Long Ago and Far Away (FT)

(OOC: I SENT YOU A MESSAGE PANPAN. Nao go answer it.)

(OOC: Let's just assume for the sake of fairness that they can.)

Dark Morbus's Force Drain manages to weaken the Planetmind long enough for Darth Lanius to briefly probe the Planetmind, although the Planetmind quickly surges back with the aid of Empaths from every faction. The remnants of the air forces sent to defend the artillery is now for the most part destroyed, making them open for assault. A few Locusts of Chiron show up to attack the fighters and gunships, but due to the Force Drains they are only Mature Boils as opposed to Demon Boils.

(OOC: Morbus, not Mobius! Morbus is Latin for disease. And sure, why not. I assume those are heavy guns, anyway.)

(Encrypted)
To: Thorgood
From: Dmitri

From the red lightsabers, they appear to be what our legends describe as the Sith. There's not much known about them since they're supposed to be extinct. There are references in the holocrons about something called the Dark Side of the Force. It's mentioned in the same holocron that described the man known as Darth Vader. There were a few other ones mentioned. Darth Nihilus, in particular, stands out. He is said to have delved so far into the Dark Side of the Force that he had the ability to consume the population of entire planets with the Force. It's not said how populated those planets were, though.

Dmitri

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As the Sith push onward, the Imperial Knights recommend that Morgan and the other faction leaders attempt to escape on their leased corvette.

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Darth Lanius turns to the admiral and tells him, "Make ready to land the Ravager."

"It will be done, my Lord."

"Damn it, Jenova, do you think I don't know that? Do you really think I'm happy about that?" Shein sighs and shakes his head. "Sikkara will follow me as they believe I may be some Messiah. Arianasol, Elianam, the kittens, all loyal. I even have full backing of Esoteric through Arren. Hell, even the Prill would back me. The Pandati have made it clear they'd back me as I'm part Pandati. Comiderans and Danites follow me. The Rutian military is the problem. The ratio would be a hundred percent at first, but when the orders are recinded it will drop considerably. There's not enough time for me to train the others how to use our ships so the crews can be replaced. I'm at a loss, but I do have them training right now." He shrugs. "Jenova, I'm completely at a loss right now."

Another encrypted message is sent from Thorgood to Jenova.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I'm sorry Shein, of course you know that," Jenova says. She glances at her commlink, and hands it to Shein. It's a copy of Dmitri's note to Thorgood.

"Doesn't look like enough to convince anyone to pre-emptively strike if they're committed to not do so," Jenova comments. "Can you at least convince the military to go to a heightened state of readiness, and if either Burnination, Rhea, or you are attacked, join a joint operation? Rhea might be a harder sell than Burnination since we've always been friendly, but try for Rhea as well anyway. Let's just try to limit the damage as much as possible."

The Knights' suggestion to Morgan isn't really received well. Morgan first points out that they would have to get all of the faction leaders to Morgan Industries, which would be a logistical nightmare and would likely result in being attacked, and that after that they would have to slip through the huge Sith fleet somehow. And then even after that, they wouldn't even know where to go, and they couldn't assume anyone would take them. Finally, they actually need to be on the planet that they co-rule to actually order their forces around effectively.

So in other words, the current strategy is maintained all around Chiron.

Shein nods. "Get a print out and I'll take it to them. I doubt it will convince them of a pre-emptive strike though. They really don't want to get involved. I do have soldiers loyal to only me and those ones are feeling out the rest to see where their loyalties lie." He sighs. "I've been at odds with Kennah over this as well. She's threatened to walk out several times. Unfortunately, she can do that. She can't take anything with her though, including the children, but she can walk out. She doesn't understand that this could spread. She only says it hasn't. I think the tribunal convinced her already." He mutters something in Rutian, but it's too low to really be understood. Louder, "I've considered having all members of the tribunal shot. I'm researching the law on this. I believe it may be treason for them to bind me this way. It may be something that goes back all the way to Aleric Darson, though it may have been Kendrick or Estin. If I recall history correctly, the military did attempt to take control back and he executed them for treason against the Emperor. If I can find the correct reference, I can do that and the military will back me. However, without that, if the tribunal rescinds any order I give, there will be a rift broken in the military. If this particular threat attacks outside of Chiron, we'd be an easy target. We'd be fighting amongst ourselves already." He sighs. "I'm trying to avoid that. Right now, I have to let them think they've won."

At that moment, Kennah shows up. She must have been told Jenova was here and found out where she was. She doesn't even look at Shein. "Jenova, it's good to see you again." Her smile seems a little forced.

Jenova frowns about Kennah, but nods in agreement through the end section of Shein's speech. She seems less interested in exactly how Shein plans to regain control, but satisfied that he has a way to do so.

Well, when Kennah arrives, it is clear that Jenova knows where her loyalties lie, and isn't inclined to play politeness games at a time like this. She raises her eyebrow at Kennah's entry; it's probably simply a reaction to the fact that she was just about to say something that she now does not want Kennah to hear. Ever the politician, Jenova is wary that Kennah might report whatever conversation they have to the military.

"It would certainly still be best for all our people to pre-empt their offensive and stop them at Chiron," Jenova says carefully, "though since that seems impossible, at least maneuver your military as best you can into a position where they raise their readiness." She presses a few buttons on her commlink and a few printouts of the message appear in her hand. It's not clear whether they came out of the commlink itself, or from her ship in orbit. More likely the former.

With an eye on Kennah, Jenova finishes, "I hope that your military is right to be honest. I hope we are all in no danger. But I can't believe it. And if they're wrong, and they don't consent to a short-term alliance with us and the Rheans before the conflict spreads...the gods save our souls."

