Locomotive Breath

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Y'know, Zonju V certainly doesn't have a lot of scenery, does it?" Cotan Sar'andor mused to himself (and any other passengers that might be in the same car with him), looking out the window of the hovertrain he was currently riding. It was a fairly antiquated form of passenger transport compared to most places in the galaxy, but on Zonju V at least, it was a fair bit cheaper to just get a ticket and ride the train than it was to rent a speeder. That, and when you got hired to be an added layer of security in case anything bad should happen to said train on its route, then you got to ride for free without having to put in any work.

Win-win scenario right there.

As he leaned back into his seat, taking a sip from his water bottle, he caught an odd movement from the corner of his eye. A rusty old speeder was currently being ridden as hard as it possibly could on what looked like an interception course for the train. Oh, no. Cotan didn't much like the look of that.

Nor did he like the sounds of thuds on top of the train, that sounded quite a bit like person-sized objects landing on it, and... Is that hissing? Do I smell ozone? And apparently trying to cut into the train. Said train was carrying a shipment of important medical supplies (and some manufacturing machinery, but the medical supplies were the important bit) from Zoronhed to one of the smaller cities on the planet, making it a reasonably valuable target for the right sort of desperate criminals. "Looks like I don't get to rest tod--"

Before he finished talking, two holes were cut through in the ceiling of his train car, one that was specifically near the middle; the cars holding the medical supplies were near the back, whereas the conductor of the train was up front. "Nobody move," one of the two bandits who just dropped in growled, a blaster pistol held at his hip and fanning over the entire crowd in the car, most of whom were too stunned to do anything anyways. "If you just sit down and relax, you won't get hurt; we're just going to take this train's cargo and get out."

While the bandit spoke, Cotan got a little nudge from the Force that something wasn't entirely truthful about what the man was saying. With a single thought the man's speech got slower and slower, while Cotan knew that, comparitively, he was speeding up. He drew both of his blaster pistols at once and took the safeties off, point-shooting almost instinctually; the first stun bolt caught the bandit talking in the chest and he started to drop like a sack of bricks, and the second caught the other bandit while he was raising his gun up at Cotan to try and fire back.

Returning to normal speed, Cotan jumped over to the intercom terminal in the car, flicking it on and trying to contact the conductor. "Hello? Conductor? Everything alright up front?" The whine of a firing blaster carbine and the following static were his only answer. I really need to come up with better things to say. He turned back to the car full of people, holstering one of his blaster pistols and pulling out his lightsaber. Time to do my job.

Then he hesitated for a second, considering what actually to do. The medical supplies were important, and numerous people would be left "up a creek without a paddle" (as some of the spacers Cotan had grown accustomed to might say) if they didn't get them...but with the conductor dead and these bandits in control of the train, Cotan had a sneaking suspicion that they were going to try to take it off course and engineer a train wreck to make sure nobody was left alive to report about what happened. Well, I guess I know what I have to do.

"Any of you who is armed and thinks they can take on these thugs, head to the back three cars and try to protect the cargo!" he barked at the passengers in his traincar, numerous of whom stood up, unholstering their own weapons and getting ready to help. Thank the Force for frontier justice. "Gather up any help you can in the other cars. I'm heading forward to the engine to make sure they don't try to take us off-course and kill us all; if a few of you want to help me, then follow along!" That said, he turned again, kicking open the door of his train car and stepping out onto the small walkway between the cars. This will not be a fun fight.

* * * * * * *​

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OOC: Alright, folks, this is an open thread for any Outer Rim Coalition or independent folks (or really anybody who might have justifiable reason to be on a hovertrain on Zonju V) who are wanting to RP. I don't really want this to have to have DM'd opposition at all, just try to be balanced and reasonable in what you do while you're fighting.

Objective 1: Fight your way to the back of the train, and protect the cargo by any means necessary.
Objective 2: Fight your way forwards to the lead car and make sure that the hovertrain can't be taken off-course and made to crash anywhere. The doors leading from the previous car into it will be blocked off, so anybody who gets up there is going to have to move around the outside to the entrance directly at the controls.
Objective 3: Have fun, get into the RP (especially if you're new), yadda yadda.

Passengers will all be in the middle four or five cars, the back three cars have the medical supplies, and there are going to be a few cars full of miscellaneous stuff (manufacturing machinery, foodstuffs, etc.) on either side (the company that runs this train is notorious for poor arrangement of the cars, it's totally not artificially engineered so that people can't just immediately be at the objective spots without at least some semblance of extra fighting to get there). Also, song link because it's good.

