In Bleeding Stars (40k Chaos x Star Wars Clone Wars Era)
- Thread starter Kadaeux
- Start date
- Crossover
Amdar210
I. AM. MUSHROOM.
- Location
- With the Deep Old Ones
Ya know whats horrifying.
If we even get to Deathstars, (and miraculously keep them from being corrupted *somehow* ) Then they might be the fastest way to purge corrupted worlds.
That actually sounds like an interesting fic idea. Cawl and friends end up in the SW galaxy (or the starwars galaxy is their extreme far flung future, like 400k future) and are trying to:
A. Not be disgusted by all the xenos around and humans livign alongside them.
B. Have to deal with rising cults of the 4 tumors, and think the ends justify the means.
C. Have to deal with Yoda not liking the deathstar, only for Cawl to bluntly explain and even provide proof (if anyone has forbidden knowledge on the 4 and how they work, its Cawl) forcing Yoda to acknowledge the Deathstar is necessary.
Sorry, I'm on 'Upset with the Jedi' run right now, and Cawl forcing them to shut up seems awesome.
If we even get to Deathstars, (and miraculously keep them from being corrupted *somehow* ) Then they might be the fastest way to purge corrupted worlds.
That actually sounds like an interesting fic idea. Cawl and friends end up in the SW galaxy (or the starwars galaxy is their extreme far flung future, like 400k future) and are trying to:
A. Not be disgusted by all the xenos around and humans livign alongside them.
B. Have to deal with rising cults of the 4 tumors, and think the ends justify the means.
C. Have to deal with Yoda not liking the deathstar, only for Cawl to bluntly explain and even provide proof (if anyone has forbidden knowledge on the 4 and how they work, its Cawl) forcing Yoda to acknowledge the Deathstar is necessary.
Sorry, I'm on 'Upset with the Jedi' run right now, and Cawl forcing them to shut up seems awesome.
Chapter 8; The Gehemehnet
Kadaeux
Delta Imperator
- Location
- Vortice between realities
Chapter 8;
The Gehemehnet
The foul xenos slaves were marched from their ships onto the great plains where they were sorted. Glyfs floated over, and the freshly enslaved could not have missed the gibbets upon which the wirewolves were strung out, vibrating with power. The technology had been developed and dispatched in the Sabbat Worlds by Anakwanar Sek's forces, the Word Bearers had little use for the trivial daemon powered machines with a greater command of the Empyrean and skill to call upon the daemons in a more direct fashion.
But Grand Apostle Nabrax was not so arrogant as to believe that his resources were even close to as limitless as those which he had previously enjoyed. Instead he was forced to deal with the more restrained resources he had now. A frown creased his brow and the overseers, perceiving that they had slighted their master by not working the slaves hard enough took whips and barbed chainst to those perceived as most lacking in their hard work. The fact was he felt weaker whenever he stepped off of the world. The growing Gehemehnet was all that was keeping his force tethered to reality here. And he felt that if they did not complete it soon they might be forced out of this reality.
The fact was that the Zygerrians had fallen unnaturally quickly to their influence, and while time was a factor, that kind of societal collapse should have been gradual, taking years or even centuries. But once they had begun to be introduced to the glory of the eight fold path, they had fallen upon it with a troubling zeal, which amplified into the hellscape the world was currently embroiled in, though it would never turn into a daemon world without further assistance, there were too few Zygerrians left on the surface. They had estimated a minimum of forty eight million slaves to get the great work done at a minimum.
They had managed to siphon almost three hundred million from the surface with the sheer pace of slaving runs being done. Eventually actually dropping Soulcage ships down to the surface and simply forcing entire communities into the holds at gunpoint. For a thousand of his slave ships each had only had to perform two runs each to accomplish the task.
And now they were being divided, the old, the infirm, the young and helpless were being divided from the cattle for the blood mortar foundries. Daemon engines rose around the Gehemehnet as a great daemonic scaffold as slaves were lifted up en mass to work on the next layers, the majority of the adult and able bodied being sent into the foundries and quarries where the blocks for the massive warp tower were being manufactured. There had been attempts at resisting at first, attempts that had grown into sullen resentment and then defeated obedience as the daemonic sigils implanted under their skins forced them to obey as they whispered primordial truths into unwilling ears.
He moved towards his command vehicle, the Terminators protecting him moving to their own matching vehicles. They were headed for the hell room. Where important and valuable captives had been taken and the most skilled torturers of the Host were even now stripping every moment of useful intelligence from them through sorcery and pain.
And when that proved unconvincing. Through eating them.
---
The Jedi Council Chamber was in closed Session, the only people permitted in the chamber sworn to absolute silence. Yoda paced slightly as he waited for all hands to arrive, holographically or otherwise. And it took almost an hour to co-ordinate their arrival. And Yoda noticed that all of them looked trouble, which meant they had all studied the classified information packet.
And the packet was itself disturbing. Despite their difficulties, the events that had trespassed on the force itself had done far far more. Dooku, despite his position as the defacto head of the Separatist Government, had shared with the Republic a heavily redacted version of what they had found on Zygerria, imagery and the like excised. It was the claims of the former Jedi that those images had to be removed to preserve security as failing to do so seemed to create a compromised data system. But what wasn't stripped from the record, was still far worse than anything that they had ever seen.
"I suggest we do not take the Count at his word in this regard, the difficulty of what we are seeing here seems to be profoundly disturbing, and if it is a fabrication it is the product of a deranged mind that we haven't seen since the ancient Sith empire." Windu said as he frowned. He didn't want to believe the intelligence, though the force told him of the truth of it. A ripple of absolute evil that had made the Dark Side look like a simple shift in perspective.
Ki Adi Mundi leaned forwards. "We need to investigate this however, if this is some kind of new threat, then we must do our due diligence. If this is not a fabrication, events disturbed Dooku enough that he felt it worth warning the Republic and Jedi directly. He didn't even try and mask who had sent the information."
Plo Koon spoke next. "My greatest concern is who else has access to this information. If this leaks onto the holonet, we might see a rising panic."
"Bad, that would be." Yoda said frowning at the floor. "Trouble that would be."
"We need to send someone known for their level head and analytical ability." Windu said.
"Send Skywalker, we should not." Yoda remarked slyly. There was a moments amusement in the chamber.
But Plo Koon stood. "I will investigate. I do not believe we should entrust this secret to anyone without the mantle of master. If this is not a distraction or psyops then it is a malign influence that corrupted an entire world in weeks, perhaps one or two months at most."
Yoda frowned, they needed to know. "A battlegroup, you will take."
"Of course." Plo Koon said as he continued to frown at the limited information the Separatists sent. "And while I would not advise Skywalker for this mission. I might recommend he and Obi-Wan's groups are standing by in reserve, in case of a separatist trap."
Windu nodded. "That would be prudent."
---
The Venator lurched in a gut wrenching twist as Plo Koon entered the bridge. Alerted by the horror settling deep within his stomach as something very very wrong was happening. The force almost seemed to be screaming out in horror and, to his own horror, the tunnels of hypersapce were twisting and flexing and the three capital ships in his fleet were being tossed while the smaller escorts were being hurtled like hail in a storm. The screaming of some of the crew could be heard as the impossible was happening before with a final snap of reality the hyperspace tunnel reached a collapse point and in moments the captains of every single ship reacted instantly to arrest their momentum and drop their ships out of hyperspace.
The Hopeful exploded violently within Hyperspace taking a pair of escort ships with it as the warped tunnel of hyperspace collapsed and the remainder of the ships only barely made it back into realspace. The tunnel of light disappearing into a field of black dotted with stars. They'd been wrenched out far far sooner than they should have been, alarms going all over the ship crying out the vessels pain.
They'd been crashed out near another solar system, one that wasn't on the hyperspace plot. "Distance to the unknown system." He demanded.
"Ninety six light hours Master Jedi." Came the answer almost immediately.
