Lost in the Dark

[Ryn'Dhal]

Voss​

The BB unit trundled along, whistling and whirling at anyone it came across, obviously distressed, and growing ever more so as it continually was disregarded left and right. It finally, near the steps of the Temple, gave a long, low whirl of defeat, primary optic slowly angling towards the ground. Low whistles and warbles, much akin to a humanoid whining and complaining, were the noises it made, voicing its disappointment at not finding anyone to help it.

At this time another astromech, an M1 unit, rolled up to the BB unit, giving a chastising series of warbles. The two bickered for a few moments, before the M1 blared loudly, shutting the BB up. Afterwards, the M1 began rolling towards where it knew the library was. Emvee knew that, if there were to be anyone able and willing to help, most likely they would be found in, or near, the library. At least, so Em hoped....

[member=Valae Kitra]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae stood just outside the library, not that she was thinking about going inside... she was just passing by on her way back from the courtyard. The brunette padawan was dressed simply in her cotton training clothes, and had her long Jedi robes tucked rather unceremoniously under the crook of her arm. She was attempting to rummage through her rucksack without dropping its contents all over the ground. Her afternoon training session had been rather rudely interrupted by a grumbling stomach, and so, she had been forced to put an end to practice for the afternoon. Valae brought the back of her sleeve to her forehead and wiped away a few tiny beads of sweat, she hadn’t even been practicing that long...but it was likely due to her worrying about the source of her next meal, for she had failed to find any snacks in her bag.

A distinct beeping sound caught her attention, and she turned slightly to see an M1 astromech rolling along nearby. Her brow furrowed slightly, curiosity starting to grow inside. She was aware that there were some at the temple that kept droids, but she rarely saw them. During the long years she had spent as a salvager on Tatooine she had come across many droids, but they had come in the form of scrap parts... However, Master Heavenshield did have a droid called “Teetoo”, and he had taken a bit of a liking to her. It had been a quite a long time since she’d ‘spoken’ with a droid, but she could easily tell that the M1 was distressed, it almost seemed frantic.

Valae’s brown boots brought her over to the droid, and she looked down at it with a friendly smile.

“What’s wrong?” She looked around, “Are you lost?”

[member="Ryn'Dhal"]

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

In truth, it was the BB unit rolling along being the M1 unit that was the more distressed of the two droids, though the little thing was easily missed, with the far more massive M1 blocking it from view.

At her acknowledging of its distress, the M1 stopped dead, turning to face the girl. Whirling excitedly, it tottered from one support leg to the other, before giving a holographic projection of a hooded, masked figure. One [member="Valae Kitra"] would surely recognize. At the reveal of the image, the smaller BB unit began squealing and whistling in its panicked state. The M1 warbled scoldingly, before returning is attention to the girl. A series of squelches and blares would be offered explaining their situation and their plea for aid.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

A moment after she had addressed the M1 droid, a smaller BB unit rolled over to join them. Valae couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the two, they were rather cute, but that smile would not last for long. She hadn’t quite caught what the M1 had beeped at her, but she had the impression that it had said something about its master. It had been so long since she had interacted with a droid, that the beeps, boops, and various other sounds didn’t make a lot of sense at first. However, when the M1 produced a holoprojection of a masked man, Valae’s brown eyes grew wide.

The one in the image was none other than [member="Ryn’Dhal"], a fellow member of the Silver Sanctum, and a good friend. He had been knighted some time ago, and his presence had been scarce around the temple ever since. In fact, she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d seen him in person.

The BB Unit erupted into a frenzied slur of sound; Valae squinted slightly, trying to keep up with everything that was being conveyed to her.

“You’re worried about Ryn?” She asked, but BB was too frantic to confirm, “He’s in trouble!?”

Valae was relieved when the M1 cut in and provided her with a calmer explanation that she could follow. She tapped her index finger on her chin as she relayed the information back to make sure she’d understood.

“Ok, so we need to help Ryn. You know where he is, but you haven’t been able to reach him due to your long-range transmitters being damaged, and you’re frightened that he is going to die...”

Well, this certainly didn’t sound good at all. Valae’s gaze shifted in the direction of the shuttle bay; at least she knew how to pilot a basic transport. She drew in a deep breath and nodded down to the droids. Of course she would help, Ryn would do the same for her.

“Let’s get going, then.” She motioned for them to follow, “C’mon, this way!”

[member="Ryn'Dhal"]

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

A few more whistles whirls were given before following after the young woman. After she'd lead them to where they could send a long range transmission, a series of holographic images, accompanied by names and routing coordinates to reach them.

