SithLore

It was finally done. He had erected the actual businesses he had wanted for a nice while, his latest being professional and anonymous to his Pack relation. The Resort was made official, ran through with health officials, recognized by the boards, and given an actual face upon Sojourn. However, the word was not out about it, and nor would it ever be. Not to the public, no. But to small sects of same-minded business men, the rich, the wealthy, and the worthy. Until he ran across those who he found deserving of this important location, The Hunter's Moon would be as it should have always been; his and his alone. Hidden behind an alias, no one would know Sojourn belonged to a Sith Lord.

Other than that, he allowed his smaller but more tended to animal exporting businesses run as they always had. Maintained by keepers, trainers and a head that were cleared by him personally, Blood knew his businesses were keeping their record up as she were meant to. The sales were steady, the acquisition was mainly unhindered, and they kept it at a rare price as they kept themselves teaching rare animals. He had seen no one but his clients with such exotic animals as either pets or gifts, other than the ones he had gotten from his own stock. Business wasn't exactly booming, but it was reliable. Kept his men, women, and 'it's fed, clothed, cleaned, and homed with pocket change to spare.

This is where he passed into the atmosphere of Lehon, a place he remembered from so long ago, but simply couldn't put his finger on it. He had met someone here, guarded, in red armor of such, who he believed to be an imperial, but it was such a far off time that he just couldn't place whoever it was as important in his mind. As Valkyr landed the unmarked 'borrowed' vessel, he recalled finding different circuits for his lightsabers here, the very same Light Sabers he had strapped under his wrists incase anything arose that he didn't need. Tucked under his longsleeved business-based grey button up was his dragon amulet, which kept his mind steeled on his surroundings more than most averagely would have liked. Almost like a trigger finger waiting for a simple twitch to move his way before his sabers would meet their jugulars. He kept himself composed however, pulling the jacket he wore tighter over his well built frame. Long onyx mane slicked back into an easy ponytail that hung low behind him, blowing gracefully out between his shoulderblades as he walked down the ramp and into the lush forests of Rakata Prime.

Golden eyes scanned the crisp sands, wind making the dunes between the beach he had landed on more prominently notices as little minerals skittered both from and to them. Temperate if not slightly warmer, the jungle seemed much more ominously quite than one would expect from a planet so full of greenery.
Perhaps this could be his next expedition of claimage. Only time would tell. But first, he had to learn the planet, and see exactly how much life was held here. In case, he primed his lanvarok, the slicer disc slipping into a muffled 'slink' under the rolled up sleeves of his business jacket, and ensured his personal shield generator was powered up on his other arm, a dim green highlighted under the shirt's ruffled bicep sleeve. Pulling the garments pieces down, he hid them from sight. For now. He had no idea whether there was another settlement on this planet, but he was keen to find out, and if possible, make them offers.

His bare feet were buried by the cold rising tide. Jak sat on the beach, studying a dirt-caked datapad, a canteen of coffee tucked into the sand next to him. Behind him, hidden betwixt a cabal of palm trees, sat a makeshift bunker he'd overseen months ago and handed over to R&D for research. Three months ago, to be exact. It was a small team, one on loan from Buggie, the other an Agricultural Intelligence officer within the Nightshades, that would help him harvest the local growth for his business interest on Coruscant. They were to study the growth of cannabis on a Force-rich planet and weigh its effects versus cannabis grown elsewhere. Also, they were to harvest psilocybin mushrooms from the dung of local animal life and again, study its potential. Then the samples would begin seeding and be transferred to the BSP's Broodship for further work. Then shipped to Jak's "wellness center".

Except, the crew was missing.

From the initial reports, the scientists had some difficulty tracking down 'home-grown' samples. To aide them, Jak sent probe droids down for this task to great success. He also had made sure that of the two, only one had a particular habit for partaking. Ergo, there would be an outlier within the study and the other, exhibiting a stronger tolerance, would be the demographic. What he got beyond the first findings were coming at a gradually slower drip until eventually, all contact ceased. So here he was, his only crew being his modified labor and maintenance droid Harold and Ellem, his ball droid. All he needed to do was find the crew - who had undoubtedly gone native off whatever drug they had found here - and stay long enough for the reserve crew to touch down on the shores. Simple, right?

