[b]Collab between Ellri and Sep, with Echo butting in as a friendly neighborhood Mandalorian Warrior[/b]
OOC: Elara and Traest are pushing up a slope, currently in a clearing.

Traest pushed through the jungle, he could occasionally feel himself hit against twigs and other items of the underbrush as they continued uphill. Of course wearing armor it didn’t really bother him. [i]Maybe after this the Jedi will wisen up and wear more than bloody robes[/i] was the thought that went through his head at the time. He raised his right hand in a fist and took a knee, he could hear someone up ahead but he couldn’t quite see who it was. Though then he saw the green blades ignite, he was sure that if the sound of warfare was not echoing throughout the jungle he would of heard the characteristic [i]snap-hiss[/i] of the blade. 

Ears sensitive thanks to genetics, honed by training and assisted by his helmet he heard the characteristic sound of some kind of speeder approaching, turning he saw a skiff approaching. Loaded with Mandalorians, bolts began to fire out of a turret on the vehicle and began climbing the hill towards them. “[i]Sithspit[/i], Get Down!” He dove into the mud, as he began sliding down the hill he stuck out his arm to try and gain purchase, thankfully he caught a stone. With an arm wrenching [i]crunch[/i] as his arm was caught between the stone he was holding and another one his momentum was halted. Thankfully he felt that his arm wasn’t [i]quite[/i] broken. Raising his blaster with his free hand he began letting of shots in the direction of the speeder.

Elara reacted instantly to the colonel’s shout. Using the Force to aid her movement, she ran after him, barely managing to maintain her footing on the slippery mud. Considering how the underbrush was, she was really glad she’d skipped the outer robes many of the other Jedi favored. She didn’t mind using them on occasion, but trekking through a dense jungle was not the time to do so. The two of them slid down the slope, using the minimal cover provided by the underbrush to its full advantage. Once down and on more safe footing, Elara ignited her lightsaber even as she took cover behind a thick tree trunk. She could vaguely sense that the colonel had taken similar cover higher up the slope, shooting back at the mandalorians with his blaster. She couldn’t see him, though.

Swinging himself round behind one of the bigger stones he basically crouched on it with his back against the slope, however it gave him adequate cover against the incoming fire. He was about to shout a warning to Elara when he noticed the concussion grenade launcher, however at that moment one of the Mandalorians decided to let fly with his jetpack and landing near the top of the slope above him. Traest rolled, out from cover allowing himself to slide backward down the slope. However as he had started with no momentum he did so slowly, and managed to get a couple of rounds off, scorching the Mandalorians armour. He flicked his heavy repeater onto full auto, releasing a volley into the Mandalorian. Knocking him over dead, however once the Mandalorian had tumbled to the bottom of the hill he released a couple of shots into the corpse. Just for good measure.

That was one.

Elara let out a yelp when the very-much dead mandalorian crashed down near her. She tried to use the Force to sense exactly where the other Mandalorians were, but it wasn’t easy. Though all the larger creatures had enough sense to flee, there were billions of other lifeforms just in one small part of the jungle. Her master had not trained her to easily distinguish sentients from the less evolved lifeforms in stressed situations. She did not know whether it was chance, luck or the Force that warned her about the incoming blaster bolt, but she twisted around, hitting it square on with her lightsaber. It deflected back at a slight angle, scorching the trunk of a large tree, but otherwise not having any real effect.

She trusted in the Force, letting it guide her movements, doing a wild series of jumps between the trees, just as often leaping off the trees as off the ground. Within a minute, she stood above the mandalorian that had fired the bolt, and it did not look like he’d seen her. At least he was looking all around as if searching for something. She could see he was alone. While it would have been easy to drop down and kill him, honor demanded that she fight him fairly. It was not the right according to the ways of the Light Side to kill someone that way. Instead, she dropped down, expertly slicing his blaster rifle in two, then immediately leaping to a safe distance.

Traest muttered in his helmet “Bloody Jedi” as the woman merely sliced the Mandalorians weapon rather than ending the fight then and there. However that was her problem now, he’d get back to it if he could. Lining it up he began releasing shots at the skiff again, those upon it made sure they were covered before releasing bolts back at him. Ducking behind the stone again he could feel the heat of several bolts go over his head, and could hear the sizzling in the mud as they made contact. He waited, giving it a thirty count. Even the heavy repeaters couldn’t keep sustained fire for long. Lowering his arm to a patch on his right leg he pulled out a flare, then firing it towards the skiff.

Though the mandalorian looked to have a blaster holstered at his right hip, Elara was a bit surprised when he instead drew a heavy-looking blade that was sheathed at his right hip amidst a series of what she thought had to be curses. She had never seen, or heard of, anything like it. The color of the blade itself was an oily gray, as if the surface of the metal itself contained some sort of oil. She held her saber low to the ground, sure that it would be easy enough to cut him down. No metal weapon could possibly stand up against a lightsaber.

