Even to a lover of fauna such as himself, the worm was a ghastly thing to behold. Wriggling, filled with fangs, tendrils waving to a fro…and worse off they were the aggressors in this situation. “Friends, the ship is not too far off. If we could just-“ began the Ithorian in a worried tone as he gathered his wits, appealing to his comrades to simply retreat. After all, they were on their property. But it was too late.

Tox had already began striking at the beast, vamblades gashing at its hard, armor-like hide. Neelig had never seen such a creature; certainly not on the herdship and most certainly not on Nar Shaddaa. As the battle commenced and Brin’s words fell on his…where are his ears? Anyway, as he heard Brin’s cheering a second shadow lunged from the dust, enveloping Khaine in its wriggling embrace.

Click. That’s all it took. In that instant, as blaster fire sprayed like a hose from his incapacitated friend, Neelig threw off his hesitation as if it never existed. There was no serenity in his movements, no resistance or thought for the creature they had instigated. Instead, there was a quick, angered sprint towards the underbelly of the monster, as Ithorese rang out from his four throats; the usually flowing and peaceful language expressed in such a primal cry.

Taking his weapon in both hands, with a horrid crack the gnarlroot staff, so beautiful in craftsmanship, met its target. It was in turn gifted with a shower of chitin, a spray of viscous liquid, and a piercing screech. His mask had fallen, his rage set loose. Never had the others actually seen anything less than a controlled smack on the occasional thief’s back swing from his hands. Neelig would’t be pleased afterwords, shame and self loathing would overtake him for such brutish actions…but he wasn’t thinking right now: One of his own was in danger. No one hurts his own.

Seeing the battle taking place in the gloom, S'zish, using the moons lesser gravity, bounds closer to the fray stirring up more dust with his landing. Upon getting within sight, S'zish is confronted with two chitinous forms attacking the others, he had fought many creatures before, but none like this.

Shaking off the shock of seeing the worm-like creatures, he sees that one of them has its long tentacles wrapped around Khaine. S'zish readies his pulse rifle, stopping his hands from shaking he goes through the steps, he prepares to fire at the base of the creature's tentacles, aim, breath and... S'zish pulled the trigger, the VES-700's spray of energy micro-bursts found their mark at the tentacle's base. The worm released its hold on Khaine, who fell to the ground.

S'zish heard something through the moon's thin atmosphere, he could only assume that it was a screech of pain from the worm, which was now writhing in pain slightly farther away from Khaine. S'zish called over the helmet's comm-link "Khaine! is Khaine unharmed?" S'zish shifted his vision to try and keep an eye on both worms at the same time, S'zish haden't fought such wildlife in a long time, this was going to be interesting...

"Uhg!" A bright light flashes before Khaine's eyes as he suddenly hits the ground. A sudden rush of air fills his lungs and his vision clears. The huge creature writhes in pain just a few feet away. Smoke rising from a blaster mark by it's huge mandibles. Khaine raises his rifle in desperation when suddenly out of the corner of his eye he sees someone moving next to it. " Neelig." Khaine whispers. He pauses to steady his aim, his arms shaking from the lack of air, his breathing ragged as he attempts to suck in as much oxygen as possible. What does it take to kill this thing! Khaine jerks the trigger again and again, sending the heavy blaster bolts up and towards the creature while doing his best to keep them away from Neelig who was dancing in and out landing blow after blow with his staff. After a few wild ***** his vision finally clears. Pausing to catch his breath and steady his nerves, Khaine steels himself and settles his nerves as best he can.

Suddenly and before he can fire again the creature seems to recover for the pain and darts off towards the lights of the ship. It's after someone else! "Two is heading for the ship!" Khaine calls out on the radio. "Does anyone have eyes on the first?!"

Tox awaits the attack she knows is coming. The worm certainly wasn't going to take a beating without fighting back. The blows came quick. Face. Leg. Arm. Chest. Face. Chest. Leg. Easily blocking every tentacle, Tox doesn't take a hit. Maybe these things aren't so tough after all. Stealing a quick glance over at the commotion near her, Tox is startled to see Khaine's lifeless body in another worms mandible. NO! Enough! With a backhanded smack, she catches her worm by surprise and it scuttles into the dust cloud. I hope it doesn't come back with reinforcements. A blaster bolt flies right past as Tox turned to face the other worm. Looking back, she sees S'zish with rifle raised, calmly firing at the worm. Down falls Khaine in a heap, barely visible in the standing dust. Tox holds her breath as she sprints over. Please be alive. Blaster bolts erupt from Khaine's body. Tox breathes again. Good, let's take this beast down.