 

[Wren Vissar]

Wren had been spending some time with Cotan on Zonju V since they both had to fight off a group of crooks in an abandoned warehouse. Not because of any particular reason except that Wren needed a change of scenery and was considering joining the Outer Rim Coalition. Cotan was also one of the few people who didn't make her want to throw up. She was observing the daily life of a judge, seeing if it was something that would suit her. Wren had actually managed to wake up at a decent time since she got here; Maybe it was because she wanted to prove she was reliable, or maybe it was because the beds at the Inn she stayed in were like blocks of cement and she didn't particularly want to stay in a bed like that. Either way, she took it as a win.

She sat next to Cotan on the hovertrain, reading some book she had bought from a local shop. Wren was so totally absorbed in it that she didn't hear his stupid jokes. Nor did she see the speeder approaching the train or hear the hissing. Wren was oblivious to the situation at hand until the unpleasant smell of ozone pulled her attention away from her story. She turned to Cotan. By the expression on his face, she could tell something was wrong. Trying to focus on her Force senses, she closed her eyes for a second. She sensed the speeder. She sensed the people. This couldn't go down well.

Cotan opened his lips to speak but was cut off by a sudden hole in the ceiling and two men falling through it. One held a blaster at them and started shouting threats. Wren just calmly put her book under her seat and crossed her arms, trying to remain composed. She started tuning into the Force, focusing on the gun. She planned to use the Force to knock it out of his hands but was stopped short when Cotan stunned him and his partner.

"Nice way to steal the spotlight," Wren muttered sarcastically. In all reality, Wren was scared. She was very, very good at not showing her fear. But she was scared, not for herself, but the passengers. The people who would die if the medical supplies didn't get to them. What would happen if they failed. Cotan tried to get ahold of the conductor and failed, making Wren assume that he was dead and the damn bandits had already taken over the train. "Well, isn't that peachy," Wren growled in frustration. She took her blaster out of her holster and stood by Cotan. Whatever was gonna happen, she was gonna stay with him and follow his lead. That was how they were going to survive.

She decided to follow him up to the front. It was a daunting task and not many others offered their services, so she thought it was better to go where she was needed.

"Alright Cotan, I'm at your service. Just don't be an idiot and get me killed, please." She said, trying to lighten the mood in her own snarky, rude way.


[member="Cotan Sar'andor"]

 

[Darth Chagrin]

The first rule of life as a smuggler was naturally that you always had to expect the unexpected. Mathas had learned the hard way to never take the possibility of danger for granted, even in the safest of settings. As a rule of thumb, people in his business had been among the first to realise that life wasn't fair. But even that didn't stop a smuggler from expecting that he should be able to catch a break just once in a while. Just once.

So when Mathas looked out the window of an innocent passenger hovertrain on Zonju V, at a time when he expected to blend into the crowd perfectly, and saw a speeder heading for a collision course with the train, he couldn't help but hiss a few expletives. A few people heard him, and oblivious to what was going on, cast him distasteful looks.

"Sorry." He offered the apology jovially and as he reached for some bread to stuff into his mouth. His other hand, of course, had already gone for his blaster. Chewing as softly as he could, Mathas kept his ear open for anything that might've sounded suspicious. Like people walking on the carriage tops and cutting their way through with a fusion cutter. Casually so as to not raise suspicion, Mathas checked the carriage behind him. A pair of bandits had come down and started threatening people at blasterpoint. Sure enough, a pair came down in his own car and began doing much the same thing.

"No one moves, or we shoot!" That's a new one. "Sit down, keep tight. We're only here for the cargo." Mathas looked at them quizzically. These bastards were sullying the name of good smuggling! They really deserved what they were about to get... "Now if you sit still, we won't hurt anyone. Just relax." Well, at least they were nice. Set to stun then.

One of them noticed Mathas' baffled expression (or perhaps they had just heard the slight click on his blaster as he switched to stun): not normal enough for a passenger who was supposed to be scared watertight of them — he really needed to work on that — and questioned aggressively, "What do you think you're looking at, scruff - "

Mathas opened his mouth in a gape, as if he was about to reply but was unable to find the words out of shock.

Naturally, like any good smuggler, he gave his retort through his blaster instead. That was the second rule of life for a smuggler, of course. Shooting comes first. Talking comes second. Both the bandits were shot flush through the chest before they could react and collapsed to the floor with a pair of dull thuds. A Twi'lek waitress —who had managed to stand throughout the entire ordeal — shrieked in response to the shots.

