Doom Amongst The Dunes (Shelved RP)

With a simple shrug and a nod to Tobias Valik took the tracker and wandered out into the arrid heat of the bright sunlight.

He noticed his left hand was beginning to shake and dug his claws into his palm forcing the pain to keep him in the present.

Without waiting for his colleagues to argue over how things should be done, he switched on the device and began to follow its readings. He was eager to find his quarry and get things over with, while he still had some lucidity left in him.



The walk was not an especially long one, but it felt like a test of endurance in the scorching heat from which they got no repreave, and although beads of sweat were collecting on the large Feeorin's face he was glad of it, his companions would assume he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable in the heat, rather than the truth of the matter that the last of his neural stabalizers were wearing off.

Damn that Wookie! Why did he have to go and injure himself?!

Valik shook his head in disgust at his own shortcomings. No, it was not Net'ra's fault, he had given his last stabalizer to the Wookie. Nobody but he was responsible for that decision.

The tracker's readout display changed colour, indicating they were almost where they needed to be. Looking up, Valick did indeed see a small rocky outcrop among the sea of dunes.

He was increasing aware of a rising anger within him and began to become impatient, concerned for the well-being of his fellows. If his rage was going to surface, he wanted to direct it toward this 'Old Bully', not his travelling companions.
For as far as the eye could in all directions was a heat-haze of yellow and orange.

It occured to him that if this Old Bully was a hunter of some kind it would need to use the element of surprise, and it would be too easy to see something approach from this standpoint. To him, that left two options:

It was either in the air, or underground.

"Lets see if we can't coax our new friend out," Valik said to nobody in particular as his face lit up in a slightly worrying smile.

Ramming his shock-stick into the sand he turned it on to its highest setting, causing sand to be sprayed up around it, shockwaves rippling through the ground and sending ultrasound tremors through the immediate area.

And now for the air, he thought.

Inhaling a huge amount of breath, Valik tilted his head back and outstretched his arms letting out a roar so loud and fierce that even Net'ra looked at him surprised. The sound bellowed across the dudes and rang in their ears, creating an eerie silence in its aftermath.

The Feeorin simply plucked his shockstick from the sand and waited.

Redwatch drew his blaster and froze in a ready position, his eyes quickly scanning the sands surrounding the big Feeorin for the danger. After a few heartbeats he stilled his breathing and listened, fixing his gaze on the small rocky outcrop and trusting his peripheral vision to detect signs of the slightest movement.
Nothing. What the hell was the big brute thinking? Not for the first time he wondered why he was throwing his lot in with this odd assortment of characters. He took a sideways look at the miserable little Masu stood next to the incomprehensible Wookiee. It certainly wasn’t for the pleasure of their conversation. Smiling to himself he relaxed his pose keeping his blaster drawn.
”What’s going on Valik?” he raised his voice – still a painful procedure – in the direction of the alien.
He had thought there was more going on behind those eyes than Valik’s physique would suggest but perhaps he’d given him too much credit. Maybe surprise is a better shot, the Ubese thought to himself. Reconnoitring and exploration of possibilities was his natural approach to most situations, but for all his machinations here he was; out on the dunes with people he couldn’t trust with no feeling of control and even unsure whether he was hunting for something or being hunted by something.
He wasn’t superstitious by nature but Redwatch couldn’t shake the strong feeling that fate seemed to be funnelling him to this point, expecting him to tread the narrow path it had laid no matter what he tried to do.
A shiver ran up his spine despite the heat of the day. Redwatch brought his wandering thoughts back to the matters at hand. If Valik’s noisy demonstration had caught the attention of anything out here then they had all best spread themselves out more. The lack of protective cover on the open sands was unsettling.

All was silent aside from the tremors being caused by Valik's shock-stick and the sound of accelerated heartbeats being emitted by the five companions. Net'ra readied himself and withdrew a large turbine blaster from his backpack, Masurigi folowed suit with a finely made Echani vibrosword, Kressla however found himself taking shelter behind a large rock, his droid just a couple of steps in front was now powering up.

Something wasn't right. It was quiet, too quiet.

