Felucia 2.0

[Ashelia Solidor]

She had to call backup, a small group of nameless mercenaries. Two man died against the rancor. The beast was a monster that had no problem eating them alive and needed at least four shots of tranquilizer before it finally cooled down, but the job itself was not a waste of their time, they found three baby rancors in the cave where it made nest. After storing the animal back in the corvette, Ashelia thought the damn thing would go easy, but they faced a lot of more problems when they went after the Acklays, no deaths this time, but one man lost his arm before capturing the animals.

‘And the Vornskr… never want to go against them again.’, the predators killed at least three of them before they captured six of them, and they still had to keep an eye for the other two lurking around their camp every single night. Queen Popara send her regards through a hologram, saying that she expected the cargo to be intact when delivered to her, but the real problem was not keeping the animals in their cage at the hangar, the problem was storing the Bull rancor in there.

The beast, if you can call it a beast broke a mans spine with a single punch. Eat the head out of another poor girl, and scared the mercenaries that almost fled when facing him off. She had to use the Force, the whole planet was like a amplifier to her skills, and when Ashelia concentrated kneeling in the floor and reaching out to control and calm down the creature, much to her surprise, she was successful. At least enough to make the animal more docile and walk without a single complaint to his cage, even pregnant, the animal proved highly intelligent to her, and hunting helped her made her way all the way to what she was really looking for in that planet. A old Consortium base.

“Tyber Zann… a legend of the Dark Times of the Empire, considered a myth in the Underworld. I’m walking to a place that has not seeing a living soul in almost a thousand years.”, the elzeri princess thought as she walked over the long bridge to access the old fortress, where the bull rancor made its nest. Blaster in hand, followed by her two droids and two mercenaries, Ashelia was excited.

 

[Lief]

Last time Thesh had come to Felucia, he had been hunting Rancors alongside [member="Tehkyram"] - completely out of his element, and entranced by the bio-luminescent flora which towered toward the sky. This time, it seemed, he was landing just as the hunt was ending.

Then again, his purpose here was not to slay or capture the native lifeforms. Instead as the dropship flew through the air he was preparing for something a little more mundane yet it appealed to the boy all the same. Relic hunting.

He'd undertaken a couple of different hunts for treasure prior to this point. Tomes and holocrons mostly. While he did not know what the target of their attentions was this time, he also did not care. No doubt ruins would be involved, which meant the potential for danger, and the electroblade on his back was thankfully something he'd become much more accustomed to since that first trip to Felucia. He felt much more prepared this time than he had been with Tehk.

But at the same time, Tehk had been more than capable of keeping him alive. Could the same be said of the one he was being sent to meet now?

The ship finally dropped out of the air, slowly lowering into a mycelium field dotted through with larger mushroom caps and fungus tendrils. A bridge was close by, beyond which the remnants of a fortress suffocated by plant life could be seen. Nature had a way of reclaiming what had once been its, he had discovered, and here on Felucia it proved to be no different.

Exiting the ship he made his way over to the actual meeting point, eyes falling over a woman, two droids, and two armoured men brandishing weapons.

"Miss Solidor?" he asked, gaze meeting hers, completely unaware of her royal status, when he came before the lady. He was probably not what she had been expecting when requesting the presence of a Sith Apprentice, smaller than most his age, with a far too timid expression on his face. Probably as green as they came, though that was somewhat deceptive given the trials he had faced thus far. "My name is Thesh."

His robes had been forsaken this time, in favour of his training garbs. White shirt, grey trousers, electroblade slapping against his back with each step, he was no doubt a strange sight to look upon. But he didn't care.

It was nice to get out and about again, regardless of the reason why.

[member="Princess Ashelia Solidor"]

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

In a planet like Felucia, Ashelia always used the Force to conceal her own presence from others. Not just because she was afraid of the natives, or the slavers, or any force users passing by, but it was due to fear of the Vorsnkr. Those creatures could sense force users, and were deadly, even for her, that was used by of running from whatever thing growled at her.

Even since she was little, Ashelia was always faster, not stronger, but faster. A fact that made her father notice her as she always could outrun her guards and tutors during lessons. But as fast as she could run, the girl could never escape the hands of the Enclave, for learning about the Force and their view of the Force was in her destiny and duties. As a Solidor, Ashelia needed to be prepared for whatever the galaxy had to offer.

