"Aye, Master Jedi. No sweat. Seems them I.D.'s came in handy though." Valum nodded as the Quarren spoke. "Now the real games begin though, eh? One hour out. Better let our fellow crew members know to lock and load." "I shall be back when we arrive at the end of the jump."
Valum left the cockpit and made his way back to the crews quarters. He walked up to the door of the Trandoshan and rapped his knuckles on the frame. "We shall be coming out of hyperspace shortly. I recommend getting your gear together shortly." Not waiting for a response, Valum made his way to Levince's room and knocked on the frame of the door again. "Sergeant Levince, we will be exiting hyperspace shortly. I recommend gathering your gear and meeting near the cockpit soon."
-A few hours later-

Valum once again stood in the cockpit, this time with Levince. "Master Jedi, Sergeant... I ain't the navigator on this job, which way?" "I would like to see the ancient sector, if you please...." Looking over at the console, Valum looked over the three sectors. "The sector where the signal is originating. It appears to be the most likely to have something there. Let's set course to the ancient sector."

Meandering through the corridors, Horachkt left the armaments behind and began to make his way towards the cargo bay, the largest part of the ship and the least crowded. He was still lolling around in dreamland, a far better place to be than where he'd been in a long time- the vast, empty planes on Dosha, where the wind smelled good and the hunt was on, was where he really longed to be. It didn't necessarily have to be his homeworld, but anywhere that was not the cramped quarters of a spaceship. Being larger than the average trandoshan did not help matters here in the slightest, too, nor did it help him warm up any. Steel walls and floors were chilly on his cold blood, making him slightly sluggish and, at times, aggravating his already foul mood.

Indeterminate periods of time slipped by as Horachkt continued to amble about. Eventually, he found himself a snack in the kitchen after realizing that his stomach was growling and sat at the little table to eat.

Suddenly, a jolt, too weak to tip the furniture over but strong enough to rattle the hull, surged through the ship from one point to another and caught Horachkt right off-guard. Obviously, the Quarren pilot must have re-engaged the ship's hyperdrive, though he never remembered them falling out of it. With a surprised croak, the precarious lean Horachkt had put in his chair while propping his feet on the table gave in from the tremor, toppling him backwards with a clatter. He sat like this for a few moments, devoid of poise or dignity and momentarily stunned, before rolling over in a huff and storming back to his room, mortified that someone may have seen him.

As he sat and rubbed his knuckles, a rapping sounded on his door, followed by the voice of the Jedi. "We shall be coming out of hyperspace shortly. I recommend getting your gear together shortly."
Horachkt considered this briefly, then scowled. "Out?! BUT WE JUST CAME IN!!"
---

It turned out that they'd entered the Unknown Regions just about as Valum knocked on the door. Horachkt had asked a few of the others about what had happened, and learned of the negotiations, as well as their current position. He had been so thrilled with this news that he'd jumped out from his quarters to join the others to learn of what was to happen next. At last, he was here! After all the time he had waited, bided his time and envy, and worked his way closer to the Scorekeeper than most other trandos could dream, he was finally here! Now, sitting in the cockpit and clutching his weapons, Horachkt pondered the steps they'd be taking next.

---

((OOC: Edit: I put Horachkt in the cockpit rather than the kitchen here due to an inconsistency in my post.))

Gathered in the cockpit, it was quickly decided that the party would go and investigate the signal Galactic north of them. Levince did not contribute his thoughts, merely listening in at the others, and preparing his weapons. Quickly, the ship jumped once again to it's new destination.

This jump took a similar amount of time as the last one, leaving the party another hour of boredom. Once they reached the system though, it was time to get on with their mission.

The system was nothing overly amazing. It had a small planet closest to it's star, a seemingly habitable planet, a small planetoid, which was barely worthy of the title, and a gas giant. The signal itself was emanating from the habitable planet. Upon closer inspection, it was from the planet's southern hemisphere. The planet had very small oceans in comparison to other planets: hey were little more than small lakes. Contrarily, the planet was covered in huge expanses of forests, despite the lack of visible water on the surface.

