Morning Wood

[Sarla Malvern]

Sarla Malvern was dressed in her armour and her saber at her side. She had landed in plains near the northern forest, they had to find a group scouts that gone missing. They knew the forest was full of untamed wildlife, as well as brigands who want to use it as a place of sanctuary from the law. This was the first mission for the empire, she wanted to do well so not to her house down. Though if it did she would try and deflect the blame on @Arial Calvic as she was a nobody an agent. She could deflect the blame onto the @Midas Drast, after all, he was Drast, the most famous of noble houses. She was not in awe of him, but she knew it was not worth the hassle, as it might bring a pox onto her house.

As they came off the shuttle, she looked at the other two and asked: "So do we know where the scout's last known coordinates are?" As she did not want to search the whole forest, and it would take forever. Though she figured they were dead, the thing they really need to know was what had killed them, and was it a threat to empire presence her. So they need to find the corpse and prove this was nothing more than some mangy animal, that got the drop on an incompetent scout team.

@Painus @Algarus

 

[Taalong Vorr]

Taalong Vorr was a late addition to the mission, but not entirely unexpected. The Sith, unlike many factions in the history of the galaxy, came in many shapes and sizes. But far more common were those that wore fine clothes and shirked the thought of standing toe to toe with the enemy, and reveling in the opportunity to tear them down. Those Sith that held such practices tended to be rare as they were discovered in places not entirely considered civilized, and were often too bull headed to be swayed to follow any form of order.

Kalee had been somewhere in the border civilized and raw barbarism. Taalong Vorr himself was a warrior that had spent years in the wilderness of his homeworld fighting in wars. He had hunted his enemy and animals as needed, and bore a far more aggressive and rustic feel then many Sith did.

For this his superiors determined that he may be a useful fit find what had caused the death of the Imperial Scouts.

"The locals speak of wild things beyond." Taalong Vorr noted. "They may know where the Scouts had gone... or what they had gone in search of."

The conduct of that conversation was immaterial to Vorr, so long as they got what they needed.

@Sabrina

 

[Midas Drast]

Saleucami was a dim, arid, and, quite frankly, boring planet that the Sith had set its sights upon. It sits next to a planet rife with gambling and sport and offers its own advantages to the Empire, the least of which is expanding its borders just that much more. The loss of its territory following the death of Emperor Vrael, bless his heart, meant that the Empire no longer had the pull it used to. The Mandalorian menace was seemingly unable to be stopped, and with Vrael’s death, scores of planets seceded with impunity, shrinking the Sith Empire to a fraction of its former glory.

The three acolytes today, however, were participating in a campaign to bring Saleucami into the Sith’s fold and utilize its natural resources and other benefits to provide for the people of the Empire. Midas knew little to nothing about his companions for this mission – not that it mattered – and prayed that they maintained some modicum of competency. Things ran much more smoothly when everyone pulled their own weight, after all, and Midas sorely hoped he would not have to pick up the slack of the others where they failed to do so themselves.

Midas strolled off the shuttle with the others, taking in the surroundings. Trees dominated the area and it did not seem any different than any other terrestrial planet he had been on before. Sarla, as the woman called herself, queried the group as to the last-known location of the absent scout team. The Kaleesh with them suggested they ask the locals for directions. Midas shrugged and pulled out his datapad, accessing the last-transmitted coordinates of the scout team. ”Or we can go to where they last said they were and look from there,” he offered, turning around as he oriented himself to the terrain. ”Their last coordinates were Tango-Lima… six four four, two three eight,” he said, reading off the six-digit grid they gave and turning to face the direction it was in. Six-digit grids were accurate up to a hundred meters, but it was better than nothing.

”And it appears they were… Hm, two kilometers that way,” he said, pointing in the opposite direction the other two were facing. Ahead, the forest stretched on for what seemed like miles and the terrain was a varied mix of rocky ridges and intermittent valleys. Standard forest terrain, really.

@Sabrina @Morse

 

[Taalong Vorr]

He was a Drast, and for that alone Taalong Vorr could find a reason to hate him. The Drast family, a long inbred and horrendous family of schemers and shapers of galactic events. Even if he did not know the galaxy well, Taalong Vorr was not at all ignorant of the name. In his time of training after leaving Kalee he had rarely come across the endless masses that called on that ancient bloodline as a right to power and privilege. And it was personified in Midas Drast all of what his perceptions had bean, and all the more hateful for the fact that he stood there on Saluecami with him.

