Cornered on Carida [Mereel Vaun vs Bounty Hunters]

[Detrik Vaun]

72 Hours Ago - The Domum System

Life was quiet on Glacies Domum. Detrik Vaun wouldn't have it any other way. When his clan had been kicked off Mandalore years prior, seclusion had seemed the safest option. Vaun now knew that decision was wiser than he could have know. The proof sat right outside the wide, floor to ceiling window in his office. It overlooked the vast staging ground of the primary Clan Vaun compound, his "castle". It was a testament to over two decades of his hard work.

He'd been a drunkard once, lured to the bottle by the death of his wife. It had been pathetic, and he'd since stripped that man from existence. He'd learned that if you kept building, taking what belonged to you, it wasn't hard to forget your past losses.

And Detrik was good at taking. He owned his own planet now, such as it was. The ice ball had been a blessing in disguise. The Unknown Regions wasn't quite so unknown anymore, but it still kept the clan protected. No violent upheavals in government, or wars between ideologues and patriots would get in his way. On Glacies Domum, Detrik Vaun was the government, and the war profiteering without serious stakes made the citizens fat and content. Things could not be going better for the mandalorian who'd once lost everything.

There was however, one small detail of his past that had lingered on his mind all these years.

"Alor!" The door to his office hissed open. Vaun spent another long glance staring out the window, watching as his newly minted corvette from the Vaun Industries Shipyards was prepared for it's first test flight.

Vaun turned in his chair, noting his lieutenant with a simple nod. Though he hadn't seen it, he knew the man had bowed when entering the room. His men had seen first hand what he did to clansmen who tested his authority.

"The target as' last seen on Coruscant. Thought yud wanta hear." The gruff, armored man set a datapad down on Detrik's desk, but Vaun did not take his eyes off the lieutenant.

"By all means, update the bounty. He can't have gotten very far from the Core, not with the refugees pouring out of it, clogging every spaceport with a transport shuttle left." He chuckled to himself. He'd run out of fingers the count the number of governments he'd watched rise and fall. It was always good news for the clan. Rebels were always good for business, as long as they paid up and didn't get any smart ideas. Smart ideas meant that the Vaun Clan got to flex their sizable muscles. They always found a way to make a resistant customer pay, one way or another.

"Anythingelse' I should update Alor? Ya sure yer like ta leave it dead or alive?" Despite the annoying accent, Vaun normally appreciated his lieutenants input. He wasn't Mandalorian stock, but he was cunning, and loyal. This time he'd already made up his mind.

"If he comes back dead, he's no son of mine." Detrik snapped. "Now leave me."

His lieutenant was quick to exit, leave Detrik back to the quiet of his office. He turned back to the window, watching as the corvette crew began to test its underbelly repulsors. Detrik reached back onto his desk, searching until he felt the familiar shape of his pipe. He lit it with the lighter in his pocket and summarily began to smoke. The Domum tobacco calmed his nerves, stopped the shaking in his hand that had set in with age.

He let out a puff. Sooner or later, he'd either have Mereel in cuffs or he'd have his head. One way or another, Detrik would have his resolution.

[member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Carida, Kendal Spaceport. Southern Entrance Gate 11-A​

​

Spoiler

Img source for you fine image collectors: https://jubjubjedi.deviantart.com/art/Taleucema-Star-Wars-Edge-of-the-Empire-544549882

The loading of emergency medical supplies and rations aboard his ship had almost guaranteed that the Iviin'yc was going to be in port for quite some time.

Fortunately, Mereel had already made day plans for himself and the Silver Jedi accompanying him... or maybe she was a CSA Jedi? He couldn't remember which.

Whatever faction she belonged to really didn't matter to him anyway, what did matter was that they were both stuck here while the supplies they would be taking to the wreckage that was now Coruscant got loaded onto his ship. It would be the second of the many supply drops that Mereel had planned.

Unfortunately, but predictably, the large amount of refugee, commuter, ship pilot, and maintenance worker foot traffic combined with his own general lack of attentiveness seemed to have temporarily separated him from his company.

The armed and blue-tinted-armor clad Mandalorian sighed as he sat down on a stair overlooking the southern entrance gate's passenger tram depot. He began scanning for the woman in the sea of changing faces with the mark-one eyeball first.

Just because he had the force didn't mean that he was willing to let his other skills fall out of practice.

Spoiler

[member="Seo Linn"] (or maybe [member="Jairdain"]) | [member="Julian Valentine"] | [member="Koda Fett"] | [member="Aryn Teth"] | [member="Tom Taff"] | [member="Auri Vesta"] | @Anyone else who wants to join the hunt

 

[HK-36]

[member="Detrik Vaun"], [member="Mereel Vaun"],


The name "Mereel Vaun" rang a bell for the droid as he sat aboard his personal stealth transport, the Knight of Eclipse, a stealth shuttle currently docked aboard one of the cloaked corvette carriers Droid Lords like him managed to produce and keep as a memento of when they claimed their own Droid Space, sucking off resources from a whole galactic sector. It wasn't that Vaun was an especially prestigious target, at least not in conventional sense, and the pay offered for him was laughable by the droid's current rather high standards. HK was retired from the bounty hunting business mostly, especially after the whole being-rewarded-an-entire-planetary-system-and-claiming-to-be-the-greatest-bounty-hunter-alive incident back during the Omega Protectorate days, but sometimes he could have been persuaded to go on a hunt again, usually when the pay was right, there was an opportunity to make things really spectacular, or he was just bored and had nothing better to do.

Vaun may not have had much weight behind his name, and hunting him did not pay well, but the Mandalorian had a sentimental value to the machine, and there was a reason why the droid remembered his name. Perhaps Vaun would remember HK's serial number, or at least his callsign as well, since the machine was one of many agents of Protectorate who were responsible for Deathwatch and RC's downfall, although HK managed to take most of the credit for it. In fact the droid was part of a team that helped the Ewoks assault the Deathwatch Venator over Mustafar, aiding in Vaun's imprisonment. It was so long ago but HK still remembered it clearly, pointing at Vaun and laughing at the Mandalorian as a group of angry Ewoks took him away.

