Hoth: Blood and Ice

Zeno retreated back into the base and collapsed onto a bench, exhaling a deep sigh of relief. His head was throbbing and he wanted a drink.

"Kriiiiiiffff..."

He wiped a bit of sweat off his head before sending Lady Savagery to help cover the entrances in the base.

He looks around at the survivors, refugees and warriors. "Does anyone have something to drink?"

His head lowers onto the bench gently, to prevent any sharp pain.

Garth and Miyi appear at his side a small flask of Corellian brandy in hand.

"Not too much, but it takes th' edge off." Garth comments as his blood crusted hand offers the flask while Miyi drapes an arm around her cousin's shoulder and hugs him tight.

Accepting the flask and swigging from it. "I lost mine on the field."

He pokes his finger into a hole in his armored jacket.

"Waste of good whiskey. But at least we got through it. Now to rest up and be ready if they come at us again, or find an opportunity to get the hell out."

He hands the flask back. "You two doing ok? You need some stims or time in the tank?"

"Been better, been worse." Garth answers vaguely. "S'a right shit show out there, but tha's what we signed up fer right? Fight fer them what need protectin', life an' limb on th' line fer the good 'f all?"

Miyi just winced in faux pain at the mention of the lost flask. "Not the sterling silver wedding gift from Xeno? You're going to be hearing about that for years."

"Nope. Worse than that. It was the one that Ziandra had made up with the crystal inlay of the Thul sigil. Hurts more than getting shot actually. Not a lot more, but definitely more." Zeno admits this with a wince.

"I'll hear about that forever. But at least it wasn't the heirloom one our great grandmother left behind. I was considering bringing that one with."

Because as a noble, it would be ridiculous not to have an overly expensive collection of unreasonably priced versions of a common item.

"Maybe you need to start investing in paper cups." Miyi jokes as she picks a bit of debris out of Garth's hair. "Don't want to fritter away the future of the house finances before the little ones grow up."

Garth just looks around at the assembled refugees. "Ah grew up wi' nuthin, an' ah get th' feeling a lot o' these will be the same. There's worse fates out there than growin' up poor."

"It's fine. My flasks are a drop in the bucket. If I traded them all I'd barely be able to afford an outer rim planet," he jokes, jabbing at the ludicrous wealth nobles tended to have.

"And while growing up poor isn't the worst, I suspect it's not that great either. I'll try to make sure I have a frivolous collection to pass down to them."

Glancing around the room for a moment, Garth asks gently.

"Lady Sav? She make it ok?"

"Yes, she's guarding the entrances. She spent most of the battle making sure nobody interrupted me, so she's still pretty fresh," Zeno explains.

"I saw you two out there. Well, saw isn't quite right. I was aware of you out there. You handled yourselves well."

"Looks like you all went through a lot." Galen looked around as he approached.

Zeno Thul wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 04, 2022 12:36 am

"Yes, she's guarding the entrances. She spent most of the battle making sure nobody interrupted me, so she's still pretty fresh," Zeno explains.

"I saw you two out there. Well, saw isn't quite right. I was aware of you out there. You handled yourselves well."

"Ah felt you too, though ah guess y'know ah couldn' let ya in. Found a lot of takers though ah suspect."

"I was looking for folks with a more compatible mindset," he says with a nod. "No shortage of Sith that didn't mind a more agressive edge. Though honestly, in a battle for survival, I was surprised at how many were not interested in something that would help survive. I'd rather be alive and angry with myself than dead. But that's just me."

He didn't seem bothered by that. Just seemed to not understand why people wouldn't want to be more effective at killing people trying to kill them.

"But as a result, I have a throbbing headache and I feel so kriffing exhausted. Sharing a mind with almost a dozen people over almost a hundred kilometers is... difficult."

Galen sat down and listened.

"Are you doing okay Galen? I sensed you weren't among those on the battlefield. Nothing bad I hope?" Zeno asked.

"No, I wasn't here. I'm sorry." he shook his head. "I and a few others went to Junk Town to negotiate. It went far better than I expected."

"No apologies necessary. We had plenty of folks fighting. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and not a kidnapping or ransom victim. Princes sometimes develop a bad case of captured," Zeno said.

"If the negotiation went well, what is the good news?"

"You weren't the only one who thought that." he smiled. "It could have gone that way, really. All the pirates really care about are credits. And, I still forget about the resources I can access. I convinced them to let me contact Alderaan. Once it was clear I could afford it, we hired the White Maw."

"Well, some of them. A few caught a bad case of dead during that negotiation. But that is pretty great news. We need to ensure some way to keep the credits flowing though, or they're just going to switch loyalties again. Probably at an inopportune moment."

He nodded. "I asked them for the means to communicate off-world. We should be able to make appropriate arrangements, and learn more about what's going on. I spoke with Jameela, which was a relief for me. But, her brothers would have had a better idea of things."

Zeno nods his agreement. He likes Jameela, and she's probably doing a great deal to help those suffering from the war, but she was no tactician or strategist.

"Did you let Katarzyna know yet? I'd send her a message to let her know you contacted Jameela. She'd probably be unhappy if she doesn't find out from you soon."

"I'm looking for her, too." he nodded. "I saw all of you first. When I spoke with her, I did tell Jameela that you guys and Kat were okay, so she could pass it along."

"I appreciate that. Guessing the greedy pirates were worried more about their credits and didn't let much conversation happen?"

"At first, I was concerned about that. I thought they might cater tge deal or change their minds, if I used the opportunity to pass information back and forth.." he nodded. "But, they honestly didn't seem to care much once their credits were confirmed. Even so, it seemed best to finish the deal and get back here."

"Well, I certainly appreciate what you've done. Means we get to return with some mercenaries on our side too. Hopefully we get out of here before anyone succumbs to frostbite or gets eaten by a mechawampa."

"Mechawhatnow?" Garth asked not believing the portmanteau.

"Tha's it, ah'm keepin' the Sparrow in constant ready mode."