Stellar_Magic

OOC: Gladly! "You've got a tractor beam don't you!" Mara yelled runing her gaze swiftly across the controls, "Reverse its polarity!" "What?" Seryk answered as the ship shuddered from a plasma hit. "Make it push instead of pull!" Mara yelled back as a Raporan fighter screamed above them its Plasma Cannons firing. Glancing at the displays she saw more of them closing in behind them. Ahead the Kar Lur Cruiser had rolled ninety degrees to bring all its guns to bear. "Done," Seryk answered flipping a pair of switches. "Going to stardboard, thirty degrees," Mara shouted as she swung the ship to pass close tot he underside fo the cruiser. Suddenly a Raporan fighter flashed by it's sleak shape manuevering between her and the cruiser. Smiling she locked the tractor beam on the craft. The Raporan pilot saw what she was doing and fought the beam, as his ship began to sends sparks across the cruiser's hull the entire cockpit section suddenly lurched away from the craft like a giant escape pod. Mara smiled coldly as she reached out with the force, focusing her senses on the plasma bomb slung between the crafts wings she could see a manual detonator. Slowly, reaching out with her mind she squeazed. Then as if fighting invisible hands she felt her focus deflect as the Rapora ont he cruiser sensed her attempt. Reaching otu for the sheer power of the force she squeazed again. The bomb detonated sending a shockwave across space and ripping away the Bad Samaritan's port and rear shields. Behind her the Kar Lur cruiser began to break up. It's pylons severed betweent he prow and rear, the vessel slowly began to tumble through space. As she watched several more Rapora fighters, piloted by crewers, leapt from the vessel's hanger bay and veared away as the ship's reactor detonated leaving nothing but a burning hulk behind. "Son of the sith," Seryk said quietly watching the cruiser disappear into an expanding cloud of debris. Mara smiled, but suddenly the ship rocked again as another heavy plasma blast hit the dorsal shields and a Savla class cruiser, a ship twice the size of a corellian corvette roared past them, its antistarfighter lasers ripping through space. Seryk glanced at the rear sensors, "We've got another one closing from behind." Brilliant red lances flashed against the forward shields of the Bad Samaritan. Mara turned from the pilot's chair and screamed to Burt, "How long to hyperspace." "Ten seconds!" Seryk leaned forward as a dozen brown cone shaped object dropped from the Savla class cruiser, "What the hell are those?" Suddenly the gravity well indicator flashed on, "Sithspawn!" Mara yelled twisting the controls and glancing at the sensors, "There's an asteroid belt at Mark three, good." She banked the Bad Samaritan toward the belt as Seryk watched in horror. Suddenly the craft bucked, "We're caught in a tractor beam!" Luke yelled from the rear, "Reprogram a Torp to go dead aft and hit the inertia compensator toggle!" Seryk followed the instructions and as Mara loosed the torpedo, the Bad Samaritan leapt free. The Torpedo would have detonated agains the Savla class cruiser but at the same moment it was gripped in the beam, the beam shut down and the torpedo flashed blindly off into space. Mara watched the rear Savla class cruiser disappear from their scopes, cloaking. Suddenly ahead the arsenal of cone shapped objects turned and sped toward the Bad Samaritan. Tiny ion drives were visible pushing them along, and suddenly Mara pulled up a sensor feed on the objects. They were mines. Each one equipped with a gravity impeller and a heavy plasma projector. Mara bit her lip, "Well, lets see just how dangerous these things are." Suddenly they sped through the minefield and through a storm of Plasma fire. One shot grazed the craft, impacting into the port side of the ship and trashed an escape pod, rupturing a coolant line along the way. In the cockpit sparks shot from the consoles and a miniature fire broke out behind the copilot's seat. Mara gritted her teeth and urged on more speed, suddenly they were whipping through the asteroid belt, the Raporan mines hot on their tail. Suddenly the clatter of the quad laser cannon echoed in the compartment as they flashed by asteroid after asteroid. red lances burned into the mines. Several detonated under the assault and from colliding with asteroids. Seryk twisted in his seat, "Burt what are you doing!" "It's not me!" Mara smiled as Seryk yelled back, "Well then who the sith is it!" It was Ben, his tiny frame strapped tightly to the quads as his father slipped into a healing trance bellow. He reached out ot his mother with his untrained force abilities and their minds, mother and son touched, giving each one knowledge of what the other saw, and did. Suddenly a Raporan mine buzzed past the Bad Samaritan its cone spinning madly as the ion drive burned, furvently. The drive cut off and driven soley by inertial it spun to point directly at the Bad Samaritan's cockpit. The orange glow fo plasma reading to arch from the cannon was visible as a trio of laser blasts turned the mine into another gaseous cloud of debris. In that moment the Gravity Well indicator snapped off. Hauling abck ont he stick Mara pulled the Bad Samaritan out of the Asteroid field and pulled back on the hyperspace levers. With that the Bad Samaritan escaped the trap laid for them by the Rapora. OOC: Watch Ben shoot... Watch Mara fly... Watch Rapora die...

