Recalling the Guild: Aree Ankarta

[Darven]

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Bounty Hunter's Guild reforming. Membership mandatory for all in the business.

Meeting scheduled for 25:1:10, location to be announced later.

Thought you might want to know.



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Ru briikase haa'taylir gar vaabir bid jahaala.
- Dar


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[In case anyone wants to join - the location is CoCo Town, Coruscant, and it's going to be a bar-room brawl sort of thread. Just PM me first]

[Nya Halcyon]

'Ru briikase haa'taylir gar vaabir bid jahaala.'

She'd stared for a long time now, at that sentence only, not really taking in much else. It didn't seem to matter what else stood in it.

'I was glad to see you doing so well.'

Was it a joke? She'd been anything but doing well - so was this now a mocking reminder that he'd had to help her out?

The bountyhunter was in her pad on Imperial Center. 'Her pad' wasn't anything worth talking about, but it beat having to sleep in a cramped cabin on board her dilapidated ship while it was undergoing much-needed repairs. The last time she'd done that, she'd almost taken the head off some Rodian who'd been unfortunate enough to have caught the nightshift and had banged against the ship's hull a bit too loudly. He'd run screaming into the darkness after she'd threatened him a bit with the blunt side of her knife.

The ship's repairs and the pad came courtesy of her last "mark", Caran V'al Counis, the heir presumptive to the Counis Corporation, who'd been nice enough to offer once they'd gotten out of the small bit of trouble they'd both been in. She was going to have to be grateful for a while, but maybe he'd already forgotten about her by now.

The credits she would have left after paying for the repairs and rent for a week were enough to keep her running expenses for two months, so if she found something to do once she was off the planet, she'd be doing okay.

So the very last thing she needed right now was a reminder from the past, and someone who she had thought long dead come to life once more.

He should have stayed dead.

The countless times she'd felt sick to the bottom of her heart in the past - even now - whenever she'd not had the strength to push back the memories of her killing him; the endless hours of guilt, remorse, self-hate; everything she'd gone through in these past ten years, everything she'd put herself through just to make up for this one mis-step... and now he turned up, alive and well, mocking her for having to help her out of the mess she'd gotten herself in.

It wasn't fair!


Slowly her level of anger was rising, and she knew it well. It was not acceptable.

The Mandalorian got up from her chair in one sudden move, and then gave it a good kick with her right foot. It took to the air a short way and fell to the ground a few feet away with a loud clatter. The Twi'lek family under her would have yet another reason to complain, but at least it had felt satisfactory!

Then, in another reflexive motion, she leaned forward over the comm board, and typed in a short message that consisted only of one word.

Usen'ye.

Without reading it, she punched the send button, and then grabbed her helmet from the table. She needed to get out - the pad was suddenly too small for her alone. Yet she paused before putting on her armor - after a moment, she tossed the helmet onto a pile of dirty laundry in a corner, and exited the pad as she was. Tonight she'd need to be a part of the world around her.

The bountyhunter slammed the door shut, and took off, heading for one of the noisiest parts of the planet: CoCo Town.

[Ira]

No bumps, just a lot of noise. The clamor of skylane traffic, and happy hour wouldn’t be quieting soon. Each craft were clumped in invisible lanes, awaiting their signal for the next cluster. From above, the sprawl of speeders was an amazing display of order, but there was always one ruining it.

Near Kansen Entrance there was a little trouble with Cathar and Feeorin. No one wanted to get involve, and would blame them. A little bump and scratch here always turn into an altercation, but between those two it could turn into a war. Especially since both seemed to be on a cargo hull.
Business was being held up on all ends, and the two were already cussing away.

It was a spectacle. In the middle of it the problem wouldn’t seem as entertaining, but Ira didn’t have to worry about that. The EasyRide passenger air speeder coasted over. Asango, the Xexto pilot, had it all under control. He had been flying the Coruscanti skylanes for a decade, and knew every shortcut in town. Each hand on the man’s small body was at work, while his eyes swayed back and forth; a true multi-tasker.

