Long Ago and Far Away (FT)

Shein nods to Jenova. "She is usually right. Normally, I'd accept that. She has a mother's love where I have a father's love. I have to protect my people. A mother's place is to nurture and provide. A father's responsibility is protection, both physical and financial. She'd die for anyone in the Imperial Republic, as would I, if it would secure their safety." He shrugs. "It's the way we are." He glances to Arren, then back to Jenova. "Right, Rutian politics. It's pretty much this. Whoever has the biggest pair of brass balls wins the debate. Could be male or female. Kennah has a pair that rivals mine at times, though there have been times mine have disappeared for a while." He shrugs. "What I'm going to do is take this to the tribunal and state very clearly that what they are doing is treason. They can cease and desist or pay the price. The choice, then, is theirs. Live or die. Once word gets out that they've been confronted, I should have no problems ordering a pre-emptive strike."

Arren smirks a little. "I'll request that they convene, preferably here. With witnesses present. Maybe even a live news feed."

Shein can't look at Arren. He's facing away and appears to facepalm. Jenova, on the other hand, can see that Shein is trying not to laugh at the thought of these military guys being confronted live on the news. It takes him a minute to regain composure. "Do that. Should be interesting." After that, he's almost lost it again.

Arren walks out of the room, still smirking. He knows the reaction he got from Shein.

(OOC: Fine, I'll do what you want.)

After a brief discussion between Lal and Morgan via Empath, they decide that the corvette should go to Rhea for the sake of safety, and the corvette leaves immediately, trying to evade the blockade. Morgan then informs the other leaders, and while they are all (well, not all, given that Yang and Miriam detest him) relieved that Lal is safe, they are less so that there's now a command gap. Yang takes over command of the PDF, much to the disdain of some of the others, although it does make some sense with him having the most executive experience and the largest army.

(OOC: Sorry about railroading you like that but I just can't really think of a way to relay information to Rhea and the other planets while keeping you on Chiron without having the fighters dogging that corvette the whole way.)

Lal is taken aboard the Gantrithor when he arrives, where he is greeted by a small contingent of troops at attention and Dmitri.

"We saw a huge fleet over Chiron. Can you give me more specifics on what's going on down there? Our own ship was only there for a few minutes." He pauses for a moment. "Where are the two Knights assigned to the ship?"

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Dmitri
FROM: Thorgood

Jenova says that the situation in Rutianas will be resolved shortly. With your help, we hope that we can launch a massive pre-emptive strike on the Sith before their fleet can spread its destruction very far.

Details to follow.

Sincerely,
Thorgood.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I shall remain here and raise my eyebrow menacingly at anyone who looks at me," Jenova asserts. "Discounting you, of course," she says to Arren as he walks away. "You are free to gaze upon my awesome at will!"

Lal briefly ponders on the events, and then says, "As you know, the fleet arrived over Chiron roughly six and a half hours ago, and immediately began to jam our commications. Then fighters were released by the fleet and were sent all over Chiron, destroying most of the faction air forces that were scrambled to defend against them fairly easily, considering our disrupted communications. However, we got a surprise when a large number of Demon Boils of Locusts of Chiron appeared to attack the enemy fighters. Then, the fleet began to bombard Chiron, and we learned that native life was hatching and maturing extremely rapidly as a reaction of the planet to the bombarding, something we saw once before but on a lesser scale. Not long after the bombardment began, the Planetmind notified me telepathically that the fleet was "Sith" and their leader was "Lanius", and apparently the Planetmind must have probed the "Sith", for there could have been no other way for it to know that. It also said that the one known as "Lanius" attempted to "enter" the Planetmind, which I can only presume was a counterprobe. Finally, it said that native life on Chiron was ready to help defend us. That was the last I heard of it. Then, we managed to get around the comm jamming by using our Empaths to telepathically relay messages, and thus we began to mount our resistance. The "Sith" army was extremely well equipped with advanced armor that took Fusion Lasers, Tachyon Bolts, or Plasma Shards to penetrate, and for reference those are the three most advanced types of weaponry on Chiron. They also had artillery, tanks, gunships, and robots, and other mechanized support besides. They also carried weapons that seemed like some kind of laser sword, and they managed to use them to deflect Fusion Lasers, although it couldn't do the same to most other types of weaponry. Finally, and most disturbingly, a large number of them had telepathic powers, much more varied and dangerous then the kind we have on Chiron. Anyways, after several hours of relatively uneventful fighting, during which we have lost a high number of troops, the "Sith" landed some kind of craft near my faction's capitol, U.N. Headquarters. They fought their way in, led by two strange and dangerous individuals. They fought all the way to my office at the highest point on the base, where I was cornered and the leader introduced himself to me as Darth Lanius before telling me to surrender. Then, this corvette, manned by the two Knights and CEO Morgan's best mercenaries, arrived at the neck of time. The two Knights disembarked and held back Lanius and the other leader while I got inside and left to come to here."

Then he pauses, and then says in a soft tone, "As for the Knights, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that may very well be dead. And if they are, they are the greatest heroes that Chiron has ever seen."

