Open Space and Hyperspace

Location: Kesh System - Wild Space

Reverting from lightspeed, the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer 'Covenant of Blood' transitioned to real space, gliding towards the planet of Kesh. Its plethora of turbolaser cannons turned towards the surface of the unguarded world, barrels glowing as they prepared to strike. Brilliant lances of emerald green light shone from the ends of its guns, sending powerful energy blasts towards the surface of the planet, seemingly at random. That's because it mostly was. On the bridge, dark acolyte Morgan Pasanius watched from the command chair, grinning maniacally in the gloom cast by the dim bridge lights. He watched through the main viewport as turbolaser fire made contact with haphazardly selected targets, detonating in giant fiery blasts.

Gamma-class assault shuttles poured from the fanged maw of its hangar bay, streaking towards the surface with loads full of Sith cultists armed with electro-staves, net-launchers, and vibro-whips. That was of course in addition to the cudgels, cleavers, and hooks they usually carried. A couple even carried blasters, though they were few and far between. Massive drop pods loaded with the Children of Dragus were ejected from the Covenant and sent racing towards the pre-coordinated landing sites. The feral barabels clawed and scratched at the pod interiors, sharpening their claws as hot saliva dripped from bleeding gums. The nearness of their beloved mother excited their hunger and made them mad with the desire to consume.

The pods would be landing along the outskirts of several prominent Kesh settlements. This was a slave gathering raid after all, which meant the rabid reptilians couldn't be unleashed in earnest within any of the cities or towns, else there would be no souls left to enslave. Outside of the major settlements, they would catch and consume any attempting to flee, cutting off escape for those damned souls and trapping the rest within their homes.

As one pod much larger than the rest entered the atmosphere, it glowed orange, heat building upon the surface of the metal exterior as it rapidly descended. Miniature blasts of gas vented as it began its automated unlocking sequence, firing huge havod alloy panels off in all directions, then finally breaking apart in one large explosive eruption of metal. Within the now shattered pod, a large purple scaled monstrosity began to unfurl wings thirty meters across, catching the air and soaring beneath the clouds. It let out a terrible shriek from a razor fanged snout, exhaling a cloud of poison mist from deep within its belly. On its back was a single rider, seated in a large leather saddle mounted on the mutated drexl. The saurian Sith cackled wickedly as he pulled on Spite's reigns with one clawed hand, the other holding the hilt of a long shadow hued energy lance. The Great Devourer had come in person to see this latest work completed. He guided his altered beast down towards a nearby village, owning the sky despite the gamma shuttles roaring past, turning their laser cannons on the settlement. Keshiri mounted of flying uvaks ascended to meet them, their purple skinned riders firing arrows and flinging spears, all of which bounced off Spite's thick scaled hide. Dragus lowered the tip of his lance, aiming at one of the mounted beasts and pulling the trigger, releasing a bolt of lightning from the end that blasted into the uvak and rider both. Purple skin blackened and burst aflame, while the uvak shrieked a dying wail and fell from the sky, dead before its fried body struck the earth and transformed into a broken wreck.

Sith and Keshiri resistance fighter performed this dance several times, always with the same result. Occasionally Spite would get involved and rip a rider from their saddle and gnash them to pieces in its arm length fangs. As the shuttles began to land, pale skinned Sith cultists charged out of the holds, hungry to revel in the chaos unfolding all around them. Whips snapped, barbed nets were fired, and debilitating electrical shocks were delivered by malicious mockeries of men. The citizens of the village were herded together and hunted for sport. Those fortunate enough to get clear of the town soon found themselves set upon by the insane black scaled demons the Hungering One called his children. Razor sharp talons and maws full of curved incisors made meals of the fleeing townspeople, feasting on man flesh and savouring the richness of the aliens blood.

In one mighty leap from the saddle on Spite's back, the saurian Sith dropped towards a group of herded Keshiri, planting the tip of his lance into the ground as he landed. The ground cracked and split apart where he landed, the air tingling with electrical discharge. Rising, garbed in a grotesque robe of sutured human faces, was the Great Devourer himself. He released his hold on the lance and left it buried in the ground, casually walking over to a crowd of frightened townspeople. His blade tipped tail swayed behind him, glinting in the daylight as fires raged in the background, while he entwined his finger talons and sampled the air with a flick of his forked tongue. He could taste their fear, a heady delight that would not soon be forgotten, but he required more. Dragus pulled back the hood of his man-hide robe and fixed the crowd with a feral smile of his dagger filled maw and a wink from one of his blood red eyes. He addressed them with a deep reptilian rasp, saliva and flecks of blood misting from his lips with every expressed syllable.

