Private Dream No More

[Lief]

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Enenpa, The Outer Rim Territories // Wilderness​

Surviving​

♫ // He sways in abyss, returning...​

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The world flew by in a flash on rusty orange, each pounding step reverberating through the canyon in a never-ending symphony of dread. Alongside the slapping of boots on red rock was the thumping of a frantic heart, beat tumultuous as it threatened to burst from its cage of skin and bone. The odd pant joined the cacophony from its unwilling conductor; breathless and weary, it was all she could do to keep her pace.

A fork in her path, carved by the patient yet powerful currents of a river long since dried, presented both a complication and an opportunity to stay ahead of the game. Truth be told she didn't even consciously make the decision as she followed the bend to the right and forced herself further onward. It wasn't until she lost her footing that she slowed, but not before she slipped on shale. Hands reached out before she could land flat on her face, and as she pushed herself back to a standing position she spied her opportunity; a fissure in the rock wall at her side, barely wide enough for her to squeeze her way into if she stood sideways.

In the momentary silence of her personal orchestra a thunderous roar sounded at her rear; she scrambled into the opening, breathing in to give herself a few precious millimeters in the process. There she waited, terrified that the thumping in her chest would be enough to give her away, holding her breath as she peered out into the canyon she had just forsaken.

The very ground beneath her shook, sending fragmented shale bouncing in all directions, as one mighty paw stomped its way into view, swiftly followed by a second. Great claws ground into the earth, scraping through stone with each prowling step. The creature itself was low to the ground, shoulders rolling as it prowled forward and sniffed the air. Tracking.

Hunting.

Waiting for its quarry to tire.

The headhunter had been on her trail for just a few minutes now, but it felt like an eternity. Once it realized it could not simply outrun her, thank the Force, its strategy had evolved. That the creature had even considered such terrified her, though the variety of fauna this world offered made more sense of it. In that moment, however, Asha was not thinking about anything else. All she could see was the ghoulish, fanged maw, the poised, rolling muscles, and the murderous dew-claws.

And when it turned its hulking head toward her she felt all the blood drain from her body.

The hunt was over, and now the real game began.

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"You know, Kiss, I'm really not a big fan of flying around deep in Sith space."

The small astromech droid trilled back a short reply. Thankfully, Cotan could see it thanks to all the different lights shining out on its chassis, because otherwise he'd be going off of sound alone. "No, I don't like having to go dark either, but you saw that cruiser that just went by. We have to wait until its on Thule's far side, otherwise we're never getting out of system!" He switched on a glowrod, walking back through the ship to where his food storage was.

Had it been either of his old vessels, he could've gotten there based on memory alone, but he was still getting used to the newer ship's layout. One thing was certain, though; it looked a lot cleaner on the inside than either of his previous vessels. "REC certainly takes pride in looking as good as they can, don't they?" he mused to his droid. K1-S5's head swivelled around a bit, before the droid burbled out a short question. "Well, that's probably why Coren sent us, actually. REC ships don't really stand out on Sith records, and with the transponder codes we lifted off of some captured vessels on Pantora, it's easier for us to get around than others in the coalition."

Somehow, K1-S5 didn't sound convinced at that. Cotan rolled his eyes, knowing that the droid would be able to see it much more easily than he could, considering its vision spanned far beyond the normal human visual spectrum. "In a few minutes that cruiser will be on the other side of Thule, and we'll be able to jump to hyperspace and get as far out of here as possible, okay? I don't like playing covert operative either, but they needed somebody to rendesvous with the spy, and we were the closest to the area."

[member="Asha Hex"]

 

[Lief]

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Enenpa, The Outer Rim Territories // Wilderness
Fighting Headhunter
♫ // Hunter of the shadows is rising...
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As the creature stalked forward, sniffing the air between it and her, Asha carefully reached her hand back to the cylindrical item which swung from her belt. The narrowness of her hiding spot made for a rather difficult recovery, and she realized even when her hand closed around it that she would not be able to pull it free much less ignite it. Her heartbeat thumped loudly in her ears, as each grinding step the beast took resonated around her.​

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It huffed hot air from its snout and the stench of rotting meat enveloped her; against her better judgement she pulled the lightsaber free from her belt and the sound of its metal casing against the oppressive rocks was all it took for the headhunter to spring into action. The lumbering beast launched itself toward the narrow passage she was squeezed into, one long and sharply clawed paw reaching in to swipe at her. It caught her on the upper arm before she retreated further into the space, forcing a hiss of pain to escape her lips while the creature itself seemed to purr in delight at the scent of blood in the air.​

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Asha raised her free hand, that which was faced toward the beast and which had taken the brunt of its attack, and pushed through the Force with all her might. Her mind burned under the strain, what little tranquility she had managed to retain vaporizing before she could latch onto it, until all that remained to spring free from her palm was embroiled in frustration and feeding from her agony.​

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The creature was thrown back from the opening, crashing to the ground where it slid further back toward the other side of the canyon. She used what few moments she had to scramble her way out of the nook, right arm stiff as it fell back to her side and oozed blood. Already she could feel her head spinning but she knew better than to take her time. She could see the beast begin to lift its head, shaking off the momentary stun as it primed itself for leaping once more.​

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With her body free she brought up the lightsaber and pressed the ignition. The red rocks around them danced under the yellow blade, ignited by plasma which seemed in that moment to be brighter than the sun itself. With a growl of frustration she launched herself forward, arcing the blade down into the path of the rising beast. Two bodies collided, blade impacting with the creature seconds before her shoulder followed suit. The smell of flesh and singed fur all but monopolized their senses, overriding the metallic tang of blood, while girl and beast fumbled on the ground hoping that the other would not find their footing first.​

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In her prone state Asha did not register the subtle bleeping and blooping of the commlink on her waist, activated during their tumble and searching for a familiar frequency. It was by chance and fate alone that a friendly vessel happened to be venturing through the system at that very moment.​

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After years of silence, Asha's technological blackout had ended...​

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Cotan Sar'andor​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Dweeee-oo?"​

"What was that, Kiss?"

