Public Dinner With a Bounty Hunter

[Kai and Gerda]

(My first thread! Anyone is welcome to join in. Let's go!)

Setting : Evening in a seedy, low-income apartment complex on the planet Corellia.

~*~*~​

Alyosha didn’t dare turn around. He hadn’t heard anything—at least, not exactly—but he knew there was someone behind him.

His dinner sat on the table before him untouched, steam rising from the plate. The dingy, cramped apartment was quiet. He’d come home tired that evening, just wanting to wolf down whatever slop was left and go to bed. Was that why he hadn’t noticed any telltale signs of an intruder before?

Or maybe you’re just imagining things, the exhausted part of him wanted to believe. But the sense of something being wrong kept needling at the back of his mind, insistent.

To make matters worse, neither his blaster nor his blade were within reach. He’d left them in the next room, shrugged off by the door along with his jacket and boots. It seemed like a rookie mistake, leaving his weapons in a place like that, but he was just so fragging tired...

Whoever it was, they were moving closer. Alyosha remained sitting at the table with his head facing forward, a spike of adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream. He knew it was a bad idea to come to Corellia. It was too obvious a choice. His old homeworld. Of course he would think to look there first…

There was one thing on his side. If this was indeed a bounty hunter, and said hunter was competent, he knew he couldn’t risk killing Alyosha. Tosh needed him alive, as he was an investment he didn’t want to go to waste. Stunning an opponent required more time, care, and precision than simply killing them.

He took stock of his surroundings. Hot food. His chair. A gun set to stun pointed at the back of his head. Only a matter of time before the hunter made his move.

He grabbed the plate and threw it over his shoulder, aiming for the hazy presence he felt behind him. A grunt and a cry of pain revealed the projectile had hit its mark, but he was already on his feet by then. Hooking his fingers under the arms of the chair, he swung it at the intruder. Metal collided with bone—and other, stronger metal.

Of course he sent a cyborg after me, he thought, thinking only of the gun still clutched in the bounty hunter’s artificial hand. Merely striking his wrist would not cause him to release it. Wrestling with this foe in such close quarters wasn't exactly ideal… or he could try to make a run for it.

He threw the chair at the hunter as a final obstacle to delay him, then turned and ran out the door, into the trash-filled, dimly-lit hallway of the one hundred and eleventh floor.

 

[Thraztin]

"Damn Corellians" she said as a chair fell past her, thrown from a window a few stories up. Why she grappling up the side of a Corellian skyscraper in the cold dark night was beyond her. What she knew was that Defense Force had needed her to contact the Back Sun. With hardly any direction as to where to find the notorious criminal organization, she continued trudging up the building, now determined to find out why a chair had almost hit her in the head a hundred floors off the ground.

She quickly pulled herself up through the smashed window into a dingy apartment space. Hot food on the floor, a smashed plate, and a small trail of blood leading out through the open door and into the hall.

Curious as always, Maiven stepped out of the room. No one. She continued to following the trail of blood as it slowly got smaller and smaller. Not a terrible wound, she thought. She'd probably had worse.

Her interest was piqued. [member="Alyosha Drutin"]

 

[Draconis Caesar]

Draconis and a few of his comrades, Sun Guard Initiates like himself, lounged lackadaisically in the drug den. They lay scattered across the floor, atop pillows or fine rugs now slightly tarnished by the mercenaries drunken stupor. They were left to their own devices while the company was on rest and recuperation, which meant, they could do whatever the khark they wanted and Draconis being a man who enjoyed life and anything that might boost it's splendor, found himself leading his comrades into a spice den while on their time off. The drinks flowed freely and the drugs came cheap. On top of this it was not such a dive that they might find beings of lesser ilk mingling with them, such as fiends or thieves. It was truly a place befitting a mercenary who simply wanted to relieve himself of credits and enjoy doing it.

