Sith Civil War: Chapter IX - Battle of Bastion

Barad-Dur slowly pulled back on the lever, and the SSD dropped out of hyperspace with a jolt.

He opened himself to the Force and felt Tarna and Adenn, although he could barely feel the latter. Tarna seemed satisfied, which pleased him. He nodded to Gra'tua, showing that everything was fine.

"Open fire upon the planetary cities in the northern hemisphere of the planet ," Barad-Dur ordered Gra'tua, "and I'll get my spies to begin setting off bombs we've set up at several points."

He opened a link, and gave the order. Soon, many red dots flared on the screen of the planet, showing massive explosions.

--

As the others started to fire apon the planet, a hand could be felt on Tarna's shoulder. He has redeemed himself. It did not take long for Adenn's body to recover itself as Tarna finished his friend. "But, know we have to find this Ithorian." His voice cracked as he walked over to the controlls and started the process of passwords and piloting the Madman to the hidden base.

"We will be arriving in exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds. Be ready" He said as he walked back over to his commanding officer. He then looked down at the man, knowing that he was an old friend of Tarna's. He then knelt arranging the man's limbs the way they were ment to be. and placed two ancient gold coins over his eyes.

After we have landed, this ship will self destruct. And he will have his honor." He said as he walked over to the controls. Thirty seconds where left on the clock.

"Are you mad?" Tarna guffawed. "This ship is our ticket straight to Klar. Not to mention she's an extraordinary ship." He shut off the self-destruct. He opened a comms channel with Barad-dur, "We'll be going in first. When we've shut down the turrets, we'll signal you to come in."

"Copy that," Barad-Dur said, "we'll keep up a masking fire while you go in."

With that, he looked out and saw clear fires blazing on the planets where several cities were. Looks like the boys did thier job well, he thought to himself.

As they approached the coordinates, a sound came over the comm. "Flying Madman, please send proper authorization code." Tarna nodded at Adenn, who typed in the access code Nero gave them. The voice came back, "Code approved."

As soon as the comm clicked off, the clouds in front of them flickered. Slowly, starting from the left, the floating city came into view - it's invisible field being lowered. Tarna smiled and brought the cruiser into one of the largest docking bays.

Soldiers ran over to the ship and lined up at attention at the end of the boarding ramp. Adenn walked down the ramp. The soldiers looked confused, but stood at attention. Tarna then sprinted down the ramp, blades drawn. The lieutenant yelled, "It's the Head of the Royal Guard! Kill them both!" The hanger was filled with blasterfire as the soliders opened fire.

As the raining of fire came down upon the planets, Gra'tua continued to type in coordinates, making sure the blasts hit the their target. As he finished the last coordinate, he turned and walked to the side of Barad-dur. "I still have to execute the pirate." He stated boldly as he watched the explosions on the screen."Should I stay and wait?" He asked calmly as he removed his outer robes, laying them on the nearby chair.

As the soldiers open fired on them, Adenn's two blades ignited and started to bat away the red blaster bolts back to whom ever they came from."It would have been better if you let me handle this." He laughed as he struck down one of the many soldiers.

As the battle went on and the troops continued to fall, the blaster fire siesed. "Tarna. They are retreating. We must hurry." He said as he caught four of the men in a lightning blast, killin them almost instantly.

Tarna and Adenn ran down a long hallway to an elevator shaft. As Tarna pressed the button for the sub-levels, the shaft suddenly stopped. Then, suddenly, the chain was cut and they hurtled towards the bottom of the shaft. Tarna cut a hole in the roof and he and Adenn jumped out and grabbed onto a ledge.

As the elevator fell, it hit the bottom. Instead of a loud bang, the elevator car ripped right through the hull and opened the shaft to the cold vacuum of space. The air was being sucked out, and Tarna and Adenn started to lose their hold on the ledge. Tarna turned and closed his eyes.

He concentrated and formed a bubble with the Force over the hole. He gritted, "Go!" to Adenn. Adenn dropped down to the bottom door and opened it. Tarna then jumped down and walked in the open door. He let go of his bubble, and the air rushed out again as they closed the door.

A lone soldier ran over and shouted, "Freeze!" Tarna and Adenn grabbed the pipes on the wall. Confused, the guard stared at them. Without moving a muscle, Tarna opened the door and sucked the guard out into space.

