The Rebel Faction

Tissuss: Forest

Tiskus grinned, his long fangs gleaming in the light. “Sounds like fun.” He said. “Kough kow to get kere without keing detected will ke a kit of a problem.” He pointed at his massive ten foot tall frame. “Someking like me can’t sneak about very well.”

“Who says we are going to be ‘sneaking’?” Lumier said as they started making their way toward the Triton. “You did say we were going to do a sweep.”

“Kut we must ke careful…lest key kill Varcanna off in retaliation kefore we can rescue ker.”

“Point…but let’s see what defenses they have set up first.”

Outpost

The warriors had collected a number of keycard during the sweep and Tiosk was trying them on the door that lead to the medical level: he was fast getting frustrated.

“I bet you it’s the last one I try…” Tiosk growled as another keycard failed to open the door..

“Are you sure you are sliding them the right way father?” Silliss, who was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, said. He sounded a bit stronger then before, but Tiosk still wanted to get him full medical attention.

“Yes I am sure…” Tiosk snarled as another failed. “I am sliding them exactly how the little picture above the slot says to.”

“Be glad this door doesn’t regard a code as well.”

“If it did…I would be requesting the door to be blown off instead. Ah Hah!” Tiosk smiled as the door finally opened. “See…I told you it would be the last one…”

Silliss just chuckled as the small group of warriors that were standing nearby went in first to ensure the area was clear. The level was small compared to the others, but was stock full of medical supplies and equipment.

“All clear.” Tiosk heard a warrior say.

“Good.” Tiosk replied as he picked up Silliss and carried him in. “One of you go to the shuttle and tell the doc there that we finally got this place open. Last I heard that doc was making a trench on the shuttle floor from her pacing.”

Trandosha: Warehouse

“Indeed, we have little time waste.” Rissonik said with a nod. “Unfortunately I will be unable to help you personally with this injury.” He pointed at his bandaged leg. “Due to my age I don’t heal as fast as I used to. I will send with you a couple of my K’Satikur warriors.”

“Just two?” The sniper said. “You don’t sound that ‘committed’ to helping out…”

Rissonik gave the man another glare. “If you ever saw a K’Satikur fight…you wouldn’t be saying that. A K’Satikur warrior on his own can take out a fair sized group of foes with little injury to himself. Trust me… two will be likely more then enough…”

“Unless…” Russis spoke up. “Besk gets involved. He is a former K’Satikur…thus why he is so dangerous to everyone, even other K’Satikur. However, I am not sure he even knows about my father’s involvement with the Sykir.”

“He is one that tends to keep what he knows under wraps unless he wants you to know.” Rissonik said with a slow nod. “Plus, there are a lot of former K’Satikur warriors that recently left the Clan, so they may be ‘on hire’ by the Sykir as well. Thus, caution will be needed: the last thing we need is for one or more of you to be captured by this Clan.”

Trandosha: Warehouse

Russis watched them leave, a worried look on his face. "I hope they find the young one in good health and all return safely." He said. "I've hard bad things about that Clan."

"As have I." Rissonik said. "The warriors will do everything they can to prevent capture, even to the point of giving their own lives."

"To be honest...I am finding the fact that the members of the most feared Clan in our people's history are the ones spearheading this revolution a bit...ironic."

Rissonik chuckled. "And I think it's that fact that is actually helping us...for when our people see that even the mighty K'Satikur feel the need to evolve with the times, they sit up and take notice."

Russis nodded slowly. "But even then not every one agrees..."

"Unfortunately so. There is always the risk things don't turn out as we hoped."

"Either in the attempt to change or soon after. But if we don't at least try, we won't know if it will work or not."

There was a moment of silence, then Rissonik said. "When you are healed, I would like for you to go out among our people and speak to them."

"About what Rissonik?" Russis said, somewhat concerned. "The people already know everything about the Movement and why we feel we need to change."

