Vacation Interrupted

[Pylon Zerga]

The hushed roar of the crowd and choir of laughter and merriment filled the streets of Zeltros, as aromas of spiced and candied fruits and nuts flavored the new evening air. Another night on the romantic planet of Zeltros, and another festival. Tonight's particular cause for celebration, was one of the Planet's most famous-- the Fertility festival. The streets of the bazaar were packed to the brim with beautiful shades of pink and scarlet flesh of the Zeltrons, each drunk and engaging in, what on other planets would be considered, illicit acts of debauchery. Moans of pleasure and giggles of excitement were only partially hushed over the loud, traditional music being played on various stages. It was paradise.

Or, at least Pylon and Kara always seemed to think so. It was the planet's unrivaled beauty and it's culture's open acceptance of "free love" that attracted the mercenary couple here in the first place, many years ago. It went without saying that the profits from their next big score went directly to a loft condo in a high-rise skytower, overlooking the City's market. Their 'home away from home', a haven from the cut throat lifestyle of their occupation, became a preferred refuge for the Mandalorian couple, often retreating here between bounties and paid-to-fight battles. Their impressive and near unspendable wealth kept the rather expensive rent bill paid, and Kara in new, and beautifully elaborate dresses. Which was exactly what she was looking for now in the bazaar.

Pylon followed behind his wife, enchanted by her beauty as she laughed with the locals, or randomly pulling a particularly attractive Zeltron into a long and unexpected kiss-- none seemed to mind too much, as Kara's own silver hair and flimsi-sheet white skin made her just as attractive. She was a sight to behold, in her flowing, slightly transparent red dress, flowing softly in the evening breeze.

"She's so beautiful out of beskar'gam. Too bad that dress doesn't deflect blasters." Pylon mused to himself silently with a halfhearted chuckle. The two of them had chosen to leave their respective kit back in their condo, opting for their more "civilian wear"; Kara in her red dress, adorned with beads and silver jewelry, making herself a walking center of attention, and Pylon in his muted, black bantha leather jacket and trousers. Their lack of protective armor or extensive arsenals made Zerga feel far more naked then he was used to, which probably was the idea with such a festival. Still, despite the lack of presence of danger, Pylon still kept his DC-15s Sidearms holstered in his jacket under his arms, along with a few hidden blades and tools. "Never hurts to be prepared, even if you don't plan to hurt," His Master had once told him.

"Py'ika! Look at this, ner cyar'ika!" Kara squeeled with glee, bringing him out of his meditative stupor. He rolled his left eye, while his right cybernetic optical patch fixated around to his spouse, giddily bouncing up and down in front of small vendor, surrounded by small cages and perches of varying sizes. In her hands, Kara held a tiny, black and white ball of fur, with disproportionately large eyes and ears that formed into an adorably cute creature, a large and fluffy array of tails already whipping and wrapping around her slender wrist. "It's called a Vjunn fox! That's where you're from, isn't it?" she inquired, barely able to contain her excitement.

Pylon pursed his lips to one side of his face, doing his best to contain and hide his obvious smirk, as to not tip his spouse off to his true feelings towards the Fox. "Yeah, it's where I was born. Can't say i know much about the planet, or it's creatures though. I only remember being there once, when i made my sabers. The place was a hell-hole. Acid rains and dry, dead valleys everywhere." He elaborated dryly. It was a typical answer from him, and prompted a typical response from Kara; she glared at him before puffing out her cheeks and huffed loudly, like a little girl being told she couldn't have a sweet before dinner. Pylon simply rolled his eyes and chuckled, before reaching out his left hand to the Vjunn Fox, scratching it softly under the chin. "I'm not sure how something so cute and tiny came from there..." he mused, his smile slowly crawling across his face. Kara's own expression brightened, before turning into a gleeful smile, beginning to bounce once again with excitement. She got closer to him, pressing herself against his chest and smiling up to him, doing her best attempt at looking sweet and innocent. It probably would have worked if Pylon hadn't seen her snap someone's tibia for interrupting her last week.

"Well you're cute and tiny, too, ner cyar'ika! Maybe tough places breed cute things!" She giggled, lifting the small hand held vulpine closer to Pylon's face, until he could stare into it's huge scarlet red eyes. The two shared a long, uninterrupted blink at each other, before Pylon finally broke and rolled his eye, reaching into his back pocket to retrieve a large credit stick. "Here. Buy him. Find out what he needs, what he eats, and all that. I'm gonna go find us something to drink. All this spending is making me thirsty." He instructed her with a wide grin. Kara grinned widely in triumph, before leaning up to kiss her husband's cheek, followed by the fuzzy head of her new pet. "Thank you, my love! I'll meet back up with you soon. And don't go finding some young Zeltron girl to run off with, or I'll hunt you both down and glass you." She giggled out the threat without even breaking stride.

