Be Your Brothers

Chapter 27 - The Attack of the Krayt

The sandstorm howled wildly as it continued to blow past the outpost. Silence crept into the meeting room while Tupac explained the stakes at hand. With the information gathered from the bantha carcass, he was able to confirm that the outpost they built were directly above the lair of a Krayt Dragon. 

If missing troopers weren't chilling enough, Tupac's description of the beast was no less a nightmare. An image of a scaly brown-skinned creature, with sharp horns protruding out of the crown of its head, hellish yellow eyes and rows of unforgiving sharp teeth. 

"This is a Canyon Krayt Dragon. A common subspecies of the Krayt Dragon that is a whole lot smaller than the Great Krayt Dragon." Obi-wan, Cody, Reetha were huddled around Tupac as he explained. "Great Krayt Dragon's grow up to five meters while this subspecies, in particular, reaches an average of two to three and a half meters making the one we encounter now just a baby, about a meter's length." 

"For a baby it sure is dangerous." Reetha pointed out to the teeth. "It has fangs. Is it venomous?" Thankfully, Tupac shook his head side to side. "No sir. However, they passed a powerful bite, able to crush bones. They hunt from below the surface of the sand by sensing the movement of their prey on the surface. Once they find the prey, they shoot out from the sand and drag them down into their lair." 

Obi-wan stroke his beard thoughtfully. "So we are dealing with a youngling of a dragon. Do we need to expect a visit from its mother?" 

"No sir. The mother dragon usually chases it's young away after six months after birth. It's already independent of hunting on its own. But this sir isn't hunting. It's protecting its home."

The older Jedi nodded in understanding. "We need to find a way to relocate the beast without hurting it. It's just defending its home, and rightfully so." 

"We need to locate the lair and find Jex and Scowl, that is ... if they are still alive. How do we do that?" Reetha pursed her lips at Cody's question.

"I might be able to help." 

The attention of the three men in the room was now on her and Obi-wan encouraged her to speak her mind. "An animals scent can last for about two weeks, maybe even more. The bantha carcass is only a few hours old so the scent of the krayt dragon will be easy to track. I can do it in wolf form." 

"Not to show any disrespect, Commander Khan but the dragon disappears back under the sand. Is it possible to track the scent after it disappears underground?" Tupac laid out a logical question that got Reetha thinking. 

Tapping her chin, she came up with an idea. "Does the creature ever walk the surface? If so, how long?" 

Tupac's eyes brightened when he caught on to her idea. "It does. The dragon does it to check its territory and also to fight off other krayts. I get where you're going, commander." Tupac turned his attention to Cody and Obi-wan. "Commander Khan can pick the scent of the bantha carcass and track the dragon from there. The downside is that we need to hope the krayt has recently surfaced. We would be able to determine when and where the creature would resurface next." 

"If that doesn't work we won't be able to find it. I suggest we also use sonar scanners to find it. We can plant in the sand all around the outpost. That may give us a chance to see how big this guy's lair is and track it from underground." 

Obi-wan nodded and agreed to Cody's suggestion. "It's a good idea. We should try not to hurt it. It's innocent and is only protecting itself. Cody, you and I will be in charge of the sonar scanning while Reetha and Tupac and work on picking up the scent. We will deploy the search party when this sandstorm is over." 

The two troopers began to go about their work in preparation for the search effort. Reetha's was deep in thought about the plan when a gentle hand rested on her shoulder. Looking up, she found Obi-wan smiling fondly at her.