Scholae Regular Run On

Run-on Competition: The Chain of Duty

This will be a unscripted runon event. Each unit will have two teams: the special forces runon, where only members of the special forces may post, and the regular runon, where all members (even those in the special forces) may post. The Special Forces runons will be the official submission for qualitative judging.

Regular rules:

1. 250 word minimum per post.
2. 1000 word maximum per post.
3. Players must post a minimum of 2 times.
4. Players may post as many times as they desire.
5. Edits may occur on a post until a follow on post has been made (follow on posts include "reserving" a space). Only the author may edit their post on the forums. Admin use on the forums during the run on is expressly prohibited for participants. (Email Sarin and myself for anything)
6. Members may reserve post, but no posts can occur until after the reserved post is written.
7. The event will be graded by Raken, Sarin, and Muz using a rubric that focuses on creativity, plot development, realism, and grammar.
8. (Special Forces) Only two members of the Special Forces will be permitted to sit this event out.
9. Members failing to post 2 x times per phase will be disqualified and will not be given credit for participating in the event.

An abandoned system on Zorfe Trete. Three hours prior to the assault on Ashas Ree.


The armada of House Scholae Palatinae was gathered in an abandoned system located on Zorfe Trete, close to the Ashas Ree system, which was the target of the mission. The last stop before entering the battle was made there, as the Emperor wanted to deliver his final speech before the assault would commence.

Xen’Mordin Vismorsus, the Quaestor of the House and the Emperor himself, looked at the chronometer. The initial briefing was made. All commanders, troops, pilots, auxilliary staff and the Dark Jedi were aware of their tasks. They knew that the ultimate goal was to conquer the planet, wipe out all agents of the One Sith or the capture them for interrogation, and to secure the planet for the rule of the Imperial House. Some of the Dark Jedi volunteered to support the fighter squadrons with their Force enhanced abilities. The others were going to utilize their skills in the ground battle and meet their enemies face to face in direct combat. No matter the outcome, they were going to risk their lives to capture the planet and to further the agenda of the Iron Throne. Hopefully, their efforts were going to be enough to convince the Dark Council to grant the planet to the members of the Imperial House, as repayment for their loyal and dedicated service.

Now, it was the time to deliver the speech to the whole fleet and the ground forces. Xen’Mordin nodded at Xantros and Koryn, who got closer to him and stood behind the commander’s chair. Then, he order, “Open the channel to the fleet. I want this message to be delivered to all officers, pilots, soldiers and to every single member of our great fleet and army.”

The communication officer carried out the order immediately and the Emperor’s smooth baritone voice began, echoing across the metal walls of every ship.

“Officers, pilots, soldiers and auxilliary staff of the Imperial Armada. Within three hours, we are going to engage our enemies. We do this in order to gain the ultimate control over the planet and to seize it under our rule. There are hostile forces present in the system and they will definitely do their best to prevent us from achieving our goal. Show them no mercy, as they will the same to us. Kill them. Burn them. If you run out of blasters, use knives. If you run out of knives, use bare hands. If you run out of hands, use bare teeth. Finally, they will run out of time and lives. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. Serve the Empire!”

The transmission ended. “Now, we are ready to go into the battle. We will be the victors,” whispered Xen’Mordin to himself rather than to someone else.

“But what will be the price of our victory?” asked Xantros as quietly as the Quaestor.

The fleet lumbered out of the gravity well of the Zorfe Trete system after the Emperor’s terse speech. With less than three standard hours until the landings commenced on Ashas Ree, the beings aboard the vessels conducted themselves in their usual pre-battle rituals: checking weapons and gear; reviewing battle plans; engaging in gallows humor with their comrades; and last, but not least, enjoying a hot meal in a relatively clean galley. Few knew when their next meal would be, if ever.

Krath Priest Draco Maligo sat cross-legged in the meditation sphere of the star destroyer Excidium II. He heard the chimes heralding the jump to hyperspace and waited for the resulting shift in the feel of the Force. With the inertial compensators on, Force insensates felt nothing of the trip, but those in tune with the Force felt the relative void of interspace travel punctuated with the semi-regular bursts of vitality resulting from passage close to inhabited systems. It was like a kaleidoscope of life energy flavored with the Force essences of billions of myriad beings.

The trip seemed far less than the chrono indicated. The androgynous droid voice announced over the loud speakers that reversion to real space would be in fifteen minutes, and relayed orders that all flights crews and insertion personnel needed to report immediately to the drop hangers. The bustle of activity rose a couple of notches. Flight checks were reported, final roll calls were taken, and troops marched into their transport vehicles. Maligo strode onto his assigned ship, black robes billowing, his lightsaber swinging from the clip hooked to his utility belt on his left side.

The Priest sat next to the door, observing with amused detachment the discomfort his presence caused the new recruits. The company of soldiers he usually fought with had suffered nearly fifty percent casualties in the last several engagements, their places filled with beings recently graduated from camp. The veterans, though awed to some degree, knew that Draco preferred to lead from the front and not push from behind. For this they respected him.

The Excidium decanted from hyperspace, all turbolasers and proton torpedo tubes manned and armed. At the moment of reversion, all fighters streamed from the docking bays, followed closely by bombers and troop ships. The space forces of the One Sith were spread out in a standard defensive deployment, but reacted quickly to the sudden appearance of Brotherhood forces in their midst. The black of space was quickly smeared with ion trails, multicolored streaks of laser lights, and the yellow-orange blossoms that spelled death for a starship and its crew.

