20 BBY
Trinta
Hyperion Squad's latest assignment had taken them to the fetid, swampy planet of Trinta in the Outer Rim. They had been tasked with the retrieval of the plans for a newer, larger and more powerful model of ion cannon. Supposedly, it could fire over interstellar distances and disable all electronics on a continental scale…or potentially fry a planet's atmosphere. Apparently, there were still a few kinks to work out.
The ship that had been carrying the plans, the Dirge, had been caught in an ambush over Trinta, forcing the crew to jettison the schematics down to the planet's surface in an escape pod. Fortunately for the Republic, the Dirge had managed to destroy the ambush force that had surprised it, though it had been gone down along with its attackers. Now it was just a matter of retrieving the plans before the Separatists could send their own recovery force.
Which was where Hyperion Squad came in.
"Well, that was easy," Jawbreaker murmured, holding the schematics in his hand.
"Makes a change, doesn't it?" Genet asked as he leaned in the escape pod's doorway, and Jawbreaker was sure he was smirking.
Jawbreaker shrugged as he turned to walk off, his squad following close behind him. "After that unpleasantness on Kaon, I'm not complaining if we get a simple mission for once."
Overall, it had been a pleasantly uneventful little trek. A slightly turbulent descent into the atmosphere, a hike through a forest and a short detour through a swamp and they had reached their goal. No battle droids firing at them, no ambushes by territorial predators, nothing like that. By commando standards, that was practically a vacation.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that, actually." It was Cabur who suddenly spoke up, drawing their eyes to the squad's corporal.
"What is it, Cabur?" Jawbreaker asked, a sudden feeling of unease creeping up on him.
"You hear those noises?" Cabur asked, peering around.
Jawbreaker came to a sudden halt and turned to look at Cabur. "What do you mean? I haven't heard any noises."
"Exactly, there aren't any. Which is kind of strange, considering the fact that we're in the middle of a forest. I haven't heard a single birdcall, or even any insects. That's more than a little strange," Cabur pointed out.
Jawbreaker frowned, before peering around and listening closely. Cabur was right, the forest was unnaturally quiet. Forests usually teemed with all sorts of life, but this? This was eerily silent. It was as if there were no animals at all, not even insects. The silence was almost oppressive.
There was a sudden hiss of noise and Jawbreaker jumped. Their pilot, Whiplash's voice crackled over the comm. "Um…we have kind of a big problem on our hands…"
Underneath his helmet, Jawbreaker frowned. "What kind of problem?"
"Well it just landed in front of the ship and it's big, very big," Whiplash said. Jawbreaker wasn't quite sure, but he thought Whiplash's voice was quavering.
Jawbreaker tensed up, one hand going to his blaster. "A ship? Separatist?"
"Noooo…"
"What then? Is it an animal?" Jawbreaker was confused. Surely whatever native life wouldn't be that much of an issue for their ship. No matter how big it was.
"I…I'm not sure that this thing qualifies as an animal."
Jawbreaker rolled his eyes. Pilots could be so dramatic. "Alright, we're on our way back. We'll deal with whatever it is." He was confident that no matter how big this animal was, his squad could deal with it with little difficult. Jawbreaker turned to Cabur. "Looks like you're going to be seeing some of the local wildlife after all. Happy now?"
"By the Force…" Cabur whispered in a stunned, breathless tone.
The beast had to be 100 meters at the very least and had three heads, each situated atop three very long necks. Each mouth was filled with powerful wickedly-sharp teeth that were bigger than they were. It had no arms, but did have enormous, claw-tipped wings that looked to be almost twice the length of its body. Its tail split in two towards the end, and each one was studded with razor-sharp looking spikes. Two powerful looking legs held it upright and its taloned feet looked like they'd be capable of rending through buildings with ease. Its hide was glistening with golden scales and they all held no doubt that it would be capable of shrugging off tank fire, let alone blaster bolts with no trouble.
And it was standing right in front of their ship. Jawbreaker was suddenly thankful for the fact that they had taken the time to camouflage it before they had set out. They had done so with hiding the ship from any potential Separatists in mind, should any stumble upon them. Somehow it had not occurred to them that they would need to hide it from colossal monsters. Hindsight was funny that way.
"Kriff me," Genet said in awe, his jaw slack underneath his helmet.
"Well, I know what my next tattoo's going to be," Destroyer said. The others turned back and stared at him.
"That's assuming we make it back at all," Jawbreaker muttered. "We're going to need to get by that thing first."
Cabur held up his hands placatingly "Look, maybe we're getting worked up over nothing. Something this big has to feed on something of a similar size, right?"
"Or on a lot of smaller stuff," Genet pointed out.
