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As the fighting wore down, the Republic Forces, lead by the TEF, Finally recieved the complete surrender of the Sullustian defenders.
It wasnt even a tough fight. Total suprise and Strategic cunning won the day.
Now came the time to dig in and orepare to expand outwards into Karah-tos holdings.
Unbeknownst to the Allied Forces, however, the threat that the Republic feared had already been dealt with and from within. The Allies were now fighting a meaningless war. And now they were too far gone to stop it.
((ready.))

"Before anyone had realized it, the knight fell, cloaking the game in darkness..."

Dxun: the largest and most famous of the four moons of Onderon.
Here there be monsters.
Nightmarish in diversity and number, the beasts of the Dxun Jungle were galaxy reknown for their ferocity and size. Only a small outpost of Mandalorians dared to ever set foot on the world with intent to colonize. No one else had the nerve.

Only the Mandalorians would attempt to build a colony on such a vicious world. It fought colonization tooth and nail in every sense of the phrase. Only the Mandalorian Clans could survive and even thrive on this harsh, bloodthirsty and primal world.

Some would argue the Mandalorians probably were right at home with their fellow beasts.
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In the depths of the Jungle, far from the Mandalorian Outpost, an alpha predator stared cautiously at a recently slain carcass.
It looked like an easy meal. But the Zakkeg was understandably warry.
The Armored behemoth had been having troubles of late, which were unusual given that it was the top animal in the food chain. Even the Drexl beasts left a Zakkeg alone, the animals being too large and heavy for the flying reptomammals to bother with.
But for the past few days, food had been unusually scarce in the jungle. To top it off, the Zakkeg had come under assault twice by some unseen pest, one that had attempted twice to pierce its durasteel strength outer shell with burning lights and explosions to no effect. It was ill at ease to say the least.

Actually Cene had tried four times to pierce its hide. The monster didnt even notice the High powered slugthrower, and it completely bypassed the mine field Cene had set.

This was the last chace she had. She waited in silence, hoping the monster would take the bait. It wasnt easy chasing off the animal's source of food. Zakkegs ate almost everything smaller than them. But with the creature very hungery and the only meal within miles being the freshly killed Boma in the clearing, this was the only way she could get close enough to the creature for her final plan of attack.

From her hiding place she listened to the animal's sniffing and growling, felt the slight tremors from the earth as the creature shuffled about.

It was drawing closer.

It was taking the bait.

She waited, gripping her weapon tightly in anticipation of the strike.
She listened intently as the creature dug into the carcass with a crunching of bone and cartiladge.

Now.

With all the force she could muster, she hacked with her Mythosaur Axe, cutting through the cover she had laid over the trench she had dug herself into. The Blade struck the thinner armor of the creature's stomach and pierced it, cutting deep.

The Zakkeg roared in anger and pain.

Cene swiftly jammed a device into the gaping wound and hit her grapnel reel, the device coiling itself back up and swiftly dragging Cene out from under the Zakkeg to the tree she hooked it too.

Clad in her lighter hunting armor, the Mandalorian swiftly detached the cable as the Zakkeg caught sight of the offending attacker. It roared again and prepared to charge as Cene activated a device on her gauntlet with a button press.

There was a wet sounding explosion as the charge went off in the creature's wound.

The Creature stumbled and groaned in pain. Cene raised her Axe and went in for the kill....

Shisstal was keeping light on his feet. Three of Nakara's training droids were attacking him at once. Any mistake could prove disasterous for him. But he had planned for this training. In fact, this wasn't part of Nakara's training at all, for the moment. Nakara's lightsaber training for him had been going hard for a month now. Shisstal believed he had improved greatly. But it would be the final test that showed if he had truly learned enough.
The fight he was currently in was of his own design. While he had what little free time he was given, he had activated three of the training droids. Their orders were simply, attack. They were going somewhat faster than the some of the other droids he had been training against, but Shisstal was holding his own.
The droids attacked ferociously. Shisstal kept moving as he blocked, parried, or dodged each attack. They had been dueling for over ten minutes now. Shisstal's saber was in constant motion in front of him. He knew he needed to end this now. A quick motion and one of the droid's arms was sliced clean off. Before it could attack again, Shisstal stabbed his saber through it's head. The other two attacked. Shisstal jumped back and dueled again with the two droids. Another quick flurry of movement and the legs and head of another droid fell off it's body. The final droid didn't last much longer alone. It was sliced in half. Shisstal deactivated his lightsaber and sat down on a crate. This was almost becoming fun.

Siren was clad in a metal bikini, relaxing along with a few other women in one of the lounges. A few them wear in similar outfits, some slightly more. The main difference however was the fact that Siren had a slave collar on with an attached leash. After the few days of ' torture ' at Calliga's hands, she had been stripped of most of the power she had. However, there was more to it. In the past month, she started to see through Calliga's acts for what they were.

After a few moments of continuing with the various small talk among all the women, a pair of guards entered. " Lady Siren, Lord Calliga requests your presence. Please come with us. " one of them said. Nodding, Siren stood up, letting one of them grab her leash and begin to lead her along, the other following right behind her.

Siren knew it was more than what it appeared. She could tell Calliga had been worried about her ever since that incident long ago. Having no official power anymore rendered her harmless in the eyes of everyone else, however it also made Calliga seem to be simply flaunting his dominance over Thule, hiding that worry and not letting it appear he had any possible weaknesses. He was indeed learning strategic methods.

