Keeper of Kraata

IC (Vanndred, The Stray Tach): Watching Jenth leave, Vanndred slurped the last of his drink. Was this what he wanted to do, truly? Maybe he had lost his touch. Maybe he had gotten slower. Such a thing would get you killed fast if Vanndred was going to return to his normal life. Before, he had the resolve of a man fighting for his people behind him. Now? His body was corrupted, and he was going to fight to stave it off a little longer. He threw one of the pieces of ice from his empty drink into his mouth. He didn't have much of a choice; on Taris, unskilled labor was probably going to get him killed in a nasty way, and he wasn't going to stoop to doing anything blatantly illegal like taking out hits. No, if he was going to go out, he would do it while scrubbing out a little more scum from the galaxy. The Chistori's jaw crushed the ice cube, and he stood up from his booth, making his way through the crowded bar. He put a credit stick on the counter, performing a last survey of the cantina. "Thanks for the service, Sue. I know it's not a big tip, but I'm going to start taking some... lucrative business ventures, so you can expect some bigger ones in the future. I'm going back to what I'm good at."

IC: Casanuva bowed slightly to Dakte and Mako as Soraph introduced them, and Zueya followed suit. The Fa-Toa noted that, besides the turaga-equivalent, Dakte was the first male Dasaka he had seen. A brief flicker of jealously shot across his mind before it was utterly crushed by Casanuva's ego. Not that different than the other Dasaka he had seen; they seemed to generally favor speed over power. Hmm. Casanuva's mind briefly pondered if he reached that conclusion because the two heaviest hitters on the Kalta were himself, quite solidly built, and Skorm, who was a full head taller than him, no mean feat. "Cas? We heading out?" Zueya glanced at him, breaking him out of his train of thought. "If you all are ready, I guess we are. Aelied and Vakua are camped outside of the Koro, we'll meet them there if nothing else keeps us up." * * * The gleaming crystal submarine was quite an example of engineering, Skorm thought as he leaped from hut to hut, removing Silo from his mind. Upon closer inspection, he realized the blue-and-gold toa he had been seeing were indeed coming from this vessel. Odd, but he'd have to inquire about that another time. A familiar voice drew an involuntary twitch. He picked out the speaker in the crowd; out of all the blue, Casanuva could be the only toa with that tone. He was right, there he was. Smug look on his Pakari and all. He was speaking with one... three of those visitors, two toa and a turaga. And with the Fa-Toa was... Skorm nearly lapsed enough for him to fall from his perch, and he almost let his Huna deactivate. Zueya. She wasn't here the last time Skorm was, thank Artakha. Skorm broke out in a coughing fit; he had stopped breathing. It felt like his stomach had turned to ice, that someone was tugging at his heartstone. He had faced down rahkshi, sneered at the Abettor, been healed by a legend. Only she could make him feel this way. This changed things. He could approach her! Approaching Casanuva directly could have unintended side-effects, and getting decked in the face was one of the least. If he talked to her first, he could... His heart sank, and his hand ran over the scar-stains on his mask. How can I tell her? Tell her about everything?

OOC: I meant to post earlier, so I'm gonna say this happens before the whole conversation between Silo and anyone else happen. IC: Skorm was too incensed to continue with Silo. "You do what you want. I'm going to continue doing what I came here to do." The massive Ba-Toa turned and started walking towards the wall, not slowing as he stepped up perpendicular to the ground. He made it to the roof, and from there started jumping. Things were already becoming complicated. There were hundreds of things he didn't want to happen here, and complicated was not one of them. He stopped, surveying the Koro. Green huts, shimmering seas, boats... submarine? Well that hadn't been there before. Looked big. Skorm started making his way over, jumping from roof to roof. Hopefully, anybody that noticed the quick-moving shadow he still cast under his Huna would thing there was a bird flying overhead.

