Weekend Treasure Hunt Infinity: At Last We Will Have Revenge (Open to All)

[The Bounteous Hunt]

Location: Paradise
Allies/Enemies: [member="Karen Roberts"], [member="Razelle Breuner"], [member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Harmon Taldan"]

Without any real purpose of being here, a one armed Gungan entered the irresistible cantina, obscured by a cloak... and carrying an unnecessary amount of explosive ordnance. Then again, when was there a time when the Gungan wasn't carrying an unnecessary amount of explosive ordnance? He was also inebriated, but that was irrelevant.

The alien old coot was, as already mentioned, basically out of the loop as to why this particular location at this particular time in history was important. He was just there, and he was there probably to cause no small amount of unrelated chaos. It was sort of his shtick as a criminal.

Bomb everything indiscriminately, and they can't connect any dots to find you... because the dots are uncorrelated!

Carrying an alcoholic beverage in his one hand, the Gungan began waving it around patrons and muttering something indeterminate. "Meesa liken yousa motha at she battleship-o-bombad of the spec-if-fic, yo-yo E-Eleben filibusta, meesa too-too!" Laughing from the belly the drunk old coot, brought his bottled drink down hard against the pavement and as it hit the ground seemed to burst into flames, causing the moronic frog to jump over the crown and land on his stomach. The crowd went wild as the fire set ablaze underneath them, or where tackled by a flying amphibian.

"Eesa no poodoo!" The inebriate yelled some more as he rolled to his knees, and tossed an inactivate thermal detonator into the crowd. Not realizing it wasn't active, everyone around him screamed and tried to get away, or pulled some form of weapon they could gather at him. However, as he got up into a teetering sprint, and leaped over a counter, knocking over several patrons and tables, he tossed out a traditional Gungan Booma into the crowd, sending out its electric goo over their heads.

"Hehehehe!" It was a good day to be alive!

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrBB3_rFPjg​

[member="Dak Canton"] | [member="Mira Rekali"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"]

Was that it? Was that the MacGuffin? It was a very small MacGuffin. It didn't even look that valuable. As consolation, Octavian grabbed a diamond necklace and some other assorted bits of jewelry and jammed them into his pockets. He heard something jam itself through the vault door. The smell of burning metal reached his nostrils. That door had at least a few minutes to hold against whatever they were using to cut it. Probably. Octavian couldn't see what they were using to cut it, nor did he want to stick around and find out. With some expensive jewelry lining his pockets and the MacGuffin apparently in their secure hands, it was the least of his worries. It was time to make like a tree and scramble.

No, wait. That wasn't it. Make like a tree and... Leaf?

He just really wanted to leave. "Fine by me. You first."

There was no hesitation on his part. That is to say, "you first" was really just a nonsense phrase, because Octavian proceeded to bolt like the dickens back through the short tunnel they created. He fumbled with the detpack Dak handed him, setting the timer for about fifteen seconds and tossing it at the entrance of the tunnel. With any luck, it would cave the thing in and make it difficult for anyone to follow after them. Dak would presumably be close behind him, so it didn't matter. With his hands free he yanked his .48 out of the holster and held it like a club. This made it easier for him to deal with the janitor, who was already coming back down the stairs.

There was a hiccup, and then the beginnings of some slurred speech. "Hey guysh-" Only to be abruptly cut off by a special delivery pistol whip. Stunned, the janitor crumbled down the stairs behind them and pooled in a tangle of limbs at the bottom. His not-so-gentle whump coincided with a blast from the detpack he dropped. Octavian had already flung open the door to the first floor at this point, so he wouldn't be able to assess the damage. That would be someone else's job.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Current Locations

CASINO
[member="Mira Rekali"] - cutting into vault
[member="Coren Starchaser"] - in casino
[member="Ayden Cater"] - skydiving
[member="Octavian Vire"] and [member="Dak Canton"] - exiting locked vault with orb, via tunnel
[member="Saran Drast"] - en route

The blast door yielded to Mira's gentle ministrations.


