Slugs And Grudges

[Raz Solus]

Truth be told, Raz wasn’t a fan of Hutts whatsoever. They disgusted her, the overgrown slugs with their giant grins. All of it made her queasy, but she knew she had to set aside her differences and prejudices when it came to other aliens. As she began to shoot up through the ranks and finally took up the helm of Mand’alor, she knew she couldn’t afford to hold onto the old views of her clan. She saw the benefit of aiding the Hutt palaces here, especially as it meant repelling Imperial Republica forces from the planet.

She was here on her basilisk, descending down towards one of the main palaces. Her people were already down below, and there were rumors of an incoming Republica force. Raz had already been fighting on Nar Shaddaa, and now she was here to continue with the efforts to get rid of Sith influence. The entire sector was in turmoil, and this bode well for the Mandalorians and the Rebels.

“Do you have visual?” One of her commanders commed her. Raz looked ahead through her macrobinoculars, grimacing, “I think I see some tanks,” She grumbled. She had expected a force to come in, but she had no idea how big it would be. After her people had already taken efforts to cause riots and explosions on these planets, they had a solid presence here.

Some of the soldiers got to work right away, setting up explosives along the path where the incoming tanks would have to cross. Several other Mandos were lining the tops of buildings, their rockets and rifles at the ready. Raz was prepared to launch back into the sky and begin a strafing run to any incoming forces.

“I’m prepared to engage!” One of her men shouted, and she knew the Imperials were close enough to start firing.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Valar wasn't really interested in the Hutts.

He honestly could not give less of a damn about the fact that they were close to losing Imperial Hutta - he really could not care less. The only reason he was here was because, in his experience, the Mandalorians and the Jedi showed up whenever the Sith tried to reassert control of the Galaxy.

So it was simple to him.

Burn the Hutts and their palaces and their people to the ground. Crush them all and the Jedi and their Mandalorian protectors would come running from whatever shadowy corners of the Galaxy they slid from normally. Riding atop one of the tanks, Valar grinned as he held one of his lightsabers at the ready in his right hand, his left steadying him on the tank. He had his shiny new quickdraw pistol from his efforts in killing Hutts before this and he was looking for a good time.

"What's ahead, captain?"

One of the Imperial officers answered simply.

"Looks like Mandalorians sir!"

His left arm, even beneath it's medical sleeve, burned and ached and Valar had to stop himself from shuddering in delight upon hearing that. Since Corellia, he had been yearning for one thing and one thing only - to face the same Mandalorian warrior in battle again. Apparently she was something of a big shot and he loved that.

Loved that he had crippled someone so important.

He linked his coms to the speakers of the tank he was standing on.

"Mandalorians..." he cooed across the distance on the speakers, "Is there one amongst you who is my twin? Hmm? She knows who she is... she remembers me. Every time she goes to use her left arm - she remembers me. Every time she looks down and sees how broken and disgusting she is - SHE REMEMBERS ME."

He laughed.

"Now... are you there my sweet?"

@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

Raz was focused on the battle at hand, giving commands and signals to her people. This was a seamless and practiced operation now, and everyone knew what to do. It was routine, predictable and repeated. What was not routine was the voice that suddenly echoed out. She paused as she listened, a grimace growing beneath her helmet. It had been some time since she heard the voice, and she thought for sure he had died back then. He relished the thought of doing what he did to her, and she found her cybernetic fingers curling in rage.

“Mand’al-”

“Handle this, I have business to take care of,” She commed back, her tone murderous. He had made this personal, and she would engage him head on. Raz gave someone else command over her droid, hopping off and activating her jetpack. She whizzed through the air, moving closer towards where the voice came from. Raz could see him on the tank, and she didn’t need to get closer to tell he was absolutely overjoyed. He had been a psycho on Corellia, entirely too giggly and happy at the thought of destruction.

The battle began to erupt around them, several Mandalorians firing their rockets to engage the incoming soldiers. Raz aimed her own wrist rocket, firing it directly towards the tank where she saw the man. She was most concerned with getting him to come off the vehicle and engage her. Raz wouldn’t let him have the luxury of manning a tank while she was out.