Fel took a deep breath as he stood in the holoprojector, behind him Jaina stepped to the holocam, "and Jaina Solo." Fel sighed glancing down at the report grasped in his hands, "Csilla has been tossed into chaos, twelve members of the nine ruling families are dead, twenty more are wounded from a bombing at their meeting room. No one is sure who's in control or who launched the attack. In addition chiss patrols have sighted a number of Raporan vessels in system, escorted by a hodgepodge of Vagaari vessels." Jaina looked at the holographic image of Cal Omas as he spoke, "Have you been able to gather any more information on the Vagaari?" Jaina shook her head, "With the government in chaos all requests for information have been ignored." Then the room rumbled with a siren echoing from far above them and a small scattering fo dust fell from the ceiling. Jaina glanced to Fel as an announcement screamed through the air in rapid fire Chiss. Fel glanced at Jaina, his face ashen, "Cal, the chiss just announced that they're under attack, by the Rapora." Then before Cal could replied the hologram disappeared as the Rapora began jamming all frequency's, the battle of Csilla had begun. * * * A pair of Savla class Raporan cruisers shimmered into existance above Csilla. They fired sending eight streams of plasma energy directly into the drydock which housed a large portion of the chiss defense fleet. Many of the vessels within were trapped as the drydock twisted apart under the impact. Suddenly a series of shots ripped through the stations reactor, moments later over thirty Chiss vessels were destroyed as the drydock detonated. A Kar Lur Cruiser decloaked and opened fire sending brilliant gold ribons of plasma arching down to flash into the city below. Brilliant flashes of light marked impacts from space. The Chiss had been caught off guard by the sudden assault, but already a number of their ships and fighters were moving to engage the intruders. Onboard the Kar Lur cruiser, a cloak figure stirred in his command chair, all was going as planned. OOC: Um, Bad Samaritan, could you pick up Luke soon... Darkie, whats going to be the name of the Dark Jedi you're playing?

