First Reply The Invitation

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Tryk Zhot

Glar found Tryk’s comparison between his approach to The Force and Jawa scavenging unusual, but not inaccurate. It was not a connection that he would have made on his own, but there were indeed similarities. “I definitely see what you mean.” Glar said, condensing all of his thoughts into a rather simple phrase.

In response to Glar’s question about how he would be spending his money, Tryk mentioned buying new gear. In response, Glar said. “Understandable. People like us always need to stay ahead in the Arms Race.”

After that, Tryk continued, talking about asking an “Expensive Girl” out to dinner. Responding to this, Glar said “I do not mean to assume too much, but “expensive” is not a trait I have found to be common among Jawas. Would I be wrong in guessing that she is not one?” As a general rule, Pykes did not engage in relationships outside of their own species. Unlike many Pykes though, Glar did not necessarily frown upon those who did. Who was he to define who could or couldn’t be together?

After listening to Tryk’s response to this, Glar continued, saying “Either way, I hope things go well for you with her. And if things go… poorly, it would be her loss.”

Around this time, the speeder taxi came to a stop at Glar and Tryk’s destination. The unremarkable, 5-floor office building where they had first met each other, where they had been hired for the job, and where they would get paid. Tryk made a remark about the remaining uncertainty about the last item on that list actually happening. Glar grimly nodded in agreement. There was still a tangible risk. After paying the droid driver, Glar and Tryk left the speeder taxi, as it drove off into the flow of traffic, becoming more and more distant in a vast sea of similar vehicles.

After watching the speeder taxi depart, Glar opened the front door, and walked into the building. Once again, he found himself in the bland waiting room, with its low-hanging light fixtures. Something seemed wrong though. As Glar took a seat, he inspected the room, looking for any differences between how it had been earlier, and how it was now. The lights were still at the same brightness. All of the chairs were still in place. However, the receptionist who had been at the front desk was missing.

It was entirely possible that the receptionist was just taking a bathroom break, and she would return to her desk in just a few minutes. But then again, maybe she wouldn’t. Turning towards Tryk, he said “The Receptionist is gone. Do you think we should we wait?

 

[Tryk Zhot]

"Tryk far from other Jawas," he said.

It was perhaps unclear if he meant the statement in terms of distance, or in other, subtler ways.

Few Jawas strayed from the scavenging life. The experiences of being first a revenge-seeker, and then a bounty-hunter, had changed Tryk. His thoughts, his feelings, his priorities were all just different enough that a gulf had formed between him and other members of his species.

Unfortunately, there was also a gulf between him and the rest of the galaxy's denizens.

He had become a creature on an island to himself.

It was not where he wanted to remain.

But events marched on, and there was no time to dwell on such things as loneliness when a payday was in the balance.

"Better to say sorry than please," Tryk declared, and walked over to the door beyond the reception desk, checking to see if it would yield to his ministrations and open up.



Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tryk Zhot

At first, Glar was not sure what to make of Tryk’s comment about being far from other Jawas. The planet Duros was certainly not the environment one tended to see Jawas in. But something about the tone of Tryk’s voice made Glar wonder if he was only talking about physical distance. Perhaps he would ask him about that later. Right now, it was time for them to get paid.

When Tryk tried opening the door leading to the back of the building, Glar was not expecting it to open. To his mild surprise, it did. What really surprised him was the sight of the dead body of the receptionist on the other side of the door. At a glance, it seemed that she had been killed with a blaster, but Glar had no interest in doing a thorough examination of the body. Judging by the smell though, she had been dead for a while. “Well, that answers one question.” Glar apprehensively said to himself. “And leaves us with another.” he finished.

As if on cue, Glar heard the noise of the building’s front door opening behind them. When Glar turned around, he saw two figures with blasters raised. Glar recognized one of them. He was a male Pyke in his late 40s, wearing a hexagonal mask with silver accents. The mark of a Captain in the Pyke Syndicate. Glar knew the Pyke in question was Dezp Kril, one of the Syndicate’s most reliable enforcers.

The other person was a mystery to Glar. This person might have been an independent contractor that Kril had enlisted to help him on this job. Or, the person might have been someone who had a problem with Tryk.

“All right, hands in the air, both of you!” Kril growled at Glar and Tryk. Normally, Glar might have tried to draw his lightsaber, and fight back. But not here. He had seen Kril in action. If he tried that trick here, Kril would shoot him before he even had the chance to ignite his lightsaber. So, Glar had no choice but to follow Kril’s order.

