Hide and Go Seek [Vagrants]

[Jorus Merrill]

ROOF OF THE BAR

@[member="Daxton Bane"] @[member="Vorhi Alestrani"]

A pulse of strange energy -- strange to others, infinitely familiar to Jorus -- rippled through his aura, the same aura that kept one Force-user from ripping out another's guts or breaking their lightsabre. Lacking Force powers of any kind in this setting, Jorus really had only one defense against them, and that was a powerful Master-level aura that he could pulse when necessary, filling it with his own otherworldly energies to erode what was being done to him.

Visually, it would seem for a moment as though he was standing beneath a viewport that looked into hyperspace. Gravity twisted and groaned just slightly as Daxton's crushing grip was ripped away from his limbs and neck. His boots struck the roof running, going with Daxton's Force pull -- he could resist the grip's more aggressive elements, but not anything so diffuse as a standard Force pull. @[member="Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae"], having set Jorus's trap, was between Jorus and the force tube to the invisible ship. That made everyone as safe as could be. Except for Jorus.

Which was the whole point of Jorus.

"Hit the bridge!" he snarled into his mic, quick as he could, and Beyyr growled in assent. Assault concussion missiles flashed out of the cloaking field to slam into the nearby bridge between the Templar citadel and the landing field. Turbolasers roared alongside them, and the bridge simply ceased to exist.

Between Daxton's powerful pull and Jorus's sprint, he was on the Templar Master in about a heartbeat, maybe two. Where some -- heck, virtually all -- Masters had their lightsabres, knew them intimately, connected to the Force through them, Jorus had that indestructible double-barrelled shotgun. He'd spent the first barrel on the CryoBan charge, the second on the cortosis blast that had punished Alestrani. The Mandalorian Shell Gun was as long as a lightsabre, its stock masterwork beskar the same as the rest of it, bearing superficial scars from lightsabres. Like a Master's lightsabre, taking the gun from his hand would prove impossible; like a Master's lightsabre, the gun was a conduit for his power. Not that that meant anything on a planet. On a planet, Jorus had good instincts, a powerful aura, Force-enhanced hand-to-hand, and no other accoutrements of a Master. In space, assuming he got that far, it would be a different story.

Suffice it to say, the shotgun was his game. His initial strike, gun held with both hands, transferred all the momentum of Daxton's Force pull to the end of the barrel in an attempt to punch through the Templar Master's throat. Jorus set his feet and whipped his left arm back while blasting his right arm forward, aiming to crash the gunstock into and through the bottom of Daxton's ribcage.

 

[Aedan Miles]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Daxton Bane"] @[member="Sonja Mercier"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"] @[member="Alna Merrill"]

Aedan Miles heard noise up on the roof of the bar and bit back a curse as he yanked his comlink out and activated it opening a channel to the Dragon's Roost "This is Captain Miles I want a flight down here now have them sweep the area around this bar with their sensors constantly and if they get anything manauver to fire at it somewhat safely." With that said he put the comlink in his pocket and gathered the force about himself as he dropped into a crouch and then jumped with a force assisted leap that sent him vaulting onto the bar roof landing in a roll he drew his lightsabers and ignited their silver blades suddenly. Looking around his eyes flashing left and right calmly he slowly spun around to face the door way as he searched for the people who had been running.

He finally noticed them off to his left seeming to run into thin air and then suddenly turbolaser and concussion Missiles started to launch from their causing his eyes to widen and then darken as he realized where they were targeting. He turned towards the man attacking Daxton and let out an angry howl as he launched himself towards him his light sabers blazing behind him. He landed behind the man taking up a defensive pose as he snarled out. "You owe me a pair of karking shuttles and a karking Devastator-class."

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Roof Across from the Bar

Receiving no word from his old friend, Sarge went by memory and assumed they were still in or near the same bar from earlier. Finding an adjacent building, he headed inside and towards the roof. Sure, a door opening on its own was suspicious, but with no visible person pushing it, few thought much of it.

Heading to the roof, he set himself up next to a few air conditioning units, pulling down the bipod on the front of his slugthrower before draping part of his cloak over it to shield it from view. Settling in, confident he couldn't be seen, he sighted in on the fight between Daxton, Jorus and... Aeden?

