Joint Ventures

[Azar Torsin]

The air was thick and swampy and every step seemed as though Azar Torsin sunk a little deeper into the sludge but he was determined to make his way through this. You see, this route was the only way that the Cartel had left unguarded for this very reason: it was a nasty place to try to make your way through.

After nearly an hour of stepping through sludge and swamp, his boot finally struck solid ground and he had never been so happy for it. Sweat was already beading on his forehead and he reached up to wipe it on the back of his glove. He had come out here with a small republic task force, helping them work their way through the bog to scout ahead and now they needed to find out precisely what they were up against.

He was expecting it to be more of the same and that was to say that they would be outnumbered and outgunned, but then the Cartel was made up of a lot of people who weren't well-trained. An RJF soldier was better trained and so was a Jedi. Here was hoping the Force was with them.

He looked around the side of the facility and saw ten guards strewn about. Although they were in various states of alertness, it was becoming evident that there were more than a few people. At least they had reinforcements of their own to call in, but not until the time was right.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex was not even remotely thrilled at having to work with a glowbat wielder. She had a deep mistrust of Forcr users, and she found the entire concept of the Force unnatural. She was convinced they existed simply to twist and manipulate minds, and she had kept her distance for as long as she could manage it. However, with the Sith growing as an Empire, it was becoming more and more obvious that the Republic and Jedi needed to rely on one another. Their enemy was massive and powerful, and it would take them both to stand together when that inevitable fight came to their doors.

It began now, however, with operations against the Republic’s more pressing enemy – the Hutts. The Hutts had taken more than a few strikes at the Republic by now, though it had been nothing excessively overt. As a result, they had been left unchecked and allowed to continue with their corruption across the galaxy. When the operation to lead a strike force against the Hutts came up, Lex was quick to jump on it.

Before she knew Jedi were involved.

Now she found herself trudging through swamp and goop, right next to a Jedi. She had her rifle in her arms, her heavy armor and gear making it more than a little difficult to make her way. The Jedi was light on his feet, and he was leading the way. Lex purposely kept her distance for a while until she could see the facility.

She spotted the guards outside, and she slowly came to stand next to the Jedi, “That’s much more than we were told,” She muttered out loud, “They knew we were coming,” The operation got a lot more complicated.

Lex began to make her way towards a path that would line up with the facility from the side. It was a longer way around, but it would hopefully allow them to avoid a direct confrontation. One of the other soldiers stepped out ahead of her and exploded after he took several more steps. Lex sprang back, “Mines!” They had just become sitting ducks.

 

[Cazar Mindingo]

"Wally! Stop stealing!" Caz screamed to his little droid as he walked through the delivery area for his latest haul. It was well guarded and he was told to stick around for a while longer. The little Jawa hated being tied down, but he complied for now. His ship was in the landing zone waiting for takeoff still. Wally the little droid had set the preps for launch already. A little Jawa was likely hard to see wandering outside, but he was out with his droid just doing the rounds and passing out cookies to guards.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked outside as a mine went off. Commotion began immediately and one guard still had a mouthful of cookie crumbs as it shouted for reinforcements. Cazar was freaked out and pulled out his tiny stun pistol. It was useless at this range in such a big fight and so was he. Well, not completely. The Jawa sent Wally behind cover to hide while he found his own cover and stole a 2-L Blaster Rifle that was propped up against said cover. No one was using it for now. The Jawa looked stupid with a bigger weapon but he managed to lean it against the short, half-meter, stone wall and fire two shots towards the first thing he could see and hear. A Jedi, though the Jawa did not know that. @Phoenix

"Utini!"

 

[Azar Torsin]

Azar's fingers strummed lightly across the trunk of a fallen tree as he watched the sentries moving around here and there. It was going to be much more difficult than they had originally intended and a dark cloud seemed to settle over Azar's mind. Something wasn't right. Something bad was going to happen. It was the worst feeling to know that something dreadful was on the verge of occurring but having no clue what it was. That was the curse of being a Jedi at times.

