Marasiah Fel (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
notconflicted) wrote2019-03-19 07:28 pm
notconflicted) wrote2019-03-19 07:28 pm
Mala- late Tuesday Fandom time
Since they were ahead of the curve on things this time, when the stormtroopers escorting Ania called for backup, Sia was already there with the Dauntless and all the forces they could spare. Even she was suited up for battle. The troops, including Jessica, were readying to deploy to the planet in the first wave while in the war room, Antares took to the loudspeaker. "Under order of Empress Fel and the Galactic Triumvirate, we order you to put down your weapons!"
He switched it off immediately, knowing that that would announce their arrival, but wouldn't stop the fighting.
"What is going on down there?" Sia asked. "The reports are chaos! We must-"
"You are my superior, and I am sworn to do as you command," Antares said slowly, "but you are also my Empress, and I am sworn to protect you. Reports from the ground are nothing like we expected. Instead of one rogue Sith, we seem to be facing an invasion force. I will lead the ground assault, and you will stay here, out of harm's way."
This had been a problem back when they were dating, and she was his subordinate, and she didn't appreciate it any more now. Her father wouldn't allow himself to be told what to do, why should she? "I am a Knight first," Sia returned. "How can I ask my brothers and sisters to fight on my behalf, while I stay up here safe?"
"Without you, we have nothing to fight for. Please, Empress. Do as I ask. Just this once."
Maybe this wasn't like before. He was asking, even if it wasn't phrased as a question. There was a weird mix in this position, where he was the leader of the Imperial Knights, but she outranked him, except where she didn't. So she had to put herself in the position she'd had to view things from before, when she was just a Knight who would have insisted on protecting her father instead of herself.
She didn't like it. But she nodded her agreement, and let him go off with the other Knights and take the fight planetside.
She meanwhile watched from screens, trying to not feel guilty as she kept an eye on specific people. There were an untold amount of Sith there, battling against those in white and red. There was Jessica, leading her squadron in a charge. There was Ania with that Mon Calamarian friend of hers, shooting off Sith. There was Jao, fighting alongside his brothers like nothing had changed.
It also meant she had to see when Antares was hit with a lightsaber, and went down.
Aside from the personal worry for an ex that had become a friend who'd been one of the only people Sia could trust these days, Sia couldn't stand there and watch anymore. She'd caused this more than the vast majority of people down there did, she wouldn't stand there and watch them die for it while she did nothing.
"Guards! Master Thared, you're with me," she ordered, pivoting on her heel to leave the room.
Thared, the Trandoshan, stepped into her path. "Empress, you can't! Let your Knights pacify this planet first. Your safety-"
"Those Knights could use two more lightsabers at their side," Sia said firmly. "As well as the guarantee that their Empress is not afraid of a fight."
Thared paused, and nodded, stepping out of her way to follow behind her.
It was, in fact, chaos on the ground. Sia hasn't expected these numbers. They had figured their own numbers would be overkill in case Darth Wredd put up as much of a fight as they thought. Instead everyone was down here, fighting and dying in the shadow of the Carraras array project, because this happened to be the planet where it had fallen and crashed when Wredd destroyed it. There would be time for bitterness later. Right now, Sia had to get in the fight herself.
She saw Ania pulling Antares to safety under cover of some of the wreckage. A medbot was already heading over to tend to him, and Sia made a note to thank Ania for that later.
In the middle of taking out a Sith, Sia heard a Mon Cal voice in her earpiece. "Knights in sector two-point-four! Move back from the Chandra-Fan lander! Now!"
There was just enough time for them to do that before the ship exploded, taking several Sith with it. All right. Maybe Sia would have to do more than just thank Ania and her friends.
A crimson lightsaber swung towards her, and Sia caught it with her own blade before parrying and stabbing the Sith in the throat. When she stood straighter to find more Sith coming towards her, she felt a person's back up against hers, and glanced to see she'd happened to end up next to Jao, who had the decency not to make it awkward. Instead they worked together to dispatch those advancing on them.
"Darth Wredd is killing his own kind," Sia noted, frowning. She'd known it was happening before, but it was something else to actually see it. Wredd was cutting his way through Sith seemingly without even thinking about it, like he was feeding on it.
"I don't trust Wredd's motives," Jao said, "but with all due respect, Empress, we need his help."
She'd said similar before. Had she really sounded like that? "Master Jao, a Sith is only motivated by one thing," she said, raising her lightsaber to fend off the one that was trying to attack her, "-hate."
In the end, Sia had no idea how long they fought for. She knew she was exhausted by the end of it, surrounded by dead and wounded comrades and enemies, and it occurred to her that this was the first time she'd ever actually seen the end of a battle. During the war she'd always been shuttled off to safety, or they'd all had to retreat, or in one case she'd been blown up and kidnapped. Seeing the end felt… satisfying.
