Salusa Secundus Survivor

[piterdevries]

Larvin knelt down near the captive's corpse and dipped his thumb on the pool of blood flowing from the dead man's head. Larvin tasted the blood,  and suddenly the memories of him and his fellow Fremen hunting in the dunes came back to him. How he missed those days when he slitted the throats of those who are foolish enough to venture near their sietch. Slit, kill, take, drink. That was their routine.

The weight on his head slowly subsided. It seems that his pseudospice bottle isn't enough to help him cope with his spice withdrawal.

He looked at Dievs who sat on a corner, tired, not uttering a word after killing the captive. Kitto stood in the cave's entrance, inspecting a small knife he recovered from the battle with the savages. Akshell stood next to Kitto, watching the horizon, the endless sea of desolation.

Larvin sat on the floor and wondered, "When will we ever get out of this hell hole?"

[Kirby Gotenks absorbed]

He can't just be called KGA, surely?  He also will not be a psychic, they don't exist on Dune  in the terms you are thinking of.

So this is just ordinary dune... Right... Well forget what I said in my previous post, what's even the most psychic thing in dune? Evil treacherous skanks maybe? (Bene gesserit)

[Vanguard3000]

<Jeffyr>

--------

Only Larvin saw Jeffyr stalking in the shadows.  Witch a swift movement that startled the group, he disarmed Jeffyr, and held him tightly, a knife at his throat.

"Then you blood-drinkers are as fast as the rumours suggest," said Jeffyr, grinning.

"Who are you?" Asked Dievs

"My name is Jeffyr Kalas.  I mean no harm, and this rock's big enough for all of us.  You can let me go now, savage."  Larvin maintained his hold.  "I'm sorry; does he not speak Galach?" He whispered mockingly to Kitto.

"Maybe he just has nothing polite to say.  You may as well let him go, Larvin.  He doesn't look like one of those barbarians we came across."

"Barbarians?  You just smashed that guy's head open!  Is that what you plan to do with me?"

"We'll see," Kitto smirked.  "Where are you from?  Why are you here?"

"I'm an artist, I guess."

"An artist?  What is your medium?"

Oh, you'll see.  "Logic.  I'm a mentat."

"A mentat?  On the Emperor's prison world?" Dievs chuckled.  "That's the strangest thing I've heard since I got here.  Don't you guys have stained lips?"

"Do I look like I have practical access to sapho here?  Allow me my dignity, Ixian - yes, I recognize that accent of yours.  I'm a failure.  You never hear about failed mentats, do you?  We usually can't just be sent with bruised egos back to our homes.  We don't function well in normal society... if there is such a thing.  Evidently, failure of my magnitude warrants exile to this lovely place... And people still call it a 'Great' School."  Well, at least some of that is true.  "But I can help you."

Kitto looked at Jeffyr's small frame.  "You don't look like much of a fighter."

"I'm not.  On S.S., a 'fighter' is doomed." He shot a barbed glance at Larvin.  "Do you expect to fight the Sardaukar?  They're nothing like that fellow you brutalized when you got here.  They defend the most powerful man in the universe, and what... you plan to fight your way to the nearest spaceport and steal a frigate?  What then?"

Dievs sneered.  "We will survive by your logic, then?"

"Logic IS survival!  What will we eat?  Where will we find water?  And how will we get out of here?  Have you considered these things?  ...Unless we're to live out our lives here in this cave.  Doesn't sound very appealing, if you ask me."

As he spoke, Jeffyr watched Larvin.  He is suffering.  ...Spice withdrawal!  Ahh, soon his screams of madness will pierce the sky.  I haven't heard that music in so long.  I can't wait...

[Dunenewt]

OOC: Kirb, here's the deal.  When your character finally reaches the rest of the gang, and perhaps you could journey with Thumper's character, then you can get my soostone, and your character can have some strange visions.  That's as far as I'll allow.

"What do you know of this world that we do not?"  There is something I distrust about this man.  How did he know how to find us here, and what is he doing here?  Kitto was growing increasingly concerned about Larvin, and the erratic behaviour he had developed.  He noticed the Eyes of Ibad had begun to fade.  Could these effects be from a lack of spice?.  In the background, he noticed another figure entering the cave, a female figure...(OOC: Clem, post the introduction of our special guest.)

[Beonid]

Sorry this took so long. Starting teachers school took a bit of getting used to.