"Sit down," Mathas said to her half-reassuringly, half-dismissively as he vacated his seat. He checked what was going on in the next car, and perhaps unsurprisingly the two bandits were already out cold on the floor. A motley crew with blasters were heading back to the cargo carriages. A man, followed by a woman, were doing the opposite, heading forwards. Mathas thought he knew why, and for once, he decided he didn't want to be near the cargo.

When the duo had passed the inter-car walkway and entered his carriage, Mathas realised he was still chewing the bread. After swallowing, he said simply, "Engine? I'm coming with you."

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"] [member="Wren Vissar"]

 

[Ayhia Katar]

Ayhia didn't really know what to do... to be called a ranger was quite a feat in her mind, she had heard of their exploits. Through she was a bit disappointed that they were not organized in any way, the name ranger was something people called them and now here she was planning on uniting them. She didn't even really thing she had done anything really that grand to earn it but seems just doing normal stuff she would do counted. She sighed and mulled over the idea about setting up a badge. She wanted them to be more than just a title that was given by strangers, she wanted them to be something more... how to do that was a great damn question. Ayhia was still pondering the how when the hole was cut and the would be train robber jumped in, she regarded the man with relative disinterest as she had the feeling that the problem would be rectified quite quickly. Oh how correct she was, no longer then it had taken her to have the thought about it taking care of itself that it did so.​

​

Ayhia cocked her head as the man whom had dealt with their unwelcome guest called them to arms, she really didn't want to get involved, mainly because she didn't want the publicity. But queen or not she had to help, Ayhia stood up and watched the man exit the car, "Idiot... firing a blaster like that..." she muttered as she took a look outside the window. Ayhia didn't really feel like doing a tubular assault from the inside, she decided she would go deal with any idiots still on top of the train. She turned to the luggage rack and pulled down one of her to bags, the one that held her A1-X1. She sighed, she really hope she didn't get recognized, the Second Queen of Ancora really didn't belong this far from home or involved in anything like this. She did kind of wonder if they were looking for her, but found that a bit odd as she had been very careful to not be tracked so she doubted it.​

​

Ayhia loaded her rifle and took a deep breath, she drew on the force and then leapt up the hole. She heard a few exclamations from below but paid them no mind, she took a quick gander at the situation then took a bead on the first idiot to be unlucky enough to be caught in her sights. Unlike the man below her rifle didn't have a stun setting, not that she would had used it if it did. The man she hit was about to jump into another hole that had been cut, only to fall in once the slug round slammed into the back of hid neck. "one..." she heard some foot steps behind her and a voice called out.​

​

"Yeah boy you done messed up."​

​

Ayhia smiled slightly as she looked over her shoulder, they were already close enough to her that she just had to wait. Their were two of them both of them had their blasters set on her, why they did shoot her on the spot confused her but that was their mistake. She was told to disarm and so she held the rifle out at arms length and turned around, her hood go whipped back by the wind. Both men smirked and one mentioned something about having a good time with her, she simply smirked again. The man told her to drop the rifle, so she did, it clattered to the floor of the train car she had just exited from. She kept her hands far enough from her body to keep them at relative ease, but she always kept a knife in her sleeve. she kept her attention on the closest one he only need one or two more steps till he was close enough. The man took a step towards her still talking not that she paid him any heed, she lashed forward with speed beyond that of what a human was capable of, disarming the man and taking him hostage. She spun him around quickly and place her knife against his jugular, the mans eye bulged at the almost literal turn of events. She grinned at the other man from her hostages shoulder, "put your weapon down... or i kill him." The other man eyes went wide as Ayhia cut a light line of blood on his buddy neck. The man tossed his weapon aside only to have Ayhia push her hostage into him. The two fell from the side of the train, not what she had meant to do but it would work. She turned back to the task at hand, she walked back to the hole as someone else took a pot shot at her, guess tubular assault it was, Ayhia dropped back into the train car.​

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OCC: Ayhia's theme music cause its oddly appropriate​

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kjbGwyMr2k

 

[Karl Halvorsen]

Well wasn't this a surprise.

Technically, everyday spent breathing was a surprise to the passenger- he wasn't exactly known for living cautiously. He also had never been on a locomotive train before, the mode of transportation as ancient as the bones that was buried in the mostly idyllic countryside. He couldn't really tell anymore, all eyes in the car glued to the gun in the stranger's hand. Now, it was the frontier, and being pragmatic individuals that these fine folk were, having a gun wasn't really uncommon.

