The Fall of Korriban

[Thelemy Oronays]

Thelemy felt the world shake, as he lay in the trench. He felt the blood from his face, from his leg, and from his chest, slowly pooling as the ground rocked thunderously about, the air blowing like the wrathful wind of a thousand storms. It drowned out all other sounds, shrouding the battlefield in a single, cacophonous, noise.

And then it settled and stopped, and silence seemed to loom on the battlefield. The noise of clashing blades and shooting bolts were gone. The sounds of marching feet and hurried screams were silenced. As thelemy stood up slowly, the dust caking him in red powdery mist, he caught a glimpse of what was left of the war. The battlefield had been flattened, reshaped by the sheer force of the impact. The temple was now gone, the steps were gone, and in their place was a looming cloud of smoke and dust, kicked up from the ship and slowly descending down like blood colored snow.

The sith could also feel the surge of death around him. The sheer volume of life lost here made him almost sick as it echoed through the force. Tens of Thousands of lives had screamed out at once, and were now silent. And the death fanatic found himself unable to find solace in fact. The strong devoured the weak, but what happened when the strong no longer valued living either? There was no new life to be had in this. Merely death, almost seeming for the sake of death.

When the order came over the comms, Thelemy began to pull himself from the trench. The twi'lek stood on the battlefield, now nothing but a unmarked graveyard, and paused. He had always believed that people should fend for themselves...but in the face of all of this death and loss, he found himself questioning things he once believed.

The sith turned around to look into the trench. He knelt, and offered a hand to any who would take it. He winced in pain as he felt his burned skin once more, the bloodstains only growing as he helped others from the trench. After any who had taken his offer of aid had done so, he would make his way to the evacuation point, silent and without a word.

 

[Callum Attar]

"We move to the designated location. Now." - he commanded the troopers who had found him his hiding place and survived the blast with him. Their bodies were less capable to take the brunt of the damage, and as such some had had some wounds. Callum himself was by no means immune to the physical damage, but he'd received much better training. One look at the four told him they were kids. No younger than he was, perhaps, but untrained to the ways of war as he'd been.

Still, there was no way for one to be unaffected. The Temple of Korriban had been razed to the ground. As the five individuals limped their way towards the Tower, a slew of thoughts continuously assailed his mind. This was a crushing defeat, no doubt. Their flag, the core of their Order - even if it hadn't exactly been his - had been brought down under a ruthless assault. There was no coming back from that.

Even if they took Korriban once more, their ancestors' temple would never again belong to them. Or anyone, for that matter. This was a blow they would never recover from. A blotch on their history that could never be expunged.

Still, as the Coruscantian spotted dozens like him making his way into the ship that would give them back their lives, a part of him couldn't help but smile. These foes misunderstood something about the Sith ways. The Empire itself could fall, but they? They were temptation itself. So long as some of them remained to teach their ways, they would make their way back up to the top. Even if they did happen to be completely expunged, the odds of their kindred making a comeback were leagues above near nil.

So long as greed, anger and lust remained in the galaxy, the Sith would remain. No matter how callous, how cruel a world order, there are always cracks in society. And they would find them. Once they had, dust would be returned to dust.

One rotten apple. That, was all they ever were, and all they ever needed to be.
@

 

[Roa Roa Grisbaw]

As the ground shook, Roa shivered in both fear and rage, the explosive rumble of the ship crashing into the temple making her ears ring. As the dust settled down, she stood up, her legs wobbly and her sight blurred from the effort and the fatigue. Her skin was dry and cracked, though she still had some time before it would start bleeding. As she stood up, she saw a Twi'lek offering a hand, and she gladly grabbed it for help. "Thank you" she muttered with a sigh.

 

[Jayscreec Alecwit]

The radio transmission did not come through while Jayscreec was hiding in the ancient Sith tomb. He was far underneath the ground. Going out through the front would be the best. Although, he did not risk that. Even after the crash the battle continued. In the enemy's pace a new fortification could be being placed outside already. No turning back. He pushed forward with the beam of his flashlight showing the way.

A moral like him, someone who's insane enough to explore a Sith's tomb would at least take it slow. It was an ancient path of corruption and sick machinery. In a bizarre way the sounds of lost souls echoed. A bit of light came directly from the surface through channels the tectonic motions created in hundreds of years. Through these cracks the light illuminated the powdery dust. Jayscreec did the opposite of anyone sane would do: he rushed inside. He looked back, feeling that someone - or something - lurked in the darkness. However it worked, the force had to be with him.

The capital ship that crashed broke into thousands of pieces. In the hall ahead the roof partly collapsed and offered freedom. Two ancient droids guarded the entry to the hall, standing on the opposite sides. Jayscreec felt his heart in his chest. Running took him further than he would have thought.

