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[James Stratus]

Disclaimer said:

The Palace Storm Scenario, also known as Scenario 3, is a "Red" scenario, as was Familiar Dawn, part of the Return from the Shadows series of scenarios. All members of EOTIR (this forum) are invited to participate in this scenario, granted that you are within your sphere. This means that your character will only know things that are going on that your character would know about. While you, the player, can read everything going on, your character will only know what he/she sees and hears, and what he/she has access to know about. All personnel are invited to participate - but remember a few things. We have a chain of command. We have standard operating procedures. Do not do anything without your supervisor's orders or authorization. Everyone's part in this scenario will be different, but it should affect everyone somehow. Not just anyone can go inside the special areas of the Palace, as restrictions apply. Everyone will be expected to follow the Chain of Command. One step at a time. If you want something approved or need something, run it by your CO. If you fail to recieve a response, run it by his CO. (I.e. Army units report to their unit CO, unit co's report to the Army COO, Army COO reports to the Minister of Defense, who reports to the Supreme Ruler). You can bypass one chain if that person is unavailable. If your CO doesn't know the answer - he must find out the answer from HIS CO, that does not give you excuses to go above him without his permission. Note: If a superior officer gives you permission to contact him directly, feel free to do so under those circumstances. It is at the discretion of each officer whether they will accept direct inquiries or defer them to your direct superior.

Before you begin posting, we will need to establish "starting locations" for all of your characters, so they are not magically where they would need to be For this, you will hear from your CO. Members of High Command are to contact me directly for your own starting points and if you need help with starting points for those under your command.
Navy - Admiral Locke Firecam, Army - Maj. Gen. Dene Vye Cognatus
If you don't know who your unit CO is contact your branch (army/navy leader) COO or the Minister of Defense. If you are not in the military, contact me.

Setting
I will provide tidbits of what is going on as we go - so as not to spoil surprises. Some intros to the scenario will now be made.
James Stratus and family notice changes in security protocols and in staffing of the royal guards (dramatic changes). Mysterious events continue to take place on Coruscant and in other areas where the guards are present. Many become weary of them. More and more security measures are put into place on Coruscant and the Palace by the guards and infilitration becomes apparent. Admiral OVERMIND is the first to be on stage. (Some of you will be given situations you are placed in, others are to be creative with your co's approval, and all are to participate in some way - even if you are just visiting Coruscant and get stuck in the middle - or perhaps later summoned to Coruscant or other places in the middle of the scenario once alerts are sent out.)

[James Stratus]

STARTING LOCATIONS
If you do not see your name here, that is okay. I will post it here shortly once your starting location is determined. All Branch Leaders are to assist me in setting everyone's starting locations via PM to me for approval and then notify your personnel. Some of you have already been placed. Others are being determined. (OOC I am working today (Saturday Aug 30) and will not be on until Sun or Mon).

Grand Admiral OVERMIND - Royal Palace (War Room/High Prince's Office, etc)
Lt. Colonel Kaidlen Shan - Royal Palace - Personal Suite on Royal Floor
Ms. Dana Lance - Royal Palace - Guest Suite on Royal Floor
High Prince James Stratus - Royal Palace - Throne Room - Secondary Chamber
Royal Family Members - Royal Palace - Royal Suites
Admiral Locke Firecam - Naval Headquarters - Kuat
Maj. General Cognatus - Army Garrison - Coruscant
Executor Tavria Treyson - TBD
Revan Centurion - Hapes
Layha Chume Solo-Centurion - Hapes
Director Drexel Oren - Obroa-skai - R & D Facility
Brig. General Bryan Dugaan - IRSB Headquarters - Coruscant
Colette Miller - TBD
John Kelly - Yaga Minor - fleet in orbit
Jenna Diedre - Coruscant - orbit
Lieutenant Jacen Fel - Coruscant - orbit
Malia Jae'Nor Hollis - Coruscant - ground
Lt. General Raithos Bodost - Coruscant - Investigation scene
High Councilor Guinar Ndengin - Corellia - Sector Government Office


I know many names are not on there yet - PM your branch leader and have him contact me and I will add you. Between your branch leaders and myself we will determine starting locations. May the Force be with you!

[Khyron Overmind]

Jenna Diedre - Coruscant
Lieutenant Jacen Fel - Coruscant
Malia Jae'Nor Hollis - Coruscant

They are all onboard the Avenger, so they should be in Coruscant. They can be either on orbit inside the Avenger or taking refreshment courses in the Ministry of Defense building.

Vice Admiral Kelly leads and Assault Fleet, so he pretty much can be anywhere we need him.

[James Stratus]

Situation Update
Palace communnications security measures in place. Most connections outside of the Palace or incoming blocked. "computer virus threat" being the officially posted reason. Military forces unreachable. Comlinks within the palace Currently available (but cannot connect to people outside).

Note: I will make small posts like this when the situation changes. These are all prompts for you to respond to in some way.

If you need to NPC someone, such as someone on my staff, make sure you use established names rather than making up your own. Check the Archives category for forums wiht information about that. One of the useful forums is the Royal Briefcase at http://nexus.imperia...hp?showforum=12

Edited by James Stratus, 30 August 2008 - 09:44 AM.

[James Stratus]

You already have been assigned to start at the Army garrison barracks on Coruscant. That will be an important place to be indeed. If you all notice - I do update my previous post with starting locations to add new people - as OVERMIND may do as well. We will soon be deleting these ooc posts to clean up this IC topic. OVERMIND will most likely begin this scenario soon with his posting. Others may follow in an appropriate order. We do have an order of events for the beginning portion of this scenario - the end - however - will be in your hands (all IR members).

[James Stratus]

Coruscant: Royal Palace: Throneroom

It had been a month since his return. He was faced with many changes. Changes in staff, changes in command, changes in his own family, and changes in the guard....

It had been hard for him to adapt to all the change. Here he was, the James Stratus, a legend, a High Prince, a Grand Shadow Jedi Master, and the Supreme Ruler of the Imperial Republic. Few had ever seen any weakness, many had respected him. And here he was, lonely, tired, and trying to make sense of all the changes that had taken place. It felt good to be back. He had known it would change, but he had not anticipated the extent. There was corruption in the government. That he knew. What he had worked so hard to build was beginning to crumble.

It could be reorganized, it could be revamped. And that is precisely what he was going to do. It would take a lot of work. More changes, better changes. Corruption would have to be removed. It was a tedious task. He sighed. He was in the process of reorganizing security forces. He would need them to clean up some of the mess that had been developing. He was reviewing some of the files that had been submitted for approval: various budget requests, research and military projects, organization changes, staffing, all sorts of things. His personal staff had prioritized them, filtered them, marked them up, and done all sorts of things to eliminate ones they knew would be useless. After all that filtering, here he was, with a huge digital stack of files to go through, and return with approvals or rejections.

There was no end to people coming to him for approvals and authorizations. He had informed his staff that he would not be accepting visitors or entertaining any government officials. That only worked to an extent, as there were always some who had virtually unlimited access when insisted upon, such as members of the Throne and some other specified individuals.

It was time for him to retire to his bed. There was a secure passageway from the Throneroom private area to a private suite. Not his normal suite where he usually stayed. It was a getaway suite. No one really knew it existed, except the guard. He had never told Layha about it, though he would not be surprised if she had discovered it herself while under similar circumstances. It was very well hidden....few knew it existed. Not even his personal staff...

Two knew, the two heads of his guard. As he slipped through the corridor, he retired to rest. Finally some peace and quiet. His mind was still uneasy. He was not sure why.

[Koru Tav]

(OOC: I assume that my captain is with me in the guardroom monitoring the place with me and I also assume that the my captain and I are the two heads which Stratus is talking about. Since the private suite is a secret, I don't know if we would be monitoring the suite but I'm assuming that we can monitor it via sensors..)

Lt. Koru Tav was sitting in his chair watching the monitors in a secure guardroom. Sitting next to him was Captain Morris Gemmel who was also watching the monitors. Tav had known him since he was assigned to the Royal Guard assigned to the High Prince but still was not very close to the Captain. The "ice" had been broken and the two had grown somewhat close for the reason that they talked much while they monitored security. The guardroom, although a bit small, was the perfect size for two people. Three made it quite cramped while four was too much. There was a miniature caf machine in the corner which either Koru or Gemmel could use during their watch.

"...and that's pretty much how the whole night went." the captain finished his tale on what had happened to him a few nights back. The two chuckled. "I'm gonna get up and get some caf. Want any?"
"No Thanks"

The captain got up to get some caf.

