The Start of Something New: A Voidbreaker Run-On

Port Ol’val

The metallic stench of blood taints the recirculated air as Leeadra makes her way through the halls that she has called home for the last few weeks. All around her, clean-up crews do their best to repair what can be repaired, anyone with even a modicum of formal medical training is busy tending to the wounded, and the citizens of Port Ol’val are trying to reclaim what remains of their lives therein. Approaching the end of the hallway, the Pantoran opens the door to a small meeting room on her left. Inside, awaiting her arrival stands Koliss Welcott and five other Arconans that the young Knight has yet to associate names to. With things as hectic as they are, Leeadra can’t imagine how many favors she owes the medic in exchange for organizing this meeting.

“Well. You don’t all have to stand,” she says, taking a seat at the head of the small table in the center of the room.

“Actually, I have to be going. Lots of patients to look after and not nearly enough supplies to go around,” the human informs them.

Leeadra nods in his direction as he excuses himself from the room.

I’ll touch base with you later. Good luck.

Koliss isn’t sure he’ll ever get used to hearing his comrade’s voice in his head.

With a resounding hiss, the door closes once more and the five other Arconans situate themselves, all wondering why they have been brought here. Looking around the room, Leeadra takes stock of the seemingly random assortment of individuals before her. Immediately to her left, a purple skinned Twi’lek twiddles her lekku nervously, avoiding eye contact. Then a Sephi woman with long red hair, her cybernetic hands folded in front of her on the table. Directly across the table sits a Kaleesh, his crimson eyes boring holes straight through her. To the left of the Kaleesh sits an Echani with uniquely black hair. Finally, on her right side sits a young Zeltron woman, no more than eighteen years old, her anxiety permeating the air of the room and making the Pantoran a bit nervous herself. Clearing her throat, the small blue woman gets to her feet and all eyes shift in her direction.

“Alright, let’s get started here. I’m Leeadra Halcyon and, though I don’t really know any of you yet, we’re all going to be getting to know each other quite well in the very near future. I have asked Koliss to assemble a group that he feels would do well for the mission at hand. You are all here to serve a purpose, though you each have your own reasons for agreeing to join us. What I would like, if you would be so kind, is for everyone to introduce themselves one at a time, if only for my sake. If I’m going to be responsible for you all, I’d at least like to know your names.”

The first to stand as Leeadra takes her seat is the Twi’lek, lekku still twiddling mindlessly.

“I’m Tali, and I’m here because I can’t standt to see all this suffering. I’ve lost everything, and I vill never feel at home on this hunk of rock.”

Quietly, Tali takes her seat and the Sephi beside her stands, the act instantly betraying her rather short stature.

“My name is Edema. I’m here because I just need to get off of this karking asteroid. Plus I’m pretty handy with tech. I figure that’ll be useful at some point.”

Before Edema can return to her seat, the Kaleesh was already on his feet, his massive frame dominating the room.

“I’m Rogon Skar Agrona and I’m only here because this seemed a better option than the prison cell I’m sure someone was more than ready to toss me back in.”

Without another word, Rogon sits. Propping his elbows on the table and folding his hands in front of his face, he turns to face the Echani woman, who tucks her dark hair behind her ears as she rises.

“The name’s Juliane, but you can call me Julie, or Jules, or whatever gets your karking hyperdrive sparking. I’m here because the lazerbrains I’ve been running with went and got themselves turned into some red smears on the floor. Was just as well, they were small time amateurs anyway. This sounds way more fun.”

This earns a smirk from Rogon, who returns his glare to the Pantoran seated across from him as the Zeltron stands.

“I’m Maxine,” she stutters, her nervous energy still pulsating through the room, “I’m here because… well, I don’t really know why I’m here, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Mostly it’s because Koliss asked me to be. I guess he knows something I don’t.”

As Maxine sits back down, Leeadra once more gets up from her chair.

“Thank you. Now that I’m able to put some names to faces, let’s get down to the more important matter at hand. We are all here today because, as Mr. Welcott mentioned, medical supplies are running dangerously low. He has compiled a list of the essential items we need and list of things that aren’t necessarily vital, but would be good to have. He has taken the list to Zujenia, who has promised to talk to Atyiru about allocating the resources, but we don’t exactly have time to wait around for a bureaucratic decision.”

“Some of you,” she says, glancing at the Twi’lek, “are clearly on the same page I am. The suffering has to end. I personally cannot and will not stand by and let another Arconan die while there is something that could be done to prevent it.”