Cal was thinking as the two officers stepped toward the door. Suddenly there was a bustle to his side and an aide bent down, her voice a whisper, "We have a transmission from Grand Admiral Pelleaon, he'd like to speak with the whole of the advisory council..." The aide's gaze flicked to the two officers standing by the doors, "Along with the commander that was chased by the Rapora to Nirauan." Cal nodded, "Put them through." Suddenly, before the holoprojector had spun up, another aide bustled into the room, he stoped near the foot fo the table, "Councilors, we've just recieved word from the Chiss Ascendancy, a scout force of Raporan vessels has been detected twelve light minutes from Csilla." The room suddenly became as cold as Hoth. Cal slowly turned to the aide, "Any word from Solo or Fel?" "No sir," The Aide replied. "What is going on over there?" Cal breathed. The holoprojcetor whirred to life and an image of Supreme Commander Pelleaon shimmered into existance, "Members of the Advisory council, I greet you in friendship, but not in peace, it seems we are at the brink of another major conflict, one which we could not forsee. You have undoubtably already heard of the status of your task force which encountered our new enemies. I regret to add more bad news to the mix, the Hand of Thrawn complex on Nirauan has been razed to the ground." Two more figures shimmered into existance beside the Admiral, "This is General Scoontir Fel and Admiral Oreton. Admiral, if you would explain the chain of events above Nirauan..." * * * Quietly the scout force of the Raporan craft slid through space, their ion drives burning brighter then Csilla's sun as they moved through space. Upon the bridge Mits'hre'nuroudo stood, her blue arms folded across her chest. Her red eyes burning at the displays. Behind her a turbolift slid open and a hooded and cloaked figure slid into the room. Shren knew who it was without turning, her sense feeling his mind even from where she stood, a slight smile slipped across her face, "You're late." The figure didn't respond but bent his knees and knelt before her, "What are your orders, Shren, what do you desire of me?" Shren smiled as she turned to face him, "Rise, and speak to me plainly..." OOC: Darkie, your introduction of A Dark Jedi...

OOC: Hard, but enjoyable. This would be allot better if Darkie or Mad posted some more. IC:"This is...B...Samari.....the Sk..alkers...." The com link in Mara's pocket crackled to life. She spun around her lightsaber jumping to deflect away blows from a squad of Raporan Droidekas. Crouching down beside a log she lifted the comm to her lips, "This is Mara Jade Skywalker, please repeat." All that answered her was the hiss of chiss jamming. Luke leapt up over the log next to them and threw his lightsaber creating a buzzing mill of destruction through the undergrowth. The Droidekas saw the attackcoming and switched on their energy shields. The blade glanced away hamrlessly and fell into the grass before the droids. As the droids continued their advanced Mara glanced at Luke, "You know thats never going to work?" "You think so?" Luke replied with a slight grin across his lips. With a snap hiss the lightsaber lifted up from the ground within the energy shroud of the droids shields. Three quick slices latter, it was over. Mara shook her head as the droids collapsed into nothing more then junk under Luke's lightsabers caress. She turned and felt her breath leaver her, there side by side were a pair of Rapora warriors, thier weapons leveled and ready. Luke felt her wave of shock and turned his hands raised. With a roar of defiance Ben leapt onto the right most rapora from behind the cover he'd been hiding in. Wrapping his arms around the creature's neck he held fast as it struggled to pull him off. In one made slash with its clawed hands it snagged Ben and tossed him to teh ground, in the process ripping its helmet free. Ben blinked in surprise and confusion up at the night sky where he fell as the creature drew a lightsaber and put it's emitter to his throat. He felt its hot breath and a serpentine tongue slipped between its jaws and fluttered before him. Ben could see the cruel malice of the alien's mind in its golden reptilian colored eyes. Slowly in broken basic it spoke, "Now you die young Jeedi." Suddenly as if from nowhere a black booted foot smashed into the creature's face kicking it against a tree as a brilliant blue blade thrust from the tree's stump and through the creature's chest with a twirl the creature fell in two as the lightsaber returned to Mara's hand, "No one touches my son." She stood above the two dead Rapora a bitter smile pulling at her lips, "They've made it personal." With a scream of speed and plasma energy the forest erupted around them as a flight of Raporan fighters flashed by overhead, their duel plasma blasts ripping blindly through the growth. Overhead one desintegrated, its rear shield punctured it spun to earth as a bulky smuggling vessel soared overhead. Luke picked up Ben and ran toward a clearing as Mara drew a flare pistol, with a flash a brilliant red flare soared over the clearing, a definite marker to the transport. They ran for the clearing, behind them they could here the whine of Rapora droids rolling toward them, it would be a hot extraction. OOC: We've really got to finish the debriefing before we start another major engagement.

As Threepio would say... Please excuse the droid, he has no sense of irony, after all he's just a mechanic...

