We Ain't on Ansion Anymore [Primeval Dominion of Rhadamanthus]

[Boethiah]

Anja received the response from [member="Kadri Ughad"]

"Your success was expected, but I am disappointed at the damage caused to your fleet. As for your orders, don't waste too much time on a rescue operation when more pressing matters are at hand.", she responded and gave him her commands. Truly it was beneficial to maintain as many personnel as possible but not at the cost of more than they're worth. If that became the case this Captain Tora would be better off fending for themselves; if they were unable then it would be their own failure. "Have you detected any signs of sentient lifeforms on the world below?", she asked.

There were reports of possible colonies in the system but so far there was little intel on the matter. That was rather unfortunate, it would've made the situation far more manageable if it wasn't so enigmatic. Of course they were successful, thus far, their forces had landed on the planet's surface and were beginning to conduct the tasks at hand.

 

[Ciara]

Ciara responded briskly, "Good, what is your name?"

The pilot stood back and saluted formally, "My name is Alexander Winters."

Ciara nods and states, "From now on, you are apart of my personal staff. Consider it a promotion."

She then briskly disembarked from the ship and moved towards the cleared zone and inspected her surroundings. Ciara instructed a nearby support soldier to scan the entire area, sample every specimen, and finally take soil samples, packaging them in cryogenic durasteel cargo crates. It was important not to be wasteful.

She tightened the gloves of her stark black flightsuit and tested her grip. Shouldering her DC-15A Blaster Rifle and smacking her bandoleer of grenades, Ciara took a few steps to the boarding ramp and paused to survey the area. Satisfied by the lack of issues with the current situation, her feet slowly struck the durasteel panels and the soles of her boots soon touched the soft smoldering mass of vegetation.

 

[Ughad]

"Understood, Host Lord. Kadri out."
Kadri sighed under his breath as the connection cut off. Tora was a good protege, just as Bant, but her usefulness had come to an end. He ordered the communications officer to connect him to [member="Tyro'din"] .

"Resume former mission. If Captain Tora and her crew aren't resourceful enough to survive until your mission to rendez-vous RDV is over then they don't deserve to live anyway. There is no need to waste time on the fool's errand that I had given you. Set up camp and the point and start collecting samples."

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Ciara]

Ciara slowly acclimated herself to her misty surroundings. Not only was the air filled with noxious fumes, but also, the warm, moist atmosphere around her. She looked at the mush of burnt vegetation caused by the pulse of energy used to decelerate of energy caused by repulsor generators of the ship, a strange liquified concotion of cellulose and glucose caused by the previous laser fire, and finally, various colored leaves and petals. She cocked her head to the right before slowly getting on her knees and picking up a burnt petal. She inspected it closely and looked at the barbs which covered it. The barbs intertwined with those of another petal. She attempted to separate them. No luck.

Maybe its like a magnet. It needs an external force or stimuli to separate it. Ciara thought to herself. She cast it aside and moved on to another specimen.

She picked up another sample of plant material. This time, it was the stem of a plant, which seemed to be directly hit by a laser cannon bolt. The epidermal layer of dead cells were burned to a crisp, but the rest of the plant's structure seemed undamaged. The composition of the stem seemed fibrous and pliable, yet densely strong. Perhaps it utilized a nanomolecular chitin structure rather than cellulose, giving it blaster resistance. Or perhaps, it had high regenerative qualities which allowed it to reconstruct the damaged tissue. She took out her vibroblade, attempting to cut the stem. The first few damaged layers seemed to be slightly cut, but the vibroblade stopped in its tracks. Resistance to kinetic damage as well. Removing the knife, the layers slowly stitched themselves together and the inflicted wound seemed to close it self.

Interesting: immensely strong defenses coupled with regenerative properties.

Observing the area around her, she looked around her at the various soldiers scrambling to set up the perimeter and establish the preliminary base. Several support soldiers utilized ion shovels to clear away the vegetation on the ground and removed it from the sight. A large accumulation of burnt plant biomass was located very close to the proximity of the ship. Ciara looked around her and walked towards the support team. She looked at the pile of plant life.

"Has everything been tagged and sampled?" she inquired to a nearby support soldier.

"Yes ma'am." he stated.

She looked at the mass once more and threw a CryoBan grenade at the pile. Ciara mandated coldly, "Burn it."

The soldier paused for a moment and looked perplexed, "....Ma'am?"

