Bottoms Up! (Open/Anja)

[Amnell de Portiers]

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

Amnell turned making sure the droid was following behind her. "Hurry up Nine." Spoken to the little R9 unit behind her. At this point her work was done, she'd finished up working on a protocol droid and returned him to his wealthy owner and received a fine paycheck for it.

With her bones aching, the Quannot's Syndrome ravaging her body, she just wanted a night to herself. A nice quiet drink. Simple enough, right? Just a drink to help ease the ache. Her medications weren't quite keeping the pain in check these days and the young woman simply needed some help.

Finally she came to the cantina, Black Tooth and stepped inside. From there, she only checked once as Nine whistled his annoyance as to her choice in establishments for the evening.

"This is not good for you." He beeped as she headed for the counter.

"Don't care. Tonight, I just want to relax for a change. So let me have one night, okay? I work hard enough on you and other droids ... Sometimes I just need a break too. After all you can power down... consider this my powering down."

More whistled annoyance followed.

"Corellian Whiskey, please." She asked of the barkeep as she traded her coin for the glass.

"Bottoms up." She said to a man beside her before downing the amber liquid, and waved the barkeep for another. Her thoughts soon drifted to what a young Jedi had told her about training. She'd been told no. That she was too ill for such training ... but she so desperately wanted that. Maybe someday...

 

[Boethiah]

OSSUS

What a sight -- this world was well within The Republic's control. So for the Host Lord herself to show up... Now that was a situation, having snuck onto the world Anja Aj'Rou was following one of her visions. In her dreams she saw a droid engineer who would follow her on her march to victory. Two feet carried the woman towards a cantina sign that read Black Tooth, it seemed like a quiet place where someone would get a drink. Striding through the doors was the Umbaran witch herself, at first not many thought much of it. Few knew who she looked like, or even that she existed.

Two piercing eyes gazed across the room and fixed on the girl at the bar. The woman walked forward, vibroblade at her side.

"Hey, lady! What ya' doin' bringing a weapon in here--", the bartender protested. His short words were cut off suddenly as the man felt pressure against his throat; creating a scene.

The steps slowed, the witch stopped just behind the engineer -- her weapon now drawn. "Come with me."

[member="Amnell de Portiers"]

 

[Amnell de Portiers]

The words, she heard them loud and clear. Frozen instantly as they sank in. Her heart raced faster within her chest, and for a moment she closed her eyes tightly, not wanting this to be real. For that moment she only wanted it to be a dream. It took her a few breaths to calm herself, and slowly she turned around. "I ... uh ..." She didn't have a weapon. There was no defense. But there was Nine, who at the moment was trying his best to head Anja off with an electric shock.

"No..." She said with a shake of her head. There was no way she wasn't at least going to resist a little. Even if she couldn't fight to save her skin. With her eyes keenly on the weapon she attempted to dart past Anja while maybe just maybe Nine would distract her for a moment. A moment was what she needed.

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

Things got quiet at first until the little droid tried to be brave, with a swift move of her hand Anja pushed the droid; the metallic creature rolled back into a wall. It didn't take long for the engineer to already be nearly past her, turning her foot the Host Lord intended to trip the woman. The change of concentration released the bartender who was now coughing on the floor, short of breath.

Armed with only a vibroblade, it was likely clear after a few demonstrations that Anja was indeed force-sensitive and not untrained at that. Her motions were swift and accurate, resembling a discipline for endurance and melee combat. Whether or not this could be noticed by the sudden dart for safety would wait to be seen, the mind tended to go off on its own when survival instinct kicked in. A fight had just broken out in a bar, not that unusual... Just the participants were.

[member="Amnell de Portiers"]

 

[Glim]

"YOU'RE KRIFFIN ME." Came a soft spoken voice. It was loud enough and filled with enough spittle to no doubt arrest attention; especially since the words were shouted as a few shadowed figures passed by the entrance of the cantina. A man in a suit, a Trandoshan and a Wookiee. The one in the suit had a duffel bag thrown over a shoulder, scattergun pumping in his hand as it barked out harsh reports down the street.

Ossus may be known for its Jedi history, but it still had its own population. And someone had paid good money for them to steal a transport schedule from the local starport; but the Trandoshan was greedy and opted to hold up a local gem store, too. Gems were what was actually in the bag just then. Bright flashes of blaster bolts patterned the air and the Wookiee went down in a tangle of burned flesh, bowcaster clattering down the street.

Hopping back and forth nervously as he debated running or helping one of his partners for the job, Glim made the split second decision to kick the bowcaster into the cantina. Firing a warning shot down the causeway he took ahold of the Wookiee's ammo belt and tugged him into the shade - and cover - of the watering hole.

