Bo-Katan Kyrze sits on her throne, hundreds of thousands of miles away from her ancestral homeland of Mandalore. For months now, the news of the on-going war flowed through the castle. This war was so titanic, so cataclysmic that many didn't even have the words to describe it, most just called it "The War." Some, mostly the more militarily minded, called it simply "The Great War," but no matter what they called it, Bo-Katan knew of very few wars that came anywhere near close to the destruction she was hearing about.
This new Imperium in a strange way reminded her of her own people, thousands of years back when they were united under one banner and were a force that brought the galaxy itself to its knees. But at the same time, they were manipulated, forced to battle an enemy they in reality had no quarrel with, a potential ally turned into an ancient and unforgiving enemy. All the while both sides not being able to see the evil lurking in the shadows, pushing them onwards to fight the needless soul reap.
She couldn't help but ponder if something similar was happening here. As she looked out upon the stormy waves of the ocean that met the high cliffs of her castle, Bo-Katan wondered to herself if these imperials, these all too human monsters she heard so much about, were fighting a war they were manipulated to fight in the first place. But, as soon as the question entered her mind, she forced it out.
This new war happening between the Imperials and the galactic superpowers was, to put simply, none of her damn concern. Mandalore was fractured, she sat exiled from her own world, only allowed to live by the "good graces" of Al-mec and the fact he took over in Maul's absence. Why should she worry about the struggles of two uncaring at best and actively hostile at worse governments that had backed the neutering of her people on one hand, and used and manipulated those who rebelled on the other?
The worlds beset by this threat faced chaos and destruction, yes, and these worlds never deserved the threats they now face, but neither did Mandalore. Why should she risk the lives of the few still loyal to her for the sake of governments that had given up on her so long ago? They didn't even ask for this help, but still she thought about it. The Mandalorian people ever Cataclysm were an empire long since broken, a people made into a shell of their former selves.
As she lamented this, she heard the skittering of her footman droid, this time much faster and hurried than before, the frail droid almost panicked as it made it's way to Katan, panic rising in its cybernetic voice.
"Master, we have company, please stay indoors it is too dangerous to make your way outside." The droid almost vomited out, its servos straining.
"Droid, what is going on, where are my guards?" Bo-Katan slipped on her helmet and withdrew her Westar pistols, flicking their safeties off with a mere twitch of her thumbs. As she did so, two massive figures of orange and blue stepped out from behind the massive ferrocrete pillars of the Kryze inner sanctum.
"They won't answer their hails, ma'am, they won't answer-" The droid was cut off by the jagged edge of an adamantium combat knife, thrown with the grace and the accuracy of an entirely alien predator.
Mere milliseconds after this happened, Bo-Katan opened up a volly of highly charged and concentrated yellow blaster bolts. These bolts, while moving much faster than the average blaster bolt, weren't nearly fast enough to make contact with these currently unknown attackers, the paradoxically quick and silent walking tanks taking cover behind the pillars once again, Bo's shots blowing massive holes in the masterly crafted, ornate stone, two pistols for two newly found enemies.
However, almost as soon as these volleys began, they ended as the Mandalorian stopped. She knew if these attackers had snuck up on her this easily in the dead quiet of her own thoughts, she knew it would easir than a game of Sabac against a foundling to sneak up on her while she was concentrated on their last location.
A long, drowning silence filled the sanctum as she stood there, her eyes like a hawk's trained and ready to spot any movement. What left like hours passed, but in all reality, a mere 5 seconds played out before the silence was broken by a heavily accented but intelligible speech began.
"Bo-Katan Kryze, we wish to speak with you." A booming, almost inhuman voice echoed through the halls of the sanctum. The words, while accented heavily, were in perfect Galactic Basic. As soon as she heard that, her blood turned to pure ice. She knew what these attackers were. The Imps, specifically, their "Space Marines." And she knew these barely human monsters could kill her before she could even see it coming, so she did the only sensible thing she could do in this situation. With a simple flick of her wrist, the communicator on her wristguard activated, sending out a distress signal silently to the few Mandalorians still under her command.
