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[thegreatbeyonder]

Arian watched the surreal display of power with fear sinking into his own stomach. It showed only with the twitch of an eye, the slight shake of his gun t watch what Kalak was making the Bith do.

With a slight exhale he regained his composure. This was not the time or place to display weakness, but the thought of Kalak doing that to Arian at any point terrified him. How does it feel? How would he fight it? He thought about these things with half-thought, but focused the other half on the event unfolding.

"Need?" Arian regained his cockiness. "No one essential. He would be replaced in time, should he die here and now. Though it would've been so much easier for all of us if he realized what a friendship you'd make." He brought his pistol down to his side, perhaps to maximize Kalak's show off a strength. An I'm not the one you should be afraid of.

He held the pistol in hand but at his side. Knowing very well he could draw it faster than the Bith would react.

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Arian Lenar"]

"That is true." Kalak agreed after a moment of supposed thought, before inclining his head. "We will need to make an example. You don't get to raise a blaster at one of us without paying a price." All of this was to the benefit of the Bith, of course.

"I would eat your wife in front of you..." He looked around with ease, but not being able to localize her it seemed. "...but as far as I know you have no wife. Nor children. Few friends, none that matter anyway. Completely inconsequential besides the pipes you maintain." That wasn't a threat. It wouldn't be the first time that Kalak dined on idiots trying to stand in the way of the Cartel. It was one of the finer things of working with them, you always had a meal or two at your leisure.

Ah, yes.

As the glint in Kalak's eye hardened the barrel of the gun left the Bith's temple, instead moving down and down, until it was firmly pressed against his own knee. "I don't like to do this," the Raykkan confided in the Bith with something of apprehension.

"Bad start to what could have been a friendly relationship." Figg's eyes were maniacal at this point as panic took over of every fiber of his body, but none of the ones that mattered. He couldn't do anything, no matter how hard he tried to regain control of his muscles. Then a cry, followed by a hard whine as the trigger was squeezed. The blaster fell next to the now curled up form of the Bith, holding his leg and crying. "You answer to the Cartel now, Figgs babe, send us the bill for the leg and we will square you up for that."

Head tilted.

"Dig?" The Bith just nodded quickly, a few times.

He shook his head in reply. "Good. Lenar, door, please."

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

Arian looked on with mild shock as the trigger went down to his knee and squeezed.

Yet what else was he expecting? He accepted the scene before him, and now had a better idea of how Kalak ran things. He walked over to the door upon request, pressing the panel on this side of the room until it slid open again. He stood at the door, waiting for his boss to pass through first and watched the Bith squirm on the floor.

He hadn't been shot before, so he could only imagine the pain Figgs must've felt. Somehow the idea of shooting to wound seemed worse in his mind than shooting to kill.

"After you, boss." He said with renewed composure.

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Arian Lenar"]

He waddled out the door and down the stairs, where Pike met up with them.

Bloody.

Kalak looked her up and down. "Seems like you had some fun." Pike just grinned... her teeth were crimson. The Raykkan shook his head and waddled further, expecting the two of them to follow suit. "Lenar, I am gonna need you to get on the comms with your boys. Make sure they send a few to take care of Figgs. Carry him to the local cutter or something." There weren't any hospitals in this area and Kalak doubted that Figgs would be able to walk his way anywhere in his current state.

Last thing they needed was for that idiot BIth to die of shock or something.

"Did we have anything more on schedule for today?"

 

[Arekk]

A rather large ceiling light illuminated the entirety of the Throne Room and if destroyed it could leave nothing but darkness for those inside. Ar'ekk found the perfect opportunity to smash such thing to gain an advantage over the Mandalorian but still kept in mind their kind had top notch equipment to counter the shadows. He ran across the room after the ceiling lights were destroyed and loudly fell on the cold ground with glass shattering all over. On the balcony, a shadowed figure could be spotted and the Jedi continued to roam around the dark room however hidden from his view.

As the animal surveying his pray before attacking, the Jedi continued to move in zizag across the Throne Room until he could reach [member="Koda Fett"] in the balcony. His lightsaber ignited and turned the darkness into light, a very unique concept if you come to think about it.

"Hide? You shouldn't understimate the Force, bounty hunter. It's more powerful than you think it is." he said to the Mandalorian, the modulator on his mask regulating his speech.

