Nem Yin
The First Order
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Post by Nem Yin on Mar 28, 2024 6:22:12 GMT -8
"You're too late." Growled Nem, his cold breath steaming with each expressed syllable as the temperature around them began to rise. He took a step closer to her, then another, each accompanied by a rumbling boom of some far off explosion. The Intendant held his arms out to the sides, gesturing to the duracrete jungle of the city-scape burning behind them. "War between siblings is already assured. I should know; I was at Ralltiir when Fiora declared herself Empress and set loose the Ren fleet onto its loyalist allies. She turned the Thanatos' cannons on those of us who had gathered with the Grand Admiral and she didn't hold back." Though it took a concerted effort, the disguised Yuuzhan Vong manipulated the muscles in his ooglith masquer to force the layer of false flesh into his best approximation of an infidel smirk. "We played right into her hands. I was quite impressed actually. If her brother showed half as much cunning we'd likely not be in this mess to begin with." He shrugged nonchalantly, not appearing to take it personally. "But I digress, what's done is done. We fought our way through the Ren's perfectly laid trap and drove them back towards the Deep Core, suffering heavy losses in the process. I followed them as far as Empress Teta before turning back to join the loyalist forces as they arrived in the system here."
Surprising even himself, everything the First Prefect said about the events that had led him here was true. He took another step, now at the halfway point between them, his gaze remaining intense while his right arm rose, extending his empty palm towards the Tribune Knight. Based on appearances, her time here had been an ordeal. Good, that meant she had seen the damage and destruction this conflict had wrought, and was already aware of the cost.
"Your efforts here are wasted, Tribune Knight." He didn't hold back. "Baltazar's forces might be entrenched, but Octavian and the Imperial fleet have the planet surrounded. The Arch-Traitor's defeat is already a forgone conclusion." He stopped and crossed his arms, briefly taking his eyes off her to look at a piece of flaming sky-bridge overhead where he could just make out with the maximum zoom of his mqaaq'it implants, the plastoid armoured form of stormtroopers exchanging fire with red eyed demons in black chitin that sent bodies plummeting to the levels below. Nem looked back at Jin. "And when Octavian's done with Baltazar, he'll move against the Ren next, against Fiora. Whatever your personal experience with the Emperor, Jin, don't expect him to forgive and forget. After the losses and betrayals he's suffered, he'll be driven to quell any and all uprisings, even those led by his sister. That's why I had to find you first. The Princess' affection for you is well documented. If the Emperor's people find you, they'll interrogate you for information and try to use you as a pawn to get to her." He scoffed, shaking his head. "It won't work. I had a chance to study the Ren's resolve up close and personal. The only way this ends is if you can convince Fiora to stand down. That's why you need to come with me, Jin. I'm the best chance you have of ever seeing her alive again."
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Jin Song
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Posts: 196 
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Mar 28, 2024 21:42:00 GMT -8
It was impossible for Jin to tell how genuine this man was being, between his false face and lack of Force presence, she couldn't get a read on him. She was on edge, but tired. It was like without the white hot coal that was her need for vengeance burning in the pit of her stomach, it was like all the past weeks had caught up to Jin. This had been the hardest she had ever pushed herself, and here was another easy way out. Though unlike Roland's offer, she didn't trust this one. Her grip on the lightsaber tightened as the Vong stepped forward and spoke of the recent battle between Loyalist and Ren forces. But that was it: She had failed. Her eyes finally left the stranger and looked up at the carnage being wrought above. The thing she had so desperately hoped to stop was unfolding before her. So what? Was all her suffering for nothing? Had she come all this way, fought this hard, for everything to unravel and watch Fiora and Octavian battle to the death? No. She was still determined. Baltasar was a lost cause, whoever was pulling his strings had him too deep. Her gaze returned to the man who had stepped yet closer. He's my friend... Jin whispered. I may not love the Empire, or any of this royal nonsense, but his father took me in when I was just a poor child living down here. I got to see the Sky! Every day! I owe this family everything. And I owe it to both of them to give every effort to keep that family from going beyond the point of no return. Jin lowered her lightsaber, and let it hum at her side. One last attempt, one more push to reach Octavian. I have to keep trying.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Mar 29, 2024 19:35:34 GMT -8
Nem stopped mid-stride, standing ten paces from Jin, a distance he knew he could close very quickly if he needed. The hairless brow over his right eye lifted, his false face a mask of incredulity. Pressing a finger to the side of his nose, he violently vacated his nasal cavity, firing a steaming wad of phlegm onto the landing pad tarmac by his feet. "Heh." He snorted contemptuously, lowering his arms down to his sides, clenching his hands into fists. "Surely you can't be that naïve." Yuuzhan Vong or infidel, it seemed the blockheaded stubbornness of the warrior caste was a universal trait. "Your friend?" He questioned mockingly, before loosing a bark of black laughter that barely concealed his disdain for Jin's willful denial of reality. "He's not your friend. He's the Emperor. Maybe once upon a time it was as you say, but the burden of rule doesn't leave room for friendship. It can't. The lives of trillions of Imperial citizens are balanced daily on the razors edge of his every decision. Upon assuming his father's throne, Octavian ascended beyond the status of a mere man. He's become a symbol, embodying both the strength of Imperial might and the uncompromising arm of Imperial justice. He is bound by the oaths of his office, by duty..." The false face contorted into a cold expression of unrestrained disgust. "...like you, knight."
