Following the slaying of Ouroboros, the Mando'ade made a point to gather as much of the bones of the beast as they could, taking back massive slabs of bone and teeth, the intention being to reshape them into items to commemorate their victory. Pendants, blades, ceremonial armor, decorative pieces for their armor, the works. Aside from taking the remnants of the beast back to the penthouse, Midnight personally collected the payout, 100,000,000 lien, hard cash, and immediately set aside enough to afford a massive feast for him and his comrades. Today was a day of victory, and though tomorrow was no guarantee, they could party like hell tonight, so they did just that. Meat, booze, fighting and music. It was like they'd unlocked their own bit of Valhalla for the night. Tonight they drank and ate, they fought and danced, they singed tales of battles won and glories earned, and raised their glasses to their Mand'alor, with Marcus leading in songs of his glorious time on Remnant thus far.
Midnight, though he did celebrate, did so in a quieter manner, standing at the edge of the balcony with his forearms resting on the railing, helmet still adorned as his gaze was drawn in the direction of his brothers over at Yultim. He doubted that if he wanted to leave, anyone would bother him about the curfew, especially given that the news outlets were calling him "Mand'alor the Invincible," in reference to how he was seemingly completely unaffected by Ouroboros's acid. Going over there and attempting to bring his brothers with him was an honest consideration, and one he felt would only provide exceptional results, not to mention an expanded armory.
"Daddy, are you looking for your brothers?" The child piped up, drawing his eyes back to her visor and a soft smile from behind his mask.
"You could say that. We're financially stable now, so we'll be able to afford all the things we'll need with ease. At this rate, we'll be attacking the convoy in a few days to get ourselves enough vehicles to move everyone and all our supplies at once, as well as reclaim the Beskar. Then? Then we'll be on our way to Vacuo, where we'll be able to lose those weirdos that control the Grimm." He answered while picking her up and allowing her to press the crown of her helmet against his own. They held there for a moment, before both turned their eyes towards where he had originally been looking. It would be a helluva walk, considering just how out of the way it actually was, but if his brothers of blood were truly here, there wouldn't be any stopping him from reuniting them, and hopefully convincing them to follow his lead.
"Mmm... well then, let's go to them. They might be in trouble, like I was when you found me." Ruby spoke, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing the side of her mask into his neck while he maintained a steady gaze. The storm had since cleared, allowing a full night sky and a full, shattered moon to greet them as they all partied. Conditions to move undetected were optimal right now... but such a mission was something he knew he couldn't take the child for, not right now.
"Go, join your brothers and sisters in celebration, then get some rest. I'm going to tell Marcus to hold down the fort until I get back." Midnight ordered as he set Ruby back on her feet, not missing the cocked head she regarded him with that conveyed her confusion.
"B-b-but I killed the Beowulf on my own... I... I'm not helpless, let me help!" Ruby pleaded, drawing a sigh from Midnight as he lowered down to a knee to look at her at eye level.
"It's not that you're weak or helpless, it's a matter of physical maturity and lack of proper training. I'm going to be going at a fast pace, and to remain undetected I'll need to go it alone this time... don't worry, I'll be back soon, and some day you'll be old enough and sufficiently trained to accompany me. Be a good girl now, give us a smile, eh?" He pressed a hand against her shoulder, rubbing it gently as if to reassure her while her gaze slowly rose from the floor. Before he could say anything more though, the child threw herself into him with as big a hug as she could muster, holding him tightly for a few moments while he returned the gesture and gave her some gentle pats on her back.
"Please be safe daddy... come back soon, I'll be waiting." Ruby sniffled as she separated from him, receiving a light pat on the head as Midnight stood at full height and whistled towards Marcus. He merely jerked his head towards Yultim before nodding his head, with Marcus returning the latter gesture in understanding. With that done, Midnight returned to his room and threw on all his equipment, before opening the window, and hopping out feet first. He utilized his jetpack to slow his descent near the last few floors, before kicking off into the night...
