《Star wars: Selfish virtue.》Chapter 22: Wounds
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Watchpoint Station, Command Bridge.
"Sir! The ship isn't approaching the vessel outside, it's headed straight for the station!" Tactical spoke up.
It is? Dominik thought it strange. "Aren't all the hangars closed already?" He asked.
The tactical officer nodded. "They are, but the ship is still approaching rapidly. Impact will be soon, what do... Wait, this can't be right? The temperature sensors are going crazy in the main hangar!"
Hearing the tactical officers' urgent tone he was confused. Temperature? What? "Get to the point, NOW!"
"Sir. It's the bulkhead, it's... It's melting!" He said in shock.
Dominik reeled! "The forcefield! Engage it now!" He said screaming.
Looking up from the console the officer turned to look up at Dominik. "It's too late. We won't make it in time."
Two minutes earlier, the main hangar.
Captain Vii had been stationed here for about six weeks, and now this had happened. An unknown vessel had shown up, made that terrifying declaration. He had suspected something shady was going on in this station, but he'd taken the job anyway. He was feeling regret and if what this unknown force said was true.
He was angry. He had brought his friends with him here, and he didn't want them to die for some scum. It was his squad along with another veteran squad down here in the hangar. A total of forty-two men.
His squad was protecting the path that leads towards engineering from the hangar, while the other one was protecting the way into the station proper. The other squad had commandeered most of his squad but he had his four friends with him. As he was making yet another check on his gear he heard a voice from his side, it was his most trusted friend Ryko.
Turning towards him as his friend spoke. "Cap'n Vii, the bulkhead is glowing." He said with a strange expression on his face.
As his eyebrow shot up he turned to look at the bulkhead to see Ryko was right, the huge bulkhead was starting to drip as molten metal was starting to leak down. Within seconds his eyes widened as he turned and threw himself on Ryko, bringing both of them to the floor as he yelled out. "DOWN! NOW!"
This turned out to be a wise decision as only two seconds later the molten metal spewed into the hangar as a large ship simply rammed itself into the bulkhead. Liquid metal was cast all over the hangar, into the defensive position that the other squad was in charge of.
The entire hangar started to decompress rapidly only to be repressurized a second later as the hangar forcefield came alive, closing the breach. Making to stand up, Vii took stock of the area. He started hearing blaster fire and horrifying screams from the other squad as they engaged the intruder's ship.
He turned his gaze over the hangar to see the ship floating there, the laser fire impacting its obsidian armor. Some of the men had been hit by the slag and were screaming violently as parts of their bodies were melted through. His men were watching the same scene as the ramp on the aft side the ship opened up slowly.
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Ryko spoke up from his side. "Do we engage?!" His voice indicated he was quite rattled.
Before Vii could answer the spotted a man in clothing that reminded him of the Jedi walk down the ramp before he jumped a couple of meters down from the ramp. He made the connection because he had been stationed on security detail for a celebrity that had ended up being kidnapped. For some reason, the Jedi got involved in it. There was a glaring difference though, apart from the differently colored robes.
The man walked beneath the ship towards the other squads' position. The air around him looked like hot desert air and the steps he took left burning metal behind him.
Suddenly he ignited twin lightsabers and they could all feel the temperature inside the hangar shoot up. At first one was silver and the other a deep dark orange color, but then the man spoke for the first time as he effortlessly deflected a bolt back at the men shooting in his direction.
"Anger."
His voice sounded like a Rancor had somehow gained the ability to speak, like a low growl. But that wasn't the end of it. His silver-colored saber turned almost fully black in the middle as a glaring red exterior formed on it, both of the sabers started dripping with what he could only associate with lava. His silver hair started floating up and acted like a candle's flame as it slowly turned red.
Lifting his left lightsaber the next moment, dripping lava. He pointed it at the people in front of him and spoke again.
"Perish."
The next moment he saw a terrible sight, one that he would never forget. Lava colored lighting shot out of his saber, striking randomly over a large area in front of him. Everywhere it hit, things exploded into slag. People caught fire as they melted almost instantly, leaving at most blackened skeletons. The man calmly came to a stop in front of the now quiet hardpoint, his head turned slowly towards them the next second.
Seeing his face for the first time he instantly broke out in a sweat. His eyes were the color of fire as steam came was leaking from the edges of his mouth. He could hear Ryko gulping by his side as he made the smartest choice in his life.
"We didn't know anything about what they were doing here! We're newly recruited! I hope that you at least spare my men!" He shouted towards him and got down to his knees and prostrated.
