(Skirata) The Verd'goten

[Grimlock]

Manda'yaim. A decade ago the planet was teeming with Mandalorians joined together under the united banner of Mand'alor Vencu. After the war everything was changed as brother fought against brother in battles they justified in the name of the true Mandalorian spirit. The Sith firebombed the planet while they blockaded the system from the rest of the galaxy, cutting off what was once a mighty people from their fellow Mandos. One such clan was victim of the blockade though they were not locked in. Clan Skirata. They were locked out of their homeland and incapable of returning until the blockade was removed. A decade of not knowing the fate of their beloved Kyrimorut. The ancestral homestead from the time of their formation during the great Clone Wars centuries before.

Finally an opportunity presented itself in the form of a meeting with the Alor's of the great clans at the monument of the fallen on Manda'yaim. Dex Skirata lead a squad to the planet for the meeting and found the chance to gather much needed supplies and equipment from their Kyrimorut homestead. Accompanied by two ge'verd, Evaar and Esco Skirata, he found this the perfect opportunity for the two warriors to undergo their verd'goten.

_____________________________

The clan was in need of the supplies that they were looking for and where better place to look than their former home of Kyrimorut? Dex walked slowly down the path with his "bigripper" held in a loose ready position as he scanned the areas ahead of them. Despite the firebombings and other forms of destruction around them, he found the maps he had carried with him for years were still reasonably accurate at least to a general area. "Shift it, lads. Those supplies aren't going to find themselves." spoke Dex roughly over the comms as he took a knee and observed the route. "This needs to be quick. Once we get to the homestead, we'll grab what equipment and supplies we can find. Fuel cells for the armor back at Alzoc, and another tank or two if we can find them." explained the Mando as he removed his buy'ce and set it carefully next to him.

"After we find what we need, we'll flag down the Juri and exfil home. I don't expect much resistance, but if it gets too heavy there are the two Kar'kad's on station for close air support. I'd like to avoid that course of action." finished the man as he wiped his hand across his forehead and replaced his buy'ce as it sealed to his beskar'gam once again. He was feeling elated at the prospect of returning to his home again after so many years.

"Just you wait, boys. No sight is more beautiful than seeing Kyrimorut for the first time."

 

[Dóiteán]

Evaar Skirata, formerly Maxx Thrall, followed after Dex. Completely unarmored but armed with his two black widow pistols, Evaar had one hand on one of his pistols. He was constantly looking around. His years as a gunslinger, and a member of organization the Retrade, taught him to be cautious and always keep your eyes open. This being his first time in Mandalorian space, Evaar wanted to be even more cautious. Dressed in his usual shirt and pants with the poncho and hat, he stood out a bit among the group. Watching Dex, he walked up to the Alor. "Then let's keep moving. I'd like to get through this without getting shot at, though I'm not expecting that to happen", he said to Dex as the Alor put his buy'ce back on.

 

[Qerps]

This was Esco’s first touchdown on Manda’yaim. It was his first visit to the system even, never having been close to this part of the galaxy. He was not sure what to think of the planet yet. It was quite different than any other planet he had visited so far. A lot more vegetation for example. It was beautiful in its own way though, so he could see why Mando’s liked their home so much.

The Besalisk “I don’t think there is anyone who actually enjoys getting shot at vod.”

Not familiar with the planet, he had chosen a spot at the rear of their group, following in the tracks of his brothers. He went clad in his durasteel shell as always, but had brought something extra in terms of armament for the occasion. Before leaving Alzoc, he had rummaged through the clan’s armoury to find himself something more appropriate than a blaster for when the going got rough. He ended up picking out the biggest thing he could carry without being slowed down by the weight. It was a LS-150 Heavy Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun. The monster was now slung onto his back so it would not hinder him on their march. It would be pulled out at the first sign of trouble though.

 

[Arisalin]

Clan Bralor.