He shook his head from side to side, causing his neck vertebrae to crack in a sinuous pop. "I'm not asking you to stop fighting, Jin, but I'd be derelict in my own duty if I didn't remind you of yours." His own duty, at least so far as his role within the First Order, was somewhat less clearly defined than the Tribune Knight's position as royal bodyguard, but he was committed to doing whatever he could to keep the fractured elements of the Empire from breaking further apart. Nem had been there in the early days, before the Empire called itself the First Order, back when it was still just an Imperial Remnant. Working side by side with the Imperial Knights under Xeonon Solomon, Nem and his Domain had shed blood to secure a future that was increasingly slipping out of his grasp. The foundations of the First Order were built on the bones of martyrs, some of whom he'd been quite close too, such as Uzas whose name he now assumed for the sake of his current disguise. He'd sacrificed too much already to allow Nicademus' offspring to tear it all apart. "If the bonds of friendship aren't as strong as you believe and the Emperor takes you into his custody instead of listening to you, the careful balance of the remaining factions in this civil war will be thrown out of whack. You will be handing Octavian all he needs to compel Fiora into reckless action, which can only end in more blood." His lips split into a grimace. "I can't allow that to happen."
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Jin Song
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Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Mar 29, 2024 21:14:11 GMT -8
Jin's guard quickly rose again as the Vong began his mocking of her desire to peacefully attempt to have a conversation with Octavian. She returned her saber to it's guarded stance. She glared at him as he sought to lecture her on her own duty. True she was Fiora's bodyguard and lover, but in her mind, the best way to protect Fiora was to try and prevent the war from escalating any more. Jin let him say his piece before her own retort. It started with her gathering her own saliva and spitting it at Nem's feet. I take it you, a spy, she practically spat that word too. are an expert on the true strength of friendship? Octavian is a person, just as his father was, and just like you and I. Her fervor was returning as this persons words stoked that burnt out coal of hate back to life. Besides, I'll have Roland, Yvaine, and even Faina to vouch for me. So why don't you scuttle back to whatever crab brought you here and leave me alone. Cus the only way I'm leaving this landing pad with you is in a body bag. Jin's stance firmed as she readied herself for an attack, she had never fought a Yuuzhan Vong before, but there was always a first time for everything.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Mar 29, 2024 23:59:14 GMT -8
"If you insist." Nem replied, his tone taking on a lethal edge. The corners of his lips curled upwards, inverting from a grimace to a grin of eager anticipation. It was obvious he'd bungled his attempt at persuasion, but to be fair it had always been a bit of a long shot. In the same way the Tribune Knight had deduced the Executor's origins, she'd also been right about his questionable expertise on the subject of friendship. Since his return from intergalactic space he had repeatedly proven himself woefully inept at making friends, alienating himself at times from even members of his own species. Part of that could be blamed on the culture of his Domain. The Intendants of Domain Yin tended to be cold, bitter, and brooding even at the best of times, but that was far from the only reason. His own heavy burden of responsibility had wore his already limited patience parchment thin, to the point where sometimes he went out of his way to look for a fight. Is that what happened here? Something to reflect on later, after he had subdued his target. In the time it took to blink, the First Prefect sprang into action, rapidly launching his body into motion as he threw himself at Jin.
It had been at least a decade since the last time he had fought a Jedi. He knew the Imperial Knights and their dark counterparts among the Ren weren't exactly the same thing, but many of the principles upon which their training was based had similar origins. That last time he'd managed to subdue the Jedi on his own, though he'd had every other foreseeable advantage, which included a full set of vonduun skerr kyrric. His current lack of crab armour meant he would have to be extra cautious around the Tribune Knight's lightsaber. One wrong move and he could easily find himself skewered or severed in half by her humming plasma blade.
