You Are What You Dare

[Koil Solus]

♠ THEME ♠
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Koil's eyes practically rolled into the back of his head as he heard a brand new alarm sound. what in the name of all creation is it now The man did have patience and in limited supply the same as anyone else. It had yet to manifest itself on the surface but the wear and tear was starting to grow more than he usually allowed.

The man tended to deal with things that were in his area of control. That, or he just generally did not care about what most people did. "I want communications up and ready as soon as we exit. Let them know we have the package ready for stripping and to make sure they were bringing my kit" He said as he stood hunched over his own station. Normally a captain did not have to operate a station. But he was not a captain, he was a hijacker on a ship that was going to end up gods knew where.

The intelligence Koil and his team had collected and analyzed had not been as accurate as they had hoped and in turn the resistance on board were not as ideal as expected. No plan survives contact with the enemy His old man's words rang in his ears as the water from a spare emergency ration container was opened beside him.

What was worse, he had more respect on the troops trapped on this vessel than those left behind in the Ithor system roughly four days ago. The surprise on board was that the people in the more receded quarters of the ship had kept quiet. They had expected the other Galactic Alliance members to actually successfully negotiate some sort of surrender. Their faith was evidently misplaced as the Galactic Alliance fired on their own ship. Yet despite the betrayal they had continued to survive. They had not noticed or maybe did not care that the Mandalorians that had hijacked their ship were not even using lethal force.

A heavily felt woosh moved through the War Councilor's body along with the rest of the ship and everything on board as the vessel dropped back into sublight space. Immediately the planet filled the bridge's view but it was a large astronomical body. What was more worrying was the much closer and quickly growing image of an orbital station as the careening frigate flew directly into it, chipping off a chunk of its empty docking arm.

I really need to learn who was flying that starfighter. The inner words were quickly changed to actual audible words. "Send a message to the gutting crews in Sullust. Let them know where we are." Malastare, that was where they had ended up as the readings on the navigation continued.

With the thrusters and engines destroyed by that pesky starfighter back on Ithor there was little for the Silent Badger to do as the ship continued to shoot over the high orbit of Malastare. Momentum continued having exited hyperspace and the frigate streaked from mid to low orbit. "Everyone brace for shock. We'll be hitting the surface, crash landing imminent. Brace for shock." Of course the escape pods had been locked down. There was not enough time for them to undo the security protocols they had put in to prevent the remaining rebels from escaping. Remaining hostages and mandalorians returned to the expected safe area of the Frigate. The rest, more resistant members that would rather die than to accept the hijacker's suggestions chose death over momentary paralysis. They had made their choice. "A waste" it was rare for Koil to agree openly with his father but this was not a normal occasion.

The following moments would be intense. The vessel clipping a mountain and losing more or less the keel of the vessel. But in the end they survived. The Galactic Alliance they had left back on Ithor would not be able to reach them if they wanted to. The time for someone to communicate that some strange damage ship had arrived and then said people to traverse hours if not days would take a significant time, at least twenty four hours. That was enough for them to clean up the crew that remained. They had stunned the remaining, surviving crew, and had returned the escape pods to operational status. Several groups of mandalorians, with hostages, were ready to jettison as soon as the ship came to a halt.

"Be ready for anything!" He said as the jarring slowing continued to his comrades. At least they had been able to recover their ammunition spent from earlier. Their reinforcements were on the way. His basilisk war droid had survived thankfully since it had also been around the bridge at the time of the crash. Then again, he wondered if dropping a whole ship on one would get a scratch probably. Let me show you Hod Ha'ran just how much of a trickster Silent Badger really is.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

It's a good thing that Tagal wasn't religious because god damn it if this wouldn't have been proof positive that no one was up there looking out for him. The job had been simple and then it had gotten rather complicated rather quickly.

At least he hadn't been vaporized but as he sat on the bridge in the same outfit as Koil's troops (but with his own equipment and suit upgrades transferred from his own suit) he knew that things might still just get weird.

Malastare wasn't the worst place to end up, crash through the station not withstanding.

The crash was... jarring.

As expected.

Righting himself from where he had been thrown across the room, Tagal retrieved his weapons from where they had fallen.

"Status report." He called for over local coms, "Friendlies and prisoners."

He still didn't want any of the GA members dead despite everything. Moving over to one of the few working terminals he cursed softly as he looked over the damage.

"Ship isnt moving anywhere and power will be... spotty." He reported to Koil, "We can probably salvage the long range coms from either this ship or the transport."

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

Plenty of people would have freaked out at this point. Even trained pirates or war fighters have a right to be shaken up by this. It was evident in the responses from his men along with the hostages. But Koil was not worried. He did not have time to worry. Tagal, well he sounded like he was not letting the situation bother him either as he talked about salvage.

"We're salvaging all of it. Some of it might not have power but that does not mean it's worthless." He said this as he sealed off parts of the ship that had been damaged in the crash. Fires would die out eventually, flammable materials or dangerous compartments would be isolated and locked down to not enable further damages or spreading. "I want everyone moved into the escape pods. Knock out the hostages after you get them there if you need to. We'll launch soon enough."

