Todes Jagd

[Josher Nidan]

The Raserei broke hyperspace approximately 30 klicks from the nearest freighter. It sped quickly forward, the cyan emerging from it's engine drives contrasting against the void of space.

Josher answered several questions from Rodia's Harbor control and they let him through. The wings on the Skipray spun about to their horizontal position as he screeched through the atmosphere. The Arkanian hunter soon peered out through the transparisteel canopy at the jungle below. The Skipray cruised swiftly over the treetops, and Josher performed a barrel roll left as he sped over the Iskayuuma temples and various other buildings.

The Rodians were renowned as hunters and mercenaries. They had evolved in such a way due to their surroundings. Many viscious carnivores had feasted on them as a young species, but now they had the upper hand on their planet.

"How ironic that one of the most renowned hunter species in the galaxy misses a catch such as this.."

Josher had been following a creature known as 'Subject 4D668493X' to Imperial Scientists, and known in various other native languages as 'The Night Demon', 'The Eater', and 'Soul Ghoul'. It had escaped an Imperial lab back in the palpatine-era, and had been hitching rides across the galaxy on freighters and various other ships. Reports of a mutated Ghest had materialized on Rodia. Ghests were bipedal creatures who stood nearly upright, had two arms with 4 clawed hands. They sported a tail and a jawful of horrendous teeth. It was not uncommon for a ghest to attack a primitive village and devour all it's inhabitants.

"To each it's own.."

The reports suggested something else, however. The creature was much more lanky and taller than the Ghest, had a very long tail with a dagger-like end that could pierce most armor, four huge ripping claws, and two outgrown canines that were almost tusks. Natives had seen two sunken red eyes and a spiny, hairless body. The stories also told of it's tremendous stealth and climbing ability. Occasionaly it would pop up in a large city and snatch a Rodian or two, then return to the jungle where it would feed off other creatures and more primitive Rodians. One city report had suggested it had managed to steal and operate a blaster.

Josher eased his ship down in a clearing on the far outskirts of enormous Equator City. Jets of air blasted down and Josher opened the hatch on the side, and lept to the grass-covered ground.

[Subject 4D668493X]

Green things.. too many. Must leave. They will not...no more. They hurt..their things.. no more!

Shunk!. The creature thrusts it's fangs deep into the Rodians' flesh. It pauses momentarily to suck up the excess blood that flows from the wounds. It then archs it's neck back visciously, a large hunk of flesh between it's teeth. It gnashes and chews, swallowing quickly. Looking up and around with large red eyes deep in it's head, it searches for anything. Simultaneously it's claw comes up and feeds the Rodian's throat into the creature's mouth.

The beast.. the hard ones. They fly...must leave.

It curls it's tail up behind it's back and manuevers it's flesh-soaked tail around, finally whipping it to the side to fling the blood off.

The tall things.. there. The beasts come. Must leave... no more..

From it's perch in a tall tree, it can see for several klicks in all directions. Ships come and go in the distance, winding through tall buildings and structures. Blood and flesh drip their way down the tree to the jungle floor.

They come... yes, to hurt me. The next moon.. yes..

Several hours later, a young Ghest male appears. He has been drawn in by the scent of the blood. He walks slowly, cautiously. The smell is delicious, Rodian. He had not eaten the green ones in some time. The Ghent crouches low to the ground, it's head shifting side to side sniffing and listening. It bends forward, lapping up some blood that had spilt from the top of the tree. A rustle of leaves, and suddenly it's lower back arched downward too far, breaking it's spinal cord as something deadly sharp pierced it's flesh and dug into it's bone. The weight of the creature caused the Ghest to collapse and cry out with horrendous pain. The dagger tail flashed in the sunlight, and the shriek stopped.

