The Fall of Korriban

[Darth Inheris]

The melee was a mix of matted flesh and blasted armour as soldiers from both sides were torn asunder, bolts tearing through bodies and blades slicing limbs from their bodies, each side bringing it’s all to bear. Vaykaris were locked in combat with the enemies ground troops, seemingly just as well trained with numbers growing by the minute.

The chatter in her comm was damn near overwhelming, had she not been used to filtering out all but vitals it might have kept Inheris locked up and unable to focus. But the singular focus on this Cull was above all else. It had to be, the greatest threat to her person by far, more than many she’d met in her years. Good thing then, as she felt her arm get thrown to the side, Cull being strong with the force, an ally revealed themselves in all this disaster,

“One hates to admit it” she called back at Victress @Faded Truth “But yes!” her cry carrying across the melee.

As she did she leant into the force Culls blast had put on her body, moving with the thrown arm and letting her body move with it, her bladed hand tearing her lightsaber across Cull’s torso at great speed (thanks to Culls push adding momentum). She expected it might be able to counter, but it’d split its focus, and hopefully give Victress an opening. They needed this thing dead, and soon, if they meant at all to secure this flank. The entire situation around the temple was dire, she could see the beasts rocketing in from the sky, the dark dragon reaching to the Emperor. There was scarcely a way to take in the scale of it all, of what felt like the end, every bolt and blast, big and small, creating something beyond imagining.

And that wasn’t even accounting for the bombers still overhead. She prayed her Corvette arrived soon. As dangerous as close support could be, they needed the firepower soon if they meant to hold their ground at all.

@Nefieslab

 

[Callum Attar]

Lovely. - Callum thought to himself, his inner tone laced with sarcasm. The instant the head had exploded, the man had felt it'd been too easy. No matter how twisted Alchemists might've been, few of them would've been stupid enough to leave a vital part so unguarded.

So, when a ball of flame emerged from the beast, consuming most of what could've been found 6 meters in every direction, the Coruscantian thanked his foresight when it came to choosing to stay away.

Alas, his relief had been swiftly overshadowed by eyes popping up in every stretch of skin on that thing's body. On the plus side, there was now no shortage of soft tissue to aim at. Hiding, however, ceased to be an option. And, judging by the rock it had thrown earlier - yet another herculean display of strength - it would be able to do far more damage than Callum had initially thought. Flying rocks were easier to handle than that thing's punches or charges to infantry and ships, but they could likewise do unspeakable amounts of damage to their mounted weaponry.

A change of plans was required, and the Acolyte would not like what followed. Every fibre in his body told him to be silent and allow someone else to take the reigns, but the more time elapsed, the worse the situation would turn out.

"Drown this thing in blaster fire! Aim for its eyes!" - he yelled, the Force flowing through his words. The Coruscantian never had placed much effort in pushing Force Shout in terms of volume. Doing something this bold and taunting would increase his chances of dying, after all.

His lack of practice showed. Unlike the Emperor's rousing speech, that roared through an entire army, this Acolyte's voice would not carry itself far. It might, however, cut through the noise enough to be able grab this fiend's attention, and better yet get the countless, nameless Imperials still surrounding it to snap out of their stupor and attack.

His crimson sabre ignited once again, now making him a glowing target, as well as a loud one, and the Acolyte took off running away from the creature in hopes of drawing the Aberration's focus away from those who were in a prime position to strike it. (@Cainhurst Crow @samdragon)

As the art of motion coursed through him, his senses mostly focused on this main threat, Callum fired off a few more bolts with the blaster he now held in his off-hand in the Sithspawn's general direction: a feat he never would have attempted normally but, considering the size of this mark, for all he knew he just might hit.
@Nefieslab

 

[Roa Roa Grisbaw]

Roa Roa eeped as the rock got thrown at her and she barely managed to avoid it, some small debris hitting her side anyway but without harming her. She leaped back at the explosion, but the heat still seared her skin badly, making her wince. At the sight of the change, she couldn't help but cringe a bit, but she just held her lightsaber harder, and looked at the other two Sith that are confronting it, and carefully approached the beast.

 

[Darth Victress]

.

