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Target Dossier
Name: Shin’era Terlan Species: Togruta Gender: Female Age: 30 Height: 5’7 Rank: Elder Discipline: Shadow
Top Skills
+5 - Athletics +4 - Blasters +3 - Explosives
Top Powers
+5 - Force Cloak +4 - Concealment +3 - Amplification
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Planet Lok Outer Rim 40 ABY
The barren, dusty planet had been, according to Legends, a world favored by pirates. After the destruction of Hosnia Prime and fall of the First Order, information from the archives was lost and had become inconsistent. But preliminary readings spoke to it having a breathable atmosphere. It was made up of jagged mountain ranges, long expanses of baked desert, desolate flats, dangerous sulfur pools and lava pits that were commonly found on the planet and some local wild life.
Gilmar’s Garden Private Club, south of town
Grimlar’s Garden was anything but a garden. The only plants or vegetation seemed to be spiked plants that hogged water. It probably a bad joke, she assumed, by the outposts original founder, Grimlar the Grave. Grimlar the Grave was a pirate of minor renown for his ability to not piss off the Hutts and manage his own dominion. He had retired years ago, and left the planet Lok far behind.
Which had made it a great place for Shin'era Terlan to lay low with a gang of pirates that had taken to squatting in the perfectly good outpost. The gang was a mixture of Weequay, some repurposed old empire droids, and a few Shistavens they’d picked up on the way.
Shin'era kicked her feet up, pleased with the work she had done. Her contact had paid well for her to what was honestly more simple than she’d expected. All she had to do was sneak onto Nevaro, sow a little bit of discord by pretending to be some kind of “Inquisitor” and collected her pay from these “Children of Mortis” folks.
So she’d worn the outfit, rounded up a few local children and their pets and made sure she drew an audience for when she executed them in cold blood. “This is how the ‘Brotherhood’ sends a message to the Outer Rim!” she had said- or something to that affect. Easy.
The Togruta smiled as she recalled the memory. “Another round, please,” she ordered the local droid butler.
She could get used to this.
”`
Vexillarius II Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle On route to Lok
The holographic image of Exarch Marick Tyris Arconae flickered on the shuttles display.
“Ryoma Kengo. Eilen Ru'tyari. Cade Tezo,” Marick addressed the gathered party.
“You’ve volunteered for Envoy Corps Bounty oh-oh-two. The target’s dossier has been forwarded securely to each of your personal comms over the Advanced Inquisitorius Network (AIN). All of our preliminary intel can be found there, but know that the target has been tracked to an outpost called "Gilmar’s Garden,” the holo explained. Marick’s voice was calm, gravely, but very matter-of-fact and even keeled.
“Our pilot will get you in and out, but you’ll be rendezvousing at the drop coordinates with Tahiri Thorn Morte Tarentae in her Star Courier. Together, your strike team will eliminate or bring Shin'era Terlan back in cuffs to face judgement.”
There was a pause as Eilen, Ryoma, and Cade exchanged glances. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get to know one another.
“Good luck, Envoys,” Maricks voice said before the holographic flickered out.
Nocte Drakon Star Courier On route to Lok
From the controls of her ship, Tahiri made a secure connection to the three other members of her team to discuss as they made for the landing zone.
Just before the hologram flickered out, Eilen raised a hand in a sudden and very uncertain attempt to make a salute. Whether he’d noticed it before the communication closed, hard to tell. After the years so far, she still wasn’t sure when or how was most appropriate to signal off; too many people always juggling positions.
In any case, the name Tahiri rang a bell. Even if their interactions had been pretty minimal, it was a face Eilen recognized when the new connection came through.
The other two, however, were complete strangers to her. One, she could tell by sense alone, was strong with the Force - the dark side, at that - with little more than the typical Knight’s garb, though most didn’t need any more. The other had no empowered presence, but his equipment sure as hell made an impression of its own. Eilen’s fingers tapped together as she looked down at them, eyes darting from one to the other, unsure quite how to begin.
“…Sssso, uhh… Hi.” She cleared her throat in anticipation, which came out far louder than expected.
Ryoma looked at the two companions for this mission, his attention being drawn to the lightsaber hilts they both carried. When Eilen greated them slightly bowed towards her and then said, “Hello. While the Exach has already introduced us, I’d like to reintroduce myself. I am Ryoma Kengo from Clan Arcona.” He then turned towards the other member of their team and bowed towards him as well.
