Lies Beneath the Ice | The Collective

[Mara Kellarov]

Mara listened intently to what Itash had to say. She knew his type and recognized he wasn't particularly happy that nothing was being straightforward. But the agent wasn't about to throw all their chips in one go.

The Collective had come here to cement their place on Arkania, in the meantime her and Delilah were meant to find a couple new agents through a convenient lead they could take advantage of while here.

But now she was beginning to hesitate, wondering what exactly these two had gotten themselves into.

Then the mention of Sith entered the conversation, and Mara's entire body almost twitched in reaction. Sure, Itash was talking about history right now but she was not liking where this was going.

"We found the site, we started to excavate..."

Yeah, she already knew where this was going.

Mara cast a glance over to Delilah. She knew why the other woman was here, not the exact details, but she at least knew what the intention had been having her come as backup. Unfortunately things didn't look like they were going to shape up as planned.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

She continued to listen as the story changed hands to Wes. Mara's face was stone cold, set in a serious expression as she took note of what the soldier described. There was no shadow of doubt what they had encountered, and Mara couldn't help but let out an annoyed sigh once the man had finished speaking.

"Karking hell..." Mara brought a hand up to her nose, pinching the bridge of it for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, everyone attention were on her. "You encountered Sithspawn, twisted experiments performed through Sith Alchemy. That lot really have a hard-on for using them as defences for their facilities, bases, even libraries it seems." This is why she hated Forcers, especially the dark ones. Being able to twist the very nature of things with their hands...

It was apparent that Mara had ran into them before, experienced even. And she was, a number of old Republic/Alliance operations had brought her across the path of a few laboratories in her time. She didn't know what was worse; interacting with the abominations themselves, or seeing what had been done to them.

"And you intend to go back there, yes? With what plan in mind exactly?"

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"]​

 

[Atlas Kane]

He felt out of place here, amongst the cold weather of Adascopolis. He was too far away from home, warm, cosy home. The nature of this arrangement called for his presence here, however. A nice holo-call or a holo-message correspondence would have been entirely fine with the young Epicanthix, he and this "Tash" would have both been able to stay where they felt most comfortable, respectively, yet that individual had demanded to meet in person, here, on Arkania.

So he'd left his home, donned an alias, and come to this frozen wasteland of a world to meet the (infamous?) Tash. Immediately he regretted the decision. His extravagant and archaic way of dressing made him seem entirely out of place, the long, purple, green garment with interwoven patterns of black and gold fabric. The gold-purple menagerie of metal and feathers of many colours that adorned his head was also not helping, his only piece of comfort was the fact no one could see his face, at least not above the lips, as a mask resembling an avian's head hid his identity.

The meeting's location was a cafe somewhere in this frozen hellscape. It made no particular impression on the lost, young Noble. It was as any other cafe was, a place to drink overpriced crushed beans mixed with water. Honestly, there was no class in drinking stimcaf, tea was a much better choice.

As he entered the locale he passed a group of strangers discussing certain plans.

"Karkin' demons. Humanoids but out of your sickest nightmare. No need for anything to keep them warm out there, possibly able to see in the dark as well as we see Tattooine's horizon. Agile, fast, strong. ..."

Reynauld's blood ran cold for a moment listening to that description. It made him hope the man he came here to meet was not amongst those people, but what choice did he have if he was? Practically none. Shaking the horrific images out of his mind he approached the man who seemed to run the place. With any luck, he would know which one of his patrons was the contact.

"You there, I am here to meet with one "Tash". I assume you know of this man, point me to him at once." he announced, louder than he'd intended.

[member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Mara Kellarov"], [member="Wes Rykker"], [member="Delilah Keyes"].

 

[Itash Mecetti]

[member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

​

The loudness served Ashen well, because Tash's attention squarely shifted from the ladies to the... interesting newcomer.

A little bit extravagant, maybe, but in the end didn't Itash always complain that most people had forgotten their sense for flair and the dramatic? So, to judge this man now would be simply strange.

