A Trap on Bakura

[Julian Valentine]

Location: Bakura
Arsenal: (1) DXR-2, (2) ECD, (2) MT-14, (2) V-1, (1) Cycler rifle, (1) GSL, (Armor) CCB, (Gloves) Crushgaunt, (Jetpack) Z-6, (1) Razer Net, (3) Stun Grenade.
Theme: Hunger of the Pine

There was only one significance that Bakura held. Thousands of years ago it had been the location of peace treaties between the Old Republic and the Empire. Salis D'aar was nothing more than a forgotten world these days, with a little population of just over seventy-million. It was about as backwater as they got, without being a wasteland like Tatooine.

Bakura was once again significant, at least to two men. Ghorua and Solo were on the planet looking for a senator. They caught wind that Lady Kay came here to collect Sapir leaves, it was just a matter of time before she arrived and went through customs, and they would jump her the moment she left sight of authorities.

Solo was standing at a street corner with Ghorua, looking like your two run-of-the-mill guns-for-hire. Solo had his leg propped up on a curved metal crate. He was wearing his bandoliers and a thick belt set with an armories worth of gadgets and weapons.

The prison ship was hanging low in orbit while a freighter had ferried them down to the surface. His license had checked through, along with his sponsorship. Solo had been waiting on the same street corner for near a fortnight now, every day from dawn to dusk, rotating shifts with his HDR, Willow. The corner was opposite the exit for the largest spaceport in the capital.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="A. Dominion"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua the Fish leaned against the wall, calmly flipping a rock in his palm. They had been here forever, it seemed, waiting for this senator. After the first day, Ghorua was impatient. By now, he had accepted the wait, and bided his time. The Herglic was getting good at flipping this rock, after all.

His Koodan-Class battle armor made him feel invincible. Of course, Ghorua knew this to be false. A few good blaster shots would be all it took to take him out. Ghorua's blaster cannon rested comfortably on his back, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. His favorite piece of equipment, however, was the slobbering mass of spines resting at his feet.

Bones, the Hunter's pet Massiff, gnawed at an old boot she had found at the side of the road. She was trained for tracking AND combat, which made her very useful in these situations. Ghorua kneeled down and gave her a scratch between the spikes on her back. Bones growled in pleasure. "Good girl."

So the three waited for their target. The rock in the Herglic's hand felt hard, coarse, and dirty. Not unlike the battle that would most likely unfold.

[member="Julian Solo"]
[member="A. Dominion"]
[member="Lady Kay"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay loved Bakura. It was almost tucked away, so easily overlooked. And it was one of the places where she found her beloved Sapir tea leaves. She had some in her satchel still, but more would be best as she never knew how long it would be before she was able to come back again. Bakura was also her refuge, a hide-away from politics and the Hutt Cartel. Things in Republic space wasn't much better either with the failed coup and the clean up afterwards. So this trip was very much needed.

More often than not she travelled alone, using different transports each time so that she'd be harder to track. However she was sure to always let some bodyguard or one of her overprotective friends know of her travels after she had left. It wasn't as though she had staff to do it for her. For this trip it was [member="A. Dominion"] , a new hire so to speak. But really he was just repaying a favour.

Kay exited the customs building after her satchel had been searched and repacked. It contained the usual items; small tea kettle, pouch for tea leaves, water bladder, two small tea cups, food rations, extra set of clothes rolled up, her small blaster that was pretty much always set to stun and a lightsaber, gifted to her by a friend. At least the customs officials let her repack it this time. On her last visit it had been a fiasco.

Plenty of people were out on the streets today. It was of course one of the market days, and Kay wasted no time in heading over to her favourite tea vendor.

[member="Julian Solo"]
[member="Ghorua the Fish"]

 

[Dominik Borra]

Arsenal: Rifle (1) Dual Blasters(2) Heavy blaster (from Mirrorverse)(1) Alchemized Machete(1)

Dominion lay ontop of a building's roof. Was he supposed to be here? No. Be nobody knew. He lay there with his Rifle, overlooking [member="Lady Kay"] as she came out of the customs building and headed down the streets. He knew that bounties were on her. In fact, that was why he was here. To protect her from any bounty hunters. Although she was worth quite a bit dead, she was worth more than double alive. That's why he risked being away from her. He could watch from here and take anybody out with his particle beam.

He saw many people who looked they could take her for the money, but none were making any moves. There was one Herglic he saw, covered in armor. He looked like a threat, but he was just sitting there, playing with a rock. He kept his scope wide, watching the whole crowd.

