Log:Defiance Guild: Settling Old Debts
Settling Old Debts
OOC Date: August 8, 2018
Location: Tatooine
Participants: Defiance, Darius Wildes, Grom, Hex, Kasia Ashkuri, Naelyn, Rheisa Dirleel, Sajin, Tarion Tavers, Vasani, Zul Gradnk
It starts on the horizon like a small tornado of sand and coalesces into a looming wall of dust and dirt approaching ever closer to the city. When they're only a few hundred meters out, the noise starts. It's a distant cacophony of what sounds like thunder, but there's no cloud in the sky nor the hint of moisture in the air to herald a storm. The closer it gets, the more the noise is an orchestra of sounds pitched together. They're the same, but different, and just outside the outskirts of town, one can tell why: swoop engines. A little more than half a dozen of them. And they're all baring down on Mos Eisley. Most swoops have two to a seat, but one, in the front, is a solo rider. He guides them in as their formation narrows, and they gather in the compound's courtyard.
There's noise, and then there isn't. As the dust settles, engines shut off and leave the surroundings almost eerily silent. Spaced apart, the individuals on the swoops quickly file off, and the one at the head of the ride steps off his own. He's in the process of easing down the cloth covering over his mouth and pushing the goggles up into his sediment-coated hair while the others, all dressed in a ragtag assortment of armor pieces and carrying various weapons, quickly align in a fanned out formation that shows their numbers as much as leaves them from cluttering together.
"KNOCK KNOCK." Korvas Sol, who had been with Mego Kodd at Jo's Triumph, calls out to the cliff dwellings before him. "We've come to collect our money! Or the names of those who were here before you, plus first month's rent. Let's get this over with." There's a murmured collective of agreements between those gathered. They certainly came in numbers.
---
Zul Gradnk hates being woken up. Hearing the money, she finishes putting her flight suit on, as she wanted to actually get the first shipment of water today. Wisely, she decides to go all out, putting on her new grenade and knive bandolier. Upon consideration, she adds her new museum piece, which she believes to be a DL-44, in a second leg holster. Following this, she decides to go behind the closest wall, in case a fight errupts, drawing her trusty DL-18, setting it to stun "HEx, Where are you?" she asks in Ryl, shouting angrily "Some bastards want our cash! Kasia! It is time to wake up! Gear up!"
---
Sajin was doing what he did best, cleaning. Power armor on, always it seemed here. He stops as the noise cracks the sky and yhe gang comes to settle at the entrance of the compound. He leans against the broom his other hand unbuckling his dl-44 and pulling it. "You guys have the worst hair cuts... i mean seriously you should hire a stylist."
---
By the time the twin suns sank into the horizon last night, their sleepy, red glow set over an unusual band of nomads trekking across the desert fringe of town. One tall, one short, one four-legged. The trio had come to rest partially up that slope responsible for forming this mesa that the compounds are carved into, leaving a buffer of sand between the nocturnal sentinel and neighborhood of concern.
No panicky comm calls came through to the Defiance crew during the night, so either all was calm under the stars or Rheisa encountered one of the more dangerous predators that stalk the dark.
The suns awoke to find her still there, standing tall with a tent of fabric whipping about her head and body whilst her narrowed eyes struggled to remain alert. The boy is curled at her feet, asleep, and groat is doing as groats do, waggling her tail after taking a piss and resuming the munching of some shrubbery - thorns and all. When the roaring of swoops finally penetrates her awareness, she fishes a comm off her girdled loin and lifts it to lips for a whisper. "They come." You know. In case the humans and company were too deaf to notice for themselves.
---
They want names? "Grom is here!" the heavily armed Houk shouts helpfully. "Slapping human! Which is the worthies foe? Is it the talky one? Grom thinks it is the talky one." Peering at the swoop gang, he hollers to Sajin, "Little King! Does talky man on little machine look like worthiest foe?"
---
The deadline looms in Naelyn's conciousness like the shadow of death and despair and his sleep has been troubled. When that whisper comes over the comms and Zul and Grom are using their Outside Voices, the slender Sephi had been settled on the bed in one of the many rooms, legs folded beneath him. He's dressed in darker shades, to allow him to better blend in with the shadows, but also not stand out like a sore thumb in the sand. Veil across his nose and mouth, hair braided back and bunned and covering that matches the veil drawn over his hair, secured by pins. Leather boots, leatherish pants, braces, vest...and hooded short-robe, he's dressed for travel. His knives are slipped home, in thigh and booth sheathes, he's got his combat staff leaned against the bed. He is a lover, not a fighter but he carefully went through the various supplies in his med-pack, over and over again..
Right now though, he's coming to the edge of where he can see out into the courtyard, looking down at the brewing to-do. Behind him, several bags have been packed and he leans against his staff, exhaling softly. Watching silently.
---
"Remember darling, stay low to the ground and take your time with your shots. Breath and release yeah"? Darius says with a slight smirk as he moves to pinch the chin of Vasani but just grabs the bottom of her helmet. "Damn, you are so hot right now. All geared up." He smirks and then leans against one of entrances to the rooms, ontop one of the flight of stairs. It is an attempt to get a little bit of cover. Fiddling with his S-5 Darius wonders if he should just start blasting as the swoop gangers arrive, but figured he'd watch for Kasia move before he did. At least, for now.
