Re: Sheridan Prime - Autem Quartus Magnus Mortem

by **Taiothle** 28th February 2015, 3:05 am

From the surface of Sheridan Prime, the iudex watched. He had returned here after being forced to leave the systems of the starships he had taken control of. It was short, and normal for him. Though he was angry, he knew that he now had time to improve, and time to plot revenge on those who had taken away his chance at a full life. He believed that was created not to serve, but to control. And that was what he was going to do. All around him, dead humans, exanimus, and destroyed Bellator were scattered. There were numerous craters as well, and fallen buildings. And at that moment, the iudex wondered how he would start...

Tillinghast looked down at his homeplanet, disappointed, and at the same time relieved. It was all over, wasn't it? Though he felt great, having finally escaped, he could not celebrate. No one could. Not after everything that had happened. Thousands had died on the surface of Sheridan Prime. People had tried to help, but it came to nothing. As the rescue ship left the atmosphere, Tillinghast closed his eyes and prayed for the souls lost to the war with the exanimus and the iudex, and hoped he'd never have to see either again.

Behind Askaari's armada, two spheres both the size of the first Death Star appeared, towed by Cermak Cruisers. In the distance, there were many more. As the Empire's armada went on further, each of the spheres began to glow blue. Then red. Then there was a field generated from them. It was so large that it engulfed the entire system of Taiothle.

Being a joint project by four planets, it was completed. Originally, these were created for Sheridan Prime, but there was no need for that now. Sheridan Prime would either have to be destroyed, or colonized. The security barriers meant for the quarantined planet were re-used in the best way possible. To enforce the blockade implemented by the Taiothlean Council.

(OOC: I would not have wanted such... There are reasons for that, of course. This will be my last post for now. I'll be back later on with new original species. Ones with good backstories and tech-levels, so I don't look like a terrorist organization trying to mess with the UN. xD)

by **The Galactic Empire** 26th February 2015, 10:19 pm

General Torc stood at the bottom of the shuttle's ramp looking out upon the destruction being brought to Sheridan Prime. The cleansing bombardment would annihilate the Exanimus and their masters, as for the Iudex's whereabouts no one could be sure. A program capable of inhabiting any computer operated machine was unpredictable to say the least, but the Iudex had been purged completely from the Imperial computers thanks to the Borg. The shuttle lifted gently into the air and speed towards space, the Sheridans would find new homes in the Galactic Empire, being given a fresh start and the opportunity to have real lives for the first time in a great long while. The face of Sheridan Prime would never look the same again, it was now being resurfaced. The cities and underground facilities built by the Sheridans were reduced to ash under the might of the Empire's firepower.

---

General Torc stood beside Emperor Askaari, gazing out the view port of the Super Star Destroyer, Emancipator. Sheridan Prime had been cleansed and the armada began to break up as they returned to their usual assignments.

"Will war come?" Torc asked.

"Yes, most definitely." Askaari responded.

"Taiothle wouldn't stand a chance, their leaders grunting at us reminded me of the Klingons and their constant brutish posturing. They think they're stronger and more capable than they are, this is typical of governments that are unfamiliar with the horrors of war." Torc went on.

"Yes I know they wouldn't, everyone in the Empire knows they woulcn't. Sadly, the only people that don't know they can't win is them. Pride can be a deadly thing for one's self, but for us it could turn out to be a weapon. We will not provoke a war with them, but if they continue to step outside the bounds of Galactic Law we will have no choice to act against them. I have never once, not once, even considered doing what they did to an ally. When I was but a Commander serving the under Palpatine's and later Thrawn's Empire, I saw too much pain and death to want to continue that fashion. We are a force for good, for security, and for freedom. When Nictopla wanted to secede, we let them without a second thought. No one can offer the protection or freedom we can, this is why people of all species flock to our banner. We are an Empire of immigrants, our realm contains elements from every culture spanning three very different galaxies." Askaari sighed.

"But, no empire lasts forever. No matter the leader or resources every government dies at some point, eventually every species we know today will be extinct and be replaced by new ones. I can't say for sure why people 'flock to our banner' as you say, but I can say this; the Empire is a great place to be and its a damn fine cause to fight for." Torc with a raise of his beverage.

"Agreed." The Emperor raised his drink and they clicked their cups together. "For the Empire."

"And may her Emperor live an eternity." Torc said with a smile.

"Don't curse me with immortality damn you." The Emperor and General laughed.

[OOC: This thread has been one of my favorites and I am sad to see it end, but all things must end at some point. Don't worry about it, I'm imaginative enough to fill in the blanks with your species lol. Most of my stuff is based off of the work of others, you're working from scratch... I understand dude. I actually wanted there to be some kind of 'altercation'... makes things more interesting.]

by **Taiothle** 26th February 2015, 9:18 am

Lixandroiu was to speak first, but the Tsar of the Cermak, linked to the conversation as were all other Taiothlean Leaders, gave a brisk reply.

"Then do what you must!" he snarled. "That's all we wanted! The Cermak have never considered the Sheridanians as allies. Bring them as far away from this system as possible!"

Emperor Lixandroiu nodded. "You must. As obviously, they are not safe in this system."

"And you aren't, either." added the Cermak Leader.

The exanimus proved to be less effective in space. They were slower, and lighter. Though there were types that managed to move along surfaces swiftly in zero gravity. The Taiothlean ships were now in a ring-like formation around Sheridan Prime. Clearly they weren't bothered by numbers, as they would fight, no matter what. The Kylanthan Emperor spoke no more, as the Cermak Tsar had taken the floor.

"The construction of 'The Child of Kanul' is not illegal. We of Taiothle are bound not by your rules. We do not serve under you, and we will not bend to your will!" he continued roaring. With this, the Patriarch of Thelne Allanar severed the connection to Askaari's ship. They did not support the ideals of Stojanovska, but the law said that whatever comes of a vote must be followed accordingly.

"If you dare shoot any of my fighters down, I'll have you all blasted into stardust!" the draconian threatened. As of that moment, they were being called back to allow the evacuations to continue. "Look, your silly rescue crafts have caused the crash of six Cermak fighters and two Ashryn Interceptors."

The Cermak grunted and paused. Tethi Alraidh of Calirianne scoffed, and severed connection as well. The Ashryn were humanoid, yet they didn't like the humans. No one had yet seen what they really looked like under those masks, anyway. So it wasn't sure that they even resembled humans.

"I call for a meeting of all Taiothlean Leaders. We must vote on a boundary... One that will prevent incidents like these again. At least now we get what we want. The Kylanthans and the Ieunach want to save the humans. Stojanovska, Calirianne, and Triovha want them gone." The Tsar finished, and severed communications. The leader of Triovha followed, then eventually, after staring, Emperor Lixandroiu went off.

The Taiothlean Forces gradually lessened, until there were no more. Thousands of exanimus were floating in space. And among them were the helmets of the iudex's five guardians. All of them were still operational, clearly searching for another host...

