The Sniper’s cross-hairs panned the battlefield as he drew a bead on his next target. Exhaling slowly to steady his aim, he depressed the trigger firmly to send a thin bolt of crimson darting through the air. A heartbeat later, a One Sith Soldier’s head crunched and splattered into oblivion.
Breath in. Reload. Next Target. It was a slow process, but Marrek Gunstinson understood his role within Arcona’s military. Though just a Jedi Hunter, he had trained hard and fought even harder to make himself an asset to his Clan. His path was a long one, and it had not come without its share of obstacles. The hardest had been the departure of his master, Montressor, to lead and revitalize Plagueis.
No sooner than the thought had entered his mind, a figure streaked across the battlefield. He had close-cropped blonde hair and wore a full suit of black armor. His saber raised up high in the air as he blocked a deadly blow from a One Sith. Just as the blade descended, he saw a blur of motion from off to the side. Quicker than he could blink through the scope, Marrek saw his Consul, Marick Arconae interpose his lightsaber with the One Sith’s. Montresor did not miss a beat, and capitalized on the assist: driving his own saber into the One Sith’s belly.
Marrek continued to watch as the Quaestor and Consul moved back to back and deflected a series of blaster bolts. Another set of One Sith soldiers pressed in on them, trying to overwhelm the two Equites. Montresor moved with a clockwork efficiency while Marick was simply a flash kinetic movement. For all their tandem, however, Marrek saw a pair of One Sith Assassins materialize from the air, right behind Marick and Montresor. The Assassins were about to strike. Marrek only had one shot. He would have chose between his Master, and his Consul. Duty tore at his conscious.
Instinct took over. Marrek pulled the trigger, and the Assassin behind Marick dropped dead. The sudden crack of skull altered Marick to the danger, and the Arconae quickly flicked his wrist and sent a hidden knife flying into the forehead of the Assassin about to stab Montresor. The two leaders nodded at one another and pressed off back into the throng of battle.
Marrek pulled his eye away from his scope and sighed.
“You did the right thing,” a voice said from above. Marrek frantically scrambled into a hunter’s crouch and reached for his armory saber, but fumbled it. He relaxed when he saw the face of a fellow Shadow Gate member, Timeros Arconae. Despite their previous run-in, the Jedi Hunter knew that the Arconae was not there to harm him.
“You put faith in your master, and you put faith in your Consul. You have proven your loyalty time and again, and even proved me wrong. That does...not happen.” The Elder took a second to let that sink in, then continued. “For your dedication, the Consul has given me permission to elevate you to the rank of Dark Jedi Knight through way of Field Promotion.”
Marrek started to mouth something, but found no words came to him. He almost forgot he was in the middle of battle, but quickly locked his jaw and set his eyes with determination. He dropped to one knee and bowed his head towards the Adept.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Arcona Invicta,” Timeros said, turning his attention back to the battle.
It is a pleasure to be able to have a part in Marrek’s ascension to Dark Jedi Knight, and to have watched him grow from a bright-eyed new recruit to a consistent member of Arcona. Always passionate, he engages his fellow members and really immerses himself in the roleplay side of the Brotherhood. He was a big reason for Arcona experimenting with #arcona_rp, which has been going well in its early stages.
Marrek really stepped it up in the Dark Crusade, however, in the last and final round. With his team counting on a full effort from him- he rose to the occasion without hesitation. Over the course of his Dark Jedi Knight trials, he has been awarded 1 merit award as well as 4 competition awards. He has run one competition, and co-organized and run 2 others including IRC trivia that engaged his fellow members. Marrek has assisted his Clan with a Summit task that involved crunching numbers and updating the Novae and Participation standings for Arcona at the conclusion of Svolten. He has stepped up huge with helping develop his Battleteam by assisting with the Shadow Gate Wikipedia page, as well as updating the DB Nepotism policy as part of an early task for the MAA staff. He has earned a Dark Maven in Combat, a Dark Pundit in both Essentials and Vendetta.
Finally, with a perfect 4/4 int the last and final round of the Crusade, Marrek has now completed 9 competitions. However, his actions on Ziost and his dedication to finish out the Dark Crusade strong show that he has more than made his contribution to the Brotherhood and deserves to sit with his brothers and sisters formally as a Knight of Arcona.
Congratulations, Marrek, and well earned. Keep striving, keep fighting, and it has been an honor serving as your Consul.
Consul of Clan Arcona
Lord Marick Tyris Arconae, 2013-11-27 02:42:56 UTC