Faction Hunter Of Shadows, Himself A Shade [OPA]

[Abaigeal E'ron]

She tired the apron sting into a knot behind her back as she stood looking at her computer screen and re-read a cryptic message.

Orion Reaches out to Coruscant

That was it, nothing more.

Somehow, someone had located her code which was troubling to say the least. A few thoughts ran through her mind, new computer new location new identity, start all over again in another part of the level 1313. She did not relish the idea of telling Asher that, but if they had to, he would understand. There was one other solution to this ‘problem’, kill whoever was coming to see them.

Was it coincidence that The Tears were doing their usual periodic watch on the Soup Kitchen? they would watch other establishments as well from time to time, it just happens to be their turn again. These were the time operations were shut down and the store front would be in full swing, Asher would be in hold up until The Tears made their ‘point’ and moved on. Or was it?

Everything about this felt like a trap.

Abaigeal said the words of the message over in her mind, trying to figure out what it meant, who was Orion and what did they want with them. From the manifest gained from the apartment of Callum she had retrieved with Micah tol Powl there was no one attached to The Tears with that name. Unless of course it was recent or contracted job.

Tension around the Kitchen was thick enough and would be for the next couple of days without this on top of it, Abbie let out a long sigh to remove the stiffness in her shoulders and the frustration from her mind. She was about to slam down the screen of the computer and head out the door when her periphery vision clipped the message once more but only the capitals.

ORC.

She turned her head to the side without taking her eyes off the screen. “Asher!”, she called out to him, he was somewhere in their head quarters above The Soup Kitchen. “We got company”. An acronym of their old name, but Abaigeal knew it. However, it did not lessen her suspicion that this could be a trap. Out of the draw on her desk she retrieved her lightsaber and strapped it to her thigh under her skirt. Abaigeal was on duty tonight, serving at the the kitchen's window, whoever was coming from ORC would have to find her there.


Sinestra | Judah Lesan | Audren Sykes

 

[Sinestra]

​

To be as unconspicuous as possible he had donned...simply a dirty cloak with a large hood over his head. Subtlety Masterclass:101. Jude Falkrowe, or Orion in the current occasion, made his way down the lower levels of Coruscant. A place he had never been to before but it all looked incredibly familiar. The suspicious, looming pedestrians with ill thoughts, the broken air filters, the occasional screams in the distant, the blaster shots ringing every hour or two - it all reminded him of the slums found in the Outer Rim urbanized planets where order did not exist as a word in the dictionary.

Order,huh? he laughed mentally. Once upon a time, he had worked to establish that through his work as a special agent for the dangerous First Order Security Bureau. Now the cause remained but with him being on the other side of the fence, and frankly, with a different outlook on the meaning of order.

Orion lined up at the queue for the Soup Kitchen among other similar indistinct personas and awaited his turn. When it came, the hooded agent was pleasantly surprised by the lady on the window. For a moment, he just silently appreciated her 'inner beauty' and nearly whistled before he came to his senses.

"Y'all got any orion soup by any chance, hon'?" he smirked.

If preliminary intel was anything to go by, kitchen lady was supposed to be something more than an apron wearing soup giving volunteer. After all, the Soup Kitchen, according to Coren, was more than just a kitchen.

And that's why he was here.

But no one told him anything about The Tears.

Abaigeal E'ron Asher

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron // Sinestra

The soft string music that played in the background over the moderately fancy sound system had proven an excellent companion to this week’s obsessive cleaning session. Asher dragged his index finger across the surface of the kitchen counter before he rubbed it against his thumb with a content smirk. Not that you could see it beneath the gas mask that covered the lower half of his face. The smell of industrial-grade solvent lingered in the air that many had compared to dying a slow death whereas Asher compared it only to the total extinction of germs and dust.

It was his pass-time, and it was one that few — in the long run — ever complained about. Though their trusted associates were few and very far between, there was never going to be anyone that could argue that Asher Lastnamehere was the very definition of the perfect stay-at-home husband-slash-underworld-troublemaker.