GRAND BAZAAR
[member="Ni'gel"] - screaming?
[member="Jack Raxis"] - flying
[member="Aeri Vyn"] - also flying

The much-abused Mikan's leg twisted oddly as it took Aeri Vyn's weight. The Zeltron might be able to climb aboard before the ramp shut, but remnants of the harness had snagged; the Mikan was going nowhere.


PARADISE
[member="Harmon Taldan"] - got a guide
[member="Karen Roberts"] - got a key
[member="Razelle Breuner"] - is there
[member="Gun Gan Booma"] - throwing bombs

The bystanding staff refrained from taking a side. Mostly because a freaking Gungan psychopath had just started tossing explosives at all and sundry. How he'd gotten them past the bouncer -- a hulking Wookiee -- was anyone's guess.

"Roooarrgh ur roo. RRRrrruurgh! Arrggg!"

As Zeltrons and guests scattered, the Wookiee attempted to tackle Gun Gan Booma. Wookiee tackles are a thing.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Location: 32nd Floor, Aurodium Manwench Casino
Objective: Don't Go Splat

"I have the schematics for the casino," Roland chimed dutifully as the wind began to roar in Ayden's ears.

"Little busy right now, Roland. Gimme about ten seconds." Ayden was a little surprised at how little fear he was feeling even as all the lights and sounds of Zeltros streaked past him.

"Six point one and counting, sir." He hated the AI's need for precision, particularly in a case like this. It really did not help knowing how many seconds he had left until splat.

Fortunately, Ayden spotted several speeders that were beginning to come in. Folks were curious about the alarms and chaos. Reaching out, he tugged at the mind of one such individual and had them race their speeder over to his falling frame. Aligning just right, he managed to catch the back of a seat as the driver began the absolutely critical maneuver of pulling up so-as to avoid turning them both into smears on the side of the street.

Hopping out of the speeder, Ayden readjusted his earpiece. "Alright Roland, spill." A holographic presentation of the lower casino levels was presented in front of Ayden's eyes. He was already noticing what the AI was going to point out. If the vault was breached from the outside, then there was only one direction it could have been from. Nothing was under the vault, and the interior protected the other four sides. "Alright, bring up the schematics for the second building here." Already Ayden was moving across the street towards the only place the vault breakers could have entered. "And send out a broadcast to the local Zeltron forces. Make sure they have my description that that there are an unknown number of criminals at this location."

An image of the floor plan came up and Ayden started to move towards the door that would have led into the basement... had it not been thrown open by a rather harried looking man who was still holding a gun in such a fashion that led Ayden to believe that someone was gonna be waking up with a headache later. In an instant, Ayden reached out with the Force and attempted to jerk the gun from the man's hand. Holding on to the barrel of a gun did not exactly lend itself to a strong grip. Regardless of whether or not the gun went flying in the direction Ayden gestured, his lightsaber flew up into his hands with the same movement. Viridian erupted from one end. "So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're not the hired help."

[member="Mira Rekali"], [member="Octavian Vire"], [member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

[member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Octavian Vire"] [member="Dak Canton"]

Cater's skydive-schematic-grab-hi-how-are-you went about as well as Cater had anticipated. Ish. Thing with this particular building is that, due to a particularly vigorous harem incident, the floor layout had been tweaked a few times. The schematics didn't entirely line up. As a result, though Cater was able to get face to face with the esteemed gentlemen callers, it took a little bit. Long enough for them to do...well, whatever. They had no way to know he was coming, but one might reasonably expect the possibility of cops (or what passed for cops on Zeltros).

Also, the atmosphere full of pheromones -- absorbed through the mouth, the nose, or even the skin -- had the proven effect of calming people down. Even highly disciplined people gearing up for a fight. That's why nobody ever invaded Zeltros successfully.

Long story short: the hi-how-are-you took place near the front door, Canton and Vire having had the chance to do something before their sudden introduction to the man in the hat.

