EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

A deafeningly loud bolt of lightning struck down from the sky straight onto Sabine's ward. The storm was at least as powerful as some of Meesei's stronger spells, but that only meant there was more magic to be absorbed into Sabine's staff. The dragon roared at Sabine in her hesitation to continue to fight, which continued into a low growl as she continued to ask for his name.

"I am...Faasnuhenvokaal. I was a champion of Alduin, a commander of his armies, a ruler of his subjects. I…am a warrior. And it is not the fate of a warrior to live in fear of mortal armies.” He raised up his head, staring down Sabine in a few moments of silence.

“Dezi saraan. It is the fate of a warrior to fight!” With those words, the dragon opened his maw and lunged his head towards Sabine, to end the fight in one way or another.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The dragon struggled against the ice, roaring in anger at Sabine. Do'rhajul and Yerig had recovered by this point, but they were keeping their distance from the trapped beast. Yerig was at the dragon's right, holding up his blade, while Do'rhajul circled around to its flank.

Regardless of whether or not the dragon now understood how the staff worked, he certainly understood that Sabine was no normal mage. She was stronger than he had assumed, and he was paying the price for underestimating her. He tried in vain to struggle free from the ice once more, then stared her down with a low growl. "You...are not Dovahkiin. Am I to be slain by my bait? Orin brit ro. Do it! I will not surrender to a joor!"

It seemed the dragon did not intend to give Sabine a choice in the matter, as he raised up his head and let out another shout to the sky. "Strun-Bah-Qo"

Within seconds, the dragon showed the true potential that the Thu'um held. Thick rain clouds suddenly materialized in the sky in what had been a sunny day. A downpour of rain fell from the sky, and they could hear the roar of thunder above.

"Lightning!" Yerig shouted from behind the dragon to warn the others.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Since Do'rhajul and Yerig had been batted away by the dragon's tail, with unknown injuries, Sabine was, for at least a moment, facing down the dragon alone. The beast, though he was taking the battle seriously, was still confident. At least, until Sabine released her spell. The icy spear was deceptive in its strength. It was not a large, overwhelming spell, but the magic concentrated within the ice spike was enough to split apart even a dragon's scales. The spell hit the top of the dragon's head at an angle, cutting a long gash from between his eyes to the back of his head. It did not quite have the power to break through the dragon's exceptionally tough skull, but it was clear from the dragon's roar of pain that even he had been surprised by the damage it caused. Blood poured from the wound down the side of the dragon's head; although, something the size of a dragon had a lot of blood to lose.

What was more, the dragon was close enough to Sabine to be caught within the intense blizzard she had summoned around herself soon after. The dragon could feel his very bones start to chill, and even the blood from his open wound started to freeze. He had already survived far more direct damage than any normal opponent, but even a dragon was not invincible. Sabine would be able to hear more, heavy steps from the dragon, but this time moving away from her as he tried to get away from the blizzard. It would be difficult to see through the frost, but she would be able to hear his shout: "Yol-Toor-Shul". Following the words came an intense and forceful wave of fire through the ice, towards Sabine. His change of tactics showed that her magic was strong enough to keep even a dragon at bay, and perhaps that he did not yet understand how the staff could turn his own magic against him.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

If his awareness and behavior was any indication, the dragon was beginning to take his opponents more seriously as a threat. He was not leaving himself open to attack as readily, and was watching them more closely than he had at the beginning of the fight. He noticed Sabine, and more importantly, the spell she had charged.

For a few moments, the dragon kept his head low, growling at Sabine. However, he knew he could not simply refuse to act while the others were recovering. As he turned his body towards Sabine, he swiped his tail at Yerig and Do'rhajul, then started to charge right at Sabine, watching for her spell all the while.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Spellbreaker's ward was as indomitable as always against the dragon's shout, so Do'rhajul was safe against the draining magic. Instead of hiding behind his Khajiit friend, Yerig took another approach by letting out his own shout: "Feim"

Yerig's body took on a ghostly, ethereal form, through which the dark violet magic passed as if he was not even there. His momentum did not stop as he rushed forward at the dragon with his blade at the ready. The beast could not affect him while he was in his ethereal form, but unlike most opponents, the dragon knew exactly how the shout functioned, and how to prepare. Yerig would not be able to rely upon the element of surprise. He feinted to the dragon's left, but then dashed to his right as he swung his blade across the side of the dragon's head. He aimed his blade for the weaker scales at the edge of the dragon's mouth to pierce through, then dragged his as far as he could across the dragon's head as he continued to run, trying to put distance between himself and the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon was too seasoned of a fighter to be stunned by the pain, so he was able to react. Although he could not turn his head back quickly enough to bite Yerig, he was able to lash out with his wing to strike Yerig from behind and knock him straight down to the ground.

