The Last of Us

[Prennis Keeoli]

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Location[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: Hoth wastes, cave [/SIZE]}​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Equipment[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: Cold wear, blaster pistol, medkit, [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]holographic disguise matrix }[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]With[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: ([/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]NPCs[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]) Eustachya Myrian +
Staff Sergeant Idris Rooseveil }[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Tag[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: [/SIZE][member="Cedric Grayson"] | [member="D.E.L.T.A."] |​

[member="Lulu"] | [member="Desmond C'artyom"] }​

~ † ~​

The desperate crunching of show beneath sandals closed in on the nurse and ranger.

"The storm has changed course!" Eustachya had to raise her voice over the distant-but-quickly-approaching gusts of wind. "What says your map?" Even as she asked, she glanced over Idris' shoulder to the three-dimensional hologram projecting from his gauntlet. He pointed at a steep topographic drop off. "We should check that out. Might be a cave." "How far is it?" "Eleven o' clock, nine meters," Idris answered Prenn, pointing in the direction.

Immediately, Prenn pushed up her left sleeve just enough to activate the vitals tracking on her own gauntlet and targeted the cave. There was a moment of silence, allowing the initial boot up, and then three different signatures, showing various biometrics, pinged. Two were relatively normal while the third was, to say the least, alarming to the ex-First Imperial doctor:

Blood pressure was plummeting. Heat rate was spiking. Internal temperature was fluctuating almost erratically.

As the trio jogged the short distance to what they now realized was definitely a cave, they also noticed Desmond's jet black pod. If a storm had not been chasing them, Idris would have stopped the group to err on the side of caution. They didn't have the luxury of that now, but he did speed in front of the two women. Eustachya, though, was soon alongside him with her arm locked around Prenn's.

 

[Placeholder 0124]

Gurb, the Koaxi Ortolan

Several hundred meters below the planet's surface...




Something in the heavens stirred.


Gurb had been busying himself with his usual daily tasks when the world above began to shake. At first, he wrote it off as one of the planet's common tremors that came about when the ice started to shift. The difference was that the tremors did not stop: they in fact seemed to be growing more violent.

The Ortolan quickly went about shoving whatever wasn't bolted down into the various storage containers carved into his icy home. The shaking rattled his bones, but a subterranean life had allowed him to grow used to such unpleasantness. Once he was certain everything that could be secured was so, he scooped up his shattergun and went trundling off down the tunnel that led to the rest of the village.

Gurb walked out from a narrow tunnel into a wide chasm that had been carved for miles beneath the ice. Normally the blue-tinted light of the great hall would have comforted him, but with the way it was shaking all it did was feed his panic.

It looked as if the entirety of the tribe had gathered within the great hall. Hundreds of Ortolans were packed in around the speaker's stage.

The chieftain scanned the crowd, and when he spoke, his voice boomed over all others. "<Do we have a volunteer?>"

It seemed Gurb had arrived after the chieftain had started speaking.

"<No one?">

Not a single blue hand rose. The chief pinched at his trunk, grumbling. "<Look, we have to find out what's going on outside, and all the cameras went kaput.">

No hands.

Gurb, overwhelmed with a sense of purpose and a desire to get out of the caves before they collapsed in on everyone, decided to raise his hand.

"<Ah, Gurb! The Koaxi appreciate your service."> Chief flung his hand toward the ceiling. <"Now get up there and figure out what's causing all this ruckus.">

Gurb found himself standing a little taller as he strode alongside the crowd. He met the eyes of Miss Gurdita. Perhaps she would let him participate in the mating ritual if he survived.

With his mind filled with images of Miss Gurdita's beautiful trunk and sensual flesh rolls, Gurb marched on toward the surface.

 

[Desmond C'artyom]

Desmond sighed as he listened to Lulu's clever first strike. Damn, why hadn't I thought of that. It was apparent Desmond would have to go in first now. He was unequipped with the mental capacity needed to come back after such a devastating witticism and didn't want to look cowardly and out right say he was scarred. The worse thing that could happen was that he would get mauled or disemboweled by a giant yeti, Desmond told himself. Swallowing hard he decided to play it off and to put on his best sense of false bravado. Taking a deep breath Desmond put on a devilish grin and looked to Lulu

"Of course, I wouldn't want you to ruin your beautiful complexion..." He grumbled between gritted teeth

Desmond knew he was being sarcastic, but for some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that part of him meant it... Desmond shook his head as these strange emotions sent his stomach in flips and twirls, he passed it off as simply the fear of being eaten alive. He took another deep breath and nodded to himself. He was as ready as he'd ever be. He began to slowly march through the winds with arms extended only slightly before him. His hands shook uncontrollably and not just because the cold. As he made it half way to the entrance he retrieved pistol from hip.

"I've got a blaster and have never been trained to properly use it! So, you better be scared!" He cried into the cavern.