As the hologram of the Exarch diminished, Cade draws his attention to the intel mentioned to be sent to his personal commlink. He started to look through it, trying to gather as much information needed to get a feeling for what most likely to happen. His concentration was broken by a hi. He stopped, looked up and cached the end of the introduction of his companion Ryoma Kengo. He accepted his respectful bow of greet, with a sharp nod.
A short silence followed as his two companions draw their split attention towards him. He put his commlink down and crossed his arms before his chest.
Cade Tezo is the name, Clan Scholae Palatinae. I am pleased to meet you.
As the connection was made, and the holograms of her fellow teammates introduced themselves, she mused over the report, looking up when they began their introductions to know exactly whom was who. Reading the briefing on her datapad, she made sure to mark the finer points of their intended target and hoping to figure out a plan on how to proceed from there, which frustratingly there wasn’t much info to go on the target themselves.
When Cade finished his introduction, she flashed her sincerest smile, “Hello everyone. It’s wonderful to see you again Eilen, and a honor to finally get to work with you.”
Nodding her head towards the two figures she didn’t know, “It’s an honor to meet and work with the both of you, Ryoma and Cade.”
“Alrighty-dan,” a voice came from the cockpit.
From the pilots seat, a Ryn wearing plain clothes and a dusty brown jacket, his head back towards the waiting party. The pilot’s hair was in an intentional disarray, kept in check, seemingly, only thanks to the round leather bowler hat her wore atop his head. His hair was shock-white against his blue-gray skin and beak-like nose.
“Yeah-yeh, s'honor ta meet-ya an-all,” he spoke quickly, as if his words were playing tag with one another and came just close enough to collide but not to stumble. “Do ya'lot fancy-a-fly'over? Or land ya'in off te the side yond?”
He asked the three occupants of the shuttle. The line could also be heard aboard the Nocte Drakon.
The Lambda-class shuttle banked as it started into its decent into the planets atmosphere, spindly fingers dancing across the ships controls while his…tail pushed another button that seemed out of reach.
Chuckling to herself, Tahiri tapped her datapad thoughtfully, “Hmm, well now that the pleasantries are out of the way. I believe the sooner we rendezvous, the sooner we can get started.” Her anger flared for a moment, a small amount of venom dripping from her words at the reported crimes their target had done in the name of the Brotherhood, “Hopefully we will have the element of surprise on our side, as long as this scum of a woman doesn’t know our intel.”
Pausing a brief moment as a small bit of turbulence rocked the Nocte Drakon as it descended into the arid dusty atmosphere of the planet, she glanced over at her droid pilot, raising an eyebrow.
“Sorry mistress, there seems to be some atmospheric high winds. I am adjusting our course to get through as smoothly as possible,” the droid seemed to know exactly what to say.
“Hmm, good.” Turning her attention back to her teammates, she continued, “Now, I think going into this town hot and heavy would be a reckless course of action. If you all don’t mind, I would like to group up right outside of the outpost, either to the north or south, I’ll let your pilot decide which is best. And get our bearings from there.” Glancing between the three holograms, “As we get over the outpost I will try to get an overview layout of the streets.”
“Ahem mistress?”
“What is it, Max?”
“There are sporadic sheer winds and dust coming up, a fly-over may be bumpy.”
Sighing, Tahiri looking out the viewport at the dismal looking landscape, “Well we some landmarks, do the best you can.”
“Yes mistress,” Max manipulated the controls and proceeded to bank the craft for a high fly-over of the outpost. Even with the droids smooth movements, the sheer side high winds made for an eventful and bumpy ride. Due to that her vornskr yelped and jumped up into Tahiri’s lap, as if forgetting he was no longer a pup, obscuring most of Tahiri’s view.
“Aah frack it, Zuska, get down. Ugg, Max, can’t you fly smoother?” Tahiri gritted her teeth as she tried to hold onto Zuska and look out of the viewport.
“I will see what I can do mistress,” Max descended a bit lower than she would have like to over the outpost.
“Oh kark it all, just get us to rendezvous,” Tahiri calmed her vornskr, irritated that the fly-over didn’t go well.
“` Fortunately, thanks to the winds whipping up over the town, Tahiri and the ‘Nocte Drakon’ were not spotted. The Star Courier banked, and even with the Sensor Bafflers not fully operating, they avoided detection…from what they could tell.
The ‘Nocte Drakon’ touched down in a rock formation that provided a good landing zone that obscured the Star Courier’s landing.
