The Place of Kastays

**Pollo put away his Card**
"yeah, it is a big building, but most of it is underground..." **he said with a wink**

**Major Pollo led Raala through 2 more security checkpoints before entering the large building from a small side entrance. the inside was plain imperial style and the hall here had several turbolifts. One was waiting, open, and Pollo stepped inside. Once Raala got in, it shot downwards and then stopped, the doors opening.

*There was an additional security checkpoint and a scanning station. beyond the station was an armory, and beyond the armory, was the shooting ranges.**
*looking at Raala* :"Your not armed are you?" **the major pulled out his service blaster and gave it to the security people before being scanned.*
They gave the major his blaster back after wards.**

"Shtttt"; Raala extended his sharp claws out of his left paw.

"Do these count?"

He joked, then shook his head, indeed he was not armed, and after submitting to the scanning he was allowed to proceed onwards down the straight, crisp clean corridor toward the armoury.

Thus so far with the exception of the sheer vastness of the building, Raala had not be overly impressed. Every wall, every floor tile and strip light was identical as though the building itself had been constructed to emphasise a uniformed military precision.

He walked with a measured stride so as not to stream past Pollo, a short walk down the corridor and they were in the armoury; then Raala was impressed.

Never in his life had he seen so many weapons in such quantities; from light repeaters to hold out blaster pistols they were here, sniper rifles, chain guns; well you name it.

Raala didn't know quite what to do with himself and he just stood goggle eyed drinking in the dark metallic sheen of the glorious weapons.

**Pollo smiled and made an 'ooooo!' face at the sharp claws and the stormtroopers took a step backward at the display. They obviously weren't used to Xeno's.*

*The scanning showed no conventional weapons and raala was allowed to join Major Pollo in the armory.**

"So we have just about one of anything here. Whats your speciality? Slug throwers? blasters? distrupters? Ion blazers? Stun batons? Nagi vibro swords? Taser staffs? Blaster rifles?..." **Pollo motioned around at everything.**
"Take your pick and we can begin target practice. Maybe take several and try each of them out. You have 8 days, we're not really in a hurry. Take your time."

Raala nodded then walked forward, brushing his pawed hand across the firm re-assurance of the durasteel and alusteel the blasters were constructed from. He then selected a blaster rifle, a slug thrower and a force pike.

He nodded in satisfaction.

"I don't know if I have a speciality, I was always quite good with most blasters, but better in unarmed combat and melee combat, lets see how rusty I have gotten."

The Trianii was rather hoping he hadn't become rusty at all, but plus three years was a long time, long enough to loose his cutting edge, however a few weeks of regular practice should have him able enough to shoot a flee of the wing of a Mynock.

He turned to Pollo, eyeing his colleague to see what his preference was.

"Do you have a favourite?"He asked, then gestured with his hand, surveying the weapons around them.

**Major Pollo Laughed.**
"My favorite? I like to think that I am best with this-" **he held up his writing stylus that he used to enter data into his datapad.**
"But I enjoy 2 weapons in particular." **He put the stylus away and hefted a Golan Arms Flechette Cannon.** "This bad boy was my favorite to fire when I was at the academy. Though as you know, with a flechette weapon you don't really have to aim, to hit your target. I have to admit, I'm not really a good shot: My service blaster is what I am used to the most. I guess I have achieved a level of mastery that is acceptable, but by no means special."
**He put down the cannon and picked up the officer's service blaster. He flipped the safety off and back on, before picking up an ammo clip and put it in the receiver chamber.**

"Well if you're ready, let me show you the target range." **The major led Raala into the a joining area. Only an Officer, a protocol droid and a barabel were there.
Paying them no mind, the major led Raala to a vacant stall.*
***this particular stall had 3 partitions, one for short and mid-range, one for long range, and one for sniper shots(ranges father than 1 Km). While the sniper range wasn't actually longer than 1000 meters, the size and motion of the targets created the effect of extreme long range shots. The lighting could be varied to simulate firing under low light conditions. The targets were holograms that could walk and move and act like real targets. They even had AI that would allow them to respond realistically to being fired at or shot. For example, If you shot one in the foot, it would silently hop around as if screaming in pain, or try to limp away, or dive for cover.***

"Lets start with stationary targets. I'll go first and show you how it works."

**Major Pollo took position in the first partition and set the range dial to short. He lifted his gun, taking aim, as the Holotargets assembled themselves down range. He finally flipped the safety off and let off 5 slow deliberate shots at 5 separate targets. He finished and put his Blaster on safety and put it down.**

"I'm not so grand, see?" **he pointed to his results. 2 out of 5 were in the 'kill zone', 2 were hits but only representing superficial wounds, and one had missed outright.**

Raala grinned, although Pollo was joking the Trianii knew that a stylus could be quite an effective weapon in close combat, especially with soft squishy organic eyes involved.

Raala then indicated he was ready and followed the Major taking in the large expanse of the room they entered, with its many firing ranges and a tactical area and several mats and training scenario's from taking down a hostage taker to unarmed grappling. Raala nodded again in approval. The New Order of the Eye really had no expense spared when it came to ensuring their officers and troops had the best equipment and top of the range training.

Raala padded over to the firing range and leaned against a side panel gripping his blaster, with the barrel pointing upwards, he watched Pollo shoot. Pollo would probably out do him, he was a good few years out of practice, and despite what Pollo said, Raala didn't think he was as bad as he claimed.

