Log:Resistance: Rodian Wreckage
Resistance: Rodian Wreckage
OOC Date: July 31, 2019
Location: Rodia, Tyrius System
Participants: Ektor, Nova Korell, Merek, Tallissan Lintra. Kare Kun, Jessika Pava, Yuun, Aryn Cole
Twelve hours since the ambush of a First Order frigate ground to its bloody conclusion, a covert Resistance rescue team in a civilian freighter returns to the Tyrius System. From holonet chatter a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer is expected to arrive in-system at any moment, but for now only the spreading wreckage of the *Void Crosser* and the automated beacons of several dozen First Order escape pods occupies the sensors. The dozens of jettisoned First Order escape pods appear to have been picked up by passing civilian freighters, as twelve hours in a cramped capsule with diminishing air is a fate few spacers would wish on anyone.
The approach to Rodia is uncontested, and the rescue team's freighter glides into the atmosphere without being challenged. As the starship glides over the southernmost continent, several automated distress beacons ping the sensors, all of them transmitting First Order code. A small number of native airspeeders can be seen combing over the dense expanse of jungle.
Having flown the mission that knocked the frigate out of the sky, Nova Korell has borrowed a bunk for most of the trip here. The transition back to normal space awakens her, as it usually does. By the time the ship is coasting into atmosphere, she's donned her gear and is making her way to the cockpit.
Settling into the chair at the navicomputer station, she calls up a program she'd left running at takeoff, which has been augmented by input from Aryn and Tallie. "This looks promising... the computer simulations have placed the likely impact zone as a region of roughly fifty square klicks. I know, that sounds big, but it's a lot smaller than this entire hemisphere, especially since we're searching on foot."
Merek is settled about in the freighter, while assisting with the checks. He is placing the battle armor on, his legs which look normal but have cybernetics within are settled with a special black armor, the boots checked while he places on the main build, and places on his forearm guards as well as the gauntlets. He then places the helmet upon him also, his cybernetic eyes looking to the orange visor on the black armor. He then nestles a comlink into his scarf which he shifts about his lower face as well while he picks up his weapons, looking between them, then he nods while he settles on his EL-16 for range.
Dr. Cole stands before a large holo-map, one arm crossed over her torso while her other hand supports her chin, aiding in her contemplating look toward the image. A small, tracing action takes over the imagery, displaying the planet from a point above orbit, to a general trajectory to the planet's surface. Aryn has watched this a hundred times, and still it feels like something is off.
She's seen wearing a civilian scout armor variant that's been vastly modified with a deployable helmet. A striped green, yellow, and brown poncho has been draped over her torso, concealing her utility belt and lightsaber that hangs from it. The only piece of gear that remains plainly seen is a satchel pack that bears the universal symbol for first aid. "I hope I'm right..." Aryn says softly, worried sounding and unsure. Datapad linked with the main board Tallie prompts the tactical display to run high speed through the battle. Light armor helmet off, head bent over the screen which she holds on her knees, she ignores com chatter and any back and forth between the crew.
A schema of the battle is running on the pad which she is setting parameters on to distinguish between ships as well as momentum, speeds and the final moments of the 'Janissar 4's rather bad day. Pressing a button sends it to the ship's holoprojector as well as to the others running the mission. "Janissar 4 is marked red," she announces though the legend marking the ships can be seen at the bottom of the projection.
Amongst those gathered for the ground mission, Kare is quickly going over her datapad, considering what information is available and is retracing the trajectory. Something is off, her datapad goes a little haywire and she frowns. Lips press together as she effectively becomes ineffective. The pilot glances at the holo-map alongside the Doctor, obviously leaning on the others for the information. She chews on the inside of her cheek to worry it away. She narrows her eyes and rubs her blonde hair back away from her face.
"I think you are likely right," she sounds helpful even if she is not offering any extra help. She turns her attention to the others, sliding her datapad away before she checks her rifle, adjusting the settling before its allowed to rest against her back.
"Your instincts are usually pretty good," Jessika remarks to Aryn, backing up Kare's opinion with one of her own. She studies, briefly, the information on display, and shifts the fit of her sling around her shoulders. She's a match with her fellow Black Squadron member in the svelte black she wears, but their distinct difference in height will help set them apart when their faces are concealed. Jessika glances to the rest of the gathered, then down to the rifle she uses as a rest point for her hands. It's the calm before the storm, this moment. No matter how many times she goes out, there's always that subtle jitteriness. She knows it'll subside when they get into it, but, for now, Jessika feels possessed by an energy.
Ektor is in the same civilian grade armored flightsuit he'd worn during the battle, idly fiddling with an old DH-17 pistol as the ship soars through hyperspace. Upon emergence into real space, he joins the others on the bridge, bending his back to peer out the canopy over the pilot's shoulder as the jungle below comes into view. "Moonbeam, fifty kliks ain't nothing. Any kinda luck, we can pick up a visual on the crash spot, from the air, yeah?" A glance around and a dry curl of his lip toward Aryn. "I hope you're right too, Doc." Back out the canopy, he wonders aloud, "Anybody see anything?"
Nova spots it, first.
