Hunting for Mandalore's Legacy (Mandalorians)

[Silver]

Moon of Dxun​

A singular Knight-Class Corvette in Silent Running with full thermal dampeners and running radio-silent emerged from hyperspace within the System of Onderon at the edge of space as lines of hardlight converged and became real-space once more. The only signal in or out of the corvette was an encoded refreshing all-okay signal on republic lines that were linked to a nearby comm buoy as to not look as coming directly from the corvette. Sitting aboard the bridge was none other than Zaun Fett who sat fully armored within hues of silver, red, and black; within his hand was a tracking remote the very same one which had brought him to this system. He then spoke to the custom droid Valor which stood behind him. "Prepare the Praetor Surr-Keldau and my personal squadron, inform them to be ready at the hanger bay in one standard hour. Helm, bring us into orbit around the moon. We'll find what I'm looking for there..."

Spoken, Zaun Fett stood from the captain's chair and allowed the ship's captain to take the seat as to begin bestowing orders befit that of their great leader. Zaun stepped off the bridge into the Captain's Ready Room which had been commandeered by himself as his personal quarters during this visit. Zaun reached out to a datapad and begin writing several holo-mail that would be sent once they were back to Mandalorian Space; primarily to several Commandants whose expertise he was requisitioning to create a Mandalorian Bounty Association that would be opening in the future. He was also scrolling through a list of potential bounties to start off the association. This process took roughly thirty minutes, after which Zaun re-activated the remote for the Tracking Droid down on Dxun to ensure the location hadn't changed.

Thirty more minutes later and Zaun had just arrived within the Corvette's hangar bay along with twenty-four Mandalorians in beskar'gam of deep crimson - each bearing a vibropike, a vibroblade, and an assortment of blasters. Next was the custom droid Valor. As soon as Parax showed, the lot of them would have a shuttle down to the surface. As the shuttle left the corvette, it turned and darted down towards the ground. Eventually it broke atmosphere and lowered into the remains of a mandalorian camp some thousand years old. The buildings remained however the machinery was all worn-out. Zaun stepped out of the shuttle along with the others. "We'll find what we seek here it seems. This is some ancient mandalorian encampment. The tracking droid reports the location is a mile out. Let us head out."

 

[StarWars4Life]

Parax Surr-Keldau, clad in his heavy golden beskar, stood in the cockpit of the shuttle that was en route to the surface of Dxun. He knew this moment would come, the time had finally come to locate the Helmet of Manda'lore. Their path had led them to the Onderonian moon of Dxun, the launching point of one of the bloodiest chapters in the Mandalorian Wars thousands of years ago. It was only right that Mandalorians would once again walk upon the moon's surface just as the Mandalorians that followed the great Canderous Ordo had so long ago. He relished this opportunity to search for the great Helm with his Manda'lore.

The shuttle came to land not far from Zaun's. He and his men disembarked from the shuttle to link up with Manda'lore to begin searching for their objective. From the look of things, the rest of their party had already set out. Luckily, Parax had a tracking receiver synched with the tracking droid Zaun was following. He and his men secured their shuttle and set out to rendezvous with the rest of them.

After roughly ten minutes at a brisk pace, Parax and his men caught up. He gave the running password, *Rancor's Fury*, to avoid any possible confusion in positive identification of friend or foe. Once the other group knew they were there, Parax saluted his liege and walked forward of the combined group so that he was at his side. "Quite a sight isn't it?" he asked once he was beside Manda'lore. "It warms my heart having Mandalorians upon this moon's surface again. We should be honored to walk the same paths our ancient ancestors walked so many millennia ago. They guide us on our path Zaun, you are destined to find Manda'lore's Helm," he continued, quietly, as to keep the familiar way in which he addressed Manda'lore out of the ears of their fellow Mandalorians.

 

[Silver]

"Indeed, it's been too long since boots made of Beskar have been on this soil and it is past-due that we do. We give great honor to our ancestors by walking this path, do not forget that my brother. Now then, let us continue on our destined path. We must find Manda'lors Helm." Zaun retorted in his usual stolid and stoic tone, then reached down and set the tracking droid's remote attached to the brace on his left arm and lead the way forwards. Zaun passed by a large grain silo that was still in-tact within the western edge of the old camp and pulled out a device that he used to scan the architecture of the silo. Zaun knew that the architects and historians back on Mandalore would love a find like this. He then began on his way past the western exit. "Weapons at the ready, the forest coming up was once a great hunting-ground for Mandalore the Preserver and his followers; even all this time later there's likely to be some creatures that won't simply allow us passage."

Zaun marched at a medium pace through the grassland until he started hitting forest. He brought his targe shield made of Beskar from his back with one hand while the other brought the wookie Rykk Blade that he had been gifted from his other side's scabbard. Twelve of the red-armored mandalorians joined him with shields and beskads or vibroswords; while the remaining twelve fielded their E-22s. They continued for a good half-mile with only minor fauna before a Rancor stepped into view. Zaun shouted orders as his eyes revealed bloodlust. As he spoke, he quickly charged the Rancor and harried the beast low with a slice to one of it's calves. "Mandalorian Berserkers with me! Charge! The rest, focus fire on it's torso and eyes! Bring it down!"

Zaun brought his Westar-35 to bear and released a series of shots into the underbelly of the Rancor as he slid underneath it and to his behind. Behind the Rancor, while the Berserkers were charging, the leader had just jumped onto the creature's backside and began crawling up it's scaled back thanks to a timely burst from his jetpack. As soon as Zaun had arrived above, he activated the flamethrower on his right arm and began fueling octane-fueled flame into the face and head of the Rancor. He could only hope that the others would use this momentary weakness to fell the beast.

