[Closed X-Guild RP] Pathway to Stone - Sith'ari Path & EPOCH Only

Keel was momentarily taken aback by the newcomer’s straight forward question; he was unaccustomed to Sith being so forthright. The fact this man addressed him with one hand on the hilt of his sabre was not lost on him but Eamonn was familiar with the Kaleesh aggressive and war-like nature. More interesting was how his sudden appearance and current behaviour suggested he felt his comrade needed rescuing. Was this Argyyn really so weak?
     Maintaining a relaxed pose Eamonn smiled politely to the Kaleesh “Eamonn Keel, and this is Jylan Trell” he nodded sideways at his fellow Agent.
     “I have no personal grievance against any Sith” he lied lightly. “Many other Tarisians may feel they have just cause to despise your kind, but in spite of growing up on that hell hole I’ve managed to make something of myself” Keel knew most Kaleesh respected strength he and hoped this one was no different.
     “I was just asking your friend here if your presence on this mission suggests you expect us to run into trouble with other Force users?” he had almost said ‘wizards’ and mentally berated himself for such a slip in concentration. In spite of his outward calm these Sith were indeed making him uncomfortable, and the suspicion that they might be able to sense this was also making him angry. Keel considered himself an expert at reading people, but no one should have that kind of unnatural advantage over him.

Nodding to her Trandoshan companion, Aleena seemed more at ease.

"Thank-you, Agent Skursir. Whilst I recognize and appreciate your professionalism in the matter, the hired crew of this vessel are an unknown quantity to me. Your reassurance is more than satifactory."
There was something in the way she said it, very subtle. She didn't seem to be insulting Skursir as she uttered the words, but she didn't seem quite convinced either. If anything, her reply sounded.....almost politically practiced.

It was then than the apparently middle-aged man approached her, though she immediately felt the incling that there was more to him than was presented. Was he younger than he looked? The Dark Side had a habit of altering one biologically as well as mentally, as she well knew. As he spoke his words were soft and mannered, but again she couldn't drop the feeling that he was presenting himself in a manner that best suited others perception of him:

"Miss Aleena. We haven't been properly introduced yet. My name is Sharasvar Zia, Judge of the Path and member of the High Council for Sith Archaeology on Korriban and the resident historian and - together with Loremaster Arggyn - scholar of the Path. If you or one of your agents should encounter any... artefact of relevance on the mission, I would be grateful if you'd bring it immediately to me. Especially ancient force related objects have a tendency to create... problems, when not properly investigated and attended."

Bowing deeply and giving a welcoming smile she outstretched an elegant hand to shake his. It was exceptionally cold to the touch.

"Judge Zia, a pleasure. When I heard you would be part of the team from The Sith'ari I admit I was both intreagued and excited and now it seems we will be in the same team on this mission?"
Instinctual training kicked in subconsciously, lessons from her Master that forced her to change tact from her usual seductive self when dealing with younger companions to appearing more worldly and chasted to appeal to those whom desired more than just flesh; most often knowledge or power.
"I admit my knowledge of yourself and your Order are both lacking, sadly. It is my hope that, permissions allowing I might get a chance to learn more during our time together. As for Force-Artefacts, I will again defer to your judgement on such matters though I admit to having an interest, if observing you work would be possible?"

The touch of Aleena's cold hand sent an involuntary shiver through Sharasvar's spine. He ignored it, while listening to her polite and carefully formulated answer. A brief show of her cunning? She is no rough stone, waiting to be carved out from the rock, to be cut into a brilliant gem. She is touched by formal training. Jedi? Sith?

Sharasvar chuckled as if he was mocking himself. "I am sure that knowledge of myself would be an utter waste of time for an important... businesswoman like yourself. Ah, I turn stones upside down, I dig trenches, maintain libraries, study holocrons, and decipher old languages. As such, who I am and what I do is hardly an interesting subject for any kind of conversation." He grinned and his eyes twinkled with a hint of mischief.

"Regarding the nature of my group, perhaps we can come to a kind of arrangement, for I am fascinated by the personal histories of non-Sith force users. So, a little tit for tat?" With a cynical smile he let his eyes briefly hover over her voluptuous body, indicating that he wasn't interested at all in that -quite material- part of her being.

She smiled and nodded as she read between the lines of what Sharasvar was saying; he was giving her a reprieve from her usual games of manipulation and politics. For whatever reason he was geniunely interested in her past and that seemed both refreshing and liberating to her.

