Bounty I Can Bring You In Warm … Or I Can Bring You In Cold.

[Skye Mertaal]

Bounty Hunter Name: Skye Mertaal
Bounty Hunter License: Link
Seeking Bounties on: x | @Iona Starchaser
Toggle on: Pending

The Firespray shuddered as it broke through Mnemosyne's upper atmosphere, rattling just enough that Skye muttered a curse under her breath and tapped the side console like it owed her credits. Stormlight cracked the sky open in long pale shafts, spilling over mountains and valleys below, painting the world in fractured silver.

She sat slouched in the pilot's chair, helm tipped forward, one gloved hand keeping the ship steady while the other worked the sensors. The headache gnawing behind her eyes hadn't eased since hyperspace, and the hollow ache made her wish she'd left the chase for another day. But that wasn't how she worked.

Jedi enclave. Rumor, probably. But she knew better than most that rumors didn't grow out of nothing. There was always a thread of truth, if you pulled hard enough.

A soft ping echoed from the console. The Huntress narrowed the scan, cutting out the jungle's constant chatter and dialing in on anything that looked like more than animals roaming wild. Villages, enclaves, camps. Anything that meant people. Anything that meant opportunity.

Skye's lips tugged into a tired purse of her lips beneath the helm. That Browncoat bounty was still sitting out there, a generic Jedi in Carbonite for some collector plastered across half a dozen postings. Knocked out in a slab. And right now, the thought of dragging one in that was chatty enough to cause a migraine felt like more work than her skull could stand.

[ Slab'll do just fine, ] she muttered, leaning back as another ping scratched across the display. Something was out there.

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Praxeum of the Whills | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Skye Mertaal

​

Life was quiet at the school. Iona had fallen into a quiet rhythm of a more purposeful life. The young Mirialan had found her calling as a instructor for history and politics. Much of her time was either taken up instructing the youngest students or flying into Naboo to work with several politicians on refugee rights. From her failed attempt as a Warden, refugee rights had remained a passion and she cultivated it to this day.

Talking the long walk from the landing pad to the Praxeum, Iona was in no rush. She had just returned from a trip and wanted to stretch her legs after being cramped in the small fighter. Wind whipped high in the mountains, pale sunlight broke through the clouds from time to time.

Overall a decent day on Mnemosyne. Little did she know it was about to change.

 

[Skye Mertaal]

Bounty Hunter Name: Skye Mertaal
Bounty Hunter License: Link
Seeking Bounties on: x | @Iona Starchaser
Toggle on: Verified

The sensors gave a steady ping, a cluster of life too neat to be wild animals. Skye's eyes narrowed. Village, maybe. Or something hiding as one.

She swung the Firespray wide, scanning for a place to land. A small clearing between the trees caught her eye, close enough to reach the signal but far enough to keep her ship out of sight. The landing struts hissed as the Phoenix settled, engine wash stirring the leaves.

The Huntress moved quickly, cloak engaged, alarms primed, perimeter sensors live. Nothing would get near the ship without setting it off.

With her gear strapped on and coordinates blinking across her wrist cuff, Skye drew in a slow breath. The headache was still there, but the hunt pushed it to the background.

Somewhere beyond the trees, a village waited. And with it, maybe her bounty.

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Mnemosyne | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Skye Mertaal
​

Along the path towards the Praxeum, there was a small village. Nothing special or noteworthy. Natives to the planet who had long settled before the Jedi had come and set up their school. Folks who made a living in the high mountains - somehow. Iona loved the location but living in a village and trying to live off the land? Certainly challenging.

Stopping at a fruit stall, she picked up a small pint of berries with her meager credit supply. Local berries that those high above had to travel down into the valleys for. They only were available for a very small portion of the year, right in the heart of the warmest season on the planet.

Popping the lid off, and not worrying they most likely weren't washed, Iona ate the highly sugar-sweet berries on the rest of her walk. It effectively wiped out her credit supply for the foreseeable future - those at the Praxuem were unlike their rich NJO counterparts - but it was worth it. She didn't plan on leaving planet for at least another two months.

 

[Skye Mertaal]

Bounty Hunter Name: Skye Mertaal
Bounty Hunter License: Link
Seeking Bounties on: x | @Iona Starchaser
Toggle on: Verified

From the Huntress perch above the village, Skye's visor zoomed in on the fruit stall, the crimson flash of the cyberneic ocular patch gathering data and tagging what she could find. For a moment it was just locals trading credits for baskets, but then a figure stepped into view.

