The humidity in the rear of the bar was thick and the smell was of a mixture of the surrounding bog and rotting moldy surfaces. There were not too many sentients alive that could call this place pleasant and for the trio in this immediacy were not counted among them. The hot and stinking ooze of a bog was not merciful and to those that were caked with Bogden’s encumbrance shared a measure of its filth. Ritta Haxbi was a hot looking mess, covered from head to toe in sweat, mud and blood… that vibrolance was not exactly a weapon of cleanliness or finesse but rather it was brutish and was wielded with strength. For the Sith Apprentice though she danced with its weight and commanded it with surprising finesse. But for the interior of this shop she carried it low at the ready while the BlasTech A280k Blaster Rifle was held one handed, the nylon sling wrapped around her forearm and wrist to help steady it whilst she cleared the area.
Silence welcomed her. Had there been other thugs in this heat trap the notion that there was no honor among thieves rang true. Without bothering to even see it Monarch was alive and especially without seeing their assailants, anyone in the shop had ran fast and hard until they were in the clear and even then they just kept right on going. If Monarch was dead then that meant their employer was dead and on a world like this a person could be taken by slavers or shot in the street very quickly. And no one would ever bat an eyelash at it. The further they could get away from this place and the faster… the better.
With this accomplished the Sith Apprentice started the process of getting these crates of weapons ready for transport.
Mud cluttered the frontal viewscreen of the pilot’s helmet Vos Velkon wore. He’d watched his partner enter the shop and with no further shooting to alert him he assumed quickly that her part in the operation was proceeding as planned. Slowly he turned and sniffed at the air towards the one dead Ogemite and his dying fellow who’d been stabbed in the ribs. Thoughts filled Sa’ato’s mind and the scenario of brief combat played through his mind.
Kita had slain the two. He shot the one… but no one had really taken care of the Verpine…
Sudden realization slapped the Neti in the face and his arm snapped up. Buggie was already rolling aside with his resolve settled to stopping these murderous savages from stealing the weapons and enacting further atrocities with far more capable weapons. As the Verpine made his roll he could feel the heat of twin searing blasts and then the impacts and residual scatter of dirty mud caked ferrocrete across his armored suit. His instincts served him well and he was already drawing his own firearm but he hardly had time to aim the heavier weighted BlasTech DL-44. His snap shot burned the air between the two and the heavy discharge echoed heavily off the walls.
Mors was taken aback. How this apparent bystander had managed to spring such a swift counter defied logic. The effect though was clear and while the snap shot was going wide Sa’ato was already reacting by ducking low and scurrying to the side, one handing to the side his own blaster and kicking off a few sloppy shots to provide his own cover. For an academic the shots were surprisingly accurate despite the frantic maneuvering. Buggie was forced to roll further and pull up the dead Ogemite by the shoulder for some sort of cover. Two impacts burned into the back of the corpse and instantly Buggie felt guilty for his actions but the feeling swiftly left him as he peaked over and stole another shot. This shot was better aimed but the Neti was still on the move and the heavier bolt scorned the professor across the thigh. He stumbled and fell, helmet smacking into the ground and cracking the viewscreen.
Buggie righted himself up to a knee, placed two hands on the grip of the weapon and lined up his shot. A DL-44 round brought center mass could crack even Impervium Carapace with ease. A survival suit would not even slow this thing down. Sa’ato Mors was caught dead to rights.
But Kita Ikari had other plans. With the interior of the hut secured and most of the crates already accounted for she returned to view a ruckus she hard not expected to be as the Verpine, as unassuming and pedestrian as he looked, had suddenly gave her partner a run for his credits. Well she was not about to sit idly by and let her pilot get taken down or she really would have to fly the ship out of here. Hefting the pilfered A280k at hip level with one hand she triggered the weapon on full-auto and the A280 responded exactly as it was designed.
The entire courtyard was suddenly filled with a rapid firing carbine’s contents. Scarlet red fire blistered the air and Buggie’s senses alone saved him from the first set of shots which were naturally more accurate from a one handed shooter. With the A280’s capacity to execute an incredible rate of fire Buggie was hard pressed to peel away from the shots. Naturally though there was no way possible he could dodge or evade them all. Even Kita’s one handed grip spoke to accuracy by volume. Finally a shot grazed the side of his neck and he recoiled, doing so caused his movement to pause which happened to line up a shot to his DL-44 and the weapon practically disintegrated in his hand. Snatching his burnt hand away from the debris of his burning weapon Buggie stumbled aside and fell. Then came the pangs of blaster rounds from his vibroshield as he pulled it up to defend himself. Bringing his knees up underneath him the Verpine began to get into a crouch.
