Farewell and into the inevitable...

[Ne'tra Aaray]

Ne'tra Notices the extra person and smiles... He removes his guns from their holsters and cocks them, however does not fire, just has them ready.

​"Now this looks a little more fair... how about we get started?"

 

[Ne'tra Aaray]

[member="Darren Onyx"][member="Edston Firestone"][member="Darren Shaw"][member="Ashin Karrde"][member="Alkor Centaris"][member="Keira Ticon"]
((Forgot to link))

 

[Vora Kaar]

For now, Ashin, Onyx, and I were on equal terms in defending ourselves, and Onyx seemed to have a hit out on him that equaled to what looked to be other bounty hunters coming here and strutting their stuff. Two of them distinctly were mandalorian. Living for so long, you got little hints at life, and the people in them. It was with these people entering that I had a very bad feeling about this bar. Reaching down to the cane, The sword hilt was locked into the wooden casing. With a simple push of my thumb on the guard, the sword was released slightly.

Something very bad was going to happen here.

Murmurs of taking on the bounty were very clear. I took a healthy drink from my beer, and sat it down on the table. Turning around, I stood up and looked up at the various others who were here. Setting my eyes on the two newcomers. Looking over to the two others beside me, I smirked.

"So will we all have to make introductions, or are you just here for some extra credits?"

[member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], @Ne'tra Aaray , [member="Edston Firestone"],

 

[Darren Onyx]

Classic Shaw, always trying to kick start all the fun before Onyx could finish his drink. Onyx didn't care though, in fact if Shaw hadn't said something then Onyx would've. It was clear that two sides in the bar quickly formed and that the tension in the air would cause someone to crack and strike first.

But instead of anyone striking first, Shaw opened his mouth to wisecrack the opposing force. It was strange, having Shaw seemingly take Onyx's side. The last time they fought together, instead of against each other, was a long time ago it seemed. It almost excited Onyx, to fight alongside an ally again. Not only one, but two allies since Ashin was sitting here with them as well. The three darksiders, old allies and friends, fighting alongside each other in a beat up bar on lower Coruscant. Seemed almost mythic, a legendary story told by themselves to their young grandchildren in the next two decades.

But nobody survives forever, and Onyx was always aware of the impending breath of death that could wash over anyone at any moment in time. Perhaps it was tonight that Ashin or himself would fade from away from life, or maybe Shaw would be struck down, or maybe all three of them would die together in one last defense as friends and allies. The Force shrouds the future and makes it hard for one to see the end before the time is upon them. Still though, the thought of everything ending was a constant in Onyx's mind.

Onyx scooted past Ashin and stood beside Shaw, "Somethings never change," Onyx joked, "The brothers of chaos causing trouble again."

[member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], [member="Edston Firestone"], [member="Ne'tra Aaray"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"They talk a lot," Alkor muttered into the comm. It was something that Force Adepts had always liked to do, and that the former Jen'jidai had always found asinine. They knew what was coming. Why delay the inevitable, especially if you planned for trouble anyway?

The HUD practically screamed in his ear. Facial recognition tagged this fellow [member="Darren Onyx"] with more than 80% probability of being an outstanding bounty. He fluttered his eye twice in rapid succession, and the helmet instantly deep searched the HoloNet. Not just one bounty. Several.

His voice hissed out through the helmet, mechanical. "You have three seconds to disarm and come quietly," he rested one hand on the hilt of his blade, a warning that he would act if they decided to make the first move. "This doesn't have to be difficult, and you already know they don't need you alive."

The fingers of his right hand twitched expectantly. This might turn out to be interesting after all.

[member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], [member="Edston Firestone"]

 

[Ne'tra Aaray]

[member="Alkor Centaris"]
Ne'tra aims his guns at the two other dark Jedi to prevent attack or escape. He looks to [member="Alkor Centaris"] .
​
"Thought you could use a lil' help."

​He stares down his guns barrel. What even were the chances they'd go calmly? One in a million was his guess.

 

[Keira Priest]

Without a word Keira stepped forward to stand beside her brother, loosing her beskad from its sheathe just slightly, a mere sliver of the corrupt, black blade visible. From the moment her hand rested on the hilt she felt the darkness providing her with the beginning of an unnatural thrum of adrenaline, energy that manifested seemingly from nowhere humming through her veins and preparing her undoubtedly for the fight. Both she and her brother knew full well that this was going to come to violence eventually, and the words he spoke were nothing more than a formality.

