Ask Metallic Force

[Malerion]

It was a mighty comedown from where they stood only months ago. Once at the head of fleets of Star Destroyers and vast armies of soldiers, the Sith Order could now barely cobble a few shuttles together. Malerion sat in one of these shuttles as it descended through the upper Atmosphere of Hypori on the far side of the galaxy. Its remote location had its benefits, away from the prying eyes of the new Imperium, yet the distance away from his final destination deemed that any future dealings would be a logistical nightmare.

The Sith looked up across the shuttle’s small seating area, the ships rocking from side to side in the vicious winds of the upper atmosphere. He was dressed for battle, a gothic inspired armour covered his torso, a lightsaber clicked to one side of his belt, a Sith Warblade to the other. “I doubt we will find much organic life downhere. The planet has been partially abandoned for a long time.” He said, breaking the silence. Malerion expected at least a small amount of resistance to whatever was keeping the lights on at the old Techno Union turned Galactic Empire facility.

“You still never gave me your price for this?” He asked, no one within the Sith Order held the power or respect to receive help for free. Everything was bargains between individuals of similar rank, until one pushed themselves forward to take the true mantle of Dark Lord.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska had spent enough time in seclusion, staying out of the public eye and revelling in the lifestyle that had driven her into her line of work. She had simply grown bored of the constant partying, debauchery and hangovers. She missed the surge of adrenaline that came from throwing herself into the unknown and only pulling herself out by grit, determination and skill. The galaxy was, just as it always had been and always will be, full of those willing to spend their hard earned money on hiring someone with these attributes. It didn’t matter to her who paid her or who her targets were, she was in it for the thrill and the paycheque.

Claiming an old techno union factory sounded like her average drill. Drop in, sweep the location for hostiles, eliminate them and plant whomever’s flag in the tallest tower. Simplicity itself at face value, but experience often played the fiddle of ironic outcomes. ”Oh good, I’d hate for this to be difficult,” Aska joked from her seat with her cigarra hanging from her lip as she looked over her trusty SE-45 one last time. ”Whatever it is occupying that factory isn’t gonna be happy to see us but if it’s droids, then we have nothing to worry about,” she finished sarcastically. As much as she loathed any mechanical warriors, there was no disputing that targeting protocols in most had a far superior statistical accuracy rate over your average blood and bone goon. Of course, she wasn’t average. Never was.

She had been quiet most of the trip, dozing off even at one point. The space before any assignment had the potential to be the last peaceful moments for quite some time if the job didn’t go as planned. Once upon a time, her anxieties would have kept her wide awake but by now she had grown entirely used to it and knew she should soak up what she could whileshe could. ”Let’s just play that by ear. I’d hate to undercut myself if this whole thing goes to shit,” the clone replied with a smirk as she looked into the eye slots of her employer’s mask before sliding on her own helmet and standing from the bench in her full suit of armour. Whatever Malerion needed an entire factory for was none of her business but she had no doubt that whatever it would earn him afterwards would ensure her service would be well compensated.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

The gun for hire was not his first choice of companion for such a thing, ideally the Sith would have an underling that would be loyal less anything go array, or more importantly not sell him out in the future to someone paying a higher fee than himself. That concern meant that the quick capture of this and his future targets would need to be accelerated, reducing the time he could be caught with his pants around his ankles.

The woman was heavily armed and armoured and came with a reputation that more than matched the small foray they were going to take into this old base. Malerion of course would let the Gun for Hire take the bulk of the heavy lifting, if she was being paid she should work for it.

The pilot called back through the speakers informing the pair that they were about to arrive when the shuttle rocked violently with the sounds of explosions. Flak fire from one of the towers surrounding the facility forced the shuttle to violently veer to one side less they were destroyed in a single volley. “Get us on the ground now.” He shouted through the comm next to his seat. He would take the foot march the last kilometre or so as long as they were not vaporised by turbolaser fire.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

”Just once I’d love for someone to be excited to see me,” Aska continued to joke as she tightly wrapped a hand around the rail that ran across the ceiling of the seating bay, shifting her weight to counteract the movement of the shuttle. It was a rough approach as turret fire erupted around them, the clone counting herself fortunate that she wasn’t the one at the controls. Flying was one thing she preferred to leave to the professionals; hopefully Malerion’s hire was up to the task.

“Get ready to jump out, you two! I’ll set it down here then fall back and wait for your signal if you need extraction!” the pilot’s voice rang from the speakers as the pressure seal of the cabin released, dropping the cargo ramp and allowing them to put boots on the Hyporian dirt.

