Totally not Skyrim [Day 0 - EE]

[Sinnya]

“Huh.”

Sinnya scrambled up on top of the overturned transport, fairly nimble despite the borrowed stormtrooper rifle slung over her shoulder by its strap. She shaded her eyes for a better look at the storm. “Looks like it’s a big one. It makes a nice picture... while it’s over there.” She bit her lip. “I’m still glad we got the aircon working.”

"Recycled air. Lovely." Ru'ni responds with a tinge of sarcasm. "But still, it will be far better than whatever conditions that storm brings, however pretty the light show."

He pulls his gaze from the horizon and finally introduces himself. "I am Ru'ni of the Orosini tribe. I haven't seen you around before." He stated simply.

"I'm not that noticeable." The twi'lek shrugged. "I'm Sinn... Sinn'yatar. I never got my Ma to say which tribe she came from." Sinnya sat down on the edge of the roof/floor/whatever and swung one leg idly, booted heel drumming a couple of dull thunks against the metallic hull. The organic jewelry she was wearing--a couple of necklaces on knotted leather cords, a bracelet--could have come from any of a few different tribes; as it happened, only one pendant she had on right now had actually been her mother's.

"I wouldn't be so snobby if I were you. I'd rather chug straight from an exhaust vent than try to breathe airborne silica particulates at forty degrees standard." Sinnya's lekku twitched. "That's not fun. How'd you end up out in the desert, anyway?" She cocked her head, shifting from the distant sandstorm vista to a closer look at Ru'ni. "This is about as far as you can get from the forest sea without going off-planet. Did they--" she kicked the transport's side again, more emphatically this time, making it fairly clear to whom she was referring "--start coming for the tribes now, too?"

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

There was a nod to the truth of his answer.

"Because it matters. Bankor won't bow under the heel of a foreign power. Do you know the Mandalorians tried once? Even they failed."

[Ru'ni Wayne]

"Yes," he agreed. "Soon this position will be surrendered to the oncoming storm. I see the wisdom of your words, I'm just holding off as long as I can before willingly entering that tin prison - however temporarily."

He glances over the trinkets and jewellery, the trappings of Sinnya's heritage and was at a loss. It was, as she said, a rather eclectic collection.

"I sometimes run supplies out to the Enclave in the city, found myself caught up in a protest about the mining operations. Started out peaceful, but it escalated to violence. Last thing I remember is a baton across the skull, then waking up here..."

"What about you?"

[Dapper Dog]

There was a nod to the truth of his answer.

"Because it matters. Bankor won't bow under the heel of a foreign power. Do you know the Mandalorians tried once? Even they failed."

"I had no idea this rock had any kind of real history," he mused.

"Don't keep me in suspense, might as well tell me the long version."

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

Another lopsided grin.

"Well it's been a few years since my history lessons at college but it was a long, long, time ago. The Mandalorians thought they could take advantage of a weakened political state here and the Republic being distracted elsewhere. Invaded, set up their own puppet Bankorian traitor in charge and sat back to enjoy the spoils. They didn't expect Bankor to fight back."

He then proceeded to give the long version, as told in Bankor school textbooks which may or may not be in any way accurate to actual events.

". . . and they brought the ship down into the sea, missing the capital and thwarting the Mando's revenge."

--

Ria'la recounts a very abridged and altered with time passed version of the previous Bankor game.

[Dapper Dog]

"And to think I thought the only thing this place had was dirt farmers and aliens living in trees," he said honestly.

"Ahem, sentient beings, excuse my coarse Core sector language."

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"Wookiees live in trees."

He indicated towards the door that Ru'ni and Sinnya had left by.

"And our Aznuri are far from what the Empire portray them. They fight for Bankor just as hard as those who happen to have been born to more technology. I'd trust their skills over anyone from offworld I'd just met."

He looked Rayne up and down.

"So is it just the indoctrination or did you really not learn anything about Bankor before being posted here?"

[Dapper Dog]

“We got a briefing on the current local situation, cultural touchstones were not a consideration. I was only going to be here a year, it was not like I was going to care about the people just do my job and go,” he said honestly.

“Now, well I guess a crash course in all things Bankor is probably first on my list.”

“My attitude is not uncommon, we are not here to integrate ourselves just here to make sure the hypermatter fuel keeps flowing for the Imperial Navy.”

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"I'm far from a military expert, but knowing how your enemy will react seems to be a significant advantage. By neglecting to tell the troops anything about us the advantage passes to us. Looks like we Bankorians are being underestimated again."

He made a face at mention of the hyperfuel.

"Those mines are nothing more than misery. For anyone there."

[Dapper Dog]

"Last I checked we are all Imperial citizens first, Bankorians, second," he said in reply.

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"Well then, I think that's where we disagree. Bankor First, handsome."

He leaned back.

"You listening, Yusandr?"

[Dapper Dog]

Yusandr called from the front and said, “I got the gist, and the Imp’s intel checked out the systems are zeroed out.”


Rayne shrugged and said, “Would not be the first time a pretty face disagreed with me, won’t be the last.”

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

His grin returned.

"It gets boring when everyone agrees completely. Now back to that wine, red or white?"

