Mandalore

[Dizzy]

Kalyani worked for a time in the workshop, patching her armour where it needed it and working on disguises for herself and Mellanie. Time seemed to fly by as she worked on gathering what she’d need to use and made a start on the attachments for the gauntlets, at least until her comm. signaled an incoming message. She slipped her helmet back on and activated the message. Jaesko’s voice seemed breathless as she asked, “Where are you? We need you back here now…” Kaly glanced around looking to see where Mirdala was but couldn’t see her to tell her she was heading back. As she left the workshop she saw another that had been in there with them and asked if he could let Mirdala know she had gone back to the Vevut’s camp. As soon as he nodded she headed off, Jaesko telling her exactly where they were.

 

She hadn’t gotten much further when her comm. sounded again. This time it was a holo message. When she saw the mirrored visor of the black armored figure she was a bit taken aback and concerned… until he spoke and she recognized his accent and the Crest of Serenno.

 

--Greetings Miss Wartide. Count Shadowlord sends his regards to you and your family. He has been unable to contact your mother and sent me to track you down to deliver some news in person regarding Dathomir. Where would be the best location to meet in private?--

 

She paused and took a deep breath before answering. “I’m afraid a meeting in person will not be possible right now. I’m with my sister planetside helping to defend her new home and family from an attack. I fear that if you attempted to land you might be shot down by mistake…” she paused a moment waiting to see if the armored figure would say anything else and giving herself time to think about what the security protocols might be… and decided that she would speak with Araac and his Uncle about it. She was being careful not to give away her exact location or pertinent details in case the comm. got intercepted by the enemy. She also thought about heading back to find Mirdala to ask her though by this time she was closer to where the Vevut’s were than the workshop. “If you can’t tell me over the holo, let me seek advice and I’ll let you know if a meeting would be possible though with a war going on I don’t think it would be.”

 

Kaly signed off and started heading to where Jaesko said they were now situated. She wondered why the Count had been unable to contact her mother or Aunt Brina for that matter though it was possible they were away from the office on one of the runs they still did. None of them had been back to Dathomir for years… not since Mitral started influencing the Raging River Clan Elders. She was a little over half way there when Vy’ika caught up with her to give her the gauntlets for herself and Mellanie. “Thank you. Please thank Mirdala for making these for us.” She watched him walk off before she headed in the other direction. Kaly wondered what she could get to thank Mirdala for helping them disguise their Force powers. She’d ask Mel and Araac what they thought about it.

 

As she got closer to their new location she came across Jaesko who was waiting for her. “We’ve actually got accommodation sorted in some of the buildings tonight. We are taking shifts on keeping watch and you’re on for the next couple of hours for sentry duty with me. We’ve got about half an hour before we start. Araac and Mel will take over from us.” Kaly nodded her head that she didn’t have a problem with that and then told her about the comm. she had just received from the representative from Serenno. “What’s Count Shadowlord doing contacting you? He’s Serenno royalty isn’t he?” Jaesko asked curiously as they joined some of the others including her and Araac’s Uncle Rhar. Kaly grinned at the startled look on her new “sister’s” face. “He couldn’t contact Mum. I took a holocall from him before we left Naboo.” Kaly looked at Rhar as she continued, “I wanted to ask your advice too. Count Shadowlord’s representative wanted to meet in person. I told him that I didn’t think it would be possible but that I’d ask and see. Because they couldn’t contact my Mother, they have contacted me instead. The holocall I took from Count Shadowlord before we left Naboo was him asking for permission to use my Mother’s compound on Dathomir. Something must have happened for them to track me down here to deliver some news.” She let Jaesko’s Uncle see the holocall she’d just received to see what his opinion would be regarding it.

[Whispering Abyss]

The wake up call was not gentle. Like rolling thunder, a cacophony of ear-splitting explosions rippled through Keldabe as the twilight wore on into morning. Artillery strikes from deep in the forests rained down, targeting specifically the emplaced artillery and anti-aircraft guns within the city, intending to cripple the long range capabilities of the Mandalorians. At the least, it would dull their teeth a bit against the main assault force the Sith began to employ.

 

Moving strategically, trained and battle-hardened soldiers began crossing the field covered by snipers, a far cry from the mercenaries that had been sent in the day prior. Squads moved to establish hasty cover as they advanced so reinforcements coming from behind would be able to slip to the front lines unhindered and largely protected from light artillery like rockets and mortar shrapnel. The advance was slow, but methodical and seemed ominously unstoppable. Slowly, the field began to turn into a hedge maze of metal, machine blaster emplacements firing up and peppering the city perimeter as the range became viable.

 

If the Mandalorains thought this was going to be easy based on yesterday's events, they were going to be sorely mistaken.

 

Back in the command tent, Hawke eyed the holographic display of the battlefield keenly as he sipped caf from an insulated mug. All they needed now was a foothold. He still had a full hand to play, and the siege was still in its opening moves. If this went well, the city...even the planet would be his within two days, at most.

[Vihk]

The droid’s head drifted, swiveling between the east perimeter and the west perimeter. The sound of air rustling the trees and brushing passed the weathered metal of its chassis was all that filled its auditory sensors. As it scanned, angles and vector projections were shown, laid out across its H.U.D, indicating the best possible route of escape, assault, and each position’s general strategic viability. But, just as the light began to break over the horizon, the MAD-01 heard a bolt whizz past its buy’ce. The droid took cover and heard/watched as its sensors exploded. Infrared picked up a number of hostiles and auditory sensors were picking up artillery discharge.

 

Early or not, the song of battle called the Mandalorians to war. The MAD-01 opened a direct comm to Mand’alor. “The enemy is at our gates. Snipers, squads of men and artillery strikes.”

 

When the warning was sent, as quickly as the droid could manage, the Mandoade set to work. It climbed down the nearest ladder and joined other night watchmen as they assembled at the blockades to Keldabe’s main gate.

 

FOR MAND’AOR!!!!

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett hauled himself out of bed at the sound of distant cannon fire, finding Mirdala's hand and gripping it tightly for a moment before letting go and starting to armor up. It was dark out, about 0300 hours. Command had been right about the possibility of an overnight assault after all. He put on his buy'ce even before his chest plates so he could start monitoring the information streaming through his comm and HUD. The command center was already awake and alert, starting to disseminate assignments and coordinate the clans. He knew that some of the staff was sleeping right there in Ops and would hardly leave before this was over, one way or another. He was once again thankful that Judyc's data had given them enough warning to assemble such a team so that not everything had fallen to him.

