Two Weeks

[Nia Siroc]

Nia was beginning to feel like a cocktail at some fancy bar, being shaken not stirred. Something was definitely wrong here and even she could comprehend that. Thunderstorms didn't involve tremors even during the most intense storms. When another one hit, Allyson Locke was sent to the deck while she barely managed to keep her feet.

Aela had told them to stay here but it felt wrong to just leave her to who knows what. Before she could say anything the older apprentice seemed to read her mind, waving for her to follow. She did gratefully, happy to have someone else along. It wasn't so much her fear of punishment as just not being so sure of what to do if things got really bad.

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

The rain was slashing through the air, hurtled by wind and pressed by the atmosphere to come down in droves. Aela wasn't sure where this storm had come from, nor had she thought it would be so strong. Every few months Borleias had similar storms, hurricanes. The island had a shield to prevent them from doing any real damage, but she remembered sitting inside, watching them in the observatory as they caused massive waves and huge trees to simply be torn from the ground. This storm reminded her of that.

As she stepped from The Luminous Aela frowned slightly.

The heavy rain and the thick dark cloud above made it difficult to see, the expanse of the jungle being pulled back slightly.

She could swear that she smelled fire, perhaps even saw a flicker of light in the distance. Her eyes narrowed slightly, and then suddenly there was another quake of the earth. This time there wasn't a flash of lightning or a thunderous boom, the ground simply shook. The young Jedi Marshall grabbed the edge of the vessel, holding onto it to steady herself. "Eathquake?"

She asked herself.

Then suddenly, as though if any answer, an earsplitting bestial roar echoed throughout the clearing. It was loud, resounding among the trees and breaking apart the storm. Her eyes bulged open, and almost instantly Aela pushed all thought of the storm from her mind.

 

[Allyson Locke]

“Oh Force its pouring out here” Allyson mucked through the storm that beat down upon her, the other padawan and Aela. She shook her head and wondered if she should have just listened to the Jedi Master to stay inside. Then she wouldn’t be soaking wet and outdoors where the lightning and the thunder resided. Storms like this were on Corellia but mostly if you were near the water, other than that you had winter rain and Allyson preferred to stay inside for those. Jumping into puddles? Nope, not Allyson’s thing, rain and thunder, especially lightning kept Allyson inside with loud music.

The ground trembled and Allyson blinked, this was weird. Her stomach knotted and she did her best to steady herself as the trembling stopped for a moment. Making her way towards Aela she paused and found the Marshall staring up at something her eyes wide and that was something, from her understanding of the woman, she didn’t do. Finding [member="Aela Talith"] like this worried her and Allyson knew if she looked in the direction of where she was staring, Allyson would find the same thing Aela found.

“Please tell me this is just a really really bad storm…” Of course it wasn’t and Allyson knew she wasn’t going to get the answer she was hoping for. [member="Nia Siroc"]

 

[Aela Talith]

Heh.

Aela chuckled slightly.

Not out of amusement, certainly not, but mostly out of disbelief. She had not seen anything like this coming, in fact, she was completely and utterly startled. There were few beasts in the galaxy that were big enough to destroy sections of the ground, few loud enough to cause a break in the rain. She'd studied all manner of creatures with her Oma. She had trained Reeks and flown Skreev, she even owned a Drexl herself. They were all massive creatures, but none of them were large enough to cause earthquakes.

She tried to count off in her head the monsters she knew that could do this, though the list was quickly shortened as she saw a massive arm like tentacle float up through the rain and past the tree-line.

"Oh." Aela said quietly as the great beast rose in the distance.

The young Marshall recognized the figure instantly, it's huge maw and great eye shaping in form as it climbed out of the pit that had been created by the lightning strike and clambered onto the earth. It stood tall, hugely above them and glaring through the rain. Lightning seemed to strike around it, reaching towards it and just barely missing it. Aela gaped at the creature, taking an involuntary step back as though it were threatening to come towards them.

