A/N sorry for the lack of stories. The summer vacations are in full swing now and my writing time is severely limited. Especially now that I found a summer job.
The part marked with * is the text of "Dha Werda Verda" and belongs to its creator. I'm just putting it here for the flavor. It's a really good song though.
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Heir of Mandalore - Chapter 16/Clan against Pirates
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Red lights were blaring as the crew scrapped around trying to save their trusted ship. The alarms were going on while the steam from engineering ensured they didn't even think about rest right now. Tracey was in the cockpit doing her best to keep the ship in the hyperspace until they reach the nearest planet with traces of civilization.
"Longbottom!" Daphne roared as she put out another fire started by the hot steam. "I'm gonna kick you in the nuts so hard you'll have trouble walking for months," she seethed at the boy.
"I thought you were the one checking the crates." He meekly tried to defend himself, but the very real threat of pain in the near future didn't make it sound that convincing.
"I was kind of in a hurry after being chased by kriffin' commando droids!" The girl snapped back at him. She finally dealt with that fire.
"Both of you shut up!" Harran called from the engineering. He was busy with Sharphook trying to repair their main systems and protect the secondary power source. "I don't care which one of you is to blame. You've allowed a kriffing crate of kriffing assassin droids onto the ship."
Daphne wanted to protest that it wasn't her fault, but in the process of moving to the next fire, she almost tripped over the crushed remains of one of the droids and lost her will to do so. They were all caught with their panties down, figuratively speaking.
"I'm gonna pull us out of the hyperspace. We're gonna have a landing."
"What landing?"
"A landing!" Tracey called back while wrestling the control stick.
The blue light of hyperspace died out. The ship shook violently as seconds later they entered the atmosphere. They were flying high above the jungle. Far in the distance, they could see some settlement. Possibly.
Harran ran to the cockpit and took the seat next to Tracey. The pair was able to stabilize their flight and stop the collision course, but they were now barely holding up in the air.
"Get to that village." Sharphook pointed to where smoke was coming from a group of houses.
"Seriously? I thought about crashing into that mountain." Harry deadpanned as he and Tracey fought to maintain a straight flight.
By a miracle, the ship managed to land on the edge of a small village without anyone dying.
After that, there was a very loud squeak from where Daphne and Neville were.
"I told you." The girl snapped. A loud sound of heavy combat boots marching away echoed throughout the ship, adding to the phantom pain Harry and Sharphook felt.
"You know, burc'ya, my dad once told me a certain wisdom." Sharphook began in a solemn tone. "There is nothing a Mandalorian man fears more than a Mandalorian woman."
"He truly was a wise man," Harry said in an equally solemn tone. In the background, there was a weak whimper still coming from Longbottom.
"If you ask me, he shouldn't have tempted fate." Tracey shrugged and got out of her chair. "I'll go see if he still remembers how to walk."
Harry also left to take a look around. He grabbed a rifle in addition to his standard armament. They needed to get in touch with the villagers about spare parts. The droids managed to seriously damage the engineering and he doubted they had all required parts on hand.
On the lower deck, he noted that Rush Clovis was lying unconscious in the corner, bound with whipcord wrapped around his body. He's also sporting a rather nasty black eye.
"Son of a Malfoy. Tried to ambush me." Daphne scowled while putting together her sniper rifle.
"Get your helmet on. We need to talk with the locals." Harry decided not to provoke her. He suspected the solo part of her mission on Scipio was somewhat weighing on her, but he wouldn't dwell on it for now. If she didn't improve, he could discuss it on Coruscant.
The village was seemingly a ghost town. There were no traces of anyone. Okay, that statement wasn't true. The traces were there. Several homes had smoke still coming from the fireplaces. Tools were littering the field. More accurate statemen was that it seemed like everyone left in a hurry.
"Is anyone here?!" Tracey called out, joining the group. Sharphook and Neville were keeping a respectable distance away from Daphne. That's the distance in which she can kick you.