"Just a little more." Jayscreec muttered between his teeth.

He ran past the ancient machines. As light struct his face he reached forward to start climbing. Only for a second, in the corner of his eyes he saw a dark entity between the two droids. The figure's face was covered in wrinkles and blood. The feeling of being followed was not just a feeling anymore, some reason stood behind it. Jayscreec's throat tensed as he swallowed. Whatever stood there, it had to be what allowed him to pass. Halfway through the rocks he looked back at the empty hall. He noticed the grave in the middle. Luckily the ghost also disappeared. When Jayscreec finally climbed out the entity stood above the sarcophagus.

With months of survival training behind himself Jayscreec ventured into the endless desert and escaped.

 

[Darth Inheris]

Dust, oh the dust. It covered Inheris from head to toe as larger pieces of debris crashed into the stone around her, the temple torn asunder and the ground splintered across the battlefield. Their survival was miraculous, screaming into the force and praying, demanding life in the face of it all.

As she opened her eyes there was little to see, coughing, spluttering she pulled her body from the ground, still feeling the vibrations from the crash through her body. The haze in the sky clouded her vision nearly entirely, shapes of figures shifting in the shadow. One figure stood out more than others through, feeling a presence in the force she drew herself toward it, Victress alongside in the trench,

“We can’t stay here” she said, trying to stop herself choking on the dust as she peered over the trench. The strange creatures, these mindbreakers still miles around, but she could make out little more. A buzz in the comm, Darth Tagus, and ecacuation. The tiniest glimmer of reprieve,

“Take the chance while we can then” she spoke once again to her companion, who could say what else might happen if they lingered, or how they’d get out.

Climbing back up Inheris saw the bodies of so many of her best men, the pride of the Kuati 9th strewn around her. Hopefully others had escaped to the Corvette, her own having pulled back to avoid the crashing destroyer. She didn’t avert her eyes, the anger inside her was palpable, and yet without direction. As she made her way to the evacuation point, she knew it would find its make in the coming days.

@Nefieslab

@Faded Truth

 

[Varyn Rask]

The crash of the Star Destroyer was deafening as bulkheads collapsed into one another and metal twisted and strained under the impact. It was a miracle the ship's core didn't detonate and wipe everyone out, but the earth and energy displaced by the impact were nearly as horrible. Dust filled the air and by extension Varyn's lungs with every breath. The dust was heavy and Varyn's choking turned to coughing and finally vomiting. He ripped free his mask and wretched onto the ground as he stumbled free from the alcove.

He had to squint against the dust stinging his eyes and took stock of the situation. It was far worse than he had anticipated. What commander would so recklessly endanger his own troops? Something or someone who was so unfeeling and treated their troops as nothing but puppets. His own men lay dead by the hundreds if not thousands, and the feeling of death nearly tore the Force at the seams, echoing across the galaxy from this place.

He could see only two of his guards still alive, and one not likely to be for long. There was no one else nearby, but the sounds of screaming and death still echoed just above the ringing that still filled his ears. Every step felt like a step into quicksand as his legs resisted the movement. A warm trickle ran down his left side and his gloved came away slick with blood. His head swam as he stumbled.

Hot wind blew the loose dust through the air, and Varyn saw the dead man there. For what else could the bleeding dragon rider be if not an abomination or undead monster? The product of Sith sorcery or something else?

What was there to say? It demanded he bow? He would not. He would fight to his last for the Empire, and it would remain long after him.

I will not bow, he reiterated. The Force swirled around him still again, and he knew what he had to do. The ships began to land in the distance, and the temple had fallen. But the Empire would fight on.

What are you? And what are your masters? he asked. For whether or not he would die here, he would find out what he could about these creatures and he would buy time for the evacuation. He would buy time with blood if he must. @Nefieslab @Wit

 

[Taalong Vorr]

The crash was spectacular. Shaking the ground to breaking points beneath the feet of thousands. The sound was immense and carried over into everything, meeting every living thing with a crackling boom just before the immense shockwave of millions of tons of starship displacing an equal amount of dirt with great velocity. It was hard to comprehend, and would be even harder for the witnesses to describe. It was an incredible uprooting that brought about the death of thousands in an instant, even faster then those fighting could have managed to kill each other. A great equalizer. The destroyer of all defenses, and attacker. It was just silence for a moment, while those on the ground made their way out.