And hey, Abaigeal didn’t even pay him for it. It would, after all, be rather redundant. Her voice called for him and he took the mask off and threw the gloves off of his hands. Rushing down the stairs he gave her a wide smile and stood by her side.

The codephrase wooshed Asher harder than the concept of a stable Coruscanti government. He blinked at the man’s order.

“Of course we do, and we got a soup named after Nexu Minor and Major as well.” Never let it be said comics and discarded astronomical magazines on constellations weren’t educational. Asher shrugged and pointed at the sign above the counter. “Sorry to say though, we only have soybeef or nutrient paste-based soup on the menu today, sir.”

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

“One soybeef soup!”, she yelled over her shoulder deciding for the mysterious cloaked hooded character. “Eat in or takeaway?”, there was no eat in as such, apart from a couple of stools at the end of the window, but if this was the expected ‘company’, he would hang around. Asher was being his usual self, testing the waters and irritating cheek. There was no Orion Soup ever on the menu.

The bell chimed, Abaigeal turned to gather a prepared order of the other customers and handed them through the opening. One of them she gave a hard look filled with meaning and he would understand his pay was at the bottom of the food. The rest were just hungry and knew to come here for a meal, that cost very little or free if their circumstances were at their lowest.

Her eyes flashed over the shoulder of the hooded man, the thugs from The Tears, moved down the street.. again. They were not very good at blending in, pacing the streets like patrol but she supposed they did not really need to. They were making a point, not that the Kitchen members cared, but the residents in the local area went into lock up for a while until they moved on, and no one dared to approach her with any news or intel they may have for her.

“Haven’t seen you in these parts before”, she wanted to strike up a conversation in case this was the author of the mysterious code. One hand went on her hip as she leaned on the counter, with the other hand right over the alert button which she pressed. The holoscreen in the Kitchen flashed a new soup order, Ghoulpee Soup, their code for trouble. The chef keep working however, a couple of the hands moved to the meat locker and armed themselves under their aprons.


Sinestra | Asher

 

[Sinestra]

"You...
.
..
...
do?"

Guess everything was possible on Coruscant. Even Orion soup. The man offered some other alternative that sounded way too space millennial to the OutRim native. Then the lady already called in the order.

"Eat in." he replied still confused from whatever the hell the man was offering.

Blessed/cursed to be born Lorrdian, Jude managed to read the sudden nervous shift in manners among the kitchen's employees at the back. The gorgeous lady remained calm. She was either incredibly good at masking her body language or oblivious to whatever the kitchen employees at the back were worrying about.

"That's cause I ain't from these parts, hon." Jude replied with a shit-eating smirk and then leaned over the counter and whispered. "I am Orion."

It was a risky move, sure, but when was Jude last seen doing things by the book?

Asher Abaigeal E'ron

 

[Asher]

"No, sweet cheek, we don't." Asher responded with enough sarcasm to drown a dewback. He rolled his eyes at the remark that he didn't come from here, and sure enough Asher would shake his head and fetch the soup from the chef and place it before Jude. By now it was clear even to Asher who this man was and he gave the man a glance that saw right through him.

The silent alarm went, and hey if he had messed around for this long...

"I'll be needng something in trade for this soup."

Sinestra // Abaigeal E'ron

 

[Judah Lesan]

It had been a few weeks since Denon. After making the delivery and getting paid for the work, Judah decided it would be best for both him and Abbie if he laid low for a while. He hated that he was always running off after things between them seemed to get to a place he never wanted to leave. Neither of them lived a life that made the idea of settling down or choosing their own wants over the greater good made any sense. Yet, here he was, dressed more pirate than Jedi, walking into The Soup Kitchen that Abaigeal E'ron ran. The only thing that marked him as a Jedi were the twin lightsabers which hung from his belt. The middle aged man was too old to care if anyone knew the truth about what he was.