"We mean no harm," Harry added, trying to reassure whoever was here. His sensors were telling him there were other life forms in this village.
A small, slightly reptilian-looking, alien slowly looked from behind a large stone. He had yellow skin and very tiny eyes.
"Who're you? What do you want with us?"
"Name's Harran Kryze and this is my clan." Harry nodded his head toward the other four. "We've had an… emergency landing and hoped you might have some spare parts we may need." Seeing that the man before them was scared, he quickly added "we're willing to pay for any aid given."
"So you're not with those pirates?"
"I don't know about any pirates," Harry said, but he could already guess what it was about. And the looks his clan was giving him from under their helmets. Oh well…
"Pirates! They threatened us and want to take our crops. We tried to hire bounty hunters to protect us, but we couldn't afford any meaningful contract so far. They're all scared by the pirate captain."
"Kryze…" There was a dangerous edge in Tracey's voice.
"Either way we need those parts and time for repairs. Might as well help them." Harry pleaded.
"I'm with him." Sharphook offered. "They can help us in repairs while we help them survive. A fair deal."
"Fine," Tracey mumbled.
Harry turned to the villager. "We might be able to help. We're licenced bounty hunters."
"We can't afford to pay you." The felucian bowed his head. "Our crops pay for the supplies for winter months and our tools."
"But you have spare parts you can share with us? And maybe a man or two trained in basic ship maintenance. We need to repair our ship either way."
"And… we get to keep our entire crop?" The farmer was surprised.
"I have no interest in medical plants. Nev might want a bit for research, but nothing substantial." Harry joked, but he could sense the elation coming from his friend. He was positively giddy over the possibility of a new plant he's never seen before.
The alien was now also overjoyed. "Come with me. We can discuss the details inside." He whistled and more farmers came from either their ceilings or from behind trees and rocks all around. "They're going to protect us!" The alien proclaimed to the gathering crowd.
The five Mandalorians were met with cheers of the whole village.
-\/-
In two days they've spent so far in the village, the clan managed to put up some basic defenses. Harry did try to put up some wards, but there were simply no ley-lines near the village and anything he could've done would've also tire him too much. It was much more economical to transmute a stone wall around the village. It tired him out for a few hours, but now the village had some defenses.
The rest of the clan mostly focused on repairing the ship while keeping a rotating guard on the newly-created walls. The repairs were going better than expected. Apparently, the droids didn't manage to cause nearly enough damage as they first assumed. The point was, they would soon be ready to leave. Well, they could leave after the harvest that is.
It was already nearing dark when the perimeter sensors they've set came to life. All villagers were sent to safety while the Mandalorians took cover behind the barricade. In the distance on the road to the village, three figures were slowly walking toward the village. Daphne took position on the roof of the barn with her sniper rifle.
"Three contacts. Coming slowly." She informed while looking through her rangefinder.
"Stay hidden. We don't know who they are."
"They definitely aren't pirates."
Tracey pulled her own rangefinder and looked closer. She suddenly started to laugh.
"Oi!, Harry! You might wanna call Daphne back. Unless you want her to kill your favorite Jedi."
"Kriff. Please don't tell me..."
By now, the three newcomers were close enough that rangefinder wasn't needed to discern them. It was clear that they were Jedi. Three very specific Jedi. And among them Harry's father. Kriff indeed.
Given that those three were definitely not pirates, Harry stepped out from his behind his cover. It's not like there was a point in hiding from them. As soon as he made himself known, the Jedi reached for their lightsabers, but they didn't ignite them yet.
"Su cuy'gar!" Harry called ironically.
"It's you…" Anakin suddenly started to look a bit sheepish for a completely unknown reason."
"It's us." Sharphook nodded as the rest of the clan made themselves known. "What's a bunch of shebse like you doing here?"
"Our ship had an… unfortunate collision… with a mountainside nearby." Obi-Wan gave Anakin a pointed look. "We were hoping the locals might-"
"No. Get lost." Harran cut the Jedi off before he could even finish the sentence.