As Glar slowly raised his hands, he asked “So… Did you find me here all on your own? Or did our employer sell us out?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kril unhelpfully said, as he began walking in a circle around Glar and Tryk. “Even if that is the case, all the credit for bringing you in will go to me. So in practice, it makes no difference. Over the course of my long career, I have found…”

As Kril continued talking, Glar slightly nudged Tryk using The Force to get his attention. Once he had it, he subtly nodded towards one of the light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, hoping that Tryk would get the message.

“… that really matters is who The Boss thinks is responsible for a successful job, not who actually is. Speaking of The Boss, he has been wanting to speak to you for a while. But enough of that. Right now, it is time to—“ At this exact moment, the light fixture that Kril was standing under fell from the ceiling, directly onto his head. Kril’s accomplice clearly had not been expecting this, as he simply stared in shock for a moment. Hopefully, this moment would be the only time Glar and Tryk needed.

 

[Tryk Zhot]

Tryk caught Glar's indication of the chandelier.

It was right above one of their foes.

Clearly, Glar wanted him to shoot the chandelier, causing it to fall, creating the distraction they needed to get the upper-hand. But a fast-draw like that would be hard. He had his hands in the air.

Could he really reach down, draw his pistol, aim, and fire it before this sand slime shot him?

He hesitated, steeling himself for the action.

And then... the chandelier fell.

Although surprised, he did not waste any time. Tryk activated his Bounding Boots, a pulse of repulsorlift action sending him towards the ceiling. He did a flip in midair as blaster bolts passed through the space he'd been through a moment before. Then his boots slammed into the ceiling, their attractor nodes holding him upside down.

Holding his robes in place with one hand, he drew and fired his pistol with the other. Ion bolts peppered the enemy on the ground as fast as Tryk could cycle the weapon. His aim was sloppy after such an acrobatic maneuver. But the enemy were big enough. He'd probably hit someone.



Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Tryk Zhot

As the light fixture dropped down upon Dezp Kril’s head, Glar was surprised by Tryk suddenly attaching himself to the ceiling of the waiting room with some sort of high-tech boots he was wearing. Glar did not recognize the model. Perhaps Tryk had invented them himself? Fortunately, during Glar’s moment of hesitation asking himself these questions, Kril’s accomplice decided to fire on Tryk instead of him.

Wasting no more time, Glar drew and activated his lightsaber in one swift motion, removing the blaster-holding hand of the man firing on Tryk. The man recoiled backwards in a mixture of shock and pain, directly into the path of one of Tryk’s stray ion bolts. Upon being hit, the man slumped down on the ground, clearly out of commission for the time being. But that did not mean he and Tryk were safe just yet.

Glar heard an electrical buzzing sound behind him, and instinctively swung his lightsaber backwards. The weapon’s red blade had intercepted an incoming electro-baton held by Dezp Kril, who had apparently recovered from having a light fixture dropped onto his head. “Not bad...” Kril said with a note of respect in his voice. “…but not nearly good enough!” he finished, as he swung a second electro-baton in an overhead strike at Glar.

Glar jumped backwards out of the second electro-baton’s path, almost running into one waiting room’s chairs. As he blocked another flurry of incoming strikes from Kril’s vicious electro-batons, Glar shouted over to Tryk. “Do you think you can hit him, or at least distract him?”

Spoiler: OOC

I’m sorry that I have taken so long to reply lately. I have been busy with IRL work for the past few weeks. Things have calmed down now, so I should be able to reply much more often.

 

[Tryk Zhot]

Things seemed to be going in their favor... for a moment.

But then the big guy was up and swinging in savage, skilled arcs with a pair of electro-batons.

Tryk danced along the ceiling, rather awkwardly holding his cloak in place while angling for a shot with his Ion pistol.

Unfortunately, it was hard to get a line of sight that didn't include the possibility of striking Glar, who was launching expert blocks and ripostes with his saber.

Finally, Tryk holstered his pistol and switched tactics. If he was going to risk a shot, he'd risk one that wouldn't put Glar out of the fight and leave him as a stunned bantha, ready for the slaughter.

He aimed his fist at Kril, firing the tether on his grappling glove. As the tether's attractor tip streaked out towards the man, Tryk tried to steer it so that it might impact their opponent's hand or wrist. Then he could retract the line, tugging on it and creating an impediment to Kril's movement.

Even if he only managed a marginal effect, it might give Glar the upper-hand.



Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Tryk Zhot

Things were not looking good. While Glar might have been a better duelist, and had the advantage of The Force on his side, his enemy had the initiative here. And a second weapon. It was becoming harder and harder for Glar to simultaneously deflect the strikes of both of the electro-batons without leaving an opening which his opponent could exploit. Kril continued pushing against his defense, until he quite literally had his back to a wall. But just as he was about to land a killing strike, something stopped his arm.

Glar wasted no time in pondering what it could be, and performed a diagonal slice with his lightsaber towards Kril. The red blade of the saber found its mark, cutting Kril’s non-restrained forearm clean off, and leaving a deep cut across his stomach. This caused him to fall backwards, and collapse in an undignified heap on the waiting room’s floor. This allowed Glar to see why exactly Kril’s hand had stopped at that key moment: Tryk had used a grappling device to catch his hand from behind mid-strike.

Exhausted from the intense duel, Glar abruptly sat down in one of the few chairs which had not been damaged during the chaos of the fight. After taking a minute to catch his breath, Glar managed to say “…Thank you. I… probably would not have survived that… without your help.” while taking several pauses to breathe. While Tryk would not be able to see it, Glar was wearing a sincere smile of gratitude under his expressionless Pyke mask. “Now… I suppose we should do something about those credits Mr. Gadsden owes us.”

Almost as if on cue, the door leading further into the building opened, and Warner Gadsden’s metallic green protocol droid timidly shuffled through it. Gingerly stepping over the dead body of the Duros receptionist, the droid asked “Is it over yet?”

 

[Tryk Zhot]

"Tryk not survive without you, either," the Jawa admitted, retracting his grappling glove's tether.

Then he dropped from the ceiling, did a little flip, and soft-landed on the floor with a short burst of energy from his bounding boots.

"Glar good partner."

He paused to look at the body of their defeated foe. That was a fight that definitely could have gone another way.

But mention of money brought his mind back on task. He nodded emphatically. "Tryk get paid," he made the statement as if he was declaring a fundamental law of the universe.

At that moment, the droid appeared, and Tryk swiveled on his heel, drawing his Ion pistol as he did so.

"Nothing over till we get credits," Tryk said, and his yellow eyes gazed threateningly over at the protocol unit.



Glar Ulchtar

 

[Glar Ulchtar]

Tag: Tryk Zhot

After Tryk dropped down from the ceiling, Glar slowly got up out of his chair, and responded, saying “You are a good partner as well, Tryk.”

As the two of them paused to look down at Kril’s body, Glar thought about what he had said just before the battle. “Speaking of The Boss, he has been wanting to speak to you for a while.” To Glar, this essentially confirmed something that he had always known. No matter how many bounty hunters, enforcers, and who-knows-what-else Glar killed, his father would never stop sending more. If he was ever going to live without looking over his shoulder, he would have to confront him, and he would have to win.

When Glar brought up the subject of the credits, Tryk expressed agreement, and directed his ion pistol at the protocol droid. Glar aimed his own blaster at the droid in turn to emphasize the point. At this, the droid gasped, and stammered “Oh! Yes, of course. The credits.” and stepped behind the front desk.

The droid entered a code into the computer mounted on the desk, which opened a compartment in the floor under the desk. From the compartment, the droid pulled out two hefty cases. Once it had the cases laid out on the desk, it opened them, showing that they were packed completely full with credits. “Here you are, a case with 75,000 credits for each of you! It was a pleasure doing busi—“

The droid was abruptly cut off by a shot from Glar’s blaster. As Glar closed and picked up one of the cases from the desk, he said “Now, then. I am going to go use these credits to buy a new spaceship for myself. So, unless that is also where you are off to, I suppose this is where we go our separate ways.” Glar approached Tryk, and bent down slightly to shake his hand. “Goodbye, Tryk. I hope you have luck, both in your bounty hunting, and in asking out the girl you mentioned.”

 

[Tryk Zhot]

Tryk was surprised at the droid's sudden demise at the hands of Glar, but he couldn't blame the man for being careful. This job had enough twists already without leaving the door open for one more.

Walking over to his case, he extended a gloved hand to sift through the credits. He just wanted to be sure there was no explosive underneath. An expensive precaution used to silence hired help who might know 'too much,' but not something unknown in the dark business in which they operated.

Fortunately, no bomb seemed to be laying in wait underneath his payday.

He turned, then to Glar, extending his hand to join the offered handshake.

"Tryk thank Glar.

If Glar need partner again, call Tryk."

Between the pay for this job, and the bonus from the speeder, they'd made out like bandits.

It was rare to meet a competent and trustworthy Hunter in this business.

In the end, this had been a good day.


-fin?-