Playing in the Sand (Mandalorian Dominion of Aargonar)

[Rena Kryze]

Location: Ash'amur, Hangar Bay
Objective: Is... is that a shuttle?
[member="Drake Itera"]

"See, I haven't done anything even remotely interesting like that," Rena said. Sure, she was Mandalorian and had plenty of practise, but she'd never really done any of this full-time. Sure she'd fought for fun. What self-respecting Mandalorian didn't? She liked fighting. She could even do it with two blasters and a jetpack.

But here was their difference, really - she still grew up with her aliit. Drake, onthe other hand, had little exposure to their culture. She was still a good Mandalorian, one who wore her amrour and spoke the language. He was still struggling.

Fortunately, the universe has a sense of humour, and at that exact moment a shuttle started its landing procedure.

"Well, Kryze is re-building - it's a long process when some people in your clan history went a little bonkers and lost their way. It happens," Rena said, right as the shuttle touched down. "I guess it's our turn now. Coming?"

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The 'Role Model' was late to the party, as ever; her ba'buir had outfitted it with an old reliable, a class four. And frankly, there wasn't much Alec Rekali, age unknown, could add to the groundside occupation effort. Full Mando though she was, gouka dragons weren't in her skillset.

Her contribution had more to do with taking stock of system assets. The 'Role Model' was no hunter ship, except when it came to ore, and she made for one of the asteroid groups that dotted the system.

 

[Halik Falkosi]

Halik did not really notice [member="Bestala Vizsla"]. A blip did appear on his HUD but he was too busy hacking away at the dead flesh of the Sarlaac to pay much attention to it. Besides, no true threats existed on this planet aside from the native beasts. Almost none would decide to walk into the maw of the Sarlaac pit. While some creatures would likely want to eat the dead corpse, to climb into the maw would not really help them much. It would simply leave them trapped. Any life at the top of the sarlaac would not be a threat to him. Mandalorians were not keen on murdering another either so even if it was a Mandalorian it seemed unlikely to threaten him.

Finally he cut a bit enough hole that he climbed on through to reveal a hollowed out hole. On both ends it extended through the Sarlaac and then into the ground. The flesh of the Sarlaac was charred and burnt from the high temperatures of the Gouka Dragon. The question naturally became, which direction was the best way to go to go find his prey. Heat scans did reveal a heat source down one end though, and thus began the far more dangerous part of the trek.

 

[Not Ordo]

There was no smile, no triumph in his thoughts. They were welcomed into the fleet, to their brothers and Sisters of the Manda and why not? They had the interest of the whole of the Mando'ade in view. Kyr waved his hand over his head in a circular motion and the band of Deathwatch warriors began entering their ships. Kyr himself moved to their two capital class vessels that lay deep beneath the sand in a former seperatist hidden hanger.

Spoiler

The sand and heavy plates that hid the base began to shift and slide away as the fleet of mishmashed ships began to take off in order of size to meet the Mandalorian fleet. Kyr took one last look at the place and activated the selfdestruct om the computer and security systems as he stepped on to his own ship and left while tht two destroyers rose into the air.

 

[Arla Ordo]

[SIZE=12pt]Location: Aargonar; Desert[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Allies: Mandalorians; [member="Naimes Ahn-Dross"][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Objective: Hunting the Gouka Dragon, or are they being hunted by the Gouka?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Perhaps it was the age difference which really Arla did not care about she cared about how he acted, how he carried himself, spoke to her. He as she had noted before was a skilled warrior, she just had to come to terms with knowing that they would seem to be a combat pair until otherwise determined by whomever was directing their path. She needed to focus on the task at hand anyhow otherwise she’d having nothing to worry about she’d be dead. They had to patrol, that was the job.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She drew upon her growing up on Tatooine to think about here. Each step in the sand in their armor a reminder of how quickly the desert could wipe away your presence making it seem as though you had never crossed the expanse.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Lairs are good except usually something cornered fights ten times harder to protect its lair” She walked knowing that anyone here would fight to their last breath for home, for mandalore, for that tiny bit of land that they called their own. So a lair, that would be a ferocious fight.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Arla didn’t think about the sarlacc, they were there, they were a lot of things she had learned though a sarlacc will smell. As you get closer it is the smell of something fleshy that fills the air assaulting the senses, she assumed it was their diet that made them so…aromatic.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The crossed the crest of the small dune Arla looking around briefly to see was anything out there, “[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]If I were to bring back the bones of a dragon it would likely be considered an omen[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]” an omen that the world was coming to an end. She shook her head slightly, if she were that skilled to bring back a dragon…she paused. She didn’t know about hunting dragons, and they were supposed to be on patrol right.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]But a dragon. She looked over to Naimes, “If you bring back the bones of a dragon they’d likely make you Field Marshall, skipping the Rally Master part.” She looked ahead while talking, “besides I don’t know the first thing about dragons, I know about shatual to track, and monitor their habits, and then when the time is right to draw back and shoot. Would it be the same?” She had a feeling it was, but she wanted to ask. One thing she would never be was someone who acted like they knew everything.[/SIZE]


