Private The Hungry Woods

[Jack Sandrow]

LAO-MON
Near the outskirts of Goshen

---

Jack took his first breath of Lao-mon air that day.

He just stood there, two steps down the ramp of the Pod, parked on a little dirt patch outside the city. His eyes had closed, soaking in the new sensations, the raw organic data of the planet just seething through the air. There was so much to learn... How had he not been here before? He was down the ramp, feet in the dirt before he realized it. Reaching down and grabbing a handful of soil, he let it crumble through his fingers to land back in the dirt. Hmm.... toxins. Just the faintest hint of it, but... recent. Fairly recent, anyway.

A distant howl drew his attention, and his head snapped up to listen. Right... the small text had said primal beasts in the forests and all that. He pulled open the padd, wincing at the low battery. Got to get that charged again before he left. He flipped down to the most recent messages he had accessed, nodding a bit to himself. No other replies, nice! The nice thing about biology-focused classifieds on the net is that by-and-large they are untouched - no one really gives half a damn about them, save for the ultra-focused, ultra-curious individuals. Like him.

The message had said wait out here. He eyed the skyline, one hand moving down to his hip out of habit. Maybe he should get dressed for the occasion?

Five more minutes in his ship and he hopped out, now wearing a large rucksack. Good to go. All that was left was to wait for Inanna Harth to show up. Aaaaany minute now.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Inanna arrived a couple minutes late, coming from the direction of the Vonnuvi base. Picking her way through the underbrush with the ease of a native, Inanna nonetheless seemed less alien than others of her kind. She was a woman of the galaxy, which for some made her more approachable. It also made her an ideal pick for diplomatic missions such as this one.

Drawing near to the strange ship, she paused to take in the design. Its plantlike appearance reminded her of the bio-organic constructs built by the Shi'ido. Then there was Jack Sandrow himself, a humanoid figure standing near the loading ramp. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been a green man wearing... was that a rucksack? Well, far be it from her to judge. Perhaps it was the fashion wherever he came from.

"Hello," Inanna greeted. "Are you Jack Sandrow?" She had stopped just shy of the clearing, keeping some distance between them for the time being.

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Jack squinted at the figure approaching. "Hey! Yeah, I'm Jack. Are you..." He checked his padd again. " Inanna Harth ? Hearth? Am I pronouncing that correctly?"

He hopped down off his ship's ramp, giving a friendly wave as he ambled over. "The file said bring equipment for a hike, or something to that effect, so I've got my stuff." He thumbed over his shoulder at the backpack and gave her a grin, still a few yards away. "I was under the impression you'd be sort of directing this whole expedition, mostly because this is my first foray onto the planet... I don't know what I don't know and all that."

 

[Inanna Harth]

"You're pronouncing it just fine," she assured him. "And yes, I am the leader of the expedition. We'll get going whenever you're ready."

She wasn't alone after all. The other Shi'ido were there but hidden, their malleable bodies taking the form of trees and shrubs, rocks and small animals. Even in the Force their presences were vague, the faint outlines of sentient life among the jungle.

"As for what to expect… I assume you did read the debrief I sent you, right?" If not, things could get dangerous fast. Lao-mon's predators were quite vicious, finding easy prey in the uninitiated.

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

"Oh yeah, I read it. Lots of stuff I didn't entirely understand, but I read it." He thumbed to his pack again. "That's why I've got this. Better to be overprepared 'n all."

The sounds of the forest life were a multilayered orchestra for him, though he had ears only for the trees and flowers. Considering those were probably rife with other Shi'ido, he was trying to be well aware of anything out of the ordinary.

"Should I be armoring up at all? or is that a premature decision to make?" His hand tapped his hip, before producing a small walnut-like seed. He rolled it in his palm for a moment, before eyeing Inanna Harth again. "I'm following your lead on this, this is your planet."

 

[Inanna Harth]

"Should I be armoring up at all? Or is that a premature decision to make?"

“If you need it,” she replied. “Our strategy is to avoid any violent encounters with the local wildlife. I recommend you try and camouflage yourself. That way, when we face predators you can hide with us.”

If there were no further questions, Inanna would head out, leading the way through the jungle.

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

With us? Was that the 'royal' us, or... He discarded the thought. Never mind. "Oh I definitely need it," he chuckled softly, tapping the backpack on his shoulders as the compressed scout suit unfurled around him. He stretched and flexed his body, adjusting for the additional armor and weight. "There we go. Alright, following your lead."