"An agreement? I think I would like that." She replied, fully aware of some of the subtle nuances of his subtext but deciding to not follow suit.

"I would not care for you to belittle your importance however, regardless of modesty. Yours is a job not suited to many and it is a worthwhile cause; though I suspect many of my fellow Operatives here today might not share my enthusiasm on the subject. You will have to excuse them if they seem a little.....reluctant with their congeniality at first, I assure you it is nothing personal it is just that many have not worked directly with Sith before and, well you know rumours."

"So tell me," She continued. "Do one of you speak for the others here among The Path, or are you all equal in standing?"

Sharasvar smirked. "We are all equal in our inequality. Inequalities point to both strengths and weaknesses. As individuals we, members of the Path, are incomplete and one-dimensional, but together we constitute a formidable force. Only through an organic collective can we transcend the boundaries of our individual persona and..."

The Sith stopped short of completing his sentence and smiled at the hapan female. "You have to excuse me, Miss Aleena. I get sidetracked easily by esoteric issues. For all purposes, Vaelyndor, our Executor, is in command. I will intervene only when the philosophical foundations and existence of our group are at stake, as such you may consider me a moral guardian, rather than a political leader. Darth'Ishad is the fist of our covenant, one might say, Argyyn our living memory, and Void Dallos voices our interests in the political arena. In a way, we are all masters, speaking for our particular domain, and servants, obeying those of the Path who master their own field. This structured conflict safeguards the dynamism and focus of our group, while it does not allow it to degenerate into the destructive Master-Slave cycle, which has steered our proud Sith civilization away from its original course."

When uttering those last words, for a brief moment, Sharasvar distant politeness gave way to a glimpse of passionate conviction.

Understanding where he came from he nodded "The sith are ones people should feel uneasy around, strength is a powerfull thing and most fear it, we embrace it." He knew that the agent was lying but took nothing of it. Darth'Ishad scratched at the bandage across his right eye "we honestly have no idea what we will run into, I infact know very little of this mission im more the enforcer of the Path." He looked over the Sharasvar and back to Eamonn "but with our luck im sure we will run into a uhhh, small problem here and there."

-These people despise you, all of you why trust them?-
A pulse flowed through him, a feeling he has not felt in a while. Darth'Ishad cracked his neck as it happend, the soul inside him speaks again
-Why put your life in the hands of others, our strength alone will get us by-

Skursir found Aleena’s answer pleasant enough. He had no more to say to her and decided to leave the Chief Operative in favour of another group. One think was for sure, she was trying to enforce her grip on the mission, Skursir would see that it did not end so. He left the company of the Lady, not before receiving a friendly nod from the Sith’ari Judge. He was about to make his way over to Creed when he was hit by a blast of noise.

The transport burst into life. The engines took everyone by surprise. It was a tell-tale sign that they were ready to take off. Skursir leapt to the bridge with astounding speed. He entered to find all crew members in their seats and preparing for take off.

Slowly and gently, the transport rose into the air. The noise of the engines drowned out any sound from the hold. Skursir watched as the transport rose above the landing pads, skyscrapers and then the atmosphere. It was a beautiful sight, unfortunately, not witnessed by those in the back part of the transport.

“You have the co-ordinatess?” Skursir asked the crew captain, to which the Bothan replied with a nod. The Sith’ari Path had supplied the co-ordinates to the transmission, with what emotion they did it with was unknown. Skursir assumed that there was some arguing back and forth whether to hire bounty hunters, after all, no one else knew of the transmission – hopefully.

“We’re ready to jump to light speed, sir.” The second crew member spoke out. She was a twi’lek who apparently used to work for the Republic. Her statement was replied by the crew captain in Spacer language. Why he had said it in that language confused Skursir, perhaps because he had become accustomed to say it in that tongue, though this was a trivial matter.

White light beams spread around the screen signalling their jump to light speed. Skursir didn’t know how to pilot a ship, much less know how this technology worked. He did know however that they would be arriving to their destination soon. It seemed like a flash since they entered light speed that they exited. What they saw was an interesting sight.

The world was green and lush. On the map they had found, it was barren and consisted mainly of mountain ranges and prairies. Obviously the public databases had been tampered with. Any settlement was hidden under thick canopies and the lovely blue atmosphere was devoid of any space craft. The world could well be empty.