 

[Julian Valentine]

It was only a matter of time before their target arrived. They had waited for a significant amount of time, and Solo tapped Ghorua gently, letting him know they would wait more, "She's here, rest up and keep relaxed. We're just mercs' looking for our next gig. Nothing more. You'll know the signal when I give it." He took his leg off the steel crate and sat down.

Their target was at a tea vendor, across the street from them. A merchant with a jiggling belly staggered past, Solo handing out a falsified advertisement slip to him, "Best mercs around, we'll do any job." The man turned his head and kept on his merry way. Solo had to keep the part. Raise no suspicion. But trying to play the part too hard would go against him, so he reclined back against the wall.

He knew the best way to play a part and keep up lies was by making it mostly true. Solo was a mercenary for hire, but the expensive kind. A Bounty Hunter. Solo spoke to Ghorua in terms of Dejarik, "The pawn seems open, but she's worth more than that. There's bound to be a few Kintan Striders around, if you get my meaning. How about we fork the game, you get the attention of the striders, and I nab the pawn. Quickest game of Dejarik we've played."

Eyes hidden behind helm darted towards Kay, studying her, and then surveying the ground. No one was particularly armed or armored, nothing more than the usual, and those who were were just as he was. He could tell by their gait alone. His eyes then moved to the roofs, but he couldn't see anything yet. "I think I'm going to buy us some tea," Solo said, motioning for him to stay where he was.

He approached the vendor, reaching up and removing his helmet. He was of short dark brown hair, with a thick trimmed beard. He nudged in beside the senator, raising a finger to get the attention of the storefront owner. While he waited he nabbed a cigarette from his pocket and lit the end, breathing in deep. He didn't say a word to her. He was just another customer.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="A. Dominion"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua smiled as Julian talked in Dejarik terms. He understood that better than field directions. If anything, he was the power piece, and Julian was the player. "I agree. I'm good at becoming the center of attention." He kneeled down and slipped a work collar on Bones, who immediately sat up, ramrod straight. Ghorua took a few of the ads, and stood up as Julian left for the "pawn". In his best salesman voice, he stepped away from the corner, and waved his flier at whoever passed.

"Mercenary for hire, here. I'm the best there is." Most of the crowd steered clear of him, creating a disturbance in the flow of traffic. Any onlookers would notice it was strange, which was the goal. Better to have any onlookers focused on him than what Solo was doing. Bones sat calmly at the Herglic's feet, staring down everyone that got too close.

As a family passed, Ghorua examined his weapons. The Spinster gave him comfort; His own personal design. His two DC-15 pistols, both set to stun, rested at each of his sides. The vibroknife in his combat boot felt cold against his leg. Hopefully, he wouldn't be using that. Then, of course, Bones. Ghorua examined the street. Not an extreme amount of scum and villainy, nor anybody that looked like bodyguards. But, it was only a matter of time before the Kintan Striders came out to protect the pawn.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="A. Dominion"]
[member="Julian Solo"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay smiled brightly as she greeted her favourite vendor in the Bakura system with a great big hug. "Sorry, Miss Shea, I haven't been able to get you that perfume you wanted on this trip. However..." she removed a silver necklace with a decorative, yet tiny bottle for a pendant. "...I did get you this one."

"Thank you, Senator." Shea took the necklace and immediately opened the bottle to smell the scented oil. "Oh it's beautiful." She beamed and then reached under the counter, producing a small package. "As always, the freshest. Just had it brought in this morning."

Both Shea and Kay looked to [member="Julian Solo"] as he lit up his smoke. Kay just coughed a bit, as if his smoking was disturbing the quality of air. Maybe he'll get the hint to put it out? She took out her tea pouch and set it on the counter before opening the package to transfer the leaves. "Oh these look lovely, Miss Shea. Smaller leaves and lots of them, just the way I like it. I'll meet you for lunch later? Usual place?"

"Sounds like a plan, Senator."

"Great. I'll see you then." Kay finished transferring the leaves and then put her pouch back into it's place in her satchel before turning to head out of the booth. She had an odd feeling about the smoking man, but there was always an odd sort that would find their way to Bakura. Lunch was set for an hour and a half from now, so she had time to do a bit of browzing beforehand.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Dominik Borra]

Something was happening. He couldn't tell what, the one leaning against the wall next to the herglic just went over to the tea stand, and the big one stood in the middle of the road, offering his services as a merc, it seemed. People moved to avoid him, continuing on with their day. Were they trying to distract him? He couldn't tell. He didn't want to shoot a random civilian.

