Welcome To The Jungle

[Sol Damerin]

"Make sure you color code them in order of least important to most. Oh and I will spoil it now, it's all done with smoke and mirrors."

Okay, that one was definitely a joke even his flat tone couldn't disguise the obvious humor in those words.Once he finishes his meal he follows suit with Mariya. She'd made a good point, he was still wearing the same clothes he'd been wearing when he killed the drexl so he was getting pretty ripe. Tossing them into the disposal unit since he had no idea if or how to clean drexl blood he takes a quick shower and redresses.

As he heads towards the hanger he checks his gear. Battle chest piece, protector, CH-16 Heavy Blaster Pistol, Protector, and his twin vibroblades strapped to his back. He was all set to go. He was also a bit ahead of schedule so he takes the time to go over his speeder checking it for any damage. Looking up when Mariya arrived Sol raises an eyebrow wondering what took her. If he knew about the sunblock he'd have laughed that she went so far. Then again, he never wore sunblock and he looked a bit older than he really was so perhaps there was something to it.

As she comes in so do the other mercs, plus the scientist they'd be escorting. They were going to go in a multi-seater swoop, while the mercs played guard on speeders. Going through the jungle was challenging even with hover vehicles so they'd be going nice and slow. Slinging himself into his seat Sol starts his as the rest of the group prepares to go.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

Mariya arrived to see [member="Sol Damerin"] getting ready in his seat, dressed in his new outfit with weaponry from head to toe. She waved at him and hopped onto a empty speeder, making a quick check on the gauges and fuel level. Looked good to her. Next, she redid her hair, tying it into a bun and slipping on her helmet. She never liked her helmet, simply because her hair would get messy and sweaty afterwards. But it served a purpose and she was not about to risk falling off a speeder without protecting her head. Her goggles fitted smugly on top of her visor, allowing her to use them if necessary.

"Comms check. Ghost is ready," she sounded off and made an okay signal to the convoy.

"Loud and clear. We'll move off in one minute. Tango yankee out."

The mercenary turned on the ignition, feeling the engine roared to life in between her legs. Others did the same. The expedition route was marked out clearly at the corner of her visor. Not exactly the easiest route, but the speed should be nice and slow to allow the swoop vehicle to manoeuvre properly. As the minute passed, the lead speeder drove off to scout the area. The rest of the vehicles followed soon after, speeders at the sides of the swoop vehicle.

 

[Sol Damerin]

"Comms check, Sol is ready."

The old mercs gaze flicks over to Mariya as he hears her call sign. Since they weren't dealing with enemy combatants he wasn't bothering with a handle. Still, he had to wonder why she'd chosen Ghost of all things. Questions for another time he supposed. After a few moments, the expedition gets moving. The guards take point, one races ahead as a scout while he falls back to play rear guard. With the Force, he was able to do a much better job of looking for danger than anyone else in the caravan since he could just look for signs of life within the living Force rather than relying on his eyes or electronic sensors.

They move slowly, for the most part, traveling under the jungle canopy as the scientists stick their heads out of the swoop. They were carrying odd little contraptions, taking readings, making random statements of excitement, and generally just acting like this was a sightseeing expedition rather than a trip through one of the most hostile locales in the galaxy. Sol wasn't really too worried of course. The only thing that could really ruin their day, besides more Drexl, would be a pack of Maalraas. Those bloody Force stealth using cats where damn near impervious to blaster fire and vicious as.... Well, a Maalraas.

"Scout reporting in. We are clear for now."

The report comes over loud and clear on Comms. It appears that there aren't any big things waiting for them just yet. Hopefully, it would stay that way. Sol didn't think it would he imagined they'd have to chase something off soon but he could dream.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

The expedition convoy continued on, heading towards the marked destination on the map. It was apparently a good site where some of the local fauna and creatures would interact, allowing the scientists to study the planet's ecosystem. The science team might be chilling out, but certainly not the mercenaries. A playlist made up of funky dance songs was played inside Mariya's helmet while she rode on. Her goggles were pulled down, allowing her to use its sensors to try and pick out life forms. It worked well, but there were simply too many creatures being picked up. In the end, she found herself only looking at large heat signatures which were close by. That made the most sense since predators had to be big or in a pack to threaten them.