[Josher Nidan]

The Rodian sun had begun drifting towards the horizon. A figure appears in front of it. First a head, then shoulders. The torso, arms and legs. The figure ascended the knoll and rushed forward into the outer rim of the jungle, small vegetation and medium-sized trees dominating the area. The figure, a primitive Rodian, ran forward looking frantically at the treetops and all around him. Several minutes later he ran out of breath and leaned against a tree. He gasped for breath, attempting to calm himself. The treetops blocked most sunlight, and the jungle around him was dark. In the distance, animal noises could be heard wailing in the dusk.

Rested, the Rodian rounded the tree corner and quickly fell backwards to prevent the barrel of a W-90 Concussion rifle being shoved down his muzzle-mouth. Josher stepped forward, shoving him to the ground.

"Koona t'chuta?"(Going somewhere?)

"Ap-xmasi keepuna!! Ah'chu apenkee? Hi chuba da naga??"(Don't shoot!! Who are you, what do you want??)

Josher tapped himself on his armored chest,"Murishani. Kapa tonka, boska! Nudd cha!"(Bounty Hunter. Hands up, let's go. Forward!)

The Rodian complied, and walked in front of Josher further into the woods, the barrel at his spine. He said frantically,"Kee chai chai cun kata? Soon peetch alay! Uba gopptula jee?"(What are you doing here? It's too late! Are you ransoming me?)

"Nobata, cha skrunee do pat."(No, don't count on it.)

Later, the Arkanian found out that the creature had raided a village and the Rodian was running away from his devastated home. Josher let him go after the Rodian showed him the way back to his village.

[Subject 4D668493X]

It had gotten away. That first green one.

It will not get away. No. It will tell the others... must feed soon... leave.

The creature gripped it's hind claws deep into the tree's trunk. Over time, it had developed an interesting advantage the Imperial Scientists did not mean for it to have.

Closer... yesss

Perhaps a technician had given an overdose of a drug to the creature when it was in captivity, or it was exposed to radiation.

No.. do not hesitate.. come..

Whichever the cause, it had come out with one conclusion.

The Rodian had decided that running to the nearest village and warning the inhabitants was a good idea. It would've been, were it not for the fact that he was still in the jungle. And lost.

He had also not taken into account the creature's camouflage ability. For one reason. No one had ever lived to tell about it.

The creature was about to change it's skin color to it's ghastly white and leap down to consume the Rodian, when it paused. It looked down to it's abdomen slowly. The flesh around the creature's eyes tightened and narrowed.

What is this? A sickly... no. It is too bright.

The creature heard a sharp wooshing noise, and it lept down.

[Josher Nidan]

"Stroika!"

Josher cursed in his native Arkanian as the creature dropped to the ground.

It saw the glint of the sun off of the launcher..

A split second after he swore, the Arakyd 3t3 missile slammed into the huge tree, nearly passing through it. The massive detonation roared throughout the jungle. The top half of the tree completely broke off; and it flew back, spinning in the air to land several dozen meters away, crushing two other small trees and breaking the bow of another large one in a deafening crunch. Birds took to the sky, cawing and crying in shock. Huge chunks of wood flew in all directions as the conflagration from the mini-proton torp spread in all directions.

By this time Josher had set the PLX-2M launcher in a well-made notch in the tree's trunk where he was crouched when he fired. The hunter dropped to the ground and advanced to the site of the explosion several dozen yards away. Simultaneously he drew a DX-2 pistol in one hand and held his W-90 in the other. Leaves, bark, and wood crunched underneath his boots as he backed against a tree on the edge of the clearing the detonation had made.

Josher heard the ghastly painful moans of a creature, possible the Rodian he had left as bait. Possibly not. He composed himself and rounded the tree, gun barrels sifting through the ash and smoke in the air as they swayed from side to side.

[Subject 4D668493X]

The swirling mists cleared, and the creature's mind drifted back to conciousness. Muffled voices were heard.

"Uba!"

"Hagwa doope. Konchee ghest bolla?"

"Uba koochoo! Jee-jee nee choo wata!"

"Konchee?!"

At this point, the replying voice began sobbing.

"Soong peetch alay.. soong peetch alay.."