There's good news and bad news regarding the crash site: the good news is that the pilot had- through luck or skill- impacted in a swathe of younger trees growing along a riverbed, which makes setting the rescue team's freighter down nearby easy enough. The bad news being that even the lighter vegetation had utterly shredded the light fuselage of the crippled Scyk, leaving a trail of metallic debris across a swathe of jungle and river hundreds of meters long.
"It's a map, Doc. When there's one involved, you're rarely wrong," Nova observes. She stifles a smile at Ektor's remark. "A crash site is a place to start, at least. Still, this is an enemy planet with a lot of bounty hunters. Our pilot might've decided to get away from the obvious marker and hole up someplace harder to find." She turns her attention outside, trying to watch for the crash site in question.
It's not long before she sees something out the viewport. "There's something... and wow, it's long! Remind me never to buy a Scyk starfighter," she murmurs, pointing out the lengthy trail of debris. "I'd want to get away from that, too, just in case it might explode!"
She catches up her carbine, slinging it over her shoulder as she stands. "Guess we've got some searching to do..."
Merek looks to the others, while he nods a bit. He shifts up from his seat to make his way to the entry way, so that he can move when they land in the jungle. He speaks to his comlink, <<Black here, I will take point with the main force in case we need support.>> He then takes a formation and lifts up his rifle. There is something about the way he speaks, he doesn't have the same kind of emotion he used to, like he's put it away.
Aryn glances at the red indication Tallie uploaded labeled Janissar 4. She traces the trajectory again to see that Tallie's calculations are correct, or as correct as Aryn can interpret, and nods. Kare Kun, Nova Korell, and Jessika Pava's opinions flank Aryn for a moment, and in that instant, she felt far more confident than she had before, even with Ektor's ominous 'I hope you're right' quip. "Thank you." She says separately, to each of the pilots standing near her. She turns toward Jessika for a moment and lightly squeezes her arm, flashing a reassuring smile before walking toward the stern of their craft.
The announcement that they were setting down led Aryn to reach up and pull the lever, opening their ramp. A rush of hot humid air fills the cabin, and brighter natural light fills the space Aryn is standing. This provided a better view of what was below instead of crowding the control cabin hoping for a glance of the area below.
The rushing gusts of air pin the jungle camo poncho to her torso, making the ends flap noisily, yet unheard over the roar of air. Aryn brings one arm up, pressing a button on the gauntlet that triggers the custom helmet piece in place. It snaps in place around her head, sealing around her neck and closing over her eyes with a slight purple glow. <<"Back hatch is open. Standing by for landing.">> And when it came, Aryn stepped down the ramp and brought her datapad up to mark their place on the map to keep track of where they search.
"I'd be up a tree. Oh, yes, I would - getting away from the local wildlife, hopefully," Tallie comments from her place next to Nova at the viewport. After double checking her helmet seal, she joins Aryn on the ramp, pistol secured at her side and walks down into the arms of the Rodia jungle.
Drawing a breath, Kare looks from each and as determining location comes to an end and gives way to action, she swings her gun away from her back and pulls it up at ready as the others file in around to wait to land. Her dark eyes flit from one to the other as she quickly adjusts the neck of her shadowsuit, touching her hand to her ear and going still as the comms crackle to life. She glances up at Merek and smiles faintly before she rolls her shoulders and sets her rifle to kill.
Fingers brush across the stock as its tucked into her side and aimed downwards. A toss of her pale hair sends it back away from her face fo all of five seconds before sliding forward once more.
Hot air rushes in, and with it, a stench that's foetid and almost overpowering. The bridge of Jessika's nose wrinkles and she exhales through it to try to clear the heady smell. It doesn't help. Knowing that they're going to be deploying soon, she lets her blaster rifle hang from its sling and slips her gloved hands upwards. The loose fabric of the face mask is fitted and brought around her head and slicked back hair. That's what she spends the last of her moments doing: ensuring that everything is comfortable. There's not going to be any time for it in the jungle. The very last act is the addition of the special goggles wrapping around her skull and pinning her mask in place. The goggles are left up, rather than brought down over her eyes.
Having been sitting quietly on the freighter, maybe he was meditating or sleeping, though once the ship sets down his eyes open. Having heard what was going on as they entered into area of Rodia. Yuun adjusts slightly from where he is sitting, once the freighter sets down and the landing ramp opens. Yuun exhales as the heat hits him, he's dressed in long cargo shorts, tunic and a short robe which helps him keep cool. He looks at everyone and stands up, a backpack is slung behind him and the only weapon he has is at his hip. He adjusts his gloves slightly and walks over to Aryn, "You ready."
Ektor grunts flatly when Nova describes a smart thought of abandoning the wreck to avoid hostile detection. "No lie? I doubt the skinny little idiot is that smart, but.." A short exhale. "Whether he's smart, smashed, or shat we're gonna find out pretty soon." An eye is given aside to Merek. "I don't think point is the place you give support from, Spooky-cloak." Clicking the safety off, he keeps the old pistol lazily in hand as the Tionese swagger-limps out the ship's hatch, turning a wary eye over their debris strewn surroundings. "Scyks ain't good for much. But they cheap, move around pretty good, and sling two ions and a proton torpedo tube. Real good for knocking out boats that don't shoot back," he notes to Nova. Wincing as one boot nudges a shard of charred fuselage lodged in the ground. The sound of a nearby river wars with the cacophany of unseen insect life for attention.