"But they do not know who all is on our sid Russis." Rissonik said. "If they know that you, son of Hyossk and heir to his postion on the Council, are with us, that will put even more pressure on the Council itself."

"Such a thing could very well be the worse thing to pull Rissonik. Not from the risk of getting assissated, but from getting disowned. My status as heir to Speaker Above All will only be effective if I remain the heir. In fact...I am rather surprised no word has been mentioned about it..."

Rissonik thought this over a moment, finding it a bit odd now that Russis mentioned it. "You said Besk was the one you initially spoke to about your support for us correct?"

Russis nodded. "No one else was around other then me and him."

And the Keshir of mine that was listening in... Rissonik thought, but kept that to himself. Another moment passed before Rissonik, after more mulling, said. "You know what...I don't think Besk told your father about your views..."

Hyossk's Quarters

"I am afraid I have some terrible news Councilor..." Besk said in his most regretful tone. "It's been reported that your son Russis was kidnapped by the Separatist Movement...."

Hyossk sat there in numb shock, his eyes wide with disbelief. "How..." He managed.

"Ambush. To his credit he didn't go without a fight, lad got pretty beat up as a result from what I heard." Besk said with a false sigh. "No doubt even now they are brainwashing him to join their side..."

"Find him....you must!"

"I already have a search on the way Councilor."

When Besk left he allowed himself a broad mischievous smile. He knew Russis was already on the Separatist's side, due to his chat with the lad barely over a day ago. It was he who ordered the marines to find and arrest him, but since they failed he decided to twist the fact around Russis' situation to prevent the Separatist's from using him to further their cause. Of course, telling Hyossk the truth would be just as effective in the prevention of more support for the Separatist by Hyossk disowning Russis, but this way there was a chance he can get the Council back support.

Tissuss: Triton Brig

Varcanna seethed in her cell, glaring hatefully at the guard whenever he would look into her cell. The guard was obviously intimidated by the pissed off female, but the idiot kept looking in on her to meet her pierce green eyed gaze.

Her legs still tingled from the blow to her back from earlier, but she was able to walk again. This was a good thing, for she had no intention of staying in this cell for long. One problem of holding a Trandoshan that worked as an engineer when not out fighting, they can figure out how to get out of things like this: especially if her captors didn't know she worked in such a field. Whenever the guard wasn't looking at her, she was visually inspecting the walls and finally spyed a panel that looked like she could pry off. She was keeping track of how long it took the guard to do his round about the cell block and after he passed her cell once again, she went to work...

Trandosha: Streets of Hsskhor

The two K'Satikur warriors wiped out their weapons and leapt at the incoming warriors with glee. The five warriors recognized what they were immediately and hestitated: their hestitation cost them their lives...

"These males are from the Tykitus Clan." One male said when the fighting was done. "Known allies of the Sykir. We must be close to one of the Sykir's main buildings to have such a large group patroling this area."

"But is it the building my sister is in..." Kysh whisptered, looking around nervously.

"We better not linger..." The other warrior said. "The sounds of battle tend to attract many..."

Tissuss: Triton brig

Varcanna worked feverishly at the wiring under the panel she ripped off, trying to find the one that would shut off the cells force field. It was taking longer then she thought it would and she was running out of time: that guard will be coming back around soon and her tinkering would be very obvious.

The force field flickered, then went out and Varcanna grinned with glee. The only problems she had now was not knowing how to get out of the ship...and lack of a weapon. Just as she stepped out of her cell, she heard a loud clang echo off the walls not far away.

She moved quickly and silently, to find the guard just in front of her, heading in the direction of the sound. With a broad grin she rushed up behind him and grabbed him, her seven foot tall height allowing her to easily put him into a head lock. With a sharp twist, she snapped the guards neck and let the body fall to the floor.

...

The sound of a faint thud alerted Lumier and Tiskus and they quickly moved in that direction. They found Varcanna over the body of a guard, happily relieving him of his rifle and keycard.

"And we came all this way to rescue you..." Lumier said, folding her arms with a mock annoyed expression on her voice, Tiskus chuckling behind her.

