[The Kathol Outback]: Dominion of Jelucan Hex

[Dax Perl]

Location: Shiva IV
Objective: Hunker down
Nearby: [member="John Shepherd"], [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="Aerin Kath"], [member="2-1B 35"], [member="Cody Bantam"], [member="Yarva Adisu"], [member="Tilzi"]

The work went quicker with two men instead of one. Soon enough, the two men had themselves a sizable foxhole. Hooking the shovel back onto his belt, Dax took up his rifle once more and lowered himself into the hole. Dax rested the barrel of the rifle on the edge of the whole, pointing outwards towards where he expected the OpFor to appear.

Now was the hard part. The waiting. The anticipation...it made him sick. He hated it. But it was always there. He'd rather just hack, slash, and gun down those he needed to. At least if he died it'd be quick. Hopefully...phrik, that's why he hated waiting. Thinking...

 

[Van Bri'tsyd]

Location: Landing Pad
Allies: [member="John Shepherd"] | [member="Aerin Kath"] | [member="Tilzi"] | [member="Yarva Adisu"] | [member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Leo Vandermolen"] | [member="2-1B 35"]
Enemies: CALIAN CONFEDERACY forces
Objective: #2 - Save the droid

A fething droid, great just what he needed, Cody though as the "105" approached the distressed ship.

"Ok clanker, here is the plan, look around for flaps, air brakes, deceleration rockets, whatever the feth you can find to slow that bird down. Engage it and run it till it breaks. We will be locking our tractor beams onto you and pulling you to a safer, less populated area. You job is basically do what you can to slow your descent, give us time to alter your course and slow your ship hopefully enough so you can survive contact with the planet."

With that, Cody motioned to the navigator to moved the medium sized freighter into position above the falling medical transport and lock on. As the "105" kicked in its' own deceleration engines the ship began to shake and buck under the stress. Now it was time to see if the droid could do his job and help the frigate survive...

 

[Leo Vandermolen]

Location: Surface
Allies: @Cody Bantam | @Aerin Kath | [member="John Shepherd"] | [member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Yarva Adisu"]
Enemies: CALIAN CONFEDERACY
Objective: #2 (Settle down)
Post: #5

Leo returned the fist-bump and winked at [member="Dax Fyre"] as he began assisting the force-user in digging the fox-hole. After tiring away at the sand for what seemed like half the day, the hole was deep enough to act as suitable protection to fire from. Dax began scoping out the surrounding area while Leo waited, his eyes skimming over the horizon. The sand-storm was close now, the sand around them slowly churning and swirling, giving warning as to the oncoming storm, both metaphorically and literally.

 

[Dax Perl]

Location: Shiva IV
Objective: Wait
Nearby: [member="John Shepherd"], [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="2-1B 35"], [member="Cody Bantam"], [member="Aerin Kath"], [member="Tilzi"]

"This your first war?" he asked the mercenary. Talking helped ease the mind. Besides. They could be here for a good long while.

The wind had picked up considerably, particles of sand struck his garments with force, turning the black fabric to a dusty brown.

 

[Dax Perl]

Location: Shiva IV
Objective: Wait
Nearby: [member="John Shepherd"], [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="2-1B 35"], [member="Cody Bantam"], [member="Aerin Kath"], [member="Tilzi"]

"This your first war?" he asked the mercenary. Talking helped ease the mind. Besides. They could be here for a good long while.

The wind had picked up considerably, particles of sand struck his garments with force, turning the black fabric to a dusty brown.

 

[2-1B 35]

Location: Crashing Medical Ship
Allies: [member="Cody Bantam"]
Enemies: CALIAN CONFEDERACY
Objective #3: Land safely

35 was ready to take the passengers' lives into his hands. The droid searched frantically for anything to slow the ship's descent as Cody had told them. He wasn't accustomed to having to to land the ships he was stationed on. 35 found a parachute and two rockets. He flipped the switches on the two and the ship jerked, sending 35 smacking into the controls. When he steadied himself, he pressed the comm link button and responded to Cody.

"Alright Sir, we are losing speed but not fast enough! Get your beams ready soon! I estimate about a few minutes until collision. And by the way, don't call me a clanker, I'm a hunk of B1 trash!"

