Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
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Post by Dragus on May 8, 2023 9:07:07 GMT -8
As the serpentine Sith lord performed a poor man's equivalent of much needed medical treatment on his most devoted tusken follower, he felt an uncomfortable itch in the back of his mind, detecting for the first time a presence he in truth had never felt outside of a vision, yet instinctively he knew who it belonged to. That understanding was encoded into his very DNA, the same corrupt fluid that was being pumped from his veins into Kr'Naan's failing body. Dragus stood up, dragging the connected IV line with him, and turned around to focus his eyes on an X-wing that had just risen up through the yawning opening in the hangar bay floor. As the brilliant white lightsaber ignited, what could only be described as dread appeared on the tyrannical terrorsaur's scaled visage as he beheld an impossible sight. The drake lord stumbled back, ignorant now of his own midi-chlorians bursting as Wart's depleting condition traveled the length of the IV line back into his arm, weakening him in the process. His natural eye widened, while the amethyst gem set in the other was blinded by the intense purity of the figure floating above him, looking down in judgment from the high ground. Shockingly that self same figure leapt from the open cockpit, flipping end over end to land in front of the draconian, before taking up a combat stance with his crackling lightsaber blade in hand.Villainous jaw agape, the world seemed to slow around the Famine Lord as his fragile psyche struggled to piece together what he was comprehending, for once in his life being caught entirely off-guard and unprepared. Endor? Endor! Impossible! His creator was nothing more than a faded memory, a cursed spectre that hadn't troubled the Sith clone in years. How? Why? None of it made sense. What was he even doing here, apart from the obvious? Fear, an uncomfortable and uncommon sensation for the Blood Wyrm to experience, became an oppressive weight upon him. His claw struggled to pull back his feathered robe and grasp at the handle of his alchemical axe, Bloodeater, pathetically trying to take it in hand. The moment he pulled the sorcerous weapon free from its place attached to his belt, he nearly fell over as the altered axe dropped to the ground like a led weight. He tried to pick it up from the ground, securing a tight grip against his scaly palm as he pulled, but the weapon refused to budge, unwilling or unable to lend its strength to Dragus against its original creator.That was the first betrayal. The second was his body. A pink froth congealed at the corners of the Dark Apothecary's lips as the daggers filling his snout grit in rage, slicing his gums and causing his throat to gurgle in savage fury as blood trickled down his throat. He released his hold on the axe's handle and whipped back the other fold of his robe as he reached for his hooked lightsaber hilt, taking it in his left claw before thumbing the activation stud.Snap/Hiss! A crimson lance as long as Endor's own brilliant white blade sprang from the silvered hilt, shrieking into existence as the unstable dragite crystal powering the hilt caused the energy sword to be incredibly loud and omit soundwaves when struck. Unbelievably, he found this weapon difficult to manipulate as well. It was all he could do to hold the hilt in his hand as it vibrated and rattled uncontrollably, resisting him and his slackening grip. His body felt weak, sluggish even, and through the implant that had replaced his eye he swore the swirling currents of the malevolent fey seemed reduced, fading from his vision. He didn't yet realize it but Kr'Naan's condition was affecting him, weakening him beyond a simple loss of blood. It didn't last long. As he raised the lightsaber hilt in his claws, the IV line finally snapped, breaking their connection. Unfortunately the damage had already been done. Dragus felt dizzy and unbalanced as he squared off against Endor, his lightsaber shaky in his grip."She'z no mere child, Ssspectre. She'z my daughter!" Snarled Dragus, misting the air with crimson flecks from his bleeding gums, flicking his forked tongue and exhaling wisps of poisonous breath through his nostril slits. His natural blood red eye went wide, the scaled lid tensing as the slit black iris at its center sighted the orange blob of its prey. His powerful sense of smell painted the rest of the picture as he raised his caterwauling blade over his head in a two handed grip and charged towards Endor, spraying blood and hot saliva from his drooling snout as he charged. "And you are no father of mine! DIE!"Slower than usual, his movements felt sluggish as he attempted to sweep his lightsaber across Endor's stoically standing body, bisecting the bearded human from the left shoulder through to his right hip.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
"No man is good enough to be another's master."
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Post by Endor on May 8, 2023 10:12:01 GMT -8
His daughter? Endor's forest green eyes locked in determination as he squared off against the greatest mistake of his life, seeming to flicker briefly with surprise, before his jaw tightened and he prepared to receive the charging reptilian's attack. Feeling the strength of the ewok ancestors flowing through the repurposed branch of the great Spirit Tree in his hands, a sense of calm fell over the former Jedi Master as his arms moved and his lightsaber blade swept up and across, catching its screaming crimson adversary as the middle of each energy sword struck and sent vibrations running up both their arms. Imbued with purpose and the guiding hand of the Living Force, Endor fought like a storm, his intercepting blow so powerfully delivered it nearly knocked the lightsaber from Dragus' hand, sending the shrieking blade wide and exposing the Sith clone's midsection. His daughter? The rebel pilot's right hand came up, fingers splayed as he beseeched the Force for its aid, manipulating the very wind itself to deliver a gust of air that sent the enraged barabel flying across the hangar deck. Dragus was thrown from Endor into the far bulkhead, where he struck the metal hard enough with his head to crack the rishii-skull cap he wore over his scaly crown.His daughter? Endor straightened his stance and lowered his lightsaber hilt, removing his thumb from the activation stud, causing the pearlescent white blade to slide back into the wooden handle. He casually walked forwards until he was standing over the girl on the deck, his eyes tracing lines from the IV in her veins to the series of wounds she appeared to have previously suffered from. Cautiously he looked over in the direction of his deranged mutant offspring, who for the moment appeared crumpled in a ball of scales and feathers against the far wall. Drawing in a breath of foul air, Endor lowered himself to his knees and placed both of his palms over the girl. His right palm he placed over her forehead, the left he placed over her heart. His daughter?Releasing the sour breath, somewhat cleansed as it passed out of him, Endor began to focus the flow of the Force. He whispered a prayer on his lips, asking for aid but never expecting anything, feeling grateful each and every time the somewhat sentient energy field that connected all living things in the galaxy offered him its strength. Healing this child properly would take more than minutes, more than hours even. Days, most likely, which he didn't have to spend. But, perhaps he could do just enough to stabilize her condition. He could feel each disastrous 'pop' of microscopic bacteria as her overcharged midi-chlorians died off. Endor closed his eyes, giving himself over to serenity as he meditated amongst the blaring klaxons, ignoring the sound of his communicator as it chirped from the pocket of his flight jacket. In that moment, there was only him, the child, and the life force flowing between them. A few more brown strands of Endor's hair turned grey as he transferred a bit of his own life energy into Kr'Naan, purifying her in that moment of the wasting sickness that was eating away at her. True healing, if it was even possible, would take time. For now, she was no longer dying at least.A few drops of salty sweat fell from his forehead onto the child's face, washing away some of the black ichor that had bled from her nose and eyes. He sat up, thoroughly exhausted. His comlink continued to beep and he shook his head as he plucked it from his pocket and turned it on, holding it in front of his bearded face."What is it, Drenlin?" He asked with mild irritation. "I'm a little busy here in case you hadn't noticed." Get out of there, Endor! The Orion's about to hit!" There wasn't even time to brace himself as the slightly larger Orion-class battlecruiser finally collided with the starboard side of the Covenant of Blood, smashing its torpedo shaped prow into the Imperial II-class star destroyer's armoured superstructure and opening numerous decks to the void. The General of the New Rebel Alliance (NRA) found himself tumbling across the deck, sliding towards the yawning pit at the centre, only just stopping before it as his hand grasped a gap in one of the deck plates. As he crawled back to his feet, the rebel could see the saurian Sith on the far side, rolling end over end into a growing pile of debris. As the ship around them continued to shudder violently, the inertial compensators finally gave out and the entire dreadnought lost gravity. Endor felt himself become weightless, rising off the hangar floor along with the rest of the debris. He took another reluctant breath of foul air before closing his eyes.Air currents became his to control, propelling him from behind like a fan as his legs began to kick and his arms began to rotate as though he were swimming a stream on the forest moon. Assisted by the Force, Endor swam towards the tusken's body as she floated off the ground, still leaking blood from the IV line. He caught the translucent tube in his hand and plucked it from her vein, placing his hand over the speck and staunching the bleeding at once. His daughter? Taking the injured child into his arms, he held her against his chest and delivered another push of wind that sent the two of them spinning towards his X-wing. R6 was doing an admirable job of manipulating the maneuvering thrusters to avoid other floating debris, turning the