For Days of Auld Lang Syne (Sasha Santhe)

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

In this, at least, he wasn't coming at the task from square one. When his father had ripped out his memories of the Force, the Elder hadn't bothered to take anything so basic or intrinsic as Force speed. Velok accelerated, claws scraping the deck as his footpads skidded on leech viscera. He burst through a door after Sasha and spun to lash out with his sabre. The blade sheared through a corner of the doorframe, and the latch beneath. The door began to groan shut inexorably. He stood in the narrowing gap and warded off the horde until the door sealed.

"They'll squirm through eventually." He glanced over his shoulder and found a large data console, Chiss military grade. She'd picked their course well; that, and the listening post only had so much floor space. Eventually, they would have had to run into the goods. "But you should have time to do as you will."

For the moment, he deactivated his lightsabre, the better to listen. His eyes sought out potential ingress routes: ventilation grates, busted floor plating, a torn light fixture maybe.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Escort Mission Active.

Sasha smiled. Already she was liking this [member="Velok the Younger"]. He had blocked the main door and was already looking to and fro for any point in which the lugabraa could penetrate the defenses. Sasha on the other hand did her part. She took out a small device and connected it to the main computer. After she closed her eyes and focused as best she could on the machinery. There was encryption and defenses in place however the Force was a power ally. With power being supplied through supernatural means and encryption being broken by continuous mental assault the data-banks were opened up.

"There is a lot here," Sasha said looking over the Data. "More than just information on the Randites." Sasha started downloading as much as she could starting with the essential data and working her way through the other assorted intelligence gathered. "I wish we brought more data storage." Then again there wasn't enough room. "Although," a thought occurred to Sasha and she searched through the programming of the computer systems. "activating the communications relay and setting up a transfer to our ship..." As she did so the young woman bit her lip. "Power is spotty so the relay will be intermittent at best. We can't risk the Randite Data being broken up. We'll still need to get our recorder safely to the ship."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

Velok glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "Why not both? Fill your storage with the information that's the most critical, then try for a complete transmission. Between the two methods, I'm betting we'll walk away with the vast majority of the data. And on top of that..."

His robes included a Jedi utility belt; he fished in one pouch with his clawtips, and produced a small memory card. He flicked it to Sasha.

"That plus your data unit plus a transmission ought to handle the bulk of the problem. You'll have to wipe my malware off it first; it's nothing that would damage the data, or alternately you could wipe it mentally. Either way, once the card is blank, there'll be a decent amount of memory to work with, in addition to what you brought."

That he traveled with all manner of implements of mayhem shouldn't strike her as a surprise.

Beneath his long hair, his ears perked up.

"They're coming."

 

[Sasha Santhe]

"I am doing it now," Sasha snapped catching the flung data storage device from [member="Velok the Younger"]. She needed concentration for this. Mechu-deru and the technopathic abilities were not as simple as many made them seem and rather it took effort and concentration. This was doubled when there was a vicious horde of walking leeches outside trying to beak in and kill you. On top of that the systems were badly damage, decay and abuse having destroyed much of the hardware that required being rebuilt through arcane methods. "Vital data on the memory cards, other data getting sent via the link." Pathways were damned and decayed and navigating them was becoming problematic.

It was almost done, the data uplink loading the files onto the ships computer and the memory units quickly filling. That is when Velok gave the warning. "Hold them for ten more seconds," Sasha yelled pulled at the data she needed. Hard copies of the vitals were the most important, after that she could simply let the uplink run for the rest of the bonus data.

A maintenance hatch erupted next to her with a screaming Lugabraa jumping through it. They had been chewing on the wiring no doubt and now they were squeezing through as best they could their bodies writhing against one another like worms through a tube in an attemp to get as many of themselves as possible into the room and swarm the pair o interlopers.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

The fun thing about being an eight-foot-tall Whiphid was the reach. Left hand: grab, obstruct, and manhandle the Lugubraa squeezing through a new gap in the half-jammed door. Right hand: extend lightsabre in front of maintenance hatch. Like lemmings, the Lugubraa leeches laterally lacerated themselves on the lightsabre. Halved Lugubraa flopped on the floor. Flopflopflop.

