Log:Raiders of the Lost Cache Part 2

The Mandalorian Revivers are ejected from Dxun and the Empress Teta System, while the Thunderheart and Infiltrator sneak down to the surface.

OOC Date: March 22, 2016
Location: Dxun
Participants: Renegade, Thunderheart, Mandalorian Revivers, Rax Vaelus, Russ Ordo, Narsai Ordo, Noxx Arzukt, Navi Kryze, Oriana

T-minus 30...

The Malachor races through hyperspace, fast approaching the Empress Teta System, where the Mandalorian Wars were largely decided by Revan and his Republic forces over four thousand years ago... Ten Gauntlet fighters are faint gravitic distortions nearby, while the Infiltrator, the Deep Hunter, and the Thunderheart are larger depressions in distorted spacetime.

T-minus 15...

Proximity alert. The gravity well of Onderon's primary star is drawing closer at relativistic speeds. The Mandalorians on board are prepped in shuttles, at battle stations, or on the bridge, waiting to see what unfolds. After the defeat at Dxun, the Battle of Malachor V only sealed the fate of the Mandalorians that had been defeated here.

10, 9, 8...

"Infiltrator, reporting in. System clear."

7, 6, 5...

"Deep Hunter, reporting in. Sensors clean."

4, 3, 2...

The hyperdrive is disengaged, and the moon of Dxun looms huge in the distance, filling the star void. But there's no one here. No Marauder. No fighters. Empty space. The Gauntlet fighters streak in behind the Malachor, fanning out. No distress signal from the moon, either. Nothing.

Russ stands on the bridge of the Malachor, his arms held behind his back as he views the empty space before him. He turns slightly to look at some of the bridge crew "And we have nothing on the sensors? Thats a little bit unsettling..." Russ trails off slightly "Ok squads of three, Alpha group with four I want scouts out. Once we have confirmed clear skies i want one ship from each group to peel back here to help with landing operations." Russ turns slightly to communications officer manning internal comms. "Tell all landing crews to assemble in the hanger bays and await the return of the landing craft. I want all other stations to remain on high alert during this sweep." He clearly does not intend to move from the bridge just yet however he does speak on his private channel "Narsai keep the Bravo group company, they are heading darkside. If i was trying to hide a corvette from us thats where i would be."

The Thunderheart has to ease off on its full speed not to beat the rest of the craft here, so when the customized craft emerges into the sight there's a frown from the redhead Ordo sibling behind the controls. "Thunderheart to Malachor, I've got nothing here..." she begins before Russ' command over the comlink earns a nod and she switches to the channel. "I'll take a fighter wing and scout around quick, we'll try and be subtle while we snoop around. See if you can raise the group on the ground." With that Narsai banks the Thunderheart to begin their scouting run. "Bravo group, form up on me."

On board the Thunderheart in a crewman chair was Noxx. He was asked to come here because he was a pretty cool dude. And well, the more manpower the better. Especially if the manpower in question was a gigantic pissed off lizard thing with claws. He taps away at consoles and looks over maps and such to determine routes and etcetera. He looks over at Narsai "Orders once we get planetside?" he asks, going back to his console.

"Aye, captain." The communications officer leans forward and adjusts a dial, starting to relay the message to the shuttles and the SuperCommandos awaiting the order to mount up. Another officer, this one manning the sensors, looks up. "Captain, sensor sweep clean. We're detecting no ships in the system." Ahead, the twin ion engines of the Infiltrator and the Deep Hunter branch off, blue streaks trailing off with the Gauntlets. Infiltrator with Aurek, Deep Hunter with Cresh. The Thunderheart moves into line with Besh Group. ...Or, rather, Besh moves into line with the potent Thunderheart, making it Besh Leader.

As the fighter craft veer away toward the planet to begin their recon sweep, the officer at Sensors leans forward, holding a hand against the earpiece of his headset. Meanwhile, the communications officer looks up, "Sir, no comm traffic from Onderon."