Do'rhajul was not far behind, and did not allow the dragon the chance to take advantage of Yerig's vulnerability. As the dragon was rearing back to breathe his fire, Do'rhajul smashed his shield into the side of the dragon's head from a full sprint, while also stabbing his blade towards the dragon's eye. Unfortunately, he missed the eye by a small margin, but his blade still carried enough force to stab into the dragon's snout.

Letting out a roar, the dragon quickly pushed his head against Do'rhajul to send even the large Cathay-raht flying a short distance. By that point, Yerig had managed to get to his feet, but it was Sabine that would be in a position to attack first. The power of her staff could allow her to hit the dragon with some exceptionally destructive magic, if that was her plan.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

Paradise

The remainder of the hyperspace journey back to Paradise did not take terribly long. Sirka ate as quickly as she could after giving her hand some treatment with some medical supplies that Elias had on hand. She had taken several blaster bolts across her body, but her scales would heal without much worry. It was just her hand that required some attention.

Returning to the system, it seemed that Paradise was just as busy as before, now with at least one Venator-class star destroyer in proximity to the converted Separatist capital ship. They were rather old vessels, and Sirka wondered if they were even Imperial. Though, with how desperate the Empire was becoming in recent days, she supposed it would not be surprising if they had to resort to using some older relics to bolster their ever-lessening forces. Fortunately, since Elias had his own hanger, there was no delay for them to get back aboard Paradise.

Once landed, the group still, of course, had to go through security and give up their weapons. Although it was broken, Sirka made sure to drag out the E-Web she had recovered to give it to the droids. Otherwise, she risked losing it if Elias ended up leaving the station with his ship before her. A few of the B1s were confused about what exactly to do with it, given that heavy blaster cannons were generally not the type of weapon that one carried on their person, but they eventually took it.

Their first priority upon returning was, of course, to speak to Koren about their respective jobs and get their pay. Unfortunately, according to the droid they spoke to, Koren would be unavailable for an indeterminate amount of time. So, it seemed that they would have some time to kill.

Her recent promise still fresh in her mind, Sirka turned to Elias, staring at him with her arms crossed in silence for a few seconds before finally speaking up. "So...want a drink?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With as low as the dragon was now flying, Sabine's spell could easily find its mark. The scales on its joints were still strong, but not invincible. Although it was not a deep wound, it did draw some blood, but more importantly, the ice magic could pierce into his body. It chilled the muscles and bones in his wing at the shoulder, which made it more difficult to flap that wing. Since he was already low to the ground, it was finally enough to bring him down entirely.

The dragon slid across the ground, his massive body essentially digging up a trench through the soft dirt. He landed in the clearing, although his momentum brought him a fair distance away from the group, so they could not easily capitalize on his vulnerability before he was able to rise back to his feet. It was possible that he could still take off again, but for now, he was on the ground with them.

Turning his body around, the dragon let out a furious roar, then another shout towards the group: "Gaan-Lah-Haas"

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

En route to Paradise

Sirka shrugged lightly. "Yeah, well I'm not looking to change the galaxy. I just want to be able to make some credits that won't keep me up at night. I'm not going to be shedding any tears over pirates, Hutt mercenaries, or whatever other things like that. I'm sure he's working in his own self-interest to build up his own information trading empire. Selfish, yeah, but better than the Hutts. It's hard to get worse than the Hutts, really. Except maybe the Empire. Hopefully they at least die out soon. Them and every single speciesist bastard they put into power. I'd probably have a nice cushy place on Coruscant right about now if it wasn't for the Empire."

