Hunting a predator: Weak Link

[Sunverkh Jhess]

The operation was in motion, Jala Zor was going to be captured by the end of the day, but before they could hunt him down, they had to know where he was located, and in order to do that, the bounty hunting team had to take that information from his last employer: Jemzel Delwum, Duros leader of a small gang in Nar Shaddaa, the man had been fighting an enemy gang for a couple months and needed the help of the Keldorian to finish the enemy leader.

The bounty hunter group had a clear first mission, get to meet the Duros face to face and force him to spill out the position of the Keldorian before he changed his current hideout, this meant, obviously, taking on his bodyguards, seeing how the Duros wouldn't want to be targeted by his own hired killed for selling him out, but it was something they didn't have to worry about much, after all, not only were his forces weakened after so many fights, they were also confident, who would dare attack them after that? Their main enemy was gone, they didn't expect any trouble.

Sunverkh was standing behind the corner of a street near the Duros' hideout, a small bar that he used as a place for his illegal activities, two guards standing in the front door while the bar was closing, no customers left. Soon, they would start their assault.

@Faster Than Light @Darasaurus

 

[Louis Daele]

Louis Daele would be right behind Sunverkh, the leader of this operation. Louis is equipped with his combat engineer armor, his standard armor of choice. He would have his other normal equipment on him, including a XC7 Carbine with two spare powerpacks on him as well. He would be holding his carbine up, he would be behind cover. He's ready as anyone can be.

Although there are better places to be than Nar Shaddaa, as this place used to his home that he was glad to leave behind, but the reward in the end will all make up for it. They just had to get the info they need and then they can go after the bounty. Louis is expecting there will be plenty of trouble, but he's feeling it. The thrill, the excitement, the adrenaline...

Whenever they are ready to move out, he will be there.

@Darasaurus @Versok

 

[Brent Fury Drast]

Sometimes Brent had to admit he was not the best of Jedi. In fact he could be a down right son of a mynock if he was being honest. But that sometimes revealed itself in times like this. This whole bounty was after this Jala Zor. The Kel Dor they were after had done some pretty bad stuff if Fury had anything to say about it.

Recently among his equipment he had acquired several thermal detonators. Rarely did Brent allow himself the option of use such lethal force. His instincts urged him to use only the force needed to neutralize, not always harm. But with this Jala Zor, some of the stories of brutality did not really make Brent feel like he was going to loose sleep over him getting hurt. That's just indifference though. Right? That's not really un-jedi like. He would end up deciding to pocket the internal contemplation for later during meditation.

The others shifted their weight and the air seemed to tense. The calm before the storm, it pulled Brent from his thoughts. His right hand looked down at the quickdraw in his hand but then proceeded to holster it. It would be too much. His eyes looked down at his wrists, where the NEWDAs held his lightsabers. But even they were capable of wounding someone gravely.

The hum of his DH-7 blaster pistol set to stun reached his ears before the weapon went quiet again. On his fists he had his shock boxing gloves. They were not fighting Jala after all.


@Versok @Faster Than Light

 

[Larisa Arkyadvich]

Larisa sat quietly in the dingy bar, her large black trenchcoat covering the fact that she was, definitively, armed to the teeth. Her dueling gloves were on her hands, her vibroblade at her hip, her holdout blaster on the other side of her hips, her scattergun in the folds of the coat and her blaster-rifle leaning against the table. To most people, she appeared to be nothing more than the average well armed mercenary out looking for a new job, and that's exactly what she desired. After having dropped off the face of the galaxy, she was back and looking for ways to utilize her skills until she either made enough money to retire or the Sith came back to recruit her.

