Duel Roadside Confrontation

[Glar Ulchtar]

Time: 9:00 AM, local Lothal time

Location: A speeder highway, near the Capital City, Planet Lothal

Equipment: DL-18 blaster pistols x2, Lightsaber

Tag: Aculia Voland

Glar Ulchtar was leaning on a tall streetlight, watching speeders of various types pass by. Some were the newest models available on the market, while others had been in production for decades. While Glar had always been more interested in spaceships than speeders, he always found it relaxing to watch the highways.

Glar was waiting here for an contact of his, named Prandex. Prandex was a Mirialan black market archeologist, who excavated and sold dangerous artifacts. He had told Glar that he had recently excavated a valuable Sith Holocron, and would be willing to sell it to him. He had arranged to meet up here, next to the highway.

It seemed like an odd place for a meetup to Glar, so he had decided to take his blasters and lightsaber with him. He doubted that Prandex would try to kill him, but he could never be too careful. Being reckless had costed him in the past, after all.

After what seemed like quite a bit of time, Prandex pulled over next to the tall streetlight Glar was leaning on in a rather old-looking swoop bike. He jumped off, and approached Glar.

“So, do you have it?” Glar asked.

“Not right this second.” Prandex responded.

“Tell me, Prandex, why exactly did you arrange this meetup, if you don’t even have the Holocron?” Glar asked, barely hiding the contempt in his voice.

“I’m going to need a down payment for it.” Prandex said, trying to sound confident.

Glar could barely believe this man’s audacity. First, he lied about having the Holocron, and now he had the gall to ask him for a down payment. “If you think I’m going to give you a down payment for an item you lied about having, then you have a lot to learn about me.” Glar growled through his teeth, as he stood up to his full height. Glar was tall, even by Pyke standards, and practically towered over Prandex.

Before either of them could say anything else, a second vehicle pulled over next to them. “And it seems like you managed to get tailed to a meet that you picked the location for. Your stupidity is truly unlimited.” Glar remarked.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Although she was now in command of the Zephyr and its men, from time to time Aculia liked to handle matters personally as a way of keeping her skills sharp, or if the payout itself did not particularly justify a large expenditure of resources. Thus, when a contract by the Pyke syndicate was opened up on one of their little wayward ex-employees and they were already in the area for another job, she figured she would handle it personally.

Thanks to the information provided to her by the Pykes, she had gotten the general idea of his whereabouts-namely that he was presently on Lothal, and what he had been up to recently. Seemed like he was known as a collector of rare artifacts, in particular Sith holocrons. Now, it had not been unheard of for those who were not Force Sensitive to occasionally look for such things, but the pattern that he had displayed indicated he was likely at least some kind of Force wielder with some inclination towards darkness. Seemed to be a freelancer too by the looks of it, otherwise he would not have had the time or inclination to go on these long hunts when he could get all the power and wealth he wanted over in the new Sith Order sprouting up over in the Outer Rim.

Whether or not he had notable skill, however, was something she had not determined, and, after perusing the planet’s very limited supply of rare artifact vendors, it had not been too difficult to find and strong arm the Mirilian into arranging a meeting with her target. Lothal was far less populated than, say, Coruscant, so it was much easier to pick out an individual, especially if they made little or no attempt to hide themselves.

Of course, she had gotten there even before the Pyke himself in her cloaked Fat Cat Transport, having exited it setting herself up roughly 150 meters away behind a rock formation in the fields of grass, attempting to conceal her presence both visually and in the Force, monitoring the Pyke’s movement and position through her keen senses.

