Ask Dantooine Third Time's the Charm

[Varyn Atrix]

As they had on Denon, the two made a good team. Varyn's hacking, Ailis' blasting and they did manage to narrowly make it out of the cave. Varyn was already reaching out with the Force to turn the speeder's activation switch and leapt in before he finally looked back to see that the Kinrath were unwilling to follow.

He still almost nagged Ailis to get in so that they could just leave and come back, but as the adrenaline slowly started to run its course, he calmed a bit and let out a quiet breath between pursued lips.

Not with me, he said. I have some back on my ship, he said. He supposed they could always come back after regrouping and resting, but it wasn't his crystals that they had missed.

Up to you on how we play this. Your crystals, your call, he said even as he glanced back at the skittering creatures all along the cave's entrance and got unbidden shivers again.

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis turned her head to look at Varyn as she heard the speeder start up, the former Sith already in the driver's seat. There was a brief moment of fear that her earlier suspicion had been correct and now that he had what he came for, he would leave, without her.

That fear did not come to fruition however. Instead he answered her question, leaving the call of going back into the cave now or later up to her. She looked back at the chittering wall of Kinrath that seemed to edge just at the edge of the darkness of the cave. Now that she could see them in the light, she began to wonder what exactly made them tick so to speak. No visible eyes to speak of, which made sense for a darkdwelling... insect?

"I don't think we're gonna have any luck at this moment, unless you feel like fighting through all that." She said as she turned, hooking a thumb back at the cave entrance. She surveyed the pair of kinrath corpses that had made it out of the cave with them, kneeling for a moment to examine one up close.

She had been right, no eyes. She wondered how they navigated the cave system and found their prey. How did they identify each other.

"You wouldn't happen to have medical equipment, maybe some sort of synth lab aboard your ship would you?" She asked as she grabbed the dead kinrath by the neck, careful to avoid the stinger on its neck and started dragging it to the speeder. She raised a hand out towards the other one levitated it with the force to follow her to the back of the speeder where she stuffed both of the corpses into the storage compartment before hopping in the passenger side.

"I say we come back better prepared. You build your sabers, I'll take those two apart and see if I can find something useful." She said, giving him a nod to indicate she was ready to leave. She looked back at the cave for a moment, the gentle hum of the kyber calling out to her still there, even more distant. "Maybe it will make our other job easier too." She said offhand, referencing the tracker beacons they had been assigned to deposit.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn wasn't sad to hear that answer. He would have gone back in but he wasn't very excited about it. In fact, he had a feeling he wouldn't want to go back in later either, but he would.

He'd feel better with his lightsabers.

He waited until they were both inside and started immediately zooming back toward his ship.

I've got some basic medical supplies, yeah. You hit? he asked, now glancing back and wondering if he had missed it amidst the chaos of their escape. More supplies than fit in his medkit but less than you would, of course, have at a medcenter.

Agreed, he said, gunning it back to the ship at speed. Strange corpses stuffed in the back and everything.

Also, you're cleaning that up, he said, shoving a thumb back at the blood and bodies now in the rental speeder.

---​

The trip back to the ship had gone without issue, and Varyn set to work making sure the medical supplies were accessible before heading back to start working on his sabers. It was numerous hours of meditation and tinkering before he would finally emerge from the cargo hold.

Done! he declared joyously as he emerged with two saber hilts on his hips and a wide smile on his face. It felt good not to feel naked anymore.

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis was deep in thought as Varyn started the speeder back to his ship, almost missing his question.

"Hit? Oh. Nah." She said after a moment of confusion, right medical supplies. "Not hit, just want to do a little... autopsy on our friend's back there." She glanced back where Varyn gestured to cleaning up the back before giving hims a sheepish grin.

"Oh yeah... Don't worry, us girls know how to get blood out of almost anything." She said in a joke that usually made most men vaguely uncomfortable. She didn't, but she could figure it out.

------​

While Varyn had set about constructing his sabers, Ailis had commandeered a section of floorspace on his ship, laying down a large tarp to prevent any more mess. She had set about carving up the kinrath, trying to figure out how they worked. Without a full set up and a synth lab, there wasn't a lot she could do. No antivenom for the nasty stuff that dripped out of it's stinger. She did however figure something out.