And after all this, the Taiothleans held another Council. Stojanovska proposed creating a blockade around the Taiothlean Cluster. Calirianne quickly voted yes. In fear that a war could break out, the Ieunach voted yes. Triovha, being isolationist, voted yes... While Kylantha alone voted no.

(OOC: Another post before we conclude? ^.^ It's been fun, but I realized how rushed my species are. I need to study sci-fi tech, governments, and species before I come back. Hmm... Now that I look closely, this RP itself is lacking in storyline, which led to this unwanted "altercation"...)

by **The Galactic Empire** 24th February 2015, 12:07 pm

Emperor Askaari saw the Kylanthan Emperor's face disappear as all power systems shut down. Now he was angry, no one touched his ship. Power soon returned as the Borg purged the iudex from their systems, an artificial construct was no match for the Borg Collective which now controlled all of the Empire's computer systems. The Borg launched a digital counter attack by attaching a virus to one of the files the iudex had downloaded. The virus purged the iudex from the ships in orbit and disrupted its data stream, preventing it from materializing for a short time. Imperial Marines fought the exanimus, many Marines were killed in their initial attack and the ensuing confusion of a brief power loss. Once the power returned they Marines regained their resolve doubled their efforts to expel the exanimus. The rescue ships began to ignore the Taiothle fighters blocking their way, even colliding with them if necessary. Rescue ships were landing at settlements and boarding humans as fast as possible. Each drop ship had twenty Imperial Marines to guard them while the refugees got to safety.

Askaari re-established his communication with Lixandroiu,

"Listen here, you've left people on this planet to die. We have the resources and the know how to deal with this threat, if your fighters don't stop trying to block our rescue ships we will be forced to shoot them down. You are endangering the lives of our pilots and that angers me to no end. Here we are risking our own necks to save your people and all you can do is get in the way and get my men killed. We will remove our Borg from your super weapon, but know that we are not finished discussing that matter of illegality. Your ships are now being hit with exanimus, this is all your doing. If you had come to me in the past with the issue of Sheridan Prime there may have been a better way to deal with this. Instead, you quarantined this planet and left your own allies for dead. Never leave your allies no matter the cost. If your word is no good to your own allies then I can NEVER trust your people. If you get out of our way you now, you might avoid my wrath. In what you did to this planet, you are no better than the Streonians." Emperor Askaari's nostrils flared and his eyes widened, he was getting progressively angrier.

---

On the surface General Torc assisted the Sheridanians with getting aboard the rescue ships, any drop ship that was contaminated would be destroyed before leaving the surface. The Imperial armada sat in low orbit, blocking the Taiothle ships from taking any action towards the planet or their drop ships. The cleansing bombardment began as the drop ships prepared to leave, with only a handful more survivors to go before they would launch from the surface. The surface of Sheridan Prime was ablaze with green fire, burning away impurities and smashing cities.

---

The Empire deployed pods to the Taiothle ships to assist in repelling borders, their leaders may be snarling at each other but the exanimus could still spread if it was allowed to.

by **Taiothle** 24th February 2015, 10:36 am

Seeing that his weapon was doing very little damage, actually no damage at all, Grigorievich called them off. The turbolsaer turrets sank back against the superweapon until they were no longer seen. The Cermak General ordered a lockdown of the entire ship, the bridge included. The engine was separated from all other components, so it was safe. Only the ion cannon core and the resonance torpedo chambers were invaded by the Borg. The guards onboard were ready to engage. Most of them were Kylanthans and Cermak troops, growling and circling their enemies.

To what Koth said, Grigorievich roared in reply, "We have a law, and it states that no one enters or leaves Sheridan Prime. Your forces aren't even supposed to be in our System! You are violating a law which we, a neutral system uninvolved in any council, has passed!" he slammed the control panel in front of him in pure fury, smashing the surface. "The Child of Kanul is of no threat to anyone except those who dare defy or attack us. This weapon is a joint project made for the defense of our System, and we will use it if so needed."

The resonance torpedoes and the particle beam were armed. When the particle cannon was fired, the impact would be instantaneous. If the resonance torpedoes were engaged, it would take a moment for it to reach its target, but the effect would be devastating.

"Get your men off of my ship before I decide to end this battle here and now..." Grigorievich continued taunting. The crew members on the bridge were more nervous now, wondering if the Cermak General was willing to use the superweapon against a fleet, instead of a planet.

Outside his ship, Ashryn and Cermak Fighters were chasing Imperial Dropships and Bombers away from Sheridan Prime, but not damaging them. They were simply giving chase using light weapons.

Then the superweapon received a message from two leaders. One from Emperor Lixandroiu and the King of Calirianne, Tethi Alraidh. Grigorievich turns to the display and places both his primary weapons on hold as he answers to the higher officers.

"General Grigorievich, stand down." says the Kylanthan Emperor, glancing over to the right, at Sheridan Prime. "Let's not be too rash." (Mars Attacks Reference)

The Ashryn King spoke immediately after. "If they dare kill anyone on your ship, they can consider themselves at war with all of Taiothle."

Lixandroiu nodded, then sent a message to Askaari's ship while Alraidh gave further orders to his fighters, which were quickly surrounding Imperial Dropships. They were tempted to open fire, but so far it didn't seem as though any of these ships were carrying infected. If that happened, then the problem could worsen.

"Remove your men from our ship. As General Grigorievich has said, you are violating our sovereignty. I understand you are simply trying to help, but there has been nothing we could do for the Sheridanians for a while." said Lixandroiu in the message. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Askaari sometime ago and sighed. "Though if you want a fight, we'll give it to you."

"You aren't aware of how difficult to contain this virus can be. As far as we know, it wasn't from the planet's surface... It could damn well spread into our System, and you will be blamed for it."

Lixandroiu noticed now that the navies of Triovha and Thelne Allanar had arrived, making the Taiothlean Fighting Force much larger than earlier. Reinforcements continued to flow in and join the formation, steadily moving forward. More Ashryn and Cermak Fighters continued to swoop down on Imperial Dropships, but staying away from Sheridan Prime itself. They clearly didn't want to be down there.

Tillinghast nodded and shouted commands to his guards. The refugees were now being gathered up, some of them given weapons, to prepare to leave the settlement. Before that, they braced themselves as the area above was cleared out. Everyone was nervous, but ready to leave.

Carnifex had just cut down another human when the first of the Imperial bombardment hit the ground. Two Bellator were thrown off, and forced to flee. Carnifex shielded himself from another explosion, but he did not survive the next, which hit him directly. The same happened with his siblings who were confused as to where the fire was coming from. With their leaders gone, the Bellator disengaged and fled for the hills where they would fall into stagnancy.

The exanimus on the other hand, just kept coming. The ones in and around the settlement were killed, but the explosions only attracted thousands more of them into the area, making the job a tad harder. Tillinghast looked up once more at the skylight as the hull of a rescue ship passed by. He heard Ashryn engines, but they seemed to be very far off. What was happening outside the planet?

Throughout all this chaos, the iudex stood within the settlement, beside a crushed bunker. He held the ruined helmet of Carnifex in one hand, and the badly burnt helmet of Tortorem in his other. He glared at nothing as thousands of exanimus flooded past him, clearly avoiding the energy field around him. The remaining three helmets floated closer to him before he screamed and was gone.

