Family Meeting (Kyr)

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden smiled under his helmet and opened his mouth to respond, but the comm came online. "Transport NZ-0105, transmit your clearance code." a hard voice said. The transport's pilot responded, "Transmitting clearance." silence followed this. Rhoden shuffled from foot to foot, something, somewhere, had gone wrong. "Transport NZ-0105 you will come to a full stop and prepare to be boarded." and with that Rhoden knew stealth had flew out the airlock, and so too did the pilot. There was a slight hum as the weapons systems began powering on.

"Begin transmitting my message, Jorvan." Rhoden said eyeing one of the massive vessels which could be seen moving in the distance. "Right, yeah, the message." Jorvan said clearly not liking their odds any more than Rhoden did. There was a crack of static and Rhoden's message began transmitting, playing over the ships intercom as it went.

"This is Rhoden Garrick Carbine, rightful Head to the Carbine Family. Any forces who remain truly loyal will stand down and aid in the removal of my sister--who I am afraid is quite mad. Any forces--" and on the message went. Rhoden sat back and waited, one way or the other the answer would be known soon.


Irene Carbine sat on her throne, listening with heightening anger as the message of her brother finished playing. "No! Lies!" she shrieked. Nalem Forn winced at her outburst, the Commander of her honor guard he had become rather accustomed to her moods. She began to laugh, which concerned him more. "So, he comes here to overthrow me, to take my people, my ships." she said hysterically "He will die, they will all die..." she broke off as the door slid open. The Commander wilted with relief, the reinforcements had arrived.

"Ms. Carbine," he said, raising his rifle "You are not the Head of the Carbine family, and you are most certainly not fit to take on such responsibilities. Stand down now." he finished. Two Shadowguard moved towards her, as she stood a feral look on her face. She let out an incomprehensible shriek and raised her hands, "LIES!" she said, and Commander Forn watched horrorstruck as one of the Shadowguard crumpled, crushed into a bloody pulp by an unseen Force. The next guard fired a shot which went flying off into the floor as she turned to him and flung him with such force that his body cracked the stone in the wall.

"Fall back! Fall back!" the Commander yelled, as she turned then to the rest of them. Turning to run they met only the blast door which slammed down in their faces. Irene Carbine giggled behind them as she raised her hands. All Forn could do was scream in fear and agony.


"I stand by Lord Carbine." a voice came over the comm, and Rhoden relaxed just slightly, smiling once more beneath his helmet as the words were echoed several times. There was a distant flash, which quickly became many. "Go, sir. We will hold off the traitors." one of the voices said over the comm. The transport moved towards the hangar, and inside Rhoden could see flashes as loyalists and traitors already began fighting.

"Once the mad impostor has been dealt with there will be no more infighting, for all will know I have truly returned, so too will they no the consequences of following the witch." he said. "Slaughter anyone who stands in our way."

[Kyramur Null]

Kyr's first kill came in the hallway. The tactical plan was simple-he kept up heavy fire to force the enemy into cover while his allies took more precise shots.

The interesting part came when one of the opposing force leapt out from a side hallway to try and take him by surprise.

He kicked the unfortunate man in the chest, sending him to the ground, then placed the barrel of his massive E-WEB next to his ear and fired, turning his brain into melted slurry.

He roared at those remaining. "I will kill you all, and in ways far worse! Yield!"

But they did not-they expected no quarter and he gave none.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden ducked and leapt, slashed and blasted. In front of him and beside him ally and enemy alike fell, with terrible wounds carved by their blades, or torn into their flesh by blasters. Rhoden grabbed a man's arm as he lunged towards him and yanked hard, ducking under it and breaking it with two sharp movements. Rhoden kicked him and he went spiraling into the blade of another Shadowguard.

Just beside him he saw one of his ally's take a heavy blaster bolt to the faceplate of his armor. Laying down a rapid-fire spread he yanked the helmet off, spit blood out of his mouth snarling and hurled the helmet into the gut of the closest enemy. The man kept firing, incapable of standing up anymore he layed back against a wall.

A door began to slide open, not even pausing Rhoden through a detonator under the door, heard several brief exclamations and then silence as the explosive went off.

