Serenno - D-Day

[Krajin]

Assault on Serenno
​

Dropping out of Hyperspace close to the planetary body of Serenno a large Republic fleet caught the world and its defenders by surprise. Vessels small and large moved to engage the defending fleet in orbit as transport craft flew over in high orbit, deploying drop pods loaded with Commando teams and Mercenaries in a sudden assault on the planetary surface in the hopes of using shock and awe to demoralize ground forces and take various locations across the planet. From the Capital building to munitions, the target for this pod and the ones that followed plummeted down towards the primary planetary defence control, fire rained from the heavens and impacted the ground with the thunder of a raging deity, whilst other pods impacted into buildings, turret emplacements, fields.. squads of soldiers on patrol or parade. Bursting forth from these pods came highly trained soldiers and cannon fodder mercenaries with their guns blazing. Not that the Sith gun emplacements sat idle, the thumping of AAA guns combined with the screams of retroburners from the pods rocketing through the sky creating a wonderous symphony.

For Khalen and his companion (@jamessour ) in their respective pods ploughing through the large window of an Officer's Dormitory into the upper decks of the command centre certainly startled the hell out of the poor officers that were in there, if any survived that is. More pods impacted around the outside of the building sending the security and armed forces into defence. For Khalen the door burst off the front of his pod, impacting the wall in front of him and nearly squishing a cowering worker. "Move!" He shouted from behind the helmet as he brought up his XPC-71 ready to fire. He was ready and knew their goal, neutralise the control room. Alert with his ears on a swivel and weapons raised, the Trianii began his way toward the Control room as other soldiers and mercenaries began their firefights in the halls and outside.

@jamessour

 

[jamessour]

This was Jeremiah's first time on a drop mission. He wasn't nervous... but a bit apprehensive.

The pod dropped hard a meter from Khalen's , and the door flew open. With a quick squeeze of the trigger, he dispatched a guard who was caught without a gun. Immediately, he located Khalen and fell in behind him, scanning their sides and their flanks. Their mission was to secure the control room, and with how well the first minutes of the drop were going, it would be too tough.

The pair moved to the door and Jer positioned himself on the other side of the door, ready to breach.

 

[Kaane]

"Out of all the damn people you could've chosen...what the hell do you even want me here for!?"

The disquieted teen ruffled his dark hair as his face flushed with anger, pacing back in forth in Moff Ambros' personal chambers, speaking with (perhaps more accurately talking at) the man himself as he took a deep breath to compose himself. Only to completely lose it again.

"Listen, man...Moff, whatever, I know that this whole war thing is like really important to you, but think about the big picture for a moment. MY big picture. I just passed my Sith trials like 8 hours ago. I wanted, no actually, seriously needed some sleep. Y'know, some sleep, just a nice time, alone, by myself, ruminating, I dunno, just doing what every normal human fricking being in the galaxy has to do to survive. But nooooo, one of your jackass friends comes in and wakes me up in the middle of the night like one of the weirdos in those creepy shuttles with curtains over the windows, to drag me off to wherever the hell this is instead! What is your deal dude!?"

Nitrogen, the agitated young man in question, slumped into the chair that had been offered him when he had come a whole 15 minutes before. At this point, he was still trying desperately to get a release form to get out of this little assignment and back on his freighter to cruise off to the celebration he'd planned for himself. Not that it really mattered to him; if the Moff said no, he'd probably just get up and leave of his own accord. If someone tried to stop him. Welp. Then that someone would be really damn stupid, in Nitro's book.

For the moment however, he figured he'd at least try to go through the motions and all that. But only because he chose to. Sith didn't have to wade through red tape. They cut through red tape. With their red lightsabers. And then the red tape would bleed its red blood out and die like the worthless piece of red tape it was. Except it wouldn't because lightsabers don't really make things bleed.

Not surprisingly, he felt the overwhelming desire to shank this moron right about now.

"If you weren't some royal bigwig, you'd be like, dead. Seriously dead, right now. Not even kidding."

Suddenly, the floor and walls shook as though it had been struck with something big. It rocked the entire complex for a good second or two before the motion and vibration finally halted.

"They're actually here...they're actually here, we gotta get out there dude!"

He barely even waited for a response before practically launching out the door, patting his overly-arcane vestments to make sure he had all his weapons on him. Maybe this wouldn't be a wasted trip after all.

 

[Darasuum]

The Grand Army of the Republic or Border Alliance, whatever they called themselves these days was on Serenno’s doorstep. The two Leviathan class corvettes in orbit wouldn’t last forever against the republic flotilla that had surprised them. Thankfully they weren’t ready to loose heavy amounts of personnel and assets to capture Serenno which would happen thanks to the intensely loyal minds of the captains guiding the sith fleet. The Abyss’s Endeavor and the Wyrm were the names of the two vessel keeping back a sufficient number of republic assets from making key landfalls on the planet, dispensing grand amounts of firepower to the vessels attempting to make planet fall. A number of drop pods made it through the atmosphere but were also met by anti-air fire. Geir had made sure that his planet was quick to respond to any threats just like this

Bombers and fighters kept vehicle transport and mass troop transports from getting a foothold and that left only a small number of drop pods to fend for themselves. They had traveled deep into the heart of the city, at the feet of the Sith and he would see to it that they be squashed for thinking they had been a part of a larger swarm. The troops were moving quickly, securing checkpoints, makeshift outposts and the like all across the city to prevent movement of enemy forces from coming in and moving around the city. Even if they were as skilled as Geir himself they would have to take time moving around and getting in or out.