Darth Victress smirked at Inheris' comments, a wicked grin coming across her lips albeit well hidden by the duraplast helm covering her visage. The dark councilor was a fear inspiring sight, shadows swirling around her armored figure as if they were somehow drawn and anointed by the dark side itself. Her free palm bubbled with magics, golden eyes quickly shifting towards the three immediate threats that had made themselves known. It appeared that if she were to lend her friend a hand, she would first have to deal with the Cull's subordinates.

And so, she did. Darth Victress was quick and powerful, planting her weight on her right foot she suddenly strafed towards her left. The boulder whistled in air past the position her head used to be. Right hand flicked in a counter clockwise motion, utilizing predatory precision to deflect the incoming bolts back towards their casters. Simultaneously, she gestured with her left hand, a fist clenched suddenly sprang open into a flat palm. This reflected a force attack, a sharp telekinetic push that smashed against the acolyte and attempted to hurl him backwards into a barrage of exchanging repeater fire behind him.

Realizing that Darth Inheris was outmatched on her own, Darth Victress hoped that the troopers would be busy fending against their own re-directed bolts as she sprinted towards the Cull. Lightsaber was maintained in a horizontal position, prepared to defend in case they or other troopers attempted to attack. Capable of splitting her focus in combat, Darth Victress retained partial concentration on defense while the other lashed out offensively, using her free hand to gesture in a force stasis upon the beast. It wasn't designed to be strong enough to hold it in place, but rather an applied burst of energy, simply aiming to slow the Cull in its defense for a moment and hopefully allow Darth Inheris to connect with her slash. @Nefieslab

@Nightfall

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys was moving towards the dragon, trying to figure out some sort of a plan to deal with the things when her attention was drawn to the loud crash behind her. She turned around to see another pod, from within which emerged a woman who Alys was almost certain was one of the Dathomiri witches. Only this one was surely another poor victim of the mind-breakers. It was only a guess at first, but as she emerged from the pod and began attacking the citizens trying to flee from the conflict that doubt was replaced by surety.

Pushing the dragon out of her mind, Alys began moving towards the new arrival. As she began chocking a woman, Alys reached out with the Force and picked up a head sized piece of rubble that she ran past and sent it flying through the air towards the witch. She herself followed in its wake as fast as she could. She wasn't drawing on the Force to speed up her movements, she didn't want to risk getting blindsided by a foolhardy rush towards the new arrival. No, she was going fast enough to cut down some distance to the witch, able to keep an eye out for any incoming attacks.

When about a dozen and a half feet from the witch she would reach out with the Force once more and try to pull the woman's feet out from under her, hoping to make the final rush towards her with the witch at least temporarily subdued.

@Nefieslab

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

On the ground Jayscreec gathered himself, after he just used his starfighter's ejector seat to escape death. When he heard the Emperor's order, he was right about to get a weapon and find a safe starship. He had his reasons. Unfortunately, his long blasters were not in his possession right now. They stayed on the Imperial Navy's ship armory. He only had a blaster rifle on hand. However, orders are orders. Especially if the Emperor gives him a task, even if he was about to die, betraying him could be much worse than death. So he relayed the orders to his squadron, then he did what he had to do.

First ran.

The dust of Korriban's sand covered Jayscreec's sprint, towards an Imperial turret, one which Jayscreec believed had vantage point against the brute. If it is impossible with his sacrificed ship, then it will be possible with a cannon. He took control of the defensive weapon when @Callum Attar's force shout cut through the sounds of the clash. "Between the eyes," Jayscreec repeated.

It was him or the abomination.

The repeater's green shots were meant to hit the brute's head, being continuously fired in burst mode.

@Nefieslab

 

[Esther Nyx]

Madness. It was utter madness. Monsters battling beasts, soldiers and warriors clashing head to head, all with the abundance of death lingering in their midst. Sith and darksiders alike fed off it, using the carnage as a source of malevolent power. But as terrifying as it all was, the chaos was an effective cover. None gave much notice to the fleeing masses. Those wishing to avoid the fray flocked outwards in a wave of panic; screams drowned out nearly all other sounds. People were shouting, giving orders perhaps? The Kiffar didn't bother listening; she just ran, her ever-cautious gaze darting all around her. The danger was everywhere.

The flames. The slaughter. Even the enemy. It all seemed...oddly familiar.

