Ask What the Phrik!?

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Anteevy - Esuain Sector​

Gett'se's feet crunched in the snow as he walked, the trek from the ice flat that served as the settlement's spaceport some distance away. He could have flown on his jetpack, but he didn't mind the walk, it was almost peaceful in a way, softly falling snow drifting down across his vision. It was icily chill outside, but he was warm in the thermal undersuit that he had swapped out his wrist rocket for.

Anteevy was a backwater planet, practically a neighbor to Mandalore. Like most planets in that region of space, their GDP output was low. Which meant they might as well not even exist to the greedy government of the Free Worlds Alliance, a supposed democracy in which wealth made right and rarely ever righted wrongs. Once a colony of Mandalore, Clan Vizsla would return the planet to it's rightful rulers.

They could have come with the might of the Mand'alor's army, conquered the planet with blood and blaster fire. There was an old Vizsla saying however, "Don't skin a Nerf with heavy artillery." Perhaps a very heavy handed and clumsy saying, but it's meaning got across well enough. Why use a hammer when a scalpel would do.

To this end, Gett'se trudged through the snow in his bruised and battered armor, the only new thing about it the thermal undersuit that he had borrowed from the clan armory. A nearly paint free battle scarred breastplate that might have once been blue, covered with the tan poncho he always wore. A vibroknife sheathed at his left breast and a Blackwell rifle hung from his shoulder by a sling, his pistol holstered with it's but forward in a cross draw on his right hip, beskad at his left shoulder. Pouches lined his belt carrying slicing equipment and other tools of his trade, as well as a lightsaber on his belt that he had taken as a trophy on Lothal. A hunter and a warrior of Mandalore.

Turning to look at the warrior who walked with him as the distant smokestack of the settlement came nearer with each step, he stared at her for a moment through his visor before speaking.

"The weather is... Nice. Gett'se started, before cursing himself mentally. He had never been good at conversation. Pursing his lips silently behind his helmet, he stayed awkwardly silent for a moment before speaking again. "I heard a rumor on Lothal."


@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale was in a far worse mood than Gett’se. She wasn’t a fan of the cold, and even with a thermal undersuit she felt chilly. Every now and then she had to wipe her visor off because of the frost and dampness. On top of that, it was impossible to be quiet walking through snow. Every step was a resounding plop that echoed. As usual, she was blasting rock music within her helmet, bobbing her head a bit to the rhythm.

She glanced over at Gett’se and turned down her music when he addressed her. For a moment she simply paused to look at him, “The weather? Really?” She said incredulously, “How do you still suck at this?” Shale continued walking, “Can’t believe you keep bringing me on these ‘discreet’ missions knowing I like the loud ones.”

She looked over the horizon to see the settlement, still unsure about how they were going to go about this. Shale wasn’t exactly a diplomat by any means.

“What rumor? There were many..”

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se was surprised Shale had even heard him, as he could faintly hear her music blasting through her helmet. He knew the weather was a bad subject. But it was peaceful, he had meant to say peaceful. He looked at her and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders before looking ahead again. "I don't know. Talking is hard... Shooting people is a lot easier." He joked. Well. Sort of.

"It could get loud, besides, the discreet missions are the fun ones." He chuckled, knowing that they weren't exactly the kind of fun that she liked. "There are no parameters. We check out the town, assess the diplomatic possibilities, and go from there." Maybe all they had to do was talk to some of the people in charge, bully them around a little bit if they were difficult. Unlikely. These discreet missions were always the best kind of fun. Complicated.

"I missed your turn on the stewpot, by the time i got back from patrol the boys had cleaned it all out. Razzle made the next batch." He fake wretched inside his helmet. The warrior had no sense of flavor, the spicing was always wrong and their stew's always tasted a little bit mildewy. "I heard you bumped helmets with a Solus. Then went for a moonlight jetpack date." He teased, his tone playful before turning more serious. "Do you think we can trust them?"

