Long Journey Home

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

[member="Esvan Verd"]

Thustra​

Lori was on her way back to her Dad [member="Veiere Arenais"] after completing her mission that he tasked her with. And that was to see where her cousin [member="Yasha Mantis"] and her fellow Mandalorians stood in regards to the Sith Imperial occupation of Commenor. Of course Lori ended up getting side-tracked, and tagged along on a Mandalorian diplomatic mission to Ithor, in some bid to learn a bit about the art of diplomacy that her Mom [member="Lady Kay"] knew so well.

It didn't really go according to plan however. Instead of learning diplomacy, she found herself gaining a suit of armour and escape boots to use until she was able to forge her own beskar'gam at [member="Kaine Australis"] ' forge. When she had the time that is. And it was there that she had witnessed something unthinkable; the repairing of one's soul. It wasn't unthinkable in that fact that it should never be done. It was unthinkable in that Lori had never thought that such a thing was possible.

Anyways, here she was on Thustra, refueling a little fighter that she borrowed from her Dad. The planet was a lot like Commenor in terms of environment. It had mountains, valleys and forests. The big difference was that it wasn't under occupation.

While her ship was being tended to, Lori decided to stock up on some provisions. She needed sweets, sandwiches, drinks and entertainment for the hyperspace travel. It was going to be a long journey home due to the distance limitations of the fighter, but she knew she'd make it. Her plan was to contact her Dad once she was out of Mandalorian space, to find out where the Resolute was and join him.

As she passed one of the businesses, holoscreens were displaying news propaganda about the glorious Sith Imperial regime that had taken over Commenor. Lori just stood there and watched, unable to move as she caught glimpses of her Mom as the news reel played out. Underground Rebel movements were being sought after. There were even rewards for information leading to arrests. How long before there were bounties? The propaganda spin continued, giving the narrative of the Queen's twin children having possibly been kidnapped and that she was desperate for their safe return. Lori's eyes widened, her breathing stopped. Fortunately no image of her face was brought up, only images of when her and her twin brother [member="Caedyn Arenais"] were ten years old. No doubt that could lead to a bunch of children being taken to Commenor in hopes of getting some reward for returning the Prince and Princess.

Lori let out her breath and chewed the inside of her cheek. She didn't have a hood on her coat to hide her face a bit, so she did her best with her hair, moving it around to partly obscure her features. She then weaved her way through the small crowd of people that were watching the holo-screens as well.

Hopefully she would be able to get back to her fighter soon. Hopefully it'd be fully refueled so that she could leave. There were some Mandalorians that cared only about credits. They didn't care what it would lead to for their prey. Lori hoped that it was those kinds of Mandalorians that she could avoid.

 

[Esvan Verd]

Location: Thustra​

Equipment:​

Beskar Armor (w/wrist laser, flamethrower, missile, blade & jetpack)​

NADIR Blaster Rifle​

LBP Light Pistol​

GRTD​

Status: Neutral​

Objective: Hunt [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

____________________________________________________________________​

​

The intoxicating sulfuric taste of spice dust littered Esvan's mouth as he took a swab of the spice joint. The light-purple colored spice was covered in a thin paper wrapping as he took the joint from his mouth clasped between the waxy surface of his forefinger and middle-finger of his right hand. In his left hand sat a scratched silver-embossed lighter with an intricate shape of a skull engraved into it's shiny metallic surface. Bringing up the lighter, Esvan lit the flame for a few seconds before tucking the silver lighter into a bandoleer that stretched across the broad surface of his thick, grey beskar armor. He exchanged the scratched lighter for a hexagonal, holographic display which scanned for possible bounty targets nearby. With his gloved right hand, he brought the soft end of the spice joint up to his lips, clenching it between his rough-hewed lips for a few short seconds, exhaling small puffs of light purple smoke through his clenched and chewed lips. This spice takes the piss, it's actually pretty good. Too bad I'm running out, maybe I can try and find Marcill again and ask him for a few more packs of this new exotic stuff...and force him to give me some stuff, he owes me a debt anyways for saving.

