Dead Trees [SJO vs The Cabal]

[Josh Dragovalor]

Apparently there was a skirmish or something going on, not that many in the commons seemed to realize. And honestly, Josh was off in his own little world right now, for personal reasons. But long story short... Jason was now at the Temple, which meant that Josh had a personal stake in the fact the alarm had been sounded. While he'd kept to himself quite a bit lately, mainly staying on his ship with his son, Josh would walk into the commons and approach to where he saw [member="Charlie"], [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] and [member="Jyoti Nooran"].

"Master Nooran. Padawans Charlie, Vaashe" He greeted quietly as he would bow his head. Josh - to put it bluntly - looked like crap. His eyelids indicated he hadn't gotten a full night's sleep in some time, and while he tried to hide it, something to his eyes indicated he was terrified of something. He'd left Jason in the care of the daycare section of the SJO, albeit hesitantly. With the alarm being sounded, he didn't want Jason out of his sight... But if he was to fight, then he would need to.

"I'm here to alert you that the alarm has been sounded" Josh spoke calmly, but in a tone that indicated all business. "There was an incident in the Shadowlands, and the carnage has spread" He added as he would hand Jyoti a datapad containing what intel had been given on the situation thus far. "I'm leaving shortly to lend a hand before they can reach here."

They would not reach the Temple. Not while Jason was within it's walls. That look to his eyes gave way to something more intense in that moment as it seemed to truly sink in that something could befall the Temple if they did not quell this issue quickly. He was not going to let that happen. No matter what he had to do. He had two jobs to do here... Jedi, and daddy.

 

[Zavii]

Zavii had been in the Temple Archives, looking for new music to download, when an alert came over her vidscreen; an alarm warning of unusual activity in the Shadowlands underneath a nearby Worshyr city. Standing up, she waved over one of the attendants to confirm her suspicion.

"Oh myyy..." cooed the almost-iridescent Kaminoan. "There appears to be some unrest in the underbrush. I hope it's nothing as severe as last time, I find violence so revolting."

"Sadly, Master Cao, it's almost as neccissary as breathing in this universe. I'd better go see if I can be of any help." The young Zabrak stood up, clearing the message to reveal the progress bar on her download. "I don't suppose you could watch my commlink until I get back?" She gave the tall being a glance that was more cursory than pleading.

"Of course, Padawan. Just don't forget to come back for it again. I am not your secretary and will not be fielding your messages like last time." He ruffled the deeply colored crest on his head in his approximation of a good humored chuckle as his long fingers played about Zavii's shoulders.

"Don't worry, I won't!" she called as she rushed out of the archive and toward the part of the Temple where she could sense her friend [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] conferring with a couple of Masters.

A few moments later she came upon one of the many meditation rooms. The first person she saw inside was Master [member="Jyoti Nooran"] sitting in a chair and beside her, [member="Charlie"], both of whom seemed to be weaving little figures from some thick string. Opposite them were Asaraa- her new Human form still a mildly jarring sight- and the yellow-haired Master [member="Josh DragonsFlame"].

"What's going on? Is there another invasion?" She wasn't quite out of breath, but the girl was clearly gearing up to be ready for anything...

 

[Eugen Aker]

Jyoti raised an eyebrow as Charlie suggested fried Porg. It was something she had considered on her own, but ultimately she found that particular avian unappetizing.

"Maybe bantha burgers next time?"

Before she could get an answer, Josh came barging into the common area looking quite haggard. It was about the same, that her communicator started buzzing on her belt, but she ignored it as Josh looked like he had something important to say.

He did. Something was going on down in the Shadowlands. Normally, the Silver Order didn't concern themselves with that place and left monitoring to the Wookiees. Only fools or those with a death wish mucked around there, full of Terentatek and other horrors. Though as of late, patrols had been stepped up in the area following a planetwide incursion by the Sith Empire.

Padawan Zavii came in right behind Josh, asking if they were under the threat of another invasion.

"There's no invasion," she replied to the Zabrak. "or we would have picked up from the orbital defense grid. Though there's something going on if patrols are sounding alarms, more than the usual crop of poachers."

She set aside her needles and dragon, going into mission mode. Finally, she opened her communicator to look through her inbox. She had a flood of new messages related to the incident in the Shadowlands, including one from Asaraa warning her about Draven. This time Draven looked to be in the right by taking some initiative.

"Padawan Vashe? This is Nooran. I'm heading out to the hangars now. Feel free to deploy when ready. I'll be right behind you."

She shut her communicator, then stood with a sigh. "Let's get this over with."