"Woop dwee-oo!"​

"That's ridiculous. There's no way she should be out here, of all places."

The droid tilted its head at Cotan, giving a quick series of beeps and whistles that basically amounted to 'I don't know.' Extending a small arm from its internal chassis, it hooked into the ship, activating the holotable and starting to track the frequency it had picked up. "I'm telling you, Kiss, there's no way she'd be here. It's in the middle of Sith territory, and she's been missing for ages. For all we know, she's hanging out back on Aurum." The droid ignored him, continuing to triangulate the signal. Cotan turned to go back to what he was working on, before wincing, left hand moving unbidden to clutch at his upper arm.

Blast.

Kiss started whistling at him again; he turned back around, glancing at where the droid had traced the signal. A completely-uninhabited part of the mostly-uninhabited planet of Enenpa. He sighed, rubbing at his arm slightly. "Well, it certainly seems like her sort of place, doesn't it?" he asked his droid sarcastically, before starting for the cockpit. K1-S5 didn't even bother to ask what he was doing, settling instead for commenting on their likelihood of getting found. "Yes, yes, I know it'll break our cover. This thing is fast, we should be fine."

K1-S5 watched Cotan disappear down the hallway towards the cockpit, giving a long, worried dwoooooo before following.

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As expected, Cotan's activating his ship and rushing towards Enenpa didn't go unnoticed. The large cruiser noticed instantly, given that there weren't supposed to be any ships in orbit at the current time. Having transponder codes lifted off of vessels that were listed as captured didn't help; while it fooled some of the smaller security measures, a defensive cruiser in the middle of Sith space was harder to surprise. The ship rocked as K1-S5 fired a few salvos from the laser cannon, pursuing fighters exploding behind them.

Before the viewport itself lit up with flame, the gunship entering atmosphere far more quickly than was recommended. "Alright, Kiss, take the controls," Cotan commanded. "We'll be down where that signal was picked up pretty quickly; I want you to keep the ship hovering and ready to escape at a moment's notice. I'll jump out, grab Asha, and jump back in if she's down there." He patted the droid on the head, moving back to where the loading ramp was. "If she's not, and it's a trap, I expect you to run back to the Coalition, give them the intelligence, and get Coren out to rescue me, alright?"

Lief

 

[Lief]

The beast was back on its feet before her, a slight gait to its limp and vehemence dripping from its snarling muzzle. Though she had not yet risen she found herself able to deftly roll from under yet another swipe of its paw; there she struggled to stand, her legs shaky and muscles aching with fatigue. It had been one thing to keep on running with adrenaline at her back, pushing through the agony, but now the rush had waned and she wasn't so sure she could make it much longer.​

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There were worse ways to go, she figured, at least the headhunter would make quick work of her demise. Rip her head from her shoulders and call it a day. The rest? Well, she wouldn't be around to see what happened after that.​

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Still she found her way back to her feet with a groan and back-peddled almost immediately, slipping back against the rocky, sandy ground. She reached through the Force, pulling the lightsaber which had been knocked from her hand during their initial collision into her grasp and igniting it with the push of a button. Once more it sprang into life with a soft hum, once more it lit up her features in a golden glow.​

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The creature did not have sense enough to be wary, it launched toward her as it had when she was stuck between the rocks only this time as its body neared her she brought the plasma blade into its path and watched as one of its limbs dropped to the ground. It screeched, threatening to burst her eardrums, and when it landed on the ground beside her it faltered and crumpled due to its sudden lack of balance.​

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"Leave."​

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Her voice was hoarse, throat dry, as she spoke what had to have been her first word in an age. Despite the cracked tone there was a much more sinister undertone to it, a not so thinly veiled threat. Animal or no, she would not warn it a second time.​

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The headhunter skulked back and licked its wounds, not once looking away from her or the weapon of death within her grasp. Likewise she kept her own eyes fixated upon it. Watching, waiting for its next move.​

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Let it come she thought, malice momentarily pushing the voice of peace and reasoning aside, though for now it did not...​

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Cotan Sar'andor ​

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Lightsaber, check. Other lightsaber, check. Sword..." He took a moment to attach the sheathe for his blade to his belt, making sure it was secure. "Check." He waited a moment, before a small light next to him flashed green, a signal from K1-S5 to open the boarding ramp. One of the benefits of the ship being a more militarily-oriented design—there were numerous different small things like that that he and his droid could take advantage of. He slapped down a button, the ramp unsealing and quickly dropping down to its fully open position.

The sight that he witnessed down below was rather odd, though; Asha Hex being down on a random planet in the middle of Sith Space was bad enough. Asha Hex fighting some massive, angry creature? Well, that was even stranger. The ship screamed by over the beast's head, drawing its attention for a moment as Cotan jumped down, landing deftly and placing it in between himself and Asha. He straightened from his landing, one hand grasping the sheathe of his blade and the other at the hilt, twisting it slightly.

Overhead, his ship turned around, coming down near the ground over by Asha. "Get on the ship!" he called out to her, keeping a close eye on the animal she'd been combatting. He didn't take his own eyes off of it, just like Asha hadn't; rather than watching so warily, however, he was reaching out to it with the Force, trying to calm it down. "Sleep," he willed the creature, slowly strafing around it. "Rest. You're already wounded, there's no need to fight and hunt any longer."

Hopefully this attempt at beast control would work out better than when his faster first taught him the technique.

Lief