Pylon rolled his singular eye again as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets, pushing his way through the crowd, in search of something sweet and alcoholic. Kara was a walking contradiction, he realized. Sweet and bubbly like a teenage girl one minute, then hard and threatening like a grizzled war veteran the next. "Her father did a good job on her, that's for sure. 'Raise your sons to be tough, and your daughters to be tougher', right Rihka?" He whispered to himself, chuckling once again at the exchange. "Now, where the hell do i get some booze around here...?"

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Zeltros, it had been several years since she first began her rule, she fixed its drug problem and made sure that slavers on the planet would not conduct any business. Her first year was harsh and with a iron fist before the problem ironed out and she was able to relax and begin to show the people that she was not some person on a high throne but simply their queen and made sure to remain transparent so they understood what was happening within the government.

With each year came the fertility festival, while stardust was lucky to even have one child due to her near 0 fertility, she celebrated with her people and made sure to attend every one she could to mingle among the people sign a few autographs and simply talk. Jer.mond as she walked through the streets wondered yo when she first got on planet and had to wear a filter as the pheromones nearly made her pass out even with her upgrades, now days she dodnt need them and simply walked around as any zeltron would.

Coming up to the main area there would be a loud cheer as she held a hand up to quiet them as she had a big smile moving towards a stage as she tapped the mix to check it then nodded

afternoon everyone! I see a lot of people are enjoying the festival!

Another loud cheer went out as she gave a clap and then looked over the crowd

I see a larger crowd this year! What was it that good last year you folks got more people to come! Hahaha everyone enjoy the party do not let me being here make you stop!

She hopped off the stage as the music resumed and started made a straight line for the drinks

[member="Pylon Zerga"]

 

[Seo Linn]

They had already once been to a festival, but it wasn't something that had been planned by either of them. This time though, Seo knew of this festival and wanted to attend it with Mereel. The previous one had also been a fertility festival and this one was as well...not that Seo was trying to imply anything with this. She just found it amusing and wanted to see what it would be like with him.

Arriving on the party world, Seo wasn't fully prepared for what waited for them. Thankfully they had arrived together or the free spirited nature of the Zeltron people would have quickly taken over her. The pheromones around were intoxicating and even still Seo was affected by them. Her affection was for her partner though and she was not taken in by any others.

For once Seo was without her bag she always had with her. It had been left on the ship. In actuality, most of what Seo would normally wear was also left behind. This wasn't a desert world or frozen wasteland where extra layers would be needed. So she opted to just wear a light jacket over her lowest layer of clothes. Still she did wear her saber clipped to her belt, but she honestly didn't think it would be needed here.

Their senses were assaulted as soon as they walked out of spaceport and it took a few moments for her get a control on what was incoming. Holding onto Mereel's hand, she stopped in her tracks. This delay was all that was needed on this world though and a glitter bomb was headed in the direction of the wall above their heads...

[member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] [member="Pylon Zerga"]

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel had been to Zeltros before, and he had hated himself for visiting it afterwards.

The planet wasn't stupidly dangerous like Blenjeel, and it didn't have negative memory associations like Mustafar, but Zeltros was still fairly high up on his list of planets not to revisit. His reasons for wanting to avoid the place as much as possible were entirely pragmatic. Zeltronion pheromones almost always forced those unfamiliar with them to easily forget the troubles and worries of the galaxy, leaving a person completely vulnerable to the unrestrained promiscuity and continuous celebrations that made the planet renowned. The planet was the perfect life trap - enticing some of those who visited to stay forever if they had the credits to do so.

Despite his better judgement, he accepted Seo's invitation to go to a fertility festival on the planet straightaway. It sounded like a fun enough time in itself.. but he wasn't entirely sure she wasn't trying to tell him something. This was the second fertility festival they had been to in, what? A month? Two tops? Whatever the case, he left his musings about not-so-subtle messages and reservations regarding returning to Zeltros at the door as the familiar pheromones of the local populace drowned his senses.

He gave Seo's hand a gentle, nervous squeeze and his breathing became shallow as his mind struggled to keep himself from becoming a complete and total puppet of his desires this early into the night. They had only walked out of the spaceport seconds ago, and he knew Zeltros would have plenty of spectacles for them to see yet.

Staring at Seo with lust in his eyes, he noticed the glitter bomb sailing for the wall above them far too late. He wasn't sure why she had stopped walking, but he knew that he still hated glitter. Experience gave him an idea for a solution to his predicament. With a small grin, he let go of Seo's hand and promptly placed it on her hip. Turning her to face him, his metal hand planted itself on her other hip and he leaned in to lock lips with her.

But before he could begin moving her backwards like he had attempted to on Cioma, the glitter bomb overhead burst and he was unceremoniously covered in flakes of purple and pink. The pheromones in the air willed him to keep kissing her through the catastrophe, although he did open one eye to quickly inspect the damage to his red jacket.

And that's when Mereel saw him. A singular man in a black leather jacket with hands deep set in his pockets, moving with a purpose through a crowd of lackadaisical party goers. Long hair partially concealed the man's face, but something was familiar about the figure. He just couldn't place how or where he had seen him before.

