Ambria

[Professor Mors]

This was- unexpected. Whereas Doren might have foreseen some assassin or venomous beast, he had instead stumbled upon an agreeably less-hostile young woman. She stood shorter than Vassyl by at least four inches, the crimson hue of her hair dramatically contrasted against the morose rocky backdrop. Her outfit was plain, and from what the Captain could discern, her petite physique did not outwardly concede the hallmarks of a particularly athletic, or otherwise lethal build. Under more docile circumstances, Doren would not have been remiss in calling her charming, yet the nature of their meeting left him at the mercy of a more analytic mindset. It was the eyes. Something about those deeply chromatic orbs seemed off. Not in the sense of a sort of sanity, but in temperament. When she had first lit the room, Vassyl had initially picked up on a twang of fear within the woman. Now, in remarkable contrast, the twinkle of her pupils projected a staunch, almost innocent curiosity.

Replaying the initial interaction over in his head, Vassyl recalled that the mystery woman had asked "what", not "who" the Captain might be. A strange mistake to make, and not one often made by someone of a more martial personage. Perhaps this stranger, whoever they might be, was only a civilian. Such would be a comforting fact, though Doren thought it much too early for concrete conclusions. Nonetheless, the young officer figured it might be to mutually beneficial to unveil his common humanity. With its tip still trained on the potential hostile, Vassyl fitted the end of force pike between the crook of his right forearm and ribcage, and quickly removed his helmet with his free left hand. In an instant, his onyx visage was replaced with the placid face of a rather ragged man of twenty five. Doren's typically tired brown eyes remained active and engaged upon the woman before him, clashing with the frazzled state of his close-cut hair, and somewhat disheveled mustache.

On a better day, the Captain would have held his physical appearance to higher standards. That said, after seventy-two hours of non-stop hiking, the local humidity had done quite a number on the young officer, leaving his head in an uncomfortable state of constant sogginess. Oh, what Vassyl wouldn't give for five minutes in a refresher. Regardless, he'd not the time to dwell on such petty matters in the presence of this new acquaintance. Returning to the woman's previous question, Doren answered at last, "As to what I am, you stand in the presence of an officer of the Imperial Navy". Sustaining a faint charge of patriotism, the young man continued, "To give a more formal introduction, I am Captain Doren Vassyl of the Third Expansionary Fleet. If I may, I would ask who you are, and what brings you to a place such as this". Vassyl's final inquiries held no true interrogative weight to them, as he did his best to muster a polite tone despite his present anxieties. Rather than force an intimidating presence , Doren instead focused all of his attention on the strange girl, full-intending to weed out any deceptions she might attempt to produce. One way or another, nothing would bar him from the truth of the matter.

[Ambria Imwe]

She felt, rather than saw, the surprise with which you seemed to harbour upon her presence. She knew not why this caused a fraction of humour, but her lips twitched with it as her slightly agape mouth closed. Quite carefully she regarded you as you shifted, noting - once again - the pokey stick you continually aimed at her. She knew it was a weapon, although her forms of combat had to do with the mind and with hand-to-hand, not with spears, knives, and other forms of weaponry. She stared at it for a few seconds before lifting to your head, watching you remove your helmet. Realising she still had the torch aimed at your face, she moved it slightly to the side, so the beam still provided light but was not blinding to you. "You look tired" she thought to herself, taking in the features of your face.. but mostly concerned with the eyes that beheld her. So much could be read in the eyes, twin windows into the soul - so it was said.

Idly she chewed on the inner corner of her lower lip, listening to the timbre of your voice as it echoed and wafted with your accounting. She had absolutely no idea what the Imperial Navy was, but something began to niggle and nag at the back of her mind for caution. She had no idea what a Captain was, but with how you said it, she garnered it had some sort of loft. Now she had questions, and loads of them. What was a Fleet? Why were you here? What was the purpose? Or the intent. Emerald eyes regarded you for a moment after your voice ended with its dual query, her eyes squinting a bit as she shifted from one foot to the other. Honesty was always the best policy - one she firmly believed in - but she still held herself with all the wariness in the world while CAUTION screamed at her.