Furious and fast, he closed the distance between them in a half second, moving in such a rapid blur that the sound of his steps struggled to keep up with the rest of his body, like the echo of thunder chasing after a bolt of lightning. Planting his left foot at the last moment, his iron hard right leg snapped out in a low kick aimed at the outside of Jin's left calf, attempting to sweep her leg out from beneath her.
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Jin Song
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Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Mar 31, 2024 9:05:06 GMT -8
Jin was at the disadvantage. She was tired from the long guerrilla campaign she had been fighting, and especially from storming the very base the pair now fought atop. But lucky for her, Uzas's opener was a move similar to how Jin had bested Fiora in several sparring matches. She saw it coming and had time enough to counter. She leapt up, avoiding the swipe at her leg. Her somersault over the head of her opponent was covered by a slash down from above. She landed behind the Vong and instinctively launched a hurried force push, more out of habit than thinking it would work on the Vong. Jin knew she needed to end this fight quickly as she didn't have much left to give for an actual fight today. To help with this, Jin drew the Imperial Knight in her off hand, ready to defend against her foe's next assault.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Mar 31, 2024 13:33:37 GMT -8
As Jin leapt into the air, Nem allowed the force behind the kick he had thrown to propel his body into a counter-clockwise turn, riding the momentum of his initial attack as the kick turned into a 180 degree leg sweep that lowered his stance and spun him around to face the opposite direction. He could feel the heat from the Tribune Knight's lightsaber as it slashed by overhead, its tip narrowly missing the curling slope of his spine and the back of his neck as he rose in his stance and straightened his posture, just in time to watch his opponent land, and then lean into her Force Push as she projected it. Yuuzhan Vong and the Force were somewhat like water and oil, able to exist in the same space but never quite able to blend, operating simultaneously while working in ignorance of one another. The kinetic energy contained within the push was enough to cause the Intendant's large over-cloak to billow about his sinewy form, momentarily giving a good idea to the physical proportions of the man beneath the loosely worn garment, who road out the Force Push as though it were nothing more than a strong gust of wind. While his cloak sleeves flapped about his arms, a pair of nang-hul dropped into his waiting hands, their weight a reassuring presence.
Nang hul, a weaponized beetle of the Yuuzhan Vong that the infidel races had taken to calling 'thud bugs'. In the hands of a proficient user, the throwing biots operated much like homing rockets, able to seek out their targets even behind corners. Nem hurled both, loosing the brown chitinous shell in his left palm before quickly slinging the other in his right, sending the two buzzing insects hurtling towards the Tribune Knight's centre mass. With a shell as hard as stone, being struck by a thud bug was like getting pelted with a fist sized rock. The force behind it could knock a fully armoured trooper onto their rump, or even break bone depending where and how they impacted. In this instance, the Executor's intention was to incapacitate rather then inflict permanent harm.
If he could subdue the knight without killing her, there was still a chance to advert the crises that he viewed as an otherwise unavoidable catastrophe of galactic proportions waiting to happen. While Jin might not be too happy about the means that led to her future reunion with the Princess, Nem suspected that if he managed to return her with all her limbs still intact, Fiora would hopefully be a shrewd enough politician to overlook how he'd gone about making his delivery.
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Jin Song
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Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 7, 2024 20:51:36 GMT -8
While the push wasn't effective in the way Jin had hoped, it did do something else beneficial. For as the Vong's cloak bellowed about in the sudden movement of air, Jin was able to see a few moments sooner, the Thud-Bugs about to head her way. The Knight held her stance, both sabers humming in front of her as the insect projectiles quickly approached. Before the crossed passed her lightsabers is when Jin made her move; she spun the red and silver blades in a circle before her rapidly, and she repeated the arc a couple more times. Her movements were sped up by the Force and her goal was to catch the bugs in the windmill of superheated plasma before they had the chance to peel off and regroup. Regardless if she actually caught them or not, she would have evaded their initial attack, and now countered against their master. She pushed forward, striking rapidly with one blade, then the other. Always careful to have one blade back for defense while the other tried to pierce her foes own defenses. She was not being particular on where or how lethal the blow was, right now it was about sending a message: She would not be someone else pawn again.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 8, 2024 5:59:47 GMT -8
Nem barely had a moment to focus as his nang hul snapped and fizzled into ash against Jin's lightsabers, as the Tribune Knight chose that moment to go on the offensive, placing the Intendant on the backfoot as his body began to duck and weave around her attacking blades. Despite the danger, he found himself enjoying this lethal game of infidel 'tag', even as the tip of his opponent's plasma sword swept centimeters from his disguised face. He purposefully gave ground, leading his foe in a circle around the perimeter of the landing pad, trusting his eidetic memory rather than risking a glance over his shoulder, so as to never take his eyes off his adversary. "You fight well, infidel." He admitted, leaning just out of reach of a saber slash, assessing and memorizing her patterns of attack as she pursued him. The right corner of his false face's mouth twitched, on the edge of a smirk. "But Xeonon Solomon was better. Heh heh." He snickers, attempting to provoke the knight into reckless action, side stepping another slash and thrust as he continued to retreat. He never went far, as each backwards step placed him within range of Jin's next attack, and so on the deadly ballet went. "Harnan too for that matter." He leaned back beneath a lightsaber sweep that would have taken his nose off, if he actually had one. The limbo led into a backwards somersault from which he sprang back up quickly and fell into the motions of dodging once more. "Though that fight didn't last as long as I anticipated."