A few moments later, the Envoy Corps shuttle landed and the remaining 3 party members padded off the landing ramp to meet up with Tahiri. ”`
“Well'ye'lads'n'lass,” the Ryn pilot said with a tip of his rounded hat. “I’ll be-here'for-extracting quick-like when ready yeah,” he nodded. “Luck to'ya.”
Eilen waved back at the pilot before disembarking. Onward, then.
In short time, the group managed to reach a safe point, just out of view of the settlement. Given what Eilen had seen of the others so far, none seemed to have any sort of detection tech on-hand - or much tech at all, to be fair. In that case, scouting the place would have to be done the good old-fashioned way. Luckily for her, that was her preference.
“Okay…” she started, stepping back from their rocky protection. “I’m gonna check the place out. Back in a flash!” Her hand went to wave, and in the brief moment it took to make the gesture, her body vanished from sight. The faint sound of light-footed steps followed and faded just as quickly.
A few minutes passed. The ambient noise beyond the rocks never changed. Those with senses finely attuned to the Force didn’t pick up any major shifts in the area. The silence stretched on long enough that people of lesser resolve might have begun to worry. So then, it almost came as a surprise when the group’s furriest member suddenly popped back into view mere feet from where they rested. Almost.
Eilen exhaled hard with her reappearance, like dropping a weight. “…Hokay… so…” She breathed in, composing herself, then held up a lone finger. “One IG-droid on standby. Two shistavanen, very big ones, guarding some… kind of… club-seeming place. Ten credits says that’s the place Shin'era hangs out… And then at least two probe droids and three more goons moving around.” Another exhale, followed by a nod. “That’s all I got for what’s nearby.”
“Good. Thanks for the quick scout, Eilen.” Cade thanked her respectfully.
While you were gone, I did a quick check of the Terrain we got at hand, between here…“, he waved his finger on a vague point at the small village; "and there. "Very rocky and stony, some small cracks, but not enough cover to move through there as a party. I would suggest that we move one by one and position us behind the big building left of the club, then we can use the element of surprise to have a quicker and more forceful impact. However I just don’t have enough experience in sneaking and backstabbing, so maybe someone else has a better idea?”
He asked in the round.
“Additionally, I sensed a ball of force inside the club-like structure, so our target could be there or” he inhaled dramatically “it’s a trap. I’m not one-hundred percent sure on that, maybe” he looked around to Eilen and Tahiri “you two have more experience in that department. Or you put me to sleep and maybe I have a dream about what’s going happen, but I don’t think we have that much time. So how should we proceed?”
Ryoma listened to the others discuss after the recon. “I don’t like the idea of sneaking in like common thieves. If you two are determined to do that, I will cause a distraction by entering from the front.” After speaking he unslung his energy bow from his back and looked towards the settlement. “However, I recommend we wait until the other one joins us before making any concrete plans.”
Tahiri listened to everyone, as she pulled out her INQ scanner, quickly checking through the comm channels and seeing if there was any odd or suspicious chatter. Finding none, she looked over at everyone else, patting her Vornskr on the head as she stood and looked over their rocky cover.
“Ok, there’s no suspicious chatter over any of the comms, so I don’t believe it’s a trap, Cade.” Nodding to Eilen, “With the guards outside and others patrolling around the club, that would logically be where we’ll find our target. If my brother was here, he’d take you up on that bet, Eilen.” Thoughtfully turning to Cade, “Now, if we want to minimize who we have to fight, then causing a distraction as you, ” nodding to Ryoma. “Had said would be our best option, preferably towards the north side of town. I understand why you don’t like the idea of sneaking around, but it would be easier than taking everything head on, and reinforcements would not be alerted as quickly.”
Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, “That being said, I would prefer if we all stuck together, especially when the time comes to taking down our target. If we want to take her alive and extract her, that is. I would suggest if any of you have long range weapons that would be the easiest way to create a distraction, and then we can make our move.”
Eilen nodded along. It sounded like a close confrontation would be inevitable. A few scenarios ran through her head for options, before it clicked. Her hand ran through her belts and drew an ion grenade.
Oh boy. This would go south fast if she messed up. “Okay… Plan idea. I’m gonna cloak again, get close, and drop this at the IG-droid’s feet. It’s an ion grenade - disables electronics and shuts down droids. When you guys see it spaz out–” Her arms shook in minicry. “–that’s when you go. Gets rid of one of the biggest bads first. Hopefully… Is that… good?”
