Ventessel
-
Posts
747 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Blogs
Events
Articles
Downloads
Gallery
Store
Posts posted by Ventessel
-
-
I've played every imp class. "Nox" (god thats a dumb name) is rubbish. Only powerful enough to beat some sputtering fool who was probably the weakest council member after absorbing a bunch of ghosts. Nox steals power and still isn't all that great. The Wrath on the other hand owns his strength. It is his power, he is not leeching off others.
You mean, Nox spends his time studying the Dark Side of the Force, learning powerful rituals that give him the potential to increase his strength constantly while consolidating his power base and becoming the foremost member of the Dark Council? Yeah, not a powerful guy at all.
Also the Inq's story is mostly an afterthought anyways, a side tale of an only simi-important character on a more personal journey. The Wrath is the real star, deeply entwined with the larger conflict.Of course it's a personal journey, but how does that make it an afterthought? The Bounty Hunter is a personal journey too, but that doesn't make it irrelevant. The thing is that Nox doesn't care about the war so much as he is concerned with amassing his own power, like a true Sith.
The Wrath is a dumb brute, he runs around playing Hulk-Smash with the Empire's enemies and finally becomes Vitiate's thrall... yeah, good job, bro! Now you're a super strong duelist who may or may not have his mind crushed and dominated by the insane Emperor while you're busy being his minion! But at least you helped make sure the Empire wins the war, right? .... Oh, wrong? Huh. That sucks, I guess the whole Imperial Faction was an afterthought or something...
Don't hate, it's not my fault Bioware payed way more attention to some classes over others and gave them way more important roles.Important in your opinion. Wrath is focused on the war. Nox barely notices that the war has begun until he needs to get involved for personal reasons.
If you want to point out a class they forgot about, the Jedi Consular. Every other class has an iconic and entertaining story... the Consular just kind of got left on the doorstep of some strange writer's house and they wound up with his storyline.
Back on topic, though. Revan was arguably the most powerful Force User of his era, but the interesting thing is that his motives are still uncertain.
Did he return to conquer the Republic because the Sith Emperor told him to? Or because he wanted to unite the galaxy to fight the Emperor?
When he was brain washed by the Jedi Council, did it only last until he regained his memories? Or did he accept his new persona, which is why he stayed with the light and went back to fight the Emperor?
The part that I don't like is him escaping and then becoming a loot pinata with a goofy, evil plan to use a Rakatan factory to build an army. It was a boring rehash of old ideas, as well as a cheap shortcut to involve him in a Flashpoint. That's what I hate about MMORPGs, really. Everything has to have a combat encounter, there need to be battles to accompany every mundane plot point. You can't just go and meet with someone and have some interesting dialogue because it's something your character needs to do.
No. There's a random ambush, or that person has amassed a secret army that you fight your way through... blah, blah, blah.
My favorite moment of the Inquisitor storyline was when you needed to get a certain item,
Kallig's lightsaber, and the punk-*** fool who had it refused to give it up. He ordered his bodyguards to fight you, and you basically just look at them and say "boo!" and they run off. Then you argue with the guy for moment, he says dumb stuff, and you kill him. No complex boss fight necessary, just a nice, satisfying display of your character's power.
It did involve some pointless combat when you had to fight the earlier thugs outside, but that was fine. It was that they could easily have created an annoying, pointless boss battle; they didn't, though, and that was great.
I wish there were more moments in SWTOR where the plot developed through exploration or dialogue and didn't have to involve boring, unnecessary combat. I'd like to meet characters who don't fall into the predictable pattern of:
Quest-giver!
Target-I-Must-Kill
Quest-redirecter-who-sends-me-off-again!
Random-Assassin/Guy-Who-Betrays-And-Attacks-Me
And that's about it. There are a few characters in your storyline, such as the primary antagonist and your party members who aren't these things, but aside from them, basically the entire galaxy you interact with is filled with boring lunatics who either lost their keys and want you to find them, or morons willing to attack a walking legend despite just being street thugs.
-
I have another one! How much did Han pay the Barkeep for the mess he was sorry for (meanng dead Greedo). Looked like just one coin...
Logical explanation? It was a credit chit, probably worth any amount.
Better explanation? He was just paying for the mop and bucket to clean up Greedo's remains.
X-Wings do by canon have hyper drives. Tie-Fighters do not, as a cost cutting procedure. Most mass produced star fighters did not have them really and required dock rings, but the rebels used the more expensive fighters that did out of necessity for their guerrilla tactics (and since they were much smaller in number they could afford to).The reason the Rebels have them is because the X-Wing was going to be the new Imperial fighter, but the design team defected and brought the schematics with them.
The X-Wing was one of the first fighters to have shields, and I believe the first to have a hyperdrive. It was revolutionary and the Empire had poured money into its design...
-
s see it super man would a billion times out of a billion. A lightsabre would not be able to cut him cause superman can withstand the energys and temerature of the suns core so that is out But if superman could be choced witj the force that would be cool
The only reason he can do that is because it's the sun, not because he's immune to energy. A lightsaber, being plasma NOT from the sun, will carve him up.
He's also going to be vulnerable to the Force, which will be pretty unfortunate for him...
-
Good point. Jar Jar could very well have been fully aware of what he was doing.
Jar Jar probably was just pretending to be an idiot when he met Qui-Gon so the Jedi would protect him and so forth. Notice that in the second film he dropped the goofy stupidity and took being a Senator pretty seriously. It seems that there is more to Jar jar than meets the eye.
-
To be fair, Nihilus was crazy OP wile simultaneously way to easy to kill considering the power he had,. Theres not much room to really account for him properly.
As for Revan being defeated by level 30's, when it comes to story you can't really think about "power levels" and such. He was defeated by the soon to be Wrath of the Emperor, another powerful sith lord, and the greatest agent and bounty hunter is the galaxy all working together against him. Realistically the agent and bounty hunter wouldn't of been in that fight long, and the Inquisitor shouldn't of been all that great either since he/she hadn't become a ghost buster yet, but the Wrath is, by canon, supposed to be one of the most powerful sith of the era, and by that time was already pretty far up there. SO with the support, plus Revan's weakened state from being imprisoned for 3 centuries, its reasonable that the Wrath won the fight. Even 1v1 it could be reasonable.
People need to know that for class balance in-game characters may seem fairly equal or weak compared to NPCs, but in terms of their actual story strength, The Wrath and the Hero of Tython are two of the most powerful beings in the galaxy.
Hah, looks like someone plays a Sith Warrior. Pretty sure Darth Nox would disagree strongly with your assessment.
-
He was hardly a rookie during their 2nd encounter.
Also, Vader wasn't really trying to kill him either time. He wanted Luke to join up with him.
-
Also "Pick up some arguments from Beniboybling" Kiss up much?
Everyone knows Beni and Aubere are the kings around here >.> we've indeed noticed allready the fact that their arguments are some of the few well constructed ones on the forum....
Thou doth protest too much, ma'am.
-
Fett's EU was fan service because for whatever reasons, so many people thought that getting sent into a Sarlaac like a chump was cool.
He only got the accomplishments Fandalorians like to boast about because of the insanely overrated status he received just by being in the movies for a handful of seconds. That undeserved popularity allowed the authors of the EU to stroke the Fandalorians.
I would like to point out that Boba Fett played a fairly large role in Episode V. He was the one who tracked the Millenium Falcon to the Cloud City, basically enabling the final act of that film. So much for only "being in the movies for a handful of seconds", right?
Furthermore, this whole argument that the EU authors only expanded his story because he's cool... so what?
The same was done for Darth Maul, and Admiral Ackbar, and Mon Mothma, and Wedge Antilles, and dozens of other characters. That's why the EU exists, pal, is to expand (it is the EXPANDED universe) on the characters we know from the films. From there, it eventually led to creating whole new eras and characters. Like the one this game is based on.
Even George Lucas has said that Boba Fett was intended to be the best bounty hunter in the galaxy during the film era. That's a significant accomplishment, he wasn't exactly a side character. Now, IG-88? That guy was in the movies for a couple seconds and has an equally elaborate backstory. Why aren't you complaining about him?
The fact is, George Lucas created Boba Fett and then allowed other authors to expand on his story, and from the entire Mandalorian society emerged and became part of the fabric of Star Wars. It's only after Karen Traviss got her hands on the material that things devolved into a whole mess with "Fandalorians" going ham about how the Jedi were weak and the galaxy could easily belong to the Mandalorians.
