Campaign The Battle for Tor Valum | The Enclave

[Reeve Bralor]

C H O I C E S

TAG: Siv Dragr | Obran | Minerva Fhirdiad

<”Top floor boss, copy. I’ll make sure it’s clear. See you in a minute.”>

In reality, it would be much longer than a minute. The Spire was enormous, towering above most royal castles that Reeve had never been to. The central turbolift system could indeed take you to the top, but even the fastest of lifts traveling that high would take several minutes. It gave him a few moments to prepare.

“Zig, give me security feeds from all functioning cameras on the top floor.”

The mini mando avatar turned his back to Reeve on the HUD and flicked his arms up at a diagonal. With each flick, a new feed became live, stacking each available camera on top of each other so that Reeve could view them all in real time. There weren’t many operational, and of the ones that were up, only a couple were actually visible. Most of them were covered in some kind of growth or pushed up to unhelpful angles due to the same.

Ordinarily, taking over the building security by remote would have been a nearly impossible task. But the Vong had made the fatal mistake of leaving a network terminal relatively unguarded to a slicer. Reeve now basically owned the building’s core functionality. Security overrides, blast doors, camera feeds, any electronically locked safe that was powered by the building infrastructure, nothing was hidden from him that was on the network.

Reeve’s eyes fell on one particular feed and his heart stopped for an instant. It was partially obscured, but he could see from what was visible that a mass of dark bodies were shifting all around in a direction that indicated they were facing the turbolifts. On this side of the Spire, there were two turbolift tubes. One was occupied by Reeve, and the other would by now be filled with the rest of his fireteam.

As soon as those doors opened...

His fist lashed out and punched the emergency stop on the turbo lift and he was suddenly glad he hadn’t had a big lunch today as the inertial forces slammed into his body as the lift came to a sudden halt.

He could overload a few systems and take some of the mob down before the doors opened. But there were too many left over in that equation to deal with. The greatest amount of firepower that their fireteam could output would be swallowed up and overwhelmed.

Scenario after scenario ran through his head like a computer simulation. Each ending in failure. But there was maybe one hope left.

“Ziggy, are any of the siege autocannons still operational on the top floor?”

Clan Kyron would have had internal defenses for their inner sanctum. It was literally a final fallback position if the Spire was taken.

The animated mando typed a few keys on its vambrace in an identical fashion as Reeve himself would before the computer droned into his ears.

-Two autocannons are still active with the system reset. However, one of them is not responsive due to damaged servos and will not deploy. The second is responding to pings as deployable and has enough reserve power for a single five second burst of fire.-

Five seconds? That wouldn’t be enough to thin the numbers. But maybe for what he was thinking it could work.

<”Guys, we’ve got a problem. Top floor is crawling with Vong. I’ve got an idea though. It’s a bit of a long shot but it might be all we have. I’m syncing your lift with mine so we exit at the same time. Switch over to night vision, I’m going to turn out the lights. We get one shot at this, I’m going to force a distraction. As soon as the doors open, go for shock and awe. Bring the noise boys and girls.">

With the message relayed, Reeve flipped open his vambrace computer and began accessing systems, “Okay Ziggy. Jack the system again and prepare to shut down all light sources on the top floor.”

-Illumination systems are ready for shutdown. The enemy uses their own lambent crystal technology for lighting however. And -

“Yeah I know Zig. I’m working that angle right now.”

He looked over his quick coding and nodded to himself. Yeah that should do it. Ziggy showed the fireteams lift now parallel to his own as it came to a stop as well.

“Okay. Give me access to the Spire’s intercom system.”

Reeve loosened up his neck and cleared his throat just as the light turned green on his HUD, indicating he was in the Spire’s comm systems.

And then, the voice of Reeve Bralor boomed over every working speaker in the Spire.

“ATTENTION, YUUZHAN VONG. YOUR GODS ARE ANGRY IN REGARDS TO THE MISUSE OF THIS FACILITY. THEREFORE, ON BEHALF OF CLAN KYRON, YOU ARE HEREBY ISSUED A NOTICE OF EVICTION. UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE CONFEDERACY OF INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS, REAL ESTATE STATUTE 456-36A, THE MANDALORIAN ENCLAVE WILL HEREBY BE REPOSSESSING THE PREMISES FOR OFFICIAL STATE BUSINESS, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS TO VACATE BEFORE EVICTION WILL BE CARRIED OUT BY FOR- AHHH! STANG, I DIDN’T CALCULATE THAT RIGHT... TIME’S UP. THE ENCLAVE THANKS YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION, HAVE A NICE DAY.”

Reeve smirked to himself and activated his program with a final keystroke. The Vong probably wouldn’t know a word of what he’d just said. But it was fine. It was all a distraction anyway.

With that keystroke, a few things happened simultaneously.

First, the lifts activated again in tandem. Second, Ziggy cut the power to all of the lights on the top floor. Third, the clan Kyron autocannon followed its new programming and deployed from its recessed hiding spot and immediately sent a hail of precise blaster fire at each lambent light source it could target in five seconds, plunging the entirety of the upper landing into total darkness. Fourth, the emergency klaxon alarms usually reserved for bomb threats began blaring at full screech on all floors. Those alarms would usually be accompanied by flashing red lights, but Reeve had disabled those. He wanted wraith tactics here.

Three more seconds before the lifts stopped. Reeve pulled his blasters from their shoulder holsters and held them aloft, first bringing the left one up and placing his thumb on the selector switch.

“Salvation,” he muttered under his breath as he flicked the selector to automatic. “Damnation,” he said as he brought up the second blaster and flicked it to auto as well. “Both have one thing in common. In order to get either…”

His visor shifted back to night vision as the doors opened and he was faced with a very confused looking warrior, searching for the source of all the racket, but unable to find anything as his eyes were adjusting to the darkness.

“-you gotta die.”

Reeve leveled his blasters and held the triggers down.

​

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[Vren Rook]

TAG: Thonn Rokkal | Mig Gred | Kale Onara

Mig had a good point as well.

Either way, at least these things could die, intelligent and armoured as they were. Vren nodded at Mig before moving on down the desolate tunnel.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

Aside from the bubbling molten rock river to their right, the only sound was the echoing of rocket boots as they moved. Vren's trigger finger itched. The Karjr knew very well that the Vong most likely pulled back to the Mando'ade's final destination. It's what he would have done if roles were reversed.

After a while of vigilant silence, Vren noticed why the tube was backlogged - the sluice gates of this specific one were barred shut, cutting off power to the generator. They were close to their destination then if they have found a sluice gate. And if one channel was closed off, the others would probably be as well.

Heck. They had quite a job ahead of them.