He was fairly certain that was the kids name.

No clear shot yet... so he'd just bide his time.

 

[Thessa Kai]

[SIZE=10pt]ALL THOSE ON THE ROOF: Ship's fire coming your way[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Daxton Bane"] @[member="Judah Dashiell"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]It was a compromise.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]“Fine.” Mild amusement passed across her serious gaze as he wrenched the butter knife free from the table. She owed Jorus some credits to get that buffed out. But between him and Alna, they could probably afford it themselves.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]The turret controls dug into her stomach as the ship rumbled from explosions outside. Outside the gun well window, she saw the scene unfolding on the roof. Most of the civilians were out.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Good.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Blue-streaked driftwood-hair glinted as it caught the sun in the turret-pod window, chair spinning in the turret attached to Jorus’ ship as she fired at the bar’s roof, being careful not to hit Jorus and unfortunately, Daxton. There might be a possibility of some stray shrapnel hitting them, though. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]She was really, really, really trying to be careful and not let revenge consume her actions.[/SIZE]

 

[Vorhi Alestrani]

(OOC: you may ignore this or laugh at it at your leisure. I know I promise the other post was my last one, but this idea wouldn't shut up)

The Force was a funny thing. It had weird moods, especially where Vorhi was concerned. He wasn't the most powerful practitioner, but he was one of the most unorthodox. To many Jedi and Sith, his techniques appeared to be weak--A force wielder with no weapon. A tradition with no living masters. A scholar with no unified philosophy. Still, it had save him many times. And it was about to save him know, albeit without warning.

Not that he knew it. In fact, if any man were to read his mind right now, they would be certain he was having a vision of the afterlife. Unfortunately, the real world came barreling down on him, to the tune of a large, not-so-visible ship pointing a large, slightly-more-visible gun in his general direction, as it wasn't the general direction of Daxton Bane and Jorus' little dance party. Thankfully, he was on the ground, un-conscious. Until the debris flew at him.

He yelped calmly, jumping off of one flying brick and then another, and promptly landing with heroic valor....into a small shrub on the side of the building.

Any man who could speak the Old Palawan Tongue would have notices Vorhi saying something about a "beautiful Turos with a punch like a Gamorrean drunk" before making completely incoherent snoring noises. Ah, well. At least he was safe. Even if he had just been following a vision of the force.

--Meanwhile, in the clouded, concussed recesses of Vorhi's mind--

"Turos, wait!" Vorhi said, chasing after the laughing figure of a woman. "Why are you here? I was on Roon, what happened?" He questioned, hoping this would make sense. He wanted the last decade to be a dream, but he knew the truth. He knew he was talking to a ghost. Ahh, the comfort of Force Sight. No illusions for anyone.

"You nearly died, because you're a moron," the woman said to him. "You need to be more careful."

"I...see. Its' good to see you," he stammered not really knowing what else to say. What do you say to your perviously...what was the word in basic? Betrothed?

"It isn't time for you yet. Quit sulking. Damnit," she said, punching him in the arm. "Or have you forgotten the plan, old man? You've got much to do, after all..." She said, obvious eyeing him. This old, noiseless meadow may have been a figment, but it was a good one. He saw it well.

"Ouch! Hey I just got shot...I think. Don't do that." He rubbed his shoulder, wincing. "You still hit like a Hung-over Gammorrean Clan mother," he said with a laugh. "Great swing, no grace."

"PFT, fine," the woman said with a scowl. Her hair, green with blue streaks. Her smile, altogether too sharp. They both laughed for a bit. After all, what's the fun in almost dying if you can't kiss a ghost and laugh a little?

"I have to go back, don't I."

"Yep. Keep up the work, Alli!"

"How man times have I told you not call me---"

And then, darkness.....

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

If he had thought he had an advantage because Daxton seemed helpless, he had made the biggest and probably the most fatal mistake of his life. Bending backward at an almost impossible angle the barrel of the gun passed mere centimeters from its target, then as quick as a snake, Daxton was onto his enemy, closing the gap physically so that anyone aiming a weapon at them would surely hit their ally if they tried to shoot at him.

