The Mighty Jungle

[Shax]

Daedalus Ryker was wandering around his compound on Felucia, finishing his inspection of completed repairs to the durasteel wall. Silently he wondered if the wall could withstand an attack from a large animal or walker, but he didn't voice these concerns, he had more pressing matters to attend too.

A cargo ship, loaded with medical supplies had recently crashed on his planet, the ship was his own personal vessel, though no one else knew that. The Medical supplies it carried were welcome with open arms but the true purpose of the freighter was to bring him a data-chip he had recently purchased from some hutts. The Chip itself was loaded with high profile blackmail, and as such it couldn't be allowed to be picked up by a random passerby.

Daedalus would have sent more ships to retrieve the crashed vessel, but it had crashed through the jungle and into a cave, it wasn't visible and there was no where to land, and there was no way he was sending his regiment walking through the Felucian jungles in order to recover the lost cargo. Therefore Daedalus had begun working out how to deal with this situation, he would accompany a small team to attempt to clear the flora enough for ships to land, but there was one hitch, Daedalus knew the dangers the Jungle presented, and he wanted extra protection. He requested support from the Sith, playing to their sense of superiority, it took some time but he had convinced them to send some Sith to help complete the mission. Daedalus was only waiting until they arrived.

@Galad J. Victus

 

[Galad J. Victus]

Galahdrim was itching to get things done.

He had just landed on the lush world, making his way into the local Imperial compound, seeking the local Moff that he was informed about. He did not know the man personally but it was clear there was some sort of serious problem here in the base, so the Sith had sent him off to personally see to it, whatever it may be. Truth be told, Galahdrim had little idea on what this mission would include. He was simply hoping for it to be more than trivial work, and actually involve some killing, danger.

The world known as Felucia was rather alien to him. Coming from an extremly dry, desert habitat, he never had liked much humid and wet places. What actually interested him, however, was something else, he had more sinister designs about the place. Thought of local hunt excited him. Gazing into the jungle as he walked through the corridors, he wondered what kinds of powerful beasts could be found in the undiscovered, vast reaches of the wild Felucian lands. The thrill of the hunt, desperate hint of fear in the eyes of the creature as Galahdrim tored them apart, was most delightful to him. This world had piqued his interest in a very primitive and foul way. He hoped to find more than unworthy weaklings. What he wanted was to meet the kings of the jungle... and dethrone them. That was partly why he took the mission.

Drawn to his own thoughts, he had almost passed by a wider opening. A man, clearly the Moff of Felucia judging by the uniform, was waiting just over there. Galahdrim was a beast of a man, over two meters tall, clad in prestigious, frightening war armors, and a Sith cloak, loosely dropped over his shoulder, reaching all the way to the ground and brushing it as he moved, with a lightsaber attached by the belt, he made his entrance, standing taller over any other nearby. He had come alone. He had no need for company, they would slow him down. Pridefully walking forward, he faced the Moff of Felucia.

"Greetings Commander. Inform me of the matter and we shall quickly see to it."

 

[Shax]

The man was a towering figure, his men gave him a wide berth as he marched his way into camp. He was obviously a Sith, no normal being would wear what this man wore as a fashion choice. He approached Daedalus and spoke without introduction, prompting Daedalus to arch his eyebrow slightly as he regards the significantly larger man.

With an abrupt change in demeanour Daedalus breaks out in a large grin, and slouches slightly, breaking Imperial protocol. "Welcome to Felucia my friend! I believe you know the mission, but it never hurts to be reminded of our goal! But I shall wait until the rest of our companions arrive. If you will follow me I have arranged some transportation that will take us... further into the jungle." Daedalus smiles again, his figure is a facade, he has begun to employ his favourite tactic when meeting new people of power. If he can get the Sith to underestimate him, he won't be seen as a threat, and will therefore not be a target. At least that's what he thought, deceit was at the forefront of his emotions, hiding just under his face was a genuinely smug smile, he enjoyed tricking people like this.