"I'm sure-"
"That you can get lost? Yeah."
"Vod," Tracey said in an uncharacteristically sweet voice. "Stop being a shebs and interrupting or I will ask Daphne to give you a 'Neville' treatment."
Harry, Sharphook, and Neville winced.
"Fine. What is it that you need?"
"A transport off-planet would be the best… but for now, we can settle for a long-range holo com."
"Both are out at the moment. Better luck next time." Harran wanted to punch the force in the face. Of all the possible Jedi in the galaxy, he had to keep finding his father.
"If they're still in one piece, I can fix them." Anakin volunteered.
Harry pursed his lips behind his helmet. He wanted to refuse. Sure, he liked Skywalker, but Kenobi was a package deal. Then again, he could feel Tracey's glare on the back of his helmet that told him what saying 'no' would most likely entail. Right now all males in their crew had a healthy dose of fear for Daphne's beskar boots.
"Fine." He grumbled and left for the village. The wall on the back could use some reinforcement.
The villagers were beyond themselves now that in addition to tough Mandalorian bounty hunters, they had the aid of the Jedi. That, in turn, led to a war council being called in later that evening.
"We can't just go out and storm the pirate's camp. That would leave the village open." Ahsoka argued after Harran presented their plan.
"The village would be in danger either way. Pirates are supposed to have at least three ships. They could easily destroy any defenses we put up." Harran countered.
"But would they risk damaging the crops?"
"Probably not, but the wall around the village also makes it a dead end."
"Then maybe you shouldn't have made it like that." Sharphook deadpanned.
"Wait. You've made that wall!?" Ahsoka stared at the Mandalorian leader in shock. The other two Jedi were also surprised. Kenobi less so, given that he knew more about wizards. "It's like… cut out from one stone. How did you even do it?"
"With some elemental transfiguration. Hard stuff and damn tiring, but it's rock solid."
"But… that makes no sense!"
"Yeah, it doesn't. Welcome to my world." Tracey bobbed her head. "He somehow can do these things without a wand. That's actually impressive. I think McGonagall would call this a sloppy work, but for wandless magic it was impressive."
"I think McGonagall would have a heart attack since she doesn't know Harran is a wizard. Sorry. Force-sensitive." Neville corrected himself on account of Jedi being present.
"Back to the subject at hand?" Harran's helmet turned to look at the gossiping duo.
"Right." They mumbled and shut up.
"Staying in the village would give us a better defensive position, but it puts the locals at risk," Obi-Wan concluded. "While going out would risk leaving the village open for a counter-strike. Neither option is ideal…"
"We could split up." Sharphook shrugged.
"That would weaken both our offensive and defensive capabilities."
"Let's face it. We're severely outnumbered either way. According to the locals, the Pirates arrived in a Corona-class frigate. Normally, they are able to fit a crew of seventy."
"Wait… Corona-class frigate?" Anakin and Kenobi said at the same time as they looked at Harran in surprise.
"Yeah. The so-called flying saucer mothership."
"Hondo." The two older Jedi said at the same time.
"As in the pirate that managed to capture Count Dooku and the two of you at the same time?"
"You told him that story?" Obi-Wan turned to Anakin.
"Hey! It was a good story." The younger knight defended himself cheerfully.
"Are you certain?"
"Yeah, it's pretty much his signature ship at this point. No other known pirate groups use those."
"Well, the good news is that we now know who we're dealing with. The not-so-good-"
"The pirates! The pirates are coming!" A felucian ran into the room where they were discussing the plan.
"It makes no sense. It's still a week until harvest. They will get nothing by coming now." Sharphook wondered while picking up his trusted ax.
Outside, there was panic as the villagers scrambled to hide. On the road, five speeders were coming from the distance, each carrying two to three pirates. Harran started motioning to his clan to take positions.
"What about us?"
