Daylight was coming fast on the horizon. The hunting barge pushed through the thick forest, led by a half dozen Imperium troopers swinging forest clearing beamsaws. Large swaths of the Murn jungle fell to either side, and the vessel kept moving. The shadow of a shuttlecraft spilled across the observation deck, its sweep lights crossing over the jungle, helping in the search for Juggermari. Ori Paak held a hand to shade his eyes, following the ship as its engine crackled.
Dreng Rankor had linked the shuttle’s sensors with the barge, transmitting data back and forth, building a shared three-dimensional map of the region. Sensitivity on the scans had been pushed up just enough to send back information on any humanoid lifeforms in the area. Paak walked over to the holo-table where Werda stood, his tongue sticking out at the corner of his bearded mouth.
“Any progress?” Paak droned; he could feel the Kwill he’d snuck aboard in his luggage finally hitting his bloodstream. Eyelids weighed heavy now and the stress of the earlier visit from the Skygge dissolved. A narcotic haze grin spread across his pale face.
Werda didn’t look up at him, eyes fixated on the map. “What a blessing,” he remarked. “These aerial scans are just what we needed. We’re going to find it. We’re going to find their filthy little nest.”
Moments later, Paak noticed something emerging to the west, a cluster of humanoids in the trees. Werda saw it, too, and started hooting & cackling. He grabbed the comm stick and told the barge pilot to put in a new pair of coordinates. Paak felt the vessel shift underneath him, pivoting 45 degrees and heading in this new direction. The shuttle, containing Dreng Rankor, did not follow suit.
Paak watched as it made a B-line slightly to the south of the cluster on the map. He looked back at the topography glowing in geometric green grid lines on the table. The shuttle was moving towards a nearby valley. Paak couldn’t understand why. Perhaps, from Dreng Rankor’s perspective, high in the sky, he could see something those in the barge couldn’t.
Latia Kateen brings Khol, V-32, and Mash to her quarters inside one of the towering Saccdium trees that make up Osseus. Despite the rustic exterior, Khol was surprised to see how much technology had been recovered from the Imperium occupation and repurposed. The elder Juggermari slid the datastick into a console. Moments later, a blue wire mesh star map appeared on a monitor. Kateen slid her large grey digits across a touchpad and rotated the map.
“Bless the gods,” she whispered. Khol noted that Kateen did not look relieved, but a shadow came over her. She’d found a respite she’d hoped might not get here so soon, perhaps?
“You can use this?” Khol asked.
Kateen nodded. “And as soon as possible. We have picked up chatter that the Imperium wants to return with more aggression and strip mine our world. Some want to stay, and I feel that. Yet, I can’t bear seeing more of our young ones perish.” She looks to Mash, who hasn’t said a peep since the Juggermari leader introduced herself. “This has always been our home, but it may be time to leave. I want these children to experience peace before they pass after long, long lives.”
There was a silence in the apartment. Khol just thought about how much of her young life had been filled with fighting & pain & struggle. Was there a place out there where you could have peace? This Juggermari woman seemed to believe so.
“When will you depart?” V-32 spoke up. Kateen thought this over and replied, “As soon as we are able. As you noticed in Shan, the outlying villages are nearly empty. They’ve been migrating here to Osseus. Now that we have the map, we can navigate the Imperium border control. “
An alarm sounded on one of the consoles. Kateen flipped a switch and spoke into an attached microphone.
“Kateen here. Over.”
A response from a gruff Juggermari came back in return. An alarmed trumpet and then, “A craft is cutting its way through the jungle, on a course to intercept Osseus in about thirty minutes. Over.”
Without a second thought. “Defensive positions. Alert bond commanders. Over.”
Turning to Khol, she says, “We may have to leave sooner than I wanted.”
Khol, V-32, and Mash follow Kateen onto a wide branch walkway. All throughout the canopy city of Osseus, there is movement. Mounted energy weapons emerge from their concealment in the trees. Many Juggermari are putting on armor made from salvage, checking surplus weapons to ensure they are in fighting condition. Sooner than Khol would like, she hears the crashing of branches and the jungle’s destruction rolling towards them all.
Khol notices a series of branches that create narrower walkways, like an urban alley. She motions to V-32, and then make their way down this spiral. Khol hopes to find a way to ambush the attackers from behind and create some chaos where they don’t know where to aim. She descends to the ground just in time, climbing down a loose vine. The hunting barge rumbles through the freshly cleared patch of vegetation.