”Thanks for the lift, Fly guy. Just don’t be ‘forgetting’ us here if shit goes sour, yea?” Aska called back as the ramp lifted, saluting the pilot as he returned to the air whilst flying low enough to try and avoid detection. The clone turned in the direction of the base and placed her binocs to the visor of her helmet.

”I’m seeing three flak cannons at the top of the ridge. Probably a squad of droids each. And they know we’re here so you can bet your ass they’ve sent out patrols. So you tell me how you want this done,” Offering the binocs to Malerion if he wanted to see the defences with his own eyes, Aska would proceed to draw and prime her pistol as she watched their target on the horizon. ”Loud or quiet?”

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion pushed himself to his feet among the violent jolts of the shuttle's evasive moves, grabbing hold of another of the rail’s in the ceiling. He gave the pilot a nod as he made his intentions clear, as much as the Sith didn’t want to jump out the back of a moving ship, it was better than being blown out the back.

He jumped down onto the Hyporian soil a moment after Aska, looking back at the shuttle as it took off and moved away from the facility. “At least it's well defended from the air.” He said, thinking about the future and how much effort it would be to keep the facility for himself.

Taking the binocs he scanned the same defences Aska had confirmed. A flash of steel in the sun caught his gaze, droids moving down from the facility. They were basic models, nothing advanced, they worked on volume instead of quality. “We don’t have time for whoever or whatever is in control of the facility to activate more droids. We go in fast and loud, get to the control room and depower everything.” It was a simple and blunt plan, but Malerion wasn’t one to beat around the bush and he wanted this done yesterday.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

”Glad to hear it,” Aska joked whilst priming her pistol, making her way towards a nearby ridge. ”The whole ‘sneaking around’ thing just doesn’t get the blood pumping the same,” she concluded before sliding down the rockface, opting to stay low and out of sight as best she could for their trek. It wouldn’t take the droid patrols long to find them if they had any speeders on hand, something she hoped they would.

As they walked, Aska kept an ear open for advancing troops whilst surveying the area for potential spots suitable for an ambush, be it by them or by the enemy. Rock outcroppings that loomed above, dark caverns, widened fissures, whatever they may be. The possibilities played on an endless loop as they walked.

”I bet there isn’t a cantina within five parsecs of this shithole. I don’t much care for what you have planned after we take the factory but you’re gonna be bored out of your skull here, guaranteed,” Aska said to cut the silence as they walked. Before she could continue however, the distant sound of mechanical feet stomping on rock could be heard approaching. Was there a speeder? She couldn't quite tell. Being a few strides ahead of Malerion, Aska quickly slipped to the side of the path and into a small crack in the cliff face, her blaster raised and at the ready as she waited for her employer to give the signal.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion allowed the soldier for hire to take the lead, better her take the sniper shot to the head than him. He stalked behind her, the armour he wore was purposefully uncomfortable to wear, the frustration and discomfort allowed him to better pull on the tendrils of the Dark Side when needed. Sickly yellow eyes scanned the horizon looking for signs of their attackers, his lightsaber was unclipped and gripped tightly in his left hand but unlit.

“I don’t intend to stay here long. Once I have what I need, it will be sold to some wannabe Warlord.” He replied as he rounded a corner, to spot Aska darting into a small fissure in the rockface. He frowned at the action as two droids rounded the corner, they were combat models but nothing either he or Aska couldn’t handle on their own.

The droids beeped amongst themselves as they raised their blasters at the Sith. Malerion raised his hand in turn, allowing that built up frustration and discomfort to easily pull into The Force using it to rip the weapons from the droid's hands, sending them sliding down the path towards them. “All yours.”

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

As the pair of droids rounded the corner, scanning for life forms, Aska drew one of her daggers in her offhand and held it tight to her chest whilst waiting for them to move past her location. Regardless of how the droids were destroyed, they would cease to transmit back to their command center and once more the location of the invaders would be pinpointed but blaster fire would undoubtedly bring the remainder of the search party down on them. Stealth was boring, certainly, but bringing an entire garrison of droids down on them before they even began to encroach on the factory perimeter was counterproductive.

While Malerion had remained at her back with his weapon in hand, she had noticed it during their time spent in hyperspace but paid it little mind. In today's day and age, everyone had one it seemed. Even she herself had one for a time though where it was now, where she was now remained a painful mystery. A trophy of sorts, she had surmised.

As the blasters were pulled free, Aska stepped out from her hiding spot and activated the generator in its hilt as she slammed the blade into the circuitry where its neck and shoulders met with a reversed hold. The second droid, calculating the threat that both Malerion and she presented, turned to face the more immediate danger of the clone but found her boot pushed forcefully into its knee. As it began to drop, she pulled the blade from her first target and flipped her hold on the hilt before slamming the vibrating durasteel into its right photoreceptor.

