Thanks to those who keep up the wonderful comments and suggestions, they are most appreciated. Enjoy... ~F
Chapter Thirty Six
Wings of Change
Hermione glancing down sadly as one of the original fleets she had constructed lost its command ship, and most of the other medium or large ships, while only a few stragglers managed to escape destruction thus far.
Even with all the new modifications, her fleet had stood a very small chance and she found that to be a great personal insult on the part of the Empire. She was the leader of the most powerful Magi-technology company in the Galaxy, and had spent tireless months working on those fleets and their designs, all for them to be brushed off as insignificant gnats. It was unacceptable, and Hermione allowed her rage at the injustice of it to fuel her into creating new, and far more deadly, designs for the newest batch of warships.
To be fair, there were a great number of successes across the front lines of the campaign, but that was only in defending the Core from intrusion, not nearly enough of a victory rate to even think of pushing back into the mid or outer rims to rescue those systems currently under enemy occupation.
So angry was she, and so focused on her new work, Hermione didn't notice her own magic drifting around the room like a coiled snake, making many of her prototypes and experiments come alive with the excess magic floating about with no clear purpose. Her only warning was when with a loud clatter, one of the experimental explosives on a shelf near her suddenly rocketed into the air.
Wide eyed, she hastily threw up a shield, ducking behind the small durasteel explosion wall that she had in her workshop for such instances, and weaved the spell around the enchanted metal, even as the explosive detonated off the low ceiling. Hermione was thrown backward, regardless of her protections, and when she overcame her ringing ears and looked around at the damage, she spotted that the durasteel protecting her had a massive hole blasted in it. The magic from her shield sparked for several moments longer, before going out altogether.
Then it struck her: the new weapon that the Republic could use to gain an edge over the Empire. Snatching up the other one she had prepared, but not finished, Hermione examined the chamber that stored pure magic within it. If it were loaded with a proton torpedo as well as charged with powerful magic, it ought to be able to pierce all manner of armor and shields, she thought quickly, becoming quite excited at her discovery.
"Shrug this off why don't you…" Hermione said vindictively to the air around her. More testing would be required, but she had an idea already to replace all the torpedoes and bombs that the Republic normally used, upgrading to these magic piercing variants. There ought to not be a shield in existence as strong as their protego-based shielding, and yet this weapon sliced through it like butter.
Granted, there were other possibilities for why it acted so, it could be as simple as the bomb reacting and dispelling the same magical signature that it was created with, which would make it next to useless. But she held onto the hope that this was no fluke. Quickly working to replicate how she had fashioned the first bomb, Hermione placed it within a protective field for transport, before rushing as quickly as she dared to the testing grounds. Several witches and wizards were on hand, and she requested their assistance to hold many overlapping shields over a sheet of enchanted metal, similar in composition to that used on their new starship hulls.
Then, to recreate the experiment, Hermione began to feed magic into the bomb, a bit at a time so that it didn't detonate prematurely. Setting the shell down in from of the first row of shields, Hermione backed far off, behind the rampart of barriers, and continued to feed magic into her new weapon, waiting for it to overcharge.
Once it grew red with unreleased power, Hermione magically lifted the bomb, and flicking her wand, sent it hurtling through the air toward the slab of metal.
She had had instructed the workers to use a wide variety of shields, and was impressed to find that each type produced a different effect. Most the shell sailed right past, as though the barriers weren't even present, while a handful of others actually aided the bomb further, before it violently struck the finally barrier, an overcharged protego, right over the hull segment.
The violent blast was so great than anyone nearby was knocked flat within seconds, and the shielding was instantly dispelled, along with massive damage to the now ruined scrap of metal that was once representative of their ship armor.
Hermione smiled widely, loving that her hunch was correct as usual. Thanking the others, some of whom were shaken from being too close, she rushed back to her workshop, scattering the other projects and things from her desk to recreate the bomb once more. It needed to be significantly stable to replicate, so that all the new ships could be supplied with a full complement of these new weapons.