Ciara immediately turned her head to the soldier and punched him in the face. She stated, "Don't make me repeat my orders once again. Burn it."

The soldier simply nodded in shock before throwing a thermal detonator at the pile.

It turned into a fiery inferno instantly.

Wonderful.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Very few planets she discovered during her travels ever seemed to hold any amount of sway with her. There was always something about the planet that seemed to irk her beyond her ability to comprehend the nature of why this was so. And for the first few seconds on this planet, it too fell into that category. She was no stranger to lush environments or forests, having spend the first eight years of her life on Kashyyyk, but this planet felt all wrong. The smells, the poisonous taste in the air, and the colour schemes of the fauna added their own contribution to why she was already feeling disdain for the planet. Her time with the Jedi should have cast some sort of reason not to feel this way but it failed. Her brief time with the Sith would have caused her to give in to these urges and purge the planet of its obscenities but she was more in control of her emotions than that. She was a Dark Jedi, and her way of thinking was her own; no code and no laws to dictate her feelings for her.

Casting glances all around her, she needed to find her bearings. There was much work to be done according to the manifest she read aboard the vessel, and with so many options available to her; she felt enthused rather than overwhelmed. For to long she had traveled the galaxy alone but now, here with this group, she felt she could make a difference; find a purpose in life perhaps. Double checking to make sure the comlink on her wrist was secure and in proper working condition, she headed into the unknown.

While she strolled through the jungle, she took close observation of the landscape. One of the options was to scout the area, for what she was unsure but maybe her new family were planning to set up some sort of base or facility on the planet. So using the small datapad she just retrieved from her utility belt, she began to jot down notes. As she walked, she recalled that pirates sometimes inhabited this planet and according to the manifest, they were a problem that needed to be dealt with. And she loved to problem solve. So now she will keep an eye out for them as well, hoping to encourage them to leave with words rather than resorting to violence. She didn't shun violence but at the same time, she didn't seek it out. A quick pat on her right hip sent waves of assurance that she didn't forget her lightsaber in the midst of all her excitement to go planet side.

She caught a sight of a beautiful, dark blue flower arrangement on her left side, spurring her to stop and examine it. While her red eyes darting from one flower to the next, creeping behind her was a greenish vine moving toward her left leg. Just as the vine was attempting to make a bid for her, she quickly drew lightsaber and spinning around slashed the yellow blade in a downward angle severing the vine in two. As the withered half of the vine retreated back into the underbrush, she muttered out loud, "Carnivorous plants. Check."

 

[Ciara]

Alexander Winters quickly departed and sprinted to the ship. He briskly walked towards Ciara, pausing before her and saluting hastily.

"Ma'am, we have a large incoming force of entities approaching...I must add quickly."

She peered into Alexander's eyes and nodded. "Understood, now relay..."

Before she could finish, a barb whizzed past her and Ciara instively dodged her head backwards. However, Alexander was less fortunate. The barb pierced through his flimsy crewman's helmet and ricocheted from the internal armoring of the helmet. The protective underlay was created to protect from the kinetic and blunt trauma of starship travel.

She sighed. Right after she found someone decent in this entire cesspool of a planet, he died.

Ciara looked at her chronometer. 3600 seconds. An all time record.

She sighed once more and yelled, "DEFENSIVE POSITIONS MEN. DEFEND THE FRAKKING SHIP AT ALL COSTS."

 

[Talos Rygat]

Location: Prim'Ra Carrier
Allies: [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Ciara"] [member="Ciara Jevnaker"] [member="Kadri Ughad"]

Legion looked on as the crew of the Vanguard fleet was recovered. The carrier had sustained minor damage and was in the process of regeneration. The crew of Sephi, Vong, and Graug were busy running their tasks, Legion turned to the ships pilots,"You have the Con."


He turned and walked towards the hangar. Escorted by a pair of Graug guards, he boarded the first shuttle aboard, along with a unit of Sephi and Graug. They departed for the surface.

"Ground units, friendlies inbound. Repeat, friendlies inbound." The comms officer relayed the message down as an alert to Legion's departure.