She was busy with a customer, or several, though by the looks of it she seemed concerned. Judah tried catching her eye, but she was definitely engaged with whatever had her attention. He made his way to the line where he hoped to get spotted, coming alongside the mysterious figure in a cloak ( Sinestra ) who seemed to be doing anything but blending in.

"That is one way to announce to anyone looking for you that you are trying to hide," Judah pressed his thoughts to Abbie's mind. Hopefully it wouldn't startle her, and hopefully she would be happy to know he was there.

Judah scanned the area. If there was trouble, he was not picking up on any reason for it. He could not hear the silent alarm and was not about to go fishing through Abbie's thoughts to get any answers. Instead he kept to what the force would let him discern about the situation, and his gut told him something was about to happen. He'd been in too many situations like this to ignore.

"Anyone be able to tell me what's good around here," he asked trying to get enough eyes on him to be a distraction long enough that it would by the crew whatever time they needed to ready for whatever thing was about to happen.

Asher

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

Ping

The Soy-beef was ready and Abaigeal turned to get it and gave the chef the nod to ‘stand down’ but she him well knowing that the Kitchen would still remain on alert. They still have The Tears out there somewhere to worry about. She placed the hot soup on the counter for Orion, just as a message pressed to her mind. She returned, No one is looking for me, they are looking for you, a smirk rested on her lips.

They had to get Orion around back, if this was the man come to make contact with him, if not, he was a dead man, Asher would see to that. “The delivery is waiting”, she turned to Asher with a routine comment, he would know she meant the back door leading to the ally where hopefully he would find the two men in a matter of moments.

Abaigeal moved over to the order window, curled a lock of hair behind her ear and looked over Judah’s shoulder. The thugs had returned and made little effort to hide the fact they were watching.

“The thick Daal soup is very good”, she said making eye contact and he would notice the warm welcome in her eyes and she was so pleased he had made it. However, her reference to Daal had not been by mistake. The situation they had found themselves in on the dock had been tense to say the least and thick on the ground with pirates, mandos and slaves. It was warning that a sense in the force told her something was about to happen.

“Hey!”, The Tears thugs had grown tired of doing nothing, and wanted to flex their authority. “You there!”, from her position Abbie noticed their eyes were on Orion and anyone that was in the line up for the food had vanished. And in an instant, security measures triggered the metal shutters of the Soup Kitchen, they slammed down and locked. Judah and Orion would be on their own.

Damn it.

She ran for the back door, ripping her lightsabre from under her shirt, “Asher we got trouble”.

Sinestra | Asher | Judah Lesan

 

[Sinestra]

The kid's sarcasm escaped him. In the Outer Rim this type of vocabulary was regular. The smirk didn't leave Jude's face.

"Sure, got me some coin." The agent said joyously. A slight feeling of confusion crept down his gut. Was he at the wrong place? Everyone was acting absolutely oblivious. Was the message too cryptic?

And he just found out. The slight tick of the Force made him glance at the new arrival, then back at the soup lady. Something was exchanged mentally. Starchaser's report mentioned something about Jedi, but not exactly Jedi. He was at the right place but everyone's paranoia was off the charts, souring the taste in his mouth. Using the Force tempted him but Jude kept his cool, shit-eating smirk still on his face.

“Hey!” Thugs grown tired of doing nothing wanted to flex their authority. “You there!”

Steel shutters nearly tore his casually laid out on the counter hand startling him as he turned around to see the ugly mugs with guns. He just noticed the liveliness of the area had suddenly evaporated. Just him, new guy and the goons.

"All's good y'all." Jude raised his hands but the goons simply aimed their guns at him. "Ah shit."

"Empty your pockets, karker!"

"Ain't got no poc-"

"Shut the kark up and empty your pockets!!" another goon barked.

"Ah, chit. Here we go again." Jude muttered to himself and tapped the Force. His will came smashing into the nearest goon's mind giving completely new orders. The goon cracked his neck and without another word abruptly turned towards the other thugs with a finger pulling the trigger. One died with surprise on his face, the rest retaliated and Jude Falkrowe sought cover behind a nearby table he flipped. The old FOSB charric pistol, his loyal weapon, materialized in his hand but the agent had no plans of popping out at the ensuing warzone.

