The commlink on Gash Jiren's prosthetic arm blared loudly. "Jiren," He acknowledge, bringing it to his face.
"Sir, we're entering the Vereshian atmosphere, and we're being hailed by what seems to be the government. Shall I patch you through?"
"Yes," Gash replied without thinking. Before him, from a holoprojector on the mechanical limb's communications pannel, sprang the image of a very stern-looking human.
"This is Lieutenant-Governor Sivekk Mi'nosk," the man said. He spoke with only a slight accent -- an oddity for what seemed to be an isolationist world. "I order your vessel to remove itself from our atmosphere immediately." Gash looked over at Kasien Treseda, who stood beside him. The Lieutenant-Governor of a world, hailing an annonymous ship?
"I somehow doubt he personally greets all his visitors," Kasien commented.
"I am Gash Jiren," Gash replied, ignoring the Lieutenant-Governor's sentiments, "Of the Rogue Jedi Order. We've heard that you've had a string of attacks, and we'd like to assist --"
"We do not need Jedi assistance. Turn your ship around and leave, or you will be fired upon."
"If you fire on us, you will be violating Ossan Parliamentary Space Law. We are just a private, non-commercial non-military vessel seeking to land on your planet; I think you will find that this ship's credentials are quite in order, along with an ordnance from the Ossan Parliament permitting ship defenses above and beyond civilian limits."
The man looked conflicted for a moment, a grimace crossing his face as if he were under great strain. "I am warning you, Jiren, turn around now or I will not hesitate destroy your vessel."
"Then destroy us." Gash stated with utmost finality.
The look of conflict increased on the man's face, as the two engaged in a sombre staring contest, glaring silently at each other. "Fine. Mi'nosk out."
Gash looked ominously at Kasien.
The touch-down was anything but soft. Every Rogue Jedi aboard the
Hermes could feel the cold ground scrape against the hull of the vessel, as it came clanking to a halt. Immediately, sounds of action errupted in the hangar; as the doors of the vessel's cargo bay clanged open, and sunlight flooded in, two words could be heard clearly over the din; "Move out!"
The Rogue Jedi did so, scrambling from the belly of the craft onto the planet outside. The sun was bright in comparison to the darkness of the craft; Gash Jiren squinted against it, but even so, the image around him was as clear and disturbing as ever.
They'd landed in the centre of a small village, and all around them, was the scene from the spy fighter redrawn in vivid, disgusting detail; a brutal depiction of cruelty and destruction at the hands of a menace more terrible than could be imagined. Blood covered the ground, corpses were piled as high as two men, and the charred hulks of buildings formed an eerie ghost down around it all.
Perhaps the Rogue Jedi had been expecting a fight as they rushed from the ship, or perhaps they were just anxious to retaliate for the atrocity at hand, but as the commotion of leaving the ship subsided, the odd silence of the area finally sunk in.
"What now?" Kasien asked.