Really, whichever came first. However if pressed, her money was firmly on the second possibility. A Duro made his way over to her table, setting down a datapad and introducing himself as the last of the night's customers stumbled out the door. "<Name is Jemzel, thank you for showing up so quick. I've been having trouble, no you can't know what kind, just know that I'm not too happy about it and want some more muscle. You're former Imperial Agent, you can handle yourself, you protect me. I pay you. Simple, yes?>"

Her Durese wasn't the best, but her translator in her ear was great. Nodding along with him, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yeah that sounds good. Pleasure to do business with you." The Duro stood wordlessly, heading into the back. It was clear he was on edge about something. Not afraid, no, but definitely on edge. Standing herself, Larisa picked up her blaster rifle and made sure it was properly 'turned on.'

 

[Sunverkh Jhess]

Seeing how they were all ready to fight, Sunverkh decided to be the first one to act, the distance between the corner they were behind and the bar was not much, so the Trandoshan simply charged them with a vibroblade in his hand while they were closing the doors, catching them by surprise and adding two bloodied corpses to the decoration of the bar's entrance before they could realize what was happening.

After that, the Trandoshan took one of the men's blasters and shoot through the glass window, aiming for another guard there that was chatting with the bartender, dropping the weapon and taking out his two own blasters before entering the bar, the shots probably alerted whoever was left in the place but the trio would have enough time to enter and take good cover. The bar itself was one of medium size,tables that could be flipped as potential cover if the bar counter the bartender was hiding behind wasn't available. The bathrooms were on the left side, the storage room was on the right, and the private office room where all the dirty bussiness was done and where the Duros was located.

The Trandoshan took cover behind the counter and assessed the situation, looking at the surroundings and making sure everything was clear and his partners in crime were close behind.

@Faster Than Light @Darasaurus @Black Noise

 

[Sinya Ven]

Sinya Ven sat quietly in the corner of the bar, contemplating. Black Sith tattoos etched across her pale skin hidden under the darkness of a hooded jacket. Lightsabers concealed underneath her jacket, Sinya openly wore a vibroblade slung behind her back and a blaster pistol holstered on her hip.

Watching scummy looking Duros approach the well armed woman sitting at the bar, Sinya closed her eyes and listened. Stretching out with her senses, she could overhear every word. This could be interesting.

As the pair began to head into the back, Sinya felt a small ripple in the force. This could be very interesting.

Standing to follow the pair, her swift walk turned to a run as a scuffle broke out at the entrance to the bar. "Out of the way," her voice inflected with the power of the force as she waved her hand at a quarren thug standing guard to the backroom.

Pushing past the guard who was no doubt more concerned about the blaster fire that suddenly shattered a window, Sinya slipped past and into the backroom.

"I hear you're hiring." Sinya drawled, her primary lightsaber flying from its place beneath her jacket and into her right hand. "Double your offer and I'll make sure you get out of here in one piece."

@blacknoise

 

[Larisa Arkyadvich]

The twilek, unmistakably a Sith, certainly barged her way in and strode to the back. Was she here to kill her target? Wordlessly, Larisa moved and followed her listening to the glass shatter as she entered the back room behind the Sith, closing the durasteel door behind them.

"I hear you're hiring. Double your offer and I'll make sure you get out of here in one piece."

Larisa leveled her blaster rifle at the Duro, Jemzel. There was no way in hell she was going to fight the Sith over this Duro.

"Yeah sorry I'm gonna need you double your offer on my end too. Otherwise I'm with the pale skinned beauty here. Is there a bounty on your head or something?"

 

[Brent Fury Drast]

Brent ran behind his trandoshan cohort but stayed at the doorway with his blaster held on the entrance towards the back room should anybody come bursting through. His finger pulled the trigger trying to catch the Twi'lek in the back as she made her way into the back room. But Brent's aim left something to be desired. Instead the stun bolt just clocked the Quarren that had been standing guard on the otherside of the doorway. The white hued twi'lek was out of sight again and so was everyone else in the back room with the Duro. But Brent held the angle there, bringing his hand down to his side ready to pull whatever tool he needed next depending on how things went. The door closed to the back room shortly after. Never seen a cute white twi'lek with tattoos like that before. Wonder if she has kiffar or maybe dathomirian family. Freakin witches.