Esvan took a whiff of the purple-spice joint, Dathomiran Spice if anyone wanted a specification. Feelings of euphoria coursed through his nasal and mental systems, filling his emotional cavity with feelings of calm and a relative, drug-induced happiness. The spice had a rather interesting taste, it reminded the older man of the distinctly exotic dathomirain fruit he has tried once with a sulfuric aftertaste to it. It wasn't like most sulfuric after tastes of Spice, which the member of clan Verd took much relief in.

He was sitting outside, with the spice joint in his mouth clenched by his lips and teeth gently. Esvan looked down towards the hexagonal identified device, watching it for movement when it suddenly sparkled to life in a series if soundless red flashes and one singular green flash. Red flash, red flash. Green flash. Red flash. That was the signal that it had caught sight of someone who was on the bounty data records. Pulling the spice from between his lips with two fingers, the man brought the device in his left hand up close to his face as he activated the holographic display. Immediately, the face of a ten year old popped up which then slowly transformed into a rough, digital calculation of the said ten year old's look in the present. Under the digitally altered face, the name 'Arenias' flashed in blocky, three-dimensional letters. Oh, so we got ourselves a karking noisy Arenias here? Hm, perfect. Hear rumor that the Sith were looking for one of these...troublesome things. And now I have the chance to make all hell of credits on this.

Standing from the cool metal crate he had been sitting upon, the Mandalorian tucked the spice, glowing-end first into a worn looking bandoleer on his chest which carried all sorts of spice joints in it. Reaching down his gloved right hand, the Verd clenched the entrance of his helmet in hand before pulling it on and over his head. It wasn't a traditional mandalorian helmet, didn't even look like one physically at all. The only similarity it shared with Beskar'gam was what it was made out of, Beskar of course. Other than that, it was as far as one could get from the 'traditional' T-shaped visor armor that had become a hallmark of mandalorian armor. Esvan didn't want many to associate him with Mandalorians, they were infamous for causing trouble and being a nuisance and the older man didn't want anyone to associate him with...them.

Linking the hexagonal display to his helmet to his helmet, Esvan tucked the display object into a pocket, an unimportant place. And then, he scanned the crowd of people and went in the direction of this 'Arenias' family member.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori clenched her jaw, tightening her grip on the strap of her satchel as she walked. She did her best to keep her pace even and calm, however. Running just attracts attention and she didn't want to do that. She wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

Her eyes studied the people that she passed. Most were just tending to their own business. One Mandalorian in full armour seemed to finish his spice joint and put on his helmet. Was he even a Mandalorian? His helmet was different. What drew her eyes to him wasn't the armour or the helmet or the smoking. No, it was [member="Esvan Verd"] 's jetpack. Oh how she missed her own! Lori had built it from scratch, through trial and error. But it was stuck on Commenor, along with her training fighter. When would she see it again? Who knows? Maybe in a few years, when Commenor was free from Sith occupation.

Right now she had to get safely to her fighter and safely to her Dad. Was she being followed by anyone? There was always a possibility of that. Especially after that holo-news reel. So Lori did what she was taught to do. Go where the crowds were, lose herself amongst them. She continued through the market until she came to a clothing shop. Perfect. Lori slipped inside and then hid herself within a rack of clothes, glad that she wasn't big in stature.

 

[Esvan Verd]

Location: Thustra​

Equipment:​

Beskar Armor (w/wrist laser, flamethrower, missile, blade & jetpack)​

NADIR Blaster Rifle​

LBP Light Pistol​

GRTD​

Status: Neutral​

Objective: Hunt [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

____________________________________________________________________​

The blue HUD interface digitally altered it's cross-hair view marker to focus onto the Arenias family member whom he was tracking down. Activating a target-tracker, Verd's helmet did a light and nigh impossible to see, UV laser scan across the woman. The laser scan wasn't harmful at all, all it did was do a biological scan of the person he was tracking. After the scanning sequence had been completed, Esvan's blue HUD interface changed it's cross-hair view marker, shifting it to an arrow pointing in the direction of the despicable and untrustworthy member of Veiere Arenias's family. Esvan had heard tales of the Jedi and the Sith, both of which were people he didn't want to cross paths with. Though, the sith paid well. The with were powerful and mighty. The sith...actually had a high-flying banner, a nation spanning countless systems. What did the jedi have? False philosophies that proved foolish and broken, all the Jedi fought for was a peace. The Verd knew that the idea of 'peace' sounded good written down on official documents, and he knew that the belief that peace could be brought to such a messed up Galaxy was fool-hearty and a naive point of view on the Galaxy as a whole.