Tox darts up, bounding off the beasts writhing tentacle, landing with a flourish on the back of the worm. Using her left hand to hold on, she stabs her right bladed fist into a weak spot on the worm. For Kaine, For Neelig, For Brin, For S'Zish, For Fzaexx, For her parents, For Duena. Again and again she stabs, tears flowing down her cheeks, entrails and blood droplets floating in the air around her. With a final thrust she screams again, " Karking wermo! "

When the worm finally falls, Tox stands up, shoulders hunched and breathing heavily. Please, please be done, she silently prays to the void.

"Wow, incredible! S'zish, you really came through for Khaine there! Remind me not to end up on the wrong end of a blaster when it comes to you lot. Still... that worm is still out there... Let's not drop our guard now..."

Brin holds his blaster close and peers out into the dust, pondering where the second lurker snuck off to...

Something about S'zish standing off to the side must be attractive to the worms, because the first worm, still dripping ichor from the wound Tox made, lurches out of the gloom at him.

Its tentacles swing harmlessly through the air just above where S'zish crouches down. It seems the creatures do not have eyes because instead of adjusting its attack, it returns to a state of wariness, small tendrils around its body feeling in the air for movement.

Rage soon began to slip from Neelig’s mind bit by bit as he witnessed the fury of Tox, and with Khaine’s freedom restored his passionate attacks gave way to solemn vigilance. Even after its attempts to devour his bounty hunting compatriot, the Ithorian couldn’t help but to feel sorry for the beast. It didn’t deserve to die, they could have just knocked it out. He admitted his attack was overkill, but still.

But, further reflection would have to come later for as the floor was painted red the worm’s own comrade lunged hungrily at S’zish, and with that his thoughts melded into one: protect. The elder soon closed the gap between him and the worm, much calmer but still as determined as before. Perhaps, that was his flaw. The more controlled blow meant for the worm failed to even chip its carapace, the worm instead recoiling and swerving away from every blow.

However, his constant movement and flow began to kick up debris in his wake, to which the monster seemed to respond to. Taking this to note, Neelig began purposefully smacking gravel and dust every which way as he continued to fail in his strikes, confounding the creature as to where he might be and causing quite the distraction. Perhaps the others would take this opportunity to run. As much as he wished that were true, he had a feeling he knew how this was going to end.

It stopped... but who... S'zish! I can't miss this time...I can't... Khaine takes a deep breath. Focus, calm, in, out. Focus. He can see the creature outlined by the lights of the ship. Shadows cast through the thick dust in the air writhe and twist in the darkness. Khaine takes aim as the creature moves through the shadows. In, out, hold, squeeze... Blaster bolts rip through the thin atmosphere as the steady blasts of his heavy rifle streak out. He can hear the roar of the creature even through this thin atmosphere as his blasts find their mark in the darkness. He feels the tremor in the ground it collapses.

Khaine breathes a sigh of relief as he stands up. Closing his eyes for a moment he takes stock of everything that had just happened. Is everyone ok? Is everyone here? Walking back up towards the ship he counts the lights in the darkness and breathes a sigh of relief seeing everyone present and on their feet. Maybe I should shorten the barrel, or perhaps a forearm grip to make this thing better in close range..." Khaine smiles as his thoughts drift of to how to modify his new rifle.

After the battle with the worms subsides you all hear Fzaexx speak over the coms, "I must apologize for failing to assist with that. Obviously you all were quite capable though. I was unable to find what I wanted in the wreck. I made it to the docking bay inside but it was empty. I suggest we move on." He then heads into the YT and straps himself into a seat, intent of ignoring any questions.

After the cargo has been loaded onto the YT, Szish is able to take the boat up and out of the dust cloud. Pausing for a moment in the dim light of the distant sun you watch as the weak gravity of the moon pulls the trailing stream of particulate back down to the valley below. A roilling surface of dust cloud fills the valley making it look like a boiling black sea. Now ant then a shard of metal pierces the cloud but is soon swallowed by a wave of cloud and dust again. S'zish deftly pilots the ship over a rocky crag and down into the next valley. Again you see the gleaming metal of ship hulls, all in various states of damage, scattered across the valley floor.

Issuing from the room Fzaexx retreats to is a series of curses, crashes, curses, bangs, curses, and, eventually, silence. The door hisses open, Fzaexx sweeps through menacingly, his cape swirling behind him. Though his strides are confident, his chest heaves and his hands drip blood from knuckle wounds. As he arrives at the back of the crowded cockpit he clears his throat, “I have just been denied a very, very, very important piece of my return to power.” And am very, very, very upset at its fate.

