[Flame]

Current Situation: Pursuit
Action: Escape
Objective: Gain attention of target

It was an abnormally quiet day in the forest today. Sunlight filtered through the trees, lighting all but the deepest undergrowth with a warm, clear glow, the soft, almost hypnotic rustling of the leaves in the canopy punctuated only by the distant call of a lone bird, hidden somewhere in the gently shifting mass of emerald. It was one of those silences which would have felt like sacrilege to break, one that wasn’t calm or lazy, but instead, it seemed more as if the entire forest was simply holding its breath in anticipation of something that was supposed to happen, although exactly what that was was anyone’s guess.

Unexpectedly, a flash of bright gold flickered amidst the still tree trunks, streaking along as it dodged and darted deftly through the tangle of plants that sought to slow its progress. Upon closer inspection, the figure resolved itself into that of a willowy young woman, a decidedly odd sight in these otherwise deserted forests, especially since she didn’t appear to be geared for a venture into these less-than-friendly parts. However, despite this fact, she seemed quite adept at picking her way through the thick growth, her form-fitting attire keeping her from snagging on the outstretched branches and brambles, her feet light upon the padded ground. A long mane of shockingly teal hair streamed behind her like a banner against the natural browns and greens which surrounded her, the gold bands wrapped around her wrists, ankles and neck glinting in the dappled light, making her stand out like a neon sign in a dark alley.


Which was unfortunate, considering she was being pursued.
A moment or two later, a second blur (this one considerably larger and heavier, judging by the sound of its footfalls) went barreling through the trees after the woman, and despite its much more natural coloration, it would still have been near impossible to miss a giant, crystalline lion crashing through the forest. A long path of destruction followed it through the undergrowth as it crushed the plants to mulch beneath its paws with a single bound. It seemed dead-bent on one thing, and one thing only; to catch the dwindling figure that remained just out of its reach. The unnatural creature showed no signs of tiring, and if anything, it only sped up when it sensed that it was drawing closer to its intended target.

Its quarry, on the other hand, did not seem to be faring quite as well. She must have been running for hours, or perhaps even days, if the state of her clothing was anything to judge by. It was nicked and slightly torn in places, and lightly smattered with dirt. Fatigue was starting to show in her face and her ragged breath as her pace flagged, seemingly unable to push herself much harder, even with the Hunter all but breathing down her neck. However, unknown to anyone but herself, her slowing down was a calculated change of pace, her appearance of exhaustion carefully acted out to perfection, down to her gasping breaths and the occasional fearful glance thrown over her shoulder at her advancing pursuer. Also, she wasn’t running just anywhere in this vast forest; no, instead, she ensured that she would be chased to the specific coordinates which had been given to her a few hours earlier, and by her calculations, she would reach her destination right about…
Now.
In a flurry of color and movement, she burst into a clearing in the trees where the bright sun streamed down unimpeded. However, this particular clearing wasn’t empty, as one might have expected. Instead, it currently seemed to be the temporary resting place of a tent, a campfire, a log, and the man perched upon it who had clearly not been expecting visitors, especially of her sort.

Objective Complete
New Objective: Make contact with target

Instead of stopping at the sight of the man, the young woman merely spared him a glance, bright, fearful eyes the color of Spanish emerald meeting his for a mere breath, a fraction of a second, before she darted through his campsite and was swallowed by the trees once again. However, before he had the chance to process that, the Hunter came crashing out of the forest after its quarry, completely uninterested in the man who happened to stand spectator to this odd spectacle. It cleared the glade in a single bound, its back paws just clipping the top of the tent upon its exit and bringing it to the ground before it too vanished (not so quietly) back into the forest, still tirelessly bent on catching its fleeing prey.

[MillietheWarrior]

Another day, another mission in some remote, sweaty, wholly uncomfortable jungle in the shebs end of the galaxy toiling away for a cause that really didn’t exist.

A’den sighed and scratched his neck lazily, leaning back on the log that sat near his well-prepared campfire. He leaned forward on his elbows, and reached out a hand to turn the spit that rested over the fire. A strange type of avian (he honestly didn’t care what it was, as long as it was edible) was roasting on the spit, and it looked as though it was nearly done. He could almost feel his mouth watering in anticipation. Truth be told, A’den really didn’t want to be here. He was getting a little tired of these solo missions on the back end of the planet systems. His talents were wasted here, and so was his time. Nothing interesting ever happened on these backwater planets. Well, nothing that interested him, at least. A’den sighed and prodded his dinner with a stick, looking bored as he stared into the fire. He decided ‘annoyed’ was a good word to describe how he was feeling right now.

Checking over the bird once again, he decided it seemed safe enough to eat, and was about to pull it off when the sound of something crashing through the brush caught him by surprise. A’den was able to look up just in time to see a woman flash past him, eyes connecting briefly with his in a panic, before she was gone. A’den blinked slowly. What the…hell? His eyebrow twitched slightly, wondering if he was going crazy or if something about his dinner was slightly off (Maybe one wasn’t supposed to cook this type of bird after all). His face clearly betrayed his confusion (and was decidedly what one would call a ‘WTF’ face). Who was that girl and…why was she running? What was she running fro- A’den’s thoughts were interrupted when a giant crystalline lion came crashing through the brush. He nearly fell over backwards on the log. “What the hell?” he shouted as the crystal feline raced past.

