SithLore

It got the bills all paid for, this little side job of his. When he wasn't on duty for the Empire, fighting it out among the stars in a starfighter, Decker Willo got to be a taxi service. Hiring out a vessel to ferry people across the galaxy from place to place. Usually, it worked out just fine.

He went to Atch-Ho, looking for a sweet deal there in a small vessel that usually only carried up to four people at the least. A civilian shuttle. He didn't want to stand out as a big target or anything like that.

Slade had already packed his belongings, the few things he had, and discretely shuffled in with 2 other passengers within the shuttle. He was aware of how small the shuttle was, and was glad the missing individual left enough room for him to stretch out a little bit. As primed as he was within the Force, should no one here on this shuttle be Force Sensitive, they would have no idea a Sith was among them. He kept his influence as low as he possibly could, remaining aware and alert.

As the ramp raised and shut them all in with a distinct hiss, Slade took a minute to assess his surroundings and ensure he wasn't being watched by anyone or anything. He kept his movements casual, as a regular and handsome half-blind civilian. Hopefully, no one bothered him on this long ride to the Outer Rim.

Decker Willo had himself standing outside of the shuttle, getting it refuelled and having a long chat with a port official. It didn't look like a happy conversation in the least, and with a great amount of annoyance he handed over some credits. Before moving away from thr official and up the ramp.

"Welcome aboard! Names Decker Willo, I will be your pilot today! And tomorrow, and however long this flight takes to your destination! Log where you want to go, and I'll get your payments in order!" He said all of this with the best go lucky face he could hold.

"Welcome aboard! Names Decker Willo, I will be your pilot today! And tomorrow, and however long this flight takes to your destination! Log where you want to go, and I'll get your payments in order!" Slade listened to the cheery eruption through the speakers located in the small seating compartment, being prompted into wondering how long all of this would indeed take. Hopefully not long; if Tormentous needed him back at base, he would be derailed. 'No matter', he drew a mental wash of disregard over the subject. If he was needed, or even not, he would be there. There was still plenty of work to be done within the Order.

He allowed the others to pay first, before he went personally to the pilots chambers of the shuttle, and handed him a wooden box, something plain, but clearly it carried weight in it, and it was stamped on top with the Imperial Credit symbol, carved innately on the lid. It was padlocked, and Slade showed the key to the Pilot before pocketing it.

"We will talk after you drop off the others." Then he turned, and went back to the seating cabin, returning to his seat.

Sa’ato did not wait for Slade to take his seat near the back of the shuttle, window- or at least, if this thing had windows. The Neti had not known the Sith sympathizer for long, but he was grateful that the nature of their mission was not so convert a disguise was in order. The professor propped a leg on his knee, groaning softly under his breath as he naturally contorted the lifted limb to wrap more compactly along his shin. He couldn’t stand rude passengers during his old commutes, and his own habits of etiquette were firmly ingrained in his bark.

Rolling his shoulders from side to side, the academic took a moment to flick a patch of dust from his suit. Organic vril-tweed from Malastare: goodness knows he hadn’t worn it in at least a hundred years. Still, the weather reports for Rattatak seemed to suggest that heavier was better when it came to layers, and this particular two-piece was fortunately near the top of a larger stack of mismatched clothing. Loudly cracking each of his sinuous fingers, Sa’ato produced a holoreader from his duffle and settled in for the ride.

The text for this journey was a play, Dinner at Tarnooga, a favorite of the Neti’s late wife. The professor had never been a fan of this particular author, and had put off reading it time and time again despite his partner’s urging. Now, with nothing better to do, and feeling the emptiness of her loss rather acutely this week, the retired teacher had finally given in. He was a good ten pages deep when Slade returned. “You’re sure this is the best system to acquire your merchandise?”, the Sa’ato questioned dryly, “Surely there are any number of worlds with similar deposits”.

Decker got the rented shuttle ready for a departure, once refilling was complete. Flicking up some switches, and dialing in the engines after all the necessary flight checks were made with both the ship and flight control. Something he was used to, only to a more military standing point. He turned his gaze to the side upon someone coming into the cockpit. Before he could get a response out, a wooden box was handed on to him. He said not a word, but only offered a nod. More so that the very fact they came to him with a box, and asking to speak after everyone was gone was...intimidating to say the least.

After one last check just to be sure, cause one can never be too safe, Decker began the take off procedures. "Buckle on up, and get ready to some fancy flying! We're taking a scenic route, without delay!" Tilting back on the axle, he got the ship lifting up from the ground, and before long was taking off to the sky at a steady pace. As was flight control regulations. "If anyone has a recommendation on music, do share!"