The creature opened it's red eyes. It was dark and the smell of burnt wood was in the air. It shifted it's body around, and found itself under a large hunk of wood. About a foot of space were between it and the ceiling of the wood. It groped about for several moments, careful to remain silent. It soon found a large enough gash in the wood to crawl out into the ash and scorched earth around the wood, and it immediately used it's cloaking ability to blend in with the burnt wood around it.

An armored creature and the green one it had been hunting were the ones who were talking. The green thing was laying on the ground sobbing, and the armored one was searching around with two weapons.

The large armor.. it must die. It attacked me. I will destroy it.. must leave... soon

The creature crawled up the nearest tree.

[Josher Nidan]

There you are..

The near 2-hour long wait had come to an end. Josher depressed the thumb trigger.

An electronic wailing boom echoed througout the jungle, followed immediately by enother, more gutteral and anguished screech. Birds took to the sky, their crys of alarm mixing with the horrible sounds.

Josher lowered the emitter dish on the Sg-82 and stood up, running quickly through the ferns and other plants among the trees. He dropped the Sonic Rifle, removed a stun launcher from it's holster into his hand, and slung his W-90 into his other hand.

He had been very patient. Having executed the Rodian and placing it's body in a tree, he had camped for nearly 2 hours in a depression at the base of a tree. It was a point of relative safety from which he could observe the tree and the area around him. The creature had not shown for a very long time, and Josher was about to give up and try something else when it's figure had suddenly popped up there. It seemed hesitant and dazed, Josher figured it was injured from the missile blast.

He reached the foot of the tree, and frowned when the creature's body was not there.

Surely it had fallen... this will not be pleasant. It was annoying carrying the Rodian's body up there. I will cheat this time.

Replacing, for a moment, the launcher with a hookshot, he fired up at a large branch on the tree and ascended to the bow where the Rodian corpse, and hopefully the creature's body, lay. He heaved himself onto the branch and brought out the Stun net launcher again. He made his way down the branch, and past a curtain of leaves into the bow. The Rodian body was there, but the creature wasn't. There was something else, however.

It appeared to be a black cube with a concave white dish on it's top. It lay on it's side, sparking and busted from the Sonic blast. Josher reached forward and tipped it back over. It was then he realized what it was.

A holoprojector..

The Arkanian was about to leap out of the tree when a dagger tail stabbed from the leaves above preceding a snarling growl. It pierced the transparisteel visor in Josher's helm and sunk into his right eye.

[Subject 4D668493X]

The creature roared in triumph as it's tail stabbed into the hunter's head. The armored one had been lured into it's trap. Not only had it learned how to operate a blaster, it had succuesfully managed to work a holoprojector/recorder.

The beast noted that it's prey did not scream in pain as others did. It merely grunted and clenched it's teeth, denying that small victory to it. The armored one stumbled as he brought up to the two weapons he held in his hands and pointed them shakily upward.

The creature shrieked angrily as red blaster bolts from the Concussion rifle singed it's flanks and legs. It leapt to the bow of the tree, narrowly avoiding the stun net. The monster flicked it's powerful tail downwards, and brought the humaniod down with a deep thud. It quickly pulled it's tail from his head as it lunged forward, stabbing it's claws toward to maim the hunter's head.

With surprising agility, the hunter shifted backwards and kicked upward to his feet. The creature's claws slammed and dug into the wood where his head would've been. It snarled angrily in shock and pulled back immediately. The hunter was a blur as he produced a spin kick, causing a snap to be heard when it connected with the creature's jaw as it was pulling it's hand back. The beast was knocked several meters away, and it quickly sprang up, barely dazed from the attacked.

It charged with a voracious roar. Taking advantage of the eyesight problem the hunter was experiencing now, it lashed out at his face with it's claws and then thrust it's tail forward over it's shoulder. The tail nearly sparked as it just barely missed open flesh and deflected off the armored one's helmet. The creature snarled horribly and jumped towards the humanoid again. This time, the hunter fell backwards, keeping the creature away with his foot and thus propelling it behind him out of the tree. It screeched as it fell.