You New Here?

[Revenchent]

Rikatal was a small settlement about a hundred miles north of the Tal'verda capital city of Kurs'taylir. It was little more than two cantinas, a grocery store, and a few rickety homes built along a constantly-swept street of asphalt. The people here were hardy, living off the land rather than relying on the conveniences many of the Mando'ade had come to appreciate. Unfortunately, they could not remain so for long.

Twelve construction-speeders hovered around massive sites on either side of the tiny village. Hundreds of workers, both organics and droids, hammered away at what would soon be an enormous wall of durasteel. Six turbolasers were to be fastened along the tops of the walls when construction ended.

A few meters out from the homes lay what would soon be the starport, barracks, armory, and various other smaller buildings serving a unique purpose to the Tal'verda military. The clan and its smaller allies were mobilizing. The Tal'verda house was host to its own private army, and it was preparing for war.

Calico whistled proudly as he watched one of the cranes heft a massive crate of supplies. Their industrial might was a significant part of his plan for the future. If the Tal'verda were not entirely ready for war on their lands, they would not succeed in their future endeavors. That was why Cal had come here: to oversee construction, and more importantly, to forget about those he had left behind.

A wife. A child. All abandoned for the cause. He hadn't been a good father.

Grumbling a curse under his breath, the aging warrior made his way into the cantina. It was a quiet place. Only a handful of people were within. A group had gathered around the holovision watching the news. The reporter was going on about some kind of atrocity on Roche.

"Unfortunate, that." The soldier grumbled. Breathing a quiet sigh, he settled into one of the corner seats, and folded his arms over his chest. He wasn't the boy he used to be. Walking twelve miles half-kit wasn't a cakewalk anymore.

Galaar would have had my shebs for this. So lazy.

Cal snickered at the thought and smoothed out his long black coat. It barely covered the phrik breastplate he wore beneath. He didn't travel in full kit these days. Too damn unnecessary.

With visible boredom, he turned his hazy blue eyes over toward the window, finding himself content to simply watch the snow fall. A group of travelers was coming into town. Some of them were new settlers. It would do well to greet them when he arrived. Hopefully they liked the snow.

 

[Melina Tervho]

Melina had fallen asleep on the transport north. She wasn't sure what she was going to find in Rikatal, but then again everything about this trip had been a surprise to her.

After Taung's death, she had done as he had asked, though it had taken her a while to get around to it. She had informed his family immediately of course, but there was a task to be completed as well and she just couldn't bring herself to face that yet. There was a small safe he kept among his things that was to go to his family in Keldabe. Melina put it off almost a year but it was time to stop living with the grief and pain. She had booked the trip and sold off their things.

The H'rel clan was welcoming to her but she could sense something amiss with them. Apparently Taung hadn't been quite forthcoming about his past and they were hesitant to say anything more. "What good would it do?" she heard them whispering. However, she had the safe and that was all that mattered. His will, a few trinkets and an envelope with her name on it. The trinkets went to his nephews, the control of his business interests to his family, but the envelope was a shocker.

There was a letter and a deed. Well, note really. Taung was not a man of poetic sentiments. It simply reminded her that he loved her and that he had purchased a piece of land north of Keldabe in the snowy mountainous regions that were home to clan Tal'verda. He had hoped to build them a home there where they could have the family they talked about.

Mel had thanked the H'rel's for their hospitality but it had been a tad uncomfortable with them. She needed to get alone to think. Might as well check out the place where Taung had picked out a dream for them.

The slowing of the transport jostled the passengers and Mel awoke looking out over the snow. The thick white flakes drifted down from the sky in a lazy fashion, blanketing the world in pristine white and muted sound. Mel had bought snow gear for the trip, but she wore no beskar'gam, no armor at all. She had been away from her people too long. She did not live like one them outside their borders. She spoke the language, but past that she was thoroughly ...other.

The small town looked like it was in the middle of an expansion but the trappings of war were what she could easily identify as she got off the transport outside a cantina. Her pack thrown over her shoulder, she looked around with pale ice blue eyes from under the fur lined hood. The snow was coming down enough that past the illuminated streets, there wasn't much else visible. The landscape of the snowy north would have to wait until the storm passed.

