Private I Wanna Be In The Cavalry

[Deryn Kaaldos]

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"I wanna be in the cavalry when they send me off to war. I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before. I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons roar. I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me of to war." The song echoed into his helm and Deryn hummed along to the tune. He was perched on signal tower of the district, slicing its technology to pick up on the conversation happening between the hired guns that guarded his quarry, a Rodian Senator. Deryn disliked attacking high-profile targets, too much heat. Darkwire, however, had him paid a good price for it, and said they'll cover it up. If Darkwire says they'll cover it up, they will. Besides, Deryn couldn't refuse. He wouldn't let himself refuse if it was Darkwire.

"Twenty minutes until departure." One of the guards said, the signal fizzing in and out but Deryn could hear him clearly enough. "Copy that." His female comrade said in return. They were on Naboo for now but they'll be heading off to somewhere he hasn't quite figured out yet right now. The planet's no flight zone was around the district, the starship docks were quite a ways away, more time than he needed to make the kill, but less time than he wanted. He readied himself, twenty minutes was still plenty of time to ready himself for work. He made sure that his AMR-4M Verpine Shatter Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle was ready, finally assembling it after giving it one last clean. Assuming they were headed to the closest ship-dock, he positioned himself around 1140 meters away from the predicted path but was on a versatile enough angle to shoot at a variety of streets near that same area, though with some greater difficulty.

He wasn't that good of a sniper. If he was using normal ammunition, he was going to miss. If he was lucky, one of his HI Implosion Rounds would take care kill him and anyone inside the vehicle. "Well, I wanna horse in the volunteer force that is riding forth at dawn." He sang along as he assembled his rifle. "Please save for me some galantry that will echo when I'm gone. I beg of you sarge lemme lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn. Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat that they'll remember loud and long."

Bridger Axii

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[Bridger Axii]

Location: NABOO, UPPER DISTRICTS


The Mandalorian sauntered calmly roughly three paces behind his escort as they pushed through the bustling crowds of Naboo. The crowds of people were the usual crop you'd find on Naboo, perfumed and groomed common and merchant folk alike in exquisite silks and other lavished clothing. Naboo always maintained a standard you never found on most planets, especially the planets he'd been accustomed to. Usually crime infested concrete jungles or desolated wastelands, any crime lord's wet dream. As his head slowly glanced around his transparasteel visor reflected the beams of sunlight on the planet. Clear skies and a bright day, a good day for vacation or relaxation, something the Mandalorian's client wouldn't get the chance to enjoy for a while.

The client in particular was none other than Grox Greye, a stout Rodian Senator in the Republic with a loud mouth and a big promise to bring an end to corruption, although seeking honorable means, usually ends in either being bribed or assassinated, and seeing as how Grox was in this mess, it appeared as though he didn't take any bribes. Despite being in broad daylight and relatively well-guarded, the Rodian couldn't hide his own nervousness as his large eyes constantly darted around, his body language reeked of fear and paranoia. Unfortunately for the Mandalorian, his own thoughts were being drained out by the obnoxious sound of the other two hired guns the Rodian payed for, which Bridger wasn't fond of working with more guns to begin with, especially these guns in question. A large loud-mouth devaronian named Zudd that made up for his peanut brain with big muscles, and an arrogant weequay named Skathi that hadn't stopped bragging about his many exploits since they arrived.

"Hey Mando..." Zudd blurted out, turning back to get a look at him as he flexed his bicep. "I've heard all the stories about you shiny bucket heads and your beskar armor, you don't look so tough to me!" The devaronian bellowed out in laughter as the Rodian senator flinched, turning his head back from the putrid breath. Bridger paid no mind to Zudd as he kept his eyes forward, ready to get this job done and over with.

 

[Deryn Kaaldos]

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He timed his breath with the tempo of the song as he levelled his rifle. He didn't predict they'd walk and the route they took was relatively crowded. The HI Implosion Round would cause too much damage at that point. He had to get a bit creative, now. Looking about, he saw his answer. "I'd not a good foot soldier make, I'd be sour and slow at march. And I'd be sick on a navy ship and the sea would leave me parched. But I'd be first in line if you'll let me ride, by kark, you'll see my starch! Lope back o'er the heath with a laurel wreath underneath that vict'ry arch."

