Completed Invasion of the Kaelta System

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Silver

Master
Jedi Order
Galactic Empire
Fringe
Mandalorian Clans
Jul 20, 2019
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THE GREAT MANDALORIAN CAMPAIGN: ACT I

...CHAPTER 2: INVASION OF TOOLA

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Jetting out of hyperspace was the small battlegroup, consisting of four Knight-Class Corvettes, two Crusader-Class Frigates, and the MMS Jaster an Adjucator-Class Heavy Cruiser which was the command ship of this particular battlegroup; found on the extreme side of the Kaelta System outside scanning by the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the depot which they had built upon the world. A Depot which would greatly serve the future of the True Mandalorian Union. Not only did the Union need the resources within the CIS supply depot, but the world would make a great center of forward operations and home for Mandalorian Foundlings to be trained as Mandalorian Super-Commandos in the future.

Standing on the bridge of the MMS Jaster was none other than Zaun Mereel, joined at the side by Vice-Admiral Armen Farr-Deshra. He observed the space before them as two of the four Knight-Class Corvettes engaged silent running and began moving to the location where they would set ambush on the CIS' Providence-Class Destroyer and four Munificent-Class Frigates. He then ordered the other two to engage full stealth and scout the system in it's entirety while maneuvering the MMS Jaster as well as the Crusader-Class Frigates MMS Shae and MMS Feruun ahead from the system's edge. The two frigates fanned out to flank the MMS Jaster, moving far enough that impact weapons like proton torpedos would not catch them yet close enough to still support the Heavy Cruiser.

"This is Vice-Admiral Farr-Deshra, prepare the net boys. I want all ambushers in position just as we planned in the briefing. Scouts are to look for any enemy forces hiding away from Toola and her defense fleet. The main group is progressing into sensor range as planned." Spoke the human male with a full head of blonde hair, wearing a union naval uniform. Standing aside him was Zaun, who borne his crimson-white-black mandalorian armor bearing the colors of his clan. The armored form of Zaun nodded appreciatively at his friend.
 
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Aboard the Providence-Class Destroyer the Quarren Commander of the vessel was going through some information that had been coming in. He was trying to keep up to date with the grumblings that had been going through different channels with the Confederacy. Ever since his request for further support as his position had not been given any response he had started to get quite wary about just what was going on. The pilot droids that surrounded him just continued to keep an eye on the ship's systems and the information that came in from the orbital sensors. To the droids, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going on at all.

For the commander though what he had been gathering through his information channels made him somewhat nervous. He decided to just ignore and turned his attention away from his data terminal to look about and make sure that the droids were continuing to work without any issues. It seemed like it would be just another day for him here, out where the Confederacy didn’t really feel like it was necessary to keep too much of a watchful eye.
 
Forming the spearhead was the MMS Jaster, the Adjucator-Class Heavy Cruiser with the two Crusader-Class Frigates as the vanguards flanking the Heavy Cruiser; the Heavy Cruiser's forward arc bearing four heavy turbolaser batteries each containing four weapons per emplacement along with two dual medium turbolaser batteries which contained double the weapons per emplacement which made the vessel's forward salvo consist of twenty heavy turbolasers and sixteen medium turbolasers. Meanwhile, each of the flanking Crusaders contained twelve light turbolasers and one dual heavy ion cannon making the formation quite the threat to the Munificent-Class Cruisers but the Providence-Class provided the greatest threat.

As soon as the three vessels were within Broadcast range, and radio silence befell the formation - relying on laser dish communications over Hypernet or Signal-based comms, a hail went out to the commander aboard the Providence-Class Destroyer. Standing aboard the bridge greeting the depot commander was Zaun Mereel in mandalorian beskar'gam save the helmet and his second the Vice-Admiral Armen Farr-Deshra in his naval uniform.

While the hail was going on, the two remaining scout ships moved into ambush positions.

"Greetings, Commander. I am Zaun Mereel, leader of the True Mandalorian Union and I bring you an offer in regards to this system which you watch over, and in regards to your future at something greater than commander of the defense garrison of such a backwater star system. I offer you glory and riches at the head of a fine fleet of Mandalorian Vessels. At the head of a new Battlegroup which is under construction as of right now. All you need to do is surrender, and your path to glory will commence. Fight, and you will be destroyed."
 
The Quarren Commander was lazily watching the droids at work when one of them suddenly turned and started to report that they were picking up possible unknown vessels in the system. The news made the Commander shake his head in annoyance, wondering if it was just the usual pirate raid that he would have to fight off. But what happened in the next couple of seconds caused all those expectations to crumble. As the communication came through the Commander gave an exasperated sigh as he was given information on the ships that were hailing out to him. Did he really want to try and fight against these apparent Mandos? Not really, if anything he would just surrender and then back out of the whole commander position in general. Maybe retire somewhere quiet finally.

“Greetings to you, I am Commander Toka.” The Quarren Commander started off. “Normally I would defend my position as best I could but considering the current situation that has recently befallen me that isn’t the wisest choice.” The Commander said with an annoyed sigh. “I agree to surrender. I’ll have my ships' power down and go over terms with you.” The Quarren Commander said but then screamed out as blaster fire rang out. One of the OOM Pilot droids had taken out a blaster and judiciously executed the Quarren Commander.

“Commander has gone against Prime Directive. Assuming Command to continue the Prime Directive.” The droid said and then ordered all vessels to combat stations. It gave the quick command to have concentrated fire shot out at what appeared to be the main enemy vessel. All weapons opened fire on the MMS Jaster, the CIS ships apparently deciding to try and do as much damage as possible to the head of the snake.
 
