Log:Mandalore: Dragons

Mand'alor's forces face the Warlord's Basilisk in the field

OOC Date: April 13, 2023
Location: Death Star
Participants: Sumi Kora, Zena Tane, Amaia Dara, Valeska Kora, Jallo Dara, Terek Rosol and Hadrix Kora as GM

It'd been chaos and blood in the sands, the lines hadn't shifted but the body count had grown steadily on either side before a charge had been made for a repeater emplacement. Intended to split the enemy line enough for Mand'alor's forces to drive in a wedge and change the face of the battlefront.

The moment gained, with the repeater claimed the Warlord's Basilisk joined the fight. Landing in a torrent of shockwave cannon and rocket pod fire. It's battle cry death and its intention destruction. Wheeling around, the war droid's blaster cannons begin spinning up and more of Rudinark's loyal warriors charge to join the fight and try to turn the charge into a route.

<<"Kriff...">> Hadrix was scrambling to his feet after the near miss from the wardroid's initial barrage, diving backwards into defilade provided by the earthworks surrounding the emplacement when blaster and slug fire begin filling the air again. Soldiers moving in waves across the No Man's Land with weapons drawn and firing.

With a fresh unit of warriors, Sumi Kora joins the fight at one of the points where enemy soldiers surge forward to turn the tide. Without much time to say anything super inspirational, the warrior simply held a glaive and yelled, <"With me now!"> And after raising her weapon to gather the attention of the group, yelled, <"Now, with me!">

Battle followed, and Sumi moved into the thick of it to hold one side of the line.

Sumi's first attack with the polearm beheaded someone with a single pass of the blade.

Zena, once more, is back on Mandalore. This time to fight a Basilisk droid and it's guards.

Yeah, she's not shooting that thing.

She's nestled into some dried out shrubs, prone on the ground with her brand new gun. She loves her new gun and wants to see what it will do to people she does not like. Smiling behind her helmet, she looks into the viewfinder and cycles the weapon. "Alright, you sons of Wampas. Let's see how you like this!"

She takes aim and pulls the trigger, a crimson bolt lancing from the end of the weapon. It seems to sizzle. A lot. Uh oh.

There had been precious little time to gather her senses, or to fight the shafts of pain that were still riddling her leg. But this was not the time to cry about it. Now was the time for fighting. Pain, dying, death, all of those were likely to come after. Probably soon after, but Mai Dara did not concern herself with that either. There was no future. There was only now. Her Alor was alive. At least she had last seen him alive. Unlike the Miraluka, she needed eyes for seeing, and hers were fixed on the battle--nevermind. Most of the team she had come in with were alive. Now was for keeping them alive. Mai flipped the turrent mounted weapon to full auto and began chewing her way through...the sand at the feet of the incoming enemy. Look, new weapon. New kinks.

Valeska has been out in the field with everyone else for far longer than she had anticipated. Which is fine, sure, but that Basilisk is really starting to annoy her. She doesn't have anything to poke holes into it from a safe distance which, logic would dictate, she should go for a different target.

But she doesn't operate on logic. By now, Valeska is operating on piss and vinegar. Maybe mild dehydration. Certainly a lot of vigor. In the chaos if the skirmish, she's picked her target. Or at least thought she had.

Running up to the massive machine with the intent of delivering some charges directly to its outer shell, Valeska skids to a stop and has to roll out of the way as the thing proves more nimble than she was expecting. <<"How the rekk do we get into this thing? Wiggly bugger.">>

Jallo's settled up behind some cover for the moment the MK Sniper rifle coming up as he sights in on... Soldiers running in with the droid. The rifle designed to eliminate people from a safe distance seems the appropriate choice as the barrel lines up the trigger is squeezed and a solid shot into one of the enemy troopers. <<"Been a while since I looked at the specs for one of those droids. Is there a weak point like joints or anything we should be aiming at?">>

That is a big, very angry looking droid. Terek took cover in the trench as the hellfire came in on the group, keeping his head down, trying to predict when he'll be able to pop out and fire. That thing has to reload eventually, right.

A pause in fire, and Terek pops up from trench, only to realize that the droid had paused fire purposely to get people to peek and fire. Terek does, his missile launcher firing, and the volley that returns on him lands one shot into the trench, leaving him clutching a shrapnel wound to his leg. The armor seems to have absorbed some of it, but there's a lot of bleeding.

