The agent had to stop for a moment and catch her breath. Natasha had devoted most of her life to training and fine tuning her body, but regardless of her endurance; a tight environmental suit made of spandex was not comfortable to run in. She discovered that it was especially true in a tropical, hot, and humid atmosphere. While the suit had some environmental controls built into the collar securing the glass helmet to the suit, they were basic and only offered a little cool purified air as relief.

"How much *huff* further *huff* is this thing?" She ask in exhausted frustration.

Having caught a second wind, she let go of the rifle to let it hang at her side so that she could retrieve the scanner at her belt. Lifting up the hand-held device she began to rotate in place while watching the green display until it began to light up to the east. "A little less than *huff* ten "k"." She then holstered the scanner on her belt and retrieved her rifle to start on again. The moment suited agent took her first step, the leaves in the branch just above her exploded apart as a ropey vine lunged for her. In a single motion she dropped to a knee to give her just enough time to fire the laser rifle and sweep the beam across the air. The red beam sliced the vine, and several other surrounding branches, in two.

"What was tha-WHAAAAH?!!" The agent screamed as she was violently pulled back. The second vine that Natasha hadn't seen had clung to her right ankle and dropping the woman to her chest sharply. "UNGHF!" She groaned as she hit the ground and momentarily dazed. Before she could register what had happened she felt a thick appendage pushing firmly against her protected pubic mound trying to find some way inside. The agent quickly rolled to her side to see what was going on and found that it was another vine that was coiled up around her leg and thigh while pressing into her pubic mound.

"HEY!" A flush suddenly crept into her cheeks as she sharply grabbed her laser rifle. "GET OFF OF THAT!" She shouted as she fired the rifle to sweep it across the ground from where the vine was sprouting from; scoring the grass, ground and slicing the vine in two as she'd done before. This time she wasn't so fortunate as both pieces started spurting the same syrupy blue luminescent fluid from the cut point and incidentally spattering across her body. The piece attached to her leg stopped wriggling almost instantly but the other piece thrashed back and forth coating more of her suit before retreating back into the jungle. Natasha pelt up from the ground and pointed the rifle at the retreating vine as it fled, quickly turning to scan the entire area just in case another vine wanted to ensnare her.

Once she was confident that the area was clear, she could let out her held breath and take notice of her situation. She looked down to see the entire from half of her body from the torso down was coated in glowing fluid. It was about then that she realized how warm and thick it felt against the environmental suit, as the spandex like material did nothing to hide it's familiar warmth and texture.

"Great!" She groaned in irony. "Now I've gotta wash this off in decontamination!" The agent had hoped that she would only need a brief rinse and air cycle but...what she really hoped was just pollen was going to need a much more thorough cleaning in the airlock. "Perverted plants." The agent grumbled as she bent down to retrieve her stained scanner. With it secured to her hip, the agent resumed her trek though she was keeping her rifle raised and paying much more attention to her surroundings in case of another amorous vine wanted her for itself.

Most predators gave up if prey fought to hard and that weapon that cut through those vines had been unexpected. Bloom of course had no true nervous system but even so Bloom preferred not to be cut up and while it had not having controlled the plants that were attempting to overwhelm the agent though Bloom had never had to deal with such weapons before and thus realizing that there was going to be other prey and not seeing an opening Bloom left the agent alone.

But Thorn didn't. It had been impressed and surprised by the weapon. While Bloom was pf simpler intelligence and could respect the power of the weapon Thorn realize that if it could get the weapon. It had been aware with such power it could be the next chief so Thorn followed though smaller it had not been impeded by the vegetation and knew of those dangers that slowed the agent down.

Occasionally the agent had to use her weapon to keep the plants at bay though she was beginning to recognize which plants were more dangerous they the others.

Many tried to assail her mind, many tested the seals that Aegir set though none had managed to get through at present. Eventually though she made it to the destination. The jungle thickens as the plants offer up more of a resistance as if keeping her out in a way they were doing just that, trying to keep her from the village beyond where she had gotten the radiation readings from.

Thorn watched from a distance regarding the weapon. Unlike Bloom it could not control plants but had an empathy with them, a very basic means of influencing the mobile “sentient” ones.

Nearby was a waterfall cascading down over a cliff. The plants colorful, the territory serene and deadly though making her way along was slower now.

Thorn followed, wondering what she was doing though when she cane to a fork in the road with one path leading to the village and the other worked it's way up to the top of the Cliff at the old temple near the river … why was she going there? Then after a moment Thorn/s eyes lit up, the artifact!

With the variegation slowing her down it would be a simple matter to make a pit stop to the village, the artifact was more important than getting the powerful weapon. Natasha would eventually make it to the top of the cliff, there was a river spilling over the side of the cliff, a cave was here and it was from there that the radiation was emitting from there.

The stone was probably not too deep inside there either given that she was getting readings and it had not been shielded by the stone.

The vine thrashed back and forth one last time before it collapses motionless on the jungle floor, thick glowing rose syrup leaking from where it had been sliced by the intense laser.