It was still pretty rude when you start waving one around and threatened to demonstrate a messy cranial surgery, though. His other partner was walking on the other end of the train, shaking a burlap sack and accosting people for their jewelry, barking out in a muffled voice. What tipped the partially inebriated man was the balaclavas. This time of year, in this temperature? He capped his flask and slid it under his vest, licking the remainder off from his lips; eyes lazily following the train robber as he slowly made his way to Karl.

"Yo' goods, if you know's wha's good fer ya, chump." drawled the bandit, waving the end of his blaster around with all the authority it possessed. Karl grunted and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, drawing out a small leather wallet and dropping it into the sack. For all the good the bandit would get out of it- he barely had any funds left. The bandit's eyes however was drawn to his holstered pistol, the metal gleaming in the carriage's artificial lighting. The cowboy gave him a hard look, frowning. "Drop that piece in here too, cowboy. Looks mighty fine."

"Now, I don't know 'bout'chu, but you have my word that I ain't gon'-" Karl never got to finish his words as the barrel of the blaster was pressed against his head, the bandit leaning closer until he could smell his putrid breath. "Wasn't askin', son. Give it."

Halvorsen's forehead was slick with sweat as he quickly undid the holster and chucked it into the bag- the gun barely reached the mouth of the sack before the bandit snatched it from the air and greedily ripped the gun from its holster. It was a nice piece, anyone could see- very well made with actual wood for its grip. Antiquated as the firearm was, anything that could put holes as big as a man's fist in a body was respectable. "Hoo. . ." he wolf whistled, inspecting the revolver in the light. The second partner looked back from the front of the carriage, a look of annoyance visibly etched in his eyes. "Will you hurry it up and keep going? We don't have all day, time's a-wastin'!" He emphasized with an urgent wave of his own sawed off blaster, causing the passengers near him to duck involuntarily. "Yeah, I know's but gawd da-yum son this man was packing! Hey you! Got anymore pieces left? Hand 'em over."

"Sure thing."

The beige walls was suddenly stained a disgusting shade of crimson red as Karl drew a second, smoking pistol from under his coat, eyes now sharp and focused as he tracked his stolen gun. Snatching it from the dead hands of the bandit, the gunslinger immediately fired a second shot at the next criminal, maiming the man's shoulder with .45 calibre justice.

The screams of pain ended abruptly as a third shot rang out in the carriage, followed by a sudden silence, marred only by the mechanics of the train as it coasted along the Zonju country side. Nobody else spoke and nobody moved, not even Karl and least of all the now two not-so-dearly departed. He nudged the corpse to its front, holstering his weapon and retrieving the other holster from the bloodstained floor. That went around his waist again, fitting snug as the revolver returned into its home. The bandit's own personal funds went into his wallet, as he fished out the credits and his wallet from the sack. Looking up at the stares of the car's passengers, he stood up and gave a soft cough. "Y'all can get your other stuff now. S-sorry if some blood and bits o' brain's stuck-" For the second time running Karl's sentences barely left his mouth before the passengers got out of their seats and mobbed the sack, muttering between themselves and lamenting the ruined journey, among other things.

Then he walked over to the rear of the car, tipping his hat graciously at the pretty ladies that he walked by- it was only met with cold glares or disgust. Fair enough he supposed; he did basically executed the man's threat of cranial surgery by himself, and then gave another unwanted demonstration in case the people up front wanted an intimate shot (Hah!) of the execution. The man paused before the dividing doorway that lead to the rear carriage, loading the bullets into his half-empty revolver.

Click!

Authorities paid handsomely for any goods recovered in a robbery.

Click!

Or he could head for the front and try to help out the passengers in the other coaches.

Click!

They'll be fine, Karl decided as he kicked the door down with a happy smile.

 

[Karl Halvorsen]

[ACCIDENTAL DOUBLE POST. PLEASE IGNORE.]

 

[Rina-Jan Getchell]

Rummy tonic on the rocks. The good stuff, the bounty hunter thought as she watched the diner car bartender pour her drink. He was a portly twi'lek man who regarded her with a kind smile when he pushed the now filled glass her way. Neither of them had exchanged more than a few words over the last few hours of the ride - yes she had been at the bar that whole time, what of it? - and the man seldom spoke save when a particularly chatty passenger approached him with an order. Yet while those types had to request refills and services as they wanted them, the Mandalorian-born bounty hunter found her bowl filled with mix and her glass topped off with seldom more than a wave of the hand.

