Stepping off at Concordia

[Anaro Dreiger]

A Mandalorian Aka'jor-class shuttle slowly yawed, hovering before touching down on the landing pad with a metallic creak, the pneumatics shifting as it bore the weight of the craft.

The landing pad was attached to a small hangar and was nestled into the side of a mountain surrounded by mature trees and hard stone.

A final groan of the engine before the ramp lowered, revealing eight armored figures proudly striding down to the ground. Two wore mixtures of gray and indigoes, the others wore olive and golden colors. All were carrying weapons, though not at the ready.

"Anaro, go with Vonn and the others. We'll meet you at the outpost when the rest arrive. We're making a statement. We aren't asking nicely any more[\i].

The voice was masculine, coming from one of the armored figures wearing a gray jumpsuit with Steely and Indigo covered armor plates. They wore an indigo shoulder cape with a white design. A clan symbol.

"Sir." The one named Anaro chimed back positively from under his helmet. He was wearing similar colors, but his armor wasn't made from the same materials... Though had similar design motifs.

Anaro nudged one of the others nearby with his elbow. A well built figure in a tan suit with olive and orange plates. Presumably 'Vonn'. They nodded back and raised his hand to the air and pointed in a direction. A signal for the other four olive armored folk to follow in that direction.

"Let's make this quick." Anaro huffed. The voice sounded like a young man, eager, gallant.

"These outliers will bend, or be broken." Vonn replied, a gruff voice under their helmet. He reached down to their slung carbine and pulled it to rest in front of him.

"At this point I don't even care if they resist." Anaro signed in an exhausted tone. He kept his right hand resting on the backstrap of his pistol, holstered at his hip. Vonn only replied with an amused huff.

They reached the edge of the landing pad and stepped down onto the soil. There path ahead would lead the fireteam across a rocky terrain with scattered trees. It was an overcast day, and the temperature was pretty cold. It'd be almost a standard hour march across the mountain to get to where they were going.... A mining outpost that had been stockpiling weapons since the years where the old guard types were sent here against their will. Those that resided at the mine were feeding weapons to a minor House that had been creating problems for their ruling house by entering into backdoor negotiations with a rival.

It was always like this nowadays... And Anaro and his clan intended to help stop it.

[Neive Undant]

The ISD Fury rested on the edge of Mandalorian space, sitting on the edge of the 2nd fleet, currently assigned to the Northern Regions of the galaxy, just to the West of Phindar. However, to avoid suspicion by the ruling Mandalorian clan, the Empire's 2nd fleet remained near Phindar while the ISD Fury and an escort of one Skispray squadron, along with the TIE interceptors and bombers on board, enough for one squadron each.

Captain McNamara stood at the bridge of the hulking vessel, transmitting a signal down to a mining operation owned by Clan Saxon. The 6'4" male was as stoic as the ship he commanded, and his build, plus the facial hair that ran from above his lip to his sideburns, gave him an extremely stubborn aura.
"Mining post 33159, this is Captain McNamara. I'm looking to get into contact with Clan Saxon, more preferably, the head of the clan."

The foreman of the plant soon answered the signal, a holographic image soon coming to life before the captain.

"Captain, I'll be happy to moderate a transmission between you and the Clan. However, such joint transmissions cannot be encrypted. If any outside elements are near, they'll be able to track thi-"

The Captain swiftly cut off the foreman.

"I understand the risk here, foreman. I will only be a moment."

After a brief pause, the foreman connected another signal to their transmission.

"Ah, Mr. Saxon."

Before the Captain, a figure dressed in Mandalorian armor similar to the usual for the Saxon clan, with the separated horizontal and vertical visors, and their mostly white appearance, though the color was only assumed in the blue hologram.

"My name is Captain McNamara... I would like to discuss an agreement between your clan and the Empire."

[Anaro Dreiger]

Mandalore politics were simple on the surface. Mandalorians were grouped into clans based on family, who all tended to use similar color motifs on their armors to display membership. Families pledged loyalty to a Mandalorian House, led by a more powerful clan. Mandalorian Houses all pledged fealty to the Mand’alore- like a regent. All power kicked up from Clan, to House, to Mand’alore.

