First Reply Herglic Space: Small Fish Big Pond

[Tilon Quill]

Herglic Space: a complex knot of forty worlds, not far out from the Core and well within the Alliance but certainly distinct, a pre-Republic power.

Herglic vessels and trade stations — like this one overlooking hardscrabble swampy Kooda — were built at a larger-than-humanoid scale. Even just leaning on a rail to look out a window, was an entertainingly unusual prospect.

The railing was at neck height. Tilon rested both firearms on it and his jaw or cheek on the backs of his hands, depending on what ship or cargo module caught his eye. He mumbled words in Herglese, always practicing. Most Herglics spoke Basic too on an ancient trade station like this, but learning the language had been almost half the reason he'd come to lose himself in Herglic territory. You could live a hundred lifetimes here and still have more to see. You could maybe forget a regret or two along the way.

Peripherally aware of everything — you had to be here, being so relatively small — he glanced sidelong as someone passed nearby or came to the panoramic window. Like him, they weren't a Herglic, making them unusual on a station this deep into Herglic Space.

"Come for the view?"


OOC/ Down for anything at any scale. Surprise me!

 

[Koda Fett]

The sound of clinking spurs accompanied each booted footfall, with steps sounding heavy against the reinforced metal walkway, though notably lighter than any Herglic's might be. The voice that broke the stranger's silence was low, rough, and tinny by virtue of the weathered helmet. "Not exactly," he said with a wry wit.

He flashed the bounty puck, showing Tilon's mugshot and the associated five-thousand credit reward underneath.

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

"Fuck."

Tilon rested his forehead on the railing at the base of the window. He didn't have a lot in the way of options here. Lightsaber, sure, but he wasn't great with it. Hold-out blaster in his boot. Pretty decent Herglese.

He turned around and faced the bounty hunter, some species of Mandalorian or Mando-adjacent. Mando armor was almost a language unto itself and that was interesting, but not interesting enough for Tilon to have sunk any time into it beyond 'some colors traditionally signal values' and 'trophies are good.' Clearly someone who'd been around the block, though.

"Just to get the obvious out of the way...taking someone in for an Imperial bounty in Alliance space, for pocket change to someone like you... you're all in on that? I've got counteroffers..."

Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

The helmet tilted aside, "Mostly."

Counter offers came in spades, often times offering more than the initial reward. People tend to discover how deep their pockets truly are when staring down the barrel of a blaster. Even then, the blaster usually went off. Usually. Paying for the hit against reputation more than anything else.

"But I'll hear the offer."

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

Tilon thought about it for a bit.

"Look," he said, "I'm not wild about this, but there's a handful of Jedi I've met who are worth a lot more than me. Jedi Lords and commandos and such. I could probably live with giving you their whereabouts considering they'd have a good chance against you."

And probably wouldn't mind a chance at taking a serious bounty hunter off the board.

"I give you the coordinates for someone like that, a place they spend time, you let me walk and skip the..." He gestured around at the Herglic trade station populated by, primarily, Herglics. "...hassle."

Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

"Hmm," considered Fett for half-a-moment.

It could be worth a good sum of credits to the right people. The wrong people in Tilon's eyes, the bounty hunter imagined. But as those cold cogs turned, there was only one question to ask himself: is this not information he could force out of the Quill?

He didn't mind a hassle.

"Isn't worth it," his gloved hand rest on the holstered blaster pistol. "So, what'll it be?"

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

Koda Fett

Tilon sucked his teeth and thought it over a bit more. "Well, worth a shot. Haauuuuum."

He stayed with his back against the railing by the high window. For the moment he didn't pull a weapon.

He wasn't yelling but a small number of large Herglics heard him:

 

[Koda Fett]

"Not bad," said Fett, with three sets of lumbering footfalls beginning to make their way over.

He drew his blaster pistol and fired on the Jedi, the armaments on his idle, left arm ready to be of use.

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

Shavvit, the hunter was fast on the draw. Tilon prided himself on speed and agility but couldn't crouch aside in time, not all the way. The blaster bolt seared along his right shoulder and smashed into the thick ancient glass of the window. It cracked and bubbled in a way transparisteel wouldn't. The window held for the moment.

A Herglic roared like whalesong and lumbered their way to intervene. Pain high among his priorities, Tilon fumbled at his boot with his good left hand to secure his holdout blaster. It had only a handful of shots but had served him well many times. Better than the lightsaber at his belt, frankly.

Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

Fett went to shoot again, though found himself interrupted by a swinging log of an arm. He ducked aside, barely, as it whooshed overhead. In close, he stepped backwards as his finger slammed down on the trigger. The first few bolts seemed to do nothing at all until the Herglic slowed, wheezed and slumped. Causing trouble was one thing, but killing locals was another.

By the time he could turn back to Tilon, the Jedi already had his holdout blaster out.

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

Alright, if Koda Fett was going to take a sec to gun down a Herglic, Tilon was going to use that time. Specifically he got a handle on the pain. When Koda turned, Tilon made sure to be on his feet, gun at the ready. Had to have some dignity in a moment like this.

A security alarm started blaring. The deck shivered. Tilon imagined what a Herglic station security team would weigh and shivered too.

He switched his blaster to stun and fired. He didn't want to get mistaken for the person who'd hurt or killed the intervening Herglic, but neither did he want to get nabbed without firing a shot. Again, dignity.

 

[Koda Fett]

The blue ring thudded into the armour, rippling and shimmering. Forcing the bounty hunter to stagger as the light brightened for all of a second, dancing across him. He grunted, something low and throaty. The feel of a stun bolt may have hurt a lot less, though it carried a strange sensation with it.

A patrol speeder, larger than any other on account of the inhabitants, loomed nearby and began to descend. The bravery in the three would-be saviours faltered with the first's death. Fett ignored it, for the time-being. He took aim against Tilon, firing another barrage of shots. Bounties stated dead or alive, and while living had a certain preference, dead served just fine.

Especially if things became too hot.

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

The downside of using Jedi pain control was that your instincts about danger and preservation could mismatch to the situation. Tilon found himself flinging up his injured right arm as if to ward the bolts away. He was conjuring some kind of push or shield, really was only halfway there in either case, when the blasterfire tore into his arm. The barrage was right on target and so was the arm, so maybe his instincts weren't all that off or were working against him.

He felt the concussive impacts more than and before the pain. He smashed back against the wall and the window. His vision stuttered darkly. He was dimly aware of his blaster and lightsaber clanking and skittering on the deck, and a couple of titanic Herglic medics scooping him up, and his arm flopping uselessly in places that it shouldn't. He flashed back, incongruous to the moment, to his time with that Iskalloni splinter sect out by Vesskyzi, all their implants and cybernetic linkages; he flashed back, too, to a certain cyborg who'd betrayed him.

Everything was very loud.

Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

Like a Socorran panning in the mineral-sands seeing his first glint, Fett felt his visored gaze snap towards the clinking lightsaber. In lieu of a dead Jedi, their lightsaber covered the bill just as well. Or so the Imperial listing stated. He made a dash to cross the distance, scooping the thing up as large, heavy blaster fire began to let loose from the Herglic law enforcement.

"Hnh," he groaned, seeing the Jedi taken away with a flailing broken arm. The lightsaber will do, he thought, placing it on his hip.

He returned fire, though the problem now was getting away.

Tilon Quill

 

[Tilon Quill]

The situation was escalating and Tilon had his hands full just clinging to lucidity and fighting the pain. Gargantuan Herglic medics were shoving him in some kind of transportation module. Part of an internal cargo transfer chute, he realized belatedly as he accelerated away in total darkness. An autodoc torqued and stung against his arm; how and when had they put that on him?

As he got a grip he realized what he'd lost. He'd loved that little Naboo-style holdout blaster. The lightsaber — simple, elegant, matte silver, with a rosé amanecer crystal and an amber blade — had been with him to three galaxies. He felt their loss keenly, but they were only things.

The arm...that was the priority. He'd taken damage before and been a wartime medic. He knew what could heal and what couldn't, especially on a backwater trade station uspecialized for humanoids, especially since his species was vanishingly rare in the galactic mainstream. No, he was going to lose not just his weapons but his arm today. He knew that with a certain dread.

The autodoc kicked his anesthetics up a notch and he was gone.

Koda Fett

 

[Koda Fett]

In a shootout with local law enforcement, Fett bet on himself. Then again, when hadn't he?

He wielded a blaster pistol and blaster carbine in tandem, able to return fire on the squad of Herglics that came to apprehend him. A more loosely put word on account of their blaster bolts being flung towards him, even careening off of the beskar-plated armour. Strong as a Herglic was, it only ever made them capable of withstanding a few more blaster bolts than your average humanoid before the life wheezed out of them and they slumped over, dead. Their droid companion, however, only took one bolt to be slagged.

Fett took off in a loud, ugly escape. For the next week or so, there were persistent rumours and reports of a Mandalorian wreaking havoc in the darker corners of Kooda. Some said he escaped, though some even went as far to say the locals put an end to him.

Tilon Quill