Adventures in Nowhere - Saving the Butcher King

[Zef Halo]

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Episode I​

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unnamed trash cantina,
Nowhere, Outer Rim Territories

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It reeked of sweat and cheap booze that could burn through a Hutt's stomach. Probably not the Lowlives' preferential destination but for some reason or another they were here. Zef's reason? His own ship needed immediate patching up at the nearest port. Unfortunately, the prices were sky high for a chit hole like this one thanks to a parts and materials cargo being late as hell or seized by pirates. He decided to drown the grumpiness, unsuccessfully, with the cheapest whiskey the bartender offered, and keep his ears open for any jobs he could get to pay his repairs ASAP.

He really didn't need to sharpen his hearing for the Sullustan barging in the cantina, eyes frantically looking for the messiah and sweat of panic raining down his face. Some might think he'd just come out of the shower. His stench of a slaughterhouse spoke otherwise.

"You!" the Sullustan pointed at Zef and some patrons he did not know sitting close to him on the bar ([member="Quell Rook"], [member="Vyri"]). "You look like a bunch who could help me with a delicate matter."

The Sullustan did not really pause for a reply. "I am Nuis and my employer seeks a transport off-world."

"For the generous sum of 10,000 credits." he added. "Quite a good offer, right?"

Did he just stutter?

Others who might've been longer on this chit of a planet, or are well informed of the happenings this side of the galaxy, would recognize Nuis as either the right-hand man of the far-more-than-10,000 credits worth Butcher King...a local slaughterhouse owner, or as the target of a bounty worth a 100,000 credits along with his boss being worth a hefty sum of 250,000 creds, or both.

Zef turned back to his drink visibly disinterested. 10,000c were not worth the trouble this little Sullustan seemed to smell of.

 

[Quell Rook]

This was life on the edge of nowhere. No law, no honor, no looking out for anyone except you and yours. Wild Space was the last true frontier in this galaxy, the only place a warrior could truly live free. His people did not understand this. They couldn't understand this. To so many the life of dar'manda, a shamed one exiled from the cradle of their culture was an unthinkable burden to bear but Quell Rook wouldn't have it any other way. The only things in the verse worth seeking were wealth and influence. Well, perhaps not the only things...

"My my my, what have we here?" the pirate practically leaned up against [member="Vyri"] at the cantina bar, "Baby you're a supernova."

He flashed a lecherous smile at the young woman and his aurodium tooth glinted in the dim lighting. Before she had a chance to respond much less defend herself a wretched looking alien interrupted his attempted 'liaison' to jab a finger right at them.

"You!" it croaked in stilted Basic, "You look like a bunch who could help me with a delicate matter."

"Absolutely," Quell clapped [member="Zef Halo"] across the shoulder without missing a beat, "You're looking at the best damn crew this side of the Western Reaches. Ain't that right, vode?"

For his part he at least resembled a mercenary. In a brazen disregard for tradition Rook was wearing his beskar'gam breastplate and gauntlets but the rest of his ensemble was ragtag spacer's leather complete with a wide brimmed hat in place of war helm. There was an ornate looking Tof disruptor pistol on one hip of his belt and a curved beskad on the other.

"For the generous sum of 10,000 credits."

"Fraid our usual price is twenty," he put on an expert show of hemming and hawing, "Couldn't go lower than fifteen."

 

[Vyri]

Vyri snorted, unphased by the brazen flirtations of the pirate besides her. Growing up on the streets had given her a thick skin, and words like that weren't an insult so much as an opportunity. But before she could make a move to cash in on what little cards life had dealt her with, chaos broke out.

"You."

Vyri's gaze sharpened in an instant, prepared for a swath of different accusations to come pouring out of the man's mouth. Of all the people she had swindled and conned, his face was just another in the crowd. The job offer that then followed was what one might call a 'pleasant surprise'? She did not let this on, swirling her glass in mock disinterest as the pirate stepped up and put on an act for them. Guess they were a crew now?
She tossed a sidelong glance at them both, then shrugged ever so slightly and went with it. Vryi had very little reasons to turn down coin, and there was even less she wouldn't do to earn it. In the end it wasn't that hard to believe that she fit into such a crew. Her guns were visible on both her hips, and her body carried its own set of scars and callouses.

"Fraid our usual price is twenty," countered the pirate. "Couldn't go lower than fifteen."

A glance at their other 'crew mate' on the end told her he wasn't buying it.

"-Each," Vyri tacked on. "And you're out of luck anyways. We have business elsewhere." Her brow raised at the face of his desperation, the 'unless you can make it worth our while' clear as day.

