The King is Dead. Long Live the Queen (Mandalorian Empire)

[Tal Vizsla]

Well... Kriff.

This was SUPPOSED to be a gathering of the Alor's to discuss the threat of the sith. Two of whom had literally been right in front of them the entire time. And yet, they still couldn't fathom the idea of putting aside this petty macho bull-poodoo about who gets to be in charge for another couple hours.

And they had the gall to call Yasha the child.

Tal's hand rose and impacted the face of his buy'ce with a subtle "tink* as armored palm met reinforced faceplate.

Idiots.

But you know what? Fine. They all want to behave like children squabbling over a favorite toy? Alright then. Time to take away the toy.

He began moving through the crowd deliberately, his armored form pushing aside those that stood in his way as if they were nothing more than the toddlers he currently believed them to be. It didn't take him long to reach the throne, and the hammer lifted from his back to settle in his hand as he stepped up on the dais. If Vilaz or the others were still there, he paid them no heed as he stopped in front of that infernal chair. Ra had been able to use it to great effect, but now it was nothing more than a curse left in his wake.



CRASH!!!!


The room shook as he brought the hammer down with every ounce of his strength, shattering the back of the throne into a thousand tiny splinters and sending them careening off into the crowd.



CRASH!!!!!!


The second blow cracked the seat in two, sending splinters of both arms surging into the crowd, though Tal really didn't give a kriff if anyone noticed or not.



CRASH!!!!!!!!


The third reduced it to little more than a stump atop the dais, which was itself now cracked and splintered throughout.

There. Stupid karking chair.

[member="Shia Kryze"] [member="Tamara Wren"] [member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Amanda Kryze "][member="Dorn Skirata"] [member="Kyra"] [member="Ronan Vizsla"] [member="Caius Fett"] [member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Kalad Shysa"] [member="Baiko no Kaho"] [member="Kaden Mantis"] [member="Rach Vizla"] [member="Darth Carnifex"] [member="Silas Mantis"] [member="Kaine Australis"]​

 

[Karsan Munin]

The world became silent to Karsan. He only had one singular target. Everything was confusing. Brother against brother. Again.

Karsan pulled his a carbine from a fallen Mandalorian and checked the charge. It was nearly full. He pulled the bolt back, readying the weapon. It hissed with power. Forward, Karsan marched, and squeezed the trigger- right at the figure of [member="Darth Carnifex"].

Karsan let out a war cry, calmly walking and firing his weapon right at Kaine. If successful, he would dispatch the entire magazine at his person. He wanted revenge for what the man put him through. For what he did in the name of that man.

He didn't deserve to live, let alone be here.

He only deserved to die.

 

[Lemon]

Fett, just like the others, stood defiant against this pretender and it was now that her forces lashed out against the unwilling. Munin unleashed his dogs against the members of Clan Fett, Shysa and Vizsla, to what extent was lost throughout all the anarchy that had unfolded. The Palace, however irrelevant, was a sea of mismatched colors and beskar. The blood of Mandalorians stained the marble, and their bodies cracked the tiles beneath them. Clan Fett retaliated with force, just as willing to tear down said throne and palace - reinstating the traditional ways of the Mandalorian. Rather than whatever this conglomerate of mess the new generation had instilled. If anything, it was disgusting.

Why did Mantis long for his challenge? Did she simply deem him a worthy adversary, or was it something more? As of now he claim was untested and illegitimate in the eyes of not only himself but countless others. As it stood, however, she needed someone capable of holding such title to face her, but he would not falter. The young woman desired the role whilst Fett would take it with reluctance, as an true Mandalorian would; and she had said it so herself, Fett was true to the core. To him? She was not, and thus pretender suited.

The Munin Clansmen were attacking the Bounty Hunter, though. One wielded a beskad as the other nothing but his fists. They closed the gap quickly and as a result he was not able to bring his blaster up in time, instead letting go of it and allowing it to hang by it's sling instead, resting against the green chest piece. As the man on the left lunged forwards with his beskad, the Bounty Hunter snatched at his arm after stepping out of the way, rotating him with a swift movement and pulling him against Fett; placing an arm around his throat and keeping him immobile. With a swift movement he snatched at the blaster pistol in it's holster and fired rapidly in an upward motion, killing the man opposite them. Fett released his grip, kicking away the man he once held before firing a single bolt upon the jetpack. It fizzled before being set off, causing the Munin to soar upwards, and then crashing into a approaching group of Munin's, and then exploding.

