As the creature ran, its feline form twisting and slinking side to side, he lined up another shot, narrowed his eyes and slowly sunk to one knee... wait... wait... just a little... and... I have you... sleep... tight.

BLAM!!!

The shot sizzled through the humid air and found its mark, bursting out of the front of the creature head as it ran. The body crumpled, and tumbled end over end, before coming to a hard stop in the forest floor. Not too far from the other one. Poetic

Rakan, walks over. "Nasty fella."

He looks over at Sorotai. Concerned about the bite. "Looks like it was you that became the bite victim. Nadriana concluded its fangs may be toxic, and seeing the way it ran after it bit you. That's likely. Probably wanted to wait for you to die and feed later. Let's get you back to base camp right away."

She grins weakly, "Yeah, remind me never to tempt fate like that again." She grunts and doubles over, clutching her arm and groaning, shuddering involuntarily. "Ugh... that didn't feel good." Mel Ashen helps her up, but then turns back to Rakan, "Wait, what about the other one? Why didn't it join in?" Rakan then realizes that the smell of this one was nowhere near as pungent as the other. "Prob'ly just decided to let this one do the work." Karn Fenn grunted, as he grouped up with the others. Mel rips the sleeve off of Sorotai's mangled shirt and ties it tightly around the upper part of her arm. Their comms beep, and Breshenal's voice shouts out of it. "What in the kriffing blue blazes of Asar is going on!? We heard shots! Are you all alright?"

"It was dead." He replied to Mel, " The other may have been using it as bait. But that's just a hunch."

Rakan looks over Sorotai for a long moment. A knot forming in his stomach. "Hold her up you two, let's get her back right now. "

Breshenals voice comes over the comm.

"We were attacked by a creature matching the description of the last we saw. It was intelligent, fast and aggressive. We dropped it, but Sorotai has a nasty bite. We're coming back now, be ready to receive us with Medical supplies. Something to treat toxins."

He started off towards base camp with the others in tow. Keeping a very close watch, not letting even a falling leaf escape his scrutiny .

On the trip back, they encounter nothing more startling than a small herd of docile animals, though for a docile herd animal it is quite large and tough-looking, with a very thick, hairless skin and a bony prominence on the top of its head.

When you get back to camp, you are greeted by Breshenal, who ushers you to the Ranger, where Doctor Juna has apparently set up shop, collapsing some of the seats to gain more room. Her advanced medpack is already spread out, with the most important pieces picked out for quick access. She works quickly and efficiently, going through the standard protocol for dealing with unknown toxins. After just a few minutes, Sorotai's arm starts returning to its previous size and color, and Nadriana injects a stimpack to heal the wounds.

"Now, Mr. Kowl, would you please tell me all about your encounter with that creature, and any other creatures you may have come across? Then I'd-" she considers the prospect of leaving the vehicle, "I'd like to take a closer look at the corpse. Would it be plausible for you to bring it over here?" She asked hopefully.

Rakan props himself up in the entry way, watching the Pantoran work on Sorotai.

"Well.." he starts, and proceeds to tell her all the details he could make out about the creature that attacked them, the way it behaved and its notable qualities.

"Its too large to haul over here, and potentially dangerous. "

Then he continues, telling her about the herd of large animals.

"Seemed quite passive, though still, I doubt you'd want to aggravate one."

"Thank you, that was very informative." She thinks for a minute, then says, "I'd like to take a look at the other corpse... See if it was killed by the one you fought, or if it died some other way. We've still got a couple hours before dusk."

Outside, they have finished preparing the campsite and are now tending to the equipment, preparing it for the next day's work.

"Hmm..." Rakan thinks for a moment. Looking out over the camp and the surrounding forest. Then back to Sorotai. "Alright, but i don't want to to be out there too long, if you promise to be quick?" He tilts his head at her and raises an eyebrow. Then nods at Sorotai, " How're you feeling, up for a possible round two?"

"It's a deal. I'll be quick." Nadriana says.

Sorotai grins, flexing her left arm, "You bet, lemme at 'em!" Then wincing slightly, triggering a sigh and eye roll from Nadriana.

"Alright." He says standing up patting his rifle and slinging it over his shoulder. "Get your stuff together, bring some of that stuff for the toxin, just in case. I don't want anyone else being affected by that stuff, thankfully Sorotai has the hardiness of a warrior, she should have been that instead of her boring profession. Can't say I trust anyone else to react quite the same to almost having their arm ripped off."

He looks out to the camp and finds Breshenal, he approaches. "Nadriana wants to go out to check the body of the creature. I'll take Fenn and Ashen again. We'll be back before dusk."

