A Gorgantuan Mistake~

[Orphen]

News:

From the forests of Ossus there have been sightings of a mysterious creature haunting the shadows, after witnesses claim to have sighted a massive hulking creature terrorizing the local wildlife shortly after a light freighter was shot down entering the atmosphere of the planet by republic forces. The Galactic republic have sent multiple teams in to investigate the crash and have even discovered tracks leading into the forest... The cause of the missing people is still under investigation, but the state recommends that people avoid the forest area in the following co-ordinates until the area has been cleared as safe. The Jedi have yet to make a statement on the issue though it is widely assumed that they will be involved in the tracking, ensuring that everyone is safe...

This is your Holo-net broadcast, Serenity Starshower out. ~

Mission Briefing:

From the wreckage of a trade ship which had been importing illegal species onto the planet for fighting and sport, it seems that one of their catches was something a little more than normal, we're sending teams of Jedi into the forest to accompany the Galactic republic forces and aid them in the search and apprehension of the animal, hopefully we will be able to capture the poor creature and relocate it to its proper place. The prints leading from the scene show that the creature is large, and reptilian in nature, though, from the evidence we've received so far, that's all we are able to ascertain...

Ossus was a fantastic planet, the life which sprouted in every direction was nothing less than immaculate and serene to behold, Orphen however, had little time today to take in the beautiful aroma of the flora which spread out in every direction, as he, as well as many other Padawan assembled under the instruction of one of the Temple's Jedi knights had accepted the call to arms in order to give relief aid and guidance to the Soldiers of Ossus in this area. The number of Jedi allocated to the mission was poultry, no more than a couple of Padawan joining the Republic soldiers, the temple were more or less treating this instance as a training mission for the Padawans where were allocated to the task. Visor on, Orphen had been stationed with a group of about a dozen men, armed with plasteel armour and blaster rifles, more of a militia than military, he stood there awaiting the other member who seemed to be there to join them for the mission, a Jedi Padawan by the name of [member="Soma"] ... Orphen hadn't really heard anything about this new entrant, though, he was sure that he would be able to make up for any slack this particular Padawan created...

Orphen was wearing all of his basic equipment and his civilian attire, though, one of his shoto light-sabers was already in his hand, as more of a status symbol than anything else, showing people that he was one of the Jedi who would be helping on the mission, while several of the others were also dressed in their civilian wear, others were also dressed in the more traditional robes of the Jedi order and even light battle-armour in one of their cases...

And so he waited, patiently pacing back and forth as the others began to sortie for the mission which they were undertaking.

 

[Soma]

[member="Orphen"]

In his dreams, Soma was home. It was the same dream every time.

Soma found himself standing on top of an impossibly tall mountain overlooking a knotted chaos of valleys, peaks and caves. The top of the mountain felt lonely in his dream and the land below looked uninviting. In the dream he would stand there and watch as the landscape changed, transfiguring itself into a writhing helix of bones, spines interweaving with one another until finally climaxing in jawless, inhuman skulls. Soma usually woke up around the time the world in the dream changed but occasionally he would be afforded brief glimpses further into the dreams. In the dream Soma looked upwards from the sea of bones and gazed into the sky. An infinite expanse of shimmering colors throbbing and gyrating to the beat of some unseen drum. Soma could never describe in any meaningful way what exactly the sky looked like in his dream once he awoke but nevertheless he did look forward to the nights when he saw a little further into the silent nightmare.

Rhythmic thumping tore the boy from his sleep and rattled his brain. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed Soma rubbed his eyes and looked around for the source of the racket. It took Soma long enough to figure out that the sound was coming from his door, which was being pounded with insidious knocking. He stood and shambled towards the door, which opened of its own accord before Soma could even reach for the handle. The morning sun flared in his eyes and he rose his left hand to shield them. A silhouette took a step forward and after Soma's eyes adjusted, it was the familiar form of one Master Neva, a man whom Soma had a habit of dealing with. The two, despite some of their more hostile encounters, the two were actually quite close. When Soma had arrived here the first time with his Mother, Master Neva was the man who oversaw her treatment and ultimately recommended that he stay here once she recovered.

"Mister Ackermann," Neva said sternly "Do you know what time it is?"

"Far too late to still be sleeping, sir." Soma replied, his voice was a little hoarse still and he couldn't have sounded less interested.

"Far too late to still be sleeping indeed. In fact, it seems you haven't been doing much of anything lately which is why I have taken it upon myself to assign something for you to do myself."

Neva produced a holopad from his pocket and handed it to Soma, who grasped it sluggishly and squinted to see the words. It said something about assisting military in the forests with unloading supplies and taking stock of munitions, all sorts of relief work while the soldiers were busier than normal looking for something that had escaped into the forest. Soma had heard rumors here and there of something being loose in the forest, it was why the military was scrambling after all. After he finished reading the pad he felt quite optimistic about how the day was turning out. In spite of Master Neva's crude wake up call, Soma was grateful to have a chance to get out of the Academy and assist in some real work with the Military. Even if there wouldn't be any fighting, Soma was still glad to be doing something of a little consequence for once. He looked up at Neva and smiled warmly.

"Thanks." Soma said. Neva didn't reply, he just nodded and gestured for Soma to hurry and get dressed. The soldiers, Soma presumed, didn't like to be kept waiting.