Even at his rapid pace, it took several hours to reach the Yultim Mountain Range, and another hour to scale up to the tallest mountain to get a good look at the region. It was early morning, but the sun hadn't begun to crest over the horizon quite yet. Another hour or so and that would change, but he wasn't too concerned about all that. He'd already made sure he wasn't being tailed, so he knew he'd be able to interact with his brothers without unwanted attention.
That being said, he could see the Star Destroyer partway buried into a mountain, a Venator as he could now see and more than a little unserviceable. However, he did at least note the black markings in place of the standard red, and he only knew of one Venator that had such markings... the very same he'd served aboard not too long ago. It was difficult to see such a fine vessel and his old ship in such a ruined state, as even with a ship yard restoring her in her current state would be a pipe dream. The superstructure had snapped, the central hangar doors had collapsed inwards on one side and were missing on the other, the bow had a massive crack running all the way down, an entire bridge had fallen over one side, and all of the engines were visibly destroyed. Some Turbolasers still looked intact, but the majority were gone or blown up completely, and aside from all else, the ship was halfway buried into the ground.
"'Tis a shame to see the Blackout in such a miserable state... rest easy, old girl, you were a fine vessel... let's hope your crew fared better." He spoke to himself, before leaping off the mountaintop and sliding down the face of the mountain. It wouldn't be too much of a walk from his current position, five kilometers at most.
After another 13 minutes of running, Midnight had crossed the distance, and stood just at the end of the clearing that his ship's crash had left behind, crouched inside some foliage so he could properly scope out the place. He noted that there were a lot of holes in the ship, but all of them either patched up with debris and crates or fortified with crates, sandbags and heavy blasters. Still, he did at least see a few of his brothers... all ARC Troopers, no less, in the port side hangar. Some even bearing markings he recognized.
Stepping out from his cover, Midnight rested his DC-15X over his shoulder and sauntered towards the hangar, instantly noting the many blasters drawn upon him before the couple he'd recognized held up their hands over their shoulders, signaling for the rest of their brothers to hold fire. Chuckling slightly, he took a few more paces forward before halting in place and removing his helmet, making eye-to-visor contact with a few of his brothers.
"Pax, Jago, Uriel, Comet, Mickey! Get your asses over here and give your old Commander a proper welcome, eh?" He shouted, with the five mentioned troopers perking up at their names being called, before noticing the unique markings that Midnight had maintained in his armor.
"Commander Midnight?!. Hahah! You assholes ALL owe me a thousand credits each now, I told you all he wasn't dead!" The Arc Trooper he picked out to be Mickey laughed boisterously, before vaulting over his cover with the other four and rushing up to him to greet him up close. They all removed their helmets prior, allowing him to see their faces and their unique tattoos and markings they'd given themselves as they gathered around him. "Hahah! We've been at the whims of this incompetent Jedi ever since you were transferred from command, so by the force is it good to see you again!"
"Likewise, Mickey... now, I need a status report. The ship is obviously dead as all hell, but how many survivors are there, what supplies remain, and what vehicles are still operable?" He returned the greeting while patting their shoulders, before getting straight to business. They just nodded and gestured for him to follow them to the Hangar, where it seemed many more of his brothers were gathering.
"None of the crew survived the battle and subsequent crash, but we got about 18 veteran LAAT pilots with the appropriate gunships, 12 infantry variants and 6 carriers. Four full veteran AT-TE crews with functional walkers, 10 ARC-170s and 4 Y-Wings, all fully crewed with veteran pilots. 5 BARC speeders, but only 4 properly trained to use them, they're ARC Troopers. Aside from the vehicle pool, we've got 120 ARC Troopers, 20 Engineers, and 40 Commandos... none of the regs survived the crash, unfortunately, and there used to be 200 ARCs and 100 Commandos, before our last mission." Mickey answered, leading him back towards the massing soldiers. Normally, ARC Troopers and Commandos didn't mingle too well, but Midnight had earned their respect several times over with his operations and skill as a Special Forces Commander. Nearly 0% casualty rate, when serving under him it was almost a certainty that all his men would live to see the next 5 missions, regardless of what they may have been. "As for supplies? We lost a lot when parts of the ship caved in, but the armory is still fully intact. Full Grand Army of the Republic infantry and special forces arsenal. Managed to reclaim about 20 Katarn Commando Armor sets, too, from some of those that perished during our last op... under the Jedi this force was reduced from the 1000 ARC Troopers and 400 Commandos you led to whats left here now."