“Thesh?”, the girl repeated the name out loud, making a frown with both her bushy eyebrows joining together, finally turning in his direction. And as her violet eyes set on the owner of that voice, Ashelia almost started to laugh, or maybe curse out loud, for she was setting eyes on a boy, that looked like a little girl, a child. Young, and yet, still smelling like summer to her. “Wait… what?”

Did Queen Popara lost her mind? To send a child to help them with that sort of work, not only hunt down a big beast, but to retrieve a Holocron in a compound, locked and dangerous. In her mind, Ashelia could hear herself thinking out loud. Who was this kid? And why the hell is he with that cute look on his face? As her long, armorweare dark cape was dancing with the wind that rushed through the trees, Ashelia had to ask. “Is this right? Are you in the right place, kid? Wait… who are you again?”

[member="Thesh"]

 

[Lief]

Apparently the woman had not been warned of his coming.

Or, if she had, then she certainly hadn't been informed of his smaller stature and meek appearance. As such her reaction to him being there took him by surprise, and the boy took one slow step back from her. He began to fully avert his eyes, before Tsis' lessons rang in the back of his mind and forced him to look back at her. He was a Sith, no matter how small, and if one doubted him he'd have to inform them of his position.

That was what he'd been told, right?

"My name is Thesh, and I was sent to assist in the collection of Holocron."

His eyes burned with a fury in that moment, something that sorely contradicted the rest of his childish innocence, as though daring her to try and claim otherwise. The electroblade against his back felt heavier in that moment, practically calling for him to draw it from its position, but though his fingertips twitched he did not.

The boy had never taken a life before, if you didn't count the droid and creatures slain at Tsis' behest, and he wasn't about to make his first notch on that belt.

Instead he took one step closer to the woman, keeping his eyes upon hers, in an uncharacteristic show of strength and confidence that usually shied away from this particular boy.

"Will that be a problem, Miss Solidor?"

[member="Princess Ashelia Solidor"]

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

It was a child in front of her. A good looking one, would become a fine man when grown up, but still, he was so cute, like a toy you want to cuddle or swing around holding nothing but it’s arms, or at least so she thought, but there was something wrong with the boy. Not a bad smell, but a bad and wrong feeling, like a small dark, ink like, spot, hanging over his heart. For one moment, not long after he approached and got closer to her, Ashelia felt pity of him.

He was a force sensitive, or at least a user, she could smell the Force all around him. Like a orange, sweet, but slowly rotting away. She would not dare say anything about it, and smiled at him, a warm and calm smile, like she would have smiled to her little brother, wherever he was.

“Ashelia, my name is Ashelia.”, she said, turning her head to look at some movement around a tree, quickly lifting her Model 434 blaster pistol in the air, as if she feared for something to happen. When the grass stopped moving, Ashe turned back at the boy, still with that same tone of voice. “No problems, sir. I had no idea there was such a young treasure hunter in the business.”, walking a little away from him, the elzeri looked worried, she was worried with the rest of the Vornskr pack, and placing her gun back in her waist, Ashe left her hand there, standing tall with that, naturally, sensual look in her face. “How old are you? If i may be so bold as to ask.”


[member="Thesh"]

 

[Lief]

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Felucia, The Outer Rim Territories // Spore Fields​

Preparing To Explore // With [member="Princess Ashelia Solidor"]​

♫ // Buried Underground​

But I'll Keep Coming​

______________________________________________________________​

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Thesh had long since grown tired of pity.

Lucky for her then that she did not try to show him any. Instead he smiled at her, offering her name. Ashelia. No title to accompany it, in fact she had given it no doubt to stop him referring to her as Miss Solidor. With a lack of formality now between them, Thesh was actually placed on more of an even footing with the woman despite his significantly younger age. He simply nodded to what she had to say, returning the smile though it did not quite meet his eyes.

In his mind he was running through the process of what was to come, though he did not know the fortress at all and thus knew not what to expect. He'd come face to face with an acklay here on Felucia before, and helped to bring down a rancor. He'd faced battle droids, and vornskr. Monsters all of them.

So whatever lay within? Well, perhaps he wouldn't be as frightened or disadvantaged as he had been on those previous occasions, on Felucia and on Kruskan.

