Ask Another Mando's Trash

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Zygerria. Symbol of slavery if ever there was one. It was not alone. Other worlds condoned the practice, treated it as a kind of sport as much as an economy. Yet, where worlds like Karazak had since broken the chains, cracked the collars and freed the slaves, Zygerria was ever as stubborn as a bantha with a bond of its own.

Zygerria… Casany Praxor thought as she gazed out the window of the starship breaking the atmosphere. It was alone but she was not, with vode in tow and Solus Mandalorians. How proud is your king now? Kotii Solus could answer that, and he was not alone either.

The badger and others beside him had crushed the monarchy, the Black Hand’s own two hands had gutted the king, just as his broadcast had promised would come to pass. That was yesterday, more or less, and today was a new day.

On this day, other Mandalorians had come to kiss the dirt baked with the blood of souls enslaved. Souls freed, Cas corrected herself. Not all, but enough, and more to come. She had come to help them, arm them, train them; but, first, that meant flying them and then some. And what better way to steer a crusade than in a Crusader?

From the sky, the harbinger that harbored the True Mandalorians approached the surface. The ship coasted across the barren plans and found purchase atop a mesa. Beyond and beneath it, an aerial view had already confirmed the Crusader II-class corvette nestled in the middle of a walled complex. It was guarded.

Naturally, not every Zygerrian was swayed by the hammer that fell from Solus’ hand, king or no king. Traditions were not so easily broken, and over there was a slaver compound unwilling to unlock the chains.

So we will break them, Cas promised as she descended the ship’s ramp, landing struts engaged, though hers was more the walk of a soldier than a strut upon the land.

Armored head to toe, red gold beskar glinting in the sunlight, she observed her quarry behind a black visor. Blood for blood, she thought of those slavers below and the slaves in the ground, and the fire that did not discriminate the dead. Ashes to ashes.


@Vicc125 @Charles

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Gatz had flown from one side of the galaxy to another, but Zygerria was one of the few places he'd refused to do business with. Yes, he was a smuggler known for delivering illicit goods like spice. He'd blasted a man or two in his time. Hell, he'd recently accepted a job to smuggle Republic weapons into Sith territory. So he wasn't exactly the kind of guy who kept his hands clean.

But slavers were an even filthier kind of scum. Gatz's moral compass might have been a little out of whack, but he would never lower himself to smuggling people against his will. But giving Zygerria the middle finger by stealing a ship out from under their noses? That Gatz was happy to do.

His battered freighter, The Long March, broke the atmosphere with slight turbulence. Gatz found himself alone in the cockpit, save for R4. The aged droid was quietly jacked into his ship, watching the sensors in case anyone noticed their entry. Gatz doubted they could enter atmosphere and land on the planet without someone knowing, but his astromech droid beeped an all clear to him. For now, at least, the enemy wasn't scrambling any forces against them.

Gatz found an appropriate mesa to land on, bringing the ship down swiftly. She creaked as her struts depressed, and the ship settled, but held firm. Getting up from his seat, the young smuggler turned to his droid.

"Stay on the sensors. Reach me on my comlink if you see anything."

R4 beeped an affirmative, and with that Gatz made for the cargo bay where his Mandalorian passengers had spent the duration of the trip. He nabbed his jacket from his quarters along the way, and strapped his blaster pistol to his thigh. He grabbed his rifle, an E-11, and slung it over his shoulder with a strap. Gatz was no Mandalorian, but that didn't mean he was helpless.

He passed the Solus Mandalorians without a word, striding down the ramp of his ship with a casual swagger, until he stood beside one of the Mandalorians that stood out to him: the one in the gold and red armor.

"So, what are we looking at?"

@Die Shize @Charles @Darasuum

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Zygerria was a cesspool of scum and scum alone. It was too high a compliment to call the slavers 'villains'. They were the lowest of the low. The parasites of the galaxy that fed off of everyone else. Too lazy to learn any skill besides deceit and kidnapping. Ruus'all Solus was going to enjoy putting these dogs in their rightful place and steal more than just a ship.