"Great, me to." She said as she stood up, removing a pair of bloodstained gloves and throwing them onto the dissected remains. There were two small pieces of kinrath that she had set aside outside the tarp that she pointed to as she started to wrap up the carcasses for disposal.

"Those are Kinrath scent glands. I think their similar to sweat glands." She explained, tying up the closed up tarp. "This might be a little bit of an experiment, but I think thats how they identify eachother. Might make an effective camouflage for our second trip into the caves." She said, shrugging after a moment.

"If not, that's where your sabers come in." She said with a grin. She could tell that Varyn was already happier with a pair of lightsabers on his hip and she couldn't wait to have the same. "Let's remember a glowrod this time though."

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn wasn't really sure what Ailis would be doing when he came out, but this was not what he was expecting. On top of a tarp was a somewhat gore-covered mess that turned his happy smiles into frowns of concern. This ship had cost too much money to have blood everywhere, but... well, it seemed to all be on the tarps.

Uh... he started but just bit his tongue, opting instead to listen to the report of the findings.

Wow, sounds weird. I guess that's what I should expect from some spider-mantises, he said. Still, credit where credit was due, the information would be valuable.

Honestly, good find, though. Definitely better to sneak in that try to fight our way through another nest, he said.

Do you have enough of it to cover us both? he asked, having absolutely no idea how this worked.

Glowrods for sure, though lightsabers will help now, too, he added. Suns down, so maybe we head out now? If they're nocturnal then maybe the cave'll be emptier if they've gone out, he added, pausing a moment before plucking one of the saber hilts from his belt and extending it out to her.

You let me borrow a sword, fair's fair I return the favor. Just... don't lose it, he said with a snicker.

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis could tell that something was bothering Varyn about what she reported. She failed to connect the dots about the tarp wrapped mess being the issue though, instead thinking he was just squeamish.

"Yeah I guess it's kind of gross. If i had a full synth lab I could probably whip up some sort of pheromone spray for us instead of carrying around raw glands." She said with a shrug. She considered his question about having enough, looking down at the two lumps of flesh that she had carefully cut out of the kinrath.

"Well... If one of them is good enough for them then that probably means one of them is good enough for each of us." She concluded. Very scientific that was. She looked at him as he offered her a saber, staring at the weapon for a moment as he held it out to her.

"I'll... protect it as if it were my own." She said after a moment's hesitation, grabbing the weapon gingerly from his hand. It was weird having a saber once again, and this one felt so different from the modified training saber she had been wielding for all those years. It didn't seem so... hungry.

"Thanks." She said with a smile after another moment, clipping it to her belt before bagging up the two scent glands and handing one to Varyn. "Not quite a saber but it's all I got." She said before heading out of the ship and into the night.

"If you're right, there will be less of the kinrath in the caves... but the hills could be swarming with them for all we know." The thought gave her a shudder as she thought of the spider-mantises crawling through the tall grass of Dantooine, hunting prey.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn couldn't argue with the one-to-one logic and so he just shrugged. Sounds about right, he said. He wasn't dumb, but he also wasn't a scientist, either. He just went off of his gut and common sense, and this seemed like common sense.

The assurance that it would be guarded was about all he could ask for as he handed it over, but even so it seemed like his partner was a little... wary.

In return, he was given a... gland. Lovely. Still, it was a good thing for them to have. He took it with a plastic bag and stuck it in his belt, unable to avoid his morbid curiosity of looking at it through the bag.

Well, this isn't how I thought things were going to go, he said but finally shrugged.

True, he agreed, but at least they'd be in a speeder for that part of the trip. Ready to get going or need to do anything else first? he asked. Besides grabbing a glowrod.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

"I don't think any of this is how... anyone thought it would go." Ailis replied vaguely as she looked around for a glowrod.

"Got it." She said after she found what she was looking for, raising it up for a moment before clipping it to her belt too. "I think thats everything. Let's get this over with shall we?" She said, ready to get a move on now that the sun had set and the kinrath tunnels were hopefully, hopefully, not crawling with the disgusting creatures.

"How many more of those beacons do you have to place? Or is it more a... find crystals, place beacon kinda deal?" She asked, gesturing to the pack he carried as they exited the ship. Ailis hopped into the side seat of the speeder again, opting to let Varyn drive with his thermals in the dark.