It could be a trap, he concurred with her, though he wasn't ready to leap to that conclusion just yet. He glanced over at the RJF lieutenant. She practically radiated distrust and perhaps even disdain in the Force. It wasn't uncommon to sense that in people as there were many who thought the Jedi were nothing but zealots and baby-snatchers, but Azar had a very different perspective on things. He'd grown accustomed to the looks of disgust, but he was a bit disappointed to find it in an ally. But perhaps he was overestimating the emotions he felt.

He glanced back to the guards once again when the mine went off. He'd not seen it coming and his head spun around so fast it looked like it would come off. He wasn't normally a jumpy man, but that was more than enough to nearly make him piss himself.

Immediately, his head spun back around to face the guards who had heard the detonation as well. It was... bad. This was really bad, and he knew it. They were trapped here and would be drawing fire very, very soon. We need to draw them off, he said. The goal had not been to engage in actual combat yet, but they were out of options now. Their target building was directly in front of them and the guards would have to come from the other side since they didn't patrol this swamp side. That left the two of them with an opportunity for a few easy shots.

Follow me, he said, hoping she would actually follow him since this plan wouldn't work nearly as well without a blaster. He darted forward, crossing the open space to the building as he ignited his lightsaber and deflected a pair of bolts into the ground. His momentum carried him into the wall and he grunted from the impact of running at nearly full speed into a wall, but he had momentary defilade from the gunfire of the Cartel troops who would have to reposition to fire at him. He used that moment to cut a hole in the wall that the two could slip through and (hopefully) shoot the enemy in the back.... hopefully. Even if not, the saber was in between him and where his enemies would be if he needed to quickly maneuver it out of the way to defend himself.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Follow him? Lex was getting tired of having to do that. She was used to being the one to issue orders, but here was some damn magic wizard bossing her around. She kept her comments to herself, knowing they were facing a crisis. Someone directly in front of her had become a splatter of guts on the ground, and they potentially had the attention of the entire facility on them.

“I’ll cover you,” She finally muttered, almost too low for him to hear because she hated mentioning it. Lex was not going to let her personal prejudice get in the way of a mission. For now, he was an ally and she would respect that. She raised her rifle, prepared to fight back against anyone that shot at them.

She rushed in behind the Jedi, impressed to find him deflect the shots back. Lex didn’t stop back and she fired off two shots back towards where the shots came from. She only did it when she saw she saw a tiny head peek up, though she couldn’t make out what the hell she was shooting at. Lex provided cover while the Jedi cut through the wall, and she quickly ran in behind him to enter the building, “Do I need to be a Jedi to be able to use a lightsaber?” She jutted her head towards what he had just done, also thinking back to the blaster deflection. Despite her feelings, she couldn’t deny how impressive that skill was.

@Phoenix @Cazar

 

[Cazar Mindingo]

Return fire was expected. Caz had good cover and used it quickly when shots came his way. The Jawa hit the floor and the bolts flew overhead before eventually hitting the building behind him. He wasn't able to quickly fire back due to using cover, so he missed his chance before the hole in the wall was cut open fully. Caz noticed it from where he was due to not focusing on the battle while in cover. The pair had run towards another area and he followed as quickly as he could while using the his short size to keep some cover.

"Behind! Utini!" The yell of the Jawa would be easy to ignore, but some seemed to notice.

Cazar was not a warrior fit to engage intruders, but he was cute and curious. Wally was now more vulnerable and Caz was worried. He wasn't far from the landing pad and could maybe try to flee soon if needed. A crash could be heard as the hole was cut, and it came from a building nearby. They had cut their way in somehow very quickly that Cazar did not understand. He fired blindly into the building to attract attention even further before hiding behind a wall near the landing pad. If it got too hot he would leave these Cartel troops to their fate while he went home to his snacks.

 

[Azar Torsin]

Azar's shoulders relaxed a bit when she actually decided to help him out, not sure initially if she was going to be helpful or leave him to die. But then, just leaving him to die because she didn't like him would have been petty and she seemed to be too efficient to be petty.

He thought he caught momentary sight of something small and squirrely running around on the battlefield before he crept inside the room, but after a mere moment more, he could no longer see whatever it had been, but it wasn't gone for long. Not necessarily, he said, not having time to explain that deflecting gunshots required more than skill with a blade, but swordsmanship could be learned eventually with hours of practice. And it was practice that the Jedi thought was well worth the effort.

