Private The Hunter and the Crusader

[Ven A'ndi]

Mejevi was as close as one could get to civilization in this part of Wild Space. Its capital city, Jerite, was a sizeable, sprawling metropolis, with a constant flow of traffic within the city itself and in and out of the spaceports. Just like any large enough city, there were clear divisions between the wealthy, and the seedier underbelly.

These two worlds were inexorably linked, however. Those who ran Mejevi were part of a brutal cartel of slavers and drug runners – they acted as the government and royalty here. The richest families looked, dressed, and acted like nobility, but they were all part of the system of exploitation that plagued the surrounding parsec. The underworld supplied the upper class, and the middle class were merely those who kept things running on a day-to-day basis.

While it was never the kind of place Ven liked to visit, the work tended to be high-paying. Not only that, but he could move around with impunity, as a bounty-hunting Mandalorian certainly wasn’t out of place here. He moved through the crowded streets, stepping past scoundrels, thugs, and merchants. Some were here to try and make something for themselves, while others were here for the encouragement on their immoral businesses.

This particular bounty was a high-profile one, to be sure: a prince, one that had committed assault against a young noble woman from a planet a few parsecs away. Ven only had a few rules, one of them being that he didn’t go for heads of state. This was an incredibly high bounty, however, one that could set him up for a while… and Ven had no love for the Mejevi.

The Mandalorian was nearing the large, opulent palace situated in the middle of the city – the tallest buildings around. He expected a lot of guards, droid or otherwise, as well as electronic security that would need to be taken care of. Right now, he was just on reconnaissance. The actual operation of extracting him alive, as per the bounty, would have to be delicate.

Up ahead, he could see some sort of commotion – Prince Taaf himself, roughing up one of the locals. Perfect timing, the Mandalorian thought as he drew near. A small crowd had gathered to observe, and the Mandalorian merely joined in, his helmet keeping him expressionless.

“Come now, Rollo!” Taaf smiled, arms wide with bravado. “Surely you can fight!” The prince tossed some sort of metallic, cylindrical object on the ground. It looked intricately designed, with a basket handle. Was that…?

The Mando’s theory was confirmed by Taaf reaching to his belt and drawing his own weapon, igniting it – a red lightfoil. These were somewhat smaller and lighter than a Jedi or Sith lightsaber, although the blade was still the same length. They were meant to be wielded in one hand with fencing-style techniques. Their cutting power also seemed to be reduced, as they were most effective at stabbing. The Mandalorian hadn’t seen any before, but knew that lightfoils were rather popular with some older noble families in the Outer Rim that used them for sport and status. The Mejevi were also known to use them, and it was rumored that some in the royal family were lightly Force sensitive.

The man named Rollo tentatively picked up the lightfoil thrown to him and activated it – a light blue blade emerging from the hilt. Taaf smiled and psyched himself up, getting into a practiced stance. He started out with a few thrusts and swipes, with Rollo barely able to keep up. The Mandalorian watched in still silence. It looked like a loth cat playing with the prey it was about to turn into a meal.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Vaeri didn't have much of a reason to be here anymore, but she also lacked a reason to leave. Her reemergence from the underground left her directionless. What felt like an attempt to take matters into her own hands now felt like-- well, it was hard to put words to.

She had a goal in mind but no means to achieve it. How does a single person take down a sith empire? Well, you start pulling at the strings. There were plenty of strings to pull inside a cest pool like this town. Vaeri knew when thing for certain-- when looking for sith connections, one only had to look at those corrupted at the top.

This member of 'royalty' had a penance for putting others down. Or at least showing off. Vaeri had absolved to stay out of things-- to simply observe and recon vital information of the royalty structure so she could find just the right string to pull. But when he started thrashing on the kid...


Her blade snapped out with a hiss, darting out between the two and catching his before he could land a biting blow. Hers was thicker-- pulsing with life. Jedi the blade sang.

Or sith.

She scowled at the bully, whose expression contorted in shock. Seemed the prince wasn't use to being stood up to. She stood her ground.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size."

She shoved his blade back, disengaging the attack and straightening. Though her blade lowered, signally no intent to attack further, her arm was coiled in expectation for the next strike. She'd give him one chance to walk away.

She doubted he'd take it.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

The appearance of the Jedi made Ven take a small step forward. His hand lingered close by his blaster pistol, holstered on his thigh. This could complicate things. If it looked like Taaf was to be killed… he might have to intervene, if only because the bounty for dead would probably be substantially lower than alive.