Content in remaining silent she only studied those before her, looking over each potential adversary and scanning them for any perceived strengths and weaknesses. Her other hand slid down to rest on the handle of her tomahawk - this time her tomahawk - the worn leather grip more familiar than that of the weapon that had belonged to her brother.

Her gaze looked to the hunter that leveled his pistols at the three before them, unfazed by his presence. As far as she was concerned, this fight remained between she, her brother and the three before them. Any extra help was appreciated to some degree, but not necessary.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], @Ne'tra Aaray, [member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Ashin Karrde"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

ALLIES: [member="Darren Shaw"] [member="Darren Onyx"]
ENEMIES: [member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Keira Ticon"] @Ne'tra Aaray

As the two Darrens stood, Ashin stayed in her chair. She put aside her cup, but that was her only concession to readiness. She'd come more or less unarmed and certainly unarmoured: her only combat-capable assets were her mind and the long knife at her belt.

Her vision adjusted to the cantina's gloom. Her eyes flicked from body to body, evaluating the parties in the standoff. None of them wanted to make the first move, it seemed, though all parties seemed content to talk. A couple wore beskar'gam of a pattern that wasn't familiar to her. The Force was strong here, the Dark Side especially. Plenty of unknowns, none of which she'd expected in Alliance territory. The mando'ade, perhaps, were getting brave again.

Beside her seat, her cup flung itself off the table. It hissed between Shaw and Onyx and shot toward Keira Ticon's faceplate.

 

[Alkor Centaris]

A chorus starts with a single voice.

The shrill cry of Atropos as she stirred from her sheath was the first. Alkor winced beneath his helmet as her accompaniment came. The first banshee wail reminded him of a single image. A man, destitute, half dead already in the streets of Coronet. The subsequent screams all started to blur together.

There were so many. Alkor grit his teeth as they roared outward and the viciousness of the bloody red blade manifested itself. The keen edge was hardly what made it an evil weapon. More than anything, it forced Alkor to face the sheer number of lives he had taken.

There was a reason that he hated drawing the accursed blade.

"Kill them," Alkor spoke across the comm to Keira. The woman was a more seasoned Mandalorian than he, and would most likely look for cover to exploit. Alkor could draw their fire, especially now that he had his own beskar'gam.

Together, they could spread the enemy thin and pick them off.

Well, there was something else Alkor didn't account for. All that screaming in people's heads, that was bound to illict a bad response. It did. Several patrons grasped their heads in pain as Atropos sang her hellish song, and more still joined in the screaming as agony seized their minds.

The weakest minded passed out from sensory overload, and more than one had fled the bar entirely the moment he drew the blade. It was a madhouse.

[member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], [member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Vora Kaar]

Hell had broke loose. As the bottle flew across the gap between the two parties, The Mandalorian drew a blood red blade, and instantly I could hear the screams of the damned. Pleading to save them from the nether. All the people I had killed, or the Mandalorian had killed. I didn't know which. I also drew my own sword. While it may be a vibrosword, it was echani built. Able to withstand lightsaber blows. One that I had grown to trust in my current life.

As I took a step forward, I could feel the force drain from me. However, it was dull at first. Almost as though someone had a force bubble that prevented any force to be used. This would call be back to my soldier days. Even if I didn't have the force, I was still a man who knew his way around weapons, and close combat. Patrons of the bar left leaving only those here to fight.

Closing the gap between myself and the male mandalorian, I swung at him with the blade, Feinting from his left, and over to his right. My blade was much shorter in length, but also likely much lighter. My best bet was to have a fury of light attacks to batter the man into submission.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], [member="Keira Ticon"], @Ne'tra Aaray, [member="Darren Onyx"],

 

[Darren Onyx]

Allies: [member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Ashin Karrde"]
Enemies: [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Keira Ticon"], @Ne'tra Aaray

And the fun finally started. Onyx quickly reached into his dark robes and put on his infamous helmet fashioned after Revan. He then ignited his red and purple lightsabers and charged the female Mandalorian, wanting to provide assistance to Ashin who was, while dangerous without armor or weapons, defenseless.

