Ask Tatooine Defending the Heart of the City

[Kendar Samuels]

OOC: After 1 round of posting combat will officially begin

A small ways off from one of the major spaceports, there was small community where scavengers made their trade. If you needed something old and potentially broken that was the place to find it. Various species walked around, most of them speaking the language of the Hutts, as they attempted to swindle one another and get the best deal they could get. Too bad half of the salvage was basically useless in non trained hands, so not many people were around to buy it.

However Kendar was one of those people and he wasn't here for any particular reason. But he does know that sometimes the scavengers can bring up something really interesting and if they underestimate their cost, well Kendar could get a really good deal. Though at the moment, Kendar was discussing with one of the many scavengers on a crate of slugthrower ammunition that he has found. "Yes! These are very good! Pristine even!" The scavenger said in Huttese as he picked one of the slugs. "Brand new, I swear!"

Kendar shook his head as it was obvious that the ammo was not neither pristine, nor new. His best bet was that the crate was stolen off some Tuskan Raiders or something, but he probably didn't want to know the actual truth. "I get you're trying to make a living here, but let's be honest. These are pretty low quality and the price you ask for is simply way too high."

"WHAT?!" The scavenger suddenly shouted, turning some heads towards the two. "I will not have filth such as you insult my merchandise!" He proclaimed and almost made Kendar wince with his voice's volume. He seriously did not want to deal with disgruntled merchants again, but here he is. This is going to be a long day...

@Eden @Edgestriker @Grifter

 

[Leon Terrick]

Leon zooms across the sand in a Flithauler speeder bike he had rented for the job. He had went out to bring in a small time fence that was peddling stolen merchandise. He was coming up on the small trading community that the fence was known to operate in. Slowing the speeder, he pulls in to park the bike near the other various speeders and other methods of transportation. Disembarking from the speeder, he scans his surroundings. It was a rough crowd, with more than a few criminals that he wouldn't mind taking in. But he was here for one particular and didn't bring backup. Hopefully he wouldn't need any.


"Voxx, swing around the north side and see if you can find our guy. Ill go in from the south here." Leon says to his panop droid companion who floats up off the speeder bike.


"Roger that, Sir." The droid responds in its droidspeak before floating off. Leon settles his hat on his head before walking into the makeshift streets himself. Stares and remarks followed him, a Sector Ranger was not normally a sight these lot wanted to see walking down their street. He walked slowly, taking in the wares while maintaining an awareness of what was around him. There's no telling who he may run into in a place like this.


Coming up to a small merchant booth he stops after seeing something that catches his eye. Well two things actually. A Czerka-76 Blaster rifle just like his pops had when he was a boy and armored chest piece that seemed it was likely new. He haggled a little, but soon he was placing his new Enforcement chest armor on under his brown jacket and continuing up the street with the Czerka-76 held in one hand, resting on his shoulder with the muzzle pointed upwards.


A particularly loud scavenger, yelling at a would be customer over a crate of slugthrower ammunition draws his attention. With a smirk he pauses, watching the exchange. "Voxx, found the perp. Come get eyes on so you can track him if he rabbits." Leon hails his panop Droid over his comlink.


"I see him, Capt. He won't get away from me. With that, Leon finds a wall to settle down next to. No reason to cause a ruckus just yet. He would wait awhile and see if he could approach his perp in a more quiet location.

 

[Hiranikorssa]

Hir'anikorssa strode amidst the bustle of the dusty tech market, hood clinging to her brow, darting her eyes over the marketplace. Scanning it in her mind. Thoroughly. In this community, scavengers and vendors of all kin and creed came from the shadows to offer their tech in exchange for what credits their buyers could spare. Most of it was ammunition. Some of the more expensive traders had weapons to sell, too. But the most valuable tech of all was collected by pawns of the Hutt Clan, as it had been on Tatooine for many generations. Sure, some of their scavenged parts were practically useless, and sold for far more than their true worth. But that was all part of the gamble.

There you are...

Her cloak wafted out further as she picked up pace. It was one of the scavengers, a particularly fiery Nikto of the grey-skinned kind, by the name of Mekta Quush. He was not the most reputable of salesmen, if the rumors were anything to go by, but he worked for the Hutts. And he had something she wanted: or, more accurately, something that she had been tasked with acquiring. Tendrils of smoke spun out the chimney of a nearby spice den as the Jedi split her way through the crowd. The Force came alive within her then, her eyes shut tight. It was there. What she had come for, hidden away amongst all of the junk that Nikto had with him. She felt it, clear as day.

Kyber.

The stolen lightsaber.

It wasn't hers. Although she had the option to build her own once, not all that long ago, Hirani had turned away when the time came. She was not ready back then. Perhaps she was now; but, for the time being, her focus lay entirely on her missions. On her training. On becoming a true Jedi: one worthy of the rank of Knight, and worthy to wield a saber in the name of balance, with purity of heart.

Before she could reach the stolen weapon, the Nikto exploded.

Metaphorically, of course. The man was seething with anger, having, apparently, been insulted by one of his potential customers. She only caught the last bits of their brief exchange.

