Ask Right Where We Want Them

[Param Vour]

Param stumbled into the warehouse. The thelassian that had shoved her stepped in after, shoving her again. With her hands bound behind her back, Param fell to her knees on the hard duracrete floor, wincing from the pain that shot up her thighs. More thelassians followed the shover, each holding a piece of her weaponry. One had her echani war sword, another her daggers, and a third her Westar-35 blaster pistol. A fifth carried her tan poncho, leaving her in just her long sleeve black shirt and tight brown leather trousers.

Though blood snaked its way down her face from a laceration on her forehead, Param shifted her silver gaze around the warehouse. On the far wall, various people of various species were lined up and chained together, pinned to the wall so that they couldn’t escape. There were two slavers, guarding the line electro staffs. Cages lined another wall, and crates of non-sentient merchandise lined the opposite wall to that. In total, there were twelve slavers in the warehouse, including the five that had entered with Param.

It was just one warehouse in a compound of several on Thelassia. The compound was guarded by a tower with an E-Web heavy repeater. A landing pad sat in the middle of the compound, allowing for the freighters to land, grab their cargo and head off to sell the cargo on the markets. It was the closest Param had come to Zygerria since the day she drenched the auction house in blood and threw the planet into a slave revolt as an Acolyte, but thelassian slavers were a smaller operation. Their entire society wasn’t built off the industry, there was just a large group of them that participated.

Param had been caught, and was now about to be a slave again- and it was calculated. A knowing smirk curled her lips, the wanderer unable to suppressed the small chuckle that escaped her. A swift kick in her back turned the chuckle into a yelp, and then a groan as the thelassian grabbed a reptilian fist full of her brown dyed hair and pulled it back to straighten her out. Her silver eyes met a pair of slitted yellow eyes.

“Defective maybe?” the thelassian in front of her hissed. Param smiled, groaning at being man-handled by the reptile behind her.

“The only defective thing here is your operation,” she spat, making sure spittle and blood sprayed the thelassian’s face. He retaliated with a swift backhand, and followed it up with a punch to her gut.

Wind knocked out of her, she gasped for breath between coughs, a small pill-like object coming up and skittering across the floor. When the breath came back, bloody-lipped coughs were strung together by a laugh.

“What was that? Find whatever just flew out of her mouth!” Param turned a satisfied gaze up to the thelassian. It was a tracker, of course, and Param knew it. A tracker that Vee who was with Rancor Squadron was tracking. Param had volunteered to be the bait, being the best equipped to physically handle the slavers while unarmed. The slavers had brought her back to their operations center, not knowing that a battalion of Mandalorians and their supporting ships were just about drop on top of them.

@Darasuum

 

[Hauron Solus]

Spoiler: Music

Song

Hauron's father had waged a war against slavery but the terrible black market industry was still large and thriving. As a legacy to Kotii Solus his son would take up the mantle of fighting slavers. Thelassia was a hotbed for slavers and was roughly halfway to Zygerria from Mandalore not to mention a hop and skip away from Thule. It was worthwhile to strike where the infestation was thickest. There were innocent civilians both as slaves and among the local populace of the world. Wonton destruction was not the best route so Rancor Squadron had devised a plan with the wandering force sensitive and apparent freedom fighter, Rose.

Historically the Thelassian Slavers were known for committing acts of piracy and even had acquired capital vessels. Rancor Squadron was not pulling any punches today. Operation Hard Place was full steam ahead. With numerous compounds across the planet and likely even more secret pockets in neighboring systems Hauron wanted to try and hit as many targets simultaneously and prevent any attempts to make an effective counter attack.

Rancor Squadron was standing by ready to make their move but first they could not alert the slavers wise to their plans. Leading the close support unit and acting as the vanguard for the mandalorian assault was Hauron Solus. He stood in the hold of a YV-865 aurore class freighter. The ship's make and model helped sell the lie of it being a slaving ship. In truth it held fifty mandalorian shocktroopers armed to the teeth ready to show the slavers how much they hated them. A handful of covert light freighters carrying fireteams of mandalorians were parked or flying to potential locations.

