Pride and Prejudice

[Varus Wren]

Varus Wren was used to matriarchal societies as Clan Wren had always been one but Hapes took it to an extreme. Hopefully, the fact that their people were led by a woman would make the transition of power easier for those on the planet. Their conquest was inevitable, if they only just recognized this, things would go much easier for them.

Varus has been assigned as a guard to the Mandalore on this mission. She was obviously a self-sufficient warrior, but it never hurt to have someone there to watch your back.

He had never actually interacted with Raz Solus, but had heard of the storied and been around enough to witness their truth. He also had never met with the other guard accompanying them but assumed if they had been given the honor of accompanying their leader they were also quite capable.

Varus stood tall with his armor, gun held at stomach level as their transport made its final descent. He would remain silent unless he was addressed. The transport lowered to the ground in the rich courtyard and Varus jumped out, gun ready, examining his surroundings.

For now, they were in the clear.

@Sreeya @Algarus

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Brianna had never been to Hapes before, but she did find it's structure to be interesting, especially given their history. Women who rebelled against their captors, wiped them out, then set up their own society? Not a bad little tale at all.

Pretty respectable if anything. It practically assured they weren't going to go down without a fight, not that it was going to hurt the Mandalorian's feelings. She glanced around at the two Mandalorians beside her. Brianna had heard of Raz Solus, in fact she was looking forward to seeing the woman in action, not to mention she would be alongside Mandalore. Though, there was no time for such distracted thoughts. She had worked alongside Varus once before on Onderon, though they hadn't spoken much, if at all during that time. Still, she considered it an honor to have been selected for this duty, perhaps would help her find a new clan as well.

As the transport began to settle down, Brianna kept her weapon at waist level, and as the doors opened, she would follow right behind Varus, eyes scanning for threats with weapon at the ready. Clear. She couldn't wait to test out the work she had done to this armor, hopefully the Hapes military would be willing to actually fight them.
@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

Raz hadn’t worked with Varus before, but she had heard of his exploits. She was fully decked out in armor and weapons, ready for this whether it turned violent or not. Raz turned to look at him, clapping a hand on his back, “I heard what you did on Al’doleem,” News had spread of his killing of two Sith and he was getting quite some attention, “Your clan holds its head up high for your deeds, and I am beyond proud to have you with me,” Raz smiled beneath the helmet, topping things off with a gentler headbutt to the front of his helmet. She pulled back as the transport landed, shifting her focus to the task at hand once more.

As the doors opened, she stepped out with the others, looking over to Brianna. This was another bright addition to her clan, her exploits making her clan proud. Raz was proud to have them both with her today for a critical mission, “This could get ugly,” She told her quietly, “They will have people stationed on the roofs of the estates,” Raz looked ahead, seeing the palace up ahead. They had brought additional Mandalorians with them, but she knew they would rely on their tech more than anything to push them back if they fought.

As they kept getting closer, their view revealed two guards standing in front of a gate. Raz came to a pause, “We’re here to-”

“You will go no further, Mando filth,” One of the men hissed as he pointed his pistol at her. The second man did the same, all while scrambling to get to his comms to notify the rest of the guards.

@Raydo @Algarus

 

[Varus Wren]

He leaned into the headbutt, letting the helmet take the force of the headbutt. He let out a soft chuckle before turning his full focus back to the task at hand.

They were close to the gate when the guards stopped them. He reacted almost instantly when the man reached for his blaster and pointed it at their leader. He wouldn't be able to stop both guards, but he could deal with one. He rushed forward, hitting his gun hand out of the way of Raz as he delivered a kick to the side of the man's leg. He would buckle to his knees. "This is Mand'alor The Chosen. You will show respect to your betters." he said in a harsh tone. If the Raz had been a Hapan, the guard would have been beaten at best for talking to a woman in such a way.

Varus held a blaster to the side of the guards head. He would shoot if the guard tried anything, but he looked to Raz for direction on how she wanted to handle to guards.