Thankfully the ships already possessed magical infusers as part of their normal cannons, she having tinkered with improving the weapons systems of Republic starships for a while now, but lacking the approval or resources to make the trip to improve the older designs. That had naturally long past, as now ships were queuing up to be outfitted against the Empire by her.
There was still the matter of how to defend against these new weapons however, as Hermione refused to look at only one side of this equation of a war. If the Empire somehow got their hands on her bombs, they would stop at nothing to use and replicate them, which while galling Hermione to no end, made her want to be prepared against any cooperate espionage.
Most of her staff was trustworthy, but in a case like this, she was better off working alone on the project. Even Theodore shouldn't be told, and Hermione set to work, tying to make a material that could withstand the anti-mana torpedo, as she dubbed the small object.
She had a sinking suspicion, from the battles that were lost, that the Empire had somehow beaten them to the concept of magical shielding, so she guessed the answer likely was not in magic purely, but something to do with the metal.
If layering enchantments over the hulls clearly wasn't sufficient for their defense, then perhaps if the metal was transmuted and therefore magical from the time it was forged. She would have to get those planetside to start working on experimental metals. They had easily started replicating some of the ancient techniques that had been perfected by the likes of Nicholas Flamel, aside from the wondrous Philosopher's Stone, but otherwise many secrets of Alchemy had been recovered.
Until then however, these bombs needed to be mass replicated and loaded onto every new ship, with Hermione's compliments to the Sith Empire for making it happen. It was important that the next batch of ships be fully supplied, as more generals and their crews were arriving in the upcoming weeks to take these fleets into combat, and Hermione, while disappointed with the original fleets and their defeats, had to keep up production to man the Republic's defenses.
Everything about the war effort seemed to rely on her and her skills. Momentarily, she wondered if it would be wise to expand their factories and workers across other planets that were already suited to mass producing massive ships, such as the famous Kuat shipyards, but she shook her head. The secrets of Magi-Technology had to remain the sole property of New Terra and her people, so that their world would continue to have a lofty and important place with the government of the wider Galaxy.
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Zhar frowned as he and his replacement apprentice boarded a shuttle for the fleet orbiting Korriban, set to depart for the capital world of Dromund Kaas. Zhar had been summoned by the Emperor, but as to the reasons, the High Prophet was not certain. As the man had been somewhat formal in the message, relayed to Zhar through a handful of advisors and officers, he could presume that it was some sort of official capacity, but little else.
His young apprentice, the female Iridonian that proved to be highly volatile when she had learned that her master could not, indeed would not be bothered to even remember her name, was looking about the ship with an eye for potential danger, not that Zhar expected anything to occur during this trip. Their world was safe, as the Jedi wouldn't dare to come to one of the forbidden worlds in large numbers, as that would simply be asking for the might of the Dark Side to fall upon them.
Indeed, the shuttle soared up to the awaiting command ship without incident, and Admiral Setis ordered the Hyperspace generator activated, whisking them away soon after they had landed within the main hangar.
Zhar separated himself from the tiresome and rather burdening apprentice that he had had to choose, and walked the deck of the ship, lost in thought and striving to glean some scrap of insight through the Force of what awaited him on the dark capital. He knew for a fact that he had not done anything worthy of reprimand, or worse, so it was highly unlikely that the Emperor was going to kill him, but as the man was a Sith Zhar chose to keep his guard up nonetheless.
Frontline command was equally unlikely, as Zhar was still on return from the first foray to the front, and the issue with his apprentice was not a situation best placed into direct confrontation with the Republic. That really left a single option, for Zhar to consider. There was some other internal struggle or conflict, one too small to send the Sith apprentice, or else the Devaronian Diábolis was elsewhere, attending to his master's wishes in another part of the campaign, and Veneficus wanted Zhar to act as the extension of his own will and investigate.
As that had happened once before, and was clearly some sort of a potential threat to the Emperor, Zhar could see it as the most likely option.