"Ten seconds achieved," Velok gritted out. "Please tell me you're ready to move." Lugubraa claws and teeth were making a mess of his left arm at a surface level. The pain was significant, but a Shaman of Toola learned to manage pain, and the Elder hadn't taken that from him either. With a blood-soaked twenty-pound fist, he hammered at the press of rubbery bodies. Those bodies were stacking up, in here and out there. He could bull through and make progress back down the corridor, maybe even generate a useful Force push. But that would mean taking focus from his lightsabre, outstretched to the right, bisecting Lugubraa that were going for Sasha. She could handle herself, but if he let the leeches jump her before she was good and done, this whole side expedition would be for nothing.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

[member="Velok the Younger"]

Data upload nearly complete, a leech skewed in half. Another few seconds... "Done," Sasha said, feeling one of the leeches on her periphery closing in. She turned and raised an arm letting its maw grap it. There was pain from impact but no penetration of the armor she wore. With her other hand still free she whirled around and sliced the creature through the middle. The creatures maw was still gripped on her arm and had to be dislodged with a whipping motion.

"We should look into getting an army of these creatures," she said slicing another. "relentless, quick breeding hordes." One of the terrors of the unknown region that the Chiss had taken credit for keeping out of the galaxy proper. There was only one entrance or exit from the command area. Only one chance for egress which was no doubt flooded with these creatures now. "Do not die old man," Sasha said gritting her teeth. Force lightning and Mechu-deru combined. She overloaded the power grid in the lights and other tertiary systems that wouldn't disrupt the uplink and extended her hands towards the hall and the conduit. Massive electrical surges burst into the conduit flying flesh and burning sinew of the creatures attempting to breach through it. And then the hall lit with blue and purple, wild bolts of energy flying. The light forked and spread hitting many creatures and power conduits exploded in a cacophony symphony of pops and booms.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

Electrical efflux stood his fur on end. Sparks danced on his tusks. He grinned and powered ahead wordlessly.

In the wake of the electrical storm, the Lugubraa remained in their trademark frenetic motion. That motion just lacked direction now, so when Velok slammed into their bodies, he was the wave, not them. He swept his lightsabre low and kept his other arm up, so when his blade lopped off their feet, they piled up against his forearm. His entire focus aligned with the length of the hall, the urge to get to the other end, and that focus became a Force push. Living and dead Lugubraa bashed into each other, slid on the gore-lubricated floor, tumbled away-

His stomach growled. Again. These were food-things and he was a hunter and this might not be the Toolan tundra but it would do. He whirled the lightsabre in overlapping arcs. The orange blade chopped apart everything in his way, up to and including -- almost before he realized it -- the front door. Chunks of bloody, half-molten durasteel spattered on the trail outside. He took a deep breath of clean air and eyed the treeline. To his mild disappointment, it looked empty.

Only then did he glance back to see if Sasha had followed.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

And follow she did. Even with the lugubraa writhing and in pain did [member="Velok the Younger"] carved a bloody path for her to follow. She ran with her fellow who in his rage blew the very door open. Light filled her view as the sun was high outside the complex. Sasha put a hand up to block the sun and let her eyes adjust. First thing she'd be doing is investing a helmet that had self polarizing lenses to stop this from ever being an issue again.

She heard the problem before she saw it. A skittering sound to her right and left with a sense of nervous energy in the air. As Sasha's eyes adjusted she could see a semi circle forming around her and Velok filled in by bodies of the alien creature. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Biting her lip she activated her communications device and spoke, "Better come and pick us up." The creatures were beginning to get over their initial shock of the door blowing open and two powerful individuals exiting. "And prepare for a hot extraction."

"Roger that," a nameless voice replied and Sasha heard the whining hum of a S90 MAAT's engine in the distance.

