Saints and Sennas

[Drace Solus]

.

Vjun
0143 Local Time
Ambient​

"Oh, the haunted cave aesthetic."

He lowered his binoculars and stared at the lair ahead with his naked eye. Burkhart was at his side, both Mandalorians laying on their chests behind a large boulder, which was hidden, more or less, by a few bushes and tall grass. They would be hard to spot in the pitch blackness, and even harder to hear, both men speaking in hushed voices. Drace glanced around from the mouth of the cave to the rest of the forest. The trees were blackened and lacked any leaves, a side effect of Vjun's constant acidic rain. Their branches spidered up above them, reaching to the dark green sky. Most of the "vegetation"—or "vjunatation," as Drace had called it earlier, only to hear a huff from Burkhart—consisted of tall grass and bushes, both a greenish gray and coarse to the touch. Packed dirt stretched on under the dead trees, which, to Drace's horror, would occasionally fall randomly, their roots giving way. Some had hardened enough to stay upright, like the ones near the entrance to the cave.

His armor functions had been somewhat redone today, as had his arsenal. They were seeking to take Senna in alive, so he'd replaced his concealed blade with a concealed stun prod, his wrist rocket with a bola launcher, as well as his 3 grenades to adhesives. He'd replaced his Quickdraw with a Guardian Hold Out blaster and his carbine with a stun scattergun, but kept the thermal scope on. Really, the only thing he had with him that could actually kill the bounty was his beskad, which he'd brought for the worst case scenario. She was a serial killer, and an Anzat, after all—anything could happen.

@Darasuum @GABA

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

The mandalorian was wondering if it was such a good idea to come with less lethal force than he normally did. The woman they were after, was a killer of young men. His canine gaze looked over toward Drace. He was probably the most at risk. She would do some demented things to him if she got the chance, or so Burkhart had heard from the crime scene reports. The serial killer would just end up killing the Morling outright for not being her type of prey. But that was not of much comfort.

Kelborn clan members had a degree of supersticion ingrained in them. Burkhart had a bit more than usual since he had not grown up in the mandalorian community originally but among others of his own species. The shadows around him felt like it wanted to drag his soul slowly into the dark crevices and trap it there to join those already forgotten. It made the hair on the back of his neck rise. This place was as bad, no worse, than the villiage on Dathomir. That place had been red tinted and bleak, but this was outright creepy and unnerving.

The two mandalorians had both made adjustments to their kit today. They were forcing themselves to take the woman in alive. It was in Burkhart's best interest to not allow himself the means to kill his quarry since it was the Kelborn way to not stop until one's foe would stay down. That usually meant dead.

Having left his light repeating blaster at home he instead matched Drace for long gun armament and had a stun scattergun. Burkhart had also chosen to exchange his violator and his VBL-11 blaster pistol for a dart pistol and a DH-7 blaster pistol which would already be set to its medium stun settings. The dart pistol he had a dozen darts for but all the other ranged weapons he had two additional reloads for. Considering they did not want to blow up the cave they were in the Morling had decided to forego the wrist rocket in exchange for a dart launcher and also to exchange two of his three frag grenades for one additional adhesive and concussion grenade each. The vibro sword he had earned on Umbara was the last thing he had changed about his loadout. Instead the mandalorian had a stun baton.

@vamp @GABA

 

[The Storyteller]

Senna hated being back here with her thralls, the weak willed people who had started to follow her. They followed her for a number of reasons but, for the most part, they followed her because she promised them the freedom to do whatever they wanted - and, strangely enough, most of them wanted to kill and fuck.

Her kind of people.

She knew that she was being hunted and one of her local favorites had sent her a message to let her know that her hunters were coming for her. She set herself up with her blades at the ready as her thralls, her minions, got themselves into place with cover, one of them having armed the trap that she had them set up.

Her minions readied their weapons and she readied her own weapon - she readied the body that had killed dozens of people.

This promised to be fun.

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Drace Solus]

.

"It's go time." Drace raised himself up from behind the bushes, his scattergun in his right hand from the moment they entered the cave. He grabbed an adhesive off his belt with his other hand and held it, peering through the thermal scope to see anything inside the darkness. The moment he'd seen even a sliver of orange, he would pull the pin, wait two seconds, then chuck the grenade at the movement—then open fire with his scattergun. Drace moved slowly and deliberately, eyes scanning everything ahead. He was ready to jump, duck, or dash to dodge any sudden oncoming attack, and he suspected there would be many. This was the lair of a serial killer, and it was way too calm.