Zaun couldn't help but smirk as he watched the OOM Droid judiciously execute the Quarren, making a hand wave to the many officers manning the bridge of the Heavy Cruisers just as the enemy ships entered a state of combat readiness. Communication was then cut immediately, as all three ships focused their fire as follows; each of the Crusader-Class Frigates would choose a Munificent-Class to focus their firepower upon. Additionally, fighter crews were being scrambled - resulting in six squadrons of sleek Z-95 Headhunters to launch from bays, but these weren't your normal Z-95s instead finely-tuned and lightly modified by the Mandalorians in a variation they called 'Variant B', these could out-fly even clone Z-95s. And they would need it among the swarm however they were not alone as they were also joined by four lances of twelve HWK-Series Droids in Aerospace Configuration. Point-defense laser turrets would instantly target any droids which got too close to one of these three vessels which also aided with the screen.

However the four Munificent-Class Frigates were soon bombarded from their weak flanks by the four Knight-Class Corvettes in ambusher formation, not only in silent running but also practically invisible with their Stygium Cloaking Generators, now revealed. Each Knight-Class' quad ion cannons and medium turbolasers focused their fire on a singular point of contact. As the ambushers joined the fray, the MMS Jaster throttled forwards, current deflector shielding down to 50% strength as it moved into broadside of the Providence and released a massive payload of not only turbolaser fire from it's workhorse twelve heavy turbolaser batteries, but also released a full swath of port-side boarding torpedos.

These torpedos used a disruption warhead casing to puncture weakened shield grids, discarding their payload then using grinders to dig through enemy battleplate. Roughly 144 Mandos were in these torpedoes' pods. Each Torpedo was made of Duranium, while the pods themselves were made of Beskar and had both full inertial dampeners and a targeting computer. The plan was to capture the Providence. As much as Zaun would appreciate having the MMS Canderous for a mission like this, it was still about another year from completion without the materials that could be found within the Depot.

"Take down the Frigates first then focus fire on the Providence! You may destroy the frigates but for the Destroyer fire only to disable!" commanded Vice-Admiral Armen Farr-Deshra. As for Zaun, he had already left the bridge to plan the ground assault, but was always keyed in to the events on the bridge thanks to his Comlink.
 
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Two (2) of the Munificent-class frigates began to shudder and spark as the Knight-class corvettes unloaded ion blasts and turb-laser fire into their vulnerable stern and engine arrays, rendering the ships near helpless.

The other two (2) frigates faired slightly better with their hull plating taking the initial burden of the surprise attack. Increasing in speed, the two frigates split-up fore and aft of the Providence currently broadsiding against the MMS-Jaster to maneuver their forward heavy cannons into a firing solution. Moments later, the guns thundered out rounds to pound the shields and hull of the MMS-Jaster.

Meanwhile, on the Providence, OOM-338 was trying to correct his unfortunate situation.
"Corporal, we are being boarded. Activate security droids and direct them to overwhelm and repel these marauders."

Corporal B1 - "Roger Roger"

OOM-338 - "Good, now lieutenant, launch all available squadrons......"

Lieutenant B1 - "Apologies sir, but the port-side hanger entrance has been heavily damaged."

OOM-338 - "That is unfortunate. Continue to launch what fighters we can from starboard hanger doors."

Lieutenant B1 - "Roger, roger."

OOM-338 continued with his orders, "Lieutenant, activate bow and port side tractor beams onto their heavy cruiser. We cannot let them out maneuver us. Keep them at a broadside firing solution. All port batteries, fire."

As the monotone droid commands continued, the Providence lashed out with four (4) of its tractor beams in an attempt to anchor the MMS Jaster off its port-side. It's heavy quad-turbo lasers and smaller cannons followed with salvos of rounds at the Mando cruiser, attempting to pierce the remaining shields and damage/destroy her heavier gun emplacements.

Remaining CIS starfighters began to launch in a late and ineffective fighter screen, as the Mandalorian T-65's chewed thru their ranks.

The Corporal B1 turned to OOM-338, "Sir, the have already lost seven (7) security squads to the boarding marauders."

OOM-338, "Send in droidekas immediately to defend the primary passageways. How many casualites have we inflicted with our losses?"

Corporal B1, "so far, only a single unit......err, scans indicate multiple enemies are heading to the bridge."

OOM-338, " Their success rate defies all calculations.........seal off the bridge blast doors and begin emergency protocols."

"Roger, roger". The Corporal B1 turned to issue the emergency order to prime the ship's self-destruct failsafe.

@Silver
 
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As soon as the two Munificent-Class Warships broke under withering assault, the two Knight-Class Corvettes which were currently focusing their fire broke from the remaining hulks of the two and swept forwards to join their sister ships, who as of this point were moving to engage the Providence-Class from the behind in attempts to sweep the engine block of the massive destroyer with their weapon suites hoping to take some pressure off the MMS Jaster which had been brought down to 40% shield strength. The Jaster, however was far from being put out of the fight as it's turbolaser batteries swept over the two Frigates - each frigate bring focused down from two heavy turbolaser batteries and two dual medium turbolaser batteries. Meanwhile, the heavy ion cannon battery focused on one of the two Frigates in an attempt to alleviate the pressure brought on by the approaching warships. Finally, the two Crusader-Class Frigates moved to take on the two Munificent-Class head-on. Shields were now down to 34% from the combined assault.