He moved closer to the display. "What the hell is wrong with it?" The question, though rhetorical was one being whispered around the bridge by every soul that could see from the windows. The fact that was so utterly impossible was that they could see it from here. But they could, space was boiling around the solar system washing over the interstellar medium in impossible hues of colour and Plo Koon could almost imagine that he heard sounds washing against the hull. Bolts of lightning rippled out from various points in the system and he felt the force warning him to get away from the system.
He had never beheld a storm like it in the stars. Not even the passages leading to Kessel had anything like the violent energy. "Sir. Every instrument we have is going off of the charts, particle density, energy discharges are happening frequently..." He was interrupted before he could continue.
"How frequently?" Plo queried.
"There is no pattern of frequency... Master Jedi.. either our sensors are malfunctioning, or something very wrong is happening here, the readings we are getting just aren't possible. If one of those energy discharges hit one of our ships the shields wouldn't protect it. And there's gravitational vortices being generated and collapsing equally as often. The only thing we have detected with any certainty is the star and planets, and except for the Star and only the third planet is intact, the closest world appears to be rubble, the Gas Giant is boiling like a kettle, the fourth and fifth planets appear to have been cracked recently and are just rubble. But the third planet appears to be almost in a protected pocket. And there's a massive fleet in orbit of it." The words continued to fall out of the mans mouth. But Plo Koon noticed something else.
Numerous people on the bridge were staring at the windows, not paying any attention to their duties, but the force rippled with the increasing discomfort of those watching, one of the clone crewmen began to bleed from his eyes, and Plo Koon almost thought he could see smoke rising from the sockets.
The impasse was broken when one of the clones at a sensor station stood from his pit, removed his blaster pistol, shot three of his comrades and then himself all in the span of time it took Plo Koon to cross the distance to try and disarm the man, his initial instinct to pull the weapon with the force somehow failing. Two of the clones victims were alive, the shooter was not one of them, but the bout of violence caused a calamity to beset the bridge as half of the others who were staring broke into unexplained bouts of violence, the other half breaking down, catatonic, weeping, or busy trying to tear themselves apart.
The Captain was quick on the uptake. "Come about one hundred and eighty degrees!" He activated the ships intercom. "This is the Captain, all viewports are to be shuttered immediately and all crew are prohibited from looking towards the unknown system." He closed the intercom as he raced over to the inter-fleet comms board and repeated his orders as a fleetwide warning.
The sensor operator who had begun to become unhinged in his report seemed to snap out of it, shuddering violently. "Captain, we need to accelerate at maximum power away from this system until we can escape via Hyperspace. Whatever is happening here is beyond us!"
"Do it!" The Captain ordered the helmsmen.
Plo Koon, preoccupied with suppressing the unexpected riots took one last look at the system as the ship began its ponderous turn. "Captain, as soon as we are at a safe distance from these gravity quakes, I want a course plotted to the closest holonet relay. This cannot wait."
The Gehemehnet
The foul xenos slaves were marched from their ships onto the great plains where they were sorted. Glyfs floated over, and the freshly enslaved could not have missed the gibbets upon which the wirewolves were strung out, vibrating with power. The technology had been developed and dispatched in the Sabbat Worlds by Anakwanar Sek's forces, the Word Bearers had little use for the trivial daemon powered machines with a greater command of the Empyrean and skill to call upon the daemons in a more direct fashion.
But Grand Apostle Nabrax was not so arrogant as to believe that his resources were even close to as limitless as those which he had previously enjoyed. Instead he was forced to deal with the more restrained resources he had now. A frown creased his brow and the overseers, perceiving that they had slighted their master by not working the slaves hard enough took whips and barbed chainst to those perceived as most lacking in their hard work. The fact was he felt weaker whenever he stepped off of the world. The growing Gehemehnet was all that was keeping his force tethered to reality here. And he felt that if they did not complete it soon they might be forced out of this reality.
The fact was that the Zygerrians had fallen unnaturally quickly to their influence, and while time was a factor, that kind of societal collapse should have been gradual, taking years or even centuries. But once they had begun to be introduced to the glory of the eight fold path, they had fallen upon it with a troubling zeal, which amplified into the hellscape the world was currently embroiled in, though it would never turn into a daemon world without further assistance, there were too few Zygerrians left on the surface. They had estimated a minimum of forty eight million slaves to get the great work done at a minimum.
They had managed to siphon almost three hundred million from the surface with the sheer pace of slaving runs being done. Eventually actually dropping Soulcage ships down to the surface and simply forcing entire communities into the holds at gunpoint. For a thousand of his slave ships each had only had to perform two runs each to accomplish the task.
And now they were being divided, the old, the infirm, the young and helpless were being divided from the cattle for the blood mortar foundries. Daemon engines rose around the Gehemehnet as a great daemonic scaffold as slaves were lifted up en mass to work on the next layers, the majority of the adult and able bodied being sent into the foundries and quarries where the blocks for the massive warp tower were being manufactured. There had been attempts at resisting at first, attempts that had grown into sullen resentment and then defeated obedience as the daemonic sigils implanted under their skins forced them to obey as they whispered primordial truths into unwilling ears.
He moved towards his command vehicle, the Terminators protecting him moving to their own matching vehicles. They were headed for the hell room. Where important and valuable captives had been taken and the most skilled torturers of the Host were even now stripping every moment of useful intelligence from them through sorcery and pain.
And when that proved unconvincing. Through eating them.
---
The Jedi Council Chamber was in closed Session, the only people permitted in the chamber sworn to absolute silence. Yoda paced slightly as he waited for all hands to arrive, holographically or otherwise. And it took almost an hour to co-ordinate their arrival. And Yoda noticed that all of them looked trouble, which meant they had all studied the classified information packet.
And the packet was itself disturbing. Despite their difficulties, the events that had trespassed on the force itself had done far far more. Dooku, despite his position as the defacto head of the Separatist Government, had shared with the Republic a heavily redacted version of what they had found on Zygerria, imagery and the like excised. It was the claims of the former Jedi that those images had to be removed to preserve security as failing to do so seemed to create a compromised data system. But what wasn't stripped from the record, was still far worse than anything that they had ever seen.
"I suggest we do not take the Count at his word in this regard, the difficulty of what we are seeing here seems to be profoundly disturbing, and if it is a fabrication it is the product of a deranged mind that we haven't seen since the ancient Sith empire." Windu said as he frowned. He didn't want to believe the intelligence, though the force told him of the truth of it. A ripple of absolute evil that had made the Dark Side look like a simple shift in perspective.
Ki Adi Mundi leaned forwards. "We need to investigate this however, if this is some kind of new threat, then we must do our due diligence. If this is not a fabrication, events disturbed Dooku enough that he felt it worth warning the Republic and Jedi directly. He didn't even try and mask who had sent the information."
Plo Koon spoke next. "My greatest concern is who else has access to this information. If this leaks onto the holonet, we might see a rising panic."
"Bad, that would be." Yoda said frowning at the floor. "Trouble that would be."
"We need to send someone known for their level head and analytical ability." Windu said.
"Send Skywalker, we should not." Yoda remarked slyly. There was a moments amusement in the chamber.
But Plo Koon stood. "I will investigate. I do not believe we should entrust this secret to anyone without the mantle of master. If this is not a distraction or psyops then it is a malign influence that corrupted an entire world in weeks, perhaps one or two months at most."
Yoda frowned, they needed to know. "A battlegroup, you will take."
"Of course." Plo Koon said as he continued to frown at the limited information the Separatists sent. "And while I would not advise Skywalker for this mission. I might recommend he and Obi-Wan's groups are standing by in reserve, in case of a separatist trap."
Windu nodded. "That would be prudent."
---
The Venator lurched in a gut wrenching twist as Plo Koon entered the bridge. Alerted by the horror settling deep within his stomach as something very very wrong was happening. The force almost seemed to be screaming out in horror and, to his own horror, the tunnels of hypersapce were twisting and flexing and the three capital ships in his fleet were being tossed while the smaller escorts were being hurtled like hail in a storm. The screaming of some of the crew could be heard as the impossible was happening before with a final snap of reality the hyperspace tunnel reached a collapse point and in moments the captains of every single ship reacted instantly to arrest their momentum and drop their ships out of hyperspace.