The Wildfire came in towards where the tracking beacon indicated Rose was. <"They have one guard tower, Group Leader. Heavy weapon emplacement."> The crew reported to Hauron. <"Hold your fire."> He told the crew of the ship. His helmet turned to look at the tiny bipedal droid standing on one of his shoulders like a pet or familiar. <"Hang on. This might get bumpy.">

In the Forge Master's hands was a MAG-79 "thumper" launcher. A few of the Mandalorians under his command were similarly outfitted though they knew to use such weapons responsibly. Some had carbines with underslung launchers of rocket or grenade variety. But they were here to free slaves, not blow them up along with their captors.

A few guards approached the ship after it parked. They were warily approaching it but this was not the first time their disorganized operation had an unscheduled visit. The hatches around the freighter opened and out streamed mandalorians like a swarm of bats being driven from their caves. Ignited jetpacks roared across the compound and before the E-web or any of the guards could do so much as aim they were shot and blown away by the awesome ordnance the mandalorians had at their disposal. Anyone leaving the warehouse would be struck by a heavy stun bolt. Each mandalorian was under orders to use stun bolts against the slavers just in case they tried to use human shields. There was nothing they would not do to survive.

Squads moved into position quickly with the rapid use of their jetpacks. With limited knowledge of the warehouse's exact layout Hauron had seen fit to have the warehouse be scanned for life signs earlier. This presently allowed Rancor Squadron to set breach charges that would certainly not injure any bystanders. Furthermore, a series of plasma grenades aimed at central roof of the warehouse would open the building from above. This, in turn would be followed by a series of concussion grenades. Wherever Rose was, she would soon be joined by a host of mandalorian "saviors". The explosions from outside would herald their arrival.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Spoiler: Param's Theme

Blaster fire and explosions rocked the warehouse from outside. Param burst into more laughter as the Thelassians looked around at each other in stunned silence. Breaching charges detonated the walls, the ceiling burned away, and from the new hole dropped concussion grenades. Before they ever had a chance to hit the floor and detonate, Param had burst into action.

She rose to a foot, pushing off with it and launching herself into the air. Her body flipped backwards, her other foot coming around to carry her into a backflip through the jaw of the Thelassian in front of her. The reptile’s jaw snapped shut with a sickening chomp as bone and teeth shattered, and the Thelassian stumbled backwards as Param landed on her feet from the backflip.

The concussion grenades detonated, causing further confusion among the slavers. Param side-stepped to the Thelassian that held her sword, kicking the inside of his meaty reptilian thigh to break his stance. She spun, grabbing the hilt of her sword behind her and unsheathing it from the reptile’s grasp, then spun back toward the slaver to thrust the blade through his chest. With the blade lodged in place, she shrugged her shoulders up, cutting her binds away on the blade as her silver eyes fixed on her next target, the one with her blaster.

Ripping the echani war sword from the slaver, and now holding it in a proper grip, Param dashed forward with the Force. She was a blur of movement, one second standing in front of two fallen slavers, the next appearing in front of the Thelassian with her Westar-35. First she severed his hands with a one-handed upward slash, only to spin roll her wrist at the apex of the swing, grasp the bottom of the hilt with her left hand and bring the blade back down and through the Thelassian’s skull.

Param turned to the fourth and fifth Thelassian, only to have two stun bolts scream by her and into the reptiles. The disarray caused by the surprise attack was starting to wane. An alarm rose up from the compound, and no doubt word of the attack had been spread among the other nests on the planet.

Param picked the scabbard of her sword up and slid it into her belt on her left hip where it belonged. She rushed over to the slaves chained to the wall, using the Force to release them. “Can you huddle in the corner, for me?” she asked them, and with weary, confused nods they did as they were told. Param turned to a Rancor Squadron member nearby.

“Can you set up a guard for them? We’ll consolidate them all here.” She didn’t wait for a response, seeing a small silver and red BD-unit hopping down from the hole in the ceiling and scurrying across he floor toward her. Param met Vee with a warm smile, letting him hop up onto her left shoulder and settle into his perch with an excited series of beeps. “I missed you too.”

Even in the chaos of Mandalorian fighting, she managed to find Hauron. One warehouse was clear, but there were four more to clear before they were done. Some of the Mandalorians had no doubt already entered and engaged with the slavers in most, but one in the back would be heavily defended with emplacements on the inside. It was meant for troublesome slaves to isolate them from the pack.