"Well...apparently the term 'know your enemy' doesn't cross their mind very often." Varcanna said with a chuckle. "I'm not just a fighter...but I have a thing for doing maintanance on ships."

"Where their any more guards?" Lumier asked.

"Not on my block as far as I know, considering I kept seeing the same guard over and over again." Varcanna said with a shake of her head. "I don't know how many more are on this level though, as I was unconscious when they put me in there."

"You alright?" Tiskus asked. "Ke little one said you were shot."

Varcanna twisted around and pointed at the new hole in the back of her vest. "Temporarily parallized me, but as you can see that part has already healed up. In a couple more days it will be just another scar..."

Tissuss: Triton

“Indeed…lets…” Varcanna said with a snarl as she made a slight modification to the slain guards rifle: namely removing the finger guard so her large clawed fingers could shoot it. “I wouldn’t mind having some payback against that @#%$ myself…”

“”We intend to take out as many of the dissents as possible along the way as well.” Lumier added.

“Really? With just the three of us?” Though big guy here could count as five people. She thought. “Sounds like fun, though I suggest we go about it sneakily: meaning no blasters unless left with no other choice. The longer it takes for them to know we are here the less likely we will end up being overrun when they do find out.”

“I kave an idea kat could kelp wik kat.” Tiskus said.

“What’s that?”

“Well…kow many of ke dissents know I am on your side?” Tiskus said with a broad smile.

Lumier smiled broadly as well: none of the dissents did…save for those at the outpost…who are now dead.

“Sounds like fun…” Varcanna said with a grin. “Do it.”

“Let’s get out of the brig first. It will make more sense for Tiskus to go on a rampage on the main levels.” Lumier said.

They made their way out of the brig, killing a few more guards on the way. There were other prisoners they were tempted to free and let them help, but more then likely they would have just gotten in the way.

Once on the main level, they cautiously moved toward the main entrance, where the two guards they saw posted outside were oblivious to what was about to happen. They needed Tiskus to appear he had come in from the main entrance to help their plan work, though how well ‘secured’ they found the entrance brought into question just how smart their foes were.

Only two guards…and the door is wide open. How much stupider can you get? Varcanna thought as she gave Tiskus the signal to go ahead. With a leap Tiskus jumped down the ramp, over the guards and landed about ten feet away from them. The guards must have been off in la-la land, for they could only stare in shock at him as he slowly turned and charged at him, cutting loose a loud roar. They finally screamed and started shooting, but what shots did hit him didn’t faze him and within seconds both guards were dead. Tiskus ran back up the ramp, growling loudly to keep up the act, and turned down one of the hallways.

Meanwhile Lumier and Varcanna had gone down a different route, having not lingered once they cut Tiskus loose. Even at the distance they were not from him, they could hear his growls and the screams of the guards.

“He’s convincing enough to frighten me.” Varcanna said, Lumier chuckling as they rounded a corner. They saw to more guards, running away from them: likely heading for Tiskus. Lumier and Varcanna smiled at each other and charged ahead, quickly catching up to them. They didn’t even turn around, probably assuming they were comrades. Big mistake. A couple of seconds later both guards were dead, their necks broken.

“Two down…” Lumier said.

“And who cares how many more are left…” Varcanna said with a grin, as they continued to search for more victims.

Trandosha: Sykir building

The two K’Satikur warriors looked about, sneering, looking for the source of the voice. From the expressions on Lissuss and Kysh’s faces they could guess what it was. With a nod to each other they started circling the building, looking for a way in, but there were no entrances on the ground level.

“They must use underground entrances.” One of the muttered, slightly annoyed.

“What about the windows?” The other suggested, pointing up. “Looks like one is actually open.”

“Indeed…and level with one of the adjacent roofs. Odd…why go through all the trouble of keeping the entry points restricted if they leave windows open?”

“Well, lets not wonder…lets use their stupidity to their advantage…” The second said as he started to scale the wall.