Then again, Travesty did the same thing to the Halo novels with Glasslands. She took the character of Dr. Catherine Halsey and bashed her into the ground, simultaneously rewriting the personalities of the surviving SPARTANs and several other characters, all to support her own tirades against a single character. She's basically the reason we can't have nice things.
His achievements are not much better than Jar Jar's, who unwittingly helped put the Clone Wars into motion and became a Senator.Who is to say that Jar Jar did that unwittingly? I'm personally in the camp that Jar Jar was fully aware of his actions and was just getting revenge on the Gungan council for banishing him and treating him like trash all those years ago. His deal with Palpatine was probably: "I'll vote you emergency powers, but in return you have to carry out the Gungan Genocide after the war."
Done and done. Jar Jar was probably laughing it up on his way out of the Senate.
-
NO.Voted Yoda over Darth Vader. Good guys 4ever!Wherever there is light, a shadow will be cast.
So long as there are heroes, villains will rise up to cast them down.
For every victory, for every good work, there are two more defeats, two more acts of darkness to cancel them out.
Mwa-hahaha.
-
Should note, powers don't make the character. What makes the character is their personality and the like, Superman has been written at times a very great character due to that. Powers only make up a portion of a character, something which shouldn't gauge if a character is lame or boring.
That's kind of the problem. Who is superman? He's been written and rewritten and rebooted and alternate universed and parallel timelined over and over and over again.
There is no consistency with what his powers extend to, or even what universe he seems to be a part of, or what his history/youth is. And there's a new movie coming out soon that will change him all over again.
So he really has no consistent character aside from a certain baseline definition of his powers and the fact that he has a crush on Louis Lane and a rivalry with Lex Luthor. That's why Superman isn't really that interesting of a character, is because no one can tell who he actually is at the end of the day!
-
Chapter Thirteen
Four men, armored and helmeted, crouched near a heavy door. They were in a small chamber, lit by a single lighting panel on the ceiling. The lead man placed small explosive charges on the hinges of the door and stepped back, using a high frequency radar filter on his visor to look through the door.
He held the detonator in his hand and watches as someone walks towards the door, holding a lightsaber. The lead man held up his left hand, palm open.
The other members of his team looked at him, waiting for his signal. Two held blaster carbines with shortened barrels, the third toted a heavy repeating blaster. Their masks were painted with various symbols, each representing the exploits of their clan. There was palpable tension in the air as they waited for his command.
The Jedi outside was almost at the door. The leader clenched his left hand into a fist and triggered the explosives, blowing the door outwards off its hinges. The thick durasteel door slammed into Haytham Kenway, knocking his lightsaber out of his hand and pinning him down.
The four man team surged out of the doorway, splitting to the right and left. Lachance crouched and raised his sniper rifle, firing at the first man through the door. His high powered blast tore through the man’s helmet and he fell flat, helmet scorched and smoking, blood gushing onto the floor.
The third man through the door, the team leader, moved to the right and fired on Lachance with his carbine. His first shot hit the coal grey Echani armor that Lachance wore, splashing just below his neck and staggering Lachance. The leader’s second shot struck Lachance in the side of the head as he fell back, and Lachance dropped his rifle and fell backwards.
Thrash, standing next to Sventrare on the elevated platform, turned quickly and began firing at the squad coming through the door. His blaster bolts scorched the armor of the team leader and scored holes in the wall behind him.
Sventrare ignited his lightsabers and leapt over the railing, deflecting several shots directed at him. He landed next to the two troopers who had gone left, slicing through the repeating blaster held by the last man through the door.
The team leader returned fire on Thrash, forcing him behind one of the communications consoles and pinning him down. The other trooper on the left, still holding his blaster carbine, moved to the far side of the room to flank Thrash and Sventrare.
Sventrare reached out with the Force, knocking him off his feet, before delivering a spinning kick to the trooper whose weapon he had just severed. The trooper jumps back to avoid the kick and reaches to draw his sidearm. Sventrare steps forward with the momentum of his kick and slices through the trooper’s leg with one lightsaber while cutting off his weapon hand with the other.
The team leader keeps moving to the right, towards the door to the outside, firing at Thrash to pin him behind the console. He steps over Lachance’s prone form and reaches the door just as Elohirnok and two marines come sprinting over from the landing pad. The team leader reaches onto his belt and takes out a grenade, but Elohirnok skids to a halt and fires from the hip with his disruptor pistol.
The white bolt of energy catches the team leader just below the helmet, where his body suit is exposed at the neck. With a sharp crackle, the bolt eats through the black body suit and explodes out the other side of the man’s neck. He drops the grenade and his blaster carbine, stumbling back against the wall and grasping his throat with both hands.
Elohirnok raises his pistol and grips it with his other hand, firing twice more into the team leader’s chest. The bolts carve through his armor and leave jagged gaps in the chest plates. The team leader sinks down against the wall, sliding to the floor.
The marines run past Elohirnok and into the room. Sventrare is just finishing with the trooper who had drawn his sidearm while on the far side of the room the trooper thrown with the Force is getting to his feet. The marines both fire at him, cutting him down.
Thrash steps out from behind the console, looking around at the carnage. He runs down the stairs to Lachance and Haytham, shouting, “Man down, man down!”
He points to the two marines, “Get me a surgical kit, now!”
Sventrare lifts the door off Haytham, who gets up onto his feet, bruised but alive. Thrash kneels next to Lachance and pulls off his backpack, opening it up and pulling out his medical supplies. He checks Lachance’s pulse, and finds it faint but still beating.
Elohirnok stands next to the door, watching. Sventrare hauls the surviving trooper to his feet and shoves him into a chair, “Sit down and stay put.”
Watching the trooper, Sventrare stands to the side and glances at Thrash, who is busily spraying medical foam over the wound on the side of Lachance’s head. The two marines return with a box emblazoned in red, and set it down next to Thrash.
Thrash attaches several sensors to Lachance’s scalp and opens up the box beside him, working quickly. He barks short commands to the two marines, who hand him various implements and supplies. Elohirnok takes out a comlink and contacts the marines still at the ship, “Strike team to base, come in.”
“Base, we read you.”
“Objective is secured, anti-air defenses are programmed not to fire on friendlies. Bring the ship over immediately, the landing pad is clear.”
“Roger, we’re on our way.”
Elohirnok leans down next to Thrash, “If he’s stabilized, and going to make it, we can move him onto the ship’s medical bay when it gets here.”
Thrash answers, not looking away from his work, “Got it. That should help.”
Sventrare and Haytham confront the captured trooper, Sventrare standing behind him and Haytham in front. The older Jedi glares at the trooper, “Take off your helmet, now.”
The trooper holds up his right hand, now a neat stump, “I’m going to need some help, unless your surgeon over there thinks he can stick this back on.”
Haytham asks sharply, “Would you rather be dead? Sven, help him with the helmet.”
Sventrare obliges, helping the trooper pull off his helmet. He is revealed to be a young man, perhaps twenty-five, with long brown hair that falls almost to his shoulders. It is matted and damp from being underneath the helmet. He grins bleakly, “So what now, Jedi? I’m not going to tell you
anything, before you ask.”
Haytham chuckles, “Oh, I won’t be the one to ask. We’ll turn you over to people far more skilled at interrogation than ourselves, and far less discrete in their methods.”
“Do it. You won’t frighten me into cooperation.”
The trooper leans back in the chair and stares at Haytham, almost bored. Haytham shrugs and turns away to watch as Thrash works desperately to stabilize Lachance, who has lapsed into unconsciousness.
The Sol Eternal hovers over the horizon, swooping in to touch down on the landing pad. Several marines help move Lachance onto a stretcher and carry him up the loading ramp onto the ship. Elohirnok accompanies them while the Jedi remain with the prisoner.
…
Kael flies down through thick white clouds and breaks out into the night sky below them. He flies towards the clearing indicated by his coordinates, approaching across a wide canyon. As he descends, alarms begin ringing and the astromech starts giving off an incoherent stream of noises.
“What is it now? Oh…”
Kael’s eyes widen when he sees the streaks of incoming laser fire, and twists the controls over, pulling his fighter into a sideways roll. He avoids the first burst but is struck by a second one, fired by another gun. His shields fail immediately and the panels in front of him light up, flashing red and yellow warnings.
“I know that was bad! Shut up!”
The astromech continues its tirade as Kael twists the X-Wing around two more bursts, but one blindsides him and he rolls directly into it. Green streaks of light tear into the back of his cockpit, crippling the engines and setting the fighter’s fuel tanks on fire.