She headed into the cantina, stamping the snow from her boots and looking around at the place. It seemed quiet, not many people around. Stepping over to the bar, she stopped in front of a bartender, her pale cheeks bright pink from walking in from the cold.

"A mug of shig? Hot if ya got it."

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

A heavy sigh fell from the Chieftain's lips. Decisions were set heavy upon his heart as of late; decisions that he could not afford to ignore. Part of the reasoning behind his visit to Rikital was to asses the situation, and partly to find some semblance of peace. The elders of his clan jabbered on about the political turbulence that had shaken the Mandalorian holdings for years now. The last Mandalore had disappeared. The Alore Council was erected in place of another ruler. While things were run similarly to when there was a Mandalore; there was no strong hand' no final say. It was causing problems.

This would have been of little issue to Calico, had he not been Chieftain. He was content to sit on his laurels and enjoy quiet years in Kurs'taylir with his son, and hopefully, his daughter. Gods knew she needed him around. Unfortunately, politics cared little for one's personal life. When the Tal'verda spoke of a new Mandalore, his was a name that was often thrown into the bag of candidates. Most of it was simply clan pride; the reasoning to it being that Cal had survived far more than most of the younger upstarts, and had the years to know which path to take.

Trying to figure out whether he agreed with his supporters was starting to make his head hurt. Grumbling a curse under his breath, the large man hefted himself up from the corner of the room and strolled over to the bar. It was a dingy little spot, though he had come to love the personal touch of having the bartender know your face.

"Water, for the moment."

He flashed the man behind the counter a thin smile and turned his attention toward the only other person drinking. It was a woman, and one he had never seen in Rikital before. One of the new colonists, perhaps? Blue eyes narrowed down at the stranger, and he spoke in a low drawl, though not unkindly.

"Welcome to Rikital. Haven't seen you around here in the past." He gave the bartender a thankful nod as a glass was slid his way. "It's a small community. Don't get many travelers anymore. People generally head toward Kurs'taylir or Keldabe." He offered a warm smile - that of a man who had lived far too long to go around wasting his time being bitter. Everyone had their issues; himself especially, but he always chose to adopt the friendly approach. Life was easier that way.

"I'm Cal."

 

[Melina Tervho]

"Mel."

There were some lessons from your past life you can never really leave behind, no matter what you do or where you go. Mel was very aware of her surroundings, at all times and although there was an ease in her features, she was taking note of everything in the room. Flow of traffic, egress points, obstacles, and of course the occupants of the place; all marked and assessed in the way she would if this were an assignment, and not a random cantina she had happened to walk into in a town her husband had been to at least once in the past.

"Just arrived from Keldabe. This is my first trip up, looking over a piece of property to see what I can do with it."

She looked young, but the ice hanging from the eaves of the buildings in the little town were certainly only second to the cold hardness in her gaze. She let a smile tug the corner of her lips as she took a sip of the mug of shig, the tang of the behot enough to help clear her sinuses, as they had started to run going between the intense cold outside and the warm interior of the little bar.

She set the mug back down, her fingers curled around the warm mug, her gloves sitting next to her on the bartop as she looked over to Cal.

"You the welcome wagon?"

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

Cal missed alcohol. His body could barely take it these days, and even then only in careful moderation. It was something to do with his liver, he knew, and he had the credits to solve the problem. Just didn't have the time to waste fixing himself up. He stared down at the half-full glass of water longingly; pretending it was a glass of Balmoraan Bluesky for but a moment. Gods, how he missed the drink.

"A pleasure, Mel," he set the glass on the table, "S'pose I am. The folks who live here are generally the quiet sort. People slip in and out of town without much notice." He huffed a quiet noise of amusement and slid a credit chip along the counter.

His gaze fell to meet hers. Strong, young though clearly in a similar stage of life as himself. A pretty face didn't do much for him these days. His wife had been pretty - gorgeous, and half the galaxy knew how well that had turned out. It was his own fault really. The children of Mandalore should never take up with the Echani.

"I'm checking out the town. Seeing who's in and who's out. Making sure the contractors are doing their job." He shook his head. "They're aruetiise mostly. Offworld workers we brought in. Most of them do the job well, and we pay them handsomely for it. Have had a few problems here and there, though."