Already two seeming strangers had built a friendly rapport over the wonders of alcohol. Truly, the galaxy was a wonderful place.

Her seat at the bar mean that she hadn't seen any of the speeders that came barreling up onto the train, and being in a trailing dining car meant that she didn't even hear the first few thumps of bodies on the rooftop. She didn't even hear the commotion of the roof being cut through a car over as bandits made their way aboard. But even she could feel the ripple of panic that came through the train, carried through the Force. Anger, fear, and hatred all swirled together in an unpleasant miasma.

But it was coming her way and she needed to think of some way to deal with the situation. Of course the bartender was oblivious to what she was sensing and so her moving to sit at the closest end of the bar to the door was met only with a weird look.

She was just in time to miss the door sliding open behind her. A surly man covered in ink and coating a large blaster came stomping in.

"Okay girlies, this - GRRGGHL!"

The heavy metal foot meeting his neck probably crushed something important. At least with that choking sound he managed to get out, it must have.

The second was rapid-fire from the first before the bounty hunter had even started to lose balance on her one leg. It came hard against his sternum and sent him back a couple of steps. Rina-Jan stomped her foot down and 'finished' her work on that first bandit with a sharp punch into his solar plexus. Then she seized his rifle, turned it sideways, and while he still clutched to it out of twitching reflex she drove the stock up and into his neck just under his jaw. Bloody and bruising flesh was pushed under the stock and the train-robber stepped back from her charge not so much from free will but instead from instinct.

His partner who had still been sweeping the other car turned when he heard the woman screaming over the commotion.

"What the karking - !"

The man's partner had whirled around just in time for the body of the first bandit to slam into him. Apparently he got a round off as his scattergun roared, but it had already been trapped between the two men so the shot went harmlessly into the floor of the train car. The added feet to the scramble sent the three of them to the floor soon after, with the new addition to the pile-up pinned beneath his partner, pinned beneath a very angry Mandalorian bounty hunter. She gave another scream as she switched the rifle in-hand to act as a cross-bar over the dying man's neck. One punch came down on the other man's face. Another. A third, harsh and painful.

Instead of a fourth blow, she grabbed a handful of the pinned man's scruffy and unkempt hair so she could start slamming his head on the floor.

It wasn't a pretty scene by the time it was all said and done.

Rina-Jan wiped her hand off on one goon's shirt before taking the rifle and fishing a few reloads from the prior owner's pockets.

She came to her feat and looked around the car, "Okay folks. Stay down. Keep your heads down and stay safe."

That was the only command she gave before turning to the back of the train. She knew there were cargo cars attached to this train and she knew that these sorts of bandits weren't just hitting the train for pocket change and jewelry. So she took off for a jog towards the rear of the train.

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

"Well, Wren, I do like to think I'm good at not getting people killed," Cotan replied to his current travelling companion, above the wind outside the train cars. Upon stepping into the next one he found that the two attackers in it had been dealt with, the blaster-wielding rogue who had done so swallowing down some sort of indeterminate substance before he greeted them. "Following along, eh? Alright, I'll take point; you and Wren can watch our backs in case anybody tries to drop in behind us." That said he quickly moved on, passing through the car quickly and ignoring the surprised looks of some of the passengers at his appearance.

Or maybe it was at his lightsaber. Isn't every day you get to see a Jedi (or a Judge, or a Je'daii, or insert-light-side-sect-here).

Through the window into the walkway he could see that the next car was empty of passengers, filled mostly with random items that were being transferred. A lot of foodstuffs. This company has a terrible shipping layout. As well, it was positively full of bandits, one of whom was peering directly at Cotan. "Sithspit, they're actually paying attention to what happens in the other cars? Weapons ready, folks." He opened his door with a thought, before hastily activating his lightsaber and intercepting blaster bolts on it, fired through the broken rear window of the other car; the bolts blasted into the floor or off into the empty space at either side of the walkway, before Cotan called on the Force again, this time blasting the other door - and the man on the other side of it - halfway into the train car. I wonder if property damage will be taken out of my pay.

He rushed in while the other bandits were still surprised, but only got past the first stack or two of cargo being set upon by blaster bolts, his blade whirling bright arcs in the air as he intercepted the bolts that were being fired at him, having taken his lightsaber in both hands. "If either of you want to start shooting back at them, that'd be appreciated!" he called out to the two behind him, before stepping behind the cover of a large crate and batting a few bolts back, hearing the pop and sizzle as one of them got returned to sender. Ow. One nerf-herder, well done, to go with the nerf steaks I'm hiding behind.