No one seemed to directly disagree, but everyone seemed eager to move, so Eilen nodded and cloaked herself once more. This would only take a moment…
Just a moment of staring down one of the most dangerous precision killing machines in the galaxy. No concern, whatsoever. None at all.
As to why her nerves were suddenly going off as she stepped unseen toward the IG-droid - not a clue. She didn’t have to be afraid while it couldn’t see her, right?
…Blast it. How close would she have to actually get to it? Hopefully not too close. Actually, with the blast radius in mind, she could probably get away with this at a decent distance.
The grenade made a faint beep as it activated and rolled out of her palm. It stopped dead on the dirt instead of rolling any further, flashing right into everyone’s view with that tiny thud.
Well. Kriff.
Eilen’s cloak dropped as she tried to quickly punt the grenade closer to the droid - didn’t exactly have the fuse time to gently finesse it - and immediately took off running the other way.
The IG-droid was barely able to bleat a warning as its circuits were overloaded. Its rotary joints locked up, gun still pointed at its feet, as it locked up and froze in place, effectively disabled.
Ryoma started to get ready as soon as Eilen disappeared, doing a couple light stretching exercises loosing up his body for the fight ahead. Once he heard the distinct sound of an ion grenade he looked at the other two, “That’s our signal, I’m heading out.” He took off running towards the buildings, stopping once he reached the t-intersection of the paths in front of the club. Tightening his grip on his bow, Ryoma started getting mentally prepared to rain arrows at the enemies in front of him.
“` The first Weequay, after seeing the Ion blast, shouted out an alarm.
"We’ve got company!”
He advanced on the first intruder he saw, the dark haired Nagai,and open fired with his blaster rifle.
While his aim was true, however, Ryoma was ready for it. The Weapon Specialist barely had to move to dodge through the blaster bolts, almost as if they were darting towards him in slow motion. He leaned left, then right, then ducked under the volley.
Then it was his turn. “`
Cade watched Eilen cloak and go in and when the grenade was thrown, he started to move towards the first enemy in sight, one of the Shistavnen guading the club. He headed towards the enemy, activating his lightsaber in the sprint, stopping a couple meters before his target, ready to leap forward to strike any minute.
Shortly after dodging all of the Weequay’s blaster fire Ryoma raised his bow, “knocked” an arrow and then let it loose. Because Ryoma didn’t take the time to actually aim his arrow flew off mark and impacted the ground to the left of the pirate.
“Ha. And here I thought you’d measure up to something in your fancy armor,” taunted the pirate sarcastically.
Ryoma took a deep breath and told himself to slow down. Haste will not help in this situation, he’ll just make more mistakes. After steading himself he adjusted his grip on the bow and readied another shot.
“` The second and third pirates were quick to rush towards the fray. They passed their now-useless droid "friend” and charged towards the interlopers.
The second pirate went first and took a precision set of shots at the Iktotchi with the lightsaber drawn.
One bolt got lucky and grazed the shoulder, drawing a scowl of pain. “`
Cade felt a sharp pain as the bolt grazed his left shoulder, ripping his robes and flesh. A sharp pain surged through his body, ignited his fury. He looked with burning orange eyes towards his attacker, pointing his left hand towards him, using it as a conduit to focus his range and pain. “You will regret your life, pirate!” A violet-blue stream of lighting escaped his fingers and lashed towards his target.
“` The Pirate had been expecting…a lazer sword or a perhaps a blaster. The last thing that had been on his mind, quite honestly, was a torrent of lightning being shot at him.
And so it was, that his world became…pain. What should have been a short and quick pain, however, soon became scorching, searing agony. His leathery Weequay skin did little to protect him from the prolonged stream of Force Lightning.
His body convulsed. He screamed. And then he folded, bonelessly, to the dusty arid floor and went limp. ”`
Tahiri had spent the quiet moments before the storm connecting with Zuska, the two sitting in front of each other, with Zuska’s front legs in the center of Tahiri’s crossed legs, foreheads resting on each other’s. As soon as they heard Ryoma say that it was go time and saw him take off running, both Togruta and Vornskr moved, almost in sync, their hunter instincts kicking into high gear, muscles coiling, before following after him. As she ran, Tahiri unclipped her shoto saber with her left hand, while her right hand pulled one of her many throwing knives from it’s hidden sheath on her person. Seeing the several targets, she saw Ryoma take aim at Weequay pirate, before feeling Zuska’s attention towards that target. Sending a quick encouraging thought of, Go get em boy, and then feeling as Zuska turned off quickly to come in from his targets side.
