The Zeltron Gambit (Invite Only)

[Exar Kun]

The Hunters Gambit (Invite Only)

- Vaulix had busied himself for the moment with the disassembly and mantainence of his Verp Sniper Rifle. The parts had been meticulously taken apart and laid upon the plasteel countertop with an almost obsessive order. He had just began to clean the reinforced trigger mechanism when the alert from the holovid panel startled him. He calmly sat the mechanism down and stood up, his lanky strides taking him across the cargo area towards the terminal that handled most long range communications. A chitinous digit extended to tap the activation key, a pre-recorded hologram of the Bounty Hunter Guilds helper droid formed in a static image blurred at times but still serviceable. -

"Master Vaulix, a bounty has been issued and your request to take said bounty is granted. Information will be transferred to your personal data pad momentarily."

- Vaulix said nothing, and as soon as the datapad sitting next to the terminal gave a confirmation of data transfer. He pressed the same key once more and deactivated the terminal. He picked up the pad and began to peck at the module with his slender fingers. Maybe fortune was smiling on him after all. He sat the datapad back down and turned towards the table where his weapon was disassembled. After an hour or so he had the weapon lubed assembled and ready for action. The rest of his equipment had been maintainenced earlier and was ready to go. He walked towards the front of the ship, ducking into the cockpit and sitting in the worn pilots seat. His tri-fingered hands worked fervently as he plotted a course to the Alsakan system. These were the last known whereabouts of his acquisition, and therefore he would start his hunt there. Moments later the hyperdrive kicked in and he began to travel at an immense rate of speed, standing from his seat and going back towards the cargo area to prepare himself for the hunt. -

 

[Ols]

Himal Asura sat in the cantina in the floating city of Xenvaer. He downed the dregs left in his glass and slammed it down on the counter.

"More." he commanded the bartender. He was not a particularly tall man, but he was very strong. He was quick too, not to mention completely insane. He sat there wearing dark trousers and spacer's boots, and a top of body armour. Across his body hung a grenade belt, at his hip a scoped pistol and a short sword and across his back a rifle. He looked dangerous. He had put his head gear, a visor that gave him an intelligent HUD view, on the bar as he drank. The bartender asked for credits, credits Himal was not prepared to pay. He took a mine from his pack and put it on the table.

"If you don't bring me a drink, I'll detonate it," the bartender's mouth dropped open, "and the funny thing is you think I'm joking."

The barman turned and brought him a drink. They always did.

 

[Exar Kun]

- Vaulix had entered the cargo hold once more only to be greeted by his scout droid, the orb flew about and gave various "Beeps" and "Boops" its fine mechanical hands prodding Vaulix a bit. The verpine began to get irritated and shooed it away with a wave of his hand. The droid dipped and turned, going about its own devices until summoned by the hunter once more. He finally came to the duraplast footlocker that contained most of his equipment. He crouched down and exhaled slowly, tapping the combination into the holoprompter console. Once the correct characters were input the chest gave an audible hiss as servo-motors pushed the hydraulic arms up and lifted the lid. He looked upon his equipment laid methodically inside of the chest. His slugthrower and razor stick sitting pretty next to his Relfec Armor, the black undersuit. He slipped the thermally balanced Zero G suit melded with his chitinuous body form. Once he moved his arms and legs about getting used to the suit once again he bent down and picked up the dull black chest module, slipping it on and pulling the fasteners tight. Next came the shoulder, arm, forearm and knuckle plates. Vaulix had made sure the top tier of his armor fit snugly before moving to the lower body parts. First came the groin module, pulling it upon himself as one would do a pair of trousers. Again he pulled the fasteners tight and proceeded to work the thigh and shin plates into place. He tightened the last of the fasteners and stood up, his mass increased a bit with the armor on. The finishing touch to his garb was the dull olive sleeveless robes he wore. He picked them up and let the length unfold, slipping his right and then left arms through the allotted holes. He tied the robe about his waist with a worn leather belt, the hood now pulled over his head. -

It is time...

- He bent down and picked up both the rodian razor stick and the slug thrower in each hand. Sheathing the razor stick in a hidden slide of his robe at his right side, the slug thrower inside of the holster attached to the leather belt. He looked over at the plasteel maintenance table, eyeing his main tool of the hunt. Keeping the empty footlocker open he turned and walked towards his sniper rifle, both hands running over the reinforced weapon. He picked it up and folded the buttstock back against its right side, the sling hung loose from its rings at the bottom of the rifles furnishings. He slid the leather strap over his shoulders and let the rifle drop once it was in its correct place at his back. He gave a low shrill whistle and his scout droid came bobbing and weaving to its masters side. With that he turned and picked up the datapad from the Holovid terminal and began to go over the information. -

Himal Asura.