Koru chuckled again as he looked over the monitors again then quickly checked his chrono. As he scanned the monitors he began to think on the past two weeks. When he heard that he was given a position in the Royal Guard assigned to the High Prince he was suprised. With his record, he wasn't sure what was going to happen. He quickly got settled in, bought a cheap table for his tools, and was able to gain permission to set up a target at the range for his bow if he took it down when he was finished. Although he was issued a standard blaster pistol when he joined the RG, he practised with his bow regularly as he was able. With this particular thought he look over and saw what appeared to be something similar to a duffel bag which contained his bow, a quiver of around 20 of his arrows, and clothes that he was wearing before he changed into his uniform. Koru turn his attention back to the station and noticed that there was one blip in the private suite of the High Prince.

"Looks like he's gone to bed. Gemmel began as he sat down, "and it seems like it's going to be another quite night. It's a tad early for him, but he must of had a hard day."

Koru nodded to that and said. With all the stuff that's been going on since he got back, he must be. Koru's mind went back to what the Captain had said "a quite night". Sure it seemed like it was one of the nights. Koru's gut was telling him that something just wasn't right. Maybe it was just him, he didn't know.

After taking a sip of the caf and setting it down Gemel spoke as he scanned the monitors and sensors, "Alright Lieutenant, I told you one something about myself. You tell me something about yourself, such as...why do like playing around with a piece of metal and string."

"You mean my Bow, sir?" "Yeah." "Well sir, I was born into a family that....."

(OOC 2: The stop is not intended to say that something happened or that Tav was interrupted. Think of almost like what happens on a movie...The characters begin speaking then the scene changes mid-sentence. That kind of thing)

Edited by Koru Tav, 05 September 2008 - 11:35 AM.

[Khyron Overmind]

Grand Admiral OVERMIND was in the Situation Room of the Imperial Palace, waiting for the latest reports he had asked his staff to prepare and send here when they had them ready. He had intended to arrive early in the afternoon, but several things got his attention and he arrived by the early hours of the evening. Actually, the issue that delayed his arrival was one of the factors that resulted in his urgent reason to meet with the High Prince. Early in the afternoon, as he was preparing to leave the MoD building, a communication arrived.

It was from a mid-level bureaucrat of the Ministry of Finance, informing him that the budget for the Military for the next fiscal year was going to be reduced in 35% and the budget for the present year was going to be reduced by 10%. He immediately send a message to the remitent requesting more information about it and the reason why the budget cut had been approved. No answer. He tried to contact the Minister of Finance, but his office told him that he was informed that the Minister was not available for anyone. He then decided to take the matters to the High Prince. But he asked his staff to prepare a summary of the information regarding deployments, presence in the different systems, readiness levels and all the information that supported the budget they had previously approved.

While making all the coordinations and trying to make the contacts required to solve the situation, a couple of hours had passed, so as his staff still needed some 20 minutes to finish with the information he was requesting, he decided to travel to the Imperial Palace and wait for the information there. That way, he could quickly get to the High Prince.

Now that the information had arrived, he went over it and decided it was as he had asked and therefore, he was ready to go to the Throne Room to meet with the High Prince. He did not need a previous appointment, since the High Prince had granted him access to the Throne, provided he was not in another meeting. Before leaving, he noticed that the Palace was becoming more secure: many of the communications were put on hold to be cleared by security. Since he had one of the top security clearances, he did not have problems, but he noticed in the Situation Room that many otherwise routine communications were labeled as "on hold". That was totally strange and he made a mental note to talk about it with the High Prince.

Once he arrived to the Throne Room, the Secretary, usually very friendly with him informed him that the High Prince was not available. That came as a surprise, since he had never been prevented to see him. He pushed on the subject, telling her that he had urgent matters to discuss with the High Prince, but she persisted in her position: no access to the High Prince. The Admiral took a long look at her, trying to read her face and at the same time reading her emotions through the Force: she did not want to refuse, but she was doing it anyway. Besides, he could sense a strong tension between her and the Royal Guards posted at the entrance of the Throne Room. That was odd and he got the feeling that something was wrong here.

"If you can not grant me access, my security clearance should be more than enough" he told the secretary and moved one step forward to the entrance.

The Royal Guards closed the way and the senior of them told him:

"Sir, I am afraid you will have to leave. As you have been informed, you do not have access to the High Prince at this time."

Both men then stared at each other and the Royal Guards took hold of their force pikes, threatening him to use them. The Admiral was a smart man and he knew when it was time to retreat and search for another strategy. Therefore, he turned around returned to the secretary's desk.

"Very well then, I will leave you a small document with the topics I want to discuss with the High Prince" he told the secretary.

He started to prepara a Code 7 message on his datapad, while talking absently about budget cuts, deployments and some other lose words. As soon as he was finished, he said outloud.

"Ok, I am making a formal protest regarding the budget cuts imposed upon us by the Ministry of Finance and I want to discuss it with the High Prince as soon as possible. I will transfer it to your screen so you can forward it to the High Prince when he is ready to see me."

[James Stratus]

Coruscant: Palace: High Prince's Office

Daphne Voelker, the main office secretary to the High Prince on Coruscant, felt really nervous. The guards had been giving her a lot of instructions and orders that had made her uncomfortable. They were watching her every move, and if she said anything, it could be hazardous to her life.

She had always liked Admiral OVERMIND. His head was always on straight and he seemed to be a genius. He was one of the few people she was happy to see come in this office under stressful or busy circumstances. She hoped he could see her plea for help in her face. As he handed her the document, she had the distinct impression she needed to proofread it immediately. That was an absurd idea, seeing as if it was about budget problems, it would be large and take hours. Yet the Admiral stood there waiting as if he expected her to read it immediately. She took it and inserted it into her terminal. The message was incredibly short - with high encryption:

TRANSMIT MESSAGE:

CODE 7 (ROYAL GUARD) (CORUSCANT PALACE) (HMPS, IRSB, IRIS, CHIEF-NAVALOPS, CHIEF-ARMYOPS, PALACE SECURITY) (09/07/08) (OVERMIND)

She jumped. She wasn't surprised at all, but now without a shadow of a doubt she knew. She would have to transmit the message. With communications blackout beggining, it would be almost virtually impossible to send a message, and risky, but she used the Admiral's signature codes with the High Prince's overrides to send it, and to send it quietly so it wouldn't catch much attention - with high encryption beams.

She looked up at the Admiral. "I have...saved the file to His Majesty's Queue for later review, Admiral."

[James Stratus]

Coruscant: Royal Palace: Private Bedchamber inside Throneroom

The High Prince woke up with a start. Immediately he retrieved his lightsaber from its holding place and activated it, just in time to deflect baster shots coming his way. What the blazes?! How did they know about this room?! Only 8 people are supposed to know about this room! He reflected the shots and began to attack his assailants. They were not messing around. They were aiming to kill. He struck down those that were in his bedchamber, and then slipped through a hidden entrance to the Palace's secret tunnel system. Royal guards were attacking Noghri. How did that many Royal guardsmen get in here? Only a few are supposed to know about the tunnels? Royal guards... that was who had attacked him. Only two people of the current guards knew of his secret bedchamber, and both of them were new. The two had joined him immediately, but only one survived, the Lieutenant Koru Tav. He had not attacked him, but in fact had immediately began defending him. He did not sense any treachery in him, so he let him live, for now. It would be easy to eliminate him as a threat - but he sensed he was not a present threat. More Noghri had joined the scene, and they were urging him to get to the secure bunker. They eyed Lt. Tav carefully but he signaled for them to leave him alone.

"Koru, it appears we have been infilitrated. Stick with me, or you may end up on the wrong side of this fight." My family...he thought. My staff....My friends....were they all in danger? Whether or not the battle was going on elsewhere besides his suite and tunnel area, he could not tell. They were all very resourceful. He hoped they would make get to safety. He had know way of getting to them at present, and he needed to plan, and think...he needed to get to that bunker...alive. There was no way to communicate. Just as he tried to activate his comlink he heard the jamming. He was not sure where it was coming from or how big it was, but he knew he was being jammed. The chain of command was being broken as communications were being cut off. Now the chain of command emergency procedures would indeed be tested for their effectiveness, if his command staff were resourceful enough to know what to do.

It was not likely that anyone knew of his plight. No one would probably notice for some time that he was missing, much less in grave danger...

[James Stratus]

SITUATION UPDATE:

Coruscant Palace Communications Blackout/Jamming in Place
Assault Attempts and Armed Conflict in Royal Suites (currently restricted to Royal Suites)
Rest of Palace oblivious to attacks
PALACE SHIELD ACTIVATED - NO TRAVEL IN/OUT


People Affected:
Attack on Kaidlen Shan
Attack on all four member of Royal Family
Attack on HMPS Personnel
Attack on Admiral OVERMIND

CODE 7 TRANSMISSION SUCCESSFUL

Remember - at this time only those of you in these areas or that recieved the message will be aware of the problem. Everyone may notice a communications blackout, however. No one else will notice anything else yet.

Note - all High Council personnel will have royal guards near them - they are also present throughout the palace, throughout the Royal Fleet, and a few on the MoD fleet. Only the ones in the Royal Suites are presently attacking.