Cabur waved him off "Possibly, yes. But look at it this way, krayt dragons don't feed on kreetles, right? They're too small. It should be the same for us. We're beneath that thing's notice, we're too small for it to possibly be interested in eating us."
It was at precisely that moment that a morril, a small, furry rodent, darted out from the underbrush, close to the beast. At once, the monster swivelled all three of its heads in the morril's direction. The monster narrowed all six of its eyes and the centre head opened its mouth wide. All four of the commandos leapt back in shock and alarm as the beast suddenly fired what appeared to be a beam of lightning from its mouth that shot out and vaporised the morril. Nothing was left except for a blackened crater and a waft of smoke. To their further surprise, the creature threw all three of its heads back and started to laugh. It was a horrible, screeching noise, but they could all recognise it for the laughter that it was. The creature seemed to have enjoyed killing the morril, an animal so small that it could have fit in the palms of their hands with space to spare.
Jawbreaker turned to Cabur, glaring at him from beneath his helmet. "You were saying?" He asked, flatly.
"Well, he didn't eat it," Cabur offered, his voice suddenly very small.
"You hear that? Sadistic motherkriffer was laughing!" Genet exclaimed, his arm trembling as he pointed at the crater.
Destroyer placed a hand to his chin. "Hmmm, that thing must have really good eyesight."
"And we have to get by it. Terrific," Jawbreaker scowled.
Suddenly, Kaon wasn't looking so bad in comparison.
"So, anyone got any ideas?" Cabur asked, eyes still locked onto the beast.
"What if Whiplash throws one of his pin-ups out of the ship? Maybe that'll distract him long enough to get aboard?" Destroyer suggested.
"I will not sacrifice any of my pictures of Scarlet Sweet! Those are sacred and I'd rather feed one of you to that thing!" Whiplash snapped over the comm, and the commandos collectively winced.
"Well, it's not like I have enough explosives to do anything more than tick this thing off, so I'm out of ideas." Destroyer looked down at the arsenal that was strapped to his torso and waist. Explosives knives and thermal detonators were usually enough to send most beings running, even when the explosives had happy, smiling faces painted onto them. In this case, however, none of them were holding out much hope, no matter how happy the explosives looked.
"…We got time to make yowie suits?" Genet offered weakly.
After a long pause, Jawbreaker sighed and lowered his head.
Whiplash's exasperated voice came through the comm. "Okay, it's clear that you idiots can't come up with any ideas, so now it's up to me to bail us out. What you guys need is a distraction, lure it away from the ship."
"Sure, but what are we gonna use?" Destroyer asked, absentmindedly juggling three thermal detonators.
Jawbreaker paused and stared.
"Okay, so are the explosives set?" Jawbreaker asked.
"Yep, that should be enough to get that thing's attention…and leave a fair sized crater in this mud hole."
"Really, it can only improve this planet, it's kind of a dump," Genet said.
"Alright, we detonate on three, and when the monster goes off, we run for the ship. Got that?" Jawbreaker asked as he faced his squad. They all chimed affirmatives, and Jawbreaker turned to face the site of the explosion. "One, two, NOW!"
Destroyer jammed his thumb down on the detonator and a thunderous explosion suddenly rang out. The ground shook from the sheer force of the explosion and they were all thankful for the sound dampeners in their helmets. The beast turned all three of its heads in the direction of the blast and with a roar, it crouched, before lifting off into the air, its massive wings flapping rapidly.
"Go, go, go!" Jawbreaker cried as he sprinted towards the ship.
They all made a mad dash for the TIV, its entrance ramp coming down just as they reached it. They scrambled up the stairs, almost to the point of shoving and clawing at each other to reach the safety of the ship.
"Start the ship! Get us out of here!" Cabur shouted as he slammed himself down into a seat, scrambling to get the safety harness on.
"Hey, no need to tell me twice!" Whiplash replied as he quickly began pressing buttons on the control console.
The ship's engines rumbled to life and the ship began to shudder. With a sudden lurch, the ship took off from the ground, shedding the camouflage netting that had been covering it.
"Time to blow this mud ball!" Whiplash exclaimed as the ship made to exit the planet's atmosphere.
Even within the ship, they could all hear the beast as it roared.
"I think it knows that we're taking off," Destroyer said, his voice amazingly calm.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know!" Whiplash snapped.
He pressed a button and a camera on the rear of the TIV activated, showing an image on a vidscreen of the beast in flight behind them. It let out another roar, before firing another electricity beam straight at the ship. Whiplash muttered a curse before jerking on the controls and causing the ship to dodge. It was a close call, the lightning very nearly grazed the hull and Whiplash began to curse with even more fervour.
"Time to show you how I got my name!" Whiplash said as he jammed the TIV's controls back.