He took his shot - an EMP round. The blast was almost silent, as marketed by Breshig War Forge Consolidated, only a whisper loud among the crowd below it. It hit the rather large repulsorlift-supported board that one of the builders that was working on. The bullet made a clang as it entered before it shutdown the repulsorlifts, sending it crashing downwards, barreling towards Groxe Greye just as the song went back to its chorus. Once more, Deryn sang along to the tune.

"I wanna be in the cavalry when they send me off to war. I wanna good steed under me like my forefathers before. I wanna good mount when the bugle sounds and I hear the cannons roar. I wanna be in the cavalry if they send me of to war."" Perhaps he celebrated a bit too soon, however.

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[Bridger Axii]

The ship was in view and it appeared as though they were about to embark, the Rodian senator had begun to calm his nerves as he took on a more relaxed posture, the weequay and the devaronian both following suit, engaged in a verbal tug-of-war over who had the biggest choobies between the pair of them. Despite the sense of calm shared between the trio, Bridger maintained a sense of readiness, his eyes slowly scanning the environment around him. His eyes came to a sudden stop as they focused on a strange flash of reflected light.. scope glint.

Almost before the Mandalorian could make a move shrieks of screams could be heard as the hefty repulsorlift overhead came crashing down on the group. Bridger shot his wrist forward, firing his whipcord as it quickly latched on to the senator's leg. Simultaneously as he retracted the whipcord sending the senator flying back, he drew his E-11 rifle in the other hand, taking ahold of the senator with the better part of his entire upper body shielding him as he dashed for cover. Kicking over a few cargo crates, Bridger threw the senator down before dropping to the ground himself, resting his blaster atop the crate as he fired a quick flurry of shots toward the opening in the tower where the glint came from. During the unraveling of the chaos, the weequay was killed on impact as well as four innocent bystanders that were crushed, unfortunately for the Mandalorian the Devaronian survived, taking his place beside him as he drew his own rifle.

< Who would be crazy enough to attack us in broad daylight around all these people? > Bridger thought to himself as he began assessing the situation, maintaining steady aim on the tower as he began to slow his breathing.

"What the hell just happened?" Zudd growled, carrying a wicked scowl on his face as he continued to look stupidly confused, his head darting around aimlessly like a porg about to be cooked. "Silent round, likely EMP--that kind of damage.. there's only one rifle that comes to mind that can do that, AMR-4M Sniper... including myself I've only met a handful of Mandalorians who own that weapon." Still remaining shielded by the makeshift cover, Bridger began to wonder just exactly what he was facing, well aware of the fact he was heavily outmatched in terms of firepower.

 

[Deryn Kaaldos]

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Deryn was initially hoping that his little maneuver would cause less damage than he had hoped so. Seeing that he accidentally killed multiple people with the exception of his target, he would release a sigh of disappointment in himself. "Damn," He said nonchalantly, immediately pushing the innocent lives he had squandered out of his mind as the crashed platfrom started to catch ablaze. He's done worse. That wasn't much comfort but all he's ever known has been killing and murdering. Many would call him a nice and amiable guy, forgetting that ultimately he is a weapon that was recovered from a ruin. He watched as the E-11 shots fizzled out. He watched as the E-11 Blasts fizzled out just out of range of him, though they would likely have missed even if they could - quick fire at over a kilometer range with an E-11 wasn't exactly the most accurate of shots. Still, it was enough to make him turn off the music.

That incident could easily be covered up by Darkwire as a malfunction in the lift, but a following attack would likely garner more problems. He would have to relocate, get close perhaps. He's never been an especially good sniper, he chose this because it was more discreet. He didn't exactly want to heat associated from killing senators but he was willing to burn a little for Darkwire. This might get a bit messier than he was hoping. He rolled into visual cover before he slid down the roof of the building he was on, now out of sight. He grappled down the side, some of his musclecords used as his rope. Lowering himself onto his DH-17 Speederbike, he'd stash away his AMR-4M in favor of other weapons. Now, he was on the move.

