Hyllyard City

Finding a path between two descending freighters, Vevut slipped his D-5 Mantis patrol craft into a descent pattern towards Hyllyard City, and the new base.

He had his own mission to accomplish here on Myrkr. The view from above was different to what he remembered. Hyllyard was in the same place, and about the same size as before. It never changed, and that made him smile, until he got lower and noticed the great monstrosity of a building project taking place at one end of Hyllyard.

His father's work, no doubt. A mountain built by the hands of Mandalorian and droid, the home base for the Clan of Australis. Vevut had to admit it was impressive, even if he found it horribly ostentatious compared to the far more subtle bunker complex he'd argued for.

He pulled up the plans, the real ones, not the official ones, and saw that the complex stretched deep into the forest, and far underground. Tunnelling works were still underway, stretching transport links out across Myrkr to outposts surrounding Hyllyard City. So, they had been listening to him after all.

The craft landed without fanfare at a berth in the City's civilian spaceport. Clad in his black and green beskar'gam, Vevut exited the ship. A handful of commandos were lounging around, pretending not to have been waiting for him.

He wondered why, until one of them spoke in his helmet's comlink.

Chief. Good to see you're not dead. (In Mando'a.)

So, they assumed he was his father. They were about the same height though Vevut, being younger, hadn't quite filled out. Their colour scheme was very similar, as was their combat loadout. He decided to play along, trying to match his father's voice and mannerisms.

Su'cuy vode. He nodded like Kaine. They seemed to accept his identity without question, and he realised it was probably because he'd landed using Kaine's overrides. They'd be expecting orders. He decided to give some.

How's the playground coming? He asked, using the name for the extensive training facility and linked fortifications that stretched miles out into Myrkr's Great Northern Forest.

We've finished the initial placement of the sensor and comms net. The whole area won't be fully complete for years, but we can start using the training grounds in two weeks.

The Mando, a male Vevut didn't know, spoke proudly, as if that was good news, so he accepted it as such, not knowing the full details of the project. He was fairly sure his father wouldn't either.

Good work. I'm headed for a meet. See you at the Clanhall after.

That got rid of them, Kaine always bought the drinks for his vode, and they hurried away. Vevut, alone now, headed into Hyllyard's nightlife, to see a man about a droid.

He got some looks, but his continous pace meant he wasn't bothered further, and he soon found a cantina near the meeting spot to wait for his contact. Taking off the helmet would have spoiled the illusion, so he settled for ordering a juice and sipping from a straw at an outside table.

The atmosphere was buzzing, it was the end of the working week, early evening, not too cold, and people were out and about. Night markets were common in Hyllyard in Vevut's memory, and they seemed to be active. He saw families and children as well as Mando'ade among the beings moving through the streets. It wasn't too crowded, but for Hyllyard this was busy. Commerce was alive and well, which also boded well for the locals.

Training was a large part of any military force, and with Myrkr's new status as the home of Clan Australis, the base of Cerar Kandosii and the Playground had already begun to run through its first lots of training cadres. Every level was accounted for; from raw recruits that would serve in the militias of the planetary garrisons, or the Clan's Foreign Legion, or the Vegemite Dragoons, the basic level, to the advanced ori'rami'kade training of the Vegemite and Clan Commandos.

The Playground itself extended well beyond Hyllyard City, giving the warriors space to play with heavy ordnance and vehicles well outside the City. Training was ongoing, and the processes were overseen by experts in all aspects of warfare, handpicked by the upper echelons of Clan Australis, some including Kaine himself. Snipers honed their skills on long range courses, while endurance training took in long jungle marches. Commandos practiced ambushes on unsuspecting recruits, and sometimes on one another. Vehicle crews too, got their training on Myrkr, with many areas suitable for deployment of even the heaviest artillery and command vehicles.

Teebo's T-wing streaked through the atmosphere like a fiery comet, leaving a smoking contrail in its wake, along with bits of super-heated hull that broke off as it continued its downwards descent towards the jungle. Inside the cockpit it was humid, the air heated thanks to the atmospheric resistance on the exterior of the ship, as well from the still smoking navi-computer, and finally from the acidic contents of the ewoks stomach. He felt like he was in a blender, the starfighter continuing to spin uncontrollably thanks to the one remaining engine. Boom! A small explosion barely muffled by the shriek of wind rushing past the hull let the unlucky pirate know his last engine had gone to.

=Teebo=
"I...can't....believe....it is...gunna...end...this way!" He struggled to say through gritted teeth. "At least...there is...still time...for...one...last drink."

The g-forces of his uncontrolled descent squeezed the tiny furry bear into his seat, yet he found just enough strength to lean forwards, attempting to reach the flask that had caused all of these problems to begin with. Straining, he caught hold of the drink container and raised it in his furry paw, only to have it slide out thanks to the slimy puke covering just about everything. He fought for control of the flask, but every time he tried to grab the container it simply slipped out, shooting out of his fingers to strike a button on the canopy ceiling. As it happened, that was the control for the ejection seat. The starfighter's canopy opened and was torn away by the wind as the safety seals released. Still spinning, Teebo and his puke covered seat were launched out of the T-wing side-ways, barely two hundred feet above the thick jungle canopy of the Playground. The wounded starfighter streaked into the jungle and exploded on impact, smashed to ribbons by trees and showering the lush fauna with ignited fuel.

End over end Teebo and his seat went, until finally the chute deployed just above the tree line, slamming the tiny ewok against his restraints as the the umbrella shape caught the air, then immediately tore from the force and dropped him down into the trees. Branches snapped and swatted his furry face, while the parachute straps snagged on the branches and pulled taut. A final jerk shook the ewok as his seat settled in the trees, hanging a few hundred feet from the jungle floor below. He blinked his eyes and patted his furry chest.