A scant few hours in Hyperspace were all that it took to travel from Korriban to Dromund Kaas, so close were the two systems, and soon enough the fleet was pulling back to real space, with the massive jungle planet looming into view, along with the orbiting command station for the armada of the Emperor.
Zhar gazed out one of the ports, as he was sure many of the soldiers were as well, as they passed under the shadow of the Apex fleet. The ship was downright massive, even Zhar had to admit to be impressed and somewhat unnerved by the sheer size of the single vessel. It looked capable of winning the entire war singlehandedly, yet it was just sitting here, awaiting orders. It did however, appear that there were shuttles going to and from the ship and the planet below, so maybe the fleet was resupplying before departing for some other destination.
Regardless, Zhar rejoined his angry and fresh apprentice, and together they boarded their shuttle once again, so that it would take them down to the large public spaceport on the planet's surface.
Not for the first time, Zhar wished that there was a more private place to land on the capital world, but he understood that for the safety of those who lived there, namely Veneficus, that there had to be only one secure places for all arriving and departing ships, and to be fair it was now a far journey by speeder to Kaas City afterward, just more of an inconvenience to Zhar than anything.
As the pilot steered the closed speeder through the paved jungle roads, Zhar scanned the areas around them with the Force. It was curious that most of the wildlife seemed to have been continually chased away from the roads, but the High Prophet did not recall this being the case the last time he had set foot on the Emperor's world.
"What has changed, to keep all the life forms of this world away from the Empire's roads?" he asked their pilot, who was a young man, clearly enamored to have such high ranking Darksiders riding in his speeder.
"Oh, I think the city engineers developed something in the material that was used to repair and build all the new roads through the wild areas that repels the animals, some sort of chemical I suspect, but I wouldn't know for certain, my Lord. I'm still taking classes to become an engineer, and infrastructure of cities isn't the specialization I seek."
It was an honest answer, and Zhar nodded to himself in thought. More likely that the Imperial wizards had developed some charm or another to apply to all the new and existing roads, which caused the animals to either fear them or simply ignore that they were even there. Most likely the former of the two, if Zhar were to guess, but they started their final approach to the city, and he allowed the topic to drop from his mind as the massive pocket of life entered his senses.
"New Kaas City," the young man announced, "Home of his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Veneficus the Eternal, and center of the Neo-Sith Empire. Is there anywhere in specific you'd like me to take you?" he asked, sounding hopeful to have the pair of Darksiders in his speeder longer. Zhar wasn't sure why, perhaps the man was hoping to hear scraps of news regarding things above his own station, but if it earned a bit of loyalty from the man toward his Emperor. "We're bound for the Imperial Palace," he said.
The reward was immediate when the boy's eyes shot into his hairline. "I'll need some sort of special clearance to fly you there; otherwise it would be a short, and fiery, trip."
"My code is already sent to the registration of this vehicle," Zhar mentioned, tapping a button of his datapad, "You may fly us to the landing pads outside the palace, and wait for our return."
"Yes sir… uh, I mean yes, my Lord…" the boy said, trying to restrain his enthusiasm. Zhar allowed the young man his thoughts, as it was harmless to allow the boy to dream of what it might be like to leave his mundane work and enter the palace of the Emperor.
Most of these people hadn't actually seen even the outside of the palace up close, with it so far removed from the rest of the city, but let the stories be spread around every cantina about this young man, who got to not only approach the walls of the palace, but actually stop there and observe it for several hours at least.
A promise that he would wait, and a small stack of credit chits later, and Zhar led his apprentice across the landing pad toward the towering structure that housed the Emperor and was the focal point of everything that the Empire was striving to accomplish.
Once inside, they were met by a black robed royal guard, and led to an upper set of rooms, where Zhar alone was admitted. The iridonian was angered by her exclusion, but recognized that the figure dressed in black was one of the elite warriors of the Emperor, and was not to be trifled with under any circumstances. Zhar had to at least admit that the girl was no fool.