Their plan had... somewhat worked, it seemed. A Jawa - apparently that was what he'd seen - began to open fire on the door and several of the other thugs did the same, exposing their backs to the fire from the Republic soldiers whose cover was mediocre, but then the Cartel were no longer looking that direction. They were now fighting a battle on two fronts. For his part, Azar moved past the opening in the building. His movements were swift so as not to present an easy target and his saber deflected the shots coming in at him. It should give Lex an open window to shoot them while they were distracted.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex was happy to provide a scenario that had the Cartel sandwiched between two groups of Republic soldiers. She was too into the fray to catch the little jawa waddling about, but she she didn’t miss the Jedi quickly look in a specific direction long enough to warrant the location of something dangerous. She ducked for cover as the blind shots came again, the engagement leaving the immediate cartel members dead.

As far as she knew, the Republic soldiers only had medium casualty all things considering. Luck was on their side – or maybe it was thanks to the Jedi. She kept close to him, moving rapidly into the building and pressing her back against the opposite wall. Before she moved on, she drew out a frag grenade and cooked it. After a moment, she hopped back towards the hole they made and lobbed it over towards where the jawa and a throng of Cartel thugs would be.

Lex didn’t stop to see her handiwork, and she moved deeper into the facility. She kicked down a door that led to the next room, this one filled with only two thugs. One raised a gun towards her, and she immediately mowed him down with her own, leaving the Jedi to take care of the other.

@Cazar

 

[Cazar Mindingo]

Cazar did not belong in the heat of battle. This was not his element. It was getting too chaotic for the little Jawa who decided that a flashing lightsaber, shots, and a grenade were a bit much. He never saw the grenade really, he had made his leave towards the landing pad and dropped the stolen rifle. His tiny hands dug into his pockets to find cookies which he munched while motioning for Wally to get to the ship. Caz would rather not die here. As he reached the corner to enter the hangar an explosion rocked where he had been standing earlier. He managed to avoid it by giving up early. Quitters always win.

"Wally. Come come! Fly!"

The Jawa ran to his freighter and would take off if not interrupted.

 

[Azar Torsin]

Things seemed to be working out decently well. The grenade and the gunfire had managed to wipe out several of the Cartel guards and their little distraction had given a window for the Republic troopers to take cover and begin returning fire without being in the open. It was enough to make Azar smile grimly as Lex moved on to the next door. She burst through and he followed directly after her. A blaster shot rang out from Azar's man and smashed into his right shoulder, burning a grazing hole across the armor and causing a grunt of pain to escape the Jedi's lips.

In a flash, however, the Jedi was upon his enemy, ducking to his own left quickly as his left hand lashed out at the hand holding the blaster pistol. He hit the wrist aside as another shot rang out, flying just past his head and striking the wall behind. In an instant, the Jedi had swept his right hand - saber in hand - in from his own right to left and the sizzling blade swept through the thugs arm at the elbow, removing it quickly. The man screamed out in pain, but there was nothing he could do as Azar swung the now-severed arm around and clocked him with his own limb, knocking him unconscious and sending him slumping back against the wall.

Outside, the sound of rapid blaster fire filled the air and flashes of light from auto-turrets accompanied it. The control center has to be in this building somewhere. If we don't shut those turrets down, they'll be ripped to shreds, he said, referencing the soldiers still left outside. We need to find our way to the top floor, he said, but even as he said it, he could see the turbolift had been shut down. Do you have a grappling hook? he asked, hoping she did, but if not, they would have to improvise.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

“Yes I do,” She answered his inquiry about the grappling hook as she quickly nabbed an ID badge from a dead Hutt. She tilted her head to look at him curiously, “How do you intend to get up?” Could Jedi….levitate? She wasn’t exactly sure, and she wasn’t going to wait to find out. Lex made her way over to where she could see a lip to grapple onto to get to the higher levels. She first made a quick check around herself to ensure no one was firing on her before she shot the hook up, latching it.

