Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4056234" data-attributes="member: 10079"><p><strong>Chapter 565: Voices</strong></p><p></p><p>Rea sat in the small, natural shelter carefully watching the three injured members of Zephyr Squadron. There wasn’t really anything she could do, which was impossibly frustrating. They were all stable, but unconscious. In Commodore Nok’s case, drifting in and out of consciousness every so often to look around confused, groan, then drift off again. That was more worrying to her.</p><p> </p><p>It sure as hell didn’t help that Adria had run off. How a woman like that was able to pass any entrance examinations into a military organization was completely beyond Rea. Sure, Adria was a good pilot, but she wasn’t so amazingly talented that it would make up for her attitude towards those ever important things called ‘orders’. Questioning orders, out loud at least, was bad enough in critical moments...but outright disobeying them?</p><p> </p><p>Okay, so technically Adria hadn’t disobeyed a single order by wandering off to check on that signal. She had, however, abandoned her commanding officer and two other injured squad mates and left a single guard with them in what was very definitely hostile territory. And Adria had gone alone. That, right there, was the real sticking point for Rea.</p><p> </p><p>With a quiet sigh, her lekku twitched slightly. Rea was tired, annoyed, exhausted, tired, and annoyed. It had been nearly an hour since Adria had gone, and the Twi’lek had heard various sounds overhead that were in no way comforting. She didn’t have to look outside to see the Vong ships flying overhead, though it did seem strange. For the longest time, they hadn’t seen a single ship over this grassy field...but in the last twenty-odd minutes, Rea was hearing them fairly consistently. That and...</p><p> </p><p>Were those voices?</p><p> </p><p>Eyes darting to the opening in the makeshift shelter, Rea saw nothing beyond the meter high, red grass. Yet, she could still hear voices out there, even if they were quiet. Had the Vong found her? Or was it Adria? But why would she be talking? And wouldn’t she be smart enough to keep her mouth shut, or at least her voice low, on a moon like this?!</p><p> </p><p>Tightening her grip on her blaster pistol, Rea quickly ran through what she could do. Should she have a look? It wasn’t as if she was too terribly tall. Ducking down, Rea could stay hidden in the grass. Well, slightly hidden. She was still in that black tunic that was normally worn beneath the orange jumpsuit that she had removed after they’d found this shelter. Not only that, but Rea still had on her black gloves and boots, which meant that in the grass, she would be a black and blue object within the red grass. Not exactly stealth. But still, if Rea stayed within the cramped shelter and it wasn’t Adria, she’d be dead in a second. There was no room to fight in this thing...</p><p> </p><p>After a short look over the three other Zephyrs, Rea knelt down and exited the shelter. Keeping her head down below the top of the grass as best she could, her eyes scanned the area. A few steps away from the rock-shelter and she could hear the voices more clearly. They were harsh, hissing, and definitely not human. But at the same time, they didn’t sound like they were Yuuzhan Vong.</p><p> </p><p>There!</p><p> </p><p>In the grass, a few meters away, Rea could see movement. Amongst the red was an odd, brownish-grey. And that was where the voices were coming from. Figures in the grass...moving towards her but not directly. Which meant that probably didn’t see her...</p><p> </p><p>“Zhurae sos,” she could make out the words now, though Rea had no idea what was being said. It wasn’t like any language she’d ever heard. Admittedly, however, that didn’t mean much in a galaxy with so many languages.</p><p> </p><p>But then the movement stopped and the voices went silent.</p><p> </p><p>Rea froze, worried that she had been spotted.</p><p> </p><p>Silence.</p><p> </p><p>“Qol e’a si!” the words were yelled, and then Rea heard it repeated at least five times, though probably more. And then the movement started again, but this time directly towards her. And they were coming fast, running without a doubt.</p><p> </p><p>Without even thinking, Rea raised her blaster and squeezed off a quick shot. The red of energy cut through the grass and then hit the nearest of the moving figures, getting a grunt out of it before a thud as it hit the ground. But there were still more coming, and looking forward just seemed to show a wall of brown-greys coming through the red right for her!</p><p> </p><p>Run.</p><p> </p><p>Just run!</p><p> </p><p>But Rea fought that instinct, immediately understanding that she had to lead these whatever-they-weres away from her three injured squad mates. She needed to lose these things and then sneak back so that the Commodore and the others weren’t left unprotected for too long!