EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Despite its surprises so far, the Indrik could not put its focus everywhere at once. In the midst of its frost beam, Fendros was able to tackle it to the ground, his claws and teeth cleaving into its flesh. Ahnasha too came around from the side attempting to dive for its throat, though it jerked away enough that she had to settle for biting down on its leg. It struggled and kicked towards him, but it had remained in place long enough that Kaleeth was finally able to catch up. It easily saw the massive werecrocodile coming, but it could not run, could not escape Fendros' grasp, and could not prevent Kaleeth's maw from clamping down onto its neck with enough force crush every bone within almost in an instant.

The one, final act of revenge that the Indrik had was to let out a burst of arcane lightning in every direction. It was not enough to stop Kaleeth's jaws, but it did deliver a painful electric shock to everyone around it. Meesei had already lowered her ward to try and get her own hold on its neck, so only Lorag and Janius were far enough away to be spared the shock.

Ultimately, the Indrik's arcane death throes were not enough to seriously hurt anyone, but the shock was enough to practically make Meesei jump, and not to mention let out quite a high pitched yelp as she started to shake her mildly burned arm.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Dr. Fiona O'Connell - The Immaculate Aegis

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Despite McKay's apparent confidence, Fiona was still nervously wringing her hands as she checked over the readouts once again. "Yeah I...suppose so. Any kind of tests with anything having to do with slipspace is just always so nerve-wracking. For as vital as it is, slipspace is just so dangerous. Make the wrong kind of mistake with the portal, or accidentally destabalize the drive's quantum field mid-transit, and we all end up getting reduced to subatomic particles, just like that. During the battle of Reach, one of our Spartan teams used a slipspace drive basically as a bomb to take out a ship over five times this size. It would be a quick death at least, but...you're right, though. Our changes have been through billions of simulations; I shouldn't be so alarmist."

Dr. O'Connell grinned, giving McKay a quick pat on the back. "I wish I could have your bravery. I could never go out in the field like you've said you do. I'd be a nervous wreck. But life-threatening risks like this are probably just another day for you."

If there was any desire to make any last-minute alterations to the test, there would be no time for it. Within moments, the Aegis' AI finished the sequence and powered on the slipspace borer. Fiona immediately noticed that the borer was drawing almost fifty percent more power than usual, but it was not as if the ship's reactor did not have plenty of capacity to spare. From the view screens, they could see the brilliant blue and white glow of a massive slipspace portal opening in front of the ship, which the Aegis' engines soon pushed the ship into.

Once in the slipstream, the slipspace drive's power draw fell back down to mostly normal levels, and the ship proceeded without any obvious issues. Unlike what McKay might have been used to in hyperspace, there was nothing in slipspace that the Human eye could see, so the view screens showed nothing but blackness until they switched to displaying more useful information. Notions of distance and velocity became meaningless within slipspace and could not be directly measured, so they would only be able to know if their changes were successful once they arrived.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Thaz - Nal Hutta

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Under the cloak of active camouflage, Thaz could move through the port relatively without worry. She had not seen where that Rodian sniper had gone, but really, it did not matter. She had only really even fired her weapon at one target, but it was the only target that mattered. With Samus there to help keep the majority of the Gammorean's bodyguards off of her, and to quickly swipe some proof of their kill, it was a simple and quick job. So as long as Jerus had actually done his part correctly, of course.

Thaz had been able to move quickly enough that she got back to the ship before Samus, and was waiting inside when the bounty hunter arrived. She already set aside her weapon and looked relaxed in one of the seats.

"Simple and quick. Best kind of jobs. Bounty hunting here doesn't seem much different from back home. Find a target, shoot it. Taken plenty of heads before myself. I think I'll fit in just fine." Thaz remarked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The Indrik let out a brief, but high-pitched screech upon being wounded by Sabine. Its leg buckled and the creature was nearly brought to the ground, but it just barely managed to keep to its feet as it limped on a few extra steps. Being that the Indrik was moving away from the water, Kaleeth climbed out of the water to give chase on foot. Although, since she was slower on land, and both Lorag and Janius still had to recover from the beast's surprise attack, only Meesei was able to catch up to Sabine in enough time to help.

