Out of the Cold

[skyggedal]

Even with the thick and excellently insulated white winter enviro suit Adella was wearing over her normal clothes, she shivered as she stepped out from the small starship that had taken her to the frozen wasteland of Hoth. It was probably more a reflexive action than actual cold causing her to do so however. The enviro suit was very good.

Her target was in the middle of nowhere, in a gigantic, broken-up ice field, where ice crags towered far above her. She'd spent some time on the trip there to read what they knew of him; or at least what she had been given. There were a lot of blanks to fill. Antos Wardan, arms smuggler, former special forces. She was on Hoth to recruit him for her new employer.

Having parked the ship in as good as a location she could find, and thrown a basic tarp over it so it wouldn't be obvious from above, she walked across the ice towards the location she'd been given. With her blaster by her side, knives at hand, and the customized light vest under the suit she felt... optimistic that she wouldn't need them. But Wardan was not expecting her, so it was hard to know for sure what kind of reception she would get.

Arriving at the specified location, which looked like just any other part of the broken ice field, she opened her communicator and set it to the frequency specified in the brief. She spoke the code which was supposed to tell him she was on his side. "I heard you had a fridge for sale."

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Antos Wardan swore as he jerked his hand back both in and from shock. Grunting, he pulled himself out from under the Thunderbird as he continued to use a liberal amount of swear words.
Perhaps trying to fix the hyperdrive coil without gloves had been a bad idea afterall.

He had had a close run-in with an Imperial patrol while smuggling arms to nearby rebel cell. While he had eventually been able to evade them, one of the ships had scored a lucky hit on his ship. The bastard had scored a glancing blow and damaged the hyperdrive coil. He was lucky to have been near Hoth, where he had hidden a trace amount of weapons and supplies a few years prior.

So now he was stuck here trying to fix his damn ship.

Grunting, he pulled himself out from underneath his ship, sweating from exertion despite the extreme cold and temperature controls of his suit. Walking over to the trapdoor on the snowy ground, he tried to open it.

It didn't budge. He tried again. Still nothing. It must have frozen shut.

Groaning, he turned back towards his ship. He had been looking forward to the food he had stored down there, but it seemed for the time being he would have to settle for rations again. He swore again.

Then his commlink beeped, and he heard the code phrase. The heck? That was a Republic code line, from his days in Spec Ops. Who in the galaxy would still be using it today? He activated the transmitter and responded,
"I don't sell planets, you know. Hold your position, I'll find you."

Not exactly the usual response for that phrase, but Antos figured that that was unnecessary. Whoever was out there wanted to let him know that they were there. Looks like the meal would have to wait entirely. Gearing up, he grabbed hold of his trusty MST-R Repeater and used the onboard computers to triangulate the source of the signal. Once it completed its scan, he set out.

Luckily, it was only a few hundred yards away, and he made good time. Once he neared the site, he took care to approach stealthily, holding his blaster at the ready. Once he caught sight of the speaker, he spoke up,
"Whoever told you to use that code-phrase is an idiot."

He wasn't joking. There was a chance that it had been compromised since the fall of the Republic. There had to have been better ways to get his attention.

 

[skyggedal]

Adella remained in place, shifting only slightly so she could keep a look out for anything coming her way. With a gigantic ice crag behind her there were only three sides to watch. She was keeping lessons from the recent years in mind.

The man arrived shortly, sounding a little grumpy as he told her off for using the old code phrase, and he was holding a... repeater, she thought, in her direction. Naturally, he'd be suspicious of it being used five years after the Republic's fall, she understood him completely.

"It got your attention, didn't it?" she asked in a neutral tone, keeping her eyes on him. It was hard to read him by his movements, since he was wearing protective gear just like herself, but he was definitely on high alert. Of course, with a thick scarf hiding most of her face, she guessed he couldn't be that sure of her either.

Raising her hands slowly to about chest level, palms out to show she wasn't looking for a fight, she remained where she was in the hopes that he wouldn't feel threatened. "I'm here to offer you a job, Mr. Wardan."

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Antos grunted,
"That's true enough, although we don't know who else's attention it may have caught."