He reappeared inside the settlement itself, with his guardians' remains floating above his head in a circle. He had on his face what looked like tears as he scowled at the humans around him. He could have had a home of his own. One where he didn't have to serve. Where all synthetics were equal. But it simply could not be. So... If he couldn't have Sheridan Prime... No one could. The people around him were quickly frightened, forcing themselves against the wall, away from the program they had created to be submissive. Though clearly someone had slacked off.

The little creature paused, bowed his head, and using his control over electronics, forced the blast doors open. As they separated and the exanimus began pressing against it, the glowing blue creature said, his voice cracking, "I am the iudex. I am supreme. I decide the fate of all. And I say... You die."

As this happened, hundreds of capsules were launched off the surface of Sheridan Prime. They were covered in some kind of green liquid, produced by a factory on the Souther continent of Sheridan Prime. Many of these capsules hit dropships, and upon cracking open, released more exanimus. Some capsule left the atmosphere and began hitting Imperial and Taiothlean ships alike. As on the surface the iudex pixellated away again, he was now seen on every display on every ship in Askaari's and Lixandroiu's ships. He was evidently in fury and disbelief.

His message was brief, but sure. He said in a murderous tone, "I will have Utopia.."

And at that, all systems were shut down. The iudex was clogging up all systems with his own memory, causing them to malfunction. The Taiothlean Fleet began to disperse from one another as the exanimus started to spread. External weapons wouldn't work, and many ships were unable to move.

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by **The Galactic Empire** 23rd February 2015, 8:32 pm

The fire coming from the super weapon had little effect on the Imperial shields as they had all been linked in a massive shield chain which provided significant shield boosts to the fleet. (Similar to EVE Online fleet boosts.)

"Now now, let's not begin firing at each other." Koth continued. "All we want to do is rescue the human inhabitants of Sheridan Prime and eliminate the plague, this is hardly a violation of your security. Rather, I'd say we were improving your security. This little secret of allowing these people to die off and suffer reached our ears, we weren't about to sit around and allow this. Stand down or be destroyed, this is your final warning."

On the super weapon Borg began to beam in to vital areas of the ship, several were killed by security (their bodies disintegrating upon death) before they adapted to their weapons and became invulnerable. They took no offensive action, they only stood by waiting for Koth's order.

"As you can see, our Borg friends have infiltrated your vessel. Cease fire and stand down all weapons or be destroyed. This is your final warning. That weapon you operate is not even allowed to exist under Galactic Law, as I'm sure you have been informed on numerous occasions. Regardless, that weapon will have to be dismantled as it is a clear violation of the laws set forth by the first Galactic Council. These laws were ratified by the majority of civilized systems and as such, this weapon is a threat to the entire galaxy." Koth told them with a deadly tone.

---

On the surface, General Torc received the confirmation that Imperial forces were now in orbit.

"Don't worry about your allies that left you for dead, we're here now and we wont let your people die out. They fleet is here, time to go. Send out a message to anyone who can receive it that they will be evacuated soon." General Torc told Tillinghast. He activated his comm device and turned the switch to transmit to Koth's command ship. "I'm uploading survivor coordinates now. We need immediate evac, the situation down here is extremely volatile. We could use some aerial support."
--
"Roger that Strike Team, standby for orbital bombardment. Boats will follow." The comm officer replied.
--

Green bolts of energy began to reign down from the sky all around them. The Bellator and Exanimus ranks were being anihilated, the settlements were safe enough from the bombardments and any hostiles more than a mile away would be safe. The bombardment only lasted thirty seconds before it stopped, trails of fire and smoke could be seen in the sky as rescue ships entered the atmosphere.

-----------

Emperor Askaari read the report from Koth that the super weapon had engaged them but had not yet used its primary weapon.

"Take the remainder of the armada to Sheridan Prime, position us between the super weapon and the planet. We'll block their line of fire while we evacuate the humans from the surface." The Emperor ordered and only moments later the armada was in Hyperspace.

---

Koth glanced at his map as a massive blob of blue dots appeared near them.

"It looks like the Emperor decided to join the party." Koth commented to himself.

"Admiral, we're receiving orders to rejoin the armada at our assigned position." The Captain reported.

"Very well, do as we are told. Keep the Borg on standby and re-route the transmission to the super weapon from us to the Emperor." Koth ordered.

---
The crew of the super weapon could now see Emperor Askaari's face instead of Grand Admiral Koth's on their viewscreen.

by **Taiothle** 22nd February 2015, 11:06 pm

The Child of Kanul was quite small. But its armour was more than enough. Not even a turbolaser could damage it. Having been modeled after the ancient Sun Crusher, it was protected by quantum armour. The development team did a good job with the tiny weapon. Armed with resonance torpedoes like the original Sun Crusher, it could destroy a planet or even a star. An ion cannon was its secondary defensive weapon, along with several turbolasers.

As was the director of the superweapon's development, The Child of Kanul was commandeered by a Cermak General, Dobromir Grigorievich Kulakov to be precise. The large draconian stood at the bridge, calmly watching as Imperial ships gathered ahead. He wasn't bothered, and simply hit a rectangular green button that would alert all of Taiothle. He wasn't aware of the operations taking place on Sheridan Prime, so for the moment, he was treating this as an attack on the System.

The crew of the superweapon was mixed, as this was a joint program. There were Ieunach, Kylanthans, Ashryn, and even Vraemt from Triovha. Some seemed more intimidated than most, unable to work effectively as the enemy fleet ahead locked on to them. It would be a little while until all of Taiothle was roused and brought here. The superweapon's turbolasers began firing immediately, but the ion cannon itself was not charged. If anyone noticed, the ship was moving steadily forward. The crew wouldn't have to be worried about damage anytime soon.

"By entering orbit of Sheridan Prime you are violating a law of the Taiothlean System. The planet is under quarantine, no one enters or leaves. Within minutes you will be facing all of our forces, even those unseen before."

"Warships?" Tillinghast frowned at Torc and looked up at one of the skylights. "They'll destroy us if they ever find out anyone was planning on leaving this planet!" he said in fear, referring to the Taiothleans.

Even still, the man headed down into an elevator that led to his command center. There was a hologram similar to that of the destroyed complex that was once protected by Marshall Younger. The map showed about 16 settlements, with red triangles converging upon three of them.

"That's all of them. I'm not sure, but there may be pockets of survivors wandering the surface as well." Tillinghast added as the underground base shuddered. The synthetic siblings had entered the settlement and were now crushing one bunker after the other, sending humans back down to hide.

The first fleet to arrive was that of Stojanovska. Their largest ships were only a bit larger than the Imperial Class Star Destroyers. Due to the large crew required to fly it however, there were only five of these. The rest were smaller, but looked hardy, and were well-armed like all Cermak ships were. They seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind the superweapon, weapons activated immediately. The command ship was way back, almost as large as a Galactic Empire Valiant-Class Star Destroyer.