He sets the launcher on the ground to fetch another missile from the pack, which had thankfully been tucked away to not get caught in the explosions from that droid.

The mechanical monstrosity rears back when a Mandalorian attempts to land atop it the shockwave cannon array that make up its' face rotating and making a sound akin to a mechanical roar when it bucks and swings round to slam its massive tail into whatever is close enough. Its systems responding faster than most organics could think. Shoulder mounted cannons firing rapidly in scything sweeps that send soldiers to cover or their afterlives.

Amid it all, Al'Verde Kora is sprinting across the distance for one of his own, caught in the tidal wave of fire being emitted by the mechanical beast and the Mandalorians on either side of the battle line firing across the smoke choked fields. Diving to roll and slide in next to Terek with his medical roll open and a stim-pen in his fist.

<"I feel like I'm six again..."> half laughing through the growl before jamming the needle into the Cathar's neck, thumbing the injector bead.

Fresher soldiers moving with Sumi crash into the Warlord's forces, some jamming barrels between armor plates to fire and others getting into gruesome hand to hand struggles with all the accompanying grunts and scuffles of armor on armor with the blood, burning scents and breaking sounds.

into a spin. When she rounded upon the one responsible for striking her, she drags the edge of her polearm upon him, battering him to the ground. The strike, backed by the momentum of her spin and weight of her armor, was further driven to point when her jetpack added the necessary 'umph'. The result?

Her foe is sent flying backward to slide across the ground and tumble, trampled upon by the very soldiers bearing the same cause. Sumi seems no worse for wear as she trudges forward.

<"PUSH THEM BACK!"> She screams, and a chorus of 'OYA!' follow.

After her first shot pegs a guy, she grins, patting her gun. "Yeah, I like you. You're fun," she says to the inanimate object. She cycles it, settling in to take aim again.

It's about then that the Dudes She Shot At return fire, a blaster bolt skimming her helmet in a way too close for comfort incident.

She's young, so she makes a mistake. She flinches at the sound so close and pulls the trigger, firing early and without warning and sending a shot off towards the horizon.

Oops.

Mai continued the fight, even as the Basilisk continued to fire on the defending (Yes! They were defenders! This was the Way!), and Mai continued to try to do what she could to keep back the attacking enemy mandalorians. Sure, she didn't appear to be taking them down, but, but, she did appear to be doing her level best to prevent them from taking the line of barricades and defensive positions behind which her team was fighting.

The huge battle mech is a scourge and trying to dance with it is incredibly... ill-advised. But until she gets her mits on some cannons or turrets, Valeska is going to do her best to put a ding in it. However, she is rather ill-equipped for it. She keeps her distance close to the Basilisk in the hopes that should a weakness open up, she can exploit it for all it's worth.

Giving up on getting a charge planted, Valeska reaches for plan besh. Besh is for Bilari and that's good enough for me. Grabbing the melee weapon, she cracks it awake with a snap of her wrist, converting it to it's eleectrified whip form and spinning it in a blurred circle at her side. <"C'mon, you rekkin' thing. Gonna turn you into rust.">

Because regardless of the odds, you gotta go in with bluster.

Jallo doesn't duck back down behind the makeshift cover fast enough and takes a solid shot from one of the line soldiers but the Beskar on his chest deflects most of that energy away from him... Then he aims and returns fire although it looks like they've got some decent armor of their own as his bolt is ineffective... <"Well that smarts.">

By the time Hadrix got to him, Terek had lost enough blood where he was struggling to load the launcher. Then that pen full of bacta hits his system, he lets out a gasp of surprise, <"I'll never get used to how much that stings. Thank you."> He replies to Hadrix, putting a hand up onto his shoulder and pushing himself up to his feet, reaching down to pick up the launcher and shoving the new rocket into it, <"Lets not do that again.>"

He mounts the launcher back up onto his shoulder, and moves a bit further down the trench, waiting for his chance to open fire on that droid again. Perhaps if he can get around to the side without getting spotted.

The bass heartbeat of the repeater cannon at Amaia's control forces heads down, halts potential charges and allows breathing room for the defenders regrouping and rallying behind Sumi's charge. A group allowed breathing room by her assault grouping to hurl ordnance en mass. A cluster of grenades arching towards the enemy line and setting off a series of small explosions sending bodies tumbling.