[member="Mathas Cavyr"] [member="Wren Vissar"]

 

[Wren Vissar]

"That's comforting," Wren said.

Wren followed him out of the train car, walking across gingerly as to not lose her balance and fall to her death. She wanted to grab the back of Cotan's shirt for balance but she figured they were that good of friends yet. In fact, were they friends? Wren couldn't tell. She helped him not get killed by crooks. Now she was gonna fight by his side to save some people. Did that constitute a friendship? Wait, why am I thinking about this right now? Wren thought. There were much more important things at stake right now other than Cotan and Wren being "friends".

Upon entering the next train car right behind Cotan she saw that a sharp looking, slightly greyed man with a mustache had taken care of business. He looked quite capable of handling himself so Wren didn't offer any objection. She just nodded at him, acknowledging his existence. Wren started walking backward, her backside facing Cotan. She held her lightsaber above her head in the classic Soresu stance, just in case a blaster bolt flew her way.

They approached the next car. Wren holstered her lightsaber in exchange for her blaster, remembering to switch it on stun this time. She definitely didn't want to make the mistake of forgetting that vital step again.

"I can shoot at them while you parry the bolts," She suggested.

They entered the cart. Wren immediately found a crate that was large enough to provide a good amount of cover. She positioned her body flat against it, holding her blaster to her chest awaiting his signal. At his verbal command, she peaked out from her cover and fired two shots at one of the bandits. They missed.

Damn it, Wren thought in frustration.

She tried again, this time using her heightened senses to examine the position of each bandit. Closing one eye to focus more heavily on her target, she fired again, hitting one right in the stomach. As his nervous system became overwhelmed he dropped to the ground. Wren focused heavily again, coiling her finger around the trigger, firing--- This time she hit one when their head popped out from its' cover for a moment hitting him in the neck. She was about to fire again when her blaster made a clicking noise and wouldn't fire.

"Son of a...." She growled, ducking behind the crates to try to fix it.

"Cover him for a moment!" She shouted to Mathas, as if he already hadn't been doing just that.

Wren had another blaster on her so it wasn't exactly a crisis. Before she could swap it out though, some a-hole started firing at the crate she hid behind. It shook, promising to give way after a few hits. Wren did the first thing that came to mind. She saw a glass bottle on the floor likely filled with sparkling alcoholic beverage. Peeking out from behind her crate she sent it flying towards the shooter's head. It shattered upon contact. Liquid flew everywhere. He collapsed on the ground, blood seeping from glass cuts on his forehead. It would hurt quite a bit but it wouldn't kill him.

She grumbled, finally having a moment to switch out her blaster. There were still some remaining bandits. She got ready for whatever came next.

[member="Mathas Cavyr"]
[member="Cotan Sar'andor"]

 

[Karl Halvorsen]

The whine of blasters from the front of the train was barely audible over the rattling of the train's shoddy construction work; as a minor note to himself, Karl swore that this was the last time he ever thought the past was a good thing to re-experience. Stepping lightly on the connector platforms, he silently judged every single step as though it was his last, the effects of his last drink still weighing his legs down slowly. The platform suddenly jerked, momentarily knocking the rogue to his feet. Scrambling for stable purchase, Karl quickly dashed across the last section of the connector and burst through the next carriage's door.

A combination of unstable footing and the transition from the cold gunmetal platform to thick carpeting lead to a series of unfortunate events; Karl picked himself up, his ankle screaming in agony. Truth be told, Karl already wanted to give up and sit down; any job that required more effort than shooting a man or two was beyond his motivation. "Who the karking hell are you!?" screamed the unidentified voice, as Karl readjusted his view.

The sea of faces that stared at him helplessly was shockingly reminiscent of his last car, down to the image of a woman savagely beating down on a crumpled mess of bodies. Presumably those few chaps had tried the same 'money-in-the-bag' trick, but judging how most of the passengers still bore their jewelry, Karl was willing to bet they barely opened their mouths before the car's guardian decided to play 'catch-my-fist'.

The owner of the voice, a twi'lek with a few good years under his vest, waved the business end of a slugthrower at him, his hand steady even if his voice cracked. "You a bandit!?" Karl slowly raised his hand above his head, shaking his head slightly with a disconcerted look on his face. "If that lady over there's no bandit, then I'm no bandit." Drawling with his agri-world accent didn't smooth the twi'lek's nerves one bit- in fact, he only jerked the barrel of his rifle up towards his face, causing Karl to recoil slightly in response.

