The Lost Wolf

[Kainan Wolfe]

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Soundtrack: Witcher 3 - After the Storm​

Attn: [member="Nadia Malvern"]​

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• A quiet little cabin in the woods
  Nelvaan, The Eternal Empire, Confederacy of Independent Systems

Silence. Nothing but the branches rustling wind, the murmur of the nearby stream, the crackling of the fire and the chirping of the local birds. Not many people knew of these places, tucked away in secret corners on the snowy world of Nelvaan and those who did, guarded their location jealously.

A man sat by the fire, dressed in simple mountain clothing, silver hair dancing in the light breeze, eyes staring into the sunset as he waited for the tea to finish warming up. There was no technology nearby, no signs of wealth and power, no weapons besides the sheathed sword resting against a log, within easy reach, and the quiet dropship in the clearing nearby. He had spent an hour tending to that sword, keeping the blade clean and oiled, even though the alchemically altered steel required no such thing. Rather, it was just an exercise which he found soothing, a comfortable routine that he could lose himself into and take his mind off the burdens of his station, for a few brief moments.

Seeing him like this, few would guess that he was Darth Tacitus, ruler of the Eternal Empire of Nelvaan and one of the wealthiest, most influential men in the Confederacy. All of that was left behind, temporarily forgotten, until his duties required him to once again assume the mantle of warrior and leader. This was a place for simple things and simple life, the way he secretly wanted them to be. The galaxy knew him as a cold and ruthless ruler, the owner of vast wealth and resources and the leader of one of the most disciplined and brutal armies there were. Few, very few ever caught the briefest glimpse of the truth, of the man and not the crown.

He came here on occasion, to his little cabin in the woods, seeking quiet solitude in those rare days when he could afford himself the time to do so, pretending for a moment that his worries and his life beyond this secret valley, did not exist.

Sadly, his secret dreams and the cold, hard truths of reality were two very different things, separated by a chasm as wide as the distance between Nelvaan and the Core. And, as it often had the habit of doing, reality once more shattered the man's meditative musings with the soulless, electronic buzz of the comlink in his pocked.

"//Sire, forgive the interruption,//" the voice announced through the machine's tinny speaker in High Nelvaanian, the language spoken by his Empire. "//We found her.//"

 

[Rath Exigo]

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• Nar Shaddaa
  Hutt Space

The Red Light sector has always been the vile heart of the galaxy's most wretched hive of scum and villainy, the Hutt moon of Nar Shaddaa. Throughout the galaxy's long history, there had never been a more despicable world, with the exception of the moon's parent planet, Nal Hutta.

Beneath clouds of foul smog, ramshackle gray towers rose towards the sky, like a filthy hand who's fingers are desperately trying and failing to reach for the stars. Despair and desolation lingered in the air together with the stench of garbage, yet in spite all its repulsive traits, the wretched little rock bustled with life. For this disgusting little pebble in the void was known by another, far more infamous title. The Smuggler's Moon.

It was said that anything goes, here, provided one has enough credits. Anything one could think of could be found here, being bought and sold amongst the back alleys of the labyrinthine city, from illegal weapons and slaves, to spice, deathsticks and broken scrap.

Like a pack of vultures descending upon a carcass, the dropships swooped down from above in impecable formation, roaring engines drowning out the disgusting cacophony sounds of the many cantinas and less reputable establishments within this section of the district. The Hutt clan currently ruling over the moon had, of course, been bribed to turn a blind eye to this military incursion, as it was how things were handled here, at the bottom of the galaxy's garbage pile. For this was not an invasion, but rather an extraction. A short time ago, a local agent had identified a face that the dropships' occupants were looking for. A Star Destroyer had quickly been assigned to travel here and recover the elusive quarry and given her identity, the Nelvaanians were taking no chances.

From dropships hanging above the street, soldiers were rappelling down, Ultranauts clad in vacuum rated armor, who's glowing optics shined like deathly spotlights as they scanned the crowds below. A harsh voice blared instructions to the crowd below, through a loudspeaker on one of the strike craft. "Get on the ground! On your knees and put your hands behind your heads! You have three seconds to comply!"

Anubian blasterstaves and Nelvaanian automatic slugthrowers were leveled at the assembled mass of people by soldiers moving in quick, efficient fashion as a perimeter was established to contain the wretched crowd within. A final dropship touched down in the open square, unloading several more Ultranauts, along with three tall figures clad in segmented armor and white, hooded cloaks. Harsh masks obscured their faces and in their hands were midnight-bladed lightsabers that hissed and crackled angrily in the foul air. It did not take them long to find who they were looking for.

The lead figure, a tall, lupine creature of the same species as some of the Anubian Ultranauts who's weapons threatened to stun anyone that moved, stepped towards the girl and extinguished his lightsaber. "Nadia Malvern," a deep, clear voice emerged from beneath his mask. "I am Rath Exigo, Lord Commander of the Wardens. The Eternal Emperor has requested that we bring you to him," the Anubian spoke in accented Basic, head gesturing towards the landed shuttle, indicating where he wanted the teenager to go.