Populate Gotta' Get Gorba [HSC Populate Ylesia]

[Sars Sarad]

Mirrsteel Heights, Kwenn Station

---

She was smart to struggle beneath him, writhing wildly and bucking so that he could never seat himself securely. While he stabbed down at her with his Phase-Knife he would need to use his right hand, still gripping the deactivated hilt of his lightsaber so try and maintain some balance. Then when he tried to plant the Phase-Knife into the visor of her helm her arm came up and she blocked the blow.

It didn't deter him.

Pressing down on her arm, forearm to forearm Sarad's gaze remained frustrated at best but more likely the anger on his visage showed through. Even as her Jetpack roared to life he'd have growled out a guttural curse repeating himself from earlier...

"What did you do, filth!?"

...it seemed unlikely that he could hear her response over the roar of her jetpack and the sparking ferrocrete beneath them.

When Sarad felt the dispersal of gravity and the beginning of their ascent he had some idea of what could be next. In the air Juno Wren had the advantage but Sarad could press her with brutal tactics, He worked fast when she began the barrel roll.

The Phase-Blade, Old Sin transitioned from how it was pressing down in an attempt to stab itself into her faceplate into a swift, snapping outwards blow. Letting his wrist rotate inwards Sarad would slide his forearm across hers in an attempt to hook the phase-blade into the crevice of her elbow where her armor would be weakest, around the joints and slash outwards violently. A Phase-Blade was like a lightsaber in many ways but also different, cortosis having no affect on it was one such difference.

None of this saved Sarad from the barrel roll though. When Juno turned completely he fell, released from any grapple he may have been compelled to maintained with her and falling he struck the ferrocrete hard. The Flamethrower burst enveloped him as well but would be surprisingly ineffective; the Duster Sarad wore was quite resilient---especially against fire. All Sarad had to do was duck his head and cover himself with it.

There was no doubt that his body was bruised now. He groaned, rolling onto his stomach slowly though he didn't attempt to rise up onto his feet yet.

Maybe he was playing dead or maybe he was just aching. If his Phase-Blade had struck true Sarad expected he might have some success of his own, a blow like the one he tried for was designed to debilitate the arm and rip through muscle and tendon.

Another interesting development that may come of this was that on the ground Sarad could test the range of his disconnect to the Force. If Juno flew to high or to far without him then when would it come back to him again and invigorate him...

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Head-ringing, earholes buzzing, and a nausea welling in his gut, Gorba was definitely not in a good mood. Never one to miss an opportunity, the one-eyed Hutt slithered around to the trunk of the totaled speeder and with brute force wrenched the thing open. He reached inside, the entire speeder groaning in protest as he put his weight on it. When he emerged he was wielding a rotary blaster cannon in both hands, having dropped his pistol in the trunk.

"You want to come for Gorba?" roared the Hutt. "You will see that Bareesh are DRAGONS!"

Then he depressed the trigger on the cannon. The cylinders of the barrel spun and the weapon lurched in Gorba's hands as absolute deluge of superheated plasma bolts rippled toward the flying mandalorian assassin in a barrage of overwhelming force that lit up the sky.

"COME GET ME, SLEEMO!"

Juno Wren | Sars Sarad

 

[Juno Wren]

​

She grabbed at his wrist with her free hand as he shifted- the knife bit painfully into the armorweave between the gaps of her armor, deep enough to draw blood.

Kriff!

Her flamethrower didn’t do jack squat, and that just pissed her off even more. Sars Sarad hadn’t cut the tendons, not quite, but he’d left quite the gash. Even now, her arm was bleeding profusely, throbbing in tandem with the pulse of her heart. She could move it still, if a bit gingerly, but she doubted she'd be throwing any right hooks anytime soon. She'd need to apply some Bacta, and soon.