Granted, helping Prince Taaf against the Jedi might ingratiate himself to the nobles, and get him close enough to make his move to capture the prince.

Pissing off a Jedi was never smart, though. So he waited.

Taaf, surprised by the intervention of the Jedi, took a step back to eye up their opponent. He seemed to size up the woman, noting her lightsaber – a quick glance to his own blade perhaps displayed a feeling of inadequacy. After a moment, he looked back to the Jedi, and a grin spread across his face.

“Finally! A worthy opponent!” he said, brandishing his weapon and taking a new stance, one with the blade pointed directly towards the Jedi. He took a bit of a leap forward, aiming to stab right at the Jedi’s shoulder, but leaving him completely open otherwise. Ven put a full grip on his blaster – if this Jedi knew what she was doing, this could be over in moments, and he’d have to make a judgment call as to whether it looked like she was going to kill Taaf.

Hopefully, she was one of the non-killing, friendly Jedi types.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Over in moments indeed. The moment the prince stepped towards her, her blade twirled out in a dizzying array. She caught his blade, controlling it in a encircle motion that knocked it off to the side. A simple step forward from her was all it took. The circle motion she had made continued along his wrist, severing the limb before his attack was done.

It fell heavy onto the ground, his blade clattering with it. The crowd fell into a hushed silence, shock resonating throughout the watching bodies. Vaeri stood tall under it all, her chin raising as she leveled her saber to his throat.

"Heel," came the even keeled demand. She would only ask once.

Ven A'ndi

 

[Ven A'ndi]

An unexpected gasp moved through the crowd, and hushed whispers started to rise. The royal guards that had stayed around ten meters behind the prince to ensure the crowd wouldn’t turn on his royal highness tensed up. They had polearms of unknown design, and blasters on their hips. The Mandalorian tensed up as well, but he could see that she was giving the prince an opportunity to yield.

Prince Taaf had fallen to his knees in shock, his hand cradling the stump where his arm used to connect to his hand. The saber had swiped clean through the leather gauntlet, the cauterized wound still smoking and steaming. The shock soon gave way to anger, and Taaf looked up to the Jedi with burning eyes. He wretched his head back to look at his guards.

“Kill her!” he shouted. The pain was shocking, but the humiliation was unbearable. To be taken down by a mere Jedi in front of his own subjects. The guards activated their polearms – they were like spears with small lightfoils on the ends of them.

Mando had a choice to make. Helping the royals against the Jedi would get him on their good side, allow him to get close enough to make a move. Although, he had just seen this Jedi easily unhand someone – she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.

A red blaster bolt slammed into a royal guard, his chest exploding in a spray of sparks. Before the others could register what was happening, another went down, spinning from the force of the blast. The Mandalorian was approaching now, his blaster leveled right at them. With his free hand, he balled it up in a fist and pointed it at the prince – a whipcord spat out of his gauntlet, wrapping around the prince and leaving him immobile.

His head turned in the direction of the Jedi. No emotion could come across from his helmet, but his intentions were rather clear – for some reason, he was helping her.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Vaeri didn't question it. Battle was never the time to question the validity of help. Friend or foe, it hardly mattered. If they weren't pointing their chit at her it wasn't her concern.

She responded without hesitation, turning to the guard to her side and dropping him with a sudden spinning kick. She landed lightly, pony tail whipping as she moved onto the next man and crushed his nose in with a backwards jab of her elbow. With the final guard dropped by Ven A'ndi , the prince was relieved of the casual numbers he had had around him. It wasn't like he expected to lose a hand when he left the house this morning.

Vaeri ended her assault in a swirl of motion, stopping fluidly before the prince. Her saber was held pointed at his neck, pulsing in the not so subtle threat.

"Next time, learn manners. We bow before we fight our peers." She sneered down at him, leading by example as she she snapped her saber closed with a flourish and bent at the waist.

In the distance, beyond the pained silence of the crowd, the sound of shuffling metal hurried towards them.

Vaeri knew the sound of approaching guards a mile a way, and with confidence that could only be considered cocky, she put her back to the prince... the populace... the guards... the mando... and began to walk the other way.

The crowd pattered, the face of a young girl recoiling in fear. Vaeri walked past with her chin held high, unaffected. Her outburst would get her no where she was wanting to go, but the smirk on the prince's lips as he rose his blade over the boys head... the cruelty made her gut boil, even as she walked away. A hand was barely enough. It was hardly ever enough.

She walked a bit swifter, turning into an alley and reaching up to heft herself into a rooftop.

