[Closed X-Guild RP] Pathway to Stone - Sith'ari Path & EPOCH Only

"Hang tight Sscout Team, we're moving up to your possition." came Skursir's reptilian voice over the comm again.

Aleena furrowed her brow in confusion at the Skursir's response, as he had directly countered her recommendation of the scout team making sure the area was safe before bringing the second team in. Still, he had Special Agents Dekkar and Trell with him and perhaps they had ordered him to advance. Regardless this was fast turning into a military operation and they had to work as a team.

"Confirmed, Base Team." She responded into her comm as Keel and Ishad decended back down into the clearing, having also received the same communiqué. "We will secure the area pending your arrival; Scout Team out."

As the group gathered round - with the exception of "The Thumb" who was still cloaked but Aleena could sense was near - she addressed them as a whole.

"O.K. people, as you just heard we have The Aurillia inbound. We'll secure this area for their arrival. Keel, take the North and make sure we don't have any more unexpected 'guests'. Ishad, you've got the West and Thumb? you take the South. I'll cover the Easterly approach."

Waiting for confirmation from the team, she added:

"If we meet any resistance, neutralize it."

Keel nodded and tapped at the interface mounted on his armour's forearm. A two dimensional hologram of his recording sprung from the projection node and a semi-transparent yellow video of the temple began to play.

“This is what we're facing” he said for the benefit of Aleena and 'the Thumb', who he assumed was nearby. “Those watchtowers are, I think, manned. You can just see some movement... there. And from the looks of things it seems there's a sizeable distance of forest cleared from it's perimeter. Approach will be difficult” He waited a moment for his companions to finish studying the image before tapping his wrist console and stopped playback. Keel's fingers hovered over the keypad in momentary hesitation. Something wasn't adding up here. But he'd not be responsible for endangering their mission. He forwarded the recording to the Aurillia.

“I'm on North approach” he confirmed to the chief Operative. Unslinging his blaster rifle he moved out.

Back amongst the cover of the trees and circling northwards he waited a while before contacting Aleena on an encrypted personal channel. “Chief, this is Keel. I wanted to speak with you about the mission” Although he was still concentrating on his stealthy approach he considered carefully what he was about to say.

“I have a bad feeling about this. I think we've been set up or the mission has been compromised. You've seen for yourself the compound which is the apparent source of this mysterious transmission; the coordinates we've been zeroing in on... The coordinates the Aurillia was originally set to land at but had to be adjusted to find a clear landing spot...” He paused to let his words sink in. “You see what I'm saying?”

“To ascertain there was nowhere to land the transport at the coordinates, we must have buzzed close enough to see that temple. And there's no way sensors couldn't have picked up the amount of clearing around the compound; there's more meadow space near the temple than the clearing we set down in” He paused again chewing at the inside of his cheek in thought. “Whatever the case, something smells rotten. If you ask me, either these Sith have been lying to us and knew about this place all along, or your Agent Skursur is purposefully keeping essential intel from us. That or the ship's crew are collaborating with the Jedi and leading us all into a trap” Keel shook his helmeted head “Nothing about this makes any sense. You want my advice? Trust no one”

"O.K. people, as you just heard we have The Aurillia inbound. We'll secure this area for their arrival. Keel, take the North and make sure we don't have any more unexpected 'guests'. Ishad, you've got the West and Thumb? you take the South. I'll cover the Easterly approach." Ordered Aleena



As Darth'Ishad raced back down the tree, he saw the team waiting at least the ones visible.
"I dont feel we are ready to move out with the whole team, we still dont knwo what is all out there." Waiting was somthin he could do very well when needed, and right now he felt it was needed. "Those jedi know we are here, and we still know nuthing." Looking around, "But an order is an order."

Darth'Ishad started goin west.

Listening to Darth'Ishad's concerns, Aleena nodded in confirmation. She'd not known the Kaleesh long, but she was fast learning his reputation as a patient hunter was well deserved.

"We need not go far, Ishad." She updated him. "Ten, twenty feet at the most. The ship is due to land here, in this clearing. All we need do is make sure they can do so safely."

As she watched the group fan out to their compass-points, she received a secure transmission from Keel, and he sounded less than convinced by their mission.

As he ended on “..Trust no one”, she smiled at the Bounty Hunters wise choice of words. She virtually lived her life by that line.

"I agree with your diagnosis, Eamonn." She said softly into the comm. "It wasn't to hear the sound of my own voice that I advised against attacking the Jedi Enclave to the Base Team. We're all well-trained and I have confidence in everyone's abilities here, but we must be realistic: We are but a small team, their numbers could easily dwarf our own by comparison."

