Hunters

by Fabe Sharon'Atal

This is my attempt at adding a bit more flesh to a storyline I enjoyed while playing SWTOR. I don't plan on changing events or even lines spoken between characters, but there was very little chance to see who Torian really was instead of just learning about the Mando'ade through him, so I plan to add more scenes while remaining true to the characters, apologies for any errors.

25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25.

Latest edit; July 29th, 2015. Okay, so this chapter got a MAJOR and unplanned face-lift. Cheers and enjoy!

Kit = 40 kilos.

Raidre = give or take 90 kilos with her kit.

Torian himself in full kit = 105 kilos.

Hydro-joints or not, his body was giving him hell for running with all this extra weight at full tilt. But he would not use his jet pack, (not unless there was no other way around it) because with all this extra weight the fuel would not last him. He had a jetiise(1) on his ass, and he wasn't sure what type. Torian knew he was being pursued, as he had flung Raidre over his shoulder he had seen the Jedi come to consciousness. They had looked at each other, if Torian's buy'ce(2) would have allowed it, their gazes would have met. Torian hadn't wasted anytime, he'd shot a rocket at the ceiling and banged out before he had the chance to see the ice crumble and block the Jedi's path.

None of it mattered, he needed to get back to the ship and get Raidre some much needed medical attention. All this running around was not doing her any favours. But the ice was treacherous, it carried both sound and light well and was slippery to boot. Torian heard the distorted foot falls of his pursuer as if they were right behind him. He couldn't pin point the jetiise(3)'s position and he hoped that it was likewise. It kept him stressed and on edge. In his attempt to lose his pursuer Torian had gotten deeper into the complex rather than back outside.

He needed a map!

Torian looked around, the hallways were made for humanoids, so they were about 8 feet in height but sort of narrow. If he got caught, it would all be to the Jedi's advantage, but he needed to know where he was. The first monitor he came across, he stopped to lay Raidre down and to hack into it. Torian made sure to make a mental note to thank Mako for putting some of her personal touches on his kit. Raidre had helped him make it into something beastly. He could shrug off hits that would have killed him with his older gear. That was without mentioning how she had outfitted him for offense. It made him shiver just thinking about it. But right now he was most thankful for that hacking unit Mako had insisted that he carry.

The little slicer had been surprised to find he had some meagre hacking skills and had not let him waste them since he had joined Raidre's crew. Torian plugged his wiring into the terminal and ran some basic hacking algorithms. The whole time it ran, he kept an eye around him while he had a blaster at the ready. He just needed a map and they could go. He could read it on the go. That's when Raidre groaned gently, he would have missed it were it not that he'd kept their comm links open. He tore his gaze away to glance at her, her head was rolling as if it weighed too much and her neck could not support the weight. He glanced back at the screen at his greave and looked around.

"Feeling okay?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, startled. Torian held back the sigh he wanted to breathe, he was elated that her hearing had returned but worried that she was still confused. She looked around, her head still heavy and falling most of the time.

"No."

Torian laughed a bit. "Yea, not feeling hot right now?"

"No, feeling hot alright. Why does my head feel like it's been put on wrong?"

Torian tried not to let relief get the better of him, yes she seemed to recall him, but he still had to see how badly her memories had been affected.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"A rocket."

Torian let out a little laugh, it wasn't heartfelt since it tasted mostly of nerves, but he was glad, she seemed to recall everything that had happened.

"Yea… About that-"

Raidre lifted a hand to support her helmet and another to interrupt him. "Don't even worry about it."

"Didn't have your Buy'ce(4). You're more concussed now."

"You used the riot rocket, so the ice is to blame for my face, not your decision. And I've been concussed plenty of times before. I'll live."

Torian swallowed even though his throat felt dry and constricted. She perked up at the sound and he regretted it instantly. She paid attention to details, even if he said little or did his best to be silent, she could read the other subtle signs he didn't always think of hiding. She was just like his clan-mates: used to deciphering incomplete messages. She noticed him, and that attention he gave her made him both excited and uncomfortable.

