Salvaging the Past (PM to join)

[Teagan Stoirm]

​

Concordia-Mandalore Moon​

The Clone Wars had seen great strife for the Mandalorian people. Following the Great Clan Wars that had decimated the original beauty of the planet, the people were forced to live in biodomes just to survive the harshness of the desolation outside. There was shortage of food, medicine, and other necessary supplies leading to economic depression and social unrest. The war that had consumed the rest of the Galaxy was also threatening to consume the planet in it's turmoil. But the worst threat came from those exiled to the moon Concordia. They were preparing to start the civil war that would end the life of the planet's ruler and force the people into Sith control. Many bases and supply depots had been created on the moon in preparation of the war by the Death Watch members, but not all of them had been used. And so one such location had remained hidden and untouched since it was set up from the ancient Clone Wars era.

=================================================================================​

​

Teagan had been learning what he could about his new people and his new home of Mandalore. The people had many wars both within and without. They had turned their planet into a desolate waste land for centuries before it finally got restored back to its former glory. There was so much history and so much culture to take in that it was almost overwhelming, yet Teagan was determined to learn everything there was to learn. It was all he had left after all in his life. So when Teagan had learned of a potential ruin from the past left lost in time to be discovered, he had to go find out if it was true.

Teagan had sent out a message of his plan of finding the ruin out on some of the Mandalorian message boards, but hadn't gotten too much interest in it. He knew that most were more interested in fighting than salvaging or ruin running, but he didn't think the interest was this low. He had managed to find a few people though and scheduled a shuttle to take them all as close to the site as possible. He sat in the ship feeling kind of nervous about being in the lead on the operation. He was just a clansman with no real reputation at all trying to do something that might be better left to a more well known and knowledgeable mando. He said as he looked at everyone gathered for the trip, " So I'm Teagan Stoirm of Clan Raxis. Who is everyone else? Is everyone excited for this? Nervous? I'm both." He wondered what everyone was going to say. He knew some of them, but didn't know who all knew each other. He hoped this was the right way to start one of these missions. Last thing he wanted was to handle it wrong and things not go well.

Spoiler

[member="Stardust Raxis"] , [member="Phislo Bress"] , [member="Cabur Aranar"]

 

[Sear Gaalsien]

Working with other clans always made Sear uneasy - not that she didn't trust them, but that rather her entire world revolved around less than the 40 or so families of Clan Gaalsien. One could almost say she tended to being brooding in these kinds of joint operations, but she always made a point to seem as agreeable as possible. If [member="Teagan Stoirm"] was nervous, Sear had all the more reason to be. She came from a minor clan occupying one of the few white sand deserts on Mandalore - truly nomadic and borderline monastic by custom. No one would know either her or her clan, and as commander of her own little but respected squadron within the ranks of the mystic yet miniscule Gaalsien, that was something new for her. She almost stuttered each time she even made a simple remark as she tried to logic-chop her way out of a bout of anxiety.

About the Death Watch and the Mandalorians' history throughout the centuries she was well-versed, but regarding Concordia, she knew little other than the holomaps she often studied as a youngling back on Mandalore. She never had cause to visit the moon before, so that too was new - another added stressor to the usually spirited Alor'ad. She knew better than to push weight around, and to feign knowledge or intelligence where there was none was a pretension she considered beneath her. She might as well have been as green as a newly adopted aruetii into Mandalorian society, but the prospect of being part of the first party to explore an abandoned supply depot formerly used by the legendary Kyr'tsad whom the Gaalsien themselves admired was too much to pass up.

She stood leaning against one of the open blast door frames, leaning and resting her body against the shuttle's cold blaststeel with one leg crossed around the other; her arms crossed as well. Donning the clan's characteristic black steelcloth fatigues with her sand-blasted duraplast pads, she looked more like a mechanic than an officer. Only her two Westar 35's and a utility knife slung around her waist gave that impression. Her expression was distant but intense; stoic, yet spiritedly light-hearted, as if she was just leisurely remembering something pleasant.