He turned his head slightly as they moved forward.
"Look sharp, Vode. I think we are not far from the control room. I bet 50 creds those things are holed up in there too. Anyone want to counter that?" he teased in the end, yet he readied both shatter pistols. He was itching for a good shooting.

Moving ahead the last few hundred meters, the large blast doors to the control room of the generator came into view.

And of karking course there was a nest of bugs not far from the doors.

For kark's sakes!

The Grutchinya buzzed to activity, mandibles clicking. The large, armoured insects let out a collective, deafening hum before making a beeline at the trio of Mandalorians.

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

Tag: Tahlah Vizsla | Kranak Vizsla | Talohn Atar | Leea Pandac | Stardust Solus Skirae | Darsch Vizsla |

​

Aloy was impressed with her team's response to the enemies flanking their rear, Who had been met with defiance so stalwart, Their advanced halted long before the advantage could be taken.

Talons gripping the edge of the roof, She stood perched there like the ancient shriekhawk, Watching the team lay waste to the vong and taking in the beauty of it.
She saw Stardust Solus Skirae breath in the crisp, Cold air of Kestri, And exhale fire that danced in the reflection of her visor, And the eyes of dead aliens... Madlad, The killer droid, Rending flesh and bone beside the emerald dragon, And further down, She could hear but not see Talohn Atar 's heavy gun emplacement as it cut down the enemy in hordes that slowly altered the landscape as Kestri's virgin snow became black and slick with the alien blood.

Those she could not see with the naked eye, She saw via her scan-pulse and IFF readings in the building below, The orange silhouettes of Tahlah Vizsla clearing the building room by room like a true professional, As well as Kranak Vizsla and Leea Pandac until there was nothing left inside that wasn't Mando'ade.

Once the flames of war had died down, Aloy's seemingly enchanted state followed. She leaves the roof top, Gently floating down a a series of holes through the duracrete floor until she had touched down on the third, Marching past her vode while fiddling with the commlink antenna on the side of her helm.

::Good work team, The rear is holding, Firecracker and Building are now secure. The R2 is to stick by Talohn and whoever's staying here. I'm moving to hit the dockyard and take that key, If you're coming with; Be fething ready. Tahlah, I want your skills down below, I'll soften the landing zone. Aloy out::

The second round of "briefing" was over as soon as she came to the edge of the blasted out floor, Leaning over the edge like a bird of prey while she watched one of the largest warriors directing more Vong before storming off out of view.
"I got eyes on, Moving in..."

A few steps back, A running leap, The bright blue flash of an ionic jetpack as she leaped off the building, Gone just as quickly as she'd appeared.


The flight took her right above the dockyards, Souring over the vong as she surveyed the area for a good landing. But finding none, She decided to make one...

Enter Boba Fett - The Mandalorian​

The vong look down suddenly as a pair of grenades clatter to the ground amidst a cluster of the rallying aliens

∗Woop- woop- woop∗

∗Woop- woop- woop- woop∗​

∗B O O M∗
​

The grenades explode in a shower of flame and molten liquid that seeps into the cracks of armor, Reducing the vong to writhing corpses to be amidst a billowing cloud of smoke and sticky fire.

The hapless vong look to the skies but the source of the firestorm has already relocated. When they looked back to the chaos however...

Aloy steps out of the very flames, Her cybernetic form unmarred by them as the beskar and flame-proof suit bend the flames to their master's will, Making way for her as she draws her particle pistols, And begins a cycle of executions with her particle pistols, Popping of rounds loudly as she spun to and fro, Till at least a dozen vong lay motionless around her.

With this side of the dockyard clear, And the vong taking up defensive positions further up, It was time for the charge.
::Landing secure~::


(OOC: This next round is the second half of Wave 2! I'll be hitting the mini-boss if no one kills him before my next post. Afterwards, We'll begin Wave 3 and you can fight the Real Boss!)

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[Talohn Atar]

Talohn was going to turn about and look for the remaining vong, luckily he got reinforcements in the building to clear the rest out. This allows him to finish off the enemy line with that drum mag of his. With the relentless fire finished, Talohn balances his gun backwards on the bipod to take a look at the barrel, which is glowing orange. <"Ugh, that ain't healthy. Looks like a reverse popsicle."> He says. Talohn has accidentally left his comms on, so they can all hear that terrible joke. He sets the weapon aside so that it can cool, once again drawing the Ivara from his weapon. He calls out over the comms. <"Leea, you stay here with me, yea? We can stay on the defensive. I'm beginning safety fortifications. Join me in the main room."> The cathar fires the dart gun installed in his arms a few times. The darts stick to whatever surface they hit, and he places them above every entrance. If anyone enters the room, he'll be alerted before they react. "Room safeguarded. I'll set the alarms after everyone is in the room." With that said, he hunkers down in between two windows and speaks into comms once again. <"Madlad, you join Aloy. Tahlah, Kranak. If you two want to go, I can probably hold down the fort here.">

Madlad doesn't even pay the dragon no mind as she swings at him. The droid dodges the blow by launching itself into the air, doing a flip over her head as it lands behind her, crushing a vong who was about to strike her with a chorus of terrible cracks. "Careful." It states, blades in hand. The droid's processors, as always, are terrifyingly fast. It calculates the trajectory of enemy shots just as they leave the barrel. That wrist shield moves to block the bullets before they even arrive. Any that get too close are handled swiftly. the droid is fast as can be, both arms working in tangent to rip apart all comers. The hydraulic limbs pump. All it takes is one swing to cleave an enemy in half with those viroblades. Some die even harsher. Working back to back with the dragon, four charge the droid at once. It counters all the blows flawlessly. It parries the first spear aside by swinging the left blade horizontally, then bringing the right hand blade down in a blow that chops the arm straight off before spinning about to hit the poor vong with a back kick that caves in it's skull. The second one tries to get the droid just as it's turning around to do the back kick, going for between the beskar plates. The droid pulls it's leg back from the kick as it transitions into another spin, both blades stuck out in a horizontal strike as the hand holding the dagger is lopped off, then the head of the hand's owner following right after. The third comes in with it's axe in an overhead strike. Madlad uses the blades to make an X over it's head, and swings both the blades outwards to knock the axe away just as it hits the blades. Then before the axe can be brought down again, the droid converges both of it's blades once again right at the vong's stomach like a pair of scissors, cleaving the poor bastard straight in two. The final vong swings it's sword, coming in to avenge it's fallen brothers. Madlad ducks under the swing, it's own blade striking outwards at the back of the vong's knee as Madlad stands up again, causing the blade to knock the fellow's feet out from under him. With the Vong hitting the ground his back, Madlad finishes the fight with a single blow, a quick slash across the throat, leaving the foe to slowly choke to death. Aby other foes were mostly wiped away by Talohn's machinegun fire. The droid's red eye flickers as it recieves the next orders, and it looks back at Stardust. "I believe I'm being called for. It was a pleasure killing with you." The blades are put back into the arm compartments, and the limbs once again invert as it scuttles across the battlefield once again.

