Battle of Mandalore

Xander Vos · Battle of Mandalore

Thunder crashed in the distance, the loamy plains of Mandalore soaking up the water in the heavy downpour, as Krash Vhed stood watching. Hours ago, he had received word that the Republic was sending a small army, and the Sith were doing the same, but Byss, Byss could be nearing Mandalore at that moment, and he would be unable to do anything but submit.

He turnd aside, ever since this blasted war had begun, he had been run ragged. Though the Mandalorians hadn't been involved directly except in small skirmishes on planets such as Kashyyyk and Trandosha which were in close proximity, he had had to draw a lot of the Mandalorians back to Mandalore, to gather their men together. Since the Clone Wars, where so many of their brothers had been killed, and the subsequent invasion by the Empire - only ended by Korus Vhett, his predessescor to the title of Mandalore - he refused to allow such a large-spread massacre of Mandalorians.

Now, now with the possibility of entering this war to finish this mongering warlord Miedo, or whatever he chose to call himself these days, Krash was eager to pledge his full force to aid the Republic - once their bitter enemies - in vanquishing this unseemly force from the Galaxy.

"How far away are the Republic's forces?" He queried his aid, Adik Venk.

"Last reports have them calculating their final jump from the Trandosha system," Adik said.

Krash nodded, and turned back to the downpour, watching it intently for another moment, before sealing himself inside his helmet, the helmet of Mandalore, and marched back inside, sealing the door behind him as Adik followed.

"Tell them that they should land near my citadel, and tell the Sith the same. We need to prepare for the arrival of Byss."

Rive Caedo

"Enough about where we aren't, just tell me where the hell we are." Morri Reglash demanded of his copilot - who had just, for the third time, declared that they weren't at the right coordinates and that there was no sign of the Republic fleet that had jumped with them.

His young copilot tapped his secondary navscreen several times until it flickered back to life, "Apologies sir, we did come out of Hyperspace in the Mandalore Sector. We're just... orbiting the wrong planet."

Morri chuckled inwardly. He knew exactly where they were and exactly what was supposed to happen now. It was a shame his copilot wasn't privy to the plan. He couldn't help letting a small grin out as he heard his copilot panic a moment later.

"We're caught in a tractor beam!" A pause, "I can't break free! It - it's a Marauder-class cruiser!" His copilot began rapidly redirecting power haphazardly in a desperate attempt to break free from the sizable enemy starcraft.

Their ship nearly inside the Marauder's hangar bay now. It was basically an outdated garbage hauler with a single underpowered turret welded onto the top. His copilot had asked several times what they were doing trying to impress a potential new ally with a ship like this. Morri was bound by classified orders and couldn't tell the young man the simple truth: They weren't.

When Morri saw that the absolute minimum clearance was left - he pulled the lever and activated the only modification that made the hauler anything more than garbage itself. As the lever snapped into position, the cockpit detached itself from the rest of the heap and shot forward powered by two small ion engines. It nearly hit the small sensor dome on the bottom of the Marauder as it rocketed away from the ship's hull that continued to be tractored into the Marauder's belly.

Morri hopped up from his seat - at a respectable speed for a man of his age - and stared eagerly out the small window in the door that had previously led to the rest of the junker ship, but now led only to the darkness of space.

"Let me tell you something lad, the only way to survive this war is to live at the edge of death." A laser blast hit the cockpit as it streaked away from the Marauder. A decompression alarm began to resound within the cockpit escape pod. Morri turned his head smiled at his former copilot, "Looks like I'm giving you a good start."

A brief flash of light filled the cockpit. Morri whipped his head back to the window and sighed, "I missed it. Darn." Morri watched the aftermath of the explosion of their ship - loaded with high-yield warheads - within the Marauder's hangar bay. The Marauder had split into two pieces that were drifting slowly apart. One of them drifted directly into a smaller cruiser that had been escorting the Marauder. It sheered into the hull of the cruiser and ruptured the engines within seconds.

Morri smiled in the glow of the second explosion, "Mmm, I love when sabotage works out better than you planned." he sat back down in the pilot's chair and ignored the confused expression on his copilots face, "Set course and best speed to Mandalore, copilot. Hopefully we'll make it before this pinhole in our hull leaks all our oxygen."

Xander Vos

Krash settled into a chair within the tactical analysis quarters of his citadel. Aides rushed around him, throwing numbers and statistics at him as they began to prepare for war. Mandalore had not seen war since the Yuuzhan Vong invasion forty years prior, before his time as Mandalore.