 

[Dredge]

Coming out of orbit the personal fleet of the former Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong boomed into the atmosphere of the planet. They entered a literal ship graveyard and bits of metal and bodies floated cold and dead through the cosmos to be buried in space. It warmed Dredge's cold heart to see such a sight. Sitting in a throne on his Dreadnaught gifted to him as a warlord of the primeval he smiled and held a small Yuuzhan Vong girl on his lap. She wore a sun dress and had her loose black strands of hair in pig tails. Dredge for one time sake was not wearing his helmet and he was smiling a warm fatherly grin at his little girl that he bounced on his lap. It was something that no one had ever seen him do, that he had a side to him that cared for at least one aspect of life.

"So how was school today?" He asked her as they both watched the dead bodies bounce off the mirrors of the ships bridge.

"It was alright, rather boring. The other children don't like to talk to me, but I made friends with a Graug boy today." She said with a bright smile on her face.

Dredge returned the smile and pressed his lips to the back of her head giving the top of her head a small kiss.

"Dad!" She said squirming a bit and giggling.

Dredge simply smiled and laughed along with her. Shortly after a Yuuzhan Vong worker approached him and bowed down on a single knee.

"Orders my lord." The Vong said in a calm yet detached voice.

Dredge sighed and gave his daughter one more kiss on the top of her scalp.

"Go play Samantha, Father has to go to work now." Dredge set the little Vong girl down and she nodded gave her father a hug around the darkened armor and skipped off to play.

Dredge watched her go then turned to his Graug crew chief.

"Status?" He said to him

"Looks like Anja and the others have moped up and resistance fleets and are now on the ground doing it is their types do. Rather vile really to not just glass the planet but we are ready to launch or glass them while they are still on the planet my lord." The Graug said with a neutral tone.

Dredge considered that for a moment. He had their IFF tags on their radar and he could simply bombard Anja and company and claim power for himself in one swift move, the idea sounded rather nice really. It took him a few moments but he answered the Graug

"No. Anja has been good to us, she has shown to be capable and I still have uses for her. Launch the invasion force and provide support for the those on the ground. Send the Kaalonian infantry, they need to learn discipline. Also prepare the Graug colonists, we will claim this planet as a new colony for the Graug. Take the Redoubt and use it as a base of operations to start the process of colonizing this planet." Dredge gave his orders and they were made so.

Dozens upon dozens of gunships and the Redoubt cruiser with the name "Apex" painted on it in Graug moved down with the gunships and moved down onto the planets surface to make this place become ten percent cooler, as Dredge's daughter always told him.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Location: Planet's Surface
Allies: [member="Darth Legion"], [member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Kadri Ughad"]


The humidity of the jungle was nearly unbearable, but the small biting insects that had been attracted to her scent through perspiration began to annoy her. The swarms would attack, only to be deterred by her swatting hands momentarily, then they would regroup and dive bomb again. They were unrelenting in their pursuit to dine on her and she know wished she had worn her battle outfit instead of her normal set of clothes. Hindsight and all. And now to make matters worse, the sound of rolling thunder erupted in the sky, while a few bolts of lightning zigged and zagged across the sky like jagged teeth. She shuddered at the thought what kind of rain, if it would be rain, that would cascade down all around her. Her new priority was to seek shelter and it seemed fate decided to lend her a hand, showing her a cave opening nearly obscured by wilted foliage. The sight looked foreboding but she believed her chances were better dealing with whatever was in there than dealing with whatever could fall from the sky.

Once inside the cave, smelling of mold and stale water, she was engulfed by utter darkness; forcing her to use the blade from her lightsaber as her only source of illumination. Curiosity getting the better of her common sense, she began to explore the cave and realized there was a tunnel that led deeper into the darkness. With a small sigh, she ventured through the tunnel, the yellow blade giving her a small amount of visibility. After traversing the winding tunnel, she came to an opening that was lit up by several strategically placed torches embedded into the cavern wall, allowing her to power down her weapon. "Well this is interesting," she said quietly to herself as a series of thoughts began to manifest themselves in her mind. Was this cave inhabited by someone, something, or a bunch of someones and somethings? Her common sense, already down one to nothing, was now overridden by her pride. "There's nothing in here that I can't handle."

It didn't take long for her common sense to tell her 'I told you so' when she walked right into an encampment of pirates. Luckily for her, four pirates where sleeping on bed rolls while one, sitting on a rock cleaning his rifle, slowly turned his head in her direction. "I know what your thinking," she began as the pirate stood up, snapping an energy cell into his freshly cleaned rifle. "Yeah. You're probably right."

 

[Boethiah]

Order's End hurtled through hyperspace to what seemed time's end until suddenly it burst out and the jungle world lay just ahead.