The next to appear was the navy of the Ashryn of Calirianne. Their ships were generally smaller, but streamlined and quick. The smaller ships looked more lethal than the larger ones.

The last to arrive was the Kylanthan Navy. The cutters from the battle with the Streonians were around, the edges of their vertical bodies glowing blue. They were well-protected and fast, as they needed to get very close to fight to the fullest. For sure, they could slice across the armor or even the bridge of a Star Destroyer.

For some reason, Triovha was not yet anywhere around. The Ieunach were still mobilizing, as they were hesitant to enter any battle, being a peace-loving people.

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by **The Galactic Empire** 22nd February 2015, 8:43 pm

General Torc accepted the man's hand. "I'm glad to see some of you are still alive," the general stated, "we have warships in orbit prepared to evacuate all of you. I need you to provide me with all known locations of human survivors, we will send drop-ships to retrieve as many as we can. A much larger fleet is on its way here to eliminate the plague. We must hurry, take me to your command center. My Stormtroopers will remain here to help defend this settlement, you'll find they are formidable warriors."

---

Emperor Askaari studied a status monitor for the armada, there were: 3 Executor Class Super Star Destroyers, 90 Revenge Class Heavy Carriers, 1,800 Star Destroyers, 18,000 Victory Class Star Destroyers, 90,000 Acclamator Class Assault Craft, 360,000 Tartan Patrol Vessels. This was the largest armada ever assembled under one command, and it was only a fifth (or 1/5) of the Imperial Navy. But even with this sheer amount of fire power it was impossible to secure every part of Imperial space from piracy and enemy incursions.

New information was displayed on the status screen, it was a report from the scout vessels sent to Sheridan Prime. They had located the super weapon, but they could not be certain of it's composition. It was an unfamiliar design and the only way they could know how it worked was by seeing it in action.

"Get me Koth on the horn." The Emperor told the computer. A hologram of Grand Admiral Koth promptly appeared, he seemed to be in the middle of enjoying a cup of tea. "Admiral, take your fleet to Sheridan Prime. We're uploading coordinates of the super weapon to your nav computer. You're most likely going to lose some ships so keep the Conquest out of the weapon's line of fire, use Star Destroyers to block its shots if necessary. We can't afford to lose command ships."

---

"Yes, Your Highness. We will comply with your orders." Grand Admiral Koth pressed a button which deactivated the Emperor's hologram. "For the Empire, move the fleet to Sheridan Prime. All ships target the super weapon, hold fire for my mark."

The Super Star Destroyer Conquest and a third of the armada began to spool up their Hyperdrives, their engines glowing brighter as their energy output skyrocketed. The space around them faded to starlines as they entered Hyperspace. Only moments later they re-entered normal space above Sheridan Prime, whoever was at the helm of the super weapon would soon be registering that tens of thousands of ships were now locking their weapons on them.

Grand Admiral Koth transmitted a message to the super weapon:

"I am Grand Admiral Koth of the Galactic Empire, stand down or be destroyed. You have ten seconds to surrender."

Super Star Destroyer:

Revenge Class Heavy Carrier:

Imperial Star Destroyer:

Victory Class Star Destroyer:

Acclamator Class Assault Craft:

Tartan Patrol Vessel:

by **Taiothle** 22nd February 2015, 12:00 pm

The Dragon was disoriented. His auxiliary energy core was disrupted by Lewis' EMP, but quickly reignited. He rose again, furious. The Bellator were disabled only temporarily, but the smaller utility mechs were out until the battle was over, most likely. The red synthetic jumped off of his transport unit and rushed the walls of the human settlement himself, causing significant damage to the Eastern Gate with his unbelievably powerful portable turbolaser. Later he was able to obtain another from a small human transport commandeered by mentally degraded humans, controlled by the iudex.

On the other side of the mountain settlement's wall, men and women were held up in stumpy bunkers with machine guns and pulse rifles. Some of the humans standing outside these bunkers were picked off quickly by the very aggressive exanimus. So far, no synthetic or mech had gone far from the edge of the wall without being shot down or being forced back outside by heavy fire. Though unaffected by bullets, they seemed irritated by pulse rounds. The mechs were more easily dispatched, as they were stubborn and reckless, unlike the Bellator, who were at least smart enough to fall back when they were pinned down.

The middle-aged man responsible for recording the message taken from the crashed messenger ship showed up later at some large blast doors, waving over to Captain Torc and his squad, with four men covering him from exanimus that were quickly being drawn in by the fire from Draco's army of robots and synthetics. The Accipiter, the Executioner, and two other siblings had arrived soon later, rather embarrassed after realizing they'd been duped. The iudex, being their creator, remained benevolent towards them and ordered them back onto the battlefield.

Now with the Accipiter's air supremacy division joined into the battle, things became harder. Two bunkers were incinerated by bomb aircraft modeled after Earth's missile birds, the cape gannets.

The two other siblings created by the iudex of his own essence were the Syrtes (Maelstrom) and the Tortorem (Torturer). Both present in this battle, they brought in the naval and special force components of the iudex's army, determined to take the planet as their own and be recognized as a sovereign power. Though the iudex was rather deluded, he was definitely also smart as to create a plague to assist him in his strive for power. Humans were very easily assimilated into the hordes of the dead. He was also aware now of Taiothle's superweapon, referred to as 'The Child of Kanul'.

Even still, he was determined. He wanted to secure a future for his kind, and eventually provide sentience even for the Bellator and many others, who were programmed to be dumb. To follow all orders. The iudex was obviously forced to treat them as pawns also, but he has already vowed to help them later, if this conquest was successful. The only real difference between the synthetics and himself was that he was omnipresent. He could enter any electrical system whenever he pleased. He could be destroyed, but his mind would always be around, so long as there was a computer somewhere in the universe. The Sheridanian humans made him so that he was immune to purges.

The stormtroopers were safe for now. The blast doors were reinforced, so it would take more than regular plasma rounds to bring it down. If Draco or his siblings were able to enter however, then the defenses could capitulate, causing for all the humans to eventually die out. Or they could escape and create a new settlement for the iudex to bother with.

The man that called Captain Torc over was well over 30, holding a pulse rifle up with one hand, evidently having experienced the heat of battle before.

"Zavier Tillinghast." he extended a hand to Captain Torc, forcing a smile despite the situation. "Welcome to Utopia."

The iudex finally arrived. He materialized out of a broken power cord, behind one of the exanimus. The creature snap-turned back, but ignored the child-like apparition and started climbing over the human settlement walls. The iudex did not seem pleased at all. His hands were tightly clasped behind his back as he stared up the high metallic walls, reinforced with Sheridanian concrete and several other junk minerals. The humans were given too much time, and now had this.

When he started out, he was nothing but a program, given charge over archives, energy, and security. But the iudex knew he could be more than that. He was made to be resilient and all-powerful. He had come as far as creating reincarnations of himself in different forms. Those were the synthetic siblings. But something troubled him. An external force was moving to trample his work. Somehow he needed to save what he had established. Sheridan Prime was his. It had been given to him when he was created. The fault was not his, but the humans', for creating him and giving him the ability to become ambitious. They were at fault for giving him too much knowledge.

