Mirdala Ad'Goran

The smokescreens covering the enemy retreat had dissipated by the time Rhys and another Seeker named Barca Krast (whose armor seemed to be more beskar than paint job) had finished checking their gear and preparing to head out with their respective scout teams to clear the way for the main force that would be coming in behind them. For her part, Mirdala had fallen silent beside her husband as he mustered a good chunk of their forces in preparation for the push into the enemy-held territory just outside of Keldabe. As the flurry of activity continued around her from where she’d taken up perch on some stacked crates, Mirdala was far from inactive as she worked in tandem with Rhys and Krast to guide them along their way with what she was getting from the Force and lend her strength to their pack-hunt as they sought to provide the main force with as much intelligence as possible on what they might encounter in the woods. Suddenly, she felt a strong pang of loss that seemed to steal her breath away. Vi’ika whined and scratched at the base of the crate in response, but stilled as Mirdala reached out through their shared bond to reassure the hound that she was fine. She’d only been ‘fine’ once she’d confirmed the presences of the other empaths within the flow of the Manda. You’re on a battlefield and you’re Force-sensitive, she thought to herself, dismissing the surge in favor of focusing on what was needed in the here and now. You’re just sensing the loss of life around you and there’s likely to be a great deal more before the night is over. Opening her eyes and checking the displays in her helmet, she scanned the massing crowd of Mandalorians as they once more armed up for war. Two pings told her that the two outsiders with the Vevuts were present from the chip she’d hidden in their false repulsor gauntlets. With a sigh, she slid down from the crate and found her way to Kandor’s side where he was giving a brief overview of the general plan from what they knew and command’s recommendations to a group of clan heads, including Vevut. Vevut has those two Force Users I told you about the other night, She intoned through their private channel. Do you trust Darkfire enough to babysit them? If they are on our side, having him as the known Jetii to cover any Force use on their part might be prudent so ranks don’t turn against them. The amount of tension is high and the feeling of unease the Darkside brings might bring some to rashness in the heat of battle. If they are on Ab’ki’s side and merely biding their time, then the Jetii would probably be just as effective in his contraption as using Krast’s team.

Sleep came fitfully to Mirdala as the image of the girl seemed to repeat her, Kandor, and Tresha’s names over and over, echoing through what dreams she was able to get. You failed us, the child’s cadence suddenly changed. You brought her to our home and let us die --- For the second time that evening, Mirdala woke with a start, only this time it was accompanied by a cold sweat and a churning of her stomach. A quick glance at the nearby cots reassured her that both TeVerd and Tresha were safely still in the first aid station, though the former was now awake and having a low conversation with Rhys that she couldn’t quite make out. Then she felt it, again. The sense of foreboding on the horizon and the somewhat familiar pull of the Darkside at work. Rhys waved her over to join them. “I can sense it too, Vod’ika,” Rhys signed. “I’ll round up the others. It’s time to go hunting.” Mirdala nodded, then caught his arm as he turned to go. “Wait.” Her eyes closed as she reached out with the Force to get a better sense for what was going on. “I can’t get much,” she said after several moments, “but there’s at least one massive event to the north north east of here about 10 clicks out. The other,” she tilted her head as though listening for a distant sound,” might be near the crater, but I’m not sure if it’s just the natural deadness of that area or not. The one to the north is certainly building though. I can feel that one.” “You might raise your Jetii friend and see if he’s got any more insight,” Vy’ika said as he suddenly appeared at her side. At the look Mirdala gave him he added, “Had you under watch after Buir died the first time, remember? You don’t think that meant we did at least track down some of your past associates?” “Moot point now,” Mirdala pointed out with a roll of her eyes and a glance toward Kandor. “You wanted to know what we could do. Now’s your chance.“

((Co-written due to three-way PC arguement)) Mirdala took off her helmet and rounded on her husband and cousin, growling as her own temper flared. “Are you both kriffing nuts?!” Her jaw clenched a few times as she glared at Kandor as she transmitted subvocally, I get that you can possibly come back from this, but she can't if things go sideways. “The only direction these engagements have known has been sideways and you want to run off into the dark with a bad shoulder and you're encouraging her recklessness!” Fett stared back at her, a little startled. “Previous attempts failed due to insufficient prep,” he said calmly. “We can't afford to just let her go unless we want a second Ab’ki. A lone sniper might be sufficient, but Tresha doesn't need to go alone.” “Yes, I do,” Tresha said quietly, before turning to face Mirdala. “I’m not being reckless, Dika, I’m just unwilling to let anyone else be collateral damage of my failure.” After taking a moment to read her cousin’s lips, Mirdala looked visibly torn as the completely valid arguments her husband and cousin were making warred with her perhaps unrealistic desire that all of them should make it through this without further damage or loss of life. Rhys laid his hand on her shoulder and took Rahg’s helmet from her. “There’s more,” he admitted gruffly and played back the body cam recording of the entire incident. Vy’ika signed the audio for Mirdala’s benefit since she was still having difficulty due to her earlier injury. “They need them for something…” Mirdala remarked in the silence that followed. She could feel it in her gut and in the Force but had no clue or explanation beyond that. “Look at the evidence. They were taken, not simply killed. A lure? A trap? Where are they wanting to route us and why?” She couldn’t ignore the fact her instincts were screaming at her that something was grossly wrong with the situation. “So you think that’s a reason to leave them to their fate then?” Vy’ika asked, casting her a sideways glance. “No. That’s not-,” she started. “We have to do something, Mirdala,” Tresha demanded. Mirdala closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. “How would this be different if we weren’t already hip deep in this and this intelligence came from command? They are prepared. They know we’re coming. They are counting on it. You don’t think they won’t be looking for snipers and drop points?” “We did detect a sensor net and engaged with anti-air capabilities. We’d be stupid to attempt the same trick twice. This enemy has no rules,” Rhys admitted, signing as well. Fett nodded. “Overt didn't work. Quiet might, firing from outside their sensor perimeter under cover of darkness,” he said. Even he wasn't overly fond of Tresha going alone, but it could end up being more tactically viable than sending a group that was easier to detect. He shrugged. “Or if this is just an assassination you could go all the way covert and hide in plain sight.” His wife seemed to ponder this for a moment, weighing their options. “Fine.” She growled, crossing her arms. “But I’ll be the one to go. She’s an extension of the problem I caused with Ab’ki, so she’ll be mine to deal with. I’m in better shape to take that shot than you are Tresha, and you know it.” “Like haran,” Tresha muttered. “I’ve always been a better shot than you. I started this fight, and I’m damn well going to finish it. You need to figure out what Ab’ki’s up to.” There was no room for argument in her still features, her quiet compulsion betraying the extent of her resolve. Mirdala didn’t back down from her cousin either and chewed the inside of her lip. “You were always the more patient shot of the two of us,” she corrected before turning to her brother. “Vy’ika, you’re the medic. Which of us is more fit to fight right now?” “I’d say neither since your hearing would hamper your ability to ensure your own stealth and her shoulder isn’t in shape to go crawling through the forests. And you both need rest,” he replied, only a little irritated about being dragged into the argument. “Kandor can come with me then after we catch a few more hours, he’s been my ears most of the day anyway,” Mirdala acknowledged, “but the fact remains that you’re in no shape Tresh.” She sighed and reached out to her cousin through their shared empathic bond, and said a bit more gently. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do this. You’ve always looked out for me. Please let me return the favor for once.”

