Priceless

[Daedel]

"With tattered mind I thought of you,
My heart and soul both tattered too.
With? Without? It mattered not
With my tears your mem'ry bought.
But as I think I still n'er know
To what place my thoughts may go.
For as I sit and hope for the end
I know at least you had a friend."
F.C.P. Sr.


She stood at last on harrowed hill as rocks ground beneath her weathered boots. Alone again, as always she seemed to find herself. To become great required great effort, or so she was told. Whether or not it was so could be debated on many grounds but for her ahe knew it to be so. One gains through cost. It was that simple. If you want a ship? You must pay. If you want a weapon? You must pay. If you want power? You. Must. Pay. There was nothing so true as the law of sacrifice. Nothing is gained unless something is lost. For the galaxy at large such wpuld be economics, but for those that value something greater than the mundane, greater than mediocrity, for those something great must be given.

Skin boots worn thread bare from use walked quietly across the foreat floor. It had been three days already since she left to earn a name for herself. She wanted greatness, and as we know...she had to pay for it. She had no weapon, save her dagger, and that alone was her friend. If her clan found her? Death. If a beast found her? Death. If something else found her? One could never tell but in some cases death was mercy.

Stone upon stone sounded out as she crossed a river bank, a simple drink was not so simple when being hunted. She crept to the water and knelt to dip cupped hand to the stream. Dry lips puckered greedily in hopes of relief while tired mind forced eyes to dart about for danger. This was her beginning, her crucible, a chance to be a woman. She must survive by her wits and power, or she must die and make way for those that deserve her place. Such was the way of her clan. They courted storms and as such must be able to withstand the lightning.

Her parched throat cried out in pleasure pains as the cold water slid past. The hands that brought their first taste obeyed the unspoken command for more before such could be rendered impossible. Her fingers dry and cracked from dust and climbing stung from the frigid hydrogen hydroxide as it ran over her hand. She was being hunted, her throat was now quenched, she need not tarry longer. She pulled her dagger and wadded into the water. If the gods deemed her deserving, she would reach saftey or at the very least a site for her next camp. If not...she was already dead.

 

[Sareen Zar]

Sareen watched the young woman wade through the water. He was here to hunt, and he found the perfect specimen. In between bounties this was his favorite past-time and he was going to be very entertained. From his perched spot on another hill began to slowly stride towards her, due to his lack of ranged weaponry, today he was going in for a melee kill.

Sareen had adorned his Trandoshan Bounty Hunter Armor, clipped to his belt were two Thermal Detonators, primed and ready. On the other side of his belt was a lightsaber whose blade shone yellow, a prize from a battle with a Jedi. Finally on the back of the belt was a MT-U14 CarbonTrap, built especially for force users.

He was underarmed, but his suit provided a few more goodies that he could use against his opponent. And Sareen had total confidence in his ability to win over the young apprentice. As he approached he ignited the shock whip, adding a small phrase, "Your pelt will look very nice upon my wall." cramming in a snarl for effect.

[member="Daedel"]

 

[Daedel]

[member="Sareen Zar"]

Eyes caught movement in the trees as she stood in the flowing stream. Armored and armed the being walked toward her. She was foolish to have entered the water at a point so exposed. If she lived she would not make the mistake again. She began backing away from the being her mind darting through options like a swallow through trees. Her options were not many, run or fight. It was the means of carrying out her choice that got more complex. The river got deeper and swifter a few meters to her left she could attempt to swim away trusting the water to conceal and carry her out of reach. The jungle was thick she could run to the trees and use that to slip away. Both options however caused her to turn her back on someone not likely to hesitated to shoot her in the back. She could fight. Her twelve inch dagger was maalraas bone and resistant to lightsabers that may give her a chance.

Her eyes narrowed at the man's words and it would be a man, of course. A woman would have hit her from the trees while she was drinking, men were often more reckless, brave, confident, and reckless. He was larger than she by far and up close she would be in grave danger. Beyond his size she knew from her time speaking to the Mandalorians that sometimes visited Dathomir that the armor was likely loaded with scanners, vision modes and any number of tricks to be used to achieve a goal, in this case her.

Her bone dagger slipped from her belt as she stopped still knee deep in the water. Her deep brown eyes boring holes into the creature's face plate. Her full lips pulled back into a snarl as she now took a step forward. Her dagger held back near her right hip as she began circling to the left in an attempt to meet the hunter in the center of the river. She began whispering through her teeth as she looked at the detanators on his belt. It was smart to come armed but she was not so primative as to not know how such things worked. The incantation spoken she focused her magick on the thermal detanator's activation switch and dove into the dark water. She hoped it would but her some time but the galaxy was full of surprises.

 

[Sareen Zar]

Force user!, thought Sareen. With quick prowess Sareen knocked off the thermal detonators and ignited his left gauntlet energy shield. With a quick twist of his waist, he used the shield to guard himself from the blast. Displeased with loss of yet more of his weaponry he punched a few buttons on his gauntlet and a shock whip sprouted from the right gauntlet. With a hiss he ignited the shock whip, cracking it for a little warm up before his attack.

Great great malice he struck the river, electrocuting all living beings inside. Sareen laughed, "Come out you little coward! Or shall I kill you with your back turned? Either way, you shall end up over my mantle place!" Cracking the whip again he deactivated it's electric current. Waiting for the shocked body of his prey to arise he stood patiently, hissing, snarling, and cracking the shock whip.