"—filth such as you insult my merchandise!" Quush shook, with fist-clenched ferocity, almost as if he would draw a blaster on the other man merely for the slight against his parts. Mekta only calmed down when he realized how much attention he'd drawn to himself. He then turned away from the man he had been arguing with, to tend to the bits of scrap metal on the far side of his counter.

It was then that the Jedi sensed something else. In the commotion, many eyes had fixated on the Nikto, some almost hoping for some excitement to liven up the dry comings and goings of the little community. Others—Hirani felt—couldn't hope more that the confrontation would not turn to violence. They all knew what the Hutt clan was capable of. But she sensed something more than an uneasy tension in the air. The Force was circling darkly, in a way she hadn't felt since... Ord Radama? Or was it Mygeeto? She breathed in and readied herself.

Something was coming.

[ @Grifter @Tomce795 ]

 

[Kendar Samuels]

They was drawing too much attention. Which wasn't anything surprising, Kendar does that all the time. But this time he wasn't the one making all the attention. That was the good Nikto scavenger, too stubborn to look past his own bellow average merchandise. It was an odd predicament in his eyes and for once he almost didn't want to escalate the situation. Keyword being almost.

"Alright." He suddenly said with a small smirk. "I'll take one magazine" Slamming down a few credits on the makeshift counter, he grabbed a magazine out of the crate, ignoring the slightly perplexed look of the Nikto. The magazines themselves were only a small 5 round box magazine, but it would work for this demonstration. Without a word, he grabbed his Cycler Rifle and loaded magazine, charged the rifle, removed the magazine and threw it back on the table with one less bullet. At that point, everyone's attention was on him while the scavenger was looking more than a little bit scared. Good. He thought. Just the way I like it.

He turned around to face an old abandoned speeder, completely devoid of parts except for the metal carcass left behind. No one would miss this hunk of junk. He took aim and fired off a shot towards the carcass, the round piecing the outside of the carcass, but not coming out on the other side. Kendar let out a small 'hmph', before grabbing one of his own magazines and repeating the loading procedure. With another round in the chamber, he let it loose on the metal carcass, but this time the round pieced the carcass entirely and impacted on the sand behind the old speeder.

Turning on the balls of his feet, he faced down the scavenger. "This," he noted, tapping the still attached magazine on his rifle. "Cost me a lot less than what trash you're offering. So I'd say it's best to reconsider your pricing." If Kendar could smirk anymore smugly, he would, but he just settled on placing his rifle on his shoulder and looked at the Nikto.

A few moments of silence passed between the two, before the scavenger spoke up. "Fifteen percent off."

"Twenty five and I'll throw it whatever I placed one the table."

"Twenty, no more."

"Twenty two."

The two of them stared each other down for what seemed like minutes but was actually just a few seconds, before the merchant gave in. "Deal." Kendar smiled as they began discussing the amount of ammo that he would like to walk away with. Slowly, but surely there rest of the marketplace returned into it's normal state of quiet squabbling.

---

Not too far away from the marketplace, near a hill, a group of Tuskens were gathering. Some wielding their signature Cycler Rifles, others equipped with gaffi sticks. Wordlessly the ones with the rifles scaled the hill with the stick wielders close behind them. Once at the top they took a knee as they took aim. The distraction of Kendar shooting his gun proving a valuable distraction for the Tuskens to take aim at their preferred targets.

The regular business of the marketplace was not restored for long as the first shots fired, impacting several bystanders, merchants, scavengers. When the shots sailed through the air, the gaffi stick wielders charged down the hill towards the marketplace itself. And the people only heard the shouts of the traditional Tusken warcry.

The raid had begun.

@Grifter @Eden

 

[Leon Terrick]

The first shot was just a display to attempt to get a better price on some ammo. The second however came from a hill toward the west and unfortunately blew a chunk out of the Fugitive he was there for. After that, there was chaos. Tuskan war cries and cycler rifles echoed over the cries of the innocents that previously roamed the streets. Some ran, others hid. This simple day just got a whole lot more difficult.


"Voxx! Be my eyes! Where are they?" Leon called out as he hit the dirt behind a short wall. As he waits for his droid to report back he takes out his Scout HUD and affixes it in place over his right eye. It would seem his new rifle would be getting a nice work out.


"Tuskans on the ridge. 135 yards west by southwest, 12 meters elevated. Raiders closing in, 50 yards and incoming." The droid responds in droidspeak over the comlink. Leon grunts as he pops up over the wall, resting his rifle on the wall itself. Thanks to the droids help he knew where to look which helped him find his target. He lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger. The first bolt struck the rocks just before the Tuskan, the second however struck true and toppled the raider backwards. He ducked back down under the wall and sighed. There were too many bystanders. He wouldn't be able to protect the whole place by himself. Hopefully there would be others that would stand and fight.