Male.

Wanted... Dead.

Last known location is the Alsakan system.

- Vaulix shook his head, always the most vauge of information was the BHG's Intel. He deducted that the capital Xenvaer was the first and most feasible place to start his hunt. Most of his acquisitions were stupid enough to put themselves in the middle of a cosmopolitan location, making them easier to find and even easier to capture. Well, this acquisition was to be killed...That was just Vaulixs' style. His antennae twitched as the hyperdrive began to wind down, they were in the Alsakan system. He turned, datapad in hand and walked to the cockpit again sitting down in the worn pilots chair. His left hand worked to plot a course to the capital city and transmit the proper credentials when he would enter capital space. He leaned back in the chair and continued to scan over the information in the datapad. This acquisitions charges were extensive, going into detail about the unsavory characters ill deeds. Vaulix concluded that this was a person that was more well off vaporized then running around in its constant state of denial as a criminal. He sat the datapad down and stared at the ceiling, watching his scout droid bob around and poke at the walls trying to map out the entire ship. Hours later they would be prompted by the Xenvaer authorities to transmit the BHG's credentials seeing as how it was registered as a hunters ship. He slid the datapad from the console and began to work the keys to transmit his credentials, minutes later he would be given clearance to dock his ship. After doing so on autopilot he would grab up the datapad and stand from his seat. He activated the security protocol and stepped out from his ship, droid in tow. He was greeted by a port officer who gave him the proper information on his docking. Vaulix pretended to listen, seeing as how he would only be here for a while before his acquisition was dead. He stepped up to a central information terminal and looked from left to right. He pulled a slim jack cord from his datapad and pressed the small red button a slicers spike extended. He jammed the spike into the terminal and began to slice security cammera information, anything that matched Himal Asuras description would be immediately transferred into his pad and the last known location of the person in question. Once the download was complete he pulled the jack from the terminal and replaced the cable back inside of its hollowed slot. He turned and started for the nearest conclave where he would search for the acquisition. He found a plasteel bench and seated himself, leaning forward and going through his pilfered information. He had began to grow more and more intent on this information, finally stopping on a particularly unsavory characters image. This persons last known location was the Central Cantina, he whistled to his droid that had drifted off to the side and was prodding at a wall. He pulled the cord out again, this time using the standard jack to transfer the target information. The scout droid gave a confirmation beep and turned zipping off into the crowd in to find the acquisition and report back to Vaulix. -

 

[Ols]

Himal downed the rest of his next drink and stood up, stretching. He was bored and could not stay to long in once place, or else one security force or bounty nunter or another would catch up with him. As he left the canitna owner managed to find the gall to call after him demanding payment. Himal retorted with his slug thrower. Meh...at least he stopped complaining. It was a very dry thought about human life. he exited the cantina, holstering his slug thrower. He wandered lazily down the walkway, in no particular direction, but just to find somewhere else to terrorise.

 

[Exar Kun]

- The droid had been hovering near the cantina, scanners working at a frantic pace in order to identify the acquisition. It was just about to move on down the walkway when a man of that exact description piqued his sensors. It did a full body scan and the data was 99.9% Relevant. It turned and began to weave about the crowd in a hurried pace back to its master. He found Vaulix in the same spot still reviewing his datapad. It gave a warning beep and projected a holo-image of Himal wandering down the walkway. -

This is near the cantina Reeto?

- The droid gave a confirmation beep and turned pointing one of its sensors in the exact direction that it had came from. Vaulix stood up and pulled his rifle from its place at his back. He didn’t need to unfold the stock to check if he had loaded his weapon. He scolded himself at the fact that he didn’t even remember to load his tool before exiting the ship. Luckily the scout droid had three extra five round clips inside of its auxiliary storage compartment. Vaulix took hold of his droid and unfastened the small palm sized panel where the clips were located. He ordered the droid to eject all clips and the scout did so. He hefted them in his palm and nodded, they were standard armor penetrating slugs. He didn’t need any mercy rounds for this acquisition. He placed two of the three clips inside of the allotted slots in his belt. The third he inserted into the clip well and pulled the slide back, refreshing a new round into the chamber. He pulled the stock out and let the rifle hang at his side holding it by the hollow in the butt. His steps were hurried as he looked about for a possible point of attack. In his rush he passed Himal, not even turning to look at his target. His droid floated past and gave various "beeps" and "boops" making it look as if it was urging its master on for a pressing appointment. -

 

[Ols]

((If you're walking past me...let me react.))

 

[Exar Kun]

There. Edited for content.

 

[Ols]

((Thank you.))