The journey went well. An hour later, the convoy had settled down in the observation site with the scientists out in the field. Mariya looked at them with interest for a while, trying to see what they were doing. Some fancy technological equipment to measure the acidity of the soil, the weather and simple ones like measuring tapes for taking the length of insects and small creatures. She was glad to be standing under the canopy of trees for some shade, helmet hanging on the speeder.

"Hey Sol. What's the most dangerous creature that we could encounter?"

She made a private communications chat to [member="Sol Damerin"] and waved at him not too far away. While waiting for his reply, she pulled out her water canteen and took a drink.

 

[Sol Damerin]

Arriving at the observation site without incident was unexpected. Still, there were a lot of them and that would keep all but the biggest predators and largest packs at bay. Unless something particularly vicious showed up. Flipping his goggles up onto his forehead he wipes his brow. Unlike the other mercs, he didn't bother with a helmet which most thought made him foolish. Honestly though, at the speed most speeders went at the only thing a helmet would do is make it so people wouldn't have to scoop up your brains after the crash. Besides, he had the Force.

Noticing Mariya's wave and hearing her question he moves over to her. Spotting her canteen he makes a wordless gesture to indicate he wouldn't mind a swig when she is done. He had his own but her's was already open and his was back on his speeder which was about fifty feet back. "Besides the Drexl you mean?" He asks her with a slightly raised eyebrow before shrugging. "There is plenty of mean on this planet I am personally most worried about Maalraas," As he had with the Drexl he pulls out his datapad and opens up the file on the creatures, handing it to Mariya.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Seriously, everytime you mention a beast, it's going to be a dangerous one."

She half jested and handed her canteen over to [member="Sol Damerin"], while taking the datapad over for a read. Invisibility, blaster resistance and hunted in packs. The Maalraas was certainly difficult to handle. Mariya could not help if the climate on Dxun had helped to create such ferocious creatures. She handed back the datapad and looked around, analysing their current situation. A couple of wired and power fences were set up and a few mercenaries were posted on sentry duty. The scientists were somewhere in the center, busy with their investigation. She wondered if the fences could hold the beasts at bay if they attacked.

"So you already knew about them. No comments on the current perimeter setup? Although I suspect you might sense any danger beforehand."

Sol was looking rather chill. The blonde on the other hand, was changing her rifle from the default blaster mode to sniper. Her blaster rounds might not work well against a Maalraas, but her sniper rounds should be more lethal.

 

[Sol Damerin]

"Dxun is a dangerous place, I've been here before, and if it's a pack of Maalraas that attacks I won't see it coming, not unless I get lucky."

Sol rattles off his answers to her statements without missing a beat. He takes his datapad back pocketing it as he watches her fiddle with her gun. She wasn't wrong, a more powerful blaster bolt like you got with a sniper round would do a better job on a Maalraas. Still, she'd be better off switching to a slug thrower or a blade rather than trying to use an energy weapon. It wasn't really his place to make such a suggestion though, instead, he folds his arms and asks a question.

"How long have you been doing this?"

It wasn't often that Sol actually asked people about themselves. For the most part his, for lack of a better word, stoic nature lead to him being to all appearances slightly anti-social. However, that was more because he spent so much time wandering that he didn't see the point in getting attached to people. It was a lonely life but it meant that when he did make a bond with someone, it was usually because he thought they would meet again in the future. He would also warm up, in his own way, to them. It took a lot to get an obvious emotional response from him but he would start taking an interest in their well being as well as wanting to know a bit more about them.

