Sebbik is paying absolutely no attention to his surroundings, lulled into a false sense of security by the quiet tranquility of the jungle and the distraction offered by his enjoyment of flying again.
Callum moves along with the rest, keeping eyes and ears open and thanking the Force for all-temperature cloaks.
Jek continues to keep a keen eye out, at the same time, wondering alloud, Would you believe how many different species of fungus we've passed? He said, I have to wonder how many of them are edible.
This time, it is Jek who is able to keep the group on course, heading towards the prison.
The cacophony of noise created by insects and other animals makes it nearly impossible to hear the splash of your footsteps through the Felucian swamp. The open area you walk into resembles a large, shallow pool of water with narrow islands rising out of the water, looking like stepping stones that are slightly too far apart to jump across. A faint mist hangs over the swampy ground, drifting over the still pool of water.
4+8=12
18+8=26
18+8=26
19+8=27
18+8=26
As you move through the swamp, all except Galatea notice you are being watched by a tall, muscular bipedal being. Its seems to be a member of the native Felucian species. The long, slender form of a rancor’s jawbone juts down from the Felucian’s hand, and the scout’s body is barely covered by a leafy loincloth. A tangle of tendrils around his face makes it impossible to see his eyes, and the mud and other foliage plastered to his body camouflages him against the backdrop of the swamp.
Callum keeps his hands away from any weapons on his person as he speaks softly to the others. "See that? I think we should just continue to seem as non-threatening as possible. After all, no need to give a bad impression from the start. Plus, just because we see only one does not necessarily mean there actually is only one around."
"See what? Oh, that."
"We'll leave you alone if you leave us be friend." says Winter to the savage humanoid.
Sebbik hands are clammy and cold on the controls of the hoversled as he listens to the others. The native is very well-camouflaged, and the duros wonders if there are others out there that they haven't spotted. It seems unlikely to the hacker that there would be one lone native out here in the middle of nowhere. Unless he - or she - is a scout? "Let's just get out of here." Sebbik agrees heartily with Callum then he winces as Winter talks directly to the native. Maybe it's better that he knows we're aware of him. Right? He tells himself.
Jek noticed that he was being watched by an alien, and then Callum was the first to point it out, his hand dropping to his holster as discreetly as possible, not to pick it up, but to charge up the next shot, should this devolve into a fight, he wanted his Bryar pistol to fire at full power, the first time, Peace is just not to be had, then, hm? He asked in a mumbled tone, Then moving his hands crossed behind his head in as nonthreatening a way as possible.
The Felucian, realizing he has been seen, stands up and says something to you. He sounds somewhat angry, and he gesticulates with what looks like a club-sized piece of jawbone in his hand. At one point during his speech, he points the bone at Sebbik and the repulsor sled.
"Do not think you can fool us, Imperials, by removing your white shells. You are not permitted in our lands, and you have given yourselves away by using that floating weapon block. Turn back now, or we shall destroy you."
You get the sense that Callum's suggestion isn't a bad one, but without a means to speak the language, you will have to rely on physical cues to convey that you are not a threat.
"I don't speak your language friend, but even a novice hunter should be able to see that we both outnumber and outgun you. Don't start anything and there won't be anything."
"You do realize he probably does not understand you, right? And you do also realize we are basically in his home, so to speak? Pretty much uninvited? And pretty much incapable of knowing if we do indeed outnumber him?"
Callum sighs and then proceeds to slowly unfasten the holster along with his pistol and put it on the ground. Then he walks forward slowly, a smile on his face and his arms in the air, showing that he is holding no other weapons as he looks at the humanoid with the bone club. He tries to make his posture and movements as non-threatening as possible and watches for the Felucian's reaction.
"Follow Callum's lead please, no fast or aggressive moves."Says Galatea to her companions as she also moves forward, her blaster out of sight and trying her best to look friendly and non-threatening. To a sentient starfish.
Jek keeps his body-language calm and tries, in Sy Bisti and then Huttese, just in case, to talk them down, keeping his voice low and smooth.
We're friendly. We mean you and this planet no harm. We are merely passing by,
The Felucian studies you all, then holds up a hand that you recognize as a gesture to stop. He pulls an animal horn of some kind off his belt, then puts it to his lips and blows - two short blasts, one long blast, two short, one long. Further ahead you see two Felucians get up from their hiding spots and run off in the direction you were heading, moving easily through the ankle-deep water and mud to disappear into the jungle. The Felcuian returns the horn to his belt and waits, eyeing you with distrust.
Sebbik's eyes widen when he sees the other two natives rise up from their hiding places and run off. He'd never even noticed them!
The duros turns to the others, keeping the repulsor sled in hover mode. "Uh... what's going on? Anyone... um... understand them? Are they uh... are they going to attack us?"
