CHAPTER XVI: PREPARATIONS FOR WAR

Almost a year had passed since the Stadium Battle and on Tirahnna Lord Rexor received the daily reports from the Sith Heavy Core Industries on the progress being made for war.

Tirahnna had become a global arms center as the Sith raided every Outer Rim world for precious war materials needed for Sith war construction. Everything from Rekurium to Obsidia was stockpiled while the entire populace was put to work in factories that labored without end. Shift after shift rotated as the Sith warrior spirit grew stronger and stronger.

On the ground, hundreds of armored GC-7 Ground Crawlers tested at the various firing ranges while giant fifty foot tall walking reconnaissance scouts called Krane Observers (KO-1) patrolled the military factories. Giant Tactical Rollers, large armored vehicle troop carriers, also rumbled through the streets, the noise of their amalyn combustion engines belching acrid smoke. The sky was filthy with all the war production taking place.

Skyler Airlyters were being turned into military atmospherics, with armed Drop Troopers raining down from the sky, their small field propulsion aero-packs giving them a flight time of ten minutes to a range of thirty-five miles.

The military stables were filled with armed hursas with hired outlaw Death Riders practicing the ancient art of armed cavalry while trained two-headed Dibra Death Hounds accompanied them. Even the Tyrengas were to be loosed on the Whills, their military handlers controlling them with Fire Whips.

Tens of thousands of armed Kyries marched in unison in grand processions for monthly reviews in which the Sith warriors were praised. Most were armed with KA-47 Hailstorms rifles but the new Sith Dark Commandos wore modified Kyrie helmets with nose spinners- rotary micro-pulsers used for special missions.

Syrenia’s mysterious fire blades were to be produced as well, but the Dark Seer refused to reveal the light weapons’ secrets. They were hers alone and she guarded them intensely. They would be used by Syrenia herself when the day came to kill the Whill Seer Lady Kaliah and that cursed JunKar, Boman Braggs.

High above Hael, in the massive floating Bramen space yards more of the mighty Gehenna-Class Destroyers were being constructed; Fallen Star was long finished by now while Night Strike and Black Dawn were fitting out. Deviant Alliance Systems of Hael was busy converting the Airlyters while Graven Industries produced more Black Ravens. Suvoi upgraded the Gretches to a new GR-25N standard which greatly enhanced their sensors, added mini T-Packs, increased the strength of their graviton waves, and improved their mini Rekurium-S reactors for greater speed.  All Sith weapons were upgraded with obsidian hyper-plating.

Lord Rexor smiled along with the Nine Dark Lords supervising the war planning. Five new replacements were Seer-chosen by Syrenia herself, a first in Sith history. 

The Dark Lords traditionally were chosen by secret election in the Sith Temple, by the top one hundred Warlords themselves and with some guidance of the Sith Seers. Once becoming a Dark Lord, their names were changed and were only known amongst themselves. To the Sith populace they simply were the Un-Named and were only addressed in person as “Dark Lord”. Once they died their identities were recorded on the walls of the Great Sith Temple at Val-Hal.

Lord Rexor missed his Dark Mistress.

For almost eight months she had gone to Horath in seclusion to train with Sith fighting master Grindax developing  the new art of fighting with a fire blade. To accomplish this, Syrenia had secretly constructed another Fire Blade for master Grindax, which he was amazed by. She had taken many red blood crystals from the Blood Lake but only the least contaminated were precision cut by her for use in the weapon. Syrenia had also modified her Kyrie combat suit and installed Dark Matter shield generators, upgraded Mag-lock attachments, and a repulser ringed neck binder. Her artificial left hand still gave her problems, but she was right-handed and wielded the fire blade with precision, guiding its path through an inner force that master Grindax did not fully comprehend.

Grindax did, however, know how to fight hand-to-hand and with an array of conventional weapons and tactics. He taught her the secrets of the Whisper Approach, the Tova Serpent Strike, and how to use Revenger Spikes with the skill of a Bothan spy.

