Open [Thule] A Loss For the Aegis

[Kotii Solus]

Spoiler: Music

Song

PvP Enabled, Death enabled​

This was a job that only a few could do and that was why Kotii Solus had volunteered. Only a Lieutenant in Rancor Squadron, he was more disposable than one of the ship captains or actual leaders of the company. There was more to it than that but it would not matter in the end. All that mattered was whether he was successful today.

The Solus had arrived on Thule amid civilian craft with a forged transponder. The mandalorian dropped to the surface of the heavily fortified planet during night with only a little bit of natural light coming from the sky above to help mask his arrival. Kotii moved out after he was within the city’s shield projection radius with double the normal grenades he carried. The twin-barreled medium anti-aircraft turrets that guarded the cities edge were faced outwards and remained quiet, expecting a larger mandalorian force to attack from the moons of the star system.

The mandalorian was swathed in a black cloak to hide the dark armor beneath. Black Hand was carrying a R-799 micro missile gun in his hands with his carbine affixed beside his jetpack on his back. The rest of his normal gear was all selected and modified to not reflect light or create sound. At this hour there were very few civilians moving about allowing the badger to keep to the shadows and move unseen. He headed towards the shield generator of the city Hurom in secret. The echani offshoot intended to sabotage the generator, giving Rancor Squadron some leverage in this engagement. Force help anyone that stood his way.

 

[The Storyteller]

Fortunately, the shield generator on the planet of the Dark Lord herself was not going to remain abandoned regardless of the time of night. Also carrying around a highly illegal weapon in your arms was a great way to get stopped almost immediately. Despite Kotii’s attempts at being a slick ninja in the night, one of the guards promptly began to approach him.

“Halt,” He called out, “Let me see some ID please,” The man said, carrying a blaster in his arms. He commed back towards HQ to alert the base of a suspicious presence but he hoped this could be squared away without incident.

“What are you doing here exactly?”

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Crap, he had been spotted. It was bound to happen sooner or later. The robed badger slowed to a stop and looked towards the guard before he could make out any details. When he finally spoke it was with confidence and a practiced accent to protect his identity. However the threat of harm was real and was probably the most important part. "Move along, whelp. Don't interfere in Sith business." A sith would not give them their identification and hopefully the guard would think twice before crossing someone they practically worshiped. Their comings and going was their own business, at least that was the theory. Kotii did not have any mind tricks he did not even have a lightsaber to flash around and pretend to be a force sensitive. He just had good old lying to rely on and the hopes that the guard did not want to die tonight.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Sith business? Azar was skeptical when the guard up front reported that in. The guard didn’t put up a fuss externally, but Sith didn’t carry around heavy artillery weapons and other gear like the sketchy guy that showed up. The guard silently called for backup despite letting Kotii pass to avoid rousing any suspicion. This was not the Sith Empire - everyone was required to present identification.

The Pureblood was in a control room, watching Tok Tik videos on his EZPhone when the silent alarms went off. Azar had arrived to meet with Tempest earlier that day and volunteered to take over guard duties while she arrived. He didn’t go out to engage just yet, watching the new arrival through the cameras. Azar was also eating snacks and he popped a tortilla chip into his mouth before speaking, “Set the turrets on the individual approaching the generator,” He said.

Meanwhile, he used the Force to telepathically speak to the individual arriving, State your purpose, Azar said. If the man was Sith, he could respond telepathically. If not, well he was about to eat a lot of blasterfire.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Another thing the force sensistives could do was read minds which Kotii would have done to see if the guard had been convinced. But like him, he had to take him at his word and assume his lie had been accepted. Killing the guard would just have attracted more attention especially if he had not used a red lightsaber or the Dark Side to dispatch punishment.

Having passed the outer security, Kotii continued towards the shield generator. The hidden mandalorian avoided the open spaces and tried to keep out of sight of cameras but with limited intelligence on its interior he could only do so well. The cloaked badger walked in the darkest parts of the path ahead to avoid any light defining features of his armor and other personnel however a voice still spoke to him.

