Private The Hunt is Afoot!

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

Spoiler

Ship and Equipment:

• The Tauntaun
• The Devastating Chill DC-02
• Buy'ce
• Two Twin Blasters
• Combat Knife
• Load Bearing System

Tatooine.

What a not so lovely ball of sand.

Why was Gwyneira Craft here? Sure, this was the planet she and Jac'Eli'Zirem became an official couple, but she still hated this arid, void planet. So why was she here? Well, Gwyn had recently finished building her new sniper rifle, The Devastating Chill DC-02, and she wanted to test it out. What better targets to practice on than the vile scum and villainy that were the planet's notorious criminal population?

That was why Gwyneira Craft was nestled in the prone position with a beastly sniper rifle at the ready. She peered through the scope, down from the mound of jagged rocks she hid in. From her perch, she was a long ways off from her targets. Those targets, a group of criminals had set up camp in a small valley. They were polishing their own weapons off, ready to either rob the next traveler they came across blind or to poach a prized animal even the hutts protected.

As the brigands worked around their camp, they had no idea that they were being watched by a sniper clicks away. Two were by the fire sharing a meal. One stood watch at the edge of the camp. Another polished his blaster rifle while the last one was rummaging through storage bins. All targets were accounted for. Gwyneira smirked beneath her buy'ce. "Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur."

She pulled the trigger.

The Charric rifle shot a silent, glorious blue shot that went right through the plastoid armor of the watcher, sending him flying back. The recoil of the weapon rippled through Gwyn's body, but she was not deterred. The three remaining bandits jumped up, looking around desperately and shouting to each other, trying to figure out where the shot came from.

A massive blaster scream resounded from one of the other massive rocks, but no bolt was to be seen, and the bandits were untouched. Gwyn was confused for a moment, but she swiftly took advantage of the same confusion held by the bandits. She aimed again and fired for one of the bandits by the fire. As the bandit flew back, dead, Gwyn waited through the recoil and turned her blaster to the one by the tent... who was pointing in her direction. She had to act fast.

She took the tent dweller down, then turned her heavy rifle towards the fire. The last bandit was gone. Oh no. Gwyneira immediately zoomed out with the scope and looked around. Kark, this rifle was cumbersome to move around. She saw the bandit pulling out his blaster while running, but not towards her. It was then that she witnessed a wild sight: a desert beast running in, rushing the bandit, and taking him out. Gwyneira gapped at the sight, her jaw dropped beneath her helmet. What caused the beast to do that? She looked around with her scope, but she could see nothing and her rifle was heavy. She stood up, smaller weapons hung on her person, and leapt, sliding down some of the rocks to get a better view of what was happening. Her white T-visor helmet glowed bright in the Tatooine sunshine as she kneeled down and looked around using the sensors in her helmet.

Hila Varad

Mando'a Translations:

Spoiler

"Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur" = "Today is a good day for someone else to die."

 

[Hila Varad]

Hila was a woman of simple pleasures. There were few things that made her happier than being in solitude, trailing a dangerous beast on a challenging hunt. Tatooine offered plenty of unique perils to the young woman as well, but none seemed to be more omnipresent than the criminal elements that polluted the otherwise serene desert landscape. It was a far cry away from Mandalore, but there were things lurking in these burning sands that a big game hunter would relish tackling alone.

For several days now she had lived in the desert, surviving alone with her rations and simple campsite set up in the rocks overlooking the sands. In the mornings she would go out and look for signs of the beast she was tagging behind, and in the heat of the midday suns she rest in the shade of her campsite watching below for a chance to tackle the animal she sought.

This hunt was to pursue a sandtusker, as she had learned was the name of the creature described to her in the port at Anchorhead. Nearby in the shade of one of the plateaus she had found a trail that indicated one lived in the area here. It was perhaps the waste she had found that indicated that it was nearest. Foolishly in the next set of rocks over a group of people had set up camp outside of a town. Whatever their motivations were, they were not her business and with her work at hand she had ignored them for the entire duration.

