Ask Ranger Down. [Rishi]

[Leon Terrick]

Leon grunts as another impact rocks his ship. The one bad thing about his Dynamic II was the turrets had to be manned and seeing how he flew solo more often than not, he didn’t have the extra hands to man the turrets and fly the boat at the same time. Unfortunate, considering he was currently behind hounded by a ship of Pirates. Warnings and sensors were going crazy on his console. Cursing under his breath he throttles forward toward the near by planet of Rishi.

”Mayday, Mayday! This is Sector Ranger Leon Tarrick. I am under attack by pirates. Shields are down. Engines are failing.” A particullary large blast echo’s from the back of his ship. Today was not his day. ”I am going down on Rishi. Repeat, I am going down on Rishi. ” The message was broadcast on repeat as the ship breaks through the atmosphere on Rishi and hurtles toward the surface. He leaps up from the pilot chair and dashes through his ship which was no easy task given the blaster fire that shook it. Making his way to the small hanger where his speeder was, one particular blast blew a near by console and sent shrapnel flying. Catching a piece of metal in the side, he grunts painfully but pushes on.

”Voxx! Lets go!” He shouts to his Surveillance Droid, who twills and beeps as it zooms past toward the speeder hunkering down inside it’s cockpit. Holding his bleeding side, he hops into his Pursuit speeder. The cargo bay’s lift engages and begins to lower the speeder. The ship was falling fast and as soon as the cargo bay door began to open it begins to rush into the cargo bay pushing everything that wasn’t locked down around in a whirl. As soon as the speeder was clear of the underside of the ship he releases the mag clamps that it id to the platform and it was ripped backward bay the force of the wind. He hoped the small size of the speeder would just look like debris of the ship and might buy him some time once he landed. Luckily the pirate vessel continued chasing his flaming ship instead of changing course toward his speeder. As soon as he thought it was safe, he ignited the engines on the speeder. It had a flying altitude of one kilometer, but he flew just high enough to skim the the tops of the lush jungle trees. Gritting his teeth, he began looking for somewhere to hold up until back up arrived, his hand pressed firmly to his bleeding side.

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience IC

Spoiler

​

It fell from the sky, smack down before her feet just as they moved forward, and the thing might have even taken her toes out. Looking down, the great stick was as still as earth, beaten and broken in its fall from the treetops that stretched high above. Toes are one thing. If this had hit my head then I’d be a dead woman. Sighing, Casany looked up toward the jungle canopy, spotting a monkey swing from branch to branch, fast and frightful, fighting to evade the ugly bug that bounded after it and was not much different in size. It was not a particularly new sight this far and long and deep into the jungles of Rishi, but the scene of predator and prey never failed to impress upon her the way of life. Here, and out there, where clouds become stars.

Forward, the Mandalorian marched, crunching sticks and twigs and leaves beneath her boots. Everywhere there was the verdant landscape of one of Rishi’s primary biomes amid its swamps and mountains, the jungle of which was just as often to mingle with the former. As she paced ahead, Casany could see on the horizon the proud peaks of mountains that stabbed the sky beyond the wooden sentries, and twice she had to negotiate her way around or across murky marshes. No matter where she had traversed thus far, the air was wrapped tightly by layers of humidity that broke sweat across her forehead as soon as she once removed her helmet to eat. Stars be good, if my armor wasn’t air-conditioned, I’d sooner crack my skull against a tree than sweat to death.

Casany swung her head up again, but it was no monkey or fallen branch that had seized her gaze. It was a fire in the sky. An instant later and she recognized it for what it was: a starship, falling to soon be crashing, with debris flying from its form and a much more intact ship following behind. She needed little imagination to wager that the rear vessel had been firing upon the forward one, both being uncomfortably close to her own position. There was no way that either of them would have been able to spot even a rancor from their position, but she could see all that she needed.

From whatever confrontation had occurred out there in space, the shattered result was plummeting somewhere her way, and the crumbles of the blasted ship would soon be terrorizing the trees and what stirred within them. Strangely, one such fragment did a little more than soar downward; it moved and behaved as though it had a mind of its own. Having the ability of watching it from below, Casany saw that this was not debris at all. A speeder. A survivor. Whoever it was, wherever they would land would not be that far from her own position. Twisting her lips, she battled with herself for a decision. In the end, her feet continued, now in a new direction.

Some time later, Casany arrived at where she had best deduced the speeder would have landed. The initial trajectory had given her a basis, built upon by the behavior of nearby wildlife, most of which were startled and heading in all directions away from the same center. Without the blatant aid of comm signals so as to disguise her approach, Casany came to where she thought she could make out a fallen tree. It might have collapsed days ago or a moment ago, courtesy of a speeder flying into it, but it was what looked like a vehicle itself that really caught her gaze.

