You all know the rules, new players welcome, yadda yadda.

Last time on "The Cantina": "Deac! NOOOO! Muhahaha! I'm Cracken Reborn and you all will die!" "Deac Starkiller! I need your help!"


*A cowled figure sits in the cantina, sipping a Terkiom Electrode, a drink that would normally give humans horrible electric shocks. He notices the gargoyle enter.*

Scanning Memory: Subject-Termand Rwos-my...my friend.

The Deac Starkiller you will remember is gone....

*The figure removes his cowl. A scarred, cybernetics covered section is shown, but the rest of the face has been reconstructed with synthflesh. It is unmistakably-

Deac Starkiller* [Bet you saw this coming, huh?]

Rwos...I'm sorry you thought I was dead. But I was recovered by scavengers after the battle, and taken to a cybernetic reconstruction lab. Then I came here. I heard the news, but it's not all bad.
I can still use the force.

*Deac notices that Rwos' face is set, not responding to him. Then he notices that the rest of the people in Cantina do not notice Rwos either. Then Rwos looks directly at him....and shakes his head. He moves his lips, but Deac can't hear the words; Now I'm hallucinating.

Rwos turns and walks directly through several of the other bar's patrons to a corner of the cantina. He raises his hand and telekinetically picks up a device he had attached to the wall of the Cantina long ago. With a wave, he moves the device towards himself. It flashes blue and becomes intangible as it approaches Rwos' body, as if passing through a field. Rwos catches the device and attaches it to his belt, next to his teleporter. He mouths more words. That's the last of the markers...and the last time I visit this place for all time. Now I have only one thing left to do before I leave this dimension...vengeance.

Rwos walks out of the Cantina, still oblivious to Deac's voice. He passes through several more oblivious people on his way out. He does not look back.

Someone else grabs Deac's arm.*

Deac Starkiller! I've been waiting for you! Wait...are you Deac Starkiller?

*Rwos is now long gone*






((OOS: I want Rwos to go after Cracken for the time being...and my new character, Starr Hailfire, needs your help, Deac and other Cantina-ers! Don't worry, all shall come together in the end ;)

EDIT: You can see Rwos because you're a cyborg I presume. He's phased out with his teleporter like in the ending of the Cantina 4

Re-Edit: Can I invite some people from other forums to join the Cantina? I think it might make things more interesting. :)

FOR NEW PEOPLE:

The rules are:

You pick a character, state your name, race, occupation, and what you are carrying. (Up to 10 items) Old players don't need to post character data (unless asked for, I guess?). Remember to state who you're replying to. Try to keep in character.
No killing other players in just one post. If you have a dispute with a player here, take it somewhere else!

Note: These are the original Cantina rules, modified due to thread evolution. :D

/end OOS))

*Flax' etheral vissage apears.*

Flax: Deac I hope you still have my saber!

*Flax extends a hand, a bolt of white lightening shoots out of Deac's chest*

*The bolt enters Flax, and he promtly dissapears.*

(OOS: Can you gues whats coming next?)

*Flax calmly walks into the bar, he goes up to the bar.*

Flax: Lomin Ale!

*Flax collects his drink and sits down next to Deac*

Flax: So kid, can I have my saber back?

Starr Hailfire, reformed mercernary, Force adept. Human. Carrying a blaster rifle, ammo, customized datapad and comlink, crimson lightsaber, miniature Hailfire missile launcher, and a few other tools of the merc trade. Has come to seek out the great Deac Starkiller, genetically engineered Jedi, for guidance, training, and help on an as yet undisclosed mission...

((OOS: Umm, Battledog? Did you intend to delete one of those posts? *puzzled*))

Seeing Deac and this unkown person. Odin walks over and sits down and in an urgent tone of voice says. "God Deac you look like hell, anyways I need you to come with me. If the new person wants to come along that is fine, but we need to go now"

(A snippet of conversation raises it's volume level loud enough to be heard by the patrons sitting at the table. Two old drunks are sitting around talking about someone new...)

Drunk 1: So, who's the new guy? He looks like hot stuff. But who knows with kids these ::hiccup:: days? At least his ship is nice.

Drunk 2: Yeppers. I hear his name is somethin' like Watani... no, Lakadi... no... uh... umm...

#1: Oh wait! (He has to pause, as he rebalances himself on the bar stool) I've heard of this kid. His name is Chass, he said, misprounouncing the first syllable of his last name to sound like "Chase" instead of the correct "Case." Katani Chass.

#2: No. That can't be it. (Sits at the bar puzzling to himself over what the name of this enigmatic person could be, oblivious that the correct one had already been given.)

#1: (Now standing, walking over to Chass. As he does, he starts talking to the rest of the customers at the bar, telling the story he'd heard about this youngster.) Katani Chass comes from Kuat. But, dissatisfied with the life of men on Kuat, he left. Since then he's been on the run from Kuati officials for the alleged robbery of over 90 million credits in hard currency and jewels from a distinguished Kuati family. Obviously this must be why he wears such an obvious disguise! (With this he reaches Chass and pulls off the wig of long blonde hair Katani wears, revealing the short cropped black that is natural to the young man.) Now, said the drunk, rumor has it that this man is very dangerous. He has hopped from system to system, looking for a way to exact venegance on the Kuati nobles and everyone in the galaxy who has ever told bad jokes. Unfortunately for Katani, he doesn't have the power of the Force to guide him, or any fancy muscles or anything else, although rumor has it he'll give you hell in a starfighter. All he carries is the body armor he wears and a rather unique weapon: the CoRonal Electroincendiary Device, or CRED for short. Perhaps you'd care to give us a demonstration of this great weapon Mr. Chass?