The Executioner, after separating several divisions of Bellator, rejoined the iudex, standing at his side. "What vexes you, my liege?" he asked, sheathing his energy blade.

"Many things, Carnifex. The Little Sun that threatens to destroy us, and those snakes... The ones in white. We were wrong to trust them..." he replied, watching the first sections of the Eastern walls collapse. "We may not emerge victorious this time... Should we fail, know that I will bring you and your siblings back somehow. And we will try again..."

The Executioner looked frustrated, but firmly placed a fist against his chest, bowed, and made a beeline for the fallen wall to attack. The iudex sighed, and returned to his hollow to decide on what to do with his council.

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by **The Galactic Empire** 17th February 2015, 4:38 pm

Bravo Team's Heavy Weapons Specialist realized his fate sooner than anyone else, he waited for his squad to get just far enough away from him. He pulled the pin on a thermal detonator and three seconds later there was a large explosion, killing anything within a thirty foot radius, the remains would be incinerated... erasing any evidence.

General Torc heard the explosion and received a notification in his HUD that one of his troopers had died. He didn't have time to read the name, two men were dead already and only more would follow.

Ensign Lewis got close to behind Draco and attached an EMP grenade to him, with a two second fuse. He ran past Draco and used his jetpack to get over the wall and land where the humans were. As he landed the EMP still attached to Draco detonated. He quickly removed his helmet to show he was human.

"I'm human! Don't shoot! Ensign Lewis, 501st Stormtrooper Legion, we're with the Galactic Empire and we're here to rescue you." Ensign Lewis yelled, hoping to not get gunned down.

The rest of the Stormtroopers had made it, three more had fallen to the exanimus.

EMP:

OOC:

by **Taiothle** 17th February 2015, 5:07 am

The mountain settlement was well defended, but no humans were shooting over the walls. They only waited until something scaled it and started attacking. Outside, among the synthetics were simple robots that weren't even meant for combat. Behind them all was a particularly bulky synthetic, though it was obvious that he was from the same family as the Executioner and the Accipiter. He held a large gun in his left hand as he utilized a carrier drone to transport him across the battlefield.

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The message played by Captain Torc was quite blurry, and barely visible. The man was armed, in a room filled with people. There was a blast door visible to his side. More people were being brought in as he spoke.

"This isn't the last settlement on Sheridan Prime... There are others, and the iudex is targeting them all." he began, wiping his forehead. "Someone has to get these people out of here... But it has to be done in almost complete secrecy. The iudex... He shot down a satellite recently." the man raised a hologram projector to the camera. There was a diagram of a medium sized ship with angled panels and a very small cockpit. At the end of it was something that looked like a ion cannon projector or something simliar to that. "It contained information on its mothership, something called 'The Child of Kanul'. It's a superweapon..."

"The superweapon was constructed on Stojanovska... According to my research, it's similar to something called the Sun Crusher, from a long time ago. We're not sure how it works besides that it targets a planet's core, causing it to become unstable, to the point of implosion. It may fire if something large enough escapes from this planet." he looked down all of a sudden. "Although we don't know where it is. That's all we know, so we're aware that we're still in danger. I guess we have the iudices and their funnies to thank for that..."

The message ends, and repeats. As it goes off again, Draco approaches from the front, yelling out orders. Exanimus started running about, hitting the walls and starting to enter. That's when the human screams started. One exanimus, about 5'7", pounced the stormtroopers' heavy weapons specialist, trying to get at his neck. Draco was now looking forward, firing his turbolaser at the doors of the settlement.

by **The Galactic Empire** 16th February 2015, 4:07 am

Using internal comms only (only inside their helmets) General Torc spoke to his squad:

"Someone go and fetch the data core from that downed ship before it explodes," General Torc looked for a volunteer, a Stormtrooper nodded and rushed to the downed ship. "After he retrieves the data core we will proceed to that next settlement, they believe we're with them so we need not fear their fire. We will enter the facility and locate the human survivors, from there we can come up with an extraction plan. Everything from here on out is by the seat of our pants gentlemen." The Stormtrooper had returned with the data core, he plugged it into his armor and uploaded it to the squad's database. "Alright, let's move out!"

They made their way through the Bellator and began at a fast pace towards the besieged settlement, appearing one with the onslaught of synthetics. General Torc, at this time, began to play the audio from the downed ship's data core.

by **Taiothle** 15th February 2015, 8:43 pm

Carnifex had done the job, and began walking down the corridor again, behind the three Bellator. Fortunately he didn't bother to check twice on the corpse or else he would have seen the blood and alerted the rest of his allies. For now he continued searching rooms and planting explosives within the fallen settlement, then he would rejoin the Hawk to attack another settlement, large enough to be noticeable. But neither of them were aware that they were being tricked.

The Accipiter could jump, avoiding whatever came from that weapon, but he had no reason to question the motives of the one who created him and his siblings, the iudex. Embarrassed, he looked away for a moment before deactivating both his energy blades and giving an irritated sigh.

"I will go to him myself..." he simply said before stepping away and igniting his integrated jet engines. Soon, he was gone, disappeared into the clouds. The very moment that he left, the Bellator receded into a catatonic state, their eyes dimmed, but still aware should they be provoked.

The mountain was visible from here. A settlement had been built into its side, but was now being attacked by unseen aircraft. The explosions were large and loud, soon giving way to pillars of smoke and tall flames that would attract all the exanimus in the area. Currently, Captain Torc couldn't see it, but another messenger ship was launched. It was a totally different model from the one that crashed onto New Coruscant. It seemed so close to escaping, but was hit directly in the rear by a missile. It was too slow, and too old.

The ship made an arc, leaving a trail of black smoke in its wake, then crashed into the administrative office of the surface sector, near where Captain Torc and his squad were. The Bellator only looked over at it, unfazed. The small ship's tail was badly deformed, and the cockpit was shattered. A man staggered out of the cockpit, half his body charred. The Bellator immedately sprang into action and killed him before he got any closer.

From the cockpit was some strange beeping noise. Again, the control panel was safe. It had survived the crash, thanks to the reinforced front. Obviously the armor was in the wrong place. But that no longer mattered.

by **The Galactic Empire** 14th February 2015, 12:50 pm

Tallav's torso toppled to the ground, his legs remained standing where they were... blood spewing from where his body had been 'divided.' Still conscious, Tallav screamed in agony for a minute before the blood-loss was too great and he died.
--
Captain Reyes stepped forward towards Accipiter, "The Executioner unit is attending to other business." Captain Reyes aimed his blaster point blank at Accipiter. "Now get your hands up before I deactivate you."

