Duel Gai Bal Manda

[Sōla Taan]

Gai Bal Manda
(The Adoption Ceremony)

Atirak City
Kragr Krayt Spindle Sinestra
​

The quaint little cantina grew quiet and still. Even the music stopped. A gang of thugs gathered around a young Atoan where she sat at the bar, sipping a cool glass of bantha milk. Her hood was up and her mask was on, hiding her youthful features.

“So you’re the one who beat up Shiro, eh?” said the leader of the crew. He was tall and pale with a shaved head, a blaster hanging loosely on his hip.

Sola sipped her milk.

“Don’t wanna talk? That’s fine. I don’t need you to-”

“Your friend Shiro was beating a little girl to death," Sola said, her voice soft- polite, even. "I asked him to stop, and he didn’t listen, so I asked him harder.”

One of the thugs scoffed. It was a golden-eyed Arcona. “Let’s just kill the little chit, Zev. Shiro's gonna need a new spleen, and he can't even walk! We gotta’ make an example outta’ her.”

“You don’t want to do that,” Sola said, voice laced with suggestion.

“We don’t want to do that,” the Arcona and Gamorrean said as one.

Hovering behind them, the last member, a sniveling Rodian pointed and yelled, stuttering. “J-J-J-Jedi!”

Sola sighed.

The Gamorrean reached for her- she turned and struck faster than he could move, smashing him in the face with her glass of milk. He stumbled, crying out in surprise.

The stillness was shattered. All at once, the cantina erupted into chaos.

Zev snarled as he pulled out his blaster. Sola smacked the barrel up with one hand, leapt from her seat, and planted the other in his throat. He wheezed mightily, eyes bulging from his skull.

She kicked off his waist to flip over the Arcona, bopping him atop the head as she passed, landing with a sweeping flourish that took his legs out from under him. His head cracked the ground; as it snapped back up, she slammed it down again for good measure.

She was meant to be laying low while she drummed enough credits to get back to Corellia. Tragic happenstance had seen her stranded on Hamra; the transport she’d commissioned had struck a meteor shortly after exiting hyperspace, severely damaging its ventral wing and forcing the ship to land on the nearest planet, which happened to be Hamra.

Until the ship was repaired, she was stuck here, on a planet teeming with the worst sorts of criminals, and she didn’t have credits to charter another shuttle. One thing had led to another, her being a young Jedi and Atirak being a hive of deviants and miscreants, and now here she was, fighting thugs in a cantina.

It wasn’t so different from fighting terrorists on Corellia. There were just less of them.

The Rodian didn’t try to attack- he flew away post haste, whirring through the air with unexpected speed and grace, fleeing with the rest of the general public.

The Gamorrean let out a savage roar and charged her. She snaked out a hand and invoked her will on reality itself. The Force surged and the snarling thug slowed to a crawl. It was as if he'd been petrified.

The Arcona was crawling to his feet, fumbling for his weapon. Sola snatched it from his grip with the Force and shot him with it, then shot the Gamorrean for good measure.

Zev was just finding his feet, still wheezing. When he noticed her, he immediately reached for his pistol, so she shot him as well, even as she rolled her eyes. So predicatble. She eyed their slumped bodies, then the bulky blaster clenched in her grip. It was effective, she had to admit, but much too boxy.

She tossed it away, pulled her hood back up, and casually exited the cantina. Outside was bright and sweltering. Sola eased her suffering with the Force, but there was only so much she could do to combat desert heat. A crowd was amassing- before anyone noticed her she slipped into the throng, wrapping the Force about herself like a cloak. Now where did that Rodian fly off too?

​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Sōla Taan | Spindle | Sinestra​

Kragr had only just landed in Hamra and made his way through the city to a cantina to get something to drink after his travel. Sadly he never got that far. Not only did a clocked Jedi whirl past Kragr, almost hitting him, but as Kragr looked to tell the small figure to watch it, a group of thugs walked past him and knocked into his giant frame.