He whirled around, looking for the person who gave the voice life but the voice was sourceless. Kotii remembered what his son had told him about his previous encounters with dark siders. He knew they had tricks and influences over the mind so he did his best to harden his resolve and focus on the task ahead. He was incapable of telepathy but perhaps his secret admirer would feel a desire for destruction and mayhem. Maybe they would still be able to read his surface thoughts against his will. Removal. Obliteration. Death. The Solus's missile gun became slightly hidden in his robes as his hands retracted into its depths. His left hand moved from the grip of his weapon and grasped a smoke grenade from his belt but held it firmly out of sight. Black Hand's jig was just about up. He did not need to be force sensitive to know when his luck had been pushed too far.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Azar calmly rested a chin over his hand as he was provided various images of the individual’s internal thoughts. Most of them envisioned the shield generator destroyed and the planet under collapse. Through it, however, the intruder unwittingly revealed who and what he was. Beautiful. The Sith popped another chip into his mouth, put the lid back on his salsa, cleaned his fingers off and placed his beskar gauntlets on.

“Fire,” He commanded as the first round of blasterbolts sprayed towards Kotii. Meanwhile Azar, who had studied Mandalorian culture to draw parallels between them and the Sith knew about their combat tactics. He ordered guards to arrive at the building entrances and monitor the halls. Meanwhile, Azar himself made his way towards a back entrance, coming outside on the other side of the building. He relied on his comms for updates on the intruder’s movements.

The Force channeled powerfully through Azar, and he kept that mental hook within the Mandalorian’s mind, though he did nothing with it for now. He would observe to see what the man did before acting and let him believe Azar was still inside the building.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Kotii was far from the wilderness but he was still felt like prey to a predatory pack that outnumbered him. The badger moved into action as the first salvo of energy came hurtling towards him. Rapid fire shots overshot the robed mandalorian and struck the ground around his feet. The air itself became filled with bolts in attempt to subdue the infiltrator but he would not remain still. Multiple shots flew through the space where he had been a blink before but the automated turret fire would not manage to land a fire.

His luck against the initial hostilities would not last long so he knew to get out of the open, away from the turrets. The mandalorian's jetpack activated, rocketing the man towards his previous destination but now at a much faster speed. He moved fast enough to make it hard for any of the guards to draw a decent bead on him. The Solus's left gauntlet outstretched ahead of him in a superman pose whilst still holding the inert orb in his left grip. The wrist rocket on the same arm would fly from its housing ahead of Kotii only to detonate and make a hole for the warrior to fly through.

The hole in the building would blast inward and make a decent breach for the former Solus'alor to fly through. Smoke and dust would make it hard for others to breath but the badger was not done. Once inside he cooled his jets and dropped into a jog. . His left hand finally released the smoke grenade allowing it to roll on the ground. It had a standard delay and would emit its smoky contents to fill the room he had entered and cover his tracks if any outer guards came charging in after him. The confined interior of the building would keep the thick smoke in place for awhile but Kotii continued to move through it, his focus remaining on completing his objective.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Azar was getting live intel on the Mandalorian’s movements and proper precaution was taken in the airspace in case the generator was compromised. As predicted, the man charged right into the building. The Pureblood never did anything without a strategy, and he always thought several steps ahead. Inside, Kotii would be engaged by several guards that blindly fired at him, most of them probably missing. However, very little of that mattered.

Using Force Sight, he saw through the plane of the Force, falling back to a strategy he had used on Korriban. As a Sith Master and a Pureblood Kissai, he was especially well versed with the Force over any kind of close quarter combat. He could identify the structural points in the building, aligning it with the reports he heard of the Mandalorian’s location.

Without warning, the ceiling and the level above Kotii would abruptly collapse down on him. Azar didn’t have to be in the building for this and he specifically put himself outside in order to pull this off. He wasn’t concerned with guards dying as a result, it would eliminate the Mandalorian threat.

