Corellian Stand-Off

Posted on Fri Sep 28th, 2012 @ 3:18am by Thane & Bomoor Thort & Berry

1,777 words; about a 9 minute read

Chapter: Chapter I: Web of Fate
Location: Taxi, Nar Shaddaa
Timeline: After "A "Gifted" Girl"

OLD

Letting the others go first, Thane closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on something - anything - redeeming about the smuggler's moon. As waves of greed, confusion and chaos began to feed into his mind, his eyelids separated again, and he climbed onto the taxi with the other two.

As he thought about his credit balance, he looked to Berry. "I bet you eat a damned kriff-load as well."

NEW

It was only going to take about five minutes for them to reach the Corellian Sector, although the taxi did not move at a good pace like many of the other vehicles roaming Nar Shaddaa's skies. To a certain extent, it reminded Thane of Coruscant's skyways, only smoggier, but still with the general hanging feeling of self-importance populating every crevice. He looked over to Berry her gleaming eyes looked about the place.

Bomoor shrank down in his seat - the air whizzing past his face felt uncomfortable and he was keenly aware of all the vile toxins that were slapping against him. He was watching Berry sticking her head out, It'll be just our luck that she'll get her head knocked off by some speeding vehicle, he thought.

"Is it your first time offworld?" Thane asked her, almost kindly. The last thing he wanted was for Berry to have one of her 'moments' and send a blast of Force energy his way, toppling the taxi mid-flight, just because she didn't like the way he said something.

Berry bobbed her head furiously, smiling. “Yes, it is! I was almost afraid I wouldn’t make it, but luckily I did.” She leaned over to peer out whatever she could. Flying like this was so awesome. Look at all the other things flying! She glanced over at the two Jedi. “So what makes you think Razor Guy is here? Green Guy wasn’t lying about his info, but this place is HUGE.” She turned to look out again. “It’s so hard to figure out where I am. There’s so many people…so much movement…” She frowned a little. It didn't make her feel that good.

"People leave trails wherever they go," the Ithorian explained, trying to keep Berry's attention inside the taxi, "A keen tracker can pick up on all sorts of things - who they saw, where they went. But, as Jedi, we are able to see even more - the force can be a powerful tool. It can sometimes even let us see things before they happen..."

"...although I'm not sure I could have seen this coming," he added softly to Thane.

His friend grinned back at him, given Berry seemed almost oblivious to the comment, before his eyes widened slightly and he jabbed a finger over Bomoor's shoulder. "Or that!"

Coming towards them at top-speed at a sharp inclination was another speeder, with four or five sentients all shouting and preparing weapons. Narrowly avoiding the taxi, they zoomed on past and towards the Corellian Sector landing pad, where just ahead of the other taxis a large commotion had brewed. Blaster shots were flying through the air, clusters of figures huddling together on two sides of a street firing and cursing at one another, but it was one particular figure amongst them that caught the Jedi's attention.

Standing ahead of the group on the right was a Gran wielding a red-bladed lightsaber. Although clearly not a master in the art, he was doing a better job than the gangsters around him, ably knocking blaster bolts away from him, although one struck the side of the taxi. Still set on its automated course, it continued towards the landing pad.

Thane grabbed his lightsaber from his belt and looked to Bomoor. "You keep the girl covered whilst I take out red-blade over there!" Suddenly, things had become just that much more interesting.

The taxi neared its docking point at the landing pad where the intense conflict was taking face - the speeder that had passed them had already landed and the passengers had ducked behind their vehicle and were shooting around it at their foes.

"It's some kind of gang war," Bomoor warned, holding Berry back with one arm as she tried to crane over the edge, "This course is taking us right into the midst of it!"

Before the taxi had even touched down, Thane was away and into the battle. Bomoor jumped out a moment later and turned to Berry, "Get down and stay in the taxi!" he boomed, drawing his lightsaber and holding it above his head in the Shien defensive stance, "I'll be here in case..."

A blaster bold suddenly flew towards the Jedi. He pre-empted it and flicked it away with a quick turn, "...in case that happens," he finished his sentence.

Berry's jaw dropped, her eyes almost as large as her mouth. "Wow, you guys are really cool!" She poked her head out of the taxi to look anyway. She gazed out, seeing the blasterfire filling up the air and all the people running around. That glowing-red sword could be seen swishing, too, which Pale Guy had to go fight. She looked over at Boomy. “You can help take care of the other people so they don’t distract Pale Guy. I’m okay here.”