---

it had been such a pleasant day on Serenno as it usually was. the worst that happened was moderate weather, maybe excessive boredom but now the planet was under siege. The man who had been made Moff to oversee the sith presence had taken the position indifferently. There was power and potential in it but he did not do it to rise through the ranks or to better the cause of the brotherhood. No he just wanted to see how fun it would be and maybe use the position and title to his own ends for a limited time. Now it seemed there was more administrative duties that beleaguered his everyday desires.

Now he stood off to one side in his office fastening his left brace to assure it was snugly fitted to his form. The rest of his customized Arbitrator Personal Armor Kit was similarly placed on his body. The young sith droned on but the stoic apathy of the Arkanian-offshoot let him waste his breath. He smiled slightly exposing his slightly exaggerated canines to himself in the floor length mirror as his back was turned to the youth. If he were any other sith he might have smacked or done worse for such inappropriate etiquette but Geir was not one to care for such social courtesies or expectations. Instead he just found Nitrogen’s personality quite entertaining.

The reports were coming in regularly, information on troop movement, logistic needs and the related sort. Geir thought back to his own estate figuring that the Republic did not think it pertinent to take his own domicile. They would have a tough endeavor ahead if they did. Scores of droids and a handful of the brotherhood’s greatest Sith resided there. Zeff Exach, Taran, both great members of the Dark Knights of Sin would have fun probably eliminating any attackers if they attempted to invade his personal property. Meanwhile reports had already been sent to the rest of the brotherhood about their engagement with the republic thanks to a secret listening post in the arctic part of the planet. It was mostly used for research and development but it had gotten a message out so more ships would be arriving in a matter of hours to counter attack those in orbit.

But Geir was returned to the moment once again at the voice of the dark haired man spoke of killing him. Geir cocked an eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder as if to tell him he could try such an attempt but it would not end well for him. Geir’s own weapons were already attached to his webbing and he was outfitted more heavily than most sith. One would think he was more likely a member of the Sacred Band of Ziost based on his trappings but he was one to adorn himself in the traditional dark brooding robes of the stereotypical sith.

Fastening his helmet on he turned and headed for the door just as the young man started to get excited about the prospect of war, a second later and a message from the communications office came in. “Sir there are two infiltrators that have directly drop podded onto the upper levels of the fort. They are moving on the upper level and moving room to room looking for something. We’ll keep monitoring them from here.” Geir nodded to himself having appreciated the security system he had installed. If anyone moved around the fort without permission they would know about their location at all times.

The pop-up gun emplacements all around the intersection portions of the base would make moving for them furthermore difficult. These would be heavily bolstered by troops now that the whole base was one wide alert. There was no further sneaking around for the republic forces and they would be greatly slowed, and worn down wherever they were heading. Meanwhile Geir and Nitrogen would head down to the second floor where the command center resided. The infiltrators would find that traveling through several stories inside the heart of sith territory under high alert and fully outfitted and overseen by the Pale Fox was not something to be taken lightly. The members of the command center acknowledged the presence of the Moff before focusing back on their work.

”They’ll come to us, Wavest. Let the hounds wear them down first.” he said with a grin as he took off his helm. he watched on numerous screens of not only the infiltrators who looked to be commandos by their apparel but also of the various smaller engagements around the edges of the city. some members of the civilian populace had even been so zealous and helpful that they were reporting troop movements on their own. "watch them...learn how they move and what they possess." he advised the younger sith towards the commando duo. one had a particle beam weapon which to Geir's extensive knowledge in his mercenary days was effective against lightsaber opponents. meanwhile the other seemed to just be outfitted with more mainstream armaments.

 

[Krajin]

Khalen nodded to the man as they breached the door into a hallway on the upper levels, he and his companion had a single goal and that was, along with the other soldiers who were landing on, in or around the facility were to take the control room and with all the chaos that was going on. They were making some decent progress. Though the shock and awe of it all was not going to last past an hour, If this were an infiltration then they'd be doing it far more gentler, far more.. subtler and easier on the insertion rather than thundering in like Banthas chasing someone with food. Other pods impacted the building, some bouncing off the angled exterior, others ploughing through the ceiling and spilling their payload.

A soldier spotted them and went to hurl a thermal detonator down the hall and into their currently occupied room, unfortunately for them though Khalen got a shot off into the poor soul's chest and he dropped the device, it exploding and vaporising the original owner and causing damage to the power conduit that ran through the now exposed wall. The hot plasma pressure built up and exploded outward, causing the power on the floor they were on the flicker and die, neutralising Cameras and turrets as well as the lights on this floor; whilst venting deadly, deadly plasma. "Down this way!" Khalen said as he darted away from the venting conduit, whilst the plasma wouldn't vent to far, it was still dangerous and you didn't want to have your flesh seared off by this stuff. Heading to one of the lifts they needed to be off this deck and into another, the stairs being something that'd take far, far to long. Took up a thermal detonator from the body of a fallen Soldier and stuck it to the door, setting the charge for four seconds and quickly darting out of the way.

One loud boom later and the elevator doors had been blown off, exposing a nice deep shaft with a ladder at the back, between the two lifts, comfortable enough nobody would have issues getting through and they wouldn't get crushed by said Lifts. Bare lighting was within, likely due to the area being maintenance access and an emergency access if the lifts got stuck. No turrets, Cameras or Gas vents in sight, Khalen took to the ladder after a quick check to make sure it hadn't been trapped and began to climb down. "Start from the lower levels." He said to Jerimiah and began to slide down the ladder, rather than waste energy going down via climbing. His aim, start at Level 2 and work their way up. Ground floor was most likely to be handled through the soldiers on the outside.