Somehow, even after Clan Solus' crusade against human trafficking, it was still the galaxy's number one growing crime industry. Ruus had been keeping tabs on all of the covert kidnappers in the galaxy and somehow they all managed to get back on their feet after getting thrown off a meta-physical cliff.

There was someone behind this that Ruus needed to find. But first, there was a corvette to snatch.

Walking through the crowd of his family Clan garbed in his armor and gear, Ruus'all felt proud to be fighting once again with his people. The Mando-Jedi was going to make them all proud today, he could feel it! After greeting a few of the badgers, he made his way to what looked like a Han Solo wannabe and then a gold and red Mandalorian.

"It's Anvil, right? I'm Ruus'all Solus, but you can call me Ruus." He introduced himself, nodding to both of his new companions. "Who's ready to bust some knuckles?"

@Die Shize @Vicc125

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Cas peered into the distance, engaging the binocular vision of her helm as it danced with the heat haze on the horizon.

Ultimately, any vessel breaking the atmosphere could stick out like a sore thumb in the naked daylight, and that’s why these ones had parked themselves far enough away from the compound beyond.

“That’s what they call me,” Casany, or Anvil, acknowledged Ruus’all first, though did not tear her gaze away from the enemy and their prize. Our prize. “Right there on my left pauldron.” A black anvil signet. “Though, vods call me by my true name: Casany Praxor. Right there on my right.” A gold sun sigil.

“We’re looking at a fortified complex.” If Gatz did not bring binoculars then he would just then be offered a pair. “Shows some signs of neglect, probably abandoned until recently. I’m guessing a hundred hostiles, guerilla style. See how they’re spread out above and below the walls with little activity in between? Means the rest are inside and they don't have many to spare.”

They were armed, though, and if nothing else could be said for Zygerrian slavers it was that they knew how to be mean with their weapons. “Our jewel is at the center of the compound. Crusader II-class Corvette. To get inside and get it, well…”

Speaking into the com, out of the corvette’s hangar that Cas had borrowed came a speeder bike for her and anyone else who did not already have one.

“I’m thinking we speed on over and crack some knuckles as much as skulls. Secure the ship, call for a pickup, blow the place to hell.” Finally, Casanvil turned her head to her two companions. “Unless someone has a better idea?”


@Vicc125 @Charles

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

A new Mandalorian joined them, but truth be told, Gatz had trouble telling this one apart from the others. Same armor, same helmets, even if they were different colors. As a general rule, Gatz didn't trust a man who didn't show his face. Usually it meant they had something to hide. Even this... "Anvil", which he figured was the name he was supposed to use for her, was helmeted.

He supposed odd crap was what you dealt with, when you subscribed to dogmatic religions. At least the Jedi let you look them in the eye.

Gatz took the offered binoculars, and brought them up to his face. Taking a quick scan of the complex they were to assault, he came to trust the conclusion that Anvil gave him. Their patrols were sparce, though he was impressed with how well armed they were. He still wasn't worried; he was literally with a pack of Mandalorians, after all.

"Do we have any idea what condition the corvette is in?" Gatz offered the binoculars back, "if she's flight ready, that can be our escape plan. Otherwise, I'll need to stay behind, and be your ride out of there."

Despite the blaster strapped to his thigh, and the rifle slung over his shoulder, Gatz wasn't much of a soldier. Oh sure, he'd gotten a lucky shot off or two before, but his real calling was that of the pilot's chair. He knew he couldn't keep up with Mandalorians. But flying? That he could do in his sleep.

"So long as they don't have much in the way of anti-air, I may even be able to do a strafing run or two. Thin them out, and scatter them for you."

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

Ruus was glad that his Mandalorian counterpart was quick, concise, and to the point. The plan seemed downright simple to the Mando-Jedi as he began getting a close-up of the Zygerrian camp through his T-visor. There were almost too many entrances and weak points to take advantage of for this fight to be fair, but then again, Ruus'all didn't think that slavers needed to be treated with good sportsmanship.

"If the corvette wasn't in good condition, we wouldn't be here, would we?" Ruus chuckled, patting the blonde Han Solo on the shoulder. "Tell you what, I can get us both into the cockpit with these guys covering us. Once we've secured to the ship, everyone can load up, and then we take her back over here." Ruus'all shared Gatz's love for flying. Though he preferred face to face combat, shooting through the stars was a great stress reliever. Then, after Gatz's comment about a strafing run, Ruus'all looked over his shoulder at his beloved U-wing, Vendetta III, realizing that they might be able to just do a run and gun to 'thin them out'.