Midnight was dead silent at the declaration of how many of his men had perished under the Jedi's command, a sudden darkness coming over his eyes as he stepped to the back of the hangar and looked over all the helmets of the fallen... 880 ARC Trooper helmets in various states of broken, and 340 Commando helmets in similar conditions. He felt something inside him snap as he fell to his knees and sunk back at the impromptu graves of his brothers, his helmet and rifle dropping to the floor unceremoniously as it felt like his whole world had stopped. These were his men, they needed him... and he wasn't there for them...
"Brothers... I am so, so sorry..." Midnight lamented as tears flowed down his face and a heavy feeling of sorrow washed over him. However, the sound of the hydraulic doors opening reached his ears moments later, and the soft sound of unarmored footfalls reached his ears. Gritting his teeth, Midnight picked up his helmet and snapped it on, before rising to his feet and turning to face the incoming newcomer. "You did this..."
"I do not recognize you, clone, but you won't speak to me in such a disrespectful tone. I am Jedi Commander Aurora, and you will be falling under my command now." A female spoke, clad in brown robes and standing about a foot shorter than himself with pale skin, shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She already had her lightsaber held in one hand, albeit not activated. He clenched a fist as she spoke, his rage no doubt being felt by the Jedi before him as his aura began to flare around him in a menacing blue haze. Still, she stood her ground, looking him in the visor and sneering. "Stand down, clone. I don't tolerate insubordination from your kind aboard my ship."
"You killed them all... Every single one of them... my brothers are dead because of you..." he noted that her thumb had moved to her lightsaber's activation switch, giving him a pretty good idea about what was gonna happen in the next few moments. "Mickey. How many of our brothers have died under her command... and how many did she execute herself?"
"I-I shouldn't say, sir, it's not my place to-"
"TELL ME!" Midnight roared, taking all present aside from the Jedi aback as his aura seemed to explode outwards, exerting a massive pressure on all present and visibly straining the metal around him. He had never raised his voice in anger before, but they didn't need to be force sensitive to feel it. Midnight was furious.
"...she's been our Commanding Officer since you were assigned elsewhere, and has personally executed 87 ARC Troopers and 29 Commandos. She has ordered the execution of several companies worth of regs in her time commanding this unit. All for insubordination and disobedience of orders... all of them who disobeyed orders did so in ways that saved the day despite faulty orders for suicidal charges and like actions." He sighed, shoulders slumping as his eyes turned down to the side, something mirrored by others in the unit.
"ARC-17-4908, you will not speak again unless I order you to, is that understood?" The Jedi narrowed her gaze at Mickey, prompting Midnight to step aside so Mickey would be facing his back and she'd be looking back at him again.
"Mickey. His name is Mickey, Jedi." He interfered, his voice dripping with venom as both hands balled into fists at his side. Her gaze narrowed on his visor, with her brow furrowing in annoyance. "As for you... you will no longer hurt any of MY brothers, ever again. I am relieving you of command, Jedi."
"Stand. Down. Clone. One more word from you, and I'll have you executed for insubordination." She growled, making Midnight scoff at her pathetic attempt to regain control. Silently, his hands wandered to the katana on his hip, with his eyes narrowing behind his mask...
"Try me." With the sound of a lightsaber hissing to life, Midnight popped the seal on his saya and drew his blade upwards, deflecting the lightsaber away before slashing at her exposed form. He growled in annoyance as she bounded back, and pointed her lightsaber directly at him...
"You!- Clones, execute this traitor!" She screeched, but not a single blaster was raised. All the clones in the room simply looked back over the helmets of the thousand dead brothers that lined the shelves pressed against the back of the hangar... before their heads turned upright, looking to Midnight, as if pleading for him to give them an order. "I said, execute this traitor! NOW!"