It had fallen a long way from it's high perch as the lapdog of the past Mandalore. The once great group of gathered brothers and sisters, gathered families and friends, had fractured. Fighting each-other and fighting the other Clans, few of them remembered much of honor, and dignity. They were dishonored, and the other Clans treated them as such. Avoidance, and cold negotiations greeted them at the doors of their fellow Mandalorians. It would take a hero worthy of legends to bring them up from the ashes, or a war so that they may fight and die for redemption.

Some of them had fled to far edges of the Mandalorian controlled systems. They had been stopped by the iron wall of the Sith's blockade. Formerly friendly faces turned their backs on them. Others had fought long and hard against the Sith when they came those years before. Dying on the very ground of Manda'yaim, they had seen the light of what it truly means to be a Mandalorian just before passing into the afterlife. Then there were those who had hid. Those who had cowered.

Though few in numbers, they rule the fields of the dead, the fields of ash. Manda'yaim is there home now, and they hold it with an iron fist.

Manda'yaim is theirs.

________________________________​

K'aden watched the moving trio of soldiers as they trudged through the land. Skirata. He knew them. He loathed them. They were there for what they thought they could claim honorably. They had forgotten that the moment Bralor had arrived on the planet, everything was forfeit.

"Where are they headed?"

"Hush." K'aden's gravelly voice silenced all movement from the group of men around him. 'Only three.' He had expected more then they'd picked up the ship on their scanners. There were two other squads out on patrol. He could have them there in under half an hour. 'Both though? It was only three men.' His thoughts burned and the gears of his mind spun rapidly as he let the binoculars drop to waist level. A moment later the decision was made. He could tell by the direction the trio of men in the distance were walking in where they were headed. Kyrimorut.

He commed the other two squad leaders, barking out his orders.

"We have some tresspasers vode."

 

[Grimlock]

Continuing along the narrow path, Dex listened to the comms chatter between the two Mandos with him. "Exfil, what's your status?" asked the older Mando as he opened comms to the Juri class freighter standing by to rush in and extract them. "Standing by and ready to move, Alor." replied the pilot of the freighter before the comms cut out. Dex was impatient. Impatient to find the much needed supplies and more than anything impatient to see Kyrimorut again. Glancing back at the two warriors behind him, he knelt once again to observe the path ahead as he held up a raised fist.

This was as much their trial as his. Though he had undertaken his Verd'goten more than three decades before, he still found this a trial of his patience and leadership. Not the leadership of troops he was used to on the squad or platoon based level but the leadership of an entire clan. "What do you boys think? How should we proceed?" asked the Alor as he began testing his two ge'verd on their ability to navigate a possible battlefield.

 

[Dóiteán]

Stopping when Dex did, Evaar gripped one of his pistols while he took a quick look around. Listening to their Alor, he gave a look at the path ahead. "We need to be cautious. Weapons ready, eyes searching, heads on a swivel. Y'all may have the luxury of some protection of armor but I do not. Caution and speed. If we can get from cover to cover and have one go ahead, someone speedy, then we may be able to see or hear someone before they see us", he said to the older mandalorian. Evaar unclipped the holsters to allow him to be able to quickly draw his pistols. Gripping one, he looked back at Esco. "I'm sure Esco could provide cover fire if needed", he said giving the Besalisk a smirk. The former gunslinger looked back at the Alor, still kneeling. "Any fresh tracks Alor?", he asked.

 

[Qerps]

Esco’s hand went to his gun as he saw Evaar going for his. As the Human them to keep their weapons at the ready, he pulled it over his shoulder and let it rest in three of his hands. “Hey, maybe we’ll find enough to piece together a beskar’gam of your own. If not, then all I need is the right materials and a few days to set you up with some proper protection. For now, feel free to use me as cover if it comes to that.” His grin was hidden behind the visor of his buy’ce.