"If you promise not to ding up my ship, I can utilize the repeaters on the hatch doors." Ruus'all offered. "We can fit a good bunch of us in there, too, so we'll cover more ground." It was like Ruus was blessed by Kad to be perfect for this mission. A blessing he was going to abuse until the battle was finished and the True Mandalorians won.

@Die Shize @Vicc125

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC [Recurring]

The three of them were getting along already. “Whether our Crusader is flight-ready, she took a beating in that battle; weapons and shields may be down in which case she’ll need an escort when we lift off. That’s where our pickup comes in.”

Cas turned to Gatz. “You can cover that then." All things considered, he was not a Mandalorian and might not trust one to fly his own ship. "Their AA doesn’t look too sophisticated so you or Ruus can take an aerial approach, but you saw the guards, not much to thin out.”

Most had to be inside the main building, a hundred or more, there was no telling. The building itself was square-shaped, hollowed out with the courtyard in the middle, the Crusader nestled in it.

“I’ll lead a speeder squad from here. If you put birds in the air then focus on the guard towers. Zygerrians like explosives though and the last thing we need is a chain reaction that blows our baby up."

It was doubtful that the corvette’s captors cared enough about it to not blow it up themselves upon seeing invaders seize it. They really needed to thin the herd altogether to avoid that.

“Could even drop down into the courtyard while my team flanks our way in; keep them pinned from both sides.” Everyone piling into the courtyard was not a good idea though as they would be the ones pinned in while scrambling for the corvette. “There it is, take it or leave it, but now I take my leave.”

This was all some good planning all around but they had said enough. Casany, Anvil, whatever either man wanted to call her, hopped onto her speeder in a row of more, a Solus warrior on each, with or without Ruus'all.

Rapping knuckles against her helmet and offering a salute, Cas and Co. took off from the mesa and made their way toward the compound.


@Vicc125 @Charles

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ruus'all made a fair point: they wouldn't all be here if this ship were inoperable. Still, Anvil mentioned that they weren't sure of the entirety of its condition. Nonfunctioning weapons and deflector shields were a pretty big deal. If they didn't have those, then trying to fly out on the corvette would be like asking to be shot down. So, what they really needed was cover.

Ruus offered up his U-Wing. Gatz was typically reluctant to fly someone else's ship, after all, he didn't like someone taking the control of his. So it seemed pretty hypocritical to jump at the chance to fly the starfighter. But with those repeaters on the hatch doors... well, the U-Wing was the best thing they had for strafing runs.

"I think she's got the right idea," Gatz told the other Mandalorian, as he watched Anvil take off, "she takes the front entrance. I fly you guys in on your U-Wing, and you lead a Mandalorian air drop. We split their attention, make them divide their numbers, and your badgers should have little trouble mopping these slavers up."

It wasn't entirely risk free: splitting their forces could mean that their attention was split too. But a Mandalorian airdrop was sure to make them panic. Plus, with the repeaters firing from above, they had air superiority. Gatz thought it was the best plan they could come up with on short notice.

"Once your boys are down, I can focus on those towers. And I'll try not to scratch your paint job."

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Ruus’all Solus]

"Alright! So it's settled then." Ruus'all led a small group of Mandos, along with Gatz, to his lovely green and red U-wing that matched Ruus'all's color scheme over his armor. The side hatches opened so everyone could inside and as the did so, Ruus and another Badger already began to prime the heavy repeaters. "Remember our deal, kid. You scratch my ship and I get to take one of your fingers." Ruus joked, pressing a button on his stereo which began playing some pretty groovy music to get everyone in the mood.

"See if you can get us to swing around the back. I like sneak attacks with heavy repeaters, heheheh." The Mando-Jedi earned a couple chuckles from the other Badgers as well. Gatz seemed to be like the 'I'm-the-best-pilot-in-the-Galaxy' kind of guy, but hopefully his vibe matched his skill. Ruus had heard of Casany Praxor before and knew exactly what she was capable of, excited to see her come to life in battle. The corvette would definitely help out the True Mandalorians in creating new wonderous stories of valor in combat.