From there, Lex made her way up a few levels up, though they could take stairs from here. She made her way towards an adjacent room, kicking down the door to find a console. Using the limited knowledge she had, she used the badge from the soldier to log into the console and find a schematic of the facility. After a moment, she was able to pinpoint where the control center was, “We might be able to actually lock down the building and trap the thugs inside until we can bring reinforcements,” She downloaded the schematic into her datapad and began to move again.

Despite her feelings on Jedi, this man was proving to be quite useful so far. She wouldn’t change her opinions on them just yet, but she wasn’t entirely hating working with him. Lex made her way towards the control room, which required going up a staircase. As soon as she took the first step, a thug rounded a corner and open fired. Lex cursed as she took a blow to the shoulder, the impact sending her back. She whipped back around, her back plastered against the wall, “I think there are at least three of them blocking the stairs to get to the control room,” She reached for her remaining grenade, wondering if that was a better option now.

 

[Azar Torsin]

I'll be right behind you, he assured her as she asked how he was going to get up. He was just glad she had brought a cable of her own along. He spun around to face the exit with his saber raised as he heard her grappling hook fire up and clang against the ledge, signaling that it had found its mark. Perfect. Up, up we go, he thought to himself, keeping alert to ensure no one came up behind them, but there was no one. No Cartel troops had chased them and none of his senses indicated anything unusual.

He glanced back to his partner and as soon as he saw her disappear over the ledge, he pulled the Force to himself and leapt upwards. It boosted his muscles in his legs and gripped his body, flinging himself upwards to land with a slight flip on the ground. While he was not typically a fan of flips and the like, it made a landing like that a bit softer. He followed along after his partner, waiting to see if anyone appeared or not, but there were still no signs of their enemy. In fact, it seemed so quiet he was slightly unnerved and his mind was set on edge.

He noted the security badge in her hand and was glad to see it. That should make moving through the building much easier. Good thinking, he said, waving to the badge and knowing that he hadn't thought of it himself. They seemed to be making a good team, and he even thought he might have sensed just a smidgeon of the hostility decrease.

He looked behind them and as soon as he did, blaster fire burst from the top of the stairs and he leapt back, slamming ungracefully into the wall but avoiding being cut down. Life over limb, after all. He saw her reach for her grenade and gave a nod. I can make sure it bounces just right, he said, with a wave of his hand, indicating the Force. On your count, he said.

He waited for her to throw it and as it bounced off the wall, he threw up a small barrier to keep it from bouncing back down to the pair. It didn't. Azar ducked down and covered his ear, burying the other in his shoulder as the grenade detonated above. The echo through the stairwell was deafening and his ears were ringing badly, but there was no sign of movement from their enemies. He scowled slightly at the sound in his ear before raising a thumb to indicate they had been successful.

He pressed onward up the steps, wincing slightly at the sight of the bodies above. The grenade had done its job well and they were beyond mangled. It was a messy smear comparable to a real battlefield. He didn't stop to stare as he pressed into the main control room. Their luck held, and the control room was empty of all but two men. One was overweight and looked like he drank too much space mountain dew and the other was just a kid. Both immediately held their hands up in the air in surrender.

Do you know how to work this stuff, he asked Lex quietly enough that the two couldn't hear. He was dreadful with computers and hoped she knew slightly more... or at least could figure out how to shut the facility down. She'd already shown greater aptitude than he had in the skill.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex was surprised at his suggestion on controlling the grenade. They had that level of precision with their abilities? She drew out the remaining grenade and cooked it before lobbing it over, and she ducked back behind the wall as it exploded. There was nothing but silence for a moment suggesting that it had done its job. Lex quickly rushed up the steps, finding nothing but guts and limbs to show that the move was extremely effective.

She pointed her gun at the two in the room, both ready to surrender. As the Jedi asked if she knew how to work the console, she grimaced beneath the mask, “I’m…so-so..” She looked up at the two they cornered, neither of them looking like they were actually tasked with doing any of the programming. With a sigh, she used the personnel badge to get into the system.

