An Elephant Always Remembers

[Chel Letto]

The scenery outside the view ports on each side of the transport were swallowed by sand circling the ship as it slowly prepare to perch on the sandy terrain. Corruption and greed, two defining features of the modern galaxy a unfortunate trait which had consumed this planet and the local Cragmoloids to the point any petty man with a big wallet can stomp all over this world for the cheap, cheap resources, cheap equipment and most importantly cheap labour, even worse the best kind of cheap, free. As the the public space transport ship finally docked with a whole eight passengers, clearly this planet wasn’t the rits, Letto looked down at his datapad, him and his companions were here on a ever so important mission to free a collection of Cargmoloid slaves forced out of their homes and into the mines of a wealthy trader by the name of Basco Tenent, Basco owned everything within a 500 miles radius of where the ship landed, hi ego was ever present especially since the town they landed in was called Bascotown, subtle.

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As Letto made his way off the shuttle he quickly turned his head to the ground covering his eyes with his hat, the sun was blistering as he looked down he could see heat radiating off the boarding ramp. The Jedi had decided that Letto and the others shouldn’t take Jedi transport to make sure they didn’t blow their cover or get the local authority worried so they were sent from Ilum to Ansion and took a local public shuttle from their to Ankus. The City was quite the urban sprawl with many traders and merchants all around but almost immediately Letto saw part of the problem in a building parallel the space port there was a group Cargmoloids in a ray shielded prison being pawned off to a crowd around them, Letto clenched his fist he knew he had a bigger problem to deal with but he vowed he'd come back for them. Their destination was a mining camp outside of town, the most profitable and longest running camp of Basco’s rumour has it it was also his HQ, Letto had the coordinates to find it and supposedly the Jedi had pre bought the three of them a land speeder in the market at “Big Hon’s Ride Bazaar”, they said it was the cheapest, now it was a matter of finding it…

Basco's Insignia
Letto's Desert Wear (His Poncho)
The Mining Base (Carved out of an old Cargmolid tomb)
@Cameron Foster @Chuck Owens

 

[Chuck Owens]

Deen blinked sand out of his eyes as he stepped off the cruddy transport ship onto the surface of Ankus. A large white shirt draped over his fundamental Jedi kit and most of his face was obscured by the turban he was wearing. The outfit was designed to blend in, as even the slightest hint of Jedi disturbance would get the entire operation shut down. Unfortunately, 6'5" isn't the most inconspicuous height, and Deen felt like a raisin in a bowl of milk. This made him uneasy, even as the familiar heat and aridity reminded him of a distant world many years ago. Of all the planets he had visited since leaving Dantooine, this one made him feel most like he was back at home, except with more egotistic slave owners. 'Bascotown'. It was a joke. Basco Tenent seemed like an evil man and Deen secretly wished they might find him at the Mining Base.

For now, however, Deen's attention was focussed on the task at hand: getting out of sight and onto a land speeder before anybody noticed they weren't just scavengers. The place was packed full of each and every race imaginable and the air was thick with rich smells, both pleasant and foul. Drifting from one corner was Bantha musk, from another was an assortment of spices and yet another, petrol fumes. Not a bad place to start.

Deen picked up his pace in order to catch up to his Kyuzo partner, leaning close and placing a hand on Letto's shoulder. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the morning bustle.

"Hey, Letto is it? We're looking for speeder hire, right?"​

He pointed over to a collection of small, shifty looking garages.

"That has to be a good place to start. I'm Deen, by the way."​

 

[Chel Letto]

Letto graciously awaited his companions as he stood out in front of the shuttle. One of them of whom he had never met asked Letto his name, Letto quickly replied. “Uhh yeah! It’s a pleasure.” Letto was really surprised by the height of the man being quite a bit taller then him even though people always called him super tall. “Yeah something like that, the Jedi have a tendency to never give me enough information about missions so I’m as in the dark as you are even with my trusty datapad.” His companion then pointed in the general directing of a handful of garages. “Yeah that would probably be it. Deen? Hunh, cool name.” Letto put out his hand to shake it.

When Letto looked back he couldn’t believe it Letto didn’t know that Rhonan was on this mission as well, Letto had looked at the mission briefing at least 20 times and never saw him nor did he see him get on the shuttle, he was overjoyed he always enjoyed hanging out with him Letto walked over to him. “You son of a Rankor! You should of told me you were coming!” Letto punched him on the shoulder.

