EliteCommander

Coruscant Sacked: Aftermath

~|Interstellar Space, near the Y’Toub System|~

~|Day 3, 7^th Hour|~
Fa-Val-Kuul

Fa’s expression towards Zora turned to a toothy grin. “See, now we have an understanding. Once I have the information I desire, you can go on your way. In short, I agree. You tell me the planet on which you would like to be released, and provided it is not a Sith stronghold, we will take you there. Then, I will release you, you will share your information, and then you can have your belongings and go.”

---

Fa-Val-Kuul was, if nothing else, honest with her word. Though trickery and deceit was nothing new in her line of work, she did at least honor the agreement she had made with the Twi’lek. It was, of course, not particularly comforting to release a potentially dangerous Sith, but Zora was nothing next to the immense threat posed by her target. Darth Nyiss was her assignment, her prey, and if some sacrifices had to be made to reach her, then Fa would do what she must.

Zora’s information was not as comprehensive as Fa might have hoped, but it was at least everything that she needed to finally begin the operation. Fortunately, Fa had informed the Republic ahead of time that she was pursuing a promising lead, so they were ready to move quickly on the information. At least one of Zora’s warnings had rang true: Nyiss was not stupid. Hesitate for too long to act, and they might just lose their chance altogether. Fa had her Republic support, her supplies and equipment, and even a captured Imperial shuttle to take them into the firmly Sith-controlled space.

Within a few days, Battlemaster Fa’s strike team had mobilized to their destination: Feena. Initial reconnaissance did confirm a Sith presence in the system, but they did not have too much of an opportunity for scouting before they had to make their approach. Even using their captured shuttle for transport, loitering for too long in one place would certainly arouse suspicion.

The landing on Feena had been tense, but ultimately successful. Although, it still did not come without its complications. Most immediately obvious upon their approach was that their sensors were surprisingly ineffective, as if they were being scrambled to a degree. It was a development that was both restricting and enabling to them, in different respects. Fa had initially planned to set up their forward base fairly far from the Sith base, for their own safety, but in order to get any use at all out of their own sensor arrays, they would have to be closer. Fortunately, this also gave them more freedom to search the jungle for a suitable landing zone. Once they had reached the surface along their initially planned path, Fa made the call to scan an area closer to the base for a suitable site for their camp. They had kept their shuttle just barely above the trees, and made sure to remain far enough from the enemy base to avoid being spotted by patrols.

The landing zone had eventually been found in the form of a cavern within a valley that would be both defensible, and hidden. They had spent much of the night setting up their equipment, and masking any sign of their presence. They had their shuttle covered in a camouflaged webbing within an hour, and their generator and sensor array set up within two. The manpower they had available made it a relatively painless process. Although, much to the chagrin of Fa, she received orders to send the shuttle back for some other purpose, so they had to turn around and uncover it immediately. For this mission, they had called in the best they could get their hands on in the time they had. Half of their force was comprised of specialized Sith-hunters, personally trained by Vebra. They were elite troops, well-equipped and trained to deal with force users, and this was the most that Fa had seen deployed in one place, at one time. It spoke to the threat Nyiss posed, and the importance of stopping her.

---

~|Strike Team Base of Operations, Feena|~

~|Day 6, 13^th Hour|~
Fa-Val-Kuul

Fa looked up at the clear sky above, taking in a deep breath as the sun warmed her scales. She walked along the edge of the river nearest their camp, taking in the sights of the environment around her. It was a sight that she expected to have to get used to, as this mission was not appearing as if it would be a quick one. As much as Fa wanted to make their attack sooner rather than later, they were facing far too much of a deficit in information to take such a risk. The intelligence Zora had on the Sith base itself was woefully imprecise, and there was no guarantee even that much would be accurate. They had to perform their own reconnaissance, and make their own plans based on their own observations. That was something that would take time, especially if they wished to avoid being detected in the process. So, they had to prepare to settle in. Fa knelt down at the riverbank and carefully filled up a small vial with a sample of the water. They would need to test to make sure it would be safe for their use.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha stifled a chuckle towards Lunise as she was following her instructions. "You know, the way you say that, you make it sound like a challenge. I would wager I can get through this without a sneeze." She said, though in response to Janius afterwards, she gave a more pronounced laugh. "I don't think I'd go that far. Or anywhere close to that far. I think I will be lucky to get this one dish right."

Meesei approached the pair by the fire and, one by one, placed her bags down on the ground gently. She had gathered every ingredient on Ahnasha's list, along with a few more that had caught her eye. The kitchen staff saw her requests as odd, but there were no arguments from them. It was far from unreasonable to think that the Champion might need to host a formal meal with a contact as a part of her duties.

Meesei leaned in towards Lunise and gave her a quick kiss on the lips as a greeting. "It is good to see everyone getting along, I would say. And it seems our dinner will be more impressive than I had expected."