In short, Mariya was making her way onto the short list of people Sol actually liked.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

She finished switching up her rifle to sniper mode and loaded the magazine. [member="Sol Damerin"] was wrong about her sniper rifle. The DC-17m was old technology, but it fired projectile rounds similar to the ones from a wookie bowcaster. She was pretty certain they would work well against a blaster resistant creature. The only problem was the small number of rounds in each magazine, a meager five.

"Hmm... doing mercenary work? More than ten years, including a short stint of military experience. As for details, it's kinda complicated. Suffice to say I had spent some time with pirates, bounty hunters and other mercenaries."

Mariya was not about to dig up her past when the mission was ongoing. Perhaps later, when everything had settled down and they were back in camp. The last time she talked about her past to her doctor friend was a rather bitter experience. She was still rather sore about it.

"I would love to ask you about your life story as well, but let's save it for later. To be honest? I'm feeling a little jittery after that Maalraas information."

Was her mind playing tricks on her? She certainly hoped so. Hopefully the scientists would finish their stuff as soon as possible.

 

[Sol Damerin]

"And you still need someone else to pull up information on dangerous local fauna."

Sol says this blandly but there is a slight upward quirk to his lips. He was teasing her though it was still hard to tell with him.

"I've been at this for about as long, though I did a short stint with the Jedi rather than with the military."

The two organizations were not as different as he would like and to call his time with the Jedi a short stint wasn't fair, it had made up nearly half his life after all. But he was rather prone to downplaying just how big of an impact being part of a monastic order had on him during his formative years.

"As for my life story, you'd have to buy me more than a few drinks to get that."

It wasn't something he was eager to talk about, as evidenced by the fact that he was the only person who knew anything about it. The old mercs attention turns to the temporary fence they'd set up. "Company." He notes drawing his protector as a group of squat green scaled creatures burst from the jungle crashing into the fence. The ferocious creatures would be through in seconds as the mercenaries prepare to defend themselves.

"Boma's, not quite as nasty as the Maalraas but a hell of a lot more vicious."

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Considering how much danger there is in this place, one could just toss a rock and find one. Just never expected the Maalraas to have camouflage capability," she started to infer the slight smile on [member="Sol Damerin"]'s lips as his way of expressing his jest. "Buy you more than a few drinks for some story? Maybe next time when I make it big-"

Her sentence was drowned out by loud noises coming at the perimeter. Green mean creatures had just turned up for the party. A whole pack of them looking for a meal. Sol was quick to identify them, his knowledge of the local beasts impressing Mariya once again. The other mercenaries took up their arms to defend themselves while the scientists pulled back, darting to the middle of the group for safety. Mariya decided to leave her rifle in sniping mode, taking up position behind a couple of crates.

She fired off a shot at the nearest beast, the large caliber knocking the beast off its feet. A lethal shot. The fences were still holding them back, but the pack continued to knock themselves against the metal with anger. Sounds of blaster fire were heard in the other direction, indicating more creatures had appeared. A second pack of Bomas.

"Two packs. Just great..."

Second round. Third. She took down three creatures with clean shots, but the beasts remained undeterred.

 

[Sol Damerin]

Boma's weren't the absolute worst thing they could deal with, though they were up there. The bloody things had thick skin which meant, like most beasts on this planet, his blaster pistol was nearly useless. For the first time, Sol felt some true gratitude to Muad for giving him the protector. Though it had been less given to him and more Sol just took it from him and never gave it back. Then again, Muad had made him wear that absolutely horrendous hoodie so Sol saw that as fair recompense.

Turning on the marker Sol sweeps his laser over the Boma's letting it mark them. The Protector could carry either acidic slugs or homing flechette in its second barrel and he usually went with the latter. The acidic slugs were good against armoured opponents but so were the explosive rounds in the primary cylinder, the flechette did wonders against flesh. While the Boma's were tough they weren't bulletproof.