She had not planned for the second vehicle to come up-she had no idea who was in it, but the moment the Pyke got distracted by it, she decided to move.

~~~Determinant rolls done, edited~~~.

Aculia smoothly and quietly lifted her rifle up to lean on the rock formation, barely visible in the distance while doing so and almost entirely silent both in her actions and through her minimized presence in the Force. Looking down the scope for just a moment, she fired off two precise blue stun bolts, the tight rings of ionized energy speeding directly towards the Pyke with the grace and skill honed by years of hard practice with blasters, aimed directly at his chest. The first bolt skewed a hair in the wind as if to hit just slightly lower than the center of the chest where she aimed, the second shot seemed to have been corrected, heading to hit dead center if it did not meet any intervention.

Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Aculia Voland

As the second speeder pulled up next to Glar and Prandex, Glar noticed that something felt off in The Force. He instinctively began to move from where he was standing, and just barely managed to avoid being hit by the first stun blast from Aculia Voland’s rifle. However, he would not be as lucky the second time. The shot hit him, instantly knocking him unconscious.

After Glar slumped to the ground, the passengers in the speeder which had parked next to them disembarked, and approached Prandex. At the head of the group was a tall, armored Trandoshan with green scales. He was carrying a distinctive sword on his belt.

“What was your business with this Pyke?” the Trandoshan asked Prandex.

“Uhh… I was merely making sure he was, um, put in the hands of the… eh… proper individuals.” Prandex responded timidly.

“Well, that would be us. And I don’t seem to recall speaking to you, Mr…”

“Prandex, my name is Prandex”

“Either way, you need to let us take this Pyke with us. Step aside, Prandex.”

“Just, uh, before you take him, make sure he isn’t… er… armed or anything. He seemed, er, dangerous. Yes very—“

“Step aside, now. My patience with you hangs by a thread.”

“Well, I, uh, er—“



At this point, Glar regained consciousness just in time to see the Trandoshan remove his sword from Prandex’s gut.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Aculia raised an eyebrow as the Pyke not only managed to sense the first shot, but just barely manage to dodge it. The second connected and he slumped to the ground, likely to the amazement of the artifact dealer she had paid off.

Impressive, he does not seem to have formal training yet he sensed and was still able to dodge that first shot. Maybe it would be a waste to deliver him to the Pykes. I could go and toss him over at those Sith Order fellows. He might not even resist me if I do that, given what he’s interested in, and I get paid a lot more by them to give them a new slav-, I mean, brother.

Aculia was about to get up and move when the passengers got out of the car and she shook her head. Just get back in, do not interfere, and drive away, please. Make this an easy tag and bag for her.

She kept the scope on the interlopers as she did so, zooming in and checking out the leader of the group, a tall, armored Trandoshan with a sword, interrogating her bought out contact. She flipped the fire mode of her blaster rifle from stun to lethal as she did so.

Just walk away…

Unfortunately, before she could do anything, the Trandoshan decided to straight up murder the man she had bought off, and that was enough for her. Aiming directly at him and ignoring her primary target for the new threat, she fired off three more shots aimed at his chest in rapid succession.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Determinant Roll(s): 6 (Below Average/Natural 1 failure), 10 (average), 23 (masterful) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first shot went wildly off target into the sky, likely because she was so irritated at having her contact killed off that her finger pulled the trigger before she was fully done readjusting. The second shot was decent, but at this distance, curved a bit slightly to the left, likely to hit one of the other passengers instead of her target. The third shot seemed dead on the money aimed to try to pierce the armor at the center of his chest, and she was already readying more shots to mow down the rest of the passengers.

Prandex knew what he was getting into, but I don't take kindly to unprofessionalism. Bounty hunters hunt bounties, don't just straight up murder civilians. The Pyke may have committed crimes but psychopathic murder was not listed as one of them.

Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Aculia Voland

As Prandex’s lifeless corpse fell to the ground, Glar stood up and activated his lightsaber. “I suggest that you not try any more “cheap shots”, Rus'wassak'Usol. For an individual of your reputation, I would not have expected such a cowardly and dishonorable tactic.” Glar assumed a fighting stance commonly associated with the fifth form of lightsaber combat (not that Glar knew that), ready both to duel the Trandoshan swordsman, and block any more incoming shots from the sniper.

Rus growled, and began assuming a fighting stance to duel Glar. Before he could finish, three blaster bolts came flying in his direction. The first shot hit a nearby streetlight, causing it to erupt into a shower of sparks. The second shot grazed the cybernetic shoulder of one of the other bounty hunters, and hit the swoop bike that had once belonged to Prandex.

The third shot did the trick, though. It hit Rus in a narrow section of his body not protected by armor, just between his chest and his left shoulder. The injury completely disrupted his fighting stance, and caused him to loose his grip of the sword in his left hand, leaving him with only his right hand to hold it. Glar took full advantage of this opening, and rapidly began striking the sword with his lightsaber, hoping to cause him to loose his grip.

As Rus just barely managed to maintain his hold on the sword, he shouted to his backup. “Krenils, stay here and help me deal with the target. The rest of you, kill that sniper!” After he said this, one of the bounty hunters took to the skies on a jetpack, and readied a sonic blaster. Another began spraying flammable chemicals from a hose attached to his backpack into the field of grass where the shots had come from, as he laughed like a maniac. The third bounty hunter simply crouched behind a nearby rock, and began firing a blaster rifle in the general direction of where the shots had come from.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Glar Ulchtar

Rolls: First shot @ Jetpack man, 6 (poor/failure), 2nd shot 15 (above average). Force Push @ Flamethrower 16 man expertly done, masterful defense against 3rd BH 21+.

Aculia had little time to admire the handiwork of her shots or focus on the melee between the her target and the bounty hunter other than noticing the Pyke had somehow acquired a lightsaber, as the other two bounty hunters began to react. She fired off two rapid shots at the first one, who had activated his jetpack, attempting to soar towards her position with his blaster. The first shot missed by a wide margin due to her rapid switching of her target, the second seemed to be fired with good, albeit not perfect, tracking as she jerked her attention towards the other threat.

Oh no you do not!

Reaching out with a free hand, she threw a powerful and expertly aimed Force push towards the one the flamethrower, aiming to set him on fire and prevent the burning of the fields near her that would ruin her visibility, for now. In the same fluid motion, she ducked behind the rocks, easily dodging the return fire of the third bounty hunter.

You should know when you’re outmatched, idiots.

 

[Aculia Voland]

(Whoops forgot to roll for defense)

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Aculia Voland

Glar continued to push Rus backwards, and seemed close to getting him to drop his sword. However, just as Glar was about to disarm his opponent, the blue-skinned cyborg Rus referred to as Krenils rapidly drew a pair of blaster pistols from his belt, and opened fire at Glar. One of the bolts grazed the side of his helmet, and he just barely had time to deflect the rest with his lightsaber. Rus took this opportunity to readjust himself, and attempted to slice off Glar’s hands. Before he could do this, Glar used a force push to send both him and Krenils stumbling onto the ground.

“I suggest you stay down. Ending your lives is not worth my time.” Glar said, insulting his attackers. However this insult did not have the desired effect, as they both got up, and began attacking Glar with even more ferocity than before. “Nobody dishonors my name like that and lives.” Rus growled. “Your father wanted you brought in alive, but it seems he will have to settle for proof of termination.”



Meanwhile, the other three bounty hunters were not having much luck in killing Aculia Voland. The first shot from her sniper blaster missed the jetpack-wearing bounty hunter, but the second shot found it’s mark. The blast hit the bounty hunter’s jetpack, causing it to begin flying completely out of control, and preventing its owner from getting a clear aim at Aculia. This infuriated the bounty hunter, who began rapidly swearing in Pak-Pak. The sight would downright comedic from an outside observer’s perspective.