The coward reached the entrance to the cave and peered within. He extended arm with pistol and swung it wildly about, veering left to right. He nearly jumped out of his boots when he saw a flash of pink move from behind a rock.

"LULU! I'M TO YOUNG TO DIE!" He cried in a crescendo that would make Whitney Houston jealous.

But the strange pink monster appeared from behind the rock and Desmond was relieved when he found it to simply be a cyclops. A human female.

"P-princess?" Desmond nervously asked the girl.

The girl looked to young and strange even for Desmond's standards, but that didn't mean she wasn't rich. He cleared his throat and threw the false bravery back on.

"We're here to rescue you!"

 

[Lulu]

The mandalorian ceremoniously bowed, allowing Desmond to take whatever lead he desired into the cave before Wilhelm screaming a plea for Lulu to save him. That seemed to be the case so far. At first, she was rather surprised, no rather shocked, that he took her up on the suggestion. There was an unwritten rule among scavengers that those who fought with melee weapons went in first, you know, to provide a distraction for creatures such as Yeti's to wail on while the ranged attackers returned such wailing at a closer distance; maybe he was just being stupid.

Or maybe he was being brave. The stalwart reply to her witty comment. The devillish grin. The way he strutted to the entrance, as brave a-..

"I'VE GOT A BLASTER AND HAVE NEVER BEEN TRAINED TO PROPERLY USE IT."

Nevermind.

Just before Lulu began her own descent into the small cave to which she had before now only given a tertiary glance to, her rather poor eyes gazed into the Blizzard. Unusually strong, even for Hoth. Clearly we're missing some vital part of this entire puzzle. Is that peopl-..

Just before her brain could finish the thought and hone in on the strange outlines in the distance, the sounds of yelps from her 'hero' dragged her attention with a sigh, quickly shortening the distance between Lulu and the group of three now; unfastening the sickle and chain and getting into an aggressive stance, attempting to pull Desmond back a short distance, or just enough so she could bodyblock whatever eldritch horror had spawned such a scream.

Her eyes flashed forward and saw the pink form, though the darkness prevented her from identifying it just now. Her head tilted to the right, maintaining a forward posture but allowing the corner of her mouth to be spotted by Desmond.

"Desmond I'm not your princes-.." and then her head tilted forward, "Oh you mean her" scowling at whatever creature had drawn the playboy's attention.

~ [member="Desmond C'artyom"] I [member="D.E.L.T.A."] I [member="Cedric Grayson"] I [member="Prennis Keeoli"] ~

 

[Burc’ya Narric]

One speeder was happenstance, one speeder was sheer good luck, two speeders was something else, by the time that he had registered the second swoop coming up behind him on his motion tracker, he knew he already had ages too much forward momentum to come to a proper stop in time, so instead he dived into the snow beneath him and let the vehicle roar overhead. The second he was clear he brought himself to his feet again, starting to double-time it after the pair. He was not going to be lost in a snow bank, he was not destined to be beast that haunted these plains, no, he was Mando! He had been through hell and back, he would see himself through this if it was the last thing his logic center was able to process.

“Haar'chak!” He called out into the rage of the storm once again.

While he didn’t feel cold, he didn’t feel the wind beating against his plating, he understood something seemed off about this particular tempest. Whatever it may be, his better judgement told him that perhaps it would be better to not spend as much time as he had been in the storm. Shelter would be preferable at this rate, even if he could technically go without it. He wanted comfort, a nice fire and friends to talk to, exchange stories and laugh, how he had longed for that, it had been literal ages since he had been given that opportunity.

After sometime, the droid began to think he had lost his ghost-speeders, maybe they had been created by failing circuits from ages of misrepair, or just the lack of a proper memory wipe in ages beyond ages.

Then, he heard something, just in the far distance, reverberating with a slight echo, it took his mind a click or two to process the fact it was in Basic, a language he had nearly forgotten he knew.

"I've got a blaster and have never been trained to properly use it! So, you better be scared!"

With that, the droid began to trudge off into the direction of the scream, until eventually the cave began to meld into sight, and a few figures vanishing just into it’s mouth caught his eye through the blurring of the storm.

Burc’ya suddenly stopped, frozen almost, he hadn’t properly interacted with anyone since before the raid… was he supposed to just walk up there and tap on the shoulder of them, give a nice wave? Should he yell from down here to get their attention? Oh, that could take their attention from whatever was in the cave, perhaps there were bandits or others who stalked the night! That would explain the blaster… should he draw his carbine? The indecisiveness of a highschooler wracked the droid, first impressions counted, and he was dead set on making this one count…

Eventually, he found that he would trail, just slightly behind the figures, and wait for them to settle their current bout before wandering up, possibly interrupting something. He was a Mando, but he had some sense of respect after all. The droid, however, seemed to have lacked basic social graces in that mindset, as if either of the figures would look down slope, their would simply be a black durasteel silhouette amongst the snow and breeze. Perhaps moving closer with every take, in the droid’s mind, wanting to save from butting in on what seemed like an important moment, from an observer? A stalker.