The exterior of the ship was rated for withstanding intense heat so the burning heat of the forest fire would not burn the outer metal. However it would continue to spread outward at a consistent pace. In the various corridors of the ship bodies of some of the marauders were collected and dragged to safety. They did not want to leave a trace they had been there. A few had been killed and completely buried when the ship's hangar was utterly destroyed. The shuttle and starfighters there had consequently been turned to scrap. The ship would take a fortune's worth of repairs and refits to fly again. But that was still more than what Koil needed. He was not planning on repairing it. He just needed enough of the ship to be salvageable to make this worth their while.

The next thing that they had to worry about, other than the Galactic Alliance arriving a few days from now were the local authorities. Koil knew of them well enough. Not the fastest response time when he had raided that arms warehouse over a years and Dax had shot that gal in the back. Still, they would need to be away from the potential crime scene and not leave evidence and allow the called in salvage crew to claim salvage rights or work out something with the local people. Whatever came next would be the bridge to cross when it came. For now the Silent Badger was focused on something else.

At the controls of the bridge he finished downloading the logs he had been working on in hyperspace. The information on what had happened on Ithor was literally in the palm of his hand. It would come into play later. Afterwards he wiped everything else from the databanks. Not so much as even the ship's name would be left in case the local authorities. The nav computer would not hold the coordinates of where they had jumped from. The black box holding the logs would be voided even and all that information transferred to high capacity storage, at least what could fit would. Afterwards, he and his basilisk war droid started heading towards one of the nearby escape pods.


@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Koil wasn't dead and he hadn't been addled by the crash so that was a bonus he supposed. He wasn't optimistic enough to call it a win but after you crash landed on a planet there wasnt much that could be considered worse really.

Most importantly; Tagal himself was alright.

He checked the data terminal again before cursing as it went out, power throughout the ship a... well a minor miracle to even be intermittent honestly.

"Terminals are out."

They had lasted them well enough.

He checked his weapons just to make sure they were secure and loaded.

"What's our estimate on local forces ETA?"

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

It looked liked Tagus was right. The main terminals of the ship and most of its systems were spotty at best and there was not much purpose for them to stay any longer. With them boarded in the escape pod he gave the order for everyone to launch. Everybody remaining on the ship was in the escape pods rocketing out into the wilds of Malastare.

This was not Koil's first time being out in the far reaches of the planet. He knew how long it took the local authorities to get there. This time the fire and rescue would operate before law enforcement. "An hour for fire and rescue, two for law enforcement, could take them whole day to keep the fires at bay though and not spread." He answered Tagal. They would have a head start and be able to safely regroup. They still had hostages along for the ride for the time being. Koil had a plan for what to do once the salvage team came.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Why was it that Tagal never felt happy about being right? When he was right it seemed that it was always because he was the bringer of bad news. But the terminals burning out was hardly the end of the galaxy.

Wasn't like they would be ever useful ever again.

Tagal nodded to Koil's wisdom as he rested against the wall beside him. There would be something to do he was sure even if nothing sprang to mind right now. He sighed a little bit.

"So what do we do until then?"

He paused for a moment.

"No offense but you're hardly a stunning conversationalist."

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

The impact of the escape pod was jarring. But having been inside a frigate without an inertial dampeners, an escape pods violent ride was not nearly as bad. His basilisk war droid had its claws dig into the cramped compartment's deck. With a his the lide to the container popped open and ejected a few meters away. Koil stepped out after the basilisk first exited.

"We hide and wait." There was not much they could do until then. "We could always head to the nearest town." Pulling out his personav he saw that it was still a few hours away by speeder. All that he had at this point was his basilisk and hiss own feet. There was not much else they were going to be be able to do while they waited. They needed to disappear into the forests as if they had never been there. Any trace of the Galactic Alliance or the Mandalorians would not be discovered by the local authorities by the time the scrapers came in so for now they had to sit tight. It was one of the worst things an able bodied warrior could do. Wait.

In the meantime Koil had his marauders gather the jettisoned door of the escape pod. He moved it back into position where it had originally been blown off. He instructed the others to bobby trap their own escape pods along the mountainous arboreal landscape. He set it up so that it looked like the door had yet to be blown off and maybe any onlookers would think that the occupants were still inside. When they manually opened the door from outside it would trigger a concussion grenade. With that in place the remaining mandalorians and their hostages would head into the forest, covering their tracks and meaning to link up with the other survivors away from the smoldering hulk of the Retribution.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Well they were finally out of the pod and out of the ship wreckage so he would consider that a win he supposed. Once they were finally off of the planet it would be a true win naturally.

For now it was enough to not be a loss he supposed.

"Sounds like we're in for a world of fun." He admitted drily, "Try to contain your excitement Koil."

Tagal moved up and out of the way to stand out atop a stone out cropping above the area. He kept scanning the area through the sights of his rifle.

And, of course, kept bugging Koil over the coms.

"So... you got a girl back home? Boy? Dog?"

