Bo-Katan sighed under her helm as she saw the eyesore that was this man enter her vision once more. She knew she'd see him again as soon as she knew all of her guards were all either killed or deserted the post. She purposely stationed this man outside of the Castle, nearly a full mile away just to try to bore him out enough to get him to either leave the Deathwatch Loyalists, or just get him out of the way so she wouldn't have to deal with him.
But, being a rebel group, exiled from her own homeworld and only allowed to exist because the man who wanted her dead disappeared months ago meant she needed as much help as she could get. Which unfortunately meant she'd have to settle for the nerf-hearding roleplayers who suddenly found their long lost heritage a few months ago for now. That being said, it didn't make it any less bearable, she'd rather deal with those Children of the Watch cultists rather than this.
"Cor, I will ignore your lack of decorum for now, you saved my ass and managed to coordinate a counterattack that all things considered left us with minimal casualties. But please, learn to follow orders, at least for once. Get to the wounded."
Cor smiled back his almost trademark cynical smile as he withdrew bacta dispensers from his old leathery messenger bag. "This is the way!" His dry sarcasm made the leader of house Kryze almost want to vomit, but she bite her tongue as she always did. Now wasn't the time, after all. As the wholly out of place man began his work healing those who needed, it, and the remaining squads within the general vicinity of the Castle finally made themselves known in time to carry away the dead, Bo-Katan began to speak to the man she had just applied bacta to.
"Our attackers here said they sent people to the Mandalore itself to talk to Almec. Veso, if you don't know anything about this, especially given the fact you need a new arm now, but if you do know anything, please tell me." The warrior leader asked the injured Mandalorian, his blue and grey armor smeared in his own blood.
The bloodied, one handed Mandalorian smirked under his helmet at the assurstion that he wouldn't know. "Of course I know. Please, don't downplay my abilities." Using his one remaining hand to help himself sit up straight, Bo-Katan helping him along the way. "All I know now is rumors I got from the channels. I was at the listening post when I started hearing the Protectors' frequencies going crazy. Heard everything from an unknown object that just entered orbit of Mandalore, a group of anywhere from 5-10 heavily armored things rampaging through Sundari, Then I saw a blue gunship enter into the lower atmosphere and every single holo-wave went dead, definitely long-range jamming."
Veso Rell sat up, holding the stump where his wrist and hand once were. "Imperial weapons, ay? Guess I can consider this a reminder of what we are dealing with."
"Do you think we can get to that gunship and get the jamming down?" Bo-Katan asked, her hand holding the shoulder of her brother warrior. "We need communications with the planet, especially if things are getting that bad."
Veso chuckled to himself. "Is it possible, yes. Is it also a damn suicide mission? More than likely. If the channels are to be believed its likely the two marines we just lost half of my squad to were nothing but a glorified assassin squad for you. Still though, why only send 2 when they likely had at least 5?"
Bo-Katan sighed slightly. "They claimed they wished to induct us, the Mandalorian people, into their Imperium. Claimed they were giving me an offer that they would only give us because of our history. They wanted us to give up everything, our independence, our creed, only to leave behind a shell of what we were."
"And did you accept?"
"By the Mines, no. I would have rather cut my own head off then even pretend to agree to such an arrangement, it'd mean our own culture would become something entirely alien to what it is." Bo-Katan retorted, almost offended at the assertion.
"Fair enough, with all due respect, I would have done the same in your shoes Ma'am. I was simply curious as to what was said. I suppose that also explains the relative small number of troops they deployed to the Castle, if they really intended on a diplomatic solution, a relatively small force would be acceptable. However, that makes me also wonder, out of all of the possible options this imperial outsider appears to have, why would they send them?"
0
Captain Sirus Tribune sat at the helm of his Strike Cruiser, the Dagger of Eclipse. Next to him, one of the mortals who manned the ship blabbered to him, giving every detail of what just happened lightyears upon lightyears away. He almost couldn't contain his smile as news came in regarding the current status of the ordered diplomatic actions.
Chapter Master Orion Phatris trusted this man, the Astarte at the helm of this ship. He wanted the Mandalorians to join their cause, both due to their history as hated enemies by both galactic powers, and their nature as an almost entirely human faction. They were, decidedly the most pure people out of this entire galactic disk. If it wasn't for current infighting and the massive war effort towards protecting New Cadia, Orion probably would have given them the offer to join himself. And that made to Sirus, it made this all the sweeter.
"In total my lord, we suffered at least 7 casualties. Negotiations with Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze failed upon arrival, the status of her survival is unknown, however both brothers Auribus and Oculi have not been heard from since, we are presuming they are both dead."
"The planetary leader Prime Minister Almec was killed shortly after he opened fire on the tactical squad sent to engage with him. Said squad then suffered heavy casualties as they attempted to make their way back to their Stormraven, all presumed dead by the hands of the Prime Minister's personal guard. We are still at this moment receiving astropathic signals from the Echo of Dawn. I will keep you updated." The woman finally finished, a slight but present sense of anxiety buried deep in her voice.
"Sabissena, have they made any action against the Echo of Dawn yet? I understand our ships are far superior to our enemies counterparts. But a Viper-class might not be so far away from what they possess." Sirus answered, annoyed at this entire cluster-fuck of a situation.
"No sir, it appears all they don't even have knowledge of it's current whereabouts." Sebissena added.
"Good, have the remaining forces sent to the moon evacuate, then have the Echo of Dawn regroup with us here." Sirus said calmly and plainly.
"But sir, shouldn't we have the rest of the squad attempt to neutralize the target first? If she's allowed to live, she may very well be able to regroup with all forces under her control, worse yet, seeing the disaster that happened on the main world of the system, she could very well put them under her control as well." Sabissena almost panically retorted. As she did so, the unhelmeted Astartes Captain glared at her.
"I don't need to give you a reason to follow my orders, Sabissena, just follow them. Doing what you are doing now is why you almost got publicly executed, we gave you a second chance, don't waste it ship-captain" The Astartes said, annoyance seeping from his voice like a hot liquid. As he did so the mortal woman next to him quickly ran off, if she was some mutant aberrant, she'd have her tail inbetween her legs by now.
In truth, Sirus almost felt guilty for giving those orders. She was right, if he had ordered the remaining marines both on the Echo and on surface to hunt Kryze down, they would have crippled the leadership of what was left of the Mandalorian faction. The system and all the resources it had to offer would have been their's in less than a day. But Sirus was tired of this. He made up his mind the minute he started fighting in this weak galaxy.
The first battle of Axum took barely even a few hours, he was there. They barely lost any of his own men. They slaughtered the Republic's Replicae soldiers and killed one of their Pysker generals not just easily, but in all reality, it barely felt like killing at all.
If these "Mandalorians" were as strong as their history said, if the myths this Galaxy had told of them had even an ounce of truth in them, he needed to see for himself. He knew they would never join, he didn't even want them to join, all he wanted was a real challenge from them. He wanted to see the mythical Jedi Slayers he had heard so much about, at their full potential, with everything they had all at once. To kill them when they were splintered and lost would be a waste.
Sirus smiled to himself slightly, he knew what he wanted, and it was time to let pieces go. "Order all companies and Guard regiments under my jurisdiction here to regroup. When at full strength, we will begin the invasion."