Log:Array Consortium: Down the Butcher-Hole

Down the Butcher-Hole

Location: System CR-332, Somewhere Near Teke Ro, Inner Cluster Sector
Participants: Kitfox, Atria Foster, Mara Jade, Tamrae, Narsai Ordo, Adhar Gann

Having tracked down what appears to be a facility being constructed by the Kandaka Blades, elements of the Consortium and their new Mandalorian allies breach the bunker to find out what the horrific pirate-cult is building - and destroy it.

Recently, the Consortium - primarily Adhar's crew - has been hired by the Terbor Brotherhood, an arms-dealing outfit in the Inner Rim, to keep a group of pirates from its short-term business operations near the Republic world of Cona. These pirates, known as the Kandaka Blades, have been relatively easy to repulse, at least in space. On the ground, they've been busy hunting down, kidnapping, and butchering the Consortiums people, specifically the civilian crew of the Serious Business, Adhar's own ship. Butchering and eating the crewmen and skinning them for fetishes and coats, the Trandoshan-led Blades have rapidly proven themselves as more of a cannibal murder-cult than a traditional pirate group, and have swiftly earned the ire of Captain Gann specifically. While it's too large to perhaps destroy entirely, it's the Captain's way to react in what appears to be the only way that the Blades apparently understand: crushing violence.

Hence today.

Having performed an exhaustive tactical analysis of the encounter patterns gathered by Consortium patrols, it's clear that the Kandaka Blades have a base on a planetoid field some ten light-years from Cona and its home system, Teke Ro - lost to many charts, the field was the remnants of a single-world planetary system seared to death by its distant blue star in some long-ago cataclysm, and now exists as a blasted ash wasteland known as CR-332 in Old Republic star charts. This is where you're to go.

The atmosphere of the planet is breathable, but thin; as the Womp Rat, a very low-profile shuttle used as a transport for tonight's sortie, lands amid the dust, breather masks are already being handed out to those without fitered helmets or their tanks plugged into respirator feeds. Along with the Consortium party, led by the Captain himself, two other heavily armored figures have joined - but Adhar is content to simply announce them as 'our Mandalorian friends'. If they wish to reveal themselves, he leaves it up to them.

The landing ramp of the shuttle opens as the ship's drives power down, and Adhar checks his blaster carbine before pulling the helmet of his powersuit down upon his head and checking the magnaclamps that keep the jetpack on his back secure. "All right," he says, "There's a structure some ten kilometers from here. There's plenty of air to make the trip and back, and the facility is obivously going to be sealed. It's a bit of a riddle, though, so it's going to be interesting. Any questions before we go?"

For the four-armed Codru-Ji, this is a bit scary, but she's getting a little more used to these sorts of dangerous missions. And Tamrae does take a certain pride that she's able to be helpful. That said, she's also aware that she is not a soldier, mercenary, or security officer...so she is being good 'baggage' and remaining back from the initial scouts and troopers. "Do they have automated defenses? Or just actual guards?" she says, her voice muffled slightly by the breathing mask she has on as she adjusts her tools a bit, absently making sure none are touching each other so they don't clink at an inappropriate moment.

Narsai's armor wasn't as grand as her brother's Mandalore armor, and she had not worn the mask. Instead the woman wore the same black and red armor she always had, her less-than-intimidating features hidden behind the T-visor mask. Of course she was armed to the teeth, her blaster pistols worn at her hips and her E-11 now stored across the small of her back as a backup. She'd kept her helmet on for the time being, but there were those who might recognize her armor, or even her voice despite the voder's slightly mechanical edge it brings to her soft tones. "Next time, we take the Thunderheart rather than this little shuttle. If it were any slower I'd get out and push..." it's mostly said in humor, and mostly aside to her felow Mandalorian before she rolls her shoulders and shakes her head. "We've gotten into worse. We'll make it work."

