Ask Tatooine Redemption

[Preef Callo]

The rodian hadn't been this alert in years. He felt younger now and the Twin Suns seemed to burn less as he dragged his boots through the sand until the duo stood in front of the two meters high blast door. He was getting tired of being insulted, too. "I've reached a conclusion," the old rodian said, loud and strong enough for the unseen voices to hear. "This here planet isn't big enough--" he was interupted by mr Garris barking an order just before two masked faces popped up above the wall, following by blaster barrels lowering towards the rodian.

PREEF only grinned and engaged his jetboots, resulting in the first shots hitting the sand where he had stood, while the rodian drew his infamous peacemaker and with the marksmanship that made him legendary, blasted off the face of one of their attackers. Then he flew over over the wall and his second shot, destroyed the locking mechanism from the inside, resulting the blastdoor unlocking and providing mr Garris a way inside.

Then he landed, in the middle of the compound, peacemaker in hand and quiet unmoving frame. "--for the both of us," the old rodian finished.

A dozen armed and armored mercenaries stepped out into the courtyard. One of them was practising his swing with a vibro-spiked bat, no doubt imagining how the rodian's head would explode on impact. Another was demonstratively charging the powerpack of his scattergun, no doubt imagining how his blaster would separate the old rodian's limbs from his body.

Said rodian, though, was unimpressed. "One chance," Preef said as his eyes lost focus in order to capture sudden movement from such a large group of enemies. "Leave now,"

"Or what?" a Kaleesh warrior laughed as his two serrated vibro-machetes glided through the air in mocking theatrics.

The green flash was all anyone saw before the Kaleesh fell to the ground. Dead. "Or I kill all of you"

@Zay

 

[Cipher 7]

Darrow Basslik had been serving the Black Sun his whole miserable little life. Even now as he picked the grit from beneath his fingernails with a mean looking knife he wondered if there was anything in this galaxy for him. Would there ever be a time when he wasn’t just a gun?

A rough shove from his right ripped a scowl from his scarred lips.

“Watch it you fu—”
“He’s here! He’s fucking here!”

Darrow’s scowl hardened, “Waddya mean He!?[” It didn’t matter though, the goon was already off manically raising the alarm and heralding the coming of the ever ominous “HE.”

Basslik stood and shoved his knife into it’s sheath on his belt next to a mean looking heavy blaster. He straightened his duster and pulled the brim of his hat down. If there was someone worth this kind of trouble, well he might as well go see who He is.

Blaster fire lit up the space between the fortified wall and The Rodain blessing the Black Sun with death. It was a thing of beauty, or would be, if Seven wasn’t running for his fucking life right now.

Peef had done an incredible job of drawing their attention which gave Sev a chance to slip around back and hit them where they were least expecting it. He rounded a corner and was met by a scarred gunslinger wearing a wide brimmed hat and a duster.

“You him?” asked The Gunslinger. Sev’s response was delivered by the sharp bark of his blaster. Confusion conflagrated across the scarred man’s features before he was sat down by the sucking wound in his chest. Seven rushed past him, just catching the closing door before it closed.

Without looking back, The Cipher made entry.

Blood bubbled out of Darrow’s mouth painting his teeth pink as he struggled to suck in air. He wanted to curse his luck. He wanted to curse the Black Sun… He… he wanted… to…

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

[cue action scene]

Preef's peacemaker made only the slightest adjustment before a green flash nearly decapitated a nearby Quarren, but then the old rodian was forced to make a roll to his right to evade the fire from three scatterguns. The moment he landed on his knees the peacemaker flashed again, planting a bolt against the scattergun of a Falleen bruiser. He looked relieved for a moment, but then his scattergun heated up suddenly and exploded in his hands, sending shrapnel deep into his face and cutting through his major arteries. A bloody mist distracted some from the rodian planting his toes into the sand and rising back up to his feet, firing twice as he did and striking the other two scattergun-holding mercs in their torso's.

His last shot was upwards and hit the remaining guard on top of the wall in the left knee, disbalancing him as he first stumbled and then fell on the other side of the wall.