It hadn't taken long at all for things to go straight to haran once the two forces engaged one another, massive losses occurring on both sides. Each loss mentally tallied up in Rhys's mind, including those of the children they'd set out to rescue. A cold and carefully honed fury gripped him as he took the tally of the lives that had now been lost under his watch, the pain, shock, and dying anger of his batch-brother and fellow Seeker still fanning his rage. Only seven of the twelve from their side remained, with three of those seven severely wounded. They’d failed. Rhys let out a low growl as he brought his weapon to bear on the demon that had dared to desecrate the dead instead of merely leaving lie honorably. He fired but the demagolka somehow managed to evade the attack and returned one of her own, catching yet another member of the Mando’ade entrusted to his command and downing her. The caustic accusation she tossed his way caused him to look down at where she’d indicated. He’d forgotten about the three-year-old sized handprint on the left chest plate of the rig he’d inherited from TeVerd. Though it didn’t belong to any of the four he’d raised, it served as a further reminder that there was more at stake here than just his squad. When he looked up again, she’d disappeared into the darkness the sounds of her laughter echoing among the thunder. For a moment he wrestled with the urge to go after her but stopped himself long enough to realize that, wherever they were, the children were alive. That meant they were needed for something, otherwise, they would have been slaughtered in the care center with the rest. Over a thousand scenarios flooded his mind, each worse than the last and none of them boding well for the innocents that had been taken. There was no way he could take the enemy with only a four-man team and he still had his duty to the men and women under his command. With a growl of frustration he turned and punched the nearest tree, cracking its trunk before turning to address what remained of his squad. “Collect their armor. It’s the least we can do. Rest assured this isn’t over. The demon will pay for what she’s wrought here.” As those still able to move heeded his command, Rhys went over to his fallen brother, stopping to pick up the helmet along the way, and knelt beside the desecrated body. Rahg might not have been his favorite brother, but the man held his honor in his own way and for that Rhys and the others had tolerated and even respected him for it. The worst part was that Rahg would never have the chance to reconcile with his kids. ----- It didn’t surprise Rhys to see Vy’ika, Kandor, and Mirdala waiting for him as he helped the surviving and wounded members to the station and began unloading the bags of armor from the back of the speeder that had met them on the way back. ----- Mirdala stood silently as the rain fell over them before coming over to help unload after the second bag was lifted off, sensing the weight that hung around her older brother’s neck like a miller’s stone. Her brow furrowed for only a second as she recognized the rig he was wearing, but as he handed her a fourth and fifth bag any argument she might have had left her entirely. The bags kept coming for what seemed like ages in the long silent seconds, for Rhys had made the driver go back and collect the armor from the farmers as well as the fallen enemy. The armor of the latter category was set aside to be reforged and used elsewhere, it’s former life and sins of the traitorous owner to be put to new life and better use after the cleansing fires bore it new shape. Finally, they reached the last bag and Mirdala reached in and withdrew Rahg’s helmet, staring at it for several long minutes before offering a small bow and handing it to Vy’ika. The other Omicron tucked it under his arm and clasped her on the shoulder, before offering a curt nod of his own.

The sound of rain spattering against the outer awning began to pick up as the low rumble of thunder pealed morosely across the city. Forcing Ab'ki to speed up her time table had the added bonus of bringing the outsiders to Keldabe at the height of their rainy season. Even now the Kelita's banks were swelling with furiously churning water that aptly mirrored the general feeling within the city's perimeter. Within the first aid structure, Mirdala sat leaning up against Kandor as she dozed lightly. It had taken a fair bit of nudging from Vy'ika, but ultimately he'd been able to nudge her back and talk her into taking a break instead of burning herself out on trying to accelerate TeVerd's healing. At some point that afternoon, Vi'ika had wandered back in. Vy'ika was quick to put her to work with his own hound, Cinva, running medicines and supplies around the ever-growing structure that was now almost as much tent as it was building as the need for such spaces had grown quickly during the day's battles. While in her trance, she'd felt the surges of guilt and flashes of anguished anger that had occluded Tresha's normally crystal clear and serene presence within the river of the family empathic stream. Wearied from her exertion with drawing on the Force to aid TeVerd, she paused just long enough to rest her forehead against Tresha's the same way the elder girl used to do when Mirdala was very young. While for all appearances looking like their cultural kiss, between them it had always been a way of Tresha helping to ground the much wilder Mirdala. With the last of her strength, Mirdala reached out to her cousin, sharing in her pain and helping the other woman regain her center so her body would be more receptive to the healing offered by the other medics. As she'd settled against her husband, Mirdala wondered at how a day could seem so long on a planet who's rotation only made up nineteen Galactic Standard hours. Drifting in and out of what stolen sleep she could get, she shuttered awake with a jolt. Something that once felt whole and complete to her had suddenly and irrevocably changed. Her gaze immediately flashed to TeVerd and Tresha, but it wasn't until she saw Vy'ika's shoulders slump the pieces started to fall into place. Wordlessly she rose and went to Vy'ika's side, feeling TeVerd stir to a reluctant consciousness as she did so. "Who?" she asked, her face pale as a vague sense of deja vu over took her. "Rahg," her brother growled before shrugging off her hand and stalking out of the makeshift hospital and into the balmy wetness.

