Ranger Archive

The hunter was tired.

He had been on the borderlands for a long time. He hadnt shaven, hadnt bathed and happily, havent seen another soul in days.

Packing up the remains of his field base, he covered his tracks and made sure he left the ground in pristine shape. The animals in this area ofLok have an ability to smell a hunter from kilometers away and he didnt want them to know he was there.

He crested the large dunes in the unforgiving desert, the sulfuric atmosphere barely phased him. The volcano was sputtering and spitting pyroclasts and small streams of lava off in the distance and the hunter knew he was in the right place.

Long ago, he had disdained using armor in order to feel the tactile sensations of the hunt, he had grass stains from the verdent fields of Endor, the sands of Tatooine destroyed one of his favorite rifles, and the darkness of Dathomir gave him the scars across his body that he would never remove. These small reminders were his trophies and his happiness.

Dilligently he searched the area for his prey, he knew that a certain species of Kimogila had precious scales that could be used to trade. He knew little about the affairs of artisans and cared even less, however, what he did care about were two things... hunting new and deadly prey and the means to maintain his equipment.

The particular species of Kimogila were larger than any other in his family, he smiled as he remembered his field bioscience instructions by his former master... the giant kimos left distinctive tracks, being larger thant the rest, the furrow left by the tail was wider and deeper however, this in and of itself could be inconclusive. The giant kimogila was also the alpha mate for the female kimogilas and had a unique pheromone that he deposited from semi-sebacious glands in his tail.

The hunter bent down and examined the tracks, they were wide and large... the trail of the tail was deep. He bent down and put a small sample of dirt in his mouth and spat it out. He cringed. The taste was bitter and left a horrible aftertaste in his mouth, the telltale sign of the giant kimogila was its natural defense. The giant had a symbiotic relationship with a host of viruses that kept the giant virtually immune to the environment, as well as preventing other male challengers to his premiere mating rights.

The hunter smiled, the ground was fresh and the pheromone was pungent, the prey was near.

He applied camouflage to himself and cautiously and circuitously followed the tracks of the giant beast, in his pack were a variety of traps to aid in his cause.

First sighting is always the best feeling in the galaxy, that means that the hunt is half over and regardless of what happened in the end, the ranger knows that his skills are honed and sharp.

the giant is putting on a display for a female, he is arching his back and lifting his tail. A terrible low roar came out of his infested mouth and shook the ground, the females in the area were obviously impressed, their tails bent in under their bellies. The hunter came in slowly, he knew that any disruption in the mating display could cause a stampede and his inevitable death. As he came up to the bone strewn lair of the garden variety kimogilas, he applied his trap.

This trap was of ingenious design, it took the natural pheromone of the male kimogila and through adaptive bacteria cultivated from rotting meat, the trap would explode, sending millions of the bacteria onto the kimogilas in the area. The bacteria would degrade the natural pheromones and convert them into a sweet smelling aroma. Just as the kimogilas no longer recognized each other, a flash of light and sound would erupt from their own lair, causing pandemonium as they attacked each other as they fled.

The hunter smiled again as his trap was placed on the lair. he retreated to about 60 meters and let the trap go off. The females surrounding the lair shrieked in confusion as they had no idea what was happening. They ended up turning on themselves attacking each other.

The giant seemed unimpressed, there were more females to court...

In a flash, the hunter pulled out his trap launcher, loaded with a shaped charge filled with a biotoxin.. he thanked his maker that he trusted his weaponsmith... the explosive trap pierced the giant's side with a crunch of bone and skin, releasing the toxin. Instantly the giant felt weak and slow. Too slow to avoid the second trap launched. The second trap came in and released a bio-neutralizer, effectively countering the viral symbiosis of the kimo. Enraged, slow, poisoned and without its viral protection, he tried to charge the hunter.

Lifting its massive head to smell the horizon, he could not find the hunter, he felt his eyes shatter in pain and darkness as the hunter's well placed shot blinded him.

60 meters away, the hunter knew that his cover would not last much longer. He used a weapon that the giant had no defense against, and he could see that the biotoxins were beginning to fade into the beasts metabolism. The hunter concentrated and fired off several more shots aimed directly at the head of the beast and stood up, blowing his cover.

The beast sensed this change and charged.

The hunter prepped two more charges in his launcher, firstly, a neurotoxin that would slowly rot the target's mind and a bolo trap that would knock it down.

The neurotoxin found its mark throught the open gaping wound the beast had suffered, but ina blind rage he refused to be knocked down. The giant was gaining in speed and focus and the hunter knew that he would have to act fast. Having been a master of rifle combat, he knew how to aim for the head.. but being a ranger, he knew where the animal was vulnerable. Using his skills of the hunt, he kneeled, knowing that if he missed, the giant would be upon him, and one massive crush of his jaws, the hunter would be no more. The ranger slowed his breathing, aimed and fired the critical shot directly into the gaping wound left by the shaped charge. The bolt of icy cold energy pierced the creature's brain and found its mark.

The beast stopped.. he looked at the hunter with its bleeding eyes, he looked almost sad and confused. With a last gasp of sulfurous air, the giant collapsed at the hunter's feet.

The Ranger smiled again, he used his specialized knife to obtain large quantities of meat, hide and bone. However, in the gaping mess of flesh and bone, he looked for the precious scales that would earn him his prize.

Nothing..

He had to keep moving. He set up another camp and rested... the bitter taste of the pheromone was nearly gone, completely gone after a swig of brandy... he started to clean the dust and grime from his rifles again and used his new found resources to craft some more deadly traps.

Draknev
The Last Ranger Correspondent
Subterfuge and Sabotage, Concealment and Camouflage:
Colonel: Rebel Alliance

Nice.

Lythender Nirou
Crazy Bothan

Calculus Entropy
Ranger Blue Glowie Emeritus
Garindan used /areatrack to find Han.

awesome man. Anyone else feel that we need to a "stories 'round the campfire thread....We can start with this one, put in the Outdoorsman 2.1 Story, and the other story from a while back that was about the two Imp Rangers saving the Rebel...

just have the community add to it and let it grow, everyone pulls up a chair to the campfire and roasts some marshmallows.

thanks

I just got out of my animal behavior lab... where i spent the day tracking birds and studying their territorial behaviors... and i kinda felt creative and stuff.

Gonna cut/ paste this in a new campfire stories thread.. great idea rangers!

/salute

There are some great stories out there from the community, and we definately should put all of them up here.

Draknev
The Last Ranger Correspondent
Subterfuge and Sabotage, Concealment and Camouflage:
Colonel: Rebel Alliance