When the Raxis clansman spoke, she knew she had to reply sharply and immediately, in good old fashion - the intention was there, but the anxiety of working with new people and her overthinking didn't help. It took her a good second or two before she could answer, and responded in her usual stoically collected but hardline military voice. Her tone was in no way threatening or demeaning, but one could detect the tinge of an officer's sharpness in the background. "See-Arr Ga'al'sian, beh aliit'Ga'al'sian", she simply answered initially, not bothering to expound further on the assumption that none of the vode here would have heard of her kith, which was fine for now. She'd just have to make a name for herself, and raised as she was in a cut-throat kith, that was nothing new to her. Brothers and sisters from other clansmen after all were to be afforded the same respect and hospitality as one would her own kith.

"Did you manage to get any other info about the Kyr'tsad depot?", she then asked with her lips pursed and a look of concern of her face - evidently nervous and excited to an extent as well. Sear then turned to the others sitting there with them, and offered the small band a saluting nod before turning back to Teagan - the leader of the little clandestine operation.

* All Sear's dialogue in Mando'a

[member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Cabur Aranar"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Stardust was interested in clone wars Era stuff, she even owned a pair of Sabers that belonged to a famous and infamous individual from there, however before arriving to this place she had done some research, apparently the moon was a place for exiles and where the death watch had came to set up to prepare for war, however this location she heard had been untouched, that meant plenty of thungs she could take back and collect

Stardust was the next to stand and bowed, she was decorated with her two Sabers, two westars, and a sheath on her right side that held her sith blade, she spoke and smiled "gar ru'kir kar'taylir ni, stardust raxis riduur at alor raxis " she had been learning how to speak and would try to practice it whenever she could

As for if I'm excited, yes I am there must be relics of the past I can collect and add to my ever growing collection
[member="Sear Gaalsien"]
[member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Atlas Kane]

"Ok, alright, you can do this, this is not going to end badly, we're all Mando here, I can count on these people and the Death Watch definitely doesn't have any Valkyri targeting automatic disruptor weapons, how could they? We weren't even known enough for that back then! But what if they knew did know of us ... and they anticipated this day ... oh no." The son of Midvinter shook his head. He had been staring into the mirror of the shuttle's small bathroom for the past few minutes trying to calm down. The reason for this was not that they were going on a salvage mission into an old abandoned facility that once belonged to a very militant faction, no, it was the fact that said faction was the Death Watch. He shuddered when the thought came to him again.

Now Cabur was a brave man, but under these circumstances he was a bit nervous. Just a tiny bit. Reason for this were the stories that his adoptive Clan had told him about the men and women of the Death Watch. They talked about them as if they were terrible beings, deceptive, malicious, evil and most of all they had worked with the Sith. In his mind the Sith were not only cowards, but also a great threat, for the most dangerous blade is the one which cannot be met on the battlefield. That was however not the only reason he was concerned about the Sith. He thought that Velkar, the Valkyri god of Mischief and the cause of a lot of death and suffering amongst the people of Midvinter, was a driving force behind the repeated success of the Sith in the galaxy and if the Death Watch had something to do with the Sith, then they certainly had something to do with Velkar, which would most certainly mean terrible misfortune for the young Valkyri on this mission.

He took a few more deep breaths, washed his face with some cold water and proceeded to then put his helmet on and walk to where the rest of his group were located. He came in just as the one who had organised this started talking, trying to walk as confidently and calmly as possible. Sitting down next to the man, Cabur looked around at the rest of them and listened to what the Mando in the doorway and the one who stood up had to say. He didn't think anyone had noticed that he was very nervous about this mission and they all seemed much more confident also, even the man next to him as he admitted to his nervousness.

"Cabur of Clan Aranar." He said, his voice surprisingly confident, putting an hand on the shoulder of the man next to him. "And I am certain there is no need to be nervous, my friend, if there are any automatic disruptor weapons with advanced targeting computers I am certain that I will be the one to be targeted by them ..." He started out with the same confidence, but his voice sounded more and more defeated as the sentence continued. By the end of it his upright, confident posture was gone, replaced with a defeated one. Great, now he was certain they all knew he was nervous.

[member="Sear Gaalsien"] [member="Teagan Stoirm"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Sear Gaalsien]

"For what it's worth mates, the honesty in this bay is refreshing."

The Kage female stood up straight from her previously leaning posture, pacing a few steps forward as she stepped out a little forward to see the rest of the little unit's members, but also so they could see her. Physically speaking she was no Taung warrior, or at least she did not feign muscular superiority through those monk-like steelcloth fatigues. Sear tried to be a little more sure of herself and show a little more faith in her new found companions. She knew next to nothing about any of them, but generally speaking Mandalorians made for better company than almost anyone else, especially in situations like this. At least she had that going for her.