Not long after Aloy softens the landing zone, one of the vong closest to her goes out in quite the way. A wire shoots straight through his chest, planting itself in the floor under him. The clicking of the wire reeling something in can be heard, along with the whistling of air. Suddenly, an orange blur comes into view, smashing the vong nearly into chunks as the blur lands on top of the now crushed being. The blur is Madlad. It seems the droid hooked it's way in from the nearest rooftop to make a flashy entrance. The droid screams victoriously, fist pumping in the air a few times. "YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE THAT SHOT. I AM A GOD OF DEATH TODAY!" Then the droid jumps into the air, doing a backflip as it lands beside Aloy. "That big fella, I'll wager we can end this quicker if we go for the legs." Madlad states, giving tactical advice on the situation as it pulls the shotgun from it's backholster, ready to blast any other opposition that get too close.

Tahlah Vizsla Aloy Vizsla Leea Pandac Kranak Vizsla Darsch Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae

 

[Leea Pandac]

"It's right under there. I would guess it was placed to blast a hole over Talohn." She considered the possibilities, it could have been an ally of the Vong that had been the unfortunate victim of a structural collapse. Whatever the cause, Leea was no use here, bombs were not her speciality, except perhaps in detonating them. "I figure it is safer to assume its a bomb of sorts, but it might not be." Having experienced a number of similar scenarios in the past, she was accustomed to preparing for and assuming the worst possible situation.

However, before she could get much further, a new directive was ordered over the comms and soon thereafter Talohn requested specific assistance. Responding to Talohn, she waved over for Firecracker to follow as she stepped back to the stairs, "Got it boss. Be there in a second." Then she spoke to Firecracker, "Seems like we're getting closer, let's go see what Talohn needs for help."

It took a few extra minutes for Leea to make her way down the stairs, making sure Firecracker didn't trip or fall. Once down there she began preparing what defences she could with the given materials at hand. Pulling pieces of furniture she constructed a couple of firing positions in the main room. Speaking to Talohn she finished a small enclosure with a tabletop, "Do you think they'll assault the building again? Those were some heavy casualties you inflicted on them."

Talohn Atar Aloy Vizsla Kranak Vizsla Darsch Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae Tahlah Vizsla

 

[Kale Onara]

Kale ended up on the rearguard for the four of them as they continued along their route to their final destination. Keeping his blaster in one hand and one vibroknife held in reverse position with his wrist crossed, Kale ensured that nothing hit them from the rear while they moved. Kale had to expend some effort to keep his breathing slow and even. Between the heat of the lava and the anticipation of ambush, the anxiety was beginning to build.

Kale grinned and shook his head at hearing Vren asking to take bets, "No bet here vod, though if you want a real bet, I've got a bottle of malt liquor that says I get more confirmed kills than you when we finally finish the Vong off." He said as they traversed the rest of the way toward a pair of really big blast doors.

Kale looked at an area where his motion vision suddenly went crazy. Quickly switching vision modes to ambient light and saw the swarm of Grutchinya start buzzing. His vibroknife wouldn't do much good in this encounter so he instantly switched it out for his other custom DH-17 blaster. As the swarm began to fly toward them, Kale took three steps so that he was right beside his fellow Mando'ade. As adrenalin hit his system and time seemed to slow for a long moment, he glanced at both Mig, Vren and Thonn and smirked under his helmet.

These moments right here were what Kale Onara lived for...

The call of battle...
The rush of adrenalin...
An intractable enemy...
His vod at his side raising their weapons as he did to meet the enemy...

These were the life defining moments of a Mandalorian warrior.

As he finished bringing his dual DH-17 blasters to bear, his thumbs switched the firing mode to full auto an instant before his index fingers squeezed both triggers sending out a full barrage of blaster bolts against the swarming foes coming for them.

~Ibic cuyir te ara...~*

*This is the way

 

[Obran]

TAG: Siv Dragr | Minerva Fhirdiad | Reeve Bralor

They rode up the elevator, and Obran tried to hide the exertion toll spent in the fight with the ogre, coughing only once, and tasting blood but ignoring it. Shaking his helmeted head to clear his mind, he checked and re-checked ammo loads, dumped fresh clips and made his load out ready. When the slicer of their group cut in, he nodded to Siv and smiled. He had an idea.

Pulling out a section of whipcord from the gauntlet, he swiftly braided and knotted a section in each pin of the various fragmentation and flash-bangs, and a couple of incendiaries. Then wrapped the remaining segment around his hand and wrist and tensioned with his thumb. The whole rig was a daring, and potentially dangerous device. With a spin, he could throw it into a crowd, flick his wrist, and then yank the cord via that flick. Such action should pull the pins and create a very nice opening blow.

He voiced such to Siv, and stepped forward, improvised explosive sling at the ready as he took point. Waiting. When the doors did finally open, he stepped forward, swinging the loop in a speedy, whistling arc before snapping his wrist and releasing the improvised weapon. It sailed roughly into the middle of the crowd, blinking and beeping at various tones, speeds, and colors.

Suddenly with a decompressive WOOMPH the device went off in a giant plume of fire, light, an explosive might, with Obran charging with his mythosaur bone-tipped spear, dispatching downed vong. The amplified speakers of his helmet and armor wailed bes'bev music from themselves out into the crowd of enemies, the melody of a funeral dirge to which Obran sang along with in mando'a as he slaughtered their enemies.

 

[Tahlah Vizsla]

Tags: Aloy Vizsla Leea Pandac Talohn Atar Kranak Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae Darsch Vizsla

Equipment as follows:

• DD6 Blaster Pistol (2 of them)​
• Neimodian Rifle​
• Vibroblade​
• Mandalorian Armor (Beskar)​
• Rocket Boots​

Tahlah continued to clear the rooms on her route through the corridors on this level. The sensations of the aggression from these creatures became stronger as she continued, and eventually saw some calling for others down another hall. They made gestures down that other hall, and Tahlah could hear the footsteps of the Vong approaching. Her pistols were already drawn from clearing out the other rooms in this corridor. The moment she caught sight of them, she opened fire, and punched more searing holes in more of the Vong. The footsteps from around the corner became faster, and the sensation of Vong aggression grew more.