[member="Quell Rook"] [member="Zef Halo"]

 

[Zef Halo]

The loud mouthed Mandalorian next to him that he tried to ignore as much as the Sullustan slapped him over the shoulder and just like that accepted the job with the worst haggling skills Zef ever witnessed. When he was addressed as vod, the old man was transported to a world of PTSD he thought only Isley was capable of sending him to. The Sullustan and the Mandalorian both seemed too ridiculous for Zef to take them anything more than some wicked hidden cam prank.

He wanted to drown in his whiskey.

With an incredibly grumpy grimace and tired features across his face, Zef jerked his head at the Mandalorian and the young lady he had earlier been trying to flirt with.

"Y'all kids these days can't mind y'alls business?" he grumbled and sighed.

Just as about Nuis was to strike a deal with the beskar clad man with a grin, the young lady cut right through him:

"-Each, and you're out of luck anyways. We have business elsewhere."

Zef, back at staring at the depths of his booze filled glass, raised an eyebrow - all ears. The Sullustan would reject her, he thought, a kid in a cantina in the middle of nowhere coming in busting his balls on the price of a ticket off-world.

He thought wrong. Nuis muttered something to himself, almost as if he calculated whether the sum the girl was asking was worth his life. In another galaxy, Nuis might've been a real successful accountant. The door of the cantina slid open and a Togruta with the shiniest teeth in the universe lit the establishment to the point Zef had to squint. His eyes fell right on Nuis and the Sullustan's calculations quickly reached their result.

"Fine, fine! Fifteen each but we go now! No time to-"

"Ahh, Nuis, dear old friend, I've been looking for you!" the Togrutan, Ari, called out for all to hear with confidence in his baritone that could probably tear the walls of the cantina. Ari, as locals knew, was the head of a bloody mercenary outfit. A former bounty hunter himself, he'd often pick up bounty contracts for his outfit. They paid well, and he had the numbers on his side.

Ari's arrogant eyes fell upon Nuis' new pals - the Lowlives. His interest towards them was comparable to that one gave to ants. "Tsk, tsk, found yourself new friends and already forgetting about me? Not all that shines is gold, Nuis, but your head sure is."

In a moment's notice, as if practiced at a theater, half a dozen armed goons stormed the entrance and raised their guns at the Sullustan. If someone was waiting for a stereotypical line for Ari to say before ordering his mercs to fire, they would be highly disappointed. Triggers were pulled and a rain of fire came upon the Lowlives and their new 'friend' Nuis.

@Vyri @Quell Rook​

 

[Quell Rook]

"Okay space boomer," Quell chuckled naturally at [member="Zef Halo"] as if the old man's unusual comment was merely a long running joke between them.

"-each. And you're out of luck anyways. We have business elsewhere."

When the sullustan stammered out his agreement he flashed another predatory grin at [member="Vyri"].

"I knew I liked you..." he mumbled under his breath to the young human.

Captain Rook caught the scent of looming battle in the air. Hunters. He knew what they were before their togrutan leader shouted out his challenge. So he wasn't the only wanted man around here, it explained why Nuis was so desperate. Good thing his face wasn't all over the local holofeeds yet or this 'Ari' would be after his scalp in particular as a nice bonus. He surrendered to his warrior senses borne from the decades of torment on Gargon that mandalorians referred to as childhood.

"Not all that shines is gold, Nuis, but your head sure is."

"His head is made of gold?" was all Quell had time to wonder aloud before the shooting started.

He had just about given up on this unexpected payout, the pirate was fast but there was no way that he could get to Nuis before the little alien was riddled with las bolts. He should have been cut down by the hunters' focused fire. He wasn't. To his credit the sullustan looked just as surprised as everyone else. Everyone except the woman standing right next to him mentally focused on shielding them from harm. Even though she was trying to help, Rook scowled and curled his lip at Vyri in disgust.

"Jetii witch," he spat, and moseyed right through her psychic barrier.

A spray of las fire washed over him, bolts plinking harmlessly off beskar. He drew both his disruptor and beskad before burying the blade up to its ornate handguard pommel into a rodian's chest. With a flourish of his off hand he unleashed a Tof disruptor blast which brutally atomized his next victim. Something grazed his leg, and the flash of pain brought on by such a near miss sent a spike of adrenaline coursing through his system. Time seemed to slow down but Quell's combat reflexes were too well trained to slow down along with it.

 

[Vyri]

Vyri grunted, the only retort she could spare as she stood half propped out of her seat, her hands raised. It had been pure instinct that allowed her react in time and spare her new charge here the worst of it. Bullet's had gone whizzing through the alien's clothing, shattered Vyri's glass, and even tore their way through the pirate's hat. But to her credit, the parts of them that counted were spared. Zef's back included.

"M'no jedi," she hissed, closing her fists and letting the spray of floating bullets drop without momentum to the ground. And he was lucky she didn't send them right back at him! Quell dropped off her list to cover, the gunslinger growling in frustrating as she kicked off her stool. She pulled a blaster, stepping forward and yanking the stunned sullustan behind her. "The bar," she ordered, hoping he possessed enough common sense to jump it for cover.