“Damn. Double damn. Bolt bucket, this would be a good time for some damage control!”
The droid does not respond as Kael struggles to keep control of his fighter, the side of the canyon rushing up as the craft plummets from the sky. Ahead of him, he can see several turbolaser towers in a long, narrow clearing. He jimmies the controls, closing his eyes and envisioning the path he wants the fighter to take.
Miraculously, it pulls out of its dive and crashes into the clearing right near the edge of the cliff, sliding for almost a hundred yards. As the fighter grinds across the ground, it narrowly avoids flipping end over end, the wings tearing off and pieces of the engines exploding into flames as they scatter across the ground, leaving a wide debris trail behind.
As soon as the fighter slows and shudders to a halt, digging its nose into the ground, Kael blasts the canopy apart with a wave of Force and rolls out of the cockpit, dropping to the ground beside the frame of the fighter.
He isn’t sure why the turrets fired on him, but he is not about to take any chances.
“Damn you, Chorba, this is supposed to be your base. What the hell have you gotten me into?”
He sees several men armed with blaster rifles and wearing jungle fatigues come running towards his fighter. Kael stands up slowly, raising his hands into the air. The marines slow down and train their rifles on him, one of them shouting, “You there, on your knees! Hands behind your head!”
Kael slowly kneels down, scowling, and places his hands behind his head. The marines rush over and force his wrists into binders before hauling him roughly to his feet and leading him over to a building next to the landing pad. A Corellian freighter sits on the landing pad, and Kael sees several more men hurrying up the loading ramp with a stretcher.
A grey haired man dressed in a blue toned tunic and short cloak walks out of the building and approaches them. Kael spots a lightsaber hanging from his belt.
“A Jedi Knight! Boy, am I glad to see you,” Kael exclaims.
The marines at his sides give him a confused look, then address Haytham, “Master Kenway, we found this man at the crash site. Turbolasers downed his X-Wing.”
Haytham clasps his hands behind his back and asks formally, “How is it that you came to this part of the planet, mister…?”
“Kael, Kael Orven. Seems like my astromech had a malfunction of some kind and calculated a bad hyperspace jump. I was glad to be alive, but then I thought things were taking a turn for the worse when I was shot down. Seemed like I had stumbled on a pirate outpost, but to my surprise, this is an Alliance outpost.”
Haytham smiles cautiously, “How fortunate, indeed. Where were you headed, Kael?”
Seeing no reason to conceal too much, Kael answered blithely, “Nar Shaddaa, Master Jedi. I was on my way home when my droid went bonkers.”
Elohirnok strides down the ramp from the landing pad, “What have we here, Haytham?”
“A lost traveler, it appears. I see no reason to detain him for the time being.”
Elohirnok looks Kael over, “Do you require medical attention? Your ship looks like it won’t be going anywhere again, you must be quite a pilot to pull off that landing.”
Kael laughs, “I’m just one lucky son of a Hutt, that’s all. If you’ve got a medic around, I could use a little attention, I feel like I just lost a fight with a Wookiee.”
Elohirnok grins despite himself, “Alright. Release him and show him onto the ship, but keep an eye on him. See that he gets his injuries treated.”
The marines escort Kael onto the ship and Elohirnok goes to investigate the ramp leading down into the bunker. At the bottom of the ramp is a set of immense doors, magnetically sealed and locked. Elohirnok posts a team of four marines to watch the door and returns to the communications center in the building.
Sventrare is in the command center, watching the captured trooper. Elohirnok climbs the stairs to the platform with the communications consoles. He examines the various displays and calls aloud to the prisoner, “Who’s in charge of this facility?”
The trooper refuses to respond and Elohirnok continues pacing the platform, adjusting dials and configuring different settings. He soon gets a feel for how the system is configured and plugs a datapad into one of the ports on the display set into the table.
“You sure you don’t want to tell me who runs the show around here? I’m a pretty reasonable guy, I get that you’re just here to keep the lowlifes out.”
The trooper laughs, “You’ll never get into the factory, you have to realize that.”
Elohirnok manipulates the datapad, attempting to access the communications system, “And they’ll never get out, so I think that makes us even, doesn’t it?”
The trooper returns to his silence and after a moment Elohirnok gains control of the communications arrays. He beams contentedly and addresses the prisoner again, “There’s not much of a market for mercenaries with one hand and one leg. I doubt your employers are going to pay for cybernetics.”
The trooper looks forlornly at his arm that ends abruptly, opening his mouth to speak, but closing it again. His face is a mask of resolve, jaw set.
“Suit yourself, friend. I’m going to call your boss and see what he thinks.”
Elohirnok raises the lower levels of the base on the communications system, waiting for a reply. After a few moments, a shimmering blue image of a tall humanoid with stark white hair and a labcoat appears.
Haughtily, the figure addresses Elohirnok, “Sniveling cur, who is this?”
Raising an eyebrow and slowly giving a half smile, Elohirnok answers, “How about I ask the questions, seeing as I’m the one with all the guns.”
The figure tilts his head back, looking down his nose at Elohirnok, “I am Doctor Jareel, and I advise you to turn tail and run like the insignificant peon that you are before my client’s fleet arrives to claim their investment.”
Elohirnok laughs, “Where did you learn your banter from? Cheap holo films? I’ll give you thirty minutes to open the doors to your facility and surrender. No harm will come to you and your people, assuming you don’t try anything sneaky.”
Terminating the connection with a jab at the console, Elohirnok walks down to the table where the trooper is seated. He picks up one of the mugs from the table, peers into it, and takes a swig.
“Mmm. Still warm, and not poorly brewed either. Care for some?”
The trooper maintains his stoic front and Elohirnok drains the mug and drops it back onto the table. He kicks his feet up onto the table and folds his hands behind his head. He makes a meaningful glance towards the bodies of the two men lying near the door.
“Those fellows had it easy, nice and quick. You, on the other hand, have a rather bleak future. Crippled, prisoner of the Alliance… I’m afraid my superiors are rather careless with record keeping. I visited a detention center once where one of the prisoners had been completely forgotten for almost six years. Apparently his records were accidentally deleted and no one remembered he existed after his allies were eliminated.”
Glaring at him, the trooper still refuses to speak. Elohirnok smiles at him, “Alright, kid. I admire your pluck. You’ve done very well, if you were one of my men, I’d be proud of you.”
He claps the trooper on the shoulder and stands to leave. Looking over at Sventrare he gets a curious expression on his face, “Say, Sven, could I borrow your lightsaber for a minute? I want to see if something will work.”
Sventrare takes out one of his lightsabers and hesitates, “Lieutenant, what exactly do you want to do?”
Elohirnok shakes his head, “Never mind, you wouldn’t like it very much,” he looks at the trooper, “Lucky for you, mate.”
As Elohirnok leaves he calls to Sventrare, “Let me know if Doctor arrogant calls back and wants to surrender. I’m going to see if the marines packed enough explosives to just collapse the whole base.”
…
Haytham finds Elohirnok in the lounge of the Sol Eternal, looking over a datapad. He walks over and sits down across from him.
“Elohirnok, one of the marines tells me that they’ve just detected several ships entering the system. They don’t match any known signatures.”
Elohirnok looks up instantly, concerned, “How many?”
“Seven, with fighter escorts. The tech said nineteen contacts total.”
Elohirnok springs to his feet and hurries out of the lounge, Haytham trailing after him. He finds the platoon sergeant and instructs him, “Gather your outlying patrols, get the prisoner on the ship and secure him.”
“Aye, sir. Shall I leave men watching the bunker?”
“Yes, but have them ready to fall back immediately.”
Elohirnok stops by the cockpit and starts the ship’s engines up before returning to the communications center and attempting to call Doctor Jareel again. The system returns a false connection, and Elohirnok curses.
Haytham stands at the foot of the stairs to the platform, “Are you going to retreat?”
“I have twenty men and one ship! I had hoped that snooty doctor was bluffing about the fleet, but it looks like he’s got friends. If they set course for this facility, we’ll have to run to get clear of the planet’s gravity well in time to jump.”
Haytham nods, “A prudent precaution. Won’t Raven be a little irate, though? He seemed to think this mission was vital.”
Elohirnok settles back onto his heels, hooking his thumb through his belt at his side. He speaks after a brief pause, “I realize that he won’t be pleased, but there’s not much I can do. We know where this facility is, so we can always come back.”
