EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight. Gallus' solution was not the one I expected, but it works.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Despite her formerly unemotional visage, Meesei could help but to give a small laugh as she shook her head slowly. "That...is not exactly what I meant. My meaning was that we could use the extra supplies aboard the ship, which would have been intended to sustain them over a long journey, to help sustain the clan in addition to what we could purchase. If we needed anything more, we could sell what we find aboard the ship. I should probably remind you that Orcrest is entirely landlocked in the middle of the desert. A ship could not get us there...unless..." Meesei's eyes widened as a thought suddenly entered her mind. To confirm her suspicion, she quickly opened up one of her bags and pulled out one of her maps, then held it up against the tree as she unrolled it.

"Yes, yes...you see here, east of Riverhold? There is an inlet into Elsweyr, off of the Niben River. We could follow that as far as the ship, or ships, depending on how many we need, could take us. If we told them we were going to, say, northern Morrowind, then the ship would be overstocked for such a relatively short journey. We would still need to cross a stretch of desert, but it would not be nearly as far as leaving straight from here. It would be easy to supply ourselves for that journey, and we would even get to kill a crew of slavers." Meesei reasoned. In contrast to her usual, stoic attitude, Meesei was clearly happy with Gallus' suggestion, as it solved most of the problems that would threaten the lives of the clan. She was actually even smiling.

"Gallus, you are a genius." Meesei commented, even going as far as giving him a quick hug. "We just need someone among the clan who has knowledge of Senchal's criminal underworld."

---

Ma'tanza listened closely, and indeed, all of the others seemed interested in hearing about the Champion as well. Ma'tanza nodded at Tzirret's description. "She sounds...mysterious. This one does not know much about Argonians, she doesn't really know any of them very well. There are a few in the clan, but there are none of them near this one's age...anymore. She tried talking to one once, but her mother pulled her away and said he was a scoundrel, or something."

M'ibasa, who seemed to be the youngest of the group, chimed in after a few moments. "This one heard she is very powerful, but she didn't look that big or strong when M'ibasa saw her go past. Have you ever seen her fight, what can she do?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei gave a slight nod as she looked out over the railing at the camp below. The meeting had gone well-enough, but she still seemed visibly troubled. "Yes, we do have a more solid plan now. Though, there are still many unknowns. Depending on how many resources we have available, and how much food and water we will need, we may have to make some difficult decisions. Selling the wood we have on hand was a good idea, but we may not have time to wait for the finished products to be crafted if we require too much. But, if we just sell the wood itself, we may be forced to sell some of our other supplies, like weapons, clothing, or armor. That, or risk having too little food or water."

Closing her eyes, Meesei let out a long sigh. "There is one option I can think of. It is not one that I like, but it is possible. We could purchase some supplies with the easily tradable resources we have, then have them loaded onto a ship. Perhaps offer a sizable portion of the cargo as payment, in addition to what gold we have left over. We could have a group of our own on board as passengers; they would not even need to be armed. In such tight quarters, it would not be difficult to kill the ship's crew and take what they have. It would be quicker than waiting for the carpenters, and the extra supplies there would be on the ship would be more than enough to supply the clan. It could help prevent casualties among the clan, and ensure we do not risk the mission by delaying." She suggested, her words frighteningly devoid of emotion. To kill innocents in such a manner was a callous suggestion, one that did not fit the Meesei that her pack and their allies knew.

---

"Oh, sure." The Suthay boy said, shrugging his shoulders as he pointed to an empty place between himself and the Suthay-raht girl on the shore.

"My name is Bheja. She is Ma'tanza, the dark-furred one there is Qa'habi, and the light furred one is M'ibasa. He said, gesturing first to the Suthay-raht, girl, then to the two other boys, also Suthay-raht.

Ma'tanza looked to Tzirret with her head cocked slightly to the side, looking to him as if to analyze him. "You're not in the Champion's pack, but you still travel with her, right? What is she like?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

My thoughts on it are that they switch to Cyrodilic when there are non-Khajiit present. Otherwise, they stick to Ta'agra. If it isn't too much trouble, I'd be fine with you changing it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ah, that last one was meant to be in Ta'agra. Forgot to italicize it. If you were mentioning it in your response, I can just leave it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm, well it may be best to wait until we decide for certain what we intend to do before alerting the clan as a whole. We have not yet reached an agreement to leave, Gallus." Meesei remarked before turning her attention back to Ri'nakhad. "I should let you begin your cataloging. Hopefully, either we will have enough resources that can be easily sold for the journey, or another solution will present itself."