Kitfox maintains her own silence for the moment. A friend of Narsai's is at least a tolerable sort to her, and she's not exactly the adversarial type unless under orders. She checks the seals on her helmet and armored suit before staring down the ramp. She makes the final checks on her oversized repeater and shakes her head at the inquiry regarding, well, further inquiries. The business of 'riddle' and 'interesting', she'll either have such questions answered when someone else brings it up or she'll see it first hand.

Atria is suited up in her Consortium-colored heavy armor with a T-21 repeater slung across her back. A sidearm is strapped to her thigh as backup should she blow through her available ammo for the repeater. At Adhar's question, she shakes her head, "All good here, Captain."

"We're not sure really what they've got," Adhar says with a shake of his head. "The structure is prefabricated, but it's not be there for long - likely not long enough to set up surface-to-space defenses, and flyover surveillance hasn't given any sign of trenchworks or anti-personnel defenses. Chances are they're still setting up this little beach head, and they just have troops on station. That's why we're going to wipe it clean before they can do anything else."

Adhar looks to Narsai and chuckles. "I chose the shuttle for a reason. Don't worry, next time it'll be a proper assault shuttle. We just haven't gotten it delivered to the ship yet." That said, he checks his gun again, then his sidearm, and nods to himself. "Well, let's get going."

He leads the way out, but he does not try and take leadership of the formation from Narsai - if anything, Adhar goes out of his way to keep pace with her, which is probably odd. As for himself, he carries his tiny turbolaser of a sidearm on his hip, but otherwise looks almost as hulked-out for battle as the two Mandalorians. "So the tactical analysis suggests we should approach from the south, over a rock ledge about five hundred meters from the compound - there's not much cover, but we should at least be able to get a closer view from there." Though the surface of the planet is a gray, blasted waste, and the sun is a distant point of hateful blue through a canopy of thick clouds, there's still a peace that seems to settle upon the landscape. The peace of death, perhaps, but still peace.

Tamrae lets the well armored and armed types lead the way, padding along behind them like a good little tech. "So...we're approaching an' will fight our way over there? Or you will an' when it's clear I'll go up an' get it open, is that was th' plan is?" she says a bit uncertainly. This is not a pleasant looking place, she decides, her ears perked alertly as she turns her head back and forth, scanning the area alertly as she can, though the mask doesn't help.

Mara Jade emerges from the shuttle. She wears a breather mask and a small personal O2 cylinder on her hip. It appears she has two (?) spares. Always prepared. Otherwise the redhead wears black leather, her arms bare. Over her neck and head, however she wears a shemagh wraping pulled up as a hood over her head and lifts up a pair of simple goggles for the trip to ward off the dust. Falling in with the rest, she wears only two blaster pistols which remain presently holstered.

Kitfox only has the intel she's been given, and expects to make the best of it as they go. She cants her head to the side at the explanation, nodding as she falls a few paces behind Narsai before she picks up her legs to keep pace without falling back. She's one of the ones with a big blaster, after all. Not to mention it gives her a good view of the flank she's walking on. She finally speaks up, voice on comms soft and slightly distorted. "Kill them all and take their stuff?" she asks dryly, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Perhaps a scout," Narsai suggests as they move, glancing towards Kitfox. "An overwatch by the pair with the big guns while the others approach at least?" There's a gesture with her gloved hand towards Kitfox and Adhar's own T-21 wielding crewmember. "We'll move in till we're close since they have the range, then they can regroup once we're either in position of have their attention. If they open a 'window' to shoot at us? That's a way in. If it's auto-cannon? We'll break them."

"A scout, yes," Adhar says with a nod. He nods to Narsai. "Shall I go? I am skilled in such things."

FAMOUS LAST WORDS, even if it's literally true. His luck hasn't been the best of late.

"Um, not it." Tamrae says as the idea of scouting comes up. "I mean...I'm not bad at it, but I'm not really great at moving quietly." she admits, without shame. She looks at the heavily armored women around her, then to Adhar, then to Mara. "...though I guess I'm kinda th' least armored up here, so...if ya need me too..." she offers hesistantly.