“Recalibrate the co-ordinatess for our landing zone to the nearesst clearing and prepare the transsmission ssenssor...” Skursir ordered to the crew. The third crew member, a human with uncommon green hair, leapt up to fulfil the command, going into the back rooms to retrieve the devices while the other two started typing several keys whilst glancing at a screen. Skursir decided to leave them to do their duty and returned to the hold.

Location: In orbit of Unknown Planet
Terrain: In space
Transmission Proximity: Unavailable

As those aboard the ship mingled and chatted amongst their particular groups, Vaelyndor began to sense not only unease between the two groups, but some degree of strife within the ranks of the Agents. Curious, he maintained a visage of casual confidence and politeness to those immediately around him, but his main interest centered on the interactions between the EPOCH members. It seems some of them are relative new-comers to the organization. How interesting. Remembering back to his first days with the Sith'ari, he too knew the feeling of anxiety and apprehension about the prospect of putting your life in the hands of complete strangers. Now, of course, he would trust his life to any of the Path members on a blind leap of faith, as he had recently done on their last expedition to Dantooine together.

Sharasvar soon made his way to the group he was near and began speaking to Aleena. Vaelyndor took the opportunity to lounge freely, as he was not actively in conversation with anyone at the moment. Always finding enjoyment to listening to the words of the Historian, he closed his eyes and allowed the soothing voice of his friend to wash over him. A deep rumble soon brought him out of his reverie, however, as the ship began to take off. Giving Sharasvar a brief grin, the Executor braces himself for the jump to light speed. After what seemed like only a brief moment, the ship emerged from hyperspace and the young warrior strode to a cabin viewport to gaze down at the green orb slowly spinning below them.

It seemed like so long ago that he had looked down upon a seemingly peaceful planet in an identical manner, only to face horrors and abominations of the Force just below the surface that no sane person should ever have to encounter. Hoping that this field mission would fare better than the last, he could not help but wonder what new mysteries and threats awaited just below the dense jungle foliage.

Sharasvar withdrew himself politely from Aleena's company and moved towards one of the view ports. He closed his eyes during the jump to lightspeed, and, as always, tried to reach out with the Force during this astrophysical cheating of time and space. It was a strange but addictive experience, as he randomly perceived brief visual impressions, voices, and feelings from both the past and the future. Hyperspace seemed like the museum of existence, a holocron of all things which had passed and would come to pass. To be the librarian of this vast, unlimited library of memories of the cosmic and the molecular...

And then suddenly the echoes halted their continuous whispering and the shouts of billions forms of life filled the ether of Sharasvar's senses. The Historian opened his eyes and stared through the viewport, down on the lush planet which seemed so very actual and material, in contrast to the ephemeral reality he just experienced. Oblivious to his surroundings he sighed. The weight of the oppressive "now" and the tasks which were before him forced themselves upon his thoughts. Sometimes the idea of free will was just a painkiller against the violence of necessity. But that which is necessary, is always right, he comforted himself.

The trip through hyperspace had been surprisingly quick and uneventful. Rumour had it that the Deep Core was extremely difficult and dangerous to navigate due not only to it’s densely packed star patterns, but also antimatter drifts and unpredictable gravity wells. Which was why this ancient centre of the galaxy was reportedly littered with space-wrecks and why there was a long history of ships never returning from the region. But it seemed his apprehension had been unnecessary as Keel heard the hyperdrive disengage with no immediate red alert situation (or imminent death). Further confirmation for him that they had reached their destination was the appearance of the Trandoshan calmly descending cargo hold’s stairwell. If things weren’t going to plan or a problem was occurring, this “Comms Manager” would still be busy in the cockpit.
     There were no windows in the hull of the small transport’s cargo hold (or at least none he could see) and Eamonn decided he fancied a look at this fabled sector of space before they began their decent to the mystery planet’s surface. With an excuse about stretching his legs at the ready and an impassive expression arranged on his face, one which usually was successful in making him feel unapproachable when he wanted, Keel moved through peopled hold dispensing curt nods and hardly a glance at those he moved between.
     He had briefly looked over the transport’s schematics before they had left and so was unsurprised when the stairs from the cargo hold lead him directly into the ship’s cockpit (an inelegant design to his mind, but then this vessel’s type was usually relatively cheap). A couple of aliens sat in the forward pilots chairs and turned to glance at him as he entered. They looked him up and down as he came to stand, arms folded over his broad chest, behind them, but accepted his assumed air of authority and didn’t challenge him. Keel in turn completely ignored them; they were after all to him just another part of the ship – a necessary component perhaps but nothing more.
     The view out of the windows was spectacular. The ‘void’ of space was a concept made mockery of in this bright and glittering galactic core. Keel was a seasoned space traveller and had seen his fair share of nebulae and stellar nurseries, but none of what he had seen could match the scale and grandeur of the cosmicological poetry laid out before the tiny ship. And there, spread out beneath the sea of stars, was their destination. To Keel’s eyes the planet seemed untouched by civilisation; the planet’s dark side was pitch black and showed no sign of urbanisation, and the system’s sun was breaking over the curving horizon bringing colour and life to azure oceans and impossibly green landmasses beneath their patchwork quilt of pink and white clouds. An unspoiled paradise.
     Keel felt a shift in the transport’s hull beneath his feet and the murmuring voices below were drowned out by the sound of the ship’s engines spooling to life. The planetscape swung round to envelop the windows as the little vessel began it’s atmospheric approach.
     Let’s see what dangers lurk behind that pretty face, he thought as he watched the world grow before him.