Tahlah then sprinted around the corner, and began blasting away with her pistols. She managed to get one in the head, another went down with multiple body shots, but the other missed due to her not focusing on the aiming her weapons for this maneuver. She got closer, and holstered her right pistol again, and brought out the vibroblade to decapitate one, skewer another through the chest, disemboweled another, and then slide across the throat of the last. When the deed was done, she wiped the Vong juices off of the blade and onto the joint of her armor before sheating it and bringing the pistol out once more. That was when Aloy and Talohn's transmissions of commands came out.

Again, in the monotone and short tone, "Tahlah-going to assist on the offensive with the Alor. Will be doing more cleanup along the way though, so expect a few minutes before I arrive to assist-over."

She then began sprinting down the hall. There were thankfully less doors, possibly a connecting hall to another wing or the outside. After kicking down the doors of at least two rooms that were empty barracks chambers, she finally encountered some unlucky stragglers in the last room before the exit from this corridor. It seemed to be a guard room for the door, and there were windows to the outside in the direction she would have been going anyway. Suspiciously convenient, but she was going to take that nonetheless. The two Vong were looking into the surveilance systems they made to monitor activity on the outside. She could not read what was on the monitors, nor did she really try to. As she came in, the two workers made deep guttural screams, drew their blasters, but quickly had their bodies filled with many holes in a matter of seconds with Tahlah's arms being drawn to begin with. Once the two surveillance workers were down, Tahlah ran out the door to that room, and then exited the building's behind. From there, it was to make her way to the new offensive position. Based on the figure flying through the sky to a certain point from another side of the building, she figured going in the direction of that would be a good objective to navigate to first.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Talohn Atar Aloy Vizsla

Star couldn't even respond to madlad, she merely laughed and then turned as she looked upon what remained as the last of the blaster fire tore what remained apart. Letting a breath out her eyes closed as she let herself feel the cold for but a few second before she let her pyrokinesis earm her as she turned away and spoke to aloy over the comms

I'm on my way, looks like mad lad is on the way already

She saw his Express departure and couldn't help a chuckled as she started a brisk pace towards aloys location

I will clean up any stragglers on my way, bound to be some cowards hiding among the dead

Into the building she went, eyes glancing about every corner as she kept her breathing steady and ready to inhale when she needed, not that it matter about inhaling it was theatrics. Turning a corner she came face to face with a larger vong warrior, she barely had time to duck as he swung his staff at her, back stepping she realized that she didnt have much room to fight much less get her sabers out for a proper swing. Growling she grabbed her beskad she kept on her and held it reversed as she blocked a strike and redirected his staff right into the wall. She crouched low and sliced at his knee before she slammed her arm into his midsection and brought him down hard before she stabbed into his chest and twisted, huffing she stood and wiped her blade off before she started yet again forward

The rest of the journey was quiet oddly so in fact, the most she heard was rubble falling or distant battle that grew louder, she came out about a floor above just in time to ree aloys entrance and couldn't help a smirk and watched her down a dozen vong before she jumped and landed seeing her face to helmet finally

taking a page from my book on pyrotechnics?

She teased and looked forward to the big guy as she glanced to mad lad

he's right, if he hits the knees we can get a thermal detonator each on him...set on medium yield of course

 

[Thonn Rokkal]

Tags: Vren Rook Tristan Ortega Mig Gred Kale Onara

---

Vren there seemed to have a point. These ugly things weren’t stupid, they certainly had enough smarts to both lay that last ambush on them, and manage to get away swiftly afterwards once said ambush went awry. The Vong probably knew what they were there for.

Kale bantered back with Vren from his position behind the group, with neither of them seeming too fussed. He drew nearer to the distant doors ahead of them with the rest, pausing in place once he noticed Kale’s sudden movements. Reflexively, he began to spin the barrels up on his Z-6 cannon and braced the weapon against his hip while turning to search for whatever Kale had noticed. Moving forms were rushing in towards them – he wasn’t quite sure what they were, but he was very sure they weren’t good.

The steady whir of the spinning barrels told the Mandalorian his weapon was as primed for battle as he was.

It was time.

He took a step back and leaned into the weapon in trained preparation for the cannon’s recoil before pulling the trigger, firing a burst of shots that tore into into the ground ahead of the grutchinya. Rapid blaster shots lit their ugly scurrying bodies with a flickering glow, and with steady control Thonn adjusted his aim with the rotary cannon. Training and effort brought the constant burst of rapid shots in on their charging enemies, bringing the storm of blaster fire down upon them.

 

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

TAG: Siv Dragr Reeve Bralor Obran

Minerva descended after Obren and Siv slew the mutated ogre. “Nice shot here.” The young warrior remarked, picking up her fallen blaster. At Siv’s advice she gave a quick nod. Entering inside the lift with them.

As the turbolift began its climb Minerva grimaced from the lingering pain from the last fight she just had. Still worth it to see that scum break his neck. Subsequently Reeve on the comms alerted them about more Vong on the top floor. Hardly surprising in her opinion but confirmation to intel is much appreciated.

In response she switched to night vision in her HUD as Reeve suggested and reloaded a new clip in her blaster rifle. Steadying herself Minerva then heard the Bralor warrior taunt the Von from the intercom. “Your friend would’ve made a great monkey lizard with that kind of humor.” She remarked to Siv with a chuckle.

For the limited time they had Minerva steadied herself, saying in Mando'a. “Kapr ner gaan cuyir nakine bal ner ke serim gatle.” Finally the lift stopped and the door opened. Obran swifty threw his makeshift device into the mass of enemies. Once it exploded, sowing death and chaos Minerva charged out. She went for the left flank firing short bursts in order to cover Orban and Siv.

 

[Kranak Vizsla]

S T R I K E H A M M E R

Location: Kestri, Ravine in Tor Valum’s Mountain, Within the Derelict City, At the Southern Edge of the Dockyards.
Local Time: 09:35
Date: -DATA CORRUPTED-
Primary Objective: Retrieve Forge Key in the Vicinity of the Worldship’s Docking Command Station
Secondary Objective: Destroy the Vong Worldship by Escorting Payload into the Vong Worldship,
Equipment: Loadout 2 (Swapped Westar-M5 w/ DR-04DB Class-D Disruptor Rifle)
Tags: Aloy Vizsla | Tahlah Vizsla | Darsch Vizsla | Stardust Solus Skirae | Leea Pandac | Talohn Atar

"It's right under there. I would guess it was placed to blast a hole over Talohn."

Kranak took two steps forward towards what was perceived as a Vong explosive device by the Mirialan and crouched to inspect it. The fleshy clump on the ground had the same texture with what covered the ground, the walls and the ceiling on Kestri’s moon base they assaulted prior to attacking this city. He assumed it was just a large, fleshy tumor of some kind, but he wasn’t sure. He did not know Vong all that well, afterall. It could have been anything as far as he could tell.