He was alive? By all the ewok maidens in Bright Tree Village, he was alive!

Teebo looked over the side, staring down at the perilous distance below, feeling something uncomfortable wedged against his furry butt. He reached behind his rump and wrapped a paw around a metallic object, bringing it out in front of his confused eyes and then smiling wildly. His flask! The jettison from the T-wing must have wedged it in his seat. Grinning, he unscrewed the lid and brought the container to his lips, preparing to imbibe a healthy portion...when it slipped from his grip, still slick with sick stomach grease. The flask fell the length of the distance to the jungle floor below, while all Teebo could do was stare in sad disbelief.

Disappointed about his flask but still grateful to be alive, Teebo looked around his surroundings, pondering how best exactly to get out of this latest predicament. He was strapped into his ejection seat still, which was hanging over a perilous drop to the jungle floor below, supported only by the straps of his survival chute that were snagged on the upper canopy of the jungle ceiling. He looked down between his furry legs, gulping as he thought about the squashed 'wok he'd become if he fell. He then looked up at the taught straps.

Too much movement might see them come loose and plunge him towards an unpleasant death. He'd need to move carefully.

First things first, he unbuckled himself from the seat, holding on to the fabric of the ejection chair tightly as it swayed nerve rackingly forward and backwards. Slowly, as cautiously as a young wokling trying to borrow his family's paraglider without being noticed, he stood up and turned around in the seat. Stretching, he reached up and took hold of the straps. Unlike everything else the parachute cords at least weren't covered in a greasy film of vomit. He gripped the straps tightly and began to climb up into the tree tops. Fortunately this was just the sort of thing his people excelled at. Sure, wookiees were just as capable, but they were also three times the size and incredibly strong. It was much more impressive when an ewok did it. Carefully Teebo worked his way through the tops of the trees, moving in the direction of the smoke that was wafting his way.

He had no idea where he was so whatever was left of his ship might be the only equipment to be found. The idea of being trapped on a strange planet with no tools was not very appealing.

As he reached the end of one branch, he spotted a vine hanging from another, suspended over the ground and just out of reach. He took one step back, bracing himself against the trunk of the tree he was on, then took a step forwards and leapt with his arms extended outwards. Forest born agility and no small amount of luck saw his furry paws grasp the vine and hold tight, swinging him from one tree to the next, where he found another vine. He repeated this action several times as he neared the site of his downed stafighter. He swung to another tree just before the scorched clearing, hugging the top of the tree as he looked down and scrunched up his face in an ewok version of a scowl. There wasn't enough of his ship left to even sell for scrap. Motion below caused him to edge back around the trunk of the tree, stepping from one branch to another. He peered around the corner and down below, spotting what looked like a repulsor barge outfitted with fire-suppression equipment. Two humanoids appeared to be dousing the blaze with fire-retardant foam, though he was less interested in that as he was with their repulsor skiff.

An idea formed in his scheming mind.

Carnifex (Warlock-Class Star Cruiser)

Myrkr's orbital space was quiet as the Warlock-class vessel Carnifex moved insystem and took up a low orbit above Hyllyard City. The operation to which the vessel was being assigned was so secret, even the ship's Captain knew nothing yet. Indeed, only three beings, one of whom was Kaine himself, knew all of the details. The other two were his Intelligence chief, Cerani, and the Clan's AI. Security was as tight as the old boar could make it. Need to know didn't extend to the participants just yet.

Groundside, many elite supercommando units had been rotated in over the last few weeks, they knew for redeployment, but not yet that it would be an operational deployment. Some of the more senior figures noticed the unusual activity such as the recent Ysalamir collection expedition and the presence of the Carnifex above Hyllyard, but kept their suspicions to themselves. They all had work to do, preparing their units, ensuring supplies and ammunition were laid in, and that the fighting men and women were ready to do their jobs when called upon.

Many of the transports and shuttles going back and forth from the Warlock-class carried these elite units and their supplies up to the ship. Once aboard, they were assigned quarters and shipboard duties. Most hadn't been aboard a Warlock before, and were surprised and intrigued at the unique design. Facilities were spartan, but they felt very secure living aboard. Security was extremely tight, and there was plenty of room for them to exercise. Many of them had been assigned to loading and securing the Ysalamiri they'd collected on Myrkr. That gave them another clue that something big was in the offing.

Another point of note that didn't pass by the crews and supercommandos was that the ship's hangars were particularly bare. The starfighters and bombers that would normally be part of the vessel's strike complement had all been reassigned to Myrkr, and there were many open spaces. No one aboard knew that the ship was to be outfitted with the first runs of War Pig gunships that had not yet entered full production. They would be as key to the Carnifex's future mission as the warriors now berthing aboard.

Nobody had yet been briefed on any details of the upcoming mission that many of them suspected to be a significant operational deployment, not a garrison duty. Even when Carnifex had been loaded up and began to move up and away from Myrkr once more, all the crews and soldiers were told is that they had another supply run to make. Hurry up and wait, in other words, something all soldiers knew very well. Knowing that the Clan didn't keep secrets for fun, they trusted that they would be told what they needed to know when they needed to know it.

Besides, Kaine himself had come aboard, with twenty of his Jare'rami'kade. That meant wherever they were going, their chieftain would be with them, and told them it was important, and that they would not be going in blind or unprepared. They did not know a single detail of the operation. They did know that somebody somewhere was going to have their shebs kicked.