If this is what he’s like without the Force…

Hovering in place, very careful not to drift too far from Sars- the ND-013 only had a ten meter area of effect radius- she primed a glop grenade, tossed it at the prone duster-clad nerf herder, and prepared one of her Sunstroke's missiles. Her visor was scored, but the targeting systems linked to her jet pack’s missiles still worked. If the glop didn’t put him down, she was certain the missile would.

Escape that. I fething dare you-

!​

A storm of rapid fire blaster bolts splattered across the shield emitted by her jet pack, scattering into motes of red. Gorba the Hutt was unloading a truly massive gun at her, yelling maniacally. She dropped lower, jetpack roaring, and dipped out the way of the bolts- her shield wasn't rated to weather such an onslaught of energy projectiles. The sheer volume of bolts was simply too much to dodge them all, and her shields were losing power to quickly for comfort.

There was nothing to it. She adjusted her targeting systems and shot the missile at the ferrocrete beneath Gorba. His shield would protect him from the worst of it... she hoped. She didn't want him dead- just fethed up.

​

 

[Sars Sarad]

Mirrsteel Heights, Kwenn Station

---

If the Force hadn't been denied to him Sarad may have been in a better position to react to the Glop Grenade that Juno Wren had thrown however only the sensors on his armor alerted him to the incoming danger. In turn the lenses fitted over his eyes had flashed a warning, alerting him via the HUD that was synced into their systems but regardless he still felt lesser, naked in a way without those telltale warnings that he would have otherwise granted. The Disconnect that the Mandalorian had caused remained.

Looking up from where he'd rolled onto his stomach Sarad would have seen the grenade as it clattered onto the ferrocrete near him and muttered...

"Mandalorians."

...there would have been a certain amount of disenchantment in his tone, not that Juno would have heard it and then he was rolling away. Not far but in the direction furthest from the grenade that came down close to him.

It wouldn't matter. The Glop Grenade 'popped' and released a large amount of foam that began to harden on contact with the oxygen in the air. Sarad would have been completely enveloped, unable to avoid the radius of the grenade however the one success he did have was rolling so that his back was to the grenade when it went off. It's the small victories that matter after all.

It seemed Gorba the Hutt may have been on his own momentarily then. Karkosuchus was still incapacitated by the cryoban grenade and Sarad was encased in the hardened embrace of the foam released by the Glop Grenade until----

---the Cortosis may have shorted his lightsaber but such effects were only temporary, whether or not Juno noticed the white phosphorescent blade came back to life, penetrating the hardened foam that had encased Sarad. The Phase-Knife could also reliably cut through the foam.

It was only a matter of time before he was back in the game.

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

The mandalorian bobbed and weaved through the air, then abruptly a missile shot from her, a contrail lighting up its wake. Gorba only had time to widen his eyes in shock and anger before the warhead buried itself in the permacrete in front of him and exploded. The concussive energy slammed into his shield, overloaded it, and blew him backward into the speeder.

His gargantuan hulk slammed into the speeder frame and crumpled it. Shards of shrapnel glistened along his front, slick with the oozing of his blood from a dozen wounds.

Pain laced through his body and he squirmed to pull himself free of the speeder. Terror had now gripped him as he remembered that day long ago when he lost his eye in a similar attack.

Where the kriff were his bodyguards?

 

[Juno Wren]

​

Juno had to be quick. She'd be a fool not to notice the shining blade of white light carving through the hardened glop. An exasperated sigh slipped from between her lips. Fething Force users. His tenacity was as admirable as it was annoying.

She tossed a cryoban grenade at Gorba the Hutt , half of her remaining stock- not only to keep him in place, but to stop his bleeding. The overgrown slug was losing a lot of blood, and she'd be pissed if he bled out on the street after all this effort. She needed to put Sars Sarad down. At the very least-

She loosed another cortossis dust buckshot at the saber poking out from the glop. Her arm twinged painfully as she pumped the chassis. Kriffing phase-knife. And then it dawned on her. Dank Ferrik! The knife!