 

[Ven A'ndi]

The royal guards couldn’t even get close to the two of them – it was all over in a matter of seconds. The Mandalorian had fired only a few more shots, and the Jedi took care of the rest. He had managed to make it rather close, now, only around two meters away as the Jedi gave a final retort to the prince. Taaf was still knelt on the ground, having covered his head during the battle, fully expecting his guards to win. He looked up at the woman that had easily bested him in combat, fearful but angry. As her weapon was lowered, relief seemed to sweep through him, and perhaps a tinge of humiliation.

Then, just as soon as she had appeared, the Jedi was gone, slipped into the crowd that had parted way for her as if she was the new royalty. The Mandalorian’s helmeted gaze followed after her, but soon turned towards the sound of more approaching authorities. He looked down to the prince – which was easier, carrying him, or making him walk?

After thumbing a small switch on his blaster, he fired a stun bolt at the prince, the man falling forward in a rather undignified way. Bending down, the Mandalorian picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder. He cast a glance down the street – he could see the guards coming. Taking off in the same direction the Jedi had left, he pointed his blaster at anyone who even so much as looked at him in the wrong way. Turning the corner, he spotted the Jedi as she was about to leap onto the top of a building.

“Hey! Wait!” he whispered hoarsely, jogging a little bit to catch up. “This guy’s got a pretty big bounty on him. If you help me get back to my ship and off-planet, I’ll split it with you.” He was no fool. He’d just kidnapped a prince in the middle of the capital city. Practically everyone would be after him – guards, enforcers, even other bounty hunters.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Vaeri stopped short, green eyes darting sharply between the mandalorian and they alleyway entrance. He had followed her with him? A small hiss of stress escaped between her teeth. She had no desire to run into elongated trouble over some grimey places inner scrabbles. Thought if that were true, she noted, she should keep her sense of justice to herself.

This was neither here nor there, the jedi eyeing the two pair skeptically as she weighed the situration. "...What is he going for?" She asked, her wariness in her eyes. She did not follow the bounty hunter guild's code. She did ask questions. She did reject jobs.

She wasn't one of them alright?

The prince's handless arms hung limply.

Shuddup.

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Ven stood there, unconscious prince on his shoulder, looking up at the woman that had just disarmed the royal. Time was of the essence, and while splitting the reward was a snap-decision, he wasn’t going to lie to her just to get a bigger slice.

“Half a million,” he said. The family that wanted him back alive was very wealthy, and would go to great lengths to punish Taaf themselves. Ven had managed to get the jump of the bounty as he had been in the area when it was posted. Other hunters would more than likely come after them, but there was a high chance many saw the risk too great and go for lower bounties instead.

Ven just really needed the money, it seemed.

He looked down the alleyway, then back up at the Jedi. “Two-hundred and fifty thousand credits is a pretty good deal, right?”

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Vaeri let out a heavy breath, her brows thick with skepticism. "His crime," she clarified, half amused and half disgruntled. The loud approach of footsteps broke the moment, their pursuers hot on their trail. They didn't have time for this! She made a quick snap judgement of the man before her, something her Master always hated her doing.

But he wasn't here.

With a huff, she extended her hand, her feet braced on the roof top as she gave the stranger a lift up. She was strong, disportionately so as she helped lift both bounty hunter and bounty up onto the roof besides her. She stood quickly, her saber jumping back to her hand as the first figure rounded the alley corner.

"Push West." A blue hiss of light snapped out, catching a blaster bolt meant for Ven's side. "I'll cover you."

Her ship was just beyond the city wall. For a moment, she wondered if they could even reach it.

Guess they'd find out.

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Before Ven could answer the question, he was being hefted onto the rooftop with the Jedi. His bicep flexed as he held on – perhaps she was using the Force to aid her, but she got them up without too much effort. She reflected a blaster bolt that would have caught him in the side where he was unarmored, and he paused only for a moment. There was no time for gratitude now – they were in this together.

Adjusting his hold on the prince, he began to head west, retrieving his blaster from its holster. There were a few guards that had been stationed on rooftops further away, and they began to take aim with their rifles. Without breaking stride, Ven aimed and fired at one of them, downing him with a near perfect shot to center mass. Through his helmet, he could hear the prince make a light groan – he might have to stun him again soon.

Ven hopped over a short gap and looked back to make sure the Jedi was keeping pace. No doubt she would be able to, but he didn’t want to let his recent business partner to bite the dust so quickly. Stopping for a moment, he used his thumb to press a button on his left vambrace. Elsewhere, his ship came to life and the engines started to warm up. It would take a minute for everything to get ready to fly, but eventually the craft would start to make its way towards Ven via autopilot.

