Taldryan vs. Arcona Feud Run-on

Taldryan Headquarters on Karufr

“Tell me Arcona is bluffing, something, anything besides a blown mission,” said Duga, his tone betraying a hint of disgust.

Gathered in the Consuls briefing room were Prelate Duga, Exarch Benevolent Taldrya Whiner, Exarch freshjive taldrya, Templar Chaosrain, and Battlemaster Crix. Duga sat back in his chair, one hand rubbing his temples in an attempt to ease out the stress the past couple of weeks had built up within him. He already had enough problems; this was something that he didn’t need. A simple recon mission had gone horribly wrong and now the Summit was in a bind.

“Its looking like they were caught, although I don’t see how, they must have some new sensor equipment that our previous intel didn’t account for,” replied Chaos, “since we had practically zero pertinent information, its easy to see how it would be missed, our last reports are from five months prior to the mission, they could have easily put something into place since then.”

“Regardless, now we have two of our members in hostile territory, possibly captured, possibly on the run, possibly already dead,” added Benevolent, “how do we know that Arcona isn’t just baiting us?”

“We don’t, and there aren’t a whole lot of ways to find out aside from dropping out of hyperspace with the Dark Prophet and the rest of the fleet,” said Crix, “is that a course of action we want to pursue?”

“I’d have liked a little more time and information before we did, but it doesn’t look like we have much of a choice, Werdna and Odium are in trouble and we’re going to get them back one way or another,” replied Duga.

So far each person present had spoken except for freshjive. Known as one of the more introspective and quiet members of Taldryan, freshjive wasn’t much for words, but when he did speak, it was usually frank and to the point. All eyes shifted to him, partially because they wanted to hear what he had to say and partially because the members caught were his, notably his Aedile and Rollmaster. Duga stopped rubbing his temples and straightened up in his chair.

“I’ve made some calls to people; a lot of the old guys are coming out of the woodwork. We need to get going now; the sooner we get them back, the less of an opportunity they’ll have to give up information to Arcona. Werdna and Odium aren’t dumb, they’ll hold out as long as possible, but everyone has a breaking point,” responded freshjive.

“Ok, how long will it take for us to be ready to leave for Selen?” asked Duga.

“The fleet and most of the houses and retainers are mobilized and in orbit or en route, we can leave anytime,” said Crix.

“Ok, I’ll write up a response to Arcona, we leave in two hours, I’ll transmit it on the way, should give us enough time to get close. Get to your ships and brief your troops. We’re going to get our people back.”

-----

OCC: Started thanks to freshjive. Here are some tips to remember in Run-ons..

1) When you are going to post, first go to the MB and create a new post
that says "posting". Then go back and edit that original post with your
full text. This is to stop people from posting while someone else is
writing something, which could screw up the storyline. Make sure to edit
over your "posting" post so that we don't have excess crap clogging the RO.

2) Remember to remove your Signature from all of your posts (Exception:
If your MB nick is different than your DB nick, you should show your
signature ONCE) This helps keep the story flowing so it is not
interrupted by large sig images and ID lines

3) Follow the commands of your leaders be they battleteam, House Summit
or Clan Summit. Run Ons are done in-character and in-character you
wouldn't violate a direct order given by your superior - that makes you
dead

4) No God-Moding (i.e. making yourself invincible). Everyone does this
in their writing though younger members seem to have more trouble with
this. Even though we are Dark Jedi we are not invincible. Don't take on
situations you wouldn't survive. Work as a team to overcome large obstacles.

5) Stick with the main plot. Don't create random spin-off adventures for
yourself unless a Summit member has directly told you to do so. This
keeps the continuity going strong and makes for a more enjoyable story.

6) No double posting (posting twice in a row. If you really need to add
something right away edit your previous post instead of creating a new one)

7) Have Fun

Alanna trailed her fingers along the row of books on her shelf, stopping every now and then to pull out a History Arcane or an Ancient magicks. Crix's communique hadn't given her much to go on. General lore rather than anything specific, not that she was especially worried - Arcona's Krath were never any match for Ektrosis. Taldryan she corrected herself - there are Krath in Dinaari now. She paused to shake her head - things change and she had to keep up with them. Either way, Arcona's Krath wouldn't stand a chance.

A knock sounded on her door and she stuffed a couple of the books into her pack as she called 'Come in'. The door opened to a rather nervous young Apprentice.

"Mi'lady," he swept a deep bow. Alanna smiled. They're so cute when they're new.

"What can I do for you, Apprentice?" the Envoy asked.

"I was wondering... I mean, I'm not ready for this. Can I stay and continue my studies...?" Alanna's face began to cloud with disapproval and the Apprentice hastened to amended his words "Obviously I'm ready to fight, I just - I wouldn't want to burden any of my masters ..."

Alanna's face softened. "You've embraced the dark side, young one. Your passion and dedication is all you will need. Arcona must be humbled for what they've done, for their insult to Taldryan. You are a part of that clan and so, as they insult us, so they insult you. Think not of what you cannot do, but of what you must do.

Now. The clan is gathering. You may accompany me as I join the others.... unless you would consider yourself yourself a burden to me?"

"Never, mistress."

------------------------

The Dark Jedi Mistress left her quarters with the young padawan in tow... somewhat burdened, but only with Alanna's effects, and eager to face the Arconans.

The Aedile of Dinaari, Werdna Elbee, awoke curled up on a cold metal floor. He wondered if he had truely opened his eyes as there was no light around him. In the pitch black, Werdna felt around looking for the walls to make out the shape and size of the room.

Werdna recalled some images of looking out of a view screen seeing land getting closer and closer. And then memories of extreme pain. But not of the disasterious landing ...of something else. He presumed he could be in nothing else but a cell.

There were no walls to be felt it appeared. Werdna tried to stand but doubled back as pain shot all around his body. It felt liked quite a few ribs were broken and his back felt bruised. While murmuring in pain he realised how swolen his mouth was. Raising a hand hesitantly to check he touched his face. The numb tingling he felt as he touched his beaten face felt as if he were touching someone else entirely.

Looking deep within himself to discover if there were any more injuries hidden, Werdna was stunned at being unable to do so.

Reaching out with the force there was nothing to be felt either within or without.



NOTE: as posted on the Arcona run-on ...whoops

Fluid body movements. A beautiful blonde human was standing in front of Mordin shaking her body as if trying to make dead men come back to life. Mordin walked through the dance club, noticing everyone move with the beat of the rhymic synthetic bass beats.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"GOD DAMN DREAMS!" Mordin reached over and slapped his alarm clock. When the beeping did not stop, he realized it was not the clock. He looked at the time, 0238. Of course the damn alarm clock wasn't going off this early. He reached for the night stand next to his bed and found his comm piece crackling.

"Mother #$!^$* this had better be the a damn good thing, what the hell do you want," Mordin thought that was what he had said but more than likely it have come out as slur, slur, blab, blab. Damn alcohol.

"Hey Mordo, calm down. It's jive. Get your crap together and swing by."

Mordin automatically clicked out of his fog. Totally alert and ready, "That bad?"

"Yeah, get your crap and just show up," freshjive left a long pause. "You'll find out when you get here. Plus, we miss you," he chuckled.

Mordin set the comm back down and in the darkness of his apartment he retrieved his battle armor and then donned a robe to conceal it. Why was it that superiors always tried to lighten the mood before they told you about the impending storms?

Crix smiled as he took his place on the bridge of the Modified Bulk Cruiser Leviathan, an older ship that had been retrofitted and modified to suit Taldryan's needs. He looked out across the distance at the floating wedge that the Interdictor Orthanc. The last time he'd commanded troops in a major conflict between clans he'd been on the bridge of that ship as Quaestor of House Archanis. Times change... Crix thought to himself but Taldryan always comes out on top. Smiling, he listened to the hum of activity on the bridge: status reports coming in, the last of the troops and cargo being loaded. Crix had managed to pull some strings with Duga and get the squadron of Hyperion fighters stationed on the Leviathan for this operation, and he'd had one reserved for his use. Those fighters were the direct result of the last time he's commanded a large scale operation and he'd grown rather attached to his prizes over the years.

A junior officer's approach brought Crix's thoughts back to the present and the operation at hand. "All systems check out, cargo is aboard and all personnel are at their stations, sir."

Crix turned around, his black cloak fanning out with the movement, and put a hand on the officer's shoulder. "Very good, get to your post and be ready for battle." Turning back to the bridge the Battlemaster reached out with the Force and flipped the switch to transmit his comm throughout the entire ship and said "Brothers and Sisters, I've just been informed that our ship is ready and waiting for battle. Many of you are young and have not experienced a full scale battle before. I will not lie to you: battle is ugly and people will die, possibly even you. However, stationed on this ship along with you are some of the best fighters in the entire Brotherhood; watch them, follow their lead and if you do die, do so knowing that your death was for the glory of Clan Taldryan, the clan that always wins." He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in.

He continued: "Clan Arcona has taken two of our members hostage; they have no doubt tortured them in horrible and grotesque ways in an attempt to gain information about our clan so that they can attempt to overthrow us. Know this, neither Werdna nor Odium have said a single thing, nor will they ever. Taldryan Jedi are strong and they do not give in no matter what happens. Taldryan Jedi also stick together and protect each other, which is why we're here today. Feed on Werdna and Odium's pain, let your anger towards Arcona loose. Use it to destroy any Arconan who stands between us and our people. You are Taldryan Jedi, you will not loose!"

With that Crix clicked off his comm and addressed the bridge crew "I want all weapons systems and shields powered up before we jump, as soon as we come out of hyperspace we'll be engaging the nearest target. They'll be waiting for us so every second will count once we're in-system."

Just as he finished his address his station beeped at him, signifying that he had a message from the clan's flagship. He glanced down and saw the order to begin the operation. Looking back up he said "Prepare to jump on my mark." He scanned the bridge as everyone flew into a flurry of motion, readying the large ship for the hyperspace jump. He watched as the lead ship, the Victory-class Star Destroyer Dark Prophet, made the jump to lightspeed and said, with a large smile, "Mark!"

As he sat down, the stars that were visible past the bridge turned into lines of light and they were off to rescue their clansmen.

Shaithis sat on a stone in the middle of a clearing, meditating, clearing his thoughts. It was harder than normal he realized as emotions stirred within him that were not easily reined in. He left Dinaari and Taldryan to walk the furthest reaches of space in search of something, Shaithis could never quite put his taloned finger on what he was searching for he just knew that it was out there.

A flash, a distinct image gone before details could be noticed. Was it the lightning Shaithis wondered only to look up and see the storm had long since dissapated. Again, this time the feeling to return home, to Taldryan, accompanied the image. Shaithis growled as he stood up from his rock, stretching every aching muscle for it had been two days since he sat down to meditate. In response to the growls, his stomach responded in kind but food would have to wait, it was time to return home. Returning to his shuttle, Shaithis noticed that a transmission was waiting for him on the communications console.

Curious, Shaithis thought as he pushed the button to decrypt and display the message. It was from Dinaari headquarters he noted, an image appeared on the screen, an image he had seen not minutes before.

"Shaithis, I hope this finds you in time. I've been putting in calls to all of those who had helped Dinaari and Taldryan prove its dominance again and again, for we are in need of your help. Two members, namley my Aedile and rollmaster are being held by the cursed Arconans. The mission will most likely be underway by the time this reaches you, meet the stike fleet in Arconan space, the coordinates are attached to this message. Come with haste as soon as possible. Freshjive out." Shaithis spat on the floor at the mention of Arcona, his distaste for them was well known.

Firing up the shuttle, Shaithis entered the coordinates from the message. Sitting back in the seat, it was just a matter of time before the Taldryan stike fleet would be in sight. Taking a deep breath, Shaithis sighed with a smile, it was about time he got to instill some fear into another clan.

Vodo sat quietly in the meditation center aboard the Leviathan, awaiting the time in which he would called upon to make his personal sacrifices for the sake of the Clan, and his Clan mates. Arcona, the long time "rival" of Taldryan had desecrated the name of its greatest warriors. The enemy clan was in fact only a minor threat to the powerhouse that was Clan Taldryan. It amused the Twi'lek how ready the Summit had been to go to war, especially after the capture of their two ranking members was a "surprise".

