Ask Building up a Score

[Izel Thral]

"What do you mea-" Izel's question abruptly turned into a startled yelp as Kori reared up the speeder bike, taking another blast from the hunter ahead of them. She then increased their speed, aiming the vehicle for a rocky outcropping jutting up from the water. And leading straight towards the Trandoshan's skiff. At once the Padawan was able to put two and two together. "Are you insane?" She shouted, but her protests were of no use. They were already committed to the course.

Izel held on until the last moment, then jumped free of the bike as Kori launched it into the air, clinging tightly to the horn. The Vratix angled herself so she would dive gracefully into the water below, but the explosion from the speeder bike hitting the skiff sent her tumbling off course. Because of this she hit the lake below at an awkward angle, knocking her senseless and causing the horn to slip from her grasp.

The Padawan struggled to make it back to the surface, gasping for breath as she came up again. "Master Tallis?" She called with concern as she turned around in the water. From what she could see the Zeltron Knight was nowhere to be found. She called her name once more, but after receiving no response paddled over to grab the horn and then made her way towards the shore. The young Vratix dragged herself up on to the muddy earth right at the feet of a Trandoshan. Looking up she recognized Kurssk, pointing a blaster pistol right at her face. Slowly the Padawan raised her hands to show surrender.

"You should have taken our offer." The Trandoshan chastised her. "But that'sss alright. We made a different alliancssse..." Izel looked past Kurssk to see his nephew Khrek approaching, accompanied by Rassh and Trura. "Khrek, take the horn." The hunter ordered. The young Trandoshan reluctantly came forward and knelt down before the Padawan to take the horn from her gently.

"Don't..." Izel implored him softly. Khrek looked conflicted, but took the horn nonetheless before backing off. The Vratix looked back to Kurssk.

"Sssee the twins here have been thinking," The uncle explained. "They think two Jedi will be worth far more pointsss than sssome wild beassst'sss horn. And honessstly I don't disssagree. You two have conducted yourselvesss very admirably." The siblings behind him smiled and hissed, clearly eager to claim their own prize. "I'm leaving you to them. The way you've fared ssso far I'm sssure you'll be just fine." Kurssk winked at her before turning and walking back to his skiff with Khrek. The two siblings moved forward and aimed their blasters at Izel. The Vratix chittered angrily.

"Trust me, I've dealt with far worse than you..." She hissed, and pushed both her hands forward. In an instant a wave of water from the lake washed over her and enveloped the two lizards, knocking them over. Izel took the momentary distraction to reach out and call her lightsaber pike forth from the water, igniting the blade once more and taking up a defensive stance. "Come on then!" She shouted an invitation, ready to fight for what was hers.

@Catbert

 

[Nykoria Tallis]

While the Vratix Jedi was preparing to fight the two Trandoshan hunters for her life, Kurssk and Khrek boarded their skiff unopposed. "Thisss wass a good hunt," the elder Trandoshan hissed to his nephew, who was still holding the horn. "Ussse what you learned today." The uncle hit the switch, powering up the engine and sending the skiff soaring to the sky... Except that it didn't work. The engine simply chortled and didn't start.

"Uncle! The..." Khrek couldn't finish his sentence, interrupted by a low-pitched sound of a blast. Then the young Trandoshan got knocked down on the floor, dropping the horn that landed with a loud THUD. Kurssk jumped up and turned to face the threat, but was met with the bolt to the chest as well. Pushed backwards, his back hit the dashboard, and the lizard slid down, grunting in pain.

Standing over them was a Zeltron. However, she didn't look like the one who had signed up for the competition. Jedi Knight Nykoria Tallis looked neat and classy. Whereas thas creature... Tousled indigo hair had river mud in it. The purple face was covered in scratches, a bruise under the eye. Clothes were torn in various places. However, despite her sorry state, the Zeltron had a triumphant smirk on her lips. In one hand, she held a heavy stun pistol. In the other, a small detail. Only now would Kurssk notice what Khrek tried to point at. The maintenance panel of their own skiff had been pried open.

"It's funny," the Zeltron started, looking at the incapacitated Trandoshans. "I don't know a druk about maintaining vehicles like these. But when my skiff got busted and I checked it, I don't remember seeing a similar part there." Kori pocketed the detail and leaned down to grab a horn under her arm. "But I do remember feeling something off about your nephew," Nykoria pointed at the younger Trandoshan. "The same feeling that I experienced when checking my skiff. You had Khrek sabotage us, didn't you?" None of the Trandoshan's could speak yet, so the question was largely rhetorical.

"So, I'm just collecting a debt here. Oh, and the horn. You did give us one shot at retrieving it, and we managed," Kori prepared to jump off the skiff. Then something caught the Knight's attention—a familiar roar in the distance, getting closer. Either angry, or hungry. Despite it being far enough, Kurssk heard it too: his eyes widened, and the Zeltron could feel a sliver of fear. Yet the Trandoshan was powerless to do anything just yet.

Thinking for a few moments, Nykoria added: "You know, I've picked up something about your culture. I could just knock you both out and bring you back to the fortress. But that would deprive you of all your Jagannath points, ruining your previous life and achievements in the process. Jedi don't do that." The Zeltron tilted her head with a smirk: "So I'll just leave you here and hope you'll recover in time," she looked in the direction of the roar, trying to figure out how long she had. Just enough to finish her speech, disappear, and hope that she hadn't just broken the Jedi Code. "You'll even have a worthy prey. I heard rancors are worth a lot of points."