"You can stay with me and 'hook and greet our guests." Harran pulled his blaster and fired three warning shots. Red beams lit the sky for a moment before the super-heated gas dissolved. He fully expected the pirates to disregard his warning. Maybe even fire some shots of their own. But, to his surprise, they pulled out a very visible white flag instead.
The speeders arrived in front of the wall. They didn't dare to try and pass three Jedi and two Mandos.
"Kenobi! Skywalker! It's great to see you," Hondo jumped off the speeder.
"Cut to the chase, Ohnaka." Harran snapped.
"You have me at a disadvantage, dear sir." The pirate mocked him with a fake bow.
"Kryze. I'm speaking on behalf of this settlement. I have a message for you: Kriff off."
"Now, now. There's no need to be uncivilized. We're just here to collect… tax. For protecting them from various dangers. You must understand, if it weren't for us, some other, more ruthless group would come. We're doing them a favor. We're even making sure to leave enough for them to survive." Hondo played his usual act.
Neither Harran nor Sharphook dignified the speech with the reaction. The pirates could only feel their gaze as the two helmets glared at their leader. Hondo himself started to feel unnerved.
"Ah!" Hondo suddenly cheered. "I see what this is about! They're paying you! How much. I will double. No! Tripple it!"
"Only an Aruetii would try to bribe a Mandalorian. We have honor, Ohnaka. I give you one last warning. Leave the village alone. It is under our protection."
"Oh well… three Jedi and two Mando is not perfect…"
"Try counting again." Harran gave a signal and Tracey and Neville leaped up with their Jetpacks and landed next to the main group. On top of the barn, Daphne stood up to be more visible. "It's five Mando'ade and three Jedi. Are you really willing to fight us?"
Hondo wasn't now as confident as he was before. Each Mandalorian was worth twenty of his men. A Jedi even more. He'd brought an obscene amount of equipment like speeders, grenade launchers, and even a tank. His boys believed it was overkill, but now he wasn't sure if he brought enough. Still, his mom taught him to never show weakness in negotiations. Or in general.
"Now, my friends! There is no need for violence after all. I'm sure we can come to an… understanding."
"Leave. Don't return. Simple." Sharphook growled while brandishing his ax.
"I can see when I'm not wanted. It's not the end though."
With that, the speeders turned and left. Daphne aimed her rifle, but Harran stopped her by pulling the weapon down.
"He came to negotiate. We must let him leave in peace. No matter how much I want to stick a blaster to his forehead." He schooled her. They were Mandalorians. They had honor.
"Are we sure we'll be enough? I doubt your scary Mando thing worked." Ahsoka looked at the five with an appraising gaze.
"Well, it was worth a try." Harry dismissed her worry. "But now we know in which direction their base is. Trace." He didn't need to specify what he needed as the girl already had the map of the local terrain ready.
"Hm… they'd need a large enough space to land a Corona. The only good place in that direction is... there." Anakin pointed at a large crater thirty klicks north.
"There are three ways they could try coming. The fastest would be the canyon in the middle. It leads straight from the crater to here." Daphne pointed to the slightly jagged line crossing the map.
"But it's also the best place to set up a trap," Neville added.
"Or to simply set charges and collapse it, locking them out." Ahsoka chimed in. "If we put charges here and here," two places she pointed lit up, "and synched the detonation, we could trap any pirates going through the canyon. They would be trapped. We could take them out of the fight easily."
"Look at that!" Sharphook merrily declared. "I'm actually starting to not dislike this one." He was obviously referring to Ahsoka, which earned him a mock-angry glare from the two other Jedi. "But we should just bury them under rocks. Less chance of them escaping."
"The other two paths are more problematic. There forest on one right from the canyon will limit any speeder movement and possibly hold them back, but they should be able to pass through it." Obi-Wan rubbed his beard. "Although they would be rather disorganized. A small group could easily pick them off with a hit-and-run tactic."
"Agreed. We could also set traps that would further cull their numbers."
"That still leaves the western plateau. It's wide open and easy to travel through. Their speeders can cross it in a matter of minutes." Anakin worriedly starred at the large, empty, and above all, flat space.
