Ask Synchronizing Your Dogmas

[Darth Tempest]

.

Thule was a planet akin to few others in the Galaxy.

In days of ancient past, it had been a Fortress-world of the Sith - a radiant beacon of martial strength and authority, standing in undying service to their Drast monarchs. Every cornerstone of civilization was testament to the Empire of old - entire mountainsides and valleys carved away by slaves and giving rise to the Temple-Cities, Mausoleums and Academies that dominated its marred, blackened surface. It’s capital of Hurom crowned with pyramids and temples that stretched hundreds of meters into the sky - was a cradle of martial tutelage - boasting of its rigorous institutes and elite legions in service to the Sith.

Such is what Thule had been for millenia. Such was the legacy that the planet attempted to embody to the present day.

Where others had attempted to forget their ancient histories, Thule wore the legacy of the Sith proudly - keeping to the principles first established during the days of Andraste. It was her principles that governed every aspect of Thuleian society and molded their civilization, even as the dynasty of Drast faded from power. Without the direction of the Empire, warlords had battled across the surface of Thule until a single rose victorious - proclaiming himself King and beginning a dynasty that had stretched for countless generations. Their proud Temple-Cities had fallen not to ruin. The legions of Thule continued to service their King as successor to the Imperial Monarchs of old. By sheer force of will, Thule had endured the ages and carved out an existence for themselves within the Galaxy.

In the present day, Thule had existed within its corner of the Galaxy - maintaining a policy of staunch, xenophobic isolationism. The Empire had come again, and it would seem that the current monarch, a woman seated within the Thuleian Throne for less than a decade, was none-too-keen to relinquish the authority and power her dynasty had commanded for generations. Neutrality had been their shield and not a single envoy from the Empire had been accepted into the atmosphere. The resources and strength of the planet had, to this point, eluded them.

Vahliri intended to change that. She had chosen Thule as her target for a variety of reasons - and the Sith Champion most certainly commanded the forces necessary to accomplish her task, assuming that the initial steps of her plan went off without a hitch. The planet was well-fortified and defended by fanatical loyalists, and to merely descend in full force would be a bloodbath neither side could easily stomach.

Fortunately, that is where Vahliri and Kanaloa came in. Though she had only met the Wrean Acolyte briefly during the festival on Kinyen, the half-Annfyn was pleased with having another to help see matters through. The pair had only a brief bit of introduction before boarding the Upsilom III class shuttle and promptly punching into Hyperspace. She didn’t dare risk the integrity of her own ship - least of all given what she had planned.

Much to the half-Annfyn’s own pleasure, the voyage wasn’t a long one - only required to make the short jump from Serenno. Standing within the lounge of the shuttle, Vahliri loomed over a holo-table - amber gazes lingering on a holographic projection of Hurom spread across the surface. She hadn’t quite changed into her Sith attire - still dressed in an

off-the-shoulder black blouse, jeans and thigh-high boots. Her black hair was tied up into a messy bun, while the air around her was scented lightly with notes of jasmine and citrus.

“Enjoying the voyage so far?” She asked across to Kane - flashing him a smirk. Their journey was approaching its last leg - but they had at least a bit of downtime before arrival.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Kanaloa had never heard of this 'Thule' planet until he was picked to go to it for some fuck-forsaken reason. That part wasn't his deal, he burned through books and random articles pretty often. The Wrean's principal personal problem was with the word Arid. Wasn't fond of it being in the wikinet definition of a planet he was flying to. The flying part was fine.

"Ah?" He looked up from where he semi-awkwardly lounged across the lounge couch and part of a random chair he'd found, dressed in patterned pants and a basic black t-shirt. "Oh." He'd been reading off a datapad and snacking on spicy puffed snacks, although the beginning parts of the trip involved meditation, various kata, and a recent shower. Kane now carried along with him the scents of mint, sea salt, and ginger. "Yeah sure, hyperspace is real... Blue."