After identifying where the turrets were, she attempted to shut them down. However, an exception catching flag came up and suddenly alarms began to blare. The turrets didn’t stop, but the fact that there was a breach in this room was now sent as an alert to everyone within the facility. Lex began to panic.

“Shit shit shit. I need to lock this place down stat!” She tried to type a few more things, but it only made it worse. The alarms kept screeching and she could see on the cams that people were rushing over to this room, “Call for backup we're about to be overrun! I’ll keep trying…I guess..”

 

[Azar Torsin]

Things didn't seem to be going too well for the pair anymore. There were no guns being pointed at them yet, but he had a feeling it wasn't far off. On the bright side, he was fairly sure their allies would have finished off the resistance already, but that didn't mean they could come help the two who were deep inside the enemy compound.

He opened up his comlink immediately, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice. We need immediate support. Enemies converging on our location. We are being overrun, he said as he slammed the button to close the door and shoved his saber into the panel, melting the controls and wires to buy themselves a few moments.

He hurried back over to where she was, but it didn't seem that they were having any better luck now. We need to get out of here. We can try a "manual recalibration" below, he said. It was a really fancy word for saying he wanted to find the power generators and shove a lightsaber into them below. It should shut down the turrets and if they got really lucky, it might seal the building.

His saber lit up again and he carved a hole in the ground, letting a circle drop to the floor below them. Come on, they won't expect us to go this way, he said as he heard the sounds of blaster fire against the outer door. It would only be a matter of time until they brought a plasma torch or explosives to get through and he didn't want to be here when they did.

He dropped through the opening and began cutting into the next floor, hoping to reach the basement where the generator would be... probably. The generators will be in the basement, right? he asked, pausing to look at her and hoping he was right.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex observed him as he cut a hole open, and she jumped down below, “I really need to get my hands on a saber,” She admitted out loud. It was more to herself than anything, but she knew he would have heard. Though she hated running, anything was better than facing an entire facility’s worth of thugs. Then again, considering how half of them seemed to run away, perhaps there weren’t too many enemies left.

They went down a few floors before the Jedi suddenly turned and ‘hoped’ the generators were down in the basement. Lex gave him a perplexed look beneath her helmet, “You mean you were just guessing? We have a map of the place, you idiot!” She couldn’t believe him! “As a matter of fact, they do happen to be in the basement luckily. The doors would be under lockdown, but we should still be able to saber our way down.”

She waited for him to cut through again before she hopped down with him, having led him towards where he needed to cut. Lex landed in a crouch, pointing towards the generators, “There you go,” She motioned for him to do whatever he needed to. Lex glanced back towards the doors, “Those are sealed shut, so pray that your saber can cut us out…”

The moment the generators had anything done to them, alarms would blare to once again give away their location. They had to hope that the generators would also lock down the facility.

 

[Azar Torsin]

Of course he had been guessing! This was all just flying by the seat of his pants, there was no plan to what he was doing here except try to stay alive. At least it seemed that it had been working out for them so far. Call it intuition, he snarked as she mentioned that the generators were in the basement. Good, the Force seemed to be with them. It wasn't their day to die.

He followed her along and cut where she indicated, giving them a path to the generators. He dropped in behind her, landing lightly with the aid of the Force and making his way over. Here goes nothing, he muttered quietly as he plunged his saber in. It began to glow after only a few moments and he could hear the sound of something grinding down as if it were shutting off.

A moment later, the lights turned off and red lights came on. The sound of bolts slapping into place indicated that facility was locking down and a klaxon began to blare a moment later. I think that's our cue to leave, he said. They'll be here soon, but hopefully with the turbolift shut down that won't be soon, he said. Now it was just a matter of finding a path out and then getting the rest of the troops clear of the line of fire... no big deal.

So he kept going with his lightsaber, making her jealous as he carved another hole through the wall and out into the swamp. Immediately, the humid, smelly air of the swamp rushed in and Azar was reminded that that short bout in here was all the air conditioning they were going to get. The sounds of gunfire still rang out and he could see a trio of Republic troops exchanging fire with Cartel. No one seemed to be hitting anything, but in the distance, the Jedi's ears picked up a low, menacing hum that seemed to indicate something foreboding.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

Lex rolled her eyes as he called it intuition. Of course, what else could it be? She watched him get to work for a moment before she glanced up to ensure no surprises dropped below. Within moments, the red lights came on. She followed the Jedi out, still marveling at the way the saber seemingly cut through walls like a hot knife through butter. Lex scrambled out after him, not hearing the humming noise just yet but she did spot the trio.

