At Hero's End (Pt.2)

[Jacobi Wylcott]

---O-11 - MANAAN

So then the Sith Armada descended on pinions of fire and brought with them the wrath they had been known so well for. First the fighters descended with speed and while the strategic points of Ahto City were public knowledge more or less, finding them in an instant was not an easy thing and so a lot of the first moments of the Razorfighter’s strafe was indiscriminate fire raining down on locations that appeared to be defensive in nature whether they were or not. Y-wings came down into the skies above Ahto City but held their positions - loitering - until the Razor flights could better detect targets of opportunity for the heavier bombers to strike them with their proton bomb payloads.

Dropships descended through the clouds with much haste though they were understandably slower than their fighter counterparts. However three specific Cargo Ferries and two massive Landing Barges were streaking down through the skies so fast their hulls burned and left rocketing trails of black smoke in their wake. The five craft were being escorted and it was everything the Razors could do to keep up with the swift and very dangerous descent - even if intercepted these transports would likely be on the ground momentarily.

Another Cargo Ferry had just now entered the upper atmosphere of Manaan where it pulled up out of its dive and then released its payload. A domed pod fell from the belly of the Ferry which turned and began to moving into a holding pattern in the skies - it would return to the Harbinger once the warship was finished with its maneuvers.

As for the pod it dropped with the grace of a stone and as it tore down to a fitting elevation the pod’s walls were released to splay open as a flower - blossoming from the flower was no beautiful budding but a massive tonnage of armor scales and fury to match. Spearing outward like a missile the Hyrda scoured down through the clouds with white contrails streaming from it until the last layer of white was breached and behold Ahto City was given its full and massive form. Kraujas Ntima unfurled its wings and the leathery sinews caught the wind hard creating a foul sound on the wind as twin head lifted up and bellowed a cry of battle unto the heavens.

Darth Tormentous gripped the leather bound hilt of his sword - Jidai Maras - and he hefted it high into the air, lightning began to arc from its mirrored surface which was soon wrought with molten red. He joined his Hydra’s roar with one of his own to sound the charge and so together they dove down upon the unsuspecting Selkath city of Ahto.

High above the trio of Sith Warships were maneuvering closer the the planet now and all three had activated their jamming equipment - while the entire world could not be jammed, the entire vicinity of Ahto and a large bubble around it would be unable to call for any help. Manaan would be subject to the whim of the Sith for a while so it seemed.

[Aliclair Austjor]

From the voids that Aliclair finally managed to get a good quality of sleep without the fear of having to worry about someone coming in on her, or throwing her against the wall to wake her. And as she slept:
The chitters of woodland creatures, and feathered creatures songs filled the surrounding area. Ali opened her eyes to be met with lands she immediately recognized; her home planet. The radiant sun above almost blinded her but it lit the way for her as she rose to her feet to walk. And as she treaded forward, her fingers trailed the rugged bark of the trees that surrounded her. Being home, it pulsated something in her chest. Was it homesickness? Or just joy of seeing these familiar lands. An abrupt shrill broke her from her sightseeing and her opalescent hazel eyes quickly looked toward it, to be met with a beast worse than nightmares. Its bloodlust eyes locked onto the padawan, and before she could even move back, it struck at lightspeed."