But, as always Draconis quickly found something lacking about the place. His attention could only be held for so long and this span seemed to be shortened even further by the spice which he insnufulated. All in all Draconis was growing bored. and his limbs were becoming stiff from lounging on the small fine pillows the place had offered as chairs. With a stretch he raised himself from his sitting position. The drugs had yet to fully dissipate and he found himself swaying slightly with their lull. He stepped over his resting comrades diligently until finally he made his way to door. He beckoned to the guard and the strongman retreated within a nearby room, which held what Draco assumed to be the guest effects. The alien returned shortly and produced a round cylindrical shield and sword. Draco took hold of them with the expertise that spoke of a man well versed in the handling of both.

He sheathed both weapons on a hooked leather rope which circled the entirety of his back and torso. Once the weapons were snug comfortably on the mercenaries back he tested the door without saying word to the guard or his drunken comrades. He was just as accustomed to travelling alone as he was with friends. Today Draco wore a thick black robed jacket laced with gold and black pants gilded in the same color. While he was more accustomed to the power his armor allotted him he was not entirely besought without it. He was still a capable swordsman and his reflexes with his shield were par none. But, his skills as a fighter were not in question, but rather his judgement as a person per say. He spotted a running figure limping down the dank dimly lit hall before the character retreated down a turn.

Draco suspected someone had been robbed and this was further heightened by the door left violently ajar. He paced over to the room, hand left hovering over sword hilt as he did so. He stopped just before the entrance and carefully peered within. Their was sign of a struggle and as Draconis entered he took note of the place while always remaining vigilant. It was a seedy apartment with seemingly nothing of value. No photos of loved ones, nothing to insinuate that whoever dwelled here might have done so for long. Even with his mind addled by drug and drink Draconis was quickly able to piece together what was truly afoot. It appeared someone was pursuing whoever had lived here, for reasons unknown. Draconis began to imagine reasons why, but had not enough information to come to any reasonable conclusions.

He exited the apartment hastily less the law come and believe him to be the culprit. He returned to the haven from which he had come and mustered his comrades.

"Wake up! The lot of you!" Draconis shouted as he kicked the closest fellow initiates leg.

The man mumbled something under his breathe that faintly resembled a curse. It was not before long that they had stumbled out of their laid back high and back into a faster paced reality. They stretched and yawned, while others rubbed the dust of sleep that still clung to their eyes. The burliest initiate finished waking himself and spoke to Draconis in a heavy set voice that spoke of slight irritation.

"What have you Draco? I was mid dream of a lusty Twi'lek maiden and things were growing heavy, or at least parts of me were!" He finished with a boisterous shout and this brought laughter from some of the more awake initiates.

While Draconis was not the biggest of the Sun Guard present, he was the most skilled and was quick to let it be known.

"Silence your buffoonery! Their is possible credits to be made and i'll see them mine..." Draconis spit with venom in his voice, but finished on a lighter note "It is a possible maiden needs rescuing, so save your swollen self for later and prepare to slay her with your best sword," This brought more laughter this time from all the initiates. They nodded in assent and began to follow Draco to the door. After retrieving their belongings they made haste down the hall and towards the hunter and prey.

[member="Maiven"]
[member="Alyosha Drutin"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

The lift at the end of the hallway had been left conspicuously open. In his heightened state of paranoia, he might have been tempted to think it was a trap, but Alyosha knew that particular lift had a habit of breaking down and was constantly in need of repairs. Even if it was functioning, he didn’t want to risk getting stranded in an elevator if the hunter knew how to cross a few wires.

Footsteps pounded some distance behind him, just barely keeping pace. Well, at least his pursuer’s legs weren’t mechanical. Still, he needed to lose the hunter.

The hallway split in two different directions from the lift, eventually circling around back to the other end of the complex. He took a sharp turn right, vainly hoping it would temporarily disorient his pursuer. The passageway, lined with doors to tiny apartments on either side, seemed to go on forever. Many of the rooms were abandoned, but some were still occupied. Still, he had no hope that some kind stranger would offer him shelter or a place to hide, especially not if a bounty was involved.

He was already running short of breath. Despite his excellent physique, fatigue was catching up with him. He’d spent the day running errands for a petty crime boss, threatening debtors like a common thug. Yet somehow, he had convinced himself that doing jobs that were well below what he was capable of would allow him to fade into the background noise, unnoticed even by those who had been sent to find him and drag him back to Tosh.

