" Copy that, Camo, " Coondor replied as he swung the LAAT around, coming up behind the remaining vulture droid. Without anything to get behind, the vulture droid wasn't going anywhere, and Condor sent off a volley of air-to-air rockets. An explosion clipped it at the joint, sending the left wing off into the sky as the Vulture droid spun out of control, spiraling downwards before colliding with a building in a fiery explosion. As he swept back down, Condor lowered his speed back to the safer level for the LAAT, and Bullseye took the opportunity to vent some of the heat building he accrued over the short dogfight. " Not in the clear yet boys, still gotta get down to that transport! "

Ker'see instantly recognizes the bounty hunter on his jet pack. She scared him off once but this time she won't make the same mistake, pushing herself forward with the force she leaps forward with a swipe of her blade. She wasn't expecting him to be so ready with his jetpack and she badly calculated her attack and missed the bounty hunter. As she tumbled to the ground the Jedi called for her ally to follow up attack. The Duchess get the man!

The devaronian managed a safe enough landed but was a little scattered from the impact. With a roar The Duchess charged forward and attempted an attack against the bounty hunter but once again he was too timble and she followed her master out of the window landed with crash upon the ground.

"We need to get into cover!" Ker'see orders her companion and moves to hide somewhere the bounty hunter can't find her.

However, Jango saw where Ker'see fell and fired a grenade after her, the detonation threw the already battered Ker'see headlong into a tree. The impact rendered her unconscious. Jango circled watching for movement from either Ker'see or the now hidden nexu.

Jorin involuntarily ducked as the explosion erupts outside, What the- he could hear an animal cry out and sound of jets. He turned to the large lobby windows that spanned a good floor or two above, the glass long since blown out from multiple battles. In the air he could see a figure in silver armor wearing a jet-pack circling a figure slumped against a tree, Jorin activated his comlink. Master Mireska, I think Master Ker'see fell out of the building! Jorin said, trying his best not to panic. He scooped upone of the droids blasters from the floor and moved closer to the windows to get a better shot at the armored figure.

I think they were attacked by someone wearing silver armor and a jet-pack.. He brings up the blaster awkwardly as the B1's at the stairs try and figure out what to do with the odd Jedi who attacked them, but is now running away..

Jorin squeezes the trigger, letting off a stream of fire, and watches in dismay as his shots barely miss his target. He pulls the trigger again as the figure turns in his direction, the figure lazily adjusts his position, easily avoiding his second volley.

Master? Jorin says wearily, I'm not having a very good day....

Jango took one look at the source of the fire and surmised the situation correctly, Seems like I have to discourage your padawan before we finish our business. and then he launched a plasma grenade at Jorin,

Shooting at Jorin : 4eP+1eA+2eD+1eS 6 successes, 1 Triumph

18 damage minus 3 soak = 15 wounds taken, triumph to crit, is there a scar talent you want?

Now where were we? Ah yes you were about to return my pistol to me, but you seem to have turned it into jewelry. Guess I'll take your lightsaber too. Don't worry, you won't miss it because you'll be dead.

with that, Jango leveled his pistol, the mate to the one Ker'see turned into an amulet, at Ker'see's head

When Mireska heard Jorin's words, followed by the sound of a grenade blast, she straightened up with a frown.

"I'm on my way," she replied tersely.

Gathering the threads of the Force to help her, she imagined herself as a dejarik piece being picked up and leapfrogged from square to square. That's me, the Ghhhk being moved in to heal another piece ... Sith take that sniper, my kriffing leg still hurts!

At the apex of her third leap Mireska quickly drew and activated her lighsabre, and followed it up with the activation of her portable plasma shield from her vambrace. She then landed right beside Ker'see and brandished her teal-bladed lightsabre at the unknown man in Mandalorian armour.

"I suggest that you surrender, instead," she stated calmly.

Seeing her master on the ground The Duchess stands sees the one who did it and watches him carefully waiting for the chance to attack.

Jango jet packed into the air out of of Mireska's reach and was left handi aiming the grenade launcher in her direction when a blaster bolt from across the river struck grazed his arm causing him to spin in the air. Down below, Jango heard Ker'see's armor comm crackle " This spot is taken. Ker'see, you okay?" knowing the odds were no longer in his favor Jango jetpacked away with his prizes.

Hearing the by now distinctive clanking sounds and "roger, roger" exclamations from the B1s inside the building, Mireska realised that the battle was not yet finished. She called upon the Force and leapt into the lobby of the office building, landing with a wince beside the wounded Jorin. Just call me the Ghhhk.

A pause, a breath, and then the Force danced again at her fingertips. Sluggishly, but enough to heal a several of Jorin's wounds and to soothe his dizzy head.

Mireska called Ethan for help on the comlink, then prepared to defend both herself and Jorin against any attacks from the droid groups.

blast them! roger roger, roger roger,... the droids said

Shooting at Mireska : 2eP+3eA+1eD+4eS 0 successes, 2 advantage, 1 Triumph

Shooting at Jorin : 1eA+1eS+2eP+2eA+2eB 4 successes, 5 advantage

Ducking and weaving, Mireska avoided the blasterfire aimed at herself. A frantic step to the side allowed her to deflect the worst of the shots aimed at Jorin.

