"Did the bastards retreat?" Jobe asked when the sun had begun to fall behind the mountains. We had been waiting for the better part of an hour now. Perhaps the enemy had really retreated. Or perhaps they were digging, using our old positions... "Do you guys have orbital scanners?"
"If we had them, we would have used them already." Shaz replied curtly. I gave him a knowing look. The Restoration was coming, but we were forbidden to speak of it, even at the most private locations. The Hillbillies were muttering amongst themselves. "Lost their nerve have they?" Shaz asked Jobe discreetly and nodded in their direction. Jobe turned to get a look at them himself. Sighing slowly, he seemed to reach some sort of conclusion. He furrowed his brow.
"I think it's just the turn of events sir." He said and shrugged. "Couple o' days ago, we were to start training with the Alignment. Now we're shooting at it." It was an understandable problem. At least to people who were seeing war for the first time.
"At least you're hitting it." I said, trying to make a joke. "Have you been to the garrison yet Jobe?"
"None of us have." He answered. We'd never even seen as many soldiers in our lives before they made camp in our field." He added. I pulled myself up into a sitting position and looked down the road. It was as empty as it had been all day. "Guess they have retreated huh?" Jobe said, sounding pleased. The veterans however were not. A superior enemy not giving chase to an inferior enemy on the retreat? It was unheard of. Our line had been spread out, and still we found no sign of the enemy. Either the enemy commander was a moron or he was waging psychological warfare.
"Are there other ways to reach the village except this road?" I asked Jobe quietly. He shook his head slowly.
"Not unless you want to ride halfway 'round the planet." He answered. I immediately stood up and walked over to Jassin.
"What do you want?" Jassin asked before I was halfway across the road.
"Aerial reconnaissance of the area and a retreat. There is nothing coming for us here." Quite a few of the Hillbillies turned their heads, and received a smack from Jassin. He stood up to and we walked a few dozen metres behind the line. "And I would like to know what kind of garrison the enemy has on the planet. I do not feel comfortable fighting an army with nothing but thirty men." Jassin said nothing, and thought hard on something. "We did not come here to wage a guerilla war." I said, using as much force as I dared. Jassin was a hard man when it came down to it.
"I agree." Jassin said when half a minute had passed. His eyes were cold when he turned to me. "Cael has misused the authority placed in him by Mandalore." I mentally took a step back. "We should have been pulled out hours ago." Jassin said, ruffling his hair in frustration. "The enemy is not coming to attack us, and a droid with half a processing-unit could do this job for us.
"Shall I give the order then? We have enough speeders to get back in two minutes if we want to." I suggested.
"No." He said, sounding unsure. "We will wait until morning. If the order has not come through by then, I will personally issue the order." he marched briskly back to camp and gave the order to stay put. One of the Hillbillies was sent to fetch water and another to start a small fire. We halfway dug and halfway built ourselves a well hidden fireplace. It was not much to brag about, but it was enough to keep the cold out of our limbs. Calo took the first watch after night fell and Jobe was sent on picket-duty further up the road, leaving me with only Shaz for company. The Hillbillies were either sleeping or not very talkative. At least not towards me. Jassin was having a quiet conversation with two of them. The first man was called Jelan something, and the other went by the name of Zeth. Zeth was the wounded guy and Jassin had given him some of his liqueur to help the man sleep. It had not worked very well.
"I knows a good spot for hunting 'round here." Jelan said slowly. "Should I go and see 'bout fixin some breakfast?"
"Denied in the possible strongest sense of the word Jelan." Jassin said quickly.
"Knife hunting then? No sound." Jelan offered.
"Any edible plants nearby?" I asked, to distract him a little.
"Well..." He said and scratched the thin hair on his head. "That is work for the womenfolk, but I suspect there should be some shrooms and brownroot round here... The animals like them at least." Jelan went on.