Sars still had to cut his way out. That meant she could toss things in when the hole was large enough. Things like another sonic screamer. A thermal detonator just seemed like overkill at this point, though she was tempted. She was still playing the non-lethal game, for all that Sars had just tried to cripple her. Just one screamer left.

When he was nearly finished cutting his way out, she braced herself and fired her repulsor at the carved glop to knock the sheet of hardened foam into the man trapped inside and catch him off guard. The kickback, slight as it was, sent barbs of agony lancing up her arm. A lesser woman might've whimpered from the pain, but she merely grit her teeth.

She tossed the screamer at him immediately after- her helmet would protect her from the noise- then dropped her Double-E to let it hang from its shoulder-strap, pulled her Verpine Pea Shooter from her left holster and palmed a thermal detonator in her right hand. The pistol was compact, sleek, and deadly. She rarely ever had to actually shoot it, and she didn't think she'd have to now. Usually the threat of being turned into paste was enough to deter most sentients.

"If you can hear me after that...back the feth off. Last warning. I'm taking Gorba rather you like it or not, and if you keep it up, I'm going to shoot you in the face, then I'm going to blow up whatever is left. Can't break your boss out of prison if you're dead."

​

 

[Sars Sarad]

Mirrsteel Heights, Kwenn Station

---

Hubris was the downfall of many Hunters.

The Lightsaber would rise vertically, slicing its way cleanly through the foam which amounted to less than durasteel to it before the cortosis buckshot shorted the saber blade again. Annoying but the damage had been done and the Phase-Knife, Old Sin would be able to finish the work in short time. Of course Sarad wasn't just going to cut a hole that he could step out of and if he were it wouldn't be front forward so that the Mandalorian could hit him with everything that she had.

Not that it mattered.

Another shot from Juno Wren 's repulsor struck the hardened foam when Sarad had nearly freed himself and much like a repulsor was meant to do it would repulse, throwing him away from her. Perhaps it was a small mercy that the foam would cushion any impact to Sarad unlike the previous time when she'd forced him back against the trash bin. Of course this did nothing against the 'Screamer' that she threw.

Inside Gorba the Hutt 's transport the 'Screamer' had been so effective because she'd caught them all by surprise and in a confined space. 'Screamers' had a small effect radius, only four (4) meters in most cases. It seemed likely that chunks of foam would have exist between Sarad and the screamer itself, another surface for the sound to richochette off of rather than penetrating outwards from its point of origin. Then again Sarad had been disconnected from the force and therein lies the rube.

Somewhere in the chunks of hardened foam Sarad was likely prone, on his side probably with body aching from the earlier falls and ears ringing though odds were he wasn't completely incapacitated. Juno Wren had played the smart game, she destabilized Sarad's connection to the force and engaged him at range. It was clever but there were problems---range and time being paramount.

Time because this was Kwenn Station, how long before the Hutts soldiers arrived?

Range because Juno Wren was somewhere between Gorba and Sarad and she'd pushed Sarad further away from the Hutt with her repulsor. Divide and conquer was a good strategy but she had to realize that ten (10) meters was such a short berth, a little over thirty feet and that if she went for the Hutt Sarad would be outside of her range.

As for Sarad himself, he lay amongst the chunks of hardened foam letting them conceal the bulk of his form. Ringing filled his ears, the lenses fitted to his eyes would continue to feed him information but he said nothing----he played possum, letting himself recover and forcing the Mandalorian to make her move.

 

[Juno Wren]

​

Sars Sarad said nothing in response. He just laid there, as silent and still as a corpse. Juno wasn't fooled. She hadn't hit him that hard. The Jedi she fought on Takodana had tried the same tactic. She couldn't exactly shoot him in the face as she'd threatened- not from this angle, so she stalked closer, aiming at him the whole while, the Verpine pistol steady in her left hand. The thermal detonator seemed to pulse in her grip, but it was really just her arm throbbing in pain. Blood soaked into her body sleeve and dripped down her wrist. It was hard to make a fist; she gripped the detonator loosely, ready to toss it at any moment.