Sure, except there's always a rub. In this case, when he arrived at the camp, what awaited him were somewhat beyond his comprehension. What began as a by-the-numbers study of the regions morphed into a troubling account of this island's nature seemingly rebelling against the scientists. It was hard for him to understand exactly the wheres and hows of this, so he simply started at the beginning and read through to the end.

Meanwhile, the remaining probe droids had gone rogue looking for the scientists. Jak had a healthy fear of what he had stumbled into, but he was determined to survive until the next batch of victims/researchers relieved him of his post. He was well-enough armed - the armament he brought with him on his Skipray was substantial enough for any adversaries - but he began to feel there was no defense against the dark forces that took the scientists.

Rolling over this thought once more, he saw a vessel approach the far end of his perimeter. Ellem rolled out of the bunker to reiterate what he had just saw, chirping a storm of questions from the doorway and ending as she reached his place in the sand. Jak waited for her to stop before attempting to answer them all in one go.

"A clean vessel? … I don't know, pal, they didn't land where I dropped my beacon... They could be trouble… or they could be one of ours. Let's finish up and head to the ship. We'll be safer where we can fly. Have you heard from the probe droids?"

Ellem staked her dome, and the two took off to the bunker to collect their things.

Valkyr walked down the ramp herself, her sleek matte ivory and ebony frame radiant in the sun. Currently she was set as a standby protection, and the cyborg didn't speak unless spoken to, so Blood could trust she was a benefit when it came it came to hunting. The Sithian knew in any case, he was all too focused on the feel of Force in the area, whereas her own scanners were going to work as they searched for lifeforms or any salvageable organics.

Blood felt his heartbeat and focused on the thumps as his mind detached from his center and branched out, his mental nares scanning everything he could put it to. Nothing other than vegetation surfaced back to him as far as life, no mortal souls feeding him that glint within the expanse of web threads that were everything here. But he hadn't expected there to be any humanoids here, other than maybe a fabled Rakatan which he couldn't take bother to invest belief in. If they were that proud and power-hungry race of aliens, then they wouldn't be hiding. That was as much as he knew about them, and he cared less about the rest of the details, whether they were important or not.

Through the flush of green, the pair began to hear noises. Narrowing his eyes, Blood immediately threw his Senses out there, trying to discern what it was, but of course the man was still too far away.
"Valkyr, scout for a highplace for vantage on the disturbance. See if it's something we can stick a collar on."

With her confirmation, she departed to climb either a tree, one of the several they were surrounded with, or a hill. He didn't exactly know where she went, nor care. Just as long as she had something back to give him.

"On the south-west sector, there is a clearing in the bank. That is where the alternate wavelengths are emerging."

Maybe a water animal? Something coming to lay it's eggs, or surface for a meal? Refuel in the sunlight? Perhaps they were dealing with some kind of reptile.

"Let's proceed then, Valkyr," he commented before making his way in that general direction.

Ellem kicked sand at a still-barefoot Jak as they hauled ass to the dull grey bunker, its utilitarian construction a blight on this beautiful untamed growth. Jak made a mental note to fix this in the future, but quickly forgot what he was thinking about when it became clear that there were sounds of deep emotional distress coming from the bunker. Eventually, the sounds became words. Harold's words.

"OH no. Oh, dear," the droid repeated as he stared at a holo screen. Ellem ducked right, making a b-line for the ship.

"What is it Harry? Did the shrooms turn our scientists into flesh-eating zombies? Did the local plant life eat them? Was it a Star Weird? Are WE eating the scientists? Well, am I? I need answers, pal, you're making me nervous!" Jak hollered, closing the distance between them.

"Run," cried a frantic Harold from the doorway of the bunker. "We have to leave."

