König Australis
The Mandalorian Assembly
The Lion
Posts: 4 
Affiliation: Clan Australis
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by König Australis on May 30, 2022 22:04:20 GMT -8
It was a happy day for König Australis, though he was more than content with his Invincible Reason, he was adding another vessel to his personal forces today. He'd placed one of the first orders for the new Dungeon-class coming out of MandalArms, and today he was taking delivery of the new ship. The Invincible Reason was cruising the Mandalore system heading well out past the outer planets, when the new ship, Den Mother, popped out of hyperspace nearby and hailed them. Leaving the bridge to his XO, he headed aft for the docking area, and found the room crowded with armored and unarmored Mando'ade of the Lion's Cubs. Brazenly, he pushed into the mass of bodies and elbowed and argued his way to the front. Most made way good naturedly, or cursed him good naturedly. "Make way, you lot." König said as he got through the front ranks and to the airlock just in time for it to hiss open. Through the docking tube, he could see the new ship. The commandos were keen to see their new home. König moved forward before they trampled him, leading the way aboard Den Mother. The commandos fanned out around him as they got aboard, running off in various directions like children at a playcentre. König let them explore their new home. He took his time admiring the sturdy spartan Mandalorian construction while he wandered his way to the command bridge. Along the way he took in the prison section, as well as sticking his head into the barracks to witness the Cubs' shenangans. He left them to their downtime, and found the Bridge. Ducking inside the hatchway, König was struck by how compact the Dungeon-class bridge was, far smaller than the expansive command deck on the Invincible Reason. This was a ship made for knife-fighting, close range combat, and built tough. Built for speed, he amended, looking over the engineering station. Massive and powerful sublight engines were the back end of the ship. The front end was heavily reinforced, and packed with boarding gear. This was an excellent tool of war, which was his original thought when he'd first seen the design. Now, standing aboard the finished product, he decided the designers had made good on their promise. Next chance that he got, he would put it to the test, in combat. |
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Reyn Australis
The Mandalorian Assembly
Workin
Posts: 58
Affiliation: Clan Australis
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Post by Reyn Australis on May 31, 2022 2:39:04 GMT -8
A holographic scoreboard displayed active duty kills, as well as high scores for many of the scenarios, some famous across the galaxy such as the Yavin Death Star Assault, more than a few official scenarios that all pilots remembered from basic training like the various historical Battles of Coruscant, Hoth and Endor, some fanmade creations like the wildly popular Braxant Run. Braxant Run was the latest release from programmers who made these simulations for a living, and the current craze among pilots across the fleet and across the galaxy, competing over the HoloNET. Reyn noticed the ship's top score was a name he didn't recognize, and assumed it was a new hotshot pilot. He decided he couldn't have that, and headed down to the sim room, finding a free pod and hoisting himself inside to load up the Braxant Run program.
As the simulation fired itself up, Reyn ran through his knowledge of the simulation. Survive three battles back to back, the Yuuzhan Vong attack on the Imperial Remnant Capital of Bastion, a small skirmish at Bescane, and then the final Imperial stand at their temporary capital world of Borusk. Though the Imperial position improved slightly with each scenario, the pilot's did the opposite. For the Battle of Bastion, the pilot had a TIE Defender. At Bescane, a TIE Interceptor, and at Borusk, a bog standard TIE Fighter. Pilots facing the scenario had found that it was nigh impossible to survive, and the best chance of making it through lay in flying as evasively as possible and avoiding enemy contact. Though this improved chances of completing all three battles, it was frowned upon in the extreme.
The cockpit of a TIE Defender of that era resolved around Reyn in his pilot's couch, and a red countdown clock began a 10 count. He chose not to skip it, clearing his mind and breathing in and out at a regular pace. The quiet reverie was shattered by the familiar roar of a TIE's engines inside a pressurized hangar, as Reyn's Defender launched from a familiar white Imperial II-class Star Destroyer into a wild and crazy melee between Imperial triangles and strange blobby alien Vong capital ships. Flame spurted from crippled vessels, while clouds of expelled gas and frozen bodies showed where some of them had died.
"Shab me, this is crazy!" As he gathered his bearings, Reyn ran through what he knew of his craft and those of the enemy. His ion cannons, useless. As he swung around the Destroyer's belly, he dumped the power from those into the laser cannons, and set those for quad-fire. Coralskippers were hard kills, as he found out. Their dovin basals could generate gravitic singularities which ate laserfire and missiles as greedily as a rancor ate a gammorrean.