---
Vasani nods her helmeted head in response to Darius. "Got it." She says, her voice sounding distorted from the gear. She kneels down next to Darius and as slowly and quietly as she can leans to look past the stairs and watch for the approaching sounds. She's ready to go at a moments notice with her DL-44 prepared in her hands and her eyes scanning the area, waiting for someone to make the first move.
---
Kasia has been up for a while, it's possible she hasn't actually slept, because that dusty stretch of land between the walls of their little mesa is a lot different from how it was yesterday. There are some crates set up in strategic positions so that cover can be found, and anything of value that might've been out here has been put away, in the rooms that are protected mostly by cave walls. "I know they're here, Zul, we knew they were coming," she assures the Twi'lek over comms, looking down at the stash of weapons she's got here to murder some fools with.
A deep breath is drawn before she steps out from behind one of those makeshift forms of cover and smiles at Korvas. "So nice of you to join us here today, you're one of our very first guests here. I'd offer you refreshments, but... we're just fresh out. So sorry." Both hands spread in a helpless gesture. "I'm afraid we also don't have any names, but considering you all knew them, I'm surprised you don't know even that much. Anyway, details, they can get lost in the chaos, I know. I'll get right down to business, though, I just don't have the money to pay you right now," she lies. "So we'll have to come to some other arrangement." She looks back at Grom, flashing him a brief grin that's a little bit more tense than is normal. Which might make her appear crazy to those who understand normal human facial expressions. "I would say that one is a worthy foe, yes. After him, they're all equally worthy so you just take your pick and have fun."
---
Korvas Sol spares a look at the power-armored man leaning on a broom and finally drawing his pistol. A lifted hand gestures with two fingers at him, and a quartet of blasters rise and train on Sajin. Another gesture made from Korvas indicates the huge, blue Houk, and another quartet are trained at him. The de facto leader of the Twin Suns scans the facility before him, from the entrances underneath the cliff to the doors and stairways leading into it, searching for sign of anyone aside from the two who initially speak. He can see a few leaned up in the frames of doorways without fully exposing themselves, but those matter little. The woman, Kasia, has stepped into view, and Korvas' gaze settles on her. His hands spread open, as if in some sort of welcome gesture.
"You're our guests, actually. Guests on our property. Guests on our land. As for the names, they were inconsequential. We only keep track of the buildings and the numbers, see? Which ones have paid. Which ones haven't." A grin on his face punctuates Kasia's statement that she doesn't have the money. "I was hoping you'd say that. The boss was, too. We'll just tear this place apart to be sure, and you can come with us to explain things. Unless you want your janitor and your luggage carrier shot dead in front of you." The mention of death has all the blasters raising, and they split almost even between Saijin and Grom: seven for the big Houk, and six for the man in the power armor. "Come quietly and tell your little boys to stand down, or we'll kill them all. Then you ladies can accompany us home."
---
As soon as she hears Grom getting shot, Zul peers out from behind her wall to fire at stray shot "No firing at Grom! And you won't touch Kasia, you bastards!" she yells, as her bolt misses and she hurries back to cover "You won't get away with hurting that ragtag bunch I call my family. You wouldn't even hurt Tarion, you tossers!" she looks at her gun "Oh. It was set to stun. I don't want them to walk away this time..." she growls, leaning back out and firing another shot, sadly, missing again. And she is in harms way.
---
Sajin didnt like to start fights. It was never polite or good form to do so. So when Zuls bolts go flying towards one of the gang members that whole issue was resolved for him. In the chaos of yhe initial shot he finds Sol, the leader and readys his blaster for three quick shots. one gets deadly close but the Hapan is busy moving towards cover as he fires a number go wide.
---
Meanwhile, there's a little life stirring in camp Togruta. Rheisa squats to help dust sand off her son's scarlet cheeks. "Ge Boon," Umak tiredly pleads while one grubby fist rubs at the grit in his eye and the other tugs at his mother's lump of necklaces like he's gonna lead her that way.
---
Meanwhile, there's a little life stirring in camp Togruta. Rheisa squats to help dust sand off her son's scarlet cheeks. "Ge Boon," Umak tiredly pleads while one grubby fist rubs at the grit in his eye and the other tugs at his mother's lump of necklaces like he's gonna lead her that way.
"Naaah," Rheisa murmurs and gently pries his fingers off her beaded bling, then puts them around groat's leash instead, which she unties from her own ankle. "Ek nu n'ga baijhet," she assures that the other boy is asleep in his own bed. "Nah ona sa n'ga?" Because why wouldn't he be happy here, in this awesome mommy-and-me campout?? "We will see him soon. He is small and needs more sleeps than you and I." Lies, lies, lies.
