Ask Echo Location.

[Covax]

Covax crawled up a hill that he was not 100% sure was really just 20 meter deep snow pack. Hence the crawling. Roughly 90 meters from his location rested and old base. According to the new "New Republic", it once belonged to the rebels who fought the first Galactic Empire. The theory apparently being that if they built the facility on in a frozen hell, no one would look for them. However the scattered remains of walkers and snow speeder's told the merc just as the history crons did. They were wrong. Likely so would this "new" same old story.

But it had been a year since the towering merc had taken a job. He needed to test himself and his new parts. So here he was, ass need in snow, on a back water rim world. He was supposed to meet another "agent" as the Chancellor preferred to call him. Not wanting to say mercenary for some political reason. But the man or woman had not made his appearance just yet. In the mean time, the merc used his set of binos to get a view of the scene he was going to be walking into. As the lenses auto focused, Covax was a bit surprised. At first only seeing one old B1 battle droid, however the number quickly swelled to ten. Six of them droids and four pirates.

@Isen

 

[Isen Ramm]

The one thing that everyone knew about Hoth was that it was cold. Not just cold, but miserably cold. Even for a Jedi who grew up on a frigid planet like Jedha, Hoth was an entirely different kind of cold. Isen, who preferred to go sleeveless and traverse the jungles and forests of the galaxy in search of large predatory animals to tame, felt rather claustrophobic layered up and outfitted in fur-lined jackets and pants. He couldn't get the hood to fit quite right because of the mass of thick dreadlocks that he had to fit in it.

Be that as it may, he had found one silver lining in all this. On his way to the coordinates for a former rebel base that was forgotten by many, he happened upon a pack of some 20 to 25 tauntauns. It certainly didn't hold the same thrill as training acklays or rancors, but the benefits certainly beat trudging through the snow on foot.

He was now riding a big bull, one of the leaders of the pack, and he was leading them toward Echo Base. As he approached the bottom of a large snow drift with echo base on the other side, the pack of tauntauns refused to keep going forward. They were putting on the breaks even at Isen's urging to go forward. Isen reached out, and felt the surroundings...and he could feel the predators past the wall of snow drift in front of him.

"Wampas..." Isen said quietly to himself. But as he did, he felt something else...another living thing closer...on the drift..predatory itself in its own sort of way. Scanning the peak of the snow drift, the Jedi saw him. He'd be hard to miss, a man of that size. And, interestingly enough, he also seemed to have some sort of interest in the base as he was starting at it through is binos. It was entirely possible that the New Republic had accidentally doubled-up in asking for help. At any rate, he didn't want to seem to be sneaking up on the man. That would almost ensure some sort of confrontation until matters could be sorted, and it would most certainly give their location away to whoever may actually be inside the base.

Instead, Isen grabbed the fur of the bull tauntaun and pulled his skin taut. The bull bleated loudly, more than loudly enough to get the man's attention. And, because tauntauns were common to the area, it wouldn't alert anyone just outside the base. Well, it might attract a few wampas, but better to fight them out in the open than in close quarters inside the base.

@Taz

 

[Covax]

Covax continued to glass the area around the base from what he could see from his perch. He was looking for his best way in when he noticed the Wampas. Or rather a mother and a couple of cubs, perhaps only a year old maybe two old if he had to guess. What he did not expect to see however was a herd of Tauntauns approaching the other side of the drift. He planed to ignore the animals and let nature take it's course, however a top of one was a man in a snow suit.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Covax exclaimed to himself. As the winds shifted, the towering human looked down to the mother and her cubs. Surprised to see that they either didn't smell the meal on the wind or recently eat and didn't need the meal just yet. A Tauntaun suddenly yelped in discomfort, and Covax returned his attention to the man on the back of it.

Rolling off his shoulder, he let himself start to be carried down before turning feet down to slide down the snow drift toward the man and his beasts. Once at the bottom, he stood and sized the man up.

"Let me guess, You're the other 'agent' Ro sent to scout the old base?" he asked flatly. His hand on the grip of his hand cannon. The fact that the man made himself known rather then shoot first told the merc that this was the contact he was to meet but he also wanted to hear him say it.