The TIEs of this era did not yet possess the stutterfire technology which was designed to overwhelm the vongese defences with lots of low powered bolts. So, improvising, Reyn fired his quad blasts in tandem, just a little distance apart. For three tries, he got one kill and one damage, while the other kill shot passed harmlessly under the enemy skip. "Crab chakaar!"
The Battle of Bastion, what little he saw of it while trying to stay alive, was a slaughter. Once the Grand Admiral's command ship Chimaera had its bridge rammed by a coralskipper, most of the fighters died covering the Imperial retreat to Yaga Minor. Reyn escaped the first battle with what he figured was a decent score, though he saw he was averaging third place. Well, it was his first attempt, and he had time to improve yet.
Bescane was less chaotic, with far less numbers, but no less of a one-sided contest. The Imperials were in disarray, and trying to flee. The Yuuzhan Vong did not make it easy for them, with swarms of Coralskippers and those kriffing Grutchin beasts enjoying slow and easy prey in the form of imperial transport ships and freighters. The speed of the Interceptor kept Reyn from joining the casualties, but he didn't kill as many Vong as he would have liked. Indeed, he saw after the second battle, that he'd dropped to fifth. He would need to do something special at Borusk...
... It was not to be. Last stands were called that for a reason. The Yuuzhan Vong forces came on, and every time the Imperials crushed their advance, coordinated by their Yammosk War Coordinator, the Yuuzhan Vong regrouped, reformed, and came on again. Six times, the Imperial forces counterattacked and repulsed the invaders, only to be ordered back into the fight once more to meet the enemy. Reyn got a few more kills by virtue of the fact he was one of the few Imperials left fighting, and there were no shortage of targets, he could have just held down his triggers and have had a good chance of hitting something Vongese. Eventually there were no more Vong left, and the Imperials, what was left of them, had space to themselves. Sweaty as all hell, Reyn sighed heavily in relaxation of the immense tension of the intense experience he'd just put himself through.
As the simulation ended and the canopy unsealed to a bright seam of light from the Sim Room, Reyn checked the scoreboard. Seventh overall. He was irritated with himself until he got out of the simulator and realized he had an audience. A dozen pilots were standing around, having been observing the sim, and they were all staring at him. Seventh overall he didn't think was all that impressive, and he was confused as he walked out to the pilots lounge. Finally, he shrugged and headed for the mess. Had he lingered, he might have overheard the soft voices. "No one ever survives their first Braxant Run." "How the kriff did he do that?" "Chakaar can fly with me any time." "Yeah, glad he's on our side."
Clueless, Reyn went on and had his dinner. |
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on May 31, 2022 6:14:58 GMT -8
wrong account
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Post by Amaranth Australis on May 31, 2022 6:15:57 GMT -8
Aboard the Cruiser Red Rocket, Mandalore Space
Ensconced in her cabin, Amy amused herself by flicking through the scuttlebut on the ship's chat net, often a source of humour, ribald and creative, from the workers, engineers, pilots, and soldiers who lived and earned a wage aboard the Red Rocket. Most ships had a system or something like this for interpersonal communication. She saw with interest a discussion on the Braxant Run, a simulation she had recently aced to some acclaim.
To her surprise, and a little bruising to her ego, they weren't talking about her record score, though she'd completed all three battles with a kill score 11 higher than her next best competitor. Reyn, she saw, had placed seventh, twenty kills behind her. It took a little digging to find out why he was the talk of the ship. He'd only made one attempt. Had he cheated? She supposed it was possible, though the systems were hard coded to prevent intrusion, and the hardware was all military grade. Cheating in simulations was a very serious offence, as they were often used to grade performance. Was he that good a pilot? She wondered to herself.
Amy had taken a dozen attempts to finish the scenario, and a dozen more to work out the way the battles worked to try and maximize her score. She even thought she'd identified which of the enemy ships had a Yammosk aboard, before she'd made her first place run. She'd played it twenty seven times before she'd scored what she had decided would be an unassailable lead. Now, she wasn't so sure. Reyn would only improve, the Braxant Run simulation was infamously difficult, far too much for someone to luck their way through.
She was an intelligence officer first, even if her private work took her away from duties more often than not, and such an interesting potential asset to the Clan warranted a contact report to HQ. Brother or not, Reyn was part of the Clan, and his talent belonged to the Clan as much as anyone, so she had no qualms about reporting on him. It was her job, and her older brother's duty. He was known as a skilled warrior, though the Clan had many many of those, however his command abilities were mostly untested. His skill as a pilot was a new development, and one worthy of note, should their superiors decide he would be better placed in a cockpit one day.