IC (Raltz Nightwing, Ship Graveyard): DT-204 breathed a small sigh of relief as he watched the Sentinel that had taken them here leave, knowing its hold was full of the regulars. Both their casualties and the casualties from his squad were on board as well; one was in critical condition, but the other was just rattled. The rest were with the Inquisitors and the technicians that were extracting the B-Wing's datacore. One more call to make. As he contacted the Insight, Raltz looked at the sky; the ambient light from the city drowned out most of the starscape, but a few points of light pushed their way through anyway. Some were moving; orbital stations, vessels. He wondered which one the Insight was. "The Chief Inquisitor has ordered the use of terror troopers to secure and patrol this junkyard. One company should do." The voice crackled in with a pronounced Core accent. "Are you sure deploying terror troopers would be a good idea? They can be... unreliable. Wouldn't the planetary forces be better suited so we can deploy resources elsewhere?" "Negative. The inquisitors believe that this is a sensitive operation, and I recommended the terror troops for their ability to keep a minimal profile." There was a brief pause. "Very well. They should hit planetside in less than an hour." Raltz acknowledged, and ended the transmission. He did not envy that dispatcher; he liked to think he was more comfortable with those abominations than most, and they still creeped him out. Then again, who was he to judge?

IC: Robalta and Raiyo had made their way to the edges of Sado. The journey was made in silence. Raiyo's enthusiasm for their little trip had been slashed to ribbens, stomped into the ground, and drowned in sewage. She wanted to go home, to the Vilda compound. She wanted to go back to serving tea, making beds, tending the gardens. She wanted a shower. "So," Raiyo croaked, "What now? I don't think those mercenaries will stay quiet as to whose orders they were following. No matter how loyal they might be, they weren't paid. They'll probably sing like birds to get out of trouble."

Very interesting; the kanoka powers are a great way to bring that element into the BZPRPG.

IC: Skorm's cold demeanor returned as he composed himself again, reactivating his huna. As he faded from sight, he turned and stalked towards Silo. "Do you remember what I said about not attracting attention? Stabbing people falls into that category, Silo."

IC: Fyura and Maeloc each took a big step back.

OOC: I don't think you guys understood what Skorm was doing, Azureus and Serith are not getting near each other while Skorm is keeping them apart. He is essentially putting them on the ceiling and floor of a room. IC: Enough was enough. He was not getting involved with the Marines at this point. Skorm jumped off the hut, gliding between the two scuffling toa, redoubling his gravity wells, this time enough to anchor them to the walls. Making sure his hood sufficiently hid his mask, he deactivated his mask. "Enough of this. If you two really must kill each other, can you leave our business here out of this?"

OOC: Skorm is currently invisible from his Huna; it'd take some special senses to notice him. IC: People are so quick to solve their problems with a weapon these days... Skorm thought as he focused his powers from the top of the hut he was on, shifting gravity to pull the two combatants to opposite sides of the street. I'm starting to wish Silo and I could slip away while these two settle their issues.

OOC: Toa Azureus, in-character stuff is preceded by 'IC:'. Also, more importantly, the last two sentences of your post are what is considered 'bunnying', taking control over other characters. It is against the rules without explicit permission from the character's owner. You can have your character do things, but cannot dictate other player character's reactions. Again, not without explicit permission. In your case, Azureas would throw his kunai, and it's up to Silent King or another PC to deal with that. Speaking of which... IC: This really fouled Skorm's mood. This did not look good. This couldn't devolve into a brawl; he at least wanted to explain himself to Casanuva, and by extension the Kalta before the Marines got involved. A small smirk worked its way onto Skorm's mask; he was still hidden with his Huna, and Silo was another Toa of Gravity. As long as he stuck to his powers, anyone would think Silo was the source. He didn't have much time to gloat at his solution before one of the toa confronting Silo drew a throwing knife. As quickly as he could, Skorm increased the gravity in front of the Vo-Toa, causing the knife to arc into the ground well before it reached its intended target. Turning his attention back towards the two toa, Skorm prepared himself for if he needed to intervene again.