Entering what appeared to be the private office of the Emperor, Zhar immediately focused on the brown robed figure standing in the corner. The young boy had the purest aura of light that he had ever seen, and there were no doubts that the boy was clearly a Jedi of some sort.
"Ah, High Prophet Zhar, so glad that you could join us," Veneficus' voice said, from a room farther in, shielded by another pair of guards. Bypassing these silent sentinels, Zhar found himself in a large room, dominated by a massive table with many chairs surrounding it. Most were filled, but the most eye catching feature was the gilded throne that the Emperor sat upon, at the head of the table facing where Zhar was now.
"Your Majesty," he said with a quick bow, before moving toward the Sith Master, who had gestured to a seat on his right, immediately next to the leader of the Empire.
"I still don't see why we are stalling for time, your majesty," said another man, dressed in the finery of a military commander, a field marshal or high ranking general of some sort if Zhar were to guess. "We have ample forces to press into the core and seize the heart of the Republic right from their open chest, we should take the advantage of what your foresight has given, and win this war right now."
But the Emperor merely shook his head. "You underestimate their strength and will, General," the Emperor replied, "even now they are bolstering their forces, and I foresee that they will start to push us back with their new technology. We need to wait and see what they have in store for us, and work to counter all their new developments. Then of course there are the Jedi to contend with. I am not ready to commit troops until I know that victory is assured against the Jedi, and that is why I have summoned Lord Zhar to attend this meeting."
As all eyes turned on him, Zhar understood immediately what the Emperor wanted of him. "The truth of the matter is that we lack sufficient numbers of exceptional Dark Side Adepts that can be trained, and those we have will take months, maybe years to be ready for frontline action. There just too much demand and not enough for us to train with the limited resources we have on Korriban."
"Then why not move the training facility, perhaps even to here, on Dromund Kaas?" another military commander suggested.
"Out of the question," Zhar confronted, "Korriban is the sacred training site of the Dark Side. Anywhere else isn't dangerous or inhospitable enough to thoroughly try and test our students to their utmost. There is also the fact of potential rebellion. I'd heard stories of the Empires of ancient times facing massive uprisings in their newest recruits of Force users when they had an easy time surviving without conforming fully to the tenants of the Dark Side."
"Exactly what I have been saying from the beginning," Veneficus affirmed, "we simply need more time for the rest of these warriors to be prepared, and then we can make the final push. Aside from other loose ends that need to be tied, we are nearly ready for that time to come upon us all. The dawn of a new Galactic Empire will dawn soon enough, but we simply need to tighten the noose for the time being."
"As you command, your majesty," the commanders and advisors said, although Zhar could see the distrust and frustration plain as day on some of their faces.
"Good, this meeting is adjourned, we will reconvene in four months time to reflect on the progress of the war and readdress some things that were brought up in this meeting." Veneficus stated, before dismissing those that had been in the room with him.
Once they had gone, the Emperor turned to Zhar, "Your timing was perfect, I couldn't have asked for a better moment for you to enter." He said.
"I live to be useful to you, as always…" Zhar replied, a tight little smile forming on his lips.
"Then perhaps the mission I have called you for will be more to your liking than I supposed," Veneficus said, tilting his head ever so slightly. "High Prophet Sasyss Vyaqr has reported in that his group has made an important discovery upon the world of Mustafar: an ancient Jedi enclave, where they had stored some powerful objects. One in particular has caught my attention, and I need you to venture into that vault and retrieve it. Apparently there is something inside that place that is driving the acolytes sent to retrieve the relics mad with obsession and delusions of grandeur. Only a scant few returned for those on the planet to even know."
Zhar nodded absently, unsurprised that he was being sent to gather more precious artifacts for the Emperor. The only question that Zhar held onto, in the process of getting what little details he needed from Lord Veneficus, was whether the man had already known that there was something to find on the world when he marked it to become one of the core Sith Worlds.