Cal might have been a handsome man in his younger days. Unfortunately, the ravages of war and the stress of leadership had changed that. He was a rugged man, a few inches over six feet in height, and filled his frame well. He might not have been able to go around charming young ladies into joining his cause like he used to, but the charisma was still there,

"So?" He asked over the rim of his glass. "How's the welcome wagon doing?"

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

"Aruetiise," she mumbled looking out the window, as if she expected to see the ones he had mentioned. The snows were camouflaging everything past the streetlights, and they cast halos of orange on the white snows.

That was exactly what she felt like here. Here, Keldabe, anywhere that wasn't their home on the last day she had kissed him goodbye and watched him walk out the door. There was no fit, anywhere she went. Her family were strangers now, although they had always respected her choices, that was their official word. Unofficially, they did not take kindly to her shunning their way of life. She may be from Concord Dawn, but she had shed that life when she shed the armor.

She considered this a moment as she lifted the mug, her eyes on the amber colored liquid steaming in her face.

"Well, don't judge us aruetii too harshly."

She figured she could venture a small self deprecating jab at herself through his congeniality. She forced the melancholy dancing on the edge of her periphery back as she took breath, a sigh, and grinned softly as she looked up at the taller man. In her bootheels, she was about 5'7" tall, and slender though the bulky coat was hiding her under its thick padding.

"You're doing alright, I reckon. I take it then you don't live here either. What do you do, Cal? If you don't mind me asking."

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

Don't judge us Aruetii too harshly.

Shab.

Cal set the glass on the table and shook his head. He generally assumed most folks on Mandalore were Mando'ade. In Kurs'taylir, that assumption was almost always correct. Strangers didn't visit the city much. The only reason any influx of them were here was because of the construction. Nonetheless, Cal bowed his head in a form of silent apology.

"Sorry. I don't mean it as an insult. Just assumed..." He waved his hand toward her, then the people gathered around the holovision. Assuming. It tended to be the source of most of his problems these days. "I meant no offense," he blustered, lips pressed into a thin line. A hint of embarrassment just barely laced his words. He was a grown man, had fathered children and married a nice girl, but things were different, and he was out of his element once again.

"I, eh, I do a bit of work here and there. Make sure the clan is in order. Take care of the folks in these lands who need help." The easy smile returned. "My home is in Kurs'taylir. I helped build the place - this one too."

Another pause.

"Just getting by these days, honestly. The political atmosphere back home is heavy. Sometimes you just have to get away from it all. This recent battle with the Republic and the loss of Mandalore-...well, no one is as relaxed as they used to be."

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

She waved his apologies away, a soft smile on her face.

"It's alright, none taken. I'm from Concord Dawn originally, but I haven't been among our people in 22 years now. My father calls me aruetii, my mother is still hopeful that I will follow my brothers."

She heaved a sigh, with a chuckle as she nodded to him. It was true that not a lot of people would go out of their way to help anyone else. It was one of the things that had attracted her to Taung and ultimately why she betrayed her organization to keep him alive. His heart was bigger than the stars it seemed, there was room in it for the woman sent to kill him. She had to carry on that legacy. Somehow.

"You a contractor then?" He built these towns, he took care of people. It was slowly starting to fall into place. "Or you work for the clan leader?"

Another drink of her shig and she was starting to see the bottom of the mug. She contemplated another and motioned for a refill to the bartender. She almost ordered a shot of tihaar in it, but her companion was drinking water, she would keep it civilized too.

"The politics aren't good anywhere, here is no exception. There is no relaxation in the face of war."

Her voice was a little harder on the last line, the years of being an instrument on the front lines of that war had soured her on things. There were two kinds of people; innocents and targets. The innocents would live their lives never knowing the games that the targets would play with their lives. It had disgusted Mel. The destruction of the Sith and Jedi across the stars seemed a trillion miles away in the quiet little town on the edge of nowhere.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

Oddly enough, Cal had never visited Concord Dawn. For a planet that had such significance to the Mandalorian people, one might think he would have spent some time to see it. There had never really been a reason to go, and Cal wasn't the type for sightseeing these days. He was always busy; always keeping up with the hustle and bustle of keeping his house in order. He barely had enough time to sleep at night, let alone go out exploring whole worlds.

