Garden of Bones

[Lucius Draugh]

Lucius paced back and forth as the Infiltrator traveled through hyperspace to its destination.

He had never been to the planet, and neither had the First Order, not in force to destroy rebellious sentiments like they had other planets. No, when the Alliance collapsed, Copperline had seceded to the Imperial nation almost immediately.

Information that he could glean had spoke of the system being a loyalist to the One Sith Empire prior to its collapse. There had been a large battle in orbit when the Alliance had seized the planet. So much so that there was still wreckage in orbit that was not yet cleared.

His Master sought information. What he wanted to glean from the wreckage, Lucius couldn't guess, but he obeyed all the same. This time however, he wasn't taking a randomly assorted team like when he had visited Atrisia, no, this time he brought long time friend [member="Helvaska Sipal"] with him.

Where he grew up in the service of the Supreme Commander, Sipal had been in another area of service that he had never asked about, just that she was capable, if not inexperienced. Not that that was a problem. He was too.

"We'll be there in a few moments," he calls out as he steps out the cockpit and lets the pilot did their job.

"Ever done a space jump before?"

 

[Nida Perl]

With the eventual wane and recent fall of the Galactic Alliance, the influence of the First Order began to extend even further into the galaxy. Their reach stretched closer to the core, steadily seeping over the worlds left behind by the Jedi. Helvaska, an agent of the order was not bad at her job—but she was still young, a teenager. As such, her role had been nothing spectacular or dramatic. But that was the way it had to be—the First Order was massive, an imperial machine was many tiny cogs all working towards the same goal. Everyone had a part to play.

It was a nice surprise to find herself paired with Lucius for this mission. The two had been friends since they were young, since before they’d come to the order. In being evaluated as children, their strengths took them down different paths.

Golden eyes, luminescent like the stars that streaks past them in hyperspace gave her datapad a las cursory glance.

Designation: Copperline
System: Copperline system
Sector: Vatha sector
Region: Expansion Region

Geography: Hills and rolling plains. Sparse mountains.
Climate: Temperate. Occasionally arid through extended dry seasons.
Industries: Agriculture.

Her thumb brushed against the side button and the screen darkened. She’d read the entry on Copperline over several times in an attempt to learn what she needed to about the world should they find themselves planetside. It wasn’t stimulating in the least. Just a boring planet full of boring farmers.

“I haven’t.” She admitted, arching a bold brow at Lucius. He’d found himself at the hand of the Supreme Commander early on, lucky kid. Helva wondered how he’d managed to swing that.

“Doesn’t seem like much to space jump to.” Her back pressed against the cool durasteel of the wall as she leaned some of her weight off of her feet. “What does your boss want with a bunch of old floating junk?”

[member="Lucius Draugh"]

 

[Lucius Draugh]

From the luminescent streaks of light that was hyperspace to the real time pinpricks of light that were far off stars, the Infiltrator came out of hyperspace. Sure, she was right that there wasn't much to space jump to, but there was still the leftovers of many ships, too many parts floating about to even make a guess as to what wreckage and hull they belonged to.

"Blackened hulls rarely look like anything," he said, his tone reflecting mockery, but he shot his disarming pearly white smile over his shoulder for her. Arriving at the armoury, he continues to explain. "Databanks, I think. Anything left behind. There hasn't been a proper sweep of the sector since it seceded to the Order a few months back," he explains. "So we're the first," he says, turning back to her with a wide grin.

There were specifics, he knew, but based off the vagaries in his Master's ominous speech, it was something only he'd be able to recognize.

Force this, Force that.

Stepping up to the EVA Suit, he raised a hand to scratch the back of his head.

"Think putting this on is a two person job," he says with a sheepish look crossing his features.

[member="Helvaska Sipal"]

 

[Nida Perl]

Helvaska curbed the urge to stick her tongue out at him—a childish gesture, one they were known to exchange in their youth. Which was an odd way of thinking about it given their age, but teenagers rarely thought of themselves as children.

Especially when they were given responsibilities, even if they were minor.

One dark brow raised at that smile, that grin, but she allowed herself to look amused. It was harder to hold back natural tendencies when you were working with someone you considered to be a friend. A real friend, which she found were difficult to make in the Order. Didn’t help that she was naturally standoffish.

She tisked, clicking her tongue before making her way over to him. “What would you do without me, Luci.” Her tone held a scolding note, but it was all in good humor as she helped him zip the length of his suit up to his back. Luminescent eyes traveled to the debris floating just a little ways away, nothing more than hunks of twisted metal that had been broken by war. Hard to think that there was something potentially valuable among them, but perhaps this was just the Order being thorough.

Shrugging off her jacket, Helva climbed into her enviro-suit, carefully fitting the fabric over her limbs and smoothing it out as she went. Being meticulous was necessary as she did not want to die from something as miniscule as a tear.

“So we’re glorified sanitation workers, then.” She snorted. “Not that I’m complaining. Well, maybe a little.” A thoughtful look crossed her face. “But only because I’ve never done a space jump before.”

[member="Lucius Draugh"]

 

[Lucius Draugh]

Lucius snorted.

Turning his head over his shoulder to look back at her as she zipped up the EVA suit, his lips settled into a cheeky grin. "Live nice and peacefully, maybe," he says, turning about to face her. When she was climbing into her own EVA suit, he offered the same services that she had given to him and zipped it up to the nape of her neck.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he says thoughtfully. "I thought you'd be used to that as a Bureau Agent," he teased as he reached out and collected his helmet, lowering it on top of his head and then sealing it.

Walking up to the airlock, he stood by the release button as he waited for her to enter the airlock with him. "Neither have I," he says, a modicum of serious entering his tone. "Hope it's as easy as the simulations were."

"Ready?"

[member="Helvaska Sipal"]