He looked along the path and studied his surroundings, but could not see anything worth noting. “Subtlety is not my forte, so probably not the ideal choice for a scout. Then again, if we’re found out, this little baby should make them go down quickly. Ducking if they’re smart, perforated if they’re not.” He chuckled as he patted on his LS-150. “But I can do caution and moving between cover sound good to me.” His head swivelled at Dex. “Unless I’m mistaking, you know Kyrimorut. Any ideas on the ideal angle of approach? Ideally, I’d say something with as little open terrain to be crossed as possible.”

 

[Arisalin]

K'aden and the other seven men in his squad moved quickly. They would stop in ditches, or brushy areas, then sprint across the open sections as they kept their distance. All wore light armor, all but K'aden himself, who wore his full beskar'gam. He brushed a branch out of his way with his forearm. The pure beskar plate, the only beskar on him, didn't shine but seemed to glow dully in the sunlight. The straps that held it onto him were tight, adjustable so that they didn't slide around on different users. His armor, painted dark grey, was made so that he could move quickly though still be well protected. In one hand, he held a heavy blaster pistol, the other held a beskar axe.

The other two squads were moving in from each side. The plan was to funnel the Skirata Clan members into a box. Then, blow the box.

 

[Grimlock]

Still kneeling as he listened to his two warriors give him ideas, he chose to answer Evaar's question first. "Don't need the tracks to know we're in a bad spot, lads." replied Dex as he stood and glanced to the left of them. 400-500 yards away, he could see the occasional glint of blasters and knives moving toward them. Then he heard Esco say something about Evaar needing some beskar'gam which caused a grim smile to reach his lips. "If he's not picky about the color, there's going to be plenty lying on the ground in about 60 seconds." commented Dex as his mind ran through every possible tactic the soon to be present enemy could be using.

'There must be more than one squad else they wouldn't be rushing from one side. Two squads, maybe? Osik. A crossfire maneuver. They're trying to box us in.' thought the Mando as he glanced at the two ge'verd. "Esco. As soon as Evaar and I start firing, I want a base of fire on the right side. I don't know who these hut'uune are but I want them to keep their heads down. Cover to cover bounding maneuvers the entire way to Kyrimorut. Once we get there I can call in the other squads on the Juri. Hope you boys can run and gun." spoke Dex quickly as he relayed the orders before shouldering his BigRipper and opening fire in short controlled bursts to the left side of them at the slowly approaching enemy.

The maps in the corner of his HUD showed there should be a small outcropping of rocks down the path around 600 meters from the most defensible location available to them. Kyrimorut.

 

[Dóiteán]

When Dex mentioned that in about sixty seconds there was going to be plenty of beskar'gam lying around, Evaar thought he knew what the older mandalorian was talking about. Looking to the left as well, he could only make out a shine that would appear and disappear. Droyk, he thought. "Who are these Osk'y? These enemies?", he asked as he quickly drew both pistols. Aiming at the left, he fired two shots as he followed Dex. "They're too far for my pistols to accurately hit them", he said as he fired two more shots from his other pistol.

 

[Qerps]

It seemed this trip was taking a turn for the worst. Hardly touched down on Mando soil and already it had come to Vode shooting Vode. And to think they were here for talks to stop this pointless civil war. It was ridiculous. Ridiculous as it may be, he had no plans on visiting the Manda just yet. “Nothing a bit of painting cannot fix. I suggest we start off with a nice shade of red.” His voice was even. While he liked shooting stuff for fun, he preferred to do it without having to kill people. Still, if it had to come to violence, they might as well give these aru’e a run for their money. Like the saying went, don't be afraid to be the first to resort to violence.

He followed Dex’ glance to the right with both eyes and gun and could now spot the occasional flash of movement as well. As soon as the BigRipper went off, he pulled the trigger as well. He started off with a slightly longer burst, spraying the whole area where he had seen movement. As they moved on towards cover, he would follow up with shorter bursts, focusing mostly on areas where there was returning fire - if any - and where he last saw movement. The LS-150 had a lot of ammo and could handle being shot until empty, but if you just kept that trigger down it chewed through it more quickly than a hungry rancor through a pile of flesh and he only carried two refills.