"Take me down.", Anja said with a remark -- by this point already in the hanger and directing her voice to the crew of the dropship she was standing in. The ramp door behind them shut and the starship flew out of the hanger, escorted by two fighters as they descended through the thick atmosphere ripe with clouds and humid jungle air. The engines whirred and buzzed until they slowly began to land in a small clearing, assuring that there was no danger to them before so. The retractable turret mounted on the nose began to scan the area and prepared to fire on sight.

Stepping out off the ramp with an entourage of Gulandi warriors, the Host Lord looked in both directions. "Set up a defensive perimeter.", she ordered before sitting down in the jungle grass , a small patch between tall, primordial forests. Anja began to meditate -- as before she used her other perceptions and guided her thoughts through the minds of soldiers and leaders alike. What was this feeling? She couldn't put her mind on it, she felt connected and attuned. She wanted to study its applications.

The force -- her magic - have become far more powerful than when she first dueled Keira Ticon, she knew she was ready to face her again -- more than ready.

[member="Ciara"] [member="Ciara Jevnaker"] [member="Darth Legion"] [member="Tyro'din"] [member="Kadri Ughad"] [member="Morrigan"] [member="Kage"]

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Location: Planet Surface
Allies: [member="Darth Legion"], [member="Ciara"], [member="Tyro'din"], [member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Kadri Ughad"], [member="Morrigan"], [member="Kage"]



She wasn't really in the mood to deal with this right now, but there was no other option available to her. If she acted fast, perhaps she could deal with this pirate before he rifled off a shot alerting his four sleeping comrades, which meant she couldn't use her lightsaber. The sound of the activating weapon would no doubt echo off the cavern walls, and that too would surely rouse them from their slumber. Drawing the Force to her quickly, she shot out her right hand sending a wave of Force energy that knocked the pirate back with enough force to thrust him into the wall, his weapon falling harmlessly to the cavern floor. The pirate's body slowly slumped downwards until his butt was sitting on the ground, his head cocked to the left; and his eyes closed. She saw his chest puff out and in a few times alerting her that he was unconscious and that she did not kill him. However, she needed to address the situation of these pirates, for they were an obstacle and one of the objectives in the manifest. But the mere thought of killing not only unarmed pirates but sleeping pirates did not sit well with her.

Quietly and methodically she searched their belongings, taking notice to keep looking them over to make sure they were still asleep. and the one remained knocked out. Her impromptu search rewarded her with several sets of stun cuffs. She cuffed the unconscious pirate first, then tip toed over to the others. How was she going to pull this off? Soon as she touched one of the pirates they would probably make some noise and all her sneaking around would have been for naught. Think! Then it came to her. She recalled seeing a small shock stick whose main function was to incapacitate victims putting them in the same state as the first pirate. Once she retrieved it, she stood in the centre of the sleeping group, and in one massive sweep, shocked them all. Then at her own leisure cuffed all four pirates.

She headed back to the cave's main entrance and saw that whatever storm that was brewing now passed over her location. With a shrug of her shoulders, she produced her datapad and brought up the holomap, then activated the comlink on her wrist. "This Ciara Jevnaker. Requesting a transport shuttle at," she started as she looked at the map to find her sector she was in. Whoever put the datamap of the area together was smart enough to break in into sectors with numbers designated for each sector. "Sector 43. There is a cave at this location with five cuffed pirates. I'm sure we can find a good use for them. I'll mark the area by placing a transmitter device near the cave's entrance. Jevnaker out."

 

[Talos Rygat]

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]- the pilot called back to Legion about a transmission requesting pickup in sector 42. One known as Ciara.

"Head for sector 42 and relay to her that We are en-route... Graug, you will come with Us... And the Sephi will take the prisoners back to carrier... Understood." The dozen voices in him melded behind Legions words.


The shuttle redirected towards the given location. As it neared, the pilot pointed out the cave and set down. Legion and the Graug exited, heading for Ciara's location.

With the Force, Legion sent a telepathic message to her inviting her to meet him and the Graug to aid her prisoner transport.

 

[Tyro'din]

When the command came through about dismissing the order given, Tyro'din fought to suppress the urge to shot or hit something, he had to keep control. Allowing, instead, a growl of frustration and anger to ripple through him instead. Turning to his men he began to bark orders, "Current Priority One is to be dismissed, return to previous objectives and methods. This is to be base one, tomorrow we march to North. Get to work setting us up, I want a defensive perimeter set up ASAP." With that Tyro'din turned and marched towards the surrounding trees, shouting over his shoulder, "Squad One Fireteam One, with me. And bring the kriffing equipment, we're doing a quick flora scan."

