The Rescue of Connory Monroe (open)

[Gryylarc]

OOC/ In the style of my old Weekend Treasure Hunt threads, this is an open thread where I set up a scenario and let people go wild. Don't expect me to respond; just treat the scenario respectfully, write your own opposition, etc. Or backstab each other -- do as you will.

Please tag your location (site A, B, or C) with each post to help everyone else out. Also, please don't rush and claim prizes in just a post or two; be fair with each other.


IC/ A distress call has gone out from an abandoned Mandalorian base on the jungle moon of Dxun: a young woman's voice.

"...Had a run in with what I'm pretty sure is a sith. Wookie, silver haired. If you don't come and find me I'm gonna bring all my ghosts and haunt your asses."

Onderon traffic control has verified that no ship has left the area since. The Mandalorian pirate-hunter [member="Connory Monroe"], daughter of the infamous Mia, is still on Dxun. Those who know such things believe there are three possible locations.

• SITE A: The former Mandalorian base, heavily overgrown by jungle. Drexls are common in the area, descendants of ancient warbeasts. More than one Mandalorian's bones and beskar armor can be found here, along with a rare mythosaur axe.
• SITE B: A stagnant cave system overrun by orbalisks [see Restricted Material rules] and rumored to contain a crashed, decrepit Sith starship from the era of Exar Kun.
• SITE C: A knot of dense and trackless jungle dominated by packs of Force-stealthed maalraas. This is a place that even Sith and supercommandos fear.

Sith cultists can be found at each site, and their prisoner, Connory Monroe, is at one of them -- but which?

 

[Trextan Voidstalker]

Site C

This was a place than no person should tread alone. There was even a warning beacon maintained by the people of Onderon to remind travellers not to set down on the moon.

Trextan Voidstalker had never been one to heed warnings. Too many twists and turns in his life had dragged him along on the force of other people's needs. He followed his own advice. Even his father, a jedi master who had dualled the Dark Lord and several of his most trusted and come out alive had given up on trying to make the willful young man follow his advice.

"Set us down just in that clearing!" he told G7PT, an piloting droid he was hiring. He had never even learned to pilot a shuttle as badly as his father did.

The moment the ramp started to lower, the cool recycled air of the shuttle was assaulted by the oppressive heat of the jungle. Trextan hurriedly sorted through several drawers until he found a cannister of insect repellent. At least the creatures that would eat him slowly would leave him alone.

He slung a the strap of a hunting blaster rifle over his shoulder, keeping his Occluder handcannon on his belt. He had enough stopping power to deal with anything short of a rancor. This might have been a mandalorian problem, but he had come armed as well as one.

Not long after the fall of the alliance he had rebuilt his lightsaber and then removed the paddle beamer from his robotic arm to make room for it. It was a weapon that had once hung proudly from his belt. Now it remained out of sight. Much like the rest of his past.

 

[Thraztin]

Location: On the way to Site A​

Goal: Find the missing Mando, Find ancient Mando tech​

​

Maiven had always had an affinity for Mandalorians. It was rare for a Chiss to take an interest in any race but their own, yet Maiven had always looked up to the great warrior race. Now, as she traveled through the edge of Jedi Space on the way to her next mission, a Mandalorian distress beacon was hailing her from the surface of Dxun, the moon of Onderon. Her impulses told her to check it out. It wasn't the first time her gut feeling had led her into a bad situation.

She touched her ship down in the clearest spot she could find, which wasn't saying much. What had flattened this spot of trees in the jungle she didn't want to know. The Mandalorian's distress signal had been targeted by her ship as an old Mando base, a few clicks into the jungle. She could see large bat-like creatures circling above her, so she chose to make a break for the trees.

As she descended into the jungle it became less like trudging through underbrush and more like an acrobat's routine between trees to avoid falling into an unknown crevasse or toxic water below. However, the path was clear. Many had taken this path before, so she could tell she was closing in on the base.

Before long she was greeted with a spectacular sight. Like it was melded with the jungle, the Mandalorian base had just appeared among the vines before her. The base was ancient, far older than ant building she had ever seen. Lucky for her, the door was ajar. Holding open the door was the ancient skeleton of a Mandalorian warrior, entombed in his beskar'gam that had begun to disintegrate over time. The armor would be of no use to her thousands of years after it had been worn, and this certainly wasn't the Mando she was looking for.