Either way, the point is HK wanted to have at least one more chance to do so to Mereel again, or at least make life more difficult for other hunters, should they try to go after his sloppy seconds.


The droid was already in the Core, attracted to the region by the recent turmoil and refugee crisis, seeing an opportunity in it to further his own plots, much like many other vultures like him who flocked to the war ravaged region. The machine directed his ships towards the closest planet as he connected himself to the ship communication systems and went into a meditative trance, pushing his mind out into the Holonet to try and slice into some surveillance systems planet by planet, starting with Coruscant first, hoping to get at list a glimpse of Mereel. based on his description as well as the droid's recordings, and pick up his trail.

 

[Ravenfire]

Tom was on noverskaa doing research when one of the holonet terminals pinged. He always liked to keep a track on certain things in the galaxy so he went to go have a look. Opening the terminal he saw the new ping was a bounty on [member="Mereel Vaun"]. He hissed through his teeth at that from the man's own father as well. That really didn't bode well. As he gathered his gear he watch as [member="Koda Fett"] took the job and then [member="Aryn Teth"]. A man he had heard was the commander at the burning of the myrkr forests. At the burning of his home, at the destruction of his friends. Well then he really needed to help Mereel. There was one other he didn't recognise @Juilian Valentine but that didn't matter to him. He would take down Teth or at the very least make this job hellish for all trying to take Mereel.

Loudout: Tom Taffs Personal Beskargam, Taff Necklaces, hibirar te ara be te blades shoto, hibirar te ara be te blades, The Mandalorian Broomstick, MP-1 Personal Absorption Shield, G-11 Shield Gauntlet, T-7 Vibro Brace, Coyote Sniper Rifle, N-4 Probe Droid, PR-20, The Greeter, The Taff Blades,the-blade-of-beginnings

Tom used one of his bird-of-prey to get into the core. He needed the ship really to be able to quickly get into and search the core, there were a lot of refugees from the on going battles, however he knew all the ones from sullest had been safely moved. But right now he looked at the recent update saying Mereel was seen on Coruscant. Meaning he had left the planet. Tom thought for a moment before deciding on his next course of action realising he had seen Mereels force signature before. He would know exactly where to find the man. Opening himself to the force he wouldn't seem like anything more than just another well force user to anyone who looked. There were so many around that the moment that it really didn't matter.

He found Mereels signature on Carcadi. With that of a woman's it felt like another person he had felt the same day or maybe it wasn't ( [member="Jairdain"] or [member="Seo Linn"] ). In either case he would soon be land fall and he hoped to find Mereel before his hunters did. After all noone had ever said bounty hunters should have an easier time of things.

[member="HK-36"], [member="Detrik Vaun"], [member="Auri Vesta"]

 

[Koda Fett]

There was one industry that remained a titan throughout the millennia and more. It wasn't favourable among those who led more... civilised lives, mind you. One designed on capturing another man, or even killing him- be it a simple shot the chest, or complete and utter annihilation. It hardly mattered, because at the end of the day the job only had to be done. It was these days when you uttered the words 'Bounty Hunter', the first individual to come to mind was that of Koda Fett. Could hardly blame anyone who did, really. As the man with more captured bounties than any other, who dealt with those as lowly as the Hutts, and all the way to the Sith Emperor himself. Fett was simply the best. There was no disputing that.

The Mandalorian was contacted by an individual who claimed that Mereel Vaun was present within the Core Worlds, and more specifically, Carida. With an overabundance of resources Fett was more than capable of tracking the Jedi-Mandalorian down. A strange enough combo, one you didn't see all to much these days. It wasn't as if it mattered. He'd captured Jedi before, this only meant more padding.

As of now, Fett was in a squat stance. His Carbine's stock was pressed against the ground, and the barrel aimed towards the sky. The rangefinder attached to his helmet fell over his visor, scanning the area ahead of him and more importantly Mereel himself. Sitting on those stairs, right out in the open, all so easy. If only it was, however. Koda always knew to watch out for things that went too well. If Fett tracked him down with ease, perhaps others had too.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] - [member="Tom Taff"] - [member="HK-36"] - [member="Julian Valentine"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Having met Mereel on Anaxes and working with him there, after they had solved the mystery that had been posed to them, she decided to stick with hm. It seemed they made a good pairing and worked together well. She was the calm one with the brains to his brawn that wanted to get into action. Seo held him back and then when it was time, joined in the fighting at his side.

She had needed to excuse herself and when she returned to the last place she had seen Mereel, he was gone. Seo was more or less a pretty quiet person, but she couldn't help but let a sigh out at this.

Waving to one of the loading droids hoping it knew where her companion had gone, it pointed in the opposite direction of where they were supposed to be going. She thanked the droid regardless and headed in the direction it had indicated.

Not one to abuse using the Force, there were certainly times when it came in helpful. Now was one of them. Closing her eyes for just a moment to feel for him, it wasn't difficult to find his now familiar signature. Luckily she hadn't gone more than a few steps in the wrong direction before she turned around again to find he had gone at least in the correct general direction they had needed to go.

Barely three minutes later, Seo found him, but she was unsure if he had seen her yet. Her blond almost white hair would stand out in this crowd so it shouldn't take him long. Hoping he had accomplished getting at least some of the needed supplies they were here for, she headed his direction.