Usually, Kragr wouldn't go after someone who knocked into him, he wasn't that petty... most of the time, but now it had happened four times, almost five with the Jedi and Kragr's mood had soured. He just wanted a drink and instead, he was now following a group og seven tough-looking thugs, who in turn was following the Jedi.

It didn't take long for Sola to find the Rodian, desperately trying to get through a locked door when he noticed Sola following him. However, before the Jedi even could converse with the Rodian, she was jumped by seven people, who allied with the rodian and proceeded to punch and kick Sola without a care in the world from all angles.

"You think you can just come here and play a hero Jedi?! Well this is what happens to those who play heroes!" said one of the thugs as he like the rest, ambushed Sola. The Rodian meanwhile, seeing as the danger was over, walked over, smugly kneeled down and watched the ambush happen.

The moment Kragr turned around the corner and his eyes fall upon the beat down of the young Jedi girl, the giant Mandalorian's eyes hardened as fiery rage exploded inside of him. One thing was beating another adult, it was a whole other matter when it was children and Kragr would not stand for it. Jedi og not he simply walked in and grabbed to first, turned him around and then knocked the thug's face inward with his crushguard gauntlet, killing the thug instantly.

That got every thug's attention, only for another to have their face backhanded, knocking crushing multiple teeth and flesh clean off. A third thug was shot point blank by Kragr's blaster, sending the Zabrak into a wall, dead or knocked out.

The rest instantly stopped and backed further into the alleyway as Kragr stood over Sola with bloodied gauntlets, tilting his head, daring any of them to try and attack.

 

[Sōla Taan]

Kragr Krayt Sinestra Spindle
​

Sola sensed the ill-intent, and prepared herself for an ambush. She came upon the Rodian as he was fumbling to get into a locked building, his webbed finger jamming frantically into the keypad. And then-

!
​

White noise. She couldn't hear the Force, couldn't feel it, couldn't touch it. She felt like her bones were vibrating. It hurt.

The first punch caught her unawares. The idiot hit her mask, nearly breaking his hand. Another one punched her in the stomach. Then came a foot, and another fist, and then she was being dogpiled, and all the while, the white noise blared.

"You think you can just come here and play a hero Jedi?! Well this is what happens to those who play heroes!" said one of the thugs as he like the rest, ambushed Sola. The Rodian meanwhile, seeing as the danger was over, walked over, smugly kneeled down and watched the ambush happen.

She curled into a tight ball as they ganged up on her, head tucked tight between her arms, teeth grit against the strange, electronic pain of the eerie noise. The armorweave she wore beneath her robes and hakama dampened the force of the kicks, but only just so.

Sola didn't see the Mando arrive. Didn't even notice him. Didn't hear his bone shattering punches or the sharp rapport of his blaster. All she knew was that after a few seconds of being kicked and stomped, the thugs halted their assault. She had room to breathe, finally. But still the noise continued.

She forced herself to her feet, swaying. Through squinted eyes, she surveyed the dusty street. There had been seven thugs jumping her at first, but now there were just four. One of them was holding a rectangular device with a stout antenna. She stumbled towards him, lurching. He didn't seem to notice her, his eyes on something behind her. That was fine. With a savage slap, she knocked the little device from his hand. It clattered against the ground and let out a hiss of smoke.

The noise ceased, and in the silence, the Force sang. It soothed her ails, flooding her with nourishing energy.

She jumped, snapped out a kick, and flared her jet boots at the same time, all but breaking the thug's face. He slumped to the ground, his face a bleeding mess.

And then there were three.

She called her lightsaber to her hand, the yellow blade whooshing to life with a static hiss. Her hood had fallen at some point, revealing indigo eyes narrowed into slits.

The thugs fled. Sola didn't care to give chase. The Rodian still remained, paralyzed in fear. That was anti-Jedi weaponry. These 'thugs' came prepared. No way street thugs were that smart. Guess I'm involved now.