Maiven slipped in, into the dark facility. The metal creaked as she walked cautiously through the facility, lit only by the flashlight on the end of her carbine. Even when she stopped walking the ground continued to sound like it was bending under something. Something very heavy. Out of dark, one of the massive bat-like creatures from outside crawled towards her and growled fiercely. She let out a volley of shots in the dark from her carbine and turned tail towards the door. Practically jumping through the semi-opened door, she smacked the ground outside as she heard the massive beast thumping against the door. Looking up, the beast had its head sticking through the door, the beasts pincers snapping wildly.

A few feet to right of the door, Maiven could see a door control panel. The beast was starting to push the rusted doors open with all its might. Maiven shot the control panel, hoping it would have an emergency lock. Luckily, she was right. The blaster bolt struck the panel and fried it. The door mechanics screeched and whirred to life once again, and the emergency lock kicked in. The doors, with all their mechanical might, began to seal and held the beast's head in them. The sheer force of the doors quickly severed the beast's head.

Maiven, with a sigh of relief, sat on the ground. This base was more derelict than she had thought. How anyone had sent a distress beacon from inside an apparent Drexl nest was beyond her. She would have to find another way inside.

 

[Tyran Numeck]

SITE A


Having got the distress call, and after the not so subtle hint at being haunted, Tyran decided to answer it. He'd come across Connory on a job to assault a Sith shipyard not too long ago so it wasn't too much of a surprise to him that she'd crossed paths with another Sith Agent. The fact that it was a Wookie though was interesting, a little bit terrifying, but interesting all the same. Dxun had been long abandoned by the Mandalorians so he was curious as to what had brought Connory here.

He brought his ship into the atmosphere and looked over at his companion, the sometimes Jedi, sometimes trouble maker [Member="Anora Vahn"]. "Dxun has a pretty strong history with the Dark Side, hope that doesn't get in the way of anything for you while we're down there." He said to her as he flipped on the ships scanners. "I can't narrow down the exact location of the signal, but there's an old Mandalorian base not too far from here. We'll set down and head out on foot. Leave the Galek hounds in the ship, there are things out here way bigger and more dangerous than they are."

Galek Hounds weren't in large supply on a good day, and with Mandalore now under the control of the Sith it was going to be all the harder to replace Tyraja if something happened to her. He found an opening in the jungle canopy and set the Tal'galaar down. He hated jungle planets because the humid temperatures made wearing his Mandalorian armor feel like he was wearing a portable furnace. He lowered the ramp and headed out into the jungle in the direction of the old base. Old was a flattering term because once he stepped through the brush and vines he realized that the structure was incredibly ancient.

As they stood there staring at the ancient base there came a sudden screech and a blue-skinned woman came tumbling out of the entrance followed by a Drexl that had wedged itself between the rusted doors. The woman shot the door lock and caused the doors to slam shut and decapitate the giant bat creature. He knew the woman wasn't Sith, they wouldn't be wandering in the jungle alone. All the same he drew one of his MT-14 blasters and held it idly be his side.

"I think you got the Drexl." He called to the woman. "You answering the distress call?"

 

[Anora Vahn]

Site A​

​

​

Going back and forth between training and running all over the galaxy was starting to drag Anora down a little bit. It wasn't that she couldn't keep up, or that she couldn't do it obviously, but she was most definitely tired. Enough so that she had dozed off in her co-pilot's seat and then was startled awake by the distress call as it came through. It had felt like she had only just shut her eyes, though that wasn't the case at all. She had been out for a fair bit of time, even if her body didn't feel like it. Still, she situated in her seat and stayed awake for the rest of the trip, even if she missed where they were going at the time.

Once they had breached the atmosphere of their destination, Nora sat up a bit more in her seat so that she could lean and try to get a better look. "Oh...I'm sure it will...." she stated a bit quietly in reply to the comment about the Dark Side causing problems for her. There had only been a couple of times where she had, had to deal with anything Dark, so she still wasn't at all used to the idea or the reality. But she was here, there was a job to do, and she would try to do as such without causing any problems.

What she wouldn't give to have a shield like her sister around right about now...

Anora had gotten to her feet while the ship was being set down, and she put the pair of Galek hounds where they would be comfortable and contained for the most part. She made sure there was food and water before leaving the pair of them and following Tyran down the ramp and off of the ship. As soon as her feet touched ground a wave of paranoia hit her and made her stomach twist uncomfortably. Honestly she wasn't sure if it was just nerves or not, but for the time being she stuck close to her partner in crime just in case.