"Come on!" Rhoden said running into what he remembered to be the prison cells. Running past one he heard someone call out, "Rhoden..?!" Sliding to a halt Rhoden turned towards the cell and looked in carefully. Old and shriveled though his face and voice may be Rhoden couldn't fail to recognize his brother. "Darik... what?" he said. "Irene... or whatever that thing is... she lured me back home and... and captured me." he said. Gesturing to his left Darik continued speaking as Rhoden stood somewhat confused, "Go... storage right over there. Bring me my lightsaber, we need to kill her, Rhoden. She's mad."

Walking carefully over Rhoden tentatively keyed open a storage unit and saw the lone, and heavily secured, object within. It was a longer-handled lightsaber, the color of lapis, gold swirls covered the object. Rhoden stared mesmerized briefly before remembering where he was and what he was doing. "Here." he said pointing the blade end towards the door. Darik moved hastily back from the door as Rhoden fumbled with the controls.

There was a snap-hiss and a blue blade blazed into existence--not the light blue that Rhoden had seen Jedi wield before, but a deeper blue, almost the same color as the hilt. Rhoden fumbled some more as the door slid reluctantly open and the blade closed down. It tore from his grasp and flew into Darik's, "Ok. No lightsaber for you." he said.

"The easiest way to the main chamber is--" Rhoden began, but Darik interrupted him. "Through here." he said, as he created a new doorway with his lightsaber. The group stepped out into the corridor, and indeed the lift up was directly to their left. Stepping in and watching as the doors slid shut Darik glanced sideways at Rhoden. Rhoden was the elder brother, Darik himself being some fifty years old. "You found the fountain of youth, then?" he asked dryly. "Something like that, yes." Rhoden replied. Darik just shook his head before speaking up again.

"Losing the Emperor broke me, it broke a lot of the Inquisitors." he said. "But when I ran off--without the faintest plans for my future--I found an old Jedi temple." he continued. "I'm not going to claim I've been converted or anything, but they had some interesting ideas on the Force, some messed up ones too, but a lot of good." Rhoden, knowing very little of this grunted noncommittally "You met the Emperor, Rhoden. You knew what he was." Darik said softly, Rhoden shuddered ever so slightly. "And you, brother. You know you have the power within you." he continued. "No." Rhoden said sharply, and with finality. Darik sighed but said nothing more as the lift came to a stop.

The doors slid open and the group was faced with a corridor. There were no guards.

[Kyramur Null]

Kyr eyed Darik warily. He wasn't a trusting man, it wasn't in his nature or his experience.

That and the fact that the Jedi were traditional enemies of the Empire he served meant he kept a careful eye on the lightsaber as he stepped into the corridor.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not completely at ease with you guarding my back." He said to Darik.

"But I'm here to help Rhoden, and if he trusts you, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

"How good are you with that blade?" He asked. "Can you take care of yourself, blocking the blaster bolts, or will you need covering fire to close the distance?"

[Rhoden Carbine]

"It's so good to have your confidence, Commander." Darik said dryly, Rhoden registered the use of Kyr's rank, chose to ignore the fact that Darik knew this and continued walking. "As for my skills with the blade, and the Force for that matter, you need not worry." he said, tilting his head. "Though blaster bolts will likely not be an immediate issue." he said, his voice somewhat sad as he gazed at the door ahead of them.

A sinking feeling in his stomach Rhoden approached the door with Darik, it slid open without protest and with only a faint hiss. At once a horrible smell confronted them, Rhoden knew it at once to be burned flesh and, indeed, there lay many guards crumpled and gently smoking, unrecognizable. Through the revolting smell of the men and women laying charred under his feet Rhoden could smell, and see for that matter, the bloddy mass and crumpled body of two more Shadowguards. One seemed to have been hurled into the wall with pulverizing force, the other simply seemed to have been pureed.