"You better be able to keep up old man," Sasha said as one of the blaster wielding slugs fired. With that Sasha charged the mass the force enhancing her speed and reactions.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

Stray fire punched through Velok's robes and set his fur alight. He followed Sasha in her charge, deflecting bolts as best he could. The S90 MAAT's trademark sound hummed through the trees: he knew it well. The forces that had oppressed his people on Toola had used those ships, and he'd feasted in their bowels. They had powerful weapons, and once the ship got here the Lugubraa would be unable to mass nearby -- but in the meantime, he and Sasha had to make a dent, make progress, move along hard. Sabre in one hand, tossing Force pushes with the other, Velok stampeded after the Santhe heir. He was tiring now; this fight had been three fights, going on four, and he'd lost a certain amount of blood from uncountable Lugubraa teeth. What kept him going was the Force, and his sheer bloody-minded glee. This was, had been, a proper challenge, an exhilarating raid. He hadn't gone on such a satisfying slaughter-jaunt in quite a while.

The Lugubraa broke and ran, and here came the S90 landing craft, spitting death into the trees. The forest shattered and burned. The vessel whirled and descended to present its ramp, and Velok stormed aboard. His bloody feet slipped on the deck plates, claws carving furrows in the metal.

The ramp sealed behind them, and then the only sound was Velok's blood dripping on the deck. He whuffled agreeably.

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Safely on the shuttle and zooming back into orbit Sasha held the data in her hands. She looked over at [member="Velok the Younger"] with a wide grin on her face. Yes, she could work with this Velok. After a few miniutes Sasha had caught her breath and was able to take in the situation fully. She moved over to a communications device and checked on the status of the datalink from the surface. "Still transmitting," she said with a little grin. They would have all the information they need, minus a few gaps, from the Chiss on the sector. That was good news. When it came to the unknown regions the Chiss were more masterful than those from other areas.

Looking over at Velok she decided. "You'll have full access to all the data we've gathered." The shuttle shook as the tractor beam from the prowler brought them in to the docking bay. "It won't take but a minute to upload the data from these memory drives and then we can each examine them. I suggest we meet in two hours to go over out findings. Agreed?"

Sasha was unsure what she would find, but knew that if their mission was to be accomplished the data they recovered may be crucial.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

This was, perhaps, the first time he'd seen her smile and really mean it. For his part, Velok confessed himself satisfied too. He slapped his knees and got up from the human-scale dropship seat. "Two hours, then," he said. He'd spent the intraorbital trip with the S90's medkit. Now bandages decorated his left arm from bicep to claw, as well as various other parts of his body. His robes were a bloody wreck. Two hours, he figured, would give him enough time to take antibiotics and get patched up in general. If time permitted, he would dig through his luggage for another set of ragged old robes. He had several.

***​

​

As it turned out, one could read while getting doctored. By the time he rendezvoused with Lady Santhe, his mood had shifted somewhat. The data told a fragmentary but intimidating story. After the Fringe collapse, the Rhandites had taken the opportunity to shore up their borders against the power vacuum. The listening post registered occasional activity at a string of outlying locations on the perimeter of the Nihil Retreat. In other words...

"So they have listening posts of their own. Possibly hyperspace early-warning gear. There aren't that many routes into the Perann Nebula."

 

[Sasha Santhe]

The data was less than reassuring and yet not discouraging. As Sasha looked at the data she took careful note of the various navigational information. She had met Jorus Merrill once at a conference on astronavigation and had wished suddenly that the man could have been manipulated into somehow working for her. She frowned at having not taken taken the opportunity to have at least attempted to learn some of his skills.

Time passed and finally Sasha went to met with her ally. [member="Velok the Younger"] had done his homework just as well as Sasha had. He made note of the listening posts and early warning gear. "If we had the time I'd think it would be best to try and get the Chiss to do some dirty work. Maybe provoke an attack on one of the listening posts and then jump in using their own hyperspace signatures as a cloak for ours."

Shrugging she said. "The only other option I can think of, is getting close in deep space just outside sensor range and then jump into system behind a planet or other stellar object. That requires very precise navigation."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

"The Chiss would be handy. The question is what it would take to motivate them to move beyond their borders. They aren't even retaking this listening post; they're that passive, generally." The meeting room on Lady Santhe's ship included a few human-sized chairs, all of which had arms. By this point he'd become accustomed to standing against the wall, leaning when middle age caught up with him. He was leaning; now he pushed away from the wall and squinted at her holoprojector. His eyes traced patterns in the praedia between systems.

