Preparing for Conquest: Scouting Taris

[Halik Falkosi]

Halik Falkosi was one of the few warriors tasked with scouting out Taris. It was the gateway to a few hypespace paths that the Mandalorians could use in their conquest of the galaxy. Naturally it would need to be taken for their conquest to begin in its most natural course, however what Halik saw was not something worth conquering. It had never recovered from its destruction almost three thousand years ago, and what wasn't over grown ruins was just a few small settlements in their shadows. The settlers were just those that had fled the gulag virus and saw it as a possible haven. But they simply traded one virus for another, as the rakghoul plague seemed to be still be strong.

Those that lived here were strong and accustomed to hardship, they would fit in with the Mandalorians if they joined them. But if they resisted then they were so few in number that they would hardly make for a difficult people to overcome. Altogether little glory would come from the conquest, but it would be necessary to secure their supply lines. Another threat existed on the planet that could be troublesome if not rooted out. No, not the rakghouls. Though they would likely prove to be a great hurdle for those who liked a dangerous hunt, of which Halik was one of them. The real threat on this planet were the number of pirates that used it as a hiding place. In the wreckage of many towers, hidden between the overgrowth, they found all number of holes to make their home. They would give the supply lines fits during the war if they were not crushed. As such, Halik and others were plotting out their locations throughout the planet, meetings with a few settlements to see if they would join the Mandalorians, as well as getting a handle for the environmental threat of Rakghouls.

Pulling his electrobinoculars to his face, he surveyed the immediate area for threats before he moved on. Noting anything that looked like it could be traces of a Rakghoul den.

 

[Darien Marrick]

Darien came to this planet for what was supposedly simple. Bring in rakghoul samples for experimentation. The unfortunate part was that there was going to be more than one sample from more than one rakghoul. He had heard of the disease, but he wasn't exactly sure how it spread. Still, a job is a job, and you can't be picky when you need credits. He didn't even ask as to why the person wanted them. He saw the numbers and agreed. It would turn out that avarice can be quite a vice. It wasn't exactly hard to find them, just ask some locals and tell them you were going to go kill them. Maybe even make up a sad story or two to get them convinced. Not that they wanted him back, though. Perhaps they were afraid of being infected. Darien admitted to himself that he was a little afraid too. It didn't seem like a good retirement plan, being turned into a monster. Something more like retiring on a planet you owned filled with various luxuries sounded better.

Relatively far from a settlement, there appeared to be a den of sorts. Darien moved to a slightly better vantage point and lied down. He waited there for some sort of movement to occur at the den. He looked through the scope on his rifle. Waiting patiently for something to move... A few moments went by and something moved out of the den. It matched the holo of a rakghoul he had seen earlier. He waited a bit longer for any more to come out. Five seconds passed by before he chose to shoot the beast. One shot, one kill. He remained still in the event that others would come out. Once again, waiting patiently.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Above Taris sat a fleet, it was not an overly large one, it was not a military one, it was not even one that sought the invasion of this small world. This fleet was one that belonged to the Pirate King, Asari Morin. The Pirate Fleet as it was known throughout the galaxy was over a hundred ships strong, it floated through the space above Taris with dozens of people floating around each ship. The ships were being repaired, slowly being retrofitted with new weapons, armor, and anything else they needed. The Pirate Fleet was becoming whole again, slowly being fixed until it was back to prime state. At the center of the fleet sat a pristine Harrower-class dreadnought, a fresh coat of orange and black paint covered the entire ship, with a massive jolly roger painted on one of its wing like tips.

This was the flagship, and within it sat Asari Morin, the Pirate King. On the bridge upon his throne Asari watched a dozen holo-screens, he read about the status of repairs, the status of his crew, and the goings on of Taris. The latter subject interested him more than anything else, why was this? It was simple, for the first time in three years Asari Morin was leaving his fleet. He was going to venture out into the greater world.

He had not done so in some time. It was not because he was afraid, not because he was a coward or didn't want to show his face. It was because he had been sick, still was in fact. Almost a thousand years ago the Empire had experimented on his, had changed and switched his genetics around. Now after being awoken from a millenium carbonite nap these genetic mutations were coming back to haunt him. He was falling apart, and so far there was no cure.