@Die Shize @Vicc125

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

The speeder bikes came to life, a whole row of them kicking off one after the other. From the mesa they flew, banking on the repulsorlifts as they found gravity just enough to float above the ground before speeding ahead.

They were led by Casany Praxor, determined for victory as any Mandalorian ought to be, but in truth they led themselves. Every one of them had a helmet over their head, and every face within it was fixed for fighting.

Her 4EY scout droid seated at the back of the bike, Cas was at the forefront of the arrowhead formation, gazing up only to catch the air support. I see they settled on a plan.

Ruus’all Solus, Mandalorian and Jedi both, was therefore all the more a man whom Cas hoped to learn more of. Gatz, on the other hand, had to prove himself. He will. He already is.

The plan was simple enough: Air support would take out the guard towers, the anti-aircraft artillery, and ultimately drop a squad down into the courtyard. Meanwhile, the ground team—those bikes—would storm through outer entrances. Divide and conquer.

The compound grew bigger as the biker group came closer. Through magnified vision of her helm, Cas spotted Zygerrians walking the wall or resting against it below, and they looked lazy. Time to execute. The plan and the slavers both.

“Line up!” The arrowhead broke formation as the bikes spread out in a single line. “Mando’ade!” Cas called from the middle of the blade that converged in haste toward the guarded complex.

“Al’verde!” They answered; badgers before a sun.

“Our enemies need some slaying! Who owns their souls!?”

“We do!”

“WHO OWNS THEIR SOULS!?”

“WE DO!”

“SHOW ME!”

“OYA!”

“OYAAA!”

The bikes spread further apart just as Cas caught onto a guard looking their way. His rifle raised. Alarms were sounded. Guards scattered, taking position, and their blasters coughed toward the Mandalorians whose might was unmistakable.

Cas shifted her bike aside as a bolt flew past the spot now beside it, and did not break her charge. The bikes on the wings curved away toward the flanks of the main building, forcing the guards to divide their attention and minimizing opportunity for artillery.

In moments, those Mandalorians would breach and enter multiple sides of the compound. Fearlessly, they returned fire with blasters of their own.

Cas rested the barrel of hers on the handlebar and squeezed the trigger. All the while, upon those Zygerrian dikuts, Ruus’all and Gatz would be unleashing hell from the sky.


@Vicc125 @Charles

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Gatz followed Rus and his men to the U-Wing. Gatz thought the colors were a little, uh, well... maybe he shouldn't say anything about them. The Mandalorian threatened to take his fingers if he dinged up the man's ship, and honestly, the smuggler thought that was pretty fair. You just didn't ruin another man's ship, that was like sleeping with his wife.

"If I scratch your paint job, I'll cut 'em off myself," Gatz gave the man a clap on the shoulder.

Gatz moved to the cockpit at the front of the ship, and settled down in the leftmost seat. He took a second to glance over the console, and get an idea of where every toggle was at: he wasn't familiar with U-Wings, but this seemed like a pretty standard set up. He just had to remember one thing: this was a starfighter, not a freighter.

The implications of that put a smile on his face.

Rus wanted to do a strafing run from the back, and Gatz had no argument with that. He started the engines, heard the way it fired. Felt the rumble in his seat. He made a gentle take off, to get a quick idea of how she controlled. Nimble. Fast. Responsive. He felt the way the g-forces shifted in his gut. This ship purred, and she was perfect for the job.

"Strap in, gentleman!"

Gatz punched it full throttle. He made a wide birth around the compound, not a straight beeline for it. For their run to be the most effective, they needed to hit the rear at the same time Anvil and her men hit the front. Divide and confuse the men by hitting at the same exact time, and then let the Mandos thin the herd with the repeaters as the slavers scattered, unsure of which side to protect.

Out of the corner of his eye, and on his radar, Gatz kept tabs on the speeder bike assault. When they came close, the smuggler took the U-Wing into a curved dive. They raced toward the ground at a blitz, before Gatz pulled up and leveled the craft. He brought the starboard side to bear on the back side of the compound.