 

[jamessour]

They were moving. Down a hallway. Sprinting away from poison. And now, down the elevator shaft. Jer's main goal was to stick with his partner, keep as many people alive as possible, and try to say upright himself.

Following Khalen's lead, he slid down the ladder. On landing he quickly grabbed his gun and walked through the door to the next hallway. He quickly dispatched two soldiers but was immediately pinned down by a turret and heavy sith fire. He took a few shots, but he'd need to clear this area quickly. Priming a thermal, he tossed it down the hall, and it landed right by the turret. The Sith troops would try to run, but due to the close quarters, most would get caught in the blast.

As soon as the blast had gone of, Jeremiah would come around the corner with his guns blazing, and duck behind a pillar. Defense is strong here... we must be close to something important. The room was a long rectangle. The doors Jer and Khalen had entered in were on the southern wall, and there were two doors in the center of both east and west walls, as well as a large blast door on the northern wall. There were beautiful pillars that filled the room.

He would keep pushing up from pillar to pillar until they reached the blast door.

 

[Kaane]

Normally Nitro would have been fuming from the silence he had received in return for all the words that had come pouring out of his mouth. He didn't waste his breath on just anyone, after all. But the excitement of war finally coming to his doorstep, almost childlike in nature, dispelled any ill-will he had for the moment. With a bounce in his step, he giddily followed Moff Ambros to the control room, allowing him to lead the way for now.

Using his hands to form a series of crude imitations of Sith runes that spelled "Sith" side by side as he entered through the blast door, his smile beamed widely at the men working madly at their post. All were so desperately trying to control the invasion on their doorstep; it was endearing, how dedicated they were. They deserved to be rewarded and consoled. They truly needed to know that their efforts were not in vain. And in his charitable mood, Nitro was all too happy to provide that vital moral support.

"If you guys totally muck this up, worry not: I, Nitrogen Wavest, the Chosen One, will save all of your sorry asses from the total destruction you otherwise deserve, k?"

Most of them simply nodded their heads, probably used to this kind of crap by now. Only a single, tired voice from behind a terminal broke the ambience of frantically-tapping fingers and information readouts, yawning out a bored "yes sir."

They're working hard, it's totally understandable, the young Sith thought as he attempted to console himself, not wanting to ruin his first experience with war by taking issue with such a petty mistake. They would learn soon enough how to pay tribute, once he had become established among his peers. Once he truly grew into his ambition. Once he achieved oneness with the ideal of a true Sith Lord.

"They’ll come to us, Wavest. Let the hounds wear them down first," muttered Geir as Nitro followed him to a terminal. "Watch them...learn how they move and what they possess."

"Sure I guess," he responded. "Though they don't seem to be like...doing anything. At all. Just shooting guns. Like. C'mon. Anyone can doooWOAH thermal dets, thermal dets, we have thermal dets up in here!"

Nitro watched giddily as camera feeds and Sacred Band troopers fell by the wayside to the absolute annihilation that thermal detonators could cause. He felt somewhat sad he'd only brought his frags with him. But at the very least, from watching the feed as the Moff suggested, he had learned something truly important. Explosions were DEFINITELY still awesome beyond belief.

However, watching was soon growing tiresome. The novelty of watching things being blown up was wearing off fast, especially when this was happening to the Sith's base and not the Republic's. Geir may have been content to wait it out, but Nitro was a man of action. He was the kind of guy that went to the restaurant to make absolutely damn sure they got his order right under pain of death instead of passively waiting for his screwed-up delivery to hit him in the face. And he wasn't a psychopath; somewhere deep inside of him was hurting seeing these guys dying. It may have been against his superior's wishes, but enough was enough.

"Alright Moffman, was a great show, they've got weapons and stuff, but mine are better. And I plan on hosting a rave here tomorrow also, so, can't let this be destroyed too bad. I'm out."

Turning away from the screen on the heel of his foot, he strode confidently towards the blast door and demanded it be open for him to pass. The order of a Sith was enough for the lieutenant controlling the entryway to acquiesce, allowing him through before closing it immediately afterwards.

Nitro was now standing at the Northern Wall, behind the turret laying down suppressive fire. With a grin that seemed a bit too wide for his face, he reached into his robe and pulled out a frag grenade. He gave himself some distance from the target that the turret would surely be as he pulled the pin. "Eat lead assholes!" he screeched, his almost-post-pubescent battle cry somewhere between laughable and mildly intimidating, before he threw the grenade in the general direction of the two presences he had sensed. Having cooked the five second timer for two seconds, while the arc of the throw took about a second more to complete the 'nade would require two seconds, give or take, to detonate upon landing. The pyromaniacal Sith wouldn't watch his work unfold, however, instead ducking behind a pillar to protect himself from the inevitable hailstorm of shrapnel.