"All ships remain on high alert, everything here is not sitting right with me. Do not engage if you sight hostiles report locations and return immediately to the Malachor." Russ turns slightly as he looks at the senior ranking men in his bridge crew "Once we have thoroughly scouted make sure the landing operation goes smoothly." He turns to the long range communications officer "Try and contact Onderon or any other long range communications capable vessels in this sector. War is won with information, and we are sorely lacking."

Missing her usual copilot, Narsai grunts as she has to stretch and multi-task. "Besh group, keep your scanners hot. Any one of you spot something? You need to speak up." Feeling more then a little unnerved, the pilot continues her sweep with a frown, fingers dancing along the controls in what might equate to nervous energy.

"Nothing here, Besh Leader." "Nothin' doin', lady." "Sorry Narsai, got nothing here. I'm not even picking up the shuttle's distress beacon."

Noxx, seeing as how his question went unanswered, continues to do easy projects on the computer. He does very simple projects so Narsai doesn't have to stop the important tasks to do the meaningless tasks. Noxx, once done with a few more tasks, begins to observe the outside of the window view, trying to find something, anything of note, with his eyes. Not that he'd probably find anything of course, but it was worth a try, right?

Nothing. Aurek group has already started to circle around the moon, and Cresh is fast approaching the south pole. "Sir." The comms officer looks up at Russ, "Aurek and Cresh wings reporting in. No one's here, Captain. Shall we begin the landing?" In space, the bulk of the Malachor gently drifts through the deep, lazily heading toward Dxun below.

Russ turns to the comms officer "Order the landing to begin, the scouts that remain are to stay in place and keep on watch for the enemy. I am going to join the landing party, until Narsai makes planetfall she is in command of all space forces. Then it passes to the captain. Keep me in on all important communications, highest priority is any communication from Onderon or others in the system. I expect you to try and contact them periodically." Russ turns and places his helmet over his head as he strolls towards the hanger "Landing parties are to setup a strong perimeter around our LZ, I expect emplaced positions to be operational by the time i hit the planet surface. From there you are to split into section groups and conduct the search for the explorers. Stay in visual lines of the other sections and in constant radio contact with the LZ. Any man who gets lost in the jungle due to their carelessness will be stripped of their armour."

Ten shuttles begin to vacate the Malachor, 25 troopers to a shuttle. Russ is aboard one. As the little ships fan out from the mothership Russ has an excellent view of space above as the comm officer aboard the Malachor suddenly, frantically shouts out, "Captain!! We have enemy ships in sector 47!"

Resolving from hyperspace in tight clusters, two Y-Wings, four Headhunters, and a B-Wing spring into being, just before the bulk of a Marauder-class corvette appears overhead. Immediately, across a wide-band frequency, comes a deep, rolling voice, harshened by vocoder. "Welcome to Dxun, Russ Ordo... I will give you the honor of surrendering to Mandalore the Igniter."

"Thunderheart to Malachor. I'm not seeing any big ships floating around here with my eyeballs and noone seems to be scanning any-..." she begins before a warning light goes blaring into focus and she sweeps the Thunderheart up into a defencive position with a curse on the closed channel. She doesn't bother to correct herself, the announcement does it for her. Instead the pilot flicks the switch to charge the guns of her pride and joy while signalling the fighters following. "Besh group, contacts coming in. Shields up and weapons hot."

Noxx listens to the radio chat come in and cracks his knuckles "Finally gonna get some proper fighting going on!" he grins, or well, more or less smirks, as the broadcast is heard. He laughs heartily and looks over at Narsai "Let's do it!"

Oriana was taken off planet, and by request had gone to work along side Russ. For the time being she spent her time quiet and observing, this is important information to learn, how they all work together, how they team up and address issues. There is a lot of fighting to come, and best learn how an ally works. Now they are heading back down to the planet, air battle is one thing, ground is another. Armour is on, and she has her rifle in her hands. The expression on her face is serious, which is normal when walking into potential danger. Checking over her rifle a nod is given, she is ready to head back down.