Anaro was born into a clan. His, and another clan were sent here on a mission by their House: To stop a clan who owned the mining outpost from hiding weapons there, and delivering them to a rival house. Proof existed, this was a polite gesture to ask them to stand down. . . His house called, he will serve.

Small creatures of all kind chittered, cheeped, and squawked occasionally as the cadre quietly made their way through the uneven mountainside. Traversing over rocks and through some forested areas harboring some remaining frost in the shade of the trees. The sun shot beams through the trees, attempting to warm the ground a little, though the air had a clear cool bite to it. Their landmark ahead became more visible as they marched. Across a small forested valley on an opposing mountain they saw a metallic tower of a building that reached above the trees, partly embedded into the rocky surface.

They reached a flat outcropping that provided a good view over the valley to the other mountainside where their objective lies.

“Let’s take a second and see if we can scope the outpost from here.” Anaro pointed to the tower. The other armored figures fanned out and began taking position. “Wei, see if you can make out much from this distance. Two kliks shouldn’t be too bad. We can at least see if they’ve got some hardpoint defenses.” One of the soldiers nodded, and splayed out prone in an obscured part of the outcropping. They shouldered their rifle and began fiddling with a scope.

Anaro stood under a tree, and looked across the valley. His eyes squinted, a beautiful view otherwise. He always preferred the mountains… A light blipped on Anaro’s communicator and he nodded to Vonn- who was knelt nearby. Vonn stood up and took Anaro’s place when he took his communicator and strode off a few meters.

“What is it?” Anaro’s voice was calm, and quiet, low toned.

“We’ve linked up with the others and are covering ground quickly. If we time it right, we can surround them and overwhelm the outpost at the same time. Minimal or no loss of life preferable, of course.” The voice was from one of Anaro’s clan members.
“Good. We’re doing visual recon now, about two kliks out. Should be there within the hour.” Anaro replied, and turned to look at his companions.

“Hurry it up, we’ll beat you there if you keep takin’ your time,” the voice’s attitude was competitive. Anaro gave a click of his tongue and stuck his communicator back into the pocket of his left arm’s sleeve. Stepping back toward his comrades, he raised his arm and drew a circle with his index finger- rally up.

[Neive Undant]

The talks with Clan Saxon went about as well as Captain McNamara could have hoped, and while the struggle for power in Mandalore and the surrounding regions continued, now the Empire could possibly have a hand in assisting one clan, which would undoubtably give them a financial advantage over many others. From the first imperial brigade of storm troopers, headed by the late Governor Gar Saxon, to the current day, the Saxon clan had never wronged the Empire, simply fallen out of contact with them in the midst of the chaos on Mandalore before the Mandalorian resistance was put down.

In orbit above Concordia, the Carrack Cruiser Amphion began a descent into the atmosphere of the planet, towards the lower atmosphere in order to drop off a set of supplies for the mining facility below.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Foreman. Your equipment will arrive soon, new refinery parts and replacement mechanical devices for your drills. Plus, a small number of standard E-11 blasters for your security."

Closing the communication, the foreman awaited the 2 delta shuttles that broke out of the hangars of the Amphion, on their way to deliver the discussed equipment to the facility in due time.

[Anaro Dreiger]

"Well... looks like a small retaining fence- and no tower. Checkpoint entrance and a large landing pad out front." The one known as 'Wei' - looking through the scope on their rifle, linked to his helmet display- gave off some generic descriptions of what could be seen from the vantage point- 2 kliks, even for an advanced scope, was quite a ways.

"That's fine, just wanted to make sure there wasn't any-" Anaro said as he began making his way down the mountainside- but was stopped in his tracks as everyone saw it at the same time. "well that's not what I expected."

"Is that an Imperial ship?" Vonn asked, emerging on the path behind Anaro-

"Looks like... If it is- Saxon's getting brave, leaning into the Imperial pocketbook again. . . Either way, our job still remains the same. House Kast doesn't want those stockpiled munitions and arms going anywhere. I don't even think House Vizsla knows they're there, and they oversee clan Saxon. We probably would'a heard of this, otherwise." Anaro huffs, watching the long steely ship careen down toward the mine.

