Colla IV Insurgents

[Tathra Khaeus]

Just beyond the reach of Mando'ade influence, were the whispers of the old crusaders. Many clans had disbanded and remained that way following the destruction of Mandalore. The Matador had heard rumour of a smaller clan trying to rally the marginal clans to it's side. He, had no intention of allowing this to happen; mandolorians were already divided as it was. Further division through continuous power struggles would leave them weak and defenceless.
Whilst the preservation of the Tol Varen was his utmost priority, for once it's future and that of the Mando'Ade had become one.

That was why The Matador was here on Colla IV; he had found that a group of insurgent mandolorians that had taken up shop in one of the old Trade Federation factories on Colla IV, almost all of the ancient factories no longer functioned. However, quite a few of them had been outfitted as refugee centres throughout the past wars. There was one in particular that the Mandolorian Clan known as Praxi had taken refuge in. They had took territorial control over the hangar bay and marketplace.

The Matador brought Valkyrie down in for a landing, slowly descending through the azure sky, small puffs of white cloud circled around the ship as he received a coded message from the Mandalorian's overseeing the hangar bay.
"Valkyrie you may land in shuttle bay 3, Landing Pad D8." -
"Copy that, making our approach now. Valkyrie out."

Upon drawing closer to the third shuttle bay, the inside of the old factory became clear. Entirely bronze, there were some parts of the hangar where sheets of metal had been removed for salvage, revealing black Durasteel mechanical mechanisms that The Matador could not begin to comprehend. He brought the ship down slowly, and as soon as he was landing, the pad extended outward to the bronze metal shuttle bay beneath him. The hulking Mandolorian made his way down through the shuttle bay. This place was home to various kinds of refugee's, those hiding from the First Order, the Mando'Ade, the Silver Jedi, Empire, Sith. All of them, various people from unimaginably different walks of life ended up in these massive war machines of the past. The long open walkway outside of the shuttle-bay had as much salvage, boxes and supplies and small stalls on them as they had people. Beyond that, this mixture of soldiers lead to constant violence; the streets were littered with bodies. The massive hulking Matador hugged his large fur cloak around him, hiding all of his items of value under his cloak, with the exception of his War-Axe, which was attached to a harness connected to his back. Everywhere he turned the Matador received strange, unpleasant looks. Almost everyone here had seen something terrible, war on the front lines. They were all at the end of their respective ropes and were on edge. He, needed to be careful.

He reached the end of the open walkway, ahead of him were some more stalls, selling food and medicine; at the end was a small stage adjacent to a locked stained door, the bronze blackened and bruised over time.

On this stage was a man in Durasteel Mandolorian equipment, his armour was a shade of crimson and he held a pistol in one hand and his helmet between his arm in the other. Beside him, below this stage were two fully armoured Beskar clad Mandolorians. "Join Clan Praxi! Return to the glory of battle! Fight for the Mandolorian crusaders!"

"Did no one tell you." The Matador spoke, standing a few feet away from them; instantly drawing the attention of the spokesmen and his guards. "The Crusaders died out. The Mando'Ade is the new home of our people. Or, so I've been told." The spokesmen turned his gaze to the Matador; "I am Cepa of Clan Praxi and the Crusaders will always be alive as long as strong Mandolorians still draw breath."

The Matador smirked under his black visor.
"Strange that you say that, I see none before me. Join Clan Tol Varen. We are on a conquest to rejoin with our people. You should do the same."

Cepa frowned, screwing his face up as he took a step forward, leaning towards the Matador. He watched, noting how Cepa's trigger finger twitched momentarily. "You insult me? Nameless wretch."

"I am the Matador of Tol Varen, and you will head the call to serve the new Manda'lor or I will put an end to you here and now." The three crusaders raised their weapons, when one man in a yellow cloak stood in, wearing a sage tunic underneath. "Please, there is no need for violence here. We are all here, to get away from violence."

