Ask [Concordia] A Shriek Hawk's Roost

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se lay on the edge of a ridge overlooking the old mining camp. Once the property of Clan Vizsla, the decades had not been kind to the facility. The dark of night was held at bay by the ever present shine of Mandalore in the moon's sky, its sandy surface reflecting the light of many moons onto the Concordia night. Binocs pressed against his visor, Gett'se examined the facility below.

Dilapidated machinery rusted idly, silent sentinels of their master's long gone. Instead of proud Vizsla clanners manning the camp, it swarmed with pirates that worked in the dead of night to extract the Mandalorian's precious ore, or what little remained after it had been strip mined away for centuries. He watched in disgust as pirates carted crates of the precious material away, loading them aboard their ship. Likely to sell the the highest bidder far away from Mandalorian hands.

"Skin stealers." He voiced his disgust quietly before turning to his fellow Vizsla. He had initially proposed to the woman that they scout out the old Vizsla sites on the worlds before calling clan home, but it seemed they had more pressing matters to attend to than simply scouting. There was no way Gett'se would leave the pirates to take their haul away when each and every one of them deserved death for their crimes against the Mandalorians.

"Taking the ship is our first priority." He spoke quietly. He didn't need to explain that letting the beskar out of their hands would be blasphemous, or to ask whether she would join him in this. She was a Vizsla.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale looked through her binocs, watching the display that bothered her to no end. She heard Gett’se speak and grinned behind the helmet.

“You gonna finally let me go loud?” She had a penchant for using demolition charges and massive explosives to create a lot of noise. Shale had many dealings with pirates before, and they usually ended with their bodies being unrecognizable in the end. However, as she ventured out to the greater galaxy, she had to learn to be a bit more discreet. Being a 6 ft tall Mandalorian in full beskar’gam, however, sometimes made that difficult.

“I’ll help if you let me take a bit of the beskar for myself,” She said as she began to quietly make her way down the side of the ridge line. While most beskar collected was sent in for the clans and foundlings, Shale couldn’t deny she wanted some shoulder plates or bracers made of the material.

Slapping a pack into her rifle, she looked through the scope to spot the activity around the pirate ship.

“Let me cause a diversion so you can go jack the ship,” Shale listened for any objections. Unless he gave any, she made her way closer towards the site, eyeing the speeders and other vehicles parked there. Her intent was to cause a loud noise of some sort to have the pirates turn their attention away from the ship.

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Ever the eager explosive artist, Gett'se wasn't too surprised by the suggestion. He thought about it for a moment. He couldn't really think of a reason why not.

"Sure, go wild. Just keep the collateral damage to the mining facility at a minimum. We already have enough to fix here as it is." He answered as he began to follow her in snaking down the ridge. He remembered a young Shale Vizsla from when they were a young child, he had only been a few years older in the Vizsla camps and coverts. He remembered her particular penchant for explosives.

"You drive a hard bargain, I suppose you can keep some, if you earn it." He joked as they reached the bottom of the ridge, they watched the pirate activity, taking notes of numbers and armaments. Weequay, by the dozen, and likely more down in the mines. Their ship, a rugged old YV 865, was well guarded with two men by the bottom of the landing ramp and a stream of men that now appeared to be loading the ship with mining equipment stripped from the old Vizsla mine. If they got to keep the beskar, they would definitely have to earn it.

Theives.

"Copy. I'll land the ship a safe distance away and return. Keep them busy until I get back." He watched for an opportunity to move in closer with their plan set. A guard crossed around to the other side of the freighter and Gett'se slipped forward, leaving a whisper behind for his companion "Oya."

Snaking forward and taking cover in between crouched rushes behind low rocks, Gett'se approached the rear of the freighter. Settling in under one of the landing struts, he clicked his com link quietly to signal he was in position. Now to wait for the distraction.

@Sreeya

 

[Shale Vizsla]

Shale chuckled at the other man, “By Manda, you sound more and more like a dad every day,” She quipped, “Need to get you out for a few drinks one of these days, eh?” She slapped him on the shoulder before turning to head off the other way with a resounding “Oya!” whispered back.

