The Clash of Bone and Sinew. (Mandalorian Dominion of Ord Mantell)

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Ashin Varanin"]

"Thanks for the info," Siobhan spoke before the ensuing salvoes prevented her from actually probing about the whole poison story. Yes, she happened to be one of those people who did not know about Varanin being Sith poisoned by a Sith cult and spending more than a decade with it coursing through her veins. Perhaps she was a bit behind times. Then again, Moira's memos had endlessly prattled about the dangers of Sith poison.

Well, that and somehow linked it to Bando Gora, the 'invisible hand of Velok' and the necessity of utilising biological warfare because that was the perfect solution. Or purge one third of her staff to motivate the rest.

What did this have to do with the matter at hand? Nothing, so Siobhan focused on more important things as Varanin, best tank in the Galaxy according to some, marched into a hailstorm of blasterfire. Ripping blasters out of the hands of their wielders and throwing a number of said wielders around.

 

[Darth Metus]

It was very seldom that the Jedi Master would venture away from either Chroma Zed or Voss these days, for the duties of Fatherhood and having a seat upon a leadership council tended to consume one's time. However, when the opportunity presented itself to face down remnants of the Empire, Josiah leapt at the chance and joined his fellow Confederate in aiding the Mandalprian offensive of Ord Mantell. As the cadre of vessels continued their assault on the Pirate Base and forces, he vacated the vessel aboard a single dropship bound for the planet's surface. Although Josiah did not know exactly where the enemy he sought was located, he could feel the growing stench of the Dark Side as the vessel dipped through the atmosphere and over the mountain range. Eventually, the dropship settled only a stone's throw away from the landed Basilisk War Droid and the hooded Jedi calmly strode forward. Before him, he sensed two particular individuals, each of immense strength; yet neither bore the stink of Darkness like that which would be found further ahead. Garbed in his Templar Armor, Josiah came to a halt before the blast door...and gaped. Both faces he recognized. The first was [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], a woman he had last seen during his Padawan days...and the latter was [member="Ashin Varanin"].

Reaching for his utility belt, Josiah clutched the hilt of one of his sabers and ignited it's golden blade into existence. He spoke no words, yet simply stood in slight disbelief. Either the former Sith Empress had one hell of a false aura, or the rumors of her return to light were true.

"...Need an extra blade?"

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

The AA guns were in sight. In fact...He was right on top of them. As his War Beast grunted and screeched as its metal claws pierced through the walls of the AA gun, climbing up and up, ready to rip apart any Imperials it found on the way. One unlucky soul decided it would be a good idea to try and blast the two from a window. Gilamar raised his ripper and fired the energy coated slug right through the visor. "Heh...Right between the eyes." the old man mused. It was good to be back in the field.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Getting tanky was only so effective without frankly cheap Force powers (powers that were Ashin's specialty), and she felt like being classy for once. So the cessation of blasterfire spang-ing off her phrik heavy plate and zing-ing off her lightsabre was most welcome. She shunted away the heat that had carried through her armor; the air rippled furiously with the efflux.

She waded into the close confines of the region beyond the door, chopping through arms and blasters alike with Jedi abandon. Web rifles snared her in thick strands as she cut down her enemies. So when [member="Josiah Denko"] appeared, she turned to him dragging a bunch of web.

"If it isn't Tython's finest. Welcome aboard, Denko."

She didn't know he no longer answered to the Council.

"Get this off me."

 

[Darth Metus]

"Ack!" came the response of the Mandalorian as oxygen began to surge out of the Base. Sure, the new entrance into the structure caused a small number of the enemy to be sucked out into oblivion, but it was also robbing the facility of vital air. As such, Isley quickly dismounted his beast once they entered the building and quickly reached out with the Force. His target was a console mounted on the adjacent wall, which typically would cause emergency shutters to fall over the wound in the wall. However, it must have become damaged as Cin made it's entrance. Smashing the buttons down, Isley managed to then grip his beast until the shutters responded and staved off the loss of oxygen. "Sorry about that Vod," he said with a light chuckle whilst reaching for his saberstaff, "temporary loss of sanity."