"Here's your chance!"

@Die Shize @Charles

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

-VWOOM!-VWOOM!-VWOOM!-

Casany’s blaster chanted, cheered the vanguard as every single Mandalorian on each and every bike blasted forward toward the breach.

They would make their own, splitting up for this entrance and that one, all the while echoing one another’s hurrah. ‘Oya! Oya! Oya!’ Against such Mandalorian might, what enemy could stand?

This one falls. Cas confirmed as her speeder sped ahead while her hands gripped her blaster, from which a bolt knocked a defender off the wall. That one too. A vod took out another. Oya!

Dirt and dust exploded before her. A mounted cannon, a handheld launcher, she could not be sure, but she skirted her bike aside just in time and did not waste more to find out. Just then, the Vendetta carried its own against the Zygerrian fools. Here’s our chance!

“Mando’ade!” Cas called across the comm. “Don’t die with a clean helm!”

“Oya!”

“Any of you die today against these pussy cats,” responded a masculine voice from atop a bike. “I’ll kill you myself.”

Laughter erupted over the shared channel. Casany’s was a part of it. As one. As one! AS ONE. “AS ONE!”

The speeder bikes reached the walls as one, reached the gates, brought hell with them. Charges were set, doors were blasted open, and the armed and armored Mandalorians stormed into the breach. Oya.


@Vicc125
@Charles

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

The doors on the U-Wing opened up, and Gatz heard the deafening roar of a repeating blaster. So, the Mandalorians had obviously gotten to work. He did his part of the job, swinging the craft around the rear of the compound, giving his passengers plenty of targets to fire upon. He couldn't see the ground very well from the U-Wing's cockpit, but he imagined the slavers were running around in a panic.

"Alright boys! This is your stop!"

He brought the ship over the wall of the compound, giving the Mandos a clear spot to drop down in. He heard a chorus or roars, all battle cries from true warriors, and then the hold of his borrowed ship was empty. With his troops deployed, Gatz keyed the button to close the dropship's doors, diverted the ship back over the wall.

Now he had to deal with the towers.

He darted away from the compound for a bit, before bringing the ship into another curved turn. He let himself circle the walls, just once, while he scouted the towers he was meant to fire upon. Picking one away from the main cluster of Mandalorians, and therefore posing less of a threat if it explode, Gatz brought the U-Wing into a tight turn, and made a beeline for the structure.

He let loose a salvo of blaster fire, which ignited something in the tower because it exploded in flames, before buzzing the collapsing structure.

"One tower down," he relayed over comms, "try to steer clear of them if you can. I'd rather not drop debris on you."

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

From the line of Mandalorians on speeder bikes, warriors who held the line, a number threw themselves upon the gates of the slaver compound. They burst through the doors and stormed in, in groups or pairs or individually—for any one Mandalorian was worth more than a group of Zygerrian slavers.

Yet, not all. Some of those bikes veered before they struck the wall, and their mighty Mandalorians leapt from the seats. Jetpacks burst, flames propelling beskar toward the walls and atop them. They landed. They took their enemies by surprise.

Casany Praxor was among them. Her boots struck stone at the same time as her fingers landed on the triggers of pistols. Bolts plugged into the unexpecting, stealing lives, and in good time with Gatz’ voice over comm.

A tower exploded to her left. “Jate bora, verd.” She forgot herself, translating for the aruetii. “Nice work. Wilco.”

With that, Cas sprung toward a rooftop hatch and descended. Into the bowels of the building, she and others would join their squad and partake in the complete and total butchery of every single soul inside who so much as looked at them the wrong way.

As Mandalorian warriors clashed with Zygerrian slavers, the combat proved to be something of a tribal war, and it was clear that only one tribe could survive. There was no argument as to who when it came to Cas.

Her pistol shot toward him, fired at her, to the left and to the right and two more tangos down. “Thin out the herd!” She barked to her team. “Drive toward the courtyard!”

"Oya!"


@Vicc125

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

One down, three to go.

