Vash

STAR WARS: ANIHILATION {Reboot} {DemonTongue/Vash}

Inside Trinity's haven, Marquis sat on the deck of her wooded home, overlooking the vast valley in front of him. "I forgot how beautiful your inner haven was. You've worked on it a lot. Walking up next to him as he sat on a hanging bench. The sun was shining in a perpetual sunset, bathing everything in a crisp orange. "You always told me of your ideal home. I wanted to try and replicate that. I think I did well, She said confidently. "That you did. That. You. Did. Marquis replied in a happy tone. "I need to go back out there, though. Trinity was visibly saddened by him saying that, but she knew that he was a being that could never just do nothing. He was always on the move and always had a problem to solve. He was never the man to really settle down for long. She admired it...somewhat.

___

A knock at Quin's door would bring her attention away from whatever she was doing and answer it. When she opened it she would be surprised to see Nyrette in her civilian clothing, looking tired with her eyes slightly sunken and red from weariness. "May...may I speak with you for a moment?" Smiling, Quin stepped aside and let the bedraggled woman in. She came in and sat down on her bed and looked up to her friend. "I need to tell you something very very...sensitive, okay? We've been friends for a couple months and the...nightmares are starting to get to me. I need to air this out." Closing the door, Quin grabbed an office chair and straddled it, leaning against the back of the chair and getting comfortable. She asked what was on her mind and Nyrette took a deep breath. "Okay...here we go."

"Have you ever heard of Imperial intelligence?" She said the name sounded familiar but didn't ring a bell. Nyrette continued. "There is a faction outside of known space known as the Imperial Empire. A long time ago there were multiple wars between them and the republic, they are mortal enemies. The Sith lead them and they are mortal enemies." Quin recognized that name. The sith. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Nyrette more intently. "The 'Sith' you know here are nothing compared to the Empire. The Empire is much much worse. Right now, they aren't a threat but soon they will be. That isn't what is important right now, what is however is what I am."

She paused to let Quin soak it in. "I'm an imperial agent. I work with Imperial intelligence on the recon and spying on the republic nation to prepare for the Empire's coming. I used to be a member of republic space, on Nar Shaddaa no less. Being there made several...dark memories resurface." Though Quin rose to attack an enemy of the republic, Nyrette lifted her shirt and undressed to her undergarments. She was riddled with scars from the top of her body to the bottom of her tailbone. Deep knife wounds, whipping scars, missing flesh. "Most of these were at the hands of my trainers. The endurance training, conditioning, and preparation for the field was...excruciating. But none were as terrifying as my primary handler...She inflicted...nightmares against me. In the intelligence training program, only thirty of five hundred survived, and the last thirty, including myself, were subjected to the power of a woman named Sol'tsyri. She inflicted deep, horrifying terrors on us..." She noticed Quin was standing now, barely restraining her anger. Nyrette put her clothing back on. "Sol'tsyri is an enormously powerful woman, she makes Zenithar look like a child. She inflicted horrors on us that I would not wish on my worst enemy. Only five of us survived. We then became her personal agents. I was the only one sent into the republic to spy, but since I've gotten here I haven't reported back and I haven't bothered doing any spying. I've been with you and the Harpoon in what used to be my home ten years ago."

She looked off towards Quin's window distantly. "I forgot what it was like here...safe and...warm. In the Empire it's always so cold and dangerous. One wrong word and a guard will shoot you on the spot. I...I can't go back, but if I'm revealed or if Sol'tsyri finds me I...I don't know what will happen. I'm only coming to you because I...trust you. You're the first woman...the first person...I've been able to trust since I first left the republic. I just wanted to tell you that and...thank you for listening to me." She stood and approached Quin and hugged her, though she didn't receive one in return. She walked out and went to prepare for the landing on Nal Hutta.

___

With Trinity's help, The Harpoon successfully made it right past the scouts that constantly patrol Nal Hutta's toxic atmosphere. Setting down in an abandoned facility a dozen miles or so from the droid factory, they were able to successfully hide themselves and step off of the ship. They were able to make a small base camp out of the facility. While Zen and Nyrette stayed with the ship, Cheshik and Iisska went out to explore the facility while Quin and the rest of the crew prepared a base camp. From what the two explorers could find, the facility used to be a weapons research lab though unfortunately everything was stripped and there's nothing left. It was empty however and nothing was swallowed by the toxic swamp, so it would work for them well.

