Slaying the Juggernaut

[Demiurge]

They never saw them emerge at the edge of the system. They never detected them, never sensed their presence as they approached and drew near. No caution, no suspicion. Throughout the sector, the massive mobile Jedi training facility dubbed the Will of the Force skirted beyond the gravity well of the mythical Jedi homeworld of Tython, slowly propelling itself around the planet like a satellite moon. Complicit and unaware, the massive refitted Star Destroyer cruised along it's repeated rotational path, its Jedi aboard equally blind to the presence waiting to strike. It would be inevitable they would not see the danger... not until it was too late.

At the outermost skirts of the Tython System, five StealthX starfighters laid in wait, motionless in the dark void of outer space. Matte black, fitted with stealth technology immunizing them or negating sensor detection, and stripped of any electronic communications, an enemy of the Jedi from their most ancient of days waited in silence. The dominators of the Empire, inheritors of the Dark Side, and successors of their progenitors; the Sith. Smuggled into the Deep Core within a freighter under the guise of a trade ship, the Sith arrived to the heart of the Jedi undetected, lying in wait.

The time that had passed was unknowable as they waited for their opportunity, waited and observed their prey until finally the moment was right, and they struck. By the telepathic command of Darth Silentius, Xesyr struck. Pushing his StealthX at maximum speed, even the inertia dampeners couldn't suppress the amount of g-forces assaulting him. But they needed speed to strike, and with it, the firepower to cripple.

"I'll attack the shield generators as planned! Avoid my flight path!"

Xesyr flew his StealthX straight toward the center of the Star Destroyer, gripping his controls to exert as much control over them as he could under his conditions until finally the moment of attack was reached. Calling upon the Dark Side of the Force to guide his attack, Xesyr used the Force to telekinetically eject their weapon of choice, the shadow bomb, guiding and propelling it starkly toward the undefended shield generator.

 

[Rev]

Aÿisha had long past succumbed to the lure of the Dark Side. The Jedi had sent her on a suicide mission to Tanaab. One she had watched two fall to the hands of the Sith, it was there she learned the true meaning of power. It was Predor so willingly giving up the holocrons they had sworn to protect, that a fellow Jedi had given his life for. The way of a Jedi was weak, spat slander, and was a constant lie.. The truth had revealed itself to her in the form of the Sith Order. Her knowledge on the Will of the Force aiding the Sith in their pursuit in destruction and devastation...

She too was within a StealthX starfighter. The same mimicked system as the others, most electronics within missing that would give away their location. Even the weapons on board had been stripped, relying purely on a Force User for guidance. Her lips would curl into a smirk as her red eyes stared forward. The matte black fiberplast concealing her too as the ships thrusters were put to their max. The G's of the fighter nearly held her to her seat, but the large Star Destroyer slowly grew larger in her view screen. Brushing a strand of hair aside she too reached out in the Force to speak to the others.

"I'm targeting the li-..."

Her outward thoughts stopped as the life-support would be out of the way from her angle of approach. Spotting the hanger bay her smirk grew into a devilish grin.

"..main hanger bay. Let them try to stop us!"

With the close of her telepathic message her mind took hold of the shadow bomb. The customized torpedo would detach from its lock before shooting towards the Jedi fortress. Her mind in complete focus around the much deadlier explosive she directed it towards the hanger. Should it not pass through the bay's shield and into the hanger it would instead detonate there. The destruction would only just begin... they would cripple the Jedi this day.

 

[Mars]

The Jedi would know loss today.*

Tanaab was only the beginning of the Sith's assaults upon the weak monks. The Sith Order would cleanse the galaxy of their self-righteous taint and rule with an iron fist. The Jedi would fall today.*

Varek would make sure of that.*

His own StealthX would be the last one to fly in, but his target was likely the most dangerous. By the time he was within striking distance many of the enemy's main systems would be down and leave the target vulnerable. The Jedi on the command deck would meet death today.*

The Zabrak launched forward in his StealthX, carefully avoiding going near the others on his nearly suicidal run, bound for the command deck of the Will. Once he was in range, the shadow bomb was let free and guided by the Marauder bound for the critical target. If it landed it would devastate the large ship, ripping apart those in control of it with its large payload. He was night invisible and since he was coming in last, the Will would be hurting already.*

Today, the Jedi would know the meaning of fear.*

 

[Sreeya]

Thaed had already given the orders to each Sith involved in the mission on what their targets were. He had zoomed in along with the others, working in sync with the other bombers. Thaed remained undetected, the matte black design hiding him from plain sight. He had masked his Force energy to remain concealed, though he extended it enough to control the bombs within his ship.

He had timed his attack with Xesyr's moving in from behind the Will to fly in close to the engines. He closed the distance while remaining undetected, the shields having been down. Without wasting any time, Thaed let the Force surge through him and down to the shadow bombs. He flew in within 300 meters of the ship. Right away, he let loose the shadow bomb, directly in sync with Xesyr and Ayisha's shots. The bomb was propelled quickly with the Force pushing it and with precise control, which allowed him to time his escape as well. The engines exploding would cause the combustion to spread throughout the ship internally as well.

Shot from this close range, the Jedi within would have only miliseconds to detect the bomb, let alone prepare for it. As soon as the bomb left his StealthX, Thaed turned his ship downwards and sped up, doing a graceful nosedive and moving faster than how quickly he had propelled the bomb. His goal was to get out of range immediately following the attack and disappear into the background once again. With the way the ship was designed, he blended into the night sky once again.

