The Hunters or The Prey?

Finally having made it safely out of that hellhole of a swamp, Mal and the squad spent a good 12 hours recouping in the safety of Razor's Edge.  Saving Tyria had cost a patch of hair on his neck and a deep wound on his thigh that would definitely leave a scar.  Vanel, the only Corellian in this group of misfits, was a decent medic and had worked on his thigh, patching him up nicely.  Tyria had fared a bit worse.  The Dianoga had broken her leg, a snap that had rung out clearly to every member of the squad, and would surely have drown and eaten her had it not been for Mal's intervention.  Though the creature had escaped less two tentacles they had recovered Tyria and, with no small amount of effort, had carried her out of the swamp and back to the shuttle.  

She was going to definitely need some medical attention as she had several gaping wounds in both legs and they appeared to be infected.  He held no grievance  with her for being attacked.  That is just part of being a hunter, at times the tables get turned and you become the prey.  As much as he had been irritated with her in the swamp he was past that.  His focus now was on getting her to the care she needed.  

Razor's Edge had made the fast and rough ascension up to the Maelstrom effortlessly.  Langran and his team

did amazing work on Tyria and even gave the whole squad a much needed check-up.  within 24 hours the entire team was back down on the planet and ready to jump back into the frey, this time in jungle sector of the planet.  

Tyria was left guarding the ship, she needed a few days at least to recover fully anyway.  While the team began their trek into the jungle brush her presence back at the ship gave them the added benefit of her manning the ships sensors making adjustments for interference and directing the squad.  Mal and the men found a nice creek running down into what seemed to be a valley hidden in the jungle.  A perfect location for picking up the tracks of both herds and predators who often use these sources of water.  He split his men up, half on each side of the creek to keep an eye for tracks as they followed it down deeper and deeper into the jungle valley.

As they approached the valley's bottom the creek seemed to disappear.  But as they drew closer they could see it didn't, it simply continued into a cave.  The entrance was lit by sunlight coming down through the valley, though a bit defused.  Scattered all over the entrance area were the skeletons and broken bones of many kinds of creatures both large and small.  This cave most likely was home to a large predator.  The HUNT was about to begin.  Maligaant held his men up and organized them into 4 teams of 3, the last group being him Vash & Trakinor.   Forming the groups into a diamond pattern with his team in the rear 2 of them covering the sides and the first team in front lighting the way and acting as scouts.

They were only maybe 25 meters inside the cave before it became mostly dark.  The lead team broke out their exploration lights and the squad moved deeper into the darkness.  They were another good 100 meters in when they lost contact with Tyria back at the ship.  Continuing the squad pressed deeper into the darkness being very careful not to make any noise as they did so.  Moving quietly became increasingly more and more difficult though as each footstep seemed to bring with it the sound of crunching debris (scattered remains all over were acting like alarm bells).   The cave floor was increasingly covered with skeletal remains. 

Mal could smell it now.  The scent was powerful and very obvious to his senses.  They were growing close to the denizen of this place.  While he couldn't identfiy whatever it was, it was a predator and a powerful one, of that he was certain.  Up ahead of them the cave seemed to be widening and it was dimly lit by some very small amount of light, filtering in from somewhere in the ceiling.  He ordered his team to stop and take up positions with safe firing arcs.   After each member had taken up an appropriate position he ordered Una, probably his best scout, to move ahead with great caution.

As Una moved forward there was a very disconcerting noise that filled the entire cave.  It sounded as if the cave itself was moving for a moment.  Una was frozen in place, her fear was obvious even from behind,  just then a massive Krayt Dragon came charging into view, stopping as it did so and letting out a roar that nearly deafened everyone and felt as if it might actually bring the cave down on them.

"FIRE!" Mal yelled, though there was really no need, as the cave lit up with the light from their rifle blasts.