The Battle of Vontor [Trials of Heroes]

[Dmitri]

Moff Luxina of Sriluur lacked true political skill, at least in the ethical way. Instead her methods were more reminiscent of a Sith, using blackmail and seduction to rise through the hierarchy. Her first conquest had been a Sith apostle named Lord Ravana. She had used him to propel herself into an administrative sphere, helping prepare Darth Venator's burn-and-invade of Saleucami and surrounding planets. After Darth Venator's successful campaign, Luxina had inserted herself as Moff of Sriluur, an industrial world. However, she had greater sights ahead of her. She wanted more than the lustrous world. She sought the helm of Grand Moff over the entire Saleucami Protectorate. It proved more difficult than she had envisioned, due to her boy-toy Ravana slain on Raxus. Instead she sought other means.

And one planet in particular was ripe for the taking. Vontor. The planet had feared, with the invasion of Ques and Terman, its neighbors, that it would be next. As such, it bribed Moff Luxina with shipments of kiirium, a precious metal used in construction of starships. For months, the shipments flowed into Moff Luxina's pockets. and it sufficed in their protection for now. However, the Brotherhood had begun to invade the area Vontor resided in, and even if Luxina wanted to, she could not stop the invasion. However, she had no reason to. Her plans were to capitalize the situation. The shipments of kiirium were not on public record, the populace ignorant. Winning points with her Sith superiors, she had elevated her social status through forcing the planetary leaders into submission by threatening to expose their crimes.

The ploy worked, and the planetary leaders surrendered. Only a couple pockets of resistance harassed the Brotherhood's ships, and many suspected them to be guerilla fighters sent by the Republic. However, without the support of the populace, these outsiders held little chance in stopping the Brotherhood from taking over Vontor completely. Especially when Moff Luxina had sent her latest boy-toy to oversee the final stages of Vontor. The latest model was a lady's man named Torin Jukk and both parties held the assumption they had seduced the other. He had led the charge on the planet and relayed Moff Luxina's ultimatuum to the planetary leaders. Now his time on the planet was drawing near a close, as he would return to his mistress with the last of the kiirium shipments.

Unfortunately, things would not pan our perfectly. Lord Ravana's killer, the young Jedi Braeden Vallen, had been investigating Moff Luxina of Sriluur. Recently he had discovered that Moff Luxina had been the puppetmaster behind Lord Ravana's dealings on Raxus. Hoping to bring her down for her guilt by association for Lucerys' death, he had followed the trail to Vontor in hopes of uncovering her secrets, as Sriluur had proven too fortified to strike at her directly. He had come to the planet days ago, to investigate, ahead of the invasion. When the Brotherhood did come, he had been the one to send notice to the Republic. The Republic, strained with the cascade of battlefields, had sent only a meager amount of reinforcements. Leaving the soldiers to engage the Sacred Band of Ziost, Braeden had kept tabs on the Sith overseer, and had found it odd that as things were wrapping up that the Sith was spending a lot of time around a shipment of kiirium. Kiirium was valuable, and was likely to be stolen by the invaders, but it was suspicious that the Sith was guarding it. The first sign of weakness he had identified, Braeden made the bold move to strike the warehouse and steal the shipment of kiirium being boarded onto a freighter. He hoped that its disappearance would lead to Moff Luxina's embarrassment. If it held greater secrets, all the better. In truth, he didn't know the shipment held the keys to riling up the Vontor populace, but it would be a byproduct he would most enjoy. That is, if his hopes and dreams weren't crushed by the Sith Torin Jukk first, who would not back down easily.

@soed @Jinan B

 

[soed]

Torin was something of importance, he had come to realise. Even a mere "acolyte" of the Sith carried a certain clout with them everywhere they went. He would have to wear his new-found status more openly than he had initially thought - and he desperately needed a lightsaber, primarily to affirm his status as one of the Dark Side. The whole brooding and humourless part of it all didn't interest Torin much, however, which is why he had certainly been lucky in being singled out by specifically Moff Luxina in carrying out her mission. Torin knew he had seduced the poor wench, knew he had struck gold, right until he woke up from his daydreaming to find himself leading a charge to force a planetary surrender. Not only did he feel he was in over his head, he was also being played, utterly and completely mercilessly. The process to establish dominance had been quick, almost too quick. Ultimately, the killer of Torins predeccesor - "Lord" Ravana, some Jedi-or-other, had personally been quite a disruptive force and a thorn in the Moffs side. Torin had cast aside his assault armaments as soon as the battle was over, and returned to his regular attire - surpremely confident in his guile, cunning and dirty fighting style, and the clunky armour and rifle would only serve to slow him down anyway.