Esvan trailed behind the woman, keeping a few paces behind her as to not draw any suspicion from her. He knew better than to give away his position and identity too early, he didn't intend on giving himself away. He needed to get in close, deliver a near fatal hit, which would incapacitate the target for capture. Years of fighting and with the occasional bounty contracts had given the thirty-year old an idea of where to stab or shoot someone where it wouldn't kill them outright but incapacitate them, or at least should incapacitate them. Sometimes it was hard to aim for the right spot and one would tend to miss most times than not. Though with this Arenias, the Verd knew better. Clenching up his right fist, he activated the wrist blade of his beskar armor. Once Esvan opened his fist, the blade would extend outwards immediately. Now all he had to do was right till he got close to the woman and initiate the hit. He slowly followed the woman into the clothing shop, trying to get close to her but failing as people kept on walking in front of him. If these karkers would move, I could get this done with and get back to smoking that spice.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Hidden within the clothing rack, she peered into the rest of the store, looking with a limited view of who was inside. That was when she spotted him, [member="Esvan Verd"] . The sort of Mandalorian was sorely out of place. It was a clothing shop for women afterall. Unless of course he was shopping for his wife? She highly doubted that. It was wishful thinking more than anything else.

So that meant that he was looking for someone. The question was, who? The sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach gave her the answer to that. Lori clenched her jaw. This wasn't good. She was without armour, and stuck inside a shop that wasn't sitting close to her fighter. Running out in the open wasn't a good idea. Not with the man's jetpack and weapons. No, she had to play it smarter than that.

Quietly she waited, keeping to the shadows within the clothing rack, that is until a group of other teenage girls walked by. Holding her breath, she snuck out from behind her hidden spot and joined along with them, keeping close, doing her best to blend in amongst them while at the same time keeping an eye out for the man.

And there he was. Staring right at her! How did he do that? Lori pushed over a rack of clothes then, hoping that it'd give her a couple of extra seconds as she made a break for it out of the clothing shop and towards the next shop just next door.

A bakery.

She hurried inside the open door and then jumped behind the counter. The bewildered baker was about to protest, but Lori shushed him with the intensive pleading look in her eyes and a shake of her head. Growing slightly nervous, the baker continued serving the customers in front of him. He didn't want any trouble. But that didn't seem to matter. Today just wasn't his day.

 

[Esvan Verd]

Location: Thustra​

Equipment:​

Beskar Armor (w/wrist laser, flamethrower, missile, blade & jetpack)​

NADIR Blaster Rifle​

LBP Light Pistol​

GRTD​

Status: Neutral​

Objective: Hunt [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

____________________________________________________________________​

​

I'm a karking idiot. Esvan stood out like a sore thumb in the women's clothing store. Their were a few men in the shop, though the majority of the shop was filled with women of all species. Which would make it hard for the man to identify the Arenais family member, or at least in theory it should have done that. Sadly for the woman, the Verd has stolen the HUD technology in his helmet from a wealthy technology broker by the name of Exceis. As for the whereabouts of that technology broker...he was sitting at the bottom of a ditch now. The thirty-year old man lived by few rules, though by rules nonetheless. Don't kill children, or pregnant wives. Leave no witnesses. Get rid of any loose ends, by any means necessary. Those were the three rules that the male lived by for his marauder-style career for ten years now. When he first went into the business, Esvan had many more rules, whole dozen. That number had severely fallen as the years waned and went on, he learned to trust nobody after being left for dead on Hoth. Of course he had survived, he wouldn't be here if he hadn't survived. But that event had done a number on the Verd's mental state, something which had resulted in his current state-of-mind to this day and his lust for revenge against the person who had left him to die on that frozen snowball, pinned under metal debris.