snubfighter in place so that Endor's floating body slammed into the open cockpit canopy, then dropped into the pilot's seat with the tusken girl in his lap. He was slipping on his flight helmet when his astromech lowered the flipped open canopy and sealed the two inside.In the hangar, the turbolift connecting it to the rest of the ship could be seen parting, revealing two... Were those ewoks? ...small bears, who pointed their paws towards the crumpled form of Dragus in one corner of the hangar, then seemed to be focusing their efforts on swimming towards them. Endor shook his head, looking down at the girl his lap, then back up at the transparasteel window in front of him. "Time to get the hell out of here, R6." He said, taking the flight stick in hand as his other flipped switches and toggles. The engine protruding from the top of the X-wing's nose growled, venting exhaust from the pipes at its side while the edges of the four engines at the snubfighter's reared opened and bled ionized particulate. The starfighter streaked out of the hangar, racing into space just as the Covenant of Blood and the Lily Thorn that had smashed into it began to enter the atmosphere, on a crash course towards Salis D'aar. Both dreadnoughts began to glow orange, partly from the fires already broken out across their hulls, but also because all that metal was plummeting towards the ground unshielded.His daughter? Endor looked down at the unconscious girl again, trying to make sense of what he had heard. Obviously the child could be no true genetic offspring of Dragus. To his great shame, Endor was the one responsible for designing the saurian Sith's body, he knew to some degree what it was and wasn't capable of. Birthing a tusken fell on the side of impossibility. Did he mean she was his apprentice? If she was strong enough to use the Force, the former druid was certain he would have felt it. If anything she felt somewhat void, as though the Force had abandoned her completely. A scowl crossed his bearded face as his X-wing rejoined the squadron formation of Endor's Ewoks, returning to the Mossflower as it approached the planet. Already a systems wide distress call for aid had been put out, extended towards all nearby planets and governments. With the rebellions resources limited, they would be counting on the generosity of Bakura's neighbours to help any survivors.As the Nebulon-B came into view, Endor still couldn't shake those words. His daughter? Though it was decades ago, the General was as close to a genetic father as his unplanned deranged clone copy had. So if Dragus claimed this child as his daughter, what did that make her to him? His granddaughter? This was making his head spin. For now he would just focus on saving the kid's life.Endor to the Mossflower, prepare the medical bay. I've got an injured child with me that looks like she's in sore need of a bacta bath. They flew into the hangar.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 8, 2023 12:33:32 GMT -8
What crew remained aboard the Lily Thorn, having stayed behind to ensure the Covenant of Blood was sure to fall, waited until the last possible moment to make it to the escape pods. The crash on the planet below as the ships broke up in the atmosphere and what was left fell across the already sacked city of Salis D'aar. The ensuring fireball was just enough cover for the Grimblade to make its escape carrying any survivors who had been fast enough to board the smaller ship. Whereas the Mossflower stayed in orbit to rescue those who had jettisoned from the Lily Thorn and do what it could to help the survivors below. A small contingent sent down to ascertain what the denizens of the Covenant of Blood had done to Bakura's citizens. The statements taken were extremely disturbing if they were to be believed. Very few survivors from the city proper seemed to have survived, but there also weren't any bodies. A fine layer of dust covered much of the area where they had been gathered, but from the handful of those lucky enough to evade capture the nightmares they spoke of were even more gruesome than those on the outskirts. Any who were able to sense through the Force would feel the aftermath of the events that had happened here, a confusion in auras. As much Darkness as there was, there seemed to have been just as much Light which led to the defeat of the giant flesh blob monster.
A trauma team was already standing by to take Kr'Naan form Endor as his X-wing landed in the hangar of the Mossflower, taking the unconscious Tusken youngling and moving her to a stretcher to rush her to the infirmary. The medical technicians had to get a DNA sample to run through the medical database, as none of them had ever seen her species before. It was a shock to some of them to find out she was a Tusken Raider, or Ghorfa, from the desert world of Tatooine. To finally see what one of them looked like beneath their mask, robes and wrappings was an extremely rare occurrence. Still, the more pressing matter was to get her the help she needed to live.
No readily available cutting tool had been able to cut the scaled robe she wore, so the medical team had been forced to remove it normally despite the risk to the patient. A necklace with a talisman was also removed from around her neck. Cleaning the immediate area around her neck, it was not as bad as it initially looked. Someone had packed the wound and covered it, even if done crudely. There would be no permanent damage to the young girl's throat, though she might have some difficulty swallowing for until the wound fully healed. That would be done with minor surgery and setting her up in a bacta tank to recover after being cleaned of all the crusted black ichor and blood. All along the Tusken child's body were also the still visible markings of the ritual that Dragus had performed on her to transfer control of her body to the now retreated cypher.
Over the next few days little changed in her condition, as it was not just her body that seemed to be damaged. A medical technician who was assigned to her for his knowledge on xenomedicine, Dietr Thorin, had taken note of General Endor coming and visiting often, though he did not know why and did not approach the man the first couple of times, not wanting to disturb his visitations. One night however, Dietr noticed Endor in the infirmary, staring into the tank containing the Tusken patient harnessed inside and deep in thought. His curiosity got the better of him this time and the man walked over to the tank to stand beside Endor, looking at the floating child suspended in the bacta.
"I'm sorry for intruding General, but if I may ask...Who is she? Bakura is a long way from Tatooine, not to mention the clothes she was wearing and those..."Dietr coughed uncomfortably."...markings she had on her."
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
"No man is good enough to be another's master."
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Post by Endor on May 8, 2023 17:49:10 GMT -8
Another night had passed since they had arrived at Bakura and once more Endor found himself in the medical bay, standing in front of a bacta tank with a child floating inside, the only signs of life her twitching fingers or the occasional exhalation of air bubbles from the mask adhered over her mouth and nose. The General stood straight backed, his hands clasped together behind the back of his brown leather flight jacket, marking his allegiance to the Rebellions cause with a signature starbird patch sewn onto the right shoulder. His forest green eyes peered into the glowing blue tank, calmly breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, each exhalation ruffling his bushy beard. He was a vision of serenity, appearing at peace when the truth was anything but. In his mind the druid battled his way through another dark storm, forced yet again to face the consequences of his actions, never quite able to make right a lifetimes worth of mistakes.
Ever since the day Tarfang had convinced him to leave the forest and return to galactic society, he knew he would eventually have to face off against his greatest mistake. Dragus, the clone that should have never been. His responsibility to rid the galaxy of, even if being that creature's creator essentially made it his son. His jaw locked and he lowered his head, resting his brow against the smooth surface of the bacta tank. It was a cruel joke. A daughter he could never be with, and a son he was sworn to kill.
So distracted was he that the General almost didn't notice Dietr sneak up on him. As the medical technician came to stand beside him and inquired about the girl in the tank, it forced Endor to sort out a few of his own troubled thoughts.
Indeed, who was she? In any other situation he would have probably tried to return her to her people. Endor wasn't personally familiar with tusken culture, but he came from a tribal background not entirely dissimilar, which helped formulate his opinion that the best place for her was with other tuskens. Unfortunately he also had a gut feeling that to do so would only make it easier for Dragus to find her again, assuming he had survived. There was no way to be certain as of yet, but experience had taught him to suspect the worst until you actually saw the body. So for now, the safest place for the child was here where he could keep an eye on her. Also, he wasn't sure if she could be trusted. Yes, she was a child, but he knew what that monster was capable of. For all his flaws, the diabolical drake appeared to be attempting to save the girl when Endor had confronted him. One had to wonder why? He hoped in time, perhaps he could gain her enough of her trust that she might tell him on her own.
"Another victim." He said honestly, stepping away from the tank to meet Deitr's curious stare. "Truthfully, I don't know. She was with that Sith Lord when I boarded the star destroyer. He seemed to be trying to save her, perversely perhaps, but that was the intention so far as I could detect. He called her his daughter."
Deitr laughed nervously, causing Endor to blink and face the medical technician, surprised confusion writ on his expression. "Sorry, but that's impossible, right? In your report you said the Sith was a barabel. I've studied enough xeno-biology to know that's not physically possible."
Endor grinned knowingly and shook his head. "Yeah, I know. Heh. I didn't think it was. But it is strange and I can't help but feel a connection to this child. I need to speak with her."
