The Old Boar
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Jaikell Wyrvhor
Vong Dead Zone was a misnomer. After the Mandalorian Enclave, almost half a century ago, had cleared Kestri of the Vong, only the glaciar-ringed valley had been the one place they could not rid of the Vong. Their worldship nest was buried so deep that any effort to clear them out was deemed impossible, with calculated Mandalorian casualties mounting insurmountably high if any attempt were to be made. Instead, the zone was quarantined and repurposed into a training ground for the Supercommando elite. Now, after the Vong Incursion, small pockets of Vong had popped up across the world. Still, the Dead Zone was the highest concentration found on-world. Operations of the Verd'kandar, the shield of Kestri, doubled the rate of their predecessors as they made efforts to curb and stave off the Vong at the heart of their population.
Romul spent more days in Kestri than at the old Citadel of the Kom'rk. The Verd'kandar Bastion had replaced the old fortress as the base of operations for planetary defense; yet, the Citadel stood as an ancient proving ground and regional fortress, projecting Mandalorian power throughout the Cin'ciri mountains. It was chance, then, that found him at the Kom'rk when a ship broadcasting unfamiliar codes was caught on approach by long-range scanners.
"Those are Mandalorian codes," Romul commented as he watched a holoprojection of a scaled version of the ship descend towards the fortress. "Old ones. Hail it," he commanded to an Al'verde manning the post. "Watch it closely. Guns at the ready. Any hostile scans, bring that ship down." The Al'verde nodded.
<<"Unidentified ship, transmit flight path and ident codes. Landing coordinates will be provided.">> The transmission would be hailed on an open-enough frequency so that the strange ship might be identified.
Romul himself left the control room, shading toward the open courtyard, where he might receive this visitor in person; whoever they were, they knew how to navigate to Kestir, and they had come not to Tor Valum, but to this aged citadel. He wanted to see for himself who this might be.