 

[Nia Siroc]

The Zillo Beast was massive on a scale that Nia had never before seen. Eyes widened and jaw dropped as she was dumbfounded. No wonder the very ground shook beneath the tread of something that rivaled a corvette. Frozen in place with shock, her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before she could speak.

"How...how can a creature be that huge?"

She shook her head as if to clear it of some illusion. So distracted was she that even the torrential rainstorm didn't even phase her anymore. The bright flash of lightning seemed to emphasize the creature like a spotlight. But it just seemed to stand there and watch them just as they watched it.

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Allyson Locke"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

Allyson caught the girl’s glance and followed it as it made contact with the beast that had been causing all the earthquakes or whatever. The storm didn’t mean much anymore not with the reptile that was probably the biggest thing Allyson had ever seen. The padawan seemed to be phased just as much as the Master that was standing there. Allyson on the other hand didn’t just stare at it, she pulled out the blaster from her side holster and pointed it at the beast.

When she compared the blaster to the beast and then actually thought rationally, she figured that whatever she did with the blaster would only piss it off. Still, if by some sort of space magic the beast feared the blaster - she kept it pointed at the beast through the rain. “How can it be that huge, oh it probably just ate a bunch of stuff and will probably make us its next meal!” Sarcasm was such a beautiful defense mechanism. Seeing Aela step back, Allyson knew they were in deep poodoo.

“Well? What are we going to do - you two are the Jedi. I’m just here to make sure that the ship doesn’t sink!” [member="Nia Siroc"] [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Nia Siroc]

The combination of the blaster fire and sharp sarcasm served to jerk Nia out of her trance. She looked at Locke with incredulity and she snapped "How does that help anything!". Perhaps just as uselessly, the young woman unhooked her hilt with her right hand. She doubted it could do much but somehow it was comforting.

"Master Talith, she's right, what're we going to do?"

Nia had kept her anxiety out of her tone mostly, but, it was a touch sharper than normal. A Zillo Beast had that effect on any being with half a brain. It might indeed cause the ship to sink, rendering weeks of work useless. Worse, the gigantic beast might soon be digesting them. Not that they would be much more than an appetizer, she reckoned with a sudden grim humor.

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Loske Treicolt]

A fair distance from ‘Luminosity'​

Sulch sulch sulch.

Those were the appropriate sounds that squelched beneath her boots - the mud threatening to pour over the tops of the leather solutions wrapped around her feet. The team was steadfast and digging around in this ship for ancient rumoured finds. It all sounded cool and dandy. The ground beneath her was highlighted topographically as the little blue laser preened about; collecting whatever information it could of the unstepped on ground as of yet.

Why was she, a Rogue Squadron Pilot there? Well, if the ship got up and running - they’d need someone overly qualified to fly it. There was already an assigned mechanic to keeping it afloat, but to really make that baby purr; good ‘ol callsign Bruno was on the task. Besides, she was still weaning out the last few days of her star fighter suspension. It had been a Jedi mission, but with her free time, she shrugged and volunteered. May as well get to know more about what these folks did; otherwise she was thinking they were just voodoo wavin’, magic makin’, glow stick righteous vindicators. Besides, Abel wanted to be so like these famed homies, she’d be right to see why. She’d wanted to send him holopics of this misadventure, but there’d been a few murmurs to not send any outgoing transmissions in case they were detected. At least that made some of this kinda cool.

The squelching stopped when she hauled her slender body back up on the speeder, and perched precariously on the seat; banging her heels against the metallic body and letting the wet dirt drip back to the earth it came from.

“See if anything in this direction links to residue back from the ship.” Loske murmured, pushing the insert of the data collector and cuing the information to pop out. With this, she handed the little information stacked chip to the custom droid that waited ever patiently in the vehicle. Maybe the contents they were searching for had gone in a different direction. That's what she and Cole were to find out - along with a few other random folks.

“Ah yes, covering all radials is an effective use of time.’ Frank added scornfully, but letting a little mechanic arm-like contraption out to accept the ship and add it to his internal digestion for review and comparison. “I’m sure we’ll find something this time.”

