Last time: Kyr and Viran did some shooting to relax.

Now: A new hunter arrives.

Chapter 21- The Trandoshan

Oppie stopped and took a sip of water. They were heading up into the foothills of the mountains, and the foliage was getting a little scrubbier, a little more sparse. The spot afforded a view that let them look out over the top of the jungle, back towards the way they had come. They were nominally following near the river, as it wound down from the mountains, and they could see it flowing off into the jungle, leaving a slight parting in the foliage as it snaked its way off towards wherever it flowed.

"Want to rest here a moment?" He asked Sasha.

Sasha, who had lagged behind slightly due to her broken leg, gave an exhausted nod as she came to a stop near him. She leaned heavily against the crutch, winded and sweating. "Yes, please."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to set such a bad pace." He said contritely.

"It's fine," Sasha panted. "I think it's more the elevation change… and my bruised ribs… and my leg." She breathed out. "But I'm okay."

Oppie looked at her for a moment. "Do you want that dose of bacta?" He asked.

"No, I just need to sit for a minute or two and catch my breath," Sasha said, dismissively waving her hand.

Oppie looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was okay, or if she was just being stubborn. "Sitting sounds good." He said, leading the way over to a handy boulder.

Sasha followed him over to the boulder. She sunk down onto it with a sigh as she set her crutch aside. As she sat down, she looked out to the view that could be seen through the trees. "Wow. The forest is massive," she observed.

"It is. I wonder if we can see where we started from up here?" He said, looking out over the treetops before them.

"Uh… I don't know," Sasha shrugged, wincing slightly at her shoulder. "It all looks the same up here."

"It does." Oppie said, turning his attention back to where they were. "How's your leg?"

"It hurts, but compared to yesterday, It's better," Sasha said as she looked down at her splinted leg.

Oppie nodded and sat quietly as he dug out her bottle of water and handed it over, undoing the cap for her.

"Thank you. I was just about to ask," Sasha said after clearing her throat and taking the water. She took a long swig of it, forgetting about rationing it for a moment. She had been so good with rationing up to this point, but this time her throat felt so dry that she drank more than she was planning. She pulled the bottle away from her lips a moment later with a refreshed sigh.

"Once we settle in for the night I could go refill the canteens." Oppie suggested. A part of him wondered absently why they hadn't encountered another hunter today.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Sasha said as she closed up the bottle.

He looked around, "this place has an odd beauty about it." He said, "I never visited many jungle worl-" He was cut off as in the distance a flock of birds took off from one of the trees, disturbed by something.

"What was that?" Sasha asked, noticing it to, as she reached for her blaster.

"Not sure." Oppie said, unslinging the rifle from his back and looking through the scope. The foliage was dense and he couldn't really see anything. He kept an eye on the spot for a few moments, trying to discern what might have disturbed the birds. As he slowly scanned through the magnified scope, he stopped and panned back. There was a hunter, slowly making his way through the undergrowth. A tall, scally figure, that stopped to sniff the air, his green coloring blended in well, as did the suit he was wearing. But his red eyes gave him away.

"It's a trandoshan." Oppie said quietly. "Making his way up towards us, about two kilometers away."

"A trandoshan?" Sasha asked in surprise. She gulped. "Op. what should we do? We have the advantage this time since we spotted him first."

"He's sniffing the air, I think he might have our scent." Oppie said. Trying to think. Trying to think how Kyr might handle this, or the clones. "How would you feel staying up here and covering me while I go lay an ambush?" He asked quietly.

"Uh, yeah I can do that," Sasha said as creased her brow. "But are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah." Oppie said, handing her the rifle. "Just watch my back."

Sasha smirked at that. "I've always got your back."

"Thanks." He said as he got up in a low crouch. "Oh, and also watch him too." He said as he moved away.

"I will," Sasha said as she watched him go. "Be careful."

"I will." He said over his shoulder.

Sasha nodded before carefully getting up, using the rock to steady herself. She moved around the boulder and awkwardly moved into a kneeled position behind it, for cover. She then took his rifle, adjusted it on top of the boulder, and kept her eye on the scope. And kept her eye on the trandoshan ahead.