 

[Isen Ramm]

The Jedi suppressed a smile with the man's agitation. After all, once he mentioned he was Jedi, he had no way of knowing what sort of turn this new partnership would undertake. The wave of uneasiness in some and outright dislike to hatred by others against Force users was not lost on Isen, and there was no sense poking the bear...and this man was almost as big as a bear. At 6'4", Isen usually stood taller over most humans and near-humans, but this mass of a man stood eyeball to eyeball with him and bested him in girth by a significant bit.

Isen noticed the man's hand dropped to his blaster, but Isen didn't allow his eyes to leave the man's stare. "I didn't realize the New Republic and sent two agents. They tasked the Order with a mission, and I was the one they asked to complete the job.I was under the impression it was a solo mission." He let that sit out there. It would be clear to the man now that Isen was a Jedi, and yes, sent to clear Echo Base for the New Republic by the Jedi Order. Apparently, this man's boss gave him the skinny about their being a partnership. Either the New Republic failed to give that information to the Order, or the Order failed to relay that bit to Isen.

He dismounted, tutted twice, and slapped the bull tauntaun on the rear. The bull took off at a spring, leaving a trail of dusty snow flying and the rest of the pack in his wake. "The name is Isen Ramm." Finally he let his eyes drop to the man's hand on the blaster before looking back at him with the smallest hint of a grin on his lips. "It appears the pleasure is all mine."

@Taz

 

[Covax]

Covax eyed the newcomer the same way the man had eyed him. Though neither man could see their facial expressions under their gear, it would be obvious that neither was used to be eye to eye with the average humanoid walking around the galaxy. But the moment quickly passed.

The stranger's eyes did not deviate from Covax's own, even as he explained that his order did not expect another agent. "Order? So the New Republic really isn't that new?" The merc scoffed, shaking his head.

Covax stepped back as the Jedi dismounted. Watching as he sent the Tauntauns away. Then introduced himself. "Covax," he merc replied flatly. He could see then that this, "Isen was it?" was eyeballing his hand. "Don't take it to personal, you road up on me while I was scouting. Just be glad I didn't shoot first."

Taking his hand off the pistol, Covax turned and climbed back up to his perch. The droids and the pirates were more or less exactly where he had left them. "If we stay clear of Momma Wampa, she'll stay clear of us. But seeing as you like to play with furry animals, I think I have a better idea. If you're game that is."

@Isen

 

[Isen Ramm]

A slow and easy smile lifted on one side of the Jedi's lips when the merc told him he should just be glad that he didn't shoot first. Isen was pretty handy at deflecting blaster bolts with his lightsaber, but he didn't feel the need to bring that up. Odds are, this Covax character would find out soon enough if there were pirates or worse taking refuge in the old base. Isen followed the man back up to the top of the drift, careful not to slide back or send a cascade of snow to the bottom. A few bleats from a tauntaun wouldn't make the pirates blink, but a plume of snow mist and the crash of a mini-avalanche might do the trick.

"If we stay clear of Momma Wampa, she'll stay clear of us," the man said. "But seeing as you like to play with furry animals, I think I have a better idea. If you're game that is."

Isen surveyed the base below. Wampas weren't to be trifled with. In fact, in their evolutionary journey, they were nearing full sentience. He knew they were devoted to their clans or packs, and seeing the care of this mother wampa for her cub made it much more real for Isen. Despite their deserved ferocious reputation, Isen hated when he was forced to harm animals who were simply doing what they knew to do- what they had to do to survive. Luckily, his pragmatism for the greater good outweighed his angst in hurting or killing wild creatures.

Isen turned to the mercenary and nodded. "I'm all years. What's the game plan?"

@Taz

 

[Covax]

There was an awkward pause between the two men at the comment of shooting first. While neither merc or Jedi were in a hurry to test the theory, there was still a feeling a tension. One alpha sizing up another. Both men had a half smile on their face and confidence in their own ability. Fortunately, it went no further then that passing moment. After all, there was a job to do and credits to be made.

Now back atop the snow pack. Covax was sizing up the situation once again. The bay doors were still open, perhaps meaning they had a speeder patrol outside, yet unseen. Or perhaps expecting more men to arrive soon. Covax and the Jedi needed to get inside before either option came to fruition.

"Use that animal mind meld. See if you can get that cub to get a little to close to one of the roaming guards, like the droid. Those things are so damn stupid it will likely shoot first, that will get big momma involved. She works the crowd, while we slip in one of those bay doors. We get in we can shut those doors, likely split their numbers." Covax answered.