[member="Daedel"]

 

[Daedel]

[member="Sareen Zar"]

Cold water stabbed at her skin like thousands of small teeth as she swam beneath its surface. Her heart pounded like thunder in her ears and her muscles fought against the weight of her now saturated clothing. She did not know who or what the being was but she knew the smell of a predator, she lived among predators. Bubbles trailed from her body as she swam with the current and began her flight from the being. She planned to get to the jungle where she could at least even the field, if only a little.

The temperature of the water changed drastically for a moment as a large section of water went from liquid to vapor in a flash. The river bed beneath the detonators turned from rock and sand to a small hemisphere of superheated stone and glass. The air filled with steam from the thermal displacement of the water. Two problems were immediately evident; one: that now empty space would need to be filled with water, two: she and he were both in the water that would want to go into the empty space.

She couldn't hear the sound of the shock whip as he extended it into the water, a fact that did not aid her in the least, but she could hear the rushing current as it pulled her back toward the crator. As, luck would have it the water behind her was also rushing forward as the water, in which she now struggled, raced back. The two equal and opposite currents subsequently collided creating an eddie that pulled until the crator was filled and then pushed out as the water began trying to right its course and go about its usual path. For her this meant she was being tossed about like a rag doll and a serious threat of drowning became her primary enemy. For the shock whip and its effort to shock everything in the entire river it meant something else entirely. Electricity, as fate would have it, is extremely lazy. It will always take the path of least resistance. Mineral rich water, such as a river, is highly conductive and will carry a current very quickly. However, that current is always carried to ground, in this case that was the river bed. Due, to the heavy current just created by the explosion and the desire for the electricity to go to ground as quickly as possible, the electricity would dissipate after only a few meters. His armor was likely as not carrying the electrical current very well if it contained metals but if properly insulated and sealed he would end up as a walking conductor. She hadn't been shocked yet, but sadly for her "yet" was the key word in that statement.

The waters pushed her toward the bank and she tumbled aganist unscathed rock as she swallowed more than her share of water. She hadn't heard his words but they were a danger she would have to face soon. Her face broke the surface as her aching arms pushed against the rock bed of the river she was near where she had started but had no way of knowing that at present. Her lungs screamed for air as she coughed up what felt like a liter of cold hydrogen hydroxide into the still stiring water below her. She turned toward the river quickly searching for the hunter as she scrambled back toward the shore her soaked backside scrapping against stone as she crab walked back away from the water. She would have to be more careful or soon she would be dead.

 

[Sareen Zar]

Sareen was quick to jump out of the water when he realized what he had done. But not quick enough, before he could completely get out of the river the electrical current got the ankles of his armor. Electrocuting him as he landed on the shore. Luckily enough his suit counter effected the current, but the electric burns still singed him greatly. Hissing in pain, he dizzily stood on his knees, then slowly got up. He then turned maliciously to face his enemy across the flowing water.

His weapons were now out of range, at least a few of them were. With dead silence he pressed a few more buttons on his gauntlet, first he retracted the whip, next he released the helmet from his head, splitting in two it slowly peeled off his head. Once completely off he reattached it, and hooked the helm to his belt. Sareen decided he would let his prey gaze upon the face that would defeat her, and might kill her. He could now see only infrared to his one good eye. Her thermal image engulfed his vision, his only target. It was time to finish this. He raised his arm and aimed towards the barely armed. He then shot the grappling hook fiber cord, and if done correctly, it would wrap around Daedel, entrapping her at his will.

[member="Daedel"]

 

[Daedel]

[member="Sareen Zar"]

Sand dug into her wrinkled fingers as she pushed her body to roll across the bank as the grappling hook streaked through the space between them. Her eyes quickly fixed on the reptilian gaze of the hunter. Her own dark ocular orbs held no fear, no flight response, only fire and instinct. She was a singular being, even among her people. Where many would trust their powers she trusted her instinct, she was animal and her lips pulled back to bare her teeth as she howled death at the creature.

She pulled her dagger as she rose to her feet, water still running from her clothing and hair in tiny rivulets. The pale maalraas bone wrapped in rancor leather on the hilt was not very intimidating to be sure but she held it firmly and knew well how to use it.

She looked into the hunter's eyes, hair plastered to the sides of her face, and jerked her head to the side in an obvious invitation to "come on". If he wanted a fight she would give it to him, but on her terms. She slowly backed away from shore toward the jungle and watched for him to cross.

 

[Sareen Zar]

He reloaded the grappling hook, fixing the second hook onto the remaining wire. He came up with a plan to get to the other bank without being at a lower advantage point. Looking back up the hill he had come down gave him an idea. Once the wire was set for shooting, he slowly made his way back up the hill. Those electrical burns still stung, making the journey that much more excruciatingly painful.

As he reached the top he set down the wire reel setting it into the highest point on the hill. Then shooting it, Sareen aimed for a tree, hitting his mark within 3 seconds. Now knowing he had mere minutes before his prey figured out his plane he threw himself on the wire, putting his left arm around, making as a makeshift zipline over the river. With his right arm he selected his lightsaber off his belt, then igniting it with a flick of the wrist.

His target would have a little situation on her hands once he arrived.

[member="Daedel"]