Open Ossus Kyber Poaching

[Helen Summers]

Age is just a number! Don’t worry Helen! Keep going! Motivating herself, Helen tried to rationalize this, she REALLY wanted to look at some lifeless Kyber crystals-and she also needed some living ones too. Why she hadn’t simply just joined the Jedi coming here to begin with she didn’t know, it escaped her. However she assumed they’d be done with the little assignment and she could meet up with them and have them help her with her research-for the archives will never be complete if no one is getting the information.

Helen speeded across the surface, coming to a stop by the open cave. The elderly woman daintily climbed off the speeder, unstrapping the metal cane from her back, the purple matched her robes which were the same color, sighing as she began walking into the cave, she reached out into the force, finding... joy and-fear? The old woman narrowed her eyes, looking ahead of her in the wide open caverns Helen could see a man-or woman, she couldn’t tell, walking forward... With a droid maybe?

While she couldn’t pinpoint who was walking forth before her she COULD tell that something was going done, the fear and bloodlust that tugged on her senses assured her of that, planning quickly Helen decided to see if this thing in front of her was a friend or foe she made her voice sound weak as she bellowed “Hey sonny-what are you doing in here?” The old woman kept two hands on her cane as she gobbled further into the mine after the creature that was infront of her.

The blue eyed woman advanced forth, expecting a fight she didn’t predict upon arrival if this entity was a foe. Her senses were as high gear as she continued to approach the figure in front of her, calling out again she asked, “Are you lost sonny?”


The female Jedi awaited an answer, as she began to worry the worst for her fellow Jedi.

@Rhogar

 

[Kyp]

Kyp switched his tactics. Continuing to fire his blaster rifle towards Byron in a supressing pattern, he also launched a wrist rocket. The rocket had a blast radius of 3 meters and Byron would find it difficult to divert or dodge while also continuing to take small arms fire.

@Rhogar @Darasuum @Stick @TheSparkler

 

[Rishe Vakren]

Rishe wasn't a saber duelist, and wasn't very powerful in the Force, but she did have an iron will and good discipline. The droid's taunts seemed to fall on deaf ears, her face a mask of lethal concentration. She focused on the droid, not bothering to out-finesse it. Her stance remained simple but strong as she kept up the pressure, continuing to try and push the droid back further.

Agility and training could only take you so far. And if the droid admitted it was old? It managed to dodge her, seemingly keeping its blaster in one hand and a vibroblade drawn in the other as it remained on the defensive. She had both hands on her saber, so she didn't mince about with her bludgeoning. The Padawan relied on strength, momentum, and leverage to try and crush through the droid's single-handed guard with a swift pair of overhead strikes, huffing with exertion after each blow. It wasn't elegant, but Form I rarely was, and if she was able to force her saber down, she might be able to sever a shoulder or worse.

@samdragon @Rhogar @Darasuum @TheSparkler

 

[Orenth]

Blaster bolts from the lepi's weapon would seemingly zip past Byron with only one needing to actually be blocked. An accurate weapon was only that, a weapon. The precision of the rifle still needed a relative stable control and the delay or evaporation of marksmanship did not slip past the Jedi's awareness.

The woosh of the armor mounted weapon system would send the rocket streaking towards the two jedi down the long hundred and fifty feet path. Byron raised both hands again, this time to deflect the missile as it came towards them. Its new target, the commando droid's back who was still facing the Jedi and liking to flap its non-existent gums. The edge of the explosion would likely take the droid out of commission but not risk hitting Rishe.

@Stick @Fantasy Liver @samdragon

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Taldorak could almost taste the fighting up ahead, until he heard an elderly womans voice. Rayna at the ready and leveled, he'd turn to face the voice. "What are you doing here? What you're doing is trespassing, I work here. So now, you should leave." Rayna would hum as she was primed to fire, though his finger stayed on the guard. If Jedi were here, then this old broad had to be one of them. He made sure his back was to the wall, so if the other Jedi caught wind they couldn't attack him from behind.