It was strange, almost eerily so, how well the Emperor was able to find things that were supposed to be secret. And Zhar wasn't about to chalk it up to the man's foresight, powerful though that was, it couldn't predict something as mundane as the location of lost artifacts without fully pinpointing where they were already. For the Emperor to know the world, but not the exact location, there had to be some outside influence that was advising the man on his key choices, or at least there once was back before the start of the war. Whether that same effect was ongoing now was as of yet unknown.
"Naturally, I accept this mission, and will set out immediately, with your approval I presume." Zhar said, bowing slightly.
"And, do take care that you leave and return with less notice than before. I can sense Republic spies already reintegrated into the ranks of our populace here on Dromund Kaas, and the Jedi must not know that this artifact has resurfaced, or they will stop at nothing to wrench it from our grasp." The Emperor stated, peaking Zhar's interest all the more.
Veneficus was never concerned about the Jedi or the Republic, for him to specifically instruct that something be kept hidden from their eyes meant that it served a great purpose, and was something that possibly teetered on the edge of failing in his grand design, or could pose a great hindrance to the conquest of the Galaxy.
"As you command, my Lord." Zhar said again with another bow, and excused himself when the Emperor stopped speaking and lost himself in thought, or possibly a vision of the future as well.
Out in the corridor, the forced apprentice was still waiting angrily, clearly having desired to meet the Emperor for herself, for the pride of the matter, and was clearly put off for being denied what she viewed as a great honor. "You would not have been spoken to by his Majesty anyway," Zhar commented before she could ask him anything, and the iridonian looked surprised as the High Prophet turned and led the way back to their waiting speeder.
"Back to the spaceport," Zhar requested the young driver, already thinking ahead of the technical information that had been given to him, mainly the location upon the volcanic planet where this Jedi enclave was hidden, and the few incomplete layouts that had been retrieved before the other Darksiders had been reduced to gibbering masses, attacking anything that approached while screaming at the top of their lungs. There had been a holovid that one of the engineers had recorded of their approach, and it documented the entire painful-appearing process of the decent into madness.
Pulling out his communicator as they arrived at the spaceport, Zhar spoke directly with Admiral Setis, "prepare the ship for hyperspace. The destination is the Mustafar system along the Outer Rim, we are on our way back from planetside with new orders for a retrieval mission."
"As you command," was the response, and ignoring the look of curiosity from his new apprentice, Zhar led the way to their shuttle, programming its autopilot to return to the Basilisk with all due haste.
"Master, what are we retrieving from Mustafar," the apprentice finally mustered the courage to ask, and Zhar glanced at her for a long moment, "Artifacts for the Emperor that are not to be spoken of to anyone. There are spies in the Empire, loyal to the Republic, and it would be unwise to let things that are supposed to be secret be heard in too many ears."
Affronted, the female iridonian huffed, before moving away from him, which suited the High Prophet just fine. If not for the need to have someone learning how to take his place, in case of the unfortunate accident or murder, Zhar would likely have not chosen anyone to learn from him, rather opting to wait instead for Johell to return to the fold, just as the Emperor had promised that he would.
Naturally that wasn't an option, but he would be damned before he allowed that weaker force user to learn more than he was willing to give her, which included credit in any form for the success of this mission. Zhar doubted that she was even strong enough to withstand the madness of the vault if it came down to it, and elected within his own mind to enter that place alone, rather than risk her turning on him.
He and the Emperor hadn't been lying to those commanders of the military, the Empire was sorely lacking in competent Force wielders, as the period of time for training was simply too long at times, especially with those that were sent to the alternate academies on Gamorr or Dathomir.
Soon the shuttle landed within the spacious hangar of the Basilisk, and once more the stars outside the bay blurred into lines as they hurtled off into Hyperspace, bound for the volcanic rock in space that held the Emperor's newest prize.