The Mandalorian passed through the corridor, keeping close enough to the wall that he could duck behind what cover it gave, but not close enough to be pushed up against the wall in tough situations. The ceiling above them seemed pretty tall, so his jetpack would be an option, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that. He wasn't here for an intense battle; he was here to collect a simple bounty, then leave.

@Darasuum @Nefieslab

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

Whatever Doesn't Kill Me (Better Run) ♣ Benj Heard ​

Drace seemed pumped and in the right state of mind. Burkhart just had to imagine they were on the interior of a ship, in the halls of a winding disorganized and haphazard starship. yeah, cuz that will make me feel safer He thought to himself as they moved into the tunnel. There was not a lot of space to move into cover so Burkhart preemptively activated his bulwark shield gauntlet on his left forearm.

Drace was the one with a sight and while he shot it was only a short distance at something. They would have needed to move deeper into the winding tunnel for both himself and their targets fire at one another. Burkhart made sure to move quietly as he walked. When the two rounded a corner and Drace saw his first target Burkhart would be standing a head taller than him and to his comrade's side, able to get a bead on the other target. If it were any greater distance perhaps Burkhart would not have been able to pick him out. Having already his scattergun at the ready he quickly fired twice at the other target.

Both seemed to be wearing helmets and the Morling was not sure if either of them were even hostile. The good thing about using stun weapons was he did not have to hesitate in pulling the trigger. They both seemed to have armor and weapons of some sort but he would wait a moment before moving on them, keeping his weapon raised for a response.

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Senna tensed as she felt a change in the air and she heard the two of her thralls below her (and closer to the entrance than her) shuffle slightly as they stuck themselves closer to the walls of the tunnel. They had rifles and she hoped that they would at least slow down whoever had come calling for her.

She didn't care if they didn't though.

The two men had their rifles already in their hands and they knew that anyone entering the tunnel was to be treated as the enemy so they didn't hesitate. The minion to the left (Thrall) hugged the wall to his left and fired twice at the upper body of the attacker on the right (Burk), while the minion to the right (Thug) hugged the wall to his right and fired twice at the upper body of the attacker on the left (Drace).

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Drace Solus]

.

Large caves like they were in tended to carry echoes. Just like Senna was able to hear her thugs shuffle as they noticed the Mandalorians, so did Drace. The moment he heard movement ahead, Drace pulled the pin of the grenade and dashed to his left, moving a few steps in the direction but twisting his upper body more. Two blaster bolts came out of the darkness and slammed into the wall behind him, but the Mandalorian was paying them no mind. The plasma had not even hit the rock when he threw the adhesive into the darkness ahead; he'd seen the orange shape of the man (Thug) attacking him just as he fired on the two bounty hunters, as well as a sliver of orange from the other (Thrall) that had shot at Burk, and was prepared to launch the attack.

About two seconds had passed since he'd pulled the pin when he threw it, so it was unlikely the two enemies ahead would be able to catch it and throw it back, especially since the cave was so dark. As soon as the adhesive was off his hands, Drace fired once onto the man that had attacked him, ensuring he would have no escape. If he tried to avoid the grenade, he would merely get plugged by the scattergun.

@Darasuum @Nefieslab

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

Thankfully Burkhart had the foresight to have his bulwark gauntlet shield up and activated. It would take one of the two shots his otherwise large frame would have tanked and caused severe damage. The other shot would end up hitting his left pectoral causing him to grunt and growl in pain. However his own stun bolts exited his scattergun and clipped the thrall twice, enough for the light stun cone like weapon to hit their stomach area and another limb twice. He fire another three three shots into the thrall both out of pain and frustration as well as pragmatic assurance. He was pied off on the corner so he could not see the other thug that was targeting his cohort. After firing he would immediatly go back into cover and reload as fast as he could hoping the shot he had taken would not leave too big of a scar.

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Thrall went down hard, taking the first two shots from Burk without being able to dodge due to, if everyone was honest with themselves, a terrible lack of any kind of martial skill. Thug, on the other hand, managed to avoid the shots that Drace sent his way... mainly by almost faceplanting into the adhesive grenade, getting both himself and Thrall's unconscious body stuck fast in the stuff. The entire right half of Thrall's body, the part facing Burk and Drace, got stuck in the adhesive, leaving only his left hand and arm free.

Thug and Thrall had a bad time and Senna couldn't have cared less if someone had paid her actual money to pretend to care about their fates. They were disposable to her but the fact that she didn't smell cooked flesh coming from them was rather... telling.

It told her that her attackers weren't using lethal weaponry and that was rather useful information.

Scum moved up quickly, moving to cover below her and before the trap - which was good because the little minion didn't know anything about the trap. Need to know information and all that.