Luckily, in the event of any sudden attack, he'd be prepared to fire his repulsor.

@TheSparkler

 

[Rishe Vakren]

Spoiler: OOC Note

It's been more than 48 hours since my post, so I'm going to take the autohit on BX if that's alright.

The first strike battered against the vibroblade. The second she brought down with a yell, exerting all of her strength both from body and the Force. Her Shii-cho wasn't perfect, but it wasn't a form meant for perfectly precise, elegant strikes. She drove her saber downwards against the vibroblade, momentum and force allowing her amber blade to slice down into BX's shoulder, disabling the arm holding the blade. That only made it easier for her to carve a semicircle outwards away from its chest as the arc of her strike came to its conclusion. Her saber sang out with an electric cackle as it flared back in the air.

Without wasting time, she jumped to the side, her loose hair and robes flowing about her before she landed in a half-scrabble, starting to run in the direction of that distant mandalorian. Whatever had been redirected towards them, Rishe was certain it would finish the droid in just a scant few seconds - and if it didn't? It was disarmed. Her mind was already processing the next move, keeping aware of the narrow battlefield around them, and the remaining target. He was focusing on Ryker, which might let Rishe get quite a bit of distance before he changed targets.

@TheSparkler @samdragon @Darasuum @Fantasy Liver @Rhogar

 

[Orenth]

Byron heard the padawan yell as she forcefully disabled one of the commando droid's arms. She jumped out of the way as the edge of the wrist rocket's blast slammed into the back of the droid. Wracking it with hot shrapnel, it would be thrown to the ground of the tunnel. Its smoking chassis indicating it was not in fighting shape any longer.

Rishe was wise enough to keep out of the way of the blast and know that there was still the other hostile to take care of. The Mandalorian was arguably the most violent one present and his passions were observed. Like the padawan, Byron took off towards the Mandalorian. There was likely the chance the Lepi would continue to shoot either at him or focus his attention on the padawan. All the same, Byron would begin to run forward with the same intention of dodging as needed.

@Stick @Fantasy Liver @samdragon autohit due to timeout/unaddressed attack

 

[Helen Summers]

The elderly woman listened to his words and the hum of the man’s droid, she wobbled closer, as she spoke, “I mean you no harm, and neither do the Jedi up ahead... Please, lay down your weapon... I am an elderly woman and elders mush be respected, or did you never have a teacher? Come with me, lay down your weapons and we can sit, as student and master, I can teach you-you may not be a force sensitive but there has to be more in you besides your lust for money. These people are evil, harming the Kyber crystals, they are screaming in pain!” Helen’s aged face locked in a determined frown, she added, “If you refuse my offer of peace, then I will have to add your name to the slain in the archives.” With that, her right hand twisted the top of her walking stick, in an instant, it had split in half, the now worthless purple half fell with a clang onto the floor of the cave, whilst the smaller shining purple hilt lay in her hand, with a mechanical buzz, the Amethyst blade fizzed into existence, striking a defensive pose Helen emphasized “I will not harm you if you do the same to me, sonny, I don’t want to hurt anyone, I’m merely here for my research.”

@Rhogar

 

[BX 166]

Spoiler: OOC

I hugely apologize for not responding in time, real life has been very hectic lately

BX looked at his arm with a seemingly surprised look, and he looked back at the Padawan. His internal alarms blared as they spotted the incoming rocket, and he lunged forward, trying to avoid most of the impact and explosion while pouncing onto Rishe to try and pin her down against a wall or on the floor. Despite that though, the explosion still damaged plenty of his body, essentially destroying his legs and damaging badly his back.

