Ask [Tol Amn] Despite Everything

[Kotii Solus]

Spoiler: Theme

With a thundering rumble in the void of space a single starfighter exited hyperspace over the outer rim world of Tol Amn. Inside the interior of Kotii's cockpit was filled with flashing red lights. The Mandalorian gripped the controls of the starfighter. Underneath his helmet he was gritting his teeth, but for the most part keeping his composure and tapping the controls to divert power immediately to the thrusters.

The rotating blade like wings of the nadyc retrofit starfighter were trailing smoke. The badger's ship had lost its shields completely and some bleed through damage scored burns and left a trail behind the fast attack craft.

The sound his own ship made, with a slightly different tone rang in the echani-offshoot's ears but behind him. A new warning on his ship's sensors pinged confirming his expectation. Indeed, a ship had dropped out of hyperspace and not far from where the Mandalorian had exited either. No sooner had this registered than the man slammed on the fusial afterburner and thrust de-limiter. Both sent Kotii into his seat further as the ship accelerated rapidly to a hundred and thirty megalights per hour.

With power diverted towards the engines Kotii could only begin to think of where he would send a message. He had hoped to shake his tail to not lead them back to other members of the battlegroup but now he was over Tol Amn and practically limping at that. The modified fang class starfighter rapidly descended into the storm wracked skies of a Tol Amn continent. Maybe he would be able to loose his tail that way.

Keeping an eye to make evasive maneuvers, the Alor in exile was not about to let her take desperate shots at him. Hopefully she did not have anything that would catch up to him right away. But if the pilot pushed his ship any more he could cause engine failure at any moment. But that was a risk he was willing to take. The badger was not out of the fight yet. He was only getting started.

Whomever was hounding him, the man had to give the pilot credit. There were only a few locations that were safe jump routes and it was a gamble but one that apparently paid off for them. Maybe Kotii was just that unlucky.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Song thundered out of hyperspace. Hot on the badger’s tail, she banked her starfighter sharply to the right, seeking to catch him in his blind spot and send him spiraling down into the planet's atmosphere. Or better yet, turn his ship to ash. It was not everyday you had the chance to take down the dar’manda, the most wanted Mandalorian exile in the Rim—Kotii Solus.

She knew it was him behind those controls. It had to be. For the last month, Song had been tracking him, using her skills as a hunter to pinpoint his whereabouts, following rumors and whispers like a wolf might after bleeding prey. She intended to put this one out of his misery. Smoke was already trailing from his engines and his hull had suffered some serious damage when she’d attacked him in orbit above Tatooine.

Song could do this. She was Clan Wren. She knew the precise defense systems and unique designs employed by his ship. That, and sheer luck, were the only reasons why she’d managed to outwit him so far, and they would be the reasons leading into his defeat. She might have been a miserable pilot, but years of traveling the Rim and serving the new Mand’alor had sharpened her talent on the dashboard. As long as that ugly-looking storm didn’t get in her way, she’d kill him.

Song dove into the dark clouds. Lightning flashed across her vision, and as she squinted, she could barely spot Kotii’s ship through the black, a tiny blotch in the distance. She loosed at least a dozen shots, desperate to eliminate him once and for all. It was hard to tell whether they landed or not. In fact, it was hard to tell if she was still flying, because the moment she fired, a stray lightning bolt crashed into the side of her ship.

Then another. And another.

As if her luck was finally out, Song watched helplessly as her dashboard sparked and shut off. Her heart made a hundred-story drop into her chest, and then, so did the rest of her ship.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

The rotating wing design of the modified Fang starfighter danced and wove between the darkened clouds of Tol Amn. Kotii's nadyc still had both its afterburners and thrust delimiters active. Dark silhouettes of the ground and terrain were getting closer as his ship lost altitude.

The sensors on Kotii's ship were getting interference but he looked at the readout of the ship still chasing him only to see it completely blink out. The man banked and turned to see if he could spot the last guessed trajectory of the ship.

No sooner had he laid eyes on the falling form of the Wren's fang starfighter than the sputtering sound of his engines reached Kotii's ears. The rotating wings of the ship slowed and the attack craft immediately began to plummet.

Not good. His other instruments were still mostly working. Both of his hands gripped the controls of his ship tightly. There was nothing he could do to restart his thrusters, not before the ship would hit the dirt. Instead he prepped the ship for trying to be controled remotely via his wrist gauntlet controls.

Thinking quickly, Kotii hit the ejector seat. The canopy of the nadyc opened up and the Mandalorian was lifted up and out by his pilot's chair. Watching the ship grow rapidly smaller beneath him, Kotii tried to metigate its plummeting descent. Flame and smoke answered his expectations. The man's ejection seat would safely get the man to the surface. After that, he would need to decide which ship he headed towards, his own, or his attacker's.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Song cursed internally, a palm smacking against the dashboard. She’d been so close. Ten more seconds, maybe five, and she could have taken down Kotii for good and escaped this damnable storm. Now, she had lost the power in her engines and she was about to die in a fiery blaze. Wonderful. No matter how desperately she pulled at the throttle, she couldn’t change the ship’s direction, hurtling to the ground at a frightening speed.

How far even was the ground? She’d lost track of it in the smoke. While Song could just as easily eject or cut a hole in the cockpit and use her jetpack to reach it safely, the last thing she wanted was to be stranded on a swampy planet like Tol Amn. Especially if Kotii’s ship was still flying. If there was a chance to boot her starfighter back up again and escape this madness, she had to take it regardless of the odds.

Then she heard it. The engines roaring back to life.