Fair enough? Fair enough.

 

[Cira]

GRAND BAZAAR
@Ni'gel - shooting
[member="Jack Raxis"] - being shot
@Aeri Vyn - Summon Bigger Fish


Aeri felt her body come to a sudden jerking halt. A grimace settled over her features, dark purple hair whipping around her face. There was a steely look upon the Zeltron, the kind she had when determination shoved her forward within a mission. Zeltrons make formidable foes. The passion they showed in pleasure was equal to their viciousness.

With a grunt, Aeri would use the leg as the rope to slowly bring herself up into the ship. Her slit skirt would flap, baring the ridiculously toned legs of hers. Those hours in the gym with cardio and leg lefts were doing their job.

As she shoved herself inside, she gave a roll of her body, reaching for her WESTAR 35 from her shoulder holster. There was a moment of vulnerability there, but Aeri would snap up her blaster to get ready to shoot.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jorus Merrill"]
@Ni'gel
[member="Aeri Vyn"]

------------------------------------------

Location: Kessels Pride, Grand Bazaar, Flying away!
Objective: Gotta go, Gotta Go, Gotta Go Right NOW!

As the Herglic slammed onto the hull and the ramp closed shut chaos continued it's course. The woman, the Zeltron had managed to hitch a ride right into her as the ramp sealed, locking with a snap hiss. The Ordo twin's at the helm were completely unaware of her being there, as they were intent on evading as many blaster beams as was humanly possible. With no shields to speak of, things were getting dicey for them fast.

So when a Herglic hit the ship they thought it was a missile and cursed. Ferlin with his one good arm slammed the ship to the side, banking her hard and hitting full thrusters. Alleria was cursing out her twin brother in the most beautiful arrangement of Mando'a and Jack was there lifeless on the deck.

Until Ferlin had pulled his little move, jarring him from his almost coma into wide awareness. And there was something very wrong about the situation. He was further awakened as the side of his face made impact with the bulkhead, gravity sending him down the deck into the wall. He rolled over, rubbing his head and growled through the pain. Adrenaline jolted full force through his veins as he quickly regained his bearings, and rolled this way and that to dodge loose containers and what he swore was his stim caf machine flying around the cabin.

"Kark it Ferlin, keep this damn bucket in one piece!" He roared, veins throbbing out of his neck, eyes bulging and rage boiling over from the insane pain he was in.

And then there was the Mikan, limply being tossed around and then. Aeri, Zeltron nuisance el numero uno.

"Kark!"

He pulled his Besk'ad and rose to his feet, shaking as his blistered leg rubbed against the armorweave jumpsuit of the Aliit'Gam.

"Get the hell off my ship!"

And then Ferlin juked again, coming out from a canyon of sky scrapers and scraping the entire side of the vessel inadvertently against a building, leaving a long furrow and assaulting Jacks ears with a grinding. They came out, they flipped back to normal flight position. The cabin went haywire, Jack flew, the Mikan flew, everything went to repeat as gravity forcibly resettled the contents of the hold.

If the Herglic had still been there when Ferlin scraped the building, he was probably bug mush.

And Jack was still there, on the floor again roaring over the din.

"Dak, don't forget him!"

Then from the deck he rolled over, and sent powerful twin thrusts of his Besk'ad towards where Aeri was, attempting to impale her leg like a bolt of lightning striking the top of a tall pole. Fast.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

While people continued to shoot at each other, leap onto closing ramps, and do all other sorts of senseless and risky heroics, Ni'gel retreated to a corner of the Bazaar. The hold-out pistol had once more disappeared up a sleeve and to be honest he wasn't sure what had come over him. The odds of him being shot in reprisal by one of the ruffians had been astronomical, but it appeared he had forgotten to factor in the human lack of rationality. No doubt one of the better decisions he'd made that evening had been to shoot the fellow in the back. The Givin did not wish to do the calculations for what might have happened if he'd tried to shoot the man face-to-face.