Zhar only hoped that it would turn out to be something worthwhile, and that he at least would have opportunity to learn what this mysterious, cube-shaped object was capable of. From all descriptions it seemed to be like a Holocron, but reports of what it did were quite different, although Zhar wasn't sure if he could believe what was said in the ancient past fully, or the reports of men and women that soon after went mad with some all consuming need to be within that vault.
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Yoda wasn't terribly sure of the reasoning behind their plan to join the war with the Empire directly, in hopes of an opening to rescue Jedi and face the Emperor once again, but Luna was his close friend and he was going to support her however he could.
He and Ist, along with Luna, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, along with a dozen or so of the other wizarding refugees and fellow Jedi that had until now denied the Republic's call to arms, were in route to New Terra to meet with their new command fleets and soldiers. Yoda and Ist were meditating during the trip, along with Luna, maintaining their own inner peace with the Force as they flew through Hyperspace.
"Am I doing the right thing?" Luna asked, breaking the long hours of silence, "joining the war to find Leon?"
Yoda thought hard on how to phrase his response. "Hasty, your actions may have been, but in the right place your heart is."
"But still," Ist spoke up, joining their conversation, "the Republic does need us, and if that aids us in our ventures against the Sith, all the better for the Galaxy as a whole."
"The Padawan is right," Yoda agreed, giving the little Bothan a smile, "Fighting for the Republic, our best chance is."
Luna nodded, seeming reassured in her decision. The rest of their trip was more or less uneventful, and before long they returned to real space orbiting the planet, with its massive construction rings not unlike the Kuat shipyards. Yoda could already see several new expansions on the space structure, and thousands of ships being built simultaneously.
"We need to take a small detour to the planet's surface," Luna said to the pilot of their republic shuttle, "There are tools here that can be found nowhere else in the Galaxy, that our magical friends require to return to their peak effectiveness."
"Yes General," the Republic soldier said who was at the controls.
The expansive city of the Mage-born was just as impressive as the last time they had visited, and Yoda was immediately reminded of how unnatural it all felt. Narrowing his eyes as he glanced across the city, even as their ship began landing sequences for a touch-down in the public spaceport, he was unable to pinpoint a source for the strange sensation in the force. It was as though the entire planet screamed about some underlying wrongness, but it was too much to try and wade through with only the powers of the Force to guide.
A complicated mystery, but once again not one that they had time to unravel. The wizards went off to secure their items, and the Jedi waited in the spaceport, wondering at the different sights that were present just outside, while Luna, Ist and Yoda remained in the ship, having seen much of the planet before.
"I'd nearly forgotten how strange this planet feels," Ist commented, further cementing the reality of the sensation to the goblin Jedi, "Is this something like how your home planet felt all the time?" the girl asked, which caught both older Jedi off guard.
"No, as a matter of fact, it did not… Not even when we returned as full Jedi Knights…" Luna confirmed.
"What is going on however, we know not." Yoda responded, diving back into the mystery he was almost about to let lie. "The strangeness, place it I cannot."
"Perhaps it's not a what, but a who that is emitting this unnatural feeling?" Ist suggested, and once again Yoda was stunned by her observational skills. Turning toward the nearest native of the planet, Yoda stretched out with the Force, and recoiled as a fresh wave of unnaturalness washed over him. Again and again he tried on several other New Terrans, and every time the scenario was the same.
"It is the people…" Luna said, apparently doing the same as Yoda, "But what could be the cause of this strangeness in the Force."
Just then, several of the younger witches and wizards returned from the market, some looking troubled, others near panic. The Jedi approached, sensing their distress, "What's wrong?" Luna asked, but some just walked right past her, unable to cope with whatever they had experienced.
"We went to the market, to get wands just like we had planned," a red haired man explained, "but there were people there that we knew…"
"Alright, that makes sense, as these are survivors of your people as well…" Luna responded, but the man interrupted her.
"But many were ones we knew had died in the initial attacks on earth." He said, shocking them all.
