The Cloister of Leggodt [Castle Moon of Leth]

[Dmitri]

Full image credit goes to 2buiArt at Deviantart.com.

The Castle Moon Saga

The Castle Moon of Leth has circulated into legend a millennia ago, believed to be a myth similar to nryghast or The Scientist Who Dreams Of Science. However, it was no fiction. Centuries ago, a MantiCorp executive began construction of a bountiful castle on the moon of the gas giant Leth. Alas, the master CPU "Archetype" went rogue and killed all the colonist, cannibalizing the ship for construction materials. As the millennium reaches peak, the moon-wide castle is complete, and Archetype seeks to construct on new planets. Unfortunately, flight eludes the technological aberration, schematics for starships not in its databanks. However, it did have the capability to construct a communications relay, constructed on the massive Mezzanine Mesa. It sent out a simple message.

"Save us."

The broadcasting length was not far, but it managed to reach as far as Ryloth. The first to respond to the message was a Piseas-class attack corvette called the Accord Dawn stolen from the Accord by the Mandalorians years ago during the Battle of the Void. The Mandalorian ship captained by Protector Kalii Wren had been patrolling Ryloth when the message was received. Despite Te'Veen H'Ful's protests, believing it to be a trap, Kalii ordered the Accord Dawn to investigate, leading to the ship to arrive at the gas giant Leth and its castle moon. Landing in the Cloister of Leggodt, they found themselves greeted by a mechanical envoy. Kalii greeted the envoy, accompanied by her loyal comrades Te'Veen H'Ful and Sh'ehn Priest. Combat instincts alive, the trio realized the ambush and engaged the envoy, destroying it. When a second wave of MantiCorp droids arrived, the captain, Te'Veen, and Sh'ehn were separated from the ship as the pilot Dav Wren led the crew in fortifying their position, forced to retreat. A battle overhead heralded the possibility of bringing back their own reinforcements.

The battle was a result of who received the message first, though did not respond first. The Mudjumper Armed Dropship Outlander was owned by Jedi Knight Roro Saleiyas. Saleiyas and fellow Knight Al-Ric Fen had been on Naos performing a training exercise with Xenefious Krandar and a couple other initiates. When the Archetype's message reached the Outlander, Al-Ric sought to answer the distress call, to help where the Jedi could. Unbeknownst to them, their training exercise had not gone unnoticed, and were being trailed by Ogre-class Light Carrier Nisara acting on behalf of the inquisition, headed by Saevius. Sith Saladin D'vant and Kaelis Mar'Kov had been tasked with apprehending the Jedi on Naos, but the Outlander disembarked before Saevius' operatives could reach the port. Now traveling in the space, the Ogre pursues its mortal enemy. The Outlander exited hyperspace and deciphered the coordinates for the Cloister of Leggodt when an Ogre apparated behind them. Slow as it was, the Mudjumper was no match for the Ogre. In one last ditch effort, the Jedi Knights and their wards jettisoned from escape pods as Al-Ric's astromech droid M1-R7 flew the ship straight into the bridge of the Nisara. Imperial crew fled the ship in escape pods, the Sith using the Force and ingenuity to dampen the crash as the light carrier landed in the Creator's Cusp, near the escape pod containing Al-Rick, Saleiyas, and Xenefious.

The Creator's Cusp was soon swarmed by MantiCorp droids, programming compelling them to cannibalize the wreckage for construction. The Imperial survivors were found by Te'Veen and rendezvoused with Kalii and her batch of located survivors, the Jedi. Though the reunion was tense, Xenefious and Kalii stressed cooperation was key to escaping the nightmare moon alive. Bitterly, the mortal enemies agreed to a temporary truce. The Mandalorians revealed how their ship was trapped in the cloister, though could serve as a means of escape, though repairs would be needed. Xenefious, a product of Bandomeer's industrial manufacturing populace, salvaged what parts were needed from the Nisara. He and Kalii planned to return to the corvette and make sure repairs would finish; to make sure the imperials were not left behind, Saevius ordered Saladin and an imperial squad to accompany them "for safety".

Kalii, Xene, and Saladin took the lead, since having lost Te'Veen, and the other Jedi and Sith, with Saevius' squad carrying the parts Xene had issued as necessary for repairs. Kalii attempted to communicate with the Accord Dawn, but interference was making it difficult. She had managed to briefly connect with her cousin Dav Wren onboard but was uncertain how much of her message went through. Saladin was not optimistic about the situation at the Cloister, suspecting the ship had already been overrun by the MantiCorp droids. Arriving outside the Cloister of Leggodt, the Jedi was finally able to sigh in relief. Saladin had taken out much of the resistance they had encountered, minimal as it was, almost suspiciously so.