Taking fifteen minutes or so for the team to prepare themselves. Rakan takes a moment to himself and gives himself another healthy dose of Glitterstim before joining up with them at the edge of the forest. "Alright. Lets take this nice and easy. Don't get twitchy. Don't shoot anything without my say so. Lets go."

The trip goes without incident until they arrive at the spot where the two creatures were killed. Nadriana kneels down next to the one killed by Rakan and runs a scanner over it, getting a general idea of its makeup, then she looks at the fangs, takes a sample of the venom, and takes a look at its claws and fangs. Sorotai and Ashen scan the trees, and Fenn plonks himself down on a nearby rock, his pistol dangling lazily from his hand. After a minute or two, Nadriana gestures to the one still in the tree. "Mr. Kowl, would you be so kind as to retrieve that one for me?"

Rakan looks at the Pantoran, then looks up in the tree, then back to the Pantoran. He sighs and start muttering something under his breath as he walks over to the base of the tree. He takes a few moments, circling the trunk, wary of any funny business that may be going on, last thing he wanted was to be hauled up in a net or trap of some kind or jumped on by another one of those creatures.

Satisified, he dug a clawed hand into the bark, and one limb after another made his way up to the furry corpse. His nose wrinkled back in disgust. "Mind yer heads, simpletons." he muttered giving it a hard kick.

The carcass lazily rolled over the branch before dropping to the ground with a hard thump. The Pantoran nods her thanks as she wipes the sweat off her forehead with a now quite damp cloth and steps closer to investigate. As she looks over its wounds, her brow knits in confusion. She compares notes, then checks it over again, brushing back the fur to get a better look at some of the injuries, and taking tissue and blood samples.

She looks up and gestures to Rakan, "This wasn't killed by that other one. This is a female, the other was a male and was probably her mate. Look at this." She points out some of the most notable injuries, including one that looks almost like a wound that would be caused by an armor-piercing slugthrower round; a messy hole straight through the creature. On the surface are several deep, but thin, gashes, some almost three inches deep. "There is no way these wounds could have been caused by the claws and teeth of the other one. They are too... tidy , if that is an appropriate word to use. This is something that is not really in my area of expertise, but I think that all of these cuts and... penetrations, went in the same direction. And look at how torn up the flesh around these cuts is! I wonder what could have done THIS." she spread her hands to indicate the corpse. "I took blood and tissue samples on the off chance there is anything of interest, but my hunch is that there is no toxin in the blood and that the creature died from its injuries. I'm no forensic expert though, so I do not know how accurate that may be. From what I know of the matter, I'd say that this specimen died approximately twelve hours ago, which would place it at shortly before dawn, if I'm not mistaken."

Mel Ashen steps closer to the group around the corpse, holding her nose as she does so, "If whatever killed it is nocturnal... we should probably get back to the camp before it gets dark."

Rakan climbed down and listened to Nadriana's assessment. A frown permanently fixed on his face. That didn't look good. At all. Either someone else has been down here with some heavy weaponry, or there is a predator lurking through these forests that they did not want to bump into. For scientific reasons or not.

"Alright. Back to camp. Everyone."

He gave a motion for everyone to leave and followed up the rear, but not before giving one last scan of the forest line.

"I have a bad feeling about this." He growled.

On the way back to the camp, the sun sets rather quickly. Rakan hurries them along, but is constantly scanning the area for any sign of something dangerous. There! He saw something. Something tall and very faint, blending into the very shadows themselves. He strains to look closer and sees faint red eyes, watching them.

"We got something..." he says. Bringing his weapon up into a ready position.

"Keep moving."

"What? Where? I don't see anything." Nadriana says. Sorotai grabs her arm, "Come on, let's keep going, we're almost there."

As the rest of the group keeps moving, the ghostly figure stays motionless, flickering in the shadow.

"We're being watched," Rakan growls. "Something different. Pick up the pace."

As the group picked up the pace, Rakan followed slightly slower. Keeping an eye on whatever it was flickering in the dark, making sure it didn't follow. Thankfully, it seemed not, but Rakan had a feeling in his gut that it wouldnt be the last time he encountered it.

Eventually they all made it back to base camp. Rakan gave the description of what it was he saw to the interested parties.

Breshenal looks at him skeptically, then looked around to the others. "And did any of you see it?" They responded in the negative, and he turned back to Rakan. "You took the drugs again, didn't you? That stuff can cause hallucinations, and you know it. I don't believe you saw anything . You got jumpy because of the other creatures, and that with the drugs made you see something that wasn't there. You said yourself you could barely make it out from the shadows."