But it wasn’t something worth wasting time over, he assumed. If it hadn’t killed them yet, it was more than likely that it was just an odd, fleshy substance that did not pose a threat towards the well being of his vode. Concluding the matter in his mind, the giant stood back up and turned towards the Mirialan while he reached for the disruptor rifle slung on his chestplate.

[“It’s probably nothing to worry about. Come on, we got more Vong to kill.”] said the giant as he checked for how much ammo had left in his magazine. Less than half. He reached for a fresh disruptor rifle magazine from one of his magazine pouches on his War Belt and inserted a fresh magazine into the rifle's magwell. He saved the magazine over half spent for later use in one of his empty magazine pouches.

Shortly after, Aloy came down from the upper floors, gliding down with her jetpack through the large hole in the ceiling. The situation report and her next set of orders for the squad followed a moment after.

::Good work team, The rear is holding, Firecracker and Building are now secure. The R2 is to stick by Talohn and whoever's staying here. I'm moving to hit the dockyard and take that key, If you're coming with; Be fething ready. Tahlah, I want your skills down below, I'll soften the landing zone. Aloy out::

Said Aloy over the squad commlink, as she slowly made her way towards the blown out windows at the opposite side of the room that overlooked the road towards the dockyards. She gauged the distance for a moment before she broke into a sprint and jumped out of the window, her jetpack bellowing with a screech upon activation.

The giant quickly decided to join her and Tahlah, seeing as the payload was safe and secure under Talohn’s and Leea’s overwatch. As far as he was concerned, Talohn had more than enough ordnance and utility gear on him to keep the payload safe.

<"Ugh, that ain't healthy. Looks like a reverse popsicle.">

"Tahlah-going to assist on the offensive with the Alor. Will be doing more cleanup along the way though, so expect a few minutes before I arrive to assist-over."

<"Leea, you stay here with me, yea? We can stay on the defensive. I'm beginning safety fortifications. Join me in the main room.">

"Got it boss. Be there in a second."

<"Madlad, you join Aloy. Tahlah, Kranak. If you two want to go, I can probably hold down the fort here.">

"Seems like we're getting closer, let's go see what Talohn needs for help."

[“Roger that. Just holler at me if you need medical attention.”] Kranak replied over the squad commlink to Talohn. With that, he joined Leea and descended the staircase with her and the payload and regrouped with Talohn on the main floor. [“Stay safe, vode.”] said Kranak with a nod towards the two of them and made his way towards the back entrance of the main floor. The giant Ori’ramikad raised his rifle as he turned around and assumed a combat stance, moving at a fast pace.

The dockyard was about two hundred meters to his twelve o’clock. He’d have to huff it there, considering he did not have a jetpack like some in the squad. He soon got ouf vitals monitoring range of Talohn and Leea on his HUD. His HUD had a range of fifty meters for it. He was now alone until he could regroup with the ones at the docks.

Music

The snow and rubble crunched loudly underneath his armored boots as he traversed the terrain, all the while keeping his head on a swivel, checking corners, windows and large holes in the walls where he assumed there might’ve been foes lying in wait for a treacherous ambush.

There were way too many sectors for him to cover. Away from most of his squad mates, the giant Ori’ramikad was starting to feel like a nerf in a gurrcat lair. He needed something to reveal enemy positions around him -if there were any- and he had just the thing for it.

Kranak halted and crouched next to a large clump of debris to take cover while he unpacked his Probe Droid from his large utility pouch. He manually activated the probe’s repulsor unit and issued the droid a set of commands for reconnaissance purposes using the wrist computer on his left vambrace. Upon receiving said commands, the droid rapidly gained altitude and was soon to be out of his visual line of sight. Only a small, blue hollow triangle in his HUD indicated where it exactly was in the air. Other than that, it was near invisible to the naked eye.

[“Probe droid dispatched. Squad, standby for incoming reconnaissance data.”] said Kranak, while he waited patiently for the droid to mark nearby hostiles on the giant’s Heads-Up Display while he continued to hold security on his current position. After a minute or two, a number of red hollow squares dotted his Heads-Up Display, as well seven blue hollow triangles, marked as his squadmates. There were about twelve hostiles in his way between the giant Ori’ramikad and his squadmates close to the dockyard. The spotting was in real time, meaning the marks updated every half a second or so in accordance to enemy movement, informing Kranak on the enemy’s exact locations.

But the Vong Worldship was still nowhere to be found. His probe droid hadn’t found it yet. It was rather strange. The Worldship was quite large, after all. [“Where could have they hid it…”] said the giant, thinking out loud. It would take the probe longer to find it, perhaps. ["They must've hid it well."]

Upon receiving the data he used his left vambrace computer to relay the probe’s real-time reconnaissance data to his fellow vode. [“Reconnaissance data received! Patching data to your Heads-Up Displays now,”] said Kranak over the squad commlink. [“Watch your six, I see a number of enemy contacts to your rear.”]

With the deed done and somewhat feeling more secure, knowing where exactly the enemy contacts were, he continued in a faster pace towards his squadmates nearby the dockyard. He had about a hundred meters left between him and friendly elements by the docks.

The loud shriek of his disruptor rifle and the muffled explosions and the howl of flames from his incendiary grenades resounded in the derelict city as he purified the Vong forces in his way with fire and disruptor bolts. He cleansed most of them while navigating through the debris filled streets of the city, occasionally going through the skeletal remains of ferro-concrete structures.

It didn’t take Kranak any longer to get within vital signs monitoring range of Aloy, Stardust and Tahlah. Their medical condition appeared to be fine according to his HUD’s vitals scanner.

[“Check your fire, coming to your position from your six!”]

He finally got sightlines with the remainder of his squad. They had taken up defensive formations at the edge of the dockyard, amidst the abandoned crates and large containers. [“Taking defensive formation.”] With a five meters spacing between him and the rest of the squad, he positioned himself behind a crate and started to engage hostile contacts down range, further in the dockyard.

He was quick to notice a quite larger Vong in the dockyard. It was shouting at the Vong around him, presumably ordering them around. He must be concentrating the Vong’s defensive effort here in the dockyard! He aimed down his sights at it and gently squeezed the trigger twice after flicking the fire selector to semi-auto from full auto.

The rifle shot twice, the disruptor bolts accompanied with a shriek as they exited the rifle’s barrel and made their way towards their intended target. The bolts struck the monster’s hardened carapace armor, but it failed to kill him outright unlike his lesser Vong comrades who had died to it before. The beast took a few stumbled steps backwards as a result from the hits, but he was still standing!