"Double time it." Vonn sighs, and the groups boots begin to patter across the dirt and rocks quicker. Down a switchback path, around a small retaining pond with a waterfall, and across a gulch-like gap. They finally reached the valley- one more stretch to go. Looking up through the trees, they could still see the very tip of the metallic looking tower, and parts of the rock face it was embedded within...

[Neive Undant]

As the two shuttles landed on the pad designated for them, an array of Stormtroopers exited, accompanies by several large crates, floating along with each crate being pushed forward by a trooper, leaving 6 troopers armed for security while the others handed the crates off to the miners.

The trooper commander, designated by the orange shoulder plate, approached the foreman.

"The equipment is all here. Captain McNamara asked that we do a brief inspection of the facility in case we need to send engineers to fix things up." The trooper said. The foreman was reluctant, but agreed to the term and had the commander follow him while the troopers, 11 in total, took up security positions around the landing pad.

While the Commander looked over the situation within the facility, one of the troopers looked out with a pair of binoculars, before noticing a gleam in the distance. Nothing to engage, being so far away, but definitely something that didn;t come from local wildlife.

The Stormtrooper stepped back towards the shuttles, and contacted the commander from the pad.

"Trooper, what is it?" The commander asked.

"Sir, we have movement heading towards the facility. We're not sure what it is."

"Well, we're not in charge here. Only engage if targeted." The Commander`replied.

If there was to be a battle here, perhaps the captain chose the wrong clan to support?

"Load the contents back on the ships, then await further orders." The commander replied.

Immediately, the 5 crates were being loaded back onto the shuttles, while the remaining security watched for whatever it was that they had caught a glimpse of.

[Anaro Dreiger]

Anaro lead the group of six through the valley, and across it. The uneven mountainous terrain was just as uneven down here, just with more trees and greenery. Rays of sun shone like lances through the morning fog down here, between tree branches and leaves. The sound of rushing water grew louder as the progressed toward the center of the ravine. A wide creek- thankfully at this convergence of hills, was only shin-deep. Their boots raked across small riverstones and some leapt from a few placed boulders attempting to avoid getting their boots too wet before succumbing to the need to jump in and wade the rest of the way.

Once on the other side, they knew they were getting closer. Anaro held up his hand for the group to stop, and he pulled his communicator from his arm-pocket. His group spread into cover and kept watch. He held the communicator just to the bottom of his helmet to give a more clear transmission.

"This is Anaro. My fireteam is about on the southern edge of the property. We'll go ahead and move in, and look for a weak spot in their perimeter fence to breach. Once inside I'll need to know your team has us covered from above." He waited for an answer, and looked around. Thankfully it was still quiet. Nothing but the white noises of wildlife.

"We're waiting on you. I think I can see where you'll be coming up from our vantage point. Careful- looks like there's two Imperial ships there..." The voice chirped back to him, quietly.

"Yeah, we saw 'em swoop in. We'll not engage unless we're defending ourselves. Our first objective is Clan Saxon. We need to figure out where those arms are going to, cuz it isn't Vizsla. Wonder if they're making another power play and keeping it for themselves? Their ties with the Empire run pretty deep. This could get complicated quickly." Anaro Bobbed his head looking up the dense forested hill to check their surroundings subconsciously.

"Delicate." The reply crackled through his comm. There was a short pause where Anaro just hung his head. The speaker crackled in again- "Well, get a move on. We're in range and have you covered."

He stuffed his comm back into his pocket and stood. "Alright, let's move on up. Quietly."

The group made their way up the forested hill toward the flattened area that began the outpost. The outpost had a rectangular pourcrete fence around the main building that was built into the mountainside. Each outer corner had a small tower, and there were two gates, one on each short side. Inside that fence was a hangar, and a wide landing pad. There were a handful of smaller trapezoidal looking buildings, maintenance, operations, and administrative. They would be coming up on the long, outer wall. It would likely be a climb- literally- to reach it.