Back on the rooftops, red bolts pierced the air and hit the buildings around them.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

Vaeri let out a growl, keeping pace and sprinting around him like a bunny, keeping their sides covered. "His crime?" She repeated. It was neither the time nor the place, but Vaeri wanted to know what she was risking her neck for out there on the roof tops. She had no name, no back story. Just the insinuation the man was a royal and the experience to know royals had friends.

She wasn't in the market to be making big enemies. Seemed like she'd be doing so anyway.

News of their roof-top escaped must have reached the streets, for the tin-head of another bounty hunter hefted himself over the edge of the roof directly in front of them. Vaeri's pace did not cease. The jedi flew forward in a side kick, her body shaped like an arrow as she crashed into his chest.

They both went down over the edge.

She twisted her body, letting him take fall. The back end of her saber flickered out, the blunt end of the hilt used to clonk the man over the metal temple.

She looked up in time to see Ven A'ndi pass over her. She nodded, giving the the hunter another final smack to keep him down before force-jumping up and falling back in line.

"He's obviously a hot ticket."

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Ven took aim and fired once more before answering the Jedi’s question. “He assaulted the duchess of another royal family from a planet in the parsec.” He ducked out of the way of another barrage of bolts before continuing. “Typically, no one would dare touch the royals here, but… this was pretty egregious.” He hopped over another gap.

Continuing to run, he checked his gauntlet. The ship had taken off and was on its way, but it was slow in auto-pilot. All of the antiquated anti-collision systems made it much slower than if an organic pilot was flying it. He looked up just in time to see the Jedi take down a rival hunter, thankful once more for the chance run-in with the knight. Granted, he probably wouldn’t have taken the prince right then and there if there wasn’t the chance of extra help.

The Jedi commented on the value of the prince, and Ven agreed, saying, “The reward is big, and so would the notoriety.” He blasted a guard that had climbed an adjacent building. “Whoever grabs this guy would be set up for awhile… but would also have to look over their shoulder for just as long.” He spoke as if he wasn’t the one carrying the prince at that very moment.

Up ahead, he could see the Lancer-class pursuit craft coming their way. At the same time, however, another engine could be heard. Small patrol airspeeders began bearing down on them with searchlights and laser cannons that were a little more powerful than the typical hand blaster.

Vaeri

 

[Vaeri]

"Chit," was all Vaeri could say, her hand barely raised in time enough to yank the tin top off a chimney and send it intercepting into the blast. It blew up mid air, sparing them both from a painful dance up on those roof tops.

"Can't you hurry it up a little?" She complained, squinting against the swath of lights that found their way onto them. Another man came over the roof, only to receive a swift kick to his jaw that sent him right back down. The sound of ringing metal echoed from below, barely audible over another blast of a laser canon.

Vaeri caught the shot on her saber, gritting her teeth as she struggled to take in the power through its length and redirect it elsewhere before it could fry her. The roof besides her exploded in a glorious burst. Her arm hairs stood on end as the air remained charged with the energy. Bless the force, his ship opened up before them then.

Just as another cannon took aim.

No time, she grabbed his arm and jumped with him, landing hard inside the doors.

"Go,go,go," she weezed, clearly in pain.

 

[Ven A'ndi]

Ven stared straight on to his ship, even as the roof next to them popped and sent debris everywhere. He’d trained himself to not worry about small things getting in his eyes, since he was always wearing the helmet now. His legs were really starting to burn from the effort of running and carrying the prince. Just… a little further.

The Lancer-class pursuit craft turned up ahead and the port loading ramp lowered. Only ten meters away now, Ven turned to see the other patrol craft bearing down on them, sure to fire and vaporize them at any moment. Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled to the ship - the Jedi had grabbed him and used her mysterious Force powers to propel the both of them to relative safety.

Just as they landed inside, the patrol craft fired a volley. While the shots of red plasma were safely dissipated by the shield, it still rocked the ship. He braced the wall for a moment before leaning out of the ship, swinging his arm up and aiming his blaster. There was a brief pause as he seemed to line up the shot… and fired. The over-powered blaster shot through the glass of the craft and straight through the head the pilot, snapping his head back and leaving a burning hole where one of their eyes used to be.

He punched the door control. The ramp retreated back into the ship as Ven clambered up the ladder and into the cockpit. Barely having time to sit down, he took the throttle and wrenched it forward, pulling up on the sticks to send them towards orbit. Any other patrol craft wouldn’t be able to catch up to them - they would have to deploy starfighters to catch up.

Vaeri