”I suppose you actually are a space wizard after all,” Aska chuckled as she withdrew her dagger. ”I mean, who else would dress like that I suppose,” she teased. ”So you’re, what? One of the banished Sith or just a really edgy Jedi? I heard the Sith didn't get to keep their weapons after that whole ordeal on Junction,”

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion watched with intrigue as the soldier easily dispatched the two patrol droids with a vibro-dagger. He had assumed the woman was only proficient with a blaster from range, most of the galaxy’s grunts never thought to pick up a blade in a fight. That’s what made killing them with a lightsaber so easy and satisfying, that small glimmer of regret for not taking their CQC course seriously just before the blade plunged into their stomach or sliced a limb from their torso.

He stepped up towards the woman as she finished with the second droid. “I am a Sith.” He replied with a mixture of pride and contempt for being called a space wizard. “Only the fools and the desperate went to Junction, I am neither, so I kept my blade.” The crimson red lightsaber ignited as he spoke, sending a red glow across both him and Aska, a sickly smile appeared on his face as he gazed into its depths how many had fallen by its blade, he couldn’t remember.

The blade disappeared as did the smile as he looked up the hill in the direction of the installation. The metal structure now hidden by a series of dips and rises in the terrain. “Shall we continue? I am not paying you by the hour.”

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

”Yea, that whole Junction ordeal didn’t make a lotta sense to me,” Aska chuckled as she sheathed her dagger. The clone harbored no love for the Sith, her own complicated and muddy history with the cult set aside, but for now Malerion was footing the tab for her services so she would set these scornful feelings aside and focus on the job at hand.

As she watched the crimson blade retract into the hilt, the clone rolled her eyes behind her helmet. Be it Jedi or Sith, those who belonged to Force cults always seemed to favor dramatics. Even so, she had seen both in action before and they were not to be scoffed at.

The pair would continue making their way towards the factory, coming along a route that would bring them back up the mountain and towards the primary entrance. There was still a way to go but the path was blocked by a small platoon of 20 droids as well as a pair of refurbished AAT tanks. If they opted for this route, to eliminate the collection of droids and proceed up the narrow mountain path, they would almost certainly face unsurmountable resistance. ”Cool way to die, though,” Aska muttered under her breath as she scanned the scene with her binocs.

”I’m not seeing any other options to get up there, aside from chancing our luck on the mountain side” Aska continued, panning across the bottom of the mountain. Should they succeed in the suicide charge, at least Malerion could be satisfied that it was practically immune to a large scale foot assault. Partnered with the air defences and this factory was well on its way to being a fortress.

@Braden

 

[Malerion]

Malerion kept the saber in his grasp, defending both against any hostile droids but also the soldier encase she had a change of allegiance mid way through their little trip. Being a Sith in the current state of the galaxy was a dangerous occupation, everyone hated you, from the Empire to the ISC to the Jedi every major party was out for your blood. It wouldn’t be far fetched for someone to pay Aska a little more money than he was to off him whilst his back was turned.

A grimace appeared on his face as he spotted the roadblock ahead, it was more than he had bargained for when arriving with just the soldier in tow. There was a bonus, the factory was more operational than he had expected, but right now at the bottom of the hill it was only a negative. He wasn’t ideally happy with sneaking up the mountain side, he wasn’t well versed in climbing or dealing with difficult terrain, but it was better than the near suicidal attack against two tanks.

“We try the mountain side.” He replied, annoyance evident in his voice. Before he trudged off of the path and began making his way up the craggy terrain.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

”You’re the one paying the bill,” Aska shrugged as she returned her binocs to her belt and turned away from the blockade before them, an undeniable sense of disappointment in not tackling the opposition head on. After all, who wouldn’t want to hijack a tank and tear through wave after wave of droids? Still, logic and reason had gotten her this far in life and she wasn’t about to throw it all away on some side gig.

Like Malerion, she had little experience in climbing mountains but she did come prepared all the same. As they rounded the mountain base to somewhere out of sight of the factory, a few taps on the wristpad would activate the jetboots of her armour. The clone carefully planned her jumps, ensuring to stay low and undetected, putting some distance between her and the Sith Champion.