Maybe this will help... Translating SM to SW Blaster bolts whiz through a hallway as two familiar wraiths, Tyria Sarkin and Kell Tainer return fire against an onrushing squad of stormtroopers... Tyria Sarkin: "Face, Phanan, we're coming back your way, be ready to rock and roll." Face Loran (across a commlink) huddles behind an E-web blaster as Ton spins up the power generator: "Roger that love birds." Tyria turns to Kell Tainer as she tosses aside an empty blaster: "We're fighting for our lives and they're making jokes!" Kell ducks back from a blast and yells back to her: "You deal with stress some other way?" Tyria stares a silent rebuke back at Kell... This is my last attempt. Do you get it NOW!

Admiral Kre'Fey leaned back in his chair, his subordinates needed a grilling, and he needed to know what they were up against, "Could you please state the current status of the force you dispatched to the unknown regions." Admiral Evahe blinked, "We lost all ships assigned tot he force witht he exception of the modified Star Destroyer Mon Mothma and the modified Assault Frigate Rights of Justice, the modified Assault Frigate, fortunately was acting as a sensor frigate and recorded the entirety of the engagement, from first contact to our withdraw." Admiral Kre'Fey glanced around the table, "Total casualties?" "Over two hundred thousand personel," Admiral Evahe said blankly. Silence greeted his words and Cal let the silence build, "General, can you think of anything you should have done differently?" "No sir." "Did you fire first?" Cal asked and the General looked at the floor, "General, did your forces fire first?" "Yes, according to standard procedures cloaked contacts are to be considered hostile unless proven otherwise." The Sullustant rose from his seat, "Did the Jedi provide you with all the materials they had gathered before the engagement?" Cal shook his head, "I would remind you of the series of events, the Jedi did not acquire this material until after the force departed, even then it is unlikely that it would have done any good." Cal sighed, "Now Admiral, what exactly did your precious sensor frigate record?"

OOC: Ah Mad, Darky really need to post pretty soon...come on guys.

I guess you have to read it in context...and know the characters, oh well. Imagine that being said in the middle of a firefight. (Note: Jules is well out fo the line of fire and can only be heard across a radio.) Piece by piece explanation... "Jules, George, we're coming back your way, be ready to rock and roll."-Krista Now it means Krista and Marco are running away from a legion of enemies down a hall towards where Jules and George are lying in ambush. Rock and roll refers to using automatic weapons fire. "Roger that lovers."-Jules Jules is mocking both Marco and Krista because they're boyfriend and girlfriend in an effort to ease pre combat tension. The rest should be fairly obvious, and now that I've explained it, it ain't funny.

I heard that the opening sequeance for episode III will be a jedi assault and boarding of some confederacy starships in order to, get this, kill General Grievous. I'm thinking most of the Seperatists will end up dead within the first thirty minutes to an hour (With the exception of Dooku) so that Lucas can create the Empire.

"I love the smell of Napalm in the morning." Apocolypse now "It is well that war is so terrible or we will grow to fond of it." General Robert E. Lee And my favorite, cause I wrote it... Stellar Magic: The Free Resistance "Jules, George, we're coming back your way, be ready to rock and roll."-Krista Chamberlain "Roger that lovers."-Jules Wraithbone "We're fighting for our lives and they're making jokes!" -Krista "You deal with stress some other way?"-Marco Remus (If you don't get it...speak it aloud.)

Yeah but what story would there be in that... The Rapora lust for glory through battle, much the same way as trandoshans do, but unlike them, the Rapora are cunning, merciless and ambitious. They once were the armed branched of the infinite empire, the empire which had once controlled the entirty of the Galaxy through the force and iron will. Once it fell the Rapora were faced with no choice but to flee to a world in the unknown regions. They are all dark side adepts, but have a fanatical allegiance to the leader, whom is often refered to by them as 'the timeless one'. You'll learn more about him later. He is behind an elaborate plan to bring the downfall of the GFFA and the restoration of the Infinite Empire. You'll notice several similarities between Raporan Technology and the Sith tech from KOTOR. Because the sith equipment produced by the star forge was the ancestor of modern Raporan equipment.