It mattered not. The Dark Side did not lend itself to fairness, and granted power only to the aggressors. that is what Taldryan was, the Aggressor. Vodo would have chuckled if he were not immersed in his meditation, focusing on the bead of dark energy he kept locked down, gradually feeding it anger, hatred, and fear. The Bead was the mental representation of his power, of his achievement as a Dark Jedi. As a Krath.

The P.A. system klaxoned, waking him from his trance, something that angered him. The Loud speaker began barking off orders for assignments aboard ship, and was soon followed by an inspirational speech given by Lady Alanna herself. If it were any other leader, it would have annoyed him, but the Twi'lek allowed himself a small likeness to the Krath Mistress. The announcements were at last followed by the small lurch int he pit of his stomach that signaled the jump to hyperspace.

The fleet was off, carrying it's load of deadly, highly trained and highly patriotic Taldryan Warriors.

Betja had heard some strange noises that others may have called alarms, to him they were called, "sleep interuptions to be ignored at all costs." Lying as he was half in his bunk and half on the floor, (having barely made it into bed the night before) Betja half stirred as he heard the whoosh of the door. For a moment curiosity fought the desire to sleep, but it was a moment he did not have, and it was that nano-second that ensured he would be grumpy the rest of the day...

The water cascaded down his head, through his robes and deep into the matress. The sabre leapt to the air as Betja himself leaped to his feet, it's blade slicing through the bucket Bubbles had been holding. "Damn you Betj, I liked that bucket!" she said in a mocking tone. The ever eloquent Betja struggled out a "grrrrrr." For a moment the blade hung indecisive before Betja reluctantly deactivated it. Grudgingly Betja admited (if only to himself) that he was out of shape and couldn't realistically fight her. Drips continued to fall from his hair and robes as he settled on an irritated glare.

"Damn you Bubbles I was sleeping!!!!" he said through bared teeth.
"Thats a certainty," she grinned and bounced, "but the fleet is moving out, spies to rescue!"
"Ahhh," said Betja, "and you want to warn me so I can get off this ship and go sleep on the planet."
"Yes, that was it, see I've done you a favour, now hurry on!" she spoke softly bouncing all the while.

Bejta nodded his thanks, never one for work when sleeping could be had, and he plodded off to the docking ports. It was a good five minutes before he realised he was already in hyperspace.

Bubbles graced the bridge with her prescence and floated softly down to the Lady Alanna. "Did you soak him," asked Alanna. "Yes," replied the dark jedi, "but why was it so important to do so Alanna?" Alanna chuckled, "I wanted to cool him down before he exploded when we found out we'd already left!"

The leviathan’ hull shuddered as the heavy cruiser entered hyperspace, the streaks of star light now a vortex of swirling blue and white; an all too familiar sight for most space faring civilizations. Ektrosian Aedile Crix Madine occupied the central command chair of the Cruiser, its regal form a testament to the greatness of Taldryan and Ektrosian ingenuity. Tiberius had been approaching the bridge when the command to jump to hyperspace had been relayed. The Dark Jedi Knight was anxious to be present when the fleet entered the Selen system.

Tiberius motioned towards the command chair, his robes dragging behind his feet; as each step closed the distance. The movement was stopped with a single phrase, “Well, what is it?” The Knight had felt his master’ presence, the force cascaded from the command chair, its occupant one of Ektrosis’ most ardent leaders. Tiberius continued forward, taking smaller steps so as to reduce his approach. It was but a few feet from the command chair when the Knight finally stopped. The chair’ occupier was obscured from view as its back faced Tiberius.

“My Lord, forgive this intrusion, but I desire to speak with you.” stated Tiberius, his voice etched with self satisfaction and regalia. A singular gloved finger protruded from the side of the command chair, beckoning the Knight to approach further. Tiberius acknowledged the gesture by approaching the chair, flanking the occupier. The Knight bowed his head in respect, a response reciprocated by the Ektrosian Aedile.

“Well, speak, expose your thought to me” said Crix, his face a contortion of dark side energy. The Aedile waited patiently for the eventual reply. Tiberius spoke, “Master, I was just wondering if we would end this confrontation with as little Ektrosian blood as possible. Would it not be simpler to bombard the planet with spacial charges, eliminating both the enemy and any possible information they might have gathered from our comrades?”

“Spacial bombardment would indeed solve the immediate situation, but Werdna and Odium would be equally susceptible to obliteration in that manner.” replied Crix.

“But for all we know, they could already have been executed. I think it would be prudent to level the complex, and consider them unfortunate causalities of war.” The Knight’ speech was drenched with realism. This conflict had escalated before negotiation could be properly conducted, Krath are not warriors, they are diplomats. And this war would consume many Krath; lives that were not as disposable as that of Sith or Obelisk.

Now it was Crix’ turn to respond, “What would you suggest, abandon our comrades to Arconan filth, to be prodded and tortured? No, this decision has already been made, they are wanted alive. We must discover the extent of the information leak. For all we know our enemies could already posses information about our fleets weaknesses. Such a security risk is worthy of this response. Now return to your station and prepare for battle.”

Tiberius motioned to speak, but his voice was quelled with a stern glare form his Aedile. Acknowledging the conclusion of the conversation the Knight bowed and walked past the command chair; edging towards his station. The fleet would soon be in Arconan space, and the fate of Taldryan now rested in the hands of history.

Being that he was a lower tier member of the house, and of the Clan as a whole, most of Vodo's duties were simple compared to the slave labor he preformed on Ithor. It mostly consisted of simple moving tasks, which to a force sensitive was very easy. He merely ordered his subordinates to assist him in lifting the crates and loose material, and move it to the desired location using the force. He told them it was a practice in force use, and therefore no one would complain on the verge of battle.

A Tall, dark Krath passed by the hangar where the work was progressing, and shook his head in disapproval. The work went on, and was finished quickly, allowing Vodo to return to his soft chair in the meditation room where he resumed his mental exercises, starting from scratch. The Bead of dark side energy started small, but gradually grew as he added to it. He drew on his annoyance at being interrupted earlier.

The exercise ended when Vodo had turned the bean into a palm sized globe of mental energy. In his mind, he rotated the black and purple cloud of gaseous energy, condensing it further, and floated it into the image of his head. Upon waking from his trance, the Twi'lek felt relaxed, but angry and ready to face his foes.

Vodo Biask left the meditation chambers, practically running over a small Novice. The novice, an Obelisk transferred to Ektrosis stared up at the dominating figure of the Guardian. Their ranks did not seperate them by much, but Vodo's tenure in the clan and experience frightened the young one. Vodo's expression softened, realizing he was emanating a strong feel of the force and led the Novice to the nearest food court.

He expected it to be empty due to the excitement of the ship, and the business that accompanied it, but it was packed, and the two were hard pressed to find a place to sit

Crix watched Tiberius leave through the Force, smiling to himself. Still rough around the edges, but he's good. He thought to himself. Relaxing in the command chair, Crix entered a light meditative trance, calming all his emotions except for his anger. He fed his anger and let it grow. Arconans had captured two of his clan mates, two of his friends, and refused to turn them over to Taldryan. That was unacceptable, it was outrageous, it was suicidal. Yes, Arcona had signed its own death warrant when it had crossed Taldryan. There was a history of bad blood between the clans but this was it, the final straw that would cause the complete and total destruction of Clan Arcona.

When he brought himself out of the trance, Crix felt refreshed and focused; he could feel the minute subtitles of the Force around him. The display in front of him beeped, alerting him that they had almost reached their destination. He switched the comm on again and addressed the entire ship "Attention crew of the Leviathan, we have 10 min. until we revert back to real space. All hands report to battle stations, all pilots to their ships and landing parties be ready to launch. Remember why we're here: to right the wrong done to us by Clan Arcona and to rescue our captive clansmen. We will not fail!" He clicked the comm off and readied himself for combat.

(Edited for spelling)

The bridge of the Assault Frigate Praetorian was buzzing with activity. freshjive stood at the view portal, looking across the fleet gathered around Karufr. Taldryan's fleet was the largest of the clans and was an awesome display of firepower. freshjive continued to stare out over the fleet but soon heard the sound of boots as they clanked across the steel floor. The sound died as the person stopped behind him.

"Nice to have you back Kraval," said freshjive without turning.

"Heh, neat trick, how'd you know?" replied Kraval.

freshjive turned to address the Dark Jedi Knight.

"I saw your reflection in the glass," he said with a smirk.

"Kind of takes all the mystery out of the Force and such doesn't it?"

"It's good to have you back, we need all the help we can get, especially me, not having Werdna and Odium around to help run this circus is going to be a pain."

"Well, you know I'm availible."

"I know, as a matter of fact, I've already got a job for you."

"Really? What is it?"

"You're going to be leading one of the advance teams when we get in system. Once we drop out of hyperspace, you and a small team will insert and prepare a landing zone for the rest of the troops, gather an intel you can and basically hold out until the cavalry arrives. Don't venture too far though, you wont have enough resources to do anything other than secure a LZ. I'd do it myself, but someone has to lead the rest of the house."

"Thats a strage thought, freshjive in command. You're usually the one behind enemy lines."

"Yeah, but its what has to happen, hopefully I'll still be able to get a litty dirty. I don't know how long you'll have to hold out, and the Praetorian will probably be engaged once we drop from hyperspace, but if we can get you in under the radar, you wont be detected. Let me know if you get in a pinch and I'll task some Scimitars for close air support."

"No problem, I'll go select my team."

"Good, see to the rest of the guys too, its the first time out for a lot of them."

"I heard Shad was back," said Kraval as he turned to leave.

"Yeah, he's enroute, Shaithis should be also."

With that Kraval walked off the bridge towards the turbolifts. It was time for the jump, freshjive returned his gaze out the window to the blue hyperspace tunnel that began unfolding before the Praetorian.

Mordin sat there in there in the cockpit of his newly acquired Stealth-X. He had been waiting for the fleet to arrive for nearly 2 hours. He had checked and double checked his coordinates to make sure his location was correct.

"Bollocks, what is this... 'Oh Mordin, show up here, for this... blah blah blah.' This is crap they're not even going to show." Mordin muttered and cursed jive in his head for playing stupid games with him.

His R2 unit trilled. Bleep-bleep-twit. "Oh really," queried Mordin. "So they're going to be showing up right...."

Right then the full force of the mighty Taldryan fleet arrived.

"Open a comm signal hailing the Leviathan," whispered Mordin. He had seen the fleet many times before, but every time he saw it in full force and geared for battle; it was more empressive than before.

"Glad to know you showed up Apo. I didn't think you'd climb out of a bottle even for this," said the voice.

The food hall emptied slowly, allowing the noise level to decrease to a level where Vodo could begin talking to the novice he'd steamrolled earlier. He found out that this young novice had only joined months prior, and had passed his apprentice studies quickly. Vodo wasn't very interested, but he did want the little guy to stop shaking where he sat, and act more like the Obelisk he was.

The P.A. klaxoned again, followed by a voice which warned them that the fleet would be decanting very shortly. Grabbing the novice, the Twi'lek guardian dragged him down the corridor to the Master-At-Arms. Vodo was searching for a good assignment, which would award him some sort of honor, instead of being kept aboard the ship, or used as basic infantry.

As an obelisk, The novice was immediately assigned to guard the ship. He was given a station overseeing the crews activities in the engine block, in case a saboteur or boarding party came aboard. Vodo on the other hand was to take a shuttle to the planet. Aboard would be some other low priority, but still ambitious Dark Jedi (mostly Obelisk).

Having been initiated into the Dark Brotherhood, and Taldryan as an Obelisk, Vodo knew their ways, and their combat styles. This made him a formidable fighter when combined with the magic and knowledge he'd gained from becoming and learning under the Krath. Those around him when he reached the shuttle looked the Twi'lek up and down. A few snorted in laughter, and a couple snickered at the purple sash he wore around his fighting Gi that identified him as a Krath magician.

He grinned, showing his sharp yellow teeth to his shuttle mates, backed by a push through the force, showing them he was not to be messed with. On the eve of battle, many of the Dark Jedi seemed so eager to get to fight, that they were taking it out on their clan mates. A wizened Human Sith sneered to the crowd in the back of the Shuttle to "Save it for the enemy".