 

[Tarok Vassket]

Location: Shiva IV
Objective: Hunker down
Nearby: [member="John Shepherd"], [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="Aerin Kath"], [member="2-1B 35"], [member="Cody Bantam"], [member="Yarva Adisu"], [member="Tilzi"] [member="Dax Fyre"]

Unlike the others, Tilzi was in the advanced picket lines. She still hadn't sighted a walker, but the ground was tumbling with their advance. The tempo of their March had slowed. Perhaps, Tilzi reasoned, they didn't want to cross the trenches until the infantry had cleared them.

It turned out they were just slowing to take aim.

An entire portion of trench to Tilzi's right vanished in a brilliant explosion. The height of the walkers and the sheer power of their weaponry made a mockery of their defences. She could see it now. Just a silhouette in the storm. It's head turned slowly.

"Fall back!" someone yelled in basic. Tilzi quite agreed. They needed to reach higher ground. Risking both the infantry fire and the wrath of the walkers, she leapt from cover and ran.

 

[John Shepherd]

Location: Foxhole
Objective: #2
Allies: [member="Tilzi"] | [member="2-1B 35"] | [member="Dax Fyre"] | [member="Leo Vandermolen"] | [member="Cody Bantam"] | [member="Yarva Adisu"] | [member="Aerin Kath"]
Post: #8

He sighed soft into his scarf as he sat there peering with his binoculars over the top of his foxhole peering out into the darkness that was the sandstorm. Not hearing or seeing anything he glanced around seeing that everyone had finally dug into their foxholes and they were all peering out in front of them into the dark abyss of the sand watching.... waiting. He knew that soon enough the enemy would be upon them and they would be fighting till the last man. He knew his orders and the plan for this mission and he knew he had to uphold it. Positioning himself better in the foxhole he began peering out again seeing the sand and wind blow all around them. Cleaning off the lens of the binoculars then of his goggles he continued looking out seeing no movement, no sign of anything out there. After a few minutes had passed he had become restless. They should have been ehre by now. But, before he knew it he heard them.... Crash, Crash, Crash. The time had come....

 

[Ashin Varanin]

She lost sight of Commandant Tiberius in the crowd, apart from a glimpse of him with some kind of princess socialite. She tossed him a mental salute of good luck, then found a nice quiet corner with a padded chair. Sheltered by a fern, she ate the hors d'oeuvres and put down both glasses of punch. And as she ate, she stretched out to the Force very, very subtly. The last thing she needed was for some mediocre sensitive to feel a convenient disturbance in the Force. Nevertheless, she needed to get a better sense of the general treachery at work. The feeling of careful, nervous glee was a familiar one after long decades of Dark Side politics. Something was brewing in more than one mind, a concerted plan or movement. She couldn't isolate any specific minds or look too deep, not without risk, so she didn't. Instead she just...listened. It wasn't her specialty, not by a long shot, but she'd been doing this for ages. Sooner or later, hopefully before the situation took form, she might intuit the right direction for her attention.

 

[Joza Perl]

Location: Ballroom
Allies: [member="Matt Justice "]| [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]
Enemies: Qektoth and FO agents
Objective: #1 Infiltrate the ball
Post: #6

At Matt’s request, Joza’s plastic smile faded into a mixture of mild surprise and amusement. “You want me to…what? That’s a poorly executed segue line if I’ve ever heard done.” She chuckled dryly and patted his arm, giving him a wry grin. “First, get rid of the hesitation. As any two-credit pickup artist will tell you, women love confidence. Second,” She held up two fingers as if to help illustrate her point. “It’s too early into the night to ‘take a break’ outside. Usually that sort of thing is reserved for later on after you’re both tired from dancing and mingling and need a little fresh air. Oh, and alcohol helps too.” Patting her stomach, her gaze settled on the bar where she spied a familiar figure.

“And third, I see a friend of mine. Let’s go say hi to Nate, shall we?” She tilted her chin towards the tall, casually dressed figure at the bar and winked at Matt. She still wasn’t entirely sure of the man’s affiliation, and while she could reach into his mind and glean some information, this was more fun.

Tisking as they settled near the bar, Joza offered Nate a smile. “Oh, dear. Didn’t anyone tell you about the dress code? I would have let you borrow one of my gowns!” It had been a while since she’d seen the bounty hunter, and he was a welcome sight. “Nate, Matt. Matt, Nate.” She gestured between her impromptu date and her friend. From the corner of her eye, she spied her actual date getting chummy with a few officers. Seriously, how was Ivan doing that? The man had the likability of a wet paper bag. At least to her.