Rheisa's gray lips flatten into a pensive line as she empties a hastily-made packet of goodies to let Umak have his pick of the meats. Some stringy bits of jakrab, marrow bone, and weirdly fatty cubes cut from the scavenging urusai. Mmm. Once he's tucked into the distraction, she's free again to stare after that cloud of dust infiltrating their new vacation home. And hope. And begin unpacking another roll of cloth which contains less child-friendly items, in case hope fails. Something's suddenly different about the low hum of morning sounds coming from town. Distinctly shrieky noises. Bad noises. Her hands move a little faster, lining up a few arrows in the sand and jamming bow in alongside before strapping on something a little more high tech. It's plan 'B', should plan 'Naelyn' go awry.
---
"Ooh, ooh!" Grom vocalizes toward Korvas Sol as the weapons are draws and dire threats leveled. "Would little talky bike man prefer gun or axe? Grom always has trouble deciding-" but then the shooting starts in earnest, and the time for such preferences is Not Now. As blaster fire erupts, the hulking Houk falls back on his most common tactic: hurling himself at the most impressive enemy, axe flailing wildly. It's not a good plan, but it's his. "KING GROM IS UPON YOU," he informs Sol.
---
In that doorway, Naelyn can see everything going on below and his expression is mostly hid by the veil...either that or his expression is just devoid of emotion at the time being. After Kasia gives her reply, and Kosco Soul gives his rejoinder/threat...the sephi-hybrid is making his way back into the room, kneeling down beside his backpack to slip out his sleek clear/silver datapad and he's ripping his comm link out.
Blasterfire and yelling is going on and he's settled beside the bed, his combat staff leaning beside him, bent over his datapad, fingers flying and sliding over the interface after he plugs his commlink in, searching as wavy lines and flickers of code scroll across his screen.
---
"Well, that's our que." Darius shouts into the courtyard. "Focus the grunts first, and get their numbers down." Darius then laughs to himself as Grom flings himself forward. "Leave the leader to be Grom's plaything Spots." Darius then leans out to start popping off shots. "Pew, pew, pew." He says to himself firing one bolt after another. Maybe he'll draw some blaster fire to him and take some off of the Sajin and Grom, but then again that means it'll draw it to Ve as well. So, hrm, good luck your graces!
---
Vasani is still kneeled down looking around he corner. She silently nods again as Darius says to target the weaker looking guys and she takes aim to fire at the same one Darius was shooting at. She can't really tell which ones are weak and which ones aren't after all, but she basically plans to shoot any of the guys thats NOT the one Grom is swinging at to start off with. She pulls the trigger on her DL-44 and the first shot misses... okay she was only a LITTLE distracted. Watching Grom yell and fight people is one of her favorite things after all. And now shes reminiscing on the fact that watching Grom fight was what brought her to Defiance in the first place. Wait- this isn't the time for that! She takes aim again, using everything in her to focus and shoots the gang member that had previouslt been shot by Darius.
---
"Funny enough, it's my name on the deed," Kasia replies with a smile that's definitely not genuine, no effort into making it appear so. "As for telling them to back down, I can try--" She really can't though, these people are the shoot first, and ask no questions later type. Shooting happens, that bolt flying past her location in the direction of Korvas. She doesn't wait for them to start firing before she leaps back into cover behind some crates that should hopefully prevent at least some of the fire from hitting her. Unless they start dabbling in explosives early on, in which case she's going to have a bad day. A worse day than she thought she was going to have? Something along those lines. She reaches down and yanks free the blaster she's got on her hip, but she doesn't fire it at anyone. Not yet.
---
Korvas Sol expects the Twin Suns to shoot first. Some drekking idiot on the other side shoots first, though, and Bren Calfen is lucky it doesn't hit him. He's not so lucky in the following barrage of fire, however, as bolts from two other directions smash into him and lay him out on the floor, killing him outright. The rest of the gang opens up, and a hail of return shots begin peppering the Defiance compound and tearing out chunks of the mesa wall or leaving blackened, scorched holes in the duracrete around them. Dax Hooge sinks a shot into the janitor running for cover, and while some take shots at those exposed in the door framings, most of the fire is concentrated on the huge blue alien attempting to cut down Korvas Sol. Jo Terrik and Dono Kahn answer.
And their answer is a pair of blaster bolts into the Houk. Korvas Sol quickly rolls back and draws his own weapon as the shootout begins. Any hope that blood wasn't going to be spilt today has been ruined. Korvas Sol had no doubt that it would go this way, and as the battle begins, he shouts out. "Kill the men! Leave the women alive!"
---
Zul Gradnk growls, as she holsters her pistol and sees Grom get hurt "You Sith Banta Fodoo banta crap!" she yells, draawinga grenade, unsecuring it and throwing it. How else could it be, she misses everyone again. At least she didn't hit her own team at least, which is a good thing, right?
---
Sajin slows his run towards cover as his eyes catch sight of... Rheisa... Half naked primitive togruta lady parts. Oh man, she was really workin' it today. They should come to tattooine more often. Though, the natural beauty of Rhesia and the moment Sajin is having watching that IN THE MIDDLE OF A GUN FIGHT is brough to an end by a blaster bolt slamming into his side. He catches sight of the perpetrator as he goes down, aiming his blaster and putting a bolt right though his head. He turns and aims towards the gang member next to his most recent victim but they say him comming and the shot goes wide as they move out of the way or to cover.
