One Jump Off Monastery

[Ashin Varanin]

The ship carrying Mandalore [member="Vilaz Munin"] ran into a gravity mine one hyperjump away from Monastery. Under a banner of truce, Munin had attacked an Imperial Admiral at a peace conference only hours ago. The hosts, the Sacred Lotus, had promptly shown him the door.

Munin's ship, whatever it might be, found itself facing two objects just outside a dense asteroid field. One was a previously placed gravity mine; the other hailed him.

"Mand'alor Vilaz Munin, this is Captain Mara Merrill of the Scar of Ilum. Surrender and your crew won't be harmed."

 

[Vilaz Munin]

"Pilot, I'm no expert in space traveling or anything like that, but I'm pretty damn sure it doesn't take this early to arrive at Dxun," the Munin addressed to his pilot that navigated the freighter vessel through ththe stars and cosmos of the Galaxy. He knew for a fact that it didn't take a couple of hours to get to Dxun from Monastery. Not only that, but he didn't see either spheres of Onderon or the Demon Moon.

"My apologizes, sir, but it seems that we were pulled out of hyperspace. Which means there's either an interdictor ship in the system or a gravity mine." the Mandalorian pilot said to his Sole Ruler.

"Well, find the source so tha-" and was cut off by a voice that hailed him. The warrior listened to it and a burning passion stirred in his spirit.

"Merrill," he said coldly under his teeth. That surname was one he wouldn't forget. He had once worked with Jorus Merrill of the Underground against factions such as the One Sith, the Black Rose, and others back in the past. Never did he worked with his daughter or met her, but he knew of the massacre that she was involved in at Ilum and the books she wrote about the Mandalorian culture. All that he personally took offense of as it slandered his way of life.

"You should know better, Mara. You dug your grave since you published those books of yours; now I'm going to place you in it." No surrender would be found from the Mand'alor. He was too prideful for that.

"Tell the men to be ready for anything, vod. We've got a...book to write," the Concordian said to the pilot as they weren't the only ones aboard the Mandalorian ship. The pilot would do as Vilaz ordered and prepare himself for a potential dogfight.

[member="Mara Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

“And you murdered yourself when you signed on with the Dark Lords. I just carried the bullet a while.” Voice shaking with rage and excitement, Mara slapped the comm panel and cut the transmission. A heartbeat later, she toggled a the shields. “Mukami. What are we looking at?”

The Scar’s little bridge hummed with nervous anticipation and rage at an empathic level. Most of her crew - Mukami, Styr, Kolatta, Eiarra Denirel, a couple others - carried scars of their own from the Ilum Enclave massacre. Apart from one lucky woman and her child, they'd been the only survivors.

Mukami, an Asahian Undergrounder, hunched over the sensor panel. “Mandalorian Tegaanalir patrol boat. Looks like it's stock. No speed advantage to either side. Jamming beam, two laser cannons, disruptor torpedos.”

The jammer would mess with the Scar’s turrets: automatic fire was no longer an option, and Styr and Barth would have to use manual sights when they eventually started shooting. The Scar's cap drains and heavy shields would help against the disruptor torps, but they'd been designed to block ion cannon fire. The torps would be something new.

“Eiarra, hit it.”

The Chalactan woman bared her teeth and toggled a control on an auxiliary panel.

The Scar of Ilum contained a Crybaby defensive decoy launcher, the kind of thing you used to lure pirates with fake distress calls. One such decoy was currently nestled in the nearby asteroid belt. And since Mara had taken down and captured a handful of Mando ships while hunting the massacre's perpetrators, the Mando distress call, encryption, and frequency were a hundred percent authentic.

Somewhere in that asteroid field, apparently, Mara had wrecked a Mando ship and left it as bait. That was the story the Crybaby told, anyway.

Mara prodded the intercom. "Kolatta?"