"Torian, you have no reason to apologize."

He shook his head. "Failed to protect you."

The silence set in as a trickle. But as time passed, it grew in size and magnitude until it reigned between them, creating a distance that hadn't been there before. It was as if a single drop of water had given birth to a fjord, and that body of water now separated them. It wasn't a physical separation, he stood not even two feet from her and yet the distance was tangible, emotional. Torian had to wonder what it was about that statement that silenced her and made her draw away from him. But time was of the essence, and they had little of it that they could spare. Raidre took care as she pulled herself up on her feet. She was deliberate in every motion, but unsteady. As soon as Torian had his map, he put one of her arms over his neck and they jogged along together. They did some without any words exchanged for what felt like hours.

Torian lost track of time, but then she cleared her throat and spoke. "When did it become your job to protect me?"

The question made him almost lose his step, he tried to recover but didn't kid himself. She probably knew she was treading on dangerous territory. This conversation deserved his full attention, and so did their survival. But she deserved to know he meant to have it-

Green light flashed in his peripheral vision. He barely had the time to register what was coming towards them before he got shoved. And it was a good thing too, the light saber almost cut their heads clean off. Torian might never know what had warned Raidre of its imminent path towards them. But before it could reach its mark, she shoved him aside and threw herself out of the way. Torian was up on his feet before he'd been down for more than a fraction of a second, reaching for that tech staff. What was it made out of again? For some reason it was important and it was going to help them right now. Torian must have missed it when the Jedi had picked up his light saber, because he had it in hand and was starting to swing at him. How did they do that?

Torian counted himself lucky that he had always focused an undue amount of attention on his reaction time and reflexes. The Mando couldn't kid himself, this kid was lean but fast. Very fast. Without the hydraulic joints and the pneumatic accelerators Raidre had insisted on adding to his kit, he would have died at the first strike. Instead he had the speed to respond to the Jedi's attacks. The Jedi swung downwards, melting the ice the instant it touched it. Torian tumbled away and ended up on his feet facing the young warrior. He was ready for Torian and he did his best to stop him from pulling out any more weaponry. Torian had the chance to shoot a single blaster bolt clean through the kid's abdomen before it was cut by the light saber. Torian tossed what remained of his blaster straight into the Jedi's face. It struck him in the eye, which gave Torian the time to pull out the two segments of his tech staff. But before the Mando had the chance to assemble them the Jedi tried to charge him again.

Raidre had taken way too long to pull out her blaster, but it was finally out and she made good of her shot. The blaster bolt hit its mark, but the Jedi were made tough. A blaster bolt to the back of the head didn't even phase their opponent. Torian didn't waste a golden opportunity, he knocked that kid's hand hard enough to break bones and knock his toy out of his hand.

After running her diagnostics, Raidre had to come clean to herself: there was nothing wrong with her suit. She was slow, and it was not her kit that was to blame. Her reflexes, her body's reaction to her mental commands, that's where the problem was.

And it was going to get Torian killed.

Had he fought Jedi before? Did he know they could heal or that they were super strong? She needed to tell him, she needed to help him. But she could barely get off her ass and in her current state she was more of an obstacle than assistance. She took a deep breath and went through the mental math. She had precious few experiences with Jedi, but they had all been proof that the tall tales were true. Super-fast, healing factor and this sense of the minds around them, not quite like they could read minds, but nor far.

Mind tricks, she hated those.

Raidre flicked her eyes and activated a medical unit she rarely used. She hated stims. They had an after-taste that could stay in your mouth for hours and they knocked you straight out once they wore off. A hunter could be off their games for days after using the damn stuff. They emptied you completely, adrenals and neurochemicals. But this was a do or die moment, she needed everything to work perfectly and in double time. She wasn't going to lose anyone again because she was too weak to help when she was needed.

The needle pierced her skin at her thigh as the automated systems injected her on both legs simultaneously. It burned for a moment, her nostrils flared with a forced exhale and the taste began to fill her mouth, but she could see clearly and her balance was no longer feeling like the back end of a drunken bantha. She hopped up onto her feet and joined the melee before the Jedi had the chance to get his saber back.