Casual, calm, and curious, Ira slumped over in the back. The two had been talking the whole ride. Ira had learned a lot. The Imperial Center wasn’t the same as he had left it last. A lot had changed. New business had sprouted up, junk piles had been devoured, new shields were erected, and oh yeah…the Empire was in order. Ira’s last visit was when he was young, and he still was, but Coco Town wasn’t anywhere as spacious.

The entire fly-by-night canteen scene had been abolished. Not a repulsorlift could be seen in the sky as Asango slipped from the sky. Certainly the Empire’s henchmen had a hand in that. Of course, the garbage collection crisis had been handled too. The place looked a lot cleaner, but it should. CoCo District wasn’t a town named after some off-brand drink. CoCo stood for Collective Commerce, and it was now more evident than ever. All the bustle of traffic was business, while diners splurge across the land. Quick go and stops could be seen across the district as men and women were off to their next location with a haste only the Galactic capitol could know.

When he finally parked, he could feel it.

Warmth was coming. All the beautiful memories blanketed him at once like mom’s quilt. The first time he had taken a bite out of Dex’s famous burger. He liked burgers. They always tasted good at Dex’s place too. He wondered if the place was still there. When he first wandered into the district he got lost. Trumped into a bit of trouble, he got a nice hand from some Fallen. Come to find out, the girl was hitting on him.

Ira was so naïve.

“Aiite, I’see ya Asango, man,” he grinned, grabbing his chip back and throwing his backpack over his shoulder. This was just another stop, but he didn’t see himself going as fast as the others.

He wanted to enjoy this.

[Nya Halcyon]

There weren't enough trashcans littering the back alleys she walked through. Everything was too clean, too orderly, for her disorderly state of mind. The Mandalorian yearned for something... something other than this.

Clad in a black jumpsuit and a brown vest, her favorite garb outside the armor she wore almost constantly, Nya had been stalking the darkness through the backstreets of CoCo Town, trying not to think too much of what was gnawing at her. She was looking for some kind of diversion, no matter how small or short, but so far it had eluded her.

Her face was set in a sinister frown that gave her a pinched and haughty look. It was flushed from the heady depths of anger coursing through her bloodstream; like a disease it had invaded every pore of her. She knew its cost, its dangers well; two lives it had cost, just the one slip; exacted its price in the form of his death, and even if she had not found death like him, she'd not been whole these last ten years. The life that she'd known, the security, the feelings of comfort and belonging - the family, in short - had all died with him. It had been a terrible punishment.

Or so she'd thought.

But he was still alive. And there she was, like an obstinate child, indulging herself, gorging on what she'd denied herself all these years. Not that she hadn't felt its pin-pricks since, but that had been different; hadn't been that deep sense of hatred and loathing and red, hot, furious rage but the shallower, colder, controllable annoyance-turned-anger when something wasn't going as planned. If making her life miserable was the only punishment for a complete loss of control, apparently - then what was the point? There wasn't anything that could make it worse than it already was.

So she ploughed on, raging, and let it take her wherever it would.

[Ira]

The tap of his feet echoed in his ears. For Ira it was hard to grasp the vastness of Coruscant. Everytime he slunk down from the thick of space, he watched with awe. To actually be amidst it could mind-boggling. Sometime it was best to simply avoid certain things. He didn't want to fry his brain so early in his life.

And how early in his life was he?

Decades had passed since his last visit, but his face hadn't change. Ira was a special-breed. A species like man that had long, choregraphed dances with time. For some, he would be the one causing the mind-boggling, not Coruscant, but still it hit him. Even as he stood at the front of the very cantina he had once visited so many years ago, a strong reminder of his age relative to others, he couldn't help but see the buildings beyond that made him no more than a speck.