"Well, then you're in luck." Replied Deitr, taking a step closer to the tank as he studied the control panel on the side. He looked up from the screen after a second. "She's just about finished her treatment. It should be safe to pull her out now if you want to try and talk to her." Retreating over to a nearby table, the medical technician found the data-pad he was looking for and brought it over. "I've even been brushing up on my tusken, if you need someone to translate."
Somehow Endor doubted the reliability of whoever supposedly recorded the tusken language. Other experts had claimed to have done the same with ewokese in the past, only to have an extremely rudimentary grasp of the most basics of the numerous tribal dialects.
"Finish the treatment." Said Endor, finding a table that looked like it would make a comfortable seat then setting his butt upon it. He crossed his arms and lowered his head. "It can wait." So he closed his eyes and waited.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 9, 2023 6:17:27 GMT -8
Muffled voices. Kr'Naan's eyes fluttered open slowly, her vision blurry at first and obscured slightly by the fluid she was surrounded by. Stuck to her face was a mask of some sort, from which she could breath despite being fully immersed in the liquid of her current enclosure. As her vision began to clear she saw several people standing just outside the clear window of the tank. She recognized none of them. Panic began to set in as her mind began to fully awaken to her current circumstance. This was not the Covenant of Blood. The people outside the tank approached the window and spoke words she couldn't quite make out. At the same time, flashes of the Covenant being in battle above a planet, and losing by the look of it, lit up in her mind. Kr'Naan began to struggle against the harness keeping her afloat inside the tank, flailing her arms and reaching for the mask on her face.
The datapad in Dietr's hand chimed, causing him to look at it. "We may not have to wait much longer to talk to her. She's waking up." Dietr approached closer to the tank and began to inspect the Tusken youngling visually, taking notes. Not only was it his duty to ensure the girl made a full recovery, but every bit of data gleaned from her physiology was surely worthy of publishing. So little was known about her people. Dietr's aspirations were cut short as an alarm on the tank's monitor began to blare as the sand child occupant's heartrate began to spike and she began to struggle against the harness and mask. Acting quickly, Dietr input a command into his datapad. There was a pneumatic sound from the tank as it pushed something into the Tusken's system via one of the lines she was hooked up to. While the uli-ah continued to fight for a surprisingly long time, she did eventually succumb to the sedative and went limp, her eyes half closed. Her movements were sluggish, but she was still obviously trying to fight, her extremities just refused to obey her fully. Dietr gave Endor a reassuring gesture and explained. "Somatoll, General. Not enough to knock her out, but enough to calm her down in case something like this happened." Dietr walked over to the tank's console and entered in a command. The bacta inside began to drain. "Now we can get her out without her fighting us. I'd like to continue monitoring her if possible, but if you wish her transferred to a more secure area for...questioning, I understand."As the tank opened a pair of orderlies came and carefully removed the mask, IV and sensor lines and finally the harness before moving the tiny Tusken to a table covered in towels to dry her with before moving her to a bed. Following normal medical procedure, a range of tests were done to gauge her condition. Physical prodding, blood drawn, lights shone in the eyes. All while the Tusken girl seemed out of it, suffering the effects of the sedative.Her vision was wavy. No, wiggly. Kr'Naan struggled to fight the feeling of the room spinning and the numbness of her body as more people she did not recognize said medical terms she did not understand. How did she get here? Where was she? Looking around, barely able to move her head, she did her best to focus on her surroundings. It was a place of healing. She had been injured. That much she could piece together. But where was her master, Dragus? Kr'Naan let out a groan as she tried to speak, coughing and inhaling and exhaling a few more times before attempting again. The orderlies and technicians looking after backed up to give her some breathing room and let Endor get in closer. Her speech was slurred, because of the sedative, but there was no mistaking the language."Where...isssshhh...Massshhhterr?" Kr'Naan said in slurred Ewokese.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
"No man is good enough to be another's master."
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Post by Endor on May 9, 2023 7:11:03 GMT -8
"A more secure area?" Balked the General, giving his head a casual shake. "I don't think that's necessary. She's just a kid. How much trouble could she be?" Spoken like the truly ignorant.
He waited for the medical staff to do their work, somewhat unused to seeing all this modern technology and equipment in action. Having grown up in Bright Tree Village under the tutelage of the settlements former shaman who had since passed on to join the ancestors, Endor was more familiar with herbal remedies and holistic medicine, which the ewoks had been using for millennia. Combined with his knowledge of the Force and it made him a relatively efficient healer in his own right, though even he had to admit he felt inadequate when standing in the presence of those that had studied and gone to school for modern medicine. Feeling like quite the country bumpkin, the rebel pilot did his best to stay out of Deitr and the others way as he waited for the child to rouse. After she had been moved to one of the beds in the medical bay, he came closer, approaching her bedside to stand over her lightly breathing form. He heard her groan, then cough a few times as she struggled to get the rhythm of her breathing.
Shockingly when the child spoke, he swore it was in his native tongue of ewokese. Endor's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers at the two rebel guards standing on either side of the exit of the medical bay. "Jace, Lorka, go find Red Claw and bring him here. Chances are he's helping himself to the galley pantry again." Technically Red Claw was an abominable snowok, but they still spoke ewokese, making him the only other person on the ship other than Endor who stood a chance of understanding the child.
The two human guards looked at one another, then back at Endor. Jace spoke up, his eyes darting from the tusken on the bed to the General. "Sure thing, General. You don't want one of us to stay here?"
What was with everybody? It's just a kid for the Force's sake. Endor crossed his arms over his chest and snorted, speaking matter-of-factly as he replied. "I'm sure Deitr and I can handle a half unconscious child. Go." He shooed them away with his hands before returning his attention to Kr'Naan.
It sounded like she asked 'where is master', which again led him to the notion that somehow this was Dragus' apprentice, which made absolutely no sense. Besides the fact that she was a child, so far as Endor could sense the girl wasn't Force sensitive. All the blood tests they had taken so far indicated a lack of midi-chlorians rather than an abundance. In fact, he'd never seen such a low Midi-C count in anyone outside of a Yuuzhan Vong.
Drawing in a deep breath, he slowly exhaled, releasing any anxiety or ill emotions residing inside as he centered himself in the Force. He projected an aura of calm serenity, exuding a warmth on par with summer on the forest moon. The General leaned over the bed, bringing his face close to the tusken child, almost brushing her with his beard.
"Easy, child. You don't have to worry about him." Replied Endor in a gruff series of growls and yips, replying in ewokse to Kr'Naan as he put on a friendly face, his eyes softening as he looked on her with compassion writ on his somewhat wild features. "He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore. You're safe now aboard my ship, the Mossflower." Reaching down he took hold of Kr'Naan's weak left hand and placed it over where his heart was, so she could feel its beat beneath her palm. "My name is Endor. I saved you from that ship you were on and brought you here to heal your wounds." Releasing her hand, he looked on the Sand Child with a look of sadness and guilt carved into his features. This was his fault. Whatever Dragus intended for the child, good or more likely ill, it was Endor's responsibility to set right. His penance for creating that monster. "What's your name?"