Amy understood that Cerani often used the Australis siblings to keep an eye on one another, and she didn't take it personally. She'd have done the same in the Twi'lek's position, and it was for a good cause. Their father was as unwilling to consider as he was incapable of responsible behaviour, despite his obvious martial skill. Kaine, and to a lesser extent, her brothers, were best kept away from anything involving skilled work. Point them at an enemy and they did just fine, but ask them to do anything else, or to think, and it was inevitably a disaster or a scandal or both.
Transmitting her report off to The Rock at Myrkr, she went back to studying the ship's gossip. Telling herself it was intelligence work helped, though she was mostly amusing herself until the ship got underway. Her role as a roving inspector allowed her to avoid the bureaucratic minutiae that often bogged down field agents. Soon enough, she'd be back on Myrkr and her mission would be done with, and she could get back to her own proper work.
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Reyn Australis
The Mandalorian Assembly
Workin
Posts: 58
Affiliation: Clan Australis
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Post by Reyn Australis on Jun 5, 2022 3:37:55 GMT -8
Grave faces across the bridge as the officers listened in to the call as it played over the bridge PA. Reyn didn't stop to consider, but took action immediately, giving orders. "Comms, signal the Invincible Reason that we're moving out at once, and inform Captain Afyon on the Frigate Warspite he is now in command of the Myrkr task force." He turned. "Helm, plot a course for Obroa-Skai, and let's get going." He was not so consumed that he couldn't read the apprehension on the faces of his command crew. He was committing a direct violation of the Admiral's orders. Reyn reassured them all. "We're doing the right thing." That seemed to be enough.
As Red Rocket broke formation and prepared for the jump to hyperspace, the comm officer got another message. "Invincible Reason signals us to hold off, sir." Reyn shook his head, but didn't respond. He knew his younger brother well. König was organized, disciplined, and thought always of the larger picture. He technically outranked Reyn, though both Captains, König had more time in service. Reyn didn't give a fig.
"Sir." The comm officer persisted. "Admiral Australis for you." Reyn smiled. Now the Admiral was querying him and he very much outranked Reyn, as well as being his direct superior, but a holotransmission he could ignore. He could wait this out without having to give any illegal orders, such as to ignore an Admiral's transmission. Violating the spirit of the law without directly infringing the letter of the law was an Australis specialty.
The ship was moments away from the jump when the bridge's PA crackled to life, clearly overridden by the Admiral. Reyn wanted to curse. Too damned clever by half. Flash's voice was as stern as Reyn had ever heard it. "Captain, you are to resume your position. This is a direct order." Reyn felt his stomach knot, but he held firm. Nobody spoke. Admiral Flash Australis softened his tone, almost to a plea, but there was steel in it. "Reyn, if you do this, you'll never sit in that chair again." Reyn steeled himself. He kept silent.
A second later, that felt like an eternity, Red Rocket leapt to lightspeed.
The young Australis let out the breath he'd been holding in. Grave and ashen faces looked at him. He drew himself up and stood. "I want a full diagnostic on our comm system." He said, seriously. "I would have expected them to at least query our departure. I didn't hear anyone order us to stop." Reyn forced a smile, which let the crew know that everything would be alright. For them, it certainly would, the burden of responsibility was his alone. Reyn left the bridge to get something to eat, he'd need his strength if there was a fight upon arrival. |
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Jul 7, 2022 2:26:25 GMT -8
All the vessels that had been newly constructed at MandalMotors Shipyards, at Concordia, and the fightercraft manufactured down on Mandalore at MandalArms were now being constituted into a fleet in high orbit above Keldabe. The notification was sent via encrypted hypercomm to Kaine's personal HUD, which was actually nearby insystem aboard the Carnifex. The short text of the project's completion told the Alor all he needed to know. He activated his comm, and did his best Sheev Palpatine impression."Move the fleet to the far side of Concordia. There it will stay, until called for."Despite the ridiculousness of the command's delivery, the order was clear enough. Built around a powerful Leviathan-II destroyer, the brand new battle fleet moved out to take up a position behind the moon of Concordia. From there it could be collected by its new owner, Lord Nexus, without raising too much suspicion. Kaine knew the other Mando'ade probably knew what he was up to, but doing it this way gave them plausible deniability.Kaine sent another encrypted hypercomm, also using his Sheev impression voice to Lord Nexus"Complete." Nexus would be informed through an attached data packet which included holos of the completed construction, that the ships would be waiting for him at a rendezvous point in the Mandalore System, just beyond the moon of Concordia.