"Sure doesn't /smell/ like paradise... not to me, anyway," Nova says, stepping down the ramp as rearguard. She pauses to get her bearings with her compass, then finds the crash site. With all the metal strewn across the landscape, it doesn't take much looking. She steps over to take a good look.
It takes her only a moment or two to find the pilot's compartment, probably about the only part of the ship still whole. It seems to be empty. "We missed them... but someone's not missing us," she says, nodding in the direction of a nearby tree. And the remote surveillance camera that's been nailed to it. She suddenly glad she's wearing a helmet and a mask. "Don't look now, but... think it's our pilot? Or someone hoping they'll come back?"
<"As ready as I can be, Mr. Yuun."> Aryn says, her accented voice coming over her helmet's voice emitter.
When she's outside the ship, Aryn takes a moment to look up at the star, then at her map to orient herself to their surroundings. It was important to understand where North and South were. Electronics could prove faulty in some environments.
Once oriented, Aryn begins to walk toward some of the wreckage where she discovers the pilot's cage. It's lodged in the mud close to the river. Just as she approaches, she realizes Merek is already set to look over the cage. She instead, follows the tracks that lead toward the water where she's found a significant amount of blood. <"He could not have gone far injured like this."> She wasn't certain it was his blood to begin with, and she didn't have time to check. She rises from her crouched position and looks around for any other indication of where he could've gone.
Climate control or the feeling of the air on her face - that is the question the captain poses herself. Tallie's gloved hand rises to unseal the front of her helmet letting in a rush of super heated air with a charge of rotted and recently charred vegetation. She moves a piece of debris with her booted toe then cranes her head up into the tree tops to see if going up a tree is, in fact, feasible. She spots the camera at the same time that Nova does. Eyes sweeping the debris trail a spot of sunlight glints on something metallic and draws her attention. Not ten meters from their position the cockpit sits open like a cracked egg, pieces of it spilled willy nilly around it. On closer examination traces of dried blood is smeared on the remains of the canopy.
<<Cockpit here with blood>> she reports over coms.
The country girl in her awakens, bent from the waist she searches methodically around the wreckage till she sees some vegetation that has been disturbed. It leads westward towards a copse of trees on a slight rise. <<I'm taking a westward tack.>>
Sucking in a lungfull of air through her mouth, Kare tries to bypass her sense of smell as much as possible. Her left eye twitches a moment as even the fumes are assocaited with the stench make her flinch. Coughing a moment she pauses, giving a tilting of her head as she moves forward. Bending down she moves broken foliage aside and glances at the depressions in the ground. When the others begin to give responses she waits for a moment and speaks up as she rises, rubbing her fingers together to rid them of jungle soil and stink.
<"Likely something about five or six humanoids arrived here, and by the looks of it likely on a speeder. Just after impact it would seem and they all seem to have left as well. No one is here."> She wipes her hand off on her hip to clear it further. She does glance up at the mention of blood and Kare is quickly scanning the area for other signs but then Tallie is catching the signs needed to track what is likely the pilot.
The ship touches down, and Jessika shifts her blaster rifle into a low ready. Its barrel is oriented towards the ground, but its stock is pressed into the pocket of her shoulder, ready to be adjusted up into a practiced position that will allow her to sight down her weapon's optics to engage any hostile targets. Deployment out of the ship is not done by just walking out to the wreckage. Jessika sweeps out to the side, and moves half a dozen meters from the hatch to cover a sector of fire that divides the space around both their landing craft and the wreckage into a sphere others can use to setup their own points of security from. She switches her gaze from the view in front of her to the wreckage itself, trying to note anything of import.
She recognizes what Aryn and Merek have found as the pilot cage from the fighter. It's stained with blood, but not enough to be worrisome. A knock on the head would cause that much. "There are a ton of tracks here." Jessika's attention is now more focused on the tracks than on the area around her. She searches the ground for subtle signs of clues, but some leading towards the water is what catches her attention the most. It's survival training to find water and follow it. Water leads to civilization. She glances along a path of them that diverts from the river and leads into the trees. Fresher tracks in the mud, indicated by the specific coloring as the depressions are less caked and cracked from being dry, signal something else. "Not just our pilot."
Jessika reaches out a pair of fingers as she squats down, removing her left hand from underneath the barrel of her weapon. Swiping at something distinctly not mud, she brushes the tips of her fingers against her thumb. "I think this is blood. Looks like our pilot took off, but I think they're being trailed. Did some damage, though."
Yuun nods his head to Aryn, he smiles to her as he begins walking with her his voice kept low. They are on a mission. He fails to spot anything but his eyes aren't the only thing he has to be able to see. For now though he will take the others lead, "This isn't good at all." he frowns.