She'd hate to wreck the speeder on a sleeping kath hound or crunch up the front end on a wandering kinrath if she could help it. She probably already owed Varyn whatever the security deposit he had put down on the speeder was on account of all the blood.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

A little of both, he said. I'll probably go looking for a few more caves after this, too, but mostly to make sure we have a steady supply of kyber in the years to come, he said.

As they pressed onward, Varyn sensed... something. It was close, but not too close. As if there was something or someone out here with malicious intent, and even when the Kinrath were defending their nests, he couldn't say there was malicious intent.

Do you feel that? I don't think we're alone out here, he said, though they made it back to the cave without incident. So far, so good.

Just... keep on high guard, he said, though he knew he didn't actually need to say it. As he climbed out of the speeder, he grabbed the saber off his belt and opened the baggie up so that the "scent" would be given off and hopefully cover him up. So far, so good... again.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

"That tracks." Ailis said as she considered why the Empire might need a steady supply of kyber without the Sith around. There seemed to be some sort of pilot for a force user program that didn't involve the Sith, seemingly the reason that any who turned their sabers in were allowed to stay.

Ailis was about to pursue that line of thought further as they approached the caverns when she felt... something. Varyn spoke up about it which meant it wasn't just her. It felt familiar in a way, but malicious.

"Definitely... definitely not alone." She answered back as they pulled up near the entrance of the cave. She gave him a nod as he suggested keeping on a high guard as they got out of the speeder.

"Think it might be a Sith?" She asked. It was such a weird thing to say considering not too long ago they had both considered themselves the same. How quickly things happened sometimes. She opened her own scent baggie and unclipped the borrowed saber as she approached the cave.

The entrance looked much the same, except it seemed almost darker in the night. Pulling the glowrod out, she illuminated the entrance to reveal something that made her glance at Varyn. Several kinrath corpses lay at the entrance, ones that they hadn't killed.

"I don't think we're alone here." She said as she started into the tunnels.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Seems likely, Varyn said. Sure, it could be someone else: a thief or criminal or even an unaligned Force-user, but that seemed less likely. No, something told Varyn that it was a Sith, and being back to fighting Sith was... an odd feeling.

No, it doesn't appear that way, he said, glancing down at the dead body. His lightsaber burst to life in his hand, its orange glow providing its own light in the darkness as well as the form of protection against whoever or whatever might be inside.

The first test of their glands came only moments later. One of the Kinrath seemed to walk by, able to sense them but seeming not to care at all about their presence, carrying on at a brisk pace toward the exit.

An involuntary shiver caused Varyn to spasm a bit as it seemed to crawl over his body. It was somehow almost worse like this than it was when they were actively fighting the things.

He pointed down the opposite tunnel to the one they had taken before and nodded as if to silently say "it was that way, right?"

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis took a deep breath at the thought that they might be facing off against a Sith. While Varyn had plenty of combat experience, she had been relegated to what could be considered the 'back lines' for most of her time as one of them. Now that she wasn't there was a certain apprehension about facing one of their former comrades here in the tunnels.

No time for that.

She exhaled, letting the nerves flow away as she proceeded in. There was a tense moment as a kinrath scuttled past, but her hypothesis about the scent glands had been correct and it ignored them as if it were one of their own.

"It's working for now. I don't expect it to hold up if we were to attack them though, or smash an egg." She whispered, not wanting her voice to travel too far in the tunnels. They reached the intersection where they had split earlier and once again Ailis could hear it.

Like a pair of whispers, singing a gentle lullaby it called to her. She nodded in return to Varyn and led the way, creeping down the tunnel quietly by the dim light of the glowrod. She held Varyn's other saber in her primary hand but left it unlit for now. She could feel something down that way, it felt very... presence-y.

She glanced back at Varyn and gave him a look that said she expected them to be upon whatever or whoever else was down there soon. That look was backed up by the sudden shrieking of Kinrath up ahead, not directed at them as it had been earlier.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn pressed onward, following his partner as they headed down the tunnel, the undeniable scent of the Dark Side growing stronger with each step they took. It was... weird. Varyn had started his life hating the Sith and wanting to destroy them. Then he had joined them and seen that they weren't all the caricatures of evil he'd been told, and now he was back to fighting them again. It was weird.

He had a wave of anxiety deep in his gut, remembering just how he had nearly been killed at Yavin, but he didn't back down, shoving it aside and refusing to think about the "what if" of what was almost certainly going to be a coming battle.