"We disagree." Cepa spoke, with venom in his voice. "At least, on that we can agree." The Matador spoke, studying the stranger. At this point, he lifted his cloak; revealing a long silver cylinder. A Lightsaber. "Please." He spoke, it was clear how tired he was, his voice was flat and frail. "I don't want to have to-" At this point, a Storm trooper stepped in, raising his rifle. "JEDI!" He hissed, raising his rifle, the Matador observed him; his armour was battered.

Old feelings began to rise all around them, and in all but one moment they all answered the same call again. To war, at this point. Nearly every weapon available was held at someone's head. The Jedi sighed, a pained expression of failure visible on his face.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen growled as he strode through the crowd. The vitae had come here on a minor relief mission delivering supplies of fruits and vegetables from Veradune's lush forest and he had elected to check up on them during his vacation. It was supposed to be a quiet mission. He should have known that it would be anything but. "This is a palce of peace, away fro war and fighting. I suggest you men lower your weapons." He waved off the few men that were watching him, setting them back to their tasks of unloading the food. "Besides, this man is tired and weary. Fighting him with your numbers would be dishonourable indeed." His tail flicked under his coat with the words, causing its flaps to flare up in emphasis of his words. His gleaming gold eyes then turned towards the trooper. "And you I simply suggest leaving. You're a pup among wolves in this confrontation."

[member="Jaryn Rhane"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Republic and Sith troopers alike were hesistant, their surroundings were all to familiar. The Jedi allowed some relief to become apparent in his expression; "The Vitae alliance, always running to the rescue." He smiled, giving [member="Vulpesen"] a curt nod. "For the First Order!" An older stormtrooper shouted, charging at one of the Republic troopers. The first blaster bolt was fired, the young trooper aimed for the Jedi's head; however the legendary reflexes of the Jedi held true, ignitng a shimmering cyan blade and deflecting the blow directly back into the chest of the young storm trooper. The Jedi spun around into a crouch, cutting down several stormtroopers instantly. However before a second blaster bolt was fired, The Matador acted, pulling his Great Axe from where it had comfortable sat on his back, he had no allies here and therefore saw no need for caution. He swung the Great Axe at a blinding speed around his back and in a vertical line in front of him with his left hand, catching the heads of the two Mandolorian Crusaders in front of him. The impact knocked both down individually, the first slammed backward into the stage; the other spiralled off the walkway downward to his death.

 

[Vulpesen]

"Not as much as we'd like I'm afraid." He turned as the bolt flew by him towards his unlikely ally, only to be bouncd back into the fool. "Damn it!" Vulpesen acted quickly, plucking a half of his main saber from his coat to ignite it, revealing a gold and black blade with the all too familiar snap-hiss. As his blade rose from the fox head of his emiter, his golden eyes followed the Crusader that had been flung by the large Ax. A bladed weapon was often useless to such armor as theirs. But the fall and blunt force trauma was another matter. "Men!" His hand snapped out, catching the mandalorian before hurling him back to safety.

Leave it to him. Come to feed people, end up in a life or death conflict. Just another typical day. As two of the Vitae leaped forward to catch the likely whiplashed mando, three others quickly revealaed their weapons, the standard dragoon pistol fo the Vitae miliary. It wasn't much with its wooden and rustic look, but it certainly had its uses. What had once been a discussion was now a battle between four factions and every line of ally and foe had been blurred.

[member="Jaryn Rhane"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The Matador leapt forward, blaster bolts leaving cinders in his long flowing cloak, some reflected off his armour. Cepa leapt backwards, activating his jetpack and dropping his helmet in favour of a second blaster. He fired both at The Matador, who simply extended his hand; the blaster bolts reflected off of his palm back directly at Cepa, the two shots caused him to swerve lower towards the ground before attempting to rise higher and shoot past the stage and out of combat. However, as the Matador leaped upward he caught Cepa by his ankle, using the force to momentarily enhance his strength and reflexes and slam Cepa down onto the stage, his jetpack sparked and smoked upon impact.