"Hurry up, slowpokes," Saladin barked at the squad. He was no fool. He and the squad were there to make sure the Jedi and Mandalorian didn't try to double-cross them. Instead, their trump card was used as couriers, carrying the spare parts from the Nisara wreckage. "I want to leave the moon as soon as possible." Xene kept his mouth shut. Not only did he have suspicions that Sal would try his own betrayal, the Jedi still had a two Jedi initiates unaccounted for who needed rescuing. The Jedi hoped his teachers Roro or Al-Ric would find them.

Kalii was trying to get ahold of Dav Wren again when a tile nearby rose, a box erecting. Then another. And another. Kalii, Xene, Sal and the free-handed imperials readied their weapons. Suddenly the boxes' exterior disconnected to revealed droids inside. The droids began to fire at the survivors. Saladin and Xene leapt over to the cloister's entrance to dispatch those box-shaped MantiCorp droids as Kalii and the gunslinging imperials took cover behind a bulwark, providing coverfire. Just as quickly as the swordsmen slew their mechanical adversaries did more droids pop up, two for every one slain. Becoming overwhelmed, Xene and Sal began retreating into the Cloister's entrance, using their lightsabers to block fire aimed at the crewmen dragging the salvage into the Cloister of Leggodt.

"Kalii, get over here, we'll cover you!" Xene shouted. Kalii surveyed the situation, and as more and more droids began to form a river of metal between the entrance and the bulwark, the Protector knew what she had to do. Aiming her blaster, she fired at the entrance's control, plasma melting the console. The surge caused the blast door to shut, Kalii's final words before the door descended heard, "Run, you fools!" Sealed in the Cloister with only a handful of imperials who were not trained for combat but merely technicians and helmsmen, Xene and Sal knew they were on their own, Kalii and the others left to find their own way inside. If they survived that long. The only trained soldier remained with Saevius' crew as Xene and Sal took lead, advancing further. Soon they reached the hanger, and could see a few droids walk into the ship, a few Mandalorian bodies littering the welcome mat. Blasterfire echoed inside the hull. As Xene and Sal entered into the light, one of the aft turrets came alive and aimed at the two Force users. Unfortunately for them, Dav had not received the part of his cousin's message saying the Jedi and Sith were on their side. Cursing in Mando'a, Dav from the cockpit's controls fired upon the Jedi and Sith.​

Decided to give a little "oops, my bad" to start off the thread with Kalii's message not going through and Dav's people thinking the Jedi and Sith are enemies. After some fun, feel free to have Kalii appear and sort things out. The Castle Moon threads are self-sufficient. What that means is there is no outside NPCer, unless it becomes warranted. Instead, thread-goers are expected to manage the NPC elements themselves, trying to keep the danger going along with the story. Pitting NPCs against each other is encouraged to keep things moving, but should not be abused. Most importantly, have fun!
@Fyston @Dav Wren @Ravendark​

 

[Hol Horse]

"I'm telling you babe, this whole thing will be like a walk in the park. We'll be like a couple of old folks sitting on a bench years from now trying to kill each other" Sal supposed to his reluctant ally as the two walked. It has been sometime since they had been separated with their respective parties, the security of having a troop of imperial grunts at his beck and whim now felt like a distant memory. Still, the Archetype that now threatened them was a threat that now forced all three factions to work together in a sort of dramatic comedy. Sal had no clue what his counterparts were up to, frankly he didn't care all that much save for Saevius since it might not have looked good to get the big bad bossman killed- he might get his funding cut later for that, and that simply just wouldn't do.

Unfortunately, being shot at by turretfire wasn't the best time to be thinking about anything besides being shot at by turret fire. Sal sprinted sideways away from Xene as he aimed to fling himself behind a pile of rubble and spare parts to gather his bearings. The hangar door was wide open, the only mandalorians present were those that had been killed fighting against the invading droids from earlier. Had someone on the ship decided the temporary truce between the three parties needed to be called off? Were the other imperials and sith being turned upon as well? These questions and more raced through Sal's mind as he listened to the hail of blaster fire ratchet down on him and Xen. They were going to need to think of something fast if they wanted to keep their pretty faces all nice and pretty.

 

[Fyston]

It had been a fustercluck of activity ever since he had entered this system, though Xene kept a smile on his face. He had been used to way worse and, as he saw it, this was just a new manifestation of the training exercise he had been sent to help with. While there may have been some initial flare-ups, Xene knew they were bound to happen when the Jedi, Sith, and Mandalorians were forced to work together and had done his best to diffuse any issues.

