"Bralsin, huh?" Saxon stared at the planet they were approaching. "Are you sure about this place, Alrich?"
Alrich chuckled and walked over to nudge Saxon with his shoulder.
"Absolutely," Alrich said. "Bralsin preserves history for our people and has resources we can use to rebuild our own."
"If you mean mass extinction, then yes, Bralsin is historically significant," Fennec said dryly, walking up to the two men.
"Ah yes, our ancestors wiped out the native species of this world," Saxon said with confused uncertainty. "What were they called?"
"Fortunately, not worth remembering," Spar said from the pilot's seat as he flew.
With them was a task force of a dozen starfighters, led by Spar and Tobbi.
Their objective on Bralsin was straightforward. They wanted to see if the locals would help them establish a makeshift factory to assist the Protectors in rebuilding their ships and weapons, helping restore the Mandalorians' lost strength.
Alrich and Ursa had several contacts on Bralsin, and they had discussed various towns and small cities that seemed viable. Although at Ursa's suggestion, it would be best to start with a smaller village first, hoping to win supporters for their faction.
While they were here in an official capacity, this was not an attempt to subjugate the people of this planet. They were in the Mandalore sector and therefore fell under Mandalorian jurisdiction. The Protectors only hoped the locals would see it that way.
After the Mandalorian clans and people fractured, the Mandalore sector was never the same, with hundreds, if not thousands, of worlds where traditional Mandalorians seemed to have vanished or abandoned their homeworlds entirely.
A return to the old nomadic way of life. In hindsight, mostly chaos.
It had not been an easy time for the Mandalorians, but the Protectors were determined to restore them to their former glory.
The "small" fleet of thirteen ships eventually descended toward a modest village with about forty or fifty houses and other buildings that constituted the settlement.
After landing on the eastern outskirts of the village, the Mandalorian Protectors began disembarking from their ships, unloading supplies while Spar coordinated operations on the ground.
"Secure the perimeter," Spar ordered, and half of his forces followed the instructions. "Alright, Alrich. You said your contact is here, right?"
Alrich nodded. "Yes, Mandalore. He's waiting for us in the village."
Spar, Ursa, Fennec, and several Mandalorian guards began walking toward the nearby village. After a short trek, the Protectors encountered a familiar figure standing before them with a knowing smile.
Spar's eyes widened in complete disbelief at who was standing before him.
"Took you long enough," the man said with a grin when he spotted Spar.
He wore primarily brown Mandalorian armor with varying shades of brown accents, had graying hair, blue eyes, and a weathered complexion.
"Kal Skirata?" Fennec said in recognition.
"Oh, you know me?" Kal said, shaking his head with amusement. "Here I thought I was forgotten."
"Hard not to, sir," Spar said with the utmost respect. "You helped Jango train the first batches of clone commandos on Kamino."
"It's good to see you again, Spar," Kal said with a genuine smile, walking up to the clone and patting his shoulder. "I can see you've done well for yourself. Carrying on Mandalorian traditions and bearing the title of Mandalore. I'm proud of you, ad'ika."
"Is this your contact, Alrich?" Fennec asked, turning to the Mandalorian craftsman and engineer.
"Yes," Alrich nodded and walked over to Kal. "Kal, what do you have for us?"
"Something you'll all appreciate," Kal said, motioning for them to follow him. They trailed the elderly Mandalorian into the village, where they saw many civilians—mainly humans—watching the Protectors with curiosity and wonder.
"You'll have to excuse the locals staring," Kal said. "It's been some time since they've seen proper Mandalorians in full armor."
"They'd better get used to it then," Fennec remarked, and Kal chuckled.
"Ah, here we are," Kal announced as he stopped in front of a particularly large, rectangular building. Several members of Clan Skirata approached the entrance.
"The foundry may be dormant, but if Alrich brings in proper technicians and gets it operational, it'll be as good as new." Kal opened the door to reveal...
"Am I seeing things?" Fennec said loudly, quickly removing her helmet to ensure she wasn't hallucinating.
"No, you're not," Kal said with a proud smile as he walked past a massive mechanical creature with six legs. It had two large front limbs, while its rear four legs were smaller but sturdy, and it possessed a tail that seemed designed for balance. The most striking aspect of this enormous warmachine was its head, which appeared to be constructed entirely of blaster cannons.
"Basilisk war droid," one of the Mandalorians whispered in disbelief.
"Where did you find this?" Spar asked in awe, approaching the ancient weapon that had aided the Mandalorians in their conquests against the galaxy millennia ago.
"Found it during my latest archaeological expedition," Kal explained. "Discovered a hidden bunker with several artifacts scattered about. This beauty was one of them. It may need some repairs and recalibration, but once that's done, it'll be as deadly as the day it was built."
"Are we getting ahead of ourselves?" Ursa asked, walking over to examine the war droid more pragmatically.
"Credits or manpower?"
"Bit of both," Fennec admitted.
"More than we can spare, that's certain."
"Well, it's fortunate we made that deal with the Bounty Hunters' Guild," Spar declared. "Now we just need to get Saxon and some guild members together to help with mass production."
Kal blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
Spar gave the old Mandalorian a meaningful smile.
"If you had stayed in better contact with us, you'd be more aware of a recent discovery I made," Spar said. "We recently uncovered the lost journal of Canderous Ordo, better known to history as Mandalore the Preserver."
Kal's eyes widened in shock. "Where in the galaxy did you find that?!"
"During our mission to Ordo itself, we—"
"Well, well, what do we have here?"