This shut up the unruly Obelisk. Vodo was pleased with the Sith's show of leadership. If there was one thing the Sith were good for, it was power, and using it. Too bad Taldryan was ran by Obelisk. If the Krath weren't there to balance them out, then the Clan would not be where it was today. This reminded Vodo that Ektrosis was now a mixed house, containing both Obelisk, and Krath. There were even rumors of a Sith residing within its hallowed fidelity. It sickened him, but as long as they served the clan, the guardian could care less.

The Lights went off in anticipation of the reentry into real space and the order to attack...

"You've had it pretty bad lately." Apollyon spoke through the darkness to his comrade, "You've been out for quite a while. At least, I think it's been a while since they brought you back." The normally resilient Zabrak was beginning to find it hard to keep track of time. This wasn't the first time he'd been captured, though much to his dissapointment, this was the first time that he'd been interrogated with such intensity.

"Have you figured out how they detected us yet?" Odium leaned his head back against the cold stone wall. "I can't tell you how many situations like that I've been in, and nothing has happened. I've been going over every second of the mission, and found nothing."

Apollyon's mind began to drift. Images of the past two weeks paused in his mind briefly before returning to the endless circle of memories in his subconcious. He began to wonder how Menace and Devani had reacted to the news of war and his capture. His mind wandered back to the mission and how they'd been caught. It baffled his mind.

Odium sighed and thought aloud, "What went wrong?"

Chaosrain walked slowly onto the bridge of the MBC Leviathan.

“OK. Who’s that in my chair?” asked the Templar.

“Old habit,” replied Crix as he went to slightly smaller chair next to Chaos.

“You can sit on my lap if you so desire,” the Quaestor said jokingly.

“No thanks,” replied the Aedile.

“OK then, what is our plan Crix?” asked Chaos as he settled into the command chair.

“Wait for word from Duga.”

“That sounds like real fun, any idea when that might come in?”

“Anytime now.”

“Well, I guess we just wait. I have an idea, want to play a little game?”

“Sure what game?”

“Ispy. Ispy something gray.”

“Any and everything in the ship.”

“Yeah, that was a bad choice of game.”

The bulk of Taldryan’s fleet was now nearing Arcona’s solar system. The tension was thick in anticipation for the impending battle. The Leviathan along with the rest of the fleet came out of light speed and slowed to a near halt. Just then a hailing signal buzzed the Leviathan.

“Looks like someone’s already here,” stated the Obelisk.

“Glad to know you showed up Apo. I didn't think you'd climb out of a bottle even for this,” said Crix, “Come aboard and get ready for this war.”

Deep within the bowels of the Victory Star Destroyer Dark Prophet, a figure sat motionless upon the deck. Adorned only with a simple black cloak, Primarch Sithspawn waited patiently for the chaotic ebb and flow that was to come. Rage. Suffering. Betrayal. Death. That which was to come remained a mystery, shrouded in a haze to be revealed. For as much as one could strive to know every caress of the Dark Side, one could never predict it's will. He exhaled smoothly, deep within a meditative trance, preparing himself for the challenges that lay ahead. Arcona would bow before Taldryan as it had many times before. There was no doubt of this within the Primarch’s mind. What remained to be seen was whether or not they would capitulate at the sight of battle. One could never tell what ruse the clan was engaged in. They had little to gain by attempting to defy the will of Taldryan, and everything to lose. Perhaps, he reflected, the very lives of Arcona’s forces were already forfeit. Taldryan’s wrath would not be appeased so easily, even if Arcona should return from the brink of madness and return the captured members.

Sithspawn's eyelids fluttered briefly, and then opened. As quickly as it had been induced, the meditative trance had been ended as Sithspawn's mind began to race. There was a presence within the Darkness that had been absent for far too long. What had been a void mere moments earlier was replaced with a projection of power commanded by very few within the Brotherhood. Sithspawn nodded to himself as he rose to seek out the source and greet it once again.

"So it begins," mumbled Sithspawn. "Shadow has returned."

Menace was seated on his bed, preparing himself mentally for the war that was to come. His mind was wandering, due in part to anxiety; he had never been in a full-scale battle like the kind he envisioned for the conflict between Clans Taldryan and Arcona. Dropping his eyes to the dull steel floor, the Hunter saw images of a large group of Dark Jedi, presumably from Arcona, torturing his friends and clan-mates Werdna and Odium. Suddenly, the MBC Leviathan lurched forward, signaling the jump to hyperspace. After shaking his head to rid his mind of the disturbing images, Menace stood up and walked toward the bridge, muttering to himself as he went.

"They're fine... they're alive... we'll get to them in time..."

The door to the bridge slid open; Menace walked over the threshold and into the loud atmosphere of the huge room. He quickly walked up between rows of control stations, each with a monitor, which showed the status of each system that it held precidence over. Menace headed up to the pair of throne-like chairs facing the large window at the far end of the bridge. By the time he reached the steps leading up to the chairs, a voice called out to him.

"Menace! Get up here!"

His Aedile, Crix, must have sensed him on his way up the stairs. The Battlemaster kept his back to the Kel Dor as he slowly walked up the steps. He stopped three risers down from the top and quickly bowed to his superiors. Both Chaos and Crix turned in their chairs; they both appeared stoic, however, they had an air of confidence about them. Then Menace spoke, his voice waivering slightly.

"Chaos, Crix, what would like me to do in this time of battle?"

The two leaders of Ektrosis glanced at each other; Menace could tell that they were communicating telepathically, though he couldn't quite tune in to their conversation. Then Crix looked down and spoke to the Obelisk.

"Once we drop out of hyperspace in Arconan territory, you will be the commander of this vessel. Myself and Chaos have our own missions to take care of, and you've proven yourself to be a worthy leader."

Menace bowed once more.

"Thank you very much, you will not regret this decision."

Shaithis was in the food storage when the 30 second warning sounded, his shuttle was ready to drop out of hyperspace at his desired coordinates. Taking a rather large bite of the cold ronto steak he snagged from cold storage, Shaithis chewed as he strapped himself into his seat. Just to be on the safe side, Shaithis hit the switch to activate his eff transponder just incase any of the new recruits Taldryan had been training had itchy trigger fingers.

The stars came into focus with startling speed, and Shaithis whistled at the sight before him. Thinking it would be prudent not to broadcast on un-encrypted channels the barabel decided radio silence was the proper course. Shaithis sensed a familiar presence aboard the closest ship, the Praetorian, and set a course for one of its empty shuttle bays. Truth be told, Shaithis sensed many familiar presences throughout the strike fleet, but something told him he was needed on the Praetorian.

Shaithis was a little dissappointed that noone was there to greet him in the shuttle bay as he disembarked. But he took solace that it was war time and the welcome home party would take place afterwards, he grinned to himself as he made his way towards the bridge walking through all to familiar hallways, still chewing on what was left of the cold ronto steak.

“You’re commanding the ship?” Lokasena asked as he looked at Menace intensely.
“Yes, is that a problem?” Menace replied with a dose of indignation.
“Well, no sir.” Sena continued. “But you are our battle team leader. Does this mean that Phoenix will not be a part of the ground assault?”
The Hunter was watching his subordinate closely. “Are you so eager to fight, Corvinus?”
“Yes sir. Odium is a friend of mine. He would do the same for me.”
“I’m sure he would. Return to your quarters Protector. I will call for you when I have an assignment.” At these words Lokasena looked relieved. “Thank you sir.” The Krath said.

Walking down the corridor of the ship, Sena couldn’t help but think of his friend being tortured by these violent maniacs.
He walked to his quarters to wait for instructions. He would prepare to be ready at a moments notice. Sharpening his ‘Mormegil’ blade as he let his mind dwell on his combat techniques.
What ever his superiors would have him do, he would be ready for it.

Crix smiled as he clicked the comm off, glad to have Apo back. "That's one of the things I love about Taldryan," Crix said, turning to face Chaos, who had recently usurped the command chair from him, "Most of the older members tend to wonder off on their own between major conflicts, but as soon as war brakes out they're right back with the clan." Chaos nodded, agreeing with his Aedile.

They both turned their attention to the battle that was just beginning to unfold in front of them. Taldryan's fleet had dropped out of hyperspace in perfect formation: The Dark Prophet taking the point, with the Leviathan and Praetorian on her flanks. The rest of the fleet followed these three power houses. Surveying the battlefield he opened a comm line to Duga on the Dark Prophet.

"Now isn't that an interesting formation Arcona's using. It almost seems like they didn't expect us to be here." Crix pointed out, noticing Arcona's fleet spread out over space with no organization at all. At the sight of the incoming fleet, however, the Arconan ships scrambled to form up around their command ship. He glanced down at his sensor board and noticed lots of small, fast moving blips that hadn't been there a moment ago. "They're launching fighters." He said to nobody in particular.

He clicked his comm over to the ship-wide channel to give the crew one last pep talk before the action began. "Arcona has launched fighters and their capitol ships are forming up. This means only one thing: they have a wish to die by Taldryan's hands; do not let them down."

Crix smiled again as the bridge exploded into a flurry of activity. Status reports kept streaming in as the two fleets raced towards each other. The gap between them was closing rapidly and the Arconan fleet was almost within firing range. "Weapons control, target the lead Carrack. When it comes within range fire at will. Helm, bring us around so we cut on the starboard side of the Carrack." Crix said over the din of the bridge. The officers manning the effected stations acknowledged the order.

“Only a few more seconds...then the fun really begins,” Crix though to himself. He loved combat, it didn't matter if it was on the bridge of a capitol ship, flying a fighter or one on one combat with a lightsaber; he loved it all. If he was lucky, he'd be able to get all three in before the day was over.

As the turbolift descended the decks Kraval began thinking about what sort of team he would need to assemble. Kraval thought that this sort of mission would definately be best suited for the Obelisk so he would need to grab two or three of them. Kraval wanted to keep this team small since it was just scouting and getting an LZ secured. The less people he had the smaller the chance of being discovered. As the doors to the lift opened Kraval walked out and headed off to the hanger bay to select the shuttle he would use to land on the enemy planet. As he strode into the bay there was loud noises and familiar smells of oils as ships of all kinds were being prepared for the fight. Kraval walked up and down the line of ships and chose an unremarkable lambda class shuttle as the one to use. All he would need now is to get his team together and they could go. Kraval headed back to the turbo lift and felt the ship exit hyperspace.

Great, he thought to himself. We're already at the enemies doorstep and I need to get going. Kraval rememberd that Fresh wanted him to look in on the new kids but he felt that they would be fine despite the fact that this was their first time doing this sort of thing. Besides, Kraval thought, he didn't have anyone hold his hand and tell him what to do during his first large battle of the Obelisk Rite of Supremecy and he did just fine. These kids get coddled too much now a days and Kraval definately didn't have the time now to look in on them. He pressed a button to take him to the other hangar where a lone ship had just entered. He felt it was someone powerful and hopefully it would be someone interested in joining him on his scouting mission. Kraval didn't have much time to get all the people he wanted, and if need be then this would be a two man scouting mission.

The pull on their stomach told everyone aboard the not so crowded shuttle that the Leviathan had decanted from Hyperspace. The Pilot held his ear for a moment, listening to his instruction's and nodded in reply. The opaque landing bay became clear as the shield was activated and allowed easy exit. The Shuttle lifted off and began to accelerate quickly towards the planet below.

Arrayed before the Grand Fleet of Taldryan was a pathetic display of power by the Arconian Home Guard. It was obviously a trap top draw the powerful cruisers Taldryan possessed into the middle, to get entrapped and destroyed. The Shuttle however was not large enough to be bothered with once the fighting really began. They slipped down over the horizon, taking the long way around the planet.

When the shuttle dropped down on the landing pad, the deck was clear of any fortifications. All the crates were left abandoned, and the soldiers that should have been milling around, couldn't be seen. The Shuttle bay opened, and the Obelisks pushed for the right to be first to exit. Vodo was content to let them test the auto defences or defenders first. As the group charged out of the shuttle and dispersed, the shuttle left, leaving the Dark Jedi alone, with no resistance.

Vodo could sense a deep well of fear from within the temple just down the long pathway leading to Selen's command center. It was obvious to him what they were trying to accomplish. This walkway, suspended hundreds of feet over the ground was a perfect bottle neck for a large army to devoured in a hail of blaster fire. The Sith who'd prooven his leadership earlier began barking orders. The Dark Jedi were to be tripled off into groups, and would advance in successions of 10 meters.