Sola loosed a sigh that turned into a wince- her back and ribs were aching, probably bruised- and turned to finally glimpse her saviour. Her eyes widened. A Mandalorian?!

This was the second time a Mando had saved her life. This one wasn't so gigantic as the last, but he was still almost two feet taller than Sola. She had to crane her neck to see his helmeted face.

“Thanks for the help. That was rather gracious of you." Idly, she dusted herself off, and turned to the Rodian. "My name is Sola," she said in an aside to the Mando, even as she stared the squirming Rodian down. He seemed to wilt before her eyes, shrinking in on himself more and more as she started. "Excuse me for a moment, would you?"

The Rodian’s eyes near boggled out of his head. She didn't have to read his mind to know he was scared chitless. She swept past him as if he were a bug, angled her saber, then began carving her way through the door.

​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Sōla Taan | Spindle | Sinestra​

Kragr was impressed by the fortitude and endurance after getting such a brutal beat down, but he guessed the Force had a helping hand in her getting back up so quickly. He didn't really move from his position and just let the Jedi deal with the remaining thugs. Kneeling down by the knocked-out thugs, where Sola had been earlier, he began to go through their stuff.

"Kragr Krayt" introduced Kragr himself and looked up at Sola when she spoke to him. He gestured to her with an open hand, signalling 'be my guess' and returned to rummaging through the knocked-out thugs on the ground. Finding nothing he stood up and saw that not only did the rodian live, but the girl was heading for a door behind the scared-to-death thug.

"What are you doing girl?" Asked Kragr, unable to keep his curiosity at bay and as he walked by the Rodian, he knocked to poor sap out cold, probably also cracking a bone or two.

"You really shouldn't be here, it doesn't take long before the thugs would have back up. In my experience thugs like these, rarely work alone" expressed the giant, crossing his arms as he leaned up against the wall next to the door, watching Sola carve her way through the door.

 

[Sōla Taan]

Kragr Krayt | Sinestra | Spindle
​

The mando introduced himself as Kragr Krayt. Same clan as Grendel, Sola thought. The gargantuan Mando had started as her enemy during the Empire's invasion of Ilum, but by the end of it, he'd become her ally. She had saved his life, and he had saved hers.

And now here was another Krayt. Was it coincidence or providence, she wondered. She’d have to meditate on it at the earliest opportunity.

"What are you doing, girl?" Kragr asked.

Sola scowled- she'd given her name for a reason. She turned her frown upon the hulking Mando, unperturbed by his size, and watched as he knocked the Rodian out with one powerful, none-cracking blow.

"My name is Sola," she said again, turning back to her task. "And I'm opening this door."

The Mando looked down at her from behind the iron gaze of his t-visor. "You really shouldn't be here," he said, crossing his arms. It doesn't take long before the thugs would have back up. In my experience, thugs like this never work alone." He leaned against the wall, looming over Sola as she carved through the door.

"You're right," she began, "I shouldn't be here. My Master is probably worried sick." The hole she was cutting was nearly finished. "But they were prepared. That was a ND-013 they were using. Anti-Jedi technology. Someone gave it to them, and I'm going to find out who. But first…I want to know why that Rodian was trying so hard to get inside this building."

A large, circular section of the door fell away and clattered against the ground, the edges of the metal smoldering from the heat of her lightsaber.

"Keep watch for me? Please? I would greatly appreciate it. This won't take long- I only sense a few sentients and one droid inside."

When the edges cooled off, she hopped through the hole.

​

 

[Arkyn Rane]

The smuggler sensed danger afoot. It's best I make my exit.

"So, my credits?"

Arkyn held out her palm, turned up towards the single light hanging from the ceiling above. The room was tucked away in the back of a warehouse in the middle district of Atirak, protected by a pair of out-of-place blast doors.

