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Post by Fromikeable on Jul 18, 2019 0:09:44 GMT -5
Vance was sure Nar Shaddaa had been placed under siege before. The moon was too much of an economic powerhouse not to have been targeted at some point in history. The Hutts were too belligerent and, frankly speaking, too stupid to have never been threatened in their home system at least once. Nar Shaddaa was the Coruscant of the Mid Rim; an ecumenopolis rooted in very particular ideals with a giant tactical bullseye on its back.
Maybe that's why the Archeri's invasion had taken the planet by surprise. No one could imagine life without it.
The populace had plenty of time to respond when the Archeri had first been spotted in the system. Nar Shaddaa had been lucky when they'd attacked Nal Hutta first, most of the moon's population able to see the purple Spire hanging over the planet in the sky. It had proved a good warning, the threat coming for them all materializing to many people in that precious month or so. Many people had fled. A few had dug in, the Exchange included. An insane few had tried to run through the Archeri blockade and make it to the besieged planet below.
Most had simply swallowed their fear and pretended that life would go on. Preparation for an invading horde wasn't something most of the ninety billion people on the moon could have afforded.
That had made the Archeri's invasion all the more awful. Vance had seen things on parr with Taris in the last few weeks. People by the millions flocking down streets toward the Cerbozz Pit, some still coherent enough to cry or protest, some too far gone to the purple haze that coated the planet to care any more, and a fair few too weak to make it the entire way. The Archeri themselves had swarmed the surface, prodding and attacking the most fortified locations. The Eye had repelled their initial wave fairly well, but other locations hadn't been so lucky. What little word bounced between different pockets of survivors said that more than a few Hutts had joined the hivemind.
That was just the beginning. Time's on their side.
Peering through his viewfinder, Vance scanned the streets from his vantage point in the skyline. Peering out the broken window of a skyscraper, he looked again at the lines of the partially-attuned as they wandered in strangely-ordered lines, all of them headed toward the same point.
Sighing, he activated his comm. "Mooney, it's V. I'm at the rendezvous." Pausing for a moment, he shuddered lightly as he watched someone come running out of a building in the street below, a knife in one hand, a blaster pistol in another. The survivor did their best to sprint down the street, but Vance could already see their doom chasing them down. As they rounded a corner, an Archeri dropped from above and landed squarely atop them. The screams that followed echoed up high enough to be heard faintly over the comm.
"Avoid the streets." If they were going to scout the pits, they would have to stay as high up as possible.
Maybe that's why the Archeri's invasion had taken the planet by surprise. No one could imagine life without it.
The populace had plenty of time to respond when the Archeri had first been spotted in the system. Nar Shaddaa had been lucky when they'd attacked Nal Hutta first, most of the moon's population able to see the purple Spire hanging over the planet in the sky. It had proved a good warning, the threat coming for them all materializing to many people in that precious month or so. Many people had fled. A few had dug in, the Exchange included. An insane few had tried to run through the Archeri blockade and make it to the besieged planet below.
Most had simply swallowed their fear and pretended that life would go on. Preparation for an invading horde wasn't something most of the ninety billion people on the moon could have afforded.
That had made the Archeri's invasion all the more awful. Vance had seen things on parr with Taris in the last few weeks. People by the millions flocking down streets toward the Cerbozz Pit, some still coherent enough to cry or protest, some too far gone to the purple haze that coated the planet to care any more, and a fair few too weak to make it the entire way. The Archeri themselves had swarmed the surface, prodding and attacking the most fortified locations. The Eye had repelled their initial wave fairly well, but other locations hadn't been so lucky. What little word bounced between different pockets of survivors said that more than a few Hutts had joined the hivemind.
That was just the beginning. Time's on their side.
Peering through his viewfinder, Vance scanned the streets from his vantage point in the skyline. Peering out the broken window of a skyscraper, he looked again at the lines of the partially-attuned as they wandered in strangely-ordered lines, all of them headed toward the same point.
Sighing, he activated his comm. "Mooney, it's V. I'm at the rendezvous." Pausing for a moment, he shuddered lightly as he watched someone come running out of a building in the street below, a knife in one hand, a blaster pistol in another. The survivor did their best to sprint down the street, but Vance could already see their doom chasing them down. As they rounded a corner, an Archeri dropped from above and landed squarely atop them. The screams that followed echoed up high enough to be heard faintly over the comm.
"Avoid the streets." If they were going to scout the pits, they would have to stay as high up as possible.