What could he possibly mean by that? For the Executor's purpose, the need for expediency hadn't left a lot of room to research his target. He knew the Knights of Ren and Imperial Knights had been something of rival branches within the First Order, prior to the outset of the Civil War anyways, but he was less certain to which group the Tribune Knight shared more of a connection to. Thus he name dropped a member of each he was acquainted with, then gauged her reaction.
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Jin Song
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Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 8, 2024 17:24:13 GMT -8
Jin was already angry, sure, but some new nerve had been touched when Harnan's name was mentioned. She hadn't thought of him much lately, but all the thoughts of him grooming and manipulating Fiora came flooding back into her mind. The fact that he was one of the driving forces that had probably lead to Fiora raising her banner in civil war in the first place. And this Far Outsider dared to compare him to Jin? With a furious roar followed by a grunt of exertion, Jin made a move she knew the Vong wouldn't be expecting. Right now she just wanted to hurt him and so she leapt up and instead of going over him, she simply drop kicked him as hard as she could with both feet. There was another grunt as she herself hit the ground before spinning herself around on her back, using the momentum to get back to her feet.
She stood her ground, panting. That may not have been the best idea, given how worn out she already was, but by the Force had it felt satisfying. Now she needed to make a decision and quickly. Did she attempt to flee and lose herself in the depths of the Undercity, or did she stand and fight. Jin, ever stubborn, tightened her grip on her blades, and firmed up her footing. She'd see how this thing played out, one way or the other...
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 9, 2024 5:02:36 GMT -8
Judging by Jin's savage reaction, the Intendant had definitely struck a nerve. As her feet left the floor he assumed she was attempting a repeat of her attack from earlier... Leaping into a flip and striking from overhead as she passed. ...so he instinctively he began to twist his body around so that he'd be facing the knight once she landed. This time, however, instead of passing over him her body came up short, and delivered two hard heels into his left shoulder and back. Harla's tattooed tits! He found himself inwardly cursing as the dropkick took him by surprise in the shoulder and back, propelling his body forwards and sending him stumbling in the direction he'd been turning. Nem threw himself forwards in a desperate attempt to regain his footing, tumbling forwards into a roll from which he sprang up and spun, just as Jin herself flipped back up to her feet.
A foolish mistake on his part. His head had fallen for the lies spoken by his mouth, a common risk in the Executor's line of work, but still he should have done better. No more mister nice Nem, he thought. Shrugging his shoulders, he shook loose of his large billowing over-cloak, letting it slide from his arms where it quickly caught the thermal winds howling in from a war ravaged city. As it blew away, the Intendant's lean athletic build was visibly highlighted through the jet black cloaker he wore, that wrapped his flesh from foot to throat. Only the false pink flesh of his hands and feet were exposed, though they were beyond the point where he was attempting to actively pass as a human. She knew what he was, even if she didn't know who he was. The long spindly fingers of his right hand were wrapped around the hilt of a coufee dagger with a curved blade, held in a reverse grip with its serrated edge angled away from his arm. Nem kept the weapon wielding arm positioned in front of his chest while his left moved down to his side and his knees sank lower in their stance as he squared off with the Tribune Knight anew.