"Go to the mining operations base at the end of the cave, take the explosives there and blow up this goddamn cave! If we can't have the crystals, these sons of a kath hound won't have it either!" he said in his internal communicator, sending the message to both Kyp and Taldorak

@Darasuum @Stick @Fantasy Liver @Rhogar @TheSparkler

 

[Kyp]

"Damn!" the Lepi Mandalorian swore to himself as the Jedi pulled off some bullshit Force Abilities. Cowardly tricks if you asked Kyp but no one there did. So, he decided to fall back on the familiar and used his blaster to fire bolt after bolt at Byron's leg. The closer the Jedi got to him, the harder it'd be to deflect it bag, made harder still by the difficult low angle the bolts were coming in. If Byron somehow managed to get within arm's reach of Kyp without taking injury, he'd smash the butt of his blaster at the man's face.

@Darasuum @Stick @Rhogar @TheSparkler @samdragon

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

His repulsor still primed, he'd save it for a defense. "Oh yeah, I respect the elderly, just not of your kind. So how about you step aside so I can kill your friends, save mine, and you can record their names in the halls of the slain. It's a much better offer. Because this won't end the way you're so confident it will, Jetii." He'd go quiet as the earpiece went off, relaying the comm from the droid.

His visor would shift so he could see the other two Jedi advancing, and with a precision snap, he'd aim Rayna down the way and fire a short burst at Byron's backside. The old Jedi would need to sacrifice either position to deflect them or cry out for Byron and pull his attention to deflect them. His visor would shift to Helen as he squeezed the trigger, the arm with the repulsor ready to fire if she attacked.

@Darasuum @Fantasy Liver @samdragon @TheSparkler @Stick

 

[Rishe Vakren]

It was a shame Rishe couldn't hear the droid's final command as it spoke into it's comm device. Maybe she would have paid more mind to the droid's final attempt to corner her as it jumped.

Even with the incredible agility of the BX series, it would only shear her robe from her, and the padawan let go of the billowing garment as she continued charging towards the mandalorian, the hasty deflection costing her a few seconds. The droid may still be a threat in the near future even without working extremities. The logical part of her mind knew she couldn't keep an eye on it through the force, and that concerned her. But she couldn't waste time, for the mandalorian had made a severe mistake.

He had ignored the padawan rushing towards him. Amber saber ignited, casting a golden, fiery glow over her tunic, the mandalorian would hear the crunch of her boots on the kyber-dusted floor before her saber whined as she cut a 45° arc in the air, trying to bring it down and through the mandalorian. No quip, no taunt, just concentration.

As she did, she heard very distant blaster fire, and concern swarmed through her. There was a third shooter?

@Darasuum @Rhogar @Fantasy Liver @TheSparkler @samdragon

 

[Orenth]

Byron felt the staring eyes behind the emotionless T visor as bolt after bolt came streaking towards him. The hot anger and violent desire to see Byron dead was as clear as the bright bolts meant for his legs. The shots were aimed low and for Byron's fastest moving body part it did still give him pause in his advance. The aiding force and light attire allowed the agile Knight duck, block and dodge closer though unlike a lightsaber he could not reflect the shots back. The motions were less direct and made less forward progress but it would keep him from getting hit by Kyp's rifle fire.

The Knight was not solely on the defensive. While it appeared like he wasn't lashing out he was simply closing the distance and waiting for the moment when the Will of the Force would come crashing down. In its present form, it was both Rishe and Byron.

If the Lepi Mandalorian stopped firing at Byron and the heat of his anger turned towards the younger Jedi in training, Byron's gauntleted hands would reach out and pull the Mandalorian in his armor laden body towards him. It would pull the warrior over the cover if he did not resist and do it far from a gentle manner. But more than likely it would just slam him roughly against it.

Far behind the two Jedi, Taldorak saw Byron running in the distance and thought it wise to turn away from the elderly woman close to him. Byron didn't feel much in the way of danger from the man but he would soon realize why the Jedi did not react. The blue bolts from his blaster were not as far reaching as they had just been, Taldorak forgetting he had changed from sniper configuration earlier. The shots would be inaccurate and lacking in much power. Instead they would not even reach as far into the mine as the downed commando droid. The shouted words regarding explosives had certainly reached Byron's ears. Despite acting like a surly old man at times, the Knight wasn't hard of hearing.