Ali's body jolted and she pushed against the floor of the vent, slamming the back of her head against the metal walls. Falling back down on her stomach, she growled in pain, holding her throbbing head. "A-ah foo..." Ali grumbled as she slowly pushed herself up to sit on the back of her legs. She took a moment to gather her barings before checking the makeshift radio she constructed, then placed it on the innards of her pants. She gave her head a shake before looking around; best sleep she'd had for a while. Too long... Crawling to the vent grate, she checked to see if there were personeel nearby, and when they wasn't, she pulled the grate out to proceed and climb down the shelves. She needed to change her appearance more; clothes could do but so much to mask. She wondered the spares parts room with her fingers trailing the shelves. Looking at the shelf, then her dirtied hand littered with dust, she scrunched her nose then realized it could be used. Looking around while tearing apart bots in search for an alternative. Finding soot within one of the bots, she decorated her lids, cheeks and forehead in Zabrak-like markings. The only thing she couldn't change was her eyes... which were distict factors. Glaring a bit, she realized she could change the colors of her eyes. But... it would need constant use of the Force. Which, is something that was done but to use it at 100% for an extended time. She'd never tried it before but, it was something she needed to do. Shutting her lids, enveloping around her only, she opened her lids to reveal hellsing orange-red irises. Grabbing a small piece of metal from the robot she tore up, she wrapped up her loose hair and used the metal as a means to a pin. Pushing the broken robot to the side, she checked to ensure that she could leave without rising suspicions.

She'd found a way to send out an SOS on her, and what the Sith were doing. A ship this big wasn't used for just show... there were a few outfits warn by these people. So, she decided to use her current form to explore. Find out what she could, with her head held high and hands behind her back. Witnessing who was higher than who. And after about, four hours, she found out who was the highest ranking soldier. To get to him, was going to be challenging. "Hm..." she thought before walking up to a Commander. Aliclair was glad her Master Kenobi wasn't around to witness what she was about to do.

"Excuse me, Commander, I need your assistance with something. My logs won't transfer through." Ali said. The larger male gave a gruff sigh before following her to a secluded room. Once he was in, he looked around. "Where's your log?" he asked, knitting his eyebrows and looked down at the smaller feminine.

"Oh, there's no log... I just wanted to get you alone." she mused softly, inching in and placing her hands on his lower abdomon. This caused him to back up, and pin himself against the wall behind him, and at a lost for words. He stumbled words and even tensed up as she got closer, using her shifted eyes to her advantage. With her hands making her way up, she grabbed his collar, swiftly pulling him to the side and letting his weight slam him down. Sliding, she wrapped her legs around his neck, her thighs closing his passage way. He gave a good thrashing, that Ali almost lost her grip but she quickly regained it. Eventually, his body ceased movement, and checking for a pulse. There was one, small. Faint... he'd survive. And hopefully not remember this encounter and blow her cover. Deeply inhaling, then exhaling, the she-padawan moved to denudate then equipping herself with her new disguise, fixing the buttons and badges, she was ready to explore further and find out what was going on.

Aliclair moved out to a central room with a series of computers and holos that seemed to house the information she needed. As she walked into the room, the personnel within desisted, taking form with a salute. She dipped her head, then dismissed them out the room, to which they took their leave. Perhaps to take a break. Whatever the reason, she'd have this bunch of comms to look through. Ali took her seat and began to look through the system files, looking through what she could find. The knowledge here was limited, and this caused her to squint. The Sith grew smarter... keeping little information to be hacked. The Harbinger exited hyperspace, and this caused the feminine's head to perk up, pulling up cameras of the outside. The planet... it seemed familiar. She pulled up a scan and read it was Planet Manaan, and their target was Ahto. In an instant, Ali's heart dropped, and her eyes widened slightly. The city will be rendered defenseless, there was no way the Jedi, the GA, would know of this assault... and she was a slave to the Sith. She still had her radio, but that would take time. Ali stayed in her seat, watching the chaos the Sith reigned with helpless eyes, and even teared up; and the screeched call of Tormentous' Hydra didn't help, and even got a nice flinch out of fear. Countless people, lives, lost. And for what? She had to find out; but how? She looked back at the system before her. There had to be logs of their goals, even if it was minimal. Notes had to have been passed down. Communications; Ali began to look through it all. Time wasn't something she needed; she needed speed. And to act like the Commander she was at the moment; but no one should bother her, since she dismissed ]everyone from this room. "Ugh, these systems are confusing. And who types in anything but Aurebesh?? Monsters I tell you." she growled to herself, her eyebrows knitting.

