ECHOES FROM HOTH: Episode Three: Greetings from Thakis

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

Blinded by tunnel vision, Zuul only has eyes for his foe. A brave foe, but a foe nevertheless. He crouches low and pounces once again, hoping to end the fight and free the natives.

[max_vale]

Queendom of Azavam; Planet Thakis; Outer Rim Sector



The duels that had become a battle in the fields behind the castle/fortress of Azavam continued, ramping up in intensity and blood-shed....

Vale Starcloud, as noble a young Jedi as there had ever been, attempted to reach out to his defeated foe, the Dark-side Jedi Xerris while trying to reach her with reasoned, compassionate words. She just sneered and reached her remaining good hand out and called on the Power of Telekinesis to suddenly shove Vale back and to the ground, with enough power to momentarily stun him, though it did no lasting damage. When the young man managed to shake off the unexpected attack and rise up to his feet, he could the back of his defeated foe racing away, carrying her inactive lightsaber in her good hand while running for the woods a hundred or so meters away. The sounds of the ongoing battle raging around him finally penetrating the Rebel's senses and glancing around, he saw a trio of Human criminals who had been in Lothar's employ fighting it out with a like number of Thakisian guards. One human thug fell to a black-powder shot to the head while a second then killed the Thakisian that had fired the weapon with a blaster bolt. The last human guard was locked in hand to hand battle with a sword wielding Thakisian guard, while the last Thakisian guard dove behind a tree to reload a black-powder pistol while hopefully not getting shot with a blaster. Neither of the remaining thugs seemed to have noticed Vale standing behind them, perhaps 10 meters away.....

Cal grabbed the fist-sized hunk of rock and chucked it at the Twi'lek goon whose back was to him and he managed to land his projectile right in the center of the head-tailed thug's back. The Twi'lek cursed in pain and was thrown off for a moment, reflexively looking around behind him and firing wildly at a ducking Tak Dornan. The blaster bolt sailed high, hitting the fence post half-a-meter above the smuggler-turned-Rebel; causing hot splinters to rain down on his exposed skin and drawing a mild cruse from the spacer. His plan had worked though, as the rock throw had distracted the Twi'lek from his Thakisian foe, long enough for the blue-skinned alien to raced over and with one powerful move, he rammed his long, thin sword into and thru the Twi'lek's torso, causing him to spasm for a long few moments before falling limp....

Kit'katarra the Wookie popped her claws and raced over to the Rodian Guard whose back was to her and with one powerful, rage-fueled move, she grabbed the green-skinned man's blaster-wielding arm and wrenched it back with enough force to pop it out of place and draw a roar of pain and anguish from the thug. Dropping her opponent with a victory roar of her own, one of the Thakisian guards raced over and shot the Rodian through the chest at point-blank rage with his black-powder pistol, ending the Rodian's pain-filled cries forever....

Professor Clark saw his chance and raced forward toward the human goon shooting his blaster at the Thakisian guards. The Professor was a big, strong man and he led with his shoulder, slamming into the thug from behind with enough force to knock him to the ground and jar loose his blaster pistol. As the man looked up in dazed surprise, Clark balled his hand into a fist and punched the goon right in the jaw with enough force to knock him out cold. A moment later, one of the Thakisian guards came over and in Thakisian he said; "Nice work. Thank you for the warning, that would've been even worse for my people if you hadn't of said anything." Clark was only half-paying attention and translating in his head while his eyes caught sight of Lothar and Xerris moving into the tree-line a hundred+ meters away and a wounded Clark hot on their trail....

Jackson Crodowski, doing his best to ignore the pain of his blaster wound, snatched up the Black Powder pistol (loaded) and the sword from poor, dead Tobiathus and did his best to chase after the fleeing Lothar. He saw Lothar half-hopping, half-running slip into the tree-line of the woods perhaps 50 meters away from his position and the Engineer-turned-Rebel gamely followed after him. As he got within 20 meters of the tree-line, he noticed in his peripheral vision the sight of the dark Jedi woman Xerris also running into the woods, though he could tell she hadn't seen him.....