 

Instead he would get back to the front line. As he donned his beskar'gam he cranked the environmental controls in his buy'ce to give him a shock of cool air and extra oxygen to help him come fully awake and alert. "They have artillery set up," he said aloud to Mirdala. "They're targeting the AA guns, so they're hoping to bomb us." The guns had stood for ages and could take a shelling, but not indefinitely. Similarly, many of the city's structures could take a decent bombing and there were shelters that could withstand even turbolaser bombardment, but if the defenders lost air superiority permanently, Keldabe would eventually be bombed to dust.

 

He called the command center. He noticed he had a comm from Ahzinger's beskar'ad, which 2277 had marked low priority and translated to text to scroll along the bottom edge of his HUD while he placed his own call. It was simply a report that the attack had begun in far less detail than he was receiving from HQ. "See if we can pull some air support to harry the artillery positions," he said. "Divert from the space skirmishes if necessary. We'll have to make a push on foot and with juggernauts if the line breaks."

 

"Master," 2277's voice cut the radio chatter. "The Justice and support are standing by for an attack run."

 

"Let's hold off for now," Fett answered. "With limited ordinance you will only get one good shot, so we're going to make it count."

 

Finally Mand'alor engaged the mag clamps on his repulsor pack and fitted his gauntlets and began holstering besbe'trayce, all while sorting through a few more messages inside his buy'ce. There was one from a CoreSec officer of all people about someone named Emily Zsahra-Skywalker. Fett didn't know the last name, although it was possible that it was referring to Eris, being the only Emily he'd become acquainted with in recent years. The point was moot: whatever had happened to her, he was in no position to do anything about it directly. "2277, if you have some spare processing power, maybe check with some old contacts and see if you can get wind of Eris, then forward whatever you find to Captain Kelvin. We owe her that much at least."

 

"Yes, Master."

 

Fett turned to his wife. "Ready, Mird'ika?" he asked. They would need to take a speeder north to the fighting, but in a few short minutes they would be back in the fight for their home and their lives. From there, planning even a few minutes ahead would lose effectiveness. They would seize one opportunity after another to the best of their ability and hope it added up to the right to fight again tomorrow.

[Mellanie Devanus Vevut]

"Nothing you can do about that until after this war," Rhar grunted. He knew nothing about any nobility, and even less about this count. "Better tell him he'll have to wait."

 

The clan leader turned back to wiping the mud and gore off his shin plate.

 

__

 

The next few hours passed quietly. Mellanie had checked over her gear and tried to catch a little sleep, but the tension in the air was too high for her to get any real sleep. She was actually glad when it came her turn to take over sentry duty for Kalyani and Jaesko. She and Araac had been watching the perimeter, making chit-chat, for about an hour when suddenly, everything erupted into chaos again. "So much for the relaxing chat," Mel muttered under her breath. She was already sending out the alert to the Vevuts when an explosion shattered the ground near her. She hit the dirt, covering her head instinctively as dirt and rock rained down on her. Rolling to her feet, she darted to the fortifications. Pulling out her blaster, she peeked around the edge. Squads of enemies were slowly marching forward, taking time to set up their own fortifications, turning the battlefield into a maze of metal. What helped hide their troops, however, also gave the Mandalorians an edge.

 

Mel opened fire, concentrating on the leading edge, where the squads were taking time to set up cover. With their attention divided, she was able to gun them down easier, especially during the moments where they were exposed.

[saberforce]

Tros sat with Raeshe and Caen in the the main hall of the building the clans from Shogun cleaning and fixing weapons to make sure they were battle ready. Half the room was sleeping, others were drinking or simply just waiting. All it took was a single loud BOOM and a shake of the building for Tros to stand up and put his buy'ce back on. Almost as soon as he finished, Raeshe was also standing ready next to him.

 

"Oya! It's time to jurir verda!"

 

It was both a shout and a command. Tros picked his A280 into the ready position and ran out of the building with Caen, Raeshe and the rest of the clans out with him. As they left the cover of the building, the hard rain began to strike all of their beskar'gam, making loud noises as they marched out under a dark sky that was being lit up with explosions from the artillery making strikes at the city. It took only a few ground shaking strikes for Tros to think of an idea to help. Turning towards Raeshe, his voice was loud to overpower the canon fire.

 

"Please tell me we have some launchers in our squads. We're going to need them to help support our snipers if we're going to take out some of those artilleries they have in place..."

 

((Posting for Tros))

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

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.

[Moon Knight]

Although he was doing everything he could to analyze every bit of information that was coming in about the enemy forces, none of it could have foretold the artillery strike. Truth be told, there was always that element of chance on the open battlefield, and it was why Fett had traditionally stayed away from such conflicts. In close quarters urban warfare or in a methodical combat sweep of an installation, space station, or capital ship, his training and his technology could always keep him one step ahead of his aru'ese, and his armor would serve as yet another line of defense.

 

But against an artillery strike, there could be no prep. If the strike had come a second later or if the vehicle had been a few meters further ahead, none of Fett's training could have mattered. He and his wife would have been vaporized.

 

The way things happened didn't give them much of a chance, either. As the speeder flipped, Kandor's buy'ce slammed against the door. He reacted, trying to figure out if he could possibly save Mirdala. He couldn't get out of the speeder but maybe a repulsor field --

 

Suddenly he felt an invisible force grip him bodily and pull him down to the floor of the speeder even as Mirdala rolled atop of him. An instant later the roof caved in as it struck the ground, the entire speeder inverted in its tumble. Kandor expected the impact to send him crashing onto the shattered durasteel, which didn't give his spine much of a chance, but a tangible cushion of air pinned him and his wife to the floor. The speeder flipped back upright again, then tumbled a full additional time, but Fett and Mirdala remained fixed in place. There was at least one working repulsorlift on the vehicle that protected them from the ground when upright, and it was enough.

 

A moment later, the speeder had settled. Adrenaline surged through Fett and he kicked the broken door off its hinges, dragging himself out from under the crumpled ceiling and wrapping an arm around Mirdala's waist to pull her out with him. In a few seconds they were sprawled on Keldabe dirt. Mando'ade who had witnessed the crash came rushing over. One glance at the wreckage told him that the driver was not as fortunate as they.

 

Kandor forced himself shakily onto one knee and glanced over Mirdala, looking for obvious injuries. All of his joints hurt and he had a sharp pain in his left elbow, but nothing felt broken. He pulled off his buy'ce and his wife's. She looked thoroughly dazed and a trickle of blood issued down from her left ear. Her buy'ce apparently hadn't been able to compensate for the explosion enough to protect her eardrums. Her hearing would be a mess for a couple days.