 

[Brianna Saxon]

As Varus moved to subdue one guard, Brianna took the other. Moving opposite of Varus, slammed her knee into the guards gut; lurching the man upwards as she connected. She followed through with a right elbow down right on the man's back, and wrenched the blaster out of his grasp with her left hand. The man's comm fell from his grasp and hit the ground, as his body followed with it. Scooping up the fallen blaster, Brianna put a knee into the mans back and put the blaster to his head. She might have gone a little too aggressive on this, but the bastard had drawn a weapon on Mandalore; if anything he was lucky to still be alive. She kept her eyes on Raz, waiting for her to sentence the fate of these men. "You think they'd have better manners, you don't just draw your weapons on someone like that." She taunted the prone man. "Especially your betters." She added, pressing the barrel into the man's temple, ready to end him on Raz's command. The repeater was hanging on her right side, and Brianna's hand not far from it. She wondered if the rest of the palace guard were this incompetent. There was only one way to find out.
@Sreeya

 

[Raz Solus]

The guards both buckled and fell to their knees, not used to the quick efficiency of Mandos. Raz was about to tell the two Mandalorians that they had made their point, but she saw movement up ahead. Her eyes widened beneath the helmet as she saw a guard pop out and aim a rifle, taking multiple shots towards Brianna from behind. Raz didn’t have time to shout a warning and leapt to the side, tackling the woman out of the way as the shots came. One caught Raz in the shoulder, and the other in the side. She landed with a thud on the ground, rolling over and bringing her rifle up as she ignored the pain.

“Looks like we’re fighting,” She half grunted out the words, trying to aim at the man that shot them. Raz fired off two shots towards him, though her positioning was too crap to do any damage. She rose up as quick as she could, activating her jetpack to shoot up into the air. Raz’s armor was dented, and she was reeling from pain, but it wasn’t enough to take her out of the fight. She flew up to land on the roof of an adjacent building lining the courtyard.

This new vantage point allowed her two scope out who was there, “Six of them total,” She commed the others, “Probably more inside,” Raz could only guess as to how well guarded the interior was. Without saying much else, she leveled her rifle and fired off two more shots, dropping one of the men that was trying to hide behind one of the pillars outside.

@Raydo @Algarus

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Brianna had no warning as Raz slammed into her, hearing the blaster shots ping off Mandalore's armor. She felt the rush of adrenaline in her veins, as once Raz began to move, so too did Brianna. She kicked herself mentally for her screw up, and was going to take out the suppressed frustration on guards before her. Rolling back onto her front and standing, Brianna gripped her repeater and took cover behind the wall. Raz had said there were six, so two a piece for each of them. She looked to Varus and motioned upwards with her head, as Brianna would step back and use her jump boots to reach Raz's position. Once beside the woman, she would kneel down and begin to fire down into the courtyard. She spotted one man trying to move up towards Varus' position and dropped him with a quick burst, then shifted towards another guard who was peaking out from behind a far pillar. "There's one at the far back pillar, he's trying to be clever." Brianna couldn't hit him accurately from this range, but she could keep him in cover. So she did. "How much do we care about collateral?" She asked over the comm. She didn't hear that grenades weren't allowed, but it would certain help clear the inside out when they got to it. A stray blaster shot from down below took out some of the stone next to Brianna's foot, and she turned to fire down at the offender now. Right, focus on the now. She told herself. She was still young, she needed to not get lost in the thrill of battle and focus on what she was doing now.
@Raydo @Sreeya

 

[Varus Wren]

He reacted to Raz rushing forward and tackling Brianna. He fired his blaster, ending the guard's life. They apparently had more to worry about. He took his sword from its sheath as he looked around.

Both women went high, so Varus went into the fray, trusting that they would watch his back. Which proved a good bet seconds later when Brianna picked off a guard behind him. Leaning forward, he engaged his jet pack and surged forward instead of up.