[end action scene]

That left roughly eight Black Sun scoundrels, but almost all of these guys held melee weapons in their hands. They hesitated, having just witnessed the skill of the legendary gunslinger first hand, but then one of them, another Falleen, seemed to smirk. "Feeling a bit winded, old man?" he laughed as he watched Preef's chest heave up and down with every one of the rodian's breaths. He was right, for this little display had exhausted the old man.

There was no way he would be able to shoot all eight scoundrels before they reached melee range and strike a lethal blow to the old Crymorah syndicate boss. Worst part is that they all seemed to come to that very realization. "There is-" Preef paused to inhale, "-no room for the Black Sun," his voice rattled and he had to suppress a cough as he inhaled the hot Tatooine air again, "on Tatooine."

As Preef's eyes narrowed, counted his opponents and estimating their individual strenghts he couldn't help but wonder where mister Garris had gone off to. Then he pulled the trigger again-

[cue action scene #2]

@Zay

 

[Cipher 7]

The black gloss insignia on Zos’s uniform shone with resplendent grandeur in the dank inner workings of Black Sun’s Tatooine base. The alarm had been sounded. His men were behind him moving with well oiled precision. Beings were screaming and panicking all across the base. The general consensus was that they were being assaulted by Peef Callo, THE Peef Callo.

Where other’s trembled, Xos’s lips sliced into an excited smile. Finally, he’d get to test his mettle against the Legend.

“I hope you boys are ready—” Xos’s resounding pep-talk was interrupted by the viscous barking of blaster fire. Of his five men, two were gunned down, the other three managed to make it to cover. Their leader slid in around a corner. The corridor was dim and the dust kicked up by the tramp of feet blanketed the space in an opaque veil only illuminated by the hanging light fixtures above.

“There!” screamed someone. Blaster fire erupted, blue, green, and red, plasma lit up the hallway. There was a grunt across the way. Zos chanced a glance, his man Paleese was staring at the ceiling with eyes that no longer saw.

The Falleen Enforcer scrambled back into cover just as a blue bolt smashed into Xos’s makeshift battlement.

“Fuck—” he spat as tiny shards of plaster sliced into his green skin.

“Xos’s is-is it?!” started a voice that wasn’t quite familiar, but Xos bellowed at the top of his lungs, “Stop talking and start fucking shooting!” too eager to right the obvious wrong of his situation. That is until the hot muzzle of a blaster pressed itself to the back of his neck.

“You so much as breath the wrong way, and I will spatter you’re fucking brains across that wall, nod once if you understand.”

The Falleen nodded vigorously.

“Boss who, er what, the fuck are we shooting?” called one of his men. Xos didn’t respond. For all his bravado and bluster, he was nothing but a coward when hot durasteel drove home the point. Maybe it was the smell of his own flesh that eroded his confidence… Maybe he’d never had any to start with. No, Now wasn’t the time to start doubting. He had to get the upper hand, he could outsmart this interloper, this preposterous— aaaaaaand the really hot metal was pressing into his neck again.

“Owowowowow!” whimpered Xos as he was yanked up.

“Sir—” blue blaster fire slammed into the chest of Xos’s last man. He was caught. He was being used as a meat shield, the indignity of it. The UNFAIRNESS— ”Take me to your Boss, now.”

“I can’t,” started Xos, but his last dregs of defiant loyalism evaporated when he heard the hammer of the blaster at his neck lock into place, Xos coughed, “Can, I said CAN!” he lied.

“Good, lead the way.”

The voice of his assailant was garbled by a voice scrambler. The only thing Xos dared chance a glance at was the hand that held his shoulder, and of course… it was gloved…

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

THEME

A green flash, the rodian jumping to his right as the first of his attackers fell dead to the ground, then the unmistaken sound of combustion and the legendary gunslinger leaped into the air -aided by the jet engines in his boots- flying out of range of the serrated vibro-blades as he fired one green bolt after the other. This was PREEF -kriffing- CALLO and he..

..felt a sting in his lower back.