It leapt over his tent, not even sparing him a glance. Unfortunately, when it’s paws clipped his tent, they[/didn’t just wobble the supports. They collapsed the entire thing (and let’s not even mention the large gash it’s claws had left in the top) and A’den was left staring at an empty clearing, a now completely burned and ruined dinner, and a collapsed and shredded tent. This time his shout wasn’t one of confusion, but of anger. He snarled in the back of his throat, grabbing his blasters from beside the log and holstering them as he slapped the top half of his armor back on. He didn’t bother to don the helmet clipped to his belt as he took off in the direction of the Hunter and it’s prey. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted angrily. “Get back here you stupid cat! I’m going to skin you alive and turn you into a sink cabinet! Damn it!”

He upholstered one of his blasters, catching a glimpse of the cat just up ahead. He didn’t know where the girl went, and frankly, he didn’t care. All that mattered to him was killing the stupid cat that had ruined his dinner and his tent. When he did, he was going to turn the thing into a necklace. Maybe one of his brother’s girlfriends would like a nice, Malachite colored charm bracelet or something. Gritting his teeth, A’den closed one eye and squeezed the trigger, a bolt of blue light racing towards the cat in front of him.

[Flame]

If the explosive curse that reached her ears was anything to judge by, it was pretty safe to say that she’d quite successfully (and thoroughly) completed her first objective. Now, however, it was a matter of the most careful timing; while she had to slow down to ensure that she didn’t get far enough away for her quarry to lose interest, at the same time, she had to ensure that the huge stone cat didn’t get a chance to catch up to her too soon either. Otherwise, that would be the end of her mission, and if nothing else, her cover would most certainly be blown. Every stride was painstakingly calculated as she stayed just a hair’s breadth out of the Hunter’s reach, and she could all but feel it breathing down her neck as it bore down on her, the heavy ‘thuds’ of its footfalls shaking the very earth beneath her feet.

She was worried that the man would not take pursuit. If that were the case, then she would have to do some quick thinking to salvage the situation. After all, it would be rather suspicious if she (and her pursuer) were to come crashing through the same clearing twice, this time going back in the direction from which they had come. It had taken months and months of meticulous research and careful tracking on her father’s part to finally track down one of these elusive ‘Clones’ of which he so often spoke, and to botch this would be tantamount to throwing years of effort and of remaining under the radar clear out the window. For that reason, and because they were father’s orders (which were never to be disobeyed), she could not fail the task which had been given to her.

Luckily, the sounds of the man’s righteous anger were not fading into the distance, which could only mean that he had given chase and was keeping up with them. The next obstacle was actually getting him to intervene with the current situation. The woman knew very well that there was little he could do to actually faze the huge, crystalline lion unless he happened to be armed with nothing short of a rocket launcher (which she was quite certain he was not). That alone posed a bit of a challenge for her, forcing her to consider the options available to her, none of which were particularly favorable from her perspective. However, given her circumstances, she didn’t have much luxury to choose, so all she could do was steel herself for the inevitable.

Sure now that the armored man was hot on their tail, she dropped her pace to a struggling stumble, allowing the Hunter to finally catch up to its prey. The cat, sensing the sudden proximity of its quarry, bunched its powerful legs and propelled itself into the air, launching itself at the woman right before its eyes, bringing itself crashing down upon her. She turned just in time to see the huge form come hurtling towards her, then its monstrous, jagged forepaws caught her full on the chest and she was slammed mercilessly into the forest floor, her ribs screaming with agony as what felt like several tons of rock weighed down upon her, knocking the air clean out of her lungs as she struggled to maintain consciousness, darkness creeping at the edges of her vision as she wavered on the brink of blacking out.

The bolt from A’den’s rifle merely reflected off of the cat’s gem-like hide, leaving the stone smooth and unharmed. However, the bright flash of blue light did momentarily distract it from the prey it finally had pinned beneath its giant paws and it turned its great head, pupil-less eyes staring at the angry figure standing behind it as its crystalline tail flicked contemplatively. For a moment, it seemed as if the Hunter were about to turn and launch an attack on the man who had distracted it instead, yet completely unexpectedly, it rose from its crouch and took off into the undergrowth once again with neither rhyme nor reason, vanishing once more into the thick trees as if it had never been there in the first place.

[MillietheWarrior]

A’den had to admit, he hadn’t thought his shot would just bounce off the cat like that. He’d never encountered a hunter before, especially not one as big as this, and the idea that he couldn’t just blast it to pieces frightened him a little. And kind of pissed him off too. “You stupid cat!” he shouted again, shaking a righteously angry fist in it’s direction. “What is wrong with you?! Why won’t you just die like a good little kitty!?” he fired another shot, but it bounced off harmlessly, and A’den practically had to dive into the bushes to avoid the blue bolt as it ricocheted off of the crystalline hide. He didn’t seem concerned or interested in the girl the Hunter had been chasing; in fact, he seemed to have forgotten all about her.

When he finally hauled himself back to his feet, it seemed the Hunter ha decided to take off. “Hey, get back here and die, you poor excuse for a boulder!” he snarled after it, waving his gun in the air. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t exactly as professional about the entire thing as he should have been. Soldiers didn’t wave their fists and rifles at their enemies. But damn it, that thing ruined his dinner and destroyed his tent. A’den gritted his teeth, growling under his breath about ‘dogs being better than cats’ before he re-holstered his blaster and turned to leave. The sight of a head of shockingly teal hair stopped him, and with a start, A’den suddenly remembered what the hunter had been chasing: this girl. He blinked, stared, and then blinked again, watching her curiously.