Her jet packs flared as she aimed to separate the two combatants. It was lucky that this hallway was taller than previous corridors they had been through otherwise the Jedi would have had full advantage of terrain. As it was, Raidre ascended and aimed to make her landing directly on the young Jedi. However, jetpacks are not subtle, as soon as those bad boys flared to life, the kid looked in her direction. Torian took advantage of the moment of distraction and wacked him hard in the face. Torian had a good swing, his upper cut was his meanest, but even so, a swing in full kit carried over 300 pounds of force. 300 pounds of force was not enough to break this kid's jaw. It did put him off balance and it helped Raidre pin him down as she came down.

She had hoped to land on something vital, like the kid's neck or spine, instead she got his right leg as he tried to tumble away. She just missed his femur, which could have been fatal. Instead she got his knee. Knees were delicate joints, they tended to eat all the pain when you abused your lower body, i.e. they always hurt first. She landed with her full weight and kit's weight and then a little more weight thanks to gravity. Bone shattered and ligaments snapped, his patella went flying as Raidre twisted her foot. His cries bounced off the icy walls.

Despite himself, Torian cringed. "The knee?"

Raidre's head snapped back at the younger man. "Really?"

Torian kept his lips sealed. Raidre lifted her left leg as she continued to grind his knee with her right. Torian knew this move well having witnessed its use many times. She was going to end him with a swift heel to the skull. Her leg came down with a little extra push for her pneumatics, they steamed as her leg came down. Their Jedi wasn't done yet though. Despite the injuries, he rose both arms to cross block Raidre's leg. Raidre sighed, but used the Jedi's cross block to push herself off of him. She pushed herself off his arms and flipped away before the Jedi could get her off balance and send her on her ass.

Once Raidre was clear, he began shooting. Torian's new favourite blaster rifle had been this old beat up MK52 that Mako had found on the black market and they had cleaned up. MK had gone out of business a long time ago, hostile take-over. Too bad, they had made some of the highest powered blaster rifles on the market. The power of each discharged shot was enough to take down a Rancor(5). Torian cradled the rifle at his hip, held it with both hands and began shooting. The nozzle steamed with every shot, which obstructed his vision. He set his HUD to heat vision and was disappointed to find that the Jedi had escaped.

"Got away."

"What?! With that knee?"

Torian shrugged as he looked around. He spotted the kid's patella and picked it up. Raidre looked at him. "Guess Jedi don't need knees."

"Tch. Yea, they do."

They both saw the trail at the same time. They also looked at each other at the same time. Torian motioned to the hallway with one hand.

"Ladies first."

Raidre chuckled. "Aww, how'd you know I like to run point?"

They ventured deeper as the searched for their target. They both knew they couldn't let this Jedi live, he would be back for more, and next time he would try to get to them by using a hostage. They didn't need to discuss it, they both knew that he'd target Mako. Anyone who had ever tried to get to them by use of a hostage always tried to go for Mako. She was their sweetest member so the obvious choice. Torian wondered how heavily that responsibility weighed on Raidre. Was that one of the things that kept her awake at night?

Torian observed and helped Raidre track. The Jedi into what looked like a storage room. Different sized crates lined the walls and created hallways in this large open room. The Mando's listened intently. Torian glanced around and after several seconds had gone by looked to his companion.

"What are we looking for?"

Raidre scanned the room. "Sounds of exertion, when Jedi speed heal, it makes them pant."

Torian's eyes widened. "You think he can do that?"

Raidre nodded. "All knights can, and this kid is definitely a newly graduated knight."

Torian frowned and crossed his arms. "How do you know?"

Raidre shrugged. "His level or arrogance?"

Torian chuckled. "Should we split up and look?"

Raidre bit her lower lip. "Not a good idea."

Torian nodded. "Okay, lead the way."

Raidre nodded and they advanced into the storage room. Raidre ran point while Torian brought up the rear, the only disadvantage of a kit was trying to be stealthy with all the added weight. It was hard to be quiet so it meant they had to take a lot of time with each step. After walking around half of the room they heard the tell-tale sign.

