Jiaasjen

[TB-705]

Barab I

No one on this light-forsaken planet ventured top-side during the day, when irradiating rays from the system's red dwarf blasted the surface clean.

Ri'shajirr arrived at night.

Save for the benefit of not baking him alive, it was not a substantial improvement.

Skies above rumbled with thunder and their swollen bellies threatened to burst at any moment. Thengil growled irritably as he prowled toward the entrance to the underground city. The oceans evaporated during the day. At night, they returned, dumped from the heavens. The Cathar had no wish to be caught in a flood, the mere thought made hair on his nape ripple with anxiety.

"Blasted water," he rumbled.

The skies answered with a crack of lightning, hurrying his pace.

As the first rains started to fall, Thengil stepped into the mouth of the cavern. Double doors slid closed behind him. He showed the guards his falsified identification, then made his way to the arranged meeting place, which - naturally - happened to be near a spring heated by the dormant volcano on which this city sat.

Now... where was that snake?

[member="Oshuzs"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Unlike his feline counterpart, Oshuzs was not in the slightest bothered by the turbulent nightly showers of Barab I.

It could even be considered that he enjoyed the water, but it was in the darkened caverns far beneath the planet's radiation-blasted crust that he found himself most at home. He slithered forward through the lightless corridors, his muscular tail propelling him across the rugged ground as he came upon the illuminated hot springs heated by the dormant volcano far below.

He had dressed lightly with only an ungarnished durasteel cuirass mounted on a leather harness covering his scaled hide, his lightsaber daintily dangling from what could be considered his hip. As he neared he raised a four-fingered hand in salute and called out in his native tongue: "Gsuusuhrphr, sasus*." He switched to Galactic Basic as he fully came into light, "I am pleasssed that you could meet me, I hope the rainsss didn't give you much trouble. I know what water doesss to your fur."

Greetings, brother*

[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]​

 

[TB-705]

Thengil grimaced at the joke, then shook his head, spraying droplets. He stopped and let out a chuff.

"At least we can feel the fall of rain again. It is good to see you, Blackscale."

Only out from that cage for a little while and he had almost forgotten the lack of free wind against his fur, or the absence of smells save his own stench.

Glowing, feline eyes panned across the underground structures.

"This is a hard planet." One that would not tolerate weakness. Any species that survived here would have to be cunning enough to avoid the floods and hardy enough to survive a hunt on the radiation-baked surface. "Have you found what you sought?"

[member="Oshuzs"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Oshuzs paused for a moment, his forked tongue slithering up to lap at the dry air. It was the easiest sign to tell that he was thinking, his thoughts rattling around in that skull of his.

Finally he let out a breath, "The nativesss of thisss world have proven to be a promisssing venture, but there isss a complication."

He retrieved a small personal holoprojector that he had been keeping in a pouch tied to his leather harness, and upon its activation an image of an Ithorian Jedi appeared silhouetted in a blue shroud that cast pale light on their surroundings. A name appeared alongside the image written in Aurebesh.

Noga-ta

"Many centuriesss ago thisss Jedi Knight came to Barab I and prevented the Barabelsss from destroying each other in a masssssive war, and ever sssince they have revered the Jedi asss sssacred." He deactivated the hologram and flicked his tongue in annoyance, "They mussst be broken of thisss tradition."

[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]​

 

[TB-705]

He stared long and hard at the Ithorian Jedi, almost as if in a trance, then shook himself, mane swaying. Thengil's paw came up and he stroked the tufts of fur on his chin.

"You seek to burn away ideologies entrenched for centuries in a single event. No small task... Hmm. I hear talk of an apostate Ithorian who frequents the shadowports. They say she used to be a miner, that she found something in the mines and it drove her to slaughter her crew. Unstable, violent, but somehow still licensed by the Guild."

But would it be enough to fool the denizens of Barab?

"There is another, a Gurlanin shapeshifter hiding on the smuggler's moon. He is ancient and you would risk the wrath of the Hutts by employing him, but they say few are better."

Thengil rolled his neck. "Or we could do it personally, though I do not like our odds. Your pride. Your call."

[member="Oshuzs"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

He lightly tapped the claw of his forefinger against the underside of his snout in contemplation, weighing each option. Finally he came to a decision.

"Deception will ultimately be our greatessst weapon, sssuch sssubtletiesss are lossst on the Barabelsss. However; from what you have told me I believe our bessst courssse of action would be to orchessstrate an event to ssshatter the faith in the Jedi, and thisss apossstate you ssspeak of will work to our advantage."

It was an easy decision for the Sluissi, he didn't dare invoke the ire of the Hutts this early into the game nor did he seek to put him or Thengil at risk by trying to carry this sort of subterfuge out in person. The already shattered psyche of the Ithorian would be a much easier tool to wield.

"We will have to locate thisss madwoman, and sssteer her in the right direction."

[member="Thengil Ri'Shajirr"]​