[SIZE=12pt]From what she read, the dragons weren’t easy. “Someone once said if it were easy everyone would do it.” She wasn’t even sure that saying applied right now, but she wanted to say if anyone could hunt the dragons they would it did take someone of great skill to do so.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Let’s head to that area in the dunes it’s along our patrol route, some” It was a bit off but they could see better than most with a naked eye. She did not feel that they would be remiss in their duties if they looked. But Naimes had pointed out that it could be a possible spot for tunneling.[/SIZE]

 

[Nulmak Volora]

[member="Strider Garon"]

Location: My Ship ,http://starwars.wiki..._bulk_freighter

Objective: See what Clan Volora can do to help

Action: Attempting to meet Strider Garon


Clan Volora may not have many men to spare, but the Allor would make sure the ones that are would be sent. Among them, Nulmak himself a business man that has helped Clan Volora turn from poverty to success. The large freighter, carried multiple mining equipment, and construction equipment in hopes to help the cause of any labor. While this dust world had nothing really of value to mine, the miners were no strangers to construction, support structures were made, temporary bases were built on asteroids, it was part of their craft that they knew best. Ten clansmen including the snivvian were on board doing something to keep the ship going, with helmet in hand they would help claim this former CIS planet. Nulmak spoke with stern into the comm " This is Nulmak Volora to Strider Garon , permission to board ? We have supplies that could help with the construction of the base. " . Hopefully Clan Volora would be allowed to help the vod out, if not then they could just keep the equipment, which was fine for the business owner too.

 

[Kix Tal'Verda]

Location: Ash'amur, Bridge!
Objective: Provide support as the old man deems necessary.

It felt good to finally have boots of Mandalore. While the world was beautiful and everything his Clan expected it to be, they missed the stars and the adventures of soldiers. He had traveled along in the Ash'amur since the fleets departure as his clan currently lacked much in the way of space-faring vessels and he bore with him five pods of Tal'Verda Warrior-Commandos. This was their debut mission since they had rejoined the Mandalorian Clans officially.

Kix, now however, was wandering towards the bridge of the massive vessel. His helmet held under one arm and gait confident as his Katarn boots clacked off the steel floors. It was time he asked to be deployed in some manner that their commander saw fit, following the traditional stoic soldier attitude of the Dread Guard. The Tal'Verda was clad in the heraldry of his clan, Katarn-Class Commando armor with a custom paint job. It was splotched with blue here and there and across its chest were both the icons of his clan and the mythosaur in various colors. He hailed the guards and explained his purpose as he neared the magnificent bulkhead to the command deck. It took a few minutes of irrelevant back and forth before the doors were finally opened and he strode inwards.

"Field Marshal," he reported, "Warriors of Aliit Tal'Verda stand ready to carry out your orders." He was stiff as a board as he spoke and walked. Kix still needed to adjust to the Mandalorian military and that much was obvious.

[member="Strider Garon"]

@anyone else on the bridge

 

[Naimes Ahn-Dross]

Location: Aaragonar; Desert
Allies: Mandalorians; [member="Arla Balor"]

​

...already the furthest footsteps from them had started to disappear in the wind as the sands shifted leaving no trace that either Naimes or Arla had been this way though the Soldier kept careful track of the way they'd come. The Desert had a way of causing a man to lose his way; Naimes hadn't been born on a desert planet, he literally had no memory of his first home, he had conducted many operations on worlds similar to this one though which meant he had some idea with regards to desert tactics and survival. Even the heat didn't bother him as the environmental systems built into his Beskar'gam ensure he remained coll and composed throughout their trek ahead...

...Naimes hadn't said much as they marched ahead, even remaining silent when Arla mentioned how a creature would fight ten times as hard in defense of its lair, though as the came over the crest of the sand dune he would pause. Kneeling down he would rest the Kath Hound Shotgun he was carrying across his right thigh before turning his head to look at Arla..."When you bring back the story of how you killed a Gouka Dragon they will take it as an omen of your prowess, Arla."...he didn't seem concerned with the idea that he might be made a Rally Master, even a Field Marshall, for his role in slaying such a creature but there it was a distinct possibility in front of the both of them...

...beneath his helm Naimes would chuckle briefly, he hadn't talked much about the dragon beyond the report relayed between the two of them, then he would explain..."The Gouka Dragon feeds on the Sarlacc I'm told."...something she likely knew already however..."Something tells me it is different from say, the, Krayt Dragon. I think it is like a worm burrowing underground."...which meant it wouldn't have bones of the conventional type but also revealed that the lair they were searching for might not exist. Naimes remained down on one knee, maybe he was tired but that was unlikely, the visor of his helmet betraying nothing of the plan he had though as his head turned to look down the slope of the rocky dune he'd have pondered in silence while she suggested they move to the new area on their patrol route...

...their patrol, likely, would reveal little however if they returned with a prize Naimes knew it would not only be good for him but also Arla, he must have liked her considering he thought of her benefit as well, thus he would have said..."There is a way that we could summon the dragon to us."...he seemed to wait after saying that as though gauging what her response would be and if she, maybe, preferred to continue on..."Do you wish to become legend, Arla Balor?"...his gaze, shrouded by the visor of his helm turned from the rocky crags beyond the sand dune to rest firmly upon her....​

 

[Catherine Romanov]

Location: Aargonar - Prefab Base site
[member="Strider Garon"], [member="James Rorke"], [member="Hidia"], [member="Rena Kryze"]

The shuttle touched down, engines blaring as it arrived at the allocated base site that would be used for the construction and establishment of the Dar'arnov prefabricated base. The location of the site was to be in an old ruins of an Imperial command post. The prefab base will be used as a central command outpost of operations, while they get settled down in sandy,dusty Aargonar. The prefab base could also support a battleready medcentre, an array of fully-stocked kitchens, rows and levels of well-equipped barracks as well as a complement of ship & vehicle hangars.

The tube-like pods would continue to make their descent towards the target coordinates, programmed by the crew of the Ash'amur to reach its destination without hassle. For now, cranes and excavators, among other construction droids would be involved in the demolishing and wrecking of the present ruins of the Imperial base. These would give way to a flat and clear land for the construction of the Mandalorian base. Catherine scrambled to oversee the operation as she glanced among a scene of cranes and other droids forming up.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

The Role Model shivered as its navigational deflector brushed the asteroid. She rolled gently, ninety degrees clockwise from a rear perspective, and brought both of her plasma-jets to bear. Twin four-hundred-metre spears of starfire drove into the heart of the asteroid. She'd detected lommite, a good solid go-to ore that sold anywhere for reasonable creds. Lommite was used to make durasteel and half a dozen other things; it was her bread and butter, though she planned to make her way, one jump at a time, to places where rarer ores were available. Ores she could sell for two, three times this. Might even be able to afford some bread and butter, by the time she was done. And if in the meantime she could make pocket change selling prospecting data to the Mando occupiers, so much the better.

 

[Arla Ordo]

[SIZE=12pt]Location: Aaragonar: Desert[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Allies: Mandalorians, [member="Naimes Ahn-Dross"][/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]A worm no form, but if it were like other worms it did not have a brain it had nerve centers. So finding the right nerve center and disconnecting it could, or should kill it. But their large bodies would have sensors to feed it information to tell it when to open its mouth and devour them. Naimes was right the information was that it would eat a sarlacc. She heard him say that it would be underground.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She accessed the information again, “yes it says they are underground” So then looking for the skittering tracks like the Krayt was out of the question. “ohhh remember the pilot he said they were drawn to the sound of transports” which tied to the sounds of engines vibrating through the ground.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Now what he asked her next she had to think about did she want to become a legend? A legend the very word meant a famous or important person known for doing something extremely well. To do something extremely well, this was a way to prove that she was capable, it could be a rite of passage for her. She didn’t need to be famous or important but to prove herself worthy THAT was important.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Underneath her buy’ce she bit her lip as she thought about this without answering him yes she asked, “How do we summon the dragon to us?” What idea did he have that would bring the Dragon to them. They would both be legendary if they could kill the dragon.[/SIZE]

 

[Eun]

"SEE YA THERE THEN, VOD!"

A cloud of choking sand billowed out from Rekali's speeder, his only response. Literally left in the dust, Tyr stared for a moment, belched, then hiked it over to his speeder.

He managed to catch up just as grizzled Ember was spurting beams o' light out of his eyes. Tyr nearly fell off his bike. Trying to chalk it up to groggy, slightly inebriated state, the Skirata stomped through the sand to stare down into the darkness.

"Wuzzat?"

The Field Marshal- oh crap, how'd Tyr missed the rank insignia - started shooting white light from his eyes. Horrible shrieks came from the darkness.

"AH!"

One might have expected Tyr to flinch back, aghast, but the rather unintelligent and apparent masochist was just uttering the first part of his war cry... as he began to charge straight down into the Sarlacc pit.

"AAH OH AAH OOH! SKIIIRAAATAA'S COOOOMIIIINNN'!"

[member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Ginnie Ordo"] [member="Kalizka"]

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Orbiting Aargonar
• Objective: Perform reconnaisance

Time and space bent as a dark wedge shot out from the blue tunnel of hyperspace. The stars that were smeared like a thousand white streaks returned to their state of normalcy, or at least for Gaius Vel they did. The dark wedge slashed across the void, the burning cyan discs that signified his sublight drives, roared, leaving a streak of blue ion in his wake. He was nestled deep into the folds of his pilots chair, alarms beeped across his display, and with the swipe of his hand they vanished. He was en route to Aargonar, and while a Beskarsmith had little place in the way of reconnaissance operations, every man, woman and child had a duty to their Mandalore. He was just fulfilling his. He hailed the prefabricated base on an open channel, hands flicking the switch for the audio transponder, "This is Gaius Vel reporting for recon."

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Entering atmosphere
• Objective: Perform reconnaisance

The viewport grew dim. The Bes'uliik was chugging its way down through the atmospheric layer. The intense heat caused sputtering flames, and the nose of his dark cutting-edge starfighter grew a white hot. He jostled in his seat, alerts trying to signal for his attention. He bounced and bobbed in the cockpit, harness keeping him in place, but he couldn't throw off his fear of atmospheric entries. They just didn't sit right with his stomach, but soon the rattling of loose parts and the tremble of his fighter had vanished, and where the viewport had grown dim from the fires, it relaxed, clouds coming into view upon an elegant blue silken sky. He dove through the cloud cover, as soft as pillows, and found rain to begin spitting on the transparisteel until he emerged on the underside, a kilometre above the desert plains.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: 1km above ground
• Objective: Perform aerial reconnaisance

The solitary dark wedge cut across the sky above Ida, west through Vondar Canyon and sailed the south-westerly winds like a kite loosed from its string. It seemed to glide, its engines performing a slow burn. The reconnaissance provided ample time for Gaius to relax, and every so often he would lean forward and peer out the viewport, glancing down at some ancient wreck from a war long past. Aargonar was far from a war-torn world, but it had seen its fair share in its heyday. A blob on his radar was picked up, and swooping low he scanned the wastelands, only finding broken down axles of a wheel that jutted out of the sandy dunes, and Gaius was quick to return back onto his flight-route. He didn't know much about history, the Jedi or the Sith, but he had glanced over the records of significant events held on the planet. As he hurled over the Vondar Canyon, he caught whiff of the timeless remnants of a former battle that had taken place there, during something called the 'Clone Wars,' whatever that was.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Descending
• Objective: Accidental crash landing practice

The dark wedge curved around the outside of a storm cloud that was brewing in the western reaches. Crackling bolts of lightning exploded, scorching the sandy earth below. Another clap of thunder sound, and everything turned bright-white. The light itself was enough to burn through his clenched eyelids and left floating purple blobs in his vision. When he opened up, he pulled hard on the yoke of his craft but it didn't answer. He was suddenly barrelling towards the surface of the planet. He quietly thought, thank goodness this thing is made of beskar. Another bolt exploded over the canopy of the Bes'uliik, cascading a waterfall of electrical currents down either side. The vessel trembled and buckled, the engines ceased. Sublight drives extinguished. Gains did all he could do, he wasn't a space magician, he was just a beskarsmith way out of his league. He slammed his thumb against the ignition perhaps a hundred times in less than a minute.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Descending
• Objective: Accidental crash landing practice

The cutting-edge Mandalorian starfighter was losing altitude and fast, and everything Gaius was doing wasn't helping him in the slightest. All he could do was hold the gears tight and hope for the best. The nose of the small vessel began to angle downwards, the Mandalorian closed his eyes, half-praying, half-hoping. The vessel slammed into something, enough to throw him as far forward as his harness allowed him, and then again, and again. The Bes'uliik was skipping across sand dunes like a pebble across a still lake. For a moment he thought the amount of bouncing around was sure enough to snap his neck. The Bes'uliik slammed into a final sand dune, throwing a tidal wave of sand into the air. The viewport was covered in sand, there was no seeing out. Never mind, he thought, glad his neck had not been snapped. He glanced over his shoulder, considering that next time he should wear his ships standard neck brace. He tried to reboot the systems but they refused to acknowledge the ignition.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Desert
• Objective: Survive

Gaius began to unbuckle himself. A series of clips proceeded by the slap of the harness slipping back into its slot. The tall human stood, shrugging in an attempt to relieve his knotted muscles. Among one of his features of being tall, standing at six-foot-three, he was also of a dark tan with light brown eyes and dark neatly kept hair that bordered on near black. He knew the moment he raised the viewport, he would be hit with a gust of boiling-hot wind enough to make him nauseous. I shouldn't have left the air-con on, he thought. Now his body would be too adapted to the mild cold, and would be suddenly introduced to this extreme heat. Oh boy, was he looking forward to this. It was going to be horribly humid and exhausting. He reached above his head and curled his hands around the access lever, twisting and pulling. The hatch opened upwards and slid back. And he was right. A face-full of prickly sand forced his head back, and the stiff breeze made his stomach roil.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Desert
• Objective: Survive

He made a quick and silent prayer, not to any deities or the Force, but to luck. That was the only thing that would get him out of this alive. He retreated back into the starfighter, pulled open the consumables locker, and where there should have mostly been energy bars and canisters of water, while there still was those valuable resources, there was also a set of beskar'gam that was jammed in there with it. He pulled his armour free, and reluctantly he undressed from his flight suit and crawled into the armorweave body glove that stuck to his already sweating flesh. A few buckles, clips and straps later, and he stood fully armoured, wrenching free his sonic carbine from the compartment. He scrambled up onto the canopy of the starfighter and dropped down below. His boots sunk deep into the sand, already he found himself in discomfort. He raised his head to the sky, his polarising visor blocking out the sun and shading his eyes. He squinted, surveying the storm cloud that darkened the desert. At the least, he thought, his armor would keep him relatively cool in the mean time.

 

[Lord Gaius]

| Details |

• Location: Desert
• Objective: Survive

Gaius turned to appraise his Bes'uliik momentarily, most of the damage having occurred within the electrical systems. He knew that anyone monitoring the radar would have noticed his signal vanish, and hopefully they could triangulate his last known location, and effectively rescue him. He swept his gaze away and looked about, boundless dunes as far as the eyes could see. He squinted, seeing something that resembled a formation of dirty-brown rocks. Perhaps some shelter, he hoped. If it was a cave, he could rest in its shadow until rescue arrived. Gaius began to trudge through the sand, wisps of wind blowing the grains into his faceplate. The breeze didn't seem to lessen. The speed of the wind was enough to force Gaius a step back every now and again, just to maintain his balance. He held out his hand before him.