[Oatara] Broaden Your Horizons (Mike)

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa sniffed and nodded, wiping a tear from her eye.

Her baby would get fixed, and that was all that mattered.

With that off her mind she concentrated on her surroundings. All around were a thousand varieties of plants, from ancient and towering trees to small flowers and fungi. The sky was only visible through a hole in the canopy they'd come down through.

The big thing she noticed was the heat and humidity though. Luckily she was wearing clothes with a lot of skin showing, and she was tolerating it well.

Ervisa knew all about Oatara from her experiences, but even she had never spent a day on the jungle floor. There were predators of every shape and size, that came out night or day, and they were going to be lucky to live through it.

The Mirialan woman pulled the blaster pistol from her thigh, and she handed it to Horst, holding it out for him to take it.

"Keep that handy in case we get company. I'm going to see if any of the avionics survived, maybe I can call a rescue chopper."

[Fromikeable]

Ervisa seemed to recover well, pulling out her blaster pistol and handing to Horst. The Engineer took it and shoved it downward on his side, expecting to hear the nice sound of a gun sliding into a holster.

He heard only silence as he nearly dropped the gun.

I forgot my gun belt! When they had left base, Horst hadn't exactly prepared for going out, and so both his Livland blaster and D5 revolver were still in his room at the barracks, probably gathering dust along with enough charge packs and .950 rounds to take down a platoon. Instead, all that remained was Horst's tool belt, which he put on every morning regardless of his intentions for the day.

Note to self: no more disarming on this planet. Horst instead checked the blaster pistol's safety, and fit it between his tool belt and his waist.

Ervisa claimed she was going to see if any of the avionics survived, hoping maybe to radio for help. Horst nodded in agreement.

"I'll grab the survival kit out of the back. Hopefully it'll help." With that, Horst walked over the side door of the chopper, still closed as per normal flight operation, and slid it open, having to over come a jam probably caused by the shock of the crash. Stepping into the chopper's belly, Horst immediately located the locker on the back wall with "SURVIVAL" written in big, black, military font on it. Undoing the latch, he looked inside.

Thankfully the locker was chuck-full of goodies. Preserved food and bottled water filled up a shelf each, as well as another tool kit, a few batteries, a flashlight, and other necessities. Horst knelt down to see the bottom of the locker, removing the duffle bag he found within and preparing to transfer most of the supplies to it. A beaten metal box at the bottom caught his eye, though, and as he pulled it out, the giant red cross on the top informed him that he was safer from infection than he thought.

Horst removed his shirt, exposing his muscles and chest hair to the humidity. Horst's tendency to maintain himself showed through, and his clearly defined musculature showed it rather obviously. There was, of course, the soft belly that Horst had tried in vain to convert to visible muscles as well, but he had given up on that battle long ago. While the air was still sticky to feel, Horst was relieved that the cloth was off his skin, allowing him to be a little more comfortable. Fortunately, he had remembered to wear his boots (he usually did), and his pants were the usual military-grade cloth he usually wore.

Horst sat down on the floor and opened the metal box, gazing upon the miriad of basic medicines and medical tools before him. Finally, he found the anti-septic balm he was looking for. Ripping his shirt into strips, the Engineer used two such pieces to wipe off the wound, dampening each with some water from the survival kit.

Then came the painful part. Horst felt the wound with his finger, measuring its depth. Luckily, his finger was stopped at his rib bone, meaning that his internal organs were hopefully safe. Taking a good dab of gauze out of the container, Horst took a deep breath, and then forced as much of it as he could into the puncture, gritting his teeth at the monumental sting. As the pain wore off, however, he proceeded to cover the rest of the strips with another small amount of the gauze and wrap them about the wound, tying them around his chest on the whole to keep them in position.

Holding the bandaged-wound, Horst winced as he got up from the floor, holding the duffle bag. Upon standing, the Engineer opened up the bag and began depositing food and water. As he packed, he called out his companion in stranding (for the second time today, it seemed).

"How's it comin'?"

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa winced as she clambered into the cockpit again, pausing about halfway up and realizing her ribs needed a little boost.

The Mirialan woman aborted her climb into the seat and headed around to the supply locker in the troop compartment, pulling off her tank top as she progressed, revealing a very impressive and flat stomach, showcasing a rather muscular frame that somehow didn't seem any less feminine.

Also there were breasts.

Ervisa turned around by the troop compartment and spotted Horst, also missing his short, and immediately noted the irony. Here they both were, shirtless. It might have been one of those sexy moments in the jungle if not for the fact she had a cracked rib and they were likely surrounded by animals that wanted to eat them.