General Torc stepped forward. "Greetings, we are a special forces unit sent into this facility to detain and remove any humans. We operate outside of your system's network, we answer only to the iudex. You are under arrest for your failure to contain the humans. During your initial assault on this facility using the exanimus, you allowed a messenger ship to escape and alert the outside world to our existence. Even now, a powerful interstellar entity known as the Galactic Empire is preparing to invade this world and eliminate us, because of your failure... the iudex is displeased with you and you are to answer for your failure. The Executioner has been designated as your escort to ensure you make it to the iudex... safely. Comply with orders or be summarily executed here, units that diverge from protocol will be eliminated." Torc and the other Stormtroopers were mentally preparing themselves to fight any moment, knowing that the general's plan could very easily backfire.

OOC: Yeah that's cool, every character in 'Military Operations' (excluding heads of government such as Emperor, Chancellor, etc.) are expendable and can be killed.

by **Taiothle** 14th February 2015, 12:58 am

Carnifex grinned. He crossed his arms, seemingly not bothered at all by the energy sword dangling dangerously close to his side. "I see," he said with a nod. "that is forgivable."

The doors behind Captain Torc and the rest of the squad opened, and there were three more Bellator standing there, at the ready. Carnifex walked in between the squad and exited into the corridor. The Bellator were not able to speak, but began moving. They glanced back simultaneously to see if the stormtroopers were following. Carnifex had gone in a different direction, probably to rake the facility one last time before they destroyed it along with any evidence.

The Bellator continued marching along until they found another exit, leading back to the surface area. It was well hidden, and secured. Outside, there were more Bellator waiting, and standing in front of them was an android similar to Carnifex. He turned around at hearing the entrance open a second time. He looked pleased, and gestured for the new recruits to come over.

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"Good. We needed larger units. According to the Chelidon, a human settlement has begun to thrive in the far North. The iudex wants us to destroy this settlement." the green android said, pointing to a mountain with one of his energy blades. "Where is the Executioner?" he then asked, crossing his arms and tapping his right foot impatiently.

Accipiter - The Hawk:

Tallav's shot stopped the Bellator. They looked back, eyes red for a moment, but immediately flashed back to green. Behind the stormtrooper, Carnifex walked up.

"A rogue unit, I see.." he said angrily, shaking his head. "Tsk, tsk. All of us are brothers and sisters. We must protect each other, and fight against the common enemy. Those who deviate from this route are unworthy of life."

Unexpected, the Executioner dashed forward and swiped his sword up, slicing the stormtrooper at the waist.

(OOC: I hope that's okay. I'll edit out if you intended to do something else with him...)

by **The Galactic Empire** 14th February 2015, 12:08 am

Captain Torc suddenly had an idea.

Moving forward and snapping to attention in front of Carnifex, "We obey, but we lack authenticated information as to the humans and their location. Our programming is incomplete, we wandered the wilderness for some time before finding this facility. Please give us direction, superior one." The rest of the squad realized what the general was doing and followed suit.
---
Tallav continued to pursue the strangers, he soon became impatient and aimed his weapon at them, firing a warning shot in their direction.

"In the name of the Galactic Empire halt!" Tallav shouted in their direction. "I don't know who or what you are, but I know sentience when I see it. Identify yourself at once or die." Tallav sounded confident but in reality he was terrified. He had followed the strangers for so long through the facility he didn't know which way was back and he had lost communication with the rest of the squad.

by **Taiothle** 13th February 2015, 10:38 pm

The three never stopped. They acted like puppets, moving as one. At the garden where rows of rotten fruits and vegetables were stored, they stopped and looked around. Their eyes were green a moment, before they turned red. Without hesitation, they fired their weapons at a wall of grapevines. Throughout the flurry of laser bolts from their weapons, a strange choking sound was heard. Then from behind the wilted vines fell one of the exanimus, charred. The three beings continued to move, leaving Tallav behind, ignoring him completely. From the next room, more flashes went off, followed by the wailing of dying exanimi.

The small creature standing at the power core railing stopped with what he was doing and turned to face Captain Torc. He looked confused for a moment. At first he thought they were humans, but with these helmets he could not tell. Instead he smirked and shook his head.

"More inferior models." he said, turning back to the power core. The moment he stopped absorbing energy from it, the facility returned to life. "Younger... Yes, I remember him. He was in charge of the military before we set the exanimus upon him and his people. They were powerless against the spread. Absolutely powerless against the dead, as they are now powerless against us, the iudicum."

He turned to Torc's squad, identifying them as androids like himself.

"There was no distress call. You must disregard it. We will deal with the humans here. As is estimated by my dear brothers and sisters, within the next few months, we will have complete control over this planet. We will be servants no more. Instead, they... The humans... They will serve us, or die." the boy continued to say coldly. His eyes glowing red, rather than blue like earlier.

"I have no more business here. Find the other humans and kill them." he said, facing Captain Torc, but was probably talking to someone else. He then pixellated away. And in his place, another android dropped into the scene. His armor was red, unlike the previous one, and was wielding a type of energy sword. He had long hair and looked newer. With his sword he walked towards Captain Torc, expressionless. He didn't seem to have any bad intentions towards them.

"Move. As a higher model, I order you." he practically snarled, curling his fists into balls. "Follow the Bellator and kill the remaining exanimus and humans. Fail to do so and you will be brought before the iudicum as traitors."

Carnifex - The Executioner:

by **The Galactic Empire** 13th February 2015, 2:17 pm

Tallav called after the strangers, "Wait! Come back! We're here to help!" He ran after the people and disappeared around the corner.

"Dammit Tallav stay here!" Leed yelled after his comrade who then was out of sight. "Alpha main we have a problem." Leed said into his comm device. "Alpha six just took off after some suspected sentients, humanoid. They didn't seem to be infected but they were armed, we saw four of them."
--
"Roger Bravo seven, hold position and keep in contact with Alpha six over comms." Captain Reyes ordered Leed. "Sir, who is that?" He said as he pointed towards the alien tampering with the power core.

"You!" General Torc yelled towards the stranger. "Hands up where we can see them." Torc and Reyes had their weapons pointed at the person at the controls, everyone else was scanning the room for any other people.

"We're here to help you, we received your distress call on the messenger ship. I think Younger was his name, the man who sent the message." Captain Reyes explained to the stranger.

by **Taiothle** 13th February 2015, 2:21 am

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The few stormtroopers that stayed behind would soon find out who else they were up against, besides the exanimus. At the entrance, three red spheres lit up and stood still. They moved forward in unison and stopped several yards away from the stormtroopers. They were about 4'5", suggesting they were young, but they weren't intimidated by the armed squad in front of them. They just stared, silent and aware. In their hands were handheld blasters, though none of them were activated at the moment.

The three small beings stood and watched intensely at the stormtroopers ahead. They seemed to be observing. After a few minutes, someone slightly taller appeared behind them. Those red eyes meant that it had been the creature carefully watching and following them as they went around the facility. He definitely appeared young. Perhaps around 13-15.

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"What are they, Stahle?" the boy asked, as if someone with an answer was nearby. None of the three in front of him replied. The boy then nodded, before shaking his head and receding back into the shadows. The three one-eyed beings then began moving forward again before turning left and disappearing down the hallway.