"Yet Lunise claims not to be a chef." Ahnasha remarked with a shrug. "Could have fooled me."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For someone who claimed not to be a chef, Lunise seemed surprisingly knowledgeable to Ahnasha. Even her short descriptions showed that she was familiar with the Khajiit cooking methods in a fair amount of detail. "Hmm, I'm certainly willing to try to learn. You will have to walk me through it, though. I find I learn best through practice. I gave Meesei a long list of ingredients, so hopefully we have what we need to make something. I don't think I'd want to send Meesei all the way back to the clan after just having made the trip. I know we don't have all the tools here, but...maybe we can just get creative?"

Ahnasha turned her head towards Sabine. "Do you think you'd be able to, say, mimic an oven? By that I mean, use something like telekinesis, or wards, or some other magic to try and keep head from an area as big as an oven around the fire. That would essentially be like cooking it in an oven, right?"

It took about ten more minutes for Meesei to finally open her return portal. She stepped through with several cloth bags in hand. With each step she took, one could hear a few glass bottles inside lightly clanking together. Lunise was in the middle of explaining the dishes they intended to prepare to Ahnasha, so the first sight Meesei saw was an encouraging one.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth clasped her hands together with a small clap. "Oh, I love weddings. Lycans mates don't usually have a ceremony, but we've had a few in the clan, and even one in this pack. Fendros and Ahnasha had a nice ceremony with his family. It was nice to see them so accepting of it. All that history with the Dunmer and Khajiit made it hard to tell if it was going to end quite so...happily."

Ahnasha had an amused expression on her face. "We are a whole pack of unlikely partnerships, aren't we? A Khajiit and a Dunmer. An Imperial nobleman and an Argonian Tribal. A High Elven Thalmor Justiciar and the Argonian Champion of Hircine..."

Lorag laughed somewhat loudly once more, though at least being somewhat more reserved. "Still sounds ridiculous just hearin' that. Like someone knocked me out and put me in a dream."

Ahnasha had her arms crossed as she looked to Lorag. "Any more ridiculous than you being a father?"

Lorag pointed at Ahnasha. "Hey, there's no proof that girl was mine."

Ahnasha simply chuckled. "Sure..." She said, drawing out the word before turning her attention back to Lunise. "Anyways, it definitely sounds like you made Rimmen your home. It...occurs to me that you probably know quite a lot more about cooking Rimmen-style dishes than I do. Have any advice for me?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha gave a quick chuckle. "I can see why the city would not have been, well, cooperative to start. Just about none of those things are traditional to most Khajiit cultures. Living in Leyawiin, we saw a lot of the people who were firmly opposed to the Dominion's changes. I believe a few of the Khajiit families I mentioned ended up in Leyawiin because they disagreed with them. Though, that might be putting it lightly. The Dominion was a very...passionate subject for them. It's not why my parents left, though. They were just traders following business opportunities."

Kaleeth found Lunise's description of her home to be somewhat odd, almost disconnected. The fact that she was not born in Rimmen, and yet considered it her home, meant that she must have strongly identified with something in the city. And yet, she did not give many specifics on what she actually liked about the place. Kaleeth herself could go on for hours about Blackreach, or her village, or even the old Bruma clan. She had many fond memories of all of them, and Lunise had lived in Rimmen for longer than Kaleeth had been alive at all. Kaleeth joined the group and sat down near Lunise. Julan followed shortly afterwards, laying himself down on the ground next to his mother, who reached over and gently started to rub his shoulder and neck as he started the process of calming himself down to transform back into his normal form. He was still not at the point where he could transform on a whim, so it took some effort for him to revert back.

"There has to be more than those few things." Kaleeth commented. "A home is basically the center of your whole life. No matter how far you travel, it's a place you really...identify with. I remember my first home, my village in Black Marsh. The village always moved with the seasons, so the whole region was really my home. It was a dangerous and challenging place to live, but I was never afraid that our village would get into trouble. Our tribe had thousands of years of knowledge on how to live there among the wilds, and it was knowledge was was taught to me. Everyone knew everyone, and everyone was family, in a way. When there was a marriage, everyone joined the ceremony, when someone died, the whole village stopped to mourn. The Marsh was a place where every tree felt familiar, but yet with plenty of mystery to explore. I remember there was a sunken Xanmeer near one of our rainy season locations. Me and my brother liked to swim through its halls to see what was there. Every year, there seemed to be a new chamber that had opened up with the shifting sediment. There was one year where we got a bunch of our friends together and turned two sides of the Xanmeer into forts, then we had a 'war' with sticks/ My brother's team won."

Kaleeth was already smiling from her reminiscing on her childhood, and she thought it might inspire Lunise to go into a bit more detail with her own stories.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ahnasha was not entirely sure what to make of Lunise's response. It was the exact kind of response she might have expected from a Justicar, but even so, she did not know how to feel about it. The Dominion certainly did not have a great reputation within the Empire, but their pack had traveled the Dominion extensively over the years without any issue. Or at least, no issues that were unique to the Dominion.