[member="Zavii"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] [member="Charlie"] [member="Asaraa Vashe"] [member="Draven Dursden"]

 

[Charlie Nooran]

The mention of bantha burgers made the small Padawan’s mouth water. She preferred the burgers over anything. She continued to work on the scarf as the excitement for food drove her work forward. It was suddenly that Master Dragonsflame appeared at their door and had expressed concern over something going on in the shadowlands. Charlie had known about the area on Kashyyyk, but she couldn’t remember a time that she had been there. It was a place you didn’t go to, though in the pit of her stomach she grew excited knowing what monstrous creatures awaited there.

Zavii broke Charlie’s daydream of the large monsters with the question of invasion. The thought made the hairs on the back of the Padawan’s neck stand. Yet, Jyoti was right though if it was an invasion they would have been notified by the orbital defense grid. Quietly Charlie scolded herself for being quick to respond, instead of thinking logically. She set things aside and looked at her partially-done scarf. It had enough length and she finished tying off the end. Happily, she wrapped the scarf around her neck and covered her face slightly.

Having her things gathered, she listened to her master radio to Asaraa. Her smile faded as she realized that the other padawan was a first responder to what Master mentioned as a group of poachers. There was slight flare of frustration in the padawan. Charlie was already at the door chomping at the bit to get going.

[member="Zavii"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] [member="Jyoti Nooran"] [member="Draven Dursden"] [member="Asaraa Vaashe"]

 

[Azimuth Industries]

​

Capo's shot did not hit. He stared in confusion through the scope, then realized why. A figure, hand extended, had stopped the large proton round mid-air.

"Teesay," he cursed.

He heard the quiet clap of a suppressed slugthrower, then grunted as pain raked across his shoulder, followed by a sheet of warm wetness that trickled down his arm.

Time to leave.

One-Eye spoke into his wrist-comm. "Load the furs, prep the shuttle. We go."

Hefting the rifle over his uninjured shuttle, he sprinted through the trees back into the camp. Already, he could hear the whine of the repulsorlifts and feel the slight wind of engine wash as the drive spun up.

A moment later and he dashed onto the ramp of the shuttle. Inside, he saw the piles of furs, and the rest of the Tanwa Goa-Ato. Not as many as they'd started with, but those who had been killed were Unblooded. Easy prey. One-Eye's antennae twitched and he began strapping himself into the restraints.

The shuttle lifted off the ground, paused for a moment to obliterate the campsite - and ideally any evidence - with a salvo of laser cannons, then raced for the skies. Trandosha bound.

Exeunt​

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

TRANDOSHA
LORPFAN

The air outside the feast hall was heavy with moisture, almost stiflingly so. The dense jungles of Trandosha tended to produce that effect, and Lorpfan was right in the thick of it. The night was filled with the sounds of revelry, but also swarming insects. Tytos had sprayed himself with a repellent to ward off the bugs some hours ago. The label promised the repellent would last some seven hours at least, in addition to being entirely odorless. So far it was delivering on both promises, either that or the Trandoshans were just too polite to remark on the fact that Tytos smelled like bug-death.

Yes, given the caliber of Trandoshan present in that feast hall, that was definitely the case.

Tytos meandered a few feet from the door, over to where his guards were waiting. Rahgot was the captain of the hour - Tytos did not trust any of the other lieutenants at his disposal to be able to intimidate Trandoshans just from their mere presence. The towering Mandallian Giant stood, arms folded, observing as the gaggle of Shock Troopers under his command had a small party of their own. They sat on several crates, playing pazaak, muttering among themselves.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself," Tytos commented idly to Rahgot.

The Mandallian huffed and looked down at him, as if noticing a small dog for the first time. "Are you not supposed to be feasting?"

"I've had my fill," he said, but shortly after his stomach grumbled at a low and rather pathetic volume.

Alright, fine, he hadn't exactly eaten much. Better hunger pangs than whatever disease he could pick up from raw, contaminated meat.

 

[Coratanni Cartel]

Shadowlands - Coratanni Plantation
Kara Thawne

Blub blub.

This bath tub really was a fantastic idea. The Shadowlands weren't really known for their luxury, and since she was going to spend quite a bit of time down here it paid to have one or two things that really allowed herself some comforts of home. She let out another sigh, closing her eyes and allowing herself to relax further.

Slowly things were coming together.

The Laser fence was doing it's job of keeping out the creatures, the Coratanni Synthetics had begun to slice and cut the roots, and now even the Sarcina had set up their security patrols. The Shadowlands had always been thought to be untameable, but she was proving that wrong. Sure she would never control the whole place, far from it, but just an acre or two would be enough for her purposes, for her Cartel's purposes. She smiled to herself, reaching over the edge of the tub and grabbing her small glass of champagne.

Her eyes wandered for a moment, wondering if they shouldn't have brought a cloaking device of some sort.

She shrugged to herself, then took a sip.

Best not to worry until there was an actual problem. So far they had practically set up a military base down here in the shadowlands, and while their allies had come under considerable fire the Coratanni Cartel had done well enough so far.