A sigh slipped from his mouth. He adjusted his hand, holding the bag haphazardly over his shoulder. Not much was in it, he never carried a lot, but he held it lazily. The string was tight in his grasp, yet the bag was banking back and forth.

"In I go...."

[Nya Halcyon]

She'd found an alley where time seemed to have stood almost still, where storefront after storefront lined the sides, their boarded-up windows smeared with graffiti slogans. A singular neon blue sign was hypnotically blinking on and off over one such front, like a thing lost and crying to be found, its electrical hum loud above the silence of the deserted street. The light, mirrored in the dull transparisteel windows of the floors aboveground, bathed that part of the street in a ghostly bluish glow. In the distance, at the other end, there was nothing; if she'd walk there she'd find the abyss opening up in front of her, the dizzying heights of the city making way to the lower levels.

She felt a strange kinship to this deserted, old, forgotten street. It, too, was a thing of the past. Maybe tomorrow the droid factories would pass over this part of the city and raze it, turn it into flashy buildings, and in a day or two it would be the new hub of the rich and successful. But today it still remained lost in the past.

As she stepped out into the middle of the street, a low wind was blowing stale air out past her, carrying the smells of another time with it. For a moment it was like she could almost hear the sounds of that time, too, yet then it was nothing but the slow whistling of the wind.

The lone surviving sign brought her to the remains of an old repulsorlift shaft, its carriage long since gone. Pressing the summoning button only resulted in a high-pitched whine. Following a sudden feeling that this was what she had been looking for, she pried the twisted half-open doors further apart and stared down the shaft. To her surprise it wasn't darkness that greeted her, but the glare of more neon coming from another street at least several levels down.

A moment later, acting on impulse and reckless abandon, she'd pulled herself into the shaft and began to climb down the narrow rungs on its side, towards the light. Hoping that the closer she would get to the undercity, the less civilised her surroundings might get.

[Ira]

"Hello, sir."

The blank voice molded from a droid. Ira paid it no mind. He had been desensitized to the sound. He didn't like machine all that much. Dust had collected on the greeter, too. Each day, the same routine, and the droid would go on about the menu and bar. The whole concept was a bit sad. Most of the time, it was even unnecessary, but it was a pirk. A small bit that most cantina's had, and this one had seem to be fond of. Ever since Dex's Diner droids had became a bit part of Coco Town.

Ira didn't like it.

Beyond the door sat the life. Sounds of unusual, and familiar, languages smashed together into a chaotic chatter to convuluted to decipher. Not a word truly register, but there was some Basic being flung around. There was even more than he remembered, no doubt a tribute to the Empire's New Order. A little had changed. Yet, not enough that the sweet old taste was gone. The air still was twinge with an incense, and his nose loved it. There was still the booths to the side he remembered charming a few girls in too.

It was still like home.

Over the years Ira had walked a many walks, and talk a many talks. Coruscant was one of those stops that made his walk a bit different though. Posh men spoke with forward tongues, and the women held a flair of eloquence despite the slight in their ways. Although the established was flushed with a bundle of foul, it was still Coruscant. Most still held that herald accent that illicit behavior couldn't discredit. Ira found the hypocrisy of the Imperial Centre's under-belly awkwardly lovely. There was something geniune and humane about it all. So much that his gait became all the more nonchalant, and cool in it's atmosphere, while most succumb to the bustle.

The focus of his eyes leaped and bounded a few. Some seemed to hold his curious mind for a second, then he crept his senses elsewhere. The place was a non-human hub. Folks of all creeds clustered here for long chats. Also, it was falling into the depths of happy hour, everyone was into having a good time.

Ira just wondered how long that'd last.

With a smooth stalk to the counter, he requested some water. Turning his body about, he observed. All was as he left it, beside the tension. Beside the smiles and glee, there was an undertone of fear.

Man, was the Empire a bully or what?

[Nya Halcyon]

To her disappointment, once she'd reached the last rung, she found herself on a narrow parapet that jutted out of a greyish-brown wall. To the street below there still remained a considerable drop of maybe 20 feet - a distance unpassable to her.

