Yavin IV's Open Terrain

It stopped raining. At least that was done.

Duke smeared the now jellified blood on his armour on sherer while taking 5. Some battle paint, lines going over the armourplates, crimson red and smelly. Lucky for them, the helmets filtered most of it.

They got lost twice, because the rain had washed away most of the trail, but after some backtracking and legwork, they found a fresh trail of the Howler pack. Following the trail, they finally found fresh dung. Few people get happy when they step in howler spillings, but duke was. They were near. Pointing at a good sniper position in the treecrown of a dieing tree, Sherer got to climbing. Duke himself went after the now obvious trails of the howler pack.
A howl. Close, to the north. Just over the next couple of trees.

Close.... so close. Now, we must be very carefull.

He looked up, and saw Sherer over him, sniper rifle ready. The treecrowns were dense, she could easily climb from one tree to the other. Duke sneaked on. He took cover behind a tree and looked around the trunk. He saw a small clearing filled with gathered twigs and metal plates from crashes. A nest. Duke could see several eggs in twig and foliage. The pack was mad. There were several fights going on all over the clearing. The remaining dozen or so Howlers were fighting for dominance over the pack. After retreating from the temple, and licking for wounds, they surely realised they lacked hierarchy. And in the predator world, the rule of the jungle is the law.
The strongest needed to be found, or there was no order.

Duke watched them, studied them.

Those that survived were a lot smaller then the carcasses he had hung up back in camp. These were the younger howlers, with no standing in the hierarchy or on the lowest steps. These were surely left behind so the stronger ones could kill the pray. Lot of shreeking. Must be a way to show dominance too. He watched as one of the larger howlers in the pack slowly walked over to a nest of eggs. There was an other howler there allready. The first, large one howled, and the other at once got into combat stence, with mouth open and leggs ready to claw. The large one howled again, and advanced, and a fight broke out.
Ownage of eggs must be the privilidge for the Alpha couple. The male is trying to dominate the Alpha Female to show his power over the eggs and the future of the pack. If the Female gives in, the provoking male would become the new alpha. If she dies, the females would start a fight. Total chaos for the pack.

The Female was loosing ground, and allready got a bite on its neck. The thick skin saved it from critical harm, but the creature was weakening. The mandalorian warrior culture is that of a predators. Duke understood all. The children were the future, and their only protector was the key to the future and leadership over the Alpha.

Of course, if you happened to be a Howler.

Duke decided on gut instinct, and acted on it. He simply walked out amongst them. The pack at once united against the outside threat. All heads turned toward him and he quickly got cut off on both his sides, surrounded. He could only retreat backwards, and if he did, he would quickly get on the menu. They were about to leap, and then suddenly stopped. Confused.

Yes... You smell me, and also your old Alpha...

They sniffed and huffed, confused. Both Human and Howler smell. The memmories of the old Alphas dominance in the air.

The Provoking Male jumped in front of him, pushing away the Alpha Female. It howled with all its power. Duke felt it, the resonance. The helmet filters filtered most of the sound, but he felt the bones shake, his belly ache as if he was in a crashing ship. He stood his ground, strong. The rest of the Howlers backed, they were too weak to stand the Usurpers howl. The only ones that could was the Usurper himself, and Duke. They were the candidates to Alpha status.

Duke reached for his helmet with one hand, and for his combat shovel with the other. Opening the mouthpiece of the Buyce, he screamed at the Usurper howler. A fierce battlecry, even these creatures respected it, even if it was not that of a howler.

Duke was confident. The Usurper was large, but not far as huge as the alpha. And duke now had his combat knife too. Duke batted away the first bite of the howler with the shovel, crutting a deep cut in its face. Duke countered with a quick swat at its head with the shovels flat side from the right, and as the creature was stunned for a second, he jumped with all his weight knife first on its neck. Some sniveling, some whining, the shaking of the body, and the Usurper was no more. Duke stood up panting, his adrenaline was high again, and he screamed a victory howl. The rest of the pack hissed angrily still. One leaped forward but duke swang the shovel up high, and it retreated in fear.