Unfortunately, the slavers seemed to understand that he was aiming for their towers. Out of the side of the viewport, Gatz could already see the Zygerrians setting up repeating lasers to bring him down. It would certainly add a level of difficulty to what he was doing, but they'd need more than a couple of heavy blasters to bring him down.

He brought the U-Wing in low to the ground, mere feet above the rocky surface of the ground.

Overhead, the Zygerrians began to fire down on him. Not that it mattered. They'd set the gun up too far away from the edge of the tower, and now they couldn't shoot down. Gatz pulled back on the spacebrake, hard. His borrowed craft banked upwards, and the young smuggler fire the main cannons once more.

Another tower went up in flames.

Still pointed upwards, Gatz pushed the starfighter to full acceleration, soaring into the air once more in a blur.

"Two for two," he smirked.

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Cas was running and gunning throughout the compound, trading bolt for bolt, her pistols working in tandem with the HUD of her helmet. In close quarters, they were better than her rifle, and without needing to reload were doubly useful.

The Zygerrians tried their best to defend what they had claimed but, not only were they up against more than one Mandalorian, they had found themselves caught by surprise as much sandwiched between two forces.

That wasn’t entirely correct. Some of those Mandalorian bikers had gone through the gates while others, like Cas, had dropped down into the ceiling. So, all in all, the Zygerrians were pretty much screwed no matter what happened between now and then.

Need that corvette. Need it whole. Cas reminded herself, having previously distributed to her team that explosions had to be kept to a minimum. On that note, Gatz had proven himself a capable pilot by targeting the towers and being careful not to go overboard.

Cas had no need to keep herself in check. She introduced the living to the dead left and right, taking cover when needed before darting down a corridor with the good grace of her beskar. It pinged bolts away. Her foes could not stake the same claim.

The last tango to fall had come out of a room. Cas hugged the wall before barging in. There was no resistance. There was only a wall of shielded cells. Behind the barriers were sullen faces; men and women, elderly among them, and children, all of this species or that one. Slaves.

“Mandalorian,” spoke an old man. “Are you here to free us, kill us or move along?”

Cas walked up, gave her visor to his eyes. “I did not come here for you,” she admitted, looking from him to the others. “But here you are.” She unlocked their cages. “And there you go.”

As the former prisoners got themselves together, Cas led them out, soon to reach an entrance leading to the courtyard. “Gatz. Everyone. This is Cas. I’ve freed some slaves who are coming with us. On my way to the corvette. Let’s finish this.”


@Vicc125

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Spiraling into the air, Gatz let out a gleeful shout. Because this was where he was meant to be: in the cockpit. Not in the back alleys of Nar Shaddaa, or onboard a freighter, or smuggling spice under his coat. Here. Pushing himself to the absolute limit of his skills, by throwing himself into a fire, and coming out in a glorious blaze.

In a weird way, he thought he began to understand why the Mandalorians loved battle so much.

He pulled the spacebrake again, feeling the g-forces almost squish him like a pancake, as the U-Wing flipped around mid air. Before the ship had even fully angled itself down at a tower, Gatz had already thrown the accelerator forward. These last two structures would be easy: from up high, he would be a much harder target to him. Those blasters they had set up didn't point straight up.

It wouldn't be as exciting as taking down the last two towers, but at least the job would get done.

He blew one down before he was even a hundred meters from the top of the wall. It went up in flames, and mortar flew like shrapnel as it pinged off the hull. He swung the ship into a sharp turn, lining himself up with the last tower. It too went up in a blaze, with one fire of the cannon.

"Those towers are history," Gatz broadcasted across comms, "do your new friends need a ride? Or is this ship of yours in one piece?"

@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

Judging by the debris rocking the ceiling, the jarring of the building as cacophony bounced between the walls, Gatz was still raining hell down upon the towers.

There was some poetic justice there for sure, extending to the world itself and the foolish notion of the Zygerrians that their way of life would last forever.

Kotii Solus had proven otherwise, him and his Mandalorian kin, and today there was more than Mandalorian serving as a reminder.

Cas rejoined some of her own as she reached a door leading into the courtyard. As expected, her brethren had laid waste to their opponents and everyone was now in position to storm forward once more. Once more unto the breach.