Enjoying her tirade probably a little too much, she was disappointed when the A280k clicked and did not go boom. She reflexively looked down to see the ammo counter flashing a red zero. In the moment it took her to look down and look back up, Buggie was already on her. Ramming his vibroshield into her midsection, lifting her up in the air and dumping her right over his shoulder. The nimble Verpine spun on his heel, rotated the shield and brought it down towards the center of her chest but despite the Sith Apprentice’s sudden shock she was being trained by someone ruthless and she was instinctively ready for such a follow-up attack. Scissor kicking around she spun on her hip letting the shield slam down hard, using her legs momentum she kicked up and out, Buggie was disarmed of his shield with that stinking muddy boot in the side of his face.
Spinning with the kick to rob it of its power the Verpine danced away and now running out of options he dropped his hand reluctantly to the cylinder hidden away in his camo suit. Kita was rolling away, her efforts had unfortunately left her also disarmed.
Sa’ato had taken the opportunity to find proper cover and line up his own shots. Elbows and forearm braced against a set of pipes he took his shot. A single scarlet round spat from his blaster. Buggie, so focused on his female opponent that had just kicked him in the side of the face felt the incoming danger too late and Buggie took the shot in the forearm and he spun away and down, his lightsaber skittering away.
Ikari leapt to her feet and raced to her vibrolance. Confident she could end this. Though as she charged the downed Verpine he was rolling away, his hand gripping the dropped and empty A280k rifle and as he came around he set the rifle to intervene. The lance stabbed into the rifle and very easily sank into the receiver. Buggie twisted the rifle which now had the lance locked, the hilt was snatched from Kita. Now off balance, he had her as she was stumbling forward. Shoving the barrel down it brought the buttstock of the rifle up which connected perfectly right into her stomach. She wretched hard and just as fast as she had ran to him her oxygen and dirty bar drink went with it.
Buggie was on his feet now and he wasted no time in yanking the vibrolance free. Fully focused now and not so badly rushed, he spun the lance one handed, curling his right forearm close to his chest in pain, the haft tore through the air until coming to a solid stop against the side of Kita’s head. She fell limp and silent.
More rounds speared to him, Buggie spun to the side and took up the lance like a javelin. Sa’ato jerked himself out of the way but too late and the lance head cut deep into his shoulder. Grip as he might the blaster clattered to the ground. Not willing to retire the field the Neti advanced around the pipes with his vibrosword drawn. Buggie raced in, dipping low to grab up Kita’s dagger. When he came back up he met Sa’ato with a reverse grip. Steel met steel but the vibro weapon would make quick work of the standard dagger not to mention Sa’ato had some surprising physical strength that belied his physique. Buggie was shocked, he could not even budge the opponent and even had his own dagger being pressed into his forearm.
Needing release the Verpine gave ground by leaping backwards into a reverse somersault. Sa’ato was not interested in letting his foe back up and advanced. Chopping down and left. Buggie pivoted away, coming too close for comfort to being made victim to the leftward follow through. His dagger flashed out, flipping to a front grip and stabbing towards Sa’ato’s forearm. With both opponent’s being one handed now the next wound would likely see the bout end.
Sa’ato rotated his sword, the motion brought the flat of the blade down to block but putting him in prime position to stab downwards. But Buggie was much faster with his shorter stabbing blade. Already another attack was incoming and Sa’ato was forced to abort his lined up attack. Instantly he cursed himself, the dagger was not a vibro weapon and his natural defenses could have held the damage… or so he supposed. Buggie’s attack bought him some distance but he did not necessarily want distance, he moved in. Fighting through the pain Mors used his wounded arm and dispatched a backhand towards Buggie, the Verpine brought up both arms to block, doing so brought a sharp pain to his wounded arm and the physical blow took him nearly off his feet with the power.
As if realizing his advantage, Sa’ato tightened his grip on his sword and swung it hard. Sensing the danger was not enough and as he fought to parry with his dagger the heavier strike broke his grip open and the dagger flew aside. Buggie dipped away but was rewarded by his defiance with a cut running the horizontal length of his gut. Had it not been for his parry altering the trajectory and the hardened carapace he was blessed with, he may very well have been disemboweled. Instead he only felt the sharp pang of such a divot in his chitinous armor.
For all this however, Sa’ato had exposed himself. A heavy attack not blocked had a lot of swing to it and Buggie made a hefty spinning backhand of his own. With the Force as his ally the Verpine came around with a hammerblow striking the Neti in the side of the helmet. Normally a strike to a helmet would not matter too much but the impact was far more than physically kinetic, it held the potency of a much larger sentient and Mors was completely derailed. The Neti was unconscious before he even hit the ground having been struck so cleanly.
Buggie stumbled to the ground with the force of his own strike and breathed a huge sigh of relief. That could have been much worse and it almost was…
Victorious
Master Buggie
20 Exp
50,000 cr
Defeated
Kita Ikari
Sa’ato Mors
5 Exp
35,000 cr