The Hopeful exploded violently within Hyperspace taking a pair of escort ships with it as the warped tunnel of hyperspace collapsed and the remainder of the ships only barely made it back into realspace. The tunnel of light disappearing into a field of black dotted with stars. They'd been wrenched out far far sooner than they should have been, alarms going all over the ship crying out the vessels pain.
They'd been crashed out near another solar system, one that wasn't on the hyperspace plot. "Distance to the unknown system." He demanded.
"Ninety six light hours Master Jedi." Came the answer almost immediately.
He moved closer to the display. "What the hell is wrong with it?" The question, though rhetorical was one being whispered around the bridge by every soul that could see from the windows. The fact that was so utterly impossible was that they could see it from here. But they could, space was boiling around the solar system washing over the interstellar medium in impossible hues of colour and Plo Koon could almost imagine that he heard sounds washing against the hull. Bolts of lightning rippled out from various points in the system and he felt the force warning him to get away from the system.
He had never beheld a storm like it in the stars. Not even the passages leading to Kessel had anything like the violent energy. "Sir. Every instrument we have is going off of the charts, particle density, energy discharges are happening frequently..." He was interrupted before he could continue.
"How frequently?" Plo queried.
"There is no pattern of frequency... Master Jedi.. either our sensors are malfunctioning, or something very wrong is happening here, the readings we are getting just aren't possible. If one of those energy discharges hit one of our ships the shields wouldn't protect it. And there's gravitational vortices being generated and collapsing equally as often. The only thing we have detected with any certainty is the star and planets, and except for the Star and only the third planet is intact, the closest world appears to be rubble, the Gas Giant is boiling like a kettle, the fourth and fifth planets appear to have been cracked recently and are just rubble. But the third planet appears to be almost in a protected pocket. And there's a massive fleet in orbit of it." The words continued to fall out of the mans mouth. But Plo Koon noticed something else.
Numerous people on the bridge were staring at the windows, not paying any attention to their duties, but the force rippled with the increasing discomfort of those watching, one of the clone crewmen began to bleed from his eyes, and Plo Koon almost thought he could see smoke rising from the sockets.
The impasse was broken when one of the clones at a sensor station stood from his pit, removed his blaster pistol, shot three of his comrades and then himself all in the span of time it took Plo Koon to cross the distance to try and disarm the man, his initial instinct to pull the weapon with the force somehow failing. Two of the clones victims were alive, the shooter was not one of them, but the bout of violence caused a calamity to beset the bridge as half of the others who were staring broke into unexplained bouts of violence, the other half breaking down, catatonic, weeping, or busy trying to tear themselves apart.
The Captain was quick on the uptake. "Come about one hundred and eighty degrees!" He activated the ships intercom. "This is the Captain, all viewports are to be shuttered immediately and all crew are prohibited from looking towards the unknown system." He closed the intercom as he raced over to the inter-fleet comms board and repeated his orders as a fleetwide warning.
The sensor operator who had begun to become unhinged in his report seemed to snap out of it, shuddering violently. "Captain, we need to accelerate at maximum power away from this system until we can escape via Hyperspace. Whatever is happening here is beyond us!"
"Do it!" The Captain ordered the helmsmen.
Plo Koon, preoccupied with suppressing the unexpected riots took one last look at the system as the ship began its ponderous turn. "Captain, as soon as we are at a safe distance from these gravity quakes, I want a course plotted to the closest holonet relay. This cannot wait."
Kadaeux
Delta Imperator
- Location
- Vortice between realities
Perhaps. But no one in this Galaxy knows how to deal with Chaos. They will be taking prisoners and etc and not burning planets with orbital bombardment.Only at setting up a beachhead
Amdar210
I. AM. MUSHROOM.
- Location
- With the Deep Old Ones
So, here is an really odd thought.
Is the force being eaten? Like are the Chaos Gods able to do so?
And if that is possible, what would the force do to ensure its survival? Could we see lore capable Anakin? The dude who in a few books, reaches out with the force dozens of systems away and smashed a droid donut ship onto a planets because he dideant to deal with reenforcements?
and this happened before Palpy even started working on him.
Just curious, because book Anakin got stronk and scary very quickly. Ironically, in the later books (and the movies) Anakin slowly falling to the darkside resulted in him getting weaker, funnily enough.
Is the force being eaten? Like are the Chaos Gods able to do so?
And if that is possible, what would the force do to ensure its survival? Could we see lore capable Anakin? The dude who in a few books, reaches out with the force dozens of systems away and smashed a droid donut ship onto a planets because he dideant to deal with reenforcements?
and this happened before Palpy even started working on him.
Just curious, because book Anakin got stronk and scary very quickly. Ironically, in the later books (and the movies) Anakin slowly falling to the darkside resulted in him getting weaker, funnily enough.
Chapter 9; Tainted Dreams
Kadaeux
Delta Imperator
- Location
- Vortice between realities
Chapter 9;
Tainted Dreams
Aum moved through Mos Eisley with quick purposeful strides that was strong enough to avoid the worst of the criminal masses of this xenos infested world. Most avoided him naturally however, turned away by some intangible sensation of danger as the thought of taking a chance at rumbling someone who looked like they weren't broke was replaced by a growing naked terror. Unfortunately, his psychic miasma did not seem to effect the xenos universally. A winged creature plying its salvage trade seemed uniquely unaffected and only ceased its prattling attempts to sell him junk he didn't need when he put a lasbolt through its skull.
He was no crude cult leader like those that had been deployed without a care on Zygerria. He was a changeling, nothing so powerful as that representative of the Lord of Change, but in crude terms he was a very good spy. Unfortunately, this world being run by a criminal syndicate did mean that he had more challenges than was typical.
Such as right now. When the piggish creatures that they called Gammoreans stepped out in front of him, a pair with a third Xenos behind them, and three more stepped out behind Aum. The grotesque minions of whoever was in the back resembled the bastard offspring of an experiment to clone a human ork hybrid, but someone mixed up some of the samples with pork.
"I saw you murder that Toydarian, Watto." The heavy axe polearms on the pig-things was lowered slightly preventing his egress.
He frowned. He could barely see the being behind them. A human? "Get out of the way, or I will add to my daily tally."
There was a flinch and Aum grinned. The warp, though weaker to reach here, was still in his grasp and he felt the discomfort suddenly appearing in the mans mind. "I have five Gammoreans with me. You are alone."
Aum tried to reach for the minds of the primitive animals wielding the axes. They were simple creatures, even cruder than the ogryns with which he was so familiar, it should be a trivial matter to to twist their minds against their masters, or each other. But the warp was so weak here, with so few followers of the eight-fold path here. The complexity of what he needed to achieve simply wasn't doable with the power available. "Five beasts."
The agitation in the discount Orks increased. The humanoid hiding behind them also grew agitated. "Stranger, you're causing undue trouble on our turf, you murder people under my protection, and now you want to anger me further."
People were now widely avoiding them, which drew undue attention to him. He knew he shouldn't have shot that flying pest, he should have known it might draw attention. Mistakes Aum. He cursed himself out. You can't afford mistakes. Do not grow complacent. "You do not want me to grow upset stranger. Take your green ham and leave."
"You... you just don..." The sound of a las pistols discharge and stink of ozone filled the air. At maximum charge the lasbolt would have felled a charging ork, a small one, what it did to the Gammoreans face made him almost hungry as in the same breath he shot the other Gammorean in a like manner before turning his laspistol on the humanoid and fired twice into the inconveniences face. He sensed the incoming axes of the other Gammoreans and rolled forwards, their weapons narrowly crossing over where he had been standing. The angry xenos animals recovered from their swings and began to spread out but it was far too late for that as he opened fire with the laspistol on full auto before the animals coming for him overwhelmed him.
