Artorias Under Fire (Another Perspective)

[Lord Iezkon]

Artorias Under Fire

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Another Perspective

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The stature of the Echani remained, his hands were firmly clasped behind his back as he stared onwards to the planet below, and to the silent distance. There beside him stood the formally dressed Captain in her Imperial Officer garb, and braided dark hair beneath her cap. She thinned her lips and spoke outwards in a formal Imperialistic tone, almost as if whispering.

"My Lord, I am certain that this operation will go under-way without a hitch. We have more than enou-..."

Sith Kelsa raised a hand as if ordering silence from the Captain, his expression stoic as he maintained his gaze onwards.

"It is a strange sensation... This silence. I had anticipated more. Artorias has been an objective for some time, and yet, I am here. Unsatisfied."

The Captain inhaled deeply, almost uncomfortable at the Sith's own lack of comfort for the situation, she smacked her lips together in minor contemplation and then reached a hand upwards to stroke at both corners of her mouth.

"We are more than capable of defending ourselves, my Lord. Do not fret."

"It is not me I am worried about, Captain Dunheim..."

His retort was swift, and then suddenly he received a blip on his in-build ship communications device, offering a flashing hue of red. There from it came the voice of Lord Saltaeon from the ground forces.

"Sith Kelsa, do you copy?"

The man would tilt his head to the left as he hesitantly reached onwards to press the console, activating his own ability to retort. It was at this moment that an Ensign walked towards the Captain with haste, muttering something to her before gesturing her to a screen up ahead, her departure was followed by A'tul's gaze before he spoke out.

"Lord Saltaeon, is everything well?"

The Captain and the Ensign would squabble between one another, as if something was amiss, A'tul would hear the voices of those others who would speak out on the communications, but they would be but a mumble as his eyes latched onto the two squabbling officers, then to the screen, of which presented a series of dots that offered a formation.

Strange... Perhaps their m-..."

His eyes narrowed and he would snarl slightly.

"One moment Lord Saltaeon, I have something on my scopes..."

The Echani would shut his voice from projecting into the communications openly before approaching the two officers and the screen ahead, he moving with a sense of urgency, pushing the Ensign out of the way to take a look.

"My Lord, this can't be correct... They're gone."

The Captain spurted out swiftly, almost panicked by what she was seeing on the screen. A whole fleet? That could not possibly be the case. This was a trap? A'tul was far smarter than to fall for something like this. What-ever ventured through the man's mind, he calculated and he did so slowly, uncharacteristically slowly for the normally quick Echani. His eyes lifted from the screen and looked outwards the window towards the horizon with a sense of fear.

"Kaer..."

The empty sky swiftly filled with the arrival of one ship after another, the Republic fleet anticipated as gone having returned spectacularly, and with their immediate exit of hyperspace, a flurry of laser bolts flooded the screen of visage towards them as they pummeled The Nemesis with unrelenting fire-power which shredded both shields and hull alike in mere seconds, the bridge crew were thrown around as the ship bumped and shuddered from the amounting impacts with one Ensign falling down a stairwell. A'tul himself grappled onto the console as he aimed to hold himself stable, sirens began to ring out and lights began to flood the air with red pulsating lights symbolizing the imminent doom. The Nemesis lasted mere moments against the overwhelming forces of the Republic, sparks shattered through the electrical outlets on the walls and ceiling panels fell from the roof, destruction was under-way and yet suddenly after a minute or two, it stopped. A'tul looked over to his bridge crew and then lifted his head to witness the intense damage of his vessel, completely ripped apart with no weapon capabilities, he watched as desperate fighter squadrons swooped against the Republic's own but found themselves outmatched by their numbers.Captain Dunheim stood from the ground, a hand rubbing the back of her head as she grumbled in pain.

"My Lord... They're boarding..."

"Captain! All hands to abandon ship, get out of here!"

A'tul rushed to the communications as he spoke, allowing his voice to run through all parts of the ship for his personnel to hear, and quickly make their way out before the arrival of the boarding parties. The duo on the bridge too watched as boarding pods were sent from the Republic fleet, imbedding themselves into numerous different areas of the hull, but more noticeably, A'tul would squint his eyes as he looked upon a rogue Fury Class Interceptor making its way inwards to the hangar bay, he released the communications and spoke out.

"I will remain and ensure that the evacuation goes unhindered."

"With all due respect, my Lord, I'm not leaving you, nor are any of the bridge members. We're with you, until the end."