Ri'nakhad looked to his lieutenants for a few moments, waiting to see if they had any more to say before answering. "Of course, we should have a report ready by tomorrow. This one hopes we will be able to come to an agreement that suits us all."

With the meeting adjourned, Ri'nakhad stayed to speak with his lieutenants about their specific tasks, while the rest of the group began to disperse. Meesei stepped outside just behind Do'ajee, but waited by the railing nearby for Gallus, as she had a few thoughts on her mind that she felt she needed to discuss.

---

The first to notice Tzirret among the group was a light-furred boy a few years older than him, but smaller due to being a Suthay. He had stripes that were quite dark in contrast to the rest of his fur and an average build for a lycan. He turned around and looked up at him strangely. "Um...hello? I don't think I know you." He responded. His accent was distinctly Cyrodilic, though he spoke in Ta'agra confidently. He turned his head towards his friends and gave a questioning gaze to confirm whether or not this new visitor was someone any of them knew.

After a few seconds, another of the group squinted her eyes as she leaned forward and stared at his face. She was a Suthay-raht with light brown fur and light spots, and did not look to be particularly athletic. "This one...thinks she does recognize him, actually. From last night...are you a member of the Champion's pack?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since Ra'kalesh was not well-informed on the clan's current state of affairs, he had been rather quiet thusfar, but he could see where Gallus was going with his suggestion. "Actually, it is more profitable than you might think. Jo'rashaad has told this one of what it was like to live there. A popular import was wood, and products made from it. It is usually shipped to Valenwood, as it is not far away and fetches a higher price."

Miranor had been quite skeptical thusfar, and while she was not yet convinced, this idea did cause her to raise her brow. "Yes...in Valenwood, the Green Pact prevents the destruction of any of Valenwood's own trees, but there are no restrictions on imported wood. It is in high demand. You wouldn't be able to get as high of a price in Torval, but it would still be profitable. Some of our carpenters did survive the attack."

"That is encouraging, but there is the concern of time." Meesei commented. "If you are suggesting that the clan's carpenters construct wooden pieces like furniture, that will have to be done near Torval, and will take time. We may be able to spare that time, but I am unsure. What about just the raw materials, the wood itself? What kind of a price would it bring in comparison to finished goods?"

"It would be less, unfortunately." Ra'kalesh responded. "It would still be profitable, but the furniture could be sold at a higher price, if well-made. But of course, it would be much faster."

"I see." Meesei said. She gave a light sigh and looked one more time towards the map. "In that case, if there is nothing else, we should probably make these decisions once we know exactly how much we will need. Ri'nakhad, how quickly do you think you will be able to take stock?"

"We already have lists of most of our usual supplies, we will just need to go over our more...static resources, like furniture and lumber. If we start soon, it should be finished by tomorrow." He explained.

---

"That's fine, I need a few minutes too." Peiter commented once Sabine turned for a drink of water. He sat up in the bed and took a moment to stretch out his muscles while she thought, though he quickly laid back down with her when she turned back to him. And, once she agreed, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his chest tightly against hers. "Hmm, keep up? I think I'll be, uh, outrunning you. With all the...physical conditioning I have." He responded with an ever widening smile.

The pair's words ceased with a long, passionate kiss. They took some time to recover in each others' arms, but once that was done, their embrace quickly turned into something more.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

I decided to give a cramped, uncomfortable opportunity for anyone to say something if you like. I will say that we will be moving somewhere less frantic where people can actually relax. For the moment, I included the frightened woman so you wouldn't be without something to do.

Mass Effect: The Face of Injustice

The Turian commander motioned quickly to one of his men. "Get a medic over here as soon as possible." He ordered before returning his attention to those in the shuttle. "The enemy hasn't moved on our position yet, but we think it's only a matter of time. Our fleet gave them more trouble than they were probably expecting, but they're regrouping as we speak. I don't know the exact coordinates of where we're going, but the orders came down from General Artus himself, just before we lost contact with his cruiser. Until we know more, we're following that order."

The Turian's gaze shifted towards the two interceptors on either side of the shuttle. "You also have fighters. Those will be useful, just have your..." He began, but interrupted himself when he saw into the cockpits. "...where are your pilots?"