The Mandalorians were well prepared for the assault, and she wasn’t entirely too worried about the defense. Her focus was the monster of a man she met on Corellia, the man that tore apart her arm and pride. He would feel the full brunt of her rage, and he would feel her emotions pulsating.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

The response was a spike in rage and disgust from one of the Mandalorians, specifically one who launched herself up into the air with her jetpack. If there had been any doubt in his mind just who he was facing, it was gone now.

A curious cocktail of emotions bubbled up inside of him.

He was overjoyed to see her again, overflowing with hatred for her and yet throughout all of that? Alongside all of that? He was just so eager to get into it. She remembered him - just as he knew that she would - and that was enough to make him forget all about the attack on the Hutts and all about everything else.

All that mattered was this single Mandalorian woman.

The one who got away.

"YOU REMEMBER ME!"

His voice was still amplified as he leaped off of the tank, letting her rocket impact the tank behind him but not caring for the destruction of the vehicle. The Empire had more, after all. Instead he grabbed hold of a chunk of the armor from the tank, no bigger than his torso but thin and edged like a blade, before launching it up at his hovering enemy like a deadly disc.

He grinned behind his helmet as he began to call the Force to his free left hand, his crossguard saber in his right, as he pushed forwards, towards her but still on the ground.

"Did you miss me?"

Gods... he ached with how much he loved to feel her throbbing hatred of him.

@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

Raz paid no heed to his outcry, only enraged that he was so thrilled about all this. Now that she was closer, she could see the grotesque remnant of his arm. He hadn’t bothered to get a cybernetic, and she could tell he had been under a lot of pain from what she did to him. The sight brought to her a hint of satisfaction, but she couldn’t focus on that for now. Raz saw him launch the sliver of plating from the tank, sending it hurtling in her direction like a disc.

She had no patience for his theatrics, and she would close the distance between them. As the disc came hurtling her way, she adjusted her positioning to be vertical, rising up above the trajectory. She slammed down afterwards, her feet pressing against the flat surface of the plating as she pushed it towards the ground. She landed with a heavy thud on the ground, the plate slamming into street beneath her. Raz didn’t hesitate, drawing out her beskad in one hand and a standard pistol in another.

“Shut up,” She growled at him as he addressed her once more. Raz activated her repulsorboots, allowing her to easily close the distance between them. She met his saber with her beskad in her right hand, pivoting around his right side and bringing her left pistol up. She was close to him and fired into his side, just one shot. Raz was much more aggressive this time around, ready to murder him after Corellia.

In the background, the battle was fully underway. The basilisk began to strafe through Imperial soldiers, the Mandalorian soldiers fighting the Imperials. Explosions erupted all around them, the area in front of the palace becoming a warzone. She knew there would be heavy casualty on both sides, but she trusted in her people to hold their own.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

She didn't want to play around up there? That was fine by Valar.

"You missed me."

Laughing and launching himself at her as she did the same, Valar twisted his saber so that her beskad's blade would slide down the length of his lightsaber to become trapped in between his main blade and his crossguard blade. Twisting the blade would lock the metal blade between the two lightsaber blades, either twisting it out of her hand entirely or at least locking it up tightly.

Her other hand had a blaster pistol and he didn't like that.

Using the Force, he pushed her blaster hand away from his body as he got up close and personal with the Mandalorian woman - despite this he still felt the blaster bolt skim across his side, burning him but not blasting his flesh apart considering it hadn't fully connected.

He would turn to her right, putting her body between him and her blaster pistol and further twisting her blade as he attempted to bring the tip of his longer blade to her helmet, wanting to burn clean into her helmet and then into her skull. His left hand again began to build with the Force.

Valar was not, after all, a nice man.

@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

Raz cursed beneath her helmet as she felt him catch her blade between his. Her shot missed, barely grazing him but definitely not enough to injure him truly. Mandalorians were deadly in close combat, and that much was true even at this moment. As he trapped her blade, she didn’t hesitate to unleash a burst of flames directly towards him. His sabers wouldn’t exactly protect him from anything like this, and he could either hold onto her blade or try and avoid the flames and let her go.