[Koru Tav]

"...and then..." Koru ignored the captain as his eyes looked back the the monitoring station. He cocked his as he looked a little closer. Both Morris and Koru noticed it at the same time. Just as they noticed, static appeared and the sensors started to go haywire.

That's way to many people in that passageway, Not good! Koru commented as he quickly unzipped his duffel and pulled out the contents. He slung the quiver over his back, did the same with his bow so that he could use both of his hands then unholstered his pistol in his right hand. Him and Morris quickly made it to the passage entrance with no resistance and took guard on each side. Koru took his vibroknife in his left hand and attacked. His mind faintly registered the snap-hiss of somthing as blasterfire erupted. He quickly shot one guy in the back of the head then swiftly swung with his knife into another. Both died. The confusion was over as quickly as it began. Koru noticed his captian was dead, why he didn't know; he was surrounded by some Noghri. He almost went to fighting stance but stayed himself as he put away his knife. Koru looked up to see the Noghri backing off but he still felt their glares.

"Koru, it appears we have been infilitrated. Stick with me, or you may end up on the wrong side of this fight." The Prince said to him. Koru, somewhat suprised by the Prince using his first name and not his rank, Looked and nodded as he took a quick glance around noticing the dead bodies and the burning flesh smell in the air: Noghri and Royal Guard alike. It didn't affect him like it did others: it was almost like it was in his blood. He quickly holstered his blaster pistol then stooped to pick up a blaster rifle two "reloads". His pants pockets had to be used for something.

He Looked to the Prince "The Bunker, sir?"

Edited by Koru Tav, 07 September 2008 - 05:56 AM.

[Khyron Overmind]

The Admiral sensed the surprise in Miss Voelker's mind when she realized what had been handed to her and when she realized what the Admiral was asking from her.

"I have...saved the file to His Majesty's Queue for later review, Admiral."

"Thank you Ms. Voelker. Then, I will see the High Prince at his earliest convenience. Do let me know when that is to my comlink."

He tried to come up with a clever way to tell her that he was going to watch over her as soon as possible, but he realized that the guards were probably listening very careful to every word he would say. Therefore, he chose not to say anything and turned his head slightly away from the guards, starting the movement to leave. As soon as his right eye was out of sight he made a half wink to her, keeping a serious face and continued turning his body and walked away from the room without saying anything else.

As soon as he cleared the ante-chamber, he opened his comlink and tried to send a message to his MoD staff. The message did not go through.

[Revan Centurion]

Revan rubbed his eyes gently as the loud beeping noise roused him from his sleep. Having left the Cluster very early in the morning to head back to Naboo for a few things, Revan Centurion was...exhausted to say the least. Grabbing his datapad, he quickly activated the message. He got to maybe the fourth word before her groaned lightly. "Son of a..." Kicking his legs over the edge of the small bed, Revan sat up straight and finished reading through the entire message. Once he was done reading, he push the intercom button on the wall. "Colonel..."

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Change of plans, set a course for Coruscant...get us there as quickly as possible."

"As you wish."

Standing, Revan quickly made his way over to the refresher. He wasn't sure what their exact position was at the moment, but he estimated that they were probably not too far from the Coruscant System. He'd check on the exact time later. For now...better to be prepared for anything. It was funny really, Revan wondered how long after his marriage it would be before he got roped back in to the middle of some crisis. "Not long...apparently."

[Malia Jae'Nor Hollis]

Malia knew it was late. But it had only been a few hours since she returned to active duty. They had been granted a few hours leave upon return to Coruscant, and she had spent every minute with Neo and KJ. It was hard for her to leave this time, after seeing battle first hand and seeing the death of her soldiers. She had to learn to grieve, then move on. It was difficult, but easier with Neo by her side.

In the Army Garrison Barracks, she was not sleeping. She did not sleep much. She was in the Medical Center. The injury to her arm was a humiliating reminder of how much she did not want to have a weakness, physically included. She had blaster pistols in each hand, and when the light in her target chamber turned red, she fired both to the sides repeatedly and quickly until her chargers were empty. The walls were darkened, so as she lowered the blasters, she could not see her aim. The med droid came in when the light turned back to green. She placed the pistols in a tray on the wall behind her, and sat on a stool.

"Lieutenant Hollis, you are making progress in both aim and dexterity."

"Was the aim dead-on in both hands?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"No. But much closer than before. You have been practicing. Please do not over-exhaust yourself. Too much practice may lead to a halt in progression, and possibly regression. Wounds are not made to heal in a day. At this rate, you will be back to full-capacity very soon."

"Thank you."

Mali was frustrated as she left, finally deciding to try and sleep. She rounded the corner of the corridor and moved down the hallway to her chambers. It was a moderate;y-sized apartment, one room, one sitting room, one refresher. But it was her space here, in the barracks. She opened the door, locking it behind her, and moved into the bedroom. She didn't bother dressing for bed anymore as she used to on The Avenger. The routine of sudden night drills had become familiar to her.

As she lay on her bed, she felt uneasy. It was too quiet, even for this time of night. Shaking the thoughts from her head as superstitions, she rolled over and finally fell into a light sleep.

Edited by Malia Jae'Nor Hollis, 07 September 2008 - 10:40 AM.

[James Stratus]

The High Prince nodded. "It appears your unit has been infilitrated. Do not trust any of the guards. You will need to trust the Noghri without fail, or it will be detrimental. Let's move, Lieutenant!" he shouted over the noise of the firefight.

He knew the Noghri would be helping his family get to safety. He also knew they were skilled fighters on their own, because of their family life and history together. They had survived many wars, and had learned how to fight. What of his Executor? She was off to Hapes to establish a treaty? There were many guards around her. He had never seen her in action or a fight before, he had no idea how she would fair. Hopefully Layha will save her life. He knew Layha would be fine, and hoped she would help Tavria.

He continued dodging and deflecting blasterfire as they took the long route to the secure bunker. There were tons of armed guards between there and where he was. He paused for a second. If there was a high concentration in toward the bunker, did that mean they were trying to keep him in their perimeter, or were they trying to keep him from their headquarters. No, that wasn't it, they seemed to have control of most of the Palace. Perhaps they were trying to lure him there, into a trap, and the resistance was a cover to keep him from seeing it. Yes that had to be it. He had know way of knowing for sure but he had many years of exeperience in combat tactics and in all kinds of diverse situations.

"Change of plans, Lieutenant! We're not going to the bunker. We're going somewhere else. There's too many of them at the bunker." He turned to his Noghri. "What was the last status of Sanctuary?" The Noghri looked at him confused. Good, if the Noghri didn't even know about it, then the guards probably did not either, as he had never told them. Deep underneath the Palace, not part of his own tunnel system but a seperate tunnel system that connected to his (though you had to know how to get to it or you had no chance) led to a secret underground Intelligence facility and safehouse, codenamed Sanctuary. Knowledge of its existence was restricted to only the most senior Intel officials, and the Throne itself. Not even members of his personal staff knew of its existance. He would be safe there, if he could get to it. "Alright, follow me, we're changing course, its not exactly close, but we will be safer there. Let's go!" He shouted and deflected shots as they all jumped out from a crevice and began heading toward their destination. The guard thought they had him retreating. They did, in fact, but not where they thought he was heading.

CORUSCANT: ROYAL PALACE: PALACE SITUATION ROOM

Colonel Bremen cursed as he watched the alarms go off. The Palace was being jammed. The Royal Guard had been acting very curiously for the past month, since right before the return of the High Prince. Now this. The Palace Shield was up. That was very odd. Only on one occasion had the Palace Shield been activated, and that had required much deliberation and final Throne approval. He had heard nothing about it. None of his men would have activated it without telling him...unless they were involved with the sensor jamming as well. Communications blackout would never have been authorized by the Throne. There was too much happening. He was surprised to see a priority message on his networked datapad, considering communications were down. This one had slipped through just as the jamming began. It was highly encrypted. Curiously, he punched in all the codes he could muster and finally found one that worked. It was a personal code. That was rare. Those encryptions were rarely used. It meant that they did not want anyone else, not even his staff, to see it. That was probably for the best. He read it. CODE 7. ***** More cursing. Well that explained everything. Luckily the guards still had access to the main computer and could transmit messages through it, since most of it was hardwired and did not use any frequency or airwaves per se to transmit. He watched on the screen as the Royal Suite security status went red. Admiral OVERMIND had headed up there just before this all happened. The area had gone into lockdown, and blasterfire could be heard through the recording devices. All he could see through the cameras is the royal guards with their weapons drawn rushing in to the Throne room and other royal suites. Where is Admiral OVERMIND? He tried to locate him, but he was not within view. He needed to find a way to get to them, and secure the palace, which he was losing more control and access over every minute. If he could get to OVERMIND, he would take charge and would know how to handle this. Not that Colonel Bremen did not, but he was very much outnumbered. There were much more guards all over the palace than he remembered. The least he could do was warn the people there was an attack, if he still had access to the alarms. He ran to the alert station and pressed the assault alarms, and Klaxxans becan sounding throughout the palace. This would at least get all the civilians and others to go somewhere "safe", and hide. He doubted there were many places considered safe, if what was going on was indeed true. Though with it coming from the Admiral, he had no doubt.

