The Rebel Faction

Taja Dark Emerald Jade raises one eyebrow at the Captain as the ship lands and they exit from it rather slowly, looking around for any signs of trouble. Looking down at her panthers she growls softly, giving them an order. They take off in different directions and after a moment come back with a report.

"You were saying about danger Captain? Flavia and Sumohn say its clear up ahead, so shall we advance?"

"yyyeeeeaaaahhhhh, you do that" he said in disbelief, he couldnt believe he was following this.

Turning back towards the ships he began the long task of cargo hauling, shipment unpacking and preparing the base camp. There wernt very many holds of cargo, but they were massive and it would take quite a while to set up.

"You, Crew section Beta! Get to work on setting up the base camp, when the colonists get here they'll want a place to start! Section Alpha! Get to work on finding a suitable base of resources, well need them later on! Everyone else! Its time to unload!"

Lots of grumbling, thats what he got for his announcements, he knew it, but as long as the work got done, he could really care less. Happy crew or angry crew, he got paid, what a wonderful system. Taja Dark Emerald Jade hears the groaning and grumbling, turning to face the crew.

"You all have your orders. Now follow them."

She then glances at the Captain.

"I guess that leaves me to check out whats up ahead."

Without waiting for a reply, she walks on ahead, Sumohn and Flavia leading the way. A half hour or so later, they come across a burnt out castle, or at least, thats what it looks like by the ruins, it once must have been a mighty place, but now. She gets on her comlink and calls the Captain.

"Ive found something. Gather some men and come find me."

"This had better be good, we need all the man power we got out here. Helms, use our shipboard computer to lock onto her comm device and triangulate her position"

"Yes sir, should only take a moment"

In the off moment he grabed a small team of five armed men to lead the way in to see what she was up to, he swore under his breath, this was completely uneccessary and contrary to the plan.

"Got her location sir, sending you her coordinates now"

"Thanks Helm, ok Godess, were on our way"

"Great, I shall be waiting somewhere around here."

Shutting off her unit, Taja Dark Emerald Jade pulls out her datapad and runs a scan of what this ruined castle is, or if there is anything living within it that may become an enemy to them. Nothing, litteraly a blank slate on this one, though a keyword Xim did appear on the screen she put it away. Sighing at the lack of info she gets, she pulls out her left side blaster and steps up to one crumbling wall of the castle. She peeks inside, her warm breath seen from the cold outside as she works her way around the outside wall.

He sighed, looking down into his padd, she was moving, she couldnt have waited like he had asked, but kept on moving. He had left base camp in good hands, he was sure before days end the landing pad would be set up and they'd have a definative new beacon to lead them home by.

"Country Roads... Take me home.... TO the Place... I wanna GO!!.."

"SIR!"

"uh huh, what?"

"What are you doing sir??"

"Oh, sorry, this all seems a little rustic is all, reminded me of a good ol contry song I used to know, good thing is you cut me off right where I forgot the lyrics"

"Right...."

"Nevermind, just shut the hell up and keep walkin, we're gonna catch up to her eventually"

How the hell did she get so far out here so fast? This was a serious hike, it was gonna take a little longer before they were on top of her, not a bad thought indeed. He grinned evily to himself. Taja Dark Emerald Jade came back to the front of the castle and kicked down what remains of the front door. To her surprise, a barage of bats come flying out, just barely missing her head. How much like a bad horror movie this place was turning out to be.

"God fragging.....of all the things......"

That is when the Captain and his troops would walk up, just as she was about to enter the ruins. She was too busy looking inside the crumbling doorway and jumped when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Whirling around, she puts her blaster in his face, then lowers it after seeing who it is who touched her. Giving him a cold look she turns back to the ruins.

"Godess, is this what you called me up her for?"

"Well, shite Captain, I did not call you down here for a bonfire. I thought maybe we should check this place out for enemies. But then, if you think setting up camp is more fun than this, then by all means, return to it."

"Sorry, Empress, but if you get hurt in there, itll be my ass for not stopping you, or at least staying with you. No matter how idiotic this may be."

"Fine, Captain, lets go."

Taja Dark Emerald Jade cautiously steps over the broken door of the castle, followed by the Captain and his team. Each person goes in a different direction to inspect the castle carefully. Not for common good, but to get away from each other due to the increable idiocy of all of this.They should be setting up camp at this very moment, not playing games.

Just in front of her to the left, Taja Dark Emerald Jade comes across a massive stone staircase leading up to the second floor. She glances around at the others for a moment, then slowly begins to climb the staircase. Just as she begins to get halfway up the staircase, it suddenly crumbles beneath her without warning. Screaming loudly as she falls, she grabs on to part of whats left of a ledge to keep from falling even more. At the bottom of this pit was apparently another room below it. The ceiling of that room had rotted out and stone spikes can be seen standing up from the floor below. A trap.

