The Lost and the damned(ME joining thread)

[Ayhia Katar]

It had been several months since the CSDF had cut ties with the corrupt ORC governments and things had not gone well for them. They had rescued about 300 thousand people that wanted to leave the ORC only to come under fire by a pirate lord. They kept on the move but were constantly dogged by they pirates and today was no exception as a large pirate ship dropped into the system the CSDF fleet was in. Ayhia was off duty and in her quarters reading a book when the warning klaxons kicked on.

"Fething pirates." Ayhia scoffed as she jumped to her feet and ran out the door, grabbing her pistol as she did. She ran for the bridge of the only war ship in the CSDF fleet, a Old Republic Era Hammerhead "The Equitable Exchange". "how many?" she asked as she settled into the captains chair.

"One Captial class ship. their releasing fighters." One of the bridge officers called back to her. "I'm scrambling our own fighters."

Ayhia nodded and pulled up a star chart on her personal monitor, they were really close to Mando space. she tapped her fingers idly on her chair thinking, they had maybe 5 minutes before the first volley exchange. "Coms..." She tapped her fingers again. "Send a Call to arms into Mando space..." Ayhia sighed as she finished their was not telling how they would react, the mandos had been to this point allys but they were still outsiders. She tapped the ship wide intercom. "Everyone i am contacting the mando's, we can't keep doing this alone..." She knew that it would not go over well, their were force users in the CSDF and more then a few force sensitives in the civilian population. She closed the intercom and checked on the civilian ship, which were quickly making distance from the soon to be battle ground. Ayhia smiled, they still had a job to do. "Angle Shields forward, ahead full lets get this party rolling!"

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Alor? Report of a distress call from just outside our borders. They claim to be a CSDF vessel with... ORC refugees onboard?"

Shia stared blankly at her subordinate for a long moment, the confusion quite obvious.

"Well, if it's a trap, it'll be a short one. Set condition 1-SS throughout the ship, sound battle stations and lay in intercept course."

Other navies have klaxons, alarms, or even archaic drumbeats for their call to stations. The Huntress, along with all other Kryze vessels, went to war with the pounding chant of Mandalorian battle-songs resounding through her hull.

Shia even joined in the singing as she settled back into the command throne.

"Equitable Exchange, this is the Huntress - we we acknowledge your distress signal and are en-route. Please state intentions."

[member="Ayhia Katar"]

 

[Ayhia Katar]

The two ships were not quite a even match, "The Equitable Exchange" was over just over 5000 years old and had not been retrofitted yet due to the CSDF's breakaway from the ORC. Now they had ORC pirates chasing them, it was likely that they were hired by one of the governments to hunt them. The Pirate ship clearly outgunned them but their fighters were inferior to the Equitable's own fighters in almost every way, with the notable exception of numbers. They would be able to hold out for quite a while, at least long enough for the civilian ships to get away.

"Commander... SOS has been acknowledged by M.E.S Huntress, they are asking our intentions." The comm officer called back to Ayhia. "Commander?"

Ayhia tapped her fingers a couple of times, "Open a channel..." The comm officer hit a couple of buttons then motioned to Ayhia. "M.E.S Huntress this is CSDF Commander Ayhia Katar, we are currently engaged with one pirate ship, Capital class, due to our ships limitations we are unable to ensure the safety of the six civilian ships under our care" Ayhia hit a button on her console sending the coordinates of the civilian ships. "On those six ships are just under 290 thousands souls please take them somewhere safe. I..."

"WARP SIGNATURE BEHIND US!" One of the bridge office's called out. "Another ship exiting warp..." Ayhia's held her breath as she waited for the IFF tag to be called out... "IFF matches hostile hostile ship already engaged with us."

"Feth..." Ayhia turned back to the comm console. "Please see those civilians to safety, we will prevent the pirates from following for as long as we can, I.S. "Equivalent Exchange" out." She closed the comm and closed her eyes, It was unlikely they could beat two ships with the condition of their own ship. The Equivalent was highly damage from fending off the pirates for just over a month, it was highly in need of a dry-dock repair.

"Commander... what are our orders..."

Ayhia looked around the room to see just about every officer looking at her, she frowned. "I am staying to fight, anyone whom wishes to escape please move to the escape pods and rejoin the civilian ships." Ayhia looked around, not a single soul moved. "Alright then... Deploy all fighters and bombers against the first ship, bring all weapons that are still functional online and turn the Equivalent to engage the second." The bridge exploded into action, She open the ship-wide intercom again. "All personal, another ship has just warped into the system we are turning to engage, if you do not wish to fight this battle please proceed to escape pods and rejoin the civilian ships." Ayhia closed the comes and turned her attention to the battle ahead.

[member="Shia Kryze"]

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Comm response Alor."

Shia listened the words without expression, then nodded almost thoughtfully.

"MC1, comms."

"On, alor."

Her voice echoed from every chamber of the ship as if it had become a thing alive.

"All hands, we are moving to engage a single capital class pirate warship in defence of civilian lives. Families. Prepare for total immersion."