"I didn't strip out of sympathy or sexiness, I just need to wrap a bandage around these ribs, one of them is cracked, needs a little pressure on it."

Ervisa pulled out a long roll of bandage from the locker and promptly debated how to do this by herself, quickly coming to the sad realization that she couldn't do it. Maybe if she was a Codru-Ji.

"Do me a favor Horst, wrap this around my ribs. If you slip and touch my boobs I'll have to charge you."

The pilot reached down and pulled her long braid of black hair up, placing it between her teeth to keep it out of the way of the bandage. Or tape. Or whatever the hell it was. Then she mumbled something that might have been 'go ahead' or 'it's some bread' or even 'now he's dead.'

Then she held her arms up above her head as well, belatedly realizing she could simply hold the braid. So she did.

[Fromikeable]

Horst turned toward the cockpit only to immediately jerk his head back in the direction of the locker, putting a hand between his eyes and the naked chest before him.

"Sheesh, lady, we've only known each other a day." He smiled at his small joke, noting that it seemed to be the only small thing in the crashed chopper at the moment.

Ervisa, meanwhile, seemed to be addressing a wound of her own, taking out a small roll of surgical tape. For a minute, she thought about how to apply it, and then deduced that she needed Horst's help. She then proceeded to hold her braid in her teeth and lift up her arms, giving Horst a view he hadn't seen in person for years.

He couldn't help but peek through his fingers for a second, and then cover his eyes again. Muttering to himself about how his damned respect never let him do anything, the Engineer walked behind her, allowing himself only to see her back. Relieved of the sight of her body, he began administering the tape.

Horst placed the beginning edge of the tape in the small of Ervisa's back, pressing it in lightly. He then proceeded to extend it all the way to curve of her body, where he stopped and carefully searched with his fingers to make sure he was wrapping around the stomach.

He felt something soft. And warm. And large. He immediately jerked his hand back, like he'd touched hot magma.

"Whoops. Sorry." Horst reset the tape lower, and began wrapping it around Ervisa' stomach, slowly bringing it up with each pass, until it was slowly constricting about her ribs, which were hard to feel exactly under a healthy amount of muscle that did little to rob her of her figure.

Why can't she be fat?! Then again, it was just his luck to get stranded with a topless Mirialan only slightly younger than him and with a body the likes of which ancient wars were fought over.

Honestly, if Horst wasn't a man of dignity and honor, he'd have gotten quite frisky.

Making his last pass well below the level at which he'd felt "something", Horst ripped off the remaining roll and gently pressed the end of the piece now wrapped around Ervisa's lower torso gently again, about half way up her back. Horst took a minute and hoped to the powers that may be that she didn't need it any higher.

"There," Horst cleared his throat, tossing the roll of tape into the medical box. He tried not to watch her, hoping she'd put her shirt back on. In an attempt to avoid any sort of conversation about what had just happened, he immediately started a new topic of conversation. "Now how's tha' radio doin'?

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa blinked in surprise as Horst covered his eyes.

Sure it had been a few months since she'd actually been intimate or worn anything especially revealing, but she wasn't used to getting this... lack of attention. Even as a Padawan she'd at least drawn a little attention.

This... It was like she was ugly. Or something.

The Mirialan woman peeked down at her body. Breasts still plump and healthy. Skin still nice. Stomach still flat. Lady parts all still present and accounted for. Without even reaching down to touch her ass she knew it was still there.

He was just... not noticing.

That kind of pissed Ervisa off.

As he started bandaging, a hand accidentally strayed to her breast and squeezed, and a momentary grin came onto her face, thinking he'd finally shown some interest. Instead his hand darted away as if he'd just touched a poisonous snake.

Ervisa frowned.

When the taping was done, Horst looked away again, further bothering Ervisa. She was an exhibitionist dammit, and the best damn part of being a hooker was the fact people looked at your body.

She was going to force that basterd to look.

Furtively she reached back and unfastened her bra, then in a lightning movement she yanked it off and tossed it to the side, spinning around to face Horst, bare-chested.

"Look at me damn you!" She yelled.

[Fromikeable]

Horst had picked up the duffle bag again when Ervisa suddenly screamed at him, telling him to look at her. Concerned, Horst turned his head...

... only to be greeted by a fine set of breasts.

For a minute, he tossed dignity to the wind and stared.

Then he snapped out of it, and covered his eyes again. What the hell was wrong with this woman? She'd seemed sane enough earlier, but now she was what, a sex addict? Horst tried not to say it right then and there, but Ervisa had some problems.