---

⦾ Prennis Keeoli ⦾ Cedric Grayson ⦾ Lulu ⦾ Desmond C'artyom ⦾ Darth Maliphant ⦾ D.E.L.T.A. ⦾

 

[Adean Castor]

"...favored reasoning over emotion and such believed..."​

Ardinia Crofte was only half listening to the lecture, a stylus in hand, bent over a datapad meant for note taking. The notes were barely legible, with doodles sprawling over and around texts, covering the screen space more than actual words. The material was far from a page turner, Ardine fighting back a yawn every couple minutes, doing her best to avoid nodding off, but it was a battle in which she was coming up short in. There was an extra weight attached to her eyelids as the lecture went on. Doodles warped more into scribbles as her grip on the stylus lessened.

"This theory demonstrates that..."​

The piercing headache hit with the drop of a pen, Ardine's head slamming on the desk before hands dropped everything to clutch at her forehead, as if to hold everything together lest her head actually split open. For just a moment, the lecture hall grew silent and Ardine's person froze, intent on not drawing attention to herself despite the mental onslaught. This is fine, it's going to be fine. Just wait it out and...

It was the frigid cold that claimed her attention next. As the headache subsided, both disbelief and confusion almost radiated off the woman as she seemed to trade a desk for a blizzard. The hands clutching her head shifted to her arms, the sweater and jacket combo that had been plenty warm before now hardly helping against snow and ice. "What is happening?!" Short of breathe, chilled to the bone and then some, Ardenia made for the first shelter she saw, trying to make some sense out of the sudden storm.

[member="Prennis Keeoli"] | [member="Cedric Grayson"] | [member="D.E.L.T.A."] |[member="Lulu"] | [member="Desmond C'artyom"] | [member="Burc’ya Narric"] | [member="Darth Maliphant"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Darth Rage"]​

 

[Vaulkhar]

"Brother!"

Vaulkhar turned to face Constantinius with a perked brow. His towering brother strode towards him with a familiar grin. To most it would probably appear handsome or charming. To Vaulkhar, it was a goofy symbol of his well meaning brother's good intent. Vaulkhar nodded in greeting before returning to his work on his faithful ship, the Vagabond. Most of the halfbreed's family took good care in ensuring their servants took care of the menial labor not befitting nobility. Vaulkhar on the other hand preferred to manage his own belongings on his own. It was unsurprising given his heritage as a bastard beneath the strongest Sith Lord in the galaxy. Vaulkhar grew up without his father's aid and worked to ensure he would continue to function without it.

"Vaulkhar, please, I insist you allow my engineers to take care of your ships repairs. It should be done thrice as fast. We can enjoy a meal before you're off on whatever silly quest you've taken upon yourself."

A half smile pulled the corner of Vaulhar's lip up. To call his quest silly was not far off, but it was the only direction he had left. He dropped the fuel cell and straightened. His gaze met his older brother's, followed by a shrug.

"Very well. What can go wrong?"

​

Everything.

Apparently everything could go wrong.

Vaulkhar sat at the helm of the Vagabond, his personal Assassinn Droid sat beside him. The duo worked fervently in the hopes of leveling out the ship, as one of the ship's numerous turbines burst out of the blue. The ship was quickly running out of fuel, offering Vaulkhar a few precious moments of time to make a decision on what to do. They certainly couldn't make it through hyperspace in the condition the ship was in. His gaze shifted to the massive white planet slowly spinning beside him. A grimace settled uncomfortably on his face.

Hoth, a frozen planet full of dangerous creatures.

Vaulkhar hated Hoth, he hated the cold, and he hated his last trip to the icy planet. In the past he joined various other Sith in assaulting a communications station on the planet. Things did not go according to plan, resulting in the halfbreed being abducted and imprisoned by the Silver Jedi. Months were spent in captivity until Vaulkhar managed to convince Thurion to release him with the promise of turning a new leaf. And to be fair, Vaulkhar tried his damn hardest to make something new of himself outside of the dark side. Unfortunately, when his father called him back he returned.

Another reason to hate Hoth was quickly stored to memory as his ship rocketed towards the planet's frozen surface. He and the droid said nothing, the objective was clear enough.

The Vagabond lit up in flame as it fell closer and closer to the surface below. Had there not been a massive blizzard assaulting the planet, it likely be seen for miles. Instead, the ship was camouflaged in the storm as it descended. Above the howling blizzard [member="Ardinia Crofte"] would suddenly hear a roaring boom as the ship's damaged turbine exploded and sent it crashing into the snow. The Vagabond slid for hundreds of feet before stopping. Unfortunately, the ship was 'aided' in stopping via ramming into the side of a large, stationary glacier.

