Ask Geonosis Skeletons of the Past

[Kaldar]

Per my OP template, thread is death enabled​

Kaldar walked the sands of Geonosis in his Sith armor and was thankful for the temperature control it offered him on this scorching and unpleasant planet.

At the end of his last mission with Frejya, they had made a deal: knowledge for services. It was a classic Sith arrangement, really, and one that Kaldar was more than happy to make use of for this particular operation.

Rumors had reached his ears of some stirring on Geonosis. Old-era battle droids and commando droids had been "popping up" in criminal activity in nearby systems. The planet had been sterilized by the Empire and there was virtually no life left here. Kaldar reached out and felt the empty void that was this planet. In many ways even more than Korriban.

He took a deep breath and waited under the large outcropping under which he had parked his ship. No point in making his ship exposed to visibility from above if he didn't have to.

He lightly flexed his fingers within his gloves, his mind racing through the potential here. He could feel it like a tremor in the Force, and he was... excited. More than he had expected.

 

[Freyja]

Freyja absolutely couldn't deny that the wastelands of Geonosis had a real vibe upon them. The devastated, dreary lands seemed hostile, yet what lingered in the air was a certain intoxicating presence that kept her intrigued.

She didn't even know exactly what Kaldar wanted her to do here, but she remembered the deal they had recently sealed well. Her acolyte armor concealed her weapons well, yet the layers of fabric annoyed her, and depending on her task, she considered making some modifications.

While insectoids thrived in the planet's hot and arid climate, Freyja found it at least quite exhausting and after she had managed to hire a driver that brought her closer to the rendezvous point, what she still had to do was cover the rest of the distance via foot.

She constantly made sure she wasn't followed, but as she finally descended the slope that would lead her to where Kaldar was waiting, she was already done with the climate. Maybe the wastelands weren't so cool after all...but a deal was a deal. "Hey", she greeted him a quick, respectful incline of her head before she pulled out a bottle of water she kept stored in her backpack.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Good, you made it, he said, as she drew closer and greeted him.

We'll need to secure the area first before any training, he said. I assume you brought your lightsaber, though. No point in being subtle here, he said, which was probably obvious enough based on his own attire.

Long story short, I think someone's reactivated some of the droid foundries here, and I want them, he said. It was a classic Sith move, really.

There's also some rumors about portable BX producers, which I want to verify and recover if possible, he said. Taking over the entire foundry to start producing his own battle droids: useful. Taking over a portable factory that he could move to anywhere in the galaxy: priceless.

So battle droids and potentially someone else inside, he said with a shrug. Scouting was part of the mission and so was target elimination.

Preferably scouting first, make a plan, execute, he said. He was fully prepared for this to devolve, and he expected she should be as well.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

As she saw him in the same armor he had worn on Dromund Kaas, she knew at least a few things about this job. "I have", she confirmed as she asked for her saber before she freed herself of one layer of the robe she had wrapped around herself.

There was not even the slightest breeze in the air, so actual comfort didn't set in, but she felt at least somewhat more mobile. "Where does that intel come from? Like...how reliable is that source?", she wanted to know, however already figured he wouldn't disclose a lot, just like last time. She still needed some kind of security, if he had to offer anything in that regard. After all, perhaps they'd be encountering something major and potentially deadly.

"Sounds straightforward enough though...". She wondered where such specific rumors came from, but after all, he was a mysterious, apperently many faced man. She had learned that by now for sure. "The scumbag who had dropped me off hadn't seem to know anything", which was at least good, she figured, and she had thoroughly checked that out.

"I'm ready whenever you are", she added after a moment as she glanced up at him, hoping they'd get out of the sun at some point. Whatever laid ahead of them, she was ready, but scouting throughly first seemed like a solid plan.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Good, he said as she pulled out her lightsaber. It would make lightsaber training far more difficult if she didn't have a lightsaber with her. Plus, you know, the killing and all that.

Not very, he said, once again surprisingly straightforward about the ambiguity of their situation in many situations. There's definitely CIS-era droids active in the region and there's definitely records of portable droid factories. Whether this is where they're at... is a logical extrapolation, he said with a shrug. But the Force told him he was on the right track, so this was where he had come.

His head turned as she mentioned the "guy who dropped her off" here. He supposed she was an Acolyte, so he shouldn't have been surprised, but still.

