Squashing Spidders

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck, not looking at the spiders, held the canister in his right hand. His left hand felt for the seal on the top where it would attach to a blaster. He found it and summoned the strength to force the small seal cover back until he heard a crack. That meant that the seal was broken and that the canister was leaking gas into the air. Looking up he noticed that the spiders were being drawn towards the flames that burned, but soon they would realize that the light meant pain and they would go back to hunting them. He pulled back his left arm, holding the canister in his hand and threw the small container towards one of the flames. The broken seal was releasing gas throughout the time, and when it spun within a dozen centimeters of the open flame the gas ignited. Because there was not as much air as in most atmospheres, the flame did not instantly spread and explode the canister. Instead it acted like a small flamethrower, the gas being forced out by the higher pressure in the container would catch ablaze as it flew out in all directions. The flames then set more of the webbing on fire.

While the spiders would still soon learn that the fire meant pain, the burning of more of the webs, and hopefully more spiders, meant they would otherwise be concerned with escaping. Preferably, Corruck and [member="Mrrew"] would be able to nab some of the spiders as they tried to flee. If he calculated right, the amount of gas in the canister would be enough where it would not fully empty. If luck was on their side, the amount of oxygen would, within the next minute or so, be enough to cause the gas inside to fully ignite, which would then explode the canister. That would hopefully drag even ore attention and pain as bits of durasteel would be thrown out in every direction, as well as causing a concussive wave.

He turned for a moment to Mrrew, "I guess this is where we run, yes?" He could feel his legs already tightening in preparation. Hopefully the amount of adrenaline would be enough to last him the run to the exit if needed.

 

[Mrrew]

Oh. Well. That worked. Mrrew blinked at the improvised flamethrower as a pillar of flame shot out of it, roasting the nearest spiders. He was beginning to think this guy was some kind of commando or special ops... Maybe a really good bounty hunter. These were the types of people he was glad to have hunting for him. It was a pain when someone got eaten by a Terentatek. Then he'd have to handle the life insurance paperwork. However; he saw a slight flaw in [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s plan. The gas container would eventually explode. Yes, that would mean fire and shrapnel would hit the spiders. But it wouldn't just hit the spiders... Mrrew had spun around, and started running down the small tunnel before Corruck even suggested it. They basically just lit a bomb.

It wasn't long before many of the spiders began to do the same thing. While the majority stayed behind, still confused by the fire, a few of the smartest individuals decided they preferred not to be well-done. Which meant a good few dozen spiders were following them down the tunnels. Giant possibly sentient-eating arachnids were following them into enclosd spaces where it was nearly impossible to even turn around quickly for the large Togorian, let alone fight them off.

He was beginning to like the bomb idea better.


(This is getting fun. Good thread man! )

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck noticed that [member="Mrrew"] was already running. He almost swore. He knew why the Togorian was running, but it just caught him off-guard. He immediately began running, following and trying to catch up with the massive feline as it made its escape. He left the Chiru rifle, not worth being blasted with shrapnel for. He knew a bomb was a bit extreme, and he very much second guessed the decision to use a gas canister, especially one for blaster gas which was very volatile. All the same, what was done was done, he couldn't change that. He noted that they were being followed by some of the smarter spiders. At the very least, they could catch them and he would have some fairly intelligent spiders on his hands, if he survived this. In all truth, he was hardly thinking about the spiders, his complete concern was with running from the ticking, or in this case burning, time bomb in a compressed area. When that thing went off, Corruck calculated, as best as his somewhat rattled brain could at the current moment, that the concussive wave would be forced through the small tunnel they were currently running down and then out into the larger cave. The first dozen meters from the tunnel entrance would become a sonic death trap for a blinding moment. Personally that was not how Corruck wanted to go.