If Mirdala had been able to hear her cousin’s low and raspy voice, she would have reminded the elder woman that her father’s actions were his own. As it stood, however, Tresha’s voice fell into the chaotic silence that enshrouded Mirdala who’d muted Kandor’s channel to be able to fully devote herself to doing what she could to help TeVerd’s recovery along through the Force. She had faith that he’d make it through, but she wasn’t above hedging her bets. Her father had survived far worse within her own lifetime, two such instances came to mind. The more recent was how the hell he got past whatever attack had taken Hwulf from them, the other from when she was young. TeVerd was a survivor, but even the toughest had their limits. Fett was working silently next to her. TeVerd had a collapsed lung. The medic working the first aid center had a needle jammed into the lung to relieve pressure, but it was an emergency measure. There would need to be surgery before bacta treatment, as at least one of the slugs hadn’t been located. It had been a few lifetimes since there’d been a Moon Knight that was a first aid expert, and Ageless physiology wasn’t identical to humans, but Fett had enough knowledge to assist the local staff and he had steady hands. Vy’ika waved off the droid who’d finished removing the shrapnel from Tresha’s shoulder. “She can’t hear you, you know,” he offered, gingerly lifting her arm as he wove the bandage over the bacta packs. “The wreck did some damage this morning, but not enough to take up medical resources to fix. The assassination attempt didn’t seem to leave a scratch though.” He reached into one of his pouches and withdrew one of the medical injectors and pressed it into Tresha’s neck. “If you hadn’t have done it, he would have. Don’t beat yourself up about it more than you are already banged up, okay?” ((Chris, I'll have a Rhys/Rahg Squad post up tomorrow. Some Mandalorians are being kriffing stubborn.))

OH SNAP! I just realized this was a more recent post. hmmm...

Basically, you work out with someone else who you want to duel with what characters and where the duel takes place. Once it's concluded, you can have anyone give the ruling. (Doesn't have to be a mod.)

((Power Grid Defense Team -- Jax you can use this NPC as your spotter and play this as you want. I'll ping Aryian (Charles) since it's his turn to post the opposition.)) “I’ve got you!” a woman in a copper and purple suit of beskar’gam replied as she climbed into the spotter’s seat for the emplacement. She ran a few quick calculations and soon Jax’s HUD was fed the targeting data he needed to get the main artillery in place. ----- ((Rhys & Rahg - Somewhere over the southwestern marshes)) The shuttle rattled and jolted as it met the unstable air currents as another storm birthed itself over the skies of Keldabe. The storms rolling in didn’t help, but certainly provided more than adequate cover for the team mission flight, especially when combined with the angle of the sun as it traveled toward the western horizon. Further below, another shuttle brushed close to the tree tops as though to avoid sensor detection, rushing toward the projected course of the enemy who’d kidnapped and murdered Keldabe’s children. The Rhys’s team had no real way of knowing how far the enemy had set out their perimeter, so they weren’t taking any chances, hence using the two shuttles for the mission. Rhys had made the call to risk the shuttle transports since time was paramount in the recovery of the innocents that were now caught up in the bloody battle for the survival of the Mandalorian capital city. His former training sergeant's daughter had warned of overwatch in the area and their course took them deep into what was likely now enemy-held territory. As a former Arc-Trooper during the Clone Wars and a Seeker for years afterward, battle was nothing new to him or the man seated across from him. For his part, Rahg had always been the type that was itching for a fight and it had served him well as a Commando Unit Omicron during the Clone Wars as well. Though they were part of the same “batch” of cross-bred clones genetically engineered especially to hunt down and deal with errant Force Users, Rhys had never quite come to understand his brother’s ferocious nature, though he’d come to respect its uses over the years. Perhaps they’d all taken some aspects from TeVerd’s genetics and personality since he’d been there to oversee their training since the beginning. Rahg’s Jedi commanders during the war hadn’t been any of the ones that saw value in the clones as anything other than tools to throw at the droid armies. That lack of regard had only served to further fuel Rahg’s animosity toward their kind. It had been TeVerd’s father who’d decided that bringing him into the Seeker ranks was a good idea, a decision that Rhys internally questioned even to this day. The only Force Users that had encountered Rahg and walked away without a scratch, to Rhys’s knowledge, was Noirah, the abandoned Jedi Padawan that Rhys had married, his two children, Mirdala, and now the Jedi Aryian Darkfire. Mirdala had only kept her life because of what she meant to TeVerd and Aryian because Mirdala and Fett had spoken for him. Even now, he could sense that Rahg was just waiting for either Mirdala or Aryian to misstep and give him an excuse to eliminate one or two more of their kind from the galaxy. “Something’s up ahead,” the pilot remarked, interrupting Rhys’s thoughts and the tense battle-ready silence that had settled throughout the cabin. “Any report of the children or other noncombatants?” Rhys asked. “Having to run a targeted scan now. Whatever is on the ground is scrambling the passive array,” the pilot responded “Do it,” Rhys ordered. They could afford the risk of detection by the ground forces if it meant catching up to the children and their captors sooner rather than later. “There are people down there, but all appear to be adult-sized humanoids,” the pilot relayed just as the array lit up with incoming fire alerts for the ship below them. “Solid hit! They know we’re here now.” “That’s the signal ladies and gents,” Rhys said, unstrapping himself from the seat. “Best get ground-side ASAP and engage before we lose our cover.” He clapped the pilot on the shoulder. “We’ll use the other shuttle’s debris as cover for our landing. You keep above cloud cover and we’ll call if we need you.” The rest of the twelve-man team split into their two squads, one lead by Rahg whose primary objective was to handle any ground obstacles that got in their way, and the other led by Rhys whose goal was to find and follow the trail to reach the children as fast and as best as they could. As the ship below them took more hits, the team bailed out of the shuttle utilizing jump packs and the falling shuttle debris as cover as they dropped in on top of the enemy. Enroute to the ground, four of the twelve aimed their grenade launchers at the E-Web emplacements two of them taking shots at each with their helmet systems accounting for the variance in wind, speed, and distance as they managed their descent.