Only so much vast and unending blue one can look at before they get bored. For Kane, it'd been under five seconds. Now Vahliri mentioned it though, the Wrean acolyte did have a pressing question at the forefront of his mind. "Why are this shuttle's wings so large?" It seemed like they could build a second shuttle from just the wings. Maybe it was for intimidation like some manta species?

"Oh, also, you have a plan for if they just shoot at us? Feels relevant." Vahliri was the one with the holomap and it was also her endeavor. Kane hadn't felt the need to chime in and stuck to studying available stuff about the Hurom. Like how they've been a hyper-militant culture for all of time and collect guns like a Hutt collects belly rolls.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri tilted her head a bit - flashing Kanaloa a smile as she addressed the Acolyte properly. After Soleil, he was the only Wrean she had ever met - and during this leg of the journey, the half-Annfyn didn’t blame him one bit for lounging about. For much of the flight prior to that point, she had spent her time doing the same - instead pouring over a particularly old piece of Sith literature. She didn’t linger at the Holotable or map much longer - swiping away the projection before casually strolling over to the couches.

Her boots clicked against the metallic floor as she rounded the sofa, plopping down into a seat just opposite to where Kane was sitting. She didn’t miss the sight of his attire - most of all the patterned pants he wore. They certainly looked comfortable and almost certainly were a cultural piece. Even if they did vaguely remind her of some MK Hammer shit..

“And boring as hell,” Vahliri commented with a smirk, nodding after Kane’s own assessment of Hyperspace travel. “Though, after a while, you start to appreciate the boring trips - believe me." The half-Annfyn had crashed, been boarded and otherwise had to deal with a myriad of random bullshit over the years - to the point where she thoroughly enjoyed the legs of hyperspace travel devoid of nonsense. Nonsense would be bountiful on Thule, undoubtedly, just maybe not along the way.

She reached forward, grabbing one of the beverages that had been left on the table. The bottle of iced mint tea was one she had retrieved from the cooler a few minutes ago, and only now stopped staring holes at the map of Hurom to enjoy it. The half-Annfyn cracked open the lip and took a small sip, only to arch a brow when Kane came up with his follow-up question.

“Mm,” Vahliri tilted her head back a bit, “Weapons systems, I think. Sensor suites in the upper portion of the wings, along with shield generators and signal jammers in the lower.” She said simply, drawing upon her somewhat limited knowledge of the vessel. After all, it wasn’t exactly her ship so much as the military vessel afforded to them for the campaign. “‘Large and intimidating’ also likely has something to do with it,” She said with a grin. Unlike a great many Sith Kanaloa might’ve met at this point, the half-Annfyn had no qualms with poking fun at the Empire and their design style that tended to favor brutalist qualities.

Then there was her plan. Vahliri took a longer drink from her bottle of tea - savoring the slightly-sweet beverage for a moment before nodding, “Of course, I do.” She nodded simply. “Oh, they are going to shoot at us.” Previous attempts to contact or approach Thule had resulted in summary execution via artillery fire.

“My plan is to let them shoot us down.” She said after a single moment, promptly bracing for whatever reaction Kane was going to have at that bit of information. Likely not positive.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

The idea of putting a bunch of vital systems in broad wings seemed weird to Kane, but then again he wasn't a ship designer. "There's no grace to it." Hmming vaguely, he popped another flaming hot corn snack into his mouth. Cronch, cronch, munch.

That sound slowed, then paused completely when he the Champion elaborated on her brilliant plan of having the Thulians or whatever they called themselves shoot the Sith down. "That'll show them who's boss," he commented dryly. Kanaloa resumed eating his snacks after a moment, giving Vahliri some silent side-eye for a further few seconds. "So if we don't die horribly, we'll be the first real Imperials to land near the capital?"

