Welcome to the Jungle

[Azula Tindara]

Jaani's new ship dropped into real space with a flash of cerulean on the borders of the Onderon system. His display started flashing with various Gungan glyph's as the equivalent of traffic control started to track, and communicate with, his vessel.

He took a moment to transmit his hunting license, supplied by the guild. There was a pause before his ship was supplied with a course. "It'll take a few minutes to check your license validity Mr Doosun, please hold your course and be patient. Welcome to Onderon. We've transmitted a set of safety information for visitors of the moon."

"Thanks," Jaani replied with his most clear basic in his deep, gravely voice. It would take him a few moments to prepare anyway. His Kresch, a biological encyclopedia, and a priceless relic from when the Gungans had spread to the stars before the Gulag virus, contained information on the inhabitants of Dxun. This wasn't going to be that easy.

 

[Azula Tindara]

Orange streams of superheated atmosphere licked the ship's viewscreen. The ship was slowly stripped of its radial velocity and the repulsors kicked in to ease it to the ground. His destination was a hunting lodge on a southern continent. To the Gungan's surprise the resort looked far more akin to a military base than a resort. Twelve foot high duracrete walls made a pentagon and quad laser turrets sat at each corner. As Jaani's ship slowed to land he could see many armed men patrolling the walls.

 

[Grrwunhoooll Agaburry]

Shiro had previously landed earlier he had some buisness to attend to with some " customers". Shiro watched [member="Jaani Doosun"] ship land and so he slowly walked to the ship, Wearing his Atin Aruetii Beskar'gram Shiro also had his new Rifle on his shoulder slung about and his pistol was replaced by a distributor pistol he bought on the Market. Shiro had never seen [member="Jaani Doosun"] before but only heard of him by his boss @Mrrew. Shiro crossed his arms are waited for his ally to come out.

 

[Azula Tindara]

Jaani was on the comm to the owners of the hunting range whilst [member="Shiro De'Vol"] was waiting patiently outside. "So you can see Mr. Doosun, we've allocated you twenty-five square clicks for hunting. There have been several Maalraas packs hunting in the area, we've marked all the information on the attached map," said the administrator. A holomap appeared before Jaani, it showed the layout of the land, terrain and soft coloured glows showed the movement patterns of various creatures.

"Tank yu," Jaani replied, looking it over.

"We've supplied a small beacon for you and your friend. Please click the button if you require aid, but this does come at a cost. This estate is priately owned, after all. An air speeder will take you to a location of your choosing in the estate and stay at location for forty eight hours. It's armed with a small laser turret and will keep its clearing safe. I would caution you to contact us if you need a longer stay, charged on an hourly basis. Please take care Mr Doosun, whilst we wouldn't dare question the abilities of a member of the Guild, nearly a third of all our beacons end up inside the stomach of a Dxun inhabitant. May I take the opportunity to thank the Guild for its continued business."

Jaani simply nodded in reply. Remarkable, how a company had managed to carve up a portion of the deadly moon and sell hunting licenses. He could understand the principle, the clans back on Naboo kept to their own territory. There was still something that irked him about the commercial nature of these hunts. Still, where his past exploits had meant nothing, the credit flow from his last work for the Guild meant a lot to the inhabitants of the galaxy. People tended to ignore a silly accent when you were spending thousands of credits.

Jaani stepped down from his ship, a large case thrown over his back with assorted traps. As far as he was concerned it would be best to head towards the Maalraas' known hunting grounds. They were night on invisible, so traps seemed the best plan. He noted the heavy armoured individual waiting at the foot of the ramp.

"Well met," he said, taking the time to enunciate in clear basic. He extended a hand for a shake. "Yousa can move quiet like in that?" he asked, immediately cursing himself for falling into the gunganese pidgin basic.

 

[Azula Tindara]

Jaani took the small transport out into the jungle. It was relatively quiet, probably by design. Even so he instructed the droid pilot to land them a good click away from the gird square he intended to hunt within. As the craft flew high over the area, he leant against the window and took in the lay of the land. He compared the information he'd been provided with what he could see. Noting the dips and ridges where he wouldn't want to get ambushed.

The ship landed with a whine of repulsors being stretched. He cautiously stepped out into the clearing, taking the time to take in his surroundings. First step, find the Maalraas' natural prey. The lifeform tracker he'd rented from the facility would come in handy. He'd never used such a thing before, they didn't work underwater, but he could see the benefit!

[member="Shiro De'Vol"]

 

[Azula Tindara]

Jaani couldn’t really believe what he was seeing. He’d read up on the maalraas, but to see it in the flesh was something else. They’d easily found the creature’s prey – a heard of cannocks – easily enough. They were milling about at the base of a small gorge, milling about as a group. The yellow skinned beasts were particularly ugly, moving about slowly, grunting and swivelling their eyes back and forth.

The lifeform scanner had reported a signal on the far ridge, but he hadn’t been able to spot anything. Only a slow sweep with the macrobinoculars had revealed one of the maalraas. It was watching the cannocks intently from behind some light shrub. Over time Jaani spotted more of the creatures and followed their paths. It seemed there was a group of them in a cavern under an overhang. The scarcity of their appearances suggested they were resting, as he had been told they did in the day. The lone creature appeared to be scouting out the pack of cannocks, tracking them as they passed the maalraas territory so they could be hunted at night.

Jaani certainly didn’t want to tangle with the maalraas at night. Testing the wind, he mentalled mapped out a route to cross the gorge and approach their main dwelling. If he could trap the entrance, the five creatures could be in the bag shortly.

[member="Shiro De'Vol"]

 

[Azula Tindara]

The traps were set, now it was a matter of getting the beasts out of their hole. It turned out they were more prepared than he was. As Jaani slowed approached the location where he had seen them gathered, he heard the growl off to his left, and then the crackle of foliage underfoot to his right. Sensing them closing in, he turned and rushed away.

He focussed everything on turning and running as hard as he could. They were close upon him, he knew it. He reacted on instinct as a shape lurched towards him from the left. His club whipped around and slammed into the creature's neck with inhuman strength.

Jaani almost forgot he was coming up on his nest of electro-nets. He dashed across them, placing his feet carefully and he his great strides covered the nets. As he reached the far side he skidded to a halt, scooping up an electrospear as he turned.

In the end, it was unnecessary. The group of Maalraas had run across the field of nets - each set to go off when a significant weight crossed it and discharge enough electricity to drop five banthas. With their Force cloaks leaving them in death, Jaani could finally see the varied hues of their hides. Almost a shame to have to end the lives of several of the unique creatures.