Aether: Legend of the Crimson Dusicyon - Now Recruiting Crewmates!

The fire had become to intense for Cyrus to handle, the cover he had chosen had been reduced to dust and ash and now he had relocated into a warehouse. As soon as he stepped into it, bullets tore through the weak metal walls and ricocheted off of the stone floor, going all about the room. The room was an explosives ordinance storage facility and was filled with boxes full of bombs, explosives, missiles, and all sorts of fun toys for pirates. Cyrus sprinted and got down behind a large crate of who-knows-what and leaned against it, breathing shallowly. He looked down nearly lost it when he saw all the blood starting to pool. Four, maybe five, bullets tore through his armor. Turns out running at somebody with the cloak on wasn't a good idea. He groaned as he hefted up his left arm. It had felt heavy since sitting down and only now did he realize that there was a knife sticking in his forearm. He screamed with agony as he ripped it out and flexed his hand a little. He went to work digging two bullets out of his back and forcing his fingers through the bullet holes in his legs to get the bullets out.

Once he was done, he grabbed his rifle and checked the ammo. He was pleased to see that he still had plenty, but his pistol was in a sorry shape. Just one magazine left. He shook his head and rose from his position, getting against the crate and looking around. He spied a couple windows he could scale up to and get a good position on the outside battle, but before he did so he froze and held his breath. He heard voices and footsteps from the door he had come through.

"Find him and rip out his throat. No Pirate gets to attack my sky boomstick without MY SAY SO!" The other two fanned out while their leader slowly scanned the upper stacks of crates. The right pirate slowly made his way through the eastern side of the crates while his partner closed in Cyrus' position in the west. She heard something scrambling from around a corner and popped out at the loction screaming "Ahaha!" With her rifle pointed, but saw nothing but a rat running away. "See something, dawn?!" Said the eastern guard.

"Nah, not a thing, gi-" She froze as a gun was placed on her back and a hand wrapped over her mouth. She was dragged into the hallway of boxes she had surprised the rat in and felt her heartbeat pick up as Cyrus whispered into her ear. "Say a word and I'll blow you and whatever you had for breakfast all over the crates," she forced a nod out and shallowly sighed through her nose as Cyrus put her on her hands and knees.

"I don't make enough for me to get violated! Don't!" Cyrus paused and looked at the woman with a cocked head. "I'm...just going to conk you on the back of the head and come back later to get you to a doctor...geeze. Stop watching Law and Order: Skyward." "Oh. Wait, really? I'm...in the wrong type of pirate crew aren't I?"

"Yep." She simply grunted when Cyrus hit her in the back of the head with his pistol, knocking her out cold. He picked up her Rifle as well as a couple of magazines. Smiling under his mask, he fired a couple rounds into the ceiling before climbing onto one of the boxes and hiding in the darkness.

The other two pirates came to investigate the noise when they stumbled upon Dawn's body. "Shit, she's dead!" The captain said as he approached her. As he drew close though, he heard a slicing noise from behind and turned just in time to see Cyrus' blade pushing into his throat. Cyrus ran him through the adam's apple and ripped the blade out. With one pirate decapitated and the other bleeding out on the ground, Cyrus grabbed Dawn, picking her up, and placed her on top of a crate so she wouldn't get swarmed by rats.

Using his belt to steady his climb, Cyrus made his way up to the rafters and one of the windows. With the new rifle on his back, it was a bit more difficult, especially considering his wounds, but he made it up there alright and got against a steel beam before kicking out the window. Thankfully, nobody was watching at the moment and he was able to get set up without anymore incident.

Before he could get firing however, a crew-wide transmission came in on the transceivers for the ground team from Faulkner. "AttenSHUN maggots! Your little...diversion had been more of a boon than a mishap! I have cleared out thew western most AA gun myself have it under control. Good job! Now just don't die!"

___

Carson's own transceiver would pick up Faulkner's next message then giving her a little much needed intelligence. "Attention, Carson. I have cleared a landing pad for you at the western AA Gun. If you need to touch down for repairs: DOOOO SO! The second and third AA Guns should be dealt with shortly! Faulkner out!"

A second message would come through just after Faulkner's. But it was the captain instead. "Mansion AA gun is down, repeat. Mansion AA gun is down." The transmission was cut then as the captain went back to work.

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Just giving a heads up, modem died this morning. Shouldnt be too much of an issue but my post won't be up til we get a new box... so maybe a few days.