Duke got to his knees, and looked around. Why are they not accepting him?
The Alpha female.

It was curled around the largest set of eggs. It hissed the loudest. Duke got up and walked over to it. It became territorial, ready to strike at those that would take her babies. Duke shouted back at it, waved the shovel and the knive some more. The Alpha Female didnt back off, instead it mock attacked into the air between them. A Threat. Duke didnt back down any more. If he would, the pack would rip him appart and someone else would try to best the famle. Then he saw the red dot.

Sherer had taken up a new position and was aiming at the creatures head with her sniper rifle.

-Sherer-
One more step and I will blow it away.

Easy Sherer.... Easy. We are just learning to know eachother...

Duke took a step forward himself, reaching out one hand, as bait. The Howler Mother snapped at him, but he was ready. He pulled his hand away and smacked the howler on the head with the flat of the shovel. It whined and sneered, and attacked again. The answer was the same, duke smacked it in the head and added a shout himself, and this time, the female backed.

You are MINE!

He baited his hand again, and this time, the Alpha Female howler, known now as The Mother licked Dukes hand.

At once, the rest of the pack howled. Duke had to brace himself, it was an incredible feeling, as everything trembled around him and in him. He got filled with adrenaline and was nausiated at the same time. So, he howled with them. HIS howler pack.

-Sherer-
Making friends?

Shut up woman and come down here.

-Sherer-
You gone Dikut? I aint going down there.

Yes you are, or I will just have to change girldfirends.

-Sherer-
Yeah right, try to fit THAT in the refresher with you...

She seems to like to cuddle...

Duke patted the Mother Howler on the neck and it seemed to like it.
Soon, there was a loud hump as Sherer jumped down from the tree krown. At once the clan turned towards her, hissed with anger, ready to attack. Duke calmly walked metween the howlers over to Sherer.

"You will have to show your strenght. They smell you, just like me, but you have not shown your place. Stand by me, and scream."

-Sherer-
"I wont scream you nut! You do something, its your pets."

*She was a bit nervous. He felt it on her voice.*

Are you a woman or a little girl? Sceam and they will..."

She didnt scream, she simply leaped forward at the nearest howler and kicked it strait in the head with a steel toed Boot. It whimpered away and the rest backed. Seeing as the new Alpha male accepted the newcomer, the rest accepted her too.

"Well... say hello to the new clan Australis."

-Sherer-
"I am not adopting some filthy lizards."

"Ah... I was gonna leave you with them and not pay allimony anyways..."

*She punched him lightly, the Mother Howler hissed.*

"Ah... jelous. Ok, they know us now. Lets take the corpse and return. Mark this on the map. I want to be exploring your bush tonight, not this god damned jungle."

-Sherer-
"Huh, dream on, sleep with your new girlfriend."

They laughed a little, and took the howler corpse. The Pack hierarchy still needed to be set, some more fights were being done, but the alpha female had dominance through the protection of the new male. All the Howlers knew that if they defied the New alpha, or the Alpha Female, they would be killed like the Usurper. Duke would have to check in on them, to make sure they know he will return and show his dominance, but for now, he could return to the camp.

Saris opened the case even before he had stopped and dropped it as he snatched up the bow and quiver. No time for for getting situated. The quiver dropped to rest against a stone instead of going onto his back, the shafts of its arrows pointed toward the now-kneeling Sakiyan. His first shot found the body of a stintaril about to leap onto Chiala's back, pinning it to a branch, and his second drove entirely through the head of the one on the vine above her, planting itself in a tree several meters past its target. The bow and arrows had been designed with Sakiyan strength in mind, and the soft flesh of the rodents provided little resistance against the piercing shafts.

"Use the vines!" Chiala had reinforced the tree branch holding the shuttle in only seconds, enough growth to require several years to occur naturally, so he reasoned that if she used the vines, which had a much faster growth rate than the larger trees they hung from, she could ensnare the rodents within their own habitat. He didn't know how much strength she had left, but he did know that a large enough horde of ants could easily kill and consume even a powerful gundark, and there looked to be more stintaril than he had originally estimated. He and Chiala may be the gundarks in this situation, but they did not have the advantage.