The stairwell was coming up around the next bend, but he didn’t have the energy to put up with one hundred and eleven flights of stairs. Hell, he wouldn't have even if he wasn't exhausted. Not to mention that he was barefoot, unarmed, and clad in only a sweat-stained undershirt and pants.

Thundering footsteps continued to doggedly pursue him, though his path so far had been predictable. If he didn’t do something drastic, this chase would either get very drawn-out, very fast, or he would eventually falter and fall into the hunter’s grasp.

On the one hundredth floor there was a small restaurant, just as dumpy as the rest of the place, but it also had access to an airspeeder platform. He could slip in among the patrons—or at least try to, looking the way he did—until he made it to the platform and could escape in someone else’s ride. It wasn't an ideal plan, nor was it as simple as it sounded, but he saw little choice. If he had to leave what little gear he had behind and flee the planet altogether, so be it. He would not allow himself to be captured.

He was coming up on the door to the stairwell when he heard more heavy footsteps approaching. Several pairs of feet, from the sound of them, and coming from the opposite direction of the bounty hunter. He swore under his breath as he threw open the door and bolted down the steps. Great. There’s more of them.

Maiven
Draconis Caesar

 

[Thraztin]

Maiven pulled her vibroknife slowly out of its sheath as she rounded the corner. From behind, back in the room she had started in, she could hear men's voices speaking gruffly and loudly. The trail of blood had ended and the people she was tailing had evidently gotten ahead of her. She moved and pressed her back up against the wall and slowed her breathing. With her free hand she drew her pistol and aimed it around the corner. Nobody appeared yet, but she could hear the boots stomping towards her. She had no idea whether these men were after her or the occupants of the apartment, but she intended to find out. Now she just had to wait for them to get close...

[member="Draconis Caesar"] [member="Alyosha Drutin"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

Though he had convinced himself that he could drop everything and flee Corellia altogether, on the one hundred and seventh floor Alyosha began having second thoughts. He had no sentimental feelings toward his few belongings, but all of his gear, clothes, and most of his money was back in the apartment. Leaving all his stuff behind would prove a major setback.

He skidded to a halt on the landing and burst through the door leading to the 106th floor. The bounty hunter’s encroaching footsteps echoed through the stairwell, before becoming muffled as the door shut behind Alyosha.

This particular floor had a similar design to the others, but the windows were closer to the stairs. Alyosha pressed his back flat against the corner beside the door, waiting. Seconds ticked by. Sweat trickled down his back, his pulse thudding in his ears.

The door opened, and Alyosha struck. Or rather, he leaped up, using the corner for leverage as he kicked both legs outward, into the hunter’s sternum.

He flinched as his bare feet collided with an armored breastplate, but the blow succeeded in knocking the wind from the cyborg’s lungs. Before he could regain his breath, Alyosha swept his legs out from under him.

The two of them wrestled on the floor. Since he had gotten the drop on the hunter, Alyosha started out with the upper hand, but the hunter was stronger and not as depleted at him.

Things weren’t looking good for Alyosha. He managed to avoid the stun blaster, but he couldn’t overpower the cyborg. But then his hand brushed something at the hunter’s belt—a second blaster, no doubt reserved for situations where killing was not a problem. Alyosha’s fingers closed around the gun and he scrambled away, taking it with him.

The hunter leveled his blaster, but Alyosha pulled the trigger first.

Shot at point blank range, the hunter crumpled, a hole burned through his visor. His artificial hand relaxed its grip on the stun blaster. Panting from exertion, Alyosha seized the other blaster, unclasped the hunter’s belt (laden as it was with various useful items, what drew Alyosha’s attention was the presence of a thermal detonator), and stood up. His muscles ached. He wanted to curl up on the floor and sleep for three days, but at least he didn’t have to worry about this particular bounty hunter anymore, whoever he was.

Now to get his gear back. Wrapping the belt around his own waist, he headed for the lift. If it was malfunctioning, perhaps he would leave with his new booty instead. But he wanted his money and his best blade. Fingering the looted blasters, he changed the setting from stun to kill. If those other guys were after him too, he’d deal with them on his own terms.

The lift doors opened with a cheerful chime and he stepped inside, heading back up to Floor 111.