Yes. The more Esther thought about it, the more she realised it was exactly the same as before - the wicked invaders, the slain masses - she'd seen it all prior within her own mind. Those mental mirages...they were precognitions! With this, the Kiffar cursed bitterly, her haggard breath-stopping her short. She should have seen these signs sooner, should have prepared. But she had mistaken these visions for mere nightmares, stress-induced delusions brought on by miserable captivity.

It certainly wouldn't be the first time such phantasms visited her. How many times had she envisioned the end of the Sith? How often had she pictured and prayed for their demise? Now everything was playing out just as she had foreseen. Except Esther was caught in the crossfire.

So she ran, darting and diving to avoid any direct conflict. As citizens thinned in flight, the girl with pale eyes searched for something specific; a ship. If this was her one chance at getting off world, she was going to kriffing take it. A couple of Reflex-class starships were left unmanned and abandoned, possibly due to the debris and rocks that collapsed amongst their position. Esther didn't have time to check their serviceability, she just scaled whatever one seemed the most viable.

Without a second glance, she took off, making her desperate bid for true freedom.

 

[Thelemy Oronays]

Thelemy felt a smile creep on his face as he had slashed with his saber, stepping back as the beast seemed to meet its end swiftly. However, the beast gave little warning but thelemy felt a sense of unease and dread well inside the back of his head. As the beast shot out its flames, Thelemy threw up his hands and summoned his powers with the force.

His main body was protected, but the flames still beat against him and snake around the weak-points of his protected force. His left leg was charred from the flames, small openings allowed torrents of flames to sear at his shoulder and stomach at small spots. And the right side of his face, his right lekku, were blasted with flames before the barrier was fully up.

The twi'lek stood as he gasped in agony, feeling it pulsating through his body, nerves carrying the sensation of burning white hot pain throughout his form and being. Then he felt the darkness begin to well within him. The pain of his wounds, the death of his flesh, it seeped through his soul as he called upon it for power.

And the force abided, the sith feeling power welling within him as he looked upon his new adversary. Thelemy reached up towards the right side of his face, using his left hand to tear at the charred skin and re-open his eyes. The pain he felt made his eyes flutter a moment as he met the many, many, eyeballs of his newly reborn foe.

"Thank you for this gift...Now let me return the favor!" He seperated his lightsabers, now a blade in each hand, as he focused his pain fueled force powers on enhancing his physical form. Pushing through the burns, he suddenly began to circle the abomination. Thelemy was vaguely aware of his allies actions, entering a bloodlust like state. Each blow of his however was methodical, he aimed for eye after eye that had appeared on his foe, stabbing them with his saber, making small slashes and quick cuts with his now dual sabers.

All the while he was grinning, a chuckle escaping his lips as he felt his connection to the force increasing as he gave himself to instinct over thought. "Woe to those who reject this gift...Let pain beget power, and power break thine chains..." He was reciting prayers as he struck out with force enchanced attacks, all aiming to blind this foe. As thelemy had lost his eye, he would make sure this thing lost all of its own.

 

[Taalong Vorr]

Taalong Vorr had not recognized the change in feeling that carried through his Troopers. He had not seen it in their faces, had not noticed their hearts beneath the masked helmets they wore. He had not seen two of their number stop, and had not seen their fingers move to triggers at his back. He had not felt it amidst the chaos. So many Sith, so much chaos, hatred, anger, blood, and anguish. It flowed like a river in that place, washing with it every Sith who were struggle in the emotions they cherished so dearly and reveled. As more of them perished the emotions were turning to fear, and that fear was crippling all of their senses.

He felt the first bolt blaze a burn across his left arm above the elbow. It seered his durasteel armor and scorched his skin within. The burn had a source, and like an animal he was turning to meet the new danger that had revealed itself. The next bolt caught his left profile, direct on one of his plates. It too was scorched and was in fact within his skin, though he could not guess how deeply.

Traitors

Traitors in his own midst

The force flowed through Vorr. A more intense hatred and rage then most could comprehend as the task at hand lost itself and the white rage burned in his mind. They continued to fire at his troopers, his squad erupting into a microcosm of the very battle that was fought around them. Two of them met in hand to hand battle, one wrestling the blaster from a traitor and unloading a hand blaster into his gut.

The other was Vorr's

While the trooper was met in a point blank blaster battle with another trooper, Vorr's lightsaber flew from his hand, whirling and dicing through the air at the Trooper, where it would circle back to him instantly upon making contact.

