Hunting In the Void

[Verd Skirata]

Verd pulled into the clearing following the platforms Corruck had sent coordinates to. Seeng the small pile of ysalamir, he figured he had best get busy catching up. He quickly moved over to another tree and started cutting the wood around the claws. They would make quite the haul today, and he knew that this , being his trial mission for the guild, would set the standard he had for his mission record. Best make his one count then, he thought. He looked over to , Mird'ika, and saw her stretching out in the sun, content, but alert to the slightest of xhanges in the group's safety.
[member="Corruck Kazen"]

 

[Corruck Kazen]

As Corruck continued working, he made a quick calculation, something to just keep his mind running. If, if, he was able to fill all his nutrient frames then that would be 200 hundred Ysalamirs. At the bounty rate that the guild had placed, 50000 credits a Ysalamiri, that would make about 10 million credits. Split between [member="Verd Skirata"] that was about 5 million total from Corruck's haul alone. He didn't know how much Verd could carry so he didn't add that to the equation. There was also the extra bounty of the tree saplings and soil samples. He didn't know how much was being paid for those either so he dropped them. So based on the simple number of his max carrying limit, there would be enough money to afford his personal work for a few years to come.

He decided to further figure the numbers, so he asked Verd, "Hey Verd, how much cargo capacity do you have for these things?" By knowing almost the exact number he would have a fairly good idea how much was going to be made.

For a moment his thoughts were broken off by seeing something moving along the ground. When he turned to look he didn't see anything. He assumed it was a leaf or something moving, however he wasn't certain. He pulled his attention back to the job of cutting free this Ysalamiri.

 

[Verd Skirata]

[member="Corruck Kazen"]
"I only have about a hundred frames on my ship, but I should have another hundred here a little after the mid day point." Verd replied to his partner, hearing the leaves, slight rustle in the leaves on the ground, he turned to check it out. Not seeing anything, he looks to mird. "Mird, perimiter." He commanded, then wathed as Mird started to check anyhing within a 30 meter radius and then went to pace around said perimiter keeping an eye out for intruders of any kind. He went back to work filling up his rack completely, and then asked Corruck, "You mind if I help fill up your rig before heading back for the rest of my frames?"

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck nodded the numbers were very much in their favor. The amount of money was quickly stacking up. That would be about 20 million credits... if what [member="Verd Skirata"] said was the max capacity of his ship. While the Recalcitrant could hold many more Ysalamirs than the lowly 200, he hadn't made the space in his holds and didn't have all the frames it could hold. The money then, if split between the two of them evenly, would be ten million a person, though he had to keep in mind the possibility of taxing issues and other such small economic matters that would affect the overall count. It depended on hos he was being paid, whether by direct transaction or via accessing specific accounts or other ways.

He smiled when Verd sent his friend... or was it a pet? Corruck didn't know, he hadn't seen a creature like it before. He wasn't concerned though, he assumed that if Verd had it then it was safe. The creature must be Verd's way of keeping the area secure. If Vornskr began to creep up on them, then they would likely not know until too late. Corruck didn't expect to come across any creatures, if only because it was day at this point. Though, they were supposed to be nocturnal there were always going to be one or two packs that would come out during the day.

He pulled another Ysalamiri free, the beast crying apparently upset about the treatment. Corruck smiled a little, these creatures were so interesting... so like every other creature in the galaxy. They didn't like to be moved when they found one place to stay. Most creatures in the galaxy were less obvious, but they didn't like to be moved from their lives if they found it to be comfortable.

"Sure go ahead. I'm not going to fill both of those things by myself, at least not in the near future." He answered Verd. One rig could hold about thirty Ysalamirs, each Ysalamiri took the better part of a minute too prepare before putting them in there. At about a minute a Ysalamiri, thirty was half an hour. The cutting of the wood around the claws was such a delicate procedure, one slight slip and the slaw would be cut, leading to the death of the unlucky creature.

So as to avoid having to continually move back and forth with the sleds, Corruck pulled out his datapad and sent an order to the sleds to return back to the ship when the weight reached a certain limit. The limit was set to about how much thirty or so Ysalamirs would weigh. He hoped that this day would not end in some disaster, it was going so well...