 

[Darasuum]

the station was not nearly as tough as the one undergoing changes in Valleplate, another city on the planet. but it still was quite formidable and had been reorganized by Geir Ambros to better protect the planet against foreign incursion. the locals went about most days not realizing how close they were to the front of the war against the republic but this event would bring new light to the situation. inside the large structure of the base communications would be blocked by concrete walls, multiple levels and barriers of reinforced material. this was intended to make it possess more integrity against shelling or bombing which it did nicely though it made personal communication devices difficult. now it seemed it actually worked in the Sith's favor in that only communications built into the facility that relayed through the command center were actually able to reach outside units. any homing beacon, calls for backup or communication between internal squads were hindered. only if they were relatively close to one another would short range communications work.

now they had increased the number of pods raining individual troops to the surface of Serenno. the anti-air was increasing their kill count by the second as proximity defenses designed for missiles and other foreign aerial objects such as these were taken out. it seemed the republic were prepared to throw more of their people's lives away though as handfuls made it through around the city. but unfortunately for them the sith troops were consolidating and countering as their training had prepared them. if they were not eliminated they were kept at least at bay before more brotherhood forces arrived. young sith not unlike Nitrogen had been sent to Serenno as a stop to other frontier locations and dispatched from there but now they bolstered the numbers of the troops and lead the common warfighters and focused on the rallying of Geir's troops in the streets of the city. Ziost hunters flew over head continuing to keep enemy air troops diminished and any landing parties were quickly snuffed out by bombers.

the same activity was occurring within the base under siege. troops were fully armed and aware of the internal threat. few numbers made it to the upper levels and even fewer made it below. Geir watched the movement of enemy troops and kept his eye on the two that were the first to arrive until he lost sight of them. the man had learned the base inside and out when he first undertook the position of Moff. now it seemed his view of bolstering its defenses by question how he personally would attack it had come in handy. there were very few places that would hide someone from the security system and they weren't using disguises. the republic forces weren't likely to be staying in one place either after they took out the known observation tools the sith had in place.

power and utilities were damaged at various points due to abuse from explosives, combat and logistical requirements. the control center made sure that messages and notices were sent to the appropriate parties so that these resources weren't neglected nor harmful towards their own forces. a moment went by and Geir saw that the two had exited out of an elevator shaft on the same floor as the command center. but they were still clear across the long hall that was around a hundred meters in length. it was an ostentatious room that he personally hadn't cared for. two large barricades of a dozen sith soldiers with heavy repeaters sat outside the door facing the rest of the room. they hadn't seen any combat yet and the blaster fire was audible from the end of the long hallway that separated the large hall and the command center.

the soldiers would first have to take out any enemies that resided in the hallway or came in after them in a pincer move as well as move down the constraining hallway to then take the command center. originally it had been used simply to screen individuals for classified materials and separate the functional from the fashionable but now it provided an apt bottleneck to keep the two soldiers away. if these commandos were as good as some reports stated they were then they would be able to take out the soldiers in a matter of time. such an obstruction wouldn't keep Geir away after all.

as the firefight began he watched as his sith cohort spoke in his usual manner and headed to meet the commandos with vehemence. Geir took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder at the command center before following after the young Sith. "if this place gets destroyed you can always come to one of my parties." he said back referring to his extensive personal estate. the arkanian-offshoot would not let Nitro go off on his own and would follow after the man. he was curious to see how the strange individual conducted himself in true combat and also to fight these commandos face to face. the doors sealed behind them and they made their way down the long hallway toward the blast door.

as soon as they arrived the younger sith was more than ready to lob a fragmentation grenade at the two commandos. Geir in the meantime unslung the gutripper blaster carbine he had and readied it in the direction of the attackers. he did not fire though but kept his body mostly covered by the barriers they had set up. instead he was ready with his finger on the trigger to fire the blaster at any exposed portion of the enemy as they no doubt attempted to run from the explosion. if not then they would probably see chunks fly from cover and whatever was left of them splattered against the previously immaculate walls. Geir had extensive training marksmanship and the infamous recoil of the carbine was not something he was unfamiliar with, ready to throw many shots down range with surprising precision. he could feel his heart quicken from the moment the two had previously exited the elevator.

 

[Krajin]

The position they had, fifty meters down a corridor with barricaded soldiers about forty five meters down. A good level of protection was provided by the thick duracrete walls that were there, where he and his friend had taken cover by after darting out of the elevators. Khalen was taking a moment to align his thoughts a bit when this pubescent little voice shouted "Eat this Assholes!" and the sound of something hitting the ground about seven meters up and rolling before detonating in the hall, spraying shrapnel all over the place, the walls providing protection unless someone was peeking. The voice was laughable as Khalen whipped out a little mirror on a stick, using it to peer around the corner without actually exposing himself. He could see a Dozen soldiers crammed up in barricades with heavy repeaters in what was theorised to be a narrow hallway. That kind of firepower in somewhere so narrow, mixed with so many people it would be like Sardines in a can. Not to mention Mr Puberty and what looked like his Master.

They didn't have much room to move down the end with the elevator unless they were to split off and go down the other corridors that lead there, however that'd take allot of time and whilst they had some time, it wasn't enough. "A Hutt's got a throwing arm better than you and they're all just fat!" He'd call out, yup. Antagonise the Sith. He could tell both of them were Sith, one of which was particularly strong and the other... not so much. They stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the other life forces there, the cramped soldiers with their excessively large weapons in these tight quarters would make for interesting targets. "Maybe you should get your Master there to throw it and go back to school!" He added, just to see what would get a rise. He readied his XPC-71 as the mirror got retracted, he knew who was there and who wasn't. He crouched down low and swapped the weapon to his left hand, turned to face the wall. Presenting the slimmest, smallest potential target to them Khalen nodded to his companion and slid the rifle around the corner enough to get a bead on the soldiers on the far side, his opposite say if Khalen was on the right of the intersection he was targeting the goons on the left of the Barricades. With all but an eye peeking out he opened fire with two burst shots. It was a quick thing before ducking back around to avoid the inevitable return fire and possible grenade.