A marine runs up and tells Elohirnok, “Sir, sensors report the fleet is bearing for the planet. They’ll be here in less than thirty minutes.”
Cursing again, Elohirnok gives the order, “Pull back onto the ship, place charges on the landing pad and turbolaser batteries to disable them. We’re dusting off in fifteen minutes and making a break for it.”
…
On the ship, Elohirnok calls Colonel Raven, standing stiffly at attention when the connection is made. Colonel Raven is seated behind his desk, sifting through reports. He looks up and says, “Be quick about it, Lieutenant. What do you have to report?”
“Sir, there is an enemy squadron closing on the planet. We have secured the facility, but are unable to access the lower levels, where production presumably takes place. I am withdrawing my forces and returning to Coruscant.”
“Oh, you are, are you? Get down into the lower levels and take shelter there. I’ll send you reinforcements when I can, but you need to disable the factory. That is your highest priority.”
Elohirnok does his best to keep from frowning, “Sir, we cannot access the lower levels without time to disable the security measures. Even then, they are held by the enemy and we would be caught between the fleet and the forces still inside the facility. Respectfully, sir, we can always come back later. This factory isn’t going anywhere.”
Colonel Raven slams his datapad down, “Look here, there’s a situation developing which could very well tear this Alliance apart! I need that factory out of action, immediately.”
“Sir, I apologize, but there is nothing we can do at this time to accomplish the objective. I am withdrawing my forces.”
Colonel Raven stares angrily at Elohirnok for a moment before relenting, “Fine, but don’t think you’ll get away with this nonsense. Once there’s time, you’ll hear about this mess.”
“Thank you, sir.” Elohirnok terminates the connection and returns to the cockpit, preparing for takeoff.
…
Seba Sebatyne walks down a corridor in the Jedi Temple with Luke Skywalker, speaking in an urgent tone that causes her to half hiss each word.
“Master Skywalker, you son has arrested Bothan spies. I expect that this will come before the Senate and cause an uproar. We need to reign in Solo!”
Luke looks grim, “This is bad news, but not the worst I’ve gotten today. Corellia is under blockade and both Fondor and Commenor have withdrawn their delegates from the Senate in protest. Mara tells me that one of her sources reports that the First Fleet has dropped out of contact with Alliance Command at Crix Madine. Add to that the reports that Force users were involved in the attack on Crix Madine…”
Sebatyne hisses angrily, “We must find out who is responsible for the attack. Already there are whispers that it was rogue Jedi! The military will use this to malign us.”
“I understand, Seba. Patience, we need to address these problems one at a time. See if Ben can get you to meet with Jacen, Master Solo keeps putting me off. He’s never where I expect him to be, I suspect he’ s masking his presence in the Force so I can’t track him down for a meeting.”
Sebatyne nods and bows, “I will do this, Master Skywalker.”
She turns and leaves, while Luke continues down the hallway. Nearby, a turbolift opens and Masters Zhayne and Horn emerge, both looking intensely focused. They spot Luke and hurry over to him, Zhayne exclaiming, “There he is, Master Skywalker!”
Luke turns, exasperated, “Gentlemen, what news do you have?”
Zhayne says, “The Senate called an emergency session in response to a declaration from Corellia. They intend to secede, along with Fondor and Commenor. The Alliance advisory council has advised the Chief of State to call for reservists and mobilize ground forces. Admiral Niathal is speaking before the Senate now.”
Luke frowns, “We’ll have to go there at once and see what happens. Send word to Ossus that all available Jedi should convene there for a meeting as soon as possible.”
…
The Sol Eternal arrived in orbit above Coruscant to find the planet in chaos. Civilian traffic was heavily restricted in the wake of large military movements. Transports moved to and from the surface, mingling with numerous warships amassing in orbit above the planet.
Elohirnok guided his ship down to the surface, but was unable to land at the Crix Madine Military Reserve. Instead, he was redirected to a landing pad on the other side of the Senate District, a civilian site which had been temporarily possessed for military traffic.
Sending the marines to take the prisoner to be processed, Elohirnok went to the Military Reserve compound to try and find Colonel Raven.
Haytham browsed the news in the crew lounge and suddenly pushed his seat back, shouting out, “What’s this? They’ve placed General Antilles under house arrest? And stripped him of rank?”
Thrash steps over, furious, “That’s crazy. Why?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
Haytham buckles on his short cloak and storms off the ship, Thrash a few steps behind him. Haytham leaves the landing pad and finds a speeder to take him to Wedge’s apartment. The trip over is short and uneventful, but when the speeder docks at the small private landing pad outside the apartment, Haytham springs out and hurries to knock on the door.
Wedge answers the door, looking well groomed but otherwise miserable.
“Master Kenway? What a surprise, what can I do for you?”
“I heard about what they did to you, can I step inside?”
“Certainly, but I don’t know what I can tell you that you haven’t heard. Admiral Niathal has it in for me, it seems. Now this business with the First Fleet vanishing and Corellia seceding? It’s getting out of hand.”
Wedge leads them into his apartment and walks over to the kitchen.
“Can I get either of you gentlemen a drink? I don’t believe I caught your name.”
He looks at Thrash, who stammers for a second before answering, “Specialist Ordo, sir. It’s a great honor to meet you.”
Wedge smiles, “Well, not many people seem to think that these days, but thank you.”
He holds up a glass and directs a questioning look at Haytham, who smiles and shakes his head, “No thank you, Wedge. Why don’t you tell me about Admiral Niathal?”
Wedge begins explaining how he was removed from command and finally stripped of his rank by Jacen Solo. As he is in the middle of doing so, the turbolift at the end of his apartment opens to reveal a squad of Galactic Alliance Guardsmen, fully armored.
Wedge, Haytham, and Thrash all stand up, surprised. The Guardsmen step out of the turbolift and their leader looks at Wedge, holding out a small datapad in one hand, blaster pistol in the other.
“Wedge Antilles, you’re to come with us immediately. You’re wanted for questioning.”
Haytham steps forward, hand on his lightsaber, “Hold right there, soldier. General Antilles is going nowhere.”
The Guardsman glances at the men behind him and jerks his head. They start to fan out to the sides of the turbolift with their blaster rifles held ready. Haytham clips his lightsaber off his belt and raises his voice.
“I said hold there, soldier. Master Solo doesn’t have the authority to arrest General Antilles, nor does he need a squad of his goons to bring him in for questioning.”
The leader of the Guardsmen hesitates, his men looking to him for an order. He looks back at Haytham, “Master Jedi, this doesn’t concern you. Stand aside.”
Wedge glares at the Guardsman, “It concerns all of us, officer. If Master Solo wanted to speak to me, he should have just asked.”
The Guardsman raises his hand, “Master Jedi, stand aside. Antilles, surrender to us or I’ll order my men to fire!”
Wedge moves his hand to his side and the Guardsman shouts. Thrash tackles Wedge to the ground as the Guardsmen fire their rifles. Haytham ignites his lightsaber and deflects a bolt back at one of the Guards, killing him.
The leader raises his pistol to fire at Haytham, but he steps forward quickly and cuts off his hand with his lightsaber. Haytham then spins and impales him through the chest with a backhanded thrust, pulls out his lightsaber and beheads the Guard next to him.
The other men start firing at Haytham, who deflects two blasts. One scorches the ceiling and the other strikes a Guardsman in the chest. Thrash pops up from the floor with a pistol and shoots another Guard while Haytham stabs the last through the throat.
Wedge curses, “That went poorly.”
Haytham stoops and picks up the datapad the first Guardsman had been holding. He reads over it, then hands it to Wedge, “Have a look at this.”
The datapad reads:
Officer Bartell,
Apprehend former General Antilles from his apartment and bring him in for questioning. He is highly likely to resist arrest violently, given his background and training. Bring a squad and don’t hesitate to shoot at the slightest resistance, as he is extremely dangerous.
Respectfully,
Commander Jacen Solo, G.A.G.
Wedge reads it and his face darkens, “Damn. Never though Han’s boy would try to assassinate me.”
Haytham clips his lightsaber back onto his belt, “Come with me. I’ll get you off world, drop you off wherever you like. They’ll probably take you in on Corellia.”
“Well, seeing as you already killed Jacen’s men, I guess you’re in this as much as I am. Do you have a ship?”
“In a manner of speaking. I’ll work it out. I’m tired of this nonsense.”
Wedge looks skeptical, “Are you sure about that? I don’t want to drag the Jedi Order into this.”