[member="Detrik Vaun"] [member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Tom Taff"] [member="Koda Fett"]

 

[Julian Valentine]

Carida
Kendal Spaceport
Southern Entrance, Gate 11-A
______________________________________________________


Julian Valentine, Willow and Yee Lung stood nearby Gate 11-A hidden in a small crook between two administrative buildings. Julian Valentine was garbed in his usual attire and armed to the teeth. On his back was a ysalamiri nutrient frame, he had taken precautions against force users. He had contacts in Mandalorian space who could supply him the frames. Willow was a charcoal skinned Human Replica Droid, she was wearing a CSPA uniform, Carida Spaceport Authority. A stun gun in her hand and a stun baton at her waist. Yee was similarly dressed, although the clothes didn't fit him. They were baggy at his wrists and feet, almost tripping himself over. The CSPA hat was comically large on the teenagers head. He had smiled and laughed when he got dressed.

They had spent their time tracing the registration numbers on Mereels ship, tracking it to Carida. Once it stopped there to gather supplies Julian and his crew made a move. They had bribed port authorities to allow them to land their KR-TB 'Droomtreader' freighter, Paragon, next to Mereels own vessel. Once Valentine had boots on the ground they quickly met with the bribed officials, inviting them on board the Paragon and subsequently knocking them unconscious with the stun gun. Hog-tied and gagged, they were thrown into two different cells until Julian could come and release them once he had his target.

Now their plan had worked so far. It was only the riskiest part that Julian had to accomplish. This wasn't his first rodeo. "Okay, you know the plan," Valentine said, addressing Willow and Yee. Yee gave a curt nod and gave an affirmative in his Vuvrian dialect. Willow only nodded. Julian reached for his belt and activated the holoprojector. His appearance transformed in the blink of an eye. Suddenly he was a smooth grey 3PO protocol droid. "Let's go," Valentine announced and the team moved out.

Willow took the lead, striding forward and towards Mereel and the unknown woman beside him. She held the stun gun in a relaxed manner, she wasn't looking to make him a target.. yet. Yee followed on her left, staring down at his datapad and a trolley of of electronics that he wheeled along. To Willow's right was Valentine, or rather, the fake 3PO droid, he walked in a rather mechanical way that was attributed to protocol droids of that type. As the team approached Mereel, they may notice the sudden lack of connection to the Force, but that could be attributed to countless individuals in the crowd that wandered past or hung around.

"Sir," Willow said, addressing Mereel, "I need to see your passport and any documents relating to your vessel." She whipped out an identification card, precision forgery at its best, it said she was a security lieutenant for the Carida Spaceport Authority. "This is a routine random inspection of your vessel. Due to recent conflicts in the area, and the increase in smuggling, CSPA has begun cracking down on illegal imports and exports." Julian, as the fake protocol droid, chirped up, his voice altered to become more droid-like, "My deepest apologies!" he sputtered out, "My superior can be so rude!" The protocol droid waved its arms in a goofy manner, attempting to apologize for the inconvenience, "It is a horrible thing that we must do these inspections but it is for the best of the Caridian people. Please allow us your forgiveness and we'll have this search done in no time."

 

[Marcus Bishop]

Orbit path around 'Hok', Core​

['Freedom's Watch']​

The sound of whistling rang out through the cockpit.

"Well would you take a look at this guy Doc".

The very incomplete Protocol droid, not even having most of his outer plating, hobbled over to the pilot's chair. ["The Vaun contract, Sir?"]. "Yes Sir", he said, gazing at the terminal, sitting forward. "Caraya's- Kriffin- Soul. Want to hear?". The silent, watching stare from the droid's white light eyes, as well as the spinning rotary in it's exposed head was his answer. "Part of an armbed robbery of a Core World Bank, ties to the Jusiks, ties to the Death Watch, committed war crimes with the first empire- and ontop of all that, found some time to kill of some jedi in between". He sat back. "Got ourselves a little old war criminal".

["On the topic Sir. A recent update from Alor Det-"].
"Spotted on Courscant".
["-.... Yes Sir"].

"almost impossible to find him in there. One man on a planet of Three Trillion, and fluctuating". He shook his head. He knew with the state of things there, refuges, strife and all. It would be almost impossible to go there and track him down on foot. "No. Too much of a pain in the arse to get in there. Hell the whole reason we're waiting up here was to try and stop by. No I sent a bit of a.... well call it a hook...". ["Hook?"]. He shrugged. "Desperate times. People need food, need pay.... I need to find a man. So I decided to call up a few info Sharks-". The cabin's deathly silence was pierced, by the pinging and red light of the monitor. An anonymous notification. "Money runs the world, Doc".

The protocol droid could only answer with silence as he spun towards the left side monitors. His hand sliding around the pad. The mercs body obstructing the terminal, "Are you kriffin-'..... the damn coincidence....". A few more swipes at the terminal, a small deposit to the lucky Courscantii. Marcus turned back to his protocal droid. "He's right next door". "Alderaan?". "Even better. Carida", "Terribly coincidental", "Terribly in-deed. For Vaun Jr". One more spin around to his controls. And the small Corellian starship was off towards Carida.

---

Carida, South Enterance

["Sir, Travel Logs from Carida show he's at Gate 11 - A"].
"Bring us in.... Let's get in, and get out".

'Shut the hell up with the stoicism. Never that easy', His rational quipped in the back of his mind, worst part is he knew it was right. Guy was a War Criminal, but a skilled one. And who was he? Comparatively, a guy who'd only done low tier frag. Thieves, murderers, deserters.... His father spoke about him as if he was a child, but he was force sensitive. A Jedi. He'd never faced a Jedi before. A Sith. those in between or completely disassociated. A wary inhale and exhale, he'd finally drunk in the gravity of the threat. But then again, in this business if you live safe, you die broke.

That's when the slight shake of the landing gear hitting the platform pulled him back into reality, ["We've arrived Sir"]. Marcus swallowed, and proceeded to smother any trace of anxiety from reality itself. He shook his head as he pulled that damn bucket onto his helmet. "I'm heading out", A nod to his coverless droid as he headed out of the ship.