"He's on our right."

Raidre nodded as she slipped her crush gaunts on. "Yep."

Torian checked his blaster's cell, he still had about 20 shots. "Won't he hear us coming?"

Raidre's gloves lit up as they powered up. "If we're lucky he's too concentrated to notice us."

Torian nodded. "Coming in from above?"

Raidre nodded. "Sure, let's get it over with."

Raidre pulled a hard wire out of her belt and knelt. She angled the wire camera so that she could check around the corner. Both Hunters could see the Jedi panting at the far end of the adjoining hallway. Raidre pulled back the camera and put it away. She rose her fist and put all fingers up. One by one she would put a finger down. Once her fist was balled, they ran for it towards the Jedi. He jolted out of his healing meditation just in time to see Torian line up his MK52's barrel. Torian shot and kept shooting, this room was warmer than the corridors had been so his blaster didn't discharged an inordinate amount of steam with every shot. So he kept firing and got annoyed that this Jedi moved fast enough that his bolts kept missing. Raidre landed in the Jedi's path just in time to cut off his escape. Neither of the Mando's was in the mood for hide and seek.

A moment of quiet passed as each person involved decided on a course of action.

Raidre charged in, the Jedi tried to jump away, but his healed leg didn't work as well without a knee cap. He fumbled and Raidre pushed the Jedi to the side with two rapid rocket punches to face and gut. Having discharged most of the power he had left in his MK52, Torian holstered his gun and assembled his tech staff in one swift motion. They both knew it would take Raidre's kit 7.4 seconds to reload again. The Jedi drew his light saber and it lit up the dark corridor of crates. Opting to continue the offensive, Raidre pulled out two vibroblades from her collection and charged him again. The Jedi took a downwards swing at Raidre as she advanced and Torian held his breath. Raidre side stepped away from the beam of green light just in time to miss being cut in half by it. Short of a piece of her shoulder plate but no worse for wear. Raidre's hand came down and clamped onto the kid's wrist right after. Torian had a moment to feel a bit of pity for the kid, first the knee and now the wrist.

As predicted, Raidre crushed all the Jedi's carpals and twisted. The kid cried out and dropped his light saber. It turned off as it landed on the ground and the corridor became enveloped in dimness once more. Torian took advantage of the time and space Raidre was giving him to come up from behind, covering any exits the Jedi might have wanted to take to distance himself from Raidre. Torian swung his tech staff at the Jedi's head, but the kid ducked and moved out of the way before it connected.

But time had lost its constant rhythm.

Torian swung again, this time aiming for a collar bone. The Jedi leaned to left to avoid the strike. Raidre took advantage and whirled to the Jedi's left, vibroblades at the ready. They played at this dance for a time. The Jedi had healed himself enough to stand and move around, but he had lost his ability to run or jump around. All for the better. They traded blows until the Mandos had the Jedi Knight cornered in the corridor. Torian upper cut him with the sharper end of his tech staff. Blood sprayed in an arc as the kid flew backwards.

That's when they both heard the click of the rockets. Torrian had a moment to wonder if the kid recognized the sound as well. He did pause in his movements, which gave Torian the chance to roundhouse him. That dazed him, and Raidre was there, two rapid fires again, one to jaw the other to gut. The Jedi flew across at least six feet of the hallway before landing. Torian wasted no time, he began to look for that light saber right away. If they could destroy it then the kid couldn't use it against them. They spotted at the same time, and Raidre was already running to it when it began to shake. It shot off the floor like a rocket towards its owner.

Torian could hear Raidre smirk. "Keep the staff ready."

"Way ahead of you."

Torian charged in, goal again was to knock the saber away, instead, the beam came right down for him.

"BLOCK IT!"

He didn't understand the order, nor how this would help them. But he obeyed even though on some conscious level he knew that this would kill him… except his staff was made of cortosis.

Oh yea.

The beam of dangerous light touched the staff and was cut off, as if it had run out of batteries. Torian had a moment to almost shit himself in relief, and then he went back to business as usual.