Two of them dropped smoking well short of him and only a quick hand prevented the third from disemboweling him as he drew his own blade flicking on its power field before parrying the axe. The Gammorean stumbled forwards as his axe was suddenly significantly lighter as the vibro-axe head dropped into the sand, cut from the haft by the disruption field before the sword plunged through the piggish xenos' chest.
It scrabbled at the blade, disintegrating its own fingers where they made contact before he ripped it from the beasts chest and used it to cleave the aliens head from its dying shoulders. And as he stood, trying to control the thrill of pleasure from the act he searched for another victim who decided they saw more than was healthy from them and was confronted with the studious indifference of a people so used to gang control that they knew it was best to avoid getting involved.
But someone with five henchmen like this was likely going to be missed. But if they were going to be missed, may as well take their money as well.
He continued along his path before finding his way into a cantina, his pockets a little heavier. The people and xenos inhabiting the establishment didn't even turn an eye to another stranger entering the establishment. Stepping up to the bar he studied the Bartender for a moment. The disgusting creature was unworthy of his attention, but he needed it. "Barkeep, are there any ship owners here looking for work?"
He poured a measure of something as Aum dropped a few local coins onto the bench and nodded towards several booths. "They're looking for a commission. Last contract went sour."
"Oh?" Aum asked feigning curiosity.
"Yeah, their last contract was on Zygerria, but they had to dump their cargo in orbit, something about a plague infecting the slaves, they vented two of their own folks into space over it. And now they owe Jabba a small mountain of credits." The Barkeep said in a perpetually disinterested voice. But Aum's own ears perked up. A plague cult from Zygerria got dumped in space.
He shuddered for the mans benefit, "Do you know if they.... purged... their holds."
The Barkeep actually laughed, "Oh they didn't get a say in that. Soon as they reported the cargo had plague, when she touched down Jabba sent in a crew with flamethrowers to clean the hold out of anything that might be left."
"Thanks." He picked up the drink and made his way over to the booth where it looked like the Captain and his first mate were situated. "I hear you need work." The man looked up.
"Get kriffed." The human that seemed to be in charge snarled.
Aum simply planted himself in the booth seat next to the presumed first mate. He felt a blaster pistol suddenly resting in his ribs. "The boss said..."
"Fine, let Jabba take your debts out of your hide. I'll find another ship whose crew aren't quite dead men." He began to stand when a hand clamped on his shoulder. The Captain had signalled to his first mate.
"You're remarkably well informed."
"This is Mos Eisley and Bartenders the universe over are talkative." Both of them shrugged, conceeding the point. "I have a need for myself and several colleagues to travel towards the core systems. We have several destinations where we will need to be dropped off."
"Payment?" Came the inevitable query.
"Ten crates of blaster rifles." The Captain choked into his drink his eyes snapping up to look straight into Aum's.
"Fifteen." He came back, swallowing his initial reaction with very poor cover.
"Twelve. No more." Aum said plainly, the Captain struggling to consider the situation.
"Twelve, plus twelve hundred wupiupi for food, water." He tried.
Aum frowned. "If I wanted to be extorted I would have asked the Hutts for a transport, I'm not, I'm asking you. Twelve crates of blaster rifles should cover your debt and any extra fees."
"Fine." The man sighed. "How many?"
"Twenty people, five destinations." Aum answered. And this did make the Captains eyes rise.
"Where to?" He asked instead.
Aum consulted his instructions, "Naboo first, then coreward, Thyferra, Fondor, Corellia and finally Coruscant." The Captain consulted a datapad he had.
"That's a pretty circuituitous route... any reason fo.. no don't answer, I can see this is a no questions asked job. Your twenty, do I have to consider any cargo they are bringing?" The Captain answered.
"Depends, what type of ship you running?"
"An Action VI, modified of course, I won't want pirate attention."
"Do you have room within for four craft?" Aum said as he brought out his own datapad. "I have four Arvus Lighters to allow us to drop off my people at their destinations without troubling you for stopping long." He passed it over.
"Yeah, yeah we can fit those, never seen those before. No Hyperdrive?" The Captain asked.
"No." Was the only answer.
"Ok. I can do that, but the cost of transporting four shuttles is more expensive, and I am afraid I am not simply bargaining here, you are giving me an extra sixty tons of cargo which means I'm using more fuel, with less opportunity to replenish if I am not setting down. Fifteen crates of blaster rifles." The Captain said, holding his hands wide in an 'i'm being honest' gesture.
"Very well." Aum said grudgingly, not because he actually cared, the Zygerrian weapons were garbage. "But we also require our privacy, if you need to communicate, ask for me, the rest are to be left alone at all times."
"Agreed." He Captain put his hand forwards. "I'm Captain Elgis."
"I'm Aum." He shook it. The man shuddered as Aum bled some of the warp into the man. By the time they reached Coruscant he hoped to have turned this wayward soul to the eight-fold path.
---
The comms channel opened. "This is Aum. I have secured transport, but the crew were from Zygerria, they dumped a load of slaves into orbit because they were plagued. I want the Nurgle group to be confined to their Arvus for the duration. I don't want to get dumped into space en route."
"The Grand Apostle expects success. Those worlds were selected as a ripe grounds for beginning the great works in this galaxy. Do not fail at planting those seeds."
Tainted Dreams
Aum moved through Mos Eisley with quick purposeful strides that was strong enough to avoid the worst of the criminal masses of this xenos infested world. Most avoided him naturally however, turned away by some intangible sensation of danger as the thought of taking a chance at rumbling someone who looked like they weren't broke was replaced by a growing naked terror. Unfortunately, his psychic miasma did not seem to effect the xenos universally. A winged creature plying its salvage trade seemed uniquely unaffected and only ceased its prattling attempts to sell him junk he didn't need when he put a lasbolt through its skull.
He was no crude cult leader like those that had been deployed without a care on Zygerria. He was a changeling, nothing so powerful as that representative of the Lord of Change, but in crude terms he was a very good spy. Unfortunately, this world being run by a criminal syndicate did mean that he had more challenges than was typical.
Such as right now. When the piggish creatures that they called Gammoreans stepped out in front of him, a pair with a third Xenos behind them, and three more stepped out behind Aum. The grotesque minions of whoever was in the back resembled the bastard offspring of an experiment to clone a human ork hybrid, but someone mixed up some of the samples with pork.
"I saw you murder that Toydarian, Watto." The heavy axe polearms on the pig-things was lowered slightly preventing his egress.
He frowned. He could barely see the being behind them. A human? "Get out of the way, or I will add to my daily tally."
There was a flinch and Aum grinned. The warp, though weaker to reach here, was still in his grasp and he felt the discomfort suddenly appearing in the mans mind. "I have five Gammoreans with me. You are alone."
Aum tried to reach for the minds of the primitive animals wielding the axes. They were simple creatures, even cruder than the ogryns with which he was so familiar, it should be a trivial matter to to twist their minds against their masters, or each other. But the warp was so weak here, with so few followers of the eight-fold path here. The complexity of what he needed to achieve simply wasn't doable with the power available. "Five beasts."
The agitation in the discount Orks increased. The humanoid hiding behind them also grew agitated. "Stranger, you're causing undue trouble on our turf, you murder people under my protection, and now you want to anger me further."
People were now widely avoiding them, which drew undue attention to him. He knew he shouldn't have shot that flying pest, he should have known it might draw attention. Mistakes Aum. He cursed himself out. You can't afford mistakes. Do not grow complacent. "You do not want me to grow upset stranger. Take your green ham and leave."
"You... you just don..." The sound of a las pistols discharge and stink of ozone filled the air. At maximum charge the lasbolt would have felled a charging ork, a small one, what it did to the Gammoreans face made him almost hungry as in the same breath he shot the other Gammorean in a like manner before turning his laspistol on the humanoid and fired twice into the inconveniences face. He sensed the incoming axes of the other Gammoreans and rolled forwards, their weapons narrowly crossing over where he had been standing. The angry xenos animals recovered from their swings and began to spread out but it was far too late for that as he opened fire with the laspistol on full auto before the animals coming for him overwhelmed him.