He didn't even look inside to see what was going on. Instead, he kept near the door, waiting for the walking carpet to hopefully come around. If he didn't, he was bailing. If he did, they were going to have to find a way to get him out of here.

No one left behind.

Because they might rat.

The carpet gargled something unintelligible and Glim gave him a firm pat on the uninjured side of his chest. Turning his masked visage inward, he tilted his head. "Hey, is there a stickup going on in here, too?"

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"]
[member="Amnell de Portiers"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"] [member="Glim"]

Vassara happened to be in the very bar that the transgression was taking place in. Despite the fact that she was thoroughly wasted her instincts were still sharp. when the witch entered she felt her in the force, radiating power like a cup overfilled with whiskey. For a moment her drunken eyes drifted across the room until she spotted the source of the power.

And then the weird alien started shooting.

Though she was alone she felt reckless in that instant. Something was wrong here, and when she saw the other woman trying to flee she was forced to act. Was she a very good Jedi? No not at all. Vassara had killed out of spite and been driven by passion. Still that didn't mean one could never stop trying.

She stood moving towards the two. Her black spacers jacket and trousers contrasted with the red trim in the bars lowlights. Her hand curled silently around her ThunderGun, a weapon tooled to take down force users.

As she moved she opened herself up to the force, drawing the energies close into herself. She imagined them weaving a layer, and compressing it around her left hand.

"Stop. What are you doing? And you! Put that down!"

She motioned towards Glim.

The woman’s presence was different. She was not dark nor light, but much like the witch Vassara had encountered in Tortuga. The spiral scar burned across her shoulder and she felt the blood trail that was cast on her activate.

Leave them Vassara. This one is like me, a witch.

No, she spat back at the sprirt.

Now get lost schutta!

 

[Amnell de Portiers]

With the brave little droid somewhat out of the picture, squealing his anger at the situation as he attempted to come back at Anja to ram her. But Amnell .... Amnell didn't have the best reflexes and her feet entangled with Anja's left her tumbling to the floor.

A scream echoed through the bar as she hit the ground. Pain radiated through her body, every inch of her as she gasped for breath against pained nerves and degenerating muscle tissue. The fall just made her ordinary pain so much more. She simply couldn't recover, just trying to get onto her hands and knees was excrutiating. Her eyes drifted up as she looked to the woman who had brought her to the floor. She didn't understand. Didn't get why this was happening. Why her? Of all people why her?

Her eyes moved, more noise ... chaos. Quickly she started to move, to try and crawl away. Nothing else had been noticed, it was all noise too fast to process when pain dominated her thoughts. Every movement, hand over hand was agony pure and simple. She wasn't an ordinary girl. She was a very ill woman, with a finite amount of time left in her life. A very finite amount of time.

Still instincts did kick in, and everything screamed RUN! FLEE! And Amnell was doing her damnedest to do just that. Eyes moved, searching the bar, hoping ... praying someone, something would come to her rescue, but her head told her the odds were unlikely. That this fight was over before it really began, and soon enough she'd be helpless.

[member="Vassara Raxis"] | [member="Glim"] | [member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Beowoof]

Tacitanya had been trapped on Nar Shaddaa when all this crazy stuff had gone down recently. The Republic no longer had power there, and she was rushing like a refugee to wherever was most accessible within Republic space. Ossus was one of the most convenient worlds, so that would be her stepping stone into the bulk of the struggling nation.

Also, it was just interesting to visit some Jedi world. While Taci was not subject to the Order, there was an undeniable nostalgia that most might have for the Jedi. Taci respected them greatly, whether she held their complete values or not. She could pay homage.

Not that she would linger around the temple or monuments for the whole duration of her stay. She was just a normal citizen by most standards, and had to do normal citizen things when out-and-about--such as eating at a restaurant. It was adjacent to some watering hole known as the Black Tooth, and a bit of the rowdiness seeped through the walls separating the establishments. It was a bar, alright. Taci hated that sort of atmosphere. It was like claustrophobia, except exclusive to bars.

The volume level rapidly increased, however, and Taci could sense that there were swelling emotions of fear, panic, and... coldness. She did not want to go in there. But there was some sort of creed she felt tied to--one that was nonexistent except in her own mind. It was her duty to help those in dire need.

Removing herself from her seat, the tyrian twi'lek hurried out of the restaurant and turned the corner to find herself in the entrance of the cantina. Weapons had already been drawn, and there was nothing especially conventional about said weapons. Not cool.

She opened up her cloak and drew her Whistleflute, aiming it at the woman with the unorthodox vibro-weapon that everyone seemed to be ready to charge. "Put that down, and I won't hurt you."