 

He put a hand on the side of her face, reassuring her, even as he realized what had happened. The Force had given her just enough of a warning that she had been in motion even before the strike had landed. That power, coupled with some quick thinking, had enabled her to use the Force to stick them to the floor of the speeder. It had saved both of their lives.

 

"Master, report," 2277's voice came through his implant. His equipment seemed to have held strong, but he had no doubt he would be finding some new dings and dents later on.

 

"We'll live, Twenty-Two," he answered, then collapsed again next to Mirdala, the adrenaline fading. "Just... give us a few minutes."

[Tresha Ad'Nort]

Dull thuds like thunder roused Tresha from a fitful sleep. Cool morning air tickled her skin as she acclimated her eyes to the morning dawn that crept over the cliffs. With a corner of her kama, she brushed the fine mist of dew from the visor of her buy'ce and pulled it over her head before she noticed: the pattering of rain drops was suspiciously absent from such a stormy morning on Manda'yaim.

 

No, not thunder. The groaning rumble of artillery.

 

Jumping to her feet, she swore under her breath and moved toward the north edge of the city as the rest of the beskar-clad throng awakened with the first sounds of battle. The mortars were coming from deep under cover of the forest, and as far as she knew, their tactical plan was to avoid leaving Keldabe proper such that the opposing armies would be forced to drive them out.

 

Activating her comm, she pinged the rest of her squad that now included the jetii Aryian. "This is Ad'Nort. Move to rendezvous at the north edge of the city. Keep alert and eyes to the sky."

 

As if to punctuate her statement, one of the anti-aircraft emplacements on the far side of the street erupted into flame as an artillery shell met its mark, the impact of the blast tossing Tresha into the building beside her. We need air support, she thought grimly as she pushed herself to her feet and staggered for a few steps before she continued to jog towards the northern wall, shaking her head to clear the momentary disorientation. Running down the granite side of Keldabe's perch seemed a poor idea, to which the collection of bodies dotting the side of the hill attested. Pressing herself against the outer lip that walled the city, she found a small chink in the stone and retrieved the sniper rifle from across her back, training it on the treeline of the forest. "Where are you little bastards?" she muttered under her breath.

[Dizzy]

Sentry duty had been quiet though Kalyani felt uneasy. After having spoken to Rhar she had shot off a message to the Count’s representative stating that it would not be possible to see him in person because of the war going on. She’d also asked if he could tell her in a comm. and that she’d get back to him when she could. Jaesko looked through the gap in the barrier, “I know they're out there but they're staying out of sight”. Glancing over at her Kaly nodded her agreement. Time seemed to crawl until suddenly Mellanie and Araac were there to take over from them. The two girls made their way to the building that they had been allotted and tried to settle down to sleep. Kalyani took off only the bare minimum of her armour to make herself comfortable since the uneasy feeling she’d had during their sentry duty had only increased as time had worn on. What little sleep she did get was filled with scenes she would rather forget. She was awoken by the booming crash of explosions and the sound of blaster fire. For a moment she didn’t know where she was but that didn’t last long as she scrambled to put on her boots, helmet and gauntlet.

 

As the two girls dashed from cover to cover towards the barricades the world seemed to slow down for a brief moment. Following her instincts Kaly turned abruptly and tackled Jaesko to the ground just before the artillery round hit the building above them, raining down debris where they would have been had she not taken evasive action. As they looked up, disrupting the layer of dirt and rubble that covered them, both girls gasped as they realised what would have happened had they kept going. One or both of them would have been impaled by twisted metal beams. As it was, they both took more scrapes, cuts and bruises though luckily nothing life threatening. Kaly shook her head, her ears ringing from the high pitched whistle before the explosion. “You okay?” she yelled as she looked at Jaesko getting a nod in return. They got to their feet, hearing cries for help. Kalyani took off in a hurry, scrambling over the rubble in her haste to give aid if she could. She had to slow her descent on the other side, catching sight of an armoured arm sticking out. “Jaesko, help me!” she yelled as she started to dig the wounded out. The other girl joined her, the two of them working to uncover one of Jaesko’s cousins. Without realising it, she used the Force to assist lifting some of the heavy pieces though to anyone watching they would probably put it down to an adrenaline rush given the situation.

[Ary the Grey]

Aryian had awoken before it even started, the Force alerting him to the danger. He had slept just behind a broken wall on the perimeter, with just enough top cover to shelter him from the misting rains through the night. Like terrible thunder the rounds rolled in, and Aryian was already moving by the time his comlink kicked on, and he didn't bother to answer. He would be there.

 

As he scrambled through the muck and streets he took care to not further injure his arm, still slung across his chest and strapped down. Before he reached the final rendezvous area, his danger senses spiked, and his gaze turned high into the sky. The familiar whistle of artillery grew louder, but the Grey master reached up and summoned a Force barrier in the trajectory path, causing it to detonate prematurely. Shrapnel rained down from the sky, but not nearly at the speeds necessary to be fatal.

 

In moments, he had found the Mandalorian that had defended him the night before, now a part of his unit. Putting his good hand on her shoulder, he flowed his essence into her, using his abilities to enhance her natural functions, specifically her eyes and lowering her adrenaline.

 

"Just breathe. Aim...and pull the trigger"

 

He trusted she would catch his meaning. When first exposed to Force enhanced vision, many different people saw many different things, and it was important to stay calm...especially considering their surroundings.

[Terra]

Each change of handgrip on the sheer granite cliff-face made her muscles scream with shooting gouts of fire. Her fingers were numb within their leather gloves, and the muscles within her forearms trembled with exhaustion. A feeling of cold exhaustion began to creep down her shoulders, bringing with it a primal fear of the height at which she was free climbing. It would be a long fall into the the Kelita and churning whitewater that would hold her grave. It was fabled that the original dirtfarmers of Manda’yaim used to sacrifice their weakest children from this cliff, in order to give their planet of scattered farms the defenses of Coruscant.

 

Terra dug the tips of her steel-fanged boots into the unforgiving granite, finding a small crack worn from years of rainfall interspersed with freezing temperatures, to give herself balance. A small tap on one of her ankles signaled the approach of one of the cliff patrols, and she flattened herself into the rough granite, her squaddies doing the same below her. The buzz of her comlink in her ear signaled a message from her overwatch, Harjav.

 

“Blackwraith, two mandos about ten meters above you. They are distracted, looking towards the fighting where the other commandos went. Their backs are to you.”

The young assassin began to creep up the cliff once more, her armourweave dampening the natural sounds of her armour. She could taste the hunt, and her prey was within striking distance. The granite began to give way to shalestone beneath her fingertip the closer the came, causing her to pick her grips more carefully, lest the cliff give way.