Thule did tend toward artillery-based discouragement. "This plan is terrible and I don't like it," he stated confidently. "I'm in." It'd be a pretty good story if they survived at least, right? The Wrean got himself up off the couch and wordlessly walked over to his backpack of supplies, pulled a small plastic snack bag out of it, and returned to the couch. The smell of bacon wafted out as Kane opened it. He tossed a piece into his mouth, one foot bouncing against the chair.

There were no further plan-related questions. Kanaloa figured he'd just go along with what happened next and decide from there like usual. Still was gonna eat the bacon snacks now in case he was too dead to eat them later. "So are these ridiculous wings durable, or..?"

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Vahliri couldn’t help but arch a brow, eyeing Kanaloa for a moment when the Wrean commented the shuttle lacked ‘grace’. The half-Annfyn.. Really couldn’t argue with that fact. There was nothing sleek or beautiful about the vessel - and it certainly didn’t fit to her own aesthetic or tastes. There was a reason she traveled the Galaxy in a New Alderaanian-deisgned ship - and a ridiculously expensive one, at that. “Well armed, at least,” She commented with a small shrug and a smirk. For a military transport, the Upsilon-class had a startling amount of equipment and weaponry. Not that Vahliri much intended to utilize it.

The half-Annfyn sunk a bit deeper into the very comfortable couch - her diminutive frame engulfed by the plush cushions and few throw pillows clustered nearby. She could have guessed that Kane wasn’t going to be entirely on board with her rather unorthodox and dangerous idea, bur his reaction certainly could’ve been worse. “Well it’ll certainly catch them with their pants down,” She said after a moment, sipping from her bottle of iced tea.

“Assuming we don’t go up in flames coming into the atmosphere.. Or crash into a mountainside.. Or get vaporized by artillery fire?” She grinned, obviously poking fun and dramatizing the worst scenarios, “Then, yeah. First to arrive near-ish to the capital. First to be on the planet, really.” To the surprise of absolutely no one, the planetary society that prioritized the ‘purity of their culture’ and emphasized military strength above all had, somehow, turned out to be wildly xenophobic.

“That makes two of us, and it’s my plan.” She said with an amused exhale through her nostrils, nodding a bit when the Acolyte confirmed he was on board. Vahliri sat up a bit just then, deciding to indulge Kane a bit more on what precisely she had intended. “Thule is, relative to other planets? Ridiculously armed. We could - in theory - arrived with a full contingent of Imperial Troopers, Starfighters and Capital ships and simply force our way through resistance. Lining it all up, we certainly have the numbers..” She drummed her fingers for a moment of pause. “But,” She began again, “The losses would be substantial. And I’m not willing to throw away the lives of my troopers so easily.” The half-Annfyn was far from being a dedicated military commander or tactician, but she respected the men assigned to her and wasn’t going to blindlessly risk assets because it was ‘simpler’ to do so.

“And, preserving the integrity of Thule’s infrastructure is bonus points for us.”

“Sooo,” She swirled her drink, “We’re going to enter the atmosphere and get shot down. Thulian’s will think we are dead and don’t think twice after inspecting the crash site - and we’ll use that opportunity to move discreetly into the capital.” Vahliri fixed her gaze onto Kane. “We infiltrate, disable the planetary artillery systems, and we open the way for our fleet to swarm uncontested.” There would likely still be a bitter fight on the ground, but the half-Annfyn already had the beginnings of a plan on how to proceed on that front. Still, one battle at a time.

She glanced in the general directions of where the wings would be outside the cabin, shrugging a bit. “Relatively, I’m sure,” The half-Annfyn hummed. “Not that I.. Particularly would like to go testing their durability.”