"Toast."

The Jedi's eyes flared at Torian's voice. Good, that was the point. Raidre jumped over Torian with the help of her jet packs and clicked two more rockets into place. Torian side stepped around where she had landed and was laying into the Jedi to swing pausing only for that instant before the seconds change.

"Bag him or kill him?" Torian asked on their private comm link.

"I let the last one live, this is what it got me."

Torian nodded and swung for the head instead of the ribs. Movements became blurs. Torian's swing connected, and he felt the blood, but it didn't even slow the Jedi down. The kid wasn't even dazed, he kept fighting even though he was taking some serious damage. Or so the bruises and deformities told the Mandos. He had to wonder what had happened to Raidre, she was all lighting and thunder. She was always a superior hand to hand fighter, but right now every hit was hitting home and hard enough to wind and force their Jedi a step back at every strike. It was a good thing, or so Torian tried to tell himself, but he could not shake this deep sense of foreboding. There was something he wasn't aware of and it nagged at him.

Torian was starting to feel like they had him, when that invisible force shoved Raidre and him away. He hit the wall, hard, but landed on his feet and pulled out his blaster. Good thing too because the Jedi was charging. He overloaded his blaster and shot at full power from the hip. He got three shots off before the Jedi was on him. The first punch dented his chest plate, Torian had a moment to feel worried. The second strike was coming for his helmet, and he just managed to dodge it. Which was good, because at the rate at which his chest plate was dented, he would not have lived. The kid grabbed his gorget to immobilize him and pulled his arm back for a third hit. One that Torian wouldn't be able to dodge. Torian fought the way he had learned to. If you're stuck with the short end of the stick, make it count. He pulled his lower body up and kicked with all he had at the kid's face. He heard bone break, but he wasn't dropped. Dark splotches began to invade his field of vision. Torian took one deep breath, it burned and hurt, but he held it. Torian wrapped his legs around the boy's arms and tried to dislocate his shoulder.

As long as she gets away.

An arm came and pulled the Jedi off of Torian. The crunch of bones were audible as Raidre's crush gaunts did what they were named for. Torian saw the Jedi's right shoulder sag as his collar bone was crushed and probably the first three ribs on the right side too. He had to ask himself how the Jedi could still stand, never mind fight in his current state. Torian tried to get up, but his gear was malfunctioning and slow, there was some sensitive wire-work in every plate, and something vital had been crushed. The Jedi made to charge back at Torian, Raidre clotheslined him and stomped on his chest. Bone gave way to metal and hydraulics making a thick and fleshy sound as it broke in multiple places at once. It wasn't a pleasant sound, but they both knew it wasn't going to be enough.

"Staff, please."

Torian threw it to her and she activated their latest add-on to the staff, retractable spikes at the ends. At the sound of the spikes shooting out, the kid opened his eyes. Torian barely had the time to curse, never mind get up. Raidre was thrown back and crushed into the wall opposite the Jedi. Torian found himself on his feet and attempting to charge the Jedi, but then he found himself tossed aside by the same force that held Raidre against the wall. Torian groaned as his ears rung and his head spun. Every breath burned almost as bad as if he had been stabbed. Torian was getting really annoyed of getting tossed around. He pulled himself off the floor just in time to see the kid's ribs pop back out to fill his chest back to its original shape, his shoulder was beginning to make its way back to where it was supposed to be. Somehow, that grossed him out more than the noise his chest had made when Raidre had crushed it. Raidre landed on her feet and pulled out her blaster and started shooting.

The kid's eyes homed in on her like a missile guidance system and locked on. Torian kept his eyes on his target. The moment his mind thought of him though, the kid looked back and uttered a shout that was more like the blast of the base than a sound coming out of a human throat. It knocked him back and dazed him, but it stayed with him as realization dawned on him. Jedi could read you as long as you were thinking of them. Torian breathed and counted to three, trying to give his mind time to settle, he now knew just what to do.