Narsai Ordo shakes her head after a moment, looking towards Kitfox and nodding at her even if her expression was hidden by the helmet. If she was going to be asked, she was going to give orders...and hope that the Array people were willing to listen to her, or they'd be improvising. "Adhar and I will move in first, Atria and Kit will give us cover if we come under fire." A look then towards Tamrae and Mara, she nods her head. "These two will move to join us the moment we reach the door, once they're over? Kit and Atria remain in place to cover and advance once we have the door open to join us."

There's a pause, she tilts her head to the side. "Objections?"

Kitfox gives a nod in Atria's direction, then looks to Narsai as orders are coming. She's much more comfortable taking orders from the Mandalorian woman, but certainly feels right at home with the squad of heavily armed man and women. "Seems sound. Sufficient overwatch. Enough coverage. My only concern is actual functional cover," she shrugs her armored shoulders. "Get us eyes and targets and we'll vaporize them," she states, turning her head in a way that focuses her visor in Atria's direction.

Mara Jade looks up as the plans are discussed. "I'll go ahead." She nods to Adhar then the rest. She remains quiet but seems comofortable with volunteering. Much as a girl can be on a dusty planet with a thin atmosphere. Redheads burn so easily.

Atria shakes her head, "No objections here. Ready to show these Blades why it's a bad idea to be in this sector." She turns her visor towards Kitfox and nods in return. It may not be able to be seen beneath her helmet, but the grin on the Coruscanti's face can certainly be heard.

"Go ahead," Adhar tells Mara, gesturing for her to go - he turns to Narsai and explains. "There's nobody standing on this planet that's a better scout or tracker than Mara, in or out of armor," he says. "Otherwise, we follow your strategem. Tamrae is our technician, as I mentioned, so she'll be able to get us in once we've found a sufficient entry point."

That said, he moves, allowing Mara to do her forward recon thing while he trudges along. The powersuit might be a bit bulkier than that of the Mandalorians, but only just - it's top of the line Corellian design, and it hugs his body as if made for him. Which it was. The gold ornamentation is dulled severely in the blue light of the distant star, and the blue plating of his armor is made all the darker as he moves on.

Tamrae crouches down obediently, waiting as she peers over the stone for Mara to make her approach. She nods to Narsai. "Works for me." she says simply, then quiets, watching nervously.

Mara Jade nods, looking to the group. "I'll raise you on comms when I have something."

With that, she moves quickly off in the direction of the facility. It isn't long before she has faded from sight.

Thirty minutes later she quietly contacts the group.

"I'm in position." Her voice is quiet but relaxed. "I've got visual on surface contacts and layout. Visible structure is a pre-fab bunker. Duracrete with a coating of permacite."

A pause then she continues, "There are two points of entry. Durasteel armored doors. Holocams. They can be taken out but they'll know we're here. Two gunports on the sides of each door. Going in through the front will be needlessly risky. There is an exchanger unit large enough to support a much bigger building than the bunker they have above ground. My guess is it goes down. Probably deep. Hold.."

She is silent for almost a minute. "Okay. There are no guards outside. They're relying on the holocams. But there are blind spots. Once you're a Click out, sweep south then come up from the Southeast rise. The cams won't see you. I make it... a twenty meter swath the cams can't cover. I'll have entry taken care of by the time you're here."

Comms go silent once more.

Listening to the report, Narsai's face and expression remains unreadable behind the mask before she nods her head. "Sound enough, but we'll keep the same approach order and overwatch otherwise, at least until we know we're in. Hope for success, be prepared to counter when and if things go wrong." With that, she takes one of the blasters from her hip holsters in her hands and begins to move.

Kitfox has no objections to the marching order, nor Jade's departure to scout ahead. It's sound, after all, and she listens when the report comes in. "Leads me to wonder if she's going to cut a door for us. It's plausible. And they wouldn't expect it," she says over the local band, keeping her voice low. She takes in the terrain again and falls into step when the group begins moving again. "...can't blame them for not wanting to be outside, either."

Atria keeps her position on the right flank of the group. She listens to the report and nods to herself, keeping an eye out for any hostiles that may appear at the last minute while the rest of the group approaches the base. "They're probably inside having one of their blood orgies," she comments idly, disgust and anger blending together in her tone.