The settlement appeared on the horizon and Gett'se wiped his visor clear with the back of the Jedi gauntlets he had picked up on Lothal. He was kinda regretting not going with something thicker, and insulated, though he supposed if it came to a fight having the dexterity would be a bonus. His eyes squinted as he peered into the distance, eyeballing the town. Suspicious. Gripping his rifle and shifting it up to his shoulder from where it hung under his armpit, he peered through his scope to get a closer look at the town, barrel sweeping from side to side.

"I don't see anyone"

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale couldn’t help but give a breezy chuckle at the image of Gett’se being stuck eating Razzle’s cooking. Razzle was infamous for cooking the worst food, and Mandos actually drew straws on who got assigned to camp rotation while Razzle was on cooking duty. She glanced over at Gett’se with her helmeted tilted a bit to the side when Gett’se mentioned hearing about her and Nox. The inquisitive glance became another laugh, “Why, you jealous?” She reached over to clap the back of his helmet with a playful tap.

She faced forward again, continuing to plod through the snow, “He’s good people,” She said quietly after a while, “We don’t have the luxury of keeping up with our old rivalries anymore. You fought by his side, what do you think?”

Like Gett’se, she looked through the scope and began to feel uneasy, “Something is off,” She said quietly, “Let’s get closer.”

Shale took a side path down, but she had to keep from slipping. This was not terrain she was familiar with, and every now and then she lost her footing. At last, she finally slipped and landed in a thud into a pile of snow. Cursing in Mando’a she purposely remained in the pile, deciding it gave her some semblance of cover. Shale looked through the scope again, seeing closer details.

Right away, she could spot a figure lying on the ground, upper body hanging out the front entrance of a small house, the rest inside. Shale exhaled, shaking her head, “I think there’s been a massacre,” She looked through the scope again, zooming in a bit on the hand, “Looks frozen enough for it to have been several hours now. But the enemies could still be nearby. See any vehicles around?”

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se half dodged the tap on the back of the head, making a show of it, but not really trying. He chuckled and shook his head after letting his head rock forward a little at the blow. "Jealous? Nah. He's not my type." He waited for her to continue as they walked, staying silent as he pondered her words.

"He fights well, watched him try to make Kalevalen barbeque out of a Jedi. He's got balls... either that or he's a glory hound." A small part of Gett'se had wished he had charged forward into the thick of things like the others on Lothal, to feel his blade against that of his enemies and the rush of testing himself against an opponent. Instead, he had just shot his rifle. To great effect, but however efficient it was, he couldn't help feel that he missed out.

Gett'se followed Shale down the side path, his footfalls much more steady than hers. He loved the outdoors, especially the savage and wild places such as these. Where you're wits needed to be sharp. Coming to a stop and falling to his knees down to his bell at the snowdrift that Shall fell into, he chuckled at her before again sighting down his rifle. He saw the body. Tapping a switch on his helmet, the view shifted to shades of intense blue, the chill of the snow and ice pack underneath practically radiating.

"Hard to tell, thermals are-" He started before stopping and zooming in. A speeder glared red against the cold blue, and a pair of warm orange body blobs hurried to and from the speeder, carrying objects from a small building. Two heat signatures, and a speeder. They're loading it with something. They appear to be alone" He finished, switching his thermals off, the world once more returning to a blanket of white.

"We fly." He said before standing up and activating his jetpack. The snowfield separating them and the settlement was fairly barren of cover, and they would be spotted far before they reached the settlement anyways. Might as well make it quick. Gett'se blasted off into the sky, hovering for a moment for Shale to catch up before leaning forwards to parallel the ground and rocketing off. He wiped his visor of the snow that sped past like the stars in lightspeed before raising his rifle to get a better view of the people below. They had spotted him but didn't appear to be grabbing weapons or anything threatening, instead they hurried their motions of loading the vehicle.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale grimaced beneath her helmet, “Are you sure alone?” She grumbled, but she nodded to the decision to fly. She activated her jetpack and whizzed through the air, shaking her head and wiping her visor repeatedly from the snowfall, “Next time, I’m picking location,” She said moodily through their shared comms. Shale pulled up next to Gett’se, glancing down to see the figures spotting them. To her surprise, their reaction was to simply start loading the speeder quicker.