"My name is Ambria." her voice soft so as not to carry. "I was exploring the ruins" which was the truth... "..and I became lost" which was also most definitely the truth. Her voice cracked at the end from emotion and her gaze slid away to the floor. She felt abandoned right about then, her thoughts going to her aunt and wondering where she could have gone.. and more importantly why. She looked back to you once more, that gentle cant returning as her green eyes sought your own "Could you help me find the way out?". She held no guile or deception, there was none. She relayed the truth, but of course left out a whole lot in the middle, which felt necessary. Besides, who would believe the whole of it? That her aunt brought her here to hide from some Ancient Long Dead Sorceress who seemed to be seeking from the Great Beyond so we hopped on some dilapidated shipthingie to traipse through some broken down ruins whereby she was subsequently dumped off? Yeah, she wouldn't have believed it either. Short and sweet and to the meat of the truth would be the best option.

[Professor Mors]

Ambria. A name for that quizzical face: it was as good a start as any. She spoke clearly, but not without the occasional hint of emotional turmoil. Though her tale of exploration seemed valid, Doren felt some lingering detail was left unsaid; a detail that no doubt put great strain upon the young woman. At the close, Ambria made her request for aid, practically radiating an earnest air as she did so. For the most part, Vassyl was almost wholly convinced of her innocence. However, were that the girl possessed some hidden talent for acting, or had been staged to deliver such a speech here and now, the Captain would have no prior indication to suggest such treachery. It was a long-shot concern, yet the setting of enemy lines often came stuffed to brim with its own terrible surprises. No, Doren would not let his guard down, not entirely anyways. If Ambria's intentions were truly pure, Vassyl had no reservations against providing assistance; the alternative, in turn, was less kind.

Propping the slender force pike against his shoulder, as one would a rifle, the Captain turned his torso back towards the stairs. His eyes remained on the young lady all the while, and waving her over with his free hand, Vassyl answered back, "I'm sorry to hear such a situation befell you Miss Ambria. By all means, I would be more than willing to see you safely out of this gruesome place". That much was true on two counts. If all was as the woman claimed, then this was a unique opportunity for a little impromptu altruism in enemy territory. Conversely, on the off-chance this was some sort of cunning ruse, exiting the temple would allow Doren to regroup with his well-armed companions. And yet, despite his own mental debate, the Captain fervently hoped the former scenario proved legitimate. Taking one, then two calculated steps up the ancient stairwell, Vassyl calmly called back, "If you don't mind my asking Miss, is this system your homeworld?".

[Ambria Imwe]

Ambria. The name of a planet supposedly dead. The source of unspeakable darkness. Or so she had been lead to believe. Or so she felt when she had been visited by.... a shudder rippled through her and she briefly hugged herself, the light of the torch following the movement in a haphazard display of light. She sucked in a breath and allowed her shoulders to relax, watching the the Captain as he weighed the validity and sincerity of her words. She honestly did not know why she had been brought here - perhaps her aunt knew this would be the outcome of their visit to the ruins. She knew not and to continue to dwell upon it would serve no purpose.

Content to leave the past behind, she shifted once more so the light was at the floor of the corridor, her eyes drawn up to the man before her, his stance easing with the propping of the pike. There, that was better.. she no longer felt like at any moment she would be skewered. As he turned, she stood motionless for a moment, weighing her nonexistent options whilst he waved his hand. The bow of her mouth drew into a brief frown then as he spoke.. her gaze raking over his turned form once more. It sort of felt like going from the cooking pot and into the fire that heated it, although her feet soon followed him toward the stairwell. What a right fine mess her mind sighed, yet she had no truth in which to back those thoughts. Perhaps she was allowing her fear to get the best of her once again. As they took up the steps, she answered the words that had swirled back to her, not really thinking in her reply "My homeworld, no. But it is the only home I have ever known." She'd never even been off of Jaguada until a day.. or two? ago. She found she had lost track of the days in the rushing of recent events. Every day.. every month.. every year leading up to that had been monotonous and tedius. At the least, she thought, this one man has shown her more outward kindness than a whole tribe had her entire lifetime. So why, really, was she filled with so much trepidation?