Haytham walks towards the landing pad, “I stand by my actions. This has no bearing on the Order as a whole.”
“If you say so. Let me get some things. I don’t think I’ll be coming back to Coruscant for a while. At least I hope not.”
…
-
Lived for 1300 years due to a ritual. Drained the energy of a planet through a ritual. Granted he defeated Revan, but I don't think that automatically makes him superspecialawesome.
Yeah, and what did Plagueis do? He killed Venamis, that's about it.
We have to remember that Plagueis himself is quite powerful, and superior to Vitiate in almost every area of combat. Plagueis doesn't get enough credit, which may end up doing him in in the end.In "almost every area of combat"??? The only edge Plagueis has is in speed, and possibly lightsaber skill.
We see Plagueis using powerful Force abilities, but Vitiate uses abilities just as powerful, if not more so. On top of that Vitiate has had over a thousand years to perfect his powers and study the Dark Side. He will be able to counter every Force attack made by Plagueis, and assault his mind at the same time.
-
When being timed Superman flew from Earth to the Sun (approx. distance 93,000,00 miles) and back in less then 2 minutes, which means he would have to be moving at a rate of 5.9 Billion miles per hour. According to Batman he can travel at least 17 billion kilometers per hour, and nobody argues with Batman.
At that point Luke could just wait for physics to catch up with Superman and beat the ever-loving crap out of him for being such a dunce and trying to violate the speed of light. Probably that smack down would consist of confiscating Supe's mass since he clearly has no respect for it, and then subjecting him to the forces of acceleration which he forgot about while flying around like an idiot. He'd probably end up on the wrong side of black hole, rueing the day his clueless writers pissed off the laws of nature.
You don't know much about Superman do you? He does more then just punch everything and he has plenty of weaknesses and fights many foes who can do him harm, Luke just doesn't match any of them.He has plenty of weaknesses... besides Kryptonite? And being a sissy? Because that pretty much sums up Superman's weaknesses. Also, if we're still dealing with the realm of blatantly idiotic abilities, Luke defeated a Force God. As in, a being that was powerful enough to be considered a deity.
Supes having super hearing would hear the trigger of the sniper rifle and having super speed would just dodge the bullet before it even left the barrel of the gun.I guess you've never fired a rifle since around... 1905, since pretty much all longarm rounds these days (unless designed to be lower velocity) are supersonic. So it would hit Superman before he could hear the trigger, or even the discharge of the weapon.
Alternatively, just push Lois Lane off a cliff and wait for him to predictably fly over to save her, then shoot him, dropping them both to their deaths. He can't fly super fast once he grabs her because doing so would rip her fragile body apart and bounce her brain off the inside of her skull when he accelerated. Although... Superman is enough of an idiot that he probably doesn't know that, so he might have a hilarious Heroic Breakdown after he kills her with brain trauma...
and then shoot him with the Kryptonite rifle, just for good measure.
-
And I'd like to bring this whole TK thing into dispute, as there is no evidence to suggest he had any form of mastery in this field, unfortunately I don't have the novel on hand but I do not recall Vitiate lifting Revan up with the Force and tossing him back, which would be an impressive feat indeed. What I recall is Revan being knocked back with a Force push, which is an entirely different story as they can be evaded and endured. Wookieepedia supports me on this and in fact describes Revan recovering from the wave. So yeah, this tossing about like a ragdoll buisness vis a complete fallacy. On the other hand Plagueis can atomise his opponents with Force waves and will have little trouble knocking Vitiate back and then closing the gap in a matter of seconds, if that.
Ok, Revan was also a formidable saber duelist, and he tried the exact same tactic against Vitiate that you are proposing Palgueis use. Revan was tossed back easily, and had to approach more carefully because Vitiate was so skilled and powerful with telekinesis and lightning that rushing him proved nearly suicidal.
Your argument that Plagueis can "atomize" his enemies falls apart under the same logic that you use to argue against Vitiate pinning Plagueis to a wall and shocking him. Vitiate will resist Plagueis' wave, which was only shown to devastate non Force-using enemies.
Vitiate on the other hand, has flattened the Dark Council repeatedly with lightning, simply frying them all and overwhelming them. He is clearly capable of withstanding Plagueis' Force Waves, or even retaliating with his own equally powerful waves. So you could easily see a stand off where they batter each other with the Force until Plagueis is overwhelmed and defeated.
Every time he rushes Vitiate, Plagueis will be tossed back with incredible force, slammed into a wall, and then attacked with lightning. Rinse and repeat.
-
Where the heck is Luke going to get kryptonite anyway?? You talk as if the stuff is just laying all over the place and Luke just has to pick it up and throw it at him.
It kinda is... practically every villain who wants some (and Batman, and Iron Man, and... everyone) seems to be able to find the stuff.
Not sure how fast Luke can move but I doubt he can reach the speed of light so it wouldn't matter if he could sense a fist to the face, doesn't mean he's going to avoid it. Would a kryptonite saber even work??I'm not sure where this whole "speed of light" nonsense comes from, but we rarely see Superman flying that fast. Even if he can, if we're getting into the realm of absurd hyperbole, Luke has been described as moving faster than it's possible to track. During his duel with reborn Palp (part of the Dark Empire drivel, I know, but we are talking about superman as well) they were both fighting so fast there appeared to be dozens of lightsabers.
Supes could in turn deliver an awesome "World of Cardboard" speech right back to him.... Which would work fine until Luke pulled out the kryptonite and was like "Hey, wait... you're only superpowered because this stuff isn't near you, right?" At which point superman stops being super and Luke continues being a Jedi Master.
With a lightsaber. And Force Lightning. And precognition. And the Force.
At the end of the day, Superman is just a strong brute who wins by out-punching everything because he literally can't die or be harmed... unless they have kryptonite, in which case he falls over and screams for Batman to save him.
Were Superman real, someone would probably kill him a kryptonite slug from a sniper rifle, just to shut him up.
-
Lucas has repeatedly expressed that he never thought of a name for Yoda's species, or any kind of backstory. He was just the puppet designed to fill the mentor role in ESB.
Lucas described him as the mysterious stranger, who enters and exits the story without any explanation other than the help he provides to Luke.
-
I'm getting ready to call this one. Any final remarks?
My twelve year old sister could trounce Plagueis in a fight?
Vitiate might fail to notice Plagueis until he accidentally drains Plagueis' life force and leaves him as a husk of Muun, desiccated and hollow?
Plagueis' greatest accomplishment was killing his master's half trained apprentice, Darth Venamis?
I feel like I've already laid out most of the reasons why this fight will be a steady, but one sided battle until Plagueis is beaten down and crushed through the Force.
-
The problem here is, your arguing from a very perverse point of view. Palpatine is a far more dynamic character than Boba could ever have been, simply because he speaks. Nonetheless, I understand where your coming from but I do not agree with your conclusion. I find Sidious' archetype as megalomanical evil profoundly interesting and exciting. Star Wars is less of a sci-fi and more of a fantasy, and for fantasy to work you need those powerful archetypes of good and evil to lend a sense of magic and wonder to the story. This immensely powerful 'monster' figure gives us that. Vader provides the dynamic.
Again, I'm not arguing for Boba over Palpatine. I'm simply arguing against the idea that Palpatine is some kind of mythical genius.
He is a necessary figure in the Star Wars saga, but that doesn't make him interesting. He's fun to watch, because he just genuinely enjoys being evil, but again, he's not a compelling character. Nor is he "brilliant" in his manipulations. His only moment of relatively good deception was the bit with Anakin, but that was somewhat murky. It looks like he exploited a fairly unstable young Jedi who was extremely powerful (the Chosen One), but it was hardly a masterstroke of manipulation. Without any intervention on Palpatine's behalf, he was already committing murder and ranting against Obi-Wan early in Episode II. He basically just scooped up the low hanging fruit.
For example, which do you feel would have made a more interesting story: the original version were Palpatine was not a Sith Lord, but a puppet ruler, or were Palpatine was the all powerful mastermind and embodiment of Evil? I would always choose the latter, this 'villainous cliche' is a necessary one. People throw around 'cliche' like the word itself is a pejorative. Yet the entire original trilogy is built on the 'cliche' of the Hero's Journey and the prequels on the tragic hero. And if the sequels don't continue that theme it will fail. Sometimes, and especially with fantasy, cliches are necessary to achieve that mystical euphoria. Strip away the 'cliches' of the saga and what are we left with? A political space opera.He is a cliche. That isn't bad in and of itself, but it does make him a very flat character. He plays an important role in the story, but he is really more a piece of scenery than a dynamic character. His rise to power is the backdrop for Anakin's fall to the dark side, and eventual redemption.