With a hiss, Daxton fired his wrist needle launchers at point blank range. At this range it was impossible to miss, the deadly projectiles spun at super sub sonic velocity, the effect would be like firing a flechette round into a side of beef.

Each needle was coated with a fast acting toxin based on Daxton's design, causing massive swelling of tissue of the lungs and throat, choking off the air passage and weakening the blood, causing paralysis and death if left untreated.

From within his billowing cloak, a small horde of insectile like creatures poured out like an hungry inhuman plague. Orbalisks, a parasitic creature which lived on Daxton as a host, swarmed out until they were both enveloped in their numbers. Having bonded with them, the Sith exerted a someone limited mind link with the hive mind as he whispered the command for them to feed. "Feeding time!" He laughed as the creatures sought to find purchase on their new host, and sink their fangs to inject a powerful venom into their new host.

Orbalisks were fast and vicious. The only thing which could stave off the poison temporarily was Dark Side energy. Daxton doubted that this fool would last long enough to find treatment anyway.

"Run you fools! Your assassination attempt has failed miserably." In his arrogance he failed to take into consideration the other man's weapon until it slammed painfully into his side. Based on previous experience, he knew automatically that he had broken some ribs. The pain shooting into his system, sending out a message to his parasites to inject even more toxin into his system, as he struggled to stay upright.

 

[Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Daxton Bane"] @[member="Aedan Miles"]
Sammo looked over the situation and jumped from the ship as Aedan joined the fight
"Captain, we don't have time for this."
Sammo spoke as he moved with his back towards Jorus' back, facing Aedan.
Jorus' counterattack failed against Daxton and Sammo synchronized his movements with Jorus as he put his hands together, sneaking them between the needler and Jorus. With few jolts, and steps back to regain footing, Sammo captured the needler projectiles, he was both able to resist high kinetic damage they provided as he was immune to the poison that coated them.
With another jolt he pulled his back hand off of the spike of needler that stuck in his other hand, reaching into his inner pocket, he raised an eyebrow at the Orbalisk swarm.
"I disagree, it could be much worse."
He said as he threw a smaller jar with few round objects in it at the swarm. The jar broke and some sort of fluid splashed over the Orbalisk as the round objects gave out a sharp ZAP and the Orbalisk began to squeal and screech, dying in pain. The electrically conductive liquid quickly spread the high-amplitude current through the swarm, the electricity was the one Orbalisk weakness after all, it would stay in their area for a moment longer to prevent more from advancing.

Quickly, Sammo pulled out another small canister from his inner pockets,
"Captain.."
He addressed Jorus

 

[Jorus Merrill]

@[member="Daxton Bane"] had leaned back to avoid the first strike, the throat-strike, but had been so tied up in his gloating counterattacks that he'd failed to notice the second strike, the solid-beskar gunstock aiming to crush his ribs. At a guess, right now Daxton would be experiencing significant trouble in the respiratory realm.

Then again, those gloating counterattacks were causing Jorus some issues, his momentary victory notwithstanding. A basic armormesh shirt slowed the needles, but burning toxin poured into his blood. An orbalisk latched on despite Sammo's jar-o'-sparks. Light turbolaser blasts rained down around them, inaccurate due to the need of using a camera pod to defeat the double-blind cloak. Triple-blasters joined in, adding an even greater element of indiscriminate risk. Working past blinding pain, Jorus used the bit of distance Daxton had created. He slammed two new shells into his shotgun and fired both at once: a concussion round and an incendiary. An immense shockwave full of fire wiped the orbalisks from existence and, both by its shockwavey nature and because of the freaking immense kickback, hopefully created significant distance between himself and Daxton. He grabbed Sammo in the process, dragging the HRD with him towards the roof's edge. Behind him was a very long fall. The entire landing facility and bar district was on a tall outcropping of rock, and a river ran through a valley hundreds of metres below him. He windmilled on the edge, scrambling to reload.

 

[Alndys]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] l @[member="Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae"] l @[member="Thessa Kai"] l @[member="Judah Dashiell"]

A cliff. Of course Jorus would find his way to a cliff.

For a man who could find a path to any place, he sure did walk into a heap of danger on a regular basis.