He had heard a voice from in the room before the twi'lek had entered. That meant there were at least three people inside the back room. Seeing as they're target was a male duro and the voice he heard was another female's he did the math and relayed it to his bounty hunting buddies. "Three possible hostiles in the back." It felt good to sound like a cool operator guy. This must be what all the elite mandalorians sound like as they sweep buildings. It was the key of every relationship to communicate.


@Versok @Faster Than Light @Black Noise @Arclight

 

[Louis Daele]

Louis was with his parnters when it was time to go, he had his blaster carbine leveled in his hand leveled as he kept pace on Brent's left. He caught sight of the twi'lek to. He hasn't fired yet, but his weapon was still leveled and aimed in that direction, he saw Brent take out the Quarren guard and the twi'lek slipped away from there.

Similar to Brent, he heard the other female voice as well, so that makes at minimum three people inside. "Got it" he affirmed to his partner. Louis is ready to go on the offensive himself as needed

@Versok @Darasaurus @Arclight @Black Noise

 

[Narr Noft]

Jemzel paid well enough for a job as his bodyguard. Narr figured the bloody Duros was simply paranoid, so he had let him alone for a minute to go to o a local noodle shop and had lunch there. It wasn't until he had the bar in his sight that the Trandoshan and his friends decided to attack it.

Kriff. The Shistavanen slung his bowcaster from his shoulder and opened his comm link directly to the Duro; "Boss, I see a big Trandoshan and two others attack the bar. Better get out the back." He knew that Jemzel was there to hire a former acquintence of Narr's and he knew her to be competent to keep him alive against three try-hard Shaddaa thugs. Still, better to be sure..

Cautiously Narr approached the entrance to the bar, making sure he had cover if anyone from inside wanted to fire at him. Having seen the three attackers and being able to identify them, Narr shouldered his bowcaster and fixed his gaze on the bar.

 

[Sinya Ven]

The Duro's eyes flicked between the two potential bodyguards as he seemed to mull it over, hesitating. Rolling her eyes, Sinya decided that the "dark side" option was the most expedient.

"Hire us at our price, or I cut you down myself and walk out that door."

The Duro sputtered for a moment before nodding, his blue face a few shades paler. Giving the Imperial agent a wink, Sinya looked around the room. A medium sized (20mx30m) storeroom, dusty durasteel crates stacked around the room and dimly lit by flickering lamps and a dirty skylight. At the back of the room was a reinforced door to the alley behind the bar, and next to that a sturdy desk, which the Duro began to run over to.

Turning to the durasteel door behind her leading back to the main bar and igniting her crimson saber, Sinya grinned to the Imperial. "Name's Sinya, ready to have some fun?" Her eyes flashing with dark humor as she opened herself up to the darkside, letting its power trickle into her.

@Black Noise

 

[Larisa Arkyadvich]

And just like that, Larisa's price had doubled. Nodding her head as the Twi'lek turned to her and spoke. After taking quick stock of the room, she noted a skylight above them and pointed up to it.

"We should head out the backdoor, don't want to keep our friends outside waiting."

Of course, she spoke this at a normal pitch and volume. It was possible, if they weren't firing outside, that they could hear her say this. Though Larisa hoped they were shooting out there still. As she spoke, she detached one of her flashbangs from her bandolier. Slipping the door open a crack, she threw one into the room behind, careful to throw the grenade at an angle that did not allow any part of her body, arm or hand to be visible from the outside.

Readying herself, she shut the door behind her immediately after opening it and throwing the grenade. She was, of course, prepared to dash out of the way if someone tried rushing the door while she did this.

