Celebration And Infiltration

[[OOC]]

http://www.darkjedibrotherhood.com/dbjedi/...ons.asp?ID=3186 <--- Competition link.

Rules:

NO DOUBLE POSTING.

Call your next post. Leave a post saying "posting" then edit over it to make your post.

If a "posting" remains up for more then 12 hours, it will be deleted.

Do not GOD MODE.. aka if you're shot, it hurts, you may even die.

Remember if these enemies can hurt myself and Crix, they can definitely kill you.





Good luck everyone, and please try to keep a flow going throughout the story, you are allowed to plan with each other each consecutive post.. but remember you want those 1st 2nd and 3rd place crescents.


In Character:


The House had gathered in the central chamber, when the AED and QUA finally approached from the back entrance. As Andan Taldrya Marshall took his seat, the AED, Mercur "Fire-Knight" Matsuki approached the dais and began to speak.

"Greetings my Friends and fellow Archanites, and welcome to a celebration of 16 years of noble service. I know this may be a surprise to many of you, but Andan Taldrya Marshall, your Quaestor, has now served our great clan for 16 consecutive years. To honour this great occasion I have had extra rations of alcohol drawn from our supplies for all of you to enjoy." Fire-Knight waited as the cheering from this announcement abated. "Now, I present to you the great one himself. Andan, if you would?"

Stepping aside gracefully, Fire-Knight took his seat as Andan stepped forward to an enormous applause and began his speech.

"Men and Women of house Archanis. I thank you for this celebration, and more importantly I thank this Clan and House for all that they have given me over the past..."

Sensing a sudden disturbance in the Force, Fire-Knight suddenly launched forward, tackling into the Quaestor and protecting him with his body.

"FK, what the..." Andan's comment was cut short as two blaster bolts slammed into the Templars back.

"ATTACK!!! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!" Screams of fear shot up from the crowd gathered around the Dais.

Ignoring the immense pain, Fire-Knight sat up and took cover behind the nearby chairs, pulling Andan with him. As he did, Andan broke loose and stood in order to rally his troops.

"Members of Archanis! Find the intruders and Kill them all! Defend our houses honour and teach these scum a...." The Quaestors message was broken off as a ball of electromagnetic energy slammed into his chest, rendering him instantly unconscious.

The Aedile acted swiftly, and picked up his fallen friend, slinging him over his shoulder like a ragdoll. Without pausing between movements, Fire-Knight began to run at a break neck speed, making for Andan's private Quarters which were not far away.


----
You are standing in the crowded central chamber when Fire-Knight suddenly leaves with the Quaestor draped over his shoulder. Sprinting into action you duck behind a nearby object to conceal you from the sniper fire.

Taking a moment to survey the room, you see the other Dark Jedi of Archanis have begun to gather behind the dais.

You begin to plan your movements when a voice speaks loudly in your head.

"Warriors of Archanis, The Quaestor has been incapacitated and I am sorely wounded. We have been forced to evacuate to the Quaestors private quarters, where I will hold off any direct attacks on his life. Remember Andan Taldrya Marshall is a Son of Taldryan, we must protect him at all costs. You're task will be a simple one. Search and destroy all enemy assassins. My strength is failing and I will soon no longer be able to communicate via telepathy. I leave the Rollmaster and Battleteam leaders to coordinate the counterassault. Fight strong my friends, FOR TALDRYAN!!!" As the Aediles voice fades from your head you are left with a choice, remain here and do nothing, or protect your house and family.... which will you choose.

----

[[OOC: The rest is up to you, good luck]]

As the brethren of House Archanis started to gather behind the dais, Rollmaster Gobhainn Sgath climbed to the podium and ignited his crimson bladed lightsaber. Standing in plain sight of all the members of the house and the base administration, the Coruscanti Warrior glared at the crowd.

“I will have it calm and quiet” he roared, his powerful voice needing no amplification to reach even the farthest reaches of the Great Hall.

As the crowd turned toward him, Sgath reached out with the force to send waves of calming energy washing over the confused mass of personalities; Battle Meditation was a handy technique. The Rollmaster could feel the currents of anger, confusion and panic start to subside under the strength of his personality and the blanket of applied force energy.