Oh snaff.

[member="Amnell de Portiers"], [member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Glim"], [member="Vassara Raxis"]

 

[Boethiah]

Suddenly it seemed the bar was far more lively than before, interesting. her hapless victim remained on floor; unable to get up. What an event -- it seemed this woman was unable to maneuver after being tripped, of course things weren't going to be this easy. At least two people were against her. Coming from behind were two voices, at least one directly wanted the witch to stop the fight and in that moment the little droid attempted to ram itself into the Umbaran's leg. With a swift kick the Host Lord bashed her foot into the droid's body, forcing it onto its metallic back.

Without hesitation, Anja turned herself to face the two.

[member="Vassara Raxis"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"] [member="Glim"] [member="Tacitanya"]

 

[Glim]

"Wait a minute, folks." The man says, soft-spoken voice a bit shaky and nervous. He stood, turned around to step out of the entrance, and pumped a few shots down the street. Judging by the amount of blasterfire coming back at him, half the local law enforcement precinct had come out to play. "I know there seems to be some civilian displacement going down here... but..." He looked down to the Wookiee, who's breathing was becoming shallow.

The Trandoshan was further down the street, preventing - for the moment - Glim being overrun and swarmed. "...law enforcement is almost here. I don't think they're going to care what's going on. They're just going to see a lot of weapons."

He looked to [member="Vassara Raxis"]. "I'm not putting this down, either. This is the only thing keeping them out of this place and making this situation worse." Whether they liked it or not, they were all in the same boat now. And while he was mere feet from the purple Twi'lek, he wasn't overly concerned. Weapon wasn't pointed at him or his expensive suit. All he cared about, really.

[member="Amnell de Portiers"] [member="Tacitanya"] [member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"] [member="Glim"] [member="Tacitanya"]​

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Vassara became quickly overwhelmed as more individuals were drawn to the fight, like moths to a flame. Suddenly she found herself with many potential enemies and allies. Still the girl was on the floor and as Anja kicked her doird aside Vassara stepped up to her within arms length. There was venom in her voice and her demeanour was quite far from that of a Jedi Guradian. But then again she was Rogue. No order, minimal code and the flexibility to bend rules.

She snickered at Glim.

He was actually keeping the law enforcement out which was a welcome relief for her. Vassara had been marked by a Witch just like Anja. Further more her nights were haunted by nightmarish visions as the Nighsisters fallen soul connected with her, sowing the seeds of something unnatural within her. Still she clung to the light.

She pointed at Anja, a warning. Though she was a rogue and not perfect she was still dedicated to protecting life and freedom as best she could.

"You, back off from the girl. This is your final warning."

Her jaw clenched tight and she continued to focus her power into her fist, imagining an elaborate network of threads, and compressing layer upon layer of the force. Slowly and methodically.

"Resist this and I will be forced to strike!"

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel laid on the roof looking through the scope of his K29 MSR, watching the Host Lord enter the cantina. He had accompanied her on her quest, aiming to allow her personal mission to succeed with minimal effort on her account. So, here he was, decked in advanced agent armor a kilometer away from his superior and ready to neutralize any possible threat.

Mikkel zoomed in on the window of the cantina and measured the distance. 1128 meters, 7mph wind gusts. Adjusting his scope for these conditions, Mikkel watched [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] confront a woman at the bar with her blade. Time for the fun to begin, Mikkel thought.

Mikel watched through the window as the events played out. After the droid attacked Anja the second time, Mikkel got annoyed with it. Boom, Mikkel fired a .338 slug directly at the droid's center mass. The bartender seems to be acting strange. Just to be sure... Boom, Mikkel fired another round directly at his chest. It seems like things are getting pretty tense in the cantina. Time to move to the secondary vantage point, and hopefully get a better angle. With this in mind, Mikkel jumped from rooftop to rooftop as fast and stealthily as possible.

[member="Glim"] [member="Tacitanya"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"][member="Vassara Raxis"]

 

[Amnell de Portiers]

And so Nine was knocked back and trapped on it's back as it squealed expletives for all to hear. Needless to say the droid was fething pissed. Angrily the droid reacted in the only way it could spraying oil in Anja's direction before igniting it quickly with it's boosters as it shifted back onto it's feet with a squeal. Angry droid was angry.

Amnell had just gotten to her knees, and her eyes met with Vassara. She was almost close enough to reach. Slowly carefully she started to shift to her feet, though the effort and pain was clear on her face as she did so. It was then that she heard shots fired, and wasn't too certain where it came from but a glance behind her gave her the answer as the bartender slumped to the floor. Her eyes wide with shock, she couldn't even bring herself to scream, though she truly wanted to in that moment.