Abaigeal E'ron Asher Judah Lesan

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron // Sinestra // Judah Lesan​

Being the only one in the room that seemingly couldn’t touch the force, Asher simply glanced at the newcomer and then the man before him. It was curious that so many strangers would decide to show up now of all times. Neither of them were local, neither of them carried the stench of dilapidation and hopelessness on them. If anything they almost carried the opposite. Messengers, maybe? Bad trouble, undoubtedly.

The Tears decided to act, and with it the blinds came down. Asher reached under the counter to grab the blaster carbine tucked underneath. Pushing through to the back he was intercepted by Abaigeal, lightsaber in her hand and ready to act. Except Asher knew far better than to let her. His free hand grabbed at her arm and his head tilted down towards the lightsaber.

“You use that when people can see you, we’ll have to close down shop.” He said and let her go, handing her the pistol in his holster instead. “They’re outsiders, trouble just reached our doorstep. I ain’t a believer in coincidences like that.”

It was fair to assume he trusted neither that had come to the soup kitchen. Neither this guy Orion or the bearded fellow.

“Shoot whoever looks like they get paid the most and the rest will follow.” Asher ordered those that came to his aid and pushed out the backdoor towards the street to flank those that had attacked the front. It had been a matter of time before this happened. They still lacked most of the guns they needed to arm their crew, but what they had was better than nothing.

“Aim for the chest and stomach. The head is too small. And try not to shoot our customers. Outsiders included.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

OBJECTIVE: Deflection
TAG: Abaigeal E'ron | Asher | Sinestra

Judah simply smirked. Yes, Judah was likely still being hunted after the last mission, but when was he not. The problem about his current alignment was he did't really have the protection of any of the many Jedi orders out there. He was fine with that. In truth, Judah was rather disenfranchised with all of the so called orders as they were. He'd certainly been loyal to a few since he left the Republic three decades ago. At least Abaigeal offered some form of someone having his back when he needed it. That was why Judah was at the Soup Kitchen. His timing may have been horrid, but he could help her.​

​

Abbie answered his question in a cryptic way. Daal was a place, not a soup, and the last time he was on Daal two things happened. First he and Abbie wound up dealing with pirates, and second, they reconnected after years of not seeing each other. While Judah wished she was referring to the several days they spent reconnecting, he knew better. They were either about to deal with the group she had gotten the guns for, or they were going to be dealing with the group that was the reason for needing the weapons in the first place. ​

​

The other stranger seemed interesting. Judah was beginning to think there was a touch of the force on him, and that was all but confirmed when the metal shutters closed. A mind trick, but was he Jedi, Judah did not know too many Jedi that tricked people into killing their companions.​

​

He heard Abbie's curse in his mind, opting to reply quickly, his own thoughts sought to calm her down.​

​

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Just keep that pretty butt if yours safe, and don't give yourself away either."​

​

There was a lot of action after Jude made one of the thugs turn on the rest. They all started shooting without warning. Judah cursed himself before both lightsabers came to life with snap hiss, and hummed though the air as he deflected a volley of blaster bolts headed his way.​

​

"You gonna help, or you gonna stay hidden," Judah asked the stranger as a couple of blaster bolts were sent back into the chests of the thugs who shot them. They could make quick work of the crew if they worked together, but if he had to do it alone, Judah could deal with the rest too. He would prefer not to, however.​

​

"And today was going so well too..."​

 

[Audren Sykes]

Audren was...distinctive. Sometimes this was a good thing, but when it came to being incognito and blending in, it could be a challenge. It certainly wasn't impossible, but it took more time. Long blond hair had to be dirtied - usually dyed as well - and roughed up. Colored contacts to change his eyes, skin alterations. The ears either needed to be incorporated or covered. And depending on the situation, even more might be required. Even here on Coruscant, where nearly a trillion beings resided. Sometimes the effort was worth it. Right now it wasn't.