Ar'ekk came closer to the balcony and saw the opportunity to launch an offensive attack combining lightsaber slashes and Force shockwaves as an attempt to finally strike down Fett or at least provoke an injury that will make him escape to survive for another day. The bounty hunter was as experienced as the young Jedi, the latter having fought countless battles during the war and having faced many opponents of all kinds. He wasn't just an ordinary opponent and needless to say would never underestimate his enemy. Defeat was not an option.

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

Following Kalak, they soon met up with Pike who gave the impression of a maniac.

"On it." He confirmed the boss' orders. Arian tapped into his comm device. "Get someone with medical expertise to our location, there's a Bith upstairs with a blaster wound." His crew was modest but no ship went without a medic or two. That'd amount to suicide in space, where anything can and probably will go wrong.

As for Kalak's question...

"What about the Hutt? The one whose turf had been recently assaulted by the Duros." A prime opportunity to force a Hutt into your camp.

Normally the species were 'above' pledging themselves to others not of their kind, but when your entire enterprise came crashing to the ground it didn't leave a variety of choices. As formidable as a crime lord might be, getting help from capable hands could carry you a long way.

 

[Lemon]

The room was made entirely dark, but by the time the Jedi was able to take out the light, his vision was immediately switched over to night vision - he was weary, even a Padawan is a formidable opponent that can prove deadly if not treated properly. He fired shots down at the [member=Ar'ekk] although was hit with a force shockwave. His armour's high quality protected him for the most part, though he felt something strange that just hadn't felt before. He'd never been hit with a Force Shockwave and felt it's effects.

By the time the Jedi had arrived on the platform it's self, Fett was off to the side of it, hovering with his jetpack that spat flames. Just like those flames coming out of the jetpack, more would come from his right wrist as he aimed it upwards towards the Jedi. Sending a five metre plymouth of intense fire his way.

This one was a challenge, he'd have to leave soon or go the way of his template: decapitation. They say pick your battles and Fett had chosen this one, but perhaps he shouldn't of. One thing was for certain, if he left, he'd be back for Ar'ekk one day. For now he just hoped [member=AU-R0RA] had got here soon, and maybe she just brought the others with her.

 

[Soundwave]

After having received a signal from Koda, AU-R0RA was promptly scaling up to the balcony using maglocks on her hands and feet, crawling up the near vertical side like some nightmarish creature. She moves a bit off to the side of the balcony as she scaled further up, making sure she was going to be well out of range of the Jedi Padawan's lightsaber without having to throw his saber at her and leave him weaponless for the time it took to retrieve his saber. Once she scaled up to a safe height she would keep her feet and one hand maglocked to the wall while her free hand reached behind her and grabbed her E5-C from its sling and unholstered it, taking aim at the Jedi as she began to fire the heavy blaster. She would activate her helmet's communicator as she opened a channel to Koda, "Having a bit of trouble with your Jedi friend there Koda?"

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member=Ar'ekk]

 

[Arekk]

The plymouth of intense fire made the Jedi Padawan step back and hide again in the shadows, the flames reaching his cybernetic arm as he pulled it up to cover his face in a fast paced reaction to avoid being blazed. His lightsaber was no longer ignited because he decided to back away from the battle, knowing that such an opponent would have backup. All of them did, Mandalorians or bounty hunters had many cards under their sleeve and played dirty. It wouldn't be smart to become a threat right there, retreating was the best course of action. And he was right, a killer droid came to assist the bounty hunter who rapidly fired blaster shots upon arrival which were promptly deflected by a tired Ar'ekk.

The young Jedi entered one of the many rooms around the Palace to gain momentum and gather his thoughts. The door outside seemed to be rather large and metallic so the Jedi decided to take shelter within until the danger was over. His breathing had become rapid and erratic, clearly depleted of energy and the regulator not performing its job properly.

Despite being a fully-fledged warrior and condecorated war veteran, the Jedi's agility and combat prowess was reduced significantly when he suffered the loss of one of his extremities and burned a side of his face. Regardless, he could keep fighting until death if that's what the situation required and still be a threat to anyone. Ar'ekk communicated in whispers with the crew of the Ebon Hawk to come in his aid by providing air support with its turbo lasers, cannons, anti-personnel blasters and proton torpedoes.