"You're making a mistake, Jin." He hissed, his voice more a hoarse whisper. "Your faith in your friends is admirable, but misplaced. The rules you lived by don't apply to this state of unrest. You've been manipulated, the Emperor's been manipulated...we've all been manipulated!" The fingers of his left hand rested against the chitin shell of a snap-bug adhered to his left hip, the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a flash-bang. "Yuuzhan knows I have." He shook his head, appearing more resolute as he sank into his combat stance. "That stops now. Today I take my destiny back. There is an opportunity here to end this war before the final battle. That Octavian will arise victorious here on Coruscant is a certainty, but what happens after is still being decided. A war between the Ren and and the rest of the First Order can still be adverted, but only if Fiora can be convinced to stand down and make restitution. It was her forces that struck first at Ralltiir and severely damaged the allied fleets the Emperor was counting on for support in the liberation of this world. Octavian will have to respond, and if the siblings face each other in battle...one of them will die. I lack the words and the trusting voice to convince the princess against this course of action, but you do. If you really care about them, then come with me willingly." He eased his left hand away from the nang-hul, holding his empty palm up. "I knew Nicademus as well." He took his intense blue eyes off of the Tribune Knight and looked up at the burning skyscrapers and walkways in the distance, listening to the echoes of battle only a few city blocks away. "I don't think he would have wanted it to end this way."
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Jin Song
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Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 9, 2024 11:12:49 GMT -8
Jin's breathing was labored as she squinted at the man she still only know as Uzas. She had nothing to go on but his words. Very compelling words, but still just words from the mouth of a professional liar. But she ached both physically and emotionally. She needed time to rest and time to be with her beloved again. But how could she trust this man. Did she have a choice? He still seemed to have more tricks up his nonexistent sleeves. Plus he was rested and she was not. Jin wouldn't be any good to Fiora dead. She noted his movements, the hand going to another lump on his side. Another thud-bug? Some other trick? But then he relaxed his grip on it and looked away from her. A mistake she would have exploited if she wasn't already having her own doubts. Instead she looked away too, was this what her grandparents had experienced years ago? Soon she looked back at the blue eyed extra-galactic being. If I join you, I'm not going as a captive or another pawn. I will be a free woman doing so willingly. She tensed back up a little before asking the most important question. But how can I trust you?
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 9, 2024 16:37:50 GMT -8
"You shouldn't." He snorted. "You'll survive longer by trusting no one, but in this particular instance our interests are aligned. First, let's end this obvious facade." Raising his left hand to the side of his neck, the Intendant pressed two digits firmly into his flesh, triggering the ooglith masquers reflex to retract. The hairless pink face he wore seemed to slough from the bone of his skull as the biot unadhered itself from his flesh, falling in a sack of loose skin onto the floor, where it reverted into a molted ball. Exposed was the skeletal visage of a Yuuzhan Vong, skin a striking corpse grey with dark veins strewn across the edges of tight flesh stretched across the leering bones of his skull. Dark purple eye sacks writhed to the rhythm of his pulse beneath his two glowing mqaaq'it ocular implants, no longer blue but now a luminous emerald green, absent a pupil. Steam hissed through the hole where one would expect his nose to be, and his teeth were as crooked and yellow as a sarlaccs sand kraken grin. "That's better." He said, sounding pleased with himself, then quickly reverting back to his previous cold demeanor. "This war has caused a great suffering among the Yuuzhan Vong, a loss of many of the gains we had made under Emperor Nicademus, and cast to shambles the security the First Order promised my people in exchange for the blood of ours warriors."Reversing the hold of his right hand on the hilt of his coufee blade, he gave it a quick twirl against his palm, and then another until the spinning dagger disappeared from sight through some means of slight of hand. Nem lowered his arms and rested his hands on his hips, relaxing his posture and appearing far more casual than moments earlier. He shook his scarred skeletal head from side to side slowly."I don't blame Octavian for this, nor Fiora, not even Baltasar. Heh." He snickered, then became serious. "They're all dejerek pieces in someone else's game. But the violence and destruction has to stop before everything is lost. This is that moment. A last opportunity to avert disaster before the end. If you can get Fiora to see reason and convince her to stand down, the war could be over tomorrow. Whereas Octavian has been made the aggrieved by the Ren's betrayal. He has every reason to demand justice for what his sister has done. Even if he could be convinced to show her leniency, the moffs will be hungry for blood and given the state of the Empire, he'll be needing their support more than ever. No, it has to be Fiora, and you're the only one who can convince her to do it. But if you can't..."He walked over to the decapitated body of Myria Horne and stuck his leg out, resting his right leg on her corpse while he bent over to take a closer inspection at the cauterized neck stump, leaning over while he rested his forearms crisscrossed over the propped up knee. He looked back at Jin."...well, I have a somewhat more self serving reason for bringing you to the Empress." He spoke that last word as though testing it out for the first time. Empress. Empress Fiora. It was as meaningless to him as most infidel titles were, but if he got used to saying Emperor Octavian, surely he could get used to saying this instead. "If you can't convince her, then at the very least delivering you to Fiora will engender enough goodwill amongst her forces that when the time comes to reevaluate my people's allegiance, we'll have the freedom to pick whichever sibling seems to stand the best chance of winning." He straightened and gave the dead Imperial's corpse a good solid kick, sending it rolling off the edge of the landing platform where it fell to the ground with a thud. Nem looked at Jin. "All you need to understand about me, is that I'll always do what's best for my people. Always." That was a Domain Yin promise.