Just the he felt a flare of emotion and barely snapped his saber up in time to deflect an energy bolt from a blaster from a rear balcony. Lashing out with will and Force, Gobhainn shattered the balcony supports and sent it and everyone standing on it crashing down thirty feet to the hall floor. There had probably been some innocents slain but now called for direct action to maintain control. Casualties would be honored later; for now, they did not matter.

“Now as I was saying, before I was interrupted, this is time to stay calm and focused; panic and confusion only aid these assassins. I want all civilian staff to proceed immediately to the emergency quarters on level fourteen. No one is to go above that level; The Hangars are hereby closed. Anyone found there or attempting to access them will be shot with no questions asked.”

Gobhainn continued to glare out at the crowd. “Archanis Base is now on lockdown. Civilian Militia is to report to the Armory immediately; Lady Shadowhawk will be taking command of the militia and directing there activities. Identified guests are to be escorted to their quarters and placed under guard for their own protection. Unidentified persons are to be apprehended or eliminated. Now, Go! In five minutes, any unauthorized person found in the hall will be considered an enemy of Archanis and will be dealt with as such.”

With this, Gobhainn turned, deactivated his saber and leapt down from the podium and landed on the floor before the gathered Dark Jedi of Archanis.

Turning to the lean form of the veteran, Battlemaster Shadowhawk, the Rollmaster nodded deferentially. He could see the flames of fury in her emerald eyes and her crimson hair literally had arcs of force energy coursing through it giving it the look of flames.

“As I said, Lady, I’d appreciate it if you would take command of our auxiliary forces. Provide escorts and guards to our guests and lock down all entrances and exits to the base and most especially the hangars. Also put the best on duty in the armory and the weapons lockers.”

Next, Sagth turned to Crix’s sister and the Knights.

“Ariara, I want you and Rannik to take Zackis and ShadowOnyx and patrol the House Quarters on levels six through nine. There should be no one there but they have the most direct access to Crix’s and Fire-Knight’s quarters on level five. Be careful, but shut those levels down and eliminate anyone you find there. We’ll sort things out later after everything is secure.

“Daar and Ace, I want you to take Nightroad, Itachi and Saraid and search levels ten through twelve. These are the levels which are most easily accessed by outsiders, so if there a place where these interlopers have set up a central command, its most likely on one of these levels. Find it and neutralize it. Saraid, If one of your pets can help, go get it, but keep it under control.”

“Remember, people, we don’t know who’s behind this or even who’s involved. Trust no one you do not know personally and eliminate any possible threats. We’ll worry about friendly fire and collateral damage later. If you can positively ID a hostile, try and capture that person alive. The Summit will be most interested in talking to any prisoners.”

“You have your orders; now proceed and Go with the Darkness.”

Now, Gobhainn turned to Dark Jedi Master Keirdagh Taldrya Cantor, the Elder of House Archanis.

“Master, will you please accompany me. I’m going to escort you to the War Room. You’re the most logical next target and the War Room is the most secure location in the Base. Also I’m sure you still have active codes to lock down all exterior entrance blastdoors and the hangar doors. You should activate the planetary defenses as well. Also you can monitor and direct all activity in the base.”

The Warrior squirmed under the condescending gaze and frown of the elder Jedi. Realizing that everything he had just said was redundant to this founding Member of both Clan Taldryan and House Archanis.

“I know that you’re well aware of this; I’m just verbalizing it for clarification.” Gobhainn stammered on. “Now let’s go, and please, be wary. I’m going to take us up to level ten, to the Summit offices, from there we can take the secure lifts to the War Room. I know that it’s going up six levels to go down one, but I have a feeling that these assassins have set up a gauntlet for anyone trying to reach the War Room directly from here.”

Tearing his formal robes off, Gobhainn stripped down to the padded jumpsuit that was his usual work clothes and activated the spectrum vision on his visor. He was now able to see energy signatures in and through most of the walls. No one was going to be able to lay in ambush successfully unless they were completely cloaked.

Nodding that his preparations were complete, Gobhainn motion for Master Cantor to follow him to the Summit’s private lifts.