While Sabine might have planned to give chase, the Indrik, it seemed, had other ideas in mind. It stopped and turned, a bright white light forming on its singular horn. It fired a brilliant white beam of frost magic that traveled quickly enough as to essentially be instant. The chilling cold hit Sabine on her right side for a brief moment before Meesei caught up to block the rest with a ward. Generally, Meesei did not use magic in their hunts, but their usual quarry also generally could not cast spells of its own.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Dxun

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Both of the Sangheili dropped their empty needlers, then with their thruster packs, boosted themselves as best as they could towards the door to the next chamber. The rest of their team had already made it through into the chamber with the time the three had bought them, they just needed to follow suit. Though, the curve of the long hallway meant that they could not make it in a straight shot, and they could not make the turn at full speed. It meant they had to slow down, and the raging beast, while not agile, was fast in an outright sprint. Faster than Eri had hoped.

Eri did not give Sel any change in orders, so he continued to rush for the chamber, but the Tarentatek would certainly catch the both of them if it was not stopped. It was Eri that stopped and turned back, beam rifle in hand. She had only a few precious seconds to act, react, and line up her shot, and if there was any shot she needed to make, it was this one. She fired her weapon at the creature's ankle, and at the speed it was moving, that would not be the kind of wound it could just shrug off without effect.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The hunt was almost second-nature to the pack, for as long as they had been together. They were approaching primarily from downstream, apart from those that circled around to cover other angles. Their movements were as quick as they could be, while still keeping silent enough to avoid alerting their quarry. A few times, the Indrik did raise its head to watch its surroundings, but each of the pack was able to remain quiet and out of sight. It took a few minutes to properly surround it, but they managed to get themselves in position before it decided to move on.

Lorag moved up alongside Janius, while Kaleeth took the opportunity to slink silently into the river beside them. Meesei had been using a life detection spell to track everyone's positions, and was the one to give the signal to attack. She, Lorag, and Janius all sprinted forward, while Kaleeth swam upstream under the surface. Naturally, the Indrik did hear the sudden movement. The pack expected that either one of the three werewolves would catch it off of the initial ambush, or that it would run away into the waiting claws of one of the other lycans. However, it was neither option that transpired, at least initially.

Lorag was out front, just ahead of Janius, but as he leaped to pounce on the alarmed Indrik, it suddenly vanished into a blue orb of energy, which Lorag passed straight through. The transformed Orc was not prepared for that outcome and ended up tumbling and rolling briefly after he hit the ground. Even Meesei ended up surprised and somewhat disoriented. She had known of Indriks, and the fact that they were creatures of magic, but she did not know their precise abilities.

An instant after it had disappeared, another blue portal appeared off to the side, from which the Indrik came running. It rammed Janius with its antlers, knocking him clean off of his feet. However, despite its surprise attack, the creature had no intention of standing and fighting against three werewolves. Just as quickly as it had reappeared, it bolted off towards the trees, in the direction of Sabine.

The Tower: Bright Dawn

The cold of the cryo pod was not something that Taylor felt, at least not at the moment. If it were the case that it was being fueled by heat, then the cold would have been a pain like no other. Not only that, but it would have sapped that thermal energy from its very essence, draining it down until Taylor withered and died. However, since it was electricity that Lorne's scientists had been feeding it before they departed the tower, the cold was nothing more than a...conspicuous presence against the pulsating essence of its physical body.

Unlike the other, more Human paras, the cryo pod did not cease, or even diminish its consciousness. All it did was to lock its physical body in place. The energy field that comprised the other half of Taylor's essence was still every bit as active as usual, fueled by electromagnetic energy. Taylor was not entirely sure if Lorne understood this from their tests and research, but as long as the pod proved an effective means of transportation, it supposed that would not matter to them. Although, once the transport was attacked and the power to the pod was interrupted, it stopped being nearly so effective.

All that Taylor needed was for the pod to warm up just enough so that its body could move again. The crash, as forceful as it was, had not done much to Taylor. Even if it did not have the pod to protect it, it was not as if its body had organs to jostle around and damage. For some, this kind of situation might have been exciting, or terrifying, but Taylor had an odd calm about it. While it was awaiting its body to be able to move again, it had a few musings running through its mind. Was this a rescue meant to save them, or an attack meant to end them? It supposed either result would be an improvement over the suffering it had been forced to endure.

Once the pod was cut open, Taylor was able to climb out into the back of the transport, though with no particular hurry to its movements. By the time it was free, it saw a gaunt, sickly woman nearby, doing something to the bodies of two guards. It was as if she was consuming them, much as Taylor would consume a fire. Distasteful as it may have been, Taylor also did not care. The guards served Lorne. From its pod, it had seen that there was another who had cut it free from its prison, though it had not been able to get too good of a look at him.

