Open A Journey Home....

[Jhaa Fott]

OPEN: TO EMPIRE AND MANDOLORIAN
Space: Near Tatooine

The console beeped at Jhaa expectantly, trying to tell her that she was close to approaching the coordinates inputted at the beginning of her journey. She had spent the remaining leg of the trip thinking about her life, pondering if she had chosen the right path.

She checked the position of the ship relative to the coordinates and figured out she had a couple of hours to go; she thought to herself, “If those damned bounty hunters gave me bad information, there would be hell to pay.” At the same time, gripping the blaster pistol strapped across her chest in a harness for easy access. The heavy Mandalorian Armor made quick movements difficult, so ease of access to weapons was a priority.

The previous owner of the YT-1000 freighter or, as Jhaa called it, “A bunch of bolts.” was won after a hand of pazaak with a smuggler in the outer-rim. She detested the game but found it was the only reliable way to get information or New Republic credits, but the smuggler was out of both.

She couldn’t complain after acquiring the freighter, although it was worn and had blaster scorchers that served as reminders of previous battles, none that Jhaa would ever know the story of; she did find a cache of New Republic credits, enough to repair the damage fully and have enough left over to survive the trip back to the core worlds.

Jhaa rose from the pilot seat, the leather creaking under her weight, and walked to the transponder to verify the programming before commencing the trip to transmit both Mandalorian and Empire codes, hoping to rejoin and infiltrate a clan or await her next mission when she would come across what was left of the Empire. Either way, she would find a way to progress the Empire’s goals one way or another.

The transponder beacon was nestled in one of the smuggler's holds used by the previous owner; as she lifted the plates within the hull, the pungent smell of cramped soldiers in previous missions hit Jhaa. Holding her breath, she stepped down and pressed a few buttons on the device to confirm that both codes were working and rotating on a 5-minute delay.

She returned to the cockpit just in time to slow down and re-enter real space. She sat down and pulled back on the throttle, gradually decelerating the ship until the stars once again became stationary.

In front of her was a familiar site, a barren, desert planet with two suns, one she had thought she had left behind in her youth. A visible disgust flashed past while exclaiming, “Dank Farrik.”

 

[Kerimitch Deratii]

Kerimitch waited in the back of the ship, waiting expectantly for the lieutenant to come and have them go off the dusty old ship. He held his E-11 medium with care, but also so dearly wanted to use it. If there was one thing that you could figure out about Kerimitch, it’s that you’ll never hear him talking bad about the Empire, in a matter of fact, you could say he was an “Insurgent” to the New Republic. Of course, that’s why he was on this mission. Only Imperial extremists were allowed, as it was a highly dangerous mission.

The ship landed on the desert planet, and while Kerimitch loved the Empire than most other things, he absolutely hated deserts.

Once the landing gear was secure, and the door was opening, Kerimitch decided to step out of his seat, and left the cruiser without a word.

Another IAF soldier came up to him, and began talking to him. “Hey, what’s your name? You seem to be new.” The trooper was obviously a male, and also seemed annoying. Another thing about Kerimitch was that he also hated clueless soldiers in the IAF who were said to be “loyal”. “Shut up.” Kerimitch responded coldly. “We’re on a mission, you bastard.” He said, finishing off what he wanted to say. “Er- okay?” The man said, walking away to another soldier.

The team began spreading out around the ship, and were awaiting orders from the lieutenant. It had now been a few minutes. Kerimitch waited, once again patiently while eyeing the annoying soldier. Something was off about him. But Kerimitch kept his suspicions to himself, staying focused on the task, which, was waiting. How boring.

 

[Rhonwen]

Rhonwen was under cover for this mission and looked the part. Already the loyal agent of the Imperial Security Beurau was armored up with an impressive suit of mandalorian armor to fit her muscular phyisque. Today she was not Clarr'honwe'nuruodo but was instead adopting the identity of Galaar Saxon.

The Munit'kad, a modified glaive blastboat, exited the blue tunnel of hyperspace and boomed back to sublight speed. Outside of the cockpit the armored woman saw two suns and a planet rotate before her. On the dashboard of her ship Rhonwen could read the details of the system they were in, confirming she was near Tatooine.