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 9, 2023 9:16:15 GMT -8
Dietr moved over to the bed as Kr'Naan spoke. Even if he did not understand the language like Endor did, he could tell she was struggling to speak by how her mouth was moving. "Maybe it was a bit too much sedative? I'll try and give her a mild stimulant to balance her out. Should help her speech without exciting her system too much." Dietr grabbed an injector on the side and a loaded a glass vial filled with a green liquid, jabbing Kr'Naan's arm and pushing about half of the vial into the Tusken youngling's shoulder. Dietr did his best to reassure the child of his intentions. "It's okay...there, see? Just a small pinprick and you'll start to feel more awake." Dietr gave Endor a nod.Kr'Naan winced at the shot, in response shooting Dietr an angry death glare with her black eyes. Endor quickly gained her attention as the man answered her in Ewokese. A look of confusion came upon her face at his words, Kr'Naan blinking and shaking her head as it felt as though a fog was lifting from her mind as the stimulant slowly began to make her more alert. "What do you mean, gone?...Where is he?" The sand child repeated with a demanding tone as she pulled her hand away from Endor and tucked it under the blanket of the bed to hide it. There was a pain in the forefront of her mind as recent events replayed in her mind. Kr'Naan spoke with furrowed brow in Ewokese as she ran through all she could remember. "I remember seeing a battle above the planet between his ship and another..." Kr'Naan had simply chosen to ignore the question of her name entirely, as her first and foremost concern was reuniting with her master, Dragus, and the rest of the Flock."Master?" Kr'aan called out in Ewokese, as if expecting Dragus to be around the corner playing a prank on her. After there was no answer, in a panic Kr'Naan struggled to get up from the bed, tumbling out and knocking over a table with medical instruments clattering to the floor that had been beside it. The blanket of the bed went with her. Dietr had tried to keep her from falling but had little succes and he could not get a good grip. Instead he resigned himself to helping the child up and giving Endor a concerned look. "General I'm not a psychiatrist, but I am worried about her mental condition." Dietr looked over Kr'Naan, who had wrapped herself up in the blanket she had taken with her in her fall. She was using it as an impromptu robe to cover all that she could of her body. The only thing that remained exposed was her face. Her pecan colored skin and black eyes a sharp contrast to the light grey of the hospital bedding. Dietr continued. "We know nothing about her, except that she was with a Sith Lord. We may want to be very careful what we tell her and how we interact with her." Kr'Naan gasped as she saw a viewport on the far side of the infirmary and began to make a run for it, breaking free of Dietr's supportive grip on her. The sound of bare feet impacting the hard floor and sliding cloth rang throughout the infirmary as as she quickly ran past the orderlies and equipment; coming to a stop before the viewport she peered out to see the void of space and the planet below. Her eyes combed the heavens and planet below for any sign of the Covenant of Blood, but she could not find it. "He would not leave me behind." The Tusken youngling said aloud in Ewokese as she continued to look for any sign at all for her master's ship.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
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Post by Endor on May 9, 2023 13:18:57 GMT -8
Dietr had a point. Who knew what this tiny tusken raider had been through? Had Dragus just taken her from Bakura, or had she been with him for some time aboard that wicked dreadnought full of foul hearted fiends? Judging by the way she referred to the General's misguided progeny as 'master' and seemed troubled at her potential abandonment, it seemed likely she was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. If that were the case then there was a good chance she had been aboard the Covenant of Blood, serving his...son, for a while. While he wasn't in the least bit concerned about any danger the child might pose, he was concerned about her fragile psyche, taking the medical tech's words to heart.
Endor watched the girl break away from Dietr's helpful grip and run across the room to the viewport. The medical tech motioned as if he was going to go after her, but a gentle hand on his shoulder by the General stopped him in his paces. The bearded druid shook his head, allowing Kr'Naan her space as she came to grips with her current predicament. "Leave us." He said to Dietr while keeping his eyes fixed on the child across the bay. "But..." The tech started, only to shut his mouth as Endor gave him a look that wouldn't broker any argument. Reluctantly Dietr exited the medical bay in search of a cup of stim-caf, leaving the rebel pilot alone with Dragus' servant.
He crossed the bay, walking towards her, only to stop half way as he finally noticed how she was wearing the medical blanket like a robe. Scratching his beard, he looked around the bay until he saw a familiar cabinet. Opening it up, the former forest hermit pulled out a couple of spare clothes they had picked up while recruiting refugees to the rebel cause on Ossus. Nothing fancy, a few different options that looked like they would fit the girl, ranging from a set of ugnauts utility coveralls to a random collection of sweats. He gathered up the clothes in a bundle and carried them over to where Kr'Naan was staring out the viewport, desperately looking for any sign of her master's ship. Endor opened his mouth to speak, then abruptly stopped, placing the clothes on a nearby table before taking another step towards the tusken and stopping when he was standing about six feet behind her. His bearded reflection was visible in the transparasteel window she was looking out of.
"It's not there, kid." He said as he found a stretcher to lean against. "That ship, the Covenant of Blood..." Even saying that blasted vessel's name left a bad taste in his mouth. Endor shuddered at its mention, then forced himself to continue. "...was destroyed. It was shot down and crashed into the planet we're orbiting, then exploded. There's nothing left of it but smoking ruins." This was exactly the sort of thing Dietr had wanted him to avoid bringing up, but to hell with the medical staff, Endor didn't agree. The sooner this girl accepted that fact that she was free, whatever that meant to her, the sooner she could move on with her life and maybe even lead a good one. After all she must have suffered at the hands of that villain, the truth was the least of what he owed her. "And last I checked, your master was aboard it when that happened. He's gone, kid. You're free."
Damn Jace, where was Red Claw? Endor had no idea what he was doing. Once, a very long time ago, he'd come close to being a father. Not of an evil unplanned clone, but of a real flesh and blood girl. After the death of his wife Kitana at the hands of Eradomens, he had given up that fantasy. A life time of heroics had left him with more enemies than he could count. For the child's safety he had been forced to give them up. Handing her over to his childhood friend Tarfang, he made the ewok pirate captain swear never to reveal her location, even to him. Those brief few moments of bliss when she was born, that had been the extent of his time as a parent. So what was he trying here? Hmmm? Surely there was someone else better suited to this.
But when he looked at her reflection in the window, he couldn't help but feel something, as though the Force were letting him know here was a opportunity for redemption. A second chance, not just for him, but for the girl as well. Whatever damage Dragus had done to her, he swore in that moment he would see it undone. He motioned with his callused left hand at the stack of clothes he had brought over.
"I brought a few things that might fit you. Dietr, the doctor who was just here..." He doubted she understood the difference between a medical tech and a doctor, plus there was no word in ewokese to differentiate the two really. "...mentioned you tuskens like to keep your skin covered. I think one of the sweaters had a hood." He tried again. "My names Endor. What's yours?"
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 10, 2023 5:37:05 GMT -8
A tear fell from Kr'Naan's eye down her cheek as Endor reconfirmed the destruction of the Covenant of Blood and all aboard. Her bottom lip trembled as her thoughts went to the rest of the Flock that had died. Fighting through the pain at the loss of those she had grown close to, Kr'Naan laughed through the sadness by relying on her faith in her master, her god. The pieces were starting to come together in her mind. The Covenant had been in battle above the planet with another ship, and there this man just so happened to be there to rescue her from it before it was destroyed? It was far too convenient to be coincidence. "It does not matter. Hakusar cannot be killed. He will find me once he has taken mortal form once more." Kr'Naan said in Ewokese between stifled sniffles. She used the blanket she had wrapped herself in to wipe away the tears and snot still flowing even though she was doing her best to fight it. "I am his faithful. I will rebuild his Order and be rewarded upon his return."
All of this would be very confusing to Endor to say the least. Was Dragus using clone bodies to prolong his life? Had he brainwashed this child into believing he was some sort of god? His son surely had no limits to his depravity and hubris. Even if it was due to brainwashing or trickery, to think someone could care to this degree for such a loathsome creature as Dragus was astonishing. The bearded druid, confusingly, could not sense her feelings through the Force, but her words and emotions would ring true in his ears. Endor would stand up fully and walk over to Kr'Naan and got on her level, taking a knee behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know you have been through so much." Kr'Naan turned around to face Endor, still tightly wrapped in the blanket. I want to help you if I can, to be your friend; but first I would like to know your name. Friends are supposed to know each other's names, right?" The child of sand was obviously in some form of shock at the realization she was alone, so he thought it best to just try to be there and offer her a lifeline back to reality.
"Kr'Naan.....my name is Kr'Naan...." The Tusken youngling said quietly. Endor would smile gently and reassuringly to her and nod his in greeting once more. "It is nice to meet you Kr'Naan." Kr'Naan's face shifted, the tears drying up and her body language becoming nervous and anxious. "But..." Endor grew a soft but concerned look on his face, though only out of worry at whatever was making her uncomfortable.
It was at this time Dietr returned from retrieving a cup of stim-caf, two cups in hand as he walked through the doors back into the infirmary. As the xenomedicine specialist entered he saw that Endor was still by the viewport talking with the Tusken child. Shrugging, the medical technician went back to where the girl's bed, only to see the table she had knocked over when she fell was still on the ground, and the medical instruments still strewn across the floor. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dietr set the cups of caf on a shelf next to the bed and stood the overturned table upright before bending back down to pick up the various medical tools on the floor. It only took a few moments, but he could not locate everything. A scalpel was missing. Dietr got on his hands and knees and eyeballed the floor to try and spy the surgical tool beneath another bed in this row. Maybe it had bounced further than he thought? Dietr got up, scratching his head when suddenly it clicked. The youngling had tipped the table over when she got out of the bed and fell on the ground. Dietr scoffed at the idea, at first. She was a kid, one who had been through who knows what, but still just a kid...right? Worry growing within, Dietr looked back at the viewport where Endor and Kr'Naan were talking. Endor had taken a knee in front of the child to speak with her on her level. If he was wrong, it did not matter. But if he was right, he did not need to alert the child of what he knew before he could get Endor away from her. Dietr called out to Endor as he began to quickly walk to the viewport, trying to appear calm but the worry in his voice still very clear. "Generaaaal."