The two obelisk that were assigned to Vodo were not happy that they'd be 'babysitting' a Krath. He bared his teeth again, and pointed down the gangway with his blades, pointing them in the direction in which they should direct their anger. The Sith then began running, shouting a cry of hatred and patriotism, followed by Vodo, then the rest. The first 100 meters was quiet minus the sound of the Dark jedi jeering for Arconan Blood. The next moment, it turned to hell.

OOC: just a quick post before work
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Taking the hallway to the turbolift, Shaithis finished the last of his steak, his hunger satisfied for now. Pressing the button, Shaithis noted that it was already in motion head towards his position. The doors opened and there stood Kraval with a simple grin on his face. Cocking his head to the side, Shaithis climbed into the turbolift without a word. The force guided him here for a purpose, brought him to cross paths with this young dark knight, so he would follow the flow and see where it went.

Mordin pulled the Stealth-X into a hangar, when he noticed that Apprentices kept scurrying in front of where he was ready to set down he realized he was still cloaked. Pressing the button that masked his ships pressence he watched as many jumped in fear. No one expected for a fighter to just sneak up on them.

Pressed the button to open the canopy and jumped out, and started walking towards the bridge. Cowl covering his face, he imposed a pressence through the Force that made the younger members hop out of his way. He walked down a few hallways and found himself in front of a lift that went directly to the bridge.

There stood a young Protector whom Mordin did not know. He was young, brash and incompetent of being on this post. He moved to block Mordin's passage. Mordin gave a smirk underneath his cowl.

As the door to the turbolift closed, Mordin watched as the Protector slumped unconscious down the wall. Hopefully his Battleteam Leader would find him and do something about it. The door slid open and Mordin walked into a cacophony of stress, disorganization, and yet somehow... still total control.

He stood behind a chair he was expecting Crix to be sitting in, but was thrown off when he saw Crix sitting across from the other. He was sure to mask his emotions in the Force, he was a blank void. Unreadable to all.

"What'd you do to that poor kid Apo," ask Chaos as he swivvled around in the chair and gave a beaming grin?

Mordin reached forward and clasped hands with Chaos, "Meh, it's sort of a Force push, except for it covers all degrees... so sort of like a Force flex... just learned it the other month. Had to try it out. So, what've we got, and what've you got for me to kill?"

As the big Barabel stepped into the lift Krav grinned and knew right away that Shaithis would help him on his scouting mission. Kraval had hopped to get at least one or two more people together but it seemed that there wouldn't be enough time to get who he wanted. Oh well Kraval thought, you have to work with what you got. He briefly told Shaithis of what would be required of them and they both headed off to the storage area to gather their gear. Even in the middle decks of the ship there were still people buzzing about preparing for the fight. Non-essential decks were to be cleared out so that power to those areas could be shunted to things like shields and weapons.

Kraval and Shaithis moved into the storage room and moved off to get their things. Kraval would carry on a few small things personally. His lightsaber of course along with a pair of macro binoculars and a com unit plus a small holocam to record the enemy encampment. He also grabbed the classic Bryars pistol for close range combat and five power clips to go along with it. For long range fights he grabbed his favorite Tenloss Disruptor Rifle with three clips and also stashed two thermal detonators into his pouch. The last thing he grabbed was some signal beacons so at the right time he could activate them to tell the ground landers where to go. Hey, Kraval called out, Shaithis are you ready to go?

Leaning back in his chair Shadow scanned the consoles numerous instruments. In the distance he could just make out the rear of the Taldryan fleet as it jumped through space towards the Arconan system Dajorra. It was less than a week ago when Shadow received the urgent transmission from Freshjive about Taldryan’s planned assault on the Arconan home planet. Only days ago Shadow was on the other side of the galaxy pursuing valuable knowledge and artifacts with inherent force-presence. All that was of course dropped when he heard that Taldryan would need his help. Unfortunately Shadow had arrived on Karufr mere moments after the fleet had entered hyperspace. He was only now catching up thanks to the capital ships slower hyperdrive systems.

Shadow mulled over the situation as he closed his eyes and tried to relax for the rest of the ride. Arcona taking two Taldryan members hostage was an unforgivable transgression that would only lead to war… what could they be hoping to gain. With the sketchy details given in Jive’s message he wasn’t even aware of the rank or status of the members taken.

Drifting deeper into relaxation, Shadow felt something emanating from the ships ahead. Someone aboard the Dark Prophet had finally sensed the belated arrival of an old brother. Sithspawn’s voice slipped through the voice of space between the fleet and Shadow’s shuttle.

“Shadow?” The soundless voice echoed in Shadow’s head.

“Yeah, it’s me, Ziggy. Sorry I’m late.”

A malevolent chuckle resonated throughout the ship. “Perfect timing. You have to land on the Prophet when we arrive. I’m sure Duga would be pleased to find you here.”

“I hope so. I’ve spent the last week jumping through hyperspace to get here. I’ll meet up with you as soon as I land.” Shadow laughed a little and flicked a small switch on his communication array. “Victory Star Destroyer Dark Prophet, this is Dark Adept Shadow Taldrya reporting for duty.”

Shortly after Mordin joined Chaos, Crix and Menace on the command bridge, a short, stocky non-Force sensitive walked up to the Jedi.

"We have a transmission coming through from the Dark Prophet."

"Put it through."

Crix brought a small holographic projector from his cloak and hit the activation button. A miniturized version of the Consul of Taldryan, Duga Arkarso, was standing on the base of device, his form a slightly transparent blue. He appeared to be smiling contently.

"We've just heard from Shadow; he'll be joining us to take care of Arcona shortly."

The men around the small projector all smirked; the Dark Side Adept would certainly make for an excellent addition to their force, wherever he was deployed.

"Understood, Duga."

The holographic image of the Prelate nodded, then flickered away, back into the device. Mordin turned to Menace, a smirk planted firmly on his face.

"By the way... I believe one of your Tyros is sleeping down in front of the turbolift."

Menace grumbled to himself as he left the command bridge, his black cloak flowing behind him.

Duga watched the screen in his chambers as the fleet moved out of hyperspace in the Dajorra system, enemy vessels could be seen moving in.

"Shadow is docking with us," Ben told Duga from his position on the bridge. "Good, good, we will need him."

Duga made his way to the bridge from his chambers. The crew was shuffling through the hallways, getting ready for the conflict ahead. Some he could tell were afraid, not sure if they would make it out of this, others too cocky.. only time would tell their fate. In minutes he was on he was at the command level.

"Okay, inform all the ships to move in and be ready for anything. From what my sources say, the prisoners have been moved around the system a bit, so they may not be on Selen at the moment. Noting our position to Selen coming from Kir'Tal, the planets Arconae Prmus and Arconae Secundus come up before it. We need to have some forces check prominent locations on those worlds on the way to Selen."

An officer sent the message right away. The crew were all in their positions, ready for a long, hard fight ahead of them.

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OCC: Okay, things to note.. first the info for the Arcona system for these other planets, click here. Next thing is Tibs messed up the storyline a bit, from going in hyperspace to already in major action. This post will help set it up a bit better. Remember also, don't try and rush this too fast, still have four days to go with it. All we need to do is make it to Selen by then. I'm adding what was after Menace myself. Sorry for the trouble.
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(By Tiberius)

The noise on the bridge of the Leviathan was deafening, coupled with random shudders as torpedo explosions cascaded across the outer shields. Tiberius scanned his monitors, the Arconan defenses were regrouping, attempting the flank the Taldryan fleet; a move that would surely leave Dinaari Star fighters defenseless. The main fleet had engaged Arconan forces in Quadrant 42, penetrating the outer defenses of the Selen system. A hole had appeared in the line, making it possible for a few troop transports to land on the planets surface. Tiberius issued the orders to take advantage of the perceived weakness in the Arconan line.

Tiberius observed his monitor, the troop transports had penetrated the inner defenses, and it would not be long before the first wave of the invasion, land on Arconan soil. A monotonous beep resonated from a conjoined terminal, Tiberius swerved to observe the read out. Two Arconan TIE fighters had broken away from the main contingency, and headed straight for the troop transports; their intent obvious. Tiberius opened a channel to the two closest Taldryan A Wings, ordering them to protect the transports at all cost. The Leviathan shuddered as another volley of torpedo’s struck the shields, weakening them to 50 % of effectiveness. If this carried on the main shield generator would be unable to maintain an efficient defense grid over the primary command centre.

“Intensify forward fire power, I want that shield wall repaired on the double.” barked Crix, his voice riddled with frustration. The Command deck was littered with debris; a few terminals flickered on then off, indicating a power supply drainage in the forward capacitors. The Arconan’s primary leadship had suffered some minor damage to their primary hull, and was now concentrating their assault on the Dark Prophet.

“Signal the fleet to maintain the line. Add more support to the Dark Prophet’ defences. Get those star fighters in line, I want consistent runs, and target their heavy cruisers first.” ordered Chaos.

“Ship systems, are fluxuating, and the primary generator had collapsed in the eastern section of the main hull. A concentrated assault could penetrate the inner defences.” reported one of the bridge officers. The report was followed by muffled gasps as the officer crumpled to the floor; his hands clasped around his throat.

Chaos stood, his eyes flaring with inner anger, “Get that shield repaired, or this one will not be the last to feel my vengeance.” pointing at the former bridge officer. The response was expected, as the level of fear amplified amongst the other officers and technicians; increasing their speed to repair the damaged shield generator. Tiberius returned to face his terminal; this would not be the best moment to make eye contact with his Quaestor. The battle was now permanently committed, neither force could retreat or escape. One way or the other this battle would decide the fate of either fleet.

(By Crix)

Chaos sat back down in the command chair, anger radiating off him in waves. Crix leaned over and said to his Quaestor “I think it’s time I took more direct action.” Chaos nodded in reply, a smile breaking over his face. In his early days in Taldryan Crix had made a name for himself as one of the clan’s bets pilots and while he did more administrative work these days, he still spent a considerable amount of time flying both in simulators and in real ships; his skills had not faded in the least. He clicked his comm over to the hanger frequency, “Prep the Hyperions for launch, I’ll be in the hanger in 10 min, I want them ready before I get there.” Not waiting for a reply he shut the comm off and nodded to Chaos, then ran from the bridge to the closest ready room, exchanging his robes for a flight suit. He clipped his lightsaber onto the belt as he ran down the corridor to the hanger, helmet tucked under his arm. He arrived just as the preparations on the Hyperions were being completed and the other pilots assembled. Looking around, he saw some of the better Taldryan pilots and he smiled, thinking of all the destruction they’d cause today. “Everyone to your ship, form up on me and stay together. Now is when we show Arcona what true Dark Jedi can do.” With that, he used a Force-assisted jump to climb into his fighter and closed the canopy. When the other pilots had entered their ships through more conventional means he powered up the engines and exited the hanger, the other 11 Hyperion fighters following him.

(By Mordin "Apo" Malchia)

When Crix took his leave from the command center, Mordin took his spot at the table facing Chaos. The Quaestor sat there brooding. Mordin pondered his actions for a moment then stood.

"Chaos," called Mordin, "I take my leave to go join Crix in this battle. My Stealth-X will be a big advantage should that salty dog come into any trouble." The Quaestor nodded. The two of them were not real acquaintences, they knew each other briefly the last time Mordin had come out of hermitage. All he really knew of Malchia was that he had done his part early in the history of the Clan to set the standard as the best Clan in the Brotherhood. Furthermore, as a group, Shaithis, Shadow and Mordin had been the very best Obelisk in the entire organization.

Mordin went to the turbo life and took it down to the hangar level, where he would pre-op his fighter to make sure it was ready for combat action. When the lift reached its stop and the door came open, the Tyro from earlier was standing there on post. The glare that Mordin recieved was one full of detest and hatred. The Protector obviously had not yet learned to mask his emotions from the Force so that others could not use them to manipulate him.

Mordin raised his hand and unconsciously the Protector cringed closing his eyes as if trying to hide from a Force power that he though was about to be unleashed. While his eyes were still closed Mordin lightly slapped him in the face. The Protectors eyes popped open in wild surprise.

"Loosen up Brother," spoke the Prelate. "Your tense, that will cause you to make rash adjustments in unsevere situations." The Protector visibly released some of the tension in his body yet still looked at Malchia testingly.

