SithLore

Continuing on from https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/sithlor ... 10772.html

~Tatooine, Mos Espa~

Derric would notice as he landed and disembarked that there was a large influx of freighters and shuttles all with the markings of Black Star Systems, a private security company. It was an unusual sight since they all just landed and the crew seemed to be just waiting around for something, no one was loading or unloading any equipment.

Ryder himself was disembarking one such shuttle and taking a look around. He didn't come into town very often, the outpost had a steady stream of supplies so there wasn't much need but if the Sith did attack he wanted to be here to help. He wore his advanced light armor(camo suit) and his usual black trench coat. Lucky the coat was made for all temperatures, thus preventing him from over heating. He strode into the streets of the town with his HK unit and crimson espionage droid following slowly behind. Cradled under his should was his suits helmet and hanging from his belt was his cortosis blast sword and heavy blaster. Also attached to said belt was a small PSG and an assortment of tools and grenades in case of emergency.

The suns were blistering hot, even at twilight, reminding the business owner of one of the many reasons why he hated the sand covered rock. As he walked his comm link buzzed and he instinctively grabbed it and flicked the channel on.

"Ryder, sir," the voice of young man from the outposts control room came through, a hint of panic in his voice. "You were right! The Sith vessel just dropped out of hyperspace. They're here!"

Ryder cursed to himself before bringing the comm to his lips. "Calm down," he replied. "Send out the order for Mos Espa's evacuation. Let's get as many people out of here as possible!"

"Y-y-yes, sir!" The boy stuttered in reply before cutting the link so he could give the order to the companies' operatives across the town. The streets lit up as the alarms sounded all around the desert town.

Ryder glanced to the sky, it would be mere minutes before the Sith Vessel would be upon them. He raised the helmet to his head and clasped it on, tonight was going to be hell, but he knew he had to help those who couldn't defend themselves. The question was, why were the Sith here, and what was the odd presence he'd felt through the Force.

"Not even half way to a trashy dive bar."

Starr shook his head he knew it would happen, it just had to happen.

"So much for a decent drink in hell."

Trudging all the way back to his fighter he gazed at the hustle and bustle of activity all around Mos Espa. Sirens and warnings were being broadcast over ludicrously old speakers and broadcasting equipment. Tattoine at it's finest. The large influx of freighters and shuttles with the Black Star Systems markings was a big draw to the eye as he passed heading for his fighter. A lone fighter against who know how many Sith ships and soldiers. He didn't like the odds, but what other choice was there... Turn a blind eye, walk away...

No he wasn't that kind of man and besides, if there were Sith involved the odds were in his favor that it would be one of Jacobi's dogs, and he just didn't have it in him to pass up the chance to kick one of them and send them whimpering back to him.

His fighter wasn't the most ideal craft for carrying weapons and gear but it was roomy enough to hold his weapons of choice. His armor was plates of beskar weaved into the lining of his black long coat (substitute Antarian Ranger armor) , with a matching light armor beneath, topped with the devils mask helmet which double for a fight suit. He retrieved his nameless, bladeless sword forged with arts some would call Sith Sorcery and slung it across his back, the forearms of his long coat covered a pair of stun gauntlets crude but effective weapons nonetheless. Lastly he grabbed his blastech T-21 or just plain effective as he liked to think of it, all the stopping power of an explosive, with the ease of a blaster.

He switched on the nav droid (substitute espionage droid) harder wired into his fighters cockpit, it's last jump was still locked in, he switched it back off and turned to head for the large group of freighters and shuttles with the Black Star Systems markings, if they were helping with this evacuation they would be very shortly he was determined to see to that at least as he debated a course of action.

"Who's in charge of this fleet?"

The streets of Mos Espa were struck by the deafening sound of the Essence's giant engines causing chaos to erupt through the lawless city, many parents sought a place for their children to be safe whilst more selfish pirates and smugglers fled to their small ships to escape the inevitable doom their small hideout would face. Mos Espa was in pure anarchy, no one knew what to do, not until a small fraction of order was restored by the defending forces of the Black star systems that stood definitely against the judgement of the Dathomiri Hammer, an admirable display of courage and will power, but a mistaken one.