"You could say that." He huffed a quiet laugh. She was getting there. "I just help here and there. Nothing big."

The glass emptied. The bartender moved to refill it, but Cal held up a hand. He didn't intend on staying long. Still, it seemed the raven haired woman was one of the colonists he'd come to meet. Perhaps it would be wise to stay awhile?

"The war never ends. I fought in the Confederate wars. That's why my face is, well, like this." He spoke with good humor as he motioned toward the marring of his flesh, though there was a heaviness to it as well. He had lost his brother in that war, and he truly had never recovered. Even today, Galaar's death had a heavy effect on him.

A commotion outside drew his attention for the moment. The snowfall was heavy, and the etching of night made discerning anything other than vague shapes through the storm a challenge, but Cal could scantly hear the sound of metal crashing against metal.

Then a blaster went off. Then another, and another.

"What in Corellia's Nine Hells?" The chieftain's brow furrowed as he pushed off the counter. Those within the cantina tensed. Some reached for weapons. Others paid the commotion no mind. Blaster fire was relatively common out here. The villagers often had to fend off the massive dire wolves that came out to hunt at night.

But the great beasts scarcely came out this far anymore. Something was off.

"I'm going to go check that out. Probably an animal attack - they happen out here at times. We're erecting the walls to keep them out."

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

"The Hundred Worlds War, that's what we called it on Lianna. This Sith thing is spilling over and everyone is jumpy. Too many planets, too many dead."

Her mug was raised to her lips to drink her fresh shig when the loud sound of a crash broke through the bar. Mel's hand immediately dove into her coat to the shoulder harness and holster, her fingers curling around a DC-17 handle. She relaxed a bit when she realized that the noise was outside but if it was that loud through the snow, then it must really have been a ruckus.

She wasn't sure that what she heard was an animal attack. The blasters, the yelling, the sound of the crash. There was something else going on. She left her pack on the chair next to her, but grabbed her gloves as she stood up.

"I'll go with you. Could use the walk."

She slipped her hands back into the gloves and headed out of the door into the storm. The flakes caught around the fur edging the hood, but her eyes were scanning the horizon. She wasn't sure where the sound had come from, but she followed him paying attention to the street, the people peeking out and listening through the dampened space for the sound of animals or a fight.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

"That's a pretty apt name, I gotta say."

Cal mumbled as he made his way out the doors. If she wished to follow him, he wasn't going to be the one to tell her no. He had come lightly armed for this trip; not thinking Rikital to be a particularly dangerous place. He had the old Verpine Shattergun that Galaar had given to him, at the very least. His hand drifted over the familiar shape of its grip. Good, the weapon was still there.

The wind was howling as he stepped out into the storm. He had underestimated just how harrowing the weather here could be - what had started as a light snowfall had evolved into a full fledged blizzard. Cursing the whole way, Cal trudged through snow that rose up to just above his ankles toward the commotion. A few steps later and he could make out humanoid figures standing around one of the construction speeders. The speeder was overturned, and wisps of black smoke curled up from its metal carapace.

"Shab."

Cal shifted his gaze to Mel for a moment to make sure she was nearby, and strode up to the men. Two he recognized: offworlders from the core worlds. The other two were strangers clad in beskar'gam. They each sported carbines and pointed them at the workers.

The chieftain's gaze flickered down to a smoking corpse in the snow. His hand fell to the Verp.

"Evening boys. What's going on here?"

One of the armored men tilted his head toward Cal. "Just passing through. This di'kut took shots at us. Sent our speeder tumbling."

The worker shook his head. "He shot Jan! You've seen the speeder - it's ours!"

Cal's gaze shifted toward the two armored men. He noticed something familiar on their helmets, a symbol of some sort...

Deathwatch.

The Verpine whirred as it came to life. The soldiers turned on Calico and started firing. The workers hurried to cover. All Cal heard was the all-too-familiar fwump of the Verpine as it expelled shells designed to rip through Beskar like paper at the strangers.