She climbed atop some of the wreckage of the ship Ania had exploded to address the survivors. She wasn't going to make any sweeping declarations. These were orders. "This day sees us victorious, but there is still work to be done," she said. "Bring the Neuer down. We have many wounded to get aboard. And start searching for survivors! There's no time to lose!" She climbed down again, calling, "Have the med bots fan out. We will not leave anyone behind."
Only now did she switch off her lightsaber. She'd lost track of a lot of people. She didn't see Jessica, but could sense her out there somewhere. She had no idea where Ania and Jao had gotten to. But she did at least see Antares, being moved onto a rupulsor stretcher, and headed over just to make sure he was okay. He wasn't really conscious and she couldn't see his injuries, but the Knights escorting him didn't seem particularly worried.
"Hold on," she told him anyway. "We'll be home soon."
"Empress! Behind you!"
Sia felt the flash of danger sense at the same time that she heard Jao's voice, and whipped around just in time to see Darth Wredd- another she'd lost track of in the battle- plunge his lightsaber through her chest, and then pull it back out.
She was pretty sure she fell to her knees, though she didn't feel anything aside from the burn that felt like it had ripped her open. She heard someone yelling, and the sound of lightsabers clashing, and she was surprised she was still even this conscious. Breathing felt impossible, but she wasn't dead yet, so she was determined to keep it that way. Why wasn't she dead? He must have missed her heart, so it couldn't be that bad, right?
She felt someone lift her onto one of the stretchers, and it was then that she was able to turn her head and see that Jao was fighting Wredd in the distance on a rocky outcropping. It seemed he'd disarmed Wredd- literally- and was hesitating in actually killing him, until a sudden blast caught him in the chest.
She didn't need to see to know that was Ania.
A few moments later, once the med bots had gotten to her and she was about to be moved, Sia tried to sit up enough to manage, "Val… Does Yalta Val live?"
Val made his way over, leaning over the stretcher so she could see him. "Yes, Empress."
Good. There was one more person she had to make amends to that was still here. "Is he dead?"
Talking was a mistake. She shouldn't do it.
"They are all dead, Empress," he assured her. "The Sith are gone from the galaxy. It's… It's the end of history."
Sia couldn't laugh. Maybe she would later, if that was an option. Right now she was just trying to breathe. "I don't know," she said as they started moving the stretcher onto the Neuer's landing ramp. "History has a way of continuing."
She was out before she was even aboard.
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Legacy vol 2 #17-18. Canon is never nice to my girl.]
He switched it off immediately, knowing that that would announce their arrival, but wouldn't stop the fighting.
"What is going on down there?" Sia asked. "The reports are chaos! We must-"
"You are my superior, and I am sworn to do as you command," Antares said slowly, "but you are also my Empress, and I am sworn to protect you. Reports from the ground are nothing like we expected. Instead of one rogue Sith, we seem to be facing an invasion force. I will lead the ground assault, and you will stay here, out of harm's way."
This had been a problem back when they were dating, and she was his subordinate, and she didn't appreciate it any more now. Her father wouldn't allow himself to be told what to do, why should she? "I am a Knight first," Sia returned. "How can I ask my brothers and sisters to fight on my behalf, while I stay up here safe?"
"Without you, we have nothing to fight for. Please, Empress. Do as I ask. Just this once."
Maybe this wasn't like before. He was asking, even if it wasn't phrased as a question. There was a weird mix in this position, where he was the leader of the Imperial Knights, but she outranked him, except where she didn't. So she had to put herself in the position she'd had to view things from before, when she was just a Knight who would have insisted on protecting her father instead of herself.
She didn't like it. But she nodded her agreement, and let him go off with the other Knights and take the fight planetside.
She meanwhile watched from screens, trying to not feel guilty as she kept an eye on specific people. There were an untold amount of Sith there, battling against those in white and red. There was Jessica, leading her squadron in a charge. There was Ania with that Mon Calamarian friend of hers, shooting off Sith. There was Jao, fighting alongside his brothers like nothing had changed.
It also meant she had to see when Antares was hit with a lightsaber, and went down.
Aside from the personal worry for an ex that had become a friend who'd been one of the only people Sia could trust these days, Sia couldn't stand there and watch anymore. She'd caused this more than the vast majority of people down there did, she wouldn't stand there and watch them die for it while she did nothing.
"Guards! Master Thared, you're with me," she ordered, pivoting on her heel to leave the room.
Thared, the Trandoshan, stepped into her path. "Empress, you can't! Let your Knights pacify this planet first. Your safety-"
"Those Knights could use two more lightsabers at their side," Sia said firmly. "As well as the guarantee that their Empress is not afraid of a fight."
