Ah, Phrik It

[Onley Xiangu]

Arkania​

Maybe it was his blood, or maybe Uncle Jared had just thrown them on enough planets for his sensitivity to climate to be all but gone. Either way the cold of Arkania didn’t bother him as they emerged off the ship in to a surprisingly massive cavern in which most of the traffic passed through on this side of the planet. Perhaps another lesson from Uncle Ovmar, he immediately scanned the area for something that planned on immediately killing him once he took a step forward. Nothing yet.

As above, so below, [member="Silas of Ossus"] was at his side.

They moved like they had no intention besides looking around. Onley was half Arkanian after all and could ostensibly simply long to understand his heritage. (Laughable, considering anyone who’d known his Father back in the day would have balked at the notion of blood’s importance. Life sucks, and then you die. What else matters?) There were no rule laws stating they couldn’t walk around near the larger of the mines, and besides - Onley didn’t really want in there anyway. He just wanted a smaller entrance, maybe a side door, somewhere they might be missed sneaking in to steal… Was that so wrong?

“I can’t decide if this is an improvement or worse than somewhere Ovmar might have dropped us…”

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

The heavy thump of boots clinking against durasteel preceded Silas' departure from their little, rinky dink freighter.

Contrary to what many people believed or liked to believe, being a son of Ovmar didn't bring the monetary pleasure most attached to his reputation. No, Ovmar Senior clearly believed in earning your own stakes in life and only supplied them with the barest of minimum to survive. Perhaps that was why they were on Arkania right now, instead of sipping martinis on Zeltros while his father's contacts secured the phrik shipments for them.

"No sandburrowers." Silas remarked, while eyeing the high cavern walls.

"Huge improvement, if you ask me."

The Ysanna brushed the handle of his axe, rubbed it once or twice while standing still a few meters away from their ship. It was a ritual for him at this point - Onley understood, one of the few who didn't consider it funny, or at least respected him enough not to show it all too overtly.

A deep hum hailed from his throat as he prepared himself mentally.

 

[Onley Xiangu]

No, he didn’t mind the little ritual with the axe. Sure, maybe it was a little weird - but they all had their things, didn’t they? And if any two people had to learn to live around the other’s quirks, if was Onley and Silas. The two moved deeper in to the planet, looking around casually like two well-armed tourists. What? It paid to be safe with the state of the galaxy as it was. No one knew where Sith might pop up these days now that they were scattered to the four winds...

Onley preferred to get in to the mains as quietly as possible. They didn’t need a front entrance of the main tunnel - it was his understanding that Arkania was crawling with valuable resources, and finding a vein of phrik somewhere off the main complex shouldn’t be too hard. Arkania’s mining entrances were scattered all over, some huge and some little, and as they passed by a few yawning openings with workers pouring in and out Onley began to think it’d be harder than he assumed. But then he was saved after a few more minutes of searching by the angry sounds of two men arguing as they exited a smaller door seemingly set back in the icy walls behind a few inlaid carvings. Mostly the area was quiet save for a few people walking back and forth occasionally and the lone information desk placed randomly in the walkway passing the mineshaft. Perfect.

One of those ugly quirks mentioned earlier reared its ugly head as Onley looked for a way to get close without being seen. First he spotted the girl working the information booth, then he realized…

He elbowed Silas’ gently, nodding his head towards the side door. “You wanna go see if that’s unlocked on this side and uh...work your magic if it’s not? I’ll distract the girl…”

And with that he was off to do what he did best - be a scumbag.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

Silas took one lazy, long look at the young girl sitting behind the table.

Long, lush hair entwined and wrapped together in pretty forms, lips that spoke of telling and eyes as milky white as the average pureblood Arkanian. Her hands were hidden behind the table, but he assumed they would be just as clawed as the rest of them -- this probably a positive point for his friend, who had always gravitated to the stranger options of affection, but who was he and his axe to judge?

"I am sure you will be distracting her alright." The Ysanna mumbled, while Onley set off on his path. He brushed his axe one more time, before looking around the spacious room.

The two males, one another Pureblood Arkanian scowling at the Yaka, were already past the point of no return. They wouldn't be coming back anytime soon, which gave Silas the time to wander up towards that door. Not in one straight line, of course, because that would be suspicious.

Instead the Ysanna wandered, taking one look at the ornamental runes inscribed in some of the walls. Presumably signs to point the way to visitors, while slowly picking his way over to door.

Two minutes later Silas was already resting easily a feet away from the door, leaning against the icy wall while "checking over his boots".

In the meantime his presence in the Force expanded. It probed gently towards the door and what laid behind.

 

[Onley Xiangu]

If he hadn’t been cultivating an aire of being easily confident while walking up to the girl behind the information counter, he made have made an extremely rude gesture at Silas. Not that his friend wasn’t saying anything untrue, but more because it felt fittingly antagonistic.