Mirialan. Young, robed, carrying herself with the kind of purpose villagers didn't. She was no farmer, that much was clear. Skye watched as the woman handed over a few credits, popped open a pint of berries, and walked on without a care.

Her visor tracked the movement, logging it with a faint pulse of data across her display. Not a bounty mark. Not yet. But the kind of person worth keeping an eye on.

Skye sank lower behind the ridge, silent. The village might have looked simple, but there were always shadows tucked under the quiet. And this one just stepped into hers.

So let's see where she goes.

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Mnemosyne | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Skye Mertaal

​

Leaving the outskirts of the village, Iona continued on, eating berries on her walk. Until she was finished, pausing to stuff the container in her rucksack and really start to push the pace to get back to the Praxeum. Important to get there before the sun started to dip. As she was securing the toggle on her bag, there was a rustling from behind a rock, in the low bushes.

Body stiffened, going on alert....until a rodent-like creature scurried out, running away from her location. The young Mirialan paused, gazing over the landscape. Predators were a thing and potentially being drug away and eaten was a bit embarrassing. Straining her ears and senses, nothing was heard or felt that could be amiss.

Slinging the rucksak back on her body and adjusting the straps, a booted foot stepped on the old stone bridge. The last bridge she would have to cross then she was home free after a kilometer or so. Carefully, as not to slide on the ice patches, Iona continued her journey across.

 

[Skye Mertaal]

Bounty Hunter Name: Skye Mertaal
Bounty Hunter License: Link
Seeking Bounties on: x | Iona Starchaser
Toggle on: Verified

Skye had tracked her long enough to know the woman was by herself, no one else close.

That could work.

She crouched low on the ridge above, rifle braced steady against the rock. The scope drew the Mirialan in clear, every careful step she took across the bridge framed in her sight. Too far a drop on either side. Timing had to be perfect.

Her thumb brushed over the dart chamber, switching to the knockout round. The faintest of trembles shook her fingers, and the Huntress had to bite her tongue to use the pain to focus. Letting the copper taste coat her mouth. Focus. No sound but her own breath inside the helm.

One second. Hold.

Two seconds. Exhale.

Three.

The crack split the quiet as the dart streaked toward its mark, cutting through the mountain air straight for the Mirialan on the bridge.

 

[Iona Starchaser]

Location : Icy Bridge | Weapons : Force Pike | Interacting With : Skye Mertaal
​

The crack was as instantaneous as the pain blooming in her neck. Hand went to clutch the source of pain, encountering a small metal dart. Iona pulled the dart in front of her face, frowning. She looked left where the dart had come from but just saw open chasm, whatever occurred the person was well hidden.

Iona put one foot in front of the other, struggling to keep moving. She took a deep breath and purposely willed herself to relax. Panicking would increase her heart rate, pushing whatever was in her system faster. Hand reached for her force pike but failed, the weapon falling and sliding across the ice.

A few feet and she was on her knees, still forcing herself to crawl forward. Futile, considering the conditions and the drugs coursing through her system. Yet she didn't know that and even if she did, Iona would keep going. There was no way she would give up without a fight.

Yet soon she was facedown on the bridge, not moving. Her final thought before succumbing to unconsciousness?

Who wanted me dead?

 

[Skye Mertaal]

Bounty Hunter Name: Skye Mertaal
Bounty Hunter License: Link
Seeking Bounties on: x | Iona Starchaser
Toggle on: Verified

Skye was on her feet the second the Mirialan dropped, rifle slung and boots crunching soft against the stone as she crossed the ridge and made her way down. By the time she reached the bridge, the woman was out cold, sprawled face down with her weapon still lying useless in the ice.

Crouching beside her, Skye checked first for a pulse. Steady. Breathing shallow but fine. Good. She pulled the small, battered device from her hip, its scanner whining to life as she swept it over the woman's chest. The reading came quick.

Force sensitive. No question. And here, this close to the Praxeum? Jedi.

Skye's jaw tightened as she leaned back on her haunches. Bounty wanted one alive in carbonite. She had just found herself a payday. Guilt nudged at the edges, but she shoved it down. Alive was better than dead. That counted for something.

She adjusted the rifle strap across her chest, then tapped her wrist cuff, activating the slave circuits to her ship. The Phoenix would be inbound within minutes. Time enough to get the woman bound and ready for transport.

[ Sorry, kid,] she muttered under her breath, sliding her hands under the Mirialan's shoulders. [ Wrong place, wrong time. ]

In short order, she had one Jedi Mirialan in Carbonate ready to be delivered.