Kroxata observed his next victim carefully, the freighters were nowhere near in size to match up against the Harrower class Dreadnought but their added numbers would make bombarding the surface difficult, there was much to manage, for once it appeared Kroxata and his loyal Captain, Graden would have to think of a suitable strategy for once. However as the seconds drifted away Kroxata became enticed once again, the voices returned, much louder than before and so much clearer to his mind to understand. Whilst the Sith Lord sat quietly on his throne, Graden immediately went to work with dealing with the resistance below, he displayed a small scanned holomap of the city, many small beacons were dotted around the map marking key targets to deploy the droid battalion, but the freighters and other fighters that stood inbetween the Sith warship and the ground would mean they would lose many units before they could even reach the ground, they needed a distraction to draw their attention away from the pods. He saw momentarily, his cybernetic eye quickly running through as many possible solutions that could lead to the smallest amount of casualties as well as be the most effective way of approach.

"Deploy all fighters to target the freighters! ensure they do not get in range of the pods, alongside the fighters have our Y-wings begin running barrages through Mos Espa."

The officers all nod to their commanders words, all resisting the orders to the many pilots who awaited in the main hanger, eagerly waiting to be released from their hive to swarm their enemy, within seconds of hearing the relayed orders the fighter pilots dive their Sith fighters, dozens of them poured out from the central hanger of the Essence, swerving down much faster than the giant Dreadnought, following closely behind were the Y-wings, they moved much slower than the fighters but packed more armour and durability, they joined the Sith fighters but were in the formation of an arrowhead seeking to release their rein of destruction upon the fleeing citizens. And last but not least, from the very bottom of the Essence, ten Droch-class infiltration shuttles shot down from the Essence, the further they fell the further spread out they became, aiming themselves in many different places to cause the most chaos across a large area, "Lets see how these pirates deal with this..."

Ryder glared up at the looming Sith vessel as it began to spray out fighters. This area was about to become a full-on war zone with Ryder's security company right in the middle. Orders were being given: protect the citizens at all costs and evacuate. An armored hovervan had been dispatched to pick Ryder up and make him mobile

Starr approached a Twi'lek male wearing Black Star's standard issue medium armor. The man held a a simple E-11 blaster rifle as his head swirled keeping an eye on where the Sith would be landing. His tailed head stopped on the demon-masked individual who had spoken. He gave him a once over. An odd individual, but then again this was Tatooine.

"The boss man," the Twi'lek began. "He's right over there, though don't try anything or you'll wish the Sith got to you."

Starr would spot Ryder several meters away as the alien began to walk the demon-masked individual over. A hovervan touched down as Starr approached, its twin heavy turrets swiveling around, occasionally firing at any fighter that came within its firing arc.

"Hey Boss, this eccentric individual asked about you."

Ryder felt it before the grunt even started speaking, a hum of the sword forged by Sith alchemy through the Force. The next feeling he got was that of a familiar presence, a presence that some way made him feel safer. Derric had been the man to save Ryder. The Mandalorian had even used the force to aid him in a quicker recovery. Because of that, Starr's presence would always call out to the (now) businessman.

"Well I'll be," Ryder spoke as he turned around and his grey eyes met the mask of the warrior. "I'd say I'm glad to see you here, but I think we both hate this world and," looking up at the sky. "This isn't the best of circumstances."

The armored door of the van slid to reveal the interior which held two warbots and a E-web heavy repeater that was currently attached to the ceiling. It was set on a pair of joints so it could be pulled down and mounted to shoot out the door.

"I was just getting ready to head to one of the zones where we expect the Sith to land," he continued. "I could use an ally of your caliber."

In the skies above, the armed freighters did their best to fend off the waves of Sith starfighters, though their goal was not to win the fight. They began to lure the fighters away from populated areas and the evac zones.

(Sorry I was having a hard time with this post, not sure why just took me forever to write and am not all that happy with it, but here it is.)

He followed the Twi'lek and Ryder's recognition was mutually returned, they had a certain kinship from their last encounter. This planet was a thorn in the roundest part of the flabbiest slug in the history of the galaxy... probably a Hutt.

"Wouldn't mind burning this planet to the ground myself to be honest, but I have a score to settle with the Sith and any chance to kick one of them hard enough for their masters to feel it is all the excuse I need to humiliate their ranks.

Looking up toward the distant and closing Sith ship Starr contemplated their options, more so his options.