First was the gentleman scoundrel, Lord of Soceras, James Justice. The second was the Lord of Mustafar, the periodical AI, Ultimatum. And the third, last but certainly not least, was the former senator, and all round gentlewoman of the galaxy, the famous Lady Kay.

The droids seemed to have different types of respectful admission for each of these three. The first was pride, and confidence that he'd see the mission succeed. The second was off an almost Deific adoration. And the last was simply easily described as living admiration.

[Member=Valae Kitra] would likely be able to tell that these three people would likely make for excellent allies for the future beyond this rescue, if these droids responses were any indication.

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae boarded a Silver Sanctum transport with the two droids following closely at her heels. She sank down into the pilot’s chair, and let her rucksack fall into the empty seat beside her. The padawan’s gaze ran over the control panel, and she began the launch sequence, pressing buttons, throwing switches and watching the cockpit light up all around her.

“Ok, where exactly are we headed?” She looked back over her shoulder at the droids.

"Umbra?" She blinked a couple of times, and pulled up the planet's information.

Well, this planet certainly did not seem very inviting. Valae watched as the planet below became smaller and paler, until it was just a distant dot in the black of space. She punched in the coordinates and sat back, the journey would take some time. The M1 unit caught Valae’s attention once more, and she turned her chair around to watch as a series of images were displayed.

“Lady Kay, James Justice and Ultimatum?” She repeated, a couple of these names sounded vaguely familiar. The droids both chirped their praise of each individual, and Valae nodded solemnly.

“If they are friends of Ryn, then we’ll get along just fine.” She started, “Y’all hold tight, I’ll send out a message.”

Valae looked down at her comm panel again; she wasn’t sure exactly how she should word it, so she decided to wing it. Each person would receive the same holographic message; Valae’s youthful and friendly face would appear etched out in blue...

“Greetings. My name is Valae Kitra, I am a padawan of the Silver Sanctum Coalition. I've been informed that you have a connection to Ryn'Dahl, and I would like to ask for your assistance. Ryn's droids found me on Voss, he is in danger, and they need us to save him - I don't have a lot of details about what sort of situation he's in but he is currently on Umbra. I'm patching coordinates through now."

Please respond, and meet me planet side, if you are able to assist. Thank you."

[member="James Justice"], [member="Ultimatum"], [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ryn'Dhal"]

 

[James Justice]

https://youtu.be/pAgnJDJN4VA

The door of the appartment came down with a massive crash as the boot kicked it in without mercy. Blaster bolts began to hiss through the air in a super hot hail of fire. A canister was tossed into the room as music began to scream in a brutal, ear-splitting scream.

Slug thrower rounds hurled through the air, dropping bodies in pools of blood. Through the mist stepped James Justice, clad in leather and dried blood, "I am here for Ryn. Where the hell is he?"

"I-I-I--" stammered one of the survivors in the room.

The spacer swiveled his rifle and silenced the man with the squeeze of a trigger.

-------------------------

"Please, please, God stop," the voice screamed, reverberating through the warehouse.

James tilted his bottle of acid back, but the smell and sound of the simmering flesh still hung in the air.

"Where is he?" James roared. "Where is Ryn? Answer me damn it!"

"God, please, I swear, I don't know," the man begged. "Please. Please, God let me die, please--"

"Wrong answer!" James barked, letting the acid spill out again on his victim's flesh.

-----------------------------------------------

"We've been friends a long time, Celwin," James said leaning back against the bar as he crossed his arms. "Friends for years now. I've forgived ye of a lot, I've helped ye. And now I need ye help. So tell me where me friend is and in return," his right hand produced a blaster pistol from his leather jacket, "I'll make the pain stop."

The shuddering body in front of him quivered with pain. His face was contorted, barely recognizable from how it had looked three hours ago. The mangled mess of what remained of his arms and legs were bound behind him, blood oozing out in a slow, partly cartarized sludge.

"Don't know nothin," the man managed to grumble from between what remained of his teeth.

James sighed and shook his head, "Ye had to do this the hard way, mate." He looked back to the man behind Celwin and the sound of landing blows resumed.

------------------------

The crimelord collapsed in his command chair on the Drunken Angel. It had been a long hard few months looking for his brother. Endless rivers of blood had been created from victims of people who refused to talk. Spewing a stream of smoke from his lips, the spacer looked out his view port on the Drunkeenfell asteroid belt. It was a new addition to the galaxy.