Despite this however Asari was curious. He had been on Taris several times during the height of the Empire, seen the citadel that had covered half the world. Asari was curious to see what it had become, and for the past several weeks he had been feeling better, stronger. This had happened before of course, there were points in the disease where he had the strength to walk, talk, and even fight. This was usually followed by about a month of severe pain, but the Pirate King decided not to think of this.

This time Asari would take advantage of his strength, he would be visiting Taris.

 

[Darth Metus]

Taris.

At one point, thousands of years prior, the world was a thriving metropolis and an essential part of the Mandalorian supply routes. However, after centuries of war and the rampage of the Gulag Virus, the world was reduced to its current, sordid state. Despite this, Taris was still of exceptional value to Mandalore, and as such Isley Verd was dispatched to assist in scouting out the world. According to the briefing he had attended before departing, there were only a handful of potential "complications" to keep an eye out for: violent natives, Rakghoul, and pirates. Nothing the headstrong Initiate couldn't handle, or so he told himself.

Standing a few paces behind his comrade and senior Halik, Isley too produced a pair of electrobinoculars and held them to his eyes. He gave a quick survey of the surrounding area, taking care to note anything aside rubble and vegetation. After a few moment's time, he saw something of interest to the east, no more than a klick from their current position. Several columns of smoke ascended into the air, grouped together in such a way that surely denoted a village or settlement. Lowering his binoculars, Isley stepped to his senior's side, motioning to the direction of the sighting.

"There's smoke to the east, less than a klick out. Could be a settlement. How do you want to proceed?"

 

[Lance of Dreams]

Hutuun'Kyramud stood far below his comrades. As a Tusken, Kyr had a general dislike for technology, such as the electrobinocular's the two Mandalorians above him were using to scope out the area. What was he doing? Getting a closer look, connected to his brothers only through the communicator built into his helmet.

"There's smoke to the east, less than a klick out. Could be a settlement. How do you want to proceed?" He heard Isley say. He looked to the east and observed. He didn't see much more than what he did. However, he did see a lone Rakghoul not to far away from where Kyr was pearched.

"Rakghoul." Kyr said in his deep and guttural accent. He sent what he was seeing through his helmet to the others, and slowly moved over too it. Kyr understood hunting, and that using noisy weapons like a blaster or a slugthrower would attract other unwanted animals. He reached for his Mandalorian Iron Knife, and threw it at the miniature monster.

"Dead." Kyr listened for more, and for Halik's orders.

 

[Halik Falkosi]

Halik looked to the east as well and observed the smoke. No information pointed towards a settlement that close in that direction, but Intel on the planet was incredibly shaky. He wondered if it could be pirate outpost. The question then became if it was a smaller one used mostly as a watch post or a main den of activity. He favored the idea of the latter. If they could take that down then they would surely gain some prestige and be able to steal some of these pirate supplies. Altogether. It seemed worth investigating. The immediate potential problem of the Rakghouls, which Hutuun'Kyramud was dealing with, was not much on his mind. If the monsters came, they came, and in his armor there was not a large threat about getting infected. Unless... they had mutated over the years to rend through even the hardest metals. Not an impossible scenario but one which he doubted.

Over the linked comm device he said, "Let's check this out. Be on the watch." Little did Halik know that their path would bring them along the are in which Darien Marrick was currently engaging in his hunt for Rakghouls.




(( Lol, so I realized something stupid after posting my first post, but never went back to edit. The purpose of an electrobinocular would be severely decreased by the abilities of the helmet. So silly... Totally was tempted to edit it out but never got to it. Oh facepalm.))

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Asari sat within a transport decked out in full Sovereign Protector armor painted orange and black, on his breast was painted the symbol of his Fleet, a strange alien skull with bones crossed behind it. His face was still obscured by white silk robes, and they hung over his shoulders hiding most of his armor as well. Beneath the robes upon his arm something seemed to slither slightly, moving about his person with sinister intent, although the Pirate King hardly seemed to pay attention to it.

The Shuttle shook slightly as it penetrated into the atmosphere. The Shuttle was an almost ancient NR2 Gully Jumper, a relic of the Great Galactic Civil War. It had come with his Harrower, which he had found on Raxus Prime. That hardly mattered of course, but Asari was always one for nostalgia. As he looked on the inside of the ship thoughts and memories came flooding back to him and his hard face was graced with a slight smile. The Shuttle shook again and snapped the Pirate King out of his dream world. Quickly the Gully Jumper came in for a landing, folding its wings back and softly touching down on cold hard ground.