Oppie moved away, down the slope, backtracking a little along the way they had come before heading off in a new direction. He wished they had radios so that he could have had Sasha tell him where the hunter was. Instead he had to rely on his best guess. There was a clearing that was in the hunters path, that he and Sasha had walked through on their way up. It seemed like a good spot to set up an ambush, and hopefully they could get this over with quickly.

He approached it, cautiously, not sure how much ground the hunter could have traveled. He had seemed to be moving slowly, more in the way of a hunter, or a soldier moving through the foliage rather than the somewhat imbecilic Weequay or the overly arrogant nature the two brothers had shown. The only reason they had spotted him was because he had accidentally spooked some birds. Granted, the other sets of hunters they had only known about after they started firing at him and Sasha as well.

Oppie stopped, taking some cover behind a tree. He idly wished he knew a little bit more about field craft, the air was still and he wasn't sure if he would be upwind or down. Not that he really had a lot of choice in the matter.

Sasha watched Oppie move closer to the trandoshan through the scope. Looking between the two of them, she could see that Oppie was getting closer and that hunter was slowly moving towards her. She took a deep breath and calmed her breathing down so she could focus on the hunter. Her finger resting near the trigger, ready to fire at a moment's notice. However, briefly, she saw the face of the younger brother flash before her in the scope. She tensed, blinked a few times, and then looked again. He wasn't there. It was just the trandoshan. Was she seeing things or was the events of yesterday still haunting her? The latter was more likely, but she was exhausted enough she could be seeing things. Taking another breath as she wiped the sweat that was gathering on her warm brow, she cleared her mind and tried to stay focused. She needed to provide Oppie cover and help him take on the hunter. That's it. Focus. She thought to herself.

Essk sniffed the air about him, the trail was very fresh, now. They were moving slower. The girl's footprints were accompanied by the markings of a crutch, and he could almost smell her injury, and the infection that was beginning to fester. The wind changed, slightly, and it brought the same scent, but fresher, and from a different angle. He blinked, and let loose a low growl without thinking about it. He looked to his left, then to his right, and went to the nearest tree, scrambling up the trunk to get into the branches above.

They were laying an ambush? Then he would just have to lay one of his own.

Cursing under her breath, Sasha watched as the hunter climbed up into the trees and practically disappeared from her sights. She knew exactly what tree he was in, but where he was in the tree itself was a bit trickier as he did blend in really well. Plus her vision did seem to be a tad blurrier than normal at the moment, but she was afraid to use her hand to clear it on the off chance the hunter would completely disappear. Biting her bottom lip, Sasha considered checking on Oppie's progress, but she wanted to keep what visuals she had on the Trandoshan. Oh how she wished they had some form of commlink or even the Force to communicate with each other right now. It would make things so much easier.

He made his way through the branches, as quietly as he could. He felt the anticipation of the hunt, as he imagined his father and older brother had. Both dying at the hands of Jedi whelps on a hunt not dissimilar from this. They did not have the Force on this planet for some reason, so Von had told him, but they were still trained Jedi knights. He couldn't wait to take their hides to display on his ship.

One of them, the male, was setting up an ambush in a thicket that he might have walked through, their trail fresh below him, and he glowed slightly with his infrared senses. He suppressed a want to let loose an amused growl. The girl, he wasn't sure where she was, her trail continued up into the hill before them, and didn't double back like this one. He would dispose of this Jedi, then go after the other. He could almost taste the Jedi's nervousness in the air, and he savored it. He moved silently through the treetops, from branch to branch, almost in position to leap down and take the Jedi in a single blow.

Oppie waited, tensely. The birds had gone silent, that meant the hunter must be near. Oppie scanned the forest around him, moving his head slowly, trying to reach out with his senses to try to figure out where the trandoshan was. Even without the Force to call upon, he could feel eyes on him, a feeling he had never experienced before. He understood what Kyr talked about, now.

