Topic: Concord Dawn Wants YOU To Be A Journeyman Protector!

CONCORD DAWN WANTS YOU TO BE A JOURNEYMAN PROTECTOR!

It was a cold, gray morning in the courtyard where the current novices stood in their training armor. Their  "armor" was little more than weighted training clothes (Actual Mandalorian armor was hard to come by and   was only awarded to Protectors). The motley assembly of adults, small children, and awkward teens stood in formation yawning, with tired and hollow eyes.

It had rained hard the night before, during the raid.

The Adjudicator who presided over the Protectors was a grizzled and gray-haired Mandalorian human with a face as weathered as the faded armor he wore.

“After the events of last night, three new Protectors have been named – to ride as Unproven,” The Adjudicator growled through scarred vocal cords. He wore the tell-tale sign of a Protector – A red sash cloth under his gun belt. Protectors who were awarded specific territory wore red. Brown sashes went to the Journeyman Protectors. Journeyman Protectors were not limited by “jurisdiction” and roamed the uncivilized landscape enforcing the law, hunting fugitives and keeping the peace of Concord Dawn.

It was a somber graduation ceremony. The only decorations in place were the dark bloodstains across the faded gray pavement; from raiders and novices alike that had been killed the night before. After the trials and training they had endured, they would have felt cheated…that is if they had been able to feel anything beyond utterly exhausted.

“You have earned your weapons. You have earned your armor. You have earned the cloth of the Protector!” The Adjudicator raised a long blue cloth – The sash of the Unproven Protector. It was theirs to wear as they rode alongside and were mentored by a Proven Journeyman Protector until they earned the honor to wear the red or the brown… or merely proved they were unworthy of being Protector at all.

[OOC: Welcome to Concord Dawn! Come join the struggles and hardships of the wild frontier of this uncivilized world in the Outer Rim! Join as one of the newly appointed Unproven Protectors (3 openings only) and describe yourself as you select your Mandalorian armor and weapons from the Armory and hit the road with your new mentor.

You may also play as farmer or settler of Concord Dawn and get your own homestead going. Play as an established Protector and sheriff over your own town and territory or as an offworlder with your own unique story and agenda.

Just try to not get eaten alive by the harsh creatures, the elements, or those sentient species cutting out a life for themselves on the uncivilized world of Concord Dawn, or worse, those that keep the unforgiving laws of it.

Be sure to fill out the following character sheet:

Name:
Age: (Protectors may be chosen at any age but must be able and strong enough to work as a field hand, wear Mandalorian Armor, and handle a myriad of melee weapons.)
Sex: (Yes! Females can be Protectors!)
Species: (Concord Dawn is a largely unpopulated world and any species looking to carve out their own life are welcome to try their hand.
Appearance:
Brief History: (The majority of Protectors come from humble origins; either orphaned from unfortunate circumstances, unable to find work or from a family with simply too many mouths to feed – Though only the exceptional survive the rigorous training of a Protector)

I plan on this being a slow and steady RPG as the boards don’t seem too active. I know you guys get busy so just feel free to just post what you can. If you’re inactive for too long I can bypass the story around you until you get the chance to start writing again.

Rules: No flaming, no controlling others characters without permission and feel free to ask me questions or for help getting started if you need it.

/OOC]

Jastin Brink... A young male chiss of 22 years old, stands at an average height, he sports an athletic build and rigid, militaristic demeanor.  Jastin has a deep respect of the Mandalorian ways and takes his responsibility as a newly appointed unproven very seriously..
   The comfortable cool air danced across Jastin's blue, sweat glistened face, as he stood motionless in the midst of the ceremony.. his right cheekbone still stinging from the slash he had narrowly avoided in the recent trial.  How had he come this far? It seemed like an eternity ago he  had been begun his training after forsaking his family tradition and walking out of the chiss military academy. It's not that he couldn't embrace the honor and duty of becoming an officer in the ascendancy. Jastin had needed a true challenge. During training he had encountered a Mandalorian squad and was so inspired by their ways he had resigned and left the next day in search of more mandalorians... Oh how they laughed... But who's laughing now? Sure he may always be the outsider but in only a few short years he has proven himself.. and his right to be presented a blue sash undeniable.  As the adjudicator continued his speech Jastin couldn't help but consider the other two standing beside him....