All these thoughts floated around the edge of his calm, seeming almost to be the thoughts of another man as his body responded to instinct and training and drove shaft after shaft into the bodies of the rodents. There were half a dozen of them dead or dying before the first one reached him, and when it did he drew his bow-arm across his chest and lashed out with a backhand, hearing a sickening crack as it connected. He dropped the bow then, and took up an arrow in each hand. Had he not been in the void of the calm, he might have considered using the training saber held on his belt as well, but the weapon was still somewhat new to him and his actions and instincts were focused only on what was intimately familiar.

He barely felt the snarl on his face as he bared his fangs and lunged forward, using the pair of arrows like tiny spears as he thrust and withdrew again and again, each time aiming for a heart or a head. Even wrapped in calm as he was, however, he was far from invincible. Teeth and claws raked his skin, drawing red blood too dark to be human, and it wasn't long before his skin was slick with the life-giving fluid. He didn't know how many he'd killed or how many were only wounded, or even how many remained, all he knew was that they were still attacking and he could not let up until they were dead. Wrapped in calm as he was, his own pain was as distant as his conscious thoughts, and he pushed himself as hard as he dared within the void. He still felt the pain, certainly, but it didn't seem to be his own. It was a worry for another time.

He hated the Jungle now. It was hot, and everything was trying to kill them. Small Howler skirmishes, some kind of...bug....thing....ugh, It did not matter. The package had been delivered, and they could now move to phase 2 of the ground attack. The sooner they got back to camp the better....Should only be another hour or so......So long as they didn't run into anything else that tried to kill them. Sheva was around somewhere. He could feel her quiet disdain through the air, much like Corss buy'ce/face. You just........KNEW.......

He mentally shrugged, his blade still in his right hand as he cut down foliage and anything else that got in his way.

Sheva....where in Kads name are you? Have you gotten a signal from either the Camp or General Dourpants?

He kept his voice calm, keeping his heart rate low, conserving energy. It wouldn't do to get even more tired....

Using the vines to draw the stintaril away would have been enough, but Chiala decided to go the extra mile and try to slap him in the face. Try being the operative word. Wrapped in calm as he was, he was far faster than she and simply leaned back out of range, his brow creasing in confusion. What does it matter if they die now from my arrows or die later from starvation? It would be kinder to kill them quickly. Both sentient and non-sentient creatures died every day, and the most you could do for those you had to kill was make it as painless as possible. Outsiders are... strange.

He resisted her tugging as his eyes swept the ground, then pulled free when they found his bow and quiver. "You go ahead. I'll catch up." After retrieving the bow and arrows, he swung the quiver over his head and buckled the harness around him, securing it in place. That done, he set about retrieving the six arrows he had expended during the fight, since machining new shafts and arrowheads would take time, and he also doubted that the alloys normally used could be acquired here on the forest moon.

As he turned back to follow Chiala, he began to take stock of his injuries while the pain of them continued to assault the edges of his calm. A calm, he quickly realized, that was saving him from bleeding out. Most of the wounds were superficial and would heal in a matter of days, each leaving another hair-thin scar in its place, but several of the bites and scratches were both deep and dangerously close to arteries. Even so, the blood that seeped out of the wounds and down his skin did so exceedingly slowly, owing to his state of utter calm and the drastically reduced heart rate it created. But I can't maintain calm forever, and even if I could I'd still bleed out eventually.

"I need a medkit as soon as possible." He said as he caught up to Chiala again, his lack of profuse bleeding and the icy calm of his voice standing at odds with the statement. By all appearances, he looked nothing like a man in need of immediate medical attention. The rain had begun to wash the blood from his body as soon as each wound had been created, and now all that remained was a small amount of fresh blood seeping slowly out of his deepest wounds.

His ears caught the sound of the voice a moment before Chiala uttered her hopeful cry, and he realized he could once again hear the sound of rain on metal and the creaking of a structure that hadn't yet settled. Not much farther then.