Winded, the young Mandolorian had great fear in his eyes as the Matador's Great Axe came down upon him, tearing through the air and his Durasteel armour and flesh, crushing his ribs and lungs. Blood shot upward from his mouth as The Matador pulled the Twin Bladed Axe from his chest, raising it to his centre and turning to the rest of the conflict as it began to unravel. The door adjacent to the impromptu stage sprung open, revealing several more Mandolorian soldiers. "What's going on do-" Was the only words the first could get out before a storm trooper tacked him, thrusting a small shiv into his helmet. The second of the six other Mandolorians raised a modified bolt action rifle, blasting away the trooper's arm and half of his face and knocking his body back. The knocked down Mandolorian took the shiv from his neck, throwing it aside and pushing himself to his feet. "Open fire!" He ordered, a stockier warrior in the back rocked forward with what looked to be a heavily modified heavy repeater, he too began to unleash a flurry of bolts, most of which; caught the Jedi in his legs and torso.

He gasped for air and fell to the ground gripping his chest and dropping his saber, The Matador watched as two men helped the Mandolorian he had knocked off of the walkway. He leapt downward as he saw the Mandolorian he had thrust into the stage earlier up on his feet, firing his blaster at the Matador, his Flayer Armour soaked every shot. With his foot, he knocked away his rifle and landed beside him as he swung down his Great Axe into the stumbling warriors opening in his armour, between the neck and collar bone. There was a crack and snapping sound that quickly followed as his legs gave in beneath him and his head rolled back into an overly relaxed state. Pulling the blade of the axe from his neck, blood spurted out violently.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen swirled around and brought up his saber, staying close to the jedi. "I did warn you!" Vulpesen's saber danced infront of him, catching botl after bolt and redirecting them towards the troopers. Then as the heavy guns came out and pointed at them, Vulpesen let out a low growl. "Crux." He swirled over to staf between the jedi and the blaster, flaring his coat. As the bolts slammed into his back, he could feel the heat as it attempted to burn through the phrik and nocur oil. Luckily, he'd made this coat with a scenario like this in mind and he had faith that it could stand it. "Thats enough!" Outstretching his hands, he shoved the Jedi into the crowd with a powerful push before leaping away. With his blade shrinking back into the hilt, he aimed his fingers at the crowd of mandos and troopers. Innocent people were being endangered and that was something he couldn't allow. Golden streaks of lightning lept from his finger tips, arcing over the crowd of gunmen in an attempt to bring them to their knees.

[member="The Matador"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Slash and cut, The Matador effortlessly cut down every opponent that came before him. However, a sudden very real threat became apparent. A force user, casting a variating of what seemed similar to lightning. However, it appeared in a brilliant gold; perfectly arching over the majority of the crowd towards the Mandolorians and the gunmen nearby, however this could not account for those behind him. The Jedi, pushed himself to his feet. Back to back with this heroic stranger. He used the force to call his saber to him, reigniting the blade and covering his saviours back.

However, this valiant effort would not last long. The Matador, thrust forward his GreatAxe like a massive spear at such speed; he emboided the ability of Force Body. Nearly everyone within visiblity range flinched, with the exception of this stranger chasting lightning, he was focused on those he suppressed quickly with his lightning, however some proved more reistant than others. In the chaos all around them, a sith acolyte saw his chance; leaping from the crowd with his saber ignited towards the Matador, who used his Beskar crafted Flayer armour to negate the effects of his diagonal strike, he brought his right wrist up to meet the blade; falling into a crouch and pulling a small dagger from his back and immediately thrusting it upward into his throat. The Matador threw his body aside, now seeing the result of his makeshift spearing. The Jedi, was now backed against the wall, with the majority of one of the blades of the Axe firmly embedded in his chest, the other blade had impacted his head bluntly, crushing the skull within and making his face crumple unpleasantly.

