Hearing a voice, Kote immediately began looking around, and the Force didn't warn him of any danger nearby.
"No need to search, I am the electronic adjutant of the Hyperion. It is my honor to meet you. Here, a message from the previous commander is stored. Please view it." After the electronic adjutant finished speaking, he projected a holographic recording at the control panel.
"Hey, kid, I'm Jim Raynor. I'm probably in the Koprulu Sector, who knows how far from you guys. This is my precious, transmitted using Protoss technology, because my war is over. I'm currently traveling the sector with Kerrigan, so I'm entrusting this treasure to you. Treat her well, and let her continue to fight for freedom in your star system, or else Matt won't be happy." Raynor vanished immediately after speaking.
After watching Raynor's message, Kote's brain completely crashed, unsure of what to say. The sudden inheritance of the Hyperion had disrupted his future plans.
Originally, he had planned to go to Coruscant for Jedi training after the civil war ended, then find the Darksword when the Empire was established to become a Mandalorian, and finally join Luke to assault the Death Star.
But now, it seemed he could cultivate his own faction. However, he was still too young, but since it was currently the Mandalorian civil war, he could quietly cultivate some of his own people.
"Commander, how should I address you?" the electronic adjutant asked.
"Kote Vizsla, you can just call me Kote. Also, please help me inventory the current equipment on the Hyperion."
"Understood, Commander Kote. I am currently tallying your equipment."
"Six Viking fighters, twelve Wraith fighters, four Banshee bombers, four Medivac transports. These are your current air units."
"Two Goliath robots, four Hurricanes. These are your current ground units."
"If you require more weaponry, you can find a habitable planet suitable for human modular construction. Of course, all of this requires more resources. Currently, apart from basic maintenance, there are virtually no other resources on board. You need to resolve this as soon as possible." The electronic adjutant introduced Kote to the weapons, equipment, and future development direction.
Every word the electronic adjutant spoke made Kote's brain crash once. By the last few sentences, he hadn't even heard them clearly, practically fainting from the shock, almost kicking the bucket and returning to the Force a step ahead of Master Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Then, Adjutant, can you hide yourself for now? With my current strength, owning you is simply inviting trouble. Enter power-saving mode and hide in my fiefdom for now. I'll first transmit the coordinates and star map of this nearby star system from my spaceship." Kote took a moment to compose himself.
He remembered that he also had a moon as an inherited fiefdom, a place where almost no one would go. Kote transmitted the star sector map and provided the coordinates of his fiefdom, a small moon named Vadil, part of the Shu-Torun gas giant in the Mandalore system. It was an undeveloped asteroid, classified as having average value, so after his father's death, it was left to him within the Vizsla family and not taken away.
"Understood, Commander Kote. After you leave, I will proceed there and conduct scans and exploration. I will use the limited resources to construct a team of M.U.L.E.s for sustainable mining and exploration."
"Then I'll leave everything to you, Adjutant. I hope to see you again soon." Kote finished speaking and left, using a tractor beam to take a Viking fighter back to the base on Mandalore.
Everyone still at the base heard that their leader was back and rushed out to see what good things he had brought back this time. After all, their current situation wasn't very good. Although food and water weren't scarce, weapons, equipment, and usable starships were too few.
After all, their group of scavengers couldn't afford more repair droids or more starships, so their only source of income was selling the junk they scavenged.
"Boss is back!" A child of eight or nine pointed at the Kom'rk-class fighter and the towed Viking fighter in the sky.
"And another ship!"
"It's even new!"
The ship slowly descended into the base.
After getting off the ship, Kote was surrounded by people and happily told the others:
"I'm back! Now we have new combat power, and there will be more to come. We will protect our loved ones, friends, and family! No more repeating the tragedies we've faced. So everyone, fight for tomorrow, fight for Mandalore, and most importantly, fight for ourselves!" Kote pointed to the Viking fighter behind him.
"Boss Kote!"
"Everyone eleven and older, put on your gear and grab your weapons. We're going after Death Watch. We're going to rescue Omen's cousin's family. Sundari is under attack by Death Watch. This will be the first step in our counterattack, and it certainly won't be the last!" Kote's mind was now completely focused on developing and strengthening himself, even to the point of being blinded.
By this time, Omen and the children aged eleven and above were already prepared, just waiting for Kote to return. Some girls were left behind to look after the younger children, as without supervision, these children would simply starve if anything went wrong.
Including Omen, a total of twenty people walked towards the Kom'rk-class fighter, while Kote headed for the Viking fighter. He wanted to test out this new equipment. He wasn't afraid of not being able to operate it, as every Force-sensitive individual was among the best pilots in the entire galaxy.
Kote, who had just rushed back, quickly left the base with twenty people. After all, rescuing people was the top priority. Upon entering Sundari, they found that the pacifists were fighting Death Watch for control of the spaceport.
Their ships sped overhead unnoticed. When they arrived in the southern part of Sundari city, Death Watch members were using missiles from their jetpacks and flamethrowers on their wrists to attack nearby houses.
"Omen, is this the place?" Kote asked via comms from inside the Viking fighter.
"Yes, this is it. The distress signal was last sent from here." Omen looked at the tracking signal.
At this moment, Death Watch below sent a communication.
"Who sent you? We are taking over this area; no support is needed now."
Kote did not reply. Their only answer was the roar of missiles and the sound of laser fire.
"Damn it, return fire!"
Death Watch's enraged shouts in the comm channel were drowned out by deafening explosions.
The Viking fighter piloted by Kote struck first, its wing-mounted Razor Missiles trailing fiery exhaust as they accurately slammed into the center of the clustered Death Watch squad below.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Blinding fire erupted skyward, and shockwaves, laden with white dust and architectural debris, swept through the street. Several unsuspecting Death Watch members were directly blown away, their distinctive blue-grey armor twisted and deformed in the explosion.