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

The scene looked bad when they walked up, Mel's hand slipping in her coat and pulling the DC-17 out but hidden by the long sleeve of her coat. Looking over everything, she didn't like the explanation they were getting and the pair of workers seemed far too shaken up to have started the mess. Mel's instincts kept her focused on the beskar clad men with the blasters drawn on what were essentially unarmed men.

When Cal went for his hip, Mel's hand was already up and bolts of green slammed into the chest pieces of the other Mandos. She had fired off several shots, the aruetiise ducking for cover as she advanced. One of the shots caught Mel's arm, causing her to howl in pain as she took a knee behind the wrecked speeder for cover. It wasn't bad, but the scorched hole in her coat pissed her off. She popped up and fired again at their side where the plates didn't cover.

Between the verpine and her DC, the pair of aggressors was put down quickly and Mel stood from behind the speeder, her blaster in her left hand as she looked down at the bodies.

"Friends of yours?"

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

Cal didn't enjoy getting into firefights in cibilized places. It didn't bode well for morale, and cleaning up the corpses was always a timely chore. When the first warrior fell, a bolt had caught him square in the chest. Such was the price of stupidity - - he had drawn withut making any mind for cover, after all. The blast had sent him reeling back into the snow. Fortunately, his breastplate saved him from anything other than some rather serious bruising. Th piece itself was, however, ruined.

He took a moment to let the air back into his lungs and struggled up to his feet. He used to jump up relatively quickly when he was knocked down like this. Now his knees creaked and his legs protested at the motion. Age was creeping up on him. Shaking his head, Cal rose up to his full height, eyeing the second man that Mel had dropped.

The girl was a good shot.

"Yeah. We were close," he sighed, "We've been having trouble with Deathwatch on the fringes of our territory. A few have found purchase on Mandalore. It was only a matter of time until we had to deal with them here."

He strode up to one of the corpses, and nudged a head with the tip of his boot. "See the symbol? I figure they were a scouting party. Probably coming in to steal some of our speeders. They don't have much by the way of funding. Most of what they use is stolen." Cal sneered at the still-warm corpse and wheeled about toward Mel.

He did his best to hide his grimace. Being shot, no matter how much steel you put between yourself and the projectile, never felt good. Nothing was broken, but his chest hurt like all nine of Corellia's fabled Hells. "Y'know, you handle yourself pretty well," he cracked a mischievous grin as he knelt down to search the bodies, " - for a woman who calls herself aruetii."

A moment's searching revealed little save for the HUD data. That HUD data, however, dropped a clue; recorded data of the two warriors' previous locations on Mandalore within the past twenty-four hours. Such maps were common, and it seemed these boys hadn't thought to wipe their records - - or hadn't felt they needed to.

"I've got a map. Seems they spent a bit of time about twenty klicks east. That's barren territory. Nothing there but wild animals." He frowned. "I'm gonna have to head that way."

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

Mel held her right arm where the blaster bolt singed her, the DC held loosely in her left hand. Deathwatch was something that she had heard of when she was going to school as a child, a history lesson of the transgressions of the past. To see them walking around and taking innocents without need boiled her blood.

She sneaked a look at her arm and winced. It was going to leave a mark but there was little she could do about it.

She grinned a little, a sad sigh pushing a cloud of steam in front of her face.

"Major Melina Tervho, Liannan Army. Retired."

She glanced back to the cantina where the rest of her things were, a set to her jaw. He was going to go after them, he was going to need backup.

"Let me get patched up and grab my gear. I'll go with you."

She turned and head back to the cantina, trudging through the snow. The bartender had a small emergency kit and with a bacta patch on her arm, she felt a little better. She was reloading her pistol and switching to her hip belt, stuffing the shoulder harness back into her duffle. No armor, no real gear except her weapons. This might get ugly. She almost wished she had Nola with her but the verpine would not handle this cold or the jostling well. Mel slung her E-11 modified rifle over her shoulder and cocked her head over at the older man.

She had a sneaking suspicion that the man wasn't being completely honest with her. For starters, there was the way everyone else acted around him. When he gave orders, they were followed quickly with no complaints. The people looked at him with respect and admiration. She had seem that look. She kept her lips buttoned though. If he wanted to be cagey about himself, she really had no room to talk. She wasn't exactly being forthcoming either.