What was she doing in the middle of nowhere? And why was she dressed like that? “Hey,” he said hesitantly, not sure how to approach her. From the look on her face, she seemed like she was in pain. But he was almost afraid to get too close; he wasn’t exactly the least intimidating person out there. He approached her carefully, treating her as he would a wounded animal, and kneeled a few feet away. “You all right?” he asked, slowly, carefully. “I have a first aid kit back at my camp, if you’re injured. Do you need any help?” he reached out a hand, as if to touch her arm, but then pulled back. What was he supposed to do in this situation? If it had been a brother, he’d have just dragged them back to camp and fixed them up. But she was a woman, and the rules were different with women. What should he do? “Listen, I can carry you if you need it. How badly are you hurt? Can you walk?”

[Flame]

Current condition: Minor internal damage; non-fatal
Action: Continue current objective

With the crushing pressure of a ton of animated rock off of her chest, the sudden rush of oxygen returning to her system made her feel dizzy and lightheaded for a moment and she spluttered and coughed weakly as her body tried to regulate bloodflow. However, she almost immediately regretted this as the abrupt expansion of her compressed lungs set fire to her ribs once again with a paralyzing wave of pain. She couldn’t allow this to set her back on her mission though; she was no stranger to pain as she was far better acquainted with it than most people. After all, it had played an integral part in her training, and she viewed it as nothing more than what she deserved for her shortcomings and failures.

For a moment, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to overcome the wave of nausea as she mastered the protests of her aching ribs. It was hard to tell for sure, but from her brief analysis (once the fog of pain had cleared enough for her mind to process other things once again), nothing seemed broken, although there was no doubt that there were likely a few fractured ribs. It was fortunate that she hadn’t come out of the situation worse, considering the circumstances under which she had sustained her injuries. The Hunter, having fulfilled its duty, had vanished once again, although she was quite certain that it would not have hesitated to go farther if necessary, and the ends it would have gone to would likely have made her current condition look like she were in perfect health, comparatively.

It was a moment before it registered with her that someone was talking to her. Considering the fact that there wasn’t anyone else in this stretch of forest for miles around besides the Hunter (which was probably long gone by now), her, and her target, she assumed that she’d finally succeeded in getting his attention. With another deep, steadying breath (she was careful not to breathe too deeply, because any chest movement caused a shot of pain), she finally opened her eyes again, and casting her gaze about, they finally came to rest upon the figure kneeling a few feet away from her. She blinked at him, taking in the armor-clad entirety of him with just the right amount of wariness and fear in her gaze. After all, she was a delicate-looking, possibly injured young woman stranded alone in the middle of an otherwise deserted forest with only this intimidating stranger for company. Anyone in their right mind in her position would have been somewhat alarmed.

Objective Complete
New Objective: Gain trust of target

“Who are you?” It was a rhetorical question, but he wouldn’t know that. Plus, in this situation, it would only make sense for her to be cautious of an oddly-clad stranger who was offering her help. Her piercing eyes remained locked unwaveringly upon his, a challenge in their depths, as if daring him to try anything questionable around her, although there was an undercurrent of a plea buried beneath it as well. She tried to push herself up into a seated position, but a fresh wave of pain forced her back down once again just as quickly, a faint gasp of pain escaping her lips, although she pressed them firmly together once again to keep any other unwelcome signs of weakness from issuing from them. She glared balefully at the man beside her, as if it were his fault that she was unable to move, although it was clearly no more than a cover for her own frailty. “I’m…fine,” she said mulishly. One had to admire how artfully she played her part; there was just the right amount of hesitation in her voice despite her stubbornness, every action carefully calculated to pull at the man’s very heartstrings. Slow and steady...better to take time now than risk failing the entire operation by rushing things.

[MillietheWarrior]

A’den brow creased in worry when he saw the myriad of emotions playing across the woman’s face, with the most prevalent being the vast amount of pain she was in. Mentally, his gaze raked over her, assessing the possible damage she had incurred from the ‘scuffle’ with the Hunter. What had she been doing out here all alone? Could she have gotten lost? Did she live around here? A’den didn’t know the forest well enough to know for sure if there were any houses in it, but he did know of a few villages just on the outskirts. Those villages, however, were not populated by humans, but by Ergesh. The strange, plant-like sentients were welcoming, but A’den sincerely doubted a human could ever survive in their midst, despite how kind they were. This swampy, forested planet was not suitable for prolonged human habitation. A’den himself was already getting weary of it, and he’d been there only a total of two weeks. So where then, had she come from?

His eyes narrowed only slightly when he considered the idea that she was a spy or some type of assassin sent after him or one of the clan leaders of the Ergesh. His job here was to be sure the Separatists had not established a base or communications with the sentient plant species, and insofar, the Ergesh were loyal only to the Republic. But the idea that this woman had been sent to set up some type of contact with the native peoples worried A’den and set him on his guard. “I think the better question here is, who are you,” A’den said mildly, his gaze steady as he watched her. With each wince of pain his hands itched to reach out and help her, but he didn’t want to help a potential enemy if he could avoid it. Maybe though, he was being way too judgmental. She couldn’t be anything other than just a girl running through the forest, right? But A’den was anything but stupid and naïve, and he knew that anyone, man, woman, child, or alien species, could be a threat. His eyes raked over her body, looking for any sign of a weapon; she had none, which led him to believe she was either lost or a runaway. No one in their right mind would forego a weapon in a place like this.