You hitchhiked here? he asked, closing his eyes behind his helmet. Okay, well, hopefully that twit isn't going to come back and cause problems, he thought to himself.

Alright, yeah, we've got work to do. We'll walk and talk, he said, heading along the under ridge of the outcropping he had landed under and up a steep ridge. His thought process was that if someone was out here, maybe they'd have a ship outside... although he found it unlikely. They were more likely to be "parked" underground.

Tell me what you know about lightsaber combat: if anything, he said.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

"Hmm...fair", it wasn't a lot, but it was better than nothing, she figured. Whether they'd be overrun by a droid army, remained to be seen, but she wasn't overly thrilled about the prospects as she definitely prefered animate opponents. "Do you have much expertise in fighting droids?", she asked, knowing that she lacked some experience in that regard.

"I had no choice", she bluntly stated as he didn't seem very pleased about her commute. "I didn't have a choice...I can't drive", she wasn't embarrassed, but it was surely an inconvenience every now and then. "Don't worry, I've made sure he isn't coming after me. He'll never find me anyway. I've walked for quite a while and I had even worn something different".

The man was thinking she was on a journey to self discovery and that in her culture, long desert walks were normal, and frankly speaking, he hadn't seem very interested. He had wanted his payment, and she had analyzed him carefully while she had made the whole shit up. The light robes she had worn over her current attire she had buried in the sand.

"Well...I've stuck to other weapons most of my life, so I don't know a lot about lightsabers, but ever since I've met my old master, he taught me some basics, I guess. I can defend myself against basic strikes and...stab? I feel like against other wielders of similar weapons I could still learn a lot...I'm lacking the right, precise techniques", she had seen how he had carefully maneuvered his lightsaber and she was hoping he could teach her a bit. "Have you always fought with your lightsaber?".

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

He just shrugged as she asked about his experience fighting droids. Not really, but at least when you were using a lightsaber, the techniques weren't that different. If you were using other weapons... well, that was a different story.

Oh for... he sighed as she said that she couldn't drive. How old are you? he asked. A moment later he just waved his hand in a "whatever" motion. It didn't really matter at this point. She was here, she could kill, she was another pair of hands and Force powers. They could sort out - or in Kaldar's case not sort out - her driving skills later.

If the man came back, they'd kill him. Hopefully that wouldn't happen.

He listened to her talk about the other weapons she had used, and he decided she gave serious "Sith Warrior" vibes. Most of the acolytes were still trying to find their actual place within the Order, and in many cases, the Masters were trying to sort out who had a tendency for what. Fortunately for Kaldar, he didn't have to actually worry about it.

Most of what she said boiled down to having next to no skills with a lightsaber, which was... well, he wasn't going to solve that in a day.

I was trained in it since I was a kid. It's just... an expected skill, he said. He wasn't a great lover of the lightsaber like some others, but he did recognize its power and utility.

I can at least run you through some basics, but it'll take a lot of practice and work outside of that to actually become... capable, he said.

 

[Freyja]

As he suddenly asked for her age, she couldn't help but chuckle as how he thought it was a question of age that prevented her from gaining experience. "I'm off age, don't you worry about that. I've grown up far off vehicles though, so that was simply never on my agenda", she shrugged before she checked what laid ahead of them again.

As he told her he had trained for decades, she wasn't really surprised. The way he guided his crimson bladed had simply seemed experienced, as she had found his skills impressive for sure, but she was truly curious about how much he'd manage to teach her in whatever time they'd have for that.

"I might include that in my daily routines to get better", she throw him a curt smile even when he didn't seem really optimistic right now. "You seem very thrilled...I'm looking forward to it still". For now, they couldn't wave around their lightsabers as they had work to do first, but the closer they drew to their target, there more she felt the Force pulsating.

"Why aren't you actively training an acolyte, by the way?", she couldn't help but ask after a moment, simply because she was curious for the answer. Was he training one and she simply didn't know? Somehow it didn't strike her as if that was the case...and hemdidnt seem to be as involved in the order as other Sith in general, but he seemed wise enough, so she wondered why, if not, he didn't.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

I'm just setting expectations, he said. He had no idea what kind of expectations she had for their training episode, but there was no way that he could make her a master duelist in a day. Heck, he wasn't even a master duelist. Not really.