He leads the big man towards what acts as a garage for the compound, filled with all terrain vehicles, speeder bikes and numerous armoured walkers. He Gestures towards one of the larger All terrain vehicles and says "This is the transport we will be taking, unfortunately we cannot fly to our destination, leaving us with little choice but to go as far as we can with this. In the meantime while we wait for our other companion, I invite you to come in for some food and refreshments." Daedalus had no expectation that the Sith would accept his offer, hospitality and Sith were two words that didn't come together often. Nonetheless he moves back towards the main building, not concerned with whether or not the Sith follows him.

@Halixon @Yollm

 

[Halixon]

Vilhu took an instinctive deep breath as she centered her large ship onto the landing platform. She enabled the pneumatic landing gear and set it down. The docking ramp lowered down as she rushed to the cargo bay to move the shipment onto the platform. There was no patience when dealing in Imperial contracts. Moffs and Generals alike wanted their shipments at their doorstep immediately. Vilhu, in particular, was in a rush to get these crates of... whatever the Moff had ordered to his garage. She pushed the hovering cart full of crates to the garage, occasionally asking for directions. After locking the cart into a crane clamp, she sat against it, catching her breath. She then spotted what she recognized as the Moff heading toward the main building.

She stood up and ran over to catch up with him. "Hey, Moff Ryker? Your shipment's here." she said, jacking a thumb in the direction of the cart. "Nowwww.... about my payment?"

 

[Shax]

Daedalus span on his heel at the sudden person appearing in front of him and telling him about a shipment, he wore a face of bewilderment as he tried to remember what it was he had ordered. Until it dawned on him who the woman was and what she had brought him, with a sudden change of expression from confusion to joy, Daedalus laughs maniacally before saying "Vilhu! just the woman I've been looking for, you said my shipment is here? Splendid!"

Daedalus takes brings his arm around her shoulders, slightly pulling her towards the main building as he continues to speak in a voice that is steadily lowering in pitch so fewer people would overhear them "Vilhu in all the years we have spent working together - Daedalus knew it had only been one job - you have never been late on a delivery! And I respect punctuality, that's why as opposed to paying you, I am willing to offer you a job, I'll cover the cost of your ship, fuel repairs, whatever you need. On one condition, when I ask you to do a job, you do the job no questions asked." Daedalus lowers his voice and stares the woman dead in the eyes, no longer were his eyes full of humour, but were instead filled with a deadly seriousness. He hoped the woman would inquire as to why, though he knew it probably was going to be passed over in light of the incredibly generous deal.

 

[Yollm]

[color=#82696F ]I[/color]t wasn't often The Rook was asked to do a job like this one.

Clearing flora? Fighting beasts? Not really her 'deal'.. which is exactly why she was so excited for it. travelling through an unconquered world, slaying beasts and who-knows-what? It was an adventure waiting to happen, and the nervous energy building in the cloaked figures body manifested itself in rapid clicking of the heel of her boot on the metallic floor of the shuttle she'd hitched a ride in as it landed. 'Hitched a ride', as if it were not a vessel specially sent to charter the Marauder to her destination. Semantics. She barely waited for the ship's hatch to open before she ducked under and out of it, into... well, humidity.

Dry heat, she was used to. Korriban was an unforgiving wasteland of heat and death. She loved that place. This was.. stickier. Still, she could hardly stop and complain about something so petty. It was a change of pace, and each change of pace would weave itself into a tapestry of shit that wouldn't kill her because she was used to it. This would be her challenge in conquering mild humidity-based discomfort. Oh, and there were also whatever terrors resided in the jungle proper. Wee. She stepped down onto the platform of the landing pad, then down into the camp proper, escorted by a pair of the Moff's people. Commander Ryker. Not a name she was deeply familiar with, but she'd done some cursory research after her assignment. He was trying to shape this.. lush planet into something usable. Admirable goal. The destroying things would be fun, too. She'd never tried to chop down a tree with her lightsaber before. it felt a little blasphemous to even think about doing to. She chuckled to herself. The guards ignored it.

They led her to the garage, where the Moff had last been seen, and she entered in time to see some sort of.. delivery-cat. And the Moff himself! Excellent. And they were walking off and chatting. Ah, well. It'd be rude to interrupt, wouldn't it? Instead, she turned her attention to the massive Sith that had been sort of abandoned in favor of the delivery-person. This must be the other Marauder she'd been informed about. Friendly smile hidden under her mask, she approached him, reflecting her expression in a bright tone. "You must be here for the gardening assignment, too!"

