Two Dingus' and a Drongo

[Rexus Wenck]

H O T H
Abandoned Temple

Rexus steadied his aim, wincing as he did so. This was it. His last clip. If anymore of the bastards came after him, he was sure that he would be gone. The veritable giant was pinned in the icy catacomb. His fleshy, albeit intensly modified right arm, was now trapped under about thirty tonnes of ice and rock. Dergan Twigg, Rexus' inseperable other half, had in his infinite wisdom deployed a high yield thermal detonator. Leading to his current predicament. Twigg was now further down, with no apparent way back up, and Rexus was trapped near the surface. Right when some Ssi-Ruuk decided to investigate.

Their corpses lay scattered around the atrium of the ancient ruin. Some smoking, their skulls ablaze. Others, steadily creeping with a build up of frost. It was not like Rexus had not killed before. He was a killing machine. But the job, as put out by the employer on Kathol, stated that the temple was abandoned. Abandoned, just as Hoth had been once Grand Admiral Rausgeber cleaved what he had wanted from the system. And yet he was here.

The servos of his mechanical arm whirred slowly. The cold and the strain on them, testing the engineering of them. "Come on," Rexus snarled between gritted teeth, "Come on..." he pleaded, before resting it against his side. It was bruised, from the previous barrages provided. Still, the footsteps on the frozen floor echoed, and Rexus then decided to give himself one final hurrah. "Come and get it, you big dumb jagoff!" He roared.
[member="Jared Starchaser"]

 

[Jared Starchaser]

After receiving the holocron from his father, one that contained some interesting bits of history, of Coren before he returned from carbonite, of the Unknown Regions and Chiss space, and information about defunct groups that were in the region the First Order recently occupied. The Fringe Federation, Moross Crusade, First Order and Outer Rim Coalition all occupied the space out here, seemingly protecting the galaxy from, and enjoying the darkness the wilds of the Rim granted. Even now, Jared Starchaser was on his way out, into the wastes. He had a swoop bike that was conditioned for the cold, and was leaving his AT-360 behind, far enough from the temple his father was instructing him to find.

Well, not in so many words, but there were parts of Hoth that were alive in the Force. How anything could survive this ice block, he had no idea, but one thing his exploration droid was helping with was pointing out recent activity, some of it downloaded from the ship, and because he was always looking for trouble, the Errant Knight was always one to look for trouble. Part time mercenary, full time explorer, and Force… experimenter, he was finding his path.

Right now, he didn’t realize that the path to a tremor had been the path to the temple. Popping off the swoop, the droid remained in its harness on his back. As a result, Jared didn’t have a rifle and was opting for his lightsaber and pistol. As he stepped into the atrium, he could sense the death in the room, and hear the calls for a fight.

He grabbed his pistol, and stepped forward slow.

“Who’s there?”

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus eased himself. The voice, at least from a distance seemed to be human. Great. But at the same time, it could potentially be a trap. "You first, maggot!" The Death Trooper gruffly replied, "One step further, you'll 'ave a dozen blaster bolts through the skull." He then paused, he could not be entirely antagonistic with the newcomer. "So if you're gonna move forward, do it nice, and slow," He paused again, "I bet you saw the little lizards on the way in."

Twigg and himself had left quite a mess. The noxious VX gas grenades, outlawed by use in the First Order, proved quite effective in a different sphere. Corpses still twitched, even in the icy catacomb, the lizards coated by a thin sheen of their own innards. Others, blasted apart by heavy ordinance. All, now dead. For now. "I 'ave no qualms blastin' 'em, and I reckon we may 'ave ourselves a little welcoming party before too long. Meaning you, need me, I need you. And we both need to act like professionals, savvy?"

Rexus then slowly lowered his rifle, "Alright, come along now."

[member="Jared Starchaser"]

 

[Jared Starchaser]

The Jedi trainee was working his way through to where this being was, calling out felt almost foolish. He was a contractor, he knew what he was doing. But this was more… out of his realm. A temple? Of some sorts. Who knew what was here. The reply that came back was not something he was expecting. Maggot? “Slow, I can do.” The cylinder of his lightsaber still in hand, the pistol back in its holster. “Yeah, I saw them. What… what happened?”

More obvious than he thought, but he still felt it would be help to get an explanation, a feel of the person he was now staring down the barrel of. “I can act professional, sure. Names Jared… Topol. Out of Corellia. Here hunting… ruins, archeology and all.” A shotty lie, but it wasn’t too far of a stretch.

“Who do you expect as a welcome party?” He had his hand going to his pistol again. Jared was a good deal more versed than others suspected. Not a bad thing for him, and hopefully would surprise anyone who came against him, or thought to double-cross.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Who the hell do you expect?" The Death Trooper growled, ignoring the old "Them lizards," He glowered, "Ssi-Ruuk." He spat at the reference to their name and shook his head. "Me and my associate," He gestured to the wall of ice behind him with his head. "Must've tripped an intruder alarm, and got jumped. They probably thought us scavs, but we went and merked about half a platoon right 'bout now." He laughed a little at that, but then was bought back to reality by the fact that his arm was in searing pain, pinned beneath a wall of ice.
"So Jared," The Death Trooper began, bracing himself against the pain, "I'm in something of a predicament right about now," He nodded his head at the wall of ice, "I'm stuck here, arm's pinned. And you're going to need an extra gun if these pricks send in some more goons."

"So would you mind giving a fella a hand?"

[member="Jared Starchaser"]

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Being a Jedi was important to the House of Starchaser. An old Jedi family from Corellia for years. Jared and his sister Kaia were the two current incarnations of that, one being a Warden, and Jared being the wanderer that he was. His father had found his way back to the call of the Jedi, and Jared was capable of accessing the holocron he had been given, to accomplish the task that Coren could only assist with. That was what brought Jared to this ice ball, full of tauntauns, wampas, and visions from one ancient fallen Jedi Master. What he had not suspected was that he was going to encounter anyone here.

Least of all a… stormtrooper?

He’d been seeing the reports from the Coalition and Alliance about the Ssi-Ruuk, had seen the reports about them against the First Order. Nasty buggers, honestly. “Definitely holding yourselves together, Ruuk don’t make for easy prey.” Especially anywhere that had an inkling of civilian life, but out here? When they didn’t have a purpose? Even worse. The only thing that was in Jared’s favor.

“Ain’t about to let you lay like that, but what brings you here?” He walked forward, his lightsaber, still dark in his hand. Stepping forward, the student of the Force, the Knight, ignited the blade as Rexus answered. “Hold still.”

[member="Rexus Wenck"]