He closed his eye again and tried to ignore it, but as he returned his focus to Seo, his mind wouldn't stop asking him where he had seen that face before. Mereel reluctantly broke away from their make out session. Needless to say, he was upset with himself, but he knew the only way he would stop thinking about the man was if he found out who he was. And he wasn't going to wait around for his mind to connect the dots. There was a chance that that could take hours.

Only slightly because of the pheromones, his breath was hot and his voice heavy as he spoke, "Sorry. I think I saw a familiar face - guy in the black bantha jacket over my shoulder, but my mind's drawing a blank on names. Unless I figure it out right now, I'm just going to keep having him pop into my head randomly during the rest of the night, and I really don't want that."

He stepped away from her with remorse on his face, "Just got to ask a name and see if any bells ring. If he's an old Death Watch buddy, or hell, any buddy, we can ditch him. Promise."

He flashed her a small grin after saying that and then spun around on his heel. His eyes scanned through the crowd and found the figure pretty quickly, the dark tones of the jacket and combat boots put the man at odds with a lot of the Zeltron party goers. Not like Mereel was blended in much with the crowd himself, what with his lightsaber and one of his blaster pistols hanging from his belt for all the honest world to feel.

Wasting no time, Mereel bee-lined it for the unknown man until he was standing directly in front of the man's walking path, looking directly at him. He raised his voice a few decibels to ensure he would be heard over the crowd, "Hey, Bantha jacket. What's your name ner vod?"

[member="Seo Linn"] | [member="Pylon Zerga"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]

 

[Pylon Zerga]

Pylon strolled through the bazaar with his hands forced deep in his pockets, a wide smile on his face as he breathed deep the candy spiced and pheromone spiked air. While others were deeply affected, or even more cautious of the Zeltrons' powerful pheromone clouds, Pylon found it was part of the charm of such gatherings. He and Kara's bond was strong enough to not let something so primitive to come between them...at least, that's what he told himself as he watched two Zeltron women perform contortionist moves while kissing and riding a large, furry, eight legged creature cross the street in front of him in a long, elaborate parade.

"Man, i love this place!" He laughed as he ran past a crowd of people watching the display, making his way to a nearby bar. With the enormous crowds of people, Pylon had a rare opportunity to be anonymous without wearing his helmet. The lack of his beloved and secluded 'bucket' did leave him without some of the luxuries it provided, such as a temperature control system to keep him cool, or complete coverage of his face, Pylon was able to still make use of his various vision modes, located behind the veil of hair over his cybernetic eye.

It's infared glow illuminated a dark red light through his black hair, betraying it's existence in the dimly lit canopy over the bar. Perhaps it was that, or his stylized black, studded leather jacket that had attracted the unwanted attention. Like the fireworks going off overhead, a icy chill went down Pylon's back, and the hair on his neck stood on end. It was one of the last remaining "Gifts" from the Order. His sharpened instincts alerted him to the fact he was being watched, and the Force told him, he was being followed....by a Jedi.

Before he could begin to locate the tail, however, something the trained Mercenary didn't count on happened. Cutting off his path was another man in a armored jacket, not too dissimilar from his own, and a lightsaber and blaster on his hip, his arms open with a look of dumbfounded joy. "Hey! Bantha Jacket! What's your name, ner vod?" He called out to Pylon, causing a noticeable twitch in his face.

Ner vod. My Brother. This guy was a Mandalorian. That much was obvious just in the first words he said. Yet, Pylon couldn't shake this feeling he had in his gut. The one that he had anytime he was forced to attend a council meeting or go to the Temple Library and be on his best behavior. The feeling of being in the presence of a Jedi. This guy wasn't a Mando'ade. Not anymore. Just like Pylon was no longer a Jedi.

Zerga took a step back as another crowd of people began making their way between the two men, capitalizing on the opportunity to break away. Just as he was about to turn away, Pylon shot the man in the red jacket a sinister snarl. "I'm not your brother, Mate. You got the wrong guy." he roared over the chorus of conversations. As he pulled he way back through the streets and away from the bar, he reached into his pocket, putting a small commlink to his ear as he brushed past a vendor, ducking into an alley.

"Kara, It's me. I may have company. Get back to the loft. I'll shake 'em and meet you there. Festival's over for us."

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel's shoulders slumped and both of his eyebrows raised in baffled curiosity. Bantha Jacket Man's reaction of essentially telling him to screw off and walking away certainly hadn't been what he was expecting. Despite the incredible rudeness of the strangely familiar man, Mereel found himself relieved.

His greeting of ner vod was something he said to a lot of people he greeted, in fact he enjoyed using it as an opener with non-Mandalorians just to make himself seem more in line with Mandalorian stereotypes. But he was far from aligned with Mandalorian ideals. In fact, he was entirely disenchanted with Mandalorian society in general, with his armor and preferences in profanity being the only lingering remnants of his Mandalorian heritage.