Song spun back to the controls as they lit up, flickering, managing to recover from the initial electromagnetic interference. She seized the throttle once more and banked it sharply upright. There was still hope. Still a chance she could survive this or continue her hunt for Kotii and finish what she’d started. She could earn the respect and influence she needed overnight. She could seize Wren’alor from her corrupt father and bring honor back to her clan. The ship tilted up, regaining its balance.

And then she saw the ground again, too close and too late, and Song shattered against a steaming swamp.

The breath left her lungs as she bucked against her seat and dashboard, and had it not been for her armor, she probably would have cracked open her skull. Quickly, she scrambled to unbuckle from her seat and break open the cockpit window. Water was already rushing in around her, and she had little time.

Song had to escape. She had to find and kill Kotii Solus.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

His attacker had hounded him, chased him from one system to the next. If it were him, he would not give up on his target. Kotii had no reason to think the one hunting him would act differently. For now the confrontation was only delayed.

In the rain filled clouds, Kotii fell to the ground in his chair with attached parachute. The thrusters had metigated the high speed and now it was just up to the winds and gravity for the Mandalorian to get safely to the ground.

The badger took stock of everything rapidly, knowing his resources were limited. What's more, he was on Tol Amn and the only silver lining to crashing on the rural agricultural world was that there would not be too many undead. At least, that was one hope the Mandalorian had given the relative wilderness he was plunging into.

With any luck, the lightning and thunder would help cover any noise and the crash of his starfighter wouldn't draw any AMS infected. Truth be told, Kotii was not entirely sure where on the planet he was or how he was going to get off of it. But one thing at a time. Black Hand had a blaster, a blade, a beat in his heart and breath in his lungs.

As best as the Alor in exile managed, he guided his form as close to his own crash site as possible. The ship had some of his equipment and if it was in some kind of condition, maybe there would be something worth salvaging. To say Kotii's landing was gentle would be a generous description. Nearly being tossed about in the storming wind and rain, his seat crashed through branches and turned only to smack into a boulder causing him to spin uncontrollably moments before a jarring halt.

Groaning, Kotii unhooked himself from his harness stepped away from his ejection seat. Precipitation dappled his red painted armor continually and made seeing at a distance difficult. Gathering his things that had made it with his rapid exit from his vehicle, Kotii left the ejector seat crash site behind. For now he would refrain from using his jet boots though kept them ready in combat mode should he need to react quickly.

As he moved into the darkness, Kotii switched over to his infrared vision and then low-light. Keeping how and how beneficial they could both be, he kept the low light mode active. The occasional flash of lightening above the tree cover was not enough to make him squint. But the night vision would help him see his enemy before they saw him. However there was chance there might be someone, or something waiting for him at his ship's crash site. Until then he would be careful to not reveal himself from the shadows. Even without his scattereweave coated plate, the Solus was an expert in stealth tactics. He needed to make sure whatever was left of his starfighter was safe to approach.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Song quieted her raging thoughts as her ship sank deeper into the marsh. She had no patience to wait until she was fully submerged to begin her escape. Instead, she gritted her teeth, took hold of her clan’s ancestral sword, and slashed it across the cockpit windshield. More water came rushing in, crashing over her head and rapidly filling the space around her, but she didn’t panic or scramble for the surface. No, if anything, she soared through it.

A deft hand already on her wrist, she activated her jetpack and launched through the murky waters. For a terrifying moment, Song sailed forward, weightless, as if she was an unwanted meal and the swamp had spat her out, before she landed hard against the ground. Sure enough she regained her balance, rising from the muck on both feet. Somehow, she was alive. Covered in mud and absolutely lost, but alive.

Her gaze scanned the panorama of dark trees and high grasses encircling her, then she let out a sigh. Chances were, there wasn’t a settlement around for a hundred miles, and the idea of being stranded on a world like Tol Amn did not particularly fill her with delight. But right now, none of that mattered. Right now, she had a more pressing matter to attend to—finding Kotii. Kill or capture, she no longer cared how it was done as long as she was dragging his beskar back to Mandalore for smelting.

She would track him through wind or rain and she would confront him no matter what. That was her duty as a Wren, as a Mandalorian. She would not let him escape this time.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find him.

Even through the haze of mist and rain, she’d spotted the rising smoke of what presumably had to have been his ship, using the Scout HUD installed in her helmet to pinpoint its location above the trees. Kotii must have been equally unlucky against the storm, though perhaps not so unlucky as to die in the crash. Like her, he must have also survived. He was a badger, a former Alor, and a man who’d managed to thwart and evade every bounty on his head since his exile.

So, when she stumbled into the clearing where his starfighter lay in shambles, Song didn’t hesitate to comb it for signs of his presence or for spare supplies, working stealthily in the grass.

However, it was only moments of searching the wreckage before she felt it. A tingle on the back of her neck. The feeling of being watched. She paused, wondering who or what else might be in the trees, and for how long they’d been there. She couldn’t see them, but she had gone on enough hunts in the blistering cold of Krownest's mountains to know when she was being observed from a distance. She knew better.

“I know you’re there,” Song called over the misting rain. “You may as well come out and face me. Unless you truly are dar’manda, and would rather sulk in the bushes and hide.” To be honest, she no idea if it was really Kotii she was talking to, or if it was just some starving beast, but it was worth the try.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Kotii had limited supplies and weapons on him and needed to employ them well. He was in unknown territory with one major threat and multiple other dangers at risk of popping up by the moment. The Mandalorian's gaze scanned his starfighter before approaching it. The flames amid the wreckage were being quenched by the rainfall preventing any risk of explosion at a distance.