 

[Auri Vesta]

Kendal Spaceport - Exiting The Lucky Huntsman

"Get your mangy mitts off me you.. Kriffing! Carpet!" Auri stumbled past the club threshold as the hulking Wookie bouncer obliged her, shoving her lightly into the alley. She lost her balance from the push, rolled on the grimy durasteel about three times over, and crashed against a trash receptacle on the other side of the narrow alleyway. She still gripped the bottle of Dubrillion wine she'd been cradling all night, but during her exit the bottom half had shattered against the ground, leaking its cool nectar all over the street.

Apparently, Wookie standards on "light shoves" were noticeably different than human's. Auri would be feeling those differences by morning, but luckily she was drunk off her shebs, to borrow the mandalorian phrase.

The tawny colored brute roared at her as she struggled to stand. Auri noticed the broken wine bottle as she leaned against the trash can. She sighed disappointingly, before sticking her tongue against the bottle's shattered edges hoping she'd be able to catch a small taste of the wine's fragrant, fruity, flavour. Miraculously, she avoided cutting her tongue open, and tossed the bottle haphazardly down the alley. She thought she heard some scuttling and scampering from the locals at that.

What a charming place they'd thrown her into.

"Yeah? Well I don't like you so much either." She mustered as she finally got back on her feet. The owner of the club, the man she'd accused of cheating in sabacc, appeared in the doorway a moment later.

"Ah, yes, just the man I want to see. I need a replacement drink. Your pal here broke mine right in the middle of my drinking it."

"You weren't drinking, you were drunk. Now piss off, you'll not get a drop more from me. Not after what you tried to pull. Goin' to scare away my clients." The sickly pale Twilek spit on the ground. "Schutta!"

"Kark you! You skrogging cheat! I hope this whole place burns down!" She kicked the puddle of Dubrillion wine and stormed off, probably in search of another club.

She didn't get to one though. She slipped out of the alley onto the main street and stood for a moment, watching the crowds roll by. Spaceports never really slept, there were always spacers on the move regardless of the time in-orbit, so night traffic didn't really differ from day traffic. Most of these people weren't spacers though. They were civilians, scared and afraid, with no idea where they would rest their head for the night. Their homes had been lost, or at least they'd been too scared to stay. Seemed faith in the Alliance had finally shattered.

Auri didn't really care for the Alliance, but she felt a pang of sadness for these people. Maybe it was the depressants running through her system, or maybe she really did have a heart. Auri certainly didn't have a clue. She thought back to her family on Corellia, they weren't so different from these people. She wondered if they had had to leave home too.

That was when she spotted Mereel. With that bright blue armor, it was hard to miss him. He always seemed to pop up where she least expected him, but it was always good to see the big guy. She would have approached him, if not for the CSPA goons confronting him. Auri didn't want to get tangled in that, so she would just watch for now, leaning against the side of a duracrete wall, simmering over what happened in the club, wishing she had a drink to go with the show. There was a woman approaching him as well, from the side. She was interested to see how this would play out.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Seo Linn"] [member="Julian Valentine"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel's eyes easily landed on the familiar pale blond hair of [member="Seo Linn"] as she entered the crowd at edge of his vision. With the admittedly not very difficult eye-sight testing game completed, Mereel opened his senses back up to the force - or at least he had tried to do so.

He realized that something was very wrong as three spaceport security guards approached him, he couldn't sense anything.

His personal knowledge of the force may have been extremely limited in comparison to that of a Master, or even a well-practiced Knight, but he had years of knowledge and experience relating on how to deal with force sensitives.

Definitely not anti-force grenades. Could be yasalimir, but normal people don't keep those as kriffing pets, unless they're eccentrically rich, criminal sleaze bags, or worse.. Mandalorian.


Not knowing anything about the bounty placed on his own head, Mereel pushed his thoughts of worry to the back of his mind. His thoughts now shifted to the three spaceport guards now addressing him, and how they were going to completely and utterly ruin the plans for his day.

While he was no longer the wanted man that he had once been, spaceport security forces had never ceased to be the bane of Mereel's existence. While their reasoning for being a general nuisance to him was always obvious, their incessant interruptions never ceased to piss him off.

"Yeah, yeah. Look, I get it. If this is really about these -"


Mereel slowly pointed multiple times at all of the weaponry attached to his belt and the rifle slung over the back of his shoulder. "- just tell me straight up. I have all of the necessary weapons and ordnance permits. Here - "

Mereel obviously and purposefully moved his hands to a datapad attached to the left side of his belt; he really didn't want to get stunned again for trying to show spaceport security his credentials. He thumbed the datapad to life and navigated to the ID file issued to him by the civilian census bureau of the Republic Remnant, it would show his name, birthplace, age, that his three blasters were licensed to him, and that he had completed the Remnant's multi-week supervised courses to get the Republic to approve him to carry around explosive devices so freely on civilized worlds - it would also show that he was a member of the Jedi Order in small print at the bottom as he held it up to the droid's face.

"In the off chance that you are actually interested in still checking out my cargo, I'll lead the way."

He began walking back into the starport, waving to Seo as he went.

Still with no idea that he had a bounty on his head, Mereel did something that would make him obvious to anyone within at least 30 meters of the crowd around him if he hadn't done so already. He amplified his helmet's external audio speakers to their maximum volume and called out to Seo, if the spaceport worker's were going to ruin his day plans, he could at least ruin their hearing for a minute or two. "HEY, SEO. I'M GOING WITH THE NICE MEN TO INSPECT THE IVIIN'YC'S CARGO HOLD. DON'T WAIT UP."

[member="Aryn Teth"] [member="Julian Valentine"] [member="Auri Vesta"] [member="Koda Fett"] [member="Tom Taff"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"]

 

[Koda Fett]

Carida​

Kendal Spaceport​

Southern Entrance - Gate 11-A​

Call it a stroke of bad luck.

For not just Mereel, but for any other Bounty Hunter. It seemed that there were more than enough here to protect or take Vaun in. In hotly contested messes such as this, it was rather likely that the quarry escaped. Utilising the Hunters that began to attack each other as a distraction. That, however, happened quite frequently. Today would be no exception, especially with what Koda had in mind next. With Mereel inside the Spaceport itself, he was out of the way with the authorities. He was safe, for now. Time to make an approach.