The numerous members of the bridge looked onwards to A'tul and the Captain, each providing a determined gaze as if they had accepted their fates, wanting to be there until the very end with their Sith Commander and Imperial Captain, many gripped their blaster pistols and stood from their chairs, offering a straightened posture to the Sith in preparation for his commands. A'tul would glance to each face, allowing his Echani gaze to evaluate each individual to see if they were indeed willing, and by God they were willing to die here.

"Ensure we direct all soldiers we can to the escape pods, and to any available craft to launch towards the ground to escape. Once we have complete evacuation, I will decide what the next course of action is. This ship will not go down without a fight."

The Captain smiled and nodded, gesturing to the Imperial's upon the bridge.

"You heard the Lord, get to it!"

It was a quick thing, the Imperials, without hesitation continued to fulfill their roles beyond their normal capacity, pouring every ounce of motivation, of passion into saving as many lives as they possibly could, locking down door-ways of landing pods, opening others, directing members of the crews via communications, it was a well oiled machine unlike Sith Kelsa had ever experienced. He exhaled through his nose once more, swiftly taking his helmet from his belt and lifting it onto his head to shroud the visage of the corrupted Echani.

A'tul moved from the communications console and towards the bridge door-way, ensuring that any available Imperial would be ready to defend against the inevitable arrival of the Republic forces and of-course the stray rogue Fury Class Interceptor's host. He did so hesitantly, for in this moment he knew this may well be the end. A'tul remained mostly silent in this collective moment, pacing his every breath, fueling his emotions with the influx of strange emotions from the scenario, but he was unfocused, for his mind remained on those on the ground, on one in particular.

"My Lord."

The Captain spoke out from the communications console, lights flickering around the area as power begun to dwindle ever so slightly in key lighting areas.

"Lord Saltaeon is going to surrender..."

A'tul would snicker beneath his helmet, raising a hand to tap the Captain's left shoulder to calm her nerves before speaking out in a humored manner.

"She would never surrender. It's a ruse, Captain... I have an idea on how to get the Horuset forces to safety, prepare to divert all power to the ships engines, and as soon as we have evacuated as many as we can, we are going to distract the Republic fleet. Prepare my shuttle for the bridge crews evacuation."

The Captain nodded firmly as she rushed towards one of the bridge crew's positions, as if relaying the orders. A'tul would then press the communications console to speak.

"This is Sith Kelsa to the Horuset's forces, I wa-..."

The world around the Echani grew slow, his heart skipped a beat, he looked towards the door-way in near slow motion as he watched a plethora of Republic soldiers lead by a green lightsaber wielding individual rush inwards, exchanging fire with the crew members of The Nemesis, who were hopelessly out-numbered, but died trying to fend off against the might of the Republic forces, and former Lord of the Sith. A'tul turned as fast as he could, moving further to the steps of the bridge as he sought to defend himself or his crew against the fire, but he was unfocused, he was slow in his reactions, his anticipation.

"Captain!"

All A'tul could do is hold his position as he deflected bolt after bolt into any individual that he could possibly find amidst the ensuing chaos, but the Captain whom he had sent onwards to relay his orders would take a stray bolt to her heart, killing her near instantly, the final yelp of pain from her emitting through the communications also as she fumbled to the middle of the path-way of the bridge, dead. A'tul's anger pent up, but even so, he remained utterly in disarray, without answers or solutions to what he could possibly do in this moment, he too would take hit after hit, first causing him to fumble to the floor on a singular knee and then pressing his left hand to support his weight, and the second plunging into his upper abdominal. The Exchange between Imperial and Republic was brief at best, but due to the impacts of both Sith and former Lord of the Sith, what remained was Jadie and A'tul in what could be the final show-down. Surrounding the pair lay dead the soldiers that they came with, battered and destroyed consoles, shattered electrical wiring and cracked metal ship panels. The world no longer went slowly for the Echani, but as he held himself just above the floor, Jadie would slowly make her way through the gap between brother and sister.

"For all this talk of your triumph, I expected more from you, Almir."

A'tul would grunt and pant, lifting his right hand from his chest of which sustained a mortal wound from a blaster, his breath grew raspy as if it had taken the wind out of him. Jadie trailed onwards and kneeled downwards, pressing her green blade onto A'tul's own, giving it no room to move. The man's hand reached towards his side, and his chin raised to look at Jadie from beneath his mask to speak, but his words were muffled almost, as if the breathlessness took them away. Jadie tilted her head to the right and her spare left hand reached to tap her index finger onto the forehead of his mask.