Recognising where they were as they reached the top of the stairwell, she allowed her torchlight to bounce of the walls, taking in the chamber in which they had emerged. For a moment she was able to enjoy the old ruins that surrounded, now that she didn't have her aunt dragging her at a breakneck speed, looking at the architecture and the statues. "Such a shame" she said as she bounced the beam around the interior. She turned slightly at the waist in order to regard the Captain that escourted her "Do you know what happened here? What befell the people that once lived here?" her free hand gesticulated to the area... "Is this part of your .. your Fleet?" was this the reason why he felt so wearied and agitated? Was the state of these ruins something that he had to account for, seeing as he held some level of authority amongst his Navy? She turned her head to look back at him, the light in her gaze ever curious.

[Professor Mors]

The eager tone of Ambria's questions did well to further Vassyl's trust in her. At the same time, the deliverance of her inquiries left something to be desired in terms of a baseline knowledge. The unease with which she pronounced "fleet" left the Captain understandably puzzled. Though Doren did not know his newfound counterpart's story in its entirety, this subtle gesture led him to believe that she must have led a rather sheltered life, at least up until now. As Ambria's torch disbarred the shadows clinging to the walls, Vassyl glanced disaffectedly at the unintelligible markings and pictographs that now dotted the masonry. Whoever might have built this structure, they were long gone, by millennia if the Captain had to make an educated guess. Perhaps they had lived peacefully once, and indulged the mystical arts known to select groups across the galaxy. And, with all likelihood, one particularly virulent group probably grew to overtake them.

"I must confess I'm no expert on ruins such as these", Vassyl began calmly as he continued down the stony path, "Although, from a laymen's perspective, I'd wager the original architects lived several centuries prior to basic interstellar travel". On that point Doren was confident. Ancient civilizations such as the Tionese and the Rakatans were content to build their temples and monuments with more archaic designs, yet they did so with primordial lasercutters and other ancestral sealants. This place of worship, in contrast, seemed much frailer in composition, and was likely held together by some cement-like substance, among other preindustrial means. Not wanting to dedicate the host of his thoughts to brickwork, Doren returned to his previous comments, and started once more, "I've little doubt the inhabitants probably lived peaceful lives up until-". Vassyl paused, or rather stopped on his last phrase, "Until the Sith came".

A pained scowl erupted across Doren's face in light of his forced statement, and there was little hiding the grating fury that bubbled within his core. "They probably conquered this world on the way to Ziost", Vassyl went on, "Burning, pillaging, slaughtering, and enslaving as they moved from settlement to settlement". The Captain's free hand balled into an unflinching fist, and without meaning to, he elevated his volume further and continued, "You ask if this place is part of my fleet. It is not, though it was once defended by it. Our Navy once oversaw this whole sector, and was sworn to shield it from harm". The complexion of Doren's face melted into a pitched red, and slowing his pace he spat out, "Those that lived here- those that were of our sovereign nation, descended from those whom we liberated experienced not one, but two hells when the Sith Empire revealed itself to be alive and well! And now-!".

The Captain stopped midstride and exhaled slowly. His emotions were getting the better of him, and now was not the time to become belligerent. Vassyl remained still for a time, and worked to regulate his breathing. After a handful of deep, much needed breaths, Doren succeeded in centering himself, and turned to face Ambria head on. With a brusque clearing of the throat, the Captain sheepishly renewed their dialogue, "I must apologize for my outburst. Those of us that remain loyal to the rightful governing power, the Galactic Empire, have suffered much at the hands of the Sith. They are a stubbornly resilient foe, and fanatically driven in battle". Vassyl could have said more, yet he figured it would did little to drown the poor woman in concerns of what must have been a far-flung war in her eyes. Adopting a lighter tone, Doren presented a closing remark with a cordial smile, "Thankfully, it seems you've had the fortune of avoiding such troubles here".

