Mercenary Crew: Bounty Hunters

[Corinthian]

Kadis grabbed his blaster and rolled to his feet. He took stock of the cave. Most of the good positions had already been occupied. He pressed against the wall and switched his blaster on.

 

Macrobinoculars, where do they put the macrobinoculars...

 

He ran some calculations in his head. If they were hostiles, there were either a lot of them or they had a very high opinion of their own abilities - the number of crawlers out there would give them enough estimation of their numbers.

 

Guess I'll see how competent these hunters really are.

[Writer]

Raelyn went immediately to Colin's side, crouching and touching his shoulder lightly. He was fully alert in an instant and reached to his left to pull his bag over. The doctor and his sister worked in silence for several seconds. Raelyn strapped a rather impressive dagger to her waist, more a short sword really; Colin shrugged on a rather odd looking harness, which held a vast assortment of throwing knives and glass vials.

 

"What the hell is all this?" Stitcher asked as Colin came to the rock where the medic was hiding.

 

"I'm not accurate with a blaster," Colin answered simply. "These are my best weapons."

 

"And what's with her?" the medic wondered, gesturing to Raelyn, whose only visible weapon was the short sword.

 

"Catlike reflexes," Colin replied... and then, he chuckled as Raelyn tugged a rather bulky looking rifle from the bag. "... and one hell of a rifle. She amazes me with that thing still and I've seen her use it more than once."

 

"What is it?" Stitcher asked in awe.

 

"Fires a projectile capsuled within a laser bolt," Colin explained. "Kinda hard to visualize until you've seen it fired. You gotta watch careful, though... it's hard to see the shot. Harder than a traditional blaster."

 

"Projectile?" Stitcher frowned. "That's gotta give one hell of a kick."

 

"Like I said," Colin answered, "my little sister amazes me."

 

Raelyn had positioned herself fully in the open. No rocks were around to protect her. Colin grunted. "And like I said earlier... she's kinda suicidal in her thinking sometimes... funny how often it's worked for her..."

 

"She's a freak show," Stitcher summarized.

 

Colin merely shook his head and answered, "You have no idea..."

[ForceFightWMe12]

Umm, hello-ooo? Was anybody going to wake her up and tell her that something was happening?

 

Ellie had nodded off somewhere in the past ten to fifteen minutes, and being the semi-light sleeper that she had come to be - living in the slums didn't often grant you an easy night's sleep - the current commotion had stirred her from the snooze. She had, as of yet, had no idea as to what was going on - other than it was something bad. People were getting geared up to fight left and right.

 

With a slight snarl on her lips, she pulled the slim blaster that had been strapped at her hip out of its holster, her other hand taking its twin out from the opposite. She could feel her knives weighing against the inside of either jacket sleeve, and she glanced down at her belt to be sure that each not-so-noticeable sheath was full, the knives ready for quick use. Quickly coming to her feet, she followed the others' attention to the cave mouth.

 

"Next time we have trouble, someone mind waking me?" she asked, a little grumpy after having been first woken up and then second seemingly forgotten by the others. "I don't plan on dying in my sleep any time soon."

[Rogue Nine]

Latch allowed himself a tight-lipped smirk. "If you want to run with us, you have to be quick on your feet, chickie," he called out to Ellie. "The Cap'n let us know we needed to get mobilized, so we got to it." He pointed across the way. "Go back up Arelyn over there and cover her nine."

[Quist]

Arelyn had set up in a near-identical position on the right wall, training her HB-9 rifle towards the door. The incoming hostiles warning hadn't taken her by surprise, she sort of expected something weird to happen.

 

She saw Ellie scamper over to her side, drawing a pair of blasters. This caused Arelyn to smile a bit; the young woman carried herself with confidence and ease, she knew how to take care of herself. In a firefight, one couldn't be constantly looking out for others, and Ellie was one less thing off of Arelyn's mind.