Yuun begins looking around them, trying to attune himself to the area. The heat is sticky as is the mostiure, still teh dark skinned Jedi is keeping an eye out for anything amiss and trying to also maybe search around for tracks. He knows his wilderness skills are lacking and something he will need to improve upon. Ektor grunts in flat amusement as he inspects the ruin of the pilot's cage. "Well rekk me.. Kid had the brains to deactivate his distress beacon." Standing upright with a crooked grin on his face and hobbles back the step needed to get his boots off the skeletal cockpit and back in the mud of the riverbank. Calling aloud, "Ek-shiik, you skinny little drek! I'm gonna be pissed if you got smart like that only to get eaten by some jungle, yeah?" Chuckling with a shake of his head, he mutters, "Finally, some luck."
No sooner have those words passed his lips than the dark waters erupt in motion: a horror that in movement appears to be made entirely of needle-fangs, massive jaws, and menacing spines strikes from the shallows and seizes the Tionese in its jaws by the torso, large and powerful enough to yank the big pilot off his feet with a profane shout, and haul him back into the shallows, an errant blaster bolt discharged from his pistol in mid-air.
"Contact! Snakey fang factory!" Nova shouts, seeing something lunging from the river to attack Ektor. She opens fire... and is about as effective as she usually is during surprise attacks. None of her three rounds hit. "Get back!"
Merek shifts back that rifle onto his sling, while he makes a way towards Ektor, "I've got you!" he then takes a moment to shift his boots upon the muddy dirt. He lifts up a hand while he takes ahold of Ektor's leg with his gauntlet, then he places another on the mouth of the creature. "EKTOR!" While he isn't able to free the man, he's doing something that looks not so easy.
The soldier manages to slow the creature, while he's doing his best to protect Ektor, "Get this thing while I'm doing this!" he also calls to the others, the skin upon his cybernetics beginning to show the machines as blood as well as a bit of the oil comes from them opening also. He's being pulled into all that water with him also.
Aryn turns at the sound of sudden chaos. Her knee-jerk reaction has her unclipping the lightsaber beneath the confines of her poncho and holding it to her side. A gloved thumb presses the stud that activates the weapon, and the snap-hiss reveals the bright sapphire blue of the blade as it extends forth. Monotone humming accompanies every motion Aryn makes with it.
Aryn moves ahead bravely, uncertain of how to properly engage this odd foe, but committing to it anyway. She wades into the water just as Merek engages, and low and behold! An opening! Aryn plunges her weapon into the long torso of this eel using one hand and an extended arm. She brings her other hand up, reinforcing its twin on the hilt, and forces her lightsaber blade from the creature with a loud yell and twist, leaving behind a steaming opening!
Aryn takes a balanced stance, searching for her next opening and trying to avoid being crushed beneath this.. Nightmare.
Tallie heads up the path of disturbed vegetation looking back occasionally to see how the rest of the group fares. She is the only one to have left the river bank which is obscured by a large tree trunk from her view. Their voices come through the trees. Nova's alert does, too. Pivoting in place Tallie bolts back down the path with a look of pure horror for what has decided to use Ektor as a snack. The first shot goes wild into the river behind the struggling trio, the next impacts the body hardly creating a ripple as they move inexorably towards the river despite the doctor's lightening strikes with her lightsaber.
She's back far enough but still near to watch the details of Ektor being snatched up. "DAMN TION!" She calls out. Whatever problems she may have with him are pushed aside in favor of keeping him alive. Ironic. As other shots and the blur of saber blades work in the damp air of the jungle, the deadly modded rifle lifts. She is going for the underside and trying not to hit Ektor. Rumbling out beneath her breath, one eye squinting closed she waits with her finger over the trigger. A breath held before a gentle squeeze keeps her aim on target. As it hits, she nods her head, looking at least pleased that the thing is not all together impossible to strike - though Aryn has proven that in the flurry of her blows.
Seconds are wizzing by in a flurry but the path of the light saber has seered itself upon the back of her eyes.
Jessika is studying a mixture of blood and mud, and taking glances at where the tracks lead off into the jungle when the river explodes. A sleek, powerful body of rippling muscle and scales bursts out from the water and past her. A deluge crashes into her, and the spray blinds her. Instinct has her body react in defense, and Jessika throws herself to the side, half into the river and half-out. The impact is softened by mud, but that mud covers a majority of her because of it. Not airtight by any means, water seeps rapidly through her face covering and into her mouth. She immediately chokes and scrambles, leaving her weapon to stay attached on the sling while trying to scramble up and out of the river. The muck is deep, making it difficult.
The attack is swift, and Yuuns lightsaber is in his hand and activated with a single twitch. Bringing his blade up into a guard position. Seeing Ektor get grabbed by this vicious creature. Having watched as everyone quickly moves to attack to save Ektor. Taking a calming breath, right now Ektor needed them, and with the creature being attacked on different fronts, Yuun holds out his hand and focuses on what he needs to do.
Feeling the Force flowing through him, around him, surrounding everyone, including the Svaper. Focusing on his connection with Ektor and the Svaper, slowly he begins to exert himself within the force and the creatures mouth, opening it. Having to fight it, but keeping his mind calm and trusting in the force, he begins to open the creatures mouth, sweat begins to bead up on his forehead and soon the mouth opens giving Ektor possibly enough time to get free or someone helping him.