"What?!" he demanded, irritated that he'd just spent a little too long looking at a virtual stranger's bare chest again. "Nothing's wrong." Horst checked again for a split second, just to make sure he hadn't missed some huge chunk of flesh missing from her front. To the contrary, two chunks of flesh seemed a little bigger than he remembered them. He then quickly darted his eyes back to his bag, packing the edible supplies with a little more frustration as he waited for any answer.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Finally Horst actually stared. Mission more or less accomplished.

Ervisa smirked at that, glad she hadn't lost her appeal after all. Yup, she still had it. And she supposed her breasts weren't even the best part of her, second to her legs. Or stomach. In fact, they weren't that big, but they were nice.

Mentally she ran through the list of good things about her breasts for a few more seconds until she noticed Horst averting his eyes yet again. That prompted an exasperated sigh.

"Nothing's wrong?" Ervisa repeated indignantly. "You could at least notice I'm a woman, maybe not look away like I'm some kind of hideous old hag. I have a body you know, and I worked pretty hard to get it this way. So when you go around averting your eyes..."

The Mirialan woman walked up to Horst as close as she could get, shirt still in her hand.

"What do I have to do to get you to notice me? This is driving me crazy."

Ervisa folded her arms and stared expectantly, thoroughly unhappy with how little attention she was getting. In her mind she was debating her options, fighting the nature she'd suppressed for these months, the reaction to stress she had.

She was turned on now. The stress was getting to her, and she'd always relied on exactly one thing to fight it. Well, two. Alcohol and sex. And mixtures of both.

The Mirialan pilot didn't necessarily want sex right now, but she did want attention. She wanted to be appreciated, she wanted her beauty to be noticed again. Not to be treated like she was dead.

All right Ervi, let's go for broke...

Green hands snaked out to grab Horst and Ervisa flung herself forward and pressed her lips to his in a fierce and very short kiss, before wrenching away and stalking off to the cockpit again.

This guy was gonna have some memories dammit.

[Fromikeable]

Horst couldn't understand why Ervisa was mad. She was gorgeous, damnit! It was all Horst could do not to simply break down and go for it, especially when she felt the urge to walk up as close to him as possible, practically touching him with her chest.

Damnit, damnit, damnit... Horst slammed his eyelids shut, fighting any and all lust and desire he was producing. Testosterone was fine and good when he was pressing iron, but at the moment it was the Engineer's bane.

Still, he would be damned if he let some hormone beat him. He had standards, damnit.

Ervisa mentioned something about attention at that point. She wanted people to notice her body? Horst raised his eyebrows, surprised. That was what this was about? Attention? It made sense, though. She was certainly striving for it.

Horst considered what this Mirialan must have been through to make her so focused on the physical aspects of life. Addiction. Love. Heart-break. She'd closed herself off, it seemed, from the metaphysical, instead dwelling on the urges of her body and the world as she could only sense it, not think about it.

Horst was about to say something, but suddenly he found his lips braced against something soft, warm, and breathing firecely. Shocked, the Engineer stepped back, bracing his back against the wall of the chopper's interior. Opening his eyes, Horst managed to see Ervisa sucking his face long enough for it to register mentally before she broke off and retreated to the cockpit.

Horst leaned against the wall for a little while, breathing hard and staring at where Ervisa's face had just been. His mind was blank, and his body tense.

What the HELL is going on?!

After a few minutes, Horst slowly regained his ability to consider things. At first, the thought process was simple, only recognizing what had happened. He had seen her chest. He had looked away. She had gotten mad. She had kissed him. Then she left.

I don't...

Then came the ability to determine emotion. Ervisa had been calm and cool before, after the chopper had crashed. Then she had been irritated. Then she had been mad. And now she was... well, Horst wasn't quite sure.

Why...

Horst stood up from his lean, rubbing his forehead with his hand and exhaling through his nose in exhaustion. He still hadn't gotten any sleep.

This chick's damaged. It was the simplest explanation Horst could draw up. Nary a normal person, even considering the large amount of room with which people of a "normal" categorization had to be crazy in figuratively, would have ever done that. At least not in that way. Some people were flirty, and some were horny, but Ervisa was something else.

That concerned Horst. His look softened, and he glanced over at the cockpit, unable to see the crazy woman within. He felt bad. He felt sorry.

... What now? Horst dropped the duffle bag and looked outside the chopper at the jungle. The sun left small patches of its light on the wet ground bellow, the trees absorbing most of it. Even with the scant light, however, the jungle was vibrant and alive, with constant noise and movement. A sun-shower had begun, and water dripped unevenly on the jungle floor, producing small puddles.