Three soldiers his side got shot, two lethally the other copping a blast that was a grievous wound. Not enough to kill but it wasn't likely he'd be getting to involved in the fighting. Khalen kept watch, ears trained down the hall within the helmet for any grenades being primed or thrown. Even as at least six heavy repeaters pelted his wall with blaster fire.

 

[jamessour]

Jer had barely started moving up when the grenade was thrown. Thankfully, because the Sith yelled and announced his attack, Jeremiah was able to see the trajectory of the blast, and hide behind a pillar, thus sheltering him from the shrapnel. The explosion caused his ears to ring, but not anything serious.

After the explosion, he reoriented himself behind the pillar (about 40 meters from @Kaane ). He blind fired his carbine around the corner, dispatching another sith troop. As he did that with his right hand, he primed a super nova grenade with his left, setting it so it would start going off mere moments after him throwing it. Right before he did so, he looked back towards Khalen, nodding a warning, and lobbed the supernova grenade down the hall.

It left his hand, and after traveling five feet, it started to strobe and letting horrendous screech. It would land easily down at the other end of the hall, right by the blown up turret, but next to it so the strobe would still effect the sith if they looked, and because it was already active, would most likely not be able to have the force used to correct it's course.

Jer would then move up to the next pillar ready to shoot at the pyromaniac.

 

[Kaane]

His grenade didn't have quite the effect he had hoped for as far as he could hear. The shrapnel had discharged, but no one was screaming in agony from having his face torn off. How unfortunate: this situation needed to be rectified immediately.

Especially now that he had felt at least one of the presences in the vicinity have some capability with the Force. It was more of a passive intuition than anything else, as the claustrophobic situation and HIGH ACTION surrounding him made it somewhat difficult to focus to begin with. But there was at the very least a Jedi here. Or maybe not. Maybe he was rogue. A roguelike man on some sort of adventure.

Too bad from here on out said adventure would suck.

At least that's what he was thinking until he'd heard someone or other start yelling from down the hall. Some imbecile who really wanted to be killed, by the sounds of it. And it was coming from the general direction of the presence he had sensed.

The insults were some weak sauce, to be perfectly honest. Weak like the mild puree they gave you at one of those Nautolan seafood take-out restaurants. But they still disrespected his authority of the battlefield; they had disrespected a Sith, as ineptly as they had done so. It was enough for him to abandon his cover for a few moments, walking out onto the open to prepare a reckless assault that would surely have ended in his demise.

Fortunately for him, he was saved by a bell of sorts, that rang with 130 decibels of modulating pitch and gleamed with 20000 lumens of unadulterated power. He was no stranger to strobes and loud music, of course, but this was some serious overkill.

Naturally assuming the device being thrown in his direction to have some kind of bomb attached to it, he leapt back into cover as it flew at him, his eyes temporarily blinded at their centers from looking at the strobe even for the few moments he did. But as the thing just kept going and going, a few seconds beyond when it should have exploded, he assumed he was safe. The only thing he knew was, since whatever this thing was had landed quite close to their cover, it had to go before he went stir crazy.

Sighing to himself, he drew his lightsaber and activated it, the telltale hum of a Sith blade echoing a dark harmony with the discordant melody of blaster fire above it. With a button press and a twist, its two halves became detached; if his mind's eye was still seeing things correctly, that infernal noisemaker was definitely within Tengo's range.

Peeking from cover and getting a full on blast of the strobe lights, he whipped the lightsaber out to full length, the cord connecting the two halves going taut as the blade fell down upon the grenade. And with a second button press, the modified lightwhip was retracted as fast as it had appeared.

"Dammit...I never asked to be a freaking Miraluka..." muttered Nitro as he rubbed his eyes, now pretty much completely blind from seeing the offensively annoying grenade up close. His subconscious realized he could draw an analogy between the grenade and his own personality, but the rest of him was too occupied with anger for that. The fact that he was this helpless, at least temporarily, only enraged him further, however. Deactivating his blade before he cut off a limb with it, he called out with some goading of his own to retaliate. "How about you quit hiding behind your toys, filth...at least one of you feels worth my time, fight me like a man!"

@Darasuum

 

[Darasuum]

just as he had suspected they needed to get an eye on the two sith and the troops around them defending the command center. a little glint emanated from a piece of metal perhaps, equipment, armor whatever it was it would get blasted by the arkanian-offshoots already sighted the blaster carbine. it was within perfect shooting range but the weapon would be much more effective against live tissue closer than where the commandos resided presently. firing the weapon it would strike the glass and damage it or ricochet off of the reflective surface and into the cover position of the commandos. the arkanian was not the only one that fired at the exposed object as a handful fired at the man in cover. Geir did not know it was simply a small piece of mirror or what it was made of but anything that came into sight would be melted by him and his cohorts alike.

but the commando seemed to be unharmed from his vibrant attempts at goading the two of them to which Geir only cocked an eyebrow under his helm. he had not expected him to talk in such a way but the arkanian-offshoot had hoped to much that the exposed bit was anything other than likely an observation tool. he thought about switching weapons to a gratia-blaster pistol but decided to stick with the customized Gutripper. the two sidearms remained in their holsters while he kept the GN-808 trained on the cover of the republic attackers. the two commandos were almost the same distance from the barricades. the one that seemed to possess some strong will and slight presence in the force was the furthest while the younger one was slightly closer.