As they jumped through hyperspace a weird feeling flew through him, almost a feeling of dred or pain. He could feel somthing from everyone in the room, maybe a past event that scared them, or somthin tragic that took place. Every jump he has gone through somthin different flows through him, as he thought about the feelings they just disapeared. They had arived at their destination, what was about to take place, he had no idea.

"Here we go." thought The Thumb to himself while the ship was preparing for jump to lightspeed. He always felt a little disturbed, as solid ground was more appealing to him, than rushing through space at dreadful speed.

He heard footsteps of people ascending to cockpit, but couldn't bother to leave a warmed up bed. He have seen many planets from orbit and all of them look alike. Only with some slight changes in surface color. That's why he closed his eyes and emptied his mind, awaiting landing on planetary surface.

The ship slowly started to make it’s decent. The co-ordinates had been calculated and the transmission finder had kicked in. It was a little modification to the mainframe that also linked into the communications network that would frequent from the ship. Skursir held on as a jolt was made, signalling that they had made it through the atmosphere. He couldn’t see, but he was sure that now they would be swooping over the tops of tree canopies, homing in on the clearing.

“Aleena Fel , Darth'Ishad, Eamonn Keel and "The Thumb", may you all pleasse come down to the hold? You will be leaving for due north-wesst to sscout ahead. Once you have reached far enough, please sstand by asss you are to wait for you colleaguess. I will be communicating with you to monitor your progress and provide ssupport.” Skursir paused, waiting for the four people to make their way down, then he added, raising his voice, “For everyone’ss information, the ship’ss communication frequency is 112-560-873-691. It iss ssecure and known only to uss. Thank you”

Skursir turned to face the scouts, “You heard the information, you are to ssee if there iss anything waiting for uss ou...” There was a loud hiss, then a large bump that shook the ship. They had landed. Skursir counted three seconds, a tip he had learnt as ship doors were sometimes burning hot from atmospheric entry, before opening the hold door. “Yess, I will be on the end of your comm. should you need assistance...”

Skursir walked up to the cockpit to talk to the crew. All except the captain appeared to be fiddling with gadgets, while the Bothan seemed to be making himself at home with a hot cup of blue milk. There was nothing for him to do, Skursir understood, but it certainly didn’t look professional to be lounging around. Never the less, he ordered the crew to open the comm. channel to contact the scouting team.

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: Approx. 10 miles

+++++++++++++++

Padawan Klahn watched the transport come down to only a mile away. The twi’lek had been sent into the forest to meditate by his master, though the task felt hard and his mind had wandered to other things. It was in this state that he saw the ship descend. He hadn’t seen a craft in a long time, the one his family had come with had apparently been turned into scrap. He decided to investigate, these people could well be refugees and he would be the one to greet them onto Tython. He became swelled with pride and moved towards the landing site.

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: Unavailable

((Have a Merry Christmas everyone! You are no longer required to post until the 4th of January so relax and enjoy the festive season!))

After Skursir's quick debriefing, Sharasvar swiftly approached Darth'Ishad and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"If you'd do me a favor, Guardian," the elder whispered. "Keep an eye on the dark jedi - study her personality, tactics and powers, as you'd study a prey. I want to know what I'll soon be dealing with."

The Judge smiled and now put his hand firmly on the kaleesh's shoulder. "Be careful out there. I sense that there is much more to this planet than meets the eye. Our enemies come in many shapes and guises."