"Beyrr, get the ship over that drop before we get blown out of the sky!" Alna barked, leaping from her co-pilot's seat. She didn't know the people manning the Gypsymoth's turrets that well, but hopefully they'd keep up the good work while she did something possibly idiotic. Alna ran to the cargo bay, picking up a considerable length of durasteel cable as she went. With the press of a button, the ship's cargo bay began to open up, revealing the city below- and then the cliff. Bracing herself against the metal bulkhead, Alndys went to work.

A loop tied onto one end of the cable. The other end wrapped around a support beam in the ship's interior, and then her waist.

Alndys walked to the very edge of the cargo bay doors, hanging over the city by her lifeline, with the coils of cable slung over her shoulders. Beyrr, thankfully, picked up on what she was doing and howled something loud and wookieish, rotating the ship so the open cargo bay was facing Sammo and Jorus' cliffside antics. And then, with all the strength she could muster, Alna threw the cable - a slender lifeline extending from the Gypsymoth, the perfect avenue for a daring escape over a heart-stopping drop into the canyon.

 

[Aedan Miles]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Sammo Hache-Khe of Rae"] @[member="Daxton Bane"]

Aedan saw a man appear to help the man who had been the cause of losing his prized fighter. Aedan looked at the man darkly his eyes gleaming a dangerous violet he started to swing only to stop as the men seemed to be blown away from him. He gasped audibly as he was hit in the gut by a blast from something and then knocked backward cracking his left arm and his head on the wall he let out a pained howl as the arm broke and then went silent. He had fallen unconscious when his head hit the wall and now he landed in a shrub near Vorhi. The Cragmoloid troops were moving around the building having heard the chaos when they look up and see Aedan falling down. Once he hits the ground they hurry forward shielding him with their bodies as they lifted him from the shrub and hurried him away from the scene quickly.

(DICE EITHER LOVE OR HATE ME. DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT Q.Q)

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Alna Merrill"] @[member="Daxton Bane"] @Aeden Miles @Sammo Hache-Kae of Rae

Sarge watched as Jorus ran towards a certainly lengthy fall, Aeden screaming something that was lost in the distance between them. Smiling to himself, eye pressed to the back of his scope, he sights in on the man's leg. "Not so fast, friend...", he breathes, exhaling as he snaps off a single shot.

Only it seemed the man had fallen already, which... was anticlimactic. Oh well.

 

[Daxton Bane]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

Wheezing softly as he watched his prey flee with his companion, Daxton's lips broke out in a rather vicious smile. Both men were dead even if they did not yet know it. The needles were coated with his special blend of neurotoxin derived through Dark side manipulations of orbalisk blood, making it far more lethal than anything being used today. Even the smallest of scratches would allow the toxin to establish their long lasting hold.

And those orbalisks were not your run of your mill variety, but rather specific mutation from the radiation of the Heart of Darkness and fed a constantly from the body of the Sith Master. Yes, their fates were sealed, he saw the fracturing of their Fate lines though Shatterpoint and savored his victory.

Yet there was still the matter of their companions. The cowards were using some sort of cloaked ship, that was only way they hadn't been shot down by now. But they had made a critical error. They had launched their weapons systems, and that exposed them even with the cloak.

Summoning the Force, Daxton disappeared from the visible spectrum as he headed to his personal hangar bay. Clicking on his communicator. "Battery Defense East Wing, This is Daxton Bane. I have reason to suspect hostiles are using a cloaked ship. I repeat a cloaked ship. Calibrate your scanners to trace back the weapon trajectories of their expended munitions to their rough location and I want you to fill the air with flak. If they're cloaked, they can't be shielded. A solid blast would be enough to knock their stealth off."

"Templar Ground Control. I want sit rep on our air defenders. Launch all fighters. Contact Space Command I am requesting that the Fleet send some squadrons over as well. Let's catch this cowardly Jedi Scum and teach them a lesson in Confederate Justice."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

@[member="Thessa Kai"] , @[member="Alna Merrill"] , @[member="Daxton Bane"]

Firing from the gun turret, Judah was much more measured.Friendly fire was the last thing they needed. Glancing through the viewport in his own gun turret, black specs were high on the horizon. Coming in fast.

Someone scrambled fighters.