 

Something jittered in her scope. Pressing her eye to the lens, she saw the first few hostiles peer cautiously into the cave. She clicked her comlink. "Rifle Two spots three bogeys at the entrance. Permission to engage?"

[Corinthian]

Kadis grimaced. The seconds always seemed to come so slowly right when the adrenaline started rushing. His comlink whispered from his pocket, making him jump slightly. He dialed up the volume.

 

"...three bogeys at the entrance. Permission to engage?"

 

He couldn't place the voice. Probably one of the more aloof ones. It didn't really matter at this point.

 

"I suggest holding your fire, if we start blowing them away from long range they'll just chuck a thermal detonator down into the cave and fry us if we try to run out. Besides, they might not be hostile. Nobody knows you guys are here, right? And where's that droid of yours, anyway, shouldn't he be relaying information to us or something?"

 

Well, that's one I can count on as probably being a 'Shoot first, never ask questions at all' style hunter.

[Writer]

Raelyn took three quick steps to the right, just as the men incoming fired at her, the only visible opponent. With a sidelong glance at Kadis, Raelyn shouldered her rifle and remarked, "I think it's pretty certain they're hostile."

 

And with that, she dropped to one knee, bracing herself with her trailing leg, and fired. The cave echoed with a resounding crack-BOOM and the projectile from Raelyn's rifle shot across the room almost too fast to see, impacting one of the hostiles in his left shoulder. The force of the blow spun him around and he fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder with a cry of pain as his gun went clattering away.

 

Only when he was writhing in pain on the ground did Raelyn stand and dart off to one side, joining her brother and Stitcher behind the rock. Colin glanced above the rock and ducked down quickly. "They're still out of my range, Rae."

 

"I know, Cole," Raelyn answered. "But they'll be coming closer soon enough... one big gun didn't scare them overmuch..."

[starmark2k]

Alec turned to Raelyn, Colin, Kadis and Ellie holding his rifle out from behind the rock he had taken cover behind. “Please just get back, keep your heads down and leave it to us professionals.” He ordered as he looked down his scope at the oncoming and thanks to Raelyns attack now very cautious hostiles.

 

“Ok Guys let them all get a little further into the cave. Latch, Arelyn if you can stay out their sights long enough for them all to pass you let them. If we can surround them this will be over quickly.” Alec Planned speaking into the comlink.

[Writer]

"Oh ho!" Raelyn laughed softly. "Mister Captain guy thinks he an' his crew are the only ones here who've been in any kind of fight that matches this one... listen here, cappy: I don't take orders from people who m..."

 

"Rae!" Colin hissed. "We're helping them find their bounty so they'll get us off this ice-ball. If you start insulting them so soon, they'll probably be more likely to leave us here."

 

Raelyn's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing further, choosing instead to glare at Alec, though she was sure he was no longer paying attention to her.

[Corinthian]

Kadis sputtered. Not at Alec's order - he had no particular love of combat, but at Raelyn opening fire. Right now, what he really needed was a fusion cutter to make himself a little nook to hide in when those other guys started chucking grenades down into the cave to clear out the guys who opened fire on sight. I'm going to kill her.

 

Of course, then she starts getting insolent with the Captain. He'd have blasted her right then, but his blaster didn't have a stun setting, and kill was just too loud and bright. He pressed deeper into his little nook on the wall, watching the fight.

[Rogue Nine]

"Well, I think that precludes any sense of surprise," Latch muttered as he saw Raelyn's shot punch through one of the approaching hostile's shoulders. Just then his comlink buzzed, Alec's voice instucting him and Arelyn to stay hidden until the hostiles were past them.

 

Latch grimaced and thumbed the safety on his rifle on. "Guess that means we wait, Rifle Two," he whispered into his comlink.

[starmark2k]

Alec continued to look over the rock and trough his Rifles scope, the Hostiles were approaching slowly with their Guns, knifes and other weapons on display. He managed to count a total of ten in various armours and of different species. Alec watched as they approached the fire place and pass his two gunners, Alec turned to his right where Jyot and Aly were. “Spanner get a grenade primed just in case.”