"But? What's wrong, Kr'Naan? You can tell me. Nothing will happen to you, I promise." It was at this time that Endor heard the call of Dietr. The man sounded as if something was wrong. The druid general turned his head to see what it was that Dietr needed. It was in the moment Endor turned his head to look at Dietr that Kr'Naan continued speaking. "But my Master calls me Wart." As she spoke, Kr'Naan thrust up her arm from beneath the blanket, clutched in her hand a downturned scalpel, and brought the surgical blade down into Endor's neck where it met the shoulder as hard as she could. Whether or not the scalpel found its target Kr'Naan would not stick around, trying to make a run for it.
Kr'Naan had pieced it together. This man was the one responsible for destroying the Covenant of Blood and for the supposed death of her master's physical form, as well as the Flock and the crew. Endor had been able to rescue her because he had boarded during the attack.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
"No man is good enough to be another's master."
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Post by Endor on May 10, 2023 7:19:19 GMT -8
Endor's face became a mask of incredulity as he listened to the child speak. Hakusar? Mortal form? Some of the pieces were starting to come together. That unusual name had to be in reference to Dragus, who it seemed had convinced the girl he was some sort of god or deathless figure. Hardly shocking with what little he knew about his misguided clone. It was also very fitting of a Sith, though it begged the question if Dragus was the only one or if there were more. The child spoke of rebuilding an Order, did she mean the Sith Order or something else? From his investigation the General had learned that his evil progeny had been a member of a group called the Order of the Eye. They'd infrequently troubled his home of Outer Haven on Tynna over the years, with one of their diabolical robot servants even blowing up the Drunken Rancor cantina. To his knowledge that group had been erradicated years ago by the Imperial Remnant at Prakith, before they later evolved into the fascist First Order he and the rebellion fought today. Either way, this kid was in deep, appearing to be utterly brainwashed by his dark spawn. His gut churned as his guilt made itself known, upsetting his stomach and wilting his aegis of serenity.He heard the door to the medical bay open as Dietr returned, though he kept his attention focused on the tusken who had just revealed her name to him. Kr'Naan, that had a nice ring to it. She was probably a sweet kid before Dragus had sunk his claws into her. He hoped he would be able to give her a chance to be just that, a kid again, though he worried the psychological scars might run deep."Generaaaal." He heard the medical technician's voice and attempted to ignore it. Not now, Dietr, can't you see I'm making progress? At least that was his thought, up until Kr'Naan revealed what Dragus' pet name for her and raised her little arm, holding something metallic in her hand that glinted under the deck lights. He felt the scalpel plunge into the meat of his neck, fortunately missing any vital arteries, but sinking deep enough to elicit a great deal of pain. Endor yelped and fell back onto his butt, his eyes wide in stunned disbelief as the handle of a surgical blade jutted out from his collar. "Ow!" He groaned as the unexpectedly violent child made a break for it, running towards the medical bay door as fast as her little legs would carry her.Stunned but not entirely surprised, Dietr raced to a nearby cabinet and fumbled through the drawer. As his hand retracted from the drawer, held in the tech's grip was a small blaster pistol. He squinted as he sighted Kr'Naan's shrinking back, his thumb flipping off the safety and quickly setting the device to stun, before his index finger inched towards the trigger. A split second before the trigger pulled, the pistol bucked in Dietr's hand, throwing off his aim and delivering a stun bolt into the ceiling bulkhead just as the tusken ran out of the bay. The automatic doors whooshed shut behind her. Looking over at Endor, Dietr could see the General still sitting on the ground, with one hand extended towards him, fingers splayed wide. Recognition of what happened quickly donned on him. The General had used the Force to throw off his aim!"No blasters." Growled Endor, wincing as he grabbed hold of the scalpel handle sticking out of his shoulder and neck, then pulled it free in a single motion. He dropped the bloody medical utensil on the floor beside him with a clank, releasing a few pent up streams of shooting blood. Seeing the wound, Dietr grabbed a package of gauss and some medical tape and rushed to Endor's side, dropping to his knees beside him as he applied pressure to the wound. "It was set to stun." He argued back, packing the bleeding wound quickly before taping down the gauss. Again Endor growled, swallowing down a string of curses he'd learned from his smuggling days on Nar Shaddaa. One still managed to escape. "No blasters." He repeated. "Sithspit, that hurt."Reaching into the pocket of his leathery flight jacket, the General retrieved his personal communicator and opened a channel to the bridge of the Mossflower. He words were a bit strained as he continued to grit his teeth through the stinging in his neck."Drenlin, initiate a ship wide alarm. Our guest is on the lamb and should be considered dangerous. Tell the crew not to engage if they spot her." There was a brief pause, then the comlink crackled with the rebel agent's somewhat smug voice. I told you we should have put a guard on her. Is anyone hurt? "The General..." Dietr started, then stopped as Endor's bearded face and bulging eyes stopped him mid speech. The General shook his head, and the med tech went back to checking the wound."Everyone's fine, just help me track down the kid. And lock down the escape pods and hangar while you are at it." Putting a hand on his knee, he hissed in pain as he struggled to get up from the floor, placing a hand on the wall for support. "Tell security no blasters or stun batons. She's already probably scared enough as it is. I don't want to traumatize her further."Aye, General. Drenlin out. A warning chime sounded across every deck of the Nebulon-B escort frigate as the alarm was given. Every so often the speakers would repeat the same message, informing the crew of an escaped prisoner aboard and ordering them not to engage but rather report any sightings to security. Somewhere on the same deck as the medical bay, escorted by Jace and Lorka, the abominable snowok known as Red Claw heard the same message. Despite his name, the chalk white furred meter tall bear with curling horns jutting out of its head, did not in fact have red claws. That name had been earned by the savage snow bear after a battle between his people and the native Skel that called Hoth home. However, the claws jutting from his paws were without question quite sharp. As Jace and Lorka increased their pace towards the medical bay, Red Claw slipped away, setting off to find the girl on his own. His wet black nose sniffed the air, detecting an out of place sandy scent, which he began to follow.Back in the medical bay, Endor had switched his communicator over to his X-wing's private channel. He held the communication device in front of his mouth, practically spitting into it as he argued with his astromech droid."I don't care if you were just about to start an oil bath, R6. You have the best life-form scanners on the ship. Just get your metal butt moving and help track down the kid." To which the droid responded angrily in droid-speech. Bleep-Bleat Boop-Beep! Endor silenced the binaric profanity by switching the device off and returning it to his pocket. Slowly he exited the bay, leaving Dietr behind as he stepped out into the hallway. He looked in either direction, seeing no sign of the girl. Closing his eyes, he opened himself up to the Force, listening to it speak as he sought its guidance in finding the child. Unfortunately he sensed nothing. Whatever caused her to have such a low Midi-C count also caused her to be next to invisible to his other worldly senses. He grunted, opening his eyes and shaking his head. "Guess we do this the old fashioned way."He then set off to find her.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 10, 2023 8:46:57 GMT -8
Kr'Naan had learned much aboard her time spent with Dragus on the Covenant of Blood. While much of the technology was far beyond her still primitive understanding, believing much of it to be the power of the gods, she had learned to navigate the vile ship with ease. In one case, Dragus had even tested her by letting loose one of his offspring with her in a locked down section to see if she would be able to survive. It had been a harrowing experience in itself, but she had figured out what to look for. This ship was much cleaner when compared to the Covenant, and smaller, but to the Tusken that is not what mattered. The design and layout of the ship itself was different but air had to flow through somehow. Her first goal was to find the ventilation system and then find a way to the hangar or an escape pod to get off this ship.
Kr'Naan slowed her running as she looked up at the ceiling of the hallway she was in as a general alarm rang out. Curious that the crew aboard were being ordered not to shoot her on sight, instead only being told to report her location. They must want her alive. If they were enemies of her Dragus, they obviously wanted to use her for information. Either that or they thought upon her master's return to rescue her that she could be used as a bargaining chip. Kr'Naan ran over to a door and pressed her back firmly against the wall next to it, cautiously activating the door control and peeking inside for a moment. It was another hallway, leading where she did not know. But only a couple dozen feet there was a two man security team doing its sweep, obviously looking for her. One of the security team's troopers pointed at her and began to draw his blaster, but was stopped by one of the others, who held his partner's blaster down and shook his head.