Raidre watched Torian go down and made a mental note that whether he liked it or wanted it, his kit was going to get some serious upgrades. Her eyes were on the prize however. The Jedi called on the force again and pulled his light saber back to himself. It lit up as he touched the power button. Raidre swung the tech staff at the ready and let him react to it.

In a fight, if you're reacting, you're losing. The only way to win is to lead. She wondered if this kid knew that. He charged her with a downward swing which she twisted away from to knock his feet from under him. He landed on his back but before she had the chance to impale him, he was up and out of her reach. He came at her again, always swinging for her, but avoiding the tech staff when she moved to block with it. So he had clued in on what it was made off or at least what it could do.

She could barely keep up, he was getting faster which meant any internal damage she must have dealt him with her rockets must have been healed by now. She needed to disable him fast. She didn't have any more time to waste on theatrics. She whirled and closed the distance between them, effectively breaking into his guard and she was just about to click off the rocket in an upper cut, but he caught her wrist and squeezed her greave, crushing it. She had a moment to grit her teeth as she knew what came next.

The rocket exploded taking a piece of his hand and effectively taking hers clean off.

Her world went black. The stims in her system could not help her now.

Torian was almost done rewiring the power to another grid, his suit had just started working properly when he heard an explosion and the Jedi cry out. He heard nothing from Raidre except for a sharp sucking in of her breath. He looked up from his crouched position, holding himself upright on his fists. He watched her body sink almost as if it were in a dream rather than in a battle for their lives. He noted that her left hand was missing. He kept his mind on that left hand, how it looked when it worked on polishing their kits, or how each digit moved to do some fine wire-work when hooking up new software. He watched with his peripheral vision as the Jedi, now mostly deaf and half blind circled Raidre with slow and measure steps until he stood over her. His feet were on either side of her head. Torian saw what was coming, but he kept his rage and feelings in check. Still thinking of her hand, how deftly it moved with a knife in hand, chopping vegetables or cutting up unsuspecting enemies. How she could braid Mako's fine and short hair just as well as wires when they were assembling a particularly tricky piece of equipment.

Torian took slow steps as well. Measured them with care until he was right behind the unsuspecting Jedi. The deed was almost done, and Torian would not let emotions get the better of him, not yet. Torian showed this shabla(6) jetiise(7) no mercy, instead he showed him what Mandalorians did to folk who tried to mess with the aliit(8). The retractable blade always made such a wonderful sound, especially when it cut clean through bone and flesh. The sound made him feel safe and it made him feel capable. The sound reminded him he could do something instead of just surviving to live another day. It was a sound that told him he could shape his following days.

Torian punched clean through the Jedi's chest, puncturing lung and cutting the essential muscles of the heart. It wasn't enough.

It would never be enough.

He twisted the blade in both directions, shredding all the veins, blood vessels and nerve endings in the area. The Jedi cried out, coughing up blood and getting weak. Torian now held him up, the Jedi did not have any more force to stand. He clutched at his chest, trying to suck in air and sounding more like he was sucking in water. He was drowning on the blood in his chest and Torian was pleased by that. Torian took them away from Raidre. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't get the image of Raidre braiding Mako's hair out of his mind. How would she do that with one hand? How would she keep hunting without both hands? Death was a kinder fate than to be maimed. He used his free arm to cover the Jedi in slick oil and set him on fire. He waited until the body was charred and looked well beyond any medical assistance before he went back to Raidre.

Her vitals were low but stable, he picked her up and fished up her hand before banging out. He happened on the light saber and decided he was taking that too. Pulling his greave out to double check the map, he formed a plan to blow this facility sky high.

"Mantis, this is Torian, please come in."

NOTES:

1 . Jedi.

2. Helmet.

3. IBIDEM to note #1.

4. IBIDEM to note #2.

5 .An immense, warm-blooded predator native to Dathomir, Lehon and Felucia. It was first seen in Return of the Jedi wherein Luke Skywalker is attacked by one at the behest of Jabba the Hutt.

6. An insult, could be used anyway you want, I tend to use it for visceral swears such as 'fuck'.

7. IBIDEM to note #1.

8. Clan or family.