The response is brutal when jetpacks launch a group into Sumi's line, bayonets and short blades being put to work staining the plains crimson and sending calls of pain into the air. The fighting growing closer, bloodier, more personal. One of the enemy spinning to the ground, a heavy caliber slug cracking their breastplate. The instinctive return fire catching Hadrix in the leg and dropping him to a knee before his disruptor shrieks and another raider simply ceases to exist.

<"Aim, then fire."> unable to stop the quip.

Distracted by the circling insect, the Basilisk rears and stomps at the the ground, unable to bring its shockwave cannons to bear on Valeska and instead its shoulder mounted cannons swivel to fire at her, chewing up the ground and turning it to shattered glass all around. Shards of broken ground being kicked up by its clawed feet.

Sumi charges with the polearm leveled in front of her, ramming its 20" blade through the guy of an elite warrior. She was stopped dead in her tracks when the weapon sank in, and the warrior, despite pain and the presence of a blade in his gut, reached forward and took hold of her. Sumi ignited her jetpack, grunting and lifting.

Her foe was brought off his feet and planted on his back. She used her weight to step down upon the blade to sever his spine, then twisted the weapon so the wound would never closed. The sound of his dying was lost over the chaos of battle, and Sumi yanked the glaive free to begin her attack upon another.

Zena decides that today is a good day to get ruined. She shifts in her position, rising up just a little to readjust herself. It's at the worst time. A blaster bolt lances in and plugs her in the chest. Dead middle, center of mass. Either they have a sniper too, or someone just got very lucky. She's blown backwards, leaving her rifle in it's spot, though the bipod tips, and she howls. If not for her armor, she'd absolutely be dead. She takes a second to breathe. To remember she's alive before she rolls over and crawls back to her gun. She sets it upright and aims. This time, shooting at the giant kriffing droid. Her chest twinges, making her hand slip, and the shot goes incredibly wide.

With the enemy forces pushed back - not enough, but enough to give some breathing room - Mai adjusted her angle of fire, turning the emplacement which they had tried to use on her team back on the enemy, the force of the weapon blasting bodies off of their feet, not quite a half dozen, but close enough for it to, she hoped, give the rest pause. The weapon itself shook with the force of the recoil, but the Rattataki held on. Now was the time, yes? Death later.

Valeska brings her weapon around, snapping it back into sword form (because the player forgot to toggle) and wailing on its leg. The hit doesn't do much to stagger it, but it will definitely give the Basilisk something to think about. If droids could think. If nothing else, it's terribly satisfying to Valeska to at least get a hit on the damn thing.

Jallo lets just a bit of a sigh out before he sets the sniper rifle he's using down next to him before he grasps the electro whip's handle drawing it out as it solidifies into a rapier like weapon... Climbing to his feet he starts to cross the distance to the soldiers closing in with the War Droid.

<"Kriffing thing">

Watching fire rain on the basilisk another scream of the blocky disruptor pistol makes part of the massive droid's armor plating chip away as if it were corroding away in timelapse.

<"Shoot it there!"> Hadrix gets out before throwing himself to one side to get clear of a barrage of rockets that turn the ground to a pock marked field with sand and stone spewing into the air. His enforcer roars and another of Rudinark's is laid low. Then the lines surge again, one of the Warlord's leaping onto a defending warrior, feet planted on their shoulder and riding them down with their slug-rifle on automatic spewing solid rounds into the face of the poor fallen.

More continue gather the scrum and the fighting is joined with a will when vehicles begin to criss-cross the area, rockets and heavy cannons launching and one being crumpled by the intense fire from the basilisk's main cannons when it looks at the offending speeder. The vehicle bending inward and then into a rough U before being kicked over and its passengers spilled. Its shoulder weapons and tail continue to lash, seeking its tormentors.

Sumi cuts down an elite warrior, driving the blade into their chest through the small space between armored plating. With her full weight plus armor, they are taken to the ground and dead upon impact. Yanking the weapon free, she begins to make her way toward the more intense fighting, hoping to stay within the chaos of it all. Blood stains her armor and bits of organic material hang off her. It's a blood bath!

Hadrix just nails the droid with his incredibly gnarly gun. It's a horrifying weapon. The chunk of armor that flies off, and the voice over the comms makes her think they can win. <<"Got it. Taking aim!">>

Grunting against the pain in her chest, Zena settles into the dust and takes aim. She steadies her breathing, rests her finger on the trigger and pulls.

