Darkness of the Shadowlands

[Vayna Akhara]

((OOC : This is a placeholder until Count Vandergruff kicks off the thread with a briefing post. PLEASE don't post anything until he's done so - if you want to join once we're rolling, ask after the initial post, okay? Thanks.))

 

[Count Sam]

A holocorn image of the young Count appeared. He held both his hands behind his back and had his hood down so that it would be clear for his apprentice and her mate to say. They were both aboard a small Serenno transportation ship which the Count provided to them so they could get these missions done. Also the image was projected from a Droid that the Count provided to them as well just for this mission.

"Alright, it won't be so long before you both land now so your mission is a simple search and find mission. You guys are to find some artifacts that were lost in the mud...according to the legend these artifacts were lost aboard a Jedi shuttle that was transporting something to force sensitive wookiees. While I am not sure what those caches hold it is pretty obvious that it has something important and that these artifacts are pretty old and of great important." he said as he took his breath and looked at his student.

"I want you both to find those artifacts and bring them to me so I can commence my researches on Jedi artifact...also be careful since the natives might not be that friendly...farewell!!!" The count's image then disappeared which was a sign for his student and the other guy to go on with the mission.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

Vayna held the little ship steady as they glided down through the atmosphere of Kashyyyk towards the little landing pad. The fact that the planet was within Alliance territory meant that certain ... precautions would have to be taken once they landed. Most importantly, they would have to conceal the fact that they were Sith, unless they intended fighting a running battle with any security at the base plus the local population - in which case they would be lucky to leave alive. No, their nature would have to be as hidden as their mode of transport was - given that Serenno lay within Imperial space, and was under a Count who was Sith, the ID code of the ship had been changed to show an origin of Felucia.

Their own personal papers had also been changed, but there were ways of bypassing customs with or without forged documentation, if one knew how. Of course, one way to help in such deception as to conceal such items as lightsabers, and the dark-haired girl had already dismantled hers and concealed it around her person in small, easily-explainable parts. She'd changed out of her normal black clothing, instead wearing a light suit of armour. She wasn't too used to wearing such things, but it was better than being detected when landing on a hostile world.

She felt a presence move up behind her, and it took all her willpower not to turn to face the newcomer. Leaving your back unguarded was not the Sith way - in fact, taking advantage of someone who left their backs undefended was the Sith Way! But as pilot, she had to keep her eyes fixed ahead, and expect the other Acolyte not to strike. She was still unsure why the other was on the mission - he wasn't one of Montross' students, so why was he there? An agreement between her Master and his? She didn't know; all she could do was hope he wasn't one of those Sith so taken over by the exhilaration of the Dark Side that he would do something stupid just for the blood he could spill.

"Are your preparations made?" she asked the tall, dark Acolyte over her shoulder.

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

Clothed in a sleeveless vest and his lower dress, Walter stood behind the woman as she piloted the spacecraft towards the landing pad; he hesitated a moment and watched as the landing pad moved closer and closer towards the ship.

"Are your preparations made?" She asked him

Preparations were made, he had traded in his normal vibrosword for a temporary dagger concealed in his sleeve. Walter understood the need to hide their intent to possibly harm, and stay well under the radar within alliance territory.

"Yes, I have concealed my weapon. I am ready" Walter spoke with a wary tone, he wasn't wholly sure what to expect with this woman just yet.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

She nodded and turned her attention back to their approach to Kashyyyk. They had just entered the atmosphere and were descending to one of the landing pads at the spaceport. Once they landed, she was expecting a customs team to question them, and possibly search the ship. They wouldn't find anything; the concealed compartments were too well hidden to be found that easily.

Of course, their cover story would account for them being there, even if it also meant contempt from some, possibly hostility; they were going in as specimen collectors for a large biochemical corporation, to collect samples from some of the dangerous species living on the floor of Kashyyyk's forests, the so-called 'Shadowlands'. According to the native Wookiees, the lower you ventured, the more dangerous it got - and the Shadowlands were right at the bottom.

This mission was as much a test as a retrieval mission; could the Acolytes survive down there, or would they fall prey to the dangers they would face? The ship touched down on the landing pad, the engines hissed into silence, the gangway descended - it was time.