 

“Two meters… You should like… Shoot them or something…”

 

Terra crept slowly, her breathing shallow and quiet, a natural reflex for her, even though it was wasted due to her helmet being soundproof. Beneath her, Meeras and Danvers began to inch to the side, so that their approach was from a wider angle of coverage. She heard the voices of the gaurds as they spoke in excited tones

 

“...Buir will let you fight tomorrow, S’s’ka’ksr’sj’em..”

 

...So much phlegm to pronounce one kriffing name...

 

“He swore on Fett, may he rule forever,”

 

The distant explosion of mortars illuminated the pair in the reflection of flame. They were adolescents, a male and female, with dark skin and tight woven hair. They were excitedly watching the fighting below, with the, no doubt fair, trade of fighters on both sides dying in droves. Terra pulled herself to her feet, utilizing a few hanging roots to scramble the last meter under the cover of the rolling thunder of distant mortars. She casually withdrew both vibroblades as the girl spoke.

 

“Do you think, K’joh’ge’vor’da, that out there on the battlefield, my future cyar'ika is honing his skills in battle enough to…”

 

The girl sighed, looking up to the clouded sky as it reflected the orange glow of fire. She didn’t hear her brother’s lifeblood spilling into the grass through a handsized gash in his throat

 

“...Satisfy our Buir enough to win my hand? You know so him and I can go on drawn-out romantic adventures and ignore the galaxy around us?”

She turned directly into the blade of Terra’s vibrosword, which entered her left eye, driving the shimmering phrik-interwoven metal, still stained crimson with her brother’s blood, through her pupil. The girl’s voice caught in her throat as the young assassin rammed the blade through the back of her skull, turning her eye, which was normally the striking colour of the Calamari sea during the stormy season, into a fountain of rose and cherry.

 

As the body slumped twitching into the grass, Terra and her two squadmates entered the courtyard of the residential block the dead Mandalorians had been guarding. A few flickering lights gave away the houses where civilians were awake, no doubt worrying themselves sick over their loved one’s fates on the battlefield.

 

“Meeres, back up Danvers on the road entrance to this facility. If you hear screaming, ignore it. Kill anyone who desires to bust up my orders.”

 

They nodded their affermative and moved to set up traps and ambush at the street-entrances. Terra took a moment to take in her surroundings, her crimson eyes passing over the facility with discerning interest. They settled on a playstructure of multicoloured plastacene, complete with swings and a carousel.

 

“Perfect…”

 

The young assassin indicated on her transceiver that she was beginning her attack, letting the signal flow to the other commandos that had scaled to cliffs to begin their own attacks. She rubbed a leather-clad hand across the playstructure as she made her approach, her steps quick, carrying excitement and madness. Filtered quiet music increased her steps, as she began to trace its source, the sounds of a lullaby.

 

The woman’s voice carried through the small breeze as it blew over the cliffs above the Kelita, singing to her child of peace and love, amongst the death and destruction of a city under siege. The irony made Terra smile wickedly. She slipped into an open window, taking the screen from its hangers like a common thief. The floor was scattered with toys, and smelled like bleach and the vomit of children. The song ended and chorus of voices called for more. Terra slipped from the playroom, into a scene from a playbook.

 

A dozen children sat about of various elementary ages, reclining upon bedrolls. A young woman sat in the middle of the circle, an infant clinging to her shoulder. The woman jumped in a startle at the sight of the black-clad and armoured Mandalorian, before giving an exasperated sigh

 

“You shouldn’t scare me like that, ori'vod, I thought you might be a pirate!”

 

One of the toddlers ran up to the young assassin, hugging her lithe and armoured leg. His voice was weighted heavily with a cold and a stuffy nose

 

“Oya prudii! Prudii! Prudii!”

 

The woman laughed, throwing her head back, letting her auburn hair run in curls down her back.

 

“No No Fes’bar, She is a ver'alor by the looks, not a shadow. How goes the battle?”

 

Terra calmly flipped one of her flechette pistols from its holster, letting the cylinder spin with a series of clicks.

 

“Badly for you lot.”

 

She turned the barrel of the pistol down and pulled the trigger, blasting her leg clear of clutching hands in a hail of flechettes that tore the flesh from bone and into ribbons of gore. The next shot took the woman in the teeth with a slug. The cacophony of screams drowned out the woman’s sputtered coughing as she choked on her shattered teeth and shredded tongue. The infant began to squall as it was covered in a river of the blood that had once sustained it.

 

“Pity I only need half of you.”

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

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?”

[Moon Knight]

"Been through worse," Kandor answered. Truthfully, his elbow was wrenched pretty badly and he would be counting his bruises later, and while he had in the past continued fighting despite much greater trauma, it would affect his performance. "Osik happens. Doesn't change the fact that there's a battle to fight."

 

He looked at his wife. Seemed like her left ear had taken the worst of it. Her implant was on her right side, and since it operated subvocally, he suspected she would be able to hear the squad channel as well as speak through it. But she wasn't in the habit of distributing her implant frequencies outside of the aliit for valid security reasons, and she would have trouble hearing anything else. Being down a sense was a handicap on the battlefield that she didn't need. He transmitted to her, his eyes finding her jade ones. "We can afford to take a few minutes. If you're not fit, Mird'ika, I won't ask you to follow me out there," he said. "But it's your call."

 

If they stuck close and watched each other's backs, it would take substantial injury before they became an ineffective team. She still had the Force, which considerably made up for the loss of hearing, but Fett knew very well that in battle any disadvantage could be lethal. They would have to be especially cautious if they continued accruing injuries, especially if such enemies as Fieyr and Ab'ki realized Mirdala was here and decided to get involved personally.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

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.

[Nonpareils]

A large explosion heralded the arrival of a new threat on the battlefield. On the extreme north of Keldabe, a group of commandos escorted by a Sith Lord made their presence known, already having slaughtered most of the defenders at the position. The commander, code name Kingsnake, snapped on his comm after shooting another two Mandalorians through their chests, the armor piercing rounds puncturing their lungs and rendering them noncombatants. His team finished them off as his gruff voice snapped across their encrypted comm channel.

 

"Highwind, activate the jammer. Wubbadub, Blackflame, Drunk Uncle, perimeter guard. Watch for Mando heavy armor. Baby blue, take position on a rooftop, cover our flanks while we advance. Runtime, you're with me doing sweeps. Zalus...You do what you do best. Recommend sticking with myself and Runtime."

 

The Sith sneered back at him over the comlink as the other commando members scrambled to orders.

 

"The name is Darth Zalus...and I will go where I will cause the most damage to our enemy."