There was nobody when the badger first arrived. He jogged and slid around to the far side of his ship and quickly checked its stowage compartments. The rest of his ship would have to be looked over more carefully later. His nadyc fang starfighter would undoubtedly be noticed after that crash and its present location. It was just a matter of time. So Kotii only had a few moments to prepare. He slung his Zok-10 over his shoulder and kept his wits about him while out in the open.

From beside the wreckage in the clearing, the Hunter gave a quick burst in time with the roll of thunder to help mask the action. The movement would send him onto a near rock. He would leave only a little mud that would get washed quickly away by the rainfall. Kotii timed a second jump with his jetboots to enter the canopy of nearest tree. From there he moved into a slightly deeper crook in the deciduous flora to hide any chance at reflective light, silhouette or other notable feature his armor gave off. If his tracks were followed closely even in the darkness, his pursuer would find a dead end.

In the trees, Kotii waited with the cold black steel of his Zok-10 set before him and the wooden stock softly touching his shoulder. The barrel rested partially on another branch in front of the Hunter 'down range' and would be able to be moved to either side to aim at any target that entered the clearing or approached it.

The Mandalorian was more than a long range sharpshooter. Primarily he was known to use his BW-713 heavy blaster pistol which sat on his left him. The holster was ready for him to pull the hardware from it. The capabilities of his sniper rifle had its trade offs and in the trees, he would possibly have to drop it or leave it again. The weapon was large and unwieldy and was best when he had two things. Distance, and the element of surprise. Right now, he each in limited supply. Thus, Kotii kept his side arm in mind.

From his perch, Black Hand did not have to wait long. His low light vision mode made it relatively easy to pick out the grey and yellow armor color of his stalker. The markings reminiscent of the night owls gave him pause. He knew the Wren clan and House Kryze and Vizsla just as well as any Mandalorian.

The cross hairs of the heavy sniper rifle were centered on the warrior's chest but for now, Kotii's finger remained along the frame of his weapon and away from his trigger. The safety was off, a charge was in the chamber and all he had to do was fire. But instead he smoothly tracked the bounty hunter move to where Kotii had begun to approach the wreckage in the clearing.

Over the precipitation, he heard her call out and taunt him. She tried to goad him into revealing himself. He was not so easy to trigger. There did not seem to be any other warriors that joined the Wren. She was alone and it was just the two of them. What she would hear in response was silence.

Kotii had no reason to answer Song. Fenyang and those that allied with the current Mand'alor had shown no consideration for honor on Mandalore when warriors had gunned down Adenn Rytt for objecting. At that point Kotii had lost respect and would not make the same mistake Adenn had made. Black Hand knew not to make assumptions and to take the advantage when he had it. Despite any internal conflict, Black Hand pulled the trigger.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

No reply. Song should have known he wouldn’t take the bait, or that he wasn’t even around. The supplies from his ship had been ransacked, so chances were he’d taken everything he could and disappeared into the wilderness. Predictable. He’d also turned tail and run back on Mandalore, when Darth Raze had shown up threatening war. abandoning Mandalore. What else could she have expected from a dar’manda? She grunted, turning away from the trees.

The moment she did, he fired.

She gasped, pain blooming across her back. The impact sent tremors down her arms and she fell into the grass, behind the cover of the ship’s wreckage, now aware of Kotii’s presence. She scrambled through the muck, making sure she was completely hidden from his location, and quickly checked herself for injuries.

To her surprise, there was none besides the sting of a burn on her lower back. The jetpack she wore had taken the brunt of his shot. Had it been any lower, he might have paralyzed her from the waist down. At worse, it might've killed her.

She gritted her teeth. She was a fool to have thought he’d run away. An idiot to have put herself in such a disadvantageous position. Luck, once again, had saved her.

But Song had not escaped his surprise attack without cost. He’d destroyed perhaps the most important weapon in her arsenal: the ability to fly. Now, the idea of being stranded here had become ten times worse. But none of that mattered when she was being faced with a life or death situation. Thinking quickly, she relieved her jetpack, significantly lightening her weight load, and threw it from her cover in hopes it might distract the Solus.

Of course, the real distraction came in the what she threw next. Not risking exposing her neck, she hurled a thermal detonator to his general direction, a curve ball throw that stayed just barely above the high grasses of the clearing. She didn’t want him shooting it mid-air, but even if he made an attempt, she’d capitalize on it.

In the same breath, Song shot forward and sprinted for the trees to his right. It wasn’t far, thankfully, and she dove into the bushes at the same time the grenade would detonate. If Kotii tried to shoot her further, he’d risk getting a face full of shrapnel, armor or not, and she didn’t want to fight a wounded, shambling mess. He might not be playing fair, but she still had a sense of honor when it came to a fight like this.

Low on the ground, Song rolled through a puddle of mud, expecting it might help disguise her against any thermal readings, then wove between the thick stumps of trees. She let the shadows cradle her, moving for where she’d pinpointed his location. She may have had a blaster too, but her greatest advantage was in close combat. Swords, knives, fists. She could stand toe to toe with a Jedi, and she had to wonder how a man like Kotii would fare against her hands.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

The heavy yellow bolt from Kotii's heavy sniper flew through the open air between him and his target. The sniper rifle recoil pressed hard against the man's shoulder but nothing he was not expecting. The spent power cell was ejected from the bottom of the main housing efficiently and allowed for a new independent power cell to slide into place.