The booted feet of the Mandalorian continued to tap away with each step, crunching the rooftop gravel beneath him. He was initially out of the way, keeping to himself and out of sight. The rangefinder over his visor, enhancing his vision to get a greater look at the quarry as he disappeared into the Spaceport itself. Eyes wandered, continuously scanning the crowd to witness anyone of note. Always be cautious, otherwise you end up dead. Something he learned a long time ago from those that are no longer with us.

Nobody. Not yet anyways.

Fett descended upon the street, his Carbine slung over his shoulder. It was difficult for a man with such infamy to blend into a crowd, but perhaps the sheer numbers alone were capable of working to his advantage. Otherwise, his battered, bruised, scorched and scratched armour was a clear giveaway. He headed in the direction of the Spaceport, moving inside, even following the authorities from a distance. Taking note of the hangar they were to eventually enter, and then stopping dead in his tracks. Nobody was going in, nor were they going out. That's just how this worked.

Just business.

[member="Mereel Vaun"] - [member="Julian Valentine"] - [member="Tom Taff"] - [member="HK-36"] - [member="Detrik Vaun"] - [member="Seo Linn"] - [member="Auri Vesta"] - [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"]

 

[Marcus Bishop]

Carida
​Kendall Space Port, Southern Entrance, Gate 11 - A


"Your papers check out. Welcome to Kendall, behave yourself".


Oh the Farking Irony. And how the hunt was on, He needed to act quick, otherwise he was going to end up with a dead trail. I mean, look at the amount of people here. The core worlds were in a state of, somewhat, disarray, a lot of displaced, refugees, travelers, merchants, all sorts moving. This meant..... that in previous years, where Cardia would have been packed, it was now absolutely stuffed with life from all flocks of galactic civilization. But that was useful. Bishop didn't have any infamy. Anyone who knew him, probably knew well enough to keep their mouthes shut. But then again they'd have to seen him, a bit surreal to believe a man in red armor armor such as him could blend into the crowd, but when there's about a thousand people per square foot, it really bends reality. A ping from his comms caught his attention.

["From what the spaceport cameras can show us, Vaun was clad in his Blue Armor, no helmet visible"].

'Well if he did put on his helmet, all I needed to look for is the Blue Mando'. A small pull from his right hand and his rangefinder slid down into place, time to get looking. It was now that he realized, the blanket of the crowd worked terribly in Mereel's favor as well. From face, to face, to face, to face. God it seemed like in the first few minutes, how many faces did he see? A lot, sadly. none of them were his blue mandalorian..... but then one of them did line up with previous records. "Is that.......-" '-Kriff '. ["Is that Who? Mareel"]. It's then that the most infamous contract hunter landed on the street, just meters in front of him. "This just went up several notches in stakes". ["Is Mereel hostile?"], "No. Koda Fett is here". If the people didn't already notice by way of him dropping from a rooftop, they obviously heard that comment. Heads turned, and people started to quickly leave the scene. They knew what could very well happen if things went wrong.

"Heading towards a hangar. Doc, see if we can get a look on the camera system", ["Hangar systems are far more crucial than simply asking to check the port cameras"]. A quick snap of the button of his holster, Bishop drawing one of his small blasters, a WESTAR, keeping it low just behind his right leg. "Then I don't know.... Convince them". He started to scan the hangar, drawing closer. People..... always more people, Port Authorities?.... That's not good. "Wait I think I see him, standing at the Steps, Blue Armo-". It was then, he'd heard a call so loud from the hangar, it sounded like the audio systems of whatever helmet the man was wearing might've just given out. It was also then, some of the men around the blue mandalorian clutched their ears. Scratch that, a lot of people did. "Contact. Think I just found him".

Spoiler

[member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Julian Valentine"] [member="Tom Taff"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Detrik Vaun"] [member="Seo Linn"] [member="Auri Vesta"] [member="Koda Fett"]

 

[Ravenfire]

Cardia
Kendal Spaceport
Northern Entrance of Gate 11-A

Tom had slipped his ship in one of the only empty hangers. On any other day the authorities would have stopped him. But they were so busy they wouldn't notice one stealth fighter landing. He had brought the Astromech KR-1 with him. It was better than having the poor droid mothballed in a storage space waiting for a master that was never coming. He could hear [member="Mereel Vaun"] using his armour speakers at the top of their volume settiings, so it didn't sound far from him. He then saw the guards. Most of them weren't moving towards the disturbance but instead away from it almost as if there was a reason for them not to be here right now. Someone must have payed them off maybe some of the hunters.

Then he spotted another man standing in the entrance for the south gate in mandalorian armour. "KR who is that?" The astromech would show him a hologram of the mans files. "So that's [member="Koda Fett"], I expected something more, impressive I guess. But he has a track record of getting to job done though." Tom shrugged. He was sure there were more people around who were hunters. Tom in full armour just turned to KR "KR tap into mereel's comm unit, we need him to understand how dangerous the situation is." The droid would beep. "Come on KR Babuir could do it, so can you." At the mention of the AI the droid beeped some more giving Tom the Comm codes for mereel. "Thank you KR."

"Meerel Vaun, this is Tom Taff. I am here to help you, your father has placed a considerable bounty on your head and you have several hunters here at the moment trying to take you. The area is to congested for me to do much quickly, but I am here to help you. Some of the hunters here are [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"], Koda Fett, [member="Julian Valentine"]. Head towards the northern entrance and I will be able to assist you, otherwise I am on my way now." He would turn it off. "Let's hope he got that hey KR. Alright lets roll and remember we are here to help Mereel." The droid would beep rather rudely "Hey now, he is also a mandalorian that's why we are helping come on." They would begin walking towards Mereel was ready to take on any hunters in their way.