Horst slowly walked over to the cockpit, carefully peeking around the corner at Ervisa, seeing if she was okay. When he could see that she was at least still breathing, he stood out from the corner, making himself visible.

"Ervisa?" Horst dropped any and all hardened sound, gruffness, or brutishness from his voice, hitting a pitch he didn't usually speak with. He stared at her for a moment, no longer caring how she was clothed. For a moment, he simply stood there, trying to think of something, anything to say.

"Um... you have a nice chest." Horst banged the side of his head into the doorway, producing a small Twang! as he started cursing softly again. One of these days his tongue of lead would get him killed.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa had pulled on her tank top again as she reached the helicopter and tried to see whether or not any of the avionics were working. A lot of the stuff was completely fried, and the smell of acrid smoke still wafted in the air.

She managed to find the radio more or less intact, though she couldn't get any power flowing to it. It did help though to have her mind on something, anything really. After digging around the tool compartment for a screwdriver she started to open up the radio, and was about halfway done with that when Horst walked up again, apparently having gotten over the astonishment of being kissed by a crazy and stressed out green woman.

The compliment he provided was minimal, but better than nothing. Certainly it was hardly the best one she'd been given. Not like Green Goddess, or wondrous woman with a body carved from the finest jade. Still better than 'nice boobs, let's screw.'

There was a small thud as Horst hit his head on the fuselage, and Ervisa's only reply to his statement was a disgruntled mumble.

She pried off the radio casing without looking at him, instead examining all the innards, quickly coming to the conclusion the power cable was fried.

Without a word she slid out of her seat and headed back to the troop compartment, pulling out a power cable and prying off an access panel to the engine assembly, trying to gain access to the batteries so she could rig up a system to transfer power.

Finally she spoke.

"Don't mention any of this to the others."

[Fromikeable]

Ervisa seemed to have mellowed out almost to the point of silent regret, and she passed Horst without so much as a look his way. Horst was slightly relieved that she'd put her shirt back on, but at the moment it was the least of his concern.

Ervisa began to rooting around the survival locker again, looking for something. Horst entered the cockpit and noticed that she'd pried the casing off of the radio. He checked all of the parts, searching for anything in poor condition. Luckily, the circuitry and electronics seemed fine; was power that was the problem. Horst removed the power cord, inspecting it. Indeed, a small section of it smelled of smoke and charring.

Sitting on the console (which was slanted now anyways), Horst removed a set of wire-cutters from his belt. Setting the cord to the appropriate diameter, Horst skinned off the protective layer of rubber, exposing the simple copper wire. Horst skinned until only the ends, the receptors still had a covering.

Indeed, a small section of the wire was black and flaking, like it had been struck with lightning. If Horst had to guess, either the crash or the systems failure had caused the wire to overload, burning out.

Using the cutting edges of the wire-cutter, Horst sliced out the charred section of the wire, leaving two separate pieces of functional copper. Horst took a piece in each hand and began twisted the them together at the severed ends, reestablishing the circuit.

Horst looked up as he twisted, looking at Ervisa again. Any sorrow he may have felt earlier today paled in comparison to what he felt right now. On top of that, he felt angry at himself; he'd done nothing but make her life hell for a good day now.

If he could, he'd ditch himself in that jungle.

Horst noticed that Ervisa had procured a spare power cord and the batteries, and was trying to put them together. Horst immediately caught on, and tested a theory. The Engineer tried putting the two ends of his cord together.

They fit like a glove.

Taking both ends, Horst walked slowly over to Ervisa, not even trying to smile this time. The effort, he thought, was futile by this point. Instead, his face was unnaturally tender, like a grieving man.

Horst connected the ends again, remembering which went into the radio. When he figured it out, he tossed the other end to the side, intending to hook up the batteries to the copper wire exposed on his end, plugging that into the power cord, and plugging the whole thing into the radio, hopefully delivering the power needed to send out an S.O.C. (save our chopper).

He spoke softly. "I'll never say a word... here, try this." He offered up his end.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Horst offered a cable and Ervisa fit it to the radio without making eye contact.

Strangely, now she felt embarrassed and self-conscious, something that never happened to her. Why did she have to be this way, such a damn tease all the time? Maybe she needed to go back and live in a cave somewhere, where she couldn't stir up trouble.

This was her first time acting like that since before her fall from grace. Was this a sign of healing for her, or was it a bad old habit come back to haunt her? One thing was for sure, in immediate hindsight she didn't feel good about it. Not at all.