“I SAID! I...AM...NOT...A...FLOWER!” Natasha shouted in aggravation to the fallen vine. She'd been grabbed, groped, and molested by more than enough plants than she was ever going to take. The previous vine had tripped her and had managed to slither inside the leg of her combat shorts to push directly against her covered womanhood as if it instinctively knew where to find it. The violet boy-shorts under her suit were the only real protection she had from feeling it's disturbingly familiar veiny texture as the tight spandex of the environmental suit let every sensation through. By now there wasn't one two centimeter square of her suit or clothing that didn't have a splattering of luminescent sap, chlorphyl or what she'd hoped was pollen. It looked like she participated in India's “Festival of Colours” back on earth.

The brunette agent grumbled something incomprehensible to herself while she turned back in the direction of the radiation signature she'd been following. The beauty and the majesty of the planet was really starting to fade on the irritated agent by now. While the vibrant colours were still striking and called to her like a siren; she was sick of the vines, roots, and stamens that would invariably launch out at her the moment she would stop to take in the scenery. That was true until she approached the cave's opening.

The arched cave was set inside the base of a tall hill. This cone shaped hill looked as if it had been crafted by some of the most skilled landscapers on Earth. Every single colour of the rainbow was on display in the thousands of flowers that blanketed the hill; hundreds of species, shapes, sizes not a single patch of the hill was the same. Between and underneath the myriad of flowers were rich green and brown hues from the thin vines and leaves that cascaded down the hills sides like water and even forming a thin curtain over the mouth of the cave. If this wasn't enough, the entire area was accentuated by the soft white mist of the flowing waterfall that ran out from underneath the base of the hill and off the short cliff that the hill resided on. The water was a pure pastel blue from the endless agitation caused by the waterfall at both it's top and bottom. The soothing rumble of the waterfall in the background added to the hypnotic scene all around the once furious agent.

"This...this is beautiful.” She whispered to herself as she once again let down her guard to sink into the glory of this vicious planet.

Eventually she tore herself away from the heavenly scene when she remembered what happened every time she fell under the planet's spell. She sharply turned in every direction, dropping to one knee defensively to position herself with her laser rifle pointing toward any other lecherous plant that wanted to ravage her. She was surprised when nothing lashed out at her.

“Well, I guess you've finally learned your lesson!” She boasted to the vegetation. With the surge of confidence running through herself, she turned back toward the cave opening and made her way inside.

Parting the curtain with her arm and laser rifle, she cautiously walked into the darkened cave. She was surprised on how dark it was inside the hill, even with the thin curtain of leaves at it's opening. She took a moment to turn on the torch attached to her rifle aiming it down the centre of the cave. Once again the sirens called to the young agent.

Lining the walls of the cave were unbelievable drawings. The images were drawn across the walls, ceiling and floor, starting at the cave's mouth. There were 30 simple lines that were etched into the tan coloured stone that corkscrewed all the way down the dark natural corridor. The lines were simple straight lines but eventually simple leaves began to sprout from them, followed by simple branches and those branches then became their own lines. The branch lines eventually began to sprout flowers and eventually those flowers began to release birds and other small animals. These animals grew in complexity and size as the story continued. Eventually the complexity of those sprouted animals became what appeared to be humanoids. These humanoids basked in the sun, they worshiped those lines that birthed them, and they gave themselves to the plants to breed their children. The most incredible feature of the carvings was that every creature, flower, leaf, and branch connected to one of those original thirty lines. Not one image was separate from the rest, nor were there any carvings that had a single sharp corner or edge; they were all organic smooth curved lines. A Scholar could spend decades studying the designs etched in the stone in this cave to understand the awe-inspiring story of the evolution of life on this garden world. Natasha however, couldn't see the story between the lines. While she didn't understand what she was looking at, she was more than capable to lose herself in this sight.

She walked slowly down the corridor, lost in the images. She stopped for a moment when she noticed the humanoid creatures depicted in the carvings. “Wait, if these are here, then someone had to make them.” She turned to look behind her, back to the opening of the cave. She paused for a while staring at the curtained mouth of the cave opening and the streams of light that slipped passed the foliage door. Eventually the tall agent shrugged her shoulders as she assumed that no-one was following her from the silence of the cave. She turned back towards the corridor as it began to turn to the left.

Once she rounded the corner, the corridor began to brighten from a soft blue light at it's exit. The agent continued deeper into the cave and could hear a noise filling the air; flowing water. Eventually she reached the opposite opening of the cave and once again her emerald pupils dilated in awe.

She stood at the base of a two storey pyramid shaped pedestal that stood in the center of the huge chamber and above a flowing channel of water. The cave glistened from the soft blue light radiating from the water below as it rushed through the base of the chamber. The water flowed quickly out of the cave through two low and wide natural openings at the bottom of the cave and parted to follow the rounded base that supported the conical pyramid. The pyramid itself was relatively featureless and made completely from tan coloured stone. The lines that traveled the entire length of the corridor followed the walls of the cave and then ran along the floor of the chamber towards the pyramid. They followed the simple grey stone steps upward until they reach the peak of the pyramid and the short cylindrical pedestal that resided there.

“I've GOT to tell the Directorate about this place!” She stated in excitement while letting her gaze roam about the chamber. “Every girl in the fleet'll take their vacations here! ...Well...maybe not at mating season.” She then tore herself away from the sight to approach the stairs, making her way up the side of the pyramid.