Azar casually strode around outside, caving in the debris where the hole was blown to seal off the exit that the Mandalorian created for himself. The Sith would implode the building in to turn Kotii into salsa.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Kotii advanced dauntlessly and with the ferocity befitting a badger. The audacity of someone moving directly towards them potentially having a part to play with their inaccuracy. The mandalorian's weapon fired near silently at each of the fanatical defenders as he left the smoke cloud behind. The following popping noise was far more violent than it sounded as torsos were instantly blown apart by the warheads. Even the soldiers bones were shredded in parts by the destructive force of the weapon along with their body armor. All it took was one shot each. But the antiquated weapon had a very small ammunition capacity, forcing the Exile to reload and stow the half-spent magazine for later.

Before he could reload his wrist rocket the ceiling cracked and began falling towards him. Forgetting everything else he was doing the badger's survival instinct took over. The man desperately dove out of the way, pushing himself deeper into the building but it was still not fast enough. A chunk of rock cracked his right shoulder and another piece hit his jetpack's housing. He fell hard on the ground, blinking and noticing his Heads Up Display told him the jetpack was operating at fifty percent efficiency.

The mandalorian rose from all fours quickly and tried to shrug off the impact. Even with the dispersal of the impact across his body he would feel the bruises on his shoulders and back if he lived through this. Looking over his scrapped shoulder plate, he both heard and felt the rumble of his previous entrance being collapsed behind him. It did not matter what had caused it, but with the smoke that remained hanging back and his goal ahead, he did not want to turn around. No steps back

His jetpack was only operating at half efficiency, but it would still be able to function. Switching from flight to combat mode with a few wrist taps, he then leapt into the recently made opening in the ceiling and landed one floor above. He would make all due haste towards the control center but remain ready to jump at the slightest sign of a trap. There was someone here, a dark sider that had yet to show themselves. Maybe he would find them where he was going, defending the control center, or maybe they were hunting him.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

Azar was baffled the man moved further into the building instead of plotting an escape. He was in a death trap and he kept pressing. Azar had to admire the tenacity, but he knew the Mandalorian would be moving slower - jetpack or not. The Pureblood spoke into his comms, “Secure the shield generator and power generators. Control room is likely compromised. Evacuate to the lower levels and notify the Dark Lord and fleet to prepare for battle,” He stated curtly, though he would attempt to prevent further escalation.

Continuing on the trajectory he began, he collapsed the building from the top down, crushing it downwards and atop where he suspected the Mandalorian to be and ahead of his path. While this was draining for Azar, he had no plans of engaging the Mandalorian directly. This time, the Mandalorian was injured and stumbling through the building and would certainly die in his fruitless attempts. At least the building destruction of his visions came to life.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Kotii was unaware of his illusive opponent or the extent of his power. The building's structure came crashing down on top of the badger in a fatal torrent of stone and metal. Black Hand was dead and buried in an instant.

@Sreeya

 

[Darth Arcanos]

“Threat has been neutralized,” Azar reported back curtly once he felt that sense of loss through the Force. It was perhaps not the heroic battle the Mandalorian wanted, but Azar played by different rules. Fortunately, the shield generator remained untouched, the planet still on high alert for any follow up attacks.

Azar looked over at the debris and smoke. Part of the building collapsed, but it was nothing that couldn’t be repaired. Eventually one of the guards walked over to stand near him. Azar turned to regard the man, “Well done today…Coral,” He said after his gaze flicked down to the nametag, “It was your swift and tactical thinking that allowed us to rapidly eliminate this threat.”

“I-It’s Carl,” The man nervously corrected Azar, “And it is an honor, sir.”

“Once we remove the rubble, feel free to claim a trinket off the Mandalorian,” Azar said with a smirk before he contacted the Dark Lord (@Altaris )

 

[Darth Tempest]

Darth Tempest wasn’t entirely surprised to be informed of continued Rancor Squadron activity. The Mandalorians had stubbornly - perhaps stupidly - insisted upon attacking Thule after being driven to the edges of the system. What did surprise the Dark Lord, however, was the individual identified by Azar. Kotii Solus was a figure known throughout the Galaxy. A would-be Mand’alor, Bounty Hunter and advertised prisoner of the Hutt Clans. And now he was a body crushed beneath rubble.

