Dirt (Open)

[Prygus]

( 1v1 )(No restrictions)

Brown. The color was the simplest and most effective way to describe the dueling ring on which today's events would play out. Located in a grimy pit of a town on Tatooine, the ring was constructed of some sort of earthen material, perhaps clay. Stands rose in concentric rings all around the roughly circular area, forming a target viewable from space, albeit with magnification. A booted foot stepped down onto the hard-packed dirt ground, eliciting a cloud of dust from the dry earth. Kaleko Sisk, mercenary and statistician, took several steps out onto the field, eyes squinting through the sweltering midday light across 40 odd meters of ground at the opposing entrance.

 

[Jiang Winters]

[ooc: Joining with Samanya Mohatu.]

"Another day, another battle," Samanya muttered as she double-checked all the clasps on her armor and ensured that all her ammunition pouches were loaded up with a full combat load of loaded magazines. She racked a round into the chamber of her CAR-15 Assault Rifle and then did the same to her LRA-48 Pulse Rifle, the latter of which she clipped to the backplate of her armor after activating the weapon's safety.

She double-checked her pistol, made sure it was loaded and ready to rumble, then brought her CAR-15 up into a combat stance, with the barrel slightly lowered. A HUD reticule sprang to life in her helmet's HUD as her armor synced up with the rifle, making it exponentially easier for her to quickly acquire targets. After fishing around in her grenade pouch to make sure all four grenades -two fragmentations, one flashbang, and one smoke- were present and accounted for, the Cathar took a deep breath, then let it out in a low growl. She was ready.

The door slid open a moment later. Samanya rushed out, boots throwing out a spray of dust and bits of earth each time they dug into the hardened and arid ground. Behind her armor, she was completely anonymous -her tail was concealed, wrapped around her waist inside her armor, her feline and female features were obscured, and so long as she didn't speak, her opponent would never know she wasn't a man.

Now that she was on the move, she knew she would have an initial advantage... An advantage that would be solidified if she made the first attack. After all, she could open fire, or she could act like a big-busted bimbo and let him shoot first, then scream and run around in circles dodging all his bullets. As she was a bit more practical than that, she decided to become the aggressor.

She raised her rifle and laid the targeting reticule on the man. The aiming reticule was bouncing an inch or two in every direction as she ran, the movement jostling the rifle and making accurate aiming difficult, if not impossible. It didn't matter, an initial attack would throw her foe off guard, even if it didn't hurt him. The Cathar opened fire, the rifle barking and spraying forth a pair of five-round bursts of armor-defeating rounds and tracers in her foe's direction.

 

[Prygus]

(OOC: Kaleko doesn't know that your character is a girl, but it makes writing a lot easier to refer to her as such.)

A trail of dust gradually rose behind the approaching aggressor. Armed to the teeth with what appeared to be an assault rifle, some serious looking armor, and, he noted coolly, at least one grenade. Her approach vector and the way she held her rifle appeared to indicate some sort of frontal assault. Statistically, this would be stopped at an appropriate range, where she would then light him up with her superior long-range firepower. This was, of course unacceptable. With a long, almost galloping stride, the statistician began his own advance, bringing his arms up and down with his stride. The fact that he was not encumbered by heavy armor or a rifle would have allowed him to advance farther than his opponent into the ring, but alas, it did not occur. Even as he began to stride forward, he witnessed his opponent's weaponry moving up into attack position.

Fully aware of the statistics of firing a rifle while moving, Kaleko Sisk quickly saw through his opponent's action. The move was clearly designed to move him, to throw him off balance. Moving with the thoughtless grace of a highly practiced individual, the mercenary struck. Sliding his boots hard along the dusty earth, his arms flicked across his chest, each finding the comforting grip of his two Lock 19 Automatics. Even as he turned, exposing his side to his foe, and thus reducing his profile to her, he brought both pistols to bear. Even at the range of approximately 30 meters, the dual slug throwers would be a force to reckon with. Sliding to a stop, side still turned, the weapons roared to life, firing a at a combined rate of 800 rounds per minute, or over ten rounds per second.

The two five round bursts of his opponent passed by, leaving him unharmed, their poor accuracy from the moving shot and his reduced profile causing them to meet nothing but dirt. A more significant threat, perhaps, would come in the form of 64 armor piercing bullets leashed form his pistols in just 4.8 seconds. The bullets were not aimed, but instead formed a frightful barrage in his opponent's general direction. Scattering into a cone of about thirty degrees in total, the bullets were not accurate, but the swarm of them was relatively focused. its strength was simply in volume of fire. Having completed his barrage, the human simply lowered his guns down past his belts, sliding the guns over the clips as opposed to the clips into the guns. The release mechanisms released as the magazines clicked into place, the mercenary standing behind the faint dust cloud that was still rising from his slide.