Once more in a position to be overlooked and unnoticed, Ni'gel removed the large, gauche pin from his chest and plugged it into the data pad. The pin was, obviously, a miniaturized recording device for both sight and sound. In short, Ni'gel had caught the whole thing on tape. And now? Well, his employer, [member="Gerion Ardik"], would be very interested to see who had abducted the prized statute. The Givin uploaded the recording to the data pad and then sent it through an incredibly heavy encryption to Mr. Ardik.

Hacking? Pshaw. Ni'gel had written the encryption himself.

 

[Long Gone]

Molten metal caved and sheered away from the frame as Mira broke through, leaving dripping hot durasteel in her wake. She disengaged her sabers and quickly dove through the hole, tucking and rolling in order to prevent from being burnt by the drops of hot metal. Initially, she had a clear landing but it soon became a rough tumble through debris and junk that was left by the intruders of the vault. With an audible “Ow” and a grunt, she came to a halt in a crouching position. The soft rumbling of an explosion in a nearby tunnel caught her attention and Mira would curse underneath her breath as she sprinted off in the direction of the explosion – pushing off her right foot and using what Force she could muster to gain momentum. It wouldn’t take long to traverse the tunnel that they had dug to gain entrance into the Casino vault – and it wouldn’t take long to be halted by the partial collapse. Mira looked around the pile of debris and the bloody mess of the janitor who was crushed by the caved in structure.

There was, however, a small opening.

One she could fit through if she tried hard enough.

And try she would.

Mira began to climb up the small pile of rocks, and put herself through the tiny opening, scratching and clawing her way through the duracrete and metal bars that held the structure together at one point. A rip here, a tear there would cause her to grimace and bite her lips as flesh was exposed and cut – but she didn’t stop. She continued to pull and push her way through until she made it out with a resounding yell and a tumble down a tiny slope of debris. Mira took only a second to take in a breath and look around before she stood up and ran up the stairs. She would no doubt be right on their heels, ready for action should it call for it.

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Octavian Vire"] | [member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Jsc]

Paradise
w @Harmon Talden , [member="Gun Gan Booma"] cont.

Wookiee tackles are definitely, a thing.

The bar was in something of an uproar as Booma began his short-lived spree of terror. For no sooner had the drunk begun than the bouncer began his tackle-mongering. And a large part of Karen hoped that the wookiee would only finish strong by tearing his arms off too.

Meanwhile, Karen herself used the opportunity to tackle Harmon's pal, Dey. Shouting out some insanity about bombs and getting to cover. Smash. Both women went tumbling behind the bar. Leaving Harmon the chance to either help his friend or to reach for the statue. Because surly if he did not intercede, Dey would find herself at the mercy of a mind-blast spell very soon. Oh dear.

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Paradise
[member="Karen Roberts"], [member="gun gan booma"]

Gungans and their bombs interceded in the tense situation that was developing between Karen and Harmon, though Harm didn't know what the true deal with Karen was. When the bombs started going off, Harm pulled his left revolver blaster out and readied it, but the wookiee bouncer did his tackle thing (because Wookiee tackles are a true and terrifying thing), so Harm didn't shoot anyone just yet.

Then, yelling something about bombs, the waitress Karen tackled Dey over the bar and onto the floor. It was at this time that Harm had a conflict within him, and though it was quickly handled, it does bear going through.

Harm spent many years as a mercenary soldier in the Corps. As such, he had a well developed desire to see women wrestling on Zeltros. It was just a natural thing, so far as heterosexual male soldiers were concerned. On the other hand, Harm had spent a great deal of time around Jedi recently. Jedi held themselves above such things as wrestling, sexuality, emotion, mud...wait, there was no mud, anyway, Jedi were above mud. If Harm wanted to be like the Jedi tutors he'd been seeing, he'd remove Karen with all speed possible.