The Training Grounds (Also known as “The Adjudicator’s Seat”) lay inside a shallow canyon with towering slate cliffs on the north side and a dismal desert cheered sparingly with low green plant life and skeletal trees to the south. Seven Journeyman Protectors stood behind the Adjudicator in the wide open courtyard. They wore red sashes and full armor clean from the rain from earlier.

One of them was named Lenovar.

Name: Lenovar
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Species: Mandalorian Human
Appearance: Lenovar was easily two meters tall (6”) with dark tan skin and darker hair. His dark hair was kept short in practical military fashion. His clean shaven face showed his skill with the large knife the size of his forearm that he kept in a sheath horizontally across his broad stomach and above his belts of slug thrower shells. He had a deep scar just below the center of his bottom lip that very nearly resembled a narrow patch of hair. His armor is dark gray. On his right side he wore a large slug thrower with the barrel almost entirely sawed off and the name “Lucy” engraved elegantly on the side.
Brief History: The son of the wealthy Governor Purton, Lenovar has always been privileged to finer weapons and armor then most laymen. His crudeness and general lack of social niceties were only made up for by his skills in the arts of violence. He is honored and respected among the Protectors for his abilities and accomplishments in dealing with criminals, Devaronian raiders, and even a band of galactic pirates seeking shelter on the wrong planet. While effective, some consider his actions “excessive” in the name of the Law.

“Jastin Brink!” The Adjudicator snarled loudly with only the slightest trace of a smirk belying his pride for the Chiss as he tied the blue sash around the Unproven’s waist. He bound the thick cloth tightly firmly.It had no hanging elaborations to get caught or tangled in battle. It was such a simple thing. Truly, it resembled little more than a colorful belt – but on this world, it was quickly recognized with respect and a healthy amount of fear.

Journeyman Protector Lenovar nodded to himself at the sound of boy’s name being called out.

“The boy is functional enough in a battle,” he admitted grudgingly to himself, “…Even if he is a Chiss.”

Lenovar, of course, still had yet to find out that he was going to be the one put in charge of mentoring the three new Unproven Protectors.

[OOC: Welcome Kynreaver! Glad you could join!

On another note, I totally made a mistake but will fix it in my previous post. I said that the roaming Journeyman Protectors wear brown, but that was before I had the chance to look at some old pictures and see that Boba Fett actually wears the red sash. So, Protectors (Which are Concord Dawn’s equivalent of a Sheriff) that are assigned to a particular territory will be the ones who wear the brown sash.

I am trying to keep this RPG as canon as I can make it. However, I will be taking some artistic freedoms. I have trouble visualizing Journeyman Protectors as a bright clean and shiny organization. Concord Dawn is a wild frontier on the outer rim and life is a struggle. It’s dirty, battle-scarred and doesn’t always match. I really love that grungy feel of the original trilogy so I’ll be holding as close to that as I can. If anyone is bothered by something, let me know and I’ll see about fixing it.

I am drawing inspiration for this thread from Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Wookiepedia (For your referencing pleasure) /OOC]

Name: Rogan Metzel
Age: 41
Sex: Male
Species: Human (originally from Corellia)
Appearance: Tall with dark hair. He has a muscular frame from hard labour, his skin is darkly sun-kissed and lined around his eyes. His clothes are practical and worn.
Brief History: Young love and the promise of “easy credits” brought Rogan to Concord Dawn. He was duped into buying a herd of dewbacks to breed for meat to provide to the locals – he was told they were an expensive delicacy on Concord Dawn. Turns out he’s only able to sell the meat to a few local taverns and lower class restaurants. The young love of his life, Vivan Trenton, dumped him as soon as the money ran out and took their two children with her.

Rogan remains bitter and jaded. His dewback farm has been up for sale for over 18 months and hasn’t sold due to its isolation and constant raids – due mainly from bored locals or Devaronians.

-

The shadows from the daunting cliffs were growing long as Rogan surveyed his property with a pair of micro-binoculars that had seen better days. It was the time of day that generally brought trouble. He’d already lost two dewbacks to local thugs who enjoyed scaring the large beasts into stampeding through the dry basin.