Just a few moments later, repeating alarms began to sound through the entire cabin - accompanied by red, flashing lights to indicate they were approaching the end of their journey in Hyperspace. Vahliri exhaled through her nostrils and proceeded to throw back the rest of her drink, chucking the empty bottle neatly into a bin. “That would be our que,” She said, standing up from her seat, “Gear up, and I’ll meet you in the cockpit?” With that, Vahliri turned on a heel and went to retrieve her armor.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Kanaloa listened to the plan outline, looking at nothing in particular and going through his second snack in silence until Vahliri was finished. He didn't seem to have a great deal of commentary, limiting it one statement. "Best not to underestimate defenders," followed by crumpling up his bag and flicking it into the waste bin.

The Wrean acolyte swung his legs off his seating to stand when the alarm sounded, arms raised in a lazy stretch. "Right then," he said to no one in particular before walking off to get changed. 'Arid' in the planet description meant it'd be a process, and so it was.

Light, amphibious Wrean bodysuit, his actual armor and equipment, his weapons, a tightened-up hair bun, and so on. It was a stark contrast to his appearance when lazing around. When he finally emerged, his mask currently down and hanging by his chest, a satchel of supplies over one shoulder, and a plastic spill-proof cup in hand, he was amused to find Vahliri wasn't done yet. He bet those long as hell leather boots took a while to get on and off.

Kane sat in the cockpit and fastened his crash webbing. The only sounds were the regular proximity reminder alarm, the various beeps, bops, and whirrs of electronics, and a long siiiippp from his cup's straw. After some waiting- like, three seconds, he was bored already- he strapped himself in and leaned over to examine the controls.

Personally, he preferred the manual stuff on his admittedly ancient gunship, but here he was. He squinted at the hyperdrive display. "Brace," he announced loudly but in a casual tone a few seconds before the shuttle dropped from hyperspace. He stopped mid-sip, was rocked forward by the sudden stop, and promptly resumed while his right knee bounced idly.

"We'll have to destroy the ship after crashing," he commented toward wherever Vahliri was by this point. Siiiiiipp.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

“Quite the opposite,” Vahliri hummed, amber eyes locking onto Kanaloa for a long moment after he mentioned underestimating the enemy. For all the ways she could be brash, pugnacious and unpredictable - this was one operation that the half-Annfyn had meticulously thought through. Not everything could be planned - flexibility was a necessity once they were on the ground - but a framework existed nonetheless to achieve their primary objectively.

Without another word, Vahliri vanished into her own cabin of the shuttle - closing the door and savoring the final moments of relaxation left to her. Within only a few minutes, the half-Annfyn had stripped of her leisurely clothes - as leisurely as Vahliri allowed herself to be around others, anyway - and emerged in her Sith regalia. She wore her signature red-and-black robes, cuffs and hood trimmed with ur-Kittat runic script. A pair of saberhilts hung from her hilt - one curved and another of standard build, while her black hair was intricately braided and pulled back away from her face. A pack was slung over her shoulder, as well. Vahliri made her way into the cockpit - slipping into the pilot seat just beside where Kanaloa was sitting. At once, the Acolyte would get a breeze of the perfume the half-Annfyn always wore - notes of jasmine and citrus filling the confined space.

Letting the pack slip under her seat behind her legs, Vahliri curled her fingers around the controls of the shuttle - bracing herself as the Upsilon-class lurched out of Hyperspace. The blur of stars came to a still, and the greyish surface of Thule dominated the horizon just ahead. The planet was barren and acrid as described, while spiderwebs of dark clouds threaded with lightning stretched across its landmasses. It was an ancient world of the Sith. A fortress of their order and bastion or it’s oldest ideals. By the time this was all over, it would be theirs.

“Hope you have a strong stomach,” She tilted her head towards Kanaloa, gunning forward and towards the primary landmass of the planet. Towards the capital city and seat of power. Within moments, attempts to hail the ship were made by those in the surface - and Vahliri deliberately made no attempt to answer those calls, flatly ignoring them as she dove into the atmosphere.