Himal wandered down the walkway. The people were so noisy, and it annoyed him. They were an odd bunch too, he thought. It was not just the people though, there was an annoying beeping droid floating there, but it floated off before Himal had the chance to silence it. One poor man in a hurry bumped into Himal. It was the last mistake he would ever make. Within fives seconds of knocking him he was on the floor bleeding his life's blood out of his thigh artery, which had been cut by a blade now being sheathed by Himal. He continued his walk seeing that the droid had stopped up ahead and was circling a man clad in armour. It was beeping and Himal found that excruciatingly annoying. He drew his slugthrower and spoke to the man, "excuse me sir," he said, "your droid is annoying me."

He raised his slugthrower and shot the droid. It clattered to the floor and he turned back to the man, grinning inanaely, "now that's better."

He turned back to his walk.

 

[Exar Kun]

- Vaulix stopped and turned at the sound of the slugthrowers report, and his droid giving a dying "Dweert" and falling to the ground. The crowd scattered and pandemonium broke out. Someone yelled "SOMEONE ALL ASEC!" Vaulix shook his head as he looked down at Reeto, that droid had been his faithful companion for quite a while. He looked down and his left antannae twitched in annoyance, but it was just a droid after all. And the payout would be enough to repair or even replace the droid. He lifted his left hand up and steadied the antannae from its violent twitching. He would let Himal walk past him before bringing the Verp Rifle up and aiming at his back. It was a sure shot from there, he merely applied pressure from the trigger and let an armor peircing slug fly twoards the mans torso. -

 

[Ols]

Himal turned from the man, unsure why he had not tried to fight him. They usually tried to fight, but they always died. But the man did have a rifle. Himal knew what that meant. It looked like a sniper rifle, and they carried high caliber rounds. His armour was designed to protect him, but he would rather not test out just how much punishment it could take with his life at risk. Insanity was one thing, but he was still fond of living. There were too many places he had yet to wreak havoc. He knew that the cross-air of the sight would be on his back as soon as he was a meter past him. After his first step he dived to the left, into the throng of people and heard the shot less than a second later. He had been just in time, although he could see some man now on the floor, a high caliber round lodged in his torso. Himal drew his slug thrower and briefly peered over the crowd to loose two shots at his pursuer, before ducking down in the throng of people.

 

[Exar Kun]

- Vaulix cursed in his native Verpine tounge, as soon as the two slugs were loosed he leaned to the left and let them snap past his body. They came dangerously close, taking a shred off the right side of his hood. He watched the man begin to run away, slinging the rifle over his back barell down and looking down at the injured man. The shot would be fatal if he did'nt get medical attention soon. He crouched near the injured man and pressed both chitinous hands down on the wound. The man looked up at him with a "Why" look. The sound of sirens would being to ring out in the distance and Vaulix stood up. He slung the rifle over his back and pulled his slugthrower pistol from its holster. He would begin to persue Himal, making sure to keep back as far as possible without losing sight of the man. Himal would have to stop at some point, being human had its shortcommings. And when he did stop he was dead. Vaulix raised his voice and began to speak in galactic basic. -

COWARD!

 

[Ols]

Himal hated being called a coward. He saw red as the man shouted after him in the crowd. He reloaded his slug thrower, hostered it and drew his SMG. He then grabbed a fat man, his left arm around the man's neck, pointing the gun at his head with his other hand. The crowd parted and he saw the hunter about fifteen meters away.

"Coward am I?" he said, "Drop your weapons or I pop this guy in the head. And don't stry to shoot me, an armour pirecing round won't make it wall the way thropugh fattie here and then through my armour."

He then quickly aimed at the mercenary and sent three three round bursts at him before resuming his aim on the large gentleman.

 

[Exar Kun]

I only speak the truth.

You take hostages like a coward...

So you must be augh!


- Vaulix would feel the small caliber rounds impact with his chest, yet the reflec armor did its intended job. It was going to take more then small rounds to punch through his armor. The Verpine stumbled back, feeling like he had been hit in the chest thrice. He was done messing around with Himal, and he had to think of something fast. He regained his footing and threw down his pistol. Instead of lifting his hands in surrender like Himal most likely thought he would he reached around and brought up the Verp Sniper. His breathing had become erratic, and the verpine struggled to slow it down amongst the immense pain in his chest. He began to zero in on Himals forhead with his black compound eyes, his left hand holding the rifle loosely in his left hand as he squeezed the grip with his right. His finger was held tense against the trigger, waiting until the right time to fire. Vaulix had become a student of the exact science that was used when firing a a rifle at both moving and still targets. Range wasn't an issue here so he began to calculate both bullet drop compensation and windage. He held his breath and took the shot, the round exiting the rifle. The EM coil worked efficiently at silencing the shot, the only signs of firing would be the miniscule snap of the rifle as the round exited. This shot was aimed for the head, a death blow to end this fiasco of hostage taking. -

 

[Ols]

As Himal saw the...thing raise it's rifle, he pumped two rounds into his hostages head, loosed another ten at his attacker before ducking behind the hulking, now-dead, fat man.

