The Game is A foot

[Ardgal Raxis]

Pzob​

​

The sweet sounds of the jungle rose around them, as the Slatin Gunship soared over the treetops. Ardgal stood, hand gripping the overhead straps, the other wrapped around the shoulders of [member="Rashae"] in the passenger's area. The arid smells of antiseptic, gun oil, and the hint of gasoline was in the air. It was the smell of adventure. Inside the austere surfaces of the Gunship were scraped clean to gleaming from the uncomfortable seating to the decking. The dull, systematic rumble of whooom-woom-whooooom-wooom-whooom of the Slatin's engines growled through the air like a hungry predator.

He leaned down and gave his woman a soft kiss on the lips, "Thank you for coming on this. It means a lot."

He knew this was a stretch for her, but she came along anyway. Part of that stretching was the reason he had asked her to come with. Rashae had become the center of a lot of danger recently, if anything were to happen to her and she was unable to take care of herself when stranded in such hostile situations--the warrior didn't know what he would do with himself.

Around the two were a few durasteel gun boxes, packed with weapons and more importantly supplies. They didn't have all the supplies they needed, in fact, Ardgal had intentionally under-packed food, water, and shelter provisions. If they were going to unwind, it would be with the hand of nature itself. That was the best way to do it, after all.

This wasn't just another lover's tryst, not that they would have objected to yet another one. Ardgal had brought along one of his fellow members of Commenor's infastructure, [member="Darlyn Excron"]. Ardgal had barely ever spoken with the man, and most of what he knew of him (which certainly wasn't much), he had garnered from brief comments of shared friends. What better way to get to know each other than on a safari of Pzob's jungles?

The engine's pitch rose to a whine as it lowered to the ground. The wide bay doors opened, and Virgil's voice cut over the din like a knife through butter, "This is your stop. Don't die or I swear I'll kill every one of you."

She had a way with words.

Ardgal grabbed two of the gun boxes and chunked them onto the grassy surface near a gorgeous waterfall, leading to a bubbling creek on a soft, sandy bed. The grey cliffside rose not too far away, pressed in by a pool from the flowing water that looked promisingly cool and refreshing. After Ardgal had tossed the cargo out, he helped Rashae out and onto her feet. Alexa came lumbering after them like a faithful, massive hound. The droid poked its nose at Darlyn questioningly, almost like a massive metal dog begging for some attention.

When everyone was clear, Virgil kicked the after burners on to the max. A huge gust of wind whirled around the offloaded passengers. The trees, with their massive folliage shook as the vessel rumbled up, and into the distance. The warrior shifted his rifle on his shoulder. His lips parted in a smile. This, on the hunt, the challenge of the grit, the unwanted, the struggle for survival against the unknown, the odds, and the dangerous, was where he loved to be. It was his natural habitat. It was what he was made for. And honestly, it felt kinda nice to be able to do it with some folks he considered friendly and on stakes this low.

The local avians resumed their chirping in the tree tops in a beautiful chorus. A warm breeze came in from the north, promising a light rain within a few hours. The clouds carried on its heels from that direction from the mountains even more so. The warrior looked at the blue sky and the billowy white clouds with an appraising eye as he set the butt of his Havoc rifle in the ground, "How about we start on the shelter first?"

Spoiler

Feel free to be chill and roll with this were you two want.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Honestly it was just nice to not be sitting at a desk doing paperwork for hours on end. Quite nice actually, and especially in a situation where he didn't feel compelled to bring along his usual copious amounts of firearms and explosives, or at the least only had to bring the former. Normally his only chances out the office like this were large stings of massive criminal organizations or the expansion of Law, or in rare cases simply having the time off to go hunting for criminals himself. So when he received an invitation from another member of Commenor's major members of infrastructure, one [member="Ardgal Raxis"], he naturally took the opportunity to go along.

And as of yet, the only part that disturbed him was meeting his first force dead individual, took a little bit to get used to not sensing him around. The droid Alexa was more noticeable for him, though he tried not to let it show. What did show, however, was his choice of wardrobe. Since death and danger weren't particularly expected, and he wished to remain comfortable, he only brought along his black set of robes and cloak, as opposed to his beskar armor. He had his sabers on his hip of course, and his engraved DL-18 holstered by his side, everything he could expect to need.

HE glanced at Alexa, and held up a hand as if offering it a pet, like it was a well behaved dog, before jumping down after the lovers. "Not a bad idea. Plenty of patches of even enough ground and plenty of tree coverage over said spaces... Quite the local I have to say." Good lord the politician was rubbing off on him, too flowery of language. He'd have to get that under control.

[member="Rashae"]

 

[Rashae]

When Ardgal had approached her about this camping thing on Pzob, she wasnt too sure about it. The excursion sounded a bit on the rough side. Rashae was used to a number of comforts. He did sweeten the deal with intel on fauna and flora of the system that might be interesting to look at. Not to mention a particular orchid that only grows in Pzob swamp. It was a category of orchid that was bulbous and could tolerate immersion in water. It was a rather lovely species. That dastardly man feeding into her hobby and her want for potential medical ingredients. The doctor reluctantly agreed. What was in store for her she was not quite sure.



It was interesting to see Ardgal all giddy about this safari as he put it. She brought a couple of cases of scientific equipment and packed medical equipment. She packed stuff she felt she would need. She trusted Ardgal as his arm was around her and returned his kiss with a smile before returning to her datapad to review what data she acquired on the flora, fauna, geological data, atmospheric data, indigenous sentient lifeforms if any and other pertinent information that would affect how life functions on Pzob.