A’den had to admit that he as thoroughly confused by this woman and the situation he found himself in. Her glare caught him off guard, and he wondered what he’d done to cause her to look at him in that manner. “It’s fine,” he said at last. “I won’t hurt you unless you try to hurt me,” he said honestly. Might as well tell her the truth. She’d be safer with him if she knew he wouldn’t tolerate any funny business. “When you ran by my camp, that Hunter knocked over my tent and ruined my dinner. I was going to turn it into a pile of rubble, but it ran off before I could.” He frowned, motioning to her ribs with his hand. “Looks like it caught you pretty good there, didn’t it?” He shifted uncomfortably, his armor pinching as he squatted down a few feet away. “My name is A’den. And you are not ‘fine.’ Let me help you, and then you can be on your way.”

Provided- he thought. -that you are not with the separatists. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to either take you back to the Republic, or kill you…deadening on the amount of trouble you give me. I sincerely hope you’re just a lost girl. I don’t fancy have to stick a knife in your gut. He shifted a little closer, holding out his hand in a peace offering. “Come on,” he said, before he moved forward and lifted her up into his arms without so much as a single warning. He knew it would probably smart when he moved her, but it wasn’t as if he could just leave her lying there. “I’ll get you fixed up.” He headed back to the camp (which he remembered was in ruins; damn cat!) and in no time, he’d returned to the small, still roaring fire, and set her down with her back to the log. “Tell me exactly where it hurts.”

[Flame]

Echo’s gaze was still wary as she regarded the man, although it seemed relatively safe to say that he didn’t look as if he were about to go out of his way to harm her right at this instant. Her eyes were also scrutinizing as she studied him, curious as to the nature of the clones which she’d spent the entirety of her short life learning about. She knew all about their training, their weaponry, their hierarchy, and even their culture, yet with all those years of teaching, this was the first time she had actually come face-to-face with one. Before today, the only encounters she’d had with them were what she had seen out of holovids and surveillance tapes. She had never had much contact with people aside from her father and the rest of those back at ‘home’ (if they could really be called people), and to interact with someone that was real flesh and blood and had a distinct character was decidedly different from the many countless simulations she had run.

At the man’s retort to her question, she favored him with a somewhat defiant raise of the eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be asking any questions if I wasn’t planning on giving any answers, if I were you,” she replied primly, although her demeanor clearly showed that she was simply trying to prove that he didn’t intimidate her in the least. Which wasn’t entirely true. She didn’t miss the quick once-over he gave her, checking her over for weapons, or anything that could be of possible threat to him. However, this had been accounted for beforehand as well, and she had nothing on her but herself and the clothes and gold bands that she wore. He could check all he wanted to, but there was nothing to find that would render her even remotely suspicious.

As he spoke again, she managed a faint snort of amusement, although she stopped just as quickly as she had started, as laughing proved considerably more painful than breathing. However, some of the tension which she held seemed to dissipate as she spared him a somewhat friendlier glance. “I don’t think I’m really in much condition to be trying to hurt you,” she commented dryly. “I’m not sure I could if I tried, even on one of my better days. At least, that’s if that armor is anything to judge by.” Her expression was vaguely puzzled, as if wondering why in the world someone would be wandering out in the middle of a deserted forest fully-clad in a suit of armor. It wasn’t exactly all too common of a sights, especially around these parts.

When A’den made a small movement in her direction, her gaze turned slightly suspicious once again, but she wasn’t in any particular condition to protest. “Why-,” she started, but her question was cut off when he suddenly scooped her up into his arms and began to trek back along the path that the Hunter had torn through the undergrowth. If Echo was planning on objecting, her protest was lost in an involuntary cringe as her battered and bruised ribs shifted as she was moved, and a short, soft cry of pain escaped her before she could bite it back. “Hey…”she managed weakly, managing one feeble squirm before subsiding, as the pain that ensued threatened to swallow her in a shroud of unconsciousness.

“I give up, you win. Do with me what you will.” There was an undercurrent of humor in her tone of mock defeat as she let him carry her back to his camp. However, as he gently set her down, propping her up against the log which he had recently occupied, she couldn’t help but be slightly perplexed. Why would someone help a stranger, a possible enemy, without being sure of their intentions first? Kindness wasn’t supposed to be given unless there was some sort of personal gain to be reaped from it. Those were the things she had learned from her father, and they were the beliefs she lived by as she’d never had any other sort of outside influence in her life. This was all new and foreign to her, but now was not the time to contemplate that. After all, she had a mission to carry out. “Does my entire chest count as ‘exactly’?” she asked wryly in response to his question. “By the way, I’m Echo,” she added, almost as an afterthought. After all, it only seemed fair that she give him hers as he’d offered his first.

[MillietheWarrior]

A’den stared down at the girl, still musing over the oddity of her appearance, both in looks and in the forest. If the gold on her body was any indication, he could almost say for sure that she wasn’t some poor farmer girl or some lost space traveler. She looked like she belonged somewhere, but just where that somewhere was, A’den had no idea. He watched her carefully, amused at her answers to his questions. She didn’t seem inclined to give any information away right away, but A’den was certain after a few pokes and prods, she’d be willing to talk. And if it turned out she wasn’t who she appeared to be, then he was prepared to take things to an entirely different level. His eyes narrowed only slightly at the thought, but his face remained impassive, watching her, waiting for some kind of information that would give him a clue as to who she was and where she came from. Your chest?” he asked, glancing down at her.