“Anyone out there?” Her raised voice called out through the microphone of her helmet. "I saw the ship fall and the speeder fly. Do you need assistance?" She might have been thirty meters away from the site, and decided to keep her distance as much as her back behind a thick tree. If there was a survivor from the crash or the landing or the crash-landing, Casany had to first assess whether said survivor would in any way be tempted to put a bolt through her body.

 

[Talon Vizsla]

He really needed to get his own ship.
Of course, there was always the danger of being caught by the owner whenever he stowed away aboard a ship; he'd done it so many times, however, it wasn't that much of an issue. Never, however, had one of the ships been shot at.
The ranger had left Tatooine in a freighter; it had to be more exciting, or at least less dull, to hop on his ship rather than take a civilian transport. The added bonus is that he had no idea where the man was headed.
Now he wished he hadn't taken the risk. One second he was hiding in the cargo bay; the next, the ship was going down and the door was opening. He watched as the ranger just made it out of the bay in a speeder; not only did he need a ship, he needed to get a jetpack.
The ship was completely out of control now; he had no choice but to jump. He made sure his jump boots were functioning before leaping through the door to the ground below. As he was falling, he tried to survey the planet around him, to know where he was; he also managed to catch the speeder out of the corner of his eye.
Right before he hit the ground, he activated his boots; they managed to ease the fall but did not have enough force to reverse his direction. He grunted as he hit the ground.
Rishi.
He lay there for a second, contemplating his bad luck. He really needed to stop putting himself in these situations. Suddenly, he heard footsteps. He leaped into nearby brush, hoping the green would mask his white armor. He grabbed both pistols and leaned around a tree, trying to catch a glimpse of the figure. As soon as he recognized the armor, he quickly ducked back into his hiding spot. There was no way he'd risk a fight with another Mandalorian; she was bound to be just as dangerous as he was.
She seemed to be following something, or at least she had her location in her mind. He waited until she was almost out of site, then stepped onto the path she had just walked through. He used his magnifier to study her; she definitely wasn't from his clan.
No matter. Where there is life, there is ships, and in turn, a way off this planet. He crept along, far behind her; he realized once again he was in a dangerous predicament. If she saw him, she'd probably shoot for sure; On the other hand, he had to get out of there.

 

[Rachel Reid]

Rachel had been patroling some of the trade routes when she received the ping on her communicator. She was still recovering from her hangover so when the ping reached her ears, the first thing to leave her mouth was a groan of displeasure and several profanities. She was about to turn it off, probably one of the upper brass about to get onto her about something stupi- Wait a minute, this is an emergency frequency. She played the last logged message and immediately recognized the voice. Lucky for her she just so happened to be nearby.

"On my way." She replied to the distress signal before turning her star fighter around. This would be pushing it on fuel but she wasn't about to leave a fellow ranger hanging. She reached the planets atmosphere in no time at all, having left from the outside of the Scarif system to Rishi the moment she finished listening to the last message. "You better not be dead already." She thought as she saw the wreckage that was the ranger's ship. She kept her distance, not wanting to catch the attention of the pirates who were most likely searching the wreckage for salvage and survivors.

She was sure that he wasn't dead, she just had a feeling. She kept to the skies and carefully watched over her navigational computer, checking to see if she could find any sort of signal giving her a hint to the fallen ranger's location.

 

[Leon Terrick]

Deciding it was best to land the speeder, he took it down into the canopy. It wasn't the easiest of landings but he made it to the ground in one piece. He sat there for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. Hopefully his signal got out and help was on the way because it was only a matter of time before those pirates realize he wasn't on board. They had it in their head to take out a Ranger and they would come for him. Wincing as he climbed out of the speeder he went to the truck and started rummaging around for anything to help patch up his side. Unfortunately for him all of his medical supplies were aboard his now crashed ship. Finding an extra shirt he ripped it into long strips before using some more to pad the wound and finally wrapping the strips around his torso to secure the makeshift bandage. It wasn't pretty and wouldn't last for long, but he hoped it would be good enough.


A voice rung out somewhere behind him and he cursed, diving for cover behind a large tree. Once in cover he drew both his Gile-44 and his Frontier-90. "Voxx, go get eyes on whos out there." He mutters to his droid that lifts off from inside the speeder and zooms off into the trees, making a wide berth around the stranger. Surely the pirates hadn't already searched the wreckage and found him.


"Well, you're either one of the crew that scuttled my ship or someone just lucky enough to be here. If you're the former, know that I'm a trained Sector Ranger and i won't go down without a fight." He called out to whoever was out there. Pain coursed through his side but that wasn't going to stop him. Just then a familiar voice rung out on the comlink in his speeder. Help was on the way.