Without another thought Kara sunk deeper into her bath.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

His answer was the tell-tale slide of a shotgun. Assault, modded and kitted like a proper Clan soldier.

“Ma’am,” Sadrov drawled, and on cue the rest of the group raised their weapons. “Afraid that ain’t an option, ma’am. We asked nice.”

Damned if the bastard almost looked sorry. “Now we ain’t. Come along now.” He gestured to the swoops. “Hop on.”

"Alright boys, here's the deal," behind the woman her VCX-820 escort freighter, dubbed Egris, woke with a start of warbling engines. During her time spent working with KDY, they'd nicely outfitted her with her current armor and rewired the Egris to be capable of flying with only one pilot. One of the safety measures for traveling alone included a built-in slave drive to her suit.

Eight of the mounted autoblasters swiveled around to target the group, whining as they prepared to unleash plasma-bolted hell.

"I'm going to say 'no' in three more languages and if you still don't understand, I'll say it in the only language that's galactically-understood."

"Nayc...Nobata..."

Ivy raised her arm again, dialing into the command consol of her gauntlet.

"Ne."


[member="Aver Brand"]

 

[Draven Dursden]

Draven stood knee deep in swamp, his dudes stomping their way through the goopy mush, they had left the platform and landing area behind them, for the others to use when they arrived. The Knight had not specifically been forbidden to come here in pursuit of stray slavers, so he took the initiative, making a report back to the Jedi master which now presided over him. Though his report of incoming action had been... delayed until they had set down. An unfortunate occurrence. Draven had left a squad back at the landing platform they had constructed, to speak to and escort those following.

But as usual, Draven was leading the charge, though granted, with a little more notification and documentation with the higher ranks. The knight was paranoid about the water, it would be a death blow to the Jedi if his sabers shorted out before they could meld together, he'd be reduced to using the blaster at his hip, which would be of little use against a sith.

The Dude's lumbering suits had tied themselves together with rope, as to not get lost in the thick fog, or sink underneath in an unseen pit, without being noticed. Multiple times captain George had to grab hold of a twisted, dead tree to haul a unfortunate dude out of the muck. They were in their custom arrow head formation, forging deeper into the swampy marshes they had landed in, looking for signs of slavers. The men were not at all at ease, constant grumbling and muttering crackling through the comms. Once the others set down, the unit which Dravrn had left would fill them in on the comm channels so they could all coordinate the assault. He would not be blamed for hasty action once again.

 

[Preliat Mantis]

The Salvo didn't kill Preliat, nor particularly wound him badly, but it still hurt, and angered him. He stood, amidst the burning wreckage of the camp and held his weapon tight. Anger plagued him like a disease, a virus that was burning him inside.

He stood, silhouetted against the fire, and screamed. The scream was penetrating, violent and broke the relative science of the shadowlands like a knife. Flying creatures shifted, and flew away from the noise. Even the larger creatures of the Shadowlands took caution, became uneasy with the noise.

But he knew there was more here in the shadowlands. Where there was one, there would be many. And they would all suffer his wrath. The fire wouldn't spread, but it was noticeable. It would burn this memory away.

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

Kurenai may not have seen the slug hit its mark, but the smell of blood and the small scream of pain that was sent through the force was enough to confirm the fact. Unfortunately, it would be their only victory today, no sooner had the spent casing hit the found first and stick began to fly about as a shuttle began to take off, just managing to escape Kurenai's force grasp before it decided to bombard its makeshift camp, flames and shrapnel shooting out.

The shock wave was not anything to fret over, but she knew that [member="Preliat Mantis"] was still in the middle of the camp, herself sighing a little upon sensing that his force signature was still prominent., the same could not be said for the man’s mental state. Even force dead person would be able to sense the hate and anger radiating off the Mandalorian, that was certainly some grudge against hunters, that sort of terrible past did he have? Taking a step forward Kurenai made her presence known to [member="Preliat Mantis"], holstering her side arm, coming just out of arms reach, "I have a feeling that will not be the last we see of them, not only that I sense the presence of more nearby".

 

[Preliat Mantis]

The Wolf slowly turned his head towards his compatriot, the smaller woman. He rolled his shoulders, brushing the soot off of his body. Amber eyes turned and looked outward, and then nodded.

"Guide me to them. I will reap them all."

His anger, his retribution- would be felt. They would rue the day they came to his new home. They would feel his wrath.

[member="Kurenai Yumi"] l [member="Coratanni Cartel"] l

 

[Aver Brand]

[member="Ivy Lasranae"]

Sadrov frowned.

He pulled his finger off the trigger and lifted his hands.

“Alright, lady. I getcha, I getcha.”

He sniffled and pressed a clawed finger to his comm. “Boss, we got a problem. The bogey’s a broad and, uh…” he scratched his chin, “she uh, she looks like you.”