Jak grabbed ahold of Harold's shoulders and did his best to shake the solid droid. "Hey hey hey, slow down. Explain before your circuits blow."

"Look," he turned on his heels and pointed back at the holo screen. "I have our guest on surveillance. I'm studying his appearance, and, well, I'm afraid to say this, but he appears to be neither of the Imperial or Criminal variety. Bioscans read somewhere along Sithian, and so my educated assessment is such."

"Sith?" Jak repeated back at Harold, contemplating his next move. He stroked the edge of his mustache and looked hard at the holoprojection. "First — good work in rebooting the surveillance network. And Yes! This guy looks… well off. Advanced Cyborg with him... probably hiding weapons under those sweet threads. I don't smell any Sith on him from here, though that ponytail…"

As he trailed off, Harold pointed towards the cyborg at his side. "Need I remind you that I have over a century's worth of unwiped knowledge at my disposal? I have seen this before, Master. This is Rakata Prime. It's not advanced math, but I urge you - do it and then let's leave. I didn't survive this long to get served up on a beach."

Jak continued to stroke his mustache, a new tick for the new state of his face. "I'm going to go out on a limb or two... we don't have a war with the Sith. There's nothing to be afraid of — we've been in worse situations. Did you pack the ysalamiri?"

Harold did not reply, just stared at his master. The blood in the back of Jak's neck and around the base of his skull began to boil. "You didn't pack the ysala —on Rakata Prime? You didn't… over a century of knowledge. Okay pal. Sit tight and let me talk us out of this."

From the entrance of the bunker, Ellem re-emerged with her pincers holding tight to a storage crate. Boots, hold-out blaster, wrist rockets, cortosis sword, and his new garish mustard coat. Jak didn't rush himself, but wasn't thrilled to suit up. "Thanks, Ellem. Hang back, Harold. If you don't hear back from me, call Buggie."

Ellem began to chirp, but Jak interrupted her. "AND OF COURSE IT WILL BE FINE, because I'm charming and have a mustache. So... everyone stay calm."

And he was off, his datapad loaded with the coordinates to their island guest - or host, for that matter. For all anyone knew, he could have abducted the scientists.

Continuing his trek, Blood kept his Senses focused on the surroundings as any common sense would allow, as he wasn't trying to get snagged or trampled by anything behind him or unseeable. As Valkyr kept her watch on the above, he did on the floor level. She wasn't far away from him, and the Sith Lord knew it was safer for them to be this way. Distance was a must.

Through a truffle of greens and other shrubbery, the dashing businessman notices as the loam became more and more freckled with the glitters of sandy particulates before he saw his first print. It wasn't animal, nor alien, but humanoid. Imprinted in the soil, his golden gaze flashed across not only the size, but analyzed it as any hunter would. He had picked up such a trait from Slade's old habits, and he found them useful, so he continued using them. He saw how little dishevelment was garnered around the print, giving it an air of being fresh and left alone. Nothing visited this site after the press of the bootprint, and Blood gauged how deep it was. Average depth for an 200-250 pound male, and from the lack of edge smear, the Sith could see this was a carefully weighed stepper. Someone who was wary, but exercised lack of weight-reduce caution. Perhaps they stood and waited in this spot, looking, listening, for anything that could have snatched them up. It also was headed in the opposite direction of where he was going, so obviously they were coming fresh from base.


If he were curious enough, the Master Tamer would have followed them long enough to see where exactly they led, and whether they were still connected to working legs or not. There was no immediate smell of decay, so he could only assume they were more than likely further off doing whatever they came to do here. He proceeded through the brush, making his way into the lessening vegetation as sand began to take hold of the ground more, suffocating roots and clearing green from lack of nutrients. But as he took another step, his other polished foot stayed frozen. Steps were approaching him, as well. To take offense, or defense in such a predicament?

