The Cantina Six: Return of the Dead Guy

[BattleDog]

*Suddenly a 5km Calamari Crusier enters the system, all guns fireing.*

 

Wedge Antillies: Do you lads need a lift?

 

Flax: Ok Deac, land in the main hanger, that baby can get us there twice as fast. She has a class 0.4 drive!

[Deac]

Ok, Cal Cruiser, you can take us as far as Atredis Prime, but if you enter Kuat you won't last a minute.

 

*Lands in hangar bay*

[BattleDog]

Pilot: Right you are Sir.

[Redwing]

*on board the Super Star Destroyer Titan*

 

*Rwos cautiously advances down the winding hallways. He was confident he could take any opposition Cracken could throw his way, or simply make himself invisible to them, provided they were all human (typical of Imperials). But there was no guards. Not a single soul in sight. Stretching out his senses, he cannot even sense another being in the vicinity.*

 

He knows I'm coming.

[superthrawn]

The Conqueror felt great. Katani couldn't believe his mind. So responsive, just the slightest thought, and he could move this thing any way he wanted. Twisting and turning, gyrating at a moments notice, and what's more, it fed him information from every direction, increasing his reaction speed. About the only thing it didn't do was tell the future. That was okay though. He was working for a Sith who could do that.

 

The training course was a series of obstacles and targets spread out across the planet's surface and extending at portions up into the atmosphere. Essentially, the goal was simply to make it to the end, while having hit every target. While traveling at a speed of about one tenth of the speed of light, for most people this would be quite the challenge, but for Katani Chass, it was thought that it would be rather simple, all things considered. After all, he was connected to the most powerful computer ever made, and his brain was nothing to be trifled with.

 

The hangar doors were opening. First, all that was visible was a small crack of light, but as time went on, and the doors slowly parted, the brightness grew. Almost comprable to Katani's time with the Conqueror. Each second he worked with the computer, it patterned itself more and more to his mind. Katani knew that it would only be a matter of moments before he and the machine were one, the ultimate combatant.

 

When viewed normally, the day really wasn't that spectacular. Clouds hung over head, casting an ominous note to things, but a glimmer of hope, embodying itself as a ray of sunshine breaking through the overcast seemed almost prophetical. When viewed through the eyes of someone just seeing things as they have always been meant to see them, the day was extraordinary. Each and every cloud could be maginfied down to the tiniest raindrop. He could see the way the wind was blowing, and how that would effect the storm front moving in from the east. He knew that if he wanted, he could destroy the mountains that loomed to the east, changing irreparably the landscape and weather of this spot for all time. Not now, though. Now, he felt like seeing what this thing could do in combat.

 

In a human it would have been like doing jumping jacks, or stretching legs. But, in a 30 meter tall killing contraption, it would be called firing the engines and rocketing into the stratosphere. Yes, it was a bit difficult the first time, to get the coordination right, but necessary before it was possible to move on to bigger and better things. It was simply a warm up. And it meant the universe would never be the same.

 

After returning lazily to the ground after what felt to him like a simple jump, Katani began to see the course before him. He'd already called up images from orbiting satellites, and he'd already mapped where he needed to go, what he needed to do at each juncture. In his mind, and on the computer screen before him, he ran through each turn and aim, each shot and acceleration. He ran through one last check of each of his weapons, cycling through the explosive settings on the nuclear and HE shells, seeing that they could be set to explode any time after impact with any solid object. Then again, at that speed, everything was solid.

 

The training course began rather simply. A few turns, followed by long straights, within which to pick up speed. The boundaries were marked only in the computer's databanks, there was nothing any less etheral than that. Don't be fooled though. There were definitely plenty of obstacles into which the Conqueror could run, if one wasn't careful. Several cliffs and abuttments, as well as rock outcroppings threatened anyone foolish enough to fly at them at full speed.

 

Just as Katani began to make his first trial run of the Training Grounds, his mind stopped being his own. It had melded completely with that of the Conqueror, and as such, the mind-controller implanted in his head kicked in. Instead of hurtling for the first target, he began to claw his way towards space, startling everyone, including himself. And then, what was more surprising, he began to prime his weapons.

