The hunt thrummed in their hearts. It was a sensation that was meant to be shared. Two hunters were far better than one, afterall. They could watch each other's backs, mind each other’s steps. Things that were very, very important when stalking dangerous prey...or getting hunted yourself.
Sera could feel it as they took off after their quarry. The forest, though artificial, was still undoubtedly feral. Shattered by the debris of the Nesolat, what had once been a sanitized, synthetic environment had been allowed to grow with abandon, infiltrated by the wild growth of the marsh outside. Where the trees and leafy ferns had once been watered by nutrient-enriched sprinklers, they were now fed by natural rain, pouring through breaches in the roof and ceiling. Vines crept in as well, forming a haphazard lattice of greenery that choked once-clear walkways. The duo sprinted through in pursuit of their quarry, twin blurs under the canopy’s false twilight.
The Zabrak opened her mind to the Force, and her senses to the forest. The nexu was graceful, but the wound that Tabriss had inflicted upon it slowed it down and made it clumsy. Drops of dark blood spattered crushed vegetation; claws left gouges where they had dug into the mud. More than that, she could feel it ahead, animal fear and predatory inclination, a deadly beast pressed into a corner.
Tabriss was focused on something else entirely.
“Miss Kaern,” he called, bidding Sera to halt in her tracks. She turned, a question already on her lips, but he silenced her with a raise of his hand. The butler nodded toward the tree line, and she followed the track of his luminous red gaze.
Claw marks in the bark. Far, far more than there had been earlier, ripped up and down the length of almost every tree. There was a faint scent in the air, one part bitter, one part sickly, acridly sweet. Rotten meat.
“...the den must be close,” Sera whispered, dropping into a low crouch. Tabriss nodded, sweeping cobalt bangs away from his eyes with the back of one hand.
“Exactly what I was thinking, Miss. I would advise caution and quietude,” he spoke, his prim and proper tone conflicting terribly with the mud that slicked his polished shoes, and the dark gleam of the slugthrowers in his hands.
“...righty, then. You know we’re supposed to take it in alive, yeah?” she questioned, cocking her head.
“My lady told me only to provide assistance, and to keep you safe, Miss Kaern. Nothing more, and nothing less,” the Chiss replied evenly.
“Uh...thanks! I think?” Sera responded, sighing under her breath. She dipped one hand to her belt, drawing her zabraki dagger into her hand. “Just...keep that in mind, yeah? I can draw her out, get her into the open for you to knock her down. Quick and easy.”
“Whatever you say, Miss.”
The two shared a nod. Sera’s was eager, Tabriss’ a barely perceptible inclination of his head. Then, moving as one, they darted into the brush. Ahead, hidden in the dark, a snarl of fallen branches and creeping vines formed into an imposing thicket, bordered by a line of ashen trees. It opened into a roughly circular clearing, the rich soil scattered with fragments of bone and spare patches of cloth. One looked like a labcoat, torn and bloodied.
They could see the Nexu waiting for them, halfway up a tree at the opposite end of the clearing. Four eyes, burning red, seemed to glow in the dark. A low, grating growl rose in the air, two rippling tones overlaid on top of each other. Warning them not to come any closer.
Sera ignored that warning, and stepped into the clearing, two daggers glittering in her hands. Kithani was clutched in her right, her other held in the left, grip inverted. She could feel the Nexu’s fear, her desperation, her fury for her young, soon to be born. It burned white-hot, and bade the Zabrak pause. The wrath of a mother to be was nothing to scoff at.
And there was something else. Cold, quiet, waiting. Not all that different from Tabriss, really. It was probably just him.
“We’re not going to kill you,” she promised, her voice low and quiet. “Just take you back to the doctors. They’ll keep you safe. Keep you fed.”
The Nexu, of course, didn’t reply. Instead, it pounced, a savage roar ripping from it’s maw as it coursed through the air towards the Zabrak, massive, scythe-like claws extended for the kill. Sera anticipated it, thrusting both hands forward, before slamming them downward. An invisible grip caught the creature in midair, plunging it to the ground before it could bowl Sera over. It scrambled as it landed, the telekinetic grip holding it in place...mostly. The creature lashed its forked tail outward, whipping the huntresses legs out from under her with blinding speed. The grip weakened as Sera’s concentration faltered, and the Nexu burst free, screaming as it scrabbled towards the Zabrak.
That scream faltered into a whimper as Sera flipped Kithani in her hand and launched it directly at the feline monster. The long, heavy blade sliced into the same forelimb that Tabriss had already injured, yellowish fur parting and dark blood oozing. It gave her just enough time to kip up to her feet and retreat to the center of the clearing, where she settled into an open, loose stance. Baiting the Nexu, waiting for it to charge her. For better or worse, it obliged, ripping forward with a low, limping gait that was more reptilian than feline, her belly pressed protectively into the earth, spines bristiling.
The Nexu roared, and Sera roared back, pointed teeth bared.
A gunshot interrupted their standoff, and the Nexu’s scream cut off with a cutting whimper of pain. Tabriss stepped into the clearing a half second later. Taking a few moments to line up his shot, to wait for the perfect moment, had been worth it. His slug had sliced cleanly through the sinew of the creature’s injured foreleg, leaving it trailing, useless. The animal might have had a mother’s wrath, a predator’s cunning and deadly strength...but, two hunters were always better than one.
“Well then. Let’s crack on, shall we, Miss…”
The Chiss stopped in his tracks...and sniffed the air. It was scented heavily with blood, the stench of rotting offal...and something else. Sour and acrid and...vulgar.
Piss. Spray.
The mate.
A low growl rose from the thicket behind him.
Sera gave a high-pitched cry of alarm, and Tabriss whirled on his heel. He purposely dropped one of his slugthrowers, ripping the ceramic vibrodagger from his belt…just as another, smaller Nexu pounced from the trees, four bloody eyes blazing in the dark.
What Went Well
This was an excellent first post that used the environment itself as a characterisation tool to introduce the reader to Sera, giving us insights into both her history and motivations. You made good use of her aspects, abilities and fighting style. Tabriss’ introduction was less detailed but still interesting enough to make me curious how this pair would interact on their mission.
Room for Growth
This is a minor word choice issue, but when you say “staring with”, you’re implying that both the subject and the object are staring in concert rather than staring at one another, but “face to face” is a picture of staring at, so your phrase contradicts itself. A simple solution here would be to remove “staring” and let “face to face” stand alone as, “When face to face with an apex predator...”