"Likelihood is high," Adhar says through his speaker grille, then then acknowledges Mara's report over the commlink. "Let's go," he says to Narsai, and heads that way when she does. "She'll cut the doors, all right," he says then. "I'm a good scout, but Mara's a saboteur like you've never seen in your life. I guarantee you /that/."

The two make their approach - and true to Mara's word, there's not a soul on the field. Nor are there alarms as they go. "Oh, wow," Adhar says on approach, his helmet's macrobinoculars working with a soft whir behind his helmet's visor. "She's gone right through the door, all right. Lady's a bloody genius with a plasma cutter. Looks like she took out the mounting points." As he and Narsai approach, and reach the open doorway, more details are shown: the interior of the bunker, cold and empty, but lit within and with an elevator shaft. Bones hung from the walls, arranged around the light fixtures inside the bunker like gory sconces. A tapestry made from flayed faces, dried and stretched into masks of horror, is hung on one wall between a bank of holomonitors.

"Well," Adhar mutters, "She's taken the elevator, I guess. Or a utility shaft. Likely the latter. Where to?"

Tam waits, trying to keep her breathing calm, her eyes watching as the pair run over to the other side. Once they're there and give her the high sign, she slips out as well and runs over to join them, trying to follow the same line they did on their way over, then flattening herself against the wall. She does NOT look at whatever Adhar is looking at. She peers over at the door, noting the plasma cutter. "...where was she hidin' a plasma cutter in that outfit?" she mutters to herself. But stays close, following along like a good little...well, puppy.

Kitfox takes the flank and sets up her repeater, just in case the cutting job happens to bring some unwanted playmates out. She finds the lack of, well, anything but the grim decorations rather disconcerting. As she joins the group, she frowns behind her visor, staring down the grisly trophies. "...creatures like this should be stricken from the galaxy. Weren't these people once civilians?" she asks, voice low under her helmet before she aims the blaster down the hallway. "...long enclosed spaces are good for heavy weaponry."

Atria takes up overwatch position while Narsai and Adhar, and then Tamrae, approach the base. She keeps watch for anything out of the ordinary while waiting for the order to move in. Finally, she rejoins the others and growls softly beneath her helmet when she sees the 'trophies' left in the entryway. "You got that right," she says in agreement with Kitfox, though which statement she's agreeing with is left to question. Probably both.

It's a good thing that the woman's helmet was covering her face, because even a Mandalorian would be reviled by this. Taking a breath, Narsai keeps her blaster raised and gestures or the others to fall in. No security that they've seen so far. A nod is given to Kitfox, gesturing for the repeaters to be ready while she looks to Tamrae. "Stay in the middle if the shooting starts."

"Oh, this is nothing," Adhar says with a low grunt. "You should see what they did to our crew. Skinned, ate, killed - never in the same order, either. Something to do with the Trandoshan at the top, who used to have one name, now everyone calls him Bando. Some kind of...cult thing. I don't know yet. It's /very/ strange." Into the turbolift he leads, checking the cab - which is sizable, like a freight unit - before pressing against the door as best he can. "All right," he says, "Big guns in the middle, and Tamrae, get behind the big guns. Let's sweep this level by level."

There are five levels, it appears, named B1-B5: two levels at the top, three levels for maintenance and infrastructure, and then the enginering level at the bottom where the reactor is likely to be found. Only the first level is not security-locked, so that's the way we go. When the doors part to B1, a dull metal hallway as wide as three people is shown, decorated much as the rest - bone 'art' round the light fixtures, various gory horrors hung upon the walls. Standing in the corridor are a pair of humans in patchwork clothes, everyday spacer's garb with...additional accoutrements. One of them wears a vest made from patchy leather. They are very slow to turn around, but their expressions are of proper surprise.

"Light 'em up," calls Adhar.

Tamrae nods to Narsai, a bit shakily, her eyes a bit wider than normal, her ears pressed back against her skull. But despite her signs of distress she obediently follows along behind the group, staying back and being smart enough to generally stay under cover and not where she'll be in the way of the more heavily armed members. She does draw her pistol at that point though...actually, her pistol, and two vibrodaggers with her lower hands, leaving her very well armed as she slinks along.