The droids focus their fire on Mireska

Shooting at Mireska : 2eP+1eA+3eD+4eS+5eB 3 successes, 1 threat, 1 Triumph

12 damage incoming how do you want to spend the threat?

Shooting at Mireska : 3eP+2eA+1eC+4eS 1 success, 5 advantage

10 incoming damage.

Jorin thanked Mireska for her healing his wounds before rushing into the a group of B1's, swinging his saber in a controlled tight loop, sidestepping and twisting between the droids.. slicing through the torsos of three of them before he was forced to duck as they opened fire again.

Mireska used the Force to leap towards the larger group of battle droids and tried to sweep her lightsabre into one of the B1s - but to no avail. The ducking battle droid found itself out of position and unable to assist the rest of its group on their next attack.

Will of the Force and all that, but I am getting just a tad bit aggravated with these things!

Both droid groups then unleashed their blaster fire at her, and she spent a few more desperate seconds ducking and swinging her lightsabre again. Ouch, that hurt! She did observe, however, that one droid was so startled by her swings that it accidentally took a step forwards instead of backwards.

Gritting her teeth, Mireska swung again with a will - I simply must brush up on my Niman - or maybe Shien! - and this time managed to connect with the unlucky battle droid which had stepped forward. It fizzled, then dropped. Finally achieving this success gave her a surge of minor elation.

Jorin bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, looking for an opening... the remaining droids in front of him nervously twitch their heads, looking around.. Jorin is aware of their nasally voices talking to each other, and to him.. something about surrender? He isn't sure whose, but two of them shift positions just enough.

Now! Jorin lunges between between them swiveling his blade from right to left as he passes the droid on the right, neatly halving it.. he follows through with turning to the left, the blade continues its path through the back of the droid on the left.

The remaining droid was to the right of the one that he just cut down. Jorin swings the blade around and delivers an over hand swipe cutting the droid from shoulder to hip, cross ways.

Master? Do you need my help? Jorin asks over the comlink, as sparks from scattered droid parts dance on the floor..

Ethan used the force and leaped from the snipers nest he was currently in to the other. There were several droids in this nest. “Blast him!” The first droid commanded to his fellows. Ethan used the force, sending all the droids slamming into the roof and then slamming right back to the floor, crippling them.

The last battle droid hit the floor and silence reigned.

Ethan, Jorin, and Mireska looked around carefully, checking that there were no more enemies. The Duchess nosed Ker’see’s unconscious body, then sat down beside her with a distressed trill.

Once assured that there were no more immediate threats, Mireska began to heal her comrades, starting with Ker’see. The rapidly vanishing adrenaline from the recent battle made it difficult for her to maintain the necessary focus, but she persevered. Even the Duchess deigned to be at least partially healed of the consequences of her overly-enthusiastic pounce and subsequent fall.

The Jedi discussed their next options, and decided that Ethan and Jorin would go to the site of the speeder bike crash. There they would right the BARC, check the sabotage charges, and make any necessary quick fixes before using the double BARC to meet the other two at the enemy sniper’s nest. In the meantime, Ker’see would recover her beloved bow and Mireska check for intelligence-related salvage from the fallen B1s. It was a long shot, but maybe she’d find something actionable. They and Duchess would then take Ethan’s BARC and Ker’see’s double BARC to meet the others.

Once at the other sniper’s nest, the Jedi put the sole surviving - and blinded - sniper into binders. Mireska debated healing him of his blindness, but decided to wait until they were all safely back at the GAR garrison. She did heal his other injuries though. The sniper’s nest yielded a small trove of dangerous firearms, most of which the Jedi immediately confiscated “for undercover use”.

Ker’see set herself up in the enemy sniper’s nest, with Duchess guarding her back and the prisoner. Ethan, Mireska, and Jorin took the single and one of the double BARCs to lay the sabotage charges underneath the two bridges. The "fixed" BARC was left with Ker'see as no one was willing to ride it over the river more than absolutely necessary.

Deciding that expediency was the order of the day, they didn’t mess around with motion-sensitive triggers and the like and instead set up the charges with a normal detonator which was activated remotely once everyone was safely back on the Republic side of the river. After all, as Mireska pointed out, the armoured Mandalorian - who according to Republic Intelligence was probably the infamous (and demonstrably dangerous) bounty hunter Jango Fett - had escaped to the CIS forces and most likely knew the location of the that sniper’s nest.

As soon as they were at a safe distance, they blew the bridges and rendezvoused with Ker'see. The prisoner was tied to the baggage carrier of Ethan's BARC, and the Jedi rode quickly back to the GAR garrison. The quick-fixed BARC would definitely need some garage time.

Ker’see was notably disgruntled. Not only had Fett managed to deal her some serious wounds and knock her out, but he’d also made off with both her protective amulet and her lightsabre. She could only hope that he dealt himself an equally nasty injury if he tried to activate it. In the meantime, she needed to build a replacement lightsabre. And coddle the Duchess.