Fett's head swiveled towards the throne as it crashed. Good. It was gone. Now for the Palace, and then the girl.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"] | [member="Kalad Shysa"] | [member="Rach Vizla"] | [member="Caius Fett"] | [member="Vilaz Munin"] | [member="Yasha Mantis"] | [member="Dorn Skirata"] | [member="Ember Rekali"] | [member="Silas Mantis"]​

 

[Darth Athora]

Another day of hard work was complete.

Kervo walked out of speeder bike mechanic he had found himself working at since the end of the Civil War. It wasn't nearly as exciting as his previous life as a thief or the civil war, but it paid the bills, kept food on the table for [member="Adora Namadi"], so it was good enough for him. There was a time for the Blood Rider to emerge, then there were times when Kervo had to be Kervo.

But, something had occurred. Something that unleashed the Blood Rider in Kervo from it's cage. The skies above Sundari were painted with turbolaser fire and Kervo was far too nosy to ignore what was going on. He jumped on onto his speeder bike and chimed in on an old Death Watch comm channel, hoping to hear from one of his old comrades.

"If anyone is still on this channel, know that Kervo Namadi is ready to fight. Give me a time and place and I'm there."

[member="Shia Kryze"] | [member="Yasha Mantis"] | [member="Ronan Vizsla"] | [member="Caius Fett"] | [member="Kaden Mantis"]​

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Before he could hear [member="Shia Kryze"]'s reply, he caught the sight of [member="Karsan Calnov"] moving in towards him out of the corner of his eye. A carbine was in his hand, fully loaded, and as the weapon was trained on the Dark Lord, Carnifex instinctively moved to face his assailant.

"Father, watch out!"

Another body flung itself between the Emperor of the Sith and the assassin, absorbing the shots with his body to protect as much of Kaine's body as he could. Each shot sent the young Ancius reeling backwards, smoke billowing out from holes punched through his torso by the rogue Mandalorian's volley. He collapsed to the floor on his back, blood leaking from what parts of his grievous wounds had not been cauterized by the heat of the carbine's ferocious assault.

He was dead within the minute.

Carnifex lunged forward, hands reaching out to grasp the Mandalorian by the chestplate and hurl him across the room. For even without the aid of the Force, the Dark Lord of the Sith was a titanic warrior of rippling muscle and honed instinct.

And his eyes shone with unabashed hate.

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia Kryze agreed with every single one of [member="Karsan Calnov"]'s sentiments, if she was absolutely honest. The noise of the shattering throne - her families throne, as previously noted - caused her to look away as the Dark Lord made his stance perfectly clear on the matter.

She nodded matter of factly, opened her mouth to reply and then snapped her head around as that warriors sixth sense alerted her as to an attack on their 'prisoner'. She felt her muscles tense to throw herself into the way of the on-coming fire. Then a tiny, icy trickle of thought entered her brain.

He'll just come back, if he dies, even here. He's also a fully grown adult Epicanthix with a warriors training under his belt. And he's not a formal prisoner, which means... the Codex doesn't apply.

She didn't move, standing calmly as the fight erupted past her. She didn't even reach down to try and heal the dying son.

See you in hell, boy.

[member="Karsan Calnov"] [member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Karsan Munin]

Close the distance. Get close. Get angry, big man.

Karsan smiled in Kaine's face as he gripped the man by his chestplate.

"How's it feel, you son of a queen?"

Kaine threw him, and he hit the ground, rolling to minimize the impact. Karsan stood up tall, and put his fists up.

"You hit like a queen."

He didn't.

"You're an ugly son of a queen."

Karsan crouched down and patted his hands with the soil beneath them. He marched towards Kaine, then put his hands up in a shockboxing stance, closing the distance between the two. Kaine had trained him well. And he was going to feel his wrath. He faked a left-handed jab, but hooked his right, aiming for Kaine's jaw. This felt better than snacks. A lot better.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

The whole affair went down as it usually did when someone called the Alor together. Chaos. Bloodshed. Gray frowned at the sounds of it all as this was everything wrong with his people right now. Instead of challenging [member="Yasha Mantis"] , they chose to berate her and egg her on as if it was her duty to attack them instead of them issuing a duel. They wanted to spill Mandalorian blood for no other reason than because they could. It was not what their people were about. Mandalorian blood should only flow while protecting and providing for family, clan, and Mandalore. All of this was pointless and just made them appear weak in front of the Dark Lord of the Sith [member="Darth Carnifex"] . All they were doing was telling the Sith that the alliance was not worth the effort and it would be easier to just take over their people. It was foolish and the worst of them all was [member="Vilaz Munin"] . Gray had thought he was a man of sense. A bloodthirsty one but still a man of sense. Why did he have to shoot off a rocket in a compact room? Did he not know how explosives worked? From there it just had gotten worse.

