Post by Dragus on Feb 18, 2024 6:41:09 GMT -8
Take her up. Said Talos into his helmet comlink, instructing the LAAT/le to ascended now that the chirodactyl carcass had been secured with straps. The squad leader of Claw Epyon activated his jetpack and launched up into the air, rising up to the open troop by of the Banshee as it rose above the trees. Landing inside, he turned around and grabbed onto one of the safety handles hanging from the ceiling, peering out the door at the large bat corpse hauled beneath lifted beneath them. Thick blood drops fell from the broken creature, leaving a trail leading back towards Fort Dragmire as the gunship and crew returned to the mobile command centre. Commander Grizzwald was once again riding shotgun, studying a data-pad held in his palms, blue eyes occasionally glancing out the window as the base grew larger the closer they got. Even at a distance, Jake could hear the crack of thunder as the AV-9s inside the command centre walls pounded the jungle, chasing away rancor hunting in the leafy depths. Touching the comm-bead in his ear, Grizzwald opened a channel on his personal comlink to the artillery teams. "Commander Grizzwald to Fort Dragmire. Cease pest control efforts. We're coming in with the bait. Are the energy pens set up outside the walls?"
"Acknowledged. We're making our delivery. Grizzwald out." Switching off the comm, Jake turned his head and nodded at the NJ3 serving as his pilot. Valentine eased back on the throttle as the gunship came in, doing a once around the spirit ichor refinery that was still drilling deep beneath the surface of the planet. The Commander could see the cyborg rat, Skaltera Brassclaw, screeching at his rodent underlings as the warlock enginseers of Clan Rustrot went about their tedious labour. Reaching into his coat, the NJX removed a pack of deathstick and slapped it on the arm of his seat, causing one narcotic stick to pop out of the top of the container. He plucked it free and plopped it in his mouth, then took out his lighter and ignited the end, taking a deep lungful of ryll spice. His gene forge physiology immediately began to combat the chemicals flooding his system, but for a brief fraction of a second, he felt a glimmer of euphoria. Then the world around him came right back and they were descending towards the ground. Beneath them, four armed ranat-ogres were waiting to receive the chirodactyl corpse. A team of the brutes unhooked the cadaver and dragged it away to be turned into chum. Once the beast carcass was delivered, the Banshee rose again, arcing over the base walls before coming in to land on the dirt inside. Grizzwald climbed out of his chair and grabbed Talos by the shoulder before the raptor claw disembarked. The two shared a nod, then went about their own business. The Claw would be headed to the mess, while the Commander's job was never done.
Crossing the interior of the outpost, the Commander exited through the main doors and headed towards the energy pen. It was large enough to hold up to a dozen rancor at least. Just outside the pens was a sinister contraption, essentially a stockade designed for rancor, where their blood could be extracted and stored for whatever nefarious purpose Skaltera intended. Nearby, ranat-ogres worked with large vibro-saws to hack apart the dead chirodactyl, chumming up its guts and parts, carrying away the carrion offal in dripping buckets that were dumped at the edge of the jungle. The stink was awful, a sour note of rancid meat to sickened ones stomach, though it didn't seem to bother the ranats. In fact, many of the foul mouse-men were using their filthy tongues to clean the gorey residue off of their fur. Walking past the butchers shop, Jake reached an observation tower halfway between the walls of the base and the edge of the jungle, a hundred feet in either direction. Climbing up the ladder, he joined an NJ2 scout in the tower who was watching the eerie forest with a tranquilizer rifle. The blood was of better quality if extracted from a living specimen, hence they were attempting to sedate the rancor they lured, then drain them dry and use the leftover carcass to bait others of their kind. The energy pen was just a precaution in case they ran into equipment problems or in the event of a line up. "May I?" Grizzwald asked the scout, who turned and nodded, handing the Commander his rifle.
Resting the rifle tripod on the lip of the tower, Jake stared past the scope rather than through it. His genetically engineered vision saw better than the scope. Easing his breathing, he listened to the song of Dathomir, ignoring the sounds of the base and industry. The crack of a branch a kilometer away alerted him to a creatures approach. At the edge of the jungle, a ranat-gore was dumping another bucket of gore when the foliage erupted and a monstrous bipedal reptile came charging out, roaring in bestial fury. Thump! A single trigger pull fired a tranquilizer dart from the end of the barrel, propelling it with enough force to punch straight into the rancor's thick leathery hide, pumping its bloodstream with a dose of sedative specially prepared by the Dark Apothecary. Night-venom, deadly to most human sized lifeforms, but to a rancor it would only incapacitate. The foul substance was made using a sacred herb of the night ewoks found in the darkside tainted Deep Woods of Pzob. Raising its right claw, the rancor looked like it was ready to swipe at the ranat-ogre, but as its arm came up, the beast collapsed into the ground. "Got one." Smirked Jake, straightening as he handed the rifle back to the scout. One of the Incinerator Tanks they had brought with them hovered up to the carcass, with ranats riding on its sides. The rodents leapt out as they reached the creature and chained it to the back of the hover tank, which was being used like a tow-truck.