[Khyron Overmind]

The alarms throughout the Palace went off as the Admiral was reaching the Situation Room. There, he saw that Colonel Bremen was the senior officer and head straight to him.

"Colonel, what is going on?"

"Sir, I received the Code 7 but now the situation has escalated. I see through the monitors that Royal Guards have their weapons at the ready and they are rushing into the Royal suites."

"That means that they are already in motion. I hoped we would have time to do something before it was too late. Colonel, gather all the troops that you can muster. We need go to the Royal suites at once and verify that the High Prince is safe. Was there any other member of the Royal family in the Palace"

He turned around and for the first time in his life, he was glad that former Executor Solo-Katarn had ordered him to carry four Noghri bodyguards. The four of them were standing in the back, almost blending into the wall. The Admiral knew of their fighting skills and they would definitely need them to have success in the mission.

[James Stratus]

(Colonel Bremen)

"Sir, even worse, they have activated the Palace Shield, and have disabled our controls to it. There must be a secondary control room for them, but I was not aware of any. I'll gather as many of our security forces as I can, but I don't think we'll have enough, and I don't even know who we have that's still with us, sir. But I'll do it." he turned around and then began issuing orders.

[Raithos Bodost]

CORUSCANT

Raithos had just arrived on the scene of a multiple homicide more out of a need to get out of the office than out of the investigation really demanding his presence.

"General Vaughn sent the Deputy Director to oversee a homicide investigation?" One of the senior agents on the scene said as Raithos stepped through the sliding door.

"You'll just have to be extra careful then, won't you Captain?" Raithos immediately responded, with a sideways grin. "But, no, I volunteered. It was getting cramped in the office." It was then that Raithos got the message across his datapad and quickly read it after it was decrypted. "Sigh, back to the office." He was trying to pass off the urgency of the message as much as possible.

Raithos was out the door and back in his personal speeder, outside of earshot from the rest of the agents before he commed General Vaughn.

"General?"

"Yes, I got the message from OVERMIND too. Return to HQ, I'm in my office, trying to round up as many enforcement officers as I can without arising suspicion, we're meeting up in the tunnels that lead off to the palace. Meet us there, and hurry."

General Vaughn immediately clicked of his com and sent the call out to the enforcement agents before strapping his blaster on his hip and quietly sneaking through a hidden passage in an office wall that led to a secret exit out of his office, eventually leading to the base of underground tunnels he had mentioned to Lieutenant General Bodost.

CORUSCANT: IRSB HEADQUARTERS

General Vaughn and most of the other agents he had called in were already beginning to assemble in the tunnels by the time Raithos arrived ten minutes later. Quickly snapping off a salute to General Vaughn, Raithos moved to the front of a small crowd of agents that was gathering, each inspecting their blaster rifles and pistols, preparing for an assault.

"The royal guards know about these tunnels, so if they're trying to lock down the palace, we should meet with significant resistance. So be prepared for trouble." This was all General Vaughn said after the last of the agents he had summoned had arrived, before they all began a hurried march toward the palace, General Vaughn and Lieutenant General Bodost taking their positions and the rear of the assault.

CORUSCANT: UNDERGROUND TUNNELS

The blaster fire had become deafening, Raithos had never been a huge fan of this kind of open combat, but the last thirty minutes had been a whole new level of discomfort for him. Every seemingly mundane wall panel opening up as they passed it and starting to fire at the assault team from all directions, every ceiling panel opening up to reveal a swiveling blaster turret, and now as they started to get closer they were anticipating the royal guard was going to start showing up fairly soon.

"Remind me to have a talk with the high command once we're done here, about what are clearly way too many automated defenses." Raithos exclaimed to General Vaughn between blaster shots at a pair of turrets.

General Vaughn chuckled, more at Raithos's ability to remain a sense of humor as he was getting shot at than at the actual comment itself. "There here!" General Vaughn shouted, pointing down the tunnel as the red robed guardsmen started to file in, blocking the passage in front of them. "Take a side passage; we'll try to go around them."

The IRSB assault squad quickly darted down a side passage, and began firing around the corner at the assembling royal guardsmen. A few grenades were lobbed down the hallway at the royal guards, distracting them long enough for a pair of IRSB agents to pop out from behind the corner and begin firing. This pattern continued, while the rest of the assault squad continued working its way through the tunnels. This time being led by General Vaughn himself, while Raithos said back to keep watch on the agents left to hold off the royal guard.

"There's more!" General Vaughn shouted from the front, snapping Raithos's attention forward as IRSB agents began to surround Seylin, returning fire from a second group of royal guard.

"General Vaughn. Come in." The voice belonged to one of the agents keeping the first group of guards occupied.

"What is it?"

"They're starting to move away, this side appears to be opening."

"No, they're trying to box us in; they're over here, too. Reassemble at the main tunnel, everyone."

The entire assault repositioned back to the main tunnel and bunkered in, rifles firing at anything that moved from either side.

"General, we can't just stay here, hoping they get tired and go home." Raithos shouted, trying to get his voice over the blaster fire.

"I know, but we're kind of running out of options at the moment."

"They're mostly moving to the side, so the main section should be the least occupied, we need to attack it with the main force. I'll take a smaller group and press from the side; the main group should draw their fire long enough for the side group to flank them."

"Sounds better than anything we've got, do it."

Raithos pointed at the quarter of the group that was closest to him and, after flooding the side tunnel with grenade blasts, watched as the main group headed down the main tunnel before they began marching down the side tunnel, blasters firing.

CORUSCANT: BENEATH THE PALACE

Raithos couldn't say that his plan had worked perfectly, as they were starting to accumulate more casualties than he had planned for and many more injuries, but now at least they were making progress.

"Repeat. Lieutenant General Bodost. Come in."

"Kind of busy, make it quick." Raithos guessed they were passing under the palace now, as the transmissions were starting to flicker in and out more than they should.

"General Vaughn has been hit."

"What? What's his status?" The sarcasm stopped and the image of casualness fled from his face as he heard the news.

"We've got him stabilized, but we can't watch him and shoot at the enemy."

"He's stable already? How long have you been trying to contact me?"

"Almost a minute now. Why?"

"Does the resistance seem lighter than it should?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it does. Why?"

"Guard the General, we'll sweep around and pick you up."

"Yes sir."

Raithos clicked off his com and signaled for his squad to pick up the pace. It was then that he noticed why the resistance seemed so slight. The guardsmen were shooting behind them as well.

"Ha, Noghri. Perfect."

In a matter of moments, Raithos's squad had cleared its passage all the way to the exit from the palace, flashing his identification at the Noghri that, in all honesty, had done most of the work. After flashing his identification to the Noghri, he turned to them and his squad.

"Not done yet, General Vaughn is hurt; we need to take care of the guards down the main tunnel as well. Follow me."

Raithos led the newly bolstered squad to where a group of Noghri was still attacking the rest of the guardsmen and quickly dispatched them as well, before running through the battlefield to where General Vaughn was.

"This doesn't look good." Raithos wasn't a doctor, nor did he have anything remotely resembling medical knowledge, but he had seen enough blaster wounds that he knew what he was seeing. "We've already cleared the tunnels, so it should be light enough to get him out of here the way we came, but take a squad with you anyways Major. Don't let the royal guard anywhere near him, in fact; keep them out of hospital entirely."

"Yes sir."

"The rest of, you, we're needed in the Palace. Follow me."

Edited by Raithos Bodost, 08 September 2008 - 12:02 AM.

[Koru Tav]

Koru dropped behind the cover of a pillar ejected his blaster pistol cartrage and inserted another. He breathed in quick deep breathes and wiped the sweat from his eyes as he prepared to fire from cover again. Him, the Noghri, Stratus had pushed their way from the secret passage and were nearing the bunker. All along the way there was heavy resistance. Him and his allies had fought with their blasters, lightsaber, and hands all along the way. Koru came from cover squeezing off three shots. Before the enemy had a bead on him, he ducked behind cover again. He had heard a satisfying scream that another was most likey dead. He wished for the blaster rifle he had procured. He was out of ammo for that weapon and discarded it somewhere. He couldn't grab any additional cartriges because of the firefight but he managed to grab a thermal detonator. Where it had come from he had no idea but, He was saving it for later. He looked over to the man he was defending as well as the Noghri.