______________


Meanwhile:


"Sir, there's no body in the wreckage. He must have escaped." A human pirate reports to his Zabrak Captain. "Take the bikes. Find him and bring him to me." The captain orders and with a curt nod the pirate and four others take off on speeder bikes into the jungle.

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience IC [Recurring]

Spoiler

As far as speech went amid the sounds of jungle life, there was a bit of silence after Casany had spoken. That meant probably one of three things: there was no survivor, the survivor was too injured or unconscious to speak, or said survivor was being as cautious as she was. Whatever way would have made sense, but she had to find out soon enough. If I’m being watched as much as watching, I’m not about to die a sitting duck. Just as she moved to round the tree and level the scope of her rifle to her eye, a raised voice came forth again, and this one was quite masculine.

"Well, you're either one of the crew that scuttled my ship or someone just lucky enough to be here. If you're the former, know that I'm a trained Sector Ranger and i won't go down without a fight."

Casany kept her position and smiled beneath her helmet. “And if I’m the latter?” She called out teasingly from behind her tree. “Are you lucky enough to be rescued by someone as lucky as me? Or is our luck about to run out?”

Whatever his response, she pulled a quick survey of her surroundings, namely the way she had already come from. There didn’t seem to be anyone else about; a feat of import for what she had in mind, though if she was wrong then she might soon find out.

“Where are you at, Rawl?” She called into her helmet’s integrated comlink; a two-way channel. A series of beebs and boops revealed her answer as her scout droid responded in droidspeak.

[“Above you, Cas. Nice views from these branches. Think I see a bird’s nest from here. Where do you need me?”]

“Above is fine. For now. Keep your eyes peeled.”

[“Wilco, Captain.”]

Casany planted her head as close to the side of her tree as she could afford to peer around it without getting a bolt to the visor. The angle gave view of the vehicle she could make out, the would be speeder, but she still couldn’t see any lifeform that might have piloted it. Just another monkey.

“So, since I have no plans to stand here and sweat my crotch off, I’m coming out. Slowly.” She paused to let the survivor digest her words. “I also have no plans to get shot down or shot up, so I’ll be holding my rifle against my shoulder. Feel free to respond in kind, but my finger squeezes the trigger only if yours does first.”

That, then, would open the opportunity for whatever trap to spring that might have already been set, and her to fall in it, so Casany didn’t hesitate or wait for a response. “Okay, I’m coming out!” With that, she rounded the tree, rifle in her grip, visor toward the scope. The survivor might have intended to mimic her movements, or was in a sniping position and had been waiting for her this whole time, or feared that as soon as he showed his head his visitor would pull the trigger. It was a valid concern. Truly, a number of others in her position would have stepped out unarmed or with gun in the air, but she was only one, and there she stood in full view, her red and gold Mandalorian armor as naked as her gun.

 

[Talon Vizsla]

Talon finally understood where she was headed, and it was quite the opposite of what he wanted. She had taken him back to the ranger; he was tempted to leave when he heard her yell.
Rescued? Does she have a ship?
He wasn't sure if she was teasing or not. He also wasn't sure if she had been the one to shoot the ship down.
She spoke into her comlink; he couldn't hear her but she had kept her com a little too loud, and he made out the droid's response.
He immediately looked up, scanning the trees for a droid. He couldn't be spotted; the ranger would know how he had gotten there, and he'd also have to deal with the mandalorian.
He'd taken a liking to the ranger; after all, he had given him a free ride. If things turned into a shootout, the ranger most likely wouldn't stand a chance against a mandalorian with a droid. Then again, would he dare shoot at his own kind?
She was yelling again. From her actions, he inferred she was coming into the ranger's view. He frowned; if one or both got killed, he'd have no way off the planet.
He scanned his brain for options; not knowing what to do was the thing he hated the most. He could attempt to disarm them both; he could reveal himself only to the ranger and take his chances, or he could step out in the middle of them.
Within seconds, he had made his choice. Pocketing his Glie-44's--he didn't want to start a shootout himself--and checking his equipment one more time, he stepped out from behind the tree.
He sprinted about 100 meters; he was well behind the girl. Perfectly timing his jumpboots, he soared over the mandalorian's head and landed smack in between the two opposing warriors.
Either they'd stare in shock as another mandalorian stood in the way of their rifles, or he was a dead man.

 

[Rachel Reid]

Concern was starting to show on her face before she came across the signal from the Ranger's speeder. She began to lower her star fighter near Leon's location, she wasn't exactly sure where he was and didn't want to risk giving away his location if he was hiding from his attackers. She connected to the comms and sent out a call. "Leon? Leon it's Rachel you there?' she called in a somewhat panicked voice, not wanting a ranger to die on her watch.