The blinking on his console pulled James from his thoughts. He flipped one of the switches and listened as the young woman's message played through. It was the best lead he had in weeks, he wasn't about to let that go.

"This is James Justice," The spacer said, his disheveled, leather clad figure appeared, surrounded by empty bottles of alcohol and a burning cigarette. "I'm on me way."

A few hours later the Drunken Angel pulled from hyperspacer to Umbra, the metallic hull adorned with peeling paint and rust spots. Inside, James justice was garnishing his body with an arsonol of assorted weapons. Fortune factored the prepared, after all.

[member="Valae Kitra"]
[member="Ryn'Dhal"]

 

[Ultimatum]

The silent alarms had been activated. A system alert was had been sounded and the security detail had been sent and the base was in lock down. The intruder had been identified as inorganic. That warranted the use of ionic weaponry and potentially clone intervention. That was a rather large threat, under most circumstances. An artificial enemy meant that many of the area denial defenses would be ineffective. However, there were other things that were intended for such an attack.

The first room in and the droid seemed to have out performed most of those that had attempted this before. The droid had moved quickly and destroyed three of the defenders over a two second period. It was faster than any of the defense droids on location. The intruder moved to the hallways, leading towards the main office, the obvious target of such an attack. Of course that was also the path of greatest resistance, an interesting choice. Definitely a good test of its capabilities. It fired a detpack that blew open the door into the hallway and raced into area. It charged the single defense droid that had been in place, the lightening speed of the droid was almost missed on the cameras. The enemy moved in for a melee strike, a sharpened knife gouging out a portion of the droid's central control cluster.

The intruder kept moving on, not stopping when in the next room there were half a dozen droids waiting. The defenders had already taken up positions and were aiming at the entryway. The attacker had apparently been aware of such and, once the door was open, rolled into the room before firing two shots at the closer droids. However, it could not last long against a concentrated fire pattern.

--------------

Ultimatum pulled his mind out of the simulation war game that had been ongoing back at the Progenitor Facility. He would have preferred to have overseen the test himself, but government work had kept him tied up. Now he had to return his attention to that and finish up some paperwork. He noted that some of the information was about the HoloNet satellites and the data being collected. It was mostly useless or unimportant stuff. Things like ancient SOS signals and the like. There was some pretty amusing stories to be found in that information, but nothing truly helpful. It was however at this point that he received a message flagged as urgent by the computer. He read it quickly and sent a hasty reply before making his way to the exit. Now he had something to do, something far more important.

The reply read, "[member="Valae Kitra"], Ultimatum, I will arrive within an hour." He intended on keeping that promise, the Sovereignty could handle that. And it did. The newly refurbished ship was above the planet and oriented itself towards the Drunken Angel, Ultimatum wondered if he knew the captain of that ship. But more importantly he wondered if Ryn was alright.

[member="Ryn'Dhal"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay repeated the message from [member="Valae Kitra"] a couple more times after she had first heard it. [member="Ryn'Dhal"] was in trouble? The poor little guy, always seemed to be hunted. He didn't deserve any harsh treatment. She frowned a little, thinking back on what he had done for her. Ryn was the first to arrive after she was fired from the Senate, the first to try to find her. After that it was [member="James Justice"] . Both were like family and she would look after them as such.

She recorded a message and patched it through. "This is Kay. I'll meet you there soon. Please wait for me." She got to her feet and knocked on the door of her pilot's quarters on her ship. "Terrac. Up and at 'em. We need to get to Umbra asap. Ryn's in trouble."

A grumpy voiced boomed from the other side of the door as he answered her. "This isn't another of your strays, is it doll?"

Kay sighed. "No, he's part of my pack. He sav-"

"Your what? Did you say pack?" Terrac had opened his door, fixing his shirt. It was clear that the old man had been napping. He gestured for her to follow him to the cockpit so that he could prepare for take off.

"Yes, I said pack." Kay sighed. "I'll explain later, as always." She sat in the co-pilot seat and belted herself in, wondering if [member="Ultimatum"] would be going too. And James. Surely their need to help their brother was as strong as hers.

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

The M1 unit began giving off a series of cheerful squeals and chirps, as it was taking it's designated role of co-pilot for Valae. Doing so, it received the messages from those coming to aid them in recovering Emvee's lost master. Kaytee would be so pleased when they returned to the Mask with Ryn'Dhal! Turning it's photoreceptor to the young padawan, the M1 began replaying the replies from the others.