Korus Zhett had done what none had thought possible. With a force of little over one hundred Mandalorian Supercommandos, he had fought back the Yuuzhan Vong, proving without a shadow of a doubt why he was Mandalore and why no other dared challenge him for the title.

Korus had been one of a select few Mandalores who had handed over his title on his death bed, and the title had passed to Krash, who had known for some time that Korus had him in mind for the position, ever since Krash had rebuilt much of the population of Mandalore in cities far from the capital. For some reason not known to many, Korus placed Mandalorian lives above all else. He would break down if even a single Mandalorian was slain in battle, although the break down would only ever occur in private, to his most trusted allies, and it was there that the truth was known.

Nearly eighty years ago now, Korus had been involved in an - Krash struggled for a word for it - incident on Kallibann, a small planet in the Trilibor system near Mandalore, where his company of Mandalorian Supercommandos had been all but wiped out by what Korus had come to learn were the Yuuzhan Vong. Krash still remembered the shock and pain on his face as Korus had first come face to face with a Yuuzhan Vong during their invasion of Mandalore, the realization that these monsters from his shattered past had returned.

Korus had done what not many had been able to do, and had rebuilt Mandalore, and for that he had been given the title of Mandalore the Inconquerable, the Mandalore who, above all others, had been defeated by nothing, and only fittingly, he had died of natural old age, at the age of 90.

"Mandaloe," Adik called out from the other side of the room, his datapad in his hand, "Pirsh reports that the Republic fleet has been sighted, and that ground ships are beginning to arrive. They should be here in a matter of minutes."

Krash nodded, and rose, "I'll be in the conference room then. Please direct their representatives to meet me there, and the rest can begin co-ordinating with Company Beta. The Sith, if they arrive, should be directed to Company Alpha."

Xander Vos

Pirsh Vod prowled the bridge of the Nynir ((OOC: Meaning to strike)), like a caged animal. Minutes ago the Republic fleet had come out of hyperspace, and had begun setting up formations as the craft unleashed shuttles and landing craft that immediately began heading to Keldabe, where Mandalore ((OCC: The person)) was situated.

The Crusader-class corvette, and the dozens like it surrounding him, was drifting through space, aimed in the general direction Byss' suspected fleet was supposed to revert from. Pirsh had been told that they could be there in minutes, hours, or even days, they had no way of knowing. Right now all that mattered was that the Republic representatives and Krash met, negotiated a deal reguarding their use in the war.

"Sir, the Republic Admiral is trying to make contact," an aid said, bringing him back to reality.

"Put him on," Pirsh said, "What is it, Admiral?"

((That's your cue Ga'nen.))

Ga'nen

The Republic fleet had been traveling for more than a week now as it was making it way toward Mandalore, the Mandalorian capital. Carefully choosing different hyperspace routes to avoid encountering any of Emperor Miedo’s fleets they managed to arrive above Mandalore as they had promised. The fleet was not spectacular, nothing that would generate fear or awe in the eyes of any invader. The fleet consisted of 15 capital ships, an already slight strain on the navy itself but the admirals had discussed that to rally an important group such as the Mandalorians, they would have to prove they would defend them as hard as the Mandalorians would fight for them.

Admiral Kreon, a man from Naboo, had been assigned the task to help protect the homeworld of the Mandalorians. Pacing back and forth on the bridge of his Nebula-Class Star Destroyer named His Majesty as a token of his appreciation for his Queen and the person who he truly served. Several other old ships were behind the Admiral’s flagship, the ships began to form around the Admiral’s flagship like a claw as they moved forward. When they were finally within an acceptable position the Admiral had a frequency opened with the one of the Mandalorian ships. While their Admiral was contacted Kreon had shuttles being prepared for when landing was granted.

"What is it, Admiral?"

Kreon blinked a few times at the sound of the man’s voice and the way he spoke, ignoring the man’s rudeness and simply reminding himself that these were Mandalorians he cleared his throat silently and continued on. “This is Admiral Kreon of the Republic navy, we are asking for permission to land crafts as well as information as to where you would like our fleets. We don’t have a large group force but if history has told us anything, we only need 100 mandalorians and one capital ship to win this battle.” He let out a slight hint of humor, perhaps it was just to clear the air of any sign of slight hesitation. He wasn’t just here to escort negotiators but he was here to help the Mandalorians against a foe who had proved powerful on most fronts. He shook the thoughts from his mind, he was not here to be afraid he was here to emanate confidence to his staff. He simply waited for the man to respond, the negotiator was already being prepared to land below as well as various shuttles to land troops down below.