</p><p> </p><p>Firing off a series of shots blindly, the Twi’lek spun around and started to run straight past the shelter. Blaster still aimed behind her, Rea made sure to look over her shoulder and continue firing. But with every one of the things she managed to drop, there seemed to still be more coming for her...and fast. She could make out leathery looking skin hidden under some kind of armour now.</p><p> </p><p>Realizing just how fast they were gaining on her, Rea decided to stop distracting herself by firing behind her and just run as fast as she could. She had to lose these damned things! They sure as hell weren’t Vong, either! Vong were larger, bigger, and would have killed her by now. Of course, the second that thought came to mind, Rea heard a loud growl behind her.</p><p> </p><p>Instinctively, she looked over her shoulder and it was just in time to see a reptilian creature that looked a bit like a smaller, somewhat stockier Trandoshan holding a small dagger dive right at her. The creature landed on her back, driving her face first into the ground. A sharp, dizzying pain shot through one of her lekku as claws dug into the sensitive appendage. Panicked suddenly, Rea rolled to her side in an attempt to throw the creature off of her before it drove that knife right into her back.</p><p></p><p>Amazing, it worked and the thing was flung to the side. Rea immediately kicked at it, causing a satisfying cry of pain from the creature as her boot connected with its lower abdomen. Then, as she frantically got back to her feet, knowing that there were more than just this one creature after her, Rea fired a pair of shots right at point blank range into it.</p><p> </p><p>But she didn’t run again, for some reason. Instead, Rea spun around to see another of the reptilian creatures charging at her, odd-shaped knife at the ready. Just before she fired a blaster bolt into its skull, she noticed something else odd about them. Their reptilian skulls each had two large, protruding dome-like things towards the back that looked more like rock than anything natural. They weren’t even the right colour when compared with the grey-brown flesh. But there wasn’t time to think about it, as she’d already pulled the trigger and the shot had easily connected with the creature’s face, sending it down to the ground with a smoking black scorch mark on its skull.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned to her left, blaster at the ready again. But when the next of the reptilian creatures pounced at her through the grass, it was actually intelligent enough to anticipate her attack. When she fired, it was already bounding to its side, then using powerful legs to pounce at her. Rea ducked and rolled away, coming up to her feet again just as the thing started to come at her again.</p><p> </p><p>And then Rea felt a sharp pain across her back. She stumbled forward and cried out, slamming right into the reptilian in front of her. It seemed just as surprised by this as Rea was, which was likely why she didn’t fall into the blade it was holding. When Rea landed on top of the creature, she reacted by driving her knee hard into its stomach then rolling away to see her second attacker.</p><p> </p><p>The problem with that was that her back came into contact with the ground, getting another jolt of pain to run through her body. But adrenaline was pumping now, and the other reptilian, the one that had snuck up behind her, was about to pounce and drive its blade right into her. Rea’s leg came up and she caught the creature in its chest. For a short moment, she just held it above her, scrambling to aim her blaster and just shoot it. But then she saw the creature about to slice her ankle.</p><p> </p><p>Before the blade could connect, however, Rea kicked the creature back. It fell back and hit the ground on its back, leaving Rea a moment’s breath. Or at least, it would have given her a moment to breath if there wasn’t another right next to her still. The other reptilian was holding its dagger in a reverse grip and, rather than getting up off the ground, simply swinging it down to drive into her face. Rea rolled away again, ignoring the pain in her back and firing a volley of blaster bolts into the thing the second her blaster was out from under her again.</p><p> </p><p>An angry snarl escaped from the last of the creatures that had gotten back to its feet and was coming back to pounce at her again. Rea doubted the same strategy would work, despite the fact that these things didn’t seem to be terribly intelligent. Beside, it was easier to just fill it will blaster bolts before it reached her.</p><p> </p><p>When the sound of her blaster firing disappeared and the last of them hit the ground, all the was left around her was the smell of ozone. Slowly, Rea sat up. She couldn’t help a groan at the pain in her back. The cut hadn’t gone deep enough to paralyze her, at least. But she needed to get that patched up quickly so she’d didn’t bleed to death...