First Reply A Bug Too Far

[Marcis Sorr]

Somewhere in the Mid Rim

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Despite his best efforts, his breathing was uneven and his pupils dilated, his purpose on the world forgotten. For the moment. Everything had been going so well too. Until they showed up. Ants the size of small bears, with mandibles and dripping venom and horrid chirping. Somehow, the chirping was the worst part.

He could still hear them, in the distance.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

---

The pitch is simple - the Sith currently panicking in the intro was doing something on some Mid-Rim planet or another. Maybe he was looking for ruins, or stealing something, or assassinating someone, or looking to meditate in peace and quiet. It might be important. Maybe your character was doing the same thing, maybe they are writing a doctoral thesis on giant ants, or maybe they crashed on the planet two years ago and have been surviving as a hunter-gatherer.

Let's just make it up as we go along.

 

[Aleena Aryss]

Location: Mid Rim
Tag: Marcis Sorr

Nope, Nope, Nope.

...

Nope.

"Get away from me!" Aleena screamed as giant ants circled around the boulder she was standing on for safety. What should have been a simple expedition to learn about the planet's flora had turned into a nightmare. The worst kind of nightmare, as it involved nasty insects, and these were huge too. Sadly, they also seemed relentless about their desire to... do whatever it is giant ants would do to someone like her.

The young Jedi Knight sighed, sat down, and pulled her knees up against her chest. She knew that she was hardly ready to be a Jedi Knight, but somehow she always seemed to end up in the most peculiar situations. All of them life-threatening, of course.

Why does it always have to be me?

Looking up at the ants, Aleena raised a hand through her blonde locks and rubbed her temples. She could try to fight them, or manipulate the environment the way she always did, but what if she messed up again? She didn't want to die or get hurt — she wanted to go back to the Temple and attend to patients in the halls of healing. So in her moment of panic, she did the one thing she could do without confronting the disgusting beasts.

Scream.

"Help! Please, someone?!"

 

[Marcis Sorr]

Stressed as he was, it took him a moment to identify the new sound. A scream - a call for help.

In the direction of chirping, because of course.

He was briefly tempted to ignore it, but what kind of warrior fled at the first sign of danger? Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, he began jogging in the direction of the scream, soles rolling near-soundlessly over the uneven terrain.

As he got within range, he quickly scaled a tree, the motion a bit less graceful than usual.

Before the ants' no doubt fine-tuned sense of smell detected him, he steadied an arm, took aim, and fired a small pellet through one's centre of mass. Usually, it would have hit a vital organ, but the bugs were wreaking havoc on his nerves.

 

[Aleena Aryss]

Location: Mid Rim
Tag: Marcis Sorr

A screech and one ant dropped dead.

Aleena's vibrant blue eyes widened and turned to look at the young man who had scaled a tree and opened fire with some kind of weapon. In all of her relief, she failed to pick up on his darker presence, and just let out a breath of air. At least, until the ants turned and a wave of them rushed towards Marchis, all with the intent to avenge their fallen critter.

"I can't let them..."

Her brows furrowed and her hand extended towards the group coming for him. Blue eyes began to glow, and from the earth, vines suddenly and rapidly extended up to ensnare them. It left them as easy targets for Marcis to pick off, and hopefully gave him a chance to maybe free her.

"I can't keep them stuck forever!" She called out, hoping to make it clear that this was a demanding skill to use.

 

[Marcis Sorr]

The plan had been to bolt once he had their attention; they were fast, but he was faster.

It seemed the rescuee had a few tricks up her sleeve... and a lightsaber on her hip. How unexpected.

He did not have the time nor the calm to closely examine the implications of that. Instead, he pushed down the dread he felt at the creatures' presence and fired off a volley of pellets. The accuracy was so-so, given the circumstances, but most still made contact. Enough made contact. Soon, their immediate surroundings were clear. Temporarily.

These particular ants were eusocial - and apex predators. They did not shun their own death-pheromones, they moved towards them to deal with whatever was intruding upon their hunting grounds.

"I hope you are fit enough to run for a while."

As if to emphasise his words, numerous feet could be heard approaching fast.

 

[Aleena Aryss]

Location: Mid Rim
Tag: Marcis Sorr

Bang, bang, bang.