Masu made her way closer to the entrance of a large cave but stopped no more than 2 meters from the entrance as above she noticed a series of hefty looking loose rocks above her head.
"So where is this so called terrible beast?" she said in an ever so slightly cocky manner.
"Ccracha, waooww's rwo wwooooanaccac wwooo!... [[Masu, don't be foolish!...]]
Netra's words of warning were too late....

From inside the cave came a thunderous sound of earth and sand being shifted at an alarming rate. Visibilty was poor dude to the dimly lit entrance to the cave but the remaining party members just stood and watched on in horror as what seemed like a giant tail came thrashing out of the cave entrance, in the process lifting Masurigi twenty feet in the air and slamming her defenceless body into a nearby rock. Her body now lay crumpled and broken on the sandy floor with no apparent signs of life.

Being witness to the account Kressla screamed at the top of his voice and covered his large oblonged ruby eyes.

Net'ra bravely dropped his blaster and ran to the aid of the Echani, slumping her fragile body over his mighty shoulders whilst running to the nearest point of safety he could find.

A horrendous roar came bellowing out of the entrance as 'Old Bully partially revealed itself to the party, ferociously snarling as it slowly shuffled it gargantuan body toward Valik and Redwatch.



"NOW WHAT?!" Kressla panicked as he stood trembling at the very sight of the beast...

What the hell is that! Redwatch thought as the huge tail swiftly swung back into the darkness of the cave leaving Masurigi a bloodied heap in the opening. The Wookiee must have had some regard for the girl, Redwatch assumed as he watched the black beast foolishly drop his weapon and run to her rescue. Frak! We need all the guns fire-ready!
    The air was split by a blood-curdling roar as the enormous beast came lumbering out of the cave entrance towards them. More accustomed to picking off humanoids in alley fights or blasting raid-ships with a targeting program, Redwatch looked about him and dove for cover in the direction of a low cluster of rocks barely peeking over the baking sands. Laying prone on desert floor he began firing shots past Valik at the bulk of the monster.
    ”Kressla! Get down!” he bellowed as loud as he could all the while asking himself again and again how he had come to be in this mess?

Pulling his still vibrating shockstick from the sand, Valik tried desperately to focus on the creature. It was a difficult exercise despite the beasts size because the Feeorin was mere seconds away from the blood-rage he had become so notorious for. Since the beginning of this mission he had tried his utmost to keep his condition from his fellows, hoping that the amount of drugs he had left would see him through.

Between the destruction of most of the vials during the crash followed by some ill-fated charity towards Net'ra when viewed in hindsight, he had ran out. Ran out of drugs, ran out of control and now, ran out of time. Even as he stared as hard as he could and bit down sharply on his lip to attempt some degree of focus he felt the uncontrollable rage build within him. The peripheral of his vision began to blur and a red hue began to creep in, rapidly removing him from any connection to rational thought. From previous experience he knew he had scant seconds left before the range would take him and he would either awake surrounded by the bodies of whomever was near to him, or he would not wake up at all.

He had not known them long, but he was not about to put his traveling companions through such an ordeal. His only course of action was clear to him, though he wondered whether his fellows might see his actions as courageous, or more likely foolhardy, suicidal.
It didn't really matter, before he could count back from fifteen he wouldn't be the Valik they knew anyway.

“I curse you, My Elders...” he softly said under his breath and he charged toward the beast, holding together what semblance of control he had left.

As the monstrous creature turned in his direction and roared, he was compelled to return the favour. Getting just outside of the range of that devastating tail and, more importantly those wickedly sharp jaws, Valik hurled the shockstick straight at the creature's face, forcing its attention on the incoming humming projectile.
He did not watch to see if it hit home, everything was going red.

5....

He ducked down and ran with all his might.

4....

Aiming himself between the mighty beasts front legs he slid to the ground and used his momentum to slide himself along in the sand. His head began to throb, he wanted the taste of blood in his mouth, on his tongue.

3...

He skidded along the sand, the coarse and hot texture cutting deeply into his exposed skin, but he didn't notice the pain. Blood, death. Red in his eyes now, just shapes. KILL!

2....

His large frame came to rest roughly where he had hoped, laying on his back directly under the creature, facing its exposed underbelly. It didn't matter if he died, all that mattered was the killing. Extending his claws he gave out a roar and began to thrash madly with the strength of several Feeorin into the creature's belly, not even knowing if it was having any affect.