 

[Thorald Magnusson]

Location: Ballroom
Objective: #1
Allies: [member="Joza Perl"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="3X744"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"]
Post: #6

He sighed softly but nodded towards her as she talked about what he had said, he felt a little dorky but to be honest this was his first formal dance so he could throw it off as a, It's my first dance card and still get away with the very rookie mistake. Before he could say a word he was escorted by his lovely date to one of her friends, dressed very plain which made Matt smile to himself as he nodded towards the man with an outstretched hand to shake his in a greeting.

"Nice to meet your Nate, next time you have any formal gatherings send me a call I have some friends that would make you a great looking suit. But let's get back to the here and now huh?"

He gave a sly smirk at the man as he grabbed a drink sipping on it his mind still clear from his double livers that helped process the alcohol out of his system making drinking more of a leisurely matter then a planned one. He glanced down at Joza and gave her a quick smile before looking back up towards Nate.

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Location: Da Bar my peeps,
Objective: #1
Allies: [member="Joza Perl"], [member="Kimiko"] and @Matt Justice
He ran his fingers over the shiny metal surface of his bracelet, only to sense a familiar presence near. Looking up, flaming eyes greeted his currently inflated pink friend, and the taller male beside her. Returning the smile and feelings, he would stand up straighter, a small mischievous flicker in the flames of his eyes.

"Oh... You know how I just love following rules Joza, but if the offer's still open I will gladly wear one of your gowns. I'll look fine as hell." Winking he would embrace his close friend gently, careful not to damage the goods with his bear hugs, luckily he managed. Without meaning to, he instantly sized up the man before him, and offered his hand simultaneously. "Hello Matt, pleasure to meet you. I'll have take you up on that sometime." He was actually rather happy they duo had approached, as he was soon going to lose his calm demeanor; his on/off ADHD had a way of kicking in whenever he didn't need it to. A small pitcher rested on the bar beside his elbow, some flavored ice water, which he may or may not have stolen from an unsuspecting waiter. "Oh... Joza; care to share a drink?" He would present a glass that looked small in his large hands.

 

[Kimiko Taiyou]

Location: Ballroom, escorting the man of the night, hopefully towards his death
Allies: [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] / @Matt Justice / [member="Joza Perl"] / [member="3X744"] / [member="Bryce Bantam"] / [member="Jorus Merrill"]
Enemies: Quekoth and FO agents
Objective #1, infiltrate the ball and assassinate Commandant Tiberius

The tour had begun as all usually do; Tiberius showing off for the "princess" all the academy's finest he was oh-so-proud to be in charge of. He had even introduced her to his honor graduates, and several other outstanding cadets, this did not bother her in the slightest. She always enjoyed meeting new people, even if those new people were drunk at a party and immediately began hitting on her. Ki was almost glad to have the Commandant with her to cull the advances. He himself, however, was using his position to keep her all to himself and had begun to make subtle advances on his prize.

Ki was playing her part to the best of her ability, looking at all she was shown with wide blue eyes, full of wonder and excitement. Giggling and smiling here and there feigning to be as interested as a grade-schooler with a new subject. She had even asked questions here and there, as an act, and to see if she could gather any useful intel. Her connections to her allies were always on, finding comfort in the fact everyone was nearby. She had even sensed Nate in her proximity, and sent a loving nudge to him, hoping if he saw her, he would be understanding of her current situation.

But the night continued on...

That is, until Tiberius had offered to secure drinks for them before taking his tour elsewhere. Eagerly, Kimiko agreed to the offer and was led to a bar near the rear of the ballroom. This was her chance to put the grand plan to action.

"Princess, what sort of refreshment do you desire?" Tiberius asked with what could actually pass as genuine curiosity.

She playfully tapped her chin in thought,"Hm...A glass of whiskey sounds grand."

Her choice seemed to delight the Commandant and he separated himself from her to place the order.

She took this opportunity to discreetly palm the small pouch of poison, awaiting the chance to slip it into his drink at her first chance...her nervousness grew, but was kept hidden.

Now all she had to do was keep playing her part and wait...

 

[Ashin Varanin]

There'd been a time when Ajira, Ashin, knew her way around minds in bulk. Her wife, Spencer, was widely considered one of the galaxy's great mentalists and empaths. And in part, Ashin had set her on that path. But that was two decades ago now or close enough, and Ashin had spent the bulk of that time specializing. All this to say: she couldn't put her finger on the treachery.

