"M-Master Skywalker?! It's...a real pleasure, sir!" Raxle Bisthto rattled on, rising again from the chair with an outstretched a hand. "I've heard so many stories about you. It's truly an honor to finally get to meet you in person, sir." Luke, still looking out the viewport, slowly, and with a sigh, turned to face the perspiring doctor, shaking his hand. "A pleasure indeed, Dr. Please, call me Luke, for now." He nodded at Miat Temm, and walked to the podium. Genna Delpin pushed off of the wall, and joined them. Luke gestured at everyone to sit, having soundly ignored the mutterings about who was in charge. "You all know who I am, and what we're here to do. We're here to scout Shadow, discover any new technologies on the surface, and secure the area for teams of scientists. The Hapans have refused to send anymore of their people down to the surface, and the Chiss have hired a Mandalorian to act as their representative, with there being Killiks on the surface." Luke nodded to the Balosar. "Hob Bob." "And the Empire has dispatched a representative from the Imperial Mission - Operative Zadann MaRanna. The Jedi have elected Jedi Master Zazarine Zey as our representative, and the Alliance has chosen Gunnery Sergeant Maltrix." Luke continued to indicate the Barabel, the Kel Dor and the Human/Kiffar hybrid. "Lastly, the Confederation has dispatched the esteemed Dr. Bisthto to act as their representative." "In response to the questions about who is running this mission - I am here simply to ensure the mission gets off to a smoother start than the last one. You all should have copies of the holo-recordings of the mission up to the destruction of YVH-1. The team was divided, and got itself killed. If you discover members of the last team, you are to assist them - but Seth, the last Chiss representative, is to be detained, or, if impossible, killed - he is extremely dangerous, as already demonstrated." Miat Temm continued. "We will be retaining your ranks, and they will decide the command structure. Sergeant Maltrix will be in charge, with Operative MaRanna as his second in command. Jedi Master Zey will act as assistant for the mission, as to will Hob Bob. Dr. Bisthto will act as advisor. A failure to obey this command structure will forfeit your pay, or mercenary rates, and see you expelled from your respective groups." "Any questions?"
Loincloth intact, Anakin rounded the corner to see Driggs indulging in tea, absently adding. "Take your time Anakin. Take your time." In answer to the earlier question, Anakin pointed at the medical supplies, which were primarily salves and tablets. "No bandages, Driggs. But there are some incredible healing tools in here." Anakin took out a little scanner, and ran it across one of Isis's exposed cuts - which began to knit together neatly. "I've checked the data on it, and its designed for humans, Selonians and Drall. It's very interesting - the Celestials had no need of them." "The Gorog have been active for the past few years - they were keeping down to the extreme lower levels, simply surviving, usually by eating each other. It was only when the changes on the surface happened that they spread back into the tunnels and upper caverns. I'm only one person, so we've been unable to keep them entirely secured." Anakin grimaced. "The biggest problem is that they've captured the Control Room. They managed to emerge in the main cavern - where you were a moment ago - and reoccupy the tunnels in the mountain and dig down. I've kept them barricaded in there - and they simply don't have the ability to activate the system. It requires a human, Drall or Selonian hand to complete the cycle. Even a near-human, I reckon could do it - but not a Killik or Sith hand." "The mountain above us was denuded during the last days of their war, I reckon." Anakin acknowledged he wasn't making much sense, but he had a lot of information. Either way - he needed their help in reclaiming the Control Room. Anakin picked up a lightsaber from the table - a different one to Anakin's original, obviously. "Does this make any sense whatsoever?"
The Nest Seth landed in seemed to have widened the cavern he'd dropped in as they reached the bottom - not that he could tell, surrounded by purple-black insects, all surging around the walls, squashed together and buzzing angrily. The cavern widened, dozens if not hundreds of Gorog running around. They paid Seth no heed, so he was able to nudge his way down through the masses of bodies, all clicking around him in a roar. Suddenly, he found the floor, but the way he thumped onto it made it clear it was metal. The Killiks shifted as a bulk, pushing Seth in one particular direction. A few clawed at his weapons, trying to pull them away from him. The next moment he was ejected from the mass and shoved over an edge, depositing him in a room filled with ceiling-high computers. He'd just been pushed through the ceiling. The room was circular, and all the displays were deactivated - only emergency lights illuminated the darkness. A door was evident, a metal bulkhead which had dropped from the ceiling and had sealed the room. The Killiks looked down at him from the hole they'd carved and chittered aggressively, a Chiss-sized Gorog dropping down and snapping its pincers at him, standing between Seth and the doorway. It was massive, and anyone could see its carapace was hard. It advanced on Seth, spreading its four arms to cut off any escape.