1...

Red, all red. Darkness.

“Valik! Valik!” He screamed at the Feeorin but the big alien ignored him. He seemed consumed with some sort of battle-rage and had charged into Redwatch’s line of fire without even looking. And now, even as Redwatch tried to target the creature’s head, Valik was wedged underneath the thing attempting to penetrate its presumably soft underbelly.
    It was no good. The beast’s head was down as it snapped at Valik and tried to shuffle its way off its aggressor. There was no way he could make a head-shot without risking hitting Valik. Frak! This trip had turned out to be one monumental mistake. Fraking warrior races and their fraking hand-to-hand. The best Redwatch could do now was to concentrate his fire around the monster’s thick neck and hope to caused some damage and distract it from the Feeorin.
    Where was the Duros? That assassin droid might come in useful right about now.

It was hot, far too hot for what he was being paid at least maybe if they were paying him in Twi'lek slave girls he could bear it but a few thousand credits from a group of traders and moisture farmers …..times were hard.
His bare horns caught the scorching sun and sent heat streaming into his skull, the small Zabrak lifted up his visor and wiped the sweat off his brow, swearing under his breath he wiped more sand from the innards of the turret that was conspiring against him.
“This is not a bright thing to do Trell....”, he sighed as he yanked his water from around his waist and poured it through the turret system, muddy brown water started to poor from it, he emptied the canister till the water flowed clear and there was none left for himself.

Apprehensively he moved back a couple of paces, “I have given you life...... arise!” he pressed the activation switch the back of the turret blew off showing the desert with its innards.
“Arrgh!!” he spun on the ground and threw the control pad into the sand stomping over to the smoking wreck, “I thought you were water proof! You piece of trash” he kicked it to the ground, “or was that the T7 series........” he pondered.

A screeching roar of a Krayt Dragon shook him to the bone, spinning round convinced it was right behind him he jumped for his rifle, hitting the ground hard he grabbed his rifle aiming it at the direction of the roar, nothing was there..., he let out a muted sigh the sensors he'd laid down they would have gone off by now if it was sneaking up on him.
He looked around, with only one turret left standing and his rifle he wouldn't stand a chance, the Dragon would be on him in seconds and he didn't have time to hesitate, he picked himself off the yellow ground and moved to his speeder bike.
He heard it roar again as he reached yet it seemed no closer then the last time, he swung his leg over the bike looking at the turret that was still standing, he couldn't just leave it here it had cost too much already but it'd take precious minutes to take down and it'd be no good to him if he was being digested....
The decision was made for him when he heard voices shouting from over the ridge, “What the hell.....”, fear had turned to annoyance as he realised he wasn't the only after the bounty on this things head, no one would happen upon the lair of a Krayt all the way out here, that's why it hadn't pursued him yet it was already busy.
He sat there for what seemed like an eternity looking at the ridge before curiosity got the better of him, still carrying his rifle he moved back over to the ridge and looked over...

The Krayt Dragon was shrieking in agony, confusedly stamping about in an enraged stupor, its entrails hanging out of its gut, something was lying in a pile of blood and guts twitching and Jylan could see numerous people moving around unsure what to do, one seemed to have been incapacitated.

Jylan pulled himself out of disbelief and pulled his rifle into position, he adjusted a number of dials on the guns side which had been heavily modified, “Well …..I was looking for a distraction” he aimed at the head and fired.

As the battle ensued the small Duros could only look out from behind the rock in terror. Never before had he laid eyes on such carnage. The beast, now roaring in agony as it's innards now lay partially exposed across the golden sand seemed to be getting more ferocious with each swipe of Valik's claws, almost declaring it's terrifying natural instinct of survival. Kressla covered his eyes with one hand and slowly moved from behind the rock towards Redwatch's position. Opening his mid fingers ever so slightly so that his eyes not lay on the horrorific situation in front of him he tugged on the Ubese's jacket.....
"I.....I.....I dropped the controls to the droid....they're, they're... over there!"
His boney finger trembled as he pointed to the location of where he thought he may have dropped them but no sooner as he did the beast once again roared and sent him scurrying back to his original position behind the rock. 'Out of sight, out of mind' he thought to himself as he sat down hugging his knees whilst rapidly rocking backwards and forwards.