 

[Sunverkh Jhess]

The Trandoshan didn't do much after reaching into cover, simply looking at the door that would lead them towards their target and hearing what his other two partners said while advancing "Roger that" Sunverkh said in response to Brent, three people inside the room, one of them the target, the Trandoshan started to advance towards the door carefully, moving behind the bar counter without taking his eyes off the door

That's why, the moment the door opened a little and a strange item came out, the Trandoshan quickly picked on what it was, running in the direction that would separate him the most from the grenade, which was probably towards the door since the imperail agent didn't just drop it in front of it, Either way, before the flashbang went off, the lizard would be hunkering down behind the bar counter, eyes looking nowhere near the flashbang and ears probably far away enough the sound wouldn't be too much of a problem. After that, he would be aiming with his two blasters at the door again, if the two women behind it wanted to have a clear shot, or even know Sunverkh's new location, they would have to peek through it, and if they peeked, the lizard would be the first one to pull the trigger.

@Darasaurus @Faster Than Light @Black Noise @Arclight @Ecclessey

 

[Brent Fury Drast]

⌬ THEME ⌬​

Brent was in the doorway. He had not moved from his position. He took a few steps back to see about maybe going around back. His cautious said told him to keep checking the streets since he was basically the rear-guard of the bounty hunting trio. Moving down the street, standing out considering there was nobody else, was a lone shistavanen with an iconic looking bowcaster.

Brent stared over at the Shistavanen. "Wolfboy contact coming at us from behind and not in a kinky way." He said while the harry ex-ranger continued to approach. He would not likely be able to hear Brent but he came walking up until he was roughly a dozen meters away. Brent's green eyes stared at him wondering if he was going to give him cause to turn fully around. The grenade released by Larisa was still inside the building and well out of range of hitting Brent so he was not even worried about that in that moment.

His body was still between himself and Narr. Brent swung around and activated his lightsaber to block any attacks from Narr. His blaster also centered on the Shistavanen. He had yet to fully shoulder his bowcaster at this point but Brent did not want the male to do that. If he did make any hostile actions Brent would fire two shots from his DH-7 that was set to stun. He could be someone unrelated to these events but Brent was not about to withhold his fire on that chance. It was better for the man to have a period of unconsciousness and maybe an apology later than for Brent and his associates to get a bolt in the back.

Brent's position put himself between Narr and both Sunverkh and Louis. If he tried firing on either of them then Brent had a chance to stop an attack. He might not be his target. If the Shistavanen stopped and did not seem threatening then Brent would speak. "Stop right there. Drop your weapons."

@Versok @Faster Than Light @Black Noise @Arclight @Ecclessey

 

[Louis Daele]

Huh, Wolfboy coming from behind? Louis would turn around when he heard that. Not in a kinky way? Is this the time for bad jokes? Well, that's Brent for you. After turning around, he would see a bowcaster on the wolf-man's person. Louis thought the wolf-man could be one of many bounty hunters or a guard or something. Most likely a bounty hunter.

Reacting quickly after turning around and not wanting anyone meddling with this bounty (and having a clear line of fire), Louis would ever-so-kindly greet him by firing three blaster bolts, fast-paced; aiming to land on the wolf-man's center of mass. Either the guy will hit the ground or leave, as long as he does one of those things that would be perfect. If Louis were Brent, he would have used the force to throw that guy as far away as possible, but he's a Jedi and therefore soft, but the BIT slicer will make sure there are no unwanted interruptions.

Louis would adjust his footing also, extending his right foot diagonally upwards further to the right, being ready to move as needed.

Being already close to Brent, Louis is not in the blast radius of the grenade the Sith agent thrown. Now that blaster shots are fired and grenades are being thrown, he is now feeling the thrill and adrenaline.

@Ecclessey @Black Noise @Arclight

 

[Narr Noft]

The fact that two of the three attackers saw Narr, also meant that Narr saw them. He was therefore fully alert and prepared for ugliness of their apparent intent to kill anything that breathed and when one of them turned to shoot at him he ducked into the cover he had already made sure he'd have. The three bolts therefore missed, with the first two going wide and slamming into a store across the street and the third hitting the speeder Narr crouched behind. Likewise, the other one's two stunbolts missed as well, flying overhead.