Rogan’s stubbled jaw clenched as his ire rose. He was sick of this place and yet he had no way to escape without selling this damned land.

He turned to one of his two jackaroos, yet the only one on shift, “Cletus, have you got that blaster sorted?”

The gnarled old jackaroo sat slouched in the seat of his dewback saddle, “Yeah boss, but it don’t have much charge. There’s dust in places there shouldn’t be dust.”

Rogan listened to the slow drawl from Cletus. The man wasn’t his first choice in employee, but pickings were slim especially when Journeyman Protectors were recruiting again. That bastard Lenovar always managed to steal the only decent employees Rogan was ever able to hire. Speaking of which, he’d heard the mongrel had taken a number of poor saps to The Adjudicator’s Seat for training. Rogan wondered how many were dead.

His musings were interrupted by the caterwauls of incoming trouble. Raising the micro-binoculars, Rogan spotted at least ten trouble makers heading their way. “Here they come, Cletus looks like they’re sporting shock whips.”

“I’ll set the blaster to stun,” Cletus said as he fiddled with the weapon.

“You do that,” Rogan growled as he kicked the sides of his dewback. “I’ll take them from the right flank, who knows, maybe Lenovar might bring one of his rookies down to play.”

Just as the Adjudicator raised the second blue sash to announce the next Unproven, an alert blipped in the HUD of the helmets of the Journeyman Protectors. The tell-tale sound of the Protector’s proximity alert channel made Lenovar’s little dark and tainted heart start racing with giddy excitement.

The voice over the channel was sultry and obviously female even through the static. She spoke to the point in a series of dramatic sighs, “Energy discharges up by the Metzel herd west of the cliffs. It doesn’t look like it was the raiders from last night, more like it’s just thieves lookin’ to relieve Metzel of a few more lizards.”

The courtyard went silent and everyone looked to the Adjudicator with anticipation.

The Adjudicator straitened, a smirk forming on his scarred and chapped lips, “Lenovar, take your brand shiny new Unproven to the armory and get riding out there.”

The excitement in Lenovar fell like a massive meteor crashing to the surface of an unsuspecting world.

“You…want...ME…to mentor…THAT?” Lenovar growled pointing an armored gauntlet at Brink.

“Better get started.” The Adjudicator angled his head and narrowed his eyes grimly.

Lenovar tightened his fists quickly until his knuckles cracked.
Even he would not dare defy the Adjudicator.

“GET A MOVE ON, CHISS!” Lenovar shouted through the voice amplifier of his helmet back at the blue-sashed Unproven as he began stalking toward the armory where the speeder bikes and a vast array of weapons were ready for use.

"Chiss?" Jastin thought to himself. "Lenovar has seen me fight, he's watched me hit every target, best every opponent in hand to hand... and still he has no respect for me. I wonder if that will even change once I'm wearing the same armor and helmet as the mandalorian.." 

"Yes Sir!" Jastin sounded off, knowing that confronting Lenovar wouldn't end well. Especially with a job to do.

He quickly fell out of formation and dashed to the armory. Jastin had been in here before and didn't therefore stop to marvel at the various machines of death dealing on display. 

"What is standard protocol for drawing weapons?" he wondered. 

Jastin knew he was short on time so he turned to the Weapons keeper and made his demands.

"I need a mid range rifle, a light sidearm, and I'll take a vibrodagger too."
Jastin then made a mental note to dash off to his barracks next and grab his survival pack from his foot locker.

In the ascendancy's academy he had been selected as a Wayfinder candidate and had received countless hours on wilderness survival training in almost every terrain and since that training he had always kept a bag with food water and other small but essential supplies packed and ready. Including a dark weather cloak which would have to be all the protection he'd have since he'd still be wearing his training clothes. 

"Time to show Lenovar what Chiss really means" he thought..

Rogan grit his teeth as he rode his dewback hard. The trouble makers were so intent on his herd that they hadn't noticed him coming. Rogan would have loved to have thrown a thermal detonator at them but it would scare the herd and cause more trouble than it was worth.

Of course the mongrels were on speeder bikes. Rogan pulled his mount up and lifted his rifle, he lined up one speeder bike and took a shot. It managed to hit the rear housing of the speeder bike, destroying its delicate balance. The damaged speeder bike suddenly careened out of control and smashed into the speeder bike beside it.

