chaos reigned.

 

Through the Force, Avararda felt Geki. He had the strongest urge to leave Armiena and fight him. NO! I'm NOT going to leave Armiena. The ship came down to touch base right next to Armiena and another stranger who looked like a friend of Armiena's. "LETS GO! I'm not going to wait any longer!" He held the ship steady, allowing Armiena and her friend to get on.

[ObliviousKnight]

Var? Armiena was amazed, and grateful for her friend's sudden arrival. Without question, she boarded Var's ship, her master following her. Her master dropped R5-D9 on the ship's floor with a metal thud, and the droid whistled in relief.

 

Alright, we're onboard. Let's get out of here.

[Avararda Dinn]

As Armiena and her friend clambered on board, Var felt a sense of relief. Good.. She's safe. He Force-pulsed and noticed Armiena and smiled. It was a shame he couldn't really see. "Seventy Seven.. Lets go. Head to Borleais." The droid took the ship to safety, and away from nasty fight down below.

 

Avararda also noted a stranded Dhan-Jaroe. Even though DJK left Avararda for Geki, he was a Jedi. And Jedi help Jedi. "Seventy Seven, please rescue DJK also." 77 lowered the ship, allowing DJK to hop aboard. "You and me.. We need to talk," he said, attempting to point at DJK, but failing via his blindness.

 

Blaster fire was still nailing his ship as he left the atmosphere.

[Talon]

From the isolation and cover of the mountains, Talon rose. An end and such an end, this had become for the Jedi. But something else had come here... Something microscopic was now out to claim lives- a contagion. To make matters worse, the Empire had just landed their most fiersome warriors- Shadow Division. Things were not looking good for the exile...

 

Looking from his position in the rocks of the mountain, he played through his options...

 

As Shadow Division had just landed smack in between him and anyplace he could get a ship, option number one was bad.

 

If he tried to comm a drop ship to pick him up, the message could easily be intercepted- making his position apparent. And even if he could reach a drop ship, odds were it wouldn't be able to make it to him unscathed. Along that route, he could also not Force message a Jedi for risk of being detected by Shadow Division. Option number two was bad.

 

He could hide here, but that might leave him stranded indefinitely. If the battle ended and the Rebellion and Jedi left, he would be in an even worse position than he was now, as he would not be able to stay here forever without provisions. Option number three was bad.

 

The exile found himself in a predicament... If he remained where he was, he would not be found, but he could not stay indefinitely. At long last, he decided to risk a comm- not to the fleet or dropship, but to Dhan-Jaroe- the familiar. Although his comm unit had limited capabilities, he encrypted the message to his fullest ability...

 

---Comm to Dhan-Jaroe---

"This is Talon. I'm stranded on the surface- and a little bit of help would be appreciated. (Insert co-ordinates here.)"

---Comm closed---

 

The message was brief and short, harder to intercept. Now he could just sit and wait- hoping help would come flying down on swift wings. In the mean time, he peered back to the deploying Shadow troops- monitoring the movement. If his position was in fact, found out, he would have an easier time holding them off due to the natural protection of the mountain. He moved to a spot where he could deal out the most damage using the natural surroundings, and continued to simply watch.

[Darth Grief]

The black-clad figure spat into the sand. A small wisp of smoke rose from the pebbles in response.

The Force-users had fled to a ship some distance away, using augmented speed to evade the rifle of the predatory man. Though the sandy dunes had provided the two no measure of cover from the figure's sniper rifle, he had elected not to raise the weapon against them. They had been foolish, and young, and before he would kill them, he would impart upon them the wisdom of the nature of nature itself.

 

He could feel them already growing wiser. The two Jedi had witnessed a great slaughter on Ryloth, an unnatural hecatomb that saturated the air and satiated the latent foul spirits that simmered in the desert sky. In seeing their friends cut down by Sith, fed to the maw of Hell or abandoned to the ether, the two would trade parts of their living, bleeding souls for the knowledge of a little piece more of life's inherent pain.

 

The writer who referred to the knowledge of the Number of the Beast as "wisdom" had no idea how truly right he was.

 

Light-side energy trickled in the wake of the two Jedi as they fled Ryloth, bleeding from the souls of the afflicted. The predator followed the ship of Armiena, Camsie, and Avararda through the howling turbulence of hyperspace...

...tracking them by the scent of their grief.

[Rythen Karr]

Throughout the battle, Rythen's presence had been less than secondary. He had taken down many SEED troopers, but, when it came down to it, he hadn't done enough. In the end, justice wasn't served, and a large chunk of the Jedi forces had been wiped out. Since he left home, life just seemed to be one crushing defeat after the other. Strangely, however, this did not make him want to leave the Order, far from it, it merely strengthened his resolve to train to become a great jedi. And to bring justice to this galaxy.

 

He was already on his way up towards the Rebel spaceships when the order came, and, as he maneuevered the ship into the hangar of one of the mammoth Mon Cal ships, exiting the Thunderbolt and walking through the hallways of the immense ship, he looked for another Jedi. Someone who could, possibly, give him some form of insight into what had transpired today.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Onderin watched in slight disappointment as the Imperial ships escaped into hyperspace. It was a pity that the Interdictor Cruiser had been destroyed, but there was no way to combat the Dark Side of the Force with turbolasers and shields.