She noticed a few other speeders moving around, given the nature of the planet she assumed they were not only enemies, but actively hunting Leon. She landed her star fighter nearby, keeping a good distance between her and Leon's last known location and hopped out. She grabbed her rifle and pistols and made her way to the speeder, hopefully she'd make it in time.

 

[Leon Terrick]

Sir, it appears to be a Mandalorian." The Panop Droid who had been swinging around to get eyes on the person that had found them. Leon grunts. Either his day just got a little bit better, or a whole lot worse.

"Copy, swing around and make sure there are no other surprises." The droid twills a response and drifts off again, away from the red and gold armored Mandalorian. The good news, he highly doubted this Mando was apart of the crew that shot him down. Wincing, he pushed himself up the tree to his feet and listened as the Mandalorian spoke. Said she was coming out and that he should too and as long as he didn't fire and he had to admit it sounded good. He waited a few moments after it sounded like the Mando had indeed stepped out.

When he finally swung himself around the tree, he looked rough. Covered in mud, blood and soot, his self-imposed uniform was in shambles. He stood there for a moment, his left hand with his Glie-44 pressed against his side, while his Frontier-90 was held pointed at the Mandalorian.

"I'm not sure how lucky either one of us will be to be honest." He slowly went holster both his weapons when another Mandalorian came bursting through the foliage over top of the first one. Cursing loudly he takes a step back, before realizing this Mando he knew and he seemed to land between the two as to try and ward off fighting.

"Son of a nerf herder, Vizsla! Way to make a tense situation tenser." He exclaims as he slams his pistols into their holsters, wincing again. Figuring if Vizsla wanted to tussle they had done it on Tatooine and the other Mando seemed nice enough, for now. "Pirates scuttled my ship, guess the want a Ranger head on their belt. No idea why." He leans slightly on his speeder, his hand still pressed against his side. His comlink buzzes again and Rachel came over. "Rachel, glad to hear you made it to the party. I'm about ten klicks north west of the crash. Wounded but alive. Got a couple Mandos here with me now. Be careful of the pirates, they're out there somewhere likely looking for me." He responds to Rachel and then looks over at the two Mandos. "While I won't say I'm not a little happy to see friendlier...uh Helmets and not some pirate muck, what do i owe the pleasure of seeing you two out here?"


________________


"....ten klicks northwest…"


Grinning the human pirate that led the gang of speeder bikes veered sharply toward the north west and punched the throttle. "C'mon boys! That Ranger ain't goin anywhere!" The other four hooted and followed along behind their leader.

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience IC [Recurring]

Spoiler

Cass kept her rifle raised and her boots grounded as she watched the survivor round his tree and make himself as visible as his would-be rescuer. Against her armor, of which had suffered only the occasional dirt and grime associated with traversing a jungle, this guy looked like he had just crawled out of a mudpit that also served as a fighting pit. One gun-hand held his side, sign of injury, and his heavy blaster was pointed her way. All things expected, she considered their mutual standoff for a moment and how to proceed. He’s wounded. But a wounded animal fights to kill.

[“Heads up, Cas. I’ve got movement coming your way at six o’clock. Moving fast. Armed. Armored. And Mandalorian.”]

Cass heard her droid loud and clear through the privacy of her helm, confident that his cover had not been blown. He had been too high up in too-high trees for his quiet beeps and boops to have been detected amid the sounds of the jungle, and any words that she had exchanged with him earlier from within her helmet had been as quiet as needed for an internal comm. She gave nothing away and listened to the man standing before her speak his piece, then move to lower his guns.

Just then, movement stirred behind Cass and she reacted immediately, spinning aside to watch this other Mandalorian propel himself upward and come to land in between both her and the survivor. All the while, her rifle was kept leveled with her shoulder as she gazed down the rail. And who might you be, black-and-white? Whoever he was, this other guy apparently knew the answer. He holstered his guns, a sure sign that the two individuals were not on hostile terms, not that it reassured Cass in any way. Still, neither of them are pointing guns at me, so that’s a plus.

"Pirates scuttled my ship, guess the want a Ranger head on their belt. No idea why." He leans slightly on his speeder, his hand still pressed against his side. His comlink buzzes again and Rachel came over. "Rachel, glad to hear you made it to the party. I'm about ten klicks north west of the crash. Wounded but alive. Got a couple Mandos here with me now. Be careful of the pirates, they're out there somewhere likely looking for me." He responds to Rachel and then looks over at the two Mandos. "While I won't say I'm not a little happy to see friendlier...uh Helmets and not some pirate muck, what do i owe the pleasure of seeing you two out here?"

Cass smiled beneath her helmet, and lowered her rifle, though it would take one quick lift to put it back in firing position. A woman’s voice came over the survivor’s comlink and Cass listened to the exchange. That makes three of them. Suddenly I'm outnumbered. Looking from this “Vizsla” to the survivor, she decided that it couldn’t hurt to be up front with them; in a manner of speaking, at least.