 

[Jiang Winters]

[ooc: Nice tactics.]

Much to Samanya's chagrin, her foe had not been thrown off by her assault as she had planned. Her charge had been for nothing; she would have been far better off holding her ground at her entrance and attempting to pick him off with her battle rifle. Not one of her poorly-aimed rounds struck their mark - all of them whizzed harmlessly about him. To make matters worse still, he had adjusted his stance and allowed his boots to slide along the earth, carrying him towards her as he produced a pair of pistols and as the last of her rounds tore into the soil and kicked up geysers of dust.

Her mind scrambled to find a tactic that would allow her to survive whatever he would counterattack with. Instinctively, she knew her armor was thick and rugged, capable of shrugging off pistol hits. Only high-powered rifles and armor piercing munitions were truly effective. However, the flexible material between the armor's plating was susceptible to pistol munitions. The chances of an attack completely missing those gaps in her armor were slim indeed, and she had no way of knowing what weapons he was using. She had no choice but to try to dodge.

The Cathar's next action -committed scarcely half a second after the man slid to a halt- was put into play purely by adrenalin and experience. She used her feline grace and strength to somewhat overcome the burden of her armor and throw herself to her right as she continued to run. Her foe's pistols were blazing now. While inaccurate, the sheer weight of rounds was more than sufficient to have guaranteed a few hits had she maintained her previous course.

Unfortunately, a thirty degree spread of slugs at thirty meters was very considerable and virtually impossible to completely dodge. Despite her last-second dodge, which minimized her profile as she flew forward and to the right, curling her body to bring her shoulder-plate into contact with the ground so that she could use her momentum to roll back to her feet, her foe's attack still found its mark.

Three rounds struck home. The first round to hit as she first began to dodge. The slug struck her left shoulder-plate at a poor angle. The armor's excellent ballistic curve caused the slug to simply glance off, the only evidence of its impact being a shallow gouge in the composite plate.

The second round struck the back of her armor; specifically, the thickly armored compartment that housed the armor's tactical computer. The round dug into the compartment but was stopped cold within a few millimeters. However, spalling on the interior of the armor -caused by the high-velocity impact and prevented elsewhere by soft armored fabric backing the plates- damaged the computer's power conduit, forcing the back-up to kick in. Fortunately, it was still functioning... For now.

The third and final round struck her left hip-plate at an angle. Much like the first round, the slug was deflected. It glanced off relatively harmlessly, though due to the angle it had struck at, the bullet followed the curve of the armor and zipped downwards, tumbling off the hip and thigh armor before bouncing off the shin guard. She'd survived, and luckily, her foe was reloading. She had a split-second to recover and counterattack.

The Cathar's dodge came to an end with her rolling over onto her knee, with one boot planted on the ground. Her armor was coated in dust and a cloud of dust followed her from the violent motion, but it didn't matter. The dust didn't keep her from spotting her target. With no cover around and her opponent apparantly skilled, she knew she was royally buggered if she stayed a static target. With one gauntlet-covered hand working in unison
with her legs, she thrust herself back to her feet and swung her weapon back up in an attack stance.

The targeting reticule -flickering from a slight lack of power but still quite functional- followed her CAR-15's motion. This time, she didn't fire wildly; she took the weapon into a two-handed grip, held firm, and started shooting. The weapon roared its defiance across the arena and sent forth a withering volley of no less than twenty 6MM slugs, shell casings flying from the breech like a stream as Sam held tight and swept the weapon across her target, sacrificing some accuracy to ensure that a simple side-step would not avoid the barrage.

 

[Prygus]

Questions filled the mercenary's mind. As he observed his opponent being struck by at least two rounds, he had realized that his thirty two round clip, although specifically designed and created to store armor piercing round, had instead contained normal rounds. This was a screw up he had made, no doubt long before even arriving a the arena, but it was a deadly mistake none the less. Such mistakes would kill him, especially if they occurred at the wrong time. Observing his opponent rising from her diagonal roll, Kaleko covered the options of the battle. Probability said his opponent would shoot at the first chance she had this time, and not uncontrolled bursts like the first time, but instead a precise barrage, only possible though the use of an assault rifle such as the one she carried.