At one of the forward viewports, the Zahat'n'iran sniper - a Master of the Force in her own way - raised a Jurgoran Staff and pointed it at Vilaz's ship. The Force rumbled through the metal staff's crystals, Rave Merrill's final creation. So long as Vilaz's ship gave her a clear shot, its crew would feel deep apprehension, guilt, or even despair - if they weren't protected by ysalamiri, void stone, terentatek hide...

OOC Summary of Actions:
-Shields up
-Mando distress call from inside the asteroid belt
-Using this - http://starwarsrp.net/topic/95849-the-jurgoran-staves/
-No shots fired

 

[Ria Misrani]

From Monastery...

Amaya's own prototype starfighter made a jump after [member="Vilaz Munin"], unknowingly [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] was already on the Manda'lor's trail. The daughter of @Darth Metus was furious that someone and of all people Vilaz would ruin her father's work. Spit on it from such a distance she thought the four horsemen had spat on it. What would have been so terrible about a defensive pack? Why insult the Imperials, so? Yes, she recalled Myrkr but it would have been a matter to handle in another time. Beskad rode through the blue and white hue of hyperspace, and it shook with the travel and the shipwright wondered if it would hold just enough, just long enough for her to get to Vilaz. In the meantime, she dialed in his communications, "with all due respect Manda'lor we need to talk." She was new, very new to the Mandalorians, and how they operated. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe Ashin was right and new blood was needed. All she wanted was to secure some semblance of peace for their people so they might rebuild. Amaya wanted to hear the man out, and her mind crossed to the Lotus. Lotus, back to Vilaz and the Remnant.

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Everyone went to their battle stations, not just the crew operating and maintaining the freighter. The Mandalorian passengers aboard prepared their armor and equipment as well. Anything could happen and they all needed to prepare themselves for it whatever came their way.

"Shields are at their max, sir. Repeating laser cannons are online. Jamming beam is online. Everything else is running smooth," said another Mandalroian that was part of the vessel's crew.

"Got any scans on that vessel," the Munin asked in general to whoever was in charge of that duty on his ship.

"Nothing too threatening or alarming, sir. Antipersonnel turrets and ion cannons."

In his mind, the Sole Ruler thought they had the upper hand due to their armament. But that was yet to be seen.

And then another scan appeared on their radar. "Sir, another ship is entering the system. It's Mandalorian." He didn't call for reinforcements, but he was curious to who came and if they were to aid him. Chances were up in the air as another transmission came to them as he recalled the voice from it. It was a Verd; one of the many daughters of Isley. "We can talk later, Verd. Right now you'll do as I say and carry out the orders to last letter whether you like it or not," he responded back to the woman.

"Sir, there's a distress signal within the asteroid field. It's Mandalorian as well."

Was this also from the work of the Merrill? Who knew, but he would go investigate it. "Let's investigate it. Amaya, follow me," the Concordian said to his crew and the Verd.

There was no trace of terentatek hide or voidstone on the Tegaanalir boat, but there were was a dozen or so ysalamiri nutrient tanks in the cargo bay along with other weapons and technology. A Mandalorian ship always had about almost anything. No guilt or despair came across the crew as they trekked to the coordinates of the distress signal.

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Vilaz Munin"] [member="Amaya Verd"]


“Reversion,” Denirel snapped. “Starfighter, unknown class. They’re hailing Munin.”

“Listen in.”

The Force warped around Denirel as the Theran Master did what she did best: eavesdropping. “‘With all due respect, Mand’alor, we need to talk.’ Then Munin’s response: ‘...talk later, Verd. Right now you’ll do as I say and carry out orders…’ Something. I’m hearing him indirectly, through her comms - the fighter’s pilot. Munin's whole ship is silent.”

“Ysalamiri.” Mara grimaced as the Mandalorian transport headed into the asteroid field.

“He’s ordered her to follow,” Denirel added.

Mara engaged her internal comms. “Kolatta, refocus on the starfighter. I’ll maneuver to point you at it.” Ideally, the staff’s directional projection of doubt and guilt would start whittling away at the fighter’s pilot.