Asari stood and the ramp to the back of the ship lowered itself. The King was the first to step from the shuttle and what he found was actually quite impressive. His forward detachment of soldiers had set up a small base, four tents surrounding a fire with a wall of wooden spikes surrounding the camp. Rakghouls still infested Taris, even after four hundred years of being trapped within carbonite they were still here. That thought made Asari frown, although not long enough to hold him up. He walked down the shuttle's ramp and immediately one of his lieutenants walked up to him.

“We've secured the immediate area around us, a few Rakghouls tried to get the better of us but we managed to put them down before they reached us.”

The man spoke quickly, he used no formal titles or named any ranks but ti was easy to tell that he held a certain respect for Asari. The Pirate King just nodded to the man with a smile on his face. He breathed in deeply, this was the first time he had been planet side in a long time. Finally Asari responded to the man. “When the sun rises we start our little mission. I don't want to be caught in the Dark with Rakghouls about.”

 

[Darien Marrick]

Darien waited on his spot for a few minutes, patiently waiting for something to move. It seemed that there was only one Rakghoul. Probably a straggler that got left behind. Or perhaps even a scout. Who knows? The important thing was that he had killed a Rakghoul. Darien started his way down to the den, very slowly and with his gun still aimed in the general direction of the den. He really didn't want to become one of those things. "Perhaps I'm becoming a little paranoid by this... Scaring myself by thinking I'm going to become one of those things. Not healthy, Darien. Not healthy." He said to himself.

He got down to the ground where the corpse was, taking periodic 360 degree turns, scanning the area for some other Rakghoul. Eventually making his way to the corpse, he took a closer look at it. It was weird to think that this thing used to be something else. He kneeled down to it and thought of what parts to take. The brain seemed to be a bit obvious, except for the part that was where he shot it. Perhaps the heart? Maybe a gland of some sorts? Either way, he needed something. Darien took out his knife and got to work opening the body.

 

[Darth Metus]

"Dead."

The guttural voice of his brother-in-arms wrenched Isley's attention from the distant smoke and onto the corpse of the Rakghoul. His eyes instantly found the beskar dagger that was expertly planted right between the beast's eyes: an impressive throw by Isley's standards. Looking over his shoulder, he gave Kyr a satisfied thumbs-up, before stowing his electrobinoculars upon his utility belt and striding closer to the felled beast. He came to a crouch at its side and wrenched free the dagger, returning it to its owner with an underhand toss.

"Let's check this out. Be on the watch." Came Halik's voice.

Isley nodded, placing his helmet upon his head and blinking rapidly in response to the vast influx of scans, communications, and other information that played before his eyes. "By your orders." He responded, hesitantly reaching out his right hand to touch the corpse. Through an innate ability known as psychometry, Isley was able to "read" the memories of inanimate object, including deceased bodies, and therefore glean valuable information from them. However, in the case of recently slain beings like the Rakghoul, Isley had to mentally relive their demise, a fact that he loathed yet endured for the sake of his beloved Mandalore.

In this case, Isley's mind was flooded by the scene of the Rakghoul's demise, from the Rakghoul's own perspective. In that moment, he was grateful that his helmet obstructed his horrified facial expression as he mentally relived the beast's demise. Immediately following this scene, however, he was rewarded with the a glimpse of a group of Rakghouls being gunned down by a cadre of armored persons, followed by a hazy image of den of sorts. With that, Isley retracted his hand and shook his head, rising to his feet and stepping over to Halik's side once more.

"I went ahead and took a look at our friend here's last memories," Isley said, motioning to the corpse, "he was eluding a group of armed persons up at that settlement ahead. It was only a glimpse, but I don't think we're dealing with natives here."

With that, Isley reached for his utility belt and unsheathed one of his own beskar daggers, palming it confidently in his right hand. He took point, striding forth first on the way towards the smoke.

 

[Lance of Dreams]

Kyr grabbed the knife in mid air, and sheathed it away. He was a man of few words, and accepted his brothers enthusiasm with a nod. He was still perched in place, and watched as his brother performed an act that Kyr's primitive mind often associated with magic, but in knowing his comrade knew better than this. He listened as Isley spoke of the news he had seen from the fallen beast. Rising from his perch, Kyr too followed the path of his brothers, but instead of a knife, he pulled out his Beskar Gaderffii. It was his most prized possession, an item that he simply could not go without, similar to his sentiments with his armor. It was a reminder of his first heritage, of which he goes back to regularly, at least in his head. His true loyalty was with Mandalore, second only to the heat of battle. It reminded him also of his Mandalorian adoption, the trek through the unforgiving desert, driving ordinary men insane, to commit in dishonorable and cowardly acts, where he had earned his name; Hutuun'Kyramud, Coward Killer.

