[Oddyn Vizsla]

The Mad Dog approached the spot of the previous day's shootout, cloaked both in his thermal bournuss and the blinding scorch of the peaking day. Led by instinct, he wanted to investigate the spot for any clues that would help him on his path of vengeance. If it meant following a whiff across the desert, so be it. He took the journalist with him on an ulterior motive of to shoot some footage of his defiance of Varo's trap and if that didn't come together, to take advantage of her eye for detail.

Koor had been right; the arm replacement felt mostly like the real thing. The grip on the Sidewinder even steadier.

[Flipping Destiny to make it a personal plot developing scene.]

[Dapper Dog]

The sight had been a desert palace now it was a burnt wreck but they were not the only ones picking over it several resistance fighters were here looking at what they could salvage from the ruins.

And check for any folks missing.

[Illyria Acaran]

And come along, the journalist did. A bit quieter than she might otherwise have been, given the Mandalorian displays she'd been witness to since she'd come to this world, but polite none the less. Making polite conversation, not prying too deeply, and allowing her droid to roam around a bit to capture the sights around them rather than focusing on the Vizsla who had requested her company. With the sun down, she was finally able to relax. No longer tortured by the excoriating heat of day.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

"Looks like we aren't first here. Could you learn what they're after, Acaran?" Oddyn stopped at the top of the dune and looked below, taking in the view of dimming carnage, and the little worms returning it to the ecosystem. "I gather a Mando'ad won't be their dream inquirer."

[Illyria Acaran]

"Sure, Oddyn," she said. Looking down, she tapped her pad to begin cycling through the current band of resistance frequencies.

"Friendlies incoming over the ridge, two plus a droid," she said before moving more purposefully to the party at work for salvage and rescue.

"How are things going here?" she asked to whomever she could grab the attention of, "What's the situation?"

[Dapper Dog]

A trio of resistance pause their work and look at the journalist. One spoke, “Republic? You’re a long way from your fancy base. Best turn around and head home, we don’t need your kind kriffing up our search.”

[Illyria Acaran]

"'Fancy base?'" she asked with a polite laugh then shook her head, "No, friend. Long way from home, more like. Still here, trying to help. Also a fleet news affiliate, yeah? Was with the rescue team from yesterday, and was trying to help then too. So why don't we both be friendly and friends, and help each other help each other out. Got someone who was here yesterday, too. And he's the one who wanted to come help in the first place."

[Dapper Dog]

“Glad you got our people out but this is Resistance business, we don’t ask why we got kicked from your base, so don’t come sniffing up our business,” he responded.

[Oddyn Vizsla]

Oddyn saw from a distance that there was a problem but decided to give the journalist the time to talk though it. Still, he assessed on how many and how armed, just in case.

[Dapper Dog]

Fifteen in total armed with blaster files or blaster pistols and archaic melee weapons. The gear had seen better days but was mostly likely serviceable.

[Illyria Acaran]

"I don't know why, above my paygrade. It might have had something to do with the brass passing on the strike and then someone going ahead and trying anyway, falling into the trap the brass was worried about, but it might have been something else entirely. You want back on the base? I'm sure a broadcast with smooth and genuine cooperation would go quite a ways to repairing that relationship, or whatever's wrong with it. I'm not here to assert any authority, or interfere with your business. Just want to help him with his, and you with your's too if I can?" she said with a winning smile, tiny holofields flickering to light her face with practiced favorability.

[Dapper Dog]

“We don’t want no Mando help, his folks that killed my brother,” another fighter said.

“He can go piss off.”

The first one she was speaking to said, “Look if you need something we can help, but my folks don’t like the Mandos. Even if they fly Republic colors they are all the same.”

[Illyria Acaran]

"He also lost a hand fighting 'his folks' to save people like your brother," she said passionately, her eyebrows pushing together with concern as she made her appeal, "Ruined right to the stump, and yet he came out yesterday to save you and your's before the docs had even managed to fit him with a replacement. Pulled himself up with his one good hand too trying to get everyone out while Thazos was being hauled out of the crossfire.... I mean, look-" she said.

She quickly pulled out her pad and tapped it a few times, then reached behind her an extracted a bulky computer. She turned it on and woke up a holo-broadcaster, and flipped to the raw footage from the prior day's heroics.

"Watch," she said, then scrolled to the relevant time segment and hit play. Thazos was on the ground, under fire and pinned, then one of the cameras panned up and focused on the brawny Mandalorian doing his damnedest to save everyone or get himself killed.