[Professor Mors]

Sa’ato could feel oxygen squirming about in his pores as he held his breath and watched the unforgiving waves draw nearer and nearer. All the same, the blare of the warning sirens grew quiet in the Neti’s mind as he continued to submerge himself in the Force. For a brief moment, the professor closed his eyes. Without looking at the ship’s altometer, Sa’ato finally gunned the ventral booster rockets, groaning loudly as the g-forces tried to shoot him out of his chair and into the ceiling. Thankfully, his belt and bindings held fast. The Mudhorn had managed to right itself just in the nick of time, falling back onto a lateral angle with the churning sea only meters belows.

This was only the beginning however. The academic had no sooner opened his eyes carefully before they snapped wide with shock. A titanic wall of water was mounting quickly at the Pursuer’s fore! Certain that the myriad cultists would curse him later, Sa’ato quickly tipped the nose of his vessel up, and diverted all auxiliary power to the engines. Once more, the battered ship shot forward. This time it did not avoid the aquatic obstacle entirely, clipping its crest on the way out and causing the chassis to waggle from the uninvited inertia. Thankfully, it was a correction the Neti was perfectly capable of making. At last, the strike craft was on an intercept course with the distant cityscape.

As expected, whatever cursory garrison occupied Manaan was presently scrambling to address the looming Sith dreadnaughts. Such being the case, the Mudhorn arrived at the Ahto’s major port unimpeded. Blasting the marina’s repulsorwall pylons apart, Sa’ato created a hasty opening for himself as he brought the makeshift transport down onto a vacant loading bay with a harsh thud. Not wasting any time, the Neti keyed the cargo bay doors, and observed the cultists fly free of the ship like a nest of angry redjackets. They wasted no time in accosting the poor souls working at the flight stations, and the professor did not bother to watch on and witness the impending bloodshed.

And, as fate would have it, the retired teacher could not afford to idle anyways. The local military was sure to be more focused on the invading fleet, but where private industry was concerned, a different hostile force soon appeared. Sa’ato’s conspicuous entrance had drawn the ire of several Arakyd Prowler 1500 probes. Ten times the size of the standard 1000 series, these airborne droids were meant to deter vehicular theft, or in this case, assault. Now by his lonesome, the professor cursed openly and in earnest, before hastily lifting off and initiating a harsh right turn as crude green energy bolts flashed across the cockpit canopy. It was just one thing after the next.

[Kressara Thryn]

A message pinged the device on Kressara's wrist, but it went ignored. Not because she didn't want to speak with Slade...actually, she wanted more than anything to talk to him now, but how? How would she hide this from him? The same way she'd hide it from everyone else, by simply allowing her expertly crafted insanity to make any dives into her mind too confusing to possibly gather any useable information. Raven was right about that at least. Kressara might have been whole enough now to navigate her own tempest of a mind, but another? The glitterstim, the damage, and her untamed emotions made traversing those wavelengths a difficult, bumpy, and possibly dangerous endeavor.

One such prospect that seemed to draw unwanted attention from another sith lord other than Tormentous.

The fair haired one...with the attitude.

Battle meditation was the first sensation that beckoned entry into her mind, one which she rose a guard to deny. Thankfully Tormentous had shown her a method of blocking against mental attacks through the force, another skill to help protect her more sensitive information. Thanks to him, Silas would need a lot more power behind his attempts to snake his way into her mind again...that is unless she let him in. Her madness seemed to be what was drawing the man to poke at her thoughts in the first place, given that they had no knowledge of one another prior to this full scale attack. He had little to gain from information she might possess, yet enjoyed the high of a functioning broken mind like a new addict with their death sticks.