"If we could force their main ship into an emergency landing, it would go a long way to stopping them. But minimizing the damages and spreading out their forces is first. I think with a large enough demonstration the Sith will gladly bring their ship to heel and meet us on grounds we choose. It might be best to choose a location to lure these Sith too.

((OOC: Couple things on this thread: First, you all need to be certain in the future that you stop doing this substitution thing. Jay has informed me that he's adding and balancing dozens of items into the new SLIU store, and not strictly sticking to what's in the SLIU invalidates all of that effort. If you're bringing Camo Armor into a competitive thread, it needs to be Camo Armor. If it's an A-Wing, it needs to be an A-Wing. Salem will make a formal announcement on this forum within the next couple days, but I know I have spoken about this already publicly.

Next, a word of caution. This thread is dangerously close to becoming another Roche. Individuals simply cannot stand up to faction assets, but that brings me to my next point.

The presence of faction assets is entirely unnecessary in this thread. Kroxata could have arrived to Tatooine in his personal vessel and we could have arrived at the same point. Faction assets are not to be used as a trump card to automatically win threads. I suggest that you all have a discussion about where you want this thread to go before proceeding too much further along the current storyline.))

The small Droch infiltration shuttles crash into the surface creating a small crater in the hard sand, dust clouds formed around the area leaving it near to impossible to see the surroundings area, but from the cloud of sand many glowing red eyes illuminated jumping from the shuttle looking to the small resistance. Within seconds blasters bolts emerged from the sand cloud striking any unfortunate enough to be spectating this new arrival. The clod settled, the figures of this attackers where finally revealed, slim metallic droids marched into the streets Bx-series Commando droids. Perfectly designed by the Verpine to be expert in small hit and run missions such as this their slender design made on purpose to be harder to hit by normal standard soldiers, trained in both weapons and melee combat to very deadly adversaries. Some more of these infiltration shuttles smashed into a few number of freighters upon their descent, others crashed into market places where the population was much higher, bringing more terror and chaos to Mos Espa.

The dogfight that ensued between the Sith starfighters and the Freighters directly above the city managed to draw the attention away from the Y-wings bombing runs, the distraction enough for them to take part in the dogfight, the advantage being the Freighters could fight on multiple directions whilst the small quick Starfighters could only attack what was in front of them, yet their sheer size in numbers was enough to balance the scales.

Whilst the small raid continued, Kroxata sat leaning forward with his hands up to his chin, his eyes closed using the added fear and chaos below to reach out with the Force, to sense this massive disturbance that has been calling him, he delves into the Dark Side of the Force, the void that is ever lasting and never ending. His mind throbs with the fear that disperses below using it as a source to enhance his own senses until finally, he could hear the whispers clearly, they called to him, guided him until, as if these whispers acted as trail showed path, a path leading to the resting place of the artefact he sought. His eyes upon, the amber glow brightly lit, pushing himself off the command chair, the sudden move surprised Graden who rushed to his side questioning him "My Lord?! Where are you going?" Kroxata did not answer the question but left with an order "Pull the Essence from the city, ensure those freighters do not follow, continue the raid and prepare my ship."

Minutes later, a Sith Infiltrator departed the Essence but it did not join the battle like the many other fighters in the dogfight, instead it went far away from Mos Espa, into the harsh desert, escorted by two Sith starfighters piloted by his personal Magna Guards, from below the Infiltrator could be seen by all as he shot past the battlefield into the unknown, moments after the Essence appeared to have pulled away from the city, the Bx-series Commando droids continued their assault and the first wave of fighters did not return back to their hive.

(OOC- I know we have already discussed this Buggie, but this was in no way a means of invading, the intention of this was to raid the planet to provide a distraction for Kroxata to find the location of this artefact without many eyes going to him. I understand the confusion so I thought i would just drop off the message here
P.S I also realise that this entire time that I've been calling the Droch-class boarding shuttles Hoch-class infiltration shuttles...oops)

Ryder laughed at Derric's first comment, he had no idea what the Sith had done to the Mandalorian but his enthusiasm was appreciated. The battle was already looking bad, and the sound of bombing runs could be heard in the distance.

"While I completely understand wanting to kick them where it hurts," Ryder replied. "My priority is to get as many innocents to safety as possible." Black Star also didn't have the resources to bear down on such a vessel. As they spoke, something changed, the warship above started to pull back. Three smaller vessels shot out form its hanger and went deeper into the desert.

