The Thief's Serpents

Lord Invictus · The Thief's Serpents

((I always come up with the worst names. Anyway, read the discussion to join. It's a pretty straightforward roleplay, and shouldn't be too difficult to manage.... hopefully, I'll- or we'll- find a way to keep Jedi/Sith characters from becoming too hostile...))

The Geonosian silently hovered through the huge metal doors to the "command room"; a towering metal spike into the Felucian sky. He almost immediately fell to the floor, flying up at high speeds to what seemed to be his death until the elevator abruptly halted at the top floor.

The businessman man emerged from the elevator nearly unharmed, making his way- escorted by huge guards, of course, to the command table. He could almost feel the spire twist as the wind swerved it in multiple directions, nearly throwing him off his balance. But the mighty Geonosian- Ma'ou Pulaiun- simply hovered onward to the command table, seating himself in the metal chair opposite of his partner in business.

"Ma'ou," the Neimoidian greeted, picking a dust particle from his silk robes.

"Tehyrii," the Geonosian greeted with a near hostile tone. "You called a meeting with me. Why? What have you to offer?"

"Your militia forces in the outer rim are growing stonger, Ma'ou. With the proper weapons and funding we could forge an entire empire! I have just created the perfect weapon for your new dynasty. With your exile from Geonosis, you've taken a liking to Felucia, and I understand a bloody war is being waged by you against the inhabitants of the planet for survival. Behold my creation."

Amongst thousands of near microscopic words Ma'ou managed to read all he was capable of:

"What is this?" he hissed, tossing the paper back.

"The slugthrower here is technologically superior to nearly any made before, and is cheap and available for your militia," the Neimoidian Tehyrii stated. "In days your force could be geared with these, and have several ships... perhaps an armored transport as well. You will be able to conquer and eliminate all on the planet, and I will assist in forging the empire."

"The costs?"

"Avenge me."

_______________________________

Invictus' fighter gently hovered above the Felucian atmosphere, stroking the enormous jungle spores as it passed by. Below him, hordes of armed Felucians fled in terror- a usual feature of a Sith fighter hovering above, ready to demonstrate its destructive capabilities. However, Invictus had next to no desire for mindless destruction. He we here to destroy for a reason.

Geonosians. Disgusting slime. Disgusting slime and good manufacturers as well. They could be bought out, and as the Sith Empire and the Republic's relations tensed, a manufacturer of weapons and ships would be a key weapon in a nation's arsenal in the present arms race.

However, Geonosis was a planet with its own troubles as well, and they managed to let slip into the Republic and Sith (both attempting dealings with the neutral nation) that a wanted rebel, Ma'ou Pulaiun, was fleeing to Felucia with his rogue army, slaughtering the inhabitants.

Invictus was part of a Sith expeditionary force sent to the planet to investigate the incident... or, more accurately, he wasn't. All the more reason to come. However, there was always the worry of Jedi investigators as well...

Invictus sped forward, following the crowds of armed natives. Then something happened he didn't expect. Felucians made a last screech, falling over to the ground as bullets and artillery struck them down.

Artillery? Invictus thought.

A rusted out of date Imperial transport lumbered forward, blasting Felucians out of the way as Geonosian soldiers moved in, firing some sort of bullet-rifle weapon at the natives.

Invictus sent a few warning laser "bullets" at the Geonosians, unintentionally firing a missile below the transport. The walker twisted to one side, its legs almost buckling, but it managed to stand and get back into position, firing a missile into Invictus' fighter.

The standard Sith fighter twisted in circles, firing lasers everywhere as it's wing was blown off. It punctured a fungal spore and crumbled apart, Invictus toppling out the side, semi-conscious.

"Unit 77?" came a radio transmission. "Lord Invictus?"

Invictus managed to push his head close to the radio long enough for a last word before he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Ugh."

Rive Caedo

"They must have known the Republic wouldn't ignore this." Mithain Shido moved his hand in small figure eights, causing his lightsaber to mirror the motion only two or three inches in front of his hand. If the lightsaber was activated it would be a fairly impressive display of a complex blocking technique at angles not normally achievable with a the weapon confined to a hand's grip.

Satisfied that his technique had only faltered marginally in the past 3 hours of being unable to practice due to briefings, Mitain allowed the hilt to drift back into his hand and sat down, "I don't care why they're slaughtering the life here. I'll stop them."

The Jedi insertion craft entered Felucia's atmosphere.

Lord Embeion

The cold man sat atop his throne in the Sith Council chambers. The room was dark and below freezing. The only light emitted in the room was from the hologram he was holding. You were lucky to see the tip of your nose. If you were lucky enough that you didn't catch frostbite from your own breath then you would surely go mad from the darkness. But this man was different, his heart was colder and darker. Only the Dark Side of the Force could keep a life alive in such conditions. If he had a life, it might do him good.

Embeion spoke firmly "Has Lord Invictus arrived yet?"

"Yes Sir! Our intelligence agent has informed us Lord Invictus has made contact on the planet." said the Officer.

"Good! Very Good!" Embeion paused "That will be all Admiral, return to your assault on the Outer Rim"

"Yes sir!" replied the pale man

The holo shut off and the room was pitch black. A loud tick went off and a series of torches lit the room revealing a Sith standing before Lord Embeion. His dark hood shrouded his face and draped to the floor giving the effect he was levitating rather then standing. You could clearly tell he was a Zabrak by the raised pointy material on his head.

"Darth Eclipcer, ah! I'm enlightened to see you still walking."

"Lord" Darth Eclipcer responded in a low dead voice.

"Your mission is to track Lord Invictus. HE MUST NOT FAIL!" The Dark Lord took grip of himself "Go! now"

Darth Eclipcer took his bow and walked away.

Lord Invictus

"Ugh..." Invictus grunted again, rolling into the mud.

The Sith Lord picked himself up, stretching slightly. The ship exploded again, a chunk of metal bashing the Lord in the back.

Invictus turned in anger, crushing the ship almost ritualistically with his outstretched, force-filled hand. Satisfied with his minor outburst of anger, the Lord ((I sound Gospel-ish here...) proceeded to exit his destroyed pile of junk, slipping down the hill.

Opening his com-link to command, Invictus spoke into it. The Sith didn't enjoy speaking to command on occasions like this- being beaten down in an area he wasn't supposed to be at wasn't going to get Invictus any favor with the Dark Lord Embeion.

"Command?"

"Czcsh..." was the static response. "In... Czxsh. -us? Sta- czzzh- s?"

"My ship has crashed, I was shot down by some sort of walker..." Invictus stated. "It's probably from the days of the Empire. The Geonosian threat here is larger than expected. I still feel the Sith troops here can disable it. The walker is damaged- more so now that a missile has made contact with it- but is still mobile. I have maps of the area, and I'm heading to the Felucian village to rest and perhaps find reinforcements."

Invictus closed the comlink, trotting downhill toward the nearby Felucian village.

Kad

Kad had heard the crash of Invictus's ship. He flipped on his jetpack to see over the tall brush. He saw fire rising, slowly setting down he started to jet jump towards it. Bam! A tree next to Kad fell down and hit him. He fell out of the air and rolled around. He jumped to his feet and faced the direction the missile came from, looking down his scope he saw a Genosian with some sort of launcher. He trained his DC-15x scope on the attacker and shot, the figure dropped from sight. Then turning toward the crash he started to sprint.