The ‘Tiny Terror of Coruscant’ had only been pretending to be bored during the proceedings. In truth she enjoyed these social gatherings as much as her husband loathed them. She toyed idly with her already half-empty glass. Her dark, sultry eyes wandering aimlessly around the chamber, ruby lips bowed into a pout that only enhanced her delicate beauty.

Pretty is, however, as pretty does. The very second all hell broke loose Saraid glided towards the dais with everyone else. She didn’t panic, despite her relative inexperience in such situations. Panicking served no purpose whatsoever. Her movements were swift but purposeful, like a stalking cat about to pounce. It wasn’t difficult for her to find reasonable cover. At 5’0” just about anything – or anyone – makes a good shield. She wasn’t a coward. She just didn’t see that she’d be serving any particular purpose by being shot.

She did spare a few choice words that she’d been expressly forbidden to bring her “baby” to a formal function. But she wasn’t unarmed. ‘Merry’ – her Merr-son Model B22 – emerged from the holster that was clipped to her bra, the safety snapped off in an instant. She only had six shots. Saraid would make them count.

She smiled grimly when her husband’s voice cut above the chaos. Even though it was a linguistic atrocity, the nickname ‘Gob’ suited him. He had the biggest mouth on all Coruscant! Still, it served him well – when he didn’t have his foot in it up to his kneecap. As the crowd grew calmer, more still, she used the moment to edge as far away from Gobhainn as she could reasonably get. Nothing personal, but with him standing up there and taking charge, someone was probably going to…

Yup! The deflected energy bolt went over her head, fortunately missing her by several yards. She slid between a pillar and the wall – a space to small for most people to wriggle into. From the relative safety of her position she listened, only peeking out briefly now and then to see what was going on.

She was a little surprised that he didn’t order her to go to their rooms and stay put. She had all of zero experience in these matters – quite besides being his wife. But she’d gain experience by doing. That was probably why he’d told her to go with Daar and Ace, and in a larger group. It made sense. She’d learn, be of assistance, and not be as likely to get hurt.

Saraid didn’t just stand there pondering her husband’s line of reasoning. She touched Gobhainn’s mind briefly in wordless acknowledgement, already moving. It was time to go get her “baby”. And Nuada.

Andryan had been leaning against a wall, with many banners of Archanis and Taldryan on it, during the routine, boring speeches. He was hoping that this would speed up a little bit so they could all get to have some fun, but like always it seemed, something happened.

When Queldom had heard the sniper shots he quickly flipped one of the tables over and took cover. He would have come out earlier, but the snipers were still out and he knew Gobhainn would deal with it. After all, that is his job with the Aedile and Quaestor out.

The Dark Jedi Knight stood up and jumped over the knocked down table and walked over to his good friend Daar. “Is this how everything here goes?” Daar rhetorically asked his friend. The Sith Warrior made the speech to the crows, and then it was time to give everyone there tasks. “Since we aren’t in any major position I’d bet we are going to knock some heads.” Andryan said cheerfully to Daar. “See? Being low on the chain of command isn’t always bad.” Daar said jokingly.

“Daar and Ace, I want you to take Nightroad, Itachi and Saraid and search levels ten through twelve. These are the levels which are most easily accessed by outsiders, so if there a place where these interlopers have set up a central command, it’s most likely on one of these levels. Find it and neutralize it. Saraid, if one of your pets can help, go get it, but keep it under control.” Gob said to the five people standing there.

“Alright people, you heard him, let’s get going.” Queldom said to the people that Gob had addressed. “Wait, were did Saraid go?” Asked Nightroad. “I think she went to get her ‘pet’ as Gob called it.” Itachi replied. “Well, she has to go up a couple of levels so some of you should go with her.” “How about Nightroad and Daar go with her?” The Battle Team Leader asked the three other people around him. “Sounds good to me.” Daar replied.

“Alright, then. Itachi and I will go up to the tenth level and make sure no one is in there.” “Once you get this ‘pet’ of Sariad’s go up to the eleventh level, that is mostly open lounges so it should be a good place to use the heavy weapons”

With a nod the four men went their different ways, Itachi and Andryan heading for the lift. “They will probably have guards around the lift, so be ready for a fight.” The Knight said to his companion as he gripped his lightsaber.