((Fett and Mirdala - Northern Ridge)) Mirdala had removed her helmet as soon as they’d found a spot to sit and eat. She’d barely bitten into her ration bar when Kandor surprised her by standing up and addressing the rest of the troops, openly daring any of them to challenge him and take his life if there were still living traitors in their midst. Though she sensed no immediate danger to him, she felt her heart leap into her throat and her stomach clench in the tense moments it took him to turn the full circle. It wasn’t until he returned to her side that she relaxed for a moment before kissing him. “Good way to make your point, cyar’ika, but don’t do it again,” she hissed quietly as their lips parted. Her jade eyes had turned a steely olive. “Or you’ll see just how scary I can be.” Her lips quirked slightly in amusement before brushing his briefly again. “It was haran to watch you do that when I couldn’t hear anything beyond your voice,” she added gently. Quickly finishing her ration bar, she’d just donned her helmet when she felt sharp pain echoing through the bond that she shared with her father and cousin. It stole her breath and left her hand searching for Kandor’s, gripping it tightly as she worked to bleed off the pain with the others. S-something’s wrong, she managed as she tried to will her body to breathe through the worst of it. Tresha...and…Buir. Call Vy’ika. Need to focus. ------- ((Vy’ika & TeVerd - Southwest Cliffside)) Vy’ika ignored the pain that continued to echo through him as he brought the medical speeder as far as he could toward the cliffside. The other two medics he’d brought with him jumped out with a pair of hover sleds, each armed and scanning for any possible threats on their path and in the woods and riverside down below. For his part, Vy’ika had kept them both talking as the group finally made their way to the cliff face, his anger flaring brightly when he saw the loss of innocent life that had ultimately driven Tresha to her actions. He couldn’t blame her in the least. He’d have easily done the same thing. If it hadn’t been for his duty to TeVerd and Tresha in that moment, he would have taken up a pursuit of his own. Instead, he’d patched into the team chatter on Rhys’s and Rahg’s channels so that TeVerd and Tresha could relay as much information as they could to the rescue teams. With an enemy this brutal, the more information they had, the better. He’d purposefully left out Fett and Mirdala from the chatter considering they’d only recently had a second close call that day. ----- ((Soresh & Vi’ika for Jax Nalesse - Power Station Beta, Keldabe)) Soresh Delaavo lowered his macro-binoculars and looked down at the massive sand hound seated beside him before turning toward the other Mandalorians assigned to defend the power station. "Enemy heading our way from the north. Get to your stations and lock down access to the backups. You ((JAX)), man that artillery and don't let them get too close!" He shouldered his own repeating rifle and prepped for a fight.

Jumping slightly at his touch, it took her a half-second to realize that the other three traitors were dead or dying and the fight was over with. For now, she mentally appended to herself, as she offered him a shaky nod and pulling him close to her in an effort to cement the fact that they’d both escaped the event relatively unscathed. “I’m not hurt,” she promised as the others around them began shifting the corpses to the hatch to chuck them out like the garbage they were. “Overclocking on adrenaline after this morning.” Her voice still had an edge to it as she continued to take slow, measured breaths to will her body back to normal. Over his pick up, she could hear the tenseness in the background noise of the command center when a voice she recognized as Lyn, one of the leaders from Sintral, cut in to check in with Kandor to find out the extent of the situation. She was reluctant to let him go in that moment, but she could sense the change in the men and women around them through the shifts in body language and hushed conversations and she knew the attempt on their lives had had a further-reaching effect. As Kandor dealt with command, she addressed the group, “We are both fine and it’ll take a lot more than a few hut’uune to stop us, all of us.” She made a sweeping motion to indicate she meant the group at large. “Grab some skraan and let’s finish getting this mess cleaned up. There’s still a battle to win!” There were a few heart beats and no one moved. “Shift it!” She cried motioning with both arms for them to disembark the juggernaut. Ultimately, they began to move, filtering out of the juggernaut and into the noontime sun. The hulking transport had come to rest alongside a small ridge which afforded them a relatively safe spot to stop for a brief rest and a chance to reset after what had just happened. Mirdala lingered for a bit until everyone else had disembarked and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before she extended her hand toward her husband. “We should probably join them. We have a long day of fighting ahead of us and morale just took a huge nose dive. Not so much for the attempt on your life, but for the uncertainty it’s raised. Makes fighting that much harder when you’re not sure if you can trust the verd beside you.”