When Oppie came into sight on the scope, Sasha's heart thudded against her chest as she realized what the hunter was doing. What his plan was. She needed to warn Oppie or potentially disable the hunter before he would have a chance to pounce. However, they didn't have communication devices. But she did have a blaster rifle. A warning shot or disabling one was better than nothing. Wiping her clammy hands on her jacket before adjusting the rifle's scope just slightly, Sasha set her sights on the tree. Her finger rested near the trigger trembling as she waited for the right moment.

Any second now.

Then the trandoshans eyes came into view on the scope and she pulled the trigger, sending out a singular blast for now.

The blaster bolt hit the tree, and the Trandoshan leapt away down to the forest floor in something that looked more like a barely controlled fall. Oppie took aim out of reflex and fired, as the hunter disappeared into the undergrowth that this thicket was surrounded by. Oppie took cover behind a tree, his heart pounding as he tried to figure out where the Trandoshan might have gone.

There was a low, menacing growl that came from the forest around him, and Oppie swung around, hearing the sound behind him. There was a slight movement in the foliage and Oppie let loose several shots, hoping to get lucky. As he did so he backpedaled into the cover behind him, trying to get to cover again. He swung around a tree and took deep breaths.

"You will die by my claw, Jedi! My father and brother will be avenged!" He heard from the forest around him.

Oppie had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Oppie peeked around the trunk but saw nothing.

Blaster bolts came from the side, and Oppie ducked around the tree, and started running through the undergrowth, firing shots behind him to try to keep the Trandoshan occupied. He took cover behind another tree, trying to catch his breath.

The warning shot had worked, but it appeared that the Trandoshan was still able to fight. She noticed it had hit the tree. She just wasn't sure if it hit her target until the Trandoshan stood up and he and Oppie engaged in a fire fight. Sasha watched anxiously through the scope as they fought, looking for an opening to lay down more cover fire, but due to the thick foliage she couldn't get as clear a shot as she had on the tree. But then they both disappeared further into the forests. Sasha looked up from the scope, adjusted her vision for a moment, then looked out to the forest they had just come from with a worried frown. Be careful, Op.

Essk climbed a nearby tree, getting up the trunk with little difficulty. He was careful to stay under cover from the hilltop where the sniper shot had come. That must be the girl, he'd deal with her after this one in the forest. He growled, loudly, the sound reverberating through the trees as the hunt was on.

"Now would be a really good time for you guys to arrive." Oppie said under his breath as the low growl echoed. Oppie carefully looked around, also keeping an eye out for the foliage above him. It was early afternoon, and dappled light broke between the leaves, but the canopy was thick. He was deeper into the forest now, but at least the hunter seemed to be concentrating on him instead of Sasha. He cautiously stepped out. He needed a new plan. The ambush hadn't worked. He knew the Trandoshan was probably tracking him by smell, and he definitely smelled strongly after hiking through the woods for what felt like a week already. And he also knew they had some infrared vision. Without his Jedi senses Oppie was now keenly aware of how difficult this kind of thing was to do without the Force, and he wished he had spent a little more time learning to not rely so heavily on it.

He moved back towards the river without really having come up with a plan yet. He went from cover to cover, trying to keep an eye out all the while. He stopped and glanced behind him. There, a figure in the trees. He took aim and fired several shots. The Trandoshan lept away, down to the ground again, and returned a few blaster bolts towards Oppie's position. Oppie was already moving as he tried to stay ahead. He started circling back, trying to get back into a position where Sasha might be able to help cover him. Off to his side he heard the water flowing strongly down the hills into the forest below.

"Come out Jedi whelp, and face me!" He heard a harsh voice call out behind him.

Oppie just rolled his eyes and kept going. He soon reached the river bank, and tried to skirt the edge to head back upstream towards where Sasha was.

A blaster bolt sizzled past his head and Oppie ducked out of reflex. He swung around and slipped on the muddy bank, sliding down into the water with a yelp. The current pulled him along as he tried to keep his head above water, and the Trandoshan stepped out onto the bank, leveled his blaster and sent several well aimed bolts at Oppie, all landing within a meter or so as he was taken by the current. He swam for the shore, trying to move perpendicular to the flow, trying to keep his head above water as the cold flow rushed down from the mountains. After several hundred meters he was able to grab the roots of a tree. He struggled to hold on, and then used it to pull himself out of the water onto the muddy bank.