In any case, Taylor elected to step out of the back of the transport onto the road at an almost leisurely pace. It was not too concerned about events around it, instead turning its many glowing eyes up towards the sky. The open sky...it was something it had not seen for months. Not since it had been Human. It almost seemed brighter than Taylor remembered it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Meesei's transformation followed suit with the others. There was a certain satisfaction to hearing their howls and roars as she took her place at the front of her pack. Hunting, in itself, was always satisfying for one of their kind, but there was something special about doing so among one's own pack. Only Kaleeth did not innately possess that instinct, but the side of her that had been a tribal Argonian hunter gave her a similar appreciation for it. As for Meesei, after moving to the front of the pack, she let out an enthused roar to the sky that echoed through the forest. Between them all, they might have alerted their prey to their intent, but Meesei would prefer a chase, in any case.

Ever since they had first arrived, it had been easy for any lycan to detect the vibrant scents of this forest. It was a place with an abundance of prey, though apart from a few familiar scents, much of what the pack could detect was new and exotic. There was one scent nearby that felt stronger than most of the others, but even Meesei was not entirely sure of exactly what they were tracking.

After their initial excitement, the pack was moving more slowly and deliberately behind Meesei to avoid alerting their prey before they could find it. In Tamriel, even with the heightened senses of a lycanthrope, tracking was still a discipline of patience that could take hours. While the same skills were still very much relevant here, it did not take as long to find a creature worth hunting.

Upstream from where they had started, through the gaps in the foliage, the pack could see their quarry drinking from the river. Its silhouette was like that of an elk, and a large one at that, but it was clearly a different sort of creature entirely. It was covered in feathers as well as fur, especially along its head, neck, and back. Apart from some brighter blue spots on a few of its larger feathers, its coloration was mostly natural shades of green and brown. On its head, it had four ears, an impressive set of antlers, and a single horn in the middle of its head. This was an Indrik: a creature that Meesei had seen before in Summerset, though only from a distance, and she had never had the pleasure of hunting one. Meesei was not sure if this was a true Indrik, or a Daedric copy of the creature, but it would make for a fascinating hunt regardless.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It would depend on what you would prefer. For the most part, I just want to give the pack one last chance for some time together before the point of no return.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Thaz - Nal Hutta

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Thaz remained cautious, even as the remaining Rodians seemed to be retreating. She could feel that her opponent was a good shot, which is why she was playing it safe to not give him a shot. She stood up slowly, and kept her shield up as she dropped down off of the roof to ground level. She even made sure to duck in behind some shipping crates near the wall before lowering her shield gauntlet and activating her active camouflage once more. From there, it was just a matter of moving back towards Samus' ship.

"Everything clear for you?" Thaz contacted Samus through their comms. "The fat green one dropped quick. You get something off of him?" She asked.

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Eri 'Moram - Dxun

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Eri's hardlight shield went up quickly, though with Jerius intercepting the rock, it was hardly necessary. In any case, everything that they were collectively throwing at the beast was certainly slowing it down, but their retreat had still been swift. Every leap they took back with their thruster packs brought them closer to the ambush. By this point, the door was in sight on the other end of the hallway behind them. They just had one last sprint to make. Though, the Tarentatek was more enraged than ever by this point. Her team had expended most, if not all of their concussion rifle ammo by this point, so there would need to be someone to give them cover for their final retreat.

Sel, with me!" Eri shouted in Sangheili, though she ensured Jerius could understand her next order. "Fall back!"

Moving her beam rifle to her off-hand and holding it by its barrel, Eri drew the needler from her side, standing just alongside Sel as he finished reloading his own weapon. They both moved backwards as quickly as they could as they began to unload their twin needlers into the Tarentatek, intent on holding it back long enough for the others to make it into the chamber. The flurry of needles created a series of explosions, which had already proven to be able to stagger the beast.

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Vael 'Virisusai - Aboard the Taris

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Vael acknowledged Erthos with a nod. "Perhaps that is the case. I would still need to judge their honor myself, though it is a moot point for now. Our task is to speak to the Alderaanians, and we should not distract ourselves too far from it. This ship is yours, so where would you prefer I be during our journey?"