Torin found himself spending an increasing amount of time as a mere guardsman, endlessly circling the kiirium whereever it went - and at that point he was stood in a warehouse, the very last shipment kiirium being boarded onto a freighter. Banal military work was dreafully boring, but it still had to be done. Also in place in the warehouse was nothing but a skeleton crew, as they had met no real resistance in the past days. Most soldiers and workers had outright left their posts already, predicting an easy conclusion to the Vontor-saga. Torin was a little on edge, sure, as some sparring information about the Jedi had been relayed to him. Apparently the man was built like a brick shithouse and wore a mask. Torin had filled three of the pouches on his belt with sand in preparation, and one with gravel, but otherwise carried just his usual items. This was one of the times Torin cursed the fact that he had pawned so many items, and not having at least secured himself one or two pieces of his old gear, before embarking on such a mission.

He would have to cheat his way in a direct confrontation, biding his time, there was no doubt about it - particularly not after the death of Ravana, no doubt a better "duelist" than Torin. Hell, maybe the Jedi wouldn't show at all; his time was running out rapidly, after all - and then Torin could return to the warm embrace of the Moff, making a mental note to negotiate a significant bonus for a job well done. Maybe he hadn't been in over his head, after all.

Torin stood leaned against a wall, watching the kiirium slowly being loaded onto the freighter, and yawned loudly.

@Jinan B

 

[Jinan B]

The emerald green beam of a Lightsaber shone through the thin wall of the warehouse, melting through the lock holding the rear entance shut in an instant. As quickly as it had appreared, the beam disappeared, before the now vulnerable door was opened slowly and carefully. Braedon had been careful enough thus far, making his way into the warehouse itself unseen. Ever since he had made himself a member of the newly minted Special Activities Division, the Thrysian found that he had gained a new appreciation for the art of stealth. If fair combat could not get you through a dozen well armed men, stealth could. If you were lucky, you might even be afforded the chance to kill some of the men that would have otherwise overwhelmed you, thus leveling the playing field. So it was that he had resorted to stealth today, expecting too many foes for him to take on in a straight up assault. Not that it had seemed to be a neccessary precausion though: Braedon had only encounted a few guards on his way to the building, who he had managed to get past easily, it didn't seem as if the rest of the path would be any harder to get through.

It had been a long time since Braedon had been able to afford ambitions. All he had before was the ambition that he would make it through to see the next day, the next month, the next year. Then he manged to break the cycle. First it was find the Jedi, then join them. Fight at their side, gain their trust. Now he was settled, he didn't trust the Order yet, and they would be foolish if they fully trusted him, but he had fought alongside enough of them that his presence was no longer an enigma. Now when he appeared in the courtyard on Dantooine, the other Jedi would see him as a fellow member of the Order, someone on the same level as themselves. The few that didn't made no difference in the overall perception. So it was that he moved on to his own private ambition: find the people that had caused so many of the problems in his life.

Ravana, the man who had taken him from his family on Raxus. Grantham, the superior who tried his damndest to make the young Thrysian's life a living hell. Tyzen, the bastard who had sold Lucaerys' life in return for his own. Braedon had long since made and memorized a list in his mind, and recently he had added a new one to it. Luxina, the women who put Ravana on the path of challenging his family in the first place. He had already crossed the first name off the proverbial list, soon enough, he would do the same with the others.

The Thrysian had long since left his robe behind him, leaving him in only his modified battle-tunic with his mask covering his face. On his belt lay his two Lightsabers, Lamentation next to the nameless contruct that he had used on Korriban. His vambrace lay strapped to his arm, while the newest addition to his weaponry, the same B-8R Pistol that he had been given on Alderaan. As he moved towards the exit of the small room that he had entered, he drew Lamentation from his belt once more, ready to fight anyone that spotted him on the other side of the door.

"Anyone" turned out to be a guard that had been about to enter the room that Braedon was in. As the shock began to register on his face, Braedon's fist connected solidly with his stomach, before the Thrysian quickly spun him around and swung his arm around his neck. A few seconds later his body hit the floor, limp, while Braedon turned his attention to the sole remaining enemy that he could see. "You don't have to die today. He would say to the man, seemingly no more than another guard. "Just give me the kiirium.

@soed

 

[soed]

It stirred in Torin, and he woke up from another daydream as a fellow guard was caught with a punch in his mid-section not far from him. His right hand reached towards his blaster, but hesistated and instead watched the situation unfold in front of him. Torin wasn't sure if the man, an imperial grunt named Dennis, was dead or not. He was certainly not moving. A rather unexpected, brutal show of force, from a man who was unquestionably the Jedi Torin had heard about. He took a moment to size up the other, noting his visible weapons and their placements - it looked like he had a lightsaber to spare; just his luck to face up against a dual-wielder. Maybe he would share? They could both have one.

Not letting the moment go to waste, Torin snorted inward and sent a collection of snot towards the ground next to him, just in time for the Jedi to address him.