"Well, let's just mine the hell out of it. We should have enough magnetic charges to scare them off." Sharphook eagerly dismissed the Jedi's worry. He was battle-thirsty. It was setting up to be a worthy challenge for the old goblin.
"They would notice us burrowing the charges though," Neville noted.
"That's the whole point. They will be too scared to go that way and pick another one."
"Works for me." Ahsoka stood up from the rock she started using as an impromptu seat.
"I'm still not sure." Obi-Wan looked at the map. "If this fails, we'll be leaving the village wide open to an attack."
"Let's face it. We don't have enough warriors to hold the village. Even with my walls, we would have to face a group of at least fifty men strong. I hope your blaster deflection skills are on point." Harran was also worried about that possibility, but they simply had no men to spare.
"What if we train them!" Anakin pointed at the Felucians that were now gathering on the main square of the village.
"Yeah, no. Unrealistic."
"You trained them." Skywalker pointed at Neville, Daphne, and Tracey.
"Yeah. But it's been a year now, I had supplies and time. We have a week when we must prepare and they still have the harvest."
"It's better than nothing. At the very least they will be able to stand up for themselves in the future." The Jedi protested.
"You wanna waste the week working on them? Fine. We'll be going through with the first plan." Harran turned on his heel and marched off with his clan. They had a busy week ahead of them. "Oh! And I almost forgot. Skywalker, we've got that senator you requested taking up space in the cargo bay."
"What Senator?" Obi-Wan asked while looking at Anakin, who was suddenly very sheepish.
"I… might've asked them to grab Clovis?" Anakin said while refusing to meet Kenobi's glare.
"And I'm sure it was for the good of the republic and had nothing to do with the fact he's hurt senator Amidala, right?"
"Yeah. Let's go with that one. All for the good of the Republic." The younger Jedi beamed and everyone laughed. Harran wondered what exactly his relation with the senator was.
-\/-
The preparations were exhausting and gruesome, but they deployed their entire stock of magnetic charges in the end. As soon as a speeder passed over them, there would be a nice explosion. They also killed a total of three spies, which was a win. Lack of any intel was intel in and by itself, but at least Hondo wouldn't know the details. The pirate captain was weary of acting hasty, which was good.
The Jedi focused on training the volunteers from the village, which somewhat alienated them from the Mandalorians. Harran still believed their skills would've been more helpful in booby-trapping the forest. Tracey and Sharphook at some point cut the trees in front of the village wall and (this time with some help from the Jedi) made an impromptu gate. It would collapse rather easily, but it was always better than nothing. Each second would count if a group of pirates managed to get all the way there.
Before they noticed, the week was over and the last day of harvest was finished. The farmers made a giant feast to celebrate. There were dances, music, food, and stories. For a bit, everyone tried their best to forget that tomorrow the pirates would come.
The Jedi and Mandalorians gathered near the bonfire. They were all ready for a surprise attack, but they somewhat let their guard down. Except for Harran who stubbornly refused to take off his helmet.
"So… what made you decide to just up and leave your home like that?" Ahsoka asked. She was itching to ask it for quite some time, but with how tense the atmosphere on the coldbreaker was, she wouldn't dare during their joint flight. It was sort of a taboo back then.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My prospects back home were pretty bleak." Neville shrugged before taking a bite out of his freshly grilled bread. "Also, Harran was the first that treated me as equal. I knew he was leagues above, but he actually saw something in me."
"To be fair, you were the one that decided to go all in. I was ready to just teach you how to stand up for yourself."
"And I don't regret it," Nevill stated firmly.
"My case was simpler. My parents tried to sell me off to a sleazy son of a Hutt to be a trophy wife. I had no interest in living in a golden cage, so I forced him to accept me."
"She tried to. He saw through her bluff, wrecked her in hand-to-hand combat, then offered to train her." Tracey corrected.
"Not true!"
"Yes true!"