Using all four arms to keep the gun steady, aimed sideways and spewing charged particles at the enemy on their right, he hurried after his brothers towards the safety of cover. “No worries Evaar, just make them keep their head down until we get to cover.”

 

[Arisalin]

K'aden and his men slowed as the first shots were fired. A voice crackled over his comlink, Yaeda, the leader of the left hand squad. "We're taking sporadic fire. Cover's blown." Many thoughts raced through the Bralor's head, all of them angry. He waved his own squad forward, and they moved at a faster pace then before, taking less time in the cover of foliage. It was almost like hopping from one spot to another, but now they were doing it faster. Fewer then ten seconds of rest in each area. Opening a channel to the right squad he gave an order:

"Get farther up, but spread out so you don't leave a gap they can escape through. I want some steady fire on those Skirata chakaars." His boots pounded on the earth as he leapt a small dip caused by some form of explosive years before. His HUD tracked the movements of the other two squads, and of the three men they were in contact with. He watched as the left squad kept up the pace, still just beside the trio but several hundred yards away, while the right squad spread out - at least ten feet between every man in the group of eight.

(Chakaars - petty thieves, or bastards.)

 

[Grimlock]

Continuing the brutal onslaught from the BigRipper in his short controlled bursts, Dex his the break lever as the spent 10mm drum was ejected from the weapon. Reaching into his belt pouch for another, he slammed it into the housing and slammed the weapon closed before firing another group of controlled bursts to the left at the continually advancing Mandos. "Keep up the fire, boys!" called Dex as he turned his attention for a split second to see the outcropping the map was showing. "There! The rocks! Double time and I'll lay down cover fire." ordered Dex as he dropped to a knee and fired a burst at the left flanks attackers.

The Mando looked to be leading the squad on the left. Dex didn't care to double check if he was or not, and opened up with another two or three short bursts one handed while he reached into his grenade pouch and scrambled to grab one of the explosives. When he finally had one, he hit the activation switch and threw it at the left flank. Hoping the other two had broken off the engagement like he had ordered and started for the rocks to give him covering fire, Dex backpedaled while he fired one more burst before finally hearing the frag grenade go off. He didn't check to see if it had done any damage since the only thing he cared about were linking up with his two ge'verd and getting to Kyrimorut.

 

[Dóiteán]

Evaar fired three more times before backing up to the rocks. Peaking out, he fired six more rounds before reloading. "Alor, fall back", he said to Dex. Evaar took careful aim and fired three consecutive shots. He wondered who they were and if they had an issue with them. "How much further to Kyrimorut?", he shouted as he fired another shot. He wasn't sure if he hit anyone but he didn't care.

 

[Qerps]

Esco fired off a last burst to his right before breaking into a short sprint towards the rocks. He picked a piece that stood just over hip height and placed two armoured gloves of his lower hands on the rocks, one after the other. As he jumped, he levelled his body vertically and threw his legs over the rock, turning 180 degrees as he went over.

As soon as he landed, he crouched behind the rock. His upper pair of arms brought down the gun he was still carrying and placing on the rock. “Covering!” He pulled down the trigger once more. Before, he had been aiming in the general direction of the enemy, spraying them with a deadly hail so they kept their heads down. Now, with the support of the rock and facing the enemy directly, he aimed his bursts towards any piece of beskar he spotted, alternating between targets as quickly as he could if more than one was available.

 

[Arisalin]

K'aden's squad and the others kept moving. The squad to the left had now forgone their superior cover for something more moderate. Forced to expose themselves to do so, they fired in bursts towards the group of three men. One major mistake had been made when they spread out. They had moved closer to the Skirata Clansmen. This did give them a better view, but it worked both ways. The squad on the right kept their distance, one of the men getting caught in the shoulder while moving over a rise in terrain.