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): "As you wish, Inquisitor." As he began his tasks, Raltz felt empty. Incompetence infuriated him, but the solution rarely reversed that feeling. He tried to look for any meaning, any lesson, in today's events as he ordered two tech from the shuttle take care of the B-Wing with a fusion cutter. Today was just a senseless waste of life, he reflected as the surviving scavengers were executed. Cauterizing the wound may have done well in the long run, but it didn't exactly feel that great now. His comm trooper patched him through to the Insight to call down a platoon of Terror Troopers. Low presence might cause some problems with local scavengers, but on the other hand could lure their target into a trap if the opportunity presented itself. As the stormtroopers (both local and Inquisitorius) filed into the shuttle, his comm trooper hailed the Imperial administration. As the conversation was still mainly in Raltz's helmet, it seemed rather one-sided to anybody listening in. "... No, I don't want to talk to a Minister, I-... Hello, Minister. I need to speak to the Governer. A military officer... No, not his adjunct, the governer, listen... Good evening, adjunct. Put me through to the Governer, I don't care that he's busy. You tell him that the Chief Inquisitor will requisition anything she **** well wants. Including his yacht. Thank you." The Darktrooper spoke with more experience than his rank spoke of. One would get the impression speaking with people above his station. "Governor, hello. I am speaking to you on behalf of Chief Inquisitor Vespula. During the course of our investigation, we were accompanied by a local garrison. The fugitive we are seeking, a spacer, murdered the garrison officer during an escape where he was aided by local scavenger elements, among other losses. Sadly, none of the bodies we recovered match that of the fugitive. We are searching for a male zabrak, approximately 30 years of age. The Insight will beam you more information. This man is not to leave this planet. I understand that the search for the rogue novatrooper already has planetary defenses on alert, so I trust expanding that to our fugitive will not impact your operations overall. Sergeant Nightwing out." Well, what do you know. He was already feeling better, he noted, as he returned to the Inquisitors (now plural), and the nearly-completed extraction of the datacore and astromech. "Inquisitors," he reported. "The planetary governor has been informed, local troops are going to be pulled out and replaced with a platoon of Terror Troopers from the Insight, which should be able to maintain a spring a trap should our pilot return here."

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): Raltz's face was unreadable with his helmet. "It was need-to-know. Forgive me if I didn't think the information necessary to disseminate while we were under fire. Recovering the data was the mission, but I made myself quite clear when I insisted that we actually clear the area of hostiles before proceeding."

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): "They only one that has touched the ship is Arkada. Give me some credit, ma'am, even I know that slicing doesn't involve actual cutting." He radioed a quick request for an engineer from the shuttle to bring a fusion cutter. "I think they usually don't. Anyway, she should be coming to soon. The repeater's stun setting is a little bit low so you don't accidentally kill someone with a burst."

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): Raltz straightened, coming to attention. A single snort of amusement emanated from his helmet. "Ma'am. We were engaged by hostile elements after landing, local scavengers. Arkada ignored Imperial rules of engagement by ordering minimal lethal force, and by running off by herself and not leading her troops. She ignored repeated requests for assistance. My squad managed to neutralize a majority of the hostiles, but we did sustain casualties. Her squads more so than mine. She was apparently pursuing a lead with a captured scavenger, found the B-Wing, and tried to retrieve the data herself, despite my warnings not to. Now the craft appears to have shut down. We'd have to examine the datacore and the astromech to fully determine what happened, but I don't have high hopes. Also, she was exhibiting a clear disregard for Inquisitorius protocol, even after I informed her. Her scavenger... 'informant' let's call her, was being escorted back to the shuttle by one of her stormtroopers, but appears to have disappeared. In the direction of the elevators to the upper city, if memory serves. Before they ran, Arkada ordered that she was not to be harmed." The Darktrooper walked over to the Lieutenant's body on the ground. "Overall, on your scale I'd rate this as 'blowing up a core world of pacifists trying to cow a rebellion' level of negligence. Scaled for our use on a matter of setting our goals back while helping the enemy."

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): "And you, despite my warnings not to, subverted the mission, my mission, and destroyed the data." Raltz didn't care to hear any rebuttals she might give. He fired his repeater, set on stun.

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): DT-204 set his repeater on stun. "I am placing you under arrest for subverting an Inquisitorial mandate, Arkada. Whether I kill you or not is not my decision to make. Now, relinquish your equipment and put your hands behind your head." IC (Vanndred, The Stray Tach): With one bite, Vanndred finished off what was left on his last kebab. "I can head back to my place and pick up my armor real quick to take back to your workshop. Would that work?"

