Stand And Deliver

[Connor Harrison]

The Jundland Wastes
Tatooine, Tatoo System ​

Sat atop a long, steep incline leading to the canyon floor, Kail sat with his arms on his legs looking out to Needles Range. Two large and awesome rock formations that rose high into the atmosphere from the centre of the Jundland Wastes, they signalled Tusken territory and a place Kail had never ventured to, nor had any desire to.

With old Mos Anek visible to his right, a few moisture farms twinkling around out in the Dune Sea and a few starships coming in and out of Mos Eisley to his left, Kail had found peace for the first time in a long while.

The twin Tattoo suns were fizzling out, but still casting a warm glow over the barren space before his eyes. Visiting planets of every notable climate, from Hoth to Midvinter, Rodia and Annaj, Tatooine was where Kail had been born and raised. He had navigated the dangerous areas of the planet in his training as a mercenary and found the quiet isolation more peaceful than anything else the galaxy could offer.

While many stayed away from such a harsh, lifeless world, others used it to their advantage by harvesting the isolation to make something good for themselves; mercenaries, salvagers, Jedi. Whomever had a past, whoever wanted a future.

With his prized Mobquet Flare-S Swoop resting behind him, Kail sat in his brown tan combat trousers, shirt and armoured vest. But again, this attire belonged to the mercenary Kail used to be. Since the incident on Korriban, he was still struggling to accept his failures and labels that had included weakness and someone who was nothing but pathetic.

Gently stretching his jaw muscle to ease the throbbing pain, he exhaled gently and inhaled deeply to take in the fresh air and peace that, finally, helped make him feel alive.


[member="Steph Zenima"]

 

[Steph Zenima]

A lone landspeeder cut a path through the wastes.

It was a verified rust-bucket, an antique from another time. To those who were speeder enthusiasts, it was a V-24 landspeeder painted in a two tone brown and (once) white combination, although that was punctuated by poorly welded sheets of metal plastered all over the thing, somebody could have at least bothered to paint the patch-jobs.

Of course, from the perspective of one Stephanie 'Appropriate Nickname' Zenima she could see none of these details. There was only black, well, alongside the rumbling of a dilapidated engine.

Meanwhile, sat upfront in the speeder built for two were a very anxious pair, a human female and a male zabrak. The pair had a multitude of wounds that could only be caused by weapons of nature. Teeth marks, scratches, bruises, the woman had suffered a nose break so fierce that you'd think it was posing for a profile shoot. She leaned forward with a blood-soaked rag held to the afflicted facial feature.

“What are we gon' do if she gits out, Clara?”

“She ain't getting' out, Do'ug, trunk's locked.”

The yellow Zabrak took his eyes off of the wastes to shoot a nervous glance to his companion, his hands trembling in a death grip upon the steering console.

“Can't ye feel 'er kickin'?! Like a wild desert wraid in there!”

“Quit yer panickin', she ain't gon' escape until we...”

By this point in the conversation Do'ug had his eyes back upon the not-road, navigating themselves to a more secluded area where business could be attended to. The pause of his significant other worried him. Had Clara forgotten how to speak?

“Palpatine's pecker!”

Obviously not.

“Do'ugie! Your ear!”

“What?!”

“It's gone!”

The landspeeder came to a very abrupt halt, jostling the violent cargo inside with no sympathy whatsoever. The Zabrak gingerly lifted a hand up to his left ear, and upen feeling nothing but a throbbing wetness, fell out of the speeder in a panicked mess and dropped straight onto the sandy rocks beneath. Clara followed his suit, exiting the vehicle albeit with more dignity and composure. She left the bloodied rag upon the seat and instead took an M-300 hunting blaster with her, walking around to the back where heavy and frequent thuds from inside of the boot rocked the machine.

“C'mon, babe. Get out yer baton, we're gon' do this now.”

He scrambled to her side, removing a shock baton that was tucked into his trousers. The cosmetically wounded man activated the non-lethal weapon and it burst into waves of crackling blue electricity which gave him enough confidence to approach the trunk and place a tattooed hand on top of the lightly baked metal.

“The little schutta's quick. Are ye ready?”

[member="Kail Ragnar"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Not a people watcher as such, Kail didn't openly care for the business of others. He needed the same privacy at times and so if he extended it to whomever, it should be repaid. But today was a little different, he wasn't out to do business, he was simply out to reflect, and the sound of a landspeeder engine tearing up the Wastes caught his ear first before his eye.

From down in the canyon below, he watched the speeder traverse around a small patch of large rocky terrain before coming to a sudden stop. 2 people inside, one of them drunk, possibly? Injured?

Already Kail was watching them, simply for something to do, to see how other people were wasting their day out in the harsh sun of Tatooine. But these two seemed up to no good. He wasn't any lawman, but an erratic speeder cutting through the Wastes was a little...peculiar.

Still, he wasn't going to get all gung-ho and wield his KX-60 for no reason and try to solve the problems of a couple of hotheads. He didn't have the patience for that. But, something kept his interest, as if something was "going down".

The one clearly injured was making a big scene over the other, and for a moment he counted it was some illegal race, or a theft gone wrong? Looking over his shoulder left and right for any other signs of activity, he found none and went back to the speeder. Surrounded by canyon walls of varied heights on both sides, they were obviously trying to stay out of sight and hidden from anything who may see them.

Kail watched with greater interest as they exited the speeder and spoke, not hearing their conversation, but the fact they didn't seem to move for a while as they did, as if they were waiting for something, or someone.