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Beowoof]

Hmmmm... It seemed like evil was being accomplished at a steadily evil rate from Geronivous' evil perch in the Deliverance-class cruiser. But things were not evil enough for His Evilness' evil standards. No. More evil was required--which meant that his evil presence was soon to be needed down below.

"It seems that our evil forces have encountered no sentient life yet, lord," reported an adequately evil deck officer.

Geronivous found this boring. "Everyone who still has their original facial features," he began, "I will get to you later." He scanned the command deck of evil, eying all the crewmates who were evilly-challenged and glared at each one in turn. Of course, he always looked like he was glaring, his evil eyes peering out from behind his evil kaleesh war mask. He had been honed in evil since birth, born in pride, weened on jealousy, raised on vengeance, and matured in victory. One does not become an evil warlord without these vary evil traits brought on by an evil origin story. No. Geronivous was saturated in evil. "Everyone else--you are to follow me to the dispatch portal, where I shall dispatch you to salvage from the destroyed pirate vessels."

A single human with an eyepatch and a duro with a pegleg were the only two bridge officers who looked evil enough for this evil mission of evil. They stepped forward to follow Geronivous' evil orders, and trailed behind him in his evil wake as he descended the starship of evil and to the shuttle hangars. A crew of equally evil-looking people were awaiting them underneath the shuttles, various eyes, ears, noses, and limbs seeming to be lacking or replaced with electronic versions. "Excellent..." he complimented, hissing with evil intonation through the filter of his evil war mask.

"You will all dispatch to claim the wreckages of the pirate ships that have not already been salvaged by the other present warlords," he explained, stalking back and forth in grimly evil fashion, evil hands interlocked behind his back by the evil fingers. "Tell no one of these plans of evil, for they are my evil plans that are not doomed to fail." And with those simple orders, Geronivous departed for the bridge once more, satisfied that his motley crew would get the job done for Step 1 of the Road to Evil Domination.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Location: Cave
Allies: [member="Darth Legion"], [member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Tyro'din"], [member="Kage"], [member="Morrigan"], [member="Kadri Ughad"], [member="Ciara"]


She could only laugh at the insults hurled her way from the restrained pirates, their threats filled with all the creative ways with things they wanted to do to her. She could have found something to gag them with but she was amused by it all. Besides, it passed the time until the transport could arrive and usher them away into a lifetime of servitude; workers or slavers in The Primeval. She had no love for scum like them, preying on the weak to fill their void that only greed could do. Now, they would be the ones filling a void as labourers. If they survived long enough. Scum like them always had difficulty following the laws, only knowing anarchy and chaos. Poor sods.

Her mind was brushed by a telepathic message and she responded in kind. "Everyone up. And if you try any funny business, rest assure I'll be the only one laughing in the end." Her little speech earned her more insults and vulgar remarks even though they followed her orders. Once she had them lined up in a single file line, with her in the back, she marched them through the tunnel and out into the opening. She could feel the pirates tense when they saw the figure wrapped in black cloth, the eyes replaced by a green aura forcing her to order them to continue walking.

"Inside the cave there is much of nothing worth taking. Junk mostly. But these fine gentleman are the true prize," she said to the figure in black, then rolling her eyes at the pirates. All five of them lost the courage to spray her with more insults. Cowards. "They are now your problem. I have more business to conduct before returning to the ship." She turned right and headed back into the jungle, the first set of insects moving in for the kill.

 

[Talos Rygat]

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"]

Legion and his Graug met Ciara at the mouth of the cave and watched as a few pirates lost control of their bladders. Legion nodded to the woman and the Graug escorted the pirates back, he sent a mental wastage to the Sephi aboard the shuttle to trade places with his Graug. As soon as they arrived, Legion began following her trail. The Sephi were armed with concussion rifles and wicked looking vibroswords.

"Allies in your wake..." Was the mental message Legion sent out to Ciara. He was going to find details about the planet himself, a mentalist looking for sentient life was the best option. And he was on to something. They were being watched and by many.