Katani: Sure. (With that he reaches under his coat, pulling out a weapon of similar shape and size to that of a blaster rifle, though far more concealable. He quickly snaps gun up to aim at the ceiling, then slowly lowers it to point straight at the drunk's chest. The drunk must have been more drunk than Katani thought, he never even moved. Slowly, almost melodramatically, he pulls the trigger. When it reaches the firing point, flash emits from the muzzle, and the drunk is thrown back about ten feet into a table. What is more shocking though, is the transformation that the drunk undergoes as he flies that short distance. In the half second it took him to get from one point to another, all of his skin melted, all small pieces of flesh (eyes, nose, fingers, ears) burned to a crisp and his internal organs exploded, leaving blood to pour from his bodily orifices, which quickly turned to a red steam upon leaving the body. All in all, a rather grisly death.) So, Katani continues, like the man said, I'm looking for revenge. And the only person I can think of who can take on the Kuati nobles, outside of Darth Vader, and I'm pretty sure he's already dead, is Deac Starkiller...

*Starr leaps up from beside Deac Starkiller*

*to Katani* Hey! You just killed that man! *ignites his crimson lightsaber* You can't do that!

*Ignites his silver saber across Starr's throught.*

Flax: Easy there friend. Lesson one, Jedi don't kill neadlessly.

*Flax brings his saber down across Katani's weopon. He slices the first third of the muzzle off, rendeering the weopon useless.*

Rwos is leaving...damn...my friend...gone...but I know it's not because of me. It's all that damned Cracken's fault.

Hey man...we don't kill needlessly here. *Clicks head, removing synthflesh shroud* [Deac is not fully borged, just some machinery in place of destroyed tissue and a few chips. The synthflesh covers almost all of the machinery on his exterior]

Why did you do that? I'm not in the mood for this right now, my friend just went after a real nasty guy and I intend to follow him. Anyone who wants to fry Warlord Cracken is welcome to follow!

*Deep in the heart of space, somewhere beyond the Outer Rim, a massive group of star ships could be seen. Upon closer, inspection, it's a grand Imperial Fleet... the entire Remnant fleet and then some. Some being a Super Star Destroyer, the Titan, and her escorts, it was much like the old days of grand Imperial might.

The time was now.
Tojo walked up to the command chair on the Titan , Cracken sitting in it*
Tojo: My lord, the fleet is assembled, our destination?
Cracken: Mon Calimari.
Tojo: yes, my lord.

*The fleet entred hyperspace. hours later, it appeared over Mon Calimari, destroying all resistance. the first Imperial strong hold. The Battle for Mon Calimari was short, the Calimari people and thier ship yards were no match for the fury of the TIE Defenders and the new TIE Vultures. Over the course of a few days, the Calimari ship yards were converted to produce Star Destroyers, and a new Super Star Destroyer was started, the Vengence.

Cracken smiled. he would retake every inch of this Galaxy, or destroy it...
Leaving a sizeable defense force behind, he began what his father requested. His grand tour of the galaxy, spreading his grand fleet to subjugate and control. His armies landed, taking cities and planets in thier wake. Kessel, Nal Hutta, All across the Outer Rim, planets one by one fell to the Imperial Armed Forces. The last planet to fall was Tatooine. Imperial troops landing, Closing on teh Cantina in Mos Eisly.
Cracken, in orbit over the planet, waved to Tojo. he noded, and gave the helm instructions. Head Core Ward.
The fleet again, entered hyperspace. The Shadow of the Empire once again fell over the Galaxy. AT Corellia, CorSec scrambled what defenses they had, but it wasn't enough. The Imperial Fleet was too large. Corellia surrendured, two cities bombed, and thier Security force all but gone.*

((OOS: This is sort of a prologue…what happened between the two Cantina threads))

Cracken's brutal and lightning offense took the Republic off guard. Within days, Mon Calamari was taken. Swiftly afterwards, Nal Hutta and Kessel were struck while the New Republic's fleet was still mobilizing. Now, just as the fleet is finally ready to take on Cracken, he has boldy appeared right in their presence and brought the entire force of the newfound Imperial might down on unsuspecting Corellia. That planet has fallen as well, the Republic's fleet is barely ready, …and the Empire is back under a Dark Lord of the Sith.

Termand Rwos, believing Deac Starkiller to be dead, killed by his own friends thanks to the Sith Lord Cracken, has bitterly done nothing but watch as the New Republic falls. He has collected all things he has left in this dimension as a way of severing his ties. As his last action before leaving forever, he wants only one thing; to kill Grand Admiral Cracken.

While all this has been going on, Deac Starkiller has been being reconstructed into a cyborg on Tatooine. Even as these events are taking place, Corellia has just fallen.

----------

*Rwos enters hyperspace outside Tatooine. Destination: Corellia.*

Time to pay, Cracken.

Around the cantina, as Katani's CRED was sliced apart and rendered uselsess, cloaked heads begin to look up. The commotion is more than enough to draw the attention of everyone in the bar, yet this group of beings all look extremely similar. Their steely grey skin, their protruding jaws. Hailfire gets it first.

Starr Hailfire: Those are Noghri...

Chass: Well, I see I can't get anything by you, now can I? Yes, that's right. You see, that little introduction that was just given was for the sole purpose of distracting everyone so that these friends of mine could get into place.

It becomes obvious now, as the Noghri shake off their cloaks, that there are more than the group in the middle can deal with. Twelve of them are arranged in a loose circle, and from the number of guns poking through aiming holes, there were at least five more behind closed doors.

Katani: You must understand, Deac Starkiller, that you are a wanted man. Your exploits are famous throughout the galaxy, and into places beyond, and many people want you dead. Including the ruling nobles of Kuat. This "person" that I just fried was really a droid...well mostly. He did have some living parts to him, so I guess you'd call him a cyborg. But he'll never be missed. He was hardly even sentient, just made to look so. So, unless your friends believe they alone can take on the significant number of Noghri here, as well as the fleet in orbit, I 'd suggest you surrender. You, I must bring back alive, but your friends won't be so fortunate should they resist.

The question hung silent in the air for a moment, as everyone awaited Deac's answer.

Look, you scum sucking filth, I want to help the Republic, and I'm not going to get some OTHER power hungry noble get in my way. Besides you don't want a clan war with

*Shows crest* House Starkiller of Atredis, formally House Talon.