Yoda's mind started to spin wildly, coming up with speculation and possibilities. The unnaturalness in the Force, combined with the New Terran's magic and the obvious visits of the Dark Lord of the Sith, regardless of these people's understanding of the situation. Was it possible that the madman simply cloned an entire planet?
Exchanging a glance with Luna, Yoda could tell that her mind was on the same conclusion as his. "We need to speak with Hermione, immediately," she said quickly, "did everyone get what they needed?"
"Yes, the incidents were primarily after," the red haired man responded.
"Good, go get the others, we need to leave for the station as soon as possible, there are questions that need to be asked now, and answers may not be the most forthcoming…"
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The Republic moved far faster than Gor-lak had anticipated. By the time they reached the grand causeway, and coincidentally rejoined the main attacking force of the Imperial regiment, dropships and shuttles were already ferrying soldiers down inside the massive grounds of the Malvern manor.
What was worse, Gor-lak was certain that he spotted several vehicles transports touched down and then lift off again as well, which meant that either large droids, tanks, or some other heavy weaponry had been added to the mix.
"This is the final push!" he shouted, attracting the attention of the Sith troopers all around, "with the fall of the Malvern estate, we will succeed in claiming control of this world, onward for the Emperor!"
The whole regiment turned and started toward the manor, just as the main gates to the grounds opened up, revealing a mass of Republic soldiers charging to engage them, as well as a contingent of twelve heavy combat droids, and a large, shielded tank, the deadly weapon already lining up its main cannon to the advancing lines of Imperial troops.
"Find cover!" Gor-lak bellowed, just as the tank fired, a concussive blast thundering over the heads of the Republic warriors and straight at their front lines.
Most of the troopers heeded Gor-lak's warning, but there were a few too slow to act. The explosions from the tank's projectile left nothing but a crater in the metallic road.
"Open fire!" shouted one of the officers, and the entire causeway lit up with the magnificent barrage from both sides.
Several rockets streamed from the droids as they marched systematically into strategic positions, and the Imperial soldiers started to fall back from the onslaught. Gor-lak grunted in anger at the complication, and lifted the wrist communicator to his mouth, "We need fighter support at the Malvern manor house, were pinned down outside with heavy droids and a tank blocking our way."
"Understood my Lord, several fighters will be dispatched to aid you immediately." Replied Admiral Uardono, before the line was broken and Gor-lak had to dodge back as his cover was struck with a missile. Unlike the Jedi and Dark Adepts, Gor-lak lacked the ability to redirect missiles and bombs with his magic, but had to rely on shields to weather the explosions, at a taxing cost.
Several heavy troopers attempted to return fire with their own missiles, but as they soared through the air at the droids, they were all suddenly knocked off course and detonated on the walls of the manor's grounds. Gor-lak knew the cause of the alteration in trajectory, and spotted the flashing beam of a Jedi's lightsaber in the midst of the advancing Republic soldiers.
It made sense that they'd be far more effective with one of their own mysterious warrior-monks leading them, and that needed to chance quickly. With air support on the way, Gor-lak needed to stall the Republic forces directly in front of the manor so that they were caught in the blasts, and here was the perfect opportunity. "Return fire now!" he yelled, conjuring his emerald blade of flame, and threw himself from his cover.
The droids all targeted him instantly, but their rockets were prematurely destroyed by a blast of emerald lightning. Charging forward, Gor-lak started to cleave through the frightened troopers. The fear inspired by Kallig's Countenance was impressive, especially once combined with the terrible power of his magic.
In the end, it was no surprise that the Jedi leapt out of wherever they had been hiding, glowing blade alight to challenge the Lord of Cruelty. "Your conquest of this world ends here," the man said, his brown robes flapping around him in the wind generated by the explosions around them, although neither side fired a single shot at the pair now, too afraid to his their own.
"Jedi…" Gor-lak hissed, relishing the feel of the conjured blade in his hands. It had been too long since he fought with his ancient enemies, and even if these descendants had no more knowledge of what their kind had wrought, he would make their suffering last an hundredfold for the destruction of his glorious empire.