As he shifted to her right, she moved with him, ensuring that he couldn’t be entirely out of range. If he did release her blade, she would duck beneath where his blades (and the incoming attack) were and swipe at his mid-section before ducking to the side before he could reorient and use his blades on her. If, for whatever reason, he didn’t release her blade, she would simply let go of it and withdraw back from him to avoid the helmet attack, firing off two shots directly into his torso while he dealt with the flames.

Raz wasn’t taking any chances, fully aggressive in her approach in how she was fighting him. With flames bursting so close, she would be surprised if he came out unscatched. It had been unleashed point blank range and he had precious moments to avoid it. Her rocket may have been used up, but she had several other tricks up her sleeve yet.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Mandalorians and their toys.

A flamethrower was not something that a Sith ever liked to face but it was something that a lot of them simply accepted as being something that would happen. It was possible to use the Force to manipulate the flames themselves but Valar wasn't going to go for that.

Instead, Valar pushed up with his lightsaber, pushing her trapped blade and her flamethrower up above his head so that while some of the flames caught the top of his helmet and made him uncomfortable, it wasn't enough to cook his alive inside his helmet. With her right arm up and extended, Valar lashed out with the Force, slamming her locked elbow with a savage Force push attack on the small area to break the joint.

Unfortunately this commitment to the attack on her right arm cost him, allowing her two blaster shots to slam directly into his torso. The first blasted his armor, weakening it and burning his gut - the second one finished his armor off and burned him more directly. Roaring in pain, he would manage to push himself backwards before skidding backwards as one of his legs gave out from the pain.

He was injured, his gut felt like it had liquid fire poured onto (and into) it and he was forced down onto one knee in and effort to stop the pain from causing him to fall to the ground - at this stage he was only still holding his lightsaber through sheer force of will.

Gods but he despised this woman!

@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

The flames licked parts of him, but he acted quickly, shoving her arm upwards. It was effective, sending the fire up above his head. He acted with the Force right after that, the concussive blast colliding into her arm. She grunted in pain as she felt what was a sure thin fracture from the force of the blow. However, her own shots landed as well, sending him blasting back. He toppled to the ground, and she stepped back, her arm bent awkwardly from the pain. This man was absolutely infuriating, and she wanted nothing more than to finish this.

However, that was when shots began to come her way. Raz had to duck to the side, whirling back to see the Imperials coming back this direction. There was mild confusion, but she had to jetpack away from the scene. As much as she wanted to finish the Sith, it wasn’t worth getting completely swarmed like this. It became clear that the Mandalorians had held their ground and the tanks had exploded. The soldiers were retreating and she had been caught amidst the chaos on this side.

Raz landed back up on a roof, glaring down where she could see the Sith on the ground. He had soldiers swarming him at this point, and he would once again live. She growled in frustration, turning back towards where more basilisks were descending. They flew in and began to mow down the soldiers trying to run. Raz made her way back towards the palace, hoping that the Sith would simply get shredded to pieces in one of the droid runs.

@Nefieslab

 

[Valar Dohaeris]

Valar was in pain and Valar didn't have as much to show for it as he would have liked.

He had injured her other arm but the woman still had her robotic eye-sore of an arm ready to go. Seething, he growled as he tried to rise to his feet before falling back into his crouch from the pain that the movement brought. He wanted to get up, he wanted to see this through to the bitter end!

Death would be better on his feet!

The blaster fire that forced her to back off confused him, until it became apparent that the Imperial forces were pulling back. Imperial troopers bodily grabbed him and began to half-carry and half-drag him from the battlefield.

He was livid.

"NO!" he roared, struggling against their grip on him even through the pain, "NO IT'S NOT OVER!"

But it clearly was.

Imperial starfighters laid down fire on the Mandalorian tank droids to keep them from shredding the retreating forces entirely and Valar was dragged along, literally kicking and screaming, by his men. Oh how he despised that woman - this would just be something else. Something else he never forgot and never forgave her for.

Something he would have his retribution for - another day.

Exit/End Thread
@Sreeya