"And what about you?" Obi-Wan looked at Tracey, desperately trying to stop the brewing fight.
"Meh. Daph was going so I decided to tag along. I'm an orphan. It not like anyone would miss me. And between being stuck as a secretary to a third-rate paper-pusher and exploring the galaxy full of untold wonders? Damn well, I'm gonna pick the latter!"
"K'oyacyi!" Neville called.
"Oya manda!" All of the gathered Mandalorians responded in a choir.
They started laughing lightly, the merry atmosphere spreading around. Near the dancing area, the local band finished their song.
"'Hook, you up for a song?" Harran got up from his place.
"Sure. Get moving you lazy mongrels." The goblin walked to the band. He was slightly wobbling due to alcohol consumption, but he was still good to go. The rest of the clan followed.
Curious farmers made space for them and the Jedi stood on the sidelines. Sharphook took his position behind the drums as the four Mandalorians gathered. Neville, Tracey, and Daphne stood in a straight line with the boy squeezed in the middle. Harran stood in front of them, with his backs turned.
"Dha Werda Verda!" Harran called and the trio behind him put on their helmets.
"Oya!" They called in unison.
The four of them began chanting in unison. With each chant, they changed position. It looked like a mix of dancing and melee combat katas. Harran did it first and they followed. The final effect was quite amazing.
*"Taung sa rang broka Mando'ade ka'rta.
Dha Werda Verda a'den tratu,
Manda'yaim kandosii adu.
Duum motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a."*
As the first part ended, Neville took a step back as Harran turned on his heel so that now the two boys were facing Daphne and Tracey. The girls each turned ninety degrees to be directly in front of each other. As Harran and Neville began the next part of the chant, the girls started to clash in mock combat. each made only one move at the time. Step by step, frame by frame, the duel played out in front of the public. The sound of clashing metal complimented the drums. The chant never stopped.
*"Kom'rk tsad droten troch nyn ures adenn.
Dha Werda Verda a'den tratu,
Manda'yaim kandosii adu.
Duum motir ca'tra nau tracinya.
Gra'tua cuun hett su dralshy'a."*
As the final lines were called, the girls froze in the middle of their fight.
"Oya manda!" Harran called loudly when the drums died.
"Oya!" the other clanmates responded.
The crowd of farmers applauded the show as the five Mandalorians walked away.
"That was certainly something," Ahsoka commented once the two groups reunited.
"What does 'Oya' mean?" Anakin asked, curious about the phrase that was said repeatedly that day.
"It doesn't really have a direct translation to galactic Basic." Harran began. "Literally, it would be something like 'let's hunt', but it's also so much more."
"'Stay alive', 'cheers!', 'Good hunting!', it's a cheerful yell used before big fights. In many ways, it's Mandalorian equivalent of that whole 'may the force be with you'." Sharphook clarified what Harry was struggling to put into words.
-\/-
In the early morning, they were woken up by the sound of engines in the distance.
"Fighters incoming!" Ahsoka called from the outside, getting everyone up and running pretty fast.
"Tracey, Sharphook! Startup the engines and meet them head-on. The rest, we need to move out and get in position. They're earlier than we predicted." Harran grabbed his backpack and activated the jetpack. "Try to keep up, Jetii." He called as he flew over to the forest where he would be waiting for the pirates. They would initially split up, only to then quickly move over to where the pirate force would go.
The Coldbreaker launched in the air with intent to meet the fighters head-on, but to their surprise, the ships didn't try to engage, instead evading around the larger freighter, only to pass over the village entirely, albeit slower than one would expect.
"Those are scouts," Sharphook deduced as he aimed the ship turbo lasers. "They're desperate to figure out our defenses."
"That means they must've seen our strike force splitting up," Tracey realized.
"Not if we shot them down!" The goblin cackled as he opened fire at the ships. The rain of the super-heated gas mixture tore through the air. The fighters managed to evade the first salvo, but the next one took the first one. The explosion caused a shower of metal shards over the forest behind the village.