The Vong Lieutenant gave a death stare at Kranak before continuing to issue orders at the Vong. Very soon, the giant Ori’ramikad was pinned down behind his cover by a hail of Nang Hul fired off from the Chitin Carbines of Vong Riflemen, unable to return fire for the time being. He could see the beast was coming closer from the recon data being fed to his HUD from the probe droid. [“Oh blast. That sure pissed him off.”] He’d have to switch relocate to a different position before engaging again. [“So, what’s the plan? How do we take out that kriffing freak!”]

 

[Aloy Vizsla]

Tag: Kranak Vizsla | Stardust Solus Skirae | Talohn Atar | Tahlah Vizsla | Leea Pandac |

<"I''ve been cookin' people since I was a child, Solus"> She chuckles to Stardust with a slight shake of her head. <"I'm a little more original than that~">

She didn't regard Madlad much aside from patting him on his metallic shoulders. The droid was a showoff far as she cared, And at the end of the day. Just a droid. Her kinda droid! But still a droid...

[“Reconnaissance data received! Patching data to your Heads-Up Displays now,”]

Kranak's voice had the Alor perk up a little, Watching red triangles show up on her holographic HUD which caused a grin to form beneath the visor.

[“So, what’s the plan? How do we take out that kriffing freak!”]

Just as he'd said before however, More lit up behind them in the distance, More chatter came through the comms and Aloy found herself having to think like a commander again.

::Strikehammer, New orders-:: She growls into the comms ::We've got contacts between our rear and the dockyards. Rear team is to clear 'em out, Make a path for Firecracker::

::Kranak, Kneecap his kriffing (Redacted)! We'll flank 'em::

With her orders relayed, She nods to Stardust and Madlad over her shoulder, And then rushes into the fray, Using her jetpack to leap up onto some crates and blast a storm 0f flames at a group hapless Chazrach and even some real Vong from on high, Trying to help clear a path for the others to advance.

 

[Talohn Atar]

While everyone else goes about to join Aloy, Talohn remains where he is with the droid and Leea. Now that the building is properly safe, he works on setting up a defensive perimeter within the building. He couldn't possibly cover all the entrances. Luckily he had the tools to do so. He gestures for Leea to come over to him, and hands her the TDW HARM. "Use this, keep watch on the window." He begins pulling tools out of the bag at his side. The cathar knew how to make a defensible position, and that's what he was going to do. He stuck tripwires in every possible entrance, attaching a shock grenade to each one of them so whichever enemy tries to enter receives a nasty surprise. He would then stick a small knob on top of the tripwire sticks. "Alright, no trying to leave at this point, no one comes out. No one comes in." He makes his way back over to Leea, pressing a button on his wrist's touchpad. The knobs activate, turning the sticks and the tripwires completely invisible. Not to mention they still had the cloaking bubble. One his way back to Leea, he sticks a USB into firecracker. Something for later. He leans on the wall beside his younger companion, drawing his Ivara pistol. "We need to focus on anyone that tries to go towards the docks. Can you do that Leea?" He noticed she hesitated to shoot earlier. "If you can't no harm done. Just tell me and I'll take the gun back."

Meanwhile, back at the docks, Madlad racks it's shotgun. "Talohn will cover our backs, breaking into objectives is his specialty, which means he's even better at holding them." It states in that dark voice. Those hydraulic limbs, strong and unrelenting, launch the droid into action. The first vong that gets too close, the droid hits it like a speeding bullet, feet driving into it's chest as Madlad brings the vong straight into the floor, the force of the blow allowing madlad to use the now dead vong as a sled as it fires off shell after shell into any of the other vong that were about, a large brush stroke of blood being left in the wake of the vong that was being used to transport Madlad a short distance. The big guy was slow, and could be saved for last. What mattered now was wiping out the help. As Madlad's brief sledding stopped, an enemy ran at the droid, attempting to whack it with a warhammer. Those legs launch it off of the ground just as the vong swings, and a grapple cable shoots down a split second later, burying itself in the vong's shoulder. it's pulled up into the air slightly, Madlad's heels driving into it's skull as it literally hammers the vong into the floor in an explosion of flesh. After this maneuver, Madlad throws a smokebomb on the ground, enshrouding a small area around it in fog. The screams of any melee based vong who had pushed for the droid could be heard within the smoke. Madlad was certainly making a ruckus.

Leea Pandac Aloy Vizsla Kranak Vizsla Tahlah Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae

 

[Tahlah Vizsla]

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Tags: Talohn Atar Aloy Vizsla Leea Pandac Kranak Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae
Equipment: Stated in previous posts. Don't worry about it.

Finally, Tahlah made it to the docks. There were a couple of bodies at the entrance, and plenty of Vong screams coming from further in. Still in that antisocial zen of combat, Tahlah runs further in to meet up with the droid and her Alor. She figured her rifle would be best, and found a place with sight of the enemy a little ways back from their current position. While the droid was still fighting off the little creatures, Tahlah was picking off the grunts on the outskirts of the fight.

It was several body shots so far, thought she did land one in the head. After a few more were picked off by her fire, she realized she did not report her presence. Though, it didn't really matter since Aloy was flying around anyway. The Alor would see the young Nautolan on top of the crates picking off the strays of the fight.

Now Tahlah was in the rythm of long ranged attack. Find the target, aim, fire, repeat. For as long as the Chazrachs and occasional Vong were still popping up in her field of view, she would remain here firing down upon them.

 

[Leea Pandac]

Settling in, Leea took a deep breath before turning to the task of waiting and watching. The others had gone ahead, all except Talohn and Firecracker. This was always a tense time, the drawn-out period after one firefight in which one could only prepare for the next. In an ideal situation, the Mirialan might have found some work to occupy her time and mind, something that would have been productive and yet ultimately capable of being dropped readily at a moment's notice. As it was, however, she had nothing to do, rather all she could do was to sit and wait.

That was, until Talohn motioned her over and Leea walked carefully through the room, eyes darting to ward off the fear of ambush or another counter-attack. "Got it," was all she managed as Talohn handed her a different rifle and a similar directive. Leea set crouched down in the safe haven, eyes glued to the window and what threats might lay beyond.

It was a few minutes before Talohn returned, and Leea felt sorry for whatever poor sod would attempt to enter this place later. It was secure, that much was certain. She bet the little lizardous creatures wouldn't last long attempting to assault this place now. Then came a conversation that Leea was both unprepared for and never wanted to have. Her first emotion was strong indignation, how could he question her martial capabilities? She had fought alongside him more than once and had only occasionally given pause. Yet here he was, suggesting that she might somehow be incapable of not only defending herself but also acting competently in a combat scenario.