Two of them dropped smoking well short of him and only a quick hand prevented the third from disemboweling him as he drew his own blade flicking on its power field before parrying the axe. The Gammorean stumbled forwards as his axe was suddenly significantly lighter as the vibro-axe head dropped into the sand, cut from the haft by the disruption field before the sword plunged through the piggish xenos' chest.
It scrabbled at the blade, disintegrating its own fingers where they made contact before he ripped it from the beasts chest and used it to cleave the aliens head from its dying shoulders. And as he stood, trying to control the thrill of pleasure from the act he searched for another victim who decided they saw more than was healthy from them and was confronted with the studious indifference of a people so used to gang control that they knew it was best to avoid getting involved.
But someone with five henchmen like this was likely going to be missed. But if they were going to be missed, may as well take their money as well.
He continued along his path before finding his way into a cantina, his pockets a little heavier. The people and xenos inhabiting the establishment didn't even turn an eye to another stranger entering the establishment. Stepping up to the bar he studied the Bartender for a moment. The disgusting creature was unworthy of his attention, but he needed it. "Barkeep, are there any ship owners here looking for work?"
He poured a measure of something as Aum dropped a few local coins onto the bench and nodded towards several booths. "They're looking for a commission. Last contract went sour."
"Oh?" Aum asked feigning curiosity.
"Yeah, their last contract was on Zygerria, but they had to dump their cargo in orbit, something about a plague infecting the slaves, they vented two of their own folks into space over it. And now they owe Jabba a small mountain of credits." The Barkeep said in a perpetually disinterested voice. But Aum's own ears perked up. A plague cult from Zygerria got dumped in space.
He shuddered for the mans benefit, "Do you know if they.... purged... their holds."
The Barkeep actually laughed, "Oh they didn't get a say in that. Soon as they reported the cargo had plague, when she touched down Jabba sent in a crew with flamethrowers to clean the hold out of anything that might be left."
"Thanks." He picked up the drink and made his way over to the booth where it looked like the Captain and his first mate were situated. "I hear you need work." The man looked up.
"Get kriffed." The human that seemed to be in charge snarled.
Aum simply planted himself in the booth seat next to the presumed first mate. He felt a blaster pistol suddenly resting in his ribs. "The boss said..."
"Fine, let Jabba take your debts out of your hide. I'll find another ship whose crew aren't quite dead men." He began to stand when a hand clamped on his shoulder. The Captain had signalled to his first mate.
"You're remarkably well informed."
"This is Mos Eisley and Bartenders the universe over are talkative." Both of them shrugged, conceeding the point. "I have a need for myself and several colleagues to travel towards the core systems. We have several destinations where we will need to be dropped off."
"Payment?" Came the inevitable query.
"Ten crates of blaster rifles." The Captain choked into his drink his eyes snapping up to look straight into Aum's.
"Fifteen." He came back, swallowing his initial reaction with very poor cover.
"Twelve. No more." Aum said plainly, the Captain struggling to consider the situation.
"Twelve, plus twelve hundred wupiupi for food, water." He tried.
Aum frowned. "If I wanted to be extorted I would have asked the Hutts for a transport, I'm not, I'm asking you. Twelve crates of blaster rifles should cover your debt and any extra fees."
"Fine." The man sighed. "How many?"
"Twenty people, five destinations." Aum answered. And this did make the Captains eyes rise.
"Where to?" He asked instead.
Aum consulted his instructions, "Naboo first, then coreward, Thyferra, Fondor, Corellia and finally Coruscant." The Captain consulted a datapad he had.
"That's a pretty circuituitous route... any reason fo.. no don't answer, I can see this is a no questions asked job. Your twenty, do I have to consider any cargo they are bringing?" The Captain answered.
"Depends, what type of ship you running?"
"An Action VI, modified of course, I won't want pirate attention."
"Do you have room within for four craft?" Aum said as he brought out his own datapad. "I have four Arvus Lighters to allow us to drop off my people at their destinations without troubling you for stopping long." He passed it over.
"Yeah, yeah we can fit those, never seen those before. No Hyperdrive?" The Captain asked.
"No." Was the only answer.
"Ok. I can do that, but the cost of transporting four shuttles is more expensive, and I am afraid I am not simply bargaining here, you are giving me an extra sixty tons of cargo which means I'm using more fuel, with less opportunity to replenish if I am not setting down. Fifteen crates of blaster rifles." The Captain said, holding his hands wide in an 'i'm being honest' gesture.
"Very well." Aum said grudgingly, not because he actually cared, the Zygerrian weapons were garbage. "But we also require our privacy, if you need to communicate, ask for me, the rest are to be left alone at all times."
"Agreed." He Captain put his hand forwards. "I'm Captain Elgis."
"I'm Aum." He shook it. The man shuddered as Aum bled some of the warp into the man. By the time they reached Coruscant he hoped to have turned this wayward soul to the eight-fold path.
---
The comms channel opened. "This is Aum. I have secured transport, but the crew were from Zygerria, they dumped a load of slaves into orbit because they were plagued. I want the Nurgle group to be confined to their Arvus for the duration. I don't want to get dumped into space en route."
"The Grand Apostle expects success. Those worlds were selected as a ripe grounds for beginning the great works in this galaxy. Do not fail at planting those seeds."
Chapter 10; A Naked Demonstration
Kadaeux
Delta Imperator
- Location
- Vortice between realities
Chapter 10;
A Naked Demonstration
The Republic fleet that had been assembled to protect one of the rare and precious Elite class science ships that had been developed and put into service during the High Republic era. They had come to a stop almost two light days from the system and were observing the phenomena that threatened the entire fabric of spacetime in the region. Powerful sensors swept out to try and detect the nature of the anomalies. Every single vessel in fleet had blast doors closed over any external port that would give an unwitting soul the ability to perceive what was happening.
The command bridge of the Elite class was busy as various top astrophysicists of the Republic worked around their consoles trying to parse and compare the data. Plo Koon moved to the head scientists desk and waited patiently for the man to turn his attention to him.
"Master Jedi, if you are seeking updates on the situation, I am unable to help you."
Plo Koon turned a chair and lowered himself into it. "We have been studying it for nearly eighteen hours, and your preliminary report is, you don't have one?" Plo asked, without a tone that would have reduced his words to a suspicious tone.
The Scientist, a Sullustan called Ueb, shrugged. "I could give you a preliminary report right now, but it would contain over a hundred and fifty thousand known contradictions, paradoxes and impossibilities."
"Your sensors are unable to get the data from this distance?" He asked.
"Master Jedi, you are not wrong, they are not optimised for this distance, but that wouldn't give us the results we are seeing. On the short list of issues, we are receiving contradictory temporal states, mass readings are inconsistent and in constant flux, the light levels within the system are equally inconsistent and we're fairly sure they are shifting up and down into spectrums that we simply have no frame of reference for. A quarter of the computers used to analyse the data coming from our sensors are failing or becoming corrupted by some form of malware, only the fact they are isolated and connected via hard connection to their relevant sensors have prevented any real danger that we are aware of." Ueb pinched his brow with two fingers.
"I am afraid I don't understand." Plo remarked, growing confused.
Ueb shrugged. "Welcome to the club, membership cards are available on Deck six in the gift shop." The flippant remark made no noticeable effect on the Jedi, "Quite honestly Master Jedi, the blatant fact is, whatever happened with this solar system, that region of space no longer obeys any laws of physics we are familiar with, even hyperspatial physics cannot explain the observed data. And our.. practical... testing has proven not just counterproductive, but dangerous."
"Practical testing."
Ueb swallowed. "Several junior members of the team volunteered to go down to the observation telescopes and use them to directly observe the system. Two are catatonic and we can get no response, one cut his own throat with a scalpel and used his last moments to scrawl out a warning, and the last... was found in her room, where she had seduced a crewman, killed him and was in the process of eating him when the crime was discovered."