 

The Kuati fleet, better yet, what remained of it, orbited the planet in a decidedly abnormal pattern. Instead of stringing themselves out along the equator, as was recommended convention, the had clustered themselves facing away from the system's sun, toward the most likely avenue of attack. Unfortunately for them, when someone approached from the planet, it left their tails wide open. While normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, as whatever coming from the planet's surface wasn't likely to attack them, and whatever did wouldn't have a chance before they could react. They'd never counted on the greatest space-surperiority craft ever built to be flying up their engine nacelles, though. They never had a bit of a chance.

 

After it was all over, all that remained in orbit above Nhdaa'rr was what most people would mistakenly dismiss as debris, perhaps a minor asteroid field at first glance. In truth, it was the carbon and metal remains of over two-thirds of the people of Kuat. The shields of the combat ships were top-of-the-line, but they were never meant to take the kind of punishment a supernuclear blast creates. It had taken only two shells to leave the entire fleet vulnerable, and by that time most of the crews of the ships had been turned to jelly inside what they had thought were safe havens. Then, it had taken only a few HE shells to turn every single ship, over a thousand, into the floating graveyard that was now there. Theoretically, they would provide a great reentry show someday for the newly immigrated people of Nhdaa'rr. Of course, that was assuming they were still there. Or alive. Already the first nuclear shells were prepped to rain down on the planet. And no one would be left alive.

 

Katani began a mental check while the first wave of nuclear shells began their rain upon the planet. He hadn't wanted to destroy it, that would have been overly pretentious. No, this planet would be left as a reminder to all who would oppose him, that this is what awaited them. He had pleasantly surprised with the performance of the armor on his ship. The armor on him. Not only was it incredibly dense, even more so than that of the Sun Crusher, but it was also negatively charged, effectively cancelling the positive charge of a laser blast. Therefore, he hadn't even felt the effects of any of the turbolaser blasts. He was invincible, he mused to himself, as he prepared the second wave of nuclear shells. These would take advantage of gravity, and fall into an orbit, falling on the side of the planet that was farthest from him at the moment. The people of Kuat would be no more. He was the last.

 

After launching the second wave of shells was launched, Katani headed for the waiting carrier. It sat in a polar orbit, hyperdrive primed and ready for launch. It would be a little slow on the take off it he jumped into the middle of a battle situation, but that was okay. He'd soon have a new carrier...a Super Star Destroyer.

[superthrawn]

OOS: Sorry guys, just need to explain something. The whole negative armor charge is possible. You see, what is called a "laser" blast in Star Wars terminology is, quite simply, not. What we call a laser is actually charged Tibanna gas, which is why laser weapons have ammunition problems. There is a scalability issue with lasers, meaning that they take longer and longer to charge the larger they get. So, therefore, Tibanna gas is used, rather similar to an Ion cannon, in that they fire a positively charged stream of Ions. Just thought I'd clear that up.

[Redwing]

((OOS: You got that pretty much wrong, but since no one else will likely understand and/or care except me, I'm not going to comment. This is an RPG that's run by it's story, not a technological debate.))

[Deac]

*Deac lands the ship down outside Castle Starkiller. The family has gathered their army for the war. Deac stands and addressess them*

 

 

Men and women of the House, I stand before you today not as your Lord, but your General. We join battle with the Republic to preserve everything we have rebuilt since the death of my father. I am leaving you again, as I must go on a dangerous mission, but know this:

 

Someday you'll return to your valleys and your farms, and you'll no longer burn to be brothers in arms. The day will dawn and we will emerge victoriuos. Victory is our survival.

 

We shall fight them in stars, we shall fight them in the system. We shall fight them in orbit, we shall fight them in the skies.

We shall fight them in the seas, we shall fight them where they land.

We shall fight them in the streets and in the hills.

We shall fight them until our hearts cease to beat!

 

*All cheer*

[superthrawn]

The carrier emerged from hyperspace into the outer reaches of the Kuat system. Though Katani had no doubts this thing could handle what was thrown at it until he could identify himself, he wanted to be on the safe side... that anitmatter projector could be rather powerful. He didn't want to risk it.

 

He did have one advantage of being out this far though--he could scout the area without them being able to scout him--at least that was the theory when they'd built such powerful magnification into the Conqueror, anyway.

