All Too Easy

[Gryylarc]

"If anything remains of Mia Monroe, Jasper Ordo, and Velok the Elder, with her it will be. Wise you must be, Gryylarc. Her mother's daughter she is. Perhaps a Mandalorian warrior, or strong in the Force, or both. On Dxun you will find her, the jungle moon. Foreseen it I have."


[member="Connory Monroe"]

Gryylarc would have given his left arm, at minimum, for a cool drink. The jungle here had all the brutal humidity of the Kashyyyk shadowlands he knew so well, but Dxun was significantly warmer. At least his matted silver fur kept insects off - no small mercy. Some of them looked uncannily like orbalisks.

He slashed one final tangle of vines with his hewing spear and entered a ruined Mandalorian camp. The jungle had reclaimed it in the past few years: creepers and undergrowth, insects and small animals, choked and occupied the buildings. He reached out to the Force in ways his prey might feel, and went hunting.

 

[Connory Monroe]

Following old paths trodden by either of her parents was not easy. They had a gift for dropping off the radar. Trails were running cold, leading to dead ends or simply spinning her in circles. Dxun was no different. The old camp had given her nothing but more bug bites than she was comfortable with and a long trek back to her ship.

Something made her stop, a tingle up her spin. The trees rustled, eliciting whispers that sounded like her name. Cory was no stranger to seeing and hearing ghosts but this felt different...dangerous. Trust your instincts.

“Feth.” she muttered, doubling back to the camp, she stepped out of the undergrowth and moved cautiously into the open, hands hovering over the beskar batons.

“Alright mother, what is it you need me to see.”

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]

And there she was: a young human, armed, capable of surviving Dxun alone. Gryylarc bared his teeth.

"HRRURRRRR."

Beside his lightstaff, a small module on his belt twittered fussily. "Lord Gryylarc clarifies that he is not your mother."

He brought up a big hand, bared glossy alchemical claws, and did his level best to apply a Force choke to her throat. Not a windpipe choke, but a blood choke. The goal was simple unconsciousness.

 

[Connory Monroe]

"No shid." she replied.

A wookie on its own would made her day worse, but a force wielding one? She felt the pinch on her veins, the slow of blood to her brain bringing stars to the edges of her vision. This was a very bad day.

Batons snapped into her hand and she launched the first forward, aiming between his eyes. Wouldn't do much damage, but should be enough of a distraction to stop whatever he was trying to do. The other extended with a crackle of electricity.

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]

With the bulk of his focus on the Force choke, Gryylarc couldn't quite switch gears in time. He felt a moment of gut-deep panic as he wrenched his head aside and the beskar baton smashed against his skull. Even a glancing blow from a pound of Mandalorian iron could make an impact. His focus failed; the choke vanished.

"HrrURRR."

"Lord Gryylarc-"

Gryylarc hefted his alchemical hacking spear and activated the vibroblade head. The blade hummed in a menacing way. That electrified baton had a good chance of short-circuiting the vibroblade functionality -- which would leave the weapon as simply a large, heavy, ultra-durable, ultra-sharp polearm with excellent reach.

"-expresses both pain and frustration."

Gryylarc took a swing at knee level. To answer the Elder's questions, she didn't need her legs.

 

[Connory Monroe]

That translator was going to get very annoying very fast, but she didn't have time to think about it, not with that blade coming for her knees. She leapt backwards, avoiding the worst of the damage. The vibroblade left a thin red line across her shins, she continued back peddling, extending a hand for the tossed baton and yanking it with the force towards the back of the wookies head.

She needed to stay out of his reach, or get behind it. Getting behind it still meant she would be in close quarters with a wookie. What was it with big furry force users and her family?

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]

An extended hand could mean anything -- he had a vivid flashback of the Elder's taste for Force Drain -- and Gryylarc hesitated. That moment of hesitation, of instinct, was what saved him from a knockout blow. He caught on to what the girl was doing and twisted away, a sidestep that wasn't fast enough but wasn't too slow either. The baton smacked against the left side of his head, close to where it had hit the first time. He fell to one knee for a dizzy and critical moment. Maybe she'd take advantage of it. Maybe she'd get in close and he could jab her with the spear. Maybe she'd keep her distance. Deep rage bubbled in his gut. This wasn't going nearly as well as he'd anticipated.

 

[Connory Monroe]

Cory kept tugging on the baton bringing it back to her hand and extending it with a snap. A smarter move would probably have been to take the opportunity to run while her quarry was disorientated, but she had a feeling that he wasn't going to give up that easily and the last thing she wanted was a wookie on her tail.

Instead she leapt forward, keeping half an eye on the spear. If she could get close enough, she'd bring the batons down on his hands. A nice electric shock would be enough to make him drop it and then maybe, just maybe she'd be able to put him down.

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]

Gryylarc lunged up from his kneeling posture, spear held sideways, and the electrified batons smashed against the haft not far from his hands. The vibroblade generators smoked and shivered to death, but the black alchemical metal drank the electric current greedily. Despite the crackling voltage, the stink of ozone, and the way his fur fluffed out from static, his hands remained un-electrocuted. For now.