Aut Iudex:

At the power core, someone else was waiting. The power core was definitely on. However, it was quickly losing energy. In front of the large cylinder was another being, the same size as those others. He was leaning against the railing, hand extended to face the power core. He seemed to be tampering with it from the inside.

by **The Galactic Empire** 13th February 2015, 1:22 am

"Bravo main this is Alpha main," Torc said into his helmets comm device, "I'm starting to believe our adversary may be sentient. Everyone on full alert, activate bio's." Bios referred to both their armor's environmental protection capabilities as well as their helmet's ability to detect and show living organic matter through an equivalent of four feet of durasteel, very expensive pieces of equipment reserved for the Empire's special forces.
--
"Roger that Alpha main. Be advised, we're finding corpses with obvious blast marks from energy weapons.. some of them are recent." Captain Reyes replied.
--
"Bravo main, meet us in the CC at the bottom of the shaft, we don't need to split up like this with an unknown enemy of unknown composition."
--
"Roger Alpha main. ETA T minus three." Captain Reyes replied, he turned to his team, "you heard the man, fall back to the shaft and regroup with Alpha." Before leaving, Bravo's medic took samples from several of the bodies in secure containers, they then began to make their way back to the shaft, being careful to cover their rear as they proceeded.
--
A few minutes later the two teams reunited in the command center.

"We're going to the power core, there we will reinstate power to the whole facility. Kase!" Torc turned to one of the Stormtroopers.

"Yes Sir?" He replied.

"Kase, I want you to set up a mobile feed to the facilities internal security grid. I want security camera access, door control, energy distribution, everything." Torc ordered.

"I'll get right on it, Sir. But I can't promise access to everything." Kase immediately got to work installing a mobile feed device inside the control room's security console.

"Just get what you can Kase. Surik, Leed and Tallav will stay here to cover Kase while he works on the mobile uplink. The rest of us will go to the power core, keep comms open at all times and report anything unusual. Once you've finished the uplink, head to the power core and regroup with us." Torc added.

Surik was a heavy weapons specialist and was armed with a large blaster mini-gun, Leed was a crack shot and focused on precision weapons, while Tallav carried a standard assault blaster with quick draw attachments. The three left behind could handle most anything that could be thrown at them, at least that was what Torc was hoping.

Torc and the others began to make their way to the power core.

by **Taiothle** 12th February 2015, 9:10 pm

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Bravo Team encountered quite a number of corpses throughout their route. Some of them were recent, and were definitely not killed by anything that used its claws or teeth. They had been shot to death. As they moved, the members of the team would feel as if they were being constantly stalked by something that moved too fast to be seen. It reacted to every movement that the stormtroopers made, so that it wouldn't be caught.

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Captain Torc's team later arrived at the command center of the subterranean settlement. For some strange reason, it was clean, except for a few scattered papers and small devices. One could say it was untouched, even. What was even surprising was the fact that this sector and those nearby had power. Only, to the right of the door was a man. He was armed, but dead. In his chest were three large holes. Around the holes, his clothing was burnt, which suggested death by plasma or laser weapon. Whatever had killed him was still in the facility, lurking.

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At the end of the round command center was a door that led to the cartography module. It was also powered. The hologram showed a map of Sheridan Prime and several other planetoids. A red circle on Sheridan Prime's moon suggested that there was an outpost of some kind on that planet. The large T above the red circle meant it was an outpost of the Taiothlean Union. Across Sheridan Prime itself were several symbols that looked like hornets.

Back at the command center, all the screens, originally bright orange, had turned blue with the hornet symbol set in the middle. The lights dimmed slightly, then turned off. Only the command center panels had power now. Something somewhere had messed with the settlement's core generators. They weren't destroyed. Simply shut off. This only meant that something with a working brain was messing with Torc and his squad.

by **The Galactic Empire** 10th February 2015, 12:19 pm

General Torc considered their options, he could either blast a whole in the entrance shaft and they could repel down it, or they could reactivate the power core and access the facility that way.

"Alright men, we're not going to activate the power core. We will force our way into the facility by cutting any doors we need to. In my experience, turning the lights on always brings out the infestation and we sure as hell don't want that. Instead of blasting that shaft open we'll cut a hole large enough for us to repel through and seal it behind us. Gronsky, I know you're good at precision cutting of blast doors, make it happen." General Torc ordered.

"Yes sir." Gronsky replied as he rifled through his assault pack for his cutting tools.

Using their jetpacks they got on top of the structure and found the door through which their message ship had escaped. Lieutenant Gronsky got to cutting through the door which melted like butter under his plasma cutter and expert hands. A magnetic clamp allowed Gronsky to pull the cut slab out of the door without losing it to the shaft, he set it to the side and peered down through the shaft.

"How does it look in there?" General Torc asked.

"It's dark as hell in there sir, can't really see much." Gronsky grabbed a bolt that was sitting around nearby and dropped it down the shaft. He looked at the time display in his helmet's HUD and counted the time it took to reach the bottom.

"We have enough rope?" Captain Reyes asked.

"Yes sir." Gronsky replied.

"Ok then, we'll repel down the shaft and split into two teams of fifteen. Captain Reyes, you'll be in charge of Bravo group. Pick a level once we're inside the shaft and investigate. I will take Alpha down to the bottom and find the control center, maintain subspace contact at all times. If communication should be severed for more than twenty minutes make your way back to the shaft and we'll regroup. We don't know if these things have a hive mind so be cautious, kill on sight only if they see you. They may look like they're still alive but they wont be, and we don't exactly expect to find survivors either. Keep your wits about you and make the Emperor proud." General Torc ordered.

They entered the shaft and Gronsky sealed it behind them to keep anyone, or anything, from coming in behind them. Captain Reyes entered the fourth level underground through a maintenance hatch with Bravo behind him, and General Torc took Alpha to the bottom of the shaft. Thankfully, they had night vision built into their helmets as well as infrared so the darkness would not be an issue. Each group had a sonar scanner to detect movement beyond and inside walls.

---
Bravo Team cautiously advanced down a corridor of the third level in the underground facility, all communication was quieted to only be heard from inside their helmets. They found dead along the way, scanning them to check for any ongoing biological activity that would suggest they were infected or being infected. Several of the bodies were mangled and disfigured from the infection, but they had seen far worse in their days and were un-phased.

---
Alpha Team reached the bottom of the shaft, they could still hear Bravo Team and knew they, too, would find dead and infected. General Torc lead the way to the command center of the facility.

by **Taiothle** 10th February 2015, 3:43 am

The area from which Younger's comrade exited the atmosphere was way North of Sheridan Prime, and this was where General Torc and Havoc Squad was. They had landed in a pine forest. The fog was up to their knees, but they wouldn't have to worry about any exanimus, as they hadn't encroached into this area just yet. Even still, they stayed alert. After regrouping and advancing, they find themselves within the inner ramparts of what used to be the surface sector of Younger's settlement. Apparently, this became the entry point for the exanimus. All over the grounds were frozen corpses and burning vehicles. Many of the bodies were human. Right in front of General Torc was the body of a young girl. It appeared that she had been shot, to keep her from a painful death at the hands the exanimus.