Someone here had lethal intent, though. Several someones.

Not far away, Tiberius emerged from the crowd to speak with the bartender. Scanning the area, Ajira left her chair and sidled up to her friend.

"Something's up, Jaemes. I've got a bad feeling about this."

They'd known each other fairly well for long enough that doubt faded from his eyes in short order. "I'm escorting a princess, Ajira. If someone's making a move for her..."

"That might fit. Watch yourself."

He tossed her a grin that didn't quite match his new worry, and headed back to [member="Kimiko"]

 

[Leo Vandermolen]

Location: Surface (Fox-Hole)
Allies: [member="Cody Bantam"] | @Aerin Kath | [member="John Shepherd"] | @Dax Fyre | [member="Yarva Adisu"]
Enemies: CALIAN CONFEDERACY
Objective: #2 (Have a conversation in the middle of a battlefield)
Post: #6

"For the Outback, yeah." Leo replied. "I've never actually had to do this whole 'lay down your life' thing before..." Leo trailed off, his attention diverted towards the noises of in the distance, they were here. Leo peered over to John's fox-hole not too far away, he'd noticed it as well. The thundering of marching feet, and of something a whole lot bigger...

 

[Nate Phantoms]

Location: The bar...still.
Allies: [member="Kimiko"], [member="Joza Perl"], @Matt Justice, [member="Ajira Cardei"]
Objective: #1

While he was busy mingling with his pink friend and her date, he had managed to keep a tab on the one whom he was most interested in, [member="Kimiko"] was being escorted around by her date as well, but he happy that she had managed to signal that she knew he was there, feelings of passion filling him as he met her gaze for a split second before the crowd blocked his line of sight. Love ya too hun. His attention however, would now be focused on her date, as he met with another woman, this one having an air of confidence about her. Small talk was exchanged, and that made him weary, mostly because if something went sour, and Ki was in the midst of it; he'd flip out.

Of course, the same went for anyone else he held close, but she was at the top of his list for the most part. Not gonna lie, he did love Joza and BB, and all the other people he forgot to name, but he loved Ki. Hopefully, nothing would happen that force him to choose or do something rash.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMLrGCfFOgk​

​

PARTS UNKNOWN

He would have liked to have started the day out with breakfast.

Except the autochef was cracked in about twelve different pieces, with a lot of the internal volume sucked out into space when that part of the ship had been decompressed from the damage inflicted during the Qektoth encounter. So, it looked like he was going native whether he liked the idea or not.

He dropped a blaster pistol into a holster slug down over his right thigh. He had his lightsaber hanging from off his utility belt, and left his Jedi robes on the ship. For this venture, he changed into Corellian attire. A plain shirt, dark trousers, spacer's boots, and a jacket. A little less conspicuous. If anyone picked him up, he'd look a little more like the stereotype of a stranded Corellian spacer on some unknown alien world.

With the power off-line, he'd have to manually operate the airlock and loading ramp... which was a lot of work. So, instead, he just jumped out from the hole in the side of the ship. And then, as one direction seemed about as good as any at this point, just started walking forward from there.

He brought his HoloLink up. A blue scanline hologram appearing as the device created a graphic depiction of the search for any kind of transmissions or radio signals. Nothing was coming up, which seemed odd. He'd definitely seen farms from the air when he'd been bringing the Queen in for a crash landing. If there was a colony here, then there ought to have been transmissions of some kind that were detectable.

Perhaps it was folly to rely as much on technology as he did sometimes...

Closing his eyes, the tow-headed Anzat held out arm outstretched as he lowered the self-imposed barriers around his mind.

Telepathy could be terrifying. Thoughts that were not your own. Emotions that impressed themselves upon you. Snippets of people's being zipping around you like stray shots fired form a gun, intersecting and striking you when you could least expect it.

In his case, it frightened him for all those reasons, and more. It was easy.

It came naturally to him. Telepathy was how his species hunted. How they identified and tracked their prey. Anzati were predators who stalked in mind fields in search of sapient life, so that they could feed upon it like vampires.

The probosis that was normally concealed within a deceptively human face now slithered out, undulating in the air like tenuous antennae as the boy hunted -- allowed his mind to roam free and search the world around him for signs of life...

He turned his head, staring off to the right, somewhere over the horizon.

