Mid Flight Errands[]
Scene: Greaves is standing in front of a mirror, with an ice pack over his left eye.
"Ow, ow, ow, this hurts."
*Sigh*
Ever since I came back from Rome, I've been rather busy. First thing I did was distribute the photos of the Roman Women to the crew. The pictures were well received. (So I'm in the clear for now.) The second thing do was to find Gladius to see how he was holding up.
He wasn't doing as well as I hoped, but at least he had some more clothes on him than when I last saw him. (Must've taken a shower too, he smelled better.)
I spent the better half of the trip to the next planet getting him adjusted to life on the Homestead. It was by no means an easy undertaking.
Surprisingly, despite everything he was going through Gladius certainly showed interest in going out to explore new worlds. (Not that I blame him. His home planet sucked.) We held several conversations concerning the subject, but it all boiled down to one thing: Gladius needed to start earning his keep on board the Homestead.
Seeing that his skill set was limited, the only thing he could really do was fight as a mutant soldier. With that in mind, I started doing an overall evaluation of his abilities. Here's what I established.
His shooting skills were BS. Definitely wouldn't trust him with a gun to save my life.
He could wield melee weapons well enough. I'll be honest, I've seen worst. He just needs guidance.
With his bulky build, he was really tough and strong, but unless he was charging at someone, he was a bit of a slowpoke. His other assets were average, for a greenhorn new to space. (Not that I'm much better.)
The last thing I did was to spar with him in hand to hand combat. Which led to my current predicament. I'd like to say that I did a good job of circling him when necessary, but he got me good. (Didn't see that right hook coming, not one bit.)
The long and short of it, was that Gladius was most proficient with CQC combat, especially when it came to using his fists. I'll have to see what I could get him to implement that.
That being said, I need to get going. After getting up, I learned that we've been planet side for a few hours. The crew had already left the Homestead without me. A got a quick meal, and descended to the hanger where my transport ship was waiting for me.
The Jungle[]
To my surprise, I found Admiral Zachary waiting for me inside the ship. He told the pilot to descend, and sat in the seat furthest away from me.
Once we broke into the atmosphere, Admiral Zachary stood up, and opened the back door, letting in a whirlwind of air inside. He then turned to me and threw a parachute into my hands.
"Okay doggie. I've only had fifteen minutes to work on this thing, so I'm certain it will work...." (Wait...WHAT!!?? He's joking, right?) "But in case it doesn't hold up, just remember to bend your knees, and try to roll in order to break your fall. HAVE A NICE TRIP!!!"
And with that, he shoved me out of the ship. (Oh SHIT!)
With all due haste that I could muster, I put the parachute on, and then I pulled the cord. I ended up having the backpack ride up my back and dig into my shoulders, but at least there was a soft landing waiting for me on the ground.
From where my chute landed I hear a "Hi Furry Pinkie." from Red Ded. The ork started to work his way out of the patch work cloth. Standing nearby is a girl I'm pretty sure I've seen on-board the Homestead, as well as Krios.
Immediately, the woman takes charge, and tells me to move it. She turns around, and leads the way before I could give a rebuttal. I ask Krios, "Who's she?" The psyker answers, "She's the boss's daughter, Nicole."
Shocked, I take a good look at her. She did resemble the Admiral to some extant. In fact, her outfit labeled her as a Void Mistress, the same profession as her father.
If she's anything like her dad, this isn't going to be a pleasant mission. . . . (Speaking of which.)
As we moved along I asked about a summary of what was going on down here. From what I was informed, the group arrived at a settlement not too far from here first. They made their way into through the Wilderness, where they spotted a crater that was soaked in blood. Strangely enough, rather large reptiles seem to emerge from this blood; and at some point there were demons? Everything about this summary seemed to be either vague, or outright ridiculous.
After hearing Krios's explanation, we felt something;
*boom... boom.... boom.... BOOM*
The ground was shaking, as well as the trees right in front of us. Nicole, Krios, and I scattered, and took cover in three different spots, while Red Ded just stood where he was. I brought out my Long laz.
A giant creature, started to emerge from the foliage.
Tyrannosaurus Rex[]
I had never seen anything like it. It was like a giant reptile. It had a long head, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It's arms where short, but it's two feet were long and full of muscle, and it had a large tail. It almost looked like a messed up, mutated, dragon without wings. I just hope it didn't breath fire.
The reptile passed Red Ded, and sniffed the air around it. As it let a low growl, it opened its mouth, revealing even more of its teeth. Red Ded looked in awe of the creature's jaws. Smiling, he took out his power axe, and waaghed.