Plo Koon started to his feet. "Warning!?"
Ueb realised that he probably should have warned them sooner, but the ramblings of a dying man didn't really feel all that significant to him. "Gaze not long into the abyss, for it gazes into you and finds you wanting." He repeated verbatim.
Plo headed for the bridge as fast as the force, and turbolift, could carry him as he called out into his commlink. "This is Master Plo Koon to all fleet elements. Prepare for emergency hyperspace withdr..." The ship rocked. Another minute saw him running out onto the bridge and the cold fear covering peoples faces. Three ships were there. "Where did they come from?" He indicated the vessels.
"Space hole." Was the only unhelpful answer, also the only answer of any kind.
One of the vessels was just over seven kilometres long, the two flanking it were each a further five kilometres each. The sensor data being fed to them was full of artefacts... "What are they doing?"
The sensor operator turned to look at Plo Koon. "Unknown."
"What do we know?" He almost snapped, instead settling for a sigh of resignation as he asked.
There was a long pause, the mesmerising sight of the unknown ships in the sensor tank hovering less than a thousand kilometres distant. "All sensors recording Master Jedi. What we know so far is that their ships are big, and shielded with multiple layers of shields. But other than that we can't tell much."
"Open communications channels." He ordered and moved up to the sensors that would broadcast his image. "I am Master Plo Koon of the Jedi Order and a General of the Grand Army of the Republic. We have been sent by the Republic Senate to investigate dangerous spatial anomalies in the region. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking."
He waited one minute. Then another. He couldn't hear any response from the unknown vessels, but his signal operator signed that they were receiving something. It was low. Growing louder....
.̸.̸.̷f̴l̴e̷s̴h̴ ̸o̷f̶ ̵t̷h̵e̴ ̶i̷n̴f̷i̶d̷e̶l̵s̴,̵ ̸i̴c̵o̷n̸o̸c̷l̵a̵s̷t̶s̸ ̶a̴n̸d̵ ̶t̷h̸e̸ ̷w̵e̷a̷k̸ ̶w̶i̵l̵l̷ ̵b̵e̵ ̸r̸e̸m̷a̷d̶e̸ ̷a̷n̵d̶ ̸t̴u̶r̴n̴e̴d̷ ̸t̸o̶ ̷g̵r̸e̷a̶t̵e̵r̶ ̴p̶u̶r̸p̸o̵s̵e̴ ̸t̷o̷ ̶c̴a̸l̵l̶ ̴t̸h̴e̴ ̵g̶o̵d̷s̷ ̴t̴o̷ ̸t̶h̶i̵s̵ ̵g̷a̶l̶a̸x̵y̷.̷ ̶A̵s̸ ̵w̴e̷ ̵r̸i̷s̵e̵ ̸f̴r̸o̵m̸ ̵t̶h̸e̵ ̴w̵o̴r̶l̶d̶ ̵c̶a̴l̶l̴e̸d̵ ̴K̴a̵a̸s̸ ̸o̶n̵e̸ ̸b̸y̷ ̴o̸n̸e̸ ̵w̷o̸r̴l̷d̸s̷ ̵w̸i̴l̴l̸ ̷b̵e̷ ̶b̵e̸n̸t̵ ̸t̷o̷w̸a̴r̵d̵s̴ ̴t̶h̶e̴ ̶a̸k̷n̷o̵w̴l̴e̵d̵g̷e̴m̸e̴n̶t̶ ̶o̵f̷ ̴t̷h̸e̷ ̸t̴r̵u̷e̷ ̸g̵o̵d̴s̷ ̷o̷f̸ ̴t̵h̴e̶ ̸e̶i̵g̴h̸t̷ ̵f̷o̷l̶d̸ ̶p̵a̴t̶h̴ ̸a̸n̷d̸ ̶t̷h̵r̷o̴u̴g̵h̴ ̷b̵l̴o̵o̷d̶,̵ ̶s̷a̴c̵r̶i̵f̶i̴c̸e̴ ̸a̸n̴d̵ ̴r̵i̴t̸u̵a̴l̴ ̸w̴i̴l̶l̶ ̸b̶e̸ ̴g̸i̷v̶e̵n̸ ̵u̶n̵t̷o̸ ̶t̵h̷e̶ ̵p̶r̶i̸m̴o̵r̴d̵i̶a̴l̴ ̶t̶r̶u̴t̴h̶ ̶s̸o̵ ̷t̴h̴a̵t̷ ̷t̸h̶e̷i̷r̷ ̶l̵a̴s̴t̴ ̸m̸o̴m̴e̵n̸t̷s̵ ̸w̷i̸l̶l̸ ̷b̴e̴ ̸s̶p̵e̵n̶t̵ ̴i̵n̷ ̷r̸a̶p̶t̴u̷r̴o̸u̶s̶ ̵r̵e̷v̴e̵l̵a̷t̴i̶o̶n̷ ̶a̷s̵ ̸t̶h̷e̶y̵ ̴f̷i̵n̷a̸l̴l̴y̷ ̵a̸c̵c̸e̷p̶t̵ ̸i̵t̸ ̸w̴i̴t̴h̷i̷n̵ ̵t̴h̷e̸i̴r̴ ̵h̸e̶a̷r̵t̷,̵ ̴t̷h̵o̵s̴e̶ ̴w̵h̷o̶ ̷r̵e̶a̶c̵h̵ ̵a̶n̷d̷ ̶e̶n̵c̵r̸o̸a̵c̷h̵ ̷u̴p̴o̷n̵.̴.̶.̸
"Cut the transmission! Cut it! Cut it now!" Plo Koon said driven near to panic as the volume continued to increase as the mad prophecies and violent threats continued to escalate in volume, and disturbing nature as it went on the Jedi Master became increasingly certain he was hearing an increasing number of audio tracks overlaying, each unintelligible yet making perfect sense and being understood easily, each paradoxical in their phrasing he felt the bile rising in his throat. The universe in front of him was flickering hazily as if there was some fundamental wrongness to everything. And then with a thunderclap of carmine light laced through with light eating black streaks five beings now stood on the bridge of the science ship. Clad in massive armour they turned to study them all in eyepieces glowing with hellish light as the occupants of the armour searched for something. The centremost figure stood taller than the others, and his armour seemed at least semi-organic, if not in any sense that made sense to Plo Koons eyes.
"You would order your people to cease accepting the word of Lorgar?" The... creature... said as it turned to find Plo Koon, instinctively the Master Jedi had ignited his lightsaber, the weapons clutched in the beings fists massive. Though their taloned hands crawled with lightning.
"I would not subject my people to the madness that was being broadcast." He answered, taking a defensive posture. He couldn't see what the leader was armed with, shielded as it was by the other four.
They parted and Plo Koon took an involuntary step back. The figures arms both ended in long curved claws flickering with lightning, and only then did Plo realise that he could feel a subsonic whine coming from the figures, from their armour? Plo realised with a grim sense that those bodyguards were merely obstacles, their lord needed no protection from them. And then, almost faster than Plo Koon could even perceive, with a roar of turbines their Lord had crossed the distance to Plo Koon and only his force boosted reflexes prevented... nothing. The creature had crossed the distance and stopped in almost as firm a manner, placing himself where he could study Plo Koon closer. "I am Lord Chrysaetos of the Word Bearers, we have come to you with no hostile intention this once, you have intruded on the new Temple of the Eight Fold path, the Dromund System belongs to us. We will brook no further intrusions, or intruders. You are not welcome, not until you embrace the eight-fold path. We will allow you to depart with only a single warning. Manus Moriendum, take the right hand of every being operating a console at this moment."
"I will not allow these people to come to harm." Plo said, moving his lightsaber into the guard position.