When he was several steps away, Onyx lunged forward and spun his body, swinging his lightsabers wide to give his target little room to move around. This tactic was good, but it left him little defense for counter attack.

 

[Ne'tra Aaray]

Enemies:[member="Darren Onyx"][member="Darren Shaw"][member="Ashin Karrde"]
Allies: [member="Alkor Centaris"][member="Keira Ticon"]

Ne'tra Sees the female Mandalorian being charged and, in an attempt to help her, fires both his guns, one aiming for Ashin's head and the other for Onyx's chest. He had realised two things: He was fighting alongside others of Mandalorian descent and Onyx would have to be taken out in melee. His arms flung up into the air from recoil, and Ne'tra dives for cover, holstering his guns and grabbing his lightsaber.

​"More mandalorians, eh? What a coincidence..."

 

[Keira Priest]

The glass halted in its progress just as soon as she raised her right hand, a slight curling of her fingers causing it to crack into shards, a flick of the wrist sending it flying back in pieces towards the one originally responsible. It was in those following seconds that Alkor drew his blade, the resounding cries echoing through her mind itself. "Damn you to the Nine Hells, vod'ika." The curse traveled across their in-helmet comms, and he would know just why it originated. Despite its adverse effect on those in the surrounding area, the natural Dark Side nexus the blade exuded would provide its own sort of fuel for her beskad, born from corruption similar to the weapon he held.

Soon thereafter the reveal of her blade came - Ash Eater - the blade turned an unnatural black, a stark contrast to the blood-red of what could have been its sister-sword. Immediately she felt the Consume Essence beginning its work, drawing on the terror and confusion the emergence of her brother's blade had caused. It served to provide a dormant pool of adrenaline for her to pull from when it became a necessity along with granting her a source to utilize when it came to the ethereal. On top of that was the Drain Life inherent to the blade, each cut draining the victim's energy on a physical and metaphysical level equivalent to the wound inflicted. It was a weapon steeped in the darkness, suited well to the needs of its user.

The second of the three fighters made his violent intent known, and she raised her beskad in a block, his sabers sparking against the alchemized metal. With the additional strength of her cybernetic working in tandem with her organic limb she pushed outwards against his strike, making a secondary cut towards his abdomen, starting out slow in order to better adjust to the weight of the weapon in full-fledged combat, her use of it previously limited. The odds weren't in her favor - two against one - and while she appreciated the aid of the other hunter, she was just as content wearing the fight herself.

[member="Ne'tra Aaray"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Ashin Karrde"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Keira Ticon"] @Ne'tra Aaray [member="Darren Shaw"] [member="Darren Onyx"]

The glass and the blaster bolt struck Ashin's face. More precisely, they struck a layer of hardened air and overwhelming nope about a fingerwidth from her skin. The shield was a hasty one, and the impact knocked her off her chair. She stood with her long knife raised, blinking away a bright afterimage, and caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror. Char and small cuts marked her face, but she didn't see or feel any significant damage.

The Force roiled with strangely familiar things, effects emanating from the two odd swords that the Mandos had drawn. What Mandalorians were doing with alchemical blades like that was a discussion for another time. For the moment, what mattered was that she shielded herself from the noise. Sooner or later, every Master of the Force faced a choice between power and sensitivity, between throwing stones and reading ripples - or, as Skywalker had put it, between shouting all the time or hearing a whisper. Definitively, Ashin had chosen the former, and her Force senses remained stunted in many cases. The voices weren't as loud to her as they might be to someone more receptive. They reminded her, though, of long days and nights teaching Spencer to guard or violate thoughts - and of the staggering mental pressure of Lotek'k, the Terror From Beyond, whose voice had been orders of magnitude more oppressive - and of the billion souls that Moridin had forced into her once upon a time.

No, the swords didn't get much purchase on her. That one blaster shot, though, had given her serious grief. Her alchemical eyes were sensitive to sudden light, and the bolt had splashed over her telekinetic shields right in front of her face. Disoriented, Ashin staggered back to lean against the wall. She shut her eyes and focused on the Force for a vague picture of the situation.