[member="Steph Zenima"]

 

[Steph Zenima]

THUMP THUMP THUMP!

“Open it, Do'ugie, open it!”

THUMP!

The tension in Tatooine's already stifling air grew thicker as the one-eared Zabrak hesitated even further, he didn't want to open up the boot and deal with the monster within. Perhaps if they had a weapon that fired bullets rather than energy then they could have done the deed without even having to open the trunk. Alas, the woes of modern technology.
THUMP THUMP!

If they hadn't driven out so far into the wastes they could have simply set fire to the landspeeder and left it at that. Although in the same breath, not everybody could afford to so blatantly destroy their own property like that, especially without insurance.

“DO IT!”

The thumping had ceased.

Click.

With his stun baton raised high in one hand, his other flung open the trunk lid in what was a moment of pure suspense. Clara held the hunting rifle up, her slightly wavering aim centred squarely upon the boot and whatever demon lurked within.

For a second all was still.

For a brief second Zenima was stunned by the light that crept into the dark place, her dark place. Just when she had started to become accustomed to the stench of old socks and all. With the baton still raised high and poised to strike the Zabrak hesitated. A grand mistake. Light a lightning bolt of poverty Steph leapt from the trunk and onto the man, wrapping her wiry legs around his mid-section as he staggered backwards in shock.

This of course, meant that Clara could not shoot and as anarchy erupted in the wastes the creature's maw moved for other, still attached ear.

[member="Kail Ragnar"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Kail was fascinated watching what was going on down below. One leg brought up for him to rest his elbow on, he couldn’t help smile to himself with sheer curiosity. Whatever it was quite comedic; two bumbling fools obviously lost, or out of their depth. Still, he wasn’t in the mood to help out. For all HE knew it was a nasty looking ambush. But with the way the two were falling about, hesitating and shouting, he didn’t think they were much of a threat – maybe only to each other.

Finally, they started to move and work on the speeder, but it soon came to bear something worse than Kail thought. His smile soon vanished.

Another body barrelled out of the boot and began a vicious attack on the couple, sending one to the floor in a crumpled mess.

Kail dropped his leg and leaned forward, squinting against the sun and mouth opening ajar, deciding whether to shout, or keep quiet. He was a mercenary, not a bodyguard or a law enforcer. His hand fingered the strap of his KX-60 rifle, toying with it in case he should need it – but again, this wasn’t his business. Trouble happened, especially out here in the Wastes.

Your tough, Kail, but you’re not heartless. You’re strong. Go get them.

Pushing himself up and hopping over the rocks across the top of the canyon wall towards the steep incline leading down to the canyon floor.

The closer he got, the louder the shouts and screams were, and it was clear someone here was fighting for their life. Kail slid half-way down the incline to a drop that had to make him double-back on himself to get to the floor, but he stopped in the small area of the cliff face where the incline stopped.

”You want trouble? You found it.”

He didn’t need this, but he was aching to release his frustrations out on the face of those preying on those in trouble. Kail continued down the incline, skipping over rocks and sliding on loose gravel until he hit the dry, dusty floor of the canyon.

Taking a few deep breaths, he turned to see the 3 locked in a melee, and stalked towards them.


[member="Steph Zenima"]

 

[Steph Zenima]

OOC: Terribly sorry for not posting, I really lost my groove but I'm getting it back.

“GWAH! GIT HER OFF, CLARA!”

Somebody was in trouble here, but was it who we first thought?

“I CAN'T SHOOT IF SHE'S ON YA!”

Good thinking, Clara. In response to that nugget of information Do'ugie staggered backwards, trying to get a grip upon the creature's armpits (gross) but unfortunately for the Zabrak that gave Zenima a clear path to the other ear. Teeth clamped down, and he shrieked like a Gamorrean sow in heat. That's gotta hurt.

“GIT OFF MA MAN, CRITTER!” came Clara, barrelling in with a hard rifle butt in the small of Stephanie's back. Moving in tandem with his woman's assault he staggered forwards pulling her off of him and slamming the creature against the open boot lid, letting her drop to the dust immediately afterwards.

Upon reflection, it wasn't a wise move.

Not when you've got a spice-addled monster attached to one of your extremities. Flesh tore. A terrible agonised scream filled the stifling air around them.

“CLARA!”

“WHAT?”

“MY EAR! MY EAR! THIS LITTLE SCHUTTA...!”

Rushing around to the other side Clara came to find that, yes, a sizable chunk of his other ear had been torn off. All the while Zenima herself writhed upon the dust at the foot of the trunk, injured back sending her body into a mild case of the spasms.

“Let's finish 'er up,” Clara finally said with a grim tone as she peeled her eyes away from her boyfriend's mutilated head before lifting the hunting rifle and pointing the business end at the downed creature.

The swift and furious boot of a Zabrak came in hard, connecting with the creature's side, subduing her for a further moment as the killing shot loomed.

“NO, CLARA! WHERE'S MY EAR?!”

Zenima, in her typical style rolled onto her back and grinned, bearing those crimson-stained teeth before opening her diseased maw to reveal absolutely nothing but blood and phlegm, a clear indication that she had swallowed the flesh.

“THEN I'LL TAKE YERS!” Do'ugie roared, a heavily scuffed boot stepping down upon Steph's throat, beginning to unsheath a small blade from his belt.

What was it that Bonnie Tyler sang again?

[member="Kail Ragnar"]