Taalong Vorr had moved away from the temple to its outer most defenses. He was failing and weak in his wounded state and could ill afford to long in a duel with anyone other then the fundamental deflection of a blaster bolt, while he sought out medical attention. It was all there was he could have done, and it was all that he did. While the ship had crashed down upon them, obliterating much of the temple, Vorr had been amidst the far trenches, only able to witness the unbearable power that was laid down upon them.

The temple was in ruin, as though it had never stood. Though a sacred place, the temple was not the Sith. It was a horrifying sight, but what was more important was the survival of those that still held the empire in existence.

Alone Taalong Vorr ventured away, his wounds minor treated prior to the crash. The military forces in absolute disarray, his own forces decimated amidst betrayal and battle. Taalong Vorr could assist as possible, but he would do no good should the fighting somehow recommence. He ventured away, towards the hanger not far where he had kept his ship. There were many there, and no doubt structural damage was had, but he may have been able to salvage something. His trudge was quick, until he found the cliffside drop off that held the stairs downward towards the hanger. His short trek revealed the hanger was largely in tact though the outer shield to the hanger was deactivated due to massive power surges. Large chunks of rock had obliterated some other vessels.

Vorr's remained in tact, and without a word he boarded the craft, he set a course outside of the system, preparing to fly low until he was beyond the reach of any aerial forces, and would burst out of the atmosphere towards any haven he could find.

Even if there was war a new, he was a Sith Crusader of the Empire, one of the most powerful beings alive. He would find a way to live on.

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys had been running, somehow maintaining a clarity of mind that only a Jedi Master could and letting the Force guide her movements, despite every instinct in her body telling her to panic. But despite all that she had not been left untouched by the crashing ship. Something had slammed into her from the side, sending her tumbling to the ground. Coughing to clear her throat, assaulted as it was by dust and smoke, she rose to her feet, her ears ringing slightly as she tried to get some measure of her surroundings.

The sounds were what first hit her, the eerie silence broken by a wail from here, then another from there, soon a sea of misery echoing from all directions. Then, as her head cleared a little and her ear stopped ringing, though it didn't really go away, she started sensing things through the Force. But while she felt the death all around her, the sudden and unbelievable void left in the Force by so many lives winking out at once threatened to crush her heart within her very chest, there was something else that called to her through the Force. A sense of dread, a fragment of possibility, a chance at something more about to happen. Something potentially worse than what had already transpired.

Stopping where she was, she turned around to face the direction the Force was guiding her towards, spotting the dragon a little ways off. She wasn't sure if it was dead or alive, but she knew whatever was going to happened was happening there. taking in deep breaths as she steeled herself for whatever was to come, she began making her way towards the beast. It didn't take long for her to climb over rubble and around the scattered dead to finally make it to the top of a downed...something, at this point the landscape around her was more or less indistinguishable. Whatever it might have been, it was now a ruined, smoldering shell of its former self.

Much like Korriban itself.

She spotted him then, and suddenly the dread made sense. Of course they were here for him, and maybe that was why she was here. To help him now in what little way she could. She had seen in him a sense of hope for the Empire. A possibility, maybe in the distant future, but a very much distinct possibility, for something better than the brutal rule of the Sith. She had to keep that hope alive. Yes, that was it, she had to do this for the future of the Galaxy. That was the only reason she felt herself pulled forward. Just that.

So she started moving towards him and the rider, slowly starting to pick up speed, wincing as her leg hurt with every step. She was a Jedi, a protector of the people. She had to protect, even if one of them was the darn fool Emperor of the Sith.

@Nefieslab @Phoenix

 

[The Storyteller]

The Rider stood silent.

The Rider was a human, was a Sith, but it was clearer now than ever that he was not in control of his body. Whereas others would have weakened from their injuries during the time that had passed since obtaining them, The Rider strode forwards as though nothing had changed.

As though he felt no pain.

"The pawns sacrificed themselves to protect me." he revealed to Varyn and, unknowingly, to Alysanne as well, "My Masters wish to speak to you, Varyn Rask, and they chose my form to address you."

There was a small pause before The Rider spoke with an emotion for the first time since arriving on Korriban.

Dark amusement.

"A form you are more comfortable with."

Without another word, The Rider stiffened.

"The Masters wish to speak."

The Rider pushed with the Force, a battering ram of the Force aimed squarely at Varyn's mental barriers. At the same time, a mental intrusion from one of the Masters, currently approaching in a small landing craft, would push into Varyn's mind as well. The Rider was to open the door, the Master's probe was to appear in front of Varyn so that only he could see it.

"Are you ready to obey, Emperor of Ash?"