"Why are you attacking me, Imperials? I have no quarrel in your war, we have done nothing against you."
"You are one of the rulers of your people, the ones you call 'Mandalorians,' is that correct, Bo-Katan?" The hulking marine said behind a pillar, Kryze silently exhaling in relief knowing they haven't noticed the signal yet.
"I rule nothing but a splinter group of rebels and outcasts, Imperial, the real person you want is a couple hundred thousand miles west." Katan said, her guns still trained on the pillars. She couldn't help but hold her breath, what in the name of Kad Ha'rangir did they want with them?
"We have already sent diplomats to the surface of the main terrestrial planet of this system. The one you call Almec will shortly be met and have our proposal read to him. We are, as well, currently searching for the one you call 'Maul,' we have much different plans for him, but we can discuss that after we begin."
The word "diplomat" hit Bo harder than any weapon, even from these creatures could have. Her entire guard team is missing, her Footsman droid is on the floor next to her still sparking, the knife they threw at it still lodged in it's head. But they have the nerve to call themselves Diplomats? Bo-katan before she had the chance of having an outburst however, quickly composed herself.
"What is there to discuss, Imperials?" Katan said, her guns still pointed at the presumably unmoved Astartes Warriors.
"Much, but allow us to introduce ourselves." 2 Space Marines hefting bolt guns exited from behind the pillars, their fingers hovering just above the triggers of their weapons, their guns held in a relaxed stance. "I am Brother Auribus, and this is Brother Oculi. We are Battle Brothers of the Adeptus Astartes chapter known as the Angellis Mentors. We, as you know, already know who you are, Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze, so please, lower your weapons. We doubt they will be able to do much." The first marine said, his grimace face'd helmet peering at the lady Mandalorian in an invisible rage.
Bo-Katan silently seethed in anger at the arrogance of these men, but, she complied slowly, holstering her Westar pistols, but still keeping one hand gripped on the handle. "Before we begin, what did you do to my Guards, are they alive even?"
Auribus looked at Oculi, before looking back and answering the question. "Dead. They fought well, one managed to escape. I believe it is the way of your people to prove your worth through combat."
Anger boiled in the Mandalorian warrior's blood, however, she knew she couldn't give into the temptation to fight. Not now, not while her reinforcements were still on their way. Bo-Katan bit her tongue in anger as she replied to the barely human warriors. "We also value honor, Space Marine. There is no honor in a dishonest kill."
"For that, we apologize Mandalorian. However, it was paramount that we have this meeting, no matter the cost, and given what you have likely heard about us, I doubt you would have let us touch down without engaging in a first strike." Auribus said, his tone almost too innocent for the thing that he was. Despite the situation they appeared in, Bo-Katan couldn't tell if he was being dishonest or not, something deeply concerning for her given her many years of mastering politics alongside her wayward sister.
"If you landed on my platform a minute ago without killing anyone here, I would have allowed it. But now, knowing what you just did, I would have never. Your people are murderers, cultists. You worship a religion of death and destruction. I was skeptical at first, I have no love for either the Republic or the Seperatists your people have been raging war against, but given what you tell me you just did to my own people, all for a chance at already botched diplomacy? I'm beginning to think they were right."
"Please, Ma'am, there is no need to be so harsh against us. In all honesty, I don't think our people are much different to yours. You exist in a culture of warriors, of brotherhood and comradery. Some of you worship ancient, admittedly to us, false deities of war. But most importantly, your people are harsh, but ultimately correct." The marine spoke calmly and collectedly.
"While the forces within your galaxy may paint us as brutish, uncaring invaders, many of us aren't. My Chapter, the Angellis Mentors is an example of such people. In our journey here, I and many others of my Chapter were encouraged to read up on the history of your people. I do not believe us so different at all." Auribus paused, waiting for a response from the Mandalorian he stood across.
"Continue."