Now, everybody, we're leaving. I've heard the Republic needs help.

*The noghri attempt to block Deac's escape by throwing a dagger in his back. Deac withdraws it and sighs*

Your butcher blades do nothing to cold adamantium , so I advise you to leave if you don't want to help.

*Flax raises the Noghri off the ground, he contricts their wind pipes just enough to prevent them from putting up a fight.*

*As the crew leave Flax lets the Noghri drop, none too gently.*

*In a breifing room aboard the Titan, which was now stiull in orbit over Corellia, Cracken's Admiral Tojo was briefing him on the current military action and successes.*
Tojo: Most of the old sectors have been re-established, with the refugee Imperial Govoners back into power. The Moff system is re-established as well, as old Imperial Alliances are coming back into our fold, with our recent sucess.

Cracken: and the Outer Rim?

Tojo: just a few outlier star systems are still not under Imperial control...*Tojo dimmed the lights, and a map of teh galaxy appeared* Sernpidal, Almania, Endor, and Helska are still under Republic flags, however, battle groups are en route to restore the Empire there. Inner Rim, Bilbringi has sworn alligence to our side. they have started producing fighters, as well as our Star Destroyer Class warships. My lord, the Empire is fully entrenched in the Galaxy. The Repub...

Cracken: what word from Kuat?

Tojo: they... um.. haven't responded, my lord.

Cracken: then that is our destination. Make ready your fleet, Admiral.

Tojo: yes, my lord.
*Tojo walks out to make preparations. Cracken stayed inside the briefing room, stareing at the galactic map. His fathers Holocron said that any action taken against the Republic would result in Kuat's uptmost support in the cause. Troubling. but no longer a problem. Kuat would join his cause. Or be eliminated.*

*Starr waves his unfolded missile launcher threateningly at the stunned noghri on his way out, then turns his attention back to Deac*

So you are the great Deac Starkiller! I bet you see things like this every day, don't you? I know you can help me now...and I certainly need help. You know the guy leading the Imperials right now? His name is Cracken, and he's a Sith lord...the Sith lord who brutally murdered my family... *Starr pauses with emotion* My parents had the gifts of the Jedi...the same gifts I inherited. They tried to stop Cracken, when I was just a baby. They fought, and Cracken won... When I grew up, I came back to my homeworld, to find my parents...still unburied...and holos left showing their deaths...*Starr appears to be fighting tears, then his expression turns to anger* I swore that I would destroy him. I learned as much as I could of the Jedi arts from my father's journal. I even built my own lightsaber. But I'm not powerful enough to confront Cracken. And lately, I've been getting visions of the Sith himself...taunting me...

[To Wuher] You can charge House Starkiller for this...

*Deac uses the force in a way never done before. He raises the floor around the Kuati to create a barred cell. The noghri rush to help their master, but it will take time to break him out.*

Let's be off party. Docking bay 82.

*Flax frowns*

Flax: Revenge isn't a motive for a Jedi, I won't train you till you are willing to let go of the vengance.

*Flax nudges Deac.*

My motive isn't vengeance! I just want to be left alone! Who are you, anyway? *to Flax*


----------


*Across the galaxy, Termand Rwos' fighter comes out of hyperspace in Corellian space. The Imperial fleet is dead ahead, moving to make the jump to beyond lightspeed.*

After breaking out of his makeshift cell, Katani broods at the bar. He realizes that Starkiller is far gone by now. When one of the Noghri questions whether he should follow Deac's party, Chass simply replies to the negative. Though the Noghri could catch them, he doubted they'd be able to take the whole lot of them. He'd underestimated someone's ablilities again. But now he swore that this would be the last time.

Chass: Team one; we're going to the ship. He takes out a comlink Rakkhran, prep for take off. He says, obviously talking to the ship

Somewhere in deep space, the entire protective fleet of Kuat, along with over three-quarters of it's civilians, all safe in their military transports, wait for the return of their leader, Katani Chass. They have abandoned Kuat not out of fear or cowardice, but because they simply didn't want to be there when the shooting started. You see, they had an ace up their sleeves.

Cracken's military fleet entered the Kuat system in a standard formation; a few lighter capital ships out front, with the main bulk safely behind. They are surprised though, when they find the planet to be all but deserted. In fact, the only thing giving life-form readings was a small, cyndrillical ship in the center of the ship yards, pointing in their direction.

The Last Chance was crewed by a few brave volunteers off of Kuat, no one had been forced to stay. Even though every Kuati from top of the ladder to bottom of the hierarchy thought this would work, the technology was still experimental. The fleet had arrived though, and systems were primed. There was no turning back now.

It started out small. What seemed to be a spark, even under distance magnification of the highest magnitude grew into a full-fleged cone of blazing white fire in a few seconds.

The Carrack-class Cruiser Spearhead was the first ship into a system when it accompanied the main Imperial task force. Though a dangerous position, the crew took pride in their position, and as a result had become a crack scout unit, able to pinpoint gaps and weakpoints in enemy defenses in seconds. This time had been no different. Well, except for the fact that the enemy seemed to have no defenses, save for that single ship left in the middle of the ship yards. The crew looked on curiously as the cone of fire grew toward them, and finally began to engulf their ship.

A wave of fire, looking for the world like some star gone nova in only one direction washed over the Spearhead, washing over all it's surfaces, covering every nook and cranny. Then, it was passed. And nothing seemed to have happened. The ship didn't even have any burn marks on it. It appeared the Last Chance had failed.

(Aboard the Last Chance )

The captain looks fervently around, checking his status monitors, even though he knows the radiation from the blast won't make anything remotely reliable for another fifteen seconds or so. Just then, a lieutenant called him over, to look a screen he'd just hacked to display images from the security cameras of the Spearhead. The Captain couldn't believe his eyes. Each camera switched views every ten or so seconds, which was good because that's all one could stand to look at any one of these images. Inside every room of the Spearhead, pasted to every floor, was at least one body. Their skin had been charred, their eyes, ears and hair burnt to a crisp, and on each, some part of their skin had split, to let spill out the roasting organs inside.

