Of Old and Ancient Things

[Dax Perl]

Location: Golgotha Alpha, a moon orbiting Golgotha, Sirat Wen System

The icy winds whipped around Dax, his nose running from the intense cold. He pulled the snow jacket around him tighter, better to fend off the cold. What made him think that he could find anything of use here was beyond him at this point. The technology of the dome cities which spotted the barren landscape was not nearly as advanced as the man had hoped. Now had he stumbled across any of the rumored Kyber Crystal mines that were said to exist on the moon. Some days the Rogue thought that he lived only so that the galaxy could spite him.

The sun binary suns had begun to set off in the distance, reflecting their light into the man's eyes, forcing him to shield himself from both the threatening winds and the sheering glare of the ice. 'I should probably head back...' he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the ride back to the city. He mounted the single speeder and turned the engine over, the quiet hum unheard above the howling winds. The man turned the speeder bike around and set off.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

The cold.

Cold.

If there was one thing this particular Sith lord hated, it was the cold. Everything about it. The nip of the air, the burden of layer upon layer of clothing, the frostbite. Nothing ever good came of coming to a cold or frozen planet. Yet here he was again, wandering the snowy wastes searching for another lost tomb of his ancestors. Why had they come here, of all places? To prove a point?

Probably.

Step by step he went, wishing he had bothered to get himself a speeder. Though, as he wished for it, one came barreling across the snow. A brow raised on the Sith's face as he saw the speeder heading his way. Without thinking on it, he raised his hands, and tried to stop the speeder midflight. He was tired of walking through the snow.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax jerked the handles of the speeder bike as the being materialized out of the snow. No sooner had he done that did the bike suddenly come to a complete stop, Dax flying over the handle bars and landing face first into the snow, tumbling until he was landing flat on his back staring straight into the murky grey clouds above his head. Speaking of his head, the Rogue was surprised that his was still attached to his head. Groaning, the man stood shakily, gripping his stomach, the stab wound most certainly reopening to some degree. He looked back to the bike, some four or five meters behind himself to see the thing begin to smoke. "Aw, feth..." he muttered. As if the Force had decided to show him that things could always be worse, the rear thrusters suddenly burst into flames. Dax closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Of course this chit would happen to him.

Dax looked in the direction of the being that had suddenly appeared in the snow before him, resulting in the sudden stop he'd just expierenced. Only a faded silouhette could be made out. "Hey!" the Rogue called out to the man, "What're you-" he suddenly stopped speaking as he felt a disturbance in the Force...the one time the Force decided to work with the Rogue.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

The Zabrak could only frown as his eyes watched the speeder burst into flame. What a waste. His annoyance only grew as his gaze traveled to the original rider. So the man survived? Great. [member="Dax Fyre"] would receive the coldest of stares as he came into view. It was good the Rogue had chosen to stop talking, for the Sith was annoyed to a level beyond common sense. He would have killed him.

"Who are you."

 

[Dax Perl]

The man's voice dripped with venom. He was clearly unhappy. Which was ironic considering he hadn't just gone flying off a speeder which promptly decided to live up to Dax's namesake. Utter bantha poodoo if you asked him.

"Name's Dax." the Rogue said, cautiously stepping closer to the covered figure. "Yours?"

The Knight's left hand covered his face from the blistering cold winds that blew relentlessly towards the two men. The other hand lay buried in the pocket of his snow jacket, apparently seeking solace from the cold. In reality, the hand sought the Rogue's weapon. His numb, gloved hand wrapped itself around the freezing metal of a saber. Dax didn't trust the man one bit.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Dax huh?" The Sith grumbled, returning his gaze back to the wreckage. His original anger had begun to simmer down, but the situation hadn't changed. He was still wandering around a frozen wasteland looking for a tomb. And now, he had to deal with [member="Dax Fyre"] . Blue eyes snapped back to the Rogue, narrowed. The Force whispered in his ears about a potential danger.

"If you want to fight, I will kill you. Understand?"

 

[Dax Perl]

"Hey man, I just wanna get outta this frozen hellhole." Dax said. He'd made no indication of looking for a fight...so either than man was incredibly intuitive, or he was yet another Forcer. Either assumption was likely in this galaxy. The icy blue stare that held Dax's gaze forced him to halt in the snow, only a meter or two away. "What about you....you fixin' for a fight?" he asked.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"If you keep that hand on your weapon, I might just strike first." From how [member="Dax Fyre"] kept his hand in his pocket and the already apparent danger in the Force, Krest had put two and two together. "But, no. I don't want to fight you. It's too cold for that." And that was a truth. The last thing the Zabrak wanted to do was deal with asides from the cold was a fight with an unknown.

