Not the best time for bird watching

[Chip]

Chip's repulsor pulsed quietly as he drifted through the woods of Kashyyyk. Chip had been observing the wildlife of the jungle planet for many months before the Mandalorians arrived to wage war with the Republic forces on the planet. Chip feared that now might not be the best time for birdwatching... but Chip was pleasantly surprised to find that the Mandalorians had brought some birds of their own. Some sort of giant turkey species... It was a majestic creature, so capable of flight as it soared through the air and splattered upon Republic troopers upon impact.

<What?> Chip thought as he watched the mass-migration of Turkeys from the Mandalorian side of the lake to the Republic. After a few moments of watching, Chip realized that the massive birds were being used as ordnance in some sort of artillery weapon.

<Well that's just strange.> Chip thought as he drifted along for a closer look at how the Republic troops were dealing with the unusual bombardment. Blood, bone, flesh, and feathers were... everywhere. Particularly the feathers. There were feathers everywhere. The Republic Troopers, normally in clean, white armor (not entirely dissimilar to the armor used by Imperial Troopers everywhere), were instead plastered with blood and bits of flesh that clung to their armor. Thousands of feathers were stuck to this paste of gore that covered them....

They looked like large, bloodsoaked Apokka.

Chip was not entirely sure if this was a joke being performed by the Mandalorians, or if this was a clever battlefield strategy that escaped Chip's ability to comprehend.

 

[Chip]

Chip drifted around the Republic forces for a while, carefully staying to the edge of their formation and avoiding the Mandalorian weaponry, including their turkey-launching artillery weapons. With his personal cloaking field activated, Chip had little to fear from detection and little to fear in general. His casing was quite durable, but not quite so durable as to withstand being obliterated by a turbolaser or shattered by an anti-tank mass-driver. Or, more immediately, being trapped under the weight of a two meter tall turkey that may or may not land on Chip at any moment.

Chip watched the Republic forces as they fought back, unleashing artillery and tanks of their own. Chip watched as Republic Infantry fought against Mandalorian Infantry in a fighting retreat. Chip watched as the bombardment of Turkeys trickled to a halt, and Chip watched as the Mandalorians stormed the beach. Chip watched as Mercenaries leaped up from the sands and opened fire on the Mandalorians and Chip watched as two of the larger Mandalorians stood apart from the rest, a circle forming around them.

<Are they going to have a duel?> Chip wondered to himself. He drifted closer to get a better look, but when his power source stopped glowing and energy stopped flowing into him, Chip remembered that the Mandalorians like to protect themselves with Force Nullification fields. <Oh yeah...> Chip thought to himself as he drifted away from the duel and began looking for some other bit of activity to catch his interest.

 

[Chip]

While some of the Mandalorians and even the Republic troops had stopped their fighting to watch the duel at the beach, the Mandalorian assault continued unabated elsewhere along the shore. Mandalorians advanced, Republic Troopers withdrew, and here and there... Wookiees fought on either side. Chip could hear a Republic representative calling for the local Wookiee population to take up arms against the Mandalorian invaders. On other frequencies, Mandalorian representatives were reassuring the local populace that their enemy was the Republic government and military and that they were not here for the local population. Chip drifted away from the fighting and towards one of the nearby wookiee settlements.

The fighting was drifting towards this settlement and the locals knew it. The Republic Forces were withdrawing from the beach and using this settlement as their rally point. Or... something like that. Chip truly had no idea what the Republic Army was doing or why. Maybe they truly thought the local Wookiees would fight for them? Chip looked around at the wookiees. Most were carrying their most beloved possessions and fleeing the settlement. Here and there, a wookiee with a bowcaster guarded the convoy of their family and friends as they fled the city. Some of those with weapons were taking up what looked to be sniping positions. Some wore armor, but most did not. Those with armor... were wearing a mix of traditional armors, modern armors, and even the occasional bit of Mandalorian armor.

It took Chip a moment to realize why a wookiee would be wearing Mandalorian Armor. But after that moment, Chip remembered that the Mandalorians were a culture based around a religious idea... so many Mandalorians were humans that it was hard to not mistake them as a specific sub-species. No... there were Wookiees on Kashyyyk who were also Mandalorians. Chip couldn't tell if they were civilians that had taken up arms, or if they were part of the Mandalorian assault, but when the first Republic soldier stepped foot within the clearing surrounding the base of the massive trees that made up this particular wookiee village... the Wookiees wearing helmets with T-shaped visors opened fire and killed the trooper.

Clearly, their kind were no longer welcome here.