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

Having emptied his weapon on the Thrall Burkhart took out a fresh power pack and reloaded from his position. After hearing it the very faint charging sound the Morling would begin to move forward once again. He saw the adhesive coated area and made an effort to not step into it. Instead he hugged the wall keeping his legs poised and ready to jump back into an earlier part of the cave.

The cave was large enough for both Drace and him to walk side by side with some room and the ceiling afforded enough for him to potentially use a short combat burst of his jet pack if needed but it still felt rather cramped. He would have to ask the badger if he was feeling at home late.

Neither of the bodies seemed to be Senna so he would hold his fire until he saw the Scum further in, though he would not cross over into the adhesive area just yet. If the Alor ended up seeing the man he would fire off a quick three shots from the wide arc weapon.

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Drace hadn't moved on but Burkhart had moved further up into the cave after he had done his reload. As he approached the adhesive mess that had been left behind by the Solus warrior, Scum would spot him through the passageway and open fire on him with three blasts towards his chest.

Of course the blasts were a bit panicked because Scum had literally only just arrived in his cover but they were still reasonably accurate and they would still be a pressing issue for Burkhart to deal with, to focus on.

However the fun hadn't finished yet.

Thug, who had been half covered in adhesive but not stunned, used his free left hand to grab his frag grenade from the back of his belt and prime it. As Burkhart had still not crossed over the adhesive this would not be visible to the Mandalorian as the man's trapped body was between the Mandalorian and the grenade. He would wait a second until he heard the blaster bolts being fired - at that point he would weakly throw the grenade, curving it around his body.

The grenade would arc low to the ground to land at the edge of the adhesive area, no more than half a meter in front of Burkhart, with two seconds left on the fuse as the Mandalorian was being fired at Scum.

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Drace Solus]

.

Burkhart went on ahead, and Drace followed shortly after, his rifle held up in his arms. Hearing bolts being fired up ahead and seeing the signatures on his scope, he would grab another adhesive, prime it, then throw it toward the enemy, the explosive soaring through the air meters above Burk, after which is would explode mid-air right next to Scum.

@Darasuum @Nefieslab

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

Burkhart saw the outline of the scum coming just into view and instinctively fired simultaneously as he bursted off backwards with his jetpack. A curse on his lips as he did this, thankfully the man who was firing at him did not seem a good marksman but as a result the Morling himself was able to acquire a decent target either and only fired off one of the two shots which had only served as more of a primal suppressing fire action than anything else. The shots from the Scum's blaster raked the wall behind him as he moved backwards, nearly hitting Drace with his large frame but just avoiding him to not tackle him unintentionally. He really did not like tunnels.

But as he came to a stop he saw the rolling grenade that had seemed to appear from nowhere. But his subconcious knew it must have come from someone which point towards the apparently not - so - incapacitated Thug. Either way, he flinched as it would go off. He had moved the full ten meters back. It put him just outside of the grenade's explosive radius but still made the Morling flinch and curse once again. In addition it looked like the tunnels were sturdy enough to hold despite the ordnance's activation.

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Thug's adhesive grenade went off and although he was unable to catch Burkhart in the range of the grenade, he had done a marvelous job of ensuring that the two Mandalorians had backed off, neither of them advancing. Of course Thug was now entirely out of options and out of luck - shrapnel from his own grenade tore through him, cutting his arteries deep and causing him to bleed out, held in the adhesive as he was.

His partner, Thrall, would find himself in a similar situation, killed by shrapnel he didn't even see coming towards him. He had been out like a light regardless after all.

Scum himself swore and pushed himself harder and faster to his cover, avoiding the blaster from Burkhart by the skin of his teeth in part due to Burkhart adding another ten meters of distance between them as he was firing, giving the man just enough time to avoid the blast. Of course the grenade from Drace was slightly more problematic, the grenade exploding and expanding near the wall to bind the man's head to the wall, completely covering the man's head in the adhesive.

Senna just rolled her eyes.

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Drace Solus]

"Andraste's tits!" he cursed before he could even stop himself, the frag explosion making Drace jolt in surprise. How had they not seen it? So much for seasoned warriors. At least now he knew to double tap—stun weapons or not. Adhesives would not do the trick alone, from the looks of it.

His grenade had stuck one of the thugs to the wall by the head, and Drace walked up until he was a few meters away and shot two bolts directly from his hold out blaster—which he had drawn in his left hand—directly at Scum's neck and chest. That should have him out like a light. If the man was downed, he would grab his blaster, holding it in his left hand in case lethal intervention was needed—and for ammo, of course. Drace lifted his scattergun and scanned the walls for any secret exits or traps, the thermal reading completely blue. There was what looked to be a ledge above them, but no one up from the looks of it. Drace looked back down and hopped up, activating his jetpack so that it carried him over the adhesive-stained zone. He'd land back on solid ground across the stream.

