Star Wars The Red Krayt: A Pirates Story

IC: Kuroda
Taking the Shot

Kuroda landed with a soft thud as his cyber-optics flickered from the fall, shaking his head, the optics flared to life as he saw a Nexu fighting Mongo and landing atop his chest. Frak! Better get the deck-sweep out for a shot, Kuroda scrambled up as his hands fumbled for his rifle until unlooped into his hands. Better take the shot before our porcine partner gets eaten, the Quay pirate then jacked up the setting on his blaster for full power and took aim of the feline under gritted teeth.

He then clicked the trigger as the gun unleashed a fat blue ring at the feral Nexu, it struck the waist of the feline as its lower body started to slacken; clawing hind paws were going limp save for the upper part. "Mongo! I stunned the cats back, you can beat the thing!" Kuroda hollered to the Gamorrean, hoping for the boar warrior's survival as the first mates stun gun had zero harmful effects outside of a few hours coma. "Take the shot!"

TAG: @Sarge , @T4M1-7 (Many apologies for my lateness, homelife has been acquiring my full attention due to a co-worker going on maternity leave at work and having me cover for her.)

 

IC: Samira


Samira recovered from her dive quickly, but events moved even faster in the shady glade.

The Twi'lek was gratified to see Kuroda also had made it safety. This state of 'safety' had to be considered transitory for all of them. A wild nexu was amongst the crew!

Luckily... of all people... Mongo charged in. The Gamorrean swung his halberd, and missed. But he had seized the attention of the animal now and it lunged back at him.

Samira aimed her blaster pistol but hesitated. The thrashing mass of claws and green porcine muscles did not give her a clear shot from her angle. She bit her lip, her aim wavering.

A blast and a shout and she realised Kuroda had scored a hit. Now it was up to Mongo to finish it off...

OOC: Apologies for the delay.
@Sgt.Matt @Sarge

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnaba & Mongo
Coup de Grace

Mongo and the nexu were stalemated, barely. The snarling nexu couldn't push past the halberd shaft jammed into its teeth, and Mongo had to hold onto the halberd with both hands to hold it back. The Gammorrean couldn't let go to attack it without letting the beast tear his throat out. He was doing his best to knee it in the belly, but he didn't have a good angle and wasn't accomplishing anything.

Domenico took a quick glance at the others; they were aiming blasters but hesitating to fire into the wrestling match.

Gripping the hunting rifle firmly, he darted into the fray and pushed the rifle barrel forward into the nexu's mouth, past its fangs, pressing the muzzle up against the roof of its mouth. He pulled the trigger twice, sending bullets ripping into the animal's brain. It spasmed once and went limp.

Mongo grunted victoriously as he shoved the corpse off him and lumbered to his feet. Seizing the nexu by the scruff of its neck, he heaved it off the trail and into the undergrowth.

"Mongo and Lobo, nexu slayers! Kudora shot too! And Smira give good warning." Mongo babbled away happily, oblivious to the fresh claw marks on both arms. "Go get treasure now?!"




TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt and a big "Thank you!" to @Master_Lok for the custom character sketch which is still making me laugh

 

IC: Samira


Samira soon realised that Mongo was in a kind of impasse with the nexu; the halberd was what kept them apart and locked them together, and neither could let go safely.

They whirled around and around and twice she squeezed the trigger but then let it go. "Kriff! Kriff! Get ready to jump Mongo!"

It was the only way she could think of to get a clean shot, but it was dangerous. The Twi'lek was not physically built in a way that she could wade in and use strength to pry them apart.

Then a surprise. Lobo did wade in. "What the...?"

Samira watched the human shove the barrel of his rifle into the beast's mouth. Idiot, it will just bite it off! she thought, incredulous. But it did not. The jaws were already locked on the halberd. Two bangs later and Lobo had blown its brains out.

Samira breathed a sigh of relief, finally lowering her pistol and wiping sweat from her forehead. She threw Lobo a look. That was brave, and clever, and effective. And she had hesitated.

She thought about what to say... emotions struggling to get the right tone. Not too nice, but the act does require an acknowledgment.

Luckily, Mongo saved her from the moment. "Go get treasure now?!" he blurted enthusiastically.

Samira grinned. "Aye, we go get treasure."

She crossed to Kuroda to offer assistance if it was needed, then looked back at Lobo and Mongo. "And... well done. Both of you. It's not much further..."

@Sgt.Matt @Sarge

 

IC: Kuroda


The Quay nodded at Samira's reply, waving off her gesture for assistance, he was toughened young swab that faced other terrible things than nexu during his earlier years; things that would eat the felines like luncheon if one did not have explosives or incendiary blasters. "Yes, we are well on our way through the first section; the jungle path will lead us to the courtyard" Kuroda's gaze flickered in different colorings as unpocketed the datapad, looking over the bright screen that flared awake. "However, it also mentions a brief warning as we pass....'Be wary of stealing the statues till or face an unrelenting evil'"

Kuroda shivered a bit at the last part, a sentence that discolored amongst the whitened text; something was off about this minor sentence but he couldn't quite figure it out. "We'd better get going then, can't leave the treasure waiting for us can we?" Kuroda said as he dusted off his clothes and looped up his stun sweeper.

TAG: @Sarge and @T4M1-7

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnaba & Mongo

Domenico nodded in acknowledgement of the others' words, then lit his lightfoil and drew it across the nexu's throat to ensure it was truly dead. He looked at its hide for a moment, thinking it might make an impressive trophy, but skinning the monster would be a lengthy and messy task... and there were no servants along to do it for him.