"Brothers. Do it." He nodded to them as he spun his blade over his index finger into an underhand grip, before sliding the back of the blade over his saya and returning it into the scabbard as soon as the tip dipped inwards. With the clicking of over a hundred blasters raising onto target, Midnight drew his own right hand DC-17 and fired at the Jedi. The moment he depressed the trigger, hundreds of blaster bolts joined his own as they overwhelmed the Jedi's defenses in an instant, gunning her down. A bolt from his own blaster to her heart was deflected, but the rest struck home, scattered around the shoulders, lower body and legs, and as he returned his blaster to its holster on his hip, his brothers marched past him, still spraying the fallen Jedi with plasma as they surrounded her and continued to unload. A low sigh escaped his lips as he felt their fury, their rage, sorrow, sadness and feelings of loss pour forth from his brothers, unleashed in the stream of blaster fire that continued to riddle her now motionless body.
He didn't even attempt to stop them, content to let them get all their hatred and frustrations out before attempting to bring them back with him. It was ultimately quite the wait, as they didn't stop the desecration of her body with merely blasting her thousands of times. They didn't stop until she'd been torn limb from limb, and each bloody and tattered piece of her body was impaled on a spike to be strung up at the front of the hangar, her head and face only recognizable due to the fact that they were avoiding shooting her there. He may have been merciful in aiming for her heart, but she had deflected that shot she hadn't stopped screaming for some time, as his brothers were purposefully targeting non-fatal locations for the most part, and any others that were fatal were a slow death. She was still crying out in agony as they tore her limb from limb, and she hadn't had the luxury of passing on until they'd removed her head from her shoulders. A truly brutal and savage display, but he couldn't fault his brothers after all they'd been through.
Finally, as it seemed they'd all settled down, Midnight personally pushed a few large crates into position, before standing up atop them and crossing his arms. They knew what this meant, and that was that he was about to give them their choice, their say in what they'd do now, like he had always done before he'd left...
"Brothers, we know war. Hell, I'd go so far as to say we're the best at it. When I left you all before, I had no choice in the matter, and you were left to suffer for it... but I have returned, stronger now than ever before." He drew his blade, allowing his aura to cloak him in a fiery blue haze like it had done before, giving him a much greater presence. "I am no longer just ARC Commander Midnight, I am Mand'alor the Invincible, leader of the Remnant Mandalorians. I give you all this choice now, ARC Troopers, Commandos, Engineers, Pilots and Tankers... everyone who remains here has a choice now. Follow me, as brothers once more within my Remnant Mando'ade, or live free, however you see fit. There's no way off this rock as of yet, but until that day comes where we can take back to the stars, you are free men, and may do whatever you wish with your lives. Now I ask you, brothers, who will follow me once again?!"
In response to his options laid out on the table, all his brothers removed their helmets and snapped into a large formation, saluting him with their right hands. He had his answer, and a large smirk crossed his lips. With only one thing left to do before they could start packing, he took up the fallen Jedi's lightsaber, and silently waited as his brothers built up a bonfire in the middle of the room, casting it into the fires as soon as it was of sufficient size and chuckling darkly as it exploded not long after. With the Jedi's disgraceful legacy erased completely, Midnight gestured for his men to get to packing. It would take several trips to gather everything up, but he knew his men were more than competent enough to get it all done in good time.
"Mand'alor Midnight," Mickey approached and saluted him, prompting him to just raise a hand to tell him to relax. "Is there anywhere we're going in particular? This will be a lot of equipment to stage."
"Yes. Get the bikers enroute to Vacuo, find somewhere secluded, out of the way and easily concealed. Then, begin staging everything there, and relay the coordinates to me. We'll have a lot of Native-Born brethren joining us there, so make sure it's spacious, and near the coast since we got yachts. In the meantime, I'm taking 20 ARC Troopers and 20 Commandos with me back to our temporary HQ. I'm leaving you in charge of getting everything squared away, think you can handle it, Mickey?" He handed his brother a spare continental map he'd had, drawing a confident chuckle from Mickey as he accepted the item.
"C'mon 'Night, this is child's play for us! We'll have the location found, scouted out, secured and staged before midnight tomorrow, you can count on us!" He answered with a boisterous tone while puffing his chest up with bravado. It drew an honest snort-laugh from Midnight as he gave him a light punch to the shoulder and nodded in affirmation.