As he watched, Kysh was wondering the same thing. No doubt there was a special agent in there keeping an eye on his sister, if his sister was actually in that building, but they wouldn’t be so sloppy as to leave a window open…

…

“The professor as some special drugs for you today deviant…” The warrior sneered as she dragged the young female down a corridor. The place reeked of chemicals and decay, enough to nauseate most people that weren’t used to it. “Ones that are proven to get you talking.”

“I told you I don’t know anything…” She protested, but the warrior smacked her.

“And we will find out soon enough if you are telling the truth…”

…

When the warrior got up to the window ledge, he found out why the window was open. The room inside looked like an interrogation room, a tray off to once side had a few nasty looking needles on them. Laying on the floor was a body, the body of a high ranking Sykir member going by his attire, or rather what was left of it. There was no point in seeing of the male was even alive, for he could tell he was dead. The males flesh and clothing had multiple slash marks, but from what weapon he couldn’t tell.

“I suggest you drop out of sight…” A feminine voice said softly in Dosh suddenly. “Someone is coming…”

The warrior hesitated a moment before doing so, having seen no one in the room besides the body. He didn’t drop far though, wanting to be able to jump right in in case something went wrong…

…

The warrior with the girl came in a moment later and the warrior’s eyes widened in shock. The professor…whom he had spoken to only ten minutes ago at the most, was dead, ripped to shreds. He looked at he window to see it open, but how could someone open it without tripping the alarm? Forgetting about the girl he moved toward the window, only for something he couldn’t see suddenly grab him and slit his throat…

…

The sound of someone gurgling his own blood, made the K’Satikur curious, so he poked his head back up to see what was happening. He saw a male warrior grasping at seemingly nothing and parts of him seemed to be ‘missing’.

Cloaking technology. He thought when he realized how the unknown female remained hidden from him. But the other thing that was strange, and a bit disturbing, was that the male’s throat was obviously slashed, yet hardly any of the blood was hitting the ground. Then the warrior’s body hit the floor, lifeless and the K’Satikur saw the little girl standing in the doorway looking just as shocked as he was. Fearing the assailant would attack the girl next, he pulled himself into the room, ready for a fight.

“The girl is not my concern.” The voice said again. “I have taken what I came here for.”

He felt a wind as something rushed by him and through the window. He looked back out it, but saw nothing. Shaking his head, he turned toward the girl. “Are you alright?” He asked. “It’s ok…I am here with Kysh…and here to rescue you.”

Tissuss: Orbit

Bloodfang’s 2nd in command watched the sensor screens as more ships came out of hyperspace and ignored the Bloodfang and her two fellow destroyers, Fanggore and RedClaw

“ID?” He asked.

“From the looks of it they are all from the fleet that assisted us earlier.” The comm officer said.

“Good. Send them a message that we have the survivors of the fallen ship False Hope aboard and we would like to return them to them.”

“Aye sir.”

Captain…where are you? What is going on down there? The second thought. While he had no doubts that Tiosk was able to fend for himself, the lack of communication for so long was starting to worry him.

Triton

“Of course.” Varcanna said with a broad smile, then turned and started running that way.

On the way she knocked off another marine, relieving him of his baton and knife. “A bit more my style…” She muttered with a smile. Sooner or later these morons will realize it isn’t just Tiskus having a bit of fun in here. She thought. Lets make that ‘later’. With a mischievous smile she dragged the corpse of her latest victim to door marked ‘Janitor’, opened it, and tossed the body inside before closing it again.

She continued this pattern as she made her way down to engineering, hiding them where ever she could: one she had no choice but to stuff into the ventilation shaft….

Tiskus was having fun. Already there was a trail of bodies behind him as the marines fell for the deception he was alone and just kept sending more at him: he had already lost count how many he had killed. Granted, they were starting to actually hurt him with their blows, but like any warrior worth his salt he just shrugged it off and charged forward.