Katani Chass exited hyperspace about ten kilometers from the Kuati fleet moving at a signifcant fraction of the speed of light. He immediately recieved a hailing from the command ship Spirit of Kuat.

"Sir, this is Major Lee Taurin. We've just recieved word from the Last Chance. They say 'Mission accomplished.'

Flax: *Extends hand* General Taklin Flax, Jedi Master, pilot and Sith Exterminator.

Starr: *shakes Flax's hand* Starr Hailfire, Jedi adept. Former mercernary. You name it, I can blow it up. Unless it's got people...I don't like to kill. I'm looking for someone to train me in the ways of the Jedi...all I know has come from my father's old books.

*to Deac* Hey, I knew your friend Termand Rwos once...whatever happened to him?

*Cracken watches as his fleet is being dismantled by the Kuat Defense Corps new weapon. His anger boiled*

Cracken: TOJO, Enter Hyperspace IMMEDIATLY to Coruscant.

Tojo: My lord, it's too early, we cannot retri...

Cracken: The Force will aid us. My Fathers project will be operational, and in our hands, the KUAT will pay DEARLY for thier treason!

ENGAGE!

*Tojo, now fearing for his life, nodded at the helm. The Mighty Imperial fleet now move to exit vector, and left the system.

Coruscant. Space lanes were crowded today, as the Republic was providing security check points. The latest Imperial Surgence gave alot of people reason to conduct anti-republic terrorist activities on the Capital world. However, they were not ready for this.
Near the third moon of Coruscant, the Imperial fleet exited hyperspace, in a defensive array. The massive starships went into a sphere formation around the moon, as if something dear was on it.*
*Cracken tapped a panel on his command chair aboard the Titan, and spoke*
Cracken: Engage protocal 9714, confirmation, Crimson Star.
*The Massive Super Star Destroyer engaged it's engines, it's helm paniked. they didn't touch the controls! They look at thier lord, only to be shocked as they saw him smile.
A collision course had been set for the moon.... just when it looked as it was going to crash, the moon surface... moved. Like a giant docking bay. It opended up, and swallowed teh Super Star Destroyer, then closed.

An un manned station aboard the bridge suddenly sprung to life, and a team of scientist suddenly were on the bridge, and rushed to it. They looked at Cracken*

Hojo: My Lord, teh Crimson Star is in perfect condition. Engage the Magnetic fields, and the anti-matter generator?

*Cracken nodded, and Hojo pressed the control panel.
Suddenly, teh entire ship shook for a second, as the power magnetic generators kicked in. the lights flickered, then resumed. Outside, lights begain to flciker on, and a massive Generator could be seen. The Crimson Star's Anti-matter generator, it's magnetic field generator, and the power core. The combined mass filled the empty armored shell. the crew was amazed.

From teh outside, the Entire moon surface changed. it's largest crater recesed, and moved revealing a large cannon device. the anti matter launcher. More craters moved, revealing turbolaster, laser, and missle launchers. Three craters moved, revealing mobile tracking Superlasers. Suddenly, the moon began to turn! It rotated on it's axis, and came to bear on the Second Moon of Coruscant. It's Anti-Matter cannon flickered, then fired a deadly missile, no larger than a pen, at the moon.

Silence, the entire planet held thier breath.

A flash of light, so bright the entire planet was enguled in white. when the white cleared, the moon was gone. Across the moon side face of the planet, a massive shockwave could bee seen heading toward the planet. People panicked, running for thier homes, hoping for protection in thier feeble city. The shcok wave hit the upper shields, resounding a large boom, which destroyed several windows. it broke through, hitting the Lower shield, only to be dissapated. Coruscant's shields were out.
The Army scrambled for an invasion, but it never came. The Crimson Star, it's fleet, entered hyperspace.*

*Kuat. The kuati's were reveling in thier victory, when suddenly, a massive contact was seen on thier scopes. They saw teh Crimson Star for the first time. Panic set in, as they saw that a superlaser was pointed in thier direction.
A green laser eminated from the moon, destroying the Last Chance.
It tured it's Anti-matter cannon on the largest Moon colony of Kuat, and fired. Just like Coruscant, the moon dentonated in a briliant white flash, and the resulting shockwave actually struck the planet, cutting through several cities, leveling them. clouds of smoke and dirt could be seen from where the shockwave hit. the death toll was catastrophic. The cannon again, fired, this time directly at the planet, heading straight for Kuat's capital city. it hit. only the planet destroying blast was not created. a smaller detonation, destroying teh Kuati capital building, along with 7 blocks of city.

Kuat surrendured. The Empire had thier shipyards back.*

((OOS: Some of you will have to repost, some of the posts were lost in the merge))


*Deac seems to be lost in thought. Starr pokes him*

Starr: Where is Termand Rwos at the moment? I was so hoping to see him again...

----------

*Termand Rwos' fighter exited hyperspace in Kuat space, cloaking field activated, as the superweapon Crimson Star fired on the Last Chance. The blinding green beam of light annihilated the ship almost casually. Then the...moon's largest cannon rotated to bear on the colony moon behind the burning rubble of the Last Chance. Rwos' sensors registered a minitaure projectile loaded with only two grams of antimatter fired from the cannon and smash into the moon. The moon detonated in a blinding flash of light, and Rwos sensors showed the shockwave hit Kuat's surface. It actually forced the atmosphere out of the way in it's path, and screams erupted in Rwos' open comlink as the shockwave must have hit the ground. In horror, Rwos snapped his comlink off, even as the Crimson Star rotated it's cannon and snapped off a much smaller dose of antimatter at Kuat itself.*

Only enough to take out a few blocks...Sithspit. I don't believe it. The superweapon is real...and ultimate power is in the hands of a Dark Lord of the Sith. The same scum who killed Deac Starkiller...