[member="Auri Vesta"], [member="Seo Linn"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Three figures approached Mereel and arrived before she did. It appeared they were simply checking to make sure he had all the permits needed for his weapons or maybe the cargo they had requested loaded here. Either way, nothing was out of the oridinary to her and when he spoke at the top of his vocabulator's volume, Seo almost shook her head.

The whole display, loud projection and that odd acting droid should have been a sign of something. She didn't have foresight or anything of the sort so had no clue anything was amiss with the situation. Listening to what Mereel said though it was a little odd. Their mutual destination was that ship. What did he mean when he said not for her to wait up for him?

Deciding to at least pre​tend she had a different objective, she kept walking after giving Mereel a slight nod. One thing with Seo, she would rather be silent if there were other ways to communicate. Something about the apparent officers was off. The man's uniform was very ill fitting and the human female showed very little outward emotion and appeared to be purely professional. As a woman of few words, this was something Seo could appreciate. She almost waved off the words of the droid, but decided he wouldn't get the meaning of the motion.

"You're just doing your job. Meet you there."

Both addressed to the group, the first part to the officers and droid, the second to Mereel. As she stepped further away, that sphere of oddness went away. Like she was taking a warm shower, the Force returned to her. For some reason when they approached, she hadn't felt it slip away, but its return was clear to her. However with all the various traffic around, Seo assumed it was more likely one of the other people that were around them. Normal port authorities didn't possess the kind of tech or gear needed to accomplish that severing.

One thing Seo did not hear was the communication between Mereel and Tom. That was in his helmet and not through the Force or directed at her.

[member="Tom Taff"] [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"] [member="Koda Fett"] [member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Auri Vesta"] [member="Julian Valentine"] [member="HK-36"] [member="Detrik Vaun"]

 

[HK-36]

[member="Mereel Vaun"], [member="Tom Taff"], [member="Seo Linn"], [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"], [member="Auri Vesta"], [member="Julian Valentine"],


It would have only been a question of time before the droid found Mereel as he scan through the various data feeds and systems connected to the vast network that was the great HoloNet. By the time the machine tracked him down it seemed that other hunters were on Carida as well. HK watched Mereel from up above, tracking him through his augmented photoreceptors as well as nearby sliced surveillance devices, an overwatch position on top of a building where the machine was dropped off earlier from his stealth transport.

The droid noticed Mereel being escorted away by Port Authorities, or people who looked like Port Authorities at least since he was not close enough to scan through any holographic disguises. He could have called in his own allies, the Greycloak honorguards who remained behind aboard his cloaked ship, or one of the HRD agents Metal Lords had planted throughout the Core. However, the droid did not consider that to be as fun as just blasting his way through a spaceport on his own. For if there was one advantage the machine had over other hunters, besides gadgets, stealth tech, lightsabers, personal army and navy, being beautiful, and having a body made out of Phrik instead of the flabby doughy messes others were dealing with, it was that he just didn't really care. HK thought very little of laws put in place by organics, and considered himself to be fairly immortal, so if Port Authority would stand between him and his target, he did not mind leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

Either way, clad in his chameleon cloak, wrapped over the Vong-formed armor he usually wore, the droid made his way down from the rooftop he occupied, concealing himself beneath the light bending shroud. He closed in on the spaceport at the same time as Koda did, from a different direction though, the northern entrance, using his stealth field and sound dampeners to enter the facility and bypass any guards that might try to stop him. With buildings, unprotected datapads, commlinks, and security systems as his eyes and ears, the droid managed to pinpoint which cargo hold the security was taking Mereel to, as well as overhear the name of his vessel, the Iviin'yc, a ridiculous name in a ridiculous language.

The problem that the droid stumbled upon now was how exactly enter the cargo hold to make his entrance most spectacular. Still wrapped in his invisibility cloak the machine looked up, there was a rather sizeable air vent above him, bellowing out a nice cooling breeze. Just in time too, as unbeknownst to him, Mereel had some more help on his side, Tom and his lackeys were heading towards the droid's direction, from around the other side of the facility, but by the time they would make their way, HK would already be in the vent ducts, slithering his way through with his slender body, putting the cover of the vent he went through back in behind him.

 

[Julian Valentine]

Carida
Kendal Spaceport
Southern Entrance, Gate 11-A
______________________________________________________


Willow made only the slightest hint of discomfort at Mereels misuse of his audio-projectors on his helmet. Yee visibly clenched his teeth and swore in Vuvrian. Valentine bit his tongue so as to not swear up a storm at Mereel. "Please do not do that again," Willow warned in a tone of disapproval, "Or I will fine you for unnecessary noise disturbances."

Valentines eyes drifted from his visuals to a small indicator on his helmets HUD. The battery on the holoprojector was quickly depleting and in a matter of seconds it would be flat. They had less than a minute left. Valentine turned his eyes back to the visuals. Not enough time to get Mereel on the ship. Damn. The falsified 3PO glanced over his shoulder to Fett, then to Yee who had diverted off from the group, pushing his trolley towards the gate to the spacedock.

Julian would have spoken to Willow but he felt pressured. Time was running out. He reached down to his hands, in his left was a crushgaunt, the right a shockmitt - a glove used in shockboxing. Julian turned the dial to near-lethal doses of electrical output. If it didn't stun Mereel, it'd fry the circuits in his beskar'gam. None of that fancy Mandalorian tech to help him.

In the eyes of spectators it would have appeared the 3PO was fiddling with a bolt on his hand. Battery at 10%. Not much time left. Willow walked beside Mereel, Valentine flanking him. 7%. "I will need to view the paperwork for any sealed containers and please allow me to scan them," Willow said, more demand than question.

4%. Valentine - the 3PO reached over to Mereel, right hand attempting to place a gentle apologetic palm on his shoulder. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience," Valentine said in that droid tone just as he ignited the electrical shock, attempting to outright stun Mereel where he stood.