His entire world had been reduced to defeating the Talz foe in front him, Zuul pounced forward with everything he had left, ducking easily under the slow punch of the dazed and wounded Tandivar and crashing into the white-furred opponent with full force. It was all over in a red-hazed moment.....the Talz on the ground, unconscious and bleeding from several bad cuts from his claws and from the taste in the Barabel's mouth, probably a bite as well. The haze slowly left Zuul's head as his tongue discovered a loose tooth and after a moment of fooling around with it, Zuul spit out the loose tooth with a grimace. Looking around, he was a bit startled to see that apparently a battle had broken out between the other guards of Lothar and the Thakisians and his friends. A small cluster of human goons was shooting it out perhaps 30 or so meters away near his friend Vale, but otherwise it looked like the Rebel/Thakisian side had been mostly victorious...

[kipper]

"It's not over yet." Clark rumbles in his best pidgin-Thakisian.

His eyes do a quick search for the goon's blaster pistol. Snatching it up, he lumbers off behind Jackson, giving chase to Lothar and Xerris.

[ybn1197]

Jackson continues to follow Lothar into the trees but does so a little more slowly hoping to stay out of the wounded force-user's sight.

[Rex]

Kit

Kit will look around and perform a quick triage. If anyone is in the category of needing her medical skills to stay alive she will help them, one everyone is at least stabilized she will pursue Clarke and Jackson.

[Solo4114]

Cal

Cal grabs the blaster from the fallen Twi'ilek, and joins his companions in pursuing Lothar.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

Zuul raises his hand in victory and awaits the cheers. None come. He looks around to witness the chaos and locate his friends. He spots Vale in a firefight a few meters away and quickly looks around for a gun or blaster.

[Starbeard]

Vale sighs and shakes his head while Xerris escapes into the jungle.

Then, after spotting the two remaining thugs in the middle of their ambush, Vale rushes them and attempts to cut both down with his lightsaber before they can kill any more Thakisians.

OOC: Two attacks, one thug each.

[max_vale]

Queendom of Azavam; Planet Thakis; Outer Rim Sector


Kit's compassionate, healer side came over her and she rushed over to a wounded Thakisian, helping staunch a wound with some torn bits of his clothing and keeping pressure while trying to speak her needs to another Thakisian who didn't understand her, but who quickly came to understand the Wookie's impatient hand gestures and helped her to save his friend....

Meanwhile, Vale moved towards the last two thugs of Lothar's still standing and quickly chopped one down with a lightsaber strike, but when he swung at the second foe, the foe caught sight of the attack in his peripheral vision and dove away, coming up with a blaster pointed at the young Jedi and a moment that seemed to last a lifetime as the two locked eyes....

Still staggering a bit from his bruises and wounds, Zuul reached down and picked up a fallen Thakisian's black-powder pistol and moved to help Vale out. Seeing the young Jedi take out one of the two opponents, and then miss the other, the Barabel raised his unsteady hand, took a strong two-handed grip and carefully aiming he fired off the loud weapon with a large puff of smoke right before the thug could pull the trigger on his own blaster pistol. The shot was true and caught the unlucky human in the back of the head, dropping him face first just before he could shoot Starcloud at point-bank range and leaving the two Rebels to look at each other in relief....

Cal and Clark both wielding blaster pistols, rapidly caught up to a wounded Jackson, who nodded with his head to show Xerris moving towards the edge of the wood as well. The trio cautiously followed the Dark Jedi and they soon could see a clearing with a large Freighter sitting in it with a ramp down and stacks of crates holding Coaxium in the field haphazardly placed all around the Freighter. Two goon were loading another stack on board when Lothar came limping out of the woods and yelled; "Forget that, get on board and get us out of here!" A moment later, a one-handed Xerris came out into the woods as well and snarled out; "I'm coming as well" just as Lothar turned in a blur and drew his Blaster, only to realize at the last moment who it was. "Of course, of course", he said before finishing with; "Let's get the hell outta here", as the two thugs dropped the crate and started to race up the ramp as well just as the trio of Rebels made it to the edge of the woods.....