Drifting deeper in the asteroid belt, the distress call came from a barrel-sized transmitter strapped to an escape pod. The pod contained several humans’ worth of biomass -- just fresh rations, not enough to trick sensors for long - and a couple of seismic charges.

 

[Ria Misrani]

Amaya's brow furrowed she heard him loud and clear, and kept her focus on piloting the Beskad. Not too long afterwards a bit of doubt crept up, why was she even out here. Who was she to even go after Vilaz like this? And then she remembered her father and recalled exactly who she was. Shaking off the doubt she pressed onward. "Later? After what just happened back there?" She practically demanded, even with the doubt being exerted. The Mandalorian woman was more upset than anything else. She looked down at her sensors and noticed another ship in the area but ignored it as the Beskad banked to the right heading after the Manda'lor's ship. She wanted to know what in the abyss was wrong with him, darting people like that and at the expense of an alliance, her father worked so hard for. She picked up the secondary signal, Mandalorian as well she sighed and followed Munin's ship. "On your six," she confirmed as the starfighter accelerated.

[member="Vilaz Munin"] | [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]​

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Someone didn't get their smacks when they were little.

He listened to Amaya's tone of voice which was something he did not like coming from her, and it would be something he would address later on. In Mandalorian society respect was a huge thing and the moment someone, Mandalorian or not, lacked in giving their respect to a warrior, then they would be disciplined in an unorthodox way.

Unorthodox to people that didn't belong to the Mandalorian ranks that is.

"Watch your mouth, Verd, before I knock your teeth out," the Sole Ruler said with menace in his voice.

The pair of Mandalorian ships continued their way towards the coordinates of the distress beacon.

"Make sure Merrill's ship is still on our radar. Tell me her every movement, and try to get some communication towards that distress signal."

In his gut, something wasn't right. He had some intuition in him which was a key factor that kept him alive from the many engagements he endangered himself in, and it was something he developed throughout his years of living and fighting. It was very suspicious that a Mandalorian distressed signal cried for help mere moments after the Munin's vessel was pulled out of hyperspace and with an anti-Mandalorian figure already in the system.

"Also, be vigilant. I've got a feeling that we're walking in some kind of trap."

More scans would scope out their surrounding area as they went deeper into the asteroid field while applying caution in their flight.

"Amaya, see that other ship in the system? Engage them, now; and don't give me any excuses or hesitations."

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Vilaz Munin"]

Denirel's voice grew dreamy. "They're arguing. Monitoring us. Wary of a trap."

All normal.

"He's ordered her to attack us."

Not so normal. Mara eyed the Mandalorian ships - no clear line of fire for a peremptory strike. Not with the turrets, anyway. Under the dashboard, she flicked a sequence of switches.

Not far from the two Mandalorian ships, the escape pod and the Crybaby ripped apart. So did asteroids. Two overlapping, offset rings of blue light emanated out from the detonation point.

Seismic charges. Very handy.

 

[Ria Misrani]

Amaya wanted to tear Vilaz a new one, he clearly had no respect for her father. If he did he would've minded his own behavior at the meeting. Instead he was acting like an overgrown child who had no idea what he was upset about. She was going to give him a firm rebuttle when he ordered her to engage the other ship. "With what? My wrenches?!"

The Beskad was a prototype and was still very much a work in progress. She wasn't even sure if the weapons on this thing even worked. The daughter of House Cardei let her ship drop back and off to the side, just as it did so an explosion rippled through space before being cut off by the same void. Sound doesn't quite travel but the kinetic wave from them sure. Beskad was tossed out like a tiny sea ship on the waves. Alarms wailed, "I know, I know, I know thank the stars I stopped at Naboo." She said to herself as she got the prototype starfighter up right again. "Alright now lets see what did I actually put on this thing." She drummed her fingers across the dash board and pressed a button. "Lets see if this works."

The prototype starfighter launched out a few pieces of space junk behind it. All the while it still complained about the damage taken to the hull from the kinetic waves. It wasn't too terrible but it would become a bit of a concern later on she was sure.

