Private Garel Gambit

[Aloy Vizsla]

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GAREL CITY SPACEPORT, LOTHAL SYSTEM. 1800 HOURS
Minerva Fhirdiad Leenic Ellsil​

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Aloy crossed her arms impatiently as the meeting continued, staring down at the holo-table as a Rebel Mandalorian- whose clan had come all the way from Concord Dawn- explained layout an Imperial Remnant base on his homeworld.

"I don't like it," She explained the dull glow still cascading across her visor.

"These structures look like Missile silos. ISSM's maybe? The fleet would never reach orbit in time-"

"You said we'd have reinforcements, Vizsla" He interrupted, worried that the Black Hand were not as committed to this fight. She could tell by his tone, He was a young Alor after all, with little more than a promise to offer her. A pragmatic leader would have cut their losses and left this clan to fend for themselves. His people had stayed behind after all, in a way, some would even say it was their own fault.

"And you will. I gave you my word" She assured him with a pat on the shoulder.

"We'll just have to strike from the ground, using small craft to infiltrate the forest and-"

✱rumbling✱

The basement shook, knocking dust and decayed concrete powder from the ceiling as the gathered Mandalorians looked up in unison.

"Forgive me, Vizsla" The rebel Alor excused himself from the table, speaking with someone over the radio. Then he cursed, prompting the Vizsla matriarch to turn abruptly.

"Thermal detonator, someone threw it at our sniper"

"Someone knew to find you here. You said this covert was safe!"

Aloy drew her pistol as the room began to rumble again. Outside, A small unit of Imperial Death Troopers were now exchanging fire with rebel Mandalorians who returned the favor, positioned around windows on the second story of the abandoned corporate building. This small, quiet part of town had just been turned into a warzone! And though the rebels held a tactical advantage, they would soon be outnumbered by the arriving Imperial remnant Storm Commandos that arrived via Unmarked dropship.

"Viper, hold the weapon's cache and first floor. Ellsil, on me. I don't know how they slipped past the Protectorate's security but clearly they're a threat"

Aloy would quickly direct her commandos as she marched to the battle, Sending Viper Team into an orderly but quick dash upstairs to set up their heavy weapons team. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alor directed more of his own warriors to reinforce them and even a few to investigate the situation upstairs.

"My men say they're imperials in Black Armor- more are arriving- I don't understand,"

"Steady...! show me that your clan is worth it. We'll stand and fight together"

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[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Minutes earlier…​

Tag: Leenic Ellsil Aloy Vizsla

A warehouse door slid open and entered a Mandalorian in emerald armor and an elderly Transdosen in a blueish cloak robe. Seeing nothing but three broken crates Minerva turned to her companion, remarking.

"Herk you said the shipment would be here.”

Raising both scaly hands Herk shrugged his shoulders.

"It was, I'm telling you. The cache was here. I saw it with my own eyes but they must've relocated."

Snorting in derision the Mandalorian turned around.

"Well that's just great. I should be back on Corellia with my team, not wasting my time with wild bantha chases."

Herk raised an eye at that comment. The old Minerva wouldn't have been concerned with non-Mandalorian soldiers, much less led them. In a way she has grown up in more ways than she realized, being more responsible and such. That old fossil Jorel would be proud if he was alive. However, such observations weren't profitable to him and instead he said.

"I'll find them, Minerva, you know I will. When it comes to credits I'm motivated as one can be."

"You better or I'll tell Rhust how you screwed him over with that fuel job years ago."

The Mandalorian declared pointing her index finger at his chest. Immediately Herk hissed in annoyance.

"Okay okay I get it. There is no need to bring him in this. I don't need that fuzzball to rip my arms out…again."

Rolling her eyes Minerva recalled in said incident how Herk did bring that on himself. Those two did get on each other's nerves whenever they worked on some job. Jorel while he still lived kept them from outright killing each other. Sighing Minerva made for the exit and Herk followed in tow. Just as did they however, explosions erupted across the spaceport.

Ground shaking the lizardman nearly fell but steady himself with a clawed hand on the left wall to the door. Minerva staggered back before drawing her pistols.

"What's going on?!" Herk exclaimed before the Mandalorian retorted.

"I don't know! You're supposed to be the information broker."

Hissing some more Herk shook his head. "Enough with the banter, let's take cover."

Silently agreeing, Minerva pushed Herk back into the warehouse and closed the door behind him. He called out, demanding what she was doing but the armored warrior ignored it as she ran out before he could open it again. He was a scoundrel but a scoundrel she knew and can work with all the same. She would not risk his life because one it would be dishonorable and two he helped her late father and herself in the past when it came to information.