 

[Placeholder 0128]

(Phone post)

Getting out of the scathing cold had calmed Cedric's senses somewhat. The cave they found themselves in was still freezing, but there was no wind, which was a mercy he was endlessly grateful for. He wavered between reality and the empyrean, his mind drifting between lucidity and delirium as painkillers, adrenaline, trauma, and sheer force of will intermingled for control of his body. In that delirium, he could make out the pink-haired woman's face with the vagueness one might associate with a dream. "Good to meet you," he mumbled disjointedly, his head lolling about as he struggled to make better sense of his surroundings. He recognized the name Hardline. The old droid had served within the Dominion in times long since past, which made Cedric certain that this one, DELTA she called herself, was a friend. Choosing to trust her, Cedric settled into his comfy position behind the rock, and allowed his eyes to drift shut.

What he felt when he closed his eyes was unexpected. Several life forms were approaching the cave, likely unfortunate bystanders when the storm had erupted. Even still, he had not felt any of these people when coming down to the planet. he assumed Maliphant's power had shrouded them from his view. He was about to return to reality when a familiar voice called out across the void. It was not one he'd expected, but then today was full of surprises.

"Loske?" he asked both aloud and within his own mind. He allowed his voice to bridge the gap of space between the two of them, and when he spoke, his voice would be far more coherent. "Is that you Loske?" He asked again.

He waited in silence for a response, but the screams of those nearby stole his attentions.

Grunting with pain from the effort, Cedric hoisted himself up with shaking hands to peer over the rock he lay behind. He could vaguely make out the shape of three figures, and what looked like more just beyond the cave's mouth. He couldn't well comprehend what the yelling was for, but he had a few guesses.

Preparing himself for a possible conflict, Cedric called upon the empyrean's energies to fuel his mangled limbs. They did not respond as eagerly as he would have liked, nor did the surge of energy allow him to do anything more than rise to his feet if he so desired.

Frustrated, Cedric slumped back to the ground, a string of curses falling from his lips as he once more reached out into the empyrean if only to see what might he might find in its depths.

 

[D.E.L.T.A.]

The man who stood before her could barely be called a man. Certainly he tried to present himself as a brave savior of sorts, but the way he was holding his gun was all she needed to see to understand that he had never actually used it before. This man was as much of a threat as a lost puppy.

Delta walked up the to man, not revealing any emotion, before quickly yanking the firearm out of his hands, tossing it off near the boulder that Cedric was leaned up against.

"I am keeping that until you learn how to use it. Your shooting form is abysmal and is a threat to yourself and others." She said before walking back over to the boulder, leaning up against it.

"Mr. Grayson said to allow you to stay here, so I will allow it as well. If you try anything hostile I will not hesitate to terminate you."

Her voice was in a cold monotone. Not quite robotic, but certainly not normal for a human. It showed no emotion and caused many to get chills down their spine. It was like she had her emotions turned off.

She noticed the woman standing further back at the entrance to the cave, and a little beyond herz the strange Droid. A but beyond him, were even more people, it seemed like everyone in the sector had decided to show up to this particular cave. She didn't care all that much, it was just more work to feed and care for all of them.

Ideally the next group of people would be more competent than this pathetic excuse for a Chiss. The implication that she needed saving was almost disgusting. Almost

"We will need some sort of fire, Chiss, you and your human and Droid friends will handle that. Unless you prefer freezing to death. That is also an option."

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Elrood ​

Radall Central ​

19:33​

​

A faint whisper sent a chill to the nape of her neck, blonde hairs standing on end. The whisper receded into the void of her mind, although the lingering touched stayed. Then a much louder emphasis touched her, a question. A question for her and to her.

​

“OH MY GOD!” ​

Loske’s eyes snapped open, shaking her hands excitedly as all of her muscles tightened and she jumped up to stand. “Oh my god! Frank! Oh my god!” She couldn’t contain the squeal of excitement, the enthusiasm that tore through her veins and imbued her exhilarated gestures from that point. Which was a stark parallel to the hour she’d just spent sitting in silence and projecting her voice.

The intelligent astromech had been napping through the course of Loske’s projection, and was rudely awakened. If his mistress wasn’t so endearingly thrilled, he may have been grumpier about it. Machines weren’t inherently in good moods or bad moods when they were reactivated, but it was a trait he’d observed from organic individuals that he’d adopted into his self-built persona.

“Holy kriffing kriff Frank, I did it! I did it!”

You spoke back?

“Yeah baby, this tempest is now a TWO WAY RADIO!” She held up her fingers in a ‘V’ shape for additional emphasis, the other hand proudly thumbed her sternum. Her grin was mad, cheshire-like from ear to ear with radiated pride.

Who was it?

