Distant Sun

[Dire Wolf]

(Its crap, but its my first time writing in a loooooong time. So cut me some slack, jack.)

It was safe to say that Tahlia loathed everything about Ordo. Why the Mandalorians would want the barren rock. That pair of crimson eyes gazed out at the wastes of Ordo with no small amount of annoyance in their eyes. Lazy curls of wind carried innumerable particles of sand along with them for miles. And miles. And miles. There were a few mesas that popped up in the distance, and a small group of buildings surrounded by fencing that probably passed for the miltia compound.

"Well, here we are. Though if I were a band of marauding space super warriors I would want to live somewhere nice." Tahlia glanced back at her companion before capturing a whisp of wind with her will. The sand it carried curled around in a tiny vortex, capturing more grains as it spun faster and more furious. Her bloody gaze watched the tiny twister as it danced along the deck, all to the slightest movements of her hand.

The mandalorians had been a thorn in the side of the republic for a long time, though the rebellion's activity had certainly picked up in the last few years. A few jedi had met their demise because of it, but nothing had really been done until then. "So, what's the plan for when the Mandalorians inevitably decline our pleas for peace?" The woman glanced back at her companions one last time before clenching her fist, causing that twister to implode into a tiny ball of compacted sand. She cast it aside without a thought before turning her gaze up to the compound in the distance.

At second glance, it was actually a well fortified camp. The gate was tall, with barbed wire at the top and watch towers (or what looked like them) at regular intervals. As for the buildings within the gates, she couldn't tell what they were... but she guessed the big H shaped one was the barracks, and the circular one was was some kind of headquarters. That was just speculation, though.

Tahlia was no strategist, nor did she really have much martial skill. Most of her power was vested in the Force and her own agility, while fighting with lightsabers and overly-violent finishers was Rin and Jia's arena. "Shall we?"

[Apillis]

To say the least, Rin was not entirely comfortable leaving Alpheridies away from her watchful gaze. But she has little in the way of friends, in fact, she only has one that she is aware of. While her natural tendency was to see things through a pessimistic view, contradictorily because she is aware of it, it also makes her a very hopeful person -- always hoping she would be proven wrong. Though the lesson of always expecting the worst leading to always receiving the worst had never really sunk into her skull, yet.

It is an odd thing that some pessimists tend to secretly be very hopeful people. The pessimists repeatedly see the faults and flaws surrounding them, and criticize even vilify those flauts and flaws, but inwardly they see those same faults and flaws within themselves -- even more so, and loathe themselves for it. While many pessimists given into the negative will always prevail over themselves, some hope they may reach beyond it and crawl out of pessimisms damnation. While expecting the worst, these pessimist hope that they are wrong, that the negative will not be victorious. The why behind it is simple, to see something they view to be so horribly flawed and bleak rise above it all; and then perhaps see that they themselves are not as hopeless as they believe.

Rin had no reason to believe that these Mandalorians inciting conflict upon the planet with the raise of the Mandalorian army starting reorganize and claim their old worlds back, would give an ear to any sort of peaceful resolution with the Republic. While Rin could only see it all ending in violence as what the tendency of Mandalorian culture harkens and calls for -- war and battle -- Rin nevertheless hoped for otherwise. Not just for their sakes, but her own as well, for fear of a darker impulse she does not want to revisit should violence break out. Most of all, and most importantly, not to expose Jia to it, too. While Jia is only a few years away from undergoing the Trials to become a Jedi Knight in full, Rin felt it good for her to have the experience the mission may provide either way... Still, now that they are actually there, she begun second guessing the decision out of her internal self-doubt.

Side glancing at Tali upon asking what they will do should the Mandalorians deny their suggestions and requests for peace. The solution seemed simple enough to which she voiced in a nonchalant tone, "It depends on them. Regardless of their response, we leave.", she then gave a nod to Tali when gesturing for them to carry on.

As they begun to move out, Rin glanced over to Jia and inquired -- though her tone was deadpan, her concern was still there if not readily seen on her stoic visage or in the pitch of her voice, "Are you all right?"

((Edit: Fixed typos))

[Dee]

Jia hated deserts. It may have been dramatic to say out loud, but they made her fairly miserable. She was not very good at dealing with the heat. Cold? That was no problem. Not that she didn't feel cold as much as everyone else, she just found it easier to handle and ignore and carry on with whatever she was doing despite it. Having to deal with high temperatures on the other hand frequently turned her into a big baby, which was partially why she had not spoken much since they arrived on the surface of Ordo. Somehow she imagined that Rin and Tahlia would not have a very high tolerance for whining at the moment.

It was of course not the only reason that she was so quiet. She had little to say and her thoughts were occupied, not only just trying to ignore the state of her surroundings, but also with what the three of them were there to do. She was trying to mentally prepare herself for the task ahead of them. She had mostly just been staring out across the barren land surrounding them on all sides and that still had not changed. There wasn't much to see other than miles and miles of sand and rock, but it was not as if she was paying a great deal of attention to the landscape at the moment anyway. Or at least, she was trying her hardest not to.

In the past she had been taken on a number of assignments with situations similar to the one she and the two knights were in now, so it was not as if she felt completely out of place. The slight worries she did feel revolved more around the thoughts that future events would not play out as well as they would like them to. The last thing the young Mirialan wanted was to see violence break out. She did not want to see anyone, on either side, get hurt.

Tahlia spoke, but Jia had only been half paying attention, still lost within her mind. She was paying more attention the second time, "So, what's the plan for when the Mandalorians inevitably decline our pleas for peace?"[/i] That managed to get a quiet sigh out of the padawan. She hoped that this would not turn out the way they all apparently expected it to.

She wanted to believe that the Mandalorians' peaceful side could be appealed to. Of course... She wasn't entirely sure they had a peaceful side, from what she had been taught of the culture. Non-violent solutions never seemed to be a valid method of problem solving to them. She hoped that she would be proven wrong, but she was sorry to admit to herself that like Tahlia and probably Rin as well, she had doubts that everything would actually go smoothly. Her usual optimism about people was having difficulty forcing its way to the surface. It may have been that miserable heat...

When Rin turned to her and questioned if she was alright, Jia fully welcomed the distraction and replied first with a small smile. "Yeah. Just trying to distract myself from the heat... Which is kinda hard when all I can see is desert everywhere." She shook her head, still smiling as she continued. "I'm also just hoping things turn out ok." She paused for a second before continuing, "I'll be fine." Her smile widened a touch as if to be more reassuring.

They were heading out now. Minutes away from dealing with the Mandalorians. Jia's gaze focused for the first time on the nearby militia base that they were approaching. It was a fortified looking compound with high walls and guard towers, defenses one would expect to see in a high security area. If this went bad, things could get pretty messy pretty fast. Jia shook her head again at the unfortunate thought.

Well... Here's hoping we're wrong...