"Lets greet them." The former Tusken gripped his weapon tightly, in a visible fashion that told the others of his good mood.

 

[Halik Falkosi]

Good, non-natives likely meant pirates. They were going to be the chief problem when the Mandalorians ultimately tried to seize the planet for themselves to establish a base on the Hydian Way. The ability to get a feel for their armament or possibly even wipe this installation out was certainly worthwhile. It was the exact kind of thing that the scouting parties were supposed to do. He took a brief moment to send a message back to his ship in order to leave record of this excursion. He had confidence in their ability to succeed but the mission was to gain information and should they die then the information was still important.

"Aye, we shall move out." With that his small band of fellows moved out in the direction that the fire had been and likely the pirates that they intended to attack. On their path he noticed a mutilated Rakghoul (Darien's work, more allowing that time has passed and you've moved on for more or noticed us coming and got a better position. Wouldn't want to just RP you sitting there ignorantly while a group of Mandalorians walked up to your position) and thought it odd but kept on moving. Eventually his HUD notified that them that they were rather close to the origin site of the fire. Noise had certainly picked up and he made a move to gain cover behind some grown over scrap from a bygone age. Peering around the edge of it he gazed upon what was certainly a camp.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

“Pops, we have noticed a few humans wandering around the planet. It's not just Rakghouls we should be worried about.”

Asari was no leaning against a small tent pole with a slight smile on his face. To most of his men he was like a father. At the age of almost 80 Asari was quite old, even though he only appeared to be around fourty. Because of this most of his men looked up to him. The Pirate King was fine with this, he knew that most of his crew were wayward wanderer's, he wanted to give them a home, a place to belong.

“I know. We have to be on watch.”

Doing this, being in a small camp with people he trusted, it reminded him greatly or a simpler time, when he had been part of a small tribe. Tusken's were close, each tribe ate, slept, and fought together, being like this with tents, fire, and palisades around them, it reminded him of his childhood among the dunes of Tatooine. For a few seconds he grew sad, he knew that every member of his tribe was dead, not just because of the Empire, but because of time. It had been nearly 800 years since his family had been alive.

Asari looked up at his men, a smile was across his face as he looked at his men. He knew that most of them were experienced combat vet's. People who had fought the Empire, the Sith, The Republic. People who had been pushed from whatever they had, he trusted them, and they trusted him.

“Whatever comes at us, we'll be ready.”

 

[Darth Metus]

It had been several minutes since the three Mandalorian warriors had began their voyage towards the column of smoke. Along the way, Isley had noticed a deceased Rakghoul laying across their intended path and dismissed it as slain by the group occupying the eastern camp. Only a few moments later, the group came to a ridge that overlooked the camp quite nicely, and Isley silently ducked into the cover of the adjacent foliage. His fingers danced upon the console installed upon his left bracer, activating his armor's cloaking mechanism in order to blend him in with his surroundings. Thanks to the exceptional ocular zoom provided by his helmet, Isley easily saw the congregation of men moving about the four tents.

They were outnumbered, but never outgunned.

Isley keyed in another sequence upon his bracer's console, sending a transmission to his ship which was located a few klicks back. The automated pilot sequence activated by his command, as well as the vessel's own cloaking mechanism. It ascended from its parked position and sailed several hundred feet in the air, beginning a ten kilometer circle around the group's perimeter. At Isley's command, the ship would descend upon the camp, raining down hell upon the assembled pirates, should the situation get too hairy. Looking to his senior, he opened a direct transmission to him and spoke simply.

"Eyes in the sky Halik. Checking target now."

With that said, the youth replaced his beskar dagger upon his belt and loosed his blaster from its holster. He silently went prone and lined up a shot, aiming down sights at the temple of one of the campers. Isley didn't fire, for he was waiting for his senior's command to initiate attack, or to hold fire and go about infiltration in a different manner. Whatever the case, Isley waited, patiently stalking his prey like a hawk.

 

[Zef Halo]

Taris.
What an ugly picture it was.