It was the blood and name they bore that was the essence of Vorr's distaste for them. He had been an opponent of the foolish necessities of blood rights all his life. Some tribes on Kalee held to them, and all too often they were devoured by internal conflict. The deification of a name was little more then unearned status, which Vorr could not bring himself to bow to. It was fortunate that the Emperor of the Sith was no longer of that name so that it could right itself of the corruption and bring itself back to the formation of strength and belief in the power of the darkside.

He gritted his teeth behind his mask in scowl, but his eyes narrowed at the assertion of dismissal in his tone. "The force will guide us." Taalong Vorr remarked in a stoic tone. "The reliance on such scans are likely what got the scouts killed in the first place." Taalong Vorr had grown in a place that was somewhat limited in the modern technologies of the galaxy, if only because they were always being used to destroy each other. Reliance on one's own skill had gotten Vorr through many challenges, and the force had only amplified that.

All the same they moved in the same direction, and Taalong Vorr's pride would far outweigh any evidence that he would be acting brash. He was too old for such notions. He was who he was. Respectful to his superiors, reliable to his allies, and Aggressive towards his foes... it was easy to tell what he considered someone if they knew that was how he viewed the universe.

@Sabrina @Painus

 

[Sarla Malvern]

She listened to the two men speak, she was naturally more aligned to Drast. So as he said they are that away, she was inclined to follow him. As he was a fellow noble and had obviously done his research, and had proper briefing unlike her. She liked following fellow nobles, so she replied to them, I guess we better get going we have two k to move through the forest, so it will take awhile. She then moved in the direction, he pointed, she kept slightly between them. As if they were ambushed they would take the first shots, giving her time to react. She did sense some anger from @Taalong Vorr, possibly due to the empire scouts being killed. That was enough to make anyone angry, exactly how dare people to engage and kill the empire servants. Then he said something, they had some scan reports. That made her angry as well, but that had to be focused on the task at hand.

She then looked at the other two and then said Well do we spread out, and look for evidence, or do we stick together. The question was are they safer together, if they become victims of an ambush, or spread out, so they can find evidence quicker.

@Painus @Morse

 

[Taalong Vorr]

Taalong Vorr looked up to the sky. The light was starting to shift in the sky, and before long it would become night. Though their senses would be attuned, they would be caught at a disadvantage in the dark. Not all species had the same visual and sensory capacities as the creatures of the forests and jungles, and that would be a severe detriment if they did not get a move on. Though he did not want to execute any plans with haste, three Sith Acolytes would be more then enough to deal with whatever lay before them. Few enemies or beasts in the wild were capable of overcoming such a force of powerful beings, and even fewer were likely to destroy them all if the need to escape arose.

"We move as one." Taalong Vorr dictated. He knew well the risks of spreading out in the wilderness, or in unfriendly territory. Though he could trust in his own abilities, it was a dangerous prospect for those less suited to the environment they were in. And of course this was a time of uncertainty. Mandaloreans, Jedi, and Cultists were arising everywhere, and it was important that every Sith be kept capable of fighting in the battles to come.

"This way." Taalong Vorr nodded forward, and began to lead the group further into the wilderness. Though the others were wealthier in birth and perhaps more prestigious, the wilds such as where they were lived as his forte and he'd be the best prepared.

They marched through the wilderness for quite some time, following the force, and the tracking device of the Drast, until they approached the area they sought. Their senses illuminated in an area of thick trees, and they were aware of the lingering presence of those that were devoted to the Sith and the Empire.

Somewhere close by were the bodies. Somewhere close by was their demise. It was simply a matter of finding where.

@Sabrina K @Painus

 

[Sarla Malvern]

She nodded as @Taalong Vorr said We move as one, as there was safety in numbers. They moved towards the last point, that scouts were known to be. She liked the hike, if she was honest, the trees the little critters running about, the birds songs. This was a small pleasure, but a pleasure none the less. She hides her smile, as she walked at the back of the group. She liked sensing the living force around them and did not care what the others thought, it was fun to be in nature domain. Though she knew mother nature was the dark side, as it believed in survival of the fittest. The walk did not take to long, and they would soon be at the last location of the fallen scouts.

As they did, there were scorch marks on the threes, there had been a battle here. She skirted around it, looking for who might have done this, as they might still be here. She used the force to look for extra signatures, she found none. The attackers were long gone, but there dead was still here. She turned to others, and asked What weapons do you think they used? She was not that good with a blaster, or her knowledge of them.