The barge’s mounted ion cannon unloads on Osseus, attempting to disrupt their electronic systems. They have yet to notice Khol, but she and V-32 don’t have much time to wait. They clamber onto the back of the barge, avoiding the steering vane as it shifts from side to side. Khol grabs a frag grenade from her belt, chucks it into the thrust exhaust port, and keeps climbing, working her way to an open viewing hatch to slide inside.
The grenade explodes, and the barge shudders, its maglev system giving out, the back dropping into the ground and digging out a trench as the front drags it forward. It takes a firm grip, but Khol & V-32 hold on and slip through the open viewport.
Are Khol & V-32 spotted as soon as they board the barge? Odds: Likely.
[Ask the Oracle: Yes]
A part of the flight crew is rushing down the hallway and stops in his tracks, seeing the interlopers. He pulls out his energy pistol.
Khol’s pistol fails to fire, and it sends her and V-32 tumbling into a side room to avoid the crew member’s shots. It’s only a matter of time before more get down here, and they become pinned in.
Khol stays pinned down, knowing the barge and its crew will be clashing with the Juggermari at any moment. The crew member shouts to others in the hallway; footsteps are headed for her & V-32’s hiding spot.
Khol checks her pistol and repairs the broken connector. It’s just in time. The barge crew reaches the door, and Khol & V-32 come out guns blazing, pushing past their foes and heading to the observation deck.
Khol & V-32 reach the utility access hatch to the observation deck, staying away from the main staircase. It’s locked, though. Khol checks to see if she has the tools to break it open silently.
Khol finds her mini-torch, which melts the locking mechanism, fizzling out as soon as she’s done. Have to pick up another later. She carefully lifts the hatch and surveys what is happening on the deck.
Oracle: Debate Vengeance
Ori Paak is freaking out. He’s cursing at Fel Werda about getting him into this mess. Blaster fire is peppering the covered roof of the barge while the mounted guns return fire. Telus has taken cover behind an overturned table; the head of his vacc suit keeps turning, and he’s trying to decide if he can safely head below deck.
Khol tells V-32 to take one of her explosive charges and get to the engine; it was just under where they entered the barge. In the meantime, she will keep this vessel’s occupants busy. V-32 doesn’t want to leave her, but she explains it’ll be okay. Sliding out the hatch and behind the wet bar, Khol fires a blast into the back of an Imperium trooper, dropping him. All eyes are on her now.
A series of well-placed shots wings Ori Paak, who crumples to the ground, squealing. Werda dives under his deck chair, scrambling for his chrome-plated blaster pistol, shaking in terror. Talus, trips and finds himself holding onto the railing on the barge.
Ori Paak gets up and charges Khol, who isn’t expecting such a response. The drugs in his system have him behaving wildly. Khol fires a shot into his knee, sending him to the ground sobbing. V-32 transmits that the engine is “primed” over her comm-stick. Werda sees this as an opportunity and fires a blast at Khol striking her shoulder. She drops and crawls back around the bar.
Werda wails: “You are ruining this! I’ll fucking kill you!” He fires his weapon in the air while charging towards the bar. Khol steps out, levels her pistol, and hits the holo-comedian in the chest with a blaster shot. Werda goes tumbling backward.
V-32 radios that they need to jump ship now. Khol concurs and chucks another explosive charge across the barge deck for good measure. She aims and fires at a vine, which she grabs as it swings down, pushing off the railing of the barge…only to feel a hand grab her ankle title. A crazed Werda.
“You’re not going anywhere!”
Khol pulls back her other leg and brings her boot into contact with Werda’s face, contorting his head; a spray of blood and teeth flies out into the jungle. He releases her, and she shoots him in the foot; Werda grabs at his singed toes. Then she kicks off from the barge, looking back as the charges explode.
Khol swings away, V–32 tromps through the jungle, and they both drop as the hunting barge goes up in flames.
Khol & V-32 take the lift back to Osseus, where the city is still in disarray. Khol finds Mash and asks what happened. Mash says Kateen said there was an attack in the valley. What’s in the valley? Mash doesn’t know.
Khol finds Kateen organizing her people, both ground troops and a half dozen pilots and their zip fighters.