The radio crackled to life and Ervisa pulled on a headset immediately and started to broadcast on a wide-band, searching for anyone out there.

"Flight 421 to anyone, come in, I am declaring an emergency. Flight 421, to anyone, come in..."

After a few seconds, a reply came in.

421, this is flight 170. State the nature of your emergency.

"We've crash-landed at grid A-40 section 17, and need assistance, over."

There was a moment of silence.

Find a clearing near your position, use smoke signals, and we'll send a rescue team in three hours. 170 out.

Ervisa took off the headset and looked to Horst, who hadn't been able to hear the interchange.

"We need to find a clearing inside three hours, and set up a smoke signal."

[Fromikeable]

Ervisa took the wire-end and strapped the fix together without so much as a word. Horst watched her quietly, allowing her to pass unperturbed as she returned to the radio. Horst didn't dare follow, instead going back to his duffle bag of food. He checked inside again; he had stepped on one of the water bottles in the midst of the previous... occurence, and the entire bag was sopping wet. Horst checked the packages of dehydrated food; they were fine, thanks to their sealed packaging.

Horst frowned, checking the locker for anything else they might need. He threw in the flashlight, thinking about what a mess he'd made of poor Ervisa. He threw in a compass and a few navigational maps considering how much of a jerk he was. And the cans of beans in the far-reaches of the food shelf? They brought upon the thoughts of how he was about as smooth as a mountain range.

Zipping up the bag, Horst slung it over his shoulder, noting the gun still between his tool-belt and his waist. He shuffled over to the doorway to the cockpit again, remaining silent. When Ervisa looked over at him again, he felt another pang of self-rage, resisting the urge to bang his head on the frame again.

Ervisa relayed the news. They had three hours to get out from under the canopy and set up some smoke. Horst nodded slowly, comprehending. He unzipped the duffle bag again and removed the flight charts and compass. For a minute, he studied them, trying to make sense of the topographical information in a way that'd allow him to figure out where the land was clear.

It might have been the lack of sleep, or it might have been the state of mental unrest, but all Horst saw were lines and numbers.

The Engineer rubbed his eyes, speaking softly again. He held out the map. "This help us at all?"

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa looked over the map quickly.

"Nope," She pronounced a split second later.

It was an aeronautical chart, with only a hint of topography. More importantly, she didn't even know exactly where they were when they'd crashed. So it was all guesswork.

"I'll go climb a tree and try to spot a clearing. You stay here and try not to get eaten by anything."

The Mirialan woman walked over to a tree and eyed it for a few seconds before taking off her shirt again, going bare-breasted for a good reason. She wrapped it around her left hand and pulled her lightsaber off her belt with the right. Then she activated it and slashed a handhold in the trunk, placing her hand in it and making another handhold, pulling herself up to that one by resting her foot on the last one. It was rather precarious, but it got her up the smooth base of the trunk and onto branches, where she deactivated her saber and climbed conventionally.

By the time she reached the top, Ervisa's arms were aching, and the pain in her side was severe. It was worthwhile though for the view she commanded.

All around them was jungle, and the standard canopies, but there was a large clearing with a river flowing through one side not too far away, within reach with a long walk.

The Mirialan woman clambered back down the tree, letting herself drop when she reached the lower branches, plummeting down and landing in force-enhanced crouch.

Promptly she pointed in the direction of the clearing and uttered two words.

"Let's go."

[Fromikeable]

Horst stuffed the charts in the duffle bag unceremoniously as soon as Ervisa determined that they were of no use. If push came to shove, the paper would make great fire-starter.

Ervisa hopped out of the chopper, claiming she was going to climb a tree in order to get a sense of the land. Horst nodded as she headed off, checking the duffle bag again for anything else they might need. Satisfied, he jumped out to the ground, wincing slightly as his wound was folded on again. Fine though, Horst looked around for Ervisa. He found her climbing a tree.

Three things about her caught his eye. Firstly, she had removed her shirt again, although Horst was pretty sure he could see it wrapped around her hand, so at least this time there was a reason to it. The second thing was what she was holding: a lightsaber. Horst shuddered a little at the sight, thinking back to that day with Geog. That had, unfortunately, been the last time he had seen an ignited lightsaber. Granted, its difference in color helped Horst think of it differently, but the connection was still there.

Oh, and the third thing? Ervisa had a hell of an ass.

Eyes on the sky, stupid. Horst really hoped the next three hours wouldn't be like this. He was a man of great fortitude, but not infinite fortitude.