"Scatter! Find cover! It's an air strike!" a Death Watch sub-leader shrieked, quickly ducking behind a partially collapsed building. At the same time, he raised his wrist-mounted missile launcher and fired missiles into the sky.
"Omen! Take your people and cut in from the west! Provide covering fire, suppress their jetpacks!" Kote's voice on the internal comm channel was unnervingly calm for a teenager. The Viking fighter executed a nimble sideslip, dodging several incoming blaster bolts from the ground.
He instantly understood the terrifying nature of this fighter—powerful firepower, agile maneuverability, and armor far superior to standard Mandalorian fighters.
"Received, Boss!" Omen's voice carried a hint of tension, but more so, determination. The Kom'rk-class fighter howled as it lowered its altitude, its ventral laser turrets beginning a fierce barrage. Dense green energy beams poured down like a torrent.
They suppressed Death Watch members attempting to ascend or find better firing angles. Blaster bolts struck the Kom'rk's armor, sparking, but failed to inflict fatal damage.
After clearing a safe area, Omen's squad systematically rushed out of the Kom'rk fighter.
"Others, follow me! The target building is just ahead!" Omen shouted into his communicator.
Twenty young scavenger Mandalorians, clad in makeshift, patched armor, moved swiftly to the west, like agile desert lizards, using the smoke from the explosions and the street's ruined walls as cover.
Their Vesta-35 blaster pistols also opened fire, and although inaccurate, they created effective harassment.
Death Watch's quality was indeed far superior to these young scavengers. After a brief period of chaos, they quickly organized a counterattack.
Flames erupted from jetpacks, and several Death Watch warriors soared into the sky, attempting to close the distance to attack the low-flying Viking fighter, or directly pounce on the advancing youngsters on the ground. Their wrist-mounted flamethrowers and blaster wrist-cannons fired simultaneously, tracing deadly lines of fire in the air.
"Want to go to heaven? Not that easy!" Kote's eyes narrowed. His fingers rapidly operated the Viking fighter's control panel.
The massive fighter executed a stunning sudden stop and change of direction in mid-air, its structural frame emitting a faint metallic grinding sound, instantly transforming from fighter mode to humanoid mech mode!
"What the hell?!" A Death Watch warrior who had just ascended looked at the gigantic metal monster that had suddenly "stood up" before him, his face under his helmet filled with astonishment.
The Viking mech raised its arms, and its gatling cannons roared deafeningly! "Thump-thump-thump-thump—!"
A dense barrage of armor-piercing rounds, like the scythe of death, instantly enveloped the Death Watch members attempting to ascend.
The hard Mandalorian steel armor, under such terrifying close-range firepower, was like paper, instantly riddled with holes. Accompanied by screams and the sound of tearing metal, several Death Watch members fell like broken kites. (Note: Mandalorian steel is Mandalorian steel, not Beskar steel.)
"Nice job, Boss!" The excited cheers of the youngsters came through the comm channel.
"Don't get distracted! Saving people is the priority!" Kote roared. At the same time, the Viking mech took heavy strides, leaving deep craters in the ground. The massive mech itself was the best cover, blocking incoming fire from the east for Omen's advancing ground squad.
The mech's shoulder missile pods opened again, and several missiles screamed out, precisely destroying a Death Watch heavy blaster emplacement at the end of the street.
Omen's squad seized the opportunity to rush to the target building—a residential house blackened by flames and riddled with bullet holes. The main door was tightly shut, and faint sounds of children crying and blaster fire could be heard from inside.
"There's still resistance inside! It's the Wren family!" a young man shouted, pressing against the wall. He recognized the Wren clan's symbol on a second-story window.
"Blast it open!" Omen made an immediate decision, taking a bomb from his waist and slapping it onto the tightly shut alloy door.
"Beep beep beep beep beep, boom!"
With a muffled bang, a large hole was blasted in the sturdy alloy door, and a scorching wave of air rushed out.
"Go!" Omen charged in first, followed closely by the scavenger youngsters. Gunfire immediately erupted inside the building, and blaster bolts flew everywhere in the narrow space.
The Death Watch inside clearly hadn't anticipated such fierce and bizarre attacks from outside, and their resistance seemed somewhat panicked.
Although the scavenger youngsters were poorly equipped, they had the advantage of numbers and the fierce courage of wanting to save people, plus their extreme familiarity with this kind of ruined environment. The battle quickly devolved into brutal indoor close-quarters combat.
Kote piloted the Viking mech, guarding the outside of the building like a giant steel gatekeeper. He vigilantly scanned his surroundings, clearing Death Watch reinforcements attempting to approach with his autocannons and occasional burst fire.
The Force responded beside him, bringing vague warnings—a stronger threat was approaching, possibly a better-equipped Death Watch squad, or even other armored vehicles.
"Omen! Hurry! We've got trouble!" Kote urgently warned over the comms.
Just then, the Viking mech's radar emitted a piercing alarm! Several high-speed targets were rapidly approaching from the direction of the city center!
"It's Death Watch Kom'rk-class fighters! At least three!" Kote's pupils contracted.
The real test had arrived. He took a deep breath, his fingers rapidly moving across the control panel. The Viking mech emitted a heavy mechanical whirring sound, beginning to transform back from humanoid mode to high-speed fighter mode.
The engine nozzles erupted with brilliant blue flames, and the massive machine began to climb.
"Come on, scum, let me give you a taste of the 'Hyperion's' greeting!" Kote licked his somewhat dry lips, his eyes sparkling with a mix of tension and excitement. He shoved the control stick forward, and the newly transformed Viking fighter charged towards the incoming enemy ships, its missile launchers simultaneously locking onto targets.