"Tash is here, friend, pull up a chair and sit down with us." There were plenty of people here now. Some others would join later, but in the end Itash didn't want this to be a large expedition. Because there was the matter of divvying up the shares later and the less people were involved, the bigger the shares would be for all of them. The bigger the share would be for him anyway, he didn't really care about the rest. Except maybe Wes, because he looked so good when standing next to him.

True wing-man right there.

"We managed to get our hands on explosives." If Mara was even fractionally invested in the Arkanian scene she would know exactly just how hard that had been.

These space elves were really intense when it came to smuggling.

"The idea is to set up an ambush, lure 'em in and then blow them all to pieces." Not a very complicated plan, but the best ones were usually simple in execution. "Then we mope up any possible survivors."

Itash looked from one face to the next and the following, before settling on the newcomer.

"What's your name then, and what do you do?"

 

[Delilah Keyes]

Del ordered a caf of her own, heavy cream and sugar, as she listened to the whole story come out.

She needed a far stiffer drink than the toffee coloured mug set before her for any of this to be okay.

Sithspawn. Kriff, this wasn't what she'd signed on for at all. This was supposed to be a low key, steady paycheck. Something to keep her and Walk afloat between jobs, maybe work a new angle of allies in case Sonny or Nuna decided to bring down hell on their backs. She hadn't expected what it was slowly turning into instead. This was a game for believers. People dedicated to the Collective's cause, not someone like her.

And yet here she was, contracted for another week and staring down the idea of going into a secret library, in the middle of the tundra, filled with sithspawn. Despite knowing she'd get a very handsome 'hazard pay' bonus out of it, she simply didn't think the credits were worth her life.

Not now.

Not when she had something worth going home to.

She sipped at the caf absently- covered as it was with cream and sugar, she could almost pretend it was decent.

Almost.

But beneath the flavor was too dark, too burned, too bitter.

No, when her contract was over, she'd bail. Take what she'd earned and leave them to their thing. It just wasn't worth it. For now though, she'd honor the contract. And the plan? It wasn't a *good* one, but it kept the bulk of the risk on someone's head other than hers. Which was good enough.

[member="Itash Mecetti"] [member="Wes Rykker"] [member="Mara Kellarov"] [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]

 

[Ashana]

ADASCOPOLIS
Adacorp HQ

The elevator was a long ride up, Ashana stared through the glass at the city below. When it finally reached its floor she turned around and faced the empty hall.

Empty save for one existence. A security droid stationed at a sealed door on the far end. A door which led into the brain of corporate headquarters. She walked down the clean floor, her boots clacking against the plasteel tiles, and towards the droid.

"Identification confirmed: All class 3 clearances have been suspended indefinitely." The droid's monotone voice was backed by a raised stun blaster.

Ashana stepped back. "... I'm here to speak with management. Is anyone in?" Suspended? She thought to herself. What the hell is going on?

"Error: I lack the necessary data to answer that. Please contact an administrator for any inquiries on staff whereabouts. Warning: If you continue to linger you will be detained for loitering. You have 45 seconds to comply."

The Offshoot groaned. "Right."

She turned on her backfoot and walked down the hall, though she slunk into the right corridor rather than getting back on the elevator. If only she could find a computer, then maybe she'd know what was really going on.

 

[Atlas Kane]

Another voice called out to him before the shopkeeper could respond. It came from the general direction of the group he'd overheard a few moments ago. Slowly he turned his head to see his worst suspicions confirmed. His confidence deflated the same moment he was asked to come sit with them. You can do this, you know you can.

Taking a deep breath he moved to their table with renewed confident steps, pulling a chair from a different table and setting it down next to the group already gathered in one smooth motion. He thought he looked quite sure of himself during it, which boosted his confidence even more. So he sat down and leaned back in the chair, bringing one leg up to rest on the other.