Loske was so excited she could barely reason. Her expression evidenced obvious panicked searching before she settled on something she could agree with. “I think it’s Cedric, from Metellos again.”

How’s your stomach?

It was like he reminded her The Force made her sick. Her grin unfaltering, Loske held out a weak thumbs up. She was about to admit she was going to vomit in only a handful of seconds, but the nausea manifested in a much quicker surge than her sentence could. Discomfort threatened at the base of her lower lip along her teeth and the pilot’s long legs quickly crossed to the receptacle in her bunker’s refresher. After a minute of hoarking into the basin, she wiped the back of her hand against her mouth, washed her hands, swished some peppermint around and re-emerged. Her expression remained triumphant.

“Definitely a two way radio now.”

You didn’t come this far to get this far, can you keep going?

She exhaled heavily, wide-eyed with a loose shake of her head and a shrug before she crossed back to the edge of her bed and took a seat. While she straightened and shifted to get into the right position (same one as last time, she was now superstitious about the success of the connection), Frank rolled through some records of any sort of Jedi mentorship he could find. Now would be a good time for her parents to play a more active role in the clone’s life.

Loske exhaled, drummed her fingertips against her thighs, and inhaled to focus. Some of this felt like muscle memory, pieces of her constitution acting out of nonexistent routine. And there she was. Back into the dark void of what she imagined as a cavern. She couldn’t see [member="Cedric Grayson"], nor could she feel anything about his situation, but she had heard him. Whatever steps she could retrace, she did. Hopefully he hadn’t heard her excited outburst -- she still had no idea how much of her mind he could read at any given time. Or how far away he was now.

“Yes. Yes, it’s me.” She thought intensely, furrowing her brow and squinting heavily. “How cool is this? It’s me, oh..but it’s me because I heard your pain? What's happening? Are you okay.”

Again, she had no idea if all of this rambling was reaching him, or if only fragments, or how this was even happening but in the meantime a basic two way connection was pretty darn to heckin’ cool.

 

[Desmond C'artyom]

Desmond watched as Lulu put herself between he and the little cyclops. Such an act puzzled the Chiss, but he welcomed the human shield. However it soon became clear the little one eyed twerp was no threat to Desmond. It also soon became clear she was no princess. And it also became clear Desmond was never going to get a good look at Lulu's behind under all those layers.

The little one eyed monstrosity came forth and Desmond shrank back as it yanked his blaster pistol from hand, then speaking in a monotonous voice that would put a librarian to sleep it stated

"I am keeping that until you learn how to use it. Your shooting form is abysmal and is a threat to yourself and others."

Desmond mouth fell agape at the little knob gobbler's presumptuous nature. Desmond merely responded by sticking his tongue out and making a face that was sure to irk the little she devil.

Come all this way to rescue them and this is the thanks! Des thought as the little pink haired trollop continued.

"We will need some sort of fire, Chiss, you and your human and Droid friends will handle that. Unless you prefer freezing to death. That is also an option."

Desmond stopped making his strange face at the troll and sighed. She was right, but lucky for them Desmond had thought ahead. He went back out into the blizzard and headed towards the pod. Upon his arrival at the speeder he opened up the canopy and fished out a large metallic suitcase like device.

He saw the droid the little creep spoke of and Desmond merely atempted to hand it the portable heater. Happy to pass the labor on to someone else. But, then it dawned on Desmond... He hadn't come with any droid!

"LULU, PINK HAIRED HOBGOBLIN! SAVE ME!"

 

[Burc’ya Narric]

The droid had allowed his sight to stray from the group for a moment, getting caught up in the storm around them. He found something oddly beautiful about the way the winter winds twisted and rolled, like a ship lost at sea, over and over, and his head actually began to bob and weave as he followed and individual flake as it went, then, he was brought back to reality once again, by the same voice as before.

"LULU, PINK HAIRED HOBGOBLIN! SAVE ME!"

The droid wasn’t quite sure what a hobgoblin was, but, he was dead certain that people in general didn’t just demand to be saved unless they thought they were in life threatening situations. He wasn’t planning on anyone here to die, he had too many questions, damned sitting by and letting their little spout wander off, he was Mando! He had to take action, Clan Narric was founded on a basic concept of good will to your fellow men, and that just so happened to include Chiss…

It was at this point that he was close enough to make out details such as species, seeing that familiar blue tint of a comrade lost so long ago, nostalgia? He assumed it was so.

He brought his carbine out, holding it at his side and pointed down at the snow as he began to trudge up to the entrance of the cave, the droid went to yell.

“Pare sol! B-...” The droid stopped himself, both in his walk and speak, just in the view of the cave mouth, it was if everything reset for a brief moment as he shook his head, restarting, but this time in Basic.

“What’s going on? Anyone hurt? Anyone in danger?” His eyes scanned the gathering in front of him, mechanically, taking in every single detail that the scene had to offer. He was… surprised, in a way, but a rag tag group of what seemed like… smugglers? Didn’t seem that odd when you spent a week as a stowaway on a sand-skiff.


