Coruscant, Ground Zero
Coruscant was burning. Smoke and ash choked the air along with the flames, becoming evermore toxic with nuclear fallout for those not equipped for it. The grand skyscrapers that had once towered into the heavens were now either lying in ruin or being blasted at close range by Separatist cruisers and drop ships. Republic ships and land personnel desperately tried to stop the enemy in orbit and planetside, but to little avail. The Capitol itself was quickly becoming an inferno with the Confederate bombing intensifying. Amongst this chaos flew a decidedly unique interceptor ship. The first odd thing that you will notice will be that the ship was originally a regular Delta-7 fighter, but heavily modified and customized with Confederate and Sith technology and parts to the point where it only barely resembles the original model. The second thing that an observant watcher will notice is that where the insignia of the Republic once was, the mark has now been scuffed off and painted over with a winged Separatist symbol. And finally, within the distorted cockpit can be seen the masked face of a Kaleeshi warrior, it's eyes rapidly darting about, taking in the Gotterdammerung around it, regarding the suffering below with supreme satisfaction. "All of those decadent fools deserve their fate," the warrior thought hatefully. "They cared nothing for the suffering of the Homeworld, and they let themselves get taken over by a Sith trickster!" These thoughts were interrupted by a chime from the speakers, signifying that the following orders were coming from High Command, as they had been programmed to disregard all else. "Depkrab 3, we have another mission for you, one that will require your special talents." Said an alive yet strangely toneless voice. "Requesting tactical ground support at 500 Republica. Come prepared." Suppressing his suspicions, the pilot scanned the ship's computer for directions, then steered his craft towards the target...
Jedi Temple, Central Hall
Most of the
Temple interior is cloaked in an all-consuming cloud of smoke, making
the fight going on inside all the more technical and difficult to
command, and very confused. A padawan ran through the fog, hunting
for droids to slash apart, and clones to fight alongside with, as
well as hopefully avoiding the massive, armored real hunter General
Grievous. He had already seen him once, cutting apart the knight
Kastis with ease. He did not to see that again. He heard blaster
impacts close by; saw the huge outline of a B-2 droid stumbling
backwards under a hail of plasma bolts, crashing to the floor at his
feet. Two battered but ready troopers walked out of the mist,
breathing heavily through their masks. "Captain, are you
alright? You're the first Jedi we've seen for an hour." The
padawan was about to speak, when he sensed danger close at hand, too
late to warn the clones, who were torn apart by the volley of bolts.
A Korrivan lieutenant and two Skakoan corporals, along with a squad
of Special Operations droids (designated by their jet-black coloring
and higher intelligence) scuttled from their cover to bear down on
their enemy, the Korrivan chuckling. Then, suddenly, a cloaked figure
sped in to slash the living soldiers apart while a fresh platoon of
clones released a storm of fire at the Spec Ops. Seconds later, the
droids were dismantled, and the cloaked figure turned around to
reveal the visage of Anakin Skywalker. The padawan finally spoke,
"Master Skywalker? But I thought that the General--" He never
finished. With a hate-filled look, the rogue Jedi slammed him against
a pillar, and then ordered the Clones to fire. His last sight before
being reduced to a smoldering corpse was an enormous outline in the
fog, frighteningly familiar and chuckling...
500 Republica, Main Landing Platform
The unusual craft and it's pilot land on the Central Platform of the building, which had not sustained much damage due to no air strikes being ordered in that area. The side of the building where the pilot was supposed to walk to however, was another story. A quick scan from his ship revealed extreme structural stresses, as well as a crashed HMP gunship that had apparently been downed by lightning. "Oh sure it's possible," thought the pilot warily, "but then again, I'm sensing a great deal of Dark side power, AND I was called in for backup." He readied himself to sneer at the brave but foolhardy commander of this mission while drawing out his odd, pole arm style light saber. As he got nearer and nearer to the rendezvous point, the warrior began noticing an almost inaudible laughing coming from his comm device. Whatever the reason for this, the warrior was going to beat it out of the commander (Maybe he's cracked, he thought grimly). When he finally reached the point, He found only an unusual looking Magnaguard leaning against the wall. "Where is the Commanding Officer here?" He barked at the droid. Dead? No, there was still laughter, very audible, and close by. "Here!" said the droid in a distorted voice. And it was then that the agent realized that it was the droid who had been laughing, and that the distortion was suppressed mirth. "What the hell are you?!" he said, jumping back in alarm. "I am the one who ordered your expertise." IGX said, its voice beginning to calm. "I don't take orders from a droid!" the agent roared, springing forward to grab at the guards cowl. The reaction was instantaneous. Immediately the droid seized him, grabbed its double-bladed weapon, and pulled it against the agent's neck like a garrote. "Now you listen to me, fool," snarled the now irate guard into his ear, "I am your CO, and you will obey me. I could just as easily snap your neck right now if I didn't need your support. Now, are you going to follow orders, or am I going to end your sad, pathetic life?" With difficulty, the agent nodded, and then was let drop to the floor. "Good. Now here's the situation. On the next floor up is a very powerful armed force-user. The objective is to hold him here until General Sheelal arrives. Note that half my division has been destroyed by this entity alone. And now to business." They began clomping up the stairs to their target...