A lesser man might’ve blushed, but for A’den, it was business as usual. He stood up and walked to the disassembled tent, throwing aside the covering (which he was silently fuming over; he’d have to stitch up the tears the Hunter had made in the top) and rifling around in his belongings. He came up with a medium sized med-pack, carrying it back over to where echo was waiting. Sitting down on the log beside her, he opened the pack and pulled out a roll of wide, thick bandages. “Well, most likely that thing broke one or more of your ribs when it pinned you down. So we’ll need to wrap your chest to make sure they don’t shift around too much. It’ll probably be a bit painful for a while too. And I wouldn’t take any deep breaths unless you want to inadvertently puncture a lung.”

He began to unroll the bandages. “I suggest you roll these around your chest, but you’ll have to remove your, erm, top.” He looked away thoughtfully. “I won’t look, but if you need help, you can ask.” he handed her the roll of bandages, then stood and headed back over to the tent to survey the extent of the damage. “Echo, huh?” he called over his shoulder, keeping his back turned to her at all times. “Where exactly are you from, Echo? I’ve never seen another human around these parts. Do you live here?”

[Flame]

Echo could tell that her ‘savior’ was studying her thoroughly, as if he could read her mind and discern exactly who she was and what she was doing here by sight alone. She acted as if she hadn’t noticed though, her own gaze roving briefly over his campsite, or at least what was left of it after her pursuer had come through. Now it looked more like a bulldozer had recently been through here, but it didn’t seem like any serious harm had been done. Besides a couple of large gashes in the fabric of the tent and his burnt dinner, it seemed like he’d gotten off pretty lucky, all things considered. After all, at least the Hunter hadn’t stepped on everything that was inside the tent.

She could still sense that he was suspicious of her, but that was to be expected. She was certain that her father wouldn’t have taken such a keen interest in the men of his sort if they had all been idiots, so she was careful to tread cautiously around him. Despite his misgivings though, he did not hesitate to offer her assistance. Struggling against the suffocating pain, she managed to painstakingly pull herself up into a sitting position, although she swayed for a few seconds, stars popping momentarily before her eyes before her vision cleared and she could breathe semi-properly once again. When she looked up once again, A’den was returning with what looked like a field first-aid kit. “So what are you, some kind of doctor?” she asked jokingly as she watched him sort through the contents of the med-pack. “I’d like to know that I’m getting some sort of professional medical diagnosis before allowing you to administer treatment. Although I do believe you on that ‘painful’ bit,” she added thoughtfully with a wince as her entire chest twinged.

Any other woman would have blushed at his ‘doctor’s orders’, yet Echo didn’t seem terribly fazed by it at all. In truth, she had never really been taught some of those finer points, which was probably what came of being ‘raised’ by only a father. “Thanks,” she said, accepting the roll of gauze from him before he turned pointedly away to give her some semblance of privacy (although the effectiveness of that was questionable in the middle of the wide-open forest. But it was the thought that counted). With a lot of wincing and several minutes of struggling with the form-fitting top she was wearing (she rather regretted it now, since the fact that her entire chest and abdomen was one gigantic bruise made it rather difficult to remove it), she finally managed to slip the shirt off, dropping it on the ground next to her.

“Oh no, I don’t think I could manage to live here if I tried,” she said in reply to his questions. She could tell that he was trying to extract information from her now, so her best bet would be to play it cool and act completely natural and oblivious to his suspicion. As she spoke, she began to wind the roll of bandages around her midriff, somewhat clumsily considering her very limited range of movement, both thanks to the awkward angle and the protesting muscles which only got more difficult as she worked her way up. “Too much of a city-girl, you see. I’m actually from Lianna, so you can see why it’s nice to get away every once in a while.” She already had an entire backstory planned out, and her father had seen to it that every detail could be backed up by solid fact if necessary. “I love to hike, so I have a little getaway out here in the middle of nowhere, which is within perfect driving range of some of the trails that run through this forest. As you can see though, I was paid an unexpected visit by the friend that you saw earlier while I was out and about. I’m not sure how long I’d been running by that point, but I sincerely thought I wasn’t going to live to tell the tale. If you hadn’t come along right in the nick of time…”

Here, her voice dwindled off, as if it didn’t take a genius to figure out what would have happened to her if A’den hadn’t shown up and ‘chased off’ the Hunter when he had. There was a brief pause as she struggled with the bandages, trying to bend her elbows at impossible angles to finish wrapping her chest, and after almost dropping the roll once or twice, finally seemed to concede to defeat. “Could you come give me a hand with this?” she asked A’den’s turned back. Luckily for him, she’d already managed to get all the vital (and blush-worthy) bases covered. “So, how about you? What brings you out to these parts? I’ve seen campers out here before, but you’re the first that I’ve seen in full armor. You’re either really well prepared for toughing it out here, or you’re not just out here camping.”

[MillietheWarrior]

“No, I’m not a doctor,” he said casually. “But I’ve been around the block a time or two, and I’ve got plenty of brothers who get into scrapes.” A’den decided the less she knew, the better. “So I’m used to helping out when they get all banged up, that’s all. I’ve seen some pretty nasty injuries too, and broken ribs would be along the lines of what I’d call ‘nasty.’ My brothers tend to start more fights than stop them, so they’re always coming home looking like they’ve gone through the ringer. So it may not be professional, but it’s still a good diagnosis.” He smiled lightly at that, and held up the tent, peering through the gaping hole sin the top with a twisted frown. They were bigger than he thought. He had some twine and a needle in the medkit he could use, he decided, but he’d need to wait for Echo to finish using it. “A city, girl, really? I’m amore of an outdoorsman myself. I like living off the land,” he said conversationally, keeping his tone light, and only half interested.