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member="AU-R0RA"]

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Gorba's gaze temporarily swung toward [member="Koda Fett"], who had gotten into a fight with... a Jedi? Didn't that Jedi just force push a dozen of the mandalorian attackers through a wall? And then another bounty hunter walked in.

The Hutt lowered his weapon and bellowed at the bounty hunters.

"Stop fooling around and finish the Mandalorian attackers, or your paycheck is void!"

Did he hear the sound of a ship's engines overhead?

[member="Ar'ekk"] | [member="AU-R0RA"]

 

[Faceless]

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member="AU-R0RA"] | [member="Ar'ekk"]

As the Jedi called upon his personal ship to bombard his own location with the ship guns, the Ebon Hawk would perhaps pick up the Z-95 Headhunter coming in to intercept. It wouldn't take much to figure out that the fighter in question was perhaps associated with the two figures that were already engaging the Jedi. Alas, Faceless sat within the cockpit coming into range of the freighter, swooping in from above. The pilot waited until his weapons had fully locked on before firing, sending a burst from the ion cannon first to disrupt whatever shields the targeted vessel was using before opening up with the KX5 linked laser cannons. Whatever the case, this pilot wasn't waiting around or playing nice; he had his prey, and he wasn't about to let up on it.

 

[Lemon]

Fett turned his eyes off the Jedi as it vanished once more, and once Gorba threatened his pay check he looked to the remaining Mandalorian, sprawled out across the floor. [member=Lok Munin] attempted to get out of the whipcord, and as he did Fett landed beside him, blaster drawn and aiming down towards his head. "Don't move." He ordered, deadly serious. It would be a wise move not to try anything. Would Munin be the face the Hutt's mercy?

Though that's when he turbo lasers began pouring in, rocking the place about, though they were shortly interrupted due to the Faceless' intervention. Fortunately enough, he may just survive that encounter.

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Arian Lenar"]

"Cuz Deego?" Gaze turned thoughtful for a moment as Arian handled the business with the medics.

Deego ran a relatively successful operation in the Duros sector... or used to anyway. Most of his business was headed from the casino complex that also had discrete escort businesses attached to it, the idea was that all the money stayed in the building - you win big? Spend all of it on beautiful sentients willing to do whatever you wanted, booze, food, drugs, they ran it all through that building.

But recently he had run afoul with the local Duros gangs. Owing them large sums of money and defaulting on their loans, it wasn't a pleasant business whatsoever.

"We could pay him a visit, yes, see how far his desperation runs." It hadn't been on the schedule, but they only heard about it once they actually landed planet-side. He doubted that Deego would want to just take up their offer, neither did he think strong-arming him into doing it would actually work in this situation.

...but there were other incentives.

"We could offer our assistance, I suppose."

 

[Arekk]

The Ebon Hawk did not bombard the place as the freighter was awaiting in a hidden location near Bareesh's Pleasure Palace. On her tail was a Z-95 Headhunter and knowing that the ship was more than a thousand years old she wouldn't stand much of a chance in a dogfight yet they returned fire as Ar'ekk instructed them to leave at once if the situation turned south. She was known to be a very fast ship capable of getting out of harm's way quickly which would eventually do when the time was right.

Ar'ekk came out of the room he was hiding in with his lightsaber held tightly in his right hand and managing to spot Fett aiming down at the remaining Mandalorian from the death squad who was already knocked out of battle and apparently surrendering. The Jedi used the darkness to stay away from Fett's sensors and creep up from his side to finally place the blue plasma beam of his lightsaber near the bounty hunter's throat. However, the killer droid was still nearby and could strike down the Jedi at once if he wasn't careful but at this rate he didn't care about his life but wanted to speak with the bounty hunter face to face.

"Don't move either." he said back to his opponent. The intention of killing Fett quickly faded away and the attempt to reason with him came about.

But then, the Hutt yelled loudly for everyone to hear.

Could this be the moment to stop the fight?

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member="Gorba the Hutt"] | [member="AU-R0RA"]

 

[thegreatbeyonder]

"I believe it to be worthwhile." Arian added further. "I know the Duros by experience, they are a bold and often shrewd people. You might be surprised what you find one up to if you give it a closer look."