All across the bridge, crew members connected small leads to jacks on their beskargam, or into their very flesh for the brave few, while Shia sat back in the command throne and thumbed the switch.

"Comms. Send this response. This is Kryze-alor of the Huntress, the Empire does not run from pirates to protect lives. It kills pirates to protect lives. Instruct your charges to make for 235 mark 12, then stand by for assistance."

Then the juice hit - every nerve became a point of flame, and suddenly the crew of the Huntress were one body, mind and soul - to Kryze, the ultimate expression of armour - a very ship itself. The stab of elation rushed through the vessel as her drives flew to maximum performance, then just a little past as crew worked in perfect harmony with machine and with Alor. Their hearts pounded with an elevated rate - dangerously elevated, in every mind, a tiny visual timer began to tick down until the addictive and dangerous effects of the linkage became potentially fatal and the safeguards would kick them all out - with pounding headaches and a dangerously unsafe vessel.

But for now, the Huntress swept down towards the two capital ships like her namesake.

"Lets even the odds a little. Target the first enemy vessel. Fire all tubes."

"Oya!" Half the crew were not even aware they'd spoken, but any outsider might have been made briefly deaf by the rather unnatural acknowledgement in unison.

The front of the vessel exploded into a hail of oversize capital-grade torpedoes, each of them carrying an ionic charge sufficient to drop the shields or stun a vessel of equal size to the Huntress, or to make one rather startling surprise to anyone larger than the frigate that expected those self-same assault torpedoes to simply bounce off their shields.

[member="Ayhia Katar"]

 

[Ayhia Katar]

The quick arrival of the Huntress made things bad for the first pirate ship, their shields were already down due to the pounding that the Banshee bombers and howler fighters had been giving it, Dooming it immediately.

"Commander, M.E.S. Huntress has downed the first pirate ship..." One of the officers called out.

Ayhia smiled and toggled Ship to ship coms, "All fighters and bombers target second tango." Ayhia closed the comms and watched as her fighters turned, the Howlers heel-flipping gracefully and the boosting past the while the Banshees banked and came up slowly. The pirate ship clearly understood it was outmatched and started to flee. "Oh no you don't..." Ayhia hit the intercom. "All hands brace for ramming." She close the intercom. "Helm hit them full speed." A cacophony of whooping answered her, today was a win for them, not something they got so scot free like this. The Pirate ship took the hit right no the broadside, it hull buckling under the impact of the Equivalent. Its shield failed immediately and then the Banshees crush what little resistance it had left as the enemy ships bridge blew up. "Cut engines..." Ayhia called out, the Helm cut them, letting the pirate ship drift away from the Equivalent. "Tactical... Damage report?" Ayhia called out.

"Partial depressurization of deck 4, 8 Missing in action, 76 wounded two of which are severe... we lost 2 fighters and 3 bombers..."

Ayhia frowned, while that was not a lot of damage considering it was not something they could fix and adding that to the already quite large list of damage they already had. "Good job guys, order repairs of anything we can do." She opened comms to the huntress. "Equivalent to Huntress. On behalf of my crew and myself thank you, perhaps i can repay you at least in part with a meal, i would like to at least meet your Alor." Ayhia wondered how this would go down, the Equivalent still had old Republic markings and Mandos had long memory's.

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Those markings can't be real..."

A commtech was heard to mutter as the Huntress slowed gently to a stop and the vessel they had just come to the aid of had been scanned.

Shia clenched and unclenched her fingers, trying to work out the neuropathic pain of the damage the enemy vessel had inflicted on the Huntress.

"Report?"

"Our port lateral thrusters are down and we've taken some nasty hits all across the side, but we're good for another round, Alor."

Shia nodded, then studded the comm message as it was relayed to her.

"Huntress to Equivalent, this is Huntress-alor..." A pause as she dug through her old memories. "Huntress-actual, we take out scum like that for free - but I won't decline your offer."

We'll find out if those markings are real, it wouldn't be the first time... and it was a trap, or something equally typically underhanded, Shia was reasonably confident she wasn't in any danger.

[member="Ayhia Katar"]

 

[Ayhia Katar]

Ayhia sighed as the Alor of the Mando ship confirmed that they would take up the invitation, Ayhia had almost hoped that they would decline. She tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair then stood up, hitting the intercom as she did. "All personal we will soon have guests from the M.E.S. Huntress... Everyone is to be armed and ready for combat at all times, Load Hammer-head and CAP rounds. But look sharp at the same time, spiff up and look nice in your armors." Ayhia tapped the console shutting the intercom off. She took a deep breath, catching sight of some of the bridge officers giving her a concerned look, chuckling she addressed their looks. "Offer one hand in friendship while arming the other... Were a military vessel so best we act like we are having unknown guests." Their looks didn't change much. "We have markings of a enemy of the past on our ship, while we are not that enemy. In my experience... just having the marking alone could be enough to trigger a fight, we just need to make sure they are aware that we are not that enemy. But if they decide we are... we will kriffing go down swinging. Keep three fighter squads out on patrol and have all others ready to launch just in case things get... heated."