Intelligence gathered by the ISB agent informed her that Preef Callo was the Daimyo of Tatooine and had Mandalorians on his payroll. Furthermore the warrior culture had a diverse number of members which had all sorts of business in the outer rim. The group of disguised imperial soldiers would not bring attention, at least not immediately. If dung hit the inquisitor saber then Rhonwen would just default to acting the part of the mandalorian and blast her way out of the situation. But the chiss hoped to do more than just harass some locals.

After her ship came in for a landing she would lock the vessel down and make sure it was wipe of any treacherous data in the event someone wanted to try and slice her systems. The S3 integrated droid suite would keep the ship safe after the undercover agent departed. Before she left however she armed herself with an electroripper (collapsed) on her back which she placed alongside her jetpack. A pair of Westar-35 blaster pistols sat holstered on either hip while a DC-17x blaster rifle was securely carried in her hands.

The hot sand moved under her weight as she walked towards the parked YT-1000. Already some of the passengers onboard filed out into the double sunlight of Tatooine. Even with the tinted T visor, Rhonwen found herself blinking a few extra times until her eyes adjusted. The cool interior of her ship was quickly forgotten and replaced by the warm inescapable heat of the desert. At least with the armor on I do not have have to worry about getting sunburned. She thought to herself and approached the heavily armored "leader" of the operation. "Su cuy'gar" Rhonwen had been practicing mando'a extensively in her freetime and did her best accent when saying the traditional mandalorian greeting.

@SilentLeges @Ferol Casto

 

[Kerimitch Deratii]

Kerimitch stood silently and still as he watched the desert without any thoughts. It was so hot. The damn suns wouldn’t stop, would they? He thought, still looking at the empty and unforgiving desert. If there was one place I’d hate to die, He thought, it would be on this bloody planet. He finished the thought silently.

Still waiting upon the lieutenants orders, Kerimitch looked down at his blaster. Oh, how I want to use you. Once he was done studying the blaster for the billionth time, he looked over at the soldier he had spoke to before. Can I shoot that bastard? No, that’s against orders. He thought sadly. He looked back up the desert, and saw something.

“What the fu-.” He thought it could have been a mirage, and rubbed his eyes a few times. “Holy shit.” He banged his helmet once again, staring at the person on what appeared to be Mandolorian armour. This must be a mirage. He thought, still cleaning his goggles. This goddamn desert has done it. He banged his helmet once more and put his googles on. That’s a person. No one would be that damn stupid. He thought, still trying to adjust his eyes. He finally decided to call for a scout to go out. He loosened his blaster.

“UNIDENTIFIED BEING, A CLICK OR SO SOUTH!” He shouted, above the wind. “What the hell?” A soldier shouted, and put his goggles on. “SCRAMBLE UNITS!” Another shouted, and two went off running with their blaster ready, towards the figure.

Well, this got interesting quick. Kerimitch though, watching the figure closely. “Wait a damn second.” He said, noticing an Imperial insignia on the armour. He then adjusted his goggles. Wait, no. Just my eyes again. Or not, the lied before. Whatever this was going to turn out to be was something he liked. He liked action, like most loyalists.

 

[Jhaa Fott]

Grabbing the helmet to protect her from the harsh elements of the desert planet, she stood up and placed the helmet over her head; her eyes quickly adjusted to the digital display and readouts; watching the Imperial troopers deploy in standard formation, she had found the detachment operating on a backwater planet with minimal supplies, while refueling for the next leg of the journey.

Although it gave her away as an Imperial Agent, she smiled at the extra firepower it gave her.

However, Jhaa was not impressed that the trooper commander had deployed on landing; she wanted to maintain the disguise until the very last minute. She noticed the ship landing beside them and the trooper's radio call to scramble units squawking in her earpiece. She thought, “It seems the troopers need a lesson in discipline.”

Jhaa walked to the door just before getting onto the landing ramp and barked an order to the troopers in her comlink, “Stand down, assume a defensive perimeter, do not fire unless ordered to do so.”