"Navigating stubborn planet foliage will be so much easier once I get a lightsaber..." she groused, then stopped short at the sight laid out before them. Or...maybe it was the scene that took place, either way it left Nora staring. That was not something she witnessed every day, after all, and while she had gotten used to roughing up people in cantinas and the like, seeing some creature get decapitated like that was new.

"We always go to the nicest places." she mumbled at Tyran's back, though her gaze stayed on the blue skinned woman her friend had addressed.


Tags: [member="Tyran Numeck"], [member="Maiven"]

 

[Thal Mantis]

Site B

​

He did not wear the stolen armor here.

He did not come here as the facade of the Mandalorian. He came here as himself. As possibly even, a Jedi.

He had to know, he had to test himself. If the dark side really called him.

And the creatures inside, overrunning the walls, fed on the darkness, the evil in all men. They would find more than their fill in Thal. But Thal had something else, besides the lightsabers hanging off his belt. He had his willpower, his father's tenacity-

And a particularly useful item he acquired from his armor. A wrist-mounted flamethrower. He'd burn away their alluring power. He'd find the cultists, hopefully find the Sith cultists and his missing compatriot. He was compelled forward by what he assumed was destiny itself. Inside the caves, he reckoned- was answers for the questions that lingered in the back of his mind. The oily shadows of his dreams were to be wiped away. He'd find the cultists, and what they were hiding, and hopefully- his new friend.

The son of the Wolf entered the cave, holding his lightsaber forward as a light. He feared nothing inside. He only feared himself, and what the orbalisks could feed off of him, and the allure of their power, their protection in exchange for his hate. It was an all too easy trade, protection and safety for their nigh invulnerability against lightsabers. But to Thal, they were a test of sorts. To see if what the Jedi had taught him about himself was true.

And then he realized, a lot of the times and the stories he'd been told about ancient Jedi, that they seemed to revolve around caves... ancient spooky caves. A trope, was it called?

​

 

[Thraztin]

"Color me surprised, I didn't think I'd see anyone else out in this hellhole. You're for the distress beacon as well?" She said approaching the man and woman that had just approached the base.

"My core name is Maiven. Judging but you just saw, I think this base is a Drexl nest," She pointed upwards to the Drexls circling above them, "I don't really want to stick around for the ones up there to see what I've done, and I think they get bigger than this one. I think we can help each other get inside, what do ya say?"

[member="Anora Vahn"] [member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"Maiven, eh?" He said as he looked up at the ancient base and switched through the filters of his HUD. "Name's Tyran and I think you're right about this being a Drexl nest. I'm getting big heat signatures up top." He said turning his head back towards the blue-skinned woman. "Since you just fried that door, admittedly for good reason, getting in won't be that easy."

He looked over to Anora. "Can you pry those apart?" He asked her. "Even if Connory is dead we still need to check if she's in there, I'm not going to leave another Mandalorian to become Drexl food." That and the fact he wanted to explore the ancient Mandalorian ruin. Beskar didn't decay and if there were Mandalorian remains in there, that meant it was a good resource to salvage some of the metal. "We'll just have to be cautious while we search."

[member="Anora Vahn"], [member="Maiven"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Site A​

The gesture to look upwards caused Anora to do as such and for a time she found herself staring once again. Her eyes then closed and she sighed out a deep, rough breath as her head lulled back against her shoulders. Sure, why not throw giant flying monsters into the already stressful environment? Its not as if she didn't already have enough to worry about.

But, she was being spoken to. "What?" her head righted and she took a moment to catch up, but lifted a hand when she had done so to keep Tyran from repeating himself. "Yeah, I can give it a shot. No promises though." she let out. "Just don't let anything swoop down and scoop me up." she added as she stepped away and towards the doors.

"I'm Anora, by the way." she informed Maiven as she passed the other woman.

As she got closer to the doors she was very aware of the decapitated creature lying dead both on this side, and the other side of the doors. She looked over her shoulder at the pair behind her, then shift her focus back forward as she made her way closer. It didn't take her long to get where she deemed was close enough, and then for a time she studied the doors. One of her hands reached out, though she wasn't attempting anything yet, just getting a feel for the structure and the way it was crafted and should move.

"I don't know about this..." she muttered to herself, but she couldn't not try. Once again Nora's eyes closed, though this time no sounds of frustration or complaint escaped her. She was quiet, still for a long few moments, then both of her hands came up and reached out towards the structure. They creaked in protest, rattled, but did not come open. Now there was a frustrated noise from Nora, and while she had dropped her hands for a moment she brought them back up again to try again.