Darh'Ishad bowed his head, "As you wish, i get a strange feeling from her as well"
he looked over to her as he finished speaking. He put his hand on the opposite shoulder of the Judge "be carefull around here, these people dont trust us and if somthing goes wrong we are going to be the first blamed."

Keel stood listening to the Trandoshan and tapped the ship’s frequency into his wrist techtronic. The bounty hunter cut an imposing figure. The heavy armour he had been wearing was now complimented by a small jetpack plugged securely into the backplate and a heavy blaster was mounted within easy reach over his shoulder beside it. A helmet was casually propped in the crook of his arm as he typed.
     With no more information forthcoming, Keel donned his helmet and ran again a diagnostic of the kit’s systems. The readout on his visor’s display confirmed all systems, weapons and peripheral devices were functional.
     ”I’ll take point” he said moving to the font of the small group. For the benefit of the Sith, who might not have experience of non-magical combat tactics, he added “Soothsaying aside, the armour gives me a better survival rate under a surprise attack”
     He set his suit’s scanner to detect large animal life-forms (humanoids might not be the only danger picked up under this umbrella setting), unslung his blaster and nodded his readiness.

Trusting the Guardian to his duties in the scouting party, Vaelyndor took the oppertunity to return to his crews' quarter to prepare for his own debarking. Replacing his tunic with dark grey-green light armor, he retained his forest green cloak while retrieving his comm link. Keeping his armaments about him, he added a second lightsaber as well as a double-bladed lightsaber to his gear on hand. One never can be too prepared. he thought with a grin. Checking to make sure everything was securely in place, he exited the chamber to take his place with the others and await word from the advance team.

Darth'Ishad followed the man as he anounced him taking point.
-I feel we are going to have a lot of problems on our hands-

As he steped off the shuttle Darth'Ishad knelt down and listened to what was around him and the others, trying to pick up the smell of anything close.

Hissing voice from the ship's intercomm pierced The Thumb's ears as he was resting, snapping him out of emptiness of his mind. He slowly stood up from the bed, and refreshed himself with a cup of cold water. After he put a protective suit on his body, set a comm unit up to given frequency and powered up wrist blades, he began to descend into cargo hold to regroup with his team.

The Thumb saw a group, he believed was the one assigned with him. He thought so from their battle-ready stance and readied equipment. He approached the guy in heavy armor and only nodded to them, without saying any word. He felt eagerness to kill something, not to simple chit-chat or introductions.

Standing there calmly, he awaited further instructions and tactical overview of situation from the Sith woman, a commander in charge.

Creed awoke from his slumber to the slight effect of turbulence coming from the ship as it entered the planets atmosphere. Grabbing the nearest clothing he could find to him he made his way to the rest of the crew.

"What did I miss?" He said scratching his head with his mouth gaped in a yawn.

Most of the party seemed to be awake and a little anxious to leave. It took a few seconds to register that they might already have arrived at thier destination, and a quick glance at one of the ships navigational computers confirmed his suspicions.

"What's it take to get a Ansionian tea around here, huh?"

Walking down the ramp and stepping foot on the soft, cushioned earth, Aleena looked about her as she came to a stop among the group. Scanning the tree-lines for signs of movement above and beyond the expected shuffling of local wildlife, she took her lightsaber in hand but left it deactivated.

"Very well Gentlemen," she began as she pulled a palm holo-reader from her belt and once again checked over the co-ordinates.
"You heard Agent Skursir. We are to head due north-west, scouting the area as far as the rendezvous point and then link back to the ship so the rest of the group can advance. Stick together, move low and fast and keep to the treelines; we don't need to advertise our whereabouts more than we already have."

As the group readied to move out she took one look back at the ship and nodded to nobody in paticular before continuing.

"Keel, Thumb, remain ahead of us by no more than ten meters, your sensors here could prove an advantage at penetrating the foliage and our most likely early-warning system."

Turning to Darth'Ishad she said in a slightly softer voice:

"As we entered real-space I felt a shift in the Force. Did you detect it? it was very faint. If I sense a disturbance in the Force I will inform you immediately. I would appreciate it if you did the same."

Then addressing the group in general:

"If we encouter hostiles avoid contact if possible but use lethal force if necessary, should it look as though our position may become compromised."

"Okay, move out."

One of the Padawan's lekku snagged on a branch. He quickly ripped it off, a slight crack was made. It was only after a few seconds that he spotted what must be the passangers of the ship. Two heavily armoured individuals walked forth followed by two other people dressed in typical force user garb. What was this? A Republic envoy? Klahn took a deep breath of the air, he could smell the corruption around the two force-users. Sith!