As they continued downward, Varyn finally heard the hissing hum from the other end of the tunnel. Yes, whoever was here knew that they were here as well, and he could just barely make out the faint red glow from around the next corner.

The closer they drew to the hive, the more bodies Varyn could see littering the floor. Whoever this was, they had all but cleared this part of the nest out already.

Come out, little cowardly traitors, he heard a voice hiss from around the corner.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

There it was. The creeping chill of the darkside that seemed to grow every stronger the deeper they went. Kinrath bodies started to litter the ground and the humming song of the kyber... Her kyber, was clearer than ever.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the hive, or what Ailis assumed was the hive. Even around the corner, the red glow of a saber's hum was visible and whoever wielded it was certainly aware of their presence as they called out to the pair. They had turned away from the Sith and were traitors in the eyes of whoever waited for them.

Ailis swallowed her nerves as she looked at Varyn and gave him a nod. She ignited the borrowed saber with a Snap-hiss as she turned the corner, not knowing what to expect. There were two figures, hooded and cloaked, one of them wielding a solid red lightsaber that hummed gently in a deceptive way that belied its hunger for violence. The saber Ailis held, the one that Valyn let her hold, was a dazzling orange color.

"So that's the color of a traitor's saber." The lightsaber wielding Sith hissed. So far neither of them made a move toward's violence. The other cloaked figure behind him was shorter, she assumed an acolyte, apprentice to the Sith before them.

"A traitor to what? An order that broke and ran. Scurry back to your holes Sith." Ailis hissed back, the anger clear and evident in her voice. She knew little of wielding the force but the darkside, so that was the only tool she had for the coming fight. That was okay. She was good at being angry.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

As Varyn heard the comments from the Sith he nearly lost all spinal integrity in that way teenagers do when you tell them that they have to do something they don't want to. Where their eyes roll so hard that their entire head rolls with it.

Ultimately, though, he restrained himself because he knew that this could - or rather would - descend into blows within seconds to minutes. He couldn't afford to not be paying attention.

Surrender your weapons and prepare to be taken into Imperial custody, was the only reply that Varyn gave. He wasn't going to rise to the Sith's taunts. He knew that Dun Moch could be a powerful tool, and he refused to allow himself to be caught off guard by it.

He crossed slowly over, circling like a predator and moving toward the one with the lightsaber without a second's hesitation and leaving Ailis to deal with the acolyte. Maybe she could convince him to surrender. Probably not.

Fat chance. Better yet, my apprentice and I will kill you imposters and he'll bleed your crystals himself, the master said.

To Varyn's surprise, the first person to make a move was the acolyte. Lunging forward with surprising speed, he suddenly produced two weapons somewhere between shorts swords and long daggers, lunging at Ailis in an attempt to dice his opponent to pieces in a quick flurry of blows.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis blinked slightly as Varyn responded as well, his tone cool and level. Clearly the more level headed of the two of them. He moved in towards the lightsaber wielding Sith and Ailis followed his lead, circling the opposite direction to approach the apprentice.

There was something that had been nagging at her. The kinrath bodies at the entrance hadn't been killed by a lightsaber. The acolyte was utterly still as she approached and the Master made his dialogue. It seemed to be some sort of signal, or an okay for violence as the Acolyte surged towards her suddenly.

The lightsaber she held caught the first strike of the blade, parrying it away as she dodged back. A thin gash appeared on her ribs where the tip of the blade parted clothes and flesh alike. She counterattacked, swinging her blade only for the acolyte to dance around it, pivoting to cut at her again.

Ailis dodged it with a quick juke, bringing her face just out of line with the blade as it grazed the air near the tip of her nose. Her own blade came back up, blocking the acolyte's follow up attack on the backswing of her saber as she twisted into the block with her torso, raising her leg and launching a fast kick at his chest.

Her foot connected, planting against his chest and pushing him back roughly. She felt the sting of the blade however as she drew her leg back quickly and blood blossomed across the leg of her pants.

The master of course did not remain still during all this, also launching his own attack against the Imperial. He charged in with a feint before bringing his saber around in a defensive strike, clearly a user of Djem So. His attacks would come fast and powerful as he put his weight into them trying to drive Varyn back, or better yet decapitate him.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn watched the Sith charge in, weighing his movements in the chaos of the battle that would soon be unleashed. It was ironic, Varyn had always thought, that he trained for hours on thousands of hours to become a master of his dueling craft for exchanges that often lasted no more than a few seconds before someone was on the ground. The goal was simply that it wasn't him.