She'd break her neck trying it.

Would I?

Did it matter? The answer to that question didn't come as readily as the first. It was one she hadn't felt herself close to for a long time now - not since her first days in the merc army, when fighting with reckless abandon had been her way of ensuring she'd die young.

That hadn't worked out so well back then, either.

But the first question - that was raising another set of demons. She'd vowed not to touch upon it again, and doing so now would be disastrous, for a whole set of different reasons than just getting a little bit angry. Because that was the crux of the matter: the two things didn't combine so well. And she felt a little afraid of it, too.

Dead end.

For a moment Dar's face was in front of her eyes, the way he had looked up at her, his bloodied face full of acceptance. He'd shown her that death could be welcome. He'd longed for it.

Unbidden, and unwelcome, a single tear rolled down her left cheek. What did it have to do there?

She wiped it off her face with the back of her hand, now even angrier with herself.

The odd elation she'd felt at finding the shaft in the deserted street had somehow vanished with every rung she had taken further down.

She only had one option available now, and that was to go up the shaft again. And once up there, she would find a place full of people and spend the night drinking until there wasn't a sober thought left in her brain.

As she took a step aside on the parapet, to reach the first of the durasteel rungs, something underneath her boot made an odd-sounding wet crunch. For a moment she stopped in mid-motion, looking down at her feet to see what it had been, but saw nothing there. The parapet was empty except for her.

Suddenly, her stomach felt queasy. A general uneasiness came over her, and her state of alarm grew. Somehow, the air seemed impossibly still, of a sudden. Then, a loud flapping noise impossibly close.

She turned.

A hawk-bat, woken from his sleep by her boots on one of his claws as he'd clung to the underside of the parapet, flung itself at her, beak and claws ready for the kill.

For a second, she froze. Then the air stilled, much like the sound had around them, and she was still frozen to the spot. It was right beside the rungs, so going up was no longer practicable.

There was nothing left to do. She had to give in.

Opening herself to her 'other' skill, she realised it had already been part of her. It had frozen time, given her this chance. There wasn't any point in refusing it further.

She jumped.

And landed on the ground 20 feet below, impossibly steadily on both feet, with no blemish on her. And broke into a run. Away, just away.

The hawk-bat, seing itself deprived of its revenge, and its dinner, went after her, loudly screeching. And in its wake came two more, blindly obedient to the threat their mate had been under.

Looking back over her shoulder as she ran, Nya realised this, and started running in earnest. She needed to find cover, somewhere.

[Ira]

Ira blinked.

It wasn't one of those normal blinks. Not even the type of blink when the lights turn on. The blink was the sort that children have on Life Day. Or more like the blink fit for the first flight out in space. The blink was one of amazement. Yet, unlike the ones for Life Day, or the breath-taking glimpse of the universe, it was for surprise.

Doubt wet his eyes as his lids flopped up and down. He stared with uncertainty, and he wasn't alone. Behind him stood a motionless Whipid, his mouth made to gawk. The jaws droped on most aware, while the others spoke senselessly. The counter swung their attention and followed suite in the astonishment.

There, at the door, ran a woman. She was an interesting gal, of course, but it wasn't her looks that grabbed their eyes, minds, and ears. No, it was the sound and sight behind her. In mindless dash she tried desperately to escape the pack of vermin known as bats. No one liked bats. Ira didn't like bats.

Actually, Ira hated bats.

To him, they were like winged womp rats, and he despised those. Anytime he found himself stranded on Tatooine (because that was the only reason he'd stay there) he would grab the nearest blaster and go to work on them. He absolutely hated them. However, that did not mean that the little pest couldn't astound him. The very fact that they were even in his presence in such an establishment was enough, but that they were attack took the whole cake.

The only problem was he didn't have a blaster. Lucky for him though, he had ordered a drink, and had some decent aim. With one heave, he flung his full glass at the head of the pack. The cup flew over the woman's head, thudding the swooping beast right on the head.