K'aden personally was moving as planned. They would keep doing as they did until the trio of men stopped, or they made it into the homestead.

There was nothing they could do until then.

 

[Grimlock]

Sprinting toward the nearby rocks that his comrades had taken cover in, he glanced down the way to see the top of the hangar floating above the trees. "Kandosii! There it is, lads. Get moving! I'll lay down cover. Now shift it!" ordered the Alor as he pulled two more grenades from his belt and threw one to the left and the other to the right. They weren't fragmentation grenades however, being instead the EMP grenades MandalTech had manufactured. As long as the enemy armor wasn't hardened to EMP's, their armor systems would be fried in the detonation.

"Extract. I need those fireteams dropped in the compound. We've encountered heavy resistance. Repeat. Drop the fireteams on the compound to provide cover for the scouting party." called the Alor while he continued to fire his BigRipper to the left and right in alternating motions. The sound of the pilot of the Juri class laughing could be heard before he started speaking. "Roger that, Alor. Looks like you're having a party down there." spoke the pilot, a man named Juri ironically, while the freighter made a fly over of the battlefield before entering a hover over the Kyrimorut compound.

As the ramp of the ship lowered, the two Protector led fireteams made sure their jetpacks were mounted and ready."Alright, Vode. The Alor and the two ge'verd are having a party down there. Seems they forgot to invite us till now. Once we touch dirt, we're gonna set up defensive positions so they can get their shebs into the compound double time!" called the Ruus'alor that led the entire squad before turning and running off the ramp, falling the 70 meters to the ground, hitting his packs 5 meters before dirt. The others followed suit as they quickly spread out in the compound to provide cover fire.

 

[Dóiteán]

Evaar aimed his pistols at the left and right as Dex spoke. Firing off a few rounds, he ran towards the hangar. Still aiming, he fired two more rounds. Not caring if he hit anyone, he continued running until he got to the hangar. Ducking behind a crate, he fired a few more shots. Popping out the cartridges, he reloaded the two pistols before popping out and firing again.

 

[Qerps]

As his Alor took cover with them, Esco down the triggered and aimed at the closest Bralor attacker. After a long burst of fire, he was rewarded with the dry click he had been waiting for. “Reloading, give me a second.” Ducking behind the rocks, he held his LS-150 steady with his upper left hand. With his lower left, he removed the spend ammo pack, shoving a new one in with his lower right hand. That left one hand free to do the unlocking and locking of the ammo pack as he removed the old one and put in a new one. Using all four arms, he reloaded the unwieldy gun at a record pace. “All ready.” Even though it had been a recent addition to his arsenal, he had spend some time while in hyperspace practising with it.

Hot on Evaar’s trail, the Besalisk sprinted towards the cover of the hanger. As soon as he was in, he took cover and lined up his gun at the entrance so he could cover Dex as he made his way in.

 

[Arisalin]

The first serious casualty occurred in the half a minute before the Skirata Warriors reached the hanger. A shot fired from the four armed one smacked into the visor of the lead member on the right. He died instantly, and a crackle of voices over the comms brought the news to K'aden as he rushed forward. He sped up, waving the others after him. The time of holding back was over. They all saw the other members of Clan Skirata arrive, and it suddenly went from a more relaxed chase to a fire fight. Suppressing fire kept all three of the Bralor squads down, and K'aden realized he would need some assistance to get through this one. Turning to the man who held their radio he hissed his orders, "Call in some support, command code U'rar 325."

Another casualty was reported, this one also from the squad on the right, though they were all now almost in a straight line. A mere fifty feet separated the two other groups of Bralors from the lead squad in the middle. The left one had superior cover, behind some rocks and wreckage of an old speeder. On the right most were prone, in the open. Relying on a slight incline that they lay upon to keep them safe. K'aden, in a ditch with his men, reached forward, setting up his support rifle's bipod.

"Oya!" the hardened warrior roared, as he started raining fire upon the supporting Skirata troops.