Gray was trying to decide what to do when he felt a touch on his back. [member="Baiko no Kaho"] spoke to him and mentioned something about [member="Ember Rekali"] ghost forming a Force Storm. Wonderful. They might not have to worry about killing themselves off or the Sith getting them because a pissed off dead man was going to do something stupid over policies put into place by a warmongering tyrant who couldn't even be bothered to lead his people for more than a few months. Why did people keep choosing to follow him? But before much could be done, he heard yelling from [member="Dorn Skirata"] then everything shook. The sound of shattering glass followed from the same direction that Dorn had spoken from. No one was paying attention to it though as they were all worried about having their measuring contest with a 20 year old girl. And they wanted to claim force users were a threat when the most blood spilled was by hands lacking the ability to wield it.

Blind and lacking any weapons, Gray didn't care about the sounds going on around him. He just took off in the direction of the sound of glass as soon as he heard it. He had no force sight or instinctive astrogation to rely on to guide him. No he was running through the battle blindly in hopes of saving a life rather than taking one today. He felt weapons and shots glance off of his armor while he somehow managed to not trip on any dead bodies or slip in blood. Too much was happening at once for him to do anything other to single mindedly move forward. Eventually he felt himself hit the window so he reached out with his right hand to try and grab Dorn before he hit the ground. The mag locks in his boots anchoring him to the building as best they could. His only hope was he had made it in time and his crushgaunts could get enough of a grip to let him pull Dorn up.

 

[Yasha Cadera]

Chaos incarnate. ​

The mighty wolf hammer struck upward with such force that it tore the cyborg’s head near-clean off. Yasha cursed inwardly, focussing on the momentum. The hammer was heavy, but not too heavy for the young woman.

She was stronger than she looked, more resilient on top of that. These people didn’t know what she’d done, what she’d been through and that was the problem. They had to experience the Hell Wolf before they could see her value.

Chaos incarnate. ​

Was this not what the Mandalorians became, when challenged? This day was a lesson in leadership Ra refused to teach, a lesson in how far Mandalorians would go for the sake of slating their ego like one more night in a brothel. They might need to count their coin when done, but every fight was a reaffirmation in one thing.

The Mand’alor was not absolute controller of the realm, like Ra Vizsla on his throne, mandating everything to the nth degree. ​

​

The Mand’alor merely steered the Clans and pointed, and trusted that the Clans would do what they did best. ​

“Mandalorians don’t worship a house. We work toward an ideal, [member="Ronan Vizsla"].” Yasha took this insight to heart as @Kyra’s mechanical body shattered and clunked and fell. Swept by a foot. [member="Tal Vizsla"] acted with authority and verve, and Yasha was both glad and momentarily shocked. This was not Ra's Mandalore anymore. It was hers, and she had plenty to put up with from her people, before they settled in line.

“I don’t need a chair to be Mand’alor.” Using the distraction of the crashes of Tal’s own hammer, Yasha butted the hammer forward and toward [member="Ronan Vizsla"]’s gut.

She was faster now, gauging his speed, catching the feel for the combat, her 6’2” height in a stance meant for stability and maneuverability. Diagonal, ready. Once the hammer swung toward the Alor, Yasha flicked the control and let loose a burst of electric current straight to Ronan Vizsla, which had the potency and closeness of range to fry a lesser man.

[member="Koda Fett"] was in her periphery. She alerted to his presence, seeing him move. There were many in his way.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Bold words for a dead man."

They closed the distance, and Karsan's first connected squarely with the Dark Lord's jaw. Yet, he didn't seem entirely phased by the impact; for the Dark Lord had long since relinquished his tactile sensations, and he could not longer feel physical touch.

He was, in essence, immune to pain.

Carnifex cupped both of his hands together, raising both arms over his head, and bringing them down on top of Karsan with the intent to drive him down to the floor. Failing that, he would attempt to sideswipe the Mandalorian off of his feet with a powerful backhand.

[member="Karsan Calnov"]​

 

[Karsan Munin]

"Says the dickhead who doesn't know when to stay dead."

Karsan was fighting a big, strong man. But Karsan was a fast, lean man. As soon as his arms came up and over his head, Karsan backed the hell up, but not enough to get out of arm's way. The sideswipe made him fall. He was on the ground, and looked up at Kaine.

He wriggled his torso, and placed his left foot behind Kaine's right ankle, and his right foot in front of Kaine's leg. He gave it a sharp twist. Hopefully, the big man would not have time to recover, and would either stumble and lose his balance, or fall entirely.

Karsan had to use the big man's size against him.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord fell to one knee, but he did not tumble entirely.