[member="Vulpesen"]
(OOC: Was tempted to sucker punch you seeing as your busy lightning-ing stuff )

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen's power continued to focus itself on the group of fighters, bringing them to their knees one by one until finally he heard a loud crash. Cutting the power on his sparks, he turned to see the fallen jedi. His being filled with a feral rage, barely surpressed as he turned to the Matador. His claws dug into his fist as he glared at the man, his golden eyes blazing. "You'll regret that." His words were spoken with a growl, showing a pair of fang like teeth. With much of the crowd surpressed and the rest of them now more than a bit aprehensive of the pissed off Zorren, Vulpesen was free to start moving, placing his body between [member="The Matador"] and his axe. His tail lashed behind him before curling back up under his coat. And with a clenchign fist, his mask dropped from its hidden place beneath the hood, now covering his face.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

"Move." Was his only warning, the Matador stood completely still; observing his target. "You don't want to die here Jedi." He taunted him, flipping the small dagger into a reserve grip in his palm, his long cloak flowing behind him. His other hand, opened up and began to manipulate the force available to him. He sheathed the dagger on his back once more, taking something else from within his cloak into his hand. Activating what seemed like a small brown and silver edged ball. He waited a few seconds, and suddenly the lightsaber of the fallen Jedi sprung to life spinning towards this stranger. Then, throwing his frag grenade at the last possible second. He surmised this would be enough to cause his single opponent to retreat so that he could retrieve his weapon.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

"I'm not a jedi." The words were cold as the left him. "And I will not die to you." His eyes flicked to the orb as Matador produced it. Some sort of explosive no doubt. His hands flicked by his side, like a gunman preparing to draw. he could fee the force moving about him, working for some unseen plan of his foe. Don't try it. You really don't want to try it. Vulpesen's ear flicked twoards a snap-hiss which sounded behind him and [member="The Matador"]'s arm extended, lobbing the orb towards him. "No." Vulpesen brought his blade behind his back as he ducked down, aiming to dive under the saber while his free hand outstretched towards the flying orb. Someone had died. Someone he was protecting. Retreating was no longer an option. Years of practice in war came to fruition as the force surged from him, locking onto the grenade and hurling it back as if swatted by some invisible racket towards its owner.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The saber he had swung towards his opponent was no longer in his control, his opponent ducked under the blade allowing it to fly off aimlessly. However, the grenade he had thrown not so much, it exploded just as his opponent outstretched his hand to swat it back. The grenade momentarily stopped in the air as the two telekinetic forces conflicted, leaving his opponent just outside its blast radius. The Matador immediately pulled forward his Great Axe downward, aiming to cut his opponent's back as he was now crouched due to avoiding the saber. The Matador ripped his weapon from the Jedi's corpse with incredibly speed, readying his free hand to counter his opponents following attack.

The Mandolorian centred himself, calling upon the force to ready himself for a quick and decisive victory.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

Vulpesen flinched as the concussive blast wreaked havoc on his ears, though not nearly enough to drop him. He sensed the Matador's movement through the smoke and pounced into place. The axe was a massive weapon, and would likely prove to be an equally large obstacle should the warrior manage to get it back, and so, Vulpesen refused to allow him that chance without a fight. When the mandalorian called his weapon, Vulpesen quickly turned to avoid the cleaving strike on his back, heralded by the sound of creaking bone and gushing grey matter.. Using the turn to raise him to his full height, he shot his left hand towards the back of the axe with a powerfull force push. Using the strength of the Matador's influence agaisnt him, Vulpesen aimed to embed the massive blade into the ground, sticking it there and giving him the opportunity to send tendrils of lightning towards the Mandolorian.

[member="The Matador"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The Matador was able to guide the weapon's descent to the ground, allowing it to fall flat on the ground rather than embed itself in the ground. Through his battle precognition and based on his opponents previous show of power; he predicted a volley of force lightning to come towards him quickly. However, the Matador relinquished all other focus; taking a moment to draw upon the well of force within him and cast forward the practice of Force Breach on his opponent. Attempting to nullify his connection to the force temporarily.