- - - - -

The jungle around him was a symphony of life, soaking him in its splendor as he drank in the information. Birds and insects called out, but he had eyes and ears only for the flora. The trees curled and twisted around each other, moss and flowers dotting the forest with color, the rich scents of the dense underbrush all announcing their own stories for any curious party.

"This is incredible," he breathed, voice hushed with reverence. "There's so.... much of it. Of all of it." Compared to ecumenopolises like Coruscant, this was a haven of life. "How often do you usually go out and about?"



Inanna Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

Jack’s awe at the jungles brought Inanna a little sense of pride. The Vonnuvi and the returning Shi’ido had begun the complicated process of restoring the planet to its former glory after the Mawite occupation, and from the sound of it their hard work had paid off. Lao-mon was beginning to look like itself again, lush and verdant and alive.

"How often do you usually go out and about?"

“I’m more of a city girl,” she replied, keeping her voice down for fear of drawing unwanted attention. “But most Shi’ido spend their whole lives out here, blending in. Becoming part of the jungle.” She realized belatedly that he was probably asking about the expeditions, not her personally. “Er, we try to do this once every other standard week—”

She broke off, sensing a new and unfamiliar presence. Up ahead of them, a small ball of white fluff floated on the breeze. The fen’jin was one of the more cute-looking creatures Lao-mon had to offer, but like the majority of the native wildlife it could still pose a threat to the uninitiated.

As it floated toward them, Inanna began to move out of its way. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it,” she warned—hopefully not too late.

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

Jack paused in his stride, watching Inanna Harth slide smoothly out of the way. Probably best to do the same. "It's very fluffy..." he murmured, making sure to give it just as wide a berth as she did. "Very cute, in its own... weird way."

He looked around a moment before they continued on, and reached out a hand to softly touch one massive tree trunk. The pale brown-gray armor of his suit began to darken to match, the purple highlight fading to an almost black streak as his armor camouflaged itself to its current environment. Good, that was working. His armor had adapted, though he would still need a few hours (at least) to say the same.

He flexed his new dark brown arm, testing the pattern's fluidity. "Got distracted, sorry. I'm following you," he repeated, nodding with a smile behind the mask.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Luckily, Jack was able to heed her warning in time, giving the creature a wide berth. Inanna watched curiously as he touched a tree trunk, and his suit changed to mimic its appearance. Such camouflaging technology was not unheard of, but it was relatively rare and hard to come by. Moreover, his looked different from the types she had seen. More unique.

"Did you make your armor yourself?" she asked. Part of the reason why she had contacted him was because of his reputation as an inventor who dealt with biotech. Much of Shi'ido technology was based on plant-based biotech, and if they wanted to not only restore the planet but make it even better than it had been, he seemed an ideal torchbearer to light the way forward. Yet she knew very little of the details of his inventions or how they actually worked.

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

"I did, actually. I've grown this skill - literally - over the last few years, and I think it's really coming to a head." It had been hard to fully switch from standard tech to biology, but he had learned to adapt long ago. It had been no different, in the end.

They continued forward, and he kept an eye and ear out, both for any more floaty thingies and anything that might be a little more malignant. "What are we keeping an eye out for, exactly?" he murmured, plucking a leaf here, popping a flower off its stem there. The little samples slid smoothly into a slot at his hip, merging seamlessly with his armor after every deposit as if the pocket's seam wasn't even there.



Inanna Harth

 

[Inanna Harth]

“How does it work?” she asked. Maybe she was prying, but she wanted to know more. Needed to know more, if she was going to entrust her homeworld’s future to this strange green man.

"What are we keeping an eye out for, exactly?"

“Toxicity,” she replied. “The Wretchedness doesn’t last very long, thankfully, but there are other industrial toxins that could cause problems. If you see any plant life that looks mutated or deformed, that could be a sign of poison in the ground or water supply.”

Jack Sandrow​

 

[Jack Sandrow]

"Proprietary information, unfortunately," he grinned, giving her a wink (that she couldn't see, duh). "We draw up a contract, get something set up, and I'll show you how the vegan sausages are made."

He blinked at that name. "The.... Wretchedness? They don't mince words, huh..." He wrinkled his nose a bit, keeping his guard up. "Eugh... I'm assuming present company excluded and all that," he muttered, picking another small berry from a bush. "What should I be looking out for? Any specific smells or mutations?"


Inanna Harth