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

It would be a bit of a hike for any of them to get back together as one solid group. Right now there were squads of them in small mobile teams but they knew the time table. There was no rush at the moment to hustle towards a randevouz point. They needed to keep comms silent except for short distances. Anything that spanned the forest to reach another squad ran the risk of getting picked up. While they had escaped Galactic Alliance controlled space the Silent Badger still considered them to be in enemy territory.

"That's why they call me Koil. I'm spring loaded." He responded to Tagal's jesting. It had been a line he had heard used as a pun or play on words a dozen times over. But he had not intended for it to sound like a dad joke. Totally lame. Ah screw it, I don't care what he thinks.

Hearing Tagal ask the question the other mandalorians turned their helmets to look a little bit more towards Koil. There were still a few with them and keeping an eye on the bound hostages as they eavesdropped trying to hear some of their leader's backstory or personal life since he usually kept to himself. "A dire badger." It was not exactly surprising considering he was a member of Clan Solus. "His name is Archie. Friend of mine left him to me. He has some family looking out for him though right now. Badger-sitting." The Echani's mind turned towards the things he did not have. There was no girl waiting for him back home. The one he wanted was someone else's girl. Koil cleared his throat and continued walking over the brush and through the forest. "How about you?" He asked towards Tagal.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

... was that...?

"... was that a karking pun?"

It had to be asked. The idea that Koil, the Silent Badger, had come out with a pun was just too much for him to really accept. Then again, maybe there was a reason why he was so silent? A sense of humor bad enough to include puns was bad enough to require absolute silence in his books.

Whatever.

"Huh so... what does a dire badger actually eat? Cus I'm really curious." he blinked before gesturing with a thumb towards the hostages, "Think he would eat the evidence?"

He was joking.

Mostly.

"No badger." he admitted with a shrug, "I have a wife. A child with her and two from her last husband. Her boy he... well he makes a good smith's apprentice. The girl is irritating and willful like my wife. They're not Mandalorians but they're strong."

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

Koil ignored the questioning of his humor. He regreted saying it so like any emotionally healthy adult he was going to pretend like it had never happened. You can't blame the Silent Badger for being silent. He thought to himself to try to justify it.

Koil heard the hinting tone in Tagal's voice. His mischevous intention was clear and caused the Echani to let out a single chuckle before coming up with something to say in response. "Yeah well, usually I let Archie eat whatever he kills. He rations himself well. But in the heat of the moment he kind of just kills anything on the battlefield. Like a squad of imperials charged us once and he just..." Koil raised his hand to his neck and made a mock slicing motion, tilting his head to the side to imitate death in the charade. "Killed 'em. But yeah, the guy eats whatever he wants. He's a dire badger. Dire badgers don't care." And there was his second joke. #&*$ me I did it again. You're out in the middle of the $&%#ing woods and you're trying your hand at stand up comedy? Figure it out! A single sigh escaped the man's mouth as he felt so ashamed and tired all of a sudden.

However hearing Tagal talk about his family did make the War Councilor's lips quirk into a pleasant smile underneath his helmet. A family was good. It had taken Koil a long time to realize the value of family and it was heartwarming to hear Tagal complain about his kids. "They sound delightful."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Tagal had never had a pet and he was now entirely convinced that he was never going to have a bloody dire badger as a pet. Hell, he would stick to something more manageable like a dog or something. Or better yet maybe he would design some kind of robot pet rather than dealing with something as messy and needy as a fleshy pet.

"Alright and now I know I don't want a badger for life day."

He had bad jokes too.

The idea of speaking openly and, dare he say it, lovingly about his new family made Tagal want to squirm. He wasn't the kind of person to really spend a lot of time lingering on his feelings. Sure he loved them all in different ways but he didn't really feel the need to actually say it to them or to anyone else.

They should know already.

But he couldn't help the small smile.

"They're hell but they're mine."

And he wouldn't have them any other way.

"Who wants first watch and who gets first sleep?"

They did, after all, have a lot of time to wait.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

"But they're so cute." He said to himself in response to Tagal's answer. Like who in their right mind does not think a mandalorian dire badger is utterly adorable. "To each their own. He replied a little louder so that the Saxon could actually hear him.

They kept moving and aside from the constantly alert state of mind it would have been a nice hike. For the rest of the hike the troupe was silent. Their hostages slowed them a bit but it was worth it. Eventually they came to their stopping point. Koil was not in any mood to sleep. They had spent the last several days in hyperspace. Artificial lighting, air, everything was contained. He wanted to be awake and just be outdoors. Not to mention Koil knew he would not sleep even if he did find a place to lay down.

The following days would result in the salvage crews arriving. There were some disputes with the local authorities but it was avoided any serious issue thanks to the steps taken earlier. The Rebel crew members were left in the forest in groups of two before the Mandalorians left. That meant it would take them time but the rebels would get free and be able to get their bearings. Koil had never intended on killing on any of the hostages. With the stripped and gutted as fast as possible the salvage crew, under the funding and direction of Koil, had all the parts that Tagal needed for his objective and so did Koil.

♠ END THREAD ♠​