"I have more than enough experience, if that's what you're worried about," he informed her, beginning to move to the start of the bridge which would take them across to the fortress itself, though he did not yet cross it. He pondered on her final question, mentally shrugging. He did not know how old he was, tracking his age had never been a luxury he'd had. But rather than admit as much he simply added, "My age is of no consequence, Ashelia. Now, should we begin?"

He could feel his confidence beginning to blossom as he realized he was free to cast off the stigma attached to him, this woman did not know who he was, that he had been a slave, that he had been labeled a craven. And that placed him in a unique position.

Thesh could be anything he wanted to be in that moment.

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

N/A

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

The thought of such boy falling to the darkness was something that started to bother Ashelia, and it was not just for the way he felt in the Force. Were his actions that bothered the most, those angry eyes, that shy attitude to walk and those snappy actions. If she told her father about him, Iedolas would simply state to her, ‘The boy needs no concern from you, but your quest in the pathway of a Solidor does’, and that would have shut her up. She was never any good in arguing with her father, that was her mothers job, not hers.

At the bridge, that long stone bridge covered by grass, her violet eyes were set in the old Zann fortress. A dark and tall building it was in the old days, full of life and money, dangerous to upstanding citizens and a welcoming home to criminals, instinctively, her hand moved like a snake attacking its prey, holding his shoulder.
“Don’t. The rancor is there. A bull rancor.”, they lost two men going inside that place, they died like leafs and now the other three were worried, after all, the creature had twenty five meters in height and gods know what in weight. It was wild, hungry and angry. "That thing is like no other. Clever, cunning and ever hungry."

Rarely it came out it’s lair, they noticed, how it feed was a mystery to the party. They had no desire and time to search another back door, or go through the pipes, after all, the place was empty for eight hundred years or so, what creatures would not lurk in the dark and warm places for a lair? Creatures like the bull rancor.

“I will ask Longstrider, Jimmy Bellies and Andy Korchak to snipe the thing with tranquilizers from the gate, and we, act as bait to make it possible, is that good for you?”, she said her words in a calm tone of voice, one that sounded natural coming from her. Even when facing a near death situation from a beast like that, a beast that could eat them alive like candy. A idea that made Ashelia feel very insecure and tired, not just for her, but for her companion, after all, he was a child in her eyes, one that deserved the same kind of treatment she would give to any child from her planet. “Or you have some opinion in the matter?”

[member="Thesh"]

 

[Lief]

Though Thesh had not intended to cross the bridge, the touch of the woman's hand to his shoulder, holding him back, still gave him very real pause.

He turned, glancing up at her as she explained the situation, and gave a very gentle nod in response. The boy had not come here, to Felucia, in order to be foolhardy, to rush headlong into a situation he did not understand, or to circumvent the status quo. Quite the contrary, he was here to supplement and assist, to follow a predetermined course of action, and ensure that the objective was met.

"Forgive me," the boy said, smooth as butter, "I did not mean to make it seem as though I planned to rush on ahead. Worry not, I'll make no advancements without your say so."

When the woman suggested that they be bait, to draw out the bull rancor, the boy could not help but remember the last time he'd played such a role, with the acklay on this very same world. Only then it had been in the presence of Tehkyram. The trap would no doubt be immensely different this time, and he could not help but wonder how much use tranquilizers would be against such a beast.

"Do you know if the tranquilizers will work?" he asked, "If so, then I take no issue with the plan, Lady Ashelia."

[member="Princess Ashelia Solidor"]

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

In all her long centuries that she would still roam this earth, Ashelia would always remember of the way they screamed. As the bull rancor lifted them up, snatch their heads off their bodies and eat them like a delicious treat, spiting their bones like it was a pain to have them stuck between the teeth. Never she saw such great creature, big and powerful, wild and angry, at least not in a rancor, strange it was to her that when she looked the animal, she remembered her sister. In her heart, never she would feel anxious to see her any time soon, but quite often she pondered how Lunafreya was doing, and even if the two never saw each other eye to eye, and never shared any kind words ever since they were but children, she still was her sister. Centuries might pass, with grudges keeping them apart, but Lunafreya would always belong in her prays at night to Vahla and the Dios.

It was only when Thesh stopped talking that her thick eyebrows joined together in her forehead, changing her calm expression to a frowl. The only reason she chose to become a ‘seeker’ and a agent in her father's service was to flee the poisonous plots that boiled in court, to run from the schemes made by Counts and Dukes, and her own mentor. Always abandoning her title and simply becoming and posing as a commoner like all the outlaws and scum that worked for a living in the galaxy.