And like that, the shooting starts. Narsai's blaster pistols come up in her hands in a smooth motion at the turning bloodcult members, the heavy handcannons letting loose a flurry of bolts towards the startled men. She wasn't quite the gunslinger her brother was, but it wouldn't do to go rushing in with a blade before the repeaters open up.

Three people wide is more than enough space to set up for a nice little killbox with blasters. Kitfox immediately drops to one knee to ensure anyone behind her has clear line of fire, bringing the lengthy blaster up, bracing, and firing down the hallways towards the first of likely many targets. "Sneak our way in, blast our way out..."

Those are the three words Atria's been waiting to hear. She sidesteps for a clear line of fire past those in the front and fires a quick burst from her repeater at one of the pirates. Unfortunately, all she manages to do is make the guy dance a bit.

No sooner does Adhar speak do the Mandalorians and his own people open fire, and the corridor is filled with murderous light. The two men vanish in a cloud of blood and smoke, their bodies falling to the ground - almost immediately, doors begin to open, and armed beings of various species come stumbling out. The first are in the hall, while others, seeing the situation, crouch behind the open doorways to give themselves sufficient cover; Adhar, by far the most protected one of you, steps out into the hall, his pistol blurring into his hand as he does so, and begins to open fire with the sidearm while holding the carbine in the other hand. He plugs the nearest scrambling wild-eyed killer in the shoulder, but he falls back just as Adhar's other shot goes off, and soars just past him to spend itself into the durasteel door frame.

Tamrae makes her best attempt to flatten herself against the side of the side of the elevator as fire goes snapping back and forth. She does extend her free hand to press down the 'hold elevator' button to make sure it isn't able to be summoned away though!

More hostiles, more blaster fire, Narsai's arms remain raised as she fires and fires. "Keep up the pressure!" she calls, her voice still slightly mechanical thanks to her helmet. "Firepower is the only way we can beat their numbers!" They certainly weren't going for stealth anymore. "We need to advance out of this elevator!"

"Doing what I can," Kitfox replies, bracing her repeater and leaning on the trigger again. It's another three bolts down the hallway, though she's already getting the alert on her ammunition counter that the next shot will leave her dry. "What about fire?" she suggests over the comms. They're gods damned Mandalorians, after all!

Atria nods in agreement with Narsai's assessment of the elevator as she fires another burst down the hallway and ending the existence of another cannibal pirate. "Not much cover out there, but that works both ways. Just give the word."

This time around, the surprised pirates get to return fire, and that they do. Their hail of fire is stern, pistols and carbines filling the hall with fire on their own - however, their aim is fairly bad, and the Consortium folks are busy erasing people on their own. While Narsai and Kit provide withering suppressive fire even by missing their targets, keeping them down; Adhar's pistoleering is sufficient to kill one of them outright and severely wound another, and Atria's upgraded repeater tears another killer apart. The corridor is rapidly filling with smoke and ozone, something that's very advantageous to the folks with the armor optics - not so much the lads behind the doorways.

Somehow Adhar takes a shot in the side, north of a flesh wound and south of anything major, but the pain is audible. "Clear 'em out, folks," he roars over the link, the umistakeable joy of battle in his voice. "Let's send them to whatever Hell they've made for others!"

Tamrae lets out a gasp as one of the blaster bolts slams into the wall of the elevator, causing her to duck down in a crouch. "They seem REALLY unhappy!" she snaps, backing up as much as she can to the wall of the cargo elevator, continuing to hold it in place.

Narsai's blasters are holstered as their power cells cook, the air still smoking lightly from the barrels before she nods her head and steps outwards, towards the blaster fire. She'd give them cover, and give the opponents something to shoot at. Her form disappears into the smoke...then they hear it.