Tags: [member="Tyran Numeck"], [member="Maiven"]

 

[Thraztin]

"Good to meet you both, now lets get to work" She said as Anora passed her. They clearly shared her sentiment as the girl tried to open the doors with the force.

"Sorry I fried the doors, kinda didn't want to die. So you guys are Mandalorians as well as Connery?"

[member="Anora Vahn"] [member="Tyran Numeck"]

 

[Connory Monroe]

SITE B​

CooooRyyyy

cOrY​

CoRy​

CORY

wAkE uP

WaKe Up​

WAKE UP​

Cory jolted from her sleep, sucking in a deep breath like she’d been held underwater. Panic squeezed her chest. The room was dark, so dark in fact had it not been for a distant glow of light, she might’ve thought she was blind. She tried to move and found her hands and feet bound.

“Shid.” she hissed, the panic rising and she struggled against her bonds. The noise she was making bouncing off the walls. All she succeeded in doing was adding to her pain.

Calm down, ad’ika.

Her mother’s voice was sharp in her mind, and made her go still, though her breathing was still erratic. She closed her eyes and slowed it down, inhaling and exhaling slowly, shakily. What had happened? A brief image of a silverback wookie standing over her with her baton flashed in her mind. Oh yes. She’d made a friend. And the friend had brought her where?

Cory opened her eyes again, it was too dark to see anything still. She struggled into a sitting position and a wave of nausea told her she had a nasty concussion. A problem she couldn’t fix, so she didn’t dwell on it. “Hello?” she called into the dark.

There was distant murmuring that bounced off the walls to her ears and the distance glow started to move towards her. Cory reminded herself to breath, battling fear. Never had she been targeted and captured by anyone. Fights had always been to down or death, never this.

The light grew closer, flickering in a manner she could only associate with fire, but as it drew closer it illuminated more of the room. Only it wasn’t a room, it was a cave, the floor was littered with carapaces that made her insides go cold. Orbalisks. The torch bearers came into view as Cory stared wide eyed at the discarded orbalisk bodies on the floor then lifted her gaze as the rattle of them drew her there. Hundreds of them scurried away from the light and Cory felt sick to her stomach.

“Don’t look so worried Mandalorian. The orbalisks show no interest in you.”

“Yay for me.” she replied, without a hint of enthusiasm. She looked at the two who had entered, clad in dark red robes, lightsabers at their belts and that distinct yellow haze in their eyes that screamed ‘Sith’. One approached, drawing his lightsaber and activating it, Cory flinched as it came towards her, but all the zabrak did was cut the bonds on her feet.

Her reach under her arm and hauled Cory upwards. “The Elder wishes to speak to you.” he shoved her towards the tunnel and Cory felt the well of terror rising in her again.

Breathe, ad’ika, just breath.


I have no doubt mother, that this is your fault.

 

[Thal Mantis]

Site B

There was a cultist who appeared seemingly out of thin air in the inky, oily, onyx shadows of the cave. Thal lowered his lightsaber, cocking his head to the right, examining him for a moment. Thal made a simple motion for him to move aside.

The Cultist made a movement, brandishing a Vibrosword. He brandished a particularly odd set of armor- but Thal paid him no mind. He walked forward, intent on simply moving aside the cultist and finding his lost friend.

"You will find this not so easy, Jedi, you walk upon sacr-"

Thal cut him off by giving him a very particularly brutal left hook in the jaw. The Cultist retracted, his mask cracked. He made a few curses and Thal moved to walk. He swung at Thal with the sword, with more malice than practice. Thal turned and caught the sword on the blade of his lightsaber. He drew his second lightsaber and struck him across the stomach. But the Cultist stood tall, pressing the blade against Thal's as if he hadn't even maneuvered a blade across his abdomen. Thal disengaged his lightsaber, letting the cultist fall onto his face.

He noticed the armor, and got a better look at it, holding the lightsaber at the neck of the cultist. It wasn't armor at all- it was.. the bugs. They were encroaching him, enveloping his entire body. They only had stopped at the neck for the moment. His entire body was covered. He was suffocating more than likely.

Thal deactivated his lightsaber and let him reside in the darkness. He walked, content to leave the cultist to his fate. He'd slain enough puppets and slaves. This man was no different. He was misguided, mistreated- not hatred in his heart. Just misguided anger. Just like Thal, someone else had pushed him into that position. He'd pay the price for his own actions, if he truly did anything wrong. Being angry wasn't a death sentence.