“Mhm,” She hummed, glancing over to the Acolyte with a grin, gaze lingering on his own for a moment. “There’s a reason I didn’t enlist my own ship for this venture.” She said very simply. With that, the half-Annfyn continued her aggressive trajectory towards the planetary capital - carving through the atmosphere and the turbulence of the flight. Kanaloa would very quickly come to realize why few people voluntarily allowed Vahliri behind the controls - demonstrating what could only be described as suicidal flight patterns.

Just as they punched beneath the clouds, Vahliri abruptly yanked the controls to the left - banking away from the first viridian bolt of artillery fire. It streaked past them and into the twi-lit sky, easily carrying enough power to cut through their shield armor completely. The follow-up volley was much the same, as the half-Annfyn jerked and dove the Upsilon shuttle in ways that were likely to bring the contents of Kanaloa’s stomach back up. It wasn’t until they were over the capital city - flying out towards a series of canyons just beyond, that Vahliri glanced towards Kanaloa - giving him a simple nod to indicate it was time.

Exhaling through her nostrils, Vahliri maintained a relatively straight flight pattern - allowing the enemy to line up their shot perfectly. Artillery-fire streaked through the air - finding purchase in the rear end of the shuttle. It tore through shields, armor and hull, destroying one of the thrusters and eliciting a plume of black smoke billowing up behind them. The entire vessel lurked and rocked violently, and the cockpit was suddenly filled with the scream of alarms. And they would both feel the loss in attitude. “Brace!” She yelled towards Kanaloa, her fingers curling tightly around the controls as the shuttle veered to meet the canyon floor. It was a testament to that fact the half-Annfyn had crashed.. Multiple times, as she managed to keep the vessel from going into a full-fledged nose-dive and on course.

They dipped between the narrow walls of the canyon and out of sight, and the underbelly of the shuttle promptly slammed into the sandy, loose earth below. It was due to the crash-webbing alone that the pair weren’t thrown through the windshield of bashed around the cockpit, and they didn’t stop moving for several meters after that - carving a trench through the sand in a relatively straight line. The oversized wings - despite earlier criticism, served to be the thing that finally brought them to a halt. As the canyon walls narrowed, the extended wings of the shuttle caught against both sides of the wall - scrapping and grinding until they finally wedged tightly into place to halt their skid.

Moments of silence - except for the screeching of the alarms - passed within the cockpit, and Vahliri merely leaned back in her seat. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breathes, adrenaline pumping through her veins and relief washing over her at once. At long last, she finally glanced over to Kane, flashing the Acolyte a smirk. “Turns out, they’re durable after all.”

 

[Kanaloa Tau]

Idly, he wondered why they couldn't at least be crashing into an ocean world. At least then he'd probably be a-ok and not have to trudge around arid nonsense guided by an apparently suicidal pilot. In short, his main regret was everything. Luckily- for Vahliri more than himself- Kane *did* have a strong stomach, well used to ocean craft and the movement of the sea. There was no way in hell- oh, wait, no, he did feel kinda sick.

Of course that could've just been the abundance of ship-shattering cannon fire around them. Or both. His foot bounced the entire way down, although he wasn't especially tense. Kane's bobbed this way and that in his seat right up until Vahliri yelled to brace. Which he did, the Force flowing through him for protection. Then they crashed.

Groaning grumpily he pulled at his crash webbing, grumbled more insistently, and cut through it with his knife instead. Now on top of everything else his torso was bruised up and he had a headache. He turned to look at Vahliri, his little joke eliciting a smirk, right before there was a loud, echoing sound of wrenching metal. Kane turned to look out the window as, as if with its own sense of comedic timing, one of the wing joints failed completely and fell off the ship.

"I'd like to leave this ship now," he stated, turning on his heels and with a slight unsteadiness- still felt a bit sick- and headed right to the engine to follow up on destroying the ship. "I'm flying us back!" he called down the hallways, wedging his partly-extended spear into a fucked-up panel and wedging it open. For sabotage, he basically just liberally stabbed the engine's limiter subsystem, maxed out some settings that absolutely should not be maxed, and then stabbed another thing for good measure. Also spite, there was definitely a little spite.

