Character
Gida Luroon, the second-in-command of Darth Morta, felt like she'd been exiled; she was in the far reaches of the Unknown Regions, almost impossible to get farther away from her home on Krayiss II if she tried without quite literally leaving the galaxy. Seven standard hours ago, the Arbite-Class Cruiser Crushing Advance, retrofitted as a bulk carrier rather than for its normal planetary assault role, had dropped her, a company of Krayiss II Militia, a platoon of Voidmarch Rangers, and four members of the Crimson Oath on an unnamed moon of a gas giant in the Luminaria System. Two hours ago, the Crushing Advance had departed its cargo: modular base supplies, survey equipment, and a civilian workforce nominally employed by Eclipse Industries were hastily assembling.
She was not here in exile, nor was her small band of troops or civilians; Gida was here to establish a foothold for her dark Mistress in the Unknown Regions in the form of a mining operation to fuel the forges of Eclipse Industries and to acquire the rarer materials for Darth Morta's personal projects. The Vong-Amolgus symbiote that she wore shifted against her skin; the pain of putting it on still echoed in her mind every time it made its presence known, but its protection was worth it, she could take a lightsaber strike to her chest, walk under the stars of an atmosphereless rock, use the gravitational manipulation of a dovin basal, heal from wounds normally lethal, and even modify her own apparance.
As General Laroon looked over the base and the alien surroundings, one of the Crimson Oath troopers approached her. "General, the prefab base compartments have been fully assembled; the Rangers have started to move out in teams to map our surrounding areas, civilian crews are preparing equipment to take geological surveys, and the Militia teams have settled into a defensive posture, watching for any of the locals who may have noticed the Crushing Advance."
The Oath trooper left after making his report; Gida would communicate any changes in orders if there were any. The trooper also avoided bringing up the fact that any help was days away at best, the next routine check-in was in a month, and the only hyperdrive-capable ships on hand were a trio of shuttles; if any ships came up from Centerra, they were on their own in negotiating or fighting.