Lorn Margrave rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You did me a solid coming through with the ND-013s."

Arkyn almost asked what he needed them before, but decided not to before the words left her mouth. In all honesty, she didn't really care, and she'd heard enough from Lorn's thugs while she was waiting to paint a clear-enough picture. Even now he was muttering about his problems, and she'd long since learned to enhance her hearing with the Force.

"Fething Sith muscling in on my territory, all high and mighty," the Devaronian grumbled as he passed her a camtono with her pay. "And now there's a kriffin' Jedi of all things. But I've got something for them..."

Little did Lorn know, one of the ND-013's he'd had Arkyn collect for him was already destroyed, by that same 'kriffin' Jedi. And the Sith...the Sith was bout to strike.

Arkyn didn't know either; she just felt like she should leave pots-haste. The wily smuggler swiftly made her exit.

Sinestra​

​

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Sōla Taan | Spindle | Sinestra​

Kragr rolled his eyes, "I heard your name, but you look hardly past padawan status" pointed Kragr out, but didn't really stop the young girl from cutting through the door that would give her access to the building. Kragr didn't really feel like standing around playing lookout. Not only was that incredibly boring, but his natural restlessness would just get the better of him.

"Here's a better option, you go back to your Jedi master and then I don't hav~" Kragr stopped midsentence as he saw the little padawan disappear through the newly created hole in the door. With a sigh, he did not have to deal with this, but the pull of a protector dragged him to reconsider just leaving as the young were very young and Kragr knew he would just feel bad if he left her to herself.

Despite the girl being a Jedi, she was still just a Padawan and looked in her early teenage years. Drawing one of his blasters, Kragr turned to the hole in the metal door and was only met with darkness and no sign of the girl. With one last reconsidered thought going through his mind, Kragr bowed forward and went through the hole as well.

Upon entering through the new cut hole with Sola's blade, Kragr found himself inside and looked around to get a better sense of what he was seeing, but really he kept his eyes open for the Padawan. With eyes locked on the Padawan's back, he sighed again, "I'm going to regret this, I just know it," he said, before walking over to Sola.

"This is a bad idea for you to do" stated Kragr, sounding much like a parent asking their child to reconsider a dangerous stunt.

 

[Sōla Taan]

Kragr Krayt | Sinestra | Jas Katis​

---

"What does being a Padawan have to do with addressing me by my name?" Sola returned, lightsabr humming in her hands as she cut, the super-heated metal making her palms sweat.

Kragr started to mention something about her Master- who, unbeknownst to the Mandalorian was many, many millions of lightyears away- but the young Jedi had already hopped through the hole in the middle of his sentence. It was ill-mannered of her, and petty, but Kragr had called her girl-- he was due a bit of rudeness.

The building was all but empty, as far as Sola could sense, and the air was a stale and musky. The foyer, furnished with only a single desk positioned catty-cornered from the wall, opened up into into a dimly-lit corridor that ended at another blast door that was wreathed in shadow. Passing through the first room, she spotted half-smoked deathsticks crumpled in ashtrays, empty tibana canisters scattered across the floor, and on a short, gunmetal gray table, what looked like leftover grub scampi swarming with gnats. She was no expert, but it looked to her like the place might be a safe house- a place for criminals to lay low in between crimes. It was dirty, but it wasn't derelict, and there didn't seem to be much in the way of security that she could see.

She heard Kragr struggling to squeeze through the hole she had cut, and turned to watch him wiggle through, amusement dancing in her indigo eyes. Does he have to take all that armor off when he has to pee, or is there a filtration system or something?

"I'm going to regret this, I just know it," the massive Mandalorian muttered when he was through the hole. Then he said, louder, "This is a bad idea for you to do."