Kr'Naan closed the door as they began to run towards her, speaking into their communicators to relay her position. The Tusken child pressed herself firmly back against the wall and removed the blanket she had kept herself wrapped in this entire time. Only wearing bindings around her chest and a pair shorts from her time in the bacta tank she was very exposed, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She would rather be underdressed and free than clothed and imprisoned. As the door opened Kr'Naan threw the blanket like a net at the first security member to walk through, sidestepped and aiming a punch towards the man's groin. As he doubled over, Kr'Naan made a grab for his blaster in its holster, but the second security member grabbed her arm at the wrist to stop her and keep hold of her. Letting out a Tusken battle cry Kr'Naan jumped up, swinging upward by the man's arm to bring her feet up and kick him in the face. It was enough to daze him, but he had not let go of her arm. Hooking one foot behind the man's neck to keep herself close, Kr'Naan then repeatedly smashed her heel into his face, aiming for mostly his nose, until he fell over onto the ground. Reaching for the downed man's holster and drawing out a DH-17 blaster pistol, lifting it up and aiming at the other security team member who was recovering from being struck in the sensitive bits.
"We don't want to hurt you." The man said as he began to raise his arms into the air. In a flash he reached for his communicator on his shoulder and tried to speak as quickly as possible to warn the other teams. "She'sgotablast-" Kr'Naan fired the blaster at the man. Luckily, the owner had already set it to stun and she had not changed it prior to shooting. A ring of energy shot out and caused the man to drop once it struck him, unconscious. Kr'Naan looked over the blaster carefully, finding the setting to change it from stun to kill, aiming it at the man whose face she had beat to a pulp. As the man began to plead with the child to not kill him, Kr'Naan put her finger on the trigger and slowly began to squeeze it. Before the firing mechanism engaged, Kr'Naan froze as she heard footsteps, her head turning in the direction of the approaching noise. Kr'Naan took off running in the opposite direction of the approaching steps, leaving a short trail of bloody foot prints on the otherwise clean floor from smashing her bare feet into a man's face repeatedly. The bloodied security member leaned his head back against the wall and let out a sigh of relief. He was sure he would never live this down with his buddies, but at least he was alive.
The first vent the Tusken youngling came across she would use the blaster to shoot her way into and then crawl inside.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
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Post by Endor on May 11, 2023 6:48:08 GMT -8
Compared to the ice fields of Hoth, the interior of the Mossflower was a sterile alien environment, poorly suited to the natural born tracker's talents. Red Claw's little button black nose sniffed the air anyways, following that same sandy scent he had detected on his way towards the medical bay. He moved silently, his furry padded paws barely making so much as a sound of footsteps as he moved from one hall to the next, a snow shadow stalking the cold metallic decks. He stopped as he came upon a set of bloody footprints, kneeling before a sticky pair, then dipped one ice sharpened claw into the red residue. Bringing the tip of the soiled digit to his nostrils, he inhaled the aroma, detecting hints of the various minerals elements in the vitae. His thick lipped mouth drooped into a snarl as tribal instincts took over. The hunter's black eyes practically gleamed a feral red, his fangs protruding as he grit his teeth, foaming at the corners of the mouth. He then sprang forwards on all fours, pouncing like a boar wolf rather than galloping like a tauntaun. The abominable snowok's vision clouded in a red haze as he was hot on his quarry's trail.
Abominable Snowoks, also known as the Lost Tribe of Ewoks, were genetically diverse from their cousins of the Forest Moon. Some differences were obvious, such as their chalk white fur and thicker mane to protect against the frigid elements of their adopted world. Their canine teeth were more pronounced and the claws jutting out from their paws curved into sharpened blades. A set of forward curling horns protruded from the either side of their heads. This odd phenomenon was the result of a male ewok mating with a female wampa, creating the first generation of snowok. More than just affecting their physical attributes, the ice beast blood flowing through their veins also made each snowok somewhat more savage than standard ewoks. They were quicker to aggression, always on the verge of volatility, save perhaps after imbibing a healthy measure of fermented tauntaun milk.
Red Claw was simply acting on his base instincts when he pushed his way past several crew walking the halls, finally coming across an opened duct leading into the ventilation system of the ship. He sniffed at the opening, his sharp eyes spotting fresh blood flecks on the ground, while his nose scrunched at the acrid smell of scorched ozone. The duct cover had carbon scoring on it. She had a blaster. His drooping snarl reversed into a feral grin. The abominable snowok practically salivated as he entered the vent, his horns occasionally scraping the top of the air-duct. His claw slipped back towards his waist, where a single cord of braided Icetromper fur held a pouch and a dragon slug scale sheath containing his knife. The crudely carved blade had been hand crafted from Force imbued ice that formed around permafrost crystals deep in the ice caverns where his people made their homes. It glowed a faint blue, illuminating the snowok's demonic features as he places it between his teeth as he clawed his way through the vent, closing in on his prey. He swore he could hear her breathing just a few sections of duct away.
In another corridor of the ship on the same deck, Endor walked the hall with his beard turning from side to side as he looked for the fleeing tusken. One hand rested on the patch of gauss on his neck, the other he held over his brow to shield his eyes from the deck lighting as he squinted, spending a few moments looking down each corridor he came across. Dietr had staunched the flow of blood from his wound but it still throbbed where Kr'Naan had got him. He grumbled to himself. "Sweet kid, my butt." His scowl slowly turned into an amused grimace as he thought about the child potentially being as problematic for his evil scaled doppelganger. He could only hope she caused at least as much trouble for Dragus, if not more. That said he wasn't even sure what he was going to do with her once they found her. If this was his home village on the forest moon, they would have tied her to a tree like any other unruly wokling. Being left out alone in the forest overnight tended to resolve any personality disfunctions pretty quickly. But, this wasn't home, so he'd have to think of something else.
She'sgotablast- His comlink chirped, then ended just as fast. He picked up his pace. Not good. Not good at all.
Rounding a corner, the General nearly tripped over his astromech droid, R6-66. The black and green domed robot chirped and blurted a string of profanity in binary, before settling down as Endor held out both hands in a placating gesture. Oddly enough, R6 got along well with just about everybody except for the pilot to which it was assigned. For whatever reason the bearded rebel was terrible with droids, like they could pick up the fact that he preferred a more rudimentary existence which didn't include anything with a battery. Endor chuckled in a gruff sort of manner, patting the robot on its oscillating domed head.
"Easy, lad." He lowered himself to the droids height, peering into its photo-receptic lens with his two piercing green eyes. "I get that its your scheduled time for some R and R; I wouldn't ask for your help if anybody else could do this. But hey, it's sorta your own fault for being so good at what you do."
The astromech bleated a sarcastic reply but otherwise accepted the compliment. A small rotating antenna with a curved dish popped out of its head and it began to scan the deck for signs of life matching the tuskens. Boop-Boop Beep! Tweeted R6, already picking something up.
Endor grinned and stood, stepping out of the way as the droids treads began to carry it past the former druid. He matched its pace, lightly jogging as it closed in on the hidden bantha-turned-krayt. Eventually he came across the same opening the Red Claw had only moments earlier, though the woodsman was much too large to enter. It was clear from the footprints and fur caught on the edges of the duct what had happened. Continuing to follow the droid, our hero came across a maintenance cart and grabbed a broom off its rack. Using the butt end of the broom, he began to tap the vent ducts overhead, stopping to listen each time to see if the resulting echo changed.
Pausing, he looked down at the carved branch of the Spirit Tree hanging from his belt, hoping he wouldn't need it to disarm the child. He then continued tapping the vents.
