Faction Iron Remembers What Blood Does Not || COV

[Tytos Saxon]

C O V E N A N T
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Tag: Senar Ahn-Dross | Tomaj Eldar | OPEN to the Iron Covenant

The smell of ionization and burnt ozone was heavy in the air. Sensor scans indicated abnormal radiation levels characteristic of heavy blasterfire. The site: a reclaimed ritual shrine of the Mandokarla, the objective of a Mythos Guard strike team who had been sent to secure the site in the midst of the Cin'cirri mountains. Ninyr'kad intelligence had suggested that it was a relic of the Mandokarla, who had in large numbers abandoned Kestri during the Vong incursion, and wanted the site secure in Iron Covenant hands.

Carved into the mountainside, it had once been a place of pilgrimage where helmets were removed and oaths sworn. Now, against a raging storm outside, it was flooded with harsh artificial light from portable floodlamps, banners of the Mythos Guard draped over fractured stone. Underneath were the bodies of the Mandalorians who'd hung them. A heavy blast door stood at the entrance of the site, wrenched open; not by blasterfire, nor explosives, but as if a massive hand had grabbed and bent the metal meant to withstand high-grade ordnance.

The remainder of the strike team had established a rough perimeter, hastily assembled blaster cannons trained on the site. This deep in the mountains, and under such a heavy storm, long-range communications failed them. Repeated calls for backup were only meant with silence. The survivors would have to outlive the storm, but the fury that they'd awoken.

"They said it was clear," Verad Kyr'bes said shakily as he trained his blaster rifle on the entrance, taking cover behind a fallen log. The wooden barrier provided little protection besides obstruction, but it was better than nothing.

"Desecration of sacred ground does strange things," a voice said behind him. Kyr'bes, startled, whipped around his blaster to train it on the unfamiliar voice. His blaster sights found the armor of Tytos Saxon, shaman, once Mandokarla. Snow swirled around him as if the storm abated around his figure. Saxon regarded the Mythos Guard and his weapon coolly. "Has the Iron Covenant taken leave of their senses, or is this deliberate sabotage?" Tytos asked, his barely-contained anger undercurrent in his tone.

Verad swallowed. "I'm -- I'm not sure what you mean. Who are you?"

"Shiny silver," Tytos growled, pushing past the log. "Keep your formation. Your recklessness has awoken a great threat once-contained here. It has already cost the lives of your comrades. We must work quickly before it ravages Kestri." Suddenly, an eruption of energy and the noise of what sounded like a tortured scream emanated from the open doors. Tytos stood a little straighter, and his hand drifted to grab the talisman that hung around his neck, clothed by the robes and furs of his beskar'gam. He could feel the disturbance in the Force as if it were a rent in the fabric of space-time.

"Ready your weapon," Tytos said quietly, as the mountain groaned around them. "What was contained here, you have broken its chains."

 

[Celt Saxon]

Location: Outside the temple
Objective: Support her Vod
Tag: Tytos Saxon
Equipment: In bio

Celt landed not far behind Tytos, one of the Elder Vod of her clan. Where he brought faith and determination, she brought a killing streak a mile wide and a mean right hook. She watched though her T visor as Tytos reprimanded the advance parties of the mythos guard and said a quick prayer to their fallen comrades.

::This is Celt, on the ground, tactical eval, over:: she spoke to the two commandos who were circling in the air taking scans getting the lay of the land.

::We detecting several skirmish zones to the south and southwest, blaster burns, signs of explosions, whatever it is took a hell of a beating before it opened up our vid. Over::

Celt shook her head and pulled her heavy shotgun off of her shoulders. Racking it twice and hearing the gyrojet ammunition being armed. If it could take the fight of several armed mandalorians including what sounded like heavy weapons, they needed to make sure they didnt underestimate it.

This time she spoke to Tytos "You ready vod, I am prepared, and if things got truly south, there is enough long range munitions aimed at this mountain to turn it flat... but I would hate to destroy a piece of our culture... so, best of luck to us?" artillery, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, Celt knew how to bring the rain if thats what it took.

 

[Tomaj Eldar]

"What did this? A Rekr? A snow bear?"

"No. This is a new beast. Likely the one Sahan Dragr created. The Kestrisaur." Tomaj turned from his fellow Eldar and scanned the scene. It was a mass of Vong chitin, all ripped away and the meat consumed. "I cannot trace its presence." Just like the Vong themselves, the beast was dead in the Manda. No connection. The shaman wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"At least we know they can hunt and kill the Vong mutants. Keep searching for where these came from..." Tomaj felt his hackles raise suddenly. Something was wrong.

"Something wrong, Alor?"

Tomaj waved him away. "Keep searching. I must attend to something. You are in charge until I return."

---

Tomaj stepped through a flaming portal to find Tytos Saxon waiting. "Tytos, my brother. You finally return after a couple years, and there is already trouble. I apologize for not having a proper welcome."

He closed the portal and surveyed the scene. The immense power seemed to be warping around them. He could see some of the Mythos Guard were here. "What did they do?" Sure, the shrine had been abandoned for a while, but they should have known better than to disturb shaman sites on Kestri without consulting at least one of the few Mandokarla remaining. "Fools."

Tomaj never carried a talisman like Tytos did, since he rarely ever left Kestri. All he had on him was a pouch of Manda kyber crystals. He took out to, holding one in each hand. He whispered a unique Mando'a phrase to each one. One began to glow orange, the other green. The color itself didn't matter; he simply chose the colors of his clan. All that mattered was he was focusing the Manda through the crystals.