She'd tried non-lethal. It hadn't worked.

"Loth cat got your tongue?" she called out to Sars as she picked her way closer, rightfully cautious.

Gorba the Hutt , hopefully, was no longer bleeding out. It was going to be a pain getting him to her ship, considering she had to retrieve her speeder from further up the block, first. She'd attached a grav-cart to the back for the occasion, but she didn't fancy driving halfway through the station with a Hutt-cicle on full display for all to see.

Me and my pride. I should've secured some back up.

The street was a mess. Chunks of ferrocrete and bits of hardened foam lay scattered around. Karkosuchus stood stiff like a statue, mouth open in a frozen snarl. The bin sitting in the middle of the alley was dented and scorched, draped in net that still crackled with electricity. And Sars lay among it all, his prone body half hidden beneath cracked slabs of foam.

Close enough. She stopped about four meters away, aimed, and shot. There was no recoil. There was no sound- not even a whisper. The high-powered magnetic coil propelled the tiny pellet at such speeds that the bullet struck before she had even fully depressed the trigger.

Luckily for Sars, she wasn't aiming at him. A large chunk of foam was turned to paste and dust- the ferrocrete beneath it was pulverized as well, the sound as the pellet struck the street like cracking thunder. His armor glinted darkly in the dust and she scowled. Fething hell. I forgot about that. Probably rated against kinetics, I bet. His armor didn't cover everything, though. There were a few vulnerable spots she could aim for.

"Get up and take off your helmet. Slowly."

Or she could just shoot him with a stunner and be on her way. Either way, he was going to get shot. She wasn't budging on that point.

​

 

[Sars Sarad]

Mirrsteel Heights, Kwenn Station

---

If he was luring her in by playing possum it was probably unwise to come closer to him. Yet with such a powerful weapon at her disposal who could have blamed Juno Wren for being confident.

Their combat had been a quick one such that she may not have noticed that Sarad hadn't ever been wearing a full helmet. There was a rebreather which fitted over his mouth but aside form this the lenses he wore were fitted to his eyes, nigh indistinguishable seeing as how they were worn similar to contact lenses. It was advanced sensors that were fitted to his armor that interacted with the lenses, creating a holographic display that he could view through them but was otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

In fact it was due to the sensors feeding information back to his armor that even laying prone Sarad could track the movements of the Mandalorian. He'd see her remotely via the holographic display which painted the silhouette of his opponent beyond the chunks of foam obstructing his natural field of vision. Everything was laid out for him.

When the large chunk of foam was turned to dust and the ferrocrete beneath it pulverized in the wake of her shot Sarad stirred. There was no point in pretending anymore, she obviously saw through his ruse. He'd push aside a piece of foam and slowly begin rising to his feet.

At any point he might have reactivated his lightsaber, surely enough time had elapsed that he could switch it back on but instead Sarad would have clipped it back onto his utility belt slowly as he came up to face her...

"There's no need for this anymore."

...he explained, watching her. Whether she knew it or not Sarad could read her body language, he didn't need a connection for that it was something that came naturally to him. It could be surmised then that, especially at this range he could tell when she was going ot shoot him and have a reasonable as to where and thus could react to some extent. None of that was important unless she intended to shoot him though and if she didn't he would have continued by stating...

"Your trickery has robbed me of the force but our back and forth has robbed you of time."

...he motioned to the streets they stood on with his free right hand. Even walking over here to confront him had constant her precious moments...

"We are on Kwenn Station, a stronghold within the Hutt Space Consortium. This attempt on Gorba the Hutt was made publicly and loudly. You must know the Hutt has a thousand informants working for him that have already reported back to soldiers in his employ. They should arrive here within minutes and you still haven't moved the Hutt from the place you froze him."