"I can't understand them and I doubt anyone else can. Or that they can understand us. What I think is happening is we have managed to show them we are not going to attack them and they are not attacking us either. With a bit of good luck the two who just left are going to get someone who speaks Basic. With a bit of bad luck they have gone to fetch more of their fellows so they can murder us more efficiently." Galatea's eyes scan the surrounds nervously as she speaks.
"Them trying to murder us would be a bad call. I get the feeling that they're getting a translator, or telling the members of their tribe ahead to ignore us."
"I hope so Winter. There must be far more of them than us and they know the terrain and we do not. Even if we can slaughter them because we have blasters and they have bone clubs and knives it is a vile thing to do. What is the point of revolting against the Empire if you are going to act like Imperials? I hope we can keep the peace with these people."
Sebbik nods at Galatea's reasoning, then speaks. "You know... uh... they might know something about this prison that could ummm... that could help us, maybe. If we uh... if we can find a way to uh... to talk to them..." The duros is a bit nervous as he waits, fiddling with the controls on the sled as he watches to see what happens next. He would be happy to avoid a conflict with these savage-looking natives, who seem to him to be a bit scarier than stormtroopers for some reason.
After about 15 minutes or so, the two Felucians return. With them is a human male in his middle years with stringy gray hair and a scarred face. His clothing appears to be some kind of faded, slightly tattered uniform. The two Felucians escort him up to you, and he says, "Greetings. My name is Vazus Mandrake. I'm curious what brings you to the back jungles of Felucia."
Waiting in anticipation for whatever it was that was about to happen, Jek was relieved to see the human, someone speaking basic, come out to greet them,
Greetings, I'm Captain Jek, this is my crew, He gestured to the rest of the team, We're here on a mission of galactic importance, He said, not willing to divulge in everything to Vasuz right away.
"What is also important," Callum adds, "is that we are not Imperials."
"Far from it," he finishes as he tries to take a better look at what remains of the man's uniform in case he recognizes it.
"What they said. We just happened to be moving along on our own business, friend, and noticed your scout watching us. He sent for some reinforcements, and here you are."
Sebbik clears his throat nervously and speaks. "How uh... how do you come to be with these umm... natives, sir? Did your ship crash here and leave you uh... stranded?" The duros recalls some of the fantastic books he read as a youth, tales of brave explorers who found themselves without a ship or any way home on some strange, hostile planet - which naturally led to many pages of exciting battles and unlikely friendships. Perhaps, Sebbik wonders, this a real-life example of just such a scenario?
Vazus rubs his chin, studying you for a moment, and then says, "Galactic importance, huh? You're a tale-teller, I'll bet." Looking at Winter and Callum, he says, "Well, you see, the way you were moving, you're headed directly towards that scout's village. Now, the villagers are fairly hospitable - they took me in after my unit was wiped out in the Clone Wars, healed me up. Problem is, Imperial forces have been harassing them lately, and they thought you all were Imperials. The Imperial logo on that hoversled didn't help your case either. Tell you what, why don't you guys come meet with the chieftain? He's a pretty good judge of character. Once you've talked with him, you can be on your way. Besides, it looks like you've been trudging through the jungle for a while, and it'll be a safe place for you to rest if you'd like. You don't want to be out in the wilds at night - never know when a bull rancor will come across your campsite."
Sebbik shrugs, but is inwardly intrigued by the former soldier's story. The duros is eager to hear more, and spending the night in a village seems better than trying to get by in the wilds. Besides, he is still hopeful that the man might know something about the Imperial prison.
"It sounds like a good idea," Callum agrees with the man. "And who knows, we may even find a solution of sorts to that Imperial problem of yours."
Winter sighs as the rest of the group more or less explains their entire mission. We need to have a talk about operational security when we get back to the ship. thinks Winter to himself, although he stays calm with neutral body language.
"I agree. Pleased to meet you Vazus, my name is Galatea Rayven." Says Galatea following Callum's last remark, smiling warmly at Vazus.
Vazus smiles and says, "Great. Give me one minute." He then speaks to the Felucians, who seem to have a discussion or argument about something in the Felucian tongue, before three more Feleucians appear out of the water. The Felucians ring your group as Vazus says, "They've agreed to escort you to the chieftain and the village. The just don't trust you, yet."
You move through the jungle for about 5 minutes before you come to the Felucian village. The village appears to have been carved almost completely out of the massive mushrooms that dominate the Felucian landscape. Each one looks old and petrified, making the mushroom huts appear far more solid than their still-living counterparts elsewhere in the jungle. In the center of the village, a number of native Felucians gather in a half circle, squatting by a cooking fire and turning to look at you as you enter. Though the village area has been cleared, small mushrooms and other plants still rise up from the ground, as though the jungle itself resisted any attempts at civilization.