Torin stood up straight and shook his head while he moved his hands in front of himself, waving them furiously, as if surrendering. "We ain't bein' paid 'nuff to fight no Jedi," he stated in a convincing Taris accent and turned towards the loading crew, consisting of three droids and two humans operating the heavy machinery; they had already paused their work, watching the situation unfold. Torin already had the "Taris backstory" ready, should it ever prove relevant. "Stop it, halt operations!" he commanded in their direction and turned towards the Jedi again. "Sorry master Jedi, we ain't got no quarrel with you, don't matter what that bitch Moff Luxina says" he pleaded, emphasizing the last part, and then looked at him expectantly. The Jedi, though he was taller than Torin, who was certainly not short, and indeed built as a brick shithouse, couldn't hope to just haul around the shipment on his back - he was no doubt looking at "securing it", meaning there would also be reinforcement coming at some point or other, but it should still buy them time. Maybe he would request them to move it elsewhere, maybe to unload the freighter - maybe to indeed finish loading the freigther and then commandeering it? This was all banking on the Jedi not being some mindless, ravaging killer, but if he was, wouldn't he already be a Sith instead?

Torin very clearly had bad intentions, but he needed to pick his spot and timing. Judging from the Jedis general demeanor and size, he wouldn't be downed by just a single, however well-placed, bolt - particularly not from the stock pistol Torin was carrying. A high-powered rifle, maybe. If only at least his head was exposed; and did the mask perhaps not cover the back of the Jedis head?

At least it seemed like Torin, certainly because of the lack of a lightsaber, was taken for just another footsoldier - and likely an ill-equipped at that!

With every word, every step, every movement, Torin was weighing up his coming opponent. He was big, but faster than his size would suggest. Melee range would certainly be troublesome, but also where the biggest opportunity could be seized.

The next move was the Jedis. The reasonable question in Torins mind was not if he would leave an opening, but if and when it would be big enough to be worth a shot. Literally.

@Jinan B

 

[Jinan B]

Braedon scanned the room once it became apparent that there would be no blaster bolts coming his way (not yet, anyway). There were more men in the room than he had first noticed, but aside from the guard that he had noticed first no one seemed to be armed aside from the Jedi himself. Of course, even with only their bare hands, those men could still be dangerous. With the droids, the potential for danger was even greater.

The first step would be to make sure that he wouldn't be under threat while he got the kiirium out of the warehouse. "Your blaster." He said to the man who had stopped the workers. "Put it on the ground, slowly. Then kick it away from you." Even though the guard had said that he wasn't looking for a fight, Braedon wasn't going to take any chances. It was standard procedure to disarm your enemies when they surrender, even for people that were far more trusting than the Thrysian himself.

 

[soed]

Torin nodded begrudgingly and, while keeping his left hand in front of him, took hold of his blaster with his hand and gently, slowly, placed it on the ground in front of him, and gave it an unenthusiastic kick, before returning also the right hand to the front of his face. "We 'eard what happen'd with our friends, Jedi, nobody else needs to die this over this shit" Torin pleaded once more, biding his time. Naturally the Jedi wasn't an idiot and didn't let him keep his primary, visible weapon - but that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. "Ain't nobody else wanna end up like Dennis there" he added, nodding towards the unmoving guard beside the Jedi, still uncertain if the man was dead or simply passed out.

The kick towards the blaster had sent it around five meters in front of Torin, placing it somewhere in between him and the Jedi. It would be quite a nuisance to recover, but maybe he wouldn't have to, Torin thought to himself. Besides, if he were to die over those five meters, he would have died anyway. "Now how can we help ye? Or just want us outta your hair?" he asked the Jedi, switching his glance from the Jedi to the other workers and back, as if unsure of how to proceed.

@Jinan B

 

[Jinan B]

With the sole remaining obvious threat in the room now disarmed, Braedon allowed his mind to think about how he would now get the kiirium out of Sith hands. He wouldn't be able to fly the freighter that it was being loaded onto, that was for sure. The man was about to ask if any of the people present could fly the ship, accepting the risk that that would put him in, when he saw the large land transport that was parked on the far side of the warehouse. Braedon wouldn't be able to fly the Freighter, but he could drive the vehicle. The nearest friendly spaceport was only a short drive away, and he would be able to move the valuable material from there.

"You two." He said directly to the loading crew. "Move the kiirium over to the vehicle over there, as quickly as you can manage." As the men began to get back to work, Braedon looked over the warehouse again. It's reflect poorly on his skills if he were to be caught off guard when he was so close to success, especially considering how well the excursion had gone so far. Once it begame clear that there really were no other men in the building, Braedon would turn his sole attentions back to the working crew and the one conscious soldier.

Spoiler: OOC

Really sorry for the wait, a mixture of New Years, loadshedding, and shoddy internet have not exatcly made it easy to post on this end.

@soed