Zef Halo had been a few times to Taris during his smuggling years and he never liked it. The credits surely paid off the risk but the risk was high. Last time he was on Taris he almost got caught by one of the numerous pirate crews that brooded the ruins of Taris and used them as hideouts. Another time he got shot in the shoulder. Then there were those beasts - the rakhghouls. Not only were they disgusting but they really loved chasing Zef around trying to "persuade" him to join them. Those digusting beasts were a hassle for sure just as much as the pirates. On top of that there were the weird isolationist natives.
Taris was not his favorite place at all and yet here he was once again. This time in a Mandalorian armor. Zef cursed and complained during the whole trip to Taris. After his last smuggling run here, he had told himself despite the creds that he was not stepping his foot here again. Of course he should have thought that sooner or later big guy Mand'alor would want to pop out here on the Hydian Way and take this planet. Taris might be a stink hole but it was so strategical that during its whole history it was always dragged into major and essential battles that were factors of whether one side won a war campaign or no. Same case was with the Mandalorians, they had to secure strategical positions and Taris was perfect as a logistics supply depot. It had direct routes to many other important and less important systems thus securing it would certainly boost the war efforts of the Mandalorians.
Zef couldn't care less, of course. He was in a bad mood all the time during his scouting mission on Taris. He had no ambition or enthusiasm to follow his task but he had to, for some reason he felt he had to. After landing on the planet with the other members of the scout party - the Bloodied ranked Halik Falkosi, who served as the team's leader and the two Initiates - Hutuun'Kyramud known as Kyr and Isley Verd, as far as Zef knew he hailed from some old Mandalorian clan. Zef just like the other two was an Initiate despite him being almost a decade older than both Initiates and the other difference was that they were amazingly ambitious to serve the cause of the Mandalorians and prove themselves. Initiates who were a fine example of what Mandalorians should strive to be. Zef on the other hand... well he still remained a scoundrel. Not rarely was he insulted as dar'manda by different Mandalorians but he could care less. He did the jobs he was tasked to so no one could complain.

Right now he had gotten on a pattern of kills down a few dens of those wretched beasts, the rakhghouls. At first he thought it was a coincidence of random rakhghoul corpses laying around and Zef discovered that he was not on the track of some coincidence but on a pattern of kills. Designated kills. Work of a hunter most likely. The smuggler did not know and did not really believe that the natives had any sorts of hunters who would go out of their safely isolated camps and shoot rakhgouls as part of some fancy tradition and he was sure that pirates wouldn't just go out and shoot rakhgouls for fun. Zef smelled something fishy going on this force forgotten planet. The former smuggler knew he had to be careful from something more than rakhghouls and pirates. He and his team might be facing a dangerous adversary soon and he had to make sure his team knew and be prepared for anything.

The map that he activated in his HUD had three points flashing. Those three points were the rest of his scouting party, he wasn't far off from there but he proceeded carefully through a few ruins that have been already assimiliated by nature. The three of them had been focused on some sort of camp down there which had smoke rising from. His presence was immediately known by his squadmates due to their 360 degrees vision. He creeped next to them in the foilage they had taken as cover. Zef noticed they were on a ridge overlooking the camp which meant they had taken an advantageous strategic point against their eventual opponents.

"We got nasty stuff down there don't we?" Zef rhetorically asked as he zoomed in with the advanced vision capabilities the helmet gave. Looked like the guys down at the camp had enough arms and numbers to do some noise. His vision stopped and focused on one cloaked figure who seemed to be a more advanced breed of the other campers. Zef could swear they were pirates just by zooming their faces but at the same time they looked too militaristic and organized, just like soldiers. The former smuggler decided to keep these pondering thoughts to himself but spilled out the information he had gained on his solo mission. "While you three were out here being useless I got us some zesty info."
Zef Halo transmitted a slideshow of pictures he took and holorecords of the rakhghouls he investigated along with low activities in dens which the victims obviously belonged to. One of the holopictures was also of one of the victims Halik had passed by earlier.
"I ain't sure what's going through your thick heads but this is the work of a hunter." Zef assured them although he wasn't a hundred percent sure although the percentage was close to hundred. "What I am trying to pass through your helmets is that we aren't the only predators here, as we thought we would be. We got those perfectly gunned rakhs and a band of soldier looking muppets down there with guns loud enough to be heard fifty parsecs away." Of course Zef left the descisions and commands to his superior officer - Halik Falkosi - as gathering information and spilling it out was his job. Taking descisions and responsibility was Halik's. Zef disliked responsibility, too heavy for his taste. The Mandalorian remained next to his comrades and kept monitoring the camp's movements.