There was no mistaking Mirdala's very Te'verd-like growl of anger as she launched into action against their attackers, sending her assault rifle skittering along the grating. “Hut’unne! Aruetiise!” she snarled, kicking up her voice amp so that the words echoed through the interior of the juggernaut. One of them took a swing at her and missed before the other bodily shoved her back into Kandor’s repulsor pack. Being intimately familiar with her husband’s load out, she didn’t even have to look to find the metal cylinder at his belt. Closing her right hand around it, she activated the shield and shoved her assailents back, leveraging her lower center of gravity and the close quarters to send them tumbling into what she sincerely hoped were loyal Mandalorians. The seconds it took for the two men to untangle themselves was all she needed to deactivate the shield and get in close with her fists and blades. Her size gave her a bit more operational space since her style of fighting was often meant to be this close and this personal. The traitors didn’t go down quickly, however, producing blades of their own and striking at her where they could. Thanks to the Force and years of training, their blows only met armor or air. Suddenly the juggernaut’s forward momentum lurched to a halt as word had reached the driver. The quick shift threw Mirdala forward against them where she took advantage and utilized her hidden wrist blades to end their lives swiftly across their exposed necks as their heads had bent backward during the lurch carried by the weight of their helmets. She didn’t have to be able to hear to sense the continuing action behind her as Kandor fought the remaining attackers and she gave up a quick, silent prayer to the Manda that their luck would not run out this day.

TeVerd watched his niece silently, sensing both her coolly focused anger and the Huntress he'd helped train awaken within their connection. "Layout the bodies and cover them with those," he gestured to a stack of neatly folded, blood spattered blankets. "Then continue on to defend the generators. I'll back her up." He'd failed her father by leading their team directly into an ambush on Abraxos a little over a year before. He'd be damned if he'd fail his sworn brother's daughter or let whoever had committed the slaughter he'd just left behind go without punishment for their actions.

Grateful that the healing trance had taken off the edge of her own muscle soreness, she nodded once before springing into action, full faith in her husband’s ability to back her up as she sheathed her kukri’s and climbed up to the operator's position and began firing on the mercenary lines. Taking a moment to survey their handiwork as the others came up behind them to fortify the position, she turned to Kandor and regarded him for a moment. “You know,” she mused a hint of jest coloring her tone, “I think this has been one of the nicest dates we’ve been on.”

Mirdala and Kandor moved up along the line staying within the relative cover of the Juggernauts as their group fought their way toward an enemy foothold between two rises in an intermittently forested clearing that gave their opponents a clear line of sight to their position. Her hand gripped his belt and gave him reassurance that, in the midst of the chaos of battle, she still had his back. If it hadn’t been for their linked implants allowing for some measure of communication between them, she would have stayed behind in the bunker. Loss of hearing wasn’t something to be trifled with under the best of circumstances and on the battlefield, it could prove deadly. Between the implant, the Force, and her own long-honed battle-instincts Mirdala felt confident enough despite the conventional hearing loss to continue the fight against Ab’ki’s army alongside her husband. Her hand fell away as she spotted a few of the mercenaries attempting to flank them and opened fire. Without needing to look, she knew Kandor had shifted to covering her even before he’d briefly placed his hand on her shoulder to acknowledge her change in tactic. Above them the Juggernauts continued to open fire, managing to take down one of the mobile artillery platforms that Ab’ki had managed to procure. As the repulsor died, the sparking and smoking vehicle careened into the western hill, but its pilot just managed to bring it to rest without further damage beyond the disabled engines. Undaunted, the determined enemy took aim at the offending Juggernaut and opened fire. ShadowFett pointed to the silent turret on the western Juggernaut’s left side. Disabled in the battle or its operator killed, it would be unable to return fire and the juggernaut was in no position to bring another turret to bear. “Cannon’s out,” he said over their private channel. “Speeder’s going to be a problem.” He reached into his small satchel and withdrew a metallic cylinder. Thumbing the activation stud, an orange-red energy shield sprung to life around it. He’d taken the device from his deceased dar’buir. “Going to take it. Follow me in?” he asked Mirdala. “Always,” she said, lifting her chin slightly in the direction of their new target.

Mirdala reached up and grabbed the front of Kandor’s flak jacket and gently pulled him toward her for a kiss. Give me a few minutes with what I learned from our Wookiee friend and I should be fit enough to fight beside you. “A few minutes will do you both some good if you plan on getting back out there,” Vy’ika agreed as he packed up his kit. “If you feel you can manage the dizziness and won’t get one or both of you killed out there, then I won’t stand in your way as a medic.” He exited the room but paused at the doorway long enough to add, “Or your brother.” Mirdala rolled her eyes and pulled Kandor down to sit next to her on the bench and settled into both his arms and a healing trance. Once more his steady presence helped ground and focus her as she attuned with herself and her injuries enough that she could some better degree of balance than she had before, though her hearing was far from healed. A few minutes later, she sat up and kissed his jawline briefly. Let’s go make their eyes water and regret ever setting foot in our system.