"Hmm, if I'm being honest, I don't really think I know what it means to 'integrate' into the Dominion. Not being rebellious is self-explanatory, but I don't really know what the common...thing is that makes them all 'Dominion' cities." Ahnasha responded, leaning back slightly and supporting herself on her hands. "How do I explain it? We've...traveled to a lot of places. All over Tamriel, to many cities that are all different. Breton cities aren't like Cyrodilic cities, and Cyrodilic cities are absolutely nothing like Valenwood cities. But just being a visitor, I don't really know what, say, Sunhold would have in common with Senchal. They all have their own unique style and culture and everything based on the people that live there. Would it be more obvious if I actually lived in one of them? I've only ever been to Dominion cities a a visitor." Ahnasha asked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Lunise had described an entire lifetime's worth of work in the span of a few moments, but it was nothing unusual for many of the people Ahnasha knew. Her father, growing up, had centuries of experience to share himself, and the thought of it did make her look forward to one day having the same breadth of experience.

"My mother's family came from Senchal. They were exclusively merchants; it was a family trade. The same was true of my father's family, though he came from Valenwood alone. He is a Bosmer, originally from Silvenar. I never met his side of my family, simply because of the distance. I remember wanting to once when I was young, but having to cross all that land, not to mention the border into the Dominion, was never really something we could do. Honestly, I think it was Valenwood itself that interested me more than my family. I've always loved hunting, and the Bosmer are well-known for their hunters. I guess a strictly carnivorous diet will do that." Ahnasha answered, giving a bit more information than Lunise had asked for, since the topic was something she could talk about.

"So...what is Rimmen like?" Ahnasha asked after a few more moments. "I've probably seen less of Elsweyr than any other place in Tamriel. We go there very rarely since Vile's followers pushed us out. The most I've seen of it was during the mission where we first met you."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei nodded after Lunise's answer. "Indeed. We did first meet Lunise in Anequina, remember." She commented. She did not wish to go into any detail herself, but rather just say enough to provide a talking point."

Ahnasha lightly rubbed her neck. "Rimmen? That's pretty close to the Cyrodiil border, not far from Leyawiin, actually. That's where I was raised. My mother's family wasn't from Rimmen, but I do remember some other Khajiit families in the city being from that area. I think...I might be able to put something together that would be something like what you would expect. I've always preferred Khajiit cooking, naturally, so I remember some recipes."

"I certainly would not mind a dinner like that." Meesei responded. "I can return back home to get anything you need. Just give me a list."

As requested, Ahnasha quickly wrote out a list of what she could think of that she would require in addition to what they already had on hand. Though it did not seem that she was rushing Ahnasha, Meesei certainly did not waste any time in preparing her portal to Blackreach. She did require a magicka potion in order to be able to open the portal so soon. Even she could not open so many portals in rapid succession without assistance.

Meesei's departure did leave a window where Lunise would be alone with the pack. It was tempting just to wait for her to return in silence, but Ahnasha had actually been given enough curiosity at this point to hazard a question as she was preparing a cooking spit over the fire. "So...how long were you in Rimmen? I guess you were assigned there?"

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

Ssarak tracked the thief up to the point where he headed into the warehouse, after which he circled around the warehouse quickly to check exactly where the exits to the building were. If they had to head in after him, they would need to cover each entrance to make sure he had no escape. Hopefully, they would get him cornered and force him to surrender. Getting him alive would allow them to interrogate him to find out why and how he had planned this theft. It was most likely not random.

Quite fortunately for Lyn, Ssarak had a clear view of the rooftop that she had attempted to jump to. He was upset that she was even attempting such a thing, but helping her took priority over blaming her. Ssarak swooped down towards her, made a half circle back to slow down quickly, then touched down just at the edge of the rooftop, right above her. He reached down to grab her by the wrist, then effortlessly pulled her light body up onto the rooftop with him. “I think you shall need wings if you wish to attempt a jump like that.” He commented. “The thief ran into this warehouse, and…”

Ssarak cut himself off as he concentrated on the minds around him. There were three others moving in, though Ssarak could not see them from where he was. “There may be others.” He warned as he tried to find as many of his friends’ minds as he could in order to send a message. ”The thief has ran into this warehouse; he may not be alone. Myself and Lyn are on the roof. I will see if there is a way to climb in from above; if not, it may be wise to attack from multiple angles.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Following his father's instructions, Julan went straight to Janius. Kaleeth per her arm around him and patted his back gently in an attempt to calm him before turning her gaze back to Lunise. "Yes, he was practicing holding his breath in the water. It feels...bizarre to an Argonian not to be able to breathe the water. But, a werecrocodile can hold their breath for a very long time."

"So...she's a friend, then?" Julan questioned, looking to the reactions of the pack for his answer. Slowly, he raised up his oversized hand and waved awkwardly at Lunise. "Um, hello, then. Uh, nice to meet you."

Meesei's expression held an amused smile at the exchange, but regardless, felt that she wanted to get to their dinner sooner rather than later. If they were all sharing a meal together, Meesei hoped that it would be a better environment for Lunise to open up to her pack. "We have a good supply of meats, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Foods do not rot as easily in the desert, so not everything we have necessarily has to be dried and preserved. However, I would call this a special occasion, being the first time for you to meet my pack non-professionally. I can return to the clan to retrieve more ingredients, so if you had to choose anything you wanted for dinner right now, what would it be?" Meesei asked Lunise.