</p><p> </p><p>She could hear voices again. Quickly getting her bearings, Rea realized the sounds were coming from the direction of the shelter, which she currently couldn’t see through the thick grass. Dammit all, this day wouldn’t ever end!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ankh-Morpork Guard, post: 4056234, member: 10079"] [b]Chapter 565: Voices[/b] Rea sat in the small, natural shelter carefully watching the three injured members of Zephyr Squadron. There wasn’t really anything she could do, which was impossibly frustrating. They were all stable, but unconscious. In Commodore Nok’s case, drifting in and out of consciousness every so often to look around confused, groan, then drift off again. That was more worrying to her. It sure as hell didn’t help that Adria had run off. How a woman like that was able to pass any entrance examinations into a military organization was completely beyond Rea. Sure, Adria was a good pilot, but she wasn’t so amazingly talented that it would make up for her attitude towards those ever important things called ‘orders’. Questioning orders, out loud at least, was bad enough in critical moments...but outright disobeying them? Okay, so technically Adria hadn’t disobeyed a single order by wandering off to check on that signal. She had, however, abandoned her commanding officer and two other injured squad mates and left a single guard with them in what was very definitely hostile territory. And Adria had gone alone. That, right there, was the real sticking point for Rea. With a quiet sigh, her lekku twitched slightly. Rea was tired, annoyed, exhausted, tired, and annoyed. It had been nearly an hour since Adria had gone, and the Twi’lek had heard various sounds overhead that were in no way comforting. She didn’t have to look outside to see the Vong ships flying overhead, though it did seem strange. For the longest time, they hadn’t seen a single ship over this grassy field...but in the last twenty-odd minutes, Rea was hearing them fairly consistently. That and... Were those voices? Eyes darting to the opening in the makeshift shelter, Rea saw nothing beyond the meter high, red grass. Yet, she could still hear voices out there, even if they were quiet. Had the Vong found her? Or was it Adria? But why would she be talking? And wouldn’t she be smart enough to keep her mouth shut, or at least her voice low, on a moon like this?! Tightening her grip on her blaster pistol, Rea quickly ran through what she could do. Should she have a look? It wasn’t as if she was too terribly tall. Ducking down, Rea could stay hidden in the grass. Well, slightly hidden. She was still in that black tunic that was normally worn beneath the orange jumpsuit that she had removed after they’d found this shelter. Not only that, but Rea still had on her black gloves and boots, which meant that in the grass, she would be a black and blue object within the red grass. Not exactly stealth. But still, if Rea stayed within the cramped shelter and it wasn’t Adria, she’d be dead in a second. There was no room to fight in this thing... After a short look over the three other Zephyrs, Rea knelt down and exited the shelter. Keeping her head down below the top of the grass as best she could, her eyes scanned the area. A few steps away from the rock-shelter and she could hear the voices more clearly. They were harsh, hissing, and definitely not human. But at the same time, they didn’t sound like they were Yuuzhan Vong. There! In the grass, a few meters away, Rea could see movement. Amongst the red was an odd, brownish-grey. And that was where the voices were coming from. Figures in the grass...moving towards her but not directly. Which meant that probably didn’t see her... “Zhurae sos,” she could make out the words now, though Rea had no idea what was being said. It wasn’t like any language she’d ever heard. Admittedly, however, that didn’t mean much in a galaxy with so many languages. But then the movement stopped and the voices went silent. Rea froze, worried that she had been spotted. Silence. “Qol e’a si!” the words were yelled, and then Rea heard it repeated at least five times, though probably more. And then the movement started again, but this time directly towards her. And they were coming fast, running without a doubt. Without even thinking, Rea raised her blaster and squeezed off a quick shot. The red of energy cut through the grass and then hit the nearest of the moving figures, getting a grunt out of it before a thud as it hit the ground. But there were still more coming, and looking forward just seemed to show a wall of brown-greys coming through the red right for her! Run. Just run! But Rea fought that instinct, immediately understanding that she had to lead these whatever-they-weres away from her three injured squad mates. She needed to lose these things and then sneak back so that the Commodore and the others weren’t left unprotected for too long! Firing off a series of shots blindly, the Twi’lek spun around and started to run straight past the shelter. Blaster still aimed