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It had taken several days for the ISR to reach the Outer Rim but once inside the sector Ligris was surprised to see masses of starships being constructed in giant space yards, especially one giant directly ahead of him. Onboard the new Gehenna-Class Destroyer Fallen Star Supreme Commander Max-Kyller was supervising the fitting-out of the massive ship when the three GR-25s signaled the approach of the ISR arriving with Lady Kaliah under control of the dreaded bounty hunter Ligris. “OPEN A CHANNEL TO THAT SHIP”, ordered Kyller, observing the old ISR recovery vessel heading his way from the new shield-reinforced bridge view screen. The three Gretches had dispersed and were replaced by piloted escort Black Ravens from Fallen Star. The Black Raven was the latest Sith short-range fighter built by Graven Industries of Ruhra. Fallen Star’s internal launch bays were filled with one hundred of them. Ligris sensed the Sith were heavily involved in war production and were planning a major assault when his attention was diverted to his communications console which was blinking. Switching it on, he was contacted by Max-Kyller himself, a known veteran of several wars in the Outer Rim. Kyller was not known for being pleasant, however, and gave Ligris several commands, “BOUNTY HUNTER, YOU WILL FOLLOW MY ESCORTS TO AN UNDISCLOSED HAEL MILITARY INSTALLATION. DO NOT VEER FROM THEIR COURSE OR YOU WILL BE FORCED DOWN AND BOARDED BY THE BLACK ARMY. DISOBEDIENCE ON TIRAHNNA IS NOT TOLERATED AND IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH. DO YOU COMPLY?” Ligris was outraged and had the urge to tear this human’s heart out, but he was on Tirahnna and armed Kyries were everywhere. Ligris responded professionally with extreme restraint, “Understood, Supreme Commander.” Max-Kyller despised bounty hunters and ordered that Ligris be met on the ground by a detachment of armed Kyries then brought to Lord Rexor at once along with Lady Kaliah. Lord Rexor and Syrenia were waiting in Hael’s Grand Stadium which was filling to capacity with Sith citizens who wanted to exalt their Dark Master and witness him receive the secret pathway that had eluded their race for two years. Syrenia was also feverishly awaiting Lady Kaliah’s arrival with burning anger and a bit of twisted sexual arousal. The Whill Seer would pay for her humiliation back on that planetoid waste dump, but Syrenia would also derive deviant sexual pleasure from her pain. Syrenia was dressed in a sleek black Sith Vrilya bodysuit that was quite revealing. She also was without her battle helmet and was quite attractive, her gray eyes and long shimmering black hair with platinum streaks attracting the attention of all the Dark Lords. She had a beautiful face made all the more sexier by the three Seer scars that meant she was forbidden to any male except the Dark Master himself. This is what Lord Rexor enjoyed most of Syrenia- when she was filled with lust. Lust for knowledge, lust for power, lust for revenge, or lust for pleasure. Her performance in the Grand Stadium would be incredible tonight. Meanwhile, on a massive Sith military outpost situated in a large valley surrounded by imposing black mountains and black lakes the three Black Ravens were landing along with the ISR. A detachment of armed male Kyries were already waiting and quickly met Ligris on the exit ramp to remove Lady Keliah, still unconscious, from the bounty hunter. Ligris expected to be paid on the spot but instead was led under armed escort onto a Lectro-train that would take him through the mountains and into the inner city where Lord Rexor wanted to meet him personally. "This is not good business" Ligris thought to himself as the humming of the Lectro-train grew louder as it accelerated through dark tunnels leading into the mountains. As the train emerged from each tunnel Ligris became aware of more military activity on the ground. Thousands of troops were drilling and massive war machines were everywhere: Ground Crawlers, Scout Kranes, and other odd wheeled war machines. It was like touring an armaments factory but on a planetary scale- an obsidian paradise of destructive power. High above Hael another vessel was approaching on auto-pilot, almost all of its systems shut down, including life-support. Fallen Star had watched its approach in amazement- a new Centurion Falcon, a YS-13 of unregistered origin. Max-Kyller had a fascination with this sport model and would enjoy one just falling into his lap. He watched it being intercepted by a flight of Black Ravens but could not bring himself to destroy it. It’s course heading was directly for Hael but there were no life signs; in fact, almost the entire ship was shut