Location: Ukatis, outskirts of Capital City
Jonyna Si
Ko Vuto
Hilal Vizsla
Unlike her mentor, Jonyna Si, or her fellow padawan, Ko Vuto, Rayia had never been to Ukatis.
'Which,...' she thought,
'...is a shame. It reminds me of Vossport. I could almost picture merchants lining the streets and hawking their wares if the capitol wasn't currently burning.' Rayia had known that the war with the Mandalorians was coming. The tension in the air was as thick as a knife, and Jonyna had been incrementally increasing their training loads in preparation for some coming conflict. Once the group had landed on the planet, the presence of war was unmistakable. The acrid taste of iron stung Rayia's nostrils and throat. Clouds of debris coiled lazily through the air before collapsing with hearty thumps as impacts from powerful blasters shook the very ground beneath their feet. Rayia's tail had retracted into its sheath at the base of her spine, but the tuft of the sensitive organ peeking out was bristling from the information of dozens of distinct movements - displacements of air - being traced all at once. They came from the individuals around them, swarming over the city like roaches.
Rayia was, unfortunately, familiar with the type of battle being waged here. There was no presence of battlefield etiquette to be found, nor the glorious honor of combat. This was simply survival. It was why the members of the Feral Queen's tribe treated warfare as a great hunt.
'Because the only way to protect what you need to protect is to survive.' Rayia finished, quoting the age old motto. Sometimes Weik might seem stuck in the past, but they were right about a few things now and then.
'Right now, I need to protect the people here,' Rayia thought and steeled herself. She had packed quite a few nasty surprises for her aggressors.
Rayia watched as Jonyna hurled flames towards one of the mandos, sending them staggering backwards in the face of the sudden inferno. Ko meanwhile deflected a blaster bolt from a mando who had attempted to surprise him from behind. Golden, slitted eyes flicked his way as Rayia prepared to go to his aid. She could see in her peripheral vision that the opponent had tackled him to the ground. But then she felt a warning as her tail detected some movement behind her. Rayia, with her long training at interpreting the motions, could sense the individual's arm lining up a shot towards her left shoulder just below the collarbone.
The beast within her snarled, and Rayia felt a tautness within her growing. Her muscles stretched and reformed beneath her skin, rippling ever so faintly as they tore and melded. She was walking a very fine tightrope here. The beast was already agitated from the near constant assault on her senses. She could not afford to shift here. There was no telling what she might do within a precarious position such as this. Using her full Felacatian speed and reflexes, Rayia seemed to blur as she ducked low to avoid the shot. Twisting around, she felt the heat of the blaster bolt pass over her skin as she dug one clawed foot into the cobblestones beneath her feet. The stone ripped as she propelled herself forwards, dragging her claws through it to provide herself a launchpad for her dash.
Within two heartbeats she had reached the deep blue clad individual, keeping low to the ground. She would move out of the mandalorian's aim ever so slightly, scenting the burning scuff of molten stone as stray shots bore holes into the ground. Studying the armor, she could see that it was particularly sturdy. Unclipping her Light Fang from her belt, Rayia refrained from activating the blade. She guessed since Ko had refrained from using his saber that perhaps the metal would ward off the standard heated plasma of a lightsaber. And while her light fang was exceptionally designed for cutting among other things, there was a different way.
'Every armor has its weakspot. Otherwise it would render its wearer immobile and...' Rayia pushed upwards from the ground in a vicious arc, swinging Light Fang's hilt upwards in a two handed grip. With her lightsaber's muzzle pointed down and the monstrous strength of her feline form that belied her short stature infusing her, the sharpened pommel smashed into the V-shaped visor of the mandalorian's helmet. A moment later, it was through sending the mandalorian toppling to the ground with a curious gurgle.
'...blind,' Rayia finished.
"We need to find a better defensive position. How about those buildings?! I might be able to shore them up a bit, make a barricade!" Rayia roared, hoping to be heard over the general din and pointed to where some fallen rubble had littered the street, creating a small wall.