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Jin Song
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Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 11, 2024 11:46:52 GMT -8
So there it was. The true reason he was doing this. It was all to make sure his people were in the best position possible to close out this war. On one hand, an admirable goal, but on the other hand it revealed how thin the ties of loyalty were for the Yuuzhan Vong. Or at least this one in particular. It both made her more likely to accept his word, but also not. As long as she was useful to him, she would be safe on the trip back to the Deep Core, but if something changed in route, she could just as easily become another prisoner. Faith in you, someone already proclaiming a willingness to backstab your emperor when it becomes advantageous, isn't the most reassuring thing I've heard today. She had allowed herself to relax again, but hadn't left her own readied stance. Jin used this time to catch her breath and recover how she could, not sure if hostility would start up again. You are making a lot of good points, but if you expect me to hop aboard with so little assurances that I'm not going to get the Embrace of Pain treatment, then I'm afraid we're still at our impasse.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 11, 2024 14:19:43 GMT -8
"Ha!" He chortled hard enough to cough, forcing him to pound the back of his fist against his chest to clear his ragged sounding throat. "Yes, Jin, good. Very good. You are beginning to think like an Intendant. You've come to accept that there can be no trust between us, as it should be. Negotiating becomes easier when both parties approach a deal from an even position. Now you've weighed the risks and found the bargain to be unfavourable, so allow me to introduce another variable to the equation and then you do the math."Bring his right forearm beneath his chin, Nem stroked the cloaker clad top of his arm with his left palm, triggering the reflex of the tactical villip symbiotically adhered to arm of his outfit. A lump formed on his arm, squirming in place as it inverted and projected a three dimensional replication of another Yuuzhan Vong's head. {{ Executor. }} Said the disembodied head floating above his arm. {{ What can I do for you? }}Prefect Ur Skell, probably the only Yuuzhan Vong outside Nem's domain that the Intendant trusted apart from Mira Yim. He'd served as the commander of the Praetorite Vong's base on Shili prior to the events of Shili Secondus, which saw most of the council slaughtered by the betrayal of shaper adept Loraine Zun-qin, who had proclaimed herself Supreme Empress at the time. Ur had been given command of the remainder of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet after Nem's domain mate, Alith, proved unsuited to the role. Currently Ur was stationed aboard the miid ro'ik warship 'Carcharodon', engaged in orbit against the forces under the Arch Traitor Baltasar's command."Prefect, I want you to issue new orders to our forces." He looked over at the Tribune Knight, who would be able to hear the audible exchange between the two Yuuzhan Vong clearly. "Have them begin targeting Galactic City." He stated coldly and without a shred of mercy in his voice.{{ Executor? We already are. We've taken out several vital military targets of the Arch Traitor's forces... }} "No." He interrupted, shaking his head. "Target everything. Burn it all to the ground. I don't want there to be anything left of this place other than a bad memory." Was he serious? Was he bluffing? It was true Nem had at times been driven to extreme actions, but he'd always held a certain fondness for the infidel races and their way of life. Unlike Yuuzhan Vong of the past, he harbored no hatred for them, nor was he bound by religious indoctrination and dogma. This war had been costly, however, and his people had already suffered greatly as a result of it. The real question was, how far would he go to get what he wanted?{{ Acknowledged, Executor. }} A wet squelch sounded as the villip puckered and withered back into place of concealment on his cloaker's forearm. Still looking over at Jin, Nem shrugged his shoulders sheepishly, then extended a hand towards her in offering with his empty palm held up to the burning sky. "Call me stubborn, but I'll ask you again, infidel. Come with me, willingly..." He sneered mockingly. "...a free woman with all the bits and bobbles you wish to carry, with your chin held high. Or don't, and watch your city burn to ash while I prove to you just how serious I am. Think about it, but think quickly while there is still time to rescind the order. Once my warriors are committed, I'm not sure even a counter-order from me will call them off until they've had their fill."