Without hesitation, Klahn brought his lightsabre to bear. His teacher, Master Darnas told him that he was masterful with a blade. Indeed, he had bested each and every one of his peers in combat. He could more than handle a couple of weak, inferior Sith cultists and their warrior pets! He would bring their lightsabres as trophies and show everyone that he had stopped an invasion. He would become a knight! Ah! The thought of it!

With a war-cry and a twist of his hand, a long purple blade extended from the lightsabre hilt and in the same breath, he called upon the force, pushing down upon the ground and leapt with un-natural dexterity into the face of the nearest Sith henchman. He was a helmeted humanoid wearing heavy armour and a jet pack. Klahn brought his lightsabre over his head to make a two handed strike down upon the invader - surely nothing could stop this onslaught?

Location: Forest of Tython
Terrain: Dense vegetation with several small clearings
Transmission Proximity: 9.5 miles

A vast flat expanse stretched in front of him, it felt familiar like an imprint had been put upon that transcended mere words, he took a step forward and his foot came to rest a few inches above his naked feet sloshing around his ankles.
Some primal fear took hold him, he tried to run... get out of the water before he sank.., he willed himself to move but the water was dense far to dense to be real, some thing brushed his foot and he turned around.
Ral'fach lay listlessly in the water his blood leaving a trail as it floated behind him, he reached out for him trying to save him but the ocean gave way and his leg sank into it, he fell through it now, like it was nothing, rushing up past his chest.....

Jylan opened his eyes but didn't move, he was sat on his suitcase with his head against the wall, he forced his brain back in to operation as he tried to distinguish who the faces he didn't recognise belonged to, ah yes the Sith.

His skull ached, he'd been resting on his horns again, he stood up realising faces where missing, a fresh breeze was rolling into the ship which felt good against his skin, they must have made land fall and he'd slept right through... not good.

He headed for the exit to find Skursir he needed to know what was going on....

Skursir was waiting by the communicator, listening in to see if everything was alright. He could hear some rustling and thudding, but nothing important yet. His eyes caught movement to the side and he turned to face Jylan. The zabrak must have been sleeping, he looked tired and slightly nauseous, planetfall had not done wonders for him. Skursir discarded his headpiece to talk to the combat engineer.
"It'ss okay, Jylan. We're jusst sscouting forward now, you can go back to ssleep if you'd like..." Skursir said with a smile.

Keel's first-hand impression of the planet when he stepped off the transport's ramp into the daylight was a hard to ignore feeling of relaxation. His concentration was still sharp, but the killer instincts he'd developed and learned to trust detected no immediate danger. Even though the view through his visor was digitally augmented and tinged blue, the faint sweet smells of nectar and sap carried on the breeze reached his nostrils through the helmet's atmospheric filters, and clearly told him of this place's untouched beauty as much as any view. Of course the visor's HUD displayed an analysis of the air's mass and chemical composition and listed an absence of industrial pollutants with 94.23% of airborne particulates of organic origin, but that wasn't the point.
He nodded once to confirm understanding Aleena's instruction then began leading the small scouting party out of the clearing and into the forest in a northwesterly direction.

They group ventured away from the landing site and his suit's sensor began to pick up more smaller animal life readings and as they penetrated further into the forest Keel noted the proximity of the readings as being unusually close to them before eventually moving away. The party weren't being particularly quiet in following the narrow game trail they travelled. He could only assume the wildlife of this planet had evolved without any ascendant predator and had never learned a fear of man... Or they had forgotten.

The smells of the shady forest were rich with loam and Keel's heavy footfalls were softened by the mossy earth as they made their way roughly westward. The sounds of bird calls were now a pleasant persistent background to their mission. He suddenly stopped holding up a clenched fist.

“One medium-sized life form detected seventy-three meters north, northwest moving towards our position. Type is unconfirmed but movement patterns indicate sentience” he reported to his companions.

Aleena asked in a low but carrying voice “You can't tell what it is?”

“The scanner's having trouble penetrating that far into the vegetation; once we get closer I should get a fix” He explained. With no further life forms appearing on the sensor's readout, Keel indicated to the group and slowly resumed his advancement.

“Life form target now fifty-five meters from our location and still closing. Target confirmed as humanoid” He unslung his heavy blaster but did not turn to face the group as he said “I suggest we spread ourselves out further, Chief”