The tall, flamethrower-wielding bounty hunter was a different story. As Aculia force pushed his own flames towards him, he seemed entirely unfazed. In fact, he only began laughing more when his suit caught on fire. He merely continued to spray chemicals, still hoping to start a grassfire which would almost certainly be deadly to everyone on the field but him.

The third bounty hunter had apparently had enough with shooting at rocks, and was now waiting for a better opportunity to shoot Aculia.

 

[Aculia Voland]

Glar Ulchtar (Rolling then edit)

Rolls and Stats:

Exhaustion: 0/200.
Healing: (0/3 turns, not used yet).

Force Lightning Pulse 1: 2 (Failure).
Force Lightning Pulse 2: 9 (Below Average).
Force Lightning Pulse 3: 16 (Expert).

Acrobatics: 22 (Masterful).

Pistol Shot 1: 15 (Above Average).
Pistol Shot 2: 18 (Expert).​

“Enough is enough!” Aculia muttered, setting down the blaster rifle and taking out her pistol instead. The third bounty hunter had stopped firing for now and the one in the jetpack was currently spinning around out of control, but the most pressing threat was the one with the flamethrower, who had apparently just taken the full burst of his fire and come out barely scathed. His armor was likely fire resistant, at least to the amount blown back in his face.

Fine then, you want me to come out? I will come out!

Staying where she was was not an option, as the smoke billowing up from the fire would block her view. She could probably use the Force to fire through it at shorter ranges, but at the distance she needed to get her primary target, that would be iffy. She needed to deal with the fire addict, the other bounty hunter, and then finally the out of control flying one before she could focus on her main target.

Switching her pistol to single shot mode and lethal, she let out a deep breath and drew deeply on the Force, channeling her irritation and anger at the bounty hunter into small sparks of lightning that began to flow from her fingertips. Then, she moved.

She gracefully and swiftly leapt to the top of her rock formation, then soared into the air above the grassy field below, reaching a height at or above the still-out-of-control enemy bounty hunter as she propelled herself forward. Reaching out with one hand, she sent three pulses of Force lightning down at the one who loved his fire. The first arc was weak and missed him by a mile as she was adjusting in the air, the second was closer to the mark but fairly weak, and the third was a powerful burst of Dark Side energy that arced directly at him. Hopefully, it would either disable his flamethrower, explode his fuel supply, or straight up kill the bounty hunter.

As she did so, with her other hand she fired two powerful blaster bolts towards the third bounty hunter in hiding, two brilliant red streaks blazing towards him, both good shots but the second being noticeably better. It would likely at least force him to keep his head down, if not outright kill him if she were lucky.

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Aculia Voland

The flamethrower wielding bounty hunter was caught off-guard by Aculia’s leap from behind the pile of rocks. Her first two blasts of force lightning missed him by a wide margin, the third blast hit him. The energy from the lightning ignited the flamethrower’s fuel supply, instantly causing it to explode. The kinetic force from the explosion sent the bounty hunter flying into a burning patch of grass, causing an audible crunching noise when he landed. It was not clear if he was alive or dead, but it was perfectly clear that his role in this battle was over.

The two shots from Aculia’s blaster prevented the rifle-wielding bounty hunter from taking any shots at her while she was in mid-air, but when she landed, he saw an opportunity. He took aim, and fired a volley of shots at Aculia. However, the smoke from the grass fires was starting to get into his eyes, so he was unsure of how accurately he had fired. As he was doing this, the jetpack-wearing bounty hunter continued to fly uncontrollably, and was now rocketing off towards Lothal’s Capital City.



Nearby, Glar continued to hold his ground against the two bounty hunters attacking him, but he was beginning to loose the upper hand. Rus was beginning to push Glar backwards, thanks to Glar being mostly distracted by Krenils’ constant barrage of blaster shots. Eventually, Krenils managed to shoot Glar in the fingers, causing his right hand to loose its grip on the lightsaber. Rus took this opening, and kicked Glar in the chest, knocking him to the ground, and causing his left hand to drop the lightsaber.