The Dark Lord wasn’t concerned with the collateral damage involved. An example was made of Kotii - a warning to anyone who would dare to attack her Throneworld. Any valuables would be collected from the Mandalorian and his ship before the body was used to collect on any outstanding bounty.

State-owned Thuleian media would frame the entire incident as a terrorist attack - that of a radical Mandalorian, hellbent on destroying government before killings himself in the process. It would be broadcast to the wider Galaxy, and it would almost certainly reach the ears of Hauron.

Tempest didn’t waste time to depart from the Grand Pyramid - making her way to the scene of the attack. She knew precisely who she had to thank for the swift victory, a growing trend across multiple successes for her Order. Azar had become an asset unlike any other - growing in strength exponentially. It placed the man keenly on her radar, though perhaps not for the reasons that Pureblood might hope.

The Dark Lord was adorned in her signature armor, though it was worn beneath a larger, ceremonial set of robes - fine Zayd-cloth of black and red, stitched with Ur-kittat runes along the sleeves, collar and edges of the garment. Prophecies and Sith scripture woven into the very fabric she adorned. Thule was a highly religious society, and Tempest had worked throughout the years to deify herself amongst its populace.

With both hands knitted against the small of her back, Tempest approached the main entrance of the shield generator complex - pausing to access the damaged that dominated its facade. Security was already crawling around the area, bringing daily operations to a halt.

“You continue to impress, Master Kressh.” She said simply, her head not yet tilting to regard the Pureblood. “Here and within the palace of the Hutts,” His exploits with Nor’baal didn’t go unnoticed - bringing a fleet into their hands. Even if the details hadn’t yet been elaborated upon, it didn’t change the new reality. A real arsenal for the first time in years.

“Name your desire, and it is yours.”

 

[The Storyteller]

The Sith would recover many things from Kotii's body. First and foremost was the suite of armor, or 'beskar'gam' the former Solus'Alor had worn. His own left cybernetic arm was advanced and durable to have survived the cave in. The antique micromissile gun was a temperamental model and was likely damaged to the point of inoperability though some repairs could get it serviceable with the right parts and tools.

The mandalorians fusion cutter, vibroblades, pulse-wave pistols and blaster carbine were more rugged and had survived the crashing with some wear and tear. The more delicate slicing deck held little information on it but had also been damaged by Azar's attack on Kotii.

Separate from the mandalorians body was the ship he brought to the planet. Pauper's Harvest possessed an onboard A.I. akin to that of an astromech droid. The ship's navigation data only pointed towards neutral rendevous points and could not lead anyone to Rancor Squadron hideouts even if it wanted to. The droid would not take off as it was being searched. Its orders were to not draw attention and flying away would undoubtebly get it shot down. The local security of Thule would be able to disable the droid if they wished, impound the vessel and search its interior. After some extensive searching, they would find a varitable armory onboard the light freighter hidden in smuggling compartments.

Spoiler: Loot

Just clarifying what Kotii had on him since he has a lot in his profile that would not be worn/carried.

Wardrobe
⇀ Black Hand's Beskar'gam.
⇀ Enhanced cybernetic left forearm and hand (everything below the elbow) -

Gun "belt"
⇀ 1x SB-17 combat fusion cutter.
⇀ 1x vibroblade. - dagger or shortsword depending on discretion.
⇀ 2x Sidearm Blasters.
⇀ 1x blaster carbine. (w/ ascension gun and underbarrel grenade launcher attachments.)

Grenade "belt"
⇀ 1x PL-50 stun grenade.
⇀ 1x Flashbang grenade.
⇀ 1x Smoke grenade.
⇀ 1x Thermal Detonator.
⇀ 1x G-20 glop grenade.

Other Tools

⇀ SGG-50 grappler.
⇀ port scanner, security spike, signal tracer, PGC-2021 smartpad dataphone - Slicing tech.
⇀ personav & disposable commlink - simple short range backup communicator with a holoprojector.