"These interceptor craft were piloted remotely." Avatar answered simply. The commander, finally noticing the Geth among the group in the shuttle, regarded it strangely. "Um, right. Well, we have pilots in need of ships, so we can make use of them. Just stay here in your shuttle; we will get moving shortly." He responded.

The soldiers left quickly, though the medic they had called for was not far behind. As she was properly supplied and trained, she was able to give Voira and the other wounded more comprehensive medical attention. At the very least, their bleeding was stopped completely and they were given an anesthetic to dull most of the pain. They would need time to recover, but they were all stable.

After the medic left, several civilians, and one or two soldiers, from the settlement were directed into their shuttle as well. The vessel had already been crowded, so by the time the pilot was ordered to close the loading ramp and prepare for takeoff, there was standing room only in the shuttle's hold. Those who were not in the best physical condition, such as Raa and Voira, were given priority for seating, but most were not given that luxury.

Because of the crowding most in the shuttle could not see clearly out of the windows, but the sounds of the engines roaring to life around them told them that they were taking off. Presumably, they would be flying over the ground vehicles in a convoy to whatever destination the Turian general had given them. Other than that, however, they had not been told much of the plan. Pretty much everyone who was not sitting was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with someone else. Many of the civilians from the settlement seemed to be only a few steps short of panicking. Some tried to keep it to themselves, some sobbed quietly, while others did what they could to give support to those who needed it. Despite these conditions, this was the first chance that anyone from the station had to actually stop and rest, mentally and physically.

Near to Raa, a young, nervous, blonde-haired Human woman glanced down to the unconscious Quarian nervously. A few minutes passed in silence, but she eventually spoke up shakily. "S-she looks sick. What does she have? Is it...contagious?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Every city has corruption, but it is not like Senchal." Jo'akith answered. "It is our capital, however, and the seat of the Mane. Its port is not as large as Senchal's, but it of course has much trade. Its largest crop by far is moon sugar. There are fields of it farther than the eye can see, even beyond the Mane's private crop at the palace. Most of the naive businessmen in Torval try to purchase and export it, because of its low price in the city. Trying to trade in large amounts of food and other supplies might seem strange...though, this one supposes you might be able to evade suspicion by buying food with moon sugar. Even so, we have to consider the cost of this plan. We do have resources to trade, but they are not endless."

Ra'jorr nodded in agreement. "Yes, to make such a journey, even moving along the fastest route between oases, we will need to purchase a great deal of supplies. Food, water barrels, and not to mention something to keep them preserved. We would need to take stock of what exactly the clan has in its possession, but even if we do have enough, this one thinks that we will have very little left over afterwards. Few weapons, hides, materials for our camps. We will have nothing but scraps of food and empty water barrels when we arrive at the Orcrest clan."

Meese was glad to hear Ri'nakhad and his lieutenants at least entertaining the idea, but the points they brought up were certainly valid. "Based on the last reports, the Orcrest clan is in a strong position. They recently expanded their stronghold, and should be able to supply us once we arrive. I certainly understand the concerns of how it will affect us during the journey. To see where we stand, could you take stock of what you have available for trade?"

Although he was hesitant about the idea over all, Ri'nakhad nodded. "Of course, Champion, though it will take time."

---

Peiter began to laugh as he ran his hands across her form. "I don't know, I have to...think of some words to describe it. Enraptured, ecstasy? Those work pretty well. I feel closer to you than I've ever felt with anyone."

At the moment, it seemed like neither of them could speak for long without interrupting themselves with a kiss. There was still energy and passion between them, so even after he stopped his kiss, he showed no signs of wanting to let her go. They had already undone much of the work they had put into bathing themselves at the river, but that was an inconsequential concern at the moment for Peiter. "I feel energized, excited. I feel like I never want to let you go." He added, giving a brief pause as another thought entered his mind. He gave a grin, and another kiss before continuing. "You know, we could try to make a day of this, if you think you can?" He suggested in much the same playful tone as he would if he were challenging her to something like a race. What they were doing was new, and exciting. Now that he had moved past the fear of trying it for the first time, he found himself approaching it differently. If they continued, it was possible that others might wonder where they had been all day, but that was the furthest thought from his mind, as he was too caught up in the moment.