::What.::

“Uh, yeah. I ain’t pullin’ yer leg, boss. Got a few more scars an’ all, but… yeah.”

::Well fuck me. Ask her what she’s doing here. I’m on my way.::

“Miss!” Sadrov called out. His scaly face contorted into something vaguely apologetic. “We got off on th’ wrong paw, ma’am, forgive me. Since we’re doin’ our business here though, would ye mind clarifyin’ for me watcha ye lookin’ for ‘ere so that we can help ye find it right quick.”

He bared every last one of his teeth with a broad smile. “Ye get outta our business, and we get outta yours. Sound fair?”

 

[Preliat Mantis]

He walked, ever silently, guided by the smaller woman through the woods. But the lack of noise and light discipline gave the position of the enemy away, far before they reached the position of the other enemy outpost. The security here was tighter, more refined.

But not impenetrable.


The patrols came towards Preliat, and he crouched low, hidden in the tall brush of the shadowlands. Thermals would not be useful here, there was too much visual noise here. Too many animals here, too wet- he would be safe from their infrared eyes.

The patrols came near Preliat, one of them. Mandalorians.

Mandalorians here.

His people.

Rage filled the man, but he dared not stir from his objective. One of them nearly stepped over him- three of them in a patrol formation, constantly checking their surroundings. This would be difficult, but not impossible. If only they knew who was beneath them, some of them might have run right then and there.

Ramanar. Death. One of the horseman.

He began to crawl. He made the noise again, hoping the Mandalorians would hear it.

[member="Coratanni Cartel"] l [member="Kurenai Yumi"] l [member="Jyoti Nooran"] l Friends

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

The duo did not need to walk long before the sound and sight of the other pirates came into view, herself crawling along the mossy floor of the fain forest, stealthy approaching the new target. Why said pirates had not instantly high tailed it out of here when the nearby base exploded was beyond her, it just meant their deaths would come quicker, well probably not, she had a feeling [member="Preliat Mantis"] would give the raiders a nasty and long winded death.

Laying down in the further into the grassy underbrush the two came across the enemy patrol... mandos, just the site made her blood boil, not helping her already skewed bias again the warrior culture. Her knife instinctively went around her knife, a small click resonating as she hostler came undone and the silence pistol slid out, the ion sites coming over the closest mans neck. 'I would rather go in guns blazing and kill you that way, but I'd rather let no one escape'.

Slowly she squeezed the trigger on her silenced side arm, awaiting the results to come.

 

[Hazel Scheler]

Ivy did not lower her arm and the ship's engines continued to hum.

She sniffed within her helmet at the curious turn of events. Really, she'd expected this lot to put up a fight and almost felt a little betrayed by the ease of their forfeit. Not that she was looking for trouble, never looking for it, but there remained in the woman a certain stubborn streak that reared its blithe little head every now and then.

The streak that demanded she prove she was still formidable.

The rest of her brain knew better.

"Don't recall ever being in your business. Matter of fact, I was doing a pretty good job of minding my own before you brought your business here."

Still no reports from her other drones yet. Unsurprising, given the locale.

"But since you're suddenly feeling so generous, I'm looking for one of my Dark Eye Probe Droids that went MIA during a mission here ...some time ago." She didn't actually recall how long ago it was, long enough that this was likely a fruitless endeavor, but she liked to say she at least tried to recover it.

[member="Aver Brand"]

 

[Aver Brand]

[SIZE=11pt]“Them’s the orders, miss.” A pair of broad shoulders shrugged up and down. Sadrov could pull off a surprisingly tame smile for someone with such sharp teeth. And there were so many of them, too. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“This here’s our business, so like it or naw, ye be buttin’ in. Ye, eh— ye kinda lucked out here, if I’m perf’ctly honest with ye. Our boss’s the generous one. If Mirkles or Niko were running the show, yer bird’d’ve been shot outta the sky afore you even saw past the trees.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A massive herglic to his right cleared her throat. Her blubber shuddered; Sadrov got the point.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]Ah[/SIZE][SIZE=11pt]. Hah. But don’t ye worry none, miss, ‘s all good. Our boss’s a nice lady. Bianca here’s good with tech, so I’ll, uh…” he trailed off while toying awkwardly with the bolt of his rifle, and the herglic stepped in to relieve him.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]“If you have a control core number for that Dark Eye model, I could try and look for its signal… although this wretched growth disperses waves rather quickly.” Bianca brought an expectant datalogger up on her wrist and offered [member="Ivy Lasranae"] a reassuring smile. As a mother of five, she was the squad’s negotiator extraordinaire.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt](Everyone else would just defuse tricky situations with their favorite method: summon bigger fish.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]And as they waited in the slightly uncomfortable standoff, the hum of a swoop bike rose in the distance.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Ah. The boss.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A nice lady.[/SIZE]