"Alright Mick, do me proud! Now, I need 20 Commandos and 20 ARC Troopers to fall in on me, stat!" He barked out, with the two groups racing over to see who'd be there first to accompany him. The winner went the spoils, however, and after about a minute of sorting everything out, he had his 20 and 20, and moved to the front of the hangar before addressing the rest of his men one last time. "Do me proud, boys! We won't be long, you just keep kicking ass and taking names! Hooah?"
"HOOAH!"
Several hours of marching led them back to the city, where the gate guards immediately made way for Midnight and his 40 men marching behind him in 4 columns of 10 to pass through. Drones immediately began swarming them as he continued marching them down the streets, their unified footfalls echoing loudly down every street they crossed as they approached the HQ. Pedestrians and vehicles alike made way for them, and the police actively stepped aside, some of them even saluting the Mand'alor as he and his brothers passed.
Eventually, they made it to the tower, where Midnight released the formation and ordered them all up the elevators to his floor. Thanks to the generous number of lifts, everyone was able to ascend at once, taking the Mandalorian guards at the doors to the HQ completely by surprise with their arrival. All of them, having heard from the Mand'alor about his brothers, instantly gained giddy expressions beneath their helmets, and propped open the doors, allowing them all to pass inside before Midnight could even get there. As soon as he had, he regarded the guards with an appreciative nod, before walking inside himself, ready to get all his brothers of blood situated properly.
It wasn't a long process, as they'd all more or less navigated the HQ on their own without any guidance, leaving them to mingle with their new brothers and sisters while he sought out his daughter...
"Daddy, you're back!" Ruby greeted with a toothy grin as she threw herself into Midnight's arms, the clone wrapping his own around her and laughing lightly in response before picking her up and standing her up on the bed. She'd been waiting for some time in their bedroom, and had apparently watched him and his brothers arrive in the city and March down the streets. As Midnight was was her adoptive father, and these men were his brothers, she had to wonder if that made them her uncles? It certainly expanded her family tree, she mused, and though it might've been a little confusing she was happy to know that she'd have such a large family to call her own.
"Hey kiddo. I take it you saw me and my brothers marching down the street?" He asked while ruffling her hair, earning an enthusiastic nod from the child who was bouncing up and down on the bed without ever actually taking her feet off it.
"Yup! So if they're your brothers, does that make them my uncles?"
"I guess it does. Look, I gotta run my brothers through the Armorer and get them all some rooms, but afterwards you wanna go fishing?" Her jumping up and down with an even bigger grin seemed to answer his question, making him chuckle a little before taking up her helmet and plopping it on her head, before lifting her off the bed and setting her on the floor, taking her hand as he began walking out of the room and down the halls. Eventually, he came to the Rec room where most of his brothers interacted with the native-born Mandalorians, seemingly all getting along quite swimmingly as well. Eventually, he spotted Marcus and Mercury speaking with a couple commandos, with laughter erupting from the group not too long after they began their approach.
Marcus as soon as he noticed Midnight's approach gently pushed Mercury over towards Ruby, an action Midnight mirrored, allowing the two kids to run off and play or do whatever together while the grown ups talked. A simple nod between him, the Commandos and Marcus put them all into business mode, arms crossed as they prepared to get back to work.
"Getting along with Metal squad, eh Marcus?" Midnight nudged his XO in the side with a soft chuckle, drawing one in kind from the older Mando.
"Yeah, apparently some of the Cuy'val Dar had spoken of me occasionally... that being said, they told me about what happened in your absence. That monstrous Jedi dog got what was coming to her today, the damn whore." Marcus grumbled angrily, before shaking his head and wiping his bothered expression away, continuing into business. "In any case, we're working on unlocking all their auras right now, should be done in an hour or two. Afterwards, we'll cycle them through the Armorer to get replacement helmets... on that note, thanks to doing your helmet earlier, she now has the files and mold to make helmets like your own more efficiently and quickly. The Commandos will have a slow time with the first helmet, but after that it should be a quick process... we've also equipped all the commandos with the shotgun mod the Armorer made for your DC-17M, and the ARC Troopers are receiving Disruptors. They're eager to join us for the convoy assault, and with our increased forces? Taking that convoy will honestly be a very easy endeavor."