“Excuse me, miss--” he started, resting his forearms on the counter like it belonged to him and adopting a suitably embarrassed tone. “I was hoping you could help me. I’m already lost…”

Five minutes later and he was walking towards the door with another girl’s number that he never intended on using. Well, to be honest he used most of them once. But he had to sacrifice this particular opportunity in the name of greater gain. He’d told her that he thought he’d seen his friend with horrible directional skills and almost zero common sense wandering off in the direction of the door and she hadn’t seemed wildly concerned when he walked in that direction to go find Silas. He estimated his attractive face and charm would get them at least 20 minutes before she started wondering if he was legit. He was trying not to be overly confident in that estimate because it was sort of important.

He found Silas staring at his boots.

“They look fine,” he quipped, knowing there wasn’t actually fashion paranoia going on here. “Mischief managed?”

[member="Silas of Ossus"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

"Mmhm."

A moment after there was the feint click, followed by a hiss, as the door unlatched itself and slid into the wall. Quite modern for a random door in a random little mining facility on Arkania, but Silas supposed the Adasca family had to spend their bountiful subsidies from the old Republic regime somewhere. He gestured for Onley to follow, confident stride now that battle was almost at hand, if still a few inches away.

"Isn't much in the way of opposition, as far as I could see." The young man mumbled over his shoulder while keeping an eye on the prize.

That was one of the things they had learned from their travels - always, and that meant always, keep an eye out for trouble. Never, ever just assume all would be well with no issues. One of the favorite pastimes of his father had been to send them to a world that seemed to be fine and dandy, only to unleash one horror or the next on them - specifically made for the occasion.

Lessons learned, scars earned.

"Couple of miners in the lower levels- so we got a choice, snatch what we can here." And here was a little storage room, most of the mining was done downstairs in the lower regions. The bulk was stored there, piecemeal transported upwards, resting here before being transported off-site.

"Or go down and catch a real score."

 

[Onley Xiangu]

Most likely they could do something fairly decent with the scraps of phrik lying around in plain sight. Call it genetics or influence, but Onley wasn’t really in to ‘fairly decent’. He sat somewhere between making do with what was available (handing Silas a piece of charred meat just roasted on their fire, watching his friend wolf it in bare hands scalded by the steam still pouring off the animal they’d killed, oblivious to anything but dangerous hunger) and his Mother’s penchant for ostentatiousness. In this case, the latter would win.

He didn’t need to say it - the one-sided one grin the two men shared was enough.

He picked up a miner’s hat, ugly and covered in a fine layer of stain from months of work, and tossed it to Silas before gingerly putting one on his own head. It would help them blend in; there wasn’t much to be done about Silas’ axe, but it wasn’t as if that wasn’t coming. It had gotten them out of more than a few scrapes.

Down, down, down - navigation was a strong-suit after all they’d been forced to endure, taking left’s and right’s as seemed strategic and ticking off the turns in his head. A few of the miners gave them strange looks as they went past, Onley mumbling something about being a transfer from another tunnel system or another line of poodoo, but most gave them a simple nod and stoney face before going back to their work or hustling to the exit. They had the gift of being simply another gear in the machine, at least for now.

Down, down, down - and then they struck gold. Or phrik, barring the saying.

A quiet corridor - perhaps unmanned as workers took a break elsewhere - filled to the brim with carts already packed neatly with perfect pieces of ore. Jackpot.

“50 credits I can pack more than you in five minutes,” he threw down, paying service to their long-standing tradition of a bet as motivation. And then he shot forward to make good on his confidence.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

Silas watched [member="Onley Xiangu"] work his magic.

If anyone had picked up on the words and subtle charm of his father, it had been him - just picking around, a little smile tugging at the corner here, a few well-placed words there, and the miners trusted Onley without a second glance. Silas had never been able to grasp that magnetism, his way was the way of the shortest route.

They would have been cutting a path through these miners if it had been him alone.

But it wasn't. And his friend was handling this well, so Silas kept to himself, standing in his shadow Onley was creating by his sheer presence.

Ya aren't seen when he talks the talk and walks the walk, make use of that, lad.

The memory broke in pieces when the real words reached him, and now it was his turn to grin.

"In your dream, maybe!" He hissed out, before sprinting after him. They didn't take their time - long weeks in the wilderness had taught both of them to be clever and efficient with their time spent, they each took a corner and meticulously started working from one side to the other. Even in competition they both cared more about accomplishing their main objective, instead of trying to outdo one another and failing at both.

Four minutes in Silas suddenly halted. In the distance he could hear the thunk of boots against cavern stone, the feint laughter of a joke shared between brothers and the greetings shouted out, as one mining crew met the other in the hallways.

He exchanged a look with his brother.

"Sounds like they are bringing the party to us." Cold smile tugged at his mouth. "Ready?"

