Star's End, Crusade's Start [ Mandalorian Crusaders ]

[Zef Halo]

Far from home. Deep into the isolated Mythus system in Wild Space, an infamous prison houses criminals of the worst kind. That kind that takes lives for a sport.​

Star's End

The Mandalorian Crusaders begin their recruitment campaign on the fringes of the galaxy in one of the most formidable and well defended prisons in the galaxy. Coated in unbreakable molecularly bonded armor, the tower stands high and strong with a massive garrison of well armed and trained security forces.​

Such challenges are where Mandalorians thrive, such challenges distinguish Mandalorians from the rest of the galaxy.​

​

Why ?​

Because Mandalorians never ask "How many?" but "Where?" ​

--​

Zef's blockade runner came out of hyperspace followed by the other part of the Crusaders' task force. The asteroid where the massive tower stood filled his illuminator. He activated the ship's thruster on full power towards the top of the tower. The anti-air turrets on the ground of the asteroid would not wait for any introductions neither were the Mandalorians keen on introducing themselves.

The plan was simple.

Hit them where they least expect it as fast as possible.

The Mandalorian Crusaders' plan was to immediatelly with blazing speed head towards the asteroid, with the skilled pilots of this task force navigating through the rain of fire that the anti-air turrets would rain upon them. They would hit the spaceport which was infront of the tower, rather than the tower itself. It was large enough for ships up to 300m length to dock.

When that happens, the Mandalorians will have to fight through the security forces and seize control of the monorail that leads straight in Star's End's first floor of Detention Levels. A team would have to go down to the Administration levels and find the controls to release the prisoners. Another team would have to go up through the detention levels to the top where the Administrator's residence was (the top top). It is believed that the secret to the molecularly bonded armor technology were there.

Their primary objectives were clear:

• Free the prisoners
• Disable the anti-air turrets so the Mandalorian cruiser could come in and let the prisoners board it from the skyhook floating on top of the tower
• Acquire molecularly bonded armor technology

Success would lead to:

• Fresh blood in the Mandalorian ranks.
• Sophisticated technology
• Misc such as various ships docked and medical equipment

"Alright, Mandos. Heat has radically increased." Zef stated through the comlink implying the fact that the anti-air defences began their barrage of fire upon the Mandalorian Crusaders. "Focus and we might not be picking up your ash later." The scoundrel added with a snicker, a typical comment by the sarcastic and cynical Mandalorian.





[member="Adelram Thul"]
[member="Ashtah Ordo"]
[member="Briga Tiin"]
[member="Darth Helios"]
[member="Deneve Verd"]
[member="Isley Verd"]
[member="Julian Viles Priest"]
[member="Juwiela Melec"]
[member="Keira Ticon"]
[member="Miss Blonde"]
[member="Oddball"]
[member="Oron Verd"]
[member="Runi Verin"]
[member="Saverok the Unleashed"]


OOC: Ooc thread is in the faction forum. Cant like now cause on phone.

 

[Juwiela Melec]

Music
Ship

Life for Rogue Leader had been full of nothing worth note of late, instead comprised of regular military routine and nothing more, exercises designed to keep what remained of the paltry group fit to fight. Nothing in the way of any sort of combat mission had come up, and instead they had been confined to nothing more than the sims or this or that training run so that they wouldn't go completely mad being stuck on the ground for extended periods of time. It had sufficed well enough for the first few weeks, but she had grown bored fast. That was, until a proposition was put forth and she was given a new group to fly for outside of the Rebel Alliance. And what welcome news that had been, after so long of being in the air, truly free.

Of course, she always said that before she was facing enemy fire and staring death in the face for yet another attack run. As always, however, there was a certain thrill to be found when any moment could be your last. Or maybe that was just something pilots had in them, a certain death-wish that could never really be tamed. Either way, it had her flying through space towards an onslaught of anti-aircraft fire. They weren't close enough to be amazing accurate just yet, but that would come in due time. Thus far this reminded her of Roche, the saving grace being she didn't have to worry about navigating an asteroid field. And Roche had been quieter. A lot quieter. But she hadn't signed up for quiet.