After charting the course for the jump to Umbara, Emvee, and the panic-stricken BB unit, both chirped an eager confirmation that all systems were go for the jump to hyperspace!


_______________________________________


Darkness.....

Darkness..... Fear..... And hunger.....

This was the world he had known for immeasurable span of time. He'd lost all track of time, living in a constant cycle of hunt, hide, eat, sleep, repeat.

There was no time in the mind of the hunter. Only survival.

Only.

Survival....

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Ultimatum"] | [member="James Justice"] | [member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae’s brown eyes blinked open; the M1 unit was gently bumping up against her leg and chirping at her. She shook her head slightly, shaking away the fog of her nap. The way both of the droids were beeping in hopeful anticipation, it seemed that they had arrived. A quick glance down confirmed that she was now orbiting the shadow planet, Umbara. Before slipping off into sleep, she had done just a bit of research, and now knew that the planet had a lack of sunlight. It would make for an interesting time when she got down to the surface.

The M1 also informed her that three other ships were en route and would be there shortly.

“Right,” She smiled, “Let’s find a safe place to set down.”

Valae began the descent, and as she broke atmosphere, she found a level patch of ground to set down her transport.

“Let the others know our coordinates, please.” She nodded to the M1.

She stood from the pilot’s chair and set about gathering some supplies. The padawan had gained the reputation of being a bit of a softie; she disliked fighting, and only did so when absolutely necessary. It was not one of her strongest suits. Each hand reached down to her belt, confirming that her saber and blaster were both present and accounted for. Next, she stuffed her rucksack with some rations and a medkit.

She slid into the signature brown robes of the Jedi, and tied it tight at her waist. With her rucksack in place on her back, Valae lowered the ramp, eyes squinting in the darkness. She lit up a few glow rods and waited for the others to arrive.

[member="Ryn'Dhal"], [member="Lady Kay"], [member="Ultimatum"], [member="James Justice"]

 

[James Justice]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKggnBh2Mdw[/media]
((I am just on an AC/DC binge....))
Slugthrower rifle. Sonic pistol. A bandolier laden with explosives. Heavy blaster pistol. A six inch knife. An ion blaster. A pair of submachine guns. The list went on and on with the weaponry the spacer was strapping to his body--most of which was intended to maim and not kill--at least, not quickly.

His old, rusty and faithful companion, Reed the R3 unit gave a chirp from the cockpit.

"Aye, if ye feel its for us, go down and let's give it a look," James agreed, slamming his guncase closed.

He felt the pitch of the Drunken Angel shift as it went lower and made its way towards the surface of Umbra. A few moments later, the vessel landed, the first to do so in the marked area. The loading ramp came down with an anti-climatic hiss as the grungy, old ship whined with relief.

Then James Justice emerged. His leather trenchcoat bounced with each step as his heavy boots clanged on the metallic surface. The slugthrower rifle was slung over one shoulder, cow boy style. As he came lower, the spacer finished off what was left of a bottle of Corellia ale. A week's worth of unshaven hair lined his face, matted with dirt and dried blood. The same dark grease and dried blood caked the corners of his fingers, edges of his narrow eyes, and cuffs of his shirt. If the physical visage wasn't enough, the Force Aura that followed it was more than enough to unhinge even the most strong-nevered soul. His presence bleed anger, hate, rage, and furry, a whirlwind barely under control. He was on the verge of being unhinged, and it was in the tobacco-scented air he breathed.

"I sure as hell hope ye ain't playin' me, sweetheart," the spacer said tossing his glass bottle away and hearing it shatter into a thousand pieces. "Its kinda been one of those days."

[member="Valae Kitra"]
[member=Ryn'Dhal]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member=Ultimatum]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum tried to recall if Ryn had been in any form of danger last time they had met. Given that the previous meeting had taken place in a prison that was hardly a question. The droid tried to decide whether there was a correlation between their meeting and imminent danger to one or the other of them. It was a most interesting concept and one that Ultimatum did not believe to be entirely correct. There was simply not enough information to make a proper association of the variables. Besides it was unlikely that it was because of either of them, but instead was related to some outside stimuli.

Whatever the cause, [member="Ryn'Dhal"] was in danger and within Ultimatum's reach of aid. He was obligated to help his friend, obligated by his very programming. It was no outside need, but a want within his being. This was his destiny, in a moment of sad realization, if he did not succeed in his plans then he could only ever aid the organics when they were in trouble. He would become merely a reactionary force to the ever changing will of organics. A sobering thought, given his apparent superiority at this time.

