The Wilds

[Talus Morid]

Dxun - Three Months Before the Galactic Alliance Falls

A small clearing within the deepest depths of Dxun's jungles sat peacefully, a small campfire burning within it's center, a makeshift tent cobbled together from branches and broken brush that had recently been scattered around the jungle floor.

The heat of the moon was oppressive as always, the sun beating down throughout the day and the jungle trapping it's heat even as dusk began to slowly creep upon the world. Just a short walk away from the clearing was a river, one of three that lead to a set of waterfalls all pouring into a singular basin. Three grand cliffs surrounded the area, each of them warped and twisted through the powerful forces of nature that so commonly ravaged this world.

Birds soared through the sky, great and small. They were easy fodder for the Skreev and Drexl that roosted within the mountains.

It was there that Talus found himself, within that small clearing.

There was a peace to this world, similar to his own. Though Kiffu was alive and well, suffering beneath the weight of the Galactic Alliance, it was hardly as populace as other places in the galaxy. His tribe came from a region very much like this. Jungle and forest, great raging rivers that even speeders had difficulty crossing. He felt at home here, it was almost calming, and a good place to stop on his journey before he entered Alliance space.

His fingers traced slowly through the dirt, idly drawing as he waited.

Dxun was not a place that many people wanted to go, much less at night, but he needed the sun to crawl beneath the horizon before he could do what he came to do.

If he wanted a chance of success.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

The gloved fingers of the kneeling Mandalorian rifleman pattered around the inside of interior of the pawprint. He took note of how many hand-lengths the animal track was across.

"Zakkeg.. likely five meters. Got to be."

Most sane individuals in the galaxy would have avoided Dxun like the plague if they knew anything about it. Hot jungle temperatures, predatory carnivores more than capable of killing humans, and there were even spacer legends of Sith artifacts on the planet. It sounded like the perfect place for him to visit while the Iviin'yc was refueling on Onderon.

The spacer legends had failed to mention that the entire stinking planet was drenched in the dark side, but then again he couldn't necessarily fault their oversight. Most spacers probably weren't force sensitive like he was.

Even with the surprise of the planet being a concentration of dark side energy, Mereel had taken enough precautions to feel confident in his survival here. Copious amounts of mud had been smeared across his armor plates to mute the vibrant deep blue color tones of his armor, and he had thoroughly ground the leaves of a dead crasna plant against himself to mask his scent to the carnivores, and also deter some of the planet's more skittish omnivores.

He got up from his crouched position and drew the Westar M5 V2 rifle from his back, resuming his tracking of the Zakkeg's path through the jungle underbrush - making sure to watch tree canopy and ground as he went.

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the sight of smoke meet his eyes as he looked through a small opening in the tree tops. There was slim chance he had discovered a local settlement out here, and if it was a crashed ship, the pilots and passengers had crash landed on a planet with the least friendly wildlife possible.

He had no choice but to investigate. He stopped following the trail of the Zakkeg and began a light jog through the underbrush toward the source of the smoke.

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

He sat nearly immobile within the little campsite.

A seat had been fashioned out of a small log, cut with his lightsaber and carved with a deft knife. He held a small stick, on the end of it was speared some kind of woodland creature. On Dxun it was dangerous to kill anything, even more so to try and eat it. Most beasts on this world were deadly in their own way, and what couldn't rip you apart with it's claws generally tended to do so with some kind of poison. Of course for Talus none of this was much of an issue.

Kiffu was different, but similar enough.

The small creature that had been speared on the end of the stick was a Booma, or a baby one anyway. He had hunted it's mother only a few days before, though the arrival of a Drexl had spoiled any chance of actually harvesting the creature. The young one had been enough though, at least for a few days at a time. That was the good thing about Dxun, if you knew what you were doing, sustaining yourself was easy enough.

His lips thinned as he slowly turned the stick, wanting to get a good sear on each side.

Bright yellow eyes slowly drifted towards the thick canopy, watching as the sun lowered ever further.

It would be time soon. He had been here for ten days now, waiting. The moment had not been shown to him, but he knew where Onderon needed to be in the sky for the door to open. His gaze drifted towards the planet above, watching as it slowly filled the sky.

Nearly time now.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Despite the seeming urgency of the situation, Mereel didn't rush his way through the jungle floor. Even with the mud and Crasna scent, there were still plenty of creatures here that could ruin his week if he were to be caught off guard by them.

The smoke of the fire looked small and contained when he saw it through the trees, if it was a crashed starship it was likely just a small fighter or freighter. Best case scenario meant there would only be one or two civilians now stranded with him, and that meant every path he created now would be a path he didn't need to make as he lead them back to his starfighter.