Soon she picked up when blasterfire rang out through the helmet's audio sensors. It was increasing in volume meaning the firefight was near. Sprinting past panicked bystanders she spotted an unmarked gunship soaring into the southwest. Minerva stopped in the middle of the street, considering her options.

Whoever is attacking they're not playing around. I could head back and link up with Herk. For all I know it's a stupid gang war between scum.

Just as she was about to decide on that course, she heard rushing footsteps, spotting several storm-commandos advancing from the opposite side. Immediately both sides paused upon seeing each other. Swifty they all raised their weapons and exchanged shots. Activating her jetpack Minerva sped away backwards as she ascended.

"Stinky Imps." She whispered in contempt, evading hostile fire, before using the buildings on the right flank as cover.

Now knowing who it was, the warrior flew toward the center of the fighting. Just as she drew near the dropship dismarked its troops before pulling up to relocate. Seeing an opportunity Minerva increased her jetpack's thrusters aiming toward the transport. The death troopers and commandos were too occupied with the firefight to notice the lone Mandalorian in the sky.

Just as the bay doors were closing she dived inside with seconds to spare. Crashing in a row Minerva grunted. Still wielding her blasters she got up heading for the cockpit. The craft kept ascending as it turned, forcing Minerva to watch her steps. Within half a minute she reached it. Hearing noise the co-pilot twisted her head around only to be blasted in the face.

"What the— The main pilot cried out before Minerva shot him in his temple. Suddenly the ship spun around as the now dead pilots slumped with loss of control. Slamming to the side of the wall Minerva uses her jet boots to leap inside back inside the cockpit. Getting the corpse off the seat she took the control stick, trying to stop the ship from crashing.

Pulling the transport up she checked the console, listening inside to the Remnant forces communicating with one another. She transmitted to their frequency and called Herk via comms.

"Herk get me this frequency, full access and I'll pay ya double."

A groan on the other end followed. "Gotta kidding me it's Imperial! Make that triple."

"Fine, just do it!"

Minerva fired back before flying back for the besieged safe house. She didn't know who the Imps were gunning for but she sure wanted to ruin their day. Making an attack dive she aimed for the center of the invaders' line. Squeezing down the trigger, lasers rained down on them. Killing three storm commandos and wounding two more and forcing the rest to cover.

"Nexu Five, what are you doing?! You’re hitting your own men! Ceasefire! I repeat ceasefire!"

Refusing to answer the call from the officer below Minerva made a hard bank, preparing for another attack run. Still unaware of who else fighting down there she was at the moment content with blasting more of these wretched Remnants.

 

[Leenic Ellsil]

Tags: Aloy Vizsla Minerva Fhirdiad

Leenic stood behind Aloy quietly as she made talks with the mandalorian rebel, his faceless visor portraying no emotion as he scanned the room they stood in. It was dirty, as was expected of a construction site, but it was hardly the welcome both he and Aloy had been promised by the rebels. They had made it seem like it would be a hero's welcome, yet here they were stuck in the mud and shit without even the Golden Dragon to provide an orbital bombardment due to the ISSMs guarding the skies. Hero's welcome. He thought while chuckling quietly to himself. The hell else did I expect? Damn planet has been under imperial rule for practically as long as its been settled. Of course the only people opposed to it are hiding in a karking building that aint even been made.

"We'll just have to strike from the ground, using small craft to infiltrate the forest and-"

✱rumbling✱

The basement shook, knocking dust and decayed concrete powder from the ceiling as the gathered Mandalorians looked up in unison.

"Forgive me, Vizsla" The rebel Alor excused himself from the table, speaking with someone over the radio. Then he cursed, prompting the Vizsla matriarch to turn abruptly.

"Thermal detonator, someone threw it at our sniper"

Leenic shot upright as soon as the explosion happened, blaster pistol in his grip in the blink of an eye as the Mandalorians took stock of their wounded. "Great job hiding him ya womp rat." Leenic huffed, glancing at Aloy as she gave the order to follow along into the thick of the fighting. "'bout time you put me to work, was starting to feel like you were back to paying me to look pretty."

"Black armor? Sonofa....you guys pissed off the Inquisition?" Leenic said with an aggravated tone as he chased along behind Aloy. "Aloy you really cannot be thinking about helping these guys when we dont even control the airspace, much less the actual space above it! You know as well as I do how quickly a fleet of star destroyers can level a fortified position if they get the order!"

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

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Leenic Ellsil Minerva Fhirdiad

Aloy threw a curt glance at Leenic as they marched into the first floor, a rhythmic chime informing both that she had switched to a private frequency. Only she and Leenic would hear the following:

"I'm not" She said uncharacteristically "Not yet, at least..."