@Painus @Morse

 

[Taalong Vorr]

The site of battle was evident on the trees, but the scent was long gone. What may have once held the lingering stench of burnt bark and fire, there now was nothing on the breeze but the smell of the trees and clear air around them. It was almost peaceful in the that serene forest. The bodies of the dead troopers on the ground, with exposed wounds blasted through their duraplast armor looked as though they were already starting to have bacteria feed on them. They were expressionless upon the ground, their faces covered by the helmets that Imperial Troopers wore. With nothing to do but lay dead on the ground, their corpses were strewn about, the silent markers of their own graves.

They were not worthy of having a proper burial conducted by the Sith, and if they had one, it would only serve to give away their own position. Taalong Vorr had seen many such scenes throughout his life, and though he had respect for their deaths, he wondered if they could have prevented it by being more cautious. There was no way to tell from where they stood.

Vorr ran a clawed hand along the burnt bark of a tree, feeling the indention from a blackened blaster shot, taking it in and wondering himself what caused it. A blaster no doubt, but not an extraordinarily powerful one. He looked down upon the ground, and saw the blaster in the hand of one of the scouts.

"This could very well have come from their own weapons." Vorr spoke, having seen many of these battles and knowing the signs of wider conflict. "It was an ambush, there can be no doubt."

He closed his eyes and breathed in. He could sense that those responsible were not far from where they stood. There was a sort of fear and excitement in the air wafting in from the East. He opened them and glared through his mask in that direction, and hypothesized what could have done this.

"The primitives." Vorr surmised aloud. "They must have blasters and found them in a hunting party."

Vorr looked to Sarla, his eyes narrowed and prepared.

"There must be much retribution." Vorr spoke, sentencing their tribe to death with but a few words.

@Sabrina @Painus

 

[Sarla Malvern]

She looked at @Taalong Vorr and said, Which tribe, there are many of them. All we will be doing is spread fear, now that is not a bad thing, but we do not necessarily get the guilty people. Also how much time do we waste, as these scouts failed us, by falling for there trap. She would kill a local tribe as a statement, about killing their soldiers, but she not going to under any circumstances believe they are guilty. She could also see it could backfire, and make people not just fear them, but hate them. Hatred would give them strength, and that might not be good for the empire.

She rather not kill them, but she would do so if she had to. Though she wanted him to be sure, that this was worth doing, as they would be killing innocent in this, not the people who killed their scouts. She waited for his response are they to become murders, or will they do what they were assigned to do, find out what happened. That meant recovering the data, which was on the scouts.

@Morse

 

[Taalong Vorr]

Through his mask, Taalong Vorr gave a sort of snarling hiss. Though his back was to Sarla, no doubt she could sense the rage and anger that exuded from him. There beyond were a group of primitives that managed to arm themselves with modern weapons and utilized them against the Empire, and in this moment their insolence would go entirely unanswered. It was obscene almost beyond words to Taalong Vorr, who was more then willing, and perhaps even capable of venturing forth and carrying out the sentence to each and every one of the tribe.

Yet here he stood, forced to listen to reason from Sarla. She mentioned the mission and their purpose. Their mandate was to their orders. Brought together for the singular purpose of finding the reason why the scouts had disappeared, but not acting on any evidence that they may find. A measure of restraint was in a way called for, but there were differing schools of thought in that. On the one hand it could be said that they were bound to the word of their superiors, and should follow such instruction to the letter. Yet on the other hand there was the implicit task of all Sith to demonstrate the dominance of the Dark Side and eliminate those that would stand in the way of the Empire.

The puzzle raced through Vorr's mind, and he was of little doubt that Sarla would not stop him should he proceed. She was even likely to follow with him if he did, destroying the primitives in their entirety to rend them from existence as though they had never existed.

It was for that however that Vorr thought it better to not. She was right, their orders were to find the scouts and their cause of death. It would be their superiors that would decide the fate of those responsible. Perhaps Vorr would be sent out to exact that justice, a task he'd be all too pleased to carry out. But in that moment it was not his place to do so.

Vorr groaned an audible and hateful sound that chilled the air.

"Then we will return." Taalong Vorr agreed. "And give every detail of this those who would grant the order." Vorr turned around and looked at Sarla. In a way his pride was offended by this move, but he had a feeling revenge would be extracted. "The days of these primitives are few in remnant. Let them witness these final sunsets... for an eclipse comes for Saleucami."

On his words, Vorr began their march to return, the data they found on the troopers in hand, and a hate for something that would not stand long in the way of their mighty Empire.


@Sabrina
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