Legacy: Invasion of Shin'ju Tertius

[zarpaulus]

The Empire, usurped by the Sith Lord Darth Krayt, holds the galaxy in its iron grip.  But as it tightens, systems slip away and join the Galactic Alliance or the Emperor-in-Exile Roan Fel.  One of those systems is the Shin'ju system, home of the Ta'alib and governed by Moff Nina Kit-Sune, who has sworn her undying loyalty to the true Emperor and pulled both the system and its garrison fleet out from under the Sith's sway.

With most of the Sith Navy occupied fighting the Alliance and Fel, Krayt has dispatched a small strike force lead by the sadistic Darth Flagellus to bring the Ta'alib back under Sith rule.  Knowing that he lacks the forces to assault their homeworld directly he has decided to assault the remote Ta'alib colony of Shin'ju Tertius.  Relatively defenseless his ships make short work of the small defense fleet and seize control of the orbital solar mirrors used in terraforming the frigid world.  Redirected, they rain fire down on the hapless surface settlements and raze the spaceport.  Tertius' underground cities are flooded with refugees once again.

Buried beneath the permafrost at the Imperial Mission Emliss Etytust, the head missionary and very loyal to Emperor Fel, is about to address the crowd of missionaries streaming into the overwhelmed structure.

[zarpaulus]

Emliss nervously straightens hir robe as shi takes hir place behind the podium at the front of the crowded hall.  Volunteers distribute soup and blankets to the ragged-looking band streaming into the Mission as turbolifts from the surface empty out into the subterranean city.  Shi looks over the assembled crowd, some of them look angry, others bewildered, but most are just scared.  Shi tabs the microphone embedded in hir collar and begins to speak.

"When Emperor Jagged founded the Imperial Mission he understood one thing that the Sith have always failed to grasp."  Shi pauses to give hir words a chance to sink in.  "That war could not build an Empire.  That war was only good for one thing, destruction.  That the proper purpose of a military is not to conquer, but to defend from those who could not understand that."  Emliss pauses again, steeling hirself for what has to come next.  "The Sith have once again demonstrated that they did not learn from the failures of Palpatine, if they continue this way they will rule over a kingdom of ashes and rubble, besieged on all sides by the enemies they created.  But the True Emperor has not forgotten us.  Even now Roan Fel is organizing a fleet to repel these invaders and bring our world back into the safety of his Empire."

The sermon evokes a few cheers and enthusiastic yelps, but most can only manage a weak groan.  Emliss tries to hide hir fear as shi begs the Force to allow the message shi sent to Shin'ju Prime to reach the Empire.  And that their assistance can arrive before the Sith start landing troops to force their way into the underground.

[Marcus Starkiller]

Just then, Moff Nina Kit-Sune walks up to Emliss Etytust, followed by her assistant and several loyal Stormtrooper bodyguards, who are not wearing helmets, revealing all are Ta'alib, five of the six being herms, while the other is a rare male.

"Thank you, Emliss Etytust for getting things started. I know all of you are surprised to see me here. I had to sneak in to meet with all of you. I do not have to tell all of you how dangerous it is for me to be here away from Shin'ju, as it makes me even more of a target for Sith assassination. But I feel that I must show my full support to your cause. Though I am Amaran by birth, I am a Ta'alib at heart and would gladld lay down my life for any one of you." the redish-orange furred vixen states. "I have gotten word through to a Galactic Alliance Remnant vessel that is in a neighboring sector and they have agreed to come to our aid. The younglings, elderly and injured will be evacuated to Bastion while a number of the Galactic Alliance warriors will disembark and help defend this place."

And indeed, there is a Sith Empire allied agent in the crowd, an assassin using a holo-shroud to appear as a Ta'alib. He leaves the crowd and starts to head for a balcony, but is tailed by a true Ta'alib.

[zarpaulus]

Emliss almost jumps at the abrupt entry of the Moff and her stormtroopers.

Quickly moving to recover hir composure the Missionary speaks again.  "As you can see, the agents of the True Emperor are resourceful.  Our salvation is at hand!"

Emliss turns to address Moff Kit-sune and speaks to her, under hir breath, "can we please talk in private?"  Shi motions towards hir office in the back.  The Ta'alib missionary walks into the office followed by the Moff and two of her stormtroopers, Emliss doesn't comment on the presence of the others.  "I don't want to scare the others, but I was wondering if you could answer some questions.  How did you get here?  What are you planning to do about the Sith fleet and the mirrors?  The latter can burn through most ray shields and starship armor if they're allowed to concentrate enough but we need them to keep this planet inhabitable.  And finally, do you really need to bring the Alliance into this?"

[Marcus Starkiller]

"I took a modified freighter here. Yes, I didn't like the ride, but the Sith would hardly notice a smuggling vessel compared to a Fel-allied Imperial craft. The Alliance vessel, after entering the system, will launch fighters and assault craft to deal with the Sith fleet. Several modified assault shuttles will actually connect with the mirrors and restore control to us. I didn't want to bring the Alliance in on this, but they are the only help we can get at the moment. Also, any mirrors that the Alliance cannot take control of will have to be destroyed." Moff Kit-sune states. "Also, when in private, you may refer to me as Ni--- someone is outside the door. Don't move..."

Just then, the Sith assassin breaks down the door and disables the holo-disguise. He opens fire right off

"Die traitors!" Barks the human assailant. "All who refuse to bow to Lord Krayt will be burnt away!"