"They are young, with few veterans and no guidance. I had a hunch that something like this would happen, and I plan to catch them when they fall. Offer a place among the pack, teach them to hunt for themselves.

Then we liberate their little fortress. But on our terms"

It felt strange to admit that she had knowingly led them into an ambush, and not for the first time. Years ago she wouldn't have taken such risks, even if this wasn't dangerous as the rebel's plans, but something had changed since leaving Apollyon The Betrayer 's clutches. She had learned from her mistakes, namely that weak allies were worse than strong enemies, and she had been too soft for this fight last time. By refusing to let others make sacrifices- or by being the only one to make them- she and the Mand'alor had doomed countless more to die instead.

She wouldn't let that happen a second time.

"I'm trying to say that this is a calculated move, Ellsil. We can handle the remnants ourselves, But we must cultivate strong allies for the war ahead. We give them a strong example- they will fall in- and our crusade will form"

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Her eyes were locked ahead now, simply observing the battle.

Viper team was setting up their perimeter around the weapons cache they were gifting to the rebels, while the heavy weapons team were setting up a shielded HMG near one of the windows. A few of the rebels had even come from upstairs to support and help Viper coordinate with the younger Mandalorians.

"You, SITREP" She commanded, grabbing one of the passing rebels by the shoulder to make her presence known.

"Vizsla- Death Troopers- they're being reinforced by Stormcommandos now! dropship has them up high now, ruined our bottle neck..."

"Special forces eh? must've spotted your lookout with a scan-pulse. We'll need to-"

Aloy became distracted by something in the corner of her vision as the enemy dropship took off to provide fire support, letting go of the rebel as she watched a single silhouette dive from the air towards it at high speeds, concerning the Vizsla as she was now expecting imperial Jet-troopers to break their line upstairs.

However, there was only one figure.

And to her pleasant surprise, the dropship began firing on it's own men, meaning that it must have been a Mandalorian.

"Very good, Verd. Get me your jumper's frequency, I'd like to coordinate with that one"

The rebel looked where she was pointing in confusion, taking note of the 3 stormcommandos who went flying with the help of turbo-lasers.

"I'll... get on it, Vizsla"

"Yes... good... Viper!" She turned abruptly, grabbing some spare power cells from the cache.

"You've got air cover to keep the marksmen pinned... Target the Death Troopers and tell Wren to set up a triage here. Rook will stay to coordinate, Viper-6 through 10 are on me!"

This sent the remaining Ex-crusaders into a sudden march, using their personal shields to form a makeshift wall as they exited the building with Aloy in tow, who opened the battle by firing a rocket that soared and then dove straight into the enemy line, killing 3 more Death Troopers in a shower of shrapnel and fire.

"FOR MANDALORE!"

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[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Tag: Leenic Ellsil Aloy Vizsla

Rebel Mandalorian's attempt to contact Minerva would fail due to the fact she wasn't part of his group thereby not using the same frequency. All he would get is static while trying to call their unexpected ally. Diving in Minerva looked for new targets, noting how the Imperials were more scattered, becoming more defensive as they now sought cover amongst wreckage, parked vehicles and street corners. Minerva turned off the Imp officer's comm message who was screaming bloody murder.

He whines worse than a Hutt’s snack.

Her targeting solutions picked up a pair of sharpshooters in storm-commando gear sniping among metal cylinder crates. With no hesitation she opened up a barrage that consumed them and much of the cargo in explosive fashion. Just as Minerva was lifting up again from the corner she saw defenders coming out in a counter-attack, finally who they were at last.

In surprise the armored woman exclaimed in her adopted tongue. "Mando'a!" She soared just above them, swiftly passing by. Natural joy quickly gave into tension. Were they Enclave? Warily she checked for frequency, finally picking up the caller.

It didn’t matched the same patterns that the Enclave utilized but something else entirely. Relief flowed through her heart. That made Minerva's choice all the more easier. Completing her ascent she was about to make a third dive when Herk blared in her comm channel.

"I‘m in their systems now Minerva but you got TIEs, gunning for you!"

"What?!"

Alarmed Minerva soon picked two fighter pings on the transport's sensors, coming up from behind. Making a hard right bank she tried to evade but the TIEs pursued after with engines roaring and firing at her. Things just got more challenging as it always is for Mandalorians.

 

[Leenic Ellsil]

Aloy Vizsla Minerva Fhirdiad

Leenic raised his eyebrows under his helmet in confusion as he heard the chime of a private comm switch from his helm's built-in headset, listening intently to whatever it was Aloy was going to say in response to him.

And then she said it.