The crimson bolt lances out, the recoil of the weapon making the young Mando wince in agony. The bolt still hits clean, though, pegging the spot Hadrix damaged. <<"Direct hit!">>

Hey now! No one killed her Alor but her. Probably with a badly placed can of oil, or tools left in the middle of a corridor (How else did you murderize someone who could literally see in 360 degrees at all times--nevermind, Mai! He doesn't need to know your plans!) As Mai saw the team moving in on the battledroid and she stomped on the foot pedal, the big emplacement whining as she angled the weapon up and towards the basilisk, gripping both hands on the triggers as she opened fire on the thing. She did not have the precision to shoot where Hadrix had pointed, but she could spray and pray, yes she could.

Jallo's scurrying to engage the enemy... Then the call for shoot here is heard and slides to a halt switching to the targeting computer in his helmet as he locks in on that droid launching a rocket from his jetpack as it should in theory do the most damage, <<"Target hit but looks like I missed the hole. Rocket not very effective.">>

Laying in the dirt for a few moments, Terek lets out a cough of surprise and gets back up to his feet, putting the launcher down and pulling out his W-35.

Hadrix had pointed out where to hit it, Terek knew he could make that shot. He braces the shot with his left hand, finally taking that advice to aim, before he squeezes the trigger and the golden blaster bolt sails out, and slams into that same point that Hadrix had marked.

One weak spot in the armor seems to be key to the countering of the war machine as more and more fire finds it, explosions and heavy cannon fire that force it lower and lower with the weight of impacts smashing armor, damaging internal workings and causing hydraulic fluids to go spraying across those caught close by.

The mayhem surrounding the droid giving pause to many of those watching as this 'living' legend of Mandalore is battered and beaten. Mechanical snarls going up and a lamed leg dragging in the sand the droid looses a bellowing sound that carries even over the din of battle. It stumbles back and the Warlord's forces falter. Then it lurches and the combination of its flight systems - a mix of conventional jets and anti-gravs fire with such force to create what looks like an impact crater that would have been left by a hunk of celestial stone when it lifts into the air. Leaking fluids and rocketing away like a shot, shedding broken armor shards and even a small section of one of its stabilizer wings when it goes.

Seeing the Warlord's prize weapon driven back is more than disheartening for those soldiers close by. The break in morale and the rekindling of the defenders can be felt rippling outward and warhorns begin to sound a withdrawal along the attacking lines. Jetpacks begin to fire and those flying the colors loyal to the wasteland commander start lifting and bouncing away - firing only to provide themselves cover for their escape.

Like celebratory fireworks for the defense that finally halted the attack. For now.

Zena cycles her rifle again, gritting her teeth as she prepares to lay more fire into the massive droid. Until it bellows like a wounded animal and retreats.

She takes another shot anyway, the crimson bolt lancing out and missing by centimeters. Was she going to kill it with her shot? No. Would it have felt good to hit it? Absolutely.

She slumps, rolling to her back next to her gun. <<"This kriffing -hurts-,">> she mutters, accidentally sending it over comms.

With the attack halted, the main adversary flying away, and the line whole, Sumi plants the polearm into the ground before her and takes a moment to catch her breath. The front lines are a gory place to be, and those rising back up after all that fighting just start to laugh. They laugh about surviving the chaos, about the enemy advancing in another direction, and just about being alive.

The urge to pull her helmet off and smoke is strong, but Sumi maintains discipline until their enemies are gone, for now...

<<"Good work everyone.">>

Mai remained at the gun, shifting aim and focus, but the old emplacement did not have the speed to track the departing droid, even if it might have had the range. And so, in the end, she had to settle for firing a few times to ensure that those who were retreating did not get any brave and stupid ideas. Only once she was sure that the line was secure and the defending mandalorians safe, dis she step down from the gun emplacement.

There's actually a sound of surprise that comes out of Terek when the droid starts to retreat. He figured that thing would keep going until it went down like he's seen droids do so many times before. He does keep firing a few times as it retreats, the falling back of the hostile troops allowing him to finally holster his weappon.

He moves back to pick up the launcher and sling it over his back, swapping out with one of the fresher troops that Sumi had brought in, heading back to get patched up and find himself some more missiles. And maybe a new launcher at this rate.

Jallo slows his approach to the retreating enemies and sighs with relief before he puts his electro whip away before heading back to friendly lines and retrieving his rifle he stashed, <"I do kinda wanna get one of those droids to fiddle with they seemed very interesting.">