Vor al Mando'a

[Kado Sunrider]

Vren strode into the Refugee Sector like he owned the place, and being who he was, he could have if he wanted too, but the guards weren't so impressed.

 

"Hey, tough guy. You aren't welcome here. Leave." the trandoshan guard told Vren while his gammorean pal made obscene noises nearby.

 

Vren smoothly drew his blaster and dispatched both of the worthless grunts before striding into the next room. Sitting on a small desk flipping a vibroknife with the skills of a master was a man that could only be a mandalorian. powerfully built, dark complexion, even the grim facial expression could only have been a mandalorians.

 

"So.." he said. "Mando'ade. eh?"

 

The man looked up, instantly recognizing the armor as one of his own. He grinned broadly.

 

"I'd heard talk of a new Mand'alore. Never thought it would be you, Vren."

 

"Jodr, you bloody Knel'lik. The Exchange? Its time you rejoined your true family."

 

The man stood up and stretched.

 

"lead on Mand'alore."

[Trench]

Mird'ika returned to the ship right before Kedn'ahad's cronies brought the weapons. He had Toola hold a blaster on the thugs until Mird had a chance to inspect it.

 

"Its clean. "He told her, and she let them go.

 

He pushed the crates onto the ship and unloaded the weapons into the cargo hold of the ship.

He had the Twi'lek girls come into the cargo hold and prepare to select their weapons.

They had already been outfitted with some of the extra Beskar'gam from the cargo hold.

 

Once the girls had selected their weapons Mird prepared them for training. He couldn't do anything without Vren there. It was his ship after all.

 

Mird stood outside the loading ramp observing the refugee sector.

 

"How can anyone stand this cesspit?" He pondered, "The smell alone reminds me too much of Nal Hutta."

 

Ugh! Nal Hutta. Such vivid memories from the vile pus covered rock.

 

"I can't wait to get far away from here."

...

[The Betrayer]

The battle was won. It took over 30 Republic Soldiers, and they killed 200. But why did it all seem so easy?

 

Just as Arken was contemplating that, a runner reached him.

"Major Phoenix, Lieutenant Batur reporting, sir!"

Arken turned around.

"What's the word?"

"Sir, the whole southern flank has been decimated. The Mandalorians have a clear path into Iziz!"

"Damn it. Have you asked Lieutenant Trak for reserves?"

"He -He's dead sir. All the reserves, and all the originals. 200 men lost in the Southern front."

"Son of a bantha! Thank you Lieutenant, dismissed."

 

Arken was shocked. The main route to Iziz was this valley. Why did they use that pass?

 

He pointed to one of the soldiers running around.

"Gather all the survivors. Call our intel officer. I need to talk with Major Kael."

[Lord Spitfire]

"Sir!" yelled the Captain, "We have recieved word that the Mandalorians are making their way towards Izis from the South."

 

"What?" said Kael in shock. "There's more?" He obviously underestimated their numbers.

 

Wait . . . something's wrong. If they are advancing from the South, that means there must be thousnds of them! Meaning that ship that fled to Nar'Shadda wasn't trying to call Mandalore to join him; they were trying to get his aid in taking over Izis!

 

"Captain Orlov, I want you to turn this ship around and make for the South gate! How many of them, approximately?"

 

Captain Orlov grimaced as he read the report that had quickly been dialed to him. "There are ten thousand of them, sir."

 

Kael tried not to gasp as he leaned against the wall. Ten thousand! "How many soldiers are on this ship, Captain?"

 

"Two thousand at the most, sir! The other five thousand are in the Navy, and well, you know how the navy is, sir; they get all the glamour but leave the real fighting to us men in the army."

 

Kael ignored the pathetic attempt at humor. "Captain, I'm afraid that ship we were going after was only a fraction of their forces," he said softly. He turned to one of his men. "Lieutenant, send a message to King Xatson to warn him of the invasion. Also, send one to Field Marshall Travis Venaron, Commander of the Onderonian military, and tell him to get the entire Izis Armed Forces up and running!"