As he stepped in, he lashed out with the butt of the spear, low and hard for the ribs. He pivoted back to the left, too close to use the blade effectively, and tried to smash the human off her feet with the spearshaft. Getting in this close had its risks. He took those risks.

If he could create some breathing room, he could bring the Force to bear again in any number of ways. If they stayed locked at close range...well, the Elder wouldn't mind if the human came in lacking a limb or two.

 

[Connory Monroe]

Cory let out a grunt of pain as the wind was knocked out of her, but refused to give ground. The shaft was more successful, catching her higher in the chest and throwing her off balance. She hit the dirt hard, dangerously exposed.


She drove her boot towards his knee cap. If she was going down he was coming with her.

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"] was significantly smaller. The force of her kick caught his knee by surprise. Surprise is not good for balance; neither is pain. The big old Wookiee found himself tumbling forward, which could go very well or very poorly.

Fortunately, he still had the spear across his body in a two-handed grip. The Sith-metal spearshaft hummed with the energy it had siphoned from the twin electrostaffs...ready to discharge on hard contact.

Discharge, and probably electrocute both of them. Lightning control was outside his skillset so far. Perhaps if he succeeded today, the Elder would share the trick of it, for practical reasons.

Wookiee and electrified spear crashed down toward the brave little human.

 

[Connory Monroe]

"Oh kark."

Cory tried to roll out of the way, getting clear of a hundred and fifty kilos of muscle on fur, but not far enough to get clear of the charged spear shaft that landed across her back. Electricity seized her muscles, punching what air remained out of her lungs and making her go rigid for a moment before it stopped.

Consciousness threatened to overcome her as pain rippled through her body.

Don't you dare go to sleep ad'ika.

Cory let out a groan and rolled onto her back. Fething ghosts.

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]


Electric tension blanked his mind and paralyzed him. He flopped beside the human; the spear tumbled away on the jungle floor. The stink of burnt hair filled his nostrils and he felt every one of his centuries. Clarity returned but not easily. She was close enough to do him real harm.

The lightstaff at his belt didn't strike him as the most appropriate choice for a brawl like this. The spear was just out of reach. Instead he lashed out blindly with the black alchemical claws of his left hand. They wouldn't sink deep, but that amount of pain ought to make the human reconsider staying in the fight.

 

[Connory Monroe]

Still fighting the urge to sleep, she didn't see the claws coming, let alone feel any warning in the force. Cory bit back a scream, the fresh wave of pain bringing clarity back to the jungle. With a grunt of effort, she rolled again, out of reach and got all fours. Her vision swam as she tried to find something to focus on. A baton lay a couple of meters away.

"Ib'tuur jatne tuur-" she shuffled slowly, muttering under her breath trying to find the remains of the fight left in her her, digging into the force far deeper than she'd ever allowed herself. "ash'ad kyr'amur."

Her fingers closed around the cylinder.

[member="Gryylarc"]

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"] was in rough shape but Gryylarc didn't feel much better. He flicked blood off his claws and tried to get up. He did not succeed. And not far away, the human was going for one of her electric batons. Gryylarc gritted his teeth, dug his claws into a vine-covered wall, and dragged himself upright. Just as she went to grab the fallen weapon, he threw out his bloody hand, claws bared.

"Hrryyyyarrr-"

A Force push lashed out. Maybe she'd ragdoll into the jungle, maybe the baton would, and maybe both. Precision wasn't his strong suit at the best of times. Strength, however...

"Lord Gryylarc suggests you attempt self-impregnation."

 

[Connory Monroe]

The world around her shifted with the impact of his force push, floor become jungle canopy and jungle canopy became floor and she was thrown into the undergrowth, connecting hard with a tree trunk. She lay stunned for a moment thinking carefully. The baton was gone, even if she could find it she was in no real condition to fight. She reached for her commlink and pushed herself upright against a tree before connecting with her ship.

"Transmit emergency beacon, all tribe comm lines. Had a run in with what I'm pretty sure is a sith. Wookie, silver haired. If you don't come and find me I'm gonna bring all my ghosts and haunt your asses."

She turned the comm off and tossed it into the undergrowth. The transmission would run through the Liberator. They'd find the ship, and if she was lucky a trail too. She leaned her head back against the tree and waited.

[member="Gryylarc"]

Spoiler

[member="Careena Fett"] [member="Ordo"] [member="Beskadala Ordo"] just an fyi

 

[Gryylarc]

[member="Connory Monroe"]

Gryylarc picked up his spear for one reason and one reason only: he needed it as a walking stick or he was going to fall over. There was a non-negligible chance he had a concussion. Electrocution and her boot to his knee hadn't done him any good either. Leaning on the spear, he limped out of the overgrown base. He paused only to pick up one of her stun batons.

She'd flown a decent distance. He found her slumped against a tree.

With no fuss, muss, or monologue, he powered up her baton and took a swing to knock her out.

 

[Connory Monroe]

Cory watched him limp through the undergrowth, her baton in his hand.

She should have been afraid, but right now all she could manage was tired and possibly more than a little bit pissed. She glared up at him as he swung the baton for her head and the world went black.

[member="Gryylarc"]