 

[Halixon]

Vilhu took on a face of confusion and partial discomfort when the Moff put his arm around her shoulders. While having been born on Corellia, and not her species' homeworld, the slight xenophobia -common with most Farghuls- was still a part of her. As the Moff's sarcastic tone turned to a serious, low voice, she twitched her ears to listen closer.

After his proposal, she stopped a minute to eye Ryker up and down. She carefully considered the man's proposition. She often had a soft spot for jobs like this. And coverage of the costs of her ship, repairs and fuel? She could hardly resist. "No questions asked... But may I ask first, what exactly the job is at least?" Her ears twitched at the thought of such a secretive job.

 

[Galad J. Victus]

He quietly walked besides the Moff as they made their way into the hangar area, where all sorts of vehicles and what not were stored. The man besides him went on and on about trivial matters which did little in terms of catching his attention, and when he actually offered Galahdrim "food and refreshments", it took all of his already thin patience not to react in a rather, impolite way.

The man turned to walk away, seemingly off to attend whatever duty he had, after briefly mentioning something along the lines of companions to escort them in the mission. He'd be better off simply given the coordinates and a clear info on the target, then left alone to do what he could do best, problem hunting. And this Moff, was a rather annoying little man, with the manners of a cheap trader, or some cheesy gambler you could run into at any cantina on some Outer Rim world. Which certainly did not sit well with Galahdrim.

He paused upon feeling a nearby force presence. Another Sith had already made entrance into the already crowded scene. He looked over his shoulder to observe the newcomer. A woman, dressed in a similar manner to himself, although she was more along the lines of elegant rather than purely intimidating. His metalish voice coming under the mask was mostly blank, nonchalant in an obvious way.

"Gardening, butchering, slaughtering, all the same to me, woman."

Now the Moff had in his personal little hangar not just one, but two Sith armed from head-to-toe. Nevertheless. He had come to hunt, and that's all he really cared about. His heavy, cracked and devil-ish voice roared across the hangar when he called out to the Moff, who seemed to be simply standing around and chatting to Galahdrim.

"Moff, we are heading out, gather whoever you need and quit wasting time."

Standing around idly bored him which meant that his hands were already itchy, not to mention his temper and ego kicking in, and the manners in which the Moff carried himself with didn't help at all. Things could get stressful for all their companions soon. Needless to say, Galahdrim cared little about that too.

 

[Shax]

Daedalus continued to steer Vihlu towards the main building "Job's, Plural, if you accept my offer it is a permanent arrangement-" He was interrupted by a loud angry voice coming from the garage, He let out laugh in the direction of the hangar and waved his assent, before turning back towards Vihlu angrily grumbling to himself about Sith. "As I was saying, if you accept, this is a permanent arrangement, if I ask you to do a job, you do it unconditionally."

Daedalus regarded the smuggler for a moment, releasing her shoulders by pulling his arm away. With a completely serious tone Daedalus says "Think about it, for now I have a job to do." He turned away, hoping he piqued the smugglers interest, its not common to see two Sith accompany a Moff into a jungle, and the smuggler already knew he could pay well.

Daedalus gave the woman time to think, he moved briskly towards the centre building of the compound, walking through its grey Imperial halls until he gets to his own office. Opening a few safes he retrieves his armour and blasters, he regretted the colour choice of the Shock Trooper Armour and made a mental note to have a new more environmentally friendly suit commissioned. His blaster rifle he attached to his back and then holstered his pistol on his leg, he pulled out a large communications unit and strapped it to the back of his armour just under his rifle, before returning to the main field of his compound walking with purpose towards the Hangar.

 

[Yollm]

"Ah, the strong, stoic, no-nonsense type, huh? Yes, yes, I'd guessed that from your sort of," she pauses, one hand curled under her chin, the other reaching out to motion at his.. well, entire being. She chuckles softly. "Very subtle, man."

