The Long Awakening

[Ulgra]

Hoth. If ever the galaxy had an embodiment for the feeling of cold it was this place. With all of it's ice and snow, and rather rough history for people fighting and dying upon it. What Tatooine was in heat Hoth certainly was in cold. But true as it was this place had held many secrets under the ice.

Long ago, during the first years of the great Galactic Empire, an Imperial Ship had crashed onto the planet's surface. None were able to find it due to the nature of the ship itself. A secret scientific development shuttle of sorts where the Empire conducted many experiments with new weapons, mostly biological, to use against the rising rebellion. Unfortunately it's secrecy was so great that even most ranks within the Empire itself were unaware. Thus when the ship had sent it's distress call none received and thought it legitimate. When word had reached the Emperor himself he was inclined to have it found as soon as possible, due to the apparent "asset" on-board that could not be risked being lost or found by the enemies of the Empire.

The trail was unfortunately cold for all who investigated. All that was left was a wreckage of the craft that began to slip away, buried under snow and ice. Only rumors and stories had remained, passing on from the Empire to the new republic and so forth. Eventually such a story was only that. A tale of some ghost ship that carried a monster created by the Empire, lost somewhere near Hoth and likely crawling with wompas and other horrors born from the ship.

But today this story would finally be revealed...

[member="Lord Tarantula"]

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Kyale the Tarantula, as always, put absolutely zero stock in ghost stories. Force ghost stories, maybe, but tales of haunted ships held no fear for him... In fact, the inquisitive part of him wanted to chase them down and prove them wrong, most of the time. That's what had brought him to Hoth for the last two weeks. His hapless mining team had brought him deep into a warren of Wampas, and the huge furry beasts had killed quite a few of his men before he'd managed to kill the majority of them.

Of course, these were acceptable losses for him. The Techno Union's cronies meant nothing in the face of his search for information. Having a ship hidden for long enough to fade from memory almost certainly meant that there was something important here. Fascinating.

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

Upon the arrival of [member="Lord Tarantula"] at the landing area, he would be met by a number of miners. They looked more scared than cold. The wompas had killed many, too many for their liking. Of course they were not aware of his mentality on the situation. All they were supposed to do was dig for a ship that may or may not have even been there. For two long weeks of nothing but ice, snow, cold and now deadly wompas they were risking their lives all for the sake of the Techno Union.

Once Tarantula would meet with them the head miner would inform him of the casualties while saying how the wompas seemed to all be coming from a large central cave east of their position. They'd only mined so close to the area when they attacked. However there was something of interest they did find. Upon showing him the head miner revealed a piece of metal wrapped in a towel. It was old and worn with age, only slightly preserved thanks to the ice. This was a clear sign that there was a ship buried somewhere around, but once that was made clear he explained that it was likely where the wompas were. This was the reason they'd not gone any farther in their expedition.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

"Sir, we're running out of men. This operation is going to get shut down if we don't get those monsters out of there."

Kyale raised an eyebrow at the man, gesturing noncommittally with one of his metal arms. That was why he was here himself, wasn't it? To clear out what couldn't be cleared out by anything less than a somewhat insane technomancer.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. My friends and I are here to protect you all. Only fair that I'm the one to guard my investments, no?"

He walked towards the mouth of the cave, leading the younger man in. One of his arms handed his newfound guard a heavy assault carbine, and the poor guy gasped.

"Er, Tarant- My lor- Sir, I don't know how to use one of these."

"Well, I suggest you learn damn quickly. Aim for the face, Lieutenant."

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

Following Tarantula into the mouth of the cave the miner was, of course, keeps his eyes peeled with his finger on the trigger. Already the sounds of something deep in the darkness could be heard. Low growls and distant echoing roars. This cave must have held a family of wompas inside. What was odd about it, however, was the shaping of ice that formed the cave itself. It seemed symmetrical at points, going from something with a natural smooth design to a more obscured shape, almost blocked, shape.

Before the miner could say anything about it he was jumped from behind. A waiting wompa they'd passed found the opportunity and grabbed him from behind. He only had a moment to scream in horror before it's claws dug into him, pulling him away to have as a snack. With that others began to emerge around [member="Lord Tarantula"] , all hungry for a bite.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

"Lieutenant?!"

Kyale spun around to see the man's leg dangling from his killer's mouth. Oh, well, that happened... It was too bad for the wampas that their evolutionary instincts didn't include running away from men with evil grins on their faces. A low whirr sounded from the four cybernetic arms as they switched to combat mode and blades emerged from them.

"My, my... Poor furballs. Metal organs would probably taste bad, anyway. I'm saving you the experience of finding out."

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

Despite the obvious gesture of a fight from this an the wompas, all four of them, did not seem to back down. They were unaware of how deadly four mechanical arms on a man would be. All they cared about at this point was trying to sink their teeth into his flesh to make yet another snack for the day. One came first, a larger wompa with a broken horn. Possible the alpha. It tried to make a sweep at [member="Lord Tarantula"] with one giant claw, roaring as it did.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

"Oh-ho! Aren't you ugly?"