Thal stopped before he moved away from the cultist.

"Remember when I let you live."

And he ventured further in the cavern, lightsaber guiding his way.


[member="Connory Monroe"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

SITE: A

This wasn’t his first rodeo on the Demon Moon of Onderon, nor it would be his last if he were to survive this indomitable world. He knew the terrain better than the most as he once had to inhabit this untamed moon during the time when Mandalore suffered a cataclysm by one of its own. No longer he had to live in these perilous jungles, but every now and then the Warlord would come to Dxun seeing this place as a challenge for himself. A challenge of survival and to hone his skills even further. People were ignorant as they believed they could master the wilderness of Dxun as its own fauna constantly topple those brave, yet foolish enough to become its dominant. No one could truly become its alpha, and that wasn’t the point. It was all about survival; survival of the fittest. When one survives, then they truly are a victor.

Oddly enough there was a distress call that was accurately located from an ancient Mandalorian fortress within the midst of the jungle. Vilaz wasn’t exactly here to become someone’s savior, though it could be a fellow Mandalorian in need of aid. Perhaps better purpose than what he originally came for to this forsaken land.

Equipped with the best of his arsenal that was worth a vault of credits the Mandalorian ventured from his personal vessel into the unforgiving jungles of Dxun. His armor was designed for war and situations making it an invaluable tool for Vilaz, becoming versatile and, thus, reckoning warrior. Weapons of choice included heavy blaster pistols and a versatile rifle that can fire slugs and blaster bolts, but that was for pests of the sentient type. A rifle with disruptor technology that was carried in his hands was meant for the monsters of these jungles, and they plenty in number. Made him wonder if the stranded woman ended up dead. They usually were when seeing the statistics, and it didn’t surprise him if he found a fresh carcass.

And if there was? Wouldn’t be a waste of time as he made the intent to visit Dxun long before this.

[member="Jair Ordo"]

 

[Akash Guul]

SITE A​

"...Had a run in with what I'm pretty sure is a sith. Wookie, silver haired. If you don't come and find me I'm gonna bring all my ghosts and haunt your asses."

Jair had been calibrating his next hyperspace jump into Mandalorian worlds after a month of bounty hunting in the Outer Rim. He usually took a longer way around, preferring not to entangle himself in Silver space, especially after his run-in with the law chasing a bounty much recently. Nonetheless, his usual fuel station was decomissioned for whatever reason so he took the riskier run. The shortcut. And that's when he received the distress beacon with heavy static through his junk of a ship's comms.

It came from nearby Dxun. The jungle moon of Onderon was known not only for its horrific and deadly beasts but for its ancient and recent history with the Mandalorians.

The sole reason he pushed the throttle towards the moon was the high chance of this being a Mandalorian who had survived an encounter with a sith considering the channel it came from.

He was about to find out.

The Mandalorian exited his ship and ventured into the high grown jungles of Dxun heading toward the last known radius of the distress beacon. His long pulse canon rifle remained on his back. The lack of visibility meant closer fights where a blaster pistol usually excelled. He headed deeper into the jungle carefully and cautiously recalling that the old Mandalorian base should be nearby.

Jair trotted on and on until he found the clearing where the Mandalorian base was. A clearing was an overstatement, of course. Years of decay had left nature run its course. Old durasteel buildings were plastered with vines, making them barely visible. The fading grey beneath the dominant green reminded him of his own armor color scheme. Where once was a fighting pit, as far as he recalled, now was an endless patch of green grass. The dirt paths used before by the previous tenants also had become one with nature.

He scanned his surroundings until he caught notice on where a patch of green grass had been very recently stomped upon. Someone was here. Ordo approached and inspected it. If he had to go with his hunter knowledge - this was the imprint of a humanoid. Who else answered this forsaken distress call, he wondered. The Mandalorian looked up and zoomed in with his integrated rangefinder - a fresh corpse of a Drexl lied amidst the threshold of a door into one of the base's structures.

It did not look like suicide. Obviously.

Jair knelt and remained patient simply observing any other oddities until a screech heard halfway across the moon pierced his ears. Schools of birds took to a frantic flight off the branches of trees and from the canopy of nature a pair of Drexl beasts rocketed forward towards the base driven by the scent of blood of their fallen sibling. One of the Drexl beasts' senses trembling with the desire to kill fixated its gaze upon Ordo. Considering the Mandalorian-Drexl history, the thing could hatefully pinpoint a T-visor in the thickest of covers. With three flaps of its large wings it reached the Mandalorian. He fired two shots of his blaster pistol straight at its chest before having to tumble away from the grasp of its lengthy talons. A screaming pain his right biceps reminded him he was still alive. One of the talons had grazed him, it hadn't amputated his hand only due to pure luck.