“I know not all of you feel this way.” This time she looks directly at Rogon. “However, everyone here has a talent that will contribute to the success of the mission at hand.”

“We will be taking one of the ships from the port to Morvogodine. There, we will raid one of the medical facilities within the Storm Trooper Training Facility, focusing on collecting the vital supplies needed. It will only be the six of us and as soon as their staff knows what’s happening we either have to take what we have and come back here, or fight our way out. I cannot place enough emphasis on the fact that stealth is the key to this mission. The only ones who know about this are the people you see sitting here and Koliss, which means if somethings goes wrong, nobody is going to be swooping in to save your sorry choobs.”

“We leave early tomorrow morning. Pack your bags and be ready to go. I want to see all your bright smiling faces in the landing hangar by 0300. Now go and get some rest, I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

The team looked over the information displayed by their team leader; this would be an unusual and difficult mission. Edema looked at her wrist display; her guest should be here any minute she thought. The door to the briefing room slid open, the hydraulics making a whooshing noise as they hauled the door up, Edema made a mental note to see if she could fix it at some point. The room’s occupants turned to see who was entering the chamber. She was a striking woman, a Sephi, she would have been incredibly attractive had it not been for the way her skin was marred by various mechanical devices seemingly extruded from her skin,

“Apologies for being late, I had to acquire some equipment”

Her voice was silky and attractive and despite her appearance, Edema could see that her friend had the room’s attention. The Mystic rose to introduce her friend.

“Comrades, allow me to introduce my close friend and ally, Talis’ana Windstriker. She is a savant when it comes to technology, I am not aware of a system that she is unable to interface with and break into”

Talis’ana spoke again,

“Edema is correct; I have a somewhat unique skill set when it comes to technology courtesy of those….” She paused to regain her composure, as she could feel her anger rising at the thought of those who had turned her into this. “Courtesy of the Imperial Department of Military Research. My body is infested with an experimental form of nanodroid, the Empire sought to use it to control me as a Jedi, but thanks to Edema, they were unable to continue their plans. As such I have the ability to interact with technology on a deeper level than others of similar skill”.

The room’s occupants looked at each other, unsure what to make of the latest addition to the team. Leedra coughed to break the silence in the room.

“Talis’ana will be our skiffer card; I have already cleared her involvement in the team. Her skills as a techweaver will be incredibly useful”

Talis’ana moved to the vacant seat,

“I will apologize in advance for my mood swings, the procedures carried out on me forced me down the Dark Path, and on occasion I find myself struggling with this”.

Edema chuckled,

“Basically, don’t piss her off, or you may find your weapons don’t work, or blow up, or worse, you may find you catch a nasty Nano-Virus. She has promised not to experiment on any of the team, our targets are a different matter”

The Kaleesh waited for the rest of his new team to leave the room before striding over to the only remaining member and their so called leader, Leeadra stood waiting for him, her tiny figure being practically dwarfed by the Sith. leaning down so that they were both eye level with one another his glowing eyes reflecting off of her skin.

“Just so you know, I don’t trust you or any of them and the first chance I get to betray or leave any of you behind I will. Is that understood.” His voice was calm and tense and his red eyes that glowed like soft embers to a forge made his gaze that more terrifying.

“I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to work with me. Anything beyond that is on your shoulders.” She replied keeping eye contact with him.

Grunting in acknowledgement the Sith made his way out of the room not saying another word the the Pantoran. It was slow progress making his way out of the Shadow complex as most of it was being rebuilt. Clean up crew darted to and fro in front of him some stopping just for a second to glare his way but most of them paid him no mind as they made about with the repairs.

Stepping out of the complex and into the nightlife of the port at large the Kaleesh took the long way back to his ship ducking in and out of the ducts and side alleys just in chase he was being followed by his new “friends” or anyone else who was getting any funny ideas.

Emerging in his private hangar he was greeted by his spy droid spiro who speed his way into his face his red glowing eye flashing in the Sith’s face before it backed up recognizing its master had returned home.

“Did anyone try and get into the ship while I was away?” Asked the Juggernaut inquisitively with a slight smirk on his face.

The droid tiled to the side for a second before turning back to the ship and floating inside. This brought about a smile to the Kaleesh and he made his way into the ship himself and closed the landing ramp behind him.

Making his way over to the cockpit of the ship he took his time turning on the power to the ship’s subsystems before keying in his next audio log.