It was suddenly impossible to keep his balance and all the aged quick-draw could manage was try and control his descent to barely avoid the parked speeder bike in the courtyard. He heard some laughter and then an excited high-pitched whine-like voice, "I shot him! I shot Preef Callo!"

With his free hand he touched the burned dehydrated flesh on his lower back and winced in pain. There weren't enough systech stims on Tatooine to dull this one. Only a kolto bath could fix this and that was hours away in Mos Espa. Kriff, the rodian slowly rose back to his feet and grimaced at the remaining Black Sun scoundrels standing in the courtyard. Their job was easy; kill the legendary rodian. Preef's job was a lot more difficult; survive.

"Only five of you left," he wheezed through heavy breaths, "Seems the odds are in my favor." the old rodian tried to smile, but it quickly turned into a grimace as a subtle change in his stance triggered a jolt of pain from his recent wound. The Black Sun scoundrels merely laughed and cruelly so. They were all Falleen, just like their ruling council, which meant killing the rodian had been ordered from all the way at the top. "Xar finally grew some balls with old age, did he?" his voice was weak and barely above a whisper, so Preef wasn't sure if the scoundrels even heard him.

He exhaled, slowly. His peacemaker had somehow found his way back into the holster and now the rodian's suction-cupped fingers were hovering over it. This very well could become his last quick-draw contest if he wasn't fast enough to hit all five before they got in striking distance. An easy feat, perhaps, in his youth. But now? At seventy-two.. he knew he was slowing down.

@Zay

 

[Cipher 7]

Draang Kalzik couldn’t for the life of him believe what was happening in the courtyard of his, HIS, property. He’d been entrusted with this location by Xar, he’d kissed the ring and was sworn to uphold this location with everything in his ability. The main issue with that is how many of his fucking men PEEF FUCKING CALLO had killed.

The hangnails on the ends of his right hand were bleeding from his anxious picking. He’d been sure that one of his men, ONE, would have killed the old fucker by now. A flash of light lit up the Falleen Ringleader’s face. Peef lurched forward as the bolt hit him in the back.

Unbridled joy began to seep into Draang’s expression, then the door to his office hissed open.

“What is the MEA—” started Draang, but the rest was cut off in a high pitched squeak. Draang’s eyes met Xos’s. The smell of thick fear leaked from the other Falleen. The interloper was clad in armor and unable to be identified, but the mean looking blaster in his hand was enough to give the Ringleader pause.

“You got three second to hit your fucking knees,” said the mechanical voice of the armored gun.
“Whatever Peef’s paying you—” A blaster bolt slammed into his right knee and his leg buckled under the impact.

Draang wailed in agony. Xos pissed himself.

The gunman put the muzzle to Xos’s temple and blew the man’s brains across the wall. As his body fell the assassin stepped around them and hoisted Draang up.

“They shot him! They did, he’s hurt, you’ll never get out of here alive!”

The gunman chuckled, shot out the window behind them and threw Draang Kalzik, Ringleader of this operation, through it.

The explosion of glass and screaming voice caught the last five fighter’s attention. The wet cracking thud of Draang’s landing caused more than one of them to flinch. The goons looked between one another then to Peef, then back up to the window where Draang had come from.

Seven watched the five pairs of eyes turn and look up to him. A smile he couldn’t control spread across his face. He pulled his grappling ling and started running toward the blown out window. His boots hit the window sill and he felt the embrace of weightlessness wrap him up.

Sev’s gun took aim and fired twice before he twisted mid-air and attacked his hook to the window. Two of the five dropped sending the final three into a panic. No doubt like shooting fish in a barrel for the legendary Peef Callo.

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

His breath rattled. He had a good run, he did. Just too bad he'd meet his end facing down some no-name scoundrels. Suppose that's how it goes. There's no blaze of glory in the Outer Rim. Preef's eyes narrowed as he stopped his exhale at about three-quarter. Which one first? The one on the right, he looks like he'd be the quickest to reach him. Then the one on the far left and if he's lucky he could work his way back to the right in time.