If the Imperial patrol he had encountered earlier decided to follow him here, there would be a small chance that they would have picked up on their short exchange. A small chance, but a chance nonetheless. Antos hadn't survived as a smuggler for so long without a healthy dose of paranoia.

He listened as she continued on,
"A job? I already have a job, if you didn't know." A trace of sarcasm entered his voice, "I sell fridges, if you somehow forgot."

The woman - he thought she was a woman from the sound of her voice - didn't seem to be hostile, so Antos lowered his weapon. If she had wanted him to come to harm, she would probably have already tried.
"It's cold and I'm hungry. Follow me, we can talk on the way."

Without bothering to check whether she chose to follow or not, he promptly turned and started the short trek back to his ship.

 

[skyggedal]

Adella nodded as he suggested they get moving, and seeing that he relaxed his guard somewhat she decided to close the short distance between them at a brisk jog. She slowed to match the taller man's stride when she got close enough.

"I'm sure you're great at selling fridges," she quipped in a friendly, slightly teasing manner. "But don't you tire of it? A man of your skill should do something... greater."

His mention of their transmission being picked up by outside observers - she was pretty sure he meant Imperials, considering where they were - made her a little wary, but her assigned ship's systems had failed to detect any significant presences in the vicinity before she landed. And those systems were pretty good, she'd been assured.

It wasn't long before they came upon Antos' ship, a modified D44-M Gunship just like the briefing had suggested. She whistled appreciatively underneath the thick scarf. The D44-M series were impressive, with their versatility, speed and firepower. Wardan had parked it under an outcropping so deep it almost qualified as a cave, similar to what she had done. Her trained mechanic's eyes spotted some fresh scorch marks on the ship's exterior. "Run into some trouble recently?" she asked, looking over to Antos.

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Antos shrugged at the woman's question,
"Last time I tried to fight for something greater, it died a pitiful death." He stopped and looked at her, "I fight for my own interests now."

That was right. The Republic had fallen largely due to the fact that the politicians didn't do their jobs by letting the military handle things. He wouldn't make the same mistake twice. No, he would make sure that no one could fail him but himself.

As they reached his hideout, he replied as he keyed the hatchway to open,
"Unfortunately yes. I ran into an Imperial patrol a while back - lucky son-of-a-wookie scored a hit on the hyperdrive coil." He pointed a hand towards the mess of tools and spare parts lying near one of of the ship,
"I've been trying to repair the damage, but it's been giving me some trouble."

As the spoke, the latch touched the ground with a soft hiss, and he entered the ship, beckoning her to follow. He waited for her to enter before closing it once more and removing his helmet.
"Whatever you're here for, I'll just let you know I'm not interested. However, since you came all this way the least I can do is let you stay and enjoy my hospitality for a bit." He moved further inside the ship, moving to a small counter that doubled as a kitchen and pouring himself a cup of insta-coffee.
"Want some? It tastes terrible but does wonders for the cold."

 

[skyggedal]

Adella looked over at the tools and spare parts, listening to Antos talk while she took stock of what she could see. He was likely going to be stuck here, she concluded, if the hyperdrive was busted and that was all he had.

She followed him inside, accepting the offer of hospitality and appraising the state of the ship as she walked over to the counter. It looked worn but well-maintained.

"If it's hot, I'll have some," she said with a grin as she pulled the scarf down from her face. "This place is too kriffing cold," she added mirthfully.

If he was making her a cup she'd be a good guest and let him, but if not she would make her own pretty soon. She looked at him directly, with a friendly expression. "Thank you for your hospitality."

He seemed like he had been through a lot. The briefing had been sparse, but she got the feeling the fire within him hadn't been quelled even though it seemed for the time being it was running low. There was a hint of something more in his movements which even his suit couldn't hide.

"Don't kick it 'til you've tried it," she suggested. "I'm sure I can sweeten the pot somehow."

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Antos handed over a mug of the coffee to the woman,
"No problem... Say, I never caught your name."

He was pretty sure he wouldn't be meeting this woman ever again but the smuggler supposed he may as well be nice while she was still here. Still, he couldn't help but frown slightly at her next few words,
"Problem is: I've already tried it with the Republic." He took another deep drink from his mug, then continued, "I'm done fighting for others, no matter how sweet you can make the pot."