 

"Yes, sir!"

 

Kael turned back to Captain Orlov. "Get Officer Pheonix on the line."

 

"He's already calling you, sir."

 

"What?" Kael looked at his communicator and saw that it was beeping. He opened it and saw an image of Pheonix. Before his comrade could say a word, Kael started talking; "This is Major Kael Vyndosan in the Republic Army. I have recieved the intel, Captain, and it looks grim. I don't want to break your spirits, but the Mandalorian Clan - or at least, I think it is a clan, to have so many numbers, has sent a ship to Mandalore to ask for aid. We might have the entire Mandalorian fleet here soon, so brace yourself. Now tell me, what is your situation?"

[The Betrayer]

"Sir, I have, accounting for the physically incapable, 500 men ready for battle. I have moved a detachment of 400 men to defend the city through this route we are protecting. 50 will remain to guard this pass just in case, and 30 more will conduct infiltration missions. An army 10,000 strong will need supply lines. My men will try to cut off these supply lines. I have also sent a group of 20 men, including Lieutenant Batur to negotiate aid from the Beastriders. I believe we might need their help. Now if you will excuse me, sir, I need to join the defense of Iziz. Bloodbringer out."

Captain Phoenix spoke very fast.

 

Some of his men were rushing to Iziz with speeders already. He hopped to the nearest speeder, motioned for one of the men to ride with him, and drove the speeder to Iziz. It was an exhilarating ride, and the soldier behind him tried desperately to hold on.

 

===============================

When they reached Iziz, Captain Phoenix assumed command of the defense operations from a Major Beskar (who did not know much of military operations). He gathered all men available for duty and estimated their number to be 650. He started to brief them;

 

"Iziz's defense relies solely on two things; first, the soldiers; and second, the turrets. Now I would need tight security on Iziz's main power plant. Lieutenant Isthar, can you handle that?"

Arken looked at one of the junior officers. Lieutenant Ishtar nodded, and shouted, "Yes sir!"

Seeing his reaction, Arken said, "Good. There are only 3 passages to Onderon. I would not make the same mistake I made earlier. There will be three detachments of equal number guarding all passages. As all of you know, Iziz's communications have been severed, and will not be fixed for a few days. It takes shorter time to reach this Headquarters than the other gates, so if you need reinforcements, send a runner here, and we will try to ask from the other gates. Now, if there are no further questions, I want all of you to go to your posts."

[Lord Spitfire]

The transmition ended. Kael was starting to get anxsiouss, but he steeled himself for what had to be done. However, he still couldn't help but feel dread. If the Mandalorians breach the South Gate, thousands of innocent civillians will die, he thought grimly, but pushed those worries aside. That wouldn't happen, anyways.

 

And so, the ship flew over the city. Kael wondered what the people in Izis were thinking; a Republic Capitol Ship was flying over them. Kael chuckled inwardly.

 

It wasn't long before they landed at the Palace. Kael quickly got off the ship and was greeted with Field Marshall Venaron on the highest tower, overlooking the entire city.

 

They saluted each other.

 

"I got your message," said the Field Marshall solemnly. "It just . . . came out of nowhere!"

 

Kael nodded. "Yeah, I know. But sir, I need to know how many Onderonian soldiers are ready and able."

 

The Field Marshall looked grim. "As you know, we haven't had a war in 75 years since the civil war, and our last war against another country was 85 years ago against the Mandalorians. Due to our peace, we only have 65 thousand armed forces at my command."

 

Kael nodded. "65 thousand will be more than enough to win the battle; but I'm afraid it won't be enough to limit the casualties."

 

The Field Marshall looked out into the city. "Major, if you hadn't defeated the Rebels, than we would have had an army of twenty thousand against us."

 

Kael nodded. "Yeah, but we can't focus on that. Now, how long will it take to ready your forces?"