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Aug 1, 2022 4:07:09 GMT -8
While the bulk of Kaine's commandos took shore leave down on Manda'yaim, in orbit, and aboard the Warlock-Class vessel Carnifex, the work continued at a rapid pace. The Night Witches and Riva Shiel had assigned themselves the task of checking and cataloguing the loaded arms and armaments, while the Copad Guard under the watchful eye of Sigurd-Adofo aided in loading and storing the cargo aboard the warship.
Carnifex would be packed to the gills for her trip to Byss. The ship would need to make a week long sublight journey through enemy space to arrive at the planet, all the while at low power, running silent, under cloak. For that week, her passengers would be able to do nothing other than hunker down, wait, and prepare their minds for combat. As such, they were throwing themselves into the hive of activity of preparation, knowing that a week of sitting on their shebs awaited.
In addition to the massive rearmament of the light star destroyer class ship, ensuring its energy reactors were driven up to full military power, and that her ammunition stocks were fully loaded, there was the further task of the expedition itself. Arming and outfitting a thousand supercommandos required a lot of kit. Not just weapons and ammunition and the large numbers of explosives, but rations and water for the duration. Fuel and energy cells for the vehicles and small craft, as well as munitions for same.
Each unit required tons of special orders. Vibroweapons for many of the units, as well as the much loved Verpine shatter weapons, Plasma weapons for the sappers, as well as the various illegal gear that the 8th so coveted. In this case it was fortunate that MandalArms was onside, it was easier to get hold of proscribed things like needlers, disruptors, and nuclear arms when you had inside access to the arms industry. Custom items, like the spear/blaster combi weapon of the Copad Guard, were produced by MandalArms in-house. Standard items like proton torpedoes, concussion missiles, thermal detonators, and blaster power packs were easily acquired in great quantity.
All the commandos and crew now knew what their mission was, and that it was to launch very soon. They now knew why security had been and continued to be high, the extracurricular shore leave notwithstanding. Once they set out toward Byss, they would spend a week in isolation, unable to see, unable to know what was coming, until the moment they arrived.
I am going to sleep for a week. Said Sigurd-Adofo to Riva Shiel. She rolled her Shistavanen eyes at him, eliciting a smile from the gold clad giant. Both of them knew that in a little over a week, they would be leading a hundred of their best into what might be their last battle. Neither of them shrank from the danger, but they knew it was there, waiting for them.
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Aug 13, 2022 4:22:16 GMT -8
From the extensive shipyards and fleet docking areas extending above Mandalore that was owned and operated by MandalMotors came the first of a new line of vessel. Designed to play a role akin to the ancient and venerable Kandosii or the recent but dated Keldabe-class, the brand new, state-of-the-art Alor-Class was a behemoth of a vessel. Heavily armed and armoured for its size class, the ship was unmistakeably a warship.Clearing its moorings and moving into open space, the first of the class, Australis, lit her engines and made for deep space for her space trials. During this, her engines, weapons and other systems would be well tested, ready for service. She was the first, but behind her would come others of the class, well under construction. These ships would be ready to lead the line for a new generation of Mando'ade.
Moving swiftly now she was clear of obstructions, the battleship went to flank speed, redlining her engines for the first time, as the tests began in earnest.
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Belisarius Vilebroth
Member
Preparing to infect a world near you.
Posts: 65
Affiliation: Formerly of the Eye
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Belisarius Vilebroth on Sept 18, 2022 6:04:41 GMT -8
In the realm between the light of stars, a Class 720 freighter traversed the treacherous corridors of hyperspace, hurtling with malign intent towards the world of Mandalore. Ordinarily the path traversed through a lightspeed wormhole from one place to another appeared as swirling bands of blue light, but not to the occupant of the 'Endowed Hawk-bat', whose affliction in the fey sickened even the warped reality of the sub-dimension. Blue gave way to a sickly green as sorcerous lightning crackled at the edges of the tunnel through real space, while ghastly shrieks assailed the ears of the pilot even through the T-visored helm he wore over his pox scarred face. The navi-computer bleated a warning, alerting the Mandalorian that his destination had been reached. An augmented cybernetic hand gripped the control and throttled back, returning the light freighter to sublight speed as the ship had spewed forth into the system like a rancid belch of expelled stomach gas. Through the bucket that concealed the worst of his physical decay, he looked with two rheumy eyes at the lush orb of green and blue, beholding for the first time the world his forbearers called home.