Kyale's laugh rang out as one of his mechanical arms extended to stab the huge wampa in the hand. Of course, getting swung around by that monster's sheer strength as it flailed wasn't fun, but Tarantula managed to wrap two more arms around its arm to pull himself closer. With his own two arms, he climbed up the furry limb, trying to cause as much pain as possible with the remaining cybernetic one.

"Heh. Must be out of practice."

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

The wompa yelled with pain, echoing through the rest of the cave. The other two reacted, giving feint roars as they waited to see what would happen. They did not understand the idea of teamwork, like most wild animals. All they saw was an opportunity for more food that was playing tough to get. If the first would fall then the next one to attack would be the one that had killed [member="Lord Tarantula"] lieutenant. But even then it would try to attack more cautiously now knowing that this meal would not go without a fight.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Well, this wasn't working. The giant wampa was bleeding from a whole bunch of tiny stab wounds, but it was simply getting angrier as the other two monsters watched. Kyale managed to get up to the beast's furry head, wrapping the arms that had been holding its arm around its neck. What the hell was he supposed to do, now? His question was answered as the creature began to choke. The smirk on Tarantula's face returned as his cybernetic grip tightened around the wampa's neck.

The furry beast's flailing was even worse, now. It began smashing huge pieces of ice, destroying the cave around itself in an attempt to shake the little man and his metallic arms off. Kyale's eyes widened as the shine of metal began to show through the breaking ice. Well, he'd found something, alright. Now he just had to survive these creatures and get a good look at this place.

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

As the wompa continued to fail and smack about, with parts of the cave wall coming off to reveal the metal underneath, it was also starting to crack around the roof of the cave itself. Bits and pieces began to fall from above before an entire pile of it crashed over one of the other wompas. It let out a failing cry before being crushed by a mix of ice and metal. It was now buried under ice and pieces of what looked like an old ship. And there was the secret about this cave. It was not just snow but also a ship. The same ship [member="Lord Tarantula"] had his men looking for. Years of winters and erosion on Hoth had turned it into this cave system, and the wompas had found it was an easy home. The first wompa finally collapsed to it's knees and fell over at the last bit of air was choked out of it.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Between Kyale and the other two wampas was now a wall of ice that was getting bigger as the cave fell away from its metallic frame. A not-so-subtle hand gesture was directed at the beasts trying to punch their way through, and the cyborg walked deeper into the ship. Wow, was it an old one. Just the rust would've given some people a heart attack. It seemed like this hole went straight through, down into the cargo holds. He vaguely wondered what could've done that.

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

As he traversed further down into the ship turned ice cave [member="Lord Tarantula"] would see signs of what became of this ship before. The equipment was more scientific. Old and outdated but clear in it's uses. Holes and signs of damage were all over, though some it was hard to tell if they were made by the crash, after, or before. Then came the bodies, or what was left of them. All the remains of crewmen along with old stormtrooper armor lying about. They were too old to have been touched by the wompas, yet some of them looked as though they were torn apart by something. Finally another cave leading out of what remained of the shuttle had brought him to the bowls of the cave itself where he would find something very odd and out of the ordinary: a bright gauntlet sticking up from a large mound of ice and snow.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Kyale walked through the old ship, more impressed by the amount of damage he was seeing than the age of the ruined computer systems around him. Most of this stuff was the kind of thing one would find in any outdated surveillance vessel. But the scientific equipment struck him as odd, as did the sheer number of dead troopers lying about. No surveillance or science vessel would've had this big a unit stationed onboard. But what was most bizarre was the mound of ice... It had a golden gauntlet sticking out of it. Strange.

Standing up on three of his clawed arms, Tarantula was able to put his eye level near the top of the mound. He tapped it. It felt less solid than he'd have expected. With his free arm, he rapped on the ice, sending little cracks running through it. His own two arms were crossed as he stared at the cracking mound with interest, waiting to see what would happen.

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

With his constant tapping and the bit by bit cracking of ice [member="Lord Tarantula"] was eventually able to force the mound to break. Nothing but snow inside at first but then, as it would clear, something with a more apparent shape was underneath. It was, as he would soon discover, a Gen'Dai. A female too from the looks of it. Preserved inside of the ice for as long as the ship had been here. Her armor was a mix of blue and gold, explaining the gauntlet that had stuck out of the wound due to all the crumbling of the caves earlier. When the mound of ice cracked she fell on her back, not moving and cold to the touch.

 

[Lord Tarantula]

Kyale's eyebrows raised nearly high enough to disappear into his hair. There was a giant, blue-skinned, armored, woman covered in little dark specks from both rust and frostbite. And, the spot she'd been in definitely suggested that she hadn't been sleeping this peacefully when she'd been frozen. The dead men lying around took on a whole new meaning as he looked around.

"You have no idea how tempted I am to poke you right now, miss."

[member="Ulgra"]

 

[Ulgra]

Despite being freed the large hulking Gen'Dai woman did not move. Either due to the frost still wearing off or her own body still failing to respond to such a sensation as freedom from ice and snow she did not move. She was sleeping, or at least in a state when she wasn't awake. No movement except for the very feint signs of collapsing and expanding lungs. Breath was returning, but how long would it take for something as large as her to fully react and awake from it?

[member="Lord Tarantula"]