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Jin Song
Member
Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 15, 2024 17:51:18 GMT -8
Jin was moving before she could think, closing the distance with a leap like a Hawk-Bat out of Hell. Hatred had given her all the energy she needed now to keep fighting. Before, she hadn't hated the Yuuzhan Vong that had crossed blades with her, but now he directly threatened her home and people. This she could not stand for. Even if his death didn't cause the Vong to call off their attack, and a more dire situation arose from it, Jin wasn't thinking that far ahead. Right now, all she cared about was making this rat of a person hurt. You, bug kriffing coward! Jin was calling upon every technique in her arsonal that would be of use here. She was utilizing Force Speed to make her strikes and parrys fast as a Nexu's reflexes and twice as strong. You and your whole kriffing race will BURN!
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 16, 2024 5:15:19 GMT -8
'Not before yours', he thought, as there was no time to speak the words aloud as he was forced to defend himself from the Tribune Knight's rage induced attack. In a flick of the wrist his coufee blade was back in hand just in the nick of time, catching a fast and forcefully swung lightsaber blow that sent reverberations up the length of his arm. A cold shiver ran up his spine as his custom tailored body had its bloodstream flooded with a surge of released combat stimulants and hormones, causing his reflexes and perception to quicken, making the world around him appear to slow as though it was suddenly submerged underwater. Strangely as he quickly fell into a routine of retreat, block, misdirect, dodge, and deflection, his opponent wasn't moving at the same reduced speed as the world around her. He could see streaks of orange in the background as yaret-kor mounted on the spiny armoured backs of rakamat traced across the sky before erupting in bright blossoms of fiery death as they struck ferrocrete walkways and structures, playing out for his mqaaq'it as though he were in the midst of observing a tactical simulation, yet when Jin came at him he barely had time to think let alone respond. She was moving much faster than before, faster than her physical form belied, which meant she was likely utilizing her Force abilities to enhance her physicality. This, he suspected, was his foe at her most dangerous. His reaction was telling. He couldn't help it, even as he was placed on a defensive foot and gave ground with each intercepted or redirected swing of her blades, Nem smiled, exposing a mouth full of crooked yellow teeth that made his horrendous skeletal visage all the more revolting for his replication of the common infidel facial expression.Now this was a worthy challenge, one he felt prepared for in the brother's shell he now wore as his own. Following the events of Shili Secondus where the Supreme Empress had launched her coup, killing most of the Praetorite Council and almost doing the same to Nem, he'd been gravely injured to the point where the magnificent Mira Yim had performed a full bodied escalation of the Executor. His brain had been removed and implanted in the cloned body of Uzas, a former Domain mate who had been brutally murdered in the streets of Dreshdae after infiltrating the Sith Empire on Korriban at the time. The new body his mind had been placed into had been younger than his last, absent the years of aches and injuries he had accumulated in the line of duty, and enhanced by the bioengineering expertise of one very imaginative Master Shaper. It had given him the edge he needed to take on Loraine's slayer abominations when he launched his mission of retribution against her at Lehon, slayers that had been originally designed by Qelah Kwaad to fight and defeat Jedi. That didn't make him their equal, nor did he currently possess the advantage of the modified crab plate Mira had made for him, but it gave him a fighting chance. The rest he'd make up with experience, of which he had no shortage.As he caught and held her left energy blade at bay with the edge of the coufee blade held in his right, something unwound from around his left forearm, launching into his hand like a coiled spring before snapping straight and rigid as his spindly fingers wrapped around its serpent throat. A Tsaisi, the short and thinner cousin of the amphistaff. Nem wielded it the living serpent like a short sword, bringing it up in time to catch the Tribune Knight's right blade, temporarily holding both at bay while the muscles in his arms protested from strain, close enough to her now that the hard ridges of his scarred forehead were almost touching her pale flesh. "You have failed this city." He snarled, mocking her, the hot corpse reek of his breath filling the space between them.
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Jin Song
Member
Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 16, 2024 6:28:37 GMT -8
Jin could feel the renewed assault on the city. The heat from above grew closer, like a blanket had been dropped and slowly wafted down over her. But with it came a feeling of suffering. The people of this planet, the ones who simply lived here and had no true stake in what the outcome of this bloody conflict was, were dying in droves now. Jin realized, in this moment, that it was her brashness that had led to this. It was her fault. She could have gone willingly, but now this blood was as much on her hands as the Vong. But who was to say the outsider would have even kept his promise? There was no guarantee. The hate, the pain, the anguish; Jin let it all flow into her, breathing it in like a balm. As her blades became locked with her opponent, who seemed to be enjoying himself more than she would have liked, she devised an idea. He spoke, taunting her with a sentiment she already knew. She had failed this city the moment she had been captured by the traitor forces at the Palace weeks ago. But I will avenge it! In a moment, with the saber locked with her opponents coufee blade, she used a technique that had proven effective in Vong/Force-wielder duels. She deactivated the saber, and using both her own and the-man-known-as Uzas' pressure on the locked blades, she moved in beyond his guard and reactivated her saber. The awkwardness of the maneuver left much to be desired from the lethality of the strike, but at the very least if she could draw first blood, it would put her at a great advantage.