So when the Bantha Jacket Man revealed to Mereel that he too spoke, or at the very least understood Mando'a, Mereel felt a colossal wave of relief wash over him. Not even caring to recall who the man was anymore, Mereel spun around on his heel again and began walking back to Seo brandishing a boisterous grin. As soon as he got back to her he took her left hand in his right, "Come on -"

Without waiting for a response or explaining what had happened with Jacket Man, Mereel began walking them along on the route he had taken before having the displeasure of making the strangers acquaintance. "You know, I think it's high time we've had a dance. Didn't get to do it on Anaxes, ended up taking to the roofs on Cioma, and then just drinking on Veradune..

I'm tired of waiting to prove to you that I'm more than just the 'Okay' dancer that you wrote me off as." He said, referring to what had likely at the time seemed a completely insignificant comment that she had made on Anaxes. He lead her by the hand right on past the other street that Jacket Man had walked down, "No man wants to hear that he's just 'okay' at something from his girl, so tonight it's my duty to disprove your baseless accusation of my 'okay'ness. We're going to find a dance floor, and by the end of the night we're going to have kriffing spotlights sh-"

Mid pheromone and love fueled ramble, Mereel's brain had decided to recall who Jacket Man was.

"it. Seo I know who that guy was now. Fierfek. You've got to be karking kidding me."

Any and all hopes of dancing tonight were dashed from his mind, and he let go of Seo's hand with a look of complete and utter failure showing through his face. His newly freed hands pulled the blaster pistol from his belt, a few Zeltron party goers nearby took notice and let out small gasps, ran, or simply stood still and looked at him like he was mad, but most were too caught up in their insane pheromone-assisted escapades to notice Mereel's action.

He turned back to face the street Jacket Man had walked away down and beckoned for her to follow with one hand as he broke into a jog. "Try to keep up, I'll explain it as we go!"

[member="Seo Linn"] [member="Pylon Zerga"] [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]

 

[Seo Linn]

Their first festival had been more of a surprise than either of them actually knowing the reason for it. Seo had quickly picked up on the reason for it and then passed on the information to Mereel in the very obvious way by dragging him into it. She wasn't actually making any sort of hint though, but wanted the opportunity to attend a festival where they both knew what was going on.

However, the normally unexpressive person that Seo was...well that was gone. The pheromones and atmosphere had rubbed off on her. However she wasn't fully without control and she did not want to be with anybody else. When Mereel came in for that kiss, she gladly accepted it. They were both covered in glitter within a second and she couldn't help but laugh at it when he broke away from the kiss after a moment or ten.

"At least it isn't sand."

Mereel said something that took a little to get into Seo's mind. He knew somebody here and that was a surprise to her. Soon after finishing, he took off after whoever it was and left her at the entrance of the spaceport alone. She watched his progress through the crowd and fended off some want to be kissers. Their relationship meant far too much to her to go kissing random people now.

It was clear he had found whoever he was searching for, but returned empty handed. What had been said, she didn't know, but it was clear it disturbed Mereel. She could see it, even at the distance when his shoulders slumped. It soon changed though and he returned to her with a grin on his face. He took her hand and said he wanted the chance to show to her just how well (or not) that he could dance. That was something she had wanted to see since the day they met and looked forward to this chance.

They had just arrived where some semblance of a dance was being held, but it didn't last more than a step or two before Mereel remembered the man. Him reaching for a weapon shocked Seo enough that she drew her own. There was more to this than he could tell her and told her to keep up.

"Maybe we'll get the cha​nce after."

[member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Pylon Zerga"] [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] [member="Kei Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Pylon Zerga"] [member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Seo Linn"]

The festival was in full swing, stardust was among the crowd talking with other patrons and enjoying a nice hearty laugh before lifting her cup in a loud cheer before downing her cup and getting a bit more as she moved among the crowd of people stepping over a few as she got to a high spot and looked over the crowd with a proud smile upon her face as she took a deep breath nodding her head...until...something caught her eye..a spike within the force among his see of bliss and happiness, fear.

Quickly she moved hight spotting a place where she could feel the fear coming from seeing a few people running away as she put a hand to her ear

got a possible issue here I want a police shuttle in the air to get a birds eye view, I'm enroute to the area

With that she jumped into the crowd and was making a straight line for the area, hoping it was nothing to severe and just a simple misunderstanding

 

[Mereel Vaun]

"If we don't get the chance after we'll make one." Mereel said, sighing with irritation. He had wanted to get a dance in with her at Lady Pryde's ball the day they met, but work had gotten in the way of that opportunity. And now work was once again getting in the way. He flipped the blaster's power setting to stun and thumbed off the safety, "Don't worry though. The night's young and I plan on making this quick."

Seo was a soldier about it, and when he saw her draw her lightsaber a small smile involuntarily crept onto his face. He started leading them in a run down the first street he had seen jacket man turn down. Rounding the street corner, he unapologetically shouldered himself in between two Zeltronians that had been exchanging a passionate kiss. "Bantha jacket man, black!"

His blaster pistol was pointed up towards the sky, so he wasn't exactly holding the lovers at gunpoint, but that didn't stop either of them from freaking out as he forcefully interrupted them. They were in a daze for a second, but the woman eventually gasped as she noticed his gun and the man's shoulders tensed up.