"Fetch us some bloody food then," Jassin said, and muttered something under his breath. The others had not heard it, but I recognized the word. "Di'cut." We had been forbidden from using the language during this encounter. As far as the local populace knew, we were just raiders. Our Mandalorian background was to remain a secret until further notice. Jassin blatantly disregarded that order and went on and on about the Call of Mandalore. He managed to stay his tongue whenever there were someone not of the clan nearby though. "Nothing but roots and plants, and you eat first!"Jelan stood up, gave him a mock-salute and marched into the night. Before Jassin even gave the order, I was on my feet and leaned against a tree. His eyes found me and he tapped one finger beneath his eyes twice. I nodded and waited for a few seconds before I found Jelan's trail and followed him. He moved unexpectedly light, disturbing almost nothing as he passed. No snapped twigs, only a minimum of bent grass and he followed no trail. He stayed parallell to one, but it was fifty metres to the right. Out of habit, I unslung my rifle. My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. I could barely see the shape of Jelan as he followed the path into a small valley next to a little stream. I took up position forty or so metres behind him and watched. First he drank and filled a bottle with water, and then he started digging through up the roots of some large-leafed plants. The roots were thick and brown, and he stashed several of them in pockets inside his jacket. After having dug up six roots, he started searching near tree trunks with nothing but moonlight to help him.
"Aha." He said to himself before he started gathering mushrooms from between the root of a palm-like tree. The mushrooms were all white, and he gathered quite a lot of them from three different trees. His jacket looked a lot fuller when he walked back to camp. I kept a discreet distance all the way back. When Jalen came back into the light, I flanked around the camp and came in from a different direction. Slumping down next to the fire, I gave Jassin a thumbs up.
"Had a good piss sir." I said to Jassin. "Do you know what we should get after we have conquered this planet?" I asked as Jeland bega cutting the roots into slices. Jassin shook his head. "Low-flying aircraft with mounted E-WEB's."
"Can't fighters do strafing runs?" Jassin asked back.
"Strafing runs is one thing. Having an elevated and movable position of constant superior fire however, is not something a fighter can offer." I said and drank from my canteen.
"You mean like a platform. A hovercraft?"
"Exactly!" I replied. "Like the Trandoshans use all the time. They look damn practical."
"For hunting maybe. They would be like target practice for a rocket-launcher or an incoming fighter." Jassin argued, coming back to his point about fighter-superiority. It was a conversation we had had many times before.
"And it is the job of the friendly fighters to maintain air superiority." I argued back. "Any rocket-launching infantry will be well suppressed and terminated by the hovercraft and advancing infantry." The argument went back and forth as Jelan cut the roots. When he asked for a frying pan, I reached into my bag and got large tin bowl out. I removed the grenades and other military goods before handing it over of course.
"This'll do." He said, and poured some water in before he put it down on the edge of the fire on top of some coals. Once the water was boiling, he put the roots and mushrooms in.
"Aren't you using too little water mate?" Jassin asked after peering into the bowl for a few seconds.
"No." Our chef answered simply and stirred the soup, letting the water boil away as he slowly mashed and cut the ingredients into a fine mash. "I know you blokes have bread." He said, looking up from the presumably finished pale-brown mash.
"I'll fetch." Jassin said, and got up. After having extracted the bread from Shaz's backpack, Jassin kicked everyone in the boots, telling them that food was to be had for those who wanted it. Most wanted to sleep, but a small band gathered around the fire. Most of them just ate and went back to sleep without saying a word. The mash had a very strong and earthy taste, almost like eating peppers and... I had nothing to compare it to, but the bread seemed to dampen the peppery taste a bit. The wounded guy fell asleep after getting some hot bread, and Jelan followed suit.
"Suggestion sir." I said, catching Jassin's attention before he laid his head down. "Perhaps I should get back to base early. Give Cael some warning that we are going against his orders." Jassin gave it some thought.
"Do that. We all know how trigger-happy he gets at the thought of administering punishment."
