There were entirely too many people here. Carmen sat atop a particularly large and well built shack in Chute Town, the legendarily seedy black market in the junkyard excuse for a ship called the Godless Matron. He would ordinarily be in the streets, blending with the hundreds of people choking these alleys and storefronts, but he had built both his armor and Bebe for flash, which often helped when he needed to talk with his opponents, regardless of whether awe or intimidation was more apt. Unfortunately, he was told to “take care” of someone that would be showing up here soon, and reconnaissance didn’t really work well with the brightest gear in the sector.
“Any sign of… the guy?”
Carmen wasn’t told who he was looking for, really, just something about an expensive looking skull helmet. Bebe, his handmade B2 unit, was laying in a rather uncomfortable looking position while watching the entry gates. He would probably be better at it himself, but, as a droid, she didn’t struggle to maintain focus over extended periods of time.
“Nothing yet,” she replied, “but we were given a span of twelve hours, so it may not be for a time yet.”
Carmen winced at that. While he could change position, he couldn’t stand up here or people would start pointing. He had made all his preparations hours ago, so now he was restricted to his datapad and boredom.
“Eugh, this sucks,” he grumbled while rolling over to try and pass time watching himself for a while, “Doon couldn’t even tell me what to do with them? He isn’t the type to put out hits, and especially not with such vague wording-”
Bebe raised her hand slightly, cutting him off, then pointed to the leftmost gate.
“Skull helmet. Also looks heavily armed. Judging by appearance, beskar armaments.”
Carmen tried to pick out where his droid was pointing, taking almost a full minute to pick him out.
“Yeah, that looks like it… is that a MagnaGuard?”
A spear, advanced looking vambraces, even a… a lightsaber? Hard to see under that coat. And the rest of his clothing looked reinforced too, this guy came looking for a fight.
“Hold on, Bebe, you see that on his chest? What is that?” Carmens stomach fell, some pieces falling into place.
Bebe paused for a moment, her ocular lenses shifting, “That is the crest of the Knights. He’s one of us.”
“Doon, you bastard…”
A test then. He sent out two Knights for a high stakes spar. Who was this? He rolled a little to get his datapad back into view while giving orders.
“If this comes to fighting, you take the other droid, Surprise 2C. I’ll try to get one over on the Big Bad Wolf first though.”
“Jon Silvon, come in.”
Jon didn’t stop moving, not when his new friend might be close, but he raised his comlink enough so he could talk back.
“Well now, a full name is so formal, especially when you don’t give your own.”
“My name is Carmen Nu’Whin, then. We need to have a chat.”
Hm, Jon had heard about this one. Apparently he had been a Knight for some time, just hiding in the hangars pretending to be a bargain bin mechanic until recently.
“Aye, I’ve heard of you. Seems you’ve heard of me too. Unfortunately, I’m a bit busy at the moment, I suspect with the same thing you are.”
There was a pregnant pause. Jon suspected he knew what the twist of this business was going to be, already scanning for something bright and flamboyant in the crowds.
“More than you know. Doon send you out looking for me? Because he told me to, in his own words, ‘take care’ of you.”
Jon chuckled a little over the comm, but didn’t get a chance to respond before Carmen picked it up again.
“You know what I say? We both find some bar and get drunk enough that we can’t feel it when we give each other a black eye and tell him we did our best. You good with that?”
Shaking his head slowly, a grin spreading under his helmet, “Nah, kid. Sorry, but he’s paying my bills and he’ll know if we don’t cause a scuffle on Brotherhood territory. Tell you what though, I won’t kill you. Sound fair?”
“I was worried you would say something like that. But sure, I’ll do my best to leave you alive.”
“How kind of-”
“Attention,” came a voice over loudspeaker, “All crew personnel in Chute Town, entrance through sector 12, please report to briefing. Repeat, All crew personnel in Chute Town, entrance through sector 12, please report to briefing.”
Jon turned, watching a number of guards with modified, yet identifiable, uniforms began marching out towards the front entrance he had just come from. They didn’t hesitate, question or radio in for confirmation. This order had been in place for a while. The civilians seemed confused though, and there were still plenty of them around.
“MG, be on guard. He’ll hit when the guards are gone.”
With an affirmative buzz, the spindly droid equipped its staff and assumed a guarded stance. The last leaving guards didn’t spare more than a glance as he drew his own spear and leaned on it, eyes so sharp they almost bored right through his helmet.
Spinning on his heel and flicking the polearm to his side, he caught a falling lightsaber and parried it to the side as Carmen crashed to the metal deck behind him.
“The hell?” Jon grumbled, barely ruffled, “How did you sneak up on me with a jetpack? Ain’t those things loud as a rancor in enclosed spaces?”
If it wasn’t for his brilliant intuition, that blade would have probably hit him over top of his head. Not that it would do much more than rattle him, but it was the principle of the matter.
“Simple,” Carmen said proudly, saber retracting into its housing in his vambrace while straightening up, “I really hurt my knees just now.”
“Thanks for injuring yourself I guess?”
The sound of blasterfire behind him, though his instinct didn’t warn him of any danger. A quick glance showed him the rather comical sight of a B2 unit, probably as old as the ship he stood on, falling from the sky, unloading dozens of blaster bolts and rockets on his MagnaGuard, who was barely managing to block enough of the attacks to survive until both droids collided in a huge blast of smoke and dust.
Jon gritted his teeth then, “Do you have any idea… how expensive that was?”
His spear spun then, with a fluidity and agility that belied his rather chunky frame.
Kark, this guy was fast. His dossier emphasised his wit and tongue, but Carmen wasn’t exactly having an easy time with his spear skills either. It was obviously beskar, this close, so the only reliable defense he had was his saber. Thankfully, he was good enough with the saber to teach it, and defense was his specialty. Unfortunately, he had only managed to buy, both metaphorically and literally, fifteen minutes for this little performance, so a slow, drawn out fight wouldn’t be available. Kicking his jetpack on and leaning back, Carmen skidded back twenty or so feet for space and twisted his arms for access to his more conventional weapons.
Before he could plant his feet, a swarm of micro-rockets spewed out of Jons forearm, and Carmen was forced to respond with his own burst of Whistling Birds. As they began colliding in midair, green plasma darted both directions in the clouds and were deflected by blade and spear.
It was then that Carmen saw his opening.
With another blast backwards, he flashed out a puff of obscuring flame with one vambrace and a volley of blaster fire with the other, being rewarded with a small yelp of pain.
Landing on a nearby rooftop and cancelling out another wave of Whistling Birds, that would be painfully expensive, he shouted over the sounds of droids tearing each other apart, “You never trained with those blasters did ya? On point with spear and auto-targeting missiles, but no gunslinger in that aim!”
“If I had my knives you would already be dead to rights, kid!”
The smoke began to clear again, Jons shoulder with a new scorch mark. It wasn’t likely to be a severe hindrance to him, but Carmen knew his gameplan now. In close range neither could be beat, Carmen was more skilled at defense, but Jon seemed to know of any offense he would put forward. In medium range they were equal as well, just a matter of luck. But at long range, well, Carmen could fly and was a much better shot.
“Lets kick this up a notch, eh?”
Carmen ignited his jetpack again and took to the sky.
