The Apple and the Tree. [Open]

[Mia Monroe]

Somewhere between Silver Sanctum and Hutt Space, Calina emerged from hyperspace her face set, the only sign of excitement was a slight glimmer in her eyes as she checked the sensor readout. She'd not been followed. She'd managed what she'd always thought as impossible, she had escaped the watchful eye of her mother Anaya Fen. The fact that Calina in her heart of hearts knew that this was all engineered by Anaya, did very little to somber her mood. she pointed the nose of her ship towards the Garn system and set it to autopilot. Settling back in her seat she reached for the datapad once more.

She'd been greeted with warmth and love, when she'd returned from Panatha, Anaya had clutched at her so tightly, Calina thought she was going to suffocate. They'd played mother and daughter, dining and exchanging tales of misfortune and delight, a fairy tale that had almost seemed real. Until Calina had forgotten herself and mentioned, well, him of course. The only man that was capable of sending her mother down one of those paths, where she became apoplectic with rage and forgot that her lightsaber was capable of killing people. Calina had lost count of the nameless souls that had been unfortunate enough to be within striking distance when Anaya went into one of her fits, all she knew is that she added another three to the count that night, and the fairy tale ended there.

Anaya went back to work, and Calina returned to her studies. Where she found this little gem, rumours of a crystal capable of ensnaring souls. Not that catching and keeping the souls of any person was really Calina's interest, but still it was something worth investigating. With a little digging here and there, through broken and dated files she narrowed it down to the planet Garn. No record of any civilisation, nor any record of living persons having once resided there.

A proximity alarm blared at her and she sat up again, flicking off the autopilot and taking control of the transport to bring it into the atmosphere. The screen glowed orange and for a brief moment, all the sensors went black, unable to read anything through the heat. She counted the seconds between space and atmosphere, the moments where you were utterly blind and wondered to herself, why did Anaya want her to investigate this?

 

[Neivon]

Neivon checked his suit's systems for what seemed to be the thousandth time. His employer didn't allow him to move around the ship, not even see what his Z-58 series droid was doing. It surprised him at how much space was below the ship versus up here in the cramped cockpit. Whatever Six-eyes was hiding, he wanted nothing to do with. Having contacts never worked out for anyone. But how would he know? He was nothing more but someone without a face. His clan probably even forgot of him by now. He felt a pain in his chest, remembering the events that felt like a lifetime ago. Bitter rage ran through him, he needed to chat, keep his mind off of things.

"Where are you taking me anyways?" Neivon looked out the window, the planet was certainly one he didn't recognize. It certainly wasn't on any of the shuttle maps or routes he grew accustom to.

Six-Eyes smiled at him, "I need you to help me find a powerful crystal, there have been rumors of it being here on this planet, I'm sure it will fetch a nice price."

Neivon stared with a confusing glance at him. A crystal? How was that going to help him join the Bounty Hunter's guild with the style this guy promised? He thought he would be hunting heads, not fetching errands. He let his head drop to look at the bland metallic floor. It was already hard enough to stay comfortable on the hard couches. He was itching to get out of this ship, stretch a little. Suddenly, he felt the powerful shake of the ship at it flew through the planet's atmosphere. His back flew into one of the walls, he was glad he kept his armor on. What concerned him was the fact that were was not even a powerful enough shield to help stabilize the ship. What was this guy spending all his creds on? Neivon could feel the gradually tossing subside as the ship landed. He was glad, he wanted to get out, stretch. Maybe kill a few animals. The feeling of stationary muscles didn't please him.

His employer released the hatch, beckoning Neivon to get closer to him. "I want you to scout the area, here's a mapping guide and some paper. If you see anything strange, mark it."

Neivon nodded, picking up his equipment as he left the starship. Watching the starship take off from a safe distance. This was insane. He wasn't a Cartographer. He was a bounty hunter. He job didn't revolve around doing errands. Six-Eyes even promised he would be hunting down some people. So why was he doing this? To improve the alien's bloody wealth? Grudgingly, he trekked further from the drop site. He was going to need a place to read, he couldn't have any animals disturbing him. Although, he preferred it they did.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

A sonic boom rattled somewhere overhead as Calina descended the ramp of her ship, she cast her eyes to the sky, recognising the noise of a ship entering atmosphere and felt every muscle in her body tense. Surely her mother wouldn't come for her so soon? Lifting a hand to sheild her eyes from the sun she watched the ships descend several clicks south and reached out in the force. There was nothing there she recognised, no markings on the ship she knew. Relaxing a little she pulled her scarf over her mouth and lowered her goggles. She picked a direction, trusting in her gut feelings and began her trek.

Garn was unforgiving, knarled rocks rose high on the horizon, an old mountain range beaten and broken by the elements, hot winds kicked dust up from the ground and she instinctively shut her eyes, forgetting for a moment that she'd come prepared. A distant rumble of an engine drew her attention southwards again and she paused, chewing the inside of her cheek nervously. What if it was someone her mother had sent, an unknown hired to watch her? a bounty hunter perhaps, sent to test her skills or even kill her. Anaya might have been her mother, but Calina was not fool enough to think that she was unexpendable.

Curiosity got the better of her and she changed direction, moving towards the danger. Whatever it was, friend, foe or simply a bystander in the mess that was her parenthood, she would rather deal with it first, than have it simply loitering as an unknown, that could catch her unawares. She picked her pace to a gentle run, drawing on the force for stamina.

[member="Neivon"]

 

[Neivon]

It didn't take long for Neivon to find someplace to rest. There were plenty of high areas amongst the yellow fog. And even better he hadn't encountered any native species either. He turned on the Holotape given to him, watching the video on Surveying. He felt like he was being forced to be a kid again. No intuitive learning, it was just stuff usually taught at a young age. At least, that's how Neivon believed the function of Holotapes were for, for the most part.

They certainly sounded boring, it included a lot of Mathematics. He started to think that it probably would be better to use his holocams, then map out the area from there. But even with that though, Neivon still listened to the holotapes. As he listened, he heard a stepping sound gradually get louder, at first he dismissed it, but it continued on. Standing up, he pulled out his lightsaber pike, the red glow irradiated off of the tip, as he went into a defensive stance. "State your name and business!" Whether they were to be a friend or foe, he would find out soon enough. He honestly wasn't in the mood to fight to begin with. He wasn't ever guaranteed credits in these missions by Six-Eyes, he still done them either way. It certainly helped him improve in such a short time and mentally prepare himself much more often.

[member="Calina Ovmar"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Calina skid to a halt at the snap-hiss of his lightsaber pike, her own saber leaping to her hand and coming to life. The red glow of the blades reflected off her goggles. "My business is none of yours." She replied calmly. She took another step closer, her tongue flicking across dry lips nervously. If he didn't know who she was perhaps she was safe....or perhaps her mother was playing a whole other game.

"Who do you work for?" She demanded.



[member="Neivon"]

 

[Neivon]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Seems the confirmation of not seeing a single species on this rock still rang true. Unfortunately, it was a force-user, they were always a nuisance for Neivon. "Sorry sweatheart, can't give any private information on my employer. It's part of the business." Neivon sheathed his lightsaber pike. He activated his energy shield in quick succession. "But," He continued. "If I were to say anything about my employer, he's the largest pain of sithspit I have ever met.” Neivon was itching to get back to learning to survey. The faster he learned, the faster he could find this crystal and get off this rock. The yellow fog was putting him off. He felt an unease as if some kind of creature would come out of nowhere. There had been few knowledge of any native species and the only one knew was wiped out long ago.[/SIZE]

[member="Calina Ovmar"]