He watched [member="Lady Kay"] turn to walk away from the booth. Maybe he was being over paranoid. He exhaled all the air in his lungs, then took a deep breath. He needed to calm down.

 

[Julian Valentine]

Solo heard the cough, "Should go see a doctor 'bout that," he suggested to the senator. The vendor gave him a disapproving look, "Alright, fine. Not like we'll all die one day, anyway," he said with a hint of frustration. He pressed the smoke against the hip of his armor, smothering the embers. He fit the helmet back over his head and locked the joints in place.

The senator was just beginning to walk away. Solo rested his hands on his hips, draping them over the weapons. All set to stun. He turned around, Kay was still only just over an arms length away. Now. He tugged at the razernet pistol with lightning-quick reflexes. He drew the gun and fired it the moment he raised it, with the precision and skill of a true gunslinger.

A net exploded from the barrel and instantly expanded. Strong cord embedded with razor-sharp barbs, the net could inflict wounds on those who struggled. The painful cutting also served as a deterrent to escape attempts. As the net was released, he activated a remote beacon on his helmets comms. His ship would be notified, the droids would fly towards his coordinates.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

If that wasn't the signal, Ghorua didn't know what was. Instead of running to back up his friend, he scanned his surroundings for any guards of any type. No local security around, and still no sign of any protection for the senator. Suspicious.

The crowd was still milling about for the most part, unaware of what was going on right from under their noses. Ghorua wanted to keep it that way. The more collateral around, the more reluctant any Republic forces would be to attack. One of the the Republic's flaws was it's compassion.

Ghorua walked calmly to the middle of the street, trying to look over the heads of the crowd around him for anyone strange. Bones darted around his legs excitedly. If anyone were to attack him, they would endanger the lives of innocent civilians. If anyone attacked Solo, the tall Herglic would see where the shot came from. I've waited a long time to crack some skulls, he thought to himself, placing his helmet on his head with a solid thunk.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]
[member="Julian Solo"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

A razer net. Kay had never encountered one before. And in the split second that she heard it being fires, it was too late. She screamed at the top of her lungs as it enveloped her and dropped her to the ground, satchel and all. Sure it was painful, being cut multiple times at once, but she knew that her scream would be loud enough to catch the attention of others in the area. It wasn't as though she was the only person in the marketplace. She didn't struggle, didn't move. The net was so tight that she knew she'd just cut herself even more. And she didn't want the fate of having bled to death.

Upon hearing the scream and seeing her valued customer attacked by a bounty hunter, Shea grabbed her pistol from under the counter and fired a few stun bolts at [member="Julian Solo"] . She wasn't a good markswoman, but as he was about thirty feet away from her, she hoped that she'd at least hit his armour once in order to distract him and give the authorities more time to arrive.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Dominik Borra]

Of all things Dominion had to do, at that moment when the net went off, was take a breath. A Damn breath! Because of that he lost precious seconds as he had to hold his breathing while he aimed at the man who had fired the net. Holding down the trigger, it was only a few seconds before it was ready to fire, and the woman behind the counter gave him all he needed. The trigger released the tension, and he pulled down on it, firing a bright blue particle beam right in the square of Solo's back. When the beam hit, it would explode violently with the heat of a small thermal detonator.

The Ex-agent quickly leapt to his feet and ran across the rooftops nearer to the [member="Lady Kay"] . Heat was quickly vented out of the barrel, and he counted to 5, the time it would take for the rifle to be able to fire again. He held down the trigger, letting it charge as he leapt over one more roof, then rolled to a kneeling position where he targeted the brute. He knew that he was part of them the moment he changed roles when the net was fired and Kay screamed. He let off another beam right for the Hergilc's feet.

Dominion was a good enough marksmen to know when he pulled that trigger, it would hit both of them. From this position, he couldn't do anything else. Swinging the rifle around his back, he leaped from rooftop to rooftop once more, pulling out his dual blasters as he made his way closer. At first, he was a good 70m away or so, but now he was a solid 20m away.