Aleena watched the stranger gun down the entangled ants and finally allowed the vines to retreat back into the ground. Only the bodies of the ants remained behind, as well as a tired Jedi Knight. Blonde locks stuck to her sweaty forehead, and her breathing seemed erratic, both from exhaustion and fear of the deadly creatures.

"I'll keep up... I hope," she told him after jumping down from the boulder.

In reality, she wasn't sure if she could outrun those beasts for long, but sitting still was guaranteed death. She had already sent out a signal for help on Jedi frequencies, but she wasn't expecting any of them to show up soon. So one option remained — putting her trust in this stranger, despite the darker feelings that crept up against the edge of her mind.

"I'm uh, Aleena," she then added, before the sound of approaching ants caught her attention, and forced her into a sprint. "Do you have a ship somewhere? Mine was destroyed by the ants." Surely he must have gotten here with one unless he had the same luck she did, and all that remained was a chunk of metal with holes.

 

[Marcis Sorr]

"Marcis," He said, before falling into a steady run beside her. While seemingly quite stoic, he did glance back at the creatures with a mixture of disgust and apprehension. They were objectively horrific beings, as far as he was concerned.

That said, being able to see and hear them coming made it slightly better. It might seem strange, but he found himself preferring them to smaller, less dangerous things able to fly or crawl their way to him unnoticed.

"Mine's intact. I hope. It's not exactly close, though, Nor is it particularly big."

She was already looking worse for wear. Hardly a good sign.

Then there was the lightsaber - and the accompanying sensations. Had he just saved a Jedi, of all things?

 

[Aleena Aryss]

Location: Mid Rim
Tag: Marcis Sorr

"Well, it's all we have," Aleena said as she tried to run with her long silvery robes on. They slowed her down, and even without them, she clearly wasn't the type of person most would think of when talking about Jedi. She was in alright shape, but definitely not overly athletic, and her stamina was failing her far too quickly.

She was used to working as a healer, which was demanding in different ways.

To her right was a man who had introduced himself as Marcis, and even though they were in this mess together, she didn't feel particularly safe near him. There was something far too dark about his presence in the Force. So much so, that it distracted her right as they stepped around some boulders, and Aleena's foot stepped onto her dress right as she turned.

With a loud yelp, she hit the ground hard and cried out in pain.

The ants were closing in fast.

 

[Marcis Sorr]

If she was a Jedi, she was not living up to his expectations.

Truth be told, she did not seem like much of a warrior.

"Damn it." He snarled, glancing first at her fallen form, then the foliage - the ants weren't visible yet, but only because of the heavy obstruction. They would be here soon. "We've got to delay them." He noted, then reached for her lightsaber.

If she did not stop him, he would ignite it and promptly light the foliage behind him on fire.

 

[Aleena Aryss]

Location: Mid Rim
Tag: Marcis Sorr

"Hey!" Aleena yelled with widened eyes when he took her lightsaber, believing that he was about to just leave her behind while he took off with her weapon. But when he stepped past her to light the foliage on fire, she blinked, looked up at him and quickly crawled up to her feet. His little trick slowed the ants down, as they had to find a safe way around the fire, and gave her the time she needed to get back up.

She was a little bruised from the fall, but nothing that wouldn't heal just naturally.

"Come on, it won't hold them back forever," Aleena then said, embarrassed enough to not even ask him to give her lightsaber back. He was likely going to make better use of it than she would. "How much further is your ship?"

 

[Marcis Sorr]

Her rebuke was expected - those who possessed lightsabers tended to get rather attached to the weapons - but she was unwilling or unable to stop him from utilising it. Good. They could not afford delays.

Fortunately, it seemed to work, the fire driving the ants back. For a little while, anyway.

To his surprise, the Jedi did not demand the prompt return of his lightsaber - as they began jogging once more, he strapped it to his belt. Who knows, maybe he would have to start more forest fires. It would be prudent to return it if they had to fight the horrid things, however; two armed warriors was better than one.

Even if this Jedi seemed a bit timid.

"A few minutes. Five at most. Assuming no delays."

Behind them agitated chirping could be heard coming from not one, but two directions. Their pursuers seemed to split up in response to the fire. If they could not outrun them they would be caught in a pincer attack.

Aleena Aryss​