The human Sith assassin gets a line of sight on Emliss Etytust and pulls the trigger. The shot is blocked by Moff Kit-sune stepping in the way as her guards tackle the attacker. The shot hit Nina in the right shoulder fairly close to her neck. She doesn't even notice the pain until after she shoots the bastard with a stun bolt.

[zarpaulus]

Emliss almost reflexively uses the Force to shove the assassin towards the crowd, sending his blaster flying. Amid the sound of screaming from below shi turns back to the downed Moff and quickly assesses her condition. A momentary wave of relief washes over hir as shi realizes that Nina is still breathing, but the blaster wound on her shoulder is bleeding far too much for hir comfort. With some hesitation, shi removes the glove from hir left hand and places it directly on the Amaran's wound. The Force Adept focuses on the ragged edges of the burst veins and arteries, attempting to force them to come back together, the vessels around the furthest edges manage to seal, but the rest still leak blood down their fur. Thinking quickly Emliss changes hir focus to simply sealing them, surely a bacta tank could repair them the rest of the way later. Scabs form at a quickened pace as shi pulls platelets out of the flowing blood to close up the gaps, eventually the flow slows to a trickle and the Ta'alib draws hir red-stained hand away from the wound.

[Marcus Starkiller]

IC: "I... thank you Emliss. I didn't know you had a connection to the Force." Nina says, hugging the Ta'alib with her good arm. "Have your people detain the assassin. I wish to have him interrogated."

A squad of Ta'alib Commandos secure the office in case of another attack, while the assassin is secured with stun-cuffs.

OOC: The assassin, though born and raised on Korriban, has no Force powers. He is however totally loyal to Krayt, and has orders to kill himself rather than be questioned, and as such, has a suicide tooth filled with fast acting poison.

[zarpaulus]

"I... I haven't had any formal training. Not like the Jedi or the Imperial Knights. But I have figured out how to use the Force to heal, along with "the basics" of course." Emliss explains. "I'm just glad he didn't hit anything vital. I'm not sure I would have been able to stop the bleeding in time if it had been any worse."

Suddenly, a gurgling sound comes from the assassin's direction. The Ta'alib missionary turns in his direction quickly enough to see him foam at the mouth and pass out. Shi considers attempting to stop the poison, but decides it isn't worth the effort to save this fanatic's life. He probably wasn't told anything useful anyways.

[Marcus Starkiller]

"Damn..." is all Nina can say in regards to the assassin's suicide. "We need to do a high level scan for any more holo-shroud users."

The Moff places her hand to her wound for a moment.

"I will need bacta treatment, my newfound friend. And as I was going to say prior to the attack, you may call me Nina."

[zarpaulus]

"I'm afraid we're a little short on bacta at the moment." Emliss replies, staring at the wound on her shoulder. "Can you make it until we escape to your ship, Nina?" Shi reaches out to help the Moff up. "Now I wish I had focused more on training with my senses. If I had sensed him coming you wouldn't be hurt like this."

[Marcus Starkiller]

"We are lucky to have an Imperial Knight on Shin'ju Prime. He can help you with your skills. I'm not sure if you've heard of Master Gath Torran or not, but he was assigned by the True-Emperor Roan Fel to be his go between." Nina states. "And one doesn't need the Force to sense danger, why do you thing I took the bolt that was meant for you?"

[zarpaulus]

"I have heard of him, I've been in contact with some of the Imperial Knights but none have been here long enough to teach me very much. And I'd heard they were all too busy to help defend us now."

Shi sighs as shi turns away to lead them out. Emliss mutters under hir breath "you should have let me take it, you're more valuable than I am."

[Marcus Starkiller]

"Don't you dare say that!" Nina replies, having heard Emliss. "We are all equally important when it comes to defeating the Sith. Besides, if it wasn't for my uniform, I would be dead."

[zarpaulus]

"If you say so." Emliss sighs as shi leaves the office. "Though," shi stops as shi realizes something. "I suppose that he would have shot you next if he had killed me anyways. Because I was able to disable him after he shot you your actions saved both our lives."

[Marcus Starkiller]

"Indeed." Nina says. "I will see to it that you have some custom body armor made that will fit under your cloths."

[zarpaulus]

"Thank you." Emliss says in response.

Shi looks out into the crowd and attempts to probe with hir rudimentary Force senses. The fear in the crowd is almost overwhelming, it's all shi can do to keep from breaking down before shi picks up the anger starting to spread through the crowd like a fast-acting plague.

[Marcus Starkiller]

The stormtroopers deploy scanners and reveal one other Sith operative, who is caught and sedated before they can use their own suicide tooth. While out cold, the chiss female's suicide tooth is removed safely and when she comes to, will be questioned.

[zarpaulus]

"Where do they even find these fanatics?" Emliss asks, half-rhetorically. "I cannot see how anyone in their right mind would give their life for the Sith, knowing what they've done." Shi stares down at the sedated chiss being taken away by the stormtroopers. "How do you plan to interrogate her? I may be of some assistance in that effort."

[Marcus Starkiller]

"Master Gath Torran will head up the interrogation once we reach Shin'ju Prime. I'd like you to assist him." Nina states dryly. "We may well be looking at the victims of brainwashing by the Sith."

[zarpaulus]

"Excellent." Emliss states, "I would be honored to see a master in action. But first, we need to get off Shin'ju Tertius. How long until the Alliance ship arrives?"