"You don't have to worry about that. I've been playing this game for too long." One wasn't put in command of all starfighters in a fleet without some kind of experience and given skill, and Juwiela liked to think she'd gained her bounty for good reason. "Are we holding formation, or can we break off and kill 'em?" She was used to being the one making the final call, but this time around deferred to [member="Zef Halo"] for the last word. It was then a call came in on a personal frequency, and she cut off her end of the open comms so as to make this conversation between herself and [member="Oddball"] just between them. "Time and place, Empty. Can't this wait?" Knowing him it probably could, but that didn't mean he would do what was best.

 

[Keira Priest]

Music

Silence. It was something that had been in short supply for years, only ever seeming to manifest in times like this, the calm before the storm. The only sound came from the chatter of the comms as Keira sat in the ship of a fellow Mandalorian with whom she had kept up some sort of back-and-forth in their first meeting. Currently she was doing nothing more than making certain every armored plate was in its proper place, assuring every weapon was present and accounted for. Her helmet currently sat in her lap, where it would remain until the time came to dock and disembark. A hologram of the prison's layout manifested in the air from the holoprojector built into her armor on the underside of her left wrist, courtesy of her AI companion.

"This is the most recent map I was able to obtain. Likely patrol routes have been outlined in red, the cells themselves marked in blue, and the location of the two objectives in green." "Anything more you can find on this place or the people will help. You know the drill." "Of course." The projection dissipated, and she returned to her previous task of preparing for the future battle. Once again she was the bringer of some kind of war, however small-scale it really was. For just a short moment she tinkered with the wrist rocket mounted on her right forearm, priming it to fire and keeping the safety on for the moment. With a shift of her left hand the vibroblade built into the gauntlet plate deployed, and she made certain it was in proper working order before it collapsed in on itself with lightning speed, capable of being deployed in an instant.

A quick once-over assured that her blaster pistol was in its holster at her side, lightsaber hooked at her hip. The spring-loaded slugthrower pistol was strapped to her left forearm, and she had taken it apart in order to clean it before piecing it back together shortly before this in order to assure functioned as intended with no misfires. All told her arsenal wasn't overly impressive to behold, but in the right hands it was just as deadly as anything else. Two turns of her head cracked the vertebrae in her neck, and she leaned forward to get a better view of the structure they were currently hurtling towards through space, laserfire cutting towards them but never quite making contact. Just another day in her books.

Her helmet was pulled on in short order and sealed to the rest of the armor, HUD blinking into existence and encapsulating her in a web of information that was overwhelming if one wasn't prepared. Finally she seemed to acknowledge the presence of [member="Zef Halo"], her voice taking on a slightly modulated tone, "This a bit more threatening than a dress uniform?" A reference to the brief conversation the two had shared, back when they had been uneasy acquaintances rather than allies. How times changed.

 

[Julian Viles Priest]

A prison? Star's End looked more like a tower that a level thirty wizard lived in, waiting for the knight to come, and murder him with his long sword. But this was just Julian's opinion as the Grim, a small corvette came out of hyperspace right behind [member="Zef Halo"], and his frieghter. When looking into details of the giant tower, Julian could tell anyone that the Grim would do little, to no damage today to that tower, and it's advance armor. If this molecular armor could take a beating from even a Star Destroyer's turbolaser battery, what did he expect his Grim to do?

"Well, instead of attacking the tower directly, we could disable the turret systems it possesses..."
Julian found himself thinking out loud.
"Or we could ram it...that would be fun...and suicidal. Yea, i think we'll ram it."

A mando at the bridge stared at Julian with concern, and a little despair in his eyes before making a coughing sound. Julian looked over at the man slowly, and smiled devilishly.

