Among Gods of War

[Marf]

THEME MUSIC

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G A M O R R

The Frozen North

A grey sky, almost as indigo as the billowing robes of the tiny Sith Mistress loomed over the mountaintops. Snowflakes scattered the air and caught onto the woman's fur-trimmed hood. The tiny, hopelessly delicate objects were but specks of fragile beauty amidst a gigantic and fearsome scape. As the young Sith Master was but a fleeting shadow subtly existing among Gods of War. She was water, clear, transparent, shapeless, but powerful. Dexterous and clever enough to mold her way through any space, and when trapped, she would always find a new path. Before her ferocious tsunami crushed and engulfed her sister, Satsuki, there were further strings to pull.

So what was Satoryu doing on the pig people's planet? Years ago, when she had been but 20, a mysterious and fearsome individual had joined the then Crusader in butchering a gang of would-be rapists on Fondor. It had been an encounter as miraculous as the Black Queen herself appearing in Dreshdae. Satsuki's death would be but a tiny step towards extinguishing the Light from the Empire. The man on Fonder was the key to curing the Sith Order of its' current plague. A legend of war not seen in decades, the greatest Juggernaut since Exodeus himself.

Varek.

By his actions on Fonder alone, Satoryu had already guessed that the two of them had something in common. Demons in their pasts black as the Dark Side itself. The young woman on Fonder had grown considerably in the past four years, it was something Satoryu seemed to never stop doing. A silent kind of evil now was she, subtly influencing her monstrous counterparts such as Varek and Audroti behind a silk screen. The kind who, but with nought but the subtle flicker of her wrist had condemned her own sister to a brutal, horrific death, before thoroughly enjoying watching it. Like any good lady, she would allow her monster the killing blow, for the stage of this era belonged to men like Audroti and Varek.

After they departed on Fonder, Satoryu had delved into searching for Darth Vires. Between the daily life of a Sith Master, she had eventually traced him to the Hutt World of Gamorr. Her studies had further revealed that Gamorr was the location of a Mandalorian sect. Whether Varek had anything to do with the business of the Mandalorians was unclear, but all would be revealed in due time. There was a winding, but conveniently flat road twisting between the mountains of Gamorr's Northern hemisphere, it's enviroment frozen tundra. The scenery was very similar to the Massassi worlds of Ziost and Khar Delba, which Satoryu had travelled to back in Imperial space. She had slowly grown accustomed to the cold and did enjoy natural environments.

The ship was not far away, but Satoryu would have to depart on foot for the rest of the way towards her destination. The Imperial agents she had travelled with had briefed her on the location, as well as advised her not to call the Gamorreans "pig people" to their faces. Her robes were a dark indigo, as to keep her blended in with the scenery. She wore leather gloves and gauntlets over her hadajuban sleeves and a short, fur lined tunic over her robes. For the sake of practicality, her hair hair was worn in long plaits which hung over her shoulders.

Gloved hand constantly stroking the hilt of her saberstaff, the increasing feeling of being watched was lingering over Satoryu. She was instinctively paranoid, but another presence was growing as she walked further along. It would make her quest rather easy if it was Varek stalking her, but Satoryu knew things were never that simple. Unfortunately her greatest weakness had got the better of her and she had consumed an entire pot of tea before leaving the ship. The presence seemed to be far enough away, so the 5'2" killer figured she might as well rest before it came any closer.

"I really, really hope nothing bad happens to me while I'm taking a piss."

Making her way off the road and into the forest, Satoryu found a convenient slope located behind a thick array of bushes. Untying her loose pants underneath her juban and robe, she pulled down the traditional garment, squatted and relieved herself on the snow. As excellent as her favourite beverage was for ones' concentration and reflexes, there was not a lot of her to contain much of it. Once she had finished and dressed herself, Satoryu walked through the throng of trees and back towards the road, before stopping dead in her tracks. A foot gently moved forward in the snow as she cautiously grasped the trunk of a tree. She had stopped to rest for not a minute and had presently been caught.

"Stupid pig people!"

Satoryu was not alone.

 

[Mars]

Gentle snowfall was an early sign of a coming storm in the forsaken northern tundra of Gamorr. The Sith master's ship came in silently enough but in this frozen wasteland any movement was caught early. She was a long way from home in the neutral, lawless lands of the Hutts. Though a Sith Master, especially one of this caliber, was no easy prey she was lead into the lion's mouth. She had been chasing shadows for some time now, the brief time she had spent with Varek had left her wanting more and it eroded at her enough she would dare this mission alone. Step by step she followed the path the former Warmaster had laid out. It was not yet his time to return to his homeland, his role in the war had sealed the oppositions fate and in the shadows he would stay. The Empire faced with turmoil and turnover, however, gave Lord Rayth a chance to lead a promising Master to a powerful ally...if she survives the encounter.

Every sense that told her she was no longer alone was true, but exactly how had yet to be revealed. The woods and the mountain were laced from top to bottom with all manner of traps, surveillance and cloaked guards. She had not stumbled into the hideout of a former Sith, but a Mandalorian warlord. At one point in time, some would argue he was in THE mercenary warlord.

For Satoryu had stumbled into the Ironfist's fortress.

