Phriking Seltos

[Gray Raxis]

Gray was looking to expand his operations for WESTAR and he had a project in mind that required a special material, phrik. So with both of those objectives in mind he decided to go to the planet of Seltos to hit two birds with one stone. He wanted to get a facility set up and rights to a mine so he could obtain the phrik supply in the quantities he needed. It also would help him set up shop closer to the territory his clan was currently active in as well. It just made all around sense to him to do it here honestly.

Gray sat in the lounge area of his ship, The Wolf Fang, in his armor with his revolver strapped to his right leg and bryar to his left leg. Whisper's hilt hung next to the revolver. He looked at the two gathered with him for this operation to set up shop on Seltos. His lovely wife [member="Stardust Raxis"] was with him to likely show her husband support on this, but she also seemed interested in setting up shop as well. They had spoken about making a new kind of droid at Industrial Automaton before, and it seemed she was jumping on top of it.....almost as enthusiastically as she did him. The other was [member="Ardgal Raxis"] who was a member of the clan, and proving himself very adeptly. He had been asked to join to serve as security, not that he or his wife needed any, and to set up a contract for guarding the facility once it was up. He was glad they were along to help and could benefit as much from the trip as he could.

Gray smiled to the two of them and said, " So ready for this little outing to Seltos? Anything yall want to know about the mission or the planet we are heading to? I got things planned out and researched the planet before we set out. Oh and anyone care for a drink or some food? I got a good selection in the cabinets.....well good selection of drinks. Travel rations are never good, at least not after having Star cook for me so much." He winked to his wife then waited for their replies.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Whoever had designed that ship was clearly a God of ships. He had to be some sort of pirate and smuggling crime lord who's skills were only second to his good looks and charm.

However, Ardgal, the God of War had come in all his raiment of fine holiness. His armor was in place, sealed into his implants and another extension of his body. The disruptor rifle slug across his back next to his sword was primed and ready for action, the twin heavy blaster repeaters at his sides were armed and ready. With Ardgal was Rancor Squad; four of the Alpha Company's battle hardened soldiers clad also in their matrix armor. Ordinarily the general preferred to go into combat with as many of the Alpha Company as he could. Not out of fear, but out of the fact that it never hurt to have your whole forces on hand when you could. Strategy saved more lives than foolish attempts at bravery.

He looked over each member of the Rancor Squad with a sense of almost fatherly pride; one bore a flame thrower, the other a Reciprocating Quad laser strapped to his chest, the third carried a sharp shooter rifle and the fourth bore his own assault slug thrower rifle, equipped with Fireball Ammunition. They were ready for anything that could be thrown at them--literally.

The general gave his clansman a slight smile and a polite shake of the head, "No thank you." he and his men were professionals, they didn't drink or smoke on the job and they usually didn't curse in front of the employers. He adjusted his left gauntlet, not out of need but out of habit, preparing for missions. It was almost like a nervous tick that helped him get his mind in the game.

"I will take you up on the offer afterwards," he said, always the gracious gentleman. "My compliments on being a lucky man, vod," he smirked slightly, "A very luck man."

Rancor Squad with him stifled their laughter, each by shifting their weight and double checking their weapons.

[member="Gray Raxis"]
@Stardust

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She was curious indeed to set up shop.....industrial automations had sat dormant fir far to long in her eyes and needed to be revived....better way to start something up was to expand upon it....but that was for later after she helped her husband [member="Gray Raxis"] sit shop up closers to his clans places and do as needed

So here she was sitting in her armor sabers at her sides sword across her lap and a westar 35 on her side.....she was quite literally ready to ruin anything day within a instant of the order

Yes gray first some wine please and next will we be encountering anything that may be hostile? And ardgal your missing out on some good wine but I shall not force anyone" she said and gave a big grin

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray listened to the both of them on board his awful ship built by some terrible guy. He got two very different answers out of them, but that was fine. He smiled to the both of them as he stood up. He said as he walked over to his cabinets, " Alright a fine Commenor brandy coming right up Beautiful. And you are welcome to drink whenever you wish to Argal. I am your Alor after all and giving you my permission to drink right now. I understand wanting to be professional but no need for that in front of your clansman. We know who you are and nothing will change that. Either was though, it is fine no matter what you want to do. Anyways, got to get that vodka for my wife over there."

