Warrior or Storyteller?

[Lavi]

The gungan was distracted by what seemed like a female Zeltron, which really annoyed Marisa. Honestly, they were talking business. After waiting a moment to see if she could regain the gungan's attention, Marisa spoke up.

"Well excuuuuuse me, princess," she said in annoyance, "he and I we-..."

Her voice was cut off as a man yelled to "kill it with fire." Marisa looked incredibly confused, turning her head in the direction of the voice. As shots rang out, Marisa dove over the counter, loudly cursing to no one in particular. These are not the kind of guys that would have been hired to check on Jorosa the Dead Bounty Hunter: the armor they wore looks too proper. They're more likely to be off-world mercenaries or security contractors.

"I wouldn't mind going with Mr. Cat around now!" she yelled over the din.

Although she had a holdout blaster holstered at her belt, Marisa wasn't a good shot with it. Instead of fighting back, she just hid there, waiting for the moment to get out of the bar.

 

[Tokuhara]

"If'n y'all're plannin' on leavin' in a dayum hurry, it'll cost ya 2000 credits. 500 up front, 15 when we git there."

The gungan continues to fight the armored goons, blasting them with both barrels.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Artyom could not contain himself. He roared with laughter at the zeltron's appearance, and gestured at 'her' with a broad sweep of his arm. "What in the name of the thousand gods is this abomination? It looks as though someone covered a human in glue and rolled her about in a pile of glitter and facepaints and fine cloth! Oh ye merciful gods, that is hilarious!"

He tried his best to pull himself together, but a lifetime of training had not prepared him to deal with an alien that looked like a pinata. He was half-tempted to just tap it with his warhammer, simply to see if it'd burst into a shower of glitter and sweets. He managed to resist that particular urge, though Candy was indeed looking more and more smashable by the second! The feline decided that it'd be best to take his leave, given the thing's presence, and turned towards Yuunda to inform him that he would be standing just outside if he was needed.

The cat never got a chance to do so. Someone cried 'Kill it with fire' from the door, and seconds later, the annoying whine-crack of blasters filled the air. Bolts of sizzling crimson energy snapped through the cantina, gouging deep pits in the walls and floor and leaving smoking, smoldering craters wherever they struck home. Most of the cantina's patrons began to scurry off, terrified of a fight with offworld mercs, but Artyom wasn't among them.

His jovial, gentle side disappeared the moment the first shot was fired, and out came the soldier concealed within. He traded his hammer off into his left hand, and with a simple neural command, the haft collapsed in on itself until it was half-length; small enough for Artyom to whip around as if it were a mace or ax. He gripped the lower half of the collapsed shaft, which would allow him to extend it in mid-swing for extra reach and power if needed. At the same time, he snatched the heavy assault gun he'd placed on his right thigh; magnetic couplers hissed and popped as the weapon was removed and brought to level with the group of mercs.

Artyom did not charge, but rather, stepped in front of Yuunda's table to shield the younger being. The assault gun thundered and roared, spitting a plume of fire out the muzzle brake and kicking dust up all 'round Artyom; the raw power of the weapon was evidenced in the manner its concussive reports shook the living daylights out of anyone around him. Despite that, he held it almost perfectly steady, his raw strength and the aid of his power armor being enough to restrain the weapon. He loosed off shot after shot, one fiery red tracer after another lancing off towards the enemy and exploding brilliantly on contact.

The mercenaries were taken be surprise by the defense. The gungan alone was a shock - instead of panicking and fleeing at the first sight of trouble, he drew WESTAR-34's and came marching in, guns blazing furiously. The first volley he'd loosed off had stitched a crisp line across the chestplate of one of the armored mercenaries, throwing him to the ground with smoldering pockmarks in his chest. They began to focus their fire towards him as he cracked off a second volley, one bolt of which caught a mercenary square in the face, and another shot took one of the brutes in the knee. As that man screamed and began to slump over, thanks to his charred knee, an assault cannon round tore into his chest. An explosion of red mist erupted from either side of his torso and he went quiet instantly. More cannon shells joined the gunslinger's barrage, and plumes of blood, dust, and shrapnel soon surrounded the mercenaries.