Mordin turned and walked down the duristeel hallway and passed the bay door that lead to the hangar where his Stealth-X was sitting. He took a few more strides and turned to the right into the changing room where only those with the surname Taldrya could enter.

Mordin could feel weary eyes following him as he entered. No doubt those of younger clansmen who did not know him and could not recognize his face since it was covered by the hood of his cloak. He walked to his wall locker in the changing room and took off his cloak. He punched in the combinatioin on the locker and gave a beaming grin at what he saw.

Crix had always tried to get him to wear a flight suit but it just never suited him so he thought. The one his Brother had waiting for him this time looked more like light combat armor mixed with a flight suit. His Brother knew this would catch his interest.

Flight suit donned, Mordin walked out of the door. He clipped his saber onto his belt as he was leaving. He made his way to the hangar and as he thought he would have to wade through the crowds of Dark Jedi and non-Sensitives, he was awe struck when they parted for him. He looked down at his forearm to see if his Son of Taldryan tatto was showing. But when it was not, he noticed that embossed in gold on his flight suit over his heart it was.

When he arrived at the Stealth-X he was happy to see that the Leviathan had Tibanna-X and it had be supplied into his fighter. Using the Force to open the canopy, he Force Jumped into the cockpit and strapped himself in.

"R2, lock onto Crix. When you're ready, auto pilot to within 15 clicks of him on his starboard side." The droid whistled and trilled in confirmation. Mordin cloaked the fighter as R2 was bringing it out of the hanger.

Mordin closed his eyes and felt through the thousands of bodies in the vicinity, searching for Crix. He found him and he tried to impress the feeling upon him that help was lurking. It was hard to convey exact words through the Force, but hopefully Crix would know he was coming as unseen backup.

"God I miss this," Raistline jeered into the com as he dog rolled his Hyperion away from an assault to his aft, returning formation on Crix. Though still maintaining flight simulations he hadn’t seen full flight combat since his post in the Emperors Hammer before the great break. A break he would defend at all costs.

"Break formation. Cross attack on their leader," Crix commanded. The squad broke up around Raistline as he maintained course on the incoming Interceptors. Dropping speed he began firing on the leader. Seconds before the impending collision he accelerated and rolled his ship starboard as Crix appeared from port taking out their flight leader.

"Ground assault shuttle requesting assistance from b-wings!" yelled a voice over the flight com.

"Leviathan’s shields are dropping. We can’t spare any fighters and loose her defense. Raist, the shuttle is nearing the atmosphere. They only need a few moments. Assist them and return back to the Leviathan’s defense. The rest of you form back up on me."

Lowering shields power to maximize speed Raistline geared it towards the assault shuttle. The b-wings were ascending upon the shuttle. Targeting the rear fighter and switching to warhead he fired upon the b-wing and sped pass it as it exploded across space. He then geared towards the next continuing the tactic. Dropping speed and returning shields he fired upon the next B-wing with Laser Cannons. The b-wing broke away from the shuttle and the shuttle began it's descent upon the planet's atmosphere.

"Returning flight leader," Raistline said coolly into his com. As he prepared to turn his ship a missile struck the bow of his ship. He slammed forward in his cockpit as the force jerked his ship. An E-wing fired across his ship from bow to aft flying past overhead and turning for another run.
"Ships damaged bad," he yelled. The e-wing fired at him aft to bow now flying again overhead. "Hafta crash land near the shuttle. Maybe I can do more there. Sorry Crix. The remaining shields dropped as the ship broke into the surface of the storming planet below.

"Yes I'm ready," the Barabel replied hefting his sack over his shoulder. "Good," Kraval replied heading for the doors. He heard the alarms going off all over the ship which meant that the fight was in full force now. Kraval and Shaithis rushed back down to the hangar bay where it was devoid of fighters and only had the lone shuttle left for them. Kraval triggered the remote for the ramp and rushed up inside to the cockpit while Shaithis shut the ramp and stored their gear away.

As the ship's engines and computer systems were warming up Shaithis came into the cockpit and took the co-pilot's seat. Kraval looked over to him and explained how this was to go off. "For the first portion of this mission I'll be in charge with flying the shuttle, but once we reach the ground I'm giving you command seeing as how you have more expertise in ground combat." Shaithis nodded seeming to agree with that arrangement, "What planet are we heading for?" "We'll head for Arconae Secundus since it's the first planet the fleet will reach. If we find nothing there then we can inform the fleet to move on," Kraval said.

Kraval pulled back on the control lever and the shuttle raised off the deck. He pressed some controls and the shuttle started out of the bay. Kraval fliped the switch and the two shuttle wings extended downward and they were off. Kraval activated short and long range sensors on the Lambda class shuttle and took a quick count of the enemy forces and their distance. It looked like his initial plan of not being noticed in the confusion of battle would work out after all as long as he didn't draw too much attention to his ship.

Kraval maneuvered the shuttle so that he would be able to make atmospheric entry as soon as possible given the current speed of the shuttle. To help avoid detection Kraval didn't activate any shields or weapon systems and only had the engine run at half power. It was risky he knew but even with shields and weapons he would have been hard pressed to combat the Arcona TIE Interceptors or B-wings. Thankfully the B-wings were busy with some troop transports heading for another planet and the Hyperion flight would keep the Interceptors distracted. As Kraval approached the planet he finally decided to activate the shuttle's shield system to protect them in atmospheric entry. Hopefully he was too far away for any enemy forces to notice a ship heading to ground.

The ride down to the planet wasn't as smooth as Kraval had hoped it would be. The black clouds that cover the planet made visual information almost useless forcing Kraval to rely on sensors from the shuttle. Kraval had hopped to avoid using the sensors a lot since it may give off enough energy for the enemy to detect. The most recent intel on Arconae Secondus said that there was a training facility and a minor military star port. This seemed like an unlikely place to keep two prisoners but who knew? The cloud cover and small importance of this place may be the perfect camouflage. Once the shuttle was beyond the black clouds Kraval shut down the shields again and de-activated the long range sensors in hopes to keep his arrival a secret. Using night vision on the main viewscreen Kraval picked a cliffside and put the shuttle down there. "Your turn Shaithis," Kraval said.

“Shadow! Good timing, we needed a few more men for this mission.” The Consul of Taldryan was standing behind a large holo-map of several Arconan planets. He tapped a button and Arconae Primus expanded.

“Duga, Ziggy, people. Nice to be back..” Shadow breezed through the open blast doors and came to a stop before the projection. “Jive said you guys have a bit of a fight on your hands.”

“Hehe, just a bit. Luckily you got here before we sent the boarding team. Sharad is already down on Arconae Primus with a squad of troops securing a landing zone. You’ll join the party going down to scout the planet and find out if our missing members are there.”

“So we’re just looking around and moving to the next planet?”

“Basically. Try to avoid any major confrontations. We’ll be keeping them busy up here until Werdna and Odium are found.” Duga opened up a compartment and pulled out a weapon. Throwing it to Shadow he said, “Here, you might need this.”

Shadow caught the bryar . “You know I will,” he smirked as he holstered the gun.

“Oh one more thing… you might want to get your ass to the hangars before they leave without you.”

“Bah.” Shadow started running out the doors leaving behind the laughter of the command deck.

Anik was finishing getting ready for his descent onto the planet. He had been tasked as one of the members of the first assault group. When Kraval and Shaithis activate the landing beacon as to where our people are being held, the team he was on would land on the planet and secure the area for an extract out. Anik was aboard the Renegade, a Corellian Corvette. The plan was for, when the beacon was activated, the Renegade fire two of the escape pods containing Anik’s team. The escape pods would give Anik’s team a much greater chance of survival in the midst of the battle. The pods would impact with the planet surface and they would get out guns blazing.

Anik heard the klaxons go off, signally everyone to go to battle stations, and walked on down to the escape pod that he was assigned. Anik was loaded for battle, he was armed to the teeth and prepared for anything. As he was not off rank to carry a lightsaber, Anik compensated with extra firepower. Anik’s main weapon was his Prax-Arms AXM-50 with underbarrel MGL-1 grenade launcher. He had multiple secondary weaopns. He carried a Blastech DL-44, B22 Imperial, and MWC Enforcer. Normally he wouldn’t have carried the MWC Enforcer but as this planet was controlled by a rival dark jedi clan, a projectile weapon would not be able to be deflected by a lightsaber. Anik also carried his Sith Sword, an ancient heirloom given to him by one of his teachers that he prized above all others.
Anik strolled down the halls of the Renegade in his medium battle armor making sure all members of his team were ready. Anik was feeling the intense cocktail of fear and excitement that all warriors felt before they went into battle. No matter how often he entered combat that feeling awaited him, and he loved it.

When they reached their pods Anik turned to give his final commands to his troops before they arrived on the planet’s surface, “Gentlemen, remember your mission. Fight without mercy, fight with hate, fight with honor, fight for Taldyran.”

Crix cursed as he saw a tiny projectile slam into the bow of Raist’s fighter. He didn’t really care about the fighter, Taldryan had plenty of money to repair or replace it; he was worried about Raist. Not only was he Crix’s house member, but he was in the squad that Crix was commanding at the moment and even deeper then that, Raist was Crix’s friend. Crix broke formation and dove after the E-Wing that had caused Raist’s crash. The Arconan was still perusing the falling ship, trying to line up another shot on it, when Crix came up behind him. Before the Arconan had a chance to evade Crix switched to his missiles and fired one into the E-Wing’s engines without waiting for a lock. As soon as the missile was away Crix cut thrust to 1/3 and pulled up, trying to avoid the blast. The missile flew true and slammed into the rear of the ship, causing the fuel tanks to explode and consume the entire fighter.

It was then that he noticed the strange looking ship, it was a design that he’d never seen before and it was flying under a Taldryan IFF code. Reaching out, he probed the mind of the pilot and he almost jumped out of his ship when he realized who was flying it. “MORD!” Crix yelled into the comm. “Stop sneaking around behind me and go kill some Arconans!” he ordered. Pausing for a moment, he added “I need a ride in that ship when this is over too,” with a chuckle. Mord laughed and copied the order, pealing off and targeting the nearest fighter. Crix selected his next target and took off after them, firing quad linked laser blasts until the ship had been disintegrated.

Shaithis stepped off the boarding ramp and breathed deep, then spat on the dusty ground. "This place reeks of Arconan filth."

The mighty barabel lovingly stroked the hilt strapped to his belt, making sure the only weapon he brought was secure. "We'll need to head in that direction." Kraval said as he cross referenced the map on his datapad with his surroundings.

Shaithis grabbed the datapad from Kraval and squeezed turning the piece of machinery to bits and pieces. "Keep your teeth together and follow as silently as possible." Moving without a sound, Shaithis sprinted towards their destination with Kraval attempting to keep up.

The two quickly closed in on the small starport and training facility that was rumored to be on the planet.
____________________________
Srry for the [Expletive Deleted]ty post. I started sober but ended up a 12pak later, been switching between this and my ACC fights, I got ideas coming out my ass for these damn things.

Odium suddenly sat straight up. However mind-numbing the darkness and near-solitude was, he still new the sound of footsteps; and panicked footsteps at that. Just as he sat up an alarm sounded. At once the lights turned on and several guards rushed in and grabbed the blinded Aedile and Envoy, who were then hastily and quite roughly escorted into the hall.

As they traveled down the dungeonous corridor, the young hunter, whose eyes had now adjusted to the light, saw that they were approaching a storage closet. The door was standing wide open, and as they drew nearer Odium spotted his and Werdna's belongings. "Perfect." the Zabrak thought as his mind quickly put together a plan.

As the party passed by the room, Odium pulled Werdna's lightsaber to him, cutting his bonds as he caught the weapon. The hallway became a flurry of action as the detachment of guards fell to the ground, either decapitated or dismembered in some way.

Odium proceeded to cut Werdna's bonds and said proudly, "See? I'm ready for Dark Jedi Kight." Odium smiled as he twirled the blade, almost cutting off a limb of his own. The Jedi Hunter's pride turned into slight embarassment as he extinguished the saber cautiously and returned it to his owner.

Mordin locked onto his first target and let his itchy finger let lose. Bright flashes from his laser cannons let loose on the unsuspecting fighter. He felt someone closing in fast to his rear so he throttled down and when the fighter flew over his head he accelerated and let loose.