He thought he heard something again, but he didn't see anything. This time it was scratching on bark, it was difficult to tell how close it was because of all the trees. The fact that the trees had a heavy metal content, which made it difficult to use sensors with much effect in the forests, also made a slight echo with smaller noises or sounds of specific frequencies.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd heard a pile of leaves rustle farther out into the forest and asked [member="Corruck Kazen"] "Do you hear something out there as well?" Almost immediately after saying this he heard a ysalamir give out a cry of either shock or pain, not knowing which he turned his head in time to see his strill bolt to where he thought the sound had originated from. "Wonder what caused that?" He muttered, then having heard a series of yelping and growling and even a bit of ripping flesh he yelled "Corruck Secure the ysalamir, We have a problem!" He rushed off into the trees and pulled out his blasters, looking for whatever had attacked his strill. He quickly found her inside a ring of vornskyr fighting them one at a time, as if they had a code of honor or something. There were already three vornskyr carcases on the ground beside her, and the others didn't seem as patient. He fired his tranq gun at as many as he could, then fired his blasters at the rest, he had tranquilized 2 of them, and killed 3 more leaving eight running away. He knew they would be back, and he'd be waiting.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck was quick to obey, he dropped from the tree, not caring about the slight pain in his knee from the fall. In a moment, he was beside one of the grav sleds, the other one was currently en route to the Recalcitrant. That made it easier, somewhat. There were still Vornskr in the area, which meant that there was imminent danger and probably there was going to be pain. He still remembered his last time here. The individual and small packs of Vornskr could be handled fairly easily, it was the large packs that would be difficult. They would often overwhelm with sheer numbers, that was what Karneth and Corruck had learned the first expedition. Fortunately, the first time they had been armed well enough to keep the Vornskr back long enough to get what they needed and to leave.

Now he sat in silence, listening to the wind, the sounds of the Ysalamirs, and the crunching of leaves under feet. That was when he opened his eyes, he saw the glint of eyes in the dark only just a moment before the attack began. A Vornskr leaped up and directly at Corruck, who was only just able to bring his rifle in alignment to shoot. The tranquilizer stunned the animal before it fell across Corruck. Corruck fell back, trying to compensate for the extra weight throwing him backwards. He was able to move back just in time to see the next Vornskr attacked. The creature was too quick, knocking Corruck back with a swipe at his chest. Corruck rolled, dropping the tranquilizer as he went. He came up again, letting the momentum from the roll bring him to his feet again. In his hand he had a knife, a long somewhat worn looking knife. It was one in which Corruck had placed many memories.

Maybe placed was the wrong word, more like had a few good memories with. Well... good was definitely the wrong word, it was more of incredibly painful memories. It was the knife he had gotten during the interrogation by Dredge. He had fought strange monsters with this blade, had held onto it as his arm was cut off and his face was burned. When he was released, the knife had been dropped into the snow along with himself. He had kept, a reminder of what one can do when one the had conviction to do it. He had defended children, children who would later be sent to medical facilities and eventually integrated back into society.

He slashed to the left, the knife leaving a long gash along the Vornskr's mid body. The creature fell to the ground, whimpering as Corruck slid down and in a single motion wiped up his rifle and began firing at the next few Vornskr that began to enter his line of sight. This was going to be a long day. He hoped [member="Verd Skirata"] was having better luck.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd called for mird to follow him back to the clearing and then saw the vornskyr that were trying to get to the ysalamir on the repulsorsleds. "Oya Mird!" This was a call to action and Mird knew it. She went after the few of them that were coming up behind [member="Corruck Kazen"]. She quickly dispenced with all three of the beasts, seeming to pay them back for forming a mob and coming after her earlier. Verd, having a full 360 degree vision, was able to see the entire clearing at once especially focusing in on the 5 snarling beasts behind him. he quickly turned and fired his blaster at them, taking out two on the first sweep. hopefully this would be over soon.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck shot down another Vornskr as [member="Verd Skirata"] and Mird came in, quickly dispatching many of the creatures and making the odds that much more favorable. The potential targets quickly were cut down from over a dozen to about four or five, based on his current position. He would have to move in order to be able to shoot more enemies. Verd and Mird were both doing an incredible job, however they created obstacles that Corruck would rather not accidentally hit.

He fired off two shots at one Vornskr who appeared to be making a run at Mird from the side. He didn't see if he had gotten it. His attention was fully on the next target and the amount of shots in his current magazine. He had four shots left in his magazine so he would need to reload fairly soon. Now that he had moved a meter to the left his target parameters were suddenly much less constricted. He had a much larger firing arc now without the possibility of hitting his friends. Within that arc were about ten targets, all not currently engaged with his two allies.

It looks like they would hit the one pack that wasn't nocturnal for now. "Blast." He hoped that there weren't many more Vornskr in this pack.