Tahiri looked towards the two Shistavnen, eyeing the closest one, before sliding to a stopping just to the left and behind Ryoma. Using a bit of her momentum, her hunter skills honing in on the vital portions of her target, she spun the throwing blade in her hand, it’s tip now held between her fingers, before expertly throwing it. The arch of the blade and the amount of strength she put into the blade’s trajectory was perfect as it buried its blade into her target, right where the Shistavnen’s heart was located. Standing her ground, igniting her shoto’s howling crimson blade, opting for the mid-length blade function, preparing for her next attack.
Zuska moved quickly, ears perking at the sounds coming from his target, seeing the hulking figures attention still on the other in his hunting pack. Muscles coiled within his tail, as he swiftly closed in on his prey. Just as it seemed he would collide full speed into his targets legs, he turned to his right, striking out with his tail as he passed within inches, claws digging into the rocky, dusty ground. The barb of his tail sank into flesh, before pulling it out and moving behind his prey, keeping just out of arms reach, readying his next attack.
The pirate reeled ack and hissed as the Vornskr struck and knew he was in trouble as his blood began to literally burn, his muscles starting to feel heavy.
The knife lodged into the Shistaven's massive chest. It cried out, sneered, and dropped to one knee. But he did not seem ready to die just yet.
Blades were swinging and flying quickly as Eilen ran. She turned to face her allies’ backs as they charged into battle, looking overhead for any signs of outlying danger. They seemed to have their respective melee battles cut out for them, but there was one obvious outlier lingering.
One of the probe droids had escaped Eilen’s grenade earlier. Not about to let it get away, she drew her micro-grenade launcher and looked for an opening. Too many people were swinging and wrestling between them, though. Accepting the risk of being a flying target herself, Eilen engaged her jetpack and launched overhead, clearing a line of sight toward just about everything.
Don’t move, you bugger.
It was never exactly stable, firing mid-air, but the flurry of small explosives Eilen shot managed to hit the mark close enough. The tiny blasts on impact blew off one of the droid’s limbs and broke its chassis. It spun, motors flailing, until it hit the ground and sputtered out of commission.
“` The first bouncer, furious and angered at the suddenly peaceful day turning to shit, roared ferociously and channeled the dark side. Her fur covered muscles bulged against her taught clothing, claws extending, fangs bearing.
"You will pay for this transgression,” she sneered as she lunged forward and took a slash at the Iktotchi that was closest to her.
Her claws rent through Cade’s side, drawing streams of blood, as the Sith was not able to anticipate the sudden assault through the Force quick enough. “`
“` The first Pirate, who was not feeling great thanks to the poison, tried to fire off some shots at the Vornskr that whipped him.
His shots ultimately flew wide and hit the dust. Zuzska was too nimble and fast and almost waved their tale in a taunt. ”`
“` "Ugh, oi! A little help here mates!” he called out.
In the distance, the sound of reinforcements could be heard. “`
Ryoma took a deep breath and the drew back the “bowstring”, causing the energy that made up the arrow and “strings” of the bow to come alive. He took aim at the pirate who had mocked him then released the breath, and his hand letting the arrow fly towards the pirate. The energy arrow flew straight and true this time, shooting right through the throat of the Weequay and into the ground behind him. He turned towards the two shistavanens and debated about getting into melee range.
“` The remaining pirate, waiting for the rest of his comrades, took aim at the flying…witch. He wasn’t sure what she was, but she knew it was bad.
So he took aim, sighted, and let loose a series of bolts.
Eilen managed to zig and zag out of the way, but the bolt clipped her jetpack. It sputtered, didn’t die, but she was forced to make a landing not so greatly. ”`
Eilen hit the ground with a stagger and a roll. As if a face-full of sand on its own wouldn’t have been enough, her jets had surely kicked up quite a bit to coat her fur and hair. Yet, it wasn’t even enough to be a convenient smokescreen haze, right about then when cover would have been to her liking. A stealthy escape was immediately ruled out of her thoughts as she rolled onto her back and assessed how easily she’d be tracked at the moment. Luckily, she had more tricks than hiding up her sleeve.