The High prince was almost an army unto himself. Dodging blasterfire while using the force to guide his lightsaber to deflect shots and bat them back at the enemy or slicing people when they got too close. Teh Noghri weren't pushovers either. Koru was awed many times in the past minutes while the prince with such fluity and grace dodged and attacked and had to keep pushing the awe aside 'till a later time. This was the fisrt time that he had seen anyone with a lightsaber in action. Why does he need bodyguards again?! Koru asked himself silently as he shot several more rounds into the enemy ranks and ducked behind cover. Koru notice the fire had died down for a split second and ran from his cover over to a crevice where the prince was. He fired the whole way barely avoiding shots that was fired at him faintly registering several grunts from the enemy. Koru could fell his skin start to blister from the intense heat of the blaster fire that passed by and shrugged off the miniscule amount of pain. He quickly inserted his last cartrige. We are SO going to run outta ammo. I'm suprised the enemy hasn't run out yet. Maybe they just have enough bodies

Koru then heard the prince "Change of plans, Lieutenant! We're not going to the bunker. We're going somewhere else. There's too many of them at the bunker." The prince turned the Noghri and said something about "sanctuary".

As long as it either gets us more blaster ammo (Koru hadn''t used his bow yet) or get us to where we won't be FIRED at it'll be heaven!!!

Alright, follow me, we're changing course, its not exactly close, but we will be safer there. Let's go!" The prince ordered.

Koru jumped out of cover and fired his pistol, this time going for quality more than quantity. He took out his "borrowed" detonator, armed it and threw it with his right arm at the enemy. He fired his last shots as they crossed into the next passage and holstered his pistol. He quickly took his bow which amazingly had come through with out damage. He also brought out an arrow ready to fire on a moments notice.

"That was too close"

[Locke Firecam]

Putting the finishing touches on his mixed drink, the Admiral took a seat at his desk to finish the review on some of the latest updates that had been sent his way. Things had been pretty quiet lately, and he had enjoyed the slower pace as it allowed him to finally get ahead on paperwork and such. Taking a sip of his drink, he leaned back in his chair and smiled; it was going to be another peaceful evening. The alert sound on his datapad brought him back from his daydreams into reality as he slowly realised what such an alert meant. Quickly reaching for the device, his drink crashed to the floor, the glass shattering and sending shards flying accross the room as he read the message. Code Seven, he thought to himself, how could this have happened. Threats from the outside we always much easier to deal with then an internal attack, this was definately a concern. A number of thoughts raced through his head as he tried to get a handle on the situation. Such an attack meant that very few people could be trusted, even so, his training gave him the exact answer that he was looking for. The message had mentioned the Royal Guard, but even he found it hard to believe those who were trusted with the safety of his majesty would go rogue, but he knew that information he recieved on the alert system had to be trusted. Reaching for his comlink he quickly paged his bridge communications officer. "This is Admiral Firecam, I need a favor, can you patch me to the palace situation room" The officer paused for a moment, obviously sensing that something was up, "At once sir, just give me a moment..." Another pause, the silence confirmed Locke's worse nightmare, something was definately up at the Royal Palace. "Sir, it seems that communication are blocked, would you like me to try again?" This was not completely unexpected, but it did make this a bit more difficult. The Admiral thought carefully about how to get in contact with his superiors, "Alright, attempt to patch me through to Admiral OVERMIND's personal comlink channel, it might take a bit of work but make it happen." Silence greeted him, followed by the sounds of frantic computer work that caused Locke to crack a bit of a smile. He was always proud of how hard his crew worked, and he would be counting on their efforts in this situation. "I'm doing the best I can sir, but it might take a moment. I'll patch it through to you immediately if I can secure a connection." The Admiral nodded to himself, "Excellent, thank you." He knew that getting in contact with OVERMIND was a longshot, but he had to at least attempt to contact his superior. Even so, he needed to prepare for the worst, and opened up a channel to one of his trusted officers. "Jin, I need a favor, get the bridge to set condition two, quietly. This is not a drill, we need to prepare for possible deployment and I can't make an official announcement. I'll explain later." Lt. Commander Jin Kurov was one of his longtime friends, and he knew that he could be trusted. Switching off the comlink, he made his way out of the office, and was immediately met by two of his own royal guards who were standing watch outside the door. They followed him down a short hallway to the bridge where they took positions outside the entrance. The doors slid open with a slight click, as he stood on the command deck, observing his officers brining the sleeping giant that was the Highwind back to life. Taking his seat, he immediately pulled up a listing of all immediate ships in the area, as well as possible fleets that could be effected due to the presence of royal guard. It didn't take long to issue brief orders to the Naval Forces to be on alert, and for a number of the Fleet Commanders and ship captains to report in as soon as possible. There was one last thing that needed to be done. Being a member of high command he had some Royal Guards of his own on the ship. He was unsure if they were involved or not, but the risk could not be taken. Pulling out his datapad he composed a quick message to the captain of one of the Army detatchments onboard the ship, instructing him to take a look at the private rooms of the Royal Guard onboard the ship and look for any evidence of treason. Taking a deep breath, he turned to his datapad to review what he knew, which was not much. Action would come later, once more information was known.

[James Stratus]

As they headed forward toward Sanctuary, the High Prince instinctively thought of Dana. He hoped she was okay. She was good at hiding and defending, but she did not know the Palace and had no way of escaping. He was getting closer to the passageway/entrance to the tunnel from her room, and it would only be a quick sidetrack. As he turned to the left instead of going forward, they approached a the wall. "Stay here and cover me, I'll be back in less than two minutes." He burst into the room and could smell blaster fire. There had been a few visitors but they had not survived long enough to report back to their superiors. He wondered how the enemy was communicating so effectively whilest the jamming was in place, seeing as it would be affecting them as well. He searched for Dana everywhere. He knew she was in here. He couldn't leave her. He sensed her hiding inside her closet. That's where he came in from, where the secret entrance was, and he had whizzed right past her. He went back to the closet, and found she was still there, and touched her hand. She began to attack instinctively but something about his touch made her pause. As she looked up she saw the man that had brought her to Coruscant, back from the Kathol Rift, and to whom she had become close friends. He looked different. He looked very worried and even somewhat scared. Though calm came over him as soon as he realized she had been in his mind again. "Come with me," he whispered. They snuck through the tunnel and returned to the Noghri and to Lt. Tav. "Alright, let's go!" It would probably be a good idea for Dana to find out about Sanctuary anyway, seeing as that would soon be part of her new job he had given her. "As soon as we get to Sanctuary, we'll be able to recharge our blasters. There is also a whole library of special weapons and things there, if its still secure. I doubt the enemy has been there, or that they know of it. Its one of my better-kept secrets. I don't know if its even staffed anymore. It may be deserted, but we'll soon find out."

He led the way down the tunnel through a series of tunnels, to where they ended up inside other tunnels within the tunnels that had secret entrances to the tunnels. It was probably very confusing to them all, seeing as it was confusing enough to himself. He had basically implanted his mind with the map schematics of the palace and all their secret facilities for situations like this where he had to rely on personal navigation. It was a lot further than he had remembered, but he had remembered taking special vehicles to get there. Just as he remembered this he spotted an abandoned patrol craft. Perhaps they have abandoned Sanctuary. He sighed. He hoped not. If they hadn't, that meant they had a whole unit of Ubiqtorate armed forces in reserve that he would be able to put to use. We shall see. He reached out through the Force, trying to get a sense of it. It was useless. He remembered the ysalamiri that were packed around the base. Either it was deserted or they were fully active, seeing as he could not sense the facility or the people in it. This protected the facility from being discovered by Force-sensitive individuals, as it had a mass of technology that prevented it from being discovered by mechanical or technical means already.

"Get in the vehicle, I'll drive, I know where we're going." He said that, hoping he was right.

[Khyron Overmind]

"Sir, even worse, they have activated the Palace Shield, and have disabled our controls to it. There must be a secondary control room for them, but I was not aware of any. I'll gather as many of our security forces as I can, but I don't think we'll have enough, and I don't even know who we have that's still with us, sir. But I'll do it." he turned around and then began issuing orders.

Grand Admiral OVERMIND turned around and started to think. His mind was running at overdrive trying to remember something that was in the back of his head. There had to be a way to find the location of the secondary control room. His mind was bringing him back memories from another era, when the Palace was inhabited by the Emperor. Other times and other people, but probably the same things going on. He remembered that the Emperor had installed the infamous Delta Source inside the Grand Corridor. He remembered the secret meetings with the Grand Admirals. Even though he was not a part of their Council, he had participated in some of them, as he had been asked to assist on a special campaign. And so on, more memories and memories.

He was sure that if his mind was showing him those images it was because the answer to their problem could be at a grasp. And eventually, it came to him. The Emperor had several hidden things in the Palace and the Secondary Control Room for the Royal Guards was definitely one of them. However, finding how to enter it was the difficult part. He had no idea where the room was, but he knew how to look for the location: the Emperor was a maniac to have all his projects documented. Document, yet hidden. And then, the image of the Emperor closing some files on his terminal came to his mind.