 

Kingsnake ignored him, knowing full well that was their mission already: to knock out the city's main power grid. The generator buildings were still a half a click west of the squad's current position according to intel, and unfortunately would likely resist any artillery the Sith had brought with them. Which, of course, meant a commando strike team would need to surgically demolition the place. It wasn't an easy mission, but Red Company wasn't known for taking easy missions.

 

"Alright people, move out, stay frosty. This city is crawling with Mandos. Don't engage unless engaged or it is mission critical. Our objective is the generators, not body count."

 

Kingsnake pulled up a minimap readout on his HUD, and scanned for hostiles, moving hastily with the rest of his team.

[Moon Knight]

Kandor gripped Mirdala's hand and pulled her to her feet. He paused for a moment, looking down at her. He could remember past Moon Knights that would have seriously considered taking her away from this place, reminded by the artillery strike that any moment could be their last and not wanting to risk the future they could share.

 

But he was not those predecessors. Fett put on his buy'ce, fully prepared to do his duty and die for it if he had to. There were problems that needed to be solved out there, and some of them needed to be solved by him. He and Mirdala were some of the best verde in the oyu'baat, and they had not worked their whole lives to become that way just to abandon their people in their greatest time of need. To put forth anything less than the full might they could muster into winning the battle would be morally reprehensible and dereliction of their duty.

 

Grabbing a swoop parked outside with just enough space for both of them -- and sticking close to buildings and other potential cover from the continued shelling -- the pair made their way back to the north and the battle lines. ShadowFett had a clear idea of what needed to happen next. While their air support disengaged from the battle a few hundred klicks over their heads and moved down probe whatever anti-air defenses were protecting the artillery and knock some out of they could, he would be preparing for a push towards the forest on the ground using juggernauts and other armored vehicles to help cover troop movement. He started making comm calls to various parts of the army, getting status updates on the positions the heavy armor were currently holding.

 

There was considerable work to be done if they were going to free up enough of the vehicles for a major push through the enemy forces. Fett worked with 2277 and the command center to come up with a list of positions that would need to be reinforced or liberated to free up a juggernaut. While the command center started to shift forces around to accommodate the plan, he picked the closest of the objectives and veered the swoop toward it, zipping down narrow streets while his beskar'ad ran another diagnostic on his gear. His targeting rangefinder had ended up bent by a couple degrees, which would limit its ability to swing down. His flamethrower cable had gotten mashed against the inside of the speeder and it would be unreliable or dangerous to use until it received repairs.

 

A couple minutes later they broke out from behind a row of buildings and were on a slope down through a series of barricades towards two juggernauts and support troops that were currently taking heavy fire. The vehicles' durasteel and beskar armor was already scorched black in many places, but they were clearly operational and were dishing out at least as much fire as they were receiving. Arrayed against them were troops with set-up repeating blasters, handheld rocket launchers, a mortar, and snipers occasionally popping up to contribute a carefully-placed blaster bolt.

 

Fett took the speeder as close to the line as he could and, gesturing to Mirdala to stick close, charged forward on foot, joining the ranks of defenders carefully maneuvering around their defensive fortifications and the juggernauts themselves.

[saberforce]

Tros breathed in deep breaths as he took each step. The rain felt heavy, and it made his own muscles ache, but the burning sensation wasn't near enough to slow down his purpose and movement. As his squad, which now seemed to be late, arrived near another group of Mando'ade setting up a line of fire towards the tree line. Hitting the ground hard, Tros slid and pulled his A280 up to bear on the tree line as well. Almost as soon as he stopped in his slide, he began to open fire, as he found a mark of at least one of the aruetiise making a push forward. Tros didn't even notice that Raeshe began scout out a way towards the artillery as Caen covered her. It took a second before he heard her voice shouting over the blaster and artillery fire.

 

"Ardell, ara'novor from the north-east. A small path can get us close enough to bring the fight to at least three of those artillery units. Might actually clear up some takisit airspace for air support."

 

Tros thought about her words for only a second before deciding on carrying out her plan. He swing his A280 to rest on his back and stood up to move with Caen, Raeshe towards the path she found. As he did, his buy'ce picked up a lone sniper below them and the rumored to him, but now confirmed jetii on the battlefield running towards the tree line. That'll be good cover for us.

 

Picking up some speed, the three moved quickly and quietly towards the path that Raeshe had discovered, avoiding detection and fire from the artillery. The group moved like a well oiled machine, which surprised even Tros, as this was one of Caen first times in battle with him and Raeshe, and one of his own first battles. We must have jate'kara on our side. As if on cue, they must have been spotted, as blaster fire began to head their direction as the entered the far outskirts of their firing range. Quickly, Tros ducked behind a tree and brought to bear some cover fire for Raeshe, who was the one carrying the J8Q-128 Finbat Missle launcher. Although, she only had one shot, so all three knew the importance of making it count. Caen moved a few tree spaces ahead to keep the fire sigh focused on anyone but Raeshe. The two worked in unison to draw fire and make it hard for the infantry guarding the one artillery emplacement to pinpoint what exactly was going on. As they did so, Raeshe went to one knee about twenty meters away from the other two, took aim, and fired her one shot at the artillery emplacement that would provide some forest cover for the Mando'ade.

 

With a very loud BOOM sound the resounded, all three knew they had a success with what they wanted to do, so Tros tapped his buy'ce and activated his comm and let the other two know to start pulling back. There was an acknowledgement click from both, so Tros kept his fire going, trying to take out those who were focused on them so that they could all get back behind the wall. Looking through his scope, he fired off two shots into infantry making attempts to shot the Mandalorians in the forest. As he looked, he saw a solider run out behind cover and through a detonator into the air. Tros was fast to take him down, but the thermal detonator still went into the air, headed straight for Raeshe. Tros gave a loud shout.

 

"Raeshe, run fas-"

 

His words were lost in the loud explosion, as it went off only two meters behind Raeshe. She was thrown into the air at the same time that Caen hit the ground from the force and rolled while Tros was able to gain some cover behind a tree. Although his cover allowed for him to watch as Raeshe was thrown into a tree. Her body gave a very loud thud as her beskar'gam cracked the tree and then hit the ground without moving. Tros shouted her name as he ran towards her. Caen quickly got up and provided some extra cover, shooting a solider who was trying to do the same thing. Tros was quick to check her vitals... she had died. Tros became slightly paralyzed as he stared at her body before he heard Caen tell him to pick her up and move. The two worked together in unison and began to carry her body back towards the walled city, shooting back every so often until they were out of range and then just ran. As they got back into the city, Tros put her body down, placed his left hand on her chest and his right hand on his own chest.