Ervisa made it to the top and looked out. As she scanned the horizon, Horst scanned the jungle floor. The day-shower had stopped, but large puddles were everywhere, and Horst could hear in the distance creatures of all sorts splashing through them. He drew the pistol at his hip with his good hand, shouldering the duffle bag on the side of his broken one, and listened.

Luckily, nothing was getting closer. For now.

Ervisa dropped down, topless again, and pointed in a direction. Horst took the compass out of the bag and checked to see just what direction it was.

"South-East." Horst tossed the navigational tool to Ervisa before zipping up the bag again, trying to keep from seeing her chest again by looking at the bag a little longer than he needed to. He then took a few steps South-East, looking back at Ervisa, trying to disregard any nudity he saw.

"I'll take point?" His desire not to have to look at Ervisa's body was stronger than his distrust of letting her be out of his sight.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa pulled on her tank top, tugging her braid out through the neck opening and tossing it over her left shoulder, at which point Horst looked up again, apparently keeping up his habit of not looking at her.

Boobs and a kiss still hadn't changed that habit. She was beginning to suspect he was gay...

He set off in the direction Ervisa had indicated, and she followed along behind. The pace he set was steady, and remarkably quick. Their course somehow stayed in a straight line, which involved climbing over numerous fallen logs, and navigating through some rather unpleasant terrain.

True danger didn't emerge until a half hour into their journey, when it hit hard.

There was a tremendous roar like a trumpet, and into sight came a Six Horn Bull, a territorial animal well known for the ability to gore an opponent on any of those horns. Its nostrils were flared, and it let out another uncanny roar as Ervisa stopped short.

"Don't move Horst!" The Mirialan woman called out as her lightsaber found its way into her hand.

Unlike many, she'd bothered to learn about the wildlife on Oatara, and she knew about this ten foot tall beast. Angry, aggressive, and very hard to kill. Hunters who took them down used particle weapons or bigger, not blaster pistols. When a six-horn head was mounted on a wall, it had been earned.

"If you shoot, you'll only piss it off."

[Fromikeable]

Horst enjoyed being on point. The only things to see were trees, mud, water, and the occasional bird.

No bare chests of any kind.

Unfortunately, the image was still burned into Stellar's mind. How could it not be? Ervisa was gorgeous, and she'd thrown herself at him what could only be described as the most obvious way possible. She wasn't that much younger than him either, which made things nice and normal.

So why the hell wasn't he on that like butter on toast!?

Horst could only narrow it down to two things, the first of which was his good-for-nothing, hold-back, slimy, rotten, never-have-any-fun, see-a-naked-chick-in-front-of-you-and-do-NOTHING dignity. Horst almost wished he had never been raised right. Any normal, sane person would have hopped on an opportunity when he saw it, but Horst had to be a friggin' model of chivalry and refuse. For a second, to be fair, Horst remembered all the times that his refusal of certain jobs thanks to said dignity had either saved his hide in the long run or kept his conscious clean.

I swear, if the thing wasn't useful... Horst lightly smacked his good hand into his cast, pretending to smash his dignity to itsy-bitsy pieces.

The other thing was Horst's knowledge of Ervisa's past. From what she'd told him, she'd been through a lot of crap, and Horst wasn't surprised she'd come out of it all in such a state of mind. Especially the apathy towards her body, like it was a piece of meat to parade and have people stare at. No one normal did that, or at least no one normal did that to complete strangers, so Horst was fairly confident that Ervisa had a few kinks in her mind to work out.

Maybe he could help.

Then again, maybe she could jump me again. He'd see. He wanted to help, but not at the cost of his own mind.

Horst's line of thought crashed to a screeching halt as a heavy snort woke him from his day-dreaming. He looked over and saw a huge mammal of some kind, a good 3 and a half meters tall, and with 6 giant pieces of bone protruding from its face. The creature was tan and hard-hided, almost like a living tank.

Oh, and it was pissed.

Ervisa told Horst not to move, and not to shoot. It was at this point that Horst really wished he had brought his revolver, which could have diffused this scenario in about a second with a nice shot between the eyes. Instead, though, all they had was a dinky pistol and a lightsaber.

"Don't move too quickly. It hasn't tried to kill us yet; let's not give it a reason ta' start." Horst tried to be as calm in his tone as possible. He recalled the hunters at the Green Dragon blabbing about these things before. 6-horned bulls, if he was remembering right. And extremely territorial.

It was all a matter of getting off the territory.

Easier said than done. The bull stepped forward, growling a little. Horst stood his ground, looking at Ervisa from the corner of his eye.