Day after day, month after month, Grindax drilled Syrenia and tested her military skills in furious combat with multiple opponents. Syrenia beat them all and her skill with the new fire blade was undisputed. Grindax’s own skill with the fire blade was impressive and yet mechanical compared to Syrenia’s natural wielding of the blade. Grindax had never seen such a vicious Kyrie in all his life.

Syrenia was and IS the greatest Kyrie alive. She has vowed to kill Lady Kaliah down to her very soul. The Sith could kill the Whills, but the Lady Seer was hers alone. Not even the new male Dark Commandos challenged her on this matter. It was her honor alone to revenge… and no Whill knew she was yet alive.

Lord Rexor had sent NW-7 industrial spies to Horath to learn the secrets of the deadly fire blade but all attempts at re-creating Syrenia’s device ended in disaster as the contaminated blood crystals overheated and self-combusted. NW-7 reported that pure red crystals were needed but that none were to be found on Tirahnna. The only other crystal available was embedded in the Sacred Black Stone which could never be touched. NW-7 also did not know if such a “Black Fire” weapon could be created. From this point, Lord Rexor abandoned the idea altogether. Let Syrenia keep her secrets so long as the Whill Seer dies with that weapon.

Inside the Inner Rim military preparations were also taking place over the past year. Queen Serapha had ordered all Royal State Industries to produce war material to fight the Sith. The Whills were devoted to the light of freedom but it came with a price this time. The Sith were bent on killing their race and with it all hope of peace within the galaxy.

The weaker Inner Rims worlds volunteered their assistance but the Whills declined politely. This was a war of Light vs.Darkness and they were the Founders of Light. They would fight for all with every core of their being and the Holy Journal wound forever record their victory.

In the Kryat Shipyards more Sun-Ray Class Ring Ships were completed; the latest, RS Victorya and RS Light Burst. These were in addition to the first Ring Ship crowned RS Majesta by Queen Serapha herself. The giant ships were faster than any Whill starships had even been and possessed massive wave-benders that could blind enemy scanners. Their photon dischargers could cut through obsidian armor and they were not the only advances the Whills had made. A few hundred of the new Blue Diamond Mk.I star fighters filled the space above Jeranu.

On the surface, hundreds of gloss white armored Kugel Ball Rovers were on maneuvers and testing out their photon dischargers while the Queen’s Royal Cavalry made charges with their armored Chromium-plated Mechquin which were more or less mechanical Hursas armed with photon dischargers. Huge Volley Fire Guns (VFGs) stood in the distance, able to launch millions of projectiles over several miles. The Red and Gold Armies, massed with tens of thousands of troops, were training with new and improved Shinar SH-5 assault turbo-pulse rifles while still wielding their traditional deadly Thermion Fighting Staffs.

But the Queen’s Amber Commandos were here pride and 1,000 of them were equipped with the new photon light sabers. These were more powerful than the fire blade described by Lady Kaliah because the Elysian crystals were pure, from the Crystal Lake itself. Tirahnna’s red blood crystals were from the polluted Blood River and were contaminated, prone to self-combustion in some cases as some intelligence reports suggested. The Sith thought they were wise, but could not perfect their own weapon on their own world. Elysia was a crystal paradise and pure crimson crystals were abundant here.

Queen Serapha was confident that their light would triumph as Lady Kaliah had prophesied in her vision. And now that the Queen had decided to wait and allow the Sith to come to them, the Gathering of Twelve approved of the war.

Their Sacred Holochron glowed with intensity as the Seers’ visions cleared and they knew in their hearts who would win. They also knew the Sith could not read their visions because their lust for war and revenge, murder and hate, had clouded their sight. They had total victory ingrained in their hearts and minds so they felt no need for Seers any longer.

Syrenia was their greatest Seer… but was believed dead.

Thus it shall be, the prophecy will be fulfilled…