"Behold, I have come to lift you from the sssqualor of your livez and provide you with the gloriouz opportunity to ssserve sssomething much greater than yourselvez. The Feassst Day of the Eye iz nearly at hand and the..." Mid-speech, the black scaled barabel was interrupted by a tug on the sleeve of his grizzly robe. He looked down at one of his verminous assistants, a beady eyed ranat chittering in rapid squeaks of rat-speak, reminding the mad alchemist that he had joined a new organization. Dragus swatted at the ranat with his tail, though it was quick to hop out of reach, having been through this drill several times before. Turning back to the crowd of terrified Keshiri, he continued. "Right, what I meant to sssay waz, I'm taking you all az slavez to ssserve the gloriouz cult of the four emperorz..." Another series of squeaks. "...uh, three emperorz that iz. Wait, are you certain?" He questioned the sentient rodent, who again chittered in a maddening series of shrill squeaks. "Alright, fine. You're all going to ssserve our cult as ssslave fodder. Comprende?"

Though they were all certainly scared, the Keshiri were also a physically endowed species, their purple bodies toned with impressive musculature. Not all were immediately bowed by the display of terror inspired by Dragus and his followers. One, possibly a leader amongst the group, stepped forwards and fixed a hateful stare of defiance at the dark apothecary.

"And if we refuse?" The Keshiri asked defiantly, though there was an underlay of nervousness to his tone that he couldn't completely quell.

"Oh, I waz hoping at leassst one of you waz going to put up a fight. I'll tell you what, if any of you can beat me in a fight, I'll let the ressst go. On my honour az a Sssith." He placed a clawed hand over his breast as he made the vow, before the Skyborn and the Almighty Eye...and possibly three or four emperors. He then motioned to one of the Sith cultists lingering around the herded group of future slaves. "Give him sssomething to fight with." Amused by what was about to happen, the cultist reached down and removed a gore smeared cleaver from his side and tossed it at the ground near the Keshiri's feet.

Wasting no time, the Keshiri bent down and picked up the large knife, then charged towards Dragus in an attempt to catch him off guard. The purple skinned humanoid raised the cleaver up over his shoulder, preparing for a downstroke to take the saurian Sith's head off. The blow never came, however, as a barely visible stroke of Dragus' blade capped tail severed the Keshiri's hand from his arm at the wrist. The alien screamed in equal parts shock and pain, but only for a few seconds. The next moment the Hungering One was on him, tearing away at the man's purple skin with clawed hands and toe talons, ripping and carving as he sank his razor sharp jaws on his opponents face and bit his skull clean in half with a meaty wet crunch. His forked tongue lapped at squirting blood while he buried his snout further into the dead man's skull, slurping up the rest of his brains. Momentarily sated, the barbaric barabel dropped the remainder of the corpse at his feet and looked at the now cowering group of potential victims. No one else looked prepared to challenge him after what they had just witnessed. Steaming ropes of drool oozed down the alchemist's chin as he licked the remnants of his most recent meal from his scaled lips.

"No one elssse? A pity. Very well, take them." He said, turning away to pursue his fun elsewhere. Before completely leaving the scene, he looked over his shoulder and called out to his minions. "Don't forget to collect a couple of their mountz. I have a notion they may prove ussseful."

I'm telling you, I trust the source!

Deep-bweep-bwerp!

I'm done arguing with you, we're dropping out of hyperspace now anyway.

The exchange between the young mercenary leader and her trusted droid took place on the command bridge of the Justicar as it began preparing to leave hyperspace. Sienna had heard rumors about a strange derelict ship in Wild Space. One like none had seen before. Sienna would have dismissed it as nothing, had the description not matched that of the ones her dad used to tell her about. The Eternal Empire, the Empire of Zakuul, and it's other names had always sat close with her heart. And said heart skipped several beats as the Star Destroyer fell out of hyperspace only a kilometer away from the Phalanx. Sienna's hand reached up and touched the pendient that was once her mothers. It was a simple phrik disk that had the Spire carved into it. It was the only reminder of her heritage she had... until now. The crew on the bridge and presumably throughout the rest of the ship were also gazing dumbstruck out of the view ports. The ship was indeed a thing to see. The silence was cut by one of her officers speaking up. Uh- Orders, ma'am? This alone didn't bring Sienna back to the present, but a slight nudge from AP-5 did the trick.

Ready the shuttles. I want two squads with me and Apee. I want constant contact here. If you pick anything up with the scans let us know right away. Come on, let's move people, go go go! Various replies of "Yes, ma'am," and "Right away" flew in one of Sienna's ears and out the other as she crossed the bridge to the turbo lift. Her mind was racing and her feet thankfully knew where they were going because she was not paying attention. This ship wasn't her father's arms and armor, nor would it get them back, but it was something. It was still part of his and her mother's legacy. Before long she was climbing up the ramp of a Sentinel shuttle. As she made it aboard one of the troops onboard reported.

Ma'am, bridge just called down, they have detected lifesigns on board. They are trying to narrow down where and how many, but it's taking some time

Sienna nodded. She took an offered ear piece from the man who had just spoken to her and attached it, now she had a direct link to the Justicar's bridge. Right, be ready, no telling who, or what, may have been taking up residence in this thing. But I want blasters on Stun, understood? Another choirs of affirmatives. Good, then let's go.