Sola ignored the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes it is," she agreed, turning back to creep down the corridor. "But I'm doing it anyway. Such is the Jedi way. Say...you wouldn't happen to know Grendel Krayt, would you? Twelve feet tall, poor shot, wields a pair of massive vibro axes?" She noticed, a few seconds too late, a tiny beeping light in the corner of the corridor, above the blast door. A camera. "Someone is watching."

The blast door at the end of the hall started to open.

​

 

[Jas Katis]

A long groan escaped the Pureblood as he watched the security feed in the facility. It was supposed to be a glorified vacation for him and a few other Hellions. A simple job of tagging along with the gangsters to make sure they didn't end up doing something stupid and also make sure nobody tried to challenge them. Now he was staring at a giant Mandalorian and a Jedi. He could feel their presence. She was weak, likely a padawan. What concerned him most was the Mandalorian.

He was big, undoubtedly seasoned... and the entire aura in tthe facility shifted as he walked in. He was the one to look out for. Jas groaned again as he hoisted himself out of the chair, holstered his lightsaber and pistol, and finally grabbed his overcoat. It was a nice outfit he bought as well. Jeans, overcoat, shirt and jersey. Now it was all going to get shredded because the people he was supposed to keep out of trouble, couldn't do the one thing he told them to do. At least soldiers, Mandalorians and even Sith did as they were told. Gangsters were just animals blundering into a direction. The Family had some coordination, though even they didn't strike him as anything to write home about.

Arriving at the doorway, Jas let out one last groan as he pulled a cigarette from his pocket. The blast door began to open, and soon his golden eyes met that of the padawan. He made no move to attack, or even look aggressive, he simply took a long drag of his cigarette and leaned against the opened door. "I'd say you guys are costing me a hell of a sum right now, but honestly my boss is going to give me a raise with just how idiotic those thugs were." He quipped with a tone reflecting the tired look on his face.

His presence was clear through the Force, clear for the young Padawan to feel the darkness from him. "Kid, tell you what, why don't you turn around and go back where you came from? Him I got no problem killing, but I'm not in a mood to kill a kid today." The mercenary spoke as he took another long puff.

Kragr Krayt Sōla Taan

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Sōla Taan | Jas Katis​

"Act like an over righteous padawan, thinking you can take on the world and you'll get treated like one" spoke Kragr, not really paying attention to Sola as he looked around them. However, the sudden voice from a door made the giant's eyes snap forward to see an individual clad in armour and was, what Kragr could only imagine, a mercenary of some kind.

Tilting his helmeted head, Kragr found it almost humourous how smug the mercenary was but instead of a response to the man, he looked down at Sola, "there you go kid, go nuts" quipped the Mandalorian and nodded towards Jas nonchalantly. Kragr wasn't about to stand in Sola's way if she was so deadset on stopping whatever organisation the thugs were a part of.

In fact, he found it rather refreshing seeing the padawan's stubborn resolve to stay and fight, very Mandalorian-like. Kragr stepped to the side and hopped up on a large crate to sit and get a comfortable viewpoint of a hopefully entertaining fight. Of course, Kragr wouldn't let the guy kill the kid, but he wasn't going to interject unless he felt it was necessarily crucial for Sola's survival.

Nevertheless, Kragr was sitting comfortably on his crate and waiting to see if the padawan was as eager to fight this mercenary as she was with the thugs.

 

[Sōla Taan]

Kragr Krayt | Jas Katis​

---

"Act like an over righteous padawan, thinking you can take on the world and you'll get treated like one" spoke Kragr

This time Sola rolled her eyes. A Mandalorian calling her overly righteous? Pot, meet kettle.

​

The blast door hissed open, revealing a tall, armored figure that exuded darkness and malice. She could feel, in the shimmering motes of the Force that waded in the space between spaces, his disdain for all lives not his own. A mercenary? A mercenary that was Force sensitive. But certainly the thuggs didn't get their tech from him; even if he wasn't a Sith in the traditional sense, he was definitely of the Darkside.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire, I suppose.