Through the macroscope and with his vision modes, Black Hand knew he had hit his target. The Wren Mandalorian's jetpack let out a shower of sparks confirming a scored hit. The built in magnetic accelerator in the blaster helped him place bolts on the intended target when he fired but it also limited the cycling rate. This allowed his target to get to cover before he could fire again. The fast reaction from the bounty hunter told him he had not scored a wounding hit, but at least he knew the jetpack was as good as scrap.

A heart beat later and movement caused Kotii to fire again on the fast moving object. The thrown jetpack would explode more briliantly as the second heavy blaster bolt to hit it caused a small fireball. It would not risk any harm or even reveal Song from where Kotii was. But the Solus was just focused on shooting at what came out of cover.

Seeing he had wasted the shot on a distraction his teeth gritted slightly underneath his helmet. His body loosened its grip on the Zok-10 and he let it stay in place in the crook of the tree. Having fired two shots, and even though it had four more, the rate of fire and unwieldiness of the sniper rifle had outlived its usefulness for now. The weapon could potentially be seen by his attacker if she got closer to the tree he was in. But that would only serve as a further decoy. If he survived this he could come back to claim it.

Amid the rain and focusing down range even with his night vision modes active, Kotii struggled to see the fast moving object get launched from his enemy's cover. The Alor in exile was alone so there was no need to yell grenade to warn others. But in his gut he knew to move out of the way.

Having left the rifle in place, Black Hand leapt from his position, drawing his sidearm in the same motion. The red and black armored warrior burst from the foliage and branches. His trajectory carried him out into the clearing and evading the edge of the thermal detonator's explosion by a few meters. Its flash of light adding unnatural illumination to the flash of lightening and cloud bursts.

Black Hand's cybernetic digits firmly held the grip of the heavy pistol in a single handed grip. The Mandalorian was still utilizing low-light vision mode and had a momentary aerial view of the expected path the Wren was taking to reach him. But he would keep his distance and fire twice. Before he could get another decent shot on the evasive adversary, Kotii's own boots slid in the mud as his jetboots finished their traversal. His momentum carried him another foot but he slid to a stable stop.

She might continue to chase after him or take shots now that he had come out of cover. The Mandalorian was relatively out in the open now. He expected some sort of further shot be taken by the Wren. The badger's greatest tool was still his mobility with the jetboots. But even a wingless bird still had talons. His posture was tense in the slowed moments until he saw Song move from cover again. If there was another grenade or something, he would be ready to begin moving towards her last known flank with speed.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Song was ten years old when she’d embarked on her first hunt alone. Armed with only a knife and the clothes on her back, for six days and nights, she wandered through the snow, chased by a pack of starved wolves. She slept in tree canopies. Ate bark and drank melted snow. She’d learned how to survive and escape, and now, as she moved swiftly through the Tol Amn forest, she found this was no different. The Solus was just another wolf, only with armor for fur.

Like the rest, she would relieve him of it. Head to toe.

Kotii was still managing to track her position. Mud wouldn’t be enough to confuse him and neither would her close company with the shadows, and Song quickly came to the conclusion that he was using a scouting HUD much more advanced than her own. She would have to do something drastic to thwart him. Something desperate. So, disguised behind the fat stump of an ironwood and with her jaw clenched, she reached for the flamethrower on her wrist and set the canopy ablaze.

It was a short burst. One tree, followed by another, then another. She proceeded to set the forest on her side of the clearing alight, the fire sweeping between the wooden stumps and mossy roots. Damp or not, the fuel would be enough to make the forest do more than smoke. The light rain wouldn’t douse the inferno out immediately, but it would in time. She counted a minute, maybe less, until she was back in the dark and rain, where Kotii had the advantage.

Dashing through shrubbery in an effort not to expose her position against the firelight, Song sheathed her sword and grabbed at the pair of blasters on her waist. Once she’d reached a spot she felt certain her enemy hadn’t yet seen, she rose, the blaze at her back. All in under a breath, she aimed at Kotii, who stood vulnerable in the open. In the rising smoke and fire, she might have looked like a wraith to him. A dark phantom in the fog.

In a heartbeat, she unleashed what had to be a half a dozen bolts, giving him no time, no chance, to properly react or retaliate.

If he tried to run, her aim would follow. If he tried to fire back, she’d gladly take a hit knowing two of her own would slam into him first. A small part of her wished it didn’t have to be like this. Song wished they could have fought blade to blade, fist to fist, like the old ways. But if he wanted to use a blaster, fine. So would she.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Kotii's bolts would have hit his target if there was not the remnants of a tree between them. <Now who's hiding?> He thought to himself, sparing her the taunt. He was not one for conversation in combat. Manipulating the feelings of his enemy was something that took more thought than he was wanting to devote brain power towards in the heat of a battle. Instead he focused on what he knew how to do which was shoot, stab and sneak.

The droplets that ran in rivulets down his painted armor reflected the brilliant gout orange light from the foliage being set on fire. The downpour would mitigate it but parts would still catch flame as the enemy Mandalorian's wrist mounted weapon was used in a blazing display. The dark black and blue night had more flames added to the clearing. Patches of flames still sat around his starfighter and the clearing giving inconsistent flickering light as they fought their own loosing battle against the precipitation. The sticky fuel used for the flamer would remain, contrasting the moisture with islands of flickering light and heat. The Wren was trying to make it hard for him to see. Not a bad tactic but it would mostly keep him from switching to thermal vision and keep his distance from the area they ignited.

It was not hard to imagine the source of the flames. Kotii did not immediately approach, nor was he idle. The Echani-offshoot's target was in cover and the two of them lacked direct line of sight on one another in that moment. That would be the Wren's mistake and to the Solus's advantage. She took her eye off of him and he would not be where he was when she came after him again.