After making the communication call, Jhaa began walking towards the planet's surface. Her boots clanked metallically with each step. She stopped at the end of the ramp and scanned the horizon. In the distance, she noticed the outline of Mos Eisley. Satisfied that no one else was coming, she continued her journey to meet the passenger the troopers had broken rank for.

As Jhaa continued her journey, she could feel the heat emanating from the soft sand that was shifting underneath her weight; she winced but knew that she was getting close as the silhouette of the glaive blaster boat got bigger in her field of view as she progressed, dwarfed was another figure wearing Mandalorian Armor with an Imperial emblem on the left-sleeve.

Jhaa stopped short of revealing herself to the passenger, creating some distance to scan for potential threats. She was all too familiar with this tactic. With the arrival of the unknown figure, Jhaa cautiously moved her hand toward her blaster pistol, doing so slowly to avoid drawing unwanted attention. She waited for her visor to adjust to the shadow created by the gunboat to evaluate the potential threat. Jhaa shouted to the passenger, “Friend or Foe.”

@Ferol Casto @Darasuum

 

[Rhonwen]

Are they really my contacts or are they just that stupid? She thought to herself before exiting her ship. She caught sight of the numerous "troopers" taking up defensive positions around the YT-1000 freighter. Rhonwen had parked her ship next to the stolen smuggler vessel she expected to meet her contact in the next few seconds. The chiss was not going to walk a kilometer when she could land adjacent to whom she was here to meet. But it would seem the IAF soldiers were hopped up on something because they were hallucinating something on the horizon.

They aimed their weapons, away from the disguised Chiss and into the distance at the nothing of the desert. This made a scene that definitely was not covert but at least they were not in a town. Rhonwen had half a mind to get back in her ship and leave. This could be reported to the leaders at the Imperial Security Bureau and the problem would correct itself. If their actions were not bad enough they even spoke like karking imperials and seemed to know nothing about the covert nature of the mission.

"Galaar Saxon and you would be wise to stand down, ALL of you." She answered the only one with some sense. Rhonwen was in disguise and had no imperial markings whatsoever. Giving away her identity defeated the purpose of having a disguise.

The moment she saw any indication of the IAF having imperial markings on them she wrenched the blaster from their hands and smashed it across their face. "Get back in that ship and get the kark off this planet. You're done." The muzzle of the weapon was flipped around and trained on the smacked trooper, ready to shoot them dead if they protested or any other trooper.

At least read the karking mission brief. Otherwise your life's going to be brief. She had zero tolerance for that bantha crap. It was all of their lives on the line and more-so it was the entire empire at stake. A peace accord had been made so they were putting all of that at risk if they were going to be idiots. It was better they returned to imperial space and sat on their hands than jeopardize this mission, whatever it was.

@SilentLeges @Ferol Casto

Spoiler: OOC

There seems to be some confusion on where Rhonwen is so I'm just chalking all that up to y'all hallucinating some stuff on the horizon. I hope that's ok since we're all supposed to be on the same team and be under cover (at least that's my impression). This could turn out to be an intergalactic incident depending on where it goes. Happy to discuss on Discord more.

 

[Jhaa Fott]

After hearing the voice of the unknown passenger through the digital filter in my helmet, "Galaar Saxon, and you would be wise to stand down."

My fingers unclenched from the blaster's grip, alongside every muscle in my body, as I remembered it was the catchphrase given to me before leaving Nar Shadaa; using the now free hand, I reached and unclipped the pouch on the belt around my belt and retrieved the comlink and signalled to the troopers "Stand Down."

I returned the comlink and walked to the trooper who had just been smashed in the face with their weapon. I helped them up, removed their helmet, looked into their eyes, and saw that the iris and cornea were bloodshot and diluted. I almost swore
with a fit of rage, I thought to myself, "The goddamn Nerf herder has been using spice; there is going to be hell to pay; I wonder if the entire platoon has been using."

I no longer trusted the platoon. There was an apparent breakdown in discipline. I made a mental note to address it after meeting with the contact. I retrieved the comlink again and signalled for a trooper, "I need a set of irons for a trooper".

