Author's Note: Chapter Two part Three
Canderous aimed his Basilisk at the Merchant Quarter of Iziz. It was a prime position because it dead ended in one corner and was the closest securable position to the Sky Ramp which led directly to the palace. Canderous planned to land his flight in the northeastern most corner of the Quarter. Three of the Basilisks in his flight would land facing towards the run to the Sky Ramp located directly west of their position, the other three would land facing south, and Canderous himself would land between them.
The Quarter positioning had one tactical draw back however, but it was not insurmountable. From Canderous's planned landing position he would have the Iziz spaceport which opened onto the Quarter from the far southwest on the opposite side of the Quarter. Fortunately that was still almost two hundred meters away and only posed a threat if there happened to be any armed soldiers in that area. On the far northwest side of the Quarter past the entrance to the Sky Ramp was the entrance to the Western Square which Canderous understood to contain a cantina, a doctor's office, and some housing so he didn't anticipate much fire coming from that direction. He knew the Sky Ramp would be heavily guarded, especially after the attack and it posed the greatest problem of them all.
From the Mandalorians' recon they knew the Sky Ramp run was segmented by two shielding stations and divided by a large open courtyard. On the west end of the courtyard there were barracks and past the courtyard to the northeast the Sky Ramp continued onto the palace. This entrance was blocked by the first shielding station.
The courtyard would pose a slight problem in that it was far too wide and open to find any cover in and probably contained the largest concentration of soldiers. Canderous and his men would have to make their way up the first leg of the Sky Ramp, which was, quite unfortunately, a narrow upward sloping path. This would give the Onderonians the high ground and put the Mandalorians in a position of being somewhat like fish in a barrel. Once they managed to make it to the courtyard they would have to fend off soldiers the entire way to the first shield station, which they were already prepared to counter with a shield disruptor. The shield disruptor, however, would take thirty seconds to activate fully and drop the shields. During that time Canderous and his men would have to hold off the soldiers in the courtyard who would have the barracks to find cover in. Once the shield was down they would then have the added task of rushing another narrow upward slope and facing what ever guards were placed between the two shields. Once they got to the second shield they would have to do the same thing again only this time they would have troops ahead and behind to contend with. One thing in the Mandalorians' favor was the fact that in one corner of the Sky Ramp courtyard there had been an ADT which, of course, had been obliterated by the Basilisks in the sky. Canderous was hoping that there would be enough debris and confusion to facilitate the Mandalorians' assault. The other thing in their favor was the seven Basilisks left in the air laying down surpressing fire.
After all of this they would finally be at the palace which they would merely have to storm, track down the Queen and capture her. Any other Commander would have taken off his rank insignia and told his commanding officer where he could shove it. Canderous however reveled in the challenge of what lay before him. He would take the Sky Ramp with nothing more than the sixteen men on the ground with him and his seven Basilisks in the sky.
His Basilisk was the first to touch down, its metal claws sinking deeply into the ground. The other six Basilisks quickly followed. Before disembarking, each Mandalorian let loose a volley from their shatter-missile launchers and took down even more of the buildings around them. This added to the general confusion, but also gave them a chance to disembark without worrying about possible soldiers stationed in the Quarter waiting to pick them off. The Basilisks had been programmed to continue to let off volleys of blaster fire and shatter-missiles every so often, as long as a Mandalorian wasn't in the line of fire. This would give the Mandalorians some cover fire while they made their way to the Sky Ramp.
Canderous jumped from his Basilisk, his heavy repeating blaster rifle at the ready and squeezed off a couple shots into the smoke and debris and his men following suit. This was it. Canderous prepared himself. Starting his run across the long Quarter to the Sky Ramp entrance Canderous raised his head to shout.
"FOR MANDALORE!" he bellowed. The war cry was quickly taken up by his fellow Mandalorians.
"FOR MANDALORE!" sixteen other voices called out. And then everything dissolved into blaster fire as the ground battle officially started.