@Tomce795 @Eden

 

[Hiranikorssa]

Hirani tapped her boot on the ground, rhythmically. The fuss between the stranger and the Nikto had calmed down somewhat, and to her ear, they seemed to be bargaining in a more typical fashion. Then, at last: a price that they both seemed to like, moving on determining to the desired amount of ammunition.

Come on.

The Padawan was never one particularly good with patience, but she was quite sure she would get her shot at bargaining for the lightsaber, if she only waited. She was very much incorrect on that mark, though. Though a blaster had been fired in the form of the stranger making a demonstration of Quush's munitions, the sound of another rang out through the village, rippling out from across the dunes. The bolt flew clean through Nikto's back, leaving only a hole decorated with a fizz of smoke and poorly cauterized muscle, where his heartbeat had been moments before. It would have horrified her, but she'd seen it all before. And in that moment of realization—that the Sand-People she had heard so much about were raiding before her eyes—she could only think of cover: not for herself, but those who were about to fall to Tusken Cycler-fire.

With that as her primary goal, she leapt over the counter of Quush's little set-up, and Force-pulled the stolen lightsaber into her grasp.

With a luminescent flourish, the bright green blade hummed to life, and Hirani began deflecting the oncoming barrage. She would try to save as many innocent lives as she could, herding them out of harms way under her protection.

After all, if this could in any way be resolved peacefully, the Padawan considered it her duty as a Jedi to do so. She couldn't bring herself to kill any of the Raiders: in her mind, there had to be a reason for their attacks, and thus, there had to be a way to bring about peace with minimal harm to both sides. Of course, it was possible she would have to choose between the life of an innocent and that of a Tusken...

Hirani deeply hoped it would not come to that.

[ @Grifter @Tomce795 ]

 

[Kendar Samuels]

Not what I expected to be doing today.

His exchange was cut short by the cries of Sand People rushing over the ridge and down into the village. There were at least a dozen of them, some wielding close range gaffi sticks and the others sitting on top of the ridge with Cycler Rifles. A bolt flew past his face and impacted the Nikto he was talking to. He crumbled to the ground instantly and Kendar wasted no time vaulting over the stall. As he did so, he managed to spare a glance at the scavenger's body. It didn't look like he could have survived that one. "Blasted Raiders." He spoke quietly in Huttese and began setting up his rifle on top of the stall.

Bystanders were all over the place. Too many people here, too little time to get them away. He'd have to get rid of the Sand People otherwise this would get ugly fast. As he was setting up a blue Twi'lek managed to get behind the stall with him.

"There's a lot of them, some on the hills, others running down towards us!" He shouted as he took a couple of shots towards the Tuskens on the hill. He didn't hit them, but he did managed to get some of their heads down in fear of losing them. "Keep running back! I ca-" He was interrupted by the activation of a cylindrical object in the Twi'lek's hand as a bright green blade appeared. A lightsaber.

Kendar's mouth was slightly agape. Rarely did the Jedi appear here, but when they did it was usually very impressive. His distraction of the newcomer Jedi proved almost fatal, as the far off Tuskens continued their barrage. Luckily, the Jedi managed to deflect some of their shots, probably saving his live. "Nevermind! You just keep doing what you're doing!" He shifted his position slightly away from the Jedi, since he didn't want to lose a limb today and decided that his priority should be the Tuskens on the hill. He also noticed a man with a rifle fighting closer to the frontline and made sure to keep glancing at him in case he gets overrun.

@Eden @Grifter

 

[Leon Terrick]

Leon popped up for another shot, slugs impacting the wall around him from the Tuskans rifles. Just as he squeezes the trigger something impacts his blaster from the other side of the wall causing the shot to go wide. Leon was recovering from the unexpected hit to his rifle as the first Tuskan leaps over the wall. It turns and swings it's Gaffi stick at the Ranger who manages to dodge out of the way. Leon blocks the next swing with his rifle and then forces the Gaffi stick away and driving the butt of his rifle into the Tuskan's face. As it stumbled back Leon swings the rifle around and fires a bolt into the Tuskan's chest just as it had began to advance on him again. Cursing, Leon glances around. The Sandpeople were on top of them and they still had covering fire from the hilltop. Unless he did something fast, lots of innocent people would die. He had heard a slugthrower fire from behind him before the Tuskan came over the wall, had to be the same guy buying the ammunition. After a quick scan of the area, Leon spots him.


"Hey! You think you can deal with those riflemen?" He shouts over to the man, as he drops his own rifle to draw his Frontier-90 with his right hand and situates one of his Stununckles onto his left hand. He looks at the man again and only just sees the the lightsaber wielding Twi'lek that was near him. Hopefully she knows how to use that thing. He thought to himself.


"I'll draw the ones here away from the civilians. But those riflemen are a big problem!" He says again as he leaps up on the wall. "COME ON YOU BANTHA KRIFFING SANDPEOPLE! COME AND GET ME!" He shouts and moves to jump forward onto the other side of the wall where the Raiders were coming from. A slug skims off his left shoulder and he was suddenly very thankful he had bought that new armor. Without hesitating, he jumps down off the wall and into the incoming wave of Raiders.

@Tomce795 @Eden