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 Dec 9, 2020 6:29:29 GMT -8
A small storefront offering various trinkets of dubious worth covers the front door access to a tunnel that leads to the Mandalorian Covert aboard The Rock.Inside the Covert are small, spartan, units for family groups of Mando'ade to rest in safety among their own. Beyond these units is a small meeting hall which also functions as mess hall and contains the Covert's Forge at one end. Mandalorian symbols and flags hang from the walls, as well as trophies of hunts past.
The lighting is dim, and most Mando'ade wear their helmets. Only Mando'ade are permitted within the Covert, whether to visit with the Forgemaster, or to be among their own kind.
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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 Dec 9, 2020 9:18:24 GMT -8
Stepping through a curtain behind the shopkeeper, Kaine entered the Mandalorian covert aboard The Rock. Here, he was just another Mando'ad, though some might recognize him, there were Mando'ade of all Clans welcomed here. Some had no clan at all, or had lost theirs. Some were just looking for a place to sleep and mind their own business among vode. Some were here to see the Forgemaster, like Kaine.
The lighting was dim; Mando'ade in helmets didn't need much; or any if it came to that. Kaine walked down the main hallway, passing foundlings and adults as he went. The foundlings got out of his way as they passed, paying him no more mind than that. Kaine left them to their game and walked into the hall, heading the length of the largest chamber in the Covert towards the Forge.
Kaine passed several groups of Mando'ade, helmets off, eating and drinking at benches. There was a kitchen at one end, which served hot meals and cold drinks. Kaine exchanged nods with some of the vode as he passed.
An arch led into a low ceilinged chamber, with the glowing fires of the Covert's forge at the centre. Gold helmeted, the Forgemaster was at work. There were several other Mando'ade in the room. Kaine waited to be addressed, it didn't take too long.
Alor Australis.
Kaine nodded respectfully. He too was a Goran; a Mandalorian trained in the art of smithing beskar, among other metals, but this was not his Forge. All showed respect to the Goran within the Forgemaster's own chamber. Mandos weren't much for ceremony, but armour could be considered sacred, and thus behaviour in the Forge was appropriately, almost reverent.
You have a request?
Kaine walked forward and put down what he had brought. Beskar. Not a huge amount, but it was valuable enough that any beskar at all was in high demand.
I don't require this beskar. I wish that it serves to help the foundlings.
The Forgemaster cocked a head at Kaine. You do not follow the ways of the Children of the Watch, Alor Australis.
Kaine shook his head.
I do not. My helmet comes off all the time, and my signet is based on an amusing story I read about an intoxicated pig that went on a rampage. I'm just as Mando'ad as any of you. I am here to show respect, and because this is the way.
Silence greeted his statement. The other Mando'ade here were clearly taking their lead from the Forgemaster. She came around the forge to appraise Kaine. He was taller, but in her shaggy pelt, she matched the Australis Alor in bulk; and he knew she was younger and tougher than he was. At least I kept the shabla buy'ce on, Kaine thought as she came almost helmet to helmet with him, faceplates almost touching; as if she were staring into his eyes.
Shab. Kaine thought, I don't want to be on the wrong side of this one. Finally, the Forgemaster spoke.
This is the way. Kaine relaxed internally, Mandos could be prickly, especially the culty ones; he had come as an offering of respect and brotherhood, not to start world war three hundred. For once, he hadn't kriffed things up. Well done, Old Boar, he told himself, you didn't make a mess of this one.
Kaine nodded respectfully and left the Forge. He'd done what he came here to do, and he didn't wish to be a drain on these people's resources by staying longer than necessary.