 

He gave the order for the ship to be salvaged as much as possible...the gravity-well projectors themselves weren't all that damaged, they simply didn't have the power they required to work. The remains of the Victory Star Destroyer had since tumbled to the earth and were no longer visible.

 

The Jedi Knight and Vice-Admiral decided that there wasn't much left here for him to do, though he didn't want to leave until all the survivors were aboard the ships of the fleet. He sent out a comm to everyone in the area that was living, "To all survivors: board one of the Starcruisers if you wish to leave with the fleet. We'll be leaving orbit shortly."

 

OOC: We'll leave tomorrow a few hours later than it is now, realtime.

[Guest]

After what seemed like an eternity, Jareth's ship exited hyperspace around the Ryloth system.

 

Keiran's presence was close and it didn't take long for Jareth to locate his ship orbiting the planet. He opened a comm channel.

 

Tell me, old friend, what has come to pass here...tell me everything

[Keiran]

Keiran awake with a newfound energy as Jareth's familiar voice crackled over the comm.

 

"Jareth, my how good does it feel to hear your voice again. I'm afraid you've arrived at a bad time. When I arrived in system, I found a slaughter going on, a slaughter of my comrade jedi. Jedai Geki, Ar Pharazon, and my close friend BLCKCLONE were performing the murders. I managed to confront BC and found that he has become consumed entirely by evil. He was then taken away by a SEED ship. The trio, plus the forces of SEED escaped using some sort of portal conjured by AP. I have been circling the system since then, pondering what all this means. What are you doing here anyway?"

[Zero]

Dhan-Jaroe entered the system, picked up Talon and left, unscathed and undetected.

[Onderin Starlisk]

The Rebel Fleet began to break up and head for their hyperspace points. Their work here was done, and those who needed to be aboard apparently were.

 

Onderin Starlisk ordered the Fleet back to Coruscant to aid in the holding thereof as well as their participance in the reconstruction of parts of the city and the formation of a new government for the galaxy to follow. Things were looking up.

 

The Jedi Knight and Vice-Admiral gave the signal and the fleet entered the tunnels of hyperspace with timed precision that only came through years of being in the Navy and other branches of military service.

 

As quickly as they had arrived, the six MC90s were gone.

[Scorp Jedi Knight]

Scorp then arrived and landing on the planet he quickly exited his ship and went serching for his lightsaber. When he found it it was quite damanged to the point where he would have to build a new one. Grabbing it and his father's saber that had been blown quite a few feet back which might have saved it. Scorp jumped into his x-wing and flew back to the jedi base. HE had work to do.

[Ish Ka Bibl]

As the jedi came into a slow orbit above Ryloth, he could sense the devistation. The on board R-2 unit began spitting out schematics and data on the planets current status.

 

Ish called upon the force to calm his senses, as he was saddened by the heavy loss of life and his inability to do much for it.

 

The jedi brought his craft down gracefully next to the Osroc. Running a standard test from the X-Wing next to it, he could see that his ship was remarkably undamaged.

 

The X-wing would be picked up by remaining rebel forces in the area, so there was no worry for Ish about leaving it. One last thing remained however.....The jedi searched in a mile radius for his weapon. Eventually he came upon the smoldered ruins of his former body. Near it was the token he'd mainly come for.....his saber.

 

The jedi picked it up with not so much as a word, and ignited it to make sure it was still in perfect working order. The hum echoed across the dead landscape as corpses littered it.

 

Turning the blade off the jedi made a mad dash for his ship, and headed off the planet in the Osroc.

[Guest]

As Jareth heard the situation summed up so quickly by his jedi friend, his eyes widened.

 

surely that cannot be so. Jareth thought to himself. Gantoris was strong with the light. Anything that could cause his fall from it was surely a force to be reckoned with.

 

After the initial shock of the news wore off, disappointment and sadness crept into Jareth's heart. He was searching salvation, and thought he could find it in BLKClone. The wookiee was strong enough in the jedi arts to rescue his tortured spirit from the darkside. Now, he might never find it.

 

As Jareth pondered these things, he allowed Keiran insight into his thoughts. The sorrow that the sith clung to was made apparent to keiran through the force. His desire for redemption was also very clear to see.

 

He uttered a single phrase over the comm.

 

"Help me.....my friend."

 

A single tear fell from his eye and it was thick, and the color of blood freshly cut from an artery.

 

He peered over at Keiran's ship, and could feel that his message was recieved.

 

After a few moments quiet reflection, he spoke further.

 

"Where should we go? We must right this atrosity."

[Keiran]

Keiran sensed an enormous emotional conflict occuring inside his long time friend.

 

"Some things are better left alone to develop"

 

Keiran stayed tightlipped as to what he sensed within Jareth's mind.

"I'm afraid SEED, Geki, AP and BC all escaped using some sort of portal on Ryloth which was destroyed immediately after it was used, so I have no idea where they are at this moment. I have never felt anything like that portal in my entire life, where it came from, I have no clue. Do you have any experience with the kind of portal I speak of?"