Kateen explains that alarms were triggered in the southern valley, and they need to scramble to see the extent of the damage or stop more. Khol can ask, what’s in the valley? The ship that will get all our people out of here.
Khol & V-32 hitch a ride on one of the bulky cateran transport trucks bringing ground troops to the valley. Reports of an Imperium shuttle being spotted kilometers away from the large ark ship come in over the radio.
Oracle: Unnatural Storm
Khol tells V-32 to look out the port window in the cateran, and they see thick grey clouds. Snow. It only snows at the poles and in the mountain ranges on the other side of Murn. The feeling of slender claw-like fingers sliding across her brain gives Khol the chills. The Skygge from Viridi!
Khol & V-32 follow the Juggermari as they enter the ark ship through a ground hatch and crawl through utility passages before emerging into what appear to be living quarters. V-32 becomes alarmed, asking Khol what she is doing. After some back and forth, they realize that the Skygge is manipulating Khol, forcing her to follow a path without realizing it. V-32, being a bot, is immune. Khol tells him to let her keep following but to stay alert.
Khol works towards the security hub, hoping they can spot Rankor on one of the cam feeds. A door is torn off its hinges and slams into the smuggler, giving her a momentary daze. She can hear V-32, though it is muffled, shouting: “Stay away.”
Rankor emerges from the coolant spray, wires and pipes torn away as he wields his awful power.
Khol struggles to get up, the wind knocked out of her hard. Her weapon is a couple meters away on the floor. V-32 moves to stand between her and Rankor.
Khol scrambles for her weapon. V-32 plants a foot firmly on the floor, about to open fire on Rankor. The Skygge reaches up and, with his control of the Power, brings the ceiling down on top of them both.
Khol curls up as quick as she can, bracing herself as metal & plasteel come crashing down on her head. After a moment, she pushes out and finds some of it shifts. She’s able to crawl out but not without a jagged metal shard slashing her leg, adding to her injuries. V-32 is pressed against a wall, his right arm missing & sparks flying.
Rankor strides forward, moving the wreckage out of his way with a passing of his hand. He’s rushing for Khol. Khol attempts to open fire on his attack.
Khol strikes Rankor in the left arm and notices a crude mechanical hand where she had blown it off in their last encounter. Rankor strikes back by reaching into Khol’s mind, throwing back into the mud & rain of the labor colony an energy whip struck across her back by one of the slave drivers. She barely pulls herself back to the present.
Khol attempts to pull herself out from under the metal scraps completely and position herself to defend against Rankor. Instead, he uses his invisible hand to pull her out, floating in front of him, muscles strained, her neck craned back.
Khol can force her finger to press the SOS feature on her comm-stick, knowing it was last communicating with Kateen, hoping she sends people to help soon. V-32 stirs, which draws Rankor’s attention, and Khol drops to the floor with a thud.
Rankor’s momentary glance towards V-32 gives Khol a chance. She pulls the energy blade from its sheath, switches it on, and plunges it into Rankor’s right ankle, slicing the tendon. He roars in pain and crumples to the ground, crawling away from her; the pain shoots through him. Khol hears zip fighters soaring overhead and knows help is coming.
Khol uses what little energy she has and leaps up, bringing the blade down into Rankor’s chest. The Skygge lashes out, tossing Khol like a paper doll across the corridor. V-32 opens fire, hobbling forward. Rankor is on the run.
Rankor works his way towards the opening of the docking bay, V-32 pursuing & Khol providing cover fire. Rankor lets out one last push of his power, lifting up V-32 and tearing his limbs away in an explosion of sparks. The Skygge tosses himself over the edge of the ship. By the time Khol limps there, all she can see below is the valley floor where the ark ship has been sitting.
She makes her way over to the remains of V-32. His torso and head are intact, so his core processor should still be salvageable. Her friend, her protector, can’t comfort her for now. She vows to get him the repairs he needs.
Khol is fully healed & V-32 repaired with a new form by the Juggermari (Sojourn). They ask that Khol watches over Murn & those who choose to stay behind; Mash wants to stay and fight. Khol says she will. They watch as the Juggermari ark launches, making the FTL jump to someplace far away, hopefully safer.
In the jungles of Murn, Dreng Rankor rests against the base of a tree near a creek. He is not dead; he will take his time and heal, then strike out.
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