Kotii expected his enemy to keep moving around the clearing clockwise, moving on his right flank. So naturally the bounty huntress would go that way again when she chose to leave cover. If not, he would see his foe anyways. So far the badger was more or less trying to complete the same idea. But instead of continuing to stay out in the open or moving on the same trajectory before he had stopped, he moved right, running a few steps and then lunging.

The accumulated water on his shoulder and person shook off as his jetboots reengaged, sending him seven meters closer to the Mandalorian and just at the outer edge of the treeline. Kotii fired his BM-713 sidearm at the dark outline of the running Wren, backlit and outlined by the chaotic landscape and his own vision modes. Kotii fired two more aimed shots at the running Wren leaving the flames behind, hoping to catch her while she moved through the shrubs towards him. The hard recoil of weapon was something Black Hand found comforting. Each squeeze of the trigger and cry of the discharge, an old familiar feeling.

Whereas Kotii had become accustomed to his own recoil, the dual fire of his enemies weapons on the other hand were relatively inaccurate but still dangerous. The stream of blaster bolts from the twin DL-44s followed him from the Wren's position, hitting the ground and air where he was before in the clearing. While she tried to hose him with bolts, Black Hand knew rapid fire would be detrimental to aim and replied to her attack with two trigger pulls of his own blaster aiming at the center of her chest. It even seemed like she was making a target of herself for the sake of getting a better angle on Kotii.

The Wren's tactic paid off. His previous zig out of the elevated tree followed by his present zag with the jetboots kept most of the blaster bolts from hitting him. But one of her bolts caught his left thigh plate and another glanced off his right shoulder.

When Kotii landed in the mud, he continued moving and firing a pair of measured bolts before pivoting to stack against the base of a tree just barely as wide as his own body. There he leaned against it, his blaster pistol held close to his chest and pointed to his right in his left handed grip. It was a momentary reprieve. In the downpour and in a different place than he had before. Now the boot was on the other foot.

A crack of lightening followed by thunder reminded Kotii to not fly too high unless he wanted to end up like one of their starfighters. A man wrapped in metal would get zapped rather quickly he imagined. His right shoulder hurt enough to tell him he would need to look at it later but he was still functional. The same could be said for his leg. The man had been shot enough times in the plates to know when someone had the firepower to punch through. Kotii was expecting a fellow Mandalorian to have some harder hitting bolts. In a matter of minutes, or whenever the adrenaline wore off he would really begin to feel it. Now he just needed to make sure the 'little bird' did not shoot him in the same place twice.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Dread roiled in her gut. Song hadn’t expected such unbelievably quick reflexes from her enemy. She should have known better, facing the former Solus’alor, an exile from one of the most feared clans in Mandalorian history. She might have lived among the trees and mountains of Krownest, but the badgers she knew had adapted to almost every setting: blistering deserts, tropical forests, crowded cities. Had she been in a place of cold, of ice and snow, perhaps she’d have the edge here. But she didn’t. Not in the rain and muck of Tol Amn.

Song did her best anyway, furiously dodging Kotii’s attacks while she’d been busying setting the forest ablaze. She moved like liquid lightning. A dancer in the dark. Even when she felt his third sidearm shot glance off the tip of her helmet, nearly throwing her off-course, she pushed on until she could unleash her dual pistols on his position as she originally intended.

And what a mistake that was, too.

While her instincts kicked in on his first shot, narrowly avoiding it, her focus on taking him down had left her open for the next, and when it crashed, it burned. Sudden, white-hot pain flashed across her vision. She recoiled, like a fist had just punched her in her left shoulder—a punch hard enough to make her lose her balance. She fell, like the world had tilted on its axis, and she thudded against the ground. Whatever shots that came after were meaningless, because there was nobody left for them to target.

Just the empty space where she once stood.

Song clutched at her smoking wound. There was no need to look down to see what had happened. She’d been hit. Of course you were, she thought. Wasn’t that your plan in the first place? Perhaps, but what she hadn’t expected was how much firepower Kotii had, and how much she’d overestimated her armor’s durability. A heavy blaster bolt was enough tear through it like paper. It was a miracle she hadn’t received more, else she’d be dead.

You’re going to die anyway if you don’t move, said another voice in the back of her mind. At its warning, Song gritted her teeth and practically crawled towards extra cover. She abandoned her blasters, lost in the muck, realizing now that she should have stuck to her knives and sword. It was what she was best at. Trading them for a cheap way to take down the Solus had been a serious misstep on her part. Never again.

“I suppose now wouldn’t be a good time to suggest a breather, would it?” she called, hiding behind the stump of another ironwood, thick enough to keep her position at least temporarily disguised. Of course, she could still fight. Or really, defend. His mobility, range, and the blow he’d given her had utterly destroyed any chance she might’ve had in going on the offense.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

One thing that his attacker had not accounted for was he knew clan Wren. The Echani-Offshoot considered Krownest his home just as much as Mandalore. Perhaps more so, which is why could expect the tactics of the alpine combatant. It was the same type of environment where he first learned to fight as well.

Knowing one of his shots had hit its target where he had intended gave him some comfort. But he knew not to get greedy and press the attack to early. The badger knew well that an animal backed into a corner would only fight harder. If the Wren tried to press the attack she would strain herself. Even Kotii would be practically knocked on his shebs if he took it square in the chest.