“I was told this planet was a challenge to traverse, so I decided to take a bit of a camping trip out here. I don’t live on the most hospitable planet, so it’s nothing new to me.” he stored away the information she gave him; Lianna, she’d said. She was from Lianna. Lianna was a planet in the Lianna system, if he recalled correctly (which his perfect memory recall allowed him to do), in one of the outer rim territories. It wasn’t part of the Galactic senate, but was ruled by a local power. Not Separatist, but not Republic. So what then, did that make this woman? A’den knew that neutral planets could sometimes covertly turn to one side or another; perhaps she was a part of something like that. “Maybe I can take you back to your ‘getaway.’ I imagine it’s somewhere nearby, perhaps? At her question, A’den chanced a look over his shoulder, noting that she was covered enough to retain her modesty, and dropped the tent he’d been despairing over. “Not a problem,” he said genially, striding over and taking the bandage from her with deft, well-practiced hands. “My armor?” he asked, sounding somewhat surprised as he reached down and wrapped the bandages around her torso. He tried to ignore the sweet scent of forest and woman that clung to her, and managed, quite valiantly, not to look uncomfortable or even blush.

“It’s kind of a tradition in my family. My father wore armor, and so do I. It used to look a lot different than it does now, but when I saw one of those troopers from the Galactic Republic, I decided to change the style. You’d be surprised how often I get mistaken for a regular GR solider,” he joked, chuckling slightly. It was true, in a way. While his words seemed to imply he wasn’t a clone trooper, he actually said he wasn’t a ‘regular GR soldier.’ He wasn’t. He was a Null, the elite of the elite, only six of his kind in existence. Even their DNA and build was different from a regular clone soldier. When A’den finished with the bandage, he reared back, dropping the roll back into the med kit and pulling out the needle and twine. He stomped back over and grabbed the tent, before returning to his seat on the log to place it over his lap. “How’d you run across that thing, anyway?” he asked curiously. “You must be pretty far from your ‘getaway.’ Where is it,

[Flame]

“Sounds like your family’s quite the handful,” Echo replied with a hint of amusement at his description of his ‘brothers’. It was clear to see that he wasn’t keen on sharing more information than he could spare, and she knew that for certain because she also happened to know most of what he happened to be hiding from her. Interesting, but definitely not unexpected. She, however, decided that her best course of action if she wanted to gain his trust would be to stick to her story and be as open and truthful as possible – albeit about her fabricated life – which wasn’t terribly difficult if one understood the nuances of human behavior when it came to lying. “Yep, although I don’t really have much of a choice. I love the wilderness, but it would be near impossible for someone like me to eke a living for myself out here on my own. So, I just have to settle for weekend trips here instead.” She shrugged matter-of-factly, then remembered that he couldn’t see it anyways.

“So, now that you know a little about me, where might you be from, outdoorsman A’den?” she asked conversationally, watching him out of the corner of her eye as he approached her. She seemed unfazed and if anything, slightly amused by his valiant efforts to keep his cool in the face of a situation that would likely have reduced a lesser man to blushing speechlessness. As he took the roll of bandages from her, she lifted her hands to sweep her long, silky curtain of hair out of his way, exposing her bare back and choker-clad neck to him. This was a sure sign that she trusted him and believed that he wouldn’t try anything funny while her back was turned to him. Echo listened quietly as he explained the story behind his armor, but even if she hadn’t had all the intel that she did about him, she could tell that he wasn’t being entirely truthful. Not lying, per se, but more like not telling the entire truth. “I feel like there’s something about that armor that you’re not telling me,” she finally said, her voice thoughtful. A brief pause. “…But that’s alright. After all, I would think you unwise to put your complete trust in a stranger that you just met a few minutes ago in the middle of the woods,” she finished with a light chuckle, although she stopped abruptly again, having forgotten how painful it was to laugh.

“Thanks,” she said when he finally tied the bandage off, flashing him a small smile of gratitude. As he walked over to retrieve the tent canvas, she propped herself against the log (which took some shuffling and several painful attempts, as it proved to be somewhat difficult to find the least bruised part of her back to lean against). “Like I said, I was out hiking one of the trails when the huge cat…thing came out of nowhere and decided to give me a run for my money. I guess it was either hungry, or I looked like the most amusing thing to chase out here in the forest,” she said wryly, shrugging. “Who knows? But my temporary home is a good ways away – I have to travel by speeder to get to the trails. But again, I’m not sure how far I ran before the thing caught up to me…Not exactly my luckiest day,” she added with a small grimace. “You showing up was probably my biggest stroke of luck so far.”

[MillietheWarrior]

“Indeed,” A’den agreed, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. “They can be a bit overwhelming sometimes. Which is why I had to take this little vacation of mine by myself. Sometimes it’s nice to get away.” He didn’t mention that his vacation was a recon mission, and that the reason his brothers were overwhelming because they numbered in the millions. A’den was slowly beginning to let his guard down; he’d never truly relax around anyone but his family, but in this situation, he felt that perhaps she wasn’t a Separatist, and perhaps it would be okay to trust her, if only minimally. She didn’t seem to have any sort of intent towards him, and her story seemed well fabricated. But then, it could all be a lie. He was very good at twisting the truths; who’s to say this woman wasn’t the same? The suspicions crept back in before he could stop them, and he deciding that relaxing his guard around her was really not an option, despite her appearance and her story.