The Mandalorian kept his rifle poised in front of him, ready to fly up or down as needed. Any enemy that stepped ahead of him would be shot before he could even blink.

@Darasuum @Nefieslab

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

After he was sure that he was clear from the explosion and all other dangers Burkhart would keep his scattergun raised and ready. They had only just entered the cave and now had come across three enemies in a short span. There was possibly more resistance up ahead and it was clear that the Mandalorians had been expected. They had beaten the informant, or rather Drace had, and Burkhart had shot a man down in the middle of the town trying to take their ship.

He was not ready to move forward as far or as quickly as Drace. Instead he just made his way down to the bodies of the Thuf and the Thrall. He scanned and kept himself alert. There was a fork and a tunnel off to the right but the Scum had come from the other direction so it made Burkhart wonder if there even was anything up the other way. He would hold that position for a moment, keeping his weapon ready and wondering the best method of clearing the cave system ahead.

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Senna wasn't going to wait for a better opportunity than this.

As Drace and Burk moved forward, Drace checking the area, Senna would activate the trap - setting off two flashbangs just as Drace activated his jetpack. Launching herself from her vantage point, Senna would grab onto the Mandalorian mid-flight from his left side, using her right arm to grab onto his helmet tightly and wrapping her legs around his waist. Her left arm wouldn't grab onto him in any way - instead she would thrust it forwards and she tilted his helmet back, to stab her hidden blade into the main artery in his neck beneath the armor of his helmet but above the armor of his chest plate.

With Drace focused on making the simple jump forwards, all his attention on the path ahead, he should be unprepared to deal with the sudden attack from an angle he didn't have covered. Burkhart had been looking straight ahead - right at the flashbangs when they went off. Even if he wasn't right on top of them, they would disorientate him and cause the instinctive reaction to look away. Of course he was close enough to have some effects from them at least.

@vamp @Darasuum

 

[Drace Solus]

Of course something had to happen. As Drace's jetpack activated, a loud bang—followed by a second—deafened him, the bright light also blinding the Mandalorian. He was disoriented, relying on his sense of touch to figure out whether he was still flying or not. Thus, the very moment a hand grabbed him from the left, he threw out his left hand wildly, feeling her arm as the concealed blade came up, and trying to catch her by the forearm with his left, keeping his head in position and resisting her attempts to tilt it back. A moment later, his stun prod armor function activated from his right hand, Drace stabbing it directly at her collarbone area.

He didn't exactly know where he was, but that was not his main priority. The Field Marshal was focused on getting whoever the hell had grabbed onto him off, so he also tilted his body to the left and behind, directing his jetpack that way. It would keep flying until he slammed the woman into a wall, which would hopefully get her to dislodge.

@Darasuum @Nefieslab

 

[Burkhart Kelborn]

____________

Burkhart's eyes were looking down towards the bodies and then towards the side tunnel when the flashbangs went off. He raised his left arm reflexivly but even with the large appendage in the way it was still a mild blinding light that had happened in just a moment. The loud bang was also defining considering he was within the edge of both concussion grenades range.

He backed away from the source, his backside touching the wall so he would at least be able to limit what direction he would be attacked from if whomever had triggered them was going to make a move on him. Last thing he remembered Drace had been around the source of the concussive blast. His canine eyes tried quickly to blink away the stars dancing before him in a field of off white. His ears would also probably need to get looked at after this. "son of a- , mawp, mawp..."

@vamp @Nefieslab

 

[The Storyteller]

Senna cursed herself for not wearing some form of helmet to assist her in blocking out the sonic effects of the trap she had used. It wasn't anywhere near the full effect but she wouldn't be surprised to find that she was now going to be deaf for the next few hours. If she lived that long she would consider it a small blessing.

Feeling the body of the Mandalorian lurching as he went for a thrust, after he manually activated the armor function in his right arm, Senna knew that she needed to move.

Pulling hard, she leaned backward, throwing her entire body weight backwards suddenly. This moved her body away from his thrusted stun prod - and unbalanced them both as it worked in conjunction with his own leaning motion. With the wall so close and the jetpack so fast, the two of them wouldn't impact the wall with her back-first.

They would impact it head-first at the top speed of his jetpack.

It had never been Senna's intention but the two of them were disoriented and they would have the barest second or two to react before the sickening impact would cause them to hit the cave wall at, literally, break-neck speeds.

@vamp @Darasuum