Covax guest that the Jedi might have some reservations about using another life form as bait. So it was a matter of rather the Jedi would rather move in guns blazing, which the human was also more then ok with. Or if he wanted to try and keep their presents here unknown for the moment. Keeping the element of surprise on their side.

 

[Isen Ramm]

For a few moments, Isen took in the plan, staring at the mother wampa and her cub. It would be a difficult plan with a lot of risk, and one that Isen wasn't altogether sure would work. Taming beasts that were semi-sentient was at best a 50/50 proposition. Isen tried his hand at taming a jungle rancor once on Teth which came with...mixed results. Granted, that was a full grown bull, and this would require trying to bond with a cub.

Finally, the Kiffar let out a sigh and said, "It's risky. I have to get in very close contact with the cub. If the mother sees me and the cub interacting, well...there goes the element of surprise. Then we have both the protective wampa mother and the droids all over us." His eyes narrowed and thought, thinking it over. "The best bet might getting one of those roaming clankers to walk right onto momma's radar. And that I might can do."

The outer-most roaming battle droid guard was walking a perimeter path that came just around 25 meters away from the Jedi and the mercenary. It wouldn't be a sure thing, but the droid would be within Isen's telekinesis manipulation zone. As the droid walked by, Isen reached out with his left hand, extending two fingers toward the carbine in the droid's held. He then clinched those fingers into his fist, and the droid suddenly realized there was some other power that was in control of his weapon.

"Hey, what?" The clanker said as he felt himself losing his grip on his blaster.

Isen quickly extended his fingers again, this time in the direction of the wampa mother and her cubs. The carbine went flying over over a large rock that had hidden the wampas from the patrolling droid's view. "Hey! Come back here!" the droid screeched in it's robotic voice. He began to scramble in the direction of the wampas and mentioned over his comms that "something funny was going on out here" and that some of the other droids guarding the entrance of Echo Base "should check it out." Of course, these commands were met by a series of droids responding, "Roger, Roger."

Of course, the carbine landing between the mother and her cubs put the protective female wampa on full alert. In just a few moments, the unarmed droid was about to walk into a most unfortunate situation. Several droids were pouring from the mouth of the base to go check out this funny thing that was going on. Isen looked at the mercenary and said, "That should do the trick."

@Taz

Spoiler: Dice Roll

89 out of 100 - Rousing success

 

[Covax]

Covax watched the Jedi consider his plan. The human merc could tell he was not completely pleased with the idea. There was risk reward to it. Mostly the risk of another life form over the risk of their own, or some such. However, finally the dreadlock haired hero decided to share his reasoning.

"So it that a yes or a no ?" Covax asked, irritatingly. Isen answered instead with a little twist to the plan. Using the droid to piss off the mother, rather then the cub. The old B1 had not been improved in it's programming. In fact. If Covax had to guess they were still on the same simple program from their Clone War days.

"Tell me, how in the verse did it take three or more years for your order to defeat these things ?" He spat. It was the kind of barb he liked to use to trade banter with those he worked with. A little playful ribbing to pass the time and the stress of such high risk jobs. However the Jedi did not seem that amused as he did what ever it was Jedi do to use their abilities.

Seeing his opportunity, Covax jumped up from his position. Suddenly in a dead run to cut cross the top of the snow bank. Trying to get to the doors before the tiny droid brains of the B1's could catch on. While the six or so metal morons took the bait, their living breathing pirate overlords did not.

Suddenly three thugs turned away from the pack of droids and started to open fire on the towering merc. And since he silhouetted himself on the bank. He was becoming rather hard to miss. Bolts splashed the snow all around him. One slamming him in the heavily plated shoulder, knocking him over.

"Well, yes and no!"

@Isen

 

[Isen Ramm]

Isen didn't take off at a dead sprint like Covax. He figured that if they eased their way around, trying to stay behind the drifts, and moved cautiously, they would go undetected. Apparently, Covax wanted to make a dash for it. He had a pretty good head start when the pirates turned back and started blasting.

The young Jedi took off a sprint when the bolts started flying, but he was not able to get to Covax before one blaster bolt hammered into his armored torso. They were still firing, so the Kiffar decided to take a step that would certainly draw their attention. The hilts of his lightsabers snapped into his hands, and two cobalt blades ignited from them. A chorus of yelling and pointing told Isen that he definitely had the pirates' attention, and soon the bolts were no longer firing on his downed partner, but now flying toward him.