He had to lean in a little closer to catch what the man was mumbling about, but this course of action he proposed suited the young Noble just fine. Using explosives to lure the creatures into a trap would mean the least possible exposure to them, which was something very desirable for one as inexperienced in combat such as him. Beyond maybe, a few sparring matches with an instructor and one or two times firing a blaster he had no idea what to actually do in a proper combat scenario. The reason for his being here was because he'd been led to believe it would be an easy way to make a lot of money quickly, but this seemed everything but easy.

"What's your name then, and what do you do?"

The young noble let out a brief and quiet nervous laugh.

"Uhm, the name's Ashen Soul Reynauld, though Reynauld will suffice, as the rest is merely a title, and I can ... uh ... I can do lots of things." His voice got quieter and quieter at the end of the sentence until it was barely audible at all. What would he do on this mission? The question elicited a brief flash of panic across his mind, he had no clue.

[member="Delilah Keyes"], [member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Wes Rykker"], [member="Mara Kellarov"].

 

[Mara Kellarov]

Mara quirked an eyebrow when Itash' attention slipped from her and Delilah, over to someone that was approaching from her blind spot. Mara took a sip of her caf, turning slightly to look behind just as Ashen announced himself.

Several pairs of eyes looked in his and their direction. An awkward silence fell, until the other customers shifted back to their own business.

Itash eventually spoke up, calling the newcomer over to take a seat. From there, the man began to talk about their plan for dealing with the Sithspawn. The fact they had managed to acquire explosives on Arkania was an impressive feet, one that Mara recognized. She wasn't too invested in things here, but she knew enough about Arkania to know it hadn't been an easy task.

Lure them out, blow them up. Wasn't a bad plan, provided the abominations didn't function with some type of hivemind.

She glanced over at Delilah, wondering how the other Collective agent felt. This certainly couldn't be what she was expecting to be thrown into next.

Once Ashen had introduced himself, Mara looked to Itash again.

"That plan is missing a part you've yet to mention." She leaned back into her chair, taking a final swig of her caf to empty the cup. "Someone has to be the bait that will lure them out."

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Zef Halo]

Now this seemed to be turning into a convention and Wes had to strain himself to monitor every possible detail he could catch on the newcomers. The final arrival looked the most weird by far but he had some trust Mecetti knew how to pick his team.

The noble might not look anything more than a spoiled hedonistic royal brat but Wes had seen there was much more than that.

It'd be wrong to underestimate him.

As the discussions proceeded and Itash mentioned their plan, Mara intercepted with a good question. Silence befell the table of Mecetti's Four before Wes broke the deadlock:

"I'd doubt any of you could hold a wave of these...sithspawn you call." His tone very far from arrogant but more of stating the facts. "It's only logical that I'd be the bait."

Since Mecetti can't feth 'em damn sithspawn, I doubt he'd be a good bait.

[member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"] | [member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"]​

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Itash eyed the young man for a moment.

Gauging what he was doing here and why.

It was probably the money, was it not always the money after all? But it did make him wonder if it wouldn't be a liability to try and add this lad to the mix of the operation. They couldn't babysit him when they were on the field, mostly because Wes was already occupied with babysitting him in the field and he couldn't juggle two of them.

"No." The nobleman immediately dismissed Wes' suggestion with the wave of the hand. "Wes and me are off the table. One of you will need become the bait for this job, call it a round of initiation."

He frankly didn't care who it would be.

Though part of Tash didn't want it to be the butter face. A behind like that didn't deserve to be slaughtered by a host of Sithspawn. He shrugged though, because that was one thing he wouldn't try to enforce.

Wes was necessary. The only person he 'trusted'... as long as his paychecks didn't bounce.

"I leave it to the three of you to decide who it's going to be. Wes and me are going to get some more caf, you can let me know, once you figure it out."

Rising up he left the table behind in pursuit of the bar.

[member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Zef Halo]

Wes glared at his employer for a moment as the latter stood up from the table. The mercenary hardly believed any of the others could be fit for the task but he could also see why Mecetti was taking him out.

