The Blood Rite: Verd'Goten of Mira Rekali

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Mira Rekali"]

Mira-

It's time for you to take the final step, to be a Rekali in more than blood. It's time for your verd'goten: the test of your skills. The test that marks you as an adult and an equal among the Clan.

You're strong in the Force, like your mother, like Grandpa. The cousins say you're well on your way to being a Master, even at your age. That's impressive.

When Grandpa took his verd'goten, he did it on Myrkr, where there is no Force. He was already a Master then, had already served on the Jedi Council and led an Academy on Ossus. He considered Myrkr a true test of his skills as a Mandalorian. I've got something similar in mind. Not Myrkr, though training around ysalamiri and void stone is important for all Rekali Forcers, but something that should test your Mandalorian skills to the limit.

I'm sending you a file on a Force-dead creature called a Kuryida Edee, native to Wayland. Bring no lightsabre, but bring home its head. I'll patch into your buy'ce's comm and be with you every step of the way.

 

[Long Gone]

Wayland​

​

Outer edges of Nystao Woodlands.​

​

17:56 Hrs.​

She was nervous.

She wouldn’t lie to herself.

The file of the creature she was supposed to hunt scrolled across the right side of her buy’ce as she rose up and moved to the edge of the boarding ramp. For a moment she hesitated, taking a moment to look back at the armored individual at the top of the ramp before her gaze shifted back infront of her. There was not turning back from this – that was for sure. She reached down and picked up the small satchel and Orar’sacarhr, quickly departing the dropship before she would be eventually shoved off. She didn’t bother to look back again as the whine of repulsors filled her audio amplifiers and the sound of the dropship taking off became nothing more than a distant memory.

~Sunset in approximately fifteen minutes.~ An alert on her buy’ce chimed in, causing her to shift uncomfortably. ~Immediate weather alert, incoming showers from the southeast – barometric pressure is dropping.~ She pushed forward towards the forest, moving into the dense foliage. If the file was right on this thing, she wouldn’t be able to sense it through the Force and she’d have to rely on everything else. Her equipment was a critical component, she had designed it for these types of situations, hadn’t she? Yes and no, she just didn’t expect to be hunting down a creature that was capable of devouring her in a single bite – as well as penetrating the very armor that protected her. Time would pass and the sun would begin to descend on the horizon. Mira took a moment to kneel down and check the coordinates from where she began to where she was now. *Not far enough…* She said quietly as she set the satchel down beside her and began pulling out the contents.

She slung the Orar over her shoulder and grabbed a couple of bait-bombs, stuffing them into her belt before rising up and kicking away the remaining contents of the satchel. What she had was enough – the rest was just keeping her from moving closer to the suspected target area. There was nothing else to do now but move and get into a good spot and then wait. With little fanfare, she took off in a dead sprint, moving through the brush and forest like a woman possessed. Seconds turned into minutes as she continued to move in and out of shrubs and heavily wooded areas. The minutes would turn into an hour, then an hour and a half before she reached her destination. Breathing heavily, she stopped to prop herself up against a large tree.

*Check scanners* She said with a ragged breath.

A green light would blink in the corner of her buy’ce, indicating that there was no immediate threats detected within a 100 meter radius. Mira sighed happily and brought her back to the tree, sinking down to the ground slowly, pulling the Orar from her shoulder and setting it in her lap as she took a minute to breath. *Not sure if that was the wisest idea, but probably a good way to warm-up* She said softly, hoping Alec would catch wind of it.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Mira Rekali"]

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the Kuryida Edee was having a sleepless evening. It had sworn off tinned food so many times, but when tinned food came calling it found itself unable to resist or, indeed, un-tin it. Hence fifteen kilos of mangled euk'gar plate strewn throughout its intestines. It had pooped a buy'ce around 13:00. The rest would take a while, even for the Kuryida Edee's powerful guts. No, there would be no napping tonight. Instead, it squatted by a jungle riverbank, drinking deep in hopes of forcing the armor through its digestive tract. Its little arms waved in frustration.

***​

​

<<It's always good to stretch before this kind of thing,>> Alec agreed in mando'a, over Mira's helmet comlink. In the background, food-related plastwrap tore and steam puffed. Alec sighed in contentment and slurped something. <<I should have stretched before I shot that Sith Lord in the feet. Would have saved all sorts of hassle.>>

 

[Long Gone]

Mira blinked a few times beneath her visor, giving the voice over her comlink a confused look. *I…I’m not sure how shooting someone requires stretching.* An eyebrow arched as she heard the familiar noise of Alec slurping something. Her stomach growled in response and Mira sighed and she pulled a ration from her belt and tore it open. A free hand would come to the edge of her buy’ce and tilt it back, just enough to allow her to eat freely but also be able to slap her buy’ce back on should trouble arise. “I guess that’s just me though.” The stench of dank air hit her nostrils as the pattering of rain began to fill the unusual silence of the jungle. She rested an arm against her knee as she stared out into the darkness, her hand holding the ration as she remained lost in thought.