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Kr'Naan'Kar
The Sith Eternal
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Post by Kr'Naan'Kar on May 11, 2023 8:09:27 GMT -8
Kr'Naan ran her forearm over her forehead to wipe away the heavy beads of sweat that had formed. While the air flowing through the ducts was comfortable, the effort to move through them was still strenuous, and she had only just woken up. Despite days spent in a bacta bath, the Tusken transient had still only just come to and was not entirely back to her full strength. To Kr'Naan, it only meant she had to hurry and find a way off this ship faster. Kr'Naan stopped to catch her breath and think for a moment when she was deep enough in the tunnels of the ship's air ducts. This entire experience was not something she was fond to repeat after the first time, but at least nothing was following her through the ducts. Kr'Naan froze as she through she heard something behind her. Rolling onto her back she lifted her head up to look, aiming the blaster in her hands in the direction she had come from. What rounded the corner of the duct was a sight that struck both confusion and horror into the Tusken child. A demonically horned Ewok with fur white like death and eyes glinting with bloodlust. Kr'Naan let out a high pitched scream before firing a few shots from the blaster, though with her shaking hands and inexperience with blasters they would strike the sides of the air duct before they reached their intended target and using her feet to push herself away on her back away from the (to her) obvious fiend. Taught by Dragus the mystical ancestry and nature of the Ewoks, as well as her own interactions with the Flock, it was of little surprise how she would react to seeing one hunting her down in the ducts of the ship; especially given his appearance.Red Claw would hurriedly push himself back around the corner to avoid getting shot, peeking his eye around the corner when the shooting stopped. The Tusken was gone, disappeared down one of the side ducts. The hunt was still on, and the turn-tail Tusken could not hide from him forever. The terrified Tusken had taken a left, or was it right, turn moving backwards as quickly as possible while firing at her snowok pursuer. Her heart was pounding in her chest, both fear and the effort to quickly move through the cramped confines. Kr'Naan kept moving as quickly as possible, only stopping for a moment to hear the same scurrying noise as before. It had started after her again. Kr'Naan stopped as she came to crossroads of vents, branching off in all directions, including straight up and down. If the creature was tracking her, it had to be relying on scent; similar to how Dragus's offspring had tracked her. Quickly rubbing her free hand across her sweating face and neck she caught as much sweat as possible and began smearing it along as far as she could safely reach in every direction. It would not buy her much time, but hopefully it would be enough.Red Claw came to the crisscross place and sniffed around. Her scent would be flowing flowing from each of the vents, filling the area without a definite trail. It was when he looked up that the snowok quickly ducked back in the vent he had come from as blaster bolts rained form above. Clung to the walls with her bare feet and aiming downward was the Tusken child, shooting down and yelling incoherent sand-speak at the demonic snowok below. Taking his knife from his mouth, Red Claw would wait for a lull in the blaster fire and throw the Force imbued blade up at the child above.Kr'Naan managed dodge the thrown blade as it flew up past her and stuck into the metal paneling near her head with a thunk. Twisting to not get hit by the knife unfortunately caused her feet to slip, sending her tumbling down. Unable to catch herself in time or slow her fall, Kr'Naan fell past Red Claw into the vent straight down and onto a grated vent covering, crashing through the ceiling of whichever room was below.
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Endor
New Rebel Alliance
"No man is good enough to be another's master."
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Post by Endor on May 11, 2023 18:29:59 GMT -8
As the grated vent covering crashed open and Kr'Naan spilled to the floor below, the inadequately dressed tusken landed in an open burlap sac of flour, kicking up a dusty white layer of particulate in the air. Fortunately her spill into the pantry next to the ship's galley had seen her fall broken by soft ingredients rather than a hard metal floor. Unfortunately for the unintended prisoner, Endor was already waiting in the room, holding a steaming cup of stim-caf to his lips. He finished taking a sip and placed the cup down on the counter beside him, just above R6's domed head as the astromech tweeted and twerted beside him. When his hand was free of the cup, it remained open, moving towards the groaning child's form as she collected her dazed self. Drawing on the Force, he drew the blaster that had fallen with the Sand Child off the floor with a telekinetic tug, catching it in his hand as he stepped forwards towards Kr'Naan just as she seemed to be coming to.
"Sorry, kid." He expertly delivered a blow with the butt of the blaster pistol to the back of her head, delivering enough concussive force to stun but with the wonder of modern medicine, not permanently damage. He leaned down and caught her under the waist with his other arm as she slumped over, dreaming of sand dunes and banthas no doubt. He picked her up in his arms, shocked at how light she seemed despite the raw force of nature she behaved as, like an untamed sandstorm.
A moment later and Red Claw dropped out of the vent. The abominable snowok had retrieved its signature knife and rose out of a crouch, glaring with a feral smirk at the unconscious form in Endor's arms. The General's face scrunched and his eyes squinted, then his nose wrinkled as he sniffed the aroma of singed fur. His eyes widened, as did his mouth into a massive grin that stretched the borders of his face and strained his beard.
"She got you." He chuckled, his belly shaking beneath Kr'Naan's cradled form against his chest as he laughed merrily.
Red Claw shrugged his furry shoulders and put a paw on the tusken's forehead, looking at her slumbering form. He smirked, then snorted and looked away. Their tracker from Grimfang's tribe wasn't one for words, but his body language gave plenty of verbal cues. It was clear he liked the tusken. She had guts, and she had tried to kill him. Red Claw would have taken her for mate if only she were a wampa. The burly chested abominable snowok crossed its arms and stuck out its tongue, blowing a raspberry at the General.
"Yeah, well she got me too." He leaned forwards to show the snowok the wound on his neck. Red Claw's nose wiggled as it scented his blood, then it nodded and gave his leg a quick cuff, letting Endor know they were cool. The pilot shook his head, speaking his concern out loud. "I don't know what we are going to do with her. Clearly what she has been through has severely skewed her perspective. We need to find a way to break through to her, to help her get a grasp on reality. I don't think I can do that here. There's too much noise."
He had the same thought even before Red Claw suggested it. Hoth, he'd take her to Hoth. A little camping out on the artic tundra, testing themselves against the element, depending on each other for survival. It was perfect. What could go wrong? The two worked out a plan as Endor carried Kr'Naan to the brig, where she would remain for the rest of the journey to Hoth. She would find the conditions of her incarceration a lot more civilized than even the full range of freedoms she had aboard the Covenant of Blood. Endor personally brought her every meal and spent time trying to speak with her, offering her books and toys and puzzles and anything any member of the crew suggested because quite frankly he was out of ideas. Every day in the week long journey she was afforded an opportunity to use the refresher with a sonic shower. Fresh clothes and towels were provided daily. Of course her cell was still an open faced square with an energized barrier keeping her in. A cot with a mattress on the wall, and a toilet and sink between a half wall partition.
When she refused to talk he told her about himself, at least in the moments when she didn't try to drown him out with childish shrieks or call him a liar. He told her about his childhood, losing both his parents and being taken in by a tribe of ewoks. He told her about Tarfang, his bestfriend, about the adventures they had and all the trouble they had gotten themselves in to. He mentioned his time spent with the Jedi, which seemed to sour the girl more as she seemed to detest the fact that he was gifted with the Force. He even told her a few smuggling tales, though he had to heavily censor the content of those stories due to her age. Then again, after what she'd been through, she could probably handle it. Mostly he just tried to offer a friendly presence, even when she was clear she held him responsible for what happened to her master's ship, to what was effectively her home.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Nov 5, 2023 10:43:10 GMT -8
A tortured psychic shriek echoed across the aether as the void of space was torn asunder and a brutish black battlecruiser ripped free of the hellish red embrace of an infrequently traveled hyperspace wormhole, dragging with it a host of starweirds adhered to the hull whose incorporeal forms began to dissolve the instant they entered realspace, their hateful souls sucked back into the dimension from whence they had come. The massive Sith iron slab of the Ark Diabolicus entered the system like a growling void predator, trailed by a pack of lesser dauntless and liberator class cruisers, fresh from their pillage of the SoroSuub Corporation on not so far off Sullust. On the bridge of the baleful bulwark, the fiendish fanged phenom rubbed the scaled palm of his claw across the grimy transparasteel viewport, wiping away blood smears and mould with a few fervent strokes, then pressed the multifaceted amethyst gem of the rakatan ocular implant set in his left eye socket against the glass. The Dark Apothecary bore witness to an orbital graveyard of ships, the Covenant of Blood's last stand against the defenders of Bakura had left naught but ruin in its wake, as broken wrecks polluted the space lanes leading up to the planet. Without pause the Ark Diabolicus plowed through the debris field, smashing aside dead dreadnoughts and the shattered skeletons of cruisers before taking up high anchor over the capital of Salis D'aar.