Those goons were starting to gather up just past her front-line crew. Eilen pulled the concussion grenade from her belt. For lack of a good throwing position, the device activated in her hand and was promptly floated between her fingers. With one good telekinetic push, she tossed it over the shoulder of the pirate that had shot her down, hoping the blunt-force blast would catch more than just him.
“` The blast did, indeed, reach where Eilen wanted it to go, and did give pause to the advancing of the other two pirates who were staggered.
The shooter pirate, however, was able to duck for cover and out of the way.
"Close one!!” “`
Cade felt the claws in his right side, ripping apart his robe and flesh. He felt warm blood immediately dripping from the fresh wounds. He felt the pain worsen, but at the same time his anger clouded his mind even more. The attack thrown him back a step, but the adrenaline that rushed through his veins, let him regain his footing. He plant them firmly on the ground , gripping his weapon with both hands now. “Alright, let’s play you scum.” He screamed, while lunging his saber in a forty-five degree angle at the beast, slashing upwards from her right hip toward her left shoulder. He ended his slash with a high overhead position, ready to strike again.
“` The Bouncer Shistaven howled in pain, feral anger fueling a last ditch counter attack.
She lashes out with a claw, but Cade was ready. The Sith’s saber slashed downwards and took the Bouncers clawed hand right off.
Blood squirted free before the wound cauterized, and then she cried out, fell over, and was an easy target for Cade to finish off. ”`
Zuska bounced back and forth, and was about to pounce at hulking figure as it shot hurting bugs wildly trying to hit him. Pausing as he was coiled for the attack, watched as the light bolt came from his targets neck and then jumped back as the body fell to the ground. Looking towards the hunting pack mate before sniffing the air and then stepping forward warily, sniffing the body. Satisfied that the target was dead, Zuska snuffed, his ears perked and twitching, turning towards the sounds of the more coming. Zuska quickly dashed over to the corner of the building on the other side of the path away from the building his pack was assaulting. He crouched, muscles coiled in anticipation, and prepared to attack the moment an enemy came from around the corner.
Seeing that the Shistavnen wasn’t completely down, even with her knife deep in his chest. Sprinting forward and keeping herself low, Tahiri spun her saber hilt in her hand, grasping it in a reverse grip, before pirouetting and swiping cleanly through her targets neck. Stopping in her spin with her back to him, taking quick stock of how the rest of strike team was doing, then she turned towards the sounds of the reinforcements. “Kark it, we’ve got more company.”
After Cade finished off the second bouncer, he realized he was indeed still bleeding, the cuts more severe, then he realized. He lowered his ssaber and pressed his right hand on his side. The cloth was dripping with blood and he felt the pain scratching as he touched the warm wounds. “I hate claws.” He exhaled slowly, trying to calm his mind, in the midst of the still ongoing conflict. Breath, Cade, breath. Inhale. Exhale. Focus. The Iktotchi calmed his mind, directing the flow of the force inside him towards his wound. The cuts rapidly closed, leaving behind nothing but fresh skin and white marks. He exhaled slowly one last time. The Pain was gone, the wound closed and he did it without passing out. “Now, if i could only repair my robes”. His concentration was broken by Tahiri’s warning of reinforcements. He looked up and scanned the battleground.
“` As Ryoma attacked, his swords blurred and whirred in a display of showmanship and confidence. It was a brilliant dance, dextrous and nimble and very impressive. But there was perhaps too much of a flare, and less function, as the blade attacks missed the pirate.
In turn the pirate fired back at Ryoma, but the bullets bounced off the Beskar armor, protecting the Nagai. ”`
Amidst the ongoing commotion, Eilen pulled herself to her feet. As she did, her body vanished from sight once more.
These guys had range. Her guys had close-quarters. If everyone was boxed in, the odds were in her side’s favor.
Eilen darted through the enemy line undetected. From right at their backs, she reappeared with the sudden emergence of a barrier conjured forth. The pirates staggered briefly as the wall of force formed against them, and - assuming all went well - the tables were turned!
“` "What the?”
The two pirates felt something against their backs as they pulled up into firing positions. They pushed backward, but found they were unable to.
“Sor…sorcerer..y?” the other pirate hissed.