The heavy slugthrower pistol roars and the flechette rounds chew into the bomas reducing a group of them to flesh. Usually once a group of predators took such heavy loses they would retreat, but the Bomas kept throwing themselves against the fence in a frenzy. Reaching out with The Force, he touches their minds and pauses. They weren't angry or hungry, they were scared.

"Oh kark."

He says as he notices a tree shakes in the distance. Something was coming, something big angry and hungry.

"Remember how you were asking me about the most dangerous predators? I left one out, since they are so rare."

A living scaled tank bursts from the treeline falling on the remaining boma's tearing one of them to pieces. The beast was smaller than a drexl but it's scaled hide would be hard to pierce even for a lightsaber, this one was longer than three grown men, and its massive claws could pulp someone in beskar'gam. It was a bloody Zakkeg.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"It's a Zakkeg right? It hunts Boma for food," Mariya knew what [member="Sol Damerin"] was referring to. She had came across the beastiary entry for the new creature while reading up about the Boma, but words could only describe the size of the creature. What would more than four meters on paper meant in real life? The mercenary was getting a first hand experience of the size when the gigantic lizard stormed its way out of the forest, heading straight for the fences.

Blasters rang out from the mercenaries, who scattered away when the lizard broke through the fences. The scientists ran for the safety of their hover vehicle and took off, escorted by a few mercenaries. Mariya made a dive for the nearest cover, switching her rifle to the anti armour grenade launcher. Whoever designed the DC-17m deserved a medal for its versatility, the blonde thought to herself.

She cloaked herself and sneaked off to the back of the lizard, which was busy swiping away a mercenary in its way with same claws. Mariya needed an opening to fire her round without endangering the rest. As the rest of the mercenaries cleared the area, she found the opening and launched her shot.

The explosion was intense, taking off some of the scales. The Zakkeg roared in anger, its tail swinging around madly. Mariya dived onto the ground, her face almost landing on the earth and crawled away. She had three more grenade rounds left, but she needed to get herself to safety first.

 

[Sol Damerin]

The answer to what four meters looked like in real life, was really big and really terrifying. The other mercs began firing on the massive creature which got its attention. It barrels through the perimeter fence like it isn't even there. One of the mercenaries that stuck around doesn't dodge in time and catches the beast's claws to his chest. His armor stops the claws from disemboweling him but the force of the blow sends him off his feet to strike against a nearby tree. There is a sickening crunch and the poor mercenary is well and truly out of it if he wasn't dead he was likely wishing he was.

Mariya's attack with an armor-piercing grenade is effective and the beast howls in pain. However, if she's hoping to take it down with those grenades she is going to have to shoot carefully, each round will have to hit in roughly the same location if she hopes to break all the way through its armored hide. Of course, she might not get the chance since the creature whirls on her ready to pounce and rend her flesh from her bones.

Fortunately, Sol is suddenly between her and the beast. Drawing his twin vibroblades he flicks a clasp on the hilts and sends the actual blade part of the weapons to the sides. Just as the beast is about to bowl him over he ignites his twin lightsabers now that they are free of their disguise. He snaps the white blade into the beast snout while the red one scours against its claws. While neither blow cuts through the scales they do scour the surface with intense heat that makes the Zakkeg rear back in pain. Against his better judgment Sol presses in hoping to buy Mariya enough time to get in another shot.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

The enemy was more dangerous that anyone had expected so far, being built like an armoured vehicle. Mariya was a little surprised by the way [member="Sol Damerin"] revealed his hidden lightsaber. Two in fact. The two blades of white and red were whirling about, buying her time to move. Luckily the beast's attention was on the older mercenary, allowing her to move into position to fire off another round at the creature's rear. The injured spot was visible, allowing the exploded sharpnels to do their job. The Zakkeg roared in anger, its attention split between the two mercenaries who were still in battle.

The rest of the people had already moved cleared of the area. No one wanted to be blasted to shards by those explosives or be trampled down that easily. The blaster fire from the other mercenaries were near useless against the creature, but most of them had explosives as well.