 

The Field Marshall sighed. "Well, it would take about four hours to get my forces ready for battle; it's not easy to arouse a city of this size, as you understand."

 

Kael nodded. "I don't know if we'll be able to hold the assault for four hours, but it will have to do."

 

The Field Marshall looked behind Kael. "Well, Major, we have a huge Republic Dreadnought on our side; you can just bomb their lines."

 

Kael nodded. "Yeah, but we're outnumber 2,400 to 10,000; and if they have Basilisks, the Decimator is going to have trouble; it's an amazing ship, but it's made for space battles, not ground assaults."

 

At that, Kael spun around and walked back into the massive ship.

 

***

 

He rushed back to the bridge. It took them a couple of seconds to reach the South Gate, and once they were there, they landed the ship. Kael could see about four hundred Republic Soldiers outside the window.

 

"Captain Smith!" he yelled. A navy officer approached him.

 

"Sir?" said the officer, although the Captain in the navy is higher than a Major in the army, making him officially of a higher rank.

 

"Once the soldiers are off the ship, bombard the enemy lines, but if you're attacked by Basilisks, pull out. Am I understood."

 

Smith nodded. "Yes, sir."

 

Then, 2,000 Republic Soldiers, including Kael, left the ship and walked onto the open plains. Then, the ship went up and hovered in the air.

 

The two forces mixed together, and Kael approached a man. "Lieutenant, where's Captain Pheonix?" he demanded.

 

"He's in Izis, preparing the defences," replied the Lieutenant. "I am in command of these 400 soldiers at the moment."

 

"Yeah, and I am in command of 2,400 soldiers at the moment, including yours!" replied Kael.

 

He walked over to a communicator and set up a connection to Captain Pheonix.

 

"Bloodbringer!" he addressed the Captain, "hurry up over there! Hopefully they won't even breach Izis. They'll be coming in about 30 minutes, and the Onderonian soldiers will be coming to our aid in 3 and a half hours. That means we have three hours to hold the line until they arrive. Come on; I need you here, damnit!"

[The Betrayer]

"Major Kael, all of Iziz's defenses are operational. We have received 100 Beast Riders riding Drexls from Queen Akumen. Our anti-air turrets are operational, and we have set up a defensive perimeter around the palace. The only attack that occurred so far is a minor one. A scouting party of 50 Mandalorians, all of them shot dead. We lost 10 men in the fighting. Bloodbringer out."

 

Just as Arken sent this transmission, one of the intel officers called for him.

"Sir, this runner said that the Mandalorians are assaulting the Gate! They are in desperate need of reinforcements."

"Officer, get a hundred men each from the two other gates. Iziz will not fall, not on my watch."

 

Arken sent another transmission to Major Kael,

"Sir, Mandalorians have started their attack on the Northern Gate. We are repelling their forces, but I don't think we could hold out long. Bloodbringer out."

[Kado Sunrider]

Vren and Jodr headed back too the freighter parked on the docks. They turned the corner and saw Mird'ika waiting for him just down the ramp. Vren whistled and Mird ran back into the freighter to get the engines warmed up.

 

Jodr and Vren boarded the ship as it was lifting off and started for the cockpit.

 

"Jodr, go relieve Mird'ika's woman from the turret. Shes good, but I trust you more."

 

The mandalorian nodded before running off.

 

"Mird, take us out of here, your in charge. Im going to be training our guests. They may not be Mando'ade, but if they're going to live with us, they're going to learn how to fight."

 

He walked back to the cargo hold where he saw the group of beskar'gam clad females, most of which looked uncomfortable to say the least in the heavy armor.

 

"All of you can take that off. You aren't mando'ade, so you shouldn't be wearing that armor." he said to the room at large.

 

They began to strip off their armor and replace it carefully back in the crates. When all of them were done. He began instructing them on the proper handling of a blaster pistol. One of them, a luthian twi'lek accidentally pulled the trigger and sent a bolt into Vrens armor. The sturdy metal abosorbed it without a scratch or burnmark, and the group stared at him in awe.