She decided to provide cover, leveling her gun and firing off a few bolts to drop the Cartel enemies that didn’t expect fire from behind them. Lex spoke into her comms to identify herself to the Republic soldiers, and they held their fire as she and the Jedi made their way out. That was when she heard the noise that the Jedi heard before, and it appeared to be an armored military vehicle with a gun mounted atop it.

“Are you kriffing me right now?” Lex shouted in exasperation as she made a beeline in the opposite direction. She had to cross back over the open terrain before the vehicle decided to strafe her, “You couldn’t cut through that thing quickly, could you?” She called out to the Jedi as she ran, glancing back over her shoulder, "I'll have to call in reinforcements to take it out!"

 

[Azar Torsin]

Things just kept getting better and better. Azar ran out of the building and heard the hum of the tank moments before it opened fire, nearly cutting him down. He dove to the ground behind a small berm as blaster fire chewed up the dirt. He was now half-covered in swamp water and drenched, but at least he wasn't dead.

Yes, it's my fault the tank showed up! he said, deciding not to point out the fact that they could only get to the generator because of him. It was certainly not time for an argument. She mentioned calling in reinforcements and he shook his head vigorously. They won't have the firepower! We should fall back, we've already done what we came for! he said, looking to the swamp. Granted it was a hovertank, but even it would have a difficult time navigating the trees and underbrush. If they could make it to the tree line, they should be in the clear.

I'll... draw its attention, he said dubiously with a wince. It wasn't the best plan, but someone needed to do it, and he wasn't about to let everyone here die. Get ready to move and then turn around and cover me! he shouted over the sound of the gunfire. He got ready to do so unless she had a better idea. Otherwise, it would be pop up with a glowstick and try not to get shot.

 

[Lex Kyrst]

“Of course it’s your fault!” Lex shouted as she ran, “You have magical powers! You probably could have predicted its arrival and just didn’t say anything!” She almost slipped over the swampy terrain, leaping over a boulder and crouching behind it. Shots sprayed out towards them, making a line through the ground and ending inches away from where she had been running.

Lex nodded at his words and quickly brought out her rifle to cover him, “I don’t know what you’re about to do, but good luck,” She said nothing more as she watched him go, and she quickly fired off her weapon to allow him cover. Lex covered some distance before ducking behind another boulder. She paused only for a moment before leaping out and firing off a few more rounds.

“Are you alive? I don’t have visual,” She commed him. She heard an awful lot of gunfire from the tank, and she hoped the Jedi was still making himself useful. She paused for a moment before she spun back around to see how things were progressing.

 

[Azar Torsin]

It was bad news as far as Azar was concerned. Teammates blaming him for the moves of their enemy, enemies with tanks. It was just all very bad news and now Azar was probably going to get killed doing this.

He leapt to his feet and the tank opened fire as his saber flashed around. By some miracle, the Force was really with him. He was practically a blur as he both dodged and deflected blaster shots with such precision that he even managed to strike them back at a few of the cartel troops. His saber twirled through the air and he almost lost track of his own movements as the Force seemed to take over for him.

A quick glance over and he could no longer see the Republic soldiers, which he took to mean they were free and clear. He made a run for the swamps as blaster fire chewed up the ground behind him. She called him over the coms and he replied between broken breaths. Alive... and... on the way... he said, clearly short of breath and legging it like there was no tomorrow.

He passed into the trees and didn't pause as he kept running. Come on! he shouted. The sounds of the gunfire continued to crack in the distance, but they grew more and more quiet with each moment. After a few minutes of sprinting, he pulled to a stop, bending over with his hands to his knees and breathing heavily. I think... we're clear... he said. He didn't want to stop for long, but he could use the breather at least, and no doubt the troopers could as well. It looks like... we made it...