Gray got into the cabinet and began to grab the glasses he needed for the drinks. He pulled out a bottle of brandy then one of vodka. He opened up the brandy bottle and poured it into one glass as he began to say, " We should be arriving soon and when we do this will be pretty standard and easy. We just check out a mine and if it looks good then I will purchase it and then figure out some plans for adding a facility onto it to make goods. If it isn't good, we move onto the next one. Basically keep that up until we find an acceptable mine. Then we repeat it with Star to find her own a mine. All you have to do with your men Ardgal is be in position and look intimidating." He finished pouring the brandy and then put the stopper back in. He then picked up the vodka bottle and put it back up so he could pull out the Naboo red wine. He began to pour it into the other glass after removing its cork. He just waited for them to make their reply as he did.

[member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal gave a sight smile and a nod. He appreciated the offer and he was sure that he would otherwise but--well he couldn't. He had to model for his men what a perfect soldier was. He had to live up to what Ordo had been. Ordo had never drank on the job. He has told and shown Ardgal how it made the Alpha Company a step above the rest. Well, he couldn't see any other way. Even with permission.

As the saying went, you could lead a bantha to water but you couldn't make it drink.

"There will be drinking," he assured Gray, "Afterwards. I assure you. And my complements to the ship designer." even behind the apparent horrific and garish attempts at post-prosuction decoration he could tell it was well made. Boy, Gray sure was lucky to have that master ship creator on his side for sure.

It was a simple protection run. If all went well things would be painless and harmless. If not, well, he and his men were always on their toes. It was always the "easy jobs" that seemed to result in the most surprises. Not that they were looking for them.

"Sounds easy enough, vod," Ardgal said giving his men a look. They nodded back; easy enough, boss. "With your permission, we will also look the place over for defendability and any potential hazards. Its preferable to doing nothing else."

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She bo we do her head to gray as she smiled and listened to him speak before accepting the glass and sipping it savoring the tsste....ahhhh Naboo made the best wine so far

Yes I do need material to make my droids and now more for some projects that are lined and and simply need to be hashed out then built to be sold straight from the stores" she said with a big smile indeed the owner of IA had plans for future droids ones that would help and be up to date on everything

I can see his point gray alcohol can cause a soldier to be less tense when they need be....thank God this stuff doesn't affect me" she said sipping her glass again " and again he has a point better to see if anything would harm us and workers and in case of raids we need them easily fortified

[member="Ardgal Raxis"][member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray had brought [member="Stardust Raxis"] her drink as [member="Ardgal Raxis"] spoke to him. It sounded good to him on everything that was being said. He couldn't argue against the man's logic, and it was just as well that he could get his point across either way. He sat back down with his glass of brandy in hand and began to swirl it around slowly as he said, " I would expect nothing less from you and your men. I did use to be a mercenary after all, so I understand the desire for action during an otherwise boring job. I should warn you though that nothing is ever easy for me. I always seem to end up in the worst kind of situations. So expecting us to be shot at by deranged miners or pirates attempting to blow up the whole mine for no reason might happen."

Gray finished swirling his brandy and took a drink from it as he finished speaking. He had an odd habit of doing this with his drinks while he spoke, and he still wasn't sure why he did it. Just one of those habits that were picked up for no reason he imagined. He drained his drink down in one gulp then set it down with a clink. He said after the sound ended, " We will be touching down soon. If there is any last preparations that need to be made do them." He turned his attention to his wife and added, " We won't have time to do our usual prep this time around Beautiful. Sorry about that." He smirked to her and winked. He didn't care if Ardgal noticed or not either.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal rested his hands on his gunbelt with a slight chuckle, "We are ready for anything, vod, but let's hope we don't get to that point."