Mereel exaggeratedly re-aimed the blaster at the ground,"Just point!" The second he saw the Zeltronian man's finger start to raise in a direction, he pulled away from them and turned to run past them, continuing down the street they were on. He turned to make sure Seo was still with him and raised his voice to a yell so she would hear him above the crowd, "While you were recovering from Aargonar, I ran a few missions with Republic Intel, tracking down info leaks that I thought might be related to Brieda - "

Once they had ran twenty or so feet down the same street, he repeated his earlier interruption process from earlier, this time with small group of Zeltronians and other humans standing around in a semi-circle together. A bold drunk man swung a fist at his head for his rudeness, but Mereel easily sidestepped the swing and reflexively slammed an elbow into the man's gut. The drunk doubled back and clutched his stomach in pain, but Mereel hadn't struck the drunk hard enough to do any lasting damage.

Several of the group members cried out in fear, but they lowered their volume to worried whispers when they saw Mereel's blaster pistol, drawn but still pointed at the ground. Red painted his cheeks as he realized what he had just done, and more importantly who he had just done it on front of. Seo had only seen him in what he called 'mission mode' a few times, and even then when he had to fight it was always against armed targets threatening their lives first. Mereel was usually a defender of civilians, but sometimes when the mission was dire enough like it was right now, people got hurt out of a necessity for speed, "Single man, black bantha jacket. I don't want to hurt anyone else, please. Just kriffing point."

Three of the group members nervously pointed fingers behind him, towards an alleyway branching off of the street. Mereel gave them a slight nod and turned to run back the way they had pointed, running several slow-walking people out of his way as they went."The missions I took were just half day trips. Informant leaks on Intel's most wanted list with last known locations that seemed easy to work off of."

They arrived on the mouth of the alleyway, and there was a single figure the same height as Bantha Jacket Man shrouded in shadows on the other end. Mereel ducked off to the side, trying to keep out of immediate line of sight.

"This guy's name is Pylon.. something. Jedi Shadow assumed dead, but Intel had a few doubts and had notices for him just in case. I almost looked into it, but.."

A little red blushed into his cheeks again, and the pheromones of Zeltros only served to amplify his feelings, "I didn't pick up any questionable leads for this guy because I thought it'd take a while, and I didn't want to keep an eye off you for too long." After Aargonar, he had wanted to be by her side as much as possible. Even though the early days of her recovery had just consisted of him watching her floating around in a bacta tank, he had spent more time in the Iviin'yc's medical bay than tracking down leads.

He slowed his breathing and cleared his thoughts. The color went out of his cheeks as adrenaline began flowing into his veins. "Looks like we found him anyway. Here goes nothing."

He spun around on his heel and turned around the corner in slow motion. The force flowed through him freely as he raised both arms and aimed down the sights of the Lucky Seven. His breathing became shallow as he lined the iron-sights of the blaster up with the shadowed figure's torso, and his finger eased back the blaster's trigger three times. Three blue paralysis beams streamed out of the blaster pistol.

[member="Seo Linn"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] | [member="Pylon Zerga"]

 

[Pylon Zerga]

"You better have a damn good reason for trying to ruin my vacation, Husband." Kara growled lowly over their comms, letting the last word dangle in the air as more of a threat then a term of endearment. Pylon rolled his eyes before letting her finish, making sure she got all of her pent up rage out in one breath.

"I swear, if you tell me this has something to do with the Jetiise, I'm going to shoot them from the balcony." she hissed, hatred seething through the com like poison from a vent.

"You're going to fire a high-powered slugthrower from our balcony, during a city-wide festival, at a guy who may or may-not be following me? How am I the one ruining this vacation?" he chuckled back at her, letting her know exactly how ridiculous she sounded.

A"Well that really just depends, doesn't it?"
"Depends on what!?"
"Are they Jetiise or not!?"
"...I dont know--"
"--I'm getting the gun."
"Don't get the gun..."
"Fine! I won't get the gun! There's plenty of other, slower ways to kill Jedi! I swear, I will take my knife and--"

As she began listing off her preferred methods of mutilation and execution, Pylon cut the volume on his earpiece, as he rounded a corner quickly, ducking into an alley past a couple passionately kissing against the brick wall. His path was varied and random enough that anyone not actually following him would be lost in the maze of alleyways. It would take an actual tail in order to keep up, meaning someone with actual intent on tracking Pylon down, not just someone looking for a drinking buddy.

The very fact someone would recognize Zerga at all was concerning enough. With the use of his bucket, his identity as a Mandalorian was usually kept secret, and the couple never stayed anywhere very long, save for return trips to Zeltros. Pylon's history within the Order was mostly confidential, meaning only certain Jedi Masters or higher-up Republic Secrete Intelligence knew about his identity and the specifics of his missions. Publicly, the last time Kara had checked, the Jedi Shadow known as Pylon Zerga was labeled Missing in Action, Presumed Dead. There was too many questions about this. And Pylon wasn't going to run away without answers.