"Aw, come ON! I ask you for sensor data and you ask for a frellin' /reboot/?!" Navi shakes her head from the sensor boards, forcing herself not to put her fist through a convenient screen (since that would hurt, at the very least. Even in armor). Instead, she forces herself to breathe deeply for a few moments.

Until the group of ships suddenly jumps in. "Wha-?! Where did /they/ come from?!" The blonde kicks the console with a hefty *THUD* and suddenly the sensors spring to life. "THAT'S more like it!" Her hands fly over the controls. "I make four Z-95's, two Y-Wings, one B-Wing... one Marauder. Did he say /Mandalore/?"

The sensor board warbles at her, and her hands are busy on the controls again. "Russ! That transmission didn't come from any of those ships! I don't think it even came from /Onderon or Dxun/! Can't get a positive fix..."

"Patch me through to all ships immediately!" Russ speaks urgently to his communications officer, waiting for the dull click as he is connected to all the ships of his forces "All ships return immediatly to the proximity of The Malachor! I don't want anyone getting shot down doing anything stupid. You are all to important to lose to drivel like this! As soon as The Malachor and their Marauder are engaged all landing parties are now boarding parties. We are going to show those bastards how true Mando'ade fight." Russ swaps back to his private channel "Narsai i will need you to try and provide cover as we try to board their ship. Try to keep their fighters off us, and any deck guns occupied. If we are succesful i may need you on the inside, just be cautious of those Y-wings, they could pose a problem if they get within our shields." Russ patches back in to the Malachor as he checks over his new set of pistols "Malachor raise their fake Mandalore on the comms, make it appear as though I am still on the bridge." Russ waits for confirmation before he speaks "Never heard of Mandalore the Igniter before. Funny how i preach unity for our people and so many see it as a declaration of war. You should know that surrender is not an option for any true Mandalorian. Not on a battlefield like this. Why don't we save our mens lives and settle this in single combat." Russ tunes across "He isn't on their flagship...no matter the ojgective remains the same. Narsai, try and wittle them down some and give us that space we need to board."

"Russ, I'm disappointed..."

Suddenly a turbo laser ignites the sky, a giant green lance of energy that rips through the shields of one of the shuttles to starboard of where Russ sits. The shuttle is spiraling out of control from the crazy juke its pilot just executed, but it's still in one piece. Meanwhile, the enemy fighters accelerate to attack speed. "You preach unity while defying the Code. I am Mandalore, and I call upon you. Do you refuse the call?"

Aurek group and Cresh group are flying back at top speed, but Gauntlets only fly so fast. Meanwhile, Igniter continues after the pause. "This is your last chance, Russ. Join me. Take your rightful place at my side. ...Or your men die here, wastrels and cowards at the dawn of the Third Crusade."

It's older ships (save hers) verses more modern but still outdated technology. With no ability to account for the skill of the enemy pilots Narsai can only guess. Looking back over her shoulder she takes a breath. "If you know how to use them Nox? Get to the gun turrets. If you don't? Strap in." Keying her comms to the squadron the Younger woman settles her fingers on the triggers of the two 'front guns' and the concussion missiles. "All fighters, take it to them. Lets show these pretenders what a real Mando'ade can do."

You paged Oriana with 'You lock onto the source of the signal, and hyper-focus the ship's sensors in that direction. The ship is blind for a moment, but you get a faint sensor contact out near the edge of the solar system... ...It's a Dreadnaught. This is a trap.'

Noxx slowly rises up and grins his shark teeth like grin, "With pleasure." he says, running up to the gun turret and getting into it. He takes a seat and raises the guns towards the mandalorian pretenders. He begins to instruct a chorus of destruction on the enemy fighters, cackling to himself as he fires shot after shot in the quad gun. "Hehehehe...BOOM!" he yells as he fires off every shot he can at them. He twists around in the gun and begins to fire at another enemy. "For the true mandalore!" he yells, obviously referring to his good buddy Russ.