“The hell?” She said before she whizzed right down. Before they could take off, she landed with a thud in the snow across from them. Shale leveled her rifle, “Stop!” She called out, “Who are you and what’re you doing?”

Both of them raised their hands. They looked terrified, barely dressed to ward off the weather. Shale couldn’t help but be caught off guard by the sight.

“Check the speeder,” She called out to Gett’se, keeping her gun trained on the two ahead of her.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Uncertain of whether the pair was truly alone but unwilling to let Shale swoop into a potentially dangerous situation alone, Gett'se followed her down. His feet touched the ground and he too leveled his rifle at the two individuals, a man and a woman now that he had a closer look. They looked poor, cold, and utterly terrified at the sight of two Mandalorians aiming their weapons at them.

"Please! please don't kill us!" The woman dropped to her knees, clasping her hands together as she begged. The man put his hands in the air, a scared but determined look on his face as he stepped in front of the woman, likely his wife. "Take whatever you want, just... Just leave us be. We've already been through enough." His words were weary but they had a steel to them. A determination to survive.

Gett'se approached the speeder, his left hand rifling through the stuff hastily thrown into the backseat. Clothes, pictures, cooking supplies. He looked at the pair and then at the building they had been pulling stuff from, a few dropped items marking a path. He lowered his rifle.

"Stand down. They appear to be refugees, just leaving." He told Shale in mando'a. The man looked at him strangely before realization dawned in his eyes. Returning to basic, Gett'se posed the question. "What happened here?"

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale was surprised at the words and the terrified look on the civilians. Even before Gett’se said anything, she began to lower her rifle.

The man stared at Gett’se, not saying a word. He looked down at his wife who was furiously shaking her head.

“We don’t want any trouble,” The woman was sobbing on the ground, “Please just let us go,” She gave shuddering breaths, “We can’t…say anything..please just..” Shale looked closely, finally realizing that she was fiercely clutching onto a child’s stuffed animal. She walked around the speeder, glancing over to spot multiple items that would belong to small children. Shale’s jaw tightened.

“We’ll never see our girls if we talk,” The man stated flatly, “If you want to kill us now, so be it. But we say nothing,” He placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. The woman wailed even harder. Shale exhaled, pondering a lot of things quickly.

“They may be watched right now,” She said to Gett’se, “What if we follow at a distance?”

Shale had an uneasy feeling that each moment further they spent, the greater danger they put the couple in.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se listened to the woman's sobbing, her fear palpable in the air as she spoke of a greater danger. The man seemed determined to stay quiet, mentioning their girls. Gett'se assumed they meant the couples daughters, it would make sense for the parents to risk their own safety if it meant a chance for the survival of their children. Even if it meant the Mandalorians killed them there and then.

"We aren't here to kill you. If you have nothing to say, then, there is no reason for us to stay." He said before turning his visor to Shale and giving her a nod. Pressing a button, Gett'se's jetpack flared and he rocketed into the air once more, circling the position once before flying away.

"I agree. We follow them to wherever they are going. Get to the bottom of this." He said as they broke the cloud line. They would follow from a distance, above the clouds where the chances of them being spotted was minimal. By the couple, or whoever might be watching them.

Gett'se watched through the scope of his rifle from high up in the air as the dot of the couple's landspeeder traversed the frozen landscape beneath. Trailing the rifle up to spy along their route, he spotted the mountains rising from the land. At the base of the mountains appeared to be some sort of mining operation, whether active or defunct, he couldn't tell from the distance.

"I don't like this." He started as he shook his head. The couple's children were clearly being held for ransom, or otherwise captive to keep a powerful hold over their heads. He knew nothing of the situation. Of who these people were or who was now controlling them. It was a... complicated situation. Though he supposed that was exactly the kind he had called fun earlier. He tilted forwards and continued to fly, following the speeder.