After making his way across a street filled with drunks, Pylon let the silence in his comlink dawn on him. Kara had finished her rant, and instead sat quietly fuming on the other side, waiting to be addressed. "I'm calm..." she grumbled softly.

"Are you done? Did you get that out of your system? Good." He mocked dryly, picking up his pace a little more, before finally stopping down the street a little at the mouth of another alley, turning around to lean against a large cart, piled high with barrels of alcohol, securely tied down with fibercords ropes, in order to post up and wait to see if he was still being followed. He crossed his arms over his chest, inconspicuously feeling the ultrachrome kunai blades in his sleeves. Without his lightsabers, or his sword, the small, sharp, diamond shaped knives were his first line of defense from the possible threat.

While he didn't get a long look at the man, he felt like he could recognize his ridiculous red jacket and the obvious lightsaber on his hip. While he knew that the mere possession of a lightsaber didn't exactly mean it's owner was a trained Jedi or Sith, it was a pretty safe assumption. Either way, further testing of this stalker was required.

"Now that you got that out of your system, you can pack the gear and get the ship ready for take off. I'd rather take this off planet, in case we have to get mean."

Usually, Pylon could rely on the Force to disappear from sight, but with his pursuer possible being Jedi, he instead decided to prioritize suppressing his own personal presence and signature. While usually second nature, this time he used the technique in overdrive, keeping all connection to the Force dulled and suppressed, like shutting a third eye as tightly as possible.

If the Red Jacket Jedi wanted to find him, he would have to do it the hard way.

After a few minutes of waiting, Zerga was about to chalk the entire thing up to paranoia and too many pheromones in the air, before his caution paid off. Coming out of the same alley as he had, as if hot on Pylon's trail, the man emerged, blaster and lightsaber hilt in either hand, and this time with a small, frail looking woman following in tandem, also clutching a lightsaber. "Oh yeah, these two are definitely Jedi," he had decided...Until the Red Jacket man elbowed a man in the face and started waving his blaster around, desperately looking for a lead. "Or, also, maybe not."

He watched as the man assaulted and interrogated a group of civilians, who eventually pointed down at Pylon's way. Not very Jedi-like at all. He would have to give this Not-So-Mando, Not-so-Jedi another test.

Once he was sure his pursuers were making their way over to him, Pylon walked down to the back end of the alley, staring up at the massive walls of the buildings surrounding him. To anyone else, a dead end--to Pylon, the perfect escape route. Even when cornered, he wouldn't allow himself to be prey, to allow himself to be forced from Hunter to Hunted.

After a long, deep breath, Pylon closed his eyes, allowing the Force to flow through him, and guide his actions. Through it, he knew the attack was coming before the blaster was even aimed, calculated their trajectory with instinct alone. In one flash of silver and a blur of black leather, Pylon spun about face, flicking his wrist and shooting a kunai into his hand. With several, lightning fast, coordinated movements of his arm, each of the three blaster bolts were intercepted by the flat blade of the wide knife. Instead of deflecting back or widely away like he had come to expect with a lightsaber, the ultrachrome blade glowed red hot, super-heated by the plasma bolts.

Without waiting for another attack, Zerga quickly cocked his arm back before flinging the kunai blade forward, spiraling end over end toward the assaulting agent's center mass. While an apparent basic attack, it carried with it a deceptive, true end goal-- the ropes keeping the large barrels of spiced rums in place, directly behind the man, likely unaware of his position.

 

[Seo Linn]

She would have gone about the questioning a far different manner, but Seo was a different breed of person from Mereel. While she was far from perfect, she would give him suggestions on how to approach things like this in the future.

As they startled, scared and he threatened a few of the partiers, he proceeded to tell her what he had learned of his sister and how he had heard of the man he was chasing. Along more for the ride, she took in the details of the story, but kept silent.

If they hadn't been in the middle of a chase, Seo would have told him what she thought of something he said. Having essentially saved her life, he had then taken great care of her and had stayed at her side as much as he could have. Only missions had taken him away that were quickly solved and he had returned quickly. It was rather funny as she thought about it.

From the day they had met, they had always tried to one up the other in something. It started out simple, but then turned dangerous. That wasn't done on purpose, but it almost seemed that way. Wishing things could go back to being simple acts of playful vengeance, she wondered who was going to wind up hurt in this investigation.

For all intents and purposes, they had cornered their target, but Seo knew it wasn't going to be that simple. She had what she learned in her life to use here and Pylon was not a simple man. Same as Mereel and herself. They each had strengths and weaknesses, but they worked well together. United against one man, they should be able to capture him.

Mereel fired his stun shots at the man, but he was able to block them before they reached him. Without waiting for him to attack again, he launched his weapon at them. Since Seo was an investigator, she was able to quickly take in details and utilize them. There was more than one reason he threw that blade. If Mereel avoided it, it would hit the barrels behind them. The weight of them alone would be enough to harm them.

Reaching out with the Force, she wasn't going to allow that blade to meet either of its intended targets. A nudge through the Force took off course and harmlessly hit the wall of one of the buildings around them. It ended up coming to rest at their feet.