Now, however, was a little different. They had been on their way back with vital materials when they had been attacked by ever-increasing numbers of droids, which forced them to fall back. Now, they were sealed in the Cloister of Leggodt with Imperial soldiers who were likely not combat proven. As such, he had set up a casualty collection point and worked to set up an aid station to ensure that any injured soldiers were taken care of prior to he and the Sith setting out.

As Xene and Sal walked, Xene kept his eyes peeled for any signs of the droids that they had encountered outside. He noted significant damage to the interior and quite a lot of it seemed like it had been stripped for use elsewhere. Xene had been walking beside Sal, casually inspecting an odd section of carbon scoring on the wall when the Force sent him a dire warning.

At once, Xene sprung into a hasty backwards half-leap. It wasn't pretty, though he had reached his cover at around the same time that Sal had. The turret continued to fire, alternating between sides to keep the pair pinned down. Xene shouted, hoping to be heard over the turret fire. "Sal! The turrets sound like anti-personnel turrets, I have a plan. How confident are you with your Soresu?" Xene had noted earlier that Sal seemed to be a fellow Soresu user. X felt very comfortable in being able to handle the turret for a short period of time and it was his hope that they use a perverse version of bounding overwatch to deflect the bolts so that the other could move up. Xene hoped that the turret would switch fire to the closer of the two, meaning each would only be in harm's way for a short time before getting to rest as they moved up. Once they were close, one would stand at a safe but close distance and deflect the bolts and the other would take out the turret, hopefully before any injuries were sustained.

Xenefious would explain the plan to Sal and, once done, would ignite his lightsaber as he prepared to move.

 

[Dav Wren]

Things had gone to poodoo about as quickly as Dav had ever seen. An automated beacon had led to a semi-legendary core processing unit on the Castle Moon of Leth. Kalii Wren, a Protector and a Clanswoman, had pulled him off Ryloth to track this signal aboard Accord Dawn. It all seemed so easy.

So far as he'd been told, it was a chance to acquire technology. Prototype processing tech from a company called MantiCorp. They'd go to Leth and pick up whatever was there. A blue milk run but it had gone sour.

Kalii had taken a small party into the castle itself and been greeted by an automaton. That had blown up, quite literally. Now Wren was fortifying the ship with the remaining crew. Droids, somehow still functional, had begun towards the ship. It was clear they weren't protocol models.

Better yet it looked like the Jedi and Sith had gotten the becon's message too. The Dawn's sensor suite picked up their presence. It seemed like they wanted a fight too. He'd brought the auto-turrets online and was shouting at the greenhorns among the crew.

"Get your fething shebs into cover!"

@Fyston @Ravendark @Dmitri

 

[Hol Horse]

Sal held his lightsaber tightly as his mind began to claw through the haze of the dark side and attempt to process some semblence of a plan. Years of devoted research and practice to force sorcery had taken a toll on both his body and psyche, yet, there were still some semblences of santiy that were left in his pale white frame, they were shades of an old Devaronian who needed to now surface. The sith heard the booming sounds of turretfire blast against the pile of spare parts and machinery that was now serving as his cover. The two of them were sitting ducks out here, and as much as he did like eating duck and hoped that Xel was fried by blasterfire, he needed the jedi just as much as he needed him. Still, it did feel a bit like a salt in the wound when the fellow-Soresu user came up with a plan faster than him.

The scientist-sorcerer gave a pout before speaking, "As skilled as the average wielder, no more, no less" he stated, shouting over the sound of the blasterfire as he brainstormed with Xel. The plan sounded crazy, but it was his kind of crazy. Sal ignited his crimson saber as he hustled out from behind cover simultaneously with Xel, holding his blade with his right hand in front of him at mid-chest level, his blade was bent at 45 degrees with the tip crossing in front of his body in a defensive position to redirect and deflect any stray blasterfire. It was more directly defensive a stance than the ypical overhand grip, yet for someone with less than normal physical abilities, it was necessary to stay stable and react swiftly while wasting as little energy as possible.

If this strategy of lightsaber tennis worked, the two force wielders would gradually begin to make their way to the entrance of the Mandolorian cargo bay. Still, if the two managed to make any real progress, it would become pretty apparent that they were about to have company. Although he had to maintain most of his focus on surrounding himself in the dark side to accurately deflect each blaster bolt, he could see the visages of mandalorian troopers scrambling to organize a ground-level response while the two were busy defening themselves from the turrent. That wouldn't do, "We need to take that thing out asap or we'll be getting fired at from every direction in a few seconds!" Sal shouted over the sound of the skirmish. If he could get closer, he surely would be able to shoot a few arcs of sith lightning to disrupt the cluster of troopers preparing for battle. Either way, the two couldn't keep this strategy up for long.

@Fyston @Dav Wren

 

[Dmitri]

@Fyston @Dav Wren