 

[StarWars4Life]

Parax let out a battle cry as he sprinted toward the rancor and drew the beskar longsword from his back. He and several other Mandalorians dodged and rolled out of the way of the beasts wild attacks. As each swing from the beast's massive arms passed overhead Parax noticed that the beast had a blade lodged in its torso. That gave him an idea.

Many of the Mandalorians fired upon the hulking mass that was before them, bit to no avail; the beast's hide was too tough. He dodged another attack from the beast as he moved away to gain a better positioning. After he found the best place to stage his assault, he charged the creature.

Timing was everything if his plan was to succeed. He watched each swing of the beast's mighty claws as it tried to rend his brothers apart for its next meal. Parax watched as two of his clan members were broken by the beast; this sight enraged him. He charged closer and closer to the creature and timed each of its attacks before he sprung his attack.

Once he new the sequence of movements he needed to succeed, he sprang into action. Parax felt as if time had slowed. He lept into the air as he activated his jetpack to bring him to rest briefly upon the sunken blade's hilt before jumping onto the beast's massive shoulder. From this point Parax activated his jetpack again, this time to bring him straight up into the air. As he came back down, Parax Surr-Keldau brought his mighty blade, point down, straight into the base of the creature's skull. He felt his blade penetrate deep into the brain of his mighty foe.

As his foe swung wildly in all directions, Parax shouted for his fellow Mandalorians to scatter out of the way. After this, he activated his jetpack and landed back onto the ground. With a great, mighty roar the beast fell before the feet of Preator Parax Surr-Keldau.

 

[Silver]

As the Rancor was harried and eventually killed, Zaun used a quick application of his jetpack to bring him clear of the lumbering beast and land behind his brother Paraz as soon as the Rancor had slammed into the ground dead. Dust kicked up from the rough landing as Zaun holstered his Rykk Blade and his Westar-35 at his sides then raised up to place a single hand on the shoulder of Parax Surr-Keldau. Zaun spoke with a smile beaming broadly on his face, "You've done a good job, my Brother. That was an epic kill and you deserve your glory. Go on then, take a tooth or claw from the beast as your trophy to commemorate this hunt. Once you've done that we can move on. I expect other such challenges on the path to the location, so be ready my brother."

Zaun quickly focused on the tracking droid's remote which activated in a quip of sound, which meant that the Tracking Droid had powered back up for some reason or another. He quickly stepped ahead and pushed forwards moving past the Rancor's corpse and through the forest. He would continue the march until they arrived at a cave some minutes thereafter, and stood outside the entrance. "Weapons at the ready, this is the cave where Mandalore's Helm is reported to be located. The tracking droid has re-activated - most likely as a response to some danger so be on-guard my companions. Now then, let us be off."

With that, Zaun head inside with his EE-3 in one hand and his Beskar Targe in the other.

 

[StarWars4Life]

Parax felt his adrenaline still surging through him as he stood with the rest of their expedition, rancor tooth hanging from his neck, even after they had gotten to the cave. He was hungry for more action, it had been entirely too long since he had relished in the kill. Luckily, the rancor they had just fought had decided to alleviate Parax's frustrations by throwing its life away against his mighty blade.

Manda'lore warned the rest of their party about where they were about to enter. Parax could feel the excitement radiating off of his and Zaun's men. They all knew how imperative it was that they find Manda'lore's Helm. It would be a unifying symbol that would give any detractors of Zaun's right to rule pause and would solidify his place in the annals of Mandalorian history.

Parax Surr-Keldau turned his visor to infrared and kept a firm grip upon his blade as he drew his beskar shield from his back and pressed on after his Manda'lore deep into the cave.

 

[Silver]

As soon as they entered the darkness that shrouded the cavernous interror Zaun's helmet switched to infared, his visor sweeping the interior of the cavern as he stepped inside, moving to release a series of blaster bolts at a pack of Gurrecks that lived within the cave and had turned towards the Mandalorians - gunning them all down in a few shots from his modified EE-3 which easily brought down the entire pack of six. Zaun then pushed on through the large open area into a smaller passageway taking the front with his Rykk Blade and Beskar Targe in hand - the EE-3 back on his backside and the Westar-35 in the same hand as the arm the Targe was attached to. No threats passed them as they walked through the passageway into a much larger open chamber which was when they heard a roar from afar deeper into the cave.

A pair of normal-sized and seemingly normal Rancor (unlike that mutant earlier) occupied this chamber at the east and west extremes with no other threats to be seen. "We'll momentarily split up with my squadron taking the western Rancor and you my brother taking the eastern Rancor. Once we are done we'll meet at the north next to the opening of the next passageway. I surmise that my droid has been awakened by that Kimogila whose roar we just heard. Well then, FOR MANDA'LOR!"

And with that roar of battle rage, Zaun Fett propelled himself forward along with the six sword-and-shield wielding red-armored mandalorians via their jetpacks into direct line of the Rancor while the other six release blaster shots at the hide of the beast which began to released pained roars. As his guardians harried the beast's legs with their Beskads, Zaun brought the Rykk Blade into the gullet of the Rancor hard while the creature fell onto it's back and ended it's life with a single clean thrust. Just as he was standing back up, he saw one of the six being knocked into a rocky ediface by a second Rancor and pulled a number of blaster shots into it's eyes before bringing himself high and piercing the rancor's skull with his huge Rykk Blade, then landing. Of the six with him three had suffered wounds and none had died. The other six quickly moved up and the two dedicated medics among the squad worked on the minor wounds of the three.