Yuun keeps his grip on the creatures mouth, not wanting to let go just yet until Ektor is free and once free he will let go.
"OW. REKK- AAAAAARG-" Yeah, Ektor isn't contributing much, at the moment. The shouting is cut off for a moment as he's dunked in the shallows, but- with Merek clinging stubbornly to his flight boot, and the combined efforts of his fellows, the Tionese pilot is dragged clear of the aquatic beast's jaws, and scrambles along with Merek and Jess and all other sentients, who retain at least a shred of sanity, through the bloody mud and away from the svaper. The beast itself- having taken numerous dire injuries- does not pursue its erstwhile dinner, further. Instead, with only a few spines and fins to show its passage, it vanishes into the deeper waters of the Rodian river.
Gasping for pained breaths, Ektor adds an emphatic, "OW," for posterity.
Nova shoves her tac-slung carbine behind her hip and rushes forward to assist Ektor out of the mess. "Frell... Ektor, if you'd wanted a bath, I would've scrubbed your back," she says, barely a hint of humor in her worried voice. "You don't have to go around asking strangers to do it, especially the local predators. Medic! Need a medic here!" Large predators are very much outside her own medical training!
Merek manages to actually clean Ektor away from the creature, then he shifts back to place a hand upon the holster of his belt, drawing his pistol to point that towards the water also. He calls back to Cole, "Cole, we need you," he says, then he takes a position next to the pilot, "You will be alright Ektor," he adds. The blood with the oil begins rolling into the waters while he stands up, taking some material so he can place that on the man's wounds until Aryn can assist him also as well.
Remains in the water long enough to observe the creature's hasty retreat. Watching it go, she trudges out of the water, her lightsaber held off to her side until it's deactivated and reclipped to her belt. She had been on the verge of asking what the REKK that thing was, but 'Medic' was yelled and her head jerked toward the direction of its utterance. She briskly walks by the others to reach Ektor and begin a diagnosis of his wounds before attempting to treat him and stop any bleeding.
The smell of the eel-thing with teeth to give nightmares makes Tallie swallow hard; Ektor is in good hands so she stands back vigilant for entities or bounty hunters eager to join the party. Pistol safety off, she sweeps the area in a circle: first the banks of the river, then east, south, west, north. Nothing, nothing, nothing...so far.
"Frak," Kare lets out below her breath as the thing becomes nothing as it sinks into the water - still alive. Her eyes widens and as Ektor gets free she steps forawrd and trains her rifle on the water's surface in case the creature gets osme brigh tideas. "We made a good deal of noise, we better be moving and quick," she says without taking her eyes off that water. That thing can likely cross land as well by the looks of it and tempting fate is not really her forte. She backs up to keep with the others but offer back up as Tion is dealt with medically.
The endeavor is over by the time Jessika manages to make it out of the shallows and onto the bank. She's not completely coated in mud, but mostly. Her blaster rifle is smeared with it, as is much of her gear. Her hand goes quickly to the goggles on her head, and once they're swiped off, the other hand's fingers dip underneath the top of the covering, just above her eyes. She yanks it up and back, exposing glistening hair and the muddy streaks around her eyes. Stumbling farther forward, she bends at the waist and lightly at the knees, where her hands come to brace. Tepid, dirty water is coughed up in front of her, and a painful sounding gasp of air follows it. Blinking rapidly to try and clear her eyes from being overloaded with moisture, Jessika rises.
"What the kriff was that thing?!" Her voice is husky and nasal, and she's taking quick, but weighted steps away from the water. Recollected, her hands are on her blaster rifle, and the barrel is aimed towards the water, but she's not even entirely sure the thing will fire if she pulls the trigger. It's precautionary, only. "Is he alright?!" She's referring to Ektor.
With Ektor free, and the creature retreating. Yuun walks over to Aryn, "Good job." he smiles, "Looks like the lessons are coming more easily." he says as he looks at her. "Good job everyone, and I agree with Kare, we need to get moving, though I hope that our missing pilot wasn't the dinner to that thing." he frowns. Clipping his lightsaber to his belt after deactivating it. He looks towards the water himself just in case the creatures tries to sneak attack them.
"NOW you tell me," Ektor gripes at Nova's humor, cognizant enough to at least lean into the joke as he's helped further onto dry (or at least less wet) ground. A grunt to Merek's assurance, "Yeah, yeah.. just dandy." Jess is not-quite answered, "Whatever it was, I hate it." He does pause his noise for a moment as the doctor begins her diagnosis, for in that moment, his eye catches on the same camera Nova had pointed out, before he mutters, "Uh.. wizards? I appreciate the laser sword help and all.. but we should probably track down Ek-shiik and get outta here in a hurry, yeah?"
Ektor raises the pistol he'd kept in a white knuckles grip and fires a defiant bolt at the camera. The mud and muck fouled weapon actually discharges, but the wounded pilot's aim is just a bit off, scoring the tree and leaving the camera intact, leading to an exasperated,"Oh, for- Rekk it, somebody shoot that thing, yeah?"