He knew that while it was a highly volatile gas, he may be overestimating, but then he could just as easily be underestimating the explosion. He had never, within his memory, used a blaster gas canister as a incendiary grenade/bomb. He personally did not want to be within range to find out the results of his, so he thought, somewhat rash decisions. He could feel his lungs burning as he forced his legs to run faster than he had ever intended, or remembered, running from a bunch of spiders and/or a bomb. This was certainly a first for Corruck, and he did not intend on repeating it. He could tell, or he thought he could tell, from his perceptions that were blurred beyond trust that they would be near the entrance to the tunnel fairly soon. Then it would be a dash to the entrance of the cave.

(Yah this is really fun! Look forward to doing another in the future. )

 

[Mrrew]

Though it was hard to move in the small tunnel, Mrrew's legs were long enough that it wasn't long before he cleared it. He wasn't exactly sure how powerful the bomb would be- but there was a good chace that the sheer kinetic force could possibly cause a cave in. And if that happened he wanted to be out of the cramped tunnel when it happened. If they even survived the initial blast, that is. As he was running Mrrew began to regret joniing in on the Guild hunts... it sseemed every time he almost got crushed, lit on fire, or eaten. Or all of the above. The Togorian moved quickly away from the mouth of the cramped tunnel after emerging from it, trying to put as much distance between it and himself as he could. He thought much the same as Corruck- if the explosion was powerful enough,f ire and shrapnel were likely to spew out of the tunnel as if it had suddenly became the mouth of an angry dragon. And last time he'd fought an angry dragon he'd gotten eaten. Sort of.

Mrrew looked back in time to see [member="Corruck Kazen"] clear the tunnel, followed by a pack of irate-looking spiders. And then a sound like a Rancor falling off a cliff. Tibanna gas had a reputation for being extremely dangerous. In close spaces, under ground? That reputation was amplified ten fold. This was good and bad; bad because most of the spdiers probably just got incinerated. Bad because they were in the same cave system as the spiders.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck now regretted leaving the Chiru rifle back in the cave, of course his banged up good arm would not help with that now. The explosion had had a somewhat satisfactory sound to it, and the collapse of the cave, which was what he guessed the louder sound was. He knew that with only a small fraction of the original spiders were now before him, he also knew that unless he had a stun grenade he would be pretty much useless in this fight, and he didn't have a stun grenade. He counted at least a dozen, which meant there were enough to spare if one or two were killed.

He pulled out his pistol with his left hand and let three shot loose in the general direction of the spiders. "Well at least it is no longer a nest." At the same time he used his right hand to hit an emergency signal on his comm. It would tell the Recalcitrant to get over to the cave as quickly as possible.

[member="Mrrew"]

 

[Mrrew]

Oh, good, they didn't blow up. And the cave didn't fall on their heads. Of course there was a dozen spiders trying to eat [member="Corruck Kazen"], but at least they weren't dead. Yet. Mrrew raised his rifle, firing at the nearest one. In seconds,the spider lay on the ground twitching. SmartTranq was an amazing things- capable of taking down a rancor in less then a minute. These things? Seconds, at most. A moment after the first fell,a nother whiz int he air sounded, and another spider fell. And another. And another. There was a problem though. Chiru rifles are fantastic for bringing down large and small game- great aim, powerful ammunition. But only six darts to a clip.

It wasn't long before his ammo has been unloaded.. and the spiders switched tactics. Their nest was destroyed now. The common house spider usually runs at the first sight odf danger, avoiding sentients at all costs. Make them about ahundred times bigger, give them fangs capable of ripping through light armor? Their fight of flight response is weighed heavily to the former. And these were smart enough to realize which of the two intruders were a bigger threat. And which one would be easier to take down. The one not shooting glowing bolts of fire at them. And five large arachnids scuttled towards the Togorian.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

He knew there would soon be support, but that didn't help his alarm when the spiders changed targets. He could deal with them attacking him, but he was more than angered at them attacking others. He pulled his aim up and began firing with a little more accuracy. He let three shots into the hide of each spider as he moved his sight along in a line that covered the five that still stood. He heard one, two, three spiders cry out in pain before turning into one of the two other shots. Those three would turn their heads right to where their abdomens had been, leading to instant death. He fired five shots into the forth spider and felt his hand begin to shake as he fired into the fifth. His body moved much faster than he was used to and the adrenaline was a little too much for him. Just from seeing his arm on those last shots he could tell he had only wounded the last two spiders.