"I think your second option is best," he said at last. "And you're right: we would need very precise navigation. Your vessel's navigation staff has proven skilled enough to get us into the Unknown Regions, and the same goes for your navicomputer. It would be handy if either one of us had any skill in what's called instinctive astrogation. Then again, the entire Daragon Trail was carved out by untrained Force adepts, and I think I heard something similar about the Kira Run. I can't believe it's a technique we couldn't puzzle out. I suspect it really does just come down to instinct. What are your thoughts? Is this a technique you know?"

 

[Sasha Santhe]

"Yes," Sasha said errantly at the thought of the chiss and the difficulty of getting them to take any action which may be deemed offensive. They were a big contradiction, their fleets were built for attack and aggression throughout history and yet they always took a defensive posture. "It's a shame the Tof don't develop listening posts. It would be easy to provoke those brutes into action." As soon as the thought formed Sasha discounted it. "The Chiss would take too much time to provoke. I'm sure such a thing could be possible. They will act to defend their own, we could capture a few and make it look like a randite infiltration plot and the chiss would be forced to react. But to do that what? We'd need to infiltrate, find the important houses, find the men and women in them worth kidnapping and then take them all while maintaining our cover and framing the randites." Shaking her head she said, "Yes you are right, it is too time consuming."

Other matters were brought up by [member="Velok the Younger"] in their discussion. "Instinctive Astronavigation. I should have tried to sleep with Jorus Merrill, tried to warp him and make him mine.I knew little of him from Rave and I hear that's how his child was born." Another thought crossed his mind. "Do you remember Sirella's child?" Sirella had twenty two children, she needed to be more specific, "The youngest. Boy, not girl." Of course Velok the younger didn't remember. He both was and wasn't Velok. "I heard he learned a bit of this skill from the Merrill girl. I don't know if either of us can master it, but gain a usable understanding? Perhaps. I'm willing to try if you are."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

Sirella...Merrill...he knew those names from passing mention in his father's journals. And, admittedly, from paying attention. Sirella Valkner had been a major force in the Sith Empire when it had occupied his homeworld. The Ysanna of Ossus still cursed her name. Merrill...anyone who'd traveled on the Mara Corridor knew at least a little about the Merrills. That, and Rave Merrill had been his father's lab assistant on Felucia. The talk of the children made no sense to him without context, but he suspected it was just a throwaway association, an anecdote spun off Lady Santhe's thought processes. What mattered was that she was willing to try this.

"Let's give it a shot, then," he said. "I don't know how it's classically 'supposed to go,' but my hypothesis is that it comes down to the same instincts as anything else we do with the Force. The closest comparisons might be precognition and battle timing. You could say we're aiming for a 'good feeling' when we go to make the jump. That would be the most basic kind of instinctive navigation I would associate with this. On Toola, the Shamans have certain rituals to keep their bearings in a whiteout, keep moving toward a certain objective, finding the best path along the way. I doubt those rituals would apply here, but the principle is the same, and anything they can do, we can do."

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha smiled at the prospect. Instinct, feeling the force and letting it take over and guide your actions. In truth it was something she did often enough when piloting in order to dodge incoming fire or debris. Really this was the same concept just on a much larger scale. [member="Velok the Younger"] said as much when he explained his belief that the two of them could learn. "There is one other thing we need to do, before we can proceed with a jump into system. We need to pick a target to strike."

Smiling Sasha looked over at Velok. "That extra data we collected? It contained Chiss intelligence reports including several location of Smokestone mining operations." She brought all three of the locations up on the holographic display, There was full topographical maps and even basic plans for Chiss raids. "I particularly like this one operation," Sasha said pointing to one. It called for Rapid dominance and then destruction of the site via charges placed on the ground. "The chiss believed that infiltration from the Randites was possible and made plans to cripple their smokestone capability to reduce the amount of pawns available." Sasha and Velok however needed to take the smoke stone. They couldn't use the Chiss assault plans, at least not fully.