 

"Well then," he continued, "first lesson is making sure your safety is off when you dont plan on using the blaster."

 

For the better part of two hours, he instructed the slaves on the handling of blaster pistols and vibroknives.

 

When he was finished, he told them all to get cleaned up and headed back to the cockpit to check on their progress back to the world that was operating as their home planet.

 

"Whats our ETA, Mird?"

[Kyr'am Galaar]

((Charrie sheet))

 

Ky'ram has been looking for the lost slaves for days. Vorreesh the Hutt's brother, Yorka, told Ky'ram to recover all of the slaves that Vorreesh had lost. Particularly Toola, a twi'lek dancer. They were proving to be very elusive, but he had tracked them to the docks in the Refugee Sector on Nar Shaddaa.

 

He got there just in time to see a freighter take off.

 

"Great."

 

Ky'ram pressed a button on his gauntlet. His ship dived around the corner of one of the buildings, and landed right in front of him. He got in and started to follow the freighter.

[Trench]

"I've entered a list of planets that are likely to have Mando'ade mercs and refugees. "Mird told Vren, "And I've listed the docking ports and who controls them. Some of them are controlled by Hutts from Vorreesh's clan, so me may have trouble."

 

Mird'ika turned towards the scanner and noticed a small blip, obviously someone trying to avoid being detected.

 

"Vren'ika, there seems to be a small Davaab starfighter following us. Whoever is piloting it is trying to go undetected, and their doing a frakking good job of it."

[Kyr'am Galaar]

"BEEP! We have been detected."

 

"I noticed. Well, lookes like we're gonna have to get them by force."

 

Ky'ram shoots his ION cannon at the freighter.

 

"Dweep. Direct hit."

 

"You think that I wouldn't know that?"

 

He pilots his ship towards the freighter, ready to board.

[CommanderQ]

Nar Shadaa Docks

 

 

Gir'rak Vevuni stepped off the transport onto the metal ground of Nar Shadaa's docking center.

 

He'd taken this refugee transport to prevent suspicions, as Mandalorians were still under great scrutiny from the Republic, even if the devastating war had ended nearly 80 years ago. Still, he stuck out amongst the groups of poorly-clothed, half-starved, civilians that walked next to him.

 

They all give him about a yard's room, his black and red armor being a repellant in itself, no one would mess with this Mando'a.

 

Gir'rak had left Mandalore in search of his clan's new leader, the fabled 'reunification' couldn't be too far off now if rumors were correct. But Gir'rak didn't believe in rumors...he needed facts, and that is why he was here.

 

It seemed that Nar Shadaa was always the best place to start when you were trying to find someone, at least, that's what Gir'rak thought.

 

Gir'rak shook the thoughts from his head, and focused on the task at hand, walking down a dark alley and into a doorway that glowed red and was surrounded by suspicious characters. It was one of Nar Shadaa's typical nightclubs, hopefully there would be someone of use in there.

[Trench]

"Fierfek! We've been hit!" Mird shouted as sparks started bursting from his control panel, "Ion blasts! The primary systems are failing!"

[Kyr'am Galaar]

"Activate the boarding tube and cut through the hull."

 

...

 

"Good."

 

Ky'ram takes out his twin blaster pistols and kicks the wall. The cut out piece falls and Ky'ram steps into the vessel.

[The Betrayer]

"Sir, there was an error sending the transmission. It seems our communications are being jammed.", said one of the junior officers to Arken.

 

"Darn it. We are all alone now then. The Force help us."

[Kyr'am Galaar]

"Bleep. Master! You can't leave me here alone!"

 

Ky'ram sighs. "Then activate your frikkin' security system. Passcode number four."

 

Ky'ram runs into the cockpit. Only to come face to face with a tall mandalorian.

 

"FRAK!"

 

That armour. Could he be Mandalore? No, his is a different color.

 

Ky'ram grabs the Mando's throat, brings his knee up into his stomach, then throws the Mando into the wall.