Corruck dropped to one knee and waited to see if the spiders would continue or would learn their lesson.

[member="Mrrew"]

 

[Mrrew]

The spiders were confused. They were being attacked froma ll angles- not something they were used to. Their instincts told them to swarm anything thay cannot trap. And their numbers were gone. They were outnumbered. Two-to-two, now. One spider turned, scuttling away from the pair as fast as it could towards the tunnels that led to escape. The other, not as bright it seemed, decided to leap at the Togorian. Mrrew was out of ammo. There wasn't enough time to get out his pistol. He doubhted Corruck coudl hsoot the thing in time. Most people woudl either run, or die at this point. Mrrew swung his rifle like a bat.

The spider went flying across the room, hitting the far wall with a sound like a fly on a windshield.

[member="Corruck Kazen"]

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck almost laughed as the spider hit the wall and fell in a heap of crunched bone and tough hide. Obviously the wall was not completely smooth and the strength that had thrown the spider across the room forcing into the wall was enough that it mangled the body.

He stood and almost dropped his pistol, but caught it on the way down with his right hand. Even though it stung like hell, Corruck kept a tight grip on the blaster until his left hand stopped shaking, then he put the blaster into his pocket. He smiled as he looked over the cave with six now stunned spiders on the floor and a seventh crushed one. "A normal day at work?" He found it funny, jobs like these often seemed to have days like this.

He heard a ship landing outside and knew that that was the Recalcitrant which meant there would soon be a concerned group of people waiting at the entrance to his ship. He would have to explain what happened and why he had a broken arm along with six spiders now lying on the ground. He would be fine with that, but he looked forward to getting these spiders into the cages that had been thrown up to hold the aboard his ship. Then he especially looked forward to their permanent homes in strong containment units on another planet.

[member="Mrrew"]

 

[Mrrew]

Mrrew stared at the twitching spiders for a moment, obviously out of breath. That was eventful. The Togorian set down his rifle briefly, stepping over to the spiders. All of them seemed safely knocked out. He was slightly curious why Corruck needed them. Then again, it was fairly obvious to mine glitterstim. Heh. Maybe he was a crime lord after all. He didn't partcilarly care one way or another- anyone who could make a flamethrower out of a tibanna canister and then proceed to stay alive while hundreds of giant spiders are mad at them was valuable enough.

Mrrew smiled at [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s joke. "Nope..." Mrrew picked his rifle up off the ground, and turned towards the tunnel exit. "Usually it's dragons." The funny thing was, it was impossible to tell if he was joking or not.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck laughed uncertainly. He could not tell if it were a joke, he guessed it was partly a joke and partly truth. He hoped he had set a good first impression for [member="Mrrew"] .

He followed the Togorian out of the tunnel saying, "Take care until next time. I look forward to the next hunt. Do you need medical attention?"

He personally hoped that it would not quite be as disastrous as this time, but he would have to wait to find out. He heard the crew of the Recalcitrant talking among themselves, Corruck wondered what they were talking about. Rathur ran forward, passing Corruck; he more uncertain as he neared the cave. He ran in, before running back to Corruck. He spoke something into Corruck's ear, but Corruck didn't catch it. Rathur ran back to the ship and ran up the loading ramp. Soon they would be loading the spiders onto ship.

 

[Mrrew]

Mrrew nodded in agreement before waving dismissingly at the thought of medical attention. Luckily, he'd gotten out of the cave with very little harm done. He was simply exghausted. The scrapes and brusies he had could easily be taken care of with some bacta salve. Mrrew walked off int he oppisite direction while [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s minions handled loading the spiders. Normally he'd provide free transport, but Corruck's ship was already there. He would certainly keep Corruck in mind next time they had to hunt something dangerous.

(Was a fun thread! We should hunt again some time.)

 

[Corruck Kazen]

(I certainly look forward to it. First hunt thread and Corruck broke an arm, lol. Next time he gets eaten by a Rancor eh.)
[member="Mrrew"]