He turned to Mongo, opened a medkit, and said, "Hold out your arms, Mongo, we don't want those scratches to get any germs in them."

Mongo's reply was a succinct "Pbbbt!" Domenico wiped Gammorrean spittle from his face and glared as Mongo continued, "Mongo bigger than germs!"

"Mongo is bigger than Lobo too, but who would win in a fight, Lobo or Mongo?"

Mongo looked down and shuffled his feet as he mumbled, "Lobo." He held still as Domenico treated the scratches; nothing fancy, just the basic first aid principles of keeping injuries clean, dry, closed, and covered.


TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Samira


Samira was surprised to see Lobo had brought some medical supplies and was able to act as a competent field medic. The human treated the Gamorrean's wounds.

Meanwhile, Kuroda consulted his datapad and indicated the route they should take now. The Quay quoted a rather strange bit of warning...

'Be wary of stealing the statues till or face an unrelenting evil'

She turned and shot a sharp look at the youth. "Really? Who said that? I mean... from where has this information been downloaded?"

At Lobo's questioning look she shrugged. "Sounds like a lot of nonsense to scare off pirates like us..."

 

IC: Kuroda
Leading the Way

"This information was not downloaded, it was an old logbook belonging to an ex-Seperatist" Kuroda replied, he remembered the many tales his captain regaled about fighting the CIS back in his younger years; an era where pirates could loot Republic or CIS ships without much a care in the world. However, the person his captain won the logbook and map from was not ex-CIS, in fact he was something a whole lot worse that Zerax refused to tell much to him about. "One thing I can say for right now, there's no more of him and we can proceed onward" The Quay began to walk ahead a bit, before turning his head back to his crewmates. "Come on, let's see if this old temple hive vault has any treasures that the Imps haven't looted first!"

TAG: @T4M1-7 and @Sarge (Many apologies for my long silence, let our merry adventure in piracy continue strong!)

 

IC: Samira


Samira accepted Kuroda's explanation with a shrug. The good old times... when pickings were ripe... but many legends were born.

There were still whispers of being wary of places strong in the Dark Side of the Force. Samira had even heard tall tales of such places animating plants and animals to become evil attackers to subdue interlopers.

But Samira was not a superstitious person. She believed in what she could see and touch; and a blaster and vibro-blade at her side. So she paid little attention to the ominous and somewhat obscure warning from Kuroda's dataslate.

They penetrated deeper into the jungle.

The foliage became thicker and darker, the starlight from above getting lost in the tall canopy of leaves above. The intrepid pirates found themselves fighting through a forest of thick, dangling vines. The pathway was clear at their feet, but looking up, it was hard to see the source of these hanging curtains.

Samira, of course, carried on. She took out her vibro-blade and began hacking through the vines, heedless of the strange rippling vibrations her cuts and slashes seemed to send through the colony of plants that surrounded them all...

TAG: @Sgt.Matt @Sarge

 

IC: Jona
Clearing for the Win


It didn't take long for all the Mining Subsidiary ships to enter the Arkanis Sector, having access to the industries finest engines and hyperspace travel made it all the easier for the organizations employees. Jona piloted the ship with his crew of armed employees; the worst of the Corporate Sectors underworld, aside his ship were smaller Flarestar Shuttles following him in unison. Their target in question, Savo-4, Geonosian jungle moon and a secret home to CIS treasures collected over the years. Time for me to implement my own plan, the boss may want me to kill immediately but I have a better, faster way of handling this. Jona sat at the steering console, he flicked on the comm-unit and holopuck device that interconnected to his shuttle crews.

As the unit bleeped to life, the Pyke adjusted his throat before pushing his ship ahead; focusing on a green clearing at the front. "Gentlemen, I am issueing a command to land at my location in circle formation" Jona said, bluntly. "Unleash the flamethrower tanks and clear a path, do not assault the temple, yet."

A collection of why's and other questions about the task blared in different tongues, the older Pyke waved away some of the concerns. "Gentlemen, just follow my plan clear a fine path for us to transport all the temples goods and the heads of those damned pirates! Don't attack the pirates yet, let them do the stealing job for us and we'll get success faster" Jona grinned under his mask as the shuttle crews whooped and hollered. Suddenly, the other shuttles zoomed past his flagship at a higher speed towards the green jungles of Savo, far from the temple vaults premises.

Sitting on his mini-throne at the console, the thug elite watched his henchmen set off, plan in motion.

TAG: (EVERYONE!)

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnaba & Mongo the Mighty
Rumble in the Jungle

The jungle grasped at the intruders, clutching with its many vines, tendrils, and branches at the people who struggled forward. Domenico slashed his way through the undergrowth with his vibroblade; his lightfoil would have made a more effective machete, but it would also draw a lot more attention. One nexu was enough for him. Mongo simply pushed ahead, plowing his way through the vegetation with raw muscle power.

Something ricocheted off the back of Mongo's skull. He frowned and turned, just in time to see something like a Kowakian monkey-lizard fling a nut at him from a tree branch about five meters off the ground. The creature laughed its annoying laugh. Mongo no like monkey-lizards!

It was too far for his halberd to reach, but Mongo was prepared. He reached under his cape and pulled out the whip. Remembering Whookiee's instructions, he pressed a button on the handle to activate the power cells and drew it back over and behind his head, preparing to swing it at the monkey-lizard. His arm swung forward mightily. But the end of the whip was caught in the hem of his cape, pulling the garment up and forward over his head. The pastel green silk fell over his face, blinding him. He thrashed about, trying to disentangle himself. It didn't help at all when he felt another nut bounce off his head as the monkey-lizard laughed at him.

