Hunting In the Void

[Verd Skirata]

Verd looked at the hunk of absolute trash [member="Corruck Kazen"] had on his head and sighed. Though he wasn't one to complain about combat worn armor of any kind, the helmet seemed to be made of any and every kind of scrap metal kark that was just kriffing lying around an abandoned metal shop. "What is that hunk of Kriffing chit you have on your head?" Verd asked, knowing he wouldn't wait around for an answer. walking back into his ship, he came out with another matte black mandalorian helmet. He hadn't set up any of the helmet's functions except thermal vision, night vision and the internal commlink. "Try this buy'ce on and tell me what you think." Verd said as he tossed Kazen the helmet. It was a basic setup, but it would more than work for the purposes of this mission. "If you like it you can keep it." Knowing that this helmet was part of a set of armor that was sold on the open market by MandalHypernautics. "To change vision types, blink twice while looking at the icon in the upper right hand corner. To open the comm channel, the icon in the left." Verd explained quickly knowing that the helmet was capable of so much more. stuff, it was unbelievable that a person could live without such a substantial amount of technology. Of course he had to go without at some times, but the H.U.D. had saved his life countless times.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck smiled as [member="Verd Skirata"] sounded very surprised and dismayed. He hoped he wasn't having too much fun with his companion, after all it was just a joke. He pulled off the helmet, letting a few thin rusty wires break away from the goggles. He tossed the headgear back into his ship, he heard it crash and he bet that it would be broken when he at last returned to it. He wasn't too concerned, after all it was not something that he had ever understood. That thing was probably built to accommodate a Jawa's unique thought process and they would probably figure out how to use it much quicker than he... for whatever its purpose was.

He was about to respond when Verd walked off, Corruck waited patiently until Verd returned. He pulled off the goggles and held them at his side waiting until the man had returned. He caught the helmet and looked at the outside, it did look like a good piece of work. It also seemed quite nice looking. He pulled it on listening carefully to Verd as he spoke. He looked up at the corner and blinked twice. His eyes hurt a little from the sudden change and he pulled it off.

"Quite good. Looks like it will work quite nice. Ready to head out?"

 

[Verd Skirata]

"I am game if you are." Verd said as he hopped back in his speeder, motioning for his strill to follow him. He thought they would have enough time to get all of their nutrien frames filled up and off the planet before nightfall. Starting up the speeder he waited for [member="Corruck Kazen"] to take the lead to the other forest that he knew about. This would be a very profitable job for him, and so far, he enjoyed being i nature, even if he had been forced to kill few vornskr.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck jumped onto the one of the grav sleds. He let the sleds continue following their orders, moving back towards the original site. He felt that so far the expedition had turned out quite well. Minimal losses and had so far made quite a large profit, once of course they were off planet.

"How many till your hold it full?" Corruck asked [member="Verd Skirata"] via comm. His ship was getting full but wasn't there yet.

 

[Verd Skirata]

"My ship should be able to hold about a a hundred fifteen more, I think." Verd sighed knowing his inferior rigging wouldn't allow him to keep up with [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s pace, but he would have to do his best for now. Afterwards he could talk to his partner about getting a better system in place. Upon arriving at the site, he hopped off the speeder and got back to work. Mird still making a perimeter check against unwanted enemies and foes. Things seemed to be going smoothly once again.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck nodded he hoped to be able to help load [member="Verd Skirata"]'s ship as well. After all, it wouldn't be too long hopefully to fill his own ship. He looked forward to leaving this planet even though it was quite a nice place. Just a little too dangerous for him at this point.

Once they had arrived, Corruck let himself off the grav sled and began harvesting more Ysalamirs, keeping an eye out in case of any sudden movements. That earlier attack was a little rattling.