Jedi Temple, Central Hall
General Grievous was beginning to tire of this rogue knight Skywalker. He had already fought with him once, and had seen how he had started snatching kills from him in this fog. It was becoming an annoyance. The first time they had clashed, he had won by catching him by surprise. This was no longer possible as the clones had noticed him and started firing. The young rogue brought his sword up to parry just in time to meet the two-armed slash, and even going so far as pushing it back. So he's ready this time, Grievous thought. Good, it'll be more fun that way. He disengaged one of his extra arms for an upward swing. Blocked with the Force, and then countered. Second arm; same result. "So, Jedi, did your swordsmanship improve with your reaction time, or was that just dumb luck?" Grievous chided, planting himself on one foot and lashing out with the other. The young renegade was ready however, jumping over the kick, hopping off a pillar, and slashing down at the General's exposed head, hissing through gritted teeth," You are going to die, freak, and I'm going to enjoy it!" Despite the fact that his face was made out of cortosis weave, the heat from the saber in the middle of his of his features seared what was left under it, and brought forth a howl of pain and rage."JEDIIII!!" Grievous roared, moving every possibly offensive part of his body in a tornado of whirling metal and energy, forcing the former Anakin Skywalker to realize that he had bitten off far more than he could chew. He became hard pressed to keep the enraged General back, until a taloned foot slammed into his left shoulder, sending him flying off his feet, the loud crack of his collar bone echoing in the fog. During the fight throughout the hall, the supports and walls had taken their toll, and were on the verge of collapsing. All it needed was the flying body of Anakin to knock out the support holding up the pieces of floor above the central stairwell. Immediately, the hall was split in two by rubble, the combatants scurrying for cover. Some were crushed, others escaped alive, and both Grievous and Skywalker were separated by a thick sheet of rubble. His anger beginning to drain away, the general noticed a signal received by his built in headset. "This is an official report from the Vjun Salvage Team. Please respond." said the message header. "What does a glorified junk collector have to say that is relevant to the current situation?" Grievous snapped back, authorizing the Comms ship to go to live transmission. "Sir, with respect, if you want to make another use out of that sport of yours, you should listen," said an excited of an Umbrian. "We've discovered a device in the basement of Count Dooku's castle, which is very unusual but seems to have a clear purpose: the draining of living force energy to power other things. It seems to require a force-user as a subject, as we've discovered the burial ground of known Jedi nearby. Also of note is what appears to be a receipt for the device, which lists the manufacturers as Lyth Corporation. Interested now?" Indeed, the General was extremely interested, and he knew just who to use the weapon on...
500
Galactica, Chancellor's Suite
Chancellor Palpatine (AKA Lord
Sideous) had gone through a very long night so far. He had fought off
a group of Jedi, indoctrinated a new apprentice, and then had seen
his plans for the destruction of the Jedi and the Republic torn to
pieces by a creature that was supposed to be dead. For this, he had a
very good reason to be in an unholy temper. So far he had not spent
his evening spreading his plans and reveling in victory but fighting
an army of CIS droids and personnel. None of them had posed any
challenge to his abilities, but then again, none of them were elite
units built or trained to combat force-users. The next figures that
cautiously walked through the blasted hole that had once been his
door were. Humanoid, but very different; one a modified magnaguard,
the other a Kaleeshi warrior and a former apprentice to Count Dooku.
"My lord, what an honor to be in your presence." the warrior
mocked. The Sith Lord paused, and then let loose a bolt of pure dark
energy. At last the warrior showed his worth in erecting a shield
that deflected the attack. "That's not going to work." said the
agent. Palpatine snorted in contempt and drew his saber. "Let me
see you laugh this down." the dark Lord hissed as he charged
toward his prey. The two ignited their weapons and fought back to the
best of their ability. Sideous however, was used to fighting multiple
foes and countered both of their defenses with precise chops and
riposte's. He slammed the Kaleeshi against the wall, then went for
droid, now unprotected from force blows, but still capable of
defending itself. Finally Sideous had enough of toying with the robot
and ripped it in half and chopped it to pieces, spraying the floor
with what apparently was hydraulic fluid. "And as for you, desert
scum, did you honestly think you could fight the Lord of the Sith
without being executed?" He would have gone on longer, but his
diatribe was interrupted by a strange liquid voice. "It's not
over, Palpatine.You have to deal with ME first." The Sith turned
slowly around to see the repulsive sight of the fluid coming alive
and reassembling the droid, it's head being woven back together as it
spoke, it's eye glowing a murky red. "I have more power now than
ever before!" Sideous readied himself as the abomination
laughed, tentacles whipping out of the pool of grey...