 

Jyot simply nodded in Reply and Alec took his comlink. “Guns get ready to fire three shots at their feet, let’s try do this without killing anyone.” Alec watched until all the Hostile mercenaries were in place. “Open fire!”

 

Alec fired three shots onto the ground just in front of the enemy mercenaries feet.

[Rogue Nine]

"Bloody pacifism," Latch snarled under his breath as he disengaged the safety on his rifle. Training the gun towards the enemy mercenaries, he had to physically stop himself from letting his gunsights settle over his target's heads as he had been trained to do and instead point towards the ground immediately in front of their feet. At Alec's command, he squeezed the trigger and let three azure bolts fly. They sizzled into the frigid ground, causing steam to waft up where they hit.

[JasraLantill]

“Spanner get a grenade primed just in case.”

 

Jyot nodded at Alec. “Grenade,” he whispered. “Right.” Reaching into his jacket, he felt around and finally latched onto something. It was a frag grenade. He stared at the cavern ceiling, and then shook his head. A misplaced frag grenade could bring the roof down upon them all. He placed it inside his front pocket and fished around inside his jacket for another one.

 

“Ah!” He grinned as he recognised the shape of it before he even pulled it out.

 

“Ah?” Ali was giving him a strange look. “What the hell is that?” she whispered.

 

“Cryo grenade,” he answered matter-of-factly.

 

“A cryo grenade?” Ali looked around. “We’re in an ice cave, you nerfherder,” she hissed.

 

“So? That means that the ‘bad guys’ won’t notice the extreme cold it until it’s too late.”

 

Ali shook her head. “You’re crazy,” she muttered.

 

“No, crazy would be throwing a frag grenade willy-nilly into the fray and causing the roof to collapse on top of all of us. Or…hey, wait.” He paused, reaching into his pocket and fishing out the frag grenade. He took off a glove and then used his fingernail to adjust a dial setting on the explosive device. “There.”

 

“There what?”

 

“I’ve adjusted it to a 180 blast zone instead of a 360.” He grinned. “Just have to make sure it lands the right way so that it blasts down, not up.”

 

Ali rolled her eyes. “And to think Alec actually pays you….”

 

“Pays?” Jyot stared back at her with an expression of extreme disbelief. “Wait… you mean, I’m supposed to be getting paid?” he said, deadpan.

 

Ali elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Stop fooling around.”

 

Jyot merely grinned. “See, here’s the plan. First, I’ll throw the frag grenade to make a big hole. Next the cryo grenade to line it with ice. The bad guys will fall in, but they won’t be able to climb out. And no one dies.”

 

Ali looked at him askance. “If it works.”

[Writer]

Raelyn was seriously angry now, scowling at nothing in particular and muttering a random string of syllables that didn't seem to make sense. Colin put a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off.

 

"Rae," he said softly. She directed her scowl at him.

 

"So let me get this straight," she said. "I stand out in plain view because that's how I operate. I get shot at, and then return fire and everybody's pissed at me, telling me to sit down and shut up like a good little girl. 'Ooh, play nice, kiddo, let the pros' do their job. Siddown and stay out of the way.'" She growled and punched a fist into the ground.

 

"Rae, calm down," Colin said patiently. "These people have their own way of operating. You have to let them slide into their comfort zone..."

 

"But seriously," Raelyn interrupted. "Are they blind? I didn't make the first shot..."

 

"I know that," Colin answered. "But understand, they wanted the advantage of surprise..."

 

"And how is that taken away?" Raelyn countered. "So far as the opponents know... I'm the only one they've seen so far..."

 

"Rae, I'm not trying to argue with you," Colin said patiently. "But try to be careful and not overconfident... let the bounty hunters have it their way. Let's play nice... be rude as you want when we're on their ship... not before."