Personal Assets
⇀ patrol swoop - souped up 1000 kph turbines and medium blaster cannons
⇀ Pauper's Harvest - light freighter licensed under an alias.

 

[Darth Arcanos]

With people combing through the area, Azar decided to go investigate the Mandalorian’s loadout. He found their gear and beskar fascinating. The armor was impressive to behold, most of it intact despite the cave in. By the time the Dark Lord arrived, Azar put on some of Kotii’s gloves and was flexing his fingers in the larger gauntlets because he loved dressing up. He heard her speak, but didn’t turn just yet, blowing dust off the helmet and planting it atop his head. It looked slightly big on him, but the T visor was cool. The helmet of the legendary Kotii Solus.

Azar decided he would take a ride atop one of his lovers with this helmet on.

He turned to regard Tempest then when they were briefly alone, tilting his helmeted head to the side as he regarded her. Azar knew he was pulling massive moves for the Sith. The fleet itself would position them to do more proactive strikes and slowly come out of the shadows. He knew he made Tempest nervous and he knew she likely wondered nonstop what his ultimate goals and visions were. Azar decided he would keep her guessing. She had already promised she would deliver on what he asked so he would capitalize on that, “How about a series of small favors?” His mechanized voice resounded from beneath the oversized helmet, “The first of which is I take you out for an evening and you tell me your first name. No masks,” He said simply, bringing a gloved hand up to point a finger gun at her chest and pull the trigger.

@Altaris

 

[Darth Tempest]

There was a prolonged moment of silence that dominated that space between Azar and Tempest - one that neither rushed to fill. Praetorian Guard had accompanied the Dark Lord from her citadel, contributing to the perimeter that was formed. They were entirely alone, with only the howling wind and distant sirens to echo across the cityscape of Hurom.

The Dark Lord wasn’t a fool. She knew that Azar was ambitious - as all true Sith ought to be - and would leverage his ‘favors’ carefully. Even if she didn’t know his goals in the immediate term, their roads would converge at some point. He made her nervous - and so too did Azar cautiously consider his every move. It was iron that sharpened iron, and forced the Sith to strive to be their strongest selves.

Perhaps the Pureblood would serve her well for years to come. Perhaps he would be a threat to her very existence. For now, there were contingencies to consider. Regardless of what came.

“So be it,” She said in simply response to his request for favors. There was no further explanation necessary.

Her head tilted ever-so-slightly, pausing to regard the Pureblood as he made his first requests of the day, undeniably catching her off guard. There was a part of the half-Annfyn - the true Vahliri that resided beneath the mask and persona of Tempest - that couldn’t help but smirk at the oversized helmet and finger guns. It took her back to a simpler time, and it reminded her of a certain, goofy Tiefling she had fallen for all those years ago on Indupar.

Azar wouldn’t see her smile - but neither would he be left waiting for a response.

Without warning, Azar would feel the world shift all around him - his eyes closing on the physical, only to open onto the vision that Tempest pressed upon him. Thule appeared as it had countless millennia ago, when Pureblood colonists had barely graced its surface. Endless stretches of wind-barren plains and savanna. A nexus that thrummed like a living heart beneath the surface.

Tempest stood across from Azar - devoid of the armor she so frequently wore. He would be able to make out every detail of her face, from the dark tresses that framed her shoulders to the fluted ears that pointed through her hair. She was dressed in the same style that Altair, Ashla and Cairo would recognize as both Acolyte and Champion. The woman she had been before taking up the mantle of Dark Lord.

“Vahliri,” The voice of Tempest echoed within Azar’s mind - Induparan accent lacing the name as requested reverberating until it was nothing but a whisper. The Pureblood would know it was her name - and could feel there was no deception behind it. A name that only a handful of people alive could remember, and even less were allowed permitted to address her as.

And as quickly as the vision had appeared, Azar was returned to the reality of Thule. To the busy scene of Kotii’s attack, and the shrouded visage of Tempest staring back at him.

“Come then,” She finally said, turning on a heel. Authorities were more than capable of cleaning up the rest of the mess. “I trust you have an outing in mind.”