[member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Isley Verd"]

"Stop gripping your beast and get in here." Explosive decompression made him grouchy. Once pressure equalized, he moved into the next segment. A torrent of blasterfire slammed against his son's lightsabre, which inscribed a crazy hatchwork of blue lines before his eyes. He opted to move fast, maximize mobility as they tried to pincer him from two hallways at a ninety-degree angle...and he sensed something or someone under the floor.

 

[Darth Metus]

As the Empress-turned-Jedi cut a bloody swath through her opposition, Josiah acted similarly. Raiding his saber, he began to reflect and deflect blaster bolts aimed in his general direction. As the bolts of energy bounced off of his golden blade, he amused himself with the thought of how much things had changed since he learned how to do this properly on Roon. That train of thought reminded him of good ol' [member="Ember Rekali"], whom Josiah had not seen in quite some time. Before he could fully lose himself to nostalgia, Ashin shambled forward, covered in web. "I don't know cousin," he said with a laugh, "those nets bring out the color of your eyes." With a goofy grin, he liberated Ashin from her bonds with a precise swipe of his saber and gave her a nod. "After you, I insist."

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

Rygel Larraq's office still smelled of desert flowers. No matter how many cigars, cigarettes, or bottles of whiskey he filled the room with, the stench of flowers continued to haunt him. It was nearly sickening. Even Talyn was licking his nose in annoyance at the smell.

Sighing, Larraq dropped himself bodily into his very comfortable chair and lit up a fresh cigarette in the hopes of drowning out the smell of those blasted flowers. Smoke trailing from his nostrils, Larraq picked up a remote and began flipping through the encrypted frequencies that Mandal Hypernautics monitored.

Mandalorians killing Imperial Remnants.
Mandalorian ships engaging pirates.
Popo's Peepers; Wookiee on Gamorrian action, 12.99 Credits an hour.

28 thousand secure frequencies and never anything good going on.

 

[Pa'Kar Sang]

<Bacta...Bacta...Kolta, whatever...Just give me the damn sssssedddative.> he muttered drunkenly in Mando'a as he set charges on the durasteel door. The console beside him lay in a smoldering heap, Jaden's frustration had reached its limit. It was all or nothing. <Pretty, delecious bacta, floooooowing through my veins. Hehehe...> Moving away from the door, he activated the detonation sequence aaaaaaand

BOOM

The door fell flat inside, a loud clang echoed as delighted laughter left the Mandalorian's helmet. Swallowing, he entered, his rifle raised, his senses surprisingly sharp. He would find the Med center or whatever they had and take all the bacta he wanted. To Hell with the AA guns.

 

[Velok the Younger]

The pirate frigate was, on closer examination, an old Sith Empire electronic warfare vessel. She couldn't remember the name of the model, but it was certainly no warship.

Except for the part where its hacking capabilities had a decent chance of shutting down or taking control of certain systems.

"That comm array. Take it out now."

 

[Jorga the Hutt]

From the relative safety of his Republic medical ship, with its currently-excellent comm linkups, Senator Rel Connory watched with significant nervousness as [member="Mia Monroe"] stormed through the scenario. It was a bit beyond his skills, to his annoyance. To his greater annoyance, it was too far away for him to intervene with sonic servodriver or wit.

 

[Darth Metus]

"This time, I'll try not to break the place." said Isley as the enemy pirates began to bear down upon them. A pincer maneuver was smart...but not so much against two motherkarkers of Isley and Ember's caliber. With a whistle to signal his War Droid forward, he set his focus to one of the two incoming lines of enemies, whilst leaving the other to be handled by his mount. Cin delivered, excellently, and immediately began firing upon the pirates with it's laser cannons. Isley did similarly to Ember, deflecting blaster bolts away from his form before reaching out with the Force. He picked up some flayed, broken metal from his entrance and hurled it telekinetically, on a spin. The swift, metal death trap then cut into three of the attackers and shoved their bodies onto their fellows behind. "So, if these are pirates, where's the treasure?" Isley joked. [member="Ember Rekali"]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Ashin Varanin"], [member="Josiah Denko"]

The time and tested MK1 boltgun leapt into her grasp as more Sith came at them like angry hornets, having formed up defensive positions. Siobhan was not that great a duellist, but she excelled at fighting at range. Clad in her custom-made beskar'gam the telekinetic juggernaut brought forth the bolter and spewed out explosive bolts at the opposition further ahead of them.