something exited cover where the commandos resided and went towards the sith. Geir wanted to scrutinize the object but knew better than to do so. instead the arbitrator PAK already knew how to react. the first strobe flashed surprisingly but Geir averted his eyes and tilted his head as his armor's systems compensated for the intense brightness and noise simultaniously. this was why he payed a small fortune for his customized arbitrator PAK and why most Dark Knights of Sin wore the work of artifice. his men were not so lucky. two to his right took a dual burst of fire from the mouthy commando and the other ran towards the next pillar closer to the barricade. three of the soldiers fired their blasters but only one made it any where close to where the moving commando had resided.

but it was for reasons like this that Geir had an upper hand on most of his cohorts and enemies. he had been a warrior of regular means far longer than a force wielder and adapted to situations based on instinct and tactical skill rather than reliance on the force as many sith and jedi did. still he had not had time to get off a shot on the lively republic soldier before he was in cover. the same trick would not work a second time and his cohort destroyed the object promptly which he appreciated.

again his cohort, Nitro called out to the republic troops which made Geir smile underneath his helm. the youth had guts, he would give him that though he was far more vocal and proud than Geir had ever been. at least that was what he thought, no doubt other people in his days as a corsair would disagree. the arkanian-offshoot remained behind the cover of one of the barricades knowing that they would try something again though this time one of them was already drawing himself upon Geir's blades as he grew nearer. after the grenade had been destroyed almost immediately Geir's helmet functions returned to normal.

 

[Krajin]

The glass was for the most part undamaged, a chunk taken off the side by the time he had retracted it. As the glass was not magnetised the bolt would more than likely not bounce off in some unfortunate direction like a ping-pong ball in a garbage chute. He was roughly forty meters down so nearing the end of the Guttrippers range, someone had to have had a hell of a perfect aim to shoot and even try and hit something as small as a spy mirror. But he managed to clip it so that's about as much as the fellow could of done.

A grin spread across his face as the Sith screamed out to fight him like a man and Khalen began to laugh, then he did an exaggerated imitation of said boy's voice "Fight me like a man!" He'd call out with said imitation. Cutting back to his original voice Khalen called back "I'm sure we'd be the only men you'd ever have to fight or feel! But then with you cowering by your soldiers and barricades like a blind Rat you're either a pathetic Duelist or your knowledge in the force is weak. Anyone with any semblance of knowledge in the force would be able to see without their eyes! Or are you so pathetically weak in it that you can't even do this most basic of technique?" He added, the arts of Dun Moch in employment and they hadn't even gotten to lock blades yet.

He drew a Firespray canister in his right hand, turned and with his rifle as the men recovered from their blindness, crouching to alter his position of fire and throw off any predicted aim; poked the weapon around the corner and let fly with several three round bursts of Particle Beams toward the barricade. Anyone who wasn't ducking or lacked any semblance of survival instinct would likely get shot. Just as quick as he fired off those three wild bursts of energy, capping two more soldiers and possibly hitting one of the two sith, namely the blinded one, he'd retreat his arm back behind the wall to avoid counter fire. Khalen quickly ejected the first power cell and loaded in another. A small grin on his face as his ears trained to hear anyone coming around the corner, if they did, they'd cop a spray to the face from the flame grenade.

 

[jamessour]

Krif. Jer swore as he heard the grenade get destroyed. He was hoping for a quick and easy fight - and that wasn't going to happen. He was now 30 meters from the pyro (@Kaane ) but on the opposite side of two pillars. Other than a few strangling and wounded sith, Jer had only noticed one other man, who was still hiding in the door way.

Grimacing, the Pyro started talking again. Jer peeked the corner suddenly and sprayed three shots at the sith's position. It wouldn't hit him, but it would hopefully shut him up. Jer wasn't one to taunt in battle - it was ineffective. While he shot he moved up one more pillar. He was hoping to get a good angle - forcing the sith to reveal his body either to Jer or his ally.

Now tucked behind the pillar he would peak to see if either sith had moved.

@Kaane

 

[Kaane]

Nitro had barely even finished talking before he got shot at, reflexively cringing behind the cover at his back as his vision recovered. He would have to learn how to get around this stuff sooner or later, that strobe had done a serious number on his ability to fight. But at least his sight was slowly returning; the blindness wasn't permanent. Now, he just had to make sure that wouldn't happen again.

Once again, unfortunately, his plans were interrupted by the same voice taunting him again. This time it had grown a pair; every syllable he heard seemed to sting him somewhere vulnerable. Even as his vision of the world was about to return to normal, it began to cloud with heated, seething rage. He was legitimately beginning to hate what this guy was saying, and the guy who was saying it. Whatever game he thought he was playing was gonna be over, like, yesterday.

But once again, he heard the firing of a gun. Noticing that his cringe behind cover had forced him in a vulnerable position where he was in the firing line of one of whatever blaster was aimed at him, he readjusted, only to find that he appeared to be in range of another. His safety was compromised; he would either have to take action or get shot at from both sides at once.

Within milliseconds, he had activated his lightsaber and simply walked out into the open, holding his lightsaber fully at the ready. His eyes shifted from the positions he had felt his enemies close to, as he stood by an empty emplacement with an unoccupied turret and a small, waist-high barricade, stepping over the body of an unlucky SBZ troop to stand close enough to it to duck behind cover with ease. It was in the middle of the aisle, however, away from the columns that lined its sides. But now he had options, open space and a less dangerous angle to fight and speak from. Exactly what played to his strengths. He could hurl insults all he wanted, call him a shite duelist, an idiot in the Force, whatever he felt like. But if he would take his challenge, he would more than prove each one of them wrong.