“Me?” A’den asked, feigning surprise at her question. “I’m from a little backwater planet a long ways from here called Concordia.” A lie, of course, but she didn’t need to know that. “It’s a bit like this one, but less hostile. There’s a lot of forests there. Maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much.” In truth, A’den would never dare set foot on Concordia; it was governed by the radical Mandalorian faction known as the Death Watch. With Vizsla in charge, the place was a veritable death trap for someone like him. A’den continued to stitch up his tent, holding it up ever so often to check his handiwork. “You’re right,” he nodded in agreement. “there is something I’m not telling you about this armor.” he smiled cheekily down at her, and winked. “It’s temperature controlled.” Laughing inwardly, he finally finished stitching up his tent, and held it up to the light for a critical inspection; it would probably leak if it rained, but he was willing to deal with that. Folding it over his arm, he strode back over to the tent posts and began to set up camp again.

“It was probably just bored,” A’den mused. “Considering that it didn’t eat you when it had a chance. My blaster had no effect on it, so I imagine it’d take nothing short of a canon to turn that thing into rubble. And it was well aware of that.” He glanced at her over his shoulder once, only briefly, before he went back to the task at hand.. “So it probably wasn’t hungry. You just looked like a bit of fun to it, I guess.” Once he’d set the tent back up, he stepped back to survey his handiwork, hands on his hips. It looked okay, he decided, but not great. “Anyway, is there anywhere nearby I can take you?” he asked, dusting off his hands and turning around the stride back over to the fire. “I don’t think you’ll enjoy staying out here with me, after all.”

[Flame]

Echo nodded in agreement to A’den’s statement. “I know what you mean. Albeit I don’t really know what it’s like to have siblings, but I can certainly empathize with your need to get away. As much as the city is home to me, it really does begin to wear on a person after a while, if you know what I mean.” A brief glance over at him allowed her to impartially analyze his current demeanor and body language, trying to deduce exactly what he was thinking right now through nonverbal cues alone.

Status of target: Stable; cautious and still mildly suspicious
Objective progress: Ahead of schedule, proceed as planned

Echo kept her attitude just as mild, relaxed and lighthearted as it had been throughout their encounter. Her job now was simply to continue what she’d been doing and hold him steady; if her calculations were correct, she was well on her way to completing her assigned objective before the projected timeframe. The doctor had perhaps expected more suspicion on the part of the Clone than she had met, but it was her job not to push her luck too far in the process. The worst possible mistake for her to make was to underestimate his deductive abilities and blow her cover. Her most essential role was to keep him believing that she was who she claimed to be. She had no idea what would happen after her current objective had been completed, but as always, it was never an option (nor had it ever crossed her mind) to question or disobey direct orders, and she was certain that father would tell her what her next assignment was when the time was right. After all, she had been taught that everything he said or did was right, and in her world, his word was law, and nothing else mattered.

She knew the information A’den was feeding her was false as soon as he’d started, but one certainly had to give him credit for his sheer prowess. He was as adept of a liar as Echo herself was (although her programming didn’t classify what she was doing as lying, per se, but simply as following orders as given), and she stored that particular tidbit of information away for future reference. “Indeed? Then why bother coming somewhere out in the middle of nowhere like here for a whole lot of the ‘same old, same old’?” Curiosity colored her voice as she looked up at him inquiringly, seafoam-hued eyes innocently inquisitive. “Seems a little counter-intuitive,” she commented with a faint hint of amusement. “Perhaps you ought to be visiting a world such as Lianna for a holiday,” she managed with a light chuckle, careful not to strain her chest muscles as she did.

At his snarky response to her question, she snorted softly, rolling her eyes in a perfect depiction of  sarcastic humor, yet at the same time, peering at him with intrigue. “Really now?” she asked, one eyebrow raised in mock accusation. “Well, that seems like it would be a rather unfair advantage when it comes to camping. I thought the entire purpose was to shed all technology and simply live off of the land?” She eyed him amusedly as she waited for a response, knowing full well that he was avoiding the subject, and choosing not to call him out on it. After all, it would only look suspicious on her for being too nosy. “Well gee, I’m glad I look like I’d make such a great cat toy. I wonder what it was about me that seemed so amusing…” she mused thoughtfully to herself for a moment, but returned her attention to A’den as he spoke again.

“Oh, well unfortunately, there isn’t any civilization around here for a good stretch, and while I’d offer to simply walk myself back to my speeder, that beast managed to trample it when it decided to come after me.” She grumbled disgruntledly at the thought, clearly rather miffed by the reminder of her current predicament. “That thing is going to be hell to pay off,” she groused, half to herself before seeming to cast off the cloud of discontent which had momentarily overcast her. “I don’t want to have to burden you more than I already have…” She glanced over at his hastily mended tent, her expression apologetic. “I’m terribly sorry about the trouble I’ve caused you. I should just go ahead and get out of your hair now. If I’m lucky, I might be able to make it back to the road before nightfall, and perhaps I’ll be able to flag someone down there.” The plan left a heck of a lot to chance, and the odds of it actually succeeding were…well…thin, to be optimistic. However, for all intents and purposes, she seemed like an immensely abashed intruder who wanted nothing more than to stop causing her gracious host any more trouble. "Thanks for everything you've done for me though."