Maiven Draconis Caesar

 

[Thraztin]

From down the hall, Maiven heard the elevator open. She turned her attention away from the approaching thugs for a brief second to see a sweat drenched man wearing a large smile on his face. Odd, she thought. Sinister almost. She turned away from the corner of the hall and held her pistol high with both hands.

"Friend or foe?!" There's a lot of people here and I don't know who I'm gonna have to shoot!" She yelled down the hall at the man. She peered back around the corner to see the other men approaching.

She hoped she wasn't caught between two enemies.

[member="Alyosha Drutin"] [member="Draconis Caesar"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

His adrenaline levels still running high, Alyosha was more than a little giddy when he reached Floor 111. But his smile quickly faded as he came face to face with a Chiss woman pointing a gun at him.

His first instinct was to point both his blasters right back at her, but her question threw him off. The expression on her face and the fact that she hadn’t already blasted him forced him to consider the possibility that she had simply come to investigate. Obviously he couldn’t reveal to a total stranger that he had just killed the bounty hunter who had tried to capture him, but he could at least take pity on someone caught in the crossfire.

“This is none of your business,” he hissed. “Go back to your apartment or wherever you came from.”

From his angle, he couldn’t see the thugs at the other end of the hall, but he wasn’t about to take any chances. Holding eye contact with the woman to make sure she didn’t make any sudden moves, he crept toward the corner, pressed himself against the wall and took aim. “Like the lady said, state your business or prepare for a fight!”

Maiven Draconis Caesar

 

[Thraztin]

'Good' she thought as the man pointed his gun at the approaching others.

"Mind my own business?! Look, these men have guns pointed at us so whatever reason they have for that is my business now!" She let out a blast at one of the men and missed, before ducking back around the corner.

[member="Alyosha Drutin"] [member="Draconis Caesar"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

Damn it, he thought as she opened fire on the thugs. Of course the one person he decided not to shoot first, ask questions later wound up escalating the situation anyway.

Her shot missed, but Alyosha had little hope that they would take it in stride. He ducked behind the wall again, preparing for a hail of blaster bolts in return.

Maiven Draconis Caesar

 

[Thraztin]

"Ok!" she yelled over the blaster fire to the man next to her, hoping for his attention.

"You're gonna do 3 things: tell me your name, tell me who these guys are, and tell me how we can get out of this!"

Maiven crouched against the wall and leaned around to fire down the hallway, striking one mans leg and sending him to the ground.

"I'd appreciate that last one quickly!"

[member="Alyosha Drutin"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

Alyosha strained to hear her over the gunfire, then shouted back, “My name is Lex Nikov!” It was a fake name for a fake identity that he suspected he would have to abandon soon, but for now it’d have to suffice. “I don’t know who they are... but I’ve got to get back to my room, and I’m not leaving until the way is clear!”

As soon as he had a chance, he leaned out and unleashed a torrent of blaster fire at the group, using both pistols. One unlucky thug took the brunt of the blasts, crumpling to the ground more than a little singed.

Glancing back at the Chiss woman from the safety of cover, he yelled, "How about you?”

Maiven

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

Alyosha drutin, some kind of runaway asset, wanted by the black sun, alive no less. fun!

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvLD-AbUacs

This wasn't a guild bounty, which meant two things, One: No tracking fob, which made things a tad more difficult,
And Two: No impact on her guild reputation, meaning she could handle this however she saw fit, even take the bounty's side for a higher price if she really wanted to.
With these variables in mind, Joti had used a droid to slice into various systems, learning which apartments in the sector had recently been rented out by new arrivals, hoping to narrow her search, which had yet to yield results, she'd already searched two sectors before moving on to this particular complex. When she found the apartment she was looking for, it was already empty, with signs of a struggle.

A friendly competition than?

Her loosened rocket boots jingled like outer rim spurs as she landed on a rooftop, taking a few steps forward and looking around, the narrow flash visor brightening the view, only to go dim for a split second as a blaster bolt zipped past a window across the way. Curiosity taking hold, she scans the building, getting a few heat sigs with her pulse scanner. Two individuals taking shots at several others down the hall.

One, two, three, fou- *blam* At least let me finish counting first...