“Hauron,” she greeted him with a warm smile too, despite her bloody lip and the blood streaks running down her face. This time mostly hers. “I’m glad you came.”

@Darasuum

 

[Hauron Solus]

Rancor Squadron would already be dropping out of hyperspace in the system with a timed attack from multiple vectors. The Thalassian system was soon filled with the might of a mandalorian warband. They converged, mirroring the maneuvers the soldiers on the ground made inside the warehouse, closing in on the center and preventing any chance of escape. Depending on how successful this was, there may even be merit in invading the planet entirely and riding the world of slavery for good. But the operation was still early.

The slavers were not without their defenses. A Kaloth pattern frigate was joined by a lictor class dungeon ship and a dozen uparmored barloz class freighters. A handful of prison transports were also in the fight but even with such firepower and numbers at their disposal it would not be a match for Rancor Squadron. Hauron would be busy on the ground and for now would delegate and trust in his ship commanders.

Spoiler: RS strength reference

Doesn't matter too much since this will be in the background but I think RS outnumbers a reasonable System Navy like this 5 to 1.

• 1x - Modified Berex class Carrier - Dralaalar.
• 2x - Modified Dodonna class armed transports - - Badger One, Little Badger
• 1x - Modified Hunter class frigate - Cin Vhetin
• 1x - Modified Neo-Crusader corvette - Skot'kad
• 3x - Modified Raider class Corvettes(s) -- Kyramud, Ramikad, & Ramorir.
• 1x - Modified Y30 Badger class frigate - Orarir
• 18x - Kom'rk class fighter/transport -
• 60x - Fang class Interceptor -
• 6x Osprey class interceptors -
• 6x - H-wing escort starfighters
• 6x - Y-TIE starbombers -

--------​

The chaos of the simultaneous breach led to much of the warehouse being cleared out swiftly and decisively. Each of the fireteams moved in and secured compartments along with anyone and anything inside them. The bloody melee that Rose engulfed the slavers in was among some of the few slaver deaths and it was impressive. Many of Rancor Squadron had not seen up close the evisceration that Rose was rumored to be capable of and now her reputation would continue to be shared among their ranks with respect.

Their present location was the primary warehouse and closest to the landing pad so it would serve to act as the foremost bastion for now. A team of warriors would set up a perimeter and follow through with Param's directions as Hauron directed the soldier to obey. Among the vanguard team coming through the roof was the Group Leader. He thumbed a new grenade into his launcher as he stepped over a few corpses.

"Rose." He gave her a customary nod. His hands were full for the time being and it seemed the swordwoman was the same. "Glad to be wanted."

He hesitated to offer her the ship to flying back for medical treatment but gave her a notable look up and down. "You okay?" The woman may have taken a beating and then some. He would not think less of her for it. But he also did not expect her to protest.

The blood shower she ended up being drenched in was nothing new but it did make him wonder how traumatized he would have been if Kotii had turned up covered in blood when he rescued him. Then again, his father had ended up torturing and killing his captors in the end from what Hauron had latter been told. They were already going to be messed up from this. There was no point fussing over small things.

@TheDudeMike

 

[Param Vour]

Param returned his nod, her silver gaze shifting over the Mandalorians in the warehouse. Some had stopped and stared once the immediate threat was over. There were so many in Rancor Squadron; she'd barely gotten to meet more than a few when Hokaan and his lieutenant had brought her along for drinks after Bandomeer. Something she was sure Hauron had heard about later. The dark truth clawed at her heart; they would probably think twice about revering her if they knew what she had been, and where the brutality in her fighting style had come from.

"Yes, I'm okay," she answered, turning back to him with a warm smile. "The warehouse in the back is for slaves they want to keep isolated." Param led the Forge Master away from the huddled slaves in the corner. With a guard, they would be okay. The outside was much different than it had been a few minutes prior.

Flashes in the night sky told of a battle taking place above them, and the sounds of heavy and constant exchanges of blaster fire around them told her that the battle was far from over. Param pointed to the warehouse she had mentioned, glancing at the man's jet pack. "That's the warehouse. If you-" Param was interrupted by a roar of desperation. Two thelassians jumped out from behind some nearby crates. One charged with a makeshift machete, the other fired a blaster pistol.