Closing it once again, the two walked forward to the turret power modules. Tarna nodded and he and Adenn started hacking at them all with lightsabers. Once they were all destroyed, he Force-lightninged the cloaking generator, revealing the station.

"Barad-dur, you are open to come in." he said into the comm.

"Tarna. This has by far been the most entertaining event this year." He said as he stood with the man. "Now lets find this Ithorian." He said as they started to walk down one if the hall ways. AS they walked his saw a elongated flattened neck, followed by ten guards. "Found him. I'll be back." He said as took off after the alien, batting away rifle fire as he ran.

Within thirty minutes ten men lay dead, and the Ithorian was on his knees begging for his life. "You have been targeted for extermination by the Empire for conspiring to kill the emperor. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty!! Please don't kill me!" The slug like alien pleaded.

As he spoke Adenn ignited his sabers and cut the alien down. "Plea denied," he said as he walked back over to Tarna. His sabers clicked to his belt."Lets get back to the Emperor." He said as they waited for the others to arrive.

"Go Gra'tua," Barad-Dur said, waving him to the door, "I'll use the Force to control the entire ship. Don't let the pirate escape! May the Force be with you."

Suddenly, a dozen transport ships came out of hyperspace. The com system sounded and a creeky voice came online. "What is going on here? Who is this?"

Barad-Dur had already split his attention in several directions to control the ship, but he could clearly catch what was being said. "This is Darth Barad-Dur of the Sith Empire. State your intentions or I'll blast you into a tiny thousand particles that wouldn't be able to be found even if you had a thousand scientists!"

"We are the I Clone Corps of the True Galactic Republic!" With that, the ships turned and promptly blasted into space, going the direction they had just come.

"Forget them for now!" he shouted, trying to conserve his energy with the great strain that was being placed him, "Just finish this mission before we go after those clones!"

Gra'tua nodded, heading for the docking bay. He ran through the many doors as he entered the hanger. Boarding one of the many starships he took off, in the direction of the pirates location. As he flew through space, he sent a message back to Darth Barad-dur."Darth Barad-dur. Send the coordinates of the pirateship to my starfighter." He requested as he weaved in and out of start clusters.

Malice slowly traced his steps back to the control room where the initial confrontation had occurred. He placed his hilt back on his side, but held his large iron mace, now splattered with the blood of Jedi, at his side. He could feel the Force pulsating throughout the entire ship and felt the dark presence of Barad-Dur within the walls of the room ahead.

The door slid open, as Malice stepped through the threshold. He would remain here and provide any support the dark sith needed to keep a hold on this ship.

"Gra'tua, sending the coordinants now!" he said, punching the numbers to him.

"Malice," he said, turning to the Sith, "Take control of the weapons. We need two more cities taken out, and don't be suprised if they send some fighters to deal with us."

He pushed forward with the controls a bit, and very slowly the massive battleship moved towards the planet. It would make it easier for Tarna and Adenn to get on when they were ready to leave.

Tarna climbed up a ventilation shaft, as they had destroyed the elevator access. He and Adenn climbed up until they had to go sideways. When they came to the next open grate, they looked down upon the Flying Madman. Tarna managed to squeeze his lightsaber out and cut a whole in the vent.

He and Adenn fell onto the hanger floor. No one was around, as they had all left to defend the station from Gra'tua's ship. They climbed aboard the Madman and gunned the engines out of the hanger, and headed back towards Gra'tua's ship.

As the coordinates filed onto his screen he quickly set his settings to the coordinates. As they were entered, the ship broke into a hard left, sending him twords the pirate coward. The ETA was thirty minutes, for now he would sit back and wait.

As Gra'tua flew through space, he watched the asteriods as well as the planets he passed. He wondered how many would be on this ship, but it wouldnt matter, his stealth would make up for any back up that he would need. Gra'tua would make his way to the leader, killing one by one till he was at the top.

As the to members of the Royal Guard flew threw space Adenn noticed that Gra'tua's ship turned away from them and took off. Most likely twords his objective. "Shadow Protector, lets get back to the SSD. I am sure that Gra'tua will have no problems with that pirate." He said as he piloted the ship to the right, twords Barad-Dur and the others.

Notes on Chapter 8
During this part of the roleplay, it was announced that a sequal, which was called Campaign Clone Extermination, would be written. It was written a week later for the Dark Sith Lord Forums.