Seeing as one had already fallen, probably for standing in the open, she figured the two were blasting at local thugs who'd never dealt with anyone who'd fought back, so she might as well do their boss a favor and remove them, having a little fun before she asks the other two what was happening.

Getting ideas in her head, Joti launches a whipcord into the wall just above the window where she could see all of the thugs, mag-clamps her carbine to her back, primes her flame gauntlets, and hurls herself towards the window, ready to make her most needlessly flashy entrance yet!

| [member="Alyosha Drutin"] | [member="Maiven"] |​

 

[Thraztin]

"My core name is Maiven. I'm looking to make contact with the Black Sun, but these guys pinned me down! Perhaps you could help me? Are you certain there's no other way back to your apartment?"

The attackers were going down quick. Getting back to the apartment was the paramount objective, since Lex might be able to help her. People involved in these kinds of shoot outs were bound to be part of something shadier, and anything shady these days was bound to be handled by the Black Sun...

[member="Alyosha Drutin"] [member="Joti Johayc"] [member="Draconis Caesar"]

 

[Kai and Gerda]

His suspicion returned when Maiven brought up the Black Sun. If she was really looking for them, she’d be better off going to Nar Shaddaa, not creeping around a bad neighborhood on Corellia. She must have heard rumors about an ex-member living there, assuming she wasn’t waiting for the opportunity to strike him down.

It was true that he had once been part of the Black Sun, but it was a technicality at most. His allegiance lay with his employer, who was just one of many independent crime lords using the banner of the Black Sun for its benefits and clout. He’d never been privy to everything that went on within the organization, but he certainly had a better grasp of how it worked than she seemed to.

“You’re trying to make contact with the Black Sun?” he said, killing yet another thug with a well-aimed blaster bolt. “Which crime lord? They’re not as united as they claim to be. When push comes to shove, it’s everyone for themselves—and they’re always shoving each other out of the way.”

Not long after he spoke, the window exploded inward in a shower of broken glass, having been broken through by the red-armored figure of Aloy Vizsla . He darted back into cover, already guessing the new arrival’s intentions. In his experience, no one with any sense willingly got involved in a shootout—unless they thought they stood to gain something from it.

 

[Darsch Vizsla]

This was Darsch's first mission hunting with Joti. The pair had gotten along well and usually referred to each other as Red and Blue. The blue mando had gone over to the other side of the street that faced towards the apartments her partner was infiltrating. She looked through the scope of her modified westar carbine with sniper configuration. If needed, she would fly to assist Red.

She sees why bounty hunting has become such a popular and big business. Everyone needs someone else captured or dead. It was the ones who had skill that got the job down right. They know what they do and they do it well while profiting. The Blue Armored mando continues to watch her partner work. "I see you've made yourself known, Red.. I've got your back. Two Occupants, A chiss and the target. They're armed. I'll try to take out blue skin. You focus on the bounty." She says as she moves the barrel of the rifle towards Maiven. She fires several shots at her.

| [member="Alyosha Drutin"] | [member="Maiven"] [member="Joti Johayc"] |

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

Her flamers had been primed on the way over, and before the glass had even settled, joti began to spin as the fire engulfed the end of the hallway and a number of thugs with it. The flashiest entrance she'd thought of, either for chits and giggles or maybe to make a good impression for her partner.

With the thugs and the flames dying down, it was time she got back to business.
::Sounds like you just finished half the job for me, Blue:: She chuckles into her commlink before drawing her Multiblaster and taking cover at her end of the hallway.

Now she just needed to hang tight while Darsch turned the odds in their favor, then she'd go from there.

"Y'all haven't seen an ex-black sun have you? cute fella with a nice bounty?" She called out to the others, hoping to distract them a moment.

Darsch Vizsla Alyosha Drutin Maiven

 

[Thraztin]

It dawned on Maiven pretty quickly after the mandalorian's explosive entrance that Lex Nikov was the one she was here to find. It also dawned on her pretty quickly that she was on the wrong side when blaster bolts zoomed through the broken window and into Maiven. She'd taken worse and her commando armor wouldn't fail her yet, but a sniper was bad business regardless. It if wasn't for the heightened eyesight of her species, she would have missed the other mandalorian that had shot her.