---

⦾ Prennis Keeoli ⦾ Cedric Grayson ⦾ Lulu ⦾ Desmond C'artyom ⦾ Darth Maliphant ⦾ D.E.L.T.A. ⦾

 

[Lulu]

How irritating Lulu conspired in her mind as she glanced down at the almost child like figure who easily removed her companion's weapon from his hand. No, the pink haired girl was not irritating, but rather the ridiculous levels of cowardness that Desmond was showcasing to the disjointed group most definitely was. "While I can agree with you as to just how.." as she glared backwards the Chiss, spotting his rather childish face he was now making in response to having his toys taken off him, "challenged my companion is, I think it would be in your best interests to not suggest any form of 'termination', we're not here to kill you."

An oddity of the woman's voice ~ doubt? ~ No. She knew they weren't here to kill them. Infact she was still perplexed as to why Desmond was driven to this particular cave out of the thousands on the planet to find something that might get her a better room on his 'ship'.

Before a jeering comment could be made towards the pink haired figure, she heard the pleas of Desmond once more.

"LULU, PINK HAIRED HOBGOBLIN! SAVE ME"

There was a sly grunt in response, "My hero" turning around after a few seconds of more glancing, now spotting another figure that she could only pinpoint as being 'Mr Grayson' who had so humbly invited them into the cave. How delightful.

Noticeably, there was no such urgency as she made way back to Desmond this time. What even is a hobgoblin? She thought to herself, the chill breeze and snowflakes occasionally slapping her face as she exited the crevice and spotted the man at his swoop pod, more importantly with no such 'hobgoblin.'

But, for the first time on the entire excursion; some excitement. Another figure off in the distance, what she took to be a droid based on its voice; its weapon drawn seemingly training on the cave. FINALLY. Lulu's gloved hands, each of the fingerprints with grip assistance, elongated the sickle's chain, granting enough slack to spin it slightly while maintaining some semblance of control. She shouted back, "No danger, not unless you want there to be." afterwards chuckling, and continuing in a similar volume, "We need a fire. I'm assuming someone is injured in the cave."

~ [member="Burc’ya Narric"] I [member="Desmond C'artyom"] I [member="D.E.L.T.A."] I [member="Cedric Grayson"] I [member="Prennis Keeoli"] ~

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Location[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]:[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt] Hoth wastes, cave [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]}[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Equipment[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: Cold wear, blaster pistol, medkit, [/SIZE]​

diagnostichttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/145519-prenns-diagnostic-gauntlet/[SIZE=9pt] gauntlet, holographic disguise matrix }[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]With[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: ([/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]NPCs[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]) Eustachya Myrian +
Staff Sergeant Idris Rooseveil }[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=9pt]{ [/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]Tag[/SIZE][SIZE=9pt]: [/SIZE][member="Lulu"] | [member="Burc’ya Narric"] | [member="Desmond C'artyom"] |​

[member="Loske Matson"] | [member="D.E.L.T.A."] | [member="Cedric Grayson"] }​

~ † ~​

The trio had neared the others already occupying the cave enough to hear them speaking to one another. Coincidentally, as soon as Prennis heard the name Grayson from the mouth of the pink-haired HRD, her hand shot to the waist tie holding her black peacoat closed. "Cedric?" she called as she subsequently unclipped the medkit from her inner belt. "I'm a doctor." Her voice and eyes swarmed with urgency rivaling the storm outside as she hurried to his side, holding up her hands and kit as she passed D.E.L.T.A. in a peaceful gesture. Somewhat hesitatingly skirting around the droid herself, Eustachya followed after silently bidding Idris to stay behind.

No sooner had she rounded the rock that shielded Cedric partially from view did Prennis slide into a kneeling position at Cedric's side. "Hold on, I gotcha. It'll be--" With one glance over the Jedi Master's ragged body, her blood ran cold. The last time he had come to her in a similar state, she had had a surgery team and a well-stocked First Order hospital at her disposal. This time, she had the assistance of a grab bag of smugglers, Force-users, and soldiers, and a rudimentary medical kit.

But she would be damned if she didn't make it work.

"It'll be okay," she tried again after swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. Setting down the kit, Prenn quickly shrugged off her long coat, balled it, and tossed it over Cedric to Eustachya. "Hold that." A winter jacket was not the easiest attire to do her job in, unlike a good doctor's coat. The adrenaline coursing her veins would keep her warm, at least for the time being.

She hovered her left hand, open and palm-down, over Cedric's chest. Her diagnostic gauntlet activated and, after she switched the nanite array setting to recuperative, a green mist of microscopic nanobots expelled from an emitter on the fingerless glove's underside. She had gotten reasonably accustomed to Voph's gadget gift, though she had only used the healing nanotech a handful of times and the vital tracking feature even less. Neither, she found, where very helpful in the most common situations she found herself in at the Halls of Healing, but the sensors, onboard comm, and flashlight were.