And climb they did. Once they made their way up- they couldn't walk. They took to climbing, and used some gear to assist them up. There was one or two flat outcroppings they could gather themselves on. Though this last stretch would lead to the wall. From here- they'd jet themselves in with their packs, and make a dash for their operations building to shut the gates down, and close up the mine. Take the security team prisoner and look for the members of Clan Saxon who would surely want to be there for the shipment.

Anaro stood, his group in a semicircle around him. His eyes behind his visor was looking at Vonn, and the other members all looked to Anaro. Their weapons were at the ready, poised to make a high 'jump' up the rest of the mountainside, then over the ten-foot wall.
Anaro's gloved fingers counted down...

Three.... Two.... One....

[Neive Undant]

The troopers outside kept their weapons at the ready as they waited in the commander to return, seeing only a group of 4 droids coming out to take the crates inside. It was strange, thought the second-in-command, that there were no Saxon clan members already here. Perhaps this meeting wasn’t everything that it seemed?

Inside, the commander looked over the systems when a communication signal came to the Foreman’s comm system on the computer. Without a second thought, the commander accepted, prompting the foreman to run over in a panic.

“Wait, don’t answer that!”

The system showed another mandalorian, but this one donning the distinct symbols of Clan Viszla...

“It’s time for you to evacuate. Charges have been-”

Seeing the trooper commander, the mandalorian was taken aback, before immediately cutting the transmission.

The commander looked to the foreman, grabbing him before making his way towards the landing pad, the foreman struggling against him the entire way.



The troopers outside looked over the droids, but before they moved for the crates, a group of Mandalorians wearing symbols none of them were familiar with blew over the walls of the facility.

Most of the troopers took aim before the second-in-command called out to them.

“Hold your fire! If they don’t attack us, we don’t attack them! This isn’t our fight!” Called the trooper. He began to attempt to radio in to the commander, but found nothing but static... someone was jamming their signals...?

[Anaro Dreiger]

Their packs burst at roughly the same time, sending all six Mandalorians up through the trees, and overtop the wall, trailing little white lines of condensation and smoke.

As they breached the top of the wall, Anaro saw the two ships parked, and he began looking for the Operations building. It only took a moment- it had a small satellite dish atop it with a small radio tower. It was close by. There didn't seem to be any deck hands or anything about. Not good. Anaro landed, and used the momentum of the controlled fall to stutter step forward.

"Actually, Change of plans. Let's go have a chat with the Imperials. There's no one up here. Smells off." He waved onward for the group to move up to the landing pad where the two long imperial transport ships sat. "Luckur, get that big gun out. I don't think it'll come to exchanging fire- but if it does. I want you ready. Maybe even jump to the top of one of the buildings to keep watch with Wei..." He began the march out to them. Surely they had security for their transport- and would come out to see them, or clam up in the transports.

"Gonna try and see if we can figure out what the terms of the deal was... If they're tight lipped, we bug out and keep an eye on it. Scan for lifeforms, and take it as House Kast property."

As they approached the two imperial ships, Anaro kept his pistol pointed down, and raised his left arm in a wave, to get someone's attention- pilot, crew, didn't matter. They'd be seen coming.

[Luckur Dreiger]

"You got it boss. I don't like the idea of Imps here. Imps always mean trouble." Luckur replied, as he secured the grenade launcher he had been holding into place on the left side of his pack before releasing his belt feed repeating blaster from the right, giving it a quick once over as he followed Anaro and the others forward, an eye out for a good spot to setup an over watch. "Be careful for an ambush, Imp's have no honor, they left my people out to dry before they hired the Clan for protection, and it's not beyond them to leave Clan Saxon in the wind if they think it's the best for them."

Finally seeing a good spot, he takes a few steps forward before launching himself into the air, landing down on top of one of the nearby buildings, giving him a complete view of the area, again checking the linkages for his blaster. It was an older style, and required a heavier pack to carry the ammo feed system for the blaster charges, but it wasn't any heavier than the old mining gear he had carried before. In fact, it was almost light in this gravity, half that of his home world. While he didn't remember the Imperials protecting his planet, he did grow up with the ramifications of them leaving and, more than that, the security his new family had provided in the years after. Pushing back those thoughts, he started looking around in detail, seeing if he could spot where Clan Saxon was hiding, or if there was something else more sinister going on...