Net'ra had seen enough. Rising up off of his feet he ran full pelt to the rocky outcropping above the beasts domain. Seeing his chance he lept down upon the creatures hind and slowly made his way up it's scaly hide toward it's enormous skull. As he moved closer in he could see the suns rays light up the vicious animals pain-glazed eyes like a wild and out of control bushfire. This was his opportunity. If he could target the Krayt's eyes he could blind the beast and let the others take their pickings. Raising his vibroblade he was posed and ready to strike.....

...Suddenly the giant reptile let out a huge roar but not like the ones he had heard before. At a guess one would say out of extreme pain. For a brief second the Wookiee realised why. A precise blaster bolt from out of nowhere had penetrated the eye of beast leaving nothing more than a gaping wound. The impact of the shot caused the beast rise to it's hind legs, exposing a blood-soaked Feeorin underneath. Net'ra however didn't have time to react as he slipped from the creatures back onto the jagged rocks below. The Wookiee roared his own cryof pain as he desperately scraped at the sand in order to drag his body to safety.

The Krayt now starting signs of defeat began a towering descent from it's unatural stance and towards a vunerable Valik....

None among the companions could see the Feeorin clearly any more as he thrashed around under the belly of the beast, all claws, teeth and fury. In a mindless rage built into him by his own people, Valik's body lashed out, trying to maim and kill everything around him. His consciousness was elsewhere, submerged and restrained, chained by the madness and unaware of the horrific violence he caused.

Or at least, it should have been...

The darkness surrounded him. Had it always been there? Was this black the real truth? were the lights and colours and voices the illusion that was spun around him? It was calm here, and quiet. Alone, yet he did not feel lonely, bleak yet he felt no cold or hopelessness. It occurred to him he might well be dead, that he awaited transition to be with his brothers and sisters.

Yes. Yes, that must be it. Relax, Valik. Sleep.

A noise. Faint at first, distant. He thought he opened his eyes, but of course just darkness met him. A little closer now, there were almost words drifting toward him and.....something else? Light? An image?

”Valik? Can you hear me Valik?”

A familiar voice, a friendly voice. Slowly the light took shape, grew larger. Humanoid? A silhouette.

”Valik? I need you to listen to my voice... I need you to focus.”

The image took form then, as it drifted near enough for him to see. He fancied in his mind's eye that he smiled as he saw his old friend.

”My Lady Jeth,” he spoke as he recognized her. “What an agreeable figment you make!”

He watched as she smiled back, a warm comforting smile. He always found it strange how the Arkanian woman had such a soothing effect on him, even though he understood much of it was her unique talents with the Force. There was something else, a humility of character and a compassion that was hard to ignore.

”Valik, you need to break this fury...you need to take control. When last we met, between our usual sessions I took the liberty of implanting a fail-safe....a psychological marker.” She paused for a moment, a look of worry destroying the image of her comely visage. “Your fits have been growing stronger of late, you can feel it, can't you? Each time I treat you it becomes harder, each time the treatment lasts just a little less than before. If I am here, talking to you now then the situation is dire. You have imagined me because your subconscious is trying to force control of your body.”

The large Feeorin tilted his head. ”So.... I am not dead?”

”No, but if I am here they is a very good chance that you are dying, Valik. Close your eyes, my friend. Concentrate. Feel the air around your skin, the warmth on your eyes, feel the world around you with all its beauty, all its pain. All its joy, all its sorrow.”

Far in the distance he heard noises: voices, gunfire, a roar. Then he smelt the strange odour, a sulphurous scent, the smell of an animal mixed with what he thought was blaster-fire as well as a few other mangled aromas.

”You need to pull yourself back, my Feeorin friend. You need to force your mind and body into action....”

Then taste returned to him, the unmistakable copper-tarnished tang of blood in his mouth as well as something else, like grit or sand.... of course! Sand!

”You need to move, Valik!”

Then pain. Excruciating, nauseating pain ripped through him, wave after wave of sharp agony tore threw his body, yanking him to consciousness most urgently. His left shoulder and arm felt like they were on fire, his legs felt numb, his head throbbed and felt broken.