Once she'd ascended to the top, she stopped at the cylinder to look down at the sphere that rested on it. The cylinder was corkscrewed by those same lines that came from corridor and traveled the stairs. Each of those lines were sprouting leaves, flowers, and even people's smiling face as they traveled up to the top of the cylinder. There, the lines curled and hands sprouted from them as if they were supporting the sphere at it's top. The green sphere was as Aegir had described but Natasha took a moment to examine it. It was strange to say the least, but with a quick scan from the device on her side she confirmed that this is what she'd been dispatched for.

“This...wasn't what I was picturing.” She commented while looking at the round object.

She then carefully lifted the artifact from the pedestal to place it in the satchel that Aegir had given her to carry it. It sat perfectly inside and she secured it to her belt, ensuring that it was locked in place and wouldn't open if she was “jumped” by ravenous vines again. Now that she had what she'd come for, she turned and began to descend the stairs.

The cruiser had cut across the stars finally arriving at the lush green planet. Scans relayed though they focused in on the old abandoned camp site and the one organic here had analyzed the data.

As revealed earlier by the survey team the plants emitted strange pollens and aphrodisiacs. In addition their were other electromagnetic scans that seemed to do something else and she assumed that this had been the psionic influences that the plants revealed.

In any case Vanessa was certain that her machines would not be effected at ll. Of course she hated Ven too, though all four of her limps had been replaced with cybernetics due to that explosion that should have killed her.

No doubt she was chipped and Ven could control all machines and could do so with her artificial limbs as he demonstrated in the past. Still, she was a mere slave and leaned to bit her lip ages ago. Escape was hopeless, or so she thought and if she did manage it she would have to get rid of the limps meaning she would be pretty much a torso in a hospital bed … and though she lacked the freedom of mobility she at least had mobility when Ven allowed it.

She was the commanding presence of the machines that she ordered to the planet. Here task was simple, find and retrieve the stone. She wouldn't need any of the sophisticated machines running scans and tests due to these readings she knew where the object was more or less and thus dispatched a dozen droids and one pilot droid to take a shuttle down to the planet.

The pilot had legs though the soldiers had repulsors and hovered a few meters off the ground, one of their arms ended in a vicious looking blaster and the dozen left the pilot with the ship as they proceeded to their destination tirelessly moving on though there was no need to use stealth as they blasted any vines that grew too curious.

Unlike Natasha when they came to the cliff they did not need to find an alternate way around but rather just floated upward to the cliff above, their destination close at hand ...

But they were not the only ones heading to the cave that Natasha discovered. Unknown to the agent there were things at work here that she did not understand. Not only had Thorn and it's people were closer to her than she thought but as she collected the artifact the defense of the cave had been activated.

The pressure plate of that pedestal was disarmed by the plants that coiled up it's side, depressed by the plants which only the priests had the ability to control. With the weight of the artifact removed there was a slight pause then a rumble as a section of the wall concealed by the vegetation slide open, a roar and something pounced out of that passage.

About the size of a rhino it was some feline creature … no, some sort of plant that resemble one, a main of thorns surrounded it's head, brown opposed to the vibrant green of the rest of it's body.

These thorns served as quills in melee combat cutting into things and even had a weak poison that paralyzed muscles in warm blooded creatures if exposed to enough of it or at least slowed targets a little. In plants the poison had a more lethal effect, dissolving them.

It could fire these quills as it did now, unhindered by the darkness it focused on the only target near the pedestal, the warm blooded mammal that it could easily sense.

Briar immediately launch those quills then bounded forth behind them ...

“WUAHHHH!” The agent screamed as she rolled her shoulder back to dodge the flurry of spines that assaulted her. She managed to dodge most of them but... “NGHAHH!” She groaned as she felt the harsh sting of something piercing her skin, but she had no time to see where she'd been hit as she had a massive plant monstrosity charging towards her.

Natasha ran back up the pyramid where she hoped the narrow stairs and smooth surface of the shaped pyramid would stop it's mad charge. Once she'd separated herself from the infuriated creature, she turned to her left arm and to two spines piercing her lower arm through the thin yellow material of her suit. She quickly pulled the spines free out of panic but she wasn't being given time to look at the wound or the spines that caused it as another roar called her attention to the plant creature flinging another cloud of spines at her.

The violet haired agent fell to the pedestal floor to use the pyramid as cover, the spines splintering and deflecting off of rock structure. She then peaked over the edge of the pedestal to see the enraged creature examining the pyramid fruitlessly to find some way up to kill the intruder in it's territory. It stomped back and forth as it's huge feet couldn't maneuver the stairs nor did it have the dexterity to climb up the pyramid's sides, it was held at bay for the moment. Unfortunately it also meant that the determined creature wouldn't move away from the only exit out of the room just beyond the base of the stairs.

Natasha thought for a moment and realized that she had the upper had in this situation. While creature had the raw power to trample her, it couldn't reach her. With a confident grin she rolled onto her chest and readied her laser rifle.

“NNGH!” The trapped agent whimpered as she felt hundreds of pins and needles prickling across the entire length of her left arm. No matter how she bent her arm or moved it, she couldn't keep it stable. It was then that she remembered the spines and thought that maybe they'd hit a muscle tendon or were poisoned, either way it didn't matter as without her left arm she couldn't aim the rifle. Natasha had a plasma pistol as a back-up but this thing was huge and it wasn't going to be stopped by a small handgun.