Meanwhile, aboard the Providence-Class Destroyer....

144 individuals had been separated into two forces of seventy-four, or six squadrons of twelve, each with their own task at hand. Task Force Sigma-Alpha moved throughout the Providence and towards it's bridge and came under fire of the B-1 Battle Droids and B-2 Super Battle Droids which the ship used as security. The mandalorian warriors brought their EE-3 Blaster Rifles to bear and began to blast through the B-1s while micro-rockets from their wrist rocket launchers were used to either clear out large areas or destroy the B-2s which impeded them the most. Due to their Beskar'gam very few actually took wounds and only one of their number were incapacitated during the push-through assault. The group had scaled roughly 75% of the space between their starting point and the bridge, but were halted immediately when Droidekas and a larger number of B-2s had positioned in the wide chamber before the lift to take them to the deck which held the bridge.

In synchronized movements, the majority of the Mandalorians parted to the sides and took cover, continuing to issue blaster fire. Meanwhile, twelve of the new Mandalorian Sentinels bearing Juggernaut-Type Beskar'gam released fire from their Rotary Heavy Blaster Rifles as they broke into a run towards the Droidekas. Flanking Sentinels released volleys from their shoulder rocket launchers which launched the larger cousins of the micro-rockets earlier, softening resistance within the room before withering rotary fire bore them down. Eventually, the squadron clashed with the Droidekas, using their Beskar Pikes to pierced through weakened and non-existant shields. Finally the squadron of Mandalorian Sentinels moved to block access to follow behind their brethren.

Mandalorian Crusaders brought out Thermatite Charges and armed them on the blast doors. Blowing the charges tore chunks of plating but did not blow entirely through the blast doors - which surprised the crusaders. Instead, a group of six crusaders pulled plasma cutters from the toolbag Sigma-Alpha had brought and began cutting through the blast door. Their brothers below would have to stop an encroaching assault from Droidekas while this went on.

Meanwhile, also aboard the Providence-Class Destroyer....

Task Force Sigma-Beta moved the opposite direction from Task Force Sigma-Alpha, and had brought two of the three large crates whereas Sigma-Alpha had merely taken seveal bags out of the third. Moving with the crates had slowed the group however they only had 25% of the trek which Sigma-Alpha had laid out before them. This time, the Mandalorian Sentinels formed the vanguard and passed through droid security forces with ease. Eventually, arriving within the Destroyer's engineering sector, the Task Force came to be oppressed by a number of Droidekas which were placed to defend the location. Sentinels and Crusaders released Heavy Rockets and Micro-Rockets in kind towards the position of the Droidekas as the task force separated into two groups.

The squadron of Mandalorian Sentinels and two squadrons of Mandalorian Crusaders would continue to attack the droidekas before drawing their vibroblades and beskar pikes then charging the Droidekas outright. The other group, consisting of three squadrons of Crusaders, took one of the large crates and moved to attempt to circumvent the skirmish altogether. Should they be successful, this group opened the crate and placed ion charges on the engine block and power core of the Providence, making sure to place the bombs in such a way they would not also take out secondary power.

Meanwhile, in space...

Seventy-two Z-95b Starfighters were embroiled in warfare against one-hundred and twenty droid Vulture Starfighters; superior shielding and beskar-reinforced armor plating keeping the ships in combat for the starfighter that, even though modified past the parameters of even the Clone Z-95s were not able to fully match a drone ship which didn't need to waste space on inertial dampeners, life-sustainers, and a hyperdrive. Regardless, the Mandalorians were at the edge of skill which a human or near-human pilot could display and they did use superior tactics of focusing three-man groups on single Vultures rather than fighting using Horde Tactics (as the Vultures tended to do so). Luckily, the starfighters were joined by fourty-eight HWK Ravager Droids in Flight Configuration, able to more than match the Vultures and had the edge of Beskar on the droid Tri-Fighters. One squadron of Z-95bs broke from interception doctrine to move for the more damaged of the two Munificents, releasing proton torpedo payloads just after ion bombardment.
 

Space Battle
One of the first ambushed Munificent frigates continued to float without engine power, but still fired its secondary turbo-laser and anti-starfighter batteries, though this was mostly just suppressive fire on the edge of the primary engagement zone. The other frigate had been hit harder, and listed away as her hull began to break apart from the corvette's ambush. The 122 Vulture droids had been thinned down to fewer than 50 in the heated dogfights with the Mando fighters. They had taken some foes with them, but only numbering in the 10s for kills as mixed orders from OOM-338 constantly had them switching from fighter screens, to attacking enemy capital ships, to fighter screens............end result being lighter than desired Mandalorian casualties as the CIS starfighters continued to drop like flies.

The two surviving frigates faired slightly better with their improved firing positions, as their forward heavy guns repeatedly struck the MMS Jaster both fore and aft, with several rounds piercing the ship's shields and striking for hull damage. That was, until the Mandalorian cruiser focused its bow turbo lasers and ion cannons on the Munificent that dared to challenge it head on.......the two ships exchanged volleys of rounds, but the Jaster proved to be the superior in armor plating thanks to her interwoven beskar and Mando ingenuity. The CIS frigate's bow began to buckle and then the hammer blow was dealt to her midships, as the Z-95s dropped a payload of proton torpedoes just as the main shield collapsed, near splitting the ship in half! The Jaster continued its forward barrage until the frigate was ripped apart from secondary explosions.