A terrifying sound boiled up from somewhere deep in the creatures armour and it took a moment for Plo Koon to realise the creature was laughing. The bridge had erupted into pandemonium behind the Lord as the men who he had mistaken for bodyguards surged into violent activity lifting claws and blades with the violent intent to claim the right hands of the bridges occupants. Plo Koon surged with all the speed that the force could give him and found himself flipping backwards as an invisible speeder slammed into his collarbone.
The massive figure had moved far faster than he had envisaged, haloed in a red impossible light the creature surged at him and only a last moment deflection with his lightsabre forced the crackling claw aimed... at his wrist... away, bringing his second shock, whatever field the claws were generating was entirely capable of resisting his lightsaber, screams of pain and agony filled the chamber as the violent intruders surged around, hacking and slashing at errant wrists and the unwelcome hands attached to them as their Lord took up posture to block and fight against Plo Koon, with the force he pushed with everything he had and the enemy was forced back several steps before the device on its back barked to life with a terrible plume of fire and once more the Master Jedi was fending off strikes aimed not at killing, not aimed at decapitation, aimed... at his right wrist. "We do not need to fight." He said, trying to bring the man to the table. To be civil.
"Xenos. You should study my armour more closely before displaying your ignorance for all to see." As the claws came in again he was forced into a rapid pattern of deflection as he did what the creature suggested... the skulls were not ornamental, not false, and what he had previously assumed was leather decoration was leather, but it had come mostly from tattooed human flesh. He recoiled in horror... one of the leather cloths... was a face, screaming... actively screaming as pleading eyes looked at him.
Plo Koon fell back in naked terror for a moment, the shock and horror of what he had witnessed almost too much to bear, a critical mistake, one that would have been fatal except for the power, speed and control of the Word Bearer, the lightning claws of its own right arm taking off his hand at the wrist, passing through his flesh with less resistance than even a lightsaber would have experienced. And then, in a moment of orgiastic maiming, the five creatures moved to the centre of the bridge where a device was activated and with a matching thunderclap they were gone.
Plo Koon stood, using his talents to suppress the agony of his severed hand, he looked for it for a moment before realising that it had been taken, with his lightsaber, and the right hands of everyone else on the bridge. "Get the fleet out of here! Now!" He said trying ... "No... get to the medical bay." He stabbed the intercom. "Bridge relief crew to stations, the fleet is to retreat immediately back to Coruscant."
Plo stood and faced the sealed viewport. He would not be caught by surprise like that again... but how the hell did they get on board... and off of it?
A Naked Demonstration
The Republic fleet that had been assembled to protect one of the rare and precious Elite class science ships that had been developed and put into service during the High Republic era. They had come to a stop almost two light days from the system and were observing the phenomena that threatened the entire fabric of spacetime in the region. Powerful sensors swept out to try and detect the nature of the anomalies. Every single vessel in fleet had blast doors closed over any external port that would give an unwitting soul the ability to perceive what was happening.
The command bridge of the Elite class was busy as various top astrophysicists of the Republic worked around their consoles trying to parse and compare the data. Plo Koon moved to the head scientists desk and waited patiently for the man to turn his attention to him.
"Master Jedi, if you are seeking updates on the situation, I am unable to help you."
Plo Koon turned a chair and lowered himself into it. "We have been studying it for nearly eighteen hours, and your preliminary report is, you don't have one?" Plo asked, without a tone that would have reduced his words to a suspicious tone.
The Scientist, a Sullustan called Ueb, shrugged. "I could give you a preliminary report right now, but it would contain over a hundred and fifty thousand known contradictions, paradoxes and impossibilities."
"Your sensors are unable to get the data from this distance?" He asked.
"Master Jedi, you are not wrong, they are not optimised for this distance, but that wouldn't give us the results we are seeing. On the short list of issues, we are receiving contradictory temporal states, mass readings are inconsistent and in constant flux, the light levels within the system are equally inconsistent and we're fairly sure they are shifting up and down into spectrums that we simply have no frame of reference for. A quarter of the computers used to analyse the data coming from our sensors are failing or becoming corrupted by some form of malware, only the fact they are isolated and connected via hard connection to their relevant sensors have prevented any real danger that we are aware of." Ueb pinched his brow with two fingers.
"I am afraid I don't understand." Plo remarked, growing confused.
Ueb shrugged. "Welcome to the club, membership cards are available on Deck six in the gift shop." The flippant remark made no noticeable effect on the Jedi, "Quite honestly Master Jedi, the blatant fact is, whatever happened with this solar system, that region of space no longer obeys any laws of physics we are familiar with, even hyperspatial physics cannot explain the observed data. And our.. practical... testing has proven not just counterproductive, but dangerous."
"Practical testing."
Ueb swallowed. "Several junior members of the team volunteered to go down to the observation telescopes and use them to directly observe the system. Two are catatonic and we can get no response, one cut his own throat with a scalpel and used his last moments to scrawl out a warning, and the last... was found in her room, where she had seduced a crewman, killed him and was in the process of eating him when the crime was discovered."
Plo Koon started to his feet. "Warning!?"
Ueb realised that he probably should have warned them sooner, but the ramblings of a dying man didn't really feel all that significant to him. "Gaze not long into the abyss, for it gazes into you and finds you wanting." He repeated verbatim.
Plo headed for the bridge as fast as the force, and turbolift, could carry him as he called out into his commlink. "This is Master Plo Koon to all fleet elements. Prepare for emergency hyperspace withdr..." The ship rocked. Another minute saw him running out onto the bridge and the cold fear covering peoples faces. Three ships were there. "Where did they come from?" He indicated the vessels.
"Space hole." Was the only unhelpful answer, also the only answer of any kind.
One of the vessels was just over seven kilometres long, the two flanking it were each a further five kilometres each. The sensor data being fed to them was full of artefacts... "What are they doing?"
The sensor operator turned to look at Plo Koon. "Unknown."
"What do we know?" He almost snapped, instead settling for a sigh of resignation as he asked.
There was a long pause, the mesmerising sight of the unknown ships in the sensor tank hovering less than a thousand kilometres distant. "All sensors recording Master Jedi. What we know so far is that their ships are big, and shielded with multiple layers of shields. But other than that we can't tell much."
"Open communications channels." He ordered and moved up to the sensors that would broadcast his image. "I am Master Plo Koon of the Jedi Order and a General of the Grand Army of the Republic. We have been sent by the Republic Senate to investigate dangerous spatial anomalies in the region. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking."
He waited one minute. Then another. He couldn't hear any response from the unknown vessels, but his signal operator signed that they were receiving something. It was low. Growing louder....