 

[Verd Skirata]

The two of them seemed to be quite the team at wrangling the Ysalamirs. They seemed to be keeping pace with what the other was doing almost to the exact movements. It was strange, but after a while, Verd got used to working with the Force nullifying creatures, which was strange. At the time, he and [member="Corruck Kazen"] seemed to be right on pace with each other, and he felt the coolness of the evening setting in. They must have spent the longest time just trying to get enough Ysalamirs to fill their load that the time had flown by. By Verd's count there wasn't but maybe 30 more to load onto his ship before they could head out and he was glad to almost be leaving this planet. "How many do you have to throw on your ship still?" Verd asked to find out where his companion was on cargo space, hoping the answer was just a few more or even better, none.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck felt sweat, mostly from the heat of midday, trickling slowly down his back. At the same time, he felt the comfortable temperature of evening hitting in. It was a very nice change. He slowly took the last Ysalamiri from its tree and gently placed it on the grav sled. It was amusing to see that no matter how lightly or nicely he tried to move the creatures they were almost always upset. Well, it wasn't like he would enjoy being treated in the same way. After all, they were being removed from their home where they had spent almost all of their lives and were being put onto a cold and very alien surface. From there they would be removed from their planet, the air would smell strange along with the noise. He pitied them to some degree, however he also knew that they would be taken care of.

Corruck heard [member="Verd Skirata"] ask something, it took a moment before the words actually sank in. "Well this last set should be it. There is still some room if you'd like to put some more for yours on there."

 

[Verd Skirata]

"That would be most appreciated, as I am running out of space on my speeder's rigging anyhow." Verd said glad that they were almost done, and the next creature, instead of finding a way to up the storage space of his speeder in some way, he simply placed on [member="Corruck Kazen"]'s sled. If they continued at this rate they would be leaving the planet well before nightfall. If there were going to be Vornskyrs out and about, he wanted nothing to do with them any more. If it could be avoided in any way, he would avoid another attack, though the longer they were here, the more chances of being attacked. Just the thought sent shivers down his spine.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck smiled. [member="Verd Skirata"] seemed to want to get off this planet almost as much as he did. Well at least that put them on the same page. He ran back to the trees, picked out a few and began ferrying them back to the grav sled. The time here was almost done. Next time, he promised himself, next time he would find a different contract and take that instead. Wait... There was something that he felt he had forgotten. What was it? Ah yes, that was it. If he could fit some more trees and soil onto the grav sled that would help fill out the payment a little more. After all, there was supposed to be a bonus on that stuff, might as well take advantage of it.

He noticed that the one grav sled that was here was almost full, but he bet he could fit a few trees on there. The sapling, while technically delicate, were hardy enough to survive some rough treatment, as he had learned last time he was here. As he walked by a sapling that seemed to be doing well, he used his empty right hand and grabbed the young tree near the base of the trunk. While normally one would have to rip almost all the roots on a tree to pull it out of the ground, young saplings had roots that were both resilient and less developed, meaning that pulling them out of the ground was less likely to damage them in a permanent manner.

The tree came free from the dirt, some of smaller roots breaking free from the trunk. He deftly moved it over to the grav sled and laid it beside the Ysalamirs. At least it didn't complain about its treatment. Now trees would be pretty easy to obtain here, and the dirt should have been collected by Sheera and the crew. If his orders had been followed there would be one metric-ton of soil sitting in one of the auxiliary cargo holds. Corruck could remember when the scientists of ReCal had had to use his ship as a base of work. They often used the cargo holds as their preparation areas and work stations. The amount of space that Corruck had been able to open up since the scientists had left was definitely useful.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd saw [member="Corruck Kazen"] grabbing some saplings, and remembered the bonus that they would be payed for the little pieces of shrubbery. He would have to go back to the ship to get the pots necessary to hold them, he had grabbed fifteen of them and a shovel to assist him in digging the trees up, but leaving them inside of the soil they had lived their lives in. He hoped this would keep them alive longer than if he simply pulled them up out of the ground. Corruck, however seem ed to resort to the faster and harsher method of pulling them out of the ground. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the most recent one that was pulled up have its tap root break off. and seeing as to how the tree wouldn't survive more than a week to a week and a half tops, he decided to let his friend know. "Might wanna toss that one away vod, the tap root is broken." He saw Mird'ika still inspecting the perimiter and smiled though nobody could see it. over the short time they had together, the two of them had grown close, and would often 'spar' together, it was good for learning how an animal attacks, especially a semi-sentient creature. It also served as a way to grow their friendship.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck continued to pull trees as gently as he could from the ground, most of their root systems stayed intact aside from a few small roots breaking. He knew from previous experience that they could survive awhile without soil, maybe a few hours without too much in the way of long term negative effects. When [member="Verd Skirata"] noted that one of the tree's had a broken tap root Corruck nodded agreeing with him. Of course, the tree could possibly still survive if it were taken care of. It would need a little more water, would have to stay out of direct sunlight and would likely need some extra nutrients added to the soil. However, it still had a possibility of surviving, after all it was a younger plant and often they could handle such harsh treatment.

