Preparing for Conquest: Scouting Taris

[Halik Falkosi]

The team of Mandalorians were setting as much fire upon the base as they could. If they saw a body become exposed they fired at it. Sometimes with success and other times without. Tactics were basic here. It was a standard fire fight. Nothing particularly fancy or special. It seemed exactly how Halik would expect a firefight to go with a band of pirates. They were not slouches but he was at no point in the battle convinced that his life would be threatened. At least, any more than a normal fire fight would. He did not feel outgunned, though they were out numbered. He did not feel at a tactical disadvantage. Altogether, Halik fully expected to win this engagement and make off with whatever the pirate's were stockpiling at this camp.

Then the shadows started to appear. They certainly were not the kind that he had expected to come from clouds. The shadows that appeared were not some muffled light that provided a little bit of shade on a summer day. No, these shadows were dark and ominous, the kind the typically came with a storm. The idea of fighting the rain was not one that he wanted to get involved in. Though with his helmet's systems it would certainly be an advantage to the Mandalorians, thought not the best in the world. Not enough to change the entire tide of the fight. However, he distinctly recalled, between firing shots at a straggler, that at no point in any of his information gathering was there a high chance of rain on this day.

When he looked up Halik became painfully aware of the fact that some rather large ships were descending upon the planet. That changed the scenario quite a bit, though he really debated what the ploy was on behalf of the pirates. It was now clear that these were some rather well equipped pirates and had quite a large amount of numbers but that did not explain why the ships were entering atmosphere. Having reinforcements was good. It would make taking the camp harder, so that made sense. But if they were going to try and bombard their attackers then it did not make sense. Even in atmosphere accurate bombardment was difficult, especially this close to the camp. Still, some of them were farther back, such as Isley who was in more of a sniper position. They had to force their hand.

"Begin moving closer," he said calmly over the system, "if they bombard us anyways, retreat back to the transport."

 

[Darth Metus]

"Yes Sir." Was all that Isley said over the communications link before he sprang forth from his perch and swiftly moved down closer to the camp. His blaster blazed all the way down, claiming the lives of at least three of the pirates whom were firing away back at the Mandalorians. They were surprisingly well trained, but they were far from being warriors bred from birth. Isley reveled in that small satisfaction as he continued to push forward. His advance stopped only a yard or so outside of the camp, where he dropped to a knee and began taking precision shots against the enemy.

From this distance from the camp, an orbital bombardment would probably hit less of him and more of the pirates. Isley wasn't too worried about the fleet that was approaching, as the Mandalorians could fall back and then call for backup of their own. Sure, the young warrior wasn't too keen on the idea of falling back, but...it was better to step back and hit harder the second time around then to die on a sordid rock such as Taris. So, Isley continued his onslaught, peppering away at the pirates with deadly accuracy.

 

[Zef Halo]

Isley was obviously enthusiased by the knowledge that there might be someone other to fight than the band of pirates they were locked on with in a firefight currently. Halik had remained silent on the matter and simply ordered the beginning of the assault on the camp. Despite being outnumbered the Mandalorians were not in any case outgunned. From this sort of range though Zef was not as good as the others were with him hitting a few targets after delivering a lot of shots down upon the camp. In a long range combat his Mandalorian fellows were far better but he doubted in a closer ranger if that would be the case. The former smuggler was confident in his strengths and knew his weaknesses well.

As the firefight continued normally after Isley had brought all guns blazing with his cloaked ship on the camp which seemed had caught the pirates surprised but the surprise had not lasted long as they regrouped and shook their surprise well which was something that Zef noticed. He couldn't get his hand to it. Zef had not seen such an organized bunch of pirates, they acted as a military trained force although they were not much of an equal match for the Mandalorians. His thoughts on the group they were fighting with were cut short when Kyr simply jumped from cover and charged like a primitive settler of a forgotten Wild Space colony. The Mandalorian fearlessly was bashing the skulls of the enemies with the stick he had in his hands. Kyr's seemingly natural instincts made him evade shots but his tough armor also took some. Zef was out of words, he was shocked at how the man simply charged down the pirates with a stick but he did not protest. While Zef was zooming at Kyr he noticed the Mandalorian's weapon - a Gaderffii. The prime weapon of the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine. He was about to ask Isley and Halik if Kyr was indeed a Tusken Raider when Kyr himself answered the question letting the well-known cry of the Tusken Raiders. A cry everyone who had been to Tatooine knew. To Zef's surprise Hutuun'Kyramud was indeed a Tusken Raider which raised many questions on how he had ended up as a Mandalorian but those were for later because the sudden shadows engulfing the terrain brought back his previous thoughts on the Mandalorians' current opponets...

"You have to be kidding me..." Zef muttered while looking at the descending Acclamator Cruisers. "Who the hell owns these old junks nowadays?" Zooming his visor at the coming cruisers he could see their turbolasers pointing right at them. "Well, it's angry looking and deadly junk for sure." Halik's orders came next ordering the Mandalorians to move forward. A certainly good move, the Bloodied was going to render their Acclamators useless unless well those cruisers would still fire down taking even their own men. The Mandalorians began moving forward from cover to cover while Zef's skills with the blaster were becoming more and more deadly the more closer they got. Kyr was already on the front itself fighting the pirates with his stick while Zef activated the squad's channel:
"How did we not notice this armada when we were back in space?" Zef was annoyed with the situation and hoped they were going to find a solution dealing with the cruisers that were lingering above their heads.

 

[Lance of Dreams]

Kyr was bashing in another head with his Gaderffii when he noticed that giant dark menacing shadow decend on everything. He made a grunt as he took a moment to look at the sky while he continued to slaughter. He heard Halik order to fall back if things got worse. He growled slightly at the thought, and the unfortunate fellow in front of him was granted a quite unkind death. He was glad though, the battle would continue. He didn't really understand the significance of the giant ship that was descending down to them, unless they could willingly sacrifice their own men what good could such a massive ship give them? If they did begin to fire, they would find that their deaths if he decided to give them would be much more kind, Kyr had a respect for sacrifice, it showed brawn. If they did do this they would certainly be counted as one of the formidable opponents, seeming as brawn is the near opposite of cowardice. He continued on his slaughter, moving forward. As he got closer though the blaster bolts were increasing, and obviously his armor could only take so much. He rapidly tried to dodge as much as he could, but it was distracting from his ability to kill. Thus he decided that brutal Tusken was no longer working.

Returning his Gaderffii to its rightful place, he took out both knives and threw one at a target while he grabbed hold of his slug thrower. He attached the blade on like a bayonet and continued his melee, but was now more deadly with projectile ammunition. Despite this too being a close range weapon, it did however give him more of a reach than what he could have gotten out of his ammunition-less Gaderffii. The blaster bolts were getting a bit better as he brothers continued on their assault inward. Soon the enemy would be overrun. At least that is how it appeared to Kyr.