.̸.̸.̷f̴l̴e̷s̴h̴ ̸o̷f̶ ̵t̷h̵e̴ ̶i̷n̴f̷i̶d̷e̶l̵s̴,̵ ̸i̴c̵o̷n̸o̸c̷l̵a̵s̷t̶s̸ ̶a̴n̸d̵ ̶t̷h̸e̸ ̷w̵e̷a̷k̸ ̶w̶i̵l̵l̷ ̵b̵e̵ ̸r̸e̸m̷a̷d̶e̸ ̷a̷n̵d̶ ̸t̴u̶r̴n̴e̴d̷ ̸t̸o̶ ̷g̵r̸e̷a̶t̵e̵r̶ ̴p̶u̶r̸p̸o̵s̵e̴ ̸t̷o̷ ̶c̴a̸l̵l̶ ̴t̸h̴e̴ ̵g̶o̵d̷s̷ ̴t̴o̷ ̸t̶h̶i̵s̵ ̵g̷a̶l̶a̸x̵y̷.̷ ̶A̵s̸ ̵w̴e̷ ̵r̸i̷s̵e̵ ̸f̴r̸o̵m̸ ̵t̶h̸e̵ ̴w̵o̴r̶l̶d̶ ̵c̶a̴l̶l̴e̸d̵ ̴K̴a̵a̸s̸ ̸o̶n̵e̸ ̸b̸y̷ ̴o̸n̸e̸ ̵w̷o̸r̴l̷d̸s̷ ̵w̸i̴l̴l̸ ̷b̵e̷ ̶b̵e̸n̸t̵ ̸t̷o̷w̸a̴r̵d̵s̴ ̴t̶h̶e̴ ̶a̸k̷n̷o̵w̴l̴e̵d̵g̷e̴m̸e̴n̶t̶ ̶o̵f̷ ̴t̷h̸e̷ ̸t̴r̵u̷e̷ ̸g̵o̵d̴s̷ ̷o̷f̸ ̴t̵h̴e̶ ̸e̶i̵g̴h̸t̷ ̵f̷o̷l̶d̸ ̶p̵a̴t̶h̴ ̸a̸n̷d̸ ̶t̷h̵r̷o̴u̴g̵h̴ ̷b̵l̴o̵o̷d̶,̵ ̶s̷a̴c̵r̶i̵f̶i̴c̸e̴ ̸a̸n̴d̵ ̴r̵i̴t̸u̵a̴l̴ ̸w̴i̴l̶l̶ ̸b̶e̸ ̴g̸i̷v̶e̵n̸ ̵u̶n̵t̷o̸ ̶t̵h̷e̶ ̵p̶r̶i̸m̴o̵r̴d̵i̶a̴l̴ ̶t̶r̶u̴t̴h̶ ̶s̸o̵ ̷t̴h̴a̵t̷ ̷t̸h̶e̷i̷r̷ ̶l̵a̴s̴t̴ ̸m̸o̴m̴e̵n̸t̷s̵ ̸w̷i̸l̶l̸ ̷b̴e̴ ̸s̶p̵e̵n̶t̵ ̴i̵n̷ ̷r̸a̶p̶t̴u̷r̴o̸u̶s̶ ̵r̵e̷v̴e̵l̵a̷t̴i̶o̶n̷ ̶a̷s̵ ̸t̶h̷e̶y̵ ̴f̷i̵n̷a̸l̴l̴y̷ ̵a̸c̵c̸e̷p̶t̵ ̸i̵t̸ ̸w̴i̴t̴h̷i̷n̵ ̵t̴h̷e̸i̴r̴ ̵h̸e̶a̷r̵t̷,̵ ̴t̷h̵o̵s̴e̶ ̴w̵h̷o̶ ̷r̵e̶a̶c̵h̵ ̵a̶n̷d̷ ̶e̶n̵c̵r̸o̸a̵c̷h̵ ̷u̴p̴o̷n̵.̴.̶.̸
...flesh of the infidels, iconoclasts and the weak will be remade and turned to greater purpose to call the gods to this galaxy. As we rise from the world called Kaas one by one worlds will be bent towards the aknowledgement of the true gods of the eight fold path and through blood, sacrifice and ritual will be given unto the primordial truth so that their last moments will be spent in rapturous revelation as they finally accept it within their heart, those who reach and encroach upon...
"Cut the transmission! Cut it! Cut it now!" Plo Koon said driven near to panic as the volume continued to increase as the mad prophecies and violent threats continued to escalate in volume, and disturbing nature as it went on the Jedi Master became increasingly certain he was hearing an increasing number of audio tracks overlaying, each unintelligible yet making perfect sense and being understood easily, each paradoxical in their phrasing he felt the bile rising in his throat. The universe in front of him was flickering hazily as if there was some fundamental wrongness to everything. And then with a thunderclap of carmine light laced through with light eating black streaks five beings now stood on the bridge of the science ship. Clad in massive armour they turned to study them all in eyepieces glowing with hellish light as the occupants of the armour searched for something. The centremost figure stood taller than the others, and his armour seemed at least semi-organic, if not in any sense that made sense to Plo Koons eyes.
"You would order your people to cease accepting the word of Lorgar?" The... creature... said as it turned to find Plo Koon, instinctively the Master Jedi had ignited his lightsaber, the weapons clutched in the beings fists massive. Though their taloned hands crawled with lightning.
"I would not subject my people to the madness that was being broadcast." He answered, taking a defensive posture. He couldn't see what the leader was armed with, shielded as it was by the other four.
They parted and Plo Koon took an involuntary step back. The figures arms both ended in long curved claws flickering with lightning, and only then did Plo realise that he could feel a subsonic whine coming from the figures, from their armour? Plo realised with a grim sense that those bodyguards were merely obstacles, their lord needed no protection from them. And then, almost faster than Plo Koon could even perceive, with a roar of turbines their Lord had crossed the distance to Plo Koon and only his force boosted reflexes prevented... nothing. The creature had crossed the distance and stopped in almost as firm a manner, placing himself where he could study Plo Koon closer. "I am Lord Chrysaetos of the Word Bearers, we have come to you with no hostile intention this once, you have intruded on the new Temple of the Eight Fold path, the Dromund System belongs to us. We will brook no further intrusions, or intruders. You are not welcome, not until you embrace the eight-fold path. We will allow you to depart with only a single warning. Manus Moriendum, take the right hand of every being operating a console at this moment."
"I will not allow these people to come to harm." Plo said, moving his lightsaber into the guard position.
A terrifying sound boiled up from somewhere deep in the creatures armour and it took a moment for Plo Koon to realise the creature was laughing. The bridge had erupted into pandemonium behind the Lord as the men who he had mistaken for bodyguards surged into violent activity lifting claws and blades with the violent intent to claim the right hands of the bridges occupants. Plo Koon surged with all the speed that the force could give him and found himself flipping backwards as an invisible speeder slammed into his collarbone.
The massive figure had moved far faster than he had envisaged, haloed in a red impossible light the creature surged at him and only a last moment deflection with his lightsabre forced the crackling claw aimed... at his wrist... away, bringing his second shock, whatever field the claws were generating was entirely capable of resisting his lightsaber, screams of pain and agony filled the chamber as the violent intruders surged around, hacking and slashing at errant wrists and the unwelcome hands attached to them as their Lord took up posture to block and fight against Plo Koon, with the force he pushed with everything he had and the enemy was forced back several steps before the device on its back barked to life with a terrible plume of fire and once more the Master Jedi was fending off strikes aimed not at killing, not aimed at decapitation, aimed... at his right wrist. "We do not need to fight." He said, trying to bring the man to the table. To be civil.
"Xenos. You should study my armour more closely before displaying your ignorance for all to see." As the claws came in again he was forced into a rapid pattern of deflection as he did what the creature suggested... the skulls were not ornamental, not false, and what he had previously assumed was leather decoration was leather, but it had come mostly from tattooed human flesh. He recoiled in horror... one of the leather cloths... was a face, screaming... actively screaming as pleading eyes looked at him.
Plo Koon fell back in naked terror for a moment, the shock and horror of what he had witnessed almost too much to bear, a critical mistake, one that would have been fatal except for the power, speed and control of the Word Bearer, the lightning claws of its own right arm taking off his hand at the wrist, passing through his flesh with less resistance than even a lightsaber would have experienced. And then, in a moment of orgiastic maiming, the five creatures moved to the centre of the bridge where a device was activated and with a matching thunderclap they were gone.
Plo Koon stood, using his talents to suppress the agony of his severed hand, he looked for it for a moment before realising that it had been taken, with his lightsaber, and the right hands of everyone else on the bridge. "Get the fleet out of here! Now!" He said trying ... "No... get to the medical bay." He stabbed the intercom. "Bridge relief crew to stations, the fleet is to retreat immediately back to Coruscant."
Plo stood and faced the sealed viewport. He would not be caught by surprise like that again... but how the hell did they get on board... and off of it?
- Location
- USA
I get the feeling this is not the kind of story that will recieve a happy ending if Plo Koon, one of the most capable Jedi Masters in the entire order, gets beaten that badly when the local Warband Leader isn't even going for a kill.
The number of people in the galaxy better than him right now in a fight can be counted on two hands.
The number of people in the galaxy better than him right now in a fight can be counted on two hands.
This galaxy will learn why the Imperium is a hellish fascist place to live, it's the only way to survive.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You could say that rogal dorn could count them on an amputated hand.