The roots lashed out, shattering formations of rock as they reached for Mal. It was fairly clear that they were angry at him for something. He ran, deeper into the denuded tunnels, and the tentacles followed. The tunnel suddenly, however, cut-off, and it became evident that the only way was up - in a whole slightly above his height. It'd be a difficult climb. And, it was evident, he had to be quick. The tentacles were at their maximum extent, but they still had the reach to grab him and drag him the meters back, bashing into a sickly paste on the walls as they did so. The tunnel that Mal was running through seemed relatively fresh, and new, while the one he was climbing into offered little to no light, and appeared a great deal odler, this far from the cavern with its shining wires. Mal was being driven up into the mountain, into more tunnels. It was not ideal, but it simply raised questions. What the hell had the Killiks been doing here? His scanners suddenly indicated the presence of metal ahead, which was even more interesting. Some kind of old durasteel construct was rooted near the top of the mountain, several dozens of meters up. A sonar ping would map the entirety of the upper tunnels, demonstrating that near the top of the mountain there was a cavern, and a tunnel leading to it from the peak of the mountain. It made no sense - why had nobody noticed this before? Seth was of less concern, now, than surviving - and understanding.
"Don't y'r worry abu't that," Alec replied. Dr. Callat snorted at the man's accent. How quaint. Not anything like his arch Core accent. Very brutish, indeed. No surprises there. "I won't, then," said Dr. Callat, and he began speaking. "I had two enforcers hired, yourself and a Blood Carver. An uncouth, completely indecipherable name at that. But he's dead now. There is a motley band of spacers also looking for the Alsakan Tessent. But I believe that I have a better lead than before." Callat held out a datapad, with the details of the six smugglers/pirates/mercs that had been tailing him. They seemed mildly armed, and all teens slightly older than Alec himself, possessing that streak of luck they believed impossible to stop. "I'm hiring you to track down and kill the spacers - of which I left a meaty trail here, while I head into the swamplands. I believe buried within those swamps is the Alsakan Tessent. And the secrets to the treasures of Alsakan!" Callat rubbed his hands together, greedily grinning The datapad indicated that the six spacers were currently scouting the local tavern - on the other side of town - looking for information as to location of an ancient tomb in the depths. The system had a notorious pirate problem, so Alec could get into a rather vicious fire-fight. But it was a job - and Mandalore's fate was resting on it. Unless Alec could convince the Empire he was here, Fenn couldn't pull off whatever trick he had in mind. Tricky, to say the least. Callat spoke up. "I want those spacers dead in an hour. Meet me at the swamps. The pad will show you where. Hop to it!"
Cara fled to the ornate rooms of her tent battlefield. Throughout the room were golden statues of the Gods, those powerful Sith who had been closer than ever to success - but nowhere as close as her. It wasn't a few minutes, however, before someone rung the chime of her tent, and pushed open the flap. It was her brother, all red-skinned like a Sith - but definitely her. "Sister, my Night Herald... are you alright?" Trayus/Elsander had in him his hands two goblets of drink, clearly something to help her calm down. "You're the ruler of all Korriban now. We're about to shoot the pretender into orbit, where he will undoubtedly die. What's wrong?"
"Most of what I wanted answered was in the holo-briefs that were given to us, but there were some details that were left out. What is the dominant condition of the operating range in-mission, primarily the terrain, atmospheric conditions and ambient light conditions? Is there a reasonably reliable status and force strength condition on the Bugs? And aside from the Chiss are there other secondary objectives or targets of opportunity? And can we please land far away from that sarlacc if at all possible? Finally, what is the current status of comms communication? Is there any chance of inter-team communications let alone ship contact?" Luke raised a hand to Maltrix Booly to forestall him for a moment. He turned to Master Zey for a moment. "You are an assistant, Master Zey. You have a position to 'assist', however you see fit. But you shall respect the chain of command." Luke gave Zey a look as if he shouldn't push this. The Order were in a difficult position legally - and Zey had to know as much by now. The reality was that Zey could overpower the Sergeant - if it came to it. With that done, Luke looked back at Miat Temm, who nodded and continued speaking for Luke. "The terrain, as far as we know, is rocky, and there are no internal lighting - so stock up on glowrods. We assume that the Killiks will number at least a hundred - but there will probably be more. The comms are still down, the atmospheric conditions allowed only for the YVH holocom at the time. We'll make efforts to secure proper communications, hopefully." Admiral Delpin chimed in, finally. "The 'sarlacc' creature is evidently linked to the Centerpoint technology - if there is any there. So we can't avoid it. Though we will be directing you to insert via the mountain top. Sonics from the YVH suggest that there is a tunnel system you can use to avoid the cavern the creature was protecting. Your objective is to discover the Centerpoint tech, remember, not play with bugs."