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): "Acknowledged, Inquisitor. I shall keep you informed." As he began his descent Raltz spotted the stormtrooper escorting a scavenger walking away from a piece of wreckage, that, upon closer inspection, might have been a B-Wing fighter at one point. The Darktrooper landed, shaking the earth. Repeater at the ready, he approached the wreck. He noted the position of the cockpit and any weapons that by some small chance could have withstood the combination of the crash and Mia's bumbling, angling away from them. He opened his commlink to his squad, to key them in on what was happening in case the other stormtroopers did anything rash. "Arkada, get out of the ship and disarm yourself. I am placing you placing you and your command under arrest under Inquisitorius mandate twenty-four. Chief Inquisitor's orders."

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): Raltz didn't respond, stunned. Over his twenty-eight year military career, he had rarely seen such a combination of obstinacy, incompetence, and disrespect. He had no more words for Mia Arkada. He composed himself, before cycling his comm frequency. "Inquisitors, I am sorry to report that as a result of the local lieutenant I brought along, the ship's systems appear to have been wiped. She has ignored my advice and standard operating procedure. I still plan on recovering the datacore and astromech. I was planning on initiating standard Inquisitorius cleanup procedure, and wanted to confirm if you wanted me to take any... special action." Nearing the end of his transmission, his comm trooper pointed to the southeast. "Half a click that way, sir." Raltz nodded, and took a running start before his jumppack activated.

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): Raltz's eye's widened to saucers beneath his helmet. "Lieutenant, no! The information in that ship is highly classified! Cease your actions immediately! My... our mission was to retrieve the datacore and astromech unit, nothing else." He pointed at his squad's comm and tech engineer. "Triangulate her signal, now!"

IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): The Darktrooper rejoined his squad as they approached the second scavenger firebase. He noted his squad of Inquisitorius troopers were joined by the local stormtroopers; they looked like they had taken heavy casualties, but the individual squads had reorganized by the time the shuttle had stopped its attack. They were met by barely a dozen survivors, who surrendered immediately. They were dragged out into the open along with the five stunned scavengers, who were now being shaken awake. It hadn't been the cleanest firefight, but had been less messy than a few of ambushes Raltz had fought through. Still, it was bloody. He directed troops to gather the wounded and dead and take them to the shuttle for triage. They had to work fast. "Lieutenant," he calmly spoke into his helmet, "This is Sergeant Nightwing. All hostile forces in the area have been neutralized. Approximately one-and-a-half dozen surrendered. If your lead on the New Republic B-Wing hasn't panned out, I'll begin the interrogations."

IC (Vanndred, The Stray Tach): The Chistori nodded slowly. "That's good." He hoped she was right; he was light on funds enough as it is. Getting his armor back online would seriously help. Vanndred bit a roasted vegetable off his last kebab. "Could I make some sort of appointment for you to take a look, then?" IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): Raltz breathed heavily as the lieutenant's voice crackled again. It was crystal-clear, in that Raltz could hear every single crackle and distortion. He composed himself; the rest of his squad was clearing out the rest of the scavengers from this group. He took a deep breath, coinciding with the sound of one of his trooper's flamethrowers. "Understood, ma'am," he growled. I'd like to see you try, he added silently. He had some comm-tag to do. Wonderful thing when you're coming off a literal combat high. First, his squad. "The lieutenant wants to use minimal lethal force. Continue, but it someone wants to surrender, stun them." Next, the shuttle. "Cease fire, we're heading in. Circle around and scan for more of these scavengers, and land again when you're finished. We have wounded." The gunship sent back a confirmation, and the sound of blaster cannons ceased. Though blood was roaring in his ears, he heard the distinctive reports of blasters on stun going off. Good, that would appease the lieutenant. Another voice, one of his squad, crackled in his helmet. "All clear. Five survivors." "Good. Leave them, move on to the other encampment."