“I’m exploring.” She answered casually, aware that her mic-voice might emphasize the nonchalance in those two words. Mandalorain helmets were self-contained ecosystems in their own right, much like this jungle, and one perk to wearing one was keeping anyone else from seeing the wearer’s facial expressions. Again, she looked at the Mandalorian in black and white, wondering what his story was as he gave whatever response, before she focused back on the survivor.

“How badly are you hurt?”

 

[Rachel Reid]

The moment she heard the response she breathed a sigh of relief, glad to hear her fellow ranger at least made it away from the ship unharmed. "Ten clicks north of the site right? Let's see here thaaat's...Not too far. Did he say Mandos? What did he get himself into?" One benefits of spending most of your life on Tatooine is being able to find your way around, seeing as how landmarks are scarce on the planet. She moved quietly and quickly, but adjusting to the jungle climate would be a challenge for her. She kept her eyes out and gun at the ready.

She marched for what felt like hours, probably due to her nerves, with only the sounds of the forest around her to keep her company. She began to think about a game plan to get Leon out of here, seeing as how her star fighter only had the seat for the pilot. Maybe we can call for an evac? Maybe one of those Mandos have something we could hitch a ride on, but how would I get back? I'm not letting him ride with them alone. Her mind was racing as she walked closer to the location she had been given.

It had been some time since she started walking before she neared what she believed to be where she saw the speeder. She started hearing some voices from her position, one female and one male, maybe another one? She really hoped it wouldn't be pirates as she parted the bushes and showed herself, gun at the ready. She might take a few hits but she was taking one with her if they fired on her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Leon holding his side nearby, lowering her gun as she did so. She wasn't sure if she could trust the Mandalorians too much yet, but they hadn't shot him so she figured a gun fight wasn't about to happen seeing as how they left him armed.

"You should have told me you were hurt, I don't have any medical supplies but I do have some alcohol." She said as she walked over to him, moving her jacket so she had easy access to her pistols. She was by no means a medic, but she had heard how alcohol could help with infection maybe? It would numb whatever pain he was feeling at least. "So what's the plan? I made it here but I can't exactly evacuate you in my old star ship, at least not comfortably." She didn't let her guard down yet, she wasn't going to until they were off this planet.

 

[Talon Vizsla]

“Listen,” he said, “I don’t need to explain how I got here. That’s another story; but I also don’t need you both shooting each other’s heads off.”

He turned towards the Mandalorian.

“I need passage out of this place. I’m stuck here just like this guy.”

She seemed to hesitate. Time to put some pep in their step. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the ranger. “I hope you know that your com isn’t two-way; I’m sure someone who’s looking for you heard exactly what you said when you wisely revealed your location.” He wasn’t trying to be rude, he was trying to get them moving. Any moment now they could all get shot. As if on cue, an ship flew above their heads.

“Ah…just what I need.” A burst of blaster fire bolted out of no where and barely missed his head.

“Lovely.”

 

[Leon Terrick]

Grunting, Leon looks down at his bloodied side. He had been able to stop the bleeding for the most part as it was a fairly superficial wound. Lucky for him the shrapnel cut him instead of puncturing into his abdomen. He looked at the two Mandalorians for a moment, curious as to how they both ended up here and even more curious as to why Vizsla was stranded same as he was.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Some shrapnel from the ship cut me pretty good and now I'm just bleeding like a stuck nerf. I got the bleeding slowed but that's about the extent of my skills. He would respond to the Red and gold Mando. "Names Leon, black and white over there goes by Vizsla and my fellow Ranger who is on her way is Rachel. She shouldn't be much longer." He appears to be looking slightly stronger as far as his body language is concerned, almost as if he was acting more injured than he was to give his would be attackers a sense of false security.

As the time passes, the red headed Ranger comes into view and begins to almost scold him for being wounded. Chuckling Leon shakes his head. "I'll live Rach. It's not that big of a deal. Just a little blood loss is all." Viszla then mentions the comlink wasn't just two-way and that they should move and almost perfect timing blaster bolt flies over head impacting in a tree behind him. Pushing off the speeder and taking cover behind a tree, Leon draws both his blasters and grins. "That's what I was counting on Viszla! What are you afraid of a few pirates? Leon leans around the tree and fires a bolt from his Glie-44 before returning to cover. "Voxx, Talk to me! What do we have out there?"

"Sir, you have eight armed hostiles coming in from the south, wielding a mix of rifles and pistols. All bearing the same markings as the ship that blew up The Seeker.

"You were supposed to be keeping watch so they didn't sneak up on us!"

"Forgive me Sir, there is another Droid up here, belonging to the Mandalorian. I was distracted." Grunting again, Leon shakes his head and looks around.