Their return fire intensified as they set their weapons to 'automatic', and began to fire wildly into the cantina. Artyom's armor took several hits, which did little more than leave bothersome scorch marks on its thickly armored outer shell. The gungan also drew a good amount of fire; standing out in the open and yapping while blasting away with twin pistols certainly didn't help, and he'd find a good number of blaster rifles directed at him and chattering away. A forward advance was, needless to say, quite impossible until the enemy had been thinned out or eliminated entirely. Though Artyom suspected his armor would allow him to make it through unscathed, he did not wish to test that theory and so stood his ground, returning fire with his assault gun.

 

[The Derp of Hooves]

He wanted to yell ‘stop!’ but he knew it wouldn’t do a thing. He keeping his eye closed he surrendered himself to the force and saw everything. The people in the came in various hues of blue and the blaster fire seemed to dull. Using the force as a guide he didn’t think, he just acted and did as the force willed. He rolled out from the table and stood on one knee. With the help of the force, he was completely aware of everyone and everything in the cantina. He had to stop this stupid fight before innocents got hurt. He almost panicked as he saw a blaster bolt screaming towards him, but he remained calm all the long hours spent on Tython meditating and honing his skills would not be wasted. He gave the bolt a slight nudge in the force and he felt it wiz by, missing his left shoulder by less than an inch, and imbed itself into the counter behind. Winters had sprung up and tried to cover for him shooting his own deadly blaster at the mercs.

Letting the force guide him he raised his own WESTAR-34 and began firing. It took all of his concentration to maintain his connection and the slightest bit of outside influence would tear him from it. He aimed and only took one shoot at each incoming mercenary and all the while using his ability to nudge any blaster bolt coming his way. The bolts would come exceedingly close to hitting their intended target, him, but retaining his connection to the force it would not be so. He smiled slightly as he saw the man he was aiming at fall. He proceeded in a likewise manner towards the rest of them, firing blue stunning bolts from his blaster. Even while the opposing side intended to kill, he would not give in to those temptations, for they would lead to the dark side and a dark sider he was not.

 

[Tokuhara]

The gungan doesn't blink, bolts whipping right by his face, as he drops Candy on its head, not even blinking as both of his blasters ran dry. Without a second of hesitation, he dropped both blasters, drawing his Tusken Slug Thrower cracking off a shot at one of the goons. He quickly ratchets the lever action, firing again and again. His slug thrower, from what anyone able to see it could gather, was heavily modified into a lever-action rifle resembling a Henry Repeater. The Slugs themselves were .44 Magnum Rounds that were coated in energy and fired using a magnetic slide, firing the rounds at blaster bolt speed, but with the impact force of a .458 SOCOM round, able to knock a grown man clean on his ass. Shields and Armor wouldn't save them from these nasty rounds, which would rip a hole through military-grade body armor like a razorblade through wet tissue paper and damn-near rip a man in half.

 

[Lavi]

Against the relentless fire of the Force sensitive, gunslinger, and Force sensitive, the mercenaries were quickly forced back but were stubborn in their assault. In situations like these, Marisa typically got out of there as soon as possible; it was the natural instinct in her line of work. However, she'll create a bad impression as the first to disappear at a whisper of trouble.

Frantically, Marisa opened one of the pouches of her belt, pulling out a stun grenade. Priming and chucking the weapon in the general direction of the mercenaries, Marisa jumped out from her cover and ran to the door. She knew that, regardless of how effective the explosive was, she had a few seconds to find somewhere safer to hide until the fight subsides.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The fight had dragged on long enough. The opposition's advance had been halted in its tracks, but they had not yet caved; even as Yuunda joined the fight, even as the gungan brought out a heavier weapon and the woman joined in on the fray, they still held. They had stopped, but they had not broken. What they needed was a blow - a strike that'd knock the wind clean from them.

The woman's grenade created the opening Artyom needed to deliver such a blow.

The concussive stun grenade sent several men stumbling blindly into cover and incoming fire, while the others were disoriented enough that their shots went well off target. As they began to pull themselves back together, he charged. The armored titan slapped his assault gun into the magnetic clamps on his right thigh as the distance closed, allowing him to extend the shaft of his hammer and bring it into a sturdy two-handed grip. His heavy footfalls sent cracks spiderwebbing through the stone floor beneath his boots, which created a terrible racket. Hostiles who spotted his advance began to back away while diverting their fire to him, though as they were still feeling the concussive effects of the stun grenade and were taking fire from the other two members of the little party, their shots scattered about him. What few bolts hit sizzled harmlessly against his armor.