"Who shall replace me on guard-duty then?" I asked, while packing my gear as quietly as only experience could have taught me. I could probably pack up a stormtrooper without him realizing it before I had him in my bag. I would have to try that one day.
"Wake Calo. Tell him 6-21-3-11-21, and he'll do it." Jassin said, putting his head down on his nicely folded jacket.
"What's it mean? Is it his authorization code or something?" I joked, shoving the barely clean bowl into my backpack and closing it up.
"He'll know." Jassin answered without even opening his eyes. Talking to him now would be useless. As soon as he closed his eyes, he was out. I followed his order, delivered the message to Calo after rudely waking him with a taste of water from someone's canteen. He had not taken kindly to it, but after being delivered his orders, he quickly sobered up. I knew I had not cleared it with Jassin yet, but I took one of the speeders anyway, easing out of the camp, making as little noise as possible. When I was out of sight, I turned the speeder on and literally flew the two kilometres back to base in less than a minute. I was in the market before anyone could raise their weapons, and of course, the alarm was raised. The second the guys from First Squad laid eyes on me, the alarm was turned off again.
"I want to speak to your leader." I said with sheepish grin on my tired face. One of the men guarding the prisoners jogged over to me. They still had not been moved to a safe location.
"He is in the storage-building by the landing platform." The man said. He wore a combat-helmet so I could not see his face, but I did not think I knew him at all.
"Thanks." I said, and got the speeder into gear, racing up the main street to the large warehouse. As I looked up, I saw the barrel of the E-WEB following me closely. There was a spotter up there, and he needed only look at me once before the gunner took his sights off me and back to the forest. It was early morning when I came up to the gate. The sun was about to come over the horizon when I met the men assigned to guard duty.
"Kalon!" I shouted to the officer on duty, slowing the speeder down so I stopped in front of the checkpoint. No blasters were raised at me, the men knew me well enough to recognize me instantly, even at high speeds. "Is Cael'alor in?" I asked, slipping into Mando'a for half a second. It translated loosely to "Officer Cael." Kalon raised his hand in a lazy wave.
"Cael does not want to be disturbed." Kalon answered, mimicking the tired grin I had when I rode into town. "Sweet ride." He commented.
"Thanks, but I am sure he wants to know that his troops are pulling out against his orders." I said assuringly. Kalon sighed, knowing he would get skinned no matter what he did. He barked out a simple order and the gate swung open. "Thanks." I said again and rode in. There was not much security once you got inside the rockrete walls surrounding the building. There was a single astromech-droid locked in sensor-mode and also a few cameras, but not a single armed man was in sight. The defence was probably relying entirely on the E-Web and the solid gate. Other soldiers were not too far away too. As I got off the speeder by the main entrance, I was surprised at Cael. He should have gathered all his troops in the warehouse. The doors were locked, and I had to use an old-fashioned button to ring a bell inside. After pushing the button in quick succession for about three seconds, I settled in to wait. I wondered if the villagers would be able to settle into their new lives with us in charge instead of the Pentastar Alignement. I remembered how my birth-father had told me about his fight for his homeworld during the Clone Wars. He had fought against the droid armies of the Separatists at first, and then against the Republic. My nostalgia was interrupted by one of the pilots opening the door. He was armed and held his pistol at the ready. "I've come to see Cael. There's an update coming from Jassin and the Hillbilly-battalion."
"Name and rank." The pilot replied, not taking his gun off me. Looking at his dimly-lit face, I saw that I had never served with him before.
"Erdal Tussick, Recruit." I answered him. He checked it up against a paper-list.
"You check out. What do you want?"
"I have a message from Pald Jassin to Cael." I answered. The man checked the list again, nodded and opened the door. "His office is down the hall, third door on the left. Big letters saying 'Manager."
"Got it." I said, and marched past him. The door was closed and locked and the pilot headed back into a room by the door. There was little in the way of security, but the pilots were probably all the firepower Cael needed to protect the building. Especially with an E-WEB on the roof. His office was easy to find. I knocked on the glass twice and waited.