Vorr could hardly comprehend the madness and roared in pain and anger at the wounds he had sustained. The battle continued all around him, and he was already severely diminished in his ability to fight it. His small command was decimated and he was himself a wounded warrior standing in an ever more chaotic and desperate fight.

What could do but stand to catch his breath realizing he may be bearing witness to the final destruction of the Empire, then blade back in hand, and slog back towards a line of troopers to help them continue the fight against the hordes pressing upon the,.

@Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Their blades clashed low as Varyn blocked the charging strike of The Rider with a well-prepared and well-executed parry. As expected by the Emperor, The Rider elected to release his grip on Varyn's legs to instead focus on countering the blast of lightning with a burst of his own, causing a small explosion from the meeting of the two forms of energy that allowed Varyn to clear his jump.

Spinning around, The Rider's blade caught Varyn's own slash at him. Narrowing his eyes, The Rider glared at the Emperor over their crossed blades.

"Your resistance is meaningless."

Pushing upwards with his blade, The Rider would push Varyn's blade upwards as well at the same time he sent out a Force Push into the Emperor's gut with his free hand. The blood was running freely down The Rider's face but it didn't matter.

Nothing mattered but obedience.

More and more dominated troopers and Sith entered the frey to try and counter the swift and brutal nature of the Royal guards. They were truly terrifying warriors it was true but the enemy had a qualty all of their own; quanitity.

--

Cull managed to avoid taking the shot to the chest by virtue of his blast hitting Inheris and throwing her aim off enough that it was no longer a threat to him. Thankfully for him, his lightsaber with in his free hand and still between himself and Inheris' own lightsaber.

His blade caught her's and his monstrous strength meant that even with added momentum, she was unable to force it back towards his chest. Thankfully for Cull, Victress was dealing with the troopers at the time so there was nothing to stop him from using his lightsaber, which was already in position, to parry Inheris' slash.

One of the troopers went down from the returned fire and the acolyte was hopelessly flung to one side. Unfortunately for Victress, she was on a battlefield where she was on the least numerous side. When she moved towards Cull, the trooper who had managed to avoid his own blaster bolt opened fire on her back as two new Sith stepped up to bat.

Both of these Sith were converted Crusaders (level 2) and they opened up on the Sith Lord as she attempted to use stasis on the whole body of Cull. One of them wrapped Victress' legs in stasis to pin her in place for the blaster bolts to her back while the other gripped her head and yanked it to one side in an effort to snap her neck cleanly.

--

The twisted abomination of eyes and armor and fire was not to be trifled with and it was beyond angry at those who had managed to take it's head off. The head of the creature hadn't been important to it's survival but it's removal did anger the creature something fierce.

And it was the misfortune of the Imperials that they were clearly the source of it's pain.

The Force Shout from one of them caused it's multitude of eyes to close with thick-skinned eyelids to protect the sensitive flesh of the eyes themselves. Of course not all of the eyes had to close, only those that were in the direction of the Shout.

Callum had it's attention now.

Fortunately for Callum, the blaster fire from Jay's repeated began to pepper the ground around the abomination and even took out some of it's eyes. Roaring in pain, the brute stomped on the ground with both physical force and the Force, forcing a chunk of the ground to rise, shielding it from the turret.

The Twi'lek's attacks got through to begin with because the creature was busy focusing on it's defense against the repeater but with that secured, it focused on him instead. It swung one of it's armored arms horizontally at the Twi'lek, the area around the creature beginning to heat up as it prepared it's next attack.

--

The Nightsister cursed as the rock impacted her right shoulder, spinning her around and leaving her right arm slightly less responsive due to the pain for now. Growling, the Nightsister called on her powers, forming a glowing green blade in her left hand as she countered Alysanne's charge with a very effective counter.

She charged right back.

The Force attack on her legs the witch was able to counter, breaking through with her own use of the Force but it left her incapable of using the Force against Alysanne directly as she charged.

Instead she would physically complete the charge and slash at Alysanne's chest horrizontally when she was close enough.

--

Warning alarms blared across both the battlefield and the Imperial ships above. The large capital ship coming in on a collision course with the ground was not missed by anyone and the alarm was sounded.

From the temple itself loud speakers blared out a warning to the Imperials fighting.

"Warning - Capital ship crash imminent! All Imperial Forces urged to seek cover!"

