Ice Ice Baby

[William the Bloody]

The crews were busy at work. The seizmic charges, while not subtle, were quite efficient. Although the irreparable damage done to the local ecosystem was not intended, neither was it avoided. Cost management said this was the quickest way to get the crystals extricated with the minimal amount of effort and damage to the product. And that was all the reason the man needed to approve the job.

And so the crews scurried like ants, busily working with single minded vision. A cold smile lifted the corner of well formed lips. Black stubble adorned his chin as even darker eyes cast about from under neatly trimmed raven hair. A black, three piece suit sharply contrasted his presence from all others. Not only was he not dusted with a light powdering of snow but neither was he heavily garbed in warm attire as a planet such as Ilum seemed to require.

At his side rested a small heap of a dilapidated dog who had appeared so unwholesome that it wouldn't be remiss to say it had been hit head first by a parade of speeders. Yet despite it's visual repulsiveness it retained an air of watchfulness. A hand lightly dropped to it's head in an absentminded caress from the impeccably dressed man.

An explosion shook the cavern lightly followed by shouts. Turning his head toward the disturbance he frowned. He gave no quarter to mistakes. And from the sounds of it, someone had failed. And rather miserably. Furrowed brow crossed his face as he approached a freshly opened chasm. Unreadable eyes feel upon the foreman who's excuses froze upon opened lips at the hard stare of the "boss".

"No excuses. Twelve more hours, and then the ships depart. And you better pray you meet the weight and quality that you were contracted for. Renegotiating a contract you failed to uphold will prove ... Painful, for yourself particularly."

A cold smile crossed the man's lips as he turned away from the workers who scurried about once more. He had learned fear was the greatest motivator. You just had to ensure you were the one feared most. With a black stare that cloaked his piqued curiosity he gazed into the newly opened chasm. Crouching he tossed a stone down and listened to it clatter from shelf to shelf until it landed on the floor below.

He turned his head and watched the crews laboring and lightly rubbed his chin in contemplation. The womp rats could be left to scurry about their duties. He was curious to the end of the chasm, if it ended upon an ice wall or perhaps opened into one of the famed crystal caverns. With a slight twitch of his lips he descended.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

Ilum was a cold, bitter planet. Scherezade did not like it. For one, it was the snow. She was a creature of sunshine and warmth, of temperate temperatures, of it being cool enough in the shade to skid a mountain and hot enough in the sun to soak it up with pleasure. You couldn't do that in the snow. Snow was the bad kind of evil, taking that precious sunlight and mirroring it into your skin so that you suffered from burns you never even knew you'd gotten until it was red and painful.

She wrapped her saber cat coat tighter around herself, trying to protect herself from the biting of the winds that howled on the little hill, but she could feel her teeth clanking anyway. When this was over, she was going to have words. And those words would probably be long, whiny, and begging to send someone else to this desolate planet next time. But, she had a feeling that she would be listened to, that it would indeed be someone else next time.

Watching the indentured servants of the Agents of Chaos climb out of the little cave they had dug into from the top of the hill, Scherezade smiled.

She wished her mother and father could have seen her there and then. Seven hundred years ago, Ilum had belonged to them, briefly. They had mined many precious lightsaber crystals, used them to renew their planet's weaponry, and sent them as part of the alliance agreements between them and the Dathomiri witches. She had only been a baby at the time, but in her mind, those years were magical, ideal, and simply… Beautiful.

In her heart, Scherezade believed that if her parents were around to see the state of the Galaxy nowadays, they would have little but scorn and contempt to it. They might even have been angry with her had they known where she'd been for nearly two years. But now… Well theoretically, now she was part of an organization that would've attempted to end their kingdom as well. Would they have approved? Would they have challenged her to end her family's legacy through it? She didn't know. She did not want to know. And thankfully, even if that little tiny speck in the Unknown Regions was relevant, it would be years before she got there anyway.

So lost was the Sithling in her thoughts, that she'd almost missed it.

Well. Technically, she had missed it, because by the sounds of it now, they had been there for hours. She could hear it over the wind, the sound of steps, of hard labor, of… Mining. How she could have missed it, she did not know. But by the sound, they couldn't have been too far off. Or perhaps, wanting some distraction from the cold, she'd been imagining it?

Shaking her head, the Sithling hopped on her speeder, and did the vroom vroom towards where the noise was coming from, completely ignoring that the winds wre getting colder and stronger, that a snow storm was on its way, and that she didn't even a mug of hot cream with her in case she needed more than just water.

 

[William the Bloody]

Roughly an hour later he reached the floor of the cavern. Wind lightly rustled his hair as a breeze from an unseen tunnel brought fresh air into the cave. Behind him Doggo clattered down from the final perch to land huffing in a heap of fleshy fur. Sprawling out she closed her mismatched eyes and slipped into a lazy slumber. He arched one brow at the mutt before turning away to carefully tread deeper into the cavern.