[member="Vilaz Munin"] | [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]​

 

[Vilaz Munin]

The scans did indeed picked something else in addition to the distress signal and escape pod, but it was all too late to react in time to avoid the explosive of the seismic charge; however, there was enough time to avoid anything too fatal or critical. The Mandalorian pilot did his best to maneuver out of the trap that they encountered. The explosive of the charges did hit the alusteel frame and hull of the vessel, but it made only a dent in it. Shields couldn't do much to protect sonic weaponry, but it did reflect back bits and pieces of asteroids that were destroyed by explosives.

"Enough games, Merrill. It's time you know how war is conducted," the Munin said to himself.

"Pilot, take us to the Scar."

"With pleasure, sir."

"Once we're in range make sure to paint their ship with the jamming beam and then blast them. Ready the disruptor torpedoes as well."

A chorus of agreement and acceptance came from those responsible of the weapons and armaments of the ship.

"Verd, I don't care if you even have to ram your fighter into it, but I'm not going to look after you because of your irresponsibility of not arming your ship," Vilaz said to Amaya as she retorted back of asking him what to attack with. He found this unbelievable to hear that Amaya's starfighter had no weapons or were not functional. He was questioning the Verd and doubting her skills as a Mandalorian.

I even bet she doesn't have a pistol on her.

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Vilaz Munin"]

"Both ships are damaged," said Denirel. "They're approaching."

"Mukami, Style: fire."

The Scar's overclocked shields dipped from sheer power draw as the two gunners fired Conqueror ion cannons. As the patrol boat's dinky lasers splashed against the shields, the seasoned gunners - whose targeting systems were jammed all to heck - used the oncoming fire to aim. Conqueror ion cannons were a strange breed, a rare technology from deep in the Kathol Outback: they ignored and bypassed every known kind of shield. The Tegaanalir didn't have a prayer.

Then disruptor torpedos crashed into the Scar. Shields went way, way down, and systems darkened. The electromagnetic efflux danced through the controls. Mara yanked back her hands with a gasp. The Scar was halfway to disabled. Ideally, though, Munin's ship was already there.

 

[Ria Misrani]

"IT'S A PROTOTYPE!" Dense Gizak, Amaya didn't say but wanted to. The Beskad was still very much a test bed and most likely would remain so, "oh yeah, I'll just sit here and wait for whoever it is that's chasing you and throw shoes at'im." She mouthed off and looked at the Munin ship on radar. She quieted down, got up from her seat and headed down. The Beskad didn't have much in weapons, and as for herself - her uncle would be happy to know she always kept her father's old axe with her. Although that was about it and considering she had come from a diplomatic function, no she had no pistol. Blah, blah, blah what kind of Mandalorian are you, blah, blah oh right the Naboo kind. That would never die down, she was certain the fact that the clans were becoming more aware of who her mother was starting to erase her old Tarisian past.

She opened up a hatch and got out a tube and ran it back up to the cockpit. Amaya stood there and looked at the hose, then rolled her eyes and went back down to connect it to where the weapons were supposed to be mounted. Getting back up to the cockpit she rerouted the engine's exhaust and carefully moved the Beskad by an asteroid. From here she'd make the prototype seem like it was damaged, brutally so and just wait until the opponent got close enough for her to blast it completely with engine radiation and exhaust.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"] | [member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Indeed was the Teganaalir ship in a similar situation as the Scar. Shields were almost disabled along with other functions of the ship which was noted when the pilot had some difficulties of maneuvering the vessel.

"I'm just surprised those ion cannons didn't white noise us from that Verd's mouth," Vilaz said as he heard Amaya's tone of voice which was something he would have to correct if he got out of here.

"We've fired half our load of torpedoes on them, sir. I'd guess they're halfway karked just like us. Another clash and we'll both be disabled from anything," a Mandalorian informed Vilaz. It was ideally he best case scenario that could happen for both parties; however, the Sole Ruler did want Mara's head. If that was the route they take, then the Concordian could jetpack on to Mara's ship with some of his warriors and wipe them out. That is if they were close enough for anything like that.

