| Major Engagements of the Nightmare War |
|---|
| Mission to Dolomir – Mission to Irestego – Daispin – Rykar – Duel on Mandos – Feldirjo – Harth Gool – Mission to Awpierh – Rubutu – Keliso – Quadia – Destruction of Kizav – Dolomir (Sith Star) |
The Mission to Awpierh was an attempt to rescue the Centurions Nairasho and Malyri and Kylaea Porén from the clutches of the Reawakened. Though reinforcements were sent to locate and retrieve all three Centurions, only two came back alive.
Background[]
Malyri, Kylaea, and Nairasho had been sent from the Romasi Sector Fleet into enemy territory on a reconnaissance mission, attempting to locate the production source of the Dark Jedi military. After six days without contact, Tariun Sakaros, ruling as Prince Regent of the Golden Empire in his sister's absence, dispatched Luna Raquelsei and Elrabin Ralvik to locate their siblings and either bring them back or confirm their demise.
The twins and Nairasho had, in fact, been captured on Awpierh by Karshi Saan, Charg, and a force of Vyrak Legionnaires. Taken prisoner and tortured in an industrial complex for several days, the three Centurions faced constant questioning about the Empire. Eventually, the twins managed to escape and recover their lightsabers, though the enemy were in hot pursuit and the Athans could not rescue Nairasho before they had to flee. They staked out the compound, killing Skavik patrols sent to find them and eating whatever wildlife they could find while trying to find an opportunity to break back in and rescue Nairasho.
The rescue mission[]
Breaking in[]
Luna and Elrabin found Awpierh within a few days of being dispatched, and quickly made contact with the twins. Malyri and Kylaea filled their siblings in and insisted that they rescue Nairasho as well before leaving. They had sensed a Dark Jedi departing the planet only days before, which left only one remaining Dark Jedi and his Anzat clone guards against the four Centurions. Though injured from their interrogations and starving for lack of the food their bodies needed, the two Athans nonetheless insisted on accompanying Luna and Elrabin inside.
Kylaea used a mind trick to lure out the guard in their way, and Malyri killed him with a single lightsaber stab through the head. The telepathic Iktotchi Karshi Saan had linked himself to all the minds in the facility, and he could sense the death of the Skav guard. Sending his Skavik to find the intruders, he latched onto the first mind that located them and dispatched all his forces to help.
The Centurions got into a short battle with the Skavik, reflecting blaster bolts back at their attackers and occasionally using the Force on them too. When they sensed the Anzati approaching, however, the twins cut a hole in the floor and dropped onto the next level, hoping to take the fight to Karshi Saan.
Duels[]
Kylaea: “Go get Nairasho. We'll deal with the Anzati.”
— Malyri and Kylaea buy their siblings time to face Karshi Saan
Malyri: “Big room, you can't miss it.”
Kylaea: “The door with the bars, that's where they had us.”
Malyri: “And watch the Dark Jedi, he's a mind reader!”
In unison: “Go.”
The four Centurions intended to move together, but Elrabin and Malyri sensed Saan's personal guard of Anzati approaching quickly. Malyri and Kylaea volunteered to stay and hold the Anzati off, allowing Elrabin and Luna time to rescue Nairasho. Using their twin bond in the Force, the two Athans fought against the five Anzati, moving in perfect sync with one another and complementing on another's movements. They sustained serious injuries, but eventually killed all of their attackers.
Luna and Elrabin found their way to Karshi Saan without further incident. Luna was fully prepared to go in swinging, but Elrabin, trained as a Jedi, attempted to talk the Iktotchi into surrendering. His mind badly damaged, Saan alternated between despair at his feelings of loneliness and darkness and hurling thoughts into the Centurions' minds. He seemed to consider surrender, but then turned defiant, and the two Centurions closed on him.
Saan briefly held his ground against the two Centurions, using his telepathy to flood their minds with horrifying images to compensate for his inferior swordsmanship. Eventually, however, his own tactics were his undoing; he began to sink beneath the despair of his centuries in waking stasis, dwelling on the sufferings he had endured and the comrades he had lost. While the Iktotchi was distracted, Elrabin seized an opening and chopped off his head.
Failure[]
With Saan decapitated, Luna and Elrabin hurried into the adjoining cells, but found they were too late; Nairasho's dead body lay in her cell. Malyri and Kylaea hobbled down shortly after and were devastated to find their sister dead. In a fit of rage, Kylaea tore off one of the horns on Karshi Saan's head and used it to stake the head to his chest. The twins were devastated by their failure to save their sister, and both considered staying and just letting the Skavik dispatch them, but they knew it would take too long to convince Elrabin and Luna to leave them.
The Skavik, having grown accustomed to Karshi Saan's telepathic dominance, were lost with his sudden death and offered little resistance to the escaping quartet. Elrabin carried Nairasho's body and Kylaea dragged Karshi Saan's. The Centurions departed Awpierh on Luna and Elrabin's ship, reporting by hyperwave to Breek Zagrev on the Valkyrie before returning to the Sith Star.
Aftermath[]
Nairasho's body was received aboard the Sith Star by Tariun himself, along with an honor guard of Centurions and Royal Army soldiers. After reviewing statements from the twins, Luna, and Elrabin, Tariun and Prefect Eskol Kaartinen both judged that the twins had done nothing wrong, and had indeed done everything in their power to save their sister.
Both sides gained important information as a result of the Centurions' capture. At last understanding both how the Dark Jedi had survived twenty-one centuries and why they had fallen into madness, Rin Sakaros was able to use the knowledge to predict their movements. However, Charg had returned to Ador Hentral with the news Karshi Saan had extracted from Nairasho's mind, and that information led them to attack Quadia and steal a disease kept there, intending to release it and kill Rin, Te`net Organi, and Rayne Turgachia.