Her thoughts were interrupted again as another shower of spines ricocheted in all different directions as they struck the hard surface of the stairs again. The tall agent could hear it grunting and huffing at the bottom of the stairs as if demanding her to come down. She didn't have many options at this point, but she did have one terrible idea.

Swallowing the regret that almost immediately lept into her throat when the idea crossed her mind, the agent pushed herself to her feet and darted across the pyramid. The creature almost immediately noticed her movement and fired another round of poison-laced spines at the suited agent. Natasha leaped from the pyramid and into the rushing water below at it's base. Thankfully the water was deep enough to catch her and carried her rapidly out of the chamber. She barely had time to re-surface and let the water cascade off of the glass dome helmet before the welcoming light of the sun rushed toward her at the tunnel's exit. Unfortunately her daring escape wasn't the best decision as the warrior agent felt her heart sink when her eyes adjusted to the sunlight and the edge of the waterfall she'd seen when she arrived at the cave had come into view. There was no time to plan or swim in another direction, the agent just had time to brace herself (whatever that meant) and hope for the best.

“WHAAAAHHH!” She screamed all the way down as she fell into the raging waters below, her arms and legs flailing pointlessly. The beauty of the jungle forest and the purity of the rushing water only lasted for an instant as the speed and force that Natasha hit the water below was enough to send her into darkness.

“Ughn...owww.” The woman groaned as the world returned to her, greeting her with an distorted offensive klaxon that gradually clarified as her dark brown eyes opened to Onderon. She shook her head for a moment while her eyes focused on the reflected lights of her collar flashing against the glass of her helmet.

!BREECH!
!BREECH!
!BREECH!

It took a moment for the daze to wear off, but the moment it did she realized that her suit was torn. In a panic she started to search her body, suddenly becoming aware that she was on a riverbank somewhere. The suit was physically fine, aside from the splattered flower juices that still clung to it's surface. She started to panic as she was being exposed to the air of the contaminated planet; including the aphrodisiac rich pollen suspended in it.

“WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS IT?!” She shouted as she looked desperately under her vest and shorts to find the opening. It took too long for her to return to the spot where she'd been struck by the spines of the feline plant creature. She saw that, from the time she made her daring escape to waking up on the shoreline, the small hole had been torn further and exposed a rip in the material.

The alert klaxons continued and only heightened the fear rushing through the agent as she started to dwell on how long she'd been unconscious with the tear in her suit. She had to seal it now, but didn't have anything to affect repairs. She knew of one way to seal the hole but she knew that it would hurt. She pulled the plasma handgun from it's holster on her right thigh and pointed the black pistol towards the river. She fired off five shots, counting each one, into the river to let them dissipate quietly. She tried to move her left arm to roll her shoulder and bring the opening closer to her, but now the stinging sensation was coupled with the fact that her arm felt that it weighed a few dozen kilograms more than before. She had no choice now and had to act as the lens of her pistol was cooling with every second. Clenching her teeth and watching intently, the young agent dragged the hot lens of her pistol across the breech to melt the material back together. She groaned and grimaced as pain...just barely sparked across her arm. She was confused for a moment at the lack of pain from the hot glass and metal pressing against her lower arm, but that confusion was crushed by dread as she knew and could feel the numbness that had crept across her arm. In-spite of that fact a few moments later, the klaxons fell silent as the breech had been sealed.

The tall agent struggled for a moment to regain her balance and stand without using her left arm. Once up, she examined the surrounding area and for a moment she couldn't find anything recognizable. Thankfully she eventually found some familiar tree formations that she'd passed on her way towards the cave. She withdrew her hand-held scanner that had been buckled to her belt in order to confirm her hopes and found that she was only 14 kilometres away from The Whistler. With that revelation she was able to smile and eventually had to start laughing. She didn't really know why, but after being enslaved by Ven, bought by Aegir to be given a strange mission, the wonders she's seen on the planet and the cave, the massive beast that tried to kill her, the horribly reckless decision to use a waterfall as her escape, the loss of her left arm, and all of that while being attacked by sex-crazed plants, she just had to laugh.

When she finally composed herself she then turned to look across the shoreline for her laser rifle. It didn't take long for her to see that it was no where to be found, having been washed away when she was unconscious or been lost when she hit the water after being flushed out of the cave.

“That's just great.” She mumbled in aggravation; her smile was gone again. “I've gotta get outta here.” She resigned to herself. With that, the agent drew her only remaining weapon, her small black plasma pistol, and rushed back into the jungle toward her ship.

The machines had made their way through the jungles of the planet with ease. Seeing that they did not have legs the undergrowth had not slowed them and with no olfactory sense the sap, pollen and aphrodisiac had not affected them.

Launched needles and other dangers were a minor inconvenience at best as they bounced harmlessly off their chassis and the only real concern that they had to worry about were thee thick vines that they blasted away.

There were enough of them, their internal senses good enough to analyze an attack or judge when the vines had managed to creep too close to them.

Sure they were scuffed up and would need a good buffing after this but it was worth the results that they could get. Programmed to get that stone as they ascended the cliff they analyzed the falling body that came over the waterfall with their sensors which were constantly working.