"The deepest mine has the biggest haul. They gather more stone in larger containers before taking off and leaving." Why the Randites needed so much smokestone she couldn't say.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

"This Rhandite operation has all the hallmarks of someone's grand plan. If pawnmaking is being used on a large scale, it could mean a good deal for how the Sorcerers keep their worlds in line. Or, perhaps, their plans for the surrounding territories. Either way, I smell supervillainy, and it smells delicious. Plans like theirs always involve staggering resources. They generate loopholes and exploits. They're immensely entertaining to break."

He leaned back against the wall, pondering. "Direct control and destruction are their hallmarks, the Rhandites. They empower their prophecies by 'being in tune with the will of the Dark', meaning rampant destruction -- but they're isolationists, so most of that occurs within their own borders. I'd imagine the mining site is staffed with expendable slave labor, and overseen by a Prophet who's using their deaths to amplify his foresight. It's only a guess, but I'd consider it an educated one.

"So what does this all mean for us? Worst case, that empowered prophecies can beat our Force concealment, potentially. Best case, that our only real threat at the site is sitting fat and happy on a pile of sacrificial energy that we can turn against him or steal. In theory. Thoughts?"

 

[Sasha Santhe]

"I think that if they weren't gross and decayed I'd just ask for the smokestone and get what I damned well pleased by batting my lashes." Even Sasha didn't actually believe that. [member="Velok the Younger"] had a good grasp of the situation. Of course the aristocratic woman expected no less from the son of Velok. Thoughts rushed into her mind as she examined the situation. "If this is some grand plan how much unity is there in it? Could it not be some plot by a single faction not supported by the whole? And if that is the case is it not possible to use it to our advantage." Then again this was all conjecture. Shaking her head she said. "We best find a way to obstruct their view. Palpatine managed to shroud the future from nearly the entirety of the Jedi order. I don't suppose myself and you could do the same thing on a smaller scale. Move the currents of the future in our way."

She bit her lip. This is why she preferred machines. "Obscuring their view and hiding our presence. Combine the both and maybe add some misdirection." This wasn't a simple operation involving just the physical realm. There was an entire elemental of mysticism involved. "I believe Palpatin said it best, To say that the Force works in mysterious ways is to admit one's ignorance, for any mystery can be solved through the application of knowledge and unrelenting effort."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Sasha Santhe"]

"That's a good quote," he admitted. "And a good point. I'm still leery about trying to beat them at their own game. From what I'm told, there are no better precogs, except maybe Heartshadow practitioners on Dathomir, or those alien monks in the Kathol Outback. I think our false Light Side auras will have to do, and frankly, it'll be all I can do to pull that off to the requisite degree. But misdirection...misdirection is a fine idea."

His brow knotted. "It occurs to me that we just created a disturbance in the Force, a flare of the Dark Side. It's possible they might catch a glimpse of what we did in vision. If that's so, and I don't see why it wouldn't be if they're so vigilant, they might take me for my father. That could certainly work to our advantage: I don't know what if anything they would do to prepare for his return, but I'd imagine very little of it would involve some peripheral mining operation. So it could be that they're already misdirected. There's no way for us to know for sure, not that I can think of, but if they think my father's coming for them, they expect some kind of insidious trick culminating in overwhelming ferocity against an audaciously selected target. Our plan doesn't really fit the bill. That has to benefit us by default."

 

[Sasha Santhe]

A devilish smile formed over Sasha's lips. Yes, he did resemble his father. In truth it was uncanny and Sasha had to at sometime remember two important things about him. First was that she was master and he was the least experienced of the two. Though clearly powerful Sasha had the practicable skills. The second thing Sasha had to remember was that she did not hate this Whiphid. Although she seemed to be getting along with him and was even warming to the large alien she would look at him and feel hate. Velok had been a bastard. Yes Sasha admired him and even respected him, one of the few she truly respected, but her hatred ran deep.

"Perhaps you're right. Perhaps we can use that to our advantage. Stage a little show for them. Turn off your shroud and do a little play acting. We can set up a scene and add a little misdirection to our plan." Sasha hated precognition. It was horrible. "There is no spin on a knuckle ball. You still can't tell how it's going to break."

[member="Velok the Younger"]