Her head swiveled over to the Minister of Justice of Commenor, Darlyn Excron. The Doctor introduced herself as Minister of Medicine of Alderaan. Hopefully, he would know he wasnt dealing with just a girlfriend. Apparantly he was one of these force user type persons. The scientist in her didnt understand the force at all. Some people would say that it was just the force. That was never good enough for the detailed oriented woman. Its like saying its just water when it has millions of pieces of data that made it a liquid with millions of cells, microbes and other substances.

Ardgal brought him along so he had to have some redeeming quality about him. She studied her data once more as the gunship was beginning its landing sequence. Virgil and herself had an interesting relationship. The raven haired woman chuckled at the female godkiller as she landed.

“Virgil, you might want to kill death. Save yourself the time. “ Raising her voice to be heard over the still running engines with an equally cheeky and offbeat answer to the warrior woman.

Rashae started putting her science cases, medical cases and what packs she brought with her on Alexa. The woman didnt know that Ardgal did not pack a lot of food and other supplies. The General was just chunking stuff onto the grass as she walked out with the cyborg's assistance. Alexa was not too far behind her after the nuzzled request of the hand of their adventure companion. She put her datapad away in a side pouch as she looked at their surroundings. It was peaceful and lovely.

Once Virgil was in the air with the gunship and out of the way, Ardgal suggested they set up shelter. That was how she interpreted it. Their friend Darlyn gave appraisal of the campsite choice which went in one ear and out the other.

“Alright, you get the command center set up. I can get some preliminary samples. “ The word 'roughing' it had no concept to the woman. The word 'safari' had little meaning either. She started walking towards the waterfall with no weapons, no other precautions other than garnishing a water sample. Rashae patted her leg for Alexa to go with her. She had the science equipment after all.



[member="Ardgal Raxis"] [member="Darlyn Excron"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

“Virgil, you might want to kill death. Save yourself the time.

"Oh don't worry, ma'am, he's on my list," Virgil shouted with a perfect mix of both acidic sarcasm and playfulness, "And right on the top.

This just felt good. Ardgal just loved the ability to stay here, out in the open, with nothing but a small armory and a few supplies to keep them healthy, alive, and safe. The general cracked open one of the gun cases, setting the durasteel top aside and pulled a pair of axes from the box.

“Alright, you get the command center set up. I can get some preliminary samples.

"Cyar'ika," he said sweetly as he tossed the ax back towards Darlyn. The cyborg didn't even look at him directly, he just tossed it from the corner of his eye. "Out here we call it the Dusr, the 'house.'" He rose to his full height as Alexa trotted after his woman. "Don't worry, we will have it all set up and waiting for you."

"Not a bad idea. Plenty of patches of even enough ground and plenty of tree coverage over said spaces... Quite the local I have to say."

Ardgal gave the man a slap on the shoulder. He could feel a warmer, gentler side coming out of himself that he hadn't felt--ever. He couldn't remember the last time he had gone into the jungle for pleasure, he had never taken any kind of vacation at all for that matter. "It looked ideal from the satellite imaging, it looks even better from the ground level. You go for the joists and the firewood, I will gather us the main struts for our dusr."

As the general's ax hissed through the air, cutting down several trees, it wasn't too much of a struggle for him, he was bioengineered after all. The smell of woodchips filled the air and peppered the ground of the idyllic gathering. When he was done, the warrior easily stripped the saplings of their limbs and began making their small shelter. They hadn't come all this way to just spend their days indoors. The sun was out, the air was deliciously warm and fragrant with potential.

With the rough walls constructed, he heaped the piles of green leaves and foliage that had been stripped clean from his felled trees. If one listened closely they might have even heard him humming softly an old Mandalorian song. With the natural insulation packed on, the warrior pulled a thermal blanket from their boxes and tied it down over the domed top. It was a snug wigwam, but it would work. He let out a satisfied sigh and gestured to his handywork, "Just think, ages ago, our ancestors would have considered this high living. The pinnacle of their achievement. Where most beings today want white picket fences and a shiny speeder, they would have settled for this," he looped both of his thumbs in his belt. "They would be proud to see this now."

[member="Rashae"] I [member="Darlyn Excron"]​

 

[Darlyn Excron]

After catching the ax thrown at him, Darlyn smirked a little bit when he was given a task to go about doing. Well, while he was no carpenter, he could manage well enough with collecting wood, though he'd almost certainly need help to make it into anything useful. He put the ax on his belt, cracking his fingers as he wandered off to get to work. It took roughly four or five minutes for him to find a clump of trees he thought to be good for this, and set to work climbing them.

While it would be simple enough work to cut them down, he was uncertain as to his ability to not crush someone important with the tree, therefore it was best to start with striping the trees of limbs. Thick arms of the trees began to fall as he began swinging the ax, knocking them to the ground with relative ease. He picked the best he could find, those with enough straight portions, or relatively straight, that could be made into joists with a little extra work, and the remaining bits would be excellent for additions to a fire.

Of course, when he did finally jump down to collect his work, there weren't quite enough to make sufficient joists, at least not any meaningful supply while also providing firewood. Naturally he frowned, glancing about for perhaps a smaller tree he could knock over. Spotting one, he went to work, carefully whittling the side down until the thing finally fell over, creating a resounding thud. Satisfied with his work, he picked up his mess with the force, no small feat considering the multitasking that was going on, and slowly moved forward back to camp.

When he did return, he set everything down with a thud, and gave a single quiet pant for breath. Most people didn't understand using the force didn't spare you from exerting energy, or thought it made such tasks trivial. And perhaps for a master that might be true, but he still had plenty to go... "Nice little shelter.. this should do for my end of the tasks don't you think? If we need more it's not like there's a shortage of wood around."

Course he did wonder how the Minister of Medicine, [member="Rashae"], was doing. He didn't see her around, and it had been a while of working on the trees.