 

[Onley Xiangu]

The only thing he and his Mother had in common when they’d first shared a space together was Jared Ovmar. She’d broken the ice of sixteen years of silence by telling Onley of how Ovmar had pulled her, dying, of Skye and replaced her arm. And when she’d woken up she’d received no sympathy - if anything she’d been thoroughly eviscerated for a series of idiotic decisions. Though she hadn’t been shipped to dozens of hostile planets she’d known the man’s method of teaching personally and in that Onley found some measure of kinship with her. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about her, but she’d at least made an effort to make him understand she’d left him with Ovmar for a reason. She seemed to genuinely love the man who’d single-handedly nearly proxy-killed Onley over three dozen times. It must have been a damn good reason.

But she’d also seemed to pick up on whatever bond Onley had formed with Silas. That was before Onley knew his mother had that same damnable talent of picking apart a head as Ovmar. And she’d smiled. Of course you’d complement each other. And she’d been on the mark.

He’d crammed his pack full of phrik, stacked strategically to fit the most in the least space. Someone would be surprised just how much they were able to carry and fit - thank Ovmar again he guessed for forcing them to learn survival talents that would then translate in to criminality. Would the old man be mad? Probably not.

He returned the nod, stuffing the last of the phrik he could fit before considering the options. They could turn the way they’d come which was no doubt full of people coming to tell them the phrik wasn’t their property. Or they could go the other way and take their chances finding another exit through unknown tunnels. Both had their disadvantages but the former was just more fun and besides - whoever was coming to stop them wasn’t going to be a challenge, right? Just a bunch of miners and maybe a few security guys. Easy. And if that cold smile was any indication, Silas felt the same.

And at first it was easy as they rounded the corner and met unsuspecting miners head on, Onley’s lightsaber causing an eruption of steam in a cracking hiss as its arc ended in a chunk of snow after cleaving his first opponent in two. Their work was tandem, practiced as they sliced. Fighting their way up the corridor was almost a bore, a quality Onley nearly commented on before rounded a corner to see an enormous Gen’Dai. Seriously - what was this guy eating? Why did he take a crappy dead-end security job? How much was he getting paid?

“Oh feth--” Onley started just before he was thrown backwards in to one of the icier walls by a massive rock thrown by the guard.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]​

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Onley Xiangu"]

In ways it was fascinating to see the two men fight in unison.

One flowing from one form to the other like water raging through a river, agile, graceful and continuously on point. The other filling in the blanks with a brutal ferocity that was only matched by a maelstrom of wind gusts and tornadoes, there was no subtlety to be found in Silas' form, no grace nor patience.

Just the axe-head going up and down, slicing from left to right, rince and repeat ad infinitum. At the end of it, as silence reigned after the last body dropped, the Ysanna tried to brush away something leaking into his eyes.

It only caused him to smear the blood further across his face.

"Hmm?" Onley was send flying next, before Silas could properly react. He looked from the flying form of his brother, to the hulking giant of the Gen'dai.

"Holy frak, what did they feed you?"

Those small, little slits that made up the alien's eyes only sharpened further, not rage, but not amusement either.

"I swear, On, if he send this thing at us-" Next thing Silas knew, he was flying, his chest suddenly aching with the impact, which wasn't made better by him crashing into the icy wall next to Onley.

"Got a plan?"

 

[Onley Xiangu]

He wouldn't put it past Jared Ovmar to track the two young men and throw monstrous beasts at them even when they thought they were making their own decisions. It was disturbingly Orwellian, and Onley had to push it out of his mind as Silas came sliding to a stop down on the icy floor next to Onley.

There weren't a lot of things one could do to stop a Gen'dai, to Onley's knowledge which was far more expansive than it should have been at his age thanks in part to the same Uncle Ovmar whom he was patently refusing to think about in that moment. Even hacking the creature to bits - if they could get close enough - wouldn't stop it. The name of the game was buying themselves time enough to get away from the monstrous thing. Thankfully, most Gen'dai wore armor to hold their strange bodies in some semblance of a normal shape.

Being the son of two of the most prolific Sith Lords the Galaxy had ever seen could give any boy a complex, and as such Onley had settled on the path of a power neither of his parents had paid much attention to by choice or force. Lightning crackled at the ends of his fingers, blood lining the edges of his teeth as he grinned at Silas.

"I'll freeze him, you hack that ugly head off in the 10 seconds that buys us, we run while we can?"

There wasn't much time for shaking hands on it as the Gen'dai was stomping towards them, icicles shattering off the ceiling from the bulk of the thing's weight. Thinking of Jared Ovmar sending the beast their way, Onley channeled his righteous anger and imagined it as electricity ripping down his arms and out of his hands. And then it was there, crackling through the air and striking the Gen'dai with all the force an Acolyte could muster, its purple-red lines shooting across the armor. The smell of flesh burning was thick in the air as the edges of the metal seared towards the alien's exposed flesh, its electrical parts shorting out and zapping him. With such a huge creature it would barely be anything - but just enough for Silas to remove the head of the snake...until it grew back.

But hopefully they'd be long gone by then.

[member="Silas of Ossus"]​