Alpha Base Mess Hall

((OOC)): This Run-On is for everyone in the House. Should anyone from HEK want to stick their heads in, that's fine too. Feel free to write your character in a completely casual setting. Consider this good practice for future RO events.

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Jusadih System
Sigil 5 - Morroth
Alpha Base
Mess Hall

The room was a simplistic affair, six long tables running horizontally from wall to wall, folding chairs set up at them. Spaces between the tables allowed for navigation of the room, a droid sitting to the eastern side to dish out rations. It was a place commonly crowded with soldiers and Dark Jedi alike. Often, soldiers would buy alcohol and other such contraband off of the Dark Jedi, turning the place into something of a makeshift cantina. It was the one place in the base where everyone could go to relax between duties, and it was the one place warm enough that no one had to shiver or wear a coat.

Kal Vorrac leaned in the shadow of the doorway, looking over the mess hall. Of course, he'd had knowledge of the contraband sales and other such mischief from the first time it had happened. He'd never bothered to stifle it, for it provided an atmosphere for gain and loss, for ambition. Even in such small amounts, such ambition was always useful. Chuckling softly as he saw a soldier discreetly accept a few deathsticks from a passing Acolyte, his attention was drawn sharply to the doorway as it hissed open and the forms of more Ketoan Dark Jedi emerged...

Fang Ao Tian entered the mess hall, his white cloak and black boots and gloves covering his pale skin. Though it wasn't standard issue, Fang wore a cream-colored thinsuit beneath the cloak. The microelectronics woven into the suit kept him totally comfortable in the chilly room, but as he drew his hood back, Fang felt a chill from the icy look at Kal Vorrac gave him.

"Come to trade in your ill-gotten goods?" Kal asked the battle team leader, nodding toward the worn leather pack on Fang's back.

The Kiffar grinned sheepishly, feeling a bit like a Hutt caught with his hand in the gorg jar. "I assure you, Kal, that everything in this pack was obtained legally," Fang said, "Besides, I despise the vice of spice. Aside from sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, there's nothing addictive in here."

The two stared at each other, Kal wearing a look of thin patience while Fang looked back with a raised eyebrow and a laugh lurking behind his grin. The Kiffar was much more lighthearted when not hunting a bounty, on a mission, or training in the Force, and Kal found Fang's spirit to be extraordinarily strong.

"Besides," Fang said, softening his already soft voice, "They're stationed on a dark ice ball. There's nothing to see here, and the only thing to do is drill. Let them have a little Zadarian brandy; it'll keep 'em warm and let them take their mind of the family they've left behind."

Kaira sat in a shadow in the room at a far table from the door. It was warm in the mess hall, at least warmer than the rest of this stupid planet. Kaira did not hide one ounce of her dislike for the cold. It was well known for her to take off for days at a time only to have to be called back in order to do the work she was given from the house. So, in the shadows of the mess hall, with her cloak wrapped around her, Kaira had come to read her data pad that had a few old books loaded onto it.

It was not until she heard Kal and Fang’s voices that she even bothered to look up. This brought a small frown to her lips as she turned away from the door. She hoped her black cloak would not give her away or at least keep anyone from bugging her right now. The Krath had found it hard to read much of anything as of late but this time she really did not want to be interrupted. The more she learned about the Sith, the more it fascinated her and drove her to want to read even more. It had always driven Alaris nuts when she would show up to training with her nose in a book, and she had learned that Kal had little patience for it either. As for Fang, Kaira knew he put up with it as long as it did not interfere with their missions.

Maybe this was not the perfect place after all. If she found her way to a library, at least that would be one place where Kal or Fang would be unlikely to find her. The young priestess had made a few silent jokes to herself, wondering if Kal or Fang could even read; one was so bent on power and the other always trying to better his combat skills. At least that was how Kaira looked at them. She knew Kal better then Fang and she knew just how dangerous he was. The young woman had a healthy respect for her house’s Quaestor. He was their leader, after all, and she would not cross him for any price. Unlike some, Kaira knew if she ever crossed Kal it would be the last thing she ever did.

As the door whooshed open again, Kal was surprised to see his young Aedile enter the cantina. He was more interested in her revealing robes, and why she was held at the hips by a marine sergeant. She walked right passed him, making him feeling invisible to her. In some way he was more than concerned, yet somewhat curios why she had dressed in such a beautiful manner at her age. Fang had caught his attention again, watching as the Quaestor’s eyes lurked at the young slender Knight. He turned his head smirking as the Marine ran his hands up Cassandra’s back in an appealing manner. Although highly uninterested in his Aedile, he couldn’t help but notice her beauty and revealing body features.

“Ha! Looks like the Kid’s become an adult…Hey Kal?” Fang chuckled.

“Yer…a…adult” The Sith stuttered in reply paying more attention how the Marine touched Cassandra’s body.

Cassandra smiled as the marine handed her an alcoholic beverage, she couldn’t care less it shun blue just as long as it tasted good. She had known Rogen for quite sometime, seeing him every now and then behind the Brotherhood’s back. But she couldn’t care less; she is young and more than just attractive. A Girl’s got to have her fun, she thought to herself as she swigged at her drink.

As the Sergeant wrapped his arms around her again, she spotted over his shoulder a familiar face. She was slightly amused to find a Krath, especially this one in a Mess Hall. Although she didn’t spot the datapad Kaira held, she felt slightly caught looking how she was. But as she thought about it, she knew her friend would understand. After all, they were close and females.