*Rwos reactivated his fighter's drive system, and flew invisibly towards the flying moon overshadowing the Imperial fleet.*

*Cracken was on the bridge of the Titan, which was nestled inside the large super weapon. The Crimson Star worked perfectly. Kuat's surrender was nothing more than sucess. The viewports now were view screens, a hard line feed from cameras nestled in the weapons surface.*

Tojo: My lord, the Kuat surrendur is complete.

Cracken: Good! good. prepare the internal defensives. we will be expecting a visitor. in the meantime, prepare for a galactic boardcast via Holonet. I must address my new subjects.

*Cracken stood up, and walked to a Holo camera. a tech pointed at him. He was on.*

People of the galaxy. I am Dark Lord of the Sith Cracken, son of the late Emperor Palpatine. It was my fathers last request of me to regain what he lost so many years ago. the mighty Empire.

My father was misunderstood. he didn't want just power. He wanted peace. His system was a way to give that peace to the people, to stop such bickering and they fuedes in the burocracy that was the Old Republic. Even you new Republic suffers this very bickering in the new Senate. With me as Emperor, i shall put a stop to it.

Long gone are the old idealologies of my father, that non-humans are inferior. I embrace the non-human populace. my leading Admiral is a Chiss. My General, a Rodian. My science team hails from every corner of the galaxy, from every walk of life. In my rule, no non-human shall ever suffer the injustices that my father let happen. As my first act of Emperor, all persons or non-humans practicing the act of slavery of any species shall be imperisoned immediatly. No longer shall the Outer Rim be a haven for cheap free labor.

So, my people, rest easy. The galaxy is now a safer place to live.

*The tech turned off the camera, and saluted. Cracken smiled*

Rwos has left. He's going after Cracken, and we're going after them BOTH. We'll reach Corellia in a few hours. Get ready

*One of the party points to the Holoviewer. Cracken is making a speech (As in the above post). Deac moves to the comm sensor, and punches in a code*

Hahaha. I'm spiking you Cracken!

Cracken:...No non-human shall suffer...

(Deac's voice is suddenly broadcast)

It's like that already, Cracken. Your pointless propaganda won't repay the lives of the victims of your superweapon. In short,

Vote Cracken for Senless butchery, pain, suffering, and to satisfy his lust for power!

*Deac's face now appears, and the synthflesh comes back to reveal the circuitry*

You're responsible for this.

Katani Chass stood on the bridge of his command ship as he watched video from several different angles of the destruction of the Last Chance and subsequent decimation of the planet and surrounding moons. He was devestated. That truly had been their last chance. He sighed to himself as he considered his options. After the partial dismantling of the main Imperial fleet earlier, the Kuatis had been prepared to jump in and finish off what was left. But, since the arrival of that terrifying new superweapon, and even more startling, the announcement that the Empire had returned, Chass knew that resistance without help would be futile. He could jump in with all guns blazing, but he doubted that even Thrawn himself could have pulled off that kind of an upset. With a sigh, he realized what he had to do.

Chass: Mr. Lee, order the worst-case scenario evacuation order. Things are going to be rough for a while, but I believe we can get through it.

The Kuati fleet moved itself into a hyperspace position. Katani's only solace amongst this whole thing was that very few civilians from Kuat had died. Nearly all had been evacuated to the over one-thousand starships in the fleet. He gave the order, and in masses of thirties and forties the ships jumped to hyperspace, but where they would emerge would be a surprise to all but a few...

*Rwos' fighter flies invisibly into one of the moon's craters and hovers there silently, scanning the surface of the "moon" for a way in. There had to be an opening besides the weapons and drive stations...*

***

Starr: *expression of shock* CRACKEN! *he pushes next to Deac* YOU SCUM! YOU'LL PAY FOR MURDERING MY PARENTS! MONSTER! YOU SPIKED MY FATHER'S HEAD ON A POLE OUTSIDE MY HOME, JUST WAITING FOR ME TO FIND IT! I SWEAR IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO, I'LL BRING YOU DOWN! MY PARENTS DIED TO PROTECT THE INFORMATION THAT WOULD BE YOUR DOWNFALL...AND I AM THE CATALYST THAT WILL BEGIN IT! DESTINY, YOU MURDERER! DESTINY!

So Cracken, be afraid. Starkiller never fails. I destroyed the Imperial Research Facility on Lokpihet single handedly. You're responsible for such destruction.

You're going to hell.

Furro, Ido, Nokl, Nom Par.

The Kuati fleet emerged from hyperspace above a planet in the Unkown Regions. New Republic Surveys had given it only the designation NR-3100843, though to a more informal visitor, who knew what the proper entryways were, it would be known as Nhdaa'rr. Originally developed by the Chiss, but long forgotten, it had been utilized by Grand Admiral Thrawn as a secret research facility without any clearance level, because it quite simply didn't exist to anyone but him. Expounding upon the discoveries of the Scientist in the Maw installation, it had was an R&D outpost that was unkown even to the late Emporer. Thrawn hadn't used it during his return to civilized space though, because he hadn't wanted to reveal it's location, not to the New Republic, but to the more vicious alien species that lurked in areas yet undisclosed. Katani Chass, though, had friends in very high places. he'd stumbled onto this place simply out of coincidence, he was searching for a practical rendezvous point should a worst-case scenario, like the one that had just happened, occur. The inhabitants of Nhdaa'rr, though, were simply looking for news of the outside universe. They'd been unable to initiate contact with anyone for over 20 years, and they were beginning to get antsy. So, they made a deal. Chass would become the benificiary to all weapons designed within the outpost, and he would keep them updated and maintained through his connections in the Kuati government. From hence came the Last Chance. What Katani didn't know, however, is that the scientists still had one more ace up their respective sleeves or other appendage coverings. When he landed and told them the news of what had happened at Kuat, they said they needed a few more hours to discuss recent events before they made such a momentous decision. Katani had no idea about what they were talking, but he decided that now would be as good a time as ever to begin moving in the Kuati people. Nhdaa'rr would make a great home for the populace of Kuat. It had more than enough room, and the climate was almost paradisical.