The transit between the Star Destroyer and the Eternal Flagship-class Dreadnought felt like a lifetime of waiting, but soon the craft shuttered as it made contact with the larger ships airlock. The doors hissed open. They stepped out, Sienna on point with her blaster carbine at the ready, into a long hallway a few levels below the bridge. The 24 men that were with her eventually all made it into the hallway. Right, this is a big ship, we need to locate the bridge first and foremost. Squad A, you're with me. Squad B, stay with the ship and make sure we have a clear exit if things go sideways. Let's move. Half the men moved information behind Sienna while the others took up positions and did what they could to fortify the airlock.

Sienna and her squad proceeded deeper into the ship. Excited at what they could possibly find.

The bridge of the ISD was having trouble scanning the old ship. It's construction was unlike any they had seen before. On the inside of the Phalanx, Sienna was experiencing the same thing. She and her squad had taken to marking corners with ink that someone luckily had. It prevented them from getting turned around. But after several minutes of searching Sienna found an impressive door. No doubt a turbo lift. Alright Apee, see if you can get this thing to open up. This will hopefully get us closer to the bridge.

Beep-boop-woop. The probe floated over to an access switch and extended a scomplink and plugged in. After a few moments of poking and prodding the old system, the door hissed open to reveal a turbo lift.

Good work! Now, everyone in. The squad piled in and AP-5 got the shooting upwards. The whole squad took what cover they could as they rose upward. Sienna still held point. Her father had taught her that a real leader leads from the front. Or that's how it was in his stories about the old days. So she stood by holding her breath as the lift shuttered to a halt. The doors hissed open into a hallway. She tentatively stepped out, checking her left and right. At first the dark hallways looked clear, but then, ahead of her down another hallway, she noticed a slight golden glow. As silently as she could, she ordered her men to turn off their own torches and take better positions. But as everyone was filing out of the lift, the three knights rounded the corner. Sienna shouldered her carbine and readied herself. Even without their lights on, the strangers were bound to see the 13 individuals scurrying at the end of the hall. Her mind was racing, trying to think of what to say before finally she blurted out, Dibs! We call dibs!

Sienna could tell her claim had thrown the man for a loop. This brought a slight smirk to her face that only widened as he seemed to not realize that that was her imperial fleet outside. The fact she was smiling would come across easily in her voice as she spoke next. Apee, The droid whistled a acknowledgement as it floated out from behind Sienna's back, contact the 'Imperial' Star Destroyer for me would you?

Dwerp.

Hey! watch what you say in front of strangers. The droid spun in the air to punctuate that it wasn't amused but produced a holo image of one of Sienna's comms officers. He snapped to attention suddenly when he realized he was being hailed. Ash. Tell Lieutenant Doben to get the rest of the landing craft ready. We found some of the life forms.

Yes ma'am, who did yo-

The transmission was abruptly cut by the temperamental probe before it darted back behind Sienna. The woman, still smiling lowered the carbine and stood at a more relaxed position before shrugging. Well, I guess this is a double dibs situation then.

She chuckled a little. Impasse? One of us has a Destroyer with 10-k troopers and the numbers advantage right here in this hallway. Seems pretty passable from where I'm standing. Look, I didn't come here to kill anyone. She punctuated this statement by slinging the carbine onto her back. You've clearly already raided this places armory based on your armor and weapons, so I'll let you go with what you've already claimed. But, if you push the subject, her smile faded and it was reflected in her tone, I push back. Hard. Her right hand slowly lowered to relax on the grip of her slugthrower pistol to punctuate that statement. So you just get on back to your ship and leave this one to the descendent of her rightful owner. The mercenaries behind her still held their own blasters at the ready. Still set to stun, as they hadn't heard otherwise, but some thumbs were hovering close to that switch.

The last statement sent her over the edge. Any amount of amusement she still had flew out the airlock. How dare these strangers use words and tools they knew nothing about? How dare they deny her her birthright? Her rage drove her hand the hand cannon of a slugthrower cleared the leather of it's holster with the speed of someone who had not lost a quickdraw in a long while. She didn't fire it, just held it pointing at the man as she responded, practically spitting with anger. You kriffing lier! The last Knights of Zakuul died with my father 19 years ago! You grave robbing piece of scum! Her thumb pulled back the hammer. I'd gladly burn up with this old ship then see another artifact of my people get taken by the likes of you. The soldiers with her hesitated themselves. Clearly something was happening that none of them fully grasped. And it wasn't their fault. They came from many walks of life and planets. Sienna seemed to sense their trepidation. And over her shoulder spoke to them. This isn't any of your fight. Get back to the ship and get the fleet to a safe distance. Some of the mercs (especially the more mercenary of them) slowly backed back over to the lift. But about four seemed to stay. These four had been personally helped by Sienna early on in her career, so they felt they owed her and stood their ground. Sienna though didn't seem to register their loyalty, or really anything other than the three men in front of her. She was using this time to prepare her shot,