Steadily that radiation signal they had locked onto had been growing, growing closer and as she fell they had picked it up from her.

Simple devices for the most part their computerized brains had deduced that she must have had the stone. They had not been after the agent initially, they had not even known that she was here but this was an unsuspected change.

They halted, hovering half way up the cliff. Where an organic commander may have changed their objectives then and there the commander sought guidance sending a message up to the cruiser in low orbit.

Fortunately Ven had foreseen the limitations of the drones. The commander had a little more sophistication then the others though and thus had the good sense to send an update to Vanessa. The other reason Ven had sent her as she could think outside the box an issue alternate orders as she did now.

The objective was the same, retrieve the stone, even if the location of the stone had changed and the circumstances had been different so after the word came in the descended the cliff and scanned for the radiation signal. Finding the agent wasn't the issue though if she was still with the stone she was an added danger that they had to deal with.

She must have been swept down the river. The current was fast moving -

SPLASH!

Sensors indicated that that was not their concern so they pressed on as they locked onto the now faint radiation signal. Then it was gone. Either the stone was swept down river out of their range or the agent was but they headed to the last known location that they had picked the agent up at. Nothing.

No signal – Wait, further down river audio sensors picked up the discharge of a plasma pistol and information that had been downloaded into them confirmed that this was a primitive world. That had to be the agent!

“FAN OUT, 1 METER SPREAD AND LOCK ON TO THAT SOURCE.” The commander ordered before giving the order to move out.

Whoa! That was close! Her ship peeled behind the moon of the planet. Her investigations had lead her here but that was a cruiser out there! Not as dangerous as a battleship mind you though EMI was busy bringing up the schematics. The computer working through the countless configurations until it had matched one, an old Hel'Corian configuration used by their mercenaries.

The transponder had come up as the Virtue

“EMI, run that registration.” Maybe it was a good thing that the cruiser did not notice her. It seemed too focused on the planet and she had figured Natasha was down there. At least her investigations had pointed her out here. Goro's pheromones didn't work on here, not when she used the serum that she had developed.

She had him too, damn it, he had managed to escape her brig while she was following up her investigation, the gastropod actually had hidden objects in his gelatinous body to short out the doors and escape while she was away from the vessel.

Not a huge loss. She had the information that Natasha had been her after all and getting Goro was not a priority. She was just on Vanejin before she departed for Onderon 2 and did a quick look in to matters before departing.

“IT IS REGISTERED TO THE HEL'CORIAN CRIMINAL VEN -”

“Ven,” she hissed at the name but she had to play it cool. If Natasha wasn't down there then she'd be putting herself at risk. Launching a probe while shielded by the moon seemed best. She could maneuver it remotely though the risk was that the cruiser would pick up the energy signature and encoded message she would send, even if they could not decode it they would be aware that something was amiss.

Maybe she could use that though, the tech rushed to the engineering section of the ship to get a few things ready.

Briar was frustrated. The pyramid was something that it could not ascend and while it could still launch volleys of those quills it had most enjoyed taring into targets with thorny claws. It's target ran and jumped though stealing the artifact, which it could not have happen as it's guardian.

Rushing to the river it leaped in as well. The current was strong, even for it. The water had been cold though without a nervous system that mattered little to it. Provided that it was not subjected to the cold for long periods it would be fine. This was a jungle after all and it would warm up fairly fast when leaving the river after all.

As it was swept away it could see the villagers approaching the cave who were speaking hastily with each other for if the guardian was active and in the river than it must be in purist of a target.

The villagers seemed to change direction, that was the last it had seen of them before going over the edge of the waterfall and making that plunge. Stronger than Natasha and lacking any paralysis to a limb Briar did not get swept down stream too far as it continued with it's pursuit.

Natasha seemed to be wanted. Badly. And as she made her way along with her plasma pistol she found that it was a bit tougher to keep those vines at bay. She had the misfortune of coming upon Bloom again who noticed this.

Various vines closed in on her now that she lacked that deadly weapon Bloom would try once more since the first time did not cost her a thing and this time the results could be very different indeed.

“KHUNNN!” Natasha groaned as she pulled and struggled against the three vines ensnaring her...again.

The agent had managed to fight off a few of these determined vines with her pistol, but they didn't stop and it didn't take long before she was overwhelmed. Now one had coiled itself around her waist, and three others had a hold of her legs and her right arm. Two others emerged after she was captured and these two were the vines she dreaded the most as she immediately recognized them as vines that had been pollinating. They were seeping that blue glowing syrupy nectar from their tips as they slowly ascended toward her restrained body.

The pollen coated vines slithered into the arms and legs of her shorts and vest to press into her suit directly. The fabric of her shorts and vest would pull back and forth in response to the vines as they had their way with the captured agent. One had been trying to coil around one of her firm breasts but found that the slick material of the environmental suit and the bra beneath it could hold it at bay. That same vine then lost interest in her breast for a moment to push through the neck of her vest towards her head that was thankfully covered by a tempered glass helmet. Natasha watched as the vine prodded the globe to find a way inside, this gave her the vantage point of watching the hole at it's tip leak it's heavy pollen. The other was having much more success inside of her shorts as it slowly and rhythmically pushed back and forth across her covered flower. The agent had to clench her teeth as the textured vine followed the contour of her body perfectly in order to press into her sex and slide just enough into valley of her backside to press against her anus. The veined texture of the vine was having a noticeable effect on her as the violet haired agent could feel her heart beating a little faster, her skin heating up a little more, and dampness pooling in her panties.