[MillietheWarrior]

“I suppose,” A’den replied vaguely, staring thoughtfully into the fire. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then quickly resumed staring at the fire. He could see the remains of his dinner still; sizzling in the ashes, and mentally, he cried a little. He was so damn hungry, and he didn’t want to eat those stupid GAR ration bars; they tasted like plastic. “I’ve never been much of a city-fellow myself. Too crowded.” He kept his eyes fixedly on the fire, even when she questioned his motives for being out in the woods when he lived in the woods himself. Clever, he thought wryly. Trying to gain as much information as you can, eh?

“Concordia is mostly farm land now. There are still a lot of forests, but we’re mostly an agricultural community. Still, doesn’t stop me form camping out every once in a while. I suppose I wanted something challenging. I know my home planet like the back of my hand, but out here…it’s different. It’s more dangerous, more unknown. I guess that adds some kind of element here that I’m missing when I camp out back home.  It’s just different. I doubt you‘d catch me taking a vacation to a planet like Lianna; I‘m not all that sociable, to be honest. I like my wilderness, and it‘s lack of people.” He shrugged half-heartedly, a faint, reminiscent smile on his face as though he was thinking wistfully of home. “I’m due back in about a day. Tonight was my last night here. Then you came crashing through, and destroyed my camp and my dinner.”

He shot her a slightly irritated look, but the full effect of it was lost when he smiled. “No one is stupid enough to come to a place like this without some form of protection. I don’t go anywhere without my blasters; it’d be an idiotic idea to get rid of them just for the sake of ‘shedding technology and living off the land.’ A fool’s gamble that someone or something wouldn’t come along and try and kill me. As much as I like my knife, I doubt I’d win with it in a gunfight or against something like that Hunter.” He folded his arms over his chest, looking faintly amused. “You probably attracted it with all that gold you’re wearing. Cats like shiny things, and you are remarkably shiny. Perhaps the next time you go for a hike, you’ll dress in something more appropriate?” he raised an eyebrow at her, his eyes glinting as he studied her quietly.

Yes, her story was odd. Who went for a walk or a hike in clothing such as that? Not normal people, that was for sure. “No,” A’den said, looking faintly annoyed with her desire to be off so soon. He couldn’t let this one get away, not when he was still uncertain about her purpose here. “I’ll take you where you need to go. I just wasted half my bandages on you, and I’m not about to let you go that easily. If nothing else, you owe me for those bandages.” He folded his arms tighter across his chest, looking faintly displeased. “So where am I suppose to take you? How far away exactly? I don’t mind the walk, but I need to know if I should just pack up and go, or leave my things here and hope for the best.”

[Flame]

“It’s something that you kind of grow to get used to,” Echo said lightly. “After a while, the rest of the people around you kinda just become part of the background…a kind of soothing, ambient hum that gives the city its own character. It certainly feels odd coming out here where that background noise isn’t a constant presence.” She gestured vaguely to the forest surrounding them, which had once again settled down into a lazy silence, the only movement being the trees swaying languidly in the gentle breeze. “It’s actually a little disconcerting, really, but at the same time, it’s nice to escape for a while to gather my frazzled wits…although this particular outing seems to have done just the opposite for me.” Despite the ordeal which she had just narrowly escaped, she still managed to sound amused by the entire predicament, which was a feat in and of itself.

“Really now? Perhaps you shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it,” she suggested, her tone light and humorous, but polite, nonetheless. “After all, you seem perfectly affable to me, at least as far as I’ve seen. For the most part.” She grinned jokingly at him out of the corner of her eye, still not too keen on trying to shift from her semi-comfortable seated position just yet. However, his next words caused her expression to drop into one of mock affront. “Are you trying to make me feel guilty? Because you’re managing to do a fantastic job of it.” Her tone was hurt at his accusation, although it was easy to tell that it was all in jest (although she did manage to look somewhat abashed at the fact of the matter, which was that she had been the cause of his current troubles).

His next comment caused her to raise a questioning eyebrow. “Well, what would that make me then?” That question should have raised alarms in any male mind, despite the misleading innocence in her voice. If they were asked that question when it came to women, they could be sure that they were treading in dangerous waters. “I’ve been here countless times before, never armed, and have never run into any problems. Well, aside from today.” However, she seemed to take to the change of subject without too much of a fuss, allowing A’den to dodge that bullet. “What, these?” she asked, glancing down at the gold bands which encased her limbs and neck by way of gesturing at them. “They were a special gift from my father, and I’ve worn them as long as I can remember. I don’t think I could take them off if I tried,” she added. And it did seem quite true; the bands were fitted snugly against her skin, and it was physically impossible for any of them to be slipped off, nor did there appear to be hinges or clasps of any sort on their smooth surfaces either.

Echo chuckled lightly at his next words, surveying his stubborn stance and expression with amusement. “So…you’re upset because my sheer presence alone has managed to ruin your camping trip, and I'm supposed to pay you back…by making you walk me back home?” Her amusement only seemed to grow as she watched him, her eyes seeming to dance with good-natured laughter. “Plus, I thought you didn’t much like the company of other people?” She paused briefly, weighing him with her gaze. “However, I won’t pretend that I feel completely confident walking all the way back alone, especially if that cat still happens to be somewhere in the vicinity. I can’t tell you exactly how far away my temporary home is, but I can say that it’s a pretty good distance.” She shrugged somewhat helplessly; she legitimately wasn’t sure how far the Hunter had chased her through the forest, and to get back to her vacation home of sorts…well, it wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park.