If the bait died, he'd have less shares to 'donate'. A win-win situation, sort of. Thing is - the bait needed to survive long enough for the horde of monsters to pile up well and go out all at once with the mass explosion. Basically, a one hit to kill 'em all.

Perhaps this Mara could?

It didn't help to think about it, nor did he care much at this moment. Wes stood up from his chair, leaving his cold brew on the table as he followed the noble to the bar to get a fresh one.

"Black." He muttered to the barista before turning to Mecetti with a whisper. "You think someone can pull this off from this lot?"

​

​

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Tash ordered a macelliata frappochino.

Lots of creme, milk, little bit of spicy, it was stimulating for the tongue and just heaven to drink. In the meantime he mused, wondering just which one of them would end up playing the bait.

Mara could handle it.

But usually the most equipped to handle things weren't willing to actually do it, putting their lives and hide on the line for it. It was probably why they stayed alive for as long as they did. "Unsure." A shrug followed as Tash accepted the hot cup, blowing softly and taking a careful sip. "Flip-side, don't give a shet if one of 'em dies, you on the other hand?"

Wasn't an issue of friendship or amicable feelings.

"Someone's gotta keep me alive."

[member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Mara Kellarov]

The agent had already made her mind up when Itash and Wes had mentioned and described the monsters that had killed their men, forcing them to flee. The moment they had mentioned the word 'Sith', she knew what it was going to be said next.

She had never encountered one of their bases, or in general places of worship, that weren't defended by some monstrosity or another.

And if there was one thing she would admit, was the fact their alchemists certainly got creative on how they twisted nature.

Mara looked over at Wes as he spoke, fighting back (and failing to) the urge to roll her eyes. He definitely spoke like a soldier, matter of fact tone with misplaced confidence towards something he didn't have knowledge of, or at least a great deal of it. Then again, that in itself was an arrogant thought from her.

With both Wes and Itash leaving the table, Mara looked over at Delilah and Ashen. Neither looked particularly happy with the predicament they were in. One of the three would need to act as the bait, and at least two of them certainly didn't like that fact.

"Don't you two worry, I'll take the role of bait." She smirked slightly, probably looking somewhat insane for looking 'happy' at the prospect. "As I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say I've probably for the most experienced with Sithspawn?"

She watched and listened to their reactions, noting that the other two were likely not to make any complaint about wanting to take the role themselves. With that, Mara slipped out of the booth and moved over to the bar where the two men had gone. They were in the midst of a conversation when she moved up to Itash's side, only a matter of minutes after he had left the decision in their laps.

"Same as before." She spoke to the barista first, before her eyes fell on the two men. "Looks like I'll be your bait."

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Atlas Kane]

Bait? BAIT? BAIT?!?

He didn't sign up to be bait, it was supposed to be easy money, low risk, high reward. The involvement of Sithspawn was bad enough, but now the wonderful mister "Tash" implied there'd be bait to lure the Sithspawn out and the woman next to Ashen only crystalised this unspoken fear. The already present panic grew even wilder, his foot began to tap quickly as his fingers tapped away quietly at the armrest in anticipation of the proposal of his sacrifice.

But it never came, instead, the tough looking one next to Tash offered up himself. A metaphorical mountain fell off the young noble's chest ... only to be hoisted right back in place when the man he presumed to be Tash decline the tough guy's proposal right off the bat. The foot-tapping resumed. Tash and the tough guy left to get more drinks and the others were left to figure out who the unlucky soul to act as bait for hungry, quick, frenzied, and powerful "sithspawn". It was probably time to rethink his involvement in this, but where else would he have to go? Maybe one of the other two would do it? He glanced at them both nervously, barely hidden by the mask he wore.

Then his saviour spoke again. The same one that had confirmed his fear was now the one keeping him from simply running away from this deal, even if she did so unintentionally. He sighed a breath of relief and leaned back in his chair, nodding in agreement.

