Nightmares

[Laira Darkhold]

There wasn't much in the Galaxy that made sense to Kode, a young man who had been plagued by visions from the Force for as long as he could remember. The specters that spoke to him, that pulled him through time and sent him visions and memories of events to come and of ancient history only offered advice, sometimes in cruel form and poor timing, but they never harassed him once a decision had been made.

Peculiar indeed, but it was just how life was for young Vizla.

The one lesson they continuously brought up these days was, "The Strong are strongest alone. Only alone does one's own strength prevail." and in that vein they had encouraged him to seek out vengeance on his own.

Kode remained independent, even though he had aligned with Clan Vizsla and its Alor for their war. He wouldn't be taking orders or meeting quotas. The young man would be doing as he pleased to aid the war effort.

The first phase of any war was to get one's own house in order.

To that end, the spirits showed him visions of a distant jungle world ruled by fear and evil. They whispered of great power and weapons to be recovered from the Dasu'r'er, the Demon Moon.

He would have left by now, if he possessed a ship but the universe did not give with both hands. Sometimes one needed to seek out others in order to undertake a quest. In this case, Clan Shysa.

Clan Shysa had also suffered losses during the skirmish in the Sundari Palace which made them natural allies. That he was seeking out remnants and remains from a lost clan on Dxun would only serve to pique their new leader's interest. At least it had enough that he was meeting with the older woman to discuss it.

He wore his normal armor, a leather and euk'gar hauberk over micromail and armorweave jumpsuit, gauntlets and vambraces on his lower arms, greaves and sabatons protecting his shins and feet. The outfit was light and fairly protective, especially against slugs and blades. The Mandalorian vambraces were simplistic, rather than fitted with tons of weaponry the whip-cord/repulsor and shield gauntlet combination seemed to be enough.

"Dxun is a moon of secrets," he started, his shining blue eyes wandering throughout the room. He wasn't avoiding eye contact, instead making it obvious he was observing everything about the room and not just the Mandalorian woman within it. "Who knows what all an expedition might uncover. My sources say that there may be ancient star charts of Mandalorian space with hidden routes you and your clan could exploit." She didn't need to know that the sources he was referring to were spirits that haunted him.

"A small team would be enough. One ship, you and I. Go in, find what we want, leave." Vizla worked hard to make it sound simple and easy to the dark haired woman. Otherwise he'd have to book passage some other way.

[member="Entye Shysa"]

 

[Mav Halo]

[member="Kode Vizla"]

The Demon Moon of Onderon dominated the display before her, casting the room in low tones of electric blue as it continued to gently spin on a set of holographic axes. A steady sea of data slowly ebbing up the sides in an attempt to lend the image some added context. Interesting from a historical point of view, but too many years had passed since any sizable Mandalorian presence had made its way this far into the Inner Rim for it to be considered reliable anymore. The jungle would have changed, adapted and evolved several times over in such a span of time.

Her gaze flickered from the display towards the younger Mandalorian warrior, lips pursing as not for the first time she found herself contemplating his appearance and strange mannerisms. Once again questioning why she’d not only allowed him passage, but to pitch his foolhardy plan to plunder the supposed riches of a forgotten clan. Her pact with Ronan may have been binding, but there was a limit to the concessions she was willing to make on the behalf of a potentially ephemeral alliance. Especially since one didn’t need to be attuned to the force to realize he was purposefully attempting to withhold information.

Even if you offered the truth to a certain point, a lie of omission was still a lie.

“If it is as easy as you claim,” She began, planting her hands palm down on the edge of the holotable. In contrast to his more ramshackle Armour, appeared to be a more generic, mass produced affair. The black and gold lacquered plates finding their originality in the hand-painted designs that adorned them, weaving Mandalorian and West Concordian styled patterns together. Freshly applied, if the lack of wear and tear was to be judged. “What is to stop me from simply taking these secrets for myself?”

Her word, given and binding as tight as any blood oath, was what would ultimately stay her hand from such a course. But the questions till lingered unanswered between them, along with another just as pressing.

“More to point, why offer this to me and mine in the first place? Surely there are those amongst Aliit Vizsla that would find as much value in these alleged hidden paths as Shysa.”

Such a fabled prize, offered so freely and with apparent ease during a time when it would be needed most… It smelled suspicious to say the least.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

"You would need a guide and I need a ship. I am a guide and you have a ship." He answered, eyes wandering around the room and studying the nearly random data feeds coming in on the Holotable and the decor around the sparse room.

Shysa and Vizsla had an agreement, one of the few reasons he had decided to come to them instead of seeking out a different ally. Because Alor Vizsla and Alor Shysa had an agreement and shared some common bond for their dislike of the Mandalorian Empire, she was the ideal ally to take out into the jungles. But the other reasons were a little more clandestine.

"Well, Aliit Vizsla is a bit too concerned with preparing for their war to support me on a personal quest that has little to do with them as a whole. And I didn't bother to ask them." At least he was honest.

The young man wandered around the table, smiling as he distracted himself with a banner hung upon the wall, one of the few ornaments within the room purely for decoration. He found the bottom of it with his hand and rubbed the fabric between his forefinger and thumb absent-mindedly. "I can lead you through the jungle to a ruin that interests me. The one thing within it that I seek, I will claim and all other valuables, secrets, or trinkets you desire are yours. For the two of us, the quest will have meaning. For your clan, probably not as much."

Finally he turned his eyes back onto the new warlord, bright blue eyes inspecting her closely, the table no longer between them. Her armor and weapons were very classical, Mandalorian standard. Simple and efficient, not a ton of bells and whistles, and mostly individualized solely based on the paint it wore.

[member="Entye Shysa"]