Who says I'm not? he asked. That was a loaded question she had asked him, and once again pried into areas he wasn't willing to talk about. The more people asked him questions about his business, the less inclined he was to answer them.

They continued to trace along the underside of the spire until they finally reached a recess into one of the rocks, covered in an uneven, stony surface. He ran a finger along it and recognized it for what it was: a door.

Start at that side, I'll start at this one, he said, pulling out his lightsaber and plunging it into one side of the door and beginning to slowly carve through the surface until they "met" halfway through and the core of the door fell inward.

A deep, dark hallway awaited them and deep within, he could hear the hissing and slamming of hydraulics that betrayed that something down here was still awake and active.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

She threw him a quick glance even if she understood what he meant. Obviously, a quick training session wouldn't help turning her into a dueling master, but as Azar wasn't proficient with lightsaber, she was sure the additonal expertise would come in handy at some point.

The question about having an acolyte was something he evaded just like that again. It seemed like Freyja's naturally inquisitive nature was once again colliding with the mysterious man who was still preferring to keep most details out. "Well...you didn't strike me as having an acolyte, but I guess maybe I'm wrong", even if she didn't think so, instead of letting frustration take over, she took it with some more humor and so a slight smirk tugged at her lips as they continued.

They didn't continue on much further before they reached a rather suspiciously looking rocky surface that seemed relatively suspicious to the two of them. She nodded before she took one last glance around and then plunged her lightsaber into the door.

It was much faster with them working simultaneously, yet the heat their lightsabers produced while melting the metal away in sync was quite unpleasant. She had to avert her gaze until they got close and soon the door plopped inside, leaving a metal clanging echoing through the dark corridors.

"So much for subtle scouting..", she whispered sarcastically before she hopped in, her lightsaber shedding enough light to illuminate a part of the path ahead of them. So far, the corridor seemed empty, so perhaps they hadn't been heard to far after all, but she pressed on carefully.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar winced at the clanging sound of the door as it fell in. He should have kept hold of it with the Force, and internally cursed himself for being so stupid. He paused and counted in his head, waiting to see if anyone responded, but no one seemed to arrive.

Oookay, then, he muttered to himself as he stepped through the door, letting her go first and sliding in after. The hiss-pound of heavy machinery could be heard, and they crept down the hall as Kaldar held up his own saber to beat back the darkness.

Eventually, their path came to a massive, expansive room. Most parts of it weren't active anymore, but others very much were. They were pumping out pieces of droids in mass quantity. Conveyor belts crisscrossed the whole room and Kaldar just... stood there for a moment.

Well, kriff, he said with a laugh. He was half expecting to be wrong about this place, but now that he was here seeing it with his own eyes it was... staggering and impressive. He wanted to just stand there for a moment and take it in.

Guess I wasn't wrong. Now we just need to find who's running this show and avoid all the battle droids I assume they've woken up, he said.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

As the silence wasn't followed by anything in particular, they moved on through the dark. Freyja hadn't grown up with a lot of tech around, but her time with the Sith and covert ops had taught her how to watch out for signs of surveillance, but for the moment, she couldn't even spot cameras.

Assuming the factory was or at least had been somewhat deserted, it made sense that there wasn't much hustle and bustle - after all, why would they have guards posed of they wanted to keep the lowest profile possible? But a total absence of anyone didn't make sense...she was fully on her guard and a little suspicious already, simply expecting a fight at some point as they pushed forward.

They soon reached the production hall from what she could tell and her mouth literally flapped open as she stared at the conveyor belts in subtle shock. Those were...quite some machines and the amounts of droids that were produced every hour was most certainly immense.

"That's...unbelievable", and nothing she had ever seen before, so she was somewhat speechless for a moment. "Yeah...sure", the truth was, that she wanted to avoid meeting said droids, but they had to find clues somehow.

"Up there...looks like those rooms are overseeing parts of the facilities. I guess we could try to find a way up and see whether there's anything that might help us figure this out?", she suggested, visibly tense with this situation. Without knowing what to expect, she definitely felt less prepared and was thus somewhat more concerned.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

You're not wrong, he said. Kaldar couldn't help but agree with her. It was a spectacular sight. He followed her gaze up to the "office" above that had a light on in it and he nodded.