Graceful and confident in his movements, Isen made deflecting the blaster bolts look easy, despite the rapid rate of fire coming from the pirates. Concentrating on making sure that each and every bolt was deflected away, he finally stood in front of the mercenary with a blur of a blue shield preventing blaster fire from getting through. As he protected the mercenary until he could get to his feet and either start firing back or make his way to cover, Isen said, "Perhaps it wasn't the Jedi that caused the Clone Wars to go on for years." Bolts continued to fly in, only to be returned back in their general direction by the blue blades held in Isen's hands. "Maybe it was the incompetence of the soldiers under their command." Isen turned back to look at Covax with a lifted brow. only for a moment before turning his attention back to the blaster fire. One good rib deserved another, he supposed.

@Taz

Spoiler: Dice

54 out of 100 - everything goes as planned

 

[Covax]

Covax hit the snow on his left shoulder and sank to his neck. The pauldron on his right had taken the hit, however the heavy armor had taken the hit well. Only showing a slight char but otherwise intact. The human merc pulled himself free of the snow and took his rifle from his back.

As the Jedi was doing a wonderful job of pulling the pirates attention, and he now in the perfect prone shooting position. The merc used the distraction to his advantage. Taking careful aim with his rifle. He shot the pirates one after the other, until all three were down. In fact thanks to the Jedi, he was also able to take out two of the four droids as well before standing.

"Was the soldier incompetent, or the Jedi so arrogant he couldn't see he was being used." He retorted, cocking his head as if to question. Then quickly returned his attention to the remaining droids. However they were now being ripped apart by the mother Wampa. "I think that's our queue."

Turning back to the hanger once again, Covax broke out in a dead run. The pair had made a couple minutes before the beast made short work of the droids and started looking for her next victim.

Dice

@Isen

 

[Isen Ramm]

The merc certainly seemed to be able to take a punch. The blaster bolt he took the chest seemed to leave him no worse for wear and sprinting toward the hangar. Of course, it probably still hurt like hell, but this Covax character seemed to be a real soldier, one tough SOB. Isen preferred the tough no nonsense types. Ribbing about the Order aside, this partnership might just get the work done.

Unfortunately for the two agents trying to reclaim the base, the pirates inside the base were alerted to the firefight outside. Maybe they noticed a Jedi and a sharpshooting paramilitary type, but something spooked them. Despite almost certainly having vastly superior numbers, the pirates decided to turtle up inside the base. The hanger closed quickly, and a few pirates laid down some suppression fire to make sure Covax and Isen couldn't double-time it into the hangar before it shut.

Both of them got to the large hangar door, now shut. Isen reached out and put his hand on the massive steel alloy door. It was likely too thick for even his lightsaber to cut through. And to make matters worse, the wampa and her pups had cleared out the droids and were meandering toward the sound of the massive crash of the hangar door shutting. Isen looked at Covax and said, "Any ideas? Unless you can slice that panel and open the door, we're going to have to find another entry point." He nodded to the wampa mother was pushing her offspring along in their direction. "Time isn't our friend."

@Taz

Spoiler: Dice

Bad roll...13 out of 100

 

[Covax]

Covax was starting to like this Jedi. Not as good at wisecracks as his usual partner but Aska was a hard act to follow in most regards. It did bother the merc that the male Jedi was admiring his armor plated chest, perhaps looking for a blaster burn where they're wasn't one. But to each their own.

In any case the pirates inside the base seemed to get the clue that they were about to be evicted from their squatting pad, and closed the hanger doors before the two men could make it to them. As the towering human looked back to his partner, both men seemed puzzled by the move. As the numbers were likely in the pirates favor.

"Can take a gun from a brain dead droid, but can't open a door. Hmm." He ribbed. "I do all my slicing with high explosives, and that door can take a turbolaser bolt..sooo."

Seeing the Wampa get closer with her cubs did however give the mercenary an idea. "Follow me" he ordered. Activating the jetboots on his armor. Covax jumped from the hangers toward the right side of the snow pack. Then again as he seemed to be looking around at the frozen white wall of ice and snow. "Some of the stories about this place say that Wampas would creep into parts of the base. So some of these caves are likely connected."