Rolling her eyes behind her mask, she idly scanned the hangar, pondering. It was quite the occasion, wasn't it? Sending two Sith to come deal with this issue. Either they themselves wren't thought highly of, or this expedition was important enough to warrant the pair of them coming. She was certainly curious what this little jungle world had in store for them, and she would have continued to ruminate on this were her thoughts now cut across by a harsh, metallic hollering from the larger Sith. Impatient, that was another one she could add to the list. Then again, she could hardly blame him, even she in all of her casual ways was feeling a bit brushed off by the Moff, in favor of what appeared to be a common smuggler. Sure, they were a bit cute, but not enough to dilly-dally for.

"He's sort of a funny little man, isn't he? Try not to ravage the hangar, friend. I'm sure we'll be cut loose to wreck all sorts of havoc shortly."

Where her companion seemed strung taut like a bow ready to fire, The Rook had found herself a nice little perch on top of a nearby vehicle, and was just sort of sitting atop it, waiting, legs crossed hands out in front of her as she telekinetically spun what appeared to be a small children's toy top. She'd glance up at the Moff's return, catching the top in one hand. "Are we finally underway?"

 

[Halixon]

"Permanent...unconditionally..." Vilhu mumbled to herself as the Moff scurried away to the building. She purred thoughtfully, shooting a glance at the impatient, shouting Sith, and the more regal-looking annoyed one beside him. While she often dealt in Imperial space, and on Imperial contracts, she'd never seen a pair of Sith. And definitely not on a casual Moff's compound. She wondered whatever they could be there for.

Vilhu watched the woman Sith hop on top a vehicle, and simply sit there. She saw her spinning some indiscernible object in front of her hands. Her attention turned to the Moff as he came storming out with a sudden change of clothes. He looked somewhat armed to the teeth. Vihlu's eyebrows took on a thoughtful frown. Thoughts raced in her head, What could that armor be for? And concerned thoughts like Is this job going to be dangerous? She glanced at the Rook as she spoke to him. Yep. I'm gonna be working with Sith. She took a deep sigh, and managed a word to the Moff before he walked by. "Alright, I'll do it. -she looked somewhat reluctant, and you could see it in her eyes, but she'd never been offered such a job as this- "I'll commit to this, contract thing of yours. But that's ship payments covered, got it?"

 

[Shax]

Daedalus continued to walk towards the hangar, he passed the smuggler who stated that she agreed with the terms. Daedalus laughed happily and clapped her on the back, before pulling her arm towards the hangar "You have a blaster I hope! of course you do!" Daedalus didn't wait for the woman to answer, there were spares in the vehicle if needed.

They made their way into the Hangar, and Daedalus called out towards the new Sith, "Indeed we are! And welcome to Felucia, forgive me for not greeting you I was distracted. For those of you who don't know, recently a Cargo ship, carrying medical supplies has crashed, now normally I would send my ships to retrieve it, but it appears to have fallen into a hitherto undiscovered cave. So we are going to retrieve whatever we can, and maybe clear the area for scouting." Neglecting to mention his own personal interests in inspecting the crash himself, Daedalus smiled at each of his knew companions, before stepping into the vehicle.

Situating himself in the shotgun seat, next to the driver, Daedalus stored his rifle at his side, waiting for the others to get in. Internally, Daedalus was unhappy, not just because he was wearing his armour which had already become uncomfortable, but because he has to oversee this himself.

 

[Galad J. Victus]

Galahdrim observed as the Moff took off, leaving the garage zone after giving him a sign of approval, possibly making preparations in mind. That was enough to please him.

He eyed the military personnel as they moved hastily about, off to attend their duties here and there, all around the two Sith. No warriors at all. He though to himself. They seemed too fresh and green for his liking. It was kind of a habbit for him, inspecting the soldiers. He could sense their discomfort as they came and went closer to him, especially. That was a good thing. Awe and fear could keep the cannon fodder in line. Fear would make them obey.

Other Marauder's comment about the Moff actually entertained him and he simply ignored the other bits which were full of sarcasm. "Save your jokes for later. There'll be plenty of time." He simply said before turning his attention to the Moff who had just came back. He was actually wearing a trooper armor which entartained him even further. He even managed a cheeky grin under his metal mask. He watched and listened, leaning against a ship next to the other Sith, as the Moff delivered the little speech of his before embarking the transport vehicle. All the fuss he had made to the Order for such a small task? Actually having them sent two Sith Marauders to fool around in the jungle and go after medical supplies sitting in some god-forsaken cave seemed unwise to him. Was this man actually that terrified of the Felucian wilds? Or, there was something else involved. He waited until the others followed the Imperial Moff before fixing his posture with a quick motion. When he talked, his voice was lower than the usual.