When the scientists returned, they told Katani that they had come to a decision. They then asked him to follow them to a hangar Chass had always assumed to be empty. But the shielding on these hangars was second to none, so he could never be sure. The door opened slowly, in a melodramatic way that was straight out of the holovids, and there stood the most confusing thing Katani had ever seen.

It was roughly human form, though it's forty-meter height dispelled any notions of it being alive. Whenever the light caught a panel of it's armor, it threw rainbows about the room, causing every wall to be alive with color, giving the whole place a rather surrealistic feel, and offering an efective foil to the efficient machine of death that was this monstrosity. In one hand of the weapon was what looked to be the largest double-barreled rifle ever made, and to top it off, the head area was where the sensor clusters were kept. How quaint.

Katani: So, what does it do?

Scientist 1: I was hoping you'd ask. This project doesn't have a true name yet, though we were toying with Mirnacheem-hyeea, which, in some obscure alien dialect means Conqueror of Great Might or Conqueror without Equal. Basically, it's a human-cybernetic interface controlled machine of death. On it's shoulders there are a pair of turbolaser batteries, though I doubt you'll need them. On the back is a launch pack of several hundered baradium tipped missiles, enough to level several cities, but the true beauty of it is in the rifle. It's an electromagnetically powered railgun that fires projectiles which have a muzzle exit velocity speed of over 500 kilometers per second. It carries two types of ammo. One is a standard HE surface impact slug, effectively capable of taking down the fully-shielded bridge of a Star Destroyer in one shot. The other is slightly more powerful. It does not detonate upon impacting something, but usually continues another five-hundred kilometers or so, usually enough to penetrate that far into a planet's crust. Once there, it generates a nuclear-fission powered blast roughly equivalent to that of the reactor of the Second Death Star. Usually two of these is enough to destroy an entire planet, not that you'd ever do that, of course. The second barrel, while slightly less flashy, is no less efective. It fires a wide-beamed anti-circuitry pulse, which will render all electronics in a roughly two-kilometer line in front of you useless. Very handy if you don't want to kill anyone. The part I think you'll like the best though, is the armor. It is quite an improvement over the quantam armor that was on the Sun Crusher. I tell you now that you could take the wash of radiation from a star going supernova and not feel a thing. You should have no problems against this [/I] Crimson Star. There is only one problem though. That is the cybernetic implant. If you intend to pilot this to go after that Cracken, which I'm sure you do, you'll have to undergo an extensive surgery, which we can do right here, and then the training regimen. You should be ready to fly this baby within a day or so.

[I] Katani hated to wait that long, but he had no choice. So, just an hour later, he found himself preparing to go under the scalpel...

((OOS: I hate to rain on your parade, superthrawn, but:
"nuclear-fission powered blast roughly equivalent to that of the reactor of the Second Death Star"

-The DSII's core was a hypermatter reactor. Not nuclear fission.

"The part I think you'll like the best though, is the armor. It is quite an improvement over the quantum armor that was on the Sun Crusher. I tell you now that you could take the wash of radiation from a star going supernova and not feel a thing. You should have no problems against this Crimson Star."
-A superlaser can cut through quantum armor. Antimatter is much more potent.

If you intend to godmode, this isn't the place...go to Omnipresent Chaos. Otherwise, stick to the SW universe for "superweaponry"... /end OOS))


*Starr is breathing hard and attempting to clam himself down after his outburst. Suddenly his eyes open wide and he stares straight ahead*

Cracken, at this very moment you have a new enemy: House Starkiller of the Atredis System. I hope you're prepared.

End Transmission.

*The ship exits hyperspace at Corellia. A fixed battle wages on the outskirts of the system. The Command ship, an ISD2, looms into view. Deac pilots the ship toward the back of the bridge*

Ok team, prepare to breach and cause havok.

Starr: He isn't here. Cracken...he isn't here. *he stares ahead, straight at the wall, apparently seeing something there that none of the rest could see*

Flax: Corair Wing and the MC-85 DefianceII are inboud, until then looks like we're on our own.

Not looking for him. I 'm gonna rewire the ship on a course for Cracken's ship, self destruct on-of course.

*Rwos' scanners slowly appraised the moon. The crust bristled with turbolasers, ion cannons, missile launchers, microsuperlasers, and full-blown superlasers in the largest craters, with deactivated cloaking devices surrounding them. The moon's surface was covered in multiple layers of ray and particle shields; something that Rwos hadn't even seen in Coruscant's immense shields. Overkill. Whoever had designed this weapon had wanted take no chances. Sublight and hyperspace engines ringed its axis, all fully shielded as well. Five hypermatter reactors ringed around a master power core above the hollow core of the moon, powering the immense systems. Rwos' sensors detected millions of depowered construction droids blanketing the walls, attached to a monstrous durasteel outer shell around the moon's hollowed-out core. So that's how they built it...programming droids, deploying cloaks, and leaving the thing alone to finish construction on its own. In the middle of the moon was an overlarge Super Star Destroyer suspended in the center of the core, locked into place by an enormous clamp around its nose and huge struts attaching to it and feeding into its power core in an almost parasitic fashion. The ship and the moon were both generating magnetic fields, apparently a sort of clever lock and key to activate a third super-powerful magnetic field projected inside an immense shell covered with quantum armor; a shell containing a gigantic antimatter generator. A mind-boggling amount of molecular-armored torpedo shells of multiple sizes filled the base of the enormous cannon jutting from the shell out through the moon's largest crater. The antimatter cannon. That generator is enormous...and less than a decigram of this stuff could destroy an entire planet. As if the superlasers weren't enough to do the job...