Even as his magazines clicked into his guns, he prepared for an attack, his mastery of Statistical Combat allowing him to discern likely attacks before they even were launched. As his opponent's gun barrel was rising, he was falling, his legs sliding apart and his body rotating as he propelled himself to the ground. Falling backwards so as to hide the most vital body parts behind those less so, he completed his plan of avoidance.

Tee barrage arrived. Even as the fall was not yet complete, he felt a round pass just over his head, signalling the start. His plan worked flawlessly, however, as he also apparently had luck on his side. Instead of focusing her rounds upon the area where Kaleko was, his opponent spent valuable time and ammunition spraying to the left and right, leaving the mercenary but eight rounds to avoid. The first five passed harmlessly overhead, the sixth and seventh struck the ground directly next to him, but the eighth was far more effective. Mayhaps luck was paying his opponent back for his lucky plan, but the eighth round, as if guided by unnatural forces, dropped into Kaleko's side. the bullet grazed him right on the hip, luckily only deflecting off the bone, for its angle was weak, but the real damage arrived via his belt. The bullet sliced clean through the leathery material, causing Kaleko's largest supply of ammo to fall right off as the counterattack began.

Kaleko had realized from the beginning of the engagement that the range must be closed. He was far more effective at extreme close range, and his opponent's weapon had the advantage at both long and medium ranges. Thus, the mercenary began his tried and tested advance tactic. His arms, both placed behind his back, pushed off of the dusty earth even as the barrage was finishing on one side. Rising to his full height from the force of his push, he brought both guns, still clutched in each hand, and now reloaded with what he hoped were armor piercing rounds, he began his plan. Firing his left gun in a three round burst, he noted the distinct sound of AP rounds from his weapon. Heartened, he pivoted on his left led, swinging around ninety degrees, and firing his right gun as he spun, utilizing his training to its fullest. This was a situation he had trained long and hard to be prepared for, and now he was. Able to focus accurate bursts at any angle around his body, the statistician weaved forward, firing all the way in alternating three round bursts.

Pivoting from one foot to another he moved, not in a random method, but a mathematical one. He pivoted so as to keep his body not only a small profile, but also low to the ground. He did this for two reasons: first, being low ment being a smaller target, a rather obvious advantage. Secondly, and perhaps more effective, Kaleko had bet upon concealment from another ally: the heat. The extreme heat of the twin suns of Tatooine was likely to whip up mirages and hazes upon the ground, which he could hopefully gain a measure of security in.

Thus, with suppressing fire, evasive movements, and possible concealment, the man advanced, hoping to close in on the armored juggernaut.

 

[Jiang Winters]

[just a quick note, I knew he was using AP rounds before. ;) However, the deflection angle of the armor was such that the rounds, though perfectly capable of causing damage, didn't cause much impact. It's the same principle as sloping tank armor against weapon strikes. If she'd been struck, say... Straight-on in the chestplate, the rounds would have penetrated.
edit- Also, again, nice work. You're doing a kickass job of keeping Sam down. ^-^]

"Kriff me!" Samanya yelled in shock as the man opened fire. He'd survived her burst? At such close range? That wasn't good, not at all!

Now that the mercenary was closing in on her, using a unique and hard-to-predict tactic that kept him in constant motion while making the best of the hot and dusty terrain, the Cathar was forced to switch up her tactics. If he wanted a close-in fight, then she'd give it to him. But it would be on her terms, on her own turf.

As he fired, she bolted sharp left. He was good - bullets snapped and whizzed all around her with dangerous accuracy. A few struck her armor - one round buried itself into the thick armored 'collar' around her neck, yet another bullet stuck her shin armor and glanced off, and another found its mark in her Pulse Rifle's stock, tearing its way through the weapon and rendering it useless. A final round impacted her thick chest-plate and carved its way through the sturdy metal and composite.

It was an incredibly lucky shot - even assault and sniper rifle slugs could only bore through the metal, yet the pistol round, through pure luck, caught one of the 'seams' in the armor and slid through it. Luck was also on Samanya's side: the soft body armor backing and her armorweave bodysuit -which covered only her torso- were able to stop the round, which had been slowed by its passage through her armor plating. Nevertheless, the impact was still substantial and caused her to stumble for a moment, though sheer adrenalin kept her moving.

As he continued his assault, the Cathar made a move to check his attack. Wielding her rifle in one hand, she popped off several rounds in his direction, while searching around in her grenade pouch for her chosen tool of destruction - the cylindrical flashbang grenade.