"Colonel, I have an idea. Check in the root of the main library storage server. You are likely to find a directory called Public Projects. Get inside and then use the oldest authentication code you can find. It should ask you for a secondary code since the first one should no longer be valid. When that prompt appear, move the cursor to the mirror position on the rigth side of the terminal. A link will appear and it will ask you for a password: use the complete name of the Emperor, adding 'Ruler of the Galaxy' at the end of it. That will give us access to the secret files. One of them has to have something about the blueprints of the Palace."

[James Stratus]

Palace Situation Room: Colonel Bremen

Colonel Bremen looked at the Admiral in awe. He was indeed a great resource. He began the search at the terminal himself, with the Admiral standing behind him. He did each step as the Grand Admiral instructed, and each time he was succesful. He had known the Palace like the back of his hand, or so he thought. As he pulled up the schematics, after a lot of tricks, he saw a lot of passageways and facilities he had not recognized or seen before. Granted this was the old palace schematics, but still, there were a lot of things he did not know about. He let out a whistle. He began looking at it thoroughly. He wasn't quite sure what was what, but he figured the Admiral would know what he was looking for. "I have it Admiral! We're in. Full schematics. Its a bit outdated but if these places are still around it shouldn't have changed where that's concerned." Just as he finished speaking the blaster doors unlocked and opened to the main part of the Palace Situation Room. He swirved around, blaster in hand, as armed Palace Security personnel took their positions with weapons aimed at the group. They were quite surprised to see two Noghri and one man who looked like a Special Forces operative in full combat armor. It was quite an interesting combination.

"Identify yourselves!"

[Raithos Bodost]

CORUSCANT: BENEATH THE PALACE

Raithos was leaning against one of the tunnel walls, tapping his foot as two of his more technically sound agents worked their way through the main blast shield and into the palace itself. The rest of the squad had their blaster rifles pointing at the portal just in case there was something less than pleasant along the way.

"We'll be moving onto the Palace Situation Room once we're inside." Raithos said, directing it at the Noghri that at least appeared to be the one in charge. "I'm not all that familiar with the layout of the palace and could use your help in fighting off anyone else we see. Plus, I don't want the rest of your friends inside accidentally firing on us, thinking we're the enemy. I don't suppose I could convince your team to go with me, could I?"

The Noghri 'commander' looked at Raithos for a while before signaling for two of the others to follow the IRSB assault squad into the palace. "PSR." Was all he said before turning away with the rest of his team and quickly heading out of sight from the assault team.

"Done, Lieutenant General, it should open now." One of the two agents tending to the door said, as both of them stoop up, and readied to fire at anything on the other side.

"Lead the way." Raithos spoke aloud, motioning his hand from the Noghri to the blast door.

CORUSCANT: WESTERN HALLWAYS OF THE PALACE

Raithos and his assault team rounded another of the labyrinthine hallways leading from the IRSB tunnels toward the situation room as the Noghri in front of them both fired a pair of blaster shots before vanishing into what looked like a solid wall. It didn't take Raithos long to figure out why: another group of royal guardsmen were coming out of an office room in front of them, dragging a pair of office workers by the backs of their necks, kicking and screaming down the hallway. Not wanting to risk hitting any of the hostages, the assault squad recoiled back behind the corner they had just came from and began laying down suppressive fire aimed past the guardsmen's' heads."Cockiness aside, who's my best shot?" Three of the agents with Raithos each raised their hands almost immediately as he asked the question, as if they were waiting for it. "How many of the guards are there?"

"Looks like 5, Lieutenant General." One of the three said.

"Each of you, one shot only. Do not hit a hostage. All goes well, we'll do this again for the last two."

Before Raithos's agents could even respond to his order, a guttural growl could be heard coming from the hallway in front of the assault team as the two Noghri shot out from the wall behind the guards, immediately killing two with claws to the neck and incapacitating another two as the first pair of dead bodies was thrown at them, leaving the fifth to die to a pair of short bursts from a Noghri blaster to the chest. The IRSB assault squad quickly ran up the Noghri and began tending to the hostages as the Noghri dispatched the unconscious guards with a pair of very sudden neck snaps.

"Nice work. I've definitely got to get me some of you." Raithos then turned his attention away from the Noghri and to the very frightened hostages the guards were dragging behind them. "It's okay folks, IRSB, is anyone hurt?" Raithos took the silence of his agents to mean that everyone was able to at least walk. "Anything you can tell me about what exactly is going on would be helpful." Raithos took the hostages' silence to mean they were still in shock. "Form a circle around the civilians. We need to keep moving."

Raithos hadn't heard anything, and based on the reactions of his agents, neither had any of them, but the Noghri all quickly snapped their blasters back up, facing down the hallway the IRSB had just come from, spinning on their heels, as if they were tracking something that Raithos couldn't see or hear. One of them said something very briefly that Raithos couldn't understand before both dropped their blasters again and another team of Noghri appeared from the same holes in the wall that the first two had used to get behind the guards. The Noghri spoke briefly in a very guttural, very odd language before one of them Raithos had brought with him from the tunnels finally turned to him. "They will take you the rest of the way. We must return to our unit."

CORUSCANT: PALACE SITUATION ROOM

With his new supplemental detachment of Noghri leading the way through the palace's hallways, Raithos and the IRSB assault squad was moving much more quickly than they were before, even with hostages in tow. When the Noghri commander stopped and pointed to what seemed like just another random office door, Raithos knew he had reached the Palace Situation Room.

"Odd, I would expect this to be guarded. Open the door." Raithos mused aloud, motioning to one of his agents.

"It needs a higher authorization." The agent replied after fiddling with the control panel.

Raithos walked over to the panel, inserted his code cylinder and placed his palm against the reader, the door making a slightly odd noise as he did, before moving back behind the ranks of IRSB agents. The IRSB had their rifles up and pointing at the door as it began to slide open. On the other side of the door, they were greeted by a similar readying of rifles from the PSA agents on the other side.

"Identify yourselves!"

Raithos gave a sigh of relief to be seeing something other than royal guards before showing his identification. "IRSB Deputy Director, Lieutenant General Raithos Bodost." Raithos walked through his wall of agents and into the PSR as he was saying all of this. It took him practically no time to recognize the rank cylinder and awards that blanketed Grand Admiral OVERMIND's uniform and to recognize the Minister of Defense. "Sir." Raithos said, snapping off a salute, which the rest of his assault squad quickly followed, "I got your message and just arrived through the tunnels leading from the IRSB HQ. General Vaughn would be here too but he took a nasty blaster shot to the leg and was rushed back to a hospital. Some of our men are watching over him. So," Raithos began as he took a quick look around the room, "what's our next move?"

Edited by Raithos Bodost, 08 September 2008 - 11:51 PM.

[Dene Vye Cognatus]

"GENERAL!" One of the situation operators came running into his office. "We received Code 7 from the Palace!" Anxiously speaking without discipline. "Calm down Sergeant" Dene spoke calmly and charismatic. Reaching over to grab his comm. "ATTENTION ALL UNITS ATTENTION: We have a Red Alert, all units to report directly to invasion readiness status, all hands to the Air fields!." General Cognatus smirked and stood. "Have the ARC Troopers meet me in 20."

Few Moments Later

Dene stood out overlooking the mass army that was preparing to invade what would be the strangest order he would ever give. Hundreds of Troop transports loaded up units and darted off to the Royal Palace.

"Colonel, have the Armored Corps follow up behind the infantry, I will be leading this battle directly." Dene gave an approving nod to the Colonel. "Aye aye Sir!." He ran off getting his armored units ready.

"Lieutenant Hollis report to Air field Alpha Drop Ship Delta-022." The Comm overhead spoke.

Dene boarded his ship, his armor clad body curiously wondering what was going on at the palace, he had hand chosen 20 other ARC troopers to make up of his elite group that would enter the palace.

"All Commanders listen up" Dene said over the Comm. "I suspect foul play in the palace but we don't know for sure what is going on. I also suspect that the emergency shields have been activated which will make our job even more challenging." He grunted silently, communications appear to be jammed aswell." Dene didn't like this one bit, but whats to like? "I will continue to assess the situation once we land, I fear we may have to indirectly damage the royal palace." Some of his troopers gave him a worried look.

"Sir, we will land in a few minutes." The pilot yelled through the comm.


Drop Ship Delta-022 - Invasion Force Delta
"Alright listen up guys!." Shouted the Major. "It seem's something is going down in the palace, maybe a coup? I don't know nor do I care, we need to get in there and aide where the General see's fit, so lock and load and lets kick some arse. LT Hollis, we are going to need your eagle eyes when we land, I want you to set up a sniper post ASAP and give me a sit rep." The Major turned to face the pilot. The palace in sight.