Domenico was laughing as hard as the jungle creature above him; he couldn't help himself. He managed to catch his breath and seized Mongo's arm. "Mongo! Hold still! We'll get you unwrapped." He took the whip out of Mongo's hand and pulled the cape back into place. "I gave this whip to Whookiee. Why do you have it?"

"Mongo help Whookiee in engine room. Lift heavy things. Whookiee pay Mongo with whip."

"At least it's not electrocuting you this time." Domenico looked closer at the handle. "Has Whookiee been working on this?"

"No more slaver whip. Whookiee rewire it for... mol-ec-u-lar ad-he-sion." Mongo struggled with the complicated words.

Domenico's shoulders sagged. In several versions of Lobo's story, the fictitious swashbuckler used a molecular adhesion whip that would stick to almost anything. Mongo was carrying this Lobo obsession too far. But this was hardly the time or place to discuss the matter.

"You be careful with this, Mongo. You could poke your eye out."


TAG: @Sgt.Matt @T4M1-7

 

IC: Kuroda
The Golden Danger

Jungle tanglevines and harsh cries of local monkey lizards screened the Quay as he led his partners into the foliage, the path going up towards the grand vault was a short jaunt but not without its dangers. He mulled over the datalog's foreboding words, mentions of harsh punishments and ungodly perils on those who robbed the Geonosian hive vaults. It wasn't long for him to remember the captains old tales of said bugs, vicious barbaric insectoids who needed a glance to decide your fate amongst others. Smoothing past prickly vines and bandy wild flowers that were the size of womp rats, the path began to be a lot more open, soon a trail of cleared mud or grime met boot as Kuroda grinned in anticipation. Someone laid a path ahead for us, deceased treasure hunter maybe? Motioning to his comrades, the leather-skinned pirate eyed the trail as it zigzagged towards an open clearing.

Holy Frack!

Kuroda barely stepped into the puddle of refuse as the clearing came close; the area was once a grand garden for the vaults inhabitants and guests, though its upkeep had seen better days. Multiple tanned stone statuettes of Geonosians stood aloft; in poses of mighty triumph, with rusted vibro-blades and stone cudgels girted in pincers. But they were puny in comparison to their forefather; the young Weequay stepped over the small moss-eating gelagrub infants chewing on the gathered floor moss and leaving behind puddles upon puddles of ejected neon fecal slime. "By the force" Kuroda walked up to the massive looming statue of Geonosian Queen, its face curled into a snarl. Below it was a offerings table containing three large red opals, garnished by smaller clear pearls and bronze credit chits.

Then he remembered the datalogs warnings. "Don't touch the treasures" Kuroda said towards his crewmates, his eyes glared at the little table for any boobytraps ahead. "This might be wired to go-off...."

TAG: @Sarge , @T4M1-7

(OOC: Be ready for what comes next!.....)

 

OOC: Our combo was getting pretty long, so I decided to stitch it together and post it before it got out of control.

IC: Kuroda, Samira, Lobo, & Mongo
At the Altar of Sacrifice

"Mates, don't touch the altar's treasure" Kuroda stepped back in some trepidation, the stickiness of gelagrub offal crackled under his feet as he warily eyed the offerings as if they were armed barradium explosives.

Domenico's nose wrinkled at the fecal odors in the temple. He didn't care how valuable the trinkets were; he wasn't willing to touch anything in this cesspit. "Leave them alone, Mongo. Whatever isn't poisoned in here, is probably cursed." The Gammorrean grunted with disappointment and reluctantly moved back from the altar he'd been edging toward.

After fighting through the clinging tanglevines, that reacted almost as fast as the grabbing tentacles of a macrosquid, Samira followed the others warily, constantly surveying the jungle for any more nexu that might be laying in wait to pounce.

Her mouth dropped open when they reached the temple. The sights hit first; the giant statue of the insectoid matriarch, the warriors with their mighty weapons clutched in pincers. Then it was the smells; the decay and gelagrub slime assailed her nose and made her nostrils flare.

Then the Twi'lek spotted the same thing that Kuroda and Domenico were now looking at. Gems. Nicely set pieces, too, with pearls and precious metals.

Both her compatriots hesitated, citing their cryptic warnings of curses.

Samira shook her head, her eyes fixed on the opals.

"Then what did we come here for, eh?" she challenged the others. "There's no-one here any more and this is for us!"

Samira pushes past the other two and makes a grab for one of the opals...

Domenico reached for Samira to hold her back, but she was already moving away from him. Mongo tried to block her way forward, although the Twi'lek was much quicker than the Gammorrean and it was like grasping at smoke as she moved around him.

Kuroda barely blinked as he heard and saw his fellow crewmate rush past him towards the treasure, he tried to catch her, but Samira was the fastest on their old crew by a mile. Slipping on a few gelagrub puddles, the Quay tumbled onto his knees as he prayed internally for any trap or foe to be long since dead.

No sooner had Samira picked up a juicy-looking opal, something clicked on the stone offering table. The Twi'lek froze for a second. For that second, nothing seemed to happen.

She turned to the others with a grin and was about form the words, "You see?"