The hologram flickered and vanished, in the place of the 3PO droid was a tall bounty hunter with a hammerhead-shaped helm and powerful mechanical legs. Half a dozen guns were holstered around his waist and chest, a cycler rifle over his shoulder. A grenade belt hung from his left shoulder. Willow snapped into action, as Julian had unleashed the electrical shock from the glove, she raised her stun gun and fired at near-pointblank at Mereel.

Meanwhile Yee was by the gate terminal and with lightning-quick slicing he shut down the dock, blastdoors sealing shut at each entrance. The only way into the dock was over the walls, or with the right equipment, through the thick blastdoors. Koda Fett had been on the inside of the dock when the gate closed in front of him.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

As Mereel lead the CSPA security personnel into the hangar bay toward his landed ship, his stomach sank as he remained disconnected from the force. Either a Mandalorian Empire fleet was in town with their ridiculously large collections of ysalamir all boxed up somewhere in the spaceport, or someone was following the Jedi around to annoy him.

Abruptly, an audio signal came through on his helmet's personal commfrequency, "Meerel Vaun, this is Tom Taff. I am here to help you, your father has placed a considerable bounty on your head . . . ."

The message went on, but Mereel had stopped listening at that point. He had also stopped walking completely, letting his hands fall freely besides the blaster pistols on his hips. But by that point the message had arrived far too late.

"If you'll excuse me gents, I've just been informed of a family issue and need to take my leave. My ship is in dock 137-B. An old coot named Joshua can let you in from there - "

He began turning around just in time to see the "protocol droid" putting a hand on his shoulder.

As the droid's hand made contact, it sent an electromagnetic shock throughout his armor. Mereel's in-suit power systems were quickly overloaded, frying all of the circuitry that worked together to automate the difficult to press weapon attachment activators of his armor, his HUD - and even the wiring powering the cooling fan he had been using.

Before Mereel even had time to see the hologram projector shrouding the bounty hunter power off, the stun gun blast landed on the still-turning Mereel's right side, seeping through his armor before painfully sending electrical shocks reverberating through the entire right half of his body.

The attack left the Mandalorian in a kneel at the feet of his attackers, but it had failed to fully paralyze him. He couldn't feel his right arm or leg, but the left side of his body remained un-numbed, still perfectly telling him that he should be feeling pain. He spat out a mostly meaningless remark through short gasps of air and clenched teeth, "You guys know that impersonating spaceport security is illegal, right?"

He was able to sloppily throw up his left arm to aim his hand between the now-unveiled bounty hunter and his fake spaceport security friend. As his hand raised to the midsection of his new targets, Mereel curled his left fingers back and above his palm, activating the manual release for the cryo-ban spray projectors in his hand.

Mereel couldn't move the right side of his body, but if the bounty hunters held their ground to take a few seconds of blast from the two palm-projectors that were now pouring out cryo-ban spray from his left hand, they would likely find themselves in the same situation, if not worse off, than himself.

[member="Julian Valentine"] | [member="HK-36"] | [member="Koda Fett"] | [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"] | [member="Aryn Teth"] | [member="Seo Linn"] | [member="Tom Taff"] | [member="Auri Vesta"]

 

[Auri Vesta]

Kendal Spaceport - Approaching Gate 11-A

Auri had left her point of vantage and followed the trail of Mereel as soon as the doors to the hangar had been sealed securely behind him and his "new friends". She'd rolled her eyes when he pierced the ear-drums of the general populous with his voice amplifier, but she didn't expect anything less out of him. It only confirmed to her that the blondie approaching was an ally of his.

Something didn't feel right about what she'd seen. Even with her alcohol-addled mind, she had a hunch that something was about to go sideways for Mereel. The reason for the goons she took for CSPA hadn't crossed her mind yet, she hadn't seen anything about a bounty, but even regular spaceport security meant trouble in her mind. Her career as a smuggler meant she had to be actively dodging them on an almost constant basis.

In all her years with dealing with local authority at spaceports, she'd never known them to shut a gate down behind them like that... It wasn't completely implausible, but it raised her suspicions.

She walked through the open air market that was set up outside the spaceport entrance, and under the cover of the high ceilinged rotunda that encircled the vast number of landing pad zones at Kendal. The inside of the spaceport was no less crowded than the streets, but it was a bit more orderly, more glowlamps. It seemed everyone here had a destination, which made it easier to keep track of the woman Vaun was with.

She was standing a couple meters from the gate, looking a bit perplexed as people rushed past. She'd probably notice Auri's approach, it wasn't like she was trying to be stealthy, but perhaps she was too deep in thought to notice.

"Come on sister, that's enough standing around for one day." Auri brushed past her and moved to the door. "Damn, mag-locks. Don't suppose your a master slicer? I'm good with my hands but-" She moved to the control panel for the door, trying to figure out a way to pop open the side panel to the circuitry. "I think our mutual friend is in a spot of trouble." Doors didn't normally use magnetic seals like that, barring a drastic situation along of the lines of a planetary crisis. Someone must have been tinkering with the door from the other side.

[member="Julian Valentine"] [member="Seo Linn"] [member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Marcus Bishop]

Carida, Kendall Space Port
Just outside of Gate 11 - A


With his right hand holding his pistol down in a concealed motion, Bishop approached the dock, his slow approach now turning into a fast walk as more variable started to appear.

"We've got an unknown female near Mereel".

["Odd.... no current records, I'll dig-"].
"And a protocol Droid, looks like Koda's moving into some positio-".

It's at that moment, the blast doors of the gate started to close- quickly. Immediately, Bishop broke whatever covert-ish approach, sprinting towards the door, the civilians around him breaking away as this situation escalated. 'Come on you unfit courscantii Fark sprint faste-', his window of opportunity closed as the blast doors shut, Marcus slamming into it with his right shoulder. 'Damn It', he stepped back. ["I bet you wish you brought the jetpack now"], "Give me sass and I'm scrapping you". He eyed towards the top of the gate's arch. High walls, the blast doors when closed are nearly impossible to get through. So why not go over. He shot the cable from his right gauntlet, the cable shooting up, wrapping around a top edge. He tugged a bit, making sure it was steady. 'Haven't done this in....well, a while'.