Meanwhile, Mireska was wondering what a devious man like Fett could do with the amulet if he discovered its function. She shivered mentally at the thought of him using it to gain unconventional access to space stations, underwater locations, and the like. We need to find out what he looks like, so that we have a better chance of identifying him.

Jorin was still keyed up after their foray into enemy territory. It had been at times exhilarating, terrifying, and sobering. There was obviously still a lot left to learn.

Ethan just wanted to put his feet up and sleep. Coming almost directly from dogfights amongst the stars and in the sky to firefights on the ground had not made for a restful day.

When the Jedi returned to the GAR garage, they were met by the overalled clone specialist Spanner whom they had met in passing prior to the foray. Mireska thought that he must have been from one of the earliest batches and been subjected to some sort of severe trauma during his development and training - otherwise why would he not only look slightly older than the others but also be starting to go grey already? (It was a distinguished look, mostly expressed by grey streaks at his temples.) Nevertheless he was still in the same peak physical condition as the other clones, so the Kaminoans had let him through the needle eye of their search for "perfection".

Spanner looked at the BARCs and shook his head with a good-natured smile. Then he spoke with that peculiar drawl which was found among those clones produced in one of Kamino's southern cities.*

"Howdy, Generals, Commander. Y'awl sure know how to keep a mechanic busy, so thank you for the job security. I just wanted to let General Shin know that I should be able to get his starfighter space-worthy in a few days." He paused, looking pointedly at the "fixed" speeder bike. "Combat-worthy would normally be a week, but it might get deprioritized in favor of things more essential to the ground battle, things like, I don't know, gettin' a severely damaged BARC back into fightin' shape. But don't worry, I'll take care of ya, Generals, Commander. Anything else y'awl need from me, just hollah. I'm ya man."

* What? Every planet has a south!

(To paraphrase a certain famous doctor.)

"Thank you, Spanner," Mireska said, "That's very kind of you. And I apologise for the state of that BARC - the situation was briefly quite dire there."

"I'm going to Medical, to see if anyone needs any major healing," she told the others. "If you need any more healing yourselves, please meet me there." That last was added with a pointed look at Ker'see's remaining wounds.

She then looked at Jorin with an evaluating eye. "I suggest that you work off any residual energy at the gym. I'll join you there after my visit to Medical."

Ker'see ignores the clone and heads straight to her quarters, The Duchess following closely. She needed to meditate on what happened and considered how to hunt the kriffing bounty hunter.

Jorin unhooked his lightsaber and looked at it for a moment. I think I'll work on my combat skills.. he told her, bowing. This mission showed me I still need to improve in a couple of areas. And I think I will meditate on what you've taught me.. Healing and Alchemy are very intriguing.

"Healing is very useful, even if you don't seek a Healing Mastery." Mireska replied to Jorin. "Right now you can probably heal someone as well as a handful of stimpacks. However, while you can run out of stimpacks, you'll never run out of the Force." She paused. "Alchemy, on the other hand ... I suggest keeping it to a very limited scope. Too much can go wrong there, even with the best of intentions."

Mireska stretched and then shrugged. "I believe that I'll order us some training remotes from the Temple. I had been thinking of brushing up on my Niman form, but today's experience has reminded me that Shien might be even better under these circumstances."

"Thanks. I guess it could be worse." Ethan says as he then turns to Mireska. "You strike me as someone who would use Form Two. I have been trying to practice Form 7 recently. "

"Form II, Makashi? I'm really not a duellist by any stretch of the imagination, and I lack the ... errr ... supreme social flair which most Makashi-users have." Mireska replied to Ethan. "My master thought that the more generic Form VI, Niman, would be suitable for me, particularly seeing as I was heading for the Healer focus. But I never got around to developing my skill with moving objects, so that idea fizzled at the time. I was too busy keeping my nose to the metaphorical grindstone, studying to become both a Healer and a doctor. I will eventually get to Niman ...

"However, considering all the blaster shots which have been heading our way recently, Shien's mastery of deflection suddenly feels far more important to me! But I'll need to read up on the temple texts - Form V was never my strong suit either.

"You said Form VII?" she continued, "That's brave of you. I've heard that Master Windu has mastered it though, and - maybe more importantly - created a safer, if more difficult, version that he named Vaapad." Mireska paused in thought for a moment.

"According to the reports from the Naboo incident ten years ago, the Darksider used Juyo. After consulting with the Combat Master, Kenobi switched forms from Ataru to Soresu because of that experience. We certainly stopped seeing his beautiful Ataru aerials in the training salles," she sighed in recollection.

Form five.. Jorin thought, is good against blasters? he pulled out his data pad and added information about Form V to the queue of requests from the Temple. That would be helpful in combat situations...

"I haven't had many encounters with Master Kenobi. Mostly saw him at the temple. It seems like he favors defense, so that form makes sense for him. I never really talked with him. You know him personally?" Ethan asked curiously.