The Drexl flew upwards to adjust its flight path back to Ordo and screeched vengeance over the deaths of thousands of its brethren fallen under the hand of the Mandalorians.

[member="Anora Vahn"] [member="Maiven"] [member="Tyran Numeck"] [member="Vilaz Munin"]​

 

[Tyran Numeck]

"I'm Mandalorian, she's not." He said nodding towards Anora. "She's supposed to be a Jedi but I seem to be having a bit of a bad influence on her." Whether or not that was exactly a bad thing though remained to be seen. He watched Anora struggle with the old doors and it appeared that thousands of years of rust were going to prevent them from entering that way. He waved Anora off. "We'll find another way in, one of these walls has to have been weakened by weather and time."

Before they could do anything else though a loud screech ripped through the air and drew Tyran's gaze upwards. A pair of Drexls swooped down towards the base, one peeling off towards the treeline where a few blaster rounds were discharged against it. Whether the people in the treeline were friend or foe was yet to be seen and in all honesty Tyran had other priorities as the second Drexl, the bigger than the one lying dead in the doorway, swooped down at him and the two others in front of the base.

Tyran reacted instantly and drew both his blasters and unleashed on the incoming creature. It howled again at the Mandalorian and his companions, corkscrewing through the air to avoid the blaster bolts. It dived down towards Tyran, who went to roll out of the way of the beast's razor sharp talons, but instead of flesh they caught in the fabric and metal of his utility belt and before he knew it Tyran was leaving the ground. "Fierfek!" He grunted as Anora and Maiven began to grow smaller.

He couldn't let the Drexl take him any higher and there was only one option open to him.

Tyran cut the belt.

The plummet back down to the ground was not nearly as gut wrenching as the impact onto aging durasteel as he slammed into the rooftop of the Mandalorian base. Weakened metal gave way to two hundred pounds of muscle and attitude as it came down screaming through the air. It wasn't just the ceiling that gave way to him but the two floors as well before he came to a solid stop writhing on the ground. He could feel something hot and sticky running down his forehead and his mouth tasted like metal.

"Ad be a yialeti'r...." He cursed as he pushed himself up onto all fours. Nothing seemed to be broken, at least not yet. He'd know just how badly he was hurt once the adrenaline wore off and the pain kicked in. It was pitch black in the room and he turned on his helmet's night vision filter. He was standing in what had used to be an ancient Mandalorian armory. All the weapons racks were bare, long since scavenged by others who'd come to this place. There were a few crates tucked into a corner though and he went over to see if there was anything left of use.

A small grin came over his face as he found a couple of very old thermal detonators. He opened a channel to Anora's comlink. "Anora...I'm okay." He coughed. "I found a way to open the front doors, well maybe, if these things still work. Are you alright?"

[member="Anora Vahn"], [member="Maiven"], [member="Jair Ordo"], [member="Vilaz Munin"]​

 

[Thraztin]

Maiven let out a volley of shots from her maser carbine. "I told you they got bigger!" She yelled to the young Jedi as her friend was abducted into the air by the much larger Drexl. Her carbine's maser bolts would probably do less damage to the creature's thick hide, but it would surely piss it off. She just had to stand her ground. Feth, she thought as Tyran was dropped by the massive creature through the roof of the facility. "Why did anyone settle this god forsaken moon?"

Before long, the beast that had dropped Tyran was descending on her. With one hand she continued to let loose her blaster fire, with the other she drew her vibro-knife. Within second the beasts claws made contact with her chest and she dropped to the ground. She drove the knife into the beasts leg and pressed her gun against the beast pincer, pushing to keep it away from her head. Pulling the trigger, the beast let out a roar as the bolt struck one of the larger of the beast's many eyes, and it jumped back into flight, with the knife still in its leg. Laying winded on the ground, she knew she wouldn't be getting that knife back. It would be easy to replace... if she could get up and survive the next attack.