Krenils aimed one of his blaster pistols to fire a killing shot at Glar. Glar concentrated hard on his non-damaged left hand, as he tapped into the Dark Side of the Force. Just as Krenils was about to execute Glar, Glar shot a current of force lightning directly at his blaster. The excruciating pain from the force lightning instantly caused Krenils to drop both of his blaster pistols to the ground. The lightning also short-circuited all of Krenils’ cybernetic implants, causing him even more pain. As soon as Glar stopped his force lightning attack, the red light on Krenils’ cybernetic eye visor flickered off, and he collapsed to the ground.

Glar did not have long to celebrate his victory though, as Rus appeared over him, holding his blood-covered sword. Rus attempted to stab his sword into Glar’s chest, which Glar barely managed to dodge by rolling over onto his face. Rus was momentarily disoriented by the impact of trying to jab a beskar sword into the solid metal surface of the Lothal highway. In one swift motion, Glar quickly retrieved his lightsaber with a force pull, got up, and attempted to strike at Rus. He just barely managed to block Glar’s lightsaber with his sword.

“I suggest you face the facts, Rus. You are not going to leave this battle alive.” Glar said sternly, as he continued to battle Rus. “If I die, so be it. I have earned more than enough kills to be granted a glorious place in the afterlife. What matters to me is that you die as well.” Rus snarled back at him.

At this point, Rus quickly took several steps back, and pulled a thermal detonator out of his pocket. As he clicked the activation button, he shouted “It’s the end of this mortal coil for both of us, Glar Ulchtar!” Rus charged at Glar at full speed, as he gripped the detonator in his right claw. Instead of running away from Rus, Glar ran towards him at full speed. “Have you accepted Fate, then?” Rus asked him, half tauntingly, half genuinely curious. “Definitely not.” Glar said back, defiantly.

Before Rus could react, Glar had sliced his arm off with his lightsaber. Glar then used The Force to send the thermal detonator flying off into the sky, where it exploded spectacularly. Rus simply stared at Glar in shock, and looked down at the stump where his arm had been. Glar used this moment of shock to slice off Rus’ legs as well, leaving him with nothing except his left arm, which was barely functional thanks to Aculia’s sniper shot.

Glar began walking away from Rus towards the old swoop bike that had once belonged to Prandex, and the multi-seat speeder that belonged to the bounty hunters. “Coward! Are you not going to end me?” Rus screamed. Glar turned around, and bent down next to the immobile Rus. “No, I am not. You will certainly die here though. Alone, afraid, and in pain. This is how anyone worth their salt kills their enemies.” Glar monologued, as he removed the keys to the speeder from Rus’ pocket. Glar slipped into the driver’s seat of the speeder. "Enjoy the silence, Rus'wassak'Usol." Glar called out, as he drove off into the distance.









Time: Long after both Glar and Aculia have left the planet Lothal.

Rus’wassak’Usol was in excruciating pain. Three of his limbs were gone, the fourth flopped uselessly at his side. If he was any other species, he would almost certainly be dead. As it was now, he was barely hanging on. This would be no proper way for a warrior like him to die. Not at all.

Suddenly, Rus was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a shuttle landing nearby. A minute later, four tall figures with large heads were carrying him on a stretcher into the shuttle. They put him down on a cold, uncomfortable, and metal table. Above him, Rus could see Jej Ulchtar‘s golden mask starring down at him.

“What happened?” Jej asked Rus, in a tone that suggested that he knew exactly what had happened.

“We fffailed, sir.” Rus groaned.

“So it seems. Now tell me, Rus, why should I not kill you right here and now?” Jej asked.

“I… I cannot die… not like this…” Rus pleaded.

“Well, I suppose I could arrange for your body to be rebuilt with cybernetics, and send you back out to capture Glar….” Jej trailed off.

Without warning, Jej suddenly sent a current of powerful force lightning from his fingertips into Rus’ body.

“…But that would be far too expensive of an upgrade to waste on you.” Jej finished.

Rus’ vision slowly faded to black, as his already-broken body was consumed by Darth Exalton’s force lightning.

End Of Thread