 

Raelyn crossed her arms sullenly over her chest and slouched, pouting as she leaned her back against the rock. "Fine. I'm done trying to help with the fighting..." She began muttering again, though her mutterings were more easily recognized as curse words from around the galaxy.

[starmark2k]

The hostile mercenaries all jumped away from the shots that hit the floor and into each other clashing in one large group. They all raised their weapons began aiming all around them in the hope they could spot one of the Scimitar’s crew, but all remained well hidden.

 

“We have you all surrounded.” Alec called out from behind his rock. “I suggest you turn around and leave.”

 

“We can’t do that.” The lead hostile called back out. “Your Abyssian friend put a large price on your heads.”

 

“Damn Polcyc!” Alec cursed

 

“So you see I ain’t leaving without you’re dead bodies.” Another hostile shouted.

 

“Too bad.” Alec called out before turning to Jyot again and raising the comlink. “Play your music guys!”

[Writer]

"Rae," Colin said quietly. He slid one of the glass vials from his harness and showed it to her. She made a face.

 

"A flasher, Cole?" she asked, her voice dripping in disgust. "I'm not triggering it."

 

"Rae, you have to," Colin urged. Raelyn shook her head stubbornly.

 

"You said not to get involved," the girl reminded him pointedly.

 

"And now I'm asking for your help," Colin countered, almost begging. He flicked at the comlink in his hand. "Captain, I'm about to toss a little glass object into the midst of your opponents out there. Is it too much to ask that one of your sharpshooters targets it, covers their eyes, and shoots it? My sister's being a brat..." As an afterthought he added, "Ah... everyone who needs to see something in this little skirmish should have their eyes closed when the vial blows up... Raelyn calls them flashers for good reason..."

 

"Traitor," Raelyn accused, though her tone sounded almost teasing.

[JasraLantill]

"Ah... everyone who needs to see something in this little skirmish should have their eyes closed when the vial blows up... Raelyn calls them flashers for good reason..."

 

Jyot donned a sly grin. "Hmm, flashers...," he said quietly to himself.

 

Ali snorted with disdain at his remark. "Is your mind always in the gutter?" she hissed to him.

 

"My mind?" He raised an eyebrow. "I was just thinking about using my cryo grenade at the same time as the flasher thingee. What were you thinking about?"

 

Ali gave him a disparaging glare. Then she tapped her comlink. "I'll take the shot, Colin," she said into the com. "Ready when you are."

 

Jyot looked surprised. "Wait, I didn't know that you could shoot with your eyes closed."

 

Ali primed her rifle. "Sure."

 

"Erm... let me rephrase that. I didn't know that you could shoot and hit a target with your eyes closed."

 

"Bet you don't know what my favourite dessert is either, but that doesn't mean I don't have one." She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.

 

Suddenly, Jyot put his hand on the barrel of her rifle. "Oh no, no, no, no...," he said, his voice not a whisper now, but loud enough for the approaching bounty hunters to hear. "You're not doing this."

 

"What? You can't tell me what to do!"

 

A single blaster shot sounded out and a piece of the rock they were crouched behind exploded into a puff of smoky dust. "They're over there!" someone from the invading bounty hunter group called out.

 

"Great," Jyot grumbled, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear now. "Now look what you've done! They know exactly where we are and that there are only two of us!"

 

"So? That still doesn't mean you can tell me what to do!"

 

Jyot could hear the other bounty hunters start to get bold and move towards his and Ali's rock.

 

"Look, no girlfriend of mine is going to put herself in danger to save me, ok? It's just not going to happen!"

 

"Girlfriend?! I am not your girlfriend!"

 

"Well, I'm not a mealey, wimpy, 'I'll-let-my-ex-girlfriend-fight-for-my-bounty' type of guy!" And with that said, he launched his cryo grenade over his shoulder.

 

It tumbled down over the rock he was crouching behind and rolled right up to the feet of the other group of bounty hunters. It didn't explode right away. While he had been 'arguing' with Ali, he had set a time delay on it. Hopefully it would go off at the same time as one of Raelyn's 'flashers'--binding them and blinding them at the same time. Jyot, like Alec, didn't really see the point in killing someone unless he had to because, after all, a dead bounty was always worth less than a live one.