"Everybody okay? Nobody else hurt?" Nova has to ask. It's the infantry sergeant in her. Wincing as she sees Ektor fire on the stationary remote cam, she unholsters her own sidearm. "Guess a little more noise won't hurt. Show's over, palzy," she says, blasting the camera into bits of scorched duraplast and wiring.
She dips a shoulder under Ektor's arm. "Come on. We don't want to be here when they come to see who broke their toy."
"Ya, well mostly at least," Merek offers then to Nova when she asks that, his visor looking about the place while he takes a moment to settle next to Ektor so he can also guard him, while he keeps the pistol up also.
Aryn appends a large broken fang from Ektor's armor and holds it up for him. "Here, hold this."-- Her work is done quickly because without removing his armor, she won't be able to see the extent of his injuries. She withdraws a can of bio-foam and screws the application nozzle in place, then fills the holes made against his side from all those teeth. It nearly finishes off her can of foam.
Once applied, Ektor may find it a little easier to breath, and the kolto infused with the foam helps kill some of the pain. Additionally, the foam hardens, making seals over each wound in question. "He's as good as I can get him. Not sure how long we can keep him in this environment, but I leave that to the officers in charge." Aryn tucks her can away and frees her lightsaber from her belt again, prepared for danger this time. Her gaze cuts to Jessika, "Are you alright?"
Still thinking despite being nearly bitten in half, Ektor directs their attention to what should have been obvious in the beginning: the drekking camera. It is most likely taking beautiful shots of them all, making the party of bounty hunters who are surely on their way laugh like a hyena. Nova puts paid to the thing. "Good here," she calls without being asked and continues her sweep of the perimeter.
The click of her safety going back into place heralds the fact that Kare is not ready to take a shot and draw more attention. The thing is gone and likely licking its wounds but her eyes never truly give much space between look at the group and considering the depths of the water. Her hand drags through her hair as she briefly glances down to Aryn's work on the pilot. "Tion you draw trouble like ..well like only you can," she points out and then ticks her gaze back out and around - specifically in the direction she thinks the speeder went.
<"Ready to move."> Rifle still at the ready, she keeps the barrel angled towards the ground now that immediate danger is out of sight.
Jessika takes labored breaths. Beads of moisture trickle down her face, and a look of fatigued displeasure plagues her features. The ripe stench of the jungle is thick with every breath she takes, and the mud doesn't help. There's something about it that just stinks. Like it's somehow full of decay. She tries to breathe through just her mouth, especially because her nostrils are burning and her eyes sting from a mixture of sweat and dirty water. She glances around, even if she doesn't take her blaster's barrel off a direct line towards the water. There are mentions of continuing on mission, and once she's caught her breath, she has some input. "I think I've got Ek-shiik's trail. It went to the water line and then veered off into the jungle." Yuun turns in the direction of the failed shot, upon seeing the camera. "Maybe we can find our missing pilot before they find us?" He asks. Yuun doesn't take his weapon into his hand for now. He looks around.
"...Did you just try and fix me with caulk?" Ektor wonders of Aryn, incredulous. He shouldn't poke at the dried sealant, but he pokes a bit at the dried sealant. "Anybody got a lead on where the dumb kid might've gone from here?" Captain Pava answers promptly, getting a crooked grin. "Jess, you're the best, yeah?" Kare's comment draws a snicker which has ribs promptly regret. 'Heh- ow. What can I say, Joy? It's a talent. Let's move, yeah?"
Half-carrying Ektor with Merek, Nova frowns at the traces of blood in the grass. "He couldn't have gotten far, not with that wound..."
And then she hisses at Merek and tugs on the man's arm (and Ektor by extension), trying to draw them behind some moss hanging from a tree limb. "Trouble ahead... a speeder, maybe 200 meters forward. I'm seeing some people milling around it... maybe tracking. Either way, bad news for us. Eyes front, everybody. And Captain Pava, I'd get downwind of them," she adds. That rot-mud on poor Jess is /rank/.
Merek looks to the front, while he nods to Nova at her words about the speeder, then he shifts to assist Ektor while he motions a bit, "We can at least try to keep from their line of sight," he mentions, while he lifts up his pistol within the hand not on the pilot, looking to sweep about.
Aryn finds cover behind the trunk of a large moss covered tree and plants her back against it. Holding her lightsaber out to her side, she maintains a 'ready to act' state of mind. She looks to the others for direction. Leading in combat, or a unit like this for that matter, is not something Aryn has experience with.
What would a mission be like without at least one eye roll at Ektor, an affectionate smile lifts a corner of Tallie's mouth. She's careful to not let him see it. "Drek you, Ektor. Do you taste /that/ good? Look west up into those dense trees. That's where I'd go - to the high ground." She sniffs and thinks better of it though the smell here is no worse than an ill-kept barn full of nerfs on a hot summer's day.
Tallie follows her own advice, worry crinkling her forehead as she searches the path for footprints. Footprints are there but more than one pair. Others have been on the path. She walks the path slowly looking for disturbed underbrush and to her surprise and satisfaction finds leaves so recently bent back that they are still springing back into place. There is blood on a broad leaf.