The Zeltron made a faint smirk before jumping off the skiff, the prized horn in tow. Now to regroup with Izel and get out of there. A part of her felt guilty about what she had done. But Izel and the Council didn't have to know.

@Reyn

 

[Izel Thral]

Izel stared down the two young hunters as they slowly got back to their feet, still soaking wet. The opponents stared each other down for a moment, then sprung into action. Rassh raised his blaster to fire a few shots at Izel, the Padawan spinning her pike and deflecting them with ease. While she was preoccupied Trura drew an electrosword and ran at the Vratix from a flanking angle. The Trandoshan dragged her blade through the ground and then suddenly whipped it up as she met Izel in close combat, hurling mud in the insectoid's face. As Izel averted her eyes and staggered backwards she raised her sword and brought it down for a vicious overhead strike.

The Padawan however simply swung the blade of her lightsaber pike in retaliation, easily cutting her opponent's blade in half. Trura followed through with the swing of her now useless weapon, pausing afterwards to stare dumbly at the destroyed sword. Izel took the opening to jab the blunt end of her pike into the Trandoshan's gut, causing her to double over in pain. "That's why you don't bring a sword to a lightsaber fight." Izel remarked before knocking Trura over the head, making her collapse face first in the mud. "And you." The Padawan added angrily, turning her attention back to Rassh.

The male hunter fired a few more blaster bolts at her but once again the Padawan simply deflected them before using the force to rip the rifle from his hands. "We saved your life you ingrate!" The Vratix snapped. Once again she used the Force to lift up the unsuspecting lizard and throw him screaming into the lake. She looked down at the soaked and muddy form of Trura squirming on the ground. "I honestly don't know what you two were expecting." She remarked as she extinguished her lightsaber. "I'm taking your other speeder. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for the two of you. Don't start fights you can't finish." With that the Padawan made her way over to Trura's speeder bike and climbed on. It wouldn't be a terribly comfortable ride, but it would suffice to get back to the fortress. Now able to sense Kori's presence nearby Izel fired up the speeder's engine and left the two stranded Trandoshans behind to go and retrieve her ally.

@Catbert

 

[Nykoria Tallis]

It wasn't long after leaving the skiff when Kori heard a speeder bike approaching. The Zeltron's first instinct was to take cover; but along with the bike, she sensed a familiar presence. The roaring of engines also got quieter, meaning that the speeder was slowing down. Not surprisingly, she saw the Padawan behind the controls.

The Zeltron Knight stepped out of the brush, presenting herself in all her unsightly state. "Looking for this, Padawan?" she lifted the bull rancor horn that had been the cause of so much trouble and violence. This time, Kori was supposed to become a passenger. Holding the horn under one arm, she'd sit on the bike and put her other hand around the Vratix's chitin body with the other. Not something she would've eagerly done just an hour ago. But with all the mud, sweat, and challenges they had been through, the Zeltron just didn't care.

"Let's get back to base," Kori said calmly and quietly. She didn't sense any hostile presence too close to them, and it appeared that the mission was drawing to a close. "I'm sure the governor is looking forward to getting that prized horn." The Zeltron made a quick pause, letting the relief sink in, even though the mission wasn't formally over yet. "I figure we shouldn't alter the story too much. If anything, getting a horn off a living, conscious, and unrestrained rancor might be worth more points. We'll just say we killed it afterwards." Kori chuckled at her own joke, seemingly able to lighten the mood.

With the hard part done, only the pleasant formalities remained. Report to the fortress, present the horn, get commended for outstanding performance, let the negotiators from the Jedi Order do the rest. But the path to that goal had been an exhausting, live-threatening, and somewhat enlightening experience.

@Reyn

 

[Izel Thral]

When Kori appeared before her completely caked in mud and forest debris Izel almost mistook her for another wild animal at first, only finding relief when the Zeltron Jedi spoke up and presented the horn. "Well, you look terrible." The Vratix said jokingly as her ally walked over and climbed aboard the speeder. Privately she wondered what the Zeltron had done with their backstabbing competitors, but figured she wouldn't have done anything extreme. She was a Jedi after all, and if she could find room in her heart to have sympathy for a rancor she could certainly find it for two Trandoshans. Even if they were treacherous snakes.

Izel fired up the speeder once more and took them back to the flying fortress where a group of Trandoshan elders were waiting for them. The lizards seemed genuinely surprised to find the Jedi victorious, and more than a few seemed rather annoyed by the outcome of their competition. The governor took it in stride though. As he accepted the horn from Izel and Kori he spoke in surprisingly fluent Basic.

"As expected, the Jedi make better hunters then they like to admit..." He said with a toothy grin, drawing some chuckles from the others. "The Scorekeeper smiles on you today, and awards you with many points." He gestured for the two Jedi to follow him and his entourage back inside the fortress. "Come, we wish to hear the tale of your hunt, honored guests." Izel was surprised by how quickly a good number of the assembled elders had turned a corner on her and Kori. The Trandoshans really did have quite a peculiar culture. But it was a long ride back to the city, and there was no harm in endearing themselves to their hosts a bit more. It was all part of the mission after all.

As they joined the other Trandoshans in the post-hunt celebrations the Vratix allowed herself some satisfaction. She may not have cared much for how the lizards did things, but that didn't diminish her and Kori's accomplishments that day. They had faced a bull rancor and lived to tell the tale. And they didn't even need to kill it to do so. And they had overcome their opponents as well without resorting to murder. All in all it was a good day, and hopefully would open the doorway to lasting peace for the Wookiees.

@Catbert
/End Thread