Lunging immediately, Gor-lak swung high, and smirked behind the stoic mask he wore as the Jedi's eye widened in surprise, caught off guard when his blade met the emerald flame and held it. So they were unaccustomed to fighting blade to blade with something like what Gor-lak had.
"I do not know what sort of being you are," the Jedi said, passivity returning to his voice after the shock, even as the struggled for dominance of the lock between their weapons, "but I cannot allow a servant of the Sith to escape this planet alive."
"Then try Jedi… try and stop my magic…" Gor-lak retorted, pushing the frail human's body as much as he dared, and throwing the Jedi off of his weapon, before digging deeply into the stores of magical knowledge that had been housed by the Ork royals of old, and generated a torrent of howling winds, blasting debris and other rubble not fixed to the ground at the Jedi, who was forced to dodge back and use his own energy to deflect or dodge the flying objects.
Just then, a shrill screaming overhead made the ork sorcerer look up briefly, just in time to spot a trio of Sith fighters soaring toward them; just a few moments longer. But then the Jedi had found a way around his magic and was upon him again, slashing and stabbing, trying to use his martial skills to overwhelm the spirit.
Grunting in rage, Gor-lak rammed the Jedi with his shoulder, and ignoring the pain of the fragile human body he wore, turned the tables and forced the Jedi back once more, even as the ships dived at the causeway upon which they were fighting. Three bombs, one per ship, were jettisoned with great force, rocketing through the air toward the gates of the manor, and Gor-lak kicked hard at the Jedi, throwing the human back into range of the blast, before diving clear himself.
The bombs exploded with a massive shockwave, annihilating the gates of the manor, as well as the tank and contingent of droids, while scattering the troopers and throwing them into disarray. With a roar of joy, the Sith troopers charged, opening fire once again. Gor-lak looked for the Jedi, but it seemed that the monk had slipped away in the chaos, but it was highly likely that they would confront each other again shortly, even as the Imperial army pressed into the manor.
Following behind the first few lines of troopers, Gor-lak passed through the charred and warped opening made by the fighters, admiring the hastily thrown together defenses that the Republic had attempted. The soldiers however, were fleeing toward the manor proper, firing as they ran, hoping to hit a few of the Imperial warriors as they pursued them.
Several bolts of emerald lightning dissuaded these from really trying however, and soon the doors had been bared to keep them out from the heavily fortified manor house. The ork was strongly overcome with the desire to simply bombard the estate from orbit, but from how it withstood the attack from the fighters earlier, he suspected that it was protected from large ordinance attacks.
A siege was like wise out of the question, as that would take far too much valuable time from the Imperial forces, and make it possible for the Republic to call even more reinforcements. They seemed to have little choice but to find another way into this manor and exterminate the forces within as quickly as possible.
"Surround the structure, and make sure none of those inside can escape." Gor-lak instructed the troopers, before withdrawing to the outskirts of the now destroyed gates leading back to the causeway.
Summoning a communications officer, Gor-lak had the man activate his beacon to the fleet above, "Admiral, this is Lord Gor-lak, get in touch with Count Dooku, and have him contact me directly. We are in need of his expertise in the design of these manors, and send down several blast cannons. If all else fails, we will devastate the building until it falls around their ears."
"As you command," the Iridonian replied, and the ork spirit within a human shell turned to look over the rest of the burning city, feeling that the end of this battle was indeed very near.
Once the Malvern family fell, there would be no one left to stop the Imperial occupation, and Gor-lak's forces could once again move on to another world to claim for the glory of Emperor Veneficus.
Even still, the fact that the Republic reacted so quickly did occupy some of the ork's attention, and there would be the pesky Jedi to deal with directly, but in the end, Gor-lak knew that he had fought stronger opponents than that one, and had won, millennia ago. And despite the change of times, he had not lost any of his skill or prowess in combat.