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However, the remaining CIS frigate, though also under fire, continued to return shell for shell, with its twenty-six (26) twin turbo-lasers, dual heavy ion cannon, and dual heavy turbo-laser main battery wailing away into the Jaster's stern and port side, with heavy explosions rippling across the Jaster's armor plating. This same port side was held in place by the Providence's four (4) tractor beams, and though the Jaster had inflicted heavy damage to the CIS Destroyer's port gun batteries, its remaining heavy quad-turbo laser emplacements continued to focus fire in unison with the Munificent frigate. Finally, the Providence unleashed its heavy port Ion cannon battery with all of its fire focusing on the Jaster's engine array, attempting to disable her engines.

As the Mandalorian corvettes and frigates maneuvered around the Providence, her starboard side batteries lashed out with renewed fury even as the enemy scored multiple hits to her engine cluster. Though the Providence was loosing maneuverability in any regard, its constant sheer fire power from its unscathed starboard side warned any ship within range would take heavy fire (if not face destruction) if lingering too long.

Yet, despite the success of the CIS trying to hold-on with what they had, their starfighters were dwindling by the minute, the Providence's port-side was ablaze with damage with over 65% of the guns and armor were a wreck from the sustained broadside exchanged with the MMS Jaster, and their last frigate was solely focused on the Mando cruiser leaving it exposed to counteract.


On board the Providence
OOM-338's circuits were beginning to overheat from the rapid calculations (droid anxiety) it was attempting to perform to keep up with the Mandalorians' tactics. Their main heavy Security droids defending the bridge were smoking ruin from Mando rockets and the continued sounds of plasma torches meant it was only a matter of time before the attackers made it thru the bridge's last line of defense.

The engineering decks had faired only slightly better, with their assigned droidekas unleashing sweltering cross-fire on the Mandalorian commandos who attempted to gain access. Several commandos were knocked aside in their charges, beskar armor glowing red hot from the sustained droid fire. Though even with these casualties, the attackers had still pushed thru and had secured the engineering decks. Before security camera feeds were cut, OOM-338 could see the Mandalorians rigging devices across key subsystems of the primary reactor.

"Corporal, your security defenses have failed us. There is a 87% probability that we will loose control over ships subsystems with the enemy controlling the engineering decks and soon this ship will be lost", OOM-338 wined to the B1 next to him. "Accelerate the self-destruct count down."

Corporal B1 - "Sir, that is impossible. The only way to bypass the priming protocol is to manually overload the primary reactor, which would result in immediate destruction of the ship. And with the loss of engineering deck, I have no crew to order to complete that task!"

OOM-338 thrust a droid finger against the Corporal B1's faceplate. "Corporal, I gave you an order. Manually override the reactor, immediately comply!"

Lowering its head in defeat, the Corporal B1 muttered "Roger Roger", and attempted to hail any remaining droids within the engineering bays, to no avail. "Must manually override reactor", the B1 said with resolve and quickly strode to the bridge blast doors and opened them to hurry to the engineering decks...........only to run smack into a host of bewildered Mandalorians, some who were still holding plasma cutters to break into the bridge! "Um, please excuse me? I have to overload the main reactor....."


Toola - CIS Supply Depot
The cold winds rose as night fell over the large CIS supply depot. A tall male Trandoshan stood on the lower landing fields clad in heavy furs and armored plates, gazing skyward with high powered micro-binoculars. Hrork Zyst breathed low growl as he saw the devastation the Mandalorian invaders were causing to the CIS ships in orbit. "Gaaah, there goesss our air support." He turned to his clansmen standing beside him. "That foolisssh Quarren has cost us any avenue of escape, as our remaining transports won't be able to outrun their fightersss." He handed off the binoculars and retrieved his heavy repeater rifle.

"What are your ordersss, Colonel?"

Hrork looked around at his battle-hardened mercenary company. They had been temporarily staged in command of this outpost until being shipped out to the next CIS invasion. His mates had brought glory and honor to the CIS cause and to their clan through their battle victories, but here they would be too few against the enemy fleet in orbit. Still, a battle was upon them, and they had never run from a fight.

"Let's hunker down. Doussse any unnecessary lights around depot, direct all combat droids inside the complex to set-up choke points, and move our few Vulture droids to the farside of the complex to await in ambusssssh. We must see how these invaders begin their attack. Keep all weapons quiet until they are upon us, then we'll activate the exterior laser batteries." His mates bowed and scurried to quickly follow his orders. Soon the supply depot complex was dimly lit with only a few scant B1's visible patrolling.
 
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Deflector shields rippled with energy as several tens of turbolasers scored the side of the MMS Jaster, which couldn't use it's superior mobility due to being caught within the tractor field of the Providence-Class Dreadnought. In the end, after the hammer blows of all three vessels the MMS Jaster's deflector shielding had lost power and lasers continued to strike against armor and superstructure. Most of these attacks found no purchase in the durasteel-beskar, with the occasional turbolaser beam slipping through to the superstructure in itself though only light damage to the superstructure had been taken as of thusfar. The first of the two Crusader-Class Frigates, on the other hand, looked far worse while her sister ship had barely taken any damage. The frigate had scores down her starboard side deep into the armor threatening to break through the superstructure, and the ship was currently listing out of the engagement range - moving to on-site repairs. Unfortunately for the Confederacy Armada, shields returned to the Jaster (and the listing Frigate) at 50% strength shortly after the latest salvo, it's intermittent shield batteries coming online.