Just as Taja Dark Emerald Jade losses her grip, she feels a hand grab her wrist tightly and pull her up slowly. When she looks up, she is surprised to find the Captain had saved her.

"Empress, you really ought to be more careful."

"Right."

She darts down the stairs and walks the spot beneath the stairs where she fell through.

"There is a secret room here somewhere. I saw it while I was hanging on to the ledge before you pulled me up. Now we just gotta find a way in."

With inhuman strength, Taja Dark Emerald Jade slams her fist into the wall, then pulls out chunks of stone until it is wide enough for them to get through. She smirks at the Captain, who had dropped his mouth at her discovery. Not to mention her inhuman strength, while a common sight on Dameo, it was not well seen in the merchant mercenaries.

"You wanna go first, or should I?"

"If I may, can I ask where you trained to get so strong Empress?"

But it was too late, and she had already walked out of hearing range. Turning back to his men he waved them on as they continued deeper into this old place. Turning back to one of his men he gestured towards her in an I dont know fashion, but when he turned back his face went right through a cobweb. Jumping into the air the captain begain repeatedly smacking at his face trying to get the cobwebs off, he was freaking out with the unknown, if one didnt know better they might think he was scared. Then again youd probobally be right, the captain was freakin after all.

"Dont just stand there you fools! help me!"

It took him a few moments to calm down and stop moving but once he did two of the others gently scraped the webs from his face and continued forewards. The end of the passageway opened up into a large Foyer, a dark Foyer with a broken stairway like the entrance hall, in fact just like the...

"HEY! Not funny you guys! Who turned me around!"

The whole crew started laughing, that is, until the captian shot a chunk of wood outta the ceiling with his blaster, crumbling a piece of the passage way over a member of his teams head.

"Are you guys coming are what?"

"On our way Empress!"

He smacked the nearest guy in the back of the head, who then held his head and shrugged in the what did I do fashion. Charging forewards at a new pace he entered the new chamber Jade had found. Taja Dark Emerald Jade is found by the Captain and his men, looking up at the hole she fell through.

"Wow, what a hole." she says quietly.

Looking around the chamber, she finds a few torches in the wall. Raising the palm of her right hand, she waves it and the torches light up, showing the spikes that she was hanging over moments ago.

"Uh, Empress, how did you do that with the torches? I mean, first you punch through a wall, and now you light torches. How?"

"Well, Captain, if I told you that, I might have to kill you." Taj Dark Emerald Jade smirks and winks, leaving the Captain speechless and wondering if she were joking or serious. Then watching her ass as she walks on ahead, this Raktus feller might pay a good price to get that back for sure. Grabbing a torch, she wanders about the chamber, finding many types of torture devices. Some of them even had skeletons still in them. All were intact, with sunken eyes and dried, stretched skin. Further back into the chamber was another door, and adjacent to that was a wall full of cabinets. Taja Dark Emerald Jade touched a door and suddenly pulls back, gasping loudly from the telepathic vision she got from it.

"Empress, what is it?"

"These cabinets are homes for many instruments of torture. We must leave from here at once."

Without another word, Taja Dark Emerald Jade grabs the doorknob next to cabinet. As soon as she does, she sees another vision. This one is of a room filled with bodies that have been buried for many years. Dropping the torch, Taja Dark Emerald Jade turns around and runs towards the door she made, entering the foyer once again. After a few moments, the crew finds her sitting on the bottom stone step.

"Empress? Everything alright?"

"When we tear down this palace and rebuild it, I want those rooms gone. The other door led to a room that had been used as a burial ground for the people tortured here. I know you wont like this, but when we rebuild, I want those bodies dug up and given a proper burial. I heard there souls cry out for help when I touched the doorknob. They suffered great pain here and for nothing, just because some evil man wanted them to. In order for them to rest peacefully, I want them dug up and properly buried in a small, man made cemetary behind the palace that will be made for them."

Taja Dark Emerald Jade looks up at the Captain, her dark green eyes sparkling with tears of pain and suffering.

"Will you do that for me, Captain? Make a small cemetary behind the castle during building and properly bury these poor souls? Please?"

*A sith is she? Well that explains the strenght and strange abilities, Raktus might wanna know about this*

"Uh, I'm gonna have to contact Raktus about this, he may have some reservations about dusturbing the dead as they are"

He turned around, walking back around the side of the castle, opening up his pad along the way. As soon as he rounded the corner he pressed an emergancy contact button to IDTech headquarters. A Flashing red light on the screen indicated his connection was being processed.