Right arm sported blaster rifle while his left hand was busy at work methodically clearing out bush branches blocking his path. He wasn't worried about the noise he was making with his cuts, the sounds of rushing river water nearby were mostly drowning out the sounds of his moving armor plates and the crumpling bush stalks .

Mereel stopped his path-making stabs as his eyes spotted what looked to be a small clearing in the jungle with smoke coming out near the middle of the clearing. The smoke looked to be about twenty meters away by eyesight. He lowered his armor's rangefinder and confirmed his estimate.

19.03 meters. Just a little under.. but I've still got good eyes at least.

He continued his cutting march until he stood on the edge of the clearing. From his new position, he finally saw through the brush enough to spot a man sitting on a well carved log. It wasn't what he had been expecting.

Mereel retracted the vibroblades back into his left hand's gauntlet and shouldered his rifle, pointing the barrel to the ground as he walked his way through the remaining brush and into the clearing. "Su'cuy ner vod! "

He slowly approached the man's makeshift campsite. He tried to get a reading off the man by sensing him in the force as he made his way closer, but the darkside aura of the planet was preventing him from getting anything distinct. He could only feel that the man was there, and that the darkside was all around them.

Mereel's eyes were able to tell him more about the man than the force did. Heavy red tattoos and an impressive scar marked his face, giving unique features to match the already unique coloration of the man's irises. If that wasn't odd enough, the man's attire looked almost tribal. If the planet hadn't been Dxun, he would have guessed that the man was a primitive native of some force-forsaken rock in the Unknown Regions or Wild Space.

"Saw your smoke while I was out tracking. Thought it might have been a crashed starfighter."

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

Talus' reaction to the stranger was not a kind one.

At the best of times he was not a good man, far from it in fact. His tribe on Kiffu were exiles in all but name, shunned by society and thrown to the furthest reaches of the planet. Most of his people did their best to ignore them, some even tried to kill them. To Kiffar the Morid clan was already dead, and had been for centuries. It was predictable then that members of the tribe became reclusive, outcasts, and ornery by nature. Talus was no exception to that rule.

It was a fact that was made worse because he had not heard the man coming. He had been too absorbed in the flames, too absorbed within his own thoughts. His power should have told him of the man, he should have heard him, seen him, sensed him. Instead he had been foolish.

That caused rage to boil inside of him.

There was no provocation for it of course, nothing that Mereel Vaun had done to deserve Talus' anger, but the tribesman was not as stable as one might hope. Within an instant Talus stood from his makeshift seat, ripping himself to his feet and tossing the food he had been cooking to the ground. His hand, intricate laced tattoos flowing over it, took on an odd sort of glow for half a second, and then a pulse raced from his palm. It was not a push of the force, not a normal one anyway, but an odd red wave that seemed to echo within Dxun itself.

It flowed towards Meerel, powerful enough to send him flying back into the trees if he did nothing.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

The Mandalorian hadn't fully lowered his guard as he approached the man, and he could visibly see the man's attack coming, or at least some attack coming from the man as he suddenly sprung from his log and turned to face the rifleman. Oddly the planet's aura had kept him from sensing the sudden change into aggression until after the man was already facing him, and when he finally felt it, it felt like the dark side presence of the planet itself was turning against him.

A very visible wave of red force energy formed in the man's hand. Mereel hadn't seen anything like it before. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

Fierfek, he has to be a Sith. Who else would be camping out in this dark side imbued death jungle?

Mereel clutched his rifle tightly with his right arm as the wave of blood red energy cascaded towards him. The weight of his armor would keep him rolling out of the wave's way in time and he knew it. His only hope was to face the blast head on. He slowed his breathing and cleared his thoughts.

Not wanting to draw upon the sick, pervasive force of the planet, he called upon the force energy within himself and extended his left palm. A wave of rushing force energy met the red force blast in the middle. It had the effect that a strong rogue gust of wind has on a wave in the sea: it blew against the red rolling tide, but only briefly delayed the inevitable crash of the wave.

The red wave powered through his own push of the force, and collided with Mereel's armor plates, blowing off the less-clamped down chunks of mud previously smeared across his armor as it came into contact with him. There was enough energy remaining in the diminished wave to get Mereel's grip to release his rifle, but it failed to lift the combined weight of himself and his heavy armor off of the ground, instead sending his feet dragging back through three meter's worth of dirt and mud layers, probably only stopping where he did because so much of the muck had built up behind his armor boots.

Although he was now disarmed, he was still standing. Incredibly, seriously winded, but very much still standing.