@NuttsnBolts

Not a problem ScrewsnWashers

Aether: Legend of the Crimson Dusicyon - Now Recruiting Crewmates!

Okay, so, I apologize for my relative inactiveness for the last few days and/or week. Lots of things have been going on IRL and I've been under a huge amount of stress. Enough that it's difficult for me to work on actual posts. DT has been pushing things a bit for me, but I should be able to pop back in on wednesday and get a post up.

In my upcoming post, I'll be speeding us along and finishing up objectives and actually push the plot. It'll be a bit of a time skip too, so Skyteam, please be ready.

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@Vash Quick question, in the op you mentioned that there can be robotic entities like androids and machines (AI). What sort of limit would that entail? (Brainstorming for ideas)

Wondering about design, humanoid or not, intelligence, etc.

@NuttsnBolts

Androids and machines have either a lot of limitations or no limitations. Androids and some robotic servants for example can and will have true intelligence and can develop thoughts, emotions, and even dreams if given the time to do so. Some will even seek out implants to simulate the five primary human senses.

There are however many machines that have shackled A.I. to keep them from going nuts, such as in Turrets, assassin droids, certain types of servant robots, ect.

Design varies among the factions and civilizations. Some are almost lifelike, others are tankish and brutal. No real limit here.

Robots are kickass.

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Been a bit busy so I might not get up a post til tomorrow. Was thinking about assaulting the AA cannon somehow and taking out some guards or something. Cyrus's "distraction" may help me out. :)

@NuttsnBolts

It's wasn't as much a distraction as it was a...diversion... :D

Put a post out. Hope it works enough, based on my observations. If there's anything that needs editing, @Vash, please yell at me about it.

@Penultimate_Pi

Everything seems to be in order. Good show.

STAR WARS: ANIHILATION {Reboot} {DemonTongue/Vash}

Nyrette's eyes shot open with a shock, she sharply inhaled and sat up. Just as she did she started to cough out all the breath she had just inhaled. She wouldn't stop coughing for several moments, her body unable to process whatever was stuck in her chest. How long had she been out? She looked around the room to see it empty. No auras or traces of the force to be found. She finally stopped coughing and took a slow, raggedy breath. She swung her legs out and stood up slowly, trying to get her balance. "Hello?" She called out. "Is anybody there?" She bellowed again, but to no response. She was naked save for her leggings and some bandages over her chest. She was a curvacious young woman with messy black hair, though she was not the galaxy's view of a "super model" by any stretch of the imagination. Her body was riddled with scars. Deep knife wounds, whip marks, lacerations, blaster markings, ripped skin where bone had broken through, a c-section scar. She had been brutalized over her entire life. Most women would have caved in and taken their own lives if they had gone through the same things she had, but not her.

Treading lightly, she made her way out the door and into the halls of the Harpoon. It was completely silent, not even the noise of the ship engines, which was normally a very quiet hum, could be heard. The hairs on the back of her neck started to rise and she knew something was far from right. She went down stairs to the lounge where everybody usually meets, but it was empty. There was a layer of dust on everything, like it hadn't been touched in years. The window on the far side of the lounge showed her a great view of space, with a white star casting a pearly white glow into the room.

Agent N....

Nyrette gasped and turned towards the source of the noise. Her breaths came shallow and raspy as she trembled under the gaze of the thing that called her code name. A dark red skinned woman layered in ribbons of black from neck to toe, a golden mask upon her face that was overshadowed by her long black hair. The ribbons and hair flowed unnaturally as if a light breeze pushed it to and fro even though there was none to be had.

You have betrayed me...agent.

The woman moved closer to her, her every step making the world around Nyrette colder and darker. She backed away from her and tried to make an excuse. "I-I-I-I didn't, mistress! I swear! I-I-I'm doing r-r-reconnaissance! I-" Her throat closed shut as the woman held out her hand, gripping Nyrette with a mysterious power. She lifted the agent into the air and brought her closer as she kicked and flailed to escape, her feet just nearly touching the floor. The woman reached up to lift the golden veil that obscured her face. What lied underneath froze Nyrette's heart...nothing. Nothing but pure darkness, no features, not even a face, just a hole where only the most unholy of terrors made their home. Nyrette was so wracked with fear that she froze like she was in an icy shell. She couldn't move, couldn't fight back, just lose herself in the void. She felt her soul being ripped away and, as smokey black tentacles leaked from the void to wrap around Nyrette's head, she could only mouth a silent scream.