He bowed his head once, then rapidly stepped closer, swinging at her left shoulder with a diagonal slash. Elara was shocked to see how well he wielded the blade, but not nearly as stunned as she was when she blocked the blade and found that her lightsaber did not cut through it. In fact, she could see that it did not even appear to dull the edge. The weight of the blade against hers forced her to bow down a little. All her training had been against others fighting with lightsabers, so a blade with actual mass was virtually incomprehensible to fight. She twisted around, trying to let him press his blade into the ground and swinging around, hoping to slash him across the back.

There was a flash of light as flare lit up, Traests visor immediately darkened to shield his eyes from the light he was focusing upon. Diving to another stone nearby, he stopped once the light faded he could see the damage done. Which was minimal obviously, it just gave the Mandalorians a nice flash meaning the skiff had lost his position. He sighed and aimed his blaster again, aiming high and waited, for them to show their heads. The helmets were likely made of the same material as the rest of the armour however being a helmet it would likely be thinner, and not as heavy.

Unfortunately, the Mandalorian did not go down as far as she thought he’d do. His blade didn’t bury itself in the slightly marshy ground. He seemed to ignore her strike at his back, which she did not understand until it landed, for then it simply slid off, merely scoring the lacquer on its surface rather than breaking through. Instead, he stopped his swing before it struck the ground, swinging his blade two-handed and striking at her blade hard, clearly trying to get her to drop it. Elara had no doubts that if her blade had been as heavy as she thought his was, she would have dropped it, but because the entire weight of the lightsaber lay in its hilt, she managed to hold on. She jumped straight up, using the Force to boost it when he slashed at her abdomen, barely avoiding his blade with her feet. Twisting around mid-air, she landed behind him facing his back. Having learned her lesson from before, she tried to strike at the left armpit, where it looked like the armor could be weaker.

As she landed, Elara was shocked to see that instead of twisting about as all the jedi she’d sparred with had done, the Mandalorian had drawn his blaster and started aiming up and back in the opposite direction. By the time she’d started her swing, he had only begun to twist about in realization that she was not using a jetpack. In a small corner of her mind, she wanted to halt her swing, but could not possibly do so in time. The sound as the blade cut through the underside of the Mandalorian’s shoulder defied description. It reeked of flesh being burned. She stared in shock as the severed limb fell to the marshy ground, the blaster pistol still clutched in its hand.

His shots, while heavy shots and in quick succession at long range they began to arch out. He cursed to himself and wished he had packed a longer range weapon for the mission. That would be a note to keep for later, he couldn’t even use the Mandalorians rifle as he was down near the bottom of the hill where he could occasionally see the light of Elara’s lightsaber. His shot making contact with a helmet of an unlucky Mandalorian he watched as the body fell over. The skiffs population was thankfully dwindling, with two kills to his credit and the other tangled up with Elara the odds were evening. However they weren’t quite as high as he would like yet, but no jumpers were nearby. The closest ally was at the top of the hill playing with some form of wildlife. He ducked behind his now charred and dented stone as a new chorus of blaster fire came at him, this time however the skiff ignoring the Jedi began to re-orientate.

He dove head first into the mud down the hill, ensuring not to land upon his bad arm. Occasionally sticking his hand in to slow him and change his direction, it wasn’t far and at the bottom he rolled to slow himself. Coming out kneeling he could still see the Jedi through the trees who apparently had just disarmed one of the Mandalorians, literally. He ran into tree line as the skiff tried to get a bead on him, pieces of bark broke off and went flying as they were hit by laser bolts. Though a thud resounded as well as an explosion, several… larger chunks of a tree came flying and he hit the dirt, thankfully his armour protecting him from the wooden shards, however he landed on his already hurt arm with another crack in cried out in pain from within his helmet.

He was starting to lose faith in his earlier assessment that it wasn’t broken.

At first Elara didn’t know what to do next, but when the Mandalorian warrior turned about screaming in rage, swinging widely with his blade, she had no choice. She continued fighting him. His rage made him much harder to fight, for it gave him much greater strength. She tried to fight back, but the aggressive ways of the Ataru form simply couldn’t cope with his assault. having no plausible way of defeating him, she turned to the Force, lashing out with a telekinetic blast, pushing him back hard. She could possibly have continued her attack then, but dared not do so. Instead she jumped straight up, leaping into the trees, using a mixture of Force-assisted acrobatic jumps and Force-aided speed to get away. Moving rapidly in a round-about fashion she eventually landed shortly behind the Colonel, taking cover beside him.