 

He scanned the battlefield, looking out over everything. There was the Crimson Star, as expected, and the rest of the fleet. The real surprise though, was when he looked at Kuat, instead of being in a million pieces or covered with devastation, only a small portion of the surface had been destroyed. He was even getting life form readings from the planet. That confused Katani. He was supposed to be the last Kuati. It would give him and infamity that would be unrivaled... a "He's the last one, but he's still taking over the galaxy" type of thing. This whole having something left... that wouldn't give him any convenient excuses to go around blowing up stuff. He'd have to make up some inconvenient ones then.

 

All in all, with the minor exception of a few unforseen surprises the Kuati system was pretty much how he expected it. So, he opened a comm chanel to the Crimson Star forever changing the fate of everyone involved with this fiasco.

 

"Hello," he said. "My name is Katani Chass. I'm here to speak to Cracken."

[superthrawn]

OOS: Well guys, here it is. The whole part about the absorbing of turbolaser blasts is extremely contreversial. Redwing says they work one way, I say the work another. But, as was said before, this thread works on story, not physics. So, let's just all be friends. And for the absorbing of turbolasers, we can just chalk that up to some unkown technology that was developed at the R&D base. And even though I thought the italics looked cool, and changed things up a bit, there seems to be a limit to how many italic characters the board will display in one post (seems to be about 5000) So, I've decided to switch back to the humdrum way of doing things. That's all there is for now... keep your stick on the ice.

[Redwing]

((OOS: Well, actually, the controversy mostly took place outside this thread carry on ))

[Deac]

*Deac loads up the ship with supplies as the troops board thier transport, bound for the Kuat rally point. A tech approaches him*

 

Tech: Lord, the cloaking device is ready. It is the only one left, and your aunt says

 

Let me guess... "Do be careful, Deac?"

 

Tech: And "Good Luck."

[BattleDog]

*At an Airbase not far away 144 Starfighters are fueled and ready for launch. General Taklin Flax looks over the lines and ranks of A-Wings, X-Wings and B-Wings.*

 

*Flax adresses the pilots.*

 

Flax: Many of you have grown up with the notion of the mighty Republic, where we had the upper hand in weapons, numbers and munitions. You're about to experiance the kind of War your fathers and mothers fought. They fought to win freedom, today we fight to preserve it.

 

Long live the Republic!

 

*The crowd of techs, pilots, and officers corus*

 

Long live the Republic!

 

*In Space the remains of the fleet gather*.

 

*Dozens of Crusers, hundreds of Frigates, thousands of fighters.*

[Redwing]

((OOS: Disclaimer: This post has been written in conjunction with Cmdr. Cracken and Redwing (me! ) via Instant Messenger, each controlling our separate characters. Thus, this isn't godmode. [/end OOS]))

 

*Rwos walks down the hallway to its end...at the doors to Cracken's chambers. The doors open on their own. Rwos sees a chair. If he had been present during the Battle of Endor, he would have recognized this chair...but he can still sense the seething evil emanating from it. A voice speaks from the chair:

 

Cracken: I've been expecting you...

 

Rwos: I noticed. Your mistake.

 

Cracken: *in Rwos' eyes* if only you knew the power of the Dark Side. *Guards flood the room, blasters readied.*

 

Rwos: *draws his lightsword and ignites it* Bring it on.

 

Cracken: capture him. *The guards open fire*

 

*Rwos leaps, grabs onto the ceiling and vaults over the guards, taking out several as he does so*

 

*Cracken ignights his lightfoil, and raises it in a defensive position. Lightning flares from his fingertips, aimed at Rwos*

 

*Learning from past experience, Rwos catches the lightning on his lightsword. Since his lightsword cannot absorb the lightning, he creatively flings it off at the mass of the guards*

 

Cracken: Impressive. *Cracken swings, timing the swing so it hit Rwos when he lands. Rwos blocks*

 

Rwos: I've come to kill you, 'Admiral' Cracken. *swings his saber at Cracken's throat; it is blocked*

 

Cracken: But, this is only the beginning. *They trade blows, each keeping pace with the other*

 

Rwos: The beginning of what? *times his moves to keep pace with Cracken's*

 

Cracken: The beginning of a new order, a new day! The Return of the Sith! *Cracken knocks Rwos back* leave this plane, you have no buisness here.