"Get in here!" Cael ordered, and I obeyed. "Erdal? Right?" He asked as I swung open the door and walked in. "What is it you want?" Cael sat there in battle-armour. It was not a Mandalorian battle-armour, but it was the best we had looted this far. His rifle lay on a shelf behind him and his blaster lay on the table in front of him. Ready for action
"I am here to inform you that Jassin intends to pull out from the road and fall back to town." A vein on Cael's neck grew a tad redder. "We encountered a small scouting-party, but they were driven into retreat. There is no honour fighting an enemy that does not show up."
"Pald Jassin will do as he is ordered to." Cael rumbled in a dangerously low tone.
"Jassin suggests aerial reconnaissance instead of waiting for something we don't know might his us or not." I paused for half a second. "At least not when there is a way to monitor enemy movements."
"So he would have me launch the only ship we have and possibly get it shot down?" Cael asked back. "I think not."
"Whatever you thinks Cael'alor," I said trying to bring his anger back under control. "Cael will pull back." Mandalore had made a mistake when choosing Cael as an officer. He was too easily angered.
"I know." He said, and the fast rhythm his vein had been beating slowed down a little. "We could use the guys to move all the imperial gear over here."
"What about the prisoners?" I asked. "Shouldn't they be moved?" I suggested.
"We have no secure locations large enough to fit all of them. Don't worry about it. I'll fix it." He said, and waved me towards the door. "By the way!" He said, suddenly remembering something. "Talk to the pilots and ask them if The Restoration has entered orbit yet." I stopped dead in my tracks.
"Mandalore is coming here?"
"Indeed he is." Cael answered with a satisfied smile. "Seems that Magloran has suddenly become important enough for him to come here himself. Pass along the message to Jassin as well. He will be glad to know."
"Yes sir!" I said, feigning a salute and exited his office, closing the door behind me. "Mandalore is coming here?" I thought as I walked down the hallway to the pilots quarters. That meant either something was going on that we had not been told about, or that his plans for Magloran was being forced forward. "We are not strong enough to occupy anything." I thought and knocked on the door. Perhaps Mandalore had some secret up his sleeve. Loud snoring could be heard through the wooden door, well before someone opened it.
"Whaddya want?" A sleepy crewman said, not the pilot I had been speaking to earlier.
"Cael'alor wants to know if The Restoration has entered orbit yet." The man seemed to have to stop and think.
"Not last time I checked." He said, scratching his chin. "Braelor should be on the ship. Go talk to him."
"Will do." I replied and closed the door myself. I could figure out the way to the landing-pad myself. The outer door was easy to unlock, but it was surprisingly sturdy. It would probably take sustained blaster-fire for twenty seconds to tear through it. The door locked itself as I closed it behind me. The sun had risen in the sky and there came smoke from many of the chimneys in town. I turned left towards the landing pad, through a small unmanned gate and onto the pad itself. The ship we had captured was not a pretty sight. When we got the time, I would suggest setting mechanics to work on it. "Yo! Braelor!" I shouted up the open ramp. That too was unguarded. The sound of boots against metal came echoing out.
"What!?" A voice barked back, sounding surprisingly young.
"Orders from Cael!" I shouted back as Braelor came down a hallway and into view. He was dressed in a neat, but stolen uniform with several modifications. Where medals would have hung, there were instead small pieces of armour or metal, probably from tanks or from fighters. "He wants to know if The Restoration has come into orbit."
"Let us find out together." Braelor said and pulled a thick cable from one of the walls. "Help me with this will you?" He asked, revealing his scrawny body. Braelor was truly thin. He would have had trouble carrying a day's worth of supplies for over a kilometre. He handed me the cable and brushed his unkempt hair out of his eyes. The cable was surprisingly heavy, but I had no problem following Braelor to the wall. "Name and rank?" The young man asked.