The remaining eight slowed down. Confusion was plainly clear on the riders faces. It didn't take long for them to draw their blasters and scan the surroundings.

[OOC: Happy Thanksgiving Fett Fans!! Also, don’t be afraid to create any parts of the academy and the planet. I don’t have anything solid in mind because I like to see what everyone contributes. I feel it’s the mark of a really good Roleplayer if they can easily incorporate what others create. I hope you guys don’t mind if I create additional characters due to the current lack of players. Any character is up for grabs that doesn’t have a character sheet filled out /OOC]

The tall Weapons Keeper wore gray and dust-colored female Mandalorian armor armed with a very, very rare Mythosaur Axe in a holster diagonally across her back and (there were rumors) only one eye. None of the current novices had ever seen the face or were sure of the species of the aged female behind the T-shaped visor that stretched down into a shape that resembled a grim frown.

With inhuman speed, she quickly drew a pistol and pointed it at Jastin.

Before the Unproven Chiss could react the end of the pistol flashed red and beeped as it scanned the barcode of the mid-range rifle hanging on the wall behind the Chiss. She scanned and handed the remaining equipment that Jastin had selected like any arbitrary librarian might and waved the Unproven toward the heavily armed exit guarded with automatic turrets.

Once a novice became Unproven they were allowed all the weapons they could carry…at the Weapon’s Keeper’s discretion. However, ammunition and consumable weapons (such as grenades) were rationed according to rank…or how much the Weapon’s Keeper liked you… which was generally little to none.

Damaged or lost weapons had to be paid for in hard labor if the offender didn’t have the credits. The armory was enveloped in a paddock with an energized fence and adjacent to the barracks and the Vehicle depot. There were twenty speederbikes that ranged from near-new to messes of almost seemingly incompatible parts.

There, Lenovar latched a speederbike’s saddlebags shut after checking on the overniht gear and canteens inside. When Jastin arrived, whether Lenovar approved or disapproved of the Unproven’s selection in weapons he gave no sign.

“Grab a speeder and keep up, boy.” Lenovar revved the engine of the speederbike, “Mandalore knows, I ain’t waitin for you.”

Brink’s newly appointed mentor sped off into the bleak landscape in the direction of the coordinates given by dispatch.

Not far away, at Metzel's herd...

The sound of energy whips crackled in the air. Dewbacks groaned and stamped unhappily at being interrupted in their...Dewbackness.

While most Mandalorians held fast to a deep tradition of honor, Craden Hett was as far from honorable as they come. The two-bit pirate had been born within a day's walk of where he stood now at the foot of the ramp of the weaponized freighter that barely passed as a pirate ship. Which meant he knew exactly which poor souls were trying to make a living and how.

The dirty, bearded pirate wearing a huge trench coat to hide how thin he was and a bandoleer of grenades was little more than a thief with a knack for wriggling out of trouble like a stinging river eel.

In place of his right hand there was a curved vibrodagger.

His starving and grumbling crew were a motley of species. Two Trandoshans, four humans, and two twin blue Twi'leks were riding speeder bikes and using energy whips to herd Dewbacks toward the freighter, and an unnaturally large Devaronian with one horn broken off and a heavy blaster that could have almost passed for a canon. There was also young and very nervous  human pilot  in the cock pit of the ship with a mess of short cropped red curls and cleaning a pair of spectacles and watching the ship's sensors--ready to yell when any sign of the Protectors appeared

"Get a move on! Do you want to be here when the Protector's show up?!" Craden spat off to the side, hand on the blaster pistol at his side. Next to the pirate's muddied boots sat a four legged canid HWND hunting droid over a meter tall with vibroteeth bared and ready.

That was when the blaster fire drew the pirate's attention. Craden laughed when he saw the opposition.

"Give 'em a run for their money boys!!" Craden whooped.

The Twin Twi'leks were closest to Rogan and his field hand. They grinned with jagged-pointed teeth, cracked their intimidating energy whips and sped towards the two humanoids.

As Rogan drew closer he realized he was not dealing with hooligans but a ragtag bunch of pirates. "You have got to be fraggin' kidding me!"