Narr was lucky he had been cautious and had kept to cover during his entire approach. Still he had managed to get a glimpse of a lightsaber and this surpised him, so from full cover he shouted a reply: "A jedi!? You know this is a Mandalorian world, right? I've already called the peacekeepers!" Suredly the Jedi would understand that the Mandalorians wouldnt take kindly to Jedi aggressors on their world. Him foolishly showing a lightsaber might cause a war. "I saw your companion killing those men! You know you're responsible for their deaths, too, right?" Narr might not have known everything there was to know about the Force, but everyone knew that a Jedi fell to the Dark Side if they had murder on their conscience. The fact he himself shoots with stunbolts while his companions murder doesnt excuse him from the taint of the Dark Side. "It's not too late for you. You can be saved! I'm a Sector Ranger-" a lie, but not one they could refute. Any lawman would try to intervene in a murderous assault. "-lay down your weapons. As you see I have not even attempted to harm you before you attacked me. I promise I wont if you come willingly."

If they pressed their attack, even the Jedi couldn't deny that he had fallen. However light his personality might think to brush over it..the Force makes its own way and murder leaves an undeniable mark. Narr kept alert in cover, waiting for the Mandalorian peacekeepers he knew might not come, but the longer he stalled the more the Jedi must think it likely and thus that was his plan. Either way: however those three thought of themselves, from now on they were common criminals and murderers. CCTV from the bar would no doubt lead to bounties were they to escape.


@Arclight @Black Noise @Versok @Darasaurus @Faster Than Light

 

[Sinya Ven]

The Imperial agent showed quick thinking, disrupting the enemies ability to rush them. With a little bit of breathing room, Sinya rushed to the back door, a fortified durasteel door protected by a passcode. "What's the passcode?" Her question accompanied by an expecting glare. The Duro's lip quivered for a moment before he straightened up, marching over to her. <I will get the door.>

Sinya suppressed an eyeroll as her 'boss' shouldered past her and made an attempt to hide the code, but Sinya managed to get her eyes on the keypad just in time to catch the code.

"Time to go, backdoor's open." her voice raised enough for Larisa to hear but not loud enough to carry past the walls and doors. The door gave a hiss as it unlocked, depressurizing and sliding open with a quiet groan. Sinya peeked through the door, which opened into an alley behind the bar. She could hear a commotion out front, but that was none of her concern. Her job was to get her client to safety. Extending her senses out, alert for any danger, she motioned to the Duros. "Come along, the way appears clear.

The alley was 4 meters wide, and stretched along the block, with similar alleyways branching off every 40 meters or so, the labyrinthine nature of Nar Shadda's underbelly offering a multitude of escape roots. Turning to the right, Sinya motioned behind her for the group to follow. Once everyone was out the door, Sinya turned and punched in the code, the door hissing shut as she gave the Duros a wink. Moving ahead, Sinyal lead the way down the alleyway and hopefully away and out of harm's way. But eyes and senses alert for any approaching danger, saber at the ready.

//Exit thread.

@Black noise [justify][/justify]

[justify][/justify]

 

[Larisa Arkyadvich]

Larisa follow the twilek, her movements smooth and mimicking her Sith companion. Watch behind them, stay quiet. Get the hell out of the building. She exited the door mere milliseconds after Sinya and immediately began ushering the Duro away. They would not be getting caught in this alleyway. Her weapon readied at all time and her eyes up, she kept herself ready for any surprised as well.

//exit thread

 

[Brent Fury Drast]

The furry male spoke from cover for the time being. Brent dropped his muzzle and holstered his weapon again while he talked. His feet carefully taking him a few steps back but still outside of the door bar. He was eyeballing the distance between himself and the in-cover Shistavanen but wanted to make sure he had an extra meter or so to be on the safe side. The Knight was only half paying attention. His head turning sideways to gauge the height of the one story building. his hand pulled a concussion grenade and set to impact before tossing it simply towards Narr's cover. He was not trying to get it right near him, within a meter or so but also still striking the cover that was between them. The Shistavanen would not be able to see it unless he exited cover. If he did that then he risked getting hit by Louis.