However the Vice-Admiral had just about had it with the last Munificent remaining in the engagement, focusing withering ion and turbolaser fire on the frigate while the Crusader-Class which was still in good condition throttled forwards at speed, overclocking her engines to the point of near-sacrifice to ram straight into the Munificent just as the shields went down in a great mandalorian ramming maneuver. The crusader's engines cut and reversed, moving back after the ram. Should this be successful or not, all twelve concussion missile launchers flared and released a payload towards the Munificent. The crusader might be partially caught in the explosion but she still had shields.

Meanwhile...

Sigma-Alpha stood for seconds, their Mandalorian instincts kicking in as they ignored the B-1 and rushed to the bridge. They didn't give the OOM-series droid any time to activate anything on the bridge, simply gunning it down and moving to take control of the bridge. The mandalorian task-force leader instantly lowered tractor beams and shields, while Sigma-Beta in the engineering decks finished preparing charges, voicing their readiness to their comrades on the bridge. And in an instant, the Mandalorians remotely detonated the charges and the providence-class lost primary reactor power while the engine block shorted and came to stop. Weapons came to a stop. On the bridge, Sigma-Alpha activated their own life-support system and rerouted secondary power to lights and doors, but cut any power to weapons. When the Corporal B-1 arrived at the shaft below, it was speared by one of the Mandalorian Sentinels which had stayed behind to safeguard the passage.

Meanwhile...

With tractors no longer holding the MMS Jaster, it throttles forwards as a full squadron of twelve Theta-Class Shuttles left the hangars. Two squadrons of Z-95bs split from fighter screen to escort role, while two of the four HWK Lances moved to land with the squadron of shuttles. Another group of shuttles moved to land in the Providence's hangar, bringing reinforcements to the Mandalorians within, with the sole purpose of clearing the massive decks of all remaining CIS Droids along with half of Sigma-Beta while the remaining half would attempt to hold the Engineering Decks from any further droid assaults.

On Toola...

The twelve shuttles passed into the Atmosphere of Toola, where the fighter escort pared down to just one squadron of Z-95bs. The second squadron broke from the escort and moved on the Supply Depot roughly a half-kilometer away from the landing zone. The fighters noticed the camp had been 'quieted' but they still had scans from when the armada had entered the system, and so chose to land proton torpedos at points around the camp where the residual damage would not reach the vital supplies. The fighters would then move to perform ancillary sweeps for enemy vultures around the encampment. At the landing zone, the First Company had landed, consisting entirely of Mandalorian Neo-Knights clad with Beskar'Gam, Vibroswords, Beskar Shields, and EE-3 Blaster Rifles with Shield and Rifle currently in hands while the Vibroswords were still sheathed.

Among the two-hundred and fifty of his own personal Clansmen companions was Zaun Mereel himself. He was a man in his mid thirties but his genes were quite good - he looked in his later twenties. He wore his own suit of Beskar'Gam, upgraded with a wrist-mounted flamethrower and repulsors on the boots, with personal shield generator at his waist. He was armed with his Modified EE-3 Carbine Rifle w/ Underslung Grenade Launcher, Modified Westar-35 Blaster Pistols, Beskar Targe, and Wookie Rykk Blade. The large blade and beskar targe were on his back while the blaster pistols were at his side while he currently wielded the modified EE-3 in one hand. Zaun finally spoke up to his comrades, "Greetings, my brothers and sisters. Today we prepare to take the necessary supplies for our future vision - to take back the ways our fellows have discarded. Today we conquer one star system... tomorrow, the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Now come with me, my companions. Do you want to live forever?!"

With his speech finished, Zaun lead the company's formation forward in spearhead form, riding his own HWK-Series Ravager Droid while his company and platoon leaders rode their own HWKs. The group was also joined by twenty-four HWK-Series Ravager Droids which had taken formation at the Vanguard. Among the Vanguard as well was Zaun's custom droid Valor. Approaching from the near side, Zaun's HWK-9D released missiles from it's shoulder-mounted launcher to tear into the depot's walls. The Mandalorians gave a great warcry as they charged in, most using their emission sensors on their helmet packages to discern the droids' locations. And so, Zaun aboard his HWK-9D released a dual douse of flame into the first choke point before Mandalorians with beskar shields and vibroswords lunged into the Foray! However above the din of combat, Zaun shouted using the HWK's speakers to issue his challenge to the base commander.

"BASE COMMANDER! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME IN AN HONOURABLE DUEL! OR DO DROIDS EVEN BELIEVE IN DUELS?"
 
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(Background Music)

Space Battle
The MMS Jaster's port-side was scorched from CIS cannon fire, but the ship still held firm with isolated spots of hull and interior sub-system damage. Her gunnery crews watched in awe as their allied frigate rammed the unsuspecting Munificent. Due to the attack angle, the Crusader Frigate struck its target in the middle of its starboard heavy armor plating yet the ferocity of the ram buckled an entire section of the exterior bulkhead and shoving the CIS frigate laterally. As the Crusader deflected of its impact and reversed thrusters, its missile salvo fire straight head into the failing exterior armor. Not an ideal target, but since the superstructure was heavily fatigued from impact, the resounding explosions ripped what remained of that armored section apart! Some debris and shockwaves from the missile attack would slam back into the Crusader, spinning the vessel 90 degrees to starboard, bringing her bow to face the MMS Jaster's stern several hundred meters away. Resulted damage would be some minor hull impacts, but mainly the shock waves would spark minor internal sub-systems to spark or overload.