"You don't have to be friends, you don't even have to honor or respect his people, but he's done nothing but help since he got here. And that's what we hope to do now."

[Oddyn Vizsla]

Had Odd seen the footage and heard the narrative, he would have laughed. <<Oddyn Vizsla, the hero you don't want but certainly deserve>>

[Dapper Dog]

“Yeah well that’s pretty, like I said, you’re alright. We don’t give a kriff about Mando scum, Republic or otherwise. As far I am concerned kill ‘em all,” he said. The others agree with that assessment looking at the journalist.

“Now if you’re done showing us your Mando boner, we got work to do.”

[Illyria Acaran]

The Pantoran sighed and tapped her pad again. The holovid disappeared, but the comm unit in her backpack whirred slightly as it warmed up. C4N-D1D floated over her shoulder, catching her profile for a shot-for-shot while focusing on the main resistance fighter who seemed to be speaking for the group.

"First, you don't know me. You don't know who I bunk with, and unless I want you there you don't get to. Second, give a kriff about 'Mando scum', at least enough to notice whether they are shooting at you or shooting the guys you are shooting at. If you go around killing all of them, you'll have a lot less guns on your side and a lot more on their's and last I checked - when it was you versus them you weren't doing so well. I want Bankor to be powerful enough to stand on its own as a strong member of the Republic, but right now you aren't that but some of us are willing to help you get there. So, you need to decide what is more important to you: The safety, security, and prosperity of your family, friends, and world, or the parsec-wide chip on your shoulder because they're an outsider you can murder because you feel justified and righteous?" Illyria said, dropping the polite smile and adopting a hard edged tone, "I'm sure the whole planet would like to know what's more important to you.... why don't you tell them?"

Trails in the Dunes: Coercion, using Deception via Cutting Question. Upgrade from cascader, boost from lector's outfit, nighttime cold setback suppressed because Pantoran: 3eP+1eA+1eB 3 successes, 6 advantage


two more setback suppression available as well, due to 2x In the Know and this being an interview where she is trying to get information from someone.

[Dapper Dog]

“Yeah you want to know what is most important to us, to have ouir planet back and for the Mandos to go hell… and what? You know better than us? The Republic shows up and thinks we owe them, well thousands of us died… probably more and I am thankful they are here now but you weren’t when my family needed them,” he replied bitterly.

“So put that on your screen!”

OOC: So 6 advantages.

Difficulty + Destiny Flip: 2eD+1eC 4 failures

[Illyria Acaran]

It wasn't a smile, but it was calmer, more in control, and placating.

"We weren't here," she agreed, "We weren't here, and people died. We can't change that. I don't think the Republic thinks you owe them.... I think the Republic owes you and we are here, now, to try and settle that debt. It's one that won't ever be fully paid, either. You can't put a value on someone's mother, brother, child, or friend - but it's not even that. If someone died here without friends, without family. If no one saw them pass, and they died swiftly and painlessly... there would still be loss. We can't fill that void, and we can't truly make it up to you, but we can do the best for you that we can to make the best on the debt that is owed. And once this is done, we can try to make sure that Bankor and every world like it is strong enough hopefully such a thing as this never happens again.

She paused, then added, "But right now this isn't about Bankor, or the Republic, or Mandalore, or the war. It's about you and me. It's about them... about us, and what we can do right now to make things even a little bit better. You don't have to like them, but we need them right now."

----
Spend advantage to try and draw this to a partial success. He/they are not swayed to embrace the Mandalorians as proper allies and may not view them as more than scum, but at least of allies of convenience for the moment. This also allows me to trigger Informant, either the main person or one of the other 15 being willing to step forward, potentially describe what's going on or allow an avenue for Odd to progress along whatever his path of vengeance is

[Oddyn Vizsla]

Oddyn congratulated himself on the decision to take Illyria with him. Had he been down there talking with those pigheaded idiots, there would have already been a shootout.

[Dapper Dog]

“Yeah we don’t need them, Mando lover,” they said returning to what they were doing.


One frowned and approached the woman and said, “You know… I know you mean well but you made about the worst approach you could with these people. My people.”

He sighed, “Look I hate the Mandalorians as much as anyone but you’re right some of them are fighting to help us, not sure that will change how any of them feel, one friendly face isn’t going to make them trust or even tolerate the mandos.”

“So look what is it that you need here, I can’t promise you anything, but this seems important to you for whatever reason. Scratch my back, and I can scratch yours.”

[Oddyn Vizsla]

Odd started a slow descent, seeing the dynamics down there was changing, with Illyria finally talking with someone who looked like a leader of this motley crew.