Weeks now after the climactic Battle of Endor, the New Republic has begun to take a more official form. With Mon Calamari well secured, the familiar world of Yavin IV was reoccupied and fortified as a forward position from which to continue the quest towards the ultimate goal of reclaiming Coruscant.
The New Republic Expeditionary Fleet was deployed to the task under the leadership of a handful of seasoned veteran high ranking officers and with the mightiest starship in the NR Fleet, the newly commissioned MC90 class Battlecruiser Praenuntium. One of two produced to date, the other ship of which being part of the splintered yet affiliated Rebel Alliance fleet based out of Endor. The concentration of assets resulted in a newly secured independent stronghold for the New Republic on Yavin IV in a matter of weeks. Sweet justice for the ousting just a few years earlier.
The massive dense gaseous orb Yavin Prime was in the last quarter, and most distant stretch, of it's revolution around the system's single Yellow Giant Star, Yavin. Dragged further out along with it's much larger host, the tiny jungle moon Yavin IV experienced a moderate to severe winter weather pattern for several weeks in the southern pole region.
Scattered across the tiny moon fortress, New Republic Engineers made the most of the magnificent pre-existing Massassi Temples, and established most of their facilities within them. Gaining the innate defensible advantage offered by the resilient ancient architectural wonders.
In one of the massive yet to be utilized structures near the southern pole, darkness swallowed the region as a small diverse group of New Republic soldiers who'd been sent on a scouting mission huddled around a small fire seeking refuge from the unanticipated frigid weather shift. The slowly burning branches and dried dead vines crackled and snapped as a gentle orange glow cast about the small temporarily inhabited nook of the Temple's ground level, while the rest stay masked in shadow.
The temples upper floors had long deteriorated and rotted away leaving a towering vast empty structure, and the roof, a few hundred meters above was completely open, though the whole building gradually tapered as it rose resulting in a gap of probably only a few dozen meters across. Occasional wind gusts drafted in, howling through to the mostly vacant structure while they whisked and whirled the smoke from the small fire as it drifted up, up and out the seeming intentionally designed chimney system. Snow flakes drifted down in contrast, joining the dance of nature in to the late nite while the comrades rubbed their hands together over the flames, exchanged stories, jeers, slept and warmed their morale along with their cores. .
". .well this weather proves that these Temples ain't the only thing Freakish about this planet. I may have a fear of drowning, but I'd still take a Coral City deployment over this. . ." a squeeky sounding and looking young human grunt said quietly, sitting on the ground while using his fatigue sleeve as a cloth to persistently shine his blaster rifle.
"You've never been to Coral City, come to think of it, you've never been on Mon Calamari," a slightly older and similar looking human trooper next to him answered in a muffled scolding tone as he repositioned himself on his hiking pack.
"Yeah bu. . " the younger attempted to retort before being cut off, "Yeah but that rifle ain't coming any cleaner. And what are you cleaning off of it anyways? The last time you fired it was last month's live fire trials. The last time you cleaned it was an hour ago," the older snapped back at him slightly more audible, sending a faint echo bouncing off the walls.
An Ithorian across from them and enshrouded in his sleeping bag rolled over to face the pair and offered an interjection, "Hoddus, Hoddus. Moo lap O Nothup!" he said in his normal quiet deep tone.
"He says Brothers should never fight," the squeeky young human interpreted for the older with a suppressed laugh.
The older reacted with a scoff, "Oh, we're not brothers! Cousins."
"SECOND Cousins," the younger firmly proclaimed to the Ithorian.
"Doomu." the Ithorian offered in conclusion with a bit of a shrug before rolling back over to try and sleep.
"He doesss not underssstand. All Ithoriansss are brotherss and Ssisterss..within the Herd, not in the way you mean of courssse," the squad's Twi'lek Sergeant interrupted in a typical slow deliberate growling and hissing accent with a toothy smile as he prodded the fire with a stick and continued, "Get sssome ssssleeeep. Tomorrow we climb the mountain," he said, just forceful enough to indicate his expectation of compliance.
The bickering pair noted the tone and obliged as the younger muttered under his breath, "Never been there but I know more about it than you."