The walls were untouched by machinery or hammer, the glittering crystals twinkling in pristine beauty. Even the stalagmites rose unfettered to nearly meet the stalactites that hung surreal from the ceilings. Everything glittered with a natural beauty.

Walking carefully between the formations he paused and looked down a tunnel to watch snow flurries filter in from the opening at the other end. His eyes closed and a sigh of silent contentment escaped parted lips. He felt a temperature shift, a subtle warning of a storm. Followed by a sense of another approaching his location from outside.

Dark eyes flickered open and the moment of ease dissipated as he lightly reached out with his mind. Whomever it was, it wasn't one of his hired minions. Their presence felt like a stone that that had been rolled across the desert until any sharp edges, rough patches, or any perceptible hint of personality had been weathered away. No. This was not one of his hirelings.

Perhaps this speck of ice wasn't as uninhabited as his surveys had informed him which, if the case, meant he would be quite an unpleasant visage to the team that supplied his information. But it was also possible that this was a separate group similar to how own.

A slight tic at the corner of his mouth revealed his displeasure at either scenario.

Snapping his fingers roused Doggo from her sleep. She turned her head to the tunnel then her eyes darted down another as new smells wafted to her from the breeze as the man watched silently wondering if this new presence would detour for a visit.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

The closer Scherezade and her speeder (which, she just realized, she had yet to name) got to the source of the life in the Force, the more she realized that this wasn't just one or a few people, but many more of them. In the frozen scent of the snowy world, she could almost taste the warmth of their blood, though she really wished she couldn't. Some aspects of the Blood Hound thing were far from comfortable, and the actual taste of blood was bad enough to make her vomit from time to time.

Still, jumping over a hill of ice, things only came into view when she landed. Against the white background, she stuck out like an inflamed thumb, all purple and decked in fur. She looked directly to the diggings, knowing that there were people down there, many people, though she still could not get a precise count. For that, she'd actually have to go below the surface. Ick.

Shaking her head, Scherezade sighed and punched her comlink, as well as the map device on the bike. Everything, for the perfect disguise.

Driving slowly now to the opening of the entrance, ready to stop herself at the aim of any kind of weapon that she'd know about, the Sithling advanced. Beneath her fur coat, many weapons were hidden, most of them being various forms of blades. But even with a gun or two, she hoped that they would not realize that she didn't need a single one of her weapons to take down a wompa, since she was deadly enough without them.

"H… Hello?" Scherezade called out, taking on the tone of someone who was very lost. And potentially, very hungry. That's what lost people were, right?

 

[William the Bloody]

Doggo let out a small whimper which drew the man's attention away from the tunnel that led to the outside. The guest had bypassed the entry to the cavern anyway. Moving back to where the mutt was sniffing with misshapen head raised, snout lifted into the air, the man closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses. Moments of silence passed before his eyes snapped open, an bemused and wry smirk being allowed to mark his face.

His visitor had headed for the main entrance where his little worker ants labored unaware of her approach. Or the approach of the others. His eyes looked up from where he had descended and for a moment he was tempted to hurry to rejoin and protect his investment. Yet a cluster of crystals protruding from the wall gave him more interest.

"We will let what will, unfold for the time being pup. So this doesn't become a total feth up we shall endeavor here for a moment."

The mongrel watched as the man methodically began working the cave wall with a vibroblade, an unseen heat source sculpting and melting free sheets of ice as he slowly extricated several crystals to place within the confines of his black jacket. Once finished he and the mutt began their ascension.

Meanwhile, above ...

The foreman stood up and watched as a figure entered from outside, the elements coating her outfit with slick snow. He shouted for several of the others who joined him as he watched. All had some tool clenched in their gloved hands.

"Should be bash him boss?"

Even as Twid spoke the newcomer shouted out and the men visibly relaxed. It was just a girl. The glint of violence melted from their eyes as they looked among themselves with bawdry smiles of new anticipated action. Just a single woman? They laughed among themselves as the foreman waved her over with a genial motion.

Elsewhere newly opened tunnels into the cavern were slowly being filled as packs of animals began to ease into the cave following their base instincts. To feed.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

That glint of violence had not gone unnoticed by the Blood Hound, but she pretended as though she had no clue about any of it. Why would she? She was just a poor, little girl, stuck in bad weather on a planet that was so far away from anything that half the time its antennas didn't even work. Walking to the foreman, Scherezade did her best to make her face appear to be full of gratitude. Finding that place, knowing there were people there, that surely meant safety, did it not? Somewhere in the back of her mind, she gave herself mouth vomit at pretending to behave like such a silly thing.