The Equivalent was in no shape to keep fighting but if they were pushed they would keep fighting, Most of the people on the ship didn't know how to give up and would keep fighting even if it ended up killing them. This made Ayhia proud, that fact that despite the possibility of death, defeat or worse, they men and women of the CSDF would still fight. Ayhia stretched a bit then made her way to her own quarters and donned her combat gear. Another thing that was a minor source of stress for her was her own armors beskar breastplate, but she was not gonna hide it. She sighed and Clipped her visor in place and deactivated it, where it slid back behind her head at the nape of her neck. She sighed and toggled her visors coms, "Helm send the Huntress a message that we are ready to receive them, if they wish to dock to use Dock four or if they wish to fly over to land in hanger 2 either way i want 2 squads there looking sharp... a sort of honor guard." Ayhia waited for a reply then made for the meet point.

[member="Shia Kryze"]

 

[Shia Kryze]

"They're lucky they're still flying." One of Shia's fellow Mandalorian's observed.

"Lucky, or good." She replied. "It doesn't take much either way."

She stood, taking a moment to stretch before settling her ceremonial dragonscale half-cape over her shoulder, smiling a little as she remembered the stupid, brash girl who'd gotten it alongside a teenage Yasha. Those had been good days. She glanced at herself in a mirrored deckplate - the image was hazy, but it showed what she expected, well worn but perfectly maintained beskargam. The fairest sort of greeting, she'd never really understood those Mandalorians who got worked up over fancy armour.

"We have hard seal, alor."

"Then lets get going, shall we?"

The airlock door slid open and Shia straightened her shoulders to walk out onto the other vessel, it was only at the last minute that she remembered the boarding customs of non-Mandalorians and halted just inside the inner airlock, scanning the reception party. Interesting. She kept her buy'ce tucked under her arm, strictly relaxed, no heavily armed and armoured Mandalorians here.

"Permission to come aboard?"

[member="Ayhia Katar"]​

 

[Aria Black]

Wrong account...

 

[Ayhia Katar]

Ayhia sighed as she looked at the Mandolarian crossing the air locks, she deployed on half of visor and scanned them. She waited a few second's before the visor displayed the into.​

​

Gender: Female(Unconfirmed)​

Armor style: Mandalorian​

Armor Material: Beskar​

Clan: Unknown​

Chem traces: None detected​

Power Sources: Many weapon Power cells detected.​

Threat: High​

​

Caution advised​

​

Ayhia frowned and retracted her visor, the woman was asking permission to board, which Ayhia found kinda funny. She reached over and hit the intercom, "pretty sure you have permission already" She opened the air lock, she heard the heavy footfalls of Goliath troopers enter the room behind her. She tossed them a glance as they came to a stop a little ways back, "Hope you don't see this as rude... When offering a hand in peace tis best to arm the other hand just in case." Ayhia crossed her arms. "Ayhia Katar, CSDF Commander and Captain of this ship."​

​

[member="Shia Kryze"]​

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Aliit'alor Shia Kryze, captain of the Huntress."

Shia extended one armoured, gloved hand in greeting and didn't withdraw it as she gave the Goliath troopers a once over.

"Neat. Not exactly my style, but good in hostile environments I'd imagine. I - and the Mandalorian Empire - take no offence at your precautions."

She snorts.

"Trust me, some of the vod would be all over this with oiled guns and flexing. I'm afraid that's not really who I am."

She didn't apologise for her own armour (and arms) in return. Why would she? She was Mandalorian, people could take what they got - and that was usually beskar'gam.

"What brings you so far out of ORC space, captain?"

[member="Ayhia Katar"]​

 

[Ayhia Katar]

Ayhia chuckled and motioned for the woman to follow, "We have left the ORC, they are corrupt and often leave their people to the wolves. So we took anyone whom wished to leave and left." she lead the way to a dinning hall filled with other CSDF soldiers. More then a few stood up as Ayhia entered the room, causing her to shoot them dirty looks. "I told all of you to stop doing that." she rolled her eyes and moved to the food line. "Foods not amazing but its filling. so what on the menu to day mel?" Ayhia was speaking to a gruff looking man standing behind the counter.​

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"Chill."​

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Ayhia frowned, not exactly a great meet and great food. "well i guess chili is what we have, hope you don't mind." Ayhia took a bowl and waited to see if the mando would, then would lead the way to the officers dining hall.​

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[member="Shia Kryze"]​

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Thats some kind of spicy meat, right? They're pretty much interchangable in the Mando'ade menu. Just add enough spice to stun a gundark and you're good."

Shia replies conversationally, gazing round the ship with alert interest.

"ORC are corrupt? Well, I know they're kind of... well... anti-authority, except for their judges. But honestly, except for one raid I don't know much about them."

She took one of the offered bowls and sniffed, not undiplomatically, just with the experimental air of someone who's had their occasional run in with very alien cooking, even from humanoids.

"So you're looking for a place to call home then? You and half the rest of the galaxy."

[member="Ayhia Katar"]​