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Nem Yin
The First Order
The dark expanse of the intergalactic void is not as empty as they would have you believe...
Posts: 439
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Post by Nem Yin on Apr 16, 2024 10:06:02 GMT -8
Jin's treachery caught the Intendant by surprise. A sudden shift of weight threw him off balance as the counter-weight of her lightsaber blade disappeared and her hilt dropped beneath his guard, causing his mqaaq'it to widen as he realized what had just happened, and scrambled to put his body into motion before he was cut in half. Putting every ounce of agility and speed he had into his hyper stimulated musculature, he leaned his body backwards, sliding his right leg behind himself as the Tribune Knight's humming lightsaber blade swept across his midsection from shoulder to hip. The ink back flesh of the cloaker he wore bubbled and ran like melted wax, while despite his quick reaction, the tip of her blade penetrated into the corpse pallor skin beneath. It happened in a flash. A grunt rumbled from his throat as her blade left an enflamed and cauterized diagonal scar, carbon scored black at the edges, all the way from his right shoulder to his left hip. The pain was exquisite, ten out of ten, well worth the wound and humiliation. All he could smell was his own cooked flesh as he sucked wind in through his nostrils, pained but still in motion, and perhaps a bit more invested in the fight now that Jin had made it interesting.
Nem was still going to kill her and murder the city she loved, but by Yuuzhan, he liked her. A bit thick headed, but driven, much like Xarl had been. The Executor's skeletal features put on a rictus grin for Jin as he continued to slide back. Alright, Knight, you got tricks? I got plenty of those as well. Even as his right leg continued to slide back, his right arm snapped down and released the coufee he was holding, planting it hilt deep into the duracrete tarmac of the landing pad with a ringing crunch of cracked stone. The tsaisi in his left hand twirled in his palm, stopping as his finger closed around its throat, resting his thumb on its serpentine head while its length hung beneath his newly formed fist. He squeezed its throat, triggering the venom sacs in its mouth as his right leg came to a stop and planted itself firmly, soon followed by his left leg. A stream of venom shot from the tsaisi's exposed hissing fangs as Nem back-peddled away step by step, spraying through the air towards the Tribune Knight's face while he retreated. It wasn't lethal, not if treated within a few hours, but it was incredibly painful. It seemed only fitting to return the favour. Meanwhile his right hand reached across his body, coming to rest on the snap-bug adhered to his hip.
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Jin Song
Member
Posts: 196
Affiliation: First Order- Fiora Delvardus
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Post by Jin Song on Apr 16, 2024 20:59:13 GMT -8
Whatever advantage the wound scored on her opponent was soon to be lost. She had continued to pressure her foe, wanting to capitalize on her success, and confident in her sabers being able to hold off his counter strikes. But she had made one fatal mistake, she hadn't counted on the venom spray. Her sabers were already in a cross slash, to try and quarter her opponent when the black liquid flew at her face. Jin attempted to dodge back and to the side but she was too slow... mostly. The poison splashed onto her cheek, and almost instantly she felt the effects as it seeped into her pores. The pain was like having molten metal and frigid water poured into her veins all at once. Had she not already been in the midst of a rage induced rampage, she would have probably collapsed then and there. But in the grip of such dark power, the pain only fueled her hatred... for now. It would be unclear how long her body could keep up with the power of the Darkside.
Stumbling back a few paces, her eyes were useless at the moment, tears from the pain filling them and leaving her practically blind. She tried to wipe away the tears with her forearm, while the other arm swung her second saber wildly before her, buying time and space till she was ready to resume the attack. A couple of her swings struck the ground, producing sparks and bits of super heated metal to jump up, again all a bid to keep herself in the fight till her eyes cleared. Her mind was not idol in this moment either, what synapsis that weren't howling in pain, were focused on sensing where the Force wasn't before her; hopefully it would give enough forewarning to mount some kind of proper defense, should the Vong attempt to get past her flailing.
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