The group would likely still be recovering from the incident by the time he started to gain speed, likely still very much wary if he was going to take a second shot. Not to mention, he was on a speederbike, a rather fast one too. He'll be there to through an alternate entrance to the ship-docks before they can. Of course, his speed would be slightly reduced by the tight-spaces and people about but he was a competent enough driver that he finessed his way about. It took him fourteen seconds to get to the entrance.

Spoiler: Equipment

• Power-Shell w/Sensory Upgrades
• Power-Skeleton
• Light Repeater
• Modified DL-44
• M-1 Energy Shield
• Gravity Bolas
• Implosion Grenade x5
• Thermal Detonators x5
• Wrist-Mounted Flamethrower

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[Bridger Axii]

The Senator leaked out a yelp as the Mandalorian grabbed him once again, dragging him as he made a beeline for the Paper Dragon before tossing him down again behind another utility crate for makeshift cover. The senator complained and murmured prayers to himself as his hands cupped his scaly head, preparing to die. Through his transparasteel visor he saw an armored figure rapidly approaching on a speeder-bike, this was without the question the hunter after the senator. Now in perfect range, Bridger fired another volley of shots not aimed at the hunter, but at the front and navigational center of the approaching speeder-bike, should the shots land it would send the vehicle spiraling out of control, unable to maintain it's forward trajectory towards the group.

A game of chess between the two parties began, with the Mandalorian slowly but surely bringing his target to the ship, giving them a much better chance of survival in the armored Paper Dragon than on foot, still unaware of how many more hunters were hired to collect the bounty on the pompous senator. Whilst Bridger remained behind in a defensive position, the agitated Devaronian grabbed his heavy blaster as he rushed towards the hunter, unleashing a volley of blaster bolts as the chaos began to unfold in the ship-docks. Crowds of people in the surrounding area began to scatter and flee, carrying with him screams of disarray and confusion. Things were about to get hot, and fast, the last thing the Mandalorian wanted was to catch more heat on a political giant like Naboo, especially in broad daylight. Those thoughts were pushed to the back of the mind, his primary focus remaining on neutralizing the threat at hand and finishing the job.

 

[Deryn Kaaldos]

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Automatic fire filled the streets, several of civilians were shot and injured, superficial wounds to fatal ones, by the sudden retaliation of the defending bounty hunters. He would've fired back into the crowd but he had bigger fish to fry. He started with two of his Thermal Detonators set on his own bike as the volley of blaster bolts from the Bridger's E-11 started to break the Calor Clypeus Shielding of the DH-17 Speeder Bike but not shatter. Once the Devaronian levelled his blaster at him, the shield finally stressed and broke but the Devaronian would find that inside, a tougher nut to crack would be found. The blaster bolts were absorbed by the armorweave coat of the tough armored Gen'Dai Power-Shell easily as a musclecord laden with sharp blades wrapped around the Devaronian'ss neck, dragging him along the Speeder Bike as it finally caught fire from Bridger's E-11.

But it didn't quite go out of control. Using his great physical strength, he directed the bike towards the Paper-Dragon along with the Devaronian he was dragging on the ground. He leapt up several meters in the air as the speeder-bike would crash the thermal detonators setting off along side it with Zudd being caught in the blast. As tough as the Paper Dragon may be, without it's shields down, it's defenses were mortal against anti-infantry work. Before the crash, Deryn had taken the bag that had his weapons and equipment.

Deryn took cover behind an adjacent ship after leaping over the Paper-Dragon. He left his AMR-4M inside, it'll just get in the way at this range. Now, he had all that he needed to deal with was the Mandalorian. Was he with the Union? Maybe he could get extra for this from the Sith Empire. One could only hope, really. He readied his Light Repeater for a shoot-out, but not before a bit of banter as per custom.

"How much are they- Wait, no excuse me." He fixed his voice up a bit. He wasn't using a voice modulator, that would actually make him sound worse. No, this voice was the fake one. This, was his real voice.

"How much is he paying you for this, Mando? Worth it so far?"

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