On the sixth day her quarry had made an appearance. In the rising morning suns it emerged from a shaded cavern and shook the sleep out of itself. Hila knew now was better than any other time to take aim and fire, and so she set herself up for the perfect shot. Breath held, heart beating in her head, and mind singularly focused, she squeezed gently on the trigger of her bowcaster and the screaming quarrel impacted the beast in the side near where she suspected the heart would be.

Given that it shrieked and ran, she must have been a bit off on her estimate, and frowned beneath her buy'ce as she got up and jetpacked her way down the side of the rocky outcropping. Tracking the creature would not be difficult given the way blood contrasted with sand, and so she followed the trail left by the wounded creature. Hila had hoped it would be a quick and relatively painless death, but unfortunately her knowledge of this beast's anatomy was next to nothing. Next time, she would brush up on creatures on the planet she travelled to so she could be certain of the best location to shoot.

After several minutes she had come upon the camp of people to notice that they had been, to a one, annihilated by someone else. That was not her concern and she focused herself on the creature that had shown the last man standing just how dangerous it could be. Dropping the bowcaster to let it lay in her sling she drew her beskad and waited. The creature roared and jumped, and she ducked beneath it and rolled forward. That was not a good one to tag the beast on, so she circled opposite the wounded animal. Several tense moments passed by and this time it reared upright and that was when she sliced horizontally across the stomach of the beast. It fell backwards and without hesitation she moved and sliced the throat as well. Death came quickly after, and she stood victorious in her hunt.

Hila touched the animal and spoke to herself, "I am deeply sorry that you suffered." she said, apologizing to the dead creature and vowing to herself to do better next time. Not a moment at all did she spare for the dead men in this camp. Rather she went to work with her hunting knife to field dress and work this beast into an easily transported size and organization. The dead men's landspeeder would be a useful asset to her in getting all the meat and goods back to town.

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

Gwyneira blinked in both confusion and delight as she observed the scene below. Another Mandalorian? A fellow vod? She stood up and turned, climbing back up to her perch and packing her rifle and equipment up. She rolled up the sniper's mat and tucked it in a duffle bag. She folded the DC-02's bipod and detached the barrel, throwing said barrel into the bag as well. She flung both rifle and pack over her sweaty back and turned to the direction of the hunter. Beneath her buy'ce, she nervously bit her lip.

She then trekked down the rocks she had perched on. Sliding down step boulders, jostling pebbles and stones in her wake. Her clothes and equipment got corroded with sand, ugh, as she slid to the bottom of the slope. The heavy rifle on her back did not make the trip easy. Once down there, she adjusted her helm and... paused. The socially anxious girl was unsure. Would this vod reject her as Jenn Kryze had? She gulped, hopefully not! Opting to keep her buy'ce on for now, she approached the vod. She raised her hands to show no harm, and she was slow and gentle in her approach. She found herself standing several feet from the individual, cleaning the beast that had killed that final scum for Gwyn.

Gwyn opted to speak in the language of their people, the Mando'a. "Su cuy'gar, vod.""

Hila Varad

Mando'a Translations:

Spoiler

"Su cuy'gar, " = "Hello, vod."

​

 

[Hila Varad]

Hila continued to dress the animal, as she had managed to power it up into a position where it was hanging so that the blood could be drained properly before she butchered it. Once she had wiped off her crush-gauntlets she turned over her shoulder, "Su'cuy." she said with a bit of a busy tone. She was not intending to be impolite but she wanted to get this creature taken care of before the suns baked the meat into inedibility.

"Were the dead men your doing? Only one of them met this creature before they perished. A shame, this beast was a worthy hunt and they should have witnessed it." Hila said, commenting more on the animal than the people. They were dead and gone and she was not, nor was this other vod. "Wer'cuy. They are dead and you are not. Come, join me. The camp may not have been built by us but it is ours now. Have some water, some rations. It is difficult out in the desert and no true Mando'ade would let their vod suffer hunger or thirst."