Dunno what unnerved him more about scaling the gate; the people watching, the sounds of someone being electrically stunned, or maybe it was- "-A Hammer headed figure, strapped with grenades, guns, and carrying a large rifle..", ["....Excuse Me si- Oh"]. He sat there, half perched on the top of the gateway. ["I don't usually say this sir. But considering the odds you're up against, you're outmatched"]. He chuckled. He drew his secondary WESTAR in his left hand, switching it to it's 'Stun' setting. "Tell me Doc...... Three Mandolorians and a Hammerhead walk into a spaceport". He hopped off the top of the gate, about halfway down he detached his cable as it slid right back into his glove. "Almost like a bad joke". By now, seeing as Mereel was now dropped from the figure stunning him, people were practically filing out the nearest exist away.... and it was now leaving just them.

Barely giving any attention to the people trying to slice the exit, he raised his right to aim for Vaun, but knew better to be the first to fire in this stand off. Instead, he circled right. A galaxy class hunter, a walking arsenal, a group of what now are more than likely imposter security officers, a jedi, and.... ["No Records Sir. But from what I can gather from visual description- consider her a possible force user"]. Okay, scratch that, make it two Jedi. You never know the gravity of the situation until it hits you like a brick in the face- and right now? Bishop wandered right into the middle of somethin' fierce.

Spoiler

[member="Julian Valentine"] [member="Koda Fett"] [member="Seo Linn"] [member="Auri Vesta"] [member=Mereel Vaun]

 

[HK-36]

((Sorry for not waiting for you [member="Koda Fett"], [member="Tom Taff"], it was almost 4 by the time I finished the post and just wanted to get a post in the round before another one or two passes while I'm asleep, different time zones))


[member="Auri Vesta"], [member="Mereel Vaun"], [member="Julian Valentine"],

Meanwhile,
In the vents,


While people begun close in on Mereel's location rather quickly, the droid made his way through the ceiling and walls that separated him from the docking bay where a showdown just begun. Usually these vents and ducts were an ill fit for a humanoid being to crawl through, at least one of anything less than average height, but the machine had a degree of shapeshifting abilities for a reason. It was nothing too fantastic, he wasn't able to turn himself into a puddle, or a serpentine monster, now matter how much he would have loved to, but being able to shift and adjust the plates of his body he could make himself taller or shorter, wider or thinner, and especially, contort his body in a way to fit through smaller gaps.

He was almost out on the other side when he heard the slam and locking of blast doors, taking note of the docking bay being sealed off from the main corridors. At least in his current state that did not cover him, although truth be told he would have been able to just as easily fly or climb over the walls since this writer envisioned the docking bay to be more of a closed Taris-style hangar with one exit on the side out somewhere elevated, rather than open-air docking bays on Tatooine. Either way it worked since nobody expected an attack from the vents. Usually.

Slithering up towards the grate leading out of the vents, the droid looked through it and scanned over the docking bay, assessing the situation first. There was a group of them in there, which frustrated the machine because that meant Vaun may be too distracted to pay attention to all the taunts and quips HK had ready for him. It also seemed that a fight begun, although it was not certain who was winning it so far. However, with them all sealed inside, and the ship pretty much ready to go, the droid knew what was the best, and quickest way out of there should someone manage to capture, or kill Vaun.

Using his silent built-in commlink he got in touch with his stealth transport. On the ground he may have been able to handle things all on his own, or at least he claimed so, but he could use some help in the sky, particularly with blockading Vaun's ship, or chasing it if that happens. It would take his crew a bit to get over to his location, so for now he just had to do his best to stall.


The droid noticed one man in particular circling around the scene, [member="Bishop - Solus Buruk Jag"], who was focused on the brawl in the middle, but not really on the walls, and vents behind him. That was enough of what HK needed for his plan. Reaching down to his belt the droid grabbed one of his lighstabers, not really wanting to waste the time with carefully and stealthily removing the vent cover like he did before. The droid adjusted himself slightly, getting in the best position and waiting for Bishop to come closer towards the vent he was hiding in during his circling when suddenly.

BZZZZZZZZT!

A crimson red lightsaber pierced out from behind a durasteel cover, cutting through one of its sides, weakening and exploding outwards as almost immediately it was punched out by a being hidden behind it, with particularly strong arms. The cover flew out, aimed to try and hit Bishop in the back of his head or distract and fluster him at least as from the vent jetpack roared and a tall, slender being flew out.

HK hit the ground, rolling on it on the side, red lightsaber, which he took off of a Sith corpse as a trophy, in one hand, he popped up. He was clad in Vong-shaped armor like burnt flesh that covered him in a layer of chitinous thick armored plates, black heavy cloak hanged off of his shoulders, array of weapons and various hilts was attached to his belt. The plates of his head were arranged in such a way to form a helmet with a Mandalorian T-shaped visor, although instead of visor there was black soft flesh beneath the protective outer layer. As the droid looked over towards Mereel and Julian his plates shifted back and the flesh peeled off of him, revealing a silver-pale droid faceplate like polished bone that might be familiar to the ex-Death Watch member.

Raising his hand holding the lightsaber, the droid ignored everyone else and just pointed a single long finger at Mereel, speaking out,

"Vaun! First you got captured by Ewoks, now you let yourself be tricked by someone even dumber than an Ewok, you big goober! Ha-ha, it is me, HK-36, greatest bounty hunter in the Galaxy, and you still suck!"

That was the first and most important part of his plan, gloating over Mereel and reminding him of his past failures. Even if Vaun couldn't pay attention to all of it, or it left the droid opened to attack from someone else, it was all worth it.