He fired off the last four shots in his magazine before rolling backwards back into the comparative safety of the group battles. He saw only one shot hit, but he didn't spend enough time to actually see if any of the others had struck home. He quickly reloaded, but when he pulled the trigger he felt a misfire. That was much worse. He pulled out the magazine, he would have to remove the top tranquilizer dart, which had been ruined by the misfire. Instead he dropped the gun and magazine and pulled out his blaster pistol. Unfortunately, the pistol was not a stun weapon, meaning it would kill his targets.At this point he wasn't too concerned.

As he opened fire, Corruck noticed something changing in the circumstances around him. It took him a moment before he realized that the change was the grav sled moving. The weight on it must have activated the programming command. He noticed a stunned Vornskr on the grav sled's bed, that probably pushed the limit on the command. That would remove some cover, making a larger gap in which Vornskr could and most likely would surround them. He tried to increase his effective attack area, stepping back towards the sled as it moved. He took aim and fired left and right as two Vornskr tried to jump onto the grav sled.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd saw the pesky mutts jumping towards the rupulsor sled and decided to move to some higher ground, getting out of [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s firing arc. The other certainly took care of himself when he needed to. Verd quickly found a sturdy tree with a decent area of coverage where he could watch the other side of the sled. using his jetpack to propel himself to the tree's height, he grabbed onto a branch and then slung his upper body onto the tree. taking out both blaster pistols, he was able to target many more of the beast, on his heat scanner it only showed about 15 more of the pack. he felt the pistol he had been using signal it's last five shots and ejected the clip holstered it, and reached to his belt, putting in another power pack then drawing the weapon again while using the other pistol to put out a constant stream of fire. He had hit 2 of the fifteen he had seen with shots that were almost certain kills, and 3 more crippling to minor injuries. But he couldn't really be sure. all he knew was that two were out for the count and he tagged them as such on his hud. Corruck and Mird were easily holding their own. It seemed like all that was left was a dwindling eight vornskyr, which were becoming more and more unsure of their ability to win this fight. He hoped this was truly their last leg. "Looks like there is only about eight left!" He called out to let Kazen know.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

"Good. We got this!" Corruck yelled in reply, feeling a bit too much adrenaline to keep his voice steady. He fired off two shots, seeing one hit its intended target and the other striking the ground nearby another Vornskr. The first Vornskr fell, twitching only slightly before falling still, the other jumped sideways, almost knocking into another Vornskr as it did so.

Corruck could tell now that the creatures were obviously no longer certain of their ability to win this fight. Their lack of cooperation made that apparent to him and he hoped that they would soon give up. He had an idea of how to deal with that, maybe make them turn tale before any more would need to die.

He pulled out one of his blaster magazines, filled with Tibanna gas. Oh yes, his little stunt on Kessel had worked effectively on the energy spiders. The one thing he would have to compensate for was the fact that there was much more atmosphere on Mykrr than on Kessel. That would make it slightly less amusing in appearance, but also much less damaging. The first time he had done this, the magazine had basically become a flamethrower grenade. He hoped that it wouldn't act like that in this case, the damage that a flamethrower could do to the forest was far too great to be worth the use.

He used his right hand to force the seal. that would open when attached to a weapon. open. He could almost smell the Tibanna gas as it rushed to escape. He tossed the magazine as far away from himself as possible, yet still within effective range. As the little device fell to the ground, Corruck fired three shots almost directly on top of it. The lasers burned the ground around it and the grass burned for a single moment. In that moment, the Tibanna ignited, for an agonizing moment the gas burned until it hit the main magazine's ammo supply. Because there was more than enough oxygen in the surrounding area, the flame entered and found a large amount of fuel. It combusted instantly. There was the sound of air being pushed away and then the area was lit up as if a star had suddenly landed on the planet's surface.

Corruck was blinded, his ears filled with ringing. It took him a moment to regain his ability to see, when he did he was glad to see that most of the Vornskr had run back into the forest. One remained, wounded by the shrapnel from the magazine's metal. He felt a small amount of pain at the creature's suffering. But he realized that there was more pain coming from his right arm, a small piece of metal was twisted in at an unnatural angel, obviously a piece from the same magazine. It would take a little bit of repairing to remove and repair the arm, but not much. Fortunately, his right arm was completely mechanical, from the same person he had gotten his knife.