Initially everyone had genuinely chose to ignore the poor pilot, but some spark of humanity lingered in Slade just long enough for him to send a track of smoothly playing jizz tunes to the pilots nav with an easy hack of wireless wave mechanic, something to relax to, and hopefully something that would calm down the highly exuberant pilot. Not enough to make him fall asleep, but hopefully enough to reel him a bit more closer to the ...not so bubbly side of friendly. Slade felt bad when he had looked around to notice the other alien hadn't made a nice face when the pilots voice that boomed over the hold's speaker. Thus, the smooth music choice.

Turning to his newly acquired packmate, the Hunter settled down in a fold of legs, choosing to sit on the floor rather than a seat. He sat beside the massive tree man, closing his eyes and hoping his mind could stop making noises long enough for him to formulate a sentence back to the Neti. Eventually, the noise paused long enough for him to grasp sounds out of it all, and make that sentence. "From what Raven had told me, this seems to be an easier target to get it, considering our current ceasefire with the Empire. So long as we don't present ourselves as churlish asses, and pay whatever taxes they may ask as we go spelunking through their mountainholds, I believe we have more civil methods on our hands than bloody means."

The Sithian ran a mental checklist of the outfit he wore, wondering if the Neti had chosen his own particular fit out of taste -dear sith, for the love of all the gods maybe still listening, he hoped not-, or whether it was out of practicality. He was grateful for having brought layers, though he didn't particularly feel to wear them yet in this cramped space. He was typically in all black, but decided to change it up with a russet brown and black trimmed t-shirt and a pair of casual joggers. The only abnormal thing possibly on him was his missing eye and silently aware attitude. Speaking of aware- "Do you know the weather over there?" he asked his wooden partner in knowledge crime.

Sa’ato nodded with understanding as Slade mentioned his cowled underling. Given their gifts for infiltration and the like, if they felt this system was ideal, it was likely to be so. Still, he had his reservations. “We may be in for a time no matter how polite we appear”, the Neti scoffed quietly, “The planet barely has any larger military presence. Just a swarm of local warlords and tribes killing each other endlessly in a futile bid for control”. The professor sighed in spite of himself, and momentarily lifted his eyes to the ceiling.

Yes, he would much prefer not to encounter any Rattataki mercenaries or pit fighters if at all possible. At best, he hoped this little excursion would simply prove a tedious camping trip. “What isn’t mountains or crags is desert so far as the planet is concerned”, Sa’ato elaborated as his eyes drifted back down to his book, “The days are fraught with dry heat, but at night, at higher altitudes, the temperature can drop below freezing in minutes”. The academic shot at glance at Slade before concluding, “You’ll be grateful to have a jacket with you I expect”.

Decker Willo noticed a pop in of a music request. Without another word he got it playing and sunk down into the pilot seat once they made it past the atmosphere. The shuttle shook a little upon breaching the upper atmosphere, soaring into space. It felt suddenly weightless in the vacuum of space, and Decker was able to ease it into position for a jump to hyperspace.

"Get ready for jump! Next stop....uh..." He scanned over the list of locations of his passengers. "To the Outer Rim!" Pushing the throttle forth, the ship began a slight drift in space for only a second. Before it jumped, leaving behind nothing but a trail as it went to hyperspace.

Decker clipped off his seat harness and relaxed back into his chair. This trip was to be a nice, quiet trip. Hopefully it stayed that way.

Slade only noted the last few words from the pilot before returning his mind back to the Neti's oncoming explanations. He was grateful the elder knew so much, even if he had to make sure he was off of his 'next to experiment on' list. As untrustworthy as the Neti was, he was unbelievably knowledged, and with age came that wisdom and from that wisdom was surely experience. Slade nodded, running a lightly tanned set of fingers through his ebony mane in a tired-yet-thoughtful manner. He loved learning from this alien, and honestly it seemed as though he had answers for everything. The inquisitive side of him had never before been able to assault anyone to such a degree as he was able to with the Professor. A nod gave confirmation to the unposed question of the packmate, and Slade continued past it after he gestured to the thick black satch he brought with him that doubled into a water and wind proof tent with flexpitch rods inside the arm straps. He hoped it would be enough, but who knew. Back to the Neti-

"Professor, do you generate heat? How do you take the cold?" He was able enough to wait for the Sithian's answers before throwing more questions. "Do your feet dig into the ground? How do you retrieve nutrients?" Slade loved asking Neti questions, and genuinely felt he was the only being in the Sith he could unravel questions like this to. "Do you eat any protein? Where do other Neti reside? Would you live in colonies together, like a forest?" He thought it would be pretty frakking scary to walk through a forest and not know they were living Neti with the ability to pick you up and swallow you whole. Or what if they even shared amongst each other a body, and then the next person to walk through that same forest of Neti wondered why so much blood was smeared across the trees? A forest of horrors. A place of disappearing people. What a remarkable coverup.