*Cracken smiled at the head of a large conference table. Kuat's representitives sat, sullen, and depressed. A good half was missing. The ones that died in the attack on the Capital city, or the ones that managed to escape to... well, no matter.*
Cracken: so, gentlemen, the treaty is complete then? please, come here, and sign.
*Cracken motioned them to come forward, and they each signed the document. The official surrendure of Kuat and her shipyards. Cracken nodded to his aide, and she left, to inform his commanders of the order. To make the ship yards to produce Imperial Fighters and capital ships immediatly. *

Cracken: well, good day gentlemen, you shall be escorted back to Kuat. *Cracken waved to his pilots, who headed to his fighters. The representitives left with them.*

Cracken: Tojo.
Tojo: yessir?
Cracken: Launch fighters in a defensive patrol formation. Tell them to look for... anything unsual. However, they are not to engage. They are to report the location of thier sighting.
General Handel, we are expecting one visitor, make sure he makes it to my chambers. I will ready the..... welcome.
*The officers nodded, and exited. Cracken headed to his chambers, for meditation on the upcoming encounter. He was here, in the system.

Outside the Crimson Star, fighters began pouring out, setting up a defensive grid around the super structure.*

*Meanwhile, in a distant place in teh galaxy, a planet designated NR-3100843, an Imperial surgeon began to operate, his intent to plant a cybernetic conrtol system into a person...... for his Emperor.....*

---Corellia---

Starr: *in a trance* He's in the bowels of a moon...a crimson star...above Kuat...he has murder in his heart, Deac, you must stop him!

---Kuat---

*Rwos' scanners suddenly detect a breach in the particle shielding on the moon. New ships stream from the moon's surface.* Of course. He has to lower a section of his particle shields to allow fighters in and out. Wait a minute... *Rwos activates his fighter's engines and aims for the nearest gap in the shielding. Invisible to the fighters going out, he steers his nimble fighter through the exit ports and zips through the moon's mantle at top speed, before the shields can close. He gets through just as the shields close behind him.*

---Corellia---

*suddenly Starr drops to his knees, grabs his head and screams*

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Evil must be opposed!

*Deac breaches the wall and runs in, firing and hacking with blaster and lightsaber alike, easily reaching the control pannel and setting the auto-destruct and the collision course for Cracken's command ship. He then exits the ship, seals the docking port, and pilots his ship away.*

*Starr stands in a trance. Deac can feel a connection being made to him through the Force*

((OOS: Deac? Did you send the Star Destroyer after the Crimson Star? You know, the superweapon? Because Cracken's command ship is inside it. Or were you referring to the command ship of his forces left at Corellia?))

(OOS: First off, let me assure everyone, I didn't ever intend to go into God mode. That kind of thing bugs me to no end. Personally, if the Crimson Star hadn't been foretold and all that, I would have found that a stretch on fair practices. There just isn't much of a challenge when you go God. So please, rest assured. ::End OOS::)

The Neo-Imperial team had found the planet just fine. It seems that Grand Admiral Thrawn had once again proved why he wasn't the Emporer and Palpatine was. And why someone named Cracken very well could become the next. They'd easily handled the insertion and replacement, none of these Kuatis had ever even seen the medical team on the planet, and the scientists there were the medical team, so things were going better than planned, as operations rarely do. But as every butter must have it's fly, so to must this one. (OOS again: sorry about the figure of speech guys... couldn't come up with one better on such short notice) For you see, where it was planned that where a complete trigger word/action mind control device, complete with neat little blinking light thingies would go, it was found that there was a significant amount of scar tissue--his record said that it was the result of a bad childhood incident with a blender. Rather traumatic. It was decided that reopening those wounds wouldn't be good for his psyche, so an alternate plan was used. Instead of being under Imperial mind control all the time with the big, bulky, Mind Controller 3000, they would downgrade to the thinner, cheaper 1500i, and only be able to control him when he was hacked into a computer system. Quite a trade for the price. Other than that small setback though, things went off rather smoothly. After explaining (using big-shot medical terminology and ignoring the whole mind-control thing) all this to his family and friends, the doctors made sure to download and send all research files to the Crimson Star, and then hypnotically induce the scientists into thinking that they had already performed the operation perfectly (through a little Force persuasion) and then left the planet aboard their cloaked yacht, safely avoiding the prying eyes of the Kuati fleet in orbit.

OOS even more: Hey guys, I'm used to posting more than this, but I was up at 6:30 this morning, and it's now 1:10 AM. So I'm a little tired, and my hands are starting to hurt. Hope that will be sufficient background on the plot twists and all, and be ready, for there are more to come in the next post, entitled The Training...

*Flax charges after Deac* Damm fool!

*Just then a Sith emergs from a side corridor.*

Sith: The force betrays you jedi!

*Flax nodds*

Flax: Always there are two.

*Flax activates his saber and the two begin a deadly dance*

(OSS)

The plot thickens!

Over to you Cracken.

[I was referring to the crimson star. Deac does not yet know what it truly is, just that it was the source of Cracken's transmission]

*Deac is annoyed that a sith slipped onto his ship. But ti won't last long*

Tell me, sith, have you ever danced with the Angel by the pale moonlight?

*Starr suddenly breaks out of the trance. Deac hears a voice in the back of his mind: That won't be necessary, Deac. Starr ignites his saber and rushes at the Sith. He duels the being as if possessed, matching him move for move. Then, stunningly, he slices the Sith in two pieces. The Sith's body explodes in black energy only his lightsaber is left behind to tumble to the ground*

Starr: And so the prophecy is fulfilled! As I have killed the apprentice, so shall the Starkiller destroy the master. The first part of my father's dying prediction has come to pass!

Katani Chass awoke from his surgery feeling more or less intact. There was a new pressure in the side of his head, and combined with having his head shaved, he felt like a new individual. Luckily, the anesthetic he'd been given was completely effective, he had a feeling he'd be feeling quite a bit of pain on the right side of his skull otherwise. New scar tissue was already flaring up at the edges of the implant, to mix itself with older scar tissue from the blender incident when he was seven. Just thinking about that hurt.