Nirnaeth had wandered back to his quarters feeling ill just before the speeches. He must have eaten something bad and his head spun. The nauseating feeling made him stumble into one of the walls of the corridor and fall knocking himself out. When he awoke there were warning sirens and flashing lights all around and he jumped up only to find he had a splitting headache.

On their way to find Saraid and her “pet” Daar and Nightroad came across a stooped figure. They both drew their weapons not recognising the being in front. Suddenly Nirnaeth turned around and Daar fired just missing his left ear.

“Hey watch out man,” cried the Zabrak in a bellowing voice.

“Sorry” said Daar, shaking a little from the encounter.

“I am Nirnaeth Arnoediad, I transferred here not long ago. We must not have met before. What is going on?” asked the still bewildered Zabrak. Daar explained everything to him and encouraged Nir to come with them to find Saraid.

The elevator halted at the 10th level and the doors opened slowly
"Clear left" Itachi said
"Clear right" Ace said as the made the way through the 10th level looking for anything out of place.

"Clear left." Itachi said once more.
"Movement right." Ace said as softly as possible.
I'll move behind him you get his attention." Itachi said
"Wait why am I the one faceing this thing head on?" Ace asked
"Your the big bad knight with the lightsaber." laughed Itachi as he began to move around to encircle the target. Ace mumbled something under his breath however at that very moment the target had let loose a ball of electromagnetic energy which the knight avoided by the skin on his teeth. He went for his lightsaber as it pulled out a blaster. He manged to deflect the bolts however it sprinted foward and punched the Knight to the ground. Just when the thing was about to finish Ace off Itachi rushed foward useing the force to add some extra power to his thrust with his trusty katana he managed to get his blade all the way though the things chest however much to the hunters surprise the thing got up lifted him up and threw him all the way across the corrdoir.

"Ace NOW!!" Itachi manged to get off before hitting the wall on the opposite side of the room. Ace then quickly ignited his lightsaber and choped the things head right off.
"Itachi you alright." Ace asked the battered Jedi Hunter.
"I thing I broke an arm but other then that I seem to be ok." Itachi managed to get off in his great amount of pain as he walked over to the body.
"It seems to be some sort of a mix between a human and robot." Ace infered
" So its a Cyborg huh well lets go see if there are any more on this level." Itachi said as they continued to search the area keeping a close eye on everything around them.

“Hold on a second, Itachi.” Andryan said. They were in a hallway which lead to the Aedile’s office. The hallway had some kind of tile floor, which their footsteps echoed on. The pair had not seen anything since they first got onto the level, and in Ace’s mind that was good.

Reaching out in the force, the Dark Jedi Knight telepathically contacted his fellow Knight, Daar. “How is it going on your end?” Queldom asked. “We finally got to Sariad’s room, I am standing outside talking to Nirnaeth Arnoediad.” Daar replied. “New guy?” “Yeah.” “hmm…might be better if you send him to me, there doesn’t seem to be much going on down here.” Andryan told Daar. “Why?” “Because I, nor anyone I think, wants anyone to be killed.” With that said, Ace broke off the connection and turned to Itachi.

“Come on, what is the hold up, man?” Itachi said while cradling his broken arm. “Nirnaeth Arnoediad is joining us.” Ace said. “Ok, should we wait here for him?” “Stay in this hallway, but let’s break into Fire-Knights office first.” Andryan said as an evil grin spread across his face.

Ace’s red lightsaber blade sprung to life and was plunged in the door. He turned his lightsaber in a circular motion until there was a hole in the door. The sides of the door glowed red from the heat. The two Dark Jedi stepped through and found themselves in a dark room, Queldom speculated it was the Aedile’s waiting room in front of his actual office.

Both the Jedi could hear several things moving on the other side of the room. Andryan approached with Itachi closely following behind….