"Alright, boss. Lead the way."

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

"Your call, Major." Cal snickered as she made her way back to the cantina. He didn't follow. Instead, he secured the speeder he had flown in on, and allowed himself to enjoy the momentary warmth of the closed canopy. The snowstorm was picking up, and he really should have worn a coat with some kind of hood. Fighting in this kind of weather was not going to be a pleasant experience.

Figured you were more than another farmer Mel.

The location that the two warriors had frequented was a short ways about; about a five minute flight. That wouldn't give whoever hopefully remained much time to scuttle their operation once they realized their people weren't coming back. It would have been easier to just send an armed patrol to wipe them out, but Cal didn't want this getting out. People knew Death Watch was back. They did not need to know that Death Watch had found its way back onto Mandalore.

The speeder door hissed open for Mel as she approached.

"I like the enthusiasm," he mused, "I don't want this getting out. People are worried enough about Death Watch as is. They don't need to know that it's managed to find its way onto Mandalore. The kids won't sleep at night."

I'm certainly not.

The speeder gave a low whir as it came to life. It was an expensive model, though its purpose was not luxury. It was built to survive the powerful storms that often swept through the Tal'verda holdings, and its relatively quiet engines allowed for some semblance of stealth. At the very least, they wouldn't be shot out of the sky before they could chance a landing.

"My wife always talked about this kind of thing. About a group of discontented Mandos cropping up to cause problems for the rest of us. Said it was inevitable." He sighed. "Probably should've listened to her before she left. Should have had some kind of contingency in place."

Cal chuckled bitterly.

"You didn't have to come Mel," he passed her a momentary glance before shifting his gaze back to the skies, "Thanks."

The pain in his chest was slowly starting to ebb away. At forty one years, Cal really wasn't very old, but he certainly felt it. His body showed it. The speeder approached the treeline of the forest the two warrior had frequented. As he prepared to land, he reminded himself to see a doctor about a treatment for...well, everything.

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

She stowed the rifle in the back of the speeder and slid into the seat, fastening the harness. She nodded to him as the speeder took off into the growing darkness and blinding snow.

"I've dealt with a lot of problems. This kinda thing seems like something that people would want to keep quiet. Killing innocents is never the way to prove your side is right or fair. No one wants to know there are roving gangs of madmen who will kill you for not being Mando enough."

The snow whizzed past the window, as she felt the rush of adrenaline and the pounding of her heart in her ears. She shed the overcoat, a bright lime green affair, revealing a closely fit thermal jacket in black. She had it zipped up all the way up her mock turtleneck and had extra canisters of tibanna for her DC-17's in pockets on the sides and arms. She had checked her gear before walking out of the cantina, she knew she was prepared but this was just another unexpected turn on this trip.

She looked over at him when he mentioned his wife, her gaze playing over the side of his face. The scars, the care worn part of him visible for all to see. There was a ghost of a smile that floated over her features a moment.

"Wives always worry the men will come home. There's always something out there to take them. Deathwatch. Sith." She looked back out to the growing treeline. "I'm sorry she left."

She hadn't really known what else to say. She felt strangely uncomfortable and vulnerable at the same time. Not really the mindset she wanted to be walking into a hostile situation with. She smiled back at him though when he thanked her.

"I came up here to look over the place where I was supposed to make my home. It wouldn't be right of me to turn a blind eye to this mess, not so close to my doorstep."

The speeder landed and she slid out of the seat. The snows had let up out here, although the skies were still overcast. She looked to him to see if he had a plan for how they wanted to proceed.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

She was a smart woman. He could admire that. She had said that she gave up the life, though he was beginning to believe otherwise. You could walk away from the culture, from you family, all you knew, but you couldn't beat the spirit out of yourself. Though he disdained the fact, Cal had had to grudgingly admit that even the Death Watch had that magic, to some degree.

"It's alright. Some things aren't meant to work out."

He flashed her the best smile he could manage, though it did little to cut the momentary tension. He'd made things uncomfortable; that much he could pick up on. He said nothing more until the speeder came to rest at the edge of the forest, sliding out of the cockpit with his Verp in hand.