Despite being a mere slave as far as everyone saw now that Calliga stripped her of her power, she was still his personal plaything, so she was given very close to what treatment she had when she was the official ruler. Anyone who so much as insulted her would be in danger of their new Master's wrath. However, she was not truly without power. She took advantage of her new role to shield herself while secretly pulling strings behind the scenes, such as coordinating defenses for Calliga while he personally went out to deal with anything. Nobody thought of it as too odd for him to give her that authority if he felt it was needed. It wasn't uncommon to see loyalty rewarded very well under Siren's rule, so they didn't question it.

It was the perfect setup. Calliga could run things for Siren and do things she personally couldn't, while she could enjoy all the success. Even though it meant having to serve her master's personal needs whenever he desired, she had no complaints in it. She would be safest this way, the unseen hand working alongside a Sith warrior who acts as the real mastermind. Everything had been going smoothly so far, and her plans were coming to fruition.

Soon, the guard leading Siren stopped at the door to her and Calliga's quarters. " Lord Calliga, as requested, your slave has been brought to serve you. " she said into the intercom. She then turned to Siren. " I feel so naughty holding you by a leash like this. " she said with a giggle.

" Do with me as you wish, Master. " Siren said seductively, letting him lead her to where he wanted her. After he had decided to ' help ' loosen what little she had on, she simply stood still for a moment as it slid off her. She relaxed after being guided into position, with an expression of eagerness. She waited in anticipation for what he was going to do with her.

Over Nar Shaddaa, the bulbous carrier ship of Nakara's floated, keeping a careful watch on the newest stage of Nakara's plans. The usefulness of combat, and of the race, would be it's natural talent that he planned to harvest. It was still about a week away, but the entire galaxy had heard about it through the underground channels. Az'zip was useful in making sure that every hot shot racer and glory-seeking brawler was notified. More than two hundred had RSVPed, but only a few select people would be under the close watch of Nakara's eye. The Taung had discovered his tracking device almost as soon as she had left, but that was exactly what he had expected out of his prized participant. She'd have to be wary of Nakara for his plans to work. She wouldn't ever truely know that he wasn't loyal to the sith, at least, that's what Nakara thought.

But the focus was now onto his 'apprentice'. His attempts on the apprentices' life had begun to start, but it was little more than toying around at the moment. Right now, his apprentice was toying with droids, something which impressed Nakara little. It'd help build reflexes, but without true conditions to worry about, it wouldnt' build any skills at all.

Putting the hydrospanner down, he looked upon his newest robot with great interest. The apprentice would need to worry about getting hit much more now...

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Ritt moved around, relaxing in his bunk. Aurora had been dilligent in picking up the fighter's controls, as well as her training. Ritt had been admittedly lacking in the latter, a horrible fighter himself with his own blades. He guessed that he had probably learned more from her than vice versa, though such self-pity wasn't like him. He hadn't entirely been false though; he had been unusually distracted as of late, perhaps even too concerned. Ritt justified his guardianship through the use of the war, but even of late he had been getting hazed from the rest of the squadron for being too much.

Set in meditation, he had been dead set in becoming more of the master that he should have been. He sprung up and pulled his saber from the hilt, though not actually igniting it. He had been trying to improve his Ataru to a respectible level since Aurora had arrived, and in some ways, was creating a more artsy version of it. The blade would dance more around his body, flipping the blade back and forth in circular motions, aided by the help of making the style more one-handed. Most importantly he had taught himself more amidexderity. He'd improve himself to something worthy of an apprentice.

Now he had to get prepared for the last raid they'd do in Sith space this week before returning to port. After he finished his own kata, that is...

Once again at Calliga's mercy in the ' battle ' of intimacy, Siren surrendered herself to his every whim, openly accepting his every assault, returning a caressing embrace when she could, along with a few moans that would surely be pleasing for him to hear.

After a few moments, she tried to return the pleasure as much as she could. As their passion ravaged over them, Siren made sure to give him as much as he was giving her, so that they could reach euphoria together.

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" Guugh-ugh. " a young padawan said, as he fell face-first into the ground. Nemesis stood over him, saber lowered and aimed at the back of his head, before stepping back. " A Sith will not fight honorably. Never turn your back to an armed opponent you haven't defeated. " she said. The Jedi Master teaching him standing a few meters away, watching.

The near-human had been asked to help teach him with a combat excercise against someone closer to the real thing than his own Master. He faired quite well considering his inexperience, but ultimately wore himself out far too quickly against a superior opponent's relentless attacks. The boy struggled to get up, having barely enough strength left to push himself off the ground.

" That's enough for now. " the Jedi said, coming closer. " Thank you for your assistance. " he said, nodding to Nemesis. The Destroyer deactivated her saber and began walking away. " You need to work on your defense better, youngling. " the Jedi said, walking the other with his padawan, pointing out various points of wisdom.

Passing Saria's garden on her way to her shack, Nemesis stopped for a moment when she noticed Saria was there. " I heard that you might be sent to help recovery efforts for Stryder's forces. " she said. " Maybe. I haven't heard any news of it lately though. How'd training go? " Saria replied. " Same as always. Young brat that gets at least slightly cocky when they think they know my pattern, and screws up enough that they end up overwhelmed beyond what they can hope to handle. I know it's to help them see that error and all, but I prefer the masters themselves. It's almost... boring... " " You're just grumpy because you haven't had to smash someone's face into the wall lately. " Saria responded. " Once a warrior, always a warrior. " Nemesis said. " Except today. Today you're helping me with experimenting on Force-amplifying healing properties in herbs. " " Well, since it's either that or ambling about aimlessly again... "