"Ek-shiik," she stage whispers into the bushes, half-amused at how the name sounds. "EK-SHIIK," she calls again, keeping an eye out around her though unaware of the speeders that the others have discovered. Lowering down at the sudden warning from Nova, Kare lapses into silence as her gaze squints from her vantage. Her hand switches the safety off with a very soft click the melts into the jungle noises around them. However when Tallie begins whispering for the lost pilot - that is not so easily hidden. Her eyes look for a moment at Sunshine only to glance off in the direction of the search party. The soft subtle grind of earth beneath her feet as she pivots and reaches out for Tallie in her crouch heralds her movement. A movement that stops when the ground beneath her makes a bit more sound than she would like.
Reaching quickly out she lifts her finger to try to quiet Tallie and points in the direction of the speeder, a light tick of her head to make further emphasis.
Notices teh speeder when directed to it. Keeping calm and trying to sense if there are more bounty hunters out there, he is failing. Shaking his head, still more training to be had. For now he keeps a watch out.
Ektor retorts to Tallie with a snort, "Get wrecked, I'm *delicious*-" dubious wit is put on hold when he's abruptly guided into cover. "How many?" he mutters under his breath to those closest.
Whether for sheer skill at tracking, dumb luck, the will of the Force, or the sheer dumb will of the Force, Tallie's too-loud whisper into the undergrowth is answered from beneath a broad-leafed fern that looks poisonous, "...are they gone?"
"I count six," Nova whispers, trying to keep the three of them behind that curtain of moss. "Don't think they've seen us, but they're milling around a lot. Think they heard our shots. Could be it's their holocam we blasted."
She glances down at her sidearm. Best she can do, with one arm full of Ektor. "Will you be okay if we leave you here, Ek? Those guys could happen across us any second. Better we take them out before they know we're here."
Merek looks over to Ektor, seeing what he says about it all, while he takes a moment to check his pistol, "If you need someone to stay with you, I can," he offers to him, while he nods a bit, then he nods to the others also, the cadet thinking a bit as well.
Attention momentarily attracted by the leaf of a plant with a lovely white flower, Tallie looks away from the spot where she is sure the pilot hid himself. Kare's shush makes her realize her mistake. Eyes wide she belatedly crouches down listening hard and raises her hand to Kare acknowledging her alert.
"Goddess," she exclaims under her breath when a voice comes out of the bushes. "Shush," she whispers. "Not gone," she sidles into the bushes next to him and peers out carefully down the path towards where Kare was.
Relief shows as Tallie quiets and then oddly enough the foliage replies. "Frak.." she says in a hiss. Her eyes widen and she stares for a moment at the direction of the voice. But Nova is right and she shakes her head, "We have heat, stay down." She is one of the man who are eyeing the foes across the way for potential trouble. She shifts and turns, giving an upnod to Nova. "Best to take them by surprise when we have the element of it," she adds and then wets her lips. "On your go," she says and lifts her rifle which is already primed and ready to go.
Staying down wind of a group of aliens with olfactory senses not like her own is not something Jessika is sure she can do, but she tries. They've been advancing along the trail of the downed pilot, but the group she'd seen tracks for back at the river? They're still obviously on that pilot's trail. Jessika knows the situation they're in is tenuous, and she attempts to keep low to the ground, so the distinct difference of mud against a foliage backdrop doesn't attract any attention.
Yuun found a hiding spot near Aryn and Tallie. He's quiet for the most part, relaxed though still keeping a wary eye out. He wasn't able to sense the others, though it seems everyone else is able to see teh group.
Ektor nods to Nova, "I'm good, yeah? Go on, do the thing." He keeps his pistol in hand, just to be on the safe side, but will effectively remain in concealment, where Nova and Merek stash him. The Tionese gestures with the gun for Merek to go with Nova.
Under the ground covering shrubs, half buried in loam is a pale, dark haired, skinny kid who can't be older than twenty, in a muddy and battered flightsuit. Wide eyed, and clutching a feeble little Czerka 411 pistol in his left hand. His right arm is visibly broken in at least one place.
Nova nods and lowers Ektor to the ground next to the tree that moss is hanging from. "Back in a sec."
She moves to another tree, using it as cover. "On three... One. Two. Three!" She's quiet, but the Rodians ahead seem to be supernaturally made aware of them anyway.
And Nova opens fire... uselessly, it turns out. Ever wonder if the universe is against you? Nova frequently does.
Merek nods a bit to Ektor, "You call if you need us," he says, then he lifts up his pistol while he moves up with Nova. He twirls about the weapon then takes three shots, two managing to strike the one he's aiming for, taking him with the stun. He then toggles the weapon, while he shifts a bit to try his best to keep a little cover also as well.
The battle has begun, and there's still significant distance between their party and those hunting. From Nova's first shot, Aryn activates her Jedi weapon once more, stepping free from her cover. She has no suicidal thoughts about crossing the distance to engage in close quarters. She instead takes a defensive stance and swings her weapon with practiced grace to intercept and redirect an errant red blaster bolt intended for her. The technique was sudden, something only a Jedi could manage, and the result sees the bolt back to its origin point, sinking home in their chest and dropping them to the ground. Aryn returns to her neutral stance, content to protect their party as best as she could.