"I am so glad I've found you!" she half squealed, still looking at the foreman with big, big eyes that batted their eyelashes, "It's so cold outsde!"

Holding her fur coat close to her, she turned around to look at the rest of the gathered men, offering them all warm and incredibly innocent smiles. So grateful. Much rejoice. She could sense that more were coming, but her focus now not on them, she did not realize that it were hungry beasts that were making their way towards them. Not when she had this sort of hungry men to toy with.

"My holomap device is broken," she explained, occasionally stammering on a word here or there, "I was supposed to rendezvous with my friends – we're on vacation from the academy – but with all that snow going I lost my way, and I'm out of the hot tea I had…"

Looking at the foreman again, she gave him a small smile. "I don't suppose you have food or drink? I have credits – I could pay you for it! As well as help with getting to some coordinates?"

 

[William the Bloody]

"Oh credits to pay, you say? I can think of better ways you will pay."

The men laughed as they closed in like a pack of hungry hounds fresh on a new scent. The foreman reached out a callused hand to snatch at the fur coat while another behind the woman lightly swung a lead pipe at the base of her skull. She didn't necessarily have to be conscious to be of use to them.

The innocent looking young woman had entered into a different world, a world where base instincts and primal urges were heralded by the strongest, fittest, and most blood thirsty. Little did the men know that the game they thought they were playing was about to be trumped.

The panthers slipped from the tunnels, their tentacles extended to sense the vibrations in the cavern. So delicate and precise were these nerve clusters that the creatures could even sense the gentle beat of their preys' hearts. And plenty of prey were here for them.

Each tunnel emptied out a pack of panthers that crept upon the unsuspecting workers and crews, the hunt having begun. Cautiously the beast crept upon the oblivious before an unseen signal seemed to send the predators into attack nearly simultaneously.

Meanwhile below the cavern the man and mongrel neared the final clevice that would lead them once more into the cavern. But he stopped at the uncanny silence that seemed to reverberate within the Force. Death was waiting in the wings, patiently observing the drama that was about to unfold. You could feel the reverberation echo of what was about to come. Violence and death.

He began to climb once more.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

Better ways to pay. "Yes," Scherezade nodded enthusiastically, aware now that there was someone behind her, that there was someone going for her fur coat. Had this planet not been this cold, she might have let the game continue on a few seconds more. As it were though, she was still freezing her tush off, and she had absolutely zero intention of letting anyone open her covering, not even by an inch. "Much better!"

A large woman, the Sithling stood at 6 feet tall and weight over 170 pounds. Yet when she moved during a fight, it was swift, it was elegant, and it was very efficient. For the first moment she had stood there, and then the next she was a few feet away, letting the man that had been behind her nearly hit the foreman before both realized she wasn't there anymore.

Normally, she would pull all her knives out and go to town. But, there was that whole everything is too damned cold thing again, and she had no intention of doing that. Instead, she smiled sweetly as she looked, not only at the foreman and the pipe men, but all those who were there, all those who had one and would have done nothing to stop it.

"Bleed for me," she said lazily and waved a hand for a touch of dramatic flair and effect.

The first seconds, nothing happened. Blood veins did not have nerves, people did not feel how blood moved inside their bodies. But then their hearts began to work harder and now they felt it, the looks of confusion coming to cover their faces. Scherezade called the blood that was beneath their skin and it rose, coming through their veins, misting through the skin where they gathered, large bruises forming, first red and then deeper, so much deeper shades of green and purple and eventually black before the blood sprayed out, coming through their eyes, their nose, their mouth – and skin.

To say that he scene had become a blood bath would've been both true and an understatement at the same time. It was only a quick Force Barrier that she called up that had saved her coat from becoming completely ruined. Yet as the blood bath began, so did the panthers leap.

Now Scherezade gasped, taking a step back. She hated killing animals for no good reason.

"Good kitties," she purred, not really crouching low because that would've made her coat soak up the fur. "You can eat the bad men," she offered, nodding. Would they try to attack her? If they did, she'd be ready to collect enough fur for a few more new coats. If not… She would leave them be.

 

[William the Bloody]

He emerged from the fissure in the ground in time to watch the foreman and several cronies weep their life from every pore in a gruesome, grotesque, and truly frightening manner. A woman clothed in fur stood at the epicenter of the unholy event. He allowed a small smile of begrudging respect at her ability and unique use of the Force. Then he smoothed away the smile and replaced it with a mocking expression as his hands loudly clapped with a slow tempo as he approached.

"Bravo. Bravo. A good show I must admit. Yet perhaps a bit foolhardy. You have revealed power, and hence a threat. You attack those you could, apparently, easily subdue or otherwise control. You fail to locate the true power behind this organization. Your confidence in yourself amidst an uncertain scenario, surrounded by unknown individuals of questionable moral character, cutoff from your allies, and a lack of knowledge of your opponents speaks of the height of folly and hubris."