Thousands stood in the room, yet the two locked eyes almost as soon as he reached out for that familar force signature. When his icy blues met the sunbeam heat of her citrine leer, the gate opened intentionally and Kressara summoned up the loudest mental symphony she could muster to roar silently, yet deafeningly in his own subconcious. Crazed bird croaking and shrieking by the hundreds of thousands blaired to the mental imagry of a bright white so stark, it burned. Dogs growled and barked beneath the cawing and beating of wings, violin strings screeched and broke with multitudes of rusty twangs, and brittle nails dug crevices into steel. The mental noise, though constant to Kressara, could shake a man to his core who'd never known such alteration to their grey matter. Among the rapidly shifting shades of white, too colorless to exist in the realm they shared physically, a bloody body in the hull of their ship came to Kressara's mind like a warning. She. Would. Kill. She'd just finished murdering someone an apprentice like herself had no business slaying, no right to the power it took to destroy them. The image of a brutally carved up traitor to the sith ripped through her brain, and thus through his...and just like that, the fellow flaxen lifted her guard through the force once more, cutting Silas off to that head splitting brain static and the warning of viciousness it held. The effect it would have on him was unknown to Kressara, but in her own madness she cast him a dangerous smile and hoped that would teach him to pry without permission in the future. There was no power in all the force quite as painful as the loss of one's mind.

Now, properly guarded with the force once again, the crow of the sith looked down at her wrist device and read a message from her former master.

What have you done?

Now and forever, she would have to play the part without fail. Kressara steeled herself with a tiny huff and responded, "A favor to my masters, to whom I'm loyal...unlike she was."

She did indeed intend to leave the body as a calling card, purposefully giving her mental intruder a flash of the scene to further tie her name to the murder. Raven was dead and Kressara had killed her. That was no small deed and in the world of the sith, such acts were comendable. It would be praise worthy, she was sure. Only after their mission was complete of course. The attack took presidence, but she could wait. The woman had the patience of a dead man in an old tomb waiting to breath again.

Now choosing to dismiss herself from both, Kressara made her way to a fighter pilot and whispered something in their ear. They nodded in agreement before allowing the woman passage. This smaller vessel would take her to Sa'ato's ship when the time was right, just before the battle kicked off in all it's full fervour. Out of all the present sith operatives, he seemed to be the one less likely to wear thin on the stressed blackbird. He was usually quite happy to stay put in his own thoughts, and Kressara liked that a great deal about the professor.

And so the battle did explode into existence with the drop and siege of a terrible abomination. Their fighter zoomed out of the Harbinger's hangar and with it's lighter frame, mimicked surrounding maneuvers with greater ease than the larger ships. Kressara watched from the copilot's chair in her acquired lift with gut wrenching awe. She was a fan of fighting and chaos, but this? This was too much. It was unnatural and nightmarish.

"There's the Mudhorn. Looks like it's got some heavy duty drones after it." Her temporary pilot comrade pointed out Sa'ato's bombarded vessel and the blonde primed their turrets.

"Let's get at'em then."

While the Neti began his flight from those dreadful security drones, Kressara's borrowed fighter swooped down from the skies like a hawk and hammered down on one of the assailants with the fullest range of their vessel's firepower. It cut left, sparking and smoking, but still functional. Their arrival scattered the drones and split their forces momentarily between the two.

"Hey, Branches! Need a pal?" Her chipper tones called out over a signal between the fighter and the Mudhorn.

[Silas Karn]

Such elation! The valiant defense of a mind, one the Sovereign had actually meant to uplift rather than dominate, was glorious. Of course the manner to which the grace of his influence was halted was intriguing. ‘You believe yourself capable of denying me don’t you? Perhaps for a time…’ The Sovereign did recoil from the forceful rebuff but only just as the priest’s consciousness loomed at the edges of Kressara’s senses. The dim platinum gleam belonging to the pummel of the High Priest’s latest alchemical creation seemed to resonate with his taunting of the young acolyte. It was not until the Infiltrator began to move that Silas finally released his hold on the battle meditation allowing his influence to depart the Harbinger. Disturbed by the lack of the Dark Lord’s arrival Silas contacted the vessel. “Nil, have your orders been altered?”