Leenic stared at her in a bit of shock for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle, turning his head to face forward as the two moved toward the cache location on the first floor. "Damn." He said after a few seconds of silence. "Haven't heard that level of planning, or...for lack of a better term brutality, since I was in Task Force 99. You're sure this is Aloy Vizsla I'm talking to, right?"

Once the two got to a better vantage point over the battle, Leenic squinted and stared out into the oncoming assault of Imperials as the horribly outmatched rebels' plan shattered upon first contact. "Might not even make it long enough to join forces with us." He said, hooking his right thumb on his belt in annoyance before his eyes were drawn to the seemingly rogue gunship. "That one of ours or...?"

And to her pleasant surprise, the dropship began firing on it's own men, meaning that it must have been a Mandalorian.

"Very good, Verd. Get me your jumper's frequency, I'd like to coordinate with that one"

Leenic stopped his sentence when the situation seemed to answer for Aloy.

"I'll take that as a maybe."

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

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Minerva Fhirdiad Leenic Ellsil

"Haven't heard that level of planning, or...for lack of a better term brutality, since I was in Task Force 99. You're sure this is Aloy Vizsla I'm talking to, right?"

Not anymore. In her own way, Apollyon had taught Aloy a lot about war. The Enclave may think her soft now, but the reality was that their inaction in the face of Death Watch had brought her to where she was now. They thought they could break Aloy Vizsla, but instead they made something...

Worse.

"Ma'am! rebel frequency was just pinged"

"Good! patch me through!" She would shout over the gunfire, peaking around a corner just long enough to disintegrate one of the hostile troopers with her disruptor pistol.

"Done!"

Aloy excused herself by trading places with one of her commandos, crouching behind the burnt ruins of a speeder-car while she pulled up the comms, tuning out the chaos around her.

<<Viper-actual to unknown craft, Repeat: Viper to unknown craft, Do you read?>>

Before she could get a response, the wailing of a TIE-fighter shook the very air as it soared overhead, causing Mandalorians from both units to look up with in either disgust or fear. Aloy merely gestured to Viper Team's AT-specialist, who nodded in affirmation as he stood, lining up a shot with his RPS-6.

"Clear back-blast!"

A homing rocket hissed with a cloud of smoke as it went spiraling towards one of the TIE-fighters in pursuit of the rogue dropship, forcing the TIE to break off it's attack run in an attempt to dodge the missile. It succeeded, leaving the rocket to detonate high in the sky, but the rocketeer was already acquiring another lock for round 2.

All the while, Aloy was sending another comms burst to something in orbit...

<<Viper-1 to Recluse: Scramble fighters! IMPs in airspace, I Repeat: IMPs in airspace!>>

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[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Tag: Leenic Ellsil Aloy Vizsla

Minerva swerved from one direction to another, as the second TIE kept on her. Barrages of green lasers followed. Some shots missed, screeching past the gunship but others hit its target only for the deflector shields to protect it. Still each burst succeeded in lessening its power and the transport shook violently and repeatedly with Minerva inside.

Can't keep it up like this. Have to do something. She thought with gritted teeth while alarms went on and off.

Then an idea came to her and the warrior groaned resignedly. Nevertheless she pulled the transport up and increased the thrusters before putting the ship on an autopilot before sliding down from the cockpit just as another jolt happened. Returning to the launch bay and using her helmet's HUD to locate the controls she fired at them with one pistol. The bay doors opened, wind gushing and revealing the TIE, but Minerva fell out past the fighter.

Activating her jetpack to keep up in the air she aimed and fired a missile just as the TIE disintegrated the gunship into an explosive cloud of debris. Instantly the fighter's engines were hit when the missile slammed into it. Gravity took its course as the Imperial eyeball spun out of control back down to the port below. Minerva couldn't enjoy that victory; when a piece of wreckage struck her in the left shoulder.

Crying out she felt the jetpack engines shutting off. Rolling and spinning in her descent, Minerva couldn't barely think until the surface came closer and closer. Finally she turned the jetpack back online blasting sideways and veered off from the original course. The Mandalorian sped towards the roof of a mall just meters from Vipers' position. She slowed down before landing in a roll but just at the last moment Minerva realized too late her feet were about to hit a glass ceiling.

"Er Surwearoe!!!" She exclaimed when the glass shattered.

The armored woman dropped down unceremoniously into a fountain, splashing waters in its surroundings. Laying on her side in the water and amongst coins Minerva groaned.

"Yea next time I'm flying my own gunship."

Wincing she forced herself up with the armor and gear dripping. It was then Minerva heard footsteps from behind and swung in that direction with dual pistols at the ready.