"Yes," he celebrated.

Silly Ira, he rejoiced too soon. There were still more to go around, and he threw the only glass he could afford to buy.

"Frag!"

[Nya Halcyon]

Without a clue of where her flight was taking her, she ran. A hasty look over her shoulder every few minutes confirmed that the bats were still after her - and gaining.

Pulling a blaster and shooting them wasn't an option; even if she'd manage to get off two shots in time, she'd never get the third before it would get her. For a moment she wondered whether she could have got them all if she still had her father's weapon; but she didn't, so she couldn't, and she'd simply have to find some other way. Maybe if she found some place she could hide which they couldn't reach...

She hadn't paid much attention to her surroundings other than in a sense of finding somewhere to hide but after a while she noticed that while they had at first seemed as deserted as the one she had come from, every window and entrance boarded up, things were changing. Though still deserted, she could soon hear noise coming closer and closer.

Just like the beasties which she could now even sense behind her - no doubt something that came courtesy of her other skill.

Rounding a corner she almost smashed into a speeder that was taking off. Swerving around, she caught the reflection of the bats behind her in its shaded viewscreens. Too close!

But her inheritance seemed to be strongly on her side today; had she felt close to exhaustion a moment before, it lent her tired legs one more burst of speed and strength, and she went flying down the road. She could feel the energy, the renewed strength in the pumping of her thighs and hear it in the steadier thumping of her own heart in her ears. For a moment she rejoiced in the feeling: it had been long since she'd felt this way. For that moment she wanted it to last forever.

Then the moment was over, and there were three large and very angry hawk-bats on her tail again.

Her eyes darting around the new surroundings as she sprinted down the street, she zoomed in on what appeared to be a cantina two houses down, a droid standing guard outside it. She hoped the doors were strong enough to withstand her hunters.

Another fresh burst of energy took her right past the droid and inside. A high-pitched warble sounded outside as the droid seemed to have noticed the incoming beasties.

The cantina was fairly full. And the doors weren't sturdy enough, as a few seconds behind her it burst apart into a mass of flying glass shards, splintering wood and flapping wings. Fortunately she was already halfway between the door and the bar counter by then, and in the time the bats needed to find her again, she'd reached it and hopped over it, pulling the startled barman to the ground with her.

At the sound of more glass breaking and someone screaming and someone else cursing, it belatedly hit her that using a cantina as the place to take out the beasties hadn't been all that great an idea. She came up with her blaster drawn, just in time to see one of the bats crash into a table of shrieking Rodians while a dark-skinned man on the other side of the counter was looking at his empty hands in consternation.

She started firing at the other bats and got one, but the other dove in between the other customers who screamed and jumped up and generally got in time way of a clear shot.

[Ira]

An eye shot over his shoulder, about, and around. Shots had gone fired, and he hadn't ducked. He wasn't in the way, but he could have been. A lot of problems had risen up in a matter of seconds, and with it went his heart beat. The pump of adrenaline through his veins kept the world clear, sounds distinct, and feet ready.

While bats began preoccupied with the wall of fearful screams, and patrons, Ira thought fast. The pilot dashed a long side the bar, running his hand across. A few of the drinkers jumped out the way, while others became obstruction for him to swing around. There were very little empty bottles, but he managed to find one in his trial.

The idea was the same as the last.

He had no ammo, or any blaster. For a citizen like himself, it wasn't permitted, and not by the government. Instead, he wouldn't allow himself to get caught up on a planet like the Imperical Centre. There were far too many conflicts boiling around the galaxy, and he had enough history to connect him to any side if ever interrogated.

No way was going to a jail cell over wanting to be protected.

All he needed was a bottle to keep any idiot at bay. And so it was, grabbing the bottle, twirling about, and swinging like a game of ball. The glass swivel through the air, dancing about until it finally collided. Luck had been on his side the first time. Yet, no one was smiling down on him the second.