Another Mandalorian stumbled into Carnifex as he backed up from another aggressor, but before he could even spin around to survey this new threat the powerful hands of the Emperor grasped his head and neck. Yanking the Mandalorian down across his bent knee, Carnifex relieved him of his carbine and beskad, jamming the latter squarely up into the gap between his helmet and chestplate.

Using the corpse as a shield, Carnifex readied the carbine he had pilfered from the body and opened fire on Karson with short controlled bursts. Long before becoming a Sith, Kaine Zambrano had been a decorated member of the Imperial Intelligence Agency and was proficient in a number of firearms.

It wasn't often that his old training came in handy, but now was as good of a time as ever.

[member="Karsan Calnov"]​

 

[Karsan Munin]

Kaine was a member of a Intelligence gathering, operative branch. That much he remembered. He snarled when Kaine telegraphed. Karsan was not one to stand idly by. He rolled onto his stomach, and throttled his jetpack on. The jetpack carried him off to safety, but he didn't have time to balance his flight, and he landed hard on his side, flailing.

Kaine had a shield. What did Karsan have. Karsan had an idea.

Karsan turned his body. This was going to hurt.

He aimed for Kaine's legs. And activated the jetpack.

If he could get Kaine on the ground, he could bend that big bastard to do whatever he wanted. The problem was getting him there.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

 

[Kaden Farr]

The scene around them has devolved into a mess. The gift Sel has given to [member="Yasha Mantis"] was smashed by Yasha’s war hammer. All of this because [member="Vilaz Munin"] was a hot head and launched a missile into the crowd. Had he let Yasha deal with this as he should, this fight would be contained. At this point, it was an all out war.

Kaden was pissed.

These who didn’t march with the vode suddenly had an opinion. It was time to settle this as Ra would have. Kaden had to show them what a man who had lived seven years in the world was capable of. He drew his beskad and walked about the shadows. If @Rach Vizsla was going to run his mouth without laying down an actual challenge, then the old man needed to die. All those who stood to oppose Yasha needed to find an end. Whether they were sent to the Manda, or placed in prison, this coup needed to stop.

No one had engaged the old man who could only seem to run his mouth. Kaden had been with [member="Darth Carnifex"] at least had his eye on him. Anicus had sacrificed his life to save his father. This could end the alliance faster than Kaden could.

[member="Strider Garon"] used to say something about beware of old men in a profession where men die young. Kaden wasn’t going to take any chances. Coming up from behind Rach, Kaden sent his fist flying at the back of the man’s neck. The beskar katars in his gauntlets slid out hoping to find their home in the base of the man’s head just under the skull.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"] [member="Silas Mantis"] [member="Caius Fett"] [member="Koda Fett"] [member="Merrax Quez"] [member="Kaine Australis"] [member="Sel Wyrick"]

 

[Shia Kryze]

Shia remembered an old song her buir had sung.

'Are you the prey?
No we are the hunters!'

Not today it seemed, but she could, and would change that. She took one last look around, then stalked out through the palace corridors, breaking into a sprint as soon as she was out of sight - effect was one thing, speed was also of the essence. The corridors got smaller, the dust on the floors got heavier. She'd been shocked when she'd found this locked away in an old, unused hanger. She hadn't had the chance to bring it to anyone's attention - or consider returning it to it's owner just yet.

She slammed into the dust-covered security door with enough force it... well, barely even moved, she'd feel that tomorrow, then keyed in the access override and slipped into the hanger where the Bullet Time sat, unmarred and still perfectly maintained by the hanger droids. She hurried up the access ramp and inside, the old codes had been purged - although she was pretty sure Merrill could get access if he wanted, she rather hoped he'd let her borrow it for a good cause. She'd found the new codes in a storage vault five levels up, along with... lets just say the Mandalorian's were good hoarders. So good, it appeared they had a lot of gear they didn't know they had.

She threw herself into the stripped down pilots couch and went through emergency pre-flight, triggered a comm request to Baiko. "I need airspace clearance now if you want someone to catch that karking apprentice!" Then redlined the startup sequence.

This ship was sweet, insanely so, in fact. She had to get herself something like this.

[member="Calina Ovmar"] [member="Baiko no Kaho"]

 

[Silas Mantis]

He had a fraction of a second to react, to dig in his heels and leap backwards, fire cascading over his beskar, licking burning away some of his undersuit but leaving him relatively unharmed as he jetted backwards. Why were they doing this? Had they not just recovered from such a devastating civil war? Before he could even lunge forward the call from [member="Dorn Skirata"] about the city falling under attack froze him in his tracks.

What was happening?

What even was this day anymore?