The ship loomed above, beginning to blot out the sun as it came closer and closer. Imperial ships had taken shots at it but it's escort moved to absorb the shots at their own cost.

There was no stopping the coming crash.

Spoiler: OOC

The capital ship will crash next post - you have permission to save yourselves from this crash however you wish but you cannot stop the crash and you cannot save the Imperial forces. Prepare for impact!

@Phoenix @Ediwa @samdragon @Cainhurst Crow @Morse @Pontus @Nightfall @Wit

 

[Roa Roa Grisbaw]

Roa Roa screamed angrily as she joined the Twi'lek in his assault, taking out some of the beast's eyes while keeping herself aware for eventual counter attacks. Feeling the ground warm up once again and remembering the searing pain that was still coursing through her body, she retreated, but not before taking out five eyes.

Then, a shadow loomed over her, and as she looked up, she gasped seeing the ship falling down towards the battlefield, forcing her to retreat from the battle and start running for her dear life towards the closest cover, which was a deep trench a few hundred meters away from her. She focused on the Force to both overcome the pain of her burned and now cracking skin and run faster, but she still fought any eventual enemies. As she reached the trench and got in it, she sighed, looking at the falling ship, and gritting her teeth, trying to not think about the pain. But she absolutely needed water to keep her skin from drying up too much, as she was amphibious in nature, so she looked around for any water source. If she didn't find any, she knew that the only solution would be literally soaking herself in blood...

@Nefieslab

 

[Varyn Rask]

His resistance was meaningless. It seemed like that could have narrated his life at every turn, but it had never stopped him before. The Empire had been limping along for most of his life, but he hadn't stopped fighting for it, and he wouldn't start now. He was here to stop these creatures or die trying.

His blade was deflected off of its course, and Varyn felt the blast of Force to the gut. The Force wrapped around him to lessen the blow and avoid the rupture of organs, but it didn't stop the wind from being knocked out of his lungs. He was flung backwards and struck the sand and tumbling end over end until he was back in a kneeling position several meters away. He gasped to fill his lungs with air, but his eyes didn't leave the creature.

Blood poured down its face, but it didn't even notice. What Varyn noticed was the ship now barreling down from orbit. The ground was open here, and whatever these were didn't seem to care if it killed Imperial troops and its own slaves alike. Alarms blared and turbolaser fire streaked toward the sky only to slam against the Destroyer's shields, dissipating and not slowing its descent.

Varyn wasn't afraid to die, but he wasn't a fool. Rather than remain in the open and risk being crushed, he pushed off from the ground, the Force flowing through him to speed him toward the valley wall. There was a small outcrop that the Emperor slid down into, and although he doubted it would save him, he wasn't going to remain dead in the open. If the Force was with him, perhaps it would even crush this dragon-rider. @Nefieslab

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

From the mounted repeater within the small bunker Jayscreec noticed the incoming ship in the last minute, when the aircraft's silhouette reached that one hostile tank he had been firing at. Then it clicked instantly.

Once Jayscreec sprinted out of the bunker a piece falling from the capital ship hit the building. He found himself again in the middle of a battle, a slightly smaller one. Too many died. He knew he had to get underground to survive this. From the top of the hill he saw a tomb's entrance, with a squad of enemy troopers in his way.

Jayscreed removed his blaster pistol from his holster and looked for cover as he approached the promising safety. As he crouched beneath a rock and prepared to ambush someone jumped over his cover. They both tripped and the hostile trooper fell on the ground. The agent reached for his arm to maintain a lock, but he was pulled down quickly. In the corner of his eye he saw his pistol sliding away. Neither of them tried to grab it. As Jayscreec leaned away from the trooper's punch, he forced his vibroknife into his armpit then pushed him away. He took the blaster rifle and continued to the next stop.

The ship got a lot closer, and by the time Jayscreec reached his vantage point, the enemy squad already left. He took a deep breath and ventured into the depths of the ancient tomb.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Inheris]

Inheris could feel her strike suddenly stop mid air, blade connecting with Culls heavy lightsaber as her for blocked the cut. Her two attacks had failed, and still the dark thing advanced, she knew there was little she could do to stop it forever without assistance. She hadn’t taken too much of a beating yet, but she knew one blow from that beast would wreck her.