No further blaster shots from his foe came his way. Leaning out, he then heard the Wren's voice come out from some place further along the treeline from him. It was hard to tell with the rain, his breathing trying to stay measured while his heart thundered in his ears along with the rolling storm above them.

Taking out his spare comlink from his belt pouch, the Mandalorian prepped the handheld device. <"And why should I do that?!"> He roared with mild curiosity. The black gloved hand placed the device at the base of the tree where he stood and connected to his helmet's comlink then set the spare comlink to speaker and max volume. Furthermore he activated the rebreather via a series of rapid wrist controls. His suit's CO2 scrubbers would also close off his helmet and dampen his own voice a bit further while isolating his breathing in case he wanted to use a stun gas grenade and avoid the smoke from the set fires.

Peaking out again to see if she had revealed herself, his blaster was still held at the ready. Staying low, he began moving deeper into the woods and directly away from the center of the clearing. This would slowly become a flanking maneuver to arrive on the Wren's left side if she was facing the Solus's last known location. He needed to get an angle on them and if they wanted to talk, he would be able to reply with the illusion he had not moved from his cover or at least, not far.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

As she lay against the tree stump, Song fumbled for the bacta spray attached to her waist and began to furiously apply it over her wound. She hissed through closed teeth, the pain excruciating and almost unbearable. No way could she take on the Solus in her condition. He’d suffered injuries too, sure, but nothing nearly as bad. And as much as she claimed to have an edge over him in close combat, the last thing she needed was to run point-blank into his heavy pistol. It’d kill her.

Then again, since when was she afraid of death?

She closed her eyes. By the sound of Kotii’s voice, it seemed he wasn’t exactly keen on giving her the rest she needed nor the choice of surrender—not that she’d ever surrender to a dar’manda like him—so, she had limited options. Run into the forest, or face him head-on. Given her history of reckless determination, Song supposed she’d have to do what she came for. She’d asked for this, hadn’t she? Might as well commit to it.

She didn’t reply to his question, figuring her voice would only lead him to her precise location. Instead she unsheathed her clan's ancestral blade and a throwing knife, then took in a low breath and moved far to her left. She was not fool enough to dive into Kotii's previous spot. If he truly was a badger, once he’d smelled blood on his prey, he wouldn’t stop. He would try to track and corner her, and if there was one thing she’d learned, it was to never let your enemy strike first.

She waited for him to find her, or so where she last was. Song stayed behind another ironwood, her ears used to the rain and attuned to the sounds of the forest. With so much debris from the fire and under the canopy's cover, she'd hear whatever approached. And once she believed to have heard Kotii, whether the slow beat of his hefty boots or a snapped twig or the sound of any rain touching his armor, the Wren in her would react.

She shot from her hiding place, caked in mud and ash, looking like something straight out of a child’s nightmare.

The moment she spotted him was the moment she let her first knife fly. Aimed for his throat, it’d be a killing blow—except it wouldn’t, because in such short notice, there was no real aim behind her throw. The knife was there simply to distract him, to give her a second before he fired his blaster. The real purpose of her attack was to destroy that blaster.

Both hands on her sword now, Song sliced it through the air, right for the barrel of his godsforsaken weapon. With it out of the way, she could at least even some of her odds.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Moving counter clockwise, Kotii tried to get a good angle. The slightest hint of abnormal silohuette, glint of metal or clan markings were waiting to come into view. His foe was injured and he had one thought as he drew closer. There was the chance he could take the warrior alive. With some questioning or investigating, the Solus could possibly learn the latest about what was going on under Fenyang's regime.

The Alor in Exile flicked the setting on the side of his heavy blaster, switching it to stun. In that moment it let out a slight metalic click and the light alongside switched from a slight amber red glow to light blue. That moment, that sound must have been enough to give away his location. The keen eye of his Wren attacker charged him, emerging looking like a Mandalorian almost entirely of mud and clay.

Kotii fired once but in that split moment he also wished he hadn't switched to stun. Not because it had given away his location. But because the circular stun bolt would pass around the throwing knife. The two highspeed objects would pass by one another. His stun bolt would maybe still hit some part of the bounty hunter but chances were slim.

Reflexively he brought his left hand up to protect himself from the still moving throwing knife. It slammed into his blaster instead, taking it out of his hands in a brief spurt of sparks. Thankfully his hand was undamaged but the blaster was out of commission and now just scrap amid the forest floor.

Still, the Wren had plans for him and Kotii had no other choice but to meet her. While his left hand had tried to do its best and protect himself by sacrificing Black Hand's sidearm, his right hand slide to the blade on the small of his back. With his gloved hands rappidly wrapping around the hilt he activated and drew the knife in a reverse grip.

Her two handed slash would still likely come and when it did, he would bring the edge facing his attacker to block the sword. Engaging his jetboots with a new leap he needed to gain distance quickly and jumped back, rapidly moving only fast enough to stay out of her blade range. She now had a weapon with greater reach than he did.

Swiftly there after the badger would bring his left hand to cross his waist and in a reverse grip, draw his second knife on his right hip. Dual knives vibrated from beyond the guard. Behind him now stood the flaming trees that were getting the spread affects from the Wren's earlier flame throwing display. The badger remained aware of it for the time being but could only imagine the image the two of them struck. The Solus grinned under his helm even if he was beginning to feel the hurt.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

Maybe luck was on her side after all. To find her throwing knife had sliced through Kotii’s sidearm, instead of flying harmlessly past his shoulder, had lifted her spirits. Without it, now they were playing on even ground. Melee combat was Song’s greatest strength. Armed with her sword, an ancient prize that had since become an extension of her own body, she was practically unstoppable, especially with her greater reach against his dual blades. She could barely feel the wound in her shoulder either, the pain receding into the back of her mind.