Two down, Mordin was surprised he hadn't been taken out yet. Mordin clicked on the comm, "Happy now Crix?"

Mordin heard Crix chuckle through the comm system, "Yeah, thanks... kinda worked about Raistline though."

"Yeah, I'm not going to wait up here to get taken out of the fight by an actually skilled pilot, so I think I'll go down lookin' for him."

"Copy that, do what you gotta," said Crix.

Mordin turned towards the planet and throttled up. "R2 get a lock on Raistline's Hyp and guide us there, gotta make sure Grandpa is ok."

Jedi Hunter Baron Zarco sat before the computer terminal speaking to an old client. The Aqualish' eyes seemed to bug even further than usual as he saw confirmation come on the screen that Zarco had transferred one million credits to the Aqualish' holonet account.

"Always a pleasure doing business my old friend. Remember, if you ever find yourself in need of representation like years ago you be sure and call. In the meantime, I will keep throwing you whatever 'business' I am able."

Zarco turned the terminal off and rose to grab his tactical vest and rifle with grenade launcher before heading to the shuttle to be deployed in the battle below. He mused in his own mind about how he had discovered which investments the Arcona had placed their holdings and then traded on those very securities, selling short in anticipation of Taldryan's attack upon the Arcona. When the battle had begun, Arcona holdings plummeted and Zarco had made two million credits.

The Baron then took half of the "earnings" and paid off the transporters of the bacta shipments headed for Arcona. He had also sent a message to the Taldryan commander to let the bacta shipments through.

After all, the bacta Arcona had purchased and was having delivered to deal with the unexpected casualties had been 'compromised' by the addition of a corrosive substance, poisoned if you will, courtesy of an old contact of Zarco's.

"Ah, what goes around comes around," exhaled Zarco as he checked the last of his equipment and headed for the shuttle.

Sharad scanned the area with trained eyes. Nothing out of the ordinary popped out at him, just desloate swamps and marshes. He felt the familiar pull through the ether as the Force turned his gaze. A ship was slowly descending nearby. Sharad waited calmly as he felt Shadow and Ziggy touchdown. The hatch opened and the two Jedi descended down the ramp.

"Hey guys. Long time," Sharad said with a smile on his face.

"Yea I've needed some time away to get things together for myself," Shadow responded.

Sharad's smile wore off, "Understandable. I've been doing the same. Well, I suppose we should move through this damn place and make sure no one's here. I haven't felt Werdna or Odium, but I do feel others not far from here."

"I feel them too. Perhaps we should go enjoy some interrogations," Ziggy said as an evil grinned spread across his face.

"Good idea. Let's get our team to scout the rest of the area while we extract the information," Shadow said.

Sharad shook his head, but followed the other two with just as much inner glee at the idea.

The trio of Jedi made their way through the forests relatively quickly due to Sharad’s earlier reconnaissance work. Scouts and patrols were rarely sighted, most having been recalled to aid in the battle going on above the planet. It was almost too easy. Shadow, Sharad and Sithspawn made their way through the swampy jungles towards the only Arconan garrison on the planet. The headquarters for House Qel-Droma.

“Okay there it is,” Sharad pointed out the dark silhouette of the mountainous facility. “Duga has managed to gather information on the interior layout of the place. We’ll be able to use that to find a direct route to the COMM center.”

“COMM center?” Shadow interrupted.

“Yes. From there we’ll be able to hack into the database and find out if the prisoners are being held here.”

Sithspawn glanced over the projected map. “So how we busting into this place? I guess walking through the front door isn’t going to work?”

“Actually… that’s the plan exactly.” Shadow and Sithspawn looked up from the map. “The base is on full alert to assist the fleet above. Automated defenses will be active of course…”

“Of course,” Shadow muttered.

“…and we can expect younger Clan members with a few elder to take care of things.”

Sithspawn removed his lightsaber from his belt. “Sounds like a piece of cake. Let’s go.”


The trio moved out of hiding and started towards the main entrance. The large doors were shut against them with no sign of sentries. Motioning the other two back, Sharad walked up to the door and raised his hand. A slight concussion was felt then the door burst inward. The sounds of lightsabers could be heard almost immediately as Shadow and Sithspawn charged in deflecting blaster bolts from sentry guns. Working together they managed to keep the suppressing fire at bay while Sharad pulled out his trust Bryar pistol and with 3 carefully placed shots destroyed the sentries.

“Well that should bring someone running.” The three holstered their weapons and started across entry hall.

Sharad chuckled. It had been a long time since he had had to use his Bryar pistol. It was generally frowned upon in the Brotherhood due to ineptness, but Taldryan knew better than to scorn such a powerful weapon. The group moved through the entry hall, only vaguely paying attention to their surroundings. Such a low level place was of little concern to the three highly experienced Jedi.

"Odd, who the hell would keep a stupid pool of water in a Dark Jedi temple?" Sithspawn murmured disgustedly.

Shadow grinned evilly. He stepped up onto the concrete wall of the pool as he holstered his weapons. The Dark Adept grunted as he shifted his robes. A long sigh emitted from Shadow as a slow stream of yellow liquid descended into the pool. After about a minute of steady relief, the Jedi finally rearranged his robes.

"I've actually heard about that pool and the perplexingly clear water it contains," Shadow said. "I couldn't help but leave my mark on this place while we were here."

Sharad and Sithspawn shook their heads. Only Shadow would take time out of a mission to piss in an enemy's pool. Suddenly, Sharad came quickly to attention with his saber gleaming. The other two Jedi followed Sharad's thoughts to the hallway on the left as their sabers also came alive. Ten men came running down the corridor at the trio, blasters firing.

"Oh hell with it," Sharad muttered. He ran past the tainted pool to the top of a dark stairwell. "I'm not in the mood for fighting right now. We have work to do."

The other two Jedi groaned as they followed Sharad down the stairs. They could hear echoes and screams behind them as some of the Jedi were swallowed up in the darkness of the treacherous stairwell. The group finally arrived in a study area of some sort. Shadow waved a hand and the scattered desks were propelled against a side wall. The trio walked calmly forward toward the doorway ahead of them.

Sithspawn cursed as he looked down at his robes and noticed a large tear in the side. "To hell with you Shar. They're gonna pay for this," the Jedi said as he briskly turned around.

Shadow was glad someone in the group had the sense to enjoy the fight. He wondered what was wrong with Sharad to back away from a fight. He'd been gone far too long. The group moved back where they headed to meet the pathetic defense group that the temple provided them.

According to the info Kraval had on the map before Shaithis crushed it they would reach the star port before the training facility. Fortunately for the scouting team a small ravine ran right by the port which should make infiltration easy for them since motion sensors and thermal detection units would be useless. Kraval sent a mental image to Shaithis announcing his intentions. Shaithis grunted and agreed. They headed down for the ravine with Shaithis taking point and Kraval staying two meters behind him with his Tenloss sniper rifle out. If someone managed to spot them in this rain and darkness they wouldn't live long to tell anyone about it.

Shaithis made it to the edge of the ravine and waited for Kraval to catch up. Growling a small curse at him when he did arrive Shaithis slipped into the water and started down towards the star port. Kraval did one last sweep with his rifle before putting it away and joined Shaithis in the water. Thankfully the current wasn't too strong and so Kraval didn't have to exert too much effort to keep afloat. After a few minutes of traveling in the water Kraval looked around but couldn't spot Shaithis, his dark scales blending into the night so perfectly. For a moment Kraval thought that he had gone under to avoid detection but then sensed a slight movement upward and knew that Shaithis had already reached the edge of the port.

When Kraval managed to get to the same spot and haul himself out of the water he sensed a small surge of suprise followed by silence. He felt this a few more times as he headed to the doorway of the starport's main hangar. Kraval had to give Shaithis credit, he was as deadly as he was quiet. Not even fearing detection Kraval stepped past a dead man's body and into the view of a security camera. Looking up at it for a moment Kraval smiled and used the force to open the door. Once inside he saw the handy work of Shaithis and that didn't really suprise him. Five guards lying face down on the ground with a small stream of blood coming from their ears. They didn't even have time to use their guns or sound an alarm. Kraval shook his head lightly and chuckled. Heading for the command center Kraval encountered more of the same carnage.

He slid the door to the command room open and saw Shaithis inside already looking over the consols.

"What in the world did you do to those people," Kraval asked slightly amused.

"Simple, I forced their brains to explode," Shaithis said as a matter of fact.

"I definately need to learn that one," Kraval stated as he went through the computer mainframe.

"What horrible computer security they have here," Kraval said as he broke the security code and accessed the database.

"What do you expect, it's Arcona. Now hurry up and get the info we need," Shaithis said.

Kraval browsed numerous file directories until he found one that looked like what they would need. Opening it up he found an updated schematic of the training facility.

"Damn it doesn't look like the training area would be a likely place to hold prisoners," Kraval said.
Looking over the schematics all Kraval found was dorm rooms for trainees and equipment lockers for weapons. Downloading all this information into a datapad Kraval pocketed it and turned to face Shaithis.
"We need to get going and meet back up with the fleet, the prisoners aren't gonna be at that facility. We can place the landing beacons for the ground assault forces on our way back to the shuttle."

"Fine," Shaithis said somewhat annoyed.

Kraval figured that he was just a bit mad because he wouldn't get to kill some enemy Obelisk or Sith. As they headed back out an idea struck Kraval.
"Shaithis, help me and use telekinesis to take these bodies with us." For a moment Shaithis looked puzzled. Why in the hell should they take dead bodies away with them?
"I know that sounds odd, but there is a chance that the training facility might contact this port to check up on things. When no one responds they're sure to send out someone to investigate. Now what would be more frightening, a port with dead bodies or a port with no bodies?"

Shaithis grinned instantly at the idea and used TK to start lifting bodies into the air. Kraval chipped in and took whatever bodies Shaithis couldn't grab and they proceeded back to the shuttle. As they climbed over a small hill Kraval spotted a small cave that looked like a perfect place to dispose of the bodies.

"Over there Shaithis," Kraval said as he motioned the bodies to the cave.

In a matter of minutes both Kraval and Shaithis had the corpses in the hole and covered up with rocks.
"Good and now that's out of the way I can place these beacons and we can get out of here," Kraval said as he opened up his pack and pulled out the four beacons. Looking around for a good flat area Kraval put the beacons out in a square shape and activated them on the usual Tal com frequency. Once back inside the shuttle Kraval activated the engines and began the ascent towards space. Well, Kraval thought, at least we know there's one planet that Werdna and Odium aren't on.

Shadow stood watching the band of young Arconan Jedi and soldiers with a critical eye. Already he was dismissing any chance of losing the fight. Only two Jedi of rank with a paltry squad of soldiers stood between them and their objective. For warriors of Dinaari it would be a walk in the park. The soldiers were charging in a straight line only a few paces behind the two Dark Jedi who were shucking their robes and reaching for their lightsabers.

Before a single soldier could raise a weapon Shadow jumped over the defenders igniting his two sabers and spinning into the rear line. Three men went down instantly nearly cut in two. Sharad has also ignited both his weapons and was engaging both Arconan Jedi. Sithspawn was using the Force to pull weapons from the stunned guards laughing at their incompetence. The few soldiers still alive started to flee having lost their weapons. Sithspawn ignited his blade and charged down the hall after them. Sharad was still holding off the two Jedi managing to stay on the defensive.

Shadow took two running steps then lept down the hallway lightsabers slashing towards the Krath Priests back. Sensing the attack the Arconan spun and caught the blades on his own and managed to evade death. Shadow dropped to a knee and spun a leg out knocking the Priest onto his back. Jumping over an attack aimed at his legs Shadow came down and landed both his blades on the young mans head.

Shadow managed to get up just as the second defender fell on top of the first. Sharad clipped his weapons to his belt as Sithspawn came walking back from finishing off the soldiers.

“Well that was barely worth our time.” Sithspawn dusted his hands off.

“Come on. The COMM center isn’t that much further ahead.”

Again the trio were off towards their objective. Soldiers and Jedi that got in their way were taken out instantly. The Taldryan veterans cut a path of death and destruction through the compound making their way toward the COMM room. They finally reached the octagonal blast doors. Behind them a body slid down the wall and slumped forward dead.

“Guess there’s only one way in.” Shadow ignited one of his lightsabers and thrust it deep into the doors center. The plasteel door began to glow orange from the incredible heat of the saber blade. Shadow gritted his teeth against the heat until the hole in the door was wide enough for the Jedi to enter through.