"I am abso-" He managed to catch the slip-up before it actually happened, continuing instead with "I mean, I would be honoured to act as your backup, should you wish to undertake this most dangerous task in place of that lady or me. I wish you great success and only the safest outcome."

He let out one final sigh of relief when she finally stood up to tell Tash of her decision, though a little bit of guilt did poison his well of joy.

[member="Mara Kellarov"], [member="Itash Mecetti"], [member="Wes Rykker"], [member="Delilah Keyes"].

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Over the cup of caf Tash looked Mara up and down.

Sizing up, but this time it had little to do with the carnal pleasures and all about the long game afoot. Would she be good for this particular job, would she get them enough time to draw all the beasts in, would she be able to survive it? Well, that last question wasn't really all that important, if Mara died on the job that just meant their shares got bigger.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Shame if it happened, sure, she was a pretty thing after all. But Itash suspected that he'd survive it... probably. "Alright then." He yawned slightly, lifting his cup to take another sip before thinking better of it.

"Think that's all we gotta talk about right now, you can go." Eyes brushed past the nice lady towards the twitchy noble still sitting. "Counts for you too, drink your cup, then step out one by one."

Sip was taken and his focus had slipped past both of them.

The words next were still meant for them though. "I will be in touch, obviously."

That was it, they were pretty much dismissed from this point onward and Itash began to simply enjoy his cup of caf. He'd probably order another one, then one more to go.

Not often he found a coffee shop like this one, after all.

[member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Zef Halo]

Not surprised.

Not surprised at the fact Mara was to be bait. Maybe his initial analysis of her were right after all. Her composed tone uttering the fact she was to undertake the riskiest role of the job was somewhat magnetizing.

It'd be a lie if Wes said he didn't feel slightly attracted to the blonde. Girl's got guts. He respected that.

Tash being Tash was good in knowing when a conversation had ran its course and dismissed the rest of the newcomers as he turned to his mercenary. The latter taking a sip of the coffee, glancing at the group leaving before speaking to his employer.

"We've outlined the plan, alright. I was curious to see what the rest could bring to the table." Wes explained. "But if the explosives don't take all of 'em in one go and if our new co-workers are not up to the task..."

"...I won't be so sure I can take us both out of there alive."

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Delilah Keyes"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​

 

[Mara Kellarov]

Occupied with getting her new cup of caf, Mara watched from the corner of her eye as Itash sized her up. Noting though that it was more of an analytical gaze than suggestive. She knew he was mentally asking questions, wondering if she would be able to do the job.

Mara was confident that she could, at least in a broad sense. There were still factors that could change that, such as the explosives in question and just what exactly the Sithspawn were. The latter always tended to have some trump card that made them stand out, but equally had a weakness to exploit

Well, that was her thinking on the instance if any of them managed to survive the explosion - which knowing her luck, she wouldn't get off that easy.

Taking a sip of her caf, she glanced over and caught sight of Wes' look too. Seemed like she had made some impression on the soldier, although her attention snapped back to Itash.

"Fine by me, we'll be around." It was probably best to check in and see how the Collective was doing as a whole - in terms of setting up shop. As she slid off her stool, Mara smirked at Itash.

So this was the Mecetti Evoros was on about...

Mara was tempted to say something, but remained quiet as she walked back over to Ashen and Delilah, the latter of which didn't look too pleased about the situation.

"Looks like we're done here for now, let's meet back up with the others and see how they're faring." Mara's words were aimed at Delilah, but she quickly realized Ashen hadn't a clue who the 'others' were. "Ashen right? How about you come along hmm? If you're going to be joining us on this gambit, then we may as well introduce you to who we work with." She spoke a bit more quietly, keeping the conversation from Itash and Wes' ears. Besides, those two would be following that same path soon enough.

With that, the three of them departed the cafe.

[member="Itash Mecetti"] | [member="Wes Rykker"] | [member="Ashen Soul Reynauld"]​