[kipper]

Clark opens fire against the fleeing baddies. He'll target Lothar by preference.

[Rex]

Kit

Kit will continue to tend to the wounded, triaging if she feels it is necessary.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

Zuul nods to the Jedi and picks up the fallen blaster pistol. "Lookss like thingss are quiet now. Where did the otherss go?"

[ybn1197]

Jackson will aim at the fleeing criminals, shooting Lothar preferably.

[Starbeard]

Vale exhales deeply, more than a little unnerved, and nods to Zuul. "Thank you. Zuul has good aim."

Looking around, Vale ponders out loud. "I think they went chasing after Lothar and Xerris. That way." Vale takes off into the trees at a run to look for Jackson and Clark.

[max_vale]

Queendom of Azavam; Planet Thakis; Outer Rim Sector


As Kit'katarra the Wookie continued to aid the injured Thakisians, Vale the Jedi suddenly took off into the woods in pursuit of his fellow Rebels Clark, Cal and Jackson, leaving a confused Zuul to shrug his large reptilian shoulders and follow after the impetuous young human with the 'magical' powers....

At the edge of the clearing, a wounded Jackson, Cal and Clark all took shots at the fleeing Lothar; the Dark Jedi woman Xerris and a pair of goons....

Jackson gritted his teeth against the pain of his wound and took careful aim and fired a shot at Lothar; missing by mere centimeter as the gun-slinger vanished into the freighter up the ramp and causing the one time Engineer to swear loudly....

Next to him, Professor Clark took aim and fired a shot that drilled one of the two goons that followed directly behind Lothar in the center of his back and dropping him face-first on the ramp where he didn't move again....

Cal Tak Dornan fired a blast at Lothar's retreating form and he might've hit the gunslinger/criminal enforcer if a blazing red light hadn't suddenly interposed itself and DEFLECTED the bolt into the trees harmlessly, leaving the one time smuggler to unknowingly drop his mouth in awe as Xerris stood there with the humming lightsaber activated and staring in hatred at the trio of Rebel Agents....

Unnoticed in the stand off, the other goon raced on board and then with a curled lip, Xerris wheeled around and strode onto the ship closing the ramp behind. A moment later, the Freighter lifted off and shot up into the sky; leaving the 3 Rebels to stare at a field with several crates worth of Coxium strewn about here and there, along with a couple of sacks of Fire Crystal gemstones....

A long couple of moments later; Vale and Zuul came bursting out of the woods to join their fellow Rebels and just admire the mess, before Clark heaved a sigh and said; "Back to work"....

The trudged back to the dueling field to see Kit finishing up with helping out the wounded and a new group of Guards spreading out onto the field and a few moments later, breaking into a neat double row as a tall, elegant Thakisian female walked through the parting ranks; draped in a long purple cape and an elaborate head piece filled with Fire Crystal gemstones. Clark immediately recognized her as Queen Harileth; who looked as if she hadn't aged a day since he last saw her. He immediately went to a knee, whispering out the side of his mouth for his fellows to do the same...

[Solo4114]

Cal

Looks around and then follows suit, kneeling before the Queen.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

Zuul watches his two companions kneel and looks around to see why. He stares a bit too long at the queen before he realizes that he too should kneel.

[Starbeard]

"I'm sure we'll see them again," Vale muses as they watch the ship fly off into the endless cosmos.

In the presence of Queen Harileth, the young Jedi kneels with a noble flourish of his spacer's cloak, bowing his head in reverence. He watches Clark from the corner of his eye, taking his cue on how to act around Her Noble Highness.

[Rex]

Kit

Watching the others kneel, Kit decides she should to, but her stubborn side makes her wait until she is the last to kneel.

[kipper]

Clark waits for the Queen to speak.