But she could see in her peripherals the rest of her front, assaulted on damn near every side. Sith soldiers were still holding back the onslaught from their more numerous foe, and she watched as Victress was grasped by a collection of foes, held up, prevented from striking further. And finally, the ringing in her ears of the Temple alarm, blaring out a warning of impact. She had little doubt about what damage something like that could do. Her corvette would have no chance to stop it, she had to pray it’s commander was smart enough to stay clear.

She, and everyone else on the ground, would need to steer clear as best they could too.

Easier said than done.

With a rush of intensity through her fingertips, she relaesed a short range force push against Cull, meaning to force him back and create some distance. At such a short distance there would be little time to generate a guard to stop it to any effect, even if he was stronger as she feared.

As she did so she called Vaykaris over the comms,

“Split fire! Blasts on Victress’s attackers, free her up” her loyal soldiers would hopefully respond in kind, sending blaster bolts cutting across at Victress’s attackers, making them drop their focus to defend and drop her as well. There was only one final command to issue now,

“Everybody, hit the decks, now, impact, danger close” she cried, leaping into a trench behind her where she prayed she could weather the storm, let the blast blow over her and kill the slow moving Cull instead. Hopefully with her allies by her side if they were smart enough to save themselves. Her soldiers were canny, they’d know what to do, better to fight another day than die on a hopeless day like today.

This was the Fall of Korriban, here it truly fell.

@Nefieslab

 

[Thelemy Oronays]

Thelemy fought with a seemingly reckless abandon, but in truth his seemingly wild acts were ones done with a clear and focused mind. He trusted the force, giving himself over to the force to guide his hands, to guide his feet, to guide his eye. He felt the danger and jumped back as the beast swung at him, feeling the heat on his already burned skin flare painfully as a shadow cast itself overhead.

The twi'lek looked up and saw the approaching vessel heading towards the planet. He saw it looming like a great sword in the sky, a Sword of Damocles whose hair had finally been cut, and was now falling down to those unfortunate enough to be below. The Twi'lek trusted in the force, and the force screamed out in a single voice, a single note colored by all those fighting on the battlefield.

Fear. A fear that echoed out. A fear not just of the ship, but of the battle itself.

This was the end. It was truly the end of it all.

Thelemy had always thought he'd be ready to embrace death. To welcome the force coming for him with open arms, and to embrace his own demise. To have his body foster new life, as his soul rejoined the force. Instead, the sith found himself turning around, his force powers pushing his body through its limits as he took off with an almost unnatural speed. One foot in front of the other, burned skin cracking with exertion as he sprinted through the red and bloody sand. His one eye focused towards the trenches as he ran.

He felt afraid. And for once in his life, his faith in the force, his faith in the absoluteness of death, shook and cracked as he struggled to survive. To make it to safety as he dove into one of the Trenches, giving a silent prayer that his life would not end here, huddled in the dirt of a dead world.

 

[Callum Attar]

Callum sketched a smile when his little taunt had been capitalized on, and the creature had been injured, even if just a little. He felt the sithspawn's attention latch onto him, before shifting onto whoever had injured it. This little ploy hadn't been as effective as he'd hoped, but it had been progress. Alas, as with everything else that had happened in this fight for the Sith race's homeworld, it had been pitifully short-lived: An alarm resounded through the land.

It had taken the Acolyte a good few moments to process the information. It hadn't registered immediately. But the Art of Motion flowed through the Coruscantian's being before the sirens' cries rang, and as complex thoughts and emotions racked his brain, he did not stop moving.

A Capital ship now prepared to plunge itself into these bloodied sands. And there was nothing that anyone could do.

Now, war was complicated by design. It was chaos. It was ugly. It was poison that seeped into the land itself, tainting it for generations to come. Unsurprising, Callum thought, that Korriban was barren as it was. Life itself was incompatible with the horrors this place had seen. But even then, this felt different.

It wasn't just overwhelming, awe or terror-inspiring. This was wasteful. Why would anyone send this many assets into a planet, only to sacrifice them afterwards? Even callousness and cruelty are limited by common sense. So why?

Evidently, staring death in the face led the Acolyte's mind to be filled with debates. He was a thinker, after all. Always had been. But, he finally told himself that this was not the time for such considerations. Callum needed to find shelter, even it only marginally improved his chances.