"Keep an eye on this man, I don't trust him." He had a momentary pause. He would rather work with a fellow Marauder compared to some officer with unknown interests. "And don't get killed." He meant to see this through without much of a mess. Casuilties in such a seemingly easy task would reflect poorly on him back with the Order. With that, he moved on to the vehicle alongside others and found a comfy seat for himself.

 

[Halixon]

Vilhu strode up into the vehicle behind the tall Sith. She stepped up behind the Moff and put a hand on his shoulder for his attention. "Would you mind if I brought my droid? He's pretty helpful when it comes to any sort of combat or heavy lifting." She asked, shooting a few glances at Galahdrim.

 

[Yollm]

"It's always a good time for jokes," she states, as if it is some sort of sacred law. A Sith testament.

As the Moff finally approached and began his explanation, the rook leaped off of the ship and deposited the toy top back into a shoulder-bag she had brought along with her. It seemed like a pitiful, old thing, and didn't seem to have much in it.. but what was inside did clack against each other when she moved. "Ah, well. All is forgiven, this time. You're certainly a busy man, and all that." It sounded a bit dismissive - and the hand-wave she did in the air only added to that notion. No need in getting upset over something so small. "I suppose it makes sense, wouldn't want your shiny new soldiers to get eaten up by some sort of many-mouthed beast while fetching bandages. I hope at least there we be some interesting things to tangle with."

Noticing the other marauder's hesitation, she too hung back as they walked over to the ship, letting the Moff and the Smuggler - who she noted glanced back at them a couple of times - get ahead. Looking up at her compatriot, she grinned behind her mask, and even went as far as to reach up and pat-pat his arm. "Look at you, you do care. Not to worry, I doubt either of us has made it this long without a certain level of.. caution. If worst comes to worst, we can probably take them, yea?" She says cheerily, voice low. "So let's just have some fun with this."

As Galahdrim slides into the vehicle, she hops in after him, taking a window seat. When everyone would finally be situated, she'd speak up. "We all sort of skipped introductions, didn't we? You all may call me Rook - or the Rook, if you're feeling particularly fanciful."

 

[Shax]

Daedalus nodded his approval for the droid, it could never hurt to have something between him and whatever wanted to kill him. He looked at Vihlu and nodded towards the driver's seat, and began typing something in the vehicle's computer. It was a simple GPS coordinate, letting the driver know where they needed to go. If the Smuggler took the seat then all the better, it would leave Daedalus without blame as he could simply redirect the blame onto the Smuggler or someone else.

The Female Sith was doing introductions, Daedalus distractedly acknowledged her name, knowing full well that he himself didn't need an introduction for these people already knew his name. Silently he waited for the others to finish their own introductions, before speaking in a professional tone of voice "I hope you all know what you have just signed on for, this is Felucia, do not take her lightly." He pulled up a few grisly images on his datapad of fallen soldiers, all dispatched in various ways "We get to deal with some of the most dangerous beings ever to exist" He tapped on the datapad a few times before pulling up a picture of an enormous animal "Rancors, they don't usually travel in packs but I wouldn't let my guard down" He taps a few more buttons, pulling up images of large insectoid creatures, before continuing on to more and more dangerous things. Daedalus passed around the reports to his companions, letting them familiarise themselves with what they will be fighting.

 

[Halixon]

Vihlu nods back at the Moff as she takes a seat. She presses a button on the comlink on her gauntlet. "IG, hurry over here. You're coming along with us on a little expedition.". She then looks at Rook as she introduces herself. She eyed the Sith's outfit, then looked down at her lightsaber. "I am Vihlu Lekiel. I'm a... common trader for the Imperials." she said, with the last part sounding false, if anyone was to listen closely.