"Recruit Erdal Tussick." I answered. "And you?"
"Crewman Braelor Samhay." He answered and pressed a few buttons on an old interface. Immediately a panel popped open, revealing several inputs and outputs for different cables. Some I recognized and some I did not. "It goes in there." He instructed, and I shoved the cable into place, twisting a locking mechanism, and a green light flashed. "Good." Braelor said before pressing a button and a small humming-sound came from the interface. He pressed several buttons before he spun around and walked back to the ramp. I followed close behind.
"What are you doing?"
"Connecting the ship's computer to the orbital scanners of the warehouse. They're old, but they'll do the job." He said as we walked up the ramp. I remembered the inside of the ship well. There were stains of blood, alcohol, food and I could only guess different drugs everywhere. We had all been stowed into the cargo holds and crew quarters for the duration of our flight. Now the ship was eerily silent, running only the most vital of operations. When we came into the cockpit, I saw that Braelor had been snacking. "Help yourself." He said, gesturing to an box filled to the brim with dried nerf jerky. Not bothering to ask where he had gotten it from, I grabbed a handful and settled into the pilot's seat next to Braelor. "Give me half a second here." He said, tapping buttons here and there before a new display popped up on the holo-projector. A small bar showed up next to it and it was slowly being filled.
"That was easy."
"Not done yet." Braelor replied. "The scanner is starting up, requires a lot of energy that baby. After that, it will start mapping the surrounding space. Twenty minutes tops until we have full visualization of the planet."
"Does this work on ground level as well?" I asked, sensing the strategic potential of the scanner.
"Sorry, but it can only scan as low as ten kilometres above the surface." he answered simply. "It will detect a fighter-launch though, but it will barely register." he said and a pause ensued. I was busy chewing dried meat when he started rummaging through a box of personal belongings. "D'you play cards?" I swallowed hard. The last time I had played, I had lost a lot. It had been to Mandalore himself, but still... The memory taunted me.
"I'm a bit rusty." I admitted while going through the rules in my head.
"Republic Senate rules?"
"What difference does it make?" I asked back.
"It means we don't bet, we keep our clothes on and we don't shoot each other after match is through." He explained while shuffling the deck. Before I knew it, he had fished out two side decks. "Pick one." He said and laid the fully shuffled main deck out. I chose the one on my left, shuffled it and drew four cards, just like Braelor. Mine were +4, +2, -1 and +6. Not especially good, but not too shabby either. "You draw first." I drew a card from the main deck and laid it flat on my side of the deck. Braelor would lay his cards on the right. The card showed the number nine. Braelor drew the exact same card with a grin.
"Feeling good about your chances boy?" I asked and smirked, drawing a 4-card from the main deck. Braelor drew a 7-card and shook his head.
"Not particularly, no." He said as I drew another card. A sixer cam up, landing me at 19.
"Stand." I said, and laid my cards down. Brael was at 16, but wanted to beat me, so he drew another card. "Blast you kid." I said as he laid down a four, landing him at a solid 20.
"Just dumb luck." He said, pulling the cards back together to the main stack and started shuffling the cards again. There were still rounds to play. If I remembered correctly, it was first to three rounds. "I draw first." He said, and drew. He laid a fiver on the table while I drew a seven. The next cards were 2, 9, 2 again, a four and Cael stood at 18. I drew a three, raising me to 14. I played a +6, landing me at a solid 20. "Blast you this time," he said, and dealt the cards again. We managed to play through four entire games before the scanner started and began feeding in updated data.
"How does the scanner work?" I asked Braelor, seeing the enthusiasm on his face.
"This model works like a radar." He explained. "Probably works with a few satellites in orbit. It sends out a signal, and anything that bounces back registers." He said, tapping several buttons to zoom in on different parts of halfway-loaded objects in space.