"I think it's safe to assume the Kyr'tsad left a few surprises for us in there", she continued with a small chuckle as she shook her head, in an expression that seemed both of casual distress and genuinely being impressed. "We all know what they were like." She then turned to [member="Cabur Aranar"], almost as if trying to reassure him past her gruff and frank tone. "Friend, I'm sure we're all uneasy. You're hardly alone", she continued before briefly glancing at [member="Stardust Raxis"] and [member="Teagan Stoirm"] as well. "Now I don't doubt the capabilities of anybody in this room. But I won't lie. Storming an abadoned Death Watch base - I'm not going to pretend like I'm taking this lightly." Her body language just screamed red flag at every corner. Her fingers almost twitched slightly, and she unconsciously pressed them against the seams of her black fatigues. She resisted what had become almost reflexive - to quickly unholster her Westar's. Force of habit perhaps, but it served her well.

[member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

Phislo satin her green and brown armor listening to the newcomer vod [member="Sear Gaalsien"] speak to the others and leaned against the butt of her rifle standing up in between her legs from the floor. Everyone was certainly on edge from the thought of going to a place once a stronghold of the Death Watch.

"Death Watch". It was a named damned in the Mandalorian culture as poisonous and vile. Traitors to the Manda'lor Kryze back in the days of the Clone Wars and ever since. Nobody was really sure what happened to them since the dark age and they never really resurfaced, as far as Phislo knew, to challenge the rule of Manda'lor Visla. Perhaps Alor Raxis's cousin aimed to change that but nothing was certain for now. Still she felt tension from the stories that her mother told her about the Mandalorian Civil War and the battles that took place on Concord Dawn between the Death Watch and the True Mandalorians.

"Vod,", Phislo responded to Sear in Mandalorian, "None of us are taking this lightly but we are not worried. Doubtless the Death Watch has left us some surprises but if we are calm and vigilant we will not become victims to them."

"And you", she pointed to Cabur switching to Basic, "If you are nervous about being hit, you can always stay behind and valiantly guard the ship!". Maybe a bit mean spirited mocking his nerves but she hoped it would get some chuckles and maybe lighten the atmosphere a bit or spur him into standing up for himself.

(OOC: Ain't it Ironic that, though the Death Watch was defeated back then, a Visla clansman descendant is leading us now on crusades sorta mixing Mereel's vision with the codex and Tor Visla's war-like attitude?)

[member="Sear Gaalsien"] [member="Teagan Stoirm"] [member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Cabur Aranar"]

 

[Sear Gaalsien]

Sear simply sighed and leaned back, resting on her one rear foot as she remained standing, arms still crossed and her lips still pursed.

She was right.

There was no real use in sulking over things not yet come to pass. For what it was worth, [member="Phislo Bress"] made a very good point. It'd only be realistic to expect a few traps and snags here and there. The Kyr'tsad were a cunning lot, and that they'd take a few extra precautions to defend their turf and their equipment as a perfectly fair expectation to make. But until they actually got there, there was no use in worrying. The youngling's seen her fair share of firefights, that's for sure, Sear thought to herself. She contented herself with knowing she was in the company of capable fighters - arguing over semantics or trying to have the last word in a verbal duel was contemptible and beneath her by Sear's estimates - waste of time and energy better expended in battle anyway.

"Vod's right. Guess we'll just have to watch each other's backs in there." She could have thought of a million more things to say, But now was not the time or place, nor was she in the position to do so. Kark it.

With a final nod and a soft grunt, she just turned around and headed off back to the back of the deck, to the workstation where she performed maintenance checks on her kit with help from the utility tools and a proper workman's table.

"Happy hunting, Vode."

[member="Cabur Aranar"] [member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Teagan Stoirm"]

 

[Teagan Stoirm]

Spoiler

​

Teagan listened to everyone as they all spoke. There was a little tension going on, but nothing he hadn't seen before back during the Rebellion. Things always got like this before a battle or operation and people needed to let a little stress out. He was glad to see that, but he wondered if he could smooth it over like the great leaders he had seen had. Once he remembered his Alor Gray had made some kind of comment about [member="Stardust Raxis"] butt needing to be smacked so they should do things as quickly as possible. It had gotten plenty of laughter, but Teagan wasn't funny like that. He was too serious for it, and he knew he was. He always was too serious, but he couldn't do anything about it. It was how he was and he just had to accept it. So now he needed to figure out his own way of handling things here.