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Varyn Rask]

Varyn could feel more and more blood running from his side, and his robes grew heavy as they grew wet. He didn't know how long he could outlast bleeding like this, and he only now noticed that the medkit he normally carried must have been ripped or cut free after the crash. That left few options, and his eyes flicked up to the sky. Corvettes, frigates, and even destroyers still filled the sky, and he knew that some of them were - or at least should have been - loyal to the Empire.

He could feel something infiltrating his mind with the subtlety of a hammer, but it wasn't trying to remove information - a far more difficult prospect - it was trying to shove something in. An... image and a voice. Varyn couldn't stop the intruder, and he wasn't sure he should try anymore. Perhaps there was something to be gained here.

That was when he saw it. The creature wasn't like anything that Varyn had ever seen before, and he knew that it wasn't here. He knew it was merely a projection, and attacking it would do nothing. He tried to take as many notes of what it was that he saw when his eye flicked to something else. Was that... Alysanne?? No, that didn't make sense! She was a Jedi and this was Korriban. But no, he could feel her presence, and he felt strength from it.

Emperor of Ash has a nice ring to it. What is it, a Corosian Phoenix that rises from ashes? he asked, spitting blood onto the ground. The answer now was the same as it had ever been and would ever be. He would never bow to these creatures even if that meant death. @Wit @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

The Rider laughed.

It was a strangely human sound considering the creature was missing part of it's face. The shuttle holding the Master began to come in for a landing even as Varyn spoke. So rather than the projection answering, it was the Master itself that answered as it descended the landing ramp to approach the downed Emperor. The Rider moved to stand behind Varyn, it's lightsaber still in it's right hand at the ready, as the Master stood in front of Varyn.

It looked him in the eyes.

"You must remember that a Corosian Phoenix dies a million times before it is finally allowed the final embrace of lasting death." it drawled, reaching out with it's right hand almost lazily, "You will know that pain, Emperor of Ash, when we puppet your body to do our bidding."

The cruelty of the Master was not yet spent however.

"Will you beg us in your private moments to end you after you have slaughtered your own people and burned your own Empire I wonder?" the thing reached out with the Force and it's mystical presence to begin to force itself into Varyn's mind, "You will replace The Rider as our vanguard - it is an honour I do not expect you to feel."

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Varyn Rask]

Varyn stood, but his body was weak, and he knew his time was ticking by. Whatever this thing was had descended down and the guards... he glanced over to see both of them now on the ground. One he sensed was dead, and the other was perhaps... unconscious through some Dark power. He felt alone once more, but the more that this thing spoke, the less he was willing to submit.

Pain wracked his body, but it only strengthened his will. He could feel it in his mind. The words made him angry, boiling up the darkness within. He wouldn't burn his Empire down for this thing or anyone else. He could feel something or someone poking into his mind, prodding with greater power, but it would find only a steely and iron will that had reforged and reunited the Empire. If he wanted to force Varyn into submission, it would take more than a cheap trick.

But the Emperor wasn't willing to take a risk of his mind failing, for without rest it certainly would. He may not have had much strength left, but his saber swung around his head, flashing behind him to deflect an anticipated strike from the rider as his feet charged forward. The circle of the saber threw itself in front of him now, chopping down at the Master from his own right in a blow that Varyn presumed would be blocked. Whatever these things were, he would wager they had something to block a lightsaber.

The real attack was his left hand fluidly drawing his short sword free in reverse and bringing it whipping into a cut across the belly in one straight movement followed by a thrust upward through the heart... or where he guessed the heart was?

The Emperor is dead, but the Empire fights on. Long live the Empire, he hissed. The move was a nearly assured strike, but he knew that it would cost him. But anything was better than destroying the nations he had fought to defend and uphold. @Wit @Nefieslab

 

[Alysanne Drast]

Alys had finally made it to a vantage point where she could observe what was going on while keeping herself somewhat hidden from the rider's sight. Unfortunately that meant keeping her hidden from Varyn as well, but that was alright. She was sure he would know that she was nearby, maybe even the rider would. But she was hoping that the chaos of their surroundings would mean that only Varyn would be able to isolate and identify her presence in the sea of lives winking in and out around them.

She wasn't sure what was going on, they seemed to be quietly facing each other, and at first she thought that this would be the prefect opportunity for her to jump down and help him. But something held her back, a tingling in the back of her neck that told her to stay where she was. Even a Jedi Master was often left confused by whether or not something was just their gut or the Force whispering to them. But this was not one of those instances. The Force wanted her here, to watch, to listen, to observe, to remember. But not to interfere, not just yet. She wanted to ignore that whisper and jump down nonetheless, even if it would result in her death. But there was another voice telling her to hold back, telling her to prioritize survival over all else. A protective voice, a far more desperate voice than the one telling her to throw caution to the wind and jump down, a voice of motherly instinct.