"Ideas?" Because he had none.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

The bull stamped its hoof, pawing the dirt and snorting. Ervisa copied the movement.

Ideas. Yup, she had an idea all right, the kind of batshiz crazy kind that either got you a lifetime of bragging rights or a funeral. Course everyone had to die sometime, and she didn't want to be running around scared of it.

She glanced at Horst and sighed.

"If I die, make a pyre and burn me. I want a Jedi funeral. And then I want a tombstone made out of solid Jade and carved by Twi'lek dancing girls and one friendly Hutt. Also flowers. Yellow roses. And tell everyone I died saving children from an orphanage that was on fire."

The Mirialan took a deep breath and ignited her lightsaber. Here wo go...

Ervisa let out a scream and ran straight for the bull with her lightsaber in her hand, in one of the single craziest and bravest things she'd done in a long time. It was funny just how good the Mirialan woman was at doing crazy and brave things. It was like she'd saved some of that heroism she'd had as a Jedi, and stored it up for use in her life.

The green ex-Jedi noticed instantly the bull was charging, and she waited until mere feet separated them before acting, dropping to her knee and rolling swiftly forward and out, bringing up her saber with all her strength.

It scythed through the bull's leg and teetered and stumbled to the ground with pained rumble, struggling to regain its footing. Ervisa darted back around and drove her blade straight down into its skull, and the creature fell limp and silent.

The navy blue blade was deactivated and Ervisa let out a grunt of pain as she held her side, made worse by her roll. The lightsaber was returned to her belt and she stopped, breathing slowly in and out.

The Mirialan pilot looked to Horst silently.

[Fromikeable]

Horst was caught by surprise when the Ervisa lost her mind and charged the giant, snarling, 2-tons-or-so bull staring them down. It only took a few seconds, but Horst dived to the side as bull charged as well, heeding the Mirialan's challenge.

Horst tried to remember that list of instructions. It looked like he might need them.

Ervisa ducked down, though, and slid underneath the hulking mass of charging muscle. In her maneuver, she sliced one its legs, causing it dive into the ground face first. Before the thing could so much as try and stand up again, the insane Mirialan rounded about and stabbed it in the head.

And just like that, it was over.

Horst walked over casually, noting the size of the slain creature in comparison to himself. Demi-gods or not, Jedi were tough bastards.

Ervisa was quiet though, deactivating her weapon and looking at Horst. Horst looked back, then at the bull, and back at Ervisa. He had to admit that he was impressed; he had never seen anyone take down such a huge creature in such a short amount of time before. It was admirable, but... well, with Ervisa it was different. Where he normally would have smiled and given her a pat on the back, he felt he should hold her shoulder and thank her.

Horst decided to split the difference and go half way. He couldn't quite read Ervisa at the moment, and he didn't want to set her off after that sort of trick.

"Thanks." Horst smiled a small smile and then looked down at the bull. Its head was about the size of his torso, and he looked down for visual comparison.

"These things are huge." Horst reached down to touch one of the creature's horns. Suddenly, he had a nice thought, and reached down to his boot, where he kept his knife. Drawing it from its boot-sheathe, Horst grabbed the small hammer from his tool-belt and knelt over the creature's face, lining his knife's edge up against the base of one of the horns. He tapped the knife lightly with the hammer; not so much as a scratch appeared on the horn. He tried again further towards the tip; still nothing. Finally, he settled on only the top third of the horn, which was still about the size of his fist. He tapped the knife again; it drove in, and with another dozen strikes, the tip came off with a strange popping noise.

Horst picked up the horn tip, inspecting it. The very tip was a sort of bronzish-tan, and as it grew in diameter, the color grew more and more pure and white. It was perfectly smooth, like a sheet of glass, and for the most part is was solid, with a beginning of the hollow visible at the bottom of the piece.

Horst smiled again, presenting the gift to Ervisa. He hoped she liked it, but honestly, if she didn't keep it, he might just.

"Here's your prize."

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Ervisa winced over the pain in her side, where she was reasonably certain the rib was poking into other areas. She barely noticed Horst thanking her, and she waved dismissively when she did absorb that fact.

He managed to cut off a large piece of one of the horns and hand it to her as a trophy, which she immediately stuffed into the cargo pocket of her pants before walking, almost staggering, in the same direction they'd been going.

On and on she trudged, cognizant of the ever-growing pain in her side, noticing how breathing was getting harder and harder. She lacked the medical knowledge to even guess what was wrong, and lacked the healing knowledge to fix it.