As the ship cleared the atmosphere, a thin layer of frost built up on the viewport, only to be removed by the ships automated responses. The southern hemisphere was undergoing it's winter season. A thin layer of snow coated the every green forest. Drunik and GeeDee were easily able to locate the signal. Landing, however, was a different story. The trees were dense, which made landing near the signal difficult, but not impossible. Additionally, there were clearings in the forest, which could make safe landing zones.

As the rest of the party decided on a landing zone, Valum felt a tremor in the force. Something... dark. There was definitely something dark nearby. Looking out the view ports, Valum noticed something amiss. Among a mountain range north of their position was a much larger, and darker coloured one. Valum was 100% positive that the dark energy was emanating from there. What it meant he was unsure, but that mountain was definitely housing something powerful and malicious.

(OOC: Kamina, you have the best luck ever. You got a natural 20 to find where the dark energy was coming from.)

The trip was short, by any spacer's standards, though Drunik's excitement did drag it out a bit. Barely beyond the known borders of the charted galaxy, and already a planet. His stomach fluttered with mounting curiosity, his desire to explore overpowering his wish to remain in his ship. Even the evident lack of oceanic boundaries did little to diminish his growing smile.

"Strange.... so little water, yet so many trees... must have one hell of a rainy season." The metallic voice of GeeDee sounded next to him, but the Quarren only shook his head.

"Likely, we will discover a network of streams, or underground channels once we break the canopy. I doubt water will be an issue."

Looking back over his shoulder to the rest of the crew present, Drunik continues, "Any particular preference of landing zones? I am thinking that large clearing over there." Pointing to the largest of the visible fields.

A series of clicks issue forth as GeeDee's thin digits dance over the controls. "Checking scanners for life forms now, gents. I trust you meat sacks will want to know of any particularly large predators in the region..."


((OOC: Ask for desired landing space, GeeDee scans as the ship moves slowly over landscape))

Still brimming with his most murderous elation, the cramped conditions in the cockpit didn't bother Horachkt. Now that he was finally where he wanted to be (though most others wouldn't likely share such sentiments- the crew was as far from any outwardly recognizable sector of space as one could get), he didn't have any good reason to remain as isolated as he had been for the past few days anymore. In order for his lifelong plan to work, he now needed to include himself in anything that would be happening next. Pivotal things could not be allowed to catch him off-guard- otherwise, mistakes would be made and his efforts would all be for naught. Indeed, he would be getting much more familiar with the crew from here on.

Unbeknownst to him, the very excitement he was feeling was mutual amongst the others; save, perhaps, the silent clone sergeant that stood behind them. The King's Kruise's captain, Drunik, and that irritating droid assistant that followed his heels chattered between one another about the unique characteristics of the planet's hydrosphere, obviously fascinated. Figures a piece of fish like him would care about that sort of thing, thought Horachkt with a smirk. A desert creature himself, he didn't give half a care about how much water the place had to offer.

As they flew over the snowy forest's expanse, Drunik turned around to address the crew sitting behind him. "Any particular preference of landing zones?" he asked, before following with "I am thinking that large clearing over there." He was pointing towards a clearing in the forest, large enough to be considered a field and certainly larger than the other clearings adjacent to it.
"I got no preference, guy," Horachkt responded. "Just take us to where we gotta be- and hurry. I'm getting sick of being trapped in here."

"Checking scanners for life forms now, gents." Geedee's metal fingers made metallic clicks upon his console as he fed the ship's sensor array new commands, the quiet, yet brittle sound unnerving Horachkt to mild discomfort. "I trust you meat sacks will want to know of any particularly large predators in the region..."

You got that right, buddy, thought Horachkt with a snort. "That is all I'm here for!
---

((OOC: Horachkt speaks in character and reflects no views of mine, Salvator ))