---
Umak's montrals are but little nubs just beginning to protrude out his skull. As such, his auditory sense is limited to whatever soundwaves are strong enough to pass the membrane serving as his 'ear', tucked beneath basal folds of his lekku. He doesn't hear the firefight. He's too absorbed in gnawing breakfast and trying to lead groat in an idle circle to nowhere. New pet. New pet, soon to be new milk, and later when all that's dried up, new supper. These are exciting times.
Rheisa, on the other hand, is on guard at her lookout/runaway post. The wrist laser catches the light between flaps of shawl like some heavily endowed bracelet and left hand clutches her bow while she scans the streets and rooftops yonder for any sign of Sephi. Or bad mens. Waiting is hard, especially when it sounds like this desert getaway is going involve serious rennovations to man and structure alike. "Umak," she casually speaks aside. "Who run more fast, you think? You or groat?" Into the comm, she says less casually and more hissy: "What is happen?"
---
There is only one downside to the Grom charge: it is predictable and easily avoided by someone on a swoop bike. Also it makes him a very easy target. Two, there are two problems with the Grom Charge. "STOP MOVING SO MUCH, TALKY BIKE MAN."
---
Up there, away from all the shooting and such, Naelyn's focussed now only on the melody of the patterns and code. Explosions and Blaster fire all fade to the background for him as he's looking at yellow and green and blue, eyes darting back and forth quickly until he finds what he's looking for. Its just a slide of a certain pattern, dragging and dropping it over into another program. He slices like he dances, a serpentine grace, weaving around and over and through to get to what he needs. He hears Rheisa over his comm but he/she is busy.
Another fluid keying of his fingers to create the command he needs and then pushing himself up into a crouch, he presses execute, and then sliiiides up the volume bar. It, starts as a buzz, and a faint ringing and then he pushes the feedback loop he's created from his own commlink to create the screetching level static and piercing noise over the comm signal he just sliced into. Today, he cannot rely on his ass to be distracting, that might come later.
---
Darius ducks back as a frag grenade goes off, pulling Ve back as well "Woah, WAIT THE KING IS OUT THERE STILL" He calls out to whoever threw the grenade. I mean Darius is totally not against some boom boom, but he enjoys the blue beast of a Houk. He wants him to survive this. "Good job darling, if my bolt doesn't kill'em you finish them off. Also comm Lockheed. Tell them to fire up the Varactyl, keep it ready for a quick escape." He tsks. "LEAVE THE WOMEN ALIVE? ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOURSELVES?" The young Captain calls out as he starts to light up another swoop gang member. Cause what is gun fight without some mild toxic masculinity?
---
"Keep the women? Uggghhh," Kasia's tone is one of pure disgust as she hunkers down a little. "They think they could handle the women here," she murmurs into the comms, which is no doubt confusing for poor Rheisa. "They're attacking, we're returning the favor." That's as informative as it's going to get right now, because she leans out from behind cover long enough to catch sight of one of the guys. It's not so much strategic as it is finding the first non-defiance person that she can and firing two shots off, which land. Yesss.
---
Zenie Zainab takes another pair of shots from the duo of lovers and collapses into the sand in a heap, dead before she hits the ground. Dax Hooge, who hit the janitor in the power armor, is given a gaping hole in the front of his chest. Seared flesh around his sternum and a smoking wound are hidden when he pitches forward face first, smashing his face so hard into the ground that his nose breaks. Jaxor Derrosk catches two, and Kasia's second leaves the edge at the top left half of his skill carved through with a nasty gouge from the powerful shot that instantly kills him. He, too, collapses into a heap, and the firing grows more frantic as the gang starts picking their targets at random.
Kel Chicri takes revenge for Zenie by putting a blaster bolt into the man calling all of the swoop gang women, and she resents the insult, because half the dreks in the gang aren't tough enough to be women if you ask her. Jo Terrik nails a shot on the one who threw a grenade at her comrades, and Korvas Sol? He's tangoing with an angry Houk with a huge ax. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me, you piece of drek. Or get outta my way!" He discharges his blaster close range, but the alien's armor takes the brunt of the shot. The Defiance compound, serving as the back drop for their fight, is absolutely littered with missed blaster shots, especially around the door frames and the crates. Two of the gang find themselves unable to act at all, because a horrible, screeching feedback from their commlinks distracts them. Gappo Cath and Fenn Rato quickly throw them away, while Dono Kahn is remotely unaffected by the noise.
---
Zul Gradnk aims her blaster at a grunt, firing with a pew-pew. Surprisingly, she hits. She doesn't see where, though, as a stinging pain fills her, causing her to stumble back into cover, twisting her face into a pained grimace, resting againts the doorway.
---
Sajin, no longer distracted by the briefest glimpses of sideboob from uptop, is now fully in the fight. His side smokes a bit from the blaster wound that's there and likely there's a bit of mangled and burnt flesh that can be seen of smelled. The Adreneline from the fight is starting to ware off a bit and is causing him to miss shots towards one of the gang members he had been facing down before. The third one strikes true though.