[member="Tyran Numeck"] [member="Jair Ordo"] [member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Obran]

Site A

The call came, and Obran hadn't hesitated to respond in the least. Connory was the closest thing to a friend that the man had. So he had suited up and headed out. A long and hum-drum transport to the moon had seen him touch down with little issue. A few Drexl were met, and dispatched easy enough. Most would be found left behind him with stabs and cuts, and precise blaster bolt strikes. Each kill looking like a horror writer's nightmare, or most lurid fantasy. Drexl were not really on his list of beasts he thought he could study and tame.

Advancing, he came up a rather grisly scene himself, and took the time to stick his twin beskad in the earth and study. A couple of Maalraas, which were tough enough beasts. They were mauled quite severely. Bite marks to their throats, crush injuries. Taking his kukri from his belt, Obran set about cutting open the animals and running them through the small field-scanner from his med-kit. It wasn't horribly diverse, but it could detect poisons and other bits.

Besides, maalraas were rare, so as he removed the hide carefully, he sat it in a stasis sheathing on his gear. Enough for a good study of the material. It could maybe be incorporated into sheaths, a cloak, or such for a commission as well. A few bones too, those were rumored to be resistant to lightsabers. It might seem odd to take this moment as he were, when a friend were in danger. But, it was helping him gain knowledge over enemies, and what had been strong enough to kill them. And the materials might help him better face the next challenge. Obran was nothing if not pragmatic.

Then he heard it. Shuffling footsteps. Gutteral snuffling. Few things preyed on maalraas. Very few that weren't sentient out-world beings. And Obran had studied them all. Whirling to rise and spin to the side, he just narrowly was missed by the charge of the zakkeg, and let loose a stream of curses at his ill luck as he turned to meet the charge of the beast, blades gripped tight.

Back of the knees. Below the eyes. Joint points of the jaw. Roof of the mouth. All weak points[

This would be one impressive kill to make just outside the walls of the ancient base...

[member="Maiven"] | [member="Tyran Numeck"] | [member="Jair Ordo"] | [member="Vilaz Munin"] | [member="Anora Vahn"]

 

[Anora Vahn]

Site A​

"Bad influence is an understatement." Anora sighed out. She had bent over, hands against her knees as she took a moment to regain her bearings. Stars, she should be better at this, yet here she was, struggling with a door of all things. But it seemed scolding herself over these sorts of things was going to have to wait; the noise that pierced the air caused Nora to wince, and she uprighted herself just in time for the ugly creature to swoop down towards the small gathering. All three of them seemed to have the same idea at the same time, weapons were drawn and fired, and yet it wasn't enough.

One minute there was blaster fire, the next bodies were diving out of the way, and when Anora looked again? There was a body being lugged into the air. "Tyran!" There were no shots fired from her this time around, lest she hit her friend in an attempt to free him, plus it was a long way to the ground if he was dropped.

The brunette cursed loudly and moved back to the doors barring them entrance, and again she attempted to open them. The heavy obstacle groaned and creaked as Nora worked to pry it apart, and while the structure gave way some this time, her focus was broken by another swooping of the Drexl. Again she cursed, and this time she opened fire from behind the beast while it had Maiven down. The Drexl didn't seem to like the odds and took the air again, and Anora was quick to move and offer a hand up to the other woman.

"Should have brought bigger guns..." she complained aloud, then let out a relieved noise not moments later when she heard Tyran's voice come through the comm. "Aside from the heart attack I just had and the ugly flying beast trying to kill us all? Yeah, I'm fine." she assured him. "Next purchase though? Bigger guns." she told him, then shook her head and watched the sky in case of another attack.


Tyran Numeck Maiven Akash Guul Obran

 

[Tyran Numeck]

SITE A

"Agreed." He coughed as he grabbed the box of thermal detonators under his arm and started picking his way back through the insides of the base. It was pitch black, whatever powered the base had long since stopped working, and he switched through all of the filters he had on his HUD. He went with the thermal setting that way he could pick up any heat signatures of more drexls that might have been lurking in the base. He did not want to go for another ride like that. He was down to one blaster now, the other lost with his equipment belt and who knew where that had been dropped.

As he made his way through the dark hallways he saw something on his HUD that made him slow down. There were footprints in the dirt that had layered itself over the durasteel floor. Fresh ones. He knelt down and examined them closer running a scan on them with his helmet to try and identify them. The returning result was a 98.9% match to Sith Trooper boots, and with enough of a heat signature left behind to be picked up by his HUD scanner that meant they were very fresh.