He looked around, trying to see if [member="Verd Skirata"] were still there. He felt slightly disoriented, probably due to the shockwave from the explosion. He should be alright fairly soon. He imagined that he was feeling a little embarrassed, such a move had probably been quite foolish on his part, and definitely a little bit over the top. The past was the past though, he would just have to learn from his mistakes. Especially he would have to remember to keep some of that compulsive behavior in check.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd jumped down from the tree, shooting the vornskr across from [member="Corruck Kazen"] in the ead to end it's pain. He was glad that mird was on the far side of the repulsor sled when Kazen set off his improvized incendiary grenade. He walked to his speeder and pulled out the fire extinguisher he had . After putting out what remained of the fire he turned to Kazen. "That was stupid, You should have realized the fact that we are in a forrest, gathering a species that lives on trees, which burn easily. not only that, but now you have damaged some of the product we already gathered." He said pulling an injured ysalamir off of a nutrien frame and noticing the mortal wound it had suffered put it out of its misery. "If you wanted a safe alternative, my flame thrower would have been a much more focused stream of flame." Verd left him at that leaving Kazen to think about what he had caused. Verd walked back through the forest to where he had tranquilized the three vornskr and used one of his lightsabers to bob off their tails, allowing the wounds to instantly cauterize. All it was as of right now was a cutting tool. at least until he could be trained in the usage of such instruments. he took a length of cable out of his pack and hogtied the vicious predators, and placing one on mird's back carried the other two beasts with some effort back to the speeder. Grateful that the two he carried were young, he place them in his cargo compartment, and would put them in a cage on his ship later. now it was time to get back to work. Maybe Kazen had gotten over his compulsiveness.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck at first felt indignant, he had made a quick decision, one that was not exactly the best in the circumstances, but he had made one that was quite effective. He had known from the beginning that there would be some flames, however the explosion had all but removed most of the oxygen needed for any truly dangerous fire. The small ones that were left were by far too small and [member="Verd Skirata"] far too quick for them to actually have been any threat. He had analyzed, in the few moments that it had taken to make his decision, the damage that could have been done even in the worst case scenario and the possible benefits and had found that they balanced one another out fairly well. The loss of one Ysalamiri was unfortunate, however it was still recoverable. The death of a Vornskr was also tragic and also recoverable from. the majority of the Ysalamirs were safe, as they had been moving away from the explosion at a rate that basically guaranteed they survival.

Corruck had been a crimelord, for a long time. His compulsiveness, while not safe and not always completely thought through, was analyzed quickly and normally efficiently before he acted on it. The only times that that had ever failed him was usually during times of great stress and adrenaline. He knew that that had been one of those moments. He could argue all he wanted that his decision was justified, however he understood that he was not perfectly correct in his assessment. He was however, glad that he had not called for Verd's flamethrower.

He smiled to himself, not an amused smile but the smile of one who was berating himself. He was upset that he was trying to make excuses for himself and his choices. He needed no excuse, he knew that he was wrong in some cases this probably being one of them. He would learn from the mistake and prepare himself. When Verd returned, Corruck smiled, this time filled with mirth. It wasn't true joy though, it was forced.

He let all appearance of an internal battle disappear from his outward body. He took on the stance of someone who had not had anything negative in the recent time. "So got some new pets then eh. How many are there at the moment?"

 

[Verd Skirata]

"There are three here, let's hurry up and finish this load, so I can get these bad boys in a cage." Verd replied quickly getting back to work after looking Mird over. He didn't see anything too bad, just a few scratches that would heal with time. After they finished the load, he would have time to secure these beasts properly, and then maybe he could see about training them. But for now he had to focus on the task at hand. The worst that could happen had already passed, and now it was time to get back to work. He grabbed the ysalamir one by one not stopping until he had what he could take back to his ship. He hoped [member="Corruck Kazen"] would take some time to think about the effects of what he had done, though Verd knew that it had worked, and was a trick he would most likely use sometime in the future.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck nodded smiling, it was far too happy to be him. He detested falling to such a simple deception. Hiding emotions was not a normal concept of his, in fact only when brokering deals or playing difficult games of risk. It was one of the least useful forms of deception, yet he used it at the moment. He understood its usefulness, but he preferred to avoid using it, such a tool was used far too often.

He worked quickly with precise movements, cutting the Ysalamirs he wanted from the trees and gently placing them onto his grav sled. The creatures would be fine, once the grav sled returned to the Recalcitrant, Sheera and the others would hopefully be taking the creatures and placing them into nutrient frames. That would make it much easier.

"So aside from the obvious foolishness of the explosion, is there anything you can suggest?" He spoke in a tone and manner that portrayed humor, meaning that he was asking as a joke rather than actual seriousness, however Coruck was actually hoping that there would be at least a little bit of seriousness in [member="Verd Skirata"]'s response.