However, the opportunity the Crusader's ram created would be worth the few scrapes. Seeing the shattered bulkhead, the rear and port gunners of the MMS Jaster cheered as they poured turbo-laser and ion cannon rounds thru the breach! After a few minutes of sustained fire, the internal magazines of the Munificent were pierced and the an explosion broke its bow and bridge clean-off from the rest of the ship.

As for the CIS Providence, the Mandalorian raiders had sealed her fate. With the bridge quickly secured (thanks in part to an over eager B1 Corporal) and the disabling of her primary power plant, the ships engines died along with her tractor beams powering down and gun batteries falling silent. With the Mandalorian ambush happening so suddenly, only the crew and primary security marine droids had been active on-board the ship, with the remaining few thousand de-activated B1's still in dormant sleep. As the security droids were all but defeated, scattered blaster fire could be heard echoing down ship passage ways and in engineering spaces, as the Mandalorians began sweeping the ship for any remaining droids attempting to defend their last command.



Toola - CIS Supply Depot
The attack was far swifter than Colonel Hrork Zyst had expected. The Mandalorian invaders and swept down on the supply depot with an unknown swiftness, thanks to their mechanical mounts. The Trandoshan snarled.....partly out of frustration of his enemy's efficiency, and partly out of respect for their tactics.

He stood motionless in the shadows of one of the supply depot entrances, flanked by a contingent of his merc clansmen. He watched as the Mandolarians breached the perimeter wall, began laying waste to the spare B1's he had left out on patrol for cannon fodder, and when the Mandalorians drew shield and blade with a mighty warcry to advance.......that was his all he needed. Blood pounding in his veins, honor coursing thru his heart, his mere three (3) score warriors (ie, 60) outnumbered by heavily armored Mandalorian crusaders numbering over 200, with only a handful of security droids to support........he gave the order.........they must attack........honor demanded it.

Belting a deep roar which echoed across the compound, Hrork signaled his Trandoshans to attack. Strategically spread-out in hidden squads across the depot compound, his men opened up with heavy repeaters and grenade launchers into the heart of the Mandalorian spearhead charge. Seeing as their blaster fire was only effective to knock-down some of the heavy beskar claid soldiers, barely slow those who now were locking beskar-lined shields in a protective advances, he barred his teeth, "Aaaahhh, their heavy infantry......spread out further, keep attacking from all anglessss", he hissed as he fired blaster rounds towards the invaders. "Ready grenades, and we'll prepare to charge their center.........". Just then, he turned from his men as a voice rose above the fighting:

"BASE COMMANDER! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME IN AN HONOURABLE DUEL! OR DO DROIDS EVEN BELIEVE IN DUELS?"


Hrurk.jpgDespite the taunt in the challenge, the Mandalorian's voice rang with honor and surety. This could not be ignored, the goddess would not allow that. Hrork knew what he must do.......and he was glad. He quickly motioned to his men, and three of them fired bright-white flares into the sky, clearly giving away their position but this was to signal a cease fire, a truce........a duel. Hrork strode forward and keyed his comms, "Ceassse, fire immediately! They are heavily armored and truly more than a match for usss. But before we must die by the grace of the goddessssss, let us honor her with a duel!"

As the Trandoshan assault halted and the B1's were ordered to stand down, Hrork Zyst strode forward into the middle of compound towards the invaders. The flares illuminated the courtyard as he addressed, the Mandalorian leader: "I am the ssssenior ranking commander here. Colonel Hrork Zyst of the Sssseparatist Alliance. Instruct your men to cease fire and not interfer, as I have done to mine, and I accept your challenge of a duel. Let the victor decide who claimsss this world and resolvesss this battle! What ssssay you?"

The Trandoshan stood proudly, staring down his advisory with respect and eagerness for single combat, as he awaited the Mandalorian's reply.
 
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Moving to the head of the formation, the armored form of Zaun offered his blasters to his second-in-command and then turned to face the Trandoshan. He was certainly imposing for a human at-least, standing at seven feet when in armor, though out of armor he was closer to six feet and six inches. Zaun withdrew the gigantic Wookie Rykk Blade from his backside and brought it to bear along with a beskar-wrought targe shield on his left arm. Despite not being a wookie, the human two-handed the Rykk Blade with surprising grace.

"I am Zaun Mereel, the Leader of this ground force. My men will not interfere with an honorable duel, you have my word. It is not in our blood to do so as it would be against the mando'ade, the resol'nare - our way of living. I agree to your terms, though I would like to add my own. Should I be victorious I would foster you into the Mandalorians, and should you be victorious you may claim my armor without worry for reprise."

Giving his Reply, Zaun was stripped of his Mandalorian Armor in quick succession - it was clear that wearing the armor in melee would be disadvantageous for the Trandoshan. The human was well-built with lean muscled appearance. He moved into position. He maneuvered his Rykk Blade into a high guard as he awaited the approach of his foe. He was eyeing Zyst, his adrenaline spiking as he awaited movement.
 


Hrork passed his heavy repeater to one of his soldiers and drew his double-sided vibroaxe from its sheath on his back. Holding the long weapon in one claw while unfastening his fur cloak and durasteel breastplate with the other, he mirrored the Mandalorian challenger before him. Normally on the Hunt, a Trandoshan would maintain every advantage available to him. But this was a challenge of honor, and the goddess demanded he face such a worthy opponent equally. In truth, he was impressed that his foe near matched his height, as he and most of his kinsmen usually towered over humans. But even beyond that he could sense on the air this Mandalorian was different from other warriors...........

