EliteCommander

Star Wars: Coruscant Underworld [Always accepting!]

Tir had both her datapad and the replacement disassembled on the floor of her apartment. Each part was laid out in a perfect, organized order based on how they all fit together. Unfortunately, she had encountered one obstacle in that the replacement screen’s connectors were too corroded to be useful, but that was something she could work around. Taking out her knife, she cut the wire leading to the connector on both screens, then paused briefly to gather what she would need to splice them back together from her reserve of parts.

Once the new connector was attached, Tir was able to reassemble her datapad with its new screen, then store away the remainder of the useful parts she had been working with for later use. Afterwards, she powered up the datapad, which, to her relief, powered up just as normal. The screen seemed to be in fine condition, though she could only guess when the next part would need replacing. Regardless, it could once more connect to the holonet, and of course the moment it did, she received multiple alerts of messages she had missed. The first was a message from the Stars, trying to recruit her into their gang as they always did after she returned a bounty to them. The next two were spam messages offering various bodily enhancements from questionably companies, while the last two were job offers from a contact she knew to be a member of the Sirens. In general, she did not accept jobs that were offered to her, and instead sought out bounties on her own. But, if the job was not something she found objectionable, she sometimes made exceptions. By 3030 standards, the Sirens were an organization she could consider acceptable, so it was possible she might take one of the offers. She would need time to think on the matter, since she was not exactly in need of credits at the moment.

After a glance down at the tools she still needed to put away, she looked to her prosthetic for a moment. She rotated its joints and flexed out the artificial muscles while listening closely at the faint sounds it produced. She was getting a small amount of resistance in the movements, so it was likely that its inner workings required another good cleaning. While it offered some advantages over a biological limb, it did require occasional maintenance. The present was as good of a time as any, so she collected her cleaning solution, deactivated the limb’s pain receptors, then set to work opening up its outer plating.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Good. Be alert, in case the impostor has allies, but do not act with aggression, even towards the impostor. I will challenge her if she does not surrender immediately, but I would still prefer to keep her alive for questioning." Meesei commented. The spearmen and other warriors around them were of course listening to the conversation, but none of them made any comment. They were almost all carrying looks of confusion and uncertainty. As stressful as this was for Meesei and her group, these warriors were faced with the knowledge that one of those claiming to be Champion in the clan was an impostor, and as of yet had no way to know which was the liar.

Ra'kalesh looked towards the tree at the center of the chamber, then to the streams surrounding it. "Well, this one does not know of course, but it could be like a fountain. It could use magic, or something else to push water up from below. Once it's up here, it can flow back down."

---

Ma'tanza raised up her hands and shook her head. "Oh, no no, that isn't necessary. This one is sure you don't want to hear..."

Before Ma'tanza could finish her statement, Bheja spoke up through his laughter. "Ma'tanza here, in her endless curiosity, decided to ask how I, at my size, could possibly give S'nishi the more...carnal pleasures of our relationship."

Ma'tanza glared at Bheja angrily. "Ma'tanza did NOT ask that, and you know it Bheja!"

Bheja shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, maybe, but that's what you meant. Well, let's just say I answered." He said with a grin.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei, while she understood Gallus' anger, had little patience for it. The situation they were in at the moment was a delicate one, and she could not afford to allow his temperament to compromise their safety. She turned to him and stared into his eyes sternly. "Gallus, calm yourself, immediately. This is neither the time nor place for any outbursts. These people do not know who you are, and may not care. But, when this is over, there will be no denying who I am. This impostor will not make it past this day, but I will be the one to deal with her. Understood?"

Near to Uthri, Ra'kalesh appeared equally as impressed with the chamber. He still had all of his belongings, as he had not been armed with any conventional weapons when they entered. All he was carrying, aside from the scraps of clothing he was wearing and a few pouches, were two steel bracers that covered his forearms. "This place does feel...alive. It is far different from the barren wasteland surrounding this place. It reminds Ra'kalesh of the forests he calls home. And all of this water...this one doubts it is being wasted. Even in the most fertile of Oases, it is best to save water. These streams probably flow in a a loop through the ruin, though for what purpose this one cannot say. Hopefully, we will be able to enjoy it all as guests soon."