" Welcome to you all. So what does everyone do or specialize in? I'm good with tech and can do some slicing. I can shoot a blaster, but I need more practice at it." Teagan said with a smile to everyone as tried to get the subject onto something useful and might calm everyone's nerves. He had noticed how nervous the group was going into this when they had all introduced themselves. The worst was [member="Cabur Aranar"] by far, but [member="Sear Gaalsien"] also seemed to be nervous as well. The one who seemed to lack any sense of fear here was Star, and [member="Phislo Bress"] seemed to be the same way but he didn't know her well enough to say yet if it was true or not. He just sat in his armor which was green with red detailing to it and the Clan Raxis blue and gray wolf on his right shoulder. He came with his 35 holstered on his side and on his back he had his two mimic droids Red and Blue hooked up to a small charging station and transport unit. His ammo-belt around his waist was loaded out with some large pouches that contained tools rather than power cells or detonators. His m5 was laying next to him. He was ready for trouble, but wasn't sure if they would find any or not. The Death Watch had a reputation of being cunning, but Concordia was their territory during the Civil War so there might have been no need for any kind of traps or defenses. He sure hoped so at least while he waited for everyone to respond.

After everyone had time to chat once more, the shuttle pilot announced they were in the landing zone. The ship touched ground softly and then the back door opened up so that everyone could leave. They were on cliff in a clearing from the forest that made up the moon. Grass spread out from the tree line all the way to the drop. Teagan looked at it all as he had made sure to leave first. It was his operation after all, so he felt responsible for being off first. Once everyone was off the shuttle, the door closed and the ship began to rise back up into the air. The pilot announced over their coms, " I will be back in five hours and will wait around for one. If you aren't back by then you will be left here. Good luck to you with whatever it is you are doing." The shuttle then took off back to the dock it had come from originally. The operation was officially underway now.

 

[Sear Gaalsien]

"Nice ship", Sear simply remarked as she watched the shuttle fly off and up, disappearing back again into Concordia's skies.

She didn't bother to venture far or check the LZ out - humid jungle environments always made Sear uncomfortable, and understandably so, considering she spent most of her life with a clan right at home in the dune seas of the great deserts across the galaxy. To her, the sands took on an almost religious connotation, and anyone listening to her speak enough would immediately notice that whenever the Gaalsien spoke of deserts, dunes, sands or arid environments, they had a sense of reverence with regard to it.

Among the rest of the team, she was also the least armored, deciding to forego the flex-armor and electro-mesh for now in favor of steelcloth and a few choicely placed duraplast pads. There was no shame or disgrace in it for her at least, but one did question her sanity, or the subtle arrogance that stemmed from it. Either way, she thought little of it. Sear was never the type to argue with someone over something as relative and subjective as personal dress. Besides, her top priority for today was to see if she could snatch herself a Beskar'gam suit or two, particularly for the precious iron ore she'd have to refine from it to be able to construct her own suit. She already had the designs planned out - it was going to be a top-down full assault class of armor, a decidedly unique item that would define her and her alone. The Gaalsien had their own clan-pattern armor, but its use wasn't mandatory, and quite frankly the desert nomads had more pressing matters than who was wearing what.

A quick glance around, and she turned back, particularly walking up to [member="Teagan Stoirm"] with one hand already resting on one of the grips of her Westar 35's. "So what's the plan?" She quickly looked around again, from her body language evidently disapproving of the LZ's lush flora and fauna. She had no qualms about seeming sheepish or reserved by the others - the next oldest person was a decade her junior; precisely why she felt like she had no reason to push weight around or act senior-ly. It was going to be routine, but likewise interesting. It'd be the first time in many years she wasn't at the helm of a raiding expedition.

[member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Cabur Aranar"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Atlas Kane]

The Mandalorian Valkyri merely sat there for a short few moments. He listened to what everyone else had to say, internally preparing himself for the worst that Velkar could throw at him. It would certainly be a terrible experience; He would most certainly be disintegrated by a stray disruptor round, or it would turn out that the things he salvaged were thermal detonators primed over a thousand years ago to detonate right when Cabur picked them up. To Cabur that just seemed something that Velkar would do and he wasn't so much afraid of the Death Watch and their traps as he was of the Valkyri god.