"Emergancy Line, what do you need?"

"I must contact Heir Raktus immediatly"

"Reason?"

"Argai"

"Hold please"

The red flashing was giving him a headache, he rolled his eyes for a moment. Raktus's face appeared on the screen, a little impatient looking, but at least he had responded.

"What is it?"

"Sir, its about the Taja of the black dragon empire..."

"Jade? What about her?"

"Are you aware shes a sith sir?"

"Yes I did, do you have a problem with that?"

"Erm, no sir, and we have one other situation down here, a minor one, but we need your call on it"

"Well, get on with it"

"We found a castle on this uninhabited planet, worse yet its filled with dead bodies. Jade wants to bury them all on the grounds behind the planet."

"Then do it, I respect her descions, as should you, in fact Captain, from this point forward regard all her descions as my own. Im also sending the colonizing fleet as of now, youd better be ready, Raktus out"

"Wait, But! SIR!"

The transmission cut line immediatly. The captain sighed but he had to do as he was told. He rounded around the side of the building and approached Jade again.

"Raktus says its your call. Look, we need to get back to base as soon as possible, the fleets on its way, we need to be ready"

Taja Dark Emerald Jade looks up at the Captain for a moment, then at castle again. She nods slowly and begins walking back to the base camp, muttering softly as she goes.

"So evil.......so much death........and destruction.......in just one room........what if there are more of those rooms?......we need to search........every room........to be sure.......how could one person.......be so blatanly sadistic?......."

The Captain walks behind Taj Dark Emerald Jade, listening to her senseless muttering. He looks back at his com unit, then her rump one more time, then back up at Taja Dark Emerald Jade.

"He expects me to follow her decisions when something like that effected her that badly?"

The ragtag colonial fleet led by Sully Anre emerged from the vortex of hyperspace and roared at full sublight speed toward the vicinity of Argai. The lone Imperial-class Star Destroyer and its small fleet of Carrack-class cruisers made their way quietly as Anre's ship, Sleeping Death, took its position around the planet's ecliptic. After their struggle from various jump points across the galaxy, the colonial fleet had finally arrived to their destination.

Captain Anre stood at the front of the command walkway overlooking the green planet ahead of him, as one of his bridge crew approached behind. He saluted him, then offered a report to his superior officer. Sully peered at his crewman as he took the datapad then nodded in return. The ex-pirate was dressed in contrary to most officers, as he followed no dress code. His uniform was simply black from the neckline to his knee-high boots, but the sleeves were cut off on his tunic, exposing the assemblage of tattoos that decorated his arms and hands. He also had a few piercings on his eyebrow and lips; his hair was unkempt, but short.

"Captain, the colonial fleet has successfully made the jump from lightspeed and are all accounted for. Your request to locate and contact all spy networks across the Tion sector have been carried out. Several of the BDE's waiting contacts have surfaced since our encoded transmissions and are ready to join our cause." The officer's face beamed a look of satisfaction. Sully's expression still remaind cold and chiseled, as he scanned the display on the datapad.

"Excellent. It seems not all sympathizers of the Tion Hegemony have been purged as the BDE thought. Have you sent our requests to these networks, and have they replied? I grow most impatient waiting here for long. At least when we disembark these colonists, we can finally begin to plan the expansion of this sector. For now, Argai is a prime choice to make our start until the time is right for us to make our departure." A wicked smile crept upon Sully's face. His bridge officer nodded as he smiled along.

"Yes, Captain. One BDE agent has replied via encryption to our requests. The contact wishes to meet one of our representatives on the surface." The captain swerved his head to the main viewport and raised a pierced eyebrow.

"On Argai? Why would we bother? I better hope this contact is reliable," he ranted. "They better be aware that we have more pressing matters at this time, especially the need of specifications on all planets of the Tion Hegemony. I need to know their weakest link. From there, we can finally place a firm foothold. Our expansion will continue until my full control as administrator." A gleam in the Captain's eyes beamed with anticipation.

"And it shall be done, Captain Anre. I will inform the colonial fleet to prepare for depature to Argai's surface and meet this contact... unless a holoprojection is better. Either way, Sleeping Death will be prepared to take on BDE's expansion into the Tion sector," his officer reassured.

"Good. See that it happens. Assemble the cruisers to commence landing their cargo and colonists. You are dismissed, Lieutanant." His officer saluted and made his way from his superior. Captain Anre gave an order to establish a high orbit over Argai and waited until contact was made on the surface...