[Dapper Dog]

"It depends on the situation, get back to me later on that mister reporter," he joked. Rayne lowered his eyes and sighed as he leaned back against the wall and added, "Next question?"

[Sinnya]

"Yes," he agreed. "Soon this position will be surrendered to the oncoming storm. I see the wisdom of your words, I'm just holding off as long as I can before willingly entering that tin prison - however temporarily."

He glances over the trinkets and jewellery, the trappings of Sinnya's heritage and was at a loss. It was, as she said, a rather eclectic collection.

"I sometimes run supplies out to the Enclave in the city, found myself caught up in a protest about the mining operations. Started out peaceful, but it escalated to violence. Last thing I remember is a baton across the skull, then waking up here..."

"What about you?"

"Sabacc night with the wrong crew."

Sinn's boot thumped softly against the hull twice more.

"What the hell, they're labor organizers. I mean, we really did play sabacc... I hope everyone else got away. None of them was on this ride, anyway. Thought the foundry goons would have to let me go since I don't even have an employee chip, so I hung back, tried to stall them." She cast a brooding look at the approaching sandstorm, which brooded right back. Harder.

"They must have handed me right over to the military after they dropped me."

[Ru'ni Wayne]

"Hope you made enough off them to make this worthwhile. Although I can't imagine how." Eventually noticing the rhythmic tapping, Ru'ni glances down to Sinnya's leg and cocks an eyebrow.

"Nervous?" He asks simply. "Didn't think the heat bothered your kind. At least the Twi'lek in our tribe tell it that way."

[Sinnya]

“That crew don’t have much cash to win.” Sinnya shook her head. “Jani owes me a hot dinner, but I owe Lee another box of leaflets from this printer I know in... um, I probably shouldn’t say...”

Now that he’d pointed it out, she stopped swinging her heels, slightly embarrassed. She bared her teeth in a brief defensive smile. “Heat doesn’t bother me. We’re snug against the storm, too. What comes after that...” the tips of her lekku wobbled, making an otherwise tiny head-shake more obvious. “This is just going to happen again, right? We got lucky this time.”

When lucky meant being wrecked hundreds of klicks out in the desert with a bunch of strangers, she reflected to herself, things surely weren’t looking too great.

[Ru'ni Wayne]

"Lucky? I think that differs for each of us. Some of us were targetted I imagine; proper dissenters and troublemakers. For those, I don't think this will be the last time they're on an Imperial list somewhere. Probably not the first either."

"It's kinda like hunting as I see it. When you have found your quarry, you continue your pursuit until one has vanquished the other. But sometimes your snares catch something different sometimes you catch a Clodhopper instead of a Whisper bird. No point throwing it away, but next time you go hunting again, you're back on the hunt for that Whisper bird."

He laughs a little. It's a gentle sound, lost slightly as the wind starts to whip up. "Although I should've chosen a better self representation than a Clodhopper."

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"It depends on the situation, get back to me later on that mister reporter," he joked. Rayne lowered his eyes and sighed as he leaned back against the wall and added, "Next question?"

"Which world are you from? I promise not to call it a barren rock."

He grinned, maybe this hadn't been such a bad day after all.

[Dapper Dog]

"I was born on the Core," he said proudly. "I doubt anyone is calling Coruscant, a barren rock."

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"Well than I can keep my promise then can't I?"

He thought for a moment. Everyone knew about Coruscant, but how much of what they had been told was true?

"So the Jewel of the Republic, now the heart of the Empire. Are there really no green spaces left? No fields? No seas?"

[Dapper Dog]

"Gardens and parks, I suppose, but natural spaces, I highly doubt it," he said honestly.

"It is magnificent, perhaps I shall see it again."

[Qareme Torth]

Someone else might've asked about what part of that was supposed to mean. Not Verse though; she took it as the compliment she was sure it'd been meant as.

"I've got a room. Nothing fancy or anything, but at least they don't charge as much for it on this planet. Prices have been going up around the sector, feels like. What about you? I mean, if you need it I think there's room for an extra person. Well I mean, a me-sized person at least."

"I have a place, I'll pass you the details later. I'm not sure I count as a you sized person" there was a small hint of a smile on the Zabraks face "I am significantly larger. I'm sure we have much to talk about."

She peered over at the reporter, then back at Verse.

"I hope it will be as interesting as the conversation over there, but I suspect it will be less boring."

[Ria'la Tu'roth]

"Gardens and parks, I suppose, but natural spaces, I highly doubt it," he said honestly.

"It is magnificent, perhaps I shall see it again."

Another nod.

"Something to drink to in the future. Ever been caught in one of these sandstorms before? I've reported on them once from the lovely warm and calm safety of the weather centre."

[Verse Aura]

"I have a place, I'll pass you the details later. I'm not sure I count as a you sized person" there was a small hint of a smile on the Zabraks face "I am significantly larger. I'm sure we have much to talk about."

She peered over at the reporter, then back at Verse.

"I hope it will be as interesting as the conversation over there, but I suspect it will be less boring."

Verse blinked, then turned around to gawk at the reporter and his captive interviewee. There hadn't been a 'don't look!' hastily added after all; those were usually the sign you were supposed to be subtle about looking at people who were being pointed out to you.

"Huh," she said, "I mean, Coruscant is interesting I guess? I wonder what it's like there now?"