This was Mereel's target though, so she did nothing to him and just looked. Her job right now was to try and keep her love safe.

[member="Pylon Zerga"] [member="Mereel Vaun"]

 

[Pylon Zerga]

The simplicity of Pylon's test showed it's ingenious immediately, as Pylon's knife, while not hitting it's mark, was cast mysteriously to the side, by an unseen protective barrier, before clattering harmlessly to the ground. The Force. More importantly, the Force used by a Jedi. Any Sith would have turned the attack back against Zerga, and the blaster bolts would have been lethal.

These guys were definitely Jedi, and were obviously trying to take him in alive. Not if Pylon had anything to say about it.

Without giving his opponents a chance to launch a counter assault, Pylon sprung into action, rushing forward at the couple from the back of the alley. Low to the ground and blindingly quick, he appeared a wild predator, breaking into a sprint towards his targets. In a sudden jerk of his arm, Pylon reached out with the Force, grabbing hold of the large, durasteel trash dumpster, and yanking it in front of him to act as moveing cover.

The small wheels groaned and screamed as they struggled to keep up with the sudden, overwhelming speed of being Force Pushed down an alley, it's entire weight carried by momentum at it came rushing towards the unsuspecting Jedi. While the act of stopping such a massive obstacle would prove little difficult for anyone trained in the Force, it served as an excellent distraction for his next maneuver.

As soon as the dumpster made it down the alley close enough, Pylon sprung over it, landing his right hand hard on the metal folding lid at the top, spinning like a top, as he tossed with his left hand, a small metal canister on the ground between himself and the couple. Then, as soon as the device left his hand, he spun himself around, flinging himself forward to the wall on either side. He landed against it, feet first, before jumping back and forth across the distance of the alley, kicking himself up the sides of the buildings, before standing on the edge of the rooftops. Once upon his raised perch, Pylon would quickly turn away, without leaving his eyes down towards the alley.

After a brief second of pause, likely while the Jedi pair tried to calculate what just happened, a sudden, blinding flash and loud, eardrum shattering pop would fill the alley, as the escaping Bounty Hunter's flashbang grenade detonated, likely blinding and disorientating his pursuers.

While he would usually save such feats of acrobatics for use in his armor, with assistance with the Force, the circumstances called for more practical, physical tactics. Without waiting to see if he was still being followed, Pylon broke into a sprint across the rooftops, vaulting over the gaps between buildings, making his way towards the large, open steps leading up to the Royal Palace. Just past that, his and Kara's safehouse condo, and from there, he would get off this planet, and lose the Jedi Dogs who wanted to likely drag him back to the Order.

 

[Mereel Vaun]

Mereel's facial expression didn't change at all as he watched his target block the stun rounds. Fighting Sith acolytes and dark Jedi was already a difficult task with just the use of a blaster, and Pylon wouldn't have been a chump if Republic Intel was looking for him. Despite the fact that the man was still a distance away and partially cloaked by the dim light of the alleyway, his sharp eyes saw the man's arm move backwards slightly - telegraphing the imminent knife throw.

The knife came twirling end over end, cutting through the air on what looked to be a direct path for his chest. Mereel's eyes constricted, the grip on his pistol tightened, and he bent his knees, but before he had to roll himself out of the way of the airborne blade he felt Seo channeling the force beside him. His decision could've been a fast track to getting himself stabbed in the sternum, but he didn't back down.

Rewarded for either his loyalty or stupidity, the knife clattered off of a wall before landing at their feet. His eyes were temporarily pulled from his target as he looked down at the knife and then to Seo. On a normal day, his focus would've been golden and he would've immediately looked back to his target - but the Zeltronian pheromones deviated his next actions.

Completely and totally enamored, he kept his eyes locked on Seo for more than a second. The pheromones also made him feel heavily inclined to speak his thoughts without filter, "You're fething beautiful when you're saving my shebs."

Just one sentence.. but it was enough time for him to miss the opportunity to fire more rounds at now-unarmed Pylon as he ran towards them. When he looked back the man had gotten behind the concealment of a large dumpster - by means of hurling it towards them with the force.

"Fierfek. I got this one!"

Mereel cleared his thoughts and closed his eyes for half of a second. When he opened them, his focus had returned and he tapped into the force freely. He dropped his pistol and extended his right hand in a violent motion. A wave of force energy cascaded out from his palm, crashing into the dumpster and sending it careening the opposite way back down the alleyway, but not before Pylon had pulled off his little parkour maneuver. His eyes almost shifted to track the man's jumping from side to side up the alleyway walls, but he was stopped as he heard a small rattling noise at their feet.

Stomach sinking, Mereel let his head fall back down to the ground. The metal cylinder of a grenade had rolled itself between the two of them.

Since he sure as hell didn't have enough time to think about what kind of grenade the rogue Jedi had thrown at them, he followed his instinct - not his partial Jedi training, force wielder instincts, but his instincts as a warrior, a man of flesh and blood.

"Brace!"