@Chuck Owens @StormWolf

 

[StormWolf]

During the shuttle's descent to the scalding planet surface, Rhonan's icy eyes gazed unblinkingly at the bustling spaceport and dusty bazaars. He had read the mission profile and insisted he come along, whether or not he had formally signed himself off for the task or not. In his mind, it was better that way. Less of a paper trail, no loose ends. Still, there was a stinging pit in Rhonan's stomach that he couldn't ignore. Right hand clenched tight, the Cathar's left roughly rubbed at the slaver's brand on his forearm through the layered handwraps. It was a specter Rhonan had never been able to outrun, so it mocked him now with a painful throbbing. Perhaps this mission was a chance to face those demons, to finally put them down.

Standing and wrapping a tattered cloak as the shuttle landed, he quickly found both his fellow Jedi. Aside from the faint tug he felt from them on the Force, neither cast a particularly slight profile. Rhonan himself was starting to grow over six-foot, and he was the shorter of his two companions. Immediately, Rhonan recognized the familiar sight of Letto, eventually meeting the fellow Jedi's gaze. Letto was no weakling by any stretch, but his hand would have smacked roughly into the cannonball that was Rhonan's deltoid.

"What? And ruin the surprise?" Rhonan chuckled lowly, clapping his old friend on the back as he walked by, pressing towards the loading ramp to survey his surroundings. First, he stopped by the other of his comrades, a new face to the Cathar. Extending a hand to the dusky-skinned human, Rhonan offered the young man as personable smile he could manage, "Rhonan Tor, a pleasure and honor, friend." Should Deen reciprocate the shake, he would find Rhonan's grip to be firm and ironclad.

"I hope you two don't mind me including myself on this. I don't want to say it's personal..." Rhonan paused, his eyes flitting across the slave pens, his hand squeezing on his brand again, "but that would be a lie."
@Chuck Owens @Chel Letto

 

[Chuck Owens]

Deen shook the Kyuzo's hand and promptly shook the Cathar's, eyes widening slightly at the grip.

"What, you guys know each other? Come on already, it's not a social gathering." Deen laughed, half joking.​

A Kyuzo, a Cathar and a Human walk into a garage. Sounds like the start of a bad joke. Deen spoke with the owner and, apart from the occasional splutter and belch of smoke, the speeder suited him just fine. He was always blown away by the vast emptiness of the desert. It seemed to stretch on forever, the dunes curling outwards into infinity. Deen's headgear rippled in the wind and sand kept stinging past his eyes as he whizzed across the dusty plains. Soon, the rocky outcrop bore down on the group and Deen stopped, parking his speeder behind an overbearing boulder. He waited until the others had stopped safely before addressing the group as a whole.

"So, I figured it would be possible to get in and out without raising any sort of alarm." Deen kept his voice low. "All we have to do is distract the sellers and the guards. Imagine I want to buy a good team of Cragmoloids. I know that to get the best of the bunch you need to go straight to the source. I turn up, unhappy about the price and start making a scene. You two go around the back, free the rest of the slaves and then we can take them back to the port. If all goes smoothly, I might get some bruises, but the Cragmoloids will be safe and nobody has to die."​

Deen looked at each of them in turn, eagerly awaiting a response.

 

[Chel Letto]

Letto smiled. “Of course we were clan mates as younglings! Hahah! Well it is good to see you again.” Letto quietly followed the others to the garage staring down at his data pad trying to memorize the path to where they were holding the slaves, by now he knew exactly where they had to go. Getting the speeder was effortless Letto was surpassed the stingy store owner didn’t ask for like a “pickup deposit” or some pudu.

The joinery was long and bleak the desert on this world was pretty void yet Letto would often fell mixed feelings when cross ins the vast expanses for occasionally in view he could see collections of huts, with no movement, no smoke from the chimneys, no life always a cloud of the dark side overcasting the abandoned villages, slavery always hurts, finally they reached the mesa where the Cargmoloids were being held they stopped a little ways away from there behind a rock Letto looked over the rock seeing a beautiful sight, a Cargmoloid temple carved into the sandstone except it wasn’t that anymore, now it was a compound, a place of holy repentance now a prison for those who crafted it, ironic. Letto then grouped back with the others as Deen explained the plan Letto like all of it nodding in agreement to it all. “I like this only two things, you shouldn’t bring your lightsaber they might check you for weapons and if they find that we’re dead. Also you think Rohnan and I should keep a look out for an armoury to see if we could get weapons for the Cargmolids? Just a thought, it’d make it a lot easier getting out.”

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