Fall of Tion

[Jacobi Wylcott]

---WARHOUND COMMAND

Battlestations were manned and reports were reigning in fast from casualty reports to damage reports to enemy kill confirmations. The radar was showing clearly that the Alliance Fleet was getting pummeled out there and while the Sith had positioned their ships more defensively, it appeared to be working in their favor as they were delivering heavy broadside after heavy broadside. The fighter situation though was not going as clean and the Alliance’s more advanced arsenal of fighters were achieving great feats, if this kept up the Sith Armada under Warhound Command would be forced to pull back, Alliance starfighters were notorious for being able to pull out victories when it should have been impossible to do so.

Many of the Sith’s starfighter wings were reporting being disabled and out of the fight entirely. This was not boding well. However the heavier stock that the Sith brought to the fight such as the Toscans and the heavier Firesprays were proving to be quite resilient and were giving back as much as they were taking.

Reports continued to shower the bridge as the Magnetar shuddered again and again from successive hits against her hull. But something glorious seemed to be happening. The Alliance’s flagship, the Liberty seemed to be taking excessive damage. Now was the time to strike! “Helm! Push forward. Rally fighters to screen us and have our bombers harrass them with whatever munitions they have left. Commence rotation efforts for those bombers that are empty, bring them in and rearm them.” He stood up to the frontal viewport at the grand victory unfolding before him.

“We shall drive them from the field. Rhen Var is ours!”

Surging forward now were the twin behemoths. The Naga Heavy Dreadnought Magnetar and the Exar Heavy Dreadnought Moraband. Between these two massive warships and the Sith’s remaining fighter and bomber retinue, there was little chance left for the Alliance to make a stand here.

[Ben Kenobi]

***Task Force Liberty Command***

The order to fall back in full orderly egress had just been given. After a bloody nose gifted by the Sith’s largest and heaviest hitters, the Liberty and supporting vessels were in some rough shape. Limping away after the first pass the Galactic Alliance Navy was turning about and breaking away from Rhen Var’s gravity well with all speed. Bombers were immediately recalled to the housing of their ships of birth while X-wings and the XJs were close-in screens while A-wing and E-wing assets screened further out.

What made the retreat from Rhen Var most difficult was that the Sith’s interdiction field was still operational and because it was, word of Rhen Var’s fall would not come for some time. Being as damaged as they were the Task Force Liberty was suffering from spotty communication and getting a clear message out at this time was not something that was going to be done. The fleet needed to make away from Rhen Var and get back to Ossus for refit and repair so that the Alliance Naval Command could better discuss their options and retaliate.

However, with the Liberty pulling out of the area that would leave the Alliance forces on the ground vulnerable and in the condition that the defenders were left in after defeating the Sith down there, they would not last against a second wave and especially against an orbital bombardment.

With no other options, the Commander of the Outpost was given the order by Admiral Bok Salmaak of Task Force Liberty to pull out of the Alliance Listening Post and abandon it. All assets were to be scuttled if non-recoverable… Within the hour evacuation ships were lifting off, flying low across the horizon and making their escape either towards the Liberty or Galidraan, whichever route was more simply approached.

This was a dark day for the Alliance, but this was not over. Not by a long shot…

[Annan Rainwalker]

Aboard the MC90 Star Cruiser Liberty
Orbiting the Ice World of Rhen Var
Tobali system, Thanium sector

Jedi Rainwalker coughed and hacked as he fell on one knee, one mechanical hand clutching his throat to sooth the pain as he collapsed his lightsaber and placed the hilt at his belt with the other. His head throbbed with an intensity that was second only to the pain in his chest - the Echani Battlemaster had likely crushed a rib... or five. Annan's haggard breathing eased somewhat as the vile and excruciating aura of Silas Karn receded, leaving just the soothing and illuminated presence of the venerable Master Buggie.

For in a brief moment of time that felt like millennia, he was Master Buggie. The Ferrireo marvelled at how much more detailed the world looked and felt through the intricate senses of the Verpine. In the background, he could even feel a remote connection to the Roche Hive, with that instinctive feeling of being part of a greater whole. Within, he knew he had access to a wellspring of Light far deeper and more developed than his own. He understood every decision taken by the esteemed Master of the Force in the past few years, and he knew how content he was with what he had now.

It was... surreal.

Then, as soon as he knew, the knowledge receded into his subconscious - like a dream, the precise details forgotten upon waking up although a vague recollection remained. The Force that brought together Master Buggie and Annan Rainwalker as two parts of a whole abated, and Annan's now distinctly personal senses were bombarded with his own connection to the Force screeching of impending doom.

Still, his injuries chose that moment to catch up with him. Both physical, and the sheer spiritual exhaustion that came about due to Force melding for the first time in a life-and-death situation and going up against the Sovereign of all beings. Despite knowing through the flares in the Force that the Liberty was in danger and they needed to evacuate.