With a soft click of a button being depressed on the comm. System of the doors control panel, the Sith Knight spoke harshly. “Saraid, we have company, the others will join you, seal the door and wait until I contact you again shortly. Gather a few things that we may need, anything useful for bandages, and any bacta stims and alcohol”. The large man herded the two journeymen into the room, and listened for the locking systems chime before he darted off down the corridor, lightsaber hilt in hand. A door slid open beside him, anticipating the movement, Daar Kareth leaped into a front flip, passing over the doorway, and into a roll along the polished black marble floor of the corridor. With a snap hiss his yellow blade erupted from the emitter, impaling it’s target through the rib cage. Paralyzed by shock, the strange figure was frozen, its cybernetic eyes fixed on the large Tatoonian man. Scanning it from the floor up, Daar inspected the specimen with great detail, cataloguing the creatures features in his mind for quick reference, he focused his will to telepathy, reaching out to Itachi he send a short glimpse of his current situation.

With a sharp hiss of his blade retreating back into the emitter of the weapons hilt, the golden hue that had draped itself atop the shimmer of the black marble floor, and the grey polished stone walls had faded, returning the corridor to its soft shadowy state. Reaching with the force he grips the throat of the cybernetic creature and slams in forward, into the corridor’s bulkhead eight meters away with enough force to render it incapacitated.

The Sith Knight rose to his feet from his crouched position, and strode over to claim his trophy. With a fluent motion he swung the creature over his shoulder, as a groan rose deep from within his throat. The weight of the creature’s metallic limbs and components was bearing down on him. An evil grin was present on his face, where a stolid expression resided. With haste Daar Kareth returned to Saraid’s quarters.

Using the comm. Interface once again, he grumbled into the microphone. “I’ve found one of our ‘party guests’ lets move on, we have a lot of ground to cover”. He removed his finger from the red square button, it’s release made a clicking sound, that in the empty halls seemed to echo.

As the durasteel tri-paneled door slid open, Nir and Nightroad greeted him, their mouths’ agape at the sight of the strange cybernetic creature’s appearance, the light of the glow globes in the doorway shown upon the incapacitated creature’s metallic head. The light was causing a shimmer of sorts, one commonly seen on droid bodies after they have just been cleaned, and polished.

“Where’s…” Daar started, only to be interrupted by a growl, and the sound of a woman’s voice from a back room. Shaking his head, he fixed his gaze upon Nir’s face; a look of confusion was present. Nightroad’s focus shifted to a shadow behind Daar, without a seconds delay the Cyborg’s body dropped to the ground, with a metallic clacking sound as it settled. A snap hiss rang out in the empty corridor, as an eerie yellow light stemmed from the blade of the Knights weapon.

A series of colored light trail illuminated the shadowy corridor as they traveled rapidly towards Daar Kareth of Archanis. He knelt, out of reflex, lowering himself to avoid the first volley of blaster bolts. His shaven scalp felt momentary heat as the bolts flew over head, barely missing him. The path was clear, the targets were far, his range was short. Close quarters was his effective range, without missing a beat he darted with aid of the force, anticipating incoming blaster fire, he deflected as many as he could without stopping or altering his course significantly. A stray bolt escaped his blade, and connected with his right upper thigh, the sensation of the extreme heat lasted for just a second, his momentum was slowing now. Acting out of desperation, the Knight resorted to what he knew best, brute force. He leapt forward, flourishing his blade above his head, and then he drew it back far, lining it up with his spine. As gravity brought him to the ground, he brought his blade down upon the head of a what appeared to be a mercenary, humanoid, heavily armored but with weequay hunters markings. Daar Kareth’s strike was precise, he split the merc down the center, with as much speed he could muster, he spun about letting loose fierce katas, and swift sweeps.

A disruptor blast sped towards the Sith swordsman’s arm, and blew through his elbow joint, causing his blade to deactivate, and fall to the floor while still griped in his severed arm. Screaming and howling with pain Daar Kareth dropped to his knees, his eyes filled with rage, his heart erupting with bloodlust and revenge.

Remembering the three whom he is charged with protecting, Daar cried out at the top of his lungs for them to run. Before he could finish a metallic robotic fist cracked across his face, breaking his jaw, and sending him to the ground with enough force to knock him unconscious.