”Hey, would you hurry up?” the clone would call back in a teasing tone as she hung off a rock outcropping with one hand. ”You’re not paying me by the hour, you know,” she added finally in jest, an amused smirk beneath her helmet as she continued her climb.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

The Force was slowly trickling through his body as they climbed, enhancing every muscle of his body allowing him to move as if he wore no armour. But still he was not used to such movements so was slower than the soldier who was using her boots to fly up the mountain side. A sneer appeared across his lips as she teased followed by a surge of Force Energy flowing out from the Sith. Aska would feel a little tug on her ankle, it was nothing specifically powerful nor would it cause her to fall off balance. It was just a friendly reminder of what he could do.

“Don’t slip. I can’t be bothered to find another of you.” He shouted up annoyance easily audible in his voice.

He continued to climb, but would easily be a few minutes behind the soldier at the top, hopefully Aska wouldn’t run off into trouble once she reached the summit, or be blown of its edge by whatever may be waiting for them at the top.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

As Aska hung from her place on the mountain side, she could feel the tug of Malerion’s. Her fingers slipped slightly before reaffirming her grip. ”Hey! The fuck, dude?!” she called out as she turned her body and used her other hand to further prevent her fall. ”Damn Sith never play fair,” she growled in addition as she pulled herself further upward.

As the pair neared the platform edge of the factory, Aska slowly lifted her head to scan the area. It seemed that a majority of the factory's active forces had been deployed to search for the invaders, a lone droid unit patrolling across the landing pad. Silently she waited, dipping her head back down as the metallic clank… clank… of the droid’s footsteps drew nearer. Only when the unit was directly above her did she make her move.

One hand was used to support herself on the platform rail as both feet planted themselves firmly on the mountain side just below. The other reached upward and as her fingers wrapped tightly around the machine’s ankle, the clone pushed off hard with both feet. ”Kzzzt… What?!” This would send her and the droid careening down the mountain but before she made impact on the rocky surface, her jetboots flared to life and propelled her back onto the platform. As her boots touched down, the clone quickly drew her SE-45 and scanned the area before calling down to Malerion.

”All clear. I gotta say, this is going pretty damn well,” she stated before cringing. Why did she say that? Things always went to shit whenever someone said those words.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion watched the droid tumble past him as he continued to climb, its vocabulator calling out some death cry before it crashed into the rocks below exploding into different bits. He only hoped that in the time it took him to crash onto the rocks he didn’t send a signal out to nearby allied units.

He was close to the top as she called out and a few moments later he pulled himself over the lip, the main building was only a few hundred yards to their right. He was covered in crap from the climb and his fingers ached despite The Force granting them higher than average strength during the climb. Malerion was brushing himself down as he sensed something through The Force.

Instinctively he pulled The Force into his hand and sent a wave crashing into the side of Aska pushing her to one side and onto her ass, as he dived in the opposite direction. A moment later an explosion erupted from where they stood, a rocket of some sort, seconds later blaster bolts began raining down on their location. Looks like the droid had sent the call out for help.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

”You know, this landing pad is massive. You could definitely set up a cantina off to the side for trave-woah!!” As Aska slid across the platform on the seat of her pants, the thought that the Sith employer no longer had any use for the merc and decided to dispose of her flashed across her mind. Then the explosion detonated before her eyes and she realised he had actually saved her rather than tried to silence a loose end. Behind the helmet she wore, her eyes opened wide as she scurried to her feet. ”I just had to fucking say it, didn’t I?!” she growled to herself as she rushed behind a stack of cargo containers for cover, her left gauntlet buckler snapping to life and covering her midsection.

Blaster fire rained around her location, making it difficult to scope the landing pad for where the rocket had come from. The droid foot soldiers were definitely a problem but between the legendary merc and the Sith champion, they’d be easy work. As she crouched behind the container, the clone looked for Malerion and spotted him some distance away, likely doing everything he could to stay alive.

”Did you see what that came from?!” she hollered out before standing and firing a round in the direction of the factory, melting a hole into the chest of a battle droid as she searched for the culprit. Instead, all she saw was a large group of droids marching on her location after they divided focus between the two invaders. They were quickly closing the gap on her and even given her skill and training with the blaster, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to eliminate them all before they swarmed her. That’s when an idea struck her.

Stepping back from the cargo container she stood behind and holstering her SE-45, the clone leveled her activated buckler at her waist and stanced her feet wide. She raised her right arm and turned her wrist downward in a fist before finally squeezing the activation plate in her palm, the repulsor in her armor activating and throwing the container towards the droids that closed in on her. It worked just as she had hoped, obliterating the units and giving her the opening she needed to find and deal with the rocket launcher, wherever it may be.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion scrambled behind a nearby set of crates about fifteen metres away from Aska as the blaster fire rained in from both sides of the pad. The larger rate seemed to come from the side the soldier was on, but the rocket had come from his side. “My side.” He shouted over the crash of blaster’s on steel and plastic.