"I know that your people, once in the ancient past, attempted to unify this Galaxy in the fires of conquest and war. Your people knew the harsh reality of this universe, and sought to grow yourselves strong enough to not only to survive the death and destruction but to thrive among that chaos. Your people fought valiantly, for almost 20 years your people not only cleansed the stars of weakness, but unified the strong to phase the threats who may again oppose you. You almost won, as well, but the weak of and subversive as it has shown throughout the history of this galaxy always gained the upperhand."
"Our people have changed a lot since then, Auribus. We are no longer conquerors, we are simply warriors who fight to keep our way and our culture alive." Bo-Katan retorted.
"And where has that brought your people? The planet this moon orbits is testament to the loss your people have suffered, since the death of the ancient Mandalorian empire, the Mandalorian people have been plauged by civil war and repression. Your own world was turned to sand by the Republic. Imagine what could have been avoided if your people had succeeded in your conquests? Imagine if your empire wasn't broken so long ago?"
As soon as the question was asked, Bo-Katan retorted. "Thats a pointless question to ask, there's nothing to be gained in asking what-ifs. Instead ask questions to me such as this. Why lecture me on the history of my own people? What do you have to gain by doing this? Do you want to win my sympathies? If so, I'd be far more willing to hear whatever you have to say if you didn't try to manipulate me into liking you."
"I understand your need for answers, and I will oblige. We seek an alliance of sorts, we ask you to join our Imperium and we will grant you protection against the forces of the xenos Republic and Separatists. There will be stipulations of course, disassiocation and or execution of all xenos races within your midst is a necessity, as well as the renouncement of all deities worshipped, one that I feel you would have no issue in agreeing too. But most importantly for you, if you agree to join the Imperium of Mankind, your culture will survive, albeit in an altered form. A form of your history, your culture, your creed will live on." The marine said, confidence in his deep baritone voice.
"And if we don't accept this alliance?"
"Then your people will face annihilation much like the other creeds and cultures encountered throughout this galaxy. Your worlds will burn, your people will die, and every trace of what you are and what you once were will be gone." As he said this, out of the corner of the marine's eye he saw the inbuilt communicator device on the wrist of the Mandalorian leader before him flash a bright red. As he did, he and his brother raised his weapon at the the woman in front of them. In response, the Mandalorian drew her weapons once more, impressively fast for the baseline human she was.
"What did you do, Mandalorian?" Auribus asked, a tinge of disappointment mixed into the barely contained rage of his voice.
"Calm down, you two. It's my communicator, it's probably the men stationed outside of this castle asking for a status report." She lied, a not terribly convincing lie she knew, but she didn't need them to be convinced for long.
"Then answer it, you should have alerted us to the existence of your communicator prior to this discussion beginning." The marine spoke, this time slightly more calm. The lady Mandalorian smiled underneath her helmet, she knew they were as good as dead now.
Slowly turning her wrist towards her and clicking one of the many buttons on the wrist mounted console. A gruzzled, war-weary voice answered the com, the silence of the room they stood in and the genetically attuned hearing of the Astartes allowing them to hear the words he spoke.
"My Lady, we will be returning to the castle soon. Please tell me the steak is still in the freezer." The Space Marines heard, confused, but bolters still trained on the Mandalorian.
"If you have to ask again, I believe your time here is done." In an instant after those words were uttered, a single near lightning fast bolt of blinding yellow white light hit the back of Auribus's helmeted head from the roof above, the crack of the all too familiar Disruptor Rifle filling the ears of all present. In a blink of an eye, the marine's helmet and cranium were turned to molten slag, his brains evaporating as the few molecular bond destroying particles left from the blast entered the inside of his skull.
Before the body of the marine even hit the floor, the marine known as Brother Oculi fired 2 bolter shots in quick succession at the already moving form of Bo-Katan, the deafening bark and wizz of the shells destroying whatever quiet was left. The Mandalorian using her jetpack to match her movements against the super-human senses of the Space Marine she was against. After these shots were fired, the marine began to fire volleys of exploding slugs at the unseen reinforcements hiding on top of the beautiful yet brutalistic roof of the sanctum.