Palpatine is an embodiment of Evil, but he's not an all-powerful mastermind. He's just a powerful Sith Lord methodically carrying out his stock evil plan to dominate the galaxy. No one really opposes him, he fights himself in a staged war and then abolishes the Republic with a cute little speech. He is hardly a thought provoking or original character, but he is amusing to watch, especially when Ian McDiarmid plays him.
-
Chapter Twelve
Elohirnok and Lachance approached the ship they had taken from Corellia. A brief investigation had shown that the ship’s transponder codes had been changed several times, but the original name of the vessel had been the Sol Eternal.
Elohirnok supervised the detachment of marines from the Fourth Fleet as they loaded their supplies into the cargo hold. There were twenty of them, all told, led by a platoon sergeant named Harun. The marines carried up crates of ammunition, water, and field rations, stacking them in the cargo hold.
Sventrare arrived on the landing pad and stowed his gear aboard the Sol Eternal before reviewing the message he had received from Colonel Raven. The instructions were fairly clear:
Special Missions Team 17, recent events have made it urgent that you re-task to Adumar. Proceed to coordinates indicated and investigate the existence of an illegal weapons factory. Capture or eliminate any hostile personnel encountered. Avoid detention by enemy forces. Twenty marines have been assigned from the Peacebringer, use them to secure the facility on Adumar. Casualties are acceptable but discouraged. Swift action is of the essence.
Respectfully, Col. Raven
Alliance Intelligence Operations Command
Sventrare frowned at these instructions and tapped Elohirnok on the shoulder, “Excuse me, Lieutenant, it seems the good Colonel was rather succinct in his orders. What exactly is this factory?”
Elohirnok turns away from the marines and answers, “You’ll have to forgive Colonel Raven, things are a total mess since the attack on Crix Madine. The insurgents killed a large portion of the command staff and intel has been going berserk putting the details together.”
“A large portion of the command staff? I wasn’t aware…”
Concern sweeps across Elohirnok’s face, “Ah, keep that fairly quiet. The reason you haven’t heard is that we’re keeping the details out of the public eye until we can clearly demonstrate what happened. There are tons of crazy theories flying around, right up to there being traitors on the advisory council. It’s ridiculous.”
Sventrare adopts his characteristic stance of contemplation, both pairs of arms crossed.
“In that case, I will look at the maps Colonel Raven sent us and wait for Specialist Ordo and Haytham to arrive.”
“Good plan, please excuse me while I make sure these marines don’t stack the explosives in the engine room…”
…
Onboard the Sol Eternal, Elohirnok checked that the marines were squared away without issue and then found Lachance in the crew quarters. The assassin turned around quickly when he walked in, his hand dropping to his side. When he saw who it was, he relaxed slightly.
“Lieutenant, can I help you?”
“I don’t know, can you? I said we’d talk about what you did to Sergeant Taunik.”
“Look,” Lachance says cautiously, “there wasn’t much else I could have done. That fellow attacking us wasn’t going to be stopped by anything short of me blowing him into tiny particles.”
Elohirnok narrows his eyes, “That’s hardly an excuse. Do you even care that you killed a helpless man?”
Lachance laughs harshly, then stops himself. He looks at Elohirnok, raising an eyebrow, “Really, Elohirnok? What were you going to do to save him?”
Anger fills Elohirnok, “I wouldn’t have killed him myself, that’s for damn sure! If he was killed in combat, that’s one thing, but for you to ensure that he died? That’s not just friendly fire, it’s downright cold blooded.”
Lachance leans against the nearest bunk and speaks in a flat tone, “Yes. That’s my job, however. To be cold blooded, to kill. What good would it do Sergeant Taunik if our attacker had killed us? He would have died just the same, but this way, one of can get around to avenging him some day.”
“You didn’t have to fill out his casualty report, Lachance. You didn’t have to gloss over the fact that he was really killed by his own people, without any sort of warning. His commanding officer recommended him for an award, based on my report… I had to leave out some of the details, and Intelligence worked my report over even further. His family is never going to know…”
As Elohirnok looks down, his voice becoming introspective, Lachance steps forward. He hesitates for a moment, then puts his hand on Elohirnok’s shoulder, “Perhaps that’s for the best. He didn’t hesitate to come with us, he went after the enemy when the compound was attacked. I killed him, trying to kill the other guy. Would it have made it different if he hadn’t escaped?”
Elohirnok meets his gaze, expression softening, “I suppose not… I will kill that man. Whoever he is, if I find him again.”
Lachance steps back, “I certainly would like a second round with him, I hate when my prey gets away from me.”
…
With the Sol Eternal underway for Adumar, the marines settled into the cargo hold, converting it into a barracks. Sventrare and Haytham took to meditating in the crew quarters, which in turn drove Lachance to take shelter with Elohirnok up near the cockpit or the lounge.
Thrash studied with Haytham, who tried to use every opportunity to instruct the young soldier. Thrash was an eager student, and paid close attention. He was humble enough to ask for assistance, but confident enough to try anything on his own.
Thrash stood in the crew quarters, wearing a helmet with the opaque blast shield covering his eyes. Haytham levitated a set of ball bearings around him, slowly moving them about and changing their positions, making it more challenging for Thrash.
When he had located the last ball bearing, he points to it. Nothing happens. Thrash lowers his hand, reaching out around him through the Force and sensing the ball bearing again. He points at it, and tracks its motion with his finger.
Haytham says, “Knock it down yourself, with the Force.”
Thrash struggles, concentrating to no effect. His mouth tightens as he focuses, and while he can sense the ball, there is nothing he can do to it. Haytham watches passively for a few moments before speaking, “You need to relax. The Force cannot be muscled into cooperation, it is like a current. You have to guide it. Let go and draw the Force into yourself, allow it to follow your direction, but do not try to control it directly.”
Thrash begins to relax, attempting to focus the energies he senses around himself. The ball bearing quivers, jerking towards the floor before resuming its orbit around him. Haytham smiles, “Again. Let the Force become a torrent that flows through you.”
This time the ball bearing is pulled down several feet and nearly hits the deck, but Haytham pulls it back up and it continues floating around Thrash. This pattern continues for several minutes before Thrash finally knocks it down.
Haytham applauds slowly, chuckling. Thrash pulls off the helmet and drops back onto a nearby bunk, exhausted.
“That was really tricky,” Thrash pants, wiping sweat off his forehead.
“You did well, it took me days and days to finally get that level of precision.”
Thrash smiles appreciatively, “I like it, this is very interesting. I always thought Jedi were kind of mystical and unreachable, they usually were pilots or working on infiltration teams during the war. You heard about them but didn’t ever really see what they could do.”
Haytham crosses his ankle over his knee and gathers up the ball bearings with the Force, placing them into a small mesh bag. Sventrare appears in the doorway and looks Thrash over slowly, “I felt your presence in the Force, Specialist Ordo. You’re learning quickly.”
Closing the bag, Haytham responds, “He applies himself quite diligently. He’s a good student.”
Thrash works up the courage to ask, “Master Kenway, when will you teach me about lightsabers?”
Sventrare laughs softly, “That’s usually a matter for advanced students, after a few years of studying the Force.”
Haytham stands and takes his lightsaber off his belt, walking over to Thrash, “Usually. In your case, since you’re already combat trained, we can begin with the basics as soon as you like. Here, I’ll show you the main components of a lightsaber.”
He sits down next to Thrash and shows him his lightsaber. It has a gently curved handle, smooth with a grip fitted to Haytham’s hand. He begins disassembling his lightsaber, pointing out the components and their functions. Thrash, already familiar with many of them, quickly picks up the basics. Sventrare looks on, curious.
“Master Kenway, I understand the power supply, but how does the crystal interface with the emitter?”
“That depends entirely on the lightsaber, each Jedi works out their own, usually envisioning the design while channeling the Force. Powerful Jedi will be able to create very unique and powerful lightsabers, but they all share certain similarities. Adjusting the assembly allows one to control blade width, tapering, and intensity.”
Thrash studies the components, turning the crystal emitter assembly of Haytham’s lightsaber.
“How is your weapon constructed?”
“I built mine to have a thinner blade, which makes it more difficult to deflect blaster fire, but allows for a higher intensity while still retaining relatively easy handling characteristics.”
Thrash nods, “What are the particular benefits?”