[starmark2k]

AS the blinding Light Flashed and the Cryo Exploded the Hostile mercenaries all jumped in various directions. As could as the Flashers were at blinding the enemy it meant all of the Scimitar’s crew had to look away and couldn’t see where the Hostiles jumped.

 

Not all the Scimitar crew did look away still curios over what was happening Sticher looked as they exploded and became blinded and screamed. This was all one of the hostiles needed to fire a shot in that direction and get a hit.

 

Alec could only watch as the blast of energy came from the blinding light and hit his medic square in the chest, Ray brinks body got thrown backwards and crashed into the floor.

 

As the light dimmed Alec turned his head and saw that only one of the bounties had became trapped by the cryo, ‘so much for that.’ Alec thought as one of the thugs took a shot at him narrowly missing by having his shot splash against the rock.

 

“Kill them all!” The lead thug ordered as he began to fire.

 

((OCC- OK I’ve made an arrangement with Corinthian that will have Kadis save Aly’s life to give Alec more reason to employ him.))

[Corinthian]

"Gah!"

 

He hadn't been entirely prepared for the flash, only had his eyes turned away, and the whole world seemed to have taken on a bright tinge, making him wince. From what he could see, the 'bad' hunters were converging on Jyot's rock. Jyot was paying attention and fighting back, but apparently Aly hadn't been keeping her eyes closed when she made that shot. One of the blinded hunters switched his blaster onto full-auto and began spraying, but she wasn't behind the cover.

 

Dammit, the whole world is conspiring to make me a hero.

 

He broke into a run, firing his blaster at the automatic-wielding hunter, wincing as he felt the heat of blaster bolts narrowly grazing him on either side. They were good shots, even without their sight. He put all his energy into one last burst of speed, then dropped into a roll, knocking Aly onto her back.

 

"Get off me!"

 

A fist smashed into his solar plexus, knocking him off her and blowing the wind out of him. He gasped for air, holding his gut.

 

"You're welcome." He gasped out, glaring at her. What in the hell!? Definitely should have let her get blasted.

[Rogue Nine]

"Well this is good," Latch muttered as he swiveled his rifle towards the enemies. Jyot had thrown his grenade, creating a rather large hole in the floor in front of the opposing bounty hunters, stopping them short and scattering them all over. The bright flashes of light certainly didn't help things as Latch tried to zero in on a target.

 

“Kill them all!” shouted one of the enemy bounty hunters.

 

This made Latch snort. "Sure, they can kill us, but we can't kill them?" he said. "I don't like that at all." Settling his crosshairs on the one that had shouted the kill command, he lined up his shot and squeezed his trigger. A brilliant blue bolt lanced out from his rifle and struck the bounty hunter right in the thigh, burning a hole through flesh and bone. The man barely had time to scream before a second blast, this one a familiar crimson, reamed through his left calf, creating yet another smoking hole in his legs. Latch didn't even have to look up to know where the second shot had come from. "Can't kill 'em, maim 'em, eh Arelyn?" he said into his comlink.

 

A throaty chuckle answered him. "You read my mind, Rifle One," the Mistryl replied as she took down yet another enemy, taking his foot completely off.

[Writer]

Colin was busy trying to convince Raelyn to lend her gun to the current fight. Raelyn on the other hand was busy trying to ignore him... in a rather childish fashion at that. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she pouted, shaking her head in stubborn refusal. That's when Stitcher's body went flying with the impact of being shot. Raelyn's eyes widened at the sight. She pointed stubbornly at Stitcher.

 

"You fix him, I shoot," she stated bluntly. Colin stared blankly at his sister.

 

"Rae, there's nothing I can do for him," he said gently. "You saw where that shot hit..."