"Alright, wiseass," he muttered, patting the dust and rubble off of his robes with one hand as he prepared an Ataru guard with the other, taking a balanced stance and holding his saber in a relaxed, upwards, semi-vertical orientation bisecting his body. He pointed in the general direction of his aggressors, gritting his teeth with hatred. "If you and your worthless friend quit taking potshots, maybe, just maybe, you kriffing, damned imbecile, WE CAN HAVE AN EVEN FIGHT! I'm right here! You want a duel, you've got a duel!"

He then smiled, and laughed some as he kept his eyes scanning the area. "Of course...I expect you to be a dumb fricking weakling and keep hiding like the coward I know you really are. But rest assured. I'll take my sweet time tearing you in half if you do. Oh, and those noisemaker things suck. I've been to parties with worse lighting than that...I mean, it's just, like, WAY too easy for me man, you've gotta give your battle plan a little TLC."

 

[Darasuum]

the younger sith was entertaining or at least would have been if Geir wasn't focused on the primary objective of defending the command center he was in charge of. reports were coming in that the republic forces were moving on other areas of the planet as well. the Moff hoped that those defending those areas were doing a good job. the Supreme Leader, Darth Sigrun was on the planet and he'd hate for her first impression to be a negative one. things were still in the process of being updated and moving from the relatively lax ways they had been before Geir had become the Moff in charge of the system.

but one of the commandos continued to exchange words amid the weapons discharge in an attempt to exploit one another's ego. Geir didn't have much of one to begin with. these were commandos and mercenaries of the republic and they weren't here to have an open field one on one fight. subterfuge, sabotage and espionage is what they did and that was at the opposite spectrum of honorable for most societies. Geir didn't harbor any ill favor towards the republic commandos for what they were. in truth he hadn't interacted with them much but they were the enemy and so he felt nothing for them. if anything the arkanian-offshoot actually was annoyed. it had been a nice day and they had destroyed his base. he already had plans of building another one in a different city but it still was a pain to have to deal with all the logistics he was now in charge of.

Geir remained behind cover and when shots sprayed across the open area of the grand hall they struck either the guards foolish enough to not take cover or attempting to move on the commandos. perhaps they had been moved by Nitro's words of bravado or motivated by their own ego and triggered by the commando's words. either way it was poor judgement and they would be replaced. Nitro on the other hand took the initiative to step out into the open and directly challenge the commando. laying his hand out he was playing against someone who might not even be playing the same game. Geir shook his head slightly and continued to hold his GN-808 on the commandos in cover. if they made a move he would simply twitch the trigger and the high rate of fire from the carbine would display how it got its nickname Gutripper by shredding through the enemies. they were pinned and if they dragged this out for much longer they would be pinched by any reinforcements that had swept through the base and returned to reinforce the commando center.

"Become a Moff they said...Serenno will be easy they said..." he mumbled to himself as he waited to see one of the commandos step forward accepting the challenge or just shoot Nitro in the face.

 

[jamessour]

The forward enemy (@Kaane ) was seriously annoying Jer, almost enough for him to say something back, No. Don't give away anything. In fact, Jer was a touch frustrated that his partner was doing more shouting than shooting.

As they were position now, Jeremiah was about 15 meters to the Pyro's (@Kaane ) left, and was positioned behind one of the large pillars. Khalen remained at the doorway, directly in front of the barricade about 45 meters. At the other end (to Jeremiah's left diagonal) about 20 meters was the other doorway which the second foe was hiding. Jer did not want to get shot in the side, so moved around to the side of the pillar so that the hiding Sith (@Geir Ambros ) wouldn't be able to take a pot shot at him. This left Jer with a potentially perfect view of the obnoxious one, but left him with several inches of cover.

Peeking quickly and leading with his gun, he unleashed a burst of six shots aimed at the Sith's (@Kaane ) chest. He woulg then reached down with his other hand to prep a grenade.

Hopefully his partner could do some work.

 

[Krajin]

Khalen couldn't help but laugh mockingly at the Emo-Sith that tried to berate him. "Us? Cowards? Says the man hiding with his soldiers and barricades! Who can barely muster enough potential to lift a datapad off the floor!" He called out to add more flames to the fire. During the distractions as his companion ran up and added more fire to the situation Khalen concentrated Kinetic energy in and around him. This corridor was frightfully narrow and for concussive blasts of kinetic energy would make for a terrible, terrible weapon to be used against the enemy. With all that energy focused around himself and getting his focus and adrenaline going, he stepped around barely two seconds after Jeremiah fired at them, his rifle raised at the torso level of the average humanoid so that anyone crouching or standing still would very likely be shot. "Cover" Was all he said to his companion over their encrypted comm, of what was to come.

He kept himself side on, rifle pointed down that way and began firing at the Moff (@Geir Ambros ), with a quick step and pirouette he would turn his body quickly and brutally channelling that built up kinetic force energy into his other hand and blasted it down the narrow corridor towards the poor souls behind the barricades. The aim was simple, to send the mobile barricades flying backwards, the soldiers behind them sprawling with the hope of crushing them beneath said barricades, into walls or other debris. The impact on its own would be incredible, the furball was certainly a potent force to deal with and he was feeling the pinch a bit. Any shots he took from exposing himself he didn't feel just yet, adrenaline was a wonderful painkiller. But those barricades and soldiers? They might not be so lucky. Continuing his somewhat inaccurate fire from the rifle Khalen darted behind a doorway a few meters up from where he had started. In this corridor there wouldn't be much escape from that wave. By now, six commandos had descended to their deck and took cover at the main elevator door ways. Ready to fire!