E-webs and stormtroopers were gripped as by an invisible hand as a whirlwind blossomed and sent spinning through the air, offering nice targets. She noted the appearance of Josiah Denko, whom she did recall had led the Templars once. Anaxes was old history she never really thought about these days. But a helping hand was appreciated, so Siobhan concentrated on what she did best. Causing mayhem. Stray rounds peppered off her heavy armour, a grenade being tossed her way was casually redirected and sent flying towards the opposition.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Josiah Denko"]

"Thanks for that," she said to her cousin, slapping handfuls of grit on the remaining stokhli spray to gum it up and render it non-sticky. She gestured after Kerrigan. "You know how you like to play telekinesis juggernaut? Meet the greatest TK specialist in the galaxy. Master Siobhan fething Kerrigan. I'm sure you've got a ton to talk about. Just know, going into this -- you're not her type."

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Isley Verd"]

"Treasure? Treasure...now there is a thought." He tilted his head. "Do you hear...clinking?"

He ripped down the nearest door. The hard way. Pirates with heavy repeaters drove him back behind the rock wall.

Inside, he'd spotted a goodly number of lockboxes, being hastily loaded onto a repulsorsled. "Confirmed for treasure!"

 

[Darth Metus]

Now that his cousin was liberated from the E-Webs, Josiah set his attention on the battle at hand, just in time to see a telekinetic whirlwind wreak havoc upon the Sith rushing forward. A low whistle escaped his lips, he was impressed...and decided to join in the fun. Reaching out with his right hand, he projected a wall of telekinetic force which surged down the corridor. It collided with those few lucky to elude the aforementioned cyclone and sent them hurtling one over the other. "Still quite the telekinetic, eh Miss Kerrigan? Though...you must be even more deadly if Ashin is praising you; and fret not, I'm married. Sophia would end my life if I so much as looked. Now if you'll excuse me... he commented before rushing forward. His blade was a golden blur as it began to purge the darkness from the face of the Galaxy, felling those who had fallen and addressing the blasters of those who stood.

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"], [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

The Alchemist-class frigate -- that was the name. Auspicious. Its engines were down, its deadly comm projectors were down, its shields were very, very down. The Lethewalker settled alongside and projected a Force cylinder. Lightsabre-wielding droids cut their way through the hatch, and GT-F0 anti-boarding astromechs streamed through. Each boasted a sonic projector and five paralysis beams that ignored both shields and armor.

Within a matter of minutes, certianly less than half an hour, the pirate frigate was hers.

 

[Pa'Kar Sang]

'Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.' His assault rifle went
One. Two. Threee. Four. Troopers fall, and dead they lay.
'Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.'
Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Dead they'll stay and out of my way.

The young Mandalorian was truly gone now. A one man killing machine with only meat sacks and plastoid armor between him and the infirmary. His injured leg slid behind him, the metal scraping the floor as he limped and fired. He could see the door now, the telltale insignia of medics the galaxy over. He would have his bacta-

'Beebeep'

His eyes and head looked to the walls, his left side equipped with a disrupter mine. The electric shock brought a grunt from the man and his helmet's systems shut down. Cursing he ripped the helmet from his head and tossed it to the ground. He was so close. His vision was blurred, and unsure if it was from the explosion or the blood loss he stood and made his way towards the light of the infirmary.

 

[Captain Larraq]

12.99 was a small price to pay to satisfy curiosity.
Unfortunately, no cost, no matter high, could be paid to wipe the images from Larraq's mind that would haunt him for years to come.
He wasn't even sure which one was the female...

Still shuddering in utter discust, Larraq flipped through the holonet frequencies again and watched bits and pieces of the skirmish over Ord Mantell fill his holodisplay. Apparently, things were going well.

If only the tormented depths of his subconscious could be cleansed of the sights and sounds of Popo's peepers.

 

[Velok the Younger]

"Merrill to Mandalorian forces. Thanks for letting me lend a hand."

Her tech crews streamed aboard through a hardline cofferdam. The Alchemist-class frigate was a specialist kind, and she had some uses for it, though she might just...sell it. Because money was always money. She left the Lethewalker and stalked aboard to examine her new property.

The mech crews got the engines patched up enough to reorient, and the frigate leaped to hyperspace, followed by the Lethewalker.