And try as she might, she could not ignore that voice, not anymore. But there was something she could do to help him, even as she saw and understood what he was about to do. As tears ran down her face, she reached out with the Force, and with the certainty of the Force, shared a vision of the future with him. She saw it for the first time as he did. A young boy, running happily.

No, the thought would resonate within his mind as the boy's face lingered in their minds for a moment, you will not die here. You will live on through him.

@Nefieslab @Phoenix

 

[The Storyteller]

The Rider was a man of combat, enabling him to block the backwards attack without much effort.

The Master was not.

Whereas The Rider might have seen the attack for the suicide attack that it was, The Master was far too arrogant and, at the end of the day, not a warrior. The slash of the Emperor's short sword carved through the Master's midsection, leaving him wide open to the follow up thrust upwards.

"NO!"

The Rider reacted almost immediately, stabbing his lightsaber down into Varyn's back in a brutal stab that would impale the Emperor straight through the back, the lightsaber's tip pushing through effortless to protrude through one of Varyn's lungs. The strike was not something Varyn could avoid with his attention so wholly focused on ending the Master.

Fortunately for him, when the Rider drew his blade back out to decapitate the fatally wounded Emperor, he paused. With the Master dead, the strings were cut and the Rider was suddenly in full control of his body. Suddenly, in the space of a second, he was in full control and he was no longer able to just ignore the injuries he had sustained. For a moment he didn't move, aside from some shivering and shaking, before he managed a single step backwards.

The lightsaber fell from his hands, deactivating as it fell.

The Rider himself clawed at his ruined face, falling to his knees as he did so. Screaming without any sound actually escaping, the Rider fell onto his side and began to writhe and twitch in pain as he was no longer able to continue despite the pain. In the end, his heart gave out due to the massive sudden amounts of pain and shock and he died gasping for breath on the blackened sands, leaving the Emperor on death's door but not dead yet.

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Varyn Rask]

@Nefieslab @Wit​

Varyn's time had come, but he had his revenge. The familiar feeling of a lightsaber burn carved into his back, but this time there was more pain. His breath came shortly, and he knew that there wasn't any recovering from this. Still, he looked into the eyes of the creature that had caused all this pain and he had found something critical. He didn't know how many more there were or where they'd come from, but he had done everything he could to stop them.

As blood continued to pour free, his legs gave way and he slumped to the ground. The death of the rider only feet away seemed miles away, and all he saw was the vision of a small boy running through the open fields. He was happy, and the laugh was full of joy and hope. The thought - the vision - brought a peace that washed over the Emperor as a new darkness began to take him.

A son. He fell into the dirt and sands of Korriban, now running red with his own blood and the blood of his enemies, reached up to meet him. The Captain of his guard was at his side, but it was too late. On your life... protect her. Destroy... the creatures... and their servants will fall.... Tell her... now go! he said. He had always protected the Emperor in life, and Varyn knew that in death he would watch over Alysanne and... his son. The thought was still difficult for him to grasp, but somehow he knew that everything would be set right because of that child.

The moment seemed to stretch on, and Varyn wasn't sure any longer what was real and what wasn't. He was standing in an open field on Naboo, Alysanne and their son stood across from him. It felt so real with the warmth of the sun and the wind on his face that if he hadn't remembered what had just happened he might not have known better than to think this was his life. Maybe this was what it felt like to become one with the Force.

Alysanne... he said, moving toward her on the field. Even if it wasn't real, his mind and hers were connected through this child.

Protect our son, and give him my love. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there, he said. I know you'll raise him well. Goodbye, he said with a sad smile, reaching out to place his hand on her cheek. It rested there a moment that he wished could have lasted forever.

Then he faded from this world and became one with the Force.​

 

[Roa Roa Grisbaw]

Roa looked at the Twi'lek who helped her (@Thelemy Oronays ) as he walked away, the silence almost deafening as she then looked around herself. A sudden surge in the Force made her stumble, telling her that someone powerful had left this world and become one with the Force. She sighed and muttered a low prayer while walking towards the meeting point.
The Emperor was gone, and probably the Empire itself was doomed at that point, but she couldn't do anything to save it at the moment. The only thing she could do was escaping that hell of a planet to safety.
As she boarded the Sith's ship (@Darth Tagus ) she slumped in a seat, a pained expression on her face. She idly played with her clothes, and at a point she noticed something pyramidal in a pocket, and pulled it out. It was a very ancient holocron of unknown origins. Looking at it, she could say it was a Sith's creation, though it was... Old. Very old. She shrugged and put it back in her robes, hiding it, wondering how it ended up there...