This powerful surge of energy was thrust down on his opponent like a large metal hand, clasping down on him.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

As the sparks faded away, Vulpesen's eyes widened for a moment, stunned by the sudden lack of power. It was as if a switch had gone off, and suddenly he was backing away, his other hand reaching for his lightsaber. Ysalimiri. It had to e. He'd felt this feeling bef- wait... Somewhere in his mind, he could still feel it. Not the force in its fullness, but a dark pit, a pair of wounds not in himself but in the galaxy, holes that had been torn apart in the fabric of reality long ago. The portals to the netherworld. They would never leave him. It was a curse he had faced for years and had found releif rom during his time on Myrkr. He knew what it felt to lose the force. He'd left it any times before. This was not it. Still, as always, he searched for a way to use this to his advantage, in the meantime, he had found ways to fight without the mystical energy of te Galaxy.

His free hand shot down to his waistunderneath his coat, plucking one of his own grenades that he always kept on hand. Activating his rebreather, he clicked the button and tossed it towards the Matador, releasing a thick purple gas into the air. Rhak Skuri concentrate. A nasty little trick he had gained, and one that if inhaled, would cause illusions that no man could stand without quaking in his boots.

[member="The Matador"]

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The Matador readied a force barrier temporarily as he closed his eyes, focusing and taking one last breath. During the Trial of the Pond, Shield Warriors were forced to spend hours under water with nothing more than a single breath, they had to make this into a well of energy and a deposit of air for themselves. Whilst the Matador had never seen such a concoctions before; he assumed this force ability would negate whatever complications such a weapon may case. He growled under his visored helmet.

Enough, was enough. The Matador drew once more on the force within him and leapt forward, empowering his speed and strength tenfold through the force; striking downward with his Great Axe with a rage in his heart, however well trained he was however; somehow this fit of rage cost him his concentration; the purple gas slipped under his helmet, filling the lower half of his visor as he uncontrollably roared with great rage against his enemy. "For Manda'Lor!" He screamed.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

As the cloud filled the air, Vulpesen dug deep into his mind, finding the well of pwoer beneath that wall that [member="The Matador"] had raised. It wasn't difficult. He knew it was there. It had to be, and following the breadcrumbs was beyond easy. Then, the cloud burst, revealing his foe's axe and body. There it was. the expected plan. Hurling his axe, slicing, people apart, fore or not, this was a warrior of the body, and a Mandalorian at that. It was only a matter of time before he went all in with an enraged charge.

Grinning to himself, Vulpesen refused to back down, simply darting forward. With a surge, he allowed the fore to take over him, returning it to his own body with a burst of speed. This was no longer a fight between two men. It was a struggle of warrior cultures. The mandalorian ways of conquering agaisnt the Zorren ways of survival and protection. For Vulpesen, it was the classic fox and wolf. Strength agasint trickery. His people had tld him the legends and how they formed into their fighting styles. In those legends,the fox rarely lost. He always had a trick up his sleeve.

As the Axe bore down, Vulpesen swirled around and stepped close. The hilt of the Axe appeared over his shoulder, just by his ear. The problem with such a weapon was that it required reach. And if Vulpesen couldn't run from a problem, he wasn't afraid to dive towards them. Now away from the blade of the axe, he used another weapon, one he hadn't yet revealed. The claws of a zorren. Useless agaisnt the thick armor, but quite effective against that which wasn't armored. WIth the enhancd speed through the force, he shot his hand upwards, aiming to spear it through the Matador's uncovered left armpit. As one hand rose towards the Matador's body, the other flicked on his lightsaber and passed it over his back, aiming to cut through the shaft of the axe, or at least keep it's location in track should it prove impervious.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

His opponents saber collided with the shaft of his weapon, the Beskar hilt held its own, his weight pushing down hard on the blade. He used his weight to his advantage, feeling the piercing stab in his armpit; the Matador reacted as any large creature would when it's prey caught itself this close, he released his crushgaunt; grappling around his opponents arm and pressing down with his already clear physical superiority; the crushgaunt exponentially increased his strength.