[Malia Jae'Nor Hollis]

Malia's light sleep was interrupted rather suddenly when the alarm klaxons of the palace went off. Even in sleep, she had been expecting this. Expecting a drill, she jumped out of bed, grabbed her Mandalorian Armor coat (leaving the rest behind because of its weight), her uniform coat, and her blasters and riffles of various types, all waiting for her at the door.

A strange feeling passed through her as she exited the bunker, and she heard the new announcement. This was no drill ... Her already lithe speed increased measurably. She was already running to the airstrip when her name was called to report there, and she rounded the corner as the Comm Officer was taking his hand off of the mic. She caught his eye, and he pointed to the waiting ship with a tilt of his head as he went back to work. Malia didn't bother to exhale as she ran up the ramp and took her place.

She listened to her orders, and began calculating in her head already positions within the palace that would be ideal posts, depending on where they landed and how much time they had. But she automatically responded, "Aye, General."

[Tavria Treyson]

Tavria was in a small meeting room in the Hapan Palace, holding a conference call with Brigadier General Bryan Dugaan, Ambassador Raphael Murieax, Minister Tom Winter, Minister William Benson, and HMPS Communications Director Maurice Jandreau about the peace treaty in the works with Hapes and the economic aspects of it. Tavria was to meet with Layha later on this morning to discuss the peace treaty in a more formal government to government meeting, then when they had talked about it yesterday as friends.

As Maurice was discussing the High Prince’s desires with the Peace Treaty he suddenly faded out and the connection with him was lost, even after a few attempts to reestablish a connection. Tavria flashed scenarios through her head; the only reason that a connection could be lost with the palace is if it’s being jammed, after all she still had a connection with her COMPNOR personnel.

“Ministers, please make sure that any employee that I didn’t personally hire goes home immediately. It’s a new program that I’m implementing; everyone else will have their break soon in the future. Then precede to perform Security Test Alpha655-Delta223-Nerf. Until I say the drill is over."

Tavria then disconnected the line and exited the small room to meet with Hapan officials.

Edited by Tavria Treyson, 08 November 2008 - 08:14 AM.

[Koru Tav]

The small team made it to a new passage. The prince told them to hold position and that he would be back in minus 2 minutes. The team took defensive positions around the wall. Koru was about to protest when the prince when through another wall.

How many secrets are there around here?

Senses being heightened by adrenaline Koru hugged the wall when he heard footsteps. Having a perfect vantage point he peered around the corner and noticed a royal guard at the far end of the corridor. Teh Noghri sensed the man too as they became deathly quiet. Koru Having an arrow at the ready, pulled the string back and aimed it at the man's heart. Ticked by as the guard stopped at the intersection of the hall checked around. Koru was slowly letting his fingers off the string when the man seemed to mumble something to himself...sonething about being all clear...and walked back quickly the way he came. The Lieutenant exhaled quietly as he slowly let the tension off his bow returning his arrow to the ready postion. Thirty seconds later, The prince came back with a female. Koru gave a quick glance and recognized the face as he had seen her once or twice. He had never spoke to her.

"Alright, let's go!" The High Prince whispered. A few corridors down the prince spoke in a hushed voice again "As soon as we get to Sanctuary, we'll be able to recharge our blasters. There is also a whole library of special weapons and things there, if its still secure. I doubt the enemy has been there, or that they know of it. Its one of my better-kept secrets. I don't know if its even staffed anymore. It may be deserted, but we'll soon find out."

Koru smirked to himself as he thought of the unknown. A few minutes later they were in the tunnels. Koru was barely able to keep track which corridors the team took. Because of the silence he let his mind think a bit as he kept his senses at full alert.

"This has been an interesting evening. I'm actually enjoying myself...well...despite being shot at and hunted. I wonder if this Sancuary place has been compromised. Hope not. This was the right decision it seem to come here and Guard the leader of the galaxy. Even though he can be a bit bossy at times, he's a good guy. I probably would be dead now if it wasn't for him. Then there is that girl..." There was a sound of scampering animals of some sort down the tunnels where they had came. They eventually faded from hearing range, "...I've seen her twice now. I mean who is she? Where did she come from? All that jazz? Well, I guess if the High Prince trusts her enough to take her to this "Santuary" place, then she must be alright. She does kinda remind me of..."

The team came to a halt at an abandon vehicle that seem parked at the side of the tunnel. Koru looked to the prince as it seemed he was thinking hard about something.

"Get in the vehicle, I'll drive, I know where we're going." Stratus ordered. They all got in. Koru took his arrow off the bow and put it back in his quiver.

As the vehicle lurched forward, Koru stumbled into the front passengers seat Next to Stratus. After five seconds, Koru felt like someone was drilling in the back of his head. He looked around and saw the girl looking at him. Koru gave a hint of a smile then faced forward still feeling the sensation in the back of his head. A few seconds later the sensation subsided. "Wonder if she trusts me" Koru mumbled to himself. He looked down at his right arm and noticed that some of the skin had melted away. Wow those blaster shots must of been closer than I thought. At least there's no damage to the arm.

Koru then turned to Stratus. Sir...what happens if your Sancuary has been compromised? Will we had above ground and stake out there?

Edited by Koru Tav, 09 September 2008 - 08:48 PM.

[James Stratus]

The High Prince drove them through a series of tunnels and came to a point where it looked like they were going to smash directly into a wall at high speed. The others probably wondered if he had gone mad. He secretly hoped that he found the right tunnel, otherwise they would indeed have a mess. But he was almost sure of it. The fact that he could sense absolutely nothing beyond that wall confirmed it. Immediately before he hit the wall, the molecules changed to where it was no longer a wall, but air, which replaced itself immediately upon their passing it. While the others braced for impact, they were surprised just as the Prince was relieved to find themselves in another tunnel, a much different, well kept, and obviously part of a secret military facility. They came up to a parking place for the vehicle. The area appeared to be empty. There were no markings, no signs of an entrance to whatever the place was, nothing. As he approached, they heard the sound of clicking across the medal floor. Shadows were closing in on them. The Prince signaled to his group to stand down and not respond. They soon found themselves facing some very impressive-looking Security Sentinel Droids, of a very advanced type and heavily armed, weapons aimed.

"You have trespassed a protected area. You must provide authorization for your being here or you will be terminated immediately."

"Friendly, aren't they?" muttered the Prince. He faced the one in the center. "I am James Stratus. My voice is my passport. Verify me." As he said this the guard stood motionless, in the same position he was in before, and from behind them a touch-panel rose from the ground to waist level. "I hate this part..." he whispered. "I never liked turning my back on those droids - but that's the protocol for the emergency entrance." He placed his entire hand on the panel and entered a code with his other hand as it scanned his palm. There was a pause, and then the guards snapped to their version of a salute, and then turned around, facing the other direction in a protective stance while the wall began to divide, opening a portal for the High Prince and his company to go through. He pressed in the number of individuals present in his company so that the door would remain open for each of them as they followed him in, and then led the way...into Sanctuary.

As the last of the Noghri entered, the wall shut behind them, and lights clicked on. They were in yet another hallway, leading to a portal, similar to a blast door, but a bit different. As they approached the High Prince once again scanned his hand and then the portal opened, leading into the heart of Sanctuary.

It was a dark facility, one of the most advanced secret facilities ever ..(well..not known, but in existence). It had different chambers, each one with a unique purpose. One of them was a weapons storage chamber, another weapons development, another information collection centre, another information review centre, another droid facility, responsible for the manufacture and maintanence of the various high tech droids that serviced the facility. There remained in Sanctuary a skeleton crew, in one of the larger chambers that housed them, next to an unmarked chamber....There was something odd about the unmarked chamber that he knew was in his memory somewhere... As the chamber portal to Personnel opened, a small group of people, older, yet heavily armed, came out. They looked shocked to see anyone inside their facility. Upon recognizing the man they knew but had not seen in a long time, they came to attention.

[Revan Centurion]

The shuttle reverted to real space just outside Coruscant's gravity well. Security protocols were already being broadcast by the time Revan even made his way up to the cockpit. "Holy..." There were literally hundreds of ships scattered about the traffic lanes around Coruscant. Effectively, there was very little transit being permitted unless it had been fully authorized well in advance. Revan could identify at least five or six military vessels in his direct vicinity. Sighing slightly, he pulled his personal identification card and slipped it into one of the receptacles on the communications console. Yes - the Colonel had already transmitted the vessel's security codes, which were of course nearly as good as they got. Still, if it were Revan running security in the system at present, he damn sure wouldn't have trusted a simple IFF transponder. "Transmit my personal clearance codes immediately. You won't be able to fly directly to the palace." Revan turned his head to the co-pilot. "Get up."