Listening with stilled breath, he could hear separate sets of feet, but both vibrations through the threads of the Force, they were not equal by weight distribution. On was the tempo of 2 legs, eased gait, and a slight taste of emotions could be read from them. Further off to his right, the legs were coming from; he could feel the gait, could visualize the pace. However, far south east, something massive slapped down feet on the ground with enough force that it snapped the threads of little threads of gleaming life from the vegetation. He could feel those threads crushed and smashed in the fringes of his chest, and they stung as focused as he was.


Pulling his senses back to his personal vicinity, Blood spoke to Valkyr though the earpiece. "Valkyr, keep your eyes on the south east. Something is over there, and I feel it nearing by the mile."

"Noted, Alpha X."

It did not seem at all like a long trek once he left the base camp. In fact it did not occur to him that a great distance had been traversed by his own legs, and in his lack of care he shouted back at his crack team of droids, "If Ellem packed one without you knowing, I'll give her an oil bath…"

And then he realized he was alone. "Thats odd," said to no one in particular.

All swagger drained from Jak's shoulders as he realized he was alone in the jungle, and not just any. The datapad buzzed a rhythmic pulse as the distance between he and the supposed Sith closed up. Again, he repeated internally, there were worse times. Yet this jungle was unlike any other he'd visited. To be a mere forty meters from the coast, careful to walk alongside the edge of light, and yet the dark canopy of brush felt all consuming.

It was as if the dividing line of sand and green was a curtain and he was walking parallel, between two worlds. Never mind that, he reasoned, as he wiped the sweat pooling on his forehead and mustache with his sleeve. The droids would be his eyes until the probes returned from wherever the hell they went. Or maybe they wouldn't. The jury was still out on that, and it made Jak a little nauseous but for the surveillance array set up along the perimeter. Nevertheless, he soldiered on with a light foot, relying on the base of heavier trees for cover and leverage.

Light broke with great consternation as Jak eased closer to the beach. So did a tall silhouette. The gentleman from the holovid, the Possible Sith with nice threads, stood up ahead. He was parallel to Jak, standing just outside the Jungle, and there was no doubt he was on a similar fact-finding mission. His cyborg companion looked to have similar objectives to Jak's team, and with a better mind for stealth. Close to the Possible Businessman, Jak's lapel comm buzzed a harsh static warning from Harold.

"Master, if appears there is a presence on the southeast bend—"

Jak slapped the comm that was pinned to his lapel in a failed appeal for silence, accidentally making direct eye contact with his well-dressed contact. There was nothing he could do beyond a sheepish smile, his left hand still gripping his lapel and his right outstretched, holding his datapad.

"Hello neighbor," he croaked.

Another step was prepared, but untaken. A voice rushed mechanically through the sound of a device so close to him, it was impossible for it not to be seen. Golden gaze sliced across the greenery until it landed on the suave gent in the lane over from him. His first instinct was to narrow his eyes and kill this company, using the meat and bloodshed as a possible lure for the massive and possibly carnivorous beast that loomed ever near their position. His second was to incapacitate this being and interrogate him as to their identity. The third?

"Greetings," he replied, a hint of a smile lifting those lips casually. "What an off day today, eh? Kinda muggy, in my opinion," he stated nonchalantly as he waved a hand near his face. He could tolerate heat, but humidity was a hated adversary in his book. Valkyr watched this entire meeting atop the trunk of an overhanging tree, her sensors attuned to not only the meeting, but the world around them. "Heaviest target nearing at increased speeds."

That must have meant the beast had caught wind of survivors on this planet. Best hurry this up; he could nearly feel the vibrations of some sort of hurried pounding. "You wouldn't happen to have any idea of what living things inhabit this planet, would you? Fauna of any kind?" His silk baritones cut across the distance between them with ease. It was a bit too late to be stealthy now. The beast had an inkling of where they were, already. Might as well get information while he could.

Dapper met dashing, and both were expecting answers from the other.