But then a klaxon screamed. Samira dropped the opal and clutched her ears, her heart stopping with fright. The blast of noise had come so suddenly out of the quiet chirping of the jungle insects that it made her ears hurt.

"Just an alarm, nothing to worry about now, no-one's here," she continued to try and convince herself.

The klaxon slowly died, its mournful cries ringing in the ensuing quiet. A new sound rose up; a susurration that was hard to place. Samira glanced at the large statues, the entrances to vaults. The buzz continued to rise in volume.

It was more a roar now, like a hoard of many creatures was coming their way. Samira pulled out her vibro-blade in one hand and pistol in the other. She exchanged a worried glance with her crewmates.

Then the roaring stampede burst into the glade, and she saw what they were; Geonosian hive guardians. They looked very feral, very armed, and very mad.

There was no time to worry about how they could have lain dormant for so long; she was no expert on Geonosian physiology - or any insectoid for that matter.

They were here, now, and the pirates of the Red Krayt had to fight for their lives!

"Hivers!!!" Kuroda gave battlecry in quay, as he unlooped his deck sweeper and unloaded blue loops upon blue loops into the horde. Bugs, dozens of Geonosian guardians garbed in tribal markings and frothing at the mouth in a rabid fury. His sweeper was strong but it was only slowing the inevitable as a few warriors started to tank the blasts; their arms carrying vibro-swords and vibro-pikes. "Stay together mates! They are tough bugs!"

Then came in a harsher cry amongst the stampede, it flew in as the wingless ones ran out of the bushes, landing atop a broken statue. Its golden-black armor coated a scarred chitin form; a hive chief in his prime screeched amongst its brethren and jumped over towards the group without popping its wings.

As the insectoids swarmed forward, Domenico's first thought was to hold still. Insectoids focused on movement, right? And sound too, so if they stayed still and quiet, maybe they could somehow escape.

Samira was drawing weapons, Kuroda was blasting away merrily, and Mongo had rushed forward waving his halberd wildly between Samira and the temple guardians as he bellowed his battlecry, "MONGOOOOO!!!!"

So much for that idea.

He raised his hunting rifle, aimed, and fired into the swarm. That didn't seem to do much good, but he kept shooting anyway. It looked like it would only be a matter of moments until he'd have to switch from rifle to sword.

It seemed to the Twi'lek that the insectoids were making a beeline to her, like she was the focus having picked up the opal.

She soon realised it was her imagination. The Geonosians were swarming all of the pirates.

Samira picked off one, then another, with her pistol. But it was barely a dent in the oncoming stampede. She was quickly engulfed, and had to switch to her vibro-knife. Blades and claws scratched at her from all directions.

For her part, Samira fought like a wild nexu. She slashed, ducked, span, blasted, and kicked, in constant movement, desperately fighting for her life.

Though she was proving a tough prey, the swarm was too large. The end result was inevitable. Each scratch, slash and bruise she suffered took a little bit more energy out of the Twi'lek.

Samira fought her way toward Domenico. "Back to back!" she yelled. She saw Kuroda and Mongo nearby and called across to them, too.

As they organised a tight group to avoid the disadvantage of being surrounded, Samira made her suggestion. "We've got to lose them somehow. Get to a place they won't follow. Any ideas? This just can't get any worse!"

It was then the winged behemoth made its entrance, and Samira gasped.

"It gets worse..."

"No it won't get worse, not on my watch" Kuroda then drew off a orb from his bandolier belt, a Imperial fragmentation grenade. He kept his thumb on the small ignition switch, just a yank away from a explosive capable of ruining armed crews. "I'll clear us a path ahead, there's a stairway mentioned by the logbook and it's close by the altar."

He then thumbed the ignition switch five times for it to go active, before chucking it towards the bushes where the attacking horde came. Kuroda for a split second then turned to his friends to utter one foreboding phrase. "THIS WAY MATES!" The Quay yelled in the cacophony of chaotic hissing and Geonosian chatter, behemoth roared one last time before another came up.

An eruption of fire then came up behind it, scattering aside natives and their brood, their chief shot forward from the force as the clearing behind him demolished to splinters. While the bugs were overwhelmed by the sound and grenades power; the Quay youth motioned to his friends to follow him towards an open path by the altar's right. At this split second of luck, it was an opening to freedom.

Mongo obeyed Samira, immediately backing up into her and Kuroda, nearly bowling them both over at once. His halberd swung about with a little control and a lot of enthusiasm, knocking Geonosians into each other.

Domenico shook his head angrily, not wanting to get sucked into a tight formation. He hated giving up the mobility he had on his own with his quick and light footwork. But with the numbers swarming down on them, there wasn't much choice. He activated his energy buckler, slung the rifle across his back, and drew his lightfoil as he moved back-to-back with the others. The alien vibroblades struck hard, nearly jarring his weapon from his hand, striking so quickly he had no chance to riposte. Then the butt of Mongo's halberd grazed the back of his skull, knocking his hat askew and covering his eyes with the wide brim. With frantic haste he blindly swept the area in front of him with his lightfoil, hoping desperately to protect himself until a moment later when he was able to push the hat back up where it belonged.

"MONGO! That stick has two ends!" he yelled in frustration. There was an explosive blast, then they were running past the altar.

Kuroda led his crewmates into the bush, dozens of native drones were coming out of the woodwork and beyond, the howl of their tribal chief boomed in the jungle air. Splashing the attackers, the Quay navigated his gang through a tumbled rocky path while simultaneously going full-auto with his deck sweeper, the dwoomph!-dwoomph!-dwoomph! of his stun gun silenced every native into stumbling paralyzation as the path cleared step by step, it was becoming a familiar pattern in fifteen second. They had to reach this stairway, it led upwards to the hive vault and to a extent, the high ground for them to fend off the grounded native guardians.