Her gauntlet wrapped around the cardboard-bodied grenade. She tore it out of the pouch and kept moving as she used her forefinger to pull the pin out of the grenade. It was a little trick she'd taught herself, to keep her weapon hand free to put suppressing fire on her enemy. Suddenly, she whipped around as bullets continued to tear through the air around her, and used the momentum of her sudden spinning motion to lob the grenade at her opponent's feet, two meters in front of him.

The flashbang grenade was armed on a impact fuze, with a 3-second secondary fuze. It would detonate the moment he hit the ground. Due to their proximity, both would be deafened. Samanya, however, continued to run, forcing herself to look away from the grenade as she opened fire with an automatic burst from her assault rifle, haphazardly spraying the remainder of the clip -a good thirty rounds- at her foe. Unfortunately, one of his final bursts caught her: A single round carved into the unarmored back of her left thigh, causing her to cry out in pain and fall to one knee, skid, and slump onto her side, face still facing away from the grenade.

While the wound would partially immobilize her, at least her foe couldn't take advantage of the injury, not immediately. Once that grenade detonated, he'd be stunned for at least five or six seconds. That would be more than enough time for her to get out her pistol and pump lead into him... Or for her to spam him with grenades.

That is, of course, assuming he wasn't able to recognize that the black-cased grenade, normally indistinguishable from a fragmentation or incendiary grenade, was a flashbang. If he was able to realize what was sailing his way, it'd be a simple matter for him to quickly cover his eyes with his forearms, shielding himself from the visual stun of the grenade.

 

[Prygus]

Throughout the human mercenary's gyrations, long glimpses of the armored warrior flashed by, giving the statistician a patchwork of data as to his opponent's position. It was not without weaknesses, however, as he was nearly caught by a haphazard burst by his foe with his back turned. The inaccuracy of one handed rifle firing kept the rounds mostly off target, but one came close enough to tear his clothing, making a small rip in his left sleeve. redoubling his efforts to observe his opponent, he was not caught off-guard as he saw his opponent pull out a grenade of some sort.

Having been caught by several rounds throughout the course of the battle, his foe was now likely to be desperate for victory, or to at least wound the elusive human. This, and the fact that the high tech armor would no doubt protect its user from shrapnel, but not high explosives, revealed to the mercenary that the cylinder now leaving his opponent's hand was none other than a fragmentation grenade. Thinking fast, Kaleko executed the only plan he could think of, and it failed miserably. Hoping to misdirect the grenade and put it as far away from himself as possible, he flung his left gun from his hand, trying to intercept the grenade in midair.

The mid-aged mercenary's aim was true. Striking the grenade approximately half-way between the two combatants, any ordinary fragmentation grenade would have been deflected and landed back near its owner; however, Kaleko's critical mistake would now be made plain. Instead of deflecting, the stun grenade detonated right at the point of impact with a deafening bang, shocking Kaleko right out of his current thought. A massive bright flash erupted just as he spotted his opponent opening fire with her rifle, now falling to the ground.

The gun throwing tactic utilized by the mercenary would give two benefits to Kaleko. First, and unbeknown to him, the premature detonation occurred before his opponent would have turned, thus catching her even as she began to fire her automatic weapon. Regardless of her plans, she was most likely now caught in the blast. Secondly, and immediately obvious to the flinching human, was his eyesight. The flash had taken out the vision in his left eye without a doubt, but his right eye was another story. Because the grenade detonated on impact, the Lock 19 Automatic still right next to it in mid-air as it flashed. This was useless against the bang, but the grenade's flash was partly obscured by the gun, which happened to be lined up between the mercenary and his right eye. Thus, the right optic of the man known as Kaleko Sisk remained largely intact as he staggered in the aftermath of the explosion, giving him a bad, but still adequate view of the battle.

And so he dived. Hoping to finish the fight, he flung himself to the ground, sliding forwards a good bit and hoping to avoid being struck by what had been his opponent's already blind barrage. Knowing that his opponent must be blind, or would have had to at least have looked away, and was definitely deaf, the human emptied the eight rounds remaining in his clip, receiving but one bullet to the back of the thigh from his opponent's ill conceived barrage. The wound had nearly no effect, as he was placing no weight upon his legs at this point. He hoped that his final barrage would be effective at the extreme close range, now about ten meters, against an opponent who most likely didn't even know they were coming.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The grenade detonated early. Luckily for Samanya, she had anticipated a premature detonation, for the moment she had thrown the flashbang, she had forced her gaze away from the device. As she hit the ground she let her rifle fly from her hands. It would take too long -at least six to eight seconds- to reload its empty magazine. Her ears were ringing as she rolled onto her stomach and shielded her head with her left arm, keeping her left side to her opponent and slid her right hand down to her thigh holster, where her pistol was safely tucked away.