Her hand found his, though she remained still, attempting to process what had just happened. Nothing sounded right, even when Kandor removed her helmet and everything hurt, though not beyond strained and banged muscles. A measure of relief that she’d been able to protect them from the worst of it was quickly tempered by the fact that she’d felt the other Mando’ad’s life blink out. Thankfully the man’s death hadn’t been prolonged, just cut short by the fates of war. “Make a hole! Medic!” Vy’ika exclaimed what seemed like a short eternity later, but for Mirdala she felt her brother coming more than she was able to process his words. The small knot of onlookers and those that had taken up a defensive formation around the crash site and it’s victims readily moved at his command. The Omicron already had the anti-shock ready for the two of them and treated Mirdala first, only allowing her to move to a seated position once he was sure she hadn’t injured her spine. “You two are some kind of lucky or some kind of trouble magnets, I can’t decide which.” He muttered under his breath, ignoring the frustrated look Mirdala gave him when he looked away and she could no longer read his lips. I can’t hear you, di’kut. Something’s happened to my ears from the blast. she transmitted along their squad channel, as she brought her hand to her forehead and rested against one of the nearby trees. No doubt, whoever had targeted the speeder had moved on to better targets, like the rest of the city’s AA emplacements. The ground vibrations still continued, but Mirdala actually found that she was grateful for the relative silence in that moment. “Hey,” Vy’ika said, tilting her head back and shining a light in her eyes, “Uh uh. You don’t get to rest just yet. War Zone, remember? Think you can walk?” She jerked her head away from him once he was done and shoved him back before using the tree as a ballast to help her to her feet. Her head was still swimming, likely thanks to what was likely a busted eardrum or two, which made walking difficult, but not impossible. As soon as Vy’ika had managed to get them into one of the bunkers, he waved Mirdala over and added some drops in each of her ears. It burned, but she clenched her teeth knowing it was for the best. Vy’ika turned to Kandor, who’s armor was no doubt used to withstanding more explosions than Mirdala’s had originally been built to withstand, “These won’t fix the damage, but will at least keep them from getting infected while they heal. Not much I can do at the moment for the dizziness either, I’m afraid, Mird’ika. Any complaints from your side of things, brother, or just banged up for the most part?”

Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the raid sirens buzzing as the ground beneath her feet vibrated in protest of the raiders attack. Swirling sand and grit clawed at the bit of exposed skin as she joined the general chaos of people seeking shelter, only to find herself knocked to the ground by a Bothan woman with a small human child. The woman stopped to help her up but disappeared into the crowd as another blast shook the ground and she found herself falling again… The storm batters at the roof and walls, the wind howling and clawing, seeking to get in. Thunder booms across the sky amid the brilliant flashes of lightening waking her and sending her skittering for cover from the flashes and the crashes. Her green eyes are bright with fear and wet with the start of tears. She's never felt so helpless, and she has no idea how to fight this enemy. Unbidden, one panicky word escapes her. "Ori'vod...." A short moment later, the little disk pinned to her bed post growls back "Vod'ika?" and she feels his presence magnify, strong and steady. Safe. She jumps off the bed, running on little feet toward that feeling of him through their inexplicable bond, fleeing into the storm outside to get to him as the ground shakes beneath her feet and the booming sound of thunder sends her falling once more… Mirdala’s eyes flew open and her body tensed for a moment as her groggy mind tried to piece together what had woken her. Kandor’s hand found hers and things seemed to begin to steady and reorient once again. Keldabe. They were in Keldabe. Ab’ki’s forces were on the ground and in the sky making what trouble they could with deadly purpose at this early morning hour. Mirdala took a few deep breaths to calm the instincts she’d struggled with for as long as she could remember. "They have artillery set up. They're targeting the AA guns, so they're hoping to bomb us," he said turning to fill her in on the situation. She merely nodded in response and willed her own body to get moving and armor up as she felt the others reaching out to her through their shared empathic bond. When Kandor asked if she was ready, she nodded before grabbing the rest of her gear and following him downstairs to the waiting speeder. Vi’ika followed along after them and hopped into the speeder only to have Mirdala signal her to remain behind. “No, I need you to stay here and patrol. Make sure people are where they’re supposed to be, okay?” Mirdala knelt down and looked up at her canine hunt partner, giving her a scratch behind the ears before she turned back to Kandor and answered the concern she could sense through the subtle cues in his body language, even as more heavy artillery fire could be heard a short distance away to the north and most certainly felt in the ground beneath her feet. “Artillery translated into my dreams, pseudo-memories of Cestus, memories of Shogunite Thunderstorms. It was unsettling. I’m good now.” She took her seat on the speeder before adding, “Let’s go make them regret our wake up call!” ------------- The driver of the speeder wove his way through the streets of Keldabe moving toward the front lines. Mirdala had touched base with her family and had even tapped into Vy’ika’s usual channel of amped up glitterstim music to help her mentally prepare for battle once again. Just shy of the front lines, something suddenly flashed in her danger-sense causing her to throw herself over Kandor a split second before one of the enemy’s artillery rounds decimated the road immediately in front of their speeder. End over end the speeder flipped, eventually coming to rest against an embankment.

"I'm heading to the workshop for a bit," she commed Kandor via their shared implant as she picked up her helmet from where she'd left it by the crates. "Meet you back at camp? Going to check my kit out to make sure there wasn't more damage than I originally thought. The two women I was speaking with are, at the very least, partially trained Force-sensitives. I'm getting a better read on them. Vy'ika's also working on things as well, so I've got backup other than Vi'ika." Luckily there wasn't as much work she needed to do to her armor as she thought. Several of the dart launcher's tubes had been compromised, so she'd had to disassemble the gauntlet and replace the tubing and pneumatics. She'd just replaced the casing and had completed a few dry fire tests to her satisfaction, she set her work aside and turned to Mellanie and Kalyani's gauntlets. Looking around for Kalyani, who'd joined her in the workshop earlier, she noted that it looked like the other woman had stepped out but had left a decent sized pile of discarded parts and electronics she'd managed to scrounge from around the shop. Impressed, Mirdala scooped up the pile and gauntlets and deposited them back on her own workstation. As she worked, she could still sense the growing tension in the air around the city of Keldabe and considered for a moment how best she was going to create the prop elements for their gauntlets and whether or not helping them hide their Force abilities was really the best course of action. Vi'ika gave no outward signs of trouble, so Mirdala filed it away as something to unpack with Kandor later. She worked for several hours, emerging from the workshop into the darkness of the early night having completed adding attachments to the right gauntlet for each that would, for all purposes, appear as a functional repulsor cannon, even including some electronics that were linked into the rest of the power to add another layer of camouflage to the ruse. Not able to find either Mellanie or Kalyani anywhere, she turned to Vi'ika, not wanting to blow her own cover as a Force User by reaching out to locate them. "You know, it might be better if you let me take them back," Vy'ika remarked. "It's nice that you're helping and all, but I can't say that I trust them yet." "When did I say that I did?" Mirdala asked, handing the bag containing her handiwork to her older brother. "Still, they did opt to stand by the Vevut's side when they had ample opportunity to leave the system." "Exactly," he shrugged and wandered off in search of the two women. "Only the paranoid survive vod'ika." --------- Mirdala reached the Oyubaat with no incident and tiredly trudged up the stairs to her and Kandor's room. It didn't surprise her in the least to find him working his way through the reports from the day's engagements, a half-eaten bowl of food on the table beside him as he'd resumed wearing his helmet since it gave him the ability to process more data than simply looking at a datapad alone. Sitting down her gear and her own helmet, she crossed the room and lifted the helmet off of his head to kiss him. As she pulled back the kiss, her eyes glanced to the bowl on the table a wry grin playing across her face. "I'll take the victory that it's not ration cubes," she smiled and began checking over her gear and staging it so she'd be ready when it was their turn to fight again. "So...Darkfire isn't the only Force talent we have in our camps it seems. I noted that you moved the Vevuts to the northern border, planning on keeping a close eye on them as well?"