behind her, Rea made sure to look over her shoulder and continue firing. But with every one of the things she managed to drop, there seemed to still be more coming for her...and fast. She could make out leathery looking skin hidden under some kind of armour now. Realizing just how fast they were gaining on her, Rea decided to stop distracting herself by firing behind her and just run as fast as she could. She had to lose these damned things! They sure as hell weren’t Vong, either! Vong were larger, bigger, and would have killed her by now. Of course, the second that thought came to mind, Rea heard a loud growl behind her. Instinctively, she looked over her shoulder and it was just in time to see a reptilian creature that looked a bit like a smaller, somewhat stockier Trandoshan holding a small dagger dive right at her. The creature landed on her back, driving her face first into the ground. A sharp, dizzying pain shot through one of her lekku as claws dug into the sensitive appendage. Panicked suddenly, Rea rolled to her side in an attempt to throw the creature off of her before it drove that knife right into her back. Amazing, it worked and the thing was flung to the side. Rea immediately kicked at it, causing a satisfying cry of pain from the creature as her boot connected with its lower abdomen. Then, as she frantically got back to her feet, knowing that there were more than just this one creature after her, Rea fired a pair of shots right at point blank range into it. But she didn’t run again, for some reason. Instead, Rea spun around to see another of the reptilian creatures charging at her, odd-shaped knife at the ready. Just before she fired a blaster bolt into its skull, she noticed something else odd about them. Their reptilian skulls each had two large, protruding dome-like things towards the back that looked more like rock than anything natural. They weren’t even the right colour when compared with the grey-brown flesh. But there wasn’t time to think about it, as she’d already pulled the trigger and the shot had easily connected with the creature’s face, sending it down to the ground with a smoking black scorch mark on its skull. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned to her left, blaster at the ready again. But when the next of the reptilian creatures pounced at her through the grass, it was actually intelligent enough to anticipate her attack. When she fired, it was already bounding to its side, then using powerful legs to pounce at her. Rea ducked and rolled away, coming up to her feet again just as the thing started to come at her again. And then Rea felt a sharp pain across her back. She stumbled forward and cried out, slamming right into the reptilian in front of her. It seemed just as surprised by this as Rea was, which was likely why she didn’t fall into the blade it was holding. When Rea landed on top of the creature, she reacted by driving her knee hard into its stomach then rolling away to see her second attacker. The problem with that was that her back came into contact with the ground, getting another jolt of pain to run through her body. But adrenaline was pumping now, and the other reptilian, the one that had snuck up behind her, was about to pounce and drive its blade right into her. Rea’s leg came up and she caught the creature in its chest. For a short moment, she just held it above her, scrambling to aim her blaster and just shoot it. But then she saw the creature about to slice her ankle. Before the blade could connect, however, Rea kicked the creature back. It fell back and hit the ground on its back, leaving Rea a moment’s breath. Or at least, it would have given her a moment to breath if there wasn’t another right next to her still. The other reptilian was holding its dagger in a reverse grip and, rather than getting up off the ground, simply swinging it down to drive into her face. Rea rolled away again, ignoring the pain in her back and firing a volley of blaster bolts into the thing the second her blaster was out from under her again. An angry snarl escaped from the last of the creatures that had gotten back to its feet and was coming back to pounce at her again. Rea doubted the same strategy would work, despite the fact that these things didn’t seem to be terribly intelligent. Beside, it was easier to just fill it will blaster bolts before it reached her. When the sound of her blaster firing disappeared and the last of them hit the ground, all the was left around her was the smell of ozone. Slowly, Rea sat up. She couldn’t help a groan at the pain in her back. The cut hadn’t gone deep enough to paralyze her, at least. But she needed to get that patched up quickly so she’d didn’t bleed to death... She could hear voices again. Quickly getting her bearings, Rea realized the sounds were coming from the direction of the shelter, which she currently couldn’t see through the thick grass. Dammit all, this day wouldn’t ever end! [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
Top