OOC: Not sure whether it was Darvek or Frex you tackled, but I'll assume it was Darvek for this sake of trying to merge the posts to fit Sliguy's last post.
Darvek lay on the forest floor, Flaxis' blade held firmly to his neck. How could he have been so careless as to let his guard down? The explosions heard elsewhere had distracted him. They shouldn't have. He had the proper Slig Barrack training. But those explosions meant danger was approaching at great speed. His had officially outstayed his welcome in this place.
'Okay, scumbag, I want to know who you are, who you're working for, and what the hell you're doing here.' Flaxis spat out between clenched teeth.
Darvek smirked from beneath his cold, metal headgear. He eased the blade from his neck and stood up to face Flaxis.
'You move fast, Steef,' Darvek replied in a mixture of admiration and irritation to being floored, 'You and I are of a kind. My name is Darvek, as you've no doubt heard. I am essentially, a bounty hunter but there's no time for greetings now - if Vernon's ground troops find us here, death will be the price to pay. Th-'
But before Darvek could even finish, five or so Slig ambushers had made it to the campsite. This immediately struck Darvek as odd. These troops were not known to move in such little numbers. They hit hard and fast, in groups and attack waves. Not just one or two blindly stabbing around in the dark. Presumably, the explosion elsewhere in Lhakeem must have caught the interest of the rest. At the very least, this would work in their favour.
The Sligs came to a sudden halt, taking one look at the scar across Darvek's face and recognising him from the posters and briefings immediately.
'Freeze!'
Needless to say, they did not. Calvarr initiated the attack, immediately blowing a hole clean through the nearest Slig before revealing some form of powerful toxin he refered to as Treystone (by any chance a tribute to Matt Stone and Trey Parker? =P). They seemed to back off immediately, keeping their distance whilst Darvek and Flaxis readied their weapons.
'It's not safe here,' Darvek told Flaxis, 'We need to take shelter elsewhere for the night and fast. I'm not familiar with these parts, but perhaps you know of a place in the woods?'
__________
Meanwhile, back in Norg...
The village lay in ruins, Sligs marching about in an orderly fashion, rounding up native folk. Mudokons, Gabbits, Grubbs, Steef... all bound by chains and being horded into small cells. An enourmous chain, attached to the top of these mobile prisons stretched far up into the labs, hovering overhead, used to hoist up the new slave workers for transportation. If anything, Norg now resembled more of a detention camp than a peaceful getaway.
In the center of what was left of Norg, a large dome-structure had been set up, supposedly as residence for the big-cheeses behind this operation. Inside, the deformed Vykker sat in conference alongside eight other Glukkon, three of whom had been included with the landing party.
'Now gentlemen,' the Vykker spoke with a hint of arrogance and self reitiousness, '[I]I believe there is of course some business to be taken care of. As you are well aware the resources in this--my slice of paradise here are more than suffecient for trade. The livestock is plenitful, the wood of superb quality and the inhabitants fit for labour. Now, I don't want to be a stick in the proverbial mud, but while I'm more than willing to let you fine gentlemen take what's needed off of th-my land... I can't just be giving all this away?'
'Get to the goddamn point, Vernon!' an irritated Glukkon interrupts, 'How much do you want for the slaves?'
'Labourers, gentlemen...'
'Whatever!' Another bursts out, 'Screw your slaves, I don't have time to waste here! Theres a meat packing plant with my name on it out there and I - need - meat!'
Vernon grinned a vile, near toothless smile before clearing his throat to speak once more, 'Now, now. I know you're all busy men so I'll cut to the chase. I've come up with a few figures I believe you'll find to be most... reasonable.
To this, Vernon receives a sheet of paper from a nearby Intern guard, which he lays flat on the conference table before sliding it over for the Glukkon's to consider. The Glukkon's almost immediately convulse, as if they had been hit in the face, being almost literally disgusted by the prices and figures layed before them.
'You gotta' be kidding me?!'
'Just what the hell are you tying to pull here?'
'I for one, 'aint payin' for THIS!'
'Well that's all very well then my dear friends, I'll simply take my business elsewhere.' Vernon replies, removing the slip of paper from them, 'Good luck finding quality goods like these in the middle of this industry crisis...'
Vernon stands up and turns his back to the conference, preparing to leave.
'Err... wait.' a Glukkon manages to force out. 'Perhaps we could reconsider.'
Vernon smirks and turns back round to face the crew, 'I thought you might see things my way. Sign here.'
He lays the paper on the table once more before leaving the room, back into the desolate wasteland of a village he had created. Gazing at the barren nothingness that lies before him, Vernon lets out a most satisfied sigh, obviously pleased with himself.
'Sir! Sir! Sir!' a small Slig darts out from the woodlands, coming to a halt before the Vykker. 'We found 'im sir!'
'Who?'
'Darvek!'
'Oh. OH! Darvek, of course. Where is he?'
'He... got away from us boss,' the Slig replies sheepishly, cringing as if expecting a beating. 'Frex made a runner, boss. The rest of us couldn't keep up with them!'
'THEM?' Vernon shrieks, clearly pissed.
'The natives he was with!'
'Get your ass back in there and tell the troops to double their search.' Vernon barks back, 'I have other business to attend to. I don't want to be disturbed unless you have news worth reporting this time.'
'Yessir!'
The Slig turns his back to the Vykker, preparing to march off into the woodlands, before a bony arm grabs his shoulder to stop him.
'And remember,' The Slig turns back to face Vernon, 'I want the bastard alive... so I can thank him, personally.'
OOC: Gasp. Plot development? I'll edit this post later with Vernon's character profile cause I'm really strapped for time right now... sorry if it seems rushed. Laters.
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