”Valik! Move, now!”

Suddenly light filled his eyes and he tried to focus. Something large was in front of him, obscuring his entire view. Greenish-yellow it was dripping blood onto him. It was moving, unsteadily and erratically, but it looked like breathing. Realising he was on his back, he knew whatever was above him was alive, and it was big. Glancing to his left he saw one of two huge legs that ended in massive, wicked looking talons. Whatever this thing was, being underneath it could not be a good thing.

As he tried to roll to his right he found he could not, it seemed his left arm was broken and the shoulder-blade was shattered. The pain was so intense it didn't seem quite real to him, and almost became a numbness; a relief in a life-or-death situation where he would have to move at any given moment. That was, of course until he realised his legs were broken as he looked down and saw bones poking through the skin. Biting his lower lip to stop him from going into shock he realised he wouldn't be able to move far – if he was to get out from under this thing, he was going to need a distraction. Unable to flip himself over and see if his travelling companions we still around, he decided instead to silently pray to as many ancient Feeorin gods as he could remember....

Something clamped itself around Valik’s forearm and the Feeorin let out a bellow of agony as his broken body was jerkily pulled at speed out from underneath the giant beast. He hadn’t travelled fifteen feet before the vice-like grip on his arm released.

With an ear splitting roar the Krayt dragon slumped to the desert floor as it’s legs gave out. A short distance away Redwatch was quickly coming to grips with the assassin droid’s awkward control device. He switched the robot’s target from Valik to the dragon and designated what he hoped was attack mode. Looking up from the remote he saw the droid plant it’s feet, raise it’s gun-arm and begin firing squarely at the centre of the reptile’s prone flank. Screams of pain and confusion issued from the beast as blasts of energy seared through it’s flesh.
     Stooping to grab the carry-strap of the medical kit, Redwatch slung the pack over to where Kressla crouched cowering in the sand. ”Go help Valik! Bully’s immobilised, you’re safe now!” Not sure if the Duros could hear his shouts over all the action, he spared a moment to point vigorously at him, then the medkit, then in Valik’s direction.
     Redwatch turned his attention back to the carnage. The beast was tough and putting up a valiant struggle for survival. It would not be alive for much longer but a quick glance showed that Valik was not moving and the Duros, now at least cluching the medkit, still hesitated to make a move.
     Cursing the coward, he knew he must hasten the Krayt’s demise; every second could count if their companion was badly wounded. Redwatch scrutinised the remote again. The damned pirate must have disabled most of the droids higher thought functions since this robot displayed non of the independent processes behind tactical combat decisions one usually sees in assassin droids. Flicking through sets of simple menus on the remote’s small text-based display he found the sub-targeting and attempted the simple ‘head’ command. The display produced an error message. Cursing he tapped in the commands to designate the most thrashing appendage priority.
     Looking up he saw the assassin droid pause in it’s firing to adjust it’s aim. That didn’t look right. Frak, frak, frak…! Almost stepping on the prone Valik, the droid moved itself into a better position and resumed it’s attack – on the creature’s violently whipping tail. Frak, frak, frak… You stupid bastard thing! Certain there was an easier way to do this he readjusted the commands for the second most moving sub-target and this time the robot got it right.
     The assassin droid slowly circled round to the Krayt’s front all the while firing off a stream of blaster bolts at the monster’s neck and head in a killing barrage. Not waiting a moment longer, Redwatch ran over to Kressla and dragged him to his feet. With a firm grip on the Duros’ arm he tugged the alien into motion and the pair hurried in the direction of the Feeorin.

Although he could hear what was going on behind and around him, Valik found the sound muffled and faint which, apart from the searing almost unbearable pain wracking his body, worried him greatly. He could feel the spirits of death clawing at his shoulders and a large part of him just wanted to lay down and sleep.

He thought he saw Kressla and Redwatch in the distance as well as he pulled his semi-incapacitated form through the sand, but he realised his vision was beginning to fail as well and couldn't be sure if that was really what he was seeing.

So tired...