 

"Who are you?!"

[Trench]

Mird'ika wasn't even able to warn Vren before the medium height Neo-Crusader slammed him into the wall.

 

"Who are you?!" The intruder demanded.

 

"I'm, "Mird replied weakly, "Your worst nightmare."

With that, Mird'ika tripped the Neo-Crusader, then bashed his skull with the butt of his Conc rifle.

 

Before the Neo-Crusader could get up, Mird kicked his blaster away and pinned him to the ground.

"Now what are you doing here?!" Mird asked as calmly as he could muster.

[Kyr'am Galaar]

"Collecting a bounty."

 

Ky'ram brought his leg up, kicking the Mando on his back. The Mando fell over. Ky'ram grabs the Mando's Conc, bashes his skull with it. Ky'ram grabs his blaster, shoots the Conc, pins him to the ground, and puts his blaster to his skull. He does this all in a few milliseconds.

 

"I'll ask again: Who are you?"

[Trench]

Mird'ika just smiles beneath his mask. Because now, two Mandalorians and an angry former slave girl are standing over the bounty hunter with blasters...

 

((Lets wait for Kado to post before continuing))

[Kado Sunrider]

((Whoa interesting stuff! Cool place for me to jump back in.))

 

"I'll ask again, Who are you?"

 

Vren put a hand on the Neo-Crusaders shoulder and turned him around while simultaneously slipping the blaster from his hand and pointing it at his head.

 

"I, am Mand'alore." he said.

 

He put a hand on the twi'lek womans gun and held up a fist indicating for Jodr to lower his weapon.

 

"Now would be a good time for you to start explaining who you are and why you cut a hole in my ship."

[Trench]

Mird stood up and inspected the damage to his weapon as Vren confronted the intruder.

 

Nothing serious, just a scratch, he thought.

 

"Now would be a good time for you to start explaining who you are and why you cut a hole in my ship." Vren said to the Neo-Crusader.

 

This should be good...

[CommanderQ]

Right as Gir'rak entered the crowded Club, filled with it's less-then-reputable patrons, soemthing else caught his eye.

 

Outside of the transparasteel window, he saw a lone freightor suddenly be boarded by another smaller ship...and suddenly he knew that this could be promising. Taking a quick picture of the shio with his HUD's special functions, he transmitted the holo to his inboard computer, which would look for a match.

 

He elbowed his way out of the crowd and back into the streets. Gir'rak needed to get to that ship...and fast.

[Kado Sunrider]

The man sat there silently with a gun pointed at his head for a little too long for Vren's liking.

 

"Jodr, toss him in the rear storage compartment and lock the door until I get a chance to interrogate him further."

 

The mandalorian led the intruder to the rear of the ship.

 

"Mird, get us back to Nar Shaddaa, we're going to need to have that breach repaired before we jump back to the planet."

 

Vren walked to the small hole in the side of the ship, climbed through and settled himself in the pilot seat.

 

Not sure why he didn't use the docking hatch.. he thought to himself before firing up the engines and launching back towards the planet.

[CommanderQ]

Gir'rak made it back to the docks extremely quickly, reaching one of the command desks and checking the schedules of all incoming and outgoing vessels. He wasn't supposed to be where he was, such was the law of these idiotic criminal organizations, but they'd have to be een more ignorant to question a Mandalorian of Gir'rak's stature.

 

He had the description of the vessel he was looking for, and finally found a match. The Holo-computer offered the option of video-feed.

 

He activated the option, and to his surprise, he saw that the vessel was on its way back to Nar Shadaa.

 

Gir'rak moved quickly, siphoning all information he could into his HUD, then shutting the comp off. He then left for the landing docks...to wait for the incoming ship.

[Kado Sunrider]

The small fighter landed nimbly on the edge of the platform and Vrel leaped out of the craft.

 

He stood looking into the sky waiting for Mird to land the freighter and get those repairs fixed. He was eager to get moving.