____

When her eyes open, she had broken out into a cold sweat and could only see Cheshik's friendly face. "Are you the...okay?" he said in a comforting tone. It took her a few moments to try and speak as her heart had leaped into her throat and was pounding frantically. She found herself swallowing and gulping multiple times before the Trandoshan grabbed a pitcher and a glass to bring to her. When he brought it to her side, she put aside the glass and took the pitcher by both hands, tipping the spout over her mouth and gulping down the contents like she was about to die from dehydration. She had downed nearly half the pitcher when she finally released her mouth from it and let Cheshik take it back. "Thank you..." she said, taking slow deep breaths.

She sat up and swung her legs out again. She was clothed this time, though not in her battle dress. She had her civvies on save for her jacket, which was hanging on a coat rack at the door to the med bay. She looked over to see Quin still in the Kolto tank healing nicely. Zen was nowhere to be found and neither was Iisska. "What happened?" Cheshik said, sitting on the bed across from hers. He wore nothing but a set of breachcloth, letting what was left of his wounds heal and letting his freshly healed leg breathe as it started the process of growing his scales back. It was a disturbing change from his scaly body as his left leg had little more than nubs across it, the skin itself was dark green in color and looked wrong on a Trandoshan body.

"Nightmares..." she said at last, not making eye contact with him after being embarrassed at him seeing her so weak. "Where are the others?"

"Isska is nodding off with dog in room. Zen is...drunk," he said after realizing that Zen was down in the lounge drunk off his ass after realizing that Trinity had moved all of Radon's funds into a shared, and very secure, account.

"...And Marquis?" She said, worried about her friend.

A voice over the intercom interrupted the conversation as Trinity's hologram appeared at a terminal. "He's right here." She said as a holographic Marquis appeared next her her, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Do not worry, Nyrette. I am fine. You can thank Iisska for that. He got me to the A.I. core and hooked me up to Trinity. My body's power core failed and my systems defaulted after I got everybody into the med bay." He bounced slightly, rising onto his toes and back down several times as he spoke. Nyrette sighed as she finally calmed down a little and looked at him with a smile.

"Good. I was worried about you, you old fart...will Quin be alright?...and how many days have passed?" She questioned him now, though Trinity answered in his stead.

"Four days. She will be fine...in fact, she should be ready to come out of the tank at any time. I've gotten us off of Nar Shaddaa and out of Hutt space as well...though we'll have to go back when we're ready."

"Why do which we have to return to that we left?" Cheshik said, not realizing his grammar made Quin's nose bleed in the tank. "Unfortunately for Marquis, his power supply is a rare and unexcusibly expensive type that is exclusive to a certain assassin droid line...the HK assassin droid line that is.

"And let me guess," Nyrette said, not letting Trinity finish. "We have to raid some stupid factory in Hutt space to get it?" She said, annoyed that they were being thrown into danger not even a week after being a hair's breadth away from dying. ...Exactly...on Nal Hutta...It's the only place in known space that has one of these factories.

Before Nyrette could explode and demand that Trinity bite her, Cheshik spoke, rising to his feet. "We will need the supplies, yes? I have friend in republic, can get us what we need. We will have no money issue, no? Make list for me and I will get us fun boom boom stuff."

"CORTOSIS GAUNTLETS!" said a scream from down the hall. A few seconds later Zen showed up at the door, grabbing onto the door jam with a sickening smile on his face. "Get me Cortosis gauntlets! Actually, two pairs! One for me and one for my whipping bo-I mean apprentice! I must teach him how to punch things! Plus, a five pound Lekku prosthetic! He can't balance on ANYTHING anymore! It's hilarious but counter productive!"

"You do realize that HK droids are of the same caliber and intelligence as Marquis...right? Do you have any idea how stupid it would be to try an-" Nyrette tried to reason with Zen, but he ran up to her and grabbed her by both arms. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW AMAZING IT WILL BE TO PUNCH A ROBOT IN THE FACE WITH THE FORCE?! IT'S ON MY BUCKET LIST, WE'RE DOING IT." He turned to Cheshik. "NAKED REPTILE MAN. MAKE IT SO." Cheshik smiled and chuckled as he spoke.

"Aye captain."

Aether: Legend of the Crimson Dusicyon - Now Recruiting Crewmates!