The glass hit one of the "obstructions" in the path. Somebody's head was in the way, and with a thunk they fell to the floor. All that was left were a few stray plates to fend the bats off. They were enraged, and ready to pounce.

Their target: him.

[Aree Ankarta]

But the first downed hawkbat didn't do her the favor of staying down; shrieking viciously it had joined its remaining friend while her attention was elsewhere - since she thought it was out of the fight anyway - and the two beasties were doing a great job evading her behind a group of tall hammerheads who alone amongst a mass of frantic people pressing for the doors were standing still and would not duck down no matter how many times she yelled at them.

So far she'd stayed put behind the counter - it had been a good cover. She was about to hop over it and go around the shabla hammerheads when out of the corner of her eye she noticed something: the dark-skinned guy whose glass had taken down the first bat was moving along the bar, looking for something. Puzzled, she saw him move around the trio of Ithorians, then reappear on their far side to continue his path along the counter. Finally, she watched as his fingers wrapped around a glass bottle and a second later she heard smashing glass again.

The guy had guts. No brain, but guts, at least. What was he thinking???

The Ithorians finally stepped out of her line of sight, just in time to see the two hawk-bats circle around and hone in on the would-be hero. His second bottle must have missed its target. And unless she'd do something to help him, he was going to end up as dead meat in the bat's gullets.

"Osik," she hissed under her breath. The distance between him and her was too great for her to reach him under normal circumstances. Unless she let the Force aid her again... and that would be as suicidal as the guy's brash behaviour, with all these people around.

Only a second had passed. She could still reach him... if she let herself.

And then time slowed. The noise became nothing but a low murmur in the distance. All that existed to her were the two hawkbats, the dark-skinned guy and herself. All she heard was the beating of her own heart, and the heavy sound of two sets of leathery wings in the air. Leaping onto the counter, she landed in midstep already and sprinted down the bartop, her feet somehow impossibly missing the glasses and plates as she did. As she ran, she had her blaster aimed at the beasties who were honing in on the guy, who was frantically looking for something else to toss at them. But it wasn't until she stood right behind him on the bar, and looking straight at the two great flapping beasts herself, that she fired two shots in quick succession.

Both hit home, dropping one bat instantly, while the other sailed a few steps closer to its intended victim before smashing onto the ground to the guy's feet.

Then time caught up with her again. The noise rushed back in. She stared down at the guy's face, her face set in a grim mask. "What in haran were you thinking?!?"

[Ira]

Silence trapped him. For once Ira was unsure.

He watched as the bats charged. He listened as the screams echoed. He even felt the stares of the cantina. Yet, one thing he did not note was the footsteps. A long the counter, in the mix of flapping beast, and deranged, disgruntled patrons trotted one. Determination tinged the air, but Ira was sure it was only him.

The only problem with that thought was he was unsure about everything else.

Already his futile, wild attempt had fallen face first. He had little else to call on. Ira felt a panic. In the anxious stand, he sought refuge in memories. There was no escape other than to the mind at this point. The bats were too close, and his reflexes would be too slow. Of course, he had the quickness, but these were beast. They would only follow him, just as they had the masked guide that had brought them here.

In the splash of nostalgia, he gulped down the good times. Certainly he was going to be a beast's dinner tonight, and he rather one last drink before he was gone. The glass he threw didn't have anything in it, but his memories were a strong enough shot for him. As he gulped down, he squeezed his eyes in pain and awaited.

Nothing happened.

When he woke from his past, returned to the present, and realized the world he wasn't anything less than confused. The bats had fallen. One a bit a distance away, while the other decided to be a bit too close for comfort. Impulse told him to back up, while his instincts said to do it faster. In a blink his back was against the counter, but he felt more than the hard of the cantina bar. Someone was behind him.

Lifting his head up, he noted the woman. She wasn't happy. He knew exactly why. She had that damn blaster in her hand.