"Yeah, heh, it's a scorcher," Jak made nice with what he ascertained was a man of innumerable motivations. "You always want to be practical with the load-out, but the humidity'll get you…"

Breathing and — not so much keeping calm, but staying mindful — was the goal. Never forgetting that he was clearly the away team on this mission, Jak kept his movements to the minimum. You hear many jokes re: lazy bouncers giving 'ocular patdowns' to 'assess the situation'. But in this case, that's all Jak could do, and so too the other man. He noted the mutual urgency. But especially, his ears perked at the man's cyborg announce a larger target in range.

Target? That did not sound friendly, whether the larger encroaching threat or his labelling as such. You could never be too careful, he reasoned. If Harold was reporting the same thing to Jak, that meant it would lay tracks through his base on the way towards their current position. Perhaps in the commotion he could beat a hasty retreat; have Harold erase all the records, explode the facility, send the Jacket to his location and never speak of this again. Or…

"Funny you should ask, I'm actually here to collect a report on all that. Only problem," Jak trailed off, hearing that familiar encroachment become more and more real in the distance. He turned his head towards the rumble, not seeing much but entirely focused on what was to come.

"I can't find my team."

His lapel comm fuzzed itself to life with the worried voice of Harold. "Master, it's huge! It's coming right for the camp!"

"Ah blast," Jak shook his head. "Do you have eyes on Ellem? Can you get cover?"

"I can —bzzZZzzt — the blast door, but —bzzczzzzztt— having trouble routing power—bbzzzztzzz—"

The link went dead.

A lone sheep...
All alone...

Away from fRieNDs…
Away from ...heLp…


Blood watched with an arched browed and tsked. "This is definitely not the place for something of such an unfortunate degree, friend."

The Sith Lord found it to be interesting and rather convenient that someone of same interest came to do the same thing he was involved in. No matter the faction, nor the affiliation, the business Blood dealt in was separate from his business in the Sith. One was for credits, wealth, while the other was for power, unquestioned dominion. Two completely separate paths, but he walked them both whether he was wearing boots or suede.

Blood felt the repeated slams of heavy weight on forest floor, and deciding to seem even more allowing, he sent the offer with a glance to the dashing fellow. "Well, still got my droid; we can team and either take cover till this thing finds a different meal of we can get ourselves a nice showdown with it, and get it off our asses. Which do you prefer?"

Blood hadn't admitted to being Sith, nor gave any indication that he was anything of the sort, but his bravado was surely something no normal person would have in such a circumstance, let alone his calm and leveled manner of speech in this doom-set place. But it was only logical; if they hid, the monstrous hulking thing would either continue to track them down and the battle would still take place, or they could ready themselves and stop it for good. It also wouldn't help his cover if he showed his sabers in this coming up battle, but he more than likely wouldn't have to - he was aiming to keep and study this nearing beast, not kill it.

So the decision was left up to his company. But despite the choice, Blood called down Valkyr, and engaged her in preparation to take on this threat.
Or study subject, rather.

The silence from the comms as this man spoke gave him a pit in his stomach. No interruptions at the wrong time, no silly questions in which the handy droid knew the answer but desired clearance for, not a thing from Ellem was troubling. More so than the current situation with this stranger -- who seemed either nice enough to not kill him or cunning enough to consider a longer-term usage for the beleaguered pirate -- he was feeling an awful sense of propriety towards his droid friends. But he was determined to not let this cloud his judgment.

"We bring it here, figure out what it is. If all else fails, we can always blow it up or stun it. I just need to make sure my base is secure and my team is... repairable," Jak hesitated at the last part, looking out towards the distance of his base.

"I got a sword, I got a gun, and..." he patted down the pockets of his coat for any other surprises. "Other stuff, we'll find out. How do you want to do this? High ground preferable? --"

Bursting into the sand-filled clearing was a large dark beast, its stature thick and imposing. Trees, brush, and all manner of wiring from the base were wrapped about its heavy legs as it galloped out of the dark of the woods and was confronted by the glare of the sunlight. Jak could only make out the shape from where he was, but shape enough for him to retreat towards the temporary safety of the man's ship and droid.