 

[Chip]

Chip drifted past the defensive perimeter that the Wookiee-Mandalorians had taken up and drifted deeper into the village. He drifted along until he had caught up with the cluster of wookiee civilians that were escaping the conflict. The large hairy creatures came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Big, tall, wide, fat, short, skinny... each was absolutely draped in a thick fur coat... dark fur, light fur... one looked like it had dark and light highlighted fur... One had its fur died purple and spiked... that one was also wearing black leather straps and belts instead of the brown straps and belts that the others were wearing.

<There's one in every family.> Chip thought as he drifted along the loose mass of hairy wookiees that shuffled along in their escape of the fighting. There was a tall wookiee with braided hair and a short one with a pink bow in (her?) hair.

Wookiees were such strange creatures... covered from head to foot in a thick fur pelt, even those familiar with the species sometimes had difficulty determining the sex of a wookiee, let alone just identifying one from another... The wookiees all flinched as an explosion sounded behind them. It was not particularly close, but it was loud enough to drown out the sound of blaster-fire for a moment. Whimpering, the small wookiee with the pink bow in her hair began to sing as she and those around her continued to hurry away from the fighting.

 

[Chip]

Chip circled around what he was assuming was a young, female wookiee and listened to her singing. He was, of course, staying far enough away and far enough above the wookiees to avoid being seen. Likewise, he was keeping his personal cloak activated and running with minimal systems activated. Chip enjoyed his freedom and did not wish to risk becoming a tool for destruction once again. So he was cautious in his exploration and observation. But still...

The young wookiee sang soft, quiet song that was much like a lullaby. The song was bittersweet in tone, though Chip had no idea what the growls, roars, and purrs of the wookiee language translated into. So, for Chip, it was nothing more than a somewhat pleasant string of vibrations traveling through the air. The song must have had its intended effect though, for the wookiees seemed to be walking a bit quicker and seemed a bit less depressing.

Behind them, the sound of combat was growing ever-more distant. Either the defenders at the village were being very effective in their defense of their home, or the Republic Military finally realized that dragging a battle into a civilian population center was a bad idea. Either way, they were moving deeper into the forest and farther from the conflict. Which was good on two accounts. First, it kept Chip safe while he entertained himself by watching these wookiees... and Secondly... maybe he'd see some other interesting creatures if they kept moving into the deep woods.

Chip resisted the urge to sing along with the young wookiee as the cluster of hairy beast-people wandered into the dark of the woods.

 

[Chip]

As the slow marching of hairy feet trod upon the dirt and underbrush of an ever thickening forest, Chip drifted in circles, slowly orbiting the convoy of flesh. Minutes were passing into tens of minutes and nothing interesting was happening. Chip was beginning to question if he wouldn't have more fun going back to watch the Mandalorian and Republic Armies fighting. He could still hear the steady drum of explosions and scattered firing of blasters and autoblasters... Not to mention the distant pop-pop-pop of the Mandalorian slug-throwers among the roar of less primitive weapons.

Mandalorians were strange... Capable of some of the most advanced engineering in the galaxy... and they relied upon projectile weaponry. And turkey throwing catapaults... what was with the turkey throwing catapults? They had to be a joke... they had to.

Chip's wondering mind snapped back to his immediate surroundings as his lifeform sensor picked up a large biomass approaching the wookiees. The wookiees, for their part, seemed to have not detected the approaching creature or creatures, as they continued to walk unfazed. The small wookiee with the pink bow was somewhere in the middle of the group. The wookiee with the purple hair was not far away. Around the edges of the group, a handful of armed wookiees flanked the cluster as they walked through the woods, apparently unaware of what could be an approaching danger.

Chip wanted to warn them... but also did not want to be found... And he had no proof that what was approaching was dangerous anyway... So he watched.

 

[Chip]

<Oh kark.> Chip thought to himself as a Terentatek burst from between two massive trees.

Ok. So yeah... It was dangerous.

Chip felt a little guilty for not warning the Wookiees... but... they should be fine. They're wookiees!

A severed arm flew past Chip as the closest of the wookiees was tossed aside by the Terentatek as if it were a doll.

<Kark.> Chip thought as he watched the beast barrel into the heart of the 'herd' of wookiee. The hairy bear-people with weapons were unloading their powerful bowcasters into the creature, easily able to aim well above the heads of their fellow wookiee due to the massive size of the deadly Terentatek. The rest of the hairy wookiees though... unleashed some of the strangest screams and yells that Chip had ever heard as they scattered in all directions away from the beast. The guard-wookiees encircled the beast as it turned slowly, sniffing the air as its massive feat crushed the dead and dieing bodies of a half-dozen wookiees.