"Looks like this might have to be one of those quiet operations that you don't like." His mind whirled with the possibilities, considered all the angles with what little they knew. There weren't many. "You can sit this one out, if you can't handle being quiet." He said, half serious half teasing. He knew that Shale wouldn't be keen on sitting out and leaving all the fun for him, on the other hand, she didn't have the experience in these kind of quiet operations. Complicated. "You come with, we go quiet, you follow my lead. Think you can handle that?"

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale was mentally shaken from what they had witnessed. Gett’se would tell by the subtle ways it manifested in her body language, only because he had known her for years. To anyone else, she would appear as any other cold and detached Mandalorian in armor. She followed Gett’se up into the sky, looking through her scope as she tracked the speeder.

“Sit this out?” She quipped back, “So you can get yourself knocked out again with no one around to help?” She snickered quietly to herself before looking back, “A part of me…wonders if this is an elaborate trap. That whole sequence was tragic but what if it was a set up to get us to do exactly what we’re about to?”

Shale couldn’t believe what she was saying. Since when had she turned so paranoid? That was clearly a terrified couple down there, and they even had the children supplies. Shale quickly shook her head, “Never mind, I don’t know what I’m saying..” She nodded to Gett’se, “Let’s go.”

If they continued to follow the speeder, it took some curving roads in between mountains. They stopped at one point near a convoy of speeders that appeared to be a checkpoint. Beyond that, it was about a mile away before a stronghold began to materialize. There were tall, barbed walls and sentries posed above the wall. They all looked like militia men, carrying blaster rifles that were clearly illegal in these parts of the galaxy.

The fortress looked impenetrable from here, and the inside looked like a makeshift military camp. They had been stockpiling military munitions, vehicles and weapons. Whatever this group was had done a lot of work to become this powerful, and it made sense why they could bring an entire town under their thumb.

“We may have to wait till night..” Shale remarked, her voice betraying her lack of faith in the situation.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se looked away as Shale reminded him of the last time they worked together. A mining operation on Concordia, similar to the one he had seen at the base of the mountains just then. It had almost gone flawlessly until Gett'se missed one clearing the ship. He had woken up to Shale saving his ass after being knocked out by a metal bar to the face.

"You swore you wouldn't bring that up." He shot back, vaguely remembering a promise she had made while he was concussed. Or had he made it? He shook his head, just thinking about that hit hurt. He almost couldn't believe his ears when she suggested that this might be a trap. Sure, he had considered it, but even his paranoid mind hadn't come up with that scenario.

"And I thought I was paranoid," He muttered to himself before hoping his comlink hadn't picked it up, "Well, if it is a trap... We'll just spring it. He chuckled. They would try to figure out the trap first of course, but usually if your enemy knew you were coming there wasn't a whole lot you could do besides hitting them hard and fast.

They followed the speeder through the mountains, passing the mines and continuing up into the mountains. From up in the clouds the pair could make out the camp through the scopes of their rifle. Gett'se tried to count personnel and hardware before concluding that a small army lay before them, judging by the size of some of the barracks. Or it could explain the missing town. He tried to spot unit emblems or other identifiers on their clothing but knew it was a lost cause at the distance they hovered from the camp.

"We circle around that peak." Gett'se gestured to a snow covered mountain that overlooked the camp. "Fly low along that cliffside, out of sight." He sighted down his rifle at the mountain, eyes looking for a likely route. "Land and hike the rest of the way down." It would keep them hidden from the camp and give them a stealthy approach to the camp. They would have to fly around the high side of the mountain before dropping altitude to follow it down before looping down around a jagged cliffside.

Resting his rifle across his chest, Gett'se looked at the mountain for a moment. It was pretty far and they'd been flying for a while already. Glancing at his fuel reserves, Gett'se knew they would have to do this maneuver fast if they wanted to have any fuel left for whatever fighting may lay ahead of them. He turned his helmet to look at Shale for a moment. He was quiet for a moment as his mind wandered back to when they were young and had begun to train in the Rising Phoenix.