The Tears were watching the kitchen, which meant normal activity was curtailed. The Sephi didn't really fit into the kitchen staff, even though he occasionally made himself known there to deliver supplies and help out for a bit whenever he stopped by. The identity didn't include the whole 'sticking around' thing, so he'd chosen another option. He was outside the ring of Tears watchers, watching them. They weren't really circumspect, but they weren't always trying to be either.

He was aware of the sudden tension at the Soup Kitchen. He'd not thought forward enough to hook up a status feed, but that was something for another day. It was enough to know today that there were strangers, there was a problem. And then - as usually happened - there was trouble. One of the Tears goons had called out. The line of beings vanished into thin air, leaving behind a single bewildered customer as the security measures went into place. The thugs approached him with guns raised, ordering him to turn out his pockets.

Rather than doing so, the 'customer' slammed his will into that of one of the Tears gunmen, who promptly turned and began shooting at his own guys. The place predictably erupted into blaster fire as the stranger ducked down behind a table. Not the best cover - this was lower-level Coruscant and anything worth anything got stolen in minutes - but better than nothing. There was a second stranger there as well; he unfortunately lit up twin lightsaber blades. Beacons of identity in a place that identity was not wanted.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Audren's hands shot out. Thin threads of Force power flickered into being and disappeared almost as quickly, each having precisely obliterated critical parts of nearby security cams. With that done, he dropped down from two stories above into the midst of the Tears gunmen. A dark, hooded jacket contained his hair as well as threw shifting shadows over his face as he moved. Two gunmen went down with throwing shivs embedded deep in their chests, and three more dropped as preternaturally sharp blades carved through their so-called 'armor'.

Just about that time, more guys with guns began rounding the corner and opening fire. Kitchen staff this time. Well-intentioned, but not military as far as he knew, so he was even more liable to get shot now. Even if they tried to miss. Audren ducked out of the Tears group, hamstringing two of them as he left and ended up near the two strangers. A shift of his hood made it clear he was looking their way, and his voice was a mixture of annoyed and wry.

"Want to put those light-bars away, bud? They just attract all kinds of the wrong attention around here."

Abaigeal E'ron Sinestra Asher Judah Lesan

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

“Fine”, answering both Judah and Asher, and she hide her saber away once more. They were right of course, she knew it, but no way was she going to do nothing. She took the gun from Asher and exited out the back door. The sound of fire fizzed through the cutting silence of the streets. They had to put an end to the thugs quickly before any back up turned up. Or Coruscant ‘authorities.

Closing the kitchen was one thing, and would be a major problem, but they could not risk their headquarters, if that was found it would spell the end of them. “See what you can do to help them”, Asher had street level, Abaigeal would go high. She ran up the ally way away from Asher, enough to give some distance between the kitchen HQ and the thugs. Looking up she located the ledge of the building and fuelled the force to her legs before propelling in a jump, landing on the roof.

“Well at least I am out of sight”, she grinned crawling across the surface until she was able to see the street below, she could not see Judah or Orion chap. Two thugs lay dead in the middle of the street, the rest behind cover firing toward the kitchen, right below the large neon sign of the seedy club Asher likes to tease her about. The aim of her gun moved from the chest of one of the thugs to the neon sign and fired, it exploded sending down a rain of fire and sparks, the initial hit causing a chain reaction along the entire length of it.

One of the thugs ran from cover, on fire screaming and running in no clear direction. The other two ran for it in opposite directions, leaving the burning man for dead. Abaigeal took advantage of the mayhem and force leaped to the other building. Her gun trained on the fleeing thug she fired, and he hit the ground dead. They could not let them get away.

Turning to see how the street fight as progressing, she noticed another person enter the street from the build close to her. Audren! another specter in the shadows that always, without fail, turns up right when needed. This gave her relief yet they were far from done with the Tears.


Sinestra | Judah Lesan | Asher | Audren Sykes

 

[Sinestra]

Things were looking grim until the other stranger suddenly lit up two lightsabers out of nowhere. This was going to be a quick work for the man-

"You gonna help, or you gonna stay hidden,"

Huh?