The Vizsla was absolutely ecstatic at the possibility of causing a bit of noise. She stuck to moving behind boulders and obstructions to make her way towards where a bunch of speeders were parked in a row. As always, she had a few grenades and explosives on her at all times. From here, she could make out the pirates that greedily carried away cargo that contained not only beskar but also tools and weapons that rightfully belonged to the Mandalorians.

Shale kept her rage bottled up for now, crouching as she made her way to the speeders. She planted a thermal detonator by the fuel tank, knowing that the position of the speeders would cause a chain reaction. The Mandalorian quickly rolled away, a pirate looking over and seeing nothing but dust kick up.

The pirate kept walking, suspicion in his eyes as he tightened his grip on his weapon.

KABOOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted to rock the foundations of the terrain. The pirate that went to snoop was thrown back, his body unrecognizable from the damage. The first explosion gave way to a series of explosions as the fuel tanks erupted. The pirates in the area dropped what they were doing and rushed towards the scene, knowing that the spreading fire could destroy all of their digging equipment and land vehicles. There was complete chaos around the camp, and it gave Gett’se the perfect chance to sneak aboard the ship.

Shale, in the meantime, made her way back up towards a ridge, taking up position behind a boulder. She aimed her rifle and took two shots, each dropping a pirate. She knew she had their attention then, with no one knowing that there were two attackers on clear opposite sides working together.

@Arclight

 

[Gett'se Vizsla]

Gett'se hunkered down behind the engine nacelle that supported the ship as he waited for the explosion. Shale's parting comment stuck with him in his thoughts as his mind wandered a moment before the action could begin. Him, a dad? It wasn't something he had particularly thought about before, and his life had been too full of adventure to settle down and raise a child of the Way. He was getting older though, and the name of Mandalore was once more being whispered of among the sacred worlds children. It was the Way after all.

Head in the game Gett'se. He chastised himself as he peeked around the engine to spy two guards shifting on their feet at the ramp. He had no room for distraction now, not if he wanted to live long enough to follow through on his idle thoughts.

KABOOOOOM!

An explosion rocked the mining camp as a half dozen speeders went up in smoke. Debris rained and pirates ran scared and alert, to the explosion. Running from his cover behind the engine, Gett'se gunned down the two guards who had been wandering towards the dying explosion. A pair of shots in the back and the men fell prey to their own inattentiveness. The fatal flaw of distraction.

Storming up the ramp, Gett'se met face to face with a pirate who had just turned around to check out the commotion after delivering his load of machinery. Gett'se met him with extreme violence. A vibroblade to the throat. No distraction. No hesitation.

Stepping into the cockpit, he fired a blast from his pistol into each pilots heads. The first shot caught one of the men unaware, the second as he was turning to see who had entered the room. Dumping the body of the pilot on the floor, he tried not to think to much about what he had just done as he fired up the engine and turned up the thrust. The freighter rose as pirates turned in surprise, too focused on the fire and shots coming from above than their own ship.

Turning the ship about, Gett'se aimed at a pair of clustered men with the ships laser cannon and opened fire. Two lances of highly compressed energy exploded in the middle of the groups, scattering some of the pirates and wounding others. Pushing the thrust forwards, the freighter blasted forwards as the engines shifted into the drive position.

Before the freighter even cleared the ridge of the camp Gett'se had his port scanner jacked into the ship. The pirates hadn't updated the freighters firmware in decades, and its network security was almost entirely defenseless. Engaging the autopilot, he entered a set of coordinates that the ship would fly to before waiting for a signal from his wrist com. Satisfied that the ship's computer would follow the relatively simple instructions, Gett'se quickly made his way back through the ship and to the open bay. Rushing across the bay towards the open freight ramp, Gett'se was too intent on returning to Shale and the battle, he didn't clear the bay first.

Clang.

Stars rang in his vision as something solid smacked into the faceplate of his beskar helmet. He stumbled back, tripping over a piece of machinery and landing heavily on his back.

@Sreeya