-Snap-Hiss-

A glowing violet blade emerges in the shadows of the smoke, humming to life with its shimmering energy. The weapon was different to others of its kind, though remade by a skilled hand, it's glowing energy blade seemed shaped into a more swordlike edge with crackling lines of energy running through it. Once that blade had glowed black, now? The shimmering purple was a sign of it's reforging by the Mandalore who'd taken the same name. Smiling beneath her mask, Narsai raises the glowing weapon and moves forwards towards the startled murderers. Whatever reprisal they'd expected for their attack on the Array, this probably wasn't it.

The snap-foosh of a lightsaber igniting makes Kitfox quirk a brow under her helmet. "...well, I did suggest fire..." she says quietly, likely heard over the local comms even mid-combat. She adjusts her aim, trying to aim through the smoke, and now around Narsai. Another trio of crimson bolts lance down the hallway and a little 'beep' in her ear indicates she needs to reload. "Weapon dry," she announces on the closed radio, spent power spell popping from the loading port with a few wisps of smoke.

Of all the things Atria was expecting to see during this action, Narsai's slaughter was not among them. Over the closed comm, she says, "Is that a....I'm glad she's on our side." She regains her composure enough to send another burst of blasterfire down range, though she fails to hit anything more than a durasteel door. At least it'll keep the pirates' heads down.

The smoke and thunder is a lot to deal with, but Adhar's armor can cope; the thermal sensors go online and he sees everything in sharp color beyond the smoke. Narsai's transformation into an angel with a flaming sword gives him a moment's pause, but only a moment; it does not keep him from making a burnt canoe out of the skull of one of the pirates, or to fire at the other. The other two beings, upon seeing Narsai carve through their number in her way of the spirit of death, break and flee into the rooms they'd just quit, screaming.

"Later," Adhar says coldly over the private link to Atria. If he's at all shocked, he gives no sign.

Narsai's grace in her armor and smoothness with the blade made it pretty clear why she'd always favored close-quarters when her brother used blasters, the glowing energy of the Mandalorian saber passes through her foes with swift and effortless cuts, one merc managing to stumble out of her way only to be hit by blaster fire from her comrades. Twisting and spinning like the worlds most heavily armored and deadly dancer, she sweeps her saber through her next foe before stabbing its humming blade through the chest of the next.

And Kitfox, the armored entity is -usually- better with a blaster. Usually. She gets to her feet as the sword dancer advances into the fray, taking the half moment here and there to reload her blaster and activate part of her suit's other tools. She follows the trail of carnage that Narsai leaves in her wake, turning to one of the open doors as she rounds the frame. There's no poking the oversized barrel of her repeater into them, she just leans the long-barreled beast against one shoulder and points her other fist into the room before her. Flame billows out of the worn gauntlet, bathing everyone and everything in the room in cleansing fire, reducing living raiders and their grisly trophies into the same unidentifiable hunks of charred flesh.

Atria grins beneath her helmet and steps out of the elevator as the pirates start to flee. She ejects the spent power pack from her repeater and slams in a fresh one as she steps out of the elevator and heads to the first room on the right. She lets loose on the occupants of the room, slaughtering them where they stand. Or cower. Doesn't matter to her.

Tinged for a moment longer like the stage at a Prince concert, it's the smoke begins to settle after the shooting stops and Narsai puts away her sabre. Adhar's breathing is a bit labored as he sweeps through each room, as do you all - and find abomination, modern furnishings and equipment decorated with the remains of half a hundred different species. Beds and chairs festooned with bones, cooler chests filled with the meat of butchered sentients. Bottles of blood, labels like 'COWARDS' and 'THE WEAK' and other horrible apellations on them in Basic and other tongues. One particularly horrible chair, carved from wood and once set with jewels, has been studded instead with lacquered eyes. All of it, horror. All of it, just...no.

In one of the rooms, there's a security console, showing a view of the second level - cells there, all of them empty, but they were not always so. Though the entirety of the structure is newly-dug, the cells have seen heavy use, blood on the floors. They live like animals here, animals with strange lives and strange hearts.

"Mara," Adhar says over the line. "We've taken care of people here. Where are you?"

