Resurgence

The Master

Big Boss hands over the macrobinoculars. Erlkönig gazes through, "A pair of Scorpenek droids. That'll be a tough nut to crack. Colicoids do love their shields."

Big Boss says, "No. I will supercharge an ion spear, disrupting the shields enough to slip through and destroy them with my lightsaber. There's no reason to risk our forces against a machine that powerful when I have mythril armor."

"Is it mythril? Ultima Sigma's is bluish."

"I painted it black. The rifle is mythril too, painted gray so I can't be disarmed by force users."

Erlkönig asks, "If you can make a full set of mythril armor every 7 years or so, who will get the third one?"

"The vault guardians will get the next sets of divine metal, but theirs will be adamantium since I can produce it much faster. The reason I called you in isn't for the droids; it's for the commanders. His voice profile matches an old Imperial Stormtrooper that served with Kane as one of his most senior enlisted men. He won't break to normal interrogation, so I need the advanced interrogation only the Dark Side can achieve."

With Big Boss leading the charge, the Army of the Sun breaks the massive stronghold. Quickly dispatching the Scorpenek droids, Big Boss leads the charge into the garrison while TIE Defenders take out the AT-AT walkers. For the first time, Erlkönig wields all three lightsabers in combat, using the force to conduct their movements while executing martial poses.

Seeing this, Big Boss asks, "The movements... do they help you coordinate your emotion and translate your thoughts into lightsaber techniques you've already practiced?!"

"Yeah!"

"You should try learning some dance poses! They work more or less the same, and it's not like you need to be combat effective if no one gets within melee range anyway! I'm not saying you should neglect your sword training if you ever do find yourself needing it... just saying dance has a lot of emotion you could use too!"

They continue through the base, with Erlkönig switching to his blaster pistol for the narrow hallways, but keeping one lightsaber in hand in case of any surprises. They blast their way into the command center and Erlkönig grips the Stormtrooper commander with the force to stop him from activating a thermal detonator.

Erlkönig, holding him there, says, "Grab that detonator! He's trying to blow himself up! Guess he really does have something important to tell us!"

Big Boss disarms him, and with the base secured, he fastens Stormtrooper Commander Grout to a chair. Attin, a commander of troopers, enters. He reports, "Boss, the helmets have arrived. Duggo wants to work on better armor to protect center mass, including a durasteel cuirass and pauldrons. He wants to know if he has your permission to use that much durasteel if the prototypes work out."

Big Boss agrees, "I want the helmets done first, but once those get mass deployed he can start rolling out prototypes." He looks at Attin, "For mass deployed armor, it doesn't get much better than durasteel. The reserves we found for Beskar can barely supply the Necrotic Clones as it is, even if he was willing to make it for the Regular Army's use. That said, I think the troops are due for a better coating. Can bronzium be made dull so that it doesn't gleam in bright sunlight?"

Attin thinks about it, "I think so. We should at least be able to mix it with something else to knock down the shine, allowing it to act as effective camouflage in most environments. And I think the icon of Ujjval Ravi on the breastplate is long overdue."

"Agreed."

Erlkönig finishes his meditation, "I'm ready. Attin, I'd suggest you head out now... unless you want to see a man shatter."