"I've got an idea. Dalso," the warrior said and ordered a loyal Mandalorian officer to come, "we're gonna dump some of the cargo off and don't open your mouth until I'm finished. Prime up whatever loads of thermal detonators, concussion grenades, and ion grenades we have. They should all be in their own separate crates. Secure the rest of the cargo and place the loads I told you in front of the hatch."

The officer nodded his head and went off to do what he was told with the help of other warriors.

"Pilot, fall back. Let's not chase them, have them come to us. Try to find an asteroid we can rest inside of."

Now it would be Vilaz's turn for his own death trap.

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]

 

[Mara D'Lessio Merrill]

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Vilaz Munin"]

Mara bared her teeth in a smile. The unarmed fighter was just drifting there, at the edge of the debris field from the seismic charges' detonation. The Tegaanalir, by contrast, appeared to be running away into the cover of the broken asteroids. At a visceral level, she wanted to follow Munin into the mess and finish him off. She glanced at Denirel, though, and their eyes met, and both women knew that wasn't the wisest course of action - no matter how much they felt like it. With systems at maybe sixty percent and shields at five, going in after the fleeting Mand'alor just wasn't in the cards yet.

As the Scar of Ilum's residual velocity drifted it closer to the starfighter, radiation alarms began going off, and a plume of gas washed across the viewport. Mara hissed and rerouted power to the shield generators, which failed spectacularly a heartbeat later. The rad klaxons went a notch louder. Wordless, Denirel slid from her seat and began passing out radiation deflection badges like the one in Mara's coat. She had to pause, though, as Mara threw the Scar into a flat spin. The freighter came to bear on Amaya's starfighter and its crude radiation weapon. The Conqueror ion cannons refused to respond, but the antipersonnel autoblasters and recon probe launcher worked just fine. E-WEB-scale blasterfire slashed out at Amaya, followed by a dumb probe on a short-range ramming course.

Meanwhile, another probe - a SIARC model - headed deeper into the broken asteroids, pursuing Vilaz.

 

[Ria Misrani]

"Karkin' voidstars!" Amaya cursed as the Beskad blared, the ramming did a lot of damage. Nothing a little duc-putty couldn't fix she gathered, but she could see the Scar of Ilum clear as day. "Oh okay," she said to herself, and put her hand on the Beskad's controls. "You wanna play pin the tail on the ram? Let's play." She said to herself as she pushed the engines to max and ran the Beskad straight into the freighter just as the probe came to head with the Beskad. Mandalorian blood in the girl's veins began to boil as the berserker rage they were known for started to show. Rerouting power from auxiliary to engine she increased the radiation output and went to where a missile launcher should go and instead worked a wire or two from the ship's own energy system to lash out at the next thing that hit the hull. It'd work more like a taser but it'd work until she could get out of the ship which as she looked over her shoulder. "AAL suit, thank the force for dads." Amaya left the would-be missile launcher and slipped on the suit ready to jump out the ship at the next moment's notice.

[member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]
[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

"How's it looking back there, Dalso," the Mand'alor asked to his officer.

"Decent, Vilaz. Got most of us on board working on all the crates containing the three class of grenades you ordered."

"Good work, inform me when you're all done."

The real trick would getting Mara to follow them and according to their scanners, she wasn't. He did, however, knew that Amaya and Mara's ship were close to each other and the only thing that could be happening between the two was a dogfight clash. It was brave of the Verd to engage the Scar when her ship's armament wasn't the best which was the Munin would give her.

"While those two yank each other's hair and all, let's try to find that gravity mine."

"Sir, there's a reconnaissance probe following us. It's not of ours, want me to wipe it out?"

"Not right now. Focus on finding that mine. Besides it could help us by leading Mara to us."

And so the Teganaalir continued creating a gap between them and Mara as it wandered around the asteroid field with the scanners trying to pinpoint where it was.

[member="Amaya Verd"] [member="Mara D'Lessio Merrill"]