She was going to leave it at that, but felt she owed the Bounty Hunter more of an explaination.

"Besides, we were hired to aid The Path investigating the signal. I believe we've done that. The second part of our contract stipulated we help them locate and aquire any artefacts; not start an armed conflict. If they want us to go against a group this large we'll need a new strategy, a different weapons load-out, back-up, and one frak of a pay-raise. Stay frosty, Keel. We'll sort this out with Base Team upon their arrival."

"We need not go far, Ishad." She updated him. "Ten, twenty feet at the most. The ship is due to land here, in this clearing. All we need do is make sure they can do so safely."


"Of course," he nodded and started looking around as he headed towards the edge of the clearing. This place reminded him of the jungles of Kalee, thick vegitation, almost untoutched by modern poison. He almost felt at home.

As Darth'Ishad moves west, the forest becomes noticably less dense, however, he is not far enough to see when the forest ends. Apart from that, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

Watching the rest of the Scout team move in their designated directions, Aleena herself went south and left the clearing to move among the shrubs and trees. Keeping low as much out of instinct as caution, she noticed her hand had subconciously moved to hover above her lightsaber and she relaxed a little when she found no sign of any more Jedi or even wildlife on her short excursion from the clearing.

Satisfied that she was sufficiently far enough away she did a quick sweep of her surrounding area and turned back round toward the clearing, which she could just make out through the foliage.

"This is Fel," she said into her communicator to both the Scout and Base Teams. "South Quadrant clear. Scout Team, sound off."

Skursir had only walked a short length before recieving the transmission from Aleena. He could hear her actual voice however. A squint showed that she was amidst the shrubs. "Chief Operative!" He shouted, making sure that it wasn't loud enough to be hear by anyone further than the Hapan. Thankfully, he drew her attention. "Good to ssee you, Chief Operative. Did you find anything out about the Jedi Community?". Skursir gave a second's thought, "I believe we should attempt a Diplomatic pathway with thiss community. It iss the besst way to get information out of them."

As she was waiting for a reply from the three other members of the scout team, Aleena heard Skursir's unmistakable voice through the undergrowth and turned to address him as he arrived.

Listening to his comments she nodded.

"Agreed. Keel & Ishad report that the temple you mentioned is situated in a large open field which would prove difficult to approach undetected. There are four guard-towers from all accounts and although I've never personally heard of such a thing as Jedi snipers, we can't rule it out. Most likely there will be some sort of sentries posted not only in the towers but also scattered around the grounds."

She paused for a moment before continuing.

"Although it seems the facility is not a military installation, such appearances can be deceptive, as I am sure you can imagine. We don't know exactly how many Jedi are present, nor their level of training. I think your suggestion of a diplomatic approach would be the best solution. How do The Path wish to proceed?"

With an afterthought she added: "And what became of the Padawan?"

"My end is clear." Darth'Ishad responded over the coms.
Taking in a breth of the air he relaxed a moment and tried to listen all around, he could hear the faint voices of Aleena and Skursir.

“Stay frosty, Keel. Keel. We'll sort this out with Base Team upon their arrival” Aleena's comment did little to allay Keel's concerns. He had respect for her abilities but wondered at the trust she trust she placed in the Trandoshan. From what he had observed of the two's interaction there were obviously unresolved issues between them and this merry little chase the lizard-man was leading them on stank of a trap.

Making a circular sweep of the area just north of their clearing Eamonn found himself stepping through the underbrush onto a well trodden dirt path leading in (or from) the direction of the temple. His sensors detected no large life-forms nearby so the trail was safe to follow – for now. A few dozen yards along the path the trail kissed the bank of a small stream and opened up into what could be a resting place. Keel found evidence of a small well tended fire pit which supported his theory, but thermal imaging showed the stones were at the ambient temperature of the surrounding forest. No one had been here in a while.

“This is Fell” Aleena's voice came over his helmet's comm. “South Quadrant clear. Scout Team, sound off”

With a last cursive glance at the rest-stop Keel moved off down the trail in the same direction he'd been following when he found the place. Darth'Ishad made his 'all clear' report after a few moments and satisfied there was nothing and no one observing their movements, Eamonn opened his channel.