"Aren't you the modern day heroine? Maybe we'll make you the town's sheriff." He snickered as the speeder's engines whirred down. Their approach was masked well by the snowfall, but it was entirely possible they had been detected by other means. Cal checked his datapad. They were relatively close to the supposed Death Watch site.

"We'll go quiet from here. I'd like to take one alive if we can, but I don't want to chance things. So long as the threat is taken care of, this little adventure will be a success."

Drawing himself up to his full height, Cal stalked as carefully as a man could through a foot of snow. There was a notable distance between the speeder and the marked position, and for good reason. The trees made a landing difficult, and Cal had no desire for their new friends to hear them coming. No point in ruining the surprise party.

A fire blazed up ahead. Cal pulled himself up behind one of the many trees, his fingers gripping the cold iron of the Verpine with both hands. He could just barely make out three humanoid shapes.

"I can make out three. You?"

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

She nodded her acknowledgment to taking someone alive. Information would be invaluable to trying to get ahead of the gaining a foothold in these far regions. She shook her head at the sheriff joke, making sure all her weapons were secure.

"I don't know if I want that job. I've been here an hour and I've been in a gunfight already."

Mel had followed along behind Cal, until he had ducked behind a tree. Her E-11 was pulled down off her shoulder as she took a knee, and scoped in on the small gathering.

"Three confirmed. I can drop two from here. On your go."

She eased the rifle safety off, her breathing steady and rhythmic and her crosshairs right on the exposed portion of the chest on the right one sitting around the fire. She would love to have Nola for this, but the verpine was finicky. She was sitting safe in her case in a locker back in Keldabe. It was a whim that made Mel pack her rifle to begin with. Now though, she was glad to have something to lend a hand with. She felt useful for the first time in a long time.

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]

 

[Revenchent]

"That's why you need the job. Someone's gotta bring some order to this place." He flashed her a devilish smirk, though it quickly faded as he grew closer to the camp.

To her latter statement, Cal simply nodded in affirmation. Though they were not close enough to be heard with idle whispers, he still felt the need to hold his tongue. Better to not take any chances, no matter how minuscule they might be. He simply motioned toward the trio, and started off through the snow. For once, he was happy to be out of his kit. He didn't make much noise, and his visage was shrouded by the underbrush and soft snowfall. It took a bit longer than he would have liked to reach the camp; silence required him to be careful rather than quick after all.

He leaned back up against a tree, his Verp ready. He couldn't have been much help if he'd remained by Mel's side. The shattergun was only effective at so many meters. This way, Mel could take out her two targets, and Cal could spring out and mop up the third before he had the chance to fire back. That was the idea anyway.

His gaze shifted to the men. One was stoking the fire, clad in full beskar'gam save for his helmet. The other two wore civilian clothing, though all three were armed with sidearms. They would need to do this right the first time, or things could get messy.

Cal turned back to look at Mel. Kark, he should have given the woman a comlink. He would just have to trust her, though he found that to be an oddly easy feat. Drawing in a deep breath to center himself, Cal held up a hand and flashed her a thumbs up. It was the best he could do for a signal.

[member="Melina Tervho"]

 

[Melina Tervho]

There wasn't much light out tonight, but the fire was lighting up her targets enough. The poor bastards wouldn't know what hit them. She kept an eye on Cal as he crept forward, and when the signal was given, there were two shots separated by a few seconds as she sighted and dropped the two unarmored targets. Her shots were true but she didn't bother sticking around to check her work in the scope. Slinging the rifle back over her shoulder, she drew both her DC's and took off running after him. She kept low to the ground as Cal made his push forward into the ring of light around the fire.

When she was in range she could see the burns on the dead conspirators, one blaster trained on the third target and the other roving as she verified that the other two were actually down.

She wouldn't need to tell him now that this wasn't her first rodeo, the weight of her past experiences sat around her shoulders like a pall. She supposed it wasn't quite a bad thing. If she decided to settle on the piece of land that Taung had bought for them, he would know at least there was someone with decent weapons skills and combat experience up in these north reaches. However, it was remote. And it might be a little too remote for her to live here alone.

These were decisions and things to be considered later, in the light of day, after the Deathwatch had been put down like the dogs they were.

"Clear."

[member="Calico Tal'verda"]