A short silence followed before the metallic tones of the assassin made its reply, “The High Lord Admiral has given us leave to depart. It seems Lord Tormentous has elected to disembark on a separate vessel to more easily rejoin his hydra.” A scoffing laugh followed as Silas acknowledged the alteration. “And it has been said that I have held a flair for the dramatic. Very well, head for the commercial docks and I will grant escort. Once we arrive Vann will join us in our primary mission. Silvanius has her own orders but will be granted the use of the Infiltrator in aid of such once Vann unloads his equipment.” A swift acknowledgment followed as the experienced droid piloted the Infiltrator out from the Harbinger. Nil did not engage the ship’s stealth systems as Sovereign erupted out from the famed vessel with his powerful new fighter. The black K-Wing took point and began to guide the Infiltrator down to the surface of Manaan. At this early stage with only the very front vanguard of Sith fighters closing within reach of starting their first attack runs there would be little danger to the pair of vessels as they descended.

[Jacobi Wylcott]

May the reasons forever be lost to history. But the results. Let them blind the eyes of those that accuse. Manaan - a kolto driven economic power had been a center for cheaper-than bacta medical solutions throughout the galaxy and in doing so the traffic coming in and out of Ahto City was busier than the normal backwater world though far less than other industrial or commercial venue worlds. A single orbital station lay quietly in the folds of Manaan’s orbit where a pair of civilian freighters were docked to receive their cargoes. Ahto Defense stationed proper defenses to the orbital, twin squadrons of A-wings.

Near the orbital sat also a pair of Corvettes - Blockade Runners and manned by the Selkath and local militia defense crews. Away from the scene was surely a larger vessel which was in truth a Nebulon B2 Frigate which was on patrol deeper out of Manaan’s orbital circles.

When the Sith Armada arrived the station was surely taken aback in confusion. Unknown ships from an age lost to time with no tracking signals. Pirates perhaps? Another villainous agency? Whatever the case it was soon made clear - very clear as Razorfighters fell on the orbital station and inflicted heavy damages upon the unshielded freighters while Sith Bombers were yet still deploying. The station’s A-wings were hard pressed to launch from such a sudden strike though for those that managed the feat they were hazed immediately by hungry Razorfighter pilots. This was not to say the entire host of A-wings were slaughtered like fish in a barrel - some even managed to engage the Razors in a proper dogfight. But the blatant facts were there, the suddenness of the Sith’s arrival had taken everyone by surprise.

As defenses came online to smite the evil doers from space the Sith managed to jam the area though - of course - total jam was impossible. Only the area around Ahto and the orbital avenue the Sith took in to the field would be affected.

The Sith’s Corsair Battleships dueled with the Ahto Defense CR90s. Both pairs hammered away at each other while the larger behemoth - the Harbinger trolled between the space of the orbital station and the upper atmosphere. Being a medical station it did not hold the armament to fend off the larger ship - but as it seemed the mighty warship of the Sith was not interested in turning the station to slag as it passed beyond engagement range and continued on.

Though as the Destroyer came to a point where the medical station perhaps supposed they would be free of oppression the entire station blazed with alarm klaxons. Ion cannons were unleashed and massive blue bolts slammed into the shields of the station - they would not hold forever. Tractor beams had also ensnared the station. But the station was in anchor and the tractors of the Destroyer would not be able to drag the station out of its secure orbit. That is until the Sith Bombers finished deploying - at which time they had orders to begin warhead and ion cannon runs on the station and once disabled the station would be no more sturdy than a floating hunk of space junk. It would not be instantaneous nor would it be easy - but the fate of Ahto was beginning to be written already.

