And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 37: Hostile Territory

The blaster rifle was a reassuring weight in Seth's hands, but it wasn't nearly as comforting as it had been even a few hours ago.

He and Nova walked through the jungle, their pace as sure and steady as they could make it. Neither had spoken a word since leaving the others and plunging into the foliage. It was still raining, and it was beginning to pick up. Seth tried to tell himself that he could handle it, that they both could, but he knew that the odds were bad. He felt decently confident that they were facing a Mandalorian, and they'd each killed a lot of them over the years, especially back during the Mandalorian Wars, but this was different.

Seth continually scanned the trees and plant life around them as they pushed southeast. They'd made it almost a klik so far, by his count, so halfway there. Roughly. Hopefully. This was all rather imprecise science and he'd kill to have some working tech. But he had a good sense of direction, and his instincts were honed enough that he wasn't completely lost in this environment. His mind was wandering a bit, though, background thoughts drifting through his cranium. He found himself wanting to meditate. That still wasn't as routine as it should be, not that his life had been routine lately. And he'd kill for some green tea right about now.

That made him think of Maya, and her relaxation techniques.

As he walked through the rainy jungles of Dxun, Seth tried to imagine his problems, his anxieties and frustrations and fears, as a ball of red light in his head. He could see it with surprising clarity. That little light show with Maya really seemed to have helped him be able to focus on stuff like this. He concentrated on that ball of red light, and allowing it to solidify, to really take shape, to have weight in his head.

And then he imagined blowing it out.

It disappeared in a puff of red light, diffusing into the darkness around it, and he felt his body relax, his muscles release their tension. That worked a lot better than he ever thought something like it would. Not that he was totally carefree now. But he felt calmer, more ready to take this on. Nothing had changed but his own perception, and sometimes that was enough. If the situation was screwed, then it was screwed, and often, the only thing you could directly control was how you reacted to the situation. And it paid to chill out, because the situation might not be as screwed as you thought it was. That could just be your own fear and anxiety.

Although this situation was pretty bad.

Dxun was a shit environment, especially if you were being hunted by an expert in stealth. The Mandalorians were usually the 'come at you screaming' type, but they could hunt with the best of them. And they had that obsessive, cult-like devotion to war that meant that they could relentlessly focus on something until they were amazing at it. Especially if they had years or decades. Whoever this guy was, he was obviously good, and it was probably going to take some real damned luck to take him down.

He'd already pretty much wiped out a Republic outpost.

It wasn't like a huge outpost or anything, as far as outposts went, it was kind of skeleton crew, but still, that was impressive. And intimidating. But if they could just take this bastard's jammer out, they would take away one of his most powerful abilities. It wouldn't make taking him down easy, per say, but it might make it easier.

"I think we might be getting close," Nova murmured.

Seth looked around and realized that she could be right. Something was different about the area they had just come into, but at first he couldn't place it, only that it made him even more anxious. Finally, he had it: it was quiet. When there was a predator about, things tended to shut up, and even native wildlife could recognize something like what they were facing as a dangerous predator. It could indicate that they were on his turf, or that something else was around. Either way, it felt like a bad place to be.