---
"..." Rheisa IS a bit confused by Kasia's words. Bad mens are bad mates is a concept that does make sense though, so...oh. What follows on that com satisfies the question mark formed in brain and she lowers the comlink with a slumped look toward the terracotta swell of sand-swept mesa at the end of 'Sunbeam' st that serves as HQ. Or would, if her pack's rights to the space hadn't been challenged. So she's two options: stick to the plan and stay here in the event that the littlest Ashkuri is evac'd out to her, or leave Umak here and put some arrows through some brain stems. The answer is obvious, but Rheisa's having a hard time just sitting idle by.
"Umak," she finally instructs. "Stay here and practice for me your 'watap'. Only with no sounds. Movements only." Umak's feet scuff to a halt and with an obedient nod he proceeds to show groat his steps and muscle-slapping manliness - the best that a four year old can muster. Groat's one eye glazes over like it couldn't be less impressed.
Taking just one arrow along, Rheisa slinks through the sand and stalks her way to the rim of the mesa, about an 8 o'clock position in that horseshoe. She edges the last bit on her side, profile kept as low as it can be to 'listen' and see with her sixth sense well as the eyes. Bodies are in motion everywhere. Her people are most close - below her, save for GROM who is waaay out there, swinging his axe. She takes in the scene with a sour feeling in her belly, counting heads of gang members still standing.
---
Grom continues lumbering after Sol, adding to the destruction of the courtyard floor with every swing. The swoop boss's taunt and shot cause Grom to narrow his eyes in curiosity. "Grom does not need your permission to chop, talky bike man!" He rears back again but hesitates- should he miss now, to avoid listening to the foe? Or.. "No, that is what he expects!" Instead, the brief hesitation seems to throw off Sol's timing and Grom... does what Groms do. The vibro axe cleaves through Sol's neck with gruesome effect, splitting swoop rider and then swoop into distinct pieces. With three blaster burns smoking in his armor, the Houk declares, "GROM WINS."
---
Two fingers pressed to his ears, to speak over his comms, Naelyn is rising to his feet and heading back out of the room. He caught the fountain of gore that Grom has created and he just murmurs under his breath. "I believe Master His Highness Grom has decapitates the leader...if anyone is hearing this and is not already in the melee, they may want to join..." His purring lilt still calm regardless to the noise of blaster fire and chaos. He has his medpack shouldered though, a veiled slender and graceful shadow trying to make his way to the top of the stairs so he can come down and tend to wounds but he is gets a bit frozen, looking down at the chaos and pausing in mid step as he murmurs over his comms in Ryl. "I cannot see the beauty and I cannot hear the melody, its so discordent, which dance step comes next...." He takes a deep breath, gripping his combat staff more tightly.
---
"The thing? Spots tell Marv to get on the turret-Argh" Darius grunts as a blast bolt flies across his left arm and he falls back into cover. "You slimy piece of shutta foodoo kriffing Di'kut" He yells towards the swoop gang twirling back out to fire off another shot. Though before he can shoot his blaster pistol clicks. Cause yeah blasters click when they are out of ammo right? Grumbling Darius ejects his power pack and slides in another.
---
Where has Hex been this entire time? How has he missed the spectacle of an entire cadre of Deflings being shot at and defending their turf valiantly from the churlish gang that threatens to overrun them? Where was their leader while they were in mortal peril? That's not been entirely clear, but the VROOM.... VROOOOM of an approaching speeder revving its engine announces that some. sht. is. about. TO GO DOWN. "AYYYYYYYY," someone's yelling over the sound of the engines, VROOMMMMM and then a speeder appears, sort of spherical in nature but with the hatches opened up. It's hardly the most intimidating thing to arrive in, but there they are, two men arriving in it. Hex Ashkuri and Tarion Tavers. Heroes. Pillars of the community. "WE'RE HERE TO PARTY," Hex yells as he pulls in wildly, managing not to crash the ball-shaped craft. It swings around to a halt JUST before it hits a wall, he jumps down out of the hatch, pulling a pistol like a hand cannon. "WHO WANTS SOME," says Hex, speaking at the volume of holler, and he fires, WILDLY! BOOM! ....He hits someone, for sure, just unfortunately it happens to be his wife. Right in the back side. Right on it. "....Oh, my bad, you probably didn't want some," Hex greets her, while the fight rages around them. Is he sober?
---
"Some. Sht. Is. About. TO GO DOWN," a dumb, snarky voice yells into the air, mostly drowned out by the roar of Hex's Ubrikkian landspeeder. It's Tarion Tavers, pillar of the community, last seen wielding a grenade and threatening his employers with it if he doesn't get a raise, but he's here to party now, and as they come hurtling in he opens fire with a quadruple burst that is so ill-aimed it goes flying towards Grom, his coworker. "GET SOME!" he yells, before the swing of the speeder throws him through the hatch and he goes hurtling into the sandy dirt where he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls, and stops, thoroughly coated in the ground, now. He's not moving. Oh wait, there it is. One arm pushes his body somewhat upright again, looking around with groggy eyes. "I got some."