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

Gwyneira blinked. The fellow vod was being hospitable, despite her business. Quite a surprise to someone who once was an abandoned outcast in her birth society. Nonetheless, looking around to the fallen brigands' weapons, she got excited. Food and water were good, but she lived for her engineering projects and love for mechanics. She nodded to the fellow Mando'ade and went across the camp. In the storage bins, she hoped to find good scraps and pieces of machinery for future projects.

The young Foundling soon had set a box down next to the fire, sipping water as she found herself knee deep in dissecting and reverse engineering the fallen weapons. Standard blaster pistols, a blaster rifle, a... interesting, a verpine shatter rifle. She was especially interested in the verpine shatter rifle as she carefully inspected and researched her battle won spoils.

She knew her DC-02 worked very well now, she could use it in missions that needed good sniping done from afar. Yet, it was a bit heavy. She truly needed to work out more, set up a good workout routine with Kranak Vizsla. As the two female Mandalorians worked on their own projects, the sun began to set a bit, painting the sky orange and purple. Gwyneira pulled her helmet attachment down and set it to night vision.

As they worked, Gwyn did not speak much. She had always been a work orientated person, to the point of obsession. She had not eaten at all, only drank some water. It was only now that she realized just how she had forgotten her manners. Oops.

"Oh," She looked up from the picked apart rifle, "I apologize, should have thanked you! Er, thanks. And my name's Gwyneira."

Hila Varad

 

[Hila Varad]

"Hila." she said very simply. "Clan Varad. A pleasure."

The tall woman went back to her kill to check on the progress of the blood drainage. "You ever hunt beasts, or just other people?" Hila asked as she allowed the exsanguination to finish before lowering the creature onto a tent she collapsed just for this purpose. Knife plunged deep into the stomach region of the animal she went about the work of removing the inedible organs and separating the rest into a neat pile on the side. She had an approximate knowledge of the animal based on structure, but it was clear that beyond that she was very experienced in butchery of wild animals as she set herself to the task.

"Peaceful, when you are on a hunt. Just you and nature. These animals are important. They play a part just like every vod does in the squad. Predators and prey. We are predators, and prey." she said taking a moment to relax her back before going back to separating meat from bone with alarming efficiency. "But fortunately for me, and Anchorhead, this predator is now prey. The meat will feed quite a few families that need it most."

Hila wiped her gauntlets and knife, sheathing the thing as she discarded the unusable tissues and organs along with most of the skeleton. "It is my gift, to hunt well. Therefore I use my gift for others. We vod must live honorable lives. That is why I donate the meat that I do not eat to locals when I am done. Would you give me a hand?" she asked, motioning to the landspeeder that was parked nearby. "We should get this meat back to Anchorhead before it goes bad. I hate waste."

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

Wow. Hila Varad talked a lot.

But was Hila suggesting Gwyn's deeds were not honorable? She was ridding the galaxy of scum who would do nothing more than make everyone else's lives miserable. The half Arkanian closed her eyes, remembering the disgusting smell of death sticks flooding her mother's house. She loathed criminals... especially drug dealers.

Gwyn opened her eyes, blinking the memories away. She inhaled, taking in the desert scents her buy'ce would let her take in. Gwyneira lifted her helm lightly to take another drink. Regardless of it all, she had been asked for help. And Gwyneira would not turn her fellow vod down. She lowered the empty water bottle and stood up, tugging her helmet down again. She never shied away from hard work, even if this was completely new to her.

"Of course I'll help. As long as I can come back here. I still plan on scavenging this place. I'm an engineer and mechanic, after all."

She slung her own gear over her shoulders or attached them to her load bearing system. "Speaking of which, I have no idea how to handle dead animals and their meat. You'll have to show me what to do. No worries though, I am a quick learner."

Gwyneira stepped over to Hila Varad and leaned down, looking over the other vod's shoulder.