"Race you." He said suddenly as he tilted and dove, jetpack flaring at her as he blasted off towards the mountain top. He flew at full burn, gathering momentum as he flew downwards towards where the clouds met the rise of the mountain. Wind whistled past him as he rocketed towards the side of the mountain like a beskar'gam clad bullet.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale snickered as he reminded her she swore she wouldn’t bring it up, “I said ‘Solus honor’ under my breath when I promised that,” She followed up with a giggle, feeling particularly pleased with herself. However, she quickly remembered they were on an unpleasant mission and she got her head back in the game as they made their way to the base.

She followed Gett’se around the peak of the mountain, “Hike? Really?” She remarked, despising that idea. Why the hell did every Mando she know love hiking? First it was Nox with his idiotic idea of hiking in the middle of the night and now this. Nevertheless, she had agreed to do this Gett’se’s way and she’d at least keep that promise.

Shale looked at him, tilting her head as he simply stared at her for a moment. She was about to ask when he abruptly declared they were racing and jetted off, “Why you-!” She screeched as she activated her own jetpack, salty about him getting a bit of a headstart. However, she made up for it rapidly, ducking to the side and hugging closer to the mountain instead of doing a wider arc.

They were near neck and neck and Shale, of course, attempted a juvenile move she was almost infamous for. She leaned in closer to Gett’se and attempted to shove him to get him flying in the opposite direction and throw him off course.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se had dropped rapidly towards the mountain but his extra speed caused him to overshoot the curve and give Shale the inside. They were neck and neck as they whizzed down the mountainside.

Gett'se looked at her as they raced over the tree line just in time to catch her angling in on him. An aggressive move and not one he didn't expect. She had done it plenty in their youth.

Arching his back and twisting towards Shake, Gett'se rose and began to loop over the top of her, trying to skim over her back to back and then give her jetpack a shove as he leveled out on the other side of her. He got about halfway through but found himself cutting in too close as his jetpack bounced off of Shale's. It was unlikely to do much more than bounce her around a little in her steady flight path. Gett'se wasn't so luck being in the middle of a complex maneuver, and he found his world twirling as he bounced off of her, flipping and flailing in the air.

Gett'se watched the world whirl through the T slit of his visor, trying to figure out which way was up before he smacked into a tree or something. Spotting the tree line as he flipped around, he flung his torso in the direction of up with all his might. With a wobble, he straightened out and found his bearings before jetting off after Shale once more, well behind her. He shook his head as he flew to clear the spins and to clear his shame as a tiny though crept into the back of his brain, that he was going to get himself killed one day trying to show off.

He came in to land in a snow drift several moments after Shale, clearly the loser of that race. "Swear you won't tell anyone about that." He told her as he trudged up and out of the snowdrift, brushing snow off his legs and shoulders. "How much fuel do you have left?" He asked as he surveyed their surroundings, scanning the treeline with wary eyes. They were in enemy territory now, potentially, and Gett'se's paranoia was in full swing. Some called him cautious when it came to his approach to objectives... He called it staying alive.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale had no idea what the hell Gett’se was doing. One moment she was trying to ram into him, the next he was trying some clever maneuver. In the end, she watched vacantly as he spiraled out of control and promptly ran into a tree. Shale actually paused her flight, hovering upright so she could just linger and watch. She began to giggle uncontrollably, doubling over mid air as Gett’se made his way back over. She flew with him for the remaining bit, landing gently on the ground.

“I won’t tell anyone…” She said, only to add slightly under her breath, “Solus honor,” Shale snickered to herself again. She looked down at her wrist, “Less than 50%, but should be enough to get us back,” She glanced over at the path down. Unlike Gett’se, she wasn’t a fan of hiking. Not only that, but the trail was icy and covered in snow. And there was a damn blizzard going on.