More importantly, he had plenty of other weapons on his person, and he wasn't one for peace talks once attacked. Well, at least not right away.

He let both of his hands freely fall to the blaster pistols at his sides. His forte may have been blaster rifles, but he wasn't a slouch with his pistols either. Mereel's left hand raised the DL-18 he had modified with a hair-trigger while simultaneously raising the 'Lucky Seven' blaster pistol favored by Republic Remnant soldiers.

Neither of the blaster pistols packed much of a punch, but the plus side to that was that he could let loose with both at the same time without destroying his wrists.

He took aim at the potential Sith and pulled each trigger back twice, sending four crimson blaster bolts flying toward his opponent's torso.

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

His lightsaber snapped into life in an instant.

The bright yellow blade surged forward, batting at the bolts that flew towards him. Two of them bounced forward, landing in the ground in front of him while a third was sent flying directly back towards the man. The fourth and final bolt however came too fast for him to catch.

Though he had taken to some training while in Imperial Space he was hardly an expert in the weapon, something that showed in the moment. The bolt slipped passed his defenses, reaching past his saber and striking him directly in the shoulder. Searing hot pain lanced through his side, his clothing quickly burned away in an instant as his flesh was seared and scarred. A hiss escaped his lips, his hand tightening on the lightsaber as he shifted back.

His gaze fell on his opponent for a brief moment.

Talus had no idea who this man was or what he wanted, and it didn't matter, not in the least.

Lips thinned, and quickly he gazed up towards the sky. The sun was steadily settling lower and lower on the horizon, nearly crossing it's apex now. He frowned for a moment, glancing at the stranger for a brief second. The armor gave away what he was somewhat, but again that mattered little to Talus. A frown settled on the Sith's lips, and then he slowly began to walk backwards.

He didn't have time for this.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

His opponent igniting a lightsaber blade hadn't surprised him, but the color of the weapon's blade was a bit of a shock. Most dark side beings wielded crimson-colored sabers, the blade of the man in front of him was clearly yellow.

Mereel didn't have much time to think about that though, as his attention quickly transferred to the blaster bolt now speeding back towards him. He was still out of breath, and definitely didn't have the energy to duck out of the way of the bolt, which ended up landing squarely on the center of his breastplate.

A combination of adrenaline and armor kept him from really becoming injured by the impact of the relatively low-power blaster round, but the force behind the impact itself was still enough to topple him backwards over the two mounds of dirt that had built up behind the weight of his force-pushed boots.

Mereel's back landed on top of his jetpack which was in turn now resting on dirt ground. Although both of his pistols were still in hand, he was laying on his back as he broke the silence. "Interesting saber, it's not really the typical Sith color choice. Tell me what you are and I might not have to keep shooting at you."

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

Talus stared at the man in silence.

Conversation wasn't his strong suite even with members of his own tribe. He had always been a silent creature, preferring to watch and listen rather than speak himself. It had helped him understand many things, though it also meant he didn't exactly excel in the department of diplomacy.

The thrum of his lightsaber seemed to fill the space of the clearing, it's bright yellow blade reverberating within the coming dark. Pale eyes matching the blade slowly gazed towards the sun once more, watching as it crept closer and closer towards the mountain peaks. Within a few minutes it would set completely, and once that happened Onderon would be in the sky above. He had to get to the ruins before then, had to make sure he would be there when the door opened.

Slowly the Kiffar took a few more steps back.

He was not weary of the man, only of a fight that would tie him down.

There was no time to wait, no time to argue, no time to explain himself. There wasn't even enough time to kill the man and end this damned thing. Without a word Talus shut his lightsaber off and turned around, bolting into the jungle. Behind him he left the man, along with most of his possessions.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel remained on his back for several seconds staring up at the orange clouds, indicating that night was nigh upon them. He was awaiting either a reply or an attack from the man, but he received neither.

Instead, he only heard the sound of the man's boots landing on mud and dirt as his foe began running away from him and into the jungle.

"Oh, you've got to be kriffing kidding me."

Mereel clumsily rolled to his side and used his arms and legs to pick himself up from off of the ground. He just barely saw the man run out of the clearing and back into the jungle as he got to his feet.

He holstered his pistols and began sprinting after the man immediately, leaning down as he ran to pick up his dropped rifle as he passed it. "Why'd it have to be running?"

It was going to be a challenge even trying to keep up with the man in his armor, but he was nothing if not stubborn. The chase was on.

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

Talus heard the man move behind him, it was almost impossible not to. That armor, whatever it was made of, made more noise than a booma trying to find a mate. The fact made a grimace come to the Kiffar's face, and not just because he was being chased.