Grizzwald slid down the ladder of the observation tower as the rancor was dragged towards the extractor. He took another puff of his deathstick and flicked it away into the dirt. Headed back towards the doors of the base, the Commander's twi'lek aide came jogging towards him, her head tails swishing behind her green head. Sera Hyndulla was a loan from the Whores Eternal in cursed Kala'uun, a former Madame trained in the art of ecstasy by the pleasure pawed ewok maidens of the Famine Lord's harem, lent to the mission because of her linguistical skills. She had been serving mostly as the Commander's 'Go-For', mostly bringing him fresh cups of coffee. As she approached, however, he could tell this was something more serious. "Commander, we've detected numerous life-signs approaching from the north. It looks to be a raiding party from the natives." She fell into step with Jake, handing him a data-pad with satellite telemetry of the terrain due north Fort Dragmire's position.
Without hesitation, Jake activated the ear-bead of his comlink. "All hands, button up. We've got incoming visitors. Troopers to the walls." The base doors swung closed behind them as the Commander and his aide ran inside and made their way up the ramp on the north side of the base, heading up to the ramparts overlooking the scorched terrain between the outpost and jungle. They were joined by crimson gamma-plast NJ1 Sith Troopers, marching into position along the tops of the wall, scanning the jungles edge with the J20 electroscopes of their ST-W48 rifles. Finding a spot between two soldiers, Jake swung his Imperial repeater rifle around and looked down the iron sights, waiting for the detected force to reveal itself. Thirty seconds later, the first of them began to appear, emerging from the brush. They were Zabrak judging by the spikes coming out of the tops of their heads, somewhat primitive in nature, as each was carrying a medieval-esque melee weapon. Jake counted thirty, no, forty emerging from the jungle. Not a single one was carrying a modern blaster weapon. He sneered. Savages. He turned his head and raised his voice, addressing all the troopers on the wall.
"Looks like we found more blood. Set blasters to stun." He then turned completely around and looked down towards the inner courtyard of the fort. He shouted down to the artillery team. "Lay down fire three hundred feet north of our position! I want their retreat cut-off." He turned back around as the first of the Night Brothers began to charge towards the walls, shouting tribal war-cries in their native language. "Fire at will!"
Aye, Commander. Replied a static laced voice over the comm channel. Positioned against the outer eastern wall.
"Acknowledged. We're making our delivery. Grizzwald out." Switching off the comm, Jake turned his head and nodded at the NJ3 serving as his pilot. Valentine eased back on the throttle as the gunship came in, doing a once around the spirit ichor refinery that was still drilling deep beneath the surface of the planet. The Commander could see the cyborg rat, Skaltera Brassclaw, screeching at his rodent underlings as the warlock enginseers of Clan Rustrot went about their tedious labour. Reaching into his coat, the NJX removed a pack of deathstick and slapped it on the arm of his seat, causing one narcotic stick to pop out of the top of the container. He plucked it free and plopped it in his mouth, then took out his lighter and ignited the end, taking a deep lungful of ryll spice. His gene forge physiology immediately began to combat the chemicals flooding his system, but for a brief fraction of a second, he felt a glimmer of euphoria. Then the world around him came right back and they were descending towards the ground. Beneath them, four armed ranat-ogres were waiting to receive the chirodactyl corpse. A team of the brutes unhooked the cadaver and dragged it away to be turned into chum. Once the beast carcass was delivered, the Banshee rose again, arcing over the base walls before coming in to land on the dirt inside. Grizzwald climbed out of his chair and grabbed Talos by the shoulder before the raptor claw disembarked. The two shared a nod, then went about their own business. The Claw would be headed to the mess, while the Commander's job was never done.