Harm, however, was not a Jedi. He wasn't just a soldier anymore either, but he never strove to deny himself his emotions and desires the way a Jedi would. As such, Harm grabbed the statue, tucking it under his arm (if it doesn't turn into a fething monster), and aims his revolver pistols at Karens head, letting the force flow through him, through his gun, and into the point on Karens head where a blaster bolt would pierce it, should he fire. He did not fire, yet, though. He had class.

"Not that I need to worry about it...but get off Dey or I'll blast your skull all over this bartender." Harm stated, not even sparing a glance for the bartender who was wide eyed and maybe making a puddle.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

Octavian and Dak bolted past the pistol whipped janitor and out of the basement. As Canton cleared the last step he turned, chucking the small explosive into the room. He caught a glimpse of the tunnel collapsing from Octavian's charge. Good. Hopefully this would put the brakes on the saber-wielder who'd been going ape on the vault's door. The sight of that lightsaber poking out of the friggin' vault had nearly given him a heart attack.

All behind them now.

Smiling underneath the balaclava, Dak and his partner in crime almost made it to the front door. Almost.

A man in a funny hat and a coat identical to Canton's shoved the doors open and breezed on in. The fact that they were twinsing wasn't what sent Dak off. No sir. It was the how-do-you-do casualness of the man when confronting two armed thugs. Alarm bells were already ringing by the time the guy whipped out his lightsaber and thumbed the thing on. Now Canton could practically feel his heart thudding out of his chest.

In response to the man's question, Canton skidded to a halt and started running toward a side exit, pausing only to flick his BTI-CR Ripper to full auto and fire over his shoulder. The automatic blaster pistol spat a half-dozen or more bolts in the Hat's general direction. Canton didn't care if they hit or not. He just wanted to get the crap out of here in one piece.

[member="Octavian Vire"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Jsc]

Paradise
w [member="Harmon Taldan"]

Oh dear.

Karen got up after pinning Dey to the ground. Noticing that Harmon was in a very business-like mood today. She'd best not test that. And drat! He had the statue too!

"Well then. I suppose she's all yours? Sorry dove. He must be with you."

Dey did her usual getting up, furious as a fireball. Alas, Karen noted another explosion before they could exchange more pleasantries. It appeared Harmon and Dey had more to worry about than a waitress in a green bikini top, after all.

 

[The Bounteous Hunt]

Location: Paradise (?)
Allies/Enemies: [member="Karen Roberts"], [member="Razelle Breuner"], [member="Jorus Merrill"], [member="Harmon Taldan"]


Wookie tackles so weren't a thing... right? Right?

Well the Gungan sure hoped so as he saw the furry behemoth push through the crowd, knocking over patrons and people with scavenged weapons pointed at him. Growling in his wookie growl, the whole mass of fuzzy muscle lunged over the table, and the Gungan with a sonic detonator in hand just stood there a second contemplating...

... are wookie tackles a thing?

Dropping the sonic detonator as he turned in the other direction with a yelp, the Gungan attempted to jump away with his amphibian like reflexes, and as the timer went down hitting the floor, the Wookie snatched up the Gungan's legs from mid-air, and finally there was an answer to this very very important question:

Yes, wookie tackles are indeed, a thing. And they hurt!

His whole body slammed down into the ground, pushing the breathe out of his lungs, just as the Sonic Screamer did its thing and detonated with its deafening noise making capacity, probably hurting the hell out of the wookies sensitive ears and making him no less angry. Luckily the Gungan was half-deaf anyway, and always wore ear protection! It would be silly, throwing loud bombs without protecting oneself from them at least a little bit.

Hopefully with the wookie focused on the screaming in his ears, the Gungan would be able to temporarily overpower his grip with his SUPER STRONK LEGS... because you know, if you lose one limb the other ones get more powerful right? Right? Hey if it works for Daredevil losing his eye sight, it should work for me, okay?

Gun Gan Booma starting kicking away the wookies grip and was hopefully on his way to escape. As he struggled, an assortment of other grenades poured out of his coat onto the floor...