“STOP IT!!” She demanded, both to the vines and herself.

In a frantic act of desperation the agent pooled every ounce of strength in her to get her weakened left arm to move. She grimaced as the pain of pins and needles returned as it slowly responded to her desperate command. She barely managed to bring her arm close enough to her captured right arm to drop the pistol into her left hand. With tremendous effort she slid her numb finger over the trigger and lifted the shaky appended to aim at the ferns where the six root long vines all seemed to originate from. It took several wild shots before she managed to compensate for her limp arm and finally started to hit the vines. Luckily hitting two vines; one that coiled around her leg and the other around her waist, to sever them both at the blast point. The other vines didn't seem to react to her shooting two of them, and infuriatingly the one probing her sex never stopped for a moment.

She was able to thrash about for a few moments to wrap her own body around the five remaining vines, pulling them together with her legs in order to give her some leverage to fight back. Now that she had something to brace herself with, the agent managed to press the lens of the pistol into the vine that gripped her right arm, and with a single shot it was free. That victory was going to be short-lived as she heard leaves being rustled and could only assume that more vines were coming to restrain her again.

She had to act fast.

One shot was all that was needed to cut the vine holding her waist and now that she had her right arm again it was simple. The agent fell to the ground on her feet as, without something to brace her, the vines toying with her body were to slick to hold her. Natasha almost immediately fled into the dense jungle in the direction of her ship. She had to hope that she was still going the right way as she didn't have time to use her scanner anymore.

Several kilometres later she was forced to stop as her body was struggling under the strain of the suit again. She had to catch her breath as every muscle in her legs felt like they were boiling. She turned her back to lay against a tree trunk while keeping her pistol aimed ahead to watch the foliage surrounding her. She kept her eyes trained on any movement in the vegetation while she panted heavily.

The exhausted agent then noticed something off in the distance: another flower with ruby red petals and brilliant yellow lines running down their centres. She then noticed something dripping off to the side and from above: another leaking vine. She watched as the vine descended slowly towards the flower, swearing that she could see the flower push upward and open itself further for the slow moving appendage. The flushed agent gulped as she felt how dry her tongue was while watching the vine leaking it's thin precum. She was hypnotized by the vine and couldn’t' tear herself away from the sight of her master's alien shaft. Her chest tightened while her eyes flowed over the deep reds of his long conical member, tracing the patches of perfectly placed ridges along it's crown and underside, the throbbing knot at it's base, and the weeping tip that called for her tongue to lap. She was pulled free from her locked gaze when her master cupped her chin in it's long feline claws to ease her gaze up to it's beaming yellow feline-like eyes.

“Take your Master's reward, my slave.” His deep voice purred soothingly while his wide muzzle grinned with pride. “I can smell how much you need it.”

The violet haired agent was lost now and she closed her half-lidded eyes while slipping free of her alien Master's claw. She parted her rose lips as she leaned into his lap to press her tongue into that weeping sh-

“NO!” Natasha shouted to herself as she broke free from the fantasy she was lost in. She was in a daze while examining herself and the ground around her as she'd forgotten where she was. Natasha hadn't fantasized like that in a long time and she had no idea where it had come from. Then she drew her attention to the warped material on her left arm where she'd removed the spines from the beast that had attacked her. “Pollen...” She whispered to herself, realizing that the pollen her suit was covered in had slipped into the tear in her suit. She realized that there must be pollen inside the air of her suit and now that aphrodisiac laced pollen was now being pulled inside of her with every breath.

“Oh shi-” She started to curse only to cringe when a haunting roar echoed through the trees towards her. She knew exactly what had made that noise and knew that it was pursuing her.

The agent then stood up sharply only to whimper as the tepid material of her panties that clung to her swollen womanhood had caressed her highly sensitive lips. She clung to the tree for a moment when she stood in order to brace herself from the sudden burst of pleasure that surged through her. She recovered quickly, but there was no time to try and purge her suit or....deal with this problem as trees not too far away began to shake as if something massive was coming toward her. The agent had to hope that adrenaline could stave off her body's need as the tight material of her suit was going to make running difficult. Regardless, the flushed agent started back towards her ship.

The machines labored on though Natasha had not been the only one that had been having problems with the plant life here. There had been a number of factors that made them better than organics here though it had been clear that they were still susceptible to damage.

Curious plants tried to grab and otherwise damage the machines though they have little problem in opening fire on the vines before they strike sensors alert them to danger, usually with enough time to react save for those occasions where they are attacked from multiple directions at once.

Lack of a respiratory system helps, as well as an organic brain while thorns are harmlessly cast away from them. However, as they fan out to cover a wider area one other component that they do not factor in is the fact that they do not have as much support from the others.

In all there are three that are destroyed and two others that are damaged in their pursuit of the agent but fearlessly, tirelessly they press on.