"You used that line last time we flew with you!" Cabur exclaimed, before he found himself pressed back into his seat.
"Yeah, well you didn't appreciate it the first time!" Whiplash snarled.
The ship really began to move then, jerking and dodging rapidly as the beast fired several volleys of lightning at the escaping ship. Soon, the bright blue of the sky faded to inky darkness as the ship broke free of the planet's atmosphere.
"Ha! Let's see that motherkriffer follow us now!" Genet whooped, slamming his fists into his legs.
"Uh, Genet…" Jawbreaker breathed, pointing at the vidscreen.
"You gotta be kriffing kidding me," Jawbreaker whispered in a mixture of awe and terror.
"No way!" Cabur exclaimed.
"It can breathe in space?!" Genet cried in disbelief.
It was true, somehow the beast was still pursing them. It very clearly wanted them dead. Jawbreaker almost had to admire its persistence.
Whiplash let out a short, humourless chuckle. "Oh, this just keeps getting better and better. Hold on, time to get evasive!"
The TIV banked hard to the left, just in time to avoid another lightning blast from the beast's centre head. It veered quickly to follow them, firing wildly at the escaping ship. Whiplash frantically yanked at the controls, sending the ship lurching as it zigzagged through space.
"You got those coordinates back to Coruscant ready yet?!" Jawbreaker shouted, his knuckles white as he gripped onto his safety harness.
"Almost, and…now!" Whiplash jammed his finger onto the TIV's console. Immediately, the stars blurred into white lines and the ship entered hyperspace. At last they were safe. As multi-talented as that monster was, they were all certain going to lightspeed was one skill that it did not possess.
Probably.
All five of them slumped down into their seats, breathing heavily as their hearts hammered in their chests.
"Okay, that…that was the worst planet we've ever been to," Cabur gasped as he pulled his helmet off. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and his eyes were wide.
"Really starting to think we had it easier on Kaon," Jawbreaker muttered as he released his death grip on his harness.
"But on the plus side, since we lived I can get that tattoo when we get back," Destroyer said, his voice bright and upbeat.
None of the others were particularly surprised when Genet threw his helmet at him.
"Well, the description you've given me sounds like a battle hydra, an ancient Sith war beast. However, I've never heard of one growing to such a size." Zey placed a hand on his chin and shook his head. "…Or having three heads."
"Well, that's what we saw," Jawbreaker said, as he, the rest of Hyperion Squad and Whiplash sat in front of Zey's desk. Behind the desk, Captain Maze stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his head cocked ever-so-slightly to the side.
"At least, that's what you think you saw," Zey said, his tone careful.
Jawbreaker tilted his head to the side, confused "Sir?"
"I don't doubt that you saw a battle hydra, but for it to be so gargantuan…it seems highly unlikely." Zey began to stroke his beard. "Planet Trinta is strongly tied to the dark side, perhaps it caused you to hallucinate? It may have made the battle hydra to appear much more fearsome than what it really was."
Jawbreaker struggled not to frown. "Sir, with respect, I know what I saw. And what I saw was 100 meters tall and could shoot lightning from its mouths." At that, he did frown. Saying it out loud didn't exactly make him sound credible.
Zey shot him a sceptical look, peering down his nose at Jawbreaker.
Jawbreaker sighed and put a hand to his forehead "Okay, look, I know how this sounds, but-"
Suddenly, the others began to speak up as well, all claiming the same thing as Jawbreaker.
"General, it was real-"
"-Took off my helmet and saw it with my own-"
"-You can't make this kind of thing up!"
Zey held up a hand and at once, they all stopped talking. "Perhaps it would be best if I gave you all some time off? A week to recover from your mission may be the best thing, to take your minds off what happened."
Jawbreaker bit down hard on his cheek to supress a scowl. The coppery taste of his own blood filled his mouth and he swallowed hard. "Yes, General," he said, his voice bitter as he quickly stood up. His squad and Whiplash followed his lead and one by one, they filed out of the office.
"…We know what we saw," Jawbreaker grumbled, scowling. His hands were clenched into fists.
"It was definitely real," Genet replied, his voice firm. "Zey wasn't there, he doesn't know what he's talking about."
"Yeah, some things are just too fantastical to hallucinate or dream up," Cabur added, nodding.
"On the plus side, now I have the time to get my tattoo." Destroyer shrugged.
"I will shoot you, I swear to the Force!" Genet hissed, jabbing his finger at Destroyer.
"Though, he is right, some time off is appreciated," Cabur mused.
"I guess so," Genet muttered, his eyes cast down.
"Yeah, if we get some downtime out of this, I'm not complaining." Whiplash clapped his hands together. "So, who else wants to hit up a strip club?"
At that, Jawbreaker sighed.