Two blue twi'leks were the closest of the bunch of mongrels trying to actually steal his herd. Rogan had always been a great shot, at one point he'd even considered trying out as a sniper but his bad business decision had put paid to that idea.

Again he pulled the dewback to a stop and took a moment to line up the shot. The speeder bike was moving fast but it was tracking in a straight line. Rogan fired and scored a shot to the twi'lek on the left, he tumbled off the speeder bike while the other cast a brief glance at him.

Rogan didn't have time to line up the second twi'lek. The speeder bike was far too close and Rogan realized how exposed and alone he was. Cletus was taking pot shots at the human riders but only managed to hit one of them.

"Damn it," Rogan cursed as he pulled out his blaster pistol and began firing rapidly at the second twi'lek.

After grabbing his weapons and pack, Jastin leapt aboard the speeder bike closest to the garage's open door, a model 67 Shrieker. after fumbling with the startup controls for a second (Jastin was never that great of a pilot, on a speeder or out of orbit.) he managed to get the bike screaming through the door.
     Jastin Immediately regretted choosing this bike. He knew for certain the noise of the aptly named "Shrieker" would erase any hope of catching his enemy unawares...

      "I'm not wearing any armor, I better play this one smart." He warned himself as he did his best to catch up to Lenovar.

     As they drew closer The unproven began to quickly take stock of his surroundings, As luck would have it, Jastin's noisy speeder had gone unnoticed.  A group of pirate scum had begun herding a rather large group of dewbacks away from Jastin's current position, meaning their backs were turned.
     From this distance Jastin could make out a figure standing over a large (and apparently dead) lizard? What had these been called before?  Dewbacks! Growing up on the freezing Chiss homeworld of Csilla, Jastin hadn't seen many desert creatures.
     
"Wait, the figure standing over the dewback was pointing his blaster pistol at something behind it.. and judging by the saddle on the behemoth it must be the rider."

     A shot from this distance would be near impossible So Jastin made a judgement call... Lenovar was much closer and could more than easily handle a lone gunman.   Brink decided to circle around toward the larger group. Further away he could make out a vehicle.. likely a ship. 
     Just within blaster rifle range Jastin stopped his speeder behind a large pile of rocks so he could use it as cover in this mostly open terrain.  after dismounting and readying his rifle, a pretty standard M-300 hunting blaster, accurate and with good range which made up for the relatively small amount of shots the user could take before needing to reload. The Chiss began sighting his targets. from this distance he had three targets..
       First was a rather dumb looking Trandoshan, his mottled brown scales covered in scars. He seemed to be lagging behind the group. Next the unproven saw a Blue Twi'lek clutching his left side.. he appeared severely wounded but still alive, and lastly a Devaronian. The Devaronian was easily half a meter taller than Jastin, He carried a large blaster and looked like he was setting his sights on Lenovar.
       Jastin guessed the range to the Devaronian at about one hundred fourty meters and decided it would be a tough shot but not impossible, He took a deep breath and lined his sights on the robust pirate. Jastin squeezed his trigger at the same time the Devaronian did the same. The shot from the pirate's massive blaster roared out and flew just over Lenovar's head.  But the Devaronian wouldn't be so lucky. Jastin's shot had landed center mass, the criminal stumbled back staring in disbelief at the wound on his chest. He then looked up towards Jastin's position. and began steadily firing towards the Chiss.
      Jastin ducked behind the cover of the rocks as shot after shot slammed into them.  One by One the other two pirates joined in suppressing any hope of The Chiss taking another shot. They moved toward his position firing and hollering at the cornered Protector. As if that wasn't bad enough Jastin looked down at his rifle and realized it had somehow malfuntioned after his shot and was now little more than junk..
         
       "Great... well at least they are focused on me, I have cover, Lenovar is right out in the open." Jastin thought.
       