Outpost

“Father…” Silliss said as Tiosk cleaned his blaster wound, wincing occasionally from the pain. “Are you still upset at me for joining the K’Satikur?”

Tiosk paused a moment to think. “Yes and no…” He said finally, going back to work. “No because I realized your wish to experience everything you can before your condition finally claims your life is yours to fulfill and it wouldn’t be right for me to deny you, no matter how much I worried for your health. Yes…well…for obvious reasons. Plus I feared what Tnossok would do to you if he found out…”

“He never did…and he’s dead now father.” Silliss said. “To be honest I am surprised I even made K’Satikur warrior….”

Tiosk smiled. “You are a determined one son. You are not one to give up on a goal easily once you have one in mind.”

Silliss smiled, but that smile faded. “But some goals are harder…if not impossible…to reach.”

Tiosk studied his son for a moment, recognizing the longing in his eyes, trying to find words of comfort. “I am sure you will find someone son...even if…”

“My heart is already set on one…but until recently I hadn’t really had a chance to speak to her.” He sighed. “I hope she’s alright…”

“Varcanna?” Tiosk asked, taking a guess at who he was referring to. At Silliss’ nod he added. “Lady Varca is as tough as they come son, I am sure she will be alright.”

Just then Merendez came into the medical bay. “Looks like the Vice Admiral’s friends have come to find out what’s going on.” She said. “We are getting multiple signatures heading toward this place.”

“How can we be sure they are not more pirates…or worse.” Tiosk said.

“Your ships in orbit aren’t making any hostile moves toward them for one and the fleet mostly comprise of medical and cargo ships.”

Tiosk looked over at Lavality, who was still unconscious and the doctor was still feverishly working on her. He remembered the last message he got from his crew. “Let’s hope they don’t blame us for what happened to the False Hope…” He said.

Trandosha: Streets of Hsskhor

“Let us not linger here then…” One warrior said. “The farther away we are from here when Besk arrives the better and the lest likely he’ll pick up our trail.”

As they ran off the warrior that encountered the invisible warrior looked back and up, wondering if she was still lingering nearby.

Who does she work for? He wondered. And would she be a threat to us?

…

The mention of Besk brought a low, almost inaudible growl from the unseen female, who was indeed still nearby, watching the group run off. She wasn’t a part of the Separatist Movement, though what she was hearing about it interested her. However she had other things to tend to…like making Besk’s life miserable….

…

Besk and a large group of marines made their way to the Sykir building, having been ordered by Hyossk himself to repel the intruders and secure the building. He had no idea what was so important in there Hyossk wanted to keep secure so badly. Not even his own contact, a high ranking professor, was letting him in on anything that Hyossk had going on in there: Besk had warned the male that he had better not be double crossing him.

“Secure the perimeter.” He pointed to a half a dozen marines. “The rest of you come with me.”

They moved around the building to want looked like a ordinary brink wall. Besk knew better and flipped aside a panel that was disguised as a brick and punched in a code. He replaced the panel and hidden door opened, permitting them entry. Once inside he had the marines fan out and question anyone they saw while he went upstairs. He came across a nervous low ranking apprentice, who looked a bit distressed.

“The professor is dead…” The male said, his voice shaking when Besk questioned him.

“Show me…” Besk demanded, not wanting to believe his contact was dead.

The apprentice led him to the top floor, where he found two warriors and his contact dead. One warrior was just outside the room, a vibrolance impaled in his head. The other warrior was in the room with the professor, his throat cleanly slashed: he found it odd that there was little blood on the floor around him. The professor was barely recognizable, but Besk recognized the weaponry that inflicted the wounds on his body.

K’zur…a weapon I have not seen used in awhile. He thought. A K’Zur being a gloved weapon with a foot long blade at the end of each finger. It was a fighting style that was a dying art, many Trandoshans preferring blasters or longer reached melee weaponry over such close quarters weapon these days. Looking up he noticed the window was open. “I thought you had all windows locked down with alarm systems attached?” He asked.