Just as the legendary quick-draw was about to draw his peacemaker for the last time, glass up above exploded and rained down. Through it a Falleen man fell -faster than the glass- and landed on the ground with a thud. A sliver of relief for the distraction made the rodian look up and see, kriffing Sev Garris, grinning down at him.

Then he pulled as the younger man ran for the window. He was slow, much slower than he used to be, but his tired arm still moved quick enough to plant a bolt in a distracted enemy. The second and third were hit while already in motion. First the one on the right, who moved for him quickly and had almost reached close enough to slice the rodian open with his serrated vibro-blade when the green plasma hit his chest and he was propelled backwards instead. The third and last one was smarter. He had tried running for cover, but while crossing the courtyard and away from the newcomer, he stumbled against the bodies of his friends. Preef almost missed him, but the bolt hit the man's upper right leg and he cried it out, falling amidst his friends as he tried to wrestle them back and move himself forward into cover.

The rodian's slow steps came closer and almost managed to drown out the old man's heavy breathing. He wanted to say something smart. Something like, "I'm coming for Xar next," or "I'll eclipse the sun outta you," which, admittedly wasn't really a smart of intelligent thing to say. Alas, Preef hadn't changed that much.. he was slower, not smarter.

The green bolt pierced the scoundrel's spine and that left the entire Black Sun outpost on Tatooine dead. The aged rodian turned to Sev Garris and mustered a smile as he holstered his famous peacemaker. "Thought you wouldn't show," he laughed, but it was quickly stifled by a lack of air in his lungs. The Twin Suns were burning down hard and for a man of his age this had been a very long and arduous day.

@Zay

 

[Cipher 7]

As Seven expected, Peef put two of the three left down in quick succession. He would have dropped the third, but at the last second the guy tripped and the green blaster bolt slammed into his leg ripping a feral scream from green bastard’s lips. He fell among the dead and Seven couldn’t help but chuckle as he closed in.

Seven’s Python was still in his hand and the hammer was drawn back, which was done more for intimidation than necessity at this point, when Peef reached the last member of the Black Sun Outpost. There were no ceremonial words. No tearful pleads for life. Just the simple point and shoot of a practiced killer cleaning up their crime scene. It was pragmatic and simple. Yet again, another point in which Seven found himself garnering a little respect for The Legendary Gunslinger.

Now that the danger was passed and the only people alive in the surrounding area were he and The Rodian, Sev pulled off his helmet and lit up a cigarra.

“I’ll be honest,” he said with a grin, “I got a little turned around when I made entry.”

It was a lie of course. He’d pretty much seamlessly infiltrated the building and laid waste to the confused thugs within, but there had been more of them than he’d realized. So, there was that.

“So,” he started as he took a drag on his cigarra, “When we goin’ after Xar?”

The first of many carrion birds landed and began to pluck at the newly dead buffet laid across the grit.

@Eccles

 

[Preef Callo]

Suddenly the old rodian felt a bit wobbly as a jolt of pain in his lower back reminded him of the fact that he'd been shot. The adrenaline was definitely fading already, then. "First a bath," he grimaced at the young gun, "Kolto, that is." Eventually, if he was that lucky, the young gun would experience the toll that shootouts took on your body. It wasn't just anyone that got as old as Preef Callo in this kriffing business. "And whiskey, a whole lot of it."

The old rodian moved to the exit as he pulled his communicator from his pocket and made a connection with the local comm tower. Tatooine was parsecs behind whatever technology they had in the Core. "Belching Frog Saloon-" the static coming back to him was clearly audible, -yes in Mos Espa. Tell them Tatooine has only Two Suns left." there was a pause before the static returned, which somehow sounded a bit unsure as if what the old man was saying was utter rubbish. It was, ofcourse, but back at the Saloon they'd know what Preef had meant. Tatooine was rid of the Black Sun, but their compound could have valuables to crate up and sell.

Once back out on the street he turned to Mister Sev Garris with a shallow smile on his lips. Preef Callo was in his seventies, exhausted, wounded and was already turning a shade paler than when they first met that morning.

"Welcome to the Callo Gang, mister Garris."

/end thread

@Zay