(OOC: I think I just made the biggest text wall ever )

Dmitri goes quiet as he digests all of that information. "The Sith... the Sith are supposed to be extinct." He shakes his head and says, "If they are anything like our legends describe, it's going to be a long hard fight. In the old galaxy, they were the most destructive and tyrannical force the galaxy had seen, even ruling over the entire galaxy for a few decades. As much as I hate to do this, a preemptive strike may be necessary. It's going to be difficult knowing where to strike, though. We have no maps at all of their territory." He pauses again, disappears for a few seconds to relay what he had been told to Thorgood, and returns. "We can set you up in the ship for a while, at least until you can return to Chiron."

(ENCRYPTED)
TO: Dmitri
FROM: Thorgood

If the people of Chiron can hold out a little longer, we can strike their fleet there and hopefully destroy it. If not, we can simply launch a massive attack wherever they strike next. With their fleet gone, we will be able to find and eliminate their home bases at will.

Sincerely,
Thorgood

Lal bows, and says, "That would be greatly appreciated, Your Majesty."

***

Meanwhile, on Chiron, the same battle tactics are maintained for the most part. New Jerusalem, the capitol of the Lord's Believers, begins to fall to superior firepower, not that it really surprised anyone on Chiron.

Arren laughs. "I'm so honored then." He shakes his head as he goes to send the message.

Shein chuckles. "I'd be more concerned over an eyebrow lifting from Arren then I would from you." He starts sending messages on his datapad. The new one, of course. It's silver instead of black like the last one was. "By the way, that spice has heightened my future sense considerably. The others with the same ability have shown increased sight as well. It's actually quite fascinating. Where I used to be able to see only myself and five minutes out, I'm now able to see many different things, though it's fluid. Where once it was completely set, what I see now at times can be altered by a single event. Sometimes I even see many different possibilities. Some of it isn't even future events, but my ancestral past. It's not always clear, but I get glimpses. The Sikarrans say that I should try to open that path completely, but they've also warned me that if I try that, I could die in the attempt." He shrugs. "I haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning toward no. Kennah doesn't want me to do it. She's done it and told me it's painful and dangerous."

Arren finally shows back up. "They're here."

Shein nods. "Off to go threaten a bunch of school yard bullies." He smirks, then heads out with Arren close behind him.

Sith forces on Chiron continue pushing forward, with the same old stuff. They get cap ships back in the act for a bit, too, battering away at defensive positions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dmitri gets the other heads of state, his admirals, and his generals together to begin planning an assault on the Sith fleet amassed over Chiron. He opens up a link for the Burninites and Rutians to join in. Lal, of course, is invited to join.

Sensor Command informs Dmitri that Jenova Incinerator herself will join the discussion in a few minutes, as soon as she is done clearing up the situation in Rutianas.

Jenova will follow Shein, unless that seems to be not allowed, in which case she'll beam back up to her ship and join in that conversation now.

The wearing away at the defensive positions will likely soon cause some bases to fall, especially those of the weaker factions. However, the Hive forces continue to hold strong, at least partly because their bases are completely underground.

***

Lal of course attends.

It's not that she's not welcome, it's more that no one not Rutian has ever attempted it. Shein does raise an eyebrow, but doesn't comment. He just walks into the room with the tribunal members, Arren by his side.

Kennah is there, but clearly not a part of the tribunal. She's off to the side, observing.

(For the sake of brevity...) Shein launches on the tribunal about possible treason. When they start shouting back, Shein starts to rattle off dates and times. He gets specific. The tribunal actually requests some time before making a decision. Shein relents that much and steps out of the room. Arren, however, stays in there with them.

(OOC: So while I wait for the coup thingy to finish, more of the same.)

Down on Chiron, more of the same occurs. Darth Lanius attempts to hunt down Morgan to force a surrender from his faction.

Jenova follows Shein.

Morgan can't help but wonder why they're hunting him down as opposed to someone more important, like, say, Yang, but decides to simply try to get as many of his employees and mercenaries to safety and then surrender. Of course, he's not exactly doing it out of his generosity, but more to protect his investments if anything.

(OOC: In character, because he's pissed that Morgan was involved in Lal's escape. Out of character, it's because I forgot about the others.)

Jenova beams up to her ship and joins the military conversation that is occurring.

She posits that the Sith ships should be attacked ASAP on Chiron, where they will be at a distinct, natural disadvantage.

Meanwhile, the Ravager takes off and lands right next to wherever Morgan is. Sith troops storm out of it, along with Lanius and Morbus.

(OOC: This is just filler until the Tribunal subplot is finished.)

After trying to get as many of his employees and as much of his property out as possible, Morgan surrenders, never having been much of a fighter in the first place.

Lanius orders Morgan, "Tell your forces to surrender."

Morgan simply says, "I am afraid most of my forces have already left my employment and my borders to sell their services other factions, and I have no control over those who have left. It is a free market, after all. However, I have told any still remaining on my payroll to surrender."

He makes an annoyed face underneath his armor and gives Morgan a quick low level blast of Force Lightning before telling his soldiers, "Process him." They cuff him and take him away.

(OOC: Pass, since I can't exactly say much.)

(OOC: Since I'm still waiting on the Tribunal subplot, another filler post.)

Morbus walks by Morgan as he's being dragged away. He ignites his lightsaber and lops off Morgan's left foot. He cuts at a few inches above the ankle. He then walks away. Lanius shoots Morbus an annoyed look.

(OOC: If you object to that, say so and I'll delete the post. Otherwise, the Rheans will replace his foot with a mechanical one later.)