“We do…but either the assassin got it open without setting off the alarms or for some reason the professor wanted it open…” The male said.

“The latter I seriously doubt.” Besk said, exiting the room, having seen enough. “The professor was a paranoid one: he wouldn’t have been so foolish. I will find out who did this.”

“Could you see about finding the girl as well?”

“What girl?” Besk looked over his shoulder at the male, a brow raised.

“There was a female child Hyossk ordered kept here for interrogation. I personally don’t know why the Councilor wanted the professor to interrogate her: I suspect only the professor himself knew.”

So he was doing things behind my back. Besk thought with a faint sneer. It didn’t matter now though, he was already dead.

After a bit more searching through the building and finding no clues, he and the marines that were in the building with him left. For some strange reason there was no sign of the ones he left outside?

“Where are they? They should be securing the perimeter!” Besk growled. When they turned a corner they found them…five of them dead with their throats slashed just like the one in the room. The sixth one was alive, but shaking badly and had his back flattened against the wall.

“What happened!?” Besk demanded.

“Something…something invisible killed them…” The marine said, his voice trembling with fright, eyes looking around wildly.

“Pull yourself together warrior!” Besk said, backhanding him. “Or I’ll kill you myself! You sure you didn’t see anything?”

“I’m sure sir…wait…behind you!”

Besk and the other marines turned around sharply, to see nothing. “I don’t see anything…”

“It was there…like a ghost…just a second ago.”

“Well it’s not there now, now is it?” Besk growled.

Just then, one of the other marines lurched backward as a bright scarlet line suddenly appeared on his throat, his crimson blood spraying everywhere. The frightened marine screamed and ran off. Besk too, felt a twinge of fear, but held his ground. He is using some sort of cloaking device. He reasoned, his eyes darting this way and that in an attempt to spot the assailant. An advanced one…not even our infravision defeats it.

He watched as the mortally wounded marine staggered about a moment, then crumpled to the ground. The remaining marines shifted nervously, blasters drawn and pointing them every which way. Another marine’s throat got slashed and the others reflexively shot in his direction, hoping to catch the culprit. They only ended the poor marines life that much quicker.

Besk remained calm, watching the surrounding area for any clue, any sign of the assailant. For a brief moment he saw a shiver flick by one of the marines and he quickly brought up his rifle and fired. The marine jumped, letting out a yelp when Besk’s shot nearly hit him…but so did someone else.

Got you…. Besk thought as he fired more shots. But he frowned in disappointment when he found he hit nothing but thin air. A few tease moments passed, but he saw nothing more. Scared it off. He thought, disappointed he couldn’t kill whatever…or whoever it was. “Let’s go report back to Hyossk.” He said, moving away from the area, the remaining marines nervously following.

…

On a rooftop not far away a tall dark figure appeared. She had pushed her luck too far she realized, for Besk was no fool and she nearly met her end: she could still feel the heat of those shots on her skin. Plus the power supply on her cloak device was running low and needed to be recharged. It wasn’t meant for long excursions like that, being only a prototype she sniped from a Sykir lab about a week ago. She found sneaking around much easier now…

She watched him move away, dark blue eyes glittering with hatred.

It’s not over… She vowed, a sneer forming on her lips. In truth she was only toying with him then, for she wanted to torment him awhile before delivering the final blow….

…

Also not so far away, a certain Keshir had watched the whole thing. Having creatively ditched the tracking device he was told to use to throw the trackers off their tail, he had stumbled upon this fun little scene. It was a pity Besk himself didn’t get his throat slashed, but none the less it was fun watching him try to figure out what was happening.

The figure that appeared on the rooftop not far away from him didn’t escape his notice either, but he…or she was too far away for him to make out any distinguishing features, other then he or she was tall. He had no clue if this individual was a supporter of their cause or not, but he wasn’t about to walk up to him and ask...

Knowing it was not safe to linger, he started picking his way back to the hideout to report his findings to Rissonik.