“Ah, well I’m no physicist, but the plasma of the blade is contained in a magnetic field. When you swing the lightsaber, it creates gyroscopic inertia. The blade has no weight, but the field will pull the handle, making it easy to lose control of the weapon if you’re not well trained. A more powerful blade requires a stronger field to contain it, but also becomes more difficult to compensate for the gyroscopic effects.”
Sventrare steps over, taking out one of his lightsabers, “Certain crystals are more easily tuned to certain specifications. Mine use a Sapith crystal in tandem with a Ruusan crystal. This produces a very stable, strong blade. Difficult to control, but with practice I’ve learned to accommodate the inertia of the blades.”
Thrash examines Sventrare’s lightsaber, which has a straight handle with several knobs below the ridged, black grip. It is somewhat longer than Haytham’s, to incorporate the second crystal.
Haytham adds, “Sven is a true prodigy, Kyle Katarn spent hours studying his lightsaber design when he first built that one. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was teaching about lightsaber construction back on Ossus within a few years.”
Sventrare bows his head humbly, embarrassed, “I was guided by the Force, Haytham. I am sure that a skilled armorer like Specialist Ordo could surpass my own design, given time.”
Thrash laughs, “I should probably learn how to use one of these before I start playing around with the parts.”
Haytham gathers his lightsaber together and starts reassembling it, speaking aside to Thrash as he does so, “I’ll show you the basics of lightsaber combat, much of it will work off the groundwork established by your basic training. I will make an effort to highlight the differences which lightsabers introduce, and how your connection to the Force assists a Jedi while fighting.”
…
The cockpit of the Sol Eternal was darkened for the most part, the only illumination coming from the instrument panels in front of Elohirnok. Outside the cockpit, the swirling purple maelstrom of hyperspace twisted past. Elohirnok reached out to his left and clicked over a series of switches when a small green light on the console began blinking.
Lachance walked into the cockpit behind him, and asked, “When are we due to arrive?”
Elohirnok looked over quickly at one of his displays, saying off handedly, “Right about… now.”
Beyond the ship’s viewport, the purple maelstrom vanished. A whole array of stars and planets leapt into view, with a huge, darkened planet springing up in front of them.
“We’ll approach the darkened side of the planet. The facility is on the edge of a cliff, and intelligence indicates heavy turbolaser batteries. I’m going to take us in low about eighty miles away and come in along the treetops. Go alert the marines to gear up.”
Lachance nods and walks swiftly through the ship until he reaches the cargo hold. A single marine is posted outside the door and Lachance addresses him, “You there, get your platoon up and ready. We’ve left hyperspace and are approaching the target.”
The marine straightens, “Yes, sir!” And vanishes inside the cargo hold.
Within moments, there is a storm of activity from inside. Weapons rattle, backpacks thump heavily on the deck, and voices mix together and drift into the corridor. Lachance listens for moment before returning to the cockpit.
Elohirnok is guiding the ship down towards Adumar, keeping the power signature low. The shields are down, communications systems and sensors powered off, and he is running the thrusters at minimal impulse.
The Sol Eternal dives silently through the void, engines flaring softly as the ship enters the atmosphere. Elohirnok activates the forward deflector shields at low power to absorb the heat of reentry, and soon the landscape is looming towards them.
The ship flies over broad hills and deep canyons, all carpeted by thick mangrove jungle. Eventually, Elohirnok spots a flat clearing and puts the ship down. He lowers the boarding ramp and kills the engines. The marine leader, a platoon sergeant, approaches Elohirnok, “Sir, what are your orders?”
“Leave two men with the ship, preferably one who can fly. Have the rest of your platoon form up into two teams. I’ll lead one to approach along the cliff from the north. You’ll lead the other team from the south, move up against the eastern perimeter of the base. We’ll assess the strength of the defenses from there, but expect a force of twelve to twenty defenders.”
“Aye, sir. I’ll get my men together.”
The marines move out of the ship in an orderly fashion, followed by the Jedi. Elohirnok briefly checks the ship’s engine room before heading outside. On the clearing outside, tall grass covered in dew swirls around the men’s legs as the walk. The marines split into two groups of nine, and Lachance joins up with Elohirnok and Sventrare while Haytham and Thrash go with the platoon sergeant’s group.
Progress through the jungle is slow, and they move carefully. Strange calls from unidentified creatures echo through the canopies of the twisting trees, and a heavy mist hangs above their heads. Razor sharp vines are laced through the underbrush, along with poisonous blossoms and carnivorous plants along the narrow game trails the teams follow.
They travel all night and make camp when they find a small cave carved by erosion from the side of a shallow ravine. In the midmorning, they arise and continue, following the lay of the land to expedite their journey. On the third day, when Elohirnok estimates that they are within ten miles of the facility, they stay off the game trails and easy paths and cut directly through the harsh jungle. Their progress slows considerably, but by sunset they can see the edge of a long clearing, and the turbolaser towers peeking out on the far side.
They split apart, with Elohirnok leading his group around to the right, circling to approach from the north. The platoon sergeant leads his men south. There are a number of bipedal assault droids guarding the eastern edge of the clearing where the facility is nestled. They are almost twelve feet tall, and armed with heavy repeating blasters.
Inside the clearing, the three towers form a semi-circle spaced a few hundred yards out on the eastern side of the landing pad. Near the landing pad is a low, flat building with sensor arrays on top of it and to the north is a small bunker with a ramp leading down into it. A path from the landing pad to the bunker has been worn flat by the passage of repulsorlift vehicles.
A half dozen human sentries patrol between the turbolasers, and two more assault droids stand near the landing pad, mechanical heads swiveling about. As the shadows cast by the droids lengthen, Elohirnok and his men get into position at the edge of the cliff, near where the thick jungle gives way to tangled grasses. The marines move meticulously through the jungle, spreading out in a firing line and crouching or lying prone. Lachance takes his sniper rifle and works himself into the undergrowth just behind a slight rise in the ground.
The marines with Haytham and Thrash break into two teams at their sergeant’s orders. A group of four accompanies the sergeant while the other four prepare to cover them. Haytham taps the sergeant on the back and whispers, “My apprentice and I will move to the landing pad and eliminate any sentries there. Have your team secure the nearest turbolaser battery.”
The sergeant nods and relays the information to Elohirnok over a small comlink. Elohirnok responds, “Very well, my men will suppress the northern half of the camp and then leapfrog in to take the northern tower. Keep eyes on that bunker and watch for reinforcements. Once you take your tower, use your other squad to secure the landing pad. We will engage on your mark.”
The sergeant exchanges a glance with Haytham, who nods. Thrash braces himself, watching Haytham carefully. Haytham steps out of the jungle and casually throws his lightsaber at the nearest assault droid. The radiant weapon spins lightly through the air and slices through the droid, cutting it in half, before returning to Haytham’s outstretched hand.
The tree line behind Haytham explodes in a mess of blaster fire as the marines gun down two other assault droids. Four marines rush out behind the platoon sergeant and make for the southern tower. The remaining four fire towards the eastern end of the clearing, where two assault droids are returning fire with their repeating blasters.
The droids are quickly hit with numerous blaster bolts, limbs glowing hot and melting off as the marines pour fire onto them. The platoon sergeant’s squad reaches the southern tower and one marine slings his blaster over his back and begins to climb towards the catwalk that wraps around the tower.
Elohirnok’s marines shoot apart several assault droids near them and Lachance kills the two human sentries on the landing pad. Leading four of his marines, Elohirnok sprints to the northern tower. Halfway up the tower, someone opens a hatch and begins to climb out.
Sighting down his pistol, Elohirnok shoots him twice and he falls from the hatch with a cry. His legs tangle on the catwalk and his head hangs limply over the edge. Waving one of the marines up, Elohirnok gestures for him to begin climbing, shouting, “Move, get up there! Cover that bunker!”
Lachance shoots another guard who runs out of the building by the landing pad. The squad of marines still in the jungle moves out towards the landing pad and takes cover near the base of the loading ramp.
In moments, the clearing goes quiet as the last few droids crumple to the ground, sparking and twitching. Haytham and Thrash approach the door to the building near the landing pad, which is swinging back and forth in the slight breeze. A long rectangle of light shines out from inside the building onto the grass outside.
Thrash kicks the door open and moves inside quickly, checking one corner and quickly moving along the wall. Haytham follows him in, lightsaber up. Lachance and Sventrare follow. The interior of the building has a split level floor, with a small set of stairs leading a few feet up to an elevated space with a railing running around the edge. Up on this platform are numerous communication displays and a large table with a holodisplay set into it.