Sharad walked up to the computer. “Hm… Just a basic encryption. Shouldn’t take more than a few moments.” The Adept sat down and began taping at the keys. Shadow and Sithspawn stood at ease waiting for word of where their captured clan mates were being held.

“Well?” asked Shadow impatiently.

Sharad tapped a few more keys. “They’re not here. Maybe Shaithis and Kraval will have better luck.” The former High Commander stood up and sighed. “Back to the shuttle. Duga and Ben need to know what we found out. They should have a new mission for us as well.”

Their task completed the three Taldryan Jedi strolled back through the Arconan compound to report back to Consul Duga on the Dark Prophet.

As Mordin flew through the atmosphere towards where Raistline set down, he felt out over the landscape trying to get a feel to see if anyone else had noticed the emergency landing. The ocean underneath Mordin's Stealth-X was surprisingly calm, obviously not mirroring it's own inhabitants. Mordin saw an island coming into view on the horizon, that had to be where Raistline set down.

Mordin closed his eyes and raised his hand, reaching out through the Force searching for the prescence of life near Raistline's Hyperion. He felt maybe fifteen seperate entities. Then, fourteen, thirteen. Mordin raced forward knowing Raistline was in danger. He landed within view of the smoking fighter and hopped out of his fighter; unclipping his lightsaber as he ran forward. Through the tree's he could not see very much, but he could hear a cacophony of blaster fire. It seemed that the tempo was dying as he got closer.

Mordin burst through the last line of trees before a small clearing that looked to be made only by the emergency landing of the Hyperion which Raistline salvaged amazingly from total destruction. He was expecting immediate action, but as he failed to notice upon arrival all fire had ceased. He disengaged his saber and placed it back upon his belt.

Behind him a dark figure landed with a thud from a high branch.

"Thanks for taking your time Apo," said Raistline. Mordin couldn't help but grin, only a Taldryan could say that and be sincere for the thanks to spill all of the blood, to take all life. Mordin unclipped a comm link and brought it to his mouth.

"Leviathan, this is Fuera Grissa Oust Drauka, we need a small shuttle. Raistline can't fit in my fighter with me, and his Hyp is beyond field repair for servicability."

Mordin turned and clasped hands with Archpriest, "You wanna sing Kumbaya while we wait?"

As the shuttle breached the clouds and returned to space Kraval saw the space battle was still raging on. The VSD Dark Prophet had finished off the Arconan Flagship Eye of the Abyss and engaged with the Escort Carrier Malestrom. From where they were Kraval couldn't see how much damage the Vic had taken but he was sure it wasn't much, there isn't a ship in the Arconan fleet that could handle the power of the DP.

The Frigate Praetorian was trading salvos with the Lancer Frigate Bloodfang and so far it seemed that the Praetorian had the advantage. Now why in the world would they use Lancer Frigates to engage capital ships, Kraval thought, those things are made to beat up starfighters. How much idiocy can one clan have? As Kraval activated the long range sensors he could see that the Gunship Outcast and the Corvette Renegade had moved off from the fleet to take on the Acronan Corvettes Torment and Mejas Doto.

Kraval truely pittied those on the enemy corvettes. If he knew typical starship tactics, and of course he did since he's Sith after all, then the captain of the Outcast would hold back and use it's missiles from a distance to target the enemy engines or turrets while the Renegade would stay near by until the enemy corvettes got close enough to be a threat to the gunship at which time it would open fire itself. The Leviathan was the closest of the Taldryan ships to the corvettes and would have offered support if it wasn't engage with the Carrack Cruiser Wrathwraven. There the fight seemed evenly matched with both ships blasting away with turbo lasers and the Leviathan launching proton torpedoes to brake the cruisers' shields.

Sending off a comm signal Kraval hailed the Dark Prophet and it was Ben that received.

"Ben, the prisoners aren't on Arconae Secondus. Like we previously thought, all that was there was a star port and simple training facility," Kraval said.

"Fine fine, and I assume you placed the beacons like you were supposed to," Ben said in a parental way.

"Yes mother," Kraval replied being the typical smartass that he was.

"Good. Get going and head over here to the Dark Prophet, we're expecting Shad and his group do be done very soon so I'll be giving you your orders once we hear from them," and with that the comm line shut off.

"Wonderful, we'll get to see what the manslut, grandpa, and thrustor have been up to," Kraval said grinning to Shaithis who merely grunted.

Sharad, Sithspawn, and Shadow walked confidently onto the bridge. All three had commanded from here in the past, and felt comfortable in the presence of Taldryan's leaders. They nodded to Ben and Duga as they approached.

"Nothing on Arconae Primus," Sharad commented.

"That's a surprise," Duga said as he shook his head. "I thought they might be smart enough to move the prisoners to another planet, but that's quickly being ruled. Kraval and Shaithis confirmed that nothing was on Arconae Secondus. That leaves very few possibilities left, and I'm willing to bet that they're still on Selen."

Ben nodded, "However, we can't ignore the other possibilities. We need to check Boral and Sukhur to be sure."

"I agree," Duga interjected. "I have a bad feeling about this though. Therefore, I want you guys to combine forces and do each planet together rather than spreading out to cover both the planets at the same time."

"Oh please!" Sharad cried out. "It's not like Arcona could possibly handle any of us. We'll be fine on our own."

"Nevertheless, I think Duga is right," Ben added. "You should check the planets out together."

The group nodded grudgingly. The five of them set off to find a shuttle for their trip to Boral.

Chaos and Menace sat in the pair of chairs on the command deck of the Leviathan, barking out orders every once in awhile. Menace looked out upon the sea of space through the large window in front of him. Explosions rocked the Arconan fleet's cruisers; many smaller explosions also went off all around, probably from starfighters. The human in the chair next to him smirked, though he was still infuriated. Some of the non-Sensitives had carried out the man who had defied Ektrosis' Quastor.

Just then, the Leviathan was hit by one of the Arconan vessel's turbolaser banks. The overhead lights on the command deck began to flicker as the shields took the brunt of the weapon's force. Chaos stood from his seat, his rage flairing once more.

"Which one of their cruisers shot that?"

One of the non-Sensitives replied.

"The Nighthawk, sir."

"Bring the Leviathan around so we're facing that cruiser, then open fire!"

"Yes, sir. Turning 78 degrees."

Menace watched as the scene out the window changed as the Leviathan began to turn to engage the enemy vessel. Many of the explosions disappeared from view, replaced by the Carrak Cruiser Nighthawk.

"Charge up the turbolaser batteries, I want to be able to hit that cruiser the moment we're able!"

"Roger that."

As the Leviathan finished its rotation, Chaos gave the order to open fire. Bolts of red and white light shot out of the cruiser's weapon banks. The Nighthawk began to turn to change position, but there was no escape from the Leviathan's weapons, already en route. They struck the hull of the cruiser, and a blanket of blue flew around it. Chaos' rage flaired once more.

"We need to penetrate those shields!"

Then, Menace stood up from his chair.

"Divert all power to the forward laser banks, then hit 'em hard!"

Chaos looked over the Sergeant, smirking.

"You heard him! Divert power to the foward banks."

The lights in the command deck began to dim as power was leached from other systems to the weapons. Then, the muffled sound of laser fire could be heard as the red bolts of energy traveled toward the Nighthawk. The blue blanket that was their shield began to lose effectiveness as more powerful laser bolts hit the cruiser. After a few moments, the shields stopped protecting the cruiser all together and the laser bolts struck the naked hull.

As they went into the hangar bay Kraval smirked and looked over at Shad. "Why is it that I have to ferry around a bunch of Obelisk? Aren't you guys capable enough to do it yourselves or do you need someone to hold your hand when in the skies?"

"Watch it little boy," Ziggy replied palming his saber.

"Yea what he said," Sharad chimed in.

"Oh knock it off the both of you. We all know you won't do anything to him," Shad said as the hangar doors opened up.

"Come on," Kraval said as he motioned towards the shuttle he used on Secondus. "We'll take that shuttle and make for Boral with all possible speed."

The five member team walked up the ramp and in the cockpit Kraval closed it shut. Activating the engines the Lambda shuttle rose from the cold plated deck and back into space. Activating the shields Kraval steered towards their destination. No use in trying stealth this time since they were leaving the Taldryan flagship and it was almost a certainty that someone was keeping a constant eye on it.

Shifting power from the weapons systems to the shields and engines Kraval pushed the throttle to maximum thrust and made a straight line for Boral. He was hoping that a shuttle would be low on the priority list for the Arconan starfighters but he had guessed wrong. Sensors had picked up four Tie Interceptors headed right for them.

"Oh great," Kraval muttered to himself.

"What is it?" Shad asked.

"Four enemy Tie Interceptors headed for us and there's no way this shuttle could handel them," Kraval replied as he turned on the comm system and began tuning a frequency.

"So where's the almighty Sith now huh? You can't even handle four fighters!" Ziggy laughed. He then looked closer at the display pannels and exlaimed, "Well of course you can't handle them you don't have any power set to the weapons!"

"Sit down and shut up now all of you!" Kraval shouted as he pulled back on the control stick throwing the shuttle into an upward climb. He knew that wouldn't buy them much time so he threw the ship into a corkscrew spin. The comm system made a pinging noise telling Kraval that it had found the channel he programmed it to search for.

"This is Kraval Novir in the Lambda shuttle to any Taldryan star fighters, we have four interceptors coming for us. Any help would be appreciated."

"This is Kraval Novir in the Lambda shuttle to any Taldryan star fighters, we have four interceptors coming for us. Any help would be appreciated."

Crix chuckled as the message came over his comm., he sensed a great deal of urgency in the message and said “I guess I have to save your ass, don’t I Kraval.”

Crix checked his sensors and saw that the shuttle was about 3 klicks behind him, it was a little far but he could make it there pretty quickly. He snapped off a laser shot, ripping apart the Interceptor that happened to cross his ship as he pulled up on the flight stick and pushing it to the left, snapping his fighter up and rolling it over to reverse his course and head back to the distressed shuttle. He hit a button and dumped some of his stored shield energy into the engines, pushing them to close the distance faster. Finally he got within missile range of the fighters and set his crosshairs over the closest fighter to him. The pilot’s sensors warned him of the impending missile lock and he tried to evade, moving from side to side in an attempt to get out of Crix’s crosshairs but at that range his movements did next to nothing to help him and within a few seconds Crix’s missile was off and the fighter was little more then floating rubble. Crix switched to lasers and opened himself to the Force, letting it guide his shots. The remaining three fighters didn’t last much longer. They tried to run after the first ship was destroyed but they didn’t get very far with Crix on their tails. He was considered the best fighter pilot in Taldryan for a reason.

“You guys owe me drinks for that.” Crix said to Kraval and the others in the shuttle.

“Funny, Crix.” Crix recognized the voice and laughed.

“How is it that I always end up saving your ass, Ziggy?” Crix shot back as he flew back to the thick of the battle. “Call me if you need your ass saved again,” He quipped back at the shuttle as it flew off to it’s destination.

"Yea thanks Crix," Kraval said as he flipped the comm unit off. "Ok guys, well hope you enjoyed that little tussle but now we're back on our way."

"About time," Shaithis said.

Kraval stabalized the engines and pushed the throttle foward again towards Boral. Thankfully they encountered no other fighters and the transition into the atmosphere was uneventful. Raising up the wings and extending the landing gears Kraval set the ship down gently. "Well ladies and gentlemen, thankyou very much for flying Sith Airways, this is your captain Kraval wishing you champagne dreams," Kraval said like a smartass.

"Just open the door so we can get this started," Ziggy said.

The others mumbled their agreement so Kraval pressed the button and the ramp lowered. Sharad and Shaithis were the first out and on the ground. Shaithis sniffed the air and Sharad used a set of macrobinoculars to scan the horizon. Ziggy and Shadow followed a minute behind them and Kraval after them.

"Hey Shad, what do you want me to do? Should I stay here with the shuttle or do you four want me to go along with you?" Kraval asked.

"We don't need to be babysitting a Sith in battle," Sharad said.