She could do this. She could stop Kotii for good.

Song inhaled sharply as her opening slash passed through the space where he'd once been. Even without the weight of her jetpack, his mobility remained superior to her own, but they weren’t without their weaknesses. Long as he had both hands on his knives, he wouldn’t be able to properly maneuver his boots, and if he tried with one hand, her two-handed attacks would easily cut through whatever measly defense he had left. She could strike him down. All it took was a moment’s hesitation.

She gritted her teeth, ready to advance on him again.

Then she felt it. A strange numbness climbing her shoulder. Her gaze wandered back to the iron grip on her sword and found only her right hand was clutching its handle, while the other hung uselessly at her side. She blinked. What had just happened?

It didn’t take her long to realize what it was. The stun bolt. In her mad dash to strike him, she’d completely overlooked his first shot, thinking it had sailed past her when in reality it had struck her hand the same way her knife had struck his. She must have never noticed, not until the bleed-through damage had spread to her shoulder. She was fortunate enough the blow had also numbed the searing wound there, but that hardly made losing function in her entire left arm worth it.

Song stared between the arm and Kotii, as if he’d just blown it off and she was in shock. Then she let out a sigh and what could have passed as a laugh. “Well,” she said. “It was good while it lasted.” She knew this would cost her, that this could end with her dead on a planet she didn’t know, but she accepted it. She had dug herself into this mess and there was no going back.

She smiled, the rain misting around her, and charged. Song didn’t have much fight left in her, but she threw everything she could at her opponent. A jab at his chest, a slash toward his arm, a swipe for his leg. She didn’t care what happened now. If she was going to die, she’d take the Solus with her.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Spoiler: Music

At first Kotii was not sure he had hit. But now after the lightening flash had stilled, a tiny bit of the stun energy rippled across the Wren's limp arm. Seeing her hold her beskad in one hand defiantly reminded him of the Mandalorian spirit he was fighting for. It was the same reason why despite his killer instincts, another part of him stopped him from killing this foe. She wasn't just any enemy. She was a Mandalorian, a tenacious one at that. Clan Solus and Wren were one tribe in his Covert on Krownest. He knew kin killers and they were the people he considered some of the greatest disappointments to their people. He did not want to become one of them. Maybe that would just end up getting him killed.

Seeing her muscles tense followed by her charge, the badger got ready for another attack. First her jab lashed out towards his chest which Kotii responded by bringing his forward left blade up and catching her blade on the inside of the blade before angling it so the jab would go as far as his torso but miss his body entirely as it was diverted to the side.

His right hand hand that had been holding his blade slightly behind him was brought to the front and both in reverse grips would criss-cross to parry the follow up one handed swing from the hunter while remaining on his backfoot. Kotii's strength might be greater and have more reach if they both had the same weapon. The man stopped moving further back, his boot squishing against the muddy forest ground.

The length of the Wren's weapon was an obstacle and the Solus needed to get close to slash or stab with one of his vibroblades. But a new thing made him hesitate. The strike from the Wren was still enough to cleave into him had he not parried, even with one arm. Kotii had thirty pounds on them but they still could chop a limb off in a single swing if he wasn't careful. Kotii needed to use both of his blades or not lose focus if he wanted to deflect with a single blade. The exile's defense had slowed the blade long enough that he could see it for what it was. The Alor in Exile recognized a elegant weapon as a piece of Wren history. This warrior was a mighty adversary if she wielded such a blade.

The Mandalorian's feet pushed off from the ground and he engaged his jetboots in combat mode. The small flaring light from their ignition lit up the swift swipe that would have taken off a leg had he not jumped out of the way. Rising momentarily several meters, Kotii's armored body slowed as it rose to its three and a half meter apex. Loosening his grip on his right blade just enough so his index and middle finger could tap a control on his left gauntlet as the cybernetic left hand lined up on the Wren almost directly beneath him. She was hurt and could only move so fast and possibly trying to anticipate where he would come back down.

Activating the manual control of his own wrist mounted flame thrower and deactivating his low-light vision, Black Hand would project an inferno down onto the forest floor focusing on the Wren. Maybe it would catch his attacker, but perhaps it would surprise her to find out that not only he had a flame thrower but his undersuit was insulated against such extreme temperatures. Kotii would still risk getting himself caught in his own flame projection if that meant his target was still within range of his flame projector. This badger could take the heat.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

As Kotii reached for his wrist controls and rose into the air, Song immediately retreated. She leapt back, drawing on whatever strength she had in her legs, as her enemy unleashed a wave of fire down at her location. Flames licked at her heels and a terrible heat engulfed her, but no fire touched her skin. Not only was she wearing armor, but the wet mud and rain covering her body served as decent protection against the blaze. She was fine, even as steam rolled off her, almost sizzling.

Sweat beaded on her forehead while she pulled back far enough to escape him, deep into the trees and shrubbery. If he pursued, she’d simply go back further, winding between the ironwoods to avoid him. Only when she was certain he would not give chase did she stop, keeping her distance. Her breathing was labored, but she didn’t give Kotii the satisfaction of seeing her fatigue.

“I’m not surprised you would still rely on tech to fight me, even when I have one functioning arm, no jetpack, and a wound seared into my shoulder.” Song didn’t have to gesture to the blackened mess of her injury, and even while the stun bolt had significantly numbed its pain, still she could feel it fraying every nerve in her body. “Thanks for that, by the way,” she added sarcastically, then flourished her blade, stalking around the fire that swept across the forest floor.