"Of course I am just joking. Burning up from jet fuel, and various chemical reactions would not be as pleasant as I would want it to be. I've always wanted to die in a odd fashion, crash and burning isn't odd."

The Vahla's tone had turned into a dark, and cold note. Darkness began to swirl in his aura as he began to sink himself within the darkside.

Goddess, keep your eyes, and arms around us today. Watch your servant destroy the chains of others

[member="Juwiela Melec"]
[member="Oddball"]
[member="Keira Ticon"]

 

[Damien Zannen]

Waiting in his AEG-77 Vigo Gunship Saverok spun in his chair waiting for the action to begin. He would be damned if they thought a Gunship was going to charge in first guns blazing. No Saverok was very happy waiting for some distractions to happen before he would fly in. His AEG-77 was sitting on a nearby Asteroid off radar in low power mode. Life support was even turned off to give the full illusion. Gen'dai did not pocess lungs and thus did not need to breathe.

Walking to the Communications console he hailed his so called Vod. " Tell me when you need my assistance. And I will begin my bombing run." he Uttered the message aloud.

 

[Isley Verd]

"If you want to shave some time off that sentence, you've got to be willing to earn it."

Such was the luxurious mantle enjoyed by the Warden. From behind a desk of mahagony, the aging Human grinned. Before him sat one of the less...unsavory...souls to have been condemned to his tower. A young man, sentenced to live out his days stuck in a box, had come to seek out some semblance of mercy. And the Warden thought himself a merciful god. To a point.

"I'll do whatever you want. I don't want to die here." said the young man, a glimmer of hope alive in his eyes.

The Warden licked his lips.

BOOM

An explosion rocked the apex of the Tower, causing the so-called "god" to hit the deck. "What the actual kark is going on?" he roared. Scrambling, the Warden reached for the console upon his desk and demanded to know what was going on. His world...his beloved Star's End...was under attack? That could not be. That would not be. "Lock down the blocks. Scramble the Drones. And for kark's sake, blow those monkeys outta the sky!"

Thus did the Star's End begin its counter assault. From within the depths of the tower did a literal swarm surge into being: squadrons of autonomous drones launched with defensive intent. They, unlike the Spire, were not build from materials that could laugh at a turbolaser. In fact, they were wrought of simple Durasteel and even lacked shielding units. What they did have as an advantage was numbers...lots and lots of numbers. As a singular unit, the drones swirled up and around the tower before breaking off into three distinct squadrons. The first tarried close to the Star's End, intent on playing "last line of defense" alongside the horde of turrets. The second and third moved forward to engage the enemy starfighters. In particular, the second squadron moved to intercept [member="Juwiela Melec"] and her forces from the front whilst the Third moved to flank. Laser fire filled the air, as did the sounds of concussion missiles launched into the fray.

They would not move on the capital vessels, not yet, for that would be a fruitless venture. Instead, they would wait for the aggressors to move forward; and thus could they begin the second stage.

"Who the hell are these guys? Read their IFFs!" barked the Warden.

Upon descending to the command centre, the red-faced man demanded to know whom he was up against. The answer...was chilling.

"Mandalorians, sir."

[member="Darth Helios"] | [member="Zef Halo"] | [member="Saverok the Unleashed"] | [member="Julian Viles Priest"] | [member="Ashtah Ordo"] | [member="Keira Ticon"] | [member="Adelram Thul"] | [member="Briga Tiin"] | [member="Deneve Verd"] | [member="Miss Blonde"] | [member="Oddball"] | [member="Oozak"] | [member="Runi Verin"] ​

 

[Zef Halo]

Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur​

Not only were the Mandalorians endangered by the unending fire from the anti-air turrets who did not care whether they hit their own drones. In the end, they were simply automated drones. This made things harder for the Mandalorians as Zef felt his ship rock from a blast it just withstood. Karking bastards. He focused on the task ahead as it became much more complicated than before. [member="Juwiela Melec"] 's inquiry and confident statement came through his ship's com link.