"Looks like ya got this, pal. I will be rooting for ya." Jude smirked like an idiot. He had nothing to block the blaster bolts. He was staying behind the damn cover.

Some odd screams from the firefight made him peek over the cover to see nothing that he expected - a medieval man with swords chopping down thugs like a butcher before Taungsday. As blaster fire came from the kitchen's side, the butcher shifted away to Jude's position.

"Want to put those light-bars away, bud? They just attract all kinds of the wrong attention around here."

The butcher wasn't really happy with the Jedi, but not Jedi's weapons of choice. Jude wasn't sure what to think of it. His knowledge of the Coruscant underworld was limited.

"Y'all gonn' bicker or finish 'em off?" he pointed at the remaining thugs. "Don't look at me. I ain't got lightsabers or weird lookin' machetes to carve 'em up."

This mission was already turning upside down on its head.

Asher Abaigeal E'ron Judah Lesan Audren Sykes

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron // Sinestra // Judah Lesan // Audren Sykes

Lightsabers, blasters, and explosions. Asher rounded the corner to find that the man that had tried to cut the line before Orion held out two lightsabers at the ready, ignited and good to go. Under most circumstances he would have been shocked, but ever since Abaigeal had shown him hers and Loske had done much the same, the only surprise to Asher was how quick he was to accept it.

Still, he raised his carbine towards the Tears and shot at it. The barrel from his old E-11 successor model looseened a salvo of shots into the rival gang and with that he ducked behind cover again. The employees of the kitchen that had decided to come to their aid rushed out into the street, one of them shot on the spot and the other throwing itself into cover behind a nearby table that they flipped over.

Curious by the sound of panic amongst their rivals, Asher peeked around the corner to find one of the Tears had started to shoot his friends. The scene played out before him and with it Asher was shocked enough to force him to step back and look at what was even happening. The streets began to run red with blood, and with that more and more Tears seemed to pour into the streets.

It was hard to tell where they were coming from at this point. Asher pushed his back against the wall again to regain his focus. With another step out from behind his cover he could do very little but watch, almost as if time had slowed down, as a flaming projectile seemed to arch its way over towards the kitchen.

It was a fire bomb, and it wasn’t alone. One for the front, another for the alley in which Asher had sought cover. The ticking noise of a thermal detonator called into the streets and placed itself right before the crate that Jude had sought cover behind.

The Tears had planned this for a long time.

The kitchen would be happy to disappoint yet again.

... Hopefully.

 

[Abaigeal E'ron]

Stay out of sight, don’t draw attention to yourself. Well that just went down the drain as more Tears spewed into the street. Abaigeal rested her head against the wall with closed eyes, many things running through her mind. This hit on the Soup Kitchen was either an organised random act by the Tears or they had a rat in the ranks. She did not believe in coincidences. Either way, their cover was blown, and they would have to relocate. That would be easy enough, they had places on level 1313 to go to and lay low for a while, but this had set them back considerably.

She reached for her saber and ignited the blade, and leaped into the street below among the fighting and plunged her saber into the nearest goon who feel to the ground with shock on his face. The sudden silence erupted in fire once more directed toward her. A bunt action deflected a bolt back to the shooter and hit him in the chest, using the force to pull a rubbish bin to hit another with force knocked him out. But in that split second, her eyes caught the Kitchen and saw the chef pull his gun and fire at one of the hands inside. There was disbelief on her face, and it was hard to tell who the mole was.

Yet her eyes dropped to the ground, to the front of the upturned table, a thermal detonator spinning on it ends, her hand raised and through the force she threw it toward the thugs. She only had a few seconds to dart to the table for cover as well. She found Jude, “A warm welcome for you”, she handed him her gun since he had no weapon it appeared. More bolts hit the back of the table, it was starting to splinter and would not hold out much longer as cover.