This left them in almost too close quarters with Tahiri, Ryoma, and Cade. “`
Taking quick stock of the reinforcements, Tahiri noticed that the pirate who hadn’t been stunned, getting ready to shoot at Eilen again. Her well toned and conditioned muscles let her travel with fluid swiftness and precision over the dusty ground. Twisting her movements slightly, while twirling her saber hilt in her hand. As she closed in on the pirate, she took an almost graceful spinning step, bringing her saber up and over in an over hand arch. Her howling crimson blade crashed down onto and then sliced through the pirates’ right bicep. Finishing her spin away, all Tahiri heard as she assessed the other two pirates as they were pushed forward, was what sounded like a large ripe melon and the clatter of metal hitting the dirt, followed by the cry of agony came from the wounded pirate.
Zuska waited for next enemy of his hunting pack to come into sight. Watching the same pack mate get attacked again, his muscles tensed, ready to spring into action once he saw an opening. He didn’t have to wait long, seeing that the enemy was distracted and hadn’t been aware of his presence at all. Quickly scurrying forward, the sleek Vornskr struck out with his coiled tail, it’s poisonous barb finding it’s mark easily, before he jumped back out of striking range. Lightly moving on his pads, ready to dodge any retaliating attack.
The petite Togruta paused for only a moment before her next attack, as she sensed a presence starting to leave the area.
“Frack.”
The fourth pirate felt the sting of Zuska's venom and found himself doubling over, twitching and going limp on the ground.
Ryoma, seeing that his previous opponent was now dead, turned and ran over towards the rest of the fight. He locked eyes on one of the pirates and charged towards him, swinging his blades towards their weapon, cutting off the hands holding the blaster.
“` "Ahhhhhh! Son of ahhhhh my hand you monster why!” the pirate screamed as blood gushed from his open wound like a fountain. He tipped over into the dusty ground and wreathed in agony, clearly out of the fight
Cade looked towards the sound of the incoming reinforcements as he saw something scurrying out of the club in a hurry right at the corner of his eyes. a black shade with horns. He quickly realized their mistake.
“Our target is fleeing the scene”
He alerted his fellow companions, using his lightsaber as light stick waving towards their target.
“` Shin'era Terlan heard the commotion.
"Sith spit..” she started quickly towards a speeder bike parked in the distance.
“`
Ryoma, seeing an opening and hearing the target was running, took off after the Bounty. He was able to close the distance, but the Togruta still had a head start.
Closing the distance, Ryoma sheathed his wakizashi and then pulled out a throwing knife and threw it. The Togruta in front of him dodged out of the way of the knife, causing her to slow down on her way to the speeder bike. Ryoma gripped his katana with both hands, getting ready to slash downwards as soon as he was close enough.
At the mention of their target, Eilen’s attention darted away. She had to have been on the other side of the building by then. Eilen dropped her barrier, shifting her concentration into her own muscles, and sprung. From the rooftop where she landed, she just caught a view of Shin'era rounding the corner of the next building.
Blast it. She bolted, making to leap over the alley. The momentum was just enough for her feet to catch the edge and keep pace. A diagonal dash across the rooftop wouldn’t quite intercept the target with her headstart, but it would get Eilen close.
It was about then that she spotted the speeder, just ahead on the street. Shin'era was making a break for it.
Oh, no you don’t. Eilen braced for a sudden stop at the corner of the roof and slung her grenade launcher back around. Easy as–
Her finger twitched. The one by trigger. Because of course her spasms would strike now. The last grenade in her drum flew out with all her gusto to wherever the hell fate would take it.
“` The micro grenade propelled through the air in a parabolic arc towards the speeder parked in the distance, but its trajectory was off just so. The explosive veered and careened into the building across from Eilen’s line of sight, detonating in an ochre ball of flame.
Rubble began to fly and fall towards the ground below, kicking up a dust storm of rubble and smoke ”`
Cade saw his companions following the quick shadow. He let out a sigh. “I hate runners!” With a quick look, he calculated where he needed to go and started a short sprint. He stopped right before the target, his saber ready to strike.
Cade’s alert confirmed what Tahiri had sensed. Knowing they needed to end this fight quickly, seeing that Ryoma take down one of the last pirates, and then head after their target, she focused on the last one.
“Leave em to me,” growling as she took a quick skip spin-step towards him, making a quick slashing jab at his upper thigh. Sliding a few feet away and seeing that her slash didn’t do much, she dropped her throwing knife, and grabbed her Rune lightsaber, igniting it’s blade as she leapt at the pirate, twisting herself in air, arching the blade up and over, brining it down onto his left shoulder. Feeling only the tiniest resistance to her blade, before it cut diagonally through the pirates torso, the two pieces falling away from each other as the body hit the ground.