“I expected two things to be aboard that Minstrel. The first was a rather large stash of spice which I found missing from its smuggling compartments. The second was a small Caravel pleasure craft which would not have been used in the battle. I found it also missing from the wreck entirely. I was certain they were not coincidences, ergo, I surmised someone with knowledge of the spice loaded it aboard the Caravel and escaped.”

Fzaexx holds up a bulky piece of communications gear, “I did find the bridge and attempted to retrieve the flight information. The only thing still usable was the ship’s encryption module. It not only bears out my theory, but confirms the spice and Caravel were stolen by a traitor.” Fzaexx plays back the recordings for all to hear.

As the module plays, Fzaexx finally takes the time to look out the cockpit instead of at his companions and contemplates the field of twisted metal and wrecks. These low born are probably expecting me to help them reactivate a pathetic excuse for a starship instead of proceeding with my search. Thoughts of the missing Caravel fill Fzaexx’s mind with rage until he hits on a most relevant point; if I chose to assist, their paltry desires will be fulfilled and they’ll have no choice but to aid me in my search. It would also be beneficial to have a more mobile base and means of hauling for the yard.

When Fzaexx speaks again his tone is noticeably softer and calmer, “This is something I will be pursuing in time. At the moment, however, it seems we have a prime opportunity in front of us. If there is any way I can assist, I shall.”

12 minutes ago, Hinklemar said:

15:24:37.26 Outgoing: This battle is too chaotic we need to do something.

15:25:83.91 Incoming: Has the shipment been moved into the Caravel?

15:28:37.26 Outgoing: It has. Why?

15:30:16.51 Incoming: We should instigate plan B. Move to heading 12.35.261 maintain course and speed.

15:32:67.54 Outgoing: Fine its done, give me a warning before the impact.

15:32:99.82 Incoming: 30 seconds

15:38:49.83 Outgoing: Well that certainly worked. Half the crew is dead. I'm boarding the Caravel in a moment. Make sure you vaporize the Minstrel as soon as you see me launch.

"Let's see what we can find down there." I hope this frelling sensor suite, if you can call it that, still works. Khaine reaches over and hits the switch to the internal intercom. "DUMs, report to the bridge." Khaine closes his eyes and lets out an exasperated sigh. If these things weren't so dang useful I'd sell them for scrap. Or use them for target practice... After a few short moments 3 small droids come clattering into the bridge. "Over here. I want you to plug into the sensor controls." The DUM droids begin chirping and tripping over each other to get to the station. "No, I'll tell you what to do. You just make it work." Sigh...

After a few minutes the DUMs are fully connected and Khaine begins guiding them through the sensor readouts. "No, option two... ...the hyper-spectral array... ...no, don't shut down the comms array to use... actually, that's not a bad idea. Route in the comms array. Use short burst pings in a narrow band at two second intervals. Run the returns through the scanner to measure for type and composition of what's down there."

As the ship banks low into another valley the wreckage of several more ships comes into view. Khaine watches the sensors closely looking for anything out of the ordinary. "It just doesn't make any sense!" He suddenly exlaims. "I can see the surface of the moon and I can see surface of the wreckage, but I can't see anything under the surface and every time I focus on the wrecks it's like they're..." Khaine pauses, lost deep in thought. "I wonder if..." It's possible it's the surface itself. Could it be masking the scanners? If so then this entire moon could be enough of a treasure to put the hutts and the imps at each others throats all over again. That may explain why the Imps refuse to leave.

"Sorry guys. I'm getting nothing. I don't think these sensors could see a supernova on the other side of a sheet of plasglass." No sense in getting worked up over it until I can confirm my suspicions.

You pass over a few valleys full of wrecks without seeing anything worth stoping to look at. In a particularly large valley, you eventually notice something that stands out. A flat strip of flat metal standing just above the level of the dust runs unbroken along the surface of the dust plain. Where it starts it is obviously broken from an explosion but at it's back end a large wing sticks vertically out of the ground. The wing has a large engine mounted to it. The strip of metal is about 10 meters wide and other than the damage at the front end it is the largest piece of undamaged ship you've seen for some time.

"What do you think? I think its worth a look. S'zish, do you think that you can put us down near that hole in that wreckage? With any luck there may be enough of it intact to salvage some parts." Or maybe even a working ship. Regardless I'd like to get a closer look at the surface of this place.

From the cockpit viewport, Brin squints down at the valley, trying to make out something through the dust. He reaches into his bag and reaches for his electrobinoculars, just to get a better-- drat! I almost forgot... I left those things behind on Malastare after that dicey encounter with those gun runners!