His name was Otto Von Bralor, son of galaxy renowned weapons-smith and conductor of countless atrocities, Ballz Bralor. Like his father before him, Otto had been a servant of the Eye, bound by oath to the dark religion that worshipped the last remaining battle moon of the one true Emperor as a malevolent god. That was where their paths had diverged, for where his father had chosen to descend into the obscurity of time along with the rest of the Order, Otto followed a different path. He followed Belisarius. The two had met as children on Pzob, Otto serving as his father's apprentice as he learned to master the dark sciences in pursuit of greater technological innovation for the purpose of sowing destruction, and Belisarius serving as pupil of the villainous Famine Lord as he mastered virology and the alchemical arts. The two struck up a friendship over their love of science and resentment of their cruel tutors, dreaming of the day when they might cast them down into the same fleshpits they were forced to scrub the filth from. When the Order disbanded in the public eye and the Great Devourer departed known space on his twisted crusade, Otto had departed with him, accompanying his brother in arms on the holy quest. Things hadn't quite worked out as expected. Dragus and Belisarius had a falling out, forcing Otto to choose a side. It had been an obvious choice, one he would make again without hesitation despite the Famine Lord's curse that he and all the inhabitants of their newfound fiefdom on Xeraxus suffered from.
"Mandalore." Hissed Otto wetly as sputum spilled from his lips and pooled at the bottom of his helm's neck seal. Laying in a course for the capital city of Keldabe, he turned over the controls to his RX-series pilot droid, RX-66. As the cockpit filled with the sound of the droids three whirring mechanized limbs, Otto rose from his seat and headed towards the port side lounge, his perfect stride the result of his two artificial legs. New additions to his collection of replacements parts; he was still getting used to the droid legs he had been forced to accept in placement of his natural limbs after the rot had taken them. His cybernetic augmentations wouldn't have been obvious at first glance, as he was garbed in a full replica set of cadmium green Mandalarion armour. His father hadn't been gracious enough to leave his bastard child the family armour, so he had been forced to build his own suit using a stygian-triprismatic and lead-polymer substrate, one of a kind as far as he knew. It wouldn't offer him the same protection as beskar, but it had a few surprises of its own. Upon reaching the lounge he removed his bucket and placed it on a side table, avoiding the mirror on the wall that reflected his revolting disfigurements before picking up a mouldy scrap of parchment he had acquired from a Plague Bearer before leaving Xeraxus.
The former colony of the Rakatan Empire had been a wealth of information, revealing hidden caches of ancient technology and some of the blueprints for the xenos darkside empowered creations. Most importantly above all, it listed a number of locations where the Rakata had uncovered even older Kwa star temples. Supposedly there was one such temple on the planet below, buried by the sands of time and forgotten by the aeons. For Belisarius' plan to work, Otto needed to find that temple and activate the infinity gate inside, allowing seamless transport between the plague world and the land of his ancestors. He would start with Keldabe, hopefully there would be some sort of historical records he could access that would offer a clue to the devices wherabouts. The Reaper Prime had been wise to assign Otto to this, for if any could crack its mysteries and activate the gate, it would be Otto and his malefic brilliance.
Popping a canker in his mouth with his tongue, he savoured the flavour of pus teasing his taste buds as the freighter headed towards the surface.
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Harini Bralor
The Mandalorian Assembly
Posts: 165 
Affiliation: The Mando'ade
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Harini Bralor on Jun 17, 2023 10:56:28 GMT -8
On the bridge of the Kandosii-type dreadnaught, the Bodil, her captain, Ver`alor Al`verde Rusalka Bralor, accepts a datapad from her XO and reads the report from Be`Mando`ade Cabur Torin Bralor, Aliit'alor of Clan Bralor, concerning the recent events on Manda'yaim's surface. Even though it is Torin's conclusion that the greatest threat to the Mando'ade homeworld is currently the lost Infinity Gate that the enemy Mordolorians are searching for, he asks that Rusalka ensure that Clan Bralor's ships that are a part of Manda'yaim's defensive fleet - which consists of the Bodil, 7 Tra'kad-class transports, 4 M22-Krayt gunships, 2 Crusader-class corvettes and 2 Kom'rk class fighters and the Bes'ulilk starfighter compliments of the larger ships - go on high alert in the event that his suspicions prove unfounded.
After reading the report, Rusalka wastes no time in contacting the commanding offers of not only Clan Bralor's ships, but also those of any other Mandalorian Clan ships currently present over Manda'yaim to have them go on high alert and to coordinate their efforts to watch over their homeworld.
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