In a place like Dxun, making too much noise was dangerous. Especially when the sun was down.

The little moon was loaded with predators and Apex hunters, creatures that could hunt and kill a human being with little more effort than breathing. Drexl, Skreev, and of course Zakkeg all marched to their own little drum on this world, and encountering one now would be devastating. If the man continued to follow him something would notice the both of them, not something he could afford. With a grimace Talus picked up his pace, the force flowing into him to strengthen his muscles.

His opponent would feel it, but that didn't matter.

He had to get to the ruins at the exact right moment, he had to be there when the door opened. Otherwise this entire trip would be a waste of time.

Vaulting over a fallen tree Talus righted himself, feet sinking into a small puddle of mud for half a second as he glanced back. Through the canopy he saw the Mandalorian still in pursuit, letting out a curse before he bolted once more. All the while the sun was dropping lower and lower, and just up ahead within the forest some ruins crested. Broken stone, crumbled walls, and an ancient facade that screamed of a wonder now lost coming into view.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel tripped over a sturdy Crasna vine long before he reached the fallen tree he saw the man vault over.

He crashed to the ground in a prone position, his rifle stock landing two inches in front of him. "Ugh. I really should've just waited this guy out in his camp.."

He felt something gently nudge the back of his left leg. A similar feeling followed on the back of his right.

"Kriffing Crasna."

As if on queue, several vines of an undoubtedly very large crasna wrapped onto and around the Mandalorian's legs. He pulled the rifle back into his hands with the force before strapping it over his back. He wasn't going to try to attack the Crasna yet, if he just displayed some patience the plant monster would allow him to strike at its heart.

The plant had lifted him roughly ten meters off of the ground when he heard something large crashing through the underbrush getting closer and closer to him nearby.

Oh stang. Think I know what that's going to be, this is going to get dicey.

[member="Talus Morid"]​

 

[Talus Morid]

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

Talus glanced back one last time as he came upon the walls of the ruins, a small smile touching his lips as the saw the Crasna wrap it's vines around the other man.

That was the advantage of their different styles. The Mandalorian wore heavy armor big and clunky. He had all the protection he needed against blasters, lightsabers, and probably even small explosions, but he wasn't near as fast as Talus was. On top of that the Tribal could move quickly, quietly, the Mandalorian made noise. It was a small advantage, but in a place like this it paid off.

A smile touched his lips, and he gave the man a small wave.

He could feel the rumbling of the earth just as well as Mereel could, he could smell the scents of the jungle, he knew what was coming. Dxun had claimed far more victims than he ever had, and Talus' was confident that it would soon be another. Without another moment of hesitation the Kiffar jumped off his place on the ruined walls, moving into the larger compound just beyond.

The door was close, he could sense it.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

From his upside down position meters above the ground, Mereel saw the silent Sith wave at him with a smile. He flipped the bird at the man for a brief second before returning his attention to the source of the vines.

Now directly above him, lodged between and connecting the canopies of two trees was a giant Crasna plant 4 meters in diameter. It was easily the largest Crasna he had seen since arriving on the planet. It would have been the perfect candidate for grinding into scent if he weren't in such a hurry.

The underbrush underneath him shook, and a five and a half meter Zakkeg reared its ugly head out of the flora beneath him. If it hadn't been for the Sith he would have considered his prey coming to him fortunate, but the dynamic of his hunt had been changed by his run in with the quaint man. The eighteen foot long Zakkeg was now standing directly under him, it briefly lifted itself on its two hind legs to try to grab him before quickly realizing he was out of reach of its massive claws. It landed back on the ground with a loud thud before letting out a hearty growl.

Mereel let out a low whistle, "Wooowee, you're a lot uglier looking than I imagined! Oh well, if I had wanted a glamorous scale pelt I would have went Trandoshan hunting."

It was a shame that the Zakkeg wasn't sapient, his perfectly good threats were going to waste.

Getting back to resolving his predicament, Mereel aimed his left gauntlet at the center of the Crasna's now-open maw of jagged teeth and fired his wrist rocket. The ordnance sailed into the plant's mouth, which snapped shut upon feeling the entrance of the rocket.

A fireball tore the plant apart from the inside, blowing out fronds, teeth shards, and other Crasna matter in all directions. The vines around Mereel slackened, and he began free falling upside down directly toward the Zakkeg's head. The Zakkeg once again reared up on its hind legs as he fell towards it, and Mereel arched his back forward, leaning into himself.

What happened next was going to require him to be fast, and he was going to need to be incredibly lucky. If he could pull it off though, he was going to ride a self-congratulatory high for weeks.

[member="Talus Morid"]​