He didn't have to look back to know his men shifted their weight in agreement. It was subtle, but an affirmative. After Geonosis, Ardgal had come to a level of high-intensity paranoia. Perhaps it was healthy. Perhaps it was dangerous. All Ardgal knew was after seeing his brother and sisters around him gunned down around him during a "routine patrol" by snipers..... He could never rest easy. He was lucky to get out alive.

Gray and Stardust's PDA was enough to snap him out of that dark train of thought. The general swallowed his bile, some things could never been unseen. In fact, he would rather look down the business end of a Scarlaac than see that again. He looked to his men, "Let's do a comm check. Make sure your HUDs are dialed in and that the scanners are marked on point for the local area. Oya, vod."

When the ship touched down he was the first on the surface. Rancor squad behind him fanned out, each taking a point on the compass. Sure it was intimidating, but that was the point. It sent a message. They were here to do business and had no problem proving it.

"Secure, sir," came four different men's voices in Ardgal's ear.

So far so good.

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She gave a laugh to [member="Gray Raxis"] and gave a tease back" hey hey we have guest here gray showns some respect....for now but later don't worry" she said and winked back laughing at [member="Ardgal Raxis"]'s reaction before stoping" my apologies vod I just couldn't help it at all

When the he ship landed started stood up and let the rancor squad fan out as she smiled and started walking out behind them looking around at the place...a force of habit for this old veteran of war " doesn't look to bad gray shall we get a closers like?

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray just chuckled at the both of them for their respective reactions. He knew he was a little too affectionate openly, but you never knew when your last moment might be or the last moment of those you loved. So he wanted to make the most of it while he could, even if it meant putting people in awkward situations every so often while he was with his wife. She was just as bad though because she enjoyed it so much. If she didn't spur him on by being so beautiful then he wouldn't feel the need to compliment her in inappropriate around others ways. He just smiled to them as he waited for the ship to touch down.

As they landed he watched [member="Ardgal Raxis"] and his men get to work immediately. They moved with practiced precision and had excellent form. That was good. His wife [member="Stardust Raxis"] spoke to him next and he just smiled at her as he carried his helmet on his right hip. He said, " No, but when has that ever mattered before Beautiful? We always find a way to draw out the darker side of places whenever we show up. I blame you for that by the way." He winked at her before he added in a serious tone, " We do need to be on our toes though. Something isn't right here. The mine is moving normally, but these workers are not. It seems more forced, almost fearful. I doubt it is because of us either. General Ardgal, be at the ready and have your men do some recon on the immediate area. We will meet with the local leader and see what is going on here." With all of that said, Gray slide his helmet onto his head and began heading towards the mining facility's main building.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal switched over to the comms for his squad, "Establish a perimeter, I want all data on all frequencies shared. Let's form the intel net."

"Yes, sir." came the replies.


Ardgal began moving through the mine slowly, his hands stayed close to his blaster pistols strapped to his gun belt. The feed if intel fed through his helmet into Ardgal's brain cyborg implants. A lesser man would have collapsed under the sheer volume of it all, but Ardgal was no common man. The matrix in his implant helped to organize the data into groups based out of style and content, formatting sub-files to be analyzed by his working memory to analyze. Patterns, probabilities, and possible outcomes all found their way into his skull.

He moved into the refinery where the phrik was melted down at ungodly temperatures into bars of the purified substance. He watched with wonder as the vaporized chaff rose, condensing on the ceiling in freakish stalactites. Workers droned along a series of gantries overlooking the vats. The warrior decided he could see better from up there across this maze of a massive warehouse and began climbing one of the nearby ladders up the gangway. His eyes roamed across the vast, wide room, scanning for anomalies on every possible level. The thermals were rendered useless for the time being because of the massive heat. Suddenly two of the employees gripped Ardgal and tried to throw him off, into the superheated metal.

[member="Stardust Raxis"]
[member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She gave a chuckle as she secured her helmet with a hiss" we do seem to runderstand inti trouble a lot I blame you mostly hahahha" she laughed and pulled out her stun staff and smiled as she continued forward keeping it off and using it like a walking stick as her eyes scanned the area


Gray I have a really bad feeling about this place now" she said as she looked around and barely managed to duck under a mining tool activating her staff to stun the man as she looked around seeing a gathering crowd as she spun the staff" never a easy day is it love?