@Stick @Fantasy Liver @samdragon @Rhogar @TheSparkler

 

[BX 166]

With just one limb left, the poor droid couldn't do much, so he dragged himself towards the closest wall and behind some crates so he would be relatively safe until someone recovered him, or decided to put him out of his misery, so to speak. He watched the Jedi charge towards Kyp, and sighed to himself, still holding a grudge towards the Lepi for that sudden beginning of hostilities...

 

[Kyp]

Kyp was honestly a bit impressed at the Jedi's moves. He'd known of the space wizard's stellar reputation as warriors but it was something else entirely to see it in action. Still though, Kyp was a Vizsla and there were no greater warriors in the galaxy and he was about to prove it.

As much as Byron was able to keep himself from getting shot, deflecting those blasts so low to the ground would inevitably slow anyone up, even a Jedi. Thus, Kyp was able to have some time to back up a bit, still firing off suppressive shots, as Byron and Rishe approached. It only took a few steps for him to be behind the mining cart he'd been originally ducking behind. A strong kick from the Lepi would send the mining cart careening towards Byron and Rishe and given how narrow mining tunnels were, dodging it was probably out of the question.

As the Jedi figured out what to do, Kyp would unload the rest of his clip at them at various shots to their chest and head.

@Stick @samdragon @Darasuum @Rhogar @TheSparkler

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Having been intercepted halfway to the fighting, he wasn't as nearly out of range as the Jedi would have thought. And the bolts that seemed to miss were aimed for the supports of the mine. The elderly Jedi had begun to move and would be the target of a repulsor straight to the chest, which sent her backwards. He'd begin to move up, slinging Rayna and pulling Bethany free, his A180 ion launcher. Advancing further up, he used the cavern walls and pillars for cover before firing an ion round at the ceiling above Rishe.

@Stick @samdragon @Darasuum

 

[Rishe Vakren]

The mandalorian had quickly retreated before her strike, launching the cart their way. "Push it back!" She called out to Ryker just as a flurry of blaster fire emerged their way. The Mandalorian did not want them to get close, between the rolling minecart and the sheer volume of fire.

Her right hand twitched as she thrust it forward, scrabbling at the Force and yanking the initial dozen or so bolts to the side, where they splattered and cracked against Kyber deposits with a low, sonorous ring as she maneuvered herself behind Byron and... hopefully, the minecart that they could use to soak some of the bolts. But then, she heard a low, whining hum above her head. Devoting herself to the defense did leave her open.

The ion blast burst above her head, shattering crystal and dust and adding a sweltering heat to the air above her and cracking the Kyber into shrapnel. She whipped around, taking note of another presence, a flurry of movement behind one of the pillars. Another mercenary was approaching, using good use of cover, though against Jedi without much in the way of blasters, he may not need it. "There's a third behind us."

The Ion blast was not insignificant, but despite the uncomfortable heat searing her exposed skin and the glittering dust the blast seemed to shake free of the roof, it gave Rishe an opportunity. With her saber hand, she spread that iridescent dust around the backs of the two Jedi, partially obscuring their forms, and hopefully making attacks from the rear more difficult from a range.

@samdragon @Darasuum @Rhogar

 

[Orenth]

Byron moved, avoiding getting hit where he could and deflecting blaster bolts where he couldn't. But the Jedi had intended to protect his fellow Jedi. Just as the Knight had expected, with the closing distance the Mandalorian would try to hold them back with a wall of blaster bolts. It tended to come to that when the member of the Jedi Order got closer in a combat scenario.

The mining cart, as big as it was, would be hard to dodge in the narrow portion of the tunnel. So Byron didn't. Instead, he raised both hands and channeled to the force to raise the cart up and block the bolts. The industrial made cart was hardily made and small arms fire would struggle breaking through it in the short time the bearded Jedi needed it.