"Move, move, move! We'll blast the creature into bits with our explosives!"

The communications line buzzed with activity as the mercenaries asked the blonde and the Force User to run clear. Mariya acknowledged the line, hoping that the older mercenary would do the same as she raced off and hopped onto an empty speeder, dashing off. As the creature ran wild, multiple explosive ordinances made their presence known. The roars were deafening, earth flying in the air as trees toppled down in the vicinity.

"Sol? Tell me you are alive!"

The blonde shouted through the communications channel to reach out for her new friend.

 

[Sol Damerin]

It was a testament to just how heavily armored the Zakkeg was that Sol barely even felt the shockwave of the grenade when Mariya cracked it in the back. The Zakkeg roars momentarily distracted from dealing with the man carrying two glowing sticks. It whirls to go after her once more leaving its backside exposed to Sol. The armor piercing grenades had done their work and there was now a gap in the plates, where raw bleeding flesh could be seen.

Sol didn't hesitate he lunges forward and drives his twin sabers into the creature's side. The weapons pierce deeply into the Zakkeg and it roars in agony trying to whirl upon him but that just moves the sabers through the wounds doing even more damage. Sol moves with the creature before darting away, it was hurt, enraged, and dying but it still had a lot of life in its beast heart and was determined to slaughter everyone present.

The other mercenaries begin launching rockets, grenades, and blaster bolts at the beast determined to take it out. The intensity of the barrage forces Sol to move back, away from the blast radius to avoid being blown to bits by friendly fire. A voice comes over his comms and he taps his ear to respond.

"As alive as I ever am."

He growls as the mercenaries ease on their barrage, the beast was in the middle of a cloud of debris. Sol could sense that it wasn't dead so before the dust settles he darts forward with unnatural speed. The wounded behemoth charges out of the dust with a bellow, scales were blown clear off it, blood trickles from innumerable wounds but it was still kicking... At least until Sol drives a saber right into its eye and straight to its brain. The wounded, apex predator falls to the ground finally dead.

"Can't say the same for the Zakkeg. I karking hate Dxun."

He pants over the comms, sweat pouring down his face. By The Force that had been a hell of a fight.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"I sure hope that's the last thing we need to kill," Mariya said, riding her her speeder over. She was glad to see [member="Sol Damerin"] pretty much alive, standing next to the dead Zakkeg. Judging from the look on his face, it had been a tiring fight. Considering the man did not sleep a wink last night, it was probably in his best interest to get some rest soon. The other mercenaries approached the corpse cautiously as well, wary of their surroundings for another sudden beast to appear.

"A drink? You sure look like you need one," she pulled out the spare canteen from the speeder, still chilled and handed over to the man who had just defeated the ferocious beast. The weather was hot and humid. Mariya was positive that the chilled water would be a welcome gift for Sol. She helped herself to her own bottle strapped on her belt. Meanwhile, the scientists had decided it was enough danger for the time being and called it a day.

"I guess research's over. If you want some rest, feel free to hop on and I'll ride us back with the convoy," she said, making a gesture at the back seat.

 

[Sol Damerin]

With a wave of his hand the discarded blades fly back to him, Sol extinguishes his sabers and reaffixes them. He didn't really know why he kept up the charade at this point but they made a pretty good red herring he supposed. Looking up as Mariya returns he raises a single eyebrow at her statement. The meaning was clear, why would you go and jinx it by saying that aloud.

Taking the canteen he drains the entire thing in several long pulls. Every part of his body ached, he was covered in several small lacerations, and there was a large scour mark on his armor where the Zakkeg's claw had chewed through it. The wound underneath that didn't feel that deep but it was long and shallow. Going toe to toe with the thing had been a mistake, especially with the explosion going off so close to him.

"Sure, let's ride." Sol says nodding in thanks as he clambers into the back seat.

[member="Mariya Fleischer"]