Soma vanished back into his room and shut the door. After a shower, Soma dressed himself as practically as he knew how. He wore a pair of black pants, loose enough that their ends concealed the height of his dark burgundy boots. Over a thin grey t-shirt he wore a white coat and around his neck he coiled a deep orange scarf. He left for the encampment with holopad in hand half an hour after Master Neva had given him the information. The encampment he was heading towards wasn't far in the woods, which, truth be told, disappointed Soma a little. He had been looking forward to exploring some of the sense forests further away from civilization but as always, he knew he had to start somewhere.

Forest air somehow felt richer than the air at the Academy grounds. It was a shame that Soma, for once, strode hurriedly towards his objective and that wouldn't afford him time to really enjoy the walk. Soma arrived at the camp and it was less busy than he had hoped but it buzzed with the familiar rabble of military personnel. Armed men were gathering weapons and referencing boxes full of supplies and tools with long checklists. The holopad had said something about another Padawan who was supposed to be here but Soma couldn't see him right away. The Anzat entered the camp and prowled around the edges looking for someone who might seem out of place. When he finally saw Orphen he knew right away that this was the other from the Academy. The other Padawan was at least two, maybe three years older than Soma himself and between his bright hair and odd looking visor, he actually had an interesting look about him. Soma was quite excited to be working with this partner and he looked him head to toe one more time and found a detail that made his heart sink a little. Orphen clutched a lightsaber in his hand and held it proudly on display. Soma, yet to recieve the blessing to build a lightsaber of his own, relied solely on a blaster pistol and a small hunting knife when he ventured into the forest. Soma approached Orphen from in front and to the right and the Padawan would surely see Soma and it wouldn't be a far leap to assume that the fourteen year old was the other Padawan.

"I'm Soma." He extended his hand to shake and bit his bottom lip briefly before piping up again while he walked past Orphen and took up a position leaning against a large crate to the south of the other Padawan "You think we'll get to see that thing they're hunting?"

 

[Orphen]

Orphen stood waiting for a small amount of time before he saw someone new looking around the camp as the soldiers and some of the other padawan prepared themselves to go out and begin to track the creature. To some degree it was going to be pointless to follow its tracks entirely, as by the size of them, the creature they were after was large, and could have easily gone back on itself, so, while another team would be tracking its prints, others would be combing the area and mapping it so that the beast does not escape the search grid they were attempting to lay down. Orphen looked toward the padawan which approached him, and as he eyed up the person, he immediately found something interesting, his scanner didn't pick up any biological signatures, no bio-rhythm, nothing, it was as if the organic person who was standing before him was a corpse, and yet he was still moving and among the living, walking, talking... there were very few species in the galaxy which were capable of that, though, as he had not come into contact with any of them, be they in the Jedi archives which he was able to look through or even in his own experiences, he had not come across an Anzat, though, he could be sure it was going to be something he refreshed himself up on before too long, as soon as he arrived home it would likely be one of the first things on his agenda, though, for now, he had to be official, looking to the younger male, Orphen smiled as the boy approached, he was not dressed like the others, so it could be assumed that he was not army, and was more in league with himself in the Jedi order, which was something which was going to be handy to say the least. Though Orphen could not sense a light-saber on his person, though he could sense the pistol and the knife, which were on his person, which probably meant that the Padawan was rather green, or came from a people who were more used to those kinds of tools rather than the more advanced light saber.

"It's nice to meet you, but i think the goal is to be doing more than that, the soldiers look the the Jedi for council, although we're only padawan, you'll find quickly that even a padawan holds a considerable amount of respect and pull in the military, easily that of an officer, I think we'll get to see it for sure, but more than likely, it will be us which has to bring it down... The footprints here assume that this creature likely has a height of upwards on fifteen feet, there aren't many reptiles which are that large, or leave hair... which they will pick up on soon at the crash site... "

Orphen was lost in thought, but it was not long after he spoke when, after the last Padawan and soldiers had been briefed and ready, that they began to move out, squads were assigned and the Jedi with them had been spread out as a training exercise for the squads, meaning that the Jedi order did not feel like this would be a terribly hard mission for the Padawan, it was meant to be routine, likely they may have to get their hands dirty with a wild animal, but, hopefully it would not come to that, Orphen had no knowledge of how to commune with wild creatures, but, he felt like if one of the falconers among the Jedi had been here, this could be solved far faster than sending the inexperienced padawans and giving them a road test in the forests of Ossus. Orphen somewhat wished that Sera was here helping them with the mission, but, it was too late for that now... Orphen began to walk with the men, standing beside them as the soldiers did not seem to even so much as take a second look at Orphen... obviously the child was not interesting enough to hold their attention due to the casual nature of his attire and the basic weapons attached to his thighs... but, Orphen did not really have the time to care. The group of them were beginning to move through the brush, they needed to keep their eyes open, and Orphen needed to be ready for anything... he could remember at least 4 species of reptiles which were resistant to blaster fire, one of them which lightsabers would be hard to get close to, 2 of them which were poisonous... but, at least they weren't dealing with those damn cats...

Orphen was trying to remember any information about the hutt trade with large animals, but there was too much information to go through, and none of it gave any definitive answer to what they were hunting... And orphen was relying too much on his own memory and technology to have a concentrated pull on the use of the force.

"I'm Orphen by the way... Orphen Sathariel... what's your name? Do you have a feel for anything yet?"

Orphen spoke lightly, trying to break the silence a little, but not so much as that it would distract the troops around them.

[member="Soma"]