"I wasn't," he aptly answered. Anything else he had to offer her was left to his grin. Ira smiled innocently, yet sly. Ira always smiled that way.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

The sound of the sirens went unnoticed amidst the din within the bar - the screeching of the hawk bats, the blaster fire and broken glass, the hollering of the patrons caught in the crossfire of man and beast - was demanding much more of the attention than the obscure wailings from beyond the immediate danger zone.

The sirens were not of the ICPD however, although, Tarruurri did have hers wailing along with the others. It was the Dept of Wildlife that were squealing in beserk heraldry of their arrival, the twin vans careening into the spacelane with blatant disregard of life or limb of those unfortunate to be in their path, an angry Rodian smacking his palm against the van's side in outrage. There had been reports of hawkbats being harrassed and attacked by persons unknown and the DOW were here to come to their rescue.

The creatures themselves were not helpless, but they were however protected, being as they were only one of two suspected indigenous species remaining in the vast urban and commercial conglomeration that was Imperial Center. They didnt venture out much amongst the general populace, thankfully, but preferred to dwell unnoticed and unhampered in the steamy alleys and underpipings of the city. It was a happy arrangement and only once and a while did the bats and the rest of the city inhabitants converge. Like tonight. The call had come and the vans dispatched.

Pulling up outside the bar, where an obvious conflict was in full swing, two pairs of Wildlife workers exited each van like some kind of animal swat team. Tarruurri nosed her ICPD cruiser half a block down, preferring to make her entrance once the critters were well in hand and subdued. Then, that'd be her cue...take the offending instigators in hand and..well...arrest them. It was not really her usual arena of policing, but she was in the neighbourhood and this was part of her sector. Until the uniforms arrived, she'd be takin names and...how'd that saying go again? Anyway..

Taking her time, but keeping well and truly alert should there be more bats flying about, Kajeela made mental notes of her surroundings and moved slowly forward.

[Aree Ankarta]

"Don't state the obvious!" she snapped at the guy. She was starting to wonder if he was drunk - only intoxicated beings would try such foolish acts of bravery out of a lack of understanding of the true risk of the situation. Disgust settled over her face, turned the corners of her mouth into a sneer as she noticed the empty glass in his one hand and the moisture on his lips. "If that wasn't the most--"

She didn't get to finish what she meant to say for at that moment a duo of creatures in what looked like a green variant of stormtrooper armor entered through the splintered remains of what had once been a set of doors, brandishing nets and a stunner of a size she'd never seen before. The sight made her forget what she'd wanted to say, especially when another pair of them came running in a few seconds later, screaming "DO NOT HARM THE ANIMALS! DO NOT HA--"

The scream died in mid-sentence as the screamer saw what his companions had already realised a moment before: there wasn't anything left to save.

Nya anticipated trouble the moment she'd seen them, without needing to know what they were or who had sent them. True to form, once these odd orderlies had taken stock of the situation, she watched them fan out, two of them moving to the broken doors to prevent anyone else from leaving, another pulling a comm from his belt and rapidly barking a few unintelligible words into it, while the forth moved with surprising speed towards the dead bats - and her.

Refusing to let it worry her, she assumed a sore and expression of utter cool and control, and holstered her blaster. Haughtily she watched the DOW agent - as that was what they seemed to be, judging by the letters emblazoned onto their backs - approached her.

[Ira]

Ira was born to be a rebel without a cause. It was in his nature to detest officials. Any sort of governing official, or administrative figure stood as a threat to his very being. There was never a reason, purpose, or specific act that called for his brash behavior, but that was how he function. He could help it, but why would he? For the most part, Ira enjoyed himself. All the wild, unruly silliness he got himself into kept his blood boiling. It was the only way for him. There were no other options.

Ira was always born to be a pest. He attracted the kind unlike him. The type of people that were serious about themselves. The ones with drama in their life. Those many folk that woke up in the morning, looked at themselves in the mirror, and then put on a suit. As the youngest of his siblings, he was a professional agitator. A long with being a rebel, it was in his make-up.