Starting at his spine and worming its way up his back was an unpleasant shudder as the Blood Wyrm recalled the spiritual essence fueled fiend he had faced in Bakura's capital, a creature not entirely of his own doing that had nearly spelled the end for the long lived lizard lord. To make matters worse, it was only shortly thereafter whilst still in his weakened state that he found himself set upon by his own treacherous creator, who kidnapped the Famine Lord's daughter and did his utmost to turn her against him, much to his latter regret when the Sand Child proved incorruptible. Following which, it was there in the city below where the humble ewok shepherd and his flock were pulled into the bizarre grey dimension of Otherspace, cursed to remain in those Forceless depths for thirty years. Of course, time passed a bit differently on the edge of a blackhole. What had been decades for Dragus and his beloved flockmates, had only served as a weeks time back in this more fixed galaxy. Those memories infuriated the dastardly draconian, causing his razor sharp incisors to dig into his black gums and spill his own dark vitae from his lips to the floor beneath his feet, pooling in a bubbling puddle of copper tanged filth. His tail spike lashed the deck, drawing the attention of the bridge crew, a motley mix of verminkin and his genetically superior Nu-Jakes.
Hissing a fine mist of crimson flecks and saliva, the wrathful warlock returned to the onyx command throne at the centre of the bridge, hewn from polished Pzobian blackstone from quarries deep within the darkside infected forests of the Eye's cradle. Running his talons over his man-hide robe, a ghoulish cloak of flayed sullustan faces sutured together to form a terrible tapestry of corpse flesh, he smoothed his attire before seating himself in his chair. Dragus rested his right claw on a smooth sphere of midnight hued nihil smokestone, then closed his red right eye as he summoned a measure of power from the wellspring of infinite hate, centering himself in the wicked waters of the malevolent fey. His talons wrapped around the edges of the alchemy operated palantÃr as he channeled the darkside and transformed his thoughts into telepathic commands broadcast through the psychic transmitter to receptors throughout the ship and to others aboard the warships of the fleet. The serpentine astral form of the Famine Lord, a venom fanged black hooded cobra with eyes that glowed red like simmering coals, appeared to them as his words carried on poisoned ethereal winds.
<<< Gunnerz to their stationz. Bring turbolassser batteriez to bear and prepare to vent the Almighty Eye'z wrath on the disssbeliever. Any who take up armz againssst uz shall be ssscoured from the starz. Ssspare thossse that sssurrender; there iz ssstill much room in the ssslave holdz of our galley. My children dessserve a fine meal for their ssservice. >>>
Emerald lances of coherent plasma tore across the black star speckled tapestry of the frigid void, pin pricking the surface as motes of orange flame blossomed into great plumes of fire, visiting the Eye's kindness on the people of Bakura, who had already suffered greatly under the ministrations of the Famine Lord's sand squire, the shaman hating Princess Wart. Leather clad Nu-Jakes rode gunmetal chariots into battle as locust hordes of star wings poured from the Fleet of Famine's hangars and became to pick apart civilian vessels attempting to flee. Chemical contrails of stinging concussion ordnance from hornet like missile boats preluded fiery eruptions of durasteel shrapnel that further clogged the space lanes and drifted into the atmosphere as char blackened razor hail, peppering the planet's population. All the while the twisted scaled lips of the demented drake lord continued to curl outwards, stretching impossibly beyond the borders of his villain's visage in a heinous sneer that spoke of cruelty and no small amount of depravity. Even in the cold embrace of vacuum, he could feel the release of so much death into the fey, harvested by the arcane device down in the holds beneath his clawed feet. The Black Altar fed well that day, and soon, so would they.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,406
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Dragus on Nov 19, 2023 5:54:53 GMT -8
Hellish green turbolaser fire from the Ark Diabolicus ripped apart Namana-class light cruisers between the brutal Bulwark and the Bakura-class Destroyer it was lining up for a broadside barrage. The smaller vessels shrieked and quailed beneath the vicious onslaught of the menacing battlecruisers batteries that ruptured hulls and ignited atmosphere in expanding fire clouds that swallowed entire vessels. Sealed inside a boarding torpedo, all the villainous Famine Lord felt were the vibrations through the durasteel grating beneath his talons. A deafening roar announced their ascent into the void as the conical shells engines fired and sent the boarding ordinance across the debris strewn vacuum, picking up speed as it crossed a no-mans land of crisscrossing energized gas and screeching missiles, narrowly avoiding destruction by the smallest of margins as it raced towards its intended target. Bared fangs of pearlescent white glistened with a wet sheen in the dark confines of the pods stomach as the drake lord's black lips split, spilling steaming salivation from a drooling maw salivating with growing hunger. Cold blood ran hot in his veins, a corrosive acid that set his insides alight to the tune of tribal drumming, as clawed paws beat on the stretched man-hide of morbid instruments. Hateful coal eyed night ewoks that had joined him on his hunt banged the butts of their spear upon the frigid deck, chanting his name over and over again like a mad fever dream, awakening the slavering beast that coiled in place of the Great Devourer's soul.Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis! Pater-Mutatis! Brilliant crimson death reach towards the surging torpedo from the Bakura-class destroyer's point defense lasers, blistering the boarding torpedo's hull and painting its surface black with sooty carbon scoring. Its impervium head weathered the storm, super-heated orange in the moments before it smashed into the enemy ship and drove hard through its metallic skin, punching deep into the nimble predators mechanical skeleton. The ablative scales of the torpedo's skin exploded outwards, felling deck hands and human crew with razor shrapnel that transformed the exposed corridor into a charnel house. As the pod unsealed, a chorus of feral bestial roars reverberated off the bulkheads as charcoal furred demons erupted from the dark and leapt towards terrified Bakurans in various stages of flight. Poison laced obsidian arrows peppered backs and punched through fleshy pink throats, while crude axes of the same dragon glass harvested in the volcanic caldera of Mt. Tawntoom were used to fell long legs at the knee as blood thirsty ewok lumberjacks took away the humans advantage of height, carving and crippling in a riotous display of brutal vigor. Intestinal ropes spilled from disembowelled bellies in steaming piles of guts that delighted the depraved senses of the carnivorous sentient bears, the pleasing aroma finally stirring the scaled creature still contained within the boarding tubes dark interior.Dragus emerged from the pod as a ghoulish draconian spectre of darkness and shadow, draped in ragged scraps of tanned man-flesh that seemed to wail in agony despite their cadaverous state. A monstrous avatar of Hunger in scaled form, the Dark Apothecary evoked fear from the human defenders of the boarded vessel with his mere presence alone. A few intrepid souls mustered the courage to draw blasters from holsters and fire flaming bolts at the vile velociraptor, cutting through his man-hide attire of sutured faces, but causing no harm to the armour hard scales beneath. Their attacks were nothing more than the stinging bites of gnats, easily ignored as he stalked across the deck and laid into those closest with the butchers hooks he called claws. Flesh was flensed, meat and gristle split from bone, the tortured shrieks of dying men only stirring the cruel crocodile to further actions of barbarity. Night ewok huntsmen, fur matted with gore, murdered their way across the ship towards the bridge. The sinful scaled serpent followed on their heels, finishing off anyone they left clinging to life on the deck behind. His tail spike speared through backsides and punched through chest cavities, tearing out steaming guts and collecting hearts along its animate length. Eventually they found themselves at the blast shielded doors to the bridge, sealed against entry by any outside the Bakuran defense force's higher ranks."Leave it to me." Grinned the gruesome gore speckled Sith, holding out his claw as a pair of his flockmates brought the man-flesh bound grip of his monstrous maul to the draconian's scaled palm. Dragus wrapped his talons around the haft of Exsanguinator, taking the flanged headed mace of arcane design into his claw, raising it up into a two handed grip as he assumed a batting stance. Sliding his thumb talon over an activation stud on the handle, he awakened the shockwave generator housed inside, causing the crude Sith iron to crackle with electrical discharge as a blend of alchemy and science produced a field capable of molecular disassembly. Tensing his arms, the Hungering One swung his brutish mace with all his might, bringing the black head into contact with the blast door. The shrieking field tore apart the magnetised alloy atom by atom, smashing it into a hail of metallic shards. He struck again, and again, burrowing through foot thick armour plating, ripping and wrenching open a hole large enough for his hideous form and fanged flock to pass through. They met more resistance inside, but they were nothing to him. A single swing of his mace transformed the warship's stalwart captain into a red splatter across the view port.Within an hours time of their arrival in system, Bakura had fallen for a second time in its recent history, broken and beaten by the dastardly Dragus and his wicked servants. An hours time was all it took for the night ewoks to consume the remains of the crew, leaving nothing left but the soiled splatters of bowels voided in death. All hail the Almighty Eye.
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