Esvan was pulled out of his thoughts as a clatter of metal entered the audio receptors of his ears and as hid HUD gave off a triangular red warning. He had not seen the woman at all, though she had been in front of him. The Verd growled at his own foolishness and stupidity at his mind wandering off into nothingness before charging out of the store quickly, pushing people out of the way and a few onto the ground as he did so. The fingers of his left hand clenched tightly around the handle of his blaster pistol, pulling it from it's holster as he followed the HUD readout as to the location of the female member of house Arenais. The digital line led to the nearby bakery.

Without hesitation, Esvan stomped towards the bakery, using his plated foot to kick the door open. His metal padded boots stomped loudly and ferociously against the tiled ground of the bakery, cracking a few tiles below the man's feet as he walked towards the counter. Most of the onlookers backed away while one brave man tried to pull out a weapon on the member of house Verd. His hand's had not even pulled the weapon from it's holster before a blaster shot to a knee and forearm sent the man falling to the ground. He wouldn't let anyone get in his way, though he wouldn't kill needlessly of course. However, if that man tried to attack him once-more, Esvan knew he would end that man's life there...as he cried out in pain in the bakery from the fresh blaster wounds. "Shut it, ungrateful piss pot. Be glad I don't send a bolt through your karking head right now. Now, I presume you're the owner?" The mandalorian spat towards the baker at the counter with a venomous drawl to his mechanized voice. "Where is the girl?" He said as he clenched the pistol tightly in his left hand on the counter, keeping his right hand clenched and ready to release the wrist-blade from it's mechanical confines.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Lori winced with every heavy footfall from where she hid behind the counter. Oh no. This was going to be bad.

And bad it was. The blaster fire, coupled by the man's screams told her enough of what was happening. They had put two and two together and figured out the whole situation. There was a teenaged girl that needed help, one that was sought after by what appeared to be a bounty hunter.


As [member="Esvan Verd"] spat out his questions, the baker just stood there with his hands slowly raising upwards to show that he was unarmed. "My brother is the owner. I just work here. Your ruckus is scaring away my customers.
I'm sure that some have even ran out the back door..." He indicated it with his head. "You might want to try there."

Lori furrowed her brows as she remained frozen behind the counter. What was the baker doing?? It took a second, but she thought that she was catching on. He was telling Esvan to go in a different direction. Quietly she began moving along the counter towards the edge of it. If Esvan moved towards the back, then she'd be able to escape out the front. It was a great plan! That is, if it works...

"You better go before the authorities get here."

 

[Esvan Verd]

Location: Thustra​

Equipment:​

Beskar Armor (w/wrist laser, flamethrower, missile, blade & jetpack)​

NADIR Blaster Rifle​

LBP Light Pistol​

GRTD​

Status: Neutral​

Objective: Hunt [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

____________________________________________________________________​

​

The ocean blue eyes of Esvan raised from under his beskar helmet, though only slightly. He was mildly surprised at the man's audacity to speak to him...and the man's ability to try and lie to him. The baker was making a fool of himself, and the mandalorian could see it clearly imprinted on the man's face. His helmeted head tilted downwards to gaze at the man's hands. People gave away tell-tale signs when they were lying, they were like open books if you read people correctly. The Verd wouldn't go as far as to say that he was an expert on the subject of reading people, though a plenty had lied to him in the past. He knew when and if somebody was lying to him and trying to trick him. The sweaty palms, the shaky fingers, the twitching eyes, the frantic movement of the pupils. Esvan saw all of this from the lofty baker, and it was disgusting. If this idiot would think straight, he wouldn't be dealing with me anymore if he just told me the truth. Their is no way she could have escaped, nobody ran to the door behind him. He could have at least tried to come up with a good excuse, this baker was a piss-pot of a lier.

"Hm, your customers? Don't you mean...your brother's customers, after all he is the owner...isn't he," Esvan spoke in long drawn out words through the mechanized voice modulator in his helmet. The waxy gloved fingers of his left hand tightened around the handle of his pistol, his index finger dangerously pressing against the trigger of the pistol...ready to press down and fire at a moment's notice. Bringing the gun upwards, he pointed it at the baker's forehead, his index finger resting against the trigger. "You know, you could have at least tried to lie. Nobody ran past you to that karking backdoor, you're an idiot...and a suicidal one at that. I would have left now if you didn't hand the girl over to me, you know that...don't ya? Now, hand her over to me...or I will press down on the trigger and blow your karking brains out. You already know what I did to that sorry sap of an excuse behind me."