The Sith was starting to get angry now, this was supposed to be a simple turn up, kill a couple of creatures to stake his claim and be on his way. But at every step there had been obstacle after obstacle. His breathing became deep, nostrils flaring, teeth bared underneath his helmet, The Dark Side pouring into the man. A snap-hiss of his red blade illuminated him in the dim light of the afternoon as he stood up and moved around his cover.

Aska’s little manoeuvre had removed a number of the droids and also pulled more attention away from him onto the woman. Allowing him to step out and deflect the few shots aimed at him, the first few were just bounced into nothingness, then a pair was deflected back at the shooters in question.

He felt it before he saw it, the rocket launcher being lifted up onto the droid's shoulders. Reaching out with his hand he gripped hold of the end of the launcher's barrel, squeezing his hand into a fist he bent the edge of the launcher’s barrel in on themselves. So as the weapon fired it immediately exploded eliminating both its user as well as the droids around it.

Now it was just clean up. “We need to get inside before that tank turns back up.” He shouted as he went about dispatching the droids closest to him.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska’s blaster fired relentlessly, dispatching droid after droid as they surged towards her. Destroying the machines didn’t provide her with the same satisfaction that came from snuffing out sentient life but the adrenaline was there all the same. After all, proving your superiority over those that desire to bring about an end to your life was pleasurable, no matter the culprit.

As the explosion from above occurred, debris raining from the balcony where the demolition unit had made its nest, the clone’s attention briefly turned to the location as the remaining droids on the platform began to thin out. There was little doubt that the factory had now been placed on lockdown and while Aska was familiar with the searing capabilities of a Sith weapon, she also knew such weapons had limits. Her attention turned back downward to the primary entrance just as a heavy set of blast doors slammed shut, green lights flashing to red to signify they had been sealed just before the glow of a rayshield washed over them.

”I suppose knocking is out of the question then!” she joked loudly as she fired a final shot into the last straggler. Malerion’s mention of a tank caused her heart to flutter, the possibility of commandeering the vessel and using it to blow open the facility hard to ignore, but she quickly quashed these desires. What point was there in Malerion’s claiming of the facility if they simply continued to blow holes in the structure? Especially when the destruction on the loft above had already been committed and offered them a simpler point of infiltration. ”I’ll see if I can get the door open!” she declared, activating her jetboots and ascending to the loft.

@Braden​

 

[Malerion]

Malerion didn’t have a chance to reply as the soldier shooted up and away from the fight and onto the roof of the building. He continued to swipe through the remaining droids around. They were few and spread out, their combat programming trying to utilise crossfire to down the Sith Champion. In response Malerion used the cover of nearby crates and machines to nullify some of the attacks, sending waves of Force Lightning and Crush to take some out at range.

More had arrived from the hill below racing back at the first transmission of danger. If Aska did not open the doors soon he would be forced to retreat or be annihilated by blaster fire. In preparation he began backing towards the large steel doors, the lightsaber swinging left and right deflecting bolts in every direction. Not caring to deflect them back at the shooters in question it was about staying alive.

@Tulos

 

[Aska Ryun]

Aska didn’t know what to expect as she crossed through the malfunctioning door into the factory but as she was greeted by the scene, her jaw dropped. The majority of what lay before her were multiple levels of conveyor belts and suspended rail systems, each of which transported droids of varying states of completion. Even with the lockdown in effect, they continued to operate as though nothing was transpiring beyond the walls which in turn offered the facility an unending wave of reinforcements. Her eyes scanned across the complex until they fell on droid after droid descending a staircase, equipped and ready for battle.”Dank ferrik,” the clone groaned beneath her helmet. ”I fucking hate droids,”

Yet as she took in everything she witnessed, she too took notice to just how oblivious each of these units were to her presence. Perhaps in the commotion and explosions, they had believed her to be executed and that Malerion was the only remaining threat. Or perhaps, and perhaps most likely, they were simply dumb droids. Regardless of the cause to their blindness, Aska was able to silently slip through the upper catwalks until arriving at a Foreman console. From there, it was quick work to slice the security system and put an end to the lockdown in this wing of the facility.

”Aaaand…. It’s open!”” Aska laughed into the built in communicator within her helmet. Of course the lockdown override wasn’t going to go unnoticed and would soon be rectified, their location also widely known within the enemy walls, but the clone recognized the potential at her fingertips. ”I wonder what other kinds of trouble I can stir up from here,” she asked aloud with a chuckle, searching for the remaining functions she had access too from the terminal.

@Braden