Just as her hand wrapped around the P-32's familiar grip, she felt impacts ripple across her body. Her foe was still firing! A round slid between the plates of armor on her left shoulder and tore into the flesh, sending a jolt of agony flaring through her body. Another round tore into her already-injured leg, while another two rounds embedded themselves into her uninjured leg, utterly immobilizing her. A fifth round found the unprotected region of her left flank, and while slowed by the soft armor, it still penetrated and drilled its way into the soft tissue beneath. The wound was not immediately fatal, but it hurt like hell and would need cauterizing or bandaging within ten or fifteen minutes, otherwise she'd go into shock from blood loss.

The sixth and seventh bullet flew true for her head. Luckily, she had managed to shield her helmet with her arm. One round effortlessly punched through the soft armor covering her forearm, gouged through her bone, and only slowed to a halt when it over-penetrated and was captured by the soft armor on the other side of her arm. The seventh round struck the armored back of her gauntlet, slowed, then was stopped when it penetrated into her hand. The eighth round, through sheer, stupid luck, whizzed harmlessly overhead. Nevertheless, the barrage was near-disabling, and earned a cry of pain from the Cathar.

She bit her lower lip to stifle her pain as she pulled her weapon out and willed her battered body to move. She rolled onto her back and yelped in agony as her wounded thighs crunched to the ground, but she held on. She had to be strong; if she gave up now, she was dead. It had taken her but a second and a half to move from her front to her back, and now that she had, her right side -uninjured and combat-ready- was facing the mercenary.

It took her only a split second to acquire her target. Though her body was wracked with pain, her gun hand was just steady enough to inflict accurate damage at such a short range. She lined up the iron sights with the man's torso, and fired. Once. Twice. Three times. Four. Five.

Half the clip of high-velocity armor-defeating rounds were sent flying towards the man, with just enough time elapsing between each round's firing to overcome the effect of the weapons recoil and maintain accuracy. At such close range, with both target and shooter laying on the ground, there would be no dodging. The bullet's travel would be virtually instantaneous; far faster than the eye could see or the ear could hear. Samanya was counting on those rounds to kill - if they didn't, she had but half a clip left, and with an injured left arm, she would be unable to reload. This was her last stand.

 

[Prygus]

(OOC: Thanks for coming, and damn good fighting! My character was just not multi-purpose to win; anyways, good job! On a side note, I was looking at your Rouge Shield faction, and I have a pretty good concept for a character in it. Look for it soon :CHappy:

And so it ended. Even as the mid-aged mercenary attempted to jam another clip into his gun, reaching behind his shoulder, he watched his opponent steady herself and draw a pistol. Sliding the magazine into his pistol, he tried to propel himself back up into a kneel with sheer leg strength, only to collapse due to his leg wound. He saw his opponent sighting her weapon and struggled to roll to the side, causing the bullet to only graze his chest, leaving a shallow gash. He attempted to raise his weapon as the second round struck him square in the chest, passing through his ribs and left lung. The third round hit at an obtuse angle, and deflected off of a rib, breaking it none the less.

Kaleko Sisk jerked spasmodically to the left, causing the fourth round to hit him in the right side. It passed through his gut, all the way through to the other side, where it stopped, lodged against his hipbone. The mercenary pulled the trigger on his gun, and didn't release it. His arm fell to the ground in the general direction of his foe, firing round after round at the ground by the armored victor's feet.

The fifth round, whether by some act of fate or simply a current of wind missed his torso completely and glanced off of his forehead, leaving a scratch, but more importantly knocking the man out. Clearly, the fight was over, but the man's survival was not so sure as he passed out of the realm of the living, at least for a while. And so the fight concluded.

 

[Jiang Winters]

[OOC: That was one epic fight, mate. Two thumbs up to you, that was very memorable. It was bloody close for Sam there; if it wasn't for her armor, you'd have buried her. I was really on the seat of my pants there; you'd come up with some creative ways to work around her attacks before, so I had some fingers crossed there at the end. ^-^ Anyways, I had a load of fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with for Rogue Shield. =D ]