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray chuckled at [member="Stardust Raxis"] and watched [member="Ardgal Raxis"] get his men moving. Things were far more tense than they needed to be here, which was unusual. The miners all had paranoid looks in their eyes and seemed as if they hadn't had a proper night's sleep in days. They seemed like they could use a break. No it was more that they needed one right now. They were about to snap at any moment and were eying Gray, Star, and Ardgal with high levels of suspicion. Then it happened, they suddenly snapped and began trying to attack everyone.

As Gray drew his handguns and was about to take shots when a middle aged man ran out of the main building. He was screaming at all of the workers to stop and drop their tools that were turned make shift weapon. They just looked at him blankly for a moment then the realization of what was going on came through. They all dropped their tools and backed off. A few went back to working, but most just drifted off to their bunks. The middle aged man came up to them. He said in a slightly breathless voice, " Please.....please forgive them. They have been forced to work with no rest for days. It has gotten to them and they aren't even aware of what they are doing. So how can I, how can I help you?" The man looked just as bad as his workers did, but he was trying to push through it right now.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal didn't have to think, his training kicked in, reacting to the situation. He grabbed both and twisted his weight, angling away from the edge and facing them both.
"Sit rep, general?" one of the other troops asked, his attention alerted at the action by Ardgal's HUD and scanners.

The men were dressed like miners, dirty like miners and would have blended in except the way they stood and moved showed-they were not miners. One swung at Ardgal, a metal pipe in his hand. The general caught it in his gauntleted hand, his fingers wrapped around it, his crushgaunts bending it and warping the pathetic durasteel. He could see the men's eyes widen with horror, "Situ is under control, soldier. Good eye."

They both turned to run--but Ardgal was faster. He whipped out his blaster pistol and quickly set it to stun. A shot each sent both men falling flat on their faces. He could have killed them but there was no honor in it. And he couldn't get information out of dead men.

He handcuffed each with their hands behind their backs before hauling them outside. "Continue the search. I've got two captives men. There might be more so stay on guard."

He dragged them both before Gray. "Got two who hit me in the shed over there sir. My call would be questioning them, but your the boss here, I defer to you."

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Stardust stopped as then men backed away keeping her electrostaff out and ready pointing at the men and then gave a nod as she looked to the boss and approached him going to say a few words but then stopped and shut her staff off

Hmmmm get these men to stop working no one works until we get to the bottom of this" she said and looked to gray even if he couldn't see her face it was that of pleading to him to help these people
[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray took in a deep breath then let out a slow, steady sigh. This whole situation was getting out of control fast. Something was definitely going on here and between [member="Ardgal Raxis"] getting jumped by two people and [member="Stardust Raxis"] having a swing taken at her by a sleep deprived miner, Gray was about ready to just call this an official Raxian Empire mission. The mine's manager though managed to get things calmed back down to some degree, which was good, but the man was in as rough of shape as his mining crew. Seemed something would need to be done soon or this whole operation was going to go from business related to political.

Gray turned to the manager and said, " They are forgiven, and how you can help me can wait. Tell your workers to go to sleep, all of them. Same for you as well. I will wake you up in a few hours and then we can talk." The man started to look a little worried as well as the sensation of it being able to be felt. Gray smiled to him under his helmet and added, " Don't worry about anything happening. I will be helping out any way I can. Just get some rest so we don't have someone taking another swing at us." The man seemed to get some ease out of those words and left to do as he was told. After a few moments, Gray turned to Ardgal and said, " While they are sleeping, we can question those men. You have until we go to wake up the manager to." He then turned to Star and said, " Alright beautiful, how about we go around and see if we can find any more agents hidden in the workers?"

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

The general nodded at Gray's order. That was plenty of time for him to extract information--by prefered methods or by pain. "Yes sir." he clicked his comm on, "Keep searching men. Maintain the perimeter. Report back your findings."