“Okay, here goes nothing,” Shale looked down as she began to make her way down the steep path. She barely took two steps before she lost her footing. A stream of profanity could be heard as she quite literally tumbled and rolled down the length of the trail, hitting various boulders along the way.

She attempted to find her footing or grab onto something several times, but she failed every time. There was no doubt that her ridiculous descent was going to attract some attention. Snow was kicked up into powdery confetti and noticeable from down below if anyone chose to look up.

It took a while before Shale finally collided against a large boulder with a heavy thud. She laid face down in the snow without moving. Her entire body hurt and her head was spinning. She simply groaned without even trying to turn over, simply laying there sprawled like a starfish.

“...Fuck hiking..” Her muffled voice mumbled quietly.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

"I heard that." Gett'se muttered loud enough for Shale to hear at the mention of Solus honor. His fuel assessment matched hers and he was glad to have enough fuel to probably get back to the ship. Maybe. They might end up with a few hours of hiking to do getting back to their ship if they ended up having to do much flying in battle. Still worth it if that little hike at the end meant one of them didn't die that day though.

He was about to take the lead when Shale started walking. "Sha-no!" Gett'se started to warn her as she chose the steepest and most treacherous footing available before immediately tumbling down the ice and snow covered slope. Similar to how he had tumbled through the air, he would note as he sprang into action and chased her down the slope. Taking a step before jumping down after her to catch the snow at an angle with the side of his boots, Gett'se slid down the incline, a hand trailing behind him to steer and slow himself marginally.

"Shale!" He came to a sliding stop next to her on the boulder, scrambling to check if she was still conscious when he heard her mumble out of her helmet, sounding completely defeated. Gett'se laughed, leaning back and resting his back on the boulder before shaking his head. "Can you stand?" He asked with a serious tone as he would help her right herself. "Wait here."

He could tell she wouldn't be in any condition to fight for a few minutes at least. His own body hurt from where he had cracked a few branches on the tree he had tumbled through. Luckily he hadn't hit the trunk. Shale wasn't so lucky, having smacked right into a boulder, and was likely out of breath if not concussed. He hoped she would be able to fight if the men in the camp below had noticed their little snow show.

Gett'se stood up while he let Shale recover and walked over to a nearby tree, drawing his beskad as he moved through the snow. A few hacks and he had what he needed. Returning to Shale's side, he started working on the branches and twigs he had gathered quietly, field crafting a pair of snowshoes with some cord from a belt pouch. Securing them to his feet, he stood up again and reached behind him. His jetpack released from its magnetic perch on his back as he shifted it around to the front and hung it from his chest.

"Time to get up." He said as he crouched down and extended a hand to help her up. From there he would hoist her onto his back and begin walking on the snow. It would be a perilous descent, but if Gett'se was honest with himself this was probably the safest option. Shale had always been a walking disaster whenever she had come along on his hikes as a kid. It certainly wasn't the first time he had given her a piggy back ride down a mountain.

"You're just as good at this as you used to be." He chuckled in between heavy breaths as he began to labor his way down. "Have you gained weight?" He asked after a few heavy steps, now very aware of the fact that he was carrying the weight of a full grown Mandalorian woman in armor on his back, quite a bit different from the kid she used to be.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale only groaned in response to Gett’se. She shifted her head so it was on its side, “Ughhh just leave me here,” She half moaned at him, content to simply lay there and sleep it off. Maybe nobody would notice her and he could finish the mission by himself. Why were they here again? It hurt her head to think. She heard a lot of movement and noise but didn’t have the energy to look. Shale was beginning to close her eyes when she heard Gett’se plod back over.

She groaned again when he said to get up, but she agreed to follow his direction for this. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and slowly helped herself up. However, she was more than a little surprised when he hoisted her up on his back, eliciting a surprised yelp that was comically high pitched. She gripped him tightly, blinking with wide eyes behind the helmet.