Both Ziggy and Shaithis laughed at this but Shadow got a serious look on his face. "He's coming along with us. Kraval has proven himself capable of ground fighting in the ORoS where he was the greatest warrior in the entire Brotherhood, including all the Obelisk. Just grab your gear and lock up the shuttle Kraval," Shadow said.

"Ok then," Kraval said and went up inside to grab his pack. Before going back down the ramp again he went into the cockpit and input a sequence that would lock the shuttle down and would require a force user to open it up again. Even if the enemy had a few Dark Jedi here to open it they wouldn't be able to get through the activation codes. One wrong slip and the shuttle itself would blow up. Granted that would leave them without a shuttle but better that than to let the Arconans get ahold of a shuttle that used Tal IFF codes. Wouldn't want them sneaking up on the fleet and using the shuttle as a carrier for a large bomb.

Kraval jogged down the ramp and it slid shut behind him. "Ok guys, where to now?"

"That way," Sharad pointed. "I sense their presences. This time, less killing and more torturing," he said as he glared at Sithspawn and Shadow.

"Hey, we found out Arconae Primus was clean," Sithspawn said innocently.

"Sure, but we didn't find out where Werdna and Odium are being kept," Sharad retorted. "We're wasting precious time checking out all these planets. We need to find out for sure just where they are."

Shadow nodded, "He's right. We've had our fun killing, but now we need to get some real work done."

The group moved toward the life that Sharad felt. As they came over the crest of barren rock, a building loomed ahead. The group stared at the pyramid shape before them.

"How original can they get?" Shadow chuckled sarcastically.

"Ya know, this whole temple thing is a bit cliche for us Jedi, but this is by far the worst," Sharad laughed.

Shaithis grunted in response, but his mind was focused on more sinister activities than poking fun at the temple.

Kraval piped up, "Well maybe we should get in there and take care of business?"

Sithspawn merely laughed at Kraval as he led the way. The Jedi were surprised as they walked through the door without being harassed. Arcona sure was lax on security. No wonder they were too stupid to give back the prisoners. A slow rumble spread through their feet.

"What the hell?" Kraval yelled.

"Relax. Let's keep moving," Sharad said unperturbed by the change of events. "Those inside don't seem worried it all. Clearly this was plan. They don't even seem to be aware of our presence. This may be the break we've been waiting for."

"We seem to be ascending," Shadow said somewhat surprised. "This damn thing must be some sort of ship."

"Well assuming it is a ship," Kraval interjected, "it makes sense. They need all the firepower they can muster right now to fight off our fleet."

"Well I want to torture some people," Sithspawn whined.

Sharad smiled, "Our mission doesn't change. This just means that we may end up with an extra ship to boot. Let's move on."

The ever-present earbud in Zarco's ear chirped to alert him. He was receiving a message that a small force needed to divert to Sukhur in order to search for the missing Taldryan members. Zarco walked up the ramp to of the Lambda clkass shuttle. He keyed in the communications codes for his team members Protector Anik Kiran and Dark Jedi Knight Tiberius Serpentum.

Neither answered. He informed them, "This is Zarco. I have assembled an eight man squad of troops in a Shuttle Apocalypse. I am requesting your presence on board for an excursion to Sukhur in search of the missing members. Please respond."

Zarco checked his weapons and discussed mission parameters with the armoured troops as he waited for his team members to respond.

Shadow heard voices coming from the chamber ahead of the entrance hall. The sounds of soldiers chatting and deep voices bellowing commands swept across the team of infiltrators.

“Alright. Like Sharad said we just need to get in, get the info and then haul ass.” Shadow looked pointedly at Shaithis. “Let’s try not to take on their entire military.” The Barabel let out a low growl of displeasure but nodded his head in consent.

Sharad looked down the hall thoughtfully. “We can’t hope to just sneak past them. Shaithis here isn’t exactly inconspicuous. We need a distraction… something mechanical.” The group thought it over a moment.

“Hey wait… where’s Kraval?” The four senior Jedi looked to see the impetuous Sith stalking through the shadows towards the chamber.

Kraval was using all the skill he could muster to remain unseen while trying to find the controls for the rooms lights. Peeking around the corner he saw it. Nearly on the opposite side of the room. Focusing his will into the control panel he caused the entire chamber to go pitch black. People started cursing in the dark. His fellow clan members had caught up to him and grabbed him by the robes pulling him through the confusion to a hallway on the left side.

“Damnit you need to wait for orders,” Sharad whispered angrily at the Knight. “If they had any Jedi in there they would have sensed the ripple in the Force.”

Kraval stood his ground and replied, “Well it worked, didn’t it?”

Shadow stepped in between the two. “Come on. The Command quarters are at the end of this hall. Let’s move.”

The four Jedi fell into step behind him as he stalked quickly through the moderately decorated halls. Entering the waiting foyer Shadow sensed Arconans behind the large doors. “Ok. Looks like we found someone.” He motioned Shaithis forward. “Blow the doors.”

The fearsome Barabel whipped a det pack from his belt and went to work setting the charge. Seconds later he was hauling ass back down the hall and behind cover with the rest of the group in tow. Shadow and Sharad blanketed the sound of the explosion with the Force ensuring they wouldn’t be taken over by armed guards.

Moving quickly through the falling debris and dust the five Taldryan Jedi surrounded the lone Arconan commander with sabers ignited.

"Can I help you?" the commander asked impatiently.

"Wow these Arconans are seriously dumber than I thought," Shadow murmured to the others.

"No kidding," Sithspawn said as he shook his head.

"Where are the damn prisoners?" Sharad commanded.

A dumbfounded look crossed the commander's face. He was quite good at playing the fool, even if it did come a bit naturally to him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sharad closed his eyes and focused his thoughts. With a bit of probing, he found what he was looking for. With a grit of his teeth he manipulated the man's mind into an object full of pain. He smiled with satisfaction as the anger flowed out from him.

The commander's face turned stern. "I don't know where they are. You'll never get it out of me. Guards!"

Shadow frowned, "I guess you'll get your heart's desire, Shai."

A wicked grin crossed the Barabel's face. This would be a moment to enjoy his twisted pleasures. Ten men rushed inside the chambers, blasters drawn.

"You sent us lackeys?" Sithspawn spat. "This is insulting."

Shaithis was in action before the others came back to their senses. His powerful hands pushed full tilt into two poor soldiers' necks. The force instantly ruptured the men's trachea as they flew back out the doorway. Sharad's sabers were ignited in a flash and two more were down with missing appendages. Kraval and Shadow had out their trusty bryar pistols in time to finish off those remaining.

Sharad nodded, "We left the prize for you, Ziggy."

Sithspawn smiled. If there was anything he loved more than killing, it was interrogating. He quickly produced a large steel hook and some hefty rope. Without even asking the commander questions he rammed the hook into the man's back and worked it through. Then, he proceeded to run the rope through the hook and tie a secure knot with the dexterity of someone who had done it before. He backed away and with a simple gesture from his hand, the rope began to lift. In just a few moments the man was levitating from the ground, hanging from the rope that was secured to his back by a hook forced into it.

"Uhh Ziggy, we do kind of need this information quickly," Shadow said.

"Shhh." Sithspawn responded disgustedly. "I want to savor this."

"Alright, I'll talk. I'll talk!" the pale man yelled.

"Like hell you will!" Sithspawn shouted. "I'm not done with you yet."

"Damnit, get this crazy bastard away from me," the commander pleaded.

Sithspawn unclipped his saber before the others could stop him and advanced toward the man. In a flash a foot flopped to the floor and the saber blade was slowly burning a hole in the man's pants. The heat from the saber was beginning to singe into the poor man's groin.

"[Expletive Deleted]! I said I'd talk. Please, let me go," he yelled.

Sithspawn smiled, "I haven't heard anything I want to yet."

"They're on Selen! Your friends are on Selen. Just let me go. I told you what you wanted," the desperate man cried.

"That's more like it," Sithspawn replied. He relaxed his mind and released his grip on the rope. The man crumpled to the floor as Sithspawn muttered to himself about people these days having no balls. He turned away, disgusted.

Shaithis reached down and ripped the man's throat apart. His eyes rolled back into his head as the relaxation of death came over him. Sharad glared at the Barabel, "Harsh."

"He would have talked if we left him that way," Shaithis responded.

Shadow piped up, "It's ok. Besides we need to get to Selen now and we're a long way from our ship. We've got work to do."

"Wonderful job there Ziggy," Kraval said with a bit of sarcasm.

"Why thankyou," Ziggy responded putting away his hook.

"Ok folks, like Shad said we're a long ways away from our shuttle so we'll just have to take this one for ourselves. The only thing we really should have to do is to get to the lift that will take us up to the command deck. I'm willing to bet that there will be guards at the lift doors and inside the control room," Kraval said walking towards the hallway that would lead them to the lift.

"So how far until we meet these guards at the lift?" Shaithis asked obviously wanting to kill more people.

"Soon," Kraval replied a tad bit annoyed. These Obelisk are such barbaric types, it's no wonder they need the Sith to lead them Kraval thought. As the group rounded a corner there stood two guards to the right and left of the lift doors. Before anyone could say anything Shaithis rushed forward grabbing the men by their heads and, using his physical strength, crushed their skulls.

Quietly laughing to himself Shaithis threw their bodies aside and tapped the keypad to the lift doors. They opened without resistance and the group stepped into the elevator. "So who gets to do all the killing up on the command deck?" Ziggy asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Me," Kraval said bluntly.

"You!?!?! Haha what makes you think you could do it?" Sharad said laughing hysterically.

The other joined in on his laughter but Kraval simplied ignored it. As the lift slowed down everyone prepaired for the final fight before they could take command of the ship. When the lift finally stopped and the doors opened Kraval whipped out his saber and Bryars pistol. Stepping through he quickly sliced the two guards near the holo transmitter and shot the other two guards near the viewport in their faces.

Just as the crew was turning around to see what was going on Kraval opened fire, hitting one right after the other. When it was done the four guards, four turret opperators, and the navagation crew had charred holes in their bodies. Looking back at the lift Kraval saw that the others had stayed inside and watched him fight.

"Decided to sit this one out?" Kraval asked as he motioned the others to get to the stations.

"Nah, we just wanted to see if you'd get killed," Ziggy responded.

"Gee thanks, now lets get moving. Shad and Shaithis will man one laser turret on each side. Ziggy you'll be doing navagation. Sharad I need you to work on that holo net transmitter. See if you can't get it tuned to Taldryan frequencies." As Kraval gave out the orders none of the elder jedi complained.

The ship was already in space and heading for the fleets and where they were having their battle. Suddenly it occured to Kraval that they were flying an Arconan craft and if they came close enough to a Tal ship it would more than likely open fire on them.

"Ziggy change our IFF code over to something Tal so that they don't shoot at us please," Kraval said quickly.

The moment Ziggy did that the holo net device went off. It looked like a Taldryan officer. Probably one on the command ship Dark Prophet. The officer spoke loudly and abruptly. "Prepare for an incoming transmission."

The battle had proceeded quickly. A unit of Taldryan Obelisk were departing Boral, having captured an Arcona command ship. Crix and Apo had been chasing fighters around the system, and Apo had gone to aid Raist. Ben and Duga had watched from the Dark Prophet, sending messages to freshjive occasionally, but largely letting tactical decisions come from him. If larger strategy was involved or there was something freshjive couldn't resolve with the forces at hand, he bumped it up to them and they looked for a solution.

Information was streaming in from all points, intercepted Arconan transmissions, orders, and calls for support. Pyralis had joined him on the bridge of the Praetorian and had guided him in some of the finer points of Sith warfare. All of this was highly unusual for freshjive to be involved in and a helping hand was welcomed.

Just then a holotransmitter spurted to life and a ragtag group of Taldryan Obelisk appeared in front of him.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" he asked

Shadow stepped forward and spoke.

"Jive, we've got some info you might want...apparently they're keeping Werdna and Odium on Selen, we're enroute there now with a..uh..."liberated" ship."

"Where did you get your information from? Is it reliable?" asked Pyralis.

"We think it is, it was in a secure location." replied Shadow.

"Ok, open comms to all forces," said freshjive. When Pyralis had signaled that comms were open freshjive addressed his comlink.

"All Taldryan forces, repeat, all Taldryan forces, break off engagement and head for Selen, we have a positive location of our people!"

With that order, the dots and blips on the various screens on the Praetorian showed the massive Taldryan fleet turn and head for its new target...