She should've been afraid, but after the all the horrors she'd seen in her young life-- after all the destruction, and the tragic and pointless deaths of her Masters before Master Dhalinar, she didn't feel much of anything. Fourteen in a few months and she'd already survived three war zones. Her kind were meant to be peacekeepers, but she hadn't seen peace since the creche.

The only peace the young Atoan had truly known was that which she cultivated in herself.

"I'd say you guys are costing me a hell of a sum right now, but honestly my boss is going to give me a raise with just how idiotic those thugs were." He quipped with a tone reflecting the tired look on his face.

His presence was clear through the Force, clear for the young Padawan to feel the darkness from him. "Kid, tell you what, why don't you turn around and go back where you came from? Him I got no problem killing, but I'm not in a mood to kill a kid today." The mercenary spoke as he took another long puff.

Definitely a mercenary. It's always about credits with mercs.

"Not in the mood to kill a kid today, you said?" Her palm itched for her lightsaber.

She had clipped it back to her belt when she entered the building-- it hung from her belt, all but begging to be drawn. But she was a Jedi. A young Jedi, but a Jedi nonetheless. She would never draw her weapon to attack, only to defend. Such was her way.

"I have a counter offer: turn yourself in to the proper authorities. Unless you happen to know how those mooks got their hands on a ND-013?"

Beside her, Kragr hopped up onto a stack of random crates that had been sitting in the corridor, as if he was about to watch a show. "There ya' go, kid," he said as he settled into his seat. "Go nuts."

Sola didn't spare him a glance. If he called her 'kid' one more time she was going to lose it. "You shouldn't smoke those, you know," she said to the Pureblood merc. "They're bad for you."

Her hearts were pumping like crazy-- all one thousand of them. She felt light on her toes, light as a feather swaying on the wind.

 

[Jas Katis]

"Not in the mood to kill a kid today, you said?"

The Pureblood gave her an unamused look as he blew a cloud of smoke off to the side. "If you think you can stop a bunch of kids from running at your troops with arms full of thermal detonators without gunning them down, be my guest." He remarked as he adjusted his overcoat. The Mandalorian didn't seem too bothered by the fight, though he had a feeling that the man would intervene if things got nasty.

"I have a counter offer: turn yourself in to the proper authorities. Unless you happen to know how those mooks got their hands on a ND-013?"

Jas blinked and pushed himself off the wall with a confused look. "You say it like I'm supposed to know what it is. I'm just here to make sure they don't do literally what they went out and did. Now, I don't know who you think you are, kid. But you might wanna take a page from your Mando friend there and back off. Trust me, cigarettes are the least of your health concerns right now." He stomped the cigarette out under his boot as he turned to face her.

For a padawan, she was looking exceptionally anxious to fight. "Don't try it, kid. You're a Jedi. Leave the warmongering for the two in this room who are good at it." He nodded to the Mandalorian as his golden eyes shifted to the man's armoured figure. "You just gonna leave the kid to start a fight she can't finish?" He asked him casually.

Sōla Taan Kragr Krayt

 

[Kragr Krayt]

Sōla Taan | Jas Katis​

Kragr also noticed the padawan having a rather anxious aura of waiting for the simplest reason to fight this mercenary in front of them. Listening to the two converse, the padawan that came off as pretty passive-aggressive, while the mercenary sounded more like an annoyed teacher getting too old people's shit. However, the mercenary had a rather good point, the Jedi Padawan looked inexperienced and Kragr knew enough about the dogmatic views of the Jedi that warmongering was not something they taught their younglings.

Pulled out of his own thoughts by the mercenary's question, Kragr simply raised his eyebrow at the man. "I tried to talk her out of it, but she chose this, so I'll let the kid face the consequences" replied Kragr equally casual as he sat and waited for some kind of action to happen.

Besides, he was curious to see what the Padawan could do against an opponent that wasn't some common street thug who acted more like a bully than a legit threat.