He looked to [member="Caius Fett"] and then out, beyond the palace where a supposed attack was happening. It gnawed at him again, the impulse to put away his weapon and face a greater enemy. The Fett had attacked a Munin, but Koda meant to kill his niece, he could not allow that, could not tolerate it. They all had to die.

Snapping up one hand a wrist mounter blaster spat off a shot at Caius' stomach. The whole Empire could burn today, it didn't much matter to him right now, only his family did. Everything they had built seemed to be coming apart at the seams, and the only way to stop it was blood so it seemed.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Karsan came hurtling towards him, skidding across the ground as his jetpack propelled him forward. He didn't rise into the air or slow his advance, which could only mean he deigned to use himself as a battering ram against the Dark Lord.

Carnifex rolled the body of his meat-shield over onto the floor, right in Karsan's path.

A wide side-step would take him out of the errant Mandalorian's path, allowing him to effectively flank him with the remaining shots in his pilfered carbine.

[member="Karsan Calnov"]​

 

[Quoron Cadera]

Quoron felt a strong sense of shame as he burst into the palace. His own clansmen fighting and killing those that they fought beside just days before. [member="Ronan Viszla'] would never be an Alor he knelt to. The leader that Quoron followed into battle was [member="Yasha Mantis"] he saw her honor and bravery and would die before betraying her. Ronan was no one's Alore any more. He flew over the the colors of his clan and yelled. "Brothers and sisters of the Viszla clan! Gaze upon the madman who claims to be your leader. He has no right to his standing, He has no right to call you to spill blood for his insanity. I say to you now and until I breathe my last fight for your Mandalore! Fight for Mandalore the Hell Wolf. Follow me into battle and we shall restore the honor that has been taken from us this day!"

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Rach was an old man. His one good eye locked on Munin, who was avoiding him for one reason or another, more or less confirming to the Old Fang everything he had feared. Weakness has snuck its way into his people, they had become puppets under Ra. Great Ra had let them become cowardly and weak. The man, the thing, Rach had wanted so badly to unite his people had let them become dogs. Well beaten dogs.

If he was going to be a servant of the Sith, he wasn't going to take orders from a lacky. If Ra had been a mongrel licking at the boots of the Dark Lord, then the Dark Lord was the true and rightful Mand'alor and all these claimants were just fishing for a title. A title of slavery and servitude.

The old fang stalked closer and closer to Akaan, he would carve out at least a little of this weakness in his last great act. Men like Rach were set to their devices, they planned for these things, especially when they encouraged it to happen. With just the knife, he leveled it towards [member="Vilaz Munin"] who was still some distance away. One hand adjusted the oversized breastplate and the thing hidden beneath it, little light blinking rapidly.

Perhaps if he'd been younger, or had both eyes. Perhaps if a missile hadn't busted or tore his ear drums. Perhaps if he'd had a helmet he would have seen the snake coming from behind the old warrior. But he didn't.

Kaden's blow went unseen and unstopped. His fist jammed into the base of his skull with tremendous force. He was just an old man with a knife after all. Everything went dark for the old man, but he smiled widely in his final instant. Quite proud of himself.

The little light stopped blinking suddenly.

[member="Ronan Vizsla"] would know, his helm would likely show the suddenly flatline of the Old Fang's life sign monitor. The Dead Man's Trigger suddenly clicked, the thing beneath his chestplate, much smaller than the building levelers of Xizor's palace, detonated in a sudden flash of green flames.

Green fire disintegrated through the old man's breastplate and from his back, burning out in all directions with a concussive wave pushing out ahead of the destruction.

[member="Kaden Mantis"] [member="Yasha Mantis"] [member="Vilaz Munin"] [member="Ronan Vizsla"] [member="Kalad Shysa"] [member="Koda Fett"] [member="Caius Fett"] [member="Silas Mantis"] [member="Tal Vizsla"] [member="Kaine Australis"] [member="Gray Raxis"] @Baiko @Everyone in the Throne Room
(Its a deadman's trigger disruptor bomb, go nuts)

 

[Amanda Kryze]

Amanda was in deep it seemed, she saw one man coming towards her and reacted quickly by ducking and turning as she fired right into his back as she looked into horror...she just killed a fellow mandalorian...wjay the kark! She stepped back and nearly vomited. However she felt strong and dropped her gun as another cane right at her. The man swung at her stomach as she moved to the side and brought her fist to his chin sending him back

She glanced to the middle of the room as she watched green fire head towards her, she cursed loudly and started running away leaving the man she was fighting to his fate...this was beyond insane! All because one person declared herself mand'alor! Suddenly she looked around, where was her alor at! She hoped to the manda she escaped that fire