The nanobots filtered into Cedric's body through his wounds, where they quickly found and patched many of the sources of his internal bleeding before returning to the gauntlet. Meanwhile, Idris offered to the group, "I have some gel fuel and a fire starter." As he spoke, he began feeling the utility pockets on his body armor; it was in one of them. "There anything burnable in here?" What was he thinking? Not as far as he knew--this was Hoth after all. So instead of letting anyone reply first, he suggested, "Maybe we can get a critter. Burn the fat?"

 

[Placeholder 0128]

It was almost peaceful, laying there on the cold ground as a large number of strangers yelled at one another around you. Cedric could only pay them all half a mind. His thoughts were swimming between coherence, primal instinct, and nonsense. He heard someone scream about gremlins or some such, and the trademark tinny voice of something that was very well not organic. Aside from that, he heard the voice of [member="Loske Matson"] whispering in the back of his skull.

That gave him something to cling to. Something to set his mind to so that his consciousness might not slip away. He drew upon the primal energies of Hoth, willing the empyrean to replenish his shattered cells and maintain his strength long enough that he might survive for help to arrive.

"Yes, it's me," Cedric's voice was weak as it murmured across the telepathic link. "I went and found our Sith Lord... he's dealt with for now, but I'm not doing too well myself." He paused, the effort starting to make a headache form at the base of his skull. "On Hoth." Was all he could manage before the effort became too taxing.

The Jedi breathed a heavy sigh as he returned to realty, his eyes falling open to see the face of someone familiar.

A reflexive smile found its way onto his features as he eyed Prennis and her companions. His gaze was hazy and unfocused, but wholly settled upon her nonetheless. "Hey doc, fancy seeing you here," he murmured, a hint of good humor to his voice despite the harrowing state of his body.

He leaned back as the nanobots began to do their work. The sensation as none-too-pleasant, and made his ruined skin tingle and itch as if thousands of tiny insects were crawling just beneath his surface. His instinct was to will such intrusions away with the empyrean, but it was an instinct he ignored for now. Aes'ona meant him nothing but benevolence.

"Do you know who the kark these people are?" He asked quietly, his voice verging on delirium, "Cause I got no karkin' idea doc."

[member="Prennis Keeoli"], [member="Lulu"], [member="Burc’ya Narric"], [member="Desmond C'artyom"], [member="Loske Matson"], [member="D.E.L.T.A."], [member="Ardinia Crofte"], [member="Vaulkhar"]

 

[Placeholder 0124]

Gurb, the Koaxi Ortolan

Still several hundred meters beneath the planet's surface...



Gurb was getting tired.

It had been many moons since he had dared to walk up to the planet's surface. The last time he'd ascended through the crystal caves had been for his naming ceremony. At the age of ten, the Koaxi men would march up to the planet's surface and make a kill before returning to the village. If they succeeded, they received their man-name, and officially became adult members of the tribe. Those that failed either perished in the wastes, or returned to Greater Koaxi forever ashamed.

Gurb had been stuck on the surface for a week and a half before he managed to spear a young snow rabbit through the heart with an ice pick. It wasn't the most honorable kill, but it had counted enough to earn him his new name.

Such memories bubbled up from the back of the Ortolan's mind as he navigated several miles of twisting caverns and tunnels. Instinct told him which caves to take, and which to avoid. The trip took far longer than usual, courtesy of the raving wampa packs that had grown more frequent in their attacks lately. Gurb had to give their areas a wide berth.

Bored and lonely, Gurb began to sing a a particularly pleasant tune about the bodily proportions of female Ortolans. It wasn't the most polite song, but it lifted his spirits, and that was all that mattered.

 

[Darth Rage]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Darth Rage surveyed the planet before him. It had been century since he had been to the planet. His last adventure had been at the head of a Sith invasion. Now he floated towards the surface of the planet in a decrepit thing held together by the force. It was a slight that Rage would one day rectify, but for now he had a new purpose for coming to the planet. He had come to find this Maliphant. To seek the being out and destroy the force. It was a terrible feat that Rage was sure would not be completed in one endeavor, but rather several. He saw a plan laid out in his mind's eye. The absorption of multiple force nexuses which would bring about their final goal.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He stalked through the halls of his flagship towards the hangar where a private shuttle awaited him. He walked past the ghost that made up the ship's crew and as he did they regarded him with blank dull stares, but all around him he could hear their tortured screams through the void. They yelled at him to look at them, begging him to free them from their eternal torment, but they were in Palpatine’s clutches now. Rage ignored the wails of the damned spirits and continued forth. Upon arrival he spotted the shape of several of his acolytes flanking the ship he would make to the surface in. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The acolytes were hideous being of flesh and blood red stone, with veins of a lighter rose running beneath skin and stone, pulsating with their master’s power. They bowed as one to their lord and followed him into the craft as he entered. Rage could sense the nexus below fermenting already. He flipped a thumb through his tome and found the appropriate incantation. But among all the darkness Rage sensed another. This one’s spirit of the lighter ilk and his followers the same. Rage was sure they’d attempt to intervene.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Should I fail bomb the planet to dust…[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] Rage thought silently to his flagship’s massive beating heart that was Kyber crystal.[/SIZE]