As his opponent came forward, Varyn remained on the defensive, content to be the defender in the exchange, but silently wishing for his other saber. While he favored a single saber against blaster-wielding enemies, he much preferred two blades in duels, but fortunately, Form X was adaptive.

Varyn recognized some of the blows and style as Djem So, and he knew how to counter it. During the days when the Form had been created, Battlemaster Vis had gone into great lengths to describe his preparations for a duel against his Warlord, a physically augmented human with incredible strength the Jedi couldn't match. Varyn leaned back on these same principles now.

Instead of meeting his opponent's strikes blow for blow, he angled his saber so that much of the attack's power flowed off to either side. The goal was simply to survive the onslaught and ultimately find an opening.

The exchange was fast with strikes raining down form multiple directions, but Varyn's blade seemed to always be positioned just perfectly to redirect the energy.

It wasn't until the final strike that something changed. Varyn stepped to the side quickly, and the entirety of the man's weight was thrown off balance as Varyn pivoted to the side and out of the way of the lightsaber strike.

His own blade whipped around in a quick, wrist-driven slash that impacted with the Sith's left thigh. The good thing was that it struck. The bad things was that although it bit into flesh, the duraplast of the man's armor still managed to dampen the blow. Rather than taking the leg off entirely, it simply burned through some muscles to slow him.

Still, it offered Varyn the opportunity to begin pressing the attack for himself.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

The Acolyte stumbled back as Ailis drew her leg back and planted it on the ground. There was a brief moment where she had the advantage and she took it, drawing the pain and anger within her and turning it into fuel for the darkside as she flung her off hand forward to launch the Acolyte back. There was a sickening crunch as the acolyte flew into the stony tunnel wall.

As soon as there was weight on the leg, Ailis felt a sudden surge of pain and weakness as she suddenly collapse. She glanced between the now still lump of an Acolyte and Varyn, who was fighting the Sith.

"Varyn, catch." She shouted as she disengaged the lightsaber and flung it back over to the man so that he could fight at his fullest. She looked back at the downed Acolyte and for good measure, reached out with the force to grasp him by the head, raising it up before driving it back down into the ground several times.

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Atrix]

Varyn reached out his free hand and caught the saber, feeling an almost relief at having it back in hand once again. It burst to life just in time for him to catch a blade from his opponent that almost slammed through Varyn's defense. Only a last second burst of the Force strengthened his arm enough to keep it at bay as his other saber whipped around at high speed.

There was no leg strike this time. The saber burned through at kidney height, cleaving the Sith deeply into flesh as he cried out in pain. Varyn continued carving through and pulling the blade cleanly out the other side, leaving the man to fall in two pieces to the ground.

It was a mercy that Varyn put his saber through the back of the man's head to immediately end him rather than dragging out the inevitable.

He glanced back to see Ailis still beating down the remains of the acolyte, but based on the smeared status of his face and the semi-deformed nature of his skull, Varyn was guessing he was dead.

He saw Ailis almost collapse with each step, though, and he frowned.

You okay? he asked.

@Arcangel

 

[Ailis Drast]

Ailis watched the gruesome scene as Varyn carved up and put down the other Sith, pushing herself up and to her feet. Trying to anyways. The cut leg was bleeding... a lot, and it wouldn't hold her weight worth a damn. She looked over at the dead Acolyte, no pity in her heart. He would have killed her, had been trying to despite his youth.

She remembered those days.

"Little fucker was quick. Sliced my leg." She said as she looked down at the expanding red stain at the back of her calf as she hobbled slightly on her good leg. She looked around for a moment, closing her eyes before working her way over to an egg.

Her fist smashed through the egg's shell, pulverizing whatever lifeform had been growing there. Inside, she found what she was looking for. Pulling her fist out and opening it up, she stared at the pair of glimmering yellow kyber crystals that sat in her palm. Such tiny things, yet she knew they were powerful.

"Let's go. Before the Kinrath smell my blood. We can leave these two for them as a snack." She said through gritted teeth as she started to hobble towards the way they had come. "Don't forget your beacon." She said after a moment, not that Varyn likely needed a reminder.

@Phoenix