It was these and similar thoughts that accompanied him on the silent journey the planet's surface. He took the Fate to the surface, obviously a ship as large as the Sovereignty would be ill-advised to drop onto the planet, it would take too long for lift-off and fuel consumption would be unacceptable. He arrived in the small reconstructed Clone War-era gunship and found the other vessels already there. It was an interesting landing procedure, if only due to the lack of visible light to standard photoreceptors. Hardly a challenge however for the computers and various systems.

He stepped off of the ship, taking a moment to switch through various systems in order to better connect himself with the HoloNet. One problem with being an intelligence in the HoloNet, he had to remain connected at almost all times. It allowed for more connection with the outside galaxy though. The droid looked around the area, he decided to ask, "Do you have the location of Ryn? Or his basic whereabouts?"

[member="James Justice"] [member="Valae Kitra"] [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Terrac brought the Free Lady down next to the others, following the co-ordinates that [member="Valae Kitra"] had given them. Through the whole journey Kay spoke about their adventures, which for the most part turned out to be rescue operations. Only [member="Ultimatum"] was so far able to avoid needing a rescue. But that could change. And it was funny that that was how everyone tended to get together. When there was a strong need for the strength of their pack. Separated they each had their own strength, but when together it was like they could take on anything.

Kay had changed her clothes on the journey, but still wore the types of clothes that [member="Ryn'Dhal"] was used to. If he was in his big form, it would be easier if he could recognize her more than just by scent. Her satchel was packed with the usual, her tea supplies, water bladder, food rations, extra set of clothes and her small blaster set to stun.

Once she was prepared, she instructed Terrac to remain with the Free Lady before heading down the ramp. She gave a small smile to everyone until her eyes fell on [member="James Justice"] . The state that he was in was deplorable. "Oh James....What did you do now?.."

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

The little M1 Droid warbled cheerfully as everyone showed up, before taking stock of James himself, and emitting a low tone of concern. It then promptly emitted a series of chirps, indicating they were presently centrally located in a large area that what little documentation could be found on the HoloNet alluded to a cat-like beast-man roaming the jungle, striking down hunters and soldiers patrolling in this large expanse.

The astromech promptly projected a beam of light, illuminating a claw mark on a tree trunk. James with his extensive familiarity, and Ultimatum with his processing power, and even Kay with her deductive reasoning, would easily do the math. That claw mark had five grooves, easily matching up to a certain felinoid the trio knew quite well. Only poor Valae would have difficulty making the connection, with her lack of knowledge of the man beneath the mask.

The droid tottered about, facing each of the three new arrivals in turn, giving an apologetic tone for not being able to narrow their search down any further than the relatively large region in which they now stood....

At least they were narrowed down this far though.


__________________________________


The Mercenary's scream never left his throat. He was here, poaching, taking the young from a nest of banshee, and that.... That was no acceptable.

Leaving the corpse behind for the young to consume, the guardian hunter moved on, unseen and unheard, by the rest of the deceased mercenary's group.



__________________________________

Elsewhere, a message rang out, signaling that our rescue parties arrival..... didn't go particularly unnoticed.....

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Ultimatum"] | [member="James Justice"] | [member="Valae Kitra"]​

 

[James Justice]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKm70oGj-JI[/media]

James watched as his allies and close friends landed on the surface as well. He quirked a brow in recognition. Either this chick was another well placed, well conceived pawn of the Prosecutor--or this was legitimate. Either way, the spacer wasn't ready to let his guard down all too soon. He gave a slight wince at her question. She knew better than to ask that, and that the answer would be one that neither of them could bear.

"Ye know I cain't answer that," he said at last. "And ye know that the answer--that will be one ye dun't wanna hear." He did the dirty work that no one, not even he, wanted to do. But someone had to scrape the crap off the boots of the galaxy and burn it.

He gave [member="Ultimatum"] a wave and decided against offering his hand, he wanted to keep his metacarpals in tact for now, "Long time no see, mate."

He looked over the massive gashes in the tree, running his fingers over the jagged wounds to the wood, "If me brother is out there, there ain't no time to waste."

He started out after the roar, half jogging. With a heavy effort he shrugged off the past few weeks of exhaustion and charged headlong through the landscape. His eyes glared at the semi-darkness with rage under power. It fueled him, heightening his senses through the Force, and strengthening his limbs. He hurled over a bolder, under a half-fallen tree, and catapulted himself between two more. Nothing was about to stop him from getting to his little brother.