"Yes sir."

Ardgal gripped both of his captives by the collars of their shirts and dragged them away to somewhere private, a storage shed he could use for whatever dirty work had to be done here. He tossed them both on piles of ore. Ardgal took a seat across from them on a tractor like machine. He watched and waited for them to wake up. Fortunately it didn't take too long. The looks on their faces were strong and hardened like seasoned professionals.

Ardgal could tell this wouldn't be easy.

"Ancient myth from time out of mind holds a lost god of war," he said removing his helmet. "A god who was mortal, but ascended through his might of arms. He fought so hard and won so many wars that legend holds his men began to worship him. Pain crippled all who oppossed him at the mere look of his eyes. And when he believed it--the gods didn't dare argue with his claim to deity." the general titled his head. "The lost legends state that he would return one day, reincarnated to take his empire back. Do you know what his name was?"

He waited, looking from one to the other with searching eyes, "Ardgal."

The general pulled a blade from his belt. "You both know how this works. I'm going to ask who sent you and why your here. You resist I'll begin to apply pain until you cooperate. I suggest you save yourself the agony and give in. Because you will break eventually. Everyone does, and you know that."

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Star gave a sigh as she looked up the manager as she looked around at the men who seemed to be glad to even sleep as star checked her westar 35 and looked to gray as she started walking forward and looking around" I say we look for those who are awake my guess is the agents will cause chaos while the miners are asleep

She said as she looked around through her helmet as she watched a man pass out right before he reacged"gray whoever is respond able for this mine is breaking several violations and laws these men I'm surprised can do anything"she said as she looked around and barely caught sight of a man sneaking off" love I just saw someone sneaking off I say we give him a Vista no?

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray watched as [member="Ardgal Raxis"] handled his business and began to drag the two prisoners off to the storage shed. He didn't know what was going to happen in there, and likely didn't want to know. His attention was eventually gotten by his wife [member="Stardust Raxis"] when she pointed out that someone was sneaking around. He looked in the direction she indicated, and frowned. They had already gotten out of sight, but could still be followed if they got on top of it. He said, " Yeah, lets find out what they are up to Beautiful. And there is hardly any laws on Seltos right now. No government but their own and its focused on keeping exports up." He then began to head after the sneak.

Gray and Star would not need to take long to find them, as when they went around the corner they could see a small shed for storing smaller items with its door left open not far away. He studied it a moment then said to his wife in a low voice, " Alright, lets find out what they are up to in there. Maybe we can catch them sending a message or something." He would then smile and take a swat at her rump as he got going forward. He moved quickly yet silently up to the shed. He came up to the door way and took a peek inside. What he saw was a human male taking spice in the darkest corner of the shed. He sighed as he saw that and it made sense why the man was sneaking around now.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal looked at both of them, giving them the chance to speak up before things got gruesome. He shook his head and worked the kinks out of his neck. Standing he paced back and forth across the shed, putting his mind and his heart far from here. Torture was a business that warped and changed a man into a monster if he didn't do that--it was a sick, destructive business that did damage to everyone involved that never went away. He picked up a metal iron from the nearby wall, swallowing. I am not here, this isn't me. This is me watching someone else do something else that I would never do.

*****​

Ardgal emerged from the shed, helmet tucked under his arm neatly, like a good professional. Fresh blood splatters tainted his face, armor, and gauntlets. He closed his eyes and let it out with a long hard, breath. That was someone else, somewhere else. That wasn't me. It wasn't. Me. He put it away in a box, setting it beside the other boxes of dark things he had seen and done to survive and take care of his men. It wasn't easy killing a man--it was even worse doing it for a living every day.

"Its done," he said when he found Gray, his voice sounded hollow in his own ears, so fake, so worthy of guilt, "They were sent by someone named Darkhand. The objective was to keep the miners in line and beat out anyone who interfered. Sir--"

"General, we found something," said one of the members of Rancor squad in his ear, "You want to see this, sir. And I think the alor will want to as well."

[member="Gray Raxis"]
[member="Stardust Raxis"]