 

"Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar dahasuum Raeshe Buhl. "

 

Tros then took of his buy'ce, set it on the ground and took off Raeshe's and held it in his arms as he stared into her deep brown eyes. Her death marked that only Caen would remain of someone whom Tros had known for more then a year. Somehow, the rain helped ease his pain, along with Caen, who was now on both knees behind him holding him as well as the two mourned the loss of their friend.

[Dizzy]

They dug out three Mandalorians in the end. One seriously injured, one with minor damage and one deceased. Kalyani and Jaesko slumped to the ground catching their breath and trying to come to terms with seeing a comrade’s body. The war had become only too real. The medics looked the girls over patching up scrapes that needed it before one said “You girls were lucky. Thanks for your help getting them out. If it's any conciliation Drago wouldn't have suffered.” Jaesko murmured, “That could've been us. You saved us Kaly.” Kalyani just inclined her head in acknowledgement, not trusting her voice just then. She wasn't about to let on why she had reacted before the artillery round landed.

 

After a few moments more the two girls got back on their feet and continued on, dodging from cover to cover until they reached the front line. Scurrying forward while there was a smoke screen Kaly took refuge in a deep shell hole and readied her blaster rifle. While she waited for the smoke to clear she reached out tentatively through the Force to touch her sister, relieved when Mellanie responded in kind. At least she was alright. Looking forward she found that she had a unobstructed view of the enemy. Keeping low and disguising the barrel of the rifle so she didn't present herself as a target she realised that she could direct those firing mortar rounds. “Kail, aim a little higher to the right and you should be able to hit the gun emplacement” she told one of the guys through the comms. A few moments later a mortar round fired. “A little more to the right… that's it. Dead on target.” She didn’t have time to think about anything after that as the enemy started moving forward.

[Mellanie Devanus Vevut]

Focus, Mellanie told herself. She held her position, sticking to cover and popping out only to blast down more enemy forces. She was a good shot, but the invaders this round seemed more prepared and better at their jobs than the mercenaries of yesterday. Whereas yesterday's battle had been like shooting fish in a barrel, today was more of a careful exchange. Mel wasn't willing to take risks right now. She had plenty of fresh power packs, and she was ready for the long haul.

 

Suddenly, she spotted a group of commandos heading west, not bothering to trade blasterfire, but rather, trying to get around the emplacement where she and several other Vevuts were holding down the fort. Not kriffing likely, she thought. "On our flank," she announced on the group's comm channel. She ducked and rolled to a new position of cover, an L-shaped piece of metal that would protect her from the front and yet let her stay under cover from any return fire she was about to pick up. Popping up, she began to pour blasterfire towards the commando squad. The group shifted, and her heart dropped. The man in the back was carrying a blood-red lightsaber. Swallowing her intrepidation, she opened a broader comm channel, hoping to get some reinforcements. "Sith sighted on the western flank, coordinates 54.97 by 9374.784 and moving quickly."

[Tresha Ad'Nort]

Whatever battle highs Tresha was accustomed to getting, they seemed to morph, somehow, the instant the jetii's touch fell on her shoulder. Had he not verbally prepared her, it would have been a startling shift. Her sighting, already assisted by the internal workings of her buy'ce, seemed to sharpen exponentially. It was as though the turning of Mandalore on its axis slowed in order to make way for her shot. Shifting her rifle to fit more comfortably in her arm, Tresha followed Aryian's directions.

 

Her own breathing was like a whisper in her ears as she drew a bead on her first target, and as she exhaled, her finger seemed to move of its own accord, caressing the trigger as if in a lovers' embrace.

 

They fell, each one of them, any who dared to cross the short field between the forest and the granite hillside. As simple as breathing, her bolts shredded her targets at their weakest points: blasting neck seals of armor, knee joints, under the arm. Or, for the unlucky few who wore less armor, blows to the head winked out their existence in an oddly humane fashion.

 

But shouts from behind them, within the city, caught Tresha's attention at the same time her rifle's first power pack expired. Swapping them out with deft fingers, she instead slung the recharged weapon over her shoulder and glanced up at Aryian as TeVerd and the rest of their squad assembled and several other snipers took up position along the wall. "That's a neat trick," she jibed through her helmet comm, quietly but clearly intending for Aryian to overhear. "No wonder they say you lot get an unfair advantage."

 

She could not discern what was going on to the northeastern side of the city, but it seemed like the line was breached. The whine of falling mortars had given way to the distant shouts of combat in closer quarters. Pulling her twin WESTAR pistols from their holsters, she nodded solemnly at the readied team before her. They would, by necessity, purge the outsiders from among them.

[Vihk]

Thunderous explosions peppered the battlefield. Heavily armed and well-trained mercenaries were slipping from the trees in a plethora of organized formations and issuing heavy fire to the Mandalorian perimeter. The North and Northeastern regions of the front were seeing heavy casualties on both sides; each force giving as much as they got. And although the Western front was partially covered by the Kelita River, the reports that came in were not much better. To top it off, signals of warfare came from further in the city nearer to the south balustrade, where Keldabe’s southern border was little more than a cliff-face that fell off into the fast moving Kelita River.

 

The MAD-01 was crouched behind a barricade near Keldabe’s main ‘gate.’ It briefly perked its buy’ce above the improvised barricade to hazard a look across the no man’s land of the northeastern front, and narrowly missed a sniper’s bolt. It looked out to both sides of its open-ended barricade and saw a similar situation gripping the Eastern and Northern fronts. Green, red, and yellow fire rained from both sides and neither force was making much headway. A comm came in on one of the allied comm channels before a row of static hit the droid’s sensor array:

 

• …Sith sighted on the western flank coordinates 54.97 by 9374.784 and moving quickly…

 

After that, the comm cut off. More reports flooded in from all sides, but the droid had a difficult time filtering the messages and trying to focus on the tasks at hand. It bent further to the rubble strewn ground behind the barricade and took a beat. It looked to the barricade on the other side of the main road and saw a Mando’ade - - Designation: Harvek Kiljaar of Clan Skirata. Source of Identification: Clan Meeting and discussion before second battle wave - - bleeding heavily next to his vode. The wound didn’t look severe but left untended, it would become increasingly lethal. The droid’s target identification systems and threat assessment systems were scrolling through massive amounts of numbers at a time, but this problem was near. It was a more immediate complication that the droid could fix.