He struck the two crystals together — sparks flying between them — and held them out high. A barrier formed around the Guard and the Saxon warriors. "This should help protect you but remain vigilant. Creating so many at once does weaken the barriers."

TAGS: OPEN
Tytos Saxon Senar Ahn-Dross Celt Saxon​

 

[Senar Ahn-Dross]

​

Ruins of Resa, Kestri

Senar looked up at the ruined structure of the Briirud, yet didn't look, and not for the first time since the fall. Eyes closed, fingers of one hand moving in the open air in an irregular pattern, as though she were tracing and plucking the lines of memory with touch, remembering the life that inhabited this place. The souls she had ministered to. And how it wasn't the fall alone that drained the life out of the village.

It was difficult not to come back to that, even now, and her fingers coalesced into a fist, leather creaking, as her head was drawn down by the thought, as the other gloved hand curled tighter around her wooden staff, held firm upon the ground, but then she felt the strong ebb and the strings snapped, and snapped her out of it.

Her eyes slipped open by half while her attention diverted; the familiarity didn't immediately place, until....

"No," she breathed, green eyes widening as her head rose and turned sharply in the direction of it, the energy pulsing and setting a pit in her stomach... knuckles turned white around the staff, but the wood didn't creak. They didn't. They couldn't. "Ni cetar'narir kay'shebs..."

---

Ritual Shrine, Kestri

Some scant few moments later saw Senar emerging from a swirling, dark portal, and only when she saw she wasn't alone, that like her they were also drawn, did her steps slow, staff tunk-ing softly against stone. The portal collapsed to a point and dissipated behind her as she surveyed the scene.

"Fooling with that which they can scarcely understand," she uttered; she hadn't been party to the binding that had held the entity here, no, that long predated her presence amongst them... but she would be, now. They would. It had to be done. Fingers brushed against the barrier, "Tytos, Tomaj, I am glad to see your faces."

An understatement if ever there was one, whittled away as their number had been. She focused on the once contained entity, and the hairs on her arms stood as straight as the rest of her, beneath cloak, vambrace, and underlayer. Her lips drew a line, a gloved thumb running faintly along the enhanced wood in her grasp, primed.

"Let's not let this go on any longer than it must."

Celt Saxon • Tomaj Eldar • Tytos Saxon ​

 

[Tytos Saxon]

C O V E N A N T
​

Tag: Senar Ahn-Dross | Tomaj Eldar | Celt Saxon

This time she spoke to Tytos "You ready vod, I am prepared, and if things got truly south, there is enough long range munitions aimed at this mountain to turn it flat... but I would hate to destroy a piece of our culture... so, best of luck to us?" artillery, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, Celt knew how to bring the rain if thats what it took.

Tomaj stepped through a flaming portal to find Tytos waiting. "Tytos, my brother. You finally return after a couple years, and there is already trouble. I apologize for not having a proper welcome."

He struck the two crystals together — sparks flying between them — and held them out high. A barrier formed around the Guard and the Saxon warriors. "This should help protect you but remain vigilant. Creating so many at once does weaken the barriers."

"Fooling with that which they can scarcely understand," she uttered; she hadn't been party to the binding that had held the entity here, no, that long predated her presence amongst them... but she would be, now. They would. It had to be done. Fingers brushed against the barrier, "Tytos, Tomaj, I am glad to see your faces."

Tytos looked behind him at those who pulled up. "Tomaj, Senar," he bowed his head towards them. "I thank the Manda you are here. This is Celt, my clan-kin," he said, nodding towards her, her bright crimson armor typical of Clan Saxon contrasting greatly with his own, plain beskar'gam. The wind blew fiercely down the slope of the mountain. Tytos's cloak fluttered rapidly against the onslaught.

The portable floodlamps that the strike team had set up around the perimeter. Then one burst. Then another. Tytos whirled around, raising his hands. They began to glow subtly as Tytos braced himself with Kadir'litr Mandalorian magic. "Contact?" He barked.

"I got no visual," Verad, the odd one out, said in front of them. He'd regained his wits, and his blaster was trained on the entrance, but Tytos too could see that there was no motion. From a different position, a Mythos Guard opened fire.

"Hold!" Tytos barked, but it was too late. The blaster fire ripped into the sanctum, but instead of impacting, it curved and seemed to be absorbed by the structure. Carved runes, dormant, began to glow faintly. Tytos's eyes raced quickly over the shrine, and finally found a pair of power cables leading from the shrine entrance out. He followed them to a portable generator. "Shut the power off, now," he commanded.

In front of them, something in the Sanctum moved.

 

[Celt Saxon]

Location: Outside the temple
Objective: Support her Vod
Tag: Tomaj Eldar Tytos Saxon Senar Ahn-Dross
Equipment: In bio

Celt had to remind herself she was here on their mission to prevent herself snarling at Tomaj Eldar when he used his magic on her. The force made the red haired woman feel unclean, but she couldnt argue that it was useful to have a an extra layer of protection against the enemy, perhaps a discussion about active consent was one for once the mission had concluded.

The gunfire nearby went off and Celt immediately reached for her own weaponry, activating the gimbal on her shoulder carried her gatling gun, but there was nothing to shoot at... yet. The outgoing fire was being absorbed by defenses on the structure that curved it away from the hidden target. Whomever had set up the generator had seemingly vanished or been killed so Celt fired s single shot from her wrist mount into its motor, causing it to stutter out of action, the current flowing into the cave immediately stopped but would that change anything at this point? The movement inside the sanctum made it seem doubtful that it had done anything.

Celt activated her jet pack on standby to allow her to move quickly and began cycling through visual modes to try and get the best look, until she finally picked out a wavelength that gave her the best image. "What on Kestri is that?"