Then another shot and she heard the ringing sound of a bullet piercing metal and looked as Nine had taken a hit and shrieked at the realization. Gods just let me get out of here alive.

[member="Mikkel Markov"] | [member="Vassara Raxis"] | [member="Glim"] |[member="Tacitanya"] | [member="Anja Aj'Rou"]

 

[Boethiah]

As if this standoff couldn't get worse, it seems no one wanted to put down their weapons for the sole purpose of getting out of this situation alive. At the very moment the droid shot to ignite the slick, Anja's lighter force push gracefully blasted the oil all over the back walls, creating a stream of fire that had just now begun to spread across the bar. if that wasn't bad enough, perhaps the sudden shots and death of the bartender would make things worse. At the very least it seems to be that the droids are distracted.

The building on fire, the Host Lord turned her attention to the now standing [member="Amnell de Portiers"] and then decided to attempt to wrap her vibroblade around the woman's throat, taking her from behind. Was it a hostage move? Maybe. All anyone really knew is that for some reason the witch wanted to kidnap the engineer.

 

[RC 212]

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"] [member="Mikkel Markov"] [member="Glim"] [member="Tacitanya"]

The moment of truth finally came. As Anja moved to take the woman Vassara stepped forwards, using her free hand to try and push Amnell away fro the witch. Her face lit up with a snarl and she opened herself completely to the force. The current moved through her like a raging river, crashing upon rocks and solidifying her soul.

With a simple thought Karen Roberts silver plated lightsaber placed itself firmly into her left hands palm. In the right hand she continued weaving her barrier, pushing herself to the limit to solidify it and harden the intangible shield.

The saber sprang to life and Vassara brought it sweeping up towards her. Her feet closed together shoulder length and the sapphire blade was held diagonally across her body. The natural guard position of Form I.

Anja had attacked, and ignored her warnings. Vassara was livid and the rage and anger began to flush her face. The Bloodtrail mark burned bright inside her coat, causing her minor pain as the nighsister soul tried to interfere. But she ignored the pain, centering herself in the benign current and staring with her piercing blue gaze into Anja's eyes.

"You were warned!"

She was no Jedi of the Republic. She did not bandy petty words or scold. She simply defended the meek and failing that, dispensed justice.

With a vengeance she stepped forwards, whirling the blade just off her left shoulder and striking towards Anja with a savage blow...

 

[Keira Priest]

Sniper, some kind of wannabe Jedi, another one trying to play peacekeeper, the woman that originally walked in here, and...her. That last thought was accompanied by a quiet sigh on Keira's part, and she shifted slightly from her currently seated position near the middle of the bar, seated alone at a table, all the better to observe without suspicion. None of this was really her concern, and there wasn't any practical need for her to get involved that surpassed a deep-seated rivalry that still harbored something akin to a bond through the Force. It was a tumultuous connection she shared with the other woman, and not one that was necessarily appreciated. Especially when it led her into situations like this.

Surprisingly enough it was all going marginally well, as standoffs were concerned. But, of course, someone had to pull a ridiculous move, and soon enough half of the building was in flames. You've gotta be kidding me. It wasn't personal now so much as more of an irritance, and she supposed it was time to intervene somehow. There weren't any sides to take but her own, and this wouldn't be the first time she'd stood alone outnumbered. However, it was her first hostage scenario. This day just kept getting better and better. Had no one in the galaxy heard of something called down time? Apparently not.

Standing and igniting her lightsaber in the same moment, she knew already that most would take one look at her and assume the very wrong thing: Jedi. Most other times it provided a wry sort of humor, because it wasn't close to the truth. Very far from it, in fact. Upholding the law was the least of her priorities, but maintaining some kind of order, even if it was more disorganized at times, was always preferable. Well, preferable at least to everyone being moments away from shooting each other in the face. Not to mention the fact that the fire had slowly begun to creep across the room, though that just barely registered to her senses.

Amber eyes took in the group as a whole, and finally words fell from her lips. "Nobody do anything exponentially stupid. Or at least, nothing that hasn't been done already."

[member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Amnell de Portiers"], [member="Mikkel Markov"], [member="Vassara Raxis"], [member="Glim"], [member="Tacitanya"]

 

[Glim]

Glim had been about to step outside again and lay down some more dissuading fire before [member="Mikkel Markov"] had ruined the tense balance they'd managed to find. No longer briefly united by the common want to not wind up in a jail cell, they were now united in the common want to not kriffin' burn to death. "WHO THE KRIFFIN CHIT?" Glim stood and, in a surprisingly confident move, fired a pair of shotgun blasts up towards where he figured the rounds had come from.