Xander Vos

"Good," said Vod, "Spread your ships out through Sector 9-5-G, that's the most likely attack route for Byss, Mandalore's ships shall surround yours, serving to form a broader defense shield, and a way of defending your weaker ships."

"Weaker?" Protested the Admiral, "I'll have you know-"

"Your ships are not made from Mandalorian Iron, are they?" Vod asked smoothly.

"Well no, but I'll have you know-"

"Therefore they cannot take as many direct hits from capital cruisers once their shield are down, and therefore, whilst they boast far more turbolasers, they cannot last the test of time, and longevity is what we stride for today, Admiral. The longer we can hold Miedo and his men off, the longer the troops groundside will have to prepare for a possible invasion, and the longer Mandalore and your own representatives have to discuss important matters, such as the involvement of our Supercommandos in this war of yours."

Rive Caedo

"You know," Morri Reglash began, inspecting his hair in the reflection of the cockpit's forward window - which was presently slowly filling with the sphere of the planet Mandalore, "this isn't really that bad of a situation."

"Sir, we're leaking oxygen at an alarming rate." His co-pilot said with a slight stutter as he shook from the rapidly decreasing temperature of the small cabin.

"Sure, but we still have thruster power an--" Morri was cut off by a loud **CLANK-BANG** sound. The lights and instruments panels in the ship winked off into nothing. A moment later the dim red emergency lights filled the cockpit escape-pod.

"Okay, we don't have that. But no need to worry." Morri raised the communication's unit to his mouth, "Every starport in the galaxy has tractor beams for exactly this situation."

He clicked the transmission button on the side of the unit, "Mandalore docking, this is Republic freighter M496-22... What's left of it anyway, requesting tractor beam assisted landing."

A voice crackled in reply, "M496, this facility has no emergency tractor emitters."

"I suppose I should have said every starport in the Republic has tractor beams for exactly this situation." Morri clicked the transmission button again, "Roger that Mandalore docking, thanks for the speedy reply." Morri calmly placed the communication unit back in its cradle before turning to his copilot, "Now you can worry."

Ga'nen

The Admiral bit his tongue and held his retorts, they were here to negotiate with them and being foolhardy would turn events for the worst. “All right, I’ll launch our shuttles to the planet, once all our troops have landed we’ll begin reinforcing the planet with a layer of mines if you don’t mine. While you may have ships made of tough iron your planet isn’t made of the same thing. We’ll have a path of deactivated mines for your ship’s safe travels, we ask that you use those routes, and when Miedo’s fleet arrives those mines will be activated and only heavily guarded areas will be deactivated for ship passage. We’ll also reinforce the route between here and Byss with mines as well, give them a little surprise for when they enter. After that, we’ll take a diamond formation and use your ships as the outer wall for defense while the ships in the center will fire from safety giving them protection while we use long range turbo lasers as well. If this is all okay with you then we’ll proceed.” When the man on the other side had hesitantly agreed to the plan of action Kreon closed the connection and had the shuttles deployed.
(Who is playing the negotiator if there is one?)

The shuttles made their passes, back and forth carrying troops in between ships, once they had all been landed the fighters carrying the mines went to work reinforcing the planet in a thin layer of mines. The fighters succeeded at creating the minefield, the admiral had major areas surrounding the planet activated only having unimportant areas above the planet deactivated for safe travel of Republic or mandalorian ships. When the task was completed his ships moved out to their coordinates and took their position, Kreon had his fighters redeploy after they had been restocked with mines and had them make rounds around the route between Byss and Mandalore spreading mines across so that when the incoming fleet jumped in they would hit mines all over and with their shields down they would find themselves unprotected from the blast.

There was unease aboard the bridge still, the mines would not stop whatever fleet came in, and Kreon was sure his fleet would probably not be able to hold off the fleet as his ships weren’t going to be enough. But as long as the mandalorians and him worked together they could fight them for a while, and Kreon was not going to be foolish and surrender until it was all lost and that would not happen until he was dead.

Xander Vos

The door hissed open to the conference room Krash had seated himself in, and the small delegation of Republic dignetaries entered, and seated themselves on the opposite side of the table to the row of Mandalorian diplomats.

The Republic Ambassador cleared his throat rather nervously, "Well, I believe we should get underway."