For the battle in space was difficult to say the least the skirmish opening up in the skies was just as tenuous. While the Sith dropships fell from the skies and Razorfighters flew down on preliminary strafing runs to fire indiscriminately - Ahto Defense finally got into gear. Guardsmen of the Selkath were rushing to their armories to arm up in defense of their homeworld. In the meantime surface-air weapons fire broke apart the peaceful skies and tracer fire blazed upwards. The orbital situation may have been relatively one sided due the surprise attack - but the defenders on the ground were capable of making the situation far more difficult for the invaders. T-47 Airspeeders raced into the skies - only a few at first but more assembled into larger and larger groups. While they could not rise into higher altitudes, they prowled low. When the first Sith transport got into range the Airspeeders fell upon it like a pack of rabid sharks.

Laser fire blasted the transport mercilessly apart sending fragments down in a burning pyre into the sea. AA batteries claimed another - winged the ship - and on a burning pinion of fire the transport fell, skipped off the ocean surface once, nosed down and was obliterated by the kinetic impact.

Razorfighters saw their error of engaging the city instead of escorting the transports and broke away to engage the T-47s. Y-wings would have to be called down to deal with AA batteries - though until the orbital station was dealt with they would be hanging near the Harbinger.

The siege of Ahto City, Manaan - had begun.

[Slade Xandir]

"And who do you think you're lying to-" he began typing furiously jabbing back into the holowatch's face, but stopped himself. 'You know what,' he bitterly erased the message, watching it bleed from the screen as he wiped it blank and killed the inbox. So be it. Should this mission fall, it would be on Kressara. Her Masters should have kept a better eye on her, then. But until then, her Masters who she was loyal to would know there would be a problem running about that ship, and little miss Krow would be stuck with the blame should it not be properly solved. Should the Padawan not be secured, the mission could prove useless, as that whelp was their beacon to the bigger fish.

"Valkyr, send a transmission to wait on Tormentous' chamberhold- inform him of the prisoner's escape. Send the feed that isn't corrupted, and leave it for his discovery and label it under Kressara's name." He then walked out to the exit of the ship just as it began it's descent into the helpless skies of the wounded city. He could feel his coven as they fed from the energy built beyond their cages, beyond their tethers, just outside of the pods they too fell from. The eggs, all three, smashed into the city with varied points, beside each other.

Anticipation rose, as his altitude fell between the thickly laid fury of bolts and blaster around them. Luckily, Infiltrators did just that, their outer skin near invisible to the naked eye from the mirror shielding around them. Quickly he dressed himself in the multilayered armor, and ensured he was ready to hunt. Clipping both sabers on his wrist holsters, he connected another droid to AI the ship before he and Valkyr left this ship. Bringing itself near the pods, the ship hovered, and revealed the only opening discernable on the hidden vessel, the ramp, as he hopped free from it with the cathar Warborg. Fully geared for ground combat, he and the accomplice stood next to the pods, and he engulfed them with his mind, roughly cracking the already shattered shells that held these horrid beasts, into dust. All three immediately stretched, glared around, and found his influence, already testing it, tasting it, and confirming what it is they all desired. They had been purposely starved up to this point, and the world around them swam with energy, with life. The largest portions of it, the highest energy, the big booms and the massive blowouts, the weapons- All of the sights he massaged into the minds of Wrath and Death, their minds quick to receive and heads swerving to find the next closes huge firework to take off. "Feed!" he commanded them, his word punctuated with the last waft of desire he could forge into such a sick image. Rending durasteel apart like tin cans, setting ablaze towers, inhaling the hundreds inside that wanted to take their lives away from them. Death was the first to tear into the skies, smoky plumes erupting from her shell as she was voracious to find the first hub, to gorge on as many of the living as she could fill her belly with. However, as her sole purpose was murder, even beyond her getting her fill, her purpose would never be completed. She would kill, and kill, and kill, indiscriminately. Wrath then too took off, first annihilating the nearest troops who had assimilated to take down the terrible creatures that emerged from the eggs. No, little pew pews had no advantage against thick scales as these, and though he was mortal, his own spilled blood would melt the flesh from any organic that was unlucky enough to feel splattered across them. Flames erupted from his volcanic gullet, and sprayed near troopers with molten hatred as they fought until their last smoking breath to charred ash. Once done clearing his Maker's proximity, he was commanded as Death, to utilize that same vehemence, and obliterate the opposition. The more groups around any individual, the better. The more souls to burn, the better. The more who cowered from you, the better. Everything. Burn everything to the ground.