A question just nagged at the back of his mind. Just who did she work for anyway? Obviously it was a group with considerable resources, as they had been able to find him relatively quickly. Hesitantly, he voiced his curiosity,
"If... and I do mean if, I decided to work for you. Just who or what would I be working for, anyway?"

 

[skyggedal]

"Ari Boosam," she introduced herself, giving her freelance mechanic identity not because she was looking to deceive him, but as a general precaution. Since being transferred from the shell corporation she'd helped manage, she had learned a lot about precautions. The roots of Guardian went deep.

The coffee was terrible, but it was hot. Although her gloves were well isolated, she still held the mug with both hands as if meaning to warm them. She took a sip of the coffee and grimaced. "You weren't wrong about the taste,"She chuckled, nodding slightly.

"We hunt the traitors from within the Republic, who brought us to our knees and opened the doors for the Sith."

She was looking at him, gauging his response. There was more she could say, but there was no point in trying to reveal everything right away. Operatives could go years without knowing, although she had a feeling Antos would find a way to know more.

@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

"Ari Boosam... Nice to meet you."

Antos snorted out a short chuckle at her critique of the coffee,
"You eventually get used to it when you're stuck in the same ship for weeks on end."

He listened intently as she finally told him the first details of what his potential job would be. After her short description, he remained silent, eyes staring intently at his coffee.

Eventually, he looked up at her. An intense gleam had appeared in his eye where simple fatigue had been before. He spoke quietly,
"What do you mean?"

The fact that she spoke in terms of 'us' instead of 'them' when it came to the Republic stood out to him like an elephant in a room. It had fallen, after all. There was no Republic anymore. He clarified,
"What do you mean by 'us'?"

 

[skyggedal]

Adella took another sip of the coffee and watched as Antos' expression changed, feeling a mixture of fear and satisfaction at seeing the sudden intensity in his posture and his eyes. He spoke quietly, but she felt like there was a lot of emotion hidden away underneath that calm exterior.

"The Republic fell," she said, stating the obvious, looking at him with her dark eyes. "And many lives were lost when it did."

Taking a new sip of the coffee, her mouth twisted into a sneer as the taste somehow worsened; she couldn't help it. Of course, she had some bitter feelings about the fall which didn't help. "We lost so much, but we did not die. The Republic is on its knees, but it's not gone."

It was blasphemy to say something like that, yet she did, and she watched him as the words played across his mind.

((I'll edit in colors when I'm on my computer again --- edited in colors now))
@TheCalmOne

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

Antos knew not to take Ari's words at face value. It was clear as day that the Republic no longer existed, but that didn't mean that former Republic organizations didn't exist. Hell, he had delivered supplies to groups of former GAR soldiers who were banding together in relatively unorganized resistance groups.

But if what he was thinking was true, then the entity Ari Boosam wanted him to join would be much more than a simple group of former soldiers. He leaned back and took a long draught of his coffee, ignoring the burning sensation on his tongue.
"I'm listening, tell me more."

(Sorry for taking forever and the short post D:)

 

[skyggedal]

((No worries! It's a good point for short posts :) ))

"You must've been wondering how we found you," Adella asked as Antos leaned back with a contemplative look. "And you know as well as anyone how few organizations would have the information networks in place to find your location so quickly."

She let that thought stew in his mind while taking another sip of the coffee. "Imagine what you can accomplish with us."

Leaning forward a little, she felt like going out on a limb. "Tell me something you would do, if you could do anything."

 

[Billbo Swaggins]

"If I could do anything? I would bring down the Empire and restore the Republic, of course."

Antos had served the Republic for the majority of his life. When it fell he fell along with it, losing the only cause he truly believed in.

"However, I can't do that right now." Referencing her previous statement, he asked her another question, "Tell me. What can I accomplish with y'all."

He was certainly interested. From what he could gather, it seemed as if a former Republic organization - an organized one - still existed, and was fighting against the Empire. If he felt that they were capable enough, Antos wouldn't hesitate to once again serve. If not, he would agree to a supply run or something and be on his way.