“Keel here. I've found evidence of a rest spot of sorts; fire pit, log pile, that sort of thing but it's not been used in some days. The area is well travelled but clear for now. I'm putting down a few motion sensors. Keel out”

Skursir folded his arms in thought, not very typical of Trandoshans due to their elogated forearm, but a gesture that had rubbed off on him after being off-world for so long. He made a quick look behind him, it appeared that the others were dragging behind, with no Path member in sight.
"If I may be frank Chief Operative, it iss not the Ssith'ari'ss call. But, at a guesss, I would ssay that they want the leasst bloodthirssty of the options - they do not sseem like the Jedi-hating kind." Reasilising that their was still the matter of communicating with the Jedi at hand, Skursir changed the topic. "In any casse, I think it'ss besst if I go pressent mysself to the Jedi. I could usse ssome ssupport however - I should take a couple of people with me in casse things get rough, maybe Creed and Charada - though the force usserss musst stay back, any hint of Ssith'ari and they will ssurely wipe uss all out. Jylan'ss got the boy, we can usse him as leverage if needed."

" I would ssay that they want the leasst bloodthirssty of the options - they do not sseem like the Jedi-hating kind."

Darth'Ishad heard that, and let out laugh "I would much rather go with the bloody way, but i guess its up to everyone else, all though my way is more fun."

-Talking with Jedi? Not a smart move-

"If I may be frank Chief Operative, it iss not the Ssith'ari'ss call..."

Out of everything Skursir said to her it was this line that most stood out to Aleena. As far as she had been told before embarking on this mission The Agency were being paid to aid The Path in their investigations. As far as she saw it, this was very much 'their call', but she decided to let the matter drop as Agent Skursir had been given overall command of the EPOCH forces on this mission and The Falleen had expressedly told her not to intervene unless absolutely neccessary. She saw no immediate harm in deffering to his judgement in this case.

"Very well," She began, still looking around the undergrowth intermittently while addressing the Trandoshan. "I will head back to The Aurillia and remain with the Sith'ari. I would recommend bringing Special Agent Dekkar with you on this occassion however, he could prove useful in the negociations."

Nodding toward Darth'Ishad she concluded with "Shall we?" motioning in the direction of the ship.

Darth'Ishad spoke against Skursir's comment. The Kaleesh had snuck up on him. Indeed, the Sith was stealthy. In any case, Aleena had approved of Skursir's plan, this was good, although she would no doubt be keeping him on a short leash. It didn't matter though as Skursir would never step out of line. "Sspecial Agent Dekkar and Agent Charada, I requesst your pressence at thiss diplomatic intrusion..." He hissed over the comm. He turned back to Aleena who was turning to leave for the ship, "Jylan will be able to offer the padawan up sshould their be a break-down, but it would be wissse tell the crew to prepare for posssible evacuation. Once we have found out what we need to know, we will break up to find thiss transsmission ssource...".

The Special Agent allowed Skursir to take centre stage. Perhaps somewhat reluctantly. Skursir couldn't be sure but decided not to dwell on the behaviour of his superiors. The trio exitted the forest. It was beautiful. A sunlit meadow of crisp green grass. In the distance, Skursir noticed the temple. There appeared to be three watchtowers, maybe more were concealed behind the actual temple. After a small pause examining the surroundings, the group proceeded up.

It wasn't long before they were spotted. Several figures, two cloaked, three in a mix of armour and capes met them halfway. Instantly recognising that they were outnumbered, Skursir placed his gun on the ground. He didn't see the others, but he heard Creed murmer something. The Jedi, were however, satisfied enough to ask: "State your business..." The woman who uttered the words did so in a harsh tone. Skursir instantly complied.

"We're looking for Masster Kurnoss," Skursir said briefly. Another Jedi eyed him up and down as if he was a homeless begger.
"So you can put a bullet in his brain? I don't think so," the other Jedi said. He eyed them up and down again. He walked over to Charada. "You're Bounty Hunters aren't you?"
Charada uttered a reply, though yet another Jedi seemingly ignored him and concentrated on Skursir. "Why do you want to see him?"
"We wish to discusss the origin of a transsmission, ssent a while ago on a sspecific frequency.." In the corner of his eye, Skursir noted Creed silently scanning the faces. The man certainly was a mystery.
Some of the Jedi looked at each other. One, a Rodian, scratched his head and replied, "We certainly do specific frequencies, but we don't do off-world transmissions... That transmission didn't come from us..."