Still if the force only had the same good leaning nature that is evident in the NJO, wouldn't those same Dark Jedi not be able to lift a rock let alone remove a memory? They're going against the force after all, and if it has a will, can't it refuse after all.

Well what choice do the Rapora have, they're one star system against a galaxy.

And if she did know, how could she lie to Qui-Gon's face. Of course Lucas would never think of that gapping hole in the plot. As long as both good or evil triumph then the universe is out of balance. The 'will' expressed in the NJO seems to be of purely good nature, but if that were true where would the sheer power of Dark side users come from, why wouldn't they be cut off from the force itself?

Yeah well, Superweapons have always been part of Star Wars. Fortunately a bunch of the Rapora's weaknesses cancel out the biggest benefits of the weapon. 1. A very limited population means that their fleet can never grow to gargantuin proportions unless they recruit others. 2. An overreliance on droid technology to ease crew problem make them very susceptabile to sabotage operations. Example, the Kar Lur class Cruiser only carries about 240 Rapora Warriors. The Replicator probably only 700 or so. So a well planned commando operation is almost certain to destroy the Replicator. Plus all the weakness inherit with a World Devestator.

This well comes down to one thing in my mind when you watch the Star Wars movies from prequals to RoTJ. At the end of the RoTJ the prophecy of the one that will bring balance to the force isn't fulfilled in my mind, and makes the case for a brand new film. When you say Balance of the Force, what does that mean, good and evil are balanced out, not good triumphs over evil, evil must continue to exist for a balance to be established. "The Force has a will..." Luke Skywalker, the Unifying Force. Does the force truely have only one will, or is it two competing wills like God and Satan. The sheer complexity of the Star Wars universe and tales seems to advocate the second one. The Dark side is constantly portrayed as a seductive force, why can't it have a mind of its own? The Star Wars universe seems to be full of such complexities and statements, hopefully we can straighten out some of them here. My personal belief is that in Star Wars the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the force has not yet been fulfilled, and that if that is true Anakin Skywalker is either a bastard, or a creation of the force itself that can return in various reincarnations. Some of the very names of the Star Wars universe lend credence to this idea. Ex: Emperor Palpatine Now doesn't that look similar to Palpatable? Is it not possible then that Palpatine is an incarnation of the dark side of the force himself. It helps to explain why no one knows his true homeworld or ancestory. It also enables the conflict between light and dark to transcend the original series and the EU and lay the groundwork for a whole new trilogy of conflict. Now what do you think?

Debates are fun I completely agree with that assesment, now lets see if we can try and encourage such behavior in other, more important threads.

The Star Forge is the superweapon from Knights of the Old Republic, a device powered by the force which strips matter from nearby stars and fuses it together to replicate war materials. Another thing that would be very similar to the Raporan Replicator would be a world devestator. But the Raporan Replicator is armed and has the capability to loose a directed jet of plasma which can burn the atmosphere away from a world or slice through a warship. The device also contains technologies and capablities nearly identical to that of Centerpoint station. Basically, its a superweapon that dwarfs all other super weapons.

The hatch of the escape pod popped open with a hiss of steam and Mara pulled herself out through the hatch, her blaster in her hand and a pair of electrobinoculars dangling from her neck. Seeing that the area was clear she turned and pulled Ben from the pod, his eyes flickered across the dull green grass of the clearing in which they found themselves. Luke clambered out pulling Artoo behind him and they huddled beside the escape pod as Mara pulled open the survival backpack that was within it. She knelt beside the kit as Ben brought over a number of small sticks and kindling to start a fire as Artoo and Luke kept watch. As the fire crackled to life Artoo screamed in the dim light. Luke turned and watched in horror as a star resolved itself into a twin winged craft, a Raporan fighter. It blazed toward them and its dual plasma cannons lanced out. Their bolts burning brilliantly hot against the ground they impacted. Mara kicked out the fire as the craft whine overhead, "Don't they give up?" Luke grabbed Ben by the hand and watched the fighter curve up for another pass, "Come on lets find cover!"