Not stopping for a second, she opened herself to the Force, letting it fuel the muscles in her legs as she spun around and took off at a full sprint. Catching up with the rest of the team in pursuit, she had an image flash in her mind of the cloaked figure in front of them, with a strange aura around it, before a sleek black shadow came gliding up beside her and then took off in front of her with burst of speed.
**Zuska had finished making sure that the enemy he had taken down was dead, he looked up in confusion for a moment as the rest of the hunting pack raced past him. Seeing his home pack beta still fighting, he waited, but watched where the rest of the pack was headed. As she finished, he sensed the sudden wave of Force energy within her, before taking off after the rest of the group.
Zuska saw through their connection images of a being similar to her, and then felt the urgency to catch the the cloaked figure. Seeing the fleeing being, he sensed a great well of Force energy. His loping gait, which kept him just behind his beta, quickly became a long reaching run. His powerful hindquarters pushed him forward as he locked onto his fleeing prey. Speeding past everyone else, he closed the gap quickly, making for a quick strike, but his target dodged out of the way, and he had to scramble and turn down an alleyway before he would have collided with the wall of a building. He spun around and continued pursuit.**
“` Shin'era tried to stay cool under pressure. She needed to make it to the speeder otherwise…
The explosion wasn’t expected, but she used the ensuing smoke to her advantage and dashed forward with a surge of Force-aided speed. ”`
When the Togruta rushed forward in a force-powered speed boost Ryoma grit his teeth and forced himself forward with all he could muster. He managed to catch up to her right as she entered the smoke from the explosion, and brought down his sword to meet nothing but air. He had misjudged the distance because of the smoke and managed to miss her at the last moment.
Seeing their bounty disappear through the dusty smoke, instead of jumping straight into it, Tahiri slowed a bit, concentrating on finding the right mind to connect with. Finding her target, Tahiri gathered within her own mind some random images and sounds, taking a deep breath she sent everything she had gathered straight into the mind of the fleeing Togrutan woman. The images she sent forth were those of flashes and explosions from the many ship battles Tahiri had fought in, any sort of sights and images she could remember that had been distracting or annoying to herself in battle. She made sure to include the ringing, booms, and buzzing noises. Then just to make sure it really frazzled her targets mind, she included random creature calls and clash of lightsabers. Making she sent everything all at once and as jumbled as possible.
“` Shin'era felt her entire momentum hit a wall. Her mind, usually a palace, was suddenly assaulted and under attack. She felt a strange sense of vertigo, followed by an overwhelming wave of discombobulation. The smoke, once her ally, became a crypt, enclosing in all around her.
"No no no, GO AWAY” she cried out as she slowed to a stop… “`
The Iktotchi saw the Togruta stagger around and heard her scream. It was enough for him to locate her, making a calculated guess, where he needed to strike. He collected his strength and jumped propelled through the force towards his target. His saber crashed down, hit the smoke, aimed for her shoulder, he couldn’t see the hit, but blood splashed on his horns before the wound sealed.
As the smoke cleared he saw Shin'era was still staggering around, the illusions demolishing her mind, while her right arm was hanging useless on her side, her shoulder missing half of the former structure.
“` A flash of plasma. A scream of pain. Shin'era Terlan fell to the dusty, dirty floor and curled into herself. Her montrails wormed in agony as she writhed and howled in pain before her consciousness faded and she went still.
Her chest rose faintly, but she was effectively subdued. ”`
Shin’era Terlan—charged with impersonating Inquisitorius agents and committing acts of violence against an innocent town on the planet Nevarro in an effort to frame the Brotherhood as malicious—has been subdued and captured. The team of Cade Tezo, Tahiri Thorn Morte Tarentae, Eilen Ru'tyari, and Ryoma Kengo was able to fight through her body guards and a band of pirates to catch her before she could flee on her modified speeder.
Though a team effort, it was the Iktotchi, Cade, who managed to land a crippling blow with his lightsaber, cutting the fleeing Togruta’s arm off at the shoulder.
The Envoy Corps shuttle handed Terlan to the enforcers at the Envoy Corps headquarters on Arx minor (satellite to Planet Arx), where she was placed in maximum security holding designed to contain and interroagte even the most illusive of Elder Shadows.
Some time later, a statement would be released by Shin'era Terlan herself, taking credit for her actions on Nevaro and clearing the Brotherhood’s name in relation to the incident.
[END]