---
A swoop bike charges through the Twin Suns gang, but the sentients firing hit none of them. As chaotic as that is, none of them can get the sight of the blue Houk before them cutting the head off their leader. Korvas Sol's skull completely separates from his neck, and a powerful spurt of blood fountains into the air as the head spins and lands somewhere in the sand away from his body. Shaden Sangha, who took one shot, takes another right through his eye socket and falls dead into the sand, twitching and with one side of his face horribly burned and scorched from the force of the superheated gas that hit him. Kel Crichi, who took a shot to the gut and ended up down on her knees, takes a final one to the chest and pitches back, bent awkwardly with her feet still pinned beneath her.
Cyern Corse and Kader Retarma, along with everyone else, open up at the Houk in retaliation for their lost leader. Their numbers are half gone, and Korvas' body is pouring what blood is left into his body into the sand to create a gritty, disgusting soup. The swoop that went careening through has kicked up so much dust that there's a thick haze rising into the air, making it more difficult to see. Not a single one of the gang decides to run. They're going to see it through to the last. They're all thinking the same thing: they want to take one of these bastards with them. "FOR KORVAS," Cyern yells. "TWIN SUNS!" Kader screams it. Gappo Cath, Mith Kilvaari, Jo Terrik, and Dono Kahn all echo the cry as they fire and they seek vengeance under the hot, twin suns of Tatooine.
---
Zul Gradnk sees Korvas get decapitated. The fountain of blood. The headless body. It is too much for her stomach, so the Twi'lek has to relieve it on the ground next to her, her eyes tearing up as well, disgusted. Due to her vision still not being clear, of course, her shot can't help but miss. Wait... there is something green "Hex!" she groans "Watch out! They almost got me!"
---
Sajin levels his blaster once more, putting another bolt through a gangster and cutting their numbers yet again. Instead of another shot he move to cover just as Tarion and Hex roll in. "Drek... did the bad guys get reinforcements..." He is not sure where everyone is in the chaos but he saw Grom cut a dudes head off. that was sweet.
---
"Six are 'okay'," Rheisa chances to whisper back into the com. "One look hurt." And there's Naelyn! Emerging into her view from whatever reccess of cave he was hidden in. A sigh of relief stirs some grains beneath her face and she curls up to look back down the slope to the tiny form of Umak ignorantly doing as he was told, unharmed. Okay. More relief. And even more's to come when the distant Vrrrrrrrrrrr of inbound Hex and Tarion comes into range except then an accident happens amid the chaos of the shooting and ... well, she can make herself scarce when that couple's spat happens later.
Confident that they're on top of this fight now, the Togruta prairie-dogs it atop her vantage point and nocks the arrow to cautiously aim through the smoky, dusty cloud forming below. Her head swivels to and fro, keeping a mental map of what bodies are in motion nearest the entrance/exit, farthest from /her/ people. Any'll do. She hasn't met them before, doesn't know their personal histories or how far up the scale of 'scum' they might rank. It doesn't matter. Mercenery '9001' is selected for the slaughter and she closes her eyes for just a moment to really hone in, digs her toes into the shallow sand and says a quick prayer to whatever entities dwell here to guide her arrow. Then she says something less reverent, opening her eyes to belt the threat of "Mrrgo sa och!" before letting loose the primitive projectile. It sails a whistling course toward that eye...but alas. A narrow miss. Well. She tried! Another insult in her native tongue is hollered out before she turns to run along the rim and back down the hill. Maybe they'll take the bait.
---
Grom wins! ...what's that, the fight isn't over? "OW, OW, OW," the Houk roars as the remaining swoop gang that surround him pelt him with a storm of blaster fire. "Stop that!" he orders angrily, peeking out from behind his axe (yes, he tried to take cover behind his axe) to see which tormenting enemy is nearest. He charges! ...until one massive boot squelches into Sol-mud. "Augh! Talky bike man grasps from beyond death-" his other boot catches on the wrecked swoop, and down goes Grom. "AUGH, SO DOES TALKY BIKE."
---
And it gets better, its as if his insecurity translates into a prayer and summons the Gods of Chaos and F-uperry. Naelyn takes a few steps forward, then a few more steps forward now...watching the crashes and the falls, and the trips and flips and so on and so forth and he just adjusts his grip on both his staff and his medpac and continues on his way...having to pause again because...he thinks better of it and takes a few steps backwards, returning to the top of the stairs and shaking his head slowly. He gonna wait.
---
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Kill them first, and we can deal with wounds later." Darius says peaking back out and seeing Hex and Tarion arrive in the speeder. At first he is excited, but then as they fire widely he is less excited. At least there is more targets for the baddies now! "Ve. I love you yeah? We gotta take some heat off of Grom. Cover me." He gives her a kiss and thens steps out of cover and starts shooting completely exposing himself. "HEY SHUTTA BRAINS! DO YOU WANT ME TO CALL A WHAMBALANCE FOR YOUR CRYING ABOUT YOUR DEAD LEADER KORVO SMALLS-O THE SMELLY BABY MAN?!