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

Oh no. It wasn't working! Lori listened quietly as [member="Esvan Verd"] spoke with the baker. His tactic didn't seem to foil the hunter or whatever he was.

The baker's palms were indeed sweating. The timing of the girl running in, to the intruder here could have been long enough, if one stretched their imagination. But he may have stretched it too far. He swallowed a lump in his throat as the blaster pistol was lifted to his forehead. At such close range, there'd be no way that he could duck and avoid getting shot. His eyes dropped to look at the already injured customer laying on the floor, still abd silent like everyone else in the bakery.

Just as his mouth opened to speak, Lori's voice rang out. "Wait!!" She slowly got to her feet, holding her hands out to her sides to show that they were empty. "I'll walk out with you, just leave them alone..." She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to find the man's eyes within his visor. "Please."

If this man was a Mandalorian, then she could be safe! All that she had to do was list out her connections and heritage and then that should be it! But if he wasn't Mandalorian, then that could be bad. Regardless, she had the urge to somehow find a way to get back to her fighter. The stuff that she needed right now was in there.

 

[Esvan Verd]

Location: Thustra​

Equipment:​

Beskar Armor (w/wrist laser, flamethrower, missile, blade & jetpack)​

NADIR Blaster Rifle​

LBP Light Pistol​

GRTD​

Status: Neutral​

Objective: Hunt [member="Loreena Arenais"]​

____________________________________________________________________​

​

Esvan smiled. The dry skin of his lips pressed pursued together against one another, his tongue muscle skirting over his dried lips to moisturize his lips once more. He hadn't realized how parched and cracked his lips had become so quickly, though he thought it a consequence of the purple spice joint he had smoked earlier. Though that didn't matter much to Esvan now, dry lips were nothing if just a minor annoyance. One that he had become all the more accustomed to since he fought to survive the bitter winter conditions on Hoth. He was happy now, he had the cowardly she-Arenias cornered and at his mercy. Of course the knowledge of that brought a smile to the aged Mandalorian's parched, dry lips. His ocean blue eyes watched the female stand up from her hiding place behind the counter, holding her hands up in surrender. Grinning under his helmet, the member of house Verd lowered his blaster, keeping it leveled with the now visible Arenias as he sidestepped around the counter. A glossy, gloved index finger gently rode along the metal trigger ignition of the blaster.

Opening up his right hand, the wrist blade shot out momentarily before quickly retracting back into the man's armored gauntlet in the matter of a few seconds. Stabbing the person who he was cashing in a bounty on could end badly, and he didn't know how the payer would feel about an injured bounty target. Though, Esvan didn't dare test the anger and metal of a possible employer, considering what happened on Hoth. Reaching his right hand back to his belt, he clasped a pair of metal stun-cuffs in his palm as his fingers closer around it. He then quickly cuffed the woman, keeping his blaster trained at the base of her spine encase she made any sudden moves.

 

[Loreena Arenais-Valhoun]

[member="Esvan Verd"] was silent as he seemed to contemplate her giving herself up. Maybe he didn't see it coming. But Lori wasn't dark or evil. Sure she pulled pranks on people, but they were harmless. Just like her parents, she couldn't be selfish and have others die at her expense. Some would call it a weakness, but she called it honour.

Lori looked over to the baker and the customers as Esvan walked around the counter. She mouthed the word 'Sorry' to each of them, her brows furrowed in thought as she tried to figure out what to do next. The blade came out. She heard it, so she looked to it first and then up to the hunter. He seemed to have seconds thoughts, or maybe what he did was just a warning. Either way she didn't move.

It wasn't until the shock cuffs were placed on her wrists that she staryed to speak. "This is kidnapping. I didn't do anything wrong, you know..." At least she had her satchel. But there wasn't much in there except for some food and drinks. At least she wouldn't starve.

"Who are you, anyways?
Are you sure that you've got the right person?" Lori didn't make any sudden moves. It was better to move only when she was told to. For the moment.