 

Acting quickly, instead of sifting through target priority data, the droid rolled across the gap between barricades, catching a sniper bolt that singed its left pauldron. When it re-oriented itself, the Mando’ade still bleeding on the ground – Harvek – made to lift a blaster and shoot at the assault droid. The MAD-01 offered no real consolation. It was a droid. Its bedside manner was non-existent. It simply said, “Su cuy'gar, vod. Mirjahaal.”

 

The droid knelt below the top of the barricade and detached its combat bag. The others that stood behind the bleeding Mando’ade took notice of the droid’s presence and acknowledged its greeting, but didn’t stop to look in its direction. Their focus was drawn to their surroundings. The bleeding man on the ground, who was gripping a blaster with one hand and his wound with the other, nodded his head at the greeting, but his caution didn’t cease. When he saw the bag, he lowered the pistol slightly, but the Mandalorian didn’t live for as long as he did without being cautious.

 

The droid reached its right arm into the combat bag and retrieved a stack of bacta patches, antiseptic and a ration bar. It looked to the injured Mando’ade and handed the objects over to him. “I am not equipped or programmed for triage, but my creator gave me a few items in case hazard warranted it. Please make use of them. Your wound looks severe. See to it as soon as you can.”

 

The droid’s tone was matter-of-fact and its speech wasn’t minced. It simply sealed and reattached the combat bag to its backside with no added deliberation. It had very little skill in comfort and emotion. But any emotion was considered a vulnerability in war. It was hesitation. Warriors can’t hesitate. Warriors can’t flee. They fight to see victory. That is their purpose. Maybe that is why the droid was ‘mad’ as others called it; insane. It lacked the compassion that others had. But it was a necessary omission.

 

The wounded Mando’ade looked up at the droid with a mixed expression and took the items from it as instructed. Harvek got to work using the medicine while his comrades continued to fire. Meanwhile, as their interaction waned, more mercenary ranks poured from the trees and were visible from the MAD-01’s current position. The droid, taking care to watch its surroundings through a 360-tactical readout, briefly noticed an opening in the mercenaries that neared the main ‘gate,’ and sprang into action. It seized the wounded Mando’ade’s sniper rifle that was leaning against the improvised barricade, nestled the bulk of the rifle against its rifle-mounted left arm and balanced the bulk of the sniper with its right hand. It hefted the viewfinder to its photoreceptors and took a millisecond to calculate the wind speed and range. When the optimal position was calculated and the proper trajectory adjustments were made, the MAD-01 fired a shot at the lead of one of the faceless mercenary groups, sending the mercenary flying to the ground in a heap of shock and surprise. Not pausing to see if the mercenary was dead, the MAD-01 dropped the sniper rifle and rolled back to its original barricade as the other mercenaries scattered to defensive positions behind nearby trees.

Let the battle be joined once more…

[Kalyani Wartide]

“Kaly! Get out of there!” Jaesko shouted at her. Peaking over the rim of the shell hole, Kalyani saw why. Somehow she had been spotted, one of the enemy had managed to get close enough to lob a grenade at her. “Now!” The sound of blasters opening up to give her covering fire had her moving.With a mad scramble she was over the top and scurrying towards the barricade, getting there out of breath just as the grenade exploded sending dirt and shrapnel flying from where she had just left. Panting for air Kaly rested against the barricade, looking up at the sky. Her eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of a small drone flying above their position. “That’s how they knew I was there…” she murmured as she raised her blaster, firing a shot that took the drone out.

 

“Sith sighted on western flank, coordinates 54.97 by 9374.784 and moving quic....” static came across the comm as it cut out part way through Mel’s message. “Mel! Come on Jaes! Let's go find her!” One of the men growled out, “Damn! They're jamming us!” Another voice gave an order, “Someone pinpoint where their jammer is and neutralize it.” All Kalyani could think of was her sister so she was relieved when Dac told the two girls to go re-enforce Mel and Araac. She wanted to reach out to see how she was but worried that the Sith would sense them and she didn’t want that. Being given directions where to go, Kaly followed Jaesko’s lead, the two girls sprinting and dodging from cover to cover to get there, arriving out of breath.

[Whispering Abyss]

Hawke thumbed a flashing comm button on the battle display, popping up a hologram of a forward observer.

 

"Report."

 

"Sir, 87% of targeted enemy emplacements have been destroyed or damaged beyond immediate usability. Six of our own artillery guns were too close to the skirmish and were targeted by the Mandalorians, now destroyed. Troops report heavy resistance moving forward, but forward progress is still being made. No report back from Red Company."

 

"Have the artillery cease fire, mortar units can join with the infantry push or target fortified positions along the perimeter. Order the remaining artillery units to move their positions and go dark until further orders."

 

"Sir?"

 

"Don't question me, Lieutenant. I don't want a pile of rubble, I want Keldabe. Ab'ki wants Keldabe."

 

"Yes, sir!"

 

The hologram fizzled out, and Hawke sat back. He could destroy them utterly, but that isn't what Ab'ki wanted. If Red Company was successful in their mission, it would open up for a push to establish a foothold in the city itself, which would be highly useful in the near future. Still, the zealots that had come with him ensured him it wouldn't be necessary, as victory would be secured with a Sith sacrificial ritual. Hawke didn't place much value in the Force, but it couldn't hurt to let the zealots have their fun. Preparations were already underway, and Blackwraith was already busy securing sacrifices for them.

 

Everything according to plan.

[Nonpareils]

Kingsnake dove as the first of the blaster fire peppered the squad, shoulder rolling behind cover. Most of the rest of the squad did the same, stopping quickly until it was safe to exit cover. He peeked around the corner briefly, noting only the one Mandalorian firing, but far movement looked like backup was on the way. Across their unjammed encrypted frequencies, Highwind's voice snapped in urgency.

 

"Comm jammer operational!"

 

"Incoming Mandos...looks like they're onto us sir."

 

Kingsnake swore as Baby blue's voice followed, she'd already taken up a position on a nearby high building. It was too late. They'd been spotted. Very well, time for plan B. He thumbed his wrist, activating his comm unit.

 

"Change of plans, ladies and gentlemen. We've already been spotted. Time to split up. Baby blue, take Runtime and Wubbadub, proceed to target. Stay separated and move fast. The rest of us are the decoy. Darth Zalus...have fun. This is where we hold, drawing away from the other three when able. Highwind, Drunk uncle, move to the other street, set up a crossfire zone. Blackflame, on me, we'll be covering Darth Zalus while he makes corpses."

 

Kingsnake could almost hear the Sith grin as the man charged forward towards the Mandalorian's position ((Mellanie)), the lightsaber nunchuckau whipping around him, deflecting blaster bolts as he closed. The rest of his squad started moving immediately as their instructions were made clear, especially Baby blue, whose adaptive camouflage would aid her greatly as she made her way across rooftops towards the objective.