"You sure sound like one- how the hell do I know you aren't one of them?" he cried, as the passengers around Karl quickly fled towards the rear of the carriage for safety, preferring the bloody work of Rina than Halvorsen's unknown standing. "'Cus. . . if y'all head the other way back where I just came from, you'll see two others like the one that lady's got broken, 'cept I used my piece like a civilized fella'. Now how 'bout you lower that stick of yours 'fore someone gets their head blown off?" His ears perked as the woman got up and vocally assured her fellow charges that they were safe: Karl felt none of that assured safety and waved his arm in the air, prompting another panicked reaction from the barkeep.

"'llo? Ma'am? Would you kindly tell this kind gentleman that I'm with you? Like, as in part of the not-bandit-group?" he gulped, eyeing the angry barkeeper through the edge of his eye.

"Cus' I'm subscribed to the I-wanna-live group, and I think I speak for everybody that y'all wanna be part of that group as well."



[member="Rina-Jan Getchell"]

 

[Atin Alo'ran]

All Atin wanted was an easy and relaxed train-ride back to his own ship but of course, this isn't what he gets, instead he gets a group of angry Bandits looking to make a quick buck, but due to the sounds of other people fighting back throughout the entire train it didn't take long for him to figure out that it might not be going the way they thought. It took a few seconds for the Warrior dispatch the two bandits that came in through the front, now he found himself moving backwards to the Cart behind him, opening the door his rifle quickly raised upwards walking outside the jolting himself several times but he kept his footing before finding himself pressed against the connector trains door, he kept his rifle low listening to the figures shuffle through the next door, "Cus' I'm subscribed to the I-wanna-live group, and I think I speak for everybody that y'all wanna be part of that group as well." The words rang through his head, his Minerva system bleeped in the corner, several figures appearing on the Radar, "Better late then never..." at this his hand slammed into the doors button allowing it to slide open to the Bar-Cart, The Warrior swept around swiftly raising his Jackel to shoulder length aiming it directly at the Twi'lek holding the slug thrower before barking out "If you are a kriffin' Bandit I'll put you down right here right now!" Atin kept his rifle pressed against his shoulder firmly though he kept his finger off the trigger, his HUD declaring the large amount of Targets in-front of him, realizing his mistake that none of these people are the intruders. The People that were now paying attention to the Space Cowboy have split their gazes between the two.

[member="Karl Halvorsen"] [member="Rina-Jan Getchell"]

 

[Darth Chagrin]

Mathas nodded in response to the man's suggestion to cover him, then they were off to the next car. The smuggler appreciated that there hadn't been an objection to his accompaniment yet. As they crossed back into his old car, Mathas grabbed some more bread with his free hand and began chewing nonchalantly. The next carriage, from the looks of it, wasn't quite as inviting. Even from the intercar window, it was apparent that it was occupied by bandits, and in considerable quantity as well. Stunning them was now the less preferred option for Mathas, just because he now expected that his mission would eat up a fair amount of time and he didn't want the bandits getting back up, especially at a moment that would be inconvenient for him or his two new friends.

"Unlucky," the smuggler muttered as he turned off the stun setting on his blaster.

Then his male companion launched into an explosion of lightsaber-wielding movement and even the use of telekinesis. A Jedi... helpful. As the man repelled the pirates' blaster bolts, Mathas and his other companion began firing back at the miscreants while breaking off to cover the Jedi's two flanks, and it was then that Mathas realised his companion had obviously not followed his line of thought on the stun bolts.

"Ah, blast," he muttered again. Mathas wasn't interested in arguing with them now about expediency, especially the Jedi, in the middle of a fight. Their enemies didn't have their weapons set to stun, and as the Jedi redirected one such lethal bolt into the chest of a bandit, Mathas was reminded of the fact that the demands of the situation could easily keep things from being fair. That didn't mean he was going to disadvantage himself for the sake of fairness.

Taking cover behind an arrangement of barrels that neatly covered his height, Mathas fed the last of the bread into his mouth. He heard the woman tell him to cover the Jedi as she attempted to get her hands on another blaster. Accordingly, Mathas emerged from the cover of the barrels and began unloading his pistol at the unsuspecting bandits located diagonally from him. One collapsed immediately, struck in the chest by a merciless blaster bolt. Another narrowly missed being hit in the shoulder. Immediately, the remaining bandits began to scrabble for cover behind various objects, and naturally several of them had to be successful (pity those who weren't).