"
I have heard of the traditionsss of Mandalorians, but have never participated in your rights. My kinsmen and I are bound to the traditions to honor our goddess thru the glory of the Hunt......of battle. I ssseee your way of living may be similar to ours. I accept your challenge", Hrork said and then grinned with eagerness before continuing, "However, I must first see how you dance with your blade before pledging myself and my kinssssmen to another caussse."

He held his weapon aloft then with a snarl and snap of his jaw, signaling his mercs to step back. They withdrew and formed a semi-circle around the two warriors, with some of the Mandalorians following suit. As Hrork closed on Zaun, the Trandoshan mercs started a low throated chant in unison, as their traditions of the Hunt dictate.

Flexing his leaned forward into a rush stance with his weapon held like a great pike. "
Honor and bloodss!!", he shouted before charging forward. He drove his vibroaxe forward on his right side with an upward lunge aimed to catch Zaun's blade within the front cleft of the axe head! Meeting the metal he would pivot it left across his opponent's body and then aim to check Zaun's right shoulder with the center of the axe shaft.

This would be a minor glancing blow, used to re-position himself with a step back. He was testing the Mando's mettle....
 
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"I'm aware of the traditions of the Goddess of the Hunt, and while I don't personally follow her, I find our cultures to be quite similar in a few regards. Well then, since you've accepted my challenge..." spoke Zaun as he positioned himself with a grin, "Let's dance!" The mandalorian warriors joined the circle which the Trandoshans were forming, leaving Hrork and Zaun in the midst. The Mandalorians beat weapons on shields to join the chanting, as combat begun. As the tall trandoshan charged down Zaun, he twist slightly and brought the Targe to meet with the point of the Vibroaxe, relinquishing from the Rykk Blade and deflecting the point to the side in a parry. He then brought the curved scimitar-like sword across towards the abdomen of the Trandoshan in a raking slash, under his shield arm. The slash was somewhat slower than his movements before, likely due to having to one-hand the blade. Regardless of whether the attack was successful or not, Zaun grasped the Rykk withj his shield hand once more and took a half-step backwards.

Zaun was ever observant, wanting to absorb every facet of the fighting style borne by Hrork before him. He wanted to test the limits of Hrork and cause the Trandoshan to eventually slip up. Only when weakness was revealed would Zaun truly go for the fight-ending attack. This was his style, when fighting opponents who he couldn't strong-arm with his usual... almost berserker-like fighting style.
 
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Hrork's lounge was nimbly parred by Zaun's shield, forcing him to pivot back to take countering slow-heavy sword slash off the center axe shaft which shoved back his check. Watching his opponent grip the large sword with both hands for better control, the Trandoshan decided to continue prodding.

He began to slowly rotate the long double-sided axe like a bow staff into a four-star pattern in front of him. His movements quickened by the second until his hands deftly maneuvered the long axe into a constant moving shield before him as he advanced. Increasing the speed of the weapon, the axe heads danced to-and-fro, high-and-low, to constantly keep Zaun guessing to which end of the weapon would strike and at which angle. When he was in striking range, Hrork brought the forward axe head down aiming between Zaun's blade and right shoulder......

.....this however was a feint! If striking true, the axe head would deliver a level blow to his opponent's sword or potential minor cut the upper torso. Regardless, in mid-strike, he pulled back the forward axe head, after minimal or no contact, only to swing the rear axe in an upward sweep on Zaun's left with great force aiming to connect with the bottom of his shield. The impact would hopefully shock/rattle his opponent at minimum, though at best the force of the blow could send the shield flying or knocking the Mando off-balance if the shield was tightly secured to his left arm.
 
Zaun observed the Trandoshan carefully, his eyes belied a rapier intellect, as Hrork rotated the double-sided axe into a four-star pattern. Of course, Zaun knew the trick to thwarting a trick like this which would keep a lesser combatant guessing as to which end would be coming for them instead acting as if both ends would be coming at him at all times as he postured. As soon as Hrork had approached striking range with the polearm, Zaun released the beskar targe from his arm, sending it like a chakram directly for the chest of Hrork as the axe blade down towards his right shoulder.

As soon as the axe came down, a loud DING would echo as it was caught on the end of the Rykk Blade which positioned to sweep the second intended blow away from Zaun who by now had thrown his shield, sent a hard knee towards the solar plexus of Hrork as they had closed ground and now were close to each-other. Whether the knee was successful or not, Zaun commited to a short tumble which brought his left arm back into the targe's sleeve and to the backside of the Trandoshan, then as he came up kicked off the stone surface to clear five meters of distance between himself and Hrork.
 
Hrork let out a bellow as Zaun's targe slammed into his stomach like a perfectly thrown disk. This caused his overhead swing to fall short of its mark and merely glance off his opponent's sword. Furious at his feint being interrupted, Hrork clawed hard at the hard knee thrown at him, sending Zaun into a side tumble, but the Mandalorian re-gained his footing too quick to make any advantage of it.

Taking a moment to steady his breathing, Hrork snarled, "You have a formidable stance, Zaun.....a ssstout defense...." standing up straighter, he continued, "....but let ussss dispense with these pleasantriesss and exchange true blows!"