"You wear this to hide your shame... A man who turned into a mask. How familiar."

A'tul's right hand reached upwards and gripped into Jadie's wrist with aggression, his metallic grip wrapping around the woman's wrist in a tight embrace, his right hand trailed from his side, harboring a cylinder object, of which he flicked off its pin, revealing itself to be a flashbang.

"I wear it practically..."

The Sith would drop the flashbang between the two, just underneath Jadie's legs, any form of smugness from her expression quickly vanishing to being surprised by this careless act from the more calculative A'tul. She would raise her blade from A'tul's but before anything could happen; 'BANG', the flashbang's light would flood the space between the two siblings, but as A'tul would grunt from the shrapnel damage, his eyes and ears would remain suppressed from the damaging effects, unlike the female Echani who's gaze, whilst a boon, her ears were subject to the immense pressure of the weapon, and quickly found herself partially deafened by the effects. Disorientated, Jadie would fall backwards and A'tul would exploit every advantage, becoming focused once more as he pushes himself up to his feet, raising his blade and ripping it upwards across the Echani females chest, cutting across her in a deep shiim strike which made her buckle off of her feet. Assisted then with a heavy left footed kick, A'tul would shunt his sister to the floor on her back. With a quick flourish his blade reversed its grip and then the Sith with all his might would lunge downwards onto Jadie's position, injecting the blade to the ground... Beside her head.

"Argh!"

He released an angry, and pained cry as he did so. But looking to his blade, and then to his sister, who lay helpless and beaten on the ground, he felt a sentiment of sympathy. The Echani raised his chin and looked onwards to the distance, he felt a dream once dreamt, he felt the soothing aura of someone familiar to him, someone who wanted him to make a decision... This woman, this serene guardian of pale white, with locks so long that they fluttered so elegant with her form, complexion so smooth and unblemished from the Dark Side, this unnamed woman so familiar to him looked from afar with a judging gaze, and yet she nodded towards him, offering a warming smile for confirmation to his actions. A'tul would take off from himself his mask with his spare hand, and he would drop it to the side of his form, returning his gaze back down to Jadie, revealing the full extent of his corrupted visage.

"It is not my place to kill you..."

A'tul would close his eyes for a moment, recalibrating himself and shaking his head. He would release his blade fully, shutting off and fumbling to the floor with a subtle clank against the metal. The man would turn to limp onwards to the communications console, almost falling onto it as he activated the comm with his right shoulder. His expression was tired, in pain, but filled with dedication. In this moment he felt alone, his voice flooded outwards in his usual stoic, for he knew no other way to express himself.

"Lord Iezkon. Kaer... My love. I promised I would... Do anything to protect our family."

Sith Kelsa, a man broken, beaten, corrupted both physically and mentally felt the warmth of whom he addressed from afar, looking onwards to the distant planet below, knowing that his words would reach her. He would stumble, limp, holding his chest wound as he pushed himself through all his pain to reach the main console of the ship, slumping himself onto it with both hands to support his weight. He would grunt in sheer pain before he looked at the ships power, only to see that before she had died, Captain Dunheim did what she set out to do, and she had diverted all power to the ships engines and navigation, a final heroic act to preserve and protect House Horuset.

"Take this window... Get out of here. Run..."

Selflessly, without further consideration, A'tul gripped control of the ship's thrusters and directed the ship in one fell swoop in the direction of the Valor Class Cruiser that began to loom over the Horuset forces position. A'tul then would fall to the ground, slumping his back against the console as he looked downwards onto Jadie, who lay there silent, unconscious from the pain and disorientation from the bout previously engaged. The Sith would take out his datapad, and automatically he would set the datapad to erase all data from its contents, but before doing so he would send one singular word outwards to a distant console, an unknown command. He would drop the holocom from his hand and straighten his perched posture as he sat on the floor, too adjusting his collar to ensure that his attire remained somewhat formal. The man wrinkled his nose and raised his chin as he looked towards the ceiling, allowing his eyes to close, reflecting not what was about to happen, but what he had achieved, what memories he made, both good and bad. But ultimately, his thoughts lay with his family in this moment.

"For House Kelsa..."

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(*Post by Sierra/A'tul/Kayla V.*)