Abaigeal made her way to Judah’s side, lightsabre flashing between the pair, “Why is it that whenever I see you, people are firing at you?”. One of the thugs began to walk toward them, determination on his face, firing his repeater. Her saber worked in a blur to defend against it but her raised a hand and pulled him toward her, the grip of the force throwing off his aim and as he came to her, her saber plunged through his chest.

Judah Lesan | Asher | Audren Sykes | Sinestra

 

[Sinestra]

Explosions, blaster fire raining, lightsabers slicing and dicing - flashback to the GA-FO war. The mess that was. He wasn't sure he ever expected an excursion to the Coruscant lower levels would end up like this.

"Kinky." Jude smirked at the soup kitchen lady who turned out to be a lightsaber jockey herself. Of course. How could she not? Everyone and their mother down here were running 'round with lightsabers. He took the gun she offered him but didn't really commit to firing back. Jude ain't lived this long by putting himself out in clear danger when there were other meat shields around to do that for him. Too bad his cover was marching decisively to the shitter.

"Well, shit." he murmured and tapped into the ethereal. The numerous, adrenaline-rushed minds of sentients appeared before him in the form of threads. He grasped one, then two, then three of the thugs' threads and yanked them at each other. Friendly fire. A signature move. A classic. A favorite. A chance to get the hell off this cover and to another one.

There was none.

Improvisation time.

The agent shuffled behind the lady and glued himself to her.

"Keep at up, darlin'" Jude said. "You've got my absolute, morale support."

"But not his, apparently." he pointed at a thug lining up a shot with a rocket launcher.

No overkills. None at all.

Asher Abaigeal E'ron Judah Lesan Audren Sykes

 

[Asher]

Abaigeal E'ron // Sinestra

That blue blade ignited and Asher found himself frozen in place. The wrong cards were thrown on the table, and for whatever reason Abaigeal seemed to stare into the kitchen. Asher dropped his guard and looked over his shoulder, and yet right as he turned to move there was a bright pain to his leg. A cannister had hit the ground, and before either of the men near him had been any the wiser they had been engulfed in flame.

Asher withdrew into the alley again and extinguished the fire that clung to his pant leg. There was no time to dwell on it. The pain stung with each step he took, but nothing like the worry of having seen Abaigeal react to something inside. If there was someone that had tipped the Tears off from within their little organization, if there was even the tiniest of chance that they had been betrayed…

Asher kicked open the door and found himself face-to-face with the chef who was in the middle of running away. The carbine in his hand was raised to point at the man who with a wicked grin and a confident slap knocked the weapon out of Asher’s hand.

“All of this because of you.” The man growled before latching onto Asher’s significantly smaller frame. “The streets were quiet before you kicked the nexu down the road, and now…”

He threw Asher into the front of the store. “And now the streets are kicking you back.”

Beyond the shutters he could see the battle rage on. Abaigeal and her friend with their lightsabers, Orion hiding behind them, and somewhere in the middle of that Blondie doing his thing. Yet the moment was cut short by the sound of a knife being drawn from it’s box. Asher turned around to face the Chef only to find himself cornered by the counter.

“Come here!” The chef shouted as he swung for Asher’s head and missed. “Make it easier on yourself.”

 

[Judah Lesan]

"A bit too late for that," Judah answered the blonde who seemed to be quite adept with the vibroblades he held in his hands.

Judah may have been a shadow, but with the sheer number of assailants in the streets Judah was going to rely on who he was, and despite the fact he no longer saw eye to eye with the Silver Jedi, Judah was still a Jedi. At the end of the day, Abaigeal E'ron still was as well. Still, Judah blew his cover so she would not have to. The Master could not complain when the brunette sidled up next to him with her lightsaber drawn and ready for a fight. There was an amused look in his eye as she asked her question.

"I have a knack for rooting out all the trouble in the galaxy. Not a deal breaker is it," Judah winked before turning his head enough to press a quick kiss to the brunette.

Judah wasn't sure what Asher knew about him and Abbie, but to be honest, in this moment, Judah did not really care. He was of an age where the Corellian was firmly set in his ways, and he was not about to change.