Famine however was the last to leave, as Slade bode him to stay. He chose the thin wraith to be his mount as they would spread disease across the city in key populated points. Famine was much more willing to enact the plan Slade had placed into the mount's mind, and it jittered excitedly. Glad he was able to bring an adequate saddle and blanket to protect him from the decaying flesh, he finalized the mission with Valkyr. "Everyone important, and don't get caught." She affirmed, and the matte black and white trim feline cyborg went into the mass, her body a blur before long. She had already been downloaded a map of the citadels, the capital, the different council standings, the politician's houses, and what key places to visit. She had some assassination to do.

Slade leapt onto Famine, and immediately took a unity with the starving dragon. Each jitter shook scales free from the creature, showering the ground with potent wisps of flesh that, should they touch any organic, they would be infected with the desire to lash out and voraciously consume any other living organic in a rabid frenzy. Unable to control their own mind, they would turn into a feral creature, a sick thing, and launch at their own partners, their own friends, family, pets. Anything not infected was their target, and would soon be ripped apart by brutal measures of teeth, nail, and sudden starvation of the infected individual.

Slade bade rise, to which Famine obliged, and immediately directed him over city heights to less Sith-Controlled grounds. Every flashing flap of wing dropped spore-like scales, a pale snowstorm of famine to bring hunger to all.

[Master Buggie]

((OOC: Please stop and read here. Proceed afterwards.))

[Ben Kenobi]

***Manaan***
***Arrival of the Sith***

At the moment the Sith warhips arrived into the system a communication went out, it had been trapped during the route in hyperspace but as soon as the warship broke back into real space it was Aliclair’s warning that shot out to the listening ears of the orbiting Medical Station. This message was recorded by the few Alliance personnel that were aboard the station and they in turn took this message and transmitted it to one of the CR90 Corellian Corvettes holding station. Orders were quickly drawn up in that the CR90 should break contact and it did so with a flare of its engines. Of course this meant the remaining CR90 would be beset by the wrath of two Corsair Battleships by itself, but the cost of freedom was oft a high one.

The RZ-1 A-wings on station were hard pressed to even launch from their berthing but as soon as their got ‘airborne’ they tied at least a portion of those Sith Razorfighters down. Outnumbered and outgunned the outcome was inevitable but the Selkath would not go down without a fight. The station itself, being a medical ward, did not have the armament to fend off the Sith attackers, however, it was not defenseless and was armed with a generous array of weaponry of which streamed the darkness of space with red lances focusing on the starfighters most of all but also hammering the Corsairs whenever they could.

Those unshielded civilian freighters were disabled by the Sith’s ion weaponry in short order and left docked with the medical station, playing blue lighting over their hulls so long as the ionization lasted. A small host of smaller shuttles with hyperdrives soon broke from the station and made runs for the gravity well in the wake of the courier CR90 that was already on its way out.

***Surface***

On the surface of Ahto City it was a normal day; sunny and free. Commerce and the day to day were carrying on as they always had. A mosh of many species though predominately Selkath were honoring their way of life just as any other day had blessed them with.

That was, until the skies seemed to darken above them. As the Selkath looked up to the skies they could soon spy dropping fragments burning brighter than a meteor shower in broad daylight then the staccato bark of cannon fire unleashing heavy ordinance and turbolaser fire skyward. In disbelief the Selkath viewed a ship breaking apart and crashing into the sea. Most of the people stood out there in broad daylight. Frozen in, not fear, but the inability to understand the weight of what was happening.