While these questions had assailed his mind, Callum's body, empowered by the Dark Side's Art of Motion, had taken over. He had continued to run, far and fast, weaving through the Empire's forces aimlessly, until - by the time he came to - the Aberration was barely in sight. Now, all around him, people scrounged to find cover.

After a quick few moments of inspection - having spent most of his time on trying to solve a puzzle without any of its pieces - he ultimately settled on a small-ish hill that had been dug into. Judging by the mounted repeaters and the artificial covers that lined it, it had been used as a temporary point to hold ammunition and supplies closer to the front lines. Four Imperial troopers huddled within, rapidly ridding it of anything remotely close to explosive.

By the time they'd noticed Callum approaching, lightsaber in hand, the four hurriedly allowed the Acolyte to brace himself within alongside them, hoping that one blessed by the force might be an auspicious sign of luck, and increase their chances of survival. Something the Acolyte greatly appreciated.

Now, with his back to cold, sheltering stone, having done what he could've, Callum closed his eyes as thoughts of whos, hows and whys returned to flood his mind. It seemed he would not be allowed solace, even in what might well be his final moments. Fitting, in a way. After all, No Peace was how the Sith code began, was it not?

Amused by his little discovery, hints of a smile once again tugged at his lips, as he tuned out the worried cries around him. All in all, he'd had fun in these past twenty-odd years. And, if he made it through this, he promised himself he'd be having a lot more of it.
@Nefieslab

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys continued running as her attempt to trip the witch failed, but at least she didn’t have to fend off an attack herself, so something good had come from that attempt. So she continued her charge towards the new arrival. As they got in combat range Alys was given no chance to attack as her opponent launched one of her own. Instead Alys brought her blade up to block the attack, following up with a push to re-establish some distance between them.

That was when the alarms went off. Her blade still held defensively in front of her, Alys didn’t immediately move to see what the alarm was warning about, she was still facing off a more immediate threat. So with her blade held in a vertical horizontal stance in front of her, she jumped back to add even more distance between herself and the witch.

Only then did she look up, noticing the ship getting closer. There was almost no time to react, to warn anyone, to do anything but save herself. She could have tried some foolhardy move to try and save more people, or even stop the ship, but she wasn’t one of those figures from legend who might have been capable of doing that. All she was was a simple Jedi, and a Jedi saved lives, even if in this instance the only life she could save was her own. Maybe if she hadn’t been facing off against the witch and had reacted a little earlier she could have done more, but it was too late now.

So she ran, letting her instincts and the Force take over to hopefully guide her to safety from the crashing ship. At the last moment she jumped into cover behind a downed troop transports, hoping it would be far enough to provide some protection to her as sky literally came crashing down.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Victress]

.

Darth Victress would not be intimidated by the presence of two new Sith, even with their superior numbers, the dark councilor appeared confident in her own abilities. As she saw one of the Crusaders gesture in order to use his abilities, she slammed her own right fist forwards, releasing a telekinetic push that interrupted his stasis on her legs. She felt the second force attack wrap around her neck but instead of resisting, she pushed off with her dominant leg and rolled with the direction of the Crusader's pull. The blaster bolt smashing into her right shoulder as her body moved, blowing her guard and armored segment clean off and leaving a stinging flesh injury underneath.

She smacked against the unwelcoming ground, rolling back over back until she came to a kneeling halt. Golden eyes glanced on her opponents with predatory vengeance, a snarl escaping from underneath the duraplast helm. Left hand fingers fanned opened, releasing a burst of green lightning towards the second Crusader who was hopefully also shot upon by Inheris' forces. Alarms and warnings echoing through the battle field, time slowing in its wake as Darth Victress gazed upon the scene unfolding before her. Could it be? Could this really be the downfall of their prized homeworld? As the capital ship came burrowing downwards, she realized at that moment, she was helpless to stop it.

She screamed outwards, barking orders to "Fall back!" Repeaters and heavy artillery still engaged from a distance, but the Dark Councilor sprang to her feet and sprinted to the side. When Darth Inheris sprang into a trench, she followed in suit, sliding into the same canopy as her ally. Several meters to left of the other Sith Lord, Darth Victress hoped that that she could weather the storm.

@Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

The individual fights no longer mattered.