Thared paused, and nodded, stepping out of her way to follow behind her.
It was, in fact, chaos on the ground. Sia hasn't expected these numbers. They had figured their own numbers would be overkill in case Darth Wredd put up as much of a fight as they thought. Instead everyone was down here, fighting and dying in the shadow of the Carraras array project, because this happened to be the planet where it had fallen and crashed when Wredd destroyed it. There would be time for bitterness later. Right now, Sia had to get in the fight herself.
She saw Ania pulling Antares to safety under cover of some of the wreckage. A medbot was already heading over to tend to him, and Sia made a note to thank Ania for that later.
In the middle of taking out a Sith, Sia heard a Mon Cal voice in her earpiece. "Knights in sector two-point-four! Move back from the Chandra-Fan lander! Now!"
There was just enough time for them to do that before the ship exploded, taking several Sith with it. All right. Maybe Sia would have to do more than just thank Ania and her friends.
A crimson lightsaber swung towards her, and Sia caught it with her own blade before parrying and stabbing the Sith in the throat. When she stood straighter to find more Sith coming towards her, she felt a person's back up against hers, and glanced to see she'd happened to end up next to Jao, who had the decency not to make it awkward. Instead they worked together to dispatch those advancing on them.
"Darth Wredd is killing his own kind," Sia noted, frowning. She'd known it was happening before, but it was something else to actually see it. Wredd was cutting his way through Sith seemingly without even thinking about it, like he was feeding on it.
"I don't trust Wredd's motives," Jao said, "but with all due respect, Empress, we need his help."
She'd said similar before. Had she really sounded like that? "Master Jao, a Sith is only motivated by one thing," she said, raising her lightsaber to fend off the one that was trying to attack her, "-hate."
In the end, Sia had no idea how long they fought for. She knew she was exhausted by the end of it, surrounded by dead and wounded comrades and enemies, and it occurred to her that this was the first time she'd ever actually seen the end of a battle. During the war she'd always been shuttled off to safety, or they'd all had to retreat, or in one case she'd been blown up and kidnapped. Seeing the end felt… satisfying.
She climbed atop some of the wreckage of the ship Ania had exploded to address the survivors. She wasn't going to make any sweeping declarations. These were orders. "This day sees us victorious, but there is still work to be done," she said. "Bring the Neuer down. We have many wounded to get aboard. And start searching for survivors! There's no time to lose!" She climbed down again, calling, "Have the med bots fan out. We will not leave anyone behind."
Only now did she switch off her lightsaber. She'd lost track of a lot of people. She didn't see Jessica, but could sense her out there somewhere. She had no idea where Ania and Jao had gotten to. But she did at least see Antares, being moved onto a rupulsor stretcher, and headed over just to make sure he was okay. He wasn't really conscious and she couldn't see his injuries, but the Knights escorting him didn't seem particularly worried.
"Hold on," she told him anyway. "We'll be home soon."
"Empress! Behind you!"
Sia felt the flash of danger sense at the same time that she heard Jao's voice, and whipped around just in time to see Darth Wredd- another she'd lost track of in the battle- plunge his lightsaber through her chest, and then pull it back out.
She was pretty sure she fell to her knees, though she didn't feel anything aside from the burn that felt like it had ripped her open. She heard someone yelling, and the sound of lightsabers clashing, and she was surprised she was still even this conscious. Breathing felt impossible, but she wasn't dead yet, so she was determined to keep it that way. Why wasn't she dead? He must have missed her heart, so it couldn't be that bad, right?
She felt someone lift her onto one of the stretchers, and it was then that she was able to turn her head and see that Jao was fighting Wredd in the distance on a rocky outcropping. It seemed he'd disarmed Wredd- literally- and was hesitating in actually killing him, until a sudden blast caught him in the chest.
She didn't need to see to know that was Ania.
A few moments later, once the med bots had gotten to her and she was about to be moved, Sia tried to sit up enough to manage, "Val… Does Yalta Val live?"
Val made his way over, leaning over the stretcher so she could see him. "Yes, Empress."
Good. There was one more person she had to make amends to that was still here. "Is he dead?"
Talking was a mistake. She shouldn't do it.
"They are all dead, Empress," he assured her. "The Sith are gone from the galaxy. It's… It's the end of history."
Sia couldn't laugh. Maybe she would later, if that was an option. Right now she was just trying to breathe. "I don't know," she said as they started moving the stretcher onto the Neuer's landing ramp. "History has a way of continuing."
She was out before she was even aboard.
[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from Legacy vol 2 #17-18. Canon is never nice to my girl.]