"So, brother." a voice said, high pitched, wavering, and... giddy? "You've come back." the clone of his sister said, her throne swiveling to show her eyes blazing with unnatural intensity. Rhoden was reminded vaguely of the Emperor, for she seemed to radiate some terrible power, and her eyes formerly a blue as piercing as Rhoden's were burning golden and bloodshot. She, however, did not give the feeling of control and precise cruelty the Emperor had. No, she gave the feeling of an unhinged killer, worse than Sith, and evil enough to have given even the most bloodthirsty criminal pause. She was, as Rhoden had known her to be, utterly mad. But, clone or not, mad or not, this woman was Rhoden's sister. He felt a great fury rising in him as he thought of his sister, what she had been. This creature was the product of the Rebellion, for had Rhoden's family not been torn apart by such a war Irene Carbine would live on, Garrick Carbine would be alive and well and no more a traitor than Rhoden himself. His mother, alive, unharmed, Garrus a Stormtrooper of great skill--a Royal Guard perhaps--certainly not a corpse.

"Peace, brother." Darik said, eyeing the clone with some distaste. "You are mad, Irene, a clone of the original." he said, she turned her gaze to him, her face twitching. "You wield great power, yes, but you cannot be allowed to remain in control." Darik continued, Rhoden simply glared on. "We can help you, you can be healed, we are not your enemies." Darik said. His voice was pleading, and in Rhoden's mind he could imagine continuing on, with this clone and his brother, a united family once more. No where near whole, for much was still gone, but as together as could be hoped for.

The clone began laughing, begining with a slight giggle Rhodne had never heard from his sister, growing into hysterical shrieks. "NOOO!" she wailed, and the word seemed to reverbrate inside of Rhoden. Darik staggered, but everyone else was thrown back several feet onto their backs. Leaping up again Rhoden lunged forward, Darik a sad look on his face ignited his lightsaber and did likewise. The rest of the group was with them. "It's mine, all of it, and you.. you... you... fools!" she said, struggling to find words through her mad rage. And as shee spoke great bolts of lightning flew from her fingers. Rhoden had seen this before, had felt the great pain of this, all except for Darik were brought to the floor again. "You fools cannot stop me! I am the ultimate... the greatest... power..." She said, her eyes rolling wildly in her head as she shook. Darik pressed forward, and Rhoden knew despite his brothers readings of Jedi texts that the man was still capable of terrible feats.

Darik raised is hand and Irene flew into the air almost gracefully, Rhoden could see the muscles in her throat working wildly as she choked audibly but her terrible agony of the lightning did not cease. Darik gave a flick of his hand and she flew backwardds, and the pain ceased. Rhoden staggered weakly to his feet and saw a great wave of fire blaze out towards Irene. Darik's face was not serene, nor his posture collected and superior as Rhoden had seen in Jedi. No, he had the stature and hard gaze of a warrior, a warrior capable and willing to kill anyone who posed a threat to himself or his allies. The blaze of fire broke and vanished as Irene held her hand in front of her. She was panting now, but in her hand was a hilt, unlike Darik's it appeared to be smaller than the average lightsaber rather than larger. There was a snap-hiss and a crimson blade blazed into existence, the hum of the blade sounding somehow more deadly than that of Darik's.

"I too have learned the ways of the Force, I too have built the great blade, and now I will crush you." she said, she was no longer smiling but her eyes remained alight with some feral glow. Rhoden raised his blaster, and all around him he could hear the gentle sounds as the rest of their party did likewise. This battle, Rhoden knew, would depend entirely upon Darik's being more skilled than the mad clone and he knew in the back of his mind that he could well have lead everyone with him to their deaths had they not run into his brother.

[Kyramur Null]

Kyr hissed as the lightning singed his skin before he managed to leap behind cover, abandoning his E-WEB-the weight would only slow him down. Unslinging his rifle, he fixed a bayonet to the end of the barrel.

"When I get over there" He roared at the madwoman. "I'm going to cut your fingers off and shove them down your throat!"

It was then that he noticed, from a hidden door not more than a few feet away from him, a trio of guards emerged.

He cursed, then flung himself into the fray. He dropped one with a hip shot from his rifle, and cut another's throat with the bayonet. The third tried to hastily gut him and paid dearly-Kyr deflected the blade and then brought his head down hard, breaking the man's nose on his forehead before tearing his guts open with the bayonet. He saw more coming through the narrow pass and raised his bloody weapon, firing cleanly.

"Hurry up and kill her!" He bellowed.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden's siblings leapt at each other, and the clash of lightsabers filled the chamber. Rhoden, focused on the fight, registered the rest of his party moving off to engage more of the traitors. Kyr yelled something about killing her, whatever else he might have said drowned out by what sounded like blaster turrets opening fire and the continued clashes of the lightsabers.