Looks like as good a place to start as any, he agreed as his gaze started tracing over the area to try to see anywhere that would offer a good handhold for climbing up. He spotted a piece of metal that looked... a little questionable (7/20), but decided to go for it, bracing himself in the Force in case it gave way and he ended up falling.

He grabbed it with his hand and braced himself, but nothing happened (16/20) so he began his ascent, scaling along the outside wall until he reached a small bridge that extended across to the "office" area.

He glanced down to check on Freyja's ascent but didn't move, keeping still and quiet, watching the conveyor belts as they moved. He could sense the presence of other life forms here, though precisely where he couldn't tell, and... well, he couldn't tell how many there were either, but it didn't seem like many.

He spotted a small amount of movement in the office, but didn't move in directly. He still wanted to get a better view of who else was here before they made their assault.

We need more of a look around. And maybe a better view, he said, not too worried about the sound being heard over the raucous clanging of the machinery.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

While she found the discovery rather shocking, it seemed like he was mostly satisfied about how his intel had been right after all. She followed after him, turning her lightsaber off for a moment while she reached out with the Force and scanned for hostile presence, but while there was surely something, nothing was very close yet and also, it was nearly impossible to assess what they were dealing with for now.

The hisses, thuds, clanks and pounds seemed rather steady, yet every now and then the irregular sounds that simply stuck out made her flinch ever so slightly. As he started climbing up, she almost held her breath, not expecting him to fall, but expecting the metal to give in and thus giving them away, but as he was up, she figured that hearing anything above the productions' sound background was near impossible anyway.

She jumped up after him and pulled herself up right away, her features already focused even if she missed the initial movement inside the office. Frankly speaking, she didn't like any of this right now, and her hand immediately slid back to her lightsaber's hilt as she pressed on with a nod.

Once they'd round the corner, they'd be met with a relatively dim lit walk way that would lead them around the office's viewport-less side. They'd both sense some movement inside, but whether or not rounding the next corner that would surely lead them to more windows and potentially the entrance, she'd leave to him.

'Three inside, feels...animate to me. You figure we could simply try knocking them out from here?', she'd telepathically ask, assuming they hadn't noticed them just yet and figuring that not raising any attention was their best bet. 'We could see whether interrogations would get us anywhere?'. She doubted those inside expected a mental assault, so simply robbing them of their consciousness was something they could surely try.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar considered what she said about taking people captive and... well, maybe it was a fine idea.

Two kills, one alive, he said. He wasn't interested in leaving survivors from this expedition. He wanted all loose ends tied off, and as soon as they had ripped what they needed from the other man's mind, he would be killed too.

He wasn't sure how well it would work from a distance, but it was worth a shot, he supposed.

As the more senior of the two Sith, he took on the responsibility of attacking two people while she dealt with the other.

He counted down on his fingers 3... 2... 1... and then made his "move." In this case, his move was to wrap the Force around one man's neck and squeeze hard enough until he could metaphorically feel the man's trachea collapse before moving on to plunge into the mind of the next man, beginning to rifle through it for the information they needed while Freyja finished off the other man.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

During their last mission she had already learned that he was no fan of hostages, but here, he had a point: they only needed one alive for intel, yet in her eyes, quickly questioning the three of them would have potentially promised more results. What if they killed the ones that had the most?

It was his call though after all, so while she took a mental note, she didn't object. "Very well then", she whispered, her voice lowered while she expected her job was to kill at least one. As he didn't move, she focused her mind and reached out with the Force while she watched him attentively.

On his mark, she tightened her grip around the one remaining guy, both hands extended and applying enough pressure to snap that man's neck in the next few seconds before his body collapses with a thud she perceived through the Force. She grimaced slightly at the momentary strain before she rubbed her temples and expectantly met Kaldar's gaze, hoping he was being successful.

She sensed how he was twisting the victim's mind and found the display of his powers rather mesmerizing. Perhaps instead of lightsabers, she'd bargain for such mind tricks instead. She knew basics of minor mental manipulations like swaying and creating small illusions, but she had always been rather fascinated by actual mind tricks.

Before he'd manage to answer, they'd both perceive some rather loud metal clanging in the background before an eerie silence followed. Wide eyed, she studied the direction from where the sounds had emerged before one hand slid to her lightsaber's hilt for the moment.