Crossing the interior of the outpost, the Commander exited through the main doors and headed towards the energy pen. It was large enough to hold up to a dozen rancor at least. Just outside the pens was a sinister contraption, essentially a stockade designed for rancor, where their blood could be extracted and stored for whatever nefarious purpose Skaltera intended. Nearby, ranat-ogres worked with large vibro-saws to hack apart the dead chirodactyl, chumming up its guts and parts, carrying away the carrion offal in dripping buckets that were dumped at the edge of the jungle. The stink was awful, a sour note of rancid meat to sickened ones stomach, though it didn't seem to bother the ranats. In fact, many of the foul mouse-men were using their filthy tongues to clean the gorey residue off of their fur. Walking past the butchers shop, Jake reached an observation tower halfway between the walls of the base and the edge of the jungle, a hundred feet in either direction. Climbing up the ladder, he joined an NJ2 scout in the tower who was watching the eerie forest with a tranquilizer rifle. The blood was of better quality if extracted from a living specimen, hence they were attempting to sedate the rancor they lured, then drain them dry and use the leftover carcass to bait others of their kind. The energy pen was just a precaution in case they ran into equipment problems or in the event of a line up. "May I?" Grizzwald asked the scout, who turned and nodded, handing the Commander his rifle.
Resting the rifle tripod on the lip of the tower, Jake stared past the scope rather than through it. His genetically engineered vision saw better than the scope. Easing his breathing, he listened to the song of Dathomir, ignoring the sounds of the base and industry. The crack of a branch a kilometer away alerted him to a creatures approach. At the edge of the jungle, a ranat-gore was dumping another bucket of gore when the foliage erupted and a monstrous bipedal reptile came charging out, roaring in bestial fury. Thump! A single trigger pull fired a tranquilizer dart from the end of the barrel, propelling it with enough force to punch straight into the rancor's thick leathery hide, pumping its bloodstream with a dose of sedative specially prepared by the Dark Apothecary. Night-venom, deadly to most human sized lifeforms, but to a rancor it would only incapacitate. The foul substance was made using a sacred herb of the night ewoks found in the darkside tainted Deep Woods of Pzob. Raising its right claw, the rancor looked like it was ready to swipe at the ranat-ogre, but as its arm came up, the beast collapsed into the ground. "Got one." Smirked Jake, straightening as he handed the rifle back to the scout. One of the Incinerator Tanks they had brought with them hovered up to the carcass, with ranats riding on its sides. The rodents leapt out as they reached the creature and chained it to the back of the hover tank, which was being used like a tow-truck.
Grizzwald slid down the ladder of the observation tower as the rancor was dragged towards the extractor. He took another puff of his deathstick and flicked it away into the dirt. Headed back towards the doors of the base, the Commander's twi'lek aide came jogging towards him, her head tails swishing behind her green head. Sera Hyndulla was a loan from the Whores Eternal in cursed Kala'uun, a former Madame trained in the art of ecstasy by the pleasure pawed ewok maidens of the Famine Lord's harem, lent to the mission because of her linguistical skills. She had been serving mostly as the Commander's 'Go-For', mostly bringing him fresh cups of coffee. As she approached, however, he could tell this was something more serious. "Commander, we've detected numerous life-signs approaching from the north. It looks to be a raiding party from the natives." She fell into step with Jake, handing him a data-pad with satellite telemetry of the terrain due north Fort Dragmire's position.
Without hesitation, Jake activated the ear-bead of his comlink. "All hands, button up. We've got incoming visitors. Troopers to the walls." The base doors swung closed behind them as the Commander and his aide ran inside and made their way up the ramp on the north side of the base, heading up to the ramparts overlooking the scorched terrain between the outpost and jungle. They were joined by crimson gamma-plast NJ1 Sith Troopers, marching into position along the tops of the wall, scanning the jungles edge with the J20 electroscopes of their ST-W48 rifles. Finding a spot between two soldiers, Jake swung his Imperial repeater rifle around and looked down the iron sights, waiting for the detected force to reveal itself. Thirty seconds later, the first of them began to appear, emerging from the brush. They were Zabrak judging by the spikes coming out of the tops of their heads, somewhat primitive in nature, as each was carrying a medieval-esque melee weapon. Jake counted thirty, no, forty emerging from the jungle. Not a single one was carrying a modern blaster weapon. He sneered. Savages. He turned his head and raised his voice, addressing all the troopers on the wall.
"Looks like we found more blood. Set blasters to stun." He then turned completely around and looked down towards the inner courtyard of the fort. He shouted down to the artillery team. "Lay down fire three hundred feet north of our position! I want their retreat cut-off." He turned back around as the first of the Night Brothers began to charge towards the walls, shouting tribal war-cries in their native language. "Fire at will!"