He leans in closer, carefully perusing the landscape when something dawns on him... huh... that's interesting...

Hesitantly Brin speaks up and addresses his allies. "Hey, fellas... is it just me or, do the hulls in this valley almost look to you as though they've been... placed there? Don't they look like they've been kind of lined up...? Hmm, maybe it's just me..."

While her teammates argued about the merits of exploring the possible wreckage or finding an intact ship that was more likely ready for the taking, Tox went about cleaning her Vamblades. That worm caught me by surprise. I need to train better. If not for my trust blades, I would be worm food. Unhooking the springs that launched the blades, Tox started cleaning out the residual dust from the blades.

Wishing she brought Rosestar with her, she started sweeping up the mess. I know if she were here, she would be miserable stuck in the ship. She prefers flying in blue skies, not stuck in grey ships. Looking at the pile of dust. Blue like the speckles in the dust here. " Wait, where did this blue dust come from?" She said aloud. " This looks just like that pebble I found in the mud by the walker."

Leaving the bench in a hurry, neglecting to reattach the springs in her haste, Tox went back to the cockpit to show the others and ask if they had ever seen this color of blue naturally before. I doubt it.

"Pebble? Blue stuff? Hmm. I'll be right back." Khaine leaves the bridge and walks back to the cargo hold. I really need to get some better tools... He thinks to himself as he looks through the gear they had brought. "Here it is. ECM tack 598...hypos...field manual...blah blah blah... here it is." Khaine pulls the scanners from the medpack and heads back to the bridge. "DUMs, repack that medkit for me."

Khaine walks back onto the bridge while he tries to configure the scanner. "Tox, could you hold out that pebble for a minute? A med scanner is a poor substitute for a proper scanner but it may be able to tell us something about this blue stuff." Khaine proceeds to run every scan he can think of on the rock and dust. Tweaking and adjusting setting after setting but getting no where. "Bah. Well, it was a long shot anyway. Thanks Tox." Man I feel useless up here. Everything I try fails. If I don't start pulling my weight around here the others may decide I'm not worth keeping around. Switching off the scanner Khaine grabs his comlink. "DUM two, come get this scanner and pack it back into the medpack."

Turning back towards the others Khaine joins back into the conversation. "I still say that we set down. I think we'll have a better shot of one of these ships being servicible than that blasted up space yacht." As one of the DUM droids comes onto the bridge he absently hands the scanner to it and watches it go. If it wasn't for those things I WOULD be dead weight...

After S'zish lands the YT several members of the party head back out into the moonscape. Without dust clogging the area you see that the terrain is stark and a strange mixture of sharp edges and soft piles of dust. In front of you is the blasted open bridge of the C-ROC you have landed on. After carefully making their way down into what is left of the damaged cockpit the party looks around. The damage is primarily to the console and piloting instruments and obviously the viewport has been blown out. Behind this the rest of the room seems remarkable intact. At the far end of the room is a bulkhead door. It is apparent that the emergency closure has deployed because the manual locks are wedged in place. Everything has been bleached out by exposure to the unfiltered ultraviolet rays of the distant sun but you can just barely make out that the indicator light on the maglock is on, showing that the other side of the door is pressurized.

"Nice landing S'zish." Khaine begins heading towards the cargo bay and calls out over his shoulder "Gear up, and lets move out." Donning his spacesuit Khaine straps on his utility belt and gives his rifle a check to ensure it was ready and waited for the others.

The cargo ramp lowered slowly onto the cold moon as Khaine moved with cautious haste towards the hole in the ship in front of them. The hull has been torn open from blaster fire leaving a gaping, jagged entry into the ship. "It looks clear. I'm going in." Giving the inside another quick scan for threats he hops into the gaping hole. Suddenly he feels himself jerk to a halt as his utility belt snags on one of the sharp outcroppings which promptly snaps under his weight. "Ooof!" Khaine grunts and he hits the ground face first. Two large chunks of metal softly clatter to the ground next to him clearing the opening.

Standing up, Khaine looks up at the opening. "Whatever hit this thing must have hit it hard to make the durasteel brittle like that." Eyeing the door Khaine stands guard while the others enter.

Landing gracefully beside Khaine, Tox looks around the sun drenched room and spots a chair facing what looks like the only intact console in the bridge. Gliding over, she turns the chair quickly to have a seat and examine the console. Looking down in the chair, she is horrified to see an emaciated skeleton. Recoiling at gruesome sight, she leaves the desiccated body which was curled into a fetal position on the seat. The vision of the rictor mortis howl coming from its mouth burns itself into her retinas. Tox holds back vomit and sprints to the other side of the ship, refusing to examine the body any closer.