Name: Ysandra

Height: 181 cm (just under 6 feet)

Build: Wiry

Hair Colour: Iron grey

Hairstyle: Long (falls to the center of her back when unbraided ); straight;

Eye Colour: Black

(Former) Allegiance: Estilon rebel elements

Background:  Age 27. At 19 she was living on the street because her mentor was killed by Estilon House Guards. She was recruited by forces under Kavel, a dissatisfied cousin of the Arch-Duke. She acted as a commander and scout during her time among Kavel's bodyguard corps. Ysandra was captured in the abortive rebellion against the Arch-Duke, tortured for more information about her fellows, and when no information was given, sent to Salusa Secondus. The torture chamber turned her hair grey (part of the attempted breaking of her psyche) and left her suspicious of everyone she came across. Ysandra has scars behind her ears from an operation where she had a botched mind-destructive drug introduced to each of her cerebellic lobes as part of her torture. The effects of the operation are still unknown, except that she is functioning as normal.

OOC: I realised after I wrote this that you've added a female 'guest', Newt. My intention was not to use your post as an opening (unless you want it to be, which I doubt).

[Dunenewt]

OOC:No, you're in the second group of survivors with Kirby, and Thumper.

[D2k Sardaukar]

OCC: I'm not sure where I (Bron) am and where I should be. In the last post I said I saw that the other party had just fought and I walked towards them but I was far far away. Now it's dark and the other party is in a cave. I think I will just stay outside, far away, and keeping an eye on them.

Bron started to notice that his suite against the cold night wasn't working the way it should, 'The sand is sharp to my eyes and destroying my suite' he thought. He was getting colder and quickly made a small bunker with the sand and the few rocks around him. Perhaps this will stop the slow, but cold wind. Bron turned and looked up at the beautiful sky, full with stars and galaxies far away, while he realised he had been lucky today. Here he was on 'hell' and yet his first day went by without a fight or an attack.

Bron started to whistle, one of his favourite tunes, a song about a boy reaching the stars in his dreams, but waking up without his legs... 'perhaps not the best song at this moment' Bron thought, 'but a good one to remember him about where he was, Salusa Secundus, living hell...'

[Mihail]

OOC: Alright, sorry about the delay. :-

The silhouette of the woman from the last of the light was hard to make out for the first few moments, but then Dievs began to pick out some features - once-blonde hair that looked like it could have been quite beautiful some time ago was now dry and tied up in a tight bun. A shapely body had been hardened on Salusa, and was now safely protected from the elements beneath a light desert suit and a heavy cloak. A small backpack rested on one shoulder, its opening tightly tied shut. In her hands, what looked like an old rifle, kept in quite good condition. Dievs could tell that she wielded that expertly. But her face, what little he could make of it, struck him the most. A pretty face, but weatherbeaten after possibly years on the planet. Deep lines ran down her face from her nose and mouth, and the skin looked leathery, hard. And piercing, piercing eyes. Eyes that looked at him and said, "If this planet doesn't kill you, I might," and looked as if they meant it. Slowly, her crossbow still pointed at them, she said, "Who are you? Another load of prisoners? And how nice to see you, Jeffyr!" she said sarcastically at him. He grinned, and said,

"Always a pleasure, Manumi, always a pleasure." Turning away from Jeffyr, she gestured with her rifle, albeit only slightly - it never quavered too much from the target, which looked to Dievs to be his head.

"I'm Dievs," he said slowly. "That's Kitto, Larvin, and Akshell." Again, with slow, cautious movements, he pointed at each of them in turn. Turning to the corpse, Dievs said, "And him...He and his friends attacked us, this was the only one we didn't kill. But, as you can see, he... didn't make it, either. We're just trying to get to safety, you know that we're criminals. You probably are too. Who are you... Manumi?"

OOC: Maybe you could continue, Newt.

[Beonid]

A sharp ache behind her ears woke Ysandra up, and as she opened her eyes, she knew that she wasn't in the torture chamber any more. Not knowing what to expect, Ysandra looked around from where she was lying, sharp pain accompanying every movement. So, I'm in a desert. No, not a desert, a wasteland. Salusa Secondus fits that description. But then, so does Arrakis. She stood up, muscles complaining. "Salusa. They sent me to Salusa! They couldn't get anything out of me, so they sent me to the Emperor's prison planet."

As she settled back down behind the rock, Ysandra noticed that her arm had a canister strapped to it. Not a canister, a canteen. And half full by the looks of it. She flicked the lid off, and sniffed what was inside. "Water. Smells like it, anyway," she mused, "Who would have thought that Ysandra, commander of Kavel's bodyguard, would be talking to herself." Refraining from spitting on the sand in disgust, Ysandra wallowed in self-hate for a few moments before being distracted by a sudden splitting headache that was, again, behind her ears. Suddenly suspicious, she felt around the back of her head, finding four small scars behind her ears that she hadn't had before. "So, they thought they would have the last laugh by interfering with my brain," Ysandra growled, "That's why I'm having these headaches! They've injected something into my brain, something that will most probably leave me in a coma."