 

[Verd Skirata]

"Well, your riflemanship is a little sloppy, especially when aiming for moving targets, you need to track your targets instead of blindly waving the thing around towards your next target and shootin." Verd paused before continuing. "Then you need to smile, and get yourself a real incendiary grenade, here try this one out." He tossed [member="Corruck Kazen"] one of them off of his utility belt. "It has a five second timer, I already counted to three." Verd smiled knowing the man would have to decide wether or not to tell if he was lying in about a second and decide to toss it away, or hold it in his hands. He honestly hadn't primed it, but he wanted to see Kazen's face.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck agreed, his marksmanship was not up to par with someone more proficient with the weapon. That was to be expected though, as Corruck did not spend as much time with guns. He normally preferred the more tricky warfare rather than the simple blast your opponents. He would need training yes, especially as the Rebels grew more and more aggressive.

Corruck caught the grenade a moment before [member="Verd Skirata"] talked about the timer. Corruck's immediate instinct was to lob the grenade as far away as possible. In fact, he almost did. What stopped him was a momentary thought, maybe it was a joke. It wasn't just that thought, something as trivial as that kind of thought would not have stopped his reaction. His mind quickly ran down a list of possible reasons, why Verd might throw him an incendiary grenade armed. Maybe he didn't like Corruck, maybe he was upset about the accident earlier, maybe he was trying to get all the bounty for himself. None of those possibilities seemed reasonable though they were completely possible.

His face would still show the shock of the situation, but he was controlled on the inside. His initial idea was to throw it back, but he decided to just put it away. In a moment his face took on the look of one who had been caught in a surprise, a mix of embarrassment and humor. "Had me there for a moment. Don't like my grenades?" He asked smiling.

[member="Verd Skirata"]

 

[Verd Skirata]

"Well, they are a little bit too unpredictable, if you know what I mean." Keep that baby for next time, and I can help with your shooting if you need some assistance with it. I have been using weapons my whole life, and had to be proficient in most if not all forms of combat." Verd paused looking at his companion. " You think we should go to the other forest, or do you think we got our full load out of these here?" He asked [member="Corruck Kazen"] , then noticing that he still hadn't fixed his rifle from the earlier conflict, he offered to take a look at the weapon for his partner.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck looked down at the ground, the rifle was still in working condition. It had just misfired and the dart had broken, causing a jam that was very problematic in the middle of a fight. He picked up the weapon, pulling the magazine out of its position. He didn't see the dart fall out, so he assumed that it had been caught up in the gun. As he turned the gun over in his hand he said to [member="Verd Skirata"], "Eh, it's alright. A quick fix, but one that it very inconvenient in battle. And I think we should head into the forest again, my sleds are filled to about thirty or so Ysalamirs. Only two or three loads have been taken so that is sixty to ninety Ysalamirs. Unless you carried more than a hundred of these things we have a long way to go."

He contemplated accepting the offer of training, it would be very helpful. He would need it at some point, the last time he had been a big blaster scrap he had been taken prisoner and handed over to Dredge. Thanks to that he lost his right arm and the left side of his face. Not that more experience in blasters would have helped him, they had been so outnumbered...

 

[Verd Skirata]

"Alright, Backt to it we go." Verd said grabbing a bottle or two of something good, and a couple sandwiches. he tossed Mird a raw nerf steak, and then said, I'm ready when you are." Verd then thought about his armory, and walked back into his ship. Looks like I have a weapon or two in here, that might make defending against those pesky critters easier. He refueled his Jetpack, and grabbed a Z-6 Rotary blaster cannon that he could mount onto his vehicle, with the generator that he could carry as a backpack if needed. he also grabbed a few of the standard fireworks that provided a blinding distraction. Those would be quite useful if they ran into any more Vornskr on the way to the forest. Carrying the load out to his speeder, he asked [member="Corruck Kazen"] if the man had any kind of night vision or thermal vision with him. If he didn't Verd could easily make a quick trip inside of his ship to grab a spare helmet. as it was looking like they might have to stay out a little later than dark to finish this job.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck nodded, "Yah I got some, give me a moment."

He ran up the loading ramp, dodging Rathur as he moved a Ysalamiri from the sled to the frames inside. Corruck returned in about a minute, with an ugly helmet. It appeared to have been cobbled together from pieces of other headpieces and was held together by fused Duraplast. He smiled and placed it over his head. The helmet did not appear any nicer while being worn. The thing had a pair of goggles attached to the top and Corruck now pulled the goggles down and over his eyes. The hat made a buzzing noise for a moment before the goggles appeared to turn bright green. Corruck let a lopsided grin come over his face as he looked left, right, then at [member="Verd Skirata"]. "What do you think? Got these at a Jawa market on Tatooine."

The helmet actually wasn't a night vision device, it was a technological nightmare that he had in fact gotten from Jawas on Tatooine. The goggles would allow Corruck to see in the dark, and they weren't attached or reliant on the helmet in any way, he had thrown it on just to see how Verd would react.