He was grateful that the Major had chosen stationary targets that were within a few hundred meters or closer, hopefully this would build up the Trianii's confidence.

"Give your self some credit, I have seen far worse, not certain I can beat that."

Raala smiled then after the Major had clicked the safety back on to his pistol Raala strode forwards and took a power pack from the belt he had also taken from the armory. He clicked the cartridge into place then took the safety off. He placed both hands upon the weapon his right upon the trigger and his left supported the blaster rifle, which was a model very similar to the E-11. Raala then twiddled the wheel upon the scope to maximize firing efficiency and re-calibrate the focus. He then switched the mode of fire; taking the weapon off rapid fire so it would fire in a slower steady burst, with one shot per pull of his trigger. He leveled the blaster holding his arm virtually straight, but with a slight bend of the elbow. He noted that even with both hands supporting his weapon his focus wavered a little and he found keeping the weapon steady more difficult. He fired off his first shot which snapped past the target's right shoulder, just glancing it. He moved his arm a little then fired of two shots with a rapid double squeeze the bolts went zinging toward the target, the first hitting the targets neck with the second ricocheting just past. He then lowered his weapon and fired again, his bolt hitting the stomach of the target, his arm wavered and his last shot flew just under the targets left armpit. He turned to Pollo and shrugged.

"I've lost my edge alright, used to get almost 98% in the dead zone."

[quote:31r6l0wf]Raala: Statistics:
shots fired:5
(number:status:location: effect)
first: hit: right shoulder: superficial.
second:hit: neck:kill
third: miss
fourth:hit: center medial torso: critical or kill
fifth: miss[/quote:31r6l0wf]
[narration:31r6l0wf]*Pollo rasied his eyebrows impressed*[/narration:31r6l0wf]
"You put me to shame. You know that 2 kills a graze and 2 misses on your first try after 3 years of no practice puts you and me at a difference of performance of a grazing shot. I am required to practice regularly, and my performance was about what I normally do. You truly will be a horrible adversary once you've had a bit of time to practice."

"Well, you know how it works. Feel free to continue shooting. Once your ready to move on to moving targets, I'll help out again."
[action:31r6l0wf]*Pollo stepped back an out of Raala's way*[/action:31r6l0wf]

*Byon cursed silently to himself, this was a stupid plan, the thuds on the side of his speeder were all too obvious. He closed his eyes and thought about his family. He didnt even feel the searing blast of the multiple detonators going off together,*

*Jedi Knight Kadle was getting impatient, he did not like to be kept waiting. If he was to catch the fallen jedi, his ride woul have to get here soon. He had spent the past 3 weeks on the planet asking questions, lining palms and frequenting the seedy underbelly of this city. He wanted to get this mission over with and return to the temple on dantooine. He closed his eyes and drew his breath deeply, "patience boy" he could almost hear his old master's voice in his head*


:: Are you nearly here R4? what is taking so long? ::

*A few whistles and beeps came back and almost on cue his air-speeder descended into the area outside the parking bay. He looked at the time, the jedi would still be there for another 20 minutes, plenty of time. Kadle gunned the engine of the speeder and sped across the mountain tops toward the isolated force shrine. He wished that he had known about the shine sooner otherwise he might have looked their sooner.*

*Kadle stops his speeder about 300 metres from the shrine and about 5 metres off the ground to do a scan*

*The scan shows the shrine clearly, there is one lifesign inside the shrine, just as he expected. there were no other life signs within a kilometre of his location, he would not be interupted. From his investigations he had found pictures of the shrine. It was a stone construct about 30 metres across and 50 metres deep with a thin pool of water running down the middle. There were 3 alcoves spaced evenly down each side with statues in them. and at the far end there was an altar, about 30cm tall and large enough to fit an average human lying down comfortably. The top of the altar was slightly lipped and 2 blood channels ran from the top of the altar into the pool of water. He shuddered at the implications of the altar design. From the location of the life sign he could see that he was deep in the temple and wouldnt have seen the air speeder approach. His final scan was a heat scan and he could see one heat signature standing by the altar, and another human size heat signature, colder than normal, but hotter than the surroundings, lying on the altar, with 2 warm thin lines running down the channels into the pool. This was definately his target*

*Kadle lept off of the speeder to the ground and began making his way to the temple on foot. It was a rough path but he made it there in a few minutes. He removed his footwear to mask his foot steps and made his way into the temple.*
*Peering round the door he could see the dark jedi, deep in meditation over his sacrifice, a young zeltran woman.*
*He started running at the dark jedi, his feet silent on the stone floor and about 10 metres away from his target he ignited his lightsaber and prepared to swing*

**without opening his eyes**
"You are too late."
**He flipped to his feet**
"NO, this is not the end, IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!"
**With a snap hiss, the dark jedi's blue light saber flashed into being. He waved it in a flourish as if to challenge Kadle. He was in a loose and ready stance but still he waited. He would wait for the Jedi to attack first. it was only fitting for a jedi to realize their folly: "the force is to be for knowledge and defence, never attack." Would this jedi attack first?*
"Heh ehh, hahheh. You don't fool anyone with your self righteous hypocrisy. I can feel your hate for me: you want to kill me, don't you. I wonder if you have the guts..."

*An encrypted comms comes in, relaying information that the planet has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Sith Witch Dark Lady Trace.*