In moments, bone would snap. The Matador kept the lightsaber at bay with his Axe, the heavy weight pinning the lighter weapon nearly to the ground as the Matador allowed his claws to dig deep as he grew over him like a shroud.

"Ibac was gar kyr'yc mistake."

 

[Vulpesen]

"Crux!" Each curse that left his mouth sounded like a grow as his arm was slowly crushed by the crushgaunt. Suchw as the problem witha rmor that wasn't made of metal. His mind blurred and turned red. A jedi would have ben lost to the pain, a captive unable to concentrate. But as the Zorren had stated, he was not a jedi. In the ai, he found a new center, the other half of himself. He was not ashamed to cry out. He was in pain. But in pain, strength could be found. Once more, he called on the force for two actions. One to flip his Mask off of his face. The other was placed on himself. His mouth opened, but rather than the zorren curse, a new sound came out. A howl with the power to shatter stone just as the Mandalorian was now shattering his bones.With Vulpesen's face no more than a foot from [member="The Matador"]'s. the sound was high and point blank, almost like a scream as it peirced through the air to assail the face that lay under his opponent's helmet. "HOOOWL!"

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The howl of his opponent reminded the Matador of the deafening shrieks of the bat's deep in Duxn's caves, the howl pierced his ears. Ringing, endless ringing. The black visor of his mask's out layer cracked slightly in the bottom left corner. He felt blood trickle down from his ear, he grinned. His adrenaline began to flow, however he needed to silence the howling. The Matador, as if almost on instinct thrust his plated head forward into the now bare face of his opponent, pulling him towards him with the crush gaunt locked on his arm. His vision began to blur, but he focused himself, and pushed back his opponent like a ragdoll. Lifting his Axe momentarily before thrusting the top of his Great Axe into his chest, the Matador roared in a frenzy throttling him back and forth into his Axe with the momentum of the crushgaunt.

His mind was slipping on him, flashes of a massive zaggekk on Duxn; his screaming opponent added to this, putting him into a frozen frenzy.

[member="Vulpesen"]

 

[Vulpesen]

For a second, Vulpesen thought he was back on Amar, staring up at the stars. In reality the pounding in his head tld him that he'd just been punched in the face. The felt the Axe moving by his lightsaber, giving his earlier bind a good reason to exist. His saber followed the shaft until he could feel the Axe infront of him. As [member="The Matador"] thrust forward, Vulpesen used what strength he had to defelct it, causing it to catch his left arm between the two blades as opposed to letting it pierce his chest.

Despite the reprieve, he had to face the facts. This body was failing him in these close qaurters and he needed another Ace, at least until he could fall back and strike form another angle. He could feel the Mandalorians attempts to bring his Axe back to his chest, and doubted hecould stave it off much longer with his lightsaber, and so, he made one more plea to a force that had protected him. "Varos..."

The change was sudden, and likely unexected. Warmth filled his body and the arm within the crushgaunt shrivelled away. The once light body that the Matador had been flailing around now weighed over a ton. While The Mandalorian had delt with two arms, now a pair of legs sprouted from Vulpesen's chest to thud against his foe's chest, and his hind legs grew into two more. Through the flash of pain the transformation gave him, Vulpesen kept control of himself. Once having only one tail, he now had five, each one capable of breaking bones with their thrashing.

A howl of battle left Vulpesen's mouth as he shifted into the Veran Fox and swung his tails around. The farthest left handled the Axe, sliding between its blades to keep control of it while the fatherst right swept around to bash the Matador's legs. The rest of the tails sat waving in preparation to strike while Vulpesen's now massive head lunged forward to grip the Axe arm and start shaking, hoping to turn his foe into the new ragdoll.