The other fighter managed to turn around and started to go toward where the pirate base would be. Tracey made a sharp turn and The Coldbreaker rotated in the air.
"Morons. They can't just outrun a freighter on this distance." Sharphook shook his head while firing like a madman at the same time. One of the shots managed to graze the engines on the pirate ship and caused him to spiral out of control. It was apparent that the pilot tried to regain control, but he ended up crashing into a wide plateau above the canyon. Right into the minefield.
The large explosion, caused by several magnetic charges firing at once, lit the area. In the middle of the soft road, there was now a rather significant collection of craters.
"Kriff. If the Pirates didn't know about the mines, they sure know now." The elation Sharphook felt from a good brawl was replaced by worry. Their plan was failing already.
"Wait! Look at the crater." Tracey pointed at the exit from Pirate camp. The small army left together, but they were splitting up into three distinctive groups. Speeders were going through the forest and the canyon, while four tanks rolled onto the plateau and traveled toward the breach in the minefield.
"Kriffing Huttspawns split up." Sharphook lept toward the comm station. "This is Coldbreaker. Those bastards split up! They are going all three ways."
For a moment, there was no response on the line. Then, a very colorful multilingual string of curses that Harry was always so fond of. Finally, some instructions.
"Get back to the village and be ready to execute plan Besh," Harran ordered over the comms.
"Good hunting, burc'ya," Sharphook said before ending the transmission.
-\/-
Hondo knew that the plan was not ideal. He probably should've attacked the village earlier, before the harvest. He would at least have the element of surprise. Now? Now he only had four tanks. Granted, it was still a respectable amount of tanks, but Jedi and Mandos?
If only he didn't have those pesky debts to pay. Oh well… Not his fault that the dealer was holding the deck upside down. How was he supposed to see the marked cards then?
Back to the present, he allowed the other three tanks to take the lead through the minefield. Not that they didn't already have a very convenient, if slightly uneven passage, courtesy of Krir, rest his soul. Still, better him than Hondo. Anyway, the tanks were in the middle of where those mines were supposed to be when a lone Mando stepped from the forest at the end of the plateau.
"Last chance, Ohnaka," a voice carried through the distance as if played from speakers. "Give up and recall your men."
"How am I supposed to answer him?" The pirate looked at his co-driver, who shrugged. "Eh. Let's get this over with. Blast him!"
The four tanks started to aim their cannons. Hondo watched as the Mandalorian pull some metal hangle. A black blade appeared in his hand. The tanks fired, but the Mando was already in the air, retreating back into the sparse forest. It almost looked like they scared him, but then an explosion to their left got their attention. The smoke coming from the canyon didn't create an optimistic image. At the same time, their radio lit up as the groups going through the forest started screaming about an ambush.
"Ay-yay-ay… I must do everything myself. Shex! Go check on the boys in the canyon." He ordered while ducking into the tank and closing the hatch.
Elsewhere, Harran landed in front of the village. Tracey and Sharphook were on the wall with binoculars to monitor for other deceptions.
"They're coming. In kriffing tanks."
"I did hear a familiar sound of explosion though." Sharphook tried to stay positive. "Did the Ori'ika manage to score some?"
"His part is perhaps the only one that went without a hitch. That and maybe the jungle squad."
"I wish" Daphne spoke through the comms. "Those di'kutte split into smaller groups and spread too much for us to intercept. You've got a large incoming. We're chasing after them, but they're faster than Jetiise."
"Osik. Fine. Try to get here. I think I can already see the tanks turning right and going up the ramp. The last thing we need is tanks on the high ground."
Sharphook chuckled next to him before resuming a very serious face. Tracey was still looking through the binoculars. "Guys? I see the speeders."
"Plan Besh?" The goblin asked, preparing his ax.
"Plan Besh." Harry nodded. "Daph, Nev, get back here. We're about to begin plan Besh."