Signaling the Sephi to stay on guard, Legion probed the surrounding area for brainwaves that suggested intelligence. What he got back was barbaric. Many of the thoughts that sprang up were of tearing the newcomers to shreds. Pleasant thoughts indeed. Reaching out with his Ghosts, many of the tiny skulls went off in different directions, attempting to pinpoint their stalkers.


[member="Geronivous"] [member="Tyro'din"] [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Dredge"]

 

[Boethiah]

"What do you need?", the Host Lord opened her eyes as one of her soldiers approached.

"Your Worship, forgive my interruption; there's been a few signs of settlement.", she spoke; a Gulandi female.

Anja nodded, Finally, she thought to herself. "How far?", she requested the information. The soldier looked just over the jungle, and beyond a place where the earth uplifted several jagged rock formations that marked the sight of a large canyon. "Inside the Canyon, it seems there are people who house themselves there.", she responded quickly. Rising, Anja walked over to the dropship but was interrupted. "We can't fly there, Your Worship.", the Host Lord turned and looked the woman in the eyes, her milky pale-blue ones into the woman's dark pupils. "Why not?", the words were elaborately elongated as to make sure the soldier understood exactly what she was asking.

"I mean no disrespect, it's just the jungle is far too thick; even over the canyon.", the words were not said fearfully but they did heed the caution given by Anja's words. "Very well.", she gestured to have them move out. Following from the center the Host Lord marched with her small unit and into the heart of the jungle.

[member="Ciara Jevnaker"] [member="Ciara"] [member="Darth Legion"] [member="Kadri Ughad"] [member="Geronivous"] [member="Tyro'din"]

 

[Beowoof]

Geronivous rubbed his evil hands together like the typical evil warlord that he was and smiled an evil smile behind his mask of evil--which made him seem all the more evil, because he was smiling evil but no one could see it. He was a mystery man. "I see my evil henchmen are progressing towards the pirate ships at acceptable speeds. Very good." Now, if they could just maintain this evil plan.

Meanwhile, word had reached the Deliverance-class command ship of evil that the shuttles had arrived on-world and evil plans were being instigated. So far, there had been no sign of children. But there were signs of people--probably naked and still using twigs and stones. Soon they would feel the true might of supreme evil, with evil technology and evilness. "Prepare my shuttle," the evil kaleesh commander hissed. "I will personally be overseeing this evil foray into the woods, as my father and his father and his father and his father and his father did before my glorious existence." Being superbly evil, Geronivous needed extoll his family line and accentuate the fact that he was the ultimate evil.

"Yes, Warlord Geronivous."

"I prefer to be known as War Chief Ronny," was his curt response to the insufficiently evil crewman. "And I find your lack of evil disturbing." And with that, Ronny stomped off to a turbolift and descended to the hangar.

However, his turbolift of evil seemed to be in dire need of maintenance, and it stalled halfway down the lift shaft. In a rage, the war chief warlord dialed up the emergency number: 3845-EVIL. "I need an evil maintenance man. I think this might be a Dirty Job."

 

[Mikkel Markov]

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Ciara Jevnaker"] [member="Ciara"] [member="Darth Legion"] [member="Kadri Ughad"] [member="Geronivous"] [member="Tyro'din"]

Mikkel noticed Anja motion for the unit to follow her. Took long enough, He thought. A settlement, eh? Wonder what kind of people they are, how advanced. Meh, doesn't matter, what matters is if they're hostile. Mikkel stood up, loaded his sniper, and powered up the HUD in his helmet.

As the group entered the jungle, Mikkel took position near the back of the party, wanting to make sure they aren't followed or ambushed from behind. The trees blotted out almost all of the light from the star, making it near impossible for most of the party members to see the surrounding area. Mikkel could see just fine, though. He and the other Umbaran in the party -- if there were any, Mikkel didn't bother to check -- were no strangers to the shadows.

 

[Boethiah]

The entourage with Anja at the lead made its way through the jungle towards the ravine. The sound of birds chattered and chirped throughout, drowning the world in a constant ambiance of wildlife. It was humid, warm, and the plants were vicious and deadly.

"Careful, Argh--Eed", a solder was slaughtered by a plant species. The large bulb-like flower opened up in five jaw-like appendages that latched onto the soldier. Gunfire and the slashing of sword clouded the noise of birds and other wildlife.

"Watch yourselves!", Anja ordered. She didn't particularly value their lives but she didn't want to waste them either.

With that they continued on. Soldiers, their gear, and a whole mad world ahead of them.