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Dak Canton"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

Another space cowboy? Did both of these clowns shop at the same outlets? Probably not. Judging by the glowstick, Cowboy #2 enjoyed the finer things in life. And also space magic. Octavian didn't have any patience for it, especially not now when it was upsetting the flow of an otherwise perfect heist. The lobby of this building, a casino, was just chock full of people. It was the end of the week and all around them were doped out morons. Well, now they were terrified doped out morons. Dak didn't waste any time opening fire on Space Cowboy #2, a flurry of blaster bolts ripping through the air. Yeah, those could probably get deflected... But at the expense of who? The civilians milling around?

Did space cowboys even care about that kind of thing?

The screaming started right after shots started getting fired. Chaos. Pandemonium. A wave of people were all going to start mashing back and forth in a stampede to get out of this building- probably towards the main entrance dear Cow-y boy #2 had planted himself in front of. Octavian seized the opportunity, literally, by grabbing a startled bellhop and shoving him violently towards Ayden. He was something angry that his prized gun just got snatched, but completing the job took priority over petty vengeance by now. Not that it was even a possibility otherwise. Octavian knew better than to tangle with glowstick jockies if he could help it. Mere moments after Dak had fled, Octavian followed suite, the human bowling over anything and anyone that got in his way.

He sure hoped Dak knew where he was going.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Current Locations

CASINO
[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Saran Drast"]

BUILDING BESIDE CASINO
[member="Mira Rekali"]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
[member="Octavian Vire"] and [member="Dak Canton"] - HAVE THE BLUE MASSASSI ORB


Police began to converge on the scene. Zeltron police. Yes, I would like a ticket, officer.


GRAND BAZAAR
[member="Ni'gel"] - on the ground
[member="Jack Raxis"] - in the ship
[member="Aeri Vyn"] - in the ship

The Mikan was still going nowhere. Inert, bleeding, broken, stuck in the cargo hold while they fought it out. She wasn't looking well.


PARADISE
[member="Harmon Taldan"] - HAS THE STATUE
[member="Karen Roberts"]
[member="Razelle Breuner"]
[member="Gun Gan Booma"]

The Wookiee persisted in his attempts to maul the Gungan. However, the sonic screamer was a bit problematic. It quickly put the Wookiee on the ground and cleared out the crowd, who weren't wild about the explosives in the first place.

Zeltron police were en route.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

CHAPTER TWO​

​

​

​

A lot of people got arrested, or barely escaped. Some had certain advantages.


[member="Ayden Cater"] had a full set of scans describing a blue Massassi orb. [member="Octavian Vire"] and [member="Dak Canton"] had the actual orb. Both the orb and the scans led to a certain set of coordinates. [member="Saran Drast"] and [member="Mira Rekali"] might, perhaps, catch up.


The orb, incidentally, was made of Corusca gem. And the scans contained an invitation to a Selabite library, at Cater's convenience.

[member="Jack Raxis"] and [member="Aeri Vyn"] had brutalized the Mikan enough that the jellyfish demon bled out while they fought over her. But embedded in her skin was a microchip that led to a certain set of coordinates. And [member="Ni'gel"] and his employers had tracked Raxis' ship effectively.

The Mikan could provide no prizes otherwise, as she was dead.

[member="Harmon Taldan"] had escaped with the statuette, but others had the chance to be hot on his trail: [member="Karen Roberts"], [member="Razelle Breuner"], and [member="Gun Gan Booma"]. The bronzium avian statuette would lead Taldan and his pursuers to, you guessed it, a certain set of coordinates.

The bronzium avian, Taldan soon learned, was actually bronzium foil over aurodium. Meanwhile, Roberts had cultivated a serious Reputation on Zeltros. Not key-to-the-city style, but comparable in magnitude. She would always find friends of the moment there from here on out.

Gun Gan Booma, by contrast, was pretty much banned from the planet forever. His notoriety increased.

