First Reply A Beskar Jungle

[Kes Stag]

Location: Myrkr
Objective: Scavenge Abandoned Beskar Armour
Tags: Open

"Heaven offers nothing that the mercenary soul can desire"
​

Kes waded through the thick jungle undergrowth of Myrkr, a planet he had not set foot on in decades. In one hand a vibromachete which hacked at plants and in the other he held a tracking fob which seemed to pulse faster and faster with every step he took. Behind him a speederbike slowly drifted along, keyed to follow the Morellian. The lush jungle planet had once been home to various independent Mandalorian clans that defied the Sith Empire after the burning of Mandalore, a time when Kes took contracts out for his kin. He even became a trusted warrior of the local Alor, but that was long ago. Kes now recognised the planet for what it was, not the resting place for the warriors of a now extinct clan, but a treasure trove of long forgotten beskar.

Kes was not on Myrkr when it fell but he still had records of where his former employers had been located on the planet. With his tracking fob keyed to these keeps, caches and settlements he planned to salvage as much beskar'gam as he could, melt it down to ingots and sell it off. Usually Kes would avoid hauling cargo this 'hot', to say other Mandalorians weren't keen on the resale of beskar was a severe understatement but Kes needed the credits and beskar always sells.

Kes hacked away at plants that seemed to strike back with every slash. His breathing was heavy now and he grabbed an adrenal stim from his belt and stabbed it into his thigh. He felt his body begin to calm and stamina return, years of substance abuse had begun to take its toll on Kes and stims were a quick fix to keep him going. After he had gathered his strength Kes raised his machete again and swung. This time his machete bounced clean off and after looking closely revealed that underneath the moss and trees the unmistakable grey of durasteel lay before him. He felt the tracking fob pulsing in his other hand and he smiled under his helmet. Making his way around the overgrown bunker led to a small clearing in the forest Kes keyed his speeder to hold and began poking around the vegetation with his machete.

After half an hour of searching and on the verge of giving up the unmistakable clang of beskar being struck out rang out through the forest. Plunging his hands into the jungle floor he pulled out a gnarled Mandalorian helmet. The visor was long gone and a underneath the dirt and grime the helmet was covered in carbon scoring, it had lost any use as a piece of armour. But beskar is beskar and after a quick blast in the furnace a single ingot would sell for tens of thousands of credits. He tossed the broken helmet into an open cargo bin on the side of his speeder which had already been a quarter filled with other mismatched bits of beskar armour. Even through the moss and mud the armour pieces were colourful, filled with insignia of various clans and houses. Kes allowed himself a moment to look at his own armour, bare of any symbols save for a few faded pirate markings.

As he turned around to continue looking through the spot he had dug up the helmet he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Side affects from the stim? he thought to himself. No, he'd built a up a tolerance against the stuff, he wasn't alone. Of course you are never truly alone in the jungles of Myrkr, Vornskr and other predators lurk just out of sight. Still, he couldn't help but feel that it was someone that eluded his vision.

 

[Tibera Jessen]

Tibera had been sent to the planet by one of her Dark Empire contacts under orders to scout for targets of opportunity. This particular "fishing job" had bore little fruit. Galactic Alliance presence on the planet was minimal, understandable because blast all was on this Force forsaken ball of dirt and vines. The only upside was that her armor kept the majority of the bugs and humidity out...

"Well this planet's a bust... Oh well, it's on the Empire's dime." Tibera stopped herself for a moment, looking around as she heard something moving through the underbrush. The sound of falling branches mixed with the buzz of a vibro engine. Was someone else cutting through this place? Knowing her luck it was an Alliance patrol that she'd have to drop.

The mercenary rolled her neck as she adjusted her gear. If she had to fight, it might as well be comfortable. She grumbled as she pushed through to where the noise was coming from. Gracefulness be damned, it was hard enough just to move in all the plasteel the burned woman was wearing. Soon she came across a sight that made her blood run cold. a steely suit complete with a T-Vizor, that only meant one thing!

"Mandalorian?! Oh you have got to be kidding me..." She whispered to herself, whipping out her hand cannon just in case she had to try and pierce beskar. Standard slugs weren't going to even dent that beskar. Tibera hated having to rely on the powerful weapon in times like this... At least it was just one Mando, that meant the odds weren't as stacked against her, and it meant he probably wasn't one of those Crusader psychos.