"We're almost there mates, keep plowing through with me!!!!" yelled Kuroda, he smacked aside a stupored bug with his gun butt as he charged through a thorned bush. Then came a the sight of a sloped mossed hill; golden brown marble were cracked and coated in grimed lichen. It was the stairway, the structure still connected to an upward courtyard ledge ahead; followed by a peering golden roof poking from the upper level as if the treasure was goading them further. "Up the stairs mates! I'll hold em off with my grenades!"

Samira fought ferociously and desperately as their little group was quickly surrounded. Her vibro-blade cut deadly arcs in the soupy jungle air. But the sheer volume of enemies meant some attacks inevitably broke through her defences.

Samira caught grazes and scratches, from both passing blades and claws. And each painful but sapped her strength a little bit more.

She even got smacked in the back of the head by Mongo's halberd and was about to yell something at the Gamorrean. Domenico beat her to it.

A glance at the human dispelled any lingering doubts she might have had about the posh boy. He fought valiantly and effectively. She was glad to have him at her back.

But they were hopelessly outnumbered, and it seemed only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

Then the young Quay came up with his drastic plan.

The explosive boomed, and their opening came.

Samira scampered after the others and it became a running battle to try and escape the swarm. At least as they sprinted down the winding path it narrowed the flanks, and so less enemies could get at them at once.

Samira's blaster pistol spat death at the pursuers again and again. It was close to overheating, and still the insectoids were right on their tail.

Then Kuroda yelled to them all, "Up the stairs mates! I'll hold em off with my grenades!"

"Anything, anywhere, do it!" Samira gasped back. And she headed right up the stairs as ordered...

Domenico would have been cursing like a pirate if he'd had the breath to spare, which he didn't. Doing his best to cover the rear of their little squad, he stumbled along backwards as best he could, tripping over unseen rocks and uneven steps. Blade and buckler were both in constant blurs of glowing motion as he managed to fend off the most dangerous attacks.

Kuroda and Samira were yelling something he couldn't make out over Mongo's bellows. He hoped they had a plan. At least they seemed to be going somewhere uphill.



He saw an opening for an instant and his lightfoil flicked out, cutting the foot from under the nearest Geonosian. The insectoid tumbled down, tangled in its own sword and shield, getting in the way of the other hive warriors. Domenico took advantage of the momentary reprieve to spin and run up a few steps, staying close to his shipmates before pirouetting to face the attackers still pressing from behind.

"We'd better be close to wherever we're going!"

That was all he had time to say before he was again struggling desperately to keep the guardians from shoving vibroblades into his guts.

Clicking off three grenades from his belt, the first mate thumbed their settings to five seconds before he chucked the explosives into the buzzing hordes. Blunted spears were flying as he saw the running forms of Geonosian warriors; chittering and screeching in their native tongue; chieftain coming up behind with malice. As his crewmates scrambled up the stairway, Kuroda stepped back an inch as the grenades landed. Explosive force knocked the quay to the steps as the fragmentation grenades contacted the jungle floor; his ears rang as the smell of burnt foliage and geonosian hides stunk up the air.

Did it work? The quay shook his throbbing head to see the tribal warriors scattering back; jungle was cleared of foliage save the burnt corpses scattered around. Ground was smoking from impact, everything was starting to look okay....save for the rushing form of a wounded chief. "Get ba-" Kuroda was cut-off as a green forearm lifted him upward, insectoid breath filling the air and he was tossed a few meters above the stairway like he weighed pebbles.

The Quays tossing was softened by a now cracked deck sweeper, his head's throbbing vanished as the sight of a flying, bleeding bug came at him rusted wings bared....



TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnabas, Mongo
Acts of Defiance

Domenico turned his back and ducked as the first mate hurled grenades into the Geonosians. As the booms faded, he looked up to see Samira and Mongo in front of him. They seemed mostly all right. Before he could spot Kuroda, he heard a whirring rush of air behind him. He whirled in time to see a large warrior swooping towards him on buzzing wings. His lightfoil instinctively lashed out, skewering the base of one of the insectoid wings. The chief lurched in midair as the wing broke and folded. Its massive thorax struck Domenico a glancing blow, sending him rolling and sprawling across the ground.



Mongo bellowed and stood firm against the onrushing monster. His halberd was pointed at it, the butt end resting on the ground and his foot holding the butt firmly in place, both hands bracing the polearm to take the charge. This time, his aim was dead on. The thrusting point of the halberd punched through the center of the beast's thorax. The entire head of the weapon poked out of the Geonosian's back along with half a meter of the polearm's shaft. "MONGOOOO!!!", he howled victoriously.

Too soon. The Geonosian seized the halberd's haft protruding from its belly and pulled it deeper, pushing itself along the shaft to draw nearer to the Gammorean. Mongo bellowed and shook his halberd, but the chief continued its inexorable forward crawl. One razor-edged claw reached out for Mongo's throat...


TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Samira


Samira scrambled up the stone stairs and flung herself down as Kuroda's grenades boomed and sent concussive waves through the soupy jungle air.

The smell of barbequed bug permeated the ensuing moment of subdued silence.

But the quiet did not last long. Samira turned herself around to witness the charred flying-leader-Geonosian coming at them, hissing vengefully.