---

"Nothing...important. Nothing important." Ma'tanza repeated with surprise and nervousness upon hearing Tzirret's voice. "Bheja...just told a joke, but only he finds it funny."

Bheja began to laugh even louder. "Yeah, that's what happened. No question. Nothing at all happened; nothing at all." He said with a voice that practically oozed sarcasm.

Throughout the exchange, M'ibasa was looking around in confusion. "M'ibasa doesn't understand what Bheja meant. Why would sister want to..."

Before M'ibasa could finish his sentence, Ma'tanza quickly leaned over and covered his mouth with her hand. "Those were words not meant for you, little brother. Just...forget he said them."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As soon as Gallus started to transform, the warriors went even more on guard, and two of the unarmored warriors in the back of their line started to transform as well. What Gallus intended as a proof of identity, the warriors took as a threat.

"Stay back! We have you surrounded, and won't hesitate to kill you." The warrior threatened. "There is definitely an impostor here, but...how does this one know it isn't you?"

Meesei held up her hand to Gallus and the others. "Be calm, we will bring to light whatever deception is occurring here." She said before turning back to the warriors with her still-calm expression. "Regardless of whether you think that I, or the other, is the impostor, I am sure that your clan leader would want to see us both, yes? We are unarmed, and you can escort us. I too would like to see this impostor."

There was a pause from the warriors, one that hung in the air for what seemed like minutes, though it was only seconds. The same Ohmes that spoke before turned nervously to his superior. “Sir?” He asked, unsure what to do.

“Yes, yes, I am sure she would. Move slowly, leave your weapons behind, and don’t try getting close to us.” The Suthay-raht instructed.

Meesei complied and followed the lead of the warriors ahead of them. As the group moved forward, the warriors behind them collected their weapons, while making sure that none in the group moved too slowly forward. It was not far until they reached the main chamber, and under any other circumstances, it would have been quite the sight to behold. The main chamber was not under the largest of the hills, it was inside of it. The entirety of the hill was hollow, with a sizable hole at the top that let sunlight into the chamber. The floor and walls were made of carved sandstone, though all of the carvings on them were too worn to be recognizable. To the left and right of them, on the far sides of the room, there were small waterfalls flowing down from the walls on either side of the passageways that appeared to lead down deeper into the ruin. The waters flowed into small streams of water that ran towards the center of the room, then in a circle around it. The water drained into openings around the outside of the central island, on which there was a decently sized tree with bright blue blossums. Indeed, all around the chamber were various flowers, bushes, and vines running up the sides of the walls. It had more plant life in one room than the clan had seen for weeks. Above them, there was wooden scaffolding leading all the way up to the hole in the top of the hill.

“Stay here, and keep them under guard. This one will go find Ri’vashi and the Champion…or whoever she is.” The Suthay-raht commanded to one of his subordinates before setting off down one of the passageways.

----

As usual, Ma’tanza was with her friends, as well as S’nishi and M’ibasa. To protect themselves from the sun, they had arranged their tents in a circle, and were all, apart from S’nishi, sitting underneath them with their entrances untied. Ma’tanza had not yet seen Tzirret, but she had a rather obviously embarrassed expression, while Bheja was laughing.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I don't think you have.

Also, I'm at a club meeting right now and won't be home for another two or three hours.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When the group began to disarm, it at least prevented the lycan warriors from growing more hostile. Soon enough, the footsteps behind them revealed themselves to be another group moving behind to flank them. While they were disarming, an Ohmes Khajiit beside their leader glanced to him briefly. "Sir, they're lycans." He observed. Although, the leader remained just as skeptical.