Param stepped in front of Hauron, pooling th Force in her palms just in time to swat the bolts that would hit into the ground. The melee reptillian got within sword range, and Param stepped to the side so that the ranged slaver couldn't target her unless they shot their comrade. Param's right hand grasped the hilt of her sword and drew it with a speed only single egded blades could, slicing into the melee slaver up until the blade hit the spine before it stopped.

Param let go of her sword, reaching out as she stepped out from the cover of her own ranged thelassian's comrade. The Force coiled around the reptile, and Param ripped them from their stance. They tumbled and slid to Param's feet, noticably missing their blaster pistol. Turning back to her impaled victim, Param grasped the hilt of her sword, pressed her free hand against the back of the blade and, with the help of the Force coursing through her veins and muscles, pushed it through the reptile's spine, spinning her body with the slash and angling the follow-through in its own slash through second slaver's nape. While the former would die, the latter had their spinal coord severed at the nape, rendering them a useless pair of reptillian jaws.

Keeping her sword out this time, Param turned to Hauron, a cautious and readiness settling into her. If he needed help, she would render it with the same brutal efficiency as she had with Hokaan's lieutenant.

@Darasuum

 

[The Storyteller]

Rancor Squadron had the element of complete surprise. Just as the initial reports of the attack on a slaver camp had reached the small fleet in orbit, Mandalorian ships exited hyperspace. The Thelassian Navy wasn't the smallest, but it was no match for a people bred for war. It looked as if these Mandalorians in particular took their religion of war to a new level. Space wasn't where slavers were the most dangerous, though.

While Rancor Squadron and Param had secured two warehouses, they were still in open fighting at the landing pad. Crates of everything from stolen goods to harvested body parts put on ice provided cover for a stalwart group of Thelassians that had caused a few casualties among Rancor Squadron despite being out-manned and gunned in every way. Rancor Squadron had made a foothold in the third warehouse, and were making their way to creating one in the fourth. The fifth warehouse in the back, however, dispatched anyone that stepped through the entrances without quarter. Breaching the top and sides proved ineffective due to the isolated nature of the interior.

Rotil Norm watched the holo-feed from the capital of Thelassia. His index finger and thumb stroked his narrow chin as the events unfolded. It was a small glimpse at first, but with his controls of the black market surveilance drone, it became his entire focus. A brown and silver haired woman- a woman that was deflecting blaster bolts with her hands, pulling people to her on a whim without touching them, and carving a path of destruction and blood into anything in her way. He recognised the sword too; no one made war swords like the Echani.

He'd heard of the brown and silver haired bitch. The Thelassians called her a devil in their native, reptillian tongue. This was not the first nest she'd hit, and Rotil found himself smirking and hoping that it wouldn't be the last. All it took was one glance toward her Mandalorian comrade and he knew. Before the brown and silvered haired bitch was just a nuesence with a sword carving up his operations, but now he knew the truth of the matter. What was her name? Para? Parm? Param! That was it!

Rotil hadn't seen her since they shared a slave cell in a Sith Temple as children. He ripped his fingers through his long silver hair, smirk spreading into a smile as a laugh bubbled out of his throat. It had been a long... long... time, Param. A long time indeed.

---

As if the ambush had been planned, three Thelassians had made it through withering Mandalorian fire to challenge Hauron. While Param dealt with the two that had appeared on her side, he would have to deal with them. Two of the slavers had makeshift, crude machetes, and the third had a blaster rifle. The ranged slaver took cover behind a crate, dropping to a kneeling stance to aim in on the Mandalorian.

Instead of coming one by one, the two melee reptiles both charged, machetes raised high. Both slashed downwards in vertical strikes upon reaching Hauron.

@Darasuum

 

[Hauron Solus]

The last time Rancor Squadron had worked together in an active engagement was the defense of Kashyyyk against the Hapan navy. Their numbers had grown since then. It made Hauron's chest swell with pride to know so many of his brothers and sisters were working together for the same goal. The galaxy would hear about this and be reminded that Mandalorians were still among the galaxy's most mighty denizens.