With a force jump he was several meters higher and over the lip of the roof. They were not here for whomever this familiar shistavanen was. Louis seemed to have him covered enough for the time being. Brent's lightsaber was still ready in case a desperate bolt came his way but he doubted the ex-sector ranger would try to hit him in the narrow window he would be visible.

The Drast moved directly over the roof, bypassing paltry things like hallways, doors, shelves and other furnishings that would have made things slower should he have just gone through the building instead of along the roof. He would not longer be visible by Narr unless he pursued him thanks to the building's roof corner being in the way.

Coming to the roof edge that was closest to the alley he saw the trio that had been inside. They were already outside and making their way down the alley a dozen meters or so away at this point. Earlier, Larisa had still spoken loud enough earlier to try and decieve any that might have been listening. Brent had not heard it but maybe Sunverkh had since he had been closer. It turns out Larisa's attempted misdirection with the skylight was backfiring in this regard.

Brent had just intended on pinching the Duro target and associates while they were still inside. But now he saw they were on foot and trying to make their escape. Brent reached out with his free hand and focused on simply pulling one of the Duro's legs out from under him. It was he that they needed the information from. "We just want to talk." He said with a hint of apathy though he knew that the Duro in his fearful state either would not hear or would not care what he had to say. Just talking, tended to be a line used by people who actually meant to cause harm. The other two could run off and leave their meal ticket behind or they could stay.

Brent did not care about the two body guards.. As far as he knew they were... kinda cute for a couple of hired guns. That kind of opinion tended to change when he got closer to people for a multitude of reasons. He has mistaken a few men for women in the past when out on the town. At this distance maybe those two were actually just fugly as could be and he just had not noticed it yet. But maybe they would surprise him and stick with the job they had basically forced the Duro into hiring them for.

@Versok @Faster Than Light @Black Noise @Arclight @Ecclessey

 

[Sunverkh Jhess]

After not hearing much but what was happening on the other side, Sunverkh decided to carefully move forwards, entering the room just by the time the target and his bodyguards had just left, the Trandoshan didn't see them actually leave through that door, but the lizard could put two and two and realize that was the path they had taken, so, of course, he would pursue. Using the jumpboots to move upwards and get to the top of the building through the skylight and running towards their direction, stopping at the edge of the building, behind its parapet and next to Brent before taking aim with his two blasters and shooting at the girls who were standing out of cover who, while vigilant, wouldn't probably have time to shoot before he did.

Three bolts would come towards them, a heavy blaster bolt towards Larisa's torso and two medium blaster bolts that came in rapid sucession from the quickdraw towards the sith. After that, he would pull the blasters trigger once more. However, while the quickdraw would still be aiming at Sinya, the renegade pistol would be aiming at the Duros that would have fallen to the ground because of Brent's force attack, probably hitting the leg and making his escape much more difficult, the sith at least wouldn't be able to protect him if she had to deal with an attack against her own. All of this, of course, done behind the parapet, which, combined with the height advantage, made Sunverkh a difficult target to hit.

"We just need information, answer our questions, and things won't get worse" Sunverkh said to the Duro and the women if they managed to survive his attack, it was true, they didn't actually care about the man, he didn't have a bounty on his head, he simply knew the location of a man who did. The Trandoshan would give them some room to breathe and consider his proposal, as long as they didn't do something that would obviously mean they wanted to keep fighting, such as, for example, taking cover, the quickdraw aiming at the sith and the renegade blaster at the imperial agent, if they were alive.

@Black Noise @Ecclessey @Arclight @Faster Than Light @Darasaurus