[Ambria Imwe]

The response given was certainly not one she had expected. She had been listening quite intently as he conversationally began to answer her questions, her knowledge of what he spoke so lacking that he may as well have been speaking another language altogether. She let out a soft sigh of frustration.. only to have it broken by an intrustion upon her rolling thoughts. The Sith? "The Sith?" she queried, and those words too faded as his face reflected pain and unease, her brows rising as the continued verbage caused an empathetic tugging within her. She found she was frowning as his voice rose to echo, her free hand having moved to clutch at the neck of her shirt. Her heart had been pounding since the mention of the Sith and something within her confused brain tugged and pulled at some long lost memory.

While the Captain sought to regain composure, she sought to find meaning to the words that had been given - yet it was all such a quandry.. to which she had no ability to answer. She took a deep breath of her own and let it sigh outward, lifting her gaze from the stone of the temples floor, to look over at the Captain. His face flushed with his passions, she offered a bit of a smile to the sheepish look he afforded her. "No apology is required, Captain.. although I must offer one of my own. I do not know anything of the G-Galatic Empire or of Sith" she knew, then, that her aunt had been keeping a great deal from her.. keeping her hidden. She knew they had been hiding but yet she had not known from whom or why.

"Thankfully" she then musingly agreed, her torch then flicking along with her gaze to find the exit. "Now what.. and where, do you think?". It was obvious - at least to her - that she, for the moment, was not in control of her own destiny; and she knew that far from Jaguada is where she needed to be. She turned to regard the the man in subdued dark armour, since he was the ranking authority and what occurred next.... well, her fate rested in his hands.

[Professor Mors]

"For starts, I think we've wandered about this place long enough", Vassyl began, heartened by Ambria's understanding and leniency towards his explosive speech from before, "I shall summon my retinue shortly. I encourage you not to be too alarmed by their appearance, their dress is similar to my own, though I assure you they will perpetrate no harm against your person". Having given his humble assurances, the Captain stepped back out over the threshold of the temple entrance, and directed his gaze up at the twilight skyline. The system's sole sun had begun its descent below the treetops, and night was sure to fall within the hour. Doren let slip yet another sigh as he contemplated spending an additional evening on this forsaken rock. Lurid thoughts of insects, sludge, and rocky sleeping quarters ricocheted about in Vassyl's mind as he sought to peel his attention back to the present moment.

Bringing his wrist module to rest just below his chin, Doren decided a short range transmission to his immediate staff wouldn't incur any hostile listeners. Depressing the switch tied to the two-way communication feature, Vassyl calmly directed, [Squad, any findings of interest?]. A stream of varying 'negative's soon floated through the air, as the Captain processed just how empty these ruins were: with the lone exception of his own survey. [I see. For my part, I've stumbled upon a civilian non-combatant], Doren further detailed, [We will be escorting her off-world for further processing: you are to double back to the entrance post-haste]. Vassyl had barely finished his commands when a resounding 'Sir!' reverberated out of the speaker in the middle of his armored forearm. Even after countless hours of braving the elements and the specter of danger, the Captain troops were as sharp as ever. Doren swore he would treat them to a hot meal upon their long-sought after return.

Finally, content to wait for his wayward compatriots, the Captain refocused on Ambria. As they'd nothing better to do, Vassyl assumed now was as good a time as any for an impromptu history lesson. Meditatively pursing his lips, Doren considered how he should go about his lecture. After mulling over several key points, he announced, "I think it apt to give you an overture on our Empire, Miss Ambria, as chances are that is where we shall head in due time". Spurned by his political enthusiasm, a grin reappeared on the Captain's countenance, as he carried on, "At one time, the galaxy as we know it was governed by a republican body. However, centuries of inept bureaucracy wore its powers thin, until a schism tore its body politic in tw-". With blinding speed, a furry brown lump hammered the air from Doren's lungs, and sent him crashing down onto the unforgiving slates below.