Resigning herself to her fate, Ysandra continued her search of her body, which turned up nothing, until she found something from her past, a eyepiece that she had been given by Kavel on being accepted as commander of his guard. That was two months before I was captured. The beginning of the end. Pah! What a fool I was, thinking that it would last, that I would get my revenge, by placing Kavel in power. But then we were betrayed. Kavel's probably dead now. Returning to reality from the world of her thoughts, Ysandra stood up yet again, placing the eyepiece in her eye as she went. For some reason it gave her a comforting feeling.

Scanning the desert, Ysandra could see a rocky outcrop which would offer more protection from the elements than her current position. An outcrop at ten o'clock, estimated distance fifteen kilometers. If I'm going to make it there before dawn, I'll have to leave now. Finally noticing that her mouth was dry, Ysandra allowed herself a small sip of water from her canteen before setting out

OOC: Bleh. Not my best, I'm afraid. I've never been good at the introduction to characters

[Khan]

Akshell hardly noticed the two strangers who had joined the group; he hardly noticed anything, save the bottle of whiskey he had been left on Salusa Secundus with. He mind tore with lust and fear as he swallowed with a dry mouth imagining the warming burn of the drink. His mind raced with possibilities. The drink was all consuming and but it was all he had. He would have to save it until he knew he could more, in the meantime he would have to ration it to keep himself sane. Keeping it concealed in his pocket he looked around at the two strangers; he didn't trust either of them but it didn't seem that he had a choice. Kitto, Diev and Larvin seemed to want to join up with them to survive. Akshell didn't trust his original three companions but he needed them to get himself to safety and his training necessitated the uneasy alliance until he knew he could eliminate them.

I will escape. The Emperor. The Emperor. The thoughts flashed through his mind clouded by his thirst for the whiskey. The Duke... yes... and my family... The hunger burned away inside him as thoughts of the past made themselves uneasily to the surface. He returned to the present and the situation around him. These two new strangers were a problem that he would learn to deal with, it he could just permit himself one drink. He knew it would clear his mind but the fear was a block he could not over come. Without it I'm nothing. His mind went back to his training. It will help me, my swordmaster training. I'm a Swordmaster, yes.

OOC: I couldn't think of any alcohol except for wine in the Duniverse so does whiskey fit?

[Vanguard3000]

OOC:  Sure, why not?  Fine whiskey never goes out of style.  ;)

[Dunenewt]

OOC - Vanguard, you're free to formulate any story you want about how your character knows Manumi.

Eyeing Manumi with a distrustful gaze, Kitto held his blade close behind his back, ready for any possible action.  A friendly face on this planet seemed unlikely.  She is surely no Sardaukar, perhaps she could tell us where to find a way off this hellhole, but she doesn't look like the type to be that nice. 

Keeping a slightly sadistic grin, and a firm aim at Dievs' head, Manumi responded to the group, "I am a friend of Jeffyr here, I see you've all met him, and survived so far..."

[piterdevries]

OOC: sorry, my pc's gone through hell and now she's okay.

Larvin watched the female named Manumi as her eyes darted left and right. Judging by her figure, she looked like a well-trained killer.

Suddenly Larvin fell to his knees, gasped in pain as his head burned. Everything became blurry. His agony caught the attention of Manumi.

"What's wrong with him?" Manumi pointed towards Larvin who has lost consciousness.

[Beonid]

As the sun rose Ysandra lay exhausted on the hard rock, too tired to move into the small crevice she had found in the outcrop she had marched through the night to reach. Lack of sleep as well as exhaustion had cast her into a deep sleep. Time passed.

The sun rose high in the sky, and with it both prey and predators came of their shelter. Eagles occasionally winged across the sky, floating on the warm air currents produced by the sun on the sand. They were not the only animals that came out, though. Mice could be seen by an alert observer, scurrying across the dunes searching for food, and amidst all the activity, on a rocky outcrop set above the waste below, lay a slumbering woman. Not that she would be recognised as a woman until a person approached close enough to see her facial features. In the end, something did approach, although it wasn't strictly a person...

[Mihail]

Dievs looked at Larvin, then back at Manumi.

"He's a Fremen," he said. "Spice addiction. No spice here - he's going into withdrawals!" Walking over to Larvin, Dievs kneeled down beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"How bad is it? Drink some water," Dievs said, forcing his flask of water into Larvin's mouth.