He drew back his warhammer and began to gather strength for the blow. His muscles tensed in anticipation, and at the same time, he called upon the Force and channeled its arcane energies into the mighty weapon. Its own energy fields crackled and glowed as Artyom's strength fed into them, a brilliant sapphire glow encapsulating the warhammer's head and the upper region of the shaft. He was close now - only a few scant meters remained between him and the thugs. Perfect.

A quick tap from his armor's mounted jump pack was all it took to close the final gap. A plume of fire and thick smoke and dust billowed up behind him, two thick columns of red-white plasma erupting from the pack's thrusters. It persisted for a split-second, then ended as Artyom began his swing; a reasonably simple overhead swing, which would allow him to bring all his force down into the blow. A few final bolts pinged off his armor in the moment the brutes had before the hammer fell; the head of the weapon dug through the ceiling, tearing for itself a flaming furrow in the wood and plaster before raining down in the middle of the group. It struck with terrible fury, the gravity-manipulating technology of the hammer, its shockwave generator, and the Force combining to unleash an explosive shockwave that rippled out in a broad arc to both Artyom's sides and directly in front of him. At the impact point, stone was reduced to fine dust; all around it, a wave of solid force smashed into men and wall alike, ripping through stone and sending the mercenaries flying.

The area was utterly ruined, as the cantina's front walls and a small measure of its roof were completely gone. The whole of the area was brightly-lit by the world's twin suns, though choking thick smoke and dust obscured the city outside. Artyom's silhouette was easily visible, as he was the only object still standing in what was once the doorway - complete with a jump pack whose thrusters were still glowing dimly from the hop he'd made, ready to be reignited at a moment's notice. He used his suit's thermal imaging to examine his surroundings for any possible survivors, and finding no obvious threats save for a few wounded and buried, he turned back towards Yuunda and the others.

"We should go, there may be more coming!" he called out. It seemed his voice was the herald of truth that day, for not a second later a slugthrower cracked in the distance, and sparks and a crumpled bullet dinged off his shoulder pauldron! "I apologize, friends - it seems they are here now!"

A second, larger force of guns-for-hire came barreling down the street, blaster rifles and slugthrowers blazing furiously. The locals were clearing out in the opposite direction of their advance; once the smoke cleared, the end of the street opposite the thugs would make for an easily accessed and obvious escape route. One that would be covered by hostile shooters once the dust had settled, of course. Of course, nothing was impossible - egress could be obtained by any number of means! They could simply go out the cantina's back door, if truly necessary, or dart out into the street while laying down a bit of cover fire.

 

[Tokuhara]

The gungan grabs his pistols and slides behind the cantina seat, reloading his weapons. He glances over the seat as a bolt hits the top, ducking his head back down.

"Well folks, Ah reckon that we're in deep $*^@ right now. Any plans?"

He grips a thermal detonator from his side pouch on his belt, ready to prime it and make an escape with the motley crew in the bar.

 

[Lavi]

Marisa wanted to facepalm. The purpose of that stun grenade was so that the fight would end, not make it grow even larger. The cat might have a penchant to stir up trouble. Considering Marisa wanted to keep a low profile, that detracted from the cat's appeal. However, her further thoughts were cut off by the sound of gunfire and the announcement that more gunmen were coming.

That stun grenade was also the only bang that Marisa could provide on the field. She traveled lightly, thus had to equip herself appropriately. Aside from her holdout blaster, Marisa didn't have any other high-tech equipment for a combat situation. That wasn't to say she can't improvise. That also wasn't to say that she wanted to engage in a fight.

Feeling vulnerable, Marisa ducked out of the partially destroyed building in the opposite direction of the fight that Artyom was engaged in. A brief scan showed that this part of town is empty: excellent. She was on the verge of leaving when speeders, with sirens blaring, pulled up. The occupants, constables of the city, pulled blasters on her and Marisa raised both hands in submission.

"Schutta..." Marisa quietly cursed as one of the officers approached her with stun cuffs.

 

[Tokuhara]

The gungan points the rifle at the an with the cuffs.

"Ah wouldn't do that if Ah were you. Might end poorly"

He ratchets the lever action, placing one slug in the chamber. Twenty shots. He had twenty shots in his rifle that he could use to erase these police from existence.

"Ah reckon y'all turn back with yer tails between yer legs 'fore this turns rather ugly."

He spits a mixture of tobacco juice and saliva on the floor, ready to do what he must to save the lives of his new "companions."