A palm swiftly swatted the dome of the droid, and she shook her head in irritation, although she could understand where he was coming from. This place was the woorrrsttt. Swampy and dull. Her fingers cupped over her mouth, and she breathed out in a raised voice “Hey - JK - any updates over there?”

Jk - an appropriate abbreviation for Jedi Knights. And she’d just thought of it for this trip specifically. How useful!


[member="Cole Katarn"]

 

[Aela Talith]

She frowned for a moment, her eyes wandering over the Zillo Beast. It seemed to rise to it's full height, it's head swinging from side to side as though it were searching for something.

Aela wondered if it could even feel the storm through it's thick hide, if the lightning that struck it's back and tail even bothered it. Her lips thinned as she considered these things, and then suddenly she realized that none of them mattered. Allyson was right, somewhat at least. The Zillo Beast likely didn't care about how it got so big, it would only care about one thing, getting rid of what was bothering it. No doubt the storm had awoken it and torn it from it's slumber, the earth shaking had been the creatures release.

"We have to go." Aela said suddenly, half turning back inside of the ship. "It shouldn't attack us."

There were speeders in the hangar of the ship. It would be dangerous to use them in this weather...but they didn't have much of a choice. "Their prey is...much bigger than us, as long as we don't bother it it shouldn't bother use."

The ship though...The Luminous, that was big enough to bother the Zillo beast.

 

[Allyson Locke]

“Go? Go where? Where are we going to go?” Allyson followed Aela’s actions and headed back towards the ship. Looking back over her shoulder she eyed the beast wondering what made Aela so confident that the thing wouldn’t attack the ship or come looking for them to be tonight’s meal. There was something that itched in the back of her head, it was weird that it was hanging out around here - there could have been something else that made it become suddenly active. Continuing behind Aela towards the ship, she sighed.

“What if it attacks the ship? Personally I don’t want to be the sardine that is inside that can.” Remembering the ship would possibly have weaponry, but even trying to bother to get that weaponry online would take time. Allyson continued to move towards the ship and mull over the ship that she had memorized from the prints she was able to get into when she had gotten into the dead system. Nothing was there that would help them in time if that thing decided to turn and try and eat the ship.

Though, they had gotten what they came for - so they could leave. “We got what you wanted right? How about we just get the heck out of here?”

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Nia Siroc"]

 

[Nia Siroc]

She kept looking worriedly from the other two women towards the titanic beast, wondering just how long this was going to take. So far the beast was content to simply stare at them. That could change at any second now. "She's right, Master Talith, we should go," her voice was tight with the nervous tension she felt.

Besides, two weeks in this place had been more than enough for the young woman. She'd had her fair share of rain and rank smells emanating from the stagnant waters. Compared to this whole situation, Sullust was infinitely preferable, even under the ground. Nia was very much looking forward to returning...if the Zillo Beast chose to let them live, of course....

[member="Allyson Locke"] [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Loske Matson"]

Blurp. Blurp. Blurp.

The rain pulled heavily at him, damp hair stuck to his forehead and the rain obscured most of his vision. It limited him to only a small cone a few meters in front of him and to the side. There were a few others in the group, two Jedi Padawans and… her.

Matson.

Cole didn’t remember her first name or rather didn’t know it. It had been a mess to get here and through the commotion he hadn’t heard the first syllables to her name, just the last few.

Which was awkward in itself.

"Yeah?" Katarn shouted through the cacophony of the rain. Somewhere in the distance he thought he heard something. A roar? The wildlife here was insane to say the least.

"Same as five minutes ago, Matson. Drowning, soaked and wet. Not necessarily in that order."

It was the rain that made him give lip. That, the exhaustion, the hunger and the distinct feeling they were wasting their time. In a few hours he’d probably regret not being more polite. After all, it wasn’t her fault they were in this mess.

"On your side?"

 

[Aela Talith]

"Good idea." Aela said as she nodded in agreement, her eyes still fixed on the beast.