Hrork stalked in a heavy walk to close the distance between a mere 1.5 meters, then suddenly moved with a rapid lunge, sending his axe polearm over Zaun's head but then sharply down to catch the rim of the shield. With a swift twisting motion, his double-sided axe separated into two halves! With the left axe caught on rim of the shield, the trandoshan pulled Zaun closer and thurst his right axe across Zaun's body to intercept his heavy sword, and with a hopeful opening, delivered then a heavy kick to the Mandalorian's stomach as he continued to pull the shield back and push the sword blade away!
 
In addition to a somewhat-tumble somewhat-cartwheel to the side of Hrork, the mandalorian released the large rykk blade from his hand and left it skittering upon the ground several meters away, reaching the feet of one of his mandalorians. The man smirked, he had received a compliment from a Trandoshan which itself was hard enough, but now the Trandoshan asked to dispense with pleasantries, just as Zaun was preparing to do. He had discarded his heavy weapon just for this, speaking to the Trandoshan. "Yes, Let's."

As the axe came in and caught the bottom of the shield, with the rykk blade having been thrown one might think the mandalorian unable to defend himself when the axe split into two. This was simply not true, his free hand which had come to rest on his side withdrew one of a pair of exquisitely-made vibroswords and swept the vibrating blade past the right axe away. With the left axe caught in the rim of his shield and the right axe parried by his own blade, Zaun lurched forwards quickly into a headbutt! He jumped with his full force into the headbutt, while the shield meanwhile was pulled away with the axe. The intent was to not only cause the trandoshan's kick to miss but also to send the trandoshan back so he could unsheath this blade's twin.
 

The sudden ploy to ditch the heavy rykk blade threw Hrork off rhythm, sending his second attack wide enough to be intercepted by Zaun's vibrosword. The parry pulled his kick to the side into a stomp against Zaun's left leg, but before he could grind his claws into his opponent, the counter headbutt hit him square in the snout and knocked him backwards. With his left axe still caught on the shield coupled with the sudden change in motion, Hrork's sheer weight and muscle grip on the axe yanked the shield from Zaun's arm and sent it spinning overhead to the farside of the duel circle.

The Trandoshan took a stagger back to clear his vision, and took a moment to realize the blood on his nostrils. His long tongue confirmed the blood nose, as he raised his axes to growl, "First Blood! Hahaha!" Many of trandoshans in the circle were also shouting, some cheering caught up in the moment of the duel, while others growled angrily that the Mandalorian had drawn blood first. To Hrork, it heightened his senses. Blood had been drawn by honor, and now he stood in-debt to the goddess. Her favor must be repaid in-kind!

Seeing Zaun's free hand drop and weight shift, Hrork sensed another blade would soon be drawn. Risking no time, Hrork bounded forward, faster this time, with both axes striking together in powerful double-blows against Zaun's single sword. Left-to-right....right-to-left....double-thrust.....driving his opponent constantly with this renewed offensive, to end with a wide cross slash from both sides! Steel rang on steel as Zaun parried and buffed Hrork's blows, but as the final cross strike range with enough force to drive the vibrosword off-angle, so that one of the axe blade's grazed Zaun's left forearm.

A thin red line appeared, as it cut was minor, with the axe strike being deflected. Hrork took several steps back then and spread his arms wide, "Sssecond bloodssss!! Hahaha, the goddess is honored here tonight, Zaun! Make no missstake, she is pleased by your ferocity!" Warriors all around the circle were cheering and shouting then. Truly, the battle fever were on all those present. He paused then, with the blood debt paid, and waiting for Zaun to draw his other blade or whichever move he would make next.

@Silver
 
Zaun accepted the attack to his left forearm, he would take a blow if it meant advantage at a later point in time; instead as both his mandalorians and Hrork's comrades increased in their cheers, Zaun withdrew his second Vibrosword. Both weapons shaped similarly to scimitars. While it was true that a Beskad might be able to contend with a force-user's weapon and be nigh unbreakable Zaun instead preferred the killing potential of these swords' vibrating edges. And so as Hrork prepared to make his move, the Mandalorian lept forwards and maneuvered his body in an odd angle towards Hrork. He was incredibly fast for someone without the ability to use the force, bringing his body into a sland as to duck under the first swing of Hrork.

Bringing his right arm up tall, he sent one slash to the trandoshan's shoulder blade while the other went low to the left knee in a strange yet fluid attack formation. Regardless of whether the attacks were blocked, Zaun continued and rammed towards the lower sternum attempting to drive the trandoshan low and then force it into yielding with his blade still positioned low.

"Yield and join the Mandalorians! You've proven worthy!" he commanded.
 
Hrork drove both his axes from right-to-left in another heavy double attack to intercept Zaun's high stab. He crashed into the upper blade knocking it away, but this left him open to Zaun's low jab maneuver! The Mandalorian's vibroblade sank into the Trandoshan's right leg and Hrork let out a snarl of pain!

With enraged effort, he whirled his axes back in a savage swipe that missed Zaun's torso but connected with the hilt of the lower jab blade which sent it spinning out of Zaun's hand.....then the pain spiked in Hrork's right leg, which buckled from the deep stab and gave way underneath him. Collapsed on the ground with his rage wasted, Hrork found the strength to only prop himself up on his axes, and stare right into the second blade held at his throat.

"I yield, to Zaun Mareel of the Mandalorianssssss. You fight with fericous honor, ssssir. You have my blade beside you and my clan at your call." Hrork bowed his head then in reverence, and all the Trandoshans in the circle followed suit.