2008-05-28 - Fiery Planet

Mustafar: Fiery Chasm
There is a dull roar that comes trembling up from the depths of this great chasm, and it is the sound of hissing violence held in check and raging at its bonds. The fissure plunges down some three hundred feet and the walls reach up, jagged stone piling upon jagged stone to form the inside of a great cone.
This place is lit from below by the seething red light of a lake of magma that boils and froths, sending great splatters of liquid stone and metal striving upwards. Occasionally one of these flares reaches too high, and the annoyed flicker of a deflector shield ripples with static as it throws the super-heated fluid back down into the depths. High up, where even the harsh light of molten rock cannot follow, the pinnacles of the chamber disappear into gloomy, fume-choked shadow, and are illuminated infrequently by the flickering lightning shown through the open crater of the roof.
On the east and western sides small shelves of natural stone have been leveled to make rough overlooks jutting not more than twenty feet from the sloping walls of the cone at their widest. From the center of these shelves a wide, ashen-gray bridge of scored and pitted stone reaches forth to span the hellish drop. There are no walls or hand-rails on the bridge, and despite being twenty feet wide it seems small in the enormity of the chasm.
On the eastern side of the bridge a small tunnel has been bored into the living stone and it reaches upward immediately in a flight of uneven steps. On the western side stand the mouths of two tunnels: one which continues straight west and downward, and the other which goes off at an angle before turning a corner to drive due south. Next to this southern tunnel stands a simple control panel with a single display screen, the whole of which is obscured with grime and deposits from the thick, harsh atmosphere.
HAZARD: Vengeance suffers the severe heat of the Fiery Chasm! The hazard moderately wounds him.
HAZARD: Briseis suffers the severe heat of the Fiery Chasm! The hazard moderately wounds her.
Mustafar is a hellhole of a world, in the most literal sense of the world. Surrounded by heavy, black clouds within the far out of the way, hidden R'lyeh system, the angry red planet hanging dull and heavy within its dark shroud, the heat emanating off it in wave after wave of fiery oppression. The once populated world is no longer a home of vile secrets, left bare and empty with nothing but the facility and two landing pads left to show its shame.
A black-painted Telos Shuttle with no discernible markings cuts through the black cloud and descends on the planet, navigating the red heat with ease, its pilot knowing exactly where he is going. The ship settles down with a hiss on a landing pad, firing its engines and then cutting off, and the shuttle doors open. Briseis is pushed out first, restrained by electronic hand cuffs capable of giving a powerful shock. Vengeance follows, clad in black robes despite the oppressive heat, his steel mask replaced by a heat-protective gasmask. He offers one to Briseis, not seeming alarmed that she won't be able to /put it on/ with her hands tied.
Briseis has traveled in uncomfortable silence, her jaw set with something that might be determination or, equally, fear. Her arms are tight with the heavy ache that comes from force immobility, and when she's shoved forward, she stumbles onto the barren planet and falls heavily to her knees, unable to catch herself. Her breath rushes out and then in, and she flips her head up to fix her gaze on the cloaked figure who accompanies her. She stares up at him with no glance for the mask he offers, which she cannot take. Silence remains.
The voice sneers -- perhaps behind the mask, lips curl. "Get up," he hisses, grabbing one of her arms and pulling roughly. "I'll take them off, hand you the mask, and then put them back on. Understood? Unless you'd rather die. Mustafar is a dangerous place." 
Briseis half-falls back before she finds her balance, and her eyes snap anger before she drops them pointedly and staggers to her feet, the faster to jerk her arm away from his grip. Her gaze lifts to take in their surroundings, raking over the ash-covered desert with a twitch of hopelessness before she nods once and lowers her chin, lifting her arms toward him.
Vengeance reaches for a small button in his robes, pushing it -- an electronic key. The handcuffs release and fall, being caught deftly by one black gloved hand; then he reaches out the gas mask to her, wordless, red eyes burning as he watches her, making no move to arm himself ... perhaps giving her her chance... 
If Briseis sees it, she does not take it. This may be a moment - along with a dozen others by this point - that she regrets later. But now, today, she does not take it. She does stall before taking the gas mask, swinging her arms wide and then forward into a stretch as she rolls her shoulder blades, hunching them forward. Muscles scream their cramped protest, and the sharp shot of pain shows briefly on Bri's face before she finally lifts one hand to take the gas mask and slowly fit it into place.
Her aching muscles don't seem to be much of a concern to Vengeance, who waits patiently and then holds out the handcuffs for her to put her hands back in, lock at the ready in his hand. His red eyes are impassive, emotionless, yet something about him seems amused. "That wouldn't have been a good moment," he says, as if agreeing with something she never said.
Briseis finally speaks, lifting her gaze steadfastly to him without offering her arms again. Her voice is slightly distorted by the gas mask. "You don't have to cuff me. I'm unarmed."
"But I don't want you moving, or having any freedom to do said movement." He pauses, considering, and then shrugs. "Have it your way." He tucks them into his pocket and prods her with the toe of his boot. "Move. Towards the facility." 
There's a clear flash of relief on Bri's face at the allowance, and she swings her arms forward again, crossing them over her chest as she stretches out tight muscles. It's only at the prod that she begins to move, and then reluctantly. But move she does, and she does so without comment.
Vengeance follows, and they stride into the facility -- if it once had functioning air conditioners, they have long fallen into disrepair, as it is stiflingly hot. He seems not to notice, even in his heavy robes, as he prods her towards the western tunnel, stepping out into a great wide chasm with lava flowing through its bottom, the room lit in an eerie red glow. 
Briseis, on the other hand, notices. Her heavy armor makes the heat even worse, and wisps of hair curl at the nape of her neck as sweat beads up across her skin. Her breaths are short behind her gas mask, and they quicken slightly as she moves before Vengeance across the great chasm. Waves of heat radiate from below, making it difficult to focus on anything beyond the next step.
"Don't fall," Vengeance says with a small chuckle as he guides her towards the only passion across the deep chasm and burning red lava which fills the room with oppressive heat and a deep, red light. A bead of sweat drips down to the top of the mask, trickling down to his chin. 
Briseis stiffens, but does not answer. She simply walks, and by the time they cross, she is drenched in sweat that rolls down her neck to disappear into the heavy armor she wears.
The chasm seems to stretch on and on for eternity, but finally it is over, and a small tunnel entrance off to the side leads into a dark room and then through a set of metal white doors. Vengeance keys in something and it hisses open, opening into a white metal room stripped bare of everything that it once held, the secrets it once knew. With it comes a blast of sudden cool air, the AC working in this section of the facility. 
Bri's sigh of relief is clearly audible behind the gas mask, and she raises one hand to wipe it hard across her brow. It comes away wet, and she flicks it before glancing sideways at the man (thing?) that accompanies her. She stands stock still just inside the entrance, save for the slow rub of her hand against the chaffed skin of her opposite wrist, where the cuffs sat.
Category:May 2008 RP Logs