Miaven stumbled backwards, careful to move out of the sight of the sniper, and continued to step back down the hall, swapping her pistol for her carbine.

"To answer your question from before, Lex: I'm not sure who I'm meeting. All I was told was this building had a Black Sun contact I was supposed to meet. If I knew every damn operation the Defense Force was executing, I wouldn't be the one on this god forsaken planet with a sniper bolt to chest. Now I've got a few questions: What did you do to anger the Black Sun so bad they sent two mandalorians after you?!"

She turned her blaster away from Lex and towards the Mando. "And you! Tell your friend to calm his trigger finger before I shoot this womp rat and nobody gets their bounty!"

"Now," she said much calmer, "tell me what he's done. Ex-Black Sun doesn't help me too much. If they hired you, I think you and I can be friends Mando."

[member="Alyosha Drutin"] | [member="Darsch Vizla"] [member="Joti Johayc"] (OOC: Not sure if I did the mentions right, the new system is kinda weird. If somebody could help me with that I would much appreciate it.)

 

[Kai and Gerda]

(OOC: The old [member=] format doesn't work anymore, but you can still @ people.)

The thugs were all either fried by Aloy Vizsla ’s flamer or retreating by the time Alyosha heard the hunter’s voice. He glanced across the hallway at Maiven just as the sniper shots struck her armor, and tried to position himself away from the window Darsch Vizsla had fired through.

He wasn’t surprised to see Maiven backing away, her red eyes trained on him as she switched out her weapon. He'd been expecting her to either abandon or turn on him from the moment the thugs started coming after them. After all, his problems weren't hers to deal with.

He doubted the two Mandalorians cared what he had done to warrant the bounty on his head. But even if there was a slim chance he could convince them to give up the hunt, it was three against one, and he wasn’t willing to take chances. His hand closed around the thermal detonator he had taken from the cyborg’s belt, holding out his arm so that it was clearly visible.

“I tried to kill my old employer,” he said, figuring he might as well answer Maiven's question. “He survived, but I’m never going back. I’ll die here and now before I let myself be captured and given back to him.”

Pressing the button with his thumb, he armed the detonator. The red light began to flash.

 

[Darsch Vizsla]

Darsch chuckled after she hit Maiven. The Blue Mandalorian observed the scene at the time. The move by the bounty to draw the detonator shocked her. The bastard was ready to give up his own life than be taken. She activates her jetpack and decided it was time to change her position. The mando sprints across the roof find a better position to keep her partner covered. Luck wasn't on on her side anymore it seems, there was no good positions to keep Red covered so she'd have to enter the building. She reaches into one of her pouches pulling hologram of the building out and looking for a position to enter that's close to her partner. An apartment was highlighted in red. It was decided that'll be her entry point. Darsch makes her move after putting the hologram away. The jetpack on her back activates and she flew to an apartment on the same level.

"Red, I gotta go in. I have no position to keep you covered. I'm going to enter the apartment from the main entrance. Keep an eye out. Also, don't get blown up." Last thing she needed was her friend to get disintegrated by the bounty they came there to get. The apartment she was about to enter had a man and two twi-leks about to perform some questionable acts before the glass to the bedroom broke and the half-naked twi-leks screamed out in terror as Darsch entered. She looked at the twi-leks and the man, of course this would be happening in this neighborhood. "Cute.." She said commenting the appearance of the twi-leks. They were beautiful creatures but she prefers other human women. The Mando moved through the room and left some credits on a table. "For damages." She says before exiting into the hallway.

She drew her two Westar-34 Pistols and moved into the Hallway taking out any rival hunters or bad people. She starts moving towards the apartment the target was in. Joti's entrance impressed Blue. She's the vibrant explosive one while Blue was just the tough quiet one. The Mandalorian leans against the wall next to entrance of the target's apartment. She got ready to breach the apartment. Her right handed pistol was switched over to stun. "Let me know when to breach, Red.. I might live up to your flashy entrance but it'll be perfect.." A smirk forms under her helmet.

| [member="Alyosha Drutin"] | [member="Maiven"] [member="Joti Johayc"] |