One of the thugs came their way, and Abaigeal met the bolts with a quick flourish of her blade. The force pull and saber to the chest was especially impressive. Judah did not know too many practitioners of Niman as he was. He smirked before charging ahead, almost ignoring the other stranger who now had a blaster, which was no match for the guy with the rocket launcher that had just been pointed out.

Judah charged ahead quickly, deflecting blaster bolts as he ran in the direction of the thug with the rocket launcher. A quick force pull saw the weapon flying toward Judah, and after a quick upward slash the weapon was no longer a problem. A downward slash of his second lightsaber saw the thug cut in half as quickly as his weapon had been. Yet the streets still poured with more thugs.

A sudden burning sensation could felt in Judah's left shoulder along with the smell of burnt fabric and cooked flesh. He took a bolt to the shoulder. Turning his eyes landed on a sniper.

"Keep an eye to the rooftops!"

Another shot was volleyed toward Judah which was deflected right back at the sniper. That meant one less, but certainly this would be more.

"Who betrayed you," Judah pressed into Abbie's mind. "You know as well as I do this had to be an inside job."

Sinestra | Audren Sykes

 

[Audren Sykes]

"Apparently."

Too late indeed. The Tears just kept on pouring out into the street. They had to have packed all the rooms in the nearby buildings with the goons, and snuck in all the weapons besides. A rocket launcher and sniper nests as well...heavier weapons. That suggested longer-term planning, which suggested in turn that they'd known of this place for a while and had the forersight to not just swarm it. Planning and tactical smarts. Not omniscience though; they plainly hadn't been aware that Abaigeal was a Force-user. Sheer numbers could overwhelm even then however, and without the additional help present the place probably wouldn't be standing now.

"No more hiding here then. Fine."

The street was a rainbow of strobing colored lights - between blaster bolts and lightsaber blades and the lingering flames of an incendiary grenade - so it wasn't difficult to step into the shadows. That wasn't before two blaster bolts converged on him however; one from a sniper and the other from the street. One was simply dodged: a quarter-second pause in his step that saw the bolt clang into the metal shutters on the front of the store. The other caromed off one of the daggers, changing direction by a matter of degrees, and slipped between the shutters. Inside, someone was preparing to commit murder...and clearly didn't know the layout. A mental twitch abruptly pulled a fifteen-kilo box of dried beans towards the man's ankles to try and knock him off balance.

Another grenade flew through the air as Audren found shadow, and another sniper's bolt lit up an apartment two floors up. Probably not the same one that had tried to hit him, but that didn't matter. A rough smack - literally a mental image of a stick hitting the thing - redirected the explosive and dropped it neatly into the sniper's room, where it detonated. Nest two, down.

From the shadows, he could take a moment to look over the fighting. At first glance it was pure chaos, but a second look brought his attention to a group of Tears pulling repeating blaster rifles out of boxes and bracing them with bipods on crates. They weren't far away from him actually, and in a good spot to provide crossfire. Rocket launcher, snipers, and repeater rifles in a crossfire position...definitely planned. The Sephi slipped through an alley and wound up behind the small group, dagger blades concealed behind his arms as he approached.

"Hey guys, could you tell me where the nearest medcenter is?"

"Huh? Kark off, slag."

"That isn't very nice. Just trying to help save some lives."

"I said ka..."

The nearest thug turned and leveled a blaster pistol at Audren as he repeated the sentence, and promptly lost the hand to a dagger. The second blade, in continuation of the spin, buried itself in the man's neck and severed the spinal column and carotid artery. The blade's curve allowed for easy withdrawal, and the other three ambushers in the bolt-hole soon found themselves in similar situations. None had gotten a single shot off. The Jedi sheathed his blades as he stepped away from the increasinly-messy street cover, then shouldered one of the rifles and began shooting. While nowhere near marksman accuracy, bursts of automatic fire from a heavy weapon carried their own effectiveness.


Abaigeal E'ron Sinestra Asher Judah Lesan