 

[Exar Kun]

Lets back track man.

Before you would even get those four plus rounds off the sniper round would've hit Himal square in the forehead.

At such a short distance it'd be mere seconds before the round nails him.

Vau fires shot.

Himal fires one shot and then gets nailed.

 

[Ols]

((The two posts happen simultaneously. Himal's not just gonna stand and stare into space while you're blown back, get your footing back and draw your rifle, then aim and fire. It takes one second to kill the fat man. Another 3 seconds max to fire at you before he's behind the guy.))

 

[Exar Kun]

(Fair enough. Just remember, this isn't stop action roleplay. There are some actions that are linked togeather as one.)

- Vaulix let out another audible curse as the overweight civilians like was taken from him. The first of the three round burst whizzed by his shoulder the second and third hit nothing but air as Vaulix lept behind a pillar. The rest of the crowd thinned out and the walkway was empty save for the bodies of the two dead civillians, the droid and them. -

You hear that coward? Thats the sound of the authorities, so you might as well face me and die here honorably. If you run, well... There is no running. ASEC has way too many officers for you to blast your way out with that slugthrower.

- In the previous minutes ASEC officers had just began to arrive on the scene barely emerging from their patrol airspeeders before being forced into cover by sounds of weapons fire. Soon they were mobilized and began to encircle the walkway via buildings and balconies. If they did'nt end the stalemate now both of them would be caught and taken back to headquarters. Yet vaulix would be free within hours, he had the guild backing him up and Himal now had two murder cases added onto his excessive wrap sheet. Vaulix continued to speak as he checked the clip, three rounds. He reinserted it and prepared to "pop 'n' shoot" depending on the mans awnser. -

 

[Ols]

Himal listened from behind his fatman. The authorities had tried to take him before, but he was Himal Asura.

"You really think the authorities are going to get me? I've broken the law here more times than I've had hot dinners. And as for me and my slugthrower. if that was all I had up my sleeve I'd have been caught years ago."

He pulled a thermal detonator from his grenade belt, armed it with a fuse of five seconds. Five. He rolled it towards his would be captor. Four. It would blow a hole in the floor, it was a powerful explosive device. Three It rolled to a halt just over a meter from the Verpine. Two It had a large blast radius, the Verpine would struggle to get out fo the way. One Now that he thought about it, even Himal would get burnt a little, and enough debris would be flung into him. Bang.

 

[Exar Kun]

- Vaulix knew that Himal was about to pull some kind of reckless stunt like that just by hearing his words. He heard the first connect of the spherical explosive upon the ground, and then the telltale sound of it rolling twoards him. He would wait until the last moment, peeking out and spotting it roll just short about a meter away from the pillar before he would turn and leap off of the walkway. Rifle in his right hand and his other hand snagging a thin cable that provided one of the many support moorings underneath the walkway. He groaned a bit as extreme pressure was put on his left arm, cursing the man for his tactics. The jolt from the explosion ripped the rifle from his right hand, barely managing to save his most precious of weaponry by snagging the sling just seconds before it would plunge into oblivion. The first squad of ASEC officers would be anihilated by the inital blast and most would be thrown back by the shock. Vaulix looked up and saw the damage, most of the flooring was barely hanging on by a few weak plasteel bars. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and pulled himself up by both hands, the cable shook violently as he began to swing back and forth. Finally he worked up enough momentum to leap up and grab the edge of the crater left by the explosive. He pulled himself back up and rolled back to what was left by the pillar, yelling out to the man. -

Thermal Detonators? How freshman of you! If your record did'nt tell me any better I'd think you were taught by a low class trandoshan pirate!

 

[Ols]

"I wasn't taught by anyone, I'm a lunatic you arsehole!" Himal shouted, actually insulted. The walkway rocked dangerously over the square below, filled with people, about twenty meters downwards. He could still have some fun, even if he was fighting this Hunter. He took a deadly poison grenade from his belt, armed it and dropped it into the watching crowd, laughing maniacally. He was still crouched behind the fatman, but he took the moment of chaos to run over to the side of the walkway and jump below, using the fat man to break his fall. He was bruised and shaken, but nothing was broken...except the few people he and his fat carriage had landed upon. He looked back up and, running through the crowds, fired a stream from his SMG up at the Hunter as he pulled himself back onto the walkway, until he heard his dead man's click. He ran into a corridor and reloaded, smiling. Oh how he loved causing such disaster.