"Get what you need from the ship." Her voice began to sound more firm now, confidence returning as she tried to instill a bit of moral into the others. "We won't be coming back."

That thought hurt slightly, but it was a simple truth that she would have to accept.

The Luminous was now a very dangerous place to be. Zillo beasts weren't known to be particularly aggressive, at least not compared to something like a Nexu or an Acklay, they generally wouldn't go out of their way to hurt or destroy something, unless that something was encroaching on their territory or otherwise harming them. Of course since the beast had unearthed itself only a few hundred meters from where they all stood, Aela could only assume that they were within the creatures territory, and that spelled bad news.

"Go." Aela urged the two. "Now."

The command came as the massive beast began to turn, it's head swinging towards the three force users.

 

[Nia Siroc]

With a last look at the Zillo Beast, Nia began to bolt across the swampy ground. It felt good to be getting away from this place, away from the ship-sized creature that might or might not be hungry. She hardly even noticed the telltale squelching of her boots, an otherwise clear indication that her feet for now sodden. Even her hair and clothes now plastered to her skin were forgotten.

They'd gotten what they needed which presumably meant that they were leaving Imdaar very soon. Or so she hoped in her heart now thundering from the exertion of sprinting. Nia hoped Aela wasn't going to do anything to draw the ire of the titan. That would be a very bad idea indeed.

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Allyson Locke"]

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Loske was busy scraping mud from her shoes, grimacing all the while in disgust at their environment. She hated the swamp — and the downpour that pressed her blonde tresses flat against her head didn’t help either. She was certainly going to get a cold from all this.

The readings completed their scans and Frank displayed the topographic information back to her. Not really a scientist, but she could see the difference between green and red. But it did take her a few seconds, considering she’d been seeing red for like…weeks.

“Maybe..” The blonde murmured, talking more to the astromech than any of the Jedi that surrounded her.

“Yeah, actually!” She offered a Thanks Frank and yanked the data pad back from the droid’s hold. Tromping through the mud, and clenching her teeth all the while, she made her way to the grumpy Jedi, wiping rain from her brow as she extended the data pad peppered with drops.

“Give ‘er a wipe and see if that’s anything.”

[member="Cole Katarn"]

 

[Allyson Locke]

“Feeeeth” Allyson took a good look at the beast and then heard Aela’s order. There was really no time to argue and attempt to try and help. From the stories that Kaili had told Allyson about Aela, Allyson figured that the woman would be perfectly fine to deal with things for the time being. Quickly, Allyson moved towards the ship and began to fill a pack with the necessary things. Namely her portable gaming device, her comm, a data pad, first aid and several battery packs in case they come into contact with any technology along the way. The pack swung onto her back as she looked down and saw a few frag grenades that she had brought along with her blaster.

“Ohhh this might help.” she clipped them to the thin utility belt she wore and slung her tool back onto her shoulder. Packed up and ready to go Allyson headed out of the ship and towards Aela.

“Right now would probably be a good time to go boss lady! Uh I got grenades I can throw them to cover our butts.” Ally removed one of the grenades from her waist and waved it. “Yes? No?” The last thing she needed to do was throw a grenade, Aela do something and stay in the vicinity and then tell Kaili of the tale of how she met her sister. [member="Aela Talith"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Allyson Locke"]

"Won't do anything." She said simply to Allyson as her lips thinned.

Unfortunately for...well all of them, Zillo beasts weren't exactly easy to kill. The creatures could withstand everything from lightsabers to a round from a proton cannon. Their skin was thick, almost impenetrable, and trying to get through it with a few grenades would prove to be near enough impossible. Aela scowled slightly, her eyes lingering on the massive creature even as it peered down at them. For a moment her fingers slowly closed.

"Run." She said. "Into the forest."

Rain poured down. "Throw the grenades in the other direction."

It was really all that she could think to do. Perhaps the beast would be distracted enough to actually allow them to escape into some tree cover. Before Allyson and the others could answer Aela pushed them forward, nudging them in the direction she wanted them to run.