Navi squeaks as the turbolaser blast very nearly knocks down a shuttle not too far from the /Malachor/. "Geez! This is looking like a repeat of the clan wars..." she murmurs. Then she is busy on the sensor board again. "Geez... Russ, still can't get a lock on that transmission. Maybe it's a hyperwave set... otherwise it's /got/ to be in /this system/..."

As this goes on Oriana continues with her position as observer. A step forward happens, slow and weighed. Her head, with a sight turn, tilts. One hand rests on her rifle, which is at her side. The other moves to her hip, resting there as this conversation is taken in.

Eyes widen some, the bravado of these men, these people. Shaking her head, that hair, which is pulled back, sways around here as a sigh escapes. Going to a console she begins to hit buttons, all that jazz. While working the ship goes blind a second, the hyper-focus the ship's sensors where focused in that direction. As she works a brief glance is given to Russ. "This.. guy, with a pissy attitude, did you ever think about taking him for coffee and giving him a fuck off cookie to settle this?" A smirk, and she returns to the console to.. lift her hand away, and frown. "Ah, shit! I got a signal, it's faint near the edge of the solar system. There is a Dreadnaught there. I think this is a trap!"

"You are no Mandalore i know. And not one i recognize? What have you done to deserve the title? You could have come to me as a brother, instead you ambush us out of the black. The tactics of a coward. And no coward shall ever claim the title of Mandalore while i live. I offer you your last chance, face me in single combat. Let us end this now, before to many Mandalorians have to die for this foolishness. Fight me like a true Mandalorian." Russ growls lowly as one of his ships as hit, though mercifully spared a firey death for now.

He patches back over to the Malachor communications officer "All batteries are to open fire immediately on their Marauder, target their shield generaters followed by their turbolasers. All point defence guns are to prioritise those Y-wings and the B-wing! Do not let them get within the shields!" He mutters lowly to Oriana as he braces himself in his seat getting ready for a combat drop abaord an enemy ship "Of all the times to have the Firesprays in for repairs." He switches his comms over to talk directly to Navi "Ignore him for now, if I need to i will hunt him down later. For now we have a battle to win." Russ switches back to his battlegroup channel "Coordinated attack men. As soon as the Malachor engages their Marauder properly I want two ships formed up on me. We are running at that hanger. All other squadrons are to keep those fighters off us and engage their point defence weaponry. This is our best chance to bring this fight to a speedy conclusion. Narsai, put those concussion missiles to good use. FOR MANDALORE." His orders relayed Russ switches to his squad channel and nods to his Commandos, those who rise even above the supercommandos. "Into the Krayt dragons mouth again boys, lets give them one hell of a bad bout of indigestion."

The Y-Wings begin their attack run on the Malachor. All four headhunters move in to start attacking shuttles, pairing up on them. The B-Wing moves to engage Narsai.

The chaos of space battle erupts all around as fighters immediately dive and swarm. The Y-Wings are closing on the Malachor as the Malachor attempts to simultaneously attack the enemy Marauder, designated The Herald, and the Y-Wings coming in. The B-Wing is actually engaging the Thunderheart head to head, and the Headhunters are mixing it up with the soldier-laden Gauntlets. Things, initially, aren't going well.

And so begins the tense dance between the B-Wing Narsai can only assume is the enemy Ace and the Thunderheart, neither landing a hit as the fighters start to light up the sky. Russ' command however makes the pilot exhale however and she brings her ship around, arming the missiles. She needs to blow those defensive weapons away to make it safer for the boarding teams after all. "Alright," the woman says softly. "If Ax can do it, you can do it. Breathe..." Reaching out with senses she now could put a name to, the Thunderheart goes diving on its attack run.

Noxx continues to fire quad turret shells at nearby targets, all of which of course miss. He yells in traditional trandoshan fashion, swearing and cursing in Dosh. He slams his fists on the controls, trying to force them to readjust their aim, it of course does nothing but it relieves frustration. "DIE!" he yells at the ships attacking them as he continues to hail missed shells at them.