After landing on the C-ROC, S'zish switched the ship into standby mode. Then he acknowledged Khaine's comment "Any skill can be learned provided an individual has the time to commit."

After the others had exited the bridge, S'zish called the DUM droids over the comm. Time to see what this area contains. Once they arrived on the bridge he gave them their orders. "Plug into the sensors." the droids clattered over each other each trying to reach the same sensor port, after a short time they all went to separate ones. S'zish turned back to the sensor screen as they began to feed information. Nothing. The screen showed nothing, the properties of the moon and the YT's out-modded and jury-rigged sensors were overloaded with static. S'zish turned to get out of the pilots chair, This ship is only good for getting from one location to another, S'zish hopes the group has had better luck.

" I'm going to go outside and survey the area, see if I might be able to spot a downed Tie Fighter. Let me know over the comlinks if you find anything, " Tox told to team, I really hope they don't know the real reason is because I need to catch my breath after seeing that body. Why did it bother me so much? Refusing to acknowledge that it is because the body might be Duena and she would lose here chance at settling their score, Tox scanned the horizon, looking for a Tie. Shaking her head to get the image out of her mind, she noticed that the valley looks like an upturned bowl, with the forward hull of the C-Roc facing towards the crest. It resembles a buried Kintan crusher, but those don't grow anywhere near that large. They also don't live in such a low oxygen environments and aren't found naturally off world, so what would cause this? Maybe an impact? Looking at the size of the incline, she lets out a low whistle, I'd hate to see what could make a hill this big. I'd almost rather face a crusher, she thinks uneasily.

She notes that the center of the valley has some large pieces of debris. Those look just like the ridges of a crusher. What could be up there? Tox hears rustling beside her and tenses up, ready to strike, right as S'zish walks past. That could have been a disaster. " I don't see any Tie's, " she calls over the radio, " anyone else having any luck? "

Jumping down from the hull, Tox is surprised to see that the ground is less than a meter below. Landing quietly, without raising a cloud or dust, she surveys the ship. Noticing a seam, she follows it with her eyes. Why hello there. A coupling hatch, that usually means there must be a way in. " I think I may have found something. It looks like a hatch, buried half way in the gravel. I'm going to clear the area and report back with any findings. Should be about 20 minutes of work. "

S'zish paused at the entrance to the cockpit, "Follow S'zish." he told the DUM droids. He moved through the hallways at a brisk walk until he reached the cargo bay and the Hunchback walker. Once the DUM droids had arrived and were caught, S'zish collapsed them into their storage form and placed them in the co-pilots area. Then he went and got his space suit on.

---

The Hunchback walker climbed out of the cargo bay and onto the hull of the C-ROC, after the walker had taken a few steps S'zish looked around. Then he spotted what he was looking for a TIE class ship, he started to move the walker closer. Once he had reached the end of the hull he paused for a second, then lifted its feet and landed on the moon's surface in a small puff of dust. The Hunchback may work in vacuum but was not designed to function fully in this level of gravity, S'zish thought to himself. Then he set out towards the TIE, it wouldn't take too long to reach it, he would be back in time for the hatch to be cleared.

---

There is the TIE. S'zish approached it, the spacecraft was mostly intact and sitting on the surface, S'zish activated the walkers tractor beam and the ship came free, hovering in front of the walker. Perhaps the TIE could be of use in ways beyond getting paid. S'zish turned the walker and started heading back towards the C-ROC. Perhaps landing here would work out after all.

Outside the ship, where Tox is digging out the access hatch, Brin gazes at the landscape of the valley and at the sky above.

It's so quiet. I'm not used to this silence.

The presence of the worms they had encountered earlier has got Brin concerned about the state of the abandoned ship they're about to explore further. Is it possible they've built a nest here?

Not willing to put his friend's lives in danger, he volunteered to explore the inner bowels of the ship with Tox. Not the most ponderous individual, Brin's unruly inner dialogue typically keeps him from thinking too hard or too deeply about anything in particular. He likes it that way. Keep things simple. Keep friends safe.

Don't let anyone in.

In the silence of the valley, Brin's thoughts wander deeper than usual. If Dahj is still alive... I wonder what he's doing right now... Ah, shoot.

Brin finds himself thinking about his old partner. That wasn't part of the plan. Thinking it's time to look for a distraction, he recommits himself to the task of watching Tox's back while she does the heavy lifting. There are important things happening right now. No reason to dwell on the past.