        Realizing spending his first mission pinned down after only managing to wound his enemy wasn't exactly proving himself, The Chiss opted for a more insane approach. Drawing his blaster pistol in one hand and his vibrodagger in the other Jastin closed his eyes and focused. 
        It was an exercise his mother had taught him. Suddenly all the chaos seemed distant, quiet, peace flowed through The Chiss and at that point he stepped out from the rocks deftly dodging a blast that seemed to be coming at less than half its normal speed, he bounded forward sliding under another shot and leaping to the side as another flew by.
       As soon as Jastin was in range he began firing his Blaster, after three shots the Devaronian finally fell. One more shot to make sure he didn't get back up. Next to fall was the injured Twi'lek a single shot to the chest ending his misery. Before the charging Chiss could line up a shot on the Trandoshan, Jastin was struck in the shoulder by a powerful blast from dumb looking lizard-man's blaster rifle.
     Jastin Brink spun and landed hard in the dirt. As quickly as it had come the peace had left him. Now filled with fear and pain. Jastin rolled onto his back in time to see the Trandoshan cast away his weapon and charge. Jastin looked for his pistol but it had been thrown clear once he was shot. In a flash the beast was upon him. It clawed at Jastin and he barely managed to get his arms up fast enough.. He felt the rending heat as the Trandoshan tore at his arms.

      "AHH!" Jastin yelled in pain as the Trandoshan bit down on The Chiss's forearm. one claw managing to slice into Jastin's face.

      The pain was excrutiating, but Jastin knew if he focused on that he would surely die. With all his might Jastin rammed the vibroblade through the Trandoshan's sternum, warm blood poured onto Jastin as he dragged the blade upwards and under the lizards chin. It collapsed, convulsing on top of the Protector. Jastin grunted as he rolled the pirate of of him and stood up exhausted and near death himself Jastin looked to his right to see Lenovar as he began to engage the other pirates. 
 
                 "How did I do that?" He thought aloud as he stumbled toward the nearest weapon determined to stay in the fight.
         The Trandoshan was well equipped. Jastin stooped over to retrieve a DC-17m, He remembered reading about them, The elite clone commandos had used this interchangeable weapon system to great effect.  "I'm keeping this" Jastin noted as he stumbled toward the distant pirates freighter.  Hoping he wouldn't bleed out before he got there.

The red-headed human in the cockpit looked over a freckled nose through the set of spectacles at the proximity read out. The tiniest of lights suddenly blipped into existence in the outermost circle of the grid. The thin human damn near had a heart attack.

“P-P-Protector! Protector!!!” The human scrambled out of the cockpit shrieking.

When the ginger finally scrambled to the freighter’s landing ramp, the thin human tripped on untied boot laces; still screaming shrilly over the sound of speeder bikes and more than unhappy Dewbacks, “PROTECTOR! The Protectors are coming!”

The pirate captain raged, “What are you doing down here then?! Go start up the ship!”

Craden turned with abject horror to the horizon.

Beyond the stamping and moaning Dewbacks, the screaming speeder bikes, and the dismal gray plains; a low cloud of dust marked the approach of The Protector and the Unproven.

The rangefinder on the side of The Protectors black and shineless helmet lowered to the side of the T-shaped visor. Lenovar spoke into the pickup on the set of controls of his right gauntlet, “Lenovar on scene at the gray plains. Armed robbery in progress.”

Lenovar tore over the bleak landscape, the sparse vegetation trembling in his wake as he charged toward the pirates.

“No need for back up.” Lenovar smirked under his helmet.

The second Twi’lek was turning for a second pass at Rogan when he saw the Mandalorian in black armor. With a smile of jagged teeth, he turned his speeder bike towards the Protector and began wildly firing the blaster cannon outfitted in the front of his more than likely stolen vehicle.

Lenovar’s armored speeder bike vibrated from the blaster fire, until he returned in kind—with far more deft accuracy. The Twi’lek flew off the speeder bike like a rag doll, while his vehicle whined and then crunched uselessly to the ground.

The Mandalorian armored in black stopped his speeder bike and dismounted before he got too close to the herd of frenzied Dewbacks. He charged through the maze of lizard flesh, using the scattered Dewbacks for cover as he made his way closer to the freighter. 

Two human pirates on opposite sides of the herd moved their speeder bikes with the intent of running down the Journeyman Protector. Lenovar launched the grappling hook in his left gauntlet into the speeder bike’s front directional vanes. With an enormous two-handed pull that snapped the directional vane off, the thickly muscled Mandalorian was able to change the speeder’s trajectory enough to collide into the other human’s speeder bike in a loud clash of metal and fire.