Bo-Katan, despite the use of her jetpack, barely escaped the bolter rounds by the skin of her teeth, the first missing her head by a few inches at most, and the second hitting her shoulder pad, the beskar of her Mandalorian plate thankfully causing the glancing round to ricochet harmlessly into the ferrocrete throne behind where she stood. Standing behind one of the many pillars inside the sanctum once again, she looked and saw the sight of a full squad of her best Airborne troopers engage in combat against the, now lone, superhuman.
The sounds of windows breaking entered the song of death dealt by the marine's bolter as a number of Mandalorian warriors dropped down from the roof, using their jetpacks to break the fall and firing yellow blaster bolts into the hulking being of death. Most of the bolts either ricocheted harmlessly off or penetrated only slightly into the armor of the orange and blue clad angel of death, leaving the marine's once pristine plate scarred in burns and shallow craters.
In return, Oculi fired bolt after bolt at the rapidly approaching Mandalorians, only for a marginally more successful effect. As the first few bolts hit the beskar plate of the attacking, Oculi quickly made the silent observation that this was a folly strategy, while some fell to the floor due to the sheer force of the concussive blast, they appeared to be almost completely unharmed, suffering broken bones and shattered armor, but still very much alive. These warriors, at least to the attacking Space Marine appeared to be wearing what in all reality to be Adamantium armor, however, this armor obviously didn't cover all of their bodies. Realizing this in less than a moment, the marine adjusted his aim and began firing at the joints and uncovered areas of these attackers.
This change in tactic almost immediately swung the advantage of firepower back into Oculi's hands, the deathly silent marine watching has the bolts he fired buried themselves into the attacking warrior's flesh, blowing off limbs and torses away from bodies in a bloody show of gore and violence. Oculi managed to take 3 of his attackers down this way before he saw something large and fast moving in his periphery.
A rocket, one of the Mandalorian's jetpack mounted ones. If it was a wider open space, the Astarte could have dodged it easily, but that was not the battlefield he found himself in. Oculi at least managed to make sure it did not hit his chest at the very least, but in return, he had to sacrifice his left arm in the process, the miniaturized rocket hitting the Space Marine directly below the shoulder pad, blowing his arm apart in a flurry of ceramite and meat.
As Oculi's blood clotting cells worked into overdrive to seal the wound, he hefted his bolter in his one remaining hand and met this treachery with his own. Killing 2 more Mandalorians with his holy weapon, before finally meeting the fate of his voice, his brother that laid on the other side of the room dead. The defeaning crack of the Disruptor rifle sounded again as a new lightning bolt of yellow death hit the marine's head, just as it did with Auribus, the smell of ozone filling the air as charred bits of armor and flesh hit the floor before Oculi's lifeless body did.
The battle began and was over in less than 5 seconds. 5 Mandalorians laid dead, 2 injured either from hits to their armor or less than fatal wounds from direct hits. But in return, 2 Astartes lay dead on the bloodied grey floor below.
Bo-Katan silently breathed a sign of guilty relief as she ran towards the wounded, she was alive, but she wish she could say that for half of the squad that came to save her ass. Spraying bacta fluid on one of the blown off wrists of a groning Mandalorian, she called up towards the shattered skylights of her castle.
"Cor, get down here, they're both dead, our men need more help than I can manage right now," Bo-Katan said, almost yelling the man she knew was hiding above her.
"Hold on, just a second." The gruff, accented voice that sounded from the comlink before sounded again, this time undistorted by static and interference, which somehow made the voice even more jaded. As he finished saying this, 2 slower-moving bolts of red energy sprung from one of the roofs broken sunlights, both hitting the dead marines in the heads, to no reaction from either of the lifeless corpses.
"Yep, they're dead." The jaded man said as he dropped a thick black rope down from the ceiling, the form of a man in mis-matched colored beskar plate zipping down the line, the man obviously unwilling or unable to repaint the pieces himself. On his back he held in place an almost shambled-together Disruptor, and hung by a belt strap to his waist he held an obviously confiscated droid E-5 blaster rifle. This wasn't even the worst part of it all, to both Bo and her brothers and sisters, the worst of it was the eye-soring lack of helmet.
"So, princess, what are we gonna do about this mess?"