'Dang it, and after going to all this trouble too...' was the last thought on the Jedi's mind as he felt the Liberty beneath him tremble upon the beginning of the Sith onslaught, before Annan felt the blackness overtake him and he fell onto the platform, unconscious.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

There was no catching the Task Force Liberty as they peeled away and departed the system edging closer and eventually maneuvering outside of the gravity well’s bubble. As for the Warhound’s larger assets, they had remained on station over freshly seized Rhen Var and in doing so had taken the time to assess the situation at the Alliance’s abandoned Listening Post. With full intent to bombard it had the defenders chosen to reamain - it was now ripe for the picking and so the guns of the Sith Fleet remained silent. Instead shuttles and transports began launching that were filled with engineers and technicians and not a few Verpine slaves. They would descend to the surface and make efforts to recover whatever was not destroyed during the fighting or the following destruction as the Alliance was leaving.

Meanwhile the Sith’s Prefab base was coming fully online now and already shooting a message back towards the Reach that Rhen Var had fallen and to signal the next wave element. Soon enough Rhen Var would be truly locked down as the entity of the next wave included more base structures involving the likes of a strong enough shield generator to defend against orbital attack as well as at least one surface-to-orbit cannon to ward off encroaching enemy ships.

Rhen Var would become a hub of the Sith war effort on the Galactic Alliance. Even if further plans for the Tion Cluster did not pan out - Rhen Var would be an incredible staging point and it would not fall from Sith hands as easily as the Roche Colonies had. The Sith had been taken unawares back then when the Jedi and Pirates essentially snuck there way in. No longer.

Within the Tobali System sat two gas giants within the orbit of Tor - the systems star - and these gas giants would be prime locations to erect multiple Tibbana Gas extractors. With Dungal Lem orbited by twenty-four moons and mash Shareo orbited by twelve - the system would not lack for sites in which to refine the extracted gas and ship it either back to the Reach or store it here to fuel the war efforts in the Tion Cluster. Furthermore many of the Sith’s own Listening Posts could be erected on these moons for long range detection and early warning systems. That along with a few fighter hangars - the Tobali System could eventually become a major hub for the Sith along the Prelemian as well.

Of course it would take time, effort and a vast amount of credits - but the Sith were patient.

As the sun set on this entire engagement and the Sith Banner was raised over Rhen Var - the outlook for the free people of this galaxy began to dim just that much more. While the Alliance may not have lost something very strategic - the Sith had gained something very prized indeed.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

---48 HOURS LATER
---RHEN VAR


Soon to arrive was the first elements of the Sith reinforcements set to arrive here at Rhen Var. The Prefab Base that the Sith had dropped was now fully operational and the shield generator was protecting it from outside threats. Many shuttles and drop ships now littered the area as the Sith war machine was hard at work establishing their presence. The Dark Lord himself had returned to orbit - as he ascended to the heavens the cultists of the Sith made to the earth. Among a Sith Fleet there were many fanatical followers of the Empire in which they served and those that were non-essential crew were permitted a term of leave in which they took to the surface of Rhen Var.

In doing so the cultists began to dig in - spreading their presence. Upon the freshly abandoned Alliance Listening Post the cultists fell upon it and rent the morality form the Alliance’s hands. Nigh on every surface of the post was then twisted into an obscene shrine to the Sith. There were many bodies of the defenders that remained - their allies had fled without retrieving them and in doing so they had condemned their friends remains to the hands of those that would use them.

Bodies were nailed to walls after being stipped naked and gutted. Their entrails used as ink in the artistic fashion of drawing sigils recognized by these fanatic and mystical madmen upon the walls, floors and ceilings. At the epicenter of the post where the battle had climaxed a makeshift host of gibbets were erected and any of the Alliance survivors that had not escaped were placed here where they would spend the rest of their short lived days until starving to death surrounded by the desecration of their dead friends.

Every defender that had fought on the walls and had fallen were gruesomely decapitated and their heads set on makeshift spikes that now dressed the walls of the outpost as mutilated crenelations. Their bodies were set down as a carpet of the ground concerning the main gatehouse of the outpost. By the time the cultists were done here - the bodies had been stomped to broken bones and pasty meat among a blood streaked trench.

---SITH ARMADA IN ORBIT

Lord High Admiral Lidmor orchestrated the fleet as a puppetmaster tended to his tools. A fleet this size did not come to ‘foreign soil’ without bringing along significant resources to repair itself which included freighters and hauling vessels which carried massive amounts of munitions, warheads, weaponry, supplies, food, fuel, water, additional manpower and of course - equipment used to repair starships.

The more severely damaged of the Sith’s warships were brought into a secure holding area where these resources were distributed and engineers had gone to work to bring these ships back into serviceable status. Though in reality the reinforcements would be arriving soon enough and in that the Sith would be able to send these damaged ships back to the Reach to be refitted. It was only a matter of time now and a short one at that in which the Sith would have Rhen Var for the long term.