Manumi kept her rifle trained on Jeffyr. Now that the Fremen was incapacitated, who knew what he would try? Both he and Manumi knew that the rest of them weren't real fighters, or in any condition to fight. They were becoming a liability, standing around here too long, especially with the Salusan night upon them. They needed a more defendable place to spend the night. They needed to climb.

Lowering her rifle sights slightly, Manumi said, "We need to get higher up. Anyone and anything can get to us here. Jeffyr, you're taking us to your hole. Now."

[spice addict]

OOC Hey guys new to the forum but am a huge Dune fan. I have only just finished the first book but I have googled enough to create a library. Dune also being the building blocks to so many other SI Fi series meant that my encyclopedic knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 was deeply influenced by Dune.

So ya hope its not to late to join up. Done plenty of other RPs so I think I will be fine.

Name:Corvus Gerhardt

Height: 6' 3''

Build:Well in shape

Hair Colour:brown

Hairstyle:Short millitery

Eye Colour:brown

(Former) Allegiance: House Reak, Reaken Helldivers (My own fan fic house.)

Background:Corvus a Major in the Reaken Helldivers. The Elite ordo militant of house Reak.

During a period of shore-leave Corvus got in a fight with a Sardaukar squad who were harassing the locals. The animals had the decency to only have one fight him. Things got nasty when the fight started to go Corvus' way and the sardaukar puled a stunner.

Being away from his house he had new safety net and as a result was dumped on S.S

Corvus opened his eyes and realized he was some were out side near a large rock.

his body ached from that brute and there was another sharper stinging in his chest from a...a stunner. that was it. Damn it those bastard sardaukar!

He slowly got up and with grim realization discovered were he was. salusa secundus. Where else would they have taken me.

There was something clanking at his side. A canteen and something else. He dug into his pocket.

It was his combat knife. That was surprising. maybe it showed they had some respect after the fight. Or maybe they just want me to be lulled into a false sense of security and then watch me die. Either way he had better start moving. He could see a rock outcropping perhaps a cave. He knew better then to linger on a death world and staying low and hugging any cover he could find began to jog towards it.

[Vanguard3000]

<Jeffyr>

--------

"We need to get higher up. Anyone and anything can get to us here. Jeffyr, you're taking us to your hole. Now."

"I'll show you mine, if you show me yours," said Jeffyr, with a wink, and the rifle was once again trained on his head.  He looked at Larvin.  There was a thin trail of already-clotted blood running down his face.

The madness will set in soon.  He'll slaughter us all.  It'll be beautiful.

He turned, and began walking up the steep cave, his hands clasped behind his back, talking over his shoulder in the distinctively arrogant tone of a mentat.  "By now you all should know we are indeed on Salusa Secundus:  Third planet of the Gamma Waiping star system; Prison world of the Padishah Emperors; and so-called 'secret' training ground of his Sardaukar.  The planet is not designated a 'hell-world' without reason, but survival is possible.  We have the Sardaukar themselves to thank for our slim chance at said survival; it is no coincidence you are all here now.  One of you - I should presume the Ixian - was likely given a map, and the only logical course of action for you would have been to seek shelter.  This very cave is man-made in nature.  It is very old, but close inspection will reveal that the rock bears the telltale markings of cutteray excavation.

"The Sardaukar want you to die, but they need some of you to survive, else their own numbers would diminish.  You have been given sanctuary here, for a time.  They will not permit you to hide here forever.  You must choose a course of action tonight."

"And what is your part in this game?"  Asked someone behind him.

"I have no part.  I am just here, now.  And I offer you my advice, and limited services as a broken mentat.  And my advice right now is to stop thinking of this as a game."

"Alright then, what about food?  We can't survive without it."

"Obviously."  Jeffyr sneered.  "I can show you a certain species of insect I've discovered here which is an adequate source of nourishment.  I call them Jeffyrica Salusasecundisia..."

Manumi chuckled, dryly.  "An insect named after you.  How fitting."

"Indeed."

[Dunenewt]

Anyone fancy reviving this at all?

[Beonid]

I wouldn't mind continuing. The only problem for me is time, and the fact that I've lost all my notes for this fanfic/rp. My activity is not guaranteed - I only visit Fed2k once or twice a week these days...

[piterdevries]

i dont mind too. but would it be better if we start anew?

[Dunenewt]

Yeah, I think it would probably be best to start again too, I'll have a new thread started up soon.

[piterdevries]

thats cool. will be looking forward for that one  ;D