So, when he saw Aree's coolness, and the fleet of officers he went into over-drive. It was like bumble bee finding a flower, or interceptor running into the enemy. This moment was his calling, his destiny. The stage was set, and he was ready to act a fool.

In a blink, his arm was up. He raised in a student like stupor, wiggling it about impatiently. Sweat beads trickled down his face in a feign of nervousness. Ira fidgeted restlessly, but kept his hand high, raised, and waiting. He looked like a kid in class about to answer a question. Yet, so much like a child, he didn't wait to be called on to finally answer this question (that was never asked).

Shifting this thumb to the side, he directed at Aree. With only a few words he had set in all in motion, and he did it with a devilishly, mischievous, boyish grin:

"She did it!"

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Kajeela slipped inside the destroyed doorway, the flash of her Detective sheild in the DOW officer's face ensuring her hassel-free passage.

She picked her way unobtrusively to one side of the shambled room, keen eyes watching every movement while an expectant dread settled on the patrons within. Every caught breath and furtive glance of the occupants reeked of guilt and complicity with their reckless actions - the lone exception being the woman standing boldly across from the Wildlife Agent. Kajeela waited, knowing any minute now...And there it was.....the first one to crack - a young fella pointing accusingly, and as eagerly as if his hair was on fire, to lay blame.

The officer was uncertain, looking from the cool gaze of Aree over to the smug face of Ira.

Tarruurri's eyes narrowed darkly and her tail began to flick. After a moment of consideration, she spoke with firm authority.

"Take them both jin"

[Aree Ankarta]

This would have been a good time for wearing the armour and helmet. She suddenly incredibly naked and vulnerable without them. Then the moment passed, and she felt composed, cool calmness washing over her.

This wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with officials. The trick was to stay reasonable and not to let herself be pushed into a corner from which she might do something stupid to get out of again. Like letting herself be provoked into using the Force. She'd not stayed ahead of the Inquisitoriate for all these years just to fall into their hands now because of some idiotic bar brawl that wasn't her fault anyway.

As long as this identity held up - which it would, since she'd legally taken it up and destroyed any records of her real name, as well as the memory of the clerk handling her name change - she wouldn't have anything to fear as long as she didn't call the Inquisitoriate's attention upon herself.

It seemed that the felinoid officer was the one she would have to deal with. So she hopped down from the bar - making sure to bend her knees low at landing on the floor, in imitation of someone without her skills - and, ignoring the DOW officer who tried to grab her, walked over to the Cizerack in charge.

"I'm not going to deny that it was me who shot these beasties, but the utreekov over there would have been dead if I hadn't, seeing that he was trying to shoot them out of the air by throwing bottles at them."

Stupid idiot! She turned around and glared at him for a moment before turning back and looking for the Cizerack's response.

[Ira]

Aree looked. Ira grinned. He grinned a big one, too. Ira’s ears almost met the ends of his lips. The young fella was more childish than young. No words came up, he didn’t have a retort. All he did was allow his cheeky, child-like response play its parts. Then, he shrugged his shoulders weakly, knowing all too well how he came across. For the most part, he seemed insane, or at the very best inane.

He’d throw on the fool’s cap.

There wasn’t many other caps he could wear. Already he had made the mistake of throwing bottles, so any mindfulness would be unbefitting. Maybe, just maybe, if he kept up with the immature role he’d be let down easy. Ira still had his youth on his side, and hopefully it would work to his grace when everything finally went down.

[Kajeela Tarruurri]

Tarruurri eyed the pair of them, while in the peripheral the Wildlife officers slowly moved to encircle them.

Kajeela held up a belaying hand toward them, halting their progress forward for the moment.

"How djid they get ssso rrrjiled up to attack jin the fjirrrssst place?"

She was asking Aree, but was clearly suspicious of the young fellow grinning like the town idiot.