 

[Halik Falkosi]

Ah, there was the other Mandalorian in the party. A feisty one whose history Halik was not entirely familiar with but he was not the normal breed by any means. Seemed like an older kind of Mandalorian from an age past when their people were more mercenary than a unified front. Halik did not hold it against the man. Why would he? The Mandalorians were a different breed altogether anyways. Cut above the rest and built for hardship. Hardship made many rough. This man just had significant amounts of experience, likely different from the others. While some of the younger initiates might be off put by the way that Zef spoke, they would get used to it as they got further and further into wars. After all, the future of the Mandalorians was war. Mandalore the Rebuilder was hellbent on seeing them carve out a great portion of space. One day they would all likely be rougher.

He scanned through the intelligence quickly. Perhaps the possibility of drawing in the attention of Rakghouls would be a sound tactic. Draw them in, with Mandalorian's higher mobility due to their jetpacks they could easily vacate to the top of some ruined section and avoid the bloodbath likely to come as the monsters descend from all around. Then it would be just a matter of cleaning up the survivors or either side. Yes, this certainly seemed like the way to go about things for sure. Might even be preferable to just having an open fight with the pirates. And if the Rakghouls somehow delayed their retreat? Then how much more glory would they gain? Quite a bit.

Yeah, he liked the sound of this a lot. "Open fire." Were his words to his brothers.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Asari sat against the tent pole and then suddenly blaster bolts struck within the camp. Immediately The Pirate Kings smile faded away, the familiar sound of blaster rifles rung in his ear for the first time in what seemed like a century. The sizzle and crack of the laser fire, the high pitched screams and sizzles of blaster bolts hitting the floor. Strangely Asari found himself far more relaxed than he had been before. Battle is where he thrived, it was where he had made a home for decades.

As blaster fire rained down his men acted just as they had been trained. Every singly one of his crewmen moved behind a solid piece of rock, a ditch, or behind the transport ship that Asari had come down in. They moved quickly, with only one being grazed by blaster fire. The Pirate King seemed entirely too calm for the situation and stood slowly from his position on the ground. Something fell to the ground next to him. It hid the ground with a loud thump and then slithered away into the blackness of the night.

At the same time Asari moved towards cover of his own, walking and stepping through blaster fire. Several times a weaker bolt struck his armor, it singed but at this range did not hurt him. Finally he ended up behind a solid piece of what had once been a republic freighter than the camp had been built around. Several of his men sat with him.

“Alert my wife and tell the Fleet we need reinforcements.”

The Pirate King was calm, and this calm translated into his soldiers as they fired back. Asari knew that whoever it was attacking them wasn't expecting an entire fleet over their heads, nor were they likely prepared for Pirates like his. Of course that didn't make this situation any less dangerous. Any of his men could still be shot and killed, he himself could be shot and killed. Asari however, being the old war horse that he was, found that more comforting than anything,

 

[Darien Marrick]

Darien was out wandering the local area for some other signs of Rakghouls. Just one wasn't enough, and it seemed that they might not travel alone. Finding a pack of them would be ideal. One stop shopping for all your Rakghoul needs. The planet itself seemed nice. Perhaps a bit of work around the clock and it could be a pretty decent place for anyone. Of course, the Rakghouls would need to be dealt with sooner or later. Perhaps that was what his employer wanted, even. Who knows?

He continued walking for a while, trying to see if he could find any would-be dens. Nothing too exciting to remark on. A few trails from other local life, rocks, dirt, some plants. Nothing too special, and very bland. Enough so that things started to look similar. He stopped and looked around. "Am I really losing my bearings? I need to bring a map next time. Maybe even fly over the area first to find these things." She stood for a while, scratching his head. "Maybe I should do that..."

Heading back (hopefully) to his ship should be simple. Head towards the village and retrace steps. Not getting much farther than a few meters before dropping to the ground. The sound of blaster fire was relatively close. Enough so that it made him think that it was some bounty hunters shooting at him. The lack of impact sounds, however, gave him a bit of relief. Still, the shots were coming in the direction he was going to go. Trying to stay behind rocks as he moved, he would eventually reach the firefight.