 

[Zach]

The Will of the Force... An old ship, but powerful in comparison to other models in the Alliance fleet. The numbers of Jedi on the ship were countless, but it was doubtful they would sense the presence of the Sith pilots. Ruthric's master, Thaed, had given him the order to take part in this mission. The StealthX lurched forward as he leaned on the controls before him, the mild resistance of the engine thrusters pushing against his grip. There was a small part of the assassin that wished dearly to watch the expressions on the Jedi's faces as they realized their doom, but it was a necessary sacrifice. The mission would be carried out, with or without their awareness.

His Force signature was suppressed, now focusing on it as a task rather than the constant light uses of the ability. It came to him with ease, constantly practicing and honing his skills in the technique, and the additions to the stealth fighters would help conceal their location. As the fighters began to branch off and approach the mobile Jedi capitol, Ruthric turned in suit, following the path as he prepped the launch tube beneath him. Focusing with the Force, Ruthric felt the Shadow Bomb in its tube, ready to be jettisoned towards its mark.

Already had Xesyr fired his attack, aiming for the shield generator on the Will. It was undefended, exposed and vulnerable to their assault, and would go down quickly. A backup generator might kick in, but not before the rest of their attacks would be set off. Aÿisha had swept in from the side immediately after, firing the Shadow Bomb at the starboard hangar. At the same time, Varek had flown to the command deck, releasing his own Shadow Bomb. The impending damages to the Will would be catastrophic, but by the time the Sith were finished, the entire ship would be up in flames. Finally, before making his own move, Ruthric glanced Thaed's ship branch off towards the rear of the ship, making his way to the engines and hyperdrive. Ruthric had faith in his master's skill and trusted that the ship would be efficiently crippled before getting a chance to retreat, so with little delay, he made his own way to the hangar.

The other StealthX's had already flown to the critical areas of the ship, and what remained would quickly be dealt with. Although Aÿisha was releasing a Shadow Bomb at one of the hangars, he dared not contradict the previous orders given to him by his master. Thaed had been specific in his orders, and Ruthric would not risk falling short on a brief moment of confusion. The assassin broke off from the group as the others took their targets. Ruthric flew past the ship, guiding the Shadow Bomb with the Force as he released it. Guiding the custom-made torpedo, Ruthric released the restraints and launched it through space. Whether it passed through the shielded doors in time or not, the blast would be devastating.

Upon sending the missile in its trajectory, Ruthric immediately turned his ship downward to follow suit with the others. He had no intention of sticking around to watch with a front row seat, but perhaps the fireworks would still be pleasing from afar. Following the path of his master, Ruthric guided his StealthX farther away from the imminent destruction, using the Force to increase his momentum and gaining speed now that the deed was done.

 

[Denzein]

The Will of the Force died, but not quickly.

The first shadow bomb hit the engines before anything, not even the ship's sophisticated automated detection systems, could pick it up and raise the shields. The explosion was silent on the outside, merely a blossoming flower of fire and debris bursting out into space. The engines were annihilated, and in the first strike the hull integrity was compromised towards the rear of the ship. Blast doors sealed, and alarms began to blare. Alarms that were nothing, however, to the deafening cacophony that was the exploding shadow bomb from the inside of the ship - where there was air through which sound could travel.

The shields began to raise, but not before the other shadow bombs hit home. One annihilated the shield generator, the energy backlash permanently frying the shield circuits. Two more obliterated each of the main hangars, those few Jedi in them at the time incinerated and destroyed completely by the deadly shadow bombs. Finally one hit the command bridge, the reserve command staff being slaughtered to a man (The Will's main command staff being present only when the Battlemaster himself took command of the ship). The explosion tore a good chunk of the surrounding hull to shreds for good measure, flames erupting through the cracks in the Will's adamantium skin like some sort of gaseous blood.

The brave Jedi gunners that had managed a defiant last salvo were dying or dead, their precarious positions so close to the hull meaning that many of them had already been sucked into the void. Their sacrifice may have meant nothing in the long run, but they died satisfied that they had all they could to defend their Order. They died Jedi.

The ship began to convulse, as if in its death throes. In reality this was the critical damage caused by the overloading engine reactors ripping asunder the ship's gargantuan innards. Jedi fled to the escape pods, and although many were incinerated in their efforts still many more managed to make it to the relative safety of the emergency escape craft. They jettisoned from the mother-ship like tiny children fleeing a wounded and dying parent, tiny engine flares nothing in the face of the almighty conflagration they were fleeing. Some got caught in explosions as the failing reactors began to rip the ship apart, but others rode out the shockwaves and turbulence to a safe distance - there to watch the horror of the Will of the Force's final moments in terrifying cinematic silence.

The ship finally extinguished itself with a final majestic display of its might. The reactors gave completely, exploding into a magnificent nuclear fireball that consumed and devoured the whole length of the dying ship. Anyone who had not made it to the escape pods was no more - merely radioactive atoms on the cosmic wind. The same was true for more of the escape pods, many having been fired off too late to escape the final blast.

Through all this visual masterpiece, there was no sound. The simple physics of space didn't allow the picture to complete itself, the image stolen of its soundtrack at the last by cruel reality.

In space, no-one can hear you die.