Jogging back out he declared, "We should go," in complete deadpan, stabbed the already-cracked window, and crawled out of the ship with his duffel bag and spill-proof drink cup.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

Admittedly, Vahliri wasn’t having a great time herself. While the shuttle crash was more forgiving than some - and the half-Annfyn even managed to spout some humor in light of it - she nevertheless felt all the same aches and pains that could be expected. The crash webbing did wonders to keep her alive, but it also left her with a variety of bruises and a pounding headache that she’d be feeling for the rest of the mission. It was moments like this that Vahliri envied Firrerreo and their rapid healing, for all the ways she enjoyed the advantages of her sensitive hearing.

But they were alive - so the half-Annfyn couldn’t complain too much.

With a groan, Vahliri slowly began to cut away the crash webbing - cutting through the material to free herself. She only had a split-second to push out of her seat before the loud metallic scraping filled the air - causing her fluted ears to swivel and flatten at once. The half-Annfyn watched as the wing of the shuttle separated from the rest of the vessel, causing Vahliri to blink a few times in response.

“On second thought, forget I said anything.” She said simply.

Vahliri rolled the stiffness out of her shoulders - groaning a bit as Kane proceeded to stroll down the hallway - clearly making his way towards the engine room. She didn’t have to guess what he was planning - least of all because the Wrean had mentioned it prior to that point. The half-Annfyn immediately began gathering her own belongings - her standard pack and weapons, along with the holobook she’d been periodically gazing into during the course of the flight. “Why? My flying is fantastic, thank you very much.” The half-Annfyn called back to Kane. “Anyone can fly a ship, you know. It takes skill to crash successfully.” Vahliri had her own fair share of rough landings, to the point where she had actual experience on the matter. Whether experience on this particular matter could be seen as a good or bad thing was, naturally, up to interpretation.

Without another word, Vahliri drew her saber - igniting the blade and proceeding to stab it through the memory banks located within the cockpit. In the very unlikely chance that some bits and pieces of the shuttle survived to be picked through, the half-Annfyn wasn’t going to allow Imperial data and flight records to among them. As Kane re-entered, Vahliri merely gave him a not. “No argument from me,”

Racing against the clock, Vahliri followed right after Kane - crawling through the broken window facing out the side of the shuttle. They landed on the sole surviving wing of the vessel - which still managed to survive through it all - before taking another small leap onto the ground. The landscape of the canyon was dry, bleak and arid as to be expected - black and grey sands shifting underfoot while obsidian walls rose high and narrowed on either side of them. Lightning streaked across the skies above - though it looked as if not a single drop of rain had fallen in weeks.

Vahliri blinked a few times. “Cozy,” She said sarcastically, glancing around their surroundings before back to Kane, “There!” The Half-Annfyn barked - grabbing Kane by the wrist if necessary and proceeding to drag him behind a particular large, sturdy-looking Boulder that littered the canyon floor. The pair were only allowed a few moments to settle behind their cover before an explosion tore through the canyon - flames erupting through the open air as pieces of smoldering, indistinguishable metal was flung in all direction. Vahliri allowed a moment for things to settle before she eventually glanced up, revealing the ship was little more than a shattered pile of slag.

“Would it make you feel better or worse if I told you - this might actually be one of my better crashes?” She glanced over at Kane, flashing the Acolyte a grin. While it wasn’t the greatest situation, things had - thus far - gone to plan.

“Come on,” Vahliri jutted her chin past the boulder - gesturing to the canyon wall. The capital city and their objective laid beyond - and it was fairly clear they’d need to make the vertical climb. Unless they wanted to walk aimlessly in search of a path. “Things only go uphill from here.” She commented as she casually strolled ahead, shamelessly making her joke as she prepared to climb the canyon wall.

“How long have you been with the Empire?” She asked casually, assuming Kane was moving close behind.