Onyx had engaged the woman; Shaw clashed with the man, whose blade emanated a conflicted sort of nullification, a bit like a ysalamir or void stone. That left the young man diving for cover and swapping his blasters for a lightsaber. He'd been the one to blind her temporarily. Cold fury rose in her, and she let herself feel it, use it. He'd taken cover behind a table or something like it, maybe an outcropping of a wall; she couldn't get much of a sense of it. Still standing behind Shaw and Onyx as they fought, Ashin made a fist and reached out to point between them.

The table or wall or whatever-it-was that sheltered Ne'tra Aaray shattered and bent down at him, looking to trap and rip and crush and so forth.

 

[Darren Onyx]

As their weapons connected, Onyx could suddenly hear the true power of the screaming sword wielded by the male Mandalorian. Suddenly Onyx could hear everything from his past screaming at him, condemning him for his actions. Onyx fell off balance a bit, caught off guard by the sudden screams. Although this is one of the few times his cybernetics would help him; he was quickly able to focus in on his goals enough to drown out the screams. They were still there though, and he heard every bit of it.

Velok commanding him to destroy the Sith in return for his resurrection, the sounds of his lightsaber clashing with Shaw on Kashyyyk, Circe telling him her sinister plots... All that he had done was being shouted back at him. And truthfully he didn't know how to feel about it. But now wasn't the time for feelings, it was the time for fighting.

Onyx gripped his red saber in his hand and deactivated the other, pushing himself forward against his opponent's sword so she couldn't take advantage of his momentary change in strategy. Quickly, he threw his free hand forward, using the Force to, hopefully, throw her backwards over the bar counter. Onyx was always a fighter who mixed fast lightsaber combat and strong instances of the Force. It was one of the many reasons why he was so infamous in the days of the old Empire. And even though his cybernetics did limit his power these days, he was still connected to the Force enough to preform some of his old tricks. He only hoped they would be enough to help him in this fight.

[member="Ashin Karrde"] [member="Keira Ticon"] [member="Ne'tra Aaray"] [member="Darren Shaw"] [member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Keira Priest]

Her sixth sense raised its alarm only seconds before his telekinetic strike impacted, giving her enough time to manifest a hasty, shimmering shield but little more, her impromptu defense cracking nearly instantly under the strength of his attack. As anticipated she was thrown behind the bar, and it was where she remained for a few moments, recovering her wits and taking stock of her present injuries. Bruising was something she could withstand, and her armor helped prevent the most serious injury. In a split-second she decided on her strategy, warning Alkor via their comms, "Get ready to move. You'll be able to sense it." They hadn't coordinated together on the battlefield often, but each knew the other's fighting style well enough.

Crouching and facing outwards so she could look over the bar, Keira extended her focus beyond herself, delving into the familiar current of energy that encompassed the Force. "Get out of the way." That final warning was spoken to her brother mere seconds before the fingers of her right hand twitched, sending the bottles that adorned the shelving behind the bar flying outwards as a blur across the battlefield, alcohol and shards of glass spraying wide. The majority of the disaster was intended for her opponent, a distracting move as opposed to one intended to end the fight.

Just as soon as her counter was launched she vaulted over the bartop, rushing her opponent and opening with a series of cuts and slashes intended to pressure him into remaining on the defensive until the moment she found and opening and was able to exploit it. Certainly Alkor was correct in dubbing her the more experienced as far as the Mandalorian way of life was concerned, but her fighting style had the capacity to be just as brutal as his own when times called.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Darren Shaw"], [member="Ashin Karrde"], @Ne'tra Aaray

 

[Ne'tra Aaray]

Seeing the table he was covered by ripped to shreds, Ne'tra ignites his icey-blue lightsaber, deflecting shrapnell that flew his way.

​"So ye' want to take me on like this? So be it!" ​Ne'tra yells at the woman taking his lightsaber behind his head as he jumps at her and sends it downwards over his head at full force.
[member="Keira Ticon"][member="Darren Onyx"][member="Ashin Karrde"][member="Darren Shaw"][member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

The rumors about House Verd were not greatly exaggerated.

Keira belted out across the comm channel in warning as she began to conjure something wicked in response to the onslaught from their mark. His eyes never left the man engaged with him.

Alkor did not initially lift his weapon- it's existence was enough. The roar of a multitude of souls churned in his mind, and Alkor staved it off with sheer force of will. He did not need the Force to fight. He never had. Instead, he utilized his armor to its fullest potential. With a shallow step toward [member="Darren Shaw"], he brought his right arm up and caught the blade against beskar plate.

