Character
Approved Planet - Dromund Kaas [Canon]
Tags: Open
Avarice cruised through the rolling tundras of Asha, the speeder bike skimming low over frost-burned grasses and hard-packed snow as he investigated the landscape at large, searching for the perfect place to bury the first foothold of something far greater. The speeder's steady hum drowned out the farther edges of his thoughts, leaving only the wind, the engine, and the pale sweep of land opening before him in slow.
The tundra rose and fell in long white banks beneath a bruised sky, broken in places by black stone, thorny brush, and the hunched silhouettes of wind-stripped trees. Far ahead, a line of jagged ridges cut across the horizon like the remains of some ancient crown half-buried beneath ice. Avarice eased the speeder bike higher along a sloping drift, his gaze moving over every crease in the land: the narrow valleys, the blind approaches, the places where snow gathered too deeply, the places where rock broke through and offered anchor.
Only when the tundra began to break apart into sharper country did something useful reveal itself. A dark cleft opened between two basalt shoulders, half-hidden by leaning pines and curtains of windblown snow. Beyond it, the land dropped into a shallow basin ringed by stone, with steam rising in pale veils from vents along the lower rocks. The warmth had kept the snow thin there, exposing black earth and iron-colored stone beneath. From above, the basin looked like little more than a shadow in the ridgeline; from the ground, it promised shelter, concealment, and a dozen cruel advantages. Avarice guided the speeder down that way.
The bike settled with a soft hiss of repulsors, snow pushing outward in a low, powdery breath around the landing struts. For a moment, he remained seated, gloved hands resting on the controls, listening as the engine wound down beneath him. The sudden quiet came heavy... Only the wind dragging itself over stone and the faint, subterranean sigh of heat beneath the earth was what could be heard. Then he swung one leg over and disembarked.
His boots sank lightly into the crusted snow as he stepped away from the speeder, cloak catching at his legs in the cold. Places like this deserved to be read properly. A careless eye saw wilderness; a sharper one saw cover, access, supply routes, kill corridors, places for hidden sensors, buried caches, shielded shelters, landing lights that could be masked beneath snow and stone.
Avarice walked toward the mouth of the basin, one hand brushing over the black rock as he passed. The stone was warmer than it had any right to be.... Interesting.
He climbed a short rise and looked down into the hollow below. The basin opened wider than it had appeared from a distance, broad enough to swallow prefabricated structures, storage bays, perhaps even a concealed hangar if the rock were cut correctly. The ridges around it stood tall enough to break the worst of the wind and jagged enough to confuse a casual scan. The pines along the upper edges leaned inward, their dark boughs heavy with snow, cloaking the place in a natural veil.
A slow smile touched Avarice's mouth.
Yes… this would do.