"Though it seems the dreadnought will not be a concern now," he continued, looking back at his friend. His comlink buzzed and his right hand quickly retrieved it.

"Sir," the voice of the young officer back at Black Star's outpost. "The enemy is pulling back but several vessels are heading off in a different direction."

"Keep tracking them," Ryder instructed. "Once we've helped clean up here I'll want to know what they're up to." He deactivated the comm and looked to Derric. "Help me clean up the streets and I'll help you kick the Sith as hard as you want." A sly smile crossed his bearded face as he waited for his old savior to respond.

The interior of the Dathomoiri’s Fist, Kroxata’s personal Sith Infiltrator was engulfed with darkness, despite the the deserts of Tatoonine being under the blinding harrowing light. Another work was at play within the Sith Lord’s shuttle, something he knew all too well and that is why he feared it, at any moment it could manifest, it could kill the simpler abrak within seconds and yet it let him live, but for what purpose? What intent did the Lord of Hunger have with Kroxata, what did he see inside him to contact him through the Dark Side of the Force. He may have welcomed the increase in power that he could use to his desires, but such an invitation like this has only lead to another attempting to tame the beast to be its pet, then again none of them were ever such a powerful and feared Force like Darth Nihilus, the ability to consume the Force of any living being or object.

“Lord Kroxata, a transmission from Captain Graden.” His eyes open, the amber glow sparking him to life, glowing much more vibrantly within the darkness, he nods his head inclining the pilot to send it through, directly in front of him, a hologram of Graden formed. “My Lord, we have pulled back the Essence but wee cannot regain contact with the strike team, the conditions here make transmissions near to impossible to deliver through our frequencies.” “Then we shall leave them to continue their work Captain, they have served their purpose, I wish to extend their reign of terror for as long as they can.” A massive jolt was felt throughout the ship, the hologram of Graden sizzled in and out of existence followed by extreme static until finally the projector shut itself off.

The pilots looked to one another, the fear they felt was very strong, strong enough to even surprise Kroxata, he did not think his men could shed such fear, they were trained warriors who followed glory and craved war. “Have courage, we are soon to arrive to our locat-” He is briefly interrupted, as whispers began filling the condensed Infiltrator, some seemingly in reverse whilst quiet growls rumbled faintly, the ship began rearing over to a full left turn, heading directly into a sand storm, the intense winds and millions of pieces of sand battered against the escorted shuttle, no longer did the pilots have control of where they were going, entering the storm the ship fell into an uncontrollable state, being spun in many different directions with the crew barely able to keep in their places.

After minutes in what seemed to be an endless storm a massive crash could be heard, the many plating's of the Infiltrator slammed apart, electrical cables bursts out from their control panel a massive sensation of thrusting forward was felt throwing the pilots out of their chairs into the panels in front of them, the fate of the two Sith star fighters however was unknown. Finally they came to a halt, Kroxata was barely able to rise to his feet, the violent even taking its toll, the Dathomiri’s Fist was left in ruin, the hatch doors were jammed closed embedded in a mountain of sand and dust, the only way out was up. Kroxata gathered the endless amounts of the Dark Side that surrounded him, creating a cluster that formed around his hand striking upwards sending off a giant burst of Force energies that completely blew the ceiling off, he could finally see outside, but not before a whirlwind of sand swarmed inside.

The sand and dust blinded him momentarily, using his connection with the Force to guide him out of the ship into the upon. Upon setting his feet into the sand he could instantly feel the tug of power being pushed all around him, this was no natural storm, another odd occurrence came, when all of a sudden the storm seemed to lay an open path, a path he could see through noticing it leading to a small mount on the completely flat surface.

Meanwhile the commando droids assaulting Mos Espa had finally rendezvoused to a single area, provided a choke point they wished to hold for as along as possible from their enemies. Their tactical precision and built in combat modules proved to be quite a challenge for the local forces of the planet, random smugglers of pirates stood little to no chance but with the intervention of the force of the Blue Star Pirates, they could not continue their raid any further through the city, such in a small skirmish until one side destroyed the other.

(OOC: With Derric not showing any signs of being currently active I'll skip him so this thread doesn't die)