"Force Hunter, primarily," Mirdala answered Kalyani's question bluntly. "As for my reasons for helping you," she turned to face Mellanie, "it takes a certain amount of gett'se to choose to fight in someone else's war, no matter the ties." Mirdala leaned toward the two of them, her voice remaining low. "As a whole, the Mando'ade had more than enough reasons to dislike Force Users long before this current conflict. Not all of us feel that way. I've fought alongside Jetiise. Being a Force User doesn't make someone bad. It's how they choose to use the tool that determines whether or not they wind up on my hunt list." She held out her arm so they could see some of the damage her gauntlet had sustained in the last skirmish. "One doesn't have to be able to use the Force to exact damage. Lucky for you I grew up apprenticed to two of the best armor and weaponsmith's I've ever known. I also have a few ideas of improvements to your kits that can help keep you camouflaged. Unless you'd like to draw that sort of attention to yourself. Unfortunately, there are those among my people and among the Seekers that would rather kill than risk your presence here. "I know what you can do, even partially trained and it's not right to force you to fight with one arm behind your back and be looking over your shoulder at your allies as well as the enemy. My offer to help stands, but I leave it to you. Either way, it's your business who you tell. Just be careful. Workshop's over there if you need me." She gestured and then headed in that direction to recheck her own kit further before the next day's fight.

Mirdala nodded, pursing her lips before replying along the same private channel she shared with Kandor, "It's Darkfire. Buir and a couple of the others are already on it to help Tresh calm the crowd down." She cast her gaze across the rally point where the crowd had gathered, noting that both Mellanie and Kalyani had left to go investigate. Before that though, she noted that both Mellanie's and Kalyani's attention was taken in the direction of the unrest before anyone had even begun to gather in the first place. So that's what had brought Vi'ika over this way, Mirdala observed, still exercising care to ensure her own outgoing signature was masked within the general Force-static that was usual for an area where so many beings were gathered. "Why don't you check in with the Vevuts, Kandor. I'd like to check in with Kalyani and Mellanie to see what they saw," she transmitted via their private channel before rising and meeting the girls halfway between. "You are like him?" she guessed quietly so no others around could hear the exchange. At the other women's hesitation, she quickly added, "There's no need to be afraid, as a Seeker, I know what to look for and how you feel. So does Vi'ika." As though to punctuate the point, the sandhound nuzzled Kalyani's hand again. "What help do you need to blend in better?" ------- TeVerd looked at the Grey Jedi as he left, nodding for Rhys to follow at a discrete distance to ensure that no one decided to take it upon themselves to decide the Jedi's fate or make any further trouble. Rahg came up beside him and grunted in disgust. "He sounds like the Runt. Misguided if he thinks we're all in this for something as fleeting as glory. He might not be the only one around here though, just the first one dumb enough to use his powers openly. 'Aryian Darkfire'," he echoed. "You sure I can't just put him out of his misery now? Doesn't seem to have much fight in him anyway." "No, you can't, Rahg," TeVerd said firmly as his brain searched for connection to the name. "He's lost. On our side, but looking for meaning in his own life. Leave him be and save your teeth for the enemy before us. Kandor trusts him, Mirdala trusts Kandor, and I trust Mirdala. This matter is over. You want to hunt him once the war is over, that's your risk and prerogative. For now, he stands with us." "Until that lightsaber winds up in our backsides..." Rahg snarled, then stalked off in the opposite direction that Rhys and the Jedi had taken. There were a few more moments of silence, then he turned his violet eyes to Tresha. "I'd like you to transfer to his fighting unit. Watch him, help him, maybe even learn from him. You may not be able to utilize the Force, but knowing as much as you can about it could mean the difference in survival against Ab'ki and her forces. I may have failed your father, but I won't fail you if I can help it."

"The Manda's in a giving mood today Ad'Nort," Rhys's voice came over the comm as a section of the crowd parted way for the trio of Seekers. Unable to actually direct his ire at the Force-using slag before him, Rahg instead turned that menace to the address the crowd. "If there's to be any killing of Jetii right here and now, it's going to be at my hand. Anyone care to challenge me for that right?" He pounded his gauntlet against the Seeker emblem on his chest. Tresha's trouble-maker looked Rahg over with a sneer but seemed to ultimately decide it wasn't worth taking on the larger man and the two other similarly built Seekers with him. "This isn't over hut'uunla jetii." "It is now," TeVerd interjected. "We've got an eye on him from here. Go back to your camps and get some food and some rest. We've a lot more fighting ahead of us; so save it for the next day and the day after that." He joined Tresha, standing bodily between Aryian and the assembled concerned citizens. ((Handing this off to Courtney due to wild weather.))