The green skin cut deep into the giant's leg, causing it to howl. I heard shots coming from Nicole's direction. I take aim, and fire a shot at the beast, hitting it in the head. The reptile swung its tail around, knocking the ork back, but not down
From behind me, Fayte Lockheart, Rex T. Darby, and Axel Grimm appear. As Rex fired shot after shot into the reptile, Axel ran up to join the ork in combat. Fayte on the other hand, took up her power axe, and threw it at the creature. The axe soar through the air and sliced off the monster's tail. I was so star struck by this move, that I forgot to shot another round.
Not that I had to, Axel managed to strike the finishing blow alongside Red Ded. The giant reptile led out a final, mournful, and extremely loud, cry, and perished. (The death wail proved to be to harsh for me sensitive ears.)
As I was recovering my sense of hearing, I could see Axel arguing with Red Ded about something. I would later learn, that they were debating on who would get what spoils. Red Ded allowed Axel to get one teef for doing his part.
Once I got my hearing back, I heard other roars similar to the reptile's in the distance. We started moving.
Mystery and Ambush[]
Once we were assured that nothing was on our trail, we slowed down. Not too long after that, we came across a clearing.
In front of us an enormous crater. Blood had stained the dirt red, but something seem to be glinting in the ground. Carefully, I bent down and tried to get a good grip on the object. The moment my fingers touched the object though, I felt a slight stabbing sensation, I quickly retracted my hand, fortunately, there were no cuts on it.
Fayte, looked at the sharp objects, and labeled them as a type of dense glass.
As she was explaining this to us, a bright flash, came from the west, followed by a loud boom. At first, we thought it was just lightning, but when similar 'strikes' occured, the less we believed it.
Krios contacted the Homestead to inform the crew about the phenomenon. A man named 'Jives', answered. Fayte joined the conversation, "Did you guys Lance the planet?" She asked. An irritated Jives, informed her that they didn't Lance any part of the planet.
Krios then demanded that the Homestead make a complete scan of the planet. Jives was reluctant, but eventually caved in.
The scan revealed a strange concentration of energy to the west of us. In the east, there were numerous holes very much like this one.
Krios, thanked Jives, and broke contact. We discussed the revelations, and then decided to head west to investigate the energy source.
For the next few hours we trekked through dense jungle wildlife. At all times, I kept my wits about me. This may have been a different world, but I was no stranger to the dangers that lied inside the forest.
From behind me, I hear a branch snap. With haste, I drew my Power Sword and turned around. I saw a large lizard at eye level with me, staring at us.
It wasn't nearly as large as the one from before, but was similar in build: The difference being that this one was leaner, and had longer arms than the giant.
Almost immediately, it, as well as far more of the creatures sprung out from the foliage, and attack us from all sides. I manage to side step the reptile's assault, but I can't say the same for everyone else. I can only say that we were outnumbered by these predators.
In front of me where three of the reptiles; two of them where focused on me, the one on my far right, targeting Axel. I made a swift, large horizontal swing with my blade. I fell the one to my right, and partially scratched the one in front of me, but the one on the left avoided the swing.
"EVERYBODY DUCK!" Red Ded shouted. I don't know what he was planning, but there was no way I was going to do that; The reptiles made another charge at me. I blocked the jaws of one with my sword, killing it in the process. The other one just missed me.
I ended up tripping just in time to avoid the burning flames from Red Ded's Burner from searing me. Most of the reptiles weren't so lucky. Most of them went down right away. Taking this opportunity, I leap up, and make another wide swing, this time, catching the burning beast within my sword's arc.
The rest of the stragglers were picked off. With the threat gone, I looked around to assess our condition. Some of us, suffered light scraps and cuts. Most noticeable was Rex T. Darby lamenting over his shredded clothes; He might as well have been half naked with the gaping tears in his outfit. (Of course he should be grateful that he was alive, but that's another story.)
With the sun setting, we decided to make camp for the night. Nicole called in a transport ship to drop, so that we could make camp in it. Being that I was asleep at the beginning of this mission, I volunteered for first watch.
It was a long night, as gargantuan creatures roamed the surrounding area at our campsite throughout the evening....
To Be Continued.
Logs and Links
Greaves Log: The Borderlands, Part 2
Greaves Log: Hive World Business
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 2
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 3
Greaves Log: Jurassic Planet 4
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 2
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 2.5??
Greaves Log: Homecoming Part 3