Post: 1
Several miles from the safe confines of the fort, a patrolling squad of Stormtroopers would be maintaining the perimeter. Their once pristine white armour caked with a thick layer of wet and mud and slime, to which fallen foliage and leaves would occassionally stick as they head through the thick jungle. CT-47B would move with them, having forgone his shield in such conditions where the reduced visibility and mobility could cost him his life. Instead, he would carry his F-11D blaster rifle. Which although soaked from the constant rainfall, was clean from the dirt that caked the rest of his body.
As the rain intensifies, -threatening to drown them like wamp rats- the ten strong squad take cover beneathe the thick canopy of a tree, sitting between its large roots and taking a moment of rest to enjoy their new found dryness before gathering wood for a small fire. CT-47B would wait at the side as a few of the others gather tinder from beneathe the suspended trunk. He takes a seat on a large root, and rubs his hand across the visor of his helmet before flick the droplets to the ground. "We can''t see kark in this weather." He says, stating the obvious. As AB-4473 responds. "That's why we're not scout troopers."
An hour passes, and the fire shows no signs of going out as the Stormtroopers sit around it, finishing of the last of the days rations. "You know I'd take this to a cramped bunk on the ship any day." States CB-4533 with a plastic spoon in his hand, pointing it at the others like he was making an accusation. "Only because there's no-one to stop you eating all the rations." Says CT-47B, "Or to wake you up before its evening." adds GC-2779. Within the hour, the group would make camp. With CT-47B taking first watch due to his inability to sleep outside a base or starship unless completely exhausted.
In the morning, AB-4473 would kick wet mud over the fires dying embers, before waking up the others and preparing to head out. Though the ground was still soaked, the raining had stopped and glistening beams of sunlight broke through the thick canopy, casting a colourful spectrum of colour in the places where the moisture and light overlapped. As they moved through the jungle, they approached the edge of a huge puddle sat a meter below them, with the massive winding roots of the collosal tree they had slept under dragging down into it like a thirsty hand grasping for water.
Before anyone had time to suggest going around it. GC-2779 had stepped over the roots and gone in.
The water was deeper than it looked, an unfortunate revelation gained as GC-2779 found himself sinking several feet under, till only the white of his helmet and his wild thrashing arms escaped the surface as colourful obscenties voiced through their coms. His each confused limb reaching for his squadmates hands to drag him free as the stamping and kicking of his feet drove dirt and mud from the ponds bed into the filthy water. From across the pond, a similar patch of sediment raised into the water as what the squad had previously assumed to be a root slid further into pool, driving up brown sediment into the water as it scurried across the ponds bed, quickly moving towards the stranded Stormtrooper as he repeatedly slid back into the water, unable to get a grip on EB-263's hand.
"Contact in the water! Aim in front of the cloud!" Shouts AB-4473, as eight members of the squad began blasting at the water, sending trails of steam into the air as hot plasma discharged through it, boiling the waters surface as the pond started resembling a spa room in the capital. CT-47B would stop firing, quickly taking a palm sized ball from his side and shouting that he's "Tossing a detonator!" over the blaster fire before activating it and tossing the high powered class A explosive between the creature -that had began moving in erratic patterns in a seemingly intelligent attempt to avoid the bolts- and the panicking GC-2779, who had fallen back into the water after a nearly successful attempt to escape failed when his foothold fell away, submerging him completely until he managed to regain his footing once again.
The explosion was huge, incinerating the water: the ponds banks, the floor, the creature (whose body was immediately vaporized), a portion of an overhanging tree, its roots, its vines and causing a wave of water to push against GC-2779 as CT-47B and EB-263 drag him up add into cover as rocks and pebbels lifted by the explosion strike the ground around them, pouring down on their strong helmets like the rain had the night before.
A minute passes, and slowly the squad begins to stand. Looking over the destruction they had wrought on the now significantly deeper pond in silence as fire slowly travelled up the vines before singeing out on the wet foliage. As they watch, a soaking GC-2779 would be the last to stand up, his rattled breathing returning to normal before the trooper choked a laugh, before breaking into a fit of it as it spread to the others, the squad relieved to have gotten out of it without losing one of them.