The drop ships plummeted to the planet surface. The dark side nexus of Freedon Nadd shone like a lighthouse beacon on a moonless night, at least for those who could feel the Force. The plan was to land several forces surrounding the nexus and attack on multiple fronts. Maligo’s battalion drew the east savannah, the ten transports flying in a dispersed pattern to provide freedom of maneuver from the anti-ship guns on the ground. Draco felt one of the ships hit, the fifty or so beings screaming terror through the Force as their transport careened to the ground.

Twenty meters off the surface the Priest rose, gestured with his hand, and the hatch blew outward. He leapt from the ship, igniting his saber during freefall, and used the Force to cushion his landing. The small arms laser fire was easily deflected off his yellow-orange blade, and the Priest charged the nearest cluster of enemy troops with a burst of Force speed. A quick blast of telekinesis and a few slashes of his blade and the pocket of resistance was decapitated at his feet. Then the drop ships were all on the ground, disgorging troops who quickly dispersed across the grassy plains, smothering the enemy positions with concentrated fire.

ISDII Magnus Kaerner, Bridge
Ashas Ree Orbit

He was an unassuming looking man; nothing about him made him stand out from the crowd. Dark hair, dark eyes; even his aptitude at his position was average. He tapped away at the console.
Power distribution: optimal.
Weapons systems: online.
Shields: online, optimal.
Life support: online.
Communications array: online.
It was a tedious task, but necessary. Two men stood nearby, looking out of the forward viewport: Aedile Ernordeth Puer-Irae and the Magnus Kaerner's captain Hades. The Unassuming Man could hear their words as clear as if they were speaking directly to him. Most of the conversation was irrelevant to him: Tarenti business. Nevertheless, he mentally noted the details lest it be useful at a later date. As the pair turned away from the viewport, the Aedile called for a projection to be displayed on the bridge.

In the centre of the room, a hologram of Ashas Ree shimmered brightly before zooming in to its surface. A large dot was drawn onto the topography followed by a cross a short distance away to the east. Yellowing grass and twisted trees marked the location as the southern savannah.

"This is Lev's team, correct?" Enquired the captain. Ernordeth nodded.

"Yes, and we believe this to be a One Sith encampment, which we need taken out," he paused as another cross was drawn on the hologram far to the north-west. "However, here we have the Dark Side Nexus that recently became active, and Anshar desperately wants to investigate..." The Unassuming Man made no movement to suggest he was listening raptly. The Aedile spoke in great detail about the various strike teams' objectives before Hades walked through the plans for the space battle. As the hologram faded away to nothingness, the captain summoned his second-in-command, relinquishing control of the ship before requesting a dropship be prepped. The pair exited the bridge and the Unassuming Man followed in their wake. He watched as they made their way towards the hangar bay, while he turned a corner, bound for another destination.

He stopped at a doorway before glancing around for any signs of company. There were few people with authorised access to the room, but these details rarely dissuaded the Unassuming Man. A hand scanner sat beside the door; he prised the front plate free revealing wires and circuitry beneath. Removing the wire cutters he had swiped from engineering from his pocket, he deftly cut a red wire and a blue wire, pulling free a small circuit board. Touching the wires together, they sparked bathing the device in a golden glow for a brief second. Good, there was still power flowing through. Tying the cables together as best he could, the Unassuming Man replaced the front plate and pressed his hand to the device allowing the door to slide open. It was hard to believe that all records pertaining to the hand prints of a select few were stored inside such a small piece of circuitry.

The room was awash with an azure colouring. Shelves of what appeared to be nothing more than blue light were in fact vast archives of information. The Unassuming Man had little time to admire the decor; it was impossible to tell when someone might enter with legitimate business, or one of the Tarenti sense his presence. There was a lone console in the centre of the room. His fingers rapidly tapped at buttons as he searched the archives. There was a gold mine of information at his fingertips, but his employer only wanted one thing for the time being.

---

NSD Excidium II, Bridge
Ashas Ree Orbit

Koryn had never met the man. He didn't even know the man's name; knew him only as UM. Yet the Rollmaster trusted him implicitly with the gathering of Yridia's sensitive information. The Rodian's datapad chirruped as he received UM's latest data cache: the Tarentum strategic battle plans for Ashas Ree.

"M-3PO, add these plans to the overview," Koryn ordered as he transferred credits to UM's account. The droid responded in the affirmative as a hologram appeared already showing Taldryan battle plans. Within a few seconds the Tarenti forces materialized above the planet. Admiral Ail’en Sommetra stepped forward nodding approvingly as she scanned the hologram, her mind already beginning to formulate a stratagem for the Imperial fleet. “If Taldryan or Tarentum try to interfere with your attack on the One Sith forces, fire a warning shot but don’t engage them,” warned the Rodian. “I don’t want to deal with the political ramifications if the Iron Throne found out.” Koryn turned his attention back to the datapad in his hand. Draco and his battalion had already run the One Sith blockade and were positioning to assault their entrenched army at the Nexus; he would likely need reinforcements. “Ready a battalion for deployment to Maligo’s location,” ordered the Rollmaster. “I’ll be joining the ground forces there myself.”