Regardless, shots of her own were sent out. Two fell, their faces' smoking. A third shot hit well above them, shattering a light and sending a wave of molten glass and sparks down on the goonies. Vyri took the chance to dive forward and pulled at a table, upending it and using its metal belly for cover.

 

[Amea Virou]

[member="Vyri"] // [member="Quell Rook"] // [member="Zef Halo"]

He was just sitting there, drinking and seemingly not much else. Amea had most certainly not expected to see Zef here, but once faced with the situation of his presence her people watching had become two-fold. She knew that somewhere around here she would find the man known as ‘Nuis’ and moreover she knew that ‘Nuis’ could lead her to the Butcher King. Normally she wouldn’t have bothered with it. This cantina was below her standard, which admittedly wasn’t saying much. It reeked of its patrons, most of which she seemed to have very little in common with. They were people that on any other day she would have assaulted in the alley and bring to justice, but not today.

That dirty bomb was still out there and this ‘Butcher King’ had some form of connection to it. She had tried to find his hidey-hole on her own, but the net was surprisingly starved of it. More likely it had mention of sightings of him, but they had almost all turned out to be fruitless. But now she had found Nuis, and she knew that at some point he would be around here, it was just a matter of finding him before he fethed off again. From her seat she watched as he stepped into the cantina and cried for help out of which only three seemed to actually pick up on his request. One of them was Zef, the other two were wholly unimportant.

Yet Amea would seem to find that she had not been the only one to seek out this Nuis fellow. A bounty hunter by the looks of it, and a moron from his actions at display. In a moment’s notice it would seem that they had gone from introductions to knocking boots. It would usually fall beneath Amea to even consider fraternizing with the scum in this cantina, but these were extraordinary times and as such required extraordinary measures.

Amea rose out of her booth and made a sprint for the bar to throw not just herself but bring Old Man Halo with her as well, should he not have decided to make the smarter decision of seeking cover already. She rolled over, pushed her back against the bar and withdrew a cartridge of small shells from her belt that went into her rather small gun. Shock pellets, sparked a bit to the touch but were practically harmless as long as you knew how to handle them.

“Sorry about that, sir.” She said and flashed a grin at Zef. Did he even recognize her? Would that have been a good thing? It was a while ago now.

 

[Zef Halo]

"Ahh, Nuis, dear old friend, I've been looking for you!" Ari spoke.

"Who-" Zef began but was cut off nonchalantly by the Togrutan bounty hunter who continued to spew on forth.

"...not all that shines is gold, Nuis, but your head sure is."

"His head is made of gold?" the smuggler heard the Mandalorian idiot wonder literally at the expression.

"Wha-" he turned to express his frustration at the beskar head's stupidity but once more he was cut off - this time by a weather forecast of blaster fire.

Blaster fire hissed around him, broke glasses, tore his leather shoulderpad like a bottle on a target practice. Old bones sprung him over the bar but age catching up to him showed clearly as he looked like an incredibly dozed off koala trying to climb over a branch with extreme complications. Thankfully, the spray of fire stopped midway. He glanced at the magic and heard the Mandalorian's venomous explanation of what had occurred. Zef, half over the bar half still on his seat, turned to the Jetii witch and grumbled:

"What the-" and once more something else cut him off. This time it was the incoming spear in the form of another woman who tackled him over the bar and Zef tumbled like an idiot crashing a few of the bar shelf's cheap booze with his feet.

“Sorry about that, sir.”

Fuming now, Zef finally found the gap to finally ask a damn question.

"Who the hell are you?" the question was probably aimed at both the one who tackled him, the Jetii witch and the Mandalorian knucklehead.

"We must leave through the back exit, there!" Nuis' voice came from behind him. The Sullustan, now behind the bar, pointed towards the other end of the bar which lead to a place behind and probably out of the cantina.

"Go!" the grumpy old man ordered the Sullustan and saw his chance to pick up the whole reward just for himself leaving the others fighting off the mercs while he escaped with the Sullustan. How hard would it be to get this Butcher King off this world if they just survived this.

Nuis led the way out of the bar but neither Zef nor him were extremely stealthy about it. With a glance their way, the rest of the Lowlives could catch them leaving the cantina through a backdoor behind the bar. But so could the mercs.

Now, outside of the cantina, Nuis produced with a sly grin a thermal detonator from the inside pocket of his rich coat. Without a second thought, the sullustan triggered it and tumbled it down inside the cantina.

And poof would go my troubles, Zef thought with a dirty smirk as he produced his own blaster pistol.