 

Red company's commander took up a kneeling stance using the corner of the building for cover, lining up a bead on the nearest Mandalorian who was rushing to reinforce their lone assailant. A single round sent the man down to the street. It was a painful gut shot, and would render the man incapacitated, slowly dying if aid was not rendered. The perfect bait. Across the street, Blackflame's rotary gatling blaster warmed up, readying for the battle ahead of them.

[Ary the Grey]

Aryian followed Tresha, covering the team from the occasional stray blaster bolt with a quick Force barrier. It was when he felt the presence of the Dark Side that the hair on the back of his neck bristled, and he slung his blaster rifle over his back and drew the lightsaber he'd made the night prior, igniting it with a brilliant snap-hisss. He didn't make eye contact with anyone as he simply spoke, knowing Tresha would hear him.

 

"Sith ahead. Be cautious."

 

Hefting the hilt in his left hand, he swung it a few times, testing the grip, before utilizing the Force to jump to the nearest rooftop. It was high time the Grey Master doled out some justice. He was, once more, an instrument of the Force, and the Force was his ally. As he closed on the position, he saw the Sith about to reach a lone Mandalorian firing on him, and Aryian quickly snapped up another Force barrier between him and the Mandalorian, this time focusing so as to maintain it. Not again. He refused to lose any more to the rapaciousness of the Dark Side. Not this time.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

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.

[Moon Knight]

Fett didn’t delay. He moved decisively around the side of the juggernaut and approached the turret in a straight line. It didn’t take long to spot him and traced its cannon fire down to counter his advance. He immediately started to catch blaster bolts on the shield, the impacts hammering his already-aching joints, but he pushed ahead just the same, mind set on reaching the top of the hill.

 

Carefully keeping to the shadow of protection afforded her by Kandor’s shield, Mirdala withdrew a concussion grenade from one of her belt pouches and hurled it with precision at the still operational canon. As the explosion blossomed across her display, she and Kandor were able to close the remaining distance. Once she was close enough, she vaulted over his shoulder and landed on one of the mercenaries, using her momentum to take him to the ground. A quick extension of her wrist blade as she jammed her fist into his jaw and he was down for good. Her Force sense alerted her to the blaster bolts that hit the decking a split second after she rolled back from her first victim and found her feet.

 

The remaining soldiers fanned out, seeking cover and bringing rifles and sidearms to bear upon her, the speeder turret useless at point blank range. Fett cut down one of them with a barrage from his assault rifle, slotted in the side of the energy shield he still carried as he caught up to his wife. Mirdala pivoted, using the speeder wreckage and the shield for cover from their return fire as she crossed behind him, drawing her pistol left-handed to shoot past his shoulder.

 

Dropping to one knee for additional stability, Fett traded mobility for the protection of the shield and the pair of them made quick work of the remaining troops in the immediate vicinity.

 

“Turret?” he asked her. “I’ll cover you.”

[Mellanie Devanus Vevut]

Turning her fire on the squad drew their attention alright. The group split up, and Mel hoped that her message had somehow gotten through the jamming. She didn't know what that squad was sneaking off to do, but it couldn't be good. There wasn't anything she could do about it right now, though, cause the Sith had turned his attention directly on her. He came charging, swinging his short lightsabers like some sort of nunchaku.

 

Fumbling, Mellanie tried to flick the switch on her blaster to set the blasted thing to stun, but the Sith was on her faster than should have been possible. "Mel!" she heard Araac cry. A lightsaber was coming down at her head--and suddenly it hit midair and stopped. There was a second of confusion on both her part and the Sith's, and then she flicked the switch and began to pour expanding rings of stun bolts at him. In her buy'ce's HUD, she saw that the grizzled man in mismatched armor bearing a brilliant silver lightsaber--the one she had seen earlier--standing on a nearby rooftop. She assumed it was he she had to thank for saving her life.

 

Just then, Jaesko and Kalyani came pounding up. "Over there!" she cried, pointing them towards the rest of the squad that was slinking away. That left her and Araac, plus the Jedi and any other troops he had with him, to take on the Sith and the others with him. She continued to shoot as she retreated back towards the side of the street, looking for cover.

[Tresha Ad'Nort]

With more speed than she'd thought humanly possible, the jetii launched himself from her side. Putting her feet in motion in an attempt to keep up on the ground, Tresha darted around the side of the building, knowing TeVerd and likely some of the others would be hot on her heels, but the length of her stride worked in her favor. Slowing as she reached the end of the building, she cleared the corner just in time to see a flash of red and a single verd unleashing stun rings in the direction of the darjetii before her.

 

What kind of fighter would not shoot to kill in this battle?

 

"Circle around to the other side," she said through the squad's comm, as a trio of Mando'ade came rushing up behind her, but only static met her in reply. Kriff, they're jamming us, she thought to herself, activating instead the helmet's audio projection systems with a blink of her eyes and repeated herself.

 

Holding her WESTAR-35 pistols out before her, she rounded the corner and unleashed a volley of fiery orange bolts at the attacker. A shout from TeVerd at the end of the block alerted her just in time, and as she threw herself into an agile somersault that took her under cover, a spray of high-powered bolts hit the duracrete behind where she had been only moments before, spraying gravel across the otherwise deserted street.

 

The inability to coordinate with the squad just got a hundred times more dangerous. Crossfire had her pinned down on this side of the street. Her squadmates were advancing from behind the defender, but as she glanced in their direction, peeking around the edifice, a flash of motion from above caught her eye. Kitty-corner to where she now stood, a pair of armored mercenaries slunk across the rooftop, accompanied by what looked like some sort of portable shielding unit, if the unnatural shimmer of the air was any indication.

 

Or a stealth camouflage unit. She almost didn't want to know what was under there.

 

After unloading another quick series of shots aimed at the skulking figures above, Tresha holstered her blasters and retraced her steps halfway down the length of the building. Using her height to her advantage, she leaped to seize the ladder that hung from the fire escape and scrambled to the rooftop as quickly as possible. As much as she did not like the idea of leaving her squad behind to face a Sith Lord, there was no way of knowing whether anyone else would locate and pursue the insurgents she had seen, and she had no way of broadcasting her knowledge without compromising her position.

 

When she reached the rooftop, however, she spotted the silver glow of Aryian's tonfa.

 

"Crossfire below, they're trying to pin down our ground forces," she called as she darted to the far edge of the rooftop, unslinging her rifle from around her back and kneeling in the corner. And I think I know why...

 

Her HUD lent assistance as she attempted to draw a bead on the figures that were growing ever smaller as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.