@Phoenix

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar heard the sound of the clanging, and although he didn't know what it was, he knew what it was. It had to be droids coming their way.

Kriff, keep them off of me, he said, hoping that she could do that and trying to pull part of his mind back to defend himself if necessary. After all, he didn't fully trust anyone.

As he tried to finish out his work, slipping behind some cover at least, Freyja would see a pair of BX-commando droids swing down from the rafters above them like monkeys, firing their blasters in rapid succession at Freyja and seemingly - thankfully - mostly preoccupied with her rather than Kaldar.

Unfortunately, that meant two semi-rapid-firing droids were both unloading on the young Acolyte with lethal intent.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

Freyja's eyes widened, but her lightsaber immediately snapped into action as she moved in front of Kaldar, her eyes attentively scanning their surroundings before the droids fully swarmed out. Freyja was surprised by their sheer size, having expected something smaller, but it mattered little as they began firing right away.

Her lightsaber followed the bolts that started zooming in while she clearly sensed Kaldar was working still. Gritting her teeth, her left hand moved out behind the right that guided the saber and she was coiling the Force around the first droid before she violently yanked it off its halt on the rafters and into the second.

The result was that both droids collided with a loud bang before they dropped down, the sheer force of their heavy impact not only making them loose their Blasters, but beaten up the legs so badly that they were an entangled metal mess for a moment. For the moment, they were incapacitated enough and she was quite happy with her work, so that the adrenaline was joined by a wave of thrill that washed over her.

"You've got it?", she asked, still rather hectically as she threw a quick glance back to where he was crouching in cover. She wasn't thrilled to find out how those metal giants were in melee combat, so she was hoping he'd find something about the manager of this production already.

@Phoenix

Roll: 15

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar finished extracting what he needed from the man's mind, and... actually, it was surprisingly good news. There were two others who were currently off-world, but the whole operation had been started up and put underway by just a couple of relatively clever guys. He could respect that and almost regretted killing them.

Almost.

As Freyja finished slamming her way through the pair of droids, Kaldar leapt to his feet again, moving quickly down the bridge and into the control room where he began throwing switches and reprogramming the droids.

Or at least trying to.

As it turned out, it wasn't going very well. Slicing wasn't Kaldar's specialty so he decided to divert his attention to something else.

There should be a... um... a mobile droid factory around here, he said, trying to pull up a picture quickly and finding one to show to her.

See if you see anything like that around here, he said, pointing to it. Their position gave them a fairly good vantage point as Kaldar tried to find a way to shut down the droids that were now... waking up.

The man - who he fortunately had not killed yet - was still drooling into the ground after Kaldar scrambled his brain a bit, and he went back to work - this time physically - to get him to comply.

Wake up, he said, and smacked the guy across the face to try to wake him up.

@LadyRen

 

[Freyja]

Freyja was still fully tensed up and her mind was reeling from the rather uncanny encounter with those tall metal monsters. They were worse than any beast...they didn't even have a mind to mess with nor blood to spill, so she was just hoping there weren't more.

As Kaldar began moving, she followed the man with her lightsaber still ignited and her gaze attentively flicking all around while a whole orchestra of mechanical sounds and metal clanging echoed through the production hall. That wasn't good, was it? Chewing the inside of her cheeks, she studied the layout of this place carefully in case she needed to make use of their surroundings before Kaldar already called towards her.

So he was just after that mobile thing here, huh? Meeting his gaze, she nodded, before she briefly studied the picture he provided. It was rather hard to miss, she figured, yet she wasn't too thrilled about being stuck in here for another while. Freyja did as he bid and started looking, however, for a moment there was nothing.

The drooling worker Kaldar had messed with was not actually responsive either before a squad of droids suddenly came rushing in. "Uhhm...might need a hand first!", she called back while her lightsaber was already up, deflecting the first blaster bolts while she already knew this would end in melee this time.

The first droid drew a vibro sword of some sort before engaging while the trio behind it was already close to closing in on them, apperently intending the storm the control room with lethal intent. As Freyja bet the first with her lightsaber, she wondered whether they had sprung from such a mobile factory, but it seemed like they'd be delayed a little.

@Phoenix

Roll: 2...