“You haven’t…done this in a while,” She mumbled. Shale was very thankful he couldn’t see the way her face was tomato red right then, her cheeks burning hot. Being a passenger on the way down was even more precarious and she found herself holding him with a vice grip, “Do you have to go this fast?!” She called out, marveling at how surefooted he was.

When he quipped about her weight, she promptly responded by firmly tightening her thighs around his torso. It would give him the abrupt sensation of being crushed, a subtle reminder that she was a rather tough lady, “Only the places I want,” She said gleefully.

“I should make you do this more often, it’d save us both headache,” She said with a chuckle, recalling the number of times she had a clumsy incident that delayed a mission. Shale could see the base over his shoulder and a group of soldiers were marching out, “Stop stop stop!” She hissed at Gett’se. He would see what was happening ahead and know to duck out of sight.

There were two soldiers leading what appeared to be a group of civilians around. From the looks of it, the civilians were promptly put to work in the cold. Men, women and children alike were immediately commanded to mine the resources the base surrounded.

“Can’t we just wipe these fuckers out?” Shale whispered quietly, “I have ammo and rockets!”


@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se heard Shale's mumble through their helmets as he picked a path through the snow and rocks, descending ever downwards. He had to hold his weight forward slightly to maintain his balance as he hiked, but the jetpack from his front helped ease the balance. It did not however ease the load.

"Its been a long time... since we were young." He said as his mind lingered on memories of that childhood among the clan. He didn't let his mind linger long, only for a moment. "I've... missed you." He said hesitantly as he stopped at some rough terrain to let his eyes wander for a path. Finding one he continued, though he slowed down just a bit as he went carefully. "I thought you liked going fast." He chuckled but there was a lump in his throat and a warmth in his cheeks that wasn't from exertion.

Gett'se could feel the way she held on to him tightly, with her arms wrapped around his armor. For fear of falling he knew, but still it sent his mind racing and made it blank at the same time. The pounding in his chest not only from the effort he was putting into walking and carrying her. His stomach jumped as she tightened her thighs against him. "Careful. You could crack a mando out of his skin with those." He chuckled for a moment before his cheeks grew hot. Had he really just said that.

"I think my back would break if i had to carry your ass every mission." He laughed quietly in between pants of exertion. Whatever he might have said next was cut off when Shale stopped him with a hiss. Gett'se plopped on his butt, about the most graceful maneuver he could muster in the situation and he swore he felt a muscle pull. Falling sideways behind a low snowdrift that rose up the hill, he let Shale situated herself while he pushed a little more snow up to the top of the drift, creating a shifty makeshift cover. It wasn't much, but it would hide them from view if they stayed low.

"No." Gett'se responded, shaking his head as he fumbled awkwardly for his rifle and pulled it up to where he could handle it. Removing the scope, He peered over the drift with the side of his helmet, holding the scope to his visor. "We don't know how many there are in there. Besides, You saw the hardware they have laying around." Gett'se tried not to let it leak into his voice, but he was worried. He wondered if the two of them had bitten off more than they could chew.

"We kill these two now, the rest come for us. Maybe we could fight them up through the mountains. Whittle them down as we lead them further from their camp, just the two of us." He shook his head. Maybe he could, maybe. Shale didn't know the mountains, didn't know the snow and ice like he did. That was a battle lost before it even began.

"One of us would die, probably both." He said solemnly. Gett'se had accepted his death many times over, was numb to the constant dangers of the Way. His own death was was inevitable, and so was Shales, one day. He looked at her staring for a long drawn out moment as his mind waged war between two images, the kid he had grown up alongside and the woman she was now. It didn't matter. Gett'se saw her dying, and he knew wasn't ready for that. Not yet. Perhaps not ever. "We wait till nightfall, go in quiet. Scout the place and see what we are dealing with. So get cozy."

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

The journey down had certainly caught her off guard in unexpected ways. For one, she certainly realized they absolutely weren’t children anymore. For two, it was a side of Gett’se she usually didn’t see from the normally reserved and withdrawn man. He had always been aloof and distant compared to most she knew, even for a Mando. With their haphazard adventure down the mountain, she couldn’t help but smile behind the helmet, giving herself excuses to hold onto him just a bit tighter than was actually necessary.