Upon noticing that Wren had switched her blaster, Mathas returned to the cover of his barrels, then jerked his blaster in a forward direction to signify his desire to go on the offensive. With that, he began pushing the barrels he had just used for support. As they rolled, they forced any bandits in their path to move aside for threat of being crushed. For a moment, they were all in the open: a prime opportunity to end this once and for all.

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"] [member="Wren Vissar"]

 

[Cotan Sar'andor]

Notcing what Mathas was doing, Cotan decided to join in on the advance, now that he wasn't having to deflect a hail of blaster bolts. He had an unfortunate number of burns along the edges of his longcoat due to them, something that gave him even more reason to get rid of these invaders. Nobody hurts my coat. He called the door over to him from where it lay on the ground, the heavy piece of metal flying almost weightlessly to his waiting arm; holding it by the handle (and still somewhat lifting it with the Force) he started to rush forward, using the door itself as a shield.

Thick metal, one; blaster bolts, zero. So long as he kept his face from the broken glass window on it, anyways. He rushed up to one bandit, smacking him in the side of the head with the shield; the man dropped like a sack of bricks while Cotan moved to the next bandit, the amber blade of his lightsaber making an interesting gap between the man's upper and lower arms, as well as cutting the man's sawed-off blaster rifle in twain. When his danger senses tickled again, he threw the door (with the aid of a powerful telekinetic push) off to his left, catching a man who'd been about to try and fire on Cotan in between the train wall and said door. The man himself made a very interesting noise while producing a dent in the side of the train, before his now-lifeless body fell to the ground.

Cotan turned around to see how Mathas and Wren had taken care of the other bandits in the car. "We're about three more of these away from the engine," he said to them, recalling the overall layout of the train. "I get the odd feeling we'll have to go topside if we want to get into the lead car, though; they made that one strong and thick enough that a lightsaber won't cut through it fast enough, so we'd have to crawl our way around to the side door entrance for the engineer. This company must've had issues with Dark Jedi or something in the past, I guess. Think it might be a good idea to just go topside now?" He gestured up towards the holes in the ceiling. "Besides, if we did that we could drop gas grenades or thermal detonators or something like that down on the thugs in the cars. The foodstuffs and machinery aren't nearly as important to save as the medical supplies in the back."

[member="Mathas Cavyr"] [member="Wren Vissar"]

 

[Wren Vissar]

Wren followed Mathas's and Cotan's lead reluctantly. Using the Force she felt the tender flesh of one of the assailant's necks. Not putting enough pressure to choke down on it, but enough to get a decent hold on it, Wren quickly snapped her arm to the left. The man's head hit the wall hard enough to knock him out and give him a nasty concussion but was definitely survivable. Cotan seemed to be occupied with the last of them. Wren was about to step in and help him fend them off but before she knew it he crushed the last one with a door, killing him. Wren's brown eyes momentarily grew as wide as saucers and she was filled with a potent feeling of nausea. Wren had never witnessed a death in combat. She was sure she was going to vomit all over Cotan's back since he was standing adjacent to her. She swallowed and blinked pulling her emotions together as best she could. She didn't want to show how truly weak and sensitive she was. Crossing her arms over her chest in an almost blatantly defensive way and rubbing her eyes which had involuntarily filled with tears she listened to Cotan's proposition. For a few seconds she debated punching him as hard as she could in the jaw and calling him a murderer, but as she thought about what circumstances lead to his decision she decided that he didn't want to do such a thing; Now wouldn't be the time to lash out at him, anyway. If she was truly bothered she could ask him about it after this whole mess, she supposed.

"Your idea's better than anything I could come up with," Wren said a slight edge that she tried to fight off sneaking into her voice. She wished she didn't feel resentful towards Cotan. She just did. "I think we should use something less lethal if possible... Like a sonic concussion grenade..." Wren muttered almost as if she was reluctant to say it. She had two on her as she kept them for emergencies. The only flaw in that plan was that stunning someone wore off. If this battle lasted very long their assailants could regain use of their bodies and that certainly would be no good.

"I'll go with whatever though. Worst case scenario is just that we die and everybody else on this train dies, right?" Wren said sarcastically, cracking a forced half smile.

[member="Cotan Sar'andor"] [member="Mathas Cavyr"]