"Alright, theres eight of them and four of us. I like those odds." Leon calls out to his compatriots. He hears a loud snapping of a branch and he quickly leans out and fires his Frontier-90, nailing a pirate square in the unarmored chest. "Make that seven!"

_______________

The scouting party had arrived on their speeder bikes shortly after the transmission was received. But after seeing the two Mandalorians, they waited for more back up before attacking.

"Get em boys!" The human leader of the party yells as he begins to fire at the Rangers and the Mandalorians. The crew had spread out in a line forming a crescent to the south of Leon and the others and was made up of unarmored humans. However shortly after the attack began the shooter on the far right of the crescent had fallen from a blaster bolt to the chest.

@Die Shize

 

[Talon Vizsla]

Talon sighed.
First he jumped off a ship; then he had to stop these two from killing each other; and last but not least, everything had escalated into a firefight. 8 pirates--no wait, 7, the ranger got one--he hated when people said they liked such odds--about 2 for each of them. Another blaster bolt barely missed him as he heard the battle cry of the head pirate in the group. With a glance over his shoulder, he whipped out both Glie-44's and shot simultaneously; he missed with one but the other caught a pirate in the upper thigh and he went down. He quickly dived behind a tree; the last thing he wanted was to get killed. No duh, right?

 

[Casany Praxor]

Ambience [Recurring]

Spoiler

​

“Anvil,” Cass spoke as names were exchanged, tapping a thumb against her chest to make sure that everyone knew she wasn’t suggesting hammertime. Leon’s injury sounded unremarkable enough; shrapnel could be bad or very bad. Both of us would know. He would be screaming. I screamed.

“Listen,” he said, “I don’t need to explain how I got here. That’s another story; but I also don’t need you both shooting each other’s heads off.”

Silently turning her head to face Viszla, Cass offered a slow shrug in response. I don’t need to explain how I got here either, but I can’t promise that heads won’t fly. This other Mandalorian was planet-bound too, and without a ship, well, the only ‘safe passage’ off this planet was a leisurely death on an earthen bed while watching the stars twinkle.

Movement, her trusty scout droid spoke into her helmet, and Cass spun with her rifle raised to receive the party’s latest arrival. The two women shared some height but not much else. And you must be Rachel. Guns lowered a moment later, Rachel moved to assist her compatriot. The ease of her motions, the facility of her form, suggested that the two individuals were indeed a team. Sector Rangers. Partners in crime-fighting. Their fight had only just begun. Viszla pointed out an apparent problem with Leon’s comm, Rawl chimed in some interference into Cass' headset, an unseen beast growled across the trees, and the whole jungle came to life as bolts pounded the mud and bark.

Music OOC

Spoiler

​

Cass in turn bolted for cover, slamming her back against the widest and nearest tree, staring daggers through her visor to assess the enemy’s location, number and ability. Pirates. Not many. [“How many?”] She called into her helmet.

[“Eight. Didn’t you hear me the first time?”]

[“All I heard the first time was the sound of a droid dying.”]

[“Sorry, Captain. Apparently, someone left a surveillance droid up here. I don’t think it likes me.”]

Cass’ muzzle rang out with a burst of bolts, watching them tear across the bark of a distant tree and miss the pirate who twisted behind it. Rawl relayed the more vital details and now his master just needed to find the vitals with her rifle. Bolts flew her way. She shifted back into cover, counted, then sprung back with her finger holding the trigger. The pirate at the opposite tree had dodged once again.

Meanwhile, Leon called out their odds with all the bravado of a frontier Ranger. Cass paid him little mind, or any of her fellow fighters for that matter apart from a quick look to gather their positions. She was otherwise too busy targeting the combatants who outnumbered the lesser four. Eight they were, but seven was the new number. Time for another. She was back behind the tree, counting. Skipping a few numbers, she popped into view, and waited. A moment later and her opponent swung out to exchange gunfire, but Cass’ finger was too fast on the trigger. A focused red beam of plasma darted from the muzzle, soared above the pirate's rifle, and buried itself into his forehead. His body dropped to the ground, and his killer retreated into cover without needing to see much more than that.

“One more down!” Cass called across the carnage. At this rate, two Sector Rangers and two Mandalorians, their betters, would litter the leaves of this jungle with a bounty of pirates.

 

[Rachel Reid]

"Well so long as you're only bleeding out a little bit, you can just clean out the back of my starship once we get off this rock." She smirked to him as he spoke. "Well so long as you're not too hurt to fight, then we can get to work." She began moving closer to Leon as she spoke, nodding to Vizsla on the way, recognizing him from their little encounter at the bar a few days back. "Well it looks like you've been making friends without me, I'm Rachel." She was a bit wary of Mandalorians but for now they seemed like the closest thing to an ally they would be getting out here except for Leon.