The enemy had decided that it could still call this day a victory even if the Temple and the people were dead. Korriban would still belong to them, if only because the survivors of the attack would be too few to actually do anything. They would not be able to stop the remainder of the invasion force that had been held in reserve for just this eventuality.

After all, the true enemy were nothing but puppeteers and their minions worthless, disposable, to them. There would be no loss of life high enough that the enemy did not view it as acceptable in light of them being the last beings standing when it came to the contest for control over Korriban, birth place and heart of the Sith Empire.

Despite how utterly alien their mind-set may be, the enemy knows that crushing blows to morale are worth a thousand victories in the field. It wouldn't matter if the Emperor escaped and beat them in fair combat a hundred times; his would be the watch under which Korriban fell.

In which the poisoned, blackened, heart of the Sith was captured by an enemy even more inhumane than they.

The ship hit ground.

It is hard to imagine just how much force and power was involved. Nuclear weapons kicked up less dust and struck with less impact than the capital ship as it accelerated directly into the ground, carving it's way down into the ground and into the Temple itself.

As the Temple and the Sith army as a whole was the main target, the efforts made by the people below to survive the crash would find themselves being various different levels of successful.

None of the key players would die this day... but the same could not be said across the board.

Thousands of Sith and Imperial troopers disappeared under the ship's bulk and many more were killed by it's almost explosive displacement of earth. Of course thousands of the attacker died as well but, well...

They had reserves.

As the dust was no longer being kicked up by the crash (but had not fallen yet), it was clear to see that the Sith Temple was no more. The building, the icon, that had survived hundreds of years was, at last, no more.

--

Hidden from view by debris of ships, bodies, rocks and earth, the remainder of the Emperor's personal guard picked their way through the hard ground to find him. Only two of their number remained now, the captain of the guard and another, unranked, member who's left arm was pointing the wrong way, broken at the elbow.

But they did their duty regardless.

The Captain of the guard spotted the Emperor first, pushing and heaving to remove some of the debris that had pinned Varyn to the ground.

"My Emperor - the Temple has fallen." he unranked member supplied, "Our forces are destroyed. We must away."

The air grew suddenly cold.

"You must only bow."

The Rider, inexplicably alive, announced his presence as he stalked towards the small group.

"My Masters wish a word with you before you become one of us, Brother Rask."

Spoiler: OOC

No players are to see or interact with the Emperor or the rider. Please exit the thread in your next posts after reacting to the literal fall of the Temple of Korriban.

@Phoenix @Ediwa @samdragon @Cainhurst Crow @Morse @Pontus @Nightfall @Wit

 

[Darth Tagus]

Tagus had taken to the sky, the stars, when word of the invasion had reached him. Taking command of his own corvette, he did his best to co-ordinate the Imperial Navy against the enemy at their gates. It was... tough going he would freely admit.

Unlike conventional enemies, the enemy that he faced was seemingly completely without any sense of self-preservation. Ships would go out of their way to jump in the way of blasts meant for more tactically important ships, soaking up the hits for them and meaning the enemy could hit back harder and stronger.

The Darth himself did not have minions who would sacrifice themselves for his game of ships however, which meant he had to rely on the vaunted discipline of the Imperial Navy. To be fair to his men and women, they had done well but everyone knew that it was over.

The battle for Korriban was done and all that remained was to make sure that it wasn't a true rout. If they retreated with some semblance of good order then they could avenge this defeat in the future.

They could come back from this.

Giving the navy orders to prepare for a tactical retreat, Tagus took command of his own corvette and breached the atmosphere of Korriban. Thankfully his ship wasn't too large to be usable in atmosphere but it did make it slightly less nimble.

As he descended he ordered coms to all Imperial channels, including the more secret of channels. There was no time to stand on ceremony now.

"All survivors, head to Kravos' tower for extraction."

Kravos didn't have a tower - Kravos' namesake was actually a back entrance to the Temple. The comment for the tower was to throw the enemy off the scent as only true-trained Imperials would know what the code meant.

As his corvette came into land, Tagus stared out the viewport at the barren landscape of Korriban and cursed.

It had always been a barren, worthless, hated little speck of sand in the void and that didn't suddenly change just because they had lost it. But for all it's faults, it had always been theirs.

And one day it would be again - but not today. Today it was lost to them.

@Ediwa @samdragon @Cainhurst Crow @Morse @Pontus @Nightfall @Wit