down according to all preliminary scans. The pilots of the Ravens each requested permission to shoot it down but Max-Kyller relented. What a beauty, I’ll keep her for myself, he thought to himself. The other Sith officers on the bridge couldn’t understand what Kyller was doing. One dared to inquire, “Sir, your orders?” Instead of shouting back a response Kyller merely responded, “Send her to my landing pad in the city, use grapplers but do not damage the ship. Send a ground scanning crew to investigate her and then report back to ME only. Understood?” “Yes Sir“, came the immediate military response. The Falcon was externally boarded by a Sith Gretch which disengaged the auto-pilot after removing a body panel and bypassing the system settings. The lead Raven then used a rear grappling beam to pull the Falcon back to Kyller’s landing pad while the other two Ravens stayed aft to ensure no nasty surprises from the ship. Finally, the Lectro-train pulled into Hael’s Grand Station and from there Ligris, the unconscious Lady Kaliah and the Kyries boarded a private Skyler Airlyter that whisked them up to the Grand Stadium’s landing facilities a short distance away. The Sith gathered round the spectacle of the infamous bounty hunter and the great Whill Seer from Elysia. Tonight, she would be forced to reveal the secret pathway and the vision kept a secret for many years. Frantically the mob pushed forward but the Kyries armed with KA-47 Hailstorm pulse rifles pushed them back as they entered the hall and used a private repulsor lift to bring them up to the sixth level where Lord Rexor was waiting along with Syrenia and all Nine Dark Lords seated behind Lord Rexor’s Levitating Throne on the Great Balcony. The stadium was overcrowded with 100,000 Sith and thousands of holomorphic projection units converged their projections onto a massive rotating floating orb viewer for all to see. The scanning crew had barely made it up the Falcon’s ramp when a huge “thud” sound was heard on Kyller’s landing platform. A group of Kyries went up to investigate and immediately their helmet sensors signaled an alarm of poison gas. Their helmet obturators and ventilators auto-shut while small internal oxygenators switched on. The scanning crew was dead but the Kyries ignored them as they searched the seemingly empty ship. A reading of the pilot’s log reported abandonment of ship after detection of a deadly Trichloriphine gas leak. Scanner readings confirmed this- the ship was contaminated with several leaking cylinders strewn about the cargo hold. The Kyries removed the dead scanning crew, abandoned the ship and reported the news not to Kyller as ordered but to Lord Rexor’s K-LOK. There was something very suspicious about this craft and under safety protocols the ship should be destroyed immediately. The lead Kyrie left the platform with two escorts while two other Kyries stood guard. Hidden in secret cargo compartments in the ceiling of the Falcon were Bo’ and Kailen. They were wearing special emergency life suits and were breathing off oxygenators of their own. The nice thing about Trichloriphine gas is that not only was it deadly but it masked any heat signature from probing scanners. Kailen’s idea had worked, but now it was time to infiltrate the Sith capital and find Kali. Hopefully she was still alive. As Bo’ and Kailen dropped down from the compartments Bo’ complained about the cramped space, “If you’re going to make smuggling your profession you really ought to think about changing these secret compartments…perhaps by moving them under the deck panels for more room.” Kailen stared at Bo’ for a moment and then sarcastically said, “Of course, I’ll complain to the manufacturer- maybe in future models they will become standard!” The noise of their conversation attracted the two Kyrie guards down below who suspected that maybe a sensor alarm had gone off. The sound inside their battle helmets was muffled with the oxygenators on. But no sooner had they re-boarded did Bo’ and Kailen strike. Bo’ and Kailen came up from behind and hit the Kyries visor retractor buttons. Before each of the Kyries could react they were choking to death on the Trichloriphine gas as Bo‘ and Kailen physically held their visors open. One Kyrie reached for a wrist alarm but died before he could hit it. Bo’ and Kailen quickly dragged the bodies into the cargo hold and turned off the leaking Trichloriphine gas cylinders. Kailen then opened a valve on two other cylinders containing unmarked TX-N3 decontaminate. She would turn on the ventilators too once they had stripped the Kyries and gotten into their uniforms and helmets. The two KA-47 Hailstorms would come in handy as well.
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