"Could you turn it into a jammer then? Seeing as this thing is technically a transmitter." He stopped pressing buttons for a few seconds and stared out of the cockpit. He furrowed his brows, thinking deeply.
"I think so... I mean, I would have to do some modifications, but in theory, yes." He answered, nodding more to himself than to me. We spent the next minutes in silence while he scanned the system for The Restoration. "I'm not picking up anything on the local scan." he concluded after having looked at the last large cluster of floating rocks.
"Don't you have hyperspace-scanners? Long-range?"
"Nothing of the kind." He answered, but tapped a few buttons nonetheless. "There is a long-range scanner actually." He said, and brought up a different kind of display.
"I feel a but hanging in the air." I said, and after a few pushes of buttons I saw the gigantic 'but' for myself.
"ACCESS RESTRICTED" flashed across the screen in big red letters. "Schedule use of long range scanners with your local Pentastar officer" was written in white letters underneath.
"I hope we didn't just alert someone..." He said, just as a small light began to flash on his screen. "Shit!" He said, and switched to the local scanner. "We just picked up something... Zooming in now." The scanners worked painfully slowly. "Perhaps you should call Cael."
"Not until we have something to report." I argued as the scanner zoomed in. Images of a star-destroyer fully loaded with troops and heavy cannons for bombardment flashed across my mind. Twelve intense seconds later, I laid eyes on a ship commonly used by the Empire. "Is that a Carrack-class light cruiser?" I asked, grabbing Braelor by the shoulder.
"Does seem like it..." Braelor replied. "Identifying now." He pressed a few more buttons and the image became sharper. "The shape fits. Engaging visual scans now." He said and a on his screen there came a picture of a Carrack-class light cruiser fighting with its own momentum after just exiting hyperspace. The engines were fired up and it steered straight towards Magloran. As it adjusted its course to avoid a few floating rocks, the side of the ship became visible to us and we saw the insignia of Clan Kayze on its side. "It is The Restoration." And I could finally lower my shoulder, not even realizing I had tensed them.
"I'll tell Cale." I said, and jogged out of the ship towards the door and started ringing the bell.. The pilot was furious when he reached the door. The doorbell had probably not been pushed that many times in such a short timespan.
"Whaddya-" He managed to say before I burst in past him.
"The Restoration has entered orbit!" I told the man as I passed him. Up ahead of me, Cael stuck his head out of his new office with a happy look on his face. "Mandalore has come!" I shouted up the hall.
Anorelga-system, close to Magloran
"Start jamming everything not belonging to our mandalorians. I do not want a single message to escape that planet." Mandalore Kayze ordered, and the droids jumped to. A light began flashing on the left side of his view. His helmet was connected to the ship and he saw every process the ship was going through. The light was yellow at first and flashed five times before it changed to a constant green.
"Jamming successful." A droid chimed.
"Start scanning the planet. I want every garrison scanned and tagged, every village marked and evaluated. The enemy will die here!" He ordered. "Get me a channel directly to the squad-leaders." Every order was obeyed with maximum efficiency and it only took fourteen seconds before every squad-leader answered his call.
"Praise Mandalore!" They said as they entered the channel one by one.
"Mandalore." The leader, Cael began, when they were all present. "The village of Velyme has fallen to our hands. Jassin'alor has fought a small skirmish with the enemy. We report no casualties, and we have new recruits."
"Good." Mandalore said, not making a sound beyond his helmet. "How many warriors can you muster?"
"No more than thirty, and that is counting the new recruits in as well. We have several wounded men. A med-evac should be performed as soon as possible."
"Jassin!" Mandalore Kayze barked.
"Yes Mandalore!" Jassin replied.
"How would you judge the enemy from your encounters with them." Mandalore demanded.
"They are green my lord." Jassin answered. "Their commander is either inexperienced or feigning it well, but I would not put it beyond them. The strength of the local garrison has been estimated to a few above five hundred. A drawn out war of attrition seems to be our only option at this time."