Katani was still sitting there, reminiscing about childhood experiences, both good and bad, when the leading scientist of the research facility entered, looking a bit worse for the wear, and looked over at Chass, who looked altogether peacful and happy with his new implant. Little did either of them know the sinister series of events that had begun when the implant had been, well, implanted. Ryoas Yeeyrnc, which happened to be the name of the scientist, spoke.

Ryoas: Did you sleep well?

Katani: All things considered, yes.

Ryoas: That's good, you're going to need it. It's time to begin your training.

They walked slowly out of the room where Katani had rested, chatting amicably, the scientist telling Katani how exciting of a time this was, that he'd been asleep about three days, and how surprised he was that the Mets had beaten the Yankees in interleague play. Katani merely listened, nodding when appropriate, but more or less tuning out the scientist. Not surprising, the man sounded like he could have put Ben Stein to sleep. Finally, they reached their destination; a computer interface uplink. The scientist explained that Katani needed to learn a few things, such as how to run the Conqueror and how to defend himself should be taken away from the Conqueror as well as how to properly maintain his implant. As is predictable, Katani is then hooked up, thorough an extension of his implant, into a computer jack. Immediately the outer world seemed to fade just a little. He was recieving information from the computers as fast as his mind could comprehend it. And that was pretty fast.

The computer prompted Katani, asking him whether or not he was ready for the beginning of informatinal download yet. Katani barely even thought to the affirmative before the computer was prceeding The first lesson, it told him, would be self-defense. Part A: Ju-Jitsu.

Katani: Ju-Jitsu... I'm going to learn Ju-Jitsu?

The tech just smiled at this obviously boorishly used reference to pop culture and film noir.

After several hours of the "training," Katani had learned everything the computer was going to teach him. It was time he actually went out and field tested that which he had come for.

All this time, the mind-influencer had stayed silent. There was little information in the previous linkings of Katani's mind that Neo-Imperialists didn't know already. Katani still had no clue as to it's existence.

Katani was a little dissappointed when he returned to the real world. Sure, he had never left it, but at the same time, he would never really return. The data flow he had experienced while a part of the interface had been exhilirating, not to mention staggering. In just a few short hours he'd learned more than he had in any other period of under a year of his life. Such are the wonders, and the curses, of the interface. The trek to the Conqueror was much longer than the one from his room to the uplink, and Katani again found himself having to tune out the annoying scientist. This time, at least, he had all this newly found information to marvel over, and he could use that to distract himself. In fact, he was so distracted, that he didn't even notice anything until he found himself being strapped into the command seat of the Conqueror. Once again, his data link extended itself to the well placed uplink, and once again he got that same thrill as when he first linked up. But this, this was far more enjoyable than even the training had been. In fact, this was the best thing he'd ever experienced. This time, instead of just information, there were sights, sounds, and feels coming into his head. He didn't just pilot this ship, he was this ship. Immediately he checked the weapons loadout, for now his mind-control device conviniently kicked in. He found that there was a full load of the nuclear slugs, as well as the high explosives, the missiles were primed and ready to launch, and the turbolasers fully charged and working great. One minor detail that was unexpected, but not unwelcome, was the load of simple metal slugs packed in the ammo clip of the railgun. He assumed these would be used for target practice. The subspace engines were completely ready, and though he was disappointed that there was no hyperdrive, this would not be a serious problem. The scientists had devised a carrier for him, that would be fully controllable through his interface, requiring no interaction with anyone outside himself. He relished this idea. He would be independent. He would work alone. He would become to Cracken like Vader was to Palpatine. Then, he would become more...

---Corellia---

*Starr's eyes clear and he looks somewhat apologetically at Flax* I saw my father's dying words on the holo recording of the day Cracken murdered them. He said that it would be his son who would destroy Cracken's apprentice, and who would lead others to cause his downfall. The Sith has been trying to intimidate me in visions, but those visions themselves will lead us to him. Flax and Odin, without your presence Deac will not survive. *Starr looks a little embarrassed at the presumptuousness of his words, but he continues anyway*

Deac, I don't think your trap will work...but that isn't the only way...

---Kuat---

*The mighty Imperial Star Destroyer exits hyperspace, on a vector heading at full speed directly for the Crimson Star. Holocams on it connect directly to Deac's ship*

*Inside the core of Crimson Star, Termand Rwos attaches his fighter to the outside of the Super Star Destroyer, in a place his scanners suggest is outside a corridor that leads a winding path to the command chambers of the ship. He burns his way in with his laser weapons, flies in, and seals the crack shut again, keeping his cloaking device up at maximum to avoid detection.*

((OOS note: Rwos did this before in a Cantina thread...except he punctured the hole with the nose of his fighter, not a very stealthy thing to do ;)))

*On the bridge, sensors picked up the Star Destroyer*
Admiral, we have one Star Destroyer on collision course!
Tojo:Fire the superlaser, and shoot it down!
Sir!
But sir, it's not fully char....
I don;t care. It will send a message though to anyone stupid enough to try this again. DO IT.
SIR!
*The mighty station turned, just enough so he Superlaser was withing range. Green points formed along teh superlaser dish, and a mighty bold streaked from it. It hit the Star Destroyer, but it did not vaoprize it. Instead, sinc ethe blast was not even half charged, it fragmented into 3 sections. As they headed for teh station, the turbolaser batteries opened fire, trying to destroy the remaining pieces still headed for the station. 2 were destroyed, however one got through. It slammed into the shields, then tractor beams pushed it away. not a scratch. TO destroy it, a team would need to be inside the Crimson Star.

Meanwhile, Rwos was in the corridors of the Titan. This was too easy.. not one guard.......*

((OOS: *in his official role as Nitpicker* The Crimson Star has multiple superlasers, but we can assume that the others weren't charged at all (they weren't expecting a suicide run)

EDIT: *having reviewed* Three full rotating superlasers, a ton of smaller ones))

Damn...never mind. The corellia fleet's crippled

*Activates comm*

Starkiller to all ships-the fleets in tatters.

*Deac moves to the pilot's seat*

We're going to Kuat, but first, we're going to Atredis for supplies and perhaps a few good men.