Running for one's life from something that could literally smush you like a bug gets very old, very fast. Having done this more than once today, four now actually, had caused this particular past time to completely wear it's welcome out. Still, it wasn't like Mal had any other options available to him. Thankfully the giant tentacle monster was slowed down by the outcroppings. However that did absolutely nothing for the fact that Mal had quite suddently run out of room to run. Fighting panic, the Trooper looked around and completely failed to find any holes in the floor or walls. Great. Seth gets to go down a hole, and I wind up playing dead end chicken with mister giant crushing arms back there. Simply wonderful. Rapidly running out of time, and not having a clue how far the limbs of the unseeing (well, presumably unseeing as there were no eyes visible) monster could actually reach it appeared like the end of the line. What Mal simply couldn't understand was why in the world did this seem so much like an angry assault by some roided up trandoshan? What had he done to the root creature? Head falling back in exasperation a hole seemed to materialize above him. Obviously it had been there the whole time, but due to the limitations of the helmet's field of view he had simply missed it. Having found an apparent means of salvation, Judder grabbed his grappel gun and pointed it up the tunnel that was above him. As the hook on the end managed to catch on something, Mal found himself lacking the time to make sure it was actually secure... Well, I guess if I call it can break my fall. With that thought the Imperial ascended into the ceiling just as the rooty thing smacked the ground precisely where he had been standing. Rising rapidly through a VERY dark tunnel was not precisely something that would be called soothing. Switching on his night vision he could tell that this was a vastly older place than his previous position. Magnitudes older, actually. This made the likelihood that whatever his hook had actually found purchase on holding extremely less likely. Almost on cue the line started to go slack and Mal found himself grabbing at a rather cracked wall in front of himself. A foot behind him and in front and he did actually manage to keep from falling TOO far down. Even if it did hurt like hell being wrenched around like that. And he somehow managed to avoid losing his grapple gun, mainly because the gun itself had gotten caught on his pack and the line had fallen over his shoulder and managed to wrap itself around the neck joint in his armor. Muttering to himself, and not really finding any pleasant way to undo the current predicament (especially with the walls shaking from the impacts below and the consequent debris that was falling around him) Mal started climbing. Of course the hook had to catch on something as he climbed, and of course it made Judder lose his grip. Swearing up a storm, he managed to fish the hook loose and draw it up so that it was now connected on one of his rifle straps. The rifles had also caused their share of problems, catching on outcroppings in the tunnel or jamming in a thinner area. Overall it was highly tempting to just drop the damned things, but being without some serious firepower seemd like a suicide wish. As he neared the lip above him, the looped filament managed to catch on some hooklike thing below him, and it seemed as though it would not be dislodged no matter what he did. It wasn't precisely possible to go back down and undo it as his rifles had now formed an X shape and when he tried to lower himself caught on both sides of the tunnel wall and completely restricted him from going any lower. In truth, he could have completely hung in midair from that for at least a few moments. Until the shaking caused the whole thing to become unstable and then he would plummet to either an unhappy death on the stone floor below, or getting grabbed by the tentacles and then pulled into some tiny little hole in the wall and dieing that way. Neither were pleasant options. Considering his options, which were rather markedly few, Mal decided to try and pull the rock loose. Jerking on the rope as hard as he could, it seemed like this plan might work... for all of half a second. The wall before him shuddered, and Judder nearly lost his grip. Swearing for the umpteenth time, the Trooper pulled on the rope again hoping SOMETHING would let go one way or another, be it the gun or the hook. Alas his luck simply was non-existant right then. Shake went the wall, and slip went the armored fingers out of the crevice they had previously been in. As feet started to come out as well, Mal scrabbled desperately at the wall, trying to find any purchase that he could. As the wall shook yet again, he failed utterly. The next thing he knew was a jerking as the guns locked into position on the walls, halting what would have been a fall to his death. Given at least a moment to sort out his current situation, he could tell that the line was now dangling below him again, and so he rapidly pulled it up and looped the excess filament around varied things so it wouldn't grab again. Mal had also wedge his feet onto either wall so that the weapons were not taking the strain of all the weight that was there. Still they were rather stuck, as was he. Sighing softly, having thought of one rather unpleasant way out of this, he considered pulling a conc grenade and dopping it down the shaft. The explosive pressure should push him up the rest of the way, assuming he didn't break his back on the ceiling above him, and would also give the plant monster a legitimate reason to be angry with him. The problem was that would leave him with precisely two grenades left, and he was absolutely certain they would have vastly more use later. But if he didn't actually make it to later, then it was completely pointless to still have them. Overall it was not the most fun predicament. As Mal finally decided to pretty much waste a grenade the shaft shook yet again, and he felt something let loose. Sighing with relief he started climbing again and was quickly over the lip and away from the monstrous presence that lurked below. Unable to roll onto his back, Judder lay on his stomach and looked around for a few moments. Apparently the beastly thing in the tunnel below had finally had enough and stopped banging on things. In all likelihood the tunnels were now vastly less stable than they had been, so he would have to watch out for cave-in's as he went along. Seth now truly and utterly out of his reach, Mal sighed and decided that exploration was the order of the day. It had been the mission after all, and he could still possibly complete some portion of it. Judging the risks of a sonar scan of the area, and at least having a legit map to go off of, Mal decided for it and sent out a ping. He was seriously surprised by the sheer number of tunnels that interconnected, forming a veritable maze that waited for him to plow his way through... and the prize was that the very top. It seemed like a very long walk was before him. Deciding it could wait a few more moments while he finished catching his breath, Mal wondered what in the worlds the killik were doing here. There was something flatout wrong with this current situation, but he could not manage to actually put a finger on it. Maybe the room above held some answers? After several minutes Mal heaved himself up and started walking. This day just kept getting longer...