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

{ Location: Hoth wastes, cave }​

{ Equipment: Cold wear, blaster pistol, medkit,​

diagnostic gauntlet, holographic disguise matrix }​

{ With: (NPCs) Eustachya Myrian,​

Staff Sergeant Idris Rooseveil }​

{ Tag: [member="Cedric Grayson"] }​

~ † ~​

"Yeah, well, I couldn't let my favorite patient bleed out here," she replied, voice muffled as she continued working with her head down: First, she turned away to pull on a pair of microsensory gloves. Despite her sense of focus, the ability to make quip back, hopefully a little humorously, wasn't that far away from her either. But, in the very next moment, she regained seriousness. "Shh, sh, sh. Don't talk too much, Ced." She had never once heard him swear, and that, if not the quality of his voice alone, was telling of his deteriorating mental state. "But stay with me."

So, she explained, motioning first across from her then back towards the cave's entrance, "I came with backup: Eustachya and Staff Sergeant Rooseveil. Your guess is good as mine 'bout the rest." More explanations and introductions could be reveled in later. Too much mental strain would harm Cedric just as much as the physical kind at present.

 

[D.E.L.T.A.]

Delta remained in her position, feeling no need to move beyond sitting down to cradle her gun in the corner. Military training told you to "treat your gun like your wife" and that inherited instinct led her to treat her firearm rather strangely.

She knew survival skills but that was not her greatest concern at the moment, her objective was to ensure the survival of the delirious jedi and anything else was irrelevent.

There was a real doctor there so the odds of the Jedi dying has dropped to acceptable levels as far as she was concerned. For now she had the ability to relax. She hadn't been able to do that for a very long time.

 

[Burc’ya Narric]

Burc’ya, for all that he was good at, couldn’t help but feel and overwhelming awkwardness running through every last second as he stood to the cave, the winds of Hoth whipping and nipping at his back away from the cave, a fine layer of snow starting to settle against his frame. The last couple times he had met new people it had either been A, after a gunfight on the upper levels of Coruscant, or B, getting into a fistfight with streettoughs in the Undercity. This seemed, well, to be frank, uncomfortably real to the droid. He had lived a long life of combat, of stress, of the Mando way, he had lived a life by the blaster and by his plating. He talked to people, of course, he had commoned taverns in the deepest dredges of society with his brothers if just for the simple benefit of interaction, but he wasn’t expected to make introductions, he was expected to look tough and count cards during Pazaak. However, here he stood, a gathering of people in front of him who themselves didn’t seem to understand the completeness of the situation either.

He couldn’t help but pause, but search for what would be appropriate, it was already beyond a pain to attempt to recalibrate his vocabulator to use Basic as default, it didn’t help that social graces tended to fall after an odd 800 years of being alone in space, but here he was! And here they were! Living, breathing, sentients, interacting with one another, chattering, one of them tending to the other, completely autonomous, completely thinking, factors outside of the predictable.

He was endlessly happy to not know what would end up happening from one moment to the next for once.

The droid’s sight settled on the far back of the cave, to the slumped figure, it was very easy to tell that the man was hurt, and hurt bad. The droid felt a tinge of worry shoot through him, he had never met the man, but he instantly felt he had to be protected, whatever had hurt him put deeper scars than the droid was familiar with, there was killing a man, then there was making a mockery of him. It reminded him of when Rhunx got into that bad vibroknife fight back on Dantooine, nearly gutted. The droid obsessed over making sure his friend was alright for weeks, and now he felt that same worry come again. Death was something he was detached from personally, but that didn’t mean the droid had no concept of it, or opinions on it.

“No danger… I’m far past the need for a fight…” Burc’ya stated.

“I’m Burc’ya of Clan Narric, but that’s far from important, is that man alright?” He asked, his vocabulator shifting down in volume to give a sympathetic ring, making up for his lack of tone control, the deep rolling of his standard BX voice rattling the very snow on his form. He threw his carbine back over his shoulder, nodding his head deeper into the cave to suggest who he was talking about. He wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, just whoever cared to respond.


---

⦾ Prennis Keeoli ⦾ Cedric Grayson ⦾ Lulu ⦾ Desmond C'artyom ⦾ Darth Maliphant ⦾ D.E.L.T.A. ⦾