The following seconds felt like an eternity before he could hear the man start walking again. Glancing up he saw the man had decided to spare them, as he was walking towards the door that leads into the station. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding he continued watching as the man got within five meters of the door, observing as the closed-door started melting with his approach.
Soon he had disappeared through the melted hole in the door as his men all just sat down in shock. "Thank you captain, there's no way we could have done anything about that... that... Man?" Ryko spoke up in a relieved tone.
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"Yeah." Vii nodded, turning his head as he heard the ship finally set down. "I think it's going to be a strong career choice for us to quit." Small chuckles sounded from his friends.
In the command bridge.
"The field is up, but the ship made it inside Sir." Tactical said.
In an agitated tone, Dominik spoke up. "HOW!?" Taking a second to collect himself he continued. "Put the security feed up for the main hangar."
Seeing the officer nod he turned his eyes to the display. As the scene appeared from inside the hangar they were just in time to see Coda obliterate the soldiers' defensive position. A deafening silence controlled the room until Coda had exited through the now useless door.
"We need heavy ordinance." Dominik stated in a matter of fact way.
Answering him, the tactical officer asked. "Inside the station sir? Are you sure that's wise?"
Turning from the display to the tactical officer with a gaze that bartered no negotiation. "Yes. I'm sure. No high explosives, but anything else we've got stowed away. Put it up around the command bridge on the double." Anything less won't work. "I'll be leaving to take control of the defense personally. Have everyone retreat towards here fast, we need to consolidate our forces."
He turned and walked towards the exit as he spoke up for one last time while tapping his ear. "Stay in touch, we need to know where that monster is at all times."
In one of the hangars aboard the Prometheus RG1 and Scmi were standing on a catwalk overlooking the entire room. Looking down Scmi could see hundreds of units load up into dropships. Turning to RG1 she asked.
"Reggie, what's going on?"
As he turned his gaze towards his charge he smiled lightly, though it didn't have the effect that he wanted due to his eyes being obviously red right now.
"Someone angered Lord Coda. We're making ready to go support him."
With surprise, the timid woman spoke up again. "Coda? Angry? But he's so nice, why would anyone want to make him angry?"
A solemn look took over RG1's face as he thought if he should answer. This didn't go unnoticed by Scmi, she was about to retract this line of questioning when he spoke.
"According to the information we were given about our Lord. He comes from a world that once had slavery. It was long before his time though, but it came back." His head turned to look over the hangar.
"There was a third world war on his planet, billions died. Almost three billion to be exact. This war changed the landscape, both physically and politically. The superpowers that rose from the ashes of that war were less inclined to protect the rights of the people in them."
His eyes glowed as the red color became more noticeable. His voice becoming an octave lower. "He lost his son in the outbreak of the war, he was four years old. He joined the war effort, leaving his wife and two daughters at home. According to the records, he was quite an accomplished soldier. But it didn't matter."
"When he returned home after almost six years, once the war was ending. He couldn't locate his family." Anger had started to leak into his tone at this point. "In his search to find them again, he found out they'd been captured by people in his government. They'd been taken because of one of the leaders found them attractive."
Taking a moment to run a small diagnostic on his strange quasi emotional outburst, he found small errors that didn't make sense. Deciding to log it to Lady Beatrix he continued. "In his despair, he confronted the person responsible and discovered a horrible truth. The man had raped all three of them and kept them captive for months until they were passed down to his subordinates."
Scmi brought her hand to her mouth as tears started pooling in her eyes. Handing her a tissue he continued. "The man who did this to them arrogantly told him that two of them had died from physical trauma eventually. His last daughter had apparently taken her own life shortly prior. For what reason the man explained this to him I cannot say, maybe he expected him to break down, maybe he did it for fun."
"But it was the last thing he ever did, in a rage Lord Coda slaughtered him and his entire security detail before vanishing. He eventually resurfaced on the side of one of the other powers, with a relentlessness that taught terror to his home country he fought them for decades. As he grew older he became much colder, apathetic." Giving Scmi a minute to process the information before he continued.
"He eventually disappeared. Having fought for almost three decades he'd grown tired, though to his credit he did end up saving as many as he could. Punishing those he could as well." He sighed.
"That is why he abhors slavery, rape or basically anything that infringes on free will. Every slave he sees is a monument to his failure, every broken person a reminder of his loss. I pity anyone who engages in that kind of behavior because he will not stop, he will not negotiate, will not be reasoned or bargained with..."
As RG1 watched the dropships exit the hangar he spoke up one last time. "This is a crusade that is personal to him, he will never let anyone stupid enough to do something like this run unchecked. He is quite literally incapable of it."
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