After the co-pilot, a Major in the RSF, vacated his seat, Revan settled in behind the controls. Briefly, he adjusted his position for optimal view and ease of movement. He punched in a number of buttons on the MFD in front of his left knee, activating a flight profile that was anything other than what was normally authorized. "Have you done a complete sensor scan?"

"Shields are activated around the Palace sir."

"What about the planetary shields?"

"No reading sir. Either they've been upgraded beyond the capabilities of our sensors..." Not likely... "...or they're not activated."

Revan pushed the shuttle's throttles all the way to the stops and began flying a trajectory that would cause them to re-enter the atmosphere somewhere over the Industrial District. "Transmit the codes just before we hit the interface point. Better safe than sorry."

The Colonel nodded his head as he pulled up a graphical display of the shield's outer limit on one of the MFDs in front of him. Admittedly, this entire process would have been different in another spacecraft. Designed under the Imperial Republic's black budget, it certainly had a number of updates and features that weren't...normal. Then again - they very well could be by now. Revan would have to look into another update soon...it had been a good ten years since the last.
---------------------------------
Several Minutes Later

As the shuttle emerged from the communications blackout zone during re-entry, Revan banked the shuttle sharply to the right. Almost on cue...the Colonel in the pilot seat remarked, "What in the...are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Revan took his eyes off the horizon only long enough to bring up a similar display on the MFD in front of his right knee. "Yeah...can't say I'm surprised though."

"They'll never be able to get through."

"I'm sure they know that, the military isn't stupid."

The Colonel smirked slightly. "Oh? I seem to remember you saying that they we---"

Revan cut off the remainder of the man's comment by compressing his windpipes with the force. "Do you want to make it back home to your family alive?" Revan released his invisible grasp of the man's throat. "Take the controls, we need to touch down just forward of any arriving Army forces...and in their direct line of sight."

The Colonel wanted to ask if that was an intelligent decision given the state of readiness everyone was in. Some trigger-happy soldier could very well decide to just start loosing rounds in anger right? It was an unfortunate side-effect of RSF Officers not having a great deal of...practical...military experience. One of the things Revan seriously needed to change. Quickly, the Colonel piloted the shuttle around the far side of the palace at high speed. Utilizing a steep-angle flare, he was able to bring the shuttle to a slow crawl and then a hover in a matter of seconds.

After the vessel had nestled softly onto the concrete ground outside the palace, Revan Centurion swiftly descended the loading ramp. His green-lined, black overcoat lifted slightly as exhaust from the idling shuttle continue to pour into the area. With measured steps, he walked forward. If someone wanted to shoot at him, they could. Not as if it would have made much of a difference. Unless they all decided to start shooting...in which case this would be a very short operation...

[Kaidlen Shan]

Three hours earlier.............
Kaidlen Shan was preparing to crawl into bed. She was in her suite within the Royal Palace, a place she only used when she was on call to the Prince. Wearing nothing but a pair of black sleep shorts and a loose fitting black tanktop, it was easy to tell that the Lieutenant Colonel wasn't human. The stripes that were visible on her face were also obvious on the rest of her body, crossing her arms and legs. Just before she turned off the light, the lithe woman double checked that the silver cylinder that she wore concealed within her uniform rested in it's nitch on her headboard. Curling up under the covers, Kaidlen drifted off to sleep.

The sleeping Colonel twitched in her sleep, dreaming. Her short, white hair contrasting against the black pillowcase on which her head rested. Her eyelids fluttered rapidly for a moment, before snapping open to reveal glowing green eyes. DANGER! The silver cylinder shot into Kaidlen's hand with a snap-hiss noise as the catlike woman leaped upwards just before a blaster bolt slammed into the spot where she had just been sleeping a moment before. With a hiss, the Colonel swung the ultraviolet colored blade around in front of her, knocking back two more bolts fired her way. The two shots flew back the direction they originally came from, knocking back a member of the Royal Guard.
"Frag it, she's awake!" A voice called out a warning. "Watch OUT!"
But it was too late. Kaidlen spun around, kicking with her bare foot, extending her toe claws as she swung. The sound of material ripping could be heard as the guard that the Colonel kicked at barely managed to back away in time. The kick did what she intended though, it distracted the one guard. The nearly invisible blade made connection, cutting the guard in two.
As she was bringing her blade around, Kaidlen mentally reached out and pulled a heavy blaster pistol into her hand from where it rested in it's holster hanging on the wall. As soon as it hit her hand, the Colonel started firing off shots at the guard who had yelled out. The first couple of shots were absorbed by the armor, however as the bolts kept hitting the same spot, it was not long before the other guard dropped to the floor. Without even pausing, the ultraviolet blade slashed at the neck, seperating the head from the shoulders. She deactivated the weapon in her hand after that.
Turning on her light, Kaidlen examined the remains of the two guards. She did not know either of them, which was a bit of a suprise to her. Shan knew practically all the members of the Royal Guard staff, since she had to work with them on several occasions. Her examination was quickly ended when noises sounded in another part of her suite. Not good. Moving quickly, Kaidlen pulled on some of her armor before grabbing up a kit bag that she kept ready. Opening it, she dropped the blaster into it and pulled out a comlink. She activated it and tried to see if contact could be established. Nothing. Dropping it back into the bag, the Lieutenant Colonel moved to the back of her bedroom, near the entrance to the refresher. She pressed against a spot in the wall, one that the Prince himself had shown her years ago when he assigned this set of rooms to her, opening a hidden entrance into a secret passage. She moved into it, and sealed the entrance behind her.
Moving quickly Kaidlen followed the passage route that she had been shown, hoping to find someone she could trust at the other end.

[Koru Tav]

Koru was deep in thought. Koru withdrew from the crowd to a wall, leaned onto the wall, and crossed his arms. He kept careful watch on all that happened in the room. He shut his eyes tightly then opened them trying to get a grasp on the situation as he replayed the series of events through his head. The Royal Guard had betrayed everyone. Some people that were closest to the Prince had betrayed some of the deepest secrets. Who though, in their right mind, would do this? The long term effect would be bad Koru figured. It didn't make any sense. To Koru it didn't add up.

It couldn't of been a simple assasination. It was too well planned, too well thought out in advance. You couldn't plan something of that caliber without a matermind. That lead Koru to another set of questions Who is the mastermind? Who's pulling the strings? Koru looked down to his hip and made a quick smirk When am I going to get some more ammunition for my blaster?! Koru looked back to the prince and watched. He seems to be pretty calm after what's happened although I bet he's having the same thoughts I am. Then again he is a Force user...

Koru mind drifted to his father and step-sister I hope they don't get involved in this. Koru grimaced slightly as several scenes replayed in his head of the attack on his colony 17 years earlier. I wouldn't want what happened 17 years ago to happen again...

After letting out a sigh he looked towards the crowd and noticed Dana staring at him for a split second then turning her eyes away. He figured she didn't trust him quite yet. He understood why...Royal guard=untrustworthy. Wish this was over Koru then looked to the ceiling trying to look through then shook his head. No...this isn't over by a long shot

[Khyron Overmind]

Grand Admiral OVERMIND relaxed his grip on his blaster as the men in front of him identified themselves. Sensing no treachery from them, he finally holstered his blaster. He had not seen Lieutenant General Bodost before, only his pictures in the bulletings he received with the changed in the upper echelons of the IR different bodies.

"General, I am glad you are here. We can use all the help we can muster. We believe that there is an attack on the High Prince and possibly on some other members of the Royal Family. So far, everything points out to a treacherous act by the Royal Guards. Yes, I know it is hard to believe, but the evidence from the security cameras in the Palace shows it that way. Also, the shields of the Palace are up and communications are jammed. We have not found the location of the jamming, but we have found what we believe is a secondary control room for the Palace and we intend to get there immediately. We also need to track down the High Prince and make sure he is alright."

(OOC: Sorry for the delay, but I was out of town. Catching up now)

[Kaidlen Shan]

Kaidlen moved swiftly and silently through the dimly lit passageway, her bare feet not making any sounds as she went. She briefly wished that she had had more time to pull on more than just her chest armor, it was on the cool side within the corridor. Still, she should have the chance to do so, once she reached safety. She decided to head for the one hidden bunker, figuring that Prince Stratus would be heading there first. The Colonel knew that she needed to roundezvous with him as soon as she possibly could. He would need her skills in whatever mess was taking place.
DANGER!
Shan ducked into a shadow filled doorway, pressing her back against the wall. Two Royal Guards swiftly moved passed her, coming from the direction of the bunker. Kaidlen swore to herself, silently. She couldn't go there after all. Once the two Guards were out of sight and earshot, the Colonel started down the passageway she had ducked into. While she moved down it, she reached out with her senses trying to determine where the Prince was. Sanctuary......... was the feeling she got. She paused, briefly, recalling the time she had been there. Kaidlen then returned to moving. There was no way that she could make her way there. The Colonel had only been there once, and she did not know the way there from the Palace. Oh well. She would figure something out.