Korluu's Great Hunt

Ninmos Gat grimaced as his feet sank further into the muck that made up so much of this planets surface. He took another labored step forward, feeling the mud pull at his boots. "I'm having a hard time finding an up-side to this right now," he muttered sarcastically as he swung his vibro-machete at a nearby branch. It had been three days now since his crew had landed on the heavily forested planet named Dagobah. They'd come here on a mission to earn a tidy payday from Korluu the Hutt, who had just put out a job to collect a beast for his newest casino. Ninmos and his crew had jumped at the opportunity, but now that he was here he, was finding it difficult enough just to walk a straight line.

"Ninmos, have you cleared sector 17 Cresh yet? Flunrii just finished up her sector and is moving north to 15 Aurek and Teborn last reported his location at 18 Dorn. He hasn't checked in for the last half hour, but he is also in a pretty dense sector right now. Lets meet back at the ship for a break once you've all reached grid 20." Captain Pira was of course warm and comfortable on the bridge of their ship, but the truth of it was that they'd all be in a lot more trouble if there wasn't someone coordinating the group.

Ninmos considered how long he'd been stuck in this sector and sighed as he calculated how much longer it would be before they could take a break. At this pace it was at least three hours out. "Yeah, I hear you. Fine." he replied. As a Cerean, he often came across as overly curteous when it came to doing the jobs he was given. The truth of it was, his brains had been weighing the pros and cons this whole time, and payday at the end kept the scales firmly tilted. He knew when this was all said and done and he had his cut of the earnings, it would all be worth it.

He started to slow down as his feet sank further into the muck. Getting too deep, I better find a new way through, he thought. He took a step back, finding a solid place to stand, and picked up his datapad to review the terrain survey they had made prior to landing. He would have said he didn't see a bog anywhere around here, but if he was being honest everything on the map was just different shades of green.

  CRACK

  He lowered his datapad as he heard the loud snap of a tree branch somewhere in front of him. His eyes scanned the water line in front of him, trying to catch whatever had made the noise. For the first time since he'd taken a step off of the Midnight Runner, it seemed like the forest had grown still. Even the sounds of the bogwings had faded away, replaced with the gentle sloshing sound of the knee deep water lapping against the tree trunks nearby. As he investigated the area, he thought about the dossier they had been provided on their target: The Scrange, which is normally found in swamps, is as big as it is dangerous, and is great at blending in. He figured when he saw something that was close enough to fit that description, he would call up the rest of the team.

He was just about to continue on when he saw something move ahead of him. It looked like something had popped out of the water ahead, but he couldn't quite identify it. It certainly didn't look green, in fact it didn't even look alive. He raised up his glowrod and caught a reflection glinting off two circular disks. Glareshades? he thought. Not just any glareshades, those are for an ithorian. Did Teborn wander over this way on accident? He holstered his machete and cupped his hands around his mouth. He was just about to call out for Teborn when he felt something close quickly around his ankle. Fingers, tenticles, whatever it was it closed tight, like a vise. As he was pulled off of his feet all he could manage was a startled grunt, then there was a splash as he was pulled under water. He tried to see what had grabbed him, but all he could see as he was pulled deeper into the murky water was green.