Blackness was starting to surround his vision and Valik knew that without some sort of miracle he was not likely to survive the encounter but managed a weak smile at the thought of the carnage he had cause that...that....whatever it was that was roaring behind him. The sounds became more muffled, the vision more blurred and eventually even the pain began to dull.

For him, that was the clincher. If nothing else the fact he knew he was in so much pain but was failing to register it was summed up as all kinds of bad in his head. In a last-ditch attempt to stay alive he bit down heavily on his bottom lip and saw blood spray out in front of him.

But it was enough - the sudden sharp pain sparked his nerve ending back into life, if only for a little while. His hearing became clearer, his vision more precise. It was Kressla and Redwatch!

With renewed vigor he pulled himself along in the sand, a trail of crimson and copper follwing behind him.

The Krayt roared as the bolt struck its eye and reared up onto its hind legs, his gun let off a jet of steam and started pinging as it cooled down ready for another shot, it should have gone straight through its head that's why he'd spent so long upgrading the rifle, instead it had only enraged it.

Suddenly a droid shot into the opening seemingly on a suicide run towards the rearing beast, instead it ran towards the blooded mass directly below it and dragged out what looked like a massive humanoid from the mess, just in time as the Krayt crashed to the floor behind them.
The droid then took up arms and began to attack the Krayt dealing it several blows to the head leaving gaping wounds that were gushing hot blood, Jylan was shocked to the humanoid was moving across the floor dragging itself away, he stood up and scanned the horizon he couldn't see any back up for these guys or any transport just an empty horizon.
He looked down at them again and cursed, he wasn't here to help other Bounty hunters or exterminators of over grown vermin especially when they might try and claim the same bounty, but it wasn't in him to just leave them down there.

He jumped down and ran to his bike, speeding round the outcrop the mass of the Krayt loomed to his right, still engaging it was the droid which was surprisingly skill full, he quickly came up too the hulk dragging itself across the sand, he recognised it now as a Feeorin as he pulled up now flanked by a petrified looking Duros and an Ubese.
Jumping off the bike Jylan pulled his medical supplies from the speeder and ran over to the Feeorin, he stopped dead in his tracks it was covered in blood and gore and looked barely alive, “Did he just claw his way out of the things stomach!?”.

The roars of the Krayt began to simmer to a murmur as the last of it's lifeforce slipped away. It's eyes rolled back into it's skull as it's bacteria-infected tongue decended slowly through it's open maw. As the victors took a moment to catch their breath an Iridonian on a speeder bike pulled up beside them. Half-dazed and nauceous Net'ra still managed to conclude that this being must have been the one to fire the shot that ended the beasts life. Enraged that he had interfered with his kill and risked his life in the process the Wookiee lunged for the Zabrak, but before he could reach him the wound in his leg had other ideas. With a loud thump Net'ra slumped to the sandy floor. Gripping his leg in pain the defeated warrior slipped into unconciousness.

Kressla was too busy trying to control the 'out of control' droid as the commotion unfolded. Finally he managed to shut down all it's systems and the machine stood still for a minute with it's inner motors humming before retracting itself back into it's original packaged state. Mopping his brow the Duros turned to look at his fallen comrades as they lie strewn across the sand. Much like every other situation since their unexpected arrival on Tattooine Kressla found himself panicking.

"Now what are we going to do? We've lost Masu and that Wookiee no longer looks like he's in any fit state to protect us!"

Realising his rudeness, he paused and turned to the Zabrak.
"And whom might you be friend? I don't suppose you would be so kind to escort us to safety? You seem very capable of doing just that, and we would be grateful, oh yes very grateful indeed."

As Redwatch hurried over to attend to the half mauled Valik, a sharp glint of green light could be seen lying not far from his companions swollen hands. On closer inspection it was a clear that it was some kind of gem.

Kneeling down beside fallen comrade, Redwatch gently slapped at the Feeorin's face. "Valik? Valik. Stay with us, Valik..."

Ignoring for the moment the jewel, the newcomer and the Duros, Redwatch grabbed the med-pack he'd given to the useless Kressla moments before and opened it up on the blood-soaked sand next to his mauled companion. Valik's wounds were extensive and very serious. Deep gashes oozed and flesh draped in a tattered mess all over the warrior's torso.