"Break, break the formation. We're easy targets as it is." Zef ordered as another battery struck his ship and rocked it. Damn it. He engaged the ship in a couple of evasive maneuvers while breaking from the line. The scoundrel Mandalorian noticed the squadrons of drones aiming to outflank the Mandalorian starfighters. Someone had to halt that. "Need a few of you on me, them scrap fighters be trying to outflank us. Ain't gonna happen. Hukaat'kama."

The scoundrel pulled hard the back thrusts and forward thrusts levers in mid flight using the momentum from the abruptly decreasing speed to do a sharp left turn. He pushed the levers back again, the forward thrusts roaring as the back thrusts were deactivated and propelling the freighter towards the drones attempting to outflank the Mandalorian line.

"This a bit more threatening than a dress uniform?"

Zef couldn't turn his head at the current circumstances but recognized the voice. Smugglers always knew what and who was on board their ship. Keira Ticon. The Mandalorian lightsaber wielding woman from Corellia. They had met for a very short time during the negotiations on Alderaan where he had commented sarcastically on her dress, of course as the Corellian she was, she had brought it up now.

"Do you know whats more threatening than a dress uniform?" He asked rhetorically, there was no malice in his tone. "A school of automated drones and sophisticated anti-air systems trying to blow us into oblivion."

"You'd make an old man happy if you manned the damn turret on this damn freighter." Zef told her as he maneuvered the freighter once more evading the rain of blasts that came from everywhere.

He focused once again on the job at hand, leading the drones into crashing with one another and distracting them from their objective of outflanking the Mandalorians. Their protocols were not as sophisticated as high-end automated drones but that was not to say that they were less dangerous.

"We need to sweep through this scrap as soon as possible, Mando'ade. Get your poodoo together or we'll be known as the Mandalorians that got beat by mere beskar'ad."



[member="Adelram Thul"]
[member="Ashtah Ordo"]
[member="Briga Tiin"]
[member="Darth Helios"]
[member="Deneve Verd"]
[member="Isley Verd"]
[member="Julian Viles Priest"]
[member="Juwiela Melec"]
[member="Keira Ticon"]
[member="Miss Blonde"]
[member="Oddball"]
[member="Oron Verd"]
[member="Runi Verin"]
[member="Saverok the Unleashed"]

 

[Runi Verin]

“You’d make a young woman happy if you didn’t fly like a drunk karkin’ Ronto,” Runi yelled as the deck bucked and rolled beneath her feet, threatening to send her sprawling at every twist and turn the Old Man threw them into. Only experience and a whole lot of luck kept her upright as she made an ill-advised dash for the portside turret, barely managing to slide behind the controls before the Jai’galaar truly began to dance. She was sure she’d weathered worse over the years, by right now, battered and bounced around by a storm of laser flak, she was hard pressed to remember when that might have been exactly.

Truth be told, signing on with a ragtag bunch of Mandalorians to assault a prison complex head on, one that was widely considered to be the very definition of the word ‘impregnable’ no less, probably wasn’t the smartest idea the kiffar had ever entertained. Credits were ultimately only good if you were still around to spend them afterwards. But then, as that traitorous inner voice kept reminding her, this job was never about the credits. Not really. This was more about fulfilling a long standing, unspoken obligation. A debt that she had owed from her days on Kol Atorn. One she just had to hope Zef and his karkin’ piloting wouldn’t get her killed in the process of repaying.

“I refuse to go out on board a bucket of bolts like this. No way, no how.” She muttered as she primed the activation switches, controls humming beneath her fingers as the turret came alive at her touch. The subsequent first volley went wide by a good twenty feet as she got a feel for them, crimson bolts spiralling off into the empty vacuum, the second another narrow miss. The proverbial third time proved to be the charm, tearing through the closely packed drone ranks with satisfying burst of explosive sparks. “Oya!”