Gasping and groaning from his unseen downfall, two clawed appendages clamped down onto Vassyl's midsection, followed by a small puddle of drool that smacked unceremoniously onto the young officer's neck. Slowly piecing together the situation, Doren flung his eyes skyward, only to meet with the black, lidless pupils of some mammalian hunter. The creature, whatever it might be called, was covered in a thick shaggy hide, with bristles that almost seemed to glow in the evening light. A quadruped, its lithe limbs sported three dark claws of unfriendly length, and a rope-like tail with some indiscriminate number of barbs at its tip. The worst of it however, was easily the uncanny beast's maw, and the face that contorted around it. With the pointed ears of a canine, one might have mistaken the abomination for a wolf, were it not for the four, foul fangs that protruded out vertically like a rodent's.

Vassyl had all but finished his visual scan when the fiend went to bite down on his exposed chin. It was fast, and had Doren's arms not fallen above his head, he surely would have failed to catch the beast's jaws in time. Grunting from the sheer pressure exerted upon his arms, the Captain strained his sights to look for his absent weapon. Fighting to keep the mashing set of alabaster teeth from gaining any momentum, Doren's eyes widened as he located his lost polearm, which lay sadly on its side no more than a foot from where Ambria stood. Vassyl parted his lips in an attempt to call for aid, yet at that moment the beast threw its face forward. Vassyl narrowly cocked his head off to the side as the creature clumsily collided with the ground, before it recovered and renewed its assault. This melee wouldn't last long if things stayed as they were. Doren sorely needed a distraction, but could Ambria provide one? He knew not, yet as nature tried to subdue him for the umpteenth time, Vassyl held fast to the hope that his newest ward would think of something- anything. Alas, it was shaping up to be one of those missions.

[Rhoden Carbine]

"The Captain's disturbing the wildlife." Haly said without too much stress in her voice. Rhoden raised his eyebrows and looked back towards where the Captain had reappeared moments earlier, indeed seeing some kind of beast upon him. There was a loud crack as Haly fired and the beast dropped dead, "Another excellent shot, Ms. Sopol." Rhoden said, "Come on, let's get down there." he said to the rest of the group.

"Take the freighter back to the Hydra, we'll group up with the Captain." Rhoden said to the pilot who nodded briskly and walked up the ramp. The squad moved out, making it down to the Captain's position with surprising haste, the YT lifted off and soared into the sky with as much stealth as could be expected of a flying chunk of metal. "We've no time to feed the wildlife, Captain." Rhoden said smiling, "Who's the little'n?" he asked.

[Ambria Imwe]

he found she rather enjoyed the Captain's company for he treated her as a person and not some frustrating child who couldn't be reasoned with. She appreciated the fact that he was concerned for how she may feel upon seeing his companions whereas others, over the course of her lifetime, had given her very little regard for the slightest of her feelings or worries. Again the faintest of a smile perched itself upon her lips as she listened to him converse with her, it coming to fade as she felt - rather than heard - the sigh which escaped him. He actually loathed being here. She pondered why he had come to Si'laan if it was the last place he'd rather be. She realised he never answered her question as to why, exactly, he had come to the moon and the enjoyment she had felt earlier, slipped itself into the background as that wariness crept back in. She could all but hear her aunt chiding her in admonishment for being too trusting too quickly, to which she agreed.

She eyed him as he used his wrist thing to speak with people she could not see, a sense of foreboding overcoming.. one that caused her gaze to flick about their surroundings in uneasiness. She felt something but she could not see it, only half listening when the Captain began speaking to her once more. Her spine stiffened as her verdant gaze lifted, crimson tendrils beginning to swirl as she felt.. before seeing... the large animal that lept at the Captain. You would have thought she'd squeak or cry out in alarm. Or hide and quake in fear. But she did none of those things. She did, however, completely miss the weapon lying on the ground, as she put her focus on the animal, its mind wild and furious. It was all taking seconds, but it felt like hours to Ambria as she struggled to reach like she'd been doing on Jaguada to the plant life in her cave. She was trying to quell her panic and rising fear as a part of her mind screamed at her for her to do something more for the Captain, whilst the rest of her focused on debilitating the animal. Her tongue flicked out over her lips, moistening the parched dryness as she stared at its neck. She imagined the vertebra as a tree root and she sought to unfurl it. In that imagining, she closed her now red eyes, unfurling the spine.. the dampness of tears slipping down from under her lashes to wet her cheeks as the moisture of perspiration dappled along her brow. Now she was shivering and quaking - but not in fear - as she struggled with the animal and then....