The vibrations caused his arm to shiver as the weapon failed to do more than scathe the mighty Mandalorian Iron, but he could feel the force of the blow all the way up to his shoulder. The nerves weren't so dead as to miss that point.

With all that inertia rebuffed, the vibroblade richoheted off his armor uselessly. It fell to the attacker to respond, and for his sake, it would have to be a quick recovery.

Because at that precise moment, Alkor's HUD flashed red, and the proximity warning blinked before his eyes. His hand shot out- crushgaunt and all- toward Shaw's outstretched arm, and he attempted to give it enough pressure to send jarring pain through the man's body.

As he did, he tugged hard in an effort to put the other man between him and Keira's blunderbuss of telekinesis.

[member="Keira Ticon"] | [member="Ashin Karrde"] | [member="Darren Onyx"] | @Ne'tra Aaray

 

[Vora Kaar]

I guess thats what I deserve for trying to slam a simple sword up against Mandalorian armor. I could say I was just testing the man, seeing how he would fight, but in all honesty, I was just attacking the Mandalorian for the sake of attacking him. The blade bounced off the armor. At best I might leave a scratch on the paint, but that was all I could do.

I would have to come up with something more inventive to damage the man. The problem was, I had no armor to really protect myself. Even as the man grabbed my arm, and tried to toss me into the fray of bottles being thrown, I had to duck my head and twist my arm out of the mans grasp. Anyone can have an iron grip, but there was no way that his hand could completely surround my forearm with our difference in sizes. A twist, a painful, and very much hated, twist was what I needed to get out.

In that short time, I got smacked with a few bottles on my side and some on my back, but most of the damage was blunt force from bottles smacking me, and the warden cloak I wore had a few fibers that were torn from the broken glass. After taking a step back from that sudden amount of damage, I could feel a small pulse in the force as it returned to me. The force was not completely gone from me, but dampened a great magnitude.

There was no way I could strike out at the Mando and expect results. He was armored for most of his body... most. About the best that wasn't armored, were chinks in the armor, and his legs. Legs were likely the weak point of the man for now. However, I needed a way to make him give up those weaknesses. I needed to get him to expose them a little more. Boldly going for them would not work, or work as much as I wanted them too.

"Those screams must be hurting Mando."

Taking just a moment to think things through, I decided that this sword was just not going to do it. Sure, it may be useful, sure it was great for the casual thug, but not for two armed individuals, and a third that seemed more like a pest to Ashin than an actual fight. Reaching with my offhand, I pulled my lightsaber from my side. Activating the blue glow as I tossed the sword away from us.

"Must be quite the skill to resist those screams."

No point in rushing in. Darren and the female were duking it out. If the man wanted to try and join them he could try, but he knew I was not the one to turn your back on. He Had to face me. He had to fight me. Why force myself in no armor, and weapons that could barely harm him, when I could let him batter himself up against something he couldn't hit?

[member="Alkor Centaris"], @Ne'tra Aaray, [member="Keira Ticon"], [member="Darren Onyx"], [member="Ashin Karrde"],

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Darren Onyx"] [member="Keira Ticon"] @Ne'tra Aaray [member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Darren Shaw"]

Even with her eyes closed, a purplish blob dominated her vision. For balance, she leaned back against the cantina wall, and sheathed her long knife so she could stabilize herself on a table to her right. This little encounter had officially become annoying.

Among complex and insistent sounds, she picked up several of immediate relevance. Shaw's discarded Echani vibroblade ringing on the floor; his saber activating a moment later. Another saber, dead ahead, following a coherent shout from the person who'd fired the blaster not that ruined Ashin's day. The shifting hum of that second saber as its wielder leaped toward her.

Darren Shaw's abandoned vibroblade slid under a table, spun up over another, and settled into Ashin's hands. Almost as long as a lightsaber, with a straight single-edged blade that curved a little at the end, the cortosis-weave vibrosword hummed to life. Ashin brought it up by instinct to block Ne'tra's flying downward chop.

A heartbeat later, guessing where Ne'tra would land, she stamped down with the edge of her right foot. The goal was to damage or outright break Ne'tra's foot.