A smirk found it's way onto Rachel's face as Leon spoke about intentionally leading the pirates here, though she would probably chastise herself for this later. She had been pretty bored lately with the lack of a fight but here she was in the thick of a pirate attack. The hair on the back of her neck were standing still, knowing this was a good chance to put her skills to the test, or so she thought. She was used to fighting Tusken Raiders but most of the ones that attacked settlements and people were incredibly slow witted. She thought this would be a good chance to prove herself.

She figured the pirates were coming from where she saw the speeders on her way here, so she started to plan out her movements. Rachel was about halfway to some cover when she heard the droid speak, looks like they'd be skipping right to the action. Rachel immediately turned and whipped out one of her pistols "Police, drop your wea-" what followed were a series of shots from both sides and three pirates falling. She rolled her eyes thinking guess I am the fool for trying that one, realizing the kind of situation they're in. She shrugged and shot one of the pirates with two hits from her DC-17, hitting his chest twice. He was the lucky one, since Rachel liked to use stun rounds with her pistols. She then moved back into cover and got ready to fire with her cycler rifle.

"It's even now boys! Sure you don't want to consider surrendering?" she decided to yell from her position. "I'm trying to play good cop for ya right now! Drop your weapons or I'm going to start pumpin' ya full of metal!" She was sure they'd win the fight regardless, but figured command would prefer that she at least try to take a few of them alive, for questioning anyway. Regardless if they start blasting she had a few slug rounds with each of their names on it.

 

[Talon Vizsla]

Talon wasn't heartless, but he was also wise. If one of the pirates made it back to the rest of their group alive, they'd have details on their location, how many of them there were, etc...He dodged in between trees until he finally reached the pirate he had hit; he was lying still, obviously in shock, heart barely beating. Talon shook his head and looked up as he fired down. He grabbed the man's gun, a Power 5 Blaster Pistol, and stuck it in his waste band; maybe it'd come in handy. He then holstered both his guns and reached for his vibroblades. He grinned underneath the helmet; time to show off.
The ranger was yelling something, but he didn't hear; he went far to the right and circled back around. He spotted two pirates side by side, obviously scoping on on one of the others. He shot his bola launcher at one, pinning his arms; he then shot a grappling hook up towards the trees and swung towards the other. The pirate got a few shots off but missed his moving target; Talon kicked him in the chest and rode him to the ground, releasing the hook. The other pirate had grabbed a vibroblade and cut himself free, but no matter.
Talon ran towards the man and blocked the first stab, then jump-booted over his head and throwing one blade down at him. The man was dead before he hit the forest floor.
He was just beginning to compliment himself when something caught the corner of his eye. The pirate he had kicked was merely stunned and was aiming a blaster at him. Talon activate his boots, but they did nothing--some sort of malfunction--and the pirate's victorious eyes smoldered as he pulled the trigger.
Talon dived to the side, but he was too late. The bolt hit him directly in his lower arm where he lacked armor and he dropped the blade, falling over and clutching his wound. He opened his wincing eyes to see the pirate standing over him, preparing to fire at point blank range.
Looks like he was going to die after all.

 

[Leon Terrick]

The pirate numbers were halved nearly instantly. This bottom of the bucket scum stood little chance against the group of well trained individuals they were so eager to fight against. He glanced around his cover just in time to see the over eager Mandalorian running across the intervening space between the two groups. Four against one were crap odds, even for a Mando.

"Cover me!" He shouted as he threw himself out from behind cover and sprinted after the Mandalorian who had disappeared from his view at this point. He took a couple of pot shots as he ran just to try and keep the pirates at bay rather than trying to actually hit anyone. As the tree's gave way he spotted comrade, on his knees holding a scorched arm with a pirate rushing toward him with a blaster pistol.

"Sir, it appears the Mandalorian has been wounded."

Voxx chimes on over his comlink, but Leon was at a dead sprint. As the pirate leveled his blaster on the kneeling Mando, Leon was there. Tackling the pirate to the ground the two tumble to the ground. The pirate manages to over power Leon and straddles him with a blaster pointed at his head.

"You and your friends are gonna die, Ranger. Them badges and those Mando helmets are gonna look nice as trophies!" The pirate says with a wolfish grin, his finger beginning to squeeze the trigger. Voxx swoops down and nails the back of the pirate with its spark projector, though it wasn't enough to render the pirate unconscious, but it did make him jerk. The blaster fired, missing Leon by mere centimeters. As the pirate tried to adjust his aim, it was too late. Leon had drawn his Glie-44 and he fires it point blank at the pirates unprotected neck and face. The pirate topples over, freeing Leon who scrambles to get behind cover. Once safe behind a tree, he clutches his side where his makeshift bandage had came loose and a fresh gout blood oozing between his fingers. He was in bad shape and the blood loss was starting to catch up to him.