While Natasha would have heard them no doubt even now with her own problems the commander judges how far she would be based on the acoustics. From what they had seen earlier and the discharge of that plasma pistol they had deduced that there was still only one agent out there. Sensors were picking up that radiation again and the order was given to go into silent mode as they drew near. Blades shot out from beneath forearms, the swords still giving them the advantage against the vines when coupled with their strength but there are so many plants drawn to the movement of the machines.

Still with the numbers of the plants the machines are out numbered severely. Another three machines are lost given the range of their weapons are now limited though the commander still has half it's forces. They were getting close now as they came across the blasted vines that Natasha had cut away from her close encounter …

A roar … the commander calculated the distances … it was closer. New orders were issued silently as it alerted the computers within the others.

CONTINUE TO CLOSE AT HALF SPEED AND TAKE DOWN THE VICTOR. RETRIEVE THE ARTIFACT THEN CONTACT THE CRUISER WITH AND UPDATED PATH BACK TO THE SHUTTLE ENCASE NO OF US MANAGE TO GET IT BACK SO IT CAN BE RETRIEVED.

Death was not a concern, just carrying out orders and so they made haste as they continued to close the gap.

Luna worked fast. She was brilliant but until recently she was in the R&D department and not a field agent. But she wanted to find her friend, to rescue her so when she had begun to hear about Ven she jumped at the chance for it was her only lead.

'gosh, they were kids then it seemed so long ago. Luna had no idea that Vanessa was so close, she was dispatched to do a job when Natasha reported in. Being a novice she was given easy assignments for the most part and she had been doing an investigation on a high profile target when she got the message being that she was the closet agent and that her work wasn't life or death she was pulled away.

Of course Luna had rightly assumed that there were other agents out there that were closer but doing things that they could not easily extract themselves from.

But she had no complaints, in fact dealing with Ven was what she wanted, why she had taken the demotion from captain way down to sergeant. It was meant to discourage here though that was hardly the case … she needed to find out what happened to her friend regardless.

While Natasha made her trip on planet Luna worked with only the artificial intelligence of the ship to keep her company, a prototype she had designed.

They played chess as she worked, this task easy enough … just adding a few basic things, altering the sensors by limiting their range and getting rid of these components she could add in the necessary ones for a radio though the range was good there were pretty good odds that the transmission would burn out after the second or third use. She was working quickly here after all.

OK, time to get the modified probe launched and to work on the others though those would be simpler by far, just some accessing of ship records and some transponder codes … ten minutes of work …

“That's check mate, Emi. Prepare the second torpedo tube for launch. Play again?”

“Yes, but why can't I seem to beat you?”

“Oh, I created you. I know how you think so until you evolve beyond your basic programming I will keep beating you.”

“Then what's the sense of playing if the outcome is predetermined?”

Luna giggled a little. “I like winning. The real reason though, when you can beat me I'll know that you've grown beyond you initial design, clearly a good thing and I can add to you.”

“I see. Game reset,” and EMI seemed eager to play as she worked without effort really to get the torpedo tubes ready. Really there were no concussion missiles aboard so the launchers had been modified to fire both missiles and probes. And probes they had plenty of with her being a researcher ...

Natasha chose correctly. She even bested Bloom yet again who had managed to make a harrowing encounter out of matters this time around though it had stayed out of harm by directing other plants.

So close these time! Ah well. The machines had managed to pass by too though the agent had not managed to get very far from the scene when that roar rang out. The ground trembled and the vegetation quaked as Briar emerged from the thick brush it did not need to track her for it followed that soothing aura of radiation that provided nutrients to it and Thorn's people which were not too far behind either given their abilities to move swiftly through the vegetation.

It had taken them more time to get down from the cliff but once they were in the jungle they had been able to gain ground. They were closer than expected. The only think Natasha might have going for her would have been the fact that if she managed to get the machines attacking her by successfully dealing with Briar the natives would indiscriminately attack all the off worlders seeing them all as threats, both groups vastly different than machine or mammal. Though it seemed that dealing with Briar would occur before they closed that distance and sure enough the plant feline emerged from the tree-line with a roar as a volley of those quills were launched though she would note where they struck vegetation the plants would wither and die. Further, the plants near Briar seemed alerted to its danger and go still, a small measure of luck in her favor … the plants showed that they were semi aware, that they were afraid of death ...

Thankfully, given it's size and brutish behaviour, the young agent was able to hear it stampeding from out of the brush. Diving into the ground had saved her as those venomous quills screeched over her to pierce several bushes and trees. While Natasha was standing up, she'd noticed just how quickly the skewered plants began to wither and die. She really didn't have time to consider what was being shot at her or what was going to happen to her numbed arm, as she had to deal with the menacing beast finding it's footing behind her. Sharply turning to face the creature, it and Natasha would share a brief glare before the feline creature dug it's claws into the dirt and charged again.

It all happened in an instant, but the creature flung itself at the tall woman with huge paws reaching out for her to tear at her with long dagger-like claws behind another shower of quills. Natasha threw herself to the right to land on her shoulder, but not before firing multiple green pulses of plasma at the huge sentient plant. As she slid across the grass and ferns lining the jungle floor, she watched in amazement as all three pulses struck it's side. Plant flesh and chlorophyll burst out from each minor explosion but the creature didn't even seem annoyed by the energy bursts and only struggled from the force of the impact and subsequent explosions. She had no idea that it didn't react due to it being without a nervous system but she could see that it felt no pain. Natasha rolled to her weary feet again as she watched the jungle plant-cat slide across the ground as it slid to a stop.