Cyrus kept tabs on Cari below him, hidden from all by his active camouflage. He sprinted over rooftops as Cari moved below him. When she came to her destination, he slid down the roof of a large residential building. Small spikes ejected from his heels and planted themselves into the roof, stopping his momentum and allowing him to settle against the roof. He set up shop and got comfortable. Looking through the scope, he watched as Cari took down soldiers at short range through the booms of the Anti-air cannon as it attacked the Dusicyon.

He snapped his scope around the battlefield, marking several targets on his HUD. There were many on the rooftops and on the ground, most of which carried heavy assault weaponry in addition to the heavy assault armor they wore. Each was a walking sentry that was there only to protect the only thing that kept the city safe from other pirate clans. Today, they would fail their one job.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes to focus for a moment before zeroing in on some poor unsuspecting fool's head, Cyrus fired when the AA cannon did, hiding both the sound of the powerful rifle going off and the explosion of the guard's skull as the explosive tipped bullet made short work of his helmet. He had but a few seconds to set up the next shot and just got it off as the cannon fired off its next volley. This time, the guard took the round in the chest and sprawled on the ground with most of his chest cavity splattered all over the place.

Cyrus shifted positions then to get a better angle on the next few guards, taking his time in eliminating them all. He was thorough and precise in the work he loved so much. The shot of dopamine he gets every time he kills some half baked pirate scum was half the reason why he took this job. He didn't enjoy killing innocents but these people were murderers and rapists and deserved every bullet. Every one that fell meant his business would get more profitable and business was devilishly good...even with how good at conducting business he was, he tended to make mistakes quite a bit when he's under pressure...like now.

He had enjoyed himself a bit too much and he downed a guard while the AA was reloading. The sound of the shot echoed throughout the yard and the last of the regiment there looked straight up to where he was and pointed their guns.

"Ah shit." he cursed as his boots unhooked and he slipped the rest of the way down to the edge and jumping off just as the bullets started to fly. As he landed, with a thud that is, the alarms started to sound and the rest of the area was alerted to his shenanigans, as well as the rest of the ground team. "Oh this is going splendid! Best assault ever! Good job Cyrus! You dun fucked up!" He sprinted for cover and let his rifle fall to his back via the magnet before reaching for his revolver. He stayed cloaked but now that they were looking for them it wouldn't be easy to hide.

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<Snipped quote by DemonTongue>

*Cari watched in horror as the Dusicyon launched a tactical nuke on the city.*

@NuttsnBolts

Aether: Legend of the Crimson Dusicyon - Now Recruiting Crewmates!

@Voltus_Ventus
Let me know when you start putting your plan into action, as I'll have to try and adjust my actions on the bride to coordinate with that.

EDIT: @Vash
While I'm still pondering over what I'll be posting, could you give me some descriptors of the bridge, and what I'll be dealing with up there with Grissom?

@Penultimate_Pi

This is about as close to my imagination that I can get that also matches with the Dusicyon's design.

In this combat situation, you'll be working in tandem with Grissom on relaying directional orders, status updates, target marking, and keeping the ship from crashing into the side of a building.

It has been a little tricky not knowing who's still active and who's not. It has slowed down a bit and like you said, it has been a bit because of that reason and being unsure of a directive.

What I might do to try and get things moving a bit on the ground team's end is work with @Caits on a collab post or something. My current post became a bit of a filler post and I'm not really 100% happy with it, but these things happen.

What we could do, moving forth, is say that players that have dropped out have lost their characters in the city. Not saying kill them cause the player could return, but they are mia somewhere until they turn up.

Might also be a thought if we discuss over a couple of posts the layout and design of the city. It might help everyone get onto the same wavelength and generate plot ideas.

@NuttsnBolts

I'll begin working on the design of the city. I have several pictures that paint many of the districts (Post battle) as very habitable and common to modern cities while others have very strong industrial aspects, such as the initial holo-picture seen IC. I will be going over the city layout post-battle. For now, imagine what you want it to look like.

Based on those that have posted and length of time from previous posts, we have lost:

Mr_Pink
Leolycan
Inyuyasha

Leo just hasn't posted in several days. I put the "let us know if something happens" thing for a reason. Disappearing is a thing some people do.

Pink and Inyu both told me of their predicaments and all three will have their four characters dealt with appropriately that will fit the story and create a bit of...drama.