“About to find out,” she answered Gatz. Report came back that a final contingent of slavers, stubborn as ever, were ready to receive anyone who tried to take that ship. They were smart enough to use it as cover.

Were they cowardly or brave enough to blow it up with themselves and everyone else? There was no telling and no time. “Keep close, use the containers as cover,” Cas commanded the freed slaves before speaking into her comm. “Move out, Mando’ad!” The doors blasted open as the Mandalorians charged.

They were greeted with a barrage of blaster bolts but responded in kind. More warriors came from above, circling the cats like birds of prey, keeping them confused as to who to shoot at. It didn’t matter as their flanks were shot at.

A projectile hammered into Cas’ chest. Another clipped her shoulder. Bolts upon beskar. She stormed forth, heading toward the corvette. “Hukaatir!” she roared. Her own flanks were guarded by a few vods as the group reached a hatch, breached and moved to clear.

A Mandalorian fell as a scatterblaster opened into him immediately. Dank ferrik! Zygerrians were holed up in the ship, expecting this very encounter. Cas would sing a song for her brother later. For now, her blaster was singing into his killer.

They moved along. “Entering the bridge now,” she relayed to Gatz. “I think we’re in business.”


@Vicc125

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Gatz circled the compound in his borrowed U-Wing while he waited for Anvil to assess the state of the ship in question. The slavers seemed to have been thinned out, the few that remained had chosen to flee the compound on foot. Fine by him, he wasn't cruel enough to fire on an opponent who'd disarmed themselves.

When the Mandalorian leader radioed back, telling him that her new ship was in a working state, Gatz finally allowed himself to relax. He hadn't realized how tense he was, muscles coiled tight, and practically running on adrenaline. He let out a steady breath, and attempted to... well, center himself, he supposed.

"Good to know this wasn't for nothing. I'm headed back to the plateau. If you still have some adrenaline to burn off, you should come and join me. I'd love to see how you celebrate a successful mission."

With that, Gatz Derrevar cut comms, a smirk on his face. It would probably fade soon, once he realized that he'd just propositioned sex to a Mandalorian who was far more likely to kill him than accept. Well. He supposed a man only lived once. If he had to go out, it might as well be to a woman who could strangle him with her thighs.

"Gatz Derrevar, you are one stupid son of a bitch."

But the smirk remained.

(OOC: I'll call this Gatz's exit. I'll let you wrap with your next post.)
@Die Shize

 

[Casany Praxor]

Spoiler: Music OOC

The bridge was secured, some newly made bodies scattered across the floor, steaming with blaster burns. As a Mandalorian of red and gold pulled a dead Zygerrian out of the captain’s chair, standing beside it instead of taking it, she felt her lips spread with delight at the voice in her helm.

So, Gatz played it loose. Cas could appreciate that. With vodka, vod. He might not have been a Mandalorian but, at least for the moment, he had earned that word like a champion earns a title.

However, celebrations had to be postponed as an armored brother gave Cas the sitrep. The surviving slavers were fleeing; she might have gunned them down were they never the priority to begin with. The compound was otherwise secure. The slaves, such as they were, had boarded the corvette.

That ship was flight-ready though it needed repairs and upgrades to more than just weapons and shields. What mattered most was that it was in the hands of the Mandalorians. The True Mandalorians.

Cas sipped on those words then downed them in one gulp. And we’re not alone. Gatz and others like him had proven as much, for now or for future, like those slaves now freed. He had cut off his comm but would get a message thanking him for his service—and a promise that they would meet again.

“Mando’ad!” The crew assembled in the bridge and gave her their visors. “We descended upon our foes today, clawed them apart and breathed fire upon their bones, for ours is the blood of the dragon!”

“Oya!”

“Today, this ship is a whole other kind of dragon, one that will fly and fight for our cause, come foe what may…”

Casany Praxor eased herself into the captain’s chair, looked around for hints of doubt, for wavering, but saw only unity, unwavering. Unwavering. Yes. That will be her name.

“Now, beat those wings and breathe that fire. To the stars, Mando’ad!”

“OYA!”

So, there she flew, that Crusader-class corvette. Whatever she was known as before today, she would thenceforth be known as the Unwavering, and so would her crew and captain.

[END THREAD]