[member="Julian Solo"][member="Ghorua the Fish"]

 

[Julian Valentine]

The target went down, and he knew the scene was about to become chaos. Shrieks were heard in the crowd and the mass of bodies surged forward. This was no small town, it was the capital city of a planet. The vendor was close enough to get a shot at him, striking him one, then twice. He spun around, thankful for his armor. He moved to take out his MT-14 pistols and blast her, but he saw someone charging. A noble act for an ordinary citizen. He had no time to react. The man punched him square in the jaw, even with the armor, it rattled his head.

His vision blurred and he staggered backwards. He heard a snap. The mans body struck him and sent Solo reeling back an extra two steps only to see the man was lying face-down on the ground - a hole was occupying most of his upper chest. Someone had shot him clean. No, they weren't shooting him, they were trying to shoot me. The unlucky buffoon got in the way. He saw from the corner of his eye as a man looked like he was deciding to take on Solo or run like the rest of the crowd, but the other man had made up his mind. He wasn't going to become another corpse on the ground and so the Quarren booked it for the nearest open door.

Solo couldn't stay in the open, not with the crowd significantly thinning as time went on. His target could stay where she was, the net would hopefully hold her in place, if she behaved nice. His attention was back on the vendor who was firing another shot, Solo returned fire, peppering the stand with half a dozen stun rounds - all the way making his way for cover.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Five seconds. Ghorua had five seconds to react as he saw the blue bolt strike in Solo's direction. Looking quick to where the sniper was, he pointed his finger up. "Bones," he said, raising his voice, "Attack."

With a feral howl, Bones stared down the sniper on the rooftops, and scrambled for the nearest building, digging her claws into gaps in the metal as she climbed.

Confident that she would soon reach the sniper, Ghorua turned the Spinster on the rooftop, and saw that he was pointing the rifle straight at him. Diving like the whale he is, Ghorua lept off the ground as an explosion erupted under his feet. The shockwave moved him an extra foot in the direction where he was going, but besides that, left him unharmed. Looking around, he saw a few people dazed from the explosion, but no one was killed. Good, I can use that.

Ghorua stampeded towards one human man knocked down from the blast and held him up in one meaty fist, the Spinster rotating in his other hand. He shot ten consecutive shots at the rooftop as the sniper parkoured his way closer. Trying to put on an air of overconfidence, Ghorua yelled, "Ha, yeah, come closer, I dare you!" Ghorua wasn't overconfident at all. In fact, he was a bit nervous for what was about to come, but if the guard thought he was overconfident, he might try to act on it, and that would give the Herglic the advantage.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]
[member="Julian Solo"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

At least some of her clothing, where there was multiple layers, had protected parts of her body from getting cut. As did her satchel. Yet still, it hurt to move. People were running, with the blasterfire and violence urging them to get out of the marketplace as soon as possible. It was chaos. At least from Kay's point of view. All she could do was lay there, and shout out to people when it seemed as though she'd be trampled. A few kicks and stumbles from others caused the razer net to cut into her skin. Not everyone was paying attention to the bundle on the ground.

Shea, meanwhile tried to duck under her counter to avoid [member="Julian Solo"] 's stun bolts, but failed. She just wasn't quick enough.

Kay watched as the amount of people left in the streets fleeing appeared to now be at about ten and that included the bounty hunters and the one fighting them. How long before one of them came to pick her up? The netting was strong and she wasn't sure that a knife could cut it. Not like she had one she could use anyhow.

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Dominik Borra]

Dominion's main target was difficult to discern in this situation, but if he gave it a thought, it would be the man who shot the net, and cutting the Lady Kay out of the net.

As he came to the rooftop above the bounty hunter and Kay, he noticed that neither of his shots had hit home. But other than that, he just felt a heavy mass slam into him. He laid on the ground with a snarling beast ontop of him, it's jaws locked around his left arm. The armor protected him greatly, the teeth only centimeters away from digging into his robotic arm. "I dont have time for this!" His right arm was free, with his pistol in hand. Gritting his teeth, he took his firearm and put it agains the snarling hound's eye, and fired off two shots before pointing the gun to his side over the edge of the roof, firing where he was sure the one with the strange helmet was.

 

[Julian Valentine]

The streets descended into complete and utter chaos, even as they crowd was pouring into other avenues, those who remained fueled the anarchy. He saw the Vendor go down under suppressive fire from his pistols. They were hot the touch. He let them settle for a moment, preventing them from overheating. He craned his neck, watching as Ghorua took charge of the scene, sending his faithful hound onto the roofs. He watched in stunned admiration as the animal clawed its way onto the roof. Damn, I need one of those.