"They smell like lycans. You know the enemy can fake that." He responded just before Gallus started to speak up again. "This one needs you all to...wait, Meesei?" He started to interrupt, but stopped himself as soon as he heard what Gallus was saying. He recognized the name, and as soon as Meesei lowered her hood, his eyes widened in surprise. However, how he, and the other warriors around him, reacted afterwards was not quite usual. A few of them looked to each other, much more in confusion than awe. The leader was speechless, but kept his spear raised, and now firmly pointed at Meesei.

Assuming his reaction to be one of fear related to the recent aggression of Vile's forces, Meesei spoke calmly. "You need not fear us, soldier. I am Hircine's Champion." She said, holding out her hand to show her ring. "I need to speak to the clan's leader as soon as possible."

Again, the soldier's reaction was far from what Meesei expected. Usually, anyone in the service of Hircine would defer to her orders once she identified herself, but he held his weapon firm, and just seemed more confused. "What...what is the meaning of this? The Champion? That's...impossible! This one just passed by you in the dining hall a few minutes ago. How could you be here, with these people? And...no, no you don't look like her." He exclaimed.

Whatever was going on, it was certainly going to complicate matters.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I had to abbreviate my past a bit, as I need to get to bed. Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Perhaps, or this cave could go deeper than ours at home." Meesei suggested. "Though, you may yet be right. The cave should split somewhere ahead. We need to keep to the left path." She explained. While she knew enough to get to the clan's stronghold, she did not know the details of their defenses. However, the fact that the cave split would allow for them to flank intruders, as Uthri suggested. If the clan was as capable of spotting intruders as Meesei had been told, they likely already knew they were there.

Just as Meesei had said, the path forked ahead, so they continued down the left path. Strangely, however, instead of sloping down as it had been, the cave started to slope back upwards. They again started to pick up a breeze, but this time, it was coming from ahead of them. The breeze came to be a relief, as it gave them the first evidence of the actual members of the clan, since the scent of lycans was now unmistakable in the air.

It was not long after catching the scent that the group was finally confronted. Soon after rounding a corner, they were met with a line of Khajiit with spears facing them, and, just as Uthri had predicted, footsteps approaching behind them. The Suthay-raht at the head of the group, like his companions, was armored fully in a suit made of a golden-colored moonstone alloy, similar to the Dominion soldiers that had accompanied them during their journey. Although, their scents were certainly those of lycans. "Stop, and put down your weapons!" He shouted.

---

With a relieved smile, Peiter kissed the top of Sabine's head. "I'll hold you for however long, and whatever way you want. Just try to relax, and don't think so much about everyone else." He suggested before closing his eyes himself.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei began walking up the hill, following the path of sand she had spotted. Conveniently, the sand seemed to follow the lowest effort path up to the boulder. It was only once she was close that she was able to see clearly that the rock placed in shadow what appeared to be a cave or crevice leading further into the hill. "Yes, this seems to be it. Come, we should head inside." She yelled to the others.

After allowing a minute or two for Uthri to climb down, and everyone else to walk up to her on the hill, Meesei cast a spell of magelight on herself. Their night eye would have given them acceptable vision inside, but she did not want to risk surprising the clan's lookouts. "Let us move slowly, and keep our hands away from our weapons. With how long the Senchal clan has been out of contact, this clan may be even more alert than usual." Meesei warned before leading the way inside.

The cave was fairly tall, but otherwise not much different from the entrance to the ruin back home, apart from being much warmer. Although, since they were out of the sun, the air was becoming cooler the deeper they went. There was nothing to distinguish the cave from any natural formation, but just like outside, Meesei noticed an unusual amount of sand on the floor of the cave beneath them. At least, there was nothing else that seemed unusual until they started getting deeper into the cave. After a minute or so, the air started becoming unmistakably humid, which was something none of them had felt for weeks.

---

Peiter tightened his grip around Sabine as he answered. "I won't say I never worry about what others think, but not with things like that. I do what I can for people, but if something just isn't possible for me, then I can't make myself feel bad over it. If I help someone, I can feel good knowing that I did something for them, but I don't try to make myself think that I always need to. If someone is going to get mad at me for not doing the impossible, then they're the one who is being unreasonable. My conscious would be clean."