Considering what he was about to do, it was a much more accurate warning than telling her to get down. Eyes wide open and staring at the llive grenade, Mereel lunged at Seo in a tackle. In blatant hindsight, there were much better ways that either of them could've done in response to the grenade, but he had just gotten her back from Aargonar, and he wasn't about to lose her for weeks again - and definitely not with Zeltros' pheromones pumping through him. Now all he could do was hope that she wouldn't avoid his sudden and not-too gentle covering embrace which would hurl both of them towards the ground, and optimally conceal her partially from the blast.

He pried his eyes away from the grenade, and much to his surprise he didn't see or feel a wave of explosive warmth jutting out towards them. However, that was likely because he couldn't see anything. On a sidenote, his ears were now ringing.

[member="Seo Linn"] | [member="Pylon Zerga"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]​

 

[Seo Linn]

Lifting an eyebrow at what Mereel said about her beauty when saving his life made her also want to smile, but her face remained almost impassive. Local phermones or not, Seo actually was able to pretty much keep her body language under control. That didn't mean she didn't want to kiss him, but what the man they had been following did next prevented that.

Before she could reply to him with some comment, they noticed the dumpster heading their direction. Luckily Mereel had the sense to prevent it from reaching them and sent it back in the direction it came from. Watching as Pylon scaled the building, she did notice which direction he took off in so unless he changed from that path, Seo could tell Mereel where his target went.

However, just as the man left, Mereel practically pounced on her. At first she assumed it was because they had escaped death or getting crushed by a dumpster, but the reason because obvious quite quickly. He blocked her from getting blinded by the flashbang, but not from being deafened. She assumed he was also deafened, but tried to motion the direction Pylon went when they each had their senses back. Sadly he was also blinded and couldn't see.

Taking a hold of his arm, she helped him up, placed his hand on her upper arm and would lead him out of the alley and in the assumed direction Pylon had taken off in. As they walked, it was clear to her that the chase had caught the attention of the authorities. With the festival going on, it had taken a little bit longer for them to react and arrive. Of course their physical description had been passed along so they hadn't gotten very far before they were approached by one such person...

[member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Pylon Zerga"] [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Seo Linn"] [member="Mereel Vaun"] [member="Pylon Zerga"]

Stardust was still on foot pushing through the crowd of people seeing many more run away, stardust stopped back a man who had doubled over and was now on his side..he seemed drunk likely the reason but still those three people she saw had to be the cause

your majesty weve spotted three individuals, two pursuing another the other appears to be two males and one female. Officers are already enroute to cut them off however this festival has us slowed

Stardust nodded her head and place a hand on her ear

copy that I'm pursuing on foot, I want non lethal shots! Repeat all blasters set to stun

Wih that she stardust through the crowd careful to knock anyone else over but it seemed that the three already carved a path for her to follow. Meanwhile police forces gathered towards the alley, a few got close right as the flash bang went off and recoiled back as the only one to not see it raised his blaster and yelled

hands where I can see them! On your knees!

His hearing wasn't he best currently but as his friends recovered they started getting their blasters on point

Meanwhiek stardust received a emergency signal, from the palace

Your majesty! Weve spotted a suspect heading for the palace!

She was nearing the two before immediately she changed direction heading for the palace as she placed a hand to her ear

deploy the God killers, I want that person stopped immediately!

At the palace alarms had been raised, the God killers were quick to action as they grabbed their weapons, locked and loaded ready to deal with any force user they encountered, stardusts personal elite guards and fellow brothers in arms, they ran out the front positioned at the top of the stairs to the palace and aimed their weapons towards pylon

by order of her majesty you are to surrender immediately! Place any weapons you may have down failure to comply will result in lethal force

 

[Mereel Vaun]

He couldn't see or hear anything, but that didnt stop a big, dumb smile from forming on his face as he felt Seo pulling his hand to her arm to help him in getting off of the ground."Thank you, honey."

Trying to hear himself over the impossibly loud and inconcistent ringing in his ears, his voice changed erratically in both volume and tone as he thanked her. They had hardly walked a half dozen steps before Seo stopped moving, his own legs stopping a second behind hers since he couldn't see or hear what had interupted her.

His dominant hand may have now been on Seo's arm, but his left hand was still unfortunately holding a blaster pistol. His vision slowly started returning back to him, and his stomach sank as he began seeing the outlines of his surroundings through what had been blinding white.

"Oh osik."

Mereel dropped the blaster pistol in his hand and let it fall onto the ground freely. Due to his checkered past, Mereel tried to avoid dealing with security officials as much as possible. He held security officers in not too high esteem, even though he saw their value as peacekeepers. If Seo wasn't here, he would've likely completely ignored the security guards unhearable commands in order to continue pursuing Pylon.

But since Seo was here, he reluctantly took his hand off of her arm and put his arms over his head like any semi-upstanding citizen would do. Since he still couldn't hear the officer he remained standing on his feet.

"Officers, you're letting a very wanted man get away right now. If you would kindly refrain from attempting to stun us, that'd be kriffing wonderful."

[member="Seo Linn"] | [member="Pylon Zerga"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]