Navi brings up the turret controls and tries to assist Narsai in shooting at the /Herald's/ weapons, but her efforts go unrewarded; her shots generally splash wide around the gun emplacements, and the few that do connect have no apparent effect, absorbed by the vessel's thick armor. "Frell! I have /got/ to put in more sim time..."

When Russ is done his proclamation she glances at the screen and then back to him, with a nod to what he is saying Oriana ventures with a slight lean forward. "What about the trap?!" The question is asked quick as the battle erupts in space around them, and while that happens she goes to stand and head over to where the Mando leader sits, staring down at him. "I think they want you to do this, to get your attention away from something else. There is a Dreadnaught out there, barely on the sensors!"

"We can't deal with a dreadnought...We don't have the firepower or the manpower to take on something like that. Hell just to crew it you need more people than I have in our entire organistaion." Russ shakes his head with clear anger "They must outnumber us at least 20 to 1 if they have a dreadnought here in system." He hangs his head for a moment and places the call out to the Malachor "All forces this is Russ Ordo, full retreat. The explorers are on their own here, there is nothing we can do to help them. The opposition have a dreadnought in system. You all know what that means, they have thousands and we have hundreds. On the ground we may have had a chance, but up here their firepower and weight of numbers is telling." Russ cuts the line and switches to his communications officer "Open up a line with that damn Dreadnought."

Sweeping between turbolaser fire, the force is practically screaming in Narsai's ears a revelation as the Thunderheart weaves its way onwards. "Russ, she's right. That Dreadnaught is trying to bring us in. It'll snap the Malachor like a twig and even if we get aboard their Marauder even you can't take it so fast they wouldn't decimate our own ship and be ready to fire on that one. I suggest we land our ground teams and the rest of the ships jump to regroup." As her brother seems to have made the same realization on his own. "I can make it down there, our fighters will buy time for a strike team to land. On your command brother."

With that she switches her comms to the fighter wing. Either way, they'll need to provide cover for the bigger vessels. "All fighters, intercept and engage. Buy our ships some time."

There's a deep rumbling of enemy engines as someone, at least, isn't quite done with the redhead... The B-Wing has settled in behind the Thunderheart, and it opens up with the proton torpedo launchers. Within the cockpit, Navi and Noxx can see a figure in a black cowl, the cloth draped over a mask as it grips the controls.

Noxx, in a fit of either extreme luck or extreme concentration, whichever it may be, shoots down the first torpedo. He laughs and grins to himself as the torpedo pieces go exploding off into different directions. He looks down at Narsai as the torpedo explodes and yells "You see that shot?!" then highfives himself like a true lizard man.

Her jaw tenses a bit, looking back to the screen and then to Russ a hand rubs her forehead. Oriana presses her lips together while the battle goes on around them. "My brother is on that planet! It's his job to rule when or if death takes me before him, trust me, I don't want to bail on him, or my other friends down there either!" Eyes widen, she seems more annoyed at the situation they are in than anything. With that she huffs some hair from her face, because there are always a few loose strands that fall out of her ponytail. "I'm sorry, okay. But hell if we back off we can at least live to fight another -" Then she catches what Narsai says, and nods to herself. "That's not a bad idea really. Is there an escape pod on this boat or something? I'll risk the trip down to go and help, they will need as much on the ground as they can get."

Navie squeaks again as her gun cameras track across the cockpit of the B-Wing, revealing the cowled and masked pilot. Definitely not normal pilot's attire! "Who IS that guy? Creep factor nine for sure!"

Maybe fright lends to her aim, because when she opens up on the torpedoes closing on their stern, her salvo drives home, cooking the torp before it gets anywhere close to their engines. "Got the other one, Noxx! Narsai, watch out for this creep!" She looks back to her sensors for a moment. "Somethin' ain't right about that guy..." she murmurs, in her best Agamarrian accent.