Hauron would save the revelry for later when the mission was over. The warehouse they occupied presently would be used as a fall back point to bring any slaves away from the fighting or to triage any injured. None of the Mandalorians were in a bad way. So far things were running relatively smoothly.

The surprise arrival of two Thalassians caused the Forge Master to level his weapon but he held his fire as Param stepped in front of him. He did not have time to tell her to move before the attacker fired off a shot to which Hauron was just as surprised by the barehanded deflection of the blaster bolt. It did not escape the badger's notice but in the moment it was not able to be addressed. Hauron fired at the ranged slaver only for his shot to miss the target. Not because he lacked skill but because Rose seemingly used telekinesis to move the target. This fully confirmed the man's suspicions of her being force sensitive but he did not think less of her for it.

"Remind me not to-."

Before he could finish his sentence Hauron was given three new targets. He prioritized the furthest enemy, the Thalassian with a ranged weapon, and put three heavy blaster bolts. One struck the crate while the second struck them in the shoulder forcing them out of cover enough to receive the third bolt to finish them off. Hauron barely felt the blaster bolt that glanced off of his own chest plate, scoring the pain job slightly and scratching its surface. He would probably be feeling that tomorrow but for now the adrenaline kept him from being distracted.

The two charging Thalassians were too close for comfort. The Mikkian released his grip on his carbine, allowing it hang by its sling. With his hands free Hauron pointed an outstretched arm and fired his wrist repulsor on his right arm. The force of the concussive blast caught both charging targets simultaniously and sent them flying backwards, end over end at least once each before skidding to a stop face down on the warehouse floor. Their melee weapons clattered on the ground in the tumbling.

As the two machete wielding slavers tried to rise, the son of Kotii Solus drew his side arm in the blink of an eye. Two blaster bolts, one of each slaver, found their way to the skull of the Thalassians. Hauron walked towards them and fired again into each body, assuring they were dead.

The sounds of fighting continued outside and the Solus would receive updates where the compound was secure and where fighting was the hardest. Mandalorians were not the only one with an affection for destruction. Slavers were ruthless and apparently, had disruptor weapons. Several members of Rancor Squadron were already injured, incapacitated or dead. Even against pure beskar a disruptor could do serious damage, even kill. It made sense the most deplorable people would have taboo weaponry.

Hauron gritted his teeth in anger. He and those under his command knew the risks but it did not make it any easier when they lost someone. The Mikkian moved towards the fifth and final warehouse in the compound. But he focused his anger, reminding himself to not let it control him. By day's end, both vindication and vengeance would be theirs.

The group leader reholstered his blaster pistol and replaced the weapon with his carbine. "Only the fifth and final warehouse left. They have disruptors and repeaters ahead. Watch yourself." He doubted even a master jedi could deflect a disruptor with their bare hands. But the warning was not just for Rose but also the other Mandalorians joining him. As they moved through the compound on alert they would see a few fireteams of Rancor Squadron taking positions behind cover. A Lieutenant with only one leg was being dragged to safety. Tossed smoke grenades helped provide temporary cover but the shear amount of additional blaster fire from the slavers told Hauron the Thalassians had several rotating repeaters aimed down the main avenues outside of the fifth warehouse. The badger knew his weapons well and was not going to send his people to a worthless death. Even an approach from the sky would result in a Mandalorian getting shot down.

"You're fast right?" He asked Rose rhetorically, centering his T-visor on her blood smudged face. "I'll draw their fire and attention away from the ground. You close the distance." Hopefully she was in agreement. The swordswoman would have the support of Rancor Squadron moving with her. It would just be Hauron taking the heat. He was not going to order any of his soldiers to do something he was not willing to do.

"We're with you, Group Leader." Four mandalorians that had been first to assault the fifth warehouse volunteered to join Hauron in the sky. The Solus Forge Master stared and nodded at the bravery his kin were displaying in the name of their comrades and for the slaves they were here to free. The squad was also not at full strength and Hauron knew that their unit had suffered casualties when first arriving. They wanted payback. "Oya! Let's make them pay for every drop of blood they spilled!" The rest of the mandalorians laying siege to the final stronghold would move with Rose on the ground or close to it. They did not have the Force, but they did have jetpacks and hopefully a decent distraction.

@TheDudeMike