---
Vasani hears Darius tell her to kill them first and deal with wounds later and completely focuses in on the shooting, blocking out whatever distractions are around her... except for Grom cutting that guy's head off, that was sweet. After watching the decapitation and then- wait is that a speeder coming in here? It's really hard to focus around Defiance, okay, there's a lot going on. NOW she focuses and her second bolt goes off, hitting one of the gang members before she ducks back in to cover.
---
This is the worst timing for Kasia to get up and try to move to a different cover, get a better angle to fire from, she gets up and she runs. Hex, she /runs/ in this heat from her cover, crouched slightly so she can get behind another stack of crates further back just a little. So close. Almost there. Shot. She's shot. Right in the ass. Again. Doooowwwwn she goes, like a tall, slightly chubby tree, hitting the ground with a grunt. You can really see where she was shot too, there are scorch marks on the seat of her pants marking well where she was hit, and where her armor failed her. Not that it's really that great against blaster fire. "You shot me," she accuses Hex from her place on the ground, then groans as she turns onto her not shot side. "Hex, are you...?" She doesn't finish the question exactly, but it might be enough for Hex to understand. "Where have you been?" She ran, Hex, and she was shot for it. Betrayed. She's never going to run again.
---
Hex is taking no precautions towards cover or... caution in general as he reorients himself and starts firing, dropping one thug and then a second with a lack of remorse that suggests he probably needs extensive therapy. "I was delayed," he yells over the noise at Kasia, notably not answering the question she half asked. "I'm here now, ok ka?"
---
Tarion Tavers stumbles ungainly to his feet, the bounty hunter looking actually a lot the worse for wear after his ill-fated tumble from the speeder. "Hit me," he growls at the gangbangers nearby, while everyone else is doing their thing, slipping in blood, or... whatever. He's not really paying attention to his 'friends', he's busy. He's focused on the gangsters, the swoop gangsters, the swoopers, the swoop troop. He raises his repeater up again; it's heavy, his knees are weak, his palms are sweaty, there's sandy on his armor already, hair is messy; a surplus of mostly worthless bolts are loosed wild and willy at their bums. "HIT ME!" he shouts in a weird rasp, some sort of primal rage distorting his features. What's goin on here.
---
Gappo, Mith, and Jo go down. The Houk that was charging at them goes down, and in the chaos, those remaining think they've finally put enough shots into him to put him down. Cyern and Dono snap their weapons up towards the angle that has been raining death on them this whole time. Their weapons spit deadly bolts and catch the woman, while Kader fires at the man that's been talking drek to them this whole time and seems to be trying to cover her. There's only three of them left, now. The rest of the Twin Suns gang that showed up to collect a debt and extort money out of Defiance lie baking under the twin stars high in the sky, food for fodder. They're not the only ones bleeding, though, and that's all the remaining trio care about. Hurt 'em. Hurt 'em good.
---
Zul Gradnk tries to shoot one of the thugs, her breathing a little ragged, not noticing the comotion around her. She needs medical attention. Quick. And how her leg hurts. Surprisingly, the shot connects, causing the Twi'Lek to grin and to hide back into her doorway.
---
Once Hex and Tariom are identified as not being back up for the gang, the moral in Sajin rallies. Yeah he is hurt but he didn't care about the pain. He had to push. He rises from his cover and stalks yowards his prey as Zuls bolt hits its mark. He blasts the gangster next to him and then turns to aim and puts the finishing bolt in Zuls target. He stands there and shouts to the skies, "WHITNESS ME! KING OF DRIK!" Woah there buddy...
---
Her scouting task is done and she's used the single piece of long-range ammo on person for that sneak peek. Rheisa's kicking up a spray of sand in her wake, skidding and sliding back to her offspring and future beverage dispenser. "Umak!" she urges when close and stumbles to a halt with eyes so wide that her appearance startles him and he balks. "Be quiet," she commands as gently as she can and unfurls the oversized shawl from her shoulders to draw it up over him, twice-folded. "Hiding game," she whispers and rakes a bunch of sand thinly across the top before reclaiming groat's tether and looping it through the strap that lashes knife to leg. Two more arrows are pulled from the sand and she paces a couple meters away to crouch and wait. Just in case.
---
Grom staggers back to his feet, stumbles back to one knee in the Sol-muck, uses the vibro axe to lever himself back to his feet, kicks the smashed swoop, and looks around drunkenly for another foe. "Grom smash!" he roars, striking with all his mighty might and leaving the axe standing from the bloody dirt. "Grom wins!" he repeats, undeterred by the fact that he missed the target by several paces.
---
Naelyn loves his family, he really does...or something. You can see the love in his eyes, it just looks like worry, some dissapointment, and just overall acceptance which is a stage of grief as well. People are shot, it smells like burnt protein and if you set one of Tarion's socks on fire...also sand and dust. Its bloody and horrible but so far more of them are still standing than the bad guys and...he does not at all envy Sajin's job.