Her mood soured, however, when he declared they couldn’t just barge in. As much as she wanted to protest, a quick survey of the site made her realize it was probably suicide. In the end, they both had less than half fuel on their jetpacks which meant they couldn’t prolong aerial combat and have an advantage. Shale crouched low along the snow, still feeling a throbbing headache from what she knew was a concussion.

She looked back at Gett’se as he gloomily explained how they could both die. She rolled her eyes, “Ah yes, there’s the Gett’se I know. I was worried you were becoming fun for a little bit there,” She said followed with a snicker. Shale peered through the scope, tilting her head as she watched the poor civilians. The sight made her blood boil.

“So basically, I could have stayed where I was behind the boulders and taken a nap since we’re waiting anyway,” She said as she watched a soldier shove a woman because she was too slow. She fell to the ground and the soldier slapped her across the face. Gett’se would see her tense, her finger flirting with the trigger of her rifle. In the end, she slowly put it away, exhaling a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

Shale turned to face Gett’se, placing her arms on her knees. They had several hours to kill and would be largely unnoticed unless a patrol was sent over. A few moments of silence passed as Shale drew idly drew shapes in the snow. While Gett’se wasn’t looking, she took a bit of it, packed it in her hand and casually hurled it directly at the side of his helmet.

When he looked over, she grinned beneath the helmet, “I’ve missed you too..” She said very quietly.

@Arcangel

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se looked at Shale as she spoke, could practically see the roll of her eyes with the slight bob of her helmet. He cocked his head at her. "I'm fun," He let hurt leak into his voice, wounded. "Is there anyone else out there giving you rancorback rides down a mountain? I doubt it."[He shook a finger at her lazily before returning his attention to what unfolded below. He was smirking under his helmet.

The smirk was wiped off his face by what unfolded below, and he watched Shale through the side of his visor. He watched her trigger finger, glancing down at the action below as he prepared to act. He didn't want her to pull the trigger, it would screw the entire operation and put their lives in great jeopardy. He also knew that if she did, he would fight by her side and die shoulder to shoulder.

The moment passed and Gett'se released a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, hearing Shale do the same. He didn't mention it. There wasn't much more to do now but sit, wait, and watch. He watched the guards push around the miners some more while Shale drew hearts and lothcats in the snow.

A thud of snow smacked against the side of his helmet.

His mind went still at her words as all thought of the mission left him and he stared at her for a moment. Frozen. He had never thought about the fact that she might have missed him. Would she miss him when he died? He forced himself to snap back into the present and cleared his throat, fumbling for words.

"I.. You've missed me?" He started, startled, finding his tongue again. "No Fun Gett'se?" He had known what some of the other kids called him behind his back for his caution, even though he had been one of the craziest of the at times. Now that he thought of it, he couldn't remember if she had ever called him that. He continued to look at her, memories of the past fading as he saw her. "I... I'm glad," He said, forcing the words out. "I... You've grown." She seemed so confident now, ready to take on the world. Still just as clumsy and quirky as ever. But alive.

And he was tongue tied as ever.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale visibly winced as he mentioned the nickname. It was true that the other children often called him that behind his back, but she never knew he heard it. In retrospect it sent a pang of guilt through her because she never stood up for him. He was older than them, and she never thought to.

“I never called you that,” She said lamely, a tone of guilt slipping in. She knew he didn’t intentionally say it to guilt trip her, but it happened nonetheless. Shale heard him continue to speak, and she couldn’t help but grin at hearing him fumble over his words.

“Apparently enough to get you all tongue tied,” Shale remarked coyly, chuckling beneath her helmet, "You this nervous around every lady?" She playfully tossed another ball of snow at him, this time at his chest, “Are you…going to be staying with the clan now?” Shale asked quietly after a long moment, “Or will you leave again?”

@Arcangel