The monster grabbed Kuroda and flung the Quay aside. Domenico stood fast and slashed at the insectoid's wing, but got a swipe from its massive thorax in return. Then, and Samira could hardly believe it, Mongo stepped up. The huge Gamorrean braced his halberd using the stone steps and directed the hafted weapon perfectly to lance the monstrous Geonosian. The momentum of the beast itself impaled its body onto Mongo's blade. It went right through and thrust out of its chitin back armour!

Samira arose and prepared to congratulate Mongo. But then her mouth dropped open. The thing is not dead yet!

Like some kind of supernatural zombie-monster it dragged itself down and along the penetrating polearm, its flailing pincer-arms menacing the brave Gamorrean.

Samira could not think in that moment. She was driven by pure instinct. Rousing herself from stunned inaction, she screamed and leapt at the screeching monster. It lunged out toward her with its long arms, and caught her waist mid-air in it pincers. Then it pulled her towards its massive jaws.

This, the Twi'lek had counted on.

She waited for the right moment. When she was close enough to its head to smell its rancid breath, she thrust out with her vibro-blade, ramming it up between its gnashing jaws and into its brain.

"Will you just die, you kriffing cockroach!" she screamed with the desperate final attack.

@Sarge @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Kuroda

As if the force and nature itself interfered, the Geonosian Chief released a gurgling cry as it slumped to the floor, blades sliced right through as it landed atop the shocked quay. Kuroda pushed the corpse aside as he gathered his bearings, the stun sweeper was crackled but still usable, but his eyes were not on the broken gun. No, the corpse had shone one more horrific surprise, absolutely terrifying.

In a small explosion of grey chitnin and yellowish slime, a miniscule green insect slithered out of the chieftains forehead; its pursed mouth unleased a tiny hiss before speedily moving down the stairway.

"Well....that was something" Kuroda shook his head of the matter, the little bug disappeared into the jungle floors. He then turned to his haggard companions. "Shall we continue our scouting mission? Another challenges lays ahead of those stairs above and its a logic trap."

TAG: @Sarge , @T4M1-7

 

IC: Zerax

It didn't take the captain long for him to notice the sight of a Geonosian raiding party to reach the ship, he saw the explosions in the distance, plus the sight of flying bugs leaving the scene proved his assumptions correct. Sixteen to twenty adult sized warriors were fleeing the jungle, only to then change their tune at the Krayts appearance. Flicking on the ships defenses through the steering console, the Sanyassan captain turned on the dashboard comm-unit. "Mates, we got a few untimely guests coming at our ship, be ready for a firefight!" Zerax said into the unit, before the cockpits room jiggled from a stray sonic ball striking; ship-shielding blocking the damaging blow.

He then opened up the console computer dedicated to the quad-laser cannon, pressing a few key-code passages until the targeting screen came up in bright azure blue. Taking up his headset, plus the controling joystick and buttons, the captain began to fire at the orange targeting blips bouncing around on his screen. Sudden rumblings below his cockpit signaled his turrets firing start....

TAG: ANYONE MANNING THE DEFENSES!

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnabas
Woozy

Lying prone and vaguely stunned, Domenico's eyes suddenly bulged in shock as a bug shot out of the Geonosian's head in a burst of gore. He fumbled for a pistol, but the tiny creature was already gone.

His ribs ached, probably bruised but not cracked or broken, and his head hurt. The silly Lobo hat had at least absorbed a little of the impact of his skull against the ground, but it was no helmet. He managed to suppress a pained groan as he hauled himself to his feet and looked around at the others.

The first mate was saying something about going on with the mission. Domenico didn't reply to that; as a newb to this business, his opinion wouldn't count for much.

Mongo was babbling away happily at Samira, his big eyes shining in admiration for the way she had saved him. I really need to stop underestimating her, he thought. Mongo's words finally stopped as he wrapped his arms around Samira's shoulders and lifted her off the ground in a tremendously affectionate bear hug that made Domenico's ribs ache in sympathy. He noticed scratches on her torso from where the monster had seized her with its pincers. Pulling out a sanitizer as he stepped up behind her, he sprayed the abrasions while she was still pinned to the Gammorean. "Just a disinfectant," he told her. "Sorry about the stinging, it will start to fade in a few seconds."


TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Samira


Samira sighed as the monster's eyes finally went dull. Its fearsome pincer grip around her waist lessened and she dropped to the ground beside Mongo as the thing finally crumpled. It seemed a vibro-blade to the skull had done the trick.

Just as well, Samira thought ruefully. I didn't really have a plan-B there.

Nearby, Kurodo shoved off the now dead - yes, really dead - corpse of the Geonosian and pointed out something as disgusting as it was unnerving. Samira spotted it and scrabbled backwards in horror. Some kind of bilious worm had slithered out of the monster's now cracked skull. It slipped away into the undergrowth before anyone could disintegrate it.

"Well....that was something," said Kuroda.

Samira, horrified, could not leave it at that. "What the kriff was that thing? Do you think they could... oof!"

The Twi'lek was interrupted as she was gathered up into an affectionate but no less restraining bear-hug by Mongo. The Gamorrean's huge arms wrapped around her body, pinning her own arms to her sides and crushing the air from her lungs. Samira struggled in vain as Mongo blubbed about their shared fighting-honour and life-saving bond.

"Nnng, yes, I feel the same," Samira gasped. "But please put me down."