"Anora." He said, his voice getting lower even though it couldn't be heard outside his helmet. "I'm not alone in here. Sith troopers have been here and very, very recently. Let the others know." He shut down the comlink and began to move more quickly towards the front entrance. All of his senses were on high alert now, amplified by his helmet. He was listening for footsteps, voices or the metallic chunk of armor on armor as the Sith moved around. There were no such sounds for a while but as light started to creep into the tunnels that was when he started picking up on voices. He carefully rounded a corner and saw the main entrance partially opened now but not enough to slip in through. Six Sith troopers were setting up an ambush point hurriedly setting up a massive turret and aiming it at the door.

"Fierfek." He grunted as he ducked back behind the corner and set the box he was carrying down. There were three thermal detonators in it but those things hadn't been new since his great, great grandfather had been a twinkle in his great, great, great grandfather's eye. There was no telling on if they would work or not. He exhaled and pulled out one of the detonators and depressed the activator, the little indicator light on the front lit up red and he tossed it into the group of Sith soldiers. It hit the ground with a metallic tink and caused the soldiers to look down at it. Tyran pressed himself against the wall and waited for the explosion.

Nothing happened.

Instead the Sith troopers just stared at the detonator and then looked up in the direction it had come from and opened fire. Ancient duracrete walls began to crumble under the assault of the Sith troopers and Tyran dropped down onto his side and pulled his blaster and returned fire blindly. He heard a muffled shriek of pain so he must have hit someone. He needed to get to his feet though, just laying here behind a crumbling wall wasn't going to do him any favors. He took a few steady breaths and then launched himself up into a standing position and spun to the far wall out of the line of fire, only ducking back out at sporadic intervals to return fire. He caught a glimpse of something that gave him an idea. Detonite didn't go bad so it had to be the fuses in the thermal detonators that weren't working. A blaster bolt would be more than enough to set off the explosives. To test his theory he quickly aimed at the detonator he had tossed in previously and sure enough it erupted in a ball of heat and pressure that knocked him on his ass and wiped out two of the Sith, leaving only four more to deal with.

Now that he knew the detonators would explode for certain if shot, he could move on to the next phase of his plan. The Sith had kindly left the power supply of their turret out in the open and that would be the catalyst to create an explosion big enough to rip those doors right off their pneumatic hinges and scare off any nearby drexls. He quickly hurled the two remaining detonators at the power supply and switched his blaster to fire one powerfully charged bolt. "Anora get away from the door!" He instructed as he spun back towards the entrance and fired.

The explosion was bigger than what Tyran had expected and sent him flying backwards into the wall, knocking all of the wind from his lungs as well as rocking him pretty badly. The doors held up better than expected but there was now a pretty decent sized hole in the front of the aging durasteel. The ringing in Tyran's ears slowly began to fade as he started to come around and pulled himself to his feet. Only one Sith remained and was also slowly getting to his feet. There was a sudden burst of energy in Tyran at the sight of the Sith soldier and he charged forward and both of them came crashing through the front entrance of the base and out into the dirt beside the carcass of a headless and now deep fried drexl.

The SIth had as much fight left in him as Tyran did, punching Tyran in the face repeatedly as Tyran's strong hands gripped around the man's throat. Tyran headbutted the Sith and ejected the long beskar blade that was housed in his forearm gauntlet. "This is for Mandalore." He growled as he rammed the blade into the chest plate of the Sith, piercing it like warm butter. The Sith stopped struggling and Tyran slowly got up to his feet after suffering too many blows to the head in a short period of time and looked at the others and removed his helmet.

"Doors open."



Anora Vahn , Maiven, Obran , Akash Guul , Vilaz Munin ,

 

[Thraztin]

Site A

The Door was finally open. It opened to the accompaniment of explosions and screams of Sith Soldiers being fried or stabbed by the Mandalorian inside. Maiven picked herself up off the ground and made her way to the entrance as fast as the throbbing pain in her chest and back would allow. She stepped up on to the charred and beheaded carcass of the young Drexl and just as quickly hopped down, into the dark corridor of Mandalorian base where Tyran was. Pain rocked her body after the last encounter with the beasts. She leaned against the wall and pulled a small spray bottle out of her belt. Bacta Spray. It would help close the gashes on her face and body, but the internal bleeding she sustained from being crushed against the ground would only be healed once she returned to her ship and got a med kit. She hoped there might even be one in this base.

"Much appreciated," she grunted to Tyran, "We should keep moving though if we intend to find our missing person without getting eaten."

[member="Tyran Numeck"] [member="Anora Vahn"]