"That's good to hear. Now, could you see to getting the Commandos situated with their rooms while I do the same with the ARC Troopers? Afterwards we'll take them to the Armorer, get them some Beskar, then we'll hit that convoy shortly after it's begun it's movement." Midnight directed, getting an affirmative nod from his right hand man before both kicked into gear. They both had plenty to do today, and their days wouldn't end until it was all finished...
Arriving in the sandy dustbowl of a desert that was Vacuo on BARC speeders, the four ARC Troopers immediately began surveying the area for a suitable staging ground. They noted a few good looking spots, but understood that Midnight would doubtless want something further west, secluded, and close to the coast. After all, they'd known Midnight for some time, and understood that he loved fishing... the fact that they had boats taking up a secondary objective behind fishing availability being the primary. Fortunately, due to the 520 kph speeds an unmodified BARC speeder could reach (and theirs were most definitely NOT unmodified), they were able to cross the desert and arrive at the western coast within the day.
They marked the location, marking the location on the map and getting a 10 digit grid for the spot, before further surveying the immediate area in pairs. For regular biker scouts, it already would've been a short process, but for ARC Trooper bikers? The pairs had marked at least a dozen plausible staging grounds within ten minutes, eventually settling on a large draw that washed out into a lower-elevated saddle and further down a cliff that overlooked a desolate oasis, and further right from there, it was about a mile from the coast. The saddle and draw were concealed from the ocean, tucked away from view, had quick access to bodies of water, and was easily defensible. The mountaintops around the draw and saddle were dense with foliage, at least for a desert, providing good coverage and concealment to the area, though most of the side facing the ocean was a sheer cliff, with a singular Valley cut into the rock leading back into the mountains, which upon further inspection they learned thankfully enough did NOT lead directly into their concealed staging area.
"Leopard this is Whirlwind, Standby for 10-digit grid. Coordinates for this location are as follows. Whiskey Victor 07 01070 47980, over." ARC Trooper Whirlwind spoke into his comms, his armor showing several grey swirls over his pauldrons and wavy lines across his forearms. A grey 9-pointed star was displayed across his faceplate, breastplate and kamas, a design only he had.
"Copy Whirlwind. Whiskey Victor 07 01070 47980. Location logged, we marking the oasis, valley and nearest towns too?Over." Leopard questioned, making Whirlwind tap his chin a few times before turning to his partner.
"I'd leave out the oasis, since if we have the saddle and draw's coordinates we'll basically have the oasis's. The nearest towns and the valley we should mark though, could easily become important later." His partner answered, an ARC Trooper named Tempest whom donned a black and light blue color scheme, light blue in the form of the lightning bolts that raced down his gauntlets and rerebraces and black for the pauldrons that represented storm clouds. Upon his Kama, three zigzagging lightning bolts raced down at differing lengths across a black background, and across his faceplate there were symmetrical lightning bolts outlining a gray inverted pentagon. Upon his breastplate over his left pec, five 5-pointed stars were aligned to each make up one corner of a similarly sided Star, and between them all was deep purple swirl. The left side of his twin pauldron was the deep purple, and the right side light blue.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, Leopard this is Whirlwind. We'll mark the towns and the valley, but there's no meet to mark the oasis. Over." Whirlwind affirmed before resuming contact with the other ARC Trooper on the line.
"Understood Whirlwind, we've already marked their 10-digits so there's no reason to further press that matter. Alrighty, I'm having Barker send it up for the LAAT/i gunships to bring two commando squads and 20 more ARCs. We'll secure the immediate area, then they'll set up a perimeter. Once we've verified absolute security and safety, we'll start bringing in engineer vehicles and larger supply crates. Over."
"Copy that Leopard, over. C'mon Temp, let's start patrolling the area, make sure nothing sneaks up on us while we're alone." Whirlwind finished, ending the conversation and kicking up his BARC speeder in tandem with his partner, before beginning a steady cruise around the area. After all, they couldn't properly secure the area if they were going too fast to take a close look at anything passing them, could they?