"I asked for details about the enemy, not your battle-plan."
"Yes lord! They are inexperienced sir, and they lack proper officers." Jassin replied. "We have also managed to steel four speeders from the enemy, one of which is back in Velyme as we speak."
"Sai'alor!" Mandalore said, calling upon the last of the squad-leaders who had seen combat. "You are to prepare your troops, and requisition the vehicles you need." Scans began showing a small number of villages close to Velyme. "You are to take your men and and recruit fighters from the villages. Recruit all who will fight against the Alignement. They will prove their loyalty in combat."
"What if we encounter enemies?" Sai asked back, putting back together his rifle.
"You will evaluate their strength and either avoid or exterminate."
"Understood Mandalore. Will there be reinforcements?"
"Not any time soon. Your trial has not yet ended." Mandalore Kayze answered. "The fate of The Magloran Conquest rests on your shoulders still." He said. "You will have the maps of the planet and our surveillance, but that is it." There was silence. "All communications can be routed through The Restoration if you deem it necessary. That is all for now. Bring honour to your clan. Mandalore out." Mandalore said, and the channel was shut down. "Send the initial scans of the planet to the captured ship." Mandalore shouted. The files were sent, and the diagnostics on the war-droids were completed. All of them were operational and ready. Mandalore knew the stakes, better than anyone else.
Magloran, Velyme Village
Having their differences put aside by the arrival of Mandalore, the squad-leaders gathered in Cael's office. Marrigous was the last one to arrive despite being the closest one. On the desk was a hologram of the local area, and around it sat the four men in charge of the conquest.
"We must increase our numbers first. It is imperative that we have enough force to strike at the garrison." Jassin said, pointing to the fortress on the map, bringing up the enemies estimated strength.
"I can have my men ready to leave within the hour." Sai said, polishing his vibro-knife to perfection. "We shall take the villages to the west first and circle around in all the others before coming back here." Sai said, illustrating on the map. It was a simple plan.
"And how do you plan on bringing these people with you?" Cael asked.
"My men will take the speeders we captured from the Alignement. I have two plans for taking the new men back here." He stopped and turned to look into Marrigous' old eyes. "Either you fly them back here as soon as I have reported them in, or I will have to acquire larger transports. They probably have one or two available here in town."
"We could pull that off." Marrigous said, summoning the authority of over forty years in the field. "It would be safest and quickest. We separate them when they get back here, break their communities and train them in the Mandalorian spirit until we have soldiers ready to fight." Marrigous said, not bothering to run it by Cael. There was after all nothing to run by him. This was procedure they had all agreed upon before they made planetfall. Cael was willing to let it slide this time. Nothing good would come from challenging Marrigous.
"It is decided then." Cael said. "Moving on to other business. Should we or should we not harass the enemy, guerilla style." Jassin felt the Neo-Crusader spirit in him wake from its slumber.
"I say we bite and hold." He said, turning everyone's eyes to him. Biting and holding was a common tactic in war of attrition, but it only worked when you had larger reserves than they had. "I can take three or four of the men from Hillbilly-battalion to replenish my squad and we will take up position near the enemy garrison. If they come near us, we will stand and fight. We will not run unless we are forced to. Striking from the shadows is not the Mando way."
"Funny you should mention running away." Cael said. "Having disobeyed my orders to stand your ground by the road earlier today."
"That was a tactical decision." Jassin replied in the blink of an eye. "The enemy refused to show, so we left the field of battle."
"So you ran." Cael fired back.
"Watch your mouth." Jassin replied through his teeth. Marrigous, sensing the incoming disaster, moved the conversation on.
"I suggest we put the matter to a vote." Jassin and Sai backed him up and a vote was held. Cael, who saw it as a misuse of warriors lost the vote, three to one. He had the grace to bow to the majority though.
"That settles it for this time." Cael said and shut off the holo-projector. "We reconvene when there has been a development. Dismissed.