His experience with the Duros went back to his academy days. It was their piloting and navigation that he learned, for they were the best the Republic had to offer. Although the Duros Sector was also a hotspot for trade and smuggling operations, it was their loan services that reigned supreme. Credits exchanged hands and the Duros kept the books; using it for various reasons.

Blackmail being a popular one. Whoever controlled the flow of money in the sector, controlled the ambitions of its inhabitants.

This logic had a measure of truth to it considering Deego of all people had fell into this trap.

"Of course it's your move, and I'll follow your step."

 

[Soundwave]

AU-R0RA's blaster shots trail after the Jedi Padawan as he flees back inside, only stopping once her target had left her line of sight. She would look around as Koda was about to pursue. The sudden fire from above would quickly prompt her to release her maglocks, causing her to slide down the wall she was latched on with sparks as her fingers dug in, just as she was about to fall past the balcony, she would push off the wall as she jumped up with an impressive amount of acrobatic talent and dropped onto the balcony, staying mobile to evade any incoming fire from above as Faceless' Headhunter began engaging the ship. A click would be heard as a barrel extended from her right hand, leveling up to head level as five targeting lasers appeared, searching for any targets to cross the path of the lasers. Upon spotting the blue saber being ignited, all five of them slowly drifting into a tight cluster right over Ar'ekk's shaved head.

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member="Ar'ekk"] | [member="'Faceless'"]

 

[Lemon]

Fett stood triumphantly for the time being, his Carbine aimed down at nothing more than a boy dressed as a Mandalorian. Though this feeling dissipated when the Jedi rushed a blade to this throat, holding his life within his hands, as Fett did with Lok's. He scoffed in response, then speaking in a bitter and muffled voice, "Your move." As he stood there, his gaze and aim on Munin as he was inches away from turning into poor old Jango.

[member=Ar'ekk] [member=AU-R0RA] [member='Faceless'] [member=Gorba the Hutt] [member=Lok Munin]

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

[member="Koda Fett"], blaster pointed at the Mandalorian leader, could end his life right then and there, but the Jedi stood just slightly behind the bounty hunter, lightsaber to Koda's throat.

"STOP"

Bellowed Gorba.

The remaining retainers and Ganks lowered their weapons slowly. Keeta did so begrudgingly, his pack followed suit.

The shooting stopped. All eyes turned to Koda, the Jedi, and [member="Lok Munin"].

"Jeedai. Step away from the bounty hunter."

[member="AU-R0RA"] | [member="Evoros"]

 

[Kalak the Raykkan]

[member="Arian Lenar"]

"Pike needs a bathe."

"Wot. I am fine!"​

​

Kalak eyed the mercenary, who was staring up at him defiantly, before sighing and giving a nod. In truth the Raykkan didn't think she smelled or looked all that bad, but they were going to Deego and that one had always been a weird one out. Very eager to have everything sanitized and clean around him, even while sweating an ocean of salt every few hours or so. Something told him that his cuz would be less than impressed with Pike running around all crimson and bloody.

"Call a cab, Lenar, we will go back to your ship and freshen up. Then take another one to his resort." A couple of minutes later a cab landed nearby and they all got in, awkwardly, but mostly fine.

The Raykkan could just about see a couple of Lenar's guys pushing the door open to Node 3, before they lifted off and the building disappeared behind a billboard.

 

[Arekk]

The Jedi's modulated voice and the hissing sounds of his breath regulated by the mask resonated on Fett's ear that was covered by his helmet. But a louder feral scream became louder that made the whole Throne Room shake as if an earthquake had just occured right there and then: It was the Hutt in clear anger.

It was in everyone's best interest to step away from each other and stop this senseless fight. Ar'ekk moved his lightsaber's blade away from the bounty hunter's throat and took several steps back, wary of everyone around the room so he woudn't get shot in a cheap manner. He had the Mandalorian's life in his hands but decided to not kill him but give him another opportunity, hopefully he would remember that.

"Not today." he whispered as he backed away holding his lightsaber tightly, still ignited.

His undivided attention shifted towards the Hutt who screamed to stop, remaining in silence so he could adress everyone in the room.

[member="Koda Fett"] | [member="AU-R0RA"] | [member="Lok Munin"] | [member="'Faceless'"] | [member="Gorba the Hutt"]