"Not to alarm anyone but I think we're about to have more company. Might want to hurry up"

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Fighting past the pain of the toxin, the falling Master snagged that long cable that Alna had sent out. He snagged it one-handed, whipping his hand in a circle before he'd even properly gripped it, and the line snapped taut around his wrist. He just hoped Sammo had caught the rope.

The winch reeled him in through the cloaked ship's portal just as the jury-rigged hibridium cloak failed (again). Beyyr slapped the shields online as flak shredded the air where Jorus had been. The alchemized Orbalisk neurotoxin was already burning, closing off his throat; he flopped to the deck near @[member="Alna Merrill"], ripping the Orbalisk and the needles off him. The armourmesh had kept the Orbalisk from fully latching on, but he'd be dead in about two minutes unless @[member="Rosa Mazhar"] got some heal in him. She'd studied with Boolon Murr, a master healer and an expert in countering Sith poisons. And right now she was Jorus's only hope.

"Rosa...heal...comm...Sarge...pickup...fix cloak...kill'em all."

His comlink carried it to the bridge, and Beyyr roared in assent, slamming assault concussion missiles into the side of the Templar citadel point-blank. The flak rattled the YV-929, but flak couldn't really touch a thirty-metre flying brick, especially not once the shields went up. The guns sprayed fire everywhere as the ship slewed sideways, cable dragging towards @[member="Sarge Potteiger"]. The fighters would be on them soonish, but the techhead Iron Giant was already working on fixing the cloaking device. She'd certainly helped him patch it up often enough.

 

[Rosa Gunn]

Rosa was at Jorus' side in an instant, a soft curse slipping from her lips as he pulled the needles from his skin. She placed her hands over the entry points, her eyes half closing as she blocked everything else out focusing on Jorus and the poison that was spreading quickly through his veins. She began to drain it out, pulling it away from his heart and back through the pinprick wounds, bubbling as the noxious liquid leaked out.

"I think," she murmured softly "You underestimated him."

@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

"Prolly did, at that," Jorus choked out, wheezing. "Owe you one, Rosa."

 

[Aedan Miles]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"] @[member="Alna Merrill"] @ALL VAGRANTS @[member="Daxton Bane"]

Aedan Miles may be out of the fight but the flight of fighters he had designed personally were still in bound hot weapons primed and shields at full. The four devastator-class fighters sported the same armaments of a X-wing starfighter but they had a unique engine design that permitted them almost impractical turns. While it was possible to make these turns it took training. Training which these four pilots had. The came in at the ship that had been forced to uncloak because of damage and started to fire at it carefully the pair of heavy laser cannons and pair of light repeating laser cannons blazing away angrily. They had received word that their captain had been evacuated with a broken arm and if there was one thing you didn't do it was harm the Captains of the crews of the Corsair Brotherhood.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

@[member="Jorus Merrill"]

The cable came in low towards Sarge's position, and while he was curious as to how they had puzzled out where he was, he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Taking hold of the cable with one hand, letting his rifle dangle from its sling, he finds himself pulled into the air as the ship climbs away from what was sure to be scrambling fighters.

 

[Jorus Merrill]

Its assault concussion missiles away -- a fairly stark reminder of what an actual assassination attempt would have looked like -- the Gypsymoth clawed for space under Beyyr's capable hands. Iron Giant and Miktik restabilized the cloaking field. Tossing a spray of weapons fire and a couple of huge Connor nets at the oncoming fighters, the Gypsymoth soared over the heavily missiled Templar citadel.

And then, finally, cloaked. The Gypsymoth had no thrust trace dampers, but finding one ion wake in atmosphere, above a recently active starship docking facility, was basically impossible by every sensor known to man. Once they got to space, it'd be easier for the CIS to get a bead on them -- but only when they got to space and out of the gravity well would a crystal gravfield trap be able to pick them up.

Still sweating the poison out, Jorus stumbled into the cockpit, but Beyyr warded him away from the controls, and the Wookiee seemed to be doing just fine.

"You see the fleet?"

Beyyr roared something affirmative and annoyed, to the effect of 'they don't see us.'

 

[Rosa Gunn]

"Jorus." Rosa said sharply, appearing at his elbow slender hands pushing him into a seat. "You are not helping me. Sit still or I will make you sit still."