OOC: You do realize the gunship just shot up one of the scavenger positions, right? IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): "Even if you've sustained heavy casualties, you have twice as many soldiers as I have. I'm not going to lose my men because you can't command yours effectively. DT-204 out." Before he could issue any orders, several blaster bolts hit uncomfortably close to the Inquisitorius trooper's positions, showering sparks all over. The trooper wielding the T-21 recoiled and fell, his armor smoking. DT-204 turned the trooper over. "48? 48? You still with us?" His breathing was ragged, but the trooper nodded. "Alright," DT-204 stated, before standing. "Prepare to assault the hostiles. I'm moving in." The replies were characteristically terse for his squad. As Raltz stood, he twisted his head, activating his cortical implant. Combat stimulants were released into his bloodstream; sensory details, reaction times, physical output, all were increased. His armor felt cold all of a sudden; not uncomfortably so, but it was a side-effect he had grown accustomed to. The darktrooper strode out from behind the pile of wreckage quickly, uncaring of the enemy fire. He quickened to a run as blaster bolts started being fired at him, holding his repeater in one hand. Then, Raltz leaped off the ground, activating his jumppack and soared into the air. As DT-204 approached the apex of his jump, he maneuvered slightly to guide his jump to his target: one entrenched scavenger, presumably now terrified by the sight of a flying stormtrooper. The jets in his jumppack lowered as he began his rapid descent. With a sickening crunch, he landed dead-on, his inertial dampeners absorbing the shock. As he rose, several blasts shook him. The Darktrooper used the momentum from the blasts to turn, blasting the scavenger with a short burst from his repeater. He took in the area quickly; this looked like the wreck of some civilian shuttle, half-disassembled for parts. Windows were gone; he saw more scavengers beyond, scattering for better cover. Raltz's jumppack was still cooling, he had to find another way out; the door was covered by an array of scrap metal. Not much of a barricade, and Raltz proved it as he kicked through it. A scavenger narrowly avoid the explosion of debris, but failed to dodge the Darktrooper's punch. Blood splattered Raltz's armor, the scavenger's face a pulp as his corpse flew to the ground. Raltz's heightened senses alerted him to a scavenger on a ledge above him, a rodian with his arm held back, grenade in his hand. Before he had time to react, the rodian was blasted in the chest twice, falling over. A quick glance back asserted what Raltz already knew: his squad was closing the gap quickly.

IC: "Of course, of course." Somei cooperated as fully as she could; with any luck (though the day was short on it, certainly) she would be able to get closer to how Askha and Maripi had inevitably screwed up, and might be able to get them out of trouble. Unlikely, though. IC: Sydelia's face grew into an expression she knew well from their time together on Hanaloi; a manic grin, with her face turned slightly down from what she was looking at. "You should..." she paused as she inhaled sharply as pain shot through her side, "... run... I'm not worth dealing with her..." It was too late, though. Sydelia chuckled as she extended her Sighteye towards her former clanmate Maripi. The world changed around her, feeling both stuffy and sweet. Laughter echoed around Maripi as the cobblestones of the street transformed into masks, hideously laughing. Maripi's sword writhed in her grasp, turning into a snake, hissing at its holder

OOC: Raltz isn't that hard to make out. The normal stormies look like this. The Inquisitorius troopers Raltz commands look like a mix of this and these guys. Raltz himself looks like this; it should be noted that it is notably larger than a normal stormtrooper. IC (Raltz Nightwing, B-Wing Crash Site): The Inquisitorius stormtroopers that were still standing had regrouped at a large pile of wreckage, already starting to return fire in earnest. DT-204, when he recognized the distinctive report of a mounted gun, followed. He took a few glancing blaster bolts, but his armor let him shrug them off. He was about to order a rocket fired at the mounted blaster's position, but reconsidered. He realized any non-superficial damage could potentially harm the mission objective, they hadn't found it yet. Behind him, the Sentinal-class landing craft was preparing to take off again, closing up its hatches and reactivating its shields. DT-204 switched his comm to dial in to their channel and was met with a stream of tense, yet not panicked takeoff routines. "Pilot, you can't use anything heavier than the repeating blasters, we can't risk damaging the B-Wing before we extract information from it." "Are you sure? Not even the ion cannon?" "No. I want that mounted gun taken out." "Yes sergeant." As the shuttle took off it's wings unfolded as the craft turned, bringing the rotary repeating blasters to bear. They opened fire on the second group, pouring volumes of blaster-fire. One of the Inquisitorius troopers had unpacked his T-21 and was taking shots at the scavenger positions, while several others were laying taking what shots they could Raltz Knelt to reduce his profile, switching his comm back to the Lieutenant's channel. "Lieutenant, I need you to rally your troops and engage the hostiles' second position once the shuttle is done with their run. My squad and I will assault the closer position shortly. As to your orders, I'd rather spend blaster packs then bodies, but we should save on explosives. If you need to move, have your troops throw up smoke to mask their positions."