He landed next to a guard hadn't been looking his direction. Varus had run him through before he could raise his gun. Varus raised his own blaster but had to quickly duck behind a pillar as the fire came towards him from two different positions. At least he had drawn the fire away from the Mand'alore.

Bits of stone were thrown about as the pillar was struck over and over again. Varus tried to take a couple of wild shots, but was pushed behind cover anytime he tried to move.

 

[Raz Solus]

As Brianna asked about collateral, Raz thought for a moment, “Guards only. Our efforts are wasted if the people we want to convince are dead,” She heard about the man behind the pillar. With only three men left after their initial attack, she felt more confident. Activate her jetpack, she whizzed up into the air, angling around and bringing her rifle to fire off two shots. The new vantage point allowed her to score the hit on the man that was difficult to get.

With only two men left, she counted on the others to take care of them. Raz moved forth through the air, landing in front of the doors. She kicked the door open, bursting into the palace. Raz expected a full barrage of soldiers, but the main hall was empty. She quickly scanned around the room, keeping her back pressed against the wall behind her. From what she could see, there was no one else here.

She saw some movement from the second floor and immediately prepared to fire. What she saw was a woman with her hands up high, raised in defeat. She walked out into the open, looking down at Raz, “Don’t shoot!” The woman screeched. Raz lowered her gun, still gazing at her.

“What do you want? You’ve killed all my men. Are you here to make me into a prisoner?!”

@Algarus @Raydo

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Having been told by Raz to keep explosions down to a minimum, Brianna nodded and kept her hands away from her grenades. The two remaining guards wouldn't be much of a problem. She fired another quick burst towards the cover of the man nearest to her, tearing away at it, before dropping him with her follow up burst. Seeing that Mand'alor was already moving to the palace, Brianna saw it best to follow. She used up the last of her repeater ammo, firing towards the man near Varus, aiming to give her comrade an opening, before using her line launcher on the roof and descending down the the group; swapping out for her pistols as she did so. Once on the ground, if Varus was still struggling with his target, Brianna would move opposite of him to set up a flank; but she was fairly certain this wouldn't be the case. If no more hostiles remained, Brianna would move in behind Raz, covering her rear flank and setting up to guard at the door. It seemed she had located their target, and with any luck the planet would soon be theirs.

@Raydo @Sreeya

 

[Varus Wren]

He took a breath waiting for his time. Finally, it came when Brianna provided cover fire for him. Pulling a pistol out, he rolled to the opposite side of the pillar and fire several shots, one catching the man in the back as he scrambled for cover from Brianna.

A stillness fell over the courtyard. It had been a quick fight, with little damage to any of the structures besides the pillars they were using for cover.

He reloaded his rifle as he fell back into step with the other Mandalorians and they entered. They were met by someone who clearly wasn't a soldier. He remained quiet. She was beaten. They all knew it. It would only serve to agitate things if a male was the one reminding her of it. It would be an easier pill to swallow if it came from one of the women, so he remained silent. He weapon held in front of him.

 

[Raz Solus]

“No,” Raz replied simply. She put her weapons away, and it was clear there was no threat here. Even so, the others were by her side and she knew they’d have the situation under control, “There is no need to continue the fighting. Mandalorians are the only ones that can push back the Sith, and we will use force if needed. You have the choice of either waking up and recognizing that you can stand with the side that destroys the Sith, or keep needlessly fighting us.”

The woman was silent for a long moment, and Raz kept speaking after a pause, “I want this to be on your terms. I’m not here to take your power away from you, but I will do whatever is necessary to make you listen. Now that I have your attention, I ask that you willingly join our cause and know that you will retain say on what happens with the planet despite it coming under Mandalorian territory.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound like a choice…”

“It’s the best you’re going to get,” Raz said firmly. It was true - the Sith were much worse in their treatment, and without the backing of a greater force, Hapes would fall to ruin. After a long moment, the woman sighed and stepped back.

“I just hope I haven’t brought my people to ruin…” She muttered quietly, making it clear that she had conceded.

/End Thread