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Post by Duraanir Skirata on Dec 18, 2020 11:44:43 GMT -8
"It's not that," she said, her voice taking on a rather detached sound though the vocoder as she made her way through the crowd. "I just don't want to screw up a new gun before I've had a chance to get it cleaned and calibrated." She turned her head to glance at him, the reflection of the crowd around them in her visor. Her armor was muted colors of navy blue and pastel purple accents, covered in a fine dusting of dirt and carbon scoring. She ducked down a small alley looking hallway, turning a corner and making sure they weren't followed. When her curiosity had been satisfied, she pulled a grate in the wall open and walked down a hidden stairway into a corridor that twisted and turned its way towards the covert. "Come on, it's just up here." Mel disappeared down a side tunnel that ended in a heavy blast door. Duraanir followed closely at the side of Mel, his own armor lacking color, at least for the moment. His under suit was an almost rusty, red clay color, reminiscent of ancient crusaders. He was an odd one, to be sure. As things turned towards secrecy, he knew where they were headed.
Coverts were something odd to him, though this was hardly his first time going into one. To him, these mando'ade's supposed need to hide went against what it meant to be Mandalorian. He could hunt and remain unseen as well as any other, but the Children of the Watch...it felt more like skulking. More like they were trying to hide something, not just themselves. Regardless however, he was here for Mel, and wouldn't cause any undue troublewith the Children. "You obviously aren't a Child of the Watch. How's your standing with them?"
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Mel Tervho
The Vegemite Enclave
Posts: 169
Affiliation: Vegemite Enclave
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Mel Tervho on Dec 18, 2020 13:51:59 GMT -8
"Huh? Oh, that?" She chuckled as she punched a code next to the blast door. The panel illuminated green and the blast door slid open to the interior space that held the common area of the covert. Mel pulled her buy'ce off again, and stepped though the doorway.
"Well, I kinda know a guy from Mandalore who got my foot in the door. Mainly while they think I am not a true Mandalorian, they acknowledge my help. I have brought them foundlings and they have allowed me to conduct business with them. Now, I bring them information and they pay handsomely for it. At least here. Other coverts, well, I wouldn't go to them. My name is known here."
She stopped outside a stand that had a number of blasters and weapons laying out for inspection.
"Hedy, I think I found a decent rifle to tide me over. You got a scope for it?"
Hedy stood up and walked outside the small booth to pick up the rifle case from Mel. He looked it over and set it down to open it up.
Hmmm, KiSteer, eh? Yeah, I got some stuff for it. Let me check the back.
He disappeared inside a narrow dwelling and came back out a few moments later with a pair of boxes.
Here, a long range infrared scope and since I know how you are about your trigger tension, a new trigger assembly.
"Thanks. This should cover it." She handed him a chit and he nodded at the pair of them and went back to sitting behind his stall, cleaning a blaster pistol.
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Post by Duraanir Skirata on Dec 19, 2020 11:32:12 GMT -8
Duraanir simply nodded as he kept by Mel. many of the covert's inhabitants saw him as an outsider, brought in without permission, and that was clear despite them all having covered faces. He would look at some of Hedy's wares as they came up to his stall, tilting a few blasters to look them over, but never picking them up off the table. He had been using the same DH-17 pistol for over a decade, and often considered replacing it, but never found anything of Mandalorian make that resonated with him. As Mel and Hedy finished there exchange, Duraanir opened his mouth, his voice barely hitting the air.
Then Kaine's voice ran throughout the covert, and the rest of the station. They were under attack, apparently. Men and women in armor began to push stall table in from the common area's, though none rushed out of the covert. Children, and those tasked with keeping them safe filed into safehouses, closing and locking the blast doors.
Duraanir immediately began tapping into the network of the stations defenders, giving him access to the scans and information Kaine's people had already. His right hand came to rest on the grip of his DH-17. He would turn his head towards Mel, and smiled, not obvious because of his helmet, but it could be heard in his tone.
"Go where you think you will be most useful, and we will meet up when it's all settled, yeah? He started to turn back towards the entrance, but stopped and looked back to Mel "Just be safe, and don't go alone. This group looks to have Force users amongst them." Duraanir would turn to run out of the covert, not expecting Mel to follow, given the woman seemed to fill more of a sniper role, but he also didn't tell her not to. As he ran, he swung his shield around, the disk clamping into place over the mag-locks in his left gauntlet as he exited the covert.
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