 

Raelyn growled, hefted her rifle, and spun around one side of the rock, firing off three quick shots. Each shot impacted into the weapons of three different enemies. The force of firing three shots in a row slammed Raelyn backward into the ground, but less than a second later, she sprang up lightly and darted back behind the rock with Colin.

 

"Happy now?" she hissed. Colin was not.

 

"Showoff," he complained. Raelyn rolled her eyes and slumped back into the pout.

[JasraLantill]

Jyot was holding his own, trying to keep the bounty hunters from approaching him and Ali when suddenly one of them had just gone berserk, peppering the surrounding area with rapid auto-fire.

 

He had only just ducked his own head down when Ali was suddenly slammed down to the ground at his feet--with Kadis laying right on top of her. Jyot winced, knowing what was about to happen.

 

"Get off me!" Ali's fist flew, and then the Iceman gasped and clutched his gut. "You're welcome," he finally managed to say.

 

Jyot gave Ali a look, and then looked at Kadis. "What can I say? She likes it rough."

 

Still on the ground, Ali kicked at him.

 

"See?" Jyot shook his head, and then laid down some return fire in the direction of the trigger-happy merc. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out another grenade.

 

"No, you idiot, you'll blow up the whole...." Ali stopped mid-sentence, and then cocked an eyebrow. "Pink? A pink grenade? What's in it, bubble gum?"

 

"Sort of. But I wouldn't chew it," Jyot said, and then tossed it. It landed in the middle of a small group of mercenaries where it popped and exploded pink goo all over them. It wasn't but a few seconds before the enemies realized that the pink stuff wasn't to be laughed at--no one could move a muscle.

 

"Adhesive gel," Jyot said. "I mixed an expanding insulator and a space sealant into the normal adhesive in the grenade, just to see what it would do. It turned bright pink, but, hey... it works."

 

He turned his attention towards where Colin, Raelyn and Stitcher were. Only Stitcher wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Stitch?!" Jyot called out. There was no reply. "Aw, crap... not Ray."

 

Jyot aimed and threw his second pink grenade at a couple more of the thugs, trapping them where they stood. He only had one grenade left and it was a frag grenade--a last resort as it wouldn't work very well in the cave. He put it away and continued to offer support fire to the others.

[Quist]

Between Jyot's adhesive grenades, the crew's blaster fire and hers and Latch's snipering, the Scimitar mercenaries had managed to pare down the attacking bounty hunters to one lone foe. Arelyn yanked an adhesive grenade of her own off her belt. Why didn't I think of this earlier? she chided herself as she stood up from her perch. Taking careful aim, she depressed the trigger on the grenade and hurled it at the last remaining enemy. It hit the man square in the back and enveloped him in a sticky reddish substance, not quite the same hue as Jyot's pink concoctions. The enemy mercenary cried out and fell to the floor, completely immobilized.

 

Arelyn quickly bounded down from her perch and picked her way over to the man who had shouted the 'kill them all' command. He was still writhing in pain, his legs mangled from the blaster shots she and Latch had inflicted upon him. She looked down at him with disdain, really wanting to take her blaster and blow his face off, but instead she grabbed him by the back of his collar and hauled him bodily towards the rest of the crew.

[starmark2k]

As the body Arelyn had just threw landed just in front of Alec he raised one foot then pushed it down on to his chest hard, the man shouted in pain. Turning his head Alec saw that only three of the bounty hunters had died in the fight, but so did Stitch.

 

“I have never killed a sentient in my life, I’m weighing up my wish to keep it that way with my urge for revenge.” Alec paused for a few moments his face filled with hate as he stared down at the Thug’s leader. “You’re Lucky.” Alec stated before removing his foot from the man’s chest and then kicking the same foot across his face.

 

Alec looked over at his crew. “Tie these live one up.” He then walked over to Stitch’s body and picked it up like he had done with kuun’s before and carried it over to the campfire and placed it next to the flames, once again Alec said his Prayer in the dead language of his religion and then looked up once again. “We can’t stay here, we move out once they are bound.