Her eyes popped open as she no longer felt the mind of the animal, the sound of the retort causing her to jump. She looked to the Captain and saw the dead thing lying atop him, her concern for his well-being forgotten as her gaze moved to the two who were emerging rather quickly from the flora. Involuntarily she took several steps backward, feeling weakened and rather pale, the dampness of her skin causing her to continue to shiver. She glanced to the animal once again, the neck contorted horribly, her hand raising to her forehead to smooth back her hair as she tried not to focus on how badly the thing probably suffered before being put out of its misery by the Captains companions. While she perused them in cautionary measure, she calmed her breathing and her mind - using the lessons her aunt had been teaching her since she was small. The man speaking seemed friendly enough, his demeanour seeming a lot like that of the Captain.. which seemed odd to her considering the seriousness of what just happened. Perhaps jest alleviated the weight of such a situation.

It was then that she noticed the pike on the ground, lost in the melee. She walked over to it and crouched down, looking at it with utmost curiosity before reaching down to pick it up. Fluidly she rose and turned, extending it out to the Captain.. "You appear to have dropped your pike, Captain", apparently disregarding the query of the other man. That faint smile tendriled once more about her lips, whilst she took that moment to look him over to insure upon herself that he was alright before meeting his gaze. She wished, now more than ever, that her aunt was around... to answer questions, to really begin training on something Le'ehah never expounded upon, to not feel so incredibly lonely and out of place..once again. A little'n indeed.

[Professor Mors]

Vassyl groaned as the full weight of the beast crashed down upon him, and suddenly fell limp. In a fit of momentary confusion, the Captain bucked his head from side to side, until he laid eyes on the distant sniper half-covered by a grassy fen. Leave it to the Commander to make a flashy entrance, though his timing left something to be desired. That said, as Doren tugged the freshly-deceased carcass off of his midsection, his mind lay not with Rhoden, but with Ambria. Whether a matter of intuition or situational atmosphere, something had happened during the Captain's melee. In truth, he could not aptly process just what he had felt: a sense of apprehension, a shiver of energy, some primeval projection of a bygone system of feeling. Vassyl could not be sure, and at the same time, he began to suspect that the young woman might possess talents that were not so easily detected. Talents, which if properly cultivated, could be of great service to the Empire.

Snapping back to temporal reality, Doren's conscious self just barely caught Rhoden's snarky quip. Sighing more from soreness than discontent, the Captain slowly rose to his feet, before firing back, "Becoming supper might almost be preferable to enduring your humor Commander". Rolling his shoulders about, Vassyl enjoyed a brief moment of muscular release, and followed up on Rhoden's second concern, "This is Miss Ambria. She's a civilian refugee, and she is to be placed under our protection. She will accompany our party, and shall be escorted off-world at the time of our departure". Departure. Oh how Doren longed to bring that final word to fruition. Nonetheless, for the time being, the search had yet to reach its end, and until the missing party, or what remained of them was found, there would be no respite. Turning about, Vassyl presented Ambria with a gracious smile, gingerly accepted his weapon from her outstretched hands, and softly offered "My thanks".

Shortly after rearming himself, the patter of feet fluttered into Doren's ears, as his own armor-clad associates appeared from within the temple interior. One taller trooper respectfully meandered past Ambria, and presented the Captain with a crisp salute. "You've something to report?", Vassyl inquired, his voice garbled from his freshly reapplied helmet. "Yes Sir", the slender man replied, "Our advanced probe has detected another energy signal one kilometer to the northeast". Doren craned his neck off in the aforementioned direction, and watched as the sun dipped lower along the horizon. If the Imperial procession moved quickly, they could reach the alleged target before nightfall. Such was an agreeable sentiment, as the evening grew frigid, and would become increasingly lousy with nocturnal predators. Doggedly clamoring down from the mouth of the temple, Vassyl called back, "Come then, let's not keep our lost lambs waiting".