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax considered his options. Except there was one glaring problem. He didn't trust the man. "Let's make a deal then." he said, taking his hand out of his pocket, "Neither of us tries to kill each other, we get to some cantina with a heater, share a couple drinks. We all get to go home happy and warm." he offered. Despite the casual nature with which Dax spoke, his body was tense, hidden beneath the layers of clothing which protected him from the cold. He was ready to fight, need be.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

A deep sigh escaped the older being as he listened to [member="Dax Fyre"] . Why was Krest being so hostile anyway? Was the cold truly this much of an annoyance to him? Yes, yes it was. And so he laughed. The Zabrak couldn't help but laugh at the situation, smiling wide. There was no reason to fight. Not here, at least. "You know what, I'll pay for the drinks. Sound good kid?" In almost a complete one eighty the Lord changed his hateful and angry attitude to his calmer, relaxed one.

 

[Dax Perl]

The laugh that rang out only made Dax more tense, it wasn't until the man accepted his offer, even offering to pay did Dax release the tension that had built up inside him. "Well, I can't promise I'll let you, but you can try the man." laughed in response.

Around them, the blinding blizzard had begun to die, the snow that had been sent skyward by the wind slowly began its descent to the ground, tossing a few stray rays of light in every direction. The men could see each other clearly now, and Dax could now see the red skin of the Zabrak.

"Let's get out of here...I'm freezing my ass off."

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Lead the way kid. I got lost here." Krest laughed again. But he was serious. [member="Dax Fyre"] would find the aging Zabrak often would try and make light of any situation. Well, when he wasn't steaming mad himself. Rather casually the red man would slip his hands behind his head, looking around the snowy wasteland for any clues onto where the tomb he was searching for might be. He found nothing. Figures.

"Oh, and what are you doin out here?"

 

[Dax Perl]

"Looking for someone." Dax said, not willing to elaborate. The slight tone of bitter that leaked into his voice told the Zabrak that it wasn't a friend he was looking for though. Dax looked at the damaged speeder that lay on the ground besides them before looking in the direction he'd been originally going...or he thought he was going....There was nothing in the barren, wintry desert to indicate a direction. No landmarks...nothing. "Hate to break it to you, but I have no clue which direction I was heading...got turned around when my bike crashed." the man shrugged and began walking, "Guess this way is as good as any."

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Turned around huh? Heh, sorry." Not that he was about to admit his involvement with [member="Dax Fyre"] 's accident, though it would be pretty apparent what had messed up the ride. He followed behind the boy as he walked off, chuckling at his last statement. Worst case they'd be wandering for a while. Or freeze to death. Well, that didn't seem as fun. "Why not just follow the tracks of your speeder before it crashed?"

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax looked at the man as if questioning his intelligence..."Did you forget the blizzard we were just in already?" he asked. The snow had already covered the trail left by the small bike's thrusters, no sign of its passing could be seen...aside from the flaming wreckage. Dax had taken his guess of where to go based on what direction he'd been thrown, and that was all he really had to go on.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Oh right, blizzard." The Zabrak scratched the back of his head as he spoke. Krest knew where [member="Dax Fyre"] had come from, but only because of where he had thrown him. Well, no reason to bring that whole bit up. Sliding both hands behind his head the elder man would follow Dax, his blue gaze scanning the white wasteland. "What the kark were you doing out here in the middle of no where anyway?"

 

[Dax Perl]

"Heard tell of some Kyber crystals out here." the man explained, "Not enough to draw the interest of any corporations or anything, just maybe the odd treasure hunter or something." The fields of snow around them seemed endless. Not entirely flat, the land seemed to curve up gently, just enough so that any building in the distance may be obscured by the white berm before them. "What about you. Not like there's anything out here."

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Tombs of long dead people." That was the blunt description on what the Zabrak was doing. [member="Dax Fyre"] was a nice guy, but Krest wasn't about to trust him with the details of his family. Though Kyber crystals? Everyone seemed to be obsessed with those recently. "What's up with Kyber crystals anyway? I don't see much use in em." They were just another crystal for a lightsaber. Any crystal would do, so why be so picky?

 

[Dax Perl]

"Other than sabers?" Dax asked, "And the fact they've been used in three, well two, different world killers in history? No clue. But, I do enjoy building sabers. Even if I never get to use them." Personally, Dax saw using Kyber crystals in super weapons as a waste. Big guns typically had big weaknesses as history had so far proven. Besides, blowing up planets tended to piss people off.

"Any reasons your goin' tomb crawling?" the Rogue asked, having done a few raids of sorts himself. Unfortunately every time he did go searching through a tomb, bad things would happen. Graugs, other raiders, the occasional Force spirit...but they did make good stories.

[member="Krest"]

 

[Darth Ferus]

"Family problems." And that was about as far into the subject Krest was willing to go with a stranger. [member="Dax Fyre"] seemed like a nice fellow, but still, stranger. No reason to drag the Kyber hunter into another of the Zabrak's many tomb raids. "There's gotta be easier ways to get Kyber though. Wandering a frozen wasteland? That literally seems like a waste. A very, very cold waste."