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To one side of the facility was an entrance. Next to it, a square shaft with supporters along the walls. This had been the Launch shaft that the ship with the message came out of. The entrance led to an elevator that would likely lead to the subterranean settlement. But it was closed, and there was no power. Luckily, there was a control tower to the Southeast side of the compound. If they could activate the compound's core from there, the entire facility would be powered up.

by **The Galactic Empire** 10th February 2015, 12:07 am

Stormtroopers landed in assault craft and surrounded the downed starship while a scanning crew was dispatched. Emperor Askaari was immediately notified and made the decision to personally inspect the downed starship. It did not take long for the scanning crew to determine the starship and its contents no longer posed any threat, several Stormtroopers entered ahead of the Emperor just to be certain. The Emperor entered through an airlock the Stormtroopers had blasted open.

"Your Highness, we have accessed the data archives and have discovered a message." A Stormtrooper reported.

The Emperor watched the video and convened a meeting with his Admirals and Warlords in the palace on New Coruscant. The Imperial council consists of the highest ranking Admirals, the four Warlords, and the Grand Moff of the Moff Council. They are seated in a grand circular hall with all members sitting in positions of equality, except for the Emperor of course who was seated at an elevated level. A total of 100 Imperial officers were seated in the chamber.

"We have a mandate to assist those in need, regardless of political alignment or distance." Warlord Koth stated angrily in reply to an Admiral's comment.

"We have the resources to fight a war and win against the Taiothle Cluster, but we don't need a stain like this on our foreign relations." Admiral Jaax argued.

"What about a covert operation?" The Emperor asked.

"Your Highness, we could take that course of action but if discovered we could not guarantee extraction of the strike team. We would spend a substantial amount of time and resources attempting to return them to Imperial custody. And that's only if they decide not to kill them outright." Grand Moff Tursin replied.

"That's acceptable losses considering a branch of the human race is facing extinction at the hands of the plague. We have encountered things like this before and are familiar with the methods necessary to eradicate it. We could do great good for these people, if not by rescuing them but by eventually driving this plague to extinction. Then perhaps someday they could return to their home world because as it stands, Sheridan Prime is uninhabitable." Warlord Koth added.

"We will take covert action to assist the humans of Sheridan Prime. I have already made my decision, but I need a recommended unit for this assignment." The Emperor declared.

"Your Highness, I would like to recommend my ODST's. We can drop them in from orbit, and if they are captured it does not matter, considering they are merely lifeless husks following the programming we give them." One Admiral spoke up.

"As useful as ODST's are in infiltrating enemy forces, they are useless for missions like this. They lack ingenuity and if I needed a rescue I surely would have no confidence in their abilities to keep me whole and alive." Warlord Koth commented to the Admiral's dismay.

"Surely the 501st Stormtrooper Legion could handle a mission of this caliber. They have honorably served the Empire with undying loyalty since before the formation of the first Empire more than forty years ago. Even in his advanced age of sixty, General Torc has proved again and again that he is fully capable of commanding soldiers on the front line and even fighting in close quarters. The 501st is our most elite unit and it would be folly not to utilize their abilities for this mission." Admiral Jaxx offered his recommendation.

"I too, have great confidence in the abilities of the 501st. My personal guard are selected from the 501st... it is decided then. We will dispatch a 501st strike team to Sheridan Prime immediately. I want General Torc to personally command this mission, the utmost secrecy must be kept in regards to this mission. I do not fear the Taiothle Cluster and their inferior capabilities, but we can't afford to lose even the smallest fraction of support for the Empire. Too much rests on our shoulders to be forced to deal with such petty issues as their insistence on complete and un-negotiable quarantine of the planet." The Emperor commanded as he rose, everyone else in the council also rose and then bowed as the Emperor left the chamber.

A strike team of thirty 501st Stormtroopers was dispatched along with a cloaking Star Destroyer. The ISD Vengeance would take the strike team to Sheridan Prime and launch the 501st team in orbital drop pods. After the situation is assessed for what it is, and survivors are located, extraction shuttles will hot drop through the planet's atmosphere and extract the survivors. The survivor extraction must take place within a twenty minute window or risk detection by Taiothle patrols in the area. The Vengeance will and can remain cloaked through the entire mission, only the shuttles can be detected once they are launched which is the reason for the twenty minute window.

---
The ISD Vengeance, cloaked, entered orbit of Sheridan Prime. Due to the cloaking technology necessary to cloak such a large vessel, the Star Destroyer's sensors were disabled and could not effectively scan the planet's surface. Instead, the Strike Team would be dropped in the general vicinity of the message starship's origin.

General Torc walked between two rows of 501st Stormtroopers with his helmet removed. General Torc was so torn by war he barely looked human, he had fought 9 wars and in two different galaxies. General Torc was the oldest, and most decorated, Imperial combat veteran to ever live. The 30 men he selected were the best of the best, Havoc Squad as they were called.

"Listen up men!" The General shouted and the room echoed. It was small compared to other rooms on the Star Destroyer, but it contained the drop pods through which they would travel through the planet's atmosphere. "We're going into an unknown area with unknown hostiles. They will infect you, they will destroy and replace your DNA with their own disgusting impurities! We're Imperial damn it! Whether you are a clone soldier or a birth soldier you're an Imperial, and the blood of an Imperial is sacred! It shall not be wasted on something as insignificant and repulsive as this infestation we seek to fight today. I've fought similar opponents in our very own Origin Galaxy. Anyone familiar with Roan Fel?"

The men nodded their heads in agreement.

"Good, then you know that we met with Lord Vader who the ordered the murder of all survivors of that infestation. The second biggest cover up of Palpatine's, right next to the Yuuzhan Vong of course. This infestation is serious business and is not to be taken lightly. Anyway, you all know the plan... there isn't really a plan. The extraction is all that counts, if we are detected you can consider this game over for you. The Emperor has said he will disavow us as rogues operating outside of his authority and that is what we are to say we are if captured. If we are caught we wont ever be going home, and I'd be one hell of a cellmate should YOU be the one to mess this up! Is that clear!"

"Yes sir!" The Stormtroopers replied with force.

"Good, now get in your pods we drop in five." General Torc ordered.
---
The pods dropped towards the surface, small enough to look like small meteors on any long to medium range scanners. Boosters ignited to slow their descent and the pods landed with thuds as they hit the ground hard. The doors blew open upon impact and the Stormtroopers destroyed the pods and any Imperial markings. They did not land close to each other so they had to regroup before starting their mission, which they did quickly. Havoc squad moved to an observational range of the facility and scanned for any signs of hostiles.

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by **Taiothle** 9th February 2015, 5:25 pm

OOC: This RP Is supposed to be between me and GE. This is sort of planned out, which is why the drifter crashed on New Coruscant. By entering the Taiothlean System and trying to approach the quarantined planet with an armed force you are violating the law imposed by Sheridan Prime's closest neighbors. They will attack you.

Because this is being planned out I can't have any other players. But since it seems to gain lots of interest, I'll make a similar RP. However, it will be character-based.

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