Leaning heavily upon one of the large trees near the clearing edge, Vaelyndor sought desperately to catch his breath and steady himself. Ever since his rapid training with the spiritual form of Master Jarael, the Executor had been prone to these sudden episodes. Reconciling the Light and Dark aspects of the Force into one cohesive form brought about a power and understanding far greater than the sum of its parts, unfortunately his training had been brief and incomplete, leaving gaping holes in his ability to protect himself from the vortex of such power. Often times these episodes were brought on by delving too deeply into the Force; the immense concentration needed to maintain the meditation and his own lack of experience would lead to a greater influx of Force powers than he could control. Shortly after their return from Kravoss II the Sith'ari base had been known to house several spectacular releases of such energies before they could rip the young man's body asunder, leaving him to recover within the medical bay for weeks. This particular instance, however, had struck the young warrior completely by surprise, nearly incompacitating him in the blink of an eye.

Slowly regaining his strength the Executor pushes himself upright, causing several large pieces of the trees emerald colored moss to fall softly to the forest floor. With a concerned look, Sharasvar offered a supportive hand which Vaelyndor gratefully took. From a distance the sight would have seemed quite strange, almost backwards, as the elder robed man steadied his younger armored companion. Luckily the two had lagged behind, a sense of weakness and fatigue the only precipitating signs of the Force surge within him.

"Thank you, my friend, I am fine. We should continue on, the others will be wondering as to our delay." Giving a reassuring smile, the Executor began to make his way to where the others had already met up with the advance team. As his strength steadily returned Vaelyndor could only speculate as to whether his condition had anything to do with the signal they had received, the presence of the Jedi on this planet, or merely a byproduct of a hurried crash course in Force enlightenment from a long deceased mentor.

(( Sorry for such a lengthy delay in responding, I've had a lot of real life issues come up all at once. Most are now resolved, and I should be back checking the forums at least every other day. ))

After the Chief Operative orders, The Thumb have proceeded to destinated direction. Only a weird, colorful bird caught his eyes.

Still maintaining his stealth, he awaited arrival of other team members. Curious for answers, waiting like a predator for an unaware prey. Forest still appeared very peaceful and calm. Yet his senses were at alarm state, awaiting the worst." Quiet before a storm.", he thought and waited for conversation between Aleena and Skursir to finish. He knew Jedi weren't aggresive, if not protecting some unjust. That's why he feared, that their twil'ek prisoner would eventually become nail in their coffin.

After Skursir, Creed and Charada ventured further away from the scout team he asked Aleena: " Do you still need me stealthed chief?"

Moving to Aleena Darth'Ishad felt he had to share what he felt they should do.

"Negotiations i feel wont go well, we are sith, they are Jedi and thats all they will care about."

Looking to the rest of the team he looked back

"Your men who are "Negotiating" are in danger i feel it, we should take who we can and try and suprise them as your guys are talking to them."

As the group gathered together in the clearing, Aleena finished speaking with Skursir. The mission could alter dramatically in the near future, and she was mentally preparing for a possible confrontation. Though all of her dealings with the Sith'ari up to this point showed patience and skill on their part, she had never actually seen their diplomatic skills in action.

This could go just fine she thought to herself. Or it could become a blood-bath.

Decloaking on her left, 'The Thumb' spoke to her as he did so.

"Do you still need me stealthed chief?" he said quietly.

She turned to face him, and realized how little time she actually spent in the presence of the man as he straightened himself up from a crouched position.

"You are to follow whatever orders Agent Skursir deems necessary for the successful completion of this assignment. Until releaved from duty by him you are to follow his direction."

In some respects she didn't exactly answer his question, but she could sense that the Trandoshan was wishing to press on, and she had no desire to remain exposed in such a easily ambushable spot.

"Negotiations I feel wont go well, we are sith, they are Jedi and thats all they will care about." spoke Darth'Ishad in his deep, somewhat sinister voice.

"Your men who are "Negotiating" are in danger i feel it, we should take who we can and try and suprise them as your guys are talking to them."

Glancing toward Skursir who, deep in thought said nothing in the form of immediate response, she answered:

"Our men can take care of themselves, Darth'Ishad. However I agree with your warning of concern as our intel on this situation is limited."

She paused a moment, weighing up options and thinking on the best course of action.

"Agent Skursir. We will return to the ship but maintain battle-readiness until you inform us otherwise. I shall leave the secure comm-channel open should your team require aid. Either inform us directly if our presence is required or drop the name of the ship into the conversation if you wish us to infiltrate via stealth. If we hear the name Aurillia spoken in any other context except you describing the ship to another party, we'll move in."