For now, Mirdala skirted the topic of her own family in favor of learning more about the two women that had chosen to stand with the Vevuts. The mention of a large wedding in the Core Worlds brought an unbidden flash into whatever future her birth mother might have foisted upon her and Mirdala's life taken a different path. "Just remember, big weddings do not a marriage make. The fact that the two of you are standing with us now tells me all I need to know about the investment you've made in your futures here." She looked not just at Mellanie, but also at Kalyani. Vi'ika, not one to shy away from a compliment, padded over to Kalyani once more and wriggled her snout under the woman's free hand just so the hound could show off just how soft her raven coat was. Mirdala shook her head and took a few bites as she tried to place where she'd heard the Link before, but came up empty. "The Link has a familiar ring to it, but I can't directly place it. My riduur would more than likely know. Goodness knows he's had more experience outside the sector than I did in my career with the Journeyman Protectors and CoreSec. To answer your earlier question, Mellanie," Mirdala's gaze rose once more, and her eyes betrayed both a weary sadness backed by a strong determination to keep at things as she answered. "More than I'd care to count." -------- Rahg looked up sharply from his bowl of food and reached down to grab his assault rifle with his free hand, his lips curling into a snarl as he rose to go hunting. TeVerd and Rhys had also straightened but took a few more moments to assess the situation and position of their team before grabbing gear. "Tresha's closest," TeVerd remarked as he reached out to gauge his niece's signature and grabbing his rifle when he sensed her on-edge. "Let's go." As the trio shouldered checked their weapons, TeVerd keyed up Kandor's comm to fill him in on the situation. "Force User activity detected within the city walls. You grab Dika; we're already en route to investigate. Tresha's engaged already from the sense of things. Patching through to her comm now. Tresh - sitrep."

Mirdala extended her hand to each in turn. "A trade then? Knowledge for knowledge?" she smiled at the two women. "This is my partner, Vi'ika. She's a sandhound, they tend to live on the high tundras near the northern poles of Concord Dawn. They're commonly used as police and military animals almost as often as strills, neks, and akks are. Now what's 'fiance'?" the woman frowned as she tried to form the foreign word. "I'm guessing the two of you are newer to the sector?"

As the adrenaline from the rush of battle began to ebb, Mirdala's body started to ache as she found herself back at one of rally points well within the cities fortifications. The spicy smell of food wafted through the air from one of the cookfires set up around the area to sustain the city's defenders, and it was then she'd realized she hadn't eaten since that morning that seemed a lifetime ago. Her armor had borne the brunt of the Dug's attacks leaving behind numerous scratches and scars within the crimson paint. With a sigh, she removed her helmet and looked around at the assembled verde around her as Vi'ika came up to meet her, the special harness meant for transporting ammo and power packs still on the hound's back. Kneeling down, Mirdala worked to remove the vest. All around her the rest of the defenders tended to one another. Some ate. Others embraced in relief and joy to fight another day. Many received news of a loved one that didn't make it. It was interesting to watch as the assembled men and women processed the day's battle in any manner that best fit who they were as warriors. It didn't matter that things were far from over, for the sounds of distant fighting could still be heard above the constant murmur and bustle of the regroup and relief point. The sight stirred within her a greater feeling of purpose and amazement in the resilience and determination of her people. It made her proud to be counted among them. The days ahead would be hard, but she knew they could make it through. A bowl of hot food being thrust in front of her face made her turn and roll her eyes at her brother. "Verdeyuii, I'm perfectly capable of getting my own skraan." "Who said this was for you?" He joked, pulling it back and helping her to her feet. "Rhys, if I were to place bets," She retorted with a wry grin. "Ah yes...placing bets on the mother nuna would make sense, but in this case...wrong." He handed the bowl to her and looked around. "Where's your other half?" Mirdala didn't miss the slight note of concern in his voice. "He's out doing Mand'alor things, checking in with command and the like. How was the fighting in your area?" Vy'ika shrugged as Vi'ika rose suddenly and wandered off into the crowd. "They're a determined bunch of misguided ver'verd, I'll give them that. Still, they'd have to be to have thrown in their lot with Ab'ki so casually." Mirdala sighed again and looked in the direction that Vi'ika had sauntered off. "We all live with the decisions we make," she offered before nodding her thanks and following her canine hunt-partner into the crowd. --------- Vi'ika had been keeping her senses on high alert while Mirdala and Vy'ika had their exchange, something very subtle catching her attention with one of the groups. While she didn't get the sense it was a threat to her hunt-partner, there was an undercurrent of something so familiar to her that she felt the need to check it out. So it was that the great hound navigated the moving masses of Mando'ade toward the source of the feeling. There was a group of them, all but one in what passed for standard variations of Mandalorian-style armor. It was this one ((Kalyani)) that she now sniffed out, curiously. --------- Mirdala found Vi'ika sniffing around a group of gathered clan members ((Vevut)) and wondered what it had been about them that had drawn the sandhound to them. Her danger-sense wasn't going off, so she didn't think that her companion had somehow sniffed out some of the traitors, but Mirdala knew that something had to have drawn her partner's attention. She gave a sharp whistle, calling Vi'ika back to her side. "If you're hungry," she said eyeing the bit of food the other woman had been eating, "I can always find you something. It's rude to go begging." A slight nudge of protest came from the hound. Mirdala nodded her understanding that something else had drawn the dog to this group, but she wasn't about to go interrogating them. Food was reason enough for now. Turning toward the assembled clan group, she worked to remember which one the sigil belonged and offered up a warm greeting. "You'll have to forgive my hunt partner, she means well and has some family members that tend to spoil her a bit. I'm Mirdala Ad'Goran, do you mind if I join you for some skraan?" She gestured with her bowl and an open spot on one of the stacked crates.