 

Rwos: You're wrong. I have one order of business left, and that is vengeance. *gets up* You realize you cannot kill me. The means with which I got here prevents that. But I can kill you. *lunges at Cracken with his lightsword*

 

Cracken: *Parries the blow* If death, you won't relent, maybe capture and bait shall do you better! *Begins a frenzy of lightning quick attacks. Rwos has trouble keeping up*

 

Rwos: *suddenly increases the speed of his attacks, moving beyond the speed of human capability. Cracken, however, uses the Force to match* This monstrosity will go the way of the superweapons before it. *stabs at Cracken again, who blocks only an inch from his face* This is indeed the beginning, Cracken. The beginning of the end.

 

Cracken: *A series of blows are exchanged, and the two go to a stare down...*The future you think you can see........ it's clouded by the forces in this plane..... come with me, and we can change that.... we can make you a god in your world!

 

*Rwos grins. His beaked face, pointed ears and glowing eyes look demonic in the light* Rwos:There is no future for you. I will avenge the death of my friend Deac Starkiller with your head!

 

Cracken: Can';t your goody two shoes head fanthom what i'm offering you!? Power beyond anything your world has seen! power to do anything! hell, even *shudder* to help people...

 

Rwos: *laughs at him* My world has seen power far greater than you can imagine. Powers far stronger than your Force. The only thing you have to offer me...is my vengeance.

 

Cracken: *he smiles* i see you weren't aware.....

 

Rwos: *slightly frowns, uncaring* Aware? *slashes at Cracken, who blocks*

 

Cracken: Aware. that this "vengence" of yours is for naught.

 

Rwos: What are you talking about?

 

Cracken: Deac is alive. and is headed here.

 

Rwos: *eyes widen* What?!?

 

Cracken: oh yes... he's very much alive....and will be very stupid when he finds i have you INCARCERATED! *cracken goes for disabling blows*

 

*Rwos, shocked, doesn't block in time. Cracken's lightfoil ends up through his shoulder, removing his arm. Rwos falls to the floor, unconscious*

 

Cracken: Guards. get him in containment. now. *Cracken turns off his lightfoil, and the guards get Rwos in the binders. He is hoisted onto a moving apparatus.... a Jedi Binder....the kind used to incarcerate Obi-Wan Kenobi by Count Dooku at the beginning of the clone wars. The energy flow of the device is arranged so that when Rwos' arm regenerates, it would regenerate into a waiting binder.

 

Cracken oversees Rwos' Binder's placement above three other Binders...the first step in the vengeance of the Sith. One Binder was specially made for Deac, one for Flax, and one for Odin, all lined up and waiting. Cracken watches the Binder raised to its position above the others...and just laughs himself silly.

 

I win.

[Cmdr. Cracken]

*Cracken is looking over his latest catch, and the com officer comes to his side*

 

Officer: sir, a kuati wishes an audience with you....

 

Cracken: yes, he arrived in system a short while ago. a pity i could not see him earlier. grant him clearnce

[Redwing]

*Starr Hailfire stands quietly near Deac. He had been smiling, but then, abruptly, he frowns, getting his 'I've-just-seen-another-clouded-vision' look. He whispers something to himself that only Deac is close enough to hear*

 

So he has reckoned without me...the greatest insult possible. Well, that will be his downfall. His trap will fail. I know where you are, Cracken...and I can lead your worst enemies right to you. *Starr clenches his fists*

[Deac]

*Deac turns to his party*

 

Team, listen up. I have managed to plan a way of gaining access to the Crimson Star. We're going to move in under cloak and then fly into the superlaser shaft to the reactor. We then land on a maintainance deck, and place charges, then fly out before they blow. Questions?

[BattleDog]

Flax: The fleet will be standing by if you fail, we have to make this work, if yo fail my boy'll fly strait down the shaft to the reactor.

[Redwing]

((OOS: Ummm...lol, that may not be the best idea *points to schematics he posted earlier* I know...anvil time

*wishes Rwos was still with Deac because he is way more straightforward than Starr* ))

 

*Starr walks up to Deac* Wait! I have seen the plans to this Crimson Star...you might want to rethink that. The weapon is designed to be invulnerable to attack from the outside...as long as Cracken is inside controlling it. The shields must go down, and Cracken must be dead for that to happen. But...*steps in front of Deac and looks in his eyes* I can lead you to him...