Jylan peered into the strained face of the Padawan, and may have been looking into oblivion for all the response he was getting, wiping his face to remove some of the dirt and strains he'd received from his extremely brief ill judged battle Jylan looked at the newly revealed Twe'lik.
“Why are you here” Jylan whispered angrily, he'd lifted some pharma's from the ships medical supply and started applying them to the boys face and other injuries, why was a child the Jedi's first line of defence why not have soldiers....unless they didn't expect anyone to find this place. It didn't matter any more the damage was done and the boy had paid the price for it, luckily for him being a bargaining chip was more useful then being a corpse so here Jylan was making sure he was ready to be transferred and under his own volition not to beaten up.

He had been however more then surprised by the decision to let the Padawan live, although a tactical move he was sure, there seemed to be something definatly different about these Sith, he had scoffed at their supposed scholarly ambitions but they had turned out to be less blood thirsty then he had imagined or come to expect from the Sith.
Saying that, the large majority of what he knew came only from Republic Propaganda, they may be a conquering force but not as brutal and savage as they made out to be, anyway any functioning society would need some sort hierarchy and order to it however immoral or it couldn't muster such a force, as ever these inhabitants of this vast galaxy were just another of many shades of gray......

"Agent Skursir. We will return to the ship but maintain battle-readiness until you inform us otherwise. I shall leave the secure comm-channel open should your team require aid. Either inform us directly if our presence is required or drop the name of the ship into the conversation if you wish us to infiltrate via stealth. If we hear the name Aurillia spoken in any other context except you describing the ship to another party, we'll move in."

Now able to progress without assistance, Vaelyndor and a still somewhat concerned Sharasvar arrived as Aleena completed her commincation with Agent Skursir. Giving Darth'Ishad a reassuring smile, the Executor nods respectfully, "Change of plans, Agent Fel? Glancing around, the young warrior makes a brief mental note of the surroundings.

A few more Jedi came trickling in until the group doubled in number, no doubt wondering what the commotion was. A place like this certainly never got anything of interest. If it wasn't for Aleena's re-assuring comm relay, Skursir would be feeling very vulnerable. He wondered if Creed and Charada felt the same.
Some of the Jedi had been conversing and then they turned to the trio. "No, no transmission was sent from this location..." One of them concluded.
"I think they're Imperial Intelligence, here to scout us out..." A cloaked human murmered, placing his hand on his lightsabre, but another restrained his action.
"They can't do anything here... Not with ten of us..." The Jedi turned to look at Skursir, "Lets take them to the temple..."
"But that's heresy!"
"If they were Imperials, they wouldn't of confronted us would they?"
The heated conversation left no room for the E.P.O.C.H Agents to talk in their defence. Finally, they seemed to have reached a verdict, and one of them tensely beckoned them to follow. That didn't stop the others from staring at them with a mixture of contempt, disgust and intrest. The Jedi encircled them as they walked, Skursir silently hoped that the Master Kurnos would be less intimidating.

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The Acklay caught a scent. Many. They were close. Going deep into the forest was a gamble, and the limited space for movement was taking it's toll of how quickly she could move. But now it had payed off. She came to a large beast, she was a hundred yards away, but even now she could sense that it was not her prey, her prey was inside, and they were many. Never had she captured such a collage of scents. She would feast.
Raising her pincers, she charged at the ship, aiming to cut through it to release the tasty interior...

A Tython Acklay:

"Our men can take care of themselves, Darth'Ishad. However I agree with your warning of concern as our intel on this situation is limited."


"Agent Skursir. We will return to the ship but maintain battle-readiness until you inform us otherwise. I shall leave the secure comm-channel open should your team require aid. Either inform us directly if our presence is required or drop the name of the ship into the conversation if you wish us to infiltrate via stealth. If we hear the name Aurillia spoken in any other context except you describing the ship to another party, we'll move in."

He could tell she was worried but knew they could get the job done, if only that was possible.

"You know them better so perhaps you are right."
he said as he turned to head into the ship, as he was walking he noticed that the jungle went ,as if it was scared, "Somthing is coming." he anounced. As he turned to look around he spoted the charging Acklay burst through the jungle brush.

There were no traces left of Keel ever having been in the small stream-side clearing; he'd covered his tracks well. The movement sensors he'd secreted in the forest near the camp and trail were discretely placed at roughly human shoulder height and set to a horizontal sweep as to avoid being set off by smaller woodland creatures.

Having received no new orders for any further activities Keel did what he felt any good scout or foot-soldier would do and bedded down to await further instructions. Well practised in covert surveillance and stalking his targets, Eamonn was comfortable with the long periods of inactivity which actually comprised the majority of time spent doing what he did. The trick was to avoid detection and never to loose concentration. And always visit the head before you set off - you never knew how long you'd need to stay put.