And Shein responds, while looking at Kennah. "I agree. Pre-emptive strike is the best." He's been over this with her already.

Kennah sighs and shakes her head. "So willing to fight, even when it doesn't involve us." She's not happy with the situation and looks to Jenova. "And I would have thought that maybe you, of all people, would be more understanding of this. Would you really send your people to war when it doesn't concern you?"

Shein looks toward Jenova. "Sorry. I didn't realise she'd show up." He looks toward Kennah. "You know nothing of this. You think with a mother's love for her people. I told you, I respect that. I have to think about the likelihood that this force will not stop with Chiron. If it takes a catastrophic event to get the military in line with this, then so be it, but by that time, it may be too late."

The door opens again, cutting off anything else Shein might have said, as Arren walks in. He doesn't look surprised to see Jenova, so he obviously knew. He hands Shein a book. An old fashioned paper book. "Page three twenty seven."

Shein takes the book with a curious look at Arren, then starts flipping through to the page. He reads it silently, then smiles faintly. He hands the book to Jenova. "It was Aleric."

Kennah, however, just looks confused at Arren and Shein. She turns around and walks out, not willing to go further into it here and now.

Jenova shakes her head when Kennah addresses her. She acknowledges Arren's presence with a polite nod.

She laughs grimly when Kennah leaves. "It's ironic. She's so right, and yet in this case..."

Jenova skims the page. "So are you going to use it? If we're dropping the pre-emptive strike idea, it might be possible to get them to commit to a defensive pact without using it. I'm worried that the turmoil that replacing your high command could cause would weaken your military strength in the short term. It's up to you of course, I haven't the experience with Rutian politics."

The Knights tell him those are considered small capital ships in their own right. They'd last well enough against fighters and, as a small capital ship, they should survive a while against those ships. They need only to make a brief hyperspace jump to Rhea.

The Ravager makes its descent toward the Peacekeeper capital. When it lands, the Dark Lord of the Sith and his Shadow Hand emerge.
(OOC: Click spoiler for images.)

Spoiler:

They begin storming wherever Lal is.

Well, Morgan still declines on account of the extreme difficulty of actually getting all of the leaders to Morgan Industries.

The Sith troops would first have to get through U.N. Headquarter's perimeter defenses and several thousand garrisoned troops to get inside the base and to get to Lal.

They begin blasting their way through, calling in air support by fighters and gunships. It also helps having a very powerful Sith Lord on their side. Lanius and Morbus both use telekinetic attacks. Lanius lines more with Force Crush and Force Lightning as other offensive Force abilities. Morbus prefers life draining attacks like Force Drain and Plague.

The Sith offensive is quite destructive and a large number of the garrison begins to fall, while the defenses are being battered away by the fighters and gunships. Meanwhile, Lal begins to ponder escape, but resolves to stand with his troops as long as possible.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Chiron, the same tactics as before are maintained, while more native life emerges to help defend Chiron.

Sith forces continue battering through.

(OOC: You may want to use the corvette to at least have it attempt a rescue of Lal. Otherwise, there's a high probability that he's going to get his head chopped off as a warning.)

Empaths begin to relay the desperate situation to the other factions, and Morgan, realizing that bad things would happen if Lal was captured for reasons obvious enough, decides to send the corvette to U.N. Headquarters to attempt a rescue of Lal. He asks the Knights to go in addition to his very best mercenaries.

They go along, traveling at the speed of plot, and bust in just as Sith forces breach wherever it is that Lal is and Darth Lanius introduces himself and tells Lal to surrender. The two Imperial Knights engage the two Sith Lords in combat, holding them off for a while. They yell at Lal to get in the ship. Whenever it is that Lal gets inside and takes off, one of the Knights will be stabbed through the chest by Morbus. Lanius, who is surprisingly nimble in that armor, kicks the other Knight in the face, performs a Force Crush on him, and flings him against the wall, making a sick thud. Sith troopers would be busy shooting at Morganite forces, though a few make some scorch marks on the exterior of the corvette.

The Morganites and Lal make the joint decision to send the corvette to University Base, a seemingly obvious choice for a refuge for him, considering that Zakharov is his Pact Brother, but then slip away to Sparta Command on a convoy of rovers to somewhere more secure and to throw off the chase.

Because it's not exactly hard to track a 150-meter-long ship in atmosphere, it's dogged the whole way by fighters. They do not do as much damage as they would if they were cap ships but it's still a decent amount for fighters against a shielded craft. The corvette, in return, manages to take down several fighters on its own.

(OOC: In other words, get back on my plot rails. Also, going to change my earlier post a little bit.)

They opt for the closer U.N. Humanity Base, the second largest Peacekeeper base, instead.

Meanwhile, in other places, the same boring tactics are maintained. Meanwhile, the Gaians try subjecting the Sith to the influence of the Dream-Twister Secret Project.

(OOC: Describe what the Dream-Twister Secret Project is. If you can find a way around their comm jamming, I will stop complaining about you going off my plot rails.)

And they're followed there, too. Pretty much all of the pursuing fighters have been destroyed but more are on the way.

(OOC: Well, it does exactly what the name says, makes dreams worse. It's really just a way to enhance Psi attack. As for finding a way around comm jamming, I've already done that by having Empaths relay messages.)

(OOC: Do you have a way of doing that off-planet? That was the whole point of giving you a blockade runner. Your guys would be giving first-hand accounts of the Sith attack.)

(OOC: Right, but I can't exactly do that if it's being chased while carrying the most important faction leader, and it was your suggestion to do so.)

(OOC: Yes, the point of the blockade runner being that you have the most important faction leader get off planet to Rhea, where they are readying for an attack.)