It was then that she sensed Domenico behind her, and felt cool drops of some liquid gel being applied around her waist, where the pincers of the monster had cut deep bruises.

A second later, the hot pain burned deep into her skin. "Aargh!"

Mongo suddenly dropped her, perhaps fearing that he had inadvertently hurt the slender Twi'lek. But she rounded angrily on Domenico. The human poshboy quickly explained.

"Just a disinfectant. Sorry about the stinging, it will start to fade in a few seconds," he imparted with that roguish smile.

He was right; it was starting to feel better already. But still her eyes flashed dangerously. It was like the time he had slapped her behind with his lightfoil.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" she challenged. Her vibro-blade was back at her waist and her hand strayed that way.

They were interrupted when Kuroda came between them and explained the next challenge of their mission.

"A logic trap?" said Samira, confused. "I don't like the sound of that..."


TAG: @Sarge @Sgt.Matt

 

Back on the Krayt...

IC: Burg


Burg was in his hammock, neatly placed between drive engines (there really was not quite enough space in the "humie-sized" bunk rooms) when the alert from Captain Zerax came over the ship's comms.

"'Bout time," grunted the huge Dowutin. He had been somewhat disappointed not to be picked with the scouting mission.

But now was a chance for some action. He rolled out of his hammock (reinforced fabric in order to take the great weight) and scooped up his monstrous repeater blaster (which was designed for humans to use from a tripod mount). Burg slung the weapon over one shoulder and picked up his heavy vibro-ax in his other hand.

Then he loped down the central connecting corridor of the Krayt. The alarms blared, adding to his adrenalin rush ready for imminent combat. The ship vibrated as the quad-guns thundered, in time with the Dowutin's heavy footsteps already thumping along the corridor.

Burg found a ladder and hauled himself up to the open roof of the starship. There, he found a defensive wall and unslung the blaster cannon. Through the jungle air, he saw the oncoming Geonosians. Little wimpy bugs, he guffawed.

Burg slapped his comlink button to transmit. "In position, Cap'n. 'Ere we go!"

Next, the brutish engineer's repeater blaster pounded out its deep, deadly rhythm...

TAG: @Sarge @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Whookiee & X1M
Repel Boarders

Whookiee staggered and stumbled his way up to the top of Red Krayt's hull. It wasn't easy, dragging a weapon nearly as big as he was while wearing an unlicensed auxiliary power core on his back. Tongue hanging out as he panted with the effort, the Squib braced the heavily modified rifle against the ship's plating. He suddenly noticed Burg was similarly setting up a repeater.

"Hey-Burg-you-ever-seen-a-custom-modified-Squib-heavy-tensor-projector-in-action? No-you-haven't-cuz-I've-got-the-only-one-and-I-invented-it-myself. Watch-this!"

He checked that the heavy duty power cord was plugged into both the rifle in his paws and the power core in his backpack, pulled the trigger, and their eardrums were assaulted by a horrendous pounding screech, like a jack-hammer operated by an angry womprat chewing on an air horn. Gravitic pulses shot out of the weapon and into a tree. Rapidly alternating tractor and repulsor waves vibrated the tree into a cloud of toothpicks. Correcting his aim point, Whookiee turned the weapon on the nearest bug.

Below the Red Krayt, X1M stood guard on the boarding ramp. The ancient war robot was prepared to retract the ramp if necessary to keep hostiles out of the ship's corridors, but that would leave the treasure hunters locked out in the jungle. X would hold the ramp as long as possible in case the explorers suddenly came running out of the jungle.

Ship's turrets were firing at incoming Geonosians. A quad turret was spraying the jungle, while another was firing single shots with deadly precision. That would be G1LDE. X held his own fire. He judged it best to not draw any attention toward the ramp when his crewmates might come running at any moment.

An awful rhythmic banging sounded from overhead and a nearby tree exploded into splinters. Curious, X ran a sensor recording analysis of the effect and began to hypothesize what sort of weapon might have caused it. He hadn't gotten far when the oscillating grav waves resumed, this time accurately targeting a Geonosian. The insectoid vibrated violently for a moment before bursting in a way that the 25,000 year old droid had never seen before. X considered himself fortunate that he lacked a biological's typical response to splattered gore.


TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Kuroda
Onward and Upward and Puzzled

Kuroda slung up his blaster and led the three upward, his back was bruised but a little bacta spray afterwards could numb away the pain, for now treasure was of the essence. The skies out back were filling with sounds of bugs and tribal drums, Weequay shook his head at the nonsense. "let's go chaps, the next obstacle ahead seems to be a logic puzzle" The Quay pushed on, ignoring the dwoomph! dwoomph! dwoomph! of sonic guns clashing against some force behind. For a good climb, the stairways felt endless and the golden bricks started to shrink, going from wide enough for a group to single-spaced for a marching Geonosian warband. Reaching the finishing line, the entrance to the hive vault was blocked by a bronzium wall and a rusted data-terminal clinging to the bronzium hive door.

Mysteriously, the tile floor of the wide hive front door was crumpling save for three purple tablets, each big enough for two people.

Strewn around the crumbling tile floor was also the skeletons of various spacers and clone troopers littering the fray; all of them clutching or revealing a bored hole in their chests and limbs. Kuroda gulped back as his eyes adjusted to the sight and the tablets leading up to the entrance....

TAG: @T4M1-7 , @Sarge

 

IC: Samira


Samira followed Kuroda up the steps, alternating scowls toward Domenico and then over her shoulder at the staircase rapidly stretching away behind them.