But right now...he is moving quickly to Vasani's side, murmuring softly in Ryl a soft prayer to the Goddess, as he sets his medpac aside and starts working on checking her vitals and finding her wounds and such, starting with wiping her face off because baby, she is too pretty to have a dirty face and he says so softly in Ryl, tsking and making soft comforting sounds as he tends to her.
---
Blaster bolts glide past Darius as he aims towards the last person. He is focused, those bolts missed him which is good. He was yelling and screaming and trying to draw their attention, take the heat off of Grom and draw it to him yeah? That was the plan. It worked, or so he thinks. Little does he know that the bolts that missed him, connected with someone else behind him. Someone he loves. "Sixer Niner! Marv! Hurry and get the Varactyl here, I'm hit and I don't trust doctors on Tatooine." He playfully says as he starts to turn to check on Vasani. Only to see Naelyn over her. Darius expression fades. "Lockheed." He softly speaks into the comm as he kneels down next to Vasani "Send a message to the wayside, and prep the hyperdrive for Nar Shaddaa."
---
Vasani hit that last guy with her blaster all good and well, but as she turns around to duck back into cover she feels two sharp painful warm feelings. One in her back and the other hitting her right in the knee. "...What was?" She coughs and the front of her helmet fills with a spatter of blood before she falls down to the ground, barely holding on as the pain feels like its taking over her body. It's almost peaceful... while also being utterly terrifying at the same time. She can hear in the distance more blaster fire, some yelling, but she isn't really sure what's going on. The Twi'lek tries to move, but her body isn't listening to her, it's in too much pain.
---
Kasia is slow to get back up, she was shot in the rear and it's really starting to burn, the way being shot with blasters hurts. It's a pretty large swath on her backside too, so you know, this is going to be fun. She slowly staggers up to her feet, and by the time she's there, everyone that should be dead, is dead. Some people are hurt. Really hurt. "This is going to be answered with more violence," she observes to whoever is around her, sighing. "We need to get the speeders ou of the garage and start taking people to get medical care. There has to be someone in town who can stabilize the worst of us, and then move on to Nar where we know doctors if we can."
---
"Grom wins!" Hex agrees with Grom, even though Grom's axe is way off the mark... way off. It's alright. Grom wins. Grom just always wins, it's one of the fundamental principles of the known galaxy, right up there with gravity and don't argue with Kasia. Hex steps forward to assist in mercy killing that last, rasping victim, but he's a little unsteady... So although he issues a sarcastic farewell in Ryl, "Ma'allesh," and then fires like a proper badass... he just makes a little burned, glassy spot in the sand. Sigh. He holsters the weapon. "Tarion," Hex complains, and then gestures vaguely, "Fix that, ok ka." Then he steps away toward the nearest person that is ACTUALLY dead, hefting up the thug to start making a grisly pile. "Wounded, triage on Tatooine, stabilize, go to Nar Shaddaa. Stay on coms, get Vasani taken care of. This is only just starting, ai'jouku, we're in for the long haul." He pauses, looking around at the compound.... then a silver flask appears in his hand, very briefly. A drink... then back to the tasks at hand.
---
There's Tarion, you know, the one who's actually shooting the last guy, frowning down at the corpse with little relish. "No one hit me," he remarks vaguely, shouldering the sizeable repeater he brought to the party instead of his usual gun(s). "IT'S FIXED," he announces to the group after drilling a quad-burst into the body. "Not gonna lie I was expecting a little more out of Mero." Whatever his name was. "Where is that guy anyway? I wanted to see if he's hiring. What're we doing with triangles now? You people amaze me. We just had a shootout and you want to do some kind of folksy triangle game. This is how we get into these messes."
---
Dono Kahn and Cyern Corse die at the hand man screaming at the sky that he is the King of Drik. Dono takes a shot to the throat which almost takes his head off and disintegrates his brain stem. Cyern takes one to the shoulder and then to the chest and spills out on the ground, heart stopped from the traumatic impact of the bolt smashing into his sternum. Kader Retarma takes two to the chest from loverboy and is sprawled out onto his back. The force of it knocks the wind out of him, and his next breath is more blood than oxygen. It immediately comes back up, flecking his lips, face, and the sand around him as he coughs up his own vitae. The wheezy, horrible noises coming from his throat bring frothy, pink blood next, showing that one of his lungs has likely been singed and badly damaged.
He lays wheezing on the ground as the huge Houk stands above him, waiting for the axe to fall and kill him. It falls, but it destroys a chunk of ground next to him rather than hits. Another pair of bolts smash the sand near him, but don't touch him. It's a Repeater that does it, and Kader is in the middle of telling the Houk, "Go.. kriff.. your--," when four bolts hammer into his torso and make him jerk the final few times his nervous sytem will ever fire. It's the force of that more than his own lungs that has him exhale the last time, spilling a river of red and pinkish blood from his mouth and onto the sand next to him. The entire Twin Suns group that rode here is now dead, leaving Defiance the victory. A bitter victory, as they are faced with the realities of the severities of their own wounded.
