The Eilydn Celebration Festival

[Mereel Vaun]

Eilydn City, Glacies Domum​

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Spoiler

Img source: https://www.deviantart.com/art/Winter-tale-Christmas-card-677179056

Spoiler

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Four small probe droids darted out of an alleyway as a clock tower bell overhead struck nine times. The bell's final ring was followed by an eager silence observed by the few people standing in the small alleyway that branched off of the city's main street. Their silence was replaced by "oohs" and "ahs" as exploding fireworks shook the snow-covered stone sidewalk and varying colors of the rainbow could be seen at various points across the skyline.

The yearly Eilydn Celebration Festival had begun. There were fireworks, festival rides, exotic food stands, local bands, and other attractions occupying many city blocks, all perfect for providing entertainment and distraction.

An armored figure in the alleyway swiftly loaded a rifle in preparation. Mereel's brandishing of the weapon evoked no response from the others in the alleyway, they were all too focused on the intricate patterns of light briefly occupying portions of the sky. There was no better time for him to ask some of the local guards a few questions.

For large events such as the Eilydn Celebration, the Eiyldn Security Force brought in outside help to maintain the peace during the festivities. Mereel was certain that some of that hired help would be from his father's estate. He secured his now loaded Westar M5 to his back plate, being careful to not knock off the metal staff strapped over his shoulder.

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Under his helmet, Mereel watched the fireworks bursting against the white snowy sky until a single probe droid appeared at the mouth of the alleyway. The device's arrival startled several scarf-clad civilians, but when they saw the droid float over to Mereel they looked away instinctively. He downloaded a map from the droid and displayed it on his HUD. Targets were here, the hunt was on.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel stopped in front of a local bar when he saw the familiar shape of a T-visor emerge from a small wooden door. Two more Mandalorians followed the first out of the establishment, and Mereel's left hand clenched for the metal shaft over his shoulder. The first Mandalorian who exited the building had his helmet trained on his hand's movement.

He was standing on the side of a crowded street. It was a bad place to be doing this, but he didn't have any other choice. He hadn't seen any Eilydn Security officers nearby, it was now or never.

Mereel pulled the staff from over his shoulder and hastily raised it above his head before bringing it down hard on the first Mandalorian's helmet. The first Mandalorian fell sideways into a snow drift that had accumulated on the sidewalk. Several bystanders walking by screamed in panic. The second Mandalorian cried out as he reached for a pistol in a holster on his hip, "Trouble!"

"Too right, vode." Mereel said, jabbing the metal staff up into the man's stomach plate. The second Mandalorian stumbled backwards two paces. The third Mandalorian brushed past his dazed comrade with a vibrosword in hand.

"Step on up ner vod. I'll make this quick since I have a few questions to ask you."

The sword-wielding Mando fainted by swinging his blade to the lower right before quickly bringing the blade up, aiming an actual strike toward Mereel's neck glove. Mereel gripped his staff by both ends and pushed it hard to his left, intercepting the man's blade with the middle of the metal rod. "Glad to see one of you is still sober."

As Mereel taunted the man, he had failed to notice that the second Mandalorian had regained his bearings. Two blaster bolts rang out in the night, slightly muffled by the sound of fireworks overhead. One bolt went wide hitting a running passerby in the shoulder. The second bolt hit Mereel on his armor's left shoulder plate. His left hand's grip on the metal staff slipped, and the vibrosword previously locked on the middle of his staff slid down the weapon's shaft. The mando with the sword stumbled forward from the sudden loss of resistance, and Mereel rammed his right shoulder guard hard into the man's helmet.

The vibrosword Mando fell backwards through the bar door, giving the pistol-mando a clear shot at Mereel. The man fired two bolts into Mereel's chest plate at point blank range before Mereel ripped the pistol from the man's hand with the force and threw it into a snow bank. Mereel united the now-disarmed pistol Mandalorian's helmet with the business end of the metal pole, and his target tumbled over and collided with one of the bar's walls.

Mereel let out a sigh and took in his surroundings. There were bystanders standing several meters away watching him nervously from both sides of the street. He had no doubt that Eilydn security would be here soon, he needed to get the information quickly. Ignoring the onlookers, he dragged the struggling feet of the vibro-sword Mandalorian until the man was fully outside of the bar and between his two incapacitated allies. He stomped down hard on the man's right leg, the man cried out before muttering a stream of obscenities under pained breaths.

Mereel strapped the metal pole back over his shoulder and trained his Westar M5 at the emblem of a star centered in a cross hair at the top of the man's helmet. "You're with clan Vaun, right?"

 

[Mereel Vaun]

"What's it to you di'kut?"

Mereel lowered his arms and fired a blaster bolt into the man's chest plate. Mereel knew that his father outfitted the lowest members of the clan with durasteel, although it wasn't beskar, it would protect just fine against blaster bolts. The gesture was a mere threat.

"Fine, I'm with clan Vaun. Big whoop, that's the only Mandalorian clan planet-side."

"Good. Next question, how many men are stationed at the castle in the south?"

"Yeah, right. I'm not telling you that."

Mereel walked over to the unconscious Mandalorian who had wielded the pistol, keeping his rifle trained on sword-guy as he walked. With his left hand he slipped the incapacitated man's helmet off, "Try me. I want a rough estimate or your buddy is toast."

The vibrosword mando remained silent. Bdwww. As Mereel watched smoke billow out of the center of the pistol Mandalorian's forehead, he was glad that his helmet was concealing his face. Thoughts raced through his mind. This has to be un-Jedi like. How else am I supposed to get this kind of information? How do Jedi normally get this type of intel? I'm not doing this out of hate, isn't that what matters to Jedi?

If this pays off and I kill my father, it will stop countless drug deals and save countless lives.

With that single thought his mind was made up. He would kill all three of them if he had to. He sauntered over to the first man he had knocked out. "Give me a number."

Once again, the man remained silent. Mereel pulled off another helmet. Red firework light illuminated the man's face against the darkness of the night as Mereel aimed his rifle between the man's eyes. "If you don't answer you're next, and I won't use the blaster on you."

In the force he felt fear emanating from the man, he made his voice venomous, "Answer truthfully and I promise I won't kill you or your pal here. And I'll know if you answer truthfully, I'm a Jedi, I can feel your fear and I'll feel deceit if you try to trick me."

Mereel was partially bluffing. He had never knowingly sensed someone's feelings when they attempted to lie to him before, but he had every intention of sparing the two if he got an answer. "Roughly 180 men."

He sighed in relief and lowered his rifle. "If you continue your career in clan Vaun, tell Detrik that his son is coming home before the year ends."

And with that the pure focus and adrenaline controlling his body began ebbing out of his system. Pain gripped his chest and shoulder as he began running through a crowd of onlookers. He had to keep moving, the authorities would be catching up with him soon.