"Acknowledged." The two Mandalorians responded. In the distance, the ones already in the village could see figures rising above the tree-line
"Everyone else's ready?"
"Yeah," Tracey nodded. "Good thing we keep so many spares."
"I can already hear the pirates," Sharphook warned.
Daphne and Neville landed next to them and prepared their weapons. The roar of engines was now echoing in the valley. Then, up on the hill overlooking the village three tanks appeared.
Harran split from the rest and used his Jetpack to dash toward the tanks. Halfway there, he pushed himself forward with force, surprising the pirates who were already aiming at him. The Darksaber's blade formed mid-way and already the Force was coursing through it so that when Harry landed on the nearest tank and plunged the sword into its armor, a wave of Force shook the vehicle. The antigrav engines flickered for a moment, causing the tank to wobble.
He then cut a hole in the hatch on top, but before he had a chance to do anything more, he found himself pinned by heavy blaster fire from the other tanks. While they couldn't now fire the main cannons on him without having the explosion blow them off, they still had anti-infantry guns mounted. Harry now had an impromptu blaster deflection exercise.
Down by the village, pirates started coming out of the forest. The speeders were armed with blasters, which the riders utilized to attempt to blow the wall around the settlement. No such luck though. The stone wall was thick enough for the Darksaber not to pierce it. The speeders had to slow down and spread, circling the village. They did locate the gate, which was the only way in.
Some of the pirates got down from their bikes while others lined up to open fire.
"Die!"
A goblin in full Mandalorian armor leaped over the wall with a burst from Jetpack. The ax in his hands reflected the light of the sun into the opponents' eyes.
"Charge!"
The makeshift gate burst open, scattering the wood around. From inside, a group of farmers rushed. Some were armed with farming tools. They formed the first line. The second line was much deadlier. Each Felucian there had an EE-3 carbine rifle. The blaster's relatively low recoil and ease of use made it perfect for inexperienced farmers. They didn't exactly need to hit the pirates. They just needed to scare them. And a steady hail of blaster fire ensured that many still fell to it.
Neville was now on the wall, firing his TL-50 Heavy Repeater on one flank while Sharphook was happily cleaving through the other. Combined with the villagers and Daphne sniping from the distance, they made a quick work of the pirates here.
Back on the cliff, Harran managed to take cover behind the tank and disable the repulsor lifts, but the pirates from the inside escaped.
The ground battle was already almost resolved, with pirates either dead or running away.
Thinking quickly, he planted three charges on the tank before pushing it with the Force. The distraction was enough for him to move behind some rocks further into the cliff. The tank exploded, taking the other one with it. Only one tank remained.
A jet-pack dash later, Harran was now pointing the Darksaber at Hondo's throat.
"Surrender."
"Look… I can offer you things! Many things! What do you want? Slaves? Credits? Jedi? I can get it!"
"Not interested." He then leaned back to avoid something jumping on him.
While Hondo distracted the Mandalorian with his spiel, his Kowakian monkey-lizards leaped on the intruder. While Harry avoided it, that attack gave the Pirate a chance to sharply pull the controls of the tank and make the Mando fall off. He then ran away, with full power to the engines. The rest of the pirates were retreating as well.
Harran stopped anyone from pursuing them.
"Don't. We took out enough of them to scare them off. They won't return any time soon."
The villagers' cheers were loud enough to scare off the vulture-like birds that smelled the blood of the battlefield.
Cleaning already began when the Jedi finally arrived at the clearing.
"I told you the plan was bad." Anakin greeted the Mandos and received a weak punch in the gut as an answer. There was no real power behind it though, which the Jedi took as a good sign.
"The village is secure and pirates scared off. I got two speeders I can sell later and villagers get blasters to keep. I see it as an absolute win."
"Can we go now?" Ahsoka begged. "I mean no disrespect, but I miss civilization."
"I was actually considering staying for a few days…" Harran teased, but Tracey smacked the back of his helmet. "Fine. Yeah, we can pack now. We still have a bounty to claim for that Senator."
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