Over to the side is a thick durasteel door near a handful of plasteel crates. Several tables and chairs are set in the center of the room, cups still steaming at a few places.
Lachance moves into a corner and watches the doors while Thrash and Sventrare climb up to investigate the communications equipment. Outside, Elohirnok and the marines secure the perimeter and work to reprogram the targeting systems on the turbolasers.
...
Admiral Nec Bwua’tu stood on the bridge of his new command ship, the Aurek, a sleek Bothan Assault Cruiser. The ship was very well engineered, and possessed an impressive compliment of turbolasers. It was well suited for ship to ship engagements, with a tight maneuvering characteristics and rapid acceleration. It did lack significant fighter storage, but that trade off allowed for heavier armoring.
All told he had six of these cruisers to form the core of his squadron. A number of Carrack-class frigates formed his picket, and a dozen aging but easily modified Dreadnaught-class warships had been outfitted to serve as light carriers and point defense platforms.
What he was about to do weighed heavily on his mind, but he shook off his doubts and issued his orders. The Bothan fleet assembled and prepared for the jump to hyperspace.
…
Seba Sebatyne, the reptilian Jedi, found Ben Skywalker in a small restaurant near the Crix Madine Military Reserve. She approached him and feigned surprise, ‘Skywalker, this iz a most pleasant surprise. How have you been lately, I never see you in the Jedi Temple.”
Ben looks up, and answers guardedly, “I’m fine. I’ve been quite busy helping hunt down the terrorists here.”
Sebatyne nods approvingly, “This iz most good. I hear you do fine work.”
“Thank you, Master Sebatyne. I actually need to be getting back to work,” he pushes his plate away and gets the waiter’s attention, indicating the plate. As the waiter approaches, Ben stands and hands him a credit chip.
Sebatyne’s black pupils narrow, becoming dark slits against her blood red eyes.
“Skywalker, the Jedi Council has heard many disturbing things about Corellia. Is it true that your master has been authorized by the Senate to enact emergency military measures?”
Ben looks at her, face darkening, “You know that’s true, why ask me, Master Sebatyne?”
The waiter returns with Ben’s credit chip, and Sebatyne answers slowly, “I did not want to act without being certain, Skywalker. I came to you because I desired a close source, near to the truth.”
Ben relaxes, “Well, I’m glad you asked me instead of someone else. Master Solo and I are working hard with the Alliance Guard to secure Coruscant. Just the other day, we arrested a whole ring of Bothan spies who were working to feed information on the Senate to the terrorists. Over a hundred Bothans are in custody now, it was quite the fiasco.”
Sebatyne hisses sharply, “I had not heard… this is most disturbing.”
Ben shrugs and prepares to leave, “There are a lot of things going on right now, I only know the half of it. Master Solo is constantly meeting with admirals and senators, total chaos. Alright, I have to go to a meeting myself, actually. Wish me luck.”
Ben hurries out of the restaurant and towards the Crix Madine Military Reserve. Master Sebatyne looks for a speeder to take her back to the Jedi Temple as quickly as possible, her mind racing.
…
Kael wakes up in the cockpit of his X-Wing when the proximity alarm begins to go off on the console in front of him. Behind him, the astromech droid beeps and whirs urgently. Kael rubs the sleep out of his eyes and yawns, “Be quite, bolt bucket.”
The X-Wing drops out of hyperspace near a large planet. Kael checks his display and reads off the coordinates given him by the astromech. Sighing, he pilots the craft down towards the planet surface.
“Chorba’s errand had better be quick…”
…
Back in the ice cave, the tattooed man stands in front of six recruits. There are two Twi’leks, a green skinned male and a red skinned female. Another recruit is a fair skinned Echani female, while the fourth is a male Togruta. The other two recruits are human males.
The Twi’leks have smooth head tails and soft facial features, with slight frames. The Echani is slim but strong, her body conditioned by years of training on her homeworld. She has snow white hair and dark eyes.
The Togruta has an arching, tapered horn on each side of his head, analogous to ears. They extend down onto his shoulders, and are slightly flexible. An alternating pattern of red and blue stripes his horns in a spiral. His skin is light brown, tinted slightly red.
The humans are both tall, although one is heavily built with short red hair and the other is more slender with longer black hair.
Each recruit wears thick black woolen robes, tied shut at the wrists and ankles. They are form fitting to a degree, but loose enough not to be restrictive. The six recruits kneel in front of the tattooed man in a line, at the side of the ice cave.
He speaks to them in a low, clear voice, “You have achieved much. Through your dedication and sacrifice, you have risen to the highest tier of our order. Few can match you in skill and ability, and even fewer have the willpower to endure what you have. Take pride in your accomplishments so far, many have fallen where you have succeeded. But do not grow arrogant. The next phase of your training with likely kill half of you, if not more. It is brutal, but necessary. If you would walk the path you have chosen to its end, you must endure things which would break any other; you must become instruments of the Force, living not for your own desires, but for the will of the Force. Within it, you will find the strength to overcome what lies ahead.”
The tattooed man takes out a small blue holocron, shaped like a pyramid and inlaid with complex patterns, and places it on the ground in ice in front of the recruits.
“This holocron will guide you until I return. Follow its every directive and you will survive. Disobey, and this planet will kill you.”
He turns and walks out of the cave, pulling up his hood as he steps out into the swirling blizzard beyond.
…
-
Oh really? No one in this thread had noticed at all that this was the wrong forum.
Thanks for the really needed and constructive feedback pushing the thread back to the top of the board.
It was helpful.
Good job
Wow, it makes my heart swell when I read the positive comments that people are willing to go out of their way to make on these forums, for no other reason than because it makes them feel good to tell other people what a significant contribution they're making to the thread.
-
So Luke can make a kryptonite lightsaber and carve the man of steel into a lawn ornament. Or he can absorb/deflect his laser eyebeams and use it to generate power for Force Choke (spasm Supe's lungs, just for the LOLs before he eviscerates him).
Superman can fly away really fast... but Luke could just Force Pull him back. Or use telekinesis to throw kryptonite daggers at his face.
Superman can punch Luke really hard... but Luke has ESP/Jedi Reflexes and can just avoid his attacks the same way he can deflect blaster bolts. And then retaliate with his kryptonite lightsaber.
Or he could talk Superman to death.
Just deliver a biting "The Reason You Suck" speech to him, berating him for being a useless, overpowered jerk who continually fails to achieve anything meaningful or lasting, allowing villain after villain to rise up and kill countless innocents. Berate him for being "Superman" but still screwing up so often that he might as well quit his job.
After a few minutes of verbal abuse, Superman will be in tears. He'll probably kill himself with kryptonite, or just blubber incoherently until Luke cuts his head off, Jango Fett-style.
-
I take it you haven't read any of the books.
You keep saying that like it means something. Do you mean Darth Plagueis? Which books? Because in none of the EU does Palpatine ever acquire depth of character or any motivations beyond the villainous cliche of "I want to rule the universe and live forever". And that's dull.
-
Interesting. I look forward to seeing what the Admiral is going to do.
Although I do wonder who that tatooed man was. One Sith? Or a rogue group? Puzzling. Many questions that I look forward to seeing answered in future chapters.
Who's to say he's a Sith at all? An enigma wrapped in a mystery, indeed.
I would have Chapter Twelve ready to go tonight, but this week has been busy. Ought to have it up sometime in the next ten or twelve hours, probably at around 4500 words. Might go for broke and try to have Chapter Thirteen written before lunch on Saturday... we shall see.
-
Like things were good for him already? Lol.
Well, canonically, he wound up as CNO and was fine until he got jumped by assassins. Even then, he was still kicking... of course in my timeline he's forsworn his oath to the Alliance and returned to his homeworld, so he's kind of betting the farm at this point.
I'm not sure which timeline has got him in worse trouble, actually.
The BattleZone! Round 1 Match 03: Lord Vitiate vs. Darth Plagueis
in STAR WARS Discussion
Posted
Because that makes sense, right? What part of no being ever resisting the mind control without explicit training and preparation just to face Vitiate isn't matching up for you?
You can't simply make up abilities for Plagueis like, "He's pretty smart, so that should make him immune to mind games."
Revan was a genius, and a strategic mastermind who managed to turn almost all of his Jedi to the Dark Side. That didn't help him at all the first time he faced Vitiate.