Her droid, IG-XX then stepped up into the vehicle. It took a strangely long look at the two Sith, before sitting down beside his owner. "Might I ask where we are going, master?" Vihlu looks at the Moff a moment while he slides through pictures of mauled soldiers and vicious looking beasts. "We're going to retrieve medical supplies from a crashed ship, apparently."

 

[Galad J. Victus]

Receiving a pat on the arm was definitely awkward for him. There was no such thing in the culture he was coming from, and he didn't actually comprehend what it meant at all. Having grown up under harsh conditions in a society completely isolated from everything else, he was used to managing really tough situations others could have difficulty with, but at times he couldn't follow up on the simplest social gesture or remark, and come across as blunt. He just paused until the female Sith was done teasing him. "I can take down anything. And we'll see about the fun part." He said with a strongly pushy tone of voice.

Once they were seated inside the vehicle, he introduced himself after others had finished. His voice made it clear he wasn't all that enthusiastic with the pleasantries. "Call me Galahdrim." He remarked basicly.

When the Moff started with the briefing, he was beginning to take an inteerst. Violently killed soldiers one by one appeared before the squad, all murdered terribly, brutuliazed and mauled. Most partly eaten and left to rot. Work of predators. He didn't have to wonder for too long what the killer looked like. When the image of a fully grown Rancor with all it's spine-chilling look was reflected on the screen, he got excited to meet it. He cared little of the butchered soldiers or to avenge them. Killing such a glorious beast was going to be a worthy prize. Suddenly, the mission had came to be much more motivating for him. "When we come across this beast.. simply stay out of my way." All hunters would hate to have their glory denied to them, and the Marauder was no different. He made it quite clear with this statement.

 

[Yollm]

As everyone settled in, the Rook fiddled idly with the handle of the deadly, deadly blade strapped to her belt - because that was the sort of thing one usually toyed with. bad idea. She dropped her bag onto the floor of the transport, about to reach down to fiddle through it, when she noticed the "trader" looking at her. And then her droid looked at her. For a long time. "Take a holo, it'll last longer," she quips, though she sounds more amused than actually offended. "Well, it is great to meet the two of you. And the droid. And our illustrious commander, of course. Let's all try not to die together, shall we?"

She quieted down as the Moff went into his explanation, and instead leaned forward curiously to peer at the datapad as the images of mangled soldiers flashed across the screen. Definitely something with big teeth, and big claws. Honestly, she'd never really dealt with killing a creature before... but how much harder could it be than destroying a droid or cutting down a person? Well, perhaps a bit harder, considering the evidence this data-pad so blatantly showed. Still, likely not hard enough for two Sith, a droid, and two people with guns to worry too much about. "I've never taken anything lightly, ever, in my life," she said, sounding mildly distracted as she took the passed-out reports, scanning each document for anything of note, or anything in red; things such as DON'T PUT YOUR ARM IN ITS MOUTH, ITS TEETH ARE VERY SHARP and the like.

"Oh, Gal, you can't take all of the fun," she said, tone taking on a mock-pout. "If you're so insistent, though, I'll play back-up. And you three can back up my back up. It is a fool-proof plan, so solid even a Gungan couldn't mess it up." Honestly, she didn't really mind letting the big guy go in and soften a beast like that up, first. Not that she couldn't - probably - handle it, but it could probably fit her whole body in its jaws, and she wasn't into that.

 

[Shax]

Daedalus made sure everyone knew what they were going up against, before putting the datapad back where it came from. He nodded towards Vihlu to get the vehicle going and to simply follow the best path to get to the location. He placed his helmet on his knee and turned to look at the two Sith, regarding them slowly as they spoke about fighting these beasts. He smiled slightly, turning to look towards Galahdrim and asked him "What makes you so sure you could handle a Rancor all on your own?" He asked for two reasons, one because he honestly didn't know the capabilities of the Sith, and two, if he can actually take on a Rancor alone, he wants to know how its done.

Depending on the Sith's answer, Daedalus has two options regarding the Sith as a whole, chalk the order up to an arrogant and powerful cult that he has overestimated for a long time, or regard them as very powerful and real arrogant cult that he should use caution when dealing with. He personally was torn between wanting one or the other option, he wanted them to be powerful to protect him right now, but he didn't want them to be powerful enough to stand in the way of his plans.