Rogen ran his hands up to her rosy cheeks and slowly laid a kiss on her forehead. For once, Cassandra felt a warm stir from within. She wanted to smile, then all of sudden she felt caught. She could hear the voice of her Quaestor echoing in her mind.

Behind You…

The young woman turned her head, spotting Kal sat at the back of the Mess Hall. She smirked, turning bright red with embarrassment. Looking away quickly, Cassandra stepped back from the muscle toned marine and lent on the bar. He had spoiled her fun, a typical father figure.

Alcohol. Spice. Gambling. They were all deceiving, all corrupting. And they were the source for the rising unrest in Alpha Base’s mess hall that for each minute that passed turned more and more into a wild and ruthless cantina of which you could find in Coruscant’s Undercity or other shady dumps of the galaxy. This was of course not an unfamiliar sight for Mograine, and in most occasions not unwelcome, but right now, at this place, with these people, it was. People were free to drink, use drugs, gamble, fight, kill in cantinas, but this wasn’t a cantina. This was the mess hall of a military base, where people were supposed to be at attention, sharp and prepared at all time. Mograine swallowed his anger, which was igniting as fast as a fire did at a dry crop. He was sitting in the middle of the mess hall, at a table close to one of the counters where a bartender would quickly serve him with anything refreshing with a wave of his hand. The Sith was clad in his hybrid uniform-robe, which was a combination of the traditional black dark jedi knight robe with a black military undertunic with the insignia of his rank within the intelligence branch beneath. In additional he wore black knee-high flightboots and one of the black shimmersilk cloaks he tended to have special imported to him all from Hapes.

He dropped his gaze back down to the various flimsiplast notes and papers he was reading about the infinite knowledge about the Force. A mouthful of ale got spilled out over his notes as several soldiers engaged in a violent brawl over some gambling bet. The plast got sticky and discolored the letters almost unrecognizable. Mograine calmly put them down at the table beside him and rose to his feet, walking through the small cheering crowd. Finally getting through, he saw a muscular built human male with a thin buzz-cut wearing “Army” insignia on his breast, holding another army-soldier in a chokehold. The Sith walked over to the two brawlers and with a nudge in the Force, separated them.

“What the kriff is going on here?” he questioned them imperiously. The buzz-cut narrowed his eyes at Mograine and took a step closer. “The bastard lost a bet to me, but didn’t pay up. I’ll toll that in blood”, he snarled back at the dark jedi. Mograine rolled his eyes and sighed, finding to be in the presence of such primitive brutes most tiresome.

“Well, I don’t want to see such behavior inside the base. Take your fight elsewhere—“he said, but was cut off by the arrogant mongrel,

“Or else?” This time it was Mograine’s turn to narrow his eyes since right now; this soldier was stepping on his temper.

“Do you really think I’m scared of your kind, you dark jedi are nothing but a gang of pompous self-righteous priests, and the only reason you have power is because you’re hiding behind a magocracy government, gahh—“, the soldier clenched his throat, gurgling for air. The surrounding crowd erupted in an instant chattering and some even turned to leave.

“You were saying what?” Mograine asked coldly. “Grhh… N-nothing…”, the man managed to gasp out.

“Capital, then I won’t need to make an example of people fighting?” the Sith replied, his vision turned from the strangling man to the other one he had been fighting, who was stunned with fear and could only manage to turn his head in denial of force-user’s orders.

Mograine released his grip, and the soldier fell to the ground gasping for air. Mograine watched him with dismay before he spun on his heels, and marched through the masses of gathered people, who were all stepping out of his way in fear of being strangled themselves.

The mess hall of Alpha Base. In this forsaken corner of the galaxy, it’s the only place a soldier can let off a little steam and relax. On any other planet in Brotherhood controlled space they would be able to leave post and tear up the local cantinas. Not on Morroth. The only thing off post here was ice, snow, and the cold. Oh sure there were a few settlements here and there, but that was it. The only things you could do here was train and stand by. You didn't know why you were standing by or for what, but you did it.

Soldiers weren't the only ones that got bored. There were plenty of Dark Jedi within the mess hall as well. Some came to trade contraband with the grunts. Others came to be alone. Kodais Solatus came to carouse with the soldiers and get hammered drunk. Maybe hustle a few hands of Pazaak while he was at it. In his younger days Kodais had been a soldier, specifically an infantryman, and these mud crunchers were his people.

Though he was a loner by nature Kodais enjoyed the occasional foray into the public. It was never a dull moment in the “Cantina”, and the soldiers called it. There was always a variety of people there. One person in particular that grabbed his attention was his Aedile, Dark Jedi Knight Cassandra El’sin. Kodais found her stunning in her feminine attire, and taken, judging by the jarhead at her side.

He sat at a table amongst a few lower enlisted men. They had been passing around a bottle of Dodbri whiskey and swapping war stories for some time now. Kodais missed the Army, and this was his only way of reliving the good ol’ days. The soldiers didn't know he was a Dark Jedi. He wore plain nondescript fatigues and had approached them with the whiskey and credits that he needed to be relieved of. Good times were had by all. Until a trooper got choked out by a Dark Jedi Knight.

Kodais noticed the commotion when two soldiers at the table across from him got into a fight. It seemed harmless enough until some old man began to Force choke one of them. Kodais watched the old man. He didn’t know who he was, but he had seen him from time to time around the base. When the choking was finished the old man gathered up a small stack of papers and left the mess hall. Now who in their right mind would come to a very loud and very crowded place to study? Kodais thought to himself.