He breathed deeply, trying to catch his breath. He was caked in mud. A part of him absently remembered a movie Kyr and Viran had insisted he watch, where some commandos were being hunted by some kind of predator alien that could see infrared and the last remaining survivor had purposely covered himself in mud like this to blot out his body heat. He shook the thought away and got up. Kyr loved that movie, Oppie thought it was kind of silly.

He had lost one of the blasters, the one they had taken from the Weequay. He had one more with him from the brothers they had killed yesterday, the other was in his pack up with Sasha. He suddenly realized the hunter was between him and Sasha, and he couldn't leave her to face him alone.

"I'm still here!" He yelled into the forest, trying to draw its attention. "Come get me, coward!" He hoped that might goad it into continuing to hunt him instead of going to Sasha.

Sasha had readjusted her position behind the boulder as her right leg was losing feel from how long she had been kneeling on it and was now leaning forward against the rock, waiting. She had continuously checked the scope for any sign of Oppie or the Trandoshan. But no one appeared. The longer they were gone, the more anxious she was feeling. That and she was starting to feel lethargic. She wasn't even doing anything aside from keeping watch and laying down a single blast of cover fire, and yet she felt like she was spent. Maybe that was because all of her exhaustion and injuries were deciding to catch up with her at this moment. Except she didn't feel sleepy, just physically drained. Or maybe it was the uncomfortable warmth that seemed to slowly envelope her body as the day went on that seemed to also bring this almost ill feeling to her. Could she actually be getting sick right now or getting an infection? No, they cleaned her wounds and took proper care of them. So maybe it was just the heat of the day overwhelming her. Heat stroke wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to her this trip. But whatever was causing her exhaustion wasn't enough to take her out of the game yet. The only thing was her anxiety in waiting for Oppie seemed to energize her enough to not just collapse and rest right here and now.

A distant yell, that was a tad garbled but sounded like Oppie, broke her of her daze and her thoughts. She immediately checked the scope, but saw no sign of them. She looked back to the forest where the yell came from as her forehead creased with more worry. Was Oppie okay? Was he hurt? Or was he charging in for an attack against the hunter? Or did she just imagine the call? Sasha waited for a moment to see if another would come, but nothing that sounded like Oppie. But something did ring out that sent a shiver down her spine.

Essk's head perked up at the challenge, and he snarled. The whelp had gotten out of the river after all. The girl could wait, in her condition she couldn't move much anyway. He turned and disappeared into the trees, to try and finally kill the Jedi. He answered the challenge with a bellowing growl that rang through the forest.

Oppie took the growl as a good sign that he had brought the hunter's focus back on him. He tried to make his way through the forest as stealthily as he could. He remembered how the Rangers had moved on missions, their heel-toe step that made their passage more quiet. The way they kept their weapons up and at the ready, as he did with his remaining blaster. Scanning the trees, scanning the forest, he tried to think of what he could do. His thoughts strayed back to that movie and the huge tree trunk the protagonist had set up as a trap. He didn't have that kind of time, and that sort of thing only worked in the movies, anyway. Unless you were an Ewok. Oppie shook his head and refocused. A trap, though, might be the key.

He didn't have much, all their supplies were back up at their camp where he hoped Sasha was still safely set up with the rifle to defend herself. He just had the blaster pistol, a spare energy cell for the pistol, and one of the knives, his jacket and not much else.