“Okay, let’s get one thing straight.”, her voice changed tone, assuming a more demanding and angry sound when she walked to stay in front of the boy, “I don’t know if it was that fat mean old slug that told you, but i can’t stand people calling me ‘lady’ or ‘princess’, much like yourself when called a boy, and probably the reason you are here, I’m also trying to run away from something and somewhere. Now you are dismissed, you can go back to where you came and leave me alone.”

After saying that, she immediately regretted doing so, for shooting words was like shooting arrows, her mother once said, once loosed, you could not called them back. Raising her hand, clad in her light, milky tone, armorweare glove that went all the way to her elbows, grabbing a large amount of her fringe of pale silver golden hair and tossing it back to her head.

“I apologize. It was not my intention for being snappy with you. I just…”, shaking her head and quickly biting her own tongue, biting her lower pink lip and starting to walk away from the conversation, ‘oh damn it’, saying out loud for him at her back. “You can take the shuttle and leave the planet.”, as she walked, her hand, almost as a instinct went to caress her blaster, missing the weight of her sword in her belt. “I will call someone else.”

As she walked away from Thesh, her feet took her away from the ship as well, choosing a tall and sturdy oak like tree to lean her back and gasp while remembering her task and mission, remembering what the Marquis Halim told her to do in the name of her father.
“Destiny is relentless.”, she said to herself, slowly closing her eyes for a moment before going back to camp.

[member="Thesh"]

 

[Kel Novastar]

He learned early on that a Hutt with an amazing deal to offer would either kill him upon completion or didn't expect survival. His current employer proved no exception to this rule, but the terms of their agreement were enticing enough for Kel to test his fate. Chasing down ancient artifacts was right up his alley, and it proved a healthy refresher from escorting smugglers and merchants across the sector.

His go-between his Hutt client provided brief details on the mission, and what had been accomplished so far. He was relieved to have missed animal-handling duty, but obtaining a Holocron wouldn't be an easy task for any ragtag group of explorers. Kel could handle himself against what could potentially come, but time and time again he'd seen the eager's blood spilled from careless mistakes.

Either way, it was too late to turn back once his Starfighter -- Midnight, he called it -- broke through the clouds on a charted course towards the rendezvous spot. He maneuvered his ship across from the camp situated near the owner's corvette. Hopping from the cockpit, Kel would land on the ground quietly as the cockpit closed up behind him.

"This should be fun." A soft grin appeared, but faded as he began a brisk pace towards the camp in the shadow of the Corvette. He assumed its residents had seen him arrive, or at the least heard his starfighter's engine before it shut down.

[member=Princess Ashelia Solidor]

 

[Ashelia Solidor]

Not long after sending the boy away, they achieved some success. Straight forward they went for the bull rancor, a fifty meter creature that made the word ‘hungry’ find a whole new meaning for her. They lost one Bothan man in that attack, the creature charged and took the bothan like a bug from the floor and eat half his body as if he were a candy, something that made the other run away screaming as the creature had already being shot with seven tranquilizer darts. In the tenth, she fell to the ground, like a mountain descending from heaven, shaking the earth and cracking the floor, with the heavy silent air being filled with joy, for they achieved success and now could store the creature in a huge cage inside her ship.

For a moment, Ashelia thought of the boy she had dismissed. Smiling and hoping he was in a better place than this and as she stayed there smiling, one hand pointed out to the sky and showed her a big ship approaching from heaven, one that made her lips stop smiling and assume a stern face as her hand grabbed the Sunshot pistol and walked towards the vessel. Raising the pistol and preparing to shoot, just when the landing bridge came down, she could notice a young male, apparently human, standing there alone. Lowering the gun, the elzeri approached followed by the human mercenary named Daklor that was hired for the job, the male carried a blaster rifle in his hands and stood back as the girl called out loud.

“Hey!”, her voice cutted through the silent air like a knife would cut cheese, “Who are you?”, was he another one that Popara sended her for the job? The Hutt had cursed her when she told about sending the boy away, but Ashelia also told her that she had no need for further help, which was a lie as the dead bothan resting in the rancor’s stomach would say if he could.

[member="Kel Novastar"]​