Half a dozen down, only a few hundred or so more to go.

[member="Zef Halo"] | [member="Saverok the Unleashed"] | [member="Julian Viles Priest"] | [member="Ashtah Ordo"] | [member="Keira Ticon"] | [member="Adelram Thul"] | [member="Briga Tiin"] | [member="Deneve Verd"] | [member="Miss Blonde"] | [member=Oddball] | [member=Oozak] | [member="Rhuza Kingpriest"] | [member="Isley Verd"] | [member="Oron Verd"]

 

[Juwiela Melec]

Ship

"You heard him. I want this group halved so we can attack on two fronts." Taking command came naturally to her up in the air, even if she held no true authority or sway. This was what she was good at above all else. "Wingmate is the word of the day today. Everybody go ahead and find one. They'll be the person watching your tail and making sure you don't die, and you offer the same. Pair off." If this had been the Rogues she would have ordered a count off of all flying with her, but they were back at base elsewhere. These were Mandalorians, and they answered to no one but those they considered worthy of that title. Unfortunately they would have to settle for her in the moment, because she didn't plan on leaving anytime soon.

There were a few times laserfire skimmed far too close for comfort, rocking her fighter and making for a bumpy ride. But Juwiela almost always managed to squeeze off a burst of plasma in return, either completely destroying or clipping a drone or two as she went. "Half of you with me, the others on him. Make sure he's not outflanked." She jerked her ship sharply to the side, maneuvering the drones into each other or a line of fire when she couldn't manage a clear shot on her own. They weren't smart enough to stop shooting at one of their own, and she worked that to her advantage. This wasn't quite the pitched dogfight she had been looking for going into things, but it was better than sitting around and waiting for something more interesting to come along.

"Those of you with me, ready your missiles. Once we get close enough, those AA guns are gone." Of course, it would be hell to fly through before they got there, but she was confident enough it would be managed. "Save the fancy flying and just focus on making it. Primary power goes to the shields. Hitting these things is a nightmare." At least you had a prayer of hitting other pilots in a dogfight. This was nothing more than random chaos with strafes of laserfire interspersed between. As they neared the anti-aircraft guns conditions became even more unsteady, the readout of her shields not faring half as well as she would have preferred. Again the cockpit shook, and she muttered a curse. "Watch those damn turrets!" But it was too late, as one of their own fighters went up in a ball of flame.

Without a word she primed her missiles, the next order far more subdued, "Those of you that don't want to end up like that, prime your missiles and hold." Drawing in a breath, she counted the seconds of her exhale, pausing on the last. "Fire at will."

[member="Runi Verin"], [member="Zef Halo"], [member="Voice of the Crusade"]

 

[Zef Halo]

"Hey, kid, don't give me poodoo. I am one of the very few who can karking pilot this ship in such a damn good fashion. Everyone else would've already sent us to oblivion." Zef yelled out at the young woman who he did not know. He only knew she was a new recruit among the Crusaders and that she had a thing for ships. Thing is, she did not know he grew up as the son of a mechanic.

Another few hits rocked the Jai'galaar as it swiftly evaded volleys of blaster fire while activating the chaff burst against the warheads coming from below. The Mandalorians had to be quick otherwise they'd only land as rubble.

"All Mando Winds, we need to blaze em as quickly as possible or we gonna turn into karking ash. Get your poodoo together." The Mandalorian stated through the communication channel to the other Mandalorian ships engaged in the dogfight.

"Ronto girl, get your aim right cause I don't want it to be the reason of my death." Zef called out via the inner channel of the ship to the girl that was trying her luck with the portside turret.


I am too old for this poodoo...



[member="Juwiela Melec"] [member="Runi Verin"] [member="Keira Ticon"]

((OOC: Post round of blasting shit then we move on further to our goal.))