Not an expert medic by any standards, Redwatch nevertheless thankfully knew his way around a med-kit. Calming the rising panic he felt over the almost overwhelming array of injuries, he mentally prioritised his course of action. Soon he was absorbed in administering a variety of medical injections, compressing wounds and applying healing and flesh-knitting strips.

The kit was soon exhausted of anything useful and Redwatch turned to the Zabrak for help. "Can I see that?" He held out his hand for the man's medical supplies.

The large Feeorin shook and convulsed as Redwatch applied the contents of the med-pack, slowly regaining his senses even as his metabolism tried to shake off the shock of his injuries.

"Valik? Valik. Stay with us, Valik..." It was a quiet voice, but a familiar one.
As the blur of shapes that made up his vision slowly began to form into shapes and colours, he shook his head sending his tendrils in all directions. Some came disturbingly close to slapping Redwatch across the face though he was unaware of it, and the Ubese was quick enough to lean backward when he did so.

He turned his head and opened his large grey eyes to see Redwatch kneeling over him, a thoroughly exhausted med-pack in his hands. Valik smiled. Good to know they don't leave a comrade behind, he thought to himself.

Painfully sitting up he heard - but did not feel thanks to the meds administered - a couple of his ribs crack and possibly snap, and the look on his Ubese companion's face confirmed he wasn't in a good state.

"Did....did we make it? Is it dead?" He managed to say through a strained and rasped voice.

His mind was racing, the meds were taking care of his body but his own will had to regain his psyche. It would be some time before he lost control again, but also a fair while before he fully regained it.

Slowly forcing himself onto his knees and beginning to stand, a couple of Redwatch's flesh-strips ripped as they were designed for a much smaller humanoid. Blood began to trickle from the rooms but it didn't flow as he'd expected. The Ubese had done an excellent job.

Placing a large hand on the shoulder of his would-be saviour as he turned to address a Zabrak that Valik didn't recognise, he managed to speak again.

"Give me a....hand up, would you?"

"Can I see that?

Jylan passed his supplies silently to the Ubese who was treating the bleeding hulk which was apparently named Valik, the motley crew seemed to be organising itself after the poorly executed assault on the Krayt. The Wookie was lumbering up to him intently, Jylan may have been worried if he had known just how the Wookie felt about him at that particular time but matted fur is hardly the easiest thing to read emotions from.
It collapsed a few meters from him and Jylan decided to talk to the closest person who seemed to know what he was doing a Duros who was deactivating a droid.

"And whom might you be friend? I don't suppose you would be so kind to escort us to safety? You seem very capable of doing just that, and we would be grateful, oh yes very grateful indeed."

Jylan turned to the Duros “The dumbest bounty hunter on this rock, nice to meet you acquittance”, the Duros looked confused, “You just missed my friend a bounty hunter with the smallest bit of sense who is still camped up on the spit of rock up there,” he pointed to the location he'd just been shooting the Krayt from “picking you all off so he can claim the bounty for himself and pick around through your corpses for anything of value.”
"I on the other hand am Jylan Trell, giving out my medical supplies and walking into a group psychos who decided to take on a Krayt with little more then a few blasters and their bare hands... how are you today?"
Jylan tried to calm himself as the Duros stood there taken aback, he should really drink something the heat and the sand were getting to him and it wasn't his place to be helping people steal his work.
“As for transport, I only have this speeder biker and a small tow for my equipment, I don't think I'll be able to carry all of you,” he looked at the group suspiciously,””How did you get out here anyway.....”

Kressla took a step back. The directness of the Zabrak was more than a little intimidatng for his liking, but still he wasn't about to forget what he had done for them. This, his only comforting thought.

"We were sent here by a man named Crain. He promised us transport aboard his sandcrawler so that we may find a senator, whom we lost in a crash. A very unfortunate event indeed".

He paused fearing that he may have said too much.

The faint sound of small feet pattering across the sand could be heard coming closer, catching the parties attention in an instant. The Jawas approached cautiously almost camouflaged into their surroundings.

"The Duros be right, now... do you have me gem?"

Crain appeared from behind one of the rocks, a cynical man may have thought he'd been waiting there the whole time, loitering until the coast was clear to claim his prize.