"We are not going to land ground forces Ori, I am sorry. But they would have clear air superiority. As soon as we landed to disembark, or if we made it in escape pods we would be paste before we made it ten metres from landing. They would just blast our landing zones with hundreds of turbo laser blasts. And thats -IF- we make it down. Thats what i would do, anyway. There is nothing we can do here. All we can do is try and live and try and grow the strength we have. I don't think this guy is done with us." Russ shakes his head with clear anger and punches his armoured fist into the hull of the ship "We are done here. All ships jump as soon as you can."

The metal fist clangs loud and clear within the shuttle. As the Malachor disengages from the battle, it takes several punishing shots from the Herald, and the Headhunters harass the Gauntlets...but the arrival of Aurek and Cresh wings bolster Besh's flagging strength. The B-Wing seems intent on pursuing the Thunderheart, and it breaks off pursuit only reluctantly--likely on direct orders to do so.

Curiously, the Dreadnaught in the distance never arrives to the fight...

Leaping into hyperspace like the Renegade before it, the Malachor limps away from Dxun, and the nature of the battle steadily becomes more apparent. That was a fistfight, and the Revivers got a black eye. But they aren't defeated. Not yet.

Giving a curse as she hears the order, Narsai sweeps the ever-nimble Thunderheart away from those twin explosions and then jams the throttle to full while looking at the others. Oriana is safe aboard the Malachor, their future missions are assured. "Besh group. As soon as the other ships are clear get ready to jump!" With that she angles the ship sharply towards the planet. "Sorry Malachor, comms garbled." The Thunderheart tears across the sky, intending to outrun pursuit down to Dxun in the confusion.

Noxx gives a cheer for Navie as she shoots down the other torpedo. "Give em' hell!" he yells, and begins to open fire on the B-Wing that so aggressively decided to attack them. He lands a direct hit on it and laughs to himself. "Take that you pathetic excuse for a mandalorian." he grins and looks around for any other targets to get a lock on. While Narsai is busy doing her thing he calls down to her "I'll follow whatever it is you decide to do! Just try not to order us into a slaughter, deal?"

Thumb and index come to meet at the bridge of her nose, her head had lowered some. Frankly, it sucks, this situation. His punch makes her jump and look up, a bit surprised. Her hand moves and brushes back some hair with frustration. "Damned in every move, fuck." Muttering under her breath Oriana looks to Russ, frowning and crossing her arms from there. "It's your call, in the end. But I agree, we don't serve any purpose other than target practice here." Turning she sits, heavily into the seat and puts her elbow on the console giving a brief glance to it, and sees the reports slide in. There is a sudden run of words in her native tongue, which given the gyst ain't now words you want to say around your grandparents. Standing she goes to grab Russ' arm, not to hurt but to sort of pull him to the sensor readings, her other hand points to it. "Your sister is going for the planet! I don't think you have a choice now!" Her head shakes from side to side. "What is it with gingers! What do you wan to do now doesn't look like we can run. Barrel for the planet and hope our asses don't get burned?" Okay, she smirks a bit at him at that.

"C'mon, c'mon... stupid damned sensors! Show me the frelling dreadnaught, already!" Navi growls in frustration, struggling with her controls. The long-range sensor resolution refuses to clear up. "I can't find it! If it's there, why doesn't it show itself?!"

She loses her interest for the moment as Noxx splashes the B-Wing with cannon fire. "That'll put his nose out of joint! Beautiful shot, Noxx!"

Then she gets a look at her gun cameras, which, trained in the B-Wing's general direction, no longer show any sign of Onderon or Dxun. "Wait... Narsai, where are we going? Narsai?"

Russ monotones as he turns to Oriana as the ship prepares to jump "Then my sister is dead and i have no intention of joining her. They outnumber us greatly and can just glass anywhere we decide to land. If we go down we all die and your planet stays lost forever. No we are better of liberating your people and then returning when Mandalores Wrath is complete. If nothing more than to get revenge for my sister." He shakes his head as they make the jump "Pointless."