There weren't too many buildings that were close enough to see the cantina entrance and low enough to spot the bartender within. That meant the sniper was less of a sniper and more of an irritence.

Which really rustled Grim's jimmies. "I'm out!" The wookiee looked up, reaching for a helping hand. Glim looked down, grabbed the blaster pistol from his waistband... and put the beast down with a shot to the head. Making short hops outside and putting down a blanket of pellet, he disappeared from sight intent on not dying to sniper or to flame.

He'd take his luck just plain running.

Poor Wookiee.

Alien should have invested in body armor.

 

[Beowoof]

Bad, baaaad... Hostage situations were her thing, but this was no ordinary hostage situation. Taci had not one single clue as to who was on her side or against her. The creepy Trandoshan nearby hardly looked above-board.

BANG

BANG

"Oh, snaffin' snaff!" she exclaimed whilst ducking as two shots shattered the windows and found both of their marks. The poor droid was crippled, and the bartender was dead. "Snaff snaff snaff snaff snaff!" No, this was not how things were supposed to go today! Not on Ossus--of all the places!

It was situations like these when she wanted to just abandon things and hope everything worked itself out for the best. But this was not going well in the slightest, and the short tyrian did not believe anyone was going to back down anytime soon. And with the cops closing in, the hostage-taker was probably not going to be too easy about things. This was going to require some aggressive diplomacy. From a short twi'lek.

She did not do aggressive very well.

Tucking her gun back into her holster, Taci kept her opposite hand against the other side of her thigh, fingers tapping against the hilt of her other hidden weapon as she crept towards the three at the center of attention. She raised her free hand and tried to speak softly but firmly, attempting to persuade the perpetrator through the Force to let the potential victim go. "You don't want to do thi--"

Boy, this chick sure wasted no time. The blue beam of a Jedi's lightsaber flashed and blurred about to attack the hostage-taker.

Another lightsaber went off, this one behind her and flickering a rather foreboding orange. Tacitanya sighed. She might as well join this colorful party. She took hold of her own saber and activated the blade, its nectar glow brightening the room as the plasma current began to drone.

Anyone else?

[member="Amnell de Portiers"], [member="Anja Aj'Rou"], [member="Glim"], [member="Vassara Raxis"], [member="Mikkel Markov"], [member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Amnell de Portiers]

This situation could not have been more fethed up if they had tried. Talk about a rock and like six hard places. Lets do the math shall we? There were three lightsabers. One Sniper, one dead barkeep, one crippled droid, one kidnapper, one girl caught in the middle, cops, oh and as if things were not bad enough the building was most certainly on fire. This was one really nasty situation, which could only be made worse by the likes of Cthulhu rising again.

Amnell let out a small shriek as she found herself narrowly pulled from the grasp of Anja and shoved to the side, away from the woman trying to take her away from this place. Nine seemed to be down and out and here she was ... in agony and tossed aside, but hopefully out of the way and out of reach. She needed to be out of reach. Instantly she found herself on her knees again, crawling for the exit. All she knew is she wanted out of there, right the feth now. No more screwing around. Let the saber jockeys sort it out. Not my problem. Thought as she made her attempt to crawl for the door.

[member="Tacitanya"] | [member="Keira Ticon"] | [member="Vassara Raxis"] | | [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] | [member="Mikkel Markov"]

 

[Mikkel Markov]

Mikkel had settled in his second vantage point, approximately 500 meters from the cantina, and detonated the explosives he had left in the building he was originally on. Laying down and retaking measurements, the window he had put two holes through was now 493 meters away, and wind speed was now negligible. Flipping down the bipod on his slugthrower, Mikkel readjusted the scope and examined how the situation has unfolded.

So apparently the building was on fire. How'd that happen? Mikkel didn't use any incendiary ammunition, so it was probably not his fault at least. Other than that, it appears the standoff had gotten much more interesting, so many parties Mikkel couldn't make sense of it. It seems Anja was in a duel, but she could take care of herself. Just then another lightsaber ignited, making its wielder the next target ([member="Keira Ticon"]).

From his angle, Mikel could only see the lower half of his target's body through the window. No matter, he's not using a slugthrower for style. Reloading his rifle with a clip full of high velocity armor piercing rounds, Mikkel aimed three inches above the window where his target's chest should be, and fired two rounds.

Boom boom. Thwack thwack.

Both rounds penetrated through the cantina's wall.

[member="Tacitanya"] [member="Glim"] [member="Vassara Raxis"] [member="Anja Aj'Rou"] [member="Amnell de Portiers"]