As Covax mentions this, he finds what looks to be a large opening in the ice wall. Creeping inside it was obvious this was a large deep cave, going inside the earth more then forty meters. A blink of his eye and he activated the night vision. As he did so he could see the cave was starting to widen rather down down, and suddenly a pile appeared in what was seemingly the center of the cave. On closer inspection it was several tauntauns, half eaten. Suddenly the entire cave around them vibrated with a thunderous roar.

"Fuck!"

@Isen

Spoiler: Dice

Bad Roll

 

[Isen Ramm]

Charging from the darkness, the large male used an ambush tactic to get the jump on the two humanoids. Experienced and his quick-twitch muscles and reflexes well-trained, Isen acted instinctively at the initial sound of the roar. Before the animal was even visible in what little light was present in the cave, Isen's cobalt lightsaber blades blazed. Ducking under a massive swipe that would have certainly maimed the Kiffar Jedi had it struck it's target, Isen's sidestepped to the left, and his right blade sliced through the beast's leg just below the knee.

With speed and precision, Isen pivoted on his right foot back and to his left, allowing his left blade to whip across and slice through the other leg before the wampa's right side hit the ground. Another horrifying roar, this one of pain and anger echoed through the cave with such force and volume that the otherwise safe cavern shook and pieces of ice and packed snow fell from the ceiling. Isen looked at the wampa which was not full of ire. He was pissed and had every right to be. If he was lucky, the mother wampa would take care of him. Wampa clans, despite the savagery they capable of, did a fair job of protecting each other. His hunting days were over, but if he was lucky, his clan would bring him food.

Isen pointed his glowing blue blade at the Wampa's upper body and head as he told Covax, "I'd still stay away from the teethy part of him." Isen used his lightsabers as a form of a flashlight and asked Covax, "I'm guessing those fancy goggles see better in the dark than I can. Do you see an opening that may go to the base?"

@Covax

Spoiler: Dice

66 out of 100 Success, everything goes as planned.

 

[Covax]

Covax was by no means slow to act, quick drawing his heavy pistol. However it would see his partner was just a little quicker on the draw. Expertly dodging the Wampa's massive arm, before cutting his legs out from under the beast. To the merc's surprise the Jedi didn't finish the job. Rather he lingered from a little more then a blade length away.

Not wanting to upset his sword dancing friend, but also not one to leave a job half done. He flicked his hand cannon to stun and put a bolt in his chest, before holstering the weapon. "Now I don't have to worry at all about the teeth part. His girlfriend can either wake him, or eat'em."

As Isen lifted the blade, the cave slowly started to glow. The soft blue actually helped to increase the effective distance of his eye. "Well, I see something." He replied. The walked toward where the large opening started to close in again and go further into the ice mountain. The opening was to large for the bull they just put down, but it might fit one of the pups outside, or perhaps a couple of humanoids.

Covax pulled his pistol once again, and held it tight to his chest. Ready in case something jumped at him. Then he continued to walk, slowly creeping in as the walls close in. Soon the two men would have to crawl for several meters. Until finally they came to what appeared to be a metal wall. "Jackpot!" He exclaimed. "Well we could breach it, or you can do your wizard thing on it?"

@Isen

 

[Isen Ramm]

Isen checked the metal wall by banging on it a little for a sound test. It was pretty thin. These old caverns that led into the base often were found and breached by wampas which served as a rather unwelcome surprise for those inside the base. After such an attack, the rebels would try to track where the wampa entered the base and wall it off. It didn't have to be several meters thick to hold off a wampa, so Isen was relatively sure that he could cut through it. He looked at the mercenary and shrugged without grinning at his comment. "Let me see if my magic wands can do the trick."

Isen ignited both lightsabers and started creating a large circle, arching in different directions until they hit the floor. The Jedi Knight kicked the cut out and it crashed with an echoing clang. It was hard to sneak up anybody in the room with two cobalt lasers cutting through one of the walls, but it was enough to scare the four pirates in cavern to take cover behind a table forged out of ice. When the makeshift door fell, the pirates unleashed a series of blaster bolts at Isen. With his lightsabers already out, he was able to deflect them back into the room which caused more panick and more hurried shots from the pirates.

Isen backed out and took cover behind the wall. He looked at Covax as a shower of bolts continued to fly out of the new doorway. "You got a flashbang or something in your toy box? They're pretty spooked, and I don't suspect those blasters are going to stop firing."

Spoiler: Dice

64 out of 100 - not too much resistance, but enough to make us work.

@Taz