November 18, 2009

543. Black Phoenix - Trychon

Trychon hopped off of the swoop, with a force boost to give him extra clearance to flip forward and land on his feet. He twisted in mid air, his back facing the fast approaching attack.

He yelled to ensure that Haley could hear him over the roar of the wind combined with the engine he'd left running in case she needed to get clear. "Get any shots off if you think you can, but stay behind my blade!"

He spun around, knowing he didn't have time for a response from her, but he could feel the apprehension she felt through the force. He thought that was odd, that he'd noticed she always had a very level emotional keel. The laser fire from the bounty hunters came in right on cue. He began to block the incoming blasts deftly, but they were coming too rapidly for him to redirect any back to their origin with purpose. He felt a few shots come from behind him as Haley attempted to take down one of the riders. He wondered if her ability to feel apprehension where most would feel fear came directly from having computers integrated with her somehow, or if it was instead an indirect result.

Trychon cursed as the two swoops swung wide around them. He was really hoping for one or both of them to swing in range of his thrumming lightsaber. They were probably trying to look for some kind of trap on the other side, he figured. As he watched them make their wide turns to make another approach, he estimated he had enough time to actually walk around to the other side rather than jump over, so he walked up to Haley.

"You ok?" He asked her, noticing for the first time that she had a small burnt hole in her outfit over her right arm, though it was not smoking as a recent blaster wound normally would.

"I am not going to be able to hit one of them with you constantly changing your position." Haley replied, sweeping a strand of her hair back behind her ear, mildly frustrated by the wind.

"Well, we'd be bantha meat if I stood still long enough for you to get a clean shot." He commented as he set himself up for the next run by the swoops.

"I figured you'd say that." She said, checking her levels on her blaster.

Trychon was about to tell her to keep trying, and maybe they'd get lucky... but he knew she was going to anyway. He watched as the swoops began to bear down on them and their lasers opened back up.

Fools. If they'd thought to split up and flank me, I'd have had some trouble. Here's hoping I don't give them time to learn that mistake.

He grinned as they got closer and closer. He felt as though they intended to make a close sweep this time, to get a point blank shot or even knock them over. He reached out as he blocked their bolts and tried to confirm their feelings that they should fly by as close as they could.

He let a few bolts fly by that were not any danger to him or to Haley and their swoop. He blocked several more shots, and the grin grew as they got closer and his knees bent in anticipation.

The swoops came closer and closer, and their shots became more meticulous as the distance closed, no longer taking wild shots and just hoping to score a hit. Their velocity also slowed as they got close, though they were still coming at an incredible speed.

Finally, the time was right and Trychon pounced. Rather, he jumped straight up and waited for the first goon to fly under him. As he did, Trychon swung his leg into his side, careful not to catch him from the front and be overwhelmed by the swoop's momentum.

Trychon was rewarded by immediately feeling the swoop begin to fly out of control. The impact was still enough to spin him around, but it with the Force, he was able to maintain control. It was only a fraction of a second before the second man was on him, but Trychon was already in position.

He landed softly and fell to his knees to absorb the shock, having cut the bounty hunter from shoulder to hip. He could hear the swoopbike crash into the ground. He turned to make sure neither had run into Haley and their vehicle. He saw instead just their two person swoop.

In the vast wilderness of Tatooine's desert, it didn't take long to find Haley's unique force signature. He ran toward one of the two pillars of smoke and dust that was just beyond where he'd set down moments before. As the dust settled and he got closer, he could see Haley walking towards what must be the wreckage of the first swoop rider. He had already passed the twitching and mangled legs from the second rider.

Haley stopped as Trychon got near. She raised her blaster, hesitated, and switched it to her left hand before putting two shots into the bounty hunter who was moaning at her feet.

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