A pair of Razorfighters screamed by at incredible speed, a pair of RZ-1 A-wings behind them in close pursuit. A third Razor though came down from the blind side of the sun and stitched laser fire down on one of the A-wings. The fuselage of the craft ignited while one of the rear dorsal stabilizers broke apart with fire and black smoke trailing the engine. Spinning out the A-wing came down in an uncontrollable crash down into a shopping center. The crash and resulting explosion shattered windows around the block and as if a switch had been flipped the citizens sudden realized the threat they were truly under. Screams of panic roiled throughout the streets and the chaos suddenly began…

The defenders of the city were still at their Guard Armories, arming up with armor and small arms. In its most basic sense at this early juncture a few squads of Selkath Guardsmen rushed out of their Armory and made for secure positions throughout the city.

***Corellian YT 2000 Talon***
***Teke Ro System, Cona***

The Talon finally broke atmosphere and old Ben Kenobi was more relieved than he had been in a long time to be free of the planet Cona. For the last week and a half he had been down on the surface at the business of the Jedi Coalition, speaking to the Arcona people and during said time he had suffered the duration behind a breath mask since Cona’s only oxygen came from the bedrock and was harvested from the plantlife. His face carried the wear lines of the mask and he rubbed his beard in earnest to relieve the sensation of the mask.

Sitting behind the controls of his ship and departing the edge of the system. He could not shake the feeling that he should stick around for at least a bit longer. Not one to ever deny his gut feelings, especially when the Force was involved, he took his hand off of the hyperdrive initiator and sat back in his seat, his eyes moving to the communication console and staring at its blank screen for a few moments.

Resolved to be patient, he got up and moved to the galley of his ship where he poured himself a cup of some hot steaming caf. If he was going to sit here and wait then he would do so with a nice beverage…

[Annan Rainwalker]

Gamma-class ATR-6 assault transport The Jewel of Jakku
Outerskirts of the Truuine system
Inner Rim Territories

The Jewel of Jakku sailed through the small pocket of empty space between the Truuine system and Prindaar system, a few lightyears north of the gas giant Antar. Having already dealt with the reports received from Mertaal's Tooth in the Corellian system to the satisfaction of Admiral Brakken, the small splinter-crew had been ordered two instructions via holotransmission from an authorized BSP operational division. First; they were to rendezvous with Queen Amidala's Revenge at a classified location in the Wyl sector for extraction, and second and more immediately, they needed to detour rimwards to the east to obtain and transport codified intel essential to the Kingsmaker Protocols from the Cresh-class facility Shipwreck's Comet located within an unremarkable asteroid in the caela incognita that was the astrographical centre of the Fadden-Manaan-Truuine Triangle.

The intelligence, being as conspiratorial and as essential to the Kingsmaker Protocols as it was, would never be encrypted onto any device nor uploaded onto any downloadable holoframe. It was a must for it to be passed to Captain Torbir by the least traceable route possible: by word of mouth.

From the bench fixed against the furthest wall of The Jewel's cockpit, the reclining Jedi spared a glance at his captain, who had insisted on piloting tThe Jewel just to clear her mind. Ashara Rys, as much as he had come to know her, was naturally boisterous and jubilant. Seeing the Togruta dead serious like this only after her meeting with the Nightshades running Shipwreck Comet could only mean that the intel she had been entrusted with carrying back to Captain Black'lek was an elephantine burden to bear.

"Relax," the Jedi yawned out, after the pin-drop silence in the cockpit became too much for even him to tolerate.

"I need to d-deliver what I know to Black'lek," she responded, her voice quivering even though she tried to sound tough. "It's essential. How could they trust me with this... I mean what if something happens on the way and I don't make it?"

Annan scoffed. "Pfft. What's the worse that could happen? It's not like we're going to run into a Sith Armada right next to the Core," he yawned again, before finally turning to his side and drifting off into sleep.

Ashara didn't notice her knuckles turning white as she clutched the control sticks tightly. 'He just had to jinx it right now, didn't he?'