- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
As the Tempest lies patiently outside the asteriod base now being torn to shreds from the inside, another massive presence manifests itself in a burst of light comparable to the explosion of a neutron star... a sleek, black vessel with dimensions that almost seem to shift against the shillouette of space, yet remain massive to the observer. The automated systems aboard the Tempest detect nothing; not a shadow nor trace of ionic signature, gravitic displacement, or slipspace wake follow the shadow as it edges itself within striking distance of the behemoth.
As the battle rages within the confines of the dank mines and lower quarters of the asteroid, something shifts in the air; barely noticable, yet almost unnerving, like the sudden pure chill that preceeds the coming of a blizzard... or an avalanche. In the time taken to flip a switch, all light and sound fades to the opposing forces; dims, contracts and condenses into a single point as their gaze is drawn to an expanding light in the center of the room they only moments ago filled with weapons fire. Yet now, all space and time seemed to focus itself into this one point, this conception of brilliance and fiery destruction. From the widening portal, a shillouetted figure stepped forth, erect and mirroring the flame from whence he emerged only in his eyes... those deadly, piercing stars that engulfed onlookers with their righteous wrath. As soon as he took his final step through the gateway, it collapsed behind him, leaving all in darkness –alone, with only his dreadful eyes to shine forth upon the judged.– When he spoke, not so much did his voice emanate from his figure as the very space about them all seemed to resonate with his sonorous command:
You threaten the balance I was sent to preserve. You have been condemned to judgement without mercy until that balance is restored. However, you will be given one warning, and this is to you all.
He glanced about the room, and all he gazed upon recoiled helpless from his sight.
There will always be strife, always war, always death. These things you can never seek to overcome. It is the attempt to surmount these things that brings about imbalance of life itself. The things that consist in life worth living are worth pain, war, and death. Without these, there is no growth, no peace past superficiality. None are perfect, but all may be perfected. So in the wake of this lesson, learn from this and discover what you may do not through destruction, but through preservation; the only just reason to fight. I will be watching.
With that, he extended forth his hand, revealing the hilt of a sword, ornately crafted, yet without a blade. Suddenly, a light so pure and searing burst forth from the hilt that all turned away from its intensity. A shockwave emanated from the hilt, obliterating everything in its path. The battle droids flew back into their own ranks, nothing more than charred husks.
In the depths of space outside, the waiting shadow forged an orb of light, suspended between itself and the Tempest. It grew until it reached the approximate size of a neutron star, and then, without warning, lurched forward with a blast from the darkened ship into the behemoth. Upon contact with the hull, the star did not lose momentum, but incinerated all in it's path, cleaving the ship in two. It began to degenerate, grow unstable, and as it reached the central portion of the craft, it began to supernova into a firestorm of molten plasma. The resulting destruction ravaged the Tempest's hull like flechette projectiles fired from an 8-guage shotgun through tissue paper. Once all had settled, nothing remained of the "guardian," save a flickering backup memory chip within the scorched bridge of the now-derilect monster of a starship. All was turned dim and cold once more, and the remaining survivors (everyone save RR) beheld the one trace left upon the scorched station to identify the destruction: the initials CMD, marked by an unblackened portion of the floor beneath which the figure once stood.
And somewhere in the abyss of space, the Celer Manus Dei lurched forth once again into slipspace, away from the carnage of it's making. Such is Retribution.