"Just about to overload the reactor," she says over the link. "Satisfied with your work up there, Captain Gann?"

"In a minute. Tamrae, download everything on this security console. All the data. Lets get it done and out of here. The faster this house of horrors goes up, the happier I'm sure we'll all be."

"Kit, we'll sweep and return to the shuttle, make ready for takeoff now that their defences are down." Narsai's lightsaber seems to have simply disappeared from her hand, hidden somewhere on her armored form. Whatever she might be thinking, her face is still hidden behind that emotionless T-Visor and so she turns to face her fellow Mandalorian before looking back at Adhar. "Our packs will get us back quicker than the rest of you. We'll bring the shuttle over to you momentarily." With that, she's headed towards the elevator once more to secure the way out.

"Affirmitive," comes Kit's response as she hoses down another room full of horrors with the napalm-spewing gauntlet that comes with her armor. Sure the reactor's going up but more fire is always better, right? "How many more of these ... beings ... are there?" she asks, an open question to Adhar. She's not going to call these things 'people', that's for sure. "No stuff worth taking, but I'm definitely quite fine with simply killing them all..." she mutters quietly, "...and that's not even shadows of Imperial programming trying to shine through."

Atria, for her part, is going room by room making sure everything is dead. Even going so far as to kick every corpse in the head with her durasteel boots. She says nothing as she goes about this grisly work.

Soon enough, the rooms are burnt, and the second level yields nothing but more abomination. There's a room in there, a preparation room, where the skins of many beings are hung up in a climate-controlled cabinet, akin to a walk-in freezer. These are being stretched, but Adhar stops at one when he sees a familiar tattoo - the logo of the Consortium, on a woman's buttock.

"That," says Adhar, "Was a gunner of mine. Her boyfriend told me they were so proud that they'd joined a capital crew, on account they never got to get into the Navy long enough to serve on one. I bet..." He walks back a few, to a dark-skinned male skin being stretched actively. "Yeah. This is him. I'm taking all of these, these are my people. These fraggers been curing them like leather, the bastards."

The lights surge then, very bright, and an alarm begins to white. "That'd be Mara," he says, as a countdown of thirty minutes is intoned. "Atria, help me get these damned skins down and put in a box or something. We're taking these back to be buried with the bodies they came from."

It's good that the Mandalorians can give Adhar some private time sorting out the remains of his crew. Kitfox wouldn't want to be the one to have to sort through such horrible trophies and things, nor bear the weight of it all. She guns the jetpack, sticking close to Narsai as the pair return to the shuttle to ensure it can be prepped and brought in close so the team can get out of the soon-to-explode bunker on time. She defers the piloting to the redhead, of course, and lingers by the landing ramp with her blaster, just in case of a returning patrol or some local fauna coming to investigate the scent of burnt flesh.

Atria searches until she finds a suitable container that hasn't been damaged by fire or blaster and helps Adhar secure the skins inside. This isn't work she expected to be doing when she got out of bed this morning, but then again it's been a crazy couple of days for her. "I can't wait until we hunt down Bando himself. I want to look into his eyes when he realizes he's about to die."

"From your lips to Fortune's ears," says Adhar, the viciousness in his tones muted only slightly by the tinniness of his helmet's vocoder. "But as for what else you saw...say nothing. Doesn't mean what you might think it means, Mandalorians been killing Jedi for millenia, and I know myself you don't have to be with the Force to use a lightsaber in combat. All right? Not a word, save to me." Its a comversation he'll have with Tamrae later on.

Once packed, the two carry the crate out - Mara, it must be said, shows up at the shuttle not long after the Mandalorians to, rockets apparently being only just a little faster than the lady herself. The skins are packed, and the warriors all on board, in time to take off and get a very good view of the fireball that rolls up from the new crater blasted into the face of the already ruined world by the detonation of its fusion reactor. Cleansed by fire, atomic or otherwise - as Kitfox said, you can never have enough of it. But today, righteous work has been done, and the Mandalorians have fought side by side with the Consortium, leader to leader and warrior to warrior. Nice, really. Nice.

Can't wait to see what happens next.