Sorotai shrugged in indecision, while Nem Muub looked like he was about ready to wet his pants. "Maybe we should leab. I don't like the soud of that. If there's sombthing out there..." the Sullustan trailed off under a withering glare from Breshenal.

Nadriana Juna speaks up, her voice calm and measured, "Mr. Breshenal, I'm surprised at you. You should know better than to dismiss something like this out of hand. I saw evidence first-hand that suggests that there is something else out there-" "Or something you just don't understand yet!" He snapped back, cutting her off. "Not everything is a new apex predator, and you don't know everything! This is why I have never met a xenologist I got along well with. Always looking for the next Zillo Beast." Doctor Juna pulls herself up straighter, but keeps her cool.

Mel Ashen pursed her lips in frustration, "Perhaps we should post a watch. I doubt the life sign sensors are going to be any good, there must be many thousands within their detection radius. At a minimum, they may be able to frighten any potential threats off."

Breshenal waved her off, "They can be calibrated to only pick up lifesigns of a certain minimum size. Then we can all get a good night's rest, and do some actual work in the morning. What do you say, Mister Kowl?" His voice was agitated and impatient. He had clearly already made up his mind on the matter.

As Rakan listened, was accused and questioned, he felt his blood start to boil. He took a slow step towards Breshenal.

"To begin... I don't get jumpy." He replied with a low growl, and began to circle the man. "I am a hunter, everything I do is measured, calculated. My sight and senses... are unmatched."

He continued his slow encirclement. His words equally drawn out .

"When I say we are being watched. We are. If I say we are being hunted. We are. If I say we need to retreat back to extraction. We will. If I say we will need watches. Then that is what shall happen."

He walked closer and made a point to smell the human.

"You smell like prey, Breshenal. An easy morsel for even the most average predator. Would you like that? Would you like to die tonight? Because if you should even dare to put anyone here at risk, for foolish and ignorant thinking. Then it won't just be the the monsters in the night you will need to worry about. You will have to deal with me."

The Wolf-man got close to his face, his yellow eyes going wide, and he snarled, bearing his teeth.

"Ashen, Fenn, Sorotai, Nadriana. Watches will be taken. I will go first. Set up all neccessary scanning equipment. And I want everyone armed."

He walked away, then looked back over at Breshenal.

"Do NOT make me take this operation out of your hands."

Ashen nods confidently, but Nadriana's cool slips and she looks downright shocked, her mouth dropping open. "You want ME to watch?" Shapris holds up a hand, "If you don't mind, Rake, I'm willing to take her watch. I've had more military training than she has, even if I didn't really put it to use during the war."

Sorotai twirls the pistol on her finger and nods to Nem, "Looks like I'll need to hang on to this a little longer." Nem moans and heads off to his tent. Melenia turns back to Rakan, " I'll check the scanners. Do you want me to calibrate them to the minimum size? How big would you say the creature was?"

Fenn groans and tramps off to his tent, mumbling something under his breath about bossy, drug-addled canines, to low for anything but Rakan's sharp ears to pick up. Gonnie Ad slinks off behind him, likely thinking the same thing, but more tactful or just intimidated.

Breshenal seethes, his lip and nose contorting as he silently fumes, feeling like he can't cross the Shistavanen. He turns on his heel and marches back to his tent without another word.

"That's a good idea Chapris ." He nods at the Chagrian.

He turns to Mel, "about average humanoid size. Also, can you set the distance? Perhaps have a closer radius. We dont want to be alerted about something a kilometer away. 100 feet or so should be good. If that's possible."

Rakan watches Breshenal go. He was a little perturbed by the things he had to say, he thought there was a mutual respect between them. He didnt remember doing something to warrant such an attitude. Nor the rest of the crew. Let's just get through this night .

Nadriana shoots Darryn a thankful look and hurries off to her tent.

As the others disperse, Mel nods, "I'll get right on that, then." She walks off to the sensors and starts calibrating them to the parameters set out by Rakan.
_________

That night, after Rakan has been prowling the camp for about an hour and a half, he sees a glint of red back in the trees and looks closer. He can just barely make out the ghostly flicker he saw earlier, seemingly watching them from the shadow of the woods.

Rakan narrowed his eyes and brought his Hunting Rifle up. He walked towards apparition. Trying to see any indication of what it may be or its intention.

It stay motionless, flickering against the shadowy backdrop as Rakan approaches.

3 hours ago, P-47 Thunderbolt said:

It stay motionless, flickering against the shadowy backdrop as Rakan approaches.

Rakan moves even closer but at a slower pace.