"Thanks for the back up Voxx, you saved my ass."

"That's what you keep me around for, Boss." The droid hovered in front of Leon, looking him over. "You've seen better days." The Droid points out and Leon does his best to glare at it before taking a shuddering breath and leaning his head back against the tree.

 

[Talon Vizsla]

Talon was getting dizzy; he was definitely bleeding out. The bolt had hit a vein, and his arm was spouting red in all directions.
He hadn't seen anything but the ranger tackle the pirate before his vision got hazy; he didn't know how much longer he could last. He remained motionless on the ground; pretty sucky way to die, but it looked like he didn't get to pick.
He managed to get enough of a glimpse to spot the ranger leaning against a tree; he wasn't in good shape himself. Soon enough, however, it wouldn't matter.
Talon gasped from the pain and squeezed his eyes shut before blacking out.

 

[Casany Praxor]

Music OOC [Recurring]

Spoiler

​

"It's even now boys! Sure you don't want to consider surrendering?"

What? These guys? Surrender? Cass scoffed at the idea. Clearly, their attackers had only the intention of attacking, and the Sector Rangers’ code of ethics was going to do a whole lot of nothing. The badge that this boy and girl wore might impede a blaster bolt but not much else. No, it’s kill or be killed. She exchanged blasterfire with another foe; he was moving quickly, evading behind trees. As the enemy’s numbers dwindled down, there was the distinct possibility that the survivors were the more skilled. Or just the more lucky. One Mandalorian, on the other hand, had better have hoped he was.

Cass caught the black and white armor tear through foliage as he bounded toward his prey. It seemed a tad unnecessary to get up close and personal so soon and in the middle of bolt exchange but, then again, perhaps Viszla had had enough of negotiating bolts from behind trees. He went off to dance with his opponents while another voice caught Cass’ ears.

"Cover me!"

If I must! Pinning the side of her rifle against her tree, she released a barrage toward the enemy. Fire was maintained as she caught one of the pirates advance toward a fallen Viszla, but Leon was already on the scene. Leaving the Ranger to help the Mandalorian, Cass’ bolts went toward the couple of pirates who were thus far unmolested, seeking to suppress their positions and keep them from engaging the rescue. They were spread apart, however, and trying to track both of them with her rifle was a challenge, especially since they were keen on shooting back.

Kriff. The scum was bent on forming a pincer movement toward Leon and Viszla’s position, but they were far from able to do so without being checked from Cass’ gun if no one else’s. Still, she had to thwart their plans sooner rather than later. Fortunately, she wasn’t alone. Cass was parallel with one of the two pirates positioned at the perimeter. That woman, Rachel, was parallel with the other. Cass hugged the back of her tree, threw a stick Rachel’s way to get her attention, and waved a hand signal for the Ranger to keep her target pinned down as best she could.

Meanwhile, Cass had other plans. The first was to prop her rifle atop some branches, wedge a stone in the trigger guard, and release her grip, letting the gun fire its own bursts toward Rachel’s target. Keeping the one pirate suppressed from two angles would allow the other to close toward Leon and Viszla. That left them exposed, and two wounded warriors were like bloody bags of meat to a tiger. Cass knew what it was like to be the prey all too well, but right now she had to be to the hunter. She sprinted from her tree toward the advancing pirate, who was also exposed, to take him from behind.

The pirate was too focused on his perfect opportunity to worry about anything else. For all he knew, his friend was still being pinned down by the only two combatants who weren’t wounded. A Mandalorian lay on the ground, and a Ranger was resting against a tree. The pirate sprung from behind his own, his carbine swung upward, and so did Cass’ sword. The vibroblade thrummed to life as it came singing out of its scabbard, burying into the pirate’s neck from behind him before his finger could squeeze the trigger. His head flew from his shoulders in a heartbeat, and his body crumpled to the earth.

Her view unhindered, Cass observed the Mandalorian’s prone form and the Ranger’s struggling one. Viszla didn’t seem to be moving, but it was hard to tell if he was unconscious or just sleeping on the job behind that helmet, and Leon was bleeding against a tree. More importantly, he had his pistol. Sheathing her sword, Cass reentered communications with her droid from inside her helmet. [“Rawl, what’s the status on the other Ranger and the remaining hostile?”]

From his vantage point, the scout droid was able to assess the answer to that and responded in kind. What happened next was one of two things. If Rachel had subdued her opponent then Cass would remain with Leon, assisting his wounds with her medpac, complete with bacta, bandages and bulbs. If Rachel was still engaged with the target, though, then Cass would leave the medpac with Leon, and move to eliminate the remaining threat.