“The Solus’alor I know would have fought honorably. He would have faced me on even ground.” Song knew her harsh words would not land. They certainly hadn’t before, and Kotii was dar’manda, not an alor, and she doubted he really cared what she thought. But at this point, she was just saying it because she could. Because what else was there to do? She was lashing out. Death was knocking on her door, whispering into her ear, and rather than blame her own stupidity, she blamed the Solus.

“I don’t care who you are, or what you can do. I don’t care what happens to me. Just know that whether it’s here or anywhere else, I swear, Clan Wren will... they will…” She paused, like something had caught in her throat. Sudden exhaustion had descended over her, a heavy coat of weariness she couldn’t quite shrug off. Song had no idea what it was, whether her wounds were finally getting to her or the bleed-through effects of the stun bolt, but she fought against it. She breathed hard, slow, as the receding fires cast her in shadow.

Forget it, she thought. End this.

Hazy as her vision was, she shook her head, focusing back on the Kotii's towering frame. The rain around her faded to a drizzle. She brandished her sword one last time, raising it in a defensive stance, and beckoned the Mandalorian forward. “Come on,” she said, just barely above a whisper, her strength nearly gone. “Attack me with everything you have.”

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Descending, slowed by the burn beneath his heals, the Mandalorian looked over the flaming forest floor towards the direction the Wren had maneuvered. Once she was beyond the range of his flame projector, he relaxed his extended appendage and the gout of flame ceased. The breath of fire left patches amid the damp ground, flash burning away lush greenery to ash and cinders. But the Wren remained safe thanks to the layering of mud and rain water. A part of him was glad to see it.

She stopped and he almost lost sight of his enemy among the ironwood. The two Mandalorian bounty hunter were without blasters, as far as Kotii knew. They had the distance between them and could engage when the other was wanting to push the attack. But the Solus did not move from the patch of burnt forest and smoking logs. His helmet's filter cleaned the inhaled air to be not bother the man as he stared defiantly, but still, as Song spoke again. This time, he replied.

<"I would prefer not to kill you."> He stated flatly in Mando'a. Hopefully his action so far would indicate his genuine intentions. <"Don't take it as an insult. I'm not going to hold back against you. This isn't about honor or my title, Wren. This is about survival.">

The muck caked Wren, holding only one arm at the ready spoke again. This time sounding like she was building up to a threat. One that might lead to his inevitable demise, or something along those lines. But she stopped short.

When she took a more defiant pose and her voice came forth again, Kotii knew what she meant. The Mandalorian was ready for death, or already had been since the encounter began. She expected to not survive this fight, but Kotii had every intention of living past this day.

The badger stood where he was at first. "No!" He said in basic, pausing briefly. Kotii cleared his throat before continuing so that his next words were clear. <"I refuse."> His feet would carry him step by step closer towards the Wren until he was only a few meters away, talking as he walked. She was injured and Black Hand had his jetboots. His mind lingered on the idea of going for his sniper rifle nearby but thought better of it.

<"I will fight you, sister..."> His voice said somewhat reassuringly. His two vibroblades were still held in either hand. Their blurred outline were still a danger to the Wren. His helmet would shake from side to side as he spoke his next sentence. <"...but I won't kill you."> Not if he could help it. Soon after he said those words, Kotii's left hand twirled his blade, switching the grip so that it was in a standard hold by the cybernetic limb. This only lasted a moment before Black Hand's arm bent off to the side before whipping forward to hurl his balanced vibroblade at Song's right leg. Afterwards, his steps would dash quickly across the wet ground until he was within range of her sword. Meanwhile, the Mandalorian kept his remaining knife ready to defend.

@Song

 

[Song Wren]

“You waste your mercy on me, Solus—if sparing and stranding me on this rock is what you consider mercy.” Her lips flattened to a thin line. She should have taken his claims not to kill her as an insult, but there was no arrogance in his voice, no pity. He respected her, strangely enough. He respected her enough not to ignore her demand to fight, despite everything she’d done to him, and to say she was surprised would have been an understatement.

When she’d chased him into Tol Amn’s orbit, she’d expected to face down common dar’manda scum. An exile. A traitor to his own people. Instead, she had found Kotii to be nothing like what she believed: a skilled warrior, a seasoned veteran, and a vod with a sense of compassion she so rarely saw. Confusion rippled through her mind. Doubt followed, but she gave herself an internal shake, determined not to let Kotii’s words throw her for a loop.

She was already fading. Song couldn’t afford to get distracted because a stranger cared about what happened to her.

“Fine,” she said, having backed away as he’d approached. “Just don’t expect the same treatment from me.”

As he advanced on her, so did she. Clever as his knife throw was, she swept out her sword in a swift arc, swatting the dagger aside as if it was no more than a fly, and it thudded into the mud. Never once did her eyes leave Kotii. She was far too experienced a swordsman to make such a mistake, and she’d learned by now not to underestimate him. Once he came within reach, in what could have been no more than a second, she slashed her blade back up again, aiming for his side.

It was a miserable blow. Had he not distracted her with his knife, with his words, she might have come at him with a straightforward jab, using both hands and all her remaining strength to drive the blade of her ancestors into his heart. Instead she had gambled on a shallow swipe at his torso, while leaving herself open to his second dagger. Not like it mattered, though. She had no intentions of dueling more with him anyway.

With her body pushed to its limits, rather than engage Kotii, Song slid past him like a flowing river, like a warrior from ancient times, and came to stop behind him, her back to his. She was done.

@Darasuum