Crouching in the mud, Tallie duck walks carefully out onto the path to aim at one of the group hunting them. Her lightly armored knees sink a bit into the morass as she squeezes two shots off. The bounty hunters stops in mid-stride, drops his weapon and then spins about face at her second shot - dead.
Aiming, as the others pick their targets, Kare sets her sights on the one that Tallie misses after smoking one with two shots. As the bolt goes wide her own very narrowly misses when she shifts! THat was a snake, had to be that made her jerk her blaster. She glances down and is about to make a nose when her voice catches in the back of her throat. "Jungle," she growls as she gets another lung full of damp spongy moist air that she is likely not going to miss when this is all done. They are leaving - which is fine as long as they can get out of there before possibly reinforcements arrive. "They get away, we just hoof it out of here!" No point in being quiet.
Blaster fire fills the jungle, and for once, Jessika smells something familiar and a lot less unpleasant. Burned ozone tickles at her nose, and she adds to that by targeting one of the hunters in her view. A single, simple squeeze of the trigger until enough pressure is put against it to set it off sees her own fire added to the mix. The burnt ozone is even more intense this close. Her shot is true, and it smashes one of the hunter's almost center mass. He certainly looks hurt. In a moment, he looks dead. Jessika watches a vibrant blue blade strike the target she just shot, and he goes down in a heap. She cans immediately for another target, hoping to help end the engagement as quickly as she possibily can.
As the blaster fire begins flying, Yuun looks to Aryn and nods his head and in a blur of motion, he is rushing in towards the remaining bounty hunters. His lightsaber is ignited, the brilliant blue blade weaves through the air intercepting blaster bolts away from him. Rolling forward and coming up in a spin, Yuun's blade spins and slashes across one of the bounty hunters cutting him in half cleanly. Keeping his distance so to allow the Resistance fighter to have a clean light of sight to keep shooting.
The last pair of standing hunters give cries of alarm, and run for their speeder, laying down heavy fire at their attackers in hopes of winning enough space to escape. The eyes are drawn naturally to the light of the humming Jedi swords, and the shots burn close to both Aryn and Yuun. Another few moments, and they'll reach the waiting speeder, with it's repeating blaster cannon…
While Nova can't take any pride in her own shooting, at least the fight is going the Resistance's way! Still, it could turn around if they reach that landspeeder…
...Which has a repeating blaster cannon pintle-mounted on the fantail! Nova's eyes widen, and she opens fire on the weapon itself, double-tapping it with blasts. "Keep them away from that speeder!" she shouts, to make sure everyone knows.
Merek lifts up his pistol and takes a few more nice clean shots to stun another, then he shifts the weapon and nods to the others as well, "Alright," he says, then he takes a moment to sweep about with his weapon also.
It's a delicate dance, the art of lightsaber defense, but Aryn has honed her skill to the point of it being second nature that's guided by the will of the Force. It sounds sketchy, but seeing Aryn convey this skill speaks to the validity. She's shot at again, but her defensive swing sees the blaster bolt redirected skyward, and Aryn twists to take a step ahead. When she comes full circle, she drags her lightsaber up from her lower right with one hand, intercepting a third bolt and redirecting it back to its source. It's the final hunter, and Aryn deactivates her weapon before he's hit the ground and released his final breath. <"That's all of them. I think it's time we head out. Here, put this on our downed pilot. We don't need him getting injured further."> Whoever is near Ek-Shiik is tossed a small circular MCA P-1 deflector shield.
After Aryn dispatches another with her light saber and the other bounty hunters lay twisted, dead and wounded, under the pall of ozone from the group's blasters, Tallie clicks her safety on and holsters her gun. Ducking under the foliage, she talks to the pilot, "Come on out. We've got them. Are you hurt at all?" She draws the man out from his hiding place, putting an arm around him to lead him towards the shuttle.
With the fight over and the pilot rescued, Yuun looks to the dead bodies of the men and he bows his head. "May you rest in the Force and find peace." He says somberly. No, the Jedi do no relish taking the life of others, though Yuun would respect those lives regardless. He sighs to himself, he walks back to the others, "Alright lets go." He says.
Ek-shiik, the wide-eyed kid who can probably count the number of times he's been outside the Tion Cluster on one hand, watches with wide eyes and clear awe as a laser sword deflects blaster bolts, and Resistance troopers mow down the hunters who'd been after him for hours.. all in a few moments. The demolished blaster cannon mounted on the speeder causes one repulsor coil to fail, thudding the rear to the ground in punctuation of the sudden and decisive end. Ek-shiik looks to Tallie, and remembers to nod a few times. "Uh. Yeah, miss- I mean ma'am. Lady ma'am. Um. Thanks." He managed to forget to mention his broken right arm.
The haste with which the rescue team look to return to their craft and get out of the system is only redoubled when the ship's sensors inform them all that a First Order Star Destroyer had arrived in the Tyrius System.