[member="Amea Virou"] [member="Vyri"] [member="Quell Rook"]​

 

[Quell Rook]

Endless rage.

Gripping one of the mercenaries by the back of his kneck, Quell plunged his gauntleted fist repeatedly into the weequay's broken features until his armor was gored in grey matter. Mandalorian pirates tended to prefer things up close and personal. He had wasted no time wading into their midst. Clan Rook might be justly known as little more than savage gangsters with delusions of grandeur but the same blood that had once tamed the great mythosaur coursed through his veins.

He nearly had the togrutan Ari's throat in his hands when a sudden commotion among the mercenaries finally alerted him to [member="Zef Halo"] and Nuis' deception. The pirate gave no thought for [member="Vyri"] or [member="Amea Virou"], stabbing and shooting his way towards escape for there was no profit to be made in conquest without glory. When the thermal detonator rolled into view he knew he wouldn't make it. Thinking quickly, Quell atomized a nearby window and hurled himself to relative safety.

"Fething coward!" he snarled when he rounded the corner.

Rushing them both without another word the pirate attempted to tackle Zef to the ground who he assumed had tossed the detonator.

 

[Vyri]

Vyri's hair stood on end, the corner of her vision catching sight of the detonate tumbling to a halt. "Shhhhi-" she leaped, her body doing a corkscrew mid air, twisting over the bar and landing her behind it. Ouch. Pretty sure she pulled something there, but there was no space inside the moment to linger. She took all the bangs and the bruises, risking a bullet over the certain death of the bomb as she scrambled for the door. The chaotic screams and gun fire roared behind her as she leapt through.

Booooom... swoooomp.

She landed hard and clawed at the ground, the explosion turning into a subsequent implosion that threaten to suck her right back in through the door. The grip of the blast released her. Her whole body rang with pain, her vision and ears swarming with sounds and colors she couldn't sort out. But she was alive, and really, that made it a good day.

She found it in her to turn on her back, groaning and spitting out a chunk of her cheek she had bit straight through.

"Fething coward!" Came the voice of the pirate.

Ah... right... one of them had done that. Her hands reached the butt end of her remaining gun, the woman's gaze sharpening as she pulled it to her and sat up. The pirate tackled the old guy, which she took for a sign as the problem being dealt with. She slowly got herself to her feet, growling against the pain as she waved her gun at Nuis. "The price just went to twenty. And who the hell are you?" She asked Amea bluntly.

 

[Amea Virou]

Didn't remember her then. Amea shrugged at his question. If he didn't remember her that was fine, and in reality now was not the time for a re-introduction. Not that their first one went all that well to begin with. Was a different time, not too far into the life that would lead Amea to the point at which she was today. With the final slug fed into her gun she got up and fired two rounds into the crowd of mercenaries. The gel sparked in the air, yet erupted into a small explosion of light and electricity as it made impact against the armor of their enemies.

Yet amidst all of the chaos she swore she could have heard something hit the ground. The people around her began to run and upon seeing the detonator there was little more Amea could do but run in the other direction. She dove over the bar, got low and hugged the ground as the deafening boom of a thermal detonator seemed to stun just about everyone that still remained inside. Amea remained still as the dust began to settle. With a groan she began to push herself off the ground as the mercenaries around her seemed to have gone just as quiet. Not dead, just disabled for the time being. It gave her a small window, but a window regardless. Stepping back over the bar she put her hand to the wall to seek balance.

The detonator had left a mark and judging by the sound of it part of the roof was probably not going to last all that long. As she stumbled out the door covered from head to toe in nothing but dust a loud crack and bang would be heard inside as the roof fell in, blocking any would-be stalkers from following in their immediate footsteps. Amea had turned around in surprise to look at the dust cloud that rushed out the establishment before she turned back to the others.

The burly man tried to hold down Zef, the sidechick pointed her gun at Nuis with a demand for Amea's name. Now, while the bar hadn't been much of a time for introductions, if now wasn't the time then the time most likely would never arise.

"Amea Virou. I am a friend, for the time being." Amea said and looked over at Nuis with a fire to her eyes. She wanted to punch his little face right in, but he was the key to everything. She could do that once she had gotten what she needed out of him.

A sigh parted Amea's lips in frustration.

"Or rather, I am a friend of a friend to Mister Halo here"

[member="Vyri"] // [member="Quell Rook"] // [member="Zef Halo"]

 

[Startorn]

You know why you go to a town way out in nowhere, to lay low, well if that's what these people were trying to do they did a horrible job, Startorn was walking outside when the explosion hit and nocked him off his feet, he was unharmed because of being outside and his armor, he saw just about everyone draw there guns and saw a few of the mercs come staggering out of the building, he drew his pistol and dropped the three staggering mercs right there. "Wouldn't suppose there's any money to make from what's happening here is there?" He asked the group.