<I thought Terentatek only attacked force sensitive beings.> Chip thought to himself as he circled the clearing. The Wookiees paused their fire and barked and growled at one another as they tried to decide what to do. The 'civilian' wookiees scattered to the nearest tree-trunks and were quickly climbing out of sight. The Terentatek sniffed the air, then turned and looked directly in Chip's direction. <Oh.> Chip thought as the Terentatek leaped for him. Instinctively, Chip gained altitude as quickly as he could in his attempt to escape the monster that was, apparently, of the opinion that Chip would make a lovely snack. Keeping track of the monster as he rose to the safety that came with height, Chip watched the beast cling to the nearest Tree-trunk and race towards Chip.

Chip, for his part, had failed to consider that he was fleeing in the same direction as the wookiees.

 

[Chip]

The armed wookiees below roared at the beast and opened fire at the creature as it climbed after the fleeing wookiees and, unknown to them, the fleeing Chip. The wookiees on the same tree as the Terentatek climbed with impressive speed. The wookiees on other trees scattered, moving from branch to branch in every direction. Some of the armed wookiees slung their weapons, placed curved swords between their teeth, and climbed after the massive Terentatek.

Chip simply hovered higher and higher in the air, dodging branches and leaves as he rose in height, the Terentatek quickly gaining on him. The beast was fast... very fast... Chip saw the beast leaping towards him quickly made a 90-degree turn. The beast's paw missed him by inches, the speed of the beast's passing sending Chip spinning in the air. While Chip got his bearings, the beast's clawed hands found purchase on a large tree branch. The beast quickly turned and leaped again at Chip.

<Oh kark.> Chip thought as the beast's big, meaty hand wrapped around his tiny chassis and the world went dark. A few moments later, Chip heard a heavy thud and felt a jarring shock pass through his chassis as the beast, presumably, impacted the ground. Chip could hear the muffled discharge of numerous boltcasters and both heard and felt the dull thuds of their impacts against the creature's thick skin.

 

[Chip]

Chip heard several roars. One of which, was unmistakably the roar of the Terentatek. Chip, fighting back panic, reasured himself that even if the Terentatek did eat him, the creature probably couldn't digest the metal plating of his BEEP-XD chassis... he would probably just... come out the other end.

It wasn't a reassuring thought.

Chip drew extra energy from the tiny shard of soulsteel that powered his chassis, focused it within himself, and discharged the energy in the form of a powerful shock. Whether it hurt the beast or just startled it, Chip had no idea. But the beast loosened its grip on Chip enough for him to slip from its grasp and flee to the edge of the clearing once again. The beast unleashed an angry roar and turned from the pair of sword-wielding wookiees in front of it. Its head tracking Chip's movements, the wookiees must have sensed an opening. Bravely, they both leaped at the Terentatek's face. The first to move was caught firmly by powerful hands that squeezed the wookiee with enough force to shatter bone and crush organs. The second wookiee... was much more lucky. Its blade sank deep into the soft flesh of the Terentatek's eye.

The massive beast was still. It teetered for a moment, and then it fell. Chip worried that it had crushed the poor, brave wookiee that had killed it... but a moment later the smaller hairy beast crawled from under the bulk of the creature and roared triumphantly.

<Yay.> Chip thought as he circled the clearing and stared at the massive creature's corpse. <I wonder if it was after me, or the soul-steel battery?> Chip thought as he stared at it.

 

[Chip]

The Terentatek really was a terrifying creature. Chip had entirely forgotten that there were a few of them known to live on Kashyyyk.

Well... they could live anywhere... they were kinda prolific like that... but they were rare. Very rare. And they liked to hide.

Chip drifted closer to the corpse, his cloak still activated and protecting him. The wookiees were returning from the trees now... Gathering in the clearing... mourning their dead. Cursing the beast that had killed nearly a dozen of them. Among the living was the small wookiee with the pink bow. Among the dead was the wookiee with the purple hair.

Chip felt bad for them. The Terentatek had been after him, not them. And yet they had been killed by it and had been the ones to kill it.

<Oh well.> Chip thought as he turned to leave the clearing and find something else to do. Chip turned jut in time to see the bolt from a bowcaster flash before him and impact directly upon his front lense. <How did they know where I was?> Chip thought as his armored chassis was flung through the air by the blast. A dizzying blur of green and brown flashed past Chip as his body was flung through tree-branches and underbrush before coming to a halt somewhere on the forest floor.

Chip tried to move his chassis, but it wouldn't budge. The blast had overloaded his repulsorlift.

<Well kark.> Chip thought as he wondered if he should wait for someone other than a wookiee to find him, or if he should just try to call for help. Above him, he saw one of the Mandalorian Turkeys walking through the Kashyyyk jungle. <Not a very majestic creature.> He thought as he stared at the bird.