~I wonder how many have come after this thing and failed…~ Mira took another bite of the stale strawberry pastry, chewing idly away at it. ~I guess it doesn’t matter…~ She shrugged and set the pastry down against a large root before pulling her canteen free and taking a swig from it. “So, tell me…” She capped the canteen and seated it back into her belt before picking up the pastry and finishing it off, dusting the crumbs from her hands. Yes, she was leaving an obvious trail for a reason – if this thing was such a territorial creature, it would know that someone was invading its space. A hand would come up to slap the buy’ce, knocking it down over her face with a gentle ‘pop’. *What are the odds against and for? I know you have taken bets.* She said through a slight mouthful, standing up and readjusting the Orar over her shoulder.

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Mira Rekali"]

<<Well,>> said Alec philosophically, still in mando'a, <<it's not the shooting that requires a warmup so much as the running and the screaming. Good way to strain something.>>

Slurp, slurp.

<<As for the odds, that depends what you're talking about. A verd'goten may be pass/fail, but betting sure isn't. There's one set of odds for you getting maimed -- all between friends, of course -- and another for whether you manage to take down the critter, and another for who gets first blood, and a bunch more. In fact, ah...you could say most of the Clan has taken an interest in your success today. Orbital camera. Pay-per-view.>>

***​

​

Elsewhere, by the river bank, the Kuryida Edee groaned in frustration and excreted a small brown mountain, studded with armor plates. With a deep sigh of tension released, the twenty-eight-ton monster waded into the river up to its belly and swished itself about comfortably. Its nostrils twitched: a gust of wind carried the scent of more tinned food.

 

[Long Gone]

Mira raised an eyebrow beneath the visor as she looked up at the jungle canopy. *Oh that’s nice, so a screw up means everyone gets to see it.* She mumbled and began to scale the tree, going from branch to branch. It was fair enough to say that she would need to get a height advantage on the creature if she were going to take it down – otherwise, well, she’d be doing a lot of running and dodging. She stopped about 10 meters off the ground, figuring that was a decent height to start with. The branches on the trees were thick enough to support a substantial amount of weight, as well as wide enough for her to walk along them with no balancing required. *Getting maimed? We talking full out or partially? Cause I hate to disappoint but I don’t plan on losing anything.* She said through a grunt as she knelt down, pulling a few bait bombs from her belt. She began activating them – being extremely careful not to get any on her.

As they began to activate, she’d throw them as hard and as far as she could, one in each direction. With the way the wind was blowing – the creature should have a good enough scent of where she was. If things worked out the way she planned, she’d be camouflaged in the surrounding bait bombs – to a degree. However, it wouldn’t be for long given the wind and level of rain coming down. She could only hope that the creature would make itself known soon enough – for now it would be a waiting game. Mira quietly made her way back to the trunk of the tree and sat down, pressing her back against the wood. A sigh escaped her lips as she removed the Orar from her shoulder and placed it in her lap. She'd look left and right, manually scanning the area in various light and thermal modes as she waited for her target.

*I wish mom and grandpa could see this…*

[member="Alec Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Mira Rekali"]

<<There's odds for scars and there's odds for losing limbs. Don't worry, we'll patch you up well enough if things get hairy. All joking aside, though, Mira, they'd be proud. This is you proving you have what it takes, even without the Force on your side.>>

***​

​

The Kuryida Edee sniffed the air and sloshed out of the river. Half a dozen appetizing aromas tickled its nostrils. It tromped through the undergrowth and soon found itself facing a small lump of something unusual. Experimentally, it nibbled-

CRACKBOOM

Teeth flew everywhere. The explosion scorched the left half of the critter's face. Shrapnel wounds dripped blood into that eye.

ROOOOARRRRRR etc.

It smelled a few more things just like this one. Behind them was the scent of tinned food. Irritated beyond measure, it ignored the tasty traps and went for the tinned food.

 

[Long Gone]

*I know…*

It was at that moment that Mira would feel something and the sensation of dwelling on the deaths of her mother and grandfather seemed to cease. Perhaps something a final piece of the puzzle being put in place with the words of Alec – who knew. The sound of explosive force caught her attention, followed shortly by the roar of something wicked, very wicked. Mira scrambled to her feet, caught by surprise at how quick the monster responded to the bait. She stumbled as the thunderous steps increased in number and intensity. *Well, I think I got its attention…* As the Kuryida appeared through the dense foliage below, Mira quickly took a knee and removed the Orar from her shoulder – propping it up as she began to take a shaky aim upon the creature.

She’d wait until the creature roared in defiance, anger or just hunger. She didn’t know – she couldn’t feel anything from it, something of great annoyance to her. As the gaping mouth opened, Mira fired the shot. The impact of the shot wasn’t as bad as Mira had originally anticipated but she also wasn’t as stable as she would have liked to have been – which is one of the reasons why she was sent backwards onto her fourth point of contact.

[member="Alec Rekali"]