The first sign of her folly would be a low whine behind as a flash mine detonated, rattling her senses to put it mildly between the loud concussive bang and the blinding light. A sharp, concentration cutting noise blasts from small droids that swarm to the area of the intruder to keep her off balance. From stealth comes a pair of Ironfist veterans, rifles drawn and rails charged. She was in, well, a bad position. The mine itself was enough bodily stress to force most unconscious.

Up deep into the mountain pass she went. Her eyes fluttering open in a concussed haze to reveal an imposing scene. The face of the mountain had been carved out and filled out with duracrete and steel, creating a hidden fortress. Barrels of large-caliber railguns with force enough to shred anything to fit in the valley leading to it poked out of the few holes in the wall. Satoryu would pass out again as they went inside, likely noting her bound hands and feet and missing weaponry before embracing the darkness again.

The final stop for her, for now, was a large room held up by three metal columns on either side. The walls were plastered with various flags and banners of worlds broken by the Mandalorian assault during the Sith's deathblow in the last war. This was something far different than standard mercenaries. With her limbs bound and her mind foggy from the various drugs she had been given on the way over, Satoryu posed little threat, and the man she now sat sideways facing looked down on her from a large metal chair. The most immediately obvious feature of the room was that, behind the chairs, there was a massive window bordered by thick slaps of durateel.

"Well well, look at this. A Sith in my territory. I could have sworn Lord Rayth and I had worked out an agreement to keep you rats from scurrying onto my land."

Satoryu's blurred vision would give her precious few details of his face. White hair, cold blue eyes and younger-looking than his voice implied. His head was the only piece of his body not currently sat in armor, the same could not be said of the giant men who stood on either side of him, fully encased in Beskar'gam. Most people would fail to recognize him anyway but if she had spent some time browsing the Sith's darkest secrets she would have seen, buried in the files, an agent named Pontius, placed deep behind Mandalorian lines. Apollo, his true name, committed some of the most heinous war-crimes the galaxy had seen to further his goals and in the process had now carved out a fortune as a mercenary warlord in addition to his health weight of income from the Empire's various shadow corporations. That much though, was likely well past even a Sith master's lengthy reach.

"What brings you here, girl?"

 

[Marf]

Before Satoryu's fingertips could touch the metallic surface of her weapon, a searing whine echoed through the hills. Her eye sockets widened beyond their normal size as she knew immediately what it was. The flash grenade detonated in an explosive rage of orange fire and white snow. The little Sith's tiny frame was blown clean off the ground like a flower caught in a tornado. She was thrown with violent force onto the snow, vision blurred, head-spinning, her robes splayed across the white ground. She looked like a crushed, black butterfly.

The beeping of droids was muffled through the ringing in her ears, their metallic footsteps grew closer. Through her fluttering eyelids, Satoryu could see heavy boots belonging to an array of massive, armoured men close in on her. She was in too much pain to move and was barely conscious, but intense panic was already setting in. Scenarios like those back on Fondor now flashed through her paranoid thoughts. Satoryu flailed her hand about uselessly in the snow in search of her saberstaff, but the weapon had already been taken from her. As she was lifted by a pair of gauntleted hands, her damaged body gave out and she fainted.

Hands and feet bound, the presently powerless Sith Master now cursed herself for not being fast enough to defend herself. Through her drooping eyelids and fleeting consciousness, she could vaguely make out the armoured visages of her captures. As the Mandalorian guards brought their captive into the fortress, Satoryu had begun to awaken. Ever heightening terror masked by rage seethed within the young Mistress as she now began to kick and struggle. Looking around helplessly at the fortress' decorated interior, she attempted to piece together just who she was dealing with. Plunked with veritable force onto the floor, Satoryu gazed upon the armoured giant before her.

Bruised and bleeding, her beauty was still retained, if not for a dishevelled charm, like that of a battered rose. Wet, brown eyes stared intently into those of the Mandalorian conqueror. Satoryu attempted to speak through her exasperated breathing. Surrounded by a room of massive, armoured men, she would appear enraged, but was latently terrified. Fates worse than death coursed through her mind as she scoured her surroundings. So, this was Apollo, a name only learned to Satoryu in her recent research. The matters of war and politics were not especially known to her, as she remained in the shadows for majority of the time.

"Wareku...Where is Warek... Varek?"

Spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor, Satoryu looked up at Apollo and managed a devilish flick of the uneven section of hair which fell across the side of her face. Fantasies of massacring the entire room flashed through her thoughts, but Satoryu was in no position to make any offensive action.

"I come here searching for the greatest Sith Warrior of the era... Am I now in the company of a different God of War?"

Monstrous Juggernauts, now Mandalorian warlords. Satoryu seemed to have a knack of finding her way among the company of these military titans. The idea that Varek had lead her here now tingled her senses, she supposed it would be suitable of him. He was like Audroti, far too elusive and introverted to make a direct appearance. She paused again through belated and exasperated breaths.

"Are you... Apollo?"

Satoryu knew very little about Mandalorians or their nature. She had been away in her temple sipping tea and musing over the names of Jedi she had to slay while the Imperiums' military butchered the Mandalorian clans.