As you move through the jungle, one by one, villagers come up and seem to inquire about you to Vazus, who explains, "They're curious about you. The only non-Felucians they've seen coming by are Imperials. They want to know why you're here. The Chief will want to know as well."
He hesitates, then asks, "Why are you here? Felucia isn't exactly the kind of place you want to take a vacation."
"They uh... they're friendly, right? I mean... they aren't going to cook us up in a pot or anything?" Sebbik is completely out of his element here, without any computer ports within a hundred miles (or so it seems to the duros) and with no cafe or coffee shop in sight. He fiddles nervously with the controls of the repulsor sled, as though giving strong consideration to throttling the engine to maximum speed at any second to get clear of these strange, silent villagers.
Winter will let the others take point here.
"We are not on vacation. Though the local ecology would doubtless be of much interest to those who study such things, so Felucia may not be quite as devoid of interest to travelers as you suggest. We come here on a mission to liberate a prisoner of the Empire. So we and your Felucian friends have an enemy in common. A large and powerful one at that."says Galatea in response to Vazus, trying to convince him that the party are trustworthy and enemies of the Empire.
Vazus smiles at Sebbik. "Yes they're friendly. They primarily eat vegetables, so they aren't going to cook you in a pot. Only people they hate are the Imperials." He points at an effigy of a stormtrooper hanging from its neck on a mushroom tree.
At Galatea's answer, Vazus gets a serious look on his face. "You're talking about the Imperial facility, aren't you? Come with me." Vazus turns and leads you towards one of the huts, which is near what appears to be a herd of kybucks - definitely not native to Felucia. He ducks into the hut and then emerges carrying an explosive device. "After the Imperials killed my squad and left me for dead, I was mad at them - still am. I've wanted to blow that facility up for over a year. Living with the Felucians must have made me soft, but there's something evil about that place. Lately, Felucians who get too close to it are disappearing. That's one of the reasons they don't like the Empire. Placing this charge in the communications center should create a big enough explosion to destroy the place. I'm asking you to do it for me. Will you?"
Sebbik's eyes widen as he considers the device, and the science-driven part of his mind suddenly bursts to the fore, leaving his introverted side in its dust. "Wow! Hey, that would need a lot of energy to destroy a facility the size of a communications center though, wouldn't it? Will we need to set off the explosion near a power core of some kind to amplify the energy output uhh... sufficiently...?" The duros trails off then, as if realizing how he's been talking.
"That is... uh.... well, there's a fellow we ummm.... need to get out of there.... uh... first, you see. A uh... a rebel spy I ummm... guess you would say. Do uh... do you know about the.... the layout of the place? We umm... we need to find a way in."
"Good point Sebbik, a map of the place we are attacking would make our task easier. And as you astutely point out it would be preferable not to blow ourselves up. What sort of blast radius does your charge have Vazus? And does anyone here have the knowledge to set such a charge? I could always try, but I would have to learn by trial and error..."observes Galatea with some wry humour.
Sebbik smiles almost shyly at Galatea. "Well I uh... I know a bit about setting explosives. Theoretical anyway, I've uh... I've never actually done it, but it umm... well it's not unlike hacking into a computer, really."
What a coincidence, we hate imperials, too, Jek said in as friendly a tone of voice as he could, muster, Are they capturing them for any nefarious purposes, or are they just... disappearing them? He asked, when it came to the subject of missing Felucians.
An Imperial facility this far out into nowhere probably has different lines of defense, Jek said, Rather than blowing it up, might I suggest shutting it down? This is a pretty hostile territory. For sure they're making an effort to keep more than just us out.
"It would be... quieter," Callum replies with a nod of agreement. "The end result would probably be the same, getting rid of an Imperial facility, but if we can make it look like a malfunction perhaps, then we might be able to keep out involvement... well, maybe not entirely hidden, but at least subtle?"
Vazus shakes his head. "If you shut it down, it'll be easy for the Empire to get it up and running. You blow it up, then the Empire might decide it's more trouble than it's worth to rebuild it. Don't worry about being affiliated with it - there's enough ordnance left over from the Clone Wars on this planet that its plausible the Felucians could have figured out how to use it. Besides, how do yo plan to keep your involvement a secret if you're there to bust out a prisoner? An explosion that destroys the base will cover your tracks and eliminate any evidence left behind - video or otherwise. Will you do it?"
"I think you are correct Vazus. The Imperial facility needs blowing up as you say. The only thing that gives me pause is, as you say Vazus, the Imperials may blame the Felucians and I am concerned this may bring the wrath of the Empire down on them. But our mission is important and this is the way to do it. So you figure you can arm the explosives Sebbik?"