 

[Hila Varad]

"Don't worry. I did all the hard messy stuff. Just need an extra pair of hands to roll the tent up and tie the ends off so the meat doesn't slip out while we drive it back to Anchorhead." she said, pleased to have the cooperative hands help her roll that big pile up. Once it was on the landspeeder there was a burden off of her mind. It would be very simple now to get this prize back to town and distributed to the families that need it most.

Hila was competent but not spectacular with speeders and so she had some difficulty figuring out how the model started. Once that was taken care of though driving it was fairly simple. She preferred to walk but when time was of the essence and she forgot the preservatives she typically brings to cure the meat against the elements, speed was necessary. "Help me hand out the food. These people live a sparse life on a difficult world. Any bounty they receive is met with gratitude. It is a very fulfilling experience to provide for those who need. I think you will enjoy it."

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

Even as Gwyn helped Hila Varad and loaded the meat on the speeder, she raised an eyebrow beneath her buy'ce. This Hila not only talked a lot, but her way of talking was... Well, Gwyn did not like being talked to like a child being walked through everything.

Still, Gwyn was used to taking punishment, so she followed along. The half Arkanian eventually finished and hoped onto the speeder with her gear, "Yeah, sure."

Honestly, she did not get it. This helping people thing. No one had ever looked out for her growing up. It was not until she met Eliz and joined the Enclave that she had any kind of support, of family. And she remembered the newfound joy, and she craved to return that love. And she felt loyalty to the Enclave, especially after being exposed to how small their population was. She wondered, why should she help others still? After she had been given the cold shoulder until Kranak adopted her?

But she followed along with Hila, not the kind to argue. She was a bitter person, yes, but she was also an approval seeking pushover. She nodded to Hila, still wearing her buy'ce. "Ready when you are. It's getting dark, so sooner than later."

 

[Hila Varad]

Once they had arrived in the poorest section of Anchorhead, Hila removed her buy'ce and greeted the people that stepped toward her. They were told beforehand that she was going to be coming back to town with food for them and they had all gathered to prepare a communal meal that they could all enjoy together, even extending the invitation to her and the new Mandalorian that had come back with her. A child tugged on Gwen's hand and thanked her for helping bring food to them and then hugged her leg.

"Thank you for having me at your meal. I accept." Hila said with a kind smile. She was tall, but now that her buy'ce was off she was also shown to be of fair complexion and red hair. Her nose had been broken several times for sure and had been reset a few times but never quite perfect. It was the sign of a fist-fighter and a tough one, but here she was shedding her tough warrior persona to indulge in a feast with the community she helped.

Hila looked back to the other Mandalorian, "The speeder is all yours if you want to scavenge that campsite. I would like to have you at the feast, but it is up to you if you want to join us." she said, picking up a young Twi'lek child that came running up to her into a hug. "I have hunted for this community before so they will welcome you back as a friend of mine so long as you treat them kindly."

 

[Gwyneira Vizsla]

This was all so much to take in. The child hugging her and thanking her, the crowding people getting their food and being thankful. In the heat of Tatooine, it was like being caught up in a mosh pit in a sauna to her, with towering walls of constricting masses preventing her from moving much. Both physically and emotionally. She was such a bitter person, but seeing that child hug her just prickled something inside. A happy child. She wished she had been one... and she was happy that this child was.

After serving all those people, Gwyn mostly definitely wanted to hop on the speeder and zoom off to solitude. Who knew what Jawas or other scavengers were stealing her stuff! Yet, her ever present loneliness cried ever on inside, yearning. She was unused to sitting down for dinner, but she wanted to stick in the company of this Vod and meet these people, strangely enough.

She pulled her buy'ce off. Her light blonde hair, highlighted with dye at the front, was in her face. Her pupiless eyes blinked as the pale skinned girl nodded, "Sure, I can stay for a bit."

She held her buy'ce, her prized possession, close to her. Gwyn awkwardly dipped her head a bit to the redhead, "Thank you."

Hila Varad