None the less, Corruck placed the sapling back into his place, digging out some of the dirt and then replanting the young tree. If it survived then it would be stronger for the experience, if it didn't then it would be food for the next tree.

Soon Corruck had filled the grav sled. It held the last of the Ysalamirs and a good fifteen saplings. He hoped that that would be enough for now. It was getting dark and what they had faced earlier would be nothing compared to the number of Vornskr they would have deal with at night.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd noted that the last of the creatures had been collected, and that meant payday was coming. "Looks like that is the rest of them." He commented, "you about ready to start heading back to our ships?" He asked hoping, he really was about done with the planet, but he still had to collect his saplings before he left the planet. He knew [member="Corruck Kazen"] would most likely be just as ready to get off the planet as he was. He called to his strill, and motioned for her to hop into his speeder. Hopping in himself, he looked to Kazen to find out if he was ready to head back.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck finished placing the last sapling he had onto the grav sled. He felt exhausted, it was strange he was used to more work than this but something about this had been enough to tire him out. He smiled when [member="Verd Skirata"] asked if he was ready to go. The man definitely wanted to get out of here. He nodded in response as he jumped onto the sled and it began moving.

Corruck soon returned to his ship, fully stocked and ready to go. He had the full 200 Ysalamirs, almost thirty tree saplings, and one ton of soil. If those people needed stuff to experiment with, then they would hopefully have everything they need.

Corruck let Sheera and the rest of the crew take care of the last pieces of preparation while he turned his attention to Verd."Thanks for the great time. I hope that you came out alright... vod?"

 

[Verd Skirata]

"Yeah, take care of yourself vod" Verd said to [member="Corruck Kazen"], then he replied. "Vod means brother, or fellow warrior. In the light of what we have accomplished, i'd say a little bit of both are true. When this is all over, let's buy a drink or something." Verd took off his helmet and smiled, holding out his hand to the other man. "I just got a little bit more to do here, but I can handle it if you wanna get out of here, I don't blame you." He said putting his helmet back on, It had been one fun adventure, now he just had to harvest 15 or so saplings, which shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck shook [member="Verd Skirata"]'s hand. He had not learned mandalorian, however now he knew and he was appreciative of the little bit of info. "Well, I have somewhere to go. I'll return this stuff to the Guild and see you there. As for a drink, I look forward to when we meet next then. There's a lovely little place on Praesitlyn and I think you'll enjoy the specific selection they have there."

He began a quick walk up the ramp of the Recalcitrant. He took his time to wave before he made his way to the bridge, where Sheera was preparing for lift off. Soon the ship was in the air and began making its way out of the system.

 

[Verd Skirata]

Verd gave a wave back to the man, then walked back into his ship grabbing the shovel and pots, and within 30 minutes, he had the saplings back aboard his ship, and was grateful that he didn't have to go very far either. As he finished loading up he heard a growl and a vornskyr jumped out of the forest line and barreled towards him. Drawing his blaster, he put 3 bolts through its skull, then closed the ramp as mird'ika leapt aboard. She had just made it, and Verd decided that the speeder that he hadn't loaded was replaceable, after all he had all of the ysalamir he had come for, and all 15 saplings as well, whoever found his speeder could have it. punching the throttle, he left the atmosphere and set a course for the guild. His first hunt had been a success. Mird'ika would be getting a double portion of food tonight, it was now time to sit back and relax.