She got up from her seat, checked her harness and weapons one last tiem, and strode for the gangway to meet the assembling welcome committee.

 

[Scultr]

Saryn had gotten the message from a mysterious Count, & immediately climbed into his ship, the Blokk. He set a course for Kashyyk, the Wookie homeworld. He had never seen one of those beasts before, but everyone kew about them. He knew they were incredibly strong, and he was a little excited to meet one in battle. He knew his mission didn't call for combat per se, and he wouldn't fight unless necessary, but he hoped it would be necessary. He was to meet two fellow Sith on Kashyyk, and he was given their descriptions and the description of their ship. He landed on a landing pad, concealing his lightsaber in a fold of his hood. He clambered out of the ship, and was immediately accosted by a hulking security guard.

"Where are you comin' from? I need to see some ID. You weren't scheduled to land here," the security guard grunted. Saryn eyed the man cooly, then waved a hand at him. "You've already seen all my papers. Everything checks out." Saryn said, using the Force to control the man's thoughts. The guard nodded. "Move along." The guard turned on his hell and left the Zabrak to his own devices. After wandering the shipyard for a few minutes, he spotted the ship he was looking for. He approached it and patiently waited for the Sith to emerge, leaning against a crate.

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

He stepped to the side as the pilot he had just exchanged words with got up and left the cockpit, they both remained silent as she checked her weaponry and secured her harness. He decided it would probably be best to follow by example, after all he was here to learn, so he patted under his right arm in his sleeve and found his dagger still securely in place by a small device strapped to his arm ready to be dropped down upon command should there be any conflict.

The pilot began to walk down the gangway out onto the planet's surface, once more he said nothing and simply followed her lead; as they made their way down the gangway he eyed, in the distance, a tall Zabrak with tattoos barely visible from his distance across his face and possibly even his arm, although it was hard to tell as his attire covered some of them.

Walter drew his eyes away and faced them forward once more, ready to face the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk, whether it be alone or with company.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

The customs team walked up to them, eyeing them suspiciously. "Two people on a specimen-gathering expedition? Normally they're eight to twelve strong. And you haven't even got wardroids to help you!" The leader of the team stared at Vayna as if trying to see beneath her skin. "Come on, what are you really trying to pull here!"

She met his gaze coolly. "Our ID checks out, as you well know. We've come well-prepared, and there's one more member of the team meeting us here - again, as you've been informed in advance. We have droids for carrying any specimens we recover and bringing them back here under sedation. So please, go ahead and search the ship; the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can start collecting."

The man glared at her whilst his team shifted uncomfortably behind him. The dark-haired Acolyte hadn't used the Force to persuade the man, simply shifted slightly to show the corporate insignia on her shoulder, a reminder that a rich and powerful organisation was backing their expedition - at least apparently - and that there would be questions asked if this spaceport official got too heavy-handed.

The man glared at her one last time and waved his team up the gangway. Vayna waited with all the patience she could muster - which wasn't much - for the customs check to be completed, occasionally glancing across at the tattooed Zabrak from which she could feel the aura of the Dark Side of the Force, hidden but still just detectable. This, she knew, was the third member of the team that she'd mentioned, a fellow Acolyte.

The check finally completed, the customs team left, its leader giving her a warning glare which she ignored. She half-turned to Walter. "Our contact's the Zabrak - go and meet him whilst I unload the transport droids." The reconditioned droids were not really important to the mission, except as part of their cover, but one never knew - they might prove useful at some point.

 

[Scultr]

Saryn Karoth, still leaning casually on a crate, watched as the ship that apparently contained with fellow Acolytes was boarded by customs agents. Outwardly, he showed no signs of of interest in particularly anything, but inwardly, he was on-edge. He knew that Sith were not welcome on this particular planet, and if the two Acolytes aboard the ship weren't careful, their mission would be compromised before it even started.

The customs team filled out of the ship, apparently finding nothing of interest. Saryn pushed himself off of the crate and strode over to the ship, calling out to his two companions.

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

Walter remained silent as the woman he accompanied dealt with the customs team more efficiently than Walter dared to admit he could; once the team was close to finishing the cunning pilot turned to him..

