Jon pulled his thermal cloak more tightly around his face, trying to catch his breath before the biting winds ripped it away again. Just a few more steps and he would have at least some semblance of shelter. Just a few more steps…
He’d been hounded halfway across the Outer Rim ever since Abraxia, that Sith-spawn of a Hutt, put her largest bounty on his head. He’d dodged Mandalorians, assassin droids, bounty hunters, and just as he though he was in the clear, a karking Sith shows up on his tail!
The chase had finally led the pair here, to the most inhospitable ice ball ever to grace the galaxy.
Just a few more steps…
Jon breathed a sigh of relief as he finally crossed the threshold of the icy cavern that the Grande Carnivale’s scanners had revealed to him from orbit, finally granting him some shred of respite from the vortex of winds outside, if not the biting cold.
He leaned against one ice-slicked wall and slid to the ground. He couldn’t rest long. He knew he couldn’t. Ruka would be on his trail by now, and he didn’t have long before the Sith caught up with him. He was absent most of his usual gadgets and trinkets that he used to even the score between himself and Force-wielding opponents. Most of those had been used up getting here alive. All he had to go on was his wits.
Still… he thought, taking in the surprisingly largest, winding cavern ahead of him. That might just be enough.
As he ventured deeper into the cavern, he learned more about his un-chosen battle ground. The deeper one went, the warmer it got. There was enough insulation from the meters of the snow overhead to allow for meager heat from the planet’s core to fill the space, and as a result the ice was actually starting to melt. Water droplets fell from icicles over head, and the floor was slick with run-off, enough that Jon had to step slowly and carefully across the floor to avoid slipping. With the incline of the cavern floor, were he to lose his footing and slip, he didn’t know when the sliding would stop.
He paused at the sight of a pile of bones, humanoid at a glance, piled in the corner, cracked open and covered in bite marks. Ah. Wampas. That could be useful information. He supposed he should just be thankful they didn’t seem to be home at the moment.
Each step of his feet sent an echo that bounced from wall to wall in the silence so loudly it became disorienting. Could be handy to take advantage of.
Jon smiled, a plan already forming in his mind that, if he played his hand well, and cheated just the right amount, might just let him survive this, all odds be damned.
When Jon felt the scraping at the back of his senses a few hours later, he knew he was as prepared as he was going to get. The sun was going down outside, and soon the temperatures outside would sink from just “inhospitable” to “actively lethal.” The pair of them would be trapped by the cold in here until one or the other came out on top.
He watched from a hidden vantage point as Ruka swaggered in from the cold, descending the sloping entrance to the caverns like he owned the place. If the brutal chill from the storm even registered to him, he certainly didn't show it.
What he did do, however, was look directly at the place where Jon was hiding.
“Well you've certainly made catching you a pain,” the Sith Lord said. “Why don't you come out now and we can both get this over with. I've no desire to stay on this frozen hell longer than I have to.”
Jon chuckled, trying -- and likely failing -- to hide his own fear. He stepped out from behind the pillar of ice where he's been lurking, both hands raised, and his trademark disarming smile on his face.
“Looks like you have me at the disadvantage, M’lord,” he said. “Guess I'm fairly helpless.”
The eyebrow the arched on Ruka’s face, and the way his hand never drifted far from his lightsaber told Jon he didn't buy the act. Which was hardly fair, Jon was a fair good actor!
“Uh-huh,” he replied. “Then why don't you walk over here, very slowly, and let me put these stun cuffs on you. Once sunrise comes, we can both walk out of here in one piece.”
Jon slowly stepped forward, choosing each step with care, and put his hands forward, allowing the Sith to lock the stun cuffs around his wrists. The feeling of low static thrumming along his skin, and the implied promise of agonizing electricity, was unwelcome but familiar. Throughout it all, Ruka seemed surprised but wary at Jon's meek acceptance of his capture.
That done, the pair sat down against one wall to wait out the frigid night that had just set in relative sanctuary, though Ruka never took his eyes off the pirate.
“You look worried,” Jon said at length. “Disappointed I didn't put up more of a fight?”
“Not so much disappointed,” Ruka said. “Just hoping you know better than to try some idiotic stunt when you're at the end of the line.”
Jon shrugged. “Could be I finally learned to accept when I'm beaten.”
Rula scoffed, causing Jon to grin.
“‘Course, it could also be that I know something you don't know.”
“Such as?”
A low rumbling sound was coming from further up the caverns, closer to the entrance. Ruka didn't seem to notice, focused on Jon.
“Well I know Abraxxia is never gonna pay you what she promised. I know three different ways to arrange an Idiot's Array in Sabaac without getting caught.”
The rumbling came closer, and Jon's grin widened. “I know Wampas always retreat back to their lairs at night to escape the cold.”
Ruka’s eyes widened, and he bolted to his feet, one hand going for his saber, while Jon cackled. The mercenary scrambled to his own feet, but Ruka didn't have time to activate the stun cuffs as a mass of bloodstained white fur and black claws emerged from the bend in the cave.
“Have fun with that! When you get done with the big boy, meet me further down! I've got a few surprises for you!”