In reality, the cracked rib was poking into Ervisa's left lung, and getting worse with every breath. Her labored breathing showed how bad she was doing, though she tried her best to hide it. Nevertheless, perhaps three quarters of the way to the clearing, she doubled over with a sharp pain in her chest, suddenly unable to breathe properly.

The rib had sent a shard of bone into her lung, and collapsed it, in what the experts referred to as pneumothorax.

The Mirialan woman gasped and her knees buckled from the pain. Her skin started to darken visibly and she took short and rapid breaths, panicking to get enough air in as she lay there on the ground.

Ervisa was down for the count. Out of commission.

[Fromikeable]

Horst began to notice that Ervisa was in trouble as they headed out from their little run-in with the bull. Soldiers weren't doctors, but it was plain to see that she was breathing hard and found moving even harder. Horst let her take point this time so that he could keep an eye on her; that fight must have aggravated something.

They traveled for about another hour, and as Horst checked the compass, he heard the crinkling of leaves. Looking over, Horst saw Ervisa collapse to the ground.

"Hey!" Horst sprinted up and knelt, trying to hold her up from the wet jungle floor and shaking her head a little, trying to keep her awake. He was no medic, but he at least knew that an awake patient was better than a sleeping one.

At least when you had no idea what was wrong.

Horst lightly slapped Ervisa's cheek as he rolled up her tank-top enough to look at the surgical tape he'd help her put on. She'd been holding some spot on her ribs this entire time, right up until she'd fainted. Horst presumed that meant that there was something wrong internally in that general vicinity; no one fainted of just a broken bone.

Ervisa, it seemed, was out for the count, and Horst immediately shifted his mental gears from panic to determination. If his time in the service had taught him anything, it was that panic was about the worst thing to have in any sort of scenario. Panic caused people to be frantic. Frantic people didn't think. And people who didn't think didn't make it back home either.

"Hang in there, Ervi..." Horst whispered quietly, more to himself than to her. He would be damned if they had gone through their night in Waypoint and the following crash just for her to up and die because one of her organs couldn't take the heat.

Horst placed one arm under Ervisa's upper back, hooking it under her arms. His other arm found the undersides of her knees, which he likewise hooked. His broken hand, which was his left one, carrying the legs, shot a pang of pain up the Engineer's arm with protest, but he ignored it, biting his lip. With a grunt, he stood up, carrying Ervisa much like a groom would carry out his bride.

With any luck, there wouldn't be any bells ringing today though.

Horst checked the compass, which was in his right, unbroken hand, which was hooked under Ervisa's arms. Therefore, he was looking just slightly past her chest again.

Ugh. Horst was almost beginning to wish he was gay.

And so he set out, a broken Mirialan of questionable mental health held in his arms and a jungle full of some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy, big and small, loud and quiet, predatory and just down-right pissy. Horst would stop every so often and listen, unable to hear the growls and yelps of the wildlife at some points due to his foot steps. He'd look at the sun too (when it was visible past the jungle's canopy), hoping that they'd make it in time. He'd occasionally whisper something to his damsel in distress, asking how she was. He only half listened to the answer, usually being distracted by some sound coming from the jungle.

Finally, Horst came to a river flowing South. He looked down-stream, and sure enough there was a break in the tree-line. The Engineer didn't allow himself to smile; they, quite literally, weren't out of the woods yet. Striding quickly (he would have jogged, but he didn't want to shake Ervisa around too much), Horst welcome the patch of grass and unperturbed sunlight with a sigh of relief.

They'd made it to the clearing at least.

Setting Ervisa down carefully in the tall grass, Horst looked around as he searched the duffle bag for the smoke signals. The clearing was pretty small, but certainly large enough to allow a chopper or repulsor-equipped vehicle to land. The trees broke very suddenly, almost like some invisible wall kept them from spreading into the small section of sactuary.

Somewhere, far off, something growled.

Horst discovered the smoke signals in the end of the duffle bag and activated one, popping off its pin. He proceeded to chuck it into the middle of the clearing. Red smoke crawled upward from the tall grass, heading sky-ward.

Another growl came from the woods. It was closer this time.

Horst checked on Ervisa again, allowing himself to worry for a minute. Hopefully whatever was wrong could be fixed despite all this time spent out in a humid, unwelcoming enviroment. Horst hoped he had managed to keep from making anything worse; he had at least tried to keep from jostling her too much.

Suddenly, the rustling sound of grass moving was apparent. Horst darted his eyes over to the clearing, holding his knife in the thumb of his cast and Ervisa' pistol in his good hand. He took a second to look at it again; it seemed more like a sawed-off rifle than it did a pistol, but that suited him just fine.

Something's here.