"Thank you ... I will try to give my best despite my current predicament. Ironic as it may seem now, I am used to fighting as the Vanguard of a strike team, going in quickly, causing as much trouble as possible and giving the rest of the team time to complete their objectives." Those types of tactics were favoured by his clan, who viewed confrontations with enemies similar to hunts, either you strike first aginst your prey, or you become the prey. Reminding himself of the times he had leaped face first into worse situations restored some confidence within him, but he was still weary of what Velkar was going to do to him.

Then the other Mandalorian suggested he guard the ship. Maybe he should. After all, he was somewhat scared of Velkar, which made him quite nervous. The thought of being vaporized by disruptors or blowing up due to some kind of trickery from Velkar was not the most pleasant of thoughts.

He shook his head.

What was he thinking? Being scared and nervous because of Velkar? Staying behind to guard a ship while the others went to fight in glorious combat? What would Odiir say? Cabur was a Son of Midvinter and a Mandalorian. He should not be scared of death in battle. If he was fated to die this day, then so be it, but he would die valiantly defending his allies from the same fate. He would not stand here, guarding some ship and let the others walk into danger on their own. He would support them in combat, try to protect them from as much danger as possible, so that they may fight without worrying about any distractions. It was his duty as a Mandalorian and as a Son of Midvinter, he would uphold his honour to protect those he was fortunate enough to call his allies.

"You are right!" He said confidently once more, shooting up straight to his full height. "I shall not remain behind, by my honour, I will aid you in whatever capacity I can!" At that point it was time to leave, as the shuttle had landed at the LZ. The Mandalorian continued towards the exit of the shuttle with all the confidence he had in the past. This was going to be a great test of strength for him and an opportunity to make new friends amongst the clans. He grabbed the handle of his flail with one hand and readied it for combat. In his other hand he held his Scattergun. He was very much geared more towards close-range combat, but given enough time he could also pull off a more long range shot, though he'd have to use a different weapon for that, which he currently didn't carry with him. He was excited to see how his own combat style would mesh with the ones the others had trained in. He didn't really have much experience fighting alongside people who didn't use the same tactics as his clan did, so this was certainly going to be an educational experience.

[member="Teagan Stoirm"] [member="Sear Gaalsien"] [member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Phislo Bress"]

Spoiler

Gear: Durasteel Flail, Scattergun, Beskad and a Tenloss Corp. Ambassador

 

[Phislo Bress]

The forest. This was a place where Phislo was in her element. Her armor was made for hiding in this place. Every tree and cliff face is a puzzle to solve, every set of footprints or trail marking is a sign of those who came before, every area of heavy foliage is an ambush point. She loved that feeling. This is the type of terrain her father trained her in back on Concord Dawn.

Phislo stepped out of the transport and into the moon's forest atmosphere. Even through her helmet she felt the warmth and moisture hanging in the air around her and she smiled beneath her helmet. She put the laser rifle in the side rifle holster of her backpack and looked up a tree in front of her for the natural handholds of the tree. She charted a path up and decided that she would try. "The plan?", she responded to Sear, "first of all is to find the safest route."

Phislo took a running jump to the tree and leapt onto it grabbing the first hold, a small stump where a branch had been sheared off jagged. With a grunt of effort she pulled herself up in a low hanging branch. "I'll have a look up here for a moment.", she said as she rested against the main trunk coming up from the ground, "See if I can detect any traps they might have hid in the canopy. That okay with you Teagan?"

[member="Sear Gaalsien"] [member="Teagan Stoirm"] [member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Cabur Aranar"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Stardust got off the ship and looked around, the forest wasn't really her zone she was a tank basically meant to hit hard, but that didn't matter that meant if anything did attack she would be attacked first no doubt and be able to draw fire with the armor she wore

She looked around feeling the moisture in the are as well as he suit equalize the pressure and warmth* teagan if it is ok with you I'll take point, my armor can take more of a betting then anyone here I believe

She said as she gave a smile and closed her arms Eben though her smile wouldn't be seen one could tell she was watching to see how he did....or maybe it was just instinct

[member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Cabur Aranar"] [member="Sear Gaalsien"] [member="Teagan Stoirm"]