Around the perimeter of the encampment the sounds of blaster fire and shouting rang out as the other crews began to repel the panthers. However several were drawn forward by the scent of fresh blood. They skirted around the woman and looked at the man with the hound at his heels. The beats began to growl and advance until a scent wafted from where the man stood with Doggo who had raised her hackles yet hadn't made a sound. The other beasts stopped, the scent of another predator burning their nostrils. The scent of an apex predator that yearned to be released.

The packs yelped and snatched the corpses in their jaws before retreating back to the tunnels they had emerged from. The man dropped a hand and lightly ruffled the ears of the mongrel now sitting at his side, eyes having never left the woman who was careful to not stain her clothing with the pool of slowly expanding blood that steamed in the cold cavern.

"Now, the question remains, what do you intend now that your facade of innocence has been stripped away by your own, overzealous, actions?"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

At the first sound of bravo, her glowing green gaze moved from the kittens to the man. Failed to locate true power? Biatch, she hadn't even been attempting to locate that. But yes – she was highly confident. Cutoff from allies was what she was used to being her default, and not once had she been taken down by an enemy since that horrible day on Coruscant, which happened much before she got most of her training, both in the Force and without it.

The kittens now skirted her, moving by her as though she did not exist. Scherezade gave the man her predator's smile. She held no interest to this very natural enemy, and she hadn't even attempted her ability to calm animals through the Force just yet.

Fire. Blasters. Shots. And the kittens were gone, some of the corpses with them.

That left her alone with the man and his good boi. The smile she offered the pupper was not the same as she had offered the man; his beast companion received the friendly and warm smile before she had to return her attention to its master.

"Same thing I always do, mister," she grinned wickedly at him, but did not continue her line. There were too many potential punchlines waiting to happen and the Sithling just couldn't choose among them. "Unless you wanna throw me into that snow storm outside, you're just going to find our anyway though."

 

[William the Bloody]

Doggo raised her hackles at the woman and sidled up against the man’s leg. He on the other hand gave her a friendly smile, the mirror opposite of the one she offered him. Walking forward leisurely he skirted the cooling pool of blood and looked on the woman with unfeigned interest. She stood across from him defiant in stance and words. And her challenge brought a throaty chuckle to his lips.

“So we are enemies? Does that mean we leap immediately to battle?Your formidable skill against my lackluster defense?”

With the packs of beasts having been sent into retreat another group of men joined the circle looking between the woman and man to the blood still upon the ground. One of them stepped forward and asked, “Where’s da foreman?” The young man spared him a glance, his friendly exterior dissipating like the fog on a windy day.

“You are the foreman now. The same pay and bonus goes to you when we meet our quota. Or the same consequences if you fail.”

The new foreman gulped then motioned for the others to return to work with a few barked orders. The young man turned his eyes back to the woman and motioned her forward to join him if she so wished.

“My apologies for the interruption. Now, where were we? Ah yes, the posturing and threats. Now you have made yours I believe it's my responsibility to respond in kind. You obviously aren’t a native so that means you have transport. And the odds of you being here alone is also low, so you have a crew. And the likelihood is that you are doing something similar, if not the exact same, as we are. So if you continue your hostilities against my workers I will be forced to convey orders to our ships in orbit to locate and destroy your transport and crew. And if you managed to board one of my vessels here I will have my ships remote detonated or fired upon. Now since we have both completed the mandatory threats of violence, would you care for a drink?”

He motioned to where a tent was standing with a heating unit connected and activated nearby. He graciously extended his elbow in a manner of a gentleman. The smile was still friendly but his eyes were hard with the message that his threat, if pushed, would be followed through on.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

[member="William the Bloody"]​

If Scherezade was meant to be impressed by his long list of things he could to her and her crew, it wasn't happening. The only thing he'd get out of that, eventually, was his head on a stick as she took him deeper into the Unknown Regions. Threatening the lives of others had generally little effect on her, and while having her crew and ship would indeed be more comfortable, she was used to managing to find her way home even without such comforts.

As he spoke, the glowing green gaze of the Sithling was focused on Doggo, giving the precious beast faces she could react. With people, Scherezade could be notoriously horrible with. With animals? The more the merrier. She absolutely loved them.

"Whossa good boi?" she asked as she crouched down to a knee, offering a hand for the mutt to sniff so she could make the right choice and come to her for all the cuddles and pets.

Until a drink was offered.

"Don't suppose you've got cream?" she asked with a smile, not realizing she was making an innuendo, "either cold with ice cubes, or frothy hot. No room temperature."