After the trooper was clasped in irons and was moved back toward the ship, I spoke again, adding, "If anyone else is found with spice or under the influence, I will personally shoot you and dump your body into space."

I returned the comlink and found my code cylinder with a blue and red cap indicating my rank of lieutenant and affiliation with the Imperial Security Bureau; I wrapped my fingers around it with enough grasp so it wouldn't slip out of my hands. As the sand shifted underneath the combined weight of my body and suit, the code cylinder metallic body reflected the light from the twins, giving off a distinctive reflection that any Imperial would recognise.

Moments later I arrived at my destination, dwarfed by both the shadow and the gunboat, I stood in front of the passenger, who at this point, I was sure it was the contact I was supposed to be meeting. Keeping the cylinder in hand, I removed my helmet with the other, to show that I was not a threat.

I extended the hand with the cylinder while saying softly, "Before I say anything, I want you to verify my identity."

@Ferol Casto @Darasuum

 

[Kerimitch Deratii]

Kerimitch stood watching the lieutenant get talk to the agent, and then finish the conversation off. Ugh. Kerimitch wanted to just get on with the mission. However, as it seemed, was not important at the moment.

Kerimitch walked over to the lieutenant, still thinking of what to say. Once he arrived, he just said what came out of his mouth. “So, uh, what do you want us to do?” He did know that a trooper had been caught while under the influence of spice, which was no surprise, considering how odd most of the platoon was.

Once they arrived, Kerimitch hopped off behind the lieutenant, then grabbed his blaster. He waited, then helped the rest of the platoon get off as well. They waited behind the lieutenant, awaiting instructions. Almost perfectly in formation. Almost.

 

[Jhaa Fott]

Already annoyed by the sheer lack of discipline displayed with the trooper being hopped up on spice, it made the bluntness of the comment worse. My eyes narrowed while tuning out the rest of my senses, thinking about what to say next. After a couple of moments of thinking, I snapped at the trooper, my words laced with poison, "The lack of discipline in your unit has led to our position being given away numerous times; you have done enough; I want you to search every personal space in the ship for signs of spice; if you find nothing, you are to wait in the ship, until we discuss today; I promise you, it won't be pleasant. "

I turned my attention back to the passenger.

@Ferol Casto @Darasuum

 

[Rhonwen]

Rhonwen lowered the trooper's blaster after one of the others came to stun-cuff them. Hearing they were under the influence of an illicit substance made her just disappointed. The intelligence officer wondered if some of the troopers had only joined this mission to try and work out a side deal.

The ISB agent eventually handed off the E-11 to another trooper. She had no need for it and carried plenty of weapons herself. Both of her hands placed on either hip as she watched the drug user be escorted away. Her helmet shook back and forth slowly but otherwise was emotionless. For a moment she wondered if others would react to her counterpart's threat. But none of them seemed to step forward and announce they had partaken in spice.

The agent felt like she was working with a few inexperienced operatives. But there was little she could do about it now. The more obstacles to overcome the greater the glory.

The pink armored warrior took the code cylinder. "Before you leave you may want to hear this." She spoke so that the platoon leader and what seemed to be their commanding officer equally. Kerimitch was not the only one getting told what was what. "When operating in a covert scenario you do not want to carry anything that can identify you as an enemy. If a spy is captured with say, a book of codes and secrets, it doesn't matter what they were wearing." Rhonwen dropped thecylinder in the sand and promptly shot it with one of her blaster pistols. The damage broke it into two smoking shards with more fractured pieces scattering into the sand. "That was evidence. Now it is not. You quite literally gave me the means to verify you are not who you appear to be. If you have anything else that can identify you as an imperial, dispose of it immediately."

She had no idea if the woman she was talking to was a lieutenant, captain or general. She could very well be the daughter of the emperor or the next person in line to inherit the emeryc energy brand but Rhonwen did not care. Their lives were on the line and if any of them were discovered they could reveal information to their enemies whether they wanted to or not. It was what Rhonwen would do but the Hutts had their own terrible methods of torture and imprisonment that were arguably worse than what the empire was capable of.

@SilentLeges @Ferol Casto