By this time Lenovar realized he was in the sights of the immense Devaronian…and Lenovar felt an almost imperceptibly small and unfamiliar pang of regret over his current lack of a ranged weapon. He pulled the sawed-off slugthrower fearlessly from the holster at his side and steeled himself as though ready to absorb the heavy blaster fire.

The blaster fire went wild over the Mandalorian’s black helmet and the Devaronian stumbled backwards. The HUD display in Lenovar’s helmet showed where the fire came from. The reluctant mentor grumbled to himself as he walked toward one of the humans he had caused to crash writhing and screaming on the ground. Lenovar silenced the thief with a solid kick to the head. 

That was when Lenovar saw the Chiss CHARGE one of the remaining Trandoshans.

The engines of the freighter hummed and jerked violently to life.
Lenovar’s HUD showed the remaining pirates were retreating into the freighter’s massive cargo bay.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Lenovar growled to himself and forced his way through a pair of retreating Dewbacks. He fired on the human lagging the farthest behind. The slug collided with the speeder bike’s repulsor lift engine and the bike and human erupted in a fiery ball of metal flak and flesh.

Lenovar’s T-shaped visor immediately tinted itself against the flash of light and returned to the normal vision setting. The pirates were thrown forward from the explosion, the other remaining human being thrown free of his speeder bike and onto the landing pad.

The pirate captain was almost to the cockpit with his four-legged hunting droid in tow when he heard the freighter’s engines suddenly sputter and die.

“No. No. No. No. Nooo!” The pirate roared as he climbed up a set of metal stairs, “Jackdaw! You said those entry couplings would hold for another week!”

“That was six months ago, Captain!” The ginger in the pilot seat yelled, desperately and uselessly still attempting to restart the freighter.

[OOC] I hope you all had a happy holidays! [/OOC]

“Metzel??” Lenovar turned and called out to the downed human obscured by the retreating herd. Lenovar didn’t know the name of the field hand still covering the pirate ship with his blaster and cautiously scanning for the owner of the dewback herd.

“Metzel!” Lenovar gritted his teeth when there was no response. The Journeyman Protector had already been awarded a far too uncomfortable amount of community service for the collateral damage he had caused in his “negligence of the community” while running down lawbreakers.

Don’t be dead. Come on, don’t be dead. Lenovar groaned inwardly as he moved toward the pirate ship with his shotgun, Luci, ready and aimed up at eye level.

The sound of the freighter’s engines suddenly dying as the last two members of the pirate crew (A burly trandoshan and a one-eyed human) retreated aboard brought a pleased smirk to the Protector’s face.

“Chiss?!” Lenovar called out as well. Wait, was the boy’s name? Jrink? Brinkstin?

“Brastin?!” Lenovar called out almost entirely certain that was the blue humanoid’s name. It was when Lenovar looked away from the freighter that the HUD of his helmet blipped a proximity warning too late. He turned his helmet back towards the pirate ship just as the impossibly quick four-legged HWND droid lept and bit down on the Mandalorian’s gauntlet with crushing vibro-teeth.

Lenovar was thrown to the ground as he tried to fend off the hunting droid with his armored gauntlet. The vibro-teeth clashing on the armor made an unnatural growling noise. The Protector swung his armored boot and connected solidly with the droid’s mid-section. Momentarily the droid was thrown from its clawed mechanical feet but the powerful jaws didn't loose from Lenovar’s arm in the slightest.

The armored weave of Lenovar’s fingertips on his free hand barely kissed his fallen slug thrower just as he was jerked savagely away from his weapon across the rough ground. The flamethrower on the side of his gauntlet was crunched down to nothing as the droid began to drag the Protector by his arm.

With a snarl of rage, Lenovar pulled the large knife from the sheath across his stomach shoved it into the droid’s canid head with every amount of force he could muster. The droid’s servos whined shrilly as they shrieked to a halt. The droid went limp and clattered loudly to the ground--without loosening the hold of its jaws on the arm of the Mandalorian. 

“Feir’fek SHEBS krif!” Lenovar let loose a slew of Mandalorian curses as he nearly dislocated his own shoulder trying to pull himself free of the mechanical jaws anchoring him to the immense dead weight of the armored canid hunting droid.