***​

​

All three sets of coordinates led to the world of Ruusan. Ruusan, home to the Valley of the Jedi, the greatest Force nexus in the galaxy. In this system, massive ships, even treasure ships, had fought and died. The hunt for the treasure ship was still on. And though the coordinates' holders had an advantage, treasure hunters of all kinds were flocking to the Ruusan system, trying to get in one last looting before the Techno Union solidified control.

On the surface of Ruusan, a few kilometres from the Valley of the Jedi, was the abandoned, modern Jedi Temple. It was to the wrecked Temple that the coordinates led, with a promise -- perhaps not a trustworthy promise -- that going there would lead the dedicated searcher to the unknown treasure ship.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Chapter Two
Location: Onboard the Starfall
Destination: Valley of the Jedi, Ruusan

Zeltros had been an interesting experience for Ayden. It served to remind the old Corellian that he was not as all-powerful as he sometimes had the arrogance to think he was. He was still quite fallible, judging from the fact that he did not have a blue Massassi orb in his possession. However, the scans were enough that a set of coordinates were unlocked and had led the erstwhile Lord Protector to a world he had never been to before, a world that he wasn't entirely sure most anyone had been to in centuries if not millenia; Ruusan. The few fragmented records he had of it gave an interesting, if conflicting, report on what the planet was like. Some reports indicated that it was a temperate world, others said that the climate had shifted over the centuries and had become too arid to support forests and thus had become a desert world.

The nebula did a wonderful job messing with the long-range scanners on the ship. It was difficult to tell exactly what all was in orbit, if anything was in orbit at all. He was relatively certain that he was the only one in the system, but he could have easily been mistaken. But that wasn't his concern right now. The scans from the orb had given him a location, and he was reasonable certain from crosschecking the coordinates with old Republic sensor data indicated that he was being led to an area near that which had been dubbed the Valley of the Jedi. The sensor data wasn't first-hand, or even second-hand so it was rather badly fragmented. Perhaps it was pointing to the more modern Jedi Temple that had been erected on the planet, or perhaps not.

As the ship drew closer, it was apparent that much of the planet was still in fact arid. However, spots could be found where trees were growing in earnest, perhaps due to some manner of reclamation on the part of the Jedi. It was clear however that the climate was wildly unpredictable, though such radical divides in climate could have been attributable to control devices. Still, amongst the things he took down with him, Ayden made sure to include some basic survival gear; water and food rations, medical supplies, some power cells, and other miscellaneous supplies. There was no telling how long this expedition would take. Perhaps he would only be down there for a few hours, or perhaps he would be down there for weeks.

[member="Elanor Wraith"], his sort-of apprentice / assistant, had been given an invitation to join him on this little trip to Ruusan. Given her background in archaeology, he was certain that if nothing else that she would be very, very interested in visiting the planet. He knew, in passing, of some various historical events that had occurred on Ruusan. While he couldn't give a dissertation on any of its history, he knew well enough to know that very old things often held very old knowledge, and usually very nasty surprises. Still, he was confident that there would be no real danger for them. Elanor had kept her wits about her on Enigma Prime; she would do fine here. Field excursions sharpened old skills and helped develop new ones. It would be an informative trip for her.

A brief databurst would be sent to [member="Mira Rekali"] as well, giving her the coordinates to the planet. He had run into her on Zeltros, and felt some small need to help her in whatever fashion he could. He had met her mother, and had been saddened to learn of her senseless, though incredibly noble, death at Roche. Perhaps a trip to Ruusan would help the daughter of the departed Sword of the Jedi find solace or reconnect with some aspect of that which her mother had loved.

"Strap in," he told her as they finished loading up their gear onto the dropship and left the confines of the ship. Roland had been left in command of the ship and left to hide behind one of Ruusan's moons with all stealth systems engaged. Piloting the dropship down to the planet's surface, Ayden made sure to keep the inertial dampeners up and stable for their entry into the planet's atmosphere. It was a slightly bumpy ride, but nothing unordinary or to worry about.