In the meantime the additional assets carried by the Sith Fleet orbiting Rhen Var were sent deeper into the Tion Cluster where they would link up with the Warhound Command and begin establishing routes in an out of the Tion where later resupply efforts could be conducted.

[Master Buggie]

**Outer Rim Territories, Thanium Sector - R-6**
**Tobali System, Rhen Var, Orbit**
**MC90 Heavy Cruiser Liberty, Shortly After the Duel Among the Stars**
The shadow lance had exploded into a bulkhead and its energies dissipated into the natural flow of the Force. Buggie dropped to a knee, placing both hands on the deck plating to steady him as he caught his breath. The duel was over at this point, and Buggie had mercifully escaped it with little more than a kick to his already throbbing chest. After impacting the main viewport of the Liberty, he had just about expended the remainder of his energy in the duel. Jedi Rainwalker had collapsed, and Buggie was nearly at the point of joining him, until his compound eyes fell upon the wounded laying within the bridge. Buggie was a Jedi, and despite the fact that he the Galactic Alliance had betrayed his trust, these men and women had not.

Buggie groaned as he willed himself to his digitigrade feet and approached the bridge from the corridor. The Sith, as if they had something to say in the matter, struck at the Liberty, causing a rumble through the entire ship that threatened to take Buggie off of his feet and back to the floor. Lurching to throw a shoulder against the wall, Buggie's body cried out in protest, but he leaned heavily upon the side of the corridor and continued his laborious trek.

Since the Liberty's medical bay had been hit in the Sith acolyte's attack, and since the turbolift system had either been locked down or damaged, Buggie was one of the first responders on the scene. If any of the bridge personnel had rushed over to him and offered their assistance, he would have declined, but all hands were currently engaged with fighting the ongoing fleet battle over Rhen Var or were tending to their own colleagues' wounds. A Jedi Padawan that survived the attack on the bridge was administering aid, and Buggie took the young apprentice's cue and sat, albeit clumsily, in the center of the bridge among the shattered displays, fractured terminals, and other debris. That attracted a few questioning looks, but the Padawan learner, recognizing the rough approximation to a meditative pose, silently assured the wandering eyes that this posed no danger.

Buggie's pulse reverberated through his entire body, and he struggled to obtain a controlled pattern of breathing. In his earlier days of training, this would be enough to prevent him from proceeding, but by now, Buggie held the title of a Jedi Master, and such physical routines were no longer essential. The light side of the Force now flooded into his awareness and his mind touched all manner of his surroundings. Buggie saw the labored breathing of a bridge officer that had taken a high-powered blaster bolt to the hip, but he felt the officer's presence on an even greater plane. Across the bridge, on the upper level walkway, an officer's life energy faded from a wound to the chest. Another officer's face was marred with shrapnel from an exploded terminal. Three more lay prone. Another had not suffered a combat injury, but in an effort to escape the firefight, had torn a ligament in their knee. Buggie's mind connected with each of these sentients...

The light side of the Force flowed into each of them at his behest. The Force concentrated within these sentients' bodies, knitting wounds back together, restoring rendered and blackened flesh, pushing out the shrapnel and clotting the wounds that remained. This was the ultimate culmination of Buggie's healing abilities, which he had obtained though the most difficult training he had ever encountered under the tutelage of the Jedi Healers. Delicate guidance and gentle direction of the Force allowed Buggie to accomplish this mass healing ability with success, but it exhausted his broken body and his already fatigued mind. If he had accomplished the healing he had begun, he never knew it, as his shoulders slumped over and his head lolled down over his body powerlessly. Buggie had fallen unconscious.

The result of the miraculous ability had brought the bridge to a momentary halt and it was the arrival of the medical team that brought the bridge back to activity. With the assistance of the Padawan learner, the medical team collected Buggie, the injured bridge personnel, and Jedi Rainwalker and moved them to a waiting hangar bay. By now, the result of the battle had been made clear, and the Galactic Alliance fleet was in heavy pursuit as it maneuvered to flee the system. With the medical facilities damaged within the Liberty, and what remained undamaged now filled by other casualties, the medical team was forced to launch a shuttle from an intact, smaller hangar bay in order to transfer the wounded to the medical facilities aboard another of the task force's vessels. The risk, of course, was the harrying Sith starfighters, which were all but certain to ignore any rules of engagement regarding medical craft. As Buggie and Jedi Rainwalker, among others, were loaded aboard the shuttle, a small Blue Star Pirate force emerged from hyperspace nearby the navigation beacon that the Liberty Task Force was approaching. While this pirate force was not able to contest the Sith fleet currently in position over Rhen Var, it was capable of serving as a safe harbor for any smaller Galactic Alliance vessels that needed refuge, yet couldn't make it out of the system on their own. The crew of the medical shuttle decided that this was their window to act and launched from the Liberty. After a hail of welcome covering fire provided from the pirates during their transit, the shuttle was soon within the hangar of the pirates' largest vessel.