While the Ithorian strongly wished to help his friend he was keenly aware that the young humanoid was exposed as she looked out on the battle. Thane could handle himself. Bomoor just needed to keep the taxi defended until it was safe to move on.

"Stay down," he reiterated, as he scanned the scene - the two sides both seemed to be common gangsters but they were well armed and organised - this was a planned attack not just some skirmish.

Ahead of Thane, the side the Gran's forces were attacking seemed enthused by the appearance of another lightsaber-wielder, but common sense soon kicked in for them, realising that no Jedi would be coming to their aid. Nevertheless, it meant they were now no longer focused on the alien sporting the red blade.

As he moved forward, his posture fell into that of the sixth form of lightsaber combat - Niman. Commonly underappreciated for its lack of extremes - no particular strengths or weaknesses - it leant itself well to Thane's single-handed grip on the hilt of his violet blade, throwing back stray blaster bolts that came his way from both directions as he made his way towards the other Force user, who, in response to the appearance of Thane, had turned to greet the newcomer, his own weapon in the fourth from - Ataru.

Bomoor's favoured form, Thane grinned to himself, having practised for hours against his closest friend's technique, knowing the ins and outs of the style. Of course, with his opponent being a student of the dark side - he could feel the misled and misused power coursing through the Gran - the fight would be quite different from one with the Ithorian.

With his heavy two-handed grip, the Gran swung forward with surprising speed at the Human Jedi. Feeling the move before it was made, Thane ducked and twirled himself around beneath the darksider's blade and delivered a hefty kick into the orange-skinned alien's gut, sending him back a few strides.

Were he not a Force user, the Gran would probably have been out of the battle with that alone, but was almost immediately recovered as he jumped over Thane in a bid to use athleticism to defeat his foe. Thane could sense the overconfidence within the Dark Jedi, the joy he had at thinking he could best both Thane and the other hoodlums surrounding them, but Thane gave a sound and quick swipe at the Gran, but it was quickly blocked as he landed in front of him.

Moving into his more favoured second form, Makashi, he aimed his blade at the Gran before stepping forward, the sheens of their blades combining into a white bubble, the energy of both crackling under the pressure of the saber lock, which ended quickly as Thane spun the hilt of his own blade and pushed the Gran's backwards, almost making him drop his own weapon. Although he had ferocity, there was little talent to this chaotic abomination.

Back towards the taxi dock, the lull in blaster fire from the Gran's side due to Thane's appearance had allowed the other group of gangsters to push forward and were now surrounding the position where Bomoor stood in defence of Berry. Boomor's bright viridian blade did not go unnoticed and several members of the group began to taunt the consular.

"Hey slug face, why don't you join your friend?" shouted one.

"I bet he's just a trainee Jedi - he can't fight yet!" mocked another.

Bomoor felt himself becoming annoyed at the taunts, what did those slimes know about being a Jedi? He held the thoughts back. Bomoor knew never to allow such emotions to break through and sway his actions. He held his position firm.

Berry pouted from within the taxi. Those guys needed a walloping. She stuck her head out, shouting, "YEAH well he can do water magic which you guys can't!!" She yelped at some blaster fire shooting across at her and retreated back inside, crossing her arms huffily. And he wasn't a slug, he looked like a tree! These guys had it all wrong.

Thane chided himself for enjoying the battle, and relished the fact he had forced the Gran into a defensive Soresu posture, his blade held high over his head as his three beady eyes locked onto the Jedi, the arrogance having been quickly diminished. Thane continued to trust in Bomoor's ability to deal with the other blaster-wielding opponents as he continued to use quick footwork and quick cuts to parry and pull at the Gran's technique, who was tiring quickly at trying to defend against his Jedi opponent.

Soresu required ultimate calm and concentration, and the Gran was quickly losing it. Finally, in what could only be seen as a final move of desperation, he switched into a poor attempt at Juyo, trying to call upon his emotions and fury to batter away at Thane - it had the opposite effect, and with one wide swirling cut, Thane pushed the Gran's hilt from his thick hand, sending it clattering away towards Bomoor, and then brought the blade down upon his arm, severing it just below the elbow.

Bomoor sensed the combatants' surge of emotion and looked over to see Thane holding the Gran to the ground - his lightsaber angled towards the defeated force-user.

TBC

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