At least, that's what Ayden though until a sudden bolt from the ground struck their port engine and set it aflame. Alarms rang out loudly within the cockpit as Ayden fought to keep the craft level. Smoke trailed behind the dropship as it began to spiral down towards the surface. "Alright, brace yourself. This next part is gonna get a little rough." They were still several kilometers from the Valley of the Jedi, and even further from their destination of the Jedi Temple ruins, but this was as close as they were going to get. Deciding that it was better to crash against sandy desert than rocky canyon floor, Ayden cut the one good engine and killed their speed by deploying all the breaking flaps. The dropship hit the sand with a remarkable thud as it kicked up a cloud of dust in its wake, They slid with relative ease, and Ayden began to worry that they would still end up on the canyon floor below. However the ship managed to slow to a halt a bare meter from the edge of the cliff.

Battered, but not seriously hurt, Ayden crawled out of the seat to check on Elanor and then on their supplies. Their gear was all still in good shape, though it was immediately apparent upon stepping outside that the dropship wasn't going to fly again. Three of the speeder bikes that had been attached to the side had been ripped away. Fortune was with them that a single one had managed to remain fastened to the side of the crashing dropship. An ominous crack and subsequent clatter of rocks gave the impression that their position on the cliffside was not entirely safe. "Let's get the supplies out and loaded up onto the speeder quickly. We'll make for the Temple and see about setting up a comm tower to get in touch with Roland."

[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jsc]

Chapter Two

[member="Harmon Taldan"] had the statue and was quick to make his getaway. Luckily, Karen had managed to mark him with a tracker, ID his ship, and follow him to Ruusan. Unfortunately, the handsome smuggler had a good two hours on her. She was still stuck in Hyperspace in her X-Wing. Undressing and redressing, while her R2 unit took the controls.

"Ugh! Darn this Zeltron skin paint. I'll be red hued for weeks. Blast it!"

Sadly. One cannot take a proper shower in the cockpit of a Starfighter. Roberts would just have to settle for a smudged flight-suit, discarded lingerie atop her dashboard, and a constant ringing in her ears from a certain Gungan's grenade spree. Where she threw her high heels in this tiny cockpit was anybodies guess.

"That's it! Ugh! Next time I'm taking a bulk freighter and a triple change of wardrobe! Where are my gloves, darn it!?"

R2 gave a soft sigh as his Master rummaged around in her cramped quarters below. Yeah. It was going to be a long day in Hyperspace after all.

 

[RC 212]

@Ni'gel
[member="Aeri Vyn"]

------------------------------------------

Location: Kessels Pride, On the Bridge, Hyperspace
Objective: Finding prizes!

Jack had been quick to act as they had picked up Dak. when the ramp had thundered open he'd grabbed the kid, and the mikan and used what little strength was left in his body to drag the dead space thing through the door into the cockpit. Alleria had cursed him out up and down for bringing a dead body to bridge and Dak had hit the door, locking Aueri in the cargo hold via blast door.

It wasn't more than seconds before Jack bumped the wounded Ferlin from his seat and made a random Jump. They were hurtling through the voids of hypserspace, Jack nursing a cup of stimcaf and his bruised body as Ferlin and Dak were carefully regarding the corpse. His silent reverie was cut short when Ferlin growled in a gruff voice.

"Hey you see that?"

"See what?" Asked Dak leaning in closer.

Jack eternally grumpy about the whole ordeal grunted and growled.

"Will you two shut the frak up. I've got a pounding headache."

"No seriously skip, there's something here."

Jack was not amused, and the sound of flesh being cut via vibroblade rang out in the cabin like a piece of meat ripping from a bone. Jack growled again swivelling the captains chair, fully intent on berating the two. Until his eyes fell upon it. Ferlin had his helmet removed and was grinning, holding up a strange item in between his index finger and thumb. Blood was pooling on the floor in crimson puddles as he grinned.

"Bingo, weren't all for nuthin'"

Jack snatched the chip, holding it close to his face and then nodding.

"Nice work Vod. Let's see what this little beauty has...."