Taking steps forward along the tunnel floor the cart would slow its downward roll before its front nosed up and towards the ceiling from unseeable force. It similarly began rapidly decelerate and accelerating back up from whence it came even as the yellow armored mandalorian had seen fit to try and empty its weapon at the Jedi.

Rishe came behind him, an ion shot struck the ceiling above the Jedi but Byron ignored it. All it did was disperse harmlessly across the surface of the ceiling and send minor bits of dust and debris into the air. Perhaps it even messed up the Jedi's hair a bit.

Byron, concentrating on what was ahead of him, aimed to slam the mining cart into Kyp. The same difficulties that the Jedi had to deal with in the tight spaces would be shared by the Lepi and now the high speed mining cart would be enough to take the Mandalorian out of the fight. The blaster bolts from Kyp would continue to fire but hit neither Rishe nor Byron as the heavy vehicle for ore was sent on a rapid collision course with the walled in warrior.

@Stick @Fantasy Liver @samdragon @Rhogar

 

[Orenth]

The repeated pining sound of blaster fire resounded off the durable mine cart as it sailed through the air. A sickening thwack from the impact would be like getting hit with a speeder. The force would probably cause numerous internal injuries like broken bones and a concusion. The cart with its carrying capabilities, would be more than capable of coming to a stop upside down after ramming into the Lepi Mandalorian, carrying him an additional few meters back and then trapping him under the heavy mine cart in whatever state he was left in. Once the mine was secure, if he was left onconcious there, the Jedi would return and see to the Lepi's wounds.

Turning around, after Byron felt Kyp was out of the fight, he saw the other Mandalorian that had been trying to fire after the Jedi thus far. "Two Mandos in one day" Was all that Byron muttered. His mind went back to the younger years when he would have been excited and terified in equal parts to meet a Mandalorian.

Reaching out into the surrounding environment, Byron felt the kyber crystal refractory light, the energy and potential in the rocks of the tunnel, the minimal dust and disturbed whisps in the air. Using that, the Knight focused his mind into conjuring false images, illusions that the Mandalorian would see as real. The image of several Byron Rykers came up around the Knight as if materializing from nowhere. Once formed they shimmered clearly for someone like Rishe, but for the Mandorian they would look like cloned viable targets.

Bursting forward and charging his way down the hall again, Byron would appear as several Jedi running forward. The correct target to hit would not be clear at a distance and give the Jedi the time he needed to close on the last remaining hostile. Their movements were fast and evasive, going back and forth to still try and force Taldorak to try and aim for a target rather than just fire down the mine blindly.

@Stick @Fantasy Liver @samdragon @Rhogar autohit on Kyp for time out

 

[Rishe Vakren]

Now the tables were turned. Both Jedi were feeling pretty fine, if not a little winded. The sheer force of the minecart attack took Rishe aback, but... well. The mandalorian had been an armored, experienced killer. Most likely. And the skirmishes against the natives on Ossus didn't lend Rishe much sympathy. Just as they outgunned the tribes, the Jedi would now overpower them.

Byron advanced on the final mercenary. Rishe wasn't able to make the connection that they were facing a second mandalorian, but she hadn't met many mandalorians, and would probably assume anyone with the iconic helmet design to be one. As the knight's illusions charged along with him, Rishe plunged from the cover of the glittering debris at a different angle, intending on circling around the mercenary to attack from the side or rear. Two Jedi attacking one man head on was already likely a sufficient threat, but the Padawan was exceedingly cautious if nothing else, and would use any opportunity she had to maximize an advantage.

In fairness, perhaps she was a bit optimistic about her chances. The last mandalorian hadn't done much but shoot, and part of her splitting up was expecting that in return. He'd focus on Byron and his illusions and get attacked by Rishe in the side, or he'd shoot at her, and get rushed by the Knight.

@Rhogar @Darasuum