Chapter One - There Are Cracks In The Walls

Pharo grabs all of his equipment and heads for the landing ramp closely following behind Mennoe. Pharo prepares himself for combat and conducts a Pre Combat Inspection with Mennoe.

Narrator: MRT quickly saluted to Roooargh with his primary grasper. "Absoluto-pos-boss." As Roooargh began to leave, he heard the odd little droid talking with the ship’s computer. "Yep yep yep...keep it brief-chief. Chatter chatter chatter. Half you say don’t matter." The Wookiee realized it would be wise to double check the oddball droid’s maintenance routines until he became more familiar with MRT-7’s work.

In the cargo bay, the ramp lowered and a wall of humid jungle air greeted the newcomers as they traveled down into the half meter high grass below. They still had plenty of time to search around before sunset. To the southeast, they could see the building structure standing approximately fifteen meters over the treeline. Beyond it, a waterfall ran downward disappearing behind the building complex. The ship had landed close enough to where it was audible. The mist produced from the falls joined the rest of the humid mist around. Above the waterfall, the mountain summit was obscured by humidity. To the west, signs of a years old freighter wreckage could be seen.

Varn gave the wreckage a cursory check. No bodies were evident and he didn’t feel like trying to climb into the above ground structure that remained. It had been there for years based on the overgrowth, and something may have made the wreck its home.

As Varn was interested in getting to the building complex as soon as possible, he peered through the trees for the most direct route and shortest route through trees. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he was able to see through the thick overgrowth and realized the area of ground under the canopy was much clearer. The floor was covered with mushrooms, flowers, dead leaves and decaying plant material. He could make out the trees responsible for the canopies above. At the base of the trees inside, he could see what looked to be eggs.



Light peered in from the southeast in a clearing beyond the trees and overgrowth in front of them. He noticed a few of the pack reptiles he saw earlier while preparing to land were in the area beyond. Two continued to graze, but one of them stopped and watched as the newcomers approached the other side of the thicket jungle grove.



Varn turned to Roooargh. "Did you want to do the honors with that gigantic blade of yours and cut some of the brush out of the way? I think I see a wider exit into the next clearing beyond. The eggs in there make me nervous, but this was the narrowest grove I saw upon landing. I don’t see anything moving around in there. We’ll have to watch those reptilian creatures, especially if those (eggs) are their young."

Turning to the others, "Let’s be prepared to cover him." While not pointing his blaster into the thicket, Varn kept his pistol pointed at the grass, ready to raise and fire.

Pharo glances around the area to analyze his surroundings.

Narrator: As the Doctor headed out of the ship, he could hear the droid continue on his conversation with the ship’s computer. As he followed after the others, he was greeted by the bounty hunter and merc who were watching the grove of trees to their south. Varn was watching the trees as well, blasters all drawn, except for Kezza. No blaster, just questions.

"I guess we are not 'being diplomatic' about this?" They ask. "Going in armed to the teeth may make it hard to hide our intent when we leave."

"Do I need to get my gun?"

Narrator: Varn was waiting for Roooargh to clear an entry, but now his attention was turned away to Kezza, who had yet another question or criticism or combination of the two. Kezza had just stepped off the ship and was already concerned about leaving. If the Wookiee preloaded their next destination and then the ship jumped after leaving the atmosphere, they had an excellent chance of escaping. The goal was to reach the building alive, record findings, find survivors if they existed, and defend themselves if need be, hence the blasters. There would be time to think about leaving after that was done.

Kezza’s last statement really irked him. Just a few minutes prior, he’d told everyone to grab their weapons and gear and here was Kezza in a jungle on an unfamiliar planet investigating some kind of bioweapon disaster with crazed undead killers, and they didn’t bring a gun, blaster, or anything? He and everyone else didn’t have time for this. He was tempted to say that Kezza could try foul language if diplomacy failed since Kezza was unarmed, but instead he inhaled, took a deep breath and kept his voice even as possible.

"See if anyone else can spare a weapon for you. If not, I have a spare IM blaster on me. (reaches into a side pouch on his blast vest armor and retrieves an Imperial Munitions KK-5 and offers it to Kezza)."

Varn turns his attention back to the Wookiee who made his way through the overgrowth and then began climbing one of the trees.

"Kezza, we don’t know what’s out there, but I don’t want to be out here at night. Neither do you. So if you don’t see anything, and no one else sees anything, once the path is clear, it’ll be time to move on."

Narrator: The herbisaurs watched on as the newcomers defied jungle law as they knew it. There were some areas of the jungle that were not traveled, and if these areas had to be negotiated, it was at a sprint. While one of them continued to graze in the open field of tall grass, the others watched on as the tall hairy one used a great nailed appendage to slice through the bad grass doors to the grenobak’s nest. That’s what the other strange newcomers had called them, the grenobaks. The herbisaurs were no strangers to new beings visiting their world, in fact, some of them had actually gone with the strangers and rode around with them, worked with them even.

These newcoming strangers appeared lost, and while the herbisaurs knew certain calls and words of the strangers, they were helpless to warn them. Running towards them would get them shot. Calling to them would distract them from the real danger: those that were above the newcomers. At first, they watched in amazement as the newcomers defied the law, and then in horror as they saw the first signs of movement above. It would take a very well trained eye to see the grenobaks in their environment, especially if they were holding still. The herbisaurs knew it was not safe to run, so they hunkered down a bit, watched and waited...

Evolving over millions of years, the grenobaks were one of Vulgas’ apex predators. Even the larger non-hostile herbisaurs knew not to venture into a nest. They would do so only out of desperation or if traveling through at high speed. The grenobaks watched as the tall strange being who seemed to be one with the trees leapt from the ground into their fortress. They moved back slightly, but without making a sound. The avian creature, too small for even a snack gave start and drew attention away from the grenobaks who were all but invisible to those below in the mottled green and black tree canopy. They were shocked that something was so brazen to attempt such a thing, but then, like the others, the tall strange creature who was one with the trees was unaware that they, the grenobaks, were up in the trees.

The tall creature leapt down to the ground and began hacking away at their perimeters. Another strange newcomer rushed through the nest entirely as the herbisaurs had done. It was all so strange. None of them had touched the eggs. Their own young were the bait, distraction and trap for most creatures. Desperate jungle neighbors would come into the nest’s nursery and try to feed on their young, and by the time they realized their error, it was too late. The grenobaks would have them.

All of it was perplexing to the grenobaks who watched as none touched the eggs. Then, it appeared the newcomers’ tactics were changing below. Previously, one had rushed through. One had made way for the others with its giant fang. Then, the newcomers began to pour into the nest below.

It was a rush to the eggs!!! Descend! Descend! Descend! We have them now!

Narrator: As the crew of The Rising Blade made its way into the thicket, those walking in realized that shadows seemed to dance above them just out of their peripheral vision. Kezza saw them first. A strange spike projectile zipped into the ground next to them. Another spike zipped over Varn and Pharo’s heads, narrowly missing them. Mennoe and Roooargh who had glanced back to see how the others were faring through the thicket saw them too as the creatures dropped to the ground. Some dropped, some repelled down using their strange natural cords. One landed very close to Roooargh. The meter tall spider-like creature shrieked!



Meeeraaaaawk! Tik-tik-tik-tik-tik!!! A chorus of the clicking "tiks" came from the others on the ground and still more up in the trees. It was a battle cry!