“Audio log 24736-23 Arcona has made a new battle team in total secrecy and have placed me on it by some logic and it probably the only thing keeping me out of a cell at the moment…I don’t know how I feel about this new team many of them are still fresh and new and almost none have seen the full fury of battle like I have with the exception of Julian but even then none like the war.”

Pausing for a second Skar thought more on the Pantorans words to him back in the Shadow complex “ Anything beyond that is on your shoulders." These words started to make him think about how much she knew about him or cared about him.

“The leader of this team a Pantoran named Leeadra we spoke briefly after the meeting and her words still float around my head it makes me wonder if she plans to betray me when my usefulness for the team runs out or something far sinister planned for me. Further observations of her and the team will be noted in my next log.”

Moving his clawed hand to the side he shut down the recording and sat in silence for a few moments staring out of the cockpit into the the ever busy Cass tunnel looking back at his recordings he shook his head before shutting them down for the moment.

This new team could be the end of me but who cares no one would cry or care if i were to die. He thought to himself before another smaller voice piped in the back of his mind.

Livana and Atyiru would care. Spoke the voice which sounded like it was coming from behind him making the Kaleesh freeze for a second before spinning around Lightsaber springing to life in his hand but all he found was the darkened interior of his ship to meet him.

Deactivating the Lightsaber the Sith clipped it to his side and leaned back into the pilot’s seat. “I am the master of my mind.” he said into the darkness knowing no one would answer him.

But someone did and the voice chilled him to the bone as it replied to his statement in a hushed whisper.

“For now.”

The weight of her armor felt constricting and somehow suffocating as Tali navigated her way through Ol’val’s streets towards the hangar. Glancing at the communicator strapped to her wrist, its chrono dial read 0257. She still had time.
Adjusting the collar of her outfit in a vain effort to offer some relief to the choking sensation, the Twi’lek was at least glad the streets were mostly empty at this time of day. Though Ol’val never slept, as such, most of its inhabitants preferred to lie dormant at this hour and only the most persistent of party-goers, or vilest of scum, crowded the narrow walkways mined inside the asteroid base.

Her all-temperature cloak pulled over her head, with only the tips of her lekku peeking out, Tali passed by several intoxicated locals and a few shadier types on her way, but kept her head down and eyes to the ground. Weaving a way past them, Tali made sure their senses were clouded and blurred in her passing as she made her way towards the hangar bay. The last thing she needed was a distraction…

Standing in the hangar bay on insectoid landing claws was a hundred and thirty nine meters of Correllian durasteel. The Consular c70 frigate was a venerable design that had served prior to the Clone Wars as a diplomatic shuttle, but which had taken on a more militarized nature when the debate had turned from a political dispute into armed conflict.

The ship’s angled hull mimicked the design sensibilities of its far more modern CR90 “Blockade Runner” cousin; its aft featuring a triplet of large ion engines that gave the ship a dagger-like appearance. Its prow, topped by a pair of turbolasers like the feelers of a gargantuan void insect, was stubby and flattened, with the command deck a narrow slit window at its very tip and the bulbous drum of a salon pod hanging below it akin to a toad’s throat sac.

Further along its spine were a cluster of quad escape pods, nestled mostly inside stubby winglets with only their tips peeking out as often was custom in space-saving designs. Immediately behind them were the ship’s main armaments. Four turrets, two dorsal and two ventral, housing twin turbolasers gave the ship respectable firepower for its size while a pair of concussion missile tubes lay hidden inside the winglets themselves.

Narrowing down just in front of the thruster rigging, the hull offered a docking port on either side while atop its spine, jutting out above the ship’s deflector shield generator, were a cluster of sensor dishes and probes responsible for both the vessel’s deep-space communications and espionage capabilities.

Though the ship had seen previous owners and some had not wasted many credits on its upkeep, as evidenced by corrosion around the salon pod’s edges and the off-colored engine cowlings, the vessel had an aire of confidence to it. It had survived since the Clone Wars and Tali knew, if only by second-hand accounts, that such old war horses were notoriously difficult to put down.

“Magnificant, isn’t she?” Leeadra mused behind her.

The Twi’lek had sensed her approach and merely nodded in return. The Kaleesh stayed stoically silent as he often preferred though his yellow eyes were shifting from repair seams to gun mounts, trying to estimate their firing angles and more importantly, blind spots.

“So is this our ride?” A sharp voice spoke up as the svelte form of their resident troublemaker sauntered into view, duffle bag slung across her shoulder and jacket slightly askew.

“Yes,” Leeadra responded with a court nod. “This is our ship, Voidbreaker.”