Then it was back to the chaos. His beacon was still active and his ship wasn't far, they were only a block away from the spaceport, but that also mean't a block away from authorities - not that that meant much. This wasn't a Republic world. It was neutral space, and Solo had a license and corporate sponsorship. Unless they wanted to tango with the Arceneau Trade Companie's lawyers, then they'd stick their nose out of it. Not just that, but Solo had some hard evidence on this woman's bodyguard. Homicide is not a pretty label to have on your resume. His eyes looked to the poor sod who got in the way, a crater now occupying his chest. He felt somewhat sorry for him.

Ion drives roared above. An immense BT-7 assault ship was hovering above. It was only a matter of getting onto a roof and dragging Lady Kay up the ramp. The challenge was fighting off her bodyguard. Pewst! a blaster bolt hit him in the shoulder, sending him reeling to the side. He looked up, he got too distracted. The man was fending off Ghorua's hound, but had managed a lucky shot. "Kark this!" Solo swore aloud, he moved for Lady Kay and grabbed the net. The razers instantly tried to imbed themselves into his armored gloves but all they managed was to peel off a thin film of the fabric.

He began to pull, and he screamed out, his throat becoming raw as he did, "SO FORCE HELP ME! IF YOU SHOOT AT ME ONE GODDAMN TIME I'LL SHOVE A DETONATOR DOWN HER THROAT. I DON'T NEED HER ALIVE!" He lifted the net, trying to force Lady Kay onto her feet so that he may use her as a shield, whether or not she would get on her feet was up to her. . .

[member="Ghorua the Fish"]
[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

Ghorua had gotten Bones from a close family friend. A Geonosian Massiff breeder had trained her from birth to be a non-lethal monster in combat. So when the man raised his pistol to her head, she unlatched her jaw, and ran under his legs. The shot went off, blasting a spine on her back, making her wimper. The second shot missed, but forced her off the edge, falling next to Julian Solo and the senator. Standing up with a sharp bark, the white Massiff raised her muzzle to the assassin and bayed.

Ghorua called her back as he heard Julian yell. If Solo's call worked, Bones would only get in the way. Plus, that was too close. Looking at his own hostage, who was now blubbering in some language he didn't understand, Ghorua set him down gently. They already had custody of someone far more valuable. "Go about your business, citizen," he said awkwardly. The man ran away screaming. Ghorua didn't necessarily care if he went to the police. The Hunters were on the side of the law here.

​The Herglic raised his rotary blaster cannon at the man on the roof, spinning the barrels menacingly. If he didn't stand down, a few blaster bolts would be going his way.

[member="Lady Kay"]
[member="Dominik Borra"]
[member="Julian Solo"]

 

[Kay-Larr]

Kay clenched her jaw as she was yanked to her feet, biting down on the pain and breathing out a heavy breath as a way to try to expel it. "Couldn't we talk about this?! Like rational people?!" But maybe [member="Julian Solo"] wasn't the rational sort. She had no idea.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she saw Bones fall down next to her. If she had been laying down still, she might have been crushed. What a painful way to go. Her eyes were then drawn to [member="Ghorua the Fish"] . Did he just let a hostage go? He was being....nice? That could be useful later.

Once the market became empty, she was able to hear the assault ship above them. Oh no. So much for it being a beautiful day.

[member="Dominik Borra"]

 

[Dominik Borra]

He rolled back onto his feet once the hound fell off the side, only to be met by blaster bolts, one hit him square in the chest, pushing him back a little and making a dent in his armor. The others flew just past him. He looked up to see a freighter coming down, hovering right above them. "Kark!" He cursed to himself. He got back to the edge of the roof, holstering both pistols and swinging his body a little to swing the rifle over to his left hand, where he caught it. His right hand reached back behind him and pulled out a a pistol similar to a ravager, but it looked different. [member="Lady Kay"] Would recognize this as the pistol Ultimatum had given him back in the Mirrorverse, the handgun that could tear through armor. He pointed the rifle at the Herglic, and the handgun at the man with Kay.

"IF I SHOOT AT YOU ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME, YOU'LL BE DEAD! LET'S DO WHAT THE SENATOR SAID AND TALK! DROP HER NOW!" With his normal body, this would be a tricky situation. Mostly on the basis of could he actually hit him and not the hostage. But.. maybe getting his eye melted and his arm chopped off was a blessing. With new enhances, his eye could see trajectories. No more guessing. And he knew both were trained on his enemies heads