"Our contact's the Zabrak - go and meet him whilst I unload the transport droids."

Walter glanced to the side at the Zabrak he had already assessed, after a curt nod he turned towards the Zabrak that had already begun to approach them, the Acolyte called out and Walter established eye contact to confirm he had heard.

He made his way to the Zabrak and stood within close proximity..

"Greetings, this shouldn't take a moment, I believe she is almost done."

 

[Vayna Akhara]

The droids were heavy and rather ungainly - modified dock operations droids not combat models - but they could provide strength if required, or act as cannon fodder, as appropriate. They had jetpacks, which meant that, though somewhat clumsy in the air, they could be called in to help with ease and respond fairly rapidly. Vayna checked them over, powered them up, and instructed them to go and stand around the landing bay waiting for further orders.

Finally, she had one of the droids bring out their crate of equipment. Repulsorlift belts, weapons designed to look as if they were non-lethal, whilst being the exact opposite, electrobinoculars, poison and plasma grenades camouflaged as stun grenades, grappling spike launchers and secure comlinks -everything they would need to accomplish the mission. The droid set the crate down and froze. The dark-haired girl turned to the third member of the expedition.

"I'm Vayna, this is Walter, and I take it you're Saryn. Now we're through customs, lets' get ourselves equipped and get started - it's morning now, and I 'd like to get as much done as possible before it gets dark."

 

[Scultr]

Saryn Karoth watched the large Feeorin approach him, impatient to begin. At the sound the his companion's voice, he replied, "Greetings. Does she need any help in there? I'm ready to begin." The Iridonian leaned to the left to look around the Feeorin, peering into the ship. He stepped past the Acolyte and walked into the interior of the ship. He glanced around, familiarizing himself with the surroundings briefly before regarding the female in front of him. "Do you have everythinng in order?"

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

Solemnly, Walter looked at both Saryn and Vayna, it seemed everyone was ready to have the mission under-way with Vayna expressing her desire to be finished before nightfall and Saryn eager to have their plans fully prepared.

"We have the droids and the equipment in the crate. Is there anything we need to get out of the storage or will we go right ahead? If so, lead the way Vayna.."

Walter gestured with his right arm with an open palm across the landing pad, from here there was a path along the wooden structures the Wookie's had built into the trees. In the distance there seemed to be some kind of lift operated by a pulley system, Walter could just make it out from where they stood yet he was quite confident it would be able to handle the work load.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

"We've got all we need now." Vayna gave a few commands to the droids, picked her equipment selection from the crate, and looked around for the way off the platform. "We'll leave the droids here on standby - if we have to call them in, they'll hear us and come running, but otherwise, they'll just stand around waiting for orders." She looked where Walter was looking.

"Looks like our way down. Okay, if you're ready let's get moving. We can reassemble our lightsabers once we're past the Wookiees." Fully equipped, the three of them moved away along the wooden walkway to the elevator.

 

[Scultr]

As the three Sith made the long descent down to the forest floor, or the "Shadowlands", as the natives called it, Saryn could not help but be awed at the beauty of the immense trees and varied wildlife. The elevator finally landed on solid ground after what felt like a half hour of constant sinking. Disembarking the elevator the three went a short way into the clearing that surrounnded it. Saryn waited patiently as the two rebuilt their lightsabers.

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

Walter trailed shortly after the Acolyte he had deemed equally as eager as himself to move forward with the mission, he himself had not yet completed the process of constructing a lightsabre and still was equipped with Vibroswords and Daggers and as for today, he removed his dagger from under his sleeve where it had been concealed and attached to his belt, it was roughly 30cm long and had been sharpened just hours prior to embarking on their mission.

Feeling ready and with a strange willingness to do battle beginning to creep over he took a moment to reflect on his lust for battle and how it had begun to grow as of late, slightly troubled by this conflict in his own nature he hoped any battle he engaged in today would serve as a permanent outlet for his growing excitement to do battle.

Hopeless..