After Elias opened up the cockpit door, Sirka stood up and took a moment to stretch out her legs. "At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if she fell into some other stranger's bed." Sirka joked. "Eh, I'll go find her. She probably just got distracted by something or another."

Sirka started to walk past Elias, but ended up stopping beside him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, but unlike last time, it was not accompanied by a strong grip and a threatening gaze. She looked almost nervous before she started to speak. "So, um, I admit I might have been a bit unfair to you before. I mean, I don't know if you have family, but I'm sure you can understand wanting to look out for them. Maybe, uh, if we ever catch up again on Paradise or something, I'll...buy you a drink, yeah?" She offered, patting his shoulder lightly.

With a few, brief moments of silence, Sirka quickly cleared her throat. "So...you got any bacta anywhere? My hand hurts like hell."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Particularly since it had not had a chance to pick up much speed, the dragon could not avoid the bulk of Sabine's ice shards. His dragon scales were tough enough to avoid being punctured by the small shards of ice, even if the cold still did bite against them. However, it was again his wings that were the most vulnerable. Yet more holes were pierced through them as he ascended, but it was still not enough. The dragon ended up flying somewhat far from the group, though that was only so he could have time to get more speed on his approach. He expected some kind of attack from the mage, so his reaction was ever so slightly delayed when Yerig took the opportunity to attack.

"Liz-Slen-Nus" Yerig's shout rang out, forming into a sizable wave of ice in front of him that he projected into the sky, straight at his target. The dragon did bank to the side to avoid it, but he was not quite quick enough to completely dodge it. The shout hit the end of his left wing, encasing it in ice. It was not too directly harmful to the dragon, but naturally, the increased weight of one wing made flight much more difficult. The dragon ended up losing about half of his altitude before he finally stabalized, now flying more slowly, and with less agility. Even between the ice and the holes pierced through the membrane, it was not quite enough to take him out of the sky. But, he was now a much easier target above them.

Star Wars - Lawless Galaxy

En route to Paradise

Delni Rhiko

Delni looked somewhat confused watching Sol'id. He looked like he was pantomiming hand-to-hand fighting, which was likely the case. She was pretty sure that she was familiar with the Echani: a warrior culture, if she remembered correctly. She was guessing that Sol'id fought with that style, or maybe just felt that it was worthwhile to learn. In any case, Delni sort of doubted that it would be as helpful to her as Sol'id was expecting. Regardless, she did take his hand and stand up to her feet. She still had a mostly full tray of meat to take to her sister, but she also was still in no hurry. It would stay warm for a while yet, so she could continue to stick around and talk.

"I...don't know about that. Training or no, I'd probably be a lot better off just trying to use a blaster if I'm ever in danger. I mean..." Delni began, lifting up and flexing her arm. The vest Elias had given her, in addition to being revealing in other places, was sleeveless, so Sol'id could easily see her muscles, or lack thereof. She had no real strength training at all, on top of a naturally small frame. The amount of effort it would take to make her a threat in a fist fight would be considerable. "...I'm not really built for that sort of thing. Learning to, like, quick-draw a blaster or something might be more, uh, time efficient. Ideally, though, I'd like to just stay away from the fighting. My sister is much, much better at that. Best to play to one's strengths, right?"

---

Sirka Rhiko

Sirka looked at the maps that Elias was scrolling through with a frown, not that Elias would likely be able to discern the meaning of her more subtle reptilian expressions. "I...well, I know Hutt Space isn't exactly a bastion of safety and morality, but I do need the credits. Like you said, the Outer Rim doesn't pay as well unless you have much more of a reputation than I do. I need the credits; I have...obligations." She said, vaguely. The fact that she regularly sent a significant chunk of her pay to her parents to help support them was personal information, and not something she was quick to share with someone that she still did not know particularly well. She did not like it to be known that she had someone else she cared deeply about who she was not around constantly to protect.

"Personally, I'm hoping to get more work from Koren. I did do two jobs for him today, after all." Sirka remarked. "Also helps that I haven't heard many bad things about him, so he might be an employer I don't have too much issue working with. Dangerous, sure, but at least with him I won't risk accidentally helping out some kind of slaver or other scum."