He could barely see some figures when he stopped his advance. He brought up his gun to see through the scope. One group of people seemed familiar. Something about the armor... Mandalorian? It had been sometime since he had seen any. They were rumored to be very strong warriors. Perhaps now would be a good time to watch.

 

[Darth Metus]

The beginnings of a smile formed upon Isley's face as the smuggler-turned-Mandalorian known as Zef transmitted the information to his HUD. The young man had heard whispers hear and there back home about a man, just over a decade older than he, who had been initiated into the service of Mandalore. Sure, there were those who muttered under their breath in distaste that a former smuggler would be admitted into the honorable ranks of Mandalore, but Isley disagreed. Smugglers had gall, guts, and a brain between their ears that often kept them alive. Those were qualities that Isley respected, and the sarcasm Zef displayed through his introductory spilling of information only made the youth like him more.

That being said, the information Zef provided had only served to grow the grin upon the youth's face. 'Another opponent to bring down. This. I. Like.' he said to himself. As he contemplated who this hunter could possibly be affiliated with, the order was given by Halik to commence fire upon the campsite. 'Time to shine!' The young sang to himself, lingering from commencing fire to key in a command upon his wrist console. From above, his BR-0117 Resol'nare came screaming down, its dual torpedo launchers, blaster cannons, and laser cannons blazing in a strafe run that went right over the tent where the cloaked one stood. Isley saw a good number of man thrown in random directions from the explosions, and the chaos of the strafe run was just the surprise the Mandalorians needed.

Without further delay, Isley took aim and began relentlessly laying down blaster fire upon the camp. Whilst he did so, his vessel returned to its height of several hundred feet and resumed its large circle over their heads. There it remained, moving swiftly, awaiting Isley's order to strike again if he commanded it.

 

[Lance of Dreams]

An invisible grin stretched across the face of the Tusken. While his brothers had all their fancy tech and weaponry, Kyr would rely on simple brutish strength. Not even hesitating to think the awesome warrior charged head on with his Gaderffii poised to strike. As the battle began blaster shots, and other noises of war sounded in the ears of Hutuun'Kyramud, the Coward Killer who paved a path of carnage. An unfortunate soul wielding two pistols rapidly fired at the advancing brute, only to find his shots were shrugged off in his strong armor or dodged with a quick lean here and there, expecting to be torn apart by the menacing Gaderffi, all to be unceremoniously given a full on head butt, incapacitating the poor fellow long enough to be trampled over by the hulking mass, while his fellow comrade is caught on the bludgeon part of his weapon to be hoisted up into the air and smashed into the ground. An advancing member behind him tried to take a few shots before his head was made concave by the axe edge of the other side of his weapon, which he hoisted above him to finish the job with the spear point. This wasn't Kyr's Mandalorian style; this was brutal, devastating, barbaric Tusken.

Kyr let out a cry that has never been heard on Taris before, echoing of Tatooine.

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Asari rolled his eyes as he saw the brutish warrior run towards his men and slay them. Mandalorians. He thought in extreme sarcasm and annoyance, although he did note this one held a gaffi stick, an interesting fact he would have to remember after he killed him.

Fire rained down from above and a sense of death soon entered the area. The Pirate King was still calm however, his men were dying, his sons were dying. This displeased him greatly of course, and a general sadness filled him. However the Kinghad no time to wallow in grief, he needed to fight. Asari stood to his fully height, his back cracked slightly, and then he ran forward.

He jumped over a barricade and grabbed a radio from a dead man. He dialed in the comm-line and then began speaking to the ensigns aboard his ships. His voice was still amazingly calm, it was as if he felt absolutely no fear despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them. This was exactly where Asari felt at home. For years he had fought for the Empire, killed, massacred, did everything they wanted him to. Here on the battlefield was his home.

“Bring down the fleet on their heads.”

The Pirate King commanded his officers, and they followed their orders. It was actually quite a simple matter. More than half of the fleet was capable of atmospheric flight, including his flagship. Asari had made sure of this when he picked his fleet. Each Ship had to have a wide range of capabilities in order to best suit his plans. What city would dare resist the Pirates when a Acclamator-class Assault Ship hovered directly over their capital building. It was simple logic, and it had saved the Pirate King many a hassle.

For this reason of course the Acclamator's were always ready to go and within minutes their hulking forms would appear within the clouds above, and then Asari would kill these...mandalorians.