...it was rare for Sarad to smile but a thin line on the edges of his mouth curved upwards...

"It will be a nigh impossible task for you to retrieve whatever equipment you do, return here and load the Hutt without running afoul of more of his enforcers and soldiers. If you succeed at that task then your ship will not be permitted off this station and if it does leave it will be fired upon by any number of ships associated with the Consortium."

...another paused, Sarad wanted the Mandalorian to drink all this in. He wasn't even wasting her time, he was assisting her because he would fight her again and this time she would not rob him of his powers....

"The cut to the inside of your elbow did not need to sever your tendons. It may have nicked your brachial artery which would account for the amount of blood you could be losing. As your arm grows weaker it will soon be of little use to you."

...putting her at another disadvantage, just the facts but then the deal...

"Leave now, I will stall the Hutts Soldiers and you will make it off this Station. It will afford you another opportunity in the future."

 

[Juno Wren]

“Hmph,” Juno scoffed. “Soldiers of a crime lord. Sounds like a loyal lot. Gorba the Hutt had them swear oaths of fealty then, did he?” She was more worried about the Regulators than a bunch of thugs masquerading as soldiers. She was a soldier. Gorba’s thugs didn’t deserve the title.

Sars was right about one thing, though. She was losing way too much blood. Luckily for her, it was a quick fix.

She slipped the explosive into her satchel and pulled out one of her bacta spray canisters. She raised her right hand to aim at Sars, primed the repulsor, and holstered her Verpine pistol with her left to free her hand to apply the spray on the open wound, very careful to keep her eyes on Sars the entire time. She didn’t put it past him to attack suddenly if she seemed in any way distracted.

The wound closed over, leaving a thin scar, but bacta couldn’t replenish blood loss. Her arm felt light and tingly- even holding it aloft to aim her repulsor was proving difficult. She tossed the canister away and gripped her Double-E, the barrel aimed at Sars Sarad and the butt stock tucked into her armpit, allowing her to finally rest her right arm.

“Maybe they will come to save him. He’s a nice boss, yeah? Inspires a lot of loyalty, I bet. It’s not like any of those criminals will want to take his spot. I’m sure they love being his fodder.” She flicked a switch on her Double-E and the net launcher whirred to life. In truth, she was quite concerned about more possible opposition, though she doubted they’d be anywhere near the same quality or possess the same prowess as Sars or Karkosuchus. Didn’t change her plans, though.

She’d known going in that this was a near impossible bounty to claim alone. Of course, Gorba's soldiers didn't know that she was alone. From all the explosions- to say nothing of the sheer brazenness and suddenness of her attack- the station's criminal underworld probably thought there was a whole squad of gun-happy Mandos wrecking the place. Criminals were very rarely brave, and very often opportunistic, at least in her experience. This was a golden opportunity for the ambitious, enterprising enforcer. Save their boss and win his favor... or kill him and fight over the scraps of his empire. Some would choose the former, but she was betting even more would choose the latter.

“You want to know what I think? I think these soldiers of yours are just as likely to shoot you lot as they are me. What’s going to stop them, eh? Fear of Gorba’s wrath?” She gestured to the frozen Hutt, his wide, wrinkled face preserved in a rictus of panic and pain. He looked pathetic. No fething way I’m leaving empty-handed after all this. “Yeah, don’t think so. Maybe they’ll come running to save him…or maybe they’ll come running to kill him and take his place. You can never tell with criminals. Either way, I’ll take my chances. Now hold still.”

She squeezed the trigger and the stun net launched. Maybe he’d be able to throw himself out of the way in time. That was fine- she had a few more nets loaded.

Off in the far distance, she heard a rumble like a stampede of booted feet and the deep vibrating hum of repulsorcrafts drawing near. And now begins the encore. She primed her last remaining missile, jet pack roaring to life.