Tibera followed behind the Mandalorian for a while, observing him as he cut through the brush, a speeder following him every step of the way. It was all going well until the dirt under the mercenary's right foot gave way, causing her to slide down an embankment, right into view of the Morellian.

"Cripes...that could have been smoother..." She looked around, before eying up the T-Vizor... "Oh blast..."

 

[Kes Stag]

Location: Myrkr
Objective: Scavenge Abandoned Beskar Armour
Tags: Open

"Heaven offers nothing that the mercenary soul can desire"
​

Kes scanned the jungle once more before pulling a gauntlet out of the forest floor. "Damn. Gonna have to remove all the add-ons before I melt it down." he said to himself and walked back to his speeder. His pulse spiked slightly, the stim was starting to take affect. Suddenly a large crashing sound and Kes watched as an armoured mercenary came barrelling out of the forest and right out in front of him.

He felt his heart rate spike, beating faster and faster. Along with this surprise and the stim it was too much, and he stood there frozen, his breathing heavy. After a few seconds he snapped out of it and quickly dropped the gauntlet and after fumbling his blaster pistol out of its holster he pointed it at the mercenary before him.

"What... Who... Why the hell are you out here?!" the words seemed to spill out of his mouth. The jungles of Myrkr were a dangerous place, no came wandering around out here unless they wanted something. His helmet flashed a warning as his pulse spiked again. Way too much adrenal, he wasn't expecting anyone else out here so he took a big dose just so he wouldn't have to rest as much during his search.

His mind rushed to analyze who it was that crashed his scavenger hunt. He couldn't recognise the armour, not Alliance, Mandalorian or Stormtrooper. From what he could see of the blasters she was a heavy hitter, slugthrower and some sort of fancy pistol. He took a deep breath as another burst of adrenaline gave him a head rush.

 

[Tibera Jessen]

"What... Who... Why the hell are you out here?!"

Tibera took a second to reply to the man's question, processing the pratfall that had just put her in this situation. "Just trying to scout a few Alliance outposts, nothing you need to worry about slim..." That would probably get her in trouble back at base, telling a random Mando what the operation was, thankfully she was all alone here.

Blast, her disruptor was a little too far away to reach for quickly, that complicated things. Best thing to do was to keep talking, and not press her luck. Just from the breathing noises coming from under the helmet, this guy didn't sound too good. Was he sick? No, there's no way anyone would come out this far with anything worse than a head cold... Had to be something though, his breaths were deep and ragged enough to tell that tale.

"You alright there gunner? Not for nothing, but one shooter to the next, sounds like you're having trouble just breathing. I'm not here for a fight unless you're with the Alliance, but you don't seem like one of theirs..." The fully armored woman processed the moment a bit more deeply, thinking of how best to approach disarming the ragged old Mando. There was the direct approach, but that might end up getting her filled with holes.

Instead, she raised her hands, and started to slowly sit up, never looking away from the Morellian with the fancy armor. Jeez, if she waited long enough the old junkie would probably pass out before he had the option to shoot her. Whatever he'd taken, it was some strong stuff! It made TIbera glad she had never gotten too attached to those things. Sure they made you superhuman to a degree, but man were they addictive.

"Name's Tibera by the way... You might wanna take a seat for a bit. Just saying..."

Kes Stag

 

[Kes Stag]

Location: Myrkr
Objective: Scavenge Abandoned Beskar Armour
Tags: Tibera Jessen

"Heaven offers nothing that the mercenary soul can desire"
​

Kes watched as the armoured figure sat upright, his hand twitching slightly as she moved. He was heaving air through his helmet and she had clearly noticed, not a good look for a veteran like himself. She mentioned taking seat, it didn't sound like a bad idea but he couldn't help but feel he was being lulled into letting his guard down, anyone trudging around in heavy armour and fancy blasters was dangerous, even if they had just come hurtling down onto the forest floor.

"My health is of no concern to you." once again the words seemed to come out faster than his lips moved, it annoyed him. He was in no state for a situation like this so he dropped his machete out of his off hand and reached into his belt and pulled out another stim, something to bring him back down. He held it right up to his helmet to read the label carefully before quickly jamming it into his thigh.