Rhoden squinted against the blinding flashes, watching carefully the swirling of blades, simply blurs of light to his eyes. Occasionally the fighting would slow as Darik pushed forward, giving heavy strikes that strained or straight up threw back the mad clone. Sometimes Darik would take several hasty steps back, beating away the rapid-fire swings of Irene.. Irene continued to shake and seemed to be sweating profusely, Darik stood tall and firm, the only sign of strain was--perhaps--a slight increase in the speed of his breaths.

Rhoden heard an explosion behind him, around the same time Darik shifted his position. Irene, focused on the fight, did not notice what was happening. Not hesitating, Rhoden brought his blaster up and fired at her now exposed back. Two shots landed before she brought her lightsaber around deflecting the rest, a terrible screech of rage sent Rhoden sprawling to the ground, the sound reverberating in his bones.

The scream stopped and Rhoden heard the renewed clash of blades. He looked up and saw Irene falling back rapidly, for the first time she did not look absolutely mad--for her focus was solely upon the relentless assault Darik now brought down upon her. His face was not longer calm, he no longer focused on defense. Instead his face was filled with a cold purpose, his every strike was aimed to kill rather than disarm or throw off.

Rhoden got to his feet and fired, and fired, and fired. Her attention split, she deflected all but one of the blaster bolts, she staggered but leapt over the strike Darik had aimed for her arm. She landed in front of Rhoden, and he took a hasty step back. Not hasty enough, though. He felt a great pain lance through his shoulder and chest. Rhoden bellowed firing several more times into her gut, falling onto his back. Irene finally succumbed to her injuries and dropped onto her knees, gurgling incomprehensibly as blood flowed from her mouth and her eyes bulged. The crimson blade rose once more--and fell to the ground as the clone was bisected by Darik's blade.

Darik rushed up to Rhoden and began inspecting his injuries, Rhoden felt the pain ease slightly. Another explosion and several blaster bolts flying overhead reminded Rhoden that there was still a fight going on. He sat up, fighting back nausea as he did so, and attempted to raise his blaster. His arm did not move, Rhoden reached over with his left and and took the blaster from his right--his arm could be fixed, the deaths of his allies could not.

He turned to the fight which he had as so far ignored. The clone was dead, but there were still traitors to be dealt with--within the station, and in the space outside of it.

[Kyramur Null]

Growling, Kyr marched over to what used to be the clone and wordlessly fired three times into the heap for good measure.

"Now it's done with." He declared, shouldering the massive E-WEB. "When we've taken the rest of the station, I'll have someone shovel the heap out the airlock, if that's what you want. Now then..."

He cracked his neck, readied his weapon, and marched away.

"You kill everyone in one half of this place, and I'll kill everyone in the other." His tone was perfectly serious, and it was clear he had no doubt he was capable of this. Blood dripped from his armor and his horns where he had used them in melee combat, and his E-WEB sizzled with heat, but Kyr'amur Null was as ready for a fight as ever.

[Rhoden Carbine]

"Or how about we do this the smart way?" Darik said a blaze in his eyes, "Rhoden is in no shape to fight, someone needs to get him to a med bay." Darik kept his gaze on Kyr even as Jorvan relieved him of Rhoden's bulk. "Jorvan and his squad can handle Rhoden, I will accompany you and the rest of the Shadowguard." Darik said.

Without waiting for any response Darik began marching off, his lightsaber held in his hand. The Shadowguard fell in behind him. Rhoden hobbled off with Jorvan, sincerely hoping the two men would get along. At the very least they should refrain from killing each other. There was a slight tremble and Rhoden remembered there were still several insurgent ships outside the citadel.

[Kyramur Null]

Kyr growled under his breath. He knew and trusted Rhoden-this other one was new and an unknown quantity. As a general rule, Kyr disliked working extensively with people he didn't know or hadn't researched beforehand.

But in this case, he was willing to make an exception.

"Fine. The first order of business should be making our way to whatever external defenses the station has. We can use them to clear out the enemy ships. I won't have us get this far only to have the roof crumble on top of our heads."

He eyed Darik. "You take one side of the corridors and I'll take the other. Fair enough, yes? Advance one by one, clearing as we go."