​

 

[Sars Sarad]

Mirrsteel Heights, Kwenn Station

---

In a way there was something almost refreshing about this. Whether or not the Mandalorian would believe it, it was very rare for Sarad to ever find himself on the losing end of a battle. It made sense to him though.

To him the Force was like Juno Wren 's armor was to her. Remove it from him and he was still a skilled combatant but against someone with all the advantages, someone with ranged weaponry and it wasn't difficult to see where gaps in Sarads offense were. Without the force it was much more difficult, especially at range.

The Force was teaching him a lesson, even if he was disconnected from it at the moment. It was something he would remember in the future.

As she holstered the Verpine Weapon to apply Bacta Spray to herself, raising her right arm in the process and training her repulsor on him Sarad deactivated the Phase-Knife and curling his arm back around behind himself again would stow Old Sin away until he needed it again. Just like he'd done with his lightsaber as he rose to stand. Nodding his head then he seemed to accept what was to come, reading her body language down to the most subtle nuances while remarking....

"Good fortune in battle, Mandalorian. Enjoy the credits but spend them quickly."

...his smile remained a moment longer but then his expression stilled, his features hardened...

"I look forward to our next meeting."

...it was as if to say that he would seek her out and that they would do this again. He wasn't worried about the common rank and file of the Consortium or the other Lordas, he knew many of them feared him to much to ever attempt making a move on him regardless of how they found him.

This time she launched the 'Electronet' at him and he didn't even attempt to evade it, he stood there with arms wide and took it in the chest. Electricity would jolt through his system and he would fall over, entangled. It would stun him for a time, render him incapacitated but when he woke again the Force would be with him.

When everything went dark he welcomed it instead of fighting against it.

 

[Juno Wren]

"Gar ru'akaanir pirusti," she said to the unconscious Sars with great feeling. You fought well.

Juno collected her sonic pistol first, before flying up the block. Her speeder was right where she left it. She spied a group of transports flying beneath the air lanes, blatantly violating the laws of traffic, and new it to be Gorba's men. Determined, she revved her Starhawk to life and booked it back to the alley.

Gorba and Karkosuchus were still frozen, and Sars was still knocked out. Just as she slowed to a stop, about a dozen men arrived from a side alley, a ragtag but heavily armed group of enforcers. Without preamble, Juno shot them, squeezing the trigger thrice in quick succession, arm braced against the recoil. The first shot hit the ground- the second and third turned the leading two enforcers into soup and a visceral spray of blood and guts.

Using the thrust from her jetpack to help, and the loading clamps attached to the hovercraft, she worked Gorba onto the hitch and secured him with a series of straps and a grav field. The transport came whooshing from up high, forming up to land. Juno initiated her targeting systems and launched her missile at the central transport, blowing it up in a brilliant gust of flames and heat. The other transports on either side of it swerved and swayed from the explosion- one crashed into a building and tumbled to the street.

Juno was already gone, a streaking blur knifing through the streets.

She made it to her ship with a few close calls, more from slow, inept drivers than pursuit. She'd left the battlefield in such disarray from her hard hitting tactics that the enforcers hadn't been able to truly give chase.

She drove the speeder directly up into the Bes'bev. She'd modified the gunship herself. It was one of a kind, now, for all that it looked like every other X-4 gunship. Shields, engine, weapons- she'd upgraded them all.

The cockpit was a welcome sight. She was relatively close to Enclave space, and already had a message prepped for them to meet her with a patrol as soon as possible. She'd keep Gorba on ice there for a spell while she arranged his transport to the client.

This one was a hunt to cherish.

​

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Frozen by the blast, Gorba was unconscious. When he awoke, it was in a cell, stripped of his weapons and communication devices.

He cursed and raged. And when he had a moment to settle down, he began to formulate a plan. He may be in a cell for now, but it would not hold him forever. In the meantime, someone would need to care for the newly established giggledust operation on Ylesia. And he had just the canine in mind. Xyoz Maji