"We have Supercommandos, the Republic needs them, we are relatively undefended against a full attack, the Republic has the defenses we need. I believe that is about where we are at?" Krash asked, coolly.

The Republic Ambassador sat there for a minute, gathering his thoughts, "Yes," he said finally, "I would say so. The Republic can offer you three Imperial-Class Star Destroyers to serve in your defense for at least fifteen months, with a possible extension based on how well the war goes."

"You mean how well our Supercommandos serve you."

The Republic Ambassador nodded, clearly taken aback by Krash's forwardness.

Krash leant forward, "Let me assure you, Ambassador, you will not find a better fighting force unless you created an army of Jedi. And our Supercommandos could give the Jedi a run for their credits at that. The fact you should be most aware of though, is that-" He was interuppted, as an aide listening intently on his comlink, turned to Krash.

"Miedo's forces have been detected, at the far reaches of the system. It seems they had hoped to enter undetected."

Krash nodded grimly, "Very well, I suspect we will need to wrap this meeting up rather quickly then."

Rive Caedo

"Good news, looks like we have enough back up power to shield us during reentry. Thanks to a few ingenious rewirings by myself." Morri said as he closed the panel for the cockpit's reactor core.

"But after that we won't have enough power for the landing thrusters." His copilot was huddled over in a ball to conserve warmth - the cockpit was nearly out of oxygen and was now nearly freezing.

There was a slight groan from the ship as it hit Mandalore's atmosphere. Morri ran his hand through his white-streaked grey hair as he watched the window grow steadily redder from heat the weakened shields were unable to compensate for. After a moment he leaned back in his chair and spoke without looking at his copilot, "Well, you can only deal with one problem at a time if you want to survive. If I'd have been worrying about our oxygen problem or hitting the ground - we'd have burnt up right then. Sometimes you get lucky and can solve two problems at once; for instance, our oxygen isn't leaking anymore and its starting to warm up in here."

Morri paused as a lick of flame ripped off the communication's dish at the nose of the cockpit. "It's starting to warm up in here a bit too fast, actually. But, we can't worry about that right now, because now the ground is the most pressing issue. Any ideas?"

His copilot simply stared widely at the rapidly growing size of the piece of Mandalore's surface they were dropping towards.

Xander Vos

Nar Thrak, sentry guard for the city, stared up into the sky, squinting against the bright light that had suddenly appeared.

"Fierfek," He muttered. Pulling out his comm unit, he put in the code for his superior, "Sir, we have what appears to be a space-to-land missile aimed right for the city.

"Well then shoot it down, for frak's sake," the man said.

"Yes sir," Nar said, and turned to his partner and nodded. The man turned and slid down a ramp from the top of the tower to an adjoining turret, and keyed in the co-ordinates and expected co-ordinates of the missile as it continued to drop, and the turret opened fire.

Ga'nen

“Sir, we have an incoming fleet and we’re registering them as Miedo’s ships,” the captain’s voice rang through the bridge and over the sirens that had gone off signaling the fleet that was coming. Kreon used the terminal beside his chair to turn the siren off so that everyone could better focus. “Have several squadrons ready for deployment, let’s first watch the show.”

As Miedo’s fleet flew into existence the, his frigates that were in the front collided with the mines that had been laid out earlier. Because the ships had barely come out of hyperspace there wasn’t time to have power directed to the shields. The frigates that made the tip of his fleet received the most damage, the mines exploded on collision with the hulls of the ship ripping open the ships in different areas forcing them to have to pull to be defended by the other ships.

“Admiral, Miedo’s fleet hit the mines directly, some frigates have fallen and there have been several kinds of different damage reports for their capital ships. Should we deploy fighters now?” the question at the end could either be bad or good for them, if Miedo’s fleet managed to recover instantly from that then the fighters that were going to lay waste to the already bruised ships would mean nothing. Looking to the captain he nodded “Yes captain, have bombers and fighters released. Release interceptors to keep their own fighters busy. Have bombers and fighters ready to take advantage of the ships that were most damaged, we’ll hold the rest of the fleet back until hopefully some reinforcements come in.”

The fleet took a new formation which looked like a wedge, the ships with stronger hulls as well as more powerful shields were directed to the front and the weaker ships were hidden behind the wall. With long range turbolasers being included in almost all ships allowed them to attack from a distance while being defended. He would hold back the fleet until reinforcement was able to arrive and give the Mandalorians time to prepare.