There did not seem to be any sign of Geonosians following them at the moment, but the Twi'lek did not let her guard down.

There was, however, an awful lot of noise from what seemed like a not-too-far distance.

Samira hissed at the others. "You hear that? I fear not all is well back at the Krayt."

But they pressed on, until they came to the summit and what must be the entrance to the vaults. Samira inspected the scene, cautiously. Of particular note were the three purple tablets, and near them the skeletons of others who had tried to enter.

Samira even recognised the remains of clone troopers from the old war. She sensed their ghosts lurking about the glade, staring at the newcomers.

She shook off the premonition. Time to be sensible! she decided. But previous mistakes made her wary.

This time, she waited for the direction of Kuroda. "What is this logic puzzle? What do we have to do?"

@Sarge @Sgt.Matt

 

IC: Domenico "Lobo" Barnabas

Domenico paused at the edge of the purple tablets, pistol in his right hand and inert lightfoil in his left. "Mongo, don't touch anything. And don't move." The last thing they needed was for a blundering Gammorrean to plow ahead and set off whatever boobytrap had left corpses strewn all over the tiles.

Mongo grumbled, but stayed where he was as he continued trying to wipe bug guts off his halberd with a big leaf he had plucked from the jungle. The innards of the Geonosian were sticky enough to be hard to clean off, yet still slick enough that he couldn't keep a firm grip on the weapon.

Domenico studied the bodies, and the holes in them. What kind of weapon had bored through the armored soldiers and assorted spacers (presumably treasure hunters like themselves)? Was it an ambush site for temple guards to defend their post? Or some sort of automated lethal defense system?

"Where do you think all these shots came from? Look at the evidence, the way the bodies fell, and the angles of the holes in them. Does anyone see any kind of weapon apertures in the walls? Or the door? Could the tiles be pressure sensors?"


TAG: @T4M1-7 @Sgt.Matt

 

OOC: Apologies for the long wait mateys, I never intended to be distracted by a lot of real life things going on and from now on, I will give off a warning in the case of situations like this happening again.

IC: Kuroda

Kuroda picked up a crumpled clone trooper helmet, the skull and spinal bone jutted out like a dug-in moof milker; he listened to his compatriots concerns while adjusting a throwing pitch. Tossing the helmeted head, the Quay eyed his projectile as it fell onto a fossilized Wookie heap, only for the tiles to erupt in a dust cloud. From the heap and dust came a long bronze nail, around the size of a harpoon, followed by other rocketing spears launching their respective skeletons into the air. Hopping back, Kuroda winced at the corpses just hanging off the spike tips. Memories came of his former employer before Zerax, a deadly fool who impaled others on phrik gaffs.

"By ye gods, no swabs gotta go through that" Kuroda mumbled.

Then his eyes peeked at the dense forest of spikes, which now started to recede back into their tile slots; purple tiles were unmarked and unmarred by the spikes. In fact they seemed to not have any danger at all. "Seems like those purple things are safe, unlike the other blasted tiles, must be an old pressure-system on the other floor bits" Kuroda said. "Samira, do you think that terminal across from us can halt these spears?"

-0-

IC: Jona

The trek from his set base camp, towards the back of the Geonosian treasure vaults was difficult for Jona.

On one hand, the Subsidiary minions were moving the flamethrower tanks at a gelagrubs pace, the fire burning brush inch by inch as they moved boringly. On the second hand with a slap of bad luck, Jona was being buggered by a call from his other ship, some nonsense about the natives swarming them with antique sonic weapons and old battle droids. Bloody ballyhoo! I don't give a Bantha's behind if they bugs have tea and rum, those morons need to kill them to proceed. Jona sat back on his leisure chair as the Gamorrean driver pushed on, a caravan of other tanks pushed behind him at equal pace. I hope we reach that bloody vault before the pirates pick that place clean, I'll have that ruddy captain up to the gills for taking my bosses coordinates.

As the fires continued to clear a path for the tanks, Jona relaxed with a flask of glitterstim/glittryll liquor into his stomach, letting his whole augmented physique shudder from the spices effects. Closing his eyes, he slept for the remaining trip until someone awoken his thuggish self.

-0-

IC: ???

The bugs were losing their clash, dozens of hatched warriors or half-warriors were whittled by the laser fire, even the workers who scuttled on all fours with the worms wriggling inside didn't live long. Bodies were piling as the jungle foliage was turning to burnt mulch by the flames, one of the surviving scouts hid behind a crackled tree mound and dug into his ceremonial armor. His brethren, alive or possesed by their holy worms, needed a fighting chance against the arriving intruders. Pulling out an ancient datapad, dusted by the years untouched til now, the scout tapped a key code into the pads flickering orange screen. Pausing, he gazed up at the other half-trained warriors charging the fray.

Was it worth the chance of summoning the droids?

His chieftian and those before would've frowned on this choice.

{Great Chiefs and Queens, forgive me now for this violation of our CIS oath} The scout chittered, as he then clicked the last code key. Sharpened, whistles came from the datapad as it turned into a red hue. Scout huddled into the mound as he prepared for the chaos, the pure unbridled violence that Poggle the Lesser forbade them to use in times of duress, the very droids that only Jedi feared amongst all. Loud electronic screeches echoed behind him accompanied by the explosion of trees behind him.

TAG: @Sarge , @T4M1-7

OOOOOC: Guess what droids are gonna surprise Zerax and company back on the ship? Take a few guesses.