For a second the world slowed right down, every second drawn out into minutes and his body began to feel numb all over. Slowly his breathing stabilized and the world went back to normal, a boring sober normal. He felt a dull headache and the fatigue of marching through the jungle finally catch up to his arms and legs. His thighs also hurt, why'd I slam that stim so hard in my thigh? he thought to himself. The gunrunner went from being a twitchy hyperactive tweaker to someone who looked like they had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Taking a seat definitely didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

"Alliance, huh." he finally managed out, his words finally making sense. "What are you some sort of Imp? Wear your own clothes day today is it?" he continued motioning at her non-standard looking armour with his pistol.

Kes felt his calves begin to ache from all the uphill marching, he had forgotten how much he hated this place. He tapped his wrist datapad and his speeder slowly drifted over behind him and he allowed himself to lean on it for support. "And if Alliance was hiring me then the Galaxy's finally given up making sense. Also pretty sure there's still a blue little shit running around with them who wants to lock me up again."

His blaster was still raised at Tibera, albeit in a much more relaxed position. "Name's Kes." he continued, not entirely sure why he gave his name, his head was all muddled.

"And say you don't happen to have any spice on ya? Ran out days ago and well I can't keep running off adrenal stims can I?" he said letting out a small chuckle.

 

[Tibera Jessen]

"Spice? Nah, I don't touch the stuff. No judgement but I like keeping my head clear in combat." It was hard not to feel bad for the grizzled old Mando, he was barely hanging on outside of the stims that were keeping him vertical. Regardless of what he was here for, it wasn't right to just let him waste away like that. Right now though he still had that blaster pointed at her, so she couldn't do much else but make slow, measured moves.

The female mercenary smirked before leaning up against one of the nearby trees, arms crossed over her armored chest. She shook her head before she pressed a button on her helmet. The vizor of her own helmet, letting her face be less obscured. This, she thought, would help ease the tension, at least it made it easier to pick up on the little thing.

"For the moment I work for the Empire, yeah. You're right that my armor isn't standard issue, but then again neither am I. I'm a freelancer working for one of the higher ups of the Imperial Navy. Sularen is what they call him, but enough about me. I wanna know, what brings you to this wonderful corner of space?"

Making friends on the job was a rarity, but it did happen. It was welcome on the rare occasion it came up, because having friends in the galaxy was always a good thing. Besides, she had a thing for the gruff soldier type. It'd be a shame to dust him, he seemed alright for a stim popping old head. With everything in the galaxy trying to kill them, the two mercs needed to stick together.

Tibera went to her belt, reaching into one of her many assorted pouches, and she pulled out a flask. It had some strong brew in it, that was for sure. She offered it to the older merc, trying to get his mind off the stim haze. "First round's on me Kes."

Kes Stag

 

[Kes Stag]

Location: Myrkr
Objective: Scavenge Abandoned Beskar Armour
Tags: Tibera Jessen

"Heaven offers nothing that the mercenary soul can desire"
​

The gunrunner's arm tightened as Tibera grabbed something from her pouch but quickly relaxed when he saw the flask. By now his arm was getting tired from being held upright for so long. "Now don't go getting any ideas." he said before lowering the blaster pistol. He reached out and grabbed and after spending a second inspecting it he pulled off his helmet revealing a scruffy face with a buzzcut and a tattoo over his eyebrow that read "Kastolar Corsairs". Still despite the bags under his eyes and poor skin care he looked as if he couldn't be a day over thirty. He took a swig of the flask and winced slightly as the alcohol slipped down his threat. It was indeed some strong stuff.

"Never fancied working with Imps, too pretentious." he said before offering the flask back to Tibera.

Kes hesitated for a moment about telling her why he was here, he already had a small fortune sitting in his speeder bike. But he had his blaster pistol on hand and was still somehow convinced he'd win in a straight up fight.

"Me, well I'm just trying to turn a profit." he said before picking up the Mandalorian gauntlet he had dropped earlier.

"A former employer and his clan called this jungle home once. Poor buggers got wiped out when the Sith invaded a few decades back but the Sith Empire never got round to combing the forest for all their beskar, something about a civil war." he said before dumping the gauntlet into the speeder's cargo bin.

"Got a guy who at least knows how to melt it down and from there, well, from there I reckon I don't gotta work for at least half a year." he said, a big shit eating grin forming on his face.

Quickly he turned his head to scan the jungle again. From his last trip he was still aware of how hostile Myrkr's Jungle were and especially the creatures that called it home. He brought his blaster back up to a low ready and turned his head back to Tibera. "You aren't force sensitive are you?" he said his tone seemingly much more serious.