Think Star Forge, but even more evil.

I don't have any images of the fighters yet, but they're coming. Here is an image of the Droideka'kar or the Raporan Destroyer Droid. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/droideka.bmp My interpretation of what a Calamari Star Defender would look like.(Its not my pic, I just found it.) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/StarDefender1.bmp Then there is the Raporan Replicator...you'll hear more about this thing later. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/RaporanReplicator.bmp

So Bad Samaritan is being dropped right in the center of the plot...good for Bad Samaritan the user...probably bad for Bad Samaritan the Ship. Behold...the Raporan Kar'Lur class cruiser. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/KarlurCruiser.bmp The Savla class light cruiser. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/Savla.bmp Raporan Warrior with armor. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/rapora_armored2.bmp Any questions? Edit: I figured it out, just doesn't work with bitmaps...argh

Cal Omas took his seat at the head of the darkened circular table. Two armed guards stood beside the double doors of the chamber, their arms folded over their chests. The other members of the Advisory Council took their seats, some expressed nervousness, others curiousity, but only a few, like Admiral Kre'Fey, showed dismay. Slowly an aide stepped in and bent down to whisper to Kre'Fey, "Admiral, they've arrived, their shuttle is docking now." "Good," Admiral Kre'Fey replied. One of the councilors, a sullustant leaned back in his seat, his eyes focused on an empty chair, "Where is Jedi Skywalker?" Cal grimaced, the news hadn't yet reached him of the Jedi's fate, but the assault on Nirauan had left a glimmering distrust of any hope for his survival, "I'm afraid we don't know. We've recieved word from Talon Karrde that he's alive, but Karrde has been rather quiet as to his whereabouts." "Unfortunately the known status of our own fleet is of primary concern," Admiral Kre'Fey said flatly. Kenth Hamner stepped fromt he shadows of the room and Cal Omas nodded to him, "Kenth Hamner will brief you on the Task Force, under the command of General Garik. His mission and what information we have on the race that all but destroyed our force." Kenth began his briefing, his tone quiet but steady, "This began with the discovery made by Jacen Solo of a massacre in the unknown regions followed by a number fo attacks on Jedi on Denon and other locations, these included..." Cal Omas leaned back, he'd heard this all before, but to many of those in the room it was new to them. Quietly an aide stepped beside him and handed him a datapad. Slowly he bent down to read it. Kenth finished as Cal starred blankly at the datapad. He blinked as the silence registered in the room. Quietly an aide stepped inside, "Councilors General Garik and Supreme Commander Evahe have arrived." Cal stood and felt himself fight to keep his voice stead as the chill from the report in his hand remained, "Send them in." Slowly the double doors opened and the officers stepped inside. OOC: Oops...sorry badsamaritan

OOC: Waiting, oh waiting for Mad...Alright lets sow the seeds for the battle of Csilla. IC:Jaina Solo tugged at the stiff dark green of her dress uniform, its hard pressed edges digging at her and she felt stiff inside its coarse fabric. She bit her lip as she glanced in the mirror. She hated dress uniforms for the same reason as every other pilot in the GFFA forces would testify to, they were stiff, uncomfortable, and, worst of all, a formality. Pulling her thick brown hair back into a braid she sighed as she felt that the formality of her attire was complete. Behind her Jag felt himself smile, "You look fine, now that we're stiff enough that physical aggression would be immpossible I think the Chiss may be willing to speak with us." Jaina smiled slightly, it was Jag's stab at a joke, and his sense of humor was as bland as his charisma, but she understood it all the same. Both of them stepped to the door out of their quarters. As it slid open a pair of Chiss Guards appeared, their charrics unholstered. The first one raised his hand in a gesture of warning, "Guests, go back to your quarters, the families will be unable to see you now." Jagged glanced around the hall and saw other guards raping on doors for other guests, "Why?" The Chiss seemed to bristle, "An act of treachery has occured." He stopped glancing at the lightsaber hanging from Jaina's hip, "The meeting chamber has been bombed."