 

[Kaane]

"Us? Cowards? Says the man hiding with his soldiers and barricades! Who can barely muster enough potential to lift a datapad off the floor!"

I'm going to end both your pitiful existences with glorious relish...​

Nitro's grip on Tengo was vicelike, while his teeth clamped down hard against the soft insides of his cheeks. His canines drew blood that trickled gently down into his parched throat, raw with a thirst for what lay before him. His brown eyes set themselves in a fierce stare, as if attempting to bore a hole through the column the offending presence was behind with sight alone. It was clear there was only one way this would be settled.

With mind-shatteringly awe-strikingly soul-crushingly face-meltingly excessive power raining down from Bogan himself.

"You have made...a seriously...seriously...like...massive mistake..."

His mind had been trained for years how to use his anger to his advantage in combat. Though his anger goaded him into rash action, it gave him equal parts focus and single-minded determination as well. His mind was utterly set on making him suffer, in the most excruciating ways the young Sith could manage. He had been trained to bring pain upon those who opposed him, denied him his birthright. And only now, after fighting dozens of lesser yet brave peers, would he get to unleash said pain on one who truly deserved it. This wimp would hear the crunch of Nitro's boots against his skull, smell the gutwrenching stench of ashen blood and flesh, see his own body flayed in twain, and feel the shame of getting utterly wrecked in real life.

He would know the true power of the Dark Side this day.

Intuition told him to look to his left. Howdy doody. Mr. Big Guns had come out to get his ass whooped.

The burst of six shots seemed easy enough to take, being on guard as he was. But as he blocked the first two, he realized that the gun wasn't quite ordinary. The bolts exploded on impact with his saber, setting him slightly off balance. It was infuriating; what kind of a gun even did this? As he took the third bolt, feeling his grip falter, he knew he couldn't keep up with the shots.

Forgoing the last three blaster bolts by utilizing the Force to leap to one of the columns near the vaulted ceiling, he would land with a crouched, vertical stance on the column to his right, before leaping off to the next, and then the next, slowly building up momentum as under him the battle continued to rage. A particle bolt or two and a seriously massive Force attack surged underneath his position as he closed the 15 meters towards the man who had shot him with ease. Upon reaching the column directly to the side of the one the hotshot potshooter (@jamessour), he leapt downwards with incredible power, a veritable emo rocket on a hellish collision course with Blood n' Goresville.

"Your bitch dies first!" he screeched with the one who had goaded him into this in mind, unlocking Tengo's central restraint and whipping it out towards the man in his way before he even hit the ground, a surefire bisection if he felt like standing still for a second or two.

 

[Darasuum]

the closer republic troop ( @jamessour ) turned his attention towards Nitro (@Kaane ) who proceeded to emanate his frustration into an almost palpable sensation. the young sith defended himself both directly and also by evading with impressive speed before attacking the man that shot at him. Geir didn't listen to the words he used but he knew them to be malicious. Nitro's words would fuel him and motivate him to slay the closer commando while Geir focused on the other.

the man came out from cover farther down the grand hall. he had been behind the pillar closest to the opposite entrance. Geir's gutripper was resting on one of the barricades and so was already steadied and ready to throw numerous bolts of energy down the length of the hall. normally most people would only fire in burst mode unless they were adept at using the weapon. but the GN-808 had been in his possession for a long time and he had extensive training with it as well as more than enough muscle to manage the recoil it was known for. the rest he had made by placing it on the edge of the barricade helped keep him i cover except for his head and partial shoulders. they were small targets that one who was in motion wouldn't be able to easily hit. this all gave Geir an advantage as he had been waiting for one of the commandos to metaphorically impale themselves on his spear.

now the furthest commando ( @Krajin ) had done just that by stepping out of cover exposing his full body. he was at around the maximum effective range but still within it. and Geir let loose blaster bolts with a squeeze of the trigger all of which were first aimed down at gut height and by the time the third shot was at neck level he had subconsciously adjusted the recoil compensation so they would strike center of mass. it didn't matter if one could feel anything or not if it was more than just pain. one couldn't ignore the fact their heart would stop beating and trying to run away, fight or do anything with a face full of energized plasma.

but from Geir's observation it looked like the man was already trying to move in a choreographed motion. it required little adjustment and Geir would have just continued the depression of the trigger. apparently he had been summoning the force to use in a force wave but that technique was meant for three-sixty degree defense in close proximity. not to mention it would have required intense focus. but that must have been what he was doing before he popped out and why his blaster bolts struck the barricade and not Geir's diminished target area. nearly a dozen blaster bolts had been hurled down range, some of them Geir knew weren't going to hit the target but there were more than enough to puncture through the armor he had observed them wearing on the viewscreen when they first arrived. the bolts were on par with a simple pistol but the number of shots would be staggering.

though Nitro and the commando's cohort were off to the side of the grand hall they would still feel the force wave more prominently than he or the defenders by the corridor entrance would. it was an advanced technique and would have required a great deal of effort so perhaps it was the mouthy commando's last ditch attempt at overwhelming the defending sith. but he probably had misjudged the distance as it would do little more than to scoot the barricades back a fraction of a meter. but that was also probably due to the numerous distractions that came in the form of deadly energy being hurled at the commando.