[member="Ryn'Dhal"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Ultimatum"]
[member="Valae Kitra"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum nodded to [member="James Justice"] as a greeting. It was good to see that those who were friends of Ryn had been called as well as himself. It was a good sign as to the chances of success. Under preferable circumstances, Ultimatum would have employed the scanners aboard the Sovereignty to identify potential spots with life forms of the proper size. However this was a jungle planet, with species equal to and larger than [member="Ryn'Dhal"]. That made scanners relatively useless at this time.

The mark on the tree was definitely Ryn, or perhaps one of his species. Though, Ultimatum had not met one before, but it was a possibility and he kept that in mind. That did not give them a direction or anything really to go on aside from the fact that he was in the area. The age of mark was beyond Ultimatum's ability to calculate, due in part to the fact that he had no proper training or access to professional forensic training. Also it was due to the fact that he had no idea of the effects of being lacerated on the plant life of this world.

James ran off without so much as a warning, or an explanation. Ultimatum assumed that he was chasing the roar that had been heard, but the sound could have been any number of dangerous organisms on this planet. However, perhaps there was some deeper understanding on his part, one that Ultimatum would not be able to account for. He turned his attention to [member="Lady Kay"] and [member="Valae Kitra"]. "I believe we should head after him. Don't want to lose anyone before we even started."

 

[Valae Heavenshield]

Valae had turned to watch as James Justice approached, she didn’t even bat an eye at his disheveled appearance. He reminded her of her father. Right down to smell of smoke, and the way he’d thrown the empty glass bottle. It was a sound she had heard so many times, as the glass shattered, it almost felt like being at home. She couldn’t count the number of days she’d watched her father sit out in their scrap yard and throw his empties at the ships that sat lifeless there. Despite the threads of familiarity, there was also something about this man that she had not been prepared for... his force aura. To say it simply, it was wild, dark, and barely contained.

“We're here for the same reason, old man.” She’d answered him with a nod; feeling entitled to call him a name, if he was going to refer to her as ‘sweetheart’.

Next came Ultimatum, Valae watched him curiously as he inquired about Ryn’s location. Lady Kay had come to join them as well; the padawan offered her a friendly smile. But pleasantries would have to wait. The droids came forth to present what information they had about Ryn, and she watched as the M1 displayed what looked like a claw mark on a tree. A quick glance around told her that the others seemed to know each other, and they also seemed to know what was going on here... leaving Valae out in the dark in more than one respect.

But then James took off, she would have never guessed that he could have moved so swiftly. Valae was certainly confused by now, but she nodded when Ultimatum suggested they follow along. It would do none of them any good to get separated. "That's a good idea."

And so, she started off too, her boots light upon the ground. She had little clue about what she was running off towards, she only hoped that the others truly did know what was going on... and how to find their friend.

[member="Ultimatum"], [member="James Justice"], [member="Ryn'Dhal"], [member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay frowned slightly at the answer [member="James Justice"] gave her. She had seen him lost in violence before and he was right that she wouldn't like it. She looked to [member="Ultimatum"] , ever so glad that he was there to help them out. [member="Valae Kitra"] was someone new, as were the two droids. She smiled at them as they seemed excited.

But then she saw the claw marks, recognizing them. So he was in that form. That could make things a bit difficult, but not impossible.

Kay watched James take off and forced out a sigh. Given the state of mind that he was in, it didn't surprise her that he was being reckless. After the others went, she followed in behind, holding her satchel as she jogged behind him. Hearing the roar gave her even more cause to worry about [member="Ryn'Dhal"] .

 

[Ryn'Dhal]

As the intrepid party advanced through the dark forest of this light-less world, their footfalls would soon draw attention, of an unwanted kind.

A band of poachers, approximately three small groups of five, these ones stalking and killing Banshee's, largely for sport, happened to hear the heavy foot-falls of the (slightly) inebriated spacer, followed by the heavier tread of droid following behind. Had they known whom the inebriated spacer was.... They'd have likely made a better decision than the one they made. But, they did not know this was [member=James Justice]. They only knew they were up to no good, largely illegal activities, and they had someone barreling through the jungle right towards them.

So, what is a criminal to do in a situation like this? Why, shoot, of course! Shoot first, shoot a lot, and consider questions later.....


____________________________________________________________


The first volley of blaster-fire caught the Guardian's ear. It was not far off. And there were young in nests near there. These bipedal monsters would not be allowed to continue poaching in his jungle. The beast moved out, silently in pursuit of his newest quarry.

[member="Lady Kay"] | [member="Valae Kitra"] | [member="Ultimatum"]​