Startled, Walter began to take in his surroundings and awaited further orders from Vayna.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

Vayna looked at the other two and noted their eagerness to do battle, Holding her lightsaber in her hand but not yet ignited, she looked around her to see which ways out of the clearing there were. The directions to the shuttle were rather vague, and they would almost certainly have to do some searching to find the wreck, so the sooner they got started, the better.

Leading the way out of the clearing, she slowed, and stared into the shadows ahead; there seemed to be movement there. In fact, now she could hear - she extended her Force senses for the first time, and swung her lightsaber overhead to bisect the kinrath dropping down on top of her as more scuttled down the sides of the wroshyr trees.

She reached out a palm and Force-slammed two together, stunning both, before spinning to remove the legs from another.

 

[Scultr]

"Finally, some action," Saryn said under his breath as he ignited his lightsaber and ran to Vayna's aid. He sliced a kinrath in half, then turned and used Force Lightning on another coming up behind him. He decapitated two more in one slash. The Zabrak moved near the young female, standing back to back with her. Saryn killed several more of the beasts & could hear his two companions doing the same. After the swarm was decimated, Saryn let his lightsaber go out and straightened out of his fighting stance. For now, it seemed, they were alone.

 

[TheAccidentof1994]

He glanced to the side for a few seconds, and turned towards his companions, they were in the middle of a massacre, slaughtering Kinrath left and right. He had only looked away for a moment and the beasts were upon them.. If they could appear here so quickly, then they could appear anywhere in an instant.

He sent out a pulse in the force, a sonar almost, detecting the near-by Kinrath their minds only primitive, their instincts were easy to detect a simple base desire to consume. All he had was a dagger, it's length would require him to move forward and well within the proximity of his enemies, but for the moment there could be no fear, no doubt, or he would certainly make a fatal mistake.

In the distance two kinrath advanced towards him, side-by-side, it was a temporary cooperation if they killed Walter they would surely kill each other for the spoils of the coming fight. He sprinted forward, without hesitation towards the kinrath on the right, he moved his body low, on level with the opposing kinrath, it raised it's pincer high and prepared to strike downwards it's venom would surely end Walter, placing his left hand on the bottom of the daggers hilt and wrapping his right hand rightly around it he moved with a speed and ferocity unmatched by any kinrath. He was the first to strike, and he drove the dagger deep into the throat of his attacker, it made a sickly noise and it sunk deep, the creature frantically drew in oxygen, Walter could hear a whistling noise as the airflow was cut in two by the dagger lodged in the wind pipe.

Quickly he drew the dagger backward and let his first enemy fall to the forest floor, he moved backward with just seconds to spare and the second kinrath's pincer missed striking the ground rather than Walter's leg. He cut down in a side-wards motion cutting the pincer limb in two, and rendering the kinrath defenceless. It moved backward, retreating from the tenacity of the Feeorin in front of him, but even for these primitive creature Walter could find no mercy in his slowly blackening heart, as if by his own instinct, or through some kind of instruction of the dark side, Walter cast his hand in the enemies direction he closed his palm and for a second the kinrath was suspended, as if some invisible shackles had hindered it for only a moment. But a moment was all Walter needed, he plunged the dagger directly into the kinrath's skull and withdrew his dagger with all the intent to resume the battle.

To his side, another kinrath approached, it was small and teeming with the inexperience of youth. Without a word, Walter slew the on-coming creature and it fell with the same limpness as the other two. He set his gaze across the forest floor hoping to find his fellow Acolytes, he knew they would have had no trouble, he could sense it.

 

[Vayna Akhara]

Vayna looked around her with her eyes and with the Force, but if there were any kinrath left from the pack that had attacked them, they'd withdrawn to a safe distance. She deactivated her lightsaber, the red energy blade vanishing, and looked to the right. Though the information was sketchy, there was supposed to be a trail somewhere off through the trees, a trail that led fairly close to their objective. Of course, being a trail, it was entirely possible that predators would be using it as a game trail, laying ambushes along its length for potential prey. Still, it was the quickest way to reach their target.

"Well, that's the welcoming committee dealt with. Let's move out before anything bigger shows up to scavenge the carcasses." She started walking in the direction that the trail was supposed to lie, checking the vegetation, as down here in the Shadowlands, even the plants and mosses could be lethal.