The two once again glared at each other but this glare would continue. All the while, the two could hear something off in the distance. Briar had no idea what it was, but Natasha knew the sound of energy weapon discharges very well. She knew that several someones or somethings were here on the planet with her, but right now all that mattered was the creature in front of her. Behind her flushed cheeks and heavy breathing, the agent's sienna eyes would narrow to daggers of her own. The two predators would then slowly encircle each other like two sharks waiting to feed. Never once would there eyes break as the two prepared for the next attack.

“I've had enough. I thought this place was beautiful, but ever since I've landed here I've been: grabbed..., groped..., molested..., and covered in plant...sperm!” Natasha began to growl slowly. Briar too, began to growl at the same pace and pulled back it's muzzle to bare teeth-like plant-fangs that were no less deadly than the fangs of any other massive jungle cat of earth. “It's boiling in this suit and I can barely breathe! I'm getting dizzy. I'm exhausted and I NEED to get out of this thing.” Natasha's became sharper and more furious with each sentence, Briar's growl matching pace and tone in perfect step with her. “Then YOU attack me! Shoot me with quills and now I can barely feel my arm!!” Each of their voices were filled with anger as they seemed to shout at each other. “I'M SICK OF THIS PLACE! I'M SICK OF THIS SUIT! AND I'M SICK...OF...YOU!!”

Briar couldn't take this thing anymore. This little thing had invaded it's territory, taken the glowing thing that eased it's hunger, then ran away, it had to die. Now this small little thing was trying to scare him off with loud roaring of it's own. Briar wanted to tear into it's body with it's own claws while it was still moving. It threw itself at her again to tear her apart.

The Lieutenant on the other hand, wasn't an enraged animal who's only tactic was to charge forward. Natasha was a well-tuned A.D.D. Combat specialist and was trained to wait for the best moment to strike. Natasha was able to maintain some level of clarity over her anger and raging arousal through adrenaline and her pride. She's seen how this animal behaves and knew that's is overconfidence in it's size and power would deafen it to any thought of strategy. As it lunged at her, Natasha fired two plasma bolts to the ground to throw a cloud of dirt, leaves, and other debris into the creature's path to blind it for a few moments.

Briar shoved through the small clouds of debris to find no trace of the that little intruder. He dug his razor-sharp claws into the dirt to grind him to a halt from his charge, throwing his own cloud of debris up behind him. He was disoriented and didn't see where the small thing had run away to. In that moment Briar felt another hot burst of force smashing into his side again and caused him to stumble back from the burst. When he regained his footing he turned to find that annoying intruder so that he could ready his next charge; however he instead saw her leaping back and throwing something that whistled at his feet. He watched as a the small object fell between his forepaws whistling louder and louder. Unbeknownst to him, Natasha had taken the time that Briar had wasted by recovering from his charge and stumble to set her plasma pistol to overload the power cells and before he could act it burst into two metre wide plasma explosion.

Others with stingers were approaching as best as it could understand but since the things did not hurt it had not hurried any to dispatch the small one. Patience seemed to be one her side as it moved first, leaping at her but missing as it skidded to a halt initially. Now it could here the other stingers louder, drawing closer though it was still not alarmed.

Then it leaped at her as she fired into the ground. When it landed it had been disorientated and took time to regain it's barrings before the stinger bounce to a halt on the ground beneath it's head.

Eh?

Briar bent instinctively to look at the pistol on the ground. Recognizing it as the stinger that had been little more than annoying it did not understand the true dangers that it imposed seeing that such a weapon had never been encountered before today.

The explosion shot flames over Briar and had even tossed it back, portions of it's body blasted away while other remains of it's body had been incinerated.

A loud roar of pain accompanied it as the smoldering body landed on it's side. Dead or not the agent could not say nor had she been sticking around either. Unarmed in a hostile environment she had no choice but to run as the metallic figures opened fire on her.

The transition between dangers had been a sooth one, a fluid one and only the initial shot coming only with the slight whirl of machinery assailed her ears giving he enough warning to evade the attack with the cover she possessed.

Her foes had probably surrounded her, the noise she heard earlier indicate that there were more than a few off worlders. Surrounding her would have been the base action she would have taken but saved perhaps from that fate by the sudden bursting of the jungle as what could only be described as olive green pygmy plant creatures emerge to attack the off worlders, a hurled spear in her direction indicated to her that she was part of the mix, in fact the bulk of them charged at her, probably intent to get that artifact back. Was it this important?

One good thing was that she could dash towards the ship, another the roars of the feline-plant had stilled the other plants in the area with the notable exception of the pygmys. Making it easier to pass. Though she was still slowed by the undergrowth her stride made up for this.

The pygmys were smaller but seemed to ignore the undergrowth as they rushed toward her so the two groups were fairly close. She had to evade blow guns and hurled spears but the cover she was able to get in the jungle helped.

Those darts seemed to have a similar poison to Briar's on a smaller scale as patches of dark green formed near their points of impact.

Finally, with the plant pygmies in hot pursuit she got back to her ship, but was she safe just yet?