[Admiral Odin]

(oos) I'mback. I know you all just missed me so much, and back to my drinking of delciouse Ale or the prefered Mead.

 

(brief story of what Odin was up to while all of you were elsewhere)

 

Leaving the Cantina, Odin launches his transport and jumps to Asgard. Arriving at the planet, Odin is rushed into a meeting of the Ruling Aesir. Afterwards there was feasting and general merry making.

 

Currently Odin, now with a company of Einherjar, is in deep space waiting for contact.

[Redwing]

((OOS: Someone who A) isn't captured and B) knows Odin (eliminating both my characters ) send Odin the coordinates, please ...Deac, that means you

 

@Odin: What are the Einherjar?))

 

*Starr waits for Deac's reply*

[Admiral Odin]

((oos @Redwing, in mythology Einherjar are the chosen warriors that live in Valhalla, until the day of Ragnorak (end of the world), The Valkyries (chooser's of the slain) pick half the dead form a battlefield and bring them to live with Odin in his hall of Valhalla.

 

Now a little more about my character of Odin.

 

Odin comes from the world of Asgard, inhabited by the human race of Aesir. They are god-like but mortal (long life, can use the force, but also can be killed). Odin is the leader of a counsel of twelve. Their is a crisis brewing, which is why Odin is away form Asgard. He returned because of this. Now the some Einherjar (the Aesir's elite soldiers) are now with Odin on his transport.

 

Hope this clear some things up Redwing.))

[superthrawn]

Katani prepares himself to speak to the man who would be Emperor. Never an incredibly gifted speaker, he was about to plead his case to the person who could change his life. Who could change the Universe. Who could change everything. Katani assured himself, he wasn't afraid of change. This was a change he could handle. And, if he couldn't--well, he had ways to deal with that.

 

"Grand Admiral Cracken, my Lord. I have come from the planet Nhdaa'rr, with this weapon, this Conqueror, to present to you as a gift. It is, after your most beautiful creation, the deadlies killing machine ever devised. Of course, being as how you are the most incredible man ever, I'm sure you already know this. So, with one parting request, I offer you this gift."

 

Cracken: "Speak your request."

 

"I wish for you to use me. I want to go to the system of Belkadan. It is a small system--it's inhabitants minor. I could be of use there though. I could demonstrate your power, your reach... your might. I would conqueror upon the the strength of your name, and all would fall before me, or find themselves fallen. I would become like Vader was to your Father. I would be Imperial Might."

 

Katani considered things for a moment, while waiting for Lord Cracken's request. All in all, things had gone pretty smoothly. He hadn't stuttered, as he'd been known to do. He hadn't begged, or cried, or pleaded excessively. And, best of all, he hadn't had to speak to anyone who hated him. The officer he'd spoken to, while carrying a smug air of invincibility, and who would soon learn his place, had treated him nicely, giving him clearance and little more. Functionality. He liked that in an inferior. Of course, he also liked a salute, but that would come later. Or punishment would come. For he was the Conqueror. None stood before him without fear. None.

 

And so, as Katani waited, he wondered what Lord Cracken's next message would be. Only time could tell that.

 

(OOS: Hey Cracken, sorry about the minor infringement there, hope you don't mind, but the latter part was critical for character development, and for my character to continue upon the path that I have chosen for him. Again, hope you don't mind... and if you do, I don't know--yell at me or something.)

[Cmdr. Cracken]

*Cracken looked at the man before him. He felt a nervousness. not from his presence... more a social one. No matter. this would be a most useful pawn in his game... an "Ace up the sleeve" if you would.*

 

Yes....yes.... go to the system, conquer it. I will send a Star Destroyer as support and for it to establish rule. Take the planet with what ever means necessary. Then return here. However, do not destroy it.

 

You are in charge of this operation. Do not fail me.

 

*Cracken waved his hand, and the Kuati gave a military bow, and left. Tojo noded, and left, to give the order to the fleet. *Cracken looked out the viewscreen, which held the image of the Kuat shipyards. They buzzed with activity. *

[Deac]

*Deac turns to Starr*

 

Take me to him...but first...

 

*Deac punches in some co-ordinates*

 

Odin...we're here, going here.

 

Now, get me to Cracken.