He thought back to the Rangers. Their ability to improvise. They had used the energy cells for everything, to start fires, to fry droids, as grenades, to improvised battery packs for -

The grenade thing. He vaguely remembered Swamp showing him that, one time. Similar to the electrical discharge he had used on the assassin droid, but wired a little differently so it would create a feedback loop and overload the cell. It was kind of useless, it only worked when it was in the blaster and someone pulled the trigger, so it was only a danger to the user. But…

He listened intently. Trying to figure out where the hunter might be. He had a few minutes. The blaster had a fairly light trigger on it. He pulled his knife out and cut another strip from his tattered shirt, just long enough to loop around the trigger. Looking around he saw a rock, just heavy enough. He tried to disguise the wrapping as though it was a handle guard, and then set it down in place. He pulled the energy cell out, and pulled at the cell's casing away using the knife blade to pry it. He tried to remember how it was done. Taking out one of the buffer circuits, and then using the wiring from it to bridge a gap between two contacts. It looked right...ish. He'd never worked with this kind of blaster or energy cell before.

He set the trap down carefully, leaving the blaster in place, and he pulled out the knife. This was a huge gamble, if this didn't work all he had was the knife, and his legs to try to get back to Sasha and the other weapons.

The forest went quiet around him, and Oppie looked up. He disappeared, back into a thicket of trees, and behind a trunk. He heard a low growl, and the sound of someone very heavy trying to make his way through the underbrush. Then the footsteps stopped, and Oppie heard him sniffing.

"I can smell you, Jedi." He said, "I can smell your fear." The reptilian hunter said. He stepped into the clearing and he stopped.

Oppie waited, his breath tense as he hoped the hunter would take the bait.

He didn't. He kept moving, and he could hear him step past where the blaster was, after he had stopped for a few seconds to investigate it.

"You will die by my claw." He snarled, "and she will win me my prize." He snarled.

Oppie steeled himself, gripping the knife, and he jumped out from behind the tree. The Trandoshan was only a few meters away, Oppie had spent so much time in the thicket it wasn't quite clear which way he had gone. As the Trandoshan tried to bring his rifle up, Oppie was able to close the distance, and he yelled as he brandished the knife, trying to bring it down. With an expert move, the hunter brought the rifle up to deflect the blade, and then hit Oppie in the cheek with the butt of the rifle. Oppie staggered back, he still had the knife in hand, and he stepped forward, trying to slice at the hunter.

The Trandoshan let the rifle fall to the ground and pulled out his own knife. They faced each other down, and the hunter snarled at him. They circled around the clearing, both looking for an opening. With a hiss the hunter jumped forward with a slash, and Oppie jumped back, barely avoiding the blade. Oppie tried to slash as well, but he was out of his league, this wasn't his kind of fight.

The hunter jumped forward again and Oppie kicked at him. The Trandoshan sidestepped and punched Oppie full force in the face, sending him to the ground as he saw stars. The Trandoshan pounced on him, and Oppie rolled out of the way, desperately trying to avoid the knife. The hunter grappled with him, grabbing his arm and pinning Oppie to the ground. Oppie tried desperately, kicking him as the Trandoshan's awful breath breathed down on his face from the hunter's terrifying tooth filled maw.

In his desperation, Oppie accidentally kicked the rock that was attached to the pistol, that would have pulled the trigger back if anyone had tried to pick the blaster up. Both had forgotten about it in the desperation of their struggle. Both looked back as the pistol started emitting an ear piercing whining sound as the feedback loop built, the Trandoshan caught short as he looked over, trying to see what was happening.

Without a second thought Oppie used all his weight to try to roll the two of them over, with the Trandoshan's back now to the pistol just in time to catch the explosion's full force, and shield Oppie from the worst of it.

The Trandoshan screamed as the explosion hit him, knocking them both away. Oppie didn't escape unscathed, he caught the flash of the explosion along his side, and his exposed face was burnt. The Trandoshan was badly injured, though. Oppie shoved him off, and got to his feet, limping over to where the hunter's rifle had been cast away and picked it up, taking aim at the hunter as he lay there bleeding on the forest floor.

He laughed, a sick reptilian laugh through a cough that wracked his body. He was bleeding all over, and it was obvious his time was short. "You still lose." He said.

Oppie regarded him for a second, and the hunter's arm went limp, letting a grenade spill from his hand to the ground next to the hunter. It was counting down, quickly. Oppie turned and ran into the forest, hoping he could outrun the explosion.

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