The probosis retracted, withdrawing back inside of him as the barriers were restored. Safeguards placed, brick by brick, as the child drew in a deep breath. It was frightening, to allow himself to be the monster. To step into that role. To see through the monster's eyes.

He felt all the more terrible for how very comfortable it was. How easily the proverbial shoe fit Cinderella's foot.

Starting out in the direction he'd sensed, the child made his way through the brush toward that distant horizon.

 

[Joza Perl]

Location: Ballroom
Allies: [member="Matthew Justice"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"]
Enemies: Qektoth and FO agents
Objective: #1 Infiltrate the ball
Post: #7

Joza chuckled as Nate bantered back. “On second thought, you might be able to pull it off better than me. I might get jealous.” Accepting the hug, she squeezed him back, a bit inhibited by her baby bump. While her current state made it increasingly difficult to move around, she was in a good mood. Why wouldn’t she be? She was at a party with people she liked, and there was free food. The whole killing Tiberius thing was sort of background for her. “Water would be nice. Thank you, Nate.” Smiling at her friend, she took a grateful sip followed by a gulp from the glass. Being pregnant was exhausting.

Glass still raised to her lips, she managed to trace Nate’s line of sight toward a lovely tanned woman having words with their target. A brief extension of her natural empathy allowed her to pick up on a prickle of concern coming from Tiberius’ friend, and her eyes narrowed a tic. A barb of regret jabbed at her heart for pawning this dangerous task onto @Kimiko. While the Zeltron had faith in her friend, she’d never forgive herself if something happened to the Kitsune because of her doing.

A trace of Ajira’s concern was not the only emotion she’d picked up on. Lowering the glass, she cocked a brow at Nate and gave him a knowing half-smile. “She’ll be fine. She’s a smart girl.” Speaking softly, she reached out to give Nate’s arm a gentle squeeze of assurance. Nevertheless, they’d be looking out for Kimiko. Their mission was now at the forefront of her mind, and though she remained unassuming, gears turned inside the woman’s head. Once Kimiko slipped the poison into his drink, they would have roughly an hour before the effects would take hold. Idly, she patted her stomach, looking down at the large bump.

“So,” Sipping on her drink, Joza leisurely leaned against the counter the best she could and observed the crowds for a few moments. With the hum of the gathering around them, her voice wouldn’t carry too far. Tilting her head towards Matt, she gave him a brief once-over before speaking. “You ever kill a man?”

 

[Thorald Magnusson]

Location: Ballroom
Allies: [member="Joza Perl"] | [member="Nate the Bounty Hunter"] | [member="Kimiko"] | [member="Bryce Bantam"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"]
Enemies: [member="Ajira Cardei"]
Objective: #1
Post: #7

A image flashed through his head as he thought of his time back home with his mother and her Zeltron family. The memory flashed in his head what seemed like for hours but only a moment it took to remember every detail that happened that day. The image of the man as he stood over him his hands wrapped around his throat his Half sister sobbing next to him as she watched what he was doing to her boyfriend. He can remember the grasp of the man on his arms as he struggled against him as he slowly depleted the air to his lungs before he felt the grip loosen and the man stare blankly up at the sky. He had looked down at the man then at his hands shaking his head, before he flashed back into reality shaking his head looking down clearing his head then looking back towards Joza.

"Have I ever killed anyone? Uh... that's a hard question to answer. Gulp Well yes technically I have yes. But it's not anything I like to remember, or talk about. It's a... hard topic to get myself to talk about, or think about. If you don't mind... not talking about it."

As he talked his voice wavered breaking every once and a while until at the end his voice was only audible to Joza as he averted his eyes from her taking a big gulp from his drink, now he wished he only had one liver, so he could forget about the images that were running through his head, over and over and over again, the images flashing filling his head, he kept shaking his head trying to clear his mind but it just wouldn't stop.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

Location: Ballroom

An Aqualish blustered in wearing what looked like a stylish orange spacer vest and whatever else one might expect an Aqualish to be wearing.

He made a beeline for the nearest couple and threw an arm around [member="Matthew Justice"]'s shoulders. If he saw the tears standing in Justice's eyes, it didn't stop him from launching into a thickly accented pitch.

"Chobaso, baatu baatu. Let's make a bargon. Can Narbo interest you in some brain booster? I use only finest starship paint. Give you and the chik here a good time, eh?"

[member="Joza Perl"]