However, the Mirialan soon overcame the initial anger and realized he had a raised a valid question. One that Leea did not believe was a safe one to ask. The query of whether a person was really ready to fight, while in the midst of a combat scenario, struck her as an odd timing, and in the past had usually been a question saved for those unprepared and likely to die. Indeed, those that had been asked the very question before were often the first to die, as if the question itself was a hex. Leea was not prepared to die, and so the question was quite the blow. She tried to conceal her concern by waving a hand dismissively and replying, "I've got this, don't even worry about it. Earlier, was... It was nothing, you had it very much under control and I figured my time would be better spent making sure we were secure." She kept her face and eyes steadily focused towards the exterior, not wishing to betray the uncertainty welling in the back of her mind. They had a job to do, especially important since they were so close to its conclusion.

The objective so close, Firecracker would soon serve his purpose, Leea mulled glumly over the comparison to her own life, wishing for something to distract her a bit and pass the time.

Talohn Atar Aloy Vizsla Kranak Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae Tahlah Vizsla

 

[Siv Dragr]

A S C E N D

Tag: Reeve Bralor | Minerva Fhirdiad | Obran

The turbolift rose quickly through the massive spire, lights strobing as the car sped through floor after floor. The only sounds in the lift were the breathing of the three Mandalorians, audible through their helmet's vocators, and the humming of the turbolift itself.

Siv's hand curled instinctively around the grip of his blaster pistol, at the moment in his holster. He stared forward, but he did not see -- his mind was laser-focused on the knowledge that out of all the Vong hordes he'd encountered, what they were walking into would probably be the most dangerous. There was no guarantee he was coming out of this.

Reeve's voice interjected into the silence. Looks like Siv's guess was right. This wouldn't be easy. His grip tightened, and his breathing instinctually settled into an easy rhythm. Movement to his right disturbed his thoughts, though, and Siv turned his head to see Obran braiding together a whole arsenal of explosives; flashbangs, incendiaries, thermal detonators, the whole array. Obran caught Siv's helmet staring and quickly explained what he was doing. Siv nodded. It was a plan. Minerva cracked a joke as they heard Reeve's taunt at the Vong play scratchily over the turbolift's intercom, and Siv nodded politely. He was rarely one to make a joke, and in moments like these he was grave as ever.

A lone tone sounded as the turbolift car began to slow its ascent, nearing the top of the spire. "Sraoape mer Umlarbayurir," A female voice announced as the doors slid open to reveal madness.

Obran was quicker on the draw than Siv; a crack reverberated as he slung the improvised explosives at the hordes of Vong that turned to see who else dared to disturb them. They would not be given any time to react, though, before the explosive compilation detonated with a massive roar of light, fire, and sound. Nor would the Vong have time to react as the three Mandalorians lended their efforts to Reeve. Siv with his pistol, Obran with his mythosaur spear, Minerva with her blasters, and Reeve with his technological prowess. . . they were less Mandalorians and more unstoppable forces of nature.
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[Talohn Atar]

Indeed, the building was well protected. He allowed her to have the rifle, his pistol? The thing was practically a sniper itself with the 14mm bullets it shot. Truly a masterpiece of engineering. With the entrances covered, he remains on watch as well. He doesn't respond to Leea's words. He didn't want to poke her irritation more, but he understood her hesitation. Killing wasn't easy. Never was. He decided to ponder asking if she had interest in being a combat medic later. Perhaps that would be more fitting for her, and the enclave had them in short supply. For now? They would just deal with things as they came. "Hey kid, how's about we get something to eat after this? Your pick. We'll also do some weapon shopping, get you something real nice. So you can start building your own arsenal. Got a favorite kinda gun? Blaster? Sniper? Slugthrower?" He could tell she was tense, and he was trying to help her out a bit.

-----------------------------------------------------

Madlad emerges from the smoke, the head of a vong skewered on it's sword. It flicks the blade, sending it off to the side. "Let's go big guy!" It howls, charging straight at the big vong. As it gets close, it thrusts both it's blades out to try and stab the big vong in the gut. Both blades break upon impact with that chitinous armor, and the droid looks up to see an angry vong staring down at it. "The risk I took was calculated, but man...Am I bad at ma-" Before the words could finish, the big fellow backhands the droid, sending it flying past Aloy into a stack of crates on the docks. Talohn, with his eye on the docks, witnesses it all, and can be heard cackling like a hyena over the comms. Madlad pulls itself up from the rubble of wood, groaning angrily. "Talohn. I will beat your skull in. I swear." It then turns it's gaze to Aloy. "So, I have learned swords do not work. Though, the thing is really heavy." It then goes silent verbally, soeaking only through comms so the plan isn't caught. "Allllright, this big guy, he's big. Probably too big to swim. What if we were to say...blow the docks out from under him? Like, blow a hole so he falls into the water. I'll wager he can't swim after all. We need to either blow a hole under him or shoot a circle around him so the hole collapses. Anyone got ordinance for that?" It questions, racking it's shotgun to hold off the big guy while they can. It was certainly scary to see this much problem solving from a droid, it seemed more like an idea a sentient would have, furthering the idea that as Talohn has said before, the droid has a living mind.

Aloy Vizsla Kranak Vizsla Stardust Solus Skirae Tahlah Vizsla
Leea Pandac

 

[Leea Pandac]

The Mirialan did not had to wait long for a distraction to raise itself. Her Cathar ally struck up a pleasant tone as he began a benign, almost comforting, conversation. It was the sort of thing one might find entirely normal in the dining room as well as the nexu hole. It had equal parts normalcy and hope against all odds. It was of that breed of conversation that numbered so few, the kind that assumed survival, if not success. A simple and quite beautiful style, Leea took a breath and allowed her mind to slip away from the pressure of the moment, trusting instinct and training to respond as needed should the situation demand it.

The notion of food didn't seem all that appealing right now, but Leea knew herself well enough to know that this particular situation would change drastically once they were in the clear. She couldn't imagine how much energy she had burned in the last half hour, between the high stress and various activities, she was confident her appetite would return in force later. But for now, the thought of food seemed strange, perhaps even mildly nauseating. Despite this, she responded with an affirmative, "Sounds like a date then. Wonder what's in the area, don't think I've ever been in these parts, probably have some different dishes to try. Do you think... Nah, probably not a good idea." Her mind wandered a little too far and she quickly led it back to the next question rather than finish the speculation.

To the latter question, Leea gave a shrug. The weapon she carried had never been of particular focus, rarely had the soldier been given an option in regards to her firearm, usually being forced to make do with whatever was at hand. Everything from an archaic, and all too rusty, DC-15S to her current modern and well cared for armament, Leea had never really spent long considering what sort of weapon suited her. Nonetheless, certain attributes quickly came to mind. "Maybe something with a little less kick, smaller rounds would do just fine I think. Lightweight, sturdy. It would need to have a decent range capability, but function well in close confines." Memories arose of past conflicts, the multitude of weapons flashed before her, their contextual strengths and weaknesses all the more apparent in hindsight. Lessons learned through experience, paid in blood and sweat, were hard to forget and Leea intended on taking full advantage of these. After a moment's contemplation, she expressed, "I think I'd like a slug thrower, I've used a few in the past. They have a nice trajectory, have a bit more punch to 'em for the recoil they give, and then there's no blinding light telling everybody in a mile radius where the shot came from."

The Cathar's laugh broke the quiet and startled Leea, her head whipping around to try and identify what he had seen. All she could observe was the scuffle ongoing, in particular the droid Madlad being sent sprawling. "Do you think they have this under control? Or should we start looking at air support to clear out that one?" It would not have been the first time Leea had called in a strafing run to take out a single person, probably wouldn't be the last either. There was always something amusing in it, if not terrifying in concept with some of the larger weaponry.

Talohn Atar

 

[Reeve Bralor]

V O D E

TAG: Siv Dragr , Obran , Minerva Fhirdiad

Life was battle.

The dark interior of the landing lit up like a bad spice trip as explosions and lances of blaster fire filled the void. Each beam of light illuminated the confused masses of Vong warriors, and nearly every one of the shafts of pure energy hammered into their targets.

Reeve threw himself into the thick of it, the floor shaking so hard it nearly bucked him from his feet as the rest of the fireteam opened up with their ordinance.

For a single human being, the sheer amount of sensory input would have been overwhelming. The flashes of light, the cacophony of shouts and screams, the vibrations. The mind was constantly pulled in several directions at once. But Reeve had designed a second brain that helped filter the chaos.

Ziggy had dampened the audio feed to his ears and initiated battle protocols. Instead of Reeve’s simple human grey matter trying to sift through important data and make decisions based on that data, the computer running his systems prioritized targets on his HUD by highlighting them in a maroon outline. Detected missile threats lit up green with a direction as they flew at him. And so the hardest part of the battle was simply reacting to the information that was given to him.

To live in a battle like this, you couldn’t be pinned down. To stand still was to die. Beskar or no Beskar, armor could only take so much abuse. Not to mention the fleshy underbits that the armor protected could handle only so many impacts before the sheer kinetic force would start to do damage.

But Ziggy managed that too. The virtual intelligence mapped a shifting path through the chaos with constantly updating waypoints. The path led Reeve around cover and closer to his companions as hell poured from every direction.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter how much of a technological advantage Reeve had though. Sheer numbers and human reaction times meant that he inevitably made mistakes. Impacts from thud bugs sent him to the floor more than one time. And for every new dent in his Beskar, Reeve had to grit his teeth against the impacts as they were strong enough to break bones. So far, the Mandalorian steel was holding. But if a projectile came at just the right angle and he didn’t dodge in time, Reeve was going to be in serious trouble.

His blasters continued to sing their song of death. Then the left weapon sighed nothing more than smoke.

Instinctual, genetic fear gripped at Reeve Bralors’ guts, even through the combat adrenaline. Stop moving, you die. Stop firing, you die.

But good old fashioned training snapped in immediately. Bralor descended into muscle memory as his thumb snagged the pistol catch and his wrist flicked to the side to give the ejecting gas cartridge momentum and assistance to let gravity do its job. His right blaster continued to fan any and all targets that were highlighted as the left hand fell behind him and jammed the grip of the empty blaster into the waiting cartridge harness that Ziggy already had dropping from the ordinance pack on his shoulders, waiting for him.

Writing that code had been worth its weight in platinum for where he was at now. Trying to reload blind was nearly impossible in the best of conditions. But throw some tracking sensors on the harness stem and connect it to Ziggy’s processing power, and the harness adjusted height automatically so Reeve’s blaster lined up perfectly for the quintessential combat reload.

Pistol grip met fresh cartridge and Reeve couldn’t help but flourish his blaster with a finger spin as he brought it back up and let it begin to bark fire once more.

Another impact on his back sent him to a knee, but he turned it into a shoulder roll and came up firing in the reverse direction, back toward the left of the turbolifts.

-Grenade delivery system malfunctioning-

Reeve gritted his teeth and began to focus fire on heavier armed targets. There would be no more ordinance for him today.

Then he spotted a group of Vong flanking around Obran and Siv.

Time seemed to slow for him in that instant. If the enemy got behind them and around Minerva, they were finished. Instinct told him to flee. The cold in his knees and stomach threatened to take over as fear gripped his core. He was just a kid from Nar Shaddaa who was good with building things and writing code. Not some soldier, not a warrior. What was he doing here?

Behind his T-visor, Reeve’s eyes narrowed in anger.

The line between soldiers and civilians was a narrow one. It was separated by the ability to either let the fear of harm dictate your actions, or acknowledge it and work through it. The genetic instinct and biological coding of fight or flight.

“Ziggy, prime remaining grenades in the pack!”

-Delivery chute has been dam-

“Just do it!!”

-Remaining grenade magazine has been primed-

Reeve crossed his blasters over his chest and slammed the butts of his pistols onto his shoulders, releasing the latches that kept the pack secured to his back. The pack dropped to the floor and he snatched it up with a couple of fingers off of his weapon, then slung it through the air at their rapidly collapsing rear flank.

“Frag out! Take cover!!”

The pack landed at the feet of several warriors. But they didn’t have the time to so much as snarl as Reeve dumped bolt after bolt of blaster fire into the pack.

Not even his auto dimming on the visor could keep him from going momentarily blind as the grenades detonated a handful of yards away from them. The heat and impact of the explosion took him off of his feet and sent him sailing backwards into a wall.

It was only a few precious seconds later that Reeve regained his senses and realized it wasn’t a wall at all. Rather, it was Obran’s back.

Blasters raised yet again and even though he struggled to do so, Reeve rose with them. His breath was coming ragged in his helmet